The Forty Questions of the Soul
2 Or substance.
3 deeds and works.
4 Matt. xxiv. 28. Luke xvii. 37.
5. Though it should go a thousand miles off, yet it would be in the same place from whence it went; for in God there is no limit, near and far off is all one in him.
6. It is as swift as a thought, it is magical, it dwelleth in its wonders, they are its house.
7. The essentiality that is without it, is paradise, a springing, blossoming, and growing of all manner of fair heavenly fruits; just as we have all kinds of fruit here in this world, which we eat after an earthly manner, so also there are all manner of fruits in paradise, which the soul may eat; they have colours and virtues in the substance, and not like a thought: though they be as thin and subtle as a thought, but substantial, comprehensible, and palpable to the soul, virtual and sappy with the water of life, and all this from the heavenly substantiahty.
8. For the heavenly body of the soul is from the pure element (whence the four elements are brought forth), and that giveth flesh, and the tincture giveth blood: the heavenly man hath flesh and blood, and paradise is the * power of the substantiahty; it is heavenly earth, incomprehensible to our outward reason.
9. But we will again teach you another l A. B. C. All in this world have not Christ's flesh in them, hidden in the old Adam: indeed among very many, scarce one, but the regenerate, who are departed from their own will into God's will, in whom the noble grain of mustard-seed is sown, out of which a tree is grown.
1 Or lesson.
* "power" {Kraft), or "virtue."
10. Most souls depart from the body without Christ's body, yet they hang as by a
1 thread, and are at last in their faith entered into the will; these souls indeed are in the image in the spirit, but not in the flesh.
11. Such as these wait for the last day; when the image {viz. the body) shall come forth out of the grave, out of the first image, for God will raise it up by the voice of Christ, even that image which Adam had in his innocency, which hath sprouted with or by Christ's blood.
12. But the earthly body shall not touch it, that must come before the Judgment in the turba; but after the sentence of the Judgment, the turba shall swallow it up, and the 2 wonders [of it] shall only remain.
13. You must understand us aright: These souls must wait till the last day for their bodies, they remain with their bodies in the still rest, till the last day, without feeling any 3 pain, but in another Principle.
14. They have neither darkness, nor Majesty, in the earth, but are at rest without pain, in the eternal still hberty, without touching of the body.
1 The small thread of faith.
2 Or works.
3 Or source.
15. Yet they see their * wonders, but they perform nothing in them, for they wait upon God, and are in humility; for they are sunk down through death, and are in another world, yet there is a great 2 space between them and the holy souls that are in Christ's flesh and blood; but not a Principle, they are in one and the same Principle.
16. But a spirit without a body hath not that 3 might, which the spirit in the body hath; therefore they are in rest, and are under the altar of God.
17. When the last day shall come, then shall they come forth, and eat of the bread of God, and put on the divine body, as is mentioned in the 4 Revelation of John; where the souls under the altar, clothed in white, say, Lord, when wilt thou avenge our blood? And it was answered them, that they should rest a little while, till their brethren were accomplished, which should be killed for the witness of Jesus.
18. But the souls of the wicked have another place, viz. in the most 5 innermost, which also is the most outermost in the darkness; they dare not go up and down; they remain merely with the body, in their 6 substance, yet not in this world, neither do they touch the earth.
19. They have, indeed, power enough over the earth; they can open it without
7 substance and perceptibility: But they have not the outward Principle; they have not power enough over the outward spirit; yet they can for a time 8 make apparitions in the 9 sidereal spirit.
1 Or works.
2 Or substance.
3 deeds and works.
4 Matt. xxiv. 28. Luke xvii. 37.
5. Though it should go a thousand miles off, yet it would be in the same place from whence it went; for in God there is no limit, near and far off is all one in him.
6. It is as swift as a thought, it is magical, it dwells in its wonders, they are its house.
7. The essentiality that is without it, is paradise, a springing, blossoming, and growing of all manner of fair heavenly fruits; just as we have all kinds of fruit here in this world, which we eat after an earthly manner, so also there are all manner of fruits in paradise, which the soul may eat; they have colours and virtues in the substance, and not like a thought: though they be as thin and subtle as a thought, but substantial, comprehensible, and palpable to the soul, virtual and sappy with the water of life, and all this from the heavenly substantiahty.
8. For the heavenly body of the soul is from the pure element (whence the four elements are brought forth), and that gives flesh, and the tincture gives blood: the heavenly man has flesh and blood, and paradise is the * power of the substantiahty; it is heavenly earth, incomprehensible to our outward reason.
9. But we will again teach you another l A. B. C. All in this world have not Christ's flesh in them, hidden in the old Adam: indeed among very many, scarce one, but the regenerate, who are departed from their own will into God's will, in whom the noble grain of mustard-seed is sown, out of which a tree is grown.
1 Or lesson.
* "power" {Kraft), or "virtue."
10. Most souls depart from the body without Christ's body, yet they hang as by a
1 thread, and are at last in their faith entered into the will; these souls indeed are in the image in the spirit, but not in the flesh.
11. Such as these wait for the last day; when the image {viz. the body) shall come forth out of the grave, out of the first image, for God will raise it up by the voice of Christ, even that image which Adam had in his innocency, which has sprouted with or by Christ's blood.
12. But the earthly body shall not touch it, that must come before the Judgment in the turba; but after the sentence of the Judgment, the turba shall swallow it up, and the 2 wonders [of it] shall only remain.
13. You must understand us aright: These souls must wait till the last day for their bodies, they remain with their bodies in the still rest, till the last day, without feeling any 3 pain, but in another Principle.
14. They have neither darkness, nor Majesty, in the earth, but are at rest without pain, in the eternal still hberty, without touching of the body.
1 The small thread of faith.
2 Or works.
3 Or source.
15. Yet they see their * wonders, but they perform nothing in them, for they wait upon God, and are in humility; for they are sunk down through death, and are in another world, yet there is a great 2 space between them and the holy souls that are in Christ's flesh and blood; but not a Principle, they are in one and the same Principle.
16. But a spirit without a body has not that 3 might, which the spirit in the body has; therefore they are in rest, and are under the altar of God.
17. When the last day shall come, then shall they come forth, and eat of the bread of God, and put on the divine body, as is mentioned in the 4 Revelation of John; where the souls under the altar, clothed in white, say, Lord, when will you avenge our blood? And it was answered them, that they should rest a little while, till their brethren were accomplished, which should be killed for the witness of Jesus.
18. But the souls of the wicked have another place, viz. in the most 5 innermost, which also is the most outermost in the darkness; they dare not go up and down; they remain merely with the body, in their 6 substance, yet not in this world, neither do they touch the earth.
19. They have, indeed, power enough over the earth; they can open it without
7 substance and perceptibility: But they have not the outward Principle; they have not power enough over the outward spirit; yet they can for a time 8 make apparitions in the 9 sidereal spirit.
1 Or works.
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