(27) Thus we every one of us labour and finish our Day's Work, every one in his own Field, and in the Harvest every one shall stand tby his Labour, and enjoy his Fruit which he has sown; therefore my Hand shall not be weary of digging; this we speak seriously, according to its high Worth in the Wonders of God, known in the Council of the noble Virgin. Of the Use of the highly precious Testaments of Christ the Son of God.

(8) But seeing somewhat is lent me from the Grace of the Power [or divine Virtue] of God, that I might know the Way to Paradise; and seeing it behoves every one to work the Works of God, in which he stands; of which God will require an Account from every one, what he has done in the Labour of his Day's Work in this World; and will require the Work (which he gave every one to do) with Increase, and will not have them empty; or else he will have that unprofitable Servant to be bound Hand and Foot, and cast into Darkness; where he must be fain to work, yet in the Anguish, and in the Forgetting of the Daylabour which was given him to do here, [or of the Talent which he had received here,] wherein he was found an unprofitable Servant; therefore I will not neglect my Day-labour, but will labour as much as I can on the Way.

(2) I was greatly troubled in my groaning. I will bathe my bed and my cover each night with my tears. I have become old in the midst of all my enemies. Depart from me, all you who work at lawlessness, for look, the lord has heard the cry of my weeping and the lord has heard my prayer.

(151) I would willingly take ease and rest in my meekness, if I were not put upon this work; but that God who has made the world is too strong for me, I am the work of his hands, he may set me and place me where he will.

(1) AND therefore travail fast in this nought, and this nowhere, and leave thine outward bodily wits and all that they work in: for I tell thee truly, that this work may not be conceived by them.

(9) Oh thou who callest out at thine evening hours, grant that I may come and bring to him the two jaws of Restau, and that I may bring to him the books which are in the Annu and add up for him his hosts

(1) May I come to thee and be glorified and made manifest and ensouled, let me have strength and soundness

(1) WHOSO had this work, it should govern them full seemly, as well in body as in soul: and make them full favourable unto each man or woman that looked upon them. Insomuch, that the worst favoured man or woman that liveth in this life, an they might come by grace to work in this work, their favour should suddenly and graciously be changed: that each good man that them saw, should be fain and joyful to have them in company, and full much they should think that they were pleased in spirit and holpen by grace unto God in their presence.

(46) "Let their way be made difficult, and let us [lie down (again) in peace]."

(63) In those days shall the mighty and the kings who possess the earth implore (Him) to grant them a little respite from His angels of punishment to whom they were delivered, that they might fall down and worship before the Lord of Spirits, and confess their sins before Him.

(18) Wish that those things which labor ought to precede, may be possessed by you after labor.

Be not anxious to please the multitude.

(3) But wherein then is this travail, I pray thee? Surely, this travail is all in treading down of the remembrance of all the creatures that ever God made, and in holding of them under the cloud of forgetting named before. In this is all the travail, for this is man’s travail, with help of grace. And the tother above—that is to say, the stirring of love—that is the work of only God. And therefore do on thy work, and surely I promise thee He shall not fail in His.

(9) Let my limbs be renewed by the contemplation of thy glories, like all thy servants, for I am one of those who honoured thee upon earth

(7) In the same way, therefore, those who take part in the divine words, ought to guard against betaking themselves to this, as they would to the building of cities, to examine them out of curiosity; that they do not come to the task for the sake of receiving worldly things, having ascertained that they who are consecrated to Christ are given to communicate the necessaries of life. But let such be dismissed as hypocrites. But if any one wishes not to seem, but to be righteous, to him it belongs to know the things which are best. If, then, "the harvest is plenteous, but the labourers few," it is incumbent on us "to pray" that there may be as great abundance of labourers as possible.

FIRST and foremost, I will tell thee who should work in this work, and when, and by what means: and what discretion thou shalt have in it. If thou asketh me who shall work thus, I answer thee—all that have forsaken the world in a true will, and thereto that give them not to active life, but to that life that is called contemplative life. All those should work in this grace and in this work, whatsoever that they be; whether they have been accustomed sinners or none.

(1) AND if thou askest me by what means thou shalt come to this work, I beseech Almighty God of His great grace and His great courtesy to teach thee Himself. For truly I do thee well to wit that I cannot tell thee, and that is no wonder. For why, that is the work of only God, specially wrought in what soul that Him liketh without any desert of the same soul. For without it no saint nor no angel can think to desire it. And I trow that our Lord as specially and as oft—yea! and more specially and more oft—will vouchsafe to work this work in them that have been accustomed sinners, than in some other, that never grieved Him greatly in comparison of them. And this will He do, for He will be seen all‑merciful and almighty; and for He will be seen to work as Him list, where Him list, and when Him list.

(40) "Let there be lamentation, and let us lie down (again in peace)."

(9) "Since I was glorified like this once before, why do you hold me back when I am eager to go? After my labor you have made me stay with you another eighteen days because of the parables. For some people it was enough to listen to the teaching and understand 'The Shepherds,' 'The Seed,' 'The Building,' 'The Lamps of the Young Women,' 'The Wage of the Workers,' and 'The Silver Coins and the Woman.'

(39) Such men are very much in earnest and give great diligence to the work, and yet they find it a weariness. The third sort are wicked, false-hearted men, who dream and declare that they are perfect and need no ordinances, and make a mock of them. The fourth are those who are enlightened with the True Light, who do not practise these things for reward, for they neither look nor desire to get anything thereby, but all that they do is from love alone. And these are not so anxious and eager to accomplish much and with all speed as the second sort, but rather seek to do things in peace and good leisure; and if some not weighty matter be neglected, they do not therefore think themselves lost, for they know very well that order and fitness are better than disorder, and therefore they choose to walk orderly, yet know at the same time that their salvation hangeth not thereon. Therefore they are not in so great anxiety as the others. These men are judged and blamed by both the other parties, for the hirelings say that they neglect their duties and accuse them of being unrighteous, and the like; and the others (that is, the Free Spirits44) hold them in derision, and say that they cleave unto weak and beggarly elements, and the like.

(74) This I write in the power and perfect knowledge of the great God, and I understand his will herein very well. For I live and am in him, and spring up with this work and labour out of his root and stock; and it must be so: Only, take thou heed, if thou blindest thyself, then there is no remedy more; neither canst thou say thou knewest not of it, therefore arise, for the day breaketh!