Concerning the Three Principles of the Divine Essence

itself; and where it is, there it seeth. As our 1 Or see into, thoughts, they can 1 speculate a thing that is many miles off, when the body is far from thence, and it may be never was in that place ; the discovery or glimpse [or piercing sight of the eye of the mind] goeth through wood and stone, through bones and 2 obstruct or marrow, and there is nothing that can 2 withhold it, for it pierceth and breaketh the darkness every where without rending the body of any thing, and the will is its horse whereon it rideth. Here many things must be concealed, because of the devilish enchantment, (or else we would reveal much more here), for the nigromanticus [necromancer] is generated here. 7. But now the first will in the mind is out of the sour anxiety, and its glimpse [or discovery] in the original, is the bitter, strong [or sour] fireflash in the sharpness, which maketh the stirring and noise, and also the seeing in the glance of the sharpness of the fire-flash, that so the re-conceived glimpses [disco verings or glances] in the thoughts have a light in them from whence they see, when they run [along] like a flash.

8. Yet this 3 first will in the mind ought not to stay behind in the abyss of the sour fierceness, (in which the fierce malice is), but ought to go forward in the centre of the breaking forth out of the darkness into the light, for in the light there is mere meekness, lowliness, humility, goodwill, and friendly desires, that it might with its Ch. 1G] THREEFOLD SPIRIT AND WILL 345 re-conceived will go out of itself, and to open itself in its precious treasury. For in the re-conceived will to the birth of the light there is no source of anxiety, but only mere friendly desires ; for the glimpse riseth up out of the darkness in itself, and desireth the light ; and the desiring draweth the light into itself, and there the anguish becometh an exulting joy in itself, an humble cheerfulness, a pleasant habitation. For the re-conceived will in the light is impregnated, and its fruit in the body is virtue [or power], which the will desireth to generate, and to live therein ; and this desiring bringeth the fruit out of the impregnated will, [and presenteth it] before the will, and the will discovereth itself [glimmereth or shineth] in the fruit in an infinite pleasant number ; and there goeth forth, in the pleasant number, in the discovered [or manifested] will, the high benediction [or blessing], favour, loving kindness, pleasant inclination [or yielding pliableness], the taste of joy, the well-doing of meekness [or affability], and [further] what my pen cannot express. The mind would much rather be freed from vanitv, and live

therein without molestation or disturbance. 9. Now these two gates are in one another ; the nethermost goeth into the abyss, and the uppermost goeth into paradise ; and a third gate cometh to these two, out of the element with its four issues, and presseth in together with the fire, air, water, and earth ; and their kingdom is the and their desire is to be filled, to swell, and to be great. These draw into them, and fill the chamber of the deep, [viz.~] the free and naked will in the mind ; they bring the glimpse [or glance] of the stars into the gate of the mind, and qualify with the sharpness of the glimpse [or ffosh] ; they fill the broken gates of the darkness with flesh, and wrestle continually with the first will (from whence they are gone forth) for the kingdom [or dominion], and yield themselves up to the first will, as to their father, which willingly receiveth their region [or dominion]. For he is obscure and dark, and they are rough and sour, also bitter and cold ; and their life is a seething source of fire, wherewith they govern in the mind, in the gall, heart, lungs, and liver, and in all members [or parts] of the

2 the four whole body, and man is 2 their own ; the spirit which standeth in the flash bringeth the constellation into the tincture of its property, and infecteth the thoughts, according to the dominion of the stars ; they take the body and tame it, and bring their bitter roughness into it. 10. Now the gate of the light standeth between both these regions, as in one [only] centre enclosed with flesh, and it shineth in the darkness in itself, and it moveth towards the might of the darkness and fierceness, and sheddeth forth its rays, even unto the noise of the breaking through, from whence the gates of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and feeling, go forth ; and when these gates apprehend the sweet, loving, and pleasant rays of the light, then they become most highly joyful, and run into their highest region into the heart (as into their right dwelling-house) into the essences of the spirit of the soul, which receiveth it with joy, and refresheth itself therein ; and there its sun springeth up (viz. the pleasant tincture in the l element of water) and by the sweet joy becometh blood. For all regions rejoice therein, and suppose that they have gotten the noble virgin again, whereas it is but her rays, as the sun shinetb upon the earth, from whence all essences of the earth rejoice, spring, grow, and blossom. Which is the cause that the tincture riseth up in all herbs and trees.

11. And here we must accurately consider wherein every region rejoiceth ; for the sun and stars apprehend not the divine light, as the essences of the soul [do] (and yet only that soul which standeth in the new birth) ; but 2 they taste the a the sun r . n . -and stars. sweetness which hath imprinted [or imaged] itselt in the tincture ; for the blood of the heart, wherein the soul moveth, is so very sweet, that there is nothing to be compared to it. Therefore hath God by Moses forbidden man to eat the flesh in its blood ; for the life standeth in it. For the bestial life ought not to be in man, that his spirit be not infected therewith. 12. The three regions receive every one of them their light, with the springing up of the tincture in the blood ; and each [region] keepeth its tincture. The region of the stars keepeth the light of the sun ; and the first Principle [keepeth] kindling of receive the most dear and precious light of the the abyss. virgin, yet in this body only her rays, wherewith she fighteth in the mind against the crafty assaults

of the devil, as St Peter witnesseth. And although the dear light stayeth for a while in many in the new birth [or regeneration], yet it is not steady in the house of the stars and elements, in the outward birth, but it dwelleth in its [own] centre in the mind. 1 Or language. The Gate of 2 Speech. 13. Seeing now that the mind standeth in free will, therefore the will disco vereth itself according to that which the regions have brought into the essences, whether it be evil or good ; whether it be fitting for the kingdom of heaven, or for the kingdom of hell ; and that which the glimpse [or flash] apprehendeth, it bringeth that into the will of the mind. And in the mind standeth the king, and the king is the light of the whole body ; and he hath five counsellors, which sit [all together] in the 3 Or sound of 8 noise of the tincture ; and each of them trieth the kindling. i • •> i T • i • • c that which the glimpse with its infection natn brought into the will, whether it be good or evil ; and these counsellors are the five senses.

14. First the king giveth it to the eyes, to see 1 Or sendeth. whether it be good or evil ; and the eyes give it to the ears, to hear from whence it cometh, whether out of a true, or out of a false region, and whether it be a lie or truth ; and the ears give it to the nose (the smell), that must smell, whether that which is brought in (and standeth before the king) cometh out of a good or 2 evil essence ; and the 2 Or false. nose giveth it to the taste, which must try whether it be pure or impure, and therefore the taste hath the tongue, that it may 3spit it out again if it be30rspew. 4 impure ; but if it be a thought to [be expressed 4 Or false. in] a word, then the lips are the door-keepers, which must keep it shut, and not let the tongue forth, but must bring it into the region of the air, into the 5 nostrils, and not into the heart, and s Text. Biaae . n . , . . i •, or Breath. still e it, and then it is dead.

15. And when the taste hath tried it, and if it be good for the essences of the soul, then it giveth it to the feeling, which must try what quality it is of, whether hot or cold, hard or soft, thick or thin, and then the feeling 6 sendeth it into the 6 Or giveth. heart, [presenting it] before the flash of the life, and before the king of the light of life ; and the will of the mind 7 pierceth further into that thing, 7 flasheth or , , , , r . . discovereth. a great depth, and seetn what is therein, [considering] how much it will receive and take in of that thing, and when it is enough, then the will giveth it to the spirit of the soul, viz. to the eternal 8 emperor, who bringeth it (with his strong and " chief ruler. austere might) out of the heart, in the sound upon the tongue under the roof of the mouth, 1 divideth, or and there the spirit * distinguisheth according to separateth. -n i i T i r the senses, as the will hath discovered [or manifested] it, and the tongue l distinguisheth it in the noise.

16. For the region of the air must here drive the work through the throat, where then all the veins in the whole body tend and concur, and bring the virtue of the noble tincture thitherwards, and mingle themselves with the word ; and thither also all the three regions of the mind come, and mingle themselves with the distinguishing [framing, articulating, or separating] of words ; and there is a very wonderful form [or manner of work]. For every region [or dominion] will distinguish [or separate] the word according to its essences, for the sound goeth out of the heart, out of all three Principles. 17. The first will fashion it according to its fierce might and pomp, and mingleth therein prickly [stinging] sourness, wrath and malice. And the second Principle with the virgin standeth in the midst, and sheddeth its rays of loving meekness therein, and resisteth the first [Principle]. 2 the second And if the spirit be kindled in 2that, then the word is wholly gentle, friendly, and humble, and inclineth itself to the love of our neighbour ; it desireth not to seize upon any with the haughty sting [or prickle] of the first Principle, but it

1 covereth the prickles of the thorns, and qualifieth 1 biunteth or , r , , . -, , . mollitieth. the word with clearness [ana plainness], and armetn the tongue with righteousness and truth, and it sheddeth abroad its rays, even into the will of the heart. And when the will receiveth the pleasant friendly rays of love, then it kindleth the whole mind, with the love, righteousness, chastity of the virgin, and the truth of all those things that are by all regions tried upon the tongue. And thus it together with the five senses maketh the tongue shrill, and [thereby] the dear image of God appeareth inwardly and outwardly, so that it may be heard and seen in the whole 2 abyss, what form it is of. 0 man ! behold what 2 Or deep of , , . , , . , 1 | the mind. the light of nature discoveretn to tnee. 18. Thirdly, there cometh the 'third regimen to 3 Or the third the imaging [or forming] of the word, from the spirit of the stars and elements, and it mingleth itself in the house and senses of the mind, and desireth to form the word from the might of its

own self, for it hath * great power, it holdeth the 4 greatest. whole man captive, and it hath clothed him with flesh and blood, and it infecteth the will of the mind, and the will 5 disco vereth itself in the spirit Mooketh upon of this world, in lust and beauty, might and power, l riches and glory, pleasure and joy ; and on the contrary, in sorrow and misery, cares and poverty, pain and sickness : Also in art and wisdom ; and on the contrary, in folly and ignorance. 19. All this, the glimpse [or discovery] of the senses bringeth into the will of the mind [and setteth it] before the king, before the light of the life, and there it is tried. And the king giveth it first to the eyes, which must see what good is among all these, and what pleaseth them. And here now beginneth the wonderful form [or framing] of man, 1 Or according 1 out of the complexions, where the constellation pierions. hath formed the child in the mother's body [or womb] so variously in its regions. For according to what the constellation, in the time of the 2 Or the 2 incarnation of the child, in the wheel that standeth

child's be- . i i i • coming man. therein, and natn its aspect, (when the dwelling 3 Or the of the four elements, and the 3 house of the stars the senses and in the head, in the brains, are built by the Fiat), thoughts. .. 1-1 • • according to that is the virtue also in the brains, and so in the heart, gall, lungs, and liver ; and according to that is the inclination of the region of the air ; and according to that also a tincture springeth up, to [be] a dwelling of the life, as may 4 different be seen in the wonderful [* variety in the] senses and forms [or shapes] of men. 20. Although indeed we can say this with ground of truth, that the constellation imageth and formeth no man, as to [make him to be] the similitude and image of God ; but [it formeth only] a beast in the will, manners, and senses ; and besides that, it hath no might nor understanding, to be able to figure [or form] a similitude of God : Though indeed it elevateth itself in the highest [it can], in the will after the similitude of God, yet it gener-

ateth only a pleasant, subtle, arid lusty beast in man (as also in other creatures) and no more. Only the eternal essences, which are propagated from Adam in all men, they continue with the hidden element (wherein the image consisteth) standing in man, but yet altogether hidden, unless the new birth in the water, and the Holy Ghost [or spirit] of God [be attained]. 21. And thereupon it comes, that man many times in the dwelling of the brains, and of the heart, as also in all the five senses, in the region [or dominion] of the stars, is in his mind l often like 1or suddenly. a wolf, a churlish dog, crafty, fierce, and greedy ; and l often like a lion, stern, cruel, sturdy and active in devouring of his prey ; l often like a dog, snappish, envious, malicious ; often like an adder and serpent, subtle, venomous, stinging, poisonous, slanderous in his words, and mischievous in his deeds, ill-conditioned and lying, like the quality of the devil in the shape of a serpent at the Tree of Temptation ; l often like a hare, timorous, or fearful, starting and running away ; 1 often like a toad, whose mind is so very venomous, that it poisoneth a tender [or weak] mind to the temporal death by its imagination, (which many times maketh witches and sorcerers, for the first ground serveth enough to it) ; l often like a tame beast ; and 1 often like a merry beast, etc. all according as the constellation stood, in 2 its incarnation in 2 the child's.

the wrestling wheel, with its virtue of the quinta 354 THE THREK PRINCIPLES [Ch. 16 1 in the mind esseutia, so is the starry mind on l its region » or nativity. %ure(l '> although the hour of man's 2birth altereth » Or over- much, and doth 3 hold in the first, whereof I will powereth the , /•,••,! • > -L- j_u first com- write hereafter in its place, concerning man s birth plexion of the r , • • i hour of the |_or nativity J. wbSS'g 22. And now if the glance out of this mind, out of this or any other form not here mentioned, glanceth [or darteth] through the eyes, then it catch eth up its own form out of everything, as its starry kingdom is most potent at all times of the heaven, in the good or in the bad, in falsehood or in truth. And this is brought before the king, and there must the five counsellors try it, which yet 4 Or poisoned, are unrighteous knaves themselves, being 4 infected from the stars and elements, and so set in their region [or dominion]. And now those [counsellors] desire nothing more than the kingdom of this world ; and to which sort the starry house of the brains and of the heart is most of all inclined, for that the five counsellors also give their advice, and will have it, be it for pomp, pride, stateliness, riches, beauty, or voluptuous life, also for art and

8 Or virtue. 6 excellency of earthly things, 6 and for poor Lazarus soil is notck there is no thought ; there the five counsellors are very soon agreed, for in their own form they are all unrighteous before God ; but according to the region of this world they are very firm. Thus they counsel the king, and the king giveth it to the spirit of the soul, which gathereth up the essences, and falleth to with hands and mouth. But if they be words [that are to be expressed] then it bringeth them to the roof of the mouth, and there the five counsellors distinguish [or separate] them according to the will of the mind ; and further [the spirit bringeth them upon the tongue, and there the senses divide or] distinguish them in the flash [glance, or in a moment], 23. And there stand the three Principles in strife. The first Principle, viz. the kingdom of sternness [or wrathful fierceness] saith, Go forth in the midst of the strong might of the fire, it must be [so] ; then saith the second [Principle] in the mind, stay and consider, God is here with the virgin, fear the abyss of hell ; and the third [Principle], viz. the kingdom of this world, saith, Here we are at home, we must have it [so], that we may adorn and sustain the body, it must be [so] ; and it taketh the region of the air, viz. its own spirit, and bringeth that [region] out at the mouth, and keepeth the l distinction according to the kingdom » difference,

Of this WOrld. or separation 24. And thus there goeth forth out of the earthly 2 senses and mind, lies and folly, deceit and false- » o thought*, hood, [also] mere subtlety, [with lust and desire] to be elevated ; many [to be elevated] in the might of the fire, as by force and anger ; and many by human art and 3 policy of this world, * which is8 Or virtue, but a knave in the sight of God, yet wrestleth [or 4 worl<L holdeth fast] till it hath prevailed ; many in the form of a tame and gentle beast, very cunningly tence ; many in pride, and stateliness of body [in carriage] and manners, which is a right diabolical beast, who contemneth all that doth not please him, and elevateth himself above all meekness and humility, and over the image of God ; yea, there is so very much of false untowardness, that I may not mention it ; every one followeth the region [rule or dominion] of the stars, even that which serveth most to the voluptuousness of the earthly life. *insumma. 25. 2 In brief, the regimen of the stars [or starry 30rgener- region] 3 maketh not a holy man; and although

ateth no holy i 11-1 ^i man. men may converse under a holy show, yet they are but hypocrites, and desire to get honour [and esteem] thereby, their mind sticketh nevertheless in covetousness and pride, and in fleshly pleasure, in mere base lechery and lust, and they are in the 4 win or lust, sight of God (according to the 4 desire of this world) no other than mere knaves, proud, wilful, [selfconceited] thieves, robbers, and murderers. There is not one, who (as to the spirit of this world) is righteous, we are altogether children of deceit and falsehood ; and according to this image (which we have received from the spirit of this world) we belong to eternal death, but not to paradise ; except it be, that we become regenerated anew, out of the centre of the precious virgin, who with her rays averteth the mind from the ungodly ways of sin and wickedness. 26. And if the love of God (which so dearly loved the image of man, that itself is become man) did not stand in the centre of the mind in the [midst or] l point of separation, then man had been l Or parting

a living devil, and he is indeed such a one, when he despiseth the regeneration, and 2goeth on accord- 20rdeparteth. ing to the inbred nature of the first and third 27. For there remain no more than two Principles eternally, the third [Principle] wherein he liveth here, perisheth ; and if he desireth not now the second [Principle], then he must remain in the first original eternally with the devils ; for after this time it will be no otherwise, there is no source which can come to help him [hereafter] ; for the kingdom of God goeth not back into the abyss, but it riseth up forward in the light of meekness ; this we speak seriously and in earnest, as it is highly known in the light of nature, in the ray of the 3 noble virgin. « the wisdom The Gate of the Difference between Man and Beast. 28. My dear and loving reason, bring thy five senses hither, and consider thyself, according to the things above-mentioned, what thou art, how thou wast created the image of God, and how thou in Adam (by the infection of the devil) didst let thy spirit of this world take possession of thy paradise, which now sitteth in the room of paradise. Wilt thou say that thou wast created thus [as]

to this world in Adam at the beginning ? Then behold and consider thyself; and thou shalt find another image in thy mind and speech. Animal 29. Every l beast hath a mind, 2 having a will, or living „ . , , . creature. and the nve senses therein, so that it can distm8 of* guish therein what is good or ill for it. But where remain the senses in the will [that come] out of the gates of the deep, where the will discovereth itself [or glim m ere th] in the first Principle in infinitum [infinitely], out of which the understanding proceedeth, so that man can see into all things into their essences, how high they are graduated, whereupon followeth the distinction [or different articulation] of the tongue ? For if a beast had them, then it could also speak, and distinguish voices, and speak of the things that are in substance [or being], and search into the originality. But because it is not out of the eternal, therefore it hath no understanding in the light of nature, be it never so nimble and crafty ; neither doth its strength and force avail to the lifting it up into understanding ; no, it is all in vain.

30. Man only hath understanding, and his senses reach into the essences and qualities of the stars and elements, and search out the ground of all things in the region of the stars and elements : And this now hath its original in man, in the eternal element, he being created out of the [eternal] element, and not out of the out-births of the four elements. And therefore the eternity seeth into the l beginning out-birth in the corrupt!- 1 inceptive, bility ; and the 2 beginning in the out-birth cannot 20r inception, see into the eternity, for the 2 beginning taketh its original out of the eternity, out of the eternal mind. 31. But that man is so very blind and ignorant, or void of understanding, is because he lieth captive in the regimen [or dominion] of the stars and elements, which many times figure [or fashion] a wild beast in the mind of man, a lion, a wolf, a dog, a fox, a serpent, and such like ; though indeed man getteth no such body, yet he hath such a mind ; of which Christ spake to the Jews, and called some of them wolves, foxes, and serpents. Also John the Baptist said so of the Pharisees, and we see apparently, how many men live wholly like beasts, according to their bestial mind, and yet are so audacious, that they judge and condemn those that live in the image of God, and 3 subdue their bodies. 3 tame, or

32. But if he speaketh or judgeth anything well, subjection, he speaketh not from the bestial image of the mind, wherein he liveth, but he speaketh from the hidden man, which is hidden in the bestial [man], and judgeth against his own bestial life ; for the hidden law of the eternal nature standeth hidden in the bestial man, and it is in a hard restraint, and judgeth [or condemneth] the [malicious] wickedness of the 4 carnal mind. 4 fleshly. 33. Thus there are three in man that strive against one another, viz. the eternal proud malicious anger, [proceeding] out of the originality of the mind. And secondly, the eternal holy chaste humility, which is generated out of the originality. And thirdly, the corruptible animal, wholly bestial, generated from the stars and elements, which holdeth the whole house in possession. 34. And it is here with the image of man, as St Paul said, To whom you give yourselves as servants in obedience, his servant you are, whether it be of sin unto death, or of the obedience of God unto righteousness, that driving [or property] you have. If a man yield his mind up to malice, pride, self, power, and force, to the oppressing of the miserable, then he is like the proud, haughty devil, and he is his servant in obedience, and loseth the image of God ; and out of the image cometh a wolf, dragon, or serpent to be, all according to his essences, as he standeth figured in the mind.

But if he yield up himself to another swinish and bestial condition, as to a mere bestial voluptuous life, to gormandizing, gluttony, and drunkenness, and lechery, stealing, robbing, murdering, lying, cozening, and [cheating] deceit, then the eternal mind figureth him also in such an image as is like an unreasonable ugly beast and worm. And although he beareth the elementary image in this life, yet he hath indeed the image of an adder, serpent, and beast, hidden therein, which will be manifested at the breaking [or deceasing] of the body, and it belongeth not to the kingdom of God.

35. But if he give himself up to the obedience of God, and 1 yield his mind up into God, to strive ' Or unite, against malice and wickedness, and the lusts and desires of the flesh, also against all unrighteousness of life and conversation, in humility under the cross, then the eternal mind figureth him in the image of an angel, who is pure, chaste, and virtuous, and he keepeth this image in the breaking of the body, and hereafter he will be married with the precious virgin, the eternal wisdom, chastity, and paradisical purity. 36. Here in this life he must stick between the door and the hinges, between the kingdom of hell, and the kingdom of this world, and the noble image must suffer much wrong [or be wounded], for he hath not only enemies outwardly, but also in himself; he beareth the bestial and also the hellish image of wrath in him, so long as this house of flesh 2 endureth. Therefore that causeth strife and 2 lasteth division against himself, and also without him, against the wickedness of the world, which the devil mightily 3presseth against him, and tempteth » Or driveth. him on every side, mis-leadeth, and wringeth him every where, and his own household in his body are his worst enemies ; therefore the children of God are bearers of the cross in this world, in this evil earthly image.

37. Now behold, thou child of man, (seeing thou art an eternal spirit) thou hast this to expect after the breaking [or deceasing] of thy body ; thou wilt be either an angel of God in paradise, or a hellish ugly diabolical worm, beast, or dragon ; all accord- 1 hast behaved ing as thou hast l been inclined [or given to] here in this life ; that image which thou hast borne here in thy mind, with that thou shalt appear ; for there can no other image go forth out of thy body at the breaking [or deceasing of it], but even that which thou hast borne here, that shall appear in eternity. 38. Hast thou been a proud vainglorious, selfishly potent, and one that hast for thy pleasure sake oppressed the needy, then such a spirit goeth forth from thee, and then so it is in the eternity, where it can neither keep nor get anything for [to feed] its covetousness, neither can it adorn its body with anything, but with that which is there, and yet it climbeth up eternally in its pride, for there 2 Or working is no other 2 source in it ; and thus in its rising it party. pl reacheth unto nothing else but the stern might of

the fire in its elevation ; it inclineth itself in its will continually in such a purpose as it did in this world ; as it was wont to do here, so all appeareth in its tincture, therein it climbeth up eternally in the abyss of hell. 39. But hast thou been a base slanderer, liar, deceiver, false murderous man, then such a spirit proceedeth from thee, and that desireth in the eternity nothing else but mere falsehood ; it spitteth out from its fiery jaws, fiery darts full of abomination and reproach ; it is a continual stirrer and breaker in the fierce sternness, devouring in itself, and consuming nothing ; all its [things, beings, essences, works, or] l substances appear in its l Or whatao- J . . ever he hath tincture : its image is figured according as its mind ever been, hath been here. 40. Therefore I say, a beast is better than such a man, who giveth himself up into the hellish images ; for a beast hath no eternal spirit, its spirit is from the spirit of this world, out of the 2 cor- 2 Or fragility, ruptibility, and passeth away with the body, till [it cometh] to the figure without spirit, that [figure] remaineth standing ; seeing that the eternal mind hath by the virgin of the eternal wisdom of God discovered itself in the out-birth, for the manifesting of the great wonders of God, therefore those [creaturely figures], and also the figured wonders, must stand before 8 him eternally ; although no 3 God or the

bestial figure or shadow sunereth or doth anything, but is as a shadow or painted figure [or limned picture]. 41. Therefore in this world all things are given into man's power, because he is an eternal spirit, and all other creatures [are] no other than a figure in the wonders of God ; and therefore man ought well to consider himself, what he speaketh, doth, and purposeth, in this world ; for all his works follow after him, and he hath them eternally before his eyes, and liveth in them. Except it be, that he is again new regenerated out of evil and falsehood, through the blood and death of Christ, in the water and the Holy Ghost, and then he breaketh forth out of the hellish and earthly image, into an angelical [image], and cometh into another kingdom, into which its untowardness [or vices] cannot follow, and that [untowardness, waywardness, or vice] is drowned in the blood of Christ, and the image of God is renewed out of the earthly and hellish. 42. Thus we are to consider, and highly to know in the light of nature, the ground of the kingdom of heaven, and of hell, as also [the ground] of the kingdom of this world, and how man in the mother's body inheriteth three kingdoms, and how man in this life beareth a threefold image, which

therefore we have need of the Treader upon the Serpent, to bring us again into the angelical image. And it is needful for man to tame his body and mind [or bring them under subjection], with great earnestness [and labour], and to submit himself under the cross, and not to hunt so eagerly after pleasure, riches, and the bravery of this world, for therein sticketh perdition. 43. Therefore said Christ, A rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven ; because they take such delight in pride, haughtiness, and fleshly voluptuousness, and the noble mind is dead to the kingdom of God, and continueth in the eternal darkness. For the image of the spirit of the soul sticketh in the mind ; and to whatsoever the mind inclineth and giveth up itself, in that is the spirit of the soul figured by the eternal Fiat. 44. Now if the spirit of the soul remaineth unregenerated in its first Principle (which it hath inherited out of the eternity, with the beginning of its life), then also (at the breaking [or deceasing] of its body) there proceedeth out of its eternal mind such a creature, as its continual will hath been here in this life.

45. Now if thou hast had an envious [spiteful] dogged mind, and hast grudged everything to others, (as a dog doth with a bone which himself cannot eat), then there appeareth such a doggish mind, and according to that source [or property] is its worm of the soul figured, and such a will it keepeth in the eternity, in the first Principle. And there is no revoking, all thy envious wicked proud works appear in thy * source, in thy own i or active 2 tincture of the worm of the soul, and thou must live eternally therein ; nay, thou canst not conceive or apprehend any desire [or will] to abstinence [or forbearance of it], but thou art God's and the holy souls' eternal enemy. 46. For the door of the deep to the light of God appeareth to thee no more ; for thou art now a perfect creature in the first Principle. And now though thou dost elevate thyself, and wouldst break open the door of the deep, yet that cannot be [done] ; for thou art a whole spirit, and not merely in the will only, wherein the door of the give up thy mind. deep can be broken open ; but thou fliest out aloft over the kingdom of God, and canst not enter in ; and the higher thou fliest, the deeper thou art in the abyss, and thou seest not God yet, who is so near thee.

47. Therefore it can only be done here in this life (while thy soul sticketh in the will of the mind) so that thou breakest open the gate of the deep, and pressest in to God through a new birth ; for here thou hast the highly worthy noble virgin of the divine love for thy assistance, who leadeth thee in through the gate of the noble bridegroom, who standeth in the centre in the parting l mark, between the kingdom of heaven, and the kingdom of hell, and generateth thee in the water and life of his blood and death, and therein drowneth and washeth away thy false [or evil] works, so that they follow thee not [in such a source and property], that thy soul be not 2 infected therein, but according to the first image in man before the fall, as a new, chaste, and pure noble virgin's image, without any knowledge of thy untowardness [or vices], which thou hadst here. 48. Thou wilt ask, What is the New 3 Regeneration ? Or how is that done in man ? Hear and see, stop not thy mind, let not thy mind be filled by the spirit of this world, with its might and pomp. Take thy mind, and break through [the spirit of this world] entirely, 4 incline thy mind into the kind love of God ; make thy purpose

earnest and strong, to break through the pleasure of this world with thy mind, and not to regard it ; consider that thou art not at home in this world, but that thou art a strange guest, captivated in a close prison, cry and call to him, who hath the key of the prison ; yield thyself up to him, in obedience, righteousness, modesty, chastity, and truth. And seek not so eagerly after the kingdom of this world : it will stick close enough to thee without that; and then the chaste virgin will meet thee in thy mind, highly and deeply, and will lead thee to thy bridegroom, who hath the key to the gate of the deep ; thou must stand before him, who will give thee to eat of the heavenly manna, which will J refresh thee, and i or quicke thou wilt be strong, and struggle with the gate of the deep, and thou wilt break through as the May-break; and though thou liest captive in the night, yet the rays of the break of will appear to thee in the paradise, in which place day"star> thy chaste virgin standeth, waiting for thee with the joy of the angels, who will very kindly receive

thee in thy new-born mind and spirit. 49. And though indeed thou must 8walk here 'swim or with thy body in the dark 4 night among thorns bathe* , * ° * In contempt and thistles (so that the devil and also this world and dis* doth rend and tear thee, and not only buffet, despise, , deride, and vilify thee outwardly, but also many times stop thy dear mind, and lead it captive in the lust of this world into the bath [or lake] of swine), yet then the noble virgin will help thee still, and will call upon thee to desist 1 Or doings, from thy ungodly ^ays. 50. Look well to it, stop not thy mind and understanding; when thy mind saith Turn, do 8 the evil. 2 it not, then know that thou art so called by the dear virgin ; and turn instantly, and consider where thou art lodged, in how hard a house of bondage thy soul lieth imprisoned ; seek thy native country, from whence thy soul is wandered, and whither it ought to return again. 8 the counsel 51. And then if thou wilt follow3 it, thou wilt of God. find in thyself, not only after this life, but in this life also in thy regeneration, that she will very worthily meet thee, and out of what kind of spirit this author hath written.

Of the horrible, lamentable, and miserable Fall of Adam and Eve in Paradise. 1. ~f~F the gate of the deep were not opened to me in my mind (so that I can see the strife that is against the kingdom of God) then I should also suppose, that the matter [of the fall] was merely a disobedience about the biting of an apple, as the text in Moses barely passeth it over, though Moses hath written wholly rightly. 2. For [the matter] was about the earthly eating and drinking, wherewith the paradisical man was captivated by the spirit of this world, which now must qualify [or mix] with all men. This the Holy Scripture witnesseth, and also reason, that man is not at home in the elementary kingdom of this world. For Christ said, My kingdom is not of this world : And to his Apostles he said, / have called you out from this world : Also, Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. 3. Also we see that the kingdom of this world dieth to man, and [passeth away or] breaketh. * Or stirring property of the four elements. Seeing then, that Adam did bear the image of the kingdom of God (which was eternal and incorruptible, and stood in paradise) therefore we can with no ground say, that he *did bear the image of the kingdom of this world. For this world is transitory and 2 corruptible : But the image in Adam was not transitory, or corruptible. Also if we will say, that Adam (before his fall) lived in the source [or property] of the four elements, then we can no way maintain that Adam was not a corruptible image. For at the end, the four elements must pass away, and go into the eternal element.

4. Besides, he would have been subject to the 3 source, for heat and cold would have ruled over him ; which we may see plainly in Moses, that God first after the fall (by the spirit or angel of the counsel of this world) made clothes of skins, and put them [then first] upon them ; as the veil of Moses doth cover it, that men cannot see his face, as is to be seen by [the people of] Israel. Besides, if he had been merely of earth, and of the four elements, then he might have been burnt in the fire, or drowned in the water, and be stifled in the air ; also wood and stone could have bruised him and destroyed him, and yet it is written, that he [the Adamical man] at the day of the restitution shall pass through the fire, and be approved, and the fire shall not hurt him. 5. Now no other man shall rise [again] but that which God created in the beginning; for he is created out of the eternal will, as to his soul, which was breathed into him ; and his body is created out of the eternal element, which was and is

paradise ; and the four issues (of the four elements) out of the one [eternal] element, l are this world, 1 Or consti- wherein Adam was not created. 6. The text in Moses saith he was created in the paradise in Hebron ; that is, in the gate of the deep between the Deity and the abyss of the kingdom of hell. His body was out of the [one pure] element, and his spirit was breathed into him out of the eternal mind of God the Father, from the chaste virgin of the divine wisdom and love. 7. For the element 2is without understanding, 2 As man's and that is that [which is attracted or] concreted X sphitT' in the will of God, wherein the eternal wisdom of Jading nder" God doth [sparkle or] discover itself in infinitum [infinitely], and in that spring up colours, arts, virtues, and the eternal wonders ; out of which [element] in the beginning (in the kindling of the fire in the stern fierceness) are the four elements proceeded. 8. For this is very well to be apprehended and perceived in the earth and stones, that the four elements are of one only substance, and that the earth and stones were generated in the fierceness from the kindling of the elements. For a stone is but water; and therefore we should do well to consider what kind of fierceness

1 congealed or knit. 3 the four elements. 5 kindling or life. 7 out of the heavenly extract, seed, or substantiality. there must have been, that hath l drawn the water so hard together. 9. Moreover, the issue of the four elements may be perceived in the fierceness of the fire, how instantly the strong air goeth forth from the fire ; and the stone or wood is nothing else but a 2 sulphur from the water and from the earth ; and if the tincture be consumed by the fierceness, then the [wood or stone] would come to ashes, and at last to nothing ; as indeed, at the end, this world with the four elements will come to nothing, and there shall remain nothing else of 3 them in the eternal element, but the figure and the shadow in the wonders of God. How then canst thou think that God hath created the eternal man out of the four elements, or 4 issues, which are but corruptible? 10. Yet as concerning Eve, we must acknowledge that she was created to this corruptible life, for she is the woman of this world ; and at this time it could not be otherwise. For the spirit of this world, with its 5 tincture, had overcome and possessed Adam, so that he fell down into a sleep, and could not generate out of himself the image of the virgin according to the 6 discovery of the noble and chaste virgin (the wisdom of God), which was the matrix in him, which was joined [or espoused] to him out of the heavenly 7 limbus ; where according to which (in his being overcome) the elementary woman was given to him, viz. Eve, who (in

the spirit of the world's overcoming) was figured after a bestial form. 11. But that we may, in a brief sum, give the Reader to understand what our knowledge and high 1 sense in the light of nature hath highly appre- l Or percephended, we therefore set it down thus, according to our knowledge. Adam was the image of God, according to the similitude of God, which God (the holy Trinity in one only divine substance) through the virgin of his eternal wisdom, in the wisdom had [manifested or] 2 discovered [or purposed] (in 2 foreseen or the eternal element) to have in the room of the Ie fallen devil. For his counsel (in the eternal will) must stand ; there should and must be a throne and princely region in this place, which should manifest the eternal wonders. 12. And so now God created the image, and similitude, out of the eternal element, (in which the eternal wonders are originally), and [God] breathed into him the spirit of the essences, out of his eternal original will, out of the throughbroken gate of the deep, where the wheel of the stirring and breaking - through standeth in the eternal mind, which reacheth the clear, true, and pure Deity of the Heart of God.

13. This [image] is not the Heart of God, but it reacheth into the Heart of God, and it receiveth virtue, light and joy from the Heart and light of God. For it is in the eternal will of the Father, out of which he [the Father] continually generateth his Heart and Word from eternity ; and l his essences, which, in the element of his body (viz. [in the element] 2 of ignorance in the eternal wonders of God) now breathed into him, they (in respect of the high triumphing light, out of the Heart and light of God) were paradise ; his meat and drink was paradise, out of the 3 element, in his will ; whereby then he drew the virtue (of the eternal wonders of God) into him, and generated the noise [voice], sound, or the eternal hymn of the eternal wonders of God, out of himself before the will ; and all this stood before the chaste, high, noble, and blessed virgin (the divine wisdom), in a pleasant sport, and was the right paradise. 14. But now, what this is, my pen cannot describe. I rather long after it, to comprehend it more in perfection, and to live therein; which we here in the light of nature (in the gate of the deep) 4 know and behold ; but we cannot raise our threefold mind into it, till our 5 rough garment be put off, and then we shall behold it without molestation.

15. But because the four elements went forth now further out of the [one] element, and made, with the quintessence of the stars, and with the heart of the essences, viz. the sun, the third Principle, wherein also the great wonders stood ; and because there was no creature found that could manifest those [wonders], but only that image and similitude of God, viz. man, who had the chaste virgin (the wisdom of God) in him ; therefore the spirit of this world pressed so hard upon the image, for the virgin, that it might manifest its wonders, and did possess man ; from whence he first gat the name Mensch [man] as a mixed person. 16. But when the wisdom of God saw that man, from the spirit of the world, came to lust, to mingle himself with the four elements, then came the commandment and said, Thou shalt not eat of the knowledge of good and evil. Now the knowledge of good and evil is not manifest in the paradise, and in the kingdom of heaven, but only in * the issue * the four . _ elements that out of the element, in the nerceness, there only are gone forth standeth the knowledge of evil manifest ; and there inward one only the essences are capable of being kindled, and so therein death sticketh ; of which God said, When thou eatest thereof, thou shalt die.

17. God intended that the body which he would get from the infection of the four elements, must die ; and it did also presently (in his tender 2 virgin mind) die to the paradise, and gat the a virgin-like, mind of this world, wherein sticketh nothing but °r patching and piecing, as also frailty, and at last death. 18. But that the four elements, with the sun and stars, had such power to press upon Adam, and to 3 infect him, the cause of it was, because he 8 Or poison was extracted out of them, viz. out of the element; and had (in the originality) all the three kingdoms (all three Principles) in him ; and therefore it was that he must be tempted whether he could stand in the paradise (in the kingdom of heaven) ; and there both heavenly, and also earthly fruit was set before him. 19. For the Tree of Temptation was earthly, (as nowadays all the trees are) : all the others were paradisical, from which Adam could eat paradisical virtue in his mouth, and had no need of stomach and guts ; for they [the trees] were like his body, 1 one pure and [like] the l element, and the Tree of Temptation

was like the four elements. 20. But that Moses presseth so hard upon it, and saith, God created man of a lump of earth ; there the veil is before his face, so that the earthly man cannot look him in the face ; indeed he was rightly a lump of earth, and earth, when he had eaten earthly fruit, which God did forbid him ; but if Adam (before the fall) had been of the earth earthly, then God would not have forbidden him the earthly fruit ; as also, if he had been created out of the earthly element, wherefore did not the earthly element put its clothes upon him instantly with a rough skin ? Wherefore did that [earthly element] leave man naked and bare ? And when it had plainly possessed him, yet it left him naked. 21. Moses speaketh only of the Tables of God, 2 Or ingraven. which were 2 graven through with the Ten Com- mandments, so that they could see through them into the paradise. He hung the veil before his face (as is to be seen concerning [the people of] Israel) because man was become earthly, and therefore must put off the earthly again, and then he must with Joshua (or Jesus) enter into the paradisical Promised Land, and not with Moses stay in the wilderness of this world, where the -veil of this world hangeth before him, before the paradise.

22. Reason must not imagine, that God ever made any beast out of a lump of earth, as a potter maketh a pot. But he said, Let there come forth all sorts of beasts, every one after its kind ; that is, out of all essences, every one after the property of its essence ; and so also it was (by the Fiat) figured according to the property of its own essence ; and in like manner, all trees, herbs, and grass, all at once together. How then should the image of God be made out of the fragile [or corruptible] essences ? But it [must be and] was made in the paradise out of the eternal [essences], 23. The earth is not eternal, and for the sake of the fragility [or corruptibility], therefore man's body must break [or perish], because he hath attracted the corruptibility to him. Thus also the paradisical knowledge, delight and joy are departed from him, and he is fallen into the kindled anger, of the kindled four elements, which (according to their fierceness) 1 qualify with the eternal anger in J Or mingle. the abyss ; although the outward 2 region of the 2 Or working, sun is mitigated, so that it is a pleasant habitation,

as is seen before our eyes ; yet if the sun should vanish away, then thou wouldst well see and feel the anger of God. Consider it well. 24. Thus it is shewn us in the light of nature, that when Adam was thus impregnated [or possessed] from the spirit of this world, then God 1 Or planted. * built [or made] a garden in Eden upon earth, 2 in the divine2 in the paradise, and caused to grow up all sorts habitation of paradisical fruit, pleasant to behold, and good to eat, and the Tree of Temptation in the midst 3 Or out-flow- [of the Garden of Eden\, which had its 3 essences tiaT virtues, from the spirit of this world ; and the other [trees and fruits] had paradisical essences. 25. In this [garden] now the image of God stood altogether free. It might embrace [and take] what it would, only the Tree of Temptation, that was forbidden. There he was forty days in the paradisical knowledge, joy, and habitation, where yet there was neither day nor night to him, but only the eternity ; he saw with his eyes [from or] out of the divine power [and virtue]. There was in him no shutting of his eyes ; he had no need of the sun at all, yet all things must serve and be subject to him. The out-birth [or issue] of the four elements did not touch him ; there was no sleep in him, nor pain, nor fear. A thousand years were to him but as a day ; he was such an image as shall rise at the last day ; there will rise no other image than that which God created in the beginning, therefore consider it well.

26. But that I have said, that he was forty days in the paradise, the second Adam's (Christ's) temptation testifieth so much to me ; as also the temptation of Israel at mount Sinai by Moses [staying twice] on the mount, both which lasted forty days, which you may read in Moses ; and you may read concerning the temptation of Christ ; and you will find wonders. 27. But when Adam was infected from the lust to eat of the knowledge of good and evil, and that the spirit of this world pressed [or swayed] Adam, where also the subtle devil (which in the spirit of this world slipped in) shot mightily at Adam, so that Adam became weary, and blind to the kingdom of God ; [then] said God, It is not good for man to be alone, for he will not now * bring forth the J generate or paradisical virgin ; because he is infected from the spirit of this world, so that the chastity of the modesty is quite 2at an end; we will make a help2 gone, for him, to be with him, out of whom he may build his principality, and propagate himself, it cannot be otherwise now ; and he let a deep sleep fall upon man, and he slept.

28. Here it may be very properly and well understood, how the virgin in Adam departed into the ether, into her Principle ; for the text saith, God let a deep sleep fall upon Adam ; now where sleep is, there the virtue [or power] of God is hidden in the centre ; for where that [virtue of God] groweth, there is no sleep; for the Keeper of Israel neither slumbereth nor sleepeth ; as it is written. If ikon askest, How long did Adam sleep ? 29. Then consider Christ's rest in the grave, and thou shalt find the ground ; for the second Adam must (with his resurrection out of the grave) awaken [or raise] the first (out of his eternal sleep of the darkness of hell) out of the grave of this world again. 30. And so God, in * his sleep, made the woman for him out of himself, by which he must now generate his kingdom, for now it could not otherwise be. And when he awaked, he saw her, and took her to him and said, This is flesh of my flesh, and bone of my bone ; for Adam was (in his sleep) become quite another image ; for God had permitted the spirit of this world in him to make his tincture weary unto sleep.

31. Adam was in an angelical form before the sleep ; but after the sleep he had flesh and blood ; 'and he was (in his flesh) a lump of earth, and he saw from a threefold spirit. With his eyes he apprehended the light of the sun, and knew the first image no more ; although the four elements had not yet fallen upon him, nor touched him ; for he was yet in innocency. 32. And there the devil bestirred himself, and slipped into the serpent (which he himself is, in his own proper form), and laid himself at the tree, and 1 strewed sucrar upon it : for he saw well that Eve l Or set the was a woman, and that she was infected with the and pieasant- four elements ; and although she did strive a little, and objected God's command [against the devil], yet she suffered herself very easily to be persuaded, when the lying spirit said, That the fruit would make her wise, and that her eyes should be opened, and she be as God, knowing good and evil ; yet he told her not, that (if she ate thereof) she must die ; but [he said] she should be wise and fair ; which disease [desire or lust] sticketh still in the brains of the woman, that she would fain be the fairest beast.

33. So she pulled off an apple and did eat, and gave to Adam also, and he ate of it likewise. That was a bit at which the heavens might well have blushed, and the paradise have trembled, as it was indeed really done, as is to be seen at the death of Christ, (when he entered into death, and wrestled with hell), that the earth and the elements trembled, and the light of the sun was darkened, when this bit of the apple was to be 2 healed up. 2 Or cured. The Gate of the great Affliction, and Misery of Man. 34. Reason sticketh at the veil of Moses, and seeth not through the Tables that were graven through, which God gave him upon mount Sinai ; as also reason cannot take off the veil from before 8 his eyes, and look him in the face, for he hath a 3 the eyes of brightened [clarified or shining] countenance in the crack of the fire ; it [reason] is afraid of it [that countenance], and trembleth at it ; it saith continually to Moses, Speak thou with the Lord, for we are afraid, and moreover, altogether naked [and unclean].

35. It presenteth indeed the wrath of God to itself, and trembleth at its fall, but it knoweth not what hath happened to it ; it only presents the disobedience before itself, and maketh [as if] God were an angry malicious devil, that cannot be reconciled, having indeed put on the garment of anger (in Adam and Eve) on to itself in body and soul, and hath set itself (against the will of God) in the bath [or lake] of anger, on which God took his own Heart, to send it into the depth of anger, into the abyss of hell, [as also] into the death and breaking of the four elements from the eternal holy element, to help fallen man, and to deliver him out of the anger and death. 36. But the veil (in the death of Christ) was since taken away from the face of Moses, instead whereof the stars with the four elements have yet cast a mist and cloud (through the infection of the 2 Or the devil) before man ; for the 2 region of this world dom. hath generated the Antichrist, and set [him] before 3 Or darkness, the countenance of Moses, in a 3 cloud, as if he were

Christ; so that the countenance of Moses cannot be apprehended [or beheld]. Therefore we have need of the lily, which groweth through the Tables of Moses (that were graven through) with its strong smell, which reacheth into the paradise of God ; from whose virtue, the people [or nations] shall be so virtuous and strong, that they shall forsake the Antichrist, and shall run through the darkness to ,the smell of the blossom. For the Breaker-through the Gates hath planted the lily, and he hath given it into the hand of the noble virgin, and this [lily] groweth in the element wonderfully against the horrible storm of hell, and [against] the l kingdom a Or dominion. of this world ; where then many 2 branches will fall 2 Or twigs. to the ground, from whence Antichrist becometh blind, and groweth stark mad and raving in the fog and mist, and stirreth the 3 four elements in s the anger the [wrath or grim] fierceness; and then it is the four eie- needful for the children of God to awake from the m sleep of the fog ; this the spirit intimateth, in the light of nature, seriously and earnestly. 37. Therefore, according to our knowledge, we will set down an exposition of the fall of man, which is very perfectly manifested, and appeareth in the light of the day, and ^convinceth us. And we 4 overhave no need of the 5 fooleries of the Antichrist, 7^™^ or who with the blood and death of Christ doth but sy exP°8i' seek his own covetousness, pride, and voluptuousness, and draweth the veil of Moses before our eyes, that we should not see (through the Tables that were graven through) Joshua or Jesus, into the Promised Land of paradise ; that he may only sit and ride upon his horrible and devouring

beast of covetousness and pride, which [beast] is become so very great and strong, that it shadoweth the circuit of the earth, and ruleth so wonderfully 1 high and over 1 mountains and valleys, with his fierceness ; which [beast] yet shall be broken by the lily without hands. At which the [people or] nations shall wonder, and say : How art thou, 0 terrible and great might [and power], founded upon so weak and loose a ground ! 38. Now then, if we consider the miserable fall of Adam and Eve, we need not to run long after the mad Antichrist, to fetch [or learn] wisdom from him ; he hath none. Let us only consider ourselves, and compare the heavenly and earthly images one with the other, and so we [shall] see the whole 2 Or drift. 2 root and ground thereof : We have no need of a doctor, nor of any strange language about it, it standeth written in our body and soul ; and when we see it, it terrifieth us so much, that we tremble at it, as Eve and Adam did in their fall. 39. And if we do not come to know [or have a glimpse of] the Treader upon the Serpent in the mark of the partition [or limit of separation] in the gate of the deep, between the world and the kingdom of hell, then we see [indeed] nothing else

3 persuade us but mere misery and death, which might 3well to awake. , /» i awaken us from sleep. 40. Do but behold thyself, thou blind mind, and 4 Or image, consider thyself, where is thy angelical 4form in thee ? Why art thou so angry, stern [fierce, froward] and malicious ? Wherefore dost thou elevate thyself still in thy wickedness, in pride, in might [or authority] and pomp, and boastest thyself for a brave and potent beast ? What is it that thou dost ? Wherefore hast thou let the spirit of this world into thee, which seduceth thee (as it listeth) into high-mindedness, into [proud] stoutness, into 1 potency and pomp, into covetousness and lying, 1 authority, into falsehood and treachery, as also into sickness ness. and corruption [or frailty] ? 41. What is it now that thou 2hast after thy 2 keepest or i -, T n r* • -i takest with corrupting, when thou diest f Consider thyself, thee. what is it that thou art [then]? Thou art a spirit : But what kind of source [or property] is it that thou hast in thee ? [Surely thou hast in thee] anger, wickedness, pride, self-seeking, wilfulness, (in raising up thyself after temporal pleasure, but finding none) ; [thou hast] a false mind in the spirit, full of lies and deceit, and murderous, [arising in thee] out of the essences. As thou wast upon earth towards men, just so it is [then] with such a spirit as is gone forth from thee out of the corruptible body of the elements. And where shall that [then] remain when this world perisheth ? Dost thou suppose that it shall [then] be an angel? Hath it an angelical quality [source or property] ? Is its source [or quality] in love, humility, and meekness ? Is it in the divine obedience, in the light of joy 1

42. 0 thou blind mind, with thy might and stateliness, full of wickedness and devilish fierce wrath, [wilt thou know where thou art after thy body perisheth] ? Thou art even with all the devils, in the abyss of hell, if thou dost not turn, and by earnest unfeigned sorrow and repentance for thy abominations, enter into the angelical footsteps, that the Saviour and Treader upon the Serpent of fierce wrath, wickedness, lying, and deceit, may meet thee, and embrace thee in his arms, and [that thou] mayest be new-born in him, 1 the wisdom and be yielded up into the bosom of the l chaste and'mercy of , 1 i 1,1 , • God. virgin, and become an angel ; or else thou art in the eternal death, in the eternal darkness, and canst not in all eternity reach the kingdom of God any more. 43. Or dost thou suppose, that I write of the 2 Or know- fall of man without 2 light and understanding? Or that I do not look and see into the Holy Scripture, what that saith of it, [when I say] that man before his fall was angelical in his mind and body ? Then hear and see what Christ saith 8 Matth. xxii. of it, 8 In the resurrection of the dead they will

neither marry nor be given in marriage, but they are as the angels of God. And such an image God created in the beginning, [according] to his similitude. 44. For an angry, malicious, proud self-seeking for honour, and dignity, a mendacious [or lying], thieving, robbing, murderous, lascivious, lecherous mind, is not the similitude of God. But an humble, chaste, modest, pure, courteous [mind], which inclineth itself with a longing desire and love to the Heart of God, that is the similitude of God; in which the fire-flaming spirit in the joy and meekness goeth forth out of the will, and for its brethren the will of its spirit (which goeth forth from it) readily inclineth towards them ; and as the Proverb saith, It imparteth the very heart to them, which is done in spirit, wherein the heavenly joy (in the eternal element) springeth up, and the wonders of God are manifested in the virgin, by a hymn of praise to the eternal mind of God; where the mind playeth upon the harp of David an hymn to God ; where then (in the eternal holy mind) there springeth up knowledge and colours in the [eternal] element, and in the spirit wonders, with works and powers [or virtues].

45. And this is the image of God, which God created for his glory and joy, and no other; and let not the mad Antichrist persuade thee concerning any other [image of God], for there is no other. Thy body and soul convince thee of it, as also heaven and earth, the stars and elements ; look upon what thou wilt, all things convince thee ; and if thou dost not turn and enter into that image to which God created thee, then, in the breaking of thy body (when thy mind in the spirit of the soul shall stand naked without a body), thou shalt be ashamed before all creatures ; this we speak accord- ing to its high worth, as it is highly known in the will of God. 46. Thus it is highly [necessary] for us to know the miserable fall of our first parents ; wherefore it was so with God, that his anger is in us, and that we must die, and (if we apprehend not the Treader upon the Serpent) must also perish eternally. But that we may set down a short summary of the fall (because of our simple, cold, dull, and dark mind) for the Reader's understanding, who, it may be, doth not yet apprehend our sense and knowledge, therefore we will explain it briefly and clearly, and also readily impart our knowledge and mind to

'Or in. him, as indeed ^according to the divine image) we ought to do. 47. Adam stood forty days in an angelical image before his sleep, and there was neither day nor night in him, also no time ; though indeed he was not (as an angel) a mere spirit ; for his body 2 the inward was out of the 2 element, which is no understand- element. . . . . ing spirit, but [isj the attraction [concretion or •Ortheeter- congelation] in the will of God, or the zlimbus, nal earth. •> • •, i /-NT which standeth before God, wherein the chaste virgin, the divine wisdom dwelleth, which discovered and created the image out of the element by the Fiat. 48. And out of this lirtibus (at the time when the earth was corporized) went forth the four elements, as out of a fountain ; and that which was discovered [or manifested] by the virgin (the wisdom of God) in the innumerableness, was the stars, as a virtue [power] or procreation out of the limbus. And they are the quintessence 1 of the four 1 Or before, elements, not severed from the four elements, but qualifying [or mixing virtues] one with another, 2 and yet extracted from the four issues with their 2 The stars

, , , i i • n • with their sharp essences ; and they are the seeking [longing or fierce property hunger] of the four elements, or, as I may express it out of the by a similitude, [they are] the man, and the elements are the woman ; and the heart of these things is the element, in one only substance, and the essences in that [one element] are the virtues [or powers] of the wonders of the wisdom of God, and are called paradise, an exulting joy. 49. And the spirit of the eternal essences (which hath understanding and knowledge, and also the trial and proving of every thing, in which the source [or active property or quality] which is in man, consisteth) that was breathed into him, by the wisdom of God, through the driving will, which goeth 8 forward, out of the eternal mind, out of30rintorethe opened gates of the deep, through the word, 81 [together] with the moving spirit of God. And he had the 4 touch of the centre of the abyss [wz.]« Or stirring. the eternal source 6 behind him, as a band, and6 Or as the before him, the heart and light of God, as a glance the light. of the joy and kindling of paradise, which springe th up in the essences with the light of the joy ; and beneath him [he had] the four elements in the budding out of the limbus which was in him.

50. And as long as he set his imagination in the Heart of God, the paradise was in him, [and he in the paradise], and the band of the abyss in him (in 1 Or property, the l source) was a paradise of transcendent ioy: as the fire is ' . * J the cause of and the kingdom of this world held him from shining. beneath also in the band, because it goeth forth from the element. But so long as he. set his mind in the Heart of God, it [the kingdom of the four elements] could not lay hold on him [or master him], and it was impotent, as to him, as this world is impotent as to God. 51. And thus the spirit and soul of Adam stood in the midst (in the joyful paradise) forty days, as 8 three had a one [only! day. and all 2 inclined to him ; one desire to have L J J J him. [whereof was] the kingdom of hell, of the eternal originality out of the dark mind, out of which his worm of the soul (in the opened gate) was gone forth ; and secondly, [there inclined to him] the Deity of the kingdom of heaven in the opened gate, in the pleasant lustre ; and thirdly, the spirit of the stars and elements [inclined to him] drawing him to their bands, and heartily desiring him.

52. And thus Adam stood upright in the temptation ; for his angry mind (out of the originality of the first Principle) stood in joy [being enlightened] from the light of God ; and the source of the fierce wrath made the rising joy, for the light made all meek and friendly, that he might incline himself to love ; and thereby he stood (on earth) rightly in the paradise. 53. The four elements of this world, together with the sun and stars, could not qualify [or mix] with him ; he drew no air into him ; but the spirit of God (in the virgin) was his breathing, and [his] kindling of the. fire in the spirit. 54. But while he thus stood (between the kingdom of hell and the kingdom of this world) in the paradise, bound with bands, and yet also wholly free, in the might of God, he [reflected himself into or] discovered himself in the great deep of the kingdom of this world ; in which the great wonders also stand hidden in the centre, as we see that man hath (by his eternal mind) discovered it, and brought it to x light, as is seen » Or the day. before our eyes. And in his discovering [or reflecting] he imagined, and fell into lust, for the spirit of

the world took hold of him, (as a mother maketh a mark upon a child in the mother's womb), and [he] became (in the lust) impregnated from the spirit of this world, and then was blind as to God, and saw neither God nor the virgin any more in his mind. And thus the kingdom of heaven continued in the opened gate of the omnipotence [or almightiness], (in the paradise) in its [own] Principle to itself (and the virgin in it) hidden in the centre, and was in Adam, and yet Adam (with his mind) was not in God, but in the spirit of this world ; and he became feeble as to the kingdom of God, and so fell down and slept. 55. And then God (by the spirit of this world 1 Adam. through the Fiat) built [or formed] out of 1him 2 multiplied the woman of this world, by whom he 2 increased or propagated. .... „,, his kingdom. Ihe woman was out of the matrix, which (before the infection) was a chaste virgin, 3 Or gene- which Adam should have 3 brought forth out of himself ; but when the modesty of the wisdom, and ability [or potency] departed from him, (when he passed into the spirit of this world), he could not then bring forth [or generate] ; for in his sleep the spirit of this world clothed him with flesh and blood, and figured [formed or shaped] him into a beast, as we now see by very woeful experience, and know ourselves to be blind and naked as to the kingdom of God, [being] without any virtue [or strength] in the sleep of the great misery, clothed with corruptible [frail and transitory] flesh and blood.

56. And now when Adam awaked from sleep, then he was a man, and no angel ; he drew breath 4 Or astral from the air, and therewith kindled his 4 starry spirit, which had taken possession of him ; he knew his wife to be a woman, and that she was 8 Or gene- 6 taken out of him, and took her to him, as all beasts couple together ; yet he had then pure eyes, for the fierceness [or grim wrath] did not yet stick in them, but the infection [or longing]. The element of fire with its bitterness (which qualifieth, [or mixeth properties] with the abyss of hell) had not pressed him wholly. 57. Thus now Adam with his wife went (in great lust and joy) into the Garden of Eden, where Adam told her of the commandment concerning the Tree : But Eve (being a woman of this world) regarded it but little, and turned her from Adam to the Tree, and looked upon it with lust ; and the lust instantly took hold of her ; and the lying devil (when she was talking with him, whom she knew not, neither had heard of any devil) persuaded her, and she laid hold on the Tree, and brake off [an apple], and did eat of the fruit of the four elements and stars, and gave to Adam ; and when Adam saw that Eve l died not, then he ate also. 1 By eating.

58. And then their eyes were opened, and they knew that they had flesh and blood, and were quite naked. For the spirit of the great world took them captive with the four elements, and figured [or framed in] them stomach and guts ; though indeed in the sleep of Adam (when the matrix was severed from the limbus) the same forms were already figured, but they knew it not, till after the biting of the apple ; and then the spirit of the fierceness first gat in, and made its region, (as may be seen in the heart, liver, lungs, gall, and bladder, as also in the stomach) ; this regimen had Adam gotten in his sleep, and with the biting of the apple the spirit of the great world hath set itself in that [government]. 59. And then they looked one upon another, and were ashamed one before another, and they were afraid of the wrath [or severity] that entered into them, for it was the anger of God ; and thus they were captivated by the first Principle, (as by the abyss of hell), which held Adam and Eve captive in their souls in the eternal [part] ; for it sprang up with terror, fear, and doubt, concerning the kingdom of God ; and they could have no comfort [in that condition], for they saw the paradise no more, but the Garden in Eden ; so also they had lost the Deity, they could set no will [or desire] into it, for the wrath and doubt stood in the way.

60. Then came the spirit of this world with its rough garment, with heat and cold, and pressed upon them, as upon naked people, and so struck the image of God half dead, (with their fierceness, anguish, and doubt, with their quality [or property] of hot and cold), and let it lie in pain, anguish, and doubt. And here man went from Jerusalem (out of the paradise) to Jericho, into the house of murderers, who stripped him of his paradisical garment, and robbed him, and struck him (with their poison, torment, plague, arid sickness, from their infection) half dead, and so left him and went their way, as the second Adam said in the Gospel, in a similitude [or parable], 61. And here now was no remedy, neither in heaven, nor in this world, they were captivated in hard slavery, (in misery and death) ; the abyss of hell held the soul, and the spirit of this world held the body [captive]. Death and corruption was in the body ; and there was nothing else in them but enmity to itself, [proceeding] from the tart essences of the stars, wherein one source [or quality] striveth against the other, and one breaketh [or destroyeth] the other with greater pain and torment to the body, with trembling and shrieking ; and at last [comes] corruption and death, as it is before our eyes.

62. There the devil gat the game for the kingdom of this world to be his again, he gat an entrance into man, and he could reach into the essences of his soul ; for they were * now both in one kingdom. » Mar. and the 63. He [the devil] supposed, [saying], The king- both in the dom of this world is thine, thou shalt sport thyself grace.' according to thy power with the image of man, which should have possessed thy throne, his spirit is in thy kingdom ; and so [the devil] mocked God in his mind, [saying], Where is now thy noble image, which thou didst create to rule over my throne ? Am not I lord of the great might of the fire ? I will rule over thy throne, the might [or strength] and virtue is mine : I fly up above the thrones of virtue and strength, and no might [or power] can withstand me. 64. Yes indeed he flieth up above the thrones, but he cannot fly into the thrones ; he flieth up in the first eternal source of fire, which is stern, sour, dark, hard, cold, rough, and burning, but he cannot get through the open gate of the deep, into the light of God, but he flieth up aloft in his abyss, in the eternity, in the wrathful source [or quality] of

hell, and reach eth nothing else. And therefore he is a prince (though in the abyss of hell), which was well enough known to man after his miserable fall. 65. And because I may not be well understood by the Keader, in that I write, that man dwelleth in the abyss of hell with the devils, therefore I will shew him the ground, that he may touch and handle it ; and if he will not feel it, yet it is given to him that he may know it, and it shall be a witness against him. 66. It is not without a cause, that Christ calleth the devil a prince of this world ; for he is so, according to the first Principle, according to the kingdom of wrath, and continueth so to eternity. But he is not so according to the kingdom of the four elements and stars ; for if he had full power in that, then there would be no vegetative [fruit] nor living creature upon the earth. He cannot master 1 that which the * exit of the four elements ; for he is in the issueth. originality, and there is a [whole] Principle be2jOr aspects tween ; only when the 2 constellations do awaken the

fierce wrath of the fire, in the elements, as in a tempestuous storm, then he is master-juggler [in mischief], and rejoiceth himself [therein]. Though indeed he hath no power there either, except it be permitted him from the anger of God, then he is the hangman [or executioner], and executeth the 8 The sen- "right as a servant [minister or officer] ; but not as ment, or a judge, but as an executioner. 67. He is executioner in the kingdom of this world; the stars are the council, and God is the king of the land, and whosoever departeth from God, falleth into the council of the stars, which run many upon the sword, and make them lay violent hands upon themselves, and [bring] some to a rope, others to the water ; and there he is very busy, and is the driver or executioner. 68. Into this great misery man is fallen ; and he is fallen quite ^ome to the kingdom of the stars a into the and elements, as to his body ; what these do with him, that he is, and that standeth in the substance ; they make one great, another small ; one straight, another stooping and crooked ; they send one fortune and riches, and another poverty ; of one they make a crafty subtle man according to the counsel and kingdom of this world, and of another they make an idiot ; they make one a king, and they break and pull down another ; one they kill, another they bring into the world ; and they continually drive the mind of man, yet into nothing else but into vain turmoil, discontent, and vexation.

69. Besides, the kingdom of hell, and of [fierce] wrath, always gape after the soul, and set their jaws wide open to devour the captive soul ; which is held fast fettered with two strong chains ; the one of the kingdom of hell ; the other of the kingdom of this world ; and it is continually led by the heavy, lumpish, bestial, and sickly body, as a thief who is often led to the place of execution, and still by a petition reprieved, and laid in prison again, and the poor soul must lie thus in prison the whole time of the body ; where the devil on the one side very suddenly rusheth upon it with his devouring fierceness, wrath, and malice, and would carry it into the abyss. Then instantly [it is beat upon by] the glistering [flattering] world, with pomp, bravery, covetousness, and voluptuousness of perdition ; presently [again come upon it] sickness and fear, and it is continually trembling and quaking ; and when man goeth but in the dark, how is it amazed, and continually afraid that the executioner will take it, 1 Or execute and * do execution upon it ! The Gate [or Exposition] of the great Sin, and

2 committed Contrariety of Will against God, 2 in Man. man- 70. If we did well consider the abominations and great sins of man before God, which our first parents inherited for us, then we should scarce ever be merry in this world at all, if the spirit of this world did not cast foolish fancies, and seeming joys and pleasures before us, in our imprisonment ; or if the regeneration did not cause us so highly to rejoice, that we shall once be delivered out of this prison; for in this life, we find nothing else but mere abomination, sin, misery, and death, and scarce attain (in this [temporary] life) so much as a glimpse of the eternal joy. 71. Now the mind asketh, What is sin then ? How is it sin ? Wherefore hath God a loathing against the substance which he hath created? Behold, thou child of man, there is no sin in heaven in the presence of God ; only in thyself there is sin, and sin separateth us and our God asunder ; otherwise all things are fixed [or perfect], and good in their own being [or substance] ; the kingdom of hell and of wrath is good in itself, according to its [own] region, it doth not vex or torment itself; but its woe [pain or smart] is its birth, and the rising of its source ; also it desire th nothing else.

72. And so also the kingdom of this world is fixed [or perfect], and good in itself ; neither doth it vex or torment itself ; but the elevating of the elements (viz. the kindling of the heat, cold, air, and water) is its growing and springing ; neither doth it torment itself in itself, nor hath it any distress or fear in itself. 73. Only man (who is proceeded out of another Principle) hath in both those [forementioned] Principles, woe, misery, sorrow, and distress; for he is not in his native country; and neither of these two Principles can attain his native country. Therefore the poor soul must be thus l plagued and i pinched and tormented, that it may attain its native country 8queezedagain; it must go again through the gate of the deep anguish of death ; it must break through two kingdoms, and it sticketh here 2 between the door 2 in the chink, and the hinges, and is continually infected with Sng oTthe those things which keep it back and plague it ; it door' sticketh as it were in a press. 74. If it straineth to God [ward], then the devil holdeth it on one side with one band, and the

the devil handleth it in fierceness [sternness, fro wardness], or wrath, which is a source [or quality], and sin, which cannot attain to the kingdom of God ; and the world leadeth it into pride, covetousness, 2 or budding and fleshly lust, so that the 2 essences of the soul JjK£tal grow full [or impregnated] with the fleshly will ; for the will of the mind draweth these things into the soul, and so the soul (from that which is attracted) 3 muddy. becometh wholly unclean, 3 swelled and dark, and cannot attain the light of God ; its essences, that should give up themselves to God, cannot : For they are too rough, and cannot get into the light, that kindleth not itself in its essences. The gates of the deep must be broken open first, and then the essences [of the soul, may] 4 beyond. press into the liberty, 4 without the darkness ; 5 Or big with but if the mind be 5 filled, then it cannot [come pride, covet- . i T i -\ n i • ousness, envy, into the liberty], and then begmnetn horror, fear, distress, and despair of the kingdom of God, and this maketh mere torment [woe, pain, and smart] in the soul.

75. Thus thou shalt know in what manner it is sin before God ; thou hast in thyself the [one eternal pure] element, which is a joy in the presence of God ; and now if thou rage and rave with the source [quality or property] of hell, then thou touchest [or troublest] the element ; and thou stirrest up the l wrath [and makest it] to go forth, and 1 Or fierce thou doest as the devil did, when he awakened [or gt stirred up] and kindled the fierce x wrath in the Fiat, whereby the l fierceness generated earth and stones ; thou sinnest [piercing] into the heaven in the presence of God, upon which the Prophets complained in many places, that the disobedient did grieve their God. Though (in himself) he felt no pain, yet his wrath was kindled in the first Principle, in the gate of the deep, wherein the soul stand eth, and that is a mere abomination before him. 76. Behold, all whatsoever thou lettest into thy mind (if thy soul be not inclined [or yielded up] to God, so that it 2 believeth and trusteth in him) then * st all whatsoever thou doest is sin ; for thou bringest an earthly mind into the gate of the deep, where the spirit of God [moveth, walketh, or] goeth, and thou defilest the element which is in the presence

77. Thou wilt say, How? God dwelleth in heaven. 0 ! thou blind mind, full of darkness ; the heaven where God dwelleth is also in thee, as Adam was both upon earth, and also in paradise at once ; and give not way to Antichrist to direct thee aloft without [the place of] this world above the stars, for he telleth thee a lie, as the devil himself did. God is everywhere, as the Prophet David saith : If I fly to the day-break, or into hell, thou art there. Also where is the place of my rest ? Am not I he that filleth all things f Yet I behold the miserable and those that are of a broken spirit, and I will dwell in them : Also, / will dwell in 1 Or tent. Jacob, and my l tabernacle shall be in Israel : Understand it rightly, he will dwell in the contrite and broken spirit, which breaketh the gate of darkness, he will press into that [spirit], 2 infection or 78. Therefore beware of the 2 longing [lust or desirej ; and say not in thyself, I stand in the dark, the Lord seeth me not, [nor] what I think and do. He standeth in the gate of the mind, where the soul standeth (before the clear face of God) in the opened gate ; and all thy abominations are known before God, and thou makest the element of God blush [or change colour] with them ;

thou grievest the chaste virgin (which dwelleth in her own centre, and is given to be a companion to thee in thy mind) and makest her sad ; she warneth thee of the way of the ungodly ; if thou followest [her counsel], and turnest, and breakest in unto her, by earnest repentance, then she crowneth thee in thy mind with wisdom and understanding, that thou mayest then very well avoid the devil ; but if thou dost not, then thou fallest out of one sin and abomination into another, and makest thy measure full and running over, and then the devil helpeth thee into his kingdom, and thou art very 8 rod or whip, serviceable to him ; for thou art a true 3 scourge to the children of God, not only with reproaching, but also in deeds [or in the work of thy hands]

which the devil dare not do; thou doest him acceptable service. He tickleth thee finely with the name fof God], so that thou bringest forth * of a godly, from thy lips, and teachest it; but thy heart is ajSS^S thief and a murderer, and thou art wholly dead godly di™e< to the kingdom of heaven. 79. Therefore, 0 thou beloved mind! examine thyself to what thou art inclined; whether thou art inclined to righteousness, love, fidelity, and truth, also to chastity, modesty, and mercifulness ; if so, it is well for thee ; but if not, then dive into thy bosom, and consider thy fleshly heart, and try it, wrap thy 2 senses together, and put them 2 Or thoughts, in prison, and storm thy fleshly heart, that the elements in thee may quake and tremble. The flattering and lying devil (who hath possessed thy fleshly heart) shall feel these 3 strokes (which he 'earnest will not like), and then he must be gone, and thou E^Lce. wilt be of another mind : This is no 4 conceit from 4 Or invena mind not opened ; itself hath tried this, and tlOQ' therefore it shall stand for a Memorial, and a continual monitor; and whosoever pleaseth, let him try it, and he shall find wonders indeed.

80. Now when Adam and his wife had eaten of the earthly fruit, then they were ashamed one of another, for they perceived the bestial members for * propagation ; and they broke off e boughs, and held • bodily. them before their7 shame; and the voice of God 8 Or branches went into the garden, highly into their minds, and * privities. they hid themselves behind the trees in the garden. 81. Here we see clearly, yes we feel, that God (in the beginning) created no such image with bestial members for propagation, for that which Or privities. God created for eternity, that hath no l shame before it. Yet also they then first perceived that they were naked ; the elements had taken possession of them, and yet put no earthly garment [like the beasts' hairy skin] upon them ; for the spirit of man was not from the essences and properties of the elements [as the spirit of the beasts], but [man] was out of the eternal. 82. And here in this place there is nothing more palpable, than that it is seen and known, that Adam had no bestial form before his sleep, before his wife [was formed] ; for he was neither man nor woman, but a chaste virgin without bestial form ; he had no l shame nor breasts, neither had he need of them ; he should have generated in love and chastity (without pain or opening of his body) a virgin as himself was ; and it should have been possible, that the whole host of angelical men should have proceeded out of one only man, (as the angels did), out of one fountain, if he had stood in the temptation ; even as all those (who come to the only Arch- Shepherd, to his rest) were redeemed (by one only man) from the eternal death and torment of hell.

83. Here now we find, that they heard the voice of God in the garden ; for the element, which is before God, wherewith man qualifieth [or mixeth], that did tremble because of sin ; and sin was manifested in the element of the mind, first in Adam and Eve, and then fear and terror fell into the essences of the soul ; for the first Principle in the [fierce] sternness was stirred, so that [Principle] gat (as a man may say) fuel for its source of fire. And it is risen up in the kindling, in a contrariety of will, in the essences, where one form hath continually opposed the other, viz. the sour tartness and the cold, with their attracting, have awakened the bitter stinging and tormenting in the essences of the tincture of the blood in the spirit ; and the bitter raging and rising hath awakened the fire. 84. And so instead of the paradisical joy and refreshment, there hath been a mere brimstonespirit, which standeth in anguish and trembling of corruption [or fragility], which kindleth the tincture of the blood, wherein tearing, stinging, and tormenting is wrought ; and if the fire in the brimstone-spirit be too much kindled, then it burneth the tincture up, and the light of life goeth out, and then the body falleth away to be a dead carcase ; and if the tart sourness be kindled too much by the hard attracting and holding, then also the light of life goeth out, and the body perisheth ; so also of the water ; if the tincture kindleth itself in the meekness, then it becometh x windy, gross, swelled, i pursy with wholly dark, also infectious and 'corrupt, wherein f^M or the flash of the life is as a pricking thorn. And so achin«- man's life is everywhere begirt with enemies, and

the poor soul is always in a close prison fettered with many chains, and is continually in fear that (when the body shall [die or] break) it may fall into the kingdom of the executioner, the devil. 85. Thus in Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (after the biting of the apple) there sprang up the first fruit in the gate of the deep, where the soul standeth before God, and qualifieth [or mixeth] with the will of the justice of the Father, who setteth his will before him (in the breaking of the darkness) in the light of the meekness, and continually generateth his beloved Heart and Son (in the virtue of the meekness of the will), viz. his eternal Word, from eternity. 86. And so should the angelical man also set his will in the broken gates of the darkness, through the will of the Father, (wherewith the soul qualifieth [or mingleth] ) in the meekness of the Heart of God, and then the source [or quality] of the darkness, in the [fierce] wrathfulness, should not have 1 touched or x stirred him, but he should have continued a glorious prince of paradise, in triumph over the kingdom of hell and of this world.

2 thoughts, 87. But when he set his 2 imagination in the or lust. ' kingdom of this world, then the bright and clear will of his soul drew the swelled kingdom of the out-birth to the soul into its will ; and so the pure paradisical soul became dark, and the element of 3 the concre- the body did get the 3 Mesch or massa, which the iu°mp.raa r will of the soul of the mind attracted into the element [of the body] ; and then he was a fleshly man, and gat the fierceness of the first Principle, which the strong breaking-through to God, in the gate of the deep, did make to be hard l gristles and 1 Or joints, bones. 88. And we are seriously and highly to know (for it is seen in the light of life) that the marrow in the bones hath the noblest and highest tincture, wherein the spirit is sweetest, and the light clearest; which may be known in the fire, if you be not blind with your gainsaying; and it is accurately known, that those 2 places (where the hard bones 2 passages or now are) were wonders and virtue [or power],

which have broken the gates of the darkness, in which [power] the angelical man in the light stood. 89. Therefore the providence of God, when Adam fell into longing [desire or lust], environed that virtue and strength with the might of the first Principle (viz. with the might of the stars and sharpness of God) that the source [or quality] of the first and third Principles might not so easily touch it ; and this was done in Adam's sleep, when God built Adam to [or for] this world, from whence Saint Paul also saith, That the natural man was created in the corruptible life of this world; which was done at the temptation of Adam, at that time when God made his natural wife out of him. But he was a holy image before, and 8he must be the samenheAdamicai again in his restoration at the last day. tions, conceits, and notions. * qualify or mingle in them. 90. Though the devil and this world rage and rave against this, yet it is nevertheless the ground of truth, highly known in the wonders of God, and not from the fables or suppositions, such as the proud seeming holy or hypocritical world now ground their l babble upon, about the Cup of Jesus Christ, for the advancing of their pomp and haughtiness, their own honour and supposed wisdom, for their pleasure, and the 2 filling of their bellies, like the proud bride in Babylon, who rideth upon the evil beast, which devoureth the miserable ; therefore thus saith the spirit against Babel in the confusion, I have spewed thee out ; in the time of the wrath, thou shalt drink of the cup of thy pride, and thy source [or torment] shall rise up in eternity.

Of the Voice of God in the Garden of Eden, and the Conference between God and those z two, about Sin. 91. So now when Adam and his Eve (after the biting of the apple) beheld themselves, then they perceived the monstrous image and bestial form, and they felt in themselves the wrath of God, and the fierceness of the stars and elements ; for they took notice of the stomach and guts, into which they had stuffed the earthly fruit, which began to * take effect, and they saw their bestial shame ; and then they did lift up their minds towards paradise, but they found it not ; they ran trembling with fear, and crept behind the trees ; for the wrath had stirred (their essences in the spirit) with the earthly fruit, and then came the voice of God in the centre of the gates of the deep, and called Adam, and said, Adam, Where art thou? And he said, Here am I: And I am afraid, for I am naked. And the Lord said, Who hath told thee that thou art naked? Hast thou eaten of the Tree, whereof I said unto thee, that thou shouldest not eat thereof? And he said, The woman gave to me, and I did eat. And he said unto the woman, Why hast thou done so? And she said, The serpent beguiled me, so that I did eat.

92. Here it may be seen very plainly, that the devil had lost his angelical image ; and cometh now in the form of a serpent, with his murderous lying, and * beguileth the woman. Because he had not 1 Or been able to overthrow Adam wholly, therefore he setteth upon the woman ; and promiseth her 2 wisdom, and the riches of this world, and that she 2 cunning, should be therein like God ; the devil mingled lies skill. and truth together, and said, She shall be as God ; but he meant, according to the kingdom of this world, and according to the first Principle of the [fierce] wrath, and let paradise out ; but Eve understood it, that she should continue in the paradise, in the divine and pleasant joy. 93. Therefore it is not good to prattle with the devil, he is a liar and murderer from the beginning of his kingdom, and a thief also ; he cometh only to murder and to steal, as here [with Eve]. And the devil is the highest cause of the fall ; for he 1 *ne sweet- strewed l sugar upon Adam, so that he imagined ness of sin. &

[or lusted] after the kingdom of this world ; though Adam indeed did not see him, yet he slipped into the essences of the [fierce, sour] sternness ; and did there strow hell's paradisical sugar before him, so that Adam lusted. 94. But because he beguiled Adam and Eve with his sugar, therefore God hath prepared such a dwelling-house for him, as Adam lets forth 2 from the (2 from the earthly sugar) at the nethermost earthly volup- V . , « , tuousness, and exit ; and that shall be left for him at the dainty deli- . . cades, the corruption of the earth, when it goeth into its ether ; and then that pleasant smell of the stink of sin and abominations (in the kingdom of the fierce wrath) shall remain for him, and that sugar he shall eat eternally, and frame his will con- 8 Or oven. tinually therein to get other sugar in the 8 furnace of the fire, and then he may make that ready for him, as may best suit with his palate ; at which he quaketh and treinbleth, when he heareth the spirit declare such things. And hereby it is also signified to all the ungodly, that they shall also eat the same sugar eternally, which they have continually baked here, with their blaspheming, cursing, covetousness, scorn, backbiting [thorny-taunting], murdering, robbing, and taking the sweat of the needy and miserable to maintain their haughty stately pride.

95. And now when these two, thus captivated by the devil and this world, stood before God with fear and great horror, and felt the anger of God, and the severe judgment ; then the Heart of God, which had made them, pitied them, and it did 1 look whether there was any [remedy or] counsel 1 appear or r , . -, discover itself, that might help poor man, and redeem [or deliver] to see. him from the bands of the eternal [fierceness or] wrath, and from the mortal body of this world. But there was nothing found, neither in heaven, nor in this world, that could make them free ; there was no principality or throne-angel, which had the ability to do it ; all was lost, they were in the eternal judgment of the temporal and eternal death. For the first Principle had captivated them, in the spirit of the soul, and qualified [or mingled] with the soul ; the kingdom of heaven in the light was shut up, [and there was a firm enclosure] of a whole Principle between, and2 it could not reach 2 the soul, the kingdom of heaven again, except that it were born of God again ; otherwise there was no counsel, nor help, nor refuge in any thing at all.

96. Then the devil mocked the image, and hell opened its jaws wide, and had the bridle in their essences, and continually drew them therewith towards the hellish fire of the fierce wrath ; and then there was trembling and horror in the mind, and they could not reach the love of God. Heaven was their enemy, no angel came near them, but the horrible devils, they shewed themselves, and hooped, crying, Ho, ho ! we have gotten the game, we are princes over men, we will torment them soundly, because they would have possessed our throne; we should have been their footstool, and now we are their judges ; what care we for God, he dwelleth not in our kingdom ; wherefore hath he thrust us out ? We will be sure to wreak our spleen upon his image. The most pleasant, and most lovely Gate [or Exposition] of the Promise of the Treader upon the Serpent, highly to be considered. 97. Now when no counsel [or remedy] was found, and that man was sunk down into hell, to the great triumph of the devils, then said God to the serpent (the devil), Because thou hast done thus, be thou cursed ; and the Seed of the Woman shall tread upon [or break] thy head, and thou shalt bruise

Or sting. [or * wound] his heel ; at which the abyss of hell did quake and tremble, but the devil understood not wholly what that should be ; only he saw that the Word imagined [or represented itself] in Adam and in Eve, in the centre of life, and that it opposed the fierceness of the kingdom of hell, of which he stood in fear, and his jollity was lessened, for he did not relish that. 98. Moses writeth here as if the serpent had beguiled Eve, because God cursed it, [and said,] That it should eat earth, and creep upon its belly ; but Moses here putteth the veil before our eyes, that he cannot be looked in the face. For all prophecies stand in dark words, that the devil may not know [nor apprehend them], and learn / the times, and that he may not strow his false seed, before the wonders of God appear ; as may be seen in all the Prophets, who prophesied of the Treader upon the Serpent. 99. We know, that the devil slipped into the serpent, and spake out of the serpent; for God did not mean [by it] that the Treader upon the Serpent should tread upon the head of the bestial serpent ; but that he should destroy the devil and the abyss of hell. But that was the punishment of the bestial serpent, that it should remain a poisonous worm without feet, and eat earth, and have communion with the devil ; for so all evil spirits in hell appear, in their own form, according to their source [or quality], as serpents, dragons, horrible worms, and evil beasts.

100. This now the devil did not understand; because God spake of the serpent, and cursed it to [be] a horrible worm, and he supposed that it did not concern him; neither doth he yet know his own judgment, he knoweth only what he learneth from men, that l declare [things] in the 1 Or prophesy. spirit of God ; yet the spirit of God doth not wholly intimate his judgment to him, but all in the depth, afar off, so that he cannot wholly understand it. For to the enlightened men all prophecies (even concerning the wickedness of men) 414 THE THKEE PRINCIPLES [Ch. l7 are thus given, and they dare not set them down clearer, that the devil may not wholly learn the counsel of God, and strow his sugar upon it ; though in this place there are very excellent things, that ought not to be revealed to the world, for they remain till the judgment of God ; that the devil may bring no new sects into it, and lead men into doubt ; and therefore they shall be passed over till the time of the lily. 101. So now when we consider the great love and mercifulness, in that God hath turned to man, we find cause enough to write and teach these

1 matters, or x things ; for it concerneth our eternal salvation and works'and redemption out of the jaws of hell ; therefore I will set down the ground of the promised Messiah, that the following writings may be the better understood, especially Moses in his Book of the Law, where there is need of it. Now he that will see nothing, God help him, he must needs be blind ; for the time of the visitation of the hardened Jews, Turks, and Heathens, cometh now. Whosoever will see, let them see ; the lamps for the bridegroom are shortly to be kindled. He cometh, whosoever desireth to be a guest, let him prepare him a wedding-garment. 102. Now, saith reason, How could Adam and Eve know what God meant by the Treader upon the Serpent? Indeed, they did not wholly and altogether know ; only they saw that the devil must depart from them, and not shew himself outwardly any more; but the mind (in the centre of the breaking-through of the life into the element, into the presence of the chaste and modest virgin, the wisdom of God) that understood it well : For * he lodged a precious and worthy guest ; for i man. the Word (which God the Father spake concerning the Treader upon the Serpent) went out of the Heart, and out of the mouth of God, and that was the spark of love [proceeding] out of the Heart of God, which was from eternity in the Heart of God, wherein God the Father had known and elected mankind (before the foundations of the world were laid) that they should live therein ; and that the same [spark or promise] should stand in the rising-up of the life ; and Adam also in his creation stood therein.

103. And this is that which Saint Paul said, That man is elected in Christ, before the foundation of the world ; and not those dregs of despair that are now taught about the Election of Grace ; they are not the right understanding. I will shew thee Paul's [meaning about] his Election of Grace in its due place, when I shall write of the 2 bestial, 2 This the wolfish, and doggish minds of men, that will not eth of in his 8 give way that the Treader upon the Serpent may J enter into them, so that the heavenly Father (in his Son Jesus Christ, through his incarnation, . sufferings and death) might draw them to him ; 3 Or desire, they will not endure that drawing, for they have the essences of the serpent which draw into hell : But this is not from God, as if he did willingly leave them ; no, but from the doggish nature, engrafted from the stars and from the devil ; which God knoweth well, and will not cast the Pearl before swine. Whereas [nevertheless] it were possible, if they did but turn, and did step into the new birth, they would obtain the jewel, though indeed it seldom happeneth, therefore God knoweth [who are] his.

104. As is mentioned above, so hath that same Word out of the Heart of God (which God spake to Adam and Eve) imaged [or formed] itself in Adam and Eve, in the light of the life in its own centre, and espoused itself with the dear and worthy 1 the wisdom J virgin of the chastity, to continue eternally with Adam and Eve, and to defend them from the fiery essences and darts of the devil ; as also, if they would incline to that same Word, that then they should thereby receive the rays of the holy Trinity, and also the wisdom of the virgin. 105. And this Word should enlighten the soul, and at the departure of the body be the light of the soul, and bring the soul through the gate of the darkness into paradise, (before the bright countenance of God), into the second Principle, into the element, where there is no pain. 106. For [there] the Word clothed the soul, and shut up the kingdom of hell, and there it shall wait till the day of the restitution, and then it shall get a body again out of the element, out of the body that was here [in this life], when the

1 fierceness shall be washed and melted away in > wrath, corruption, sin, the fire at the last day ; and not a strange body, dross, or the r -i -i grimness. but the same it did bear, m the [one] element hidden in the four elements, that same shall go forth and flourish as Adam [had done] in [his] creation. The Gate of the Redemption. 107. And the same Word is propagated by the two first 2 persons [or people], from one to another, 2 Mensctum. [and that] in the birth of the life, and [in the] kindling of the soul, yet, in the centre ; and the kingdom of heaven is near in every one's mind, and they can attain it, if they will themselves; for God hath bestowed it to every one, out of grace. 108. Yet thou .must know that the Word sticketh not in thy [mortal] flesh and blood; as thy flesh cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven, so therefore it cannot stick in the flesh ; but [it sticketh] in the Principle, in the centre of the soul, and it is the bridegroom of the soul. If the soul be 3 faithful, then he resteth in its bosom ; 8 Or con-

f i r tinue in true but if it turn unfaithful, then it [the soul lorsaketn resignation. or] goeth away out of the Word. 109. For * it standeth in the gate in the centre, « the soul. viz. in the door [way] between heaven and hell ; and the Word is in the heaven. And if the soul giveth way to be drawn away from that gate, then it loseth the Word; but if the soul reach 1 incline to 1 forward again, towards the gate, then it attaineth resignation. , . , , . . / , . , - that again ; and the virgin (who is the servant of the Word) goeth continually [along] with the soul, and warneth it of the evil ways. 110. But if the soul be a dog, an adder, or serpent, then the virgin goeth away to the Word into the heaven, and then the door is shut. And then there is a whole birth between the soul and the Word, whereas else there is but half [a birth between the Word and the soul] ; and then there is need of hard striving, and [such a soul] will hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven ; yet it is possible enough.

111. This Word hath brought the souls of men which have 2 inclined their minds to it, ever since the beginning of the world (when their bodies have been dead) into the bosom of Abraham, into the element, into the rest, [which is] without source [or pain], and there the soul, [being yet] without a body, hath no paradisical source [or active property 3.0rj>pened. or Acuity], but dwelleth in the 8 broken gate, in the meek element, in the bosom of the 4 virgin, in the presence of their bridegroom, B after the long strife of unquietness, and waiteth for its body without pain. And as to the soul there is no time, but it is in stillness ; it sleepeth not, but it seeth (without disturbance) in the light of the Word. 112. But because the essences of the soul were infected with the poison of the devil, and of hell, so that the soul could not be helped again, except 2 yielded to the Word. CL 17] OF THE FALL OF ADAM AND EVE 419 it were l born anew through the Word, out of the l new-bom, or mouth of God, viz. through his beloved Heart, " (if ever it should attain the paradisical joy and source [condition or quality] again, and qualify or mingle in the 2 paradisical essences, and if ever its 2 Or be body should come out of the element again to the with par** soul) then the Word (in the virgin-chastity) must 8 become man, and take man's flesh and blood, and 3 Or be in-

become a human soul, and enter into death, as also in the first Principle, into the dark mind of the eternity, where the soul hath its original, into the ground of hell, and break in pieces 'the dark gate in the ground of the soul, and the chains of the devil, and generate [or beget] the soul anew again out of the ground [thereof], and present it as a new child (without sin and wrath) before God. 113. And as the first sin did [pass or] press from one upon all, so also the regeneration [passeth] by one upon all ; and none are excluded, except they will themselves. Whosoever saith otherwise, hath no knowledge in the kingdom of God, but telleth mere stories [or speaketh but according to the history or letter only], without the spirit of life. 114. Here following we will highly and orderly set down God's great deeds of wonder, for the comforting of the sick Adam, which for the present sticketh in the press, and must suffer * anguish ; yet « squeezing this (which is set down) shall stand against all the sk»n.°P1 gates of the devil, also against all sects and schisms, and that in the ground of the light, as it is given to us of God, and besides, out of the ground of the Holy Scriptures, upon the highly precious words of the promise in the Prophets, and the Psalms, as also the apostolical [writings]. And though we do not here allege the Scriptures, yet we will sufficiently prove it to every one who will not be contented with this summary description.

The firm Articles of the Christian Faith. 115. Beloved mind, we write no conceits and tales, it is in earnest, and it is as much as our bodies and souls are worth ; we must give a strict account of it, as being the talent that is committed 8 Or offended, to us. If any will be 2 scandalized at it, let them take heed what they do ; truly it is high time to awake from sleep, for the bridegroom cometh. 3 The confes- 116. 8 1. We Christians believe and acknowledge, that the eternal Word of God the Father became a true self -subsisting man (with body and soul) in the body [or womb] of the Virgin Mary, without man's 4 Or having * interposing : For we believe, that he was conceived do^n i?.g by the Holy Ghost, and born of the body of the 5 Or defiling. Virgin, without 5 blemishing of her virgin [purity II. Also we believe, that (in his human body) he died and was buried. III. Also [we believe], that he descended into hell, and hath broken the bands of the devil (wherewith he held man captive) in pieces, and redeemed the soul of man.

IV. Also we believe, that he willingly died for our iniquities, and reconciled his Father, and hath brought us into l favour with him. * 0* grace. V. Also we believe, that he rose again from the dead on the third day, and ascended into heaven, and there sitteth at the right-hand of God. VI. Also we believe, that he shall come again at the last day, to judge the living and the dead, and take his bride to him, and condemn the ungodly. VII. Also we believe, that he hath a Christian Church here upon earth, which is begotten in his blood and death, [and so made] one body with many members, which he cherisheth, and governeth with his spirit and Word, and uniteth it continually (by the holy Baptism, of his own appointing, and by the Sacrament of his Body and Blood) to [be] one only body in himself. VIII. Also we believe, that he protecteth and defendeth the same, and keepeth it in one mind. And now we will, here following, set down all out of the deep ground (according to every thing's own substance) what our knowledge is, as far as is now necessary.

Of the promised Seed of the Woman, and Treader upon the Serpent. And of Adam's and Eve's going forth out of Paradise, or the Garden in Eden. Also of the Curse of God, how he cursed the Earth for the Sin of Man. 1 That is, we 1. "\~\7"-^ will not concoct the ^eat in the must not \l \/ .. speak of the mouth, and play with the Mysteries, with the8 to write one thing, and confess another with the mouth, to please the ear, as is used nowadays, ou™heartz.ea where they cover themselves continually with a strange cloak, whereas all is nothing else but mere hypocrisy, appearance, and [juggling] or fighting with a shadow. The spirit of God is not in such a one, but he is a thief and a murderer, and he useth his pen for nothing else but his own pride. If he 2 Or if he had 2 power, then he would himself cast all away, were from the • .•••••* «a r • J 11 true spirit, tnough he should [under a strange coverj acknowledge it but with half a mouth : He is to speak freely out of the abyss of his heart, and to write without a cover ; for Christ hath done away his covering [or veil], and his loving countenance appeareth to the whole world, for a witness to all people.

2. Therefore let every one look to it, and take heed of the appearing holy hypocrites and flatterers, for they are Antichrist's (and not Christ's) ministers [or servants] ; for Antichrist hath set his foot upon the breadth of the earth, and rideth upon the abominable devouring beast, which is as great as himself, and indeed greater. Therefore it is highly necessary, that every one should feel [or grope] in his own bosom, and consider his heart, how it is inclined, that he do not deceive himself, and unknown to himself yield himself to be the [servant or] minister of Antichrist, and fulfil that prophecy ; for l he standeth now 2 in the light of the eyes ; the 1 Antichrist, time of his visitation is at hand ; he shall be manifested in the light of life. And beware of covetousness, for thou shalt not enjoy it ; for the wrath of the beast breaketh the mountains and hills to pieces ; and thy covetousness will partake of the 3 fierceness ; the time is near. * Or grimness, 3. Now when poor fallen man (viz. Adam and plagues. Eve) stood thus in great fear, horror, and trembling, being fast bound with the bands of the devil, and of hell, in great scorn and shame before the heaven and paradise, then God the Father appeared to them with his angry mind of the abyss, into which they were fallen ; and his most loving Heart went (forth through the Word of the Father) in Adam and Eve, and * placed itself before the wrath, highly 4 Or opposed. in the gate of man's life, and enlightened the poor soul again ; yet they could not comprehend it

the eyes of reason. in the essences of the soul ; but received the rays of the almighty power, whereby Adam arid Eve became l glad again ; and yet they stood trembling, by reason of the wrath [or fierce horror or grimness] that was in them, and heard the sentence which God pronounced ; for God said, Because thou hast eaten of the tree whereof I told thee that thou shouldst not eat, cursed be the ground for thy sake ; with care thou shalt maintain thy life thereon all thy life long ; thorns and thistles shall it ~bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field, till thou become earth again, from whence thou wast taken ; for thou art now earth, and to earth thou shalt return again. 4. Here and now stand the great secrets (which we cannot see with 2 our earthly eyes) wholly naked and plain, and there is no veil before it, only we are blind to the kingdom of God ; for God cursed the earth, and said, it should now bear thorns and thistles, and man 3 should eat the fruit of the accursed earth. This indeed is a new thing. He allowed them not in paradise to eat of the earthly herbs, but of the pleasant fruit. And if he had eaten of the herbs of the fields, yet that which he had eaten, was heavenly ; and when the Lord cursed the earth, then all became earthly ; and the holy element was withdrawn, and the fruit did grow in the issuing of the four elements, in the kindling of the fierceness, out of which thorns and thistles grew.

Eat 18] PROMISED SEED OP THE WOMAN 425 5. We must conceive, that there 'was then a > Before the very pleasant habitation upon the earth ; for all cursethe fruits did grow [spring and bud] out of the hidden element, (through the fierceness of the four elements); and although the four elements had also their fruits, yet man should not (but the beasts of the field should) have eaten thereof. But now when the Lord cursed the earth, then the element withdrew from the root of the fruit, (for God's cursing is nothing else, but his flying from a thing) ; and thus God's holiness is flien from the root of the fruit, and so the root' [of the fruits] remaineth in the four elements, in the out-birth ; and Adam and Eve were also fallen 2 thereinto.' • into the four And thus now like came to like; his body elements' also was become earthly, and must turn to earth again. ^ 6. But that God said, Thou shalt turn to earth from whence thou wast taken, that is aJso very true; but the understanding is [hidden] in the word, and the earthly veil hangeth before it, we must look under the veil. For Adam was taken out of the earth, not out of the four issuings of the elements, [but he was] an extract out of the element, which qualified [or mingled] with the th. But when he fell into the four elements en he became earth, as also fire, air, and water. And now what should the bestial man do [with] the heavenly paradisical fruit ? He could not 3 eat 3 Or eDJoy it. it ; and therefore God doth not cast his heavenly

kingdom to beasts and swine, but it belongeth to angels. 7. So also it is very clear and manifest, that before the curse there grew not such venomous [or poisonous] thorns and thistles, and poisonous fruits ; and if God had not cursed the earth (from the [one] element) then no beast should have been so fierce and [mischievous or] evil ; for God said, Let the earth be cursed for thy sake. From whence now is also arisen the disobedience of the beasts towards man, and the wildness [or flying in their face], as also that they are so [cruel], fierce, [mischievous] and evil, and that man must hide himself from their fierce rage [and fury] ; whereas God (in the creation) gave all into his power, all beasts of the field should be in subjection under him, which now is quite contrary ; for man is become a wolf to them [in devouring the beasts], and they are [like] lions against him, and there is mere enmity , against one another ; he can scarce order the tame beasts, much less the wild. 8. And we are to know, that there was a great difference in the beasts before the curse ; for some (viz. the tame ones) were very near akin to the element, with whom man should have had joy and delight ; on the contrary, some, viz. the wild ones, which fly from man, [were very near akin] to the

1 the wonder- f our elements ; for the l causes of those wonders stuck wholly in the essences, and they were very than another, well known and seen in the light of the life in the knowledge of the 1 virgin. There is nothing so1 Or divine . ., . wisdom. deep that man cannot search into, and see it most 2 assuredly, if he do but put away the. veil, and look « infallibly. (through the tables 8 graven through) with * Joshua, * Or trans- into the Promised Land. 4 Or Jesus. 9. And God said, In the sweat of thy 5face, 6 Or brows. thou shalt eat thy bread till ihou turn to earth again. Here now all is clear [and manifest] in the light ; for he had lost the heavenly fruit, which grew for him without labour [or toil of his] ; and now he must dig and delve in the earth, and sow and plant, and so in the four elenients must get fruit, in cares, labour, toil, and misery. For while the element, or the virtue [or power] out of the element, sprang forth through the earth, there was so long a continual lasting root to the fruit ; but

when the element (by the curse) withdrew, then the 6 congealed death, frailty, and transitory fading, 6 Or frozen. was in the root, and they must now continually be 'planted acrain : Thus the turmoilinsr life of man took » or transplanted. beginning, wherein we must now 8 bathe ourselves. „ Or swelter 10. God could well have created creatures which °urselvesshould have managed the beasts, [so] that man might well have stayed in paradise in the angelical form; and besides that, there are already, in all the four elements, creatures without a soul ; God would well have laid the labour [or charge] of managing the beasts upon another generation, which were also 9 earthly. But he saw well that 9 Or of the man would not stand, therefore instantly the 1 had desired bestial man. mandment laid upon them. burthen was laid upon him, as Moses also writeth of it. 11. But if God l would have had bestial men, then he would have created them so in the beginning, and given them no commandment (neither should they have been tempted) ; as indeed the beasts have no Maw. 12. Therefore all objections, which fall into reason, are nothing else but the subtle contradictions [or fallacies] of the devil, who would very fain maintain, that God did will the fall of man. There are also men that dare to say, that God did will it ; [and say] that he fitted the tongue of the serpent to seduce Eve ; whose judgment is very justly upon themselves, because they [offer to] confirm the devil's word with lying, and [go about to] make God a liar.