(67) Therefore the Soul (when it departs from the Body) needs not to go far; for at that Place where the Body dies, there is Heaven and Hell; and the Man Christ dwells every where. God and the Devil is there, yet each of them in his own Kingdom. The Paradise is also there; and the Soul needs only to enter through the deep Door in the Center. Is the Soul holy? Then it stands in the Gate of Heaven, and the earthly Body has but kept it out of Heaven; and now when the Body comes to be broken, then the Soul is already in the Heaven; it needs no going out or in, Christ has it in his Arms, for where the four Elements break, there the Root of them remains, which is the holy Element, and therein the Body of Christ stands, and also Paradise, which stands in the springing Source of Joy; and that Element is the soft still Habitation.

(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.

(90) Now the heavenly [Body] must overcome the earthly, that the earthly may be as it were dead and impotent, and that the heavenly may xkeep the Dominion. And now as Adam stood in the Angle (between Love and Wrath) when he was tempted, there stood both Kingdoms against him, and pulled at him; and as God the Father (direct forward in his reconciled Will) is the Kingdom of Heaven, and the clear Deity; and backward (in the eternal Root of Nature) there is his Wrath and Anger, and yet both of them are in the eternal Father; and as in the eternal Nature of the Wrath, the Light or the Kingdom of Heaven is not known, and also in the eternal Light, the Kingdom of Fierceness and Wrath is not known, because each Kingdom is in itself, so is the Soul of Man also; it has Kingdoms in it, in which it a trades, in that it stands. If it trades in the Kingdom of Heaven, then the Kingdom of Hell is dead in it; not that it is ceased, but the Kingdom of Heaven is predominant, and the Kingdom of Fierceness is changed into Joy; so also, if it trades in the Kingdom of Wrath, then that is predominant, and the Kingdom of Heaven is as it were dead; although indeed (in itself it does not vanish) yet the Soul is not in it.

(41) And now when Death comes and separates the Body and Soul asunder, then the poor Soul hangs by a Thread [of Faith,] and will not let go; and yet its Essences stick fast in the Anger of God, the Source [or Pain] of the gross Sins torment it, the Thread of Faith (in the new Regeneration) is very weak; and here therefore now they must press through the Gate of the Deep, through the Passion, and through the Death of Christ, [through the Kingdom of Hell,] to God; and Hell has yet a strong Band about the Soul, the Falshood is not yet washed off.

(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.

(44) For it is paradisical, and it has its most inward Root therein. When Adam in Sin died the first Death, then said God, The Seed of the Woman shall break the Serpent's Head. The same Word imprinted itself in Adam, in the Center of the Springing-up of his Life, and so in like Manner with the Creation of Eve in the Springing up of her Life, and so in like Manner in all Men, so that we can, in our first Mind, through the Word and Virtue of God in the Treader upon the Serpent, who in the Time became Man [or was incarnate,] trample upon [or break] the Head and Will of the Devil, and if this Might [or Power] was not in this Place, then we were in the eternal Death. Thus the Mind is its own, in the free Will, and moves in the Virtue [or Power] of God, and in his Promise, in the free Substance [or Being.]

(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.

(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.

(12) But if thou leavest them off, and passest with the Desire of thy Heart into the Mercy of God, then thou goest into Heaven, into God the Father, and thou walkest in the Body of Christ in the pure Element; and the Holy Ghost goes forth out of thy Soul, and leads thee into all Truth; and the old corrupt Man does but hang to thee, which thou shalt destroy in Death, and with thy Love in Christ still overcome, and captivate the Anger of the Father in thy Soul; and thou shalt spring up with thy new Man through Death, and appear in the same at the last Judgment-Day. The Gate to Babel.

(62) Therefore now if we will speak of our native Country, out of which we are wandered with Adam; and will tell of the Resting- Place of the Souls; we need not to scast our Minds far off; for far off and near is all one and the same Thing with God; the Place of the Holy Trinity is all over. Heaven and Hell is [every where] all over in this World, and the Man (Christ) dwells all over, for he has laid off the Corruptibility, and has swallowed up Death, as also that which is [fragile or] temporal, and he lives in God; his Body is the substance of the Element, which out of the Word of the Mercifulness, is from Eternity generated out of the Gates of the Deep; it is the Habitation, where the Sharpness of God breaks open the Darkness, where the eternal Virtue [or Power] appears in Wonders; and it is the Tincture of the Deity, which is before God, out of which the heavenly Virtues are generated; its name is wonderful; the earthly Tongue cannot express it.

(7) But the Paradise is somewhat else; and yet no other Place, but another Principle, where God and the Angels dwell, and where there is Perfection, where there is mere Love, Joy and Knowledge; where no Misery is: Which [Paradise] neither Death nor the Devils touch, neither do they know it: And yet it has no Wall of Earth or Stones about it, but there is a great Gulf [or Cliff] between Paradise and this World, so that they who will pass from hence thither, cannot; and they who would come from thence to us, cannot neither; and the Hell and the Kingdom of Darkness is between them. And none can come therein but by a new Birth; which Christ spoke of to Nicodemus. The Souls of the Saints and Regenerate must enter into it by the Death of Darkness, whom the Arch-Shepherd with the Angels brings thereinto upon his Bride-Chariot: Of which you shall find [an Explanation] in its proper Place in Order.

(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.

(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.

(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.

(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.

(13) After this Manner you may understand how he destroyed Death, by the Springing of the eternal Life in the Deity through Death; and you may understand how the new Body in the Love of God holds the eternal Source of the Anger captive, for the Love is the Prison [of the Anger,] for the Source of the Anger cannot enter into the Love, but continues only by itself, as it was from Eternity, and therein the Devils are imprisoned; for the Light of God strikes them down, they neither can nor dare behold that Light in Eternity; a Principle is between; for the Love springs forth in the Center of the Soul, and therein the Holy Trinity appears, [or shines.]

(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.

(95) And there the Word, or the Treader upon the Serpent, stood in the new regenerated Element, in the Soul of Abel, in the Center, in the Gate of the Deep, and did break the Serpent's Head (that is, the Kingdom of the Fierceness) of its Might; for the Head signifies the strong Might of the fierce Anger. And there the Love of God (out of the Heart of God) P let itself into the Hell of the Anger, and smothered the kindled Fire of the poor Soul in the Love again; and here the first Work was proved, according as was promised from God to Adam and Eve.

(13) And that (when the Soul is departed from the Body) it might no more possibly be tempted by the Devil and the Spirit of this World; there is a quiet Rest for the Soul included in its Center in its own Tincture, which stands in Paradise, betwixt the Kingdom of this World and the Kingdom of Hell, to continue until God shall put this World into its Ether, when the Number of Men, and Figures (according to the Depth of the eternal Mind of God) shall be finished.

(40) But the noble Virgin shows us the Door, [and] how we must enter again into Paradise, through the Sharpness of the Sword; yet the Sword cuts the earthly Body quite away from the holy Element, and then the new Man may enter into Paradise by the Way of Life. And the Sword is nothing else, but the Kingdom or Gate of the Fierceness in the Anger of God, where Man must press in, through the fierce [bitter] Death, through the Center, into the second Principle, into the Paradise of the holy Element before God; where then the fierce [grim] Death cuts off the earthly Body (viz. the four Elements) from the holy [one] Element.