Concerning the Three Principles of the Divine Essence

96. I let it pass, and it is true, that she may be in heaven with body and soul ; but with such a body as Moses and Elias had upon mount Tabor, in the apparition before Christ [at his transfiguration], viz. that new body out of the element ; the transitory [corruptible body] belongeth to the earth, for if we could have subsisted in God, with this [transitory and corruptible] body, God would not have become man, and have died for us. Even as all the Apostles of Christ are dead, and yet live ; and so may it also be, that the body of the virgin was changed into a heavenly, and laid off the earthly. What doth that avail us ? She is no goddess.

97. And the invocation of the saints is wholly against the nature of the first Principle. She is with God indeed, we need not to dispute that ; but we should only look to it, that we also may come to her [where she is] in her Son, and then we shall have eternal joy with her, for that she is (from the grace of God) become the blessed of [all] women, and that we see the green lily twig on her, and that she is the mother of our salvation, out of whom salvation is born, through God.

p. 468

i Or purifying Of l Purgatory.

fire.

98. That invented and well-forged purgatory hath some ground in nature, but in such a way (as it is taught) it is a lie ; and the greedy [desire of] filling the insatiable belly of the fierce [ravening] beast sticketh therein ; For it hath founded its kingdom of heaven thereon, and hath taken upon it to have the keys of Peter, (which it never had at all), to [open and shut] purgatory.

99. Yet I grant that it hath the key to open purgatory with ; but the other key which it hath, will not open the kingdom of heaven, but only the rich chest of gold, out of which the [supposed] maids [or virgins] receive their wages, and are sent (with fine passports) "into purgatory ; then the a the whore, 2 strumpet thinketh she goeth to heaven, to St uifShfui Peter, and thus the false god beguileth the false soul. , , goddess.

100. 0 ! thou blind world, with thy forged masses for souls, such as thy blessing is, such thou art thyself ; thou dost all for money ; if nothing be given thee, thou wilt keep no solemnity or procession. If thou wilt pray for thy neighbour's soul, do so while it is between heaven and hell, in the body of this world, then thou mayest effect somewhat ; and|it is very pleasing [and acceptable] to God, that thou desirest to be one body in Christ ; and thou helpest the necessity [or want] of thy fellow-member, to bring him into God;

Ch. 18] PROMISED SEED OF THE WOMAN 469

it is the pleasure and will of God, that one [help] to bear the burthen of another, and to be saved in one brotherly love, and in one body.

101. Thou blind minister to the kingdom of Antichrist, when thou sayest mass for souls, how is it, that sometimes thou takest upon thee to ransom a soul which is in heaven, or altogether in the abyss with the devil ? Dost thou not think that the devil mocketh thee ? Or how canst thou help them that are in heaven ? Thou criest out [and sayest], They are in pain [and torment]. And thou art a liar in the presence of God. And how then will that holy soul bless thee, and give thee thanks ? How is it, when thou thyself art in the abyss with all devils, that thou standest, and wilt ransom others out of purgatory, and that for money, which thou afterwards spendest with whores ? 0 fie upon thee ! thou great whore [or harlot], how hast thou made for thyself a heavenly kingdom upon earth, for thy voluptuousness, and deceivest the poor soul of man ? Thou must either turn, or go into the eternal purgatory.

102. And now seeing there is somewhat in purgatory, and that all is not so dead, *as the a Or the wolf wolf of the beast feigneth, whereby he may devour giveth it forth, the beast, and the woman that sitteth thereon, and