Concerning the Three Principles of the Divine Essence

25. And should we therefore say, that God is well pleased with anger and strife ? No, the Prophets complained often (in the Holy Ghost [or spirit] of God) that this evil people offended their God, when they moved him to anger, so that accordingly his severe wrath went forth and devoured them. David saith, in the fifth Psalm, Thou art not a God that art pleased with wicked ways. 26. Now if man awaken sin, then the fierce anger [or severity] of God is stirred in himself, viz. in man, which otherwise (if man did stand in humility) would rest and be turned into great joy, as was often mentioned before. But now when he burneth [in wrath], then one people devoureth the other, and one sin destroyeth another. If Israel had been l upright, they had not been put to make l honest, war, but they should have entered in with wonders, taYfXd° and have converted the people ; Moses should have th led them into the [Promised] Land with his [miracles or] deeds of wonder. But because they were wicked, they could not enter in (with the brightness of Moses, with deeds of wonder, in the lustre [or glance] of the Father) to convert the heathen ; but Moses (with his deeds of wonder) must stay in the wilderness, and the whole people was consumed and devoured in the wrath ; and Joshua must war with the heathen, and destroy them, for one 2 wrath devoured the other. 2 ^ one 8in

27. Whereas Joshua was an image and similitude, that Israel (because they could not subsist in the Father's clarity and love) should be led by the second Joshua (or Jesus) out of the wrath into the love, through the breaking of his body, and entering into death. Moses must enter through death into life, and bring his clarity through death into life ; even as he appeared with Elias on mount Tabor to the second Joshua (or Jesus), in the clarity of the Father, and shewed him the pleasure of the Father, [viz.] that he (the second Joshua) should bring Israel through his death and clarity into the Promised Land of paradise. 28. Yet it could not be (how vigorously soever it was sought after) that man (in his own power) could enter into paradise. And therefore poor captive man must sit in this world in the devil's grim wrath the devil's weeds or tares are sown among the wheat. murderincr den : where now the devil hath built his chapel close by the Christian Church, and hath quite destroyed the love of paradise, and hath in the stead thereof set up mere covetous, proud, selfwilled [or self-conceited], faithless, sturdy, malicious blasphemers, thieves and murderers, which lift themselves up against heaven and paradise, and have built themselves a kingdom (according to the dominion of the fierce sour [stars or] constellations), wherein they domineer (with silver and gold) and consume the sweat one of another ; whosoever is but able, oppresseth the other to the ground. And though he flee before him, yet then he only putteth forth his dragon's tongue, and spitteth fire upon him ; he terrifieth him with his harsh voice, and plagueth him day and night.

29. What can be said of thee, 0 Cain1* Dost thou suppose that God doth not see thee ? Thou monstrous beast, thou shalt stand naked, as the spirit in the wonders doth signify, that thy ornament may be made known. How art thou become thus? 0 Eve\ are not all thy children, which thou hast brought forth, all come out of thy loins ? Was it then the purpose of God that the evil should domineer among the good, and one plague another ? 30. 0 no : But the devil, who is a cause of the 1 wrathfulness. Adam was made good out of the pure element, but the longing [desire or lust] of the devil deceived him^ so that he went into the spirit of this world. 31. And now it cannot be otherwise, the two kingdoms wrestle one with another in the children of men ; the one is the kingdom of Christ, [generated] through the new birth into paradise ; that (in this world) is miserable and contemned, there are not many that desire it, for it hath mere scorn and contempt from the devil and his followers ; it consisteth in righteousness and truth, and that is not valued in this world, and therefore it must lie at the rich man's door with poor Lazarus, and at his feet. If any do but let it appear that they are the children of God, then the devil' will away with them presently, or else will put them to such scorn and disgrace, that they cannot be known ; that so the devil may continue to be the great prince upon earth, and that the world may not learn to know him.

32. The other kingdom is that of Antichrist, with a golden [splendour or] glance, prancing in state, glistering on every side. Every one saith, It is a happy thing, for it adorneth itself most sumptuously, and setteth its seat over the hills and mountains ; every one saluteth it [or doeth it reverence]. It draweth the tincture of the earth to itself, that it may glister alone ; it bereaveth the kingdom of Christ of its temporal [food, livelihood, or] bread ; it devoureth the sweat of the needy, and saith to him, You are mine, I am your God, I will set you where I please ; you are the dog that lieth at my feet ; if I had a mind to it, I could hunt you out of my house, you must do what I will. And the needy worm must say, I am your poor servant, do but spare my life. And if he squeeze out the sweat of his brows, so that he smarts, which 1 lord or his J master consumeth [or spendeth], then he superior. , . . . .. growetn impatient with his master, and curseth him, and seeketh out ways of lying and deceit, and by what way he might make his heavy burthen lighter.

33. And then if he findeth his master so unjust, that he riseth up against him, and taketh away 2 Or false. his 2 unrighteous bread, which he thinketh to eat * Or piagueth. under a soft yoke, and 3 worrieth him to the uttermost, and leaveth him no time to escape, he sticketh full of impatience under that heavy burthen, and grumbleth and murmureth, and seeketh all evil devices to ease his yoke, that he might eat hisbread in quietness ; and yet it will not be, the driver [hunter, cruel tyrant his master] is behind him, and taketh away his bread, and feedeth him with sorrow under his yoke. 34. And then he studieth cunning and deceit, and casteth about [to find] which way he may, by shifts and tricks, fill his belly and live ; he curseth his master secretly, and though he stealeth away covertly by some slight the bread of another needy man, yet that must be right [with him] ; and his master doth not regard it, so he eateth not of his cost, and so that he continue to be his dog under his yoke. Thus the master [lord or superior] ia unrighteous and l wicked, and maketh also that 1 evil or false, his servant is unrighteous and * wicked ; whereas otherwise (if he might eat his bread under an easy yoke) he would not be so cursed, and cunning in thievery.

35. But what will the spirit of this kingdom say ? Art thou not shining in splendour ? Hast thou not taken possession of all ? Hast thou not the earth in possession freely as God ge-ve it thee ? Dost thou not right ? Dost thou not punish the wicked, and look to it, where the enemy breaketh it ? Dost thou not defend thy country ? Art thou not a light to the blind, and appointest teachers for them, which 2 drive them to patience? The 2 Or exhort, kingdom is thine indeed, thou hast purchased it ; the poor is thy servant indeed, that [in thy opinion] cannot fail [but be right]. 36. But the divine answer in the light of nature saith to me ; Behold, out of what art thou grown ? Have I planted thee ? Art thou not grown in my wild garden ? When Adam went into the wild garden, there he 3 planted thee. How art thou 8 grafted, or , n TTTI 1,1- • r inoculated. grown so great ? Who hath given thee virtue [or sap], thou wild tree ? My love never stirred thee up, all thy branches are wild, and thy fruit is wild.

Dost thou think that my soul lusteth after thy food ? I will not eat of thy fruit : I am strong, and the kingdom is mine ; he that cometh under my * wings, I will shelter him, no storm can touch 4 Or fatness. him ; moreover, the country is mine. I have left it to you, to be used in unanimous love ; and have set you out of one [and the same] root, that you should be alike, and love one another, and prevent one another in chaste love. 37. Thou wild beast, how comest thou so great and strong ? Hast thou not trampled in my garden of roses, and there made thee a couch? Where are thy brothers and sisters ? How cometh it to pass, that they lie at thy feet, and that they are so lean, and thou only art strong [and lusty] ? Hast thou not devoured my branches, and brought , calves, forth young wolves, which devour thy l cattle etc.ep> a '' also? And thou art a beast with thy young ones ! Should I suffer thee in my garden of roses ? Where is the noble fruit which I did sow ? Have you not turned them all into wild branches ? And where now shall I seek for the fruit and profit of my garden of roses ? My soul would fain eat of the good fruit, but thou hast trampled all under-foot, and made it a den of murder.

38. Besides, I hear a great howling and lamentation, that all thy servants cry woe over thee, because thou plaguest them ; and moreover, thou hast shed my noble seed, and not sown it, but [thou hast sown] thy wild [seed] for [the promoting of] thy great devouring and pomp. Behold, I have spewed thee out towards Babel in the press of my fierce wrath, and there I will press thee ; and I will plant my lily-branch in my garden of roses, which bringeth me forth fruit, after which my soul lusteth, of which my sick Adam shall eat, that he may be strong, and may go into paradise. Of the thrusting Adam and Eve out of the Paradise of the Garden in Eden. 39. Aud when God had thus provided Adam and Eve a bestial garment to cover their shame, and to defend them against the cold, then he let them out of the garden, and set the Cherubim with a naked l two-edged sword before it, to keep the ] Or warning way to the Tree of Life, and he [man] must now sword.0 till the ground. But the understanding of us poor children of Adam and Eve is 2sunk so much, that 2 darkened, at our last old age we scarce reach [the understand- Up, or frozen ing of] any thing concerning the lamentable fall of s Adam and Eve, seeing we must seek very deep for it in the centre of the light of life ; for it is very wonderful which Moses saith, God set the Cherubim before the garden, to keep and guard the way to the Tree of Life. Who could understand it ? If God did not open our eyes, we should speak simply of a keeper with a sword ; and reason seeth nothing else.

40. But the noble virgin sheweth us the door, [and] how we must enter again into paradise, through the sharpness of the sword ; yet the sword cutteth the earthly body clean away from the holy element, and then the new man may enter into paradise by the way of life. And the sword is nothing else but the kingdom or gate of the fierceness in the anger of God, where man must press in, through the fierce [bitter] death, through the centre, into the second Principle, into the paradise of the holy element before God ; where then the fierce [grim] death cutteth off the earthly body (viz. the four elements) from the holy [one] element. 41. And the keeper of the garden is the Cherubim, the cutter off of the source [or quality] of the stars, which holdeth the four elements for a while, and then breaketh them, and with its bitter sharpness severeth them from the soul, and passeth away itself also with its sword. This [keeper] is here in the way, that we cannot come to the Tree of the eternal Life ; he is in the midst, and suffereth us not to come into paradise. The gross Garden of Eden (which is our earthly flesh) is the hedge [or fortification] before the garden.

42. Now if anybody would come into the garden, he must press in through the sword of death ; though indeed Christ hath broken the sword, so that now we can much easier enter in with our souls, yet there is a sword before it still ; but he that findeth the way aright, him it doth not cut very much, for it is blunt, and it is bent ; and if the soul goeth but into the gate into the centre, then it is presently helped by the noble Champion Christ ; for he hath gotten the sword into his 1 into MS l hands. He is the slain Lamb of the house of jurisdiction. Israel, in the Revelation of John, which took the Oh. 20] ADAM AND EVE'S GOING OUT OP PARADISE 521 Book of the x first Principle, out of the hand of 1 shut, barred, the Ancient [of Days] who sat upon the throne, with his four-and-twenty Elders, which [Book] had seven seals, or seven spirits of the 2 birth of God, and opened them ; where the Elders fell down before him, and worshipped the Lamb that was slain, and gave praise and honour to him which sat upon the throne, because the Champion of the house of Israel had overcome. The seven golden candlesticks are his humanity, the seven stars are his Deity, as the divine 3 birth s working or

in itself standeth in a sevenfold form, as it is explained in the beginning of this book, in the first four chapters. 43. Thus Moses hath a veil before his eyes ; and if thou wouldst see his face, then thou must only set Christ thy Champion before thee, that he may lift up his veil, and then thou shalt see that Moses hath 4no horns, but that he is a patient lamb, fast4 no harsh bound to the death of Christ, and that his veil was a the Book that was shut, so that we could not be well enough till the Champion came, and brake its seven seals with his entering into death, and there the veil [or covering] was done away ; and in that Book there stood the holy 6 Gospel of the kingdom of God, which our worthy Conqueror Jesus Christ hath 6 left US. 'instead of , the law, or 44. Now when Adam and Eve went out of the read, or de- . 1 clared it to us. garden, they kept together, as now married people do, and now would make trial of their bestial condition, [to try] what wonders might proceed from them ; and the spirit of the great world did well enough teach them, in their reason, what they were to do. And Adam knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bare a son, and called him Cain; for she said, I have a man from the Lord. These are sealed words which Moses writeth, that she said, / have a man from the Lord. [For] 1 the great then said the * major mundus, I have the Lord

macrocosm, of this world. Eve spake no otherwise, than as the Apostles thought, that Christ was to erect a worldly kingdom ; so Eve thought that her son (as a strong champion) should break the head of the devil, and set up a glorious kingdom ; from whence instantly a twofold understanding [or different condition] followed, and two sorts of Churches ; the one [built or relying] upon the mercy of God ; and the other, upon their own might [authority or power]. And therefore Cain could not endure his brother, because Abel pressed hard upon the mercy of God, and Cain [relied] upon his own power [might and authority]. He thought himself to be the lord of the whole world, as his mother had instructed him ; and therefore now he would break the head of the serpent in his own might as a warrior [or soldier], and began with his brother Abel, for his faith relied not on God, but on his own power ; and here the serpent did sting the Treader upon the Serpent in the heel the first time. The Gate of the Mysteries, [or the Exposition of the hidden Secrets}. 45. Reason saith, How might that come to pass, that the first man born of a woman was [so evil] a malicious murderer ? Behold, thou immodest vile whorish world, here thou shalt find a glass ; behold thyself [and see] what thou art.

Here again the great secrets meet us in the light of nature, very clearly and plainly to be understood. For Adam and Eve were entered into the spirit of this world, and the region of the four stars, with the infection of the devil, had miserably possessed them. And although they did somewhat stick to the word of the promise, yet the true longing and love towards God was very much extinguished ; and on the contrary, the longing and desire after this world was kindled in them ; and besides, they gat (from the region of the stars) a bestial lust [or wanton desire] towards one another, so that their tincture thus became a fierce bestial [lust or] longing ; for they had no law but the light of nature, which they suppressed, and kindled themselves in wanton [lust], to which the devil helped them.

46. And now when Eve *was impregnated, her i now began to , ,. , r , be conceived tincture was wholly murderous and talse, tor ner with child, spirit in the love looked not upon God with a total trust and confidence. Also the wisdom of God stood hidden in the centre of the light of her life. and confidence, but much rather to the lust of this world ; she must bring it to pass, if anything were to be done ; and being her trust was not in God, so also God was not in her, but in his own centre [or Principle] ; and the wrath began to flow forth [boil or work] ; and this is that which Christ said, An evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit ; and so out of a false tincture grew a sour evil root, and consequently such a tree and fruit. Also that which 2 Or copula- goeth forth [is] as the tincture in the 2 mixture was, and such a child is generated, for the spirit of the life generateth itself out of the essences. 47. And seeing Adam was gone out of Paradise into the spirit of this world, therefore now the strife was already between the two kingdoms (viz. the kingdom of heaven, and the kingdom of hell) about the children of Eve ; and here it is seen that the wrath had the victory ; and the spirit of God complaineth, not without cause, [saying], / am as a grape-gatherer that gleaneth, and yet fain would eat of the best fruit.

48. But the fault lieth in man ; if he did put his trust in the love of God, then the kingdom of God would have the victory ; but if he putteth it in his evil lust and wantonness, in himself, in his own ability [or power], then he is captivated by the wrath, and his body and soul are in the wrath. But when he putteth his mind and confidence in God, then he goeth out from the wrath, and the kingdom of God worketh (in him) to righteousness ; and thus it is seen, as clear as the sun, what the cause is that the first man born of a woman became a murderer. 49. For as the tree was, so was the fruit ; and though the tree was not wholly evil [or false], yet as to the l becoming man, the tincture (by the ' Or incaraa. wrestling of the two 2 regions) became false [or evil], f'"^ And besides, afterwards Eve (his mother) helped do*s™ 8 him forward very much, because she sought after «cw*. an earthly lord and treader upon the serpent, and instructed him, [telling him] that he was the warrior [or soldier to overcome] against the devil, he must do it ; and so the wrath held him captive,' and his offering [or sacrifice] was not acceptable to God, because (in wrath) he built upon himself, and so his prayer reached not the gate of heaven' but the * driver did take it up, because it proceeded - the hunter out of self-pride (like the proud Pharisee), out of an tbe devi1' [evil or] false mind.

50. And 5here (thou lascivious whore in Babel' full of immodesty and lechery, in such whoredom) thou hast a gloss in thy [evil or] false copulation without the fear of God ; thou shouldst look [well to it] what thou sowest, that there groweth not a tree in hell-fire. Thou supposest that it is a small matter to commit whoredom. But I pray consider thyself, whither dost thou send thy tincture? Which, if it be true [or faithful], reacheth the element of God ; and now, if you pour it forth thus, in such a false [or evil] way, in the impulsion of the region of the stars, with the infection of the devil, and also into such an unclean vessel, what dost thou suppose shall accept it ? Dost thou not know that the tincture in the seed is a blossom of the life, which qualifieth [or mingleth] with thy body and soul, which (as often as it is generated) is a figure before God? How dost thou think, whether doth it stand in the love, or anger of God ? 51. 0 thou Babylonish whore, when thou thus 1 Or destroy- committest whoredom, and * breakest afterwards the limbus, together with the matrix, wherein the figure of the image of God standeth, only for thy filthy lechery sake ; what dost thou think, how shall this figure appear? Seeing all (whatsoever is generated at any time out of the tincture) shall after the breaking of this world stand before God.

And will not these figures appear in the anger of God ? Or hast thou an absolution for that which thou sowest in hell ? Look to it that this figure doth not qualify [or mingle] with thy body and soul ; for the tincture [then] is not yet become a spirit, it reacheth thyself; if thou art not newborn (through the blood of Christ) then thou must bathe [swim or swelter] therein eternally. It is i not I that say this, but the high spirit in the bosom of the virgin.

52. Therefore consider thyself, and say not, I 2 Or play a stand in the dark, and 2 exercise love ; none seeth youth. it. Thou standest before the clear countenance of God ; also thou standest before the abyss of hell, before the council of all devils, who mock at thee ; and besides, thou hast an evil [false] or unfaithful love, and it is no other than a [wanton] lechery ; if l it were faithful, thou wouldst not defile thy 1 the love. brother or sister ; both of you miserably defile the image of God, and are the worst enemies one of another ; you cast one another in the devil's murdering den, and are in the wrestling ; but the devil tickleth you, and stroweth sugar, that he may catch you and bind you fast ; and then he leadeth you 2 to Jericho, and scourgeth [woundeth], and 2 Or into the 53. And then when the poor soul shall travel [home], there are great mountains in its way ; and then thy fair tincture will appear before the [holy] element like a defiled cloth ; and there standeth the devil and readeth the 3 law to you about it ; 3 Or the

and then the poor soul quaketh, and begmneth to the law doubt ; and when it is to break through the bitter gate [of the Cherubim], then it continually feareth that the fierce anger of God shall seize upon it, [as upon hellish brimstone], and kindle it ; as it cometh to pass for certain, if it be not born anew in Christ, through earnest repentance. 54. Therefore, 0 man, consider what thou so west here, that thou shalt reap ; take an example in Cain. Or dost thou suppose, that it is an invented fable, [which I here write] ? Do but ask thy own mind, that will convince thee, except thou art too 1 mother or root. much captivated by the devil. Behold the horrible punishments from the anger of God, since the beginning of the world ; the Hood [or deluge] was a punishment for the unchastity [or uncleanness], whereby God would drown the Matrix of the burning lust of lechery ; and therefore he punished the world with water ; for the water is the l matrix of all things. 55. Therefore God established the state of wedlock with Adam and Eve, and bound it fast with a strong chain, in that he said, A man shall leave father and mother, and cleave to his wife, and

they two shall be one flesh. And God tolerateth their Must, because it is to be bound with faithful chaste love, as one body 3and its members, and must aim (in the fear of God) at the getting of children ; or else the wantonness [or lust] in itself (without that true love of the state of wedlock) is * continually a bestial lust [infection], and sin. And if you (in the state of wedlock) seek nothing but the lust and lechery, then in such a condition, thou art not a jot better than a beast. And do but consider it rightly, that without this, thou standest [already] in a bestial birth [or generation] (contrary to the first creation) like all beasts. For the holy man in Adam was not fore-appointed to have propagated so, but in great modest love out of himself. 56. Therefore, 0 man, look to it ! [have a care] how you use the bestial lust; it is (in itself) an abomination before God, whether it be in the state of wedlock, or out of it. But the right love and fidelity [or faithfulness] (in the fear of God) covereth it before the countenance of God ; and (through the Son of the virgin) it is regenerated to be a pure undefiled creature again, in the faith, if thy confidence be in God.

57. But for the whores and rogues (who run a-whoring without marrying in lustful lechery) we have no other language for 1 them ; neither can i Than that we find any otherwise in the light of nature, than mentioned a that it is an abomination [or loathing] in the anger l of God ; and if earnest repentance (with Mary Magdalene) be not there performed in the regeneration, then we find nothing else but the anger of God and hell-fire to be their wages. Amen. Of the innocent and righteous Abel. The Gate of the Christian Church. 58. Seeing then that Adam and Eve had yielded themselves to the spirit of this world, and did live in two [kingdoms], viz. in the holy element before God, and also in the out-birth, [yiz.~\ the four elements, which reacheth that which is most outward, [viz.'] the kingdom of the [sour, fierce] grimness, so there were also two sorts of children generated out of them, viz. one a mocker [or scorner], and another a plain honest man ; as is sufficiently to be seen by Isaac and Ishmael [the sons of] Abraham ; also by Jacob and Esau. 59. And although the Church in Babel will prattle much here about the Election from the purpose of God, yet it hath as little knowledge thereof as the Babylonish tower, whose top should reach to heaven, [had] of God. As if it were not possible, that a child could go out of the anger into the love of God, whereas the love in the breaking of the anger doth l fully appear [or shine forth]; and it is for want of repentance, that man suffereth himself to be held by the devil.

60. And the hardening is not so wholly in the birth, that the soul (from the mother's womb) should be quite dead to God, or that God did not desire it. The anger is in the flowing [working or boiling] of the Father, and the Father is God indeed, and generateth his dear Heart and love (in the breaking of the gate in the habitation) out of himself. Should he then be at odds with himself, because his anger is under the root of his love ? Should he be at enmity against himself? His anger is his strength and omnipotence [or almightiness], and consuming fire ; and his Heart 2 Or humility, in the love is his 2 meekness ; and so now, that which approacheth and entereth into his anger, is captivated in the anger. 61. But it is possible to go out from the anger ; as his dear Heart is generated out of the anger, which [cooleth, pacifieth, or] stilleth the anger, and is rightly called the paradise or the kingdom of heaven. And his anger is not known in the heaven ; and so there also, his election goeth always over the children of love, which belong to

the kingdom of heaven. And St Paul speaketh no otherwise of his Election, but meaneth [it of] them that draw near to him, and enter into his covenant, and give up themselves to him ; and these the Father draweth with the Holy Ghost, through the death of Christ into the pure element [that is] before the Father. l Fear not thou [0] Isaiah xiiv. 2. my servant Jacob, and thou 2 upright [one'] whom * honest, 62. But that God (out of his purpose) should faithful one> harden the will of any, and mlike it dark, that is not true ; the spirit of God is withdrawn from the wicked, who only wrestle for the might [or power] of the fire, for he himself goeth out from God, and desireth not [to enjoy] God. God withdraweth himself from none. Man hath a free will, he may lay hold on what he will ; but he is held by two, by heaven and by hell, to which he yieldeth, he is in that. 63. Cain was not rejected in the mother's womb [or body] ; though it is plain, that God doth not love such a false [or evil] seed, yet it standeth free, it may press into the love, or into the anger,

and 3 the one as well as the other will receive it, 3 Or both will as Paul also saith, To whom you yield yourselves re servants in obedience, his servants you are whom you obey ; whether it be in the obedience of God to righteousness, or of sin unto death. 64. Now God will have no malicious soul [to be] in the love, but in the anger ; and he is the l searcher of the hearts, and knoweth well what is of the hearts. . ' -n r in man, and what he will do, even while [man] is in the seed, and will not cast the Pearl before swine ; and yet the false [or evil] seed is not [come] out of his will and purpose, else he must also have willed the devil to be a devil. 65. And know you not that the band of the eternity standeth free, and maketh itself? But 2 Or bom of that which inclineth to him, is also 2 generated in God. And yet the love presseth not into the 3 AS the light anger, but the love is generated out of the 3 anger, out of the and is wholly free ; and therefore the Heart of

burning of the -...«..'. , . -,-, fire, and is God in the love, is another person than the 4 Father, free from the -i i • r •/>!/• -i • -i fire. and the issue, [or going forth from them] is the i8Aanotherght 5 Hol7 Ghost, who goeth not [back] again into the thing than anger. 8 AS the air 66. Then why doth not the soul of man go also goeth forth r, • i -t i> i • 11 from the fire [therewith] out ol the anger into the love, and so it should be generated [to be] another creature in the love? St Paul saith, Whom he hath foreseen, those he hath sanctified, that they may be like his image ; the foreseeing is in his election ; he always electeth [or chooseth] his sheep. Those who come to him, he assureth them the eternal life. But that he hardeneth those that desire 6 sincerely, or 6 earnestly to come to him, and will not foresee [predestinate or elect them], that is not so. His will is to help all men. And Christ himself saith, Come ye all to me that are weary and heavy laden, (here it is, those that are laden with sins) / will refresh you ; that is, certainly foresee [or elect] and draw [them] to me ; and there wanteth but to come.

67. What is it now that lieth in the way of the wicked, that he cannot come ? It is the angry sword of the angel (or Cherubim) which he will not break ; the fair, glistering, hypocritical, dainty world in his bosom, [malice or wickedness] in flesh and blood pleaseth him too well ; he will not break his mind, which yet he is able to do ; and if he doth break it, then he is drawn of God (by Christ) to the Father, and instantly is chosen to [be] a child of God ; and out of the image of the serpent there cometh [to be] the image of an angel. 68. For so long as the image standeth in the anger, it is the image of the serpent ; but if it goeth forth [from the lust of sin, or desire of evil] into the breaking [or destroying thereof], then a heavenly image is figured (by the Treader upon the Serpent), and * the serpent's head is broken ; the * the evil is two kingdoms fight [or wrestle] one with another, wlthgood. and that which overcometh, figureth the image. 69. Whereby it is seen, how great the anger was in Adam and Eve, in that the wrathful kingdom sooner overcame than the kingdom of heaven ; and the scorner is sooner generated than

the 2 upright. But yet the fault of this was in 2 honest or the parents; had they not sinned, and let theiunocent< anger into them, then it had not been so, as at this day. 70. Although indeed nature taketh hold of the child in the mother's body [or womb], and 2 Or the four of the stars hath no other than the 2 image in the images in the four elements, and not [that] in the holy element. And although indeed it image [or frame] a man in the outward bestial mind, with a little understanding many times, yet that is no matter; the outward man is the beast of the stars, but the inward in the [one] element is the image of God ; and the divine framing [figuring or imaging] is not 8foureie- performed in the 3 outward, but in the inward the one holy element. 71. .bor a man is many times (in the outward) so very evil-natured [or malicious, froward condi- 4 Or angry or tioned], from the stars, that he becometh 4loathand abhorreth some to himself ; but when he considereth himself, then he entereth into himself, into the inward man, and reacheth after abstinence [or forbearance of evil], and yet cannot be quite loosed from [or rid of] the outward wicked malicious man, but must continually (with the inward) break the head of (the outward) the serpent.

72. For the serpent stingeth many in the out- » Or over- ward ; but if it 6 get the inward man, then the inward. image of God is gone. The evilness [or malice] of the stars driveth many [strongly] to murder, steal, • Or cheat, lie, and 6 deceive, till they come to the gallows, gmen s not Tin body; the gate °f • open towards him' while z:/tr 2:f cshT;tm the leatn Of Uhnst) b wluch thread he mus . And it is all vain and idle fwhicli is aMl 1 the eternal wholly in the l eternal life ; but if thou be once in heavenly life, the eternal life, then thou art perfect [or fully there], whether it be in the heaven or in the hell, out of that there is no redemption, for it is the 1 eternal life. 75. But while we are thus speaking of the 2 innocent. 2 upright Abel, we cannot say, that the kingdom of heaven was not assisting in him, and that he merely out of his own might and power made 3 the heaven, himself such an upright [honest] man; for 3it was in the wrestling, and overcame the anger. For man is weak and 4 ignorant, and can do little by his own power [or ability], 6yet he hath the imagination, and the choosing, or the free yielding [to a thing], where then the maker is ready beforehand, which maketh him [to be] according as his lust [or desire] is ; as it is to be seen by Adam, for when he longed and lusted in the spirit of this world, there instantly the maker was present, and made (of an angelical image) a man.

76. The lust [or longing desire] is the introduc- « Or of. ing 6 into a thing, and out of the lust cometh the form [or image] of the lust, viz. a body, and the source [or active quality] of sins sticketh therein ; and you may more easily hinder the lust, than break the body, which is very hard ; therefore it is good to turn away the eyes, and then the 7 the kindling 7 tincture goeth not into the essences by which the into the issu- spirit is impregnated ; for the lust indeed is not en the mind wholly, but they are sisters ; for when the lust impregnateth the mind, then it is already a half l substance, and there must necessarily * Or body. follow a breaking, or there cometh to be a whole substance, and an essence of a thing. 77. Now Abel is the first Christian Church in patience, which God established, that the Cainish church should be converted by Abel ; he hath not therefore so rejected the Cainish church, that he would have no member out of it. Understand it thus : The true Christian Church standeth like a sheep among wolves ; though indeed we are men and not wolves, but in mind and in figure. 2 It

teacheth the wicked ; and if he be converted, then it hath gained him, and he is figured into an image [of God] ; and thereby joy is caused among the angels of God, that the kingdom of heaven hath the victory. 78. Or dost thou suppose, that the word in Daniel is nothing, concerning the angel Gabriel, who said, s that the prince in Persia withstood him 3 Dan. x. one and twenty days, and that our prince Michael came to help him ? Thereby it may be seen how the princes and throne-angels strive against the kingdom of the fierce wrath, and assist men ; the cause whereof is this : The devil awakeneth the anger against men ; and the angels of God (viz. the throne-princes) keep it back, because God 4 yet 4 Notwith- .,, ,, M standing the Wllleth not evil. devil's atir- 79.' We are especially to observe in Cain and "™kemn°g of Abel, what their purpose was. Cain was a plough- man [or tiller of the ground], and Abel was a shepherd [or keeper of sheep]. Abel relied upon the blessing of God towards his flock, to maintain himself by the blessing of God. Cain relred upon his own labour, to maintain himself by his own skill and industry. Eve took part with Cain, and Adam with Abel] for Eve counted him to be the prince on earth, to whom the kingdom did belong, and supposed that he (as a champion) would chase and hunt away the devil ; although she knew

1 the devil. l him not. 80. But if men search very deep, this [that followeth they will find] is the very ground. Eve was the child in the matrix of Adam, which Adam (if he had not been overcome) should have generated out of himself, in great modesty [purity] and holiness ; but because Adam's matrix was impregnated from the spirit of this world, therefore God must frame a fleshly woman out of it, which afterwards (in her first fruit) became lustful, and infected from the devil, as well as the limbus in Adam. 81. And therefore they also generated such a towardly child that looked only after covetousness ; as Eve also did, who would be like God ; and surely Adam had some mind that way, or else he would not have entered into the spirit of this world. 82. And such also now was their son Cain ; he supposed that he was lord on earth ; and therefore he grudged that his brother should have anything ; especially when he saw that he was accepted before God, that vexed him, and he thought that Abel should come to be lord on earth ; in his sacrifice, he regarded not the fear of God, though he, as a seeming holy man [or hypocrite] sacrificed also ; but he regarded only the 1 region. 1 the highest

83. And here the antichristian kingdom took its earthly beginning, where men 2 give God good words, and > Or speak their heart is possessed with covetousness, and seek StoeGeJ. after nothing but power and authority, to domineer over the needy and miserable, who trust and rely upon God. Therefore Antichrist hath his god in his chest, and in the strength of his power, and behind his cloak there hangeth a fox. He prayeth, yet he desireth nothing else but the kingdom of this world ; his heart doth not leave off to persecute and to hunt poor Abel. But Abel prayeth to the Lord, and his heart inclineth itself to the love of God, in the true image, for he desireth the kingdom of heaven, and the blessing of God here, for his 3 maintenance. 3 necessity, or -VT , , ., , . subsistence of 84. JNow the devil cannot endure that a holy the body. Church should grow up in his dominions, he will murder Abel still, as he did then ; because Cain feared not God, therefore the devil gat an access to him, and stirred up the inbred wrath in Cain against Abel, that he slew him. Here surely all the devils danced at it, and thought, Now is the kingdom ours again ; whereat Adam and Eve were

much amazed and affrighted, when they saw that he whom they accounted for a prince, became a murderer ; and, as the history saith, they copulated [or knew one another] no more in seventy years after. 85. Now it being thus, therefore they sought for quite another Treader upon the Serpent ; also now they inclined their heart to God, so that seventy years after this murder, they begat a very upright [virtuous] holy son that feared God, (who established again the pure Church of the fear of' God and promised Seed of the Woman), whose name was Seih ; who also begat a very upright [virtuous] son, whose name was Enos, and then men began to preach openly [or plainly] of God ; and the Christian Church always rose up like a small flock, in spite of all the ragings of the devils. 86. But Cain exalted himself to be a lord over his kindred ; from whence arose the dominion, and rule or government of this world, all (according to the influence of the stars) generated per spiritum 1 Or macro- majoris mundi [by the spirit of the * great world], and is not, as Cain supposed, so ordained by the clear Deity.

87. It is true indeed, when the world became so evil, malicious, and murderous, then there must needs be judges and magistrates, that the fierce wrath might be stopped by punishment and fear ; but if thou hadst continued in love, then thou shouldst have had no lords, but loving brothers and sisters. 0 Cain \ thy potent kingdom cometh not from God, but hath its influence from the starry heaven in anger, which domineereth over thee, and many times giveth thee tyrants, who consume thy sweat in pride, and this thou hast for thy paradise. 88. St Paul writeth very well, that there is no [power, authority, or] magistracy, but of God ; but he sayeth, it is an 1 avenger of the wicked, and 1 Or for the , i • • -i • i i punishment beareth not the sword in vain ; herein thou hast of evil doers. ground enough, that God useth the worldly government, and the sword thereof, for the wicked's sake, under which thou must now (for the sake of sin) bear thy yoke, because thou art a continual devourer and murderer ; do but behold thyself, together with the avenging sword, perhaps thou wilt see thyself.

89. But if any say, that God doth [abhor or] loathe the great tyranny and oppression, when they domineer and take away the sweat of the poor and needy, and consume it in pride and stateliness, that, Cain cannot endure ; if the terrible example of the flood [or deluge] did not stand there, then [tyranny] would be accounted holiness; but thy 2 kingdom, 2 The time 0 Cain ! is set up in Babel, and thy beast ruleth the exposition in Sodom and Gomorrah ; there is a fire from the every one find lord of heaven in it ; it is time to go with Lot out own' eyes!* of Sodom, sin is awakened in Cain. 90. Now when Cain had murdered his brother, then he went securely as a lord, and thought, now thou art sole prince on earth ; but the voice of the fierce anger of God came, and said, Where is thy brother Abel f And he answered, / know not. Shall I be my brother s keeper-? And voice of thy brother's blood crieth to me from the earth ; and now thou art cursed upon the earth, which hath opened its mouth to receive thy brothers blood from thy hands. When thou shalt till the ground, it shall not yield its strength to thee henceforward ; thou shalt be a vagabond and fugitive upon earth.

91. And now when the anger of God stirred the sin in Cain, then it became awakened, and he was perplexed [or troubled], and then his false faith was seen ; for he despaired, and said, My sins are greater than that they can be forgiven me ; behold thou drivest me away from the Lord this day, and 2 Or before. / must hide myself zfrom thy countenance, and I must be a fugitive and vagabond upon the earth ; 3 Or meeteth. and it shall so befall me, that whosoever 3Jindeth me will slay me. 92. Here there appeareth to us the most terrible, lamentable, and miserable gate of despair, upon the 4 This con- committing of sins ; for when God said, 4 Cursed tendomto art thou upon the earth, which hath opened its mouth, and received thy brother's blood from thy hands; then the lofty, self-potent, glistering, hypocritical, flattering kingdom of Antichrist was rejected of God ; and it hath (with its entering into the fierce wrath, in the murder) separated itself from God. 93. Therefore said God, Be thou cursed. And the distinction of this cursing or flying out of the fierceness l is, that the love of God will not dwell J Or sheweth. in the fierceness, and that kingdom must not be

called after his name ; for God consented not to the murder, but the fierceness [or wrath] of which God warned Cain at his sacrificing, [saying], Be thou upright, and thou shalt be accepted; if not, then sin (and the kingdom of fierce wrath) lieth at the door ; he should not let 2 it have * the wicked- any power, but should rule over it ; but when fierceness. he letteth it have power, then it ruleth and 94. Thus also God withdrew, that is, Cain went out from God, from the kingdom of God into the kingdom of the fierceness of the driver ; therefore also his affairs (which he further [managed, held forth, and] pretended) were not of God, but from the kingdom of the fierce wrath ; that [fierceness] led him, and generated or awakened its 8 wonders through him, that the [kingdom of 3 the wonders the] fierceness might be also manifested, even as wrath. it was a great wonder, 4how the noble image in4 Or that. Abel, by the fierceness of hell, and of this world, 6 could be separated in the 6 breaking of the body ; » or was. whereas the kingdom of hell would fain have 6 dissolution, found [or felt] it; and therefore the first death must be hastily [or suddenly], where then the

1 scholarship. Treader upon the Serpent shewed his first l master- 2 Or was piece, when the kingdom of this world 2 parted from Abel, when the Cherubim did this first time 3 with his 8 cut off the four elements from the holy element. 95. And there the Word, or the Treader upon the Serpent, stood in the new regenerated element, in the soul of Abel, in the centre, in the gate of the deep, and did break the serpent's head (that is, the kingdom of the fierceness) of its might ; for the head signifieth the strong might of the fierce anger. And there the love of God (out of the Heart of 4 Or put. God) 4 let itself into the hell of the anger, and did smother the kindled fire of the poor soul in the love again ; and here the first work was proved, according as was promised from God to Adam and Eve. 96. Secondly, also the terrible work of the entering into the fierceness [or anger] was proved in Cain, for each kingdom proved its own. And now when Cain went into the anger, then the love of God stood in the centre before him, wholly hidden ; there Cain (as a champion) should have broken the serpent's head, which he before supposed that he was the man that should do it, and would do it in his own power and might ; and here it was rightly tried, whether it were possible in one's own self-power (through the lustre of the Father in the fire) to possess the kingdom of God.

97. But it was miserable, and all in vain, for Cain (in his tender humanity) cried, Woe, woe is me. His sins were greater than l he, he could not l Or above his in his own power press in to God; he trembled,1" and at length stood amazed before the abyss of hell, which had captivated him, and held him in it; he 2 severed himself now also from [the company 2 separated. of] men, and said, Now whosoever shall find me will slay me, for I must flee from thy face. 98. And here is seen the separating of the Christian Church from the Cainish, where God expelled Cain, that he must dwell in another place; and the true understanding of these high hidden secrets sticketh wholly in the word, under the veil [of Moses], and was almost never known [yet], but (in the time of the lily) it shall 3 stand3 Or be in the wonders. And thou antichrist! an church known' on earth shouldst know, that all (whatsoever thou inventest without the spirit of God for thy trimming and pride, also for thy strength and power) is gone forth with Cain from Abel, out from the Church of Christ, beyond Eden, into the Land of Nod ; if thou art so highly learned, and dost understand 4this in the language of nature, 4 this speech what it is, as thy flatterers in their bonnet [or pro- °f motion] suppose [they do]; but they apprehend nothing but the 5four elements in the going forth6 Or the with Cain, and not the [one] element before God ; S&nTSd therefore the same is the Babel of confusion and d^aC of various opinions, and not the ground 8in the "in the [one] element, which standeth in one alone, and not in multiplicity.

'Or example. 99. Thou hast been a clear l glass (in him) of men's own conceits [or opinions], what one's own good meaning (without the spirit of God) is. Cain went not into the sheepfold at tfee door (which God made for Adam and Eve, with the Word, and Treader upon the Serpent), but climbed into it another way, by his strong lionish mind, and would be a lord over the sheep, and became a thief and murderer of the sheep, and the sheep followed him not, but they went (with Abel) through the sword of the angel [or Cherubim] (out of this frail and corruptible life) with the Treader upon the Serpent, into their resting sheepfold, where there is not one wolf ; for the Cherubim will let none of them in. And if any of them do come, then he cutteth their wolfs heart of the fierceness of the kingdom of this world clean away, and then they also become sheep, and lay themselves patiently among the sheep, and seek no more after the * the wolf. wolf, for 2he is beyond Eden, in the Land of Nod ; but they are gone through the sword of the Cherubim into paradise, where no wolf entereth in ;

3 Or a great there is B, wall of a Principle and whole 3 birth cliff or gulf , - before para- before it. 100. And thou Cainish church (with thy laws and pratings, thy acute comments, and expositions of the writings of the holy men [or saints] who have spoken in the spirit of God) should look well upon thyself, and do not build thy voluptuous and soft kingdom so much upon those things ; for lthey are most of them 2in paradise; they speak i they that out of the root of the holy element through the ^& 3 out-birth of the four elements, and many times jj c£d8pirit apprehend (in the out-birth) the fierce wrath, 2 wl»>n 'they which men had awakened ; therefore look to it,' 33?i?tt.ta that thou build no stubble, straw, or weeds there- T^infe. upon. If thou hast not the spirit of understanding out of the holy element, then let them alone, do not Maub them with the four elements, or else 'defile them those things stand in Babel, it is not good to build the four elements thereupon ; for the Cherubim standeth between, and he will cut off whatsoever doth not belong to the sheepfold ; thou wilt have no benefit of it, for thy labour [or work] stayeth 5 in the Land of Nod. 5 in gelf

101. 0 Cain \ look but upon thy kingdom, and consider what befell thy great [grand] father Cain, who built this kingdom, who cried out, Woe is me ! my sins are greater than can be forgiven me, when he saw himself (with his kingdom) to be without God, in the abyss of hell. And if the loving Word of God had not recalled it, (when it said, No, Whosoever killeth Cain, it shall be avenged sevenfold ; and God made a mark upon him, that none that met with him should kill him) he had been quite lost. Those are wonderful words, Moses' face is so very much under the veil ; for the veil is rightly the Cainish church, which covereth the kingdom of Christ. 102. Here is the clear and plain ground and root of the false Cainish church ; for Cain had made himself a lord of this world, and built [or relied] upon himself. Yet now he had in himself nothing for a propriety, but the first and the third Principles ; for as to his soul, he was in the first Principle, as all men [are], and as to the body, he was in the third Principle in the kingdom of this world. And now he should with his soul go out of the kingdom of this world, and press into the second Principle, (viz. into the trust in God, into the Word of the Promise) to God, as Abel did, and labour with his hands in this world, and plant and build ;

but his mind should be directed to God in confidence, and should commend 1 rule or the * kingdom of this world to God, and carry himself therein as a travelling stranger, which only with this strange body is in his propriety, as to the body, and a stranger only as to the soul, and besides, as an ashamed guest, like a prisoner in it, whose only study should be, to get again into his true native country, out of which he is gone forth with his father Adam; but he let the second Principle, the kingdom of heaven go, and yielded himself wholly with his soul into the kingdom of this world, where he would be lord ; and so the anger took hold on him, for he went out from the Word, the promise of grace.

103. And then the Word stood against him, in the centre of the heaven ; and he stood (in the root of the fierceness) against the Word ; for his spirit went out of the gate of the centre of heaven, and stood in the source [or active property] of the original of the creation in the fierce root of the fire, and desired the out-birth out of the holy element (which also stood in the kindling in the fierceness) viz. the four elements. 104. His anger against Abel came from hence, because Abel l stood not in his birth, and his spirit i Or took no would not endure the kingdom of Abel in hisfe^om kingdom ; for he would rule (as by his own power) ofthis worldin the 2two Principles wherein he stood; and « the tint and therefore he slew Abel. the third. 105. Yet God would not have it so, but 8 kindled the anger in Cain, which rested before in » Or awakened the swelled kingdom of the four elements, and vaB^S"*** only climbed up in great and mighty joy, whereas Cain did not know the anger, nor understand anything of it; only the essences of the soul knew that they dealt falsely, but they knew not the fierce source in the kindling of the fire, till they went forth from the centre of God into the 4 false- 4 Or wickedhood, and there they felt the fire of the anger with great horror, trembling, and crying ; for they were gone out from God, and neither saw nor felt the heavenly source any more ; and therefore they despaired, because they found [or felt] themselves in the source of the wrath ; and the body with all its essences cried, My sins are greater than that they can be forgiven.

106. And here is apparently seen the glass of the abyss of hell, and [of the] eternal despair; when the anger of God riseth up in the source, that the malice [and wickedness] is made stirring, and there beginneth trembling, galling, and crying, and despair in itself as to God ; there the soul seeketh abstinence in the kingdom of this world, 1 Or no and findeth * none ; and then it leaveth the kingdom of this world also, and runneth into the originality, into the root of the eternal birth, and seeketh abstinence, and yet findeth nothing ; and then casteth itself into the abominable deep, supposing to reach the original. of the abstinence, or the gate of the breaking in ; but it mounteth only above the heaven, out (into the most outermost) into the fierce [wrathful, grim] eternity. 107. Then it beginneth venomously to hate the body, wherein it hath borne the image of God ; and many run headlong into the water, or take a rope, or a sword, and murder the body, which hath bereaved it of the image of God, through temporal pleasure, through false confidence, relying upon itself, to contemn and scorn its brother and sister, to murder him, to take away his daily bread, and also to odve occasion of wantonness to their brethren

108. And thou Cainish church, here thou hast a glass, in thy rising up in pride, and self-power, also in thy voluptuous self-honouring life, behold thyself [in it]. For thou art gone into the spirit Oh. 20] ADAM AND EVE's GOING OUT OF PARADISE 551 of this world, and thou hast made the kingdom of this world thy kingdom of heaven, and thou trustest only in thyself; thou makest thyself a lord over BaBel, and thou drawest the kingdom of this world to thee only by x cunning [subtlety] ; 1 tricks, and thou makest thyself a patron therein, and deceit8' ' therewith thou goest out from God ; thou supposest that thou art holy, though thou suppressest the poor Abel under thy yoke, and vexest him day and night ; he must here be thy blood-hound, and thou accountest him thy slave, though thou hast not right to the least hair of his head as thine own ; and therefore thou art no other than his driver [or hunter] in Jericho, thou art his murderer, who strippest him, beatest, and killest him. 109. Dost thou ask, Wherefore? Behold, I will tell thee, thou art Cain, the lord of the world, for thou hast made thyself so ; and now Abel is thy servant, who is entered into this world as a guest, yet he standeth and desireth to be 2 gone out * regenerated. of this world into his native country, which thou canst not endure ; thou pressest him to the ground two manner of ways, very subtly, and in selfpower. First, with thy hypocritical false doctrine, [teaching or preaching] Babel, where he shall and must believe whatsoever thou 3prescribest him, 3 or enjoinest without the spirit of God, that thereby thou mayest doT" °rth°" but strengthen thy gorgeous 4 fat kingdom, whereby < or stately thou drawest him away from God, into the spirit d(

esteem your artificial teaching as the means of salvation. 2 plaguest or tormentest. 3 kingdom, vengeance, or rage. 4 contempt and scorn. of this world, so that he must l gape upon thy prating ; and if he do not so, then thou murderest him, as Abel [was murdered]. 110. And secondly, thou hast set thyself to be lord over him, and hast made him thy slave, and so bravest it over him, as the proud woman of this world, thou 2vexest him day and night, and consumest his sweat in high-mindedness, all according to the 3 fury of the wrath [or fierceness]. And so he sticketh not only in the 4 darkness, but [also] in great misery, cares, and perplexit)7, and seeketh ways to get out of them, and how to come to the light again, and escape the driver. 111. But he findeth nothing in thy gates but the way of falsehood, bribery, cunning, subtlety, lying, and deceit, also covetousness, and to wind himself about so under thy yoke, that he may but live ; and so himself murdereth his own poor soul, under thy yoke, and rendeth himself off thus from the kingdom of God, and giveth himself up to the 6 kingdom of this world, kneeling and praying before thy beast, and honoureth thy proud bride that rideth upon thy beast, as the spirit of God in the Revelation of John witnesseth.

112. Thus thou continually murderest poor Abel two manner of ways, and givest him great occasion of stumbling ; by thy pomp and power thou drawest him away from God into the spirit of this world, where he then groweth stark blind, and so he will continually ride l after thee ; he will still sit upon ' use all the thy beast, and be lord also, and ride over the authority he bended knees, and thus the kingdom of this world dost.*8 is a right den of thieves, and in the presence of God a lake of abominations. 113. The spirit of thy stout beast is the hellish * worm ; the crowned bride that sitteth upon it is 2 dragou or the false woman [or whore] of Babel : She drinketh be only out of the cup of whoredom and abominations, her drink in that cup is the fierceness of the anger of God, of which the people [or nations] drink, and become drunk, and so in their drunkenness they become murderers, robbers, thieves, false perfidious mockers, jesters, scorners, proud, high-minded, selfhonourers, stern malicious people ; there is no end of the number of those that hate one another; every one supposeth his way is right, and that he walketh in the right path ; if his brother and sister go not in the same way with him, he scorneth them, and calleth them heretics ; and so one wolf biteth another ; his way is in his own opinion, as his master teacheth him, who yet never regardeth anything but his 3 belly-god, that his esteem and3 his own

i i elected god glory may be great among men ; thus one hypocrite mautinZ deceiveth the other, and they are scorners and persecutors one of another among themselves ; and one is a wolf as well as another ; and the poor Abel (who standeth in true resignation, and relieth upon God) must continually be 4 their footstool, he is 4 as the dust ,• n , , . under their continually murdered in a twofold manner. seat. 114. One is, that he is deceived, and goeth along into Babel, and is murdered, as to the kingdom of heaven. The other is, that if he remain constant, then the devil (with Cain) will not endure him, but nmrdereth him outwardly, as to the body, or taketh away his good name and credit, 1 with ail and l covereth him so that he may not be manner of . . slanders and known, that so the kingdom oi Cam and the Antichrist may remain in Babel ; of which we know well how" to speak by our own experience, if wrath and auger did please us. But it fareth very well with our Abel, and our being scorned springeth up in the blossoming of the lily, whereat we will rejoice well enough, when we return again from Jericho to Jerusalem to our father Abel.

115. And now what hast thou to expect, thou proud bride of Babel, for thy stately pride, from the spirit of this world, that thou servest it so faithfully ? Behold, thou hast a threefold [reward to expect] ; First, that the spirit of this world leave thee, and depart from thee, and tear away thy proud body from thee, and turn it to dust and ashes ; and it taketh thy goods, power, and pomp, and giveth them to another, and tormenteth him for a while therein. 116. And secondly, that it receive all thy purposes and deeds, and set them in the tincture of thy soul, and make of it another dwelling-house for thy soul, that it may not send thee so naked away from it. 117. And then, thirdly, that it hath brought thy soul out of heaven into the pleasures of this world, and now leaveth it in its misery, wholly naked and bare, sitting in its filthiness, and goeth away and regardeth no more where the soul is, or how it is with it, if it l were in the abyss of hell [it were all » Or should one to the spirit of this world] ; this thou hast to g° expect for thy recompense from the spirit of this world, because thou hast so truly served it.

118. Therefore, 0 Cain I flee away from the spirit of this world, there is a fire (out of the root of the originality) from the Lord of heaven in it ; thy swelled secret kingdom is kindled, that men may see [or know] thee in every place ; thou shalt stand quite open [or naked] with all thy 2 secrecies ; 2 Or mysteries. for the spiritus majoris mundi [or spirit of the great world] hath found the tincture, and its roses blossom in the wonders.

Of the Cainish, and of the Abellish Kingdom; how they are both in one another. Also of their Beginning, Rise, Essence, and Drift; and then of their last Exit. Also of the Cainish Antichristian Church, and then of the Abellish true Christian Church; how they are both in one another, and are very hard to be known [asunder]. Also of the Variety of Arts, * States, and orders of this World. Also of the Office of Rulers [or Magistrates'], and their Subjects; how there is a good and divine 2 Ordinance in them all, as also a false, evil, and devilish one. Where the Providence of God is seen in all Things ; and the Devil's Deceit, Subtlety, and Malice, [is seen also] in all Things. 1. "\~X7^ ^nc^ ^7 the divine providence in all V V things, as also in arts and 3 states, that the things of this world are all good and profitable, and that only the devil's poison brought into them is evil ; and so we find also all states [or condi4 Or spring, tions], high and low, come out of one 4 only tree, 3 conditions of things. and one always proceedeth out of the other, so that the divine providence cometh to help all things, and so the eternal wonders (in all the three Principles) are l manifested ; to which end God l Or disbrought to light the creation of all things, which from eternity in themselves stood only in the [flowing, budding, or] z springing up, but by the 2 AS the creation of this world are put into the wonders. the mind flow

2. Therefore now we can speak or write of01 nothing else but of his wonders ; for we have a great example of them in Cain, when the kingdom of the fierce wrath (after his murder) awaked in him, and would have 3 devoured him, that God 3 By making T i -, . .1 i- • • • hi™ despair came to help mm ; when the divine justice (in his in God. conscience) sentenced him to death, then the divine answer spake against it, [saying], No : Whosoever slayeih Cain, it shall be avenged sevenfold ; by which speech the fierce vengeance of the abyss of hell was driven away from him, so that Cain did not despair ; and though he was gone forth from God, yet the kingdom of heaven stood towards him, he might turn, and enter into repentance. God had not yet quite rejected him ; but his malicious, murderous, and false confidence he accursed, and would not 4 be therein. * Or consent 3. For God departed not from Cain, but Cain went himself from God : If he had been strong in faith and confidence in God, then he might have been able to enter into God again ; even as he thought before the fall [into the murder] that he

would break the head of the serpent, but there it was seen what man's ability was. If he had laid hold on the true Treader upon the Serpent, then he might have gone instantly (in the virtue of the Treader upon the Serpent) into God again. 1 Or was. 4. But Cain l had flesh and blood, and under- stood not the meaning of the eternal death ; yet when he was assured from God that none should slay him, he became cheerful again ; for the 2 his faculties 2 essences of his soul were refreshed again by God's doubt were recalling [him] ; for the door of grace stood open of God's8™ towards him, he should return, for God would not the death of a sinner. 5. And here may be seen very exactly, who was the accuser of Cain, viz. the blood of Abel, which cried to God from the earth, and awakened the fierce anger against Cain ; where the essences of the soul of Abel, through the deep gate of anger, pressed into God, through the Treader upon the Serpent, and so stirred the root of the fire in Cain, whereby the anger was awakened. Here consider what the sighings of the righteous, and their pressing in to God (in their being unequally oppressed) can do, how it kindleth the anger of God, as in Cain ; whereas then fiery coals are heaped upon the driver's [or oppressor's] head.

3 the wrath, or 6. But when 3 it was allayed again by the voice of God, then Cain did not know how that came to pass, and set his murder at rest, like one who hath a secret gnawing dog sitting in the dark ; yet he proceeded and built his powerful earthly kingdom, and did not wholly put his trust in God. For when he saw, that he must seek for his bread out of the earth, and must take his clothing from the l children of the earth, therefore all his business 1 the beasts, lay in the art of seeking how and which way he wWc might find, and how possess the treasure of that earthf the which was found, that he might always have enough ; because he saw God no more, therefore he did like Israel, who were brought out of Egypt by Moses, and when they saw him not (because he was on the mount) then they begun their dancing and false worship of God, and asked after Moses 7. Thus Cain now built his earthly kingdom, and began to search all manner of arts, not only in * agriculture, but also in metals, and further [all » husbandry, arts] according to the seven spirits of nature, tai!?go which 3in the letter is well to be seen, wherein gr°und-

* • j » our schools [or universities] will now be masters ; but they are not yet scholars in the ground. circumstances. 8. And it is excellently shewn, that they had 4 the light of the tincture in their hands, wherein 4 That is, in they found [their inventions], though it was not£yhad7he wholly known, for sins were not then in such thTiTjSJeV multiplicity upon the earth; and therefore the to them, but all was found out very easily ; S tfthL. especially by Adam, who had the Mysteries 6 in his 6 Or naked, hand, and was [but] entered out of the wonders of plain*11' 2 speech or word. paradise into the wonders of this world, who knew not only the essences, * natures, and properties of all the beasts, but also of all plants and metals ; he knew also the ground of the seven liberal arts [arising] out of the seven forms of nature ; yet not so altogether out of the ground [or fundamentally]. But he was the tree, out of which afterwards all the roots and branches grew. 9. But the depth in the centre of the birth he knew much better than we in our schools [or universities] ; which is shewn by that 2 saying, That he gave names to all things, to every thing according to its essence, 3 nature, and property, as if he had stuck [or dwelt] in every thing, and tried

4 Or beings, all 4 essences ; whereas he had the knowledge of them only from their sound, also from their form and aspect, smell and taste ; the metals he knew in the glance of the tincture, and in the fire, as it may yet well be known. 10. For Adam was the heart of everything in this world, created out of the originality of all things ; his soul was out of the first Principle, 8 Or shining, throughly 6 illustrated with the second [Principle] ; or enlightened. . ,, 1 r and his body was out ot the [/me] element, out of the 6 Barm, or birth, out of the divine virtue [which is] before God, which [body] was entered into the out-birth of the [one] element, viz. into the four elements, and wholly gone into the spirit of this world, viz. into the third Principle. And therefore he had the tincture of everything in him, by which he reached into all essences, and proved [or searched] all things in the heaven, earth, fire, air, and water, and all whatsoever is generated from thence. 11. And so one tincture took hold of the other, and the stronger hath proved [or tried] the weaker, and given names to all things, according to their essences ; and that is the true ground of Adam's, fall, that he went out of the eternal [being] into the out-birth of the corruptible [being], and hath

put on the l corruptible image, which God forbad » Or transihim. tory- 12. And here the two strong kingdoms of the eternity are to be seen, which have been in strife with one another, and are always so ; and the strife continueth to eternity, for it is also from eternity, viz. [between] 2 the fierceness and the meekness. » the wrath If the fierceness were not, there would be no and tbe lovemobility; but it overcome fch in this world only 'according to the kingdom of hell, and in the3 The wrath heaven it maketh the ascending joy, and the t meekness. '? the 'our 13. And it is highly to be found and considered by us, in the light of nature, how the fierceness [or wrath] is the root of all things, and, moreover, the originality of the life ; therein only consisteth the might and the power, and from thence only proceed the wonders; and without the fierceness [or wrath] there would be no enmity, but all would be [as it were] a nothing, as is formerly mentioned. 14. And then we find also, how the meekness is the virtue and the spirit, so that where the meekness is not, there the fierceness (in itself) is nothing

1 working, but a darkness and a death, where no l growing can bringing spring up, and it cannot generate nor discover its wonders ; and thus we find that the fierceness [wrath or sourness] is a cause of the essences, and [that] the meekness [is] a cause of the joy, and a cause of the rising and [budding or] growing forth of the essences ; and then that the spirit is generated by the flowing [working, springing] and rising up, out of the essences, and that the fierceness so becometh the root of the spirit, and the meekness is its life. 15. Now there can be no meekness without light, for the light maketh the meekness, and there can be no fierceness without the light, for the light 3 desiring, or maketh a 2 longing in the darkness ; and yet there is no darkness there, but the longing maketh the darkness in the will, so that the will attracteth to itself, and impregnateth the longing, so that it becometh thick and dark ; for it is thicker than the will, and therefore it shadoweth the will, and is the darkness of the will. 16. And if the will be thus in darkness, then it is in anguish ; for it desireth to be out of the darkness, and that desiring is the flowing [or working] and the attracting in itself, where yet nothing is attained but a fierce source in itself, which by its attraction maketh hardness and roughness, which

, and thu ° known ) ^ " ( is »eet give the Reader exaotlv f how the rell f 7 , unde«tand and know . « the beSS r C°r g]' Which U Was not tWainm; whog;;"7 m^lea» to understand «d woman' 2 /u ^""W- in the wi» «f -an is conceived rthet/W6W' ^ » the *><"«, ^tmcture, and sown in an earthly 1 field, or * soil ; where then the first tincture (in the will) ^o^iife breaketh, and his own 2 tincture springeth forth out of the anxious [or aching] chamber of darkness, and of death, out of the anxious source [or property], and blossometh out of the darkness, in the broken gate of the darkness in it, as a pleasant habitation, and so generateth its light out of the anxious fierceness out of itself ; where then (in the light) there goeth forth again the endless source of the [thoughts or] senses, which make a throne and region of reason, which governeth the whole house, and desireth to enter into the region of the heaven, out of which it proceeded not. And therefore now this is not the original will, which there desireth to enter into the

3 Or recompre- region of the heaven ; but it is the 3 reconceived bunded, or ... /> i ,• i • r a »«••«< retaken will will out of the source of the anxiety, [which will la property. in a desire] to enter through the deep gate of God. 18. Now seeing it was impossible for the human spirit, how much soever it was attempted [tried or sought], therefore God must enter again into the humanity, and help the human spirit to break the 4 Or of death gate of 4 darkness, that so it might be able to enter into the divine [power or] virtue. 19. And thus he dwelleth in two [properties], both which draw him, and desire to have him ; viz. one fierce [property or] source, whose original is the darkness of the abyss ; and the other is the divine [power or] virtue, whose source [or active property] is the light and the divine joy in the broken gate of heaven ; as the word Himmel [heaven] in the language of nature hath its proper / acute * understanding, from the pressing through, > meaning, or and entering in, and then with its root continuing significationto sit in the stock of eternity, wherein the omnipotencyis rightly understood ; which my 2 Master "the learned in Arts will scarce give any credit to, for he hath S^ or™ no knowledge therein ; it belongeth to the lily. raason'

20. Thus man is drawn and held of both ; but the centre standeth in him, and [he] hath the 8 balance between the two wills, viz. between the » balance of original and the reconceived [will] to the kingdom the wtgnts°r of heaven ; and in each scale there is a maker, who formeth what he letteth into his mind; for the mind is the centre of the balance, the senses [or thoughts] are the weights that pass out of one scale into the other ; for the one scale is the kingdom of the fierceness, and of anger ; and the other is the regeneration (in the virtue [or power] of God) in the heaven. 21. Now behold, 0 man, how thou art both earthly and also heavenly, as [it were] mixed in one [only] person, and thou bearest the earthly, and also the heavenly image, in one [only] person ; and thou art also the fierce [wrathful property or] source, and thou bearest the hellish image, which 4springeth in the anger of God, out of the source < Or groweth. of the eternity ; thus is thy mind, and the mind holdeth the balance, and the 6 senses put [weight] • Or thoughts, into the scales.

22. Therefore consider what weight thou puttest 1 formeth, lashioneth, or createth an image. in by the senses : Thou hast the kingdom of heaven in thy power, for the word of the divine virtue [or power] in Christ, hath given itself to thee to be thy own ; and so also thou hast the kingdom of hell in a bridle, in the root, and thou hast it for thy own by the right of nature ; and thou hast the kingdom of this world also (according to thy humanity received from Adam) for thy own. 23. Now consider what thou lettest into thy mind by thy senses, for thou hast in each kingdom a maker, which there 1 maketh [an image of] whatsoever thou layest into the scales, by the senses ; for all lieth in the making [or formation], and thou art (in this body) a field [ground or soil] ; thy mind is the sower, and the three Principles are the seed ; what thy mind soweth, the body of that groweth, and that thou shalt reap to thyself, and so when the earthly field or soil doth break, then the new-grown body standeth in [its] perfection, whether it be be 2 grown in the kingdom of heaven, or in the kingdom of hell.

24. By this now you might find and understand the ground, how the kingdom of this world is generated, and how one kingdom is in the other, and how one is the chest and receptacle of the other, where yet there is no captivating at all, but all is free in itself ; and man standeth manifested in all three [Principles], and yet knoweth none of them in the ground, except he be generated out of the darkness into the light, and then that ^source knoweth the fierce eternity, as also the > or property. 2 out-birth [or issue] of the eternity. But he is «ch. third not able to search out the light, for he is environed SJS±T therewith, and it is his dwelling-house; whereas w°rldt yet he is (with his body) in this world, and with the originality of the soul in the ground of the eternal source, and with the noble blossom of the soul in the kingdom of heaven with God, and is thus rightly a prince in the heaven, over hell and earth ; for the fierce source [or torment] toucheth it not ; but the blossom maketh out of the fierce source [or quality] paradise, [viz.] the high exulting joy in the springing up.

25. And thus thou earthly man mayest see, how thou livest here in three Principles, if thy mind inclineth itself to God ; but if it give up itself to the 3 source of this world, then thou standest 3 kingdom, or 4 before heaven, and thou sowest two Principles, J0"™6'. viz. the spirit of this world, and the fierce source' of eternity. The Well-Spring [or Fountain'] of the Antichristian Kingdom. 26. Man possesseth this world, and hath built him a glorious kingdom for his own glory, as is plain before our eyes; yet he is not to be condemned therein, (though indeed that is cause of sins), because God (of his grace) hath sent his beloved Heart into the flesh, that man might (thereby) go out from the flesh again, and enter into the kingdom of heaven. But now his earthly body must have sustenance, that it may live and propagate ; and all the governments and arts of this world stand in this necessity, for the earthly body cannot want them ; and they are l borne withal (by divine patience) that the great wonders may thereby be manifested. 27. But this is man's condemnation, that he soweth only the earthly and the hellish seed, and letteth the heavenly stay in his barn ; he stayeth without, before heaven, and entereth not in for the noble seed; but he giveth God good words, that he may be gracious to him, and receive him into his kingdom, and soweth nothing but the devil's weeds in body and soul. And then what new body shall there grow ? Shall it stand in the heaven in the holy element, or in the abyss ? Or shall the Pearl be cast before swine ?

28. If thy maker in thee doth not make the image of God, but the image of the serpent, how wilt thou then bring thy beast into the kingdom of heaven ? Dost thou suppose that God hath adders and serpents in the broken gate of the regeneration in the pleasant habitation ? Or dost thou suppose that he looketh after thy hypocrisy, 2 colleges, that thou buildest great 2 houses of stone for him, monasteries, and therein dost exercise thy hypocrisy and pomp ? What careth he for thy songs and roaring noise, if thy heart be a murderer and devourer ? He will have a new-born man, who yieldeth himself up to him in righteousness, and in the fear of God ; him, the Treader upon the Serpent taketh into his arms, and maketh him an heavenly image ; such a one is a child of heaven, and not thy l fox. 1 Or thy xr -LIT TTTi r i subtle, cun- 29. JNow it may be asked, Wherefore art thou nmg seeming called the Antichrist ? Hearken, thou art 2 the 2 Or agaiDSt opposer of Christ, and thou hast built thyself achrist seeming [holy] hypocritical kingdom, with a great

show ; therein thou exercisest thy hypocrisy, thou earnest the law of God upon thy lips, and thou teachest it, but with thy deeds thou deniest the power thereof, thy heart is only bent upon the spirit of this world, the kingdom of thy hypocrisy tends only to thy own honour [and repute] under a pretended holiness ; all knees must bend before thee, as if thou wast Christ, and thou hast the heart of a greedy wolf. 30. Thou boastest that thou hast the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and yet thyself art in the abyss ; thy heart hangeth on thy keys, and not on the heart of God, thou hast the keys of the chest of gold, and not of the breaking through, by confidence in God ; thou makest many 3 laws, and 3 canons, yet thyself keepest none, and thy 3 law is to as and orders! much purpose as the tower of Babel [was], which should have reached to heaven, and thy 3laws reach to heaven as much as that did. 31. Thou prayest before God, but in thy wolfish beast ; the spirit of this world (and not God) receiveth thy prayers ; for thy heart is a devourer,

and entereth into the devourer ; thou desirest not earnestly to enter into God, but merely with thy historical hypocritical mouth, and thy heart presseth earnestly into the spirit of this world ; thou desirest only much temporal goods, honour, power, and authority in this world, and so thereby 1 Or kingdom, thou drawest the l region of this world to thee. 32. Thou suppressest the miserable and needy under thy feet, and thou constrainest him with necessity, and makest him vain [or carelessly wicked], so that he runneth after thy beast, and gazeth upon thee, and also becometh a servant of the opposer of Christ ; thy beast whereon thou ridest is thy strength and power, which thou usurpest to thyself, thou fattenest thy beast with the fatness of the earth, and thou crammest it with the sweat of the needy ; it is filled up with the tears of the miserable, whose sighs and groans press in through the gate of the deep to God, and 2 Or stir up. (with their pressing in) they 2 awaken the anger of God in thy beast ; as the blood of Abel did the anger in Cain. 33. Thus thou comest galloping with thy prancing horse, and thou ridest before the gate of heaven, and desirest 3 abstinence, and in thy shape thou art a wolf. What shall St Peter say to it ? Dost thou suppose that he will give thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven ? 0 no ! he hath none for wolves ; he hath but one for himself, he had never any to spare for others.

3 rest, forgiveness, or comfort. 34. Wouldst thou get into heaven ? Then thou must put off thy wolf, and get into a lamb's skin ; not with hypocrisy, in a corner f1 chamber], cloister, 1 closet, ceil, or wilderness [and hermitage], but with earnestness in the new birth ; and thy light must shine forth in righteousness and mercifulness, to the overthrow of the kingdom of the devil, and it must destroy his nest, with kind well-doing to the needy. 35. Hearken, thou antichristian scorner ; it is not enough for thee to stand and say, I have the true ground of the knowledge [that leadeth] to the kingdom of heaven, I have found the true religion. And doth condemn every one that hath not thy knowledge, or doth not consent to thy opinion ; thou sayest, Such a one is a heretic, and of the devil. And thou art a wolf, and dost nothing else but confound the sheep with thy fierceness, and causest them to offend, and to calumniate those whom neither thou nor they know, as the Ephesians did by Paul. Dost thou suppose that thou hast hunted away the wolf by this means ? Or hast thou not rather generated a heap of young scornful wolves, which howl and yell, and every one would devour, and yet know not where the evil beast is, nor especially that most evil beast of all, which generated them ? 0 blind Babel, the kingdom of Christ doth not consist herein, but the abominable Antichrist of confusion in Babel.

36. But what can be said? The devil will have it no otherwise. When his kingdom beginneth to be stormed [battered and assaulted] at one place, then he bloweth up the storm all over [as well in one as in another], in the children of God ; the spirit of punishment [vengeance or reproof] is stirred up ; and in the worldly bestial man, the devil bloweth up mere scorning and disgracing mockers ; for they have the kingdom of Christ in the history, and the devil's kingdom in themselves, as their own possession. 37. What doth thy knowledge avail thee, thou opposer of Christ, that thou knowest how to speak of the kingdom of heaven, of the suffering and death of Christ, and of the new-birth in Christ, when thou art without it, sticking merely in the history ? Shall not thy knowledge be a witness against thee, which shall judge thee ? Or wilt thou say thou art not the Antichrist of Babel ? Surely thou art the hypocrite, and thou fattenest thy evil beast yet more and more, and thou art the devourer in the Revelation of John. Thou dwellest not only at Rome, but thou hast possessed the breadth of the earth. I have seen thee in the spirit, and therefore it is that I write of thee, thou wonder of the world, of heaven, and of hell.

38. Thus this kingdom took beginning with Cain, and it hath its ground from the devil, who is a mocker of God ; for the devil desireth nothing else but strong and mighty exalting in his own power above the thrones of heaven ; but he cannot get in, and therefore he is so maliciously enraged, and his source for quality] standeth in the anguish, not towards the birth, but towards the l source J Or torment Of the Kingdom of Christ in this World. 39. Seeing now man is entered into the spirit of this world, and hath all gates in [him], viz. the kingdom of heaven, and the kingdom of hell, and also the kingdom of this world, and must thus live in the press [or narrow chink], between heaven and this world, where the devil stirreth up one mocker after another, (who are brought up by the kingdom of fierceness), and continually stirreth them up against the children of God, so that the world is full of tyrants, and bestial, bloody, incestuous persons, also murderers and thieves, and because covetousness grew up, therefore the office of ruling was most profitable, that the wicked 2 driver might be stopped by power [and authority]. »

40. And so it is seen, how the providence of God is come to the help of the kingdom of this world, and hath by the spirit of this world stirred up rulers, who have inflicted punishment ; yet the spirit of God complaineth of them, that they are turned tyrants, who suppress all with their power ; and the Abellish Church in love consisteth not therein, but the strong might of God, for the suppressing of evil-doers. 41. It is true indeed, the judges and kings, as also princes and rulers [or magistrates], are the officers of God in the house of this [four elementary] world, whom God (because of sin) hath set to punish secretly, that thereby the wicked drivers [and oppressors] might be stopped. 42. And their state [condition, jurisdiction, or authority] is founded in the originality of the essence of all essences, where God in the beginning created the thrones, according to his eternal wisdom ; where then (both in heaven and also in hell) there [or dominion] according to the seven spirits of the eternal nature, of which here much ought not to be said, for the world holdeth it impossible to know such things ; whereas yet a spirit born in God

2 Or hath 2 searcheth into the kingdom of heaven. 43. But a true judge, who judgeth according to righteousness, he is God's steward [viceroy or vicegerent], in the kingdom of this world ; and that it might not be needful that God should always pour forth his wrath upon the people [and nations], therefore he hath put the sword into their hands to protect and defend the righteous, and to punish the evil. And if any do so, in earnest uprightness (in the fear of God, and nothing partially 3 Or for par- for 8 favour) then he is great in the kingdom of heaven ; for he beareth the [sword] for righteousness, and he shineth, as the sun and moon, exceeding the stars. 44. But if he turneth tyrant, and doth nothing but devour the bread of his subjects, and only adorneth his state and dignity in pride, to the oppression of the needy, and hunteth after nothing but covetousness, accounting the needy to be but Kis dogs, and placeth his office only in voluptuousness, and will not hear the oppressed, then he is an insulting, tormenting prince and ruler in the kingdom of Antichrist, and is of the number of the tyrants, and he rideth upon Antichrist's horse. 45. And we are to consider how the true Christian Church is environed with the Cainish antichristian church, and how they live in one only kingdom in this world. As the first Principle encloseth all, and yet can comprehend or hold nothing, but the kingdom of heaven is (from eternity) brought forth out of the anger, as a fair sweet-smelling flower, out of the earth, so also the holy Church standeth in the antichristian ; where they both together go to pray before God, and one is accepted by God, and the other [is accepted] by the spirit of this world ; each image goeth into its own region [or kingdom].

46. There is nothing more secret in this world than the kingdom of Christ, and also nothing more manifest than the kingdom of Christ; and it is often so, that he who supposeth he hath it, and liveth therein, hath it not, but hath the kingdom of Antichrist, and he is an hypocrite and scorner and hath the serpent's ' figure; and his heart also' is but the heart of a greedy wolf, and he standeth 1 Or image, not in the angelical * figure. 47. On the contrary, many a one is in great 2 the kingdom anguish, and longeth after 2 it, and generateth very painfully, he would fain have 2it; but then the devil rusheth upon him, and after stirreth up irksomeness [vexation] and discontent, and also overwhelmeth him with great sins, so that he knoweth not himself, and then dejecteth him with impatience and doubting ; and his heart standeth continually in anguish, it would fain get out of evil, and endeavoureth continually for abstinence 3 forgiveness, or 3 forbearance, many times with groans, sighing, rest. and longing : But then the devil holdeth his sins before him, and barreth up the door of the grace of God, that he might despair.

48. Yet he soweth the Pearl in his afflicting anguish, and the devil covereth it in him, that he may not know it, neither doth he know himself; he soweth into the kingdom of God, and knoweth not his own seed, but the seed of sin, and of the hunter. And so he consenteth not to the sins which he committeth ; but the devil with his 4 sect * followers [or associates] overpower him, so that the Adamical man in the anger doth that which the new-born [man] in the holy element willeth not ; now though he doth it, yet the new man in the image doth it not, but the old man in the » Or in the 6 anger. And therefore there is in him a continual striving four . „ , , , • n elements. stnic, and he runneth continually to repentance ; where yet the hidden man in the l anger cannot 1 Or in the reach the lily, but the hidden man [doth it]. ££$? 49. Therefore he standeth often in doubt and impatience ; and in such a man there is great strife; he knoweth not himself. He seeth and knoweth nothing else but his wickedness, and yet is born in God ; for his spirit continually breaketh the gate of the darkness, but then the anger in him doth hold him back that he cannot enter in, but yet sometimes he reacheth a glimpse, from whence the soul is cheered, and the Pearl is sown in a very dark valley.

50. And then when he considereth the sweet foretaste of the Pearl which he had, then the soul would fain go through, and it seeketh the Pearl ; but then cometh the black spirit, and covereth it from him, and then the storm and strife about the Pearl beginneth, each would have its right; the soul would have it, and then the devil covereth it, and casteth the wrath and 2 sin before it, that a Or infimithe soul should behold itself therein; then there way to the falleth to be weakness and neglect, so that the poor P( soul becometh weary, faint, and timorous, and so sitteth still, and thinketh continually of some other way to abstinence [or 3 amendment], how it might 3 comfort or best get the Pearl. rest' 51. But the 4 hunter is a cunning artist, who « driver, or cometh then with the region of this world, with worldly lusts of the flesh, with temporal honour and riches, and holdeth them before the poor soul, 1 husks, or that it might bite at his l swine's apples ; thus he leadeth many a one for a long while, with his chains, captive in the anger of God.

52. But if the noble grain of mustard-seed be sown, then the noble virgin of God preserveth it, and maketh the poor soul continually careful to endeavour for abstinence, and to enter into fight with the devil. 0 what a wonderful way is it the children of God go in this miserable house of flesh ! which the reason of the hypocrites neither comprehendeth, nor can believe ; only they that have tried it, know it. 53. Though indeed the high precious knowledge is not [attained], except one hath overcome in the storm, and hath vanquished the devil, so that the soul hath once attained the heavenly gate, and gotten the garland of victory, which the lovely virgin of chastity setteth up, as a triumphant ensign of its conquest in its dear Champion, Christ, * Or the and there riseth up the 2 wonderful knowledge, yet the wonders not in perfection. eye hath seen, 54. For the old enemy is subtle, and strong, nor ear heard, . nor ever who still assaulteth the soul again, to try now he entered into m. •» a •••*•» 11 the heart to may afflict and deceive it ; 11 he cannot overwhelm it with sins, then he beginneth an outward war

3 Or iniquity, with it, and stirreth up the children of 3 malice against it, so that they contemn, mock, deride, vilify it, and do all manner of evil to it ; and so they lay wait for its body and goods, they jeer, reproach, and scorn it, and account it as the off- scouring of the world; they upbraid it for its infirmities; if it do but reprove their faults and unrighteousness, - then it must be an hypocrite [with them]. 55. Not only the children of malice do thus, but the devil many times bringeth the children of God, by his snares, to be against it, so that in their blindness they grow furious and raging, as Saul at Jerusalem did against Stephen. Thus the poor soul must be afflicted among thorns and thistles, and continually expect when the evil world shall tear away the body. The victorious Gate of the poor Soul. 56. Now saith reason, What is the best counsel and remedy for the poor soul? What shall it do in this bath of thorns and thistles? Behold, we will shew thee the counsel of the * virgin, as1 Or wisdom it is given us for a victorious comfort, and we °f will write it for a firm Memorial to ourselves; for it may come, that we ourselves may stand in need of it, as we have already for a tedious while sweltered in this bath of thorns and thistles, wherein we also attained this garland ; and therefore we must not be silent, but set forth the gift of the virgin, which helpeth against all the 2 gates * Or power, of the devil.

57. Behold, thou poor soul in thy bath of thorns, where is thy home? Art thou at home in this world ? Wherefore then dost thou not seek the favour and friendship of the world ? Wherefore dost thou not hunt after temporal honour, after pleasure and riches, that it may go well with thee in this world ? Why dost thou make thyself a fool to the world, and art every one's owl and footstool ? Wherefore dost thou suffer thyself to be despised and abused by those that are inferior to thee, and know less than thou ? Why shouldst thou not be stately and brave with those seeming holy hypocrites ? And then thou wouldst be beloved, and nobody would abuse thee ; and thou wouldst be more safe and secure in thy body and goods, than in this way, wherein thou art but the world's owl and fool. 58. But my loving virgin saith, 0 thou my beloved companion, whom I have chosen, go with me, 1 am not of this world. I will bring thee out of this world into my kingdom, there is mere pleasant rest and welfare ; in my kingdom is mere

1 hunter, joy, honour, and glory, there is no x driver in it. oppressor.' I will adorn thee with the glory of God, and put on thee my bright ornament. I will make thee a lord in heaven, and a judge over this world ; tbou shalt help to judge the l driver in his wickedness ; he shall be laid at thy feet for a footstool, and he shall not open his jaws against thee, but he shall be barred up for ever in his fierce gate ; thou shalt eat at my table, there shall be no grudging nor want ; my fruit is sweeter and pleasanter than the fruit of this world, thou shalt never have any woe arise from it ; all thy doings shall be pleasant cheerfulness and amiable discourse : mere humility in great love shall shine before thee. All thy companions are so very beautiful, thou shalt have joy in them all. Wherefore dost thou esteem thy corruptible life? Thou shalt enter into an incorruptible life that shall endure eternally. 59. But I have a little against thee: I have drawn thee out of the thorny bath, wherein thou wast a wild beast, and have figured thee for my image, and yet thy wild beast standeth in the thorny bath, which I will not take into my bosom,

thou standest yet in xthy wild beast; now when i in the four the world taketh its wild beast which belongeth £H5 in thereto, then I will take thee, and so every one blood< shall have its own. 60. Wherefore dost thou love that wild beast so much, which doth but afflict thee ? And besides, thou canst not take it with thee, neither doth it belong to thee, but to the world; let the world do what it will with it, stay thou with me; it is but a little while before thy beast breaketh, and then thou art unbound, and abidest with me. 61. But I also have a law in my love, viz. I not only desire [to have] thee, but also thy brothers and sisters which are in the world, who are yet in part unregenerated, whom the 2 driver holdeth 2 hunter, or captive ; thou must not hide nor bury thy Pearl, per8ecutor' but shew the same to them, that they also may come into my arms ; thy mouth must not be 62. And although the driver compasseth thee about, and will fetch thee away, yet there is a limit set for thy beast, how far it shall go, the hunter cannot break [or destroy] it sooner than the limited time ; and then if he do break it, it is done only for [the manifesting of] God's deeds of wonder, and for thy best good ; all thy stripes in the thorny bath shall stand in my kingdom for a fair ensign of thy victory ; and moreover, thou shalt have great joy in it, before the angels of God, in that thou hast despised the hunter, and art gone out of a wild birth into an angelical one. 0 how thou wilt rejoice, when thou shalt think upon thy

2 vexed and wild beast, which 2 plagued thee day and night, in that thou art 3 loosed from it. 63. Then thou hast great honour for thy great shame. And therefore why art thou so sad ? Lift up thyself out of thy wild beast, as a fair flower springeth out of the earth. Or dost thou suppose, thou wild beast, that my spirit is mad, that it so little esteemeth thee ? Thou sayest I am indeed thy beast, yet thou art born out of me ; if I had not grown forth, thou hadst not been either. Hearken thou my beast, I am greater than thou ; when thou wast to be, there I was thy master-framer ; my essences are out of the root of the eternity, but thou art from this world, and thou breakest [or corruptest], but I live in my source [or quality] eternally ; therefore am I much nobler than thou ; thou livest in the tierce [wrathful] source, but I will put my strong fierce property into the light, into the eternal joy ; my works stand in power, and thine remain in the figure ; when I shall once be released from thee, then I shall take thee no more to be my beast again, but [I will take] my new body which I brought forth in thee, in thy deepest root of the holy element. I will no more have thy rough issues of the four elements, death swalloweth thee up. But I spring and grow out of thee, with my new body, as a flower out of its root ; I will 1 forget thee. For the glory of God (which 2 cursed

thee together with the earth) hath grafted my 2 Or fled from root again in his Son, and my body groweth in11"** the holy element before God. Therefore thou art but my wild beast, which dost plague me, and make me sick here, upon which the devil rideth, as upon his accursed horse ; and although the world scorn thee, I regard not that, it doth that for my sake ; and yet it cannot see me, neither can it know me. And wherefore then is it so mad? It cannot murder me, for I am not 64. But thou, mad world, what shall the spirit say [of thee]? Art thou not my brother? The essences of my spirit stir thee ; go forth out of thy beast, and then I go with my companions into the garden of roses, into the lily of God. Why keepest thou back, and sufferest thyself to be held by the devil ? Is he not thy enemy ? He doth but hunt after thy Pearl ; and if he getteth it, then thy spirit becometh a worm and beast in its figure. Why sufferest thou thy angelical image to be taken away, for temporal pleasure sake ? Thy pleasure is only in the corruptible beast. But what doth that avail the soul ? If thou dost not go out from it, thou wilt get eternal woe and sorrow by it.

65. Or what shall thy noble warrior Christ say to it ? Have not I [saith Christ] broken thy wild beast ? Am not I entered into death ? I have cut off from thy soul the four elements, and the wickedness [or malice] of the devil, and have ^Or engrafted. l inoculated thy soul into my virtue [or power], that thy body might spring and grow again out of my body, out of the holy element before God ; and I have bound myself to thee by my spirit. Have I not made a covenant with thee, that thou shouldst be mine ? Have I not given thee my body for food, and my blood for drink ? Have I 2 Or leader, not given thee my spirit for a 2 conductor, and allotted thee my kingdom for thy own ? Wherefore dost thou despise me, and goest away from me ? Thou runnest after the wolves and the dogs, and howlest with them, and thou seekest only after anger, and how thou mayest bite [and devour] ; thou swallowest nothing but l fierceness l wrath, [into thee]. What shall I say ? I have in my sins and suffering and death (by my regeneration) generated W1 no such beast, and therefore I will not have it, except it be again born anew in me, to an angelical image, and then it shall be with me.

Of the New Regeneration in Christ [from] out of the old Adamical Man. The Blossom of the Holy Bud. The noble Gate of the right [and] true Christianity. EGA USE we have written hitherto of the originality of the essence of all essences, how all [things] take beginning, and have shewn the eternal enduring [substance], and also the transitory ; therefore we will now shew further, 1 man. what is most profitable for J him to do, and to leave undone ; wherein we will shew what God by his eternal Word hath ever spoken (by his holy spirit) by Moses, and by the Prophets ; as also what the mouth of Christ and his Apostles have spoken, what God will have us men to do, and leave undone. 2. Seeing we poor Adamical men are, with our father Adam and mother Eve, gone forth out of the incorruptible and unchangeable inheritance, out from our true native country, into a strange inn, where we are not at home, but are merely guests, and where we must in so great misery continually expect, when our strange host will thrust us out, and bereave us of all our ability, and take away from us all we have, so that we are truly swimming in a deep sea of misery, and swelter in a strange bath of thorns and thistles ; and we know for certain, and see it also daily before our eyes, that we are no other than pilgrims in this inn, which must continually expect when the breaker [or destroyer] will come, and take our heart, senses, and mind, also our flesh and blood, and goods ; therefore it is indeed most necessary for us, to learn to know and find the way to our true native country, that we may avoid the great misery and calamity, and enter into an eternal inn, which is our own, whence none may drive us out.

3. But because there are two of these inns, which are eternal without end and expulsion ; the one standing in eternal joy (in great brightness and perfection) in mere love and meekness ; but the other in great perplexity, anguish, misery, distress, hunger, and thirst, where never any refreshment from the love of God cometh ; therefore it is very necessary that we learn, with great earnestness, to know the true way of entrance into the eternal joy, that we may not with the devil's dogs howl eternally in the anguishing inn. 4. And now if we look round about us everywhere, upon heaven and earth, the stars and elements, yet we can see and know no way [or where we may go to our rest ; we see no other than the way of the entrance in of our life, and then of the end of our life, where our body goeth into the earth, and all our labour (also our arts and glory) is inherited by another, who also vexeth himself therewith for a while, and then followeth after us ; and that continueth so from the beginning of the world to its end. 1 understand, 5. We can in our misery never l know where

or compre- . . 1111 hend. our spirit doth abide when the body breaketn, and cometh to be a carcase, except we be again newborn out of this world, that so we may dwell in this world as to our body, and as to our mind in another eternal perfect new life, wherein our spirit and mind put on a new man, wherein he must and shall live eternally ; and then we first know what we are, and where our home is. 6. Seeing then we clearly see and understand, that we have our beginning altogether earthly, and are sown in a field (as grain is sown in the earth) where our life springeth up, groweth, and at length flourisheth, as corn [or grain] doth out of the earth ; where we can know in us nothing but an earthly life ; yet we see very well that the 2 Or stars. 2 constellations and elements qualify [or work] in us, and nourish, drive, govern, and guide us, also fill us and bring us up, and so preserve our life a while, and then break it again, and turn it to dust and ashes ; like all beasts, trees, plants, and all [things] that grow ; but we see not how it is with us afterwards, whether all be ended with it,

or whether we go with our spirit and conversation into another life ; and therefore it is most necessary to learn, and to ssek the right way. 7. Now that is testified to us by the writings of those who have been regenerated out of this 1 earthliness, and at length are entered into a holy ' Or transi- and incorruptible life, who have written and taught of an eternal joyful life, and also of an eternal perishing and anguishing life ; and have taught us how we should follow after them, and how we should step into a new birth, where we should be regenerated out of this earthliness, into a new creature, and that we should do nothing else about it but follow them, and then we should find, 2 in 2 Or really, deed and in truth, what they had spoken, written, and taught. Yea even in this life we should see our true native country in the new regeneration, and 3 know it (in the new-born man) in great joy, 3 understand, whereas then our whole mind would incline to it ; and in our new knowledge (in the new man) true faith would grow, and the hearty desire

of the unfeigned love towards the hidden God ; for which noble knowledge sake, many times * they have yielded their earthly body and life to 4 holy people, the un regenerated gainsayer (according to his devilish, malicious revengefulness) into death, and have taken it with great joy, and have chosen for themselves the eternal incorruptible life. 8. There is then the greatest and highest love in the new birth, not only towards God, or oneself, 1 the holy forefathers. but also towards men, our brothers and sisters : So that those that were regenerated, have had their desires and love so carried towards men, that they have very earnestly taught men with meekness and reproving, and their love to them in their teaching hath been so great, that they have even willingly yielded their life up to death, and left their earthly goods, and all they had, in assured hope, (in their strong and firm knowledge) to receive all again in great honour [and glory]. 9. And therefore we also have longed to seek after that Pearl, of which we write at present ; and though now the unregenerated (in the kingdom of this world) will give no credit to us (as it hath happened to our forefathers, from the children of this world) we cannot help that, but it shall stand for a witness against them, which shall be a woe to them eternally, that they have so foolishly ventured [and lost] so great an eternal glory and holiness, for a little pleasure of the eye, and lust of the flesh.

10. And we know (in our deep knowledge) that 1 they have rightly taught and written, that there is one only God, which is threefold in personal distinction, as is before mentioned. And we also know that he is the creator of all things ; that he hath generated all out of his own 2 substance, both light and darkness, as also the thrones and 3 dominions of all things. Especially we know (as the Holy Scripture witnesseth throughout) that he hath created man to his own image and similitude, that he should eternally be, and live, in the kingdom of heaven in him. 11. And then- we know also, that this world (wherein we now are and live) was generated out of the eternal original in time (through the pure element) in the Fiat, and so created ; and so, l it 1 the world is not the substance of the holy pure element, but elements. an issue [or out-birth] out of the eternal limbus of God, wherein the eternal element consisteth, which is before the clear Deity, wherein consisteth paradise, and the kingdom of heaven ; and yet the limbus, together with the pure element, is not the pure Deity, which is alone holy in itself, and hath the virtue of the eternal light shining in it, but hath no essences (in the light of the clarity) in it ; for the essences are generated from the virtue, 2 according to the light, as a desire ; and 2 Or o£ the desire attracteth to it, from whence the essences proceed, as also the eternal darkness in the source, as is before mentioned.

12. Seeing then God is all in all, and hath created man to his image and similitude, to live with him eternally in his love, light, joy and glory, therefore we cannot say, that he was merely created out of the corruptibility of this world, for therein is no eternal perfect life, but death, and perplexity, anguish, and necessity ; but as God dwelleth in himself, and goeth through all his works incomprehensibly to them, and is hindered by nothing, so was the similitude before him out of the pure element ; it was indeed created in this world, yet the kingdom of this world should not comprehend that [image], but the similitude (man) should mightily, and in perfect [power or] virtue, rule through the essences (with the essences out of the pure element of the paradisical holy limbus) through the dominion of this world. 13. Therefore he breathed into him the living soul out of the eternal will of the Father (which will goeth thither only to generate his eternal Son) ; and out of that will he breathed into man ; the same is his eternal soul, which must set its regenerated will in the eternal will of the Father, merely in the * Heart of God, and so it receiveth ^ne 2 virtue of the Heart of God, and also his holy eternal light, wherein paradise, the kingdom of heaven, and also the eternal joy springe th up ; and in this virtue [or power] it goeth through all

3 hurteth, or things, and 3 breaketh none of them, and is mighty over all [things], as God himself is ; for it liveth in the virtue [or power] of the Heart of God, and eateth of the Word [that is] generated out of God. 14. Thus also we know, that the soul is a spirit, generated out of God the Father, in the throne and entrance out of the recomprehended [or reconceived] will, out of the darkness into the light, to the generating of the Heart of God ; and that 4 above the [soul] is free to elevate itself above 4it in the Heart of God, .«".,, , . , .„ „ , -~ , as TMrifer did. will, or in the meekness in the will of the x1 ather, to comprehend and incline itself to the birth of the Heart of God the Father. 15. But its Body (which is the true image of God, which God created) standeth before the clear Deity, and is in, and out of, the holy pure element ; and the limbus of the element (out of which the essences generate) is the paradise, a habitation of God the Holy Trinity. Thus was man an image and similitude before God, wherein God dwelleth, in which (through his eternal wisdom) he would manifest his wonders.

16. And now as we understand, that man (with the similitude wherein God dwelleth) is not merely at home in this world, much less in the stinking 1 carcase, so it is manifest (in that we are so very l cadaver, blind as to paradise) that our first parents (with c°rpse their spirit) are gone out of the heavenly paradise into the spirit of this world, where then the spirit of this world instantly captivated their body, and made it earthly, so that body and soul are perished ; and now we have the pure element no more for our body, but the issue [or out-birth] (viz. the four elements, with the dominion of the stars) and the sun only is the light of the body ; also this body doth not belong to the Deity. God doth not discover himself in the stinking carcase [or corpse], but in the holy man, in the pure image which he created in the beginning. 17. Now man being thus fallen out of the holy into the unholy, out of the image of God into the earthly corruptibility, therefore his body stood in the corruptible death, and his soul in the eternal Heart of God, into the spirit of this world, captivated by the eternal darkness ; for whatsoever goeth out from God, goeth into the eternal darkness, and without the Heart of God there is no light.

18. And now there was no [remedy or] counsel for this image, except it were new regenerated by the soul, through the Heart and light of God, through which the new element before God (viz. the body of the soul) is regenerated ; or else the Deity would not, and could not dwell therein ; this, man (by his own virtue or power) was not 20rbriag»to able to 2 attain ; therefore if it was to be done, then the Barmhertzigkeit, mercifulness, or mercy of God must do it. 19. And here we give the Reader (that loveth God) to understand clearly in the great deep, what the pure element is, wherein our body (before the fall of Adam) stood, and in the new regeneration now at present standeth also therein. It is the heavenly corporeity, which is not barely and merely a spirit, wherein the clear Deity dwelleth ; it is not the pure Deity itself, but [it is] generated out of the essences of the holy Father (as he continually and eternally goeth in through the eternal gate, in the eternal mind in himself through the recomprehended will) into the eternal habitation, where he generateth his eternal word.

20. Thus the pure element is the Barm [or warm] in the essences of the attracting to [be] the Word ; the essences are paradise, and the Barm [or warm] is the element. Thus now the Father continually speaketh the eternal Word, and so the Holy Ghost goeth forth out of the speaking, and that which is spoken forth is the eternal wisdom, and it is a virgin ; and the pure element, viz. the Barm [or warm] is her body, wherein the Holy Ghost discovereth himself through the outspoken wisdom ; and so the flash [or glance] out of the light of God in the Holy Ghost, is called hertz [or heart], this receiveth the element in the essences of paradise, that it may be substantial, and then it is called ig [or ed] ; and the strength of the Father, and the great might of the fire, goeth as a flash into the essence, and that is called keit [or ness'], like a might [or force] which presseth through, as a sound [or noise] which severeth not the substance asunder ; and this together is called Barm-hertzig-keit [warm-heart-ed-ness~], or l mercifulness, and 1 Or mercy, this standeth before God ; and God (the Holy Trinity) dwelleth therein.

21. And the virgin of the wisdom of God is the Spirit of the pure element, and is therefore called a virgin, because it is so chaste [or pure], and generateth nothing; yet as the flaming spirit in man's body generateth nothing, but openeth all that which • i / • - is hidden to so also here ; the wisdom (or the eternal virgin) of essence. . .. , ., -i • i i i God openeth all the great wonders in the holy element, for there are the essences, wherein the buds [or fruits] of paradise spring up ; and if we take the eternal band (and that together) wherein the Deity generateth from eternity, then it is called the eternal limbus of God, wherein consisteth the essence of all essences. 22. For in the root of the limbus in the dark anxiety is the anger and the darkness, and the first cause of the essences ; but because we have before handled it at large, therefore here we leave it thus, for we should not be well understood [in brief] ; and so we will reach after our Immanuel. 23. Thus know (my beloved Reader) that our father Adam is gone out of this glory into the out-birth of the substance of this world ; and now if he is to be helped, then the Barmhertzigkeit, or 2 mercifulness of God (as above mentioned) must new regenerate him ; and in this 2 mercifulness of God man was 3 foreseen (before the foundation of the world was laid) to live eternally therein, for (as to his soul) he is out of the eternal will of God the Father, out of which this mercifulness is generated.

The Gate of Immanuel. 24. Therefore know (beloved Christian mind) how thou art helped, and consider this gate diligently, it is an earnest one ; for Moses and all the Prophets witness concerning these things, viz. concerning our salvation in restoring [us] ; be not drowsy here, it is the fairest • gate of this book ; the more thou readest it, the more thou wilt be in love with it. 25. Seeing now we know, that we lost our heavenly man in our first fall, so also we know that a new l one is generated to us in the merciful- l heavenly ness of God, into which we should and must enter, if we will be the children of God ; and without 1 this we are the children of the anger of God. 26. And as the Prophets have written of it, so the new man (which is born 2to us of God) is the2 Or in. Son of the virgin, not of earthly flesh and blood, also not of the seed of man, but conceived by the Holy Ghost, and born of a pure divine chaste virgin, and (in this world) revealed [or manifested] in our flesh and blood, and is entered with his holy body into death, and hath separated the earthly [body], together with the might of the anger, from the holy element, and hath 3 restored the soul 3 brought it again, and hath opened the gate to the light of again. God again, so that the averted soul can (with the essences of the Father in the holy will) reach the light of God again.

27. Therefore now we know, that we were not created to generate f* that which is] earthly, but 4 Or in an heavenly, out of the body of the pure element, heavenly which [body] Adam had before his sleep, and [before] his Eve [was], when he was neither man nor woman [male nor female], but one only image of God, full of chastity, out of the pure element. He should have generated an image again like himself; but because he went into the spirit of this world, therefore his body became earthly, and so the heavenly birth was gone, and God must make the woman out of him, as is before mentioned. Now if we, the children of Eve, are to be helped, then there must come a new virgin, and bear us a Son, who should be God with us, and in us. 28. And therefore instantly at the fall, the Word of God the Father (and in the Word the light) through the Holy Ghost, entered into the holy element, and into the chaste virgin of the wisdom of God, and made a precious covenant, to become a creature in this virgin, and to take away the devil's power in the anger, and to destroy his kingdom ; and this Christ would yield himself to be in the perished humanity, and with his entering into death separate the hell of the anger, and the kingdom of this world from us ;

and God the Father discovered this Word (of the promised seed of the woman) instantly (after the fall) in the Garden of Eden, where instantly it gave up itself (in the eternal espousal) into the centre of the light of life, and separated all the souls of men, who have inclined themselves, and yielded themselves up to him, in the dying of their bodies, from the auger of God, and from the kingdom of this world, and brought them into him (into the pure element of the paradise) into the joy, and into the chaste

virgin of God, there to wait, till God breaketh the kingdom of this world, with the stars and elements, where then instantly the pure element shall be instead of the out-birth ; and there shall spring and grow the new body upon the soul in the holy element before God eternally. 29. Now if we [would] consider his precious incarnation [or becoming man], then we must rightly open the eyes of the spirit, and not be so earthly minded, as at present they are, in Babel ; and we must rightly consider how God is become man ; for the Scripture saith : He ivas conceived and born without sin, of a pure virgin. Here consider now, beloved mind, what kind of virgin that was, for all whatsoever is born of the flesh and blood of this world, is impure, and there can no pure virgin be generated, in this corrupted flesh and blood ; the fall of Adam destroyed all ; and it is all under sin, and there is no pure virgin generated of man's seed ; and yet this Christ was conceived and born of a pure virgin. 30. Here the learned of the schools [or universities] of this world must stand still, and the scholar