Christ’s soul must needs descend into hell, before it ascended into heaven. So must also the soul of man. But mark ye in what manner this cometh to pass. When a man truly Perceiveth and considereth himself, who and what he is, and findeth himself utterly vile and wicked, and unworthy of all the comfort and kindness that he hath ever received from God, or from the creatures, he falleth into such a deep abasement and despising of himself, that he thinketh himself unworthy that the earth should bear him, and it seemeth to him reasonable that all creatures in heaven and earth should rise up against him and avenge their Creator on him, and should punish and torment him; and that he were unworthy even of that. And it seemeth to him that he shall be eternally lost and damned, and a footstool to all the devils in hell, and that this is right and just and all too little compared to his sins which he so often and in so many ways hath committed against God his Creator. And therefore also he will not and dare not desire any consolation or release, either from God or from any creature that is in heaven or on earth; but he is willing to be unconsoled and unreleased, and he doth not grieve over his condemnation and sufferings; for they are right and just, and not contrary to God, but according to the will of God. Therefore they are right in his eyes, and he hath nothing to say against them. Nothing grieveth him but his own guilt and wickedness; for that is not right and is contrary to God, and for that cause he is grieved and troubled in spirit. This is what is meant by true repentance for sin. And he who in this Present time entereth into this hell, entereth afterward into the Kingdom of Heaven, and obtaineth a foretaste there of which excelleth all the delight and joy which he ever hath had or could have in this present time from temporal things. But whilst a man is thus in hell, none may console him, neither God nor the creature, as it is written, “In hell there is no redemption.”11 Of this state hath one said, “Let me perish, let me die! I live without hope; from within and from without I am condemned, let no one pray that I may be released.” Now God hath not forsaken a man in this hell, but He is laying His hand upon him, that the man may not desire nor regard anything but the Eternal Good only, and may come to know that that is so noble and passing good, that none can search out or express its bliss, consolation and joy, peace, rest and satisfaction. And then, when the man neither careth for, nor seeketh, nor desireth, anything but the Eternal Good alone, and seeketh not himself, nor his own things, but the honour of God only, he is made a partaker of all manner of joy, bliss, peace, rest and consolation, and so the man is henceforth in the Kingdom of Heaven. This hell and this heaven are two good, safe ways for a man in this present time, and happy is he who truly findeth them. For this hell shall pass away, But Heaven shall endure for aye.

Now behold, thou beloved Soul, who art dearly redeemed by thy Saviour Jesus Christ, with his Entrance into the Humanity, and with his Entrance in the...

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...

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 ...

This sorrow, if it be truly conceived, is full of holy desire: and else might never man in this life abide it nor bear it. For were it not that a...

Now there must be striving here in the poor Soul, for it stands in the Midst. Christ offers it the new Garment, and the Devil presents the Garment of ...

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...

And here is apparently seen the Glass of the Abyss of Hell, and [of the] eternal Despair; when the Anger of God rises up in the Source, that the Malic...

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 Es...

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...

Only Man (who is proceeded out of another Principle) has in both those [forementioned] Principles, Woe, Misery, Sorrow, and Distress; for he is not...

Nevertheless yet ever among he feeleth pain, but he thinketh that it shall have an end, for it waxeth ever less and less. And therefore he calleth it ...

Although indeed they are redeemed out of Hell, and have Fruition of the heavenly Joy; yet the greatest Joy stands in the earnest Regeneration, wherein...

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...

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...

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...

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...

WONDERFULLY is a man’s affection varied in ghostly feeling of this nought when it is nowhere wrought. For at the first time that a soul looketh...

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 Sou...

And now there is nothing to hinder us but our own vile sluggish Drowsiness, that we suffer ourselves to be so wholly and altogether led by the Spirit ...

For such a Soul there is no [Remedy or] Counsel, it cannot come into the Light of God; and although St. Peter had left many thousand Keys upon Earth, ...