The second book of wonders

I’ll bring her low, as they all shall know,
If she soars too high;
And if she goes beyond my bounds,
She will have no wings to fly.
I’ll bring her low, you all shall know,
And she has nothing to boast of;
For had I left her to herself,
She would have stumbled like the rest.”

“Now I shall answer you regarding the meaning of these words:

‘I’ll take her from the fowler’s hand,
And put mankind to shame.’

It is because you are unmarried and have no earthly husband that men mock you even more, judging that you look upon yourself as the Lamb’s wife in the manner of earthly marriages. For know that I said: in heaven they neither married nor were given in marriage, but were like the angels in heaven. So the Marriage spoken of in the book of Revelation is about an earthly marriage to take place, which is brought about by the Lord to show the sign of the end.

Now I know the thoughts of your heart; you never judged it to be anything else. If you had judged as the world judges—because I have visited you by the spirit of prophecy, just as I visited the prophets before, and as I visited my disciples and called them my friends and followers, and said that he who did my will was my brother and my sister and my mother (which were but titles given)—then in like manner you have looked upon Revelation without any marriage. But had you judged it another way, and believed (as others have) that you were in reality the Bride, the Lamb’s wife, joined together just as a Bride and Bridegroom are here on earth, you could not...