(63) Then thou has great Honour for thy Shame. And therefore why art thou so sad? Lift up thyself out of thy wild Beast, Hunter, or Persecutor, as a fair Flower springs out of the Earth. O dost thou suppose, thou wild Beast, that my Spirit is mad, that it so little esteemed thee? Thou sayest I am indeed thy Beast, yet thou art born out of me; if I had not grown forth, thou hadst not been neither. Hearken thou my Beast, I am greater than thou; when thou wast to be, there I was thy Master- framer; my Essences are out of the Root of the Eternity, but thou art from this World, and thou breakest [or corruptest,] but I live in my Source [or Quality] eternally; therefore am I much nobler than thou; thou livest in the fierce [wrathful] Source, but I will put strong fierce Property into the Light, into the eternal Joy; my Works stand in Power, and thine remain in the Figure; when I shall once be released from thee, then I shall take thee no more to be my Beast again, but [I will take] my new Body which I brought forth in thee, in thy deepest Root of the holy Element. I will no more have thy rough Productions of the four Elements, Death swallows thee up. But I spring and grow out of thee, with my new Body, as a Flower out of the Root; I will forget thee. For the Glory of God (which cursed thee together with the Earth) has grafted my Root again in his Son, and my Body grows in the holy Element before God. Therefore thou art but my wild Beast, which dost plague me, and make me sick here, upon which the Devil rides, as upon his accursed Horse; and although the World scorn thee, I regard not that, it does that for my Sake; and yet it cannot see me, neither can it know me. And why then is it so mad? It cannot murder me, for I am not in it.

(65) Or what shall my noble Warrior Christ say to it? Have not I [says Christ] broken thy wild Beast? Am I not entered into the Death? I have cut off from thy Soul the four Elements, and the Wickedness [or Malice] of the Devil, and have inoculated thy Soul into my Virtue [or Power,] that thy Body might spring and grow again out of my Body, out of the holy Element before God; and I have bound myself to thee by my Spirit. Have I not made a Covenant with thee, that thou shouldst be mine? Have I not given thee my Body for Food, and my Blood for Drink? Have I not given thee my Spirit for a Conductor, and allotted thee my Kingdom for thy own? Why dost thou despise me, and go away from me? Thou runnest after the Wolves and the Dogs, and howlest with them, and thou seekest only after Anger, and how thou mayest bite [and devour;] thou swallowest nothing but Fierceness [into thee.] What shall I say? I have in my Suffering and Death (by my Regeneration) generated no such Beast, and therefore I will not have it, except it be again born anew in me, to an angelical Image, and then it shall be with me.

(64) But thou mad World, what shall the Spirit say [of thee?] art thou not my Brother? The Essences of my Spirit stir thee, go forth out of thy Beast, and then I go with my Companions into the Garden of Roses, into the Lily of God. Why keepest thou back, and sufferest thyself to be held by the Devil? Is he not thy Enemy, he does but hunt after thy Pearl; and if he gets it, then thy Spirit becomes a Worm and Beast in its Figure. Why sufferest thou thy angelical Image to be taken away, for temporal Pleasure Sake? Thy Pleasure is only in the corruptible Beast. But what does that avail the Soul? If thou dost not go out from it, thou wilt get eternal Woe and Sorrow by it.

(40) Do not behold thyself, thou blind Mind, and consider thyself, where is thy angelical Form in thee? Why art thou so angry, stern, [fierce, froward,] and malicious? Wherefore dost thou elevate thyself still in thy Wickedness, in Pride, in Might [or Authority,] and Pomp, and boasteth thyself for a brave and potent Beast? What is it that thou dost? Wherefore hast thou High and Low. let the Spirit of this World into thee, which seduces thee (as it lists) into High-mindedness, into [proud] Stoutness, into P Potency and Pomp, into Covetousness and Lying, into Falshood and Treachery, as also into Sickness and Corruption, [or Frailty?]

(29) Therefore, my beloved Mind, look what thou dost; and judge not so hastily and unadvisedly, and do not turn Beast because of the Multitude of Opinions, to whom belongs only the Chaff of the noble Seed. The Spirit of God shows himself in one that seeks him, yet according to the Manner and Kind of his Essences; and yet the Seed of God is sown along in the Essences; and if the Seeker seeks in a divine Desire, then he finds the Pearl according to his Essences, and so the great Wonders of God are manifested thereby.

(1) I SAY not this because I will that thou desist any time, if thou be stirred for to pray with thy mouth, or for to burst out for abundance of devotion in thy spirit for to speak unto God as unto man, and say some good word as thou feelest thee stirred: as be these, “Good JESU! Fair JESU! Sweet JESU!” and all such other. Nay, God forbid thou take it thus! For truly I mean not thus, and God forbid that I should depart that which God hath coupled, the body and the spirit. For God will be served with body and with soul both together, as seemly is, and will reward man his meed in bliss, both in body and in soul. And in earnest of that meed, sometimes He will enflame the body of devout servants of His here in this life: not once or twice, but peradventure right oft and as Him liketh, with full wonderful sweetness and comforts. Of the which, some be not coming from without into the body by the windows of our wits, but from within; rising and springing of abundance of ghostly gladness, and of true devotion in the spirit. Such a comfort and such a sweetness shall not be had suspect: and shortly to say, I trow that he that feeleth it may not have it suspect.

(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.

(65) The Mind (which knows [or understands] nothing in the Light of Nature) will marvel at such Writings, and will suppose that it is not true, that God has extracted and created Man out of such an Original. Behold, thou beloved Reason and precious Mind, bring thy five Senses hither, and I will show thee whether it be true [or not.] I will show thee [plainly,] that thou hast not the least Spark [or Degree of Reason or Cause] to allow any other Ground [to build upon,] except that thou wilt let thy Heart be, imbittered by the Devil in bestial Reason, and except thou wilt wilfully contemn the Light of Nature, which stands in the Presence of God. And indeed, if thou art in such a bestial Way, leave my Writings, and read them not, they are not written for such Swine, but for the Children [of Wisdom,] that are to possess the Kingdom of God. But I have written them for myself, and for those that seek, and not for the Wise and Prudent of this World.

(40) Therefore I say, a Beast is better than such a Man, who gives himself up into the hellish Images; for a Beast has no eternal Spirit, its Spirit is from the Spirit of this World, out of the Corruptibility, and passes away with the Body, till [it comes] to the Figure without Spirit, that [Figure] remains standing; seeing that the eternal Mind has by the Virgin of the eternal Wisdom of God discovered itself in the Out-Birth, for the manifesting of the great Wonders of God, therefore those [creaturely Figures,] and also the figured Wonders, must stand before zhim eternally; although no bestial Figure or Shadow suffers or does any Thing, but is as a Shadow or painted Figure, [or limned Picture.]

(16) At length she comes with a subtle Snare, and says, through the Spirit of the great World in the Mind, in himself; O! The Heavens have caused thee to be born to it, that thou dost such foolish Tricks, and would play juggling Feats in thee; thy Gifts are not from God; God has never spoken with thee. And what canst thou know then? Leave off, let it alone, thou mayest be a Christian well enough, and be quiet; let the Priests teach, they have their Wages for it. What hast thou to do with it? Beloved Reader, with these Blows this Pen was once thrown to the Ground, and the Driver would have broken it, but the Breath of God took it up again; therefore it shall write what happened to it, to be an Example for all Well-wishers; and it is an exceedingly precious one.

(87) But thou abominable antichristian Beast, that wouldst devour all, this thou shalt know concerning the Holiness of the Virgin Mary; that the Virgin Mary is higher, and has a greater Fulness of the Glance [or Luster] than another Child, out of another Body. Though (thou evil Beast) art scarce worthy to have this told thee, thou art such a Devourer, yet because the Four Elements. Counsel of God has concluded so, mit shall stand for a Witness against thee in thy Judgment.

(35) Hearken, thou antichristian Scorner; it is not enough for thee to stand and say, I have the true Ground of the Knowledge [that leads] to the Kingdom of Heaven. I have found the true Religion, and condemnest every one that has not thy Knowledge, or does not consent to thy Opinion; thou sayest, Such a one is nothing else but confound the Sheep with thy Fierceness, and causest them to offend, and to calumniate those whom neither thou nor they know, as the Ephesians did by Paul. Dost thou suppose that thou hast hunted away the Wolf by this means? Or hast thou not rather generated a Heap of young scornful Wolves, which howl and yell, and every one would devour, and yet know not where the evil Beast is, nor especially that most evil Beast of all, which generated them? O blind Babel, the Kingdom of Christ does not consist herein, but the abominable Antichrist of Confusion in Babel.

(43) Then the chaste Spirit out of God in Adam (viz. the Virgin) said; My dear Love, and Companion; I plainly see thy Lust, thou wouldst fain copulate with me; but I am a Virgin, and thou and besides, thou wouldst mingle thy Sourness with my Sweetness, and darken my bright Light; therefore I will not [do so.] I will lend thee my Pearl, and adorn thee with my Garment, but I will not give it dto be thy own.