This is a passage from one of the visions of Hildegard of Bingen, a 12th century Benedictine Nun and Abbess. The "I" in this passage is God. Hildegard has been shown images and the voice of God is explaining their meaning to her.
"Therefore listen and understand me, you who say in your hearts 'what are these things and why?' Oh, why are you so foolish in your hearts, you who have been made in the image and likeness of God? How can such great glory and honor, which is given to you, exist without testing, as if it were an empty case of nothing? Gold must be tested in the fire, and precious stones to smooth them, must be polished, and all things of this kind must be diligently scrutinized. Hence, O foolish humans, how can that which was made in the image and likeness of God exist without testing? For Man must be examined more than any other creature, and therefore he must be tested through every other creature. How?"
"Spirit is to be tested by spirit, flesh by flesh, earth by water, fire by cold, fight by resistance, good by evil, beauty by deformity, poverty by riches, sweetness by bitterness, health by sickness, long by short, hard by soft, height by depth, light by darkness, life by death, Paradise by punishments, the Heavenly Kingdom by Gehenna, earthly things by earthly things and heavenly things by heavenly things. Hence man is tested by every creature in Paradise, on earth and in Hell; and then he is placed in Heaven."
Hildegard of Bingen
Scivias
compare with 2nd Nephi 2:10 - 25
The complex imagery, the divine voice explaining them and answering questions, even the harsh seeming directness of the voice at times remind me a little of Nephi.
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