Now I like thee very well; for now our beloved Lord Jesus Christ is
performing that Pilgrimage or Process on Earth with thee and in thee,
which he did himself when he was in this World, who was continually
reviled, despised, and evil spoken of, and had nothing of his own in it;
and now thou bearest his mark or badge. But do not wonder at it, or
think it strange; for it must be so, in order that thou mayst be tried,
refined, and purified. In this Anguish and Distress thou wilt
necessarily hunger and cry after deliverance; and by such Hunger and
Prayer thou wilt attract Grace to thee both from within and from
without. For thou must grow from above and from beneath to be the Image
of God again. Just as a young plant is agitated by the wind, and must
stand its ground in heat and cold, drawing strength and virtue to it
from above and from beneath by that agitation, and must endure many a
tempest, and undergo much danger before it can come to be a tree and
bring forth much fruit. For through that agitation the virtue of the sun
moveth in the plant, whereby its wild properties come to be penetrated
and tinctured with the solar virtue, and grow thereby.
And this is the time wherein thou must play the part of a valiant
soldier in the Spirit of Christ, and co-operate thyself therewith. For
now the Eternal Father by his fiery Power begetteth his Son in thee, who
changeth the Fire of the Father, namely, the first Principle, or
Wrathful Property of the Soul, into the Flame of Love, so that out of
Fire and Light (viz. Wrath and Love) there cometh to be one Essence,
Being, or Substance, which is the true Temple of God. And now thou shalt
bud forth out of the Vine Christ, in the Vineyard of God, and bring
forth fruit in thy life, and by assisting and instructing others, show
forth thy Love in abundance, as a good tree. For Paradise must then
spring up again in thee, through the Wrath of God, and Hell be changed
into Heaven in thee. Therefore be not dismayed at the temptations of the
Devil, who seeketh and striveth for the Kingdom which he once had in
thee, but, having now lost it, must be confounded, and depart from thee.
And he covereth thee outwardly with the shame and reproach of the World,
that his own shame may not be known, and that thou mayst be hidden to
the World. For with thy New Birth or regenerated Nature thou art in the
Divine Harmony in Heaven. Be patient, therefore, and wait upon the Lord,
and whatsoever shall befall thee, take it all from his hands as intended
by him for thy highest good. And so the enlightened Soul departed from
it.