(42) O thou blind Mind, with thy Might and Stateliness, full of Wickedness and devilish fierce Wrath, [wilt thou know where thou art after that thy Body perishes?] Thou art even with all the Devils, in the Abyss of Hell, if thou dost not turn, and by earnest unfained Sorrow and Repentance for thy Abominations, enter into the angelical Footsteps, that the Saviour and Treader upon the Serpent of fierce Wrath, Wickedness, Lying, and Deceit, may meet thee, and embrace thee in his Arms, and [that thou] mayest be new-born in him, and be yielded up into the Bosom of the chaste Virgin, and become an Angel; or else thou art in the eternal Death, in the eternal Darkness, and canst not in all Eternity reach the Kingdom of God any more.

(33) O thou confounded Babel, go out from Antichrist, and come (with a penitent Heart and Mind) before thy merciful Brother, and Saviour of all Men; he will more readily hear thee, than thou come to him. Step only out of this wicked Babel into a new Birth, and be not so much in Love with the Kingdom of this World; thou art but a mere Guest and Stranger in it. What avails thee, thy i transitory Honour [from Men,] which scarce lasts one Moment? Thou shalt indeed get much greater [surpassing] Joy and Honour in the new Regeneration, where the holy Souls in the Heaven, and the Angels will rejoice with thee. Consider what Joy and Gladness thou wilt stir up thereby in the Heart of Jesus Christ, where then instantly the precious Talent (the Holy Ghost) will be given thee, and thou wilt get the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, that thou thyself mayest open it. Or dost thou think it is not true? Do but seek and try with an earnest Mind, and thou wilt find Wonders indeed; thou thyself shalt know, [understand,] and (without any Doubt at all) assuredly see in thy Mind, out of what School this is wrote.

(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?]

(72) O how have all the Prophets written of thee, and yet thou knowest not thyself; thou ridest so upon thy fat pampered Beast, and that Riding pleases thee so well, that thou wilt rather go to the Devil into the Abyss of Hell, than that thou wilt light off thy Beast. What shall become of thee then, thou blind Babel? Do but light off from thy great ugly Beast, [which indeed is] thy Might, Pomp, State, and Pride. Behold! thy Bridegroom comes, and reaches forth his Hand to thee, and would lead thee out of Babel.

(108) And thou Cainish Church, here thou hast a Glass, in thy Rising up in Pride, and Self-Power, also in thy voluptuous self-honouring Life, behold thyself [in it.] For thou art gone into the Spirit of this World, and thou hast made the Kingdom of this World thy Kingdom of Heaven, and thou trustest only in thyself; thou makest thyself a Lord over Babel, and thou drawest the Kingdom of this World to thee only by cunning [Subtilty;] and thou makest thyself a Patron therein, and therewith thou goest out from God; thou supposest that thou art holy, though thou suppressest the poor Abel under thy Yoke, and vexest him Day and Night; he must here be thy Blood-Hound, and thou accountest him thy Slave, though thou hast not right to the least Hair of his Head as thine own; and therefore thou art no other than his Driver [or Hunter] in Jericho, thou art his Murderer, who strippest him, beatest, and killest him.

(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.

(101) So now when we consider the great Love and Mercifulness, in that God has turned to Man, we find Cause enough to write and teach these Things; for it concerns our eternal Salvation and Redemption out of the Jaws of Hell; therefore I will set down the Ground of the promised Messiah, that the following Writings may be the better understood, especially Moses in his Book of the Law, where there is need of it. Now he that will see nothing, God help him, he must needs be blind; for the Time of the Visitation of the hardened Jews, Turks, and Heathens, comes now. Whosoever will see, let them see; the Lamps for the Bridegroom are shortly to be kindled. He comes, whosoever desires to be a Guest, let him prepare him a Wedding-Garment.

(1) Whither stumble ye, sots, who have sopped up the wine of ignorance and can so far not carry it that ye already even spew it forth? Stay ye, be sober, gaze upwards with the [true] eyes of the heart! And if ye cannot all, yet ye at least who can! For that the ill of ignorance doth pour o`er all the earth and overwhelm the soul that's battened down within the body, preventing it from fetching port within Salvation's harbors.

(1) LOOK up now, weak wretch, and see what thou art. What art thou, and what hast thou merited, thus to be called of our Lord? What weary wretched heart, and sleeping in sloth, is that, the which is not wakened with the draught of this love and the voice of this calling! Beware, thou wretch, in this while with thine enemy; and hold thee never the holier nor the better, for the worthiness of this calling and for the singular form of living that thou art in. But the more wretched and cursed, unless thou do that in thee is goodly, by grace and by counsel, to live after thy calling. And insomuch thou shouldest be more meek and loving to thy ghostly spouse, that He that is the Almighty God, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, would meek Him so low unto thee, and amongst all the flock of His sheep so graciously would choose thee to be one of His specials, and sithen set thee in the place of pasture, where thou mayest be fed with the sweetness of His love, in earnest of thine heritage the Kingdom of Heaven.

(18) O thou blind Babel! I must tell thee, how thou becamest thus mad; thou hast suffered thyself to be possessed by the Region of the Stars, and to be led by the abominable Devil, and art become a perjured [or forsworn] Whore to God, and nevertheless, thou hast built thyself a Kingdom upon Earth, as 1 they lead their Region, thou leadest thine; as they generate by the Elements, and consume it again, so dost thou with thy Children also; thou generatest them and killest them again; thou makest War, and art a Murderer for thy Pride and Covetousness Sake, so that thou hast no Room at all upon the Earth.

(44) And thy worldly Bravery, Glory, Beauty, and Riches, will not exalt thee before God, as thou supposest, nor yet thy Office which thou didst bear here, be it the kingly or priestly Office; if thou desirest to be in Heaven, then thou must (through thy Saviour) be new born; thou must endeavour to bring thy Subjects to Righteousness, and then thou wilt shine (with thy Office) as bright as the Luster of Heaven, and thy Works will follow thee. O Man! consider thyself in this.

(2) O you High-Priests and Scribes, what Answer will you make to Christ, when you shall be found thus [at his Coming?] Or do you suppose you stand in the Dark? No, you stand in the Presence of the clear Countenance of Jesus Christ, who is Judge of the Quick and Dead; do but open your Eyes, and rightly feed the Flock of Jesus Christ; he comes and demands them of you. You are not all Shepherds or Pastors, but intruded covetous Wolves; you rely on your School- Art, [or University-Learning and Scholarship.] O, that avails nothing in the Presence of God; the Holy Ghost speaks not from that, he would not be bound up. If you will be Pastors, then you must hold out in the Temptation, and put on the Garment of the Lamb in your Heart; you must not take the Wool of the Sheep only from them, but you must give them the Food of the Holy Spirit in true Love, and be Practisers of it yourselves. But how will you give it, if you be in the Wilderness still, and have chosen the Kingdom of this World to yourselves in the last Temptation? What shall be said of you? Is not the Anger broke out and burning? Carry Fuel to it, for Babel is on Fire, the Water is dried up. Or what have I to do with thee, that I must write thus?

(100) O! thou blind World, with thy forged Masses for Souls, such as thy Blessing is, such thou art thyself; thou dost all for Money; if nothing be given thee, thou wilt keep no Solemnity or Procession. If thou wilt pray for thy Neighbor's Soul, do so whilst it is between Heaven and Hell, in the Body of this World, then thou mayest effect somewhat; and it is very pleasing [and acceptable] to God, that thou desirest to be one Body in Christ; and thou helpest the Necessity [or Want] of thy Fellow -member, to bring him into God; it is the Pleasure and Will of God, that one [helps] to bear the Burden of another, and to be saved in one brotherly Love, and in one Body.

(15) Therefore, thou Child of Man, take Heed, let not your Ears be amused: When you hear the false Shepherds [or Pastors] judge and condemn the Children of Christ, that is not the Voice of Christ, but of Antichrist; the Way to Paradise has quite another Entrance; your Heart must with all your Power and Strength be directed to God [or Goodness;] and as God desires that all Men should be saved, so his Will is that we should help to bear one another's Burden, [and bear with one another,] and friendly, soberly, and modestly meet one another with Entreaties in the Holy Ghost, and seek with Earnestness the [Salvation] and Welfare of our Neighbour in Humility, and wish heartily that he might be freed from Vanity, and enter with us into the Garden of Roses.

(1) "You wretches! You poor devils! You pretenders to truth! You falsifiers of knowledge! You sinners against the spirit! Do you still dare to listen when from the beginning you should have been speaking? Do you still dare to sleep when from the beginning you should have been awake so that the kingdom of heaven might receive you? I tell you the truth, it is easier for a holy person to sink into defilement, and for an enlightened person to sink into darkness, than for you to reign—or not to reign.

(34) Wouldst thou get into Heaven? then thou must put off thy Wolf, and get into a Lamb's Skin; not with Hypocrisy, in a Corner [Chamber,] Cloister, or Wilderness [and Hermitage,] but with Earnestness in the new Birth; and thy Light must shine forth in Righteousness and Mercifulness, to the Overthrow of the Kingdom of the Devil, and it must destroy his Nest, with kind Well-doing to the Needy.

(10) My son, do not fear anyone except God alone, the Exalted One. Cast the deceitfulness of the Devil from you. Accept the light for your eyes, and cast the darkness from you. Live in Christ, and you will acquire a treasure in heaven. Do not become a sausage (made) of many things which are useless, and do not become a guide in your blind ignorance.

(43) And understand by this that he who is in darkness will not be able to see anything unless he receives the light and recovers (his) sight by means of it. Examine yourself (to see) whether you wholly have the light, so that, if you ask about these things, you may understand how you will escape. For many are seeking in darkness, and they grope about, wishing to understand, since there is no light for them.

(15) Where is now thy Authority, thy Honour, thy Riches, thy Pomp and Bravery, thy Power, wherewith thou hast terrified the Needy, and hast made the Right bow and bend to thy Will? Behold, it is all in Substance, and stands before thee; the Oppressed read thy Lesson to thee; all that was rightly spoken [by thee] in this World, is there recalled again, and thou abidest (in thy Unrighteousness) in Falshood; all Lying and Deceit stand manifest in the Substance, all thy Words stand in the Tincture in the Substance of Eternity before thee, and are thy Looking-glass; they will be thy eternal gnawing Whelps, and the Book of thy Comfort and Trust. Therefore do but think what thou wilt do; wilt thou not then curse and judge thyself?

(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.