(36) But the divine Answer in the Light of Nature says to me; Behold, out of what art thou grown? Have I planted thee? Art thou not grown in my wild Garden? When Adam went into the wild Garden, there he a planted thee. How art thou grown so great? Who has given thee Virtue [or Sap,] thou wild Tree? My Love never stirred thee up, all thy Branches are wild, and thy Fruit is wild. Dost thou think that my Soul lusts after thy Food? I will not eat of thy Fruit: I am strong, and the Kingdom is mine; he that comes under my Wings, I will shelter him, no Storm can touch him; moreover, the Country is mine. I have left it to you, to be used in unanimous Love; and have set you out of one [and the same] Root, that you should be alike, and love one another, and prevent one another in chaste Love.

(82) Here, O man, consider thyself well, and mind what manner of seed thou sowest into the earth, the very same will spring up, and bear blossoms and fruit for ever, either in the love or in the wrath.

(15) And I shall establish My covenant between Me and thee, and thy seed after thee, throughout their generations, for an eternal covenant, so that I may be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.

(1) AND therefore I pray thee, lean listily to this meek stirring of love in thine heart, and follow thereafter: for it will be thy guide in this life and bring thee to bliss in the tother. It is the substance of all good living, and without it no good work may be begun nor ended. It is nought else but a good and an according will unto God, and a manner of well‑pleasedness and a gladness that thou feelest in thy will of all that He doth.

(6) "Be eager to be saved without being urged. Rather, be fervent on your own and, if possible, outdo even me, for this is how the father will love you.

(20) But serve ye the Most High God, and worship Him continually : And hope for His countenance always, And work uprightness and righteousness before Him, That He may have pleasure in you and grant you His mercy, And send rain upon you morning and evening, And bless all your works which ye have wrought upon the earth, And bless thy bread and thy water, And bless the fruit of thy womb and the fruit of thy land, And the herds of thy cattle, and the flocks of thy sheep.

(2) But I pray thee, wherein shall that travail be? Surely not in that devout stirring of love that is continually wrought in his will, not by himself, but by the hand of Almighty God: the which is evermore ready to work this work in each soul that is disposed thereto, and that doth that in him is, and hath done long time before, to enable him to this work.

(8) There is then the greatest and highest Love in the new Birth, not only towards God, or oneself, but also towards Men, our Brothers and Sisters: So that those that were regenerated, have had their Desires and Love so carried towards Men, that they have very earnestly taught Men with Meekness and Reproving, and their Love to them in their Teaching has been so great, that they have even willingly yielded their Life up to Death, and left their earthly Goods, and all they had, in allured Hope, (in their strong and firm Knowledge) to receive all again in great Honour [and Glory.]

(1) And do thou write for thyself * all these words which I declare unto thee this day, for I know their rebellion and their stiff neck, before I bring them into the land of which I sware to their fathers, to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob, saying *. " Unto your seed will I give a land flowing with milk and honey.

(1) St John xiv. 23.--"If a man love me, he will keep my words; and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him."

(12) Deliver me from the hands of evil spirits who have sway over the thoughts of men's hearts, And let them not lead me astray from Thee, my God. And stablish Thou me and my seed for ever That we go not astray from henceforth and for evermore."

(2) All that God worketh and teacheth, He worketh in His Son. All His work is directed to this end that we also may be His Son. When God sees that we are indeed His son, He yearns after us, and in the depth of His Divine Being waves of longing break forth, to reveal to us the abyss of His Godhead, and the fullness of His essence; He hastens to identify Himself with us. Herein He hath joy and gladness in full measure. God loveth men not less than He loveth Himself. If thou really lovest thyself, thou lovest all men as thyself; as long as thou lovest any one less than thyself, thou dost not really love thyself. That man is right who loves all men as himself.

(25) And now, my son, hearken to my voice, and do the will of thy mother, and do not take thee a wife of the daughters of this land, but only of the house of my father, and of my father's Kindred. Thou wilt take thee a wife of the house of my father, and the Most High God will bless thee, and thy children will be a righteous generation and a holy seed."

(18) And in thy seed will all nations of the earth be blessed ; Because thou hast obeyed My voice, And I have shown to all that thou art faithful unto Me in all that I have said unto thee : Go in peace."

(2) Nevertheless, in this work he hath no leisure to look after who is his friend or his foe, his kin or his stranger. I say not but he shall feel some time—yea, full oft—his affection more homely to one, two, or three, than to all these other: for that is lawful to be, for many causes as charity asketh. For such an homely affection felt Christ to John and unto Mary, and unto Peter before many others. But I say, that in the time of this work shall all be equally homely unto him; for he shall feel then no cause, but only God. So that all shall be loved plainly and nakedly for God, and as well as himself.

(140) Then, when our tone is thus incorporated in God's tone, so that the fruit is formed, imaged or framed, it must needs be wholesome or healthful for us, and so we are in God's love, and have that food to make use of, as by the right of nature, being our spirit in God's love did help to image and form the same.

(9) Whosoever offers Me, with devotion, a leaf, a flower, a fruit, or water— that I accept, the pious offering of the pure in heart.

(2) And I: "By philosophic arguments, And by authority that hence descends, Such love must needs imprint itself in me; For Good, so far as good, when comprehended Doth straight enkindle love, and so much greater As more of goodness in itself it holds; Then to that Essence (whose is such advantage That every good which out of it is found Is nothing but a ray of its own light) More than elsewhither must the mind be moved Of every one, in loving, who discerns The truth in which this evidence is founded. Such truth he to my intellect reveals Who demonstrates to me the primal love Of all the sempiternal substances. The voice reveals it of the truthful Author, Who says to Moses, speaking of Himself, 'I will make all my goodness pass before thee.' Thou too revealest it to me, beginning The loud Evangel, that proclaims the secret Of heaven to earth above all other edict." And I heard say: "By human intellect And by authority concordant with it, Of all thy loves reserve for God the highest.

(20) And ye will be for a blessing on the earth, And all nations of the earth will desire you, And bless your sons in my name, That they may be blessed as I am."

(20) Accordingly, love makes its own athlete fearless and dauntless, and confident in the Lord, anointing and training him; as righteousness secures for him truthfulness in his whole life. For it was a compendium of righteousness to say, "Let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay."