none shall pluck them out of my hand_. Observe, he saith not, I _will
give_ them, after this life is ended, but I _give_ them, that is, now in
the time of this life. And what else is this gift of Christ to his
followers, but an Eternity of Life, which for certain can be no where
but in Heaven. Yea, moreover, none shall be able to pluck them out of
Heaven, because it is he who holdeth them there, and they are in his
hand which nothing can resist. All therefore doth consist in the
turning in, or entering of the Will into Heaven, by hearing the the
voice of Christ, and both _knowing_ him, and _following_ him. And so on
the contrary it is also. Understandest thou this?

His Scholar said to him: I think, in part, I do. But how cometh this
entering of the Will into Heaven to pass?

The Master answered him: This then will I endeavour to satisfy thee in;
but thou must be very attentive to what I shall say unto thee. Know
then, my son, that when the Ground of the Will yieldeth itself up to
God, then it sinketh out of its own Self, and out of and beyond all
ground and place, that is or can be imagined, into a certain unknown
Deep, where God only is manifest, and where he only worketh and willeth.
And then it becometh nothing to itself, as to its own working and
willing, and so God worketh and willeth in it. And God dwells in this
designed Will, by which the Soul is sanctified, and so fitted to come
into Divine Rest. Now, in this case, when the body breaketh, the Soul is
so thoroughly penetrated all over with the Divine Light, even as a
glowing hot iron is by the fire, by which being penetrated throughout,
it loseth its darkness, and becomes bright and shining. Now this is the
_hand of Christ_, where God's Love thoroughly inhabits the Soul, and is
in it a shining Light, and a new glorious Life. And then the Soul is in
Heaven, and is a Temple of the Holy Ghost, and is itself the very Heaven
of God, wherein he dwelleth. Lo, this is the entering of the Will into
Heaven; and thus it cometh to pass.

Be pleased, Sir, to proceed, said the Scholar, and let me know how it
fareth on the other side.

The Master said: The godly Soul, you see, is in the _hand of Christ_,
that is in Heaven, as he himself hath told us, and in what manner this
cometh to be so, you have also heard. But the ungodly Soul is not
willing in this life-time to come into the Divine Resignation of its
Will, or to enter into the Will of God; but goeth on still in its