(48) You must know, that Christ, while he lived upon the Earth, and all we that are new-born in him, have and carry the heavenly Flesh and Blood in the earthly [Man,] and we carry it also in the new Man, in the Body of Christ. And when we die thus in the old earthly Body, then we live (in the new Body) in the Body of Jesus Christ, and spring up in him out of Death; and our Springing up is our Paradise, where our Essences spring up in God, and the earthly is swallowed up in Death, and we put on our Lord Jesus Christ, not only in the Faith and Spirit, but in the Virtue [and Power] of the Body, in our heavenly Flesh and Blood; and so we live to God the Father in Christ his Son, and the Holy Ghost confirms all our Doings; for all what we shall do, it is God does it in us.

(10) And thus yet the one must be parted from the other, viz. the Kingdom of this World, which is a Root, or Stirrer up of the Root of the Fierceness, and therefore it was necessary that God should pass with the new Body into the Separation of the Root, and of the Kingdom of this World, as into the Death of the Fierceness, and should destroy Death, and spring with its own Virtue and Power through Death, as a Flower springs out of the Earth, and so hold the inward Fierceness captive xin his own Virtue of the new Body. 1 1. And this we understand of Christ, who is truly entered in such a Manner, and has taken the strong Anger (and the Devil in it) captive, and has sprung with his holy heavenly Body through Death, and has destroyed Death, so that the eternal Life springs forth through Death; and thus Death was taken captive by the new eternal Body, and it is an eternal Imprisonment; so that an eternal Life is grown in Death, and the new Body treads upon the Head of Death, and of the Fierceness; the Property of Death stands in the Prison of the new eternal Life.

(46) And then also the holy Bodies went out of the Graves; consider this well; those that had put their Trust in the Messiah, had (in the Promise) got the pure Element for a new Body; and now when the promised Saviour went through Death into Life, and put on that pure Element for a Body, then their Souls in the Saviour (in whom they stood) in Hope got the Upperhand, and put on their new Body (in the Body of Christ) and lived in him, in his [Power and] Virtue; there were the holy Patriarchs and Prophets, who in this World had put on the Treader upon the Serpent in the Word of God, wherein they had prophesied of him, and wrought Miracles, they were now quickened in the Virtue of Christ; for the Virtue of Christ sprung up through Death, and reconciled the Father, who held the Soul captive in the Anger, and they now entered with Christ into Life.

(14) Thus we have got a Prince of the eternal Life, and we need do no more but to press into him with a firm Trust and strong Belief, and then our Soul receives his Love, and springs forth with him through Death, and stands upon that which is earthly, viz. upon Flesh and Blood, and is a Fruit in the Kingdom of God, in the Body of Jesus Christ, and triumphs over the Fierceness; for the Love holds that captive, and that is a Reproach to Death; as Paul says, O Death! where is thy Sting? O Hell! where is thy Victory? Thanks be to God, who has given us Victory.

(42) Therefore the Body of Christ is inferior to the Deity; and in these our human Essences he suffered Death, and his Deity of the holy Man in the pure Element entered together also into Death, and bereaved Death of its Power, and separated the natural Soul (which Christ commended to his Father, when he died on the Cross) from the Kingdom of this World, also from Death, from the Devil, and from Hell, in the strong divine Might [or Power,] and opened a Gate for us all, who come to him and Or by. incline ourselves (with Mind and Thoughts) to him; then the Father draws our Soul (which is in him) into the pure Love of Christ; where then it puts its Imagination again through Christ P forward into the holy Trinity, and is fed again from the Verbum Domini [the Word of the Lord,] where then it is an Angel again, quite separated from the Kingdom of the Devil, and of this World, in the Death of Christ.

(32) And as the fierce [wrathful] Essence of the Anger of God pressed into Adam, whereby he entered into Death, of which God spoke, saying, If thou eatest of the Tree, thou shalt die the Death, understand the Death in the Flesh, even while they were in the earthly Life, so the sharp Nails must pierce through the Hands and Feet of Christ, and so he must enter into Death; and as there is in the human Essences (before the Light of God) a Cross-Birth, so when the Light of God shines therein, all is turned into a pleasant flourishing Blossom, wherein the sharp Essences are not found or perceived.

(6) Now therefore as we know, that Christ (by his Entrance into the Incarnation) has opened a Door into Heaven, into his holy Body, so that we (through a true Repentance and Confidence) may come to him and put the new white Garment of his Innocence, in his Love, upon our Souls, so we know also that the Soul stands yet fast bound with two Chains. One is the Birth of its own Life, whose most inward Root is Poison and Wrathfulness; and so the Soul being [sprung] out of the eternal Source, and having its Originality out of the Eternity, none can redeem it in its own Root of Eternity, or bring it out of the Anger, except there come one who is the Love in itself, and be born in its own very Birth, that so he may bring it out of the Anger, and set it in the Love in himself, as it was done in Christ.

(25) The early Fathers of the church sometimes used the tree to symbolize Christ. They believed that ultimately Christianity would grow up like a mighty oak and overshadow all other faiths of mankind. Because it annually discards its foliage, the tree was also looked upon as an appropriate emblem of resurrection and reincarnation, for though apparently dying each fall it blossomed forth again with renewed verdure each ensuing spring.

(17) Therefore must Christ in his Temptation overcome the Kingdom of the Anger, and this external Birth; and by his Entrance into Death, he broke the Head of the Serpent, viz. the Devil, and all Devils, and took them captive. Thou must understand it thus; That the inward Element (which comprises the whole Body of this World) became Christ's eternal Body; for the whole Deity, in the Word and the Heart of God, entered thereinto, and espoused itself to remain therein to all Eternity; and this same Deity became a Creature, even such a Creature as can be everywhere, as the Deity itself; and this same Creature has captivated all Devils in the Kingdom of this World. And all Men who with their Mind draw near to this Christ, and desire him in right Earnest, they are drawn by the Spirit of the Father, (viz. of the clear and pure Deity) into the Humanity of Christ, that is, into the pure Element before the Trinity. And if they continue steadfast, and do not again depart from God into the Desire of the Devil, then the precious Pearl, viz. the Light of God, is sown in their Soul, which [Light] attracts to itself the precious Body of Jesus Christ, with Paradise, and the Kingdom of Heaven. And thus the right new man (Christus) grows on the Soul in the heavenly Virgin of God's Wisdom, in the Holy Ternary, in the Kingdom of Heaven. And thus such a Man is according to the new Man in Heaven in the Body of Jesus Christ, and as to the old earthly Man, which hangs unto the holy [Man,] he is in this World in the House of Sin, and the Deity actuates the new Humanity, and the Spirit of this World the old, until he puts him off in Death; for he is a Man in Heaven, born in the Mercy of God in the Body of Jesus Christ.

(15) And because we clearly understand and apprehend it in the Spirit, therefore we are indebted to show the Light to those that apprehend it not, and lie thus captivated in Reason, and continually search into the Circumstances, why it happened so [in the Passion of Christ.] For Reason says; If it must needs be so, that Christ must enter into Death, and destroy Death, and spring up through Death, and so draw us to him, what is the Cause then, that he must be so despised, and scourged, and crowned with a Crown of Thorns, and at last be crucified between Heaven and Earth? Could he not die some other Death, and so spring through Death with his heavenly Body?

(48) And thither the second Adam (with his becoming Man) brought it in again, and [there] as a loving Child it was bound up with the Word of God, in Love and Righteousness; and there the new Creature (out of the Element) came to be the Body of the Soul. For in the new Creature of the Limbus of God, the Soul was holy, and the earthly Essence (out of Flesh and Blood) clave to it, in the Time of the earthly Body; which [Essences] Christ (when his Soul with the new Creature went into Death) left in Death, and with the new Body in the natural Soul he arose from Death, and triumphed over Death; as hereafter you shall see the Wonders concerning the Death and Resurrection of Christ.

(25) But there is a great Difference in Souls, and therefore a the going to Heaven is very unlike; some of them are through true Repentance and Sorrow for their Misdeeds, through their Faith (in the Time of their Bodies) set [or ingrafted] into the Heart of God, [and] new regenerated through the Birth of Jesus Christ; and they instantly (with the Breaking of their Bodies) leave all that is earthly, and instantly also lay off the Region of the Stars; and they comprehend, in their Essences of the first Principle, the Mercy of God the Father in the kind Love of Jesus Christ; and these] also stand, in the Time of their Bodies, according to the Essences of the Soul, (which they receive from the Passion and Death of Christ) in the Gate of the Heaven; and their Departure from the Body is a very pleasant Entering into the Element before God, into a still Rest, expecting their Bodies, without [irksome] Longing; where then the Paradise shall flourish again, which the Soul tastes very well, but effects no Source [or Work] till the first Adam, [as he was] before the Fall, dbe again upon it.

(19) And there then in the Saints, the Incorruptible attracts the Corruptible into itself, and the Death and this earthly Flesh is swallowed up; and we all live in the great and holy Element of the Body of Jesus Christ, in God the Father, and the Holy Ghost is our Comfort; and with this World, and with our earthly Body, all Knowledge and Skill of this World perishes; and we live as Children, and eat of the paradisical Fruit, for there is no Terror, Fear, nor Death any more; for the Principle of Hell together with the Devils (in this last Hour) is shut up; and the one [Principle] cannot touch the other any more in Eternity, nor conceive any Thought of the other. The Parents shall no more think of their wicked Children that are in Hell, nor the Children of their Parents; for all shall be in Perfection, and that which is in Part shall cease.

(7) Now that it is testified to us by the Writings of those who have been regenerated out of this zEarthliness, and at length are entered into a holy and incorruptible Life, who have written and taught of an eternal joyful Life, and also of an eternal perishing and anguishing Life; and have taught us how we should follow after them, and how we should step into a new Birth, where we should be regenerated out of this Earthliness, into a new Creature, and that we should do nothing else about it but follow them, and then we should find, a in Deed and in Truth, what they had spoken, written, and taught. Yea even in this Life we should see our true native Country in the new Regeneration, and know it (in the new-born Man) in great Joy, whereas then our whole Mind would incline to it; and in our new Knowledge (in the new Man) true Faith would grow, and the hearty Desire of the unfeigned Love towards the hidden God; for which noble Knowledge Sake, many Times they have yielded their earthly Body and Life to the unregenerated Gainsayer (according to his devilish, malicious Revenge) into Death, and have taken it with great Joy, and have chosen for themselves the eternal incorruptible Life.

(10) And so the Kingdom of Heaven is his own Body, and the whole princely Throne of his Principle is Paradise, wherein the blessed Fruit in the Virtue of God springs up, for the Holy Ghost is the Virtue [and Power] of the Fruit; as the Air in this World is, so the Holy Ghost is the Air and Spirit of the Soul in Christ, and of all his Children; for there is no other Air in Heaven, in the Body of Christ; and God the Father is all in all. Thus we live and are (in Christ) all in the Father, and there is no Soul that searches out to the Depth; but we live all in Singleness of Heart, and in great Humility and Love one towards another, and rejoice one with another, as Children do before their Parents; and to this End God created us.

(16) Again, when we read of the old man and the new man we must mark what that meaneth. The old man is Adam and disobedience, the Self, the Me, and so forth. But the new man is Christ and true obedience, a giving up and denying oneself of all temporal things, and seeking the honour of God alone in all things. And when dying and perishing and the like are spoken of, it meaneth that the old man should be destroyed, and not seek its own either in spiritual or in natural things. For where this is brought about in a true divine light, there the new man is born again. In like manner, it hath been said that man should die unto himself, that is, to earthly pleasures, consolations, joys, appetites, the I, the Self, and all that is thereof in man, to which he clingeth and on which he is yet leaning with content, and thinketh much of. Whether it be the man himself, or any other creature, whatever it be, it must depart and die, if the man is to be brought aright to another mind, according to the truth. Thereunto doth St. Paul exhort us, saying: “Put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts: . . . and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”17 Now he who liveth to himself after the old man, is called and is truly a child of Adam; and though he may give diligence to the ordering of his life, he is still the child and brother of the Evil Spirit. But he who liveth in humble obedience and in the new man which is Christ, he is, in like manner, the brother of Christ and the child of God. Behold! where the old man dieth and the new man is born, there is that second birth of which Christ saith, “Except a man be born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”18 Likewise St. Paul saith, “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”19 That is to say, all who follow Adam in pride, in lust of the flesh, and in disobedience, are dead in soul, and never will or can be made alive but in Christ.

(22) If now it be hard captivated in Sins, and still goes on in sinning from Day to Day, so that it is cloathed with the Anger of God, and has loaded itself with mocking the Children of God, and so sticks over Head and Ears in the Anger of God, and scarce hangs by a Thread [to Christ,] O! how hard it is with that Soul, Must not that Soul needs swelter a tedious While in the Scorn which it has put upon the Children of God? How can it suddenly reach the noble Virgin in the Love and Mercy of God? And then where is the noble Tree of Pearl [in the mean While,] which is sown as a small Grain of Mustard-seed, and in the Growing of it comes to flourish like a Bay-tree? Whence has it its Sap, if the Soul stands thus in the Bath of the Anger? O! it will (in many) not grow green in Eternity. And therefore says Christ, In the Resurrection they shall excel one another in Glory, as the Sun, Moon, and Stars.

(75) As Adam went out of the clear Light of God into the dark Kingdom of this World, and the Soul of Adam stood between two dark Principles (as between Death and Hell) and grew up in the Body, so also would Christ (in his growing Body) rise up from the Dead at Midnight, and make the Night in his holy Body to be a clear eternal Day, whereinto no Night ever came, but the Light of God the Father and of the Lamb shone therein.

(7) And now if we will speak of the Glorification of Christ, and of his Body, which he visibly (and in that Form in which he had conversed upon Earth) ascended with, then we must say, that as the Love of the Heart of God has reconciled the Anger of the Father, and holds it as it were captive in it, so also the Holy Ternary has comprehended the hard palpable Body of Christ, viz. the Kingdom of this World, as if it was wholly swallowed up, whereas it is not swallowed up, but the Source of this World is destroyed in Death, and the Holy Ternary has put on the Body of Christ, not as a Garment, but virtually [or powerfully] in the Essences; and he is as it were swallowed up (to our Apprehension and Sight) and yet is really, and shall come again at the last Judgment-Day, and manifest himself in his own Body which he had here, that all may see him, be they good or bad; and he shall also come in the same Form to keep the Judgment of the Separation, for in his divine glorified Form we cannot behold him, before we be glorified, especially the Wicked. But thus all Generations shall see him and know him, and the Unbelieving shall weep and wail, that they went so out of their Flesh and Blood into another Source [or Condition,] when they should and might in their own Essences have put on God, and yet put on the Kingdom of the Fierceness of the Anger of God with the Devils, and let the same into the Essences of their Souls, and caused themselves to perish.

(92) The Deity in Christ in the holy Ternary said, Eat of the Word of the Lord, and go forth from the outward Man, rest in the Kingdom of Heaven, and live in the new Man, and then the old Man is dead, for the new Man's Sake; on the contrary, the Devil said to the Soul, Thy earthly Body does hunger (because there is no Bread for it) therefore make Bread of Stones, that thou mayest live; and the strong Soul in Christ as a Champion stood and said; Man lives not by Bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds out of the Mouth of God: And he rejected the earthly Bread and Life, and put his Imagination into the Word of God, and did eat of the Word of the Lord, and then the Soul in the Kingdom of Heaven was predominant, and the earthly Body was as it were dead for the Kingdom of Heaven's Sake; whereas yet it was not dead, but it became the Servant of the heavenly Body, and lost its potent Dominion.