(14) Perhaps some one may ask, "Was Christ then also unchangeable, when He said, My soul is troubled even unto death,' or Mary when she stood under the Cross and lamented?" Here, thou shouldest know that in every man are two kinds of men, the outer and the inner man. Every man, who loves God, only uses his outer senses so far as is absolutely necessary; he takes care that they do not drag him down to the level of the beasts, as they do some who might rather he termed beasts than men.

The soul of the spiritual man whom God moves to love Him with all his powers concentrates all its forces on the inner man. Therefore He saith, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart." Now, there are some who waste the powers of the soul for the use of the outer man; these are they who turn all their thoughts and desires towards transitory things, and know nothing of the inner life. But a good man sometimes deprives his outer man of all power that it may have a higher object, while sensualists deprive the inner man of all power to use it for the outer man.

(38) And this is as clear as the Sun, that as the poor Soul in us hangs between two Kingdoms, which both keep it altogether imprisoned, so must Christ hang between two Malefactors; take this into great Consideration, and weigh it well, it is a most serious Matter, and we see the whole terrible earnest [Severity,] that when the Soul of Christ broke off from the earthly Body, when it passed into the Anger of the Father, viz. into Hell, then the Earth trembled, and the stony Rocks cleft in sunder, also the Sun lost its Light; and this we see clearly, and understand it from the Mouth of Christ.

(72) And so thou must not think that the Soul of Christ was then gone a great Way from his Body. For all the Three Principles were on the Cross, why also not in the Grave? At that very Moment when Christ laid off the Kingdom of this World, the Soul of Christ pressed into Death, and into the Anger of God, and in that very Moment the Anger was reconciled in the Love, in the Light, and became Paradise; and the Devils were captivated in the Anger in themselves, together with all the wicked Souls; and so instantly the Life sprung up through Death, and Death was destroyed, and made a Scorn; yet to the Wicked (which remain in the Anger) it is Death, but in Christ it is a Life.

(71) Therefore we can say no otherwise of the Soul of Christ, but that he commended it into his Father's Hands, and the Father took it into his divine Power; it stood with its Root therein before; but its own Root was (without the Light of God) in the Anger. And now the Soul of Christ came with the Light of God into the Anger; and then the Devils trembled, for the Light took the Anger captive, and the Father (understand his Anger) in the Kingdom of Heaven was Paradise, and in Hell remained the Anger still. For the Light shut up the Principle of Hell, so (to be understood) that no Devil dares to take one Glimpse [of Light] in there, he is blind before the Light, and [the Light] is his Terror and Shame.

(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.

(76) Thou shouldst not think that the Soul of Christ these forty Hours was in any other Place than in the Father, and in his Body, where it sprung up in great Meekness upon the Persecution [it had,] as a Rose, or fair Flower out of the Earth; as also our Souls in our Rest, in the Body of Jesus Christ, at the last Judgment-Day in the Destruction of this World, shall in the new Body break forth again out of the Old; and in the mean While the Soul grows up in the holy Element, in the Body of Christ, till our forty Hours also come about, and not one Hour longer than the appointed Time is. Thus is the Body of Christ in the Power or Virtue of the Father (through the Soul) risen again and gone forth, and has in it the Light of the Holy Trinity.

(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.

(22) And now when the Time came that the Word became Man, then the dear Life came into the Soul again. But when the Strife came, that the fourth Form should be broken, then the outward Body of Christ and we all in the fourth Form were environed with Death, and then all the Forms in Nature stirred, and were all predominant together, whereupon the Person of Christ (in the Garden) did sweat Blood out of his Body, when he cried, Father, if it be possible, take this Cup from me: Thus the outward Man cried out; and the inward said, yet not my Will (understand [my] outward Will) but thy Will be done.

(34) And as the Soul of Adam hung between two evil Kingdoms, between the Kingdom of this World, and the Kingdom of Hell, so Christ hung on the Cross between two Murderers; Parted asunder, or broken. and thus Christ must restore again all that Adam had lost. And as the one Malefactor turned and desired to be with Christ in his Kingdom, so the one Kingdom, viz. the earthly Man, must also turn again, and the poor Soul must enter into Christ again, through the earthly Death, and spring up again, like this Murderer, [Thief, or Malefactor,] on the Cross, who desired the Kingdom of Christ.

(3) Hereto I adjoin a parable. There were a certain man and wife; the woman by accident lost an eye, and was sorely troubled thereat. Her husband then said to her, "Wife, why are you troubled? "She answered, "It is not the loss of my eye that troubles me, but the thought that you may love me less on account of that loss." He said, "I love you all the same." Not long after he put one of his own eyes out, and came to his wife and said, "Wife, that you may believe I love you, I have made myself like you: I, too, now, have only one eye." So men could hardly believe that God loved them till God put one of His eyes out, that is took upon Himself human nature, and was made man.

Just as fire infuses its essence and clearness into the dry wood, so has God done with man. He has created the human soul and infused His glory into it, and yet in His own essence has remained unchangeable. If you ask me whether, seeing that my spiritual birth is out of time, whether I am an eternal son, I answer "Yes," and "No." In the everlasting foreknowledge of God, I slumbered like a word unspoken. He hath brought me forth His son in the image of His eternal fatherhood, that I also should be a father and bring forth Him. It is as if one stood before a high mountain, and cried, "Art thou there?" The echo comes back, "Art thou there?" If one cries, "Come out." the echo answers, "Come out."

(25) And so when Adam went out of the angelical Form and Property into the fourth Form, then all the fierce [wrathful] Essences fell upon him, and wrought in him, and scourged him exceedingly. But the Word of God in the Promise mitigated that again, though indeed we must still feel it enough; if thou hast any Reason, consider it. And now the outward Man Christ underwent this Pain also outwardly, when he was scourged; for all the inward Forms, which the Man Christ must bear inwardly for our Sakes, which caused him to sweat Drops of Blood, they stood also outwardly on his Body, to show that the outward Man in this outward World stood and dwelt in such a Source [Property or Condition.]

(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.

(15) The outer man may go through various experiences, while the inner man is quite free and immovable. Now both in Christ and in Our Lady there was an inner and an outer man; when they spoke of outward things, they did so with the outward man, while the inner man remained immovable.

(12) Our soul indeed is ill because she dwells in a house of poverty, while matter strikes blows at her eyes, wishing to make her blind. For this reason she pursues the word and applies it to her eyes as a medicine them, casting away [...] thought of a [...] blindness in [...] afterwards, when that one is again in ignorance, he is completely darkened and is material. Thus the soul [...] a word every hour, to apply it to her eyes as a medicine in order that she may see, and her light may conceal the hostile forces that fight with her, and she may make them blind with her light, and enclose them in her presence, and make them fall down in sleeplessness, and she may act boldly with her strength and with her scepter.

(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.

(80) The Temptation of Christ rightly shows us his Person; therefore open thy Eyes, and let not Babel trouble thee, it is the Price of thy Body and Soul; for that [Temptation] in the hard Combat of Adam in the Garden of Eden, which Adam could not hold out in, here the worthy Champion went through with it, and has obtained Victory, in his Humanity in Heaven, and over this World. 8 1. As we have demonstrated the true Christ, who is God and Man in one undivided Person, so we must now show what Kind of Man he is, according to the Kingdom of this World; for the great Wonders cannot sufficiently be described, they are still greater; there is need of an angelical Tongue as well as of an earthly, and because we have but an earthly, therefore we will write from an angelical Mind, and speak the great Wonders of God with the earthly Tongue.

(49) But that the Soul of Christ could be generated both in the new, and also in the old earthly Creature, it is because the Gate of the Soul in the first Principle stands in the Source [or Quality] of the Eternity, and reaches into the deep Gate of the Eternity, in the Father's original Will, wherewith he breaks open the Gate of the Deep, and shines [or appears] in the eternal Light.

(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.

(46) But now we must not think, that the holy Man in Christ died, for that died not; but the mortal [Man] from the Kingdom of this World [is that which died,] that [was it which] cried (on the Cross) My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me! And we see very clearly the great Might [and Power] of the holy Man in Christ, when the Mortal (which was taken from this World) went into Death, how the holy almighty [Man] wrestled with Death, insomuch that the Elements shaked with it, and the Sun (which is the Light of the Nature of this World) lost its Splendor, as if it were then to perish; and then the living Champion in Christ fought with the Anger, and stood in the Hell of the Anger of God, and loosed the Soul (which he commended into his Father's Hands) quite off from the Anger of God, also from the Source [or Torment] of Hell; and this was that which David said; Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell, nor permit thy holy [one] to perish.

(9) But because the Soul stood with its most inward Root in the Abyss of Hell, and according to the Kingdom of this World in the hard [frozen] Death, so that (if the Flesh and Blood, as also the Dominion of the Stars, should leave it) then it would continue inwardly in a Hardness, wherein there is no Source [or active Property,] and itself, in its own Property, would be but in the Fierceness of the Originality, in great Misery; therefore it was necessary, not only for God to come into the Soul, and generate it to the Light, (for there was Danger, that the Soul with its Imagination might go forth out of the Light again,) but also for God to assume a human Soul, from our Soul, and a new heavenly Body, out of the first glorious Body before the Fall, and put it on to the Soul, with the old earthly Body hanging on it, not only as a Garment, but really [united as one] in the Essences; so that it must be a Creature, that is, the whole God, with all the three Principles.