(13) Also the Devils tremble at the Kindling of the Wrath, whose Faces appear before the Eyes of the Ungodly; for they see the angelical World before them, and the hellish Fire in them; and they see how every Life burns, and every one in its own Source, in its own Fire. The angelical World burns in Triumph, in Joy, in the Light of the Glory, and it shines as the clear Sun, which neither Devil, nor any of the Wicked dare look upon, and there is Praise [and Hallelujahs] that the Driver is overcome.

(57) Behold, thou poor Soul in thy Bath of Thorns, where is thy Home? Art thou at Home in this World? Why then dost thou not seek the Favour and Friendship of the World? Why dost thou not hunt after the temporal Honour, after Pleasure and Riches, that it may go well with thee in this World? Why dost thou make thyself a Fool to the World, and art every one's Owl and Footstool? Why dost thou suffer thyself to be despised and abused by those that are inferior to thee, and know less than thou? Why shouldst thou not be stately and brave with those seeming holy Hypocrites? And then thou wouldst be beloved, and no Body would abuse thee; and thou wouldst be more safe and secure in thy Body and Goods, than in this Way, wherein thou art but the World's Owl and Fool.

(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.

(56) Now says Reason, What is the best Counsel and Remedy for the poor Soul? What shall it do in this Bath of Thorns and Thistles? Behold, we will show thee the Counsel of the Virgin, as it is given us for a victorious Comfort, and we will write it for a firm Memorial to ourselves; for it may come, that we ourselves may stand in Need of it, as we have already for a tedious While sweltered in this Bath of Thorns and Thistles, wherein we also attained this Garland; and therefore we must not be silent, but set forth the Gift of the Virgin, which helps against all the Gates of the Devil.

(45) But thou earthly Babel, what shall I write much of thee for? Indeed I must show thee the Ground, that thy Hypocrisy may be brought to Light, and that the Devil may not continue (in such a Manner) to stand in an angelical Form, and in the voluptuous Kingdom of this World (in Man) be a God, which is his highest Endeavour.

(1) LOVING Reader, I had need have an angelical Tongue for this Description, and thou an angelical Mind, and then we should well understand one another: But seeing we have them not, therefore we will express the great Deeds of God with the earthly Tongue, according to our [received] Gift and Knowledge, and open the Scripture to the Reader, and give him Occasion to consider further, whereby the Pearl might be sought and found at last; therefore we will work in our Day-labour, according to our Duty, till the Pearl of the Lily be found.

(4) When I shall be in presence of my Lord, Full often will I praise thee unto him.' Then paused she, and thereafter I began: 'O Lady of virtue, thou alone through whom The human race exceedeth all contained Within the heaven that has the lesser circles, So grateful unto me is thy commandment, To obey, if 'twere already done, were late; No farther need'st thou ope to me thy wish. But the cause tell me why thou dost not shun The here descending down into this centre, From the vast place thou burnest to return to.' 'Since thou wouldst fain so inwardly discern, Briefly will I relate,' she answered me, 'Why I am not afraid to enter here. Of those things only should one be afraid Which have the power of doing others harm; Of the rest, no; because they are not fearful. God in his mercy such created me That misery of yours attains me not, Nor any flame assails me of this burning. A gentle Lady is in Heaven, who grieves At this impediment, to which I send thee, So that stern judgment there above is broken.

(5) But when we will speak of the Source [or Fountain,] and Joy of Paradise, and of its highest Substance, what it is, we have no Similitude of it in this World, we stand in Need of angelical Tongues and Knowledge to express it; and though we had them, yet we could not express it with this Tongue. It is well understood in the Mind, when the Soul rides in the Chariot of the Bride, but we cannot express it with the Tongue; yet we will not cast away the A, B, C, but prattle [or stammer] with the Children, till another Mouth be given us to speak with.

(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?]

(2) And far as eye of mine could wing its flight, Now on the left, and on the right flank now, The same this cornice did appear to me. Thereon our feet had not been moved as yet, When I perceived the embankment round about, Which all right of ascent had interdicted, To be of marble white, and so adorned With sculptures, that not only Polycletus, But Nature's self, had there been put to shame. The Angel, who came down to earth with tidings Of peace, that had been wept for many a year, And opened Heaven from its long interdict, In front of us appeared so truthfully There sculptured in a gracious attitude, He did not seem an image that is silent. One would have sworn that he was saying, "Ave;" For she was there in effigy portrayed Who turned the key to ope the exalted love, And in her mien this language had impressed, "Ecce ancilla Dei," as distinctly As any figure stamps itself in wax. "Keep not thy mind upon one place alone," The gentle Master said, who had me standing Upon that side where people have their hearts;

(86) And so should the angelical Man also set his Will in the broken Gates of the Darkness, through the Will of the Father, wherewith the Soul qualifies [or mingles] in the Meekness of the Heart of God, and then the Source [or Quality] of the Darkness, in the [fierce] Wrathfulness, should not have stirred him, but he should have continued a glorious Prince of Paradise, in Triumph over the Kingdom of Hell and of this World.

(82) And the Spirit signifies, that if you do not leave off this Contention, you shall have no other Sign [given you] than the Contention must devour yourselves, you must consume yourselves. Therefore are you not mad? Are you not all Brethren, and are you not all in Christ? If you did converse in Love, what should you need to strive about your native Country wherein you dwell? O leave off, your Cause is evil in the Sight of God, and you are all found to be in Babel. Be advised; the Day breaks. How long will you keep Company with that adulterous Whore? Arise, your noble Virgin is adorned in her orient Garland of Pearl; she wears a Lily which is most delightful; be brotherly, and she will adorn you indeed; we have seen her really, and in her Name we write this.

(39) Of which my Soul knows full well, and has also received its Knowledge thus, which the learned Master in the Hood of his Degree cannot believe, because he cannot comprehend it; therefore he holds it to be impossible, and ascribes it to the Devil (as the Jews did by the Sun of the Virgin, when he in [the Virtue of] the Virgin showed Signs and wrought Miracles) which my Soul regards not, neither esteems their Pride, it has enough in the Pearl; and it has a Longing to show the Thirsty [where] the Pearl [lies:] The crowned Hood [or cornered Cap] may play merrily behind the Curtain of Antichrist, till the Lily grows, and then the Smell of the Lily will [cause some to] throw away the Hood, [or Cap,] says the Virgin; and the Thirsty shall drink of the Water of Life; and [at that Time] the Son of the Virgin will rule in the Valley of Jehosaphat.

(85) Before Thy burning throne the angels wait, Much-working, charged to do all things, for men. Thy young Spring shines, all prank'd with purple flowers; Thy Winter with its chilling clouds assails; Three Autumn noisy Bacchus distributes."

(2) For as the sun the sight that trembles most, Even so the memory of that sweet smile My mind depriveth of its very self. From the first day that I beheld her face In this life, to the moment of this look, The sequence of my song has ne'er been severed; But now perforce this sequence must desist From following her beauty with my verse, As every artist at his uttermost. Such as I leave her to a greater fame Than any of my trumpet, which is bringing Its arduous matter to a final close, With voice and gesture of a perfect leader She recommenced: "We from the greatest body Have issued to the heaven that is pure light; Light intellectual replete with love, Love of true good replete with ecstasy, Ecstasy that transcendeth every sweetness. Here shalt thou see the one host and the other Of Paradise, and one in the same aspects Which at the final judgment thou shalt see." Even as a sudden lightning that disperses The visual spirits, so that it deprives The eye of impress from the strongest objects,

(49) And though indeed thou must walk here with thy Body in the dark Night among Thorns and Thistles, (so that the Devil and also this World does rend and tear thee, and not only buffet, despise, deride, and villify thee outwardly, but also many Times stop thy dear Mind, and lead it captive in the Lust of this World into the Bath [or Lake] of S wines,) yet then the noble Virgin will help thee still, and will call upon thee to desist from thy ungodly mWays.

(38) Hast thou been a proud vain-glorious, selfishly Potent, and one that has for thy Pleasure Sake oppressed the Needy, then such a Spirit goes forth from thee, and then so it is in the Eternity, where it can neither keep nor get any Thing for [to feed] its Covetousness, neither can it adorn its Body with any Thing, but with that which is there, and yet it climbs up eternally in its Pride, for there is no other Source in it; and thus in its Rising it reaches into nothing else but the stern Might of the Fire in its Elevation; it inclines itself in its Will continually in such a Purpose as it did in this World; as it was wont to do here, so all appears in its Tincture, therein itclimbs up eternally in the Abyss of Hell.

(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?

(4) Thou know'st it; since, for her, to thee not bitter Was death in Utica, where thou didst leave The vesture, that will shine so, the great day. By us the eternal edicts are not broken; Since this one lives, and Minos binds not me; But of that circle I, where are the chaste Eyes of thy Marcia, who in looks still prays thee, O holy breast, to hold her as thine own; For her love, then, incline thyself to us. Permit us through thy sevenfold realm to go; I will take back this grace from thee to her, If to be mentioned there below thou deignest." "Marcia so pleasing was unto mine eyes While I was on the other side," then said he, "That every grace she wished of me I granted; Now that she dwells beyond the evil river, She can no longer move me, by that law Which, when I issued forth from there, was made. But if a Lady of Heaven do move and rule thee, As thou dost say, no flattery is needful; Let it suffice thee that for her thou ask me. Go, then, and see thou gird this one about With a smooth rush, and that thou wash his face, So that thou cleanse away all stain therefrom,