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(41) Hear, my beloved Reader, if thou art born of God, open the Eyes of thy Spirit wide, that the King of Glory may enter into thee, and open thy Understanding; consider every Syllable; for they are of great Moment, they are not mute, neither are they from a blind Center brought forth into the Light. Behold, here hung on the Cross God and Man; there was the Holy Trinity; there were all the three Principles; and the Champion stood in the Battle.

(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.

(29) Reader, who lovest God; hereby it will be shown thee, that the great Mysteries meet us, concerning the hidden Things that were in Adam before his Fall, and that yet there are much greater after his Fall, when he was as it were dead, and yet living; and here is shown the Birth of the eternal Essence, and why it still must thus have been, that Adam must have been tempted, and wherefore it could not have been otherwise; though Reason continually a gainsays it, and alledges God's Omnipotence, that it was in him to hinder, or suffer the doing of it.

(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.

(78) Therefore beware of the Longing [Lust or Desire;] and say not in thyself, I stand in the Dark, the Lord sees me not, [nor] what I think and do. He stands in the Gate of the Mind, where the Soul stands (before the clear Face of God) in the opened Gate; and all thy Abominations are known before God, and thou makest the Element of God blush [or change Colour] with them; thou grievest the chaste Virgin (which dwells in her own Center, and is given to be a Companion to thee in thy Mind) and makest her sad; she warns thee of the Way of the Ungodly; if thou followest [her Counsel,] and turnest, and breakest in unto her, by earnest Repentance, then she crowns thee in thy Mind with Wisdom and Understanding, that thou mayest then very well avoid the Devil; but if they doest not, then thou fallest out of one Sin and Abomination into another, and makest thy Measure full and running over, and then the Devil helps thee into his Kingdom, and thou art very serviceable to him; for thou art a true Scourge to the Children of God, not only with Reproaching, but also in Deeds [or in the Work of thy Hands,] which the Devil dares not do; thou doest him acceptable service. He amuses thee finely with the Name [i of God,] so that thou bringest forth from thy Lips, and teachest it; but thy Heart is a Thief and

(18) Although such Revelations have been hidden [or concealed] from the Beginning of the World, yet because it must now go into its Ether, and into the Breaking-through, therefore all stands naked, whatsoever has been hidden in Nature; and there shall very great Things (which have been hidden) be revealed [or manifested;] and this Mystery is the Break of Day. Therefore it is Time to awake, for the Awakening of the Dead is near at Hand.

(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.

(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.

(3) Such is the hateful cloak thou wearest - that throttles thee [and holds thee] down to it, in order that thou may'st not gaze above, and having seen the Beauty of the Truth, and Good that dwells therein, detest the bad of it; having found out the plot that it hath schemed against thee, by making void of sense those seeming things which men think senses. For that it hath with mass of matter blocked them up and crammed them full of loathsome lust, so that thou may'st not hear about the things that thou should'st hear, nor see the things thou should'st see.

(30) But when we consider [or mean] the Original of the first Principle, then we find the [Nature, Property, or] Species of the Tree, and also the Will to the Tree. We find there the Abyss of Hell and of Anger [and Wrath;] and moreover we find the Will of all the Devils, we find the envious Will of all the Creatures of this World, why they all are the Enemies one of another, and do hate, bite, worry, kill and devour one another. My beloved Reason, here I will show you the Tree of the Temptation, and you shall look Moses in the Face: Keep your Mind stedfast, that you may apprehend it. 31.1 have often given you to understand in this Book already, what the Essence of all Essences is; but because it is most of all highly necessary in this Place to know the Ground [thereof,] therefore I will a set it you down all at large, and very fundamentally, so that you shall know it in yourself; yea you shall understand it in all Creatures, and in all Things that are, or that you look upon, or at any Time may possibly think on; all these shall be Witnesses. I can bring Heaven and Earth, also the Sun, Stars, and Elements for a Witness, and that not in bare Words and Promises only, but it shall be set before you [very convincingly and] very powerfully in their Virtue and Essence; and you have no Virtue [or Power, or Faculty] in your Body, that shall not [convince you and] witness against you; do but not suffer the lying Spirit, the old Serpent, to darken your Mind, who is the Inventor of a Thousand Tricks.

(16) Or dost thou suppose that we are mad? If we did not see thee, we would be silent. Thou boastest now (by the Flatterers) of a golden Time; but they are most of them Wolves of Babel; when the Day breaks, then they will be known. Or should I not tell thee this, thou proud Whore? Behold, when thou with Adam and Eve wentest out of Paradise into the Spirit of this World, then thou wast as a God in the Spirit of this World; thou Slightest seek all Mysteries, and use them for thy Ornament. If thou hadst always gone cloathed in Silk and Purple, [or Scarlet,] yet thou hadst not [thereby] offended God; but thou hadst gone [in them] to the Honour of the great God in his Deeds of Wonder. Why hast thou forsaken the Love, and art become a Murderer? Was not Covetousness thy Sin, in that thou affordest not thy Members so much as thyself? Thou desirest to be only fine thyself alone. Thy Way only i should be holy. Wherefore was the Fratricide between Abel and Cain? The self-honouring Pride brought it about, so that Cain envied Abel's Uprightness, for the Sake of which he was so much beloved of God. Why was not Cain also humble and pious?

(118) Therefore, O Cain! fly away from the Spirit of this World, there is a Fire (out of the Root of the Originality) from the Lord of Heaven in it; thy swelled secret Kingdom is kindled, that Men may see [or know] thee in every Place; thou shalt stand quite open [or naked] with all thy Secrecies; for the Spiritus majoris Mundi [or Spirit of the great World] has found the Tincture, and its Roses blossom in the Wonders.

(29) What can be said of thee, O Cain? Dost thou suppose that God does not see thee? Thou monstrous Beast, thou shalt stand naked, as the Spirit in the Wonders signifies, that thy Ornament may be made known. How art thou become thus? O Eve! are not all thy Children, which thou hast brought forth, all come out of thy Loins? Was it then the Purpose of God that the Evil should domineer among the Good, and one plague another?

(16) These hard Points cast down all Jews, Turks, and Pagans, and they keep them back from the Christian Faith. Therefore now we must write for the Sake of the Tree of Pearl, and not conceal what appears to us in the great Wonder. Behold, thou Child of Man, consider what we set down here; gaze not on the Hand of the Pen, if you do, you err, and will lose the Jewel, which in all Eternity you will be sorry for; consider thyself only, and thou shalt find in thyself all the Causes [of the Passion of Christ] that are here written down; for there was a wonderful Pen in the Writing of it, and neither thou nor the Hand knows him sufficiently that directed it in the Writing; though indeed the Spirit knows him very well, yet the natural Man is blind in it, neither can it be expressed with earthly Words. Therefore consider thyself, and if you search into the new-born Man, then you will find the Pearl. The very horrible wonderful Gate of Man 's Sins.

(30) My dear Reader, if you be able, break open all, and look into the Pith, yet you shall not find it, though you should seek in the Deep, in the Stars, in the Elements, in all living Creatures, in Stones, Plants, Trees, and in Metals; also in Heaven and Earth, you Shall not find it. Now you will say, Where then shall I find it? Dear Reader, I cannot so much as lend you the Key that will lead you to it. But I will direct you where you shall find it; it lies in the third Chapter of the Evangelist St. John, in these Words; You must be born anew by Water, and by the Holy Ghost. This Spirit is the Key: When you attain it, receive it, and go before the first Principle, out of which this World and all Creatures are created, and open the first Root, from which such visible and sensible Things did spring.

(78) Though indeed here we shall be as one that is dumb to the World, yet we have written it for ourselves, for we understand it very well; and it is plain enough to the Tree of the Lily. But that the Person of Christ, with his Deeds and Essence, might be rightly demonstrated to the Reader, that he might apprehend it right, I therefore direct him to the Temptation of Christ in the Wilderness after his Baptism; whereat thou shouldst open thine Eyes, and not speak like the Spirit in Babel, which says, we know not what his Temptation was, and lay the Fault upon the Devil, that he was so impudent to presume to tempt Christ; saying moreover, we ought not to dive into it, [nor be so inquisitive about it,] we will let that alone till we come thither, [into the other Life,] and then we shall see what it is. Besides, they forbid him that has Eyes to see, none must search into it, [if they do,] they are called Enthusiasts, and are cried out upon for Novellists [such as broach new Opinions and pretend to new Lights] and for Heretics.

(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.

(27) There is nothing that is nearer you than Heaven, Paradise, and Hell, unto which of them you are inclined, and to which of them you rend [or walk,] to that in this [Life] Time you are most near: You are between both. And there is a Birth between each of them; you stand in this World between both the Gates, and you have both the Births in you: God beckons to you in the one Gate, and calls you; and the Devil beckons you in the other Gate, and calls you; with whom you go, with him you enter in. The Devil has in his Hand Power, Honour, Pleasure, and [worldly] Joy, and the Root of these is Death and Hell-fire. On the contrary, God has in his Hands, Crosses, Persecution, Misery, Poverty, Ignominy, and Sorrow; and the Root of these is a Fire also, and in the Fire [there is] a Light, and in the Light the Virtue, and in the Virtue [or Power] the Paradise, and in the Paradise [are] the Angels, and among the Angels Joy. The gross Eyes cannot behold it, because they are from the third Principle, and see only by the Splendor of the Sun; but when the Holy Ghost comes into the Soul, then he regenerates it anew in God, and then it becomes a paradisical Child, and gets the Key of Paradise, and that Soul sees into the Midst thereof.