59. What is all this? An idolatry and hypocrisy, an Antichrist, with show and glistering glory. What do men bring into this glozing, hypocritical Babylon? Nothing but images [mental idols], and selfcontrived opinions, forged out of the form of the letter. What do men carry home with them from this hypocritical, specious house? Only the images of the letters. Into these images [and conceits] the poor captive soul does wrap itself; which notwithstanding is full of fear, doubting, and trembling, by reason of the conceived and received image [or opinions]; and is continually in fear lest another people might break in upon its received, framed images, and destroy and overthrow these its received images. Therefore men have made fortresses, bulwarks and towers and strong walls about their cities and churches; that so they might defend themselves, lest the tower upon which they would ascend up into heaven should be destroyed.
60. Now says reason: these are indeed houses of meeting, where men do teach and instruct the simple and ignorant, where men sing and pray. Lo ! externally, in and among the literal men, they are only the tower and city, Babel; but internally, among the children of God, in whom the Temple of God is, where the images [and mental idols] are destroyed, there, is Christ: that is, in those who have pulled down and broken all images and opinions in them, and are entered through the conversion from images and conceits only and alone into the only mere naked grace, mercy and free compassion of God, and esteem themselves as wholly unworthy, empty nothings, and become as 'twere dead in themselves, willing or desiring nothing else save only the mere purity of God in his love-will, and account themselves too unworyour of attributing or taking anything to themselves; and freely fall, in deepest humility, into God's tender mercy, as if they were not: and wholly cast their desires and wills into God's compassion; so that, what he wills and does in them, that they also will, and nothing else. In these, I say, it is a house of teaching and a house of hearing, a Temple of God, where the spirit of God teaches, hears, sings and praises in the soul; for they are dead to all selfhood, and self- willing and weening, and do melodise with unity and oneness of spirit in the praise of God, in the knowledge of the Holy Ghost: these are the Church of Christ.
61. But the rest have only the tower at Babel in the opinion, in their [conceits and] images; these idols they carry with them into the houses of stone, and glory in them, worship them, and carry them again home with them; and fight for them, as if they had the living God in them; and wage great wars for these images; laying country and people waste and desolate; and yet they are more foolish than the birds in the air, which do all praise and honour God in one tongue and understanding; for they are all without any images; whatsoever the great God does with them, therewith they are content.
62. The human tree is one only tree; if they continued in the one only God who has created them, and did not make unto themselves images, who would set them at odds and variance about God? They indeed are and live in the one only God (Acts xvii. 28), and yet they contend and jangle about God.
59. What is all this? An idolatry and hypocrisy, an Antichrist, with show and glistering glory. What do men bring into this glozing, hypocritical Babylon? Nothing but images [mental idols], and selfcontrived opinions, forged out of the form of the letter. What do men carry home with them from this hypocritical, specious house? Only the images of the letters. Into these images [and conceits] the poor captive soul does wrap itself; which notwithstanding is full of fear, doubting, and trembling, by reason of the conceived and received image [or opinions]; and is continually in fear lest another people might break in upon its received, framed images, and destroy and overthrow these its received images. Therefore men have made fortresses, bulwarks and towers and strong walls about their cities and churches; that so they might defend themselves, lest the tower upon which they would ascend up into heaven should be destroyed.
60. Now says reason: these are indeed houses of meeting, where men do teach and instruct the simple and ignorant, where men sing and pray. Lo ! externally, in and among the literal men, they are only the tower and city, Babel; but internally, among the children of God, in whom the Temple of God is, where the images [and mental idols] are destroyed, there, is Christ: that is, in those who have pulled down and broken all images and opinions in them, and are entered through the conversion from images and conceits only and alone into the only mere naked grace, mercy and free compassion of God, and esteem themselves as wholly unworthy, empty nothings, and become as 'twere dead in themselves, willing or desiring nothing else save only the mere purity of God in his love-will, and account themselves too unworyour of attributing or taking anything to themselves; and freely fall, in deepest humility, into God's tender mercy, as if they were not: and wholly cast their desires and wills into God's compassion; so that, what he wills and does in them, that they also will, and nothing else. In these, I say, it is a house of teaching and a house of hearing, a Temple of God, where the spirit of God teaches, hears, sings and praises in the soul; for they are dead to all selfhood, and self- willing and weening, and do melodise with unity and oneness of spirit in the praise of God, in the knowledge of the Holy Ghost: these are the Church of Christ.
61. But the rest have only the tower at Babel in the opinion, in their [conceits and] images; these idols they carry with them into the houses of stone, and glory in them, worship them, and carry them again home with them; and fight for them, as if they had the living God in them; and wage great wars for these images; laying country and people waste and desolate; and yet they are more foolish than the birds in the air, which do all praise and honour God in one tongue and understanding; for they are all without any images; whatsoever the great God does with them, therewith they are content.
62. The human tree is one only tree; if they continued in the one only God who has created them, and did not make unto themselves images, who would set them at odds and variance about God? They indeed are and live in the one only God (Acts xvii. 28), and yet they contend and jangle about God.
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