1Cb. 24] OF TRUE REPENTANCE 661
broken out of their l garden ; besides, thou art so > Or park,
strong, that thou hast broken down the hedge of
their garden,, and hast taken possession of their
dwelling. Besides, thou hast made their meat as
bitter as gall, that they cannot eat it ; thou hast
broken their throne with thy horns, and hast
brought a strong 2 host into their garden, and thou » company, of
hast used a strange power, to drive them out of"
their garden ; and though they have thee in their
fetters, yet thou opposest them, as if thou wouldst
destroy their kingdom ; thou breakest their cords
in pieces, and breakest their bands, and thou art a
continual stormer of their kingdom ; thou art their
worst enemy, and they thine ; and if thou wert
but gone out of their garden, they would be contented, but thou being in it still, the strife continueth, and hath no end, till the Ancient [of
Days] cometh, who will part you asunder.
7. Or dost thou suppose that we are mad, that
we write thus? If we did not see and know it,
we should then be silent. Or canst thou not once
know the thorny bath, wherein thou swimmest?
Dost thou still say, thou art in the garden of roses ?
If thou thinkest thou art there, see well whether
thou art not in the devil's pasture, and art his
most beloved hind, which he fatteneth to the
slaughter for his food.
8. I tell thee for certain, and it is in earnest ;
2when I was at 8 Jericho, there my beloved Com- » in or of the
panion opened my eyes for me, that I saw ; and
662 THE THREE PRINCIPLES [Ch. 24
behold, a great generation of men and multitudes
of people and nations were together, one part were
like beasts, and one part like men, and there was
strife between them ; and beneath there was the
abyss of hell, and the beasts saw not that, but the
men were afraid and would be gone ; to which the
devil would not consent, because his garden had
1 Or de- no doors [open] ; but they 1 brake open his garden,
and so he must watch at the door that they do not
run away from him ; but the beasts (which were
men also) they did eat of his food, and drank of
his drink, and he did nothing to them, because he
fattened them for his slaughter, and there was a
continual enmity between the right men and the
bestial men.
9. Or dost thou suppose this is not true, which
my beloved Companion hath shewn me, when he
opened my eyes, that I saw ? Then come, and go
with me to Jerusalem, we will go together along
the way to Jericho, and see it well enough ; and by
the way is this garden, wherein the devil with his
great generation dwelleth ; we will shew thee great
wonders, thou shalt see and know all that which we
mentioned above, if thou art but a man, and not
the devil's fatted beast.
310. Behold, we understand by Jerusalem the
paradise, and by the way to Jericho the going
forth out of paradise into this world, where then
the world captivated us in her garden, where continually the great sea of misery is wherein our
Ch. 24] OF TRUE REPENTANCE 663
soul swimmeth. Also the devil is therein, who
hath bound us with the chains of the anger of God,
and he leadetb, the poor soul captive (in the dark
garden of Hesh and blood) into his fierce garden of
anger ; where the new-born souls continually break
out of his garden, and break his hellish kingdom
in pieces ; also they have taken possession of his
1 royal throne, where he was an angel, and with their 1 regal or
horns (which are the spirit of God) have broken in
pieces his hellish kingdom which he set up ; also
they oppose him with their storm out of hell into
heaven, and assault his kingdom ; but he holdeth
the poor soul captive with the chains of the anger,
in this evil flesh and blood, and continually setteth
on the crew of the wicked, that they seduce it, and
2 baptize it in the anger of God up to the very lips ; a Or dipiit.
and there the poor soul standeth up to the neck in
the sea of misery, ready to be drowned ; and there
the devil thrusteth it down with the vices and sins
of the body, and would drown the poor soul in the
anger of God in the abyss of hell.
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.