61. And when man brings it so far, that all is one unto him [that he is able to esteem all things alike, and be content with any condition, as St Paul teaches], then he is [as] the poor Christ, who had not whereon to lay his head (Matt. viii. 20); and rightly follows Christ, who said, He that forsakes not house, court, monies, goods, brethren, sisters, wife and child, and denies himself he is not worthy of me (Matt. x. 37; xix. 29).
62. And for this self and unworthiness' sake God has turned away his holy countenance from the nations, so that they have known him only through a dark word and shadow.
63. But he that enters into this total resignation, he comes, in Christ, to divine contemplation, so that he sees God in him, and speaks with God, and God with him, and understands what God's word, being and will is. This man is fit to teach, and none else; he teaches God's word from him; for God is made known and manifest to him in his Covenant, of which he is a servant and minister; for he wills nothing save what God wills through him.
64. He teaches, when God commands him; let it be either to friends or foes, in their season, or out of their season; he thinks that God must do in him as he please, and albeit that he must therefore suffer scorn, yet 't is all one unto him; if he be honoured and respected of men, he humbles himself before God and his brethren, and gives God and his brethren the honour, and takes it not at all unto himself; but if they curse him, and smite him on the face, he thinks thus: Now
I stand in Christ's estate of persecution, it shall turn unto the best for me, and for my brethren.
65. Lo! loving brethren, this is a Christian. And such a kingdom God now offers to you, by the wonderful sound of his spirit's trumpet. And there must and shall be such a kingdom soon manifest and come into being, for a witness unto all the nations of the earth, of which all the prophets have prophesied.
66. On the contrary, he offers to all wicked, unwilling, stubborn men, his anger, wrath and hardening, to devour them, and to make an end with Babel. This say not I, but the spirit of the wonders of all nations.
67. Therefore truss up yourself in armour and lay lustily about you, you Antichristian Babylon, and devour much blood, for you yourself are even he that destroys, and quite ruins yourself: for you, there is no remedy [you will take no counsel, your own Cain-like fury in hypocrisy does harden you], also there is no repentance in your will. But for the children of God under you we have written this, as we have known and seen it.
68. Now says Babel, Whence shall this people come that shall know the Lord, and live in God? Hear, O Babel among your brethren in the time of your affliction and tribulation, they are brought forth in their disrespect and misery; and you call them fools, and know them not. Let no man wait for another's coming; the time is already come about; the voice of the caller and hearer is already present, the covering is put away from this voice. You are not at this time called under a veil, but with open mouth, very clearly.
69. This voice of the Crier opens God's clear countenance in his children, and in the ungodly the angry countenance, seeing they desire fully to purse up all in covetousness into self, viz. into the Antichristian bag, and to bring the whore of self even to the very top of the Babylonical tower.
61. And when man brings it so far, that all is one unto him [that he is able to esteem all things alike, and be content with any condition, as St Paul teaches], then he is [as] the poor Christ, who had not whereon to lay his head (Matt. viii. 20); and rightly follows Christ, who said, He that forsakes not house, court, monies, goods, brethren, sisters, wife and child, and denies himself he is not worthy of me (Matt. x. 37; xix. 29).
62. And for this self and unworthiness' sake God has turned away his holy countenance from the nations, so that they have known him only through a dark word and shadow.
63. But he that enters into this total resignation, he comes, in Christ, to divine contemplation, so that he sees God in him, and speaks with God, and God with him, and understands what God's word, being and will is. This man is fit to teach, and none else; he teaches God's word from him; for God is made known and manifest to him in his Covenant, of which he is a servant and minister; for he wills nothing save what God wills through him.
64. He teaches, when God commands him; let it be either to friends or foes, in their season, or out of their season; he thinks that God must do in him as he please, and albeit that he must therefore suffer scorn, yet 't is all one unto him; if he be honoured and respected of men, he humbles himself before God and his brethren, and gives God and his brethren the honour, and takes it not at all unto himself; but if they curse him, and smite him on the face, he thinks thus: Now
I stand in Christ's estate of persecution, it shall turn unto the best for me, and for my brethren.
65. Lo! loving brethren, this is a Christian. And such a kingdom God now offers to you, by the wonderful sound of his spirit's trumpet. And there must and shall be such a kingdom soon manifest and come into being, for a witness unto all the nations of the earth, of which all the prophets have prophesied.
66. On the contrary, he offers to all wicked, unwilling, stubborn men, his anger, wrath and hardening, to devour them, and to make an end with Babel. This say not I, but the spirit of the wonders of all nations.
67. Therefore truss up yourself in armour and lay lustily about you, you Antichristian Babylon, and devour much blood, for you yourself are even he that destroys, and quite ruins yourself: for you, there is no remedy [you will take no counsel, your own Cain-like fury in hypocrisy does harden you], also there is no repentance in your will. But for the children of God under you we have written this, as we have known and seen it.
68. Now says Babel, Whence shall this people come that shall know the Lord, and live in God? Hear, O Babel among your brethren in the time of your affliction and tribulation, they are brought forth in their disrespect and misery; and you call them fools, and know them not. Let no man wait for another's coming; the time is already come about; the voice of the caller and hearer is already present, the covering is put away from this voice. You are not at this time called under a veil, but with open mouth, very clearly.
69. This voice of the Crier opens God's clear countenance in his children, and in the ungodly the angry countenance, seeing they desire fully to purse up all in covetousness into self, viz. into the Antichristian bag, and to bring the whore of self even to the very top of the Babylonical tower.
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