If it but once kindle a fire within thee, my son, thou shalt then
certainly feel how it consumeth all that which it toucheth, thou shalt
feel it in the burning up thyself, and swiftly devouring all _Egoity_ or
that which thou callest _I and Me_, as standing in a separate Root, and
divided from the Deity, the Fountain of thy Being. And when this
enkindling is made in thee, then the Love doth so exceedingly rejoice in
thy fire, as thou wouldest not for all the world be out of it; yea,
wouldst rather suffer thyself to be killed, than to enter into _thy
something_ again. This fire must now grow hotter and hotter, till it
shall have perfected its office with respect to thee. Its flame also
will be so very great that it will never leave thee, though it should
even cost thee thy temporal life, but it would go with thee with its
sweet loving fire into death; and if thou wentest also into Hell, it
would break Hell in pieces also for thy sake. Nothing is more certain
than this, for it is stronger than Death and Hell.