THE Scholar said to his Master; How may I come to the Super- sensual Life^ that I may see GoD and hear him speak?
His Master said, When thou canst throw thyself for a Moment into that where no Creature dwelleth, then thou hearest what GOD speaketh.
2. The Scholar. — Is T:hat near at Hand, or far off?
The Master. — It is in thee, and if thou canst for a while cease from all thy Thinking and Willing^ thou shalt hear unspeakable Words of God.
3. The Scholar. — How can I hear when I stand still from Thinking diwd Willing?
The Master. — When thou standest still from the Thinking and Willing of Self, then the eternal Hearing, Seeing, and Speaking, will be revealed in thee; and so GOD heareth and seeth through thee. Thine own Hearing, Willing, and Seeing hindereth thee, that thou dost not see nor hear GOD.
4. The Scholar. — Wherewithal shall I hear and see God; seeing he is above Nature and Creature?
The Master. — When thou art quiet or silent, then thou art That which GOD was before Nature and Creature^ and whereof he made thy Nature and Creature; then thou hearest and seest with That wherewith GOD saw and heard in thee before thy awn Willing, Seeing, and Hearing began.
5. The Scholar. — ^What hindereth or keepeth me back that I cannot come to That?
The Master. — Thy own Willing, Hearing, and Seeing; and because thou strivest against That out of which thou art come, thou breakest thyself off with thy own Willing from Qod's Willing, and with thy own Seeing thou seest in thy own Willing only, and thy Willing stoppeth thy Hearing with thy own thinking of 96 I'he Way to Qhrist.
earthly natural Things^ and bringeth thee into a Qround of essential State, and darkeneth thee with that which thou Wiliest, so that thou canst not come to That which is Supernatural and Super-sensual.
6. The Scholar. — Seeing I am in Nature^ how may I come through Nature into the Super-sensual Qround^ without destroying Nature?
The Master. — Three Things are requisite here; the first is, thou must resign thy Will to GOD, and sink thyself down to the Ground in his Mercy, The second is, thou must hate thy own Will, and not do that whereto thy own Will driveth thee. The third is, thou must submit thyself under the Cross^ that thou mayest be able to bear the Temptations oi Nature and Creature, If thou dost so, God will speak into thee, and bring thy resigned Will into himself y into the Supernatural Qround; and then thou shalt hear what the Lord speaketh in thee.
7. The Scholar. — If I should do thus, I must forsake the World and my Life too.
The Master. — If thou forsakest the World, thou comest into That whereof the World is made; and if thou losest thy Life, and comest to have thy own Power faint, then thy Life is in That for whose sake thou forsakest it, viz., in GOD, from whom it came into the Body.
8. The Scholar. — God hath created Man in and for the natural Life, to rule over all Creatures on Earth, and to be a Lord over all Things in this World; and therefore Reason suggests that he should possess it as his own.
How Men may and should rule over all Creatures ^ and can be like all Takings.
The Master. — If thou rulest over all Creatures outwardly only, then thy Will and Ruling is in a Bestial Kind, and is but an imaginary transitory Ruling; and thou also bringest thy Desire into a Bestial Essence, whereby thou becomest infected and captivated, and gettest also a Bestial Condition. But if thou hast left the imaginary Condition, then thou art in the Superimaginariness^ and rulest pver all Creatures in that Qround out of which they are created, and nothing on Earth can hurt thee; for thou art like all Things, and nothing is unlike to thee.
9. The Scholar. — O loving Master, pray teach me the shortest Way how I may come to be like all Things.
The Master.— With all my Heart; do but think on the Words Of the Super-Sensual Life. 97 of our Lord Jesus Christ, when he said, * Unless ye turn and • become as Children, ye shall not see the Kingdom of God.' Now if thou wilt be like all Things, thou mwsX. forsake all Things, and turn thy Desire away from them, and not desire them, nor seek X.O possess that for thy own, which is something. For as soon as thou takest something into thy Desire, and receivest it into thee for thy own, then that something is the same with thyself, and it worketh with thee in thy Will, and then thou art obliged to protect it, and to take Care for it as for thy own Being. But if thou receive nothing into thy Desire, then thou art free from all Things, and rulest over all Things at once. For thou hast received nothing for thy own, and art nothing to all Things, and all Things are nothing to thee. Thou art as a Child which understandeth not what a Thing is; or though thou dost understand it, yet thou understandest it without being affected thereby; in that Manner wherein GOD ruleth and seeth all Things, and yet nothing comprehendeth or captivateth him.
Thou didst also desire that I would teach thee how thou mightest attain it. Consider then the Words of Christ, who said, ' Without me ye can do nothing.' In thy own Power thou canst not come to such Rest that no Creature should touch thee, unless thou givest thyself wholly up to the Life of our Lord Jesus Christ, and resignest thy Will and Desire wholly to Him, and Wiliest nothing without Him. Then with thy Body thou art in the World, in the Properties, and with thy Reason under the Cross of our Lord Christ; but with thy Will thou walkest in Heaven, and art in the Original from whence all Creatures proceeded, and to which they go again. And then thou mayest behold all Things outwardly with thy Reason, and inwardly with thy Mind, and rule in and over all Things with Christ, to whom all Power is given both in Heaven and on Earth, 10. The Scholar. — O Master, the Creatures that live in me so withhold me, that I cannot wholly yield and give up myself as I willingly would.
The Master. — If thy PT/Z/goeth forth from the Creatures, then the Creatures are forsaken in and by thee; they are in the World, and thy Body only is with the Creatures, but in thy Spirit thou walkest with GoD. And if thy Will leaveth the Creatures, then the Creatures are dead in it, and live only in the Body in the World; and if thy Will doth not bring itself into them, they cannot touch thy Soul. For St, Paul saith, * Our * Conversation is in Heaven;* also, * Ye are the Temple of the * Holy Ghost, who dwelleth in you;' so then, the Holy Qhost dwelleth in the Will, and the Creatures dwell in the Body, 11. The Scholar. — If the Holy Qhost dwell in the WUl of 98 I'he Way to Qhrist.
the Mindy how may I keep myself that He may not depart from me?
The Master. — Mark the Words of our Lord Jesus Christ; * If * you abide in my Word, then my Words abide in you.' If thou dost abide with thy Will in the Words of Christ, then His Word and Spirit abide in thee. But if thy Will goeth into the Creatures^ then thou hast broken off thyself from Him, and then thou canst not any other Way keep thyself, but by abiding continually in resigned Humility y and entering into continual Repentance^ so that thou art always grieved that Creatures live in thee. If thou dost thus, thou standest in a daily dying from the Creatures^ and in a daily ascending into Heaven in and with thy Will again.
12. The Scholar. — O loving Master, pray teach me how 1 may come into such a continual Repentance.
How Men may come to continual Repentance^ and subsist in Temptation.
The Master. — When thou leavestthzX. which loveth thee, and lovest that which hateth thee, then thou mayest abide continually in Repentance.
13. The Scholar. — What is that which I must thus leave? The Master. — Thy Creatures in Flesh and Blood, and all other Things that love thee; love thee because thy Will entertaineth, nourisheth, and preserveth them. These the Will must leave and account as Enemies; and the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ together with the Reproach of the World hateth thee, which thou must learn to love^ and take for a daily Exercise of thy Repentance, And then thou shalt have continual Cause to hate thyselj in the Creature, and to seek the eternal Rest, wherein thy WUl may rest; as Christ said, * In the World you shall have * Tribulation, but in me you shall have Rest.* 14. The Scholar. — How may I stand firm in such a Temptation as this?
The Master. — If every Hour thou dost once throw thyself beyond all Creatures, above all sensual Reason, into the mere Mercy of GOD, into the Sufferings of our Lord, and yield thyself thereinto, then thou shalt receive Power to rule over Sin^ Death, and the Devil, over Hell and the World, and then thou mayest stand firm in all Temptations.
15. The Scholar.— Poor Man that I am, what would become of me, if I should attain with my Mind to *That where no Creature is!
Of the Super-Sensual Life. 99 The Master. — Loving Scholar, if thy Will could break off itself for one Hour from all Creatures, and throw itself into that where no Creature is, it would be presently clothed with the highest Splendour of GOD's Qlory, and would taste in itself the most sweet Love of our Lord Jesus, which no Man can express; and it would find in itself the unspeakable Words- of our Lord concerning his great Mercy, It would feel in itself that the Cross of our Lord Christ would be very pleasing to it, and it would love that more than the Honour and Goods of the World.
16. The Scholar. — But what would become of the Body^ since it must live in the Creature?
The Master. — The Body would be put into the Imitation of our Lord Christy who said, His Kingdom was not of this World. It would begin to die from without and from within; from without, it would die from the Vanity and evil Deeds of the World; It would be an utter Enemy to all Pride and Insolence. And from within, it would die from all Evil Lusts and Envy, and would get a Mind and Will in itself wholly new, which would be continually directed towards GOD and Goodness.
17. The Scholar. — But the World "would hate and despise a Man for doing so, seeing he must contradict the World, and live and do otherwise than the World doth.
The Master. — He would not take that as any Harm done to him, but would rather rejoice that he is become worthy to be thus conformed to the Example of our Lord Christ, and be willing to bear that Cross after our Lord, merely that the Lord might bestow the Influence of his sweet Love upon him.
18. The Scholar. — What would become of him, when the Anger of God from within, and the wicked World from without, should assault him, as happened to our Lord Christ?
The Master. — Let him be thereunto what our Lord Christ was. When He was reproached, reviled, and crucified by the World and the Priests, He commended His Soul into the Hands of His Father, aqd so departed from the Anguish of this World into the eternal Joy. So also such a Soul would get forth from the Reproach and Anguish of all the World, and penetrate into itself, into the great Love of God, and be sustained and refreshed by the most sweet Name/^j^j, and see and find in itself a new ffVr/of springing forth through the ^«^^r of God; then should it wrap itself up therein, and account all Things alike. And thus whether the Body be in Hell or on Earth, yet would the Soul be in the greatest Love of GOD.
19. The Scholar. — But how would a Man maintain himself in the World, and those that belong to him, if he should thus incur the Displeasure of all the World?
285764 ^~' loo T'he JVay to Qhrist.
The Master. — He thereby getteth greater Favour than the World is able to bestow, for he hath GOD, and all His Angels for his Friends^ who protect him in all Dangers and Necessities. God is his Blessing in every Thing, and though sometimes it may seem as if GOD would not bless him, it is but to try him, and is in truth the drawing of God's Love, that he might the more earnestly pray to GOD, and commit all his Way to Him.
20. The Scholar. — But he loseth all his good Friends^ and there will be none to help him in his Necessity.
The Master. — Nay, he getteth the Hearts of all his good Friends into his Possession, and loseth none but his Enemies, who before loved his Vanity and Wickedness.
21. The Scholar. — How is it thdit he getteth his good Friends into his Possession?
The Master. — He getteth the Souls of all those that belong to our Lord Jesus to be his Brethren and the Members of his own Life. For the Children of GoD are but One in Christ, which One is Christ in all. Therefore he getteth them all to be his Fellow-Members in the Body of Christ, for they have the Heavenly Qoods in common, and live in one and the same Love of GOD, as the Branches of a Tree spring from one and the same Sap. Nor will he want outward natural Friends, any more than our Lord Christ did. For though the High Priests and Potentates of the World who belonged not to Him, nor were His Members and Brethren, loved Him not, yet those who were capable of His Words loved Him. So likewise those that love Truth and Righteousness, would love that Man, and associate themselves with him; as Nicodemus did with Christy who came to Him by Night, and in his Heart loved Jesus for the Truths Sake, yet outwardly feared the World And thus shall such a Man have many Friends rise up who were not known to him at the Beginning.
22. The Scholar. — But it is very grievous to be despised by all the World.
The Master. — That which now seems hard and heavy to thee thou wilt afterwards love most of all.
23. The Scholar. — How can it be that I should love that which hateth me?
The Master. — Though thou lovest the earthly Wisdom now, yet when thou art clothed with the heavenly, thou wilt see that all the Wisdom of the World is but Folly, and that the World hateth but thine Enemy, viz., the mortal Life; and when thou thyself comest to hate the Will thereof, then thou also wilt begin to love that despising of the mortal Life.
24. The Scholar. — But how may these two stand together, viz., that a Man should both love and hate himself?
The Master. — In thus loving thyself thou lovest not thyself as thy own, but as given from the Love of GOD; thou lovest the Divine Qround in thee; by which thou lovest the Divine Wisdom^ God's Works of Wonder, and thy Brethren. But in hating thyself thou hatest only that which is thy own, wherein Evil sticketh close to thee; and this thou dost, that thou mayest wholly destroy in thee that which thou callest thine ^ when thou sayest / or myself do this or that. T^his thou wouldst wholly destroy in thee, that thou mayest become a Qround wholly Divine. Love hateth Self or that which we call /, because it is a deadly Thing, and they two, viz.^ Love and Self cannot well stand together. For Love possesseth Heaven, and dwelleth in itself; but that which I call /, possesseth the World, and worldly Things, and also dwelleth in itself. And as Heaven ruleth the World, and as Eternity ruleth Time, so Love ruleth over the natural Life.
25. The Scholar. — Loving Master, pray tell me wherefore must Love and Trouble^ Friend and Foe be together; would not Love alone be better?
How Love and Sorrow stand together in one; and what hove is^ what its Power^ Virtue^ Height and Greatness are; and where it dwelleth in Man; also the nearest Way to attain it.
The Master. — If Love dwelt not in Trouble^ it could have nothing to love; but its Substance which it loveth^ viz., the poor Soul, being in Trouble and Pain, Love hath cause to lose its own Substance, in order to deliver its Beloved from Pain, that itself also might be beloved again. Neither indeed could it be known what Love is, if it had not something which it might love.
26. The Scholar. — What is the Virtue, Power, Height^ and Qreatness of Love?
The Master. — Its Virtue is that nothing whence all Things proceed, and its Power is in and through all Things; its Height is as high as GoD, and its Qreatness is greater than GOD. \Here is meant the Manifestation of the Deity in the glorious eternal Light of the Divine Essence^ Whosoever findeth it, findeth nothing and all Things.
27. The Scholar. — Loving Master, pray tell me how I may understand this.
The Master. — What I meant by saying, ' its Virtue is that * nothing whence all Things proceed^ thou mayest understand thus.
When thou art wholly gone forth from the Creature^ and become nothing to all that is Nature and CreaturCy then thou art in that eternal One which is GOD Himself, and then thou shalt perceive and feel the highest Virtue of Love, But as to what I said that * its Power is in and through all * Things^ thou shalt perceive and find that in thy own Soul and Body^ when this great Love is kindled in thee, it will bum more than any Fire can do. Thou shalt see also in all the Works of God that Love hath poured forth itself into all Things, and is the most inward and most outward Qround in all Things. Inwardly ^ in the Virtue and Power; and outwardly y in the Figure, Form and Shape^ of every Thing.
The Meaning of that which I said, viz,y ' its Height is as high ^ as Qodj thou mayest also come to understand in thyself, in that it will bring thee to be as High as GOD himself is; as may be seen by our beloved Lord Christ in our Humanity; which Humanity Love hath brought into the highest Throne, even into the Power of the Deity.
But that which I further said, ' its Qreatness is greater than ' Qod'y is also true. For Love entereth into that where GOD dwelleth not, as when our beloved Lord Christ was in Helly Hell was not God but Love was there and destroyed Death, Also, when thou art in Anguish and Trouble of Soul, GOD is not the Anguish or Trouble^ but His Love is there, and bringeth thee out of Anguish into GoD. When GOD hideth Himself in thee. Love is there, and maketh Him manifest in thee.
And that which I said, * whosoever findeth it, findeth nothing * and ail T kings ^ is also true, for he findeth a Supernatural Supersensual Abyss having no Qround, where there is no Place to dwell in. He findeth also nothing that is like it, and therefore it may be compared to nothing; for it is deeper than any Thing, and is as nothing to all Things, for it is not comprehensible. And, because it is nothing, it is free from all Things, and is that only Qood which a Man cannot describe or express what it is.
But that which I lastly said, * he that findeth it, findeth all * Things,* is also true; it hath been the Beginning of all Things, and it ruleth all Things. If thou findest it, thou comest into that Qround ixoTCi whence all Things proceeded, and wherein they subsist; and thou art in it a King over all the Works of GoD.
28. The Scholar. — Loving Master, pray tell me where dwelleth it in Man } The Master. — Where Man dwelleth not, there it hath its Seat in Man.
29. The Scholar. — Where is that in a Man's Self where Man dwelleth not?
Of the Super-Sensual Life. 103 The Master. — It is in the Soul that is resigned to the Ground, where the Soul dieth to its own Will^ and Willeth no more of itself y but only what GOD Willeth. That is the Place in a Man's Self where Man dwelleth noty and there Love dwelleth. For so much of the Soul as its own Will is dead to itself m, so much Place Love hath taken up therein; for where its own Will sat before, there now is nothings and where nothing is, there the Love of God is working alone.
30. The Scholar, — But how may I comprehend or attain it without the dying of my Will?
The Master. — If thou wilt comprehend it in thy own Will^ it flieth away from thee; but if thou yieldest thyself wholly up to it, then thou art dead to thyself in thy own Wtll^ and Love^V\ then be the Life of thy Nature. It killetk thee not, but quickeneth thee according to its Life^ and then thou livest^ yet not to thy own Willy but to its Will; for thy Will becometh its Will, and then thou art dead to thyself but alive unto Qod.
31. The Scholar. — How is it that so few find it, when all would so fain have it.^ The Master. — Because they all seek it in something, viz., in an imaginary Opinion, in Self Desire, whereto almost all have a peculiar natural Lust or Inclination. And though Love should proffer itself to them, it could find no Harbour or Dwelling-place in them, because the Imaginativeness that is in their own Willy hath set itself in the Place thereof. And that Imaginativeness of Self Lust would fain have the Love in it; but Love flieth away, for it dwelleth only in nothing, and therefore such Souls find it not.
32. The Scholar. — What is the Office of it in nothing? The Master. — Its Office is to penetrate without Intermission into something; and if it find a Place in something which standeth still, then its Office is to take Possession thereof, and to rejoice therein with its flaming Fire of Love, more than the Sun in this World; and without Intermission to kindle a Fire in something, and to consume the something, and to enflame itself therewith.
33. The Scholar. — O loving Master! How shall I understand this?
The Master. — If it may but kindle a Fire in thee, thou shalt feel how it consumeth thy Selfhood, that which thou callest /, and rejoiceth so exceedingly in thy Fire, that thou wouldest rather suffer thyself to be killed, than to enter again into thy something. Its Flame also is so great, that it would not leave thee, though it should cost thy temporal Life; it would go with thee in its Fire into Death; nay if thou wentest into Hell, it would even destroy Hell for thy Sake.
34. The Scholar. —Loving Master, I can no longer endure I04 T'he Way to Qhrist.
that any Thing should divert me from this Love; how shall I find the nearest Wsiy to it?
The Master, — Where the Way is hardest, there walk thou, and take up what the World rejecteth; and what the World doth, that do not thou. Walk contrary to the World m all Things, and then thou takest the nearest Way to it 35. The Scholar.— If I should walk contrary to the World in every Thing, I must needs live in mere Misery and Unquietness^ and I should also be accounted a Fool.
The Master. — I do not bid thee do Harm to any; but because the World loveth only Deceit and Vanity^ and walketh in false and wicked Ways; therefore if thou wilt act a quite contrary Part to the Ways thereof in all Things, walk only in the Right Way. For the Right Way is contrary to all the Ways of the World.
But whereas thou Gayest thou slwuldest live in mere Anguish and Trouble: that indeed will be so according to the Flesh; and will give thee Occasion oi continual Repentance; and in such Anxiety the Love will most readily kindle its Fire, What thou sayest also, viz., * that thou shouldest be accounted a ^fool^ is true; for the Way to the Love of GOD is Folly to the World, but Wisdom to the Children of Qod, When the World perceiveth this Fire of Love kindled in the Children of Qod, it saith they are turned Fools; but to the Children of Qod\X.\s the greatest Treasure; so great that no Life can express, nor Tongue describe, what the Fire of the inflaming Love of GoD is. It is brighter than the Sun, and sweeter than any Thing. It is far more nourishing and vital thdXi any Meat or Drink, and vaor^ pleasant than all the Joy of this World. Whosoever getteth it is richer than any King on Earth, more noble than any Emperor, and more potent and strong than all Authority and Power.
Whither the blessed and damned Souls go, when they depart from their Bodies; and how Heaven and Hell are in Man.
36. Then the ScJtolar asked his Master further sayings Whither go the Souls, both of the Saved and Damned, when they leave these mortal Bodies?
His Master answered^ The Soul needeth no going forth; only the outward mortal Life and the earthly Body do at Death separate themselves from the Soul. The Soul hath Heaven and Hell in itself before; as it is written, * The Kingdom of God cometh Of the Super-Sensual Life. 105 ' not with outward Observation; neither shall they say, lo here, ' or lo there, it is, for behold, the Kingdom of God is within you.' And whether of the two States, viz., either Heaven or Hell, shall be manifested in the Soul, in that it standeth.
37. The Scholar. — Doth it not enter into Heaven or Hell, as a Man entereth into a House, or goeth through a Door or Passage, into another Place?
The Master. — No, there is no such Kind of entering; for Heaven and Hell 2x^ present everywhere, and it is but the turning of the Will either into God's Love, or into his Anger, that introduceth into them. And that cometh to pass in this Life, dLCcording to the saying of St. Paul, * Our Conversation is in Heaven;' and Christ saith also, * My Sheep hear my Voice, and I know * them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal Life, * and none shall pluck them out of my Hand.* 38. The Scholar. — How cometh this entering of the Will into Heaven or Hell to pass?
The Master. — When the Qround of the Will yieldeth itself up to God, then it sinketh down from itself beyond all Qround and Place, where GOD only is manifest, worketh and Willeth, and then it becometh Nothing to itself, as to its own Willing, and so God worketh and Willeth in it. Yea, GoD dwelleth in this re^ signed Will; by which means the Soul is Sanctified, and so cometh into Divine Rest, Now when the Body is dead, the Soul is throughly penetrated and saturated with the Love of GOD, and throughly enlightened with the Light of GOD; even as the Fire throughly inflameth a red-hot Iron, whereby it loseth its Darkness. This is the Right Hand of Christ; where the Loveol GOD throughly possesseth the Soul all over, and is a shining Light and a nezv Life in it; and thus the Soul is in Heaven, and a Temple of the Holy Qhost; yea, it is indeed itself the very Heaven of God in which He dwelleth. But the Case oi\!cie wicked So\j\ is this: It will not in the Time of this Life enter into the Divine Resignation of its Will, but goeth on continually in its own Lust and Falsehood, in the Will of the Devil, It receiveth into itself nothing but Wickedness, Lies, Pride, Covetousness, Envy, and Anger, and yieldeth its Will unto them. By which Means the Hellish Element also becometh manifest and working in the Soul, and throughly penetrateth and possesseth it all over, as Fire doth a burning hot Iron. Now such a Soul cannot come to Divine Rest, for GOD'S Anger is manifested in it. And therefore when the Body parteth from it, then its eternal Qrief and Despair begin. For it perceiveth and findeth, that it is become a mere self-tormenting Abomination, and is ashamed to strive to enter with its false Will into GOD. Nay, it cannot; for it is captivated io6 I'he JVay to Qhrist.
in the Wrath^ and is itself mere Wrath^ and hath shut itself up therein by its false and evil Desire, which it hath raised up in itself. And seeing the Light of GOD shineth not in it, and his Lave toucheth it not, therefore it is a great Darkness and an aching anguishing Source of Fire, which carrieth Hell in itself, and cannot reach the Light of God. Thus it dwelleth in itself in Hell, and needeth no entering into it, for wheresoever it is, it is in Hell; though it should cast itself many Hundred Thousand Miles from the Place it is in, yet it abideth still in the same Property and Source of Darkness.
39. The Scholar. — How cometh it then that a Holy Soul in this Life-Time, doth not perfectly perceive that Heavenly LigJU and foy, nor a wicked Soul feel Hell, when both of them are thus in Man, and one of them of Necessity worketh in him?
The Master. — The Kingdom of Heaven in the Saints is working and sensible in their Faith; th^yfeel the Love of GoD in their Faith, by which the PT/// yieldeth itself up into GOD. But the natural Life is environed with Flesh and Blood, stand eth in the Contrariety of God's Anger, and is also compassed about and closely beset with the vain Lust of this outward World. So that the poor Soul liveth in the Midst of its Enemies, having the World on one Side, the Devil on the other, and on a third the Curse of the Anger of GoD in Flesh and Blood; which continually sift, try, and Xhxo\xgh\y penetrate the Life of Man, who is often brought into bitter Anguish, through these several Assaults of Hell, which would fain manifest itself in him. But the Soul sinketh down in the Hope of Divine Qrace, and standeth like a fair Rose in the midst of Thorns, until the Kingdom of this World falleth off from it in the Death of the Body; and then doth it become ^rj/ truly and really manifest in the Love of GoD, having nothing more to hinder or molest it. But during the Time of this Life in the Body it must walk with Christ, who will stand by it and deliver it out of its own Hell by throughly /^«^-trating it with his Love, and thus change its Hell into Heaven.
But to thy Question, why do not the wicked feel Hell in the Time of this Life? I answer, he hath it indeed, and sometimes feeleth it in his evil Conscience, but not perfectly, nor doth he know that it is Hell. For he possesseth earthly Vanity as yet, with which he is enamoured, and in which he taketh Delight and Pleasure; also the outward Life hath yet the Light of the outward Nature, and so the Hellish Pain cannot h^ fully manifested and felt. But when the Body dieth, and the Soul can no longer enjoy temporal Pleasure, or be cheered with the Light of this outward World, then it standeth in eternal Hunger and Thirst after such Vanity, as it was in Love withal here. Yet it can reach Of the Super-Sensual Life. 107 nothing but that evil Will which it had impressed in itself, and too much gratified in this Life, though it v/as not, nor indeed could be, satisfied with such Gratification of it. However there it cannot gratify it at all, which maketh it to be in everlasting ^xiA fruitless Hunger and thirst after Vanity^ Wickedness^ and vile Lewdness. It would fain do more -ffz/// still, but hath notze/^r^-in or wJierewith to perform it, and therefore performeth it only in itself^ in its Will: And this Hellish Hunger?SiA Thirst cdLtinot he fully manifested in it, till the Body dieth, wherewith the Soul hath played the Wanton in Voluptuousness, and which hath ministered to the Soul what it lusted after.
40. The Scholar. — Heaven and Hell being in us in Strife in this Life-Time, and GOD being also thus near us, where do the Angels and Devils dwell?
Where the Angels and Devils dwell in this World's Time; how far Heaven and Hell are asunder; and what and whence the Angels and human Souls are.
The Master. — Where thou dost not dwell as to thyself and thy own Willy there the Angels dwell with thee and everywhere all over the Universe; but where thou dwellest as to thyself and thy own Will, there the Devils dwell with thee, and everywhere all over the Universe.
41. The Scholar. — I understand not this.
The Master. — Where the Will of Qod Wiileth in any Being, there GoD is manifested in that Being; and in that Manifestation the Angels also dwell: but where GOD in any Being Wiileth not with the Will of the Being, there GOD is not manifested in it, but dvvelleth in Himself without the co-operating of the Being. In that Being its own Will is without Qod's Will, and there the Devil dwelleth, and all whatever is without GoD.
42. The Scholar. — How far then are Heaven and Hell from each other?
The Master. — As far as Day and Night, Something and Nothing are from one another; they are in each other, and they cause yicjy and Trouble one to the other. Heaven is through the whole World, and without the World all over the universal System of Nature, without being divided or included in a Place, and worketh through the Divine Manifestation y but only in itself, and in that which cometh into it, or in that wherein it becometh manifest; and there GoD is revealed. For Heaven is nothing but a Manifestation of the Eternal One, wherein all worketh and Wiileth in quiet Love.
io8 l^he Way to Qhrist.
Hell also is through the whole Worlds and dwelleth and worketh only also in itself, and in that wherein the Foundation of Hell is manifested, viz., in Self, and in the false and ^z/// PT///. The visible World hath both Heaven and //i^// in it. Man, as to his temporal Life, is only of the visible World, and therefore during the Time of this Life he seeth not the spiritual World, For the outward World with its Substance is a Cover to the Spiritual World, as the Body is to the Soul. But when the outward Man dieth, then the spiritual World is manifested in and to the Soul, either in the eternal Light with the holy Angels, or in the eterncU Darkness with the Devils, 43. The Scholar. — What is an Angel or the Soul of a Man, that they may be manifested thus, either in God's Love or Anger?
The Master. — They came from one Original; they are Branches or Out-births of the Divine Science of the Divine Will, sprung from the Divine Word, and made Objects of the Divine Love, They are come out of the Qroundoi Eternity, from whence Light and Darkness spring, viz,. Darkness consisting in the harbouring and cherishing Self-desire,2ind Li^ht consisting in Willing the same with GOD. In which Willing the Love of GoD readily and ^/^^ worketh; but in the receiving and entertaining Self in the Willing of the Soul, God's Will worketh in Pain, and becometh a Darkness that the Light may be known. Thus Heaven and Hell are nothing else but a Manifestation of the Divine Will^ either in Light or Darkness, according to the Properties of the spiritual World.
44. The Scholar.— What then is the Body of Man?
What the Body of Man is; and why the Soul is capable oj receiving Good and Evil.
The Master. — It is the visible World; an Image and Quintessence or Compound of all that the World is; and the visible World is a Manifestation of the inward spiritual World, come out of the eternal Light and out of the eternal Darkness, out of the spiritual Compaction or Connection; and it is also an Image or Figure of Eternity, whereby Eternity hath made, itself visible; where Self Will and resigned Will, viz., Evil and Qoodvtoxli one with the other.