(68) But if thorns grow among them, and the mower cometh to reap his crop, he cutteth them down together, but he casteth out the thorns, and they are to be burnt in the fire; but the various flowers and good crop he gathereth, and causes it to be brought into his barn.

(3) It is said to thee, that the Wood [or Fuel] of thy Soul shall burn in the last Fire, and that thy Soul shall remain to be Ashes in the Fire, and thy Body shall appear like black Soot. Why wilt thou then stand in a Wilderness, yea in a Rock where there is no Water? How then will thy Tree grow again? O! Or Saints and holy People. what great Misery it is that we are ignorant in what P Soil we grow, and what Kind of Essences we draw to us, seeing our Fruit shall appear and be tasted, and that which is pleasant shall stand upon God's Table; and the other shall be cast to the Devil's Swine. Therefore let it move you; to look that you grow in the Ground or Soil of Christ, and bring forth Fruit that may be set upon God's Table, which Fruit never perishes, but continually springs, and the more it is eaten of, the pleasanter it is. How wilt thou rejoice in the Lord!

(56) While there is sap in the wood the fire shineth as a shining light; but when the sap is consumed in the wood the shining light goeth out, and the wood becometh a glowing coal.

(67) But if one among them lifteth up itself too high in its growth, and so withereth, because it has not sap enough, how can the earth help it? Does it not afford its sap to that as well as to the others?

As long as their [insides] are hidden, [most] beings in the world are alive and well. [If their insides] are exposed, they die, as is clear by the example of the visible part of a person. [As long as] a person’s intestines are hidden, the person is alive. If the intestines are exposed and come out, the person dies. Likewise, while its root is hidden, a tree sprouts and grows. If its root is exposed, the tree withers. So it is with all things produced in the world, not only the visible but also the hidden. As long as the root of evil is hidden, it is strong. When it is recognized, it is undone, and if it is brought to light, it dies. For this reason the word says, “Already the ax is laid at the root of the trees.” It will not merely cut them down, for what is cut down sprouts up again. Rather, the ax will dig down until it cuts out the root. Jesus pulled out the root of the whole place, but others did so only in part.

(82) And these are the signs of (his) days on the earth: glowing heat and dryness, and the trees ripen their fruits and produce all their fruits ripe and ready, and the sheep pair and become pregnant, and all the fruits of the earth are gathered in, and everything that is in the fields, and the winepress: these things take place in the days of his dominion.

(102) If He closes the windows of heaven, and withholds the rain and the dew from descending on the earth on your account, what will ye do then?

(69) O ye theologists! the spirit here openeth a door and gate for you: If you will not now see, and feed your sheep and lambs on a green meadow, but on a dry, seared heath, you must be accountable for it before the severe, earnest and wrathful judgment of God; therefore look to it.

(22) If now it be hard captivated in Sins, and still goes on in sinning from Day to Day, so that it is cloathed with the Anger of God, and has loaded itself with mocking the Children of God, and so sticks over Head and Ears in the Anger of God, and scarce hangs by a Thread [to Christ,] O! how hard it is with that Soul, Must not that Soul needs swelter a tedious While in the Scorn which it has put upon the Children of God? How can it suddenly reach the noble Virgin in the Love and Mercy of God? And then where is the noble Tree of Pearl [in the mean While,] which is sown as a small Grain of Mustard-seed, and in the Growing of it comes to flourish like a Bay-tree? Whence has it its Sap, if the Soul stands thus in the Bath of the Anger? O! it will (in many) not grow green in Eternity. And therefore says Christ, In the Resurrection they shall excel one another in Glory, as the Sun, Moon, and Stars.

(16) So also it went with this spirit: The first fire was but a seed, and not a constant lasting light: Since that time many a cold wind blew upon it; but the will never extinguished. 16a. This tree was also often tempted to try whether it would bear fruit, and shew itself with blossoms; but the blossoms were struck off till this very time, wherein it stands in its first fruit, in the growth or vegetation.

(5) And those cares He indicated in the parable of the fourfold seed, when He said that "the seed of the word which fell unto the thorns" and hedges was choked by them, and could not bring forth fruit. It is therefore necessary to learn how to make use of every occurrence, so as by a good life, according to knowledge, to be trained for the state of eternal life. For it said, "I saw the wicked exalted and towering as the cedars of Lebanon; and I passed," says the Scripture, "and, lo, he was not; and I sought him, and his place was not found. Keep innocence, and look on uprightness: for there is a remnant to the man of peace." Such will he be who believes unfeignedly with his whole heart, and is tranquil in his whole soul. "For the different people honour me with their lips, but their heart is far from the Lord." "They bless with their mouth, but they curse in their heart." "They loved Him with their mouth, and lied to Him with their tongue; but their heart was not right with Him, and they were not faithful to His covenant."

(158) There he will be a mocker eternally in the birth of the hellish abomination: for whatsoever quality the tree is of, such also is its fruit.

(24) Or what thinkest thou, if thy Twig be thus very dry and withered, and that thou must eternally swelter in the Anger of God, where instantly thy human Image will be taken away, and thou wilt be in the a Shape of the most abominable Beasts, Worms, and Serpents, all according to thy Deeds and Practice here, where then all thy Deeds will stand in the Figure in the Tincture eternally before thy Eyes, and will gnaw thee sufficiently, so that thou wilt continually think, if thou hadst not done this or that, thou shouldst have attained the Grace of God? Thy Mocking stands before thy Eyes, and thou art ashamed to let the least good Thought into thy Soul; for Good is as an Angel before thee, and thou darest not (for great Shame) so much as to touch it with thy Mind, much less look upon it. But thou must eternally devour into thyself thy great Scorning, with all thy Vices and Sins, and thou must eternally despair; and though thou thinkest to go forth after Abstinence, yet the Light strikes thee down again, and so thou goest but forth aloft (in thy devouring fretting Worm, in thyself) without the Thrones of God; and it is with thee, as with one who stands upon a high stony Cliff of a Rock, and would cast himself into a bottomless Gulf; and the further he sees, the deeper he falls. Thus thy own Sins, Scornings, Deridings, Cursings in Contempt of God, are thy Hell-fire, which gnaws thee eternally; this I speak in the Word of Life.

(23) Behold the earth will be destroyed on account of all their works, and there will be no seed of the vine, and no oil; for their works are altogether faith^ss, (and they will all perish together, beasts and cattle arid birds, and all the fish of the sea, on account the children of men.

(91) Yet the sun possesses a nearness to gold, The dry branch and the green are alike near the sun, Does the sun veil himself from either? Yet what is the nearness of that green branch, Wherefrom thou eatest ripe fruits? But as for the dry branch) from its nearness to the sun, What does it but more quickly grow dry and sapless? Be not intoxicated after the manner of this branch, Which, when it becomes sober, has cause for repentance, But, like those drunkards who, when they drink wine,

(10) And all desirable trees shall be planted on it, and they shall plant vines on it: and the vine which they plant thereon shall yield wine in abundance, and as for all the seed which is sown thereon each measure (of it) shall bear a thousand, and each measure of olives shall yield ten presses of oil.

(82) And these are the signs of the days which are to be seen on earth in the days of his dominion: sweat, and heat, and calms; and all the trees bear fruit, and leaves are produced on all the trees, and the harvest of wheat, and the rose-flowers, and all the flowers which come forth in the field, but the trees of the winter season become withered.

(2) I think he thought that I perhaps might think So many voices issued through those trunks From people who concealed themselves from us; Therefore the Master said: "If thou break off Some little spray from any of these trees, The thoughts thou hast will wholly be made vain." Then stretched I forth my hand a little forward, And plucked a branchlet off from a great thorn; And the trunk cried, "Why dost thou mangle me?" After it had become embrowned with blood, It recommenced its cry: "Why dost thou rend me? Hast thou no spirit of pity whatsoever? Men once we were, and now are changed to trees; Indeed, thy hand should be more pitiful, Even if the souls of serpents we had been." As out of a green brand, that is on fire At one of the ends, and from the other drips And hisses with the wind that is escaping; So from that splinter issued forth together Both words and blood; whereat I let the tip Fall, and stood like a man who is afraid. "Had he been able sooner to believe," My Sage made answer, "O thou wounded soul, What only in my verses he has seen,

(57) Now these three qualities would be dark and dead, if the heat were not therein: But as soon as the spring time cometh, that the sun with its beams reacheth and warmeth the earth, the spirit becometh living by the heat in the tree, and the spirits of the tree begin to grow green, flourish and blossom.

(25) And as for this fragrant tree no mortal is permitted to touch it till the great judgement, when He shall take vengeance on all and bring (everything) to its consummation for ever. It shall then be given to the righteous and holy.