(35) But what will the Spirit of this Kingdom say? Art thou not shining in Splendor? Hast thou not taken Possession of all? Hast thou not the Earth in Possession freely as God gave it thee? Dost thou not right? Dost thou not punish the Wicked, and look to it, where the Enemy breaks it? Dost thou not defend thy Country? Art thou not a Light to the Blind, and appointest Teachers for them, which drive them to Patience? The Kingdom is thine indeed, thou hast purchased it; the Poor is thy Servant indeed, that [in thy Opinion] cannot fail [but be right.]

(32) The other Kingdom is that of Antichrist, with a golden [Splendor or] Glance, prancing in State, glistering on every Side. Every one says, It is a happy Thing, for it adorns itself most sumptuously, and sets its Seat over the Hills and Mountains; every one salutes it, [or does it Reverence.] It draws the Tincture of the Earth to itself, that it may glister alone; it bereaves the Kingdom of Christ of its temporal [Food, Livelihood, or] Bread; it devours the Sweat of the Needy, and says to him, You are mine, I am your God, I will set you where I please; you are the Dog that lies at my Feet: If I had a Mind to it, I could hunt you out of my House, you must do what I will; and the needy Worm must say, I am your poor Servant, do but spare my Life. And if he squeezes out the Sweat of his Brows, so that he smarts, which his Master consumes [or spends,] then he grows impatient with his Master, and curses him, and seeks out Ways of Lying and Deceit, and by what Way he might make his heavy Burden lighter.

(46) [And he shall put down the kings from their thrones and kingdoms] Because they do not extol and praise Him, Nor humbly acknowledge whence the kingdom was bestowed upon them.

(3) But the kingdom belongs to God the Father, who has made it out of his powers, and he may set it and dispose it which way he pleaseth; otherwise their body is made according to all, and out of all, the powers of the Father.

(11) "Do not let the kingdom of heaven become a desert within you. Do not be proud because of the light that enlightens. Rather, act toward yourselves as I myself have toward you. I have put myself under a curse for you to save you."

(1) Our Lord saith that the Kingdom of God is near us. Yea, the Kingdom of God is within us as St Paul saith "our salvation is nearer than when we believed." Now we should know in what manner the Kingdom of God is near us. Therefore let us pay diligent attention to the meaning of the words. If I were a king, and did not know it, I should not really be a king. But, if I were fully convinced that I was a king, and all mankind coincided in my belief, and I knew that they shared my conviction, I should indeed be a king, and all the wealth of the king would be mine. But, if one of these three conditions were lacking, I should not really be a king.

(29) If any one should wish to get the kingdom for himself, and to effect this by what he does, I see that he will not succeed. The kingdom is a spirit-like thing, and cannot be got by active doing. He who would so win it destroys it; he who would hold it in his grasp loses it. The course and nature of things is such that What was in front is now behind; What warmed anon we freezing find. Strength is of weakness oft the spoil; The store in ruins mocks our toil. Hence the sage puts away excessive effort, extravagance, and easy indulgence.

(31) And to Judah lie said : May the Lord give thee strength and power To tread down all that hate thee ; A prince shalt thou be, thou and one of thy sons, over the sons of Jacob ; May thy name and the name of thy sons go " forth and traverse every land and region. Then will the Gentiles fear before thy face, And all the nations will quake [And all the peoples will (make].

(16) For meekness moveth against the wrath, and the wrath against the meekness, and so both are distinct kingdoms in the one only body of this world.

(104) O prince, suppose your dominion extend from east to west, Yet, as it endures not, esteem it transitory as lightning Yea, O sleeping heart, know the kingdom that endures not I marvel how long you will indulge in vain illusion, Know that even in this world there is a place of refuge; His argument is this: he says again and again, "If there were aught beyond this life we should see it." But if the child sees not the state of reason, Does the man of reason therefore forsake reason? And if the man of reason sees not the state of love,

(32) Thou hast no sovereignty over thine own passions, How canst thou sway good and evil? Thy hair turns white without thy concurrence, Whoso bows his head to the King of kings Will receive a hundred kingdoms not of this world; But the delight of bowing down before God Will seem sweeter to thee than countless glories." Haste to renounce thy kingdom, like Ibrahim bin Adham, To obtain, like him, the kingdom of eternity. At night that king would sleep on his throne,

(1) For it was ludicrous. It is I who bear witness that it was ludicrous, since the rulers do not know that this is an ineffable union of undefiled truth, as exists among the children of light, of which they made an imitation, having proclaimed a doctrine of a dead man and lies so as to resemble the freedom and purity of the perfect assembly, and having joined themselves in their doctrine to fear and slavery, worldly cares, and abandoned worship, being small and ignorant, since they do not contain the nobility of the truth. For they hate the one in whom they are and love the one in whom they are not. For they did not know the knowledge of the greatness that it is from above and from a fountain of truth and not from slavery and jealousy, fear, and love of worldly matter. For that which is not theirs and that which is theirs they use fearlessly and freely. They do not desire because they have authority, and they have a law from themselves over whatever they will wish.

(98) Jesus said, "The Kingdom of the Father is like a certain man who wanted to kill a powerful man. In his own house he drew his sword and stuck it into the wall in order to find out whether his hand could carry through. Then he slew the powerful man."

(6) "O," said I unto him, "through your domains I never passed, but where is there a dwelling Throughout all Europe, where they are not known? That fame, which doeth honour to your house, Proclaims its Signors and proclaims its land, So that he knows of them who ne'er was there. And, as I hope for heaven, I swear to you Your honoured family in naught abates The glory of the purse and of the sword. It is so privileged by use and nature, That though a guilty head misguide the world, Sole it goes right, and scorns the evil way." And he: "Now go; for the sun shall not lie Seven times upon the pillow which the Ram With all his four feet covers and bestrides, Before that such a courteous opinion Shall in the middle of thy head be nailed With greater nails than of another's speech, Unless the course of justice standeth still."

(22) Therefore consider what Weight thou puttest in by the Senses: Thou hast the Kingdom of Heaven in thy Power, for the Word of the divine Virtue [or Power] in Christ, has given itself to thee to be thy own; and so also thou hast the Kingdom of Hell in a Bridle, in the Root, and thou hast it for thy own by the Right of Nature; and thou hast the Kingdom of this World also (according to thy Humanity received from Adam) for thy own.

(12) But the third Kingdom is not also in the Eternity, but is generated out of the one Element in the Time of the Kindling of the Fiat; that now is corruptible, and has a certain Seculum, Limit and Time, [how long it shall last;] and so this Region in the Soul (when the Light of Life kindles itself) has also a certain Seculum, and Time of its Breaking; and that Kingdom brings Man up, and gives him the Source of his Manners [Conditions and Disposition,] Will and Desires to Evil and Good, and sets him in Beauty, Glory, Riches and Honour, and makes him an earthly God; and it opens to him the great Wonders i in him, and runs along with him inconsiderately to the End of his Seculum, Term, and End, and then it departs from him; and as it helped Man to his Life, so it helps him also to Death, and breaks off from the Soul.

(4) "I tell you the truth, whoever will receive life and believe in the kingdom will never leave it, not even if the father wants to banish him.

(38) Thus this Kingdom took Beginning with Cain, and it has its Ground from the Devil, who is a Mocker of God; for the Devil desires nothing else but strong and mighty Exalting in his own Power above the Thrones of Heaven; but he cannot get in, and therefore he is so maliciously enraged, and his Source [or Quality] stands in the Anguish, not towards the Birth, but towards the Source of Fire. Of the Kingdom of Christ in this World.

(2) "The kingdom of heaven is like a head of grain that sprouted in a field. And when it was ripe, it scattered its seed, and again it filled the field with heads of grain for another year. So with you, be eager to harvest for yourselves a head of the grain of life that you may be filled with the kingdom.

(15) And I shall make thee very great, And I shall make thee into nations, And kings will come forth from thee.