(11) Also let a man mark, when he is in this hell, nothing may console him; and he cannot believe that he shall ever be released or comforted. But when he is in heaven, nothing can trouble him; he believeth also that none will ever be able to offend or trouble him, albeit it is indeed true, that after this hell he may be comforted and released, and after this heaven he may be troubled and left without consolation. Again: this hell and this heaven come about a man in such sort, that he knoweth not whence they come; and whether they come to him, or depart from him, he can of himself do nothing towards it. Of these things he can neither give nor take away from himself, bring them nor banish them, but as it is written, “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof,” that is to say, at this time present, “but thou knowest not whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth.”12 And when a man is in one of these two states, all is right with him, and he is as safe in hell as in heaven, and so long as a man is on earth, it is possible for him to pass ofttimes from the one into the other; nay even within the space of a day and night, and all without his own doing. But when the man is in neither of these two states he holdeth converse with the creature, and wavereth hither and thither, and knoweth not what manner of man he is. Therefore he shall never forget either of them, but lay up the remembrance of them in his heart.

(87) Some men have many times, according to or in the sidereal or astral spirit, entered in thither, and been ravished in an ecstasy, as men call it, and have presently known the gates of heaven and of hell, and have told, shewn and declared how that many men dwell in hell, with or in their living bodies, or with their bodies alive: Such indeed have been scorned, derided or laughed at, but with great ignorance and indiscretion, for it is just so as they declare; which I will also describe more at large in its due place, and shew in what manner and condition it is with them.

(5) 'O God, you who know the secret of all things, bring to pass the worldly desires of my enemies, and grant my friends the eternity of the future life. But as for me, I am free of both. Even if I possessed this present world or the world of the future, I should esteem them little in comparison with being near to you. I need only you. If I should turn my eyes towards the two worlds, or desire anything but you, I should be no more than an unbeliever.'

(40) And yet however, when the Point [or Hour] of Death comes, that the Conscience is roused, and that the poor Soul begins to tremble for great Fear at the [Torment or] Source of Hell, then these also would fain be saved, though there is very little Faith in them, only mere Unrighteousness, Falshood, and Pleasure of the earthly Life. The Groanings and Tears of the Poor stand hard before it, and the Devil reads the Book of Conscience to the Mind; and there stands also before the Mind the Pleasure of the World, and [the Person] would fain live [somewhat] longer, and promises to lead a Life in [Forbearance of Evil, or] Abstinence; and the Mind inclines a little towards God, [or Goodness,] but the Sins beat that [Inclination] down again, and then there arises great Doubt in Unquietness; yet, nevertheless, many of them lay hold on the Saviour by a Thread.

(6) 'The Hereafter never rises before the eyes of the careless child, deluded by the delusion of wealth. "This is the world," he thinks, "there is no other;"--thus he falls again and again under my sway.'

(8) As if hell, or malice and evil, had been from eternity, and that it was in God's predestinate purpose that creatures should and must be therein; and so they pull and hale and bestir themselves to prove it by Scripture, though indeed they have neither the knowledge of the true God, nor the under-standing of the Scriptures, though also some erroneous things are brewed from the Scriptures.

(79) If these things will not give thee satisfaction, then pray to God that he would open thy heart, and then thou wilt know and see heaven and hell, as also the whole Deity with all its qualities; and then no doubt thou wilt forbear, and justify the devil no more: I am not able to open thy heart for thee. Now observe the true birth or geniture of God. [Or the divine birth.]

(2) ’Twixt Heaven and Earth, upon the waves of Cosmos, is it dragged in contrary directions, for ever racked with ceaseless pains ; so that in this its deathless nature doth afflict the soul, in that because of its unceasing sense, it hath the yoke of ceaseless torture set upon its neck. Know, then, that we should dread, and be afraid, and [ever] be upon our guard, lest we should be entangled in these [toils]. For those who do not now believe, will after their misdeeds be driven to believe, by facts not words, by actual sufferings of punishment and not by threats.

(21) Though now there be so many Doctrines and Opinions manifested, yet the Scorner (who is born of this World only) ought not to fall on so, and cast all down which he cannot apprehend; for all is not false, there is much that is generated by Heaven, which [Heaven] will at present make another Seculum or Age, which discovers itself highly with its Virtue [or Power,] and seeks the Pearl; it would fain open the Tincture in its Substance, that the Virtue [or Power] of God might thereby appear in it, and that it might be freed from the irksome Vanity; this was done in all Ages as Histories show, and as is well known to the Enlightened.

(10) In those days they shall be led off to the abyss of fire: 〈and〉 to the torment and the prison in which they shall be confined for ever. And whosoever shall be condemned and destroyed will from thenceforth be bound together with them to the end of all generations.

(2) And it will prove a burden unto men; and on account of this they will despise and cease to love this Cosmos as a whole,—the changeless work of God; the glorious construction of the Good, comprised of multifold variety of forms; the engine of God’s Will, supporting His own work ungrudgingly; the multitudinous whole massed in a unity of all, that should be reverenced, praised and loved,—by them at least who have the eyes to see. For Darkness will be set before the Light, and Death will be thought preferable to Life. No one will raise his eyes to Heaven; the pious man will be considered mad, the impious a sage; the frenzied held as strong, the worst as best.

(24) If there were not at all times some honest upright men on earth, who quench the wrath of God with their opposing, the hellish fire had kindled itself long ago; and then it would have been well seen where hell is, which men do not now believe.

(91) The faithful will say on the last day, "O King! Was not Hell on the route all of us traveled? Did not faithful as well as infidels pass through it? Yet on our way we perceived not the smoke of the fire; Nay, it seemed Paradise and the mansion of the blessed." Then the King will answer, "That green garden, As it appeared to you on your passage through it, Was indeed Hell and the place of dread torment; Since you have labored to make hellish lusts, And the 'fire of pride that courts destruction,

(2) Now, amongst the profane, some illogically think to go to a non-existence; others that the bodily blending with their proper souls will be severed once for all, as unsuitable to them in a Divine life and blessed lots, not considering nor being sufficiently instructed in Divine science, that our most Godlike life in Christ has already begun. But others assign to souls union with other bodies, committing, as I think, this injustice to them, that, after (bodies) have laboured together with the godly souls, and have reached the goal of their most Divine course, they relentlessly deprive them of their righteous retributions. And others (I do not know how they have strayed to conceptions of such earthly tendency) say, that the most holy and blessed repose promised to the devout is similar to our life in this world, and unlawfully reject, for those who are equal to the Angels, nourishments appropriate to another kind of life. None of the most religious men, however, will ever fall into such errors as these; but, knowing that their whole selves will receive the Christ-like inheritance, when they have come to the goal of this present life, they see more clearly their road to incorruption already become nearer, and extol the gifts of the Godhead, and are filled with a Divine satisfaction, no longer fearing the fall to a worse condition, but knowing well that they will hold firmly and everlastingly the good things already acquired. Those, however, who are full of blemishes, and unholy stains, even though they have attained to some initiation, yet, of their own accord, have, to their own destruction, rejected this from their mind, and have rashly followed their destructive lusts, to them when they have come to the end of their life here, the Divine regulation of the Oracles will no longer appear as before, a subject of scorn, but, when they have looked with different eyes upon the pleasures of their passions destroyed, and when they have pronounced blessed the holy life from which they thoughtlessly fell away, they are, piteously and against their will, separated from this present life, conducted to no holy hope, by reason of their shameful life.

(121) Thou shouldst not suppose that which I write here to be as a doubtful opinion, questionable as to whether it be so or no: For the gates of heaven and of hell stand open to the spirit, and in the light it presseth through them both, and beholdeth them; also proveth or examineth them; for the astral birth or geniture liveth between them both, and must endure to be squeezed.

(3) "At that time then the faith will reveal itself still more and the mysteries in those days. And many souls will come by means of the circuits of the changes of the body, and coming back into the world are some of those in this present time who have hearkened unto me, how I taught, who at the completion of the number of the perfect souls will find the mysteries of the Light and receive them and come to the gates of the Light and find that the number of the perfect souls is complete, which is the completion of the First Mystery and the gnosis of the universe. And they will find that I have shut the gates of the Light and that it is impossible that any one should enter in or that any one should go forth from this hour.

(49) It hath been said, that there is of nothing so much in hell as of self-will. The which is true, for there is nothing else there than self-will, and if there were no self-will, there would be no Devil and no hell. When it is said that Lucifer fell from Heaven, and turned away from God and the like, it meaneth nothing else than that he would have his own will, and would not be at one with the Eternal Will. So was it likewise with Adam in Paradise. And when we say Self-will, we mean, to will otherwise than as the One and Eternal Will of God willeth.

(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.

(55) 1 will not say, that one that is a true Believer, [or truly faithful] in the new Birth, cannot (with earnest Combating) help and Hell; but he must have sharp Weapons, when he has to do with Principalities and Powers, or else they will deride and scorn him; as it is done for certain, when the Priest, with his glistering Cope [or fine Cloaths,] comes between Heaven and Hell, and will [undertake to] fight with the Devil.

(22) I write this not for mine own glory, but for a comfort to the Reader, so that if perhaps he be minded to walk with me upon my narrow bridge, he should not suddenly be discouraged, dismayed and distrustful, when the gates of hell and God's wrath meet him, and present themselves before him.