so that it was inwardly assaulted by the accuser Satan, who mocked it,
and continually set before it the beauty, riches and glory of the World,
and called it a fool for not embracing them; it began to think and say
thus within itself: _O eternal God, what shall I now do to come to
Rest?_

THE ENLIGHTENED SOUL MET IT AGAIN AND SPOKE TO IT

While it was in this consideration, the enlightened Soul met with it
again, and said: What ailest thou, my Brother, that thou art so heavy
and sad!

THE DISTRESSED SOUL SAID

I have followed thy counsel, and thereby attained a ray or emanation of
the Divine Sweetness, but it is gone from me again, and I am now
deserted. Moreover I have outwardly very great trials and afflictions in
the World, for all my good friends forsake and scorn me; and am also
inwardly assaulted with anguish and doubt, and know not what to do.

THE ENLIGHTENED SOUL SAID

Now I like thee very well; for now our beloved Lord Jesus Christ is
performing that Pilgrimage or Process on Earth with thee and in thee,
which he did himself when he was in this World, who was continually
reviled, despised, and evil spoken of, and had nothing of his own in it;
and now thou bearest his mark or badge. But do not wonder at it, or
think it strange; for it must be so, in order that thou mayst be tried,
refined, and purified. In this Anguish and Distress thou wilt
necessarily hunger and cry after deliverance; and by such Hunger and
Prayer thou wilt attract Grace to thee both from within and from
without. For thou must grow from above and from beneath to be the Image
of God again. Just as a young plant is agitated by the wind, and must
stand its ground in heat and cold, drawing strength and virtue to it
from above and from beneath by that agitation, and must endure many a
tempest, and undergo much danger before it can come to be a tree and
bring forth much fruit. For through that agitation the virtue of the sun
moveth in the plant, whereby its wild properties come to be penetrated
and tinctured with the solar virtue, and grow thereby.

And this is the time wherein thou must play the part of a valiant
soldier in the Spirit of Christ, and co-operate thyself therewith. For
now the Eternal Father by his fiery Power begetteth his Son in thee, who
changeth the Fire of the Father, namely, the first Principle, or
Wrathful Property of the Soul, into the Flame of Love, so that out of
Fire and Light (viz. Wrath and Love) there cometh to b