th and dieth therein;
though as to the _true man_, he never dieth.

4

For Christ saith: _Whosoever believeth in me shall never die, but hath
pierced through from death to life_; and, _Rivers of living water shall
flow from him_, viz. good doctrine and works.

5

Therefore I say that whosoever fighteth and contendeth about the Letter,
is all Babel. The Letters of the Word proceed from, and stand all in,
one Root, which is the Spirit of God; as the various flowers stand all
in the earth, and grow about one another. They fight not with each other
about their difference of colour, smell, and taste, but suffer the
earth, the sun, the rain, the wind, the heat, and cold, to do with them
as they please; and yet every one of them groweth in its own peculiar
essence and property.

6

Even so it is with the Children of God; they have various gifts and
degrees of knowledge, yet all form one Spirit. They all rejoice at the
great Wonders of God, and give thanks to the Most High in his Wisdom.
Why then should they contend about him in _Whom they live and have their
being_, and of whose substance they themselves are?

7

It is the greatest folly that is in Babel for people to strive about
religion, so that they contend vehemently about opinions of their own
forging, viz. about the Letter. When the Kingdom of God consisteth of no
Opinion, but in Power and Love.

8

As Christ said to his disciples, and left it with them at the last,
saying: _Love one another as I have loved you: for thereby men shall
know that ye are My disciples_. If men would as fervently seek after
love and righteousness as they do after opinions, there would be no
strife on earth, and we should be as children of one father, and should
need no law or ordinance. For God is not served by any law, but only by
obedience. Laws are for the wicked, who will not enhance love and
righteousness; they are, and must be, compelled by laws.

9

We all have but one Order, Law, or Ordinance, which is to stand still to
the Lord of all Beings, and resign our wills up to him, and suffer his
Spirit to play what music he will. And thus we give to him again as his
own fruits that which he worketh and manifesteth in us.

10

Now if we did not contend about our different fruits, gifts, kinds, and
degrees of knowledge, but did acknowledge them in one another, like
Children of the Spirit of God, what could condemn us? For the Kingdom of
God consisteth not in