The Confessions of Jacob Boehme

O beloved man, paradise is the divine
Joy. It is the divine and angelical Joy,
yet it is not outside the place of this world.
When I speak of the fountain and joy of
paradise, and of its substance, what it is, I
4

p. 50

have no similitude for it in this world ; I stand in need of angelical speech and knowledge to express it ; and though I had them yet I could never express it with this tongue. It is well understood in the mind, when the soul rides in the chariot of the Spirit, but I cannot express it with the tongue ; yet will I stammer with the children till another mouth be given me to speak with.

And seeing somewhat is lent me from the grace of the power of God, that I might know the way to paradise, seeing also that it behoves everyone to work the works of God in which he stands, I will not neglect my task but will labour as much as I can on the way.

Although I shall scarce be able to spell out the letters in this so high a way, yet my labour shall be enough that many will have to learn in it all their life long. He that thinks he knows it well, he has not yet learnt the first letter of paradise, for no

p. 51

Doctors are to be found in this school, but only learners.

There is nothing that is nearer to you than heaven, paradise, and hell. Unto which of them you are inclined and towards which of them you walk, to that in this lifetime you are most near. There is a moving between each two of them ; and you have both movings in you. God beckons to you in the one, and calls you ; and the Devil beckons to you in the other, and calls you ; with whom you go, with him you enter in. The Devil has in his hand power, honour, pleasure, and worldly happiness ; and the root of these is death and hell-fire. God has in his hands crosses, persecution, misery, poverty, ignominy and sorrow ; and the root of these is a fire also. But in this fire there is a light, and in the light virtue and in the virtue paradise. In paradise are the angels, and among the angels is Joy. Dim and fleshly eyes cannot behold it ; but when the Holy Ghost comes into the soulp. 52 it is born anew in God, and then it becomes a child of paradise and has the key of paradise, and sees into the midst thereof.

If you be born of God, then you understand God, paradise, the kingdom of heaven and hell, the entrance thereinto of the creatures and the creation of this world ; but if not, then the veil is before your eyes as it was before the eyes of Moses. Therefore saith Christ : Seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you. If you do not understand this writing, seek the humble lowly Heart of God, and that will bring a small seed from the tree of paradise into your soul ; and if you abide in patience then a great tree will grow out of that seed, as you will think has come to pass with this author. For he is to be esteemed as a very simple person, in comparison of the great learned men ; but Christ saith : My power is strong in the weak ; yea Father, it hath so pleased thee to hide these things from the wise andp. 53 prudent, and thou hast revealed them to babes and sucklings ; the wisdom of this world is foolishness in thy sight. And although now the children of the world are wiser in their generation than the children of light, yet their wisdom is but a corruptible thing, and this wisdom continues eternally.