(5) For this Heart of mine is the Heart of the god of mighty names, of the great god whose words are in his members, and who giveth free course to his Heart which is within him

(12) According to another tradition, know the heart is like So every moment a fresh purpose occurs to the heart, Not proceeding from itself, but from its situation. Why, then, are you confident about the heart's purposes? Why make you vows only to be covered with shame? All these changes proceed from the effect of God's will; Although you see the pit, you cannot avoid it. The strange thing is, not that winged fowl Fall into the deadly snare without seeing it, But that they see the snare and the limed twig, And yet fall into it, whether they will or no;

(1) He saith: Heart [41] mine to me, in the place of Hearts! Whole Heart [42] mine to me, in the place of Whole Hearts!

(57) He hath written it who spake it, and his heart resteth on the reward

(15) Then a little below he adds: "For who hath set these to fight in deadly strife? A rabble keeping pace with Echo; for, enraged at those silent, It raised an evil disease against men, and many perished;" Of the speech which denies what is false, and of the dilemma, of that which is concealed, of the Sorites, and of the Crocodilean, of that which is open, and of ambiguities and sophisms. To inquire, then, respecting God, if it tend not to strife, but to discovery, is salutary. For it is written in David, "The poor eat, and shall be filled; and they shall praise the Lord that seek Him. Your heart shall live for ever." For they who seek Him after the true search, praising the Lord, shall be filled with the gift that comes from God, that is, knowledge. And their soul shall live; for the soul is figuratively termed the heart, which ministers life: for by the Son is the Father known.

(3) A naked intent I call it. For why, in this work a perfect Prentice asketh neither releasing of pain, nor increasing of meed, nor shortly to say, nought but Himself. Insomuch, that neither he recketh nor looketh after whether that he be in pain or in bliss, else that His will be fulfilled that he loveth. And thus it seemeth that in this work God is perfectly loved for Himself, and that above all creatures. For in this work, a perfect worker may not suffer the memory of the holiest creature that ever God made to commune with him.

(144) For as the will of the heart infects and stirs all the members of the body, so that the whole body does as the heart has decreed or concluded; or as the Holy Ghost riseth up in the centre of the heart, and enlighteneth all the members in the whole body; so the Cherubim with his whole glance or lustre and will infects all his angels, so that they all are together as one body, and the king is the heart therein.

(37) And the Son is the Heart in the Father; all the powers which are in the Father are the propriety of the Father; and the Son is the Heart, or the kernel or pith in all the powers in the whole Father, and he is the cause of the springing joy in all powers in the whole Father.

(9) Think, and I will give." For we have heard that God knows the heart, not judging the soul from [external] movement, as we men; nor yet from the event, For it is ridiculous to think so. Nor was it as the architect praises the work when accomplished that God, on making the light and then seeing it, called it good.

(18) Therefore I say now, if thy heart does not qualify, mix or cooperate with God in thy knowledge, out of a true purpose of love, then thou art a dissembler, liar and murderer in the sight of God. For God does not hear any man's prayer, unless his heart be fully directed and bent in obedience to God.

(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.

(75) For the Creator has extracted the heart out of the Salitter and Mercurius of the divine powers; ["Understand he has composed it by the Fiat, viz. the centre of nature."]

(25) And this was the Purpose of God, therefore to create but one Man, that the same might be tempted, [and tried] how he would stand, and that upon his Fall he might the better be helped: And the Heart of God did before the Foundation of the World in his Love before intend [or predetermine] to come to help [him;] and when no other Remedy could do it, the Heart of God himself would become Man, and regenerate Man again.

(50) And if the spirit is pleased therewith, then it [the spirit] bringeth the same before its mother into the heart, and the heart, or the fountain of the heart, giveth it [the sound] to all the powers in the whole body; and then the mouth and hands lay hold on it.

(2) For charity is nought else to bemean to thine understanding, but love of God for Himself above all creatures, and of man for God even as thyself. And that in this work God is loved for Himself, and above all creatures, it seemeth right well. For as it is said before, that the substance of this work is nought else but a naked intent directed unto God for Himself.

(90) In thy heart, in thy veins, and in thy brain, thou hast thy spirit; and all the powers which move in thy heart, in thy veins, and in thy brain, wherein thy life consisteth, signify God the Father.

(107) Now here it stayeth, and qualifieth, mixeth or uniteth with the spirit of life in the heart, and is a royal seat of the spirit of the heart; for thus far the spirit of the heart's power presseth forth, and there is it approved.

(17) Although God is Almighty, He can only work in a heart when He finds readiness or makes it. He works differently in men than in stones. For this we may take the following illustration: if we bake in one oven three loaves of barley-bread, of rye-bread, and of wheat, we shall find the same heat of the oven affects them differently; when one is well-baked, another will be still raw, and another yet more raw. That is not due to the heat, but to the variety of the materials. Similarly God works in all hearts not alike but in proportion as He finds them prepared and susceptible.

If the heart is to be ready for the highest, it must he vacant of all other things. If I wish to write on a white tablet, whatever else is written on the tablet, however noble its purport, is a hindrance to me. If I am to write, I must wipe the tablet clean of everything, and the tablet is most suitable for my purpose when it is blank. Similarly, if God is to write on my heart, everything else must come out of it till it is really sanctified. Only so can God work His highest will, and so the sanctified heart has no outward object at all.

(35) Thus also is the heart or light of God always generated in the body of this world, and that generated heart is one heart with the eternal, unbeginning, infinite heart of God, which is in and above all heavens.

(5) In a hidden and incomprehensible wisdom he kept the knowledge to the end, until the Totalities became weary while searching for God the Father, whom no one found through his own wisdom or power. He gives himself, so that they might receive knowledge of the abundant thought about his great glory, which he has given, and (about) the cause, which he has given, which is his unceasing thanksgiving, he who, from the immobility of his counsel, reveals himself eternally to those who have been worthy of the Father, who is unknown in his nature, so that they might receive knowledge of him, through his desire that they should come to experience the ignorance and its pains.