(97) Therefore it is very hard to know Babel; every one supposes that he is not in it; and yet the Spirit shows me, that Babel incloses the whole Earth; therefore let every one look to his own Ways, and not hunt after Covetousness, for the Driver destroys it, and the Stormer eats it up and consumes it; the Council of the wise Man will not help then; all the Wisdom of this World is Folly; for that oFire is from the Anger of God; your Wisdom will turn to your Hurt and Scorn. Of Christ's Ascension into Heaven.

(14) And the vision was shown to me thus: Behold, in the vision clouds invited me and a mist summoned me, and the course of the stars and the lightnings sped and hastened me, and the winds in the vision caused me to fly and lifted me upward, and bore me into heaven.

(71) And he translated my spirit into the heaven of heavens, And I saw there as it were a structure built of crystals, And between those crystals tongues of living fire.

(71) And it came to pass after this that my spirit was translated And it ascended into the heavens: And I saw the holy sons of God. They were stepping on flames of fire: Their garments were white [and their raiment], And their faces shone like snow.

(1) AFTER this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter. And immediately I was in the Spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.

(42) Now if any Body would come into the Garden, he must press in through the Sword of Death; though indeed Christ has broken the Sword, so that now we can much easier enter in with our Souls, yet there is a Sword before it still; but he that finds the Way right, him it does not cut very much, for it is blunt, and it is bent; and if the Soul goes but into the Gate into the Center, then it is presently helped by the noble Champion Christ; for he has gotten the Sword into his Hands. He is the slain Lamb of the House of Israel, in the Revelation of John, which took the Book of the first Principle, out of the Hand of the Ancient [of Days] who sat upon the Throne, with his four and twenty Elders, which [Book] had seven Seals, or seven Spirits of the Birth of God, and opened them; where the Elders fell down before him, and worshipped the Lamb that was slain, and gave Praise and Honour to him which sat upon the Throne, because the Champion of the House of Israel had overcome. The seven golden Candlesticks are his Humanity, the seven Stars are his Deity, as the divine i Birth in itself stands in a sevenfold Form, as it is explained in the Beginning of this Book, in the first four Chapters.

(100) Now then says Reason, whither is he gone? Is he gone out of this World, aloft above the Stars into another Heaven? Hearken, my beloved Reason, incline thy Mind to Christ, and behold I will tell it thee; for we see it and know it; not I; for when And he is of Babel. Or the devouring Punishment. 1 say we, you must not barely understand it of my earthly Man, for the Spirit that drives this Pen is spoken of also; therefore I write and say we, when I speak of myself, as of the Author; for I should know nothing, if the Spirit of Knowledge did not stir it up in me, and there could be nothing found but such a Way; the Spirit would not be in any other Way, but he did hide and withdraw himself, and then my Soul was very much disquieted in me, with great Longing after the Spirit, till I learnt how it was.

(47) I raise my ladder up to the sky to see the gods

(87) And those three that had last come forth grasped me by my hand and took me up, away from the generations of the earth, and raised me up to a lofty place, and showed me a tower raised high above the earth, and all the hills were lower.

(50) And behold, I tell you a Mystery; as all whatsoever Adam was guilty of must stand yet [and be manifested] in this World on the Body of Christ, and must be seen in this World, so also you shall see this Temple (before the Time that the Incorruptible shall wholly swallow up the Corruptible) in the Lily in the Wonders; where the Anger opposes the Lily, till it be reconciled in Love, and till the Driver be put to open Shame (as was done also in the Death of Christ) which the Jews hope for. But their Scepter is broken, and their Life stands in the Birth of Christ; yet they come from the Ends of the World, and go out from Jericho again into the holy Jerusalem, and eat with the Lamb; this is a Wonder; but the a Driver is taken captive, and therefore we speak thus wonderfully; and at present we shall not be understood, till the Hunter is destroyed; and then our Life comes to us again, and stands in the Valley of Jehosaphat. The other Gate of the Sufferings of Christ.

(9) Or dost thou suppose this is not true, which my beloved Companion has shown me, when he opened my Eyes, that I saw? Then come, and go with me to Jerusalem, we will go together along the Way to Jericho, and see it well enough; and by the Way is this Garden, wherein the Devil with this great Generation dwells; we will show thee great Wonders, thou shalt see and know all that which we mentioned above, if thou art but a Man, and not the Devil's fatted Beast.

(3) And what thereof, though our Lord when He ascended to heaven bodily took His way upwards into the clouds, seen of His mother and His disciples with their bodily eyes? Should we therefore in our ghostly work ever stare upwards with our bodily eyes, to look after Him if we may see Him sit bodily in heaven, or else stand, as Saint Stephen did? Nay, surely He shewed Him not unto Saint Stephen bodily in heaven, because that He would give us ensample that we should in our ghostly work look bodily up into heaven if we might see Him as Saint Stephen did, either standing, or sitting, or else lying. For howso His body is in heaven—standing, sitting, or lying—wots no man. And it needeth not more to be witted, but that His body is oned with the soul, without departing. The body and the soul, the which is the manhood, is oned with the Godhead without departing also. Of His sitting, His standing, His lying, needeth it not to wit; but that He is there as Him list, and hath Him in body as most seemly is unto Him for to be. For if He shew Him lying, or standing, or sitting, by revelation bodily to any creature in this life, it is done for some ghostly bemeaning: and not for no manner of bodily bearing that He hath in heaven. See by ensample. By standing is understood a readiness of helping. And therefore it is said commonly of one friend to another, when he is in bodily battle: “Bear thee well, fellow, and fight fast, and give not up the battle over lightly; for I shall stand by thee.” He meaneth not only bodily standing; for peradventure this battle is on horse and not on foot, and peradventure it is in going and not standing. But he meaneth when he saith that he shall stand by him, that he shall be ready to help him. For this reason it was that our Lord shewed Him bodily in heaven to Saint Stephen, when he was in his martyrdom: and not to give us ensample to look up to heaven. As He had said thus to Saint Stephen in person of all those that suffer persecution for His love: “Lo, Stephen! as verily as I open this bodily firmament, the which is called heaven, and let thee see My bodily standing, trust fast that as verily stand I beside thee ghostly by the might of My Godhead. And I am ready to help thee, and therefore stand thou stiffly in the faith and suffer boldly the fell buffets of those hard stones: for I shall crown thee in bliss for thy meed, and not only thee, but all those that suffer persecution for Me on any manner.” And thus mayest thou see that these bodily shewings were done by ghostly bemeanings.

(2) "What is that, Father sweet, from which I cannot So fully screen my sight that it avail me," Said I, "and seems towards us to be moving?" "Marvel thou not, if dazzle thee as yet The family of heaven," he answered me; "An angel 'tis, who comes to invite us upward. Soon will it be, that to behold these things Shall not be grievous, but delightful to thee As much as nature fashioned thee to feel." When we had reached the Angel benedight, With joyful voice he said: "Here enter in To stairway far less steep than are the others." We mounting were, already thence departed, And "Beati misericordes" was Behind us sung, "Rejoice, thou that o'ercomest!" My Master and myself, we two alone Were going upward, and I thought, in going, Some profit to acquire from words of his; And I to him directed me, thus asking: "What did the spirit of Romagna mean, Mentioning interdict and partnership?" Whence he to me: "Of his own greatest failing He knows the harm; and therefore wonder not If he reprove us, that we less may rue it.

(35) "To this mountain you shall go in a certain night (when it: comes) most long and most dark, and see that you prepare yourselves by prayer. Insist upon the way that: leads to the mountain, but ask not of any man where the way lies: only follow your Guide, who will offer himself to you, and will meet you in the way but you shall not know him. This Guide will bring you to the mountain at midnight, when all things are silent and dark. It is necessary that you arm yourselves with a resolute heroic courage, lest you fear those things that will happen, and so fall back. You need no sword, nor any other bodily weapons, only call upon God sincerely and heartily.

(8) 1 tell thee for certain, and it is in Earnest; when I was at Jericho, there my beloved Companion opened my Eyes for me, that I saw; and behold, a great Generation of Men and Multitudes of People and Nations were together, one Part were like Beasts, and one Part like Men, and there was Strife between them; and beneath there was the Abyss of Hell, and the Beasts saw not that, but the Men were afraid and would be gone; to which the Devil would not consent, because his Garden had no Doors [open;] Or of the World. but they broke open his Garden, and so he must watch at the Door that they do not run away from him; but the Beasts (which were Men also) they did eat of his Food, and drank of his Drink, and he did nothing to them, because he fattened them for his Slaughter, and there was a continual Enmity between the right Men and the bestial Men.

(21) Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.

(2) And look thou have no wonder of this: for mightest thou once see it as clearly, as thou mayest by grace come to for to grope it and feel it in this life, thou wouldest think as I say. But be thou sure that clear sight shall never man have here in this life: but the feeling may men have through grace when God vouchsafeth. And therefore lift up thy love to that cloud: rather, if I shall say thee sooth, let God draw thy love up to that cloud and strive thou through help of His grace to forget all other thing.

(6) "Be mindful," said he, "of the accursed ones Formed of the cloud-rack, who inebriate Combated Theseus with their double breasts; And of the Jews who showed them soft in drinking, Whence Gideon would not have them for companions When he tow'rds Midian the hills descended." Thus, closely pressed to one of the two borders, On passed we, hearing sins of gluttony, Followed forsooth by miserable gains; Then set at large upon the lonely road, A thousand steps and more we onward went, In contemplation, each without a word. "What go ye thinking thus, ye three alone?" Said suddenly a voice, whereat I started As terrified and timid beasts are wont. I raised my head to see who this might be, And never in a furnace was there seen Metals or glass so lucent and so red As one I saw who said: "If it may please you To mount aloft, here it behoves you turn; This way goes he who goeth after peace."

(109) For it stands in the Gate in the Center, viz. in the Door [Way,] between Heaven and Hell; and the Word is in the Heaven. And if the Soul gives Way to be drawn away from that Gate, then it loses the Word; but if the Soul reaches forward again, towards the Gate, then it attains that again; and the Virgin (who is the Servant of the Word) goes continually [along] with the Soul, and warns it of the evil Ways. 1 10. But if the Soul be a Dog, an Adder, or Serpent, then the Virgin goes away to the Word into the Heaven, and then the Door is shut. And then there is a whole Birth between the Soul and the Word, whereas else there is but half [a Birth between the Word and the Soul;] and then there is Need of hard Striving, and [such a Soul] will hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; yet it is possible enough.

(99) Thou hast been a clear Glass (in him) of Men's own Conceits [or Opinions,] what one's own good Meaning (without the Spirit of God) is. Cain went not into the Sheepfold at the Door (which God made for Adam and Eve, with the Word, and Treader upon the Serpent,) but climbed into it another Way, by his strong lionish Mind, and would be a Lord over the Sheep, and became a Thief and Murderer of the Sheep, and the Sheep followed him not, but they went (with Abel) through the Sword of the Angel [or] Cherubim (out of this frail and corruptible Life) with the Treader upon the Serpent, into their resting Sheepfold, where there is not one Wolf; for the Cherubim will let none of them in. And if any of them come, then he cuts their Wolf's Heart of the Fierceness of the Kingdom of this World quite away, and then they also become Sheep, and lay themselves patiently among the Sheep, and seek no more after the Wolf, for he is beyond Eden, in the Land of Nod; but they are gone through the Sword of the Cherubim into Paradise, where no Wolf enters in; there is a Wall of a Principle and whole a Birth before it.