The High and Deep Searching Out of

The Threefold Life of Man

through or according to The Three Principles

Jacob Boehme--Teutonicus Philosophus

Translated by John Sparrow 1909

A SHORT CONTENTS OF THIS BOOK

By the Author

Being a high and deep searching out of the Threefold Life of Man, through the Three Principles. Wherein is clearly shewn that which is eternal; and also that which is mortal.

And wherefore God, who is the highest Good, hath brought all things to light.

Also wherefore one thing is contrary to another, and destroyeth it: and then what is right or true, and what is evil or false, and how the one severeth (distinguishes) itself from the other.

Wherein especially the Three Principles are founded, which are the only original or fountain whence all things flow and are generated.

Whereby the multitude of meanings and opinions about faith and religion may be known: and what is the cause of the multitudes of opinions among men concerning the essence and will of God; also what is best for man to do, that he may attain the highest and eternal good.

And then concerning the end and issue of all things; wherefore all things have appeared in such a property and essence as they have had; for the comfort of the poor wounded sick soul of man, and for the rebuilding or edification of the true Christian religion; wherein the Antichrist standeth quite naked and revealed.

Set down for a remembrance to ourself, and for a stay to uphold us in these distracted miserable times.

Threefold Life of Man

Jacob Boehme

CONTENTS

Introduction by George W. Allen

1.. Of the Original Matrix, or Genetrix
2.. Further of the Genetrix
3.. Concerning the Birth of Love
4.. Of the Wellspring of Light
5.. Of the Wisdom of God, and of the Angelical World
6.. Of the World, and also of Paradise
7.. Of the True Corner Stone
8.. Of the Transitory, and of the Eternal Life
9.. Of the Threefold Life
10. How Man may find himself
11. Of the True Knowledge, what man is
12. Of the True Christian Life and Conversation
13. Of Christ's most precious Testaments
14. Of the Broad Way, and of the Narrow Way
15. Of the Mixed World and its Wickedness
16. Of Praying and Fasting
17. Of God's blessing in this World
18. Of Death, and of Dying
Alphabetical index of terms
Appendix: list of author's works

PUBLISHER'S NOTE

WE venture to hope that the increasing interest in the study of Christian Mysticism will enable us to reprint the English translation of the whole of Jacob Boehme's Works[*] (see Appendix A) in a complete edition, uniform with this first volume, subscribers to which will receive, by post, in due course, intimation of the next and all subsequent issues. In any case, as many of Boehme's writings will be published as the demand warrants. Every issue will be complete in itself, and independent of those that precede or follow it. Those who may wish to be advised of the reduced subscription price of future volumes are invited to write to the undersigned for a prospectus.

Should the demand for the works of this great Christian mystic prove a success, we hope also to publish selections from the commentaries of Dionysius Andreas Freher (Boehme's greatest, though but little known, expositor), the MSS. of which are, fortunately, preserved in the British Museum, and in Dr Williams's Library.

* For a general survey of J. B.'s works we strongly recommend to the reader Dr Alexander Whyte's booklet, Jacob Behmen: An Appreciation (Oliphant Anderson & Ferrier). For an example of Freher's genius, see the figures "left by the Rev. William Law," appended to the incomplete edition of Boehme's Works, in four volumes, large quarto, published by Richardson, and by Robinson, 1763--1781. Law was a close student of Freher as well as of Boehme, and with, his own hand made extensive copies of some of these MSS. He also possessed reproductions of some of Freher's symbolical figures and tables, which after Law's death ( 1761 ) were found amongst his papers by Mr George Ward, the editor of the eighteenth-century reprint of Boehme, and by him inserted in the said volumes. An account of these MSS. is given in Walton's Notes and Materials for an Adequate Biography of William Law, pp. 141--142 and 679--688 (see Appendix B). The MSS. therein referred to as in Walton's possession were deposited by him in 1875 with the trustees of Dr Williams's Library, together with his valuable collection of mystical works, for the free use of students.

Examples of Freher's writings will also be found in Memorial of William Law, pp. 258--491 and 581--587.

A reprint of a small privately printed volume of collected essays on Boehme by that illuminative writer the late Mrs A. J. Penny, is also contemplated.

C. J. BARKER

HILL CROFT, RUSSELL HILL,

PURLEY, SURREY,

March 31, 1909.

Introduction to Boehme's Threefold Life of Man.

By George W. Allen

THERE was a time when the cry among philosophers was, " Back to Kant!" This cry, " Back!" always means that men are conscious that something is wrong somewhere, and suspect that the mistake may be as to first principles, rather than as to methods. For philosophy exists not for its own sake, but for the sake of producing a life of order and harmony; and when, after long application, men find that this result is not reached, they know that something is wrong somewhere. The error, then, may be as to first principles or as to methods. In the latter case the purpose, the aim, is right, but the means taken to achieve it may be wrong. In the former case the aim is wrong: there has been evidently some misapprehension as to what human nature is, what its real wants and capacities are; and where the aim is wrong, no means--however wise and well calculated to attain the aim--will produce satisfactory results. The task of devising means belongs to the department of practical politics, though philosophy may render valuable assistance; but the task of enquiring into and formulating first principles belongs to philosophy alone.

Philosophy may concern itself only with the seen, the surface of things, and refuse to enquire whether man has any deeper nature than the external of which he is immediately conscious. But properly the enquiry cannot limit itself. It must seek to penetrate to the whole of the data, and if any Fact is left out of account the conclusion arrived at will not stand: sooner or later evidence that something has been overlooked will be forthcoming. When philosophy admits that the data may have to be sought beyond the limits of the seen, it is sometimes then termed "Theosophy." Unfortunately the term needs to be rescued from much misapprehension both on the part of some who use it illicitly, and of those who are (in consequence) frightened by it. Briefly to indicate this misapprehension, let us say, first, that the distinction between the seen and the unseen is a purely artificial one. The two are not two different Orders, but the one and only Order cognised by beings whose faculties vary: some more perfect, and some so limited that they see but a part of what is there to be seen. The (so-called) unseen is as much a part of the order of nature, as truly subject to orderly sequences, as is the seen, the nature we know. As Emerson rightly said, " The whole Fact is here"; but we of the fallen nature see and know but in part. The Hindu philosophy seems grounded on the idea that the outer is all and only "Maya," and that it stands in no relation to the inner; so that such as would learn anything of the inner must turn their eyes away from the outer altogether. The Christian philosophy believes that the outer is only the veil over the inner, placed there by man's limited faculty; and that a wise and profound study of the outer will yield hints and suggestions of inner truth. For even if the outer were the direct contrary of the inner (as in Scripture seems to be clearly hinted), this is none the less an exact relationship; and from the study of the contrary some notion of that of which it is the contrary can be formed.

" Theosophy" may mean either " A wisdom which is God's" or " A wisdom which man can attain about God." For all practical purposes the latter is to be preferred; for whatever view we take of theosophical truth, we never can be certain that it is the view of God. If Boehme has been called the "Teutonic Theosopher," this is only because he endeavours to penetrate into the depth of man's nature, and seeks for facts which are not to be found upon the surface thereof. Many view such an attempt with feelings akin to those of the hen who sees the ducklings she has hatched out embark boldly upon the pond. They are sure there is no foothold, and that disaster must ensue. There has been, without doubt, in all ages of the world much enquiry calling itself " theosophical" which has been illicit and disastrous. Ducklings that can safely cross a river might be lost in attempting to cross the Atlantic. Everything depends on the spirit in which the enquiry is undertaken. If in a self-sufficient pride and confidence in our own powers, or out of mere curiosity and love of the wonderful and obscure, the enquiry is illicit and likely to end in spiritual and moral disaster. One sort of spirit alone can undertake the enquiry with safety. It must be entered on for the one and only purpose of learning what we actually are, so that by this knowledge we may be enabled to shape our life and form our personal character in accordance with the eternal Fact. Neither must we undertake to pursue the enquiry by our own natural and unaided reason and intellect. We must seek and expect guidance; that guidance which is ever afforded to those who seek it from a true motive, which is never a mere desire to explore and talk about the recondite and profound. So narrow is the gate that leads to the real divine truth that no self-sufficiency can ever enter in. Only the meek and lowly of heart, who desire to be able better to serve, rather than to pose as profound thinkers, can pass it and walk in the straitened way that will be found within. Such are known at once by this: that their whole interest is centred on what can be turned to practical account in life and conduct and character; and if, as they study, they do not find themselves becoming nearer to the divine character in love and sympathy and service, they feel that something is wrong. They are never so filled with wonders discovered as to rest content with this success; for they seek not truth for its own sake, but only for the sake of its good. They watch themselves closely, and turn aside from any knowledge that does not bear fruit in a greater earnestness in service, and in a character growing ever more pure and sympathetic and set on things above. All this Boehme is careful to say again and again.

Understood in this sense, and fenced about by these safeguards, theosophy loses all its dangers, and the man who loves God, and is dissatisfied with the mere notional apprehension of Him with which most are content; who feels that he himself is more than he as yet knows, and would understand for what he was created, and to what end he is meant to arrive; who regards this life as needing to be interpreted rather than no more than it seems; who wishes so to live here that, after death, he may not find himself in a new and "other" world with every fibre of habit, every longing and liking, of a nature which, in that world, is impossible and must prove a torment--such an one need not despair. There is a way, a wisdom, an operation which, taken, searched out and attempted, will lead him, teach him and form him so that he will not only reach the eternal (which all must do), but reach it to find himself in rightful relation to it, at home in it, conformed to it. Harmony with environment is heaven: the contrary is hell.

If, of human writers, Kant is the man of philosophical first principles, Boehme is equally certainly the man of theosophical first principles. And if there appear signs (as surely is the case) that our Christian religion is not producing that national righteousness which its aim is to produce, and we suspect that we have not got our first principles right, there is no author (outside Holy Scripture) to whom it will be more profitable to go back. It will be impossible in a brief introduction to enter on a full explication of Boehme's marvellous system, for this would require a volume to itself. All that can be attempted is to indicate the general lines of that system, and to give some clue to the reader, whereby first difficulties may be surmounted, and the secret of Boehme indicated.

The Divine One; The Human Two.

Human apprehension is admittedly limited. The nature of this limitation may be thus expressed: What in God's comprehension is one is, to human apprehension, two. "The darkness and the light to Thee are both alike." But to man it is said, "Woe to those who put darkness for light, and light for darkness." As darkness and light are contraries, so it follows that the two into which (for man) the divine one or whole is broken up are always contraries, and therefore the life of man's apprehension is the contrary of God's life. Hence it is said: " The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God." What to us is wise, to Him is folly; what to us is strong, to Him is weak; what to us is life, to Him is death.

This is the mystic truth in its simplest expression: there is really a great deal more to be grasped. The reason why man's thought is the contrary of God's is that God's concept is so vast that before the human mind can apprehend it it must be broken up into two. Thus the actual one thing becomes, for man, two things, as darkness and light, weakness and strength, wisdom and folly. The truth is not that--of these two--God holds one and man the other, but that God apprehends both as one; and man, unable to do this, has to hold God's one as a two, one of which he clings to and rejects the other. One he calls right, the other wrong; one truth, the other falsehood; and so on. Thus in what man holds as right, or true, there is an element, present in God's comprehension of it, which man fails to integrate. Both man's " right " and his " wrong" are imperfect to God, for God's " right" is man's "right" and " wrong" synthesised, or at-oned. The Hegelian triad of "thesis, antithesis and synthesis," is based on this philosophy. Of English writers, no one has more clearly explicated it than the late Prof. G. Boole, in his Laws of Thought --a work now unhappily very rare. Boole was a mathematician, and expressed his philosophy in terms of mathematical notation. Take (he says in effect) any one genus of things, and you can divide it by dichotomy into two classes. " Men " can be divided into " white men " and "not white men," or "clever men" and "not clever men." Qualities also can be thus dichotomised. Whatever genus you take and divide thus he calls " universe of thought"; and his formula is: " Universe of thought equals unity." And as (as has been shown) this universe can be divided into contraries, he suggested the following formula as a graphic picturing of the philosophy: x + not x = 1. This will be plainer when we show the practical application of it. As thus:

John Smith (we will say) is an orthodox Churchman, and believes that what he holds is right and what William Brown (who is a Nonconformist) holds is wrong. He divides his " universe of thought" (men) into " churchmen and not churchmen"; assuming that the former have all the truth and the latter all the error. This he assumes too easily; unaware that God's Truth is too vast to be all included in the ideas of any single school or party. There is something in the Nonconformist's apprehension which is lacking in his, and something in his which is lacking in the Noncon- formist's. This means that in each apprehension there is some truth and some error. Deduct the error of each, and you get two truths, the Churchman's and the Nonconformist's. But, according to Boole's formula, these two equal one; if these two can be united, harmonised, at-oned, then we have the divine Truth. And what becomes of the two errors? Really, that which John Smith regards as William Brown's error is that complementary truth to his own truth which he, not seeing as truth, has to regard as error: for truth not rightly understood, not seen in its right relation, is regarded as error. Is there therefore no such thing as error? Certainly. If William Brown asserts that no Churchman can be right, that is an error. If John Smith asserts that no Nonconformist can be right, that is an error. And we may safely generalise that in all our negations there is error, and in our affirmations truth. Therefore it is plain that x + not x = 1, means,

"The truth I see and hold, and the truth I yet do not see nor hold, equals the whole, single divine Truth." The full following up of this idea (which here I have not space to give) would lead to this unexpected conclusion: that if I want to find that complementary truth which I require to make my apprehension approximate as closely as may be to the divine, I must seek it in the opinions of those whom I believe to be most mistaken and wrong. This does not mean that I must abandon my own views and adopt theirs; for that would be to exchange the thesis for the antithesis--both equally short of the full Truth. It means that I must try to detect the idea at the bottom of their tenets, find out what it is they are trying in those tenets to express; and this will be the complementary that I require to integrate with the idea that, in my tenets, I am trying to express. Thus I shall reach the synthesis, which alone is perfect and complete.

The Hidden Base and the Manifested Quality. If man as he is here is limited, it follows that he cannot see the whole of God's One, and if he cannot see the whole of God's One, it follows that a part of it is hidden from him. This means that when he tries to see God's One there will be a moiety that he will see and a moiety that he will not see.

In all creaturely seeing the sight is of the surface alone. And herein it may be said that man is doubly limited, for he does not see all even of what is on the surface. A gazer on the shore of the Atlantic cannot see all of even the surface of that mighty ocean. So we must say that he sees only that part of the surface that falls within the limit of his vision. But he is much more disastrously limited as to sight of the depths of the ocean, into which he can only look to some very slight extent. Translating this into its spiritual analogue, we say that man can see phenomena but not the power that causes phenomena. It is true that he can sometimes see something of the way the power works, and may even be able himself to set it to work, and thereby produce certain effects; but the knowledge whereby he does this is purely empirical. He has first to watch nature's working, and then try to imitate it: his work is a making, not a creating.

It might be thought a presumptuous attempt to seek to penetrate to the mystery of God's creating; but Boehme undertakes to defend the reasonableness of the attempt. Man is, he says, in his spiritual nature the child of God; and, as our Lord said, " The Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that Himself doeth." Therefore the whole question of our justification in attempting this deep searching is whether we approach it as children of God, relying on our Father's illumination and guidance, or whether we undertake it in our own fancied self-ability. If in the latter, the presumption, the folly, the sin of the attempt cannot be exaggerated. If in the former, then the attempt, is right and no disaster will result. God gives the Holy Spirit to all who earnestly desire it, and " the spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." Boehme asserts that he sought in this spirit; that the knowledge he thus meekly sought came to him; and this is the account he gives of it.

Before any created "thing" was, God (who is " no-thing" because "everything" in one, immanent in all, and yet also transcendent) existed in a state which Boehme calls the "Still Rest." In the One All-consciousness every " thing " which, after manifestation, became an " each-consciousness" was, but un-put-forth. One Will ruled alone, a Will to abide still in the same state; and had not a contrary will arisen, all would have remained as One. God would have known His own infinite content, but there had been no creatures, self-conscious, and capable of knowing and rejoicing in their Creator.

Since it is clear that manifestation has taken place, we must say that the necessary, second and contrary will did arise: how, we must not seek to enquire. It is not revealed, because not necessary for us to know. We may be sure that it does not indicate any change in content in the Infinite, to which nothing can be added; but only a change in arrangement. The effect of this contrary will was to produce conditions the contrary of what had been before. Before, all had been light and peace and joy; now, darkness, strife and wrath arose. At once we must ask, How can these evil things arise in God? The reply is, first, these things very obviously are now; and if they have not their origin in God, in whom have they their origin? There is no other originating power but God, who says of Himself, " I form the light and Icreate darkness, I make peace and create evil, I am the Lord that doeth all these things." *

* Isa. xlv. 7. Note that these words are addressed to Cyrus, who as a follower of the Magian religion believed in two Gods--one who made all things good, and the other all things evil. This fact adds greatly to the significance of the words.

But, secondly, we can reply that what really thus arose was not darkness, strife and wrath, but a spiritual principle which, if allowed to take on form, or quality, would then--but then only--appear as these evil things. If this idea is clearly grasped, most of the obscurity of Boehme's system will disappear, and all will be lucid.

For, according to him, any quality is the surface appearance of an unseen, hidden power or spirit which, so long as it remains as invisible spirit, is unknown, has no name, no consciously cognised quality. But it is possible to bring it up out of the hiddenness, and then it appears as a definite quality; and then, for the first time, it gets a name; and is either love or hate, darkness or light, falsehood or truth, according to the nature of the spirit of which it is the manifestation.

But why should God permit any spirit to be which, when manifested, must appear as these evil qualities? Boehme's reply is that contrariety is the very condition and basis of manifestation; and that, apart from the existence of a contrary, manifestation could not be. For a single will does nothing new; and had the will of the Still Rest not been met and crossed by a contrary will, the Still Rest had been the ceaseless condition, and manifestation would not have taken place. And there is very much to be said for this presentation of the case. Contraries do exist for us; and we must either suppose that they exist against the will of God (which is hard to believe, for "Who hath resisted His will?"), or that they exist by His will, and subserve some necessary purpose, as Boehme asserts. We know, too, that it is through opposition that consciousness is effected. Where there is no opposition, no work can be consciously done. If things had no weight to resist our strength, we should never know we possessed strength. If we could never do wrong, we should never know that we could do right. Abstract terms are nothing to us, apart for some concrete embodiment. Strength is unknown to us apart from the strong thing, showing its strength in what it does. Colours would be unknown were there no " bodies " that were red or blue or green. So "strong," "powerful," "good," "thick," "heavy," "light," "dark," " hard," "soft," "sweet," "bitter," etc., etc. are all adjectives--that is, they are qualities of things which we only know through the things of which they are the qualities. We know that we cannot conceive of pure, abstract spirit apart from some visible or cognisable thing in and through which it manifests; but this is part of the predication, for if we could know it, it would be manifested and not hidden. We know that God is Spirit, and that God is unknowable and incognisable apart from His self-revelation of Himself in His Son, who is His manifestation. Therefore there can be no inherent impossibility in the idea here suggested that every known quality must have some unknown, hidden basis. Nor in the further idea that the hidden and the manifested will necessarily be (to us) contraries. Consider such a quality as " love." It appears so weak that it cannot threaten or use force to compel response; it prefers to seem to yield, to give way; yet always, in the end, it wins. It is the one invincible force.

Why is this? If Boehme is right, it is because in everything there is a quality on the surface, and a power in the hiddenness; and if the quality appears weak, the power is strong; and if the quality appears strong, the power is weak. The man who scoffs at love, and prefers to compel and dominate in his own power, in the end always fails to accomplish his end. Strange, therefore, as the idea may seem to us at first sight, and the reverse of all that we should naturally be inclined to expect, yet deep reflection will show that there is very much to be said for it, and that it is well worthy of consideration; especially as it affords such a splendid and effective explanation of things as we find them. Had the true, divine Order not been transgressed, the fact of the second will arising had never produced manifested evil. It stands in the very nature of the case that--being, ex hypothesi, a contrary will--if it should be manifested, it must manifest as the contrary to the manifestations of the first will. But the divine Order is that it never should be manifested, but remain always in the hiddenness, and so be the basal might and secret power of what does manifest. And there is a double sense in which this principle can be understood. In heaven, where good alone manifests, all that --if manifested--would manifest as evil is always kept in the hiddenness. On earth, where the conditions of heaven are reversed, the law is that what we would be recognised as possessing in heaven we must be content to seem not to possess while on earth, and in the recognition of earthlyminded people. If there we would wear the crown, here we must be content to bear the cross. If there we would possess the true riches, here we must be poor in spirit: that is, if God gives us wealth here, we must not boast of it and glory in it, and use it as if it were our own, but hold it as only a stewardship, and be--in the eyes of the world--none the richer for it; not use it to command luxuries and display, and all that the world esteems money as able to procure. If in heaven we would be wise, here we must be willing to be thought fools. For what is manifested on earth is hidden in heaven, and what is manifested in heaven is hidden on earth. Which is why all God's saints have to go the covered way, and enter into the kingdom through much tribulation. Knowing this they can well "glory in infirmities"; for they know that the high court of heaven will reverse the verdict of earth, given according to the earthly spirit, and from the earthly point of view; and that the decision of heaven will stand for ever, and the decision of earth but for a "little while."

I have dealt at this length with Boehme's doctrine of the Hidden and the Manifested because I regard it as the main and preponderating element in his teaching, and in an especial way his " secret." Grasp this, and all the rest will follow easily. For all the rest, the seven forms of Nature, the three Principles, etc., which go to complete his philosophy of origins, are but the details of this main principle; as will be seen from what follows.

The Seven Forms of Nature.

These, present from the first in real but uncognised fact, appear and become recognisable and definable with the arising of the second, or contrary, will. The first will, being a one will, was to remain unchanged, to go on still as ever. Hence from it arises the first form, which Boehme calls " Harshness," by which I think he means that hard and strong resistance to change, which is the great primal conservative force, tending to give permanence to things, to resist new combinations, and maintain the status quo.

The second arises from the contrary will, and is necessarily the contrary to the first. Boehme calls it "Attraction," meaning that restless flux, ever seeking new combinations, which is the principle of all variety, and the cause of differences and of evolution.

These two being now face to face with each other, at once the contrariety between them produces the third form, which Boehme calls " Bitterness"; meaning thereby the strife of the two first, the one to resist change, the other to produce it. These first three will perhaps be better understood if we call them (in modern terminology) homogeneity, heterogeneity, and strain. These three, he says, are the bases of all manifested things. Apart from difference there had been no possibility of different things coming into being; and difference involves opposition, a conflict of forces, and out of the conflict arises first the difference in essence, then the difference in the particular manifestation. For the essence is spiritual, and spirit always at once puts on a form which is its manifestation, and the smallest difference in. the essence result is a corresponding difference in the form.

Thus in the attainment of the third form of Nature, the process reaches the point at which the particular manifestation is practically determined as to its first and earliest degree and quality. This is the fourth form, which Boehme calls Fire, and the term may stand; for all Being is a fire; from God, the fire of love, down to the most brutal and degraded creatures, a fire of hate and malice.

Here, then, in the fourth form, arises the first personality. Here begins the idea of "self," and I am conscious that I am I. But in this stage of the process--which is, ex hypothesi, incomplete--the personality stands in this "fire," in its unmodified aspect of a raging, consuming element. For the basis of it is as yet the contrariety of the two first forms, represented in the third and personified in the fourth. "We can easily see the fire in characters yet unregenerated; where the whole spirit is to get; and lust, avarice and pride rule unmodified by any light of true knowledge of what real good is. Probably, no actual man stands in the fire alone; in some the light is so minute as to be practically darkness; but it is the rarest thing to find any character with abso- lutely no smallest, faintest trace of some generous emotion at odd times and in particular directions. But Boehme uses Lucifer as an example of what a character would be if it stood all and only in the might of the fire. It does not concern us practically to know whether there is actually such a character. Boehme seems to assert that there is, and that he will abide for ever in the fire, as this is his sole and entire element, in which only he can live. That is as it may be. Perceptions have dawned on men since Boehme's time which suggest to a different conclusion; and--great and wonderful as is Boehme's illumination--we need not suppose that he knew everything. His knowledge was purely intuitive. He himself often laments that he had not more learning. If he had had this, he might have been able to distinguish between "no evidence that it is not so " and " evidence that it is so." It ought to be easy for us now to distinguish between his positive affirmations and what in his teaching is positively asserted in form, but is (to logic) practically negative, and based on what had not been revealed rather than on what had.

But to proceed. That which can qualify the fire and practically put it--in its immediate aspect of raging, consuming--into the hiddenness, is Light. This is Boehme's fifth form, and the term needs no amendment. " Whatsoever doth make manifest is light" (literally, " make to appear"). If man is an evolution, gradually being perfected, then clearly his first ideas and impressions are not in accordance with actual fact, or no evolution would be needed. What he takes himself as seeing is not what is there, but what is there seen in a dimness of greater or less extent. Boehme says--very rightly--that in perfect light all darkness is in the hiddenness. Correspondingly, in semi-light some of the darkness is hidden and some manifested. Our Lord spoke of the light that is in us being darkness; and he who is in darkness, and yet Ithinks he sees, is sure to see wrongly and imperfectly.

But as the light increases, many things before unseen come into view. It is as if, as the light increases, the first three forms for the first time see their true place and function, which is not to emphasise and express themselves as themselves, but to be basal powers to that which can come to manifestation when they are hidden.

In reading Boehme, one has constantly to be on the watch for what he is seeking to convey. He had the rough idea, but not the training in literary expression which would have enabled him to convey it clearly and with no liability of misapprehension.

For I take it that what he really means is this. He says that the first three forms, the harshness, the attraction, and the bitterness, should always remain in the hiddenness, and never be manifested. But what is in the hiddenness is utterly unknown and can have no name at all, for we cannot name (define) what we do not know. Hence the names harshness, attraction, bitterness, only belong to these when they are manifested. Not manifested, they are basal forces of no known quality, and not rightly regarded as hidden evil, but as hidden bases which, if manifested, must manifest as evil, but are not evil so long as they are not manifested.

The corollary of this is most interesting. If Lucifer can be put into the hiddenness, he would cease to be evil; for evil is only evil when brought out of the hiddenness into manifestation. But this is just what Boehme says will happen in the end. The first principle and all contained in it will be so shut up that no knowledge of it can ever obtain in the second principle. If this is not the equivalent of being put into the hiddenness, I know not to what it is equivalent. Lucifer is clearly (in Boehme's system) the external and open manifestation of certain basal forces which should never be explored, or known, or come to manifestation. So long as they do not, they are necessary and right, and are the very fountain powers to manifestation which, apart from them, could not be effected. I find here the most profound and suggestive hint at the solution of the problem of evil that has ever been given to the world. Here it is impossible to do more than merely indicate it roughly. Evil is not a positive "thing," but a negative appearance: it is what seems to arise when the right thing is in the wrong place; on the surface when it should be underneath. To cause it to appear needs no strong, positive " let there be." Mighty and powerful for harm as it appears, its power lies only in the power of a false imagination. In a state where no false imagination could arise, no evil could arise; therefore there is a sense in which it cannot exist for God: and yet there is a sense in which it can, for God must deal with all that appears to be to man. But He sees it only, so to speak, through fallen human eyes; and not as a real thing, but as a delusion of His creatures. We know it is not in heaven; and--unless we can conceive that in the infinite there can be anything real lacking--we must allow that whatever is not in heaven is not real in the absolute sense.

Boehme, it is true, does not himself develop this philosophy. That he saw it, I am persuaded; or he never could have spoken as complacently as he does about the results of evil on Lucifer and unrepentant men. But he feared to speak too plainly, lest any should so sadly misunderstand him as to suppose him to mean that evil did not matter. It matters with an infiniteness of fatality to the false imagination; that is, to you, my evil-loving friend, who wish to feel free to indulge your evil desires unrestrainedly. If you could distinguish between yourself and your false imagination, you would never wish to do any evil. But the whole point is that you cannot, do not. And to the false imagination, evil is real, and its consequences end only with the ending of the false imagination. The idea that you are in eternal torment may be, will certainly be, only a false imagination; but this will be no comfort to you who are not only unaware that the imagination is false, but are absolutely certain that it is not, but real and actual.

The remaining forms of Nature are the sixth, Sound, and the seventh, Figure. By Sound Boehme means any particular expression to sense of those qualities which arise after the creature has determined whether the fire shall remain fire, or pass into light; that is, whether it will stand in the false imagination, or allow the light to enter and change this into the true imagination by showing things as they actually are instead of as they are falsely imagined. "Whatever nature it elects to stand in, this it sounds forth, by voice and speech, by cries (in animals), by colour, scent, taste, properties, and whatsoever conveys an idea of its quality.

The seventh form is the Figure, the creature definitely constituted and embodied in form and material according to, answering to, the quality of its spirit. The seventh is the crown and completion of all the six: good, if the light has modified the fire; evil, if it has not. If good, the sound is pleasing and the embodiment beautiful. If evil, the sound is displeasing and the embodiment hideous.

The Three Principles.

By the first Principle Boehme means a state in which the creatures stand in the false imagination, in the might of the fire, and refuse to allow the light to shine and show things as they really are. In such a state, he says, the first three forms are manifested in their own self-quality as Harshness, Attraction, and Bitterness. The love of that state is "self-love," which is hate; the light is "self-light," which is darkness. Every "self" is a personified " love "; but the love may be particular or universal, the love of one (myself), or of all (God). And love is a Fire; therefore every " self" is a fire, but it may be a fire that seeks to consume all else into itself, or a fire that--like light--gives itself freely to all.

So he calls the first Principle the Principle of Fire, and the second Principle the Principle of Light. And these two, he says, are eternally distinct. Whichever is manifested, the other remains absolutely hidden; and neither can know the other. There is absolutely nothing manifested as good in the first Principle: there is absolutely nothing manifested as evil in the second.

But the third Principle stands in both good and evil; and by it he means our present state here on earth. Here somewhat of good is manifested, and somewhat of evil. Between these two, man has here to make what is to him an eternal choice. In every manifested creature the basal "real" is hidden, and he knows only by and through imagination, persuasion, sense of certitude. He only directly contacts the real who is in fully realised and conscious touch with the whole. We all therefore "know in part," and such knowledge is but an imagination, compared with the absolute knowledge of God, who is the whole, yet transcends the whole. There are times when one cannot but suspect Boehme of being purposely obscure. He seems to me to be thus when he speaks of the first Principle being the Principle of the Father, and the second of the Son: though he hastens to add that, in the actual Fact, the Father can never be so much as thought of as apart from the Son. What he means I take to be somewhat as follows. He regards the Father as being the hidden, basal spirit, force, potency of the qualities which, in the Son, come to manifestation. The Son is the Father in manifestation: the Father is that which the Son manifests. More than this we cannot say, for the unmanifest has no name nor qualities in itself and as apart from its manifestation. So it is said, " God, whom no one hath seen, or can see"; but the Son says, " He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." But the distinction is verbal and notional only; and is an instance of that truth expressed above, that God's One must become distinguished as an apparent two before human apprehension can grasp it. Boehme also says that it is only " according to the first Principle that God is called a consuming fire and a jealous God." If he had said that it is only according to a false imagination that God could so much as appear thus, he would have been more easily understood. For " God according to the first Principle " is God as He never is, for " the Father cannot even be so much as thought of as apart from the Son ": that is, in a true imagination. The whole point is, that by a false imagination He can be thus falsely thought of, but only in imagination, never in reality. Our very surest knowledge is but an image of the true: how true or false an image we never can know till we know all things. Thus we are (till then) shut up to imagination; and when we say, " Thus it is," we mean, " Thus it seems to me." We have absolutely no right to say " I know it is so," save of truths that stand in an agreement in definition, or of things whose content we know exhaustively. Thus we may say we know that all radii of a circle are equal, for this pertains to the defiuition of a circle; or, "I know that my friend was in town to-day," for this is a matter that we can know all about. When Boehme says, " God is called a consuming fire and a jealous God according to the first Principle," he very evidently means, according to. the first Principle as manifested, and by those who stand in it and are of its nature: that is, are of the false imagination. He says much that merits deep reflection as to the danger of awaking the fire in the Turba, that is, in the wrath. Instances of this we find in the imprecatory Psalms, in the command to slaughter the heathen inhabitants of Canaan; in Elisha cursing the children who mocked him, etc. The truly divine command is, " Overcome evil with good." But sometimes the spirit of patience gives way under great strain, and the wrath is appealed to to vindicate the right. But this could never be done by the true imagination, such as was the Lord's. He says of those who would awake the wrath, " Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of"; and He predicted, "They that take the sword shall perish with the sword." In the false imagination the sword is permitted; but there is always a " more excellent way" for such as have grace to find and take it. All that we can know about God we know of Him as manifested in His Son, as love and light and life. If we think we know Him as to the first Principle (that is, as apart from the Son) as manifested might and compelling force showing itself ostensibly such, this we only know in a false imagination. Yet in that imagination it is real, and can only seem not so, only be put into the hiddenness, after the true imagination has arisen.

Regeneration.

There is much more that ought to be said, but space forbids. I must conclude this very imperfect Introduction by a few words of Boehme's teaching as to Regeneration.

Put briefly, that process of regeneration consists in finding out how to pass from the fire to the light, from the false imagination to the true. There is only one way, the way of death. We must cease to think and act according to the false imagination. By doing this we do actually put it into death, that is, into the hiddenness. The difficulty of doing this increases with every day lived in the false imagination, for every day confirms and strengthens the habit of the false. There is a difficulty, of course, in awaking to the fact that that which seems to us so real, so universally admitted and practised, is a false imagination; but the idea once seen is instantly grasped. As to knowledge, we may pass from death to life in a moment; but knowledge is not at once and immediately power. We have now to face the much longer and harder task of eradicating old habit, and--with the best will in the world--this is never done without long and very earnest effort; and it might be said that the difficulty increases as the square of the time we have remained in the habit.

We have said that the process is " death." Scripture calls it " birth": a new birth. But death and birth are the two sides of a single act: one, the leaving of the old; the other, entering the new. The product of regeneration is a " new creation." To the old, false imagination sin is proper; that is, is its propriety, and so long as we stand in the false imagination, no amount of tinkering of it up, or attempts to put on the fruits of the true upon the false, will be of any avail. For a hope of heaven, or even to win a reputation for respectability on earth, men will " do" many things; not from a real love of the things, but from a desire for what is believed will be their reward. So the cup of cold water must be given " because ye belong to Christ," which can only be done by those who love Christ, and not because Christ will reward the act. Every good act has its reward; but the reward is always according to the spirit which prompted the act, and not according to the mere act itself.

Thus though men constantly try to simulate regeneration, they can never succeed; because God sees the heart, the motive at the root of the act; and a right act may have a wrong motive. Regeneration is therefore, as Boehme so constantly says, a matter of very great and real earnestness; far greater than is required to put on the external appearance of the fruits of regeneration. We must take our false imagination, which will seem to us to be our very life, to the Cross of Christ, and nail it thereon; which means that we must with courage and endurance do everything that is most distasteful to the false imagination. Then, through lack of the nourishment which comes of indulgence, it will gradually weaken and at length die. Then the new birth will take place and the new creation come to conscious being.

Conclusion.

Some of Boehme's learned friends had put in his hands the works of Paracelsus; and it was Ifrom this author that he took much of his alchemical terminology. The reader will at first be perplexed by these terms. The three principal ones which he uses most frequently are Sulphur, Mercury, and Salt. I think that if the reader takes these as indicating Spirit, Soul, and Body, he will not be far wrong. Each has, says Boehme, a good and a bad quality; for there is an evil spirit as well as a holy; a blind as well as an enlightened soul; and a gross four elemental matter as well as the " One Pure Element."

The "Virgin," the "Pearl," the "Grain of Mustard Seed," mean our heavenly, divine nature which at the Fall went into the hiddenness and are now lost to us. Yet only " lost," and it should be the work of our lives to recover them. The " Virgin" expresses that this lost something is no abstract quality, but of human form, only far more glorious than the body we now bear, made "like the beasts that perish." Somewhat of this is in me now; and it is because of this that I am human and not animal. But the greater part is in the hiddenness, and is of the contrary sex to that manifested in me here. In the union of the two, the two (as sex distinctions) disappear; just as in the union of oxygen and hydrogen the separate elements disappear and an entirely different " body" comes out of the hiddenness, in which they are, but not manifested.

By the " Pearl" and the idea of it in our Lord's parable, Boehme seeks to express the transcending preciousness and value of the " Virgin ": worth all our external life and its possessions. By the "Mustard Seed" he would express that though to the earthly mind it may seem small and of no value, it will, if cultivated, manifest an unexpected fulness of content; and prove, in fact, the basis and potency of every joy and delight. Lastly, may I say this? You, my friend, who are about to study an aspect of truth hidden from the world, remember you cannot open this mystery and yet remain in the same relation to the world as you were before. The inexorable condition of its opening to you is that, when opened, you shall be resolved to live in the light of it. It is the lack of these perceptions, grasped and acted on, that makes this world a fallen world; that sets human life in the power of the Fire, and makes civilisation a real war of conflicting interests. The moment you see the truth, you become bound to be a witness to it, either in word or in deed (and the latter is the more efficacious). For these are not matters of intellectual interest merely; but eternal verities that touch and colour every department of life, and are endowed with the divine creative force. So that they must and will, and cannot but, be dynamic. That is, they must work something; if not good, then harm. You cannot see these truths, and yet be no different for the seeing. " The whole creation," says St Paul, " is waiting Ifor the manifesting of the sons of God." Boehme's philosophy gives us some rough but practical idea how to begin to operate towards this end in our own case. He never thought of himself as a great teacher; but only as a humble guide to the one great Teacher, the Holy Spirit, by indicating how, and in what attitude of heart and mind, He must be approached: a meekness which is too strong to be frightened or ashamed; a love which is too mighty to say, "That I cannot do." The world is not all and only evil: the good is in it, only in a hiddenness, and needs not creating but only developing. In some around you it may be so near the surface that but a word, a faithful example, may be all that is needed to bring it to manifestation. Therefore if God opens in you the knowledge, do not disappoint the "earnest expectation of the creation." " Let your light shine," and doubt not that some will catch the glimpse of it. Then at once the fury of the Fire in which they have been living will be quenched and put into the hiddenness, and the light of everlasting life spring up: a feeble spark perhaps at first, but "shining more and more unto the perfect day."

George W. Allen.

Bretby vicarage, Burton-on-trent.

THE FIRST CHAPTER

1. WHEN we consider the beginning of our life, and compare the same with the eternal life, which we have in the promise, we cannot say nor find that we are at home in this life. For we see the beginning and the end of the outward life, as also the total decay and final corruption of our bodies; and besides, we see or know of no returning into this [outward] life, neither have we any promise of it from the high and eternal Good.

2. Seeing then there is a life in us which is eternal and incorruptible, wherewith we strive after the highest good; and a life (from this world) which is finite and corruptible, and also a life in which the source and original cause of life standeth, wherein the highest danger of eternal perdition, misery, and calamity doth consist; therefore it is of necessity that we consider the beginning of life, from whence all these things proceed and have their original.

3. So now when we consider the life, what it is, then we find that it is a burning fire, which consumeth, and when it hath no more [fuel] to feed upon, it goeth out; as may be seen in all fires. For the life hath its nourishment from the body, and the body from the food; for when the body hath no more food, then it is consumed by the fire of the life, so that it fadeth and perisheth, as a fair flower, when it hath no water, withereth.

4. But seeing there is in man a life which is eternal and incorruptible, which is the soul, which is also a fire, and hath need of nutriment as well as the elementary life hath, therefore we ought to consider the property and food of that life, what that is which continually feedeth it, so that it never goeth out in eternity.

5. And thirdly we find in the life of our souls, that there is in it a greater hunger after another higher and better life, viz. after the highest good, which is called the divine life; insomuch that the soul is not contented with its own food, but it desireth, with great longing and panting, the highest and best good, not only for a pleasant habitation, but in a hunger for a food.

6. And so now we perceive, in our very great and true knowledge, that every life desireth its [own] mother, (out of which the life is generated) for a food; as the wood, which is the mother of the fire, that the fire desireth to have, and if it be severed from its mother it goeth out. In like manner, the earth is the mother of all trees and herbs, and they desire it; and the water (with the other elements) is the mother of the earth, or else it would be dead [or barren], and there would grow neither metals, trees, herbs, nor grass out of it.

7. We see especially, that the elementary life consisteth in a boiling, and is a [kind of] seething, and when it leaveth boiling it goeth out: also we know that the constellations kindle the elements, and the stars are the fire of the elements, and the sun kindleth the stars, so that there is a boiling and seething amongst them: but the elementary life is finite and corruptible, and the life of the soul is eternal.

8. Now seeing it is eternal, therefore it must also be from the eternal; as the dear Moses hath written very rightly of it, that God breathed into man the living breath, and so man is become a living soul.

9. Yet we cannot say, though indeed man standeth in a Threefold Life, that each life is apart in a several form; but we find that they are in one another, and yet each life hath its own working in its dominion, viz. in its mother: for as God the Father is all, because all cometh from him, and he is present every where, and is the fullness of every thing, and the thing doth not comprehend him; also the thing is not God, nor his spirit, nor the true divine essence; so that it cannot be said of any comprehensible thing, that it is God, or that God is here present more than in other places, and yet he is really present, he containeth the thing, and the thing containeth not him; he comprehendeth the thing, and the thing comprehendeth not him; for he dwelleth not in the thing, but in himself, in another Principle.

10. So also is the soul of man breathed in from God; it dwelleth in the body, and is environed with the spirit of the stars and elements, not only as a garment covereth the body, but it is infected with the spirit of the stars and elements, as the pestilence or other [infectious] disease infecteth the elementary spirit, so that it poisoneth its body, and so it decayeth and dieth, and then the source [or property] of the stars also breaketh itself off from the soul, and consumeth itself: whereby the elementary mother breaketh off, and so the spirit of the stars hath no more food, and therefore consumeth itself, but the soul remaineth naked [feeble,empty], because it liveth by another food.

11. Understand us here in this manner; though the soul be thus captivated with the spirit of the stars and elements, so that the source [or property] thereof dwelleth in the soul, yet the soul hath another food, and liveth in another Principle, and is another [thing or] being [substance].

12. For its essences [or the faculties or powers of its substance] are not from the constellation, but have their beginning and corporeal union out of the Eternal Band, out of the eternal nature, which is God's, the Father's, before the light of his love, wherein he entereth into himself, and maketh to himself the second Principle in his love, out of which he continually generateth his eternal Word and Heart, from eternity to eternity; where the holy name of God continually ariseth [or discovered itself] and holdeth its divine nature, as a spirit in the second Principle, in itself, and dwelleth in nothing else, but merely in itself.

13. For although the band of the eternal nature is in it, yet the divine spirit is not subjected under that band; for the spirit kindleth that band, so that it becometh enlightened and springing [sprouting] with the virtue of the light in the love, in the life of the Word and Heart of God, so that it is a holy habitation and paradise of that spirit, which is called God.

14. So also the soul of man is out of the band of the eternal original, eternally standing therein, and desireth in itself, in the second Principle, to press into God, and to satiate itself in the power of God; but because it cannot with its whole being (with its own essences) enter into the light and power of God; as little as the eternal nature can press into the light of God, so that it may have the light for its own in its own power, but the light shineth out of the love in its own Principle in the eternal nature, so that the light remaineth Lord in the eternal nature, because the eternal nature doth not comprehend it, but rejoiceth in the light, and bringeth forth its wonders in the power and understanding of the light, where then they are revealed. Thus also the soul cannot in its essences press into the light of God, and over-master it, but must in itself, in another Principle, press into God, into his love.

15. For you must here understand another new birth in the soul: For it must not only press forth out of the life of the stars and elements, but also out of its own source [or property] of life, and incline its will into the life of God, endeavouring to be therein: this [inclined or] created will is received of God, and God dwelleth in that will; and so cometh the divine life and light into the soul, and so it is a child of God: for it standeth in its source [or property] and life, as God the Father himself [doth] in the source [or property] of the eternal nature.

16. And here we understand, that without [beyond] the divine light (which is the second Principle) in the eternal nature there is an anguishing source [or property]; for the band of life stands in the fire; but when that fire is inspired and captivated by the divine love, then the life in itself goeth forwards forth into another source [or property]; for another Principle is broken open for it, wherein it liveth; and that life is in God; even as God dwelleth in himself, and yet is really all himself, all is come from his nature: yet you must understand not as from the eternal nature, only the souls and the angelical spirits [are so]; but from his created [creaturely] will, which hath a beginning, viz. from the external; and therefore every thing of this [outward] world is transitory. And herein we find the great and terrible Fall of our soul in our first parents, that it is entered into the spirit of this world, into a strange lodging, and hath forsaken the divine light, wherein it was an angel and child of God; therefore it must go forth again out of the spirit of the stars and elements, and [pass] in a new birth, into the life of God.

17. But because that was not possible for the soul to do, therefore the life of God came to us, out of love and grace, into the flesh, and took our human soul again in it into the divine life in the power of the light,' that we might here be able to press into the same life to God in a new birth. For, as we went wholly with the soul of Adam out from the life of God (for the children of Adam have inherited [all] from their parents' soul, being sprung wholly [from them] as from a tree), so also hath the life of God in Christ regenerated us again, so that we can enter again, in the life of Christ, into the life of God. And thus now our soul standeth in the band of the eternal original, infected with the spirit of this world, and captivated by the wrath of the original, in the life of the eternal fire, viz. in the eternal nature; therefore we must, every one of us by ourselves, press with our soul in the life of Christ, to God, into the New Regeneration in the life and spirit of Christ: and here no hypocrisy, appearing holiness, or any meritorious works, will avail any thing, for the poor soul can no other way be helped, except it enter into itself (in a new created will) with steadfast earnest purpose and resolution, into the life of Christ; and then it will be received, with very great glory [honour] by God and his children, in the second Principle; and the noble precious treasure (viz. the light of the eternal life) will be given to it, which enlighteneth the source [or property] of the soul in the first Principle, wherein it standeth substantially with its essences for ever, and turneth the anguish into love, and the rising and burning own property into an humble lovely mirth in meek joy.

18. And thus the soul is a joyful habitation in the divine life, as if I should liken it to a kindled light, when the wick of the candle burneth, and casteth a pleasant light, [or shineth bright] and hath no pain in the shining, but at lightsome pleasantness, and yet the wick continueth burning: yet you must understand, that there is in the burning wick no pain or woe, but that there is only a cause of the glance of life; for no fire is comparable to the divine [fire].

19. For the divine nature, out of which the divine fire of life burneth, is filled with the love of God, so that the light of God maketh another Principle in itself, wherein nature is not felt [or perceived], for it is the end of nature; therefore the soul cannot comprehend, in its own essences, the light of God to possess it. For the soul is a fire in the eternal nature, and doth not reach the end of nature; for it continueth in nature as a creature created out of the eternal nature, which yet hath no comprehensibility, but is a spirit in a seven-fold form:

whereas yet in the originality there are not seven, but only four forms known, which uphold the eternal band, and those [four] are the source [or property] in the anguish, wherein the eternal consisteth; and thereout the other forms are wholly generated, wherein God and the Kingdom of heaven consist; and in the four forms the anguish and torment consist, if they are singly alone, and therein we understand hell-fire [to consist], and the eternal wrath of God: and although we do not know the originality of the essence of God, yet we know the eternal birth [geniture], which never had any beginning. And seeing it had no beginning, therefore it is the same this day that ever it was from eternity: and therefore we may well comprehend what we see and know this day in the light of God.

20. None ought to account us ignorant, because God hath given us to know his own essence, which we cannot and must not deny, upon pain of the loss of the divine light, and of our eternal salvation; for it is impossible for any man to have it, except it be given him out of grace in the love of God: and when that is given to a man, then that soul standeth in the knowledge in the wonders of God; which [soul] then speaketh not of things strange and afar off, but of the things wherein it standeth, and of itself; for it becometh seeing in the light of God, so that it can know itself.

21. Now that this can be, consider, that the essences of the soul stand in the original in the first Principle, and that the divine light shineth in itself, and maketh the second Principle, and so there are two of them; and the soul seeth into the high knowledge of the light of the second Principle, which shineth in it: why then should it not speak of its native country, wherein it liveth? And how wilt thou, mad world (in the third Principle in the spirit [or wisdom] of the stars and elements) forbid that to it, whereas thou art blind as to God, and liest captivated in the eternal wrath, in the source [or property] of the original?

22. Now seeing it is so, we will therefore set down the ground of the eternal band, to be a looking- glass for him that desireth to see; though it be true indeed that he cannot learn it of us. Unless he himself enter into the new birth into the life of Christ, that the divine light itself may shine in him, we are but as a history to him, and shall not be understood by him.

23. But when we speak of the source [or original] of the fire, and of its kindling (we mean concerning the fire of life) we know for certain, that in its original, before the kindling of the fire, it consists only in two forms, and hath but one mother, which is harsh [astringent or attractive], and draweth to her; and yet there is nothing in herself but a willing of the eternal Father in the eternal nature which he hath appointed in himself to reveal, and to declare his wonders.

24. Now that will is eternal, and is not stirred up by anything but by itself; and if that were not, all were nothing, neither darkness nor light: therefore seeing there is somewhat, it must needs be the eternal will, and that is astringent, and desirous of the wonders of the creation. Therefore seeing there is a desire, the desire attracteth to itself, and that which is attracted in the desire maketh the will full, so that the desire is fulfilled; for the will is as thin [or empty] as a nothing [vacuum], and that which is attracted into the will maketh the will thick [or gross and full] and that is its darkness: and the eternal desire standeth in the darkness.

25. Now when the will in the desire doth attract, that attracting is a sting [ puncture or goad, pricking or spurring to motion] of the stirring; for the will is thin as a nothing, and is quiet and still, as [if it were] nothing: but the will being an eternal desiring, therefore it attracteth to itself eternally; and having nothing to attract it attracteth itself, and impregnateth [or filleth] itself, and so the nothing cometh to be a darkness; and the attracting maketh the sting of the first essences [spur to the beginning of the being of a thing], so that there is a stirring and original of mobility.

26. Now the will cannot endure the attracting and impregnation, for it would be free, and yet cannot, because it is desirous; and seeing it cannot be free, it entereth with the attracting into itself, and taketh [or conceiveth] in itself another will, which is, to go out from the darkness into itself, and that other conceived will is the eternal mind, and entereth into itself as a sudden flash [of lightning] and dissipateth the darkness, and goeth forth into itself, and dwelleth in itself, and maketh to itself another [or second] Principle of another quality [source or condition], for the sting of the stirring remaineth in the darkness.

27. Therefore now we should speak of the forms of the sour [or astringent] dark nature. For we understand that the darkness hath a longing after the light, which eternally standeth before it, but in another Principle.

28. For the two forms, the sour and the bitter stinging, are the original of all things; and the eternal will is the mother [or matrix] wherein they are generated: and we are to know that the sourness [astringency or attraction] always attracteth with the conception of the will, and that attracting is the stinging of the stirring, which the sourness [harshness] cannot well endure: for the attracting sourness desireth the sour strong shutting up in death, and the stinging bitterness is the opener, and yet it were a nothing in itself without the will.

29. Now when the sourness attracteth so strongly, it cannot endure the stinging, viz. the sourness's own attracting, but stirreth much more; and the sourness may not endure the stirring either, for it desireth the still death. And thus it is a Chain and Band, which ever maketh itself, and hath no [other] maker.

30. Now these entering into one another so swiftly, like a sudden thought, the sting would fain get out from the sourness, but cannot, for the sourness generateth and maintaineth it; and not being able to get the upper hand [or get loose] it turneth round like a wheel, and so breaketh asunder the attracted sourness, and maketh a continual [or stirring up and down] hurlyburly and mixture, in which the breaking [corrupting] or woe, doth consist; yet there is no feeling here, but [they are] only forms of nature: for it is no material [materia], but [it is] the original of the spirit or eternal nature in the eternal will.

31. For the sour desiring attracteth and maketh penetration, and the bitterness breaketh it asunder in the turning wheel, and so there ariseth multiplicity of essences, and it is as it were a furiousness, or as I may say in a similitude, a confusion of the eternal mobility, a cause of the essences: And this the eternal will must suffer [to be] in itself, and therefore it conceiveth or taketh to itself another will, to fly out from this wheel, and yet cannot do it, for it is its own substance; and seeing it cannot, and yet cannot leave its eternal desire and longing, it holdeth and attracteth to itself; so that the essences are continually generated, and yet (without the desiring) they are nothing; and thus the whole form standeth in the noise [or sound], and is called MAR: and seeing the will cannot be free, it falleth into a great anguish, to speak according to man's understanding, that the Reader may comprehend the sense and depth of it.

32. For the will is the conception, and that which is conceived in the will is its darkness, and the desiring is the essence, and the contrary will is the wheel of the multiplicity of essences, so that they are numberless; but the multitude is according to the mobility. These two forms are the eternal essences, and the eternal band, which maketh itself, and cannot do otherwise.

33. For the vast infinite space desireth narrowness and inclosure [or comprehension] wherein it may manifest itself, for else in the wide stillness there would be no manifestation; therefore there must be an attraction and inclosing, out of which the manifestation appeareth; and therefore also there must be a contrary will; for a transparent and quiet will is as nothing, and generateth nothing: but if a will must generate, then it must be in somewhat wherein it may form and may generate in that thing; for Nothing is nothing but a stillness without any stirring, where there is neither darkness nor light, neither life nor death.

34. Now since we clearly perceive that there is both light and darkness, and moreover an eternal stirring and forming, which is not only in the place of this world as far as our senses reach, but without end and number, where the angelical world shineth clearly (and yet not in the inclosure of the darkness), therefore we should raise our thoughts [or senses] towards the angelical world, which yet is not without this place [of this world], but it is in another property, and in the eternal light; and yet there could be no light except there were a genetrix [or matrix] to bring it forth.

35. Now if it shine out of the genetrix [or matrix], then it must come forth out of the genetrix. For the genetrix is a darkness, and yet that were nothing either if the eteimal word (which maketh [attract, frame, or create] the eternal will) were not there. And in the making or creating is the birth of the eternal Being; of which John saith, In the beginning was the Word, which was in the beginning with God, all things were made by it (and without it was nothing made that was made).

36. Consider here, my beloved mind, whence light and darkness come, also joy and heaviness, love and hate; as also the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of hell, good and evil, life, and the shutting up in death.

37. Thou sayest, God hath created it; very well: but? why art thou blind, and dost not acknowledge it, whereas thou art indeed the similitude of God? Why speakest thou more of God than thou knowest, and is revealed or manifested to thee? Wherefore dost thou make laws [canons and ordinances] concerning the will of God, of which thou knowest nothing, seeing thou dost not know Him? Or why dost thou shut up thy life in death, whereas thou mightest well live, and know God, who dwelleth in thee? For thou hearest it also from St. John, that all things are made by the Word.

38. Seeing then God is the Word which hath made all things, he must therefore be in all things: for a spirit is not a made thing, but a generated thing in itself, which hath the centre of its birth in itself; or else it would be corruptible: therefore now the centre must stand in the eternal maker, or else it were transitory: for there is nothing from eternity but the Word, and the Word was God: and therefore it must needs be its own eternal maker of itself; and. itself must express itself as a Word out of itself, as out of its own maker.

39. For where there is a word, there also is a speaker to speak it. Now since it is the Father that speaketh it, and the Word which is spoken out of the centre of the Father is the Son thereof; and seeing the Father in his centre calleth himself a consuming fire, and yet the Son (the Word) is a light of love, humility, meekness, purity, and holiness, and that the Father of the Word is so also called and acknowledged throughout the holy Scripture, therefore we should consider the source [quality or property] of the fire in the centre of the Father, seeing the Father and the Word are one, and yet in two [distinct] forms: and that also the wrath and the anger, together with the abyss of hell, stand in the centre of the Father.

40. For St. John saith, Of and through it are all things, and without it was nothing made: for when the Word desired to make [or create], and the Father through the Word, then there was no matter for him to make it of; for All was [as it were] nothing, neither good nor evil, neither light nor darkness, but the centre stood there: for the will is his Heart, Son, and Word, which only is the eternal Being, and the Band which maketh itself; and yet the Deity may not thus be comprehended, because a being affordeth a [distinct difference or] divisibility, and appeareth in two Principles.

41. Therefore we will lay before you the ground, as we certainly know it: and our purpose in writing is to the end that you might see how blind you are; and how without knowledge you meddle, when you make such large expositions of the writings of the Saints, about the essence and will of God, and yet know him not.

42. You persecute, despise, and disgrace one another; you raise wars, uproars, and tumults, and make desolate countries and nations, about [what is] the true knowledge of God and his will, and yet you are as blind as a stone concerning God: you do not know your own selves, and yet you are so furiously mad, that you con tend about [your knowing of] God, who is the maker, preserver, and upholder of all things; who is the centre in all things: so also you strive about his light, which yet did never appear in wrath and malice or wickedness, but in friendly meek humility and in love his centre springeth up: and you are so furious and mad, and yet suppose that you have it upon your tongue in your malicious contention: you have it not; but you have merely the history of the Saints, who have had the light shining forth out of their centre; and therefore they have spoken from the Holy Ghost, which proceedeth out of the light. But you take their words, and the centre of your heart is fast shut, you run galloping in the four forms of wickedness or malice, [viz. in pride, covetousness, envy, and anger].

43. Therefore I will shew you the ground of the two eternal Principles [that spring] out of one centre, that you might yet see how you run on in the kingdom of the devil, to try whether you will yet turn and leave off your pride, and enter into yourself, and so you might attain the highest eternal Good.

44. Therefore I will shew you what we are in soul and body, also what God, heaven, and hell are; do not take it to be a fiction [opinion or conceit], for it demonstrates itself in all things, there is nothing so small but it stands manifest therein, and do not blindfold yourselves in your base pride, in your conceitedness, but search the ground of nature, and then you shall understand [learn, or find all things experimentally] all things; and do not run on so furiously upon the bare letter of the history, do not make laws according to your own conceits and opinions so blindly, by which you persecute [vex and prosecute] one another; in this you are blinder than the heathen.

45. Search after the heart, and after the spirit of the Scriptures, that it might be born in you, and that you might open the centre of the love of God; and so you might know God, and rightly speak of him. For from the history none should take upon him to be a master, or call himself a knower of the essence of God, but from the Holy Ghost, which appeareth in another Principle (in the centre of man's life) unto those that seek it in true earnestness, as we are commanded by Christ to knock and seek for it of his Father (viz. in the centre of the life) with true earnest desirous humility, and we shall find it.

46. For none can know or rightly seek or find God his Lord without the Holy Ghost, which springeth forth from the heart of the humble seeker, and enlighteneth the mind, so that the senses [inward senses or thoughts] are enlightened, and the desire is turned to God; that person only findeth the dear Virgin, the Wisdom of God, which leadeth in the right way, and bringeth to the fresh waters of eternal life, and quickeneth the soul, and so the New Body groweth on the soul in Christ; of which we will, hereafter following, write according to its high and precious worth.

47. We advise the seeking Eeader, that loveth God, to consider concerning God; and that he do not collect in his mind and thoughts, and seek for the pure Deity only aloft above the stars, dwelling there only in heaven, thinking that he doth rule and govern only by his spirit and power in this world, as the sun standeth aloft in the deep, and worketh by his beams all over the whole world: no.

48. The pure Deity is in all places and all corners, and present every where all over: the birth of the holy Trinity in one essence is every where: and the angelical world reacheth to every part, wherever you can think, even in the midst of the earth, stones, and rocks: as also hell and the kingdom of God's wrath is every where all over.

49. For the severe kingdom in the anger of the darkness is in the centre, and keepeth its source and dominion in the darkness; and the Deity goeth forth (in the centre) in itself, and maketh a habitation [of joy] in itself, but unsearchably or incomprehensibly to the darkness, because it openeth another Principle: for the eternal Word is the eternal will, and a cause of the eternal nature; and the eternal nature is the eternal Father, wherein all things are created by the Word, you must understand, in the eternal nature. And if the eternal will did not create in itself [another or] a second mill, to go forth, (as a shining light flameth forth from a candle and departeth not away from the candle) the Father would be alone, and be only an austere darkness: also this world (viz. the Third Principle) could not have been created.

50. But the Father containeth in him the eternal nature in his own essence, and is the eternal will itself, and generateth out of himself [another or] a second will, which, in the first eternal will (which is the Father) openeth the Principle of the light, in which the Father (with the eternal essences, in his eternal original will) becometh amiable, friendly, mild, pure, and gentle; and so the Father is not in the source [or quality] of darkness: for the recomprehended will (which goeth forth out of the centre, and dispelleth the darkness) is his Heart, and dwelleth in itself, and enlighteneth the Father [or is the glance and light or lustre of the Father], and that will is the Word of the eternal Father, which is generated out of the eternal essences, and is rightly another Person; for he dwelleth in the Father's essences [or essential powers] in himself, and is the light of the Father; and this Word (or will) hath created all things, (understand, out of the essences of the Father) for it [the Word] is the eternal omnipotency, because it cannot be comprehended by the eternal essences; for it breaketh asunder the eternal essences, and dwelleth in itself, and shineth out of the essences, and yet it cannot depart from the essences, as little as the glance or light departeth from the fire.

THE SECOND CHAPTER

1. SEEING we have mentioned such a ground to you, we will shew you farther the ground of the genetrix [or matrix], begettress, pregnant mother or womb], for we see it clearly in this world, in the dominion of the elements: (and yet much more in ourselves, in our minds, whence the senses [or thoughts] arise, whereby they walk, converse, and direct all their actions) that there is a genetrix, which doth afford so much; and if there be a genetrix, then there must be a centre or circle of life wherein the genetrix hath its dominion: for the nothing doth mot move nor stir; but if there be a stirring, that moveth every life, that must not be a strange [or heterogeneous] thing, because it is in every thing that thing's own spirit and life, as well in the vegetative and insensitive as in the sensitive living [things].

2. And let not the dissemblers and hypocrites mislead you, who are mere book-learned in the history, and boast and vapour with strange languages, and would be respected for it, whereas they understand them not in the least: they understand not their mother tongue; if they understood that rightly (together with the spirits of the letters) then they would know nature therein.

3. It is mere pride that forbiddeth you to search or seek, that you should not find, and that (the pride) with her crowned [or cornered] cap may domineer (like a proud woman) over the wonders of God; for so the devil would have it, that he might not be known: they are more blind than the simple laity.

4. If you desire to seek, then knock, that the right door may be opened for you, and seek in the fear and the love of God, and you shall find well enough; let not the calumnies of the proud divert you: for if the right door be opened to you, then you shall see how very blind they [the clergy] are: their pride hath blinded the whole world, so that every one looketh merely at their eloquence [fine language, or good expressions], and upon their [several] strange languages, and think they understand very well. Thus they domineer over men's souls. Whereas their knowing is altogether doubtful, as may be seen by their disputations and contentions.

5. Therefore I say still, none should trust their soul with such hypocrites and dissembling men: for the soul standeth not in this world, but in the original of the essence of all essences, and it is in the centre of the eternal band, wherein God, and the kingdom of heaven and hell standeth; and if it [the soul] attaineth the love of God in the light, (which dwelleth in the ground of the soul), it may well see the eternal nature, as also God, and the kingdom of heaven, and of hell: if it do not suffer itself to be blinded: it is not hard or difficult: it is but to go about the new birth, or Regeneration out of the darkness into the light, without which you cannot reach the depth in the centre.

6. And now if we will speak of the centre, or the circle of the life, we must consider the genetrix [or matrix] which is the centre, and the essence of all essences. All things are generated out of the centre, and out of that which is generated all things are created which are in being. And we have cleared to you the ground, how the eternal Word was in the beginning (as in the centre) and the Word is God's, and the eternal will is that Word. For the eternal God hath that will in him, and that is his Heart; and in that recomprehended will (in the eternal Father of all things) the eternal Deity hath its name GOD.

7. For we cannot say that God hath a maker, as also the will hath no maker; for he maketh himself from eternity to eternity continually; whereas it is not a making but an eternal generation. The Word in the Father, and the spirit which goeth forth from the power, is the life of the Deity. 8. But now we see that the mark standeth in the centre: for God is also an angry zealous or jealous God, and a consuming fire; and in that source [or quality] standeth the abyss of hell, the anger and malice of all the devils, as also the poison [corruption] of all creatures: and it is found that without poison and eagerness [fierceness or stinging sharpness] there is no life: and from thence ariseth all contrariety and strife: and it is found that the strongest and most eager is the most useful and profitable: for it maketh all tilings, and is the only cause of all mobility and life.

9. For, as is mentioned before, the eternal Word (viz. the eternal will of the Father) is the Creator of all things; and the eternal Father is the being of the will, out of which the Word hath created all things. Now the essences are the being which causeth the will: for here you must understand that there are two wills in one being, and they cause two Principles: One is the love and the other is the anger or the source [or property] of wrath. The first will is not called God, but nature: the second will is called A and O, the beginning and the end, from eternity to eternity: and in the first will nature could not be manifest; the second will [it is that] maketh nature manifest; for the second will is the virtue in the strength; and the one would be nothing without the other.

10. Seeing then that the will of the Father in the eternity is the first, therefore also he is the first person in the ternary [trinity], viz. the centre itself. So now the will or the centre is to desire to generate the Word or Heart: for it is nothing else, and it can be called nothing else, but the desiring in the will.

11. Thus we search in a deep sense in the mind; and find that the desiring is eager and attractive; for it is the strong might: not in one point only, but every where all over, contracting the wideness into narrowness, to manifest itself [therein]. For else there would be nothing in the whole deep, and there would appear nothing, but all would be still and quiet.

12. But now the desiring attracteth, and yet it hath nothing there but itself: and that which is attracted is the impregnation of the desiring, and maketh the desire full, and yet is nothing but a darkness, for that which is attracted is thicker than the will, and therefore it is the darkness of the thin will.

13. For the will is as thin [or empty] as [if it were] nothing, and very still and quiet: but the desiring maketh it full, and the going forth in the desiring is the essences, viz. a sting of sensibility, (which is against the sensibility), which the desiring also cannot endure, but attracteth the more vehemently to it; and so the sting or puncture is the greater, and rageth against the attracting, and yet cannot get out of it, for the desiring generateth it, and yet cannot endure it, for it is such an enmity as [is between] heat and cold.

14. And so the desiring, which in itself is an earnest longing, by its longing doth awaken such a raging (which doth so sting in that will) that the longing becometh very sour and strongly attracting, that it might hold the sting fast, whereby the sting, as a stirring life, affordeth mobility, in which the longing attaineth the first crack [or shriek] of trembling, from whence ariseth a contrary anguish: for in the anguish of the longing (in the hard attracting) is caused a sharp coldness: and the attraction is eager, bitter and stinging, so that it affordeth a terrible strong power, which the sting cannot endure, but would fain break away, and yet it cannot: For its own mother that generateth it, holdeth it, and so, seeing it cannot get away up- wards, it runneth round like a wheel, and breaketh asunder the contraction, from whence the essences of multiplicity arise.

15. And this is the right centre: for in the wheel existeth the nature of mobility and of the essences: and it is a band of the spirit, though without feeling [perception] or understanding: but in this form only, is it called the centre: for it is the circle of life, which the desiring hath shut up, out of the still wideness, into narrowness: although it is not comprehensible, but every where merely spirit and form of nature.

16. Seeing then that the Raver maketh such a stinging bitter wheel (in the sharp cold) therefore the centre is so terrible, like a great anguish, where the life is continually broken [or destroyed], and by the essences is also built [again] in such a manner, and is like to life and death.

17. The philosophers and high knowers [naturalists] of. nature, write, that nature consisteth in three2 things, viz. in Sulphur, Mercury, and Salt, which is very right: but the simple will understand nothing therein: and although the apprehension of it was open to the wise [so that they understood it] yet at this present time very few understand the centre, but they have it in the history, as also [they have] the divinity or theology from the mouth of the Apostles, which at present is also no other than a history, without the power and the living spirit (which was among the Apostles), as is clearly testified by their contentious disputations, lip-labour and dead letter [in their teachings].

18. Now seeing we have through the divine grace attained the light, and are able to know the centre, which is the birth of our life, we have power to demonstrate it, and shew what is comprised and understood in the three words, Sulphur, Mercury, and Salt: not that we thereby despise the ignorant blindness: but as a Christian we would willingly afford and shew them the light. And although our speech seemeth simple, yet our knowledge, meaning, and apprehension is very deep: none should be offended at the simple speech: as if we had not the deep apprehension. Let him but read it with a true earnestness, and consider seriously of it, in the fear of God, and he shall find well enough what spirit's child we are in this writing; but we would have him faithfully warned, concerning the scorners and hypocrites.

19. As is mentioned concerning the Sulphur, the centre is and may very well be called PHUR: but if the light be generated, the light that shineth out of the PHUR is called SUL, for it is the soul thereof. And as I say of the dark centre, wherein the divine light is generated, the same I say also of nature: though indeed they are one: but we must so speak, that we might bring it into the thoughts of the Reader, that he might incline his mind to the light, and so attain it.

20. For the two forms, viz. sharp cold, and bitter stinging, which are generated by the longing in eternal will, they hold the centre, and make the wheel of the essences, whence the senses [Or thoughts], as also perception and mobility continually arise eternally.

21. Now these two forms are in very great and terrible anguish, in themselves, without the other forms that are generated out of them. For the attracting sharp sourness is like to hard stones, and the sting of the attracting is the breaker of the astringency: and so it is like a wheel, and may well be called PHUR: as the language of nature in that syllable doth declare.

22. Therefore though the two forms enter so terribly in themselves into the will, and hold the will in the darkness, yet the will cannot be captivated, for its own propriety is to be meek and quiet, and that propriety it cannot lose in the two forms, for it is incomprehensible; and yet it must be in the two forms, and dwelleth in the sting, and is the flash thereof; for the two forms are dark in themselves, but the will is not [so], for it is free in itself; but the two forms take it into their property, for it is their father, and it sharpeneth itself in their properties, so that it shineth as a flash [of lightning].

23. For the sour astringency maketh dark; and the bitter sting (in the wheel) dissipateth the darkness: and so the liberty of the still will shineth in the wheel in the whirring as a flash [of lightning] : for the will so sharpeneth itself from the sour astringency, that it becometh very strong; for it is as when steel and a stone are knocked one against another to strike fire.

24. For there is understood to be in the fire, two things; viz. the liberty without nature, and the sour strongness of nature; as you have an' example in a stone, out of which you strike fire. For when you strike upon the sharp of the stone, the bitter sting of nature sharpeneth itself, and is stirred [vexed or angered] in the highest degree. For nature is dissipated or broken asunder in the sharpness, so that the liberty shineth as a flash [of lightning]: and that you may here see to be true: for as soon as the liberty shineth, it consumeth the darkness, and thence it cometh that the sharpness of God the Father is a consuming fire. For as soon as the flash in the sharpness seizeth on any thing that is essential, it consumeih it instantly, so that there is no nature more left.

25. And the cause of the flash going out so suddenly is that the sharpness cannot retain it: for the flash is free from nature and is only seen in the breaking.

26. And we give you to understand that this liberty without the nature is God the Father: and the nature is thus generated in him, so that he is omnipotent over nature, even as the mind of man is above the senses; for it hath all one original, as we will shew you hereafter following.

27. Further concerning the birth of nature, we give you to understand this by way of similitude: When the flash shineth thus in the sour anguish, then there is a very great crack, which the sourness captivateth, and terrifieth much more, for its dark propriety in the sour death is killed in a moment, so that it loseth its sour propriety and sinketh back, and can no more attract so strongly; and then the flash goeth directly through the sting of the raging of the whirring wheel: where the sting must spread forth on each side, and the flash goeth through the midst; and so the wheel cometh to be a cross, and can no more whirl about, but standeth shivering in the sharp might of the will of the eternal liberty, which is God the Father.

28. And now when the strong sourness hath captivated the flash of the liberty, that it loseth its propriety, then the fourth form (viz. the salt- spirit) is generated: for the stern harshness becometh pliant from the fire and the crack; and yet retaineth the sharpness: and so this form is like a sharp water-spirit: and the flash (viz. the crack) is the third form, and maketh in itself in the sour killed anguish a brimstone-spirit.

29. For if the stern sourness loseth its first dry propriety, it must be soft, and yet it cannot, for it is terribly sharp: and here is the mark [goal, limit, butt] of eternal death: for the desire out of the free will cannot attract so any more: for it standeth in the anguish of the crack, and yet retaineth its propriety in the attracting.

30. For every anguish hath a desire to go forth from the source [or pain]: and it is the natural right of the anguish to expel from itself, and yet it cannot, but the pain is thereby more stirred and greater: as may be understood in a raging swelling sore, where the member in the essences [humours] laboureth to be rid of the pain, and by the labouring of the essences the sore becometh bigger, and the source (in the brimstone-spirit) is swelled up: and the more the essences strive the greater is the wheel of the anguish.

31. Thus I propose nature to you, to be considered of, which if you consider it well, cannot bespoken against: for it appeareth in all things, and it hath its birth just so. And nature standeth thus in four forms.

32. First, in a sour and strong attracting, which is called harshness [sourness, tartness, astringency], and maketh in itself sharp coldness.

33. And then, secondly, the attracting is its sting [spur], which rageth in the sourness, and breaketh the hardness, and maketh the wheel of the innumerable essences, wherein the wonders are generated.

34. But the flash of the liberty of the eternal will, which sharpeneth itself in the sourness, and turneth to consuming fire, breaketh its wheel, wherein as a flash it penetrateth through in a moment, and terrifieth its mother, the sourness, which loseth her hard propriety, and is changed into a sharp nature like Salt; and in this sharpness, the sting also loseth its own right and becometh bitter: for it hath in it two forms, viz. the raging, and also the flash of the fire, which are like brimstone, and it is the might of the kindling of the fire, for the source [or property] of the fire standeth therein.

35. Understand us rightly thus: the flash of fire out of the sharpness maketh the third form in nature: for it maketh in the sourness, and out of the Eager (the bitter sting in the tart anguish) a brimstone-spirit, wherein the flash standeth, and is the soul (or the eternal life) of the four forms. For the anguish maketh in itself again a desire to fly out from the anguish, and yet there is nothing that can fly away, but so it is in the centre, and is called the centre no more.

36. The fourth form is the changing of the hard sourness, viz. the crack of the flash, the dark hardness perceiving that it is feeble, and [as it were] dead and overcome; and it is then turned into* SAL, and yet retaineth the propriety of the sour attracting.

37. Thus the four forms of nature are no more called the centre, though indeed they have the centre in them, and in their original, but [are called] Sulphur, Mercurius, and Sal. For the brimstone-spirit is the soul of the four forms: for it hath the fire in it, and the anguish in it maketh another will, so that the four forms have an eternal will in them, which is their own: for that will is to fly aloft out of the four forms, above nature, and to kindle nature in the fire, and so to be in a horrible might, as may be [discerned and] con- sidered in the devils, who live in such a will as this, as we shall shew afterward.

38. Thus understand us rightly what the wise- of old have understood by the three words, Sulphur, Mercurius, and Sal: though they all could not apprehend the high light, yet they understood it well enough in the light of this world, viz. in the third Principle; all which hath one and the same understanding and meaning; only they understood not the three Principles; or else they had known God; and so they remained in the light of this world as heathen with their understanding. For they had found the soul of the four forms in the light of the virtue of the sun [only], and the second Principle was no further revealed to them.

39. There the soul standeth in the eternal band, and there, in the cross of nature, out of the original eternal will, is the eternal Word generated, which is the maker and creator in nature, and this hath been hidden to them, even to this very day: but the time discovereth it, where it To be seen, standeth as a banner [to be seen]: of which [shall be spoken] in its place.

40. And deep considerate reason hath it very clearly in our description what Sulphur, Mercurius, and Sal are: for SUL is the soul, and is a brimstone- spirit, which hath the flash of fire with all forms in it: but if the power and light of the sun operate therein (seeing the soul standeth in flesh and blood) the sun with its friendly beams maketh out of the sour salt-spirit, an oil, and kindleth the fire: and so the brimstone-spirit burneth, and is a light in the essences: and out of the anxious will cometh the mind: and out of the wheel of the essences come the thoughts: for the virtue of the sun hath also the mind, so that it doth not stand in the anguish, but rejoiceth in the virtue of the light.

41. Thus SUL is the soul, in an herb it is the oil, and in man also according to the spirit of this world in the third Principle, which is continually generated out of the anguish of the will in the mind, and the brimstone-worm is the spirit, which hath the fire and burneth: PHUR is the sour wheel in itself which causeth that.

42. Mercurius comprehendeth all the four forms, even as the life springeth up, and yet hath not its beginning in the centre as the PHUR hath; but after the flash of fire, when the sour dark form is terrified, where the hardness is turned into pliant sharpness, and where the second will (viz. the will of nature, which is called the anguish) ariseth, there Mercurius hath its original. For MER is the shivering wheel, very horrible, sharp, venomous, and hostile; which assimilateth it thus in the sourness in the flash of fire, where the sour wrathful life ariseth. The syllable CU is the pressing out, of the anxious will of the mind, from nature; which is climbing up, and willeth to be out aloft. RI is the comprehension of the flash of fire, which in MER giveth a clear sound and tune. For the flash maketh the tune, and it is the salt-spirit which soundeth, and its form [or quality] is gritty like sand, and herein arise noises, sounds, and voices, and thus CU comprehendeth the flash, and so the pressure is as a wind that thrusteth upwards, and giveth a spirit to the flash, so that it liveth and burneth. Thus the syllable US is called the burning fire, which with the spirit continually driveth itself forth: and the syllable CU presseth continually upon the flash.

43. And the third word SAL is the salt-spirit; because the ancient wisemen saw how nature is thus divided into many parts, and that every form of nature hath a particular matter in this world, as may be seen in the earth: and that the salt-spirit especially is the greatest in corporeal things (for it preserveth the body that it doth not decay), therefore they have rightly set down this gate only; which is the mother of nature. For out of this form, in the creation, earth, stones, water, and all sorts of minerals were made, yet with the mixture of the other forms; as you shall see hereafter: My beloved Reader, understand us thus according to our own sense, meaning, and apprehension.

44. The four forms in themselves are the anger and the wrath of God in the eternal nature: and they are in themselves nothing else but such a source [or property] as standeth in the darkness, and is not material, but an originality of the spirit, without which there would be nothing.

45. For the four forms are the cause of all things, as you may perceive that every life hath poison, yea the poison itself is the life: and therefore many creatures are so venomous, because they proceed from a poisonous original. And you must know, (though these be the chief causes of nature), that nature consisteth in very many more other forms: for this maketh the wheel of the essences, which maketh innumerable essences: where every essence is again a centre: so that a whole birth of quite another form may appear.

46. Therefore the power of God is unsearchable: and our writing is not to that end that we should search out the ground of the Deity in the eternal nature [and lay it before any]: no, that cannot be: but we will direct the blind the way that himself must go: we cannot go with his feet, but (as a Christian) we would fain lead him, and impart to him what we have; not out of boasting in ourselves, but that we might help to plant the great body [consisting] of the members in Christ; of which we will make mention hereafter: to which end these very high things are mentioned, that we might shew you the right mark in the original: that yourself might see, and learn to understand the course of the world, and how blind all are concerning God, and what the cause and end of it is.

47. We tell you this that you might rightly consider it; for these four forms are in all things: yet in this world (as in the third Principle) they are not understood [to be] in their very eager [Or their utmost effect] essences. For the virtue of the sun, in the elements, tempereth all things, so that the essences stand not in such a wrathful source [or property], but are as a pleasant friendly life: as the light out of the second Principle (which is the light out of the Word and Heart of God the Father) doth enlighten the four forms in the centre of the angelical spirits, so that they are in their own centre friendly, lovely, and very pleasant.

48. And you should well consider the Fall of the devils, who have lost the light of the Heart of God, and must now stand in the four forms of the original, in such an anxious source [or condition] as was above mentioned.

49. Thus is the soul of man also together out of this eternal band breathed into man, and enlightened from the light of God: but in the fall of Adam it is gone out from the eternal light of the Heart of God, into the light of this world: and it hath now to expect (if it have not entered again into the light of God, when the light of this world doth break off from it) that it must then remain in the four forms (without the light) in the first birth of the life, with the devils.

50. For the four forms (without the eternal light) are the abyss, the anger of God, the hell, and the horrible flash of fire in the wheel of corruption [Or breaking ] in the flying up of Mercury [or the terrible cracking noise].

Their light is in the brimstone-spirit, which they must awaken in themselves: or else their spirit standeth in eternal darkness, and its living form of the abyss is a dominion of a severe [eager property or] source, which climbeth up in the flash of fire [willing to be] above God and the kingdom of heaven, and yet cannot reach, nor feel, nor see them: for it [ The eternal darkness].is a Principle, which comprehendeth neither this world nor the angelical world: and yet is not severed, [but is] in [one and the same] place.

51. For we offer to your consideration: that as we men with our [earthly] eyes which we have from this world cannot see God and the angels, which yet are every moment present to us; and the Deity itself is in us, and yet we are not able to comprehend it, except we put our imagination and earnest will into God,

[Set all our thoughts and resolutions upon God and goodness] and then God appeareth to us in the will, and filleth the mind; where we feel a God and see him with our eyes [viz. the eyes of our mind].

52. So also if we put our imagination and will into evil [and wickedness], then we receive the source of hell in the wrath: and the devil layeth fast hold on our very heart in the anger of God, yet we see him not with these eyes, only the mind and poor soul in the eternal source of the original understand it, and tremble at the wrath: so that many a soul despaireth, and casteth itself into the source of the original, and driveth the body to death, by sword, the rope, or the water, that it may thereby suddenly be rid of the torment, or source, in this life, which is from the Third Principle. For that soul standeth between the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of this world, in scorn, and therefore maketh haste to the abyss.

53. Also we give you very earnestly to consider: that God did not create a peculiar hell and place of torment, on purpose to plague the creatures, viz. angels and men; because he is a God that willeth not evil, and doth himself forbid it: and hath therefore suffered his heart to become man, that he might redeem man out of the eternal anguishing source [or torment] of the abyss, which endureth for ever.

54. And therefore as soon as the devils went away from the light of God, and would domineer in the might of the fire, over the meekness of the Heart of God, they were immediately, in the same hour and moment, in the abyss of hell, and were held by it: for there was no peculiar source [or place of torment] made for them: but they remained without God, in the four forms of the eternal nature.

55. So also it is with the souls of men if they do not attain the light of God; which yet with great longing standeth before the soul, and it is hidden in the very ground of the soul. And the soul is to do no more but put its will (as a sprout out of the four forms) again into the light of God, where then it is regenerated anew in the will, and in the life of God.

56. We give the courteous Reader to understand: that the [hellish] creatures, which are the devils and the damned souls, have not only four forms in the band of their life; but their forms are infinite, like the thoughts of men: and they can turn themselves into the forms of all creatures: but there are only four forms manifest to them, as also in the abyss of hell: they may bring forth every form out of the matrix, except the light, the fire is their right life, and the sour astringency of the darkness is their right food.

57. For one essence nourisheth another, so that it is an eternal band: and so the devils and damned souls are only living spirits in the essences [Or essential powers] of the eternal original: out of which they are also created: for the matrix is the original genetrix, which continually generateth itself out of the eternal will.

58. And in that respect [or according to this form or property] God calleth himself a zealous [or jealous] angry God, and a consuming fire; for the fire of this original is consuming, for it is the centre of the eternal band. Therefore if it be kindled in the sour sharpness, it consumeth all whatsoever appeareth essentially in the four forms (you must understand, all that which is not generated out of their source [or property], for the devils are from the same source or property, it cannot consume them, for they are crude [that is] without a body), as may be seen by the sacrifices of Moses and the Children of Israel, which the fire devoured; as also by Elias and the two captains over fifties, in that the fire of God twice devoured fifty, when Israel was led in the source of the Father by the Word: [that is, when Israel was disobedient to the light and Word, and thereby were given up to the wrath of God].

59. And now I will farther shew you the form of the Deity, that you may search through the ground of the eternal life, and learn to understand what the eternal good, and what the eternal evil is; as also that which is mortal in this world: and that you may learn to search and know the Will of the highest good: as also what God, heaven, hell, the devil, and this world are, and what is to be done therein.

60. John the Evangelist writeth very well, also deeply and clearly, that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, and all things were made by it: for the Word revealeth the Deity, and generateth the angelical world [which is] a Principle in itself: which is to be understood as followeth:

61. The first eternal will is God the Father, and it is, to generate his Son, viz. his Word; not out of anything else but out of himself: and we have already informed you about the essences, which are generated in the will, and also how the will in the essences is set in darkness, and how the darkness (in the wheel of the anxiety) is broken asunder by the flash of fire, and how the will cometh to be in four forms, whereas in the original all four are but one, but in the flash of fire appear in four forms: as also how the flash of fire doth exist, in that the first will doth sharpen itself in the eager hardness, so that the liberty of the will shineth in the flash. Whereby we have given you to understand, that the first will shineth in the flash of the fire, and is consuming by reason of the anxious sharpness, where the will continueth in the sharpness, and comprehendeth the other will in itself (understand in the centre of the sharpness), which [other will] is, to go out from the sharpness and to dwell in itself in the eternal liberty without pain or source.

62. Therefore we now also give you to understand; that the other re-comprehended will, to go out from the sharpness, is free from nature, viz. from its wrathfulness: for it stands in the centre, in itself, and retaineth all the virtue and form of the [first] centre, out of all essences, in itself: for it is the virtue and power of the first will, and is generated in the first will, and maketh (in the liberty of the first will) a centre of an out-birth [or procreation], incomprehensible by the four forms in the first will And this other generated will in the first will is the heart of the first will, and is in the first will as a word, which moveth in itself, and remaineth eternally in the birth of the first will; for it is his Son or Heart: and is severed [or distinct] from the first will in that it hath a several centre in itself.

63. Now the Father, viz. the first will, expresseth all things by this Word (as out of the centre of the liberty); and that which proceedeth from the Father by the 'Word (viz. the spirit and power of the Father in the Word) formeth that which is expressed, after a spiritual manner, so that it appeareth as a spirit.

64. For in the sour matrix (viz. in the Fiat) all is comprehended, and the spirit of the Word formeth it in the centre of that essence wherein the Father moveth and expresseth by the Word, so that it is, and remaineth to be, an essence. For whatsoever is formed out of the eternal is spirit, and is eternal; as the angels and souls of men are.

65. But because it may happen that we should be as one that is dumb to you, and hard to be understood, in this description (for the understanding and apprehension of it is not in the subtle spirit of this outward world), we will therefore shew how the other three heavenly forms are generated [being together with the four fore- mentioned forms, the seven forms or spirits of nature] in which [three forms] especially, God, the kingdom of heaven, paradise, and the angelical world are understood; to try whether it might be brought into the mind of the reader.

66. You must not understand it as if the Deity had a beginning, or were subject to any alteration, no; but I write in what manner it may be learnt and understood what the divine essence is: for we can bring no angelical words: and though we could use them, yet they would appear in this world no other than creaturely, and earthly to the earthly mind. For we are but a part of the whole and cannot speak the total, but in part, which the Reader ought to consider.

67. For the divine mind in the Heart of God, that alone is total [or perfect], but else there is nothing total, for without that, all stand in the essences, and God only is free, and nothing else; and therefore we speak but in part, and comprehend the total in the mind: for we have no tongue to express it, we only bring the Reader to a ladder (to heaven) [he must go up himself].

68. If we will rightly speak or write of God, we must speak of the light, and of the flame of love; for therein is God rightly understood.

69. We cannot say that the source of the fire is light, we see it only shine out of the fire. Thus now we have informed you concerning the original of the fire, how it is generated in the wheel of the essences, in the hard anxious sharpness, and receiveth its shining out of the eternal liberty, where the liberty is driven on in nature, so that the liberty becometh a source [or property], which is fire.

70. So also we have mentioned how the flash instantly presseth through the wheel of the essences, and maketh a cross; and then the wheel of the essences turneth round no more, but standeth wavering in the sound [of the crack]; and all essences receive their virtue and strength in the flash of the cross: for the flash presseth right through, and divideth the essences of the wheel: and the essences press through flatly [squarely] upon the flash: for the flash is their spirit, which in the sour astringency maketh a brimstony form.

71. Thus the birth standeth square like a cross, and hath beneath the centre of the birth, which driveth up the flash aloft, and so the whole birth is as a sprout, where the fire driveth up, and the essences hasten after the fire-spirit, as their own spirit, which attracteth and desireth them, for they are its food and nourishment, and it is their life, and one is not without the other.

72. Now understand us concerning the crack of the fire, for it is horrible and consuming, and overcometh all the forms of all the essences: for as soon as the twinkling beginneth, all the forms of the darkness are consumed, and the dark sour astringency (viz. the stern death) trembleth at the life, and falleth back as dead and overcome, and of hard becometh feeble and weak; and so becometh heavy, as being impotent and not fixed [not able to subsist] in itself; and thence cometh weight in nature. For the sour astringent matrix becometh thin and light, and a water-spirit, from whence the water is generated.

73. And now this crack of the sour astringency in the dark death is a crack of great joy, for of dark it becometh light: and now when the flash twinkleth in the sour astringency of the sting, the sting is terrified much more than its mother, the sour astringency; and yet it is no hostile crack or terrifying, but a very joyful crack or terror of exulting that its mother is so thin, pliant, and soft, whereby the sting loseth its fiery propriety, and in the liberty of the eternal will (in the centre) becometh white, clear, light, amiable, and joyful; and herewith springeth up the fifth form of nature, viz. the friendly love.

74. For there the flash desireth with great longing to have its mother for its food, and here is the true original of life; for it is the kindling of the light in the sour astringent matrix, where the severe tartness is turned into meekness: and you should rightly understand it here, that it is not so, wholly in the centre of its being; but (as I may say in a similitude) it is as if oil were generated in the meekness, out of which the light shineth constantly, and remaineth for ever, in which the flash loseth its propriety, and so out of its form a shining and light is produced, wherein there is a distinct centre, out of which the great joy springeth up; and yet the first four forms keep their own centre to themselves: for the darkness remaineth as an enclosed thing, and the light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not.

75. Thus there are two Principles; which are therefore two, because the meekness existeth out of the first eternal will, which [will] is free from the matrix [or nature] and is as thin as if it were nothing, and is still and quiet. Now that which is still and without a being in itself, that hath no darkness in it, but is merely a still clear light joy, without essence; and that is the eternity which is without any thing, and is called God, above all other things, for there is nothing evil in it, and it is without a being.

76. Understand us thus; God the Father is so in himself, but without a name, for he is in himself the light clear bright eternity without a being, if we speak merely of the light of God.

77. But since he will not be without a being, therefore we consider his will, which he conceiveth in himself, out of nothing, but merely out of and in himself; and we understand the desire [is] in his will, and [that] in the desire [there is] the centre of the genetrix, wherein the being is generated.

78. Now the eternal genetrix desireth nothing but the Word, which doth create in the genetrix: for the eternal still and light joy createth nothing, but is merely still and light; for where there is no darkness, there is mere light without alteration; but the genetrix in the desire maketh the attraction, so that there is a darkness, which is eternal, wherein nature is generated; as is mentioned before.

79. And now the eternal genetrix, in the first longing, desireth the liberty (viz. God), and not the darkness, in itself: for he willeth not her, but the Word which createth in the longing of the genetrix : and yet there can be no genetrix without the attracting, which impregnateth itself in the will; in which impregnation the centre of the nature doth consist: and there would be no Word, if there were no nature.

80. For the Word taketh its original in nature: and we here give you highly and dearly to understand that two words are generated in nature: one is the first centre of the genetrix, in the stern wrath, to express the strong might of the mother of the first sour wrathfulness in the fire: which is here called the nature of God the Father, which he thus generateth in his still joy, in the conception of his will, without touching the liberty of the light.

81. And the other Word, [is that] which he [God the Father] generated out of nature, out of the meekness; understand [that] wherein the eternal liberty of the fight is, which is called God, which is [arises] out of nature, and so the dark nature disappeareth, [which is] still in the fire of the sharpness, as is mentioned before, and yet the sour astringency (in its own dark propriety) is terrified, and loseth its eager propriety.

82. For the flash maketh the dark stern might thin again, and so a sprout springeth up therein out of the innumerable essences, and this is the virtue or power of the second centre: for in this springing up there is a love-desire, and the eternal light catcheth hold of the liberty without nature; so that the liberty without nature kindleth in this love, and becometh a burning light, wherein the glance or brightness ariseth.

83. For there is no glance without nature, though indeed there is a light pleasant habitation: but the glance ariseth first from the sharpness: and yet in the springing up of love there is no sharpness that is perceptible, though indeed it is really; and so it is a birth of joy, and a right fulfilling of the first will, which is God's, which he putteth into desiring, and so generateth nature, and out of nature [he generateth] the sprout [or word] of love.

84. Thus the second sprout (or Word) of love dwelleth in the first will, and is its right fulfilling which it desireth: for it [the love] is meek, pleasant and friendly, and is the virtue and heart of the first will, from whence the eternal desire continually4 is sprouting and subsisting.

85. And thus the light breaketh open the gates of darkness, and the loving sprout [or second Word, which is the Heart of God] springeth up out of the dark nature, and dwelleth in the eternal stillness of the Father, and is called his Son: for the Father generateth him out of his eternal will; and herein is the glance [lustre, glory, or majesty] of the Father manifested, which otherwise (in the first will in the dark nature) appeareth only in Fire; but in the second centre, [it appeareth] in the love in the light; and here love and enmity ought to be considered, and how they oppose one another.

86. For love is death to wrathfulness, and by its shining taketh away the power of the wrathfulness. And here the power of God in love and anger is rightly to be considered.

87. But that the love may thus be generated is caused by the first will from the still habitation; for the still and clear habitation, which is without a source, desireth no fierceness, and yet causeth fierceness: and if the fierceness were not, there would be no sharpness; and so the second centre (of love) would not be generated, out of which the supernatural light shineth, where then the name of God the Father and of God the Son existeth.

88. For if the eternal liberty did not generate the being of nature, there would be no Father, but a mere nothing: but since it doth generate the being of nature, therefore the generator, whence it is generated, is called Father.

89. Thus the light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not, as John saith; and thus light and darkness are opposite one to the other, and so the light is lord over the darkness: and it is an eternal band, where one would not be without the other: and here we are rightly to consider the enmity against the virtue of the light of God, how each of them taketh its original.

90. For the darkness holdeth in its centre sour fierceness; stinging anguish in the brimstone- spirit; woe in the flash of fire; great fire in the breaking wheel; ascending of the essences in the flash of the might of the fire: and yet there is no flying out, but it causeth such a will [of flying out, or flying away], and that is a spirit, and it is the band of nature, which God the Father generateth in his will, wherewith he manifesteth himself in the eternal stillness: whereas otherwise there would be nothing: and herein is God the Father (with his might and fiery sharpness) an angry zealous jealous God, and a consuming fire.

91. Let this be shewn you, O ye philosophers, which (from the counsel of God) is opened to you in the seventh seal, in Ternario Sancto.[Holy Ternary]

92. Thus the fountain of love is a clasping and keeping in of the fierce wrathfulness, yea, an overcoming of the fierce might: for the meekness taketh away the property of the fierce sour hard might of the fire; and the light of the meekness holdeth the darkness captive, and dwelleth in the darkness [without being comprehended by the darkness].

93. And thus the fierce might willeth nothing else but the fierceness, and the shutting in of death; for the fierce sourness is the shutter up in death: and the meekness presseth forth as a sprout, and groweth out of death, and overcometh it: and maketh the eternal life, and turneth enmity into love.

94. Let this be a light unto you, O ye theologists [or divines]: and consider better, the writings of the saints, and behold the wonders of God with other eyes. Consider what God is, in love and anger: and observe how two Principles stand open, where each is desiring; desist from the natural wisdom of this world, and consider the eternal nature, and so you shall find God and the kingdom of heaven. Your laws will not do it: if you would know God, another manner of earnestness [or zeal] must be used [than to make conclusions in counsels and synods]; you must go out from Babel disputations], that you may attain the centre of the Son of God: and so you shall be bom [or generated] in meekness and in love; and then you may feed the sheep of Christ: otherwise you are thieves and murderers, and step into the centre of the fierce wrath, where you do nothing else but devour the sheep of Christ, with your blowing up of hellish fire. O how falsely do you deal against love: how will you appear, when the sun riseth, and when you shall stand in the light; it shall hereafter be set before your eyes.

THE THIRD CHAPTER

1. AND now if we will dive into the blessed birth of love, and search how it is generated, and where it hath its original, we must search the centre inwardly, and set the sixth form of nature before us, viz. Mercury, wherein the sound [sound or noise] is generated: and so we shall find (in the generating of the love), the tune, sound and song, as also the five senses, seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and feeling; wherein the life is understood; as also pain and torment, joy and love; desire to good, and desire to evil; though in itself in nature nothing is to be rejected [or is in vain], both must be, else God would not be manifested, and all would be as a still nothing: and the whole Being is together in the eternal God; none hath made or generated any thing for him: he alone, in his eternal will (which is himself) maketh the genetrix [womb of nature]; he only is the eternal beginning, and comprised the centre to the genetrix, which maketh the eternal mother of the genetrix of the essence of all essences.

2. For God hath no beginning, and there is nothing sooner than he [or before him], but his Word hath an unsearchable [groundless] beginning in him, and an eternal unsearchable end: which yet is not called end rightly, but Person, viz. the Heart of the Father: for it is generated in the eternal centre, not as a form of the centre (which belongeth to the centre) but as a sprout of another centre out of the first eternal [centre].

3. Therefore he is the Son of the First; and is rightly the flame of love, and the glance of the Father in the eternal will, and the second mother [or matrix] of the genetrix, viz. the angelical world out of himself, is a Principle, which is called the Mercy of God: out of which centre goeth forth the virgin of the eternal wisdom of God, by which God hath created this world, viz. the third Principle (with all creatures and things) out of the first [Principle].

4. And we would have the Reader faithfully warned, that he should not seek our meaning in the wisdom of this world; but in the light of the eternal nature, whither we would have him directed also, (viz. into the new Regeneration in the life of Christ) else we are but dumb to him, and not to be understood: and without that [New Birth] he should leave these writings uncensured; or else he eateth the food of the first centre; and his scorn will gnaw him in the centre of his own life.

5. We will readily vouchsafe him the light; and for that end this hand hath set down the deep Mysteries, not for any advantage that can be expected, but for the lillies [children of wisdom] sake, and for the sake of the angelical world.

6. Here mark exactly: you will see that which you have not seen since the heavy fall of Adam: and thereby consider what it signifieth, and what appeareth with it; and tread not in the footsteps of the proud Pharisees, who crucified Christ, and remained blind in the day-light, or else the same will happen unto you.

7. And look not upon the hand of this pen, it can do nothing; but upon the centre [ground or foundation], out of which the light shineth; it shineth not only out of this hand, but in the whole world, as an opened seal in the eternal centre: every one may apprehend it, it is not only without him, but in him: and there is no more to be said, but to fly open, and spring with Jesus Christ, and put forth a flower out of this world into the angelical world: of which we will here speak, and shew you the eternal Being.

3. We have shewed you above, the birth of the four forms of the eternal nature, and thereby have signified how they are generated out of the eternal unchangeable will of the liberty of God: where we have declared to you also how the eternal liberty without nature is a still light habitation, yet without glance [or lustre]; also how the eternal light of liberty is sharpened in the sour hard fierceness, so that it appeareth as a flash of fire, where then it dissipateth the darkness, and taketh away the power of the fierceness, and so getteth a consuming glance, or fiery splendour, by reason of the terrible sharpness; where then the sour matrix becometh an anxious genetrix: and being feeble (by the flash taking away its power), it becometh essential: and the flash catcheth hold of its essential form in the anguish (that is, the brimstone-spirit) which is the body of the flash, out of which it burneth and shineth.

9. And then [we have shewn also] how the wheel of the essences, with the flash of the sour overcoming, is upheld: and how the centre is like that of a cross-wheel [wheel with four spokes across], and how all standeth in the founding of the essences, like a sprout: where then the wheel driveth only upwards: and therefore it is that the source of the fire flieth upwards, for all the forms of nature fly after the fire; and the fire flieth from them; for it willeth to be free, being it is originally proceeded out of the eternal liberty, but yet it cannot [be free], because nature withholdeth it by the sharpness which subsisteth in nature.

10. And then also we have shewn you, how the crack of the fire killeth the fierce property of the sour matrix, whereby it is overcome, and falleth back; from whence cometh weight in nature, and matter of every thing. And then, how the flash in the overcoming twinhleth [or loseth its strength] where then (in the meekness) it is so terrified, that it loseth its fiery property, and becometh clear or bright, which is the shining of its light, where the glance taketh its original. And how the eternal still liberty taketh the glance as its own; and how the first will is herein satisfied (according to its desire) with that which it would have in the original in its desire.

11. And so when the first desire (together with the generated essences) is filled with the glance of the light, then all the essences (which have laid hold on the light) stand in the first desiring will, and the will thereby becometh triumphant, and full of joy, that the child of light is generated in it: And here the second centre flieth open in the joy, where the love is the fire of the centre; and the love-desire of the first will attracteth the joy, and the light shineth out of the joy: And so this precious holy birth remaineth upon the cross- wheel, where the wheel of the essences moveth in the cross; and the joy (viz. the source of the fire) flieth upward, and the centre retaineth it.

12. And so there the new-born will goeth forth with power and wonders; and establisheth the first will of the liberty of the Father, with the centre of the love-birth of the Son: for this birth is the Word of the Heart of the Father, which he speaketh out of his essences [flowing essential powers or faculties]: and that which goeth forth out of the love, is the Holy Spirit of the Word, which formeth the essences; and this is together the Ternary in one essence [or Trinity in Unity].

13. And so now, when the centre in the Word flieth open in the virtue of the light out of the love, then one form embraceth the other with very friendly desire: for the first will is desiring, and maketh the centre; as is declared before concerning the wrath, so also it is here with the love; and instead of the striving contrary will, there is nothing herein but an embracing and acceptable relish: For when the wheel of the essences is sounding, the sixth form is generated.

14. For the sourness retaineth its fierce might well enough in the sharpness of the love; but indeed it is very soft; and in the sixth form maketh voices, tunes and sounds, so that in the sounding, the essences hear one another: and with the essences of the wheel in the assimilation [infection or mixture] they taste one another: and in the desirous love they smell one another: and with the breaking through of the source, they feel one another: and in the light, they see one another: and so there is a living form of the spirit, which goeth forth as a life, in all forms, and it [the spirit] is the stirring of the voices in the essences, which make the senses [thoughts or constellations], or stars.

15. Thus the true insuperable love--desire springeth up in the first will, which is called Father; for in the centre of the Son, out of the Fathers sharpness, the glance is generated, which is a very friendly desire, to turn the wrath of the Father into love: For when the essences of the Father taste the meekness in the light [or love], then they are all stirred, and it is a mere lovely desire, pleasing relish, and friendly well doing; and the form Mercurius is indeed the Word: which in the dark centre is a poisonous woe and anguish; but in the virtue of the light it is the source of joy: and affordeth voices, tunes, and sounds, but not like the sound in the fire in the first centre.

16. Thus, my dear Mind that readest this, understand, and take our meaning rightly; and consider what we mean in this description. We mean, not two Gods, that are one against the other, but one only God in Ternary, or Trinity of subsistence, in his eternal birth, or geniture.

17. In the word Ternarius is rightly to be understood in the language of nature the divine birth in the six forms in nature, which art the six seals of God.

18. But when I say Ternarius Sanctus, then I have therein the number Three in seven forms, wherein the angelical world is comprehended, which standeth in the seventh birth. Not according to the [pronunciation of] the Latin tongue, but according to the [pronunciation of] the language of nature from whence all things have taken their names which our philosophers, in the schools of the Third Principle of this world, do not understand; [but the theosophers of the school of Pentecost under stand it well].

19. For when I speak of the wrath and of the anger of God, I mean not anything that is without God; neither do I mean thereby the pure Deity which is unchangeable, and in eternity is nothing else but good; and is not nature: but the Word is generated out of the nature of the Father, as another or second sprout, which is not comprehended in nature; and therefore it is even another Person, and yet is generated out of the first.

20. Understand, that the first will, which is without nature, is free from nature, but nature is generated in its desire: and now therefore the second will (which goeth forth out of the first, out of nature as a proper centre of its own) is also free from nature: for it dwelleth in the first will, which is called Father, in the light eternity, and it is the glance [or brightness], power, strength, and being of the light eternity; or else there would be therein no being, but a light still habitation, without being or operation.

21. But since it would be manifested, it must needs create a will which is desirous, and yet there was nothing to be desired but the powerful Word: and yet that was not in the still eternity either: and therefore the seven forms of the eternal nature must be generated; which are the seven seals of the Son of God, as the Apocalypse witnesseth, and thence from eternity the powerful Word is generated; which is the power and virtue, the heart, the life, and being of the still eternity.

22. And since it is generated out of the seven seals or forms of nature, therefore it is the Maker and Creator of all things out of the being of nature: for there is nothing else that can overpower the nature, but only the effectual powerful Word in the light; that only can overcome the wrath. (He only hath the key that can open and break the seven seals of the wrathful nature of the Father, and open the Book of life of him that sitteth upon the eternal throne. Read Apocalypse 1, it is just so.) For as soon as the wrath twinkleth, that is a dissipating of the darkness, and taketh away the power of the fierce wrathful anguish, and is rightly called the mercy [the Barmhertzigkeit] of God.

23. For Barm is the light twinkling in the centre, out of the light eternity; where the glimpse captivateth the stern hard sour or harsh bitter anguish, and terrifieth it with the glimpse, and taketh away the power of the fierceness, and tumeth it into meekness: Hertz is the flash, that hath captivated the four forms, where the glimpse of the eternity is sharpened, and thence forward hath the four forms in it, which [glimpse] moveth upon the cross in the centre, and maketh another centre in itself: ig is the converting of the flash into the light of the glance or brightness, wherein the fifth and sixth forms are generated, viz. the love, and the joy, wherein the potency of the whole nature doth consist: and without these two forms, nature would be a wrathful, harsh, and cruel death: but the light maketh the love, and also the desire of the sixth form; wherein consisteth the life, with the understanding: Keit is the eternal entrance, and the ascending over the nature of the four forms; and an eternal inhabiting of the still eternity; and a satiating or fulfilling of the first will, which is called Father.

24. Thus the second birth is called the Son of God, the word of God, the power of God, the love of God, the life of God, the wonder of God: and is itself the essence that manifesteth every essence [or thing].

25. My beloved seeking Mind, I would willingly write it in thy heart if I could. Behold! all is but one only God. But you ask then, whence cometh evil? Therefore you have an information concerning that, in this high description: for you see in all creatures, evil, poison, and bitterness; as also love, and desire [or delight]: therefore consider now how nature is such an earnest [or eager] thing.

26. But as the Heart of God allayeth the fierceness of the Father in his nature, and maketh it kind and friendly; so also doth the light of the sun to all things in this world, which all have their original out of the eternal nature.

27. For if the fierceness were not generated in the eternal will, there would be no nature, also there would not, in the eternity, be generated any Heart and power of God, but it would be an eternal stillness: But since the eternity doth desire the life, it cannot be generated any other way: and being it is thus generated, it is therefore most beloved eternally: and therefore the earnest strong birth may not, and cannot, cease in all eternity, in respect of the life, which is the spirit of God.

28. Therefore behold thy self and all creatures, and consider thy self, consider also heaven and hell in the anger and wrath of God: and thou shalt find it thus, and no otherwise. Though indeed here we need an angelical tongue, and thou an angelical light in the mind, and then we should well understand one another; this world apprehendeth it not.

Concerning the seventh Form of the Eternal Nature.

The Revealed Gate of the Essence of all Essences.

29. My beloved Reader, if you would understand the high Mysteries, you need not first put an academy upon your nose, nor use any [such] spectacles, nor read the books of many artists and scholars: for the high Mysteries are not to be sought after, searched out, and found, only in the high schools or universities: whatsoever reason seeketh in the art of this world, without the divine understanding, is vain and fictitious; it findeth nothing but this world, and not half of that either; it always goeth round about in seeking, and findeth in the end only pride and hypocrisy, in finding the wisdom of the world.

30. Seek you nothing else but the Word and Heart of God, (which is Incarnate, or become man) in the crib among the oxen in the stable, in the dark night: if you find it, you find Christ (viz. the Word, in the Father) together with the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost: moreover, the eternal nature, also the angelical world and paradise: and then you will find your reason (which hath so long led you reeling, as a drunken man) to be very blind. You need not break your mind with high thoughts, for with such high fancies and conceits you will not find the ground: do but only incline your mind and thoughts, with your whole reason, into the love and mercy [the Barmhertzigkeit] of God, so that you be born out of the Word and Heart of God in the centre of your life, so that his light shine in the light of your life, that you be one with him.

31. For Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the eternal Word in the Father (who is the glance, or brightness, and the power of the light eternity) must become man, and be born in you, if you will know God: otherwise you are in the dark stable, and go about groping and feeling, and look always for Christ, at the right hand of God, supposing that he is a great way off; you cast your mind aloft above the stars and seek God, as the sophisters teach you, who represent God as one afar off, in heaven.

32. But as the devil would (in his fiery source [or property]) fly up above the Heart of God, and yet remaineth still in the four forms in the eternal nature in the darkness, so it is also with blind reason, which sitteth in the dark, and seeketh God in the darkness.

33. If you would find him, seek him in his source or property, which is everywhere; all is full of God, and he shineth in the darkness; God is in your dark heart, though in another Principle; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; the Holy Spirit of God is the key in the centre: go out from the desire of the flesh, in a true earnest repentance, and put all your will, reason, and thoughts into the mercy [the Barmhertzigkeit] of God; and so the Word of God (viz. his beloved Heart) will get a form in you: and then you stand before the crib where Jesus is born: and then incline your- self towards the Child, and offer him your heart, and Christ will be born in you.

34. And then you must first into Jordan: and the Holy Ghost will baptize you: and there the heaven standeth open to you, and the Holy Ghost hovereth over you: but you must into the wilderness, and be tempted of the devil (understand it rightly: the devil will make attempts upon you, and will often lead you into the wilderness of the world, and pass before thy soul into thy fleshly heart, and bar it up). And then great earnestness is required, to break asunder the centre of the devil: you shall many times not see Christ, the devil will deny him to you, [insinuating] that he is not become man in you: for you stand thus, as a light in the centre, begirt with darkness, and you are a sprout in the light of God, [sprung] out of the dark stern nature.

35. Therefore consider; look to it; and stand fast; as Christ did: Do not as Adam did, who suffered himself to be brought into lust, by the spirit of this world, and brought us into the fleshly darkness.

36. You must, with Christ, be persecuted, scorned, and contemned, if you will move in the wonders of God: and if you continue in him, he continueth in you: and then you may seek what you will, you will find whatsoever you desire: else you seek in the Deity in vain; and when you have brought things to the highest, you find only that which is in this world. Take this, that is set down, for a warning; and so you will seek, find and know, that which is hereafter written, concerning the seven seals of God and of the Lamb.

37. But because we may hardly be understood by the Reader (though very easily understood by those that are born of God) and our intention being no other than to shew the way to the blind: therefore we will shew you the Revelation of John (which is the Revelation of Jesus Christ) with the seven spirits, and seven seals of God: wherein the whole Deity (in the humanity) hath revealed itself; and together with the person of the wisdom, hath shewn the essence of the Number Three in Ternario Sancto: whereby the Deity is seen not only in Ternario, but also in the angelical world.

38. And those that be born of God, will here have their eyes rightly opened: therefore let none be wilfully blind: for the time cometh, and is already, wherein the seven seals are broken open, and the Book of him that sitteth upon the throne is opened, which the Lamb of the house of Israel hath broken open, wrhich was slain, and liveth eternally.

39. And although, hitherto, the Revelation hath continued sealed, and hath not been understood in the ground, by any man; yet none should conceive and think that such a thing hath been in the power of man; for it is the Revelation of God, and it hath seven seals, which were sealed up, till the anger of God was accomplished: and they are the seven spirits of God the Father, as is mentioned before, concerning the forms of the birth of the eternal nature, which is God's.

40. And now this world, with all that belongs to it, as well as man, is created as an out-birth, out of the eternal nature; understand, out of the seven seals of the eternal nature: and God hath created this world for no other cause, but that he would, in his eternal wisdom, manifest the wonders, which are in the eternal nature; for they must come to essence, and appear in the light, to his joy, honour, and glory, not only in this time of secrecy [or hidden mysteriousness], but after this time also.

41. For this time [from the beginning of the world to the end] is as the soil [or ground], and is the seventh seal of the eternal nature, wherein the six seals, with their powers and wonders, disclose themselves, and pour forth their wrath: from whence were generated and found out, in this world, the natural wisdom, voices, thunders, and strife: wherein men have always sought the Heart of God, and yet found the wonders, out of which have arisen strife and compulsion [of conscience], where one seal hath been opened after another: but human reason hath not understood the powers of the seals.

42. For when, after the times of the Apostles, men departed from the true love and humility towards God, and sought after wisdom for their own ends, and made of the kingdom of Christ a kingdom of pomp, might, and the glory of this world; then the candlesticks withdrew from these men, that is, went (in the Father's nature) into the seven seals of God, and forsook the seven golden candlesticks, the seven seals of the Heart of God, which are the seven seals of the Lamb, which shine bright out of the Father's nature; for they [the seven seals] were in the hand of the Son of God, who was become man: as may be discerned by the Image in the Revelation, that the man Jesus Christ hath seven stars in his hand, and standeth between the seven golden candlesticks.

43. The seven stars are the seven spirits of God the Father, which are hidden seals; as I have shewn you before, how one form is continually generated from another; and that one form would not be without the other; and yet one seal openeth itself after another, and they have the seven thunders, whose speech is sealed up, for they are in the centre of the spirit, but the seven seals are in the essence [or in the centre of the corporeity]: for they are manifested through the humanity of Christ, therefore the spirit of God demonstrated them in the form of seven golden candlesticks, and they give light in the Father out of the centre o the Son.

44. For you see, that there is a Glassy Sea before the throne of the Ancient [of Days], who is God the Father, and the sea is the seventh seal, but opened and not sealed; for therein standeth the angelical world: but the six seals are the birth of the eternal nature, which are generated in the first will of the Father, out of which the Heart or Word of God is from eternity continually generated, as a peculiar centre of its own, in the centre of the seven spirits of God; and although the seventh seal also is in the Father, and belongeth to the centre, yet it is brought to essence [being or substance] by the Word, for therein consisteth the angelical world.

45. Therefore, my beloved Reader, thou art to know, that whatsoever is written or spoken of God, is spirit; for God is Spirit, but in himself would not be manifest, except the seven forms make him manifest: and therein the creation of the angelical world is brought to pass, and is called Ternarius Sanctus: for the number Three [or Trinity] is incomprehensible; but the Word maketh the glassy sea, wherein the comprehensibility is understood: and it is clearly represented to you, in the figure of the Image, in the Revelations.

46. For you see, that the Image standeth in the midst of the seven candlesticks, which are the seven spirits of the Deity; and it hath seven stars in its right hand, which are also the seven spirits of the Deity, in the centre of the Father, and the Word hath them in his power, in that it changeth the fierceness and consuming nature into a meek habitation in the glassy sea, wherein God's light of the Word shineth out of the Word: and then the seven spirits of God stand in the centre of the Word, in form like unto seven burning torches: and hereby the Deity is pourtrayed unto you, in the Image in the Revelations.

47. And we give you also to understand further (as is mentioned above) that the Word (or Heart of the Father) in its seven shining spirits, is in the Father (in the centre of the Father) as his Heart; and hath the seven stars (viz. the seven forms of the eternal nature) under its power, and therefore the image hath them in its hand.

48. But since all things (that should come to have an essence) must come forth out of the Father's nature, and we know also that Moses witnesseth as much, that God the Father made all things by the Word Fiat, as by the Word spoken, and the speaking stood in the Fiat; and the Fiat is the sour matrix in the first will of the Father, which comprehendeth and holdeth the nature, which the spirit (that is generated ex Mercurio) formeth, which is the spirit of God: And since all creatures stand in the Father, and that he is therefore called Father, being a father of everything; as also we men are his children; and yet we with Adam, being departed from the virtue of the seventh spirit of the Word, and with our ima- gination are gone into the out-birth of the Father, viz. into the spirit of this world, which clothes us with corruptible flesh and blood, and holdeth us captive; therefore we are now in the virtue or power of the seven stars, or seven spirits, of the Father's nature, which bring their wonders in us to the light.

49. For we are the representation [image, similitude] of the Deity, in which the spirit of God openeth his wonders: and be you rightly informed, God the Father hath begotten us again in Christ, that we should with our imaginations enter again into the Word, viz. into the centre of the light flaming Heart, that the Holy Ghost might proceed from us again with miracles, power and works of wonder, as may be seen by the Apostles of Christ.

50. But since we have suffered ourselves to be held, by the seven fierce spirits of the Father's nature, out of his centre; and are not with our Immanuel, gone forth from our own reason and knowledge, and pressed into the life of Christ, that the Word in us might become man; therefore also all the six spirits of the wrathful nature, have shewn their might and wonders in us, and have let us go astray in Babel, so that we have not walked in the love of the Word, in the life of Christ, but after our own inventions in a forged hypocritical seeming holy conceit about the Will of God; and have not walked in the spirit of Christ, but in pride.

51. And because the seekers (in the Father's nature) have found out [black] arts, therefore they have trodden simple humility under foot: and because, in their own inventions, they have departed from the Heart of God, and so have erected an earthly kingdom for their voluptuousness, therefore all the six spirits of wrath have justly produced their effect upon them.

52. For though the Heart of God hath sounded a trumpet with a spirit out of its centre, and called upon people to repent, yet they had always rather take delight in their tender flesh, [and delicate life], and had rather follow the devil, who hath always, from the anger of God, sounded a trumpet contrary to it [viz. contrary to repentance], and hath stirred up wars and blood-shedding, of which the Revelation testifieth in a figure: And the spirit of God hath therefore declared the Revelation, as a clear glass.

53. And mark what the angel said; Seal what the seven thunders have spoken. The voices of the seven thunders out of the stern essences would be well enough hidden from us, if we did not put our imagination [thought, purpose, endeavour] into them, and open them in us: for in the centre of the Son (in the meek love) they are not manifested or revealed.

54. But seeing the Word, or Heart of God, is become man, and that in him it hath assumed a human soul, to bring us again out of the wrathful nature into the glassy sea, viz. into the angelical world, to the wonders of the seven golden candlesticks; and because we yet lay hidden in the seven seals of the Father, therefore the Word of God, with its assumed humanity, must enter again into the stern matrix, into the sharpness of death and of the answer: And there the man Christ hath broken the seven seals in the soul of man.

55. For the Word of God, or the Heart of God which became man, and the human soul, which out of the seven spirits of God was breathed into man, from the spirit Mercurius, (that is, the spirit of the seven seals, which in the Word is called the Holy Ghost, and yet from the centre of the Father [is called] the spirit Mercurius, viz. out of the sharp essences, out of the fiery wheel, is mentioned before; but in the out-birth of the Father, through the meekness of the love in the Word, in this world, viz. in the third centre, is called air;) hath broken the fierce might in the centre of the soul.

56. For, when the soul of Adam went forth out of the Word, and entered into the third centre (viz. into the spirit of this world), then the centre of the soul was eternally sealed up in the matrix of the wrath, in the seven forms of the wrathful nature of the Father: and there was none in heaven, in the glassy sea, nor in this world, that was able to break open these seven seals: there was nothing else in the soul, but the eternal death in the horrible anguish, and in the darkness.

57. And there the mercy [or Barmhertzigkeit] brake forth out of the Heart of the Father, and entered into the human soul, and brake the seven seals of the fierce wrath, and kindled the light (which overcometh the death and the anger) in the soul.

58. Not that the soul was rent out from the Father's essences, as if it were no more in the seven spirits of nature; no, that cannot be; all standeth in the seven spirits of the Father's nature; yea, even the Heart of God itself [standing therein]; only, the seals of death, in the fierce wrath, are broke open, by the light of the Heart of God, in the centre of the human soul.

59. For which, we thank God the Father in Jesus Christ, who became man, and regenerated us in him to the light, and redeemed us from the fierce wrathful source [or torment] in the zeal of the anger, in eternity.

60. But because we men did not acknowledge such great grace and light, neither did esteem it, but were pleased with the flesh of Adam and the lust of this world, (and though indeed we saw, that God, in the man Christ, as also in his disciples, and in all those that earnestly clave to him, in the New Regeneration, did great wonders and miracles; yet we ourselves put away our candlestick, and lived in hypocrisy, and in our own seeming holiness, and in tyranny, and persecuted Christ) therefore he left us also sealed up, so that we knew his light no more; but we sought out for ourselves ways to God, and would by our own contrived opinions come to God. The kingdom of this world was more acceptable to us than the kingdom of God: we practised before him nothing but hypocrisy, and our heart was far from him: Therefore we must also, in the nature of the Father, remain under the seals, till the spirit Mercurius [that is, the wrathful spirit in the anger of God, according to which God calleth himself a consuming fire] hath manifested all its wonders in us.

61. And the Revelation sheweth very clearly how the spirit Mercurius hath opened one seal after another, and hath poured forth all plagues and abominations in us, and hath brought forth mere contention, wars and malice, mere cunning crafty subtlety, deceit, and falsehood, with wonders and powers in us; as indeed he very finely portrayeth us, as an abominable beast, like a dragon with seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and our formal demure spirituality [clergy, ministry] sitteth aloft upon the dragon, finely and stately trimmed and adorned with a crown.

62. And there you may behold yourself, you fair bride upon the dragon, do but see what you ride upon: Is that Christ's ass in lowliness, or is it the devil from the abyss? Your own authority, and the climbing up of your tyrannical power (which you yourself have erected), is your beast; in that you have set up a wicked compulsion, forcing and oppressing of poor people; and have lived only in pomp, state and pride: your spiritual heart is the beautiful glistering bride upon the beast.

63. Behold, I must tell it you! behold yourself, you dainty bride, full of abominations and desolations ; since you account yourself so fair: behold, what have you built? Great glistering houses of stone, into which you enter, and there practise whoredom, hypocrisy, and dissimulation: you give God fine words, and your heart hangeth to the dragon: you devour the fat of the earth, and your hypocrites must fall down before your beast and dragon, viz. your tyrannical power, and worship you, or else your dragon will devour them; whatsoever you set up [ordain, preach, teach] must be accounted divine.

64. O how finely are you deciphered: do but behold yourself, it is high time: do you not see how the angel throweth you, together with the dragon, into the abyss, into the lake of [fire and] brimstone? Or do you not know your self yet? 65. Do you not know, that we must be born of God, in Christ, and live in the conversation of Jesus Christ? Do you not know that the Word is become man? We must be new-born in Christ, that so the soul may be a member of Christ: we must all be generated out of one body, which is Christ; or else we cannot behold the seven candlesticks [or lights] of God in us.

66. To what purpose do you so much play the hypocrite with your seeming holiness? Why do you usurp divine power in your seeming holiness? You have it not. You have nothing else but the power of the dragon, your antichristian idol: if you desire to have divine power, you must be (in the life of Christ) in God; and so you receive divine power, to work in those who lift up their heart to Christ in God; there you have the keys of the kingdom of heaven in the angelical world.

67. Your laws, councils, decrees, canons, and your singular articles or opinions, are but mere deceit: the spirit of Christ in God will not be bound to any laws. Whatsoever you teach con- cerning your own power in heaven, which you appropriate and usurp to yourselves (without the New Birth in Christ), is all false, and lies; and the power thereof belongeth to the dragon [or your own power consisteth in the tyranny of rulers].

68. None have any power in God, except he be born of God in Christ Jesus; and such an one can open the seven seals to the inclined heart, (which inclineth itself to God in Christ Jesus), by his voice and word (which soundeth from God), and can sound the trumpet into the desiring mind.

69. Therefore behold yourself in the Revelation, in that representation or image of your riding upon the dragon. How bravely ride you on earth, as the dragon, the old devil, doth in the seven seals, (which would always ride over the Heart of God in the might of the fire, and yet remaineth sealed up in the seven seals, in the dark abyss of the eternity in the original of nature, in the wrathful matrix); and so you ride also.

70. And though the seals in the soul of man are broken in the death of Christ, yet the anger of God, with the spirit of this world, hath sealed you up, and driveth you on, that it may accomplish all its wonders in you.

71. Behold, you proud whore upon the beast! What have you sought after, since the times of the Apostles, who walked in the life of Christ, (and not according to the lust of the fierce spirit in the original of nature, as you do)? Behold your brave kingdom that you have erected in the world, in which you go about to compel men to turn away from God, and to reverence and worship your laws!

72. Christ worshipped his Father; his soul pressed, in verbum Domini, into the Word of the Lord, in the seven golden candlesticks, which are the burning love-spirit of the Heart of God, in the Father, in the still eternity; there, in the source of the Father, Christ wrought great wonders: for he opened the seals of the hidden Mystery, and did drive the unclean spirits out of the wrathful source of the souls, and sounded with his Word in the centre of the poor captive souls, so that they stirred all seals, and in the life of Christ pressed into God: and there the devil could not dwell, for he is a spirit of darkness, as we will hereafter shew him to be.

73. But you take and usurp the kingdom and power of Christ, with fair hypocrisy and deceit: Where are your wonders, while you make divine laws, only for your worldly honour and deceit, only that you might rule over silver and gold, and the souls of men?

74. O you Babylonish whore! you are she of whom the prophets have spoken, who have prophesied (in the hidden seals) of the wonders, which were hidden in the eternal nature; in you the wonders are brought to light: But you spoil the Tree of Life, therefore you must go into the lake which burneth with brimstone: and therefore the spirit saith in the Revelation; Go out of her, my people, that you be not partakers of her source [plagues or torment].

75. Now since you are grown forth of yourself, in the fierce might of the anger of God, and are a devourer, and have set up the wonders of God, in pride, for the honour of your beast; therefore the seals in you are sealed up, till the time that the anger hath shewn its might upon you, and that you devour yourself.

76. For you have despised the angel's sounding of the trumpet, and persecuted those that were sent from God: You esteem your belly God, and glory most of all, and love flattery.

77. The bride of the beast saith: I am your God, set me upon you, ride on how you will: I will cry aloud and say, The fatness of the earth is yours, and men shall worship you in me; fear and horror be upon all those that disesteem us; thus I ride over the bended knees, and over the souls of men. Where can there be such a kingdom as we have? [For we are exalted more than princes and kings, and we are honoured and reverenced by them, and placed above them.]

78. But the spirit Mercurius, which goeth forth out of the burning torches, (which is the spirit of God's bride), declareth in the Apocalypse, that when the seventh seal shall be opened, then shall the hidden Mystery of the kingdom of God be accomplished.

79. For the Lamb which was slain, did (at the time of the seven seals) take the Book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne, and opened the seals thereof: and the four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, and said, Thou hast opened the Book, and broken open the seals: Praise and honour and glory to God and the Lamb, which was worthy to take the Book, and break open the seals thereof; and the whore, together with the dragon, was cast into the lake of fire. If you understand not this, you are under the seals.

80. Behold! when the seventh seal shall be opened, then the Arch-Shepherd will feed his sheep himself, in his green pasture: he leadeth them to the springing waters, and refresheth their souls, and bringeth them into his right path, and is a good Shepherd, and the sheep follow him, and he giveth them eternal life.

81. At that time, Babel, that great city on earth, breaketh in the wonders; and all the souls of those that are written in the Book of Life, in the glassy sea [or angelical world], all those that are born of God, go out from her: and that is the tabernacle [habitation]of God with men; for he that seduced them is sealed up, the light driveth him away.

82. Therefore hearken, you that are drowsy, and awake, the day breaketh, it is high time; that you may not be captivated by the anger in Babel; there is great earnestness [or severity] at hand: leave off your contention about the Cup of Christ, else you will be found to be but fools in the presence of God: your decrees avail nothing, when you assemble together, and make results and conclusions, saying, Thus we will have it, this is the Confession of Faith, thus we will believe, and then the Church of God will be up- held. And another party gainsayeth; and they call one another heretics, and so you lead the blind laity captive in your devilish contention, in your pride.

83. You bind the true meaning [of the Scriptures] to your art: he that hath not been a student, or scholar, in that, can have no understanding in the hidden mysteries of God, you say. O you proud blind men, how you suffer yourselves to be seduced, by human traditions [your own conventions and conceits], without the spirit of God! How will you stand in the Day of the Judgment of God, with your confounded sheep, which you have thus led along in blindness? You have filled them full of reproach, and blasphemies; and have ridden up and down upon the dragon, in mere hypocrisy, covetousness, high-mindedness, and false teaching: outwardly you have made a fair show, and inwardly you have been full of the devil.

84. Where is your apostolical heart? Have you Christ [in you]? Wherefore then do you dispute and contend about him? And make the common lay-people contend also, who know not what they do; they play upon your music, [and dance after your pipe], and would rather lose their lives, than leave your follies, and enter into the life of Christ.

85. O simple devotion! Wherefore do you not take Christ (your true Shepherd) to be your Shepherd, and let the wolves go? You need not be contentious about the kingdom of Christ; neither have the wolves any power to give it you, or take it away from you: you need not ask, Where is Christ, is he in the Baptism, or is he in the Supper? Is he in the hearing of the preacher, or ministry (as is so hard pressed upon people nowadays)?

86. Do but mark, and incline your heart, mind and thoughts unto Christ, that Christ may be born in you; and then you have Christ, the baptism, sacrament, and the Holy Ghost in all places; you have him in the hearing of the divine word.

87. The covenant and testaments [baptism and the Lord's supper] of Christ have indeed been long used, without faith, and therefore are but hidden seals: but if you be once born in Christ, then they become opened seals in your heart, in your soul, all is yours; Christ is in the Father; and you in Christ are also in the Father; and the Holy Ghost goeth forth from the Father in Christ, and also in you: the word of life is always in you. What do you then seek after for salvation? When you hear teaching of God, then the spirit also teacheth from your heart, and there is one love, one Christ, one salvation in all places; wheresoever you are, there is the gate of heaven; it is not only in the churches of stone, where men glister in pride, but where there are penitent people together, in true sorrow, who, with earnest desire, long after God's mercy [Barmhertzigkeit], who willingly speak of love, and of the wonders of God [there is the gate of heaven].

88. Hear, O thou blind Babel! Should the Holy Ghost work powerfully in your words, when you stand before the congregation, and despise your forefathers or predecessors for their blindness in their opened seal, whereas you yourself are a false malicious adder, and teachest nothing but sedition, contention, and scorn?

You do not pour the Holy Ghost into your hearers, as you boast, but you drive into them the spirit of contention: you teach scorn, and not love. What doth the layman know of those that were dead a thousand years ago? Are not they in the power of the judgment of God, and not in your power? You judge and condemn many that are in the angelical world; should then the Holy Ghost, in your false judging, be preached into the hearts of men [by you]? You preach not the spirit of Christ, but the spirit of the devil, into their hearts, insomuch that they rely and depend upon your fables, and let go the highly precious word of Christ.

89. Look into the acts of the Apostles, when they were together very unanimously, with great desire of the kingdom of God, and spake of the works and wonders of God, and of his love toward men, how the earth moved under them, and the Holy Ghost also moved the earthly centre for great joy. But had they sat together to deride the Pharisees, and scorned and made a play-game of them, the Holy Ghost would not have been so powerful among them.

90. Therefore open your eyes (ye children of God) and go into the temple of Christ; and hang no more to the temple of dissimulation, to the hypocrites and murderers. Yet I do not hereby prohibit the stone churches, but I teach [that] the temple of Christ [is] in all places: indeed, the greatest pomp is exercised in the churches. 91. But if you desire to go into the temple of Christ, you must bring a humble, contrite, and broken heart with you, which earnestly longeth after the kingdom of God; it must not consist in hypocrisy, where they shew themselves in a holy and devout posture, but the poor soul is left without the temple of Christ, in the seven spirits of darkness, where only the mouth is a Christian, and the heart is in doubt, or else in mere voluptuousness of the flesh.

92. O you blind sophisters! What have I to do with you, that I must thus write of your wonders[ doings]? I have not sought your ways, but [I have sought] the Heart of God, that I might hide myself in Christ. I desired only, with the Virgin in the Revelation, (which standeth upon the moon), to fly into the wilderness from the dragon; and yet I myself must now shew the dragon. LORD! thou doest whatsoever thou wilt, thy ways are mere wonders.

THE FOURTH CHAPTER

Of the Wellspring of Light

1. WHEN we thus shew you the way of the light, the spirit is pleased, not to speak barely as in a history, but to set forth the light in its deepest depth, in its wellspring or fountain that you may look as through an opened seal, Ternarium Sanctum, into the holy Ternary [or the eternal essentiality].

2. For seeing the hidden Mystery of the kingdom of God shall be revealed in the seventh seal, the Lamb himself shall be Shepherd over the sheep, therefore it must not be sealed up: for we have known the voice of the trumpet of the seventh seal in Ternario Sancto, in the holy Ternary, therefore we may well speak of our native country, to which our labour [or journey] tendeth.

3. None should suppose us to be ignorant, in that we write so very deeply; for if we did not see and know it, we must be silent: it is a common saying, What the heart is full of, that the mouth speaketh. This [which we have written] was not sought by this hand: But it is written, I am found of them that sought me not, neither did they enquire after me.

4. I was as simple concerning the hidden Mysteries, as the meanest of all; but my virgin of the wonders of God taught me, so that I must write of his wonders: though indeed my purpose is to write this for a Memorandum for myself, and yet I shall speak as for many, which is known to God.

5. And now being to speak of the seventh form of nature, we see that the corporeity especially subsisteth therein, for a spirit is void [or crude] without a body: whereas there is no understanding without a body: and, moreover, the spirit itself doth not subsist without a body. For a form in the spirit is a hunger, and a longing desire, of one form after another.

6. For all things stand in the will, and are driven on in the will; for if I have [or conceive] no will to go, my body standeth still; therefore my will carries me; and if I have no desire towards a place, then there is also no will in me; but if I desire anything, then that is the will of the essences.

7. And yet the essences desire nothing but preservation and sustenance of the body, for the body is food: and the whole essence of all essences is a continual hunger and satiating [or fulfilling], and a regeneration, or propagation, from its fulness: as may be seen, that each form of the spirit desireth the other in its hunger, and when that is attained, another, or second form, ariseth out of it; and yet the first doth not vanish, but the other, or second, formeth itself in the first, into another source or property: and yet both keep one in the other, each in its own property: as we have written concerning nature, in six forms, how one proceedeth from the other, and how one causeth the other, that it be generated, and yet each keepeth its property in the other; and there now they stand in six forms one in another.

8. And so there is no place of rest, but there is a constant desire of all the six forms, as a hunger out of which the will is continually generated: and yet there is nothing wherein rest can be, but the still eternity: and yet also this cannot be apprehended or found in the wheel of the fiery essences: and therefore the hungry nature seeketh in its mother (viz. in the desire of the sourness), and the sourness catcheth hold of the desire of the essences, and holdeth it fast: and thus all essences of the hunger are held in the sour mother for she is their only rest, which they fill again with that which is in them, that is, with themselves.

9. And herein consisteth the dominion of a spirit: for nature doth consist not only in seven forms, but there may (out of every desire) again a will be generated, wherein the essences subsist again, but alterably, according to the desire of that will, where there is no number found, as you may see in the creation of the world.

10. But seeing the eternal essence doth desire a certain bound or limit, further and more than which, or to go higher, or to be other, it desireth not, therefore the heart generateth itself, which is the end of nature; and the heart is the fulfilling of the eternal [being, essence, or substance].

11. And the heart is not comprehensible by nature, but nature remaineth in the darkness in itself, and the heart remaineth in itself in the light: and neither would be manifest without the other; and yet there is a continual hunger in them both, for both have wrought from eternity, viz. light and darkness.

12. Now thus we see, in the angelical world, as also in this world, that the seventh form of nature is a substantial form, out of which is proceeded the being of corporeity, per verbum Fiat, by the word Fiat; and we have searched the ground, and find, that the same standeth also in two forms, one in the darkness, the other in the light; and yet they belong not to the birth of the darkness and of the light, but they are the body, or comprehensibility.

The most Mighty Gate in the Centre, highly to be considered.

13. This we demonstrate to you in light and darkness; for we cannot say that the darkness is the source [or property], but the darkness encompasseth the source [or property], and causeth that a source of anguish of the longing and desiring, is [generated] in it; for the darkness hath no desiring, but the desiring is generated in it; and the darkness causeth the desiring, viz. that there is conceived a desire to be free from the darkness; and therefore the desiring laboureth so eagerly after the liberty, till the anguish, in the sharp desiring, discovereth the liberty in itself; and yet there it is not [rightly called] the liberty, though] it be the liberty, but it standeth in the sharpness] of the anguish, and is called fire, where the desiring then can go no higher, but must be stifled in itself, and must sink down into the source.

14. And the sharpness of the flash of the fire, in the liberty of the sharpness, holdeth its right, like a still source [or property] standing in the sharpness of the liberty: and the sinking of the anguish is as it were a death, out of which the life is generated, which death affordeth weight: for it is (being compared with the fire of the liberty) like sinking down in itself, and in its sinking, the anguish becometh material, so that in that death the whole form of the source [or property] may found, as I may say, palpably, or sensibly; an the sensibility is the corporeity of the darkness) and the fire of the liberty in the fierce flash, is its spirit and life.

15. And hereby you are advised to enter into yourselves, and you may see, that the fire causet the feeling [or sensibility] in the sharpness of the dead corporeity: for without fire there is no body, that hath any sensibility [or feeling], as you may see by the earth and stones.

16. Now therefore it is here further declared to you, that the body, or substantiality, is not so dead a thing that it is altogether useless, and fit for nothing: for the stifling driveth its property or source downwards, and affordeth weight; and the fire driveth upwards, and giveth spirit, life, and mobility. And now between, these two, in the midst, is the centre of the desiring anguish, which is a cause of that which is uppermost, that is, the fire; and also of that which is nethermost, that is, the substantiality: and if the centre cannot get upwards nor downwards, and yet driveth with its desiring, then it driveth forth sideways, and the whole form or figure of it is as a growing tree; for it appeareth in the centre like a cross, out of which the essences of the desiring spring forth, like a tree or sprout (as I may so say) and yet is not a sprout, but like a driving forth in itself, like a kindling in the dead essentiality.

17. And hereby we give you earnestly to understand, that the source or property in the centre (out of which the fire goeth forth upwards in the essentiality, and where the death sinketh downwards, and the essence sideways), generateth another will, which hath a desire to put the death, as also the fire in the sharpness, with the essences of the will, into the liberty: and the will attaineth the liberty, in the fire; and maketh the fire shine bright, and maketh the joy; and this second or comprehended will is called the tincture.

18. For it is a glance or splendour in the darkness, and hath the power of life, and sprouteth through the death of the essentiality; and quieteth the anguish: yet it hath no essences in itself, it is the ornament and virtue of the essences, it the joy and habitation of the life, it cannot depart from the anxious or painful sharpness, and yet the sharpness retaineth it not; for it is free and blossom of life, it is not soft nor sweet, but it like burning brimstone, where the fire attaineth glance, which otherwise, in the centre in anguish, is black and dark.

19. Thus we distinguish to you the substance in the darkness; and though we are very hard to be understood by you, and though also little belief may be afforded to it, we yet have a very convincing proof of it; not only in the created heaven [constellations], but also in the centre of the earth, as also in the whole Principle of this world, which would be too long to set down here; but we will discuss, and set down a few things, to open the understanding of the Reader.

20. Consider the centre of the earth, which God hath created by his Word, even out of the centre of the deep eternity, out of the darkness, out of the centre of the desirous will; but not out of any separate place, but out of the space and depth, so far as the Word hath yielded itself unto the ether, there hath the centre been every wJiere, and is so now, and remaineth so in eternity; for it hath been so from eternity.

21. And this is the beginning, that the Word hath created [or conceived] a will in the darkness, to manifest the darkness with all its forms, of the wonders of God the Father, in his nature, which he generateth in his eternal will: and we demonstrate it to you thus: Behold the earth, stones, and metals, which are all of them as it were dead and afford weight; and also they are dark [opaque], and yet have in them the light, viz. the noble tincture, which is their light and life; wherein the ore [or mineral] stone doth grow, in which the tincture is strong.

22. Thus you see also, how the brimstone fire is the overcomer of nature, in which the tincture doth exist, and so through the death of nature springeth up, in stones and metals; and in nature bringeth forth the substantiality of the shining and glance, or brightness, which may be seen in gold, silver, and all glistering metals. Wherein also we see the poisonous anguish of the darkness, as also the sour death of the darkness, and the strong matter of conjunction [mixture or copulation]; as they understand who work and deal therein.

23. Also we see how the tincture can bring that which is lowest in the death to its highest ornament or glory, (viz. an inferior metal into gold); and all that, in respect of the great power of the eternity. And therefore also the tincture is hidden from the alchemists, because it is originally out of the eternity, and they seek only that which is earthly; if they did rightly seek, they should well find it, as we have found in the spirit.

24. But we have yet a greater knowledge of this, in the many materials or kinds of earth, which we know to be created out of the eternal essences, as an outbirth, and so are in substance as an image of the essences; where we may see the altering of the will in the essences, and the great wonders of the omnipotence of God.

25. For all things, which are come to an essence, proceeded out of the eternal genetrix, not at several times, but all at once; yet stood [or were manifested] in several times, in the forming of the essence or substance (in the wrestling of the centre) in the figure, and were seen by the Heart of God in the light, which at length created it; where the time took its beginning.

26. For the Deity hath had a longing to see the wonders of the eternal nature, and of the innumerable essences, in substance, and in corporeal things; and we give you to understand this highly and exactly: that God hath created all for the light, and not the darkness.

27. For he hath awakened the tincture, to the death in the centre (viz. to the body or corporeal substance of the earth), and that is its lustre and light, wherein its life doth consist. And, to the deep above the centre, he hath given the sun, which is a tincture of the fire, and reacheth with its virtue into the liberty, beyond nature, wherein also it retaineth its glance and lustre; and it [the sun] is the life of the whole wheel of the stars, and an opener of death, in the chamber of anguish [or in the wrathful nature]. For all the stars are its children, not that they have their essences from it, but it is their life, and in the beginning, they proceeded from its centre: it is the centre of the uppermost in the liberty of the life, and the earth is the centre of the nethermost in the death; and yet there is no dying in either of them, but an altering of one thing [being, essence, substance] into another.

28. For this world dieth not, but it shall be changed into such a substance as it was not before (understand its essences): but the shadow of all things remains standing for ever as a figure, to the honour, joy, [and manifestation] of God's works of wonder.

29. And further we give you to understand, that the spirits also were all created unto the light; for they are the essences [or proceeding powers] out of the life; not out of the corporeity of the death, but out of the centre of the essences in the original of the tincture, which reacheth the liberty of God the Father, which is light, joy, or a habitation of eternity, wherein the Word with the angelical world hath its dominion. They all are created out of the sharpness of the twinkling in the wheel of the essences; and they stand in the liberty before the Heart of God, and they are the wonders in the divine delight, which are discovered by the Heart, in the wonders of the power, and therefore it set the will in the Fiat, and created them.

30. And we understand by the word Schuff, [which signifieth created], a separation of the essences, in the centre, in the sour matrix: and therefore there is also such great diversity in the spirits, as there is great diversity in the will of the essences; whereof we have an example and similitude in the will [and purpose] of our mind, out of which spring so many various thoughts, where every thought hath again a centre to a will: that so out of a conceived thought [imagination], a substance may be [produced]. [For example, a woman with child can with her thoughts set a mark on, or make some monstrous alteration in, the fruit of her womb, which is a substantial thing.]

31. In such a manner are all spirits created out of the eternal Mind, and therefore they are also eternal; for all whatsoever is generated out of the eternal mind, is eternal.

32. For before God had conceived the Fiat, the wheel of the eternal essences went forth without substance, into the wonders: but when God set the will in the Fiat, then the wheel of the eternal essences went forth into a substance, and there the time had its beginning, which was not from eternity.

33. And we give you highly to understand the heavy fall of Lucifer; which [was that] he put his will back again into the matrix of the fire, in the centre, and turned away from the will of the eternal Mind, which tendeth only to the Heart of God, and would domineer in the tincture of the root (viz. in the matrix of the fire) over the Heart of God: for the fierce power of the fire delighted him more than the meekness in the still habitation; and therefore he was thrust back also, (into the dark matrix, into the anguishing mind), in the sinking down of death.

34. But to satisfy the high enquiring mind, and to fill its apprehension, concerning what moved Lucifer to this, we offer the matrix of the genetrix to be considered; and there you find all the forms, which can be found in the whole nature.

35. For you find there the sour, bitter, dark, tart, stinging, envious [properties or forms], which stand all in the centre of the genetrix, before the kindling of the light.

36. But when God set his will in the Fiat, and desired to create spirits, it was no other than as when God said to the matrix [or womb] of the Third Principle, of this world; Bring forth all sorts of beasts, fowls, fishes, and worms, every one after its kind: understand, that their body is according to the kind or quality of their essences, and so is the substance or essence in the body, which is their spirit; and so also it is with the high spirits: there went forth out of the eternal matrix, spirits, out of all essences, which are innumerable, to our account.

37. And as we have shewn you already, concerning the seven forms of the centre of the eternal nature, where every form is a several wellspring of nature; in like manner, out of every form, out of every wellspring, go forth spirits, according to the multiplicity of essences and properties, every one according to its kind.

38. And the uppermost principal dominion proceedeth from the headsource, which is the cause of the multiplicity therein, as the mind is a cause of the senses [or various thoughts]; and we entreat you to consider the matrix earnestly; wherein you shall quickly know the conceived will of Lucifer, what it is in its original, how the creature hath imagined into the matrix, and suffered itself to be withheld there; and yet God created all spirits in the light.

39. For the tincture of the friendly habitation shone out of them all, and the Heart of God shone to them, [like the Lamb in the New Jerusalem], and they should put their imagination into it, and frame their will and power in verbo Domini, in the Word of the Lord.

40. But as they saw that the Verbum Domini, the Word of the Lord, in the centre, was as another [or second] birth out of the centre; and that they were generated out of the essences of the great fountain, which is the nature of eternity; they despised the humility, out of which the love and light is generated, and would domineer (in the fierce power, in the source of the fire) over the humility: for the matrix of the fire desired to have the dominion.

41. For we cannot know any otherwise, than that Lucifer was created in the fourth form of the matrix: for there stand the anger and love in opposition, and this is the strife and overcoming, where the light overcometh and holdeth the darkness captive. [The fourth form is in the midst of the seven forms, and may turn itself to the three in the anger, or to the three in the love of God, and is severally drawn and desired by each of the three.]

42. Also the wrath and zeal of the eternal nature of God, desired to be creaturely, and to shew forth its wonders; and therefore they [the spirits or fallen angels] were held in the fountain of their own [original] nature; and they have kindled the matrix of the fierceness of the anger and envy, so that now it is their eternal habitation.

43. The tincture (in their conceived will) is become false, because they would domineer (out of their pride) over the humility of the Heart of God: and therefore they were cast out of the uppermost centre into the nethermost, viz. into death, where is nothing but mere darkness, and they cannot reach the light of God.

44. For, to the light of God, there belongeth a comprehension of humility, wherein the desire of love is generated, which apprehendeth the Heart of God; and this Lucifer hath not, but mere anger, envy, and highmindedness, and a continual desire to fly up above the Heart of God, and to domineer in the stern might: and therefore he is thrust out from the divine Principle, into the centre of darkness; and that is his eternal kingdom.

45. And here is clearly shewn to the theologists, who undertake to preach of the will of God, that their devices, about ways to God, are mere fables, when they make laws, and set down things, as the means whereby the light of God may be attained: For it only consisteth in this, and it lieth in our imagination [purpose or resolution], that we frame our will into humility, wherein the love is generated, which penetrateth to the Heart of God, as into that which is its own, where the human soul is then born in God, so that it embraceth the will of God, to do that which is the will of God.

46. For all men's doings without the will of God, are nothing else but graven images [foolery, human tradition] of natural skill, which remain in the anguish of the centre: and it is a seeking, where nothing is to be found; like one that maketh a costly piece of work, which himself taketh pleasure in.

47. So also such works stand before God, as a figure, which yet remain in the figure eternally; but, to the true regeneration, to the attaining of the Heart of God, there belongeth only an earnest will, and submission, where reason lets go all that it hath invented and contrived, and dependeth merely on the Word of the Lord, viz. on the Heart of God; and so the spirit is conceived and born in the love of God.

48. And we have already clearly shewn you, that everything is generated out of the will, and everything hath its propagation again in the will; for the will is the master [artificer] of every work: for it hath its first original to nature from God the Father, and passeth through nature to his Heart, which is the end of nature, which dwelleth there in the still eternal liberty without nature, and is in nature as a peculiar Principle of its own, in itself.

49. Thus the original of nature hath the second Principle, out of which proceed those things or substances that may be altered; but the Principle of the Heart of God doth not [alter or change].

50. Therefore I still say, and it is the very truth; that whatsoever is built, invented, and taught, concerning the way to God, (if it proceed not out of the humility of love, and goeth on to the comprehending [or purpose] of the will, to the Heart of God) is only an 1 invented work, in the wonders of God: whereby the wonders of God, which stand in the hidden seals, are brought to light: and the builders [or contrivers] are but labourers in the wonders of God, in the great building, to the glory of God, which [building] shall appear in the wonders, at the change of time, when all things shall enter into the ether [receptacle or devourer].

51. Yet we do not judge, nor condemn, the desirous seeker, who seeketh in blindness, and knoweth not what he doth; seeing he laboureth in the building of the great wonders of God, [with a blind zeal]. For he shall find his reward in the end, inasmuch as he hath had a will to press into God, and yet sticketh in the building.

52. And when the building shall appear before God, at the end of time, then the artificer or workmaster shall also appear before God. But do we alone say this? Doth not the Scripture in the Revelation of Jesus Christ say; That our works shall follow us; where every one shall reap what he hath sown?

53. Therefore leave off your calumnies and blasphemies, and your fine contrived ways to God; and forsake the covetousness and highmindedness of the devil, and enter into the way of love, which consisteth in humility (towards the Heart of God) in Christ Jesus, who hath opened again the hidden seals, wherewith we in Adam were sealed in the eternal death; and then you are in Christ, born in God, and attain the divine will.

54. We give you further to understand, according to our apprehension and knowledge, in the wonders of God, (because eveiything that liveth and moveth is created for the honour [the manifestation] of God's works of wonder), that there are many spirits in shape and figure which have not their original out of the eternal wellspring, but out of the beginning [anxious] will; such as are in the water, the air, the earth, and the fire; especially under the firmament, those ascendants, of which there are multitudes in great hosts, and have also their government; yet they are mutable, but their shadow remaineth; and there are several pure spirits which do not propagate out of themselves, but are generated at several times, by the working of nature, by the tincture of heaven; understand, the superior [spirits].

55. But the terrestrial have their centre from the inferior globe; and the watery, out of the matrix of the water; and they have several heavens for their government, yet they all pass away at their time, and stand to the [manifestation of the] wonders of God.

56. And we give you to understand, that before the time of the angelical world, from eternity, there hath been such a government; where the knowledge and understanding was only in God; but by the angelical world is also come into the creatures. The Gate in Ternarium Sanctum. [into the Trinity]

57. Now having shewn this concerning the corporeity and the spirits; (and indeed the spirits are creaturely and substantial, though incomprehensible to us), therefore we 'will further shew you the kingdom of heaven, with its spirits and forms, and after that, the human kingdom: whereby the great wonders of God shall be brought to light. Let none be wilfully blind, it may be demonstrated in everything, in whatever you look upon; especially in man, for he is the image and similitude of everything, and therefore is called the similitude of God.

58. There is no creature, either in heaven, or in this world, wherein all the Three Principles stand open, as in man: and if his soul be born in God, he excelleth the angels, in the wonders, as I will shew you hereafter.

59. But if this text [or matter] happen to be difficult for the Reader to understand, we would have him admonished to read it patiently and diligently: and though he be not able to comprehend it [presently], yet it will be very useful to him hereafter, when the Threefold Life of Man shall be written of, and then first rightly come into his understanding, so that he himself will then esteem it for a great jewel.

60. For the mind doth not leave off searching, till it comes to the innermost ground, which is here shewn. But if it reach not the ground, it sinketh down in the ground, and cannot apprehend it; and then cometh doubting, unbelief, and contempt, into the mind, [as if this writing were not worth the troubling one's head about it], therefore we would have the Reader admonished not to jest with the high hidden Mysteries; for thereby the spirit of God is blasphemed.

61. And it is with the mind, as with Lucifer. When he saw the greatest hidden Mysteries of the Deity stand in such humility, he took offence at it, and entered into the fierce might of the fire, and would domineer with his own self, wit, and reason, over [the Heart of] God; he would that God should be in subjection under him, he would be the framer and creator in nature, and therefore he became a devil.

62. For in the meekness and lowliness consisteth the kingdom of heaven, with the angelical world, and the virtue of the Heart of God.

63. For the light consisteth in meekness: and though it hath its original out of the centre of the fire, viz. out of the sharpness of God, yet it placeth its centre in very great meekness; for the liberty without nature is the end of nature: and the light dwelleth in the liberty, as a glance or brightness of a still joy [habitation]; and the Word [proceeding] out of the powers of nature is the fire of the light, out of which the shining goeth forth, and enlighteneth the whole deep of the Father; so that it is one essence together, but with three distinctions, where every distinction hath a centre, and may be called a Person.

64. For, the Father generateth the nature out of the eternal still liberty, which is himself, and yet in the stillness is not called Father; but in that he is desiring [or generating], and comprehendeth a will in himself, to [have] the genetrix of nature [to be]; there he is known to be a Father, from whom all things proceed, as out of his first will through all wills.

65. Even as the mind of man is but one only will, which is desiring, and yet conceiveth in it, out of the eternal will, innumerable wills, and one always goeth forth out of the other. Whereby we see and find, that the first will is master, and the other recomprehended wills lead to light and darkness, to joy and sorrow; according as they conceive anything good or evil in them, as reason can discern. So it is also in the Father, in nature, but not in the liberty; for there, there is nothing in himself, but the light eternity.

66. Seeing then a twofold comprehension thus proceedeth out of one will, as to joy and sorrow, love and hatred, therefore each hath its birth to will [or to a contrary will, out of one and the same point] again, out of one into many: Nature hath its will to the sharpness of its stern generating: and the first will of the Father, (which ariseth out of the light eternity), to the still meekness: even as the still eternity is, in itself, a still soft joy, without substance.

67. Thus there is a twofold driving in one only substance, and therefore also two centres are generated; the one tendeth to meekness, and the other to fierceness, and yet are not separated: for the fierceness in nature is the first, and out of the fierceness is the meekness generated, which is the other; and one without the other would be only a still eternity.

68. Therefore now, the meekness is the Son of God, which dwelleth in the still eternity, and mitigateth the wrath, and is therefore called the Son, because he is generated out of the Father's nature; and is called the Word of the Father, because he is, with the glance of the eternal liberty, [proceeding] out of the eternal liberty (out of the wheel of the essences, out of the forms of nature, as the life of nature) expressed in the liberty of the Father; and is called a Person, because he is a self-subsisting essence, which doth not belong to the birth of nature, but is the life and understanding of nature; and is called the Heart of the Father, because he is the virtue and power in the centre of nature; and he is in nature, as the heart in the body, which giveth strength and understanding to its members; and is called the light of God, because the light is kindled in him, and taketh its original in him; and is called the glance [or brightness] because, in the eternal still liberty, he maketh a glance [or lustre] which taketh its original out of the sharpness of the eternal nature, as is mentioned before. And he is called the love of the Father, because the first will of the Father, to the genetrix of nature, desireth only this his most beloved Heart, and this (in the will of the Father) is the best beloved above nature, and yet is his essence: And is called wonder, because he is the Creator of all things, by whom all things, out of the centre of the essences of the Father, are brought to light, and being; so that the nature of the Father standeth in great wonders.

69. And this is the diversity, [and the cause] that the Father and the Son are called two Persons, and yet are but one God in one only essence; that is, the Father is the generator of nature, because it is generated by his will, out of the desire; and because his Heart separateth itself from nature, and is not comprehended by nature, and exerciseth a several centre, viz. the love; and the Father exerciseth the centre of wrath. In the sharpness of the Father is the fire, and in the sharpness of the Son is the light, and yet they are in one another, as fire and light.

70. But as the fire will be free (or else it is smothered) and yet it burnetii out of the dark sappy wood, so is the divine nature also free from the inward wrathful darkness: and though the fire burneth out of diversity of materials, yet it affordeth but one kind of source or property, viz. heat and light. And in the same manner also you must understand us, concerning the Deity.

71. The Son is in the light eternity of the Father, (and in his comprehended will) in his nature, but one only source, which burneth in love and light, and is the glance of the glory of the Father, and cannot be separated or disunited from the Father; for there is but one will in him, which is called the desire of mercy [Barmhertzigkeit], and that is attractive of whatsoever inclineth towards it.

72. And the Holy Ghost is the Third Person, which I formerly called the spirit Mercurius, in the divine nature, in respect of its property: For you see that every will in itself is still, and every light is still, and the noise maketh the will manifest, which then standeth before the will, and maketh another centre. For the noise or sound is comprehended and carried forth, but the will is not so; which you may perceive by a word, how that is comprehended and carried forth which is generated in the noise. And you know also, how the noise hath its beginning in the heart, and goeth forth out of the essences of the will, and is comprised in the mouth, and yet presseth forth out of the heart, and soundeth out from the whole person, and declareth what is in the will.

73. And we find also, that the noise is the awakener of the life, also the framer [workmaster] of the senses, reason, and understanding; for it is the hearing, and bringeth one essence into another, from whence the smell and taste arise: also it is the cause of the feeling, by bringing one essence into another, where then they feel one another: also it causeth the senses: for the essences [or the outflowing faculties] comprehend the noise, so that every essence is a will, and again in the will is the introduced centre, to a genetrix of many wills.

74. And secondly, we perceive, that the air which presseth forth from the heart, comprehendeth the noise [sound], and in the mouth maketh a centre, where the will formeth the word; and the will, which thrusteth forth from the heart, bringeth the noise of the will, in the conceived centre, which existeth in the mouth, out from the centre of the mouth: and that noise is sharp, and penetrateth through the heart, mind, and senses: for it is gone forth out of the centre, into another [thing or] essence, as into another mind, and bringeth with its sharpness that [mind or essence] into its will: and if that will [or the other mind] pleaseth it not, it breaketh that will, and destroyeth it, viz. punisheth that mind, which is not one [or agreeable] with its will.

75. Thus, my beloved seeking and desiring mind, consider thyself, search thyself, and find thyself; thou art the similitude, image, essence, and proper portion of God; and as thou art, so is the eternal birth in God; for God is a spirit, and the government in thy body is also a spirit, and that is proceeded and created out of God's government.

76. For God hath manifested himself in the spirit of man, both in love and in anger, both the centres are in it; and the third [centre] with the exit of the spirit is the omnipotence, if the spirit of this world, (viz. the Third Principle) had not set its bar in Adam, which is broken by the birth of Christ, and is made a wonder; being born as a great wonder, and shewn in the presence of God.

77. Thus in like manner we acknowledge a third Person in the Deity, which proceedeth from the Father and the Son. For he is the spirit of the mouth of God, and hath not his original in nature, but is the spirit of the first will to nature; yet he getteth his sharpness in nature: and therefore he is the former and framer in nature, as most powerful and omnipotent.

78. For he manageth the sword of omnipotence, [as may be seen by the Image in the Revelation], he is the bringer forth, the conductor, and the director; also the destroyer of malice and wickedness, and the opener of the hidden Mysteries; he existeth in the Father from eternity, without beginning: for the Father, without him, would be only an eternal stillness, without essence.

79. He is the essence of the will, as is mentioned concerning the fire, out of which the air ariseth, which goeth forth from the fire: and as you see that the human life, and its understanding, consisteth in the air, and that the air governeth the life: so you must understand us concerning the spirit of God; which is the outgoing and flowing virtue out of the Heart and Word of God.

80. For the Heart is the Word; and the spirit is the former of the Word; not that he maketh the Word, but he is the self-subsisting essence: when the wheel of the essences in the centre of the Father goeth on in triumph as a genetrix, then he is in the wheel, in the appearing [or shining] of the liberty, and openeth the genetrix in the darkness, and causeth the longing of the other [or second] will, to the centre of the Word.

81. He is the key, in the shining of the will in the essences, and openeth the matrix of the genetrix. He is not comprehended by the essences, nor by the centre of the Word; but he closeth with the Word and Heart, and openeth the Heart to the pressure or representation], that so the will of the Father may impress in the Heart; and then he is in that which is impressed, and formeth in his own centre, in that which is impressed, and goeth forth with the virtue of the Word, out from the Heart, and [expresseth or] bringeth forth the thoughts of the will.

82. For the thoughts are the hidden seals in the seven forms: and they open the spirit, that it may come to the will, that so out of one form of the genetrix, many wills may come, and go forth, without number infinitely, but yet in the opening and driving of the spirit: and all wonders without number stand in the opening of the spirit: he it is that manifesteth the Deity in nature: he spreadeth forth the glance of the majesty, so that it is seen in the wonders of nature. He himself is not the glauce, but the power of the glance, and leadeth the glance of the Majesty of God in triumph: he is the joy of the Deity, and maketh the holy sport, with his opening, in the hidden seals of the essences.

83. I give you a similitude of this, in the spirit and life of man: you see the body, which is in itself, a dark [or opaque] thing, void of understanding: it hath indeed the essences, but from the opening of the spirit, which openeth the essences, and bringeth them to the will, or else the body would be dead, still, and senseless.

84. So you see also, that the spirit is not the body, but it hath a government of its own: and when it departeth from the body, the body perisheth, for the essences [or the flowing faculties] remain in the dark death, and there is no understanding: for it is the spirit which openeth the thoughts, [and bringeth them forth] out of the essences.

85. And you see moreover, that the spirit is not the light itself, for the light hath its original in the tincture, which is the blossom of the fire, but the spirit is the blower up of the fire, as you see by the air, which bloweth up the human fire: and we may understand it well enough in our selves, if we do but open and know our selves, by our spirit, which shall here following be shewed us.

86. Understand us here rightly concerning the number Three [or Trinity] of the Deity: we mean but one God in three Persons, of one essence and will. But we give you to understand concerning the Ternary, that there are three centres therein, which are known in the eternal nature, but are not known without [or beyond] nature: for without the nature, the Deity is called Majesty, But in nature, it is called Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; Wonder, Counsel, Power.

87. For whatsoever is without nature, could not help me, I could not in eternity, either see, feel, or find it, because I am in nature, and generated from it.

88. But because the Majesty hath generated the nature, and so hath manifested itself therein in three Persons, therefore I rejoice in that manifestation, as being a creature inhabiting therein, in eternity.

89. And seeing then that I am generated out of the nature of God, therefore is it my mother, and the food of my soul; and my soul is the food of God: for I am his praise [and glory] which he receiveth from my spirit: for my soul openeth his wonders, through his working, and so is a joy in Ternario Sancto [holy Trinity].

90. I speak not only of myself, but of all men and creatures, wherein his wonders stand open, both in his love and anger. For the devils themselves stand in the wonders of God: for they open the seals of the anger: and all standeth to the joy and glory of God.

THE FIFTH CHAPTER

Of the precious and most Noble Virgin, the Wisdom of God: and of the Angelical World. The Two Gates in Ternarium Sanctum, highly to be Considered.

1. THOU sophister, I know thou wilt accuse me of pride, because I (being a mean simple man in this world) soar so high into the deep. But it is said, that you look only upon the wisdom of this world; I do not esteem or care for it, for it affordeth me no joy at all. But I rejoice at this, that my soul moveth in the wonders, to the praise of God, so that I know his wondrous works, in which my soul delighteth as in its mother. Now every spirit speaketh of its own mother, whose food it eateth, and in whose source [or property] it liveth.

2. Now since I know the wonders, shall I be silent? Am I not born to it, as also all the creatures, that they should open the wonders of God? Therefore now I labour in my [employment], and another in his, and thou, proud sophister, in thine.

3. We stand all in God's field, and we grow to God's glory, and to his works of wonder, as well the wicked as the virtuous; but every fruit groweth in its own property: when the mower shall cut it down, then every fruit shall come into its own barn, and every property receiveth that which is its own; and then the field in its essences (out of which we are grown) shall be manifested: for there are two centres in the eternity, and each centre shall bring in its own crop.

4. Therefore consider, O man, what you judge, that you fall not upon the sword of the spirit of God, and that your work be not blown up [kindled] in the fire of wrath: for look upon the Image in the Revelation, which beareth the sword in its mouth: surely it signifieth the spirit of God, concerning which Christ said, When he cometh he shall reprove the world of sins, of righteousness, and of judgment.

5. Of sins, because they live in hypocrisy, and are not obedient to the spirit of God, nor believed in him, that he might manifest heavenly wonder in them, but they continue under the wrath in the first centre, and will not be regenerated, and do open [or manifest] no other wonders, but such as are in the wrath in mere hypocrisy.

6. And of righteousness, Christ saith, Because I go to the Father. He hath destroyed death, and opened the heavenly gate for the soul, and is gone again to his Father, and hath called us to him; but the dissembling hypocrite will not come, he taketh more delight in his pride: therefore the spirit reproveth him, and rebuketh him to his face, and layeth all his false ways open to the light, that he might see, and beware.

7. But he striketh down the wonders of the reproof to the ground, till the spirit reproveth him of judgment, because the prince of this world (who held men captive) is judged: And thou, sophister, runnest on wittingly (for thy own profit, transitory voluptuousness, and honour's sake) to the devil, and canst not see the open gate, which the spirit sheweth thee, therefore he reproveth thee, and sheweth it to thy face.

8. And if you will not, for all that, then it is as was said: We have piped unto you, but you have not danced; we have called you, but you are not come to us; I have been hungry after you, but you have not fed me; you are not grown in my garden of roses, therefore you are none of my food; your heart hath not been found in my praise, therefore you are not my food. And this bridegroom passeth by; and then cometh the other, and gathereth, what he findeth, into his barn; you should consider that.

[Further Information touching the Holy Trinity.]

9. Now since we speak of the Holy Trinity, as of one only God, in one only essence; therefore we say, that the Holy Spirit goeth forth from the Father and the Son. And seeing God is every where, and himself filleth all things in the whole deep, therefore the mind asketh, Whither doth the spirit go forth, seeing it is in the mouth of God, and also remaineth only in God, as a spirit in a body? 10. Here see Apocalypse the fourth, there appeareth before the throne of the Ancient [of Days] a glassy sea, wherein standeth the seats of the twenty-four elders, with the Lamb, which was slain and liveth eternally: and the Ancient [of Days] sitting upon the throne, hath the book with seven seals, which the Lamb that was slain took out of his hand, and broke open the seals.

11. There you see the seventh spirit of the divine nature, which is the joy of the Majesty of God, wherein the Trinity manifesteth itself; and you see the true angelical world: For the sea is the water-spirit, which in the original of nature, is the fierce sourness, but it getteth a shriek [or aspect] from the light of God, where this form departeth: and the crack or shriek, in the darkness, turneth to be a sinking down into death; where yet the captivated shriek in the light (which is now called joy) is also a sinking down, and is turned into meekness, wherein the light shineth: And it is like unto a glassy sea.

12. But it is the corporeity [body or substance]of the divine nature; and herein the seven spirits of God, viz. the seven burning torches, are revealed, which the angel in the Revelation biddeth to be written; but the seven thunders in the dark matrix in the fierce nature, he biddeth to be sealed, and not written: for they would be opened one after another, and pour forth their wonders, which none should know, till they are past; till the seventh seal in Ternario sancto is opened, and then shall the hidden Mystery of the kingdom of God be finished, when the seventh angel soundeth his trumpet.

13. And here we give you to understand what Moses saith; God created the heaven out of the midst of the waters. Behold, thou seeking mind! this glassy sea (which is the water-spirit in the presence of God) is the matrix, out of which the word Fiat created the element of water: for the element of water in this world is an out-birth out of the matrix of the heaven.

14. For they use to say, God dwelleth in heaven, and it is true; and that heaven is the comprehension of God, wherein God hath manifested himself through the creatures, viz. the angels and the souls of men: for in this seventh form (viz. in the glassy sea) the nature of the Father standeth revealed in great holiness, not in the fire; but the word is the fire of this source [or property], and the Holy Spirit here goeth forth through the Word, in the angelical world, and formeth everything that groweth and liveth; for he is the spirit of life, in this source [or property].

15. Behold, thou seeking mind! I shew it to you yet more deeply and clearly; thus nature is generated out of the Father's first will, which is in itself only a spirit, and a darkness, and yet is driven so far by the will as into seven forms, and out of seven infinitely: But the cause of nature consisteth in the first four forms, viz. (I) in sour or harsh desiring; (II) in the bitter sting; (III) in the flash of fire, where the life taketh its original; and the fourth (IV) in the crack or shriek of the matrix before the fire; where the sinking of the heavy death downwards, and the going of the fire-life upwards, is generated, where the centre then standeth in the midst, as a heart in the body; out of which the tincture (V) (as the fifth form of fire) ariseth, which is the love-desire: and that desire is a penetrating noise [or sound] (VI) in the sixth form; and the life of the tincture penetrateth through the sinking down of death, where then we understand the meekness of the tincture, which maketh the sinking down corporeal (VII), which is the seventh form: out of which corporeity, in the beginning of this world, the earth, stones, metals, and the whole centre of the globe of the earth, were generated; and in the six forms of nature standeth the globe of the earth, with its regimen, and the seventh form is the comprehensibility, or palpability, as is in earth and stones, and it is the body of the six forms, wherein they perform their work, as a spirit in the body. And the upper globe in the deep above the earth hath just such a regimen, in seven forms, where then the four elements keep the upper centre; and the constellations [keep] the wheel of the essences of the will; and the sun the tincture of fire, wherein every life in this [outward] world consisteth.

16. And just so also is the inward regimen in Ternario sancto, not separated from this world, but this [world] is separated only by a Principle: for there is no corner or place in this world, where the inward regimen is not.

17. For this world is become corporeal out of the Father's nature, out of the wrath, out of the seventh form, where the tincture of the sun maketh it lovely and pleasant again.

18. And therefore the devil is called a prince of this world, for he is the prince in the wrath of the Father's nature: and the angelical world is the Son's nature, in great love, joy, pleasantness, and humility: for the Word (or the Heart of God) is the centre therein.

19. And the flash (where light and darkness separate) maketh the Principle, and severeth it into two kingdoms: where one centre burneth in the fire [or anger], and the other in love, out of which the clear light shineth. And you must know, that the fierce flash is the mark or limit of separation: for that is the crack or shriek to life and to death, where wrath and love part; which I will explain to you hereafter.

20. Thus we give you to understand concerning the angelical world. The Father's property is no darkness, but the darkness is generated in the stern desire; and the Father's property is the light, clear, free eternity, which hath a will to nature, and that light will, in the nature, is the flash of the essences, and sharpeneth itself, in the stern hard wrath, and driveth itself on, to the fourth form, where the flash of the liberty in the sharpness shineth like fire: and there the flash of the liberty divideth itself into two Principles: one forward from it, with the strong might of the fire; the other in itself, in the free light eternity, and it giveth the glance [brightness] to the light liberty.

21. And in this separation the flash maketh the cross [horizontal and vertical line crossing], where it presseth so terribly through the dark wrath. And so the fierceness, with its centre, flieth upwards, for the fire driveth upwards: and the matrix of the sourness sinketh (as a thing that is killed, by the shriek) down into death; and the flash upon the cross standeth still essentially: for it hath discovered the matrix, and the matrix hath infected it, and holdeth it captive: and the fierce flash in the matrix turneth to meekness: for the flash in the terrified and overcome matrix getteth a terror or crack also, as when water is cast upon fire: where yet there is no water, but spirit [to be understood].

22. Thus the fierceness of the fire is quenched upon the cross; and the blossom of the noble tincture springeth up upon the cross, as is mentioned before; and the blossom of the life in the tincture (as a pleasing fire) springeth up like a sprout; and the crack or shriek sinketh down as a faintness and weakness, though there is no parting asunder, but the forms of the divine nature are in such a manner; and that sinking down, is as a joy, and is not the spirit in the six forms, which are incomprehensible; for the sinking is comprehensible by the spirit: and the joy [or habitation] hath all the forms of the spirit, and is the food and satiating of the spirit; for it hath its original out of the sour matrix, and so every life eateth of its own matrix [or mother].

23. And although we have no tongue here, that can (according to our [outward] language) bring these hidden Mysteries to the understanding, yet we speak as a child of its mother. For the mother hath taken up our mind, and our sense sinketh down into her bosom; where then we see in the light, and know our mother, and speak thus of our mother's house, and of her food [which we live upon].

24. And though we cannot well speak the language, yet we know it in the sense, very well: and the cause why we have not that language, is because (according to the outward man) we are altogether a stranger in our mother's house, for the outward man doth not belong to that house, and therefore it hath not the mother's tongue [or language], but speaketh with the sense of the inward man, which reacheth to the mother.

25. Therefore here we shall be as it were dumb, to those which are not born of God; for (according to the outward man) we are in this world, and according to the inward man, we are in God: therefore the sense of the mind speaketh of the kingdom of heaven, and the outward spirit, (which is generated from the Principle of this world), speaketh of [or from] this world, and the inward [Spirit] (born of God) speaketh of the inward world.

26. Since then we are generated out of both worlds, therefore we speak in two languages: and so we must be understood also by two languages, one whereof will despise this [work], and the other will highly believe and love it, for every spirit taketh its own, [the spider poison, the bee honey; the corrupt Adam (in Ismael) loveth scorning; the true man (in Christ) with Isaac, loveth obedience].

27. But seeing we are with our soul (in this world) in a strange lodging, and yet we certainly know, that we must travel, either into heaven to God, or into hell to the devil; and since we like not the devil, we should do well to seek after the kingdom of heaven, and to cast our mind and thoughts upon it; for thereby we gain the precious crown of pearls, instead of the crown of this world, which the devil hath set upon us, through sin, wherewith we go about in this world, with brave shows, in hypocrisy, in high-mindedness, and in our own authority and power: and therefore we will let them go, and speak of our mothers crown in our native country.

28. We have sufficient understanding of it, if we know our selves aright: and we find it in our body and soul, as also in the form and shape of the body; but especially in the mind: but the spirit of this world knoweth not itself, except another light shine in it, wherein the mind can see and know itself.

29. For the spirit born of God, (which goeth forth from God in the divine sense [or understanding]) openeth to the mind the understanding and knowledge, so that man seeth himself in the bands of this world; yet he seeth not his glory, but he looketh in Ternarium Sanctum, [into the Holy Ternary], into the angelical world, which he laboureth for, with great longing, and there is a continual restlessness in him.

30. For he is attracted by two, viz. by the spirit of God, and by the devil, in whose bands also he is tied, according to the outward sinful man: and his centre standeth directly upon the cross, and he is in this world like a balance, whereof one part goeth suddenly up, and then suddenly down again: and we are here only in a valley of misery, anguish, and perplexity.

31. Now seeing God is so near us, yea in our selves, therefore let us seek him: and if we would find him, we must turn away from this world, and become like a little infant, that is without under- standing, which only hangeth to the breasts of its mother: and we must be new born in God, with our mind and thoughts, or else we cannot see him: and Christ himself teacheth us the same, [saying] that his light shineth in us.

32. We must wholly reject our own reason, and not regard the dissembling flattering art of this world, it is not available to help us to that light; but it is a mere leading astray, and keeping of us back.

33. This we intimate to the Reader, that he may know [what it is which] he readeth: [it is] not the writing of a man of understanding, but of a child; as a child [newly born] from the mother is a stranger to this world, [and hath no understanding of it].

34. Therefore we speak of our child-like birth in God, for our beginning is upon the cross: we are created upon the cross as to our soul, therefore the body also is a cross: and the centre (viz. the heart) is in the midst of the cross: and we are with Adam, gone forth from the image of the cross, into the image of the serpent: But the Son of the virgin hath regenerated us again on the cross to a heavenly image.

35. Therefore we will speak, what we see and know in the ground, and not be silent; for a cross-birth keepeth its centre in Ternario sancto [in the Holy Ternary], understand it rightly, in the holy number Three, but not in the Majesty, which is without essence, but in the distinction of the Trinity, where the Deity is called Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, where the two Principles part, the holy and the wrathful; and there it is that the flash maketh a cross, and upon the cross, the Heart of God is generated [from eternity to eternity], and standeth as a heart in the body, or as God the Father's Word in his centre, and so maketh another centre in itself, [as the light maketh another centre than the fire, and yet they are not parted asunder]. For it entereth into itself, into the light of the liberty of the Father.

36. Therefore it is the Heart of God, for it is the power of the Majesty, and affordeth the lustre, power, and glory of the Majesty.

37. Out of this Word the Father speaketh forth his spirit, [as the fire sendeth forth the air through the light], which spirit goeth forth from the Word, into the meekness of the Word, and bringeth with him the glance of the Majesty; for the meekness taketh its beginning with the flash [of lightning] which is the separating mark of the two Principles: where the wrath goeth upwards, and the meekness downwards: and are both the substance of the corporeity.

38. For although the wrath in the flash inclineth upwards, and also side-ways [cross-wise or square], yet the sinking down of death is in it also: for the flash killeth the hard strong might, as is seen how it dissipateth the darkness, and yet the sting of the wrathfulness remaineth in it, where no death is perceived, but substantiality, without understanding: as also in the sinking of the captivated meekness in the light, there is no understanding either, but substantiality, and yet it hath the tincture, which springeth in the substantiality, and is like a growing: and the understanding remaineth merely in the centre on the cross in the Number Three [Trinity].

39. Thus we say the Holy Ghost goeth forth from the Father and the Son [as the air from the fire and the light]: But whither doth he go? Into the substantiality, with the glance of the Majesty, wherein the Deity standeth revealed. This gate is called by me in all my writings, Ternarius Sanctus [the holy Ternary or Trinity]: for I mean the Number Three [or Trinity] in the substantiality, (viz. in the angelical world) where the Three Persons have revealed themselves.

40. Now therefore we say very rightly, that the Son is the Word of the Father, which the Father speaketh. But now the deep mind asketh, Whither doth he speak it? [Or, into what doth he speak it forth?] Behold! the Word is the Heart, and soundeth in the essences [or working powers] of the Father; and the Heart speaketh it in the mouth of the Father, and in the mouth the Holy Spirit of the Father comprehendeth it, in his centre, and so goeth with it forth, from the Father and the Son, into the Substantiality, where it standeth with the glance of the Majesty, as a virgin of the wisdom of God, in Ternario Sancto [in the Holy Ternary].

41. This which is spoken forth is an image of the holy Number Three, and a virgin, but without substance, yet a similitude of God. In this virgin, the Holy Ghost openeth the great wonders of God the Father, which are in his hidden seals.

42. Moreover the Holy Ghost manifesteth the opened seals of the Heart of God in the glance of the Majesty, which stand in the light, and are called the seven spirits of God.

43. Thus the image of the wisdom of God standeth in substance among the seven burning spirits, which burn in the light of God, (for they are the divine nature): and it hath the seven stars (of the hidden seals, which stand in the anger of the Father in his centre) in its hand: for the Heart of God is the might of the Number Three, as the Apocalypse sheweth you in the first chapter. The highly precious Gate for Man to

Consider of.

44. This wisdom of God is an eternal virgin, not a woman, but the chastity and purity without blemish, and is an image of God: She is a representation of the Number Three, which generateth nothing; but in her stand the great wonders, which the Holy Ghost discovereth, and the Word of the Father createth, through the sour matrix, viz. the Fiat; and she is the wonderful wisdom without number; in her hath the Holy Ghost discovered the image of angels, as also the image of man, which the Verbum Fiat [the Word which gives being] hath created.

45. She is the great secret mystery in the counsel of God, and goeth into the first Principle, viz. into the anger of the Father, and openeth the wonders in the hidden seals or forms of nature in the wrath, and is comprehended by nothing; for she is an image without substance of generating: the Holy Ghost hath, through her, discovered the Third Principle, which the word Fiat hath made corporeal, out of both the matrixes, (out of both the mothers), of the substantiality: and he hath discovered a limit to that substance in the centre of the seven forms, where they shall go into their ether with the corporeal substance: and yet both the mothers [or matrixes] shall stand in the substantiality, (before the virgin of the wisdom, before the Number Three [or holy Trinity]) in the eternal figure, to God's glory, and his works of wonder.

46. Therefore consider, O ye philosophers, how God created this world in Six Days: for each day's work is a creation [or creature] of a spirit in Ternario sancto: and the Seventh Day is the rest of the Sabbath of God, in the seventh spirit of God, wherein the virgin of the wisdom of God standeth; and therein is no more any working of anxiety, but the eternal perfection of rest.

47. For the six spirits must shed forth their operations of what is in their seals; and are not known before, till they have poured forth the virtue [or power] of their vials in the Principle of this world, which men and [the other] creatures bring to substance and act [work], [or effect,] as a building to [the manifestation of] God's works of wonder.

48. And when this shall be accomplished, then the hidden spirits of God (under the seals) enter again into the ether, viz. into their centre: and then the time of the seventh seal beginneth, in the substantiality, in the presence of God, and the hidden Mystery of the kingdom of God is accomplished, as is mentioned in the Revelation of Jesus Christ, and as we have known in Ternario sancto, [in the Holy Ternary].

49. This wisdom of God (which is the virgin of glory and beauteous ornament, and an image of the Number Three) is (in her figure) an image, like angels and men, and she taketh her original in the centre on the cross, like a blossom of a branch, out of the spirit of God.

50. For she is the substantiality of the spirit, which the spirit of God putteth on as a garment, whereby he manifesteth himself, or else his form would not be known: for she is the spirit's corporeity, and though she is not a corporeal palpable substance, like us men, yet she is substantial and visible; but the spirit is not substantial.

51. For we men can, in eternity, see no more of the spirit of God, but only the glance of the Majesty: and his glorious power we feel in us, for it is our life, and conducteth us.

52. But we know the virgin in all her heavenly similitudes or images; whereas she giveth a body to all fruits, she is not the corporeity of the fruit, but the ornament and lustre.

53. The corporeity goeth forth out of the substantiality, which is not the spirit, but an impotency, in comparison with the spirit, in which the Number Three dwelleth; and that substantiality is the element of God, for there is a life therein, (but without understanding), in which the paradise of God consisteth; for the seven spirits of God work therein, and it is as a growing [or vegetation]; and herein consist the great wonders of God, according to all essences infinitely.

54. For every form of the essences bringeth forth its fruit, which by the wrestling of the wheel attaineth its highest ornament and power, and yet passeth away as being overcome, for all is herein as a wrestling, where one is now uppermost and mighty, and then is overcome again, and another riseth up which hath other essences: and so it is a holy sport, a joy or fruit of angels, a fulfilling of the will of every life.

55. Here again we need an angel's tongue; for the mind ever asketh; How and where? For when the deep is spoken of, which is without comprehension and number, [or measure], the mind always understandeth some corporeal thing.

56. But when I speak of the virgin of the wisdom of God, I mean not a thing, that is [confined, or circumscribed] in a place; as also when I speak of the Number Three; but I mean the whole deep of the Deity without end and number [or measure].

57. But every divine creature (as are the angels and souls of men) hath the virgin of the wisdom of God, as an image in the light of life; understand, in the substantiality of the spirit, wherein is the Number Three, dwelling in itself.

58. For we comprehend (before us) the Number Three in the image, viz. in the virgin of the wisdom of God; understand, without our person [externally], we see only the Majesty of the Deity, for the creature comprehendeth not the Number Three, in the appearance to the eye; but the spirit of the soul (which standeth in the divine centre) seeth it, but not perfectly.

59. For the spirit of a soul is out of one form of nature, and yet can bring forth in itself all forms of nature. Seeing then there is nothing whole [total] and perfect, but only the Number Three [or the Trinity], therefore other [things] are several [various, distinct, different], [or divided], as there are various sorts of angels [of different qualities and properties].

60. And so the essences of the centre in God, [as to, or] with the angelical spirits, stand all in the wonder, and God is manifested in a creaturely form, by the angelical world; for they are all out of the Being of God.

61. We speak thus only concerning the distinc- tion of the great wonders in God. The spirits of angels are not generated out of the substantiality which is without understanding; but out of the centre of the seven forms (or spirits) of the eternal nature; out of each form a throne [angel]: and out of the throne [angel] his angels (or ministers): and therefore a whole dominion [hierarchy] is fallen with Lucifer.

62. And the kingly and princely dominions [or governments] of this world have their original here; for seeing it [wordly dominion] hath a principle of its own, therefore it hath all forms of the heavenly [government]: and though the flattering hypocrites, the high spirituality (as they call themselves, who lift up themselves above kings and princes) will not believe it, yet it is true.

63. For the fierce might of the principle [of this world] driveth its order [ordinance of government] according to the heavenly form. And although the fierce spirits (of the hidden seals) do pour forth their vials of anger herein, [in the dominions and governments of the Principle of this world], and that the devil getteth great prey in it, what is that to the [heavenly] ordinance [of government]? Have we not life and death before us, and may choose, and take which we will? Who can blame God then? Every one may go whither he will, To whom he giveth himself a servant in obedience, his servant he is: and in that kingdom he shall ever be, whether he be prince or servant.

64. And though one be a superior leader and ruler in this [worldly] Principle, yet he hath not [therefore] divine authority [Jus divinum], but in that condition he is a steward of the Principle, and is under the seals, which under his government bring their wonders to light.

65. A prince is as often a servant in obedience to the devil, as a miserable herdsman is, and there is no difference between them, but in the office they bear, which he beareth for God, and not for himself.

66. For in the courts of kings and princes, the vials of wrath, of the hidden seals (or spirits) are poured forth; from whence cometh the thundering, lightning, and wars, contention and strife upon earth: which the flattering hypocrites of the great whore in Babel (which ride, as a god, upon the beast, the might of princes) do continually blow up, by their sounding of their trumpets: which princes should take heed of, if they will prevent their going with the whore into the lake of brimstone, of the wrath of God; as may be seen in the Apocalypse.

The Gate of the Distinction between the Substantiality and the [one pure] Element. Also between Paradise and [the eternal] Heaven. Every substance hath its form, which the Eeader should understand to be one of these four, and we will shew him the distinction.

67. The heaven standeth in the matrix of the sourness, which in the meekness is called the water-spirit; and is the outward enclosure [or firmament] which parteth the Principles.

68. The substantiality is in the heaven, and is the virtue or corporeity of the seven spirits of God, and is called the body of God, which our hands are not able to comprehend or feel, and yet it is in substance, and comprehensible by the spirit, for it is the body of the spirit; also the body of our soul if we be new-born in God: for it is Christ's body, which he giveth us in the faith, to eat, as is to be seen in his Testaments: And the [one] element leadeth the Principle therein as a moveable life, which indeed is not the spirit of God itself, but the spirit of God hath this life and substantiality in him, as a body, and he is the first spirit of understanding and of omnipotence.

69. For paradise is the springing up out of the essences in the divine centre: which [paradise] goeth through all forms, it goeth through the [one] element, and through the substantiality, and also through the heaven, as a springing of a pleasant garden; therefore Adam, even in this world, was in paradise.

70. O dear children, if ye understood this, how would you tread under foot the contentions of the sophisters! Much consisteth herein, which shall hereafter be shewn you, so far as we ought: let none be wilfully blinded, nor be offended with the simplicity of this hand.

71. For if we will enter into the kingdom of heaven, we must be children, and not cunning, and wise, in the understanding of this world; we must depart from our own reason, and enter into obedience to our [eternal] first mother, and so we shall receive the spirit and life of our mother, and then also we shall know her habitation.

72. No wit of our own attaineth the crown of the Mystery of God, it is indeed revealed in the Scriptures of the Saints, but the spirit of this world apprehendeth it not. Herein no doctors (though they have studied never so much) have any ability in their own wit, to attain the crown of God's secret Mysteries.

73. There is none can in his own power apprehend any thing of the depths of God, and teach it to another; but they are all children, and scholars in their A. B. C. And though we write and speak highly thereof, yet the understanding is not our own, but is of the mother's spirit, which speaketh out of its children, what it will; it revealeth itself in many forms, in one otherwise than in another, for its wondrous wisdom is a deep without number, and you ought not to marvel that the children of God have not one manner of speech and word, for everyone speaketh out of the wisdom of the mother, whose number is without ground and infinite.

74. But the limit is the Heart of God, they all run thither, and that is the trial [or touchstone] whereby you shall know, whether the spirit speaketh from God, or from the devil: for the devil hath also his matrix, and his children therein, who also speak out of the spirit of their mother.

75. Here behold the flattering hypocrites, the proud vain-glorious boasters, who account themselves masters, and sufficient able expounders of the Scriptures of the Saints, who say, We have studied in the mysteries of the Scriptures of the Saints, and we understand them sufficiently; and moreover [we have studied and taken our degrees in the university and] can make conclusions, and determine, Thus we will believe, thus we will have the Scripture to be understood. And they decree strict laws, and severe punishment, against those that will not stick to their laws, which they execute under the shelter and protection of a worldly power.

76. Is not this lifting up of himself, in his own lust and glory, above God, as the prophet Daniel speaketh concerning the hypocritical Antichrist? Take heed of those, ye children of God; they speak from themselves, and not from the spirit of God; they have not the children's filial spirit of humility (in obedience and love) towards their mother, much less towards her children: They devour the children's bread, and get their living with deceit.

77. They are the true murderers and wolves, who in their conceived opinions, and proud conceits, stir up wars and bloodshed, and set up all manner of wickedness and abominations: they are the great proud whore of Babel, who ride in the hearts of princes; through them is poured out the vials of the wrath of God; and yet they call themselves the lambs and sheep of Christ.

78. O ye wolves! where is your child's garment? If you have sufficiently learnt the hidden Mysteries of God, you are no children and scholars [that go to school]: but [if you have] then live in the wonders of the mother, in her humility and purity in God's works of wonder, and we will believe you: Put off your proud robe and gown, and receive us poor A. B. C. scholars into the bosom of our mother, and teach us our mother tongue, and then we shall live together in unity as brethren. But what shall they say of you? The Spirit of the mother declareth concerning you, that you are the proud whore of Babel, riding upon the dragon, in the Revelation of Jesus Christ; there in your looking-glass.

The Gates of this World;

[Also concerning the Language of Nature.]

79. Reason always asketh, Out of what is the earth and stones, also the elements and stars [constellations], generated? We cannot know this in the reason and art of this world, neither can the books of the doctors teach it, we know it only in our dear mother, we see it in the light of the mother: but in this world we are blind concerning it, neither can we learn it of any body.

80. The writings of the Saints and the children of God tell us, that God created the world by his wisdom, and by the spirit of his mouth; and it is so. Neither have we any other knowledge, than that God hath revealed himself in his wisdom.

81. But this world is not his wisdom: but it is a figure [come] out of his wisdom: it hath not the wisdom of God palpably, but the wonders [works] of the wisdom: and this world is only a similitude of the Deity, according to love and anger, in nature and without nature [extra naturam].

82. For behold the wheel of the stars [starry sphere], and the seven planets; and also the four elements: (4) fire, (5) air, (6) water, and (7) earth; and then you shall find the ground, that it is all really an out-birth out of the eternal nature, where the Deity hath revealed itself comprehensibly [or palpably].

83. For the spirit of God hath discovered the image of God in the virgin of his wisdom, and the Verbum Fiat hath created it: The form of this world was from eternity in the nature of God, but invisible and immaterial.

84. Then saith reason: What was God's creating? The word Schuff [which signifieth created] hath it in its own meaning, according to the language of nature: and if you would understand that language, observe in your mind, how each word from the heart is framed in the mouth, and what the mouth and the tongue do with it, before the spirit sendeth it forth.

85. If you did apprehend this, you should understand everything in its name, why each thing is called as it is: it would be thus understood in the language of every nation, every one in their own mother-tongue. And in this place lieth the heavy fall of Adam, in which we lost what we had in the [state of] innocence; but in the regeneration of Jesus Christ (according to the inward man) we have attained it again.

86. You must have the understanding of the Three Principles, for [the attaining of] the language of nature: for there are Three of them, that form the word [or frame the word, as in an image], viz. soul, spirit, and body. Behold! and observe whether it be so or no, as I tell you, concerning the language of nature; Try and consider of it; not only in the word Schuff, [which signifieth created,] but in all words and names that are in every language of every nation, every one according to its own understanding [and meaning].

87. (Indeed it is not good that man should have known it, but since he is gone out of the inward into the outward, and standeth now in the seeking, therefore he must enter again into the inward, where, in this hidden Mystery, he beholdeth the mystery of the creation.)

88. When you say Schuff, [which signifieth created], the spirit [or breath] formeth itself in the mouth, and shutteth the teeth together, and hisseth through the teeth, as a kindled fire that burneth, but openeth the lips, and keepeth them open, and then goeth the pressure from the heart, and the upper teeth lean upon the under lip, and the tongue draweth back, and leaneth upon the nether gums, and the spirit [or breath] thrusteth the syllable Schuff forth through the teeth, and the word of distinction, which the syllable Schuff thrusteth forth, remaineth in its seat in the heart, and doth not awaken the sour mother in the strong might, so that it kindleth no fire. [The R is the character of the fire-source, for every letter is a spirit, and is a form of the centre, although by the transposing and turning of the word they alter, yet every letter hath a meaning or understanding in the centre, but it is wonderful, and yet is apprehended in the sense when the light is shining in the centre].

89. Behold! Man is the similitude of God: for his soul is out of [from] the centre upon the cross, where the eternal Word is generated, comprehended by the spirit of God; there the spirit hath comprehended all the Three Principles; and brought them into a body; as we see, that the spirit liveth from the inward and from the outward, viz. from the spirit of the centre, as also from the spirit of this world, viz. from the air.

90. Now as the spirit of eternity hath formed and framed all things, so also the spirit of man formeth them in his word, for all ariseth from his centre: for the human spirit is a form, figure, and similitude of the Number Three of the Deity; whatsoever God is in his nature, that the spirit of man is in itself: and therefore he giveth every thing its name, according to the spirit and form of every thing, for the inward speaketh forth the outward.

91. And as this world was from eternity hidden in the nature of God, and stood in the wisdom, and, as may be said, hath a beginning and end from the Word of the centre, spoken forth from the outgoing spirit of the centre; (understand, out of the substantiality of nature, into a comprehensible substance, where this world appeareth as a Principle, having its own source and government); so also the name and similitude of God, viz. this world, is in the spirit of man; and it speaketh them forth with its word in the same manner as they were spoken in the nature of God, from the spirit of God in the wisdom, where then they were seen in the light of God.

92. Observe it rightly, accurately, and deeply: the human spirit in its threefold form hath all the Three Principles in it, viz. the kingdom of God, the kingdom of hell, and the kingdom of this world; and it speaketh forth from itself, from the source, and form, of every being, whether it be heavenly, earthly, or hellish, as it hath been spoken forth [or expressed] by the spirit of God from eternity, in the invisible substance of the eternal nature, as a figure or spirit of the Word of God; and was without substance, till the A and O, and in the A and O, in the beginning and end: so also the spirit of man speaketh it forth in beginning and end without substance, for the substance was once created in the creature.

93. And observe us thus further, concerning the language of nature, when we say: Im Anfang Schuff Gott Himmel und Erden [in the beginning God created heaven and earth]: then we name [or express] all that, out of which heaven and earth was created, and this the mind [enlightened by God] in the light of God understandeth.

94. For as the form of this world was seen in the light of God, before the substance [was], so also the mind in the light of God seeth it in the creation, as it is brought into essence or substance; for nature in the spirit of man, and nature in the spirit of God, according to the Three Principles, are of one [and the same] essence or substance; the human spirit is a perfect sparkle from it.

95. But you must know; that as the eternal nature hath not the glance and might of the Majesty in its own power, so that it can comprehend the Number Three in Ternario Sancto, (although indeed the Number Three dwelleth in nature, and yet there is a difference between the seven forms of nature and the Number Three), so there is also a distinction between the soul's spirit of nature, and the Number Three of God; so that the spirit of the soul, when it imagineth back into nature, into the centre of the wrath, loseth the Majesty, and in the wrath flieth out above the Majesty; and then may be called a reprobate devil [or cast-away].

96. The mind may understand the word, and the forming of the word, thus: Observe, When the three-fold spirit of man saith Schuff, [which signifieth created,] then the mind may observe the form of the generation of the word; first, the spirit [or breath] frameth the word in the mouth, and not in the heart, and closeth the teeth together, and hisseth through the teeth, like a kindled fire, which denoteth the comprehension: for the lips open, and the hissing is the fire from whence goeth the air: understand it thus.

97. Before time [was], the world was in God, but without substance: Now Lucifer, the great prince out of the centre of nature, awakened and kindled the wrath and fire, which was not known in the eternity; for he would domineer in the might of the fire, above God, and therefore the source of fire became his habitation.

98. And we mean here the stern Fiat, (viz. the mother of nature), the sourness and hardness, which was kindled in its stern might, and hath in the centre of nature, attracted together the substantiality of the stern matrix out of the numberless essences, whence earth, stones, and metals, have come to be.

99. For the centre was Sulphur, Mercurius, and Sal [See Boehme's work Clavis on this site, vs. 82 for more explanation], and it [the centre] was but a spirit, but in the stern Fiat (in the stern fierce attraction) it came to be such hard stones, metals, and earth; all according to the forms of the essences: It is all become material: that which [before the time] in the nature of the dark wrathful substantiality, was only as a raised dust, became in the attraction wholly gross, dry, and hard; and God would not have it so particularly before the Majesty (to speak in a creaturely manner); and therefore it was suddenly, in that instant, together created [concreted] to a proper centre of its own.

100. And here ariseth the distinction of the Three Principles, which before was not known: for they were in one only being, and were only known in the wisdom [or the light], before the Majesty, with their distinction.

101. Observe the meaning rightly: as the mouth formeth the word Schuff, [which signifieth created], just so was the creation formed: for the lips open, and the upper gums with the teeth touch the nether lip, and the spirit [or breath] hisseth through the teeth: And it is thus, As the lips (viz. the outward inclosure) open, so hath the matrix of the genetrix opened itself, viz. in the kindling: The hissing is the fire, and out of the fire [goeth] the air, as a spirit of the matrix, which was now awakened, and was not before in the centre, but only in the wisdom of the Number Three.

102. The air [wind or breath] is not the spirit of the Number Three, but the awakened spirit out of the matrix, viz. out of the centre of nature: for the spirit of the Number Three is a cause of nature, and hath in it the wisdom; but this [spirit of the air] is without understanding, as the substantiality is.

103. And as the fire hath its original from the eternal liberty, wherein it attaineth the sharpness of the wrathfulness, so also the air-spirit from the Holy Spirit, which giveth life and mobility to nature; so nature again sendeth forth the spirit, viz. the air, out of its virtue, viz. out of the inanimate [senseless] substantiality, and hath its original in the fire.

104. And observe further, how in the word Schuff, [which signifieth created], the spirit [or breath] thrusteth the impression or pressure from the heart, which overtaketh the kindled fire, and holdeth it captive: and so the water-source overtaketh the fire, and holdeth it captive.

105. For the water ariseth from the substantiality, and from the being overcome; and the fire, air, water, and earth, are all gone forth out of the centre of nature, and before the kindling, were all in one being, but with the kindling were known in four forms, which are called four elements, and yet are in one another as one, and there is no more but one; there are not four elements in heaven, but one: yet all the four forms lie hidden therein, and with the kindling they become active, and now they stand in the outward substance, comprehensible to the creatures.

106. Observe also further, that as the nether lip toucheth the upper teeth, and the spirit stayeth in the mouth, and thrusteth the word Schuff through the teeth, where the tongue draweth back towards the nether gums, and will not frame the word Schuff, but letteth the spirit thrust it through the teeth: So, observe, the spirit of God hath driven forth the four elements, which are the four forms, which appeared in the substance, ex Ternario sancto, out of the Holy Ternary, into the outward, and made an enclosure therein, [or a firmament], which is called heaven: and the Holy Spirit stayeth in heaven, and leaveth the four forms to their own dominion, and then they appear as a Principle, having power of their own.

107. For the tongue signifieth the spirit of God, and the four elements [signify] the spirit of the centre, together with the centre itself.

108. Thus we understand here in the word, three Principles; whereas in the original there is but one: for we understand by the kindling, the centre of nature, in the centre of the globe of the earth, and that in the matrix of the genetrix, there is a very earnest stern dominion, out of which earth and stones are proceeded, and therein one Principle consisteth.

109. And then, secondly, we understand, that there is a dominion of meekness, which over- cometh the wrath, and holdeth it captive, as we see in the source [or property] of water, that it captivateth the fire, and yet the property of the fire remaineth therein, with its whole dominion of all forms of the dry hunger, wherein consisteth the abyss of hell, in the anger of God. Also we understand, that there is the firmament [or closure] (between these two Principles) which is called heaven, by the shut mouth, both in the word and in the outward substance [essence, being, thing]. For the spirit, the air, giveth life to the outward meek water, as it goeth forth with the pressure from the heart through the teeth in the word, and so there is a dominion and life externally, which yet ariseth from the internal, and yet the outward captivateth the inward.

110. And thus the spirits of the darkness lie in the abyss, captivated in the [property, or] source of the anger, and have no power of their own in this world; and here the subtlety of the devil in the might of the fire is cast down to the ground, in the sinking.

111. Open the eyes of your minds, ye seekers, and seek here the abyss, wherein the devils dwell in the elements, and not afar off, as if they were far absent, as ye have done hitherto. Mark this.

112. And we understand, that there is the third Principle in the word, and also in the power of creating: for the tongue inclineth to the nether gums, and letteth the two dominions go away through the teeth, and holdeth its dominion without any awakening of the heart.

113. Thus observe the ground [scope or meaning]; the second Principle (viz. the kingdom of God), is in the midst in both the Principles, that is, is not awakened or enkindled with the kindling: for it remaineth as it was from eternity, and is not altered therein, neither increased nor diminished; in the creation there is nothing added nor taken away from it: and this [second] Principle hath the right spirit of wisdom and of understanding; which hath severed the fierce wrathful and the meek [Principles asunder], and each of them hath its life awakened in it.

114. And we give you to understand, that it is neither captivated nor shut up by the inward or the outward: it sprouteth in both, for it is the might of both: In the inward it sprouteth in angry zeal [Or jealousy], with great wonders and powers, where all forms are working, and therefore in those creatures stick all wit and cunning, craft and subtlety, as in the devils, who bring to pass all wonders in the wrathful matrix: as the histories in the world, concerning the children of wrath, do testify.

115. And in the outward it sprouteth through the meekness, with the power [and virtue] of life, which goeth forth from the Heart of God, through the spirit of God; and that sprouting [or vegetation] is called paradise, and is a sprout in the children of God, together with which the soul also sprouteth: for in this sprouting the new body of the soul groweth in the [one] element, in the substantiality, before the Number Three in Ternario sancto.

116. And here we give you to understand in a true ground, as we certainly know it, that the paradise is in this world, and also without this world; and that God dwelleth in this world, and yet is every where; and the source [or property] only maketh [or is] the difference.

117. For the angelical world is manifested in the paradise, but it is apprehended only in the paradisical source [or property] viz. in the [one] element, and not in the going forth, in the dominion of the four elements.

118. For the four elements are in a Principle of another property [or source], also have another light, viz. the sun. But in the pure element the things of this world are only as a figure, which is not palpable; and there the four distinctions are in one, and that maketh no darkness. And there the liberty of God without nature shineth in the glance of the Majesty; but in the four out-births there is a darkness, for the things [thereof] are gross and palpable.

119. For the heaven, which is a distinction between the kingdom of God, and the kingdom of this world, is a firmament with all forms of corporeity, and is the veil on our eyes, for we have firmamental eyes, and therefore we cannot see the kingdom of God.

120. And that is the heavy Fall of Adam, that his eyes and spirit entered into the outward, into the four elements, into the palpability, viz. into death, and there they were blind as to the kingdom of God.

121. For the outward, in the four out-births out of the [pure] element (viz. the substance of the four elements), hath a beginning and end, and is corruptible: and therefore all things that live in it must corrupt.

122. For the Principle of the outward world passeth away again; for it hath a limit, so that it goeth into its ether again, and the four elements into one again, and then God is manifested, and the virtue and power of God springeth up, as a paradise again in the [one, eternal] only element; and there the multiplicity or variety of things come into one again; but the figure of everything remaineth standing in the [one] only element.

123. For all things are come to a corporeal substance, (to [the manifestation of] God's works of wonder), that they might be seen eternally by the creatures, viz. angels and men: which, before the time of the world, were manifested only in the wisdom of God, and now shall stand in substantiality in the presence of God.

124. Ye dear children of God (in Christ Jesus) open the eyes of your mind: raise your mind up out of this world into the element before God, [that is, into the glassy sea, or angelical world]: and the creation shall be rightly shewn to you here; and let not the sophisters and jugglers befool you, and lead you astray.

125. For the paradise, which the souls of the holy children of God go into, (when the body deceaseth), is in the very place where the body deceaseth: it is also in the earth, it is in all the four elements; not divided, but entirely every where.

126. For in the pure element (out of which the four elements proceed) is the paradise: it is a sprouting out from the substantiality before God: its life and understanding is the Holy Spirit of the Number Three of God; its light is the glance of the Majesty of the Number Three; the matter only is about the outward. When the four elements in man break, then is the soul already in the paradise, or in the abyss of the centre in the dark matrix, all according to that wherein the soul was grown in this [life] time upon earth.

127. If it have set its imagination [resolution and purpose] upon God, then it is grown in paradise, and the stuffed dark body hath but covered it, during this [life] time.

128. But if it be grown in the stern wrath, in falsehood and in pride, to fly out above paradise, then it flieth in high-mindedness in the stern matrix aloft over paradise out, and cannot get inwards into the meekness; and there it is in hell, with the proud devil.

129. For after this life, there is no regeneration more; for the four elements and the outward principle (wherein the genetrix stood in the working and creating) are gone; it hath no more to expect after this time, but only (when at the end of this time, this principle shall go into the ether, that the substantiality which hath been from eternity, shall be free again) that it shall get a body again out of the property [and source] of its own mother, where then all its works in its mother shall appear before it.

130. For the Last Day is only to awaken again that which slept, and to break the death which is in the four elements: For the veil must be done away, and all that which is generated out of the eternal must spring up again and live.

131. But that which is generated out of the death, viz. out of the four elements, as the beasts, and every living thing of the four elements, attain no body any more; and if the spirit of it be generated only in the four elements, it breaketh with the four elements also, and the figure only remaineth of the elementary substance, viz. of the four out-births.

132. But that which is out of the eternal (out of the centre of the eternal life) is and remaineth for ever: even all words and works which are generated out of the eternal, remain in the substance of the figure: but they cannot remain for ever in the spirit and power, for a word of a spirit [breath] doth not proceed from the eternity, but hath its beginning in the outward Principle.

133. And therefore every spirit will have joy and sorrow in its works and words in eternity, all according as it is in its place and source, or property. For, when the spirit shall consider with itself its source [or condition], and why it is in the place where it is, then the source or property of its words and works ascend in it; and giveth it joy or sorrow, according to the condition or source and place that it is in, every one in [that which is] its own duly.

134. But you must know, that the sins, evil works and words of the new Regenerate in Christ, sprout out from the death of Christ (into which the children of Christ are again entered from their sins), and shall receive another source [or property]: and in the beholding and considering of them, the spirit shall make a hymn of thanks to the praise of God's works of wonder; as Isaiah saith, Though your sins were red as blood (if you turn), they shall be as wool, white as snow. And yet you must know, that in the life to come they shall appear in the figure, but in another source [or property]. Mark this, ye children of God, for much is herein contained.

135. From this ground we know, that Adam in his innocency before his sleep, (which signifieth death, when he had imagined into the spirit of the four elements), was in this world in paradise; and yet it might well be said, not in this world; he was indeed in this world upon the face of the earth, but in a paradisical source [or property] in the dominion of the [one pure] element, and not in the four elements.

136. But when he entered into the four elements, he entered into death, and his body became like a beast; and the earth was cursed from the Lord, so that it bare no more paradisical fruit: For Adam was driven out, into the outward Principle: and there he must eat earthly fruit, and open [or manifest] the wonders of the outward Principle, and so he instantly became earthly.

137. For his body was from the earth, and created out of the earth, but it was not earth, [any more than gold is earth, though it groweth in the earth, and proceedeth from the earth], for it was Ex Matrix, ex Massa; [from the matrix, out of a mass]; understand, out of the substantiality out of which the earth was originally generated and created. The pure element is also in the earth, as also paradise: and it is only the source [or property] that maketh the alteration, wherein the light of God is detained.

138. Adam would be as God in all the three principles; and the serpent also persuaded Eve to it, that if she would eat of the fruit of the earth, she should know good and evil: indeed evil enough; care, misery, and sorrows; in the death of the four elements.

139. And therefore, seeing the four elements must break, thence it is that corruption [perishableness, transitoriness] is in man's body; and the soul (which is taken out of the eternal) remaineth in the eternal: therefore there must come a heavenly body out of the pure element again, out of the substantiality [which is] before God, out of the matrix of the earth, like the first body which was in Adam, and must receive [or assume] our human soul into it, and enter into death [suffer death], and bring us out of death on the cross into the element again, into the substantiality in the presence of God, in Ternarium sanctum [into the Holy Ternary]: For Adam's soul was taken on the cross in the eternal centre, where the Heart of God ariseth from eternity, and was breathed into the created body of Adam from the spirit of God: and therefore the Heart of God must become man [be incarnate].

140. And as Adam was entered into the earthly cross, into the death of the four elements; so must the New Adam (Christ) suffer himself to be hanged on the earthly cross, and enter into the earthly elementary death; for death sticketh not only in the earth, but also in the air, and Adam desired also with his imagination, not [to enter] into the earth, but into the air: he lusted after the spirit of the Principle of this world; and it laid hold on him: And so he fell also into the earth.

141. For the four elements are altogether in one another, and the ground [or foundation] upon which they stand, is the fire of the fierce anger of God, wherein the devils dwell, as is above mentioned.

142. And so the New Adam (Christ) must enter into the abyss of the four elements, viz. into the hellish fire of the wrath, and press through [or pass] the hell of the wrath, through death, and bring the human soul again into the paradise of God.

143. And therefore the New Adam (Christ) was [tempted or] tried forty days in the wilderness, whether he could stand in the paradisical source [or property], and so eat only paradisical fruit, which groweth in the source [or property] from the essences of the spirit of God; and there he did eat, ex verbo Domini [of the Word of the Lord], and not at all of the four elements.

144. For he did bear also the earthly image, and there the new heavenly must overcome the earthly, and the soul must enter again into the new heavenly body, that the earthly may but only hang to it: And thus also was Adam created in the beginning.

145. He was to eat of paradise, whose property should rule over the earthly; and though he was in the four elements, yet he was to live in the pure element; and then he might have continued so eternally; though the outward Principle should be broken, yet he would have remained.

146. For he was in paradise, and not in the four elements; but when he entered into them, he entered into death; and the anger of God, in the abyss of hell, did captivate the soul, which Christ brought forth from thence again.

147. O ye children of men! Mark what is revealed to you, do not account it a fiction and a history. It is known in Ternario Sancto, in the opened seal of the seventh form, in the centre, therefore consider what it is.

148. Hereby is signified to you the final breaking of the outward Principle: Trim your lamps, the bridegroom is ready, his trumpet soundeth, the seventh angel from the throne of heaven soundeth: The Mysteries of the kingdom of God shall be accomplished at the time of his sounding; and then there is no time more in the four elements; but then the eternal time in the element in the life of God, and the time in the abyss, goeth on.

149. Go out from the languages in Babel: for we all speak but one only language in Jerusalem. Babel burneth in the fire [or confounded Christendom is kindled in wars, contention, and strife, in famine, and pestilence, in the anger of God]. Amen.

THE SIXTH CHAPTER

The Two Gates: Of the World, and also of Paradise: most highly to be considered.

1. WE have shewn you before, the ground of the language of nature, how Adam gave names to every thing, and out of what God spake to Adam, viz. out of the life of the birth; as we speak at this very day: and if we consider ourselves therein, we find the whole ground in heaven and in this world: and we see it well enough with earthly bodily eyes, that it is true: we need no other testimony than the Great Book, heaven and earth, the stars and elements, together with the sun, wherein we well know the similitude of the Deity.

2. And yet a thousand times better, in ourselves, if we know and consider ourselves; for the spirit giveth everything its name, as it standeth in the birth in itself; and as it formed them in the beginning, in the creation, so it also formeth our mouth; and as they are generated out of the eternal Being, and are come to a substance, so the human word goeth also forth out from the centre of the spirit, in shape, property, and form; and it is no other, than that the spirit maketh such a substance, as the creation itself is, when it expresseth the form of the creation.

3. For it formeth the word of the name of a thing, in the mouth; as the thing was in the creation: And hereby we know that we are God's children, and generated of God: for as God from eternity hath had the substance of this world in his Word, which he hath always spoken in his wisdom, so we have it in our word also; and we speak it forth in the wonders of his wisdom.

4. For God is himself the Being of all Beings, and we are as gods in him, through whom he revealeth himself. We see that a beast cannot express, [viz. it cannot give any thing its name according to its property], which is because it cometh not out from the eternity, as man doth; it bleateth and barketh, as the form of the outbirth of the four elements is, and hath no higher spirit than the elements are, though their flitting senses [or perceptions] are from the constellations, which yet are dumb [or inarticulate], and without comprehension [or expression] of any substance.

5. Now, therefore, we will set before you the ground of the heavens, the stars and elements, fundamentally; that you may yet see what is heavenly, and what is earthly; what is transitory and mortal, and what is eternal and permanent. To which end only we have purposed to ourselves to write this book; not to boast of our high know- ledge, which is in God, and is no worldly profit to us, but out of love, in Christ, as a servant, and minister of Christ; to seek the lost sheep of the house of the Israel of God.

6. For the Lord hath both the willing and the doing in his hands; we are able to do nothing; also our earthly reason understandeth nothing: we are yielded into our mother's bosom, and do as the mother sheweth us. We know not of any body else, we are not born with it, from the wisdom of this world; neither do we understand it; but what is bestowed upon us, that we bestow again; and we have no other purpose herein, neither do we know to what end [we must write these high things], but merely what the spirit sheweth us, that we set down.

7. And thus we labour in our vineyard, into which the Master [Or Father] of the house hath put us; hoping also to eat of the pleasant sweet grapes, which indeed we have very often received out of the paradise of God. We will so speak as for [the use of] many, and yet we think we write it but for ourselves; all which is hidden in God: for the fiery driving will have it so, as if we did speak of and for many; and yet I know nothing of it.

8. Therefore if it should happen to be read, let none account it for a work of outward reason; for it hath proceeded from the inward hidden man, according to which this hand hath written without respect of any person.

9. And therefore we exhort the Reader, that he will enter into himself, and behold himself in the inward man; and then we shall be very sweet and acceptable to him; this we speak seriously and faithfully.

10. When we consider ourselves rightly, in this knowledge, we see clearly, that hitherto we have been locked up, and led as it were blindfold; and it is even the wise of this world, who have shut and barred us up in their art and reason, so that we must [be tied to] see with their eyes, both in philosophy and theology.

11. And this spirit, which hath so long led us captive, may well be called the Antichrist. I find no other name, in the light of nature, by which I can call it, but the Antichrist in Babel.

12. Observe it well, and you shall see it riding; it shall rightly be shewn to you, you need no spectacles, or academy [to see it withall]: It rideth over the whole world, in all corners, cities, towns and villages, over body and soul: and therefore the angel in the Revelation biddeth us, Go out from it.

13. It is so proud, that it rideth aloft over heaven and earth; yea, over the Deity: it is [like] a king [or queen] riding over the Principle of this world, and over hell. But whither wilt thou ride, thou proud woman? When this Principle breaketh, thou art then without God, with all devils. Why dost thou not stay here among the children?

14. O Adam! if thou hadst not mounted upon the proud beast, thou hadst remained with the children of God in paradise: "What doth it avail thee, thou that ridest in a strange Principle, over God? Were it not better for you to be in God? What availeth your astral wit, that you ride as your own god in pride? You ride merely in death: Who will bring you out from thence, if you light not off from your beast? There is none, neither in heaven nor in this world, that can bring you out from thence, but only a lowly simple slain lamb, who hath not the wisdom of this world. How will you get out, when you ride upon a dragon? The lamb fleeth before thy beast, it will not bring thee into its pasture.

15. If you light off, and pull off your dressing, and go in the form of a child to the lamb, then you may catch it, it goeth willingly with you, if you play like a child with it in simplicity; you must not ride upon it: But if you [offer to] ride upon it, it fleeth from you, and you find not its pasture. Neither can you light off your beast, it will not let you, it holdeth you fast, unless you hear the bleating [or voice] of the lamb; at which the beast trembleth, and falleth to the ground; and then you may flee [or go out from Babel]. If you understand not this, you are held fast by the beast, and you ride in Babel in the confusion.

16. My dear seeking and hungry mind, if you would fain be released from the beast, consider what we here shall shew you; we will not push with horns, and cast you with the dragon into the abyss. Do but light off, and incline your ear to the voice of the lamb; go forth from your outward man, into the inward man, and so you shall come to your true native country, into Paradise.

17. The desirous seekers have found out many difficult things, and brought them to light, and always thought to find the pearl of the creation of this world; and it had been much nearer found, but that the time of the seventh seal or angel was not yet come; the six angels must first sound their trumpets, and pour forth their vials: therefore none should contemn another, for he knoweth not under what voice every one hath been: only that is come to pass, which should come to pass.

18. Yet every one hath been free [or at liberty] to go out from the seal: for the Sun of Righteousness hath shone, from the east to the west: If any have immersed himself in the darkness, God is not to be blamed for it.

19. The law of God, and also the way to life, is written in our hearts: It lieth in no man's supposition and knowing, nor in any historical opinion, but in a good will and well-doing. The will leadeth us to God, or to the devil; it availeth not whether thou hast the name of a Christian, salvation doth not consist therein.

20. A Heathen and a Turk is as near to God, as thou, who art under the name of Christ: if thou bringest forth a false ungodly will in thy deeds [lead a wicked life], thou art as much without God, as a Heathen that hath no desire nor will to God.

21. And if a Turk seek God with earnestness, though he walk in blindness, yet he is of the number of those that are children without under- standing; and he reacheth to God with the children which do not yet know what they speak: for it lieth not in the knowing, but in the will [purpose and resolution].

22. We are all blind concerning God; but if we put our earnest will into God [and goodness], and desire him, then we receive him into our will; so that we are born in him in our will. For by the will this world was made, also our life and all our doing stand in the will.

23. Or do you suppose we speak without knowledge, and alone [by ourselves]? No; the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ sheweth us that the innermost court [choir] of the temple shall be cast out, and given to the Heathen, who know not the name of Christ, but press with earnestness into God, and so they come to him ignorantly.

24. And this is that which Isaiah saith; I am found of them that sought me not, neither did they enquire after me. For my Name, the LORD [Jehovah], was not revealed unto them: and thus they are children not in name, but in will: But when the driver goeth away to his own place, then we live together as children, with our Father Adam (in Christ), out of whose loins, life, and spirit, we are all propagated, and begotten to life through Christ.

25. Or dost thou boast of thy calling, that thou art a Christian, or a Jew? Indeed, let thy conversation be accordingly, or else thou art but a Heathen in the will and in the deed. He that knoweth his Master's Will and doth it not, must receive many stripes.

26. Or dost thou not know what Christ said concerning the two sons; when the father said to one of them, go and do such a thing, and he said he would; and the other said no. And the first went away and did it not; but the other that said no, went away and did it, and so performed the will of his father; and the other that was under the name of obedience, [or who in word was obedient, or had the name to be so], did it not.

27. And we are all such, one and other, we bear the name of Christ, and are called Christians, and are within his covenant: we have said yes, we will do it; but they that do it not, are unprofitable servants, and live without the will of the Father.

28. But if the Turks (as also the Jews) do the Father's will, who say to Christ No, and know him not, Who is now their Judge, to thrust them out from the will of the Father? Is not the Son the Heart of the Father? And then, if they honour the Father, they lay hold also on his Heart: for without, or beyond his Heart, there is no God.

29. Or dost thou suppose, that I confirm [encourage] them in their blindness, that they should go on as they do? No: I shew thee thy blindness, O thou that bearest the. name of Christ! And thou judgest others, and yet dost the same thing which thou judgest in others, and so thou wilfully bringest the judgment of God upon thyself.

30. HE that saith, Love your enemies, do well to them that persecute you, doth not teach you to judge and despise; but he teacheth you the way of meekness: you should be a light to the world, that Heathens might see by your works that you are the children of God.

31. If we consider ourselves according to the true man, who is a true similitude and image of God, then we find God in us, and ourselves without God. And the only remedy consisteth herein, That we enter again into ourselves, and enter into God, in our hidden man. If we incline our wills in true earnest singleness to God, then we go with Christ out of this world, out from the stars and elements, and enter into God; for in the will of reason we are children of the stars and elements, and the spirit of this world ruleth over us.

32. But if we go out from the will of this world, and enter into God, then the spirit of God ruleth in us, and establisheth us for his children; and then also the garland of paradise is set upon the soul; and then it becometh a child without understanding as to this world, for it loseth the master [or ruler] of this world, who formerly ruled it and led it in reason.

33. O Man! Consider who leadeth and driveth thee; for eternally without end is very long: temporal honour and goods are but dross and dung in the sight of God: it all falleth into the grave with thee, and cometh to nothing: But to be in the will of God is eternal riches and honour: there, there is no more care; but our mother careth for us, in whose bosom we live as children.

34. Thy temporal honour is thy snare [pitfall], and thy misery in divine hope [and confidence] is thy garden of roses: Patience is a precious herb; 0 how gloriously wilt thou be crowned! What is brighter than the sun? And yet thou shalt be far brighter; thou wilt obtain a garland in Ternario Sancto, [viz. in the angelical world, in the eternal essentiality, before the Holy Trinity].

35. Or dost thou suppose again, that we speak historically? No, we speak the very life, in our own knowledge [or experience]; not in an opinion from the mouth of another, but from our own mouth: we see with our own eyes; which we boast not of, for the power is the mother's; but we exhort thee, to enter into the bosom of the mother, and learn also to see with thy own eyes: so long as you suffer yourselves to be rocked in a cradle, and desire the eyes of others, [which are strange eyes in respect of your own], you are blind. But if you rise up from the cradle, and go to the mother, then you shall see the mother and her children.

36. O how good it is to see with one's own eyes. One that is blind, and seeth not the light of this world, is accounted as one that is asleep and dreameth: for he heareth of the pomp of the world, but he knoweth it not: he apprehendeth it by hearsay, and many times thinketh it is better, or worse, than it is, because he seeth it not, and so imagineth it by that which is said; but he that seeth the light, he speaketh according to the truth, for he apprehendeth the thing as it is.

37. So also I say, we are all asleep in the outward man; we lie in the cradle, and suffer ourselves to be rocked asleep by reason; we see with the eyes of the dissimulation of our hypocrites, who hang bells and baubles about our ears and cradles, that we may be lulled asleep, or at least play with their baubles; that they may be lords and masters in the house.

38. O blind reason! Rise up from thy cradle: art thou not a child of the mother, and an heir to the goods; and, moreover, a child and lord of the house: why sufferest thou thy servants thus to use thee? Christ saith, I am the Light of the World, he that followeth me, shall have the light of the eternal life. He doth not direct us to the flattering hypocrites, murderers, and contenders; but only to himself: we should see (with the inward eyes) in his light, and so we should see him, for he is the light: when we see him, then we walk in th light: He is the Morning Star, and is generated in us, and riseth in us, and shineth in our Bodily Darkness.

39. O how great a triumph is there in the soul, when he ariseth! then a man seeth with his own eyes, and knoweth that he is in a strange lodging. Concerning which we will here write, what we see and know in the light.

40. We are children of the eternity: But this world is an out-birth out of the eternal; and its palpability taketh its original in the anger, the eternal nature is its root. But that which is an out-birth is corruptible, because it hath not been from eternity: and it must all return into the eternal essences, [out of which it was born].

41. The stars are out of the centre of nature, they are the essences of the seven forms of nature, and from each form there goeth another [form], all from [caused by] the wrestling wheel of nature; and therefore they are so various and numberless, in our account: Though indeed there is a certain number of them, whereby we know that they must enter again into the ether.

42. For in the eternal centre there is no number [or measure], but it is the omnipotence in the springing up without number; for that which can be numbered or comprehended, is not eternal; it hath a beginning and end: But we know that the spirit and soul of man hath no beginning and end, nor can it be numbered [or measured]: which we understand by the constellations of the mind, from whence so many thoughts arise, which are numberless; for out of one thought, in a while, there may go forth many more, as many as the stars in the firmament, wherein we highly know our eternity, and do most highly rejoice that we know it.

43. Understand us rightly, how this world is, in the ground and foundation of it. The eternal centre, and the birth of life, and the substantiality, are every where. If you make a small circle, as small as a little grain, [or kernel of seed], there is the whole birth of the eternal nature, and also the Number Three in Ternario sancto [contained] therein: but you include not, nor comprise, the eternal nature, much less the Number Three; but you comprehend the out-birth of the centre: the eternal nature is incomprehensible, as God also is.

44. When I take up any thing and carry it away, I do not carry away the eternity, much less God: and yet the eternity is in that very thing, but the thing is out-born, and stirreth not the eternity; and that which is out-born comprehendeth not the eternity, but the eternity comprehendeth that which is out-born, thoroughly, without stirring; for the eternity, as also the Deity, is in one place as well as in another, [every where]: for there is no place [in the eternity], but the out-birth maketh a place and room. Therefore God saith, I am A and O, the Beginning and the End.

45. This word maketh a beginning, and God in the Number Three [not without it] is the beginning, and it also maketh an end, and that is the eternity, and also God: For before [the time of] this world there was nothing but God, from eternity; and after this world, there will be nothing but God, in eternity: but the cause why we comprehend not this, is because there is no comprehensibility in God. For where there is a comprehensibility [as there is in the Trinity] there is beginning and end. And therefore we are shut up in darkness, that we might labour and manifest God; as we have mentioned to you concerning the seven forms of nature, what an eternal labour there is therein, so that one form generateth another, till they are all brought to light, and so the eternal is manifest in a threefold form, which otherwise would not be known.

46. And we declare unto you, that the eternal Being, and also this world, is like man: The eternity generateth nothing but that which is like itself; for there is nothing in it but is like it, and it is unchangeable, or else it would pass away, or it would come to be some other thing, and that cannot be.

47. And as you find man to be, just so is the eternity: consider man in body and soul, in good and evil, in joy and sorrow, in light and darkness, in power and weakness, in life and death: All is in man, both heaven and earth, stars, and elements; and also the Number Three of the Deity; neither can there be any thing named that is not in man; all creatures (both in this world, and in the angelical world) are in man. All of us, together with the whole essence of all essences, are but one body, having many members, each member whereof is a total: and each member hath but one several [peculiar, singular, individual faculty or office] work.

48. O Man! seek thyself, and thou shalt find thyself. Behold! thy whole man [consisteth of] Three Principles, one whereof is not without the other, one of them is not beside or above the other, but they are in one another as one, and they are but one thing; but according to the creation they are three.

49. You will say, how can that be? Adam's soul was out of the eternal will, out of the centre of nature, upon the cross of the Number Three, where light and darkness do part; understand, he was not a divided sparkle, as a piece of the whole, for he is no piece, but totally all, as there is a total in every punctum [point or atom].

50. Now the eternal centre maketh the eternal substantiality, (viz. the sinking down and springing up, whence the stirring of the elements doth arise, as also penetration and multiplication, whereas there is only such a kind of spirit), and the substantiality is the body, and a weakness, for it is a sinking down, and the spirit is the springing up.

51. Now the spirit created the substantiality into an image, like the cross of the Number Three, and breathed in the spirit of the Number Three, viz. himself, and so the image existed: and then instantly, out of the substantiality of the image, sprang up the blossom of the essences, which is called paradise: and thus stood the image in the angelical world.

52. And so there is nothing less in the image, than in the centre of nature, viz. the original of sourness, wrathfulness, and of fire, also all the forms of nature; whatsoever was seen from eternity in the wisdom, that was all in this image; also the power to light and darkness; and the wisdom stood in the light of the image, wherein stand all the eternal wonders, even the image of every creature, in the sinking down of death, and in the source [or property] of the paradisical life.

53. This we understand to be the matrix of the genetrix in the darkness; viz. that out of which angels and devils come to be; as is above mentioned. This source [or property] was wholly in the image, for it was a whole similitude of the eternal Being; as Moses writeth concerning it, that God made man [to be] his image: so that it may be said, (if one did see man standing in paradise), here is the whole eternity manifested in an image, to speak in a creaturely manner of it; and yet it is so truly and rightly in the understanding.

54. Now, as Lucifer, by his flying out, in the source of the fire, imagined beyond the still meek Number Three above the cross in the Majesty, and so awakened to himself the matrix of the fire in himself, and kindled the matrix of nature; which kindling became corporeal, and was instantly together created by the Verbum Fiat, where also the second form of the matrix, viz. the meekness of the substantiality, was kindled together with it, out of which water came to be, which was made an heaven, (by which the fire was captivated), out of which the stars were generated; so you must understand also, that [man,] the image of God thus imagined [or lusted] after the awakened life, viz. after the awakened spirit of the air; indeed the air was together breathed into him, but the spirit [man's] of the centre should over-rule it, as the Holy Spirit over [ruleth] this world: for he should live in the power [or virtue] of God, and be a lord over the four elements, but in the fall they became his lord. And now if he would live in God, he must enter into himself again, and likewise leave the old body to the four elements, and must, in himself, be born in God. And so he was instantly also captivated by the air of the out-birth, and then the stars, elements, heaven, hell, death, and life, wrought together in him.

55. But seeing there is a firmament created, between God and the dominion of this world, by the spirit of God, therefore man is composed of three parts, (viz. Three Principles,) One is the hidden Deity, which standeth in the firmament of heaven, in itself, as a Principle of its own; the Second is the dominion of this world, viz. the stars and elements; and the Third is the abyss of the image, and also the abyss of this world, viz. the wrath, or the matrix of nature, out of which all things are proceeded.

56. And now the image, viz. man, is in the midst, viz. between the kingdom of God, and the kingdom of hell; between love and anger: and to which of these two spirits he yieldeth, its [servant] he is.

57. And though man cast himself into the anger, yet the Deity loseth nothing; for the first breathing in, viz. the spirit of God itself, hath its Principle to itself, and is not touched by the anger; just as the Number Three dwelleth in the midst of the anger, and yet the anger stirreth it not, nor knoweth it, therein is neither feeling nor seeing.

58. For the image stirreth the source of the anger: and the first in-breathed spirit springeth up in the image, in the fierceness of pride; according as it hath built up itself in this [life] time; and yet the first in-breathed form loseth nothing. For that source [or property] is not in the image; but it goeth back again into its Principle, with the beauteous Virgin of wisdom: and the image of man cometh to be the image of the serpent.

59. For as the spirit is, so is the body, and in what will the spirit flieth, in such a form and source [or property] it figureth the body also.

60. So we know now, that all cometh out of one only fountain, and that the palpable substance of this world hath had a beginning, and therefore it is also mortal; for whatsoever is not from eternity is mortal.

61. But that the image of man might subsist, (which also hath a beginning as to the body), therefore God is become man, and dwelleth again in the soul, and the soul attaineth again the first image without this world; yet those only, who with the spirit of the soul incline themselves to God: and here it may be said, We must be born anew, or be lost eternally in hell, and [thrust out] from God.

62. Thus we say with [good] ground, that the starry heaven, viz. the Third Principle of this world, was created also as a total body, having a circumscription, and standeth just like the centre of nature; whatsoever thou seest in this great circumference, the same is also in the smallest circle [or point]: and the whole Principle of this world outwardly, is only a manifestation and discovery of the eternity in God. It hath its rising, station [form or subsistence], and generating,like the eternal nature; and as the eternal nature doth always generate itself, and hath its original from eternity to eternity, just so is this visible dominion of this world generated and created.

63. For it hath a high round circumference, like a circle, and there stand the constellations: and after that, the great deep, which resembleth the eternal liberty of God: now the seven planets are in the deep, which resemble the seven spirits of nature, and the stars [resemble the effects or] essences proceeding out of the spirits of nature: and the sun is the middlemost of the planets, which maketh the four quarters of the world, and it standeth in the point, as in a cross, and resembleth the Heart of God: Its lustre in the deep resembleth the Majesty of God, where God dwelleth in himself, and is comprehended by nothing: and there is nothing of him seen but the Majesty, where the centre of nature is known in all heavenly images out of the eternal.

64. The earth resembleth the sinking down of the eternal death in the dark matrix: and yet there is no death therein, but a springing forth of the fierce essences: and thus it resembleth a form in the centre, and a peculiar self-dominion, and is a figure [or type] of hell: as a hidden dominion in the darkness.

65. And as the earth, in comparison of the upper dominion, is counted as a death, so the fierce matrix of the anger, is as a death in comparison of God: and yet there is no death in either, but an eternal life in a twofold source, [or property; viz. the life in eternal joy, and the life in eternal torment].

66. And now we see that the sun maketh the great deep above the earth lovely, friendly, pleasant, and delightful; or else there would be no other [rule, influence, or] dominion in the deep, than is in the earth: for if the sun should go out, there would be an eternal darkness, and the fierce sour astringency would make all hard, rough, and harsh, and there would be an eternal coldness. And although every thing did move together like a wheel, yet there would be nothing seen but a flash of fire.

67. Thus we give you to understand concerning the abyss of hell, that it is in this world: and the sun only is the cause of the waters, which are the heaven in the deep. Moreover, by the sun, the Heart of God may be understood, out of which the light of the Majesty shineth: for the whole centre of the eternity would be dark, if the light from the Heart of God did not shine therein.

68. But it is not so with the Heart of God, as with the sun, that it should be a globe, standing in one place only: No, it hath no circumscription, [circumference], or place; also it hath no beginning, and yet is like a round globe, yet not a round circle, but it is as it were parted [divided] or open; for it is as a round cross wheel, like a whole rainbow, which yet appeareth as it were parted.

69. For the whole cross is its parting, and yet it is whole; but the centre of nature, (viz. the Word of the Lord, Verbum Domini, the Word of the Father), is there the centre of the cross. The cross every where signifieth the Number Three: where then beneath blue appeareth, which signifieth the substantiality; in the middle appeareth red, which signifieth the Father in the glance of fire; next [under] which appeareth yellow, which signifieth the light and lustre of the Majesty of God the Son; and the dusky brown [or purple], with the mixture of all forms, signifieth the other kingdom of darkness in the fire, in which Lucifer did soar aloft [fly out] above God, and did not lay hold on the Majesty and Heart of God.

70. And upon such a bow will Christ, the Son of Man, appear at the last judgment; for so he sitteth in the Majesty of the Number Three, in Ternario Sancto: understand, the angelical world [in the eternal substantiality] and paradise.

71. Thus know, that all this is not divided, nor is it thus in one place alone; but this form [or manner] appeareth in its Principle everywhere. If thou conceivest a small, minute circle, as small as a grain of mustard-seed, yet the Heart of God is wholly and perfectly therein: and if thou art born in God, then there is, in thyself, (in the circle of thy life), the whole Heart of God undivided: and the Son of Man (Christ) sitteth thus (in the circle of thy life, upon the rainbow, in Ternario Sancto) at the right hand of God: and thus thou art his child, whom he hath regenerated in him [in Christ]; as also Christ's member and body, wherein he dwelleth; his brother, his flesh, and spirit; and a child of God the Father in him, God in thee, and thou in God; power, might, majesty, heaven, paradise, element, stars, and earth, all is thine. Thou art in (Christ) over [or above] hell and devils.

72. But in this world, with thy earthly life, thou art under heaven, stars, and elements, also under hell and devils; all ruleth in thee, and over thee.

73. Therefore consider thyself, and go forth [from thyself]: it is of high concernment; we speak what we know, and what we must speak, for we ought not to speak otherwise of the eternity, unless we should speak as if it had a beginning, whereas there is none in the eternity.

74. And do not think that mankind hath such a beginning, as we must say of ourselves, according to the creation: no, the image hath appeared in God from eternity in the virgin of wisdom; but not in substance [or distinction]; it was no woman, nor man, but it was both; as Adam was both, before Eve was, which [divided distinction] signifieth the earthly, and also the bestial man; for nothing subsisteth in eternity, unless it hath been from eternity.

75. O ye children of God, open the eyes of your inward man, and see rightly: If you be new born in God, then you put on that very eternal image, and the man Christ is become man in that very image, viz. in the eternal virgin; for no mortal virgin is pure; and he was conceived by the Holy Spirit in a pure virgin, and in respect of our soul which he should assume, he is also [become man] in the mortal virgin: for Mary had all the Three Principles in her: and the image of the eternal virgin consisted in the divine and eternal substantiality; it was indeed without substance, but in the man Christ, it came to be a substance.

76. We do not say concerning the outward Virgin Mary, that she was not the daughter of Joachim and Anna; as the ancients have erred, to whom the light of God hath not so shone, because they sought their own profit therein.

77. For Mary was begotten of the seed of Joachim and Anna, like other persons; but she was the blessed among women: in her the eternal virgin, in Ternario Sancto, which was from eternity, discovered itself: not that it entered into her from without; no, it is quite otherwise. Here God and man became one again: What Adam lost, was here revived again; understand it rightly: The Word of the Lord, Verbum Domini, the Word of the Father on the cross, came into Mary, understand, into the earthly Mary.

78. Now, where the Word is, there is [also] the virgin [or wisdom of God]; for the Word is in the wisdom: and the one is not without the other, or else the eternity would be divided.

79. And now when the Word in Mary, in her flesh and blood, entered into her matrix, then the Fiat was in the matrix, but it did not in one moment create a complete earthly man, nor a heavenly either; but it began the Incarnation [or becoming man]; for the divine nature is neither augmented nor diminished, but is always complete.

80. But now this, that the eternal virgin, that was without substance, gave in itself together with the becoming man [or Incarnation], and the true soul of Christ was out of Mary's essences, conceived in the eternal virgin: and in the eternal virgin, God became man, and so the eternal virgin came into substantiality, for it gat the human soul into it. Thus the human soul of Christ stood in the earthly essences, as also in the virgin of the eternal wisdom in Ternario Sancto, in the Trinity of God: for the Word of the Lord was in it [or her, the virgin], and God and man became one person.

81. In this person [which was God and man] were all the Three Principles open, undivided; the virgin, in Ternario Sancto, giveth the heavenly body, and Mary the earthly [body]: and the Word was in the centre upon the cross, in the Number Three; whereas we say that the Word is become flesh, and it is so.

82. Behold! the virgin of eternity hath no flesh, nor hath had any from eternity, (except in Adam before the Fall, which afterwards came to be earthly), but it took human flesh upon it: understand [it thus], the Word, together with the whole Deity, was in the virgin: For without the Word there were no understanding in the eternal virgin.

83. For the spirit of God was in the Word, and he was the understanding, but the Word was as a heavenly figure, a figure of the Number Three; but not in the working; as indeed the flesh worketh not, but the spirit in the flesh [worketh].

84. And the living Word, which dwelleth in the eternal virgin, attracted to it the flesh of Mary; understand it thus, the Word attracted the flesh, (viz. the essences [or faculties] out of the body of Mary) into the eternal virgin: and so in nine months there was a complete man, with soul, spirit, and flesh.

85. And thus the perished soul of Adam, in the body of Mary, was again set in the eternal humanity, for the Word dwelt in Christ's flesh, and assumed the soul in him.

86. Not that the soul and the Word is one and the same substance: No, the soul is out of the centre of nature, generated out of the essences, and it belongeth to the body: for it goeth forth from the essences of the body, and it attracteth corporeity to it: But the Word is out of the centre of the Majesty, and attracteth Majesty to it.

87. The Word is without substance, and the soul is out of the substance, it is the spirit of the substance, out of the centre of the Father; or else it could not in Adam have gone forth from the Word; not that the word and the soul stand one by another like two persons; No, the Word penetrateth through the soul: and out of the Word, the Majesty shineth, viz. the light of life: And the soul is free of itself, for it is a creature.

88. I give you an earthly similitude of this. Behold a bright flaming piece of iron, which of itself is dark and black, and the fire so penetrateth and shineth through the iron, that it giveth light.

Now, the iron doth not cease to be; it is iron still: and the source [or property] of the fire retaineth its own propriety: it doth not take the iron into it, but it penetrateth [and shineth] through the iron; and it is iron then as well as before, free in itself: and so also is the source [or property] of the fire: in such a manner is the soul set in the Deity: the Deity penetrateth through the soul, and dwelleth in the soul, yet the soul doth not comprehend the Deity, but the Deity comprehendeth the soul, but doth not alter it [from being a soul], but only giveth it the divine source [or property] of the Majesty.

89. And so if the soul inclineth itself to the divine source [or property,] then it stayeth in the Majesty of God, for the source [or property] betokeneth the Word, and the glance [betokeneth] the Majesty: and that which proceedeth from the source [or property], as heat out of the fire, that betokeneth the Holy Spirit.

90. But now, if the flaming iron be cast, or fall, into the water, then the property of the fire, the. glance and the heat which proceedeth from it, are all quenched together; thus it is also with Adam: he cast himself out from the Majesty of God (with his will) into the spirit of this world, and so he went from God.

91. Not that God went out [was extinguished] in him, like the flaming of the iron: No, that cannot be; it [the glance or Majesty]shineth eternally: God continueth in his Principle, and Adam went out from it: If Adam's will had continued in God, he would have continued the child of God, and God would have continued in his will, and so the majesty would have shone through the will.

92. But he went out from the will of God, into this world, and so was captivated by the world, death, devils, and hell, and they dwelt in Adam.

93. Adam was in this world, dwelling in the elements, and God breathed the air also into his nostrils: but he should not have put his will into it, to eat of earthly fruit, which maketh earthly flesh. That was his Fall, that he did eat earthly fruit; and therefore his essences also became earthly; and the soul became captivated by the earthly dominion.

94. And there the Word of the Lord said to the soul, Adam, where art thou? And his body did hide itself; so very much ashamed was the poor soul: and Adam said, I am naked; the precious heavenly virgin (which he was clothed withal) was lost, as also, the light of the Majesty; and Adam was without the Word.

95. O how terrible is it to those that understand it, the soul trembleth at it, and it may well be afraid of this captivity, when the poor soul must be captivated by the devil, and must swim in [the lake of] God's anger. And this is the cause why God became man, that he might bring us again, in Ternarium Sanctum, into the angelical world.

96. And as we are all with Adam, gone out from God, for we have all Adam's soul and flesh, so God hath regenerated us all in Christ; and in Christ the divine kingdom standeth open, every one that will may enter in, whosoever putteth his will away from himself, and putteth it into Christ, and letteth all worldly reason go, though it have never so fair a lustre, shall be regenerated in Christ: and his soul attaineth the eternal flesh again, in which God became man, an incomprehensible flesh, of eternal substantiality.

97. The old Adamical [or mortal] flesh of death cometh not to be heavenly flesh: No, it belongeth to the earth, to death; but the eternal flesh is hidden in the old earthly man, and it is in the old man, as the fire in the iron, or as the gold in the [dark] stone.

98. This is the noble precious stone, (Lapis Philosophorum), the Philosopher's Stone, which the Magi [or wise men] find, which tinctureth nature, and generateth a new son in the old. He who findeth that, esteemeth more highly of it than of this [outward] world. For the Son is many thousand times greater than the Father.

99. O thou bright Crown of Pearl, art thou not brighter than the sun? There is nothing like thee; thou art so very manifest, and yet so very secret, that among many thousand in this world, thou art scarcely rightly known of any one; and yet thou art carried [about] in many that know thee not.

100. Christ saith, Seek, and thou shalt find. It [the noble stone] must be sought for, a lazy person findeth it not, and though he carrieth it about with him, yet he knoweth it not. To whomsoever it revealeth itself, he hath all joy therein; for there is no end of its virtue [or glory]: He that hath it doth not give it away: and if he doth impart it to any, yet it is not profitable to him that is lazy, for he diveth not into its virtue, to learn that.

101. But the seeker findeth the Stone, and its virtue and benefit together, and when he findeth it, and knoweth that he is certain of it, there is greater joy in him than the world is able to apprehend, which no pen can describe, nor any tongue express, in an Adamical manner.

102. It is accounted the meanest of all stones in the Adamical eyes, and is trodden under foot, for it affordeth no lustre to the sight; if a man lights upon it, he casteth it away as an unprofitable thing; none enquire after it, though it be so very much sought for in this world. There is none on earth but desireth it. All the great ones and the wise seek it: Indeed they find one, and think it is the right: but they miss of it: they ascribe power and virtue to it: and think they have it, and will keep it: but it is not that: It needeth no virtue to be ascribed to it. All virtue lieth hidden in it.

103. He who hath it, and knoweth it, if he seeketh, he may find all things whatsoever are in heaven and in earth. It is the Stone which is rejected of the builders, and is the chief corner stone; upon whatsoever it falleth, it grindeth to powder, and kindleth a fire therein. All universities seek it, but find it not by their seeking; sometimes it is found by one that seeketh it rightly. But others [that seek it in self, and for their own gain] despise it, and cast it away, and so it remaineth hidden still.

THE SEVENTH CHAPTER

OF THE TRUE CORNERSTONE

1. IT doth most of all concern us men, in this world, to seek that which is lost. And therefore if we would seek, we must not seek without ourselves, we need no flattering hypocrites, nor such as tickle our ears to comfort us, and promise us many golden mountains if we will but run after them, and make much of them, and reverence them.

2. If I should sit and hear sermons preached all my life long, and did hear them always preach of the kingdom of heaven and the New Birth, with their singing and repetitions, and stay there, and go no further, I should be never the nearer. If a stone be cast into the water and then taken out again, it is a hard stone as it was before, and retaineth its quality [form, condition, or nature]: But if it be cast into the fire, then it getteth another quality in itself; so also thou, O man, though thou runnest to church, and wouldst seem to be a minister of Christ, that is not enough; if you rest there, you are never the better.

3. Also, it is not enough that you learn all books, to rehearse them without book, and did yearly and daily read all writings, and could say the whole Bible without book, yet you are not a hair's breadth the better in the sight of God, than a keeper of swine, who all that while did nothing but feed the swine; or than a poor prisoner in a dark dungeon, who all that while hath not seen the daylight.

4. Talking availeth nothing, nor that you know how to speak much of God, and despise the simple, as the flattering hypocrites upon the Antichristian beast do, who forbid the light to them that see, as hath been done to this hand. But it is as Christ saith, Except you turn, and become as one of these children; you shall not see the kingdom of heaven in eternity: you must be bom anew, if you would see the kingdom of God: that is the right means.

5. There needs no art or eloquence about it, you need neither books nor cunning: a shepherd is as fit for it as a learned doctor, and very much fitter: for he goeth forth from his own reason into the mercy of God, he hath no great, wise [or deep] reason, therefore he doth not go to that for counsel, but he goeth simply with the poor publican, into the temple of Christ: whereas, on the contrary, the high and learned first set the university before their eyes, and study first with what opinion they will enter into the temple of Christ. They first set men's opinions before them, and will seek God in this or that opinion, one in the Pope's opinion, another in Luther's, a third in Calvin's, a fourth in Schwenckfeld's, &c. There is no end of opinions.

6. And thus the poor soul stayeth without the temple of Christ, standing in doubt: it knocketh and seeketh, and continually doubteth that it is not in the right way.

7. O thou poor confounded soul in Babel, what dost thou do? Leave off all opinions, by what name soever they are called in this world, they are all no other than the contention of reason: the New-Birth and the Noble Stone is to be found in no contention, neither in any wisdom of reason: you must forsake all in this world (let it be as glistering as it will) and enter into yourself, and only gather all your sins (which have captivated you) together on a heap, and cast them into the mercy of God, and fly to God, and pray to him for forgiveness, and the illumination of his spirit: there needs no long disputing, but earnestness, and then heaven must break asunder, and hell tremble; it cometh just so to pass; you must set aside all your sins, and reason, and whatsoever cometh in the way, and resolve, that you will not let him go, except he bless you; as Jacob wrestled with God the whole night.

8. Though thy conscience should say, No, God will have none of thee; yet do thou say, I will have him, I will not leave him, till I am carried to my grave: Let my will be as thy will, O Lord I will as thou wilt: and though all the devils encompassed thee round about, and should say, Hold, it is enough at once; thou must say, No; my mind [thought and purpose] and will shall not depart from God, they shall be eternally in God: his love is greater than all my sins: although thou devil, and thou world, have the mortal body in your prison, yet I have my Saviour and Regenerator in my soul: He will give me a heavenly body, which will remain eternally.

9. Try this, and thou shalt find wonders, thou shalt soon get one in thee, who will help thee to wrestle, fight and pray: And though thou canst not use many words, it is no matter, though you can say no more than the publican: O God, be merciful to me, a sinner. When thy will and all thy reason is once placed upon God, with a resolution not to leave him, though body and soul should be broken asunder, then thou holdest God [fast], and breakest through death, hell, and heaven, and goest into the temple of JESUS CHRIST, in spite of all the opposition of the devil: The anger of God cannot withhold thee, how great and powerful soever it is in thee; and though body and soul did burn in the anger, and stood in the midst of hell with all the devils; yet thou wouldst break forth, and come into the temple of Christ; and there thou wouldst get the Garland of Pearl, adorned with the noble and highly Precious Stone, that Lapis Philo-Angularis, The Chief Corner Stone.

10. But you must know, that the kingdom of heaven is thus sown in thee, and is small as a grain of mustard-seed, yet thou hast great joy with this angelical garland; but look to it, and set it not upon the old Adam, else it will go with thee as it did with Adam; keep what thou hast; necessity or want is an evil guest.

11. At length a young plant groweth to be a tree, if it standeth in good ground; but many a rough and cold wind bloweth upon a young plant before it cometh to be a tree; it is unsteady: Thou must be brought before the tree of temptation, and also into the wilderness of contempt and scorn in this world; if thou dost not hold out, thou hast nothing: If thou rootest up thy plant, thou dost as Adam did, thou wilt more hardly set it again than at first, and yet it groweth in the valley of roses [paradisical essence], hidden to the old Adam.

12. For it was a long time from Adam till the humanity of Christ, in which [time] the tree of pearl grew hidden under the veil of Moses, and yet in its time it came forth as a tree with fair fruits.

13. Therefore, if thou hast fallen, and hast lost the fair garland; do not despair, seek, knock, and come again, do as thou didst at first, and then thou wilt find by experience, from what spirit this pen and hand hath written: thou wilt afterwards get a tree instead of thy plant: And then thou wilt say, Is my plant, during my sleep, become a tree? Then you will begin to know the Philosopher's Stone; observe it.

The Gates of the Firmamental Heaven, with the Stars and Elements. Also of the Threefold Life of Man. The Noble Stone rightly brought forth into the Light, Spiritually, for the Magi [or those that are wise].

14. If we will speak of the Noble Stone, and bring it forth into the light to be known, we must first shew the darkness and deformity of the stone, which hinder that it is not known. For, since we know that the noble stone lieth hidden in this world, and may be had everywhere, and yet is not known, we should therefore seek to know the cause why it is so hidden.

15. Reason saith, If this [outward] world be so dangerous for man, why hath God set him therein? Or, Why hath he created it? And thus he judgeth also concerning the devil; [saying], Why hath not God turned the devil into nothing again since his fall?

16. Yes, beloved reason, thou hast found the stone, and with it thou buildest a house of stone to dwell in. The noble stone lieth in the eternity: that which is eternal breaketh not, but that which hath a beginning breaketh. The devils are eternal, and therefore they break not; they were not in the form [or condition] of a spirit from eternity, but their essences are eternal.

17. And they have put their will into their essences, and their will is eternal: as the centre of nature [viz.] of the stern matrix, is eternal, into which their will is entered, so now they are eternal spirits therein, [viz. in the stern matrix]: Also they are as a looking-glass for the other angels, and for the souls of men.

18. But that God should cast away the Third Principle, [that is, the created world], for man's sake, and put it into its ether, before the accomplishment of its time, that cannot be; for the wonders that were foreseen from eternity in the wisdom, without substance, they must come to have a substance, and so in time must the forms of nature also.

19. For God is Threefold in Persons, and would also move himself three times, according to the property of each Person, and no more at all in eternity.

20. First, The centre of the Father's nature moved itself to the creation of angels, and further, of this world.

21. Secondly, The Son's nature moved itself; where the Heart of God became man, which shall never be more done in eternity: and where it is now done, [viz. where men become united with the Heart of God, as branches on their vine], it is done by that only (man) who is God, through many, and in many.

22. And, Thirdly, The Holy Ghost's nature will move itself at the end of the world, when the world shall enter into its ether again, and the dead shall rise again: where the Holy Ghost will be the mover, and will set the great wonders (which shall have been done in this world) all in the eternal substantiality, to the glory and manifestation of God's deeds of wonder, and to the joy of the creatures, [viz. angels and men]. He will be the eternal mover of the creatures, (viz. angels and men), for through him paradise springeth up again, which we here have lost. Thus you must know, that the great wonders of this world, which must have been done, and must pass away, lie in our way.

23. This world is a great wonder; but it would not have been known in the wisdom of God by the angels: and therefore the Father's nature moved itself to the creation of a being, that the great wonders might be manifested; and then, [when they shall all once be manifested and become substantial], it will be known in eternity, by angels and men, what power and virtue every thing hath had.

24. Also the image of the Number Three, [or Trinity], (viz. the eternal virgin, which stood in Ternario sancto, in the eternal wisdom, in the substantiality, as a figure), would not have been known in eternity by the angels, if the Heart of God had not become man; there the angels saw the glory of the Majesty in a living image, wherein the whole trinity was included.

25. So also the centre of nature would not in eternity have been manifested to the angels, much less the government of the Holy Ghost, if this world, with the stars and elements, had not been created; but so [by this means] the angels and we men (also) know the eternal being, and all forms, by this [created] world; and therefore God hath placed the image of the Number Three (viz. man) in this world, that he should open all wonders, and know the eternal God.

26. But the image doted on it, and put its imagination into it, as Lucifer did into the wrathful matrix of nature, and so it was also captivated: for Adam was to be a lord over the stars and elements, nothing should touch him, he had power over them all, he could have removed mountains with a word, he was lord over fire, air, water and earth.

27. For there was no death in him, the light shone in him, he was in paradise, paradisical fruit grew for him, he was one [single] man, and not two, he was the man, and also the woman, and he should have propagated an angelical kingdom out of himself, and that was possible. For he had no such flesh and blood as after the Fall, whereof he was ashamed before the Majesty of God: he had flesh and blood that was heavenly, his essences [or faculties] were holy: he could bring forth out of himself (without rending of his body) an image like himself.

28. For he was a virgin, without the feminine form, after the form of the eternal [Sophia], with a pure modest mind, and chaste, without the least desire of lust: his desire was only to have his like out of himself; he placed his will upon himself, and in him was God: so his will was in God, and God in him, and he in paradise.

29. But he saw in himself two forms [natures, conditions, or qualities] of the divine Being: one without himself belonging to this world, and the other within him belonging to the paradisical world, which he also had with full satisfaction to himself [as his own], and therefore came the commandment and said; Eat not of the mixed fruit, (Good and Evil), else ye shall die. But he imagined so long, till he was captivated: he still thought he would eat of both, [viz. of the paradisical and of the forbidden fruit], and so live for ever; and so he continued forty days, as the second Adam in the wilderness was [so long] tempted: and Moses was [so long] upon the mount, where Israel was tempted, to try if it were possible to live in the obedience and will of the Father: and so long he went on till he sank down into a sleep.

30. For Moses saith, God suffered a deep sleep to fall on him; and then God saw that it was not possible for him [to continue in perfect obedience], (for the lust had captivated him), and so he suffered him to fall into a sleep, (which signifieth death), where the woman was made out of him; and the spirit of this world formed Adam into a man, (such an one as we are at this day), and Eve into a woman: which, when they awoke, they saw not: for they were yet in paradise, till they had eaten the earthly fruit; and then the spirit of this world took the soul captive, and its essences became instantly earthly, and its flesh and blood bestial, at which they were ashamed, and took notice of their bestial form in their masculine and feminine members.

31. And so they were driven out of paradise; and the Word of the Lord, Verbum Domini, (with a promise of a Treader upon the serpent), set itself in the light of their life, (which before dwelt and ruled in him [viz. in Adam]), that remained now in its own principle, and the image remained in the outward Principle, and was captivated by the spirit of the stars and elements: the regimen [or rule and dominion] of this world dwelt now in these persons, and they became earthly.

32. Whereupon God cursed the earth also for man's sake, so that no paradisical fruit grew any more. All was gone, save only the grace and mercy of God, which was still left; for they now stood (as to the ground of the world) in the abyss of hell, with all devils; and they lived in weakness, as we do now at this day.

33. They begat their children in two kingdoms, [viz. in the kingdom of wrath, and in the kingdom of love], for the anger of God had taken hold of them, and desired to shew its wonders in them: so also the Treader upon the serpent had taken hold of them in the light of life, and desired also to shew its wonders in them.

34. So there was strife and disquietness, as may be discerned by their children: the first that was born of woman, became a wicked murderer, and strove to suppress the kingdom of God; and the second, was a holy virtuous man: In brief, you see this throughout the Holy Scripture, especially by Cain and Abel, by Isaac and Ismael, also by Esau and Jacob, who, while they were yet in their mother's womb, strove for [or about] the kingdom of God, and for the kingdom of hell: and therefore said God, Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated.

35. And from hence arose the Predestination or Election of the children that cleave to him; the others make but a mockery and scorn of that which is spoken concerning the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven, and they find not the Precious Stone of the philosophers; for they seek it not rightly. They are mere hypocrites, [such as make a show of holiness], like the devil in the form of an angel.

36. But Abel, Isaac, and Jacob, found it indeed. Jacob wrestled for it a whole night; and Isaac carried the fuel of the fire, [to burn] himself [with], and readily yielded that the darkness and dross of his Stone should be burnt away: for he had attained the [noble] Stone in his mother's womb. Look upon the king and prophet David, what he did with that Stone, how dearly he loved it. For he said, Though body and soul should be broken asunder, yet thou art the desire of my heart, and my portion [or salvation].

37. Look upon Solomon, in his great and wonderful wisdom, who knew the [nature and]property of all living creatures and plants, which he learnt in no academy; he understood it only by the Precious Stone which he had in his heart.

38. Look upon Moses, what miracles he did by this Stone: Look upon the prophet Elijah, who shut heaven for three years and six months: He brought forth fire in the anger of God, so that it devoured an hundred men.

39. Look upon all prophets, what miracles they wrought with it; they knew things to come, in the virtue of this stone; they healed the sick, and raised the dead.

40. And this stone is CHRIST the Son of the living God, which discovereth itself in all those that seek and find it: What an admirable example have we in the Apostles, (who were but simple unlearned laymen), how they went about with this Stone, in power, and doing miracles; and so did all their successors.

41. O how eagerly have the rational wise men of the schools of this world persecuted it at all times, and at this very day: they have a glistering stone, with a pleasant outside [or shell], or sound, and they think it is the right [stone ]: they spread themselves abroad upon it, and boast themselves of it, and would be honoured for it as gods.

42. But their stone is only a stone belonging to the wall of the great building of this world, in which [building] the seven seals, accomplish their wonders, and under which the seven spirits of the anger of God pour forth their vials of wrath and abominations.

43. For we are with Adam shut up in the anger, which holdeth us captive: and yet the grace also is presented to us, and that desireth to have us also, and so there is a hard strife in us. This you may see in the writings of Moses, in that God commanded, that all the first-born of the males should be offered to him.

44. But you see the vehement opposition of his anger; how it hath penetrated [and prevailed], and many times taken away the first birth; as may be seen by Cain and Abel, by Esau and Jacob, also by the children of Jacob, and throughout the whole Scripture, that the Stone would rest, not upon the first Adam, but upon the second.

45. We have a great example in the children of Jesse; when the prophet [Samuel] thought the eldest should be king, yet the election fell upon the youngest, because he had that Stone.

46. This election was not thus from eternity in God: for Adam was good and perfect, also pure; but he yielded himself to be overcome. For the anger stood in the abyss, and was covered with the Principle of this world.

47. And know, that the tree of Adam's tempting in paradise, (which yet stood only in the abyss), grew out of the source of the anger: and Adam was tempted, to try whether he would with his will cleave to God.

48. Nothing compelled Eve to eat of it, but her lust, which the devil in the anger brought [awakened] into her: If she had turned away her eyes from the devil and the serpent, she had continued in paradise: Had she not a command [not to eat]? But when she followed the devil, and would be skilful, she became foolish.

49. And so it befalleth us at this day, we are captivated by the abyss of the anger; and so the devil sets before us the flattering hypocrisy and bravery of this world, viz. stateliness, arts, and riches, at which we bite, [as a fish at the bait which the angle is covered with, and so is caught, and pulled out from its livelihood]; and so we also are driven out of paradise, and lose the Noble Stone.

50. Christ hath instituted Baptism as a bath, to wash away the anger, and hath put into us the Noble Stone, viz. the water of eternal life, for an earnest-penny, so that instantly in our childhood we might be able to escape the wrath.

51. But the serpent presents itself to us, [as he did to Eve], so that we imagine after [or set our mind upon] the tree of temptation; as we see by experience, that as soon as young children grow up a little, they creep up in pride, and flattering hypocritical arrogance, and set the paradisical garland [viz. the blossom of their youth] upon the head of the serpent; and thus the serpent playeth with them, and teacheth them all manner of wantonness, and leadeth them out of paradise into this world, into finery and pride, which require covetousness and deceit to maintain them.

52. And then the Noble Stone cometh to be contemned: if they see a man who carrieth that Stone in him, he must be a fool with them; which is, because they have the wit, and subtlety of the serpent; and they that have the Stone are simple, without wit and cunning, like a child; their play [or part] in this world they act in care, sorrow, want, contempt and misery: but it is written; They pass away, weeping and sorrowful, but they carry noble seed with them, [or their employment is sowing in tears, but they shall reap in joy]. Eternal joy is far better than a momentary pleasure of the eye, and after that, eternal lamentation.

53. Seeing then we know and fundamentally understand, that we lie thus captivated in a close prison, therefore we will reveal that ground and the prison also, to try whether any will take notice what condition they are in.

54. We will not relate a history, but speak what we know in ourselves, in soul and body, also what we see in the ground or foundation of the world, from our own [eternal] light which we have from grace: we will speak from that, and not from a supposition, as doubting whether it be true or no.

55. They say, that which the eyes see, the heart believeth. It is good to see with our own eyes: but he that seeth with the eyes of another, [or he that depends upon another's words], is always in doubt whether the spirit be true or false.

56. Therefore it is good to have the Noble Stone, [which Abraham, Moses, the prophets and apostles had], that giveth assurance, and pointeth at the false Magi, such as are Magi in the history only, which they strut about withal, in state like a whore that would be accounted a maid, and yet is big with child.

57. And so they are big with darkness and wrath, and yet they always cry out, Here is the [true] Church, here is Christ, flock all hither! Yes indeed, run after the whore of Babel, who is big with stately pride; give something towards her child-bed, that she may fatten her whorish stomach, and satisfy her hypocritical stinking pride.

58. They are like whores, who (when they are said to be whores) will not endure it, but curse and rail: and so also when the spirit of truth layeth them open, then they cry, O heretic, O heretic, fire and faggot! O run away, begone all of you, the devil is in him. Thus they miscall the spirit of God, because they do not know it.

59. We do not write this out of a desire to contemn them, for we know the great misery of our captivity; but we write it, to the end that the simple (who cleave so very fast to their words, and believe all that the devil poureth forth in wrath) might every one of them enter into themselves, and try whether it be truth or no; and that men might not be so zealous in blindness, with anger and envy, without knowledge whether it hath any ground of truth.

60. We have too much experience of this, that many times the Holy Ghost is called a devil, and the devil called a good spirit; which happeneth out of ignorance: for the flattering hypocrites do so fill the ears of the laity with their eloquence in their sermons, and drawing the Scriptures to their desire [and meaning].

61. O what horrible blasphemy it is, that the spirit of God must be thus slandered by the image of God; though we do not say that the image itself doth it, but the serpent in the image: so soon as the mind is turned away from God, the serpent taketh hold of it, and then ruleth it, and poureth forth blasphemies against God, and his children. Therefore observe this following text. [Here the Author again sheweth the Eternal Being.]

62. As God the Father himself is All; he is the Number Three of the Deity; he is the Majesty; he is the still eternity; he is the nature, and in it he is the love and the anger: the anger is a cause of his strength and might; as also a cause of life, and of all mobility, as the poison [or gall] in man is: and the love is a cause of the Heart of his Majesty, and a cause of the Number Three, and of the Three Principles.

63. And as we know and have mentioned before, that the fire is a cause of the light, for without fire there would be no light, so there would be no love without light; the light is love [or pleasantness], for it is kind and amiable, and we see that the light and the fire have two several [properties or] sources; the fire is biting, wrathful, devouring and consuming; and the light is pleasant, sweet, and desirous of a body; the love desireth a body; and the fire also desireth a body for its nourishment, but devoureth it quite; and the light raiseth it up [vivivies it], and desireth to fill it; it taketh nothing away from the body, but quickeneth it, and maketh it friendly.

64. So you must understand us concerning the eternal Being. The eternal Being is so, and if it were not so, all would be as nothing, but an eternal stillness without being; and that we find to be so in every thing.

65. Thus we may consider with ourselves, whence it ariseth that there is a wrathful and a good will: For you see the fire hath two spirits, one is that which proceedeth from the heat, and the other that which proceedeth from the light: Now the heat is nature, and the light is the eternal liberty without [or beyond] nature: for nature comprehendeth not the light.

66. And so you must understand us concerning the two sorts of wills in God, the one is nature, and is not called God, and yet is God's, for he is angry, severe, sharp as a sting, consuming, attracting all things to himself, and devouring them, always striving, to fly up above the light, [which is the other will], and yet cannot; as the fire doth, which the higher it flieth, the higher goeth the light, and so they may well be called two Principles.

67. For the light desireth substantiality, and preserveth the substantiality, and doth not consume it: but the fire desireth to devour all things, and turn them to nothing; and when it hath turned all to nothing, it becometh a darkness.

68. And therefore God hath moved himself in the light of meekness, and attracted the meekness, so that the light hath a substantiality, and that is water, or in Ternario sancto the water spirit, which holdeth the fire captive; so that the fire is a darkness, and is not known, except it be kindled, and it standeth in itself in the hunger, in the eternal darkness, and so is a continual desire.

69. Out of such an original came the devils, for it is the fierce wrath of God, and whatsoever is false and evil, hath its original thus out of this matrix [Or womb], as also all the creatures of this world, let it be heaven, the stars, the earth, or what it will; they have all a twofold source, viz. the fire and the water: in those two consist all bodies, heavenly and earthly; the heavenly consist in the matrix of the water, and they have the fire hidden in them.

70. For the watery matrix (which is only a spirit of a soft property) holdeth the fire captive, and so the Majesty shineth in the meekness, transparently.

71. And the earthly [bodies] consist in the palpable substance; for the water becometh material in the kindling; which matter is drawn together by the wrath in the Fiat, part to stones, and part to earth, all according as nature is in its seven forms: and the water hath quenched the fire, so that the wrath is in the darkness, like a hidden fire.

72. And where the matrix continued, and was not so quenched by the comprehensible water, there it is created into stars; for a star is only fire and water [concrete together]: but seeing the fire [in them] burneth not, and that the water [in them] doth not quench the fire, thereby we understand that that water is not material, but is as an oil, in which the light burneth, which is not [such] water as putteth out the light, but preserveth a continual burning light without any great source, [or fierce consuming property].

73. Thus the stars are a Quinta Essentia, a fifth form [distinct] from the elements, as the fat in a creature is a cause that the fountain of life burneth: So the Quinta Essentia is a cause that the stars burn: yet the stars have in them also all the causes of every thing that is in this world; all that live and move, are stirred up from their properties, and brought to life.

74. For they are not only fire and water, (though the fire and the water be the chief in them), but also they have in them hardness, softness, darkness, bitterness, sourness, sweetness, and all the powers [or virtues] of nature; they have whatsoever the earth hath contained in it. For every star hath a several property, all according to the essences [effects, operations] of the eternal centre of nature.

75. All is comprehended in the creation, and come to a being, so far as their properties at the same time stood open in the wheel of nature, when the eternity moved itself to the creation.

76. And the air is the spirit which is mixed with all sorts of forms, and as the heat goeth forth from the fire, so also the air goeth forth with all powers continually from the fire, and therefore it is inconstant; suddenly the air awakeneth one form in the centre of nature, suddenly another; and so there is continually a wrestling and overcoming, suddenly a being above, and then a being under again.

77. The whole deep between the earth and the stars, is like the mind of a man, where the eyes suddenly behold a thing, and conceive or frame a will [or desire] therein, and bring it to substance [to be or to pass]; some things they behold only with cursory thoughts, and some things in a perfectt being [resolution or purpose], so that the mouth and hands go about it [to bring it to pass]: Thus the deep also is like the mind, suddenly it is intent upon one star, suddenly upon another, and the sun is the king, and the heart of the deep, which shineth and worketh in the deep; and the other six planets make the senses and understanding in the deep; so that all together is as a living spirit.

78. Which you may understand by a beast, which formeth its spirit herein, also in the fowls, and also in us men, according to the Adamical man: but this government [or dominion] and spirit hath not divine wit and understanding: for it hath beginning and end; and that which hath beginning and end is not spiritual (or divine), but it is natural and transitory; as you may see by the wind, how suddenly it is raised in one place, and suddenly laid again, and then suddenly raised in another place, and so on.

79. So also the constellation is a cause of all sorts [of outward worldly] wisdom [or wit], arts, and policy; also a cause of the ordering of every government [or dominion] of this world amongst men after the Fall; also among the beasts and fowls; also it is the cause and bringer forth of all herbs, plants, and metals, and of trees, that they grow.

80. For that which the constellation containeth in it, lieth all in the earth; and the constellation kindleth the earth: and it is all one spirit and one dominion, which I call the third Principle. For it is the third life in God, the awakened life, and not an eternal life; for in this third life only shall the great wonders (which lie in the centre of the eternal nature) be brought into a visible substance, whose figures remain for ever, but not in the essences, they all return again into the ether; as it was before the creation, so will it be again at the end.

81. But all of this world remaineth standing in the eternal nature, with its colours and figures, like a picture, else the creatures, as angels and men, which are eternal, would have no joy. Thus they shall enjoy all; and yet there will be a springing, blossoming, and growing, but without feeling of any fierceness, or of the fire: for the essences are no more a substance, and therefore afford no fire; the fire is an eternal darkness and gnawing in itself, and that is called the eternal death, concerning which the Scripture witnesseth throughout. Do not account this a fiction: for it is true, we speak faithfully what we know [and understand] in the bosom of our mother, [viz. in the mercy and eternal wisdom of God].

THE EIGHTH CHAPTER

OF THE TRANSITORY, AND ETERNAL, LIFE

1. NOW as there is a life, and spiritual government, in the deep of the world in all places, so that all creatures are included as it were in one body, which affordeth them life, nourishment, wit, wisdom and art, in all kinds of them, in men, beasts, fowls, fishes, worms, trees, and herbs, every one according to the kind of their essences; so there is also a life in the eternity within this world, which the spirit of this world comprehendeth not, which hath all the properties of this world in it, but in no such kindled essences.

2. For it hath no fire, though indeed it hath a mighty fire, but it burneth in another source [or property] viz. in the desiring: It is soft, delicate or pleasant, without pain; also it consumeth nothing; but its spirit is love and joy: its fire maketh majesty and brightness; and that hath always been from eternity; it hath no ground, it hath its springing up and blossoming, but not out of such earth as we walk upon; and yet it is earth, which in my whole book I call Substantiality, for it is the eternal body, without any defect: There is no want in it, nor sorrow, nor misery; no such thing is known there at all; there is no death, devil, nor anger known in it; but such things stand altogether in the darkness [or in eternal oblivion] hidden in the first principle.

3. And this angelical world [or eternal substantiality] we call Ternarius Sanctus; and that very rightly, though the Latin tongue understandeth only the Number Three [The Trinity] thereby; yet the language of nature comprehendeth it together as one only body.

4. For as this Principle of this [outward] world, is together as one body; so God, the kingdom of heaven, angels, men, paradise, with all heavenly and divine things [beings] and properties, are all but one body; and together are called God, Majesty, and eternity.

5. For the Majesty is the light of that body, and the Holy Ghost is its air and spirit of life; but the Creatures [viz. angels and men] have their own spirit of life from themselves.

6. For every angel and man is like the total God, he hath in him the Number Three, and the Holy Ghost proceedeth forth in him also; of which you have a similitude in a flaming piece of iron [a red hot iron]: The iron resembleth the creature, the fire resembleth the Deity, the heat of the iron resembleth the creature's own spirit, the air which goeth forth from the heat, which hath no source [or painful quality], resembleth the Holy Ghost.

7. In this manner we give you, in simplicity, sufficiently to understand these high things. If any will now be blind, God help them! And we can thus with good ground set you down, what man was before the Fall, and what he came to be in the Fall: what he is in the New Birth again, and what he shall be after this life. For we know what he is in death, and what he is in life; we know also what he is in hell; and that, not from, our own wisdom, (as if that were greater than any man's living), but [we understand it] in the bosom of the mother, in the mother's spirit.

8. I am dead and as nothing [as to my own self] when I speak and write thus, also I write not from myself, but from the mother, out of her knowing and seeing: and yet I live in anguish, cares, and labour, in fear and trembling, and in affliction, like all other men; for I am also clothed with Adam's skin, and yet live also in the hope of Israel.

9. Know therefore, upon this description, that our father Adam in paradise was in the divine body, and is gone out from it into the body of this world, into the dominion of the stars and elements, which have now captivated the [Adamical] body and spirit, so far as to the poor soul, which is in the root of this world between heaven, and hell: and hell and the anger have bound it fast to the darkness, and to the source [or property] of the anger, with a strong chain, which is called Centrum Naturae, [the centre of nature].

10. And God is come to help it again, and is become man, and hath received the human soul again into his heavenly body, and hath bound it fast to him (in [or to] Christ) again. Thus the soul standeth in the midst, [being] beneath, in the hellish fire, and above, in God in heaven: and so whithersoever it casteth its will, and into what it yieldeth it3elf, there it is, and is a servant to that; there is no recalling out of hell.

11. Thou great whore of Babel, if thou hast divine power [Jus Divinum], help us and thyself: Behold thyself here with thy dreams; if thou canst, then break this chain, viz. the centre of nature, asunder: But we are told, we must be born anew: the divine fire must be kindled in you, like a flaming iron; for, as the workman will not touch it with his bare hand, no more can the devil touch the soul; for it burneth him, he is in darkness, and if he should come to the light, his evil envious tricks would be discerned, which he is ashamed of, and slideth back into the darkness, as Adam and Eve crept behind the trees; he doth not relish this bit [of the New Birth,] he doth not love to smell such [divine] fire: for it is poison to him: if he knew but of one such spark of fire in his habitation, he would not endure it there, but would run away from it; as indeed he must fly away from man, when the divine fire, with the New Birth, cometh into him.

12. O how cowardly and faint is he when the soul beginneth to storm his fort! How many hundred thousand tricks doth he study to keep the soul off from storming! O how he fawneth, and streweth sugar before the soul, and ascribeth great holiness to it, as if it had divine power, that it is no sinner any more; that he might by any means bring it to the top of the pinnacle of the temple, that it might elevate itself: O how busy is he! what good companions doth he bring to it! till the good companions [or hypocrites] begin to play with their own holiness and ability, as the Antichristian church hath done for a long while.

13. All the while, [that the soul goeth on in its own security], the devil is at quiet, none storm his hell: and he gets good fat venison, which he sendeth to St Peter with good passports [or absolutions]; and if Peter be in the abyss, he will read them well enough; but if he be not there, then the great prince Lucifer will read them, they will please him very well.

14. O dear children, see but in what misery we lie captivated, in what lodging we are; for we are captivated by the spirit of this [outward] world; it is our life, for it nourisheth and bringeth us up, it ruleth in our marrow and bones, in our flesh and blood; it hath made our flesh earthly, so that we lie captivated in death.

15. We swim in water up to our very lips, (as the prophet and king, David, saith: The water reacheth up to my soul: great bulls have com- passed me round about; I dwell among serpents and dragons: O thou lamentable, miserable, and toilsome life; how dead art thou! thou swimmest in the water in a handful of blood, and yet art so proud and lofty.

16. What is thy beauty, thy state, honour, and riches? Do but consider thyself, seek and find thyself; go forth from this dangerous life of adders and serpents, into the eternal: you have it fully in your power.

17. Whosoever teacheth otherwise, teacheth from the devil, who will not allow that it lieth in man's power [or possibility] to turn to be a child of God, though the Scripture saith: That God hath given man power (in Christ) to become the children of God: And, God willeth that all men should be saved: Also, Thou art not a God that willeth evil, or doth delight in wickedness. And in Ezekiel it is written; As I live, I desire not the death of a sinner, but that he turn and live.

18. For God hath no other will but to save that which is lost: therefore must none despair: for if the spirit of the soul lift up itself earnestly, it is stronger than God, and overcometh God, (for the anger belongeth unto God, and is God's greatest might, which it overcometh): It is stronger than the abyss of hell: It can remove mountains without any stir [a storm], only with its will. For by the will God created heaven and earth; and such a mighty will is hidden also in the soul.

19. But now it swimmeth in misery and much weakness, in the sinking down of death: it is tied and drawn up and down, as a poor captive creature, from one filthy puddle into another; and the devil rolleth it presently in this mire, and presently in that mire again, and so it is like a filthy rag, all mire and dirt: All stars dart their poison into the body, and defile the poor soul: It must endure to be defiled by the beasts, for the body feedeth upon the Jlesh of beasts, wherewith the poor soul is clad. Dost thou know why God did forbid the Jews to eat of some sort of flesh? Kindle their fat, and consider their property, and thou shalt discern it.

20. The poor soul is a kindled fire, and so when such a property cometh into the soul, dost thou suppose that God will dwell therein? And therefore Christ taught us, saying, Be sober and temperate in eating and drinking; watch and pray; for your adversary the devil goeth about like a roaring lion, and seeketh whom he may devour.

21. Thus you see how we stand in a Threefold Life: the soul standeth upon the abyss, between two Principles, and is tied to them both; and the body merely in the spirit of this world; and therefore that seeketh only after eating and drinking, power and honour, for it belongeth to the earth, and careth little for the poor soul which cometh out of the eternity, [and belongeth to the eternity].

22. Therefore we ought to tame the body, and not give way to it, but to damp [or kill] its desire, and not satisfy it when it pleaseth, but for necessity only; that it may not grow wanton, and invite the devil to lodge in it.

23. The poor soul must watch and pray, and continually put its will into God's will; it must not give way to the body in any thing, except it hath yielded itself to God first: the soul must not please itself at all in its own power; but cast itself merely upon God, as being itself weak and able to do nothing, (though it be strong), and so continually go out from itself, from its natural will, and so fall into the will of God, and then the devil cannot meddle with it.

24. Indeed, it is irksome and troublesome to the body to be broken of its will; but that is no matter, eternity is very long: the body hath but a short time of continuance, and then it returneth to its mother [the earth]: and you know not in what moment death will come, when the body must be gone into its mother; and then it lets the poor soul go whither it can: it is a very inconstant [untrusty] neighbour to the soul. A True Open Gate. [Shewing] How a Man may seek and find himself [From whence he hath his beginning: and what he shall be in the end.] 25. Behold, O man! and consider thyself, what thou art from thy beginning, and what thou shalt be again in the end: and then thou wilt certainly find what home thou art in, in what lodging thou liest captive, and thou wilt find that thou art both a man, and also a beast; thou wilt well see the heavy Fall, if there be but a spark of God's light in thee.

26. For no beast is able to apprehend it, because a beast hath its original only from the life of this world; and therefore we know that there is another manner of life in us, in that we know the ground of this world.

27. For if we were only from the clay and earth of this world, we should be but clay and earth like a beast which hath no understanding, we should not be able to know the ground of this world. For a pot knoweth not the potter; nor doth a piece of work know its workmaster: and so a beast knoweth not its master, it hath no desire after him, for it knoweth nothing of him.

28. The desire of a beast is only to fill its belly, to nourish and multiply itself, (as the centre of nature in itself is [such a desire]), and hath no understanding of any higher thing: for it hath its own spirit, whereby it liveth and groweth, and then again consumeth itself, and doth it as well at one time as at another: for such a thing is the band of eternity, which is called nature.

29. But we that are men have a higher apprehension and knowledge, for we can see into the heart of every thing, and see what manner of thing it is, and what property it hath. So also we have quite another longing and desire, after another thing and life, which is not bestial [or animal], nor transitory, nor desireth any elementary earthly food.

30. Thereby we know, that every life desireth its own mother, whence it hath its original, and wherein it subsisteth; as also we must understand, that every life desireth the best [thing] that is in its centre; viz. the heart or oil wherein the fire burneth, and wherein the life is opened that it is living.

31. For every living life is a fire: and yet the proper source of the fire is not the right life, but the tincture which proceedeth from the fire, is a pleasant joy, and it is the liberty of nature, [which is the right life]. For nature standeth in great anguish, and reacheth with a strong desire after the liberty till it attaineth it: and so nature is a sharpness in the liberty, and desireth continually to swallow it up into itself, that it might come totally to be the liberty, and cannot; but the more eager it is, and raised up after the liberty, the greater is the tincture of the liberty.

32. Thus nature continueth to be a fire, and the liberty continueth to be a light; what the tincture buildeth up, the fire devoureth; for the tincture maketh substantiality, its centre is meek, and is a sinking down [of humility], as the fire is a rising up [of pride].

33. But as the light (viz. the tincture) maketh substantiality in its sinking down, so that there is in the light a substance like water, and yet is no water, but such a spirit and property; so the fire swalloweth up the same substantiality into itself, and therewith quencheth its wrath, and ascendeth in the substantiality, and burneth like kindled oil, and this is the right natural life of all creatures, and is called the tincture.

34. But this life is fragile [transitory, corruptible], and consisteth only in four forms; viz. in fire, air, water, and in substantiality [or earth] which is its body. And we shew you this one thing more in this tincture-life, (as you see naturally) that out of every fire there goeth forth a source [or virtue] viz. air, which is after this manner: when the fire strongly attracteth and swalloweth the substantiality into itself, then the substantiality flieth strongly again out of the source of the fire.

35. For it is so subtle, that the fire cannot hold it, and so is an attracting and recoiling again. For the fire willeth eagerly to have that again which is flying forth, and so there is perpetual strife.

36. Thus you see it very plainly and openly, that the life of the fire letteth go the air: for it will not stay in the source [or property] of the fire: for it flieth eagerly, and the source [or property] of the fire continually attracteth the same back again into it: And so the fire is blown up, or else it would be smothered, and become dark: and for that cause it reacheth thus after the substantiality, viz. after the air.

37. For no Source [virtue or life] desireth the shutting up in death; and that is also called death, when the life is shut up; besides that, there is no death.

38. For in the eternity there was never any death at all, nor shall be ever; but that which is called the eternal death, is a shutting up of the tincture, where the tincture goeth away like a shadow [Or figure], and so the centre (viz. the source [or, fountain] of the fire) remaineth in the darkness, and floweth in mere wrath in itself; and would very fain reach the tincture again, and yet it hath no power to do so, for the tincture only is the power, which bloweth up the fire.

39. Consider here what hell and the eternal death is, for it is just so; and know, that the devils have lost the tincture of meekness, who now are a wrathful fire-source without substantiality, for they have no body.

40. Secondly, consider also the element of water, and as you know that it hath its original in the spirit of the creature; so also it hath its original in the deep of the world, which is also a spirit, and hath such a life as other creatures have.

41. And, thirdly, consider, that there are two sorts of fire, a hot and a cold: For, as the heat contracteth [or concreteth] together, so doth the cold, which turneth water into ice, and maketh a strange [heterogeeous] body out of the substantiality [or water] which is not its own.

42. By this we give you clearly to understand the Fall of Lucifer, who thus reached into the centre of nature, into the harsh matrix, and awakened it, so that it concreted the substantiality, and so earth and stones came to be.

43. You will say, Why did God suffer it? [The answer is]: Lucifer was a prince and throne-angel, and was created with the first creation: and therefore since he was a cause of the Third Principle, (understand, of the out-birth), therefore Christ called him also a prince of this world; for he had also a free will, like us men. We oftentimes do works which are contrary to God, only for our state and honour, as is seen in forts, castles, and sumptuous great houses.

44. So Lucifer also would be as a god and creator, all which might have been well enough, for that was not his fall, [no more than it was Adam's fall, that he imagined, whereupon God suffered the tree of temptation to grow], but it was his fall that he awakened the matrix of the fire, and would domineer over the meekness of the Heart of God.

45. That [awakened matrix of the fire] is now his hell: and God hath captivated that hell, with the heaven, viz. the matrix of the water. For [Lucifer would fain that] the place of this world should burn in the fire for him [to domineer in]; and therefore God moved himself to the creation, and did create; and so there was water, which captivated his wrathful hell, [as the pleasant sun shutteth up the astringent cold, and turneth ice into water, whereby fishes and other creatures grow and live].

46. And the cause of the sea and of the great deep waters, whose bottom cannot be fathomed, is, that the matrix of nature was in those places so far enkindled in the fire.

47. And here we give you an example of this. Consider Sodom and Gomorrah, when their sins became great, and that the devil dwelt there, and would have a kingdom there for himself; God permitted that the prince of this world should burn those five kingdoms (wherein the devil intended to dwell) with fire and brimstone. But when the devil thought to be lord, and to have his habitation there, then God brake his pride and stoutness, and caused water to come upon that place, and allayed his pride.

48. And in this we have an excellent example of God's care for his children which depend on him: for when he saw the wrath [the kindled anger], he brought forth Lot out of Sodom. And further, you have herein a full example, that when the wrath of God beginneth to be kindled, he maketh it known to his children before-hand, that they might flee from it; as he told it to Abraham and Lot, and commanded him to flee from it; and so he hath done from the beginning of the world. For the prophets were for no other end but to declare the anger of God, and to command the children of God to flee from it; as may be seen by what was done to Jerusalem and the Jewish nation, and hath been always done to all people, from the beginning of the world to this time. [For when no punishments or judgments more can be expected, then prophesying shall cease.]

49. Therefore let none blindfold themselves, but consider what such a warning and revelation signifieth, which at present is propounded to the world. This is the time of the overthrow of the dragon, with the whore of Babel, which shall go down into the abyss. Now, he that will not flee, yet let him have warning of it. He that will bring the whore's marks forth into the light, will have great ignominy and reproach by it; we speak what we ought: The day dawneth, the sun will suddenly arise, account it not for a fiction, it is concluded and known in Ternario Sancto: Look into the Scripture in the Revelation, which the sophisters had rather it were cast out of the Bible; but the understanding of it will soon bud forth: and then the pedlars of the beast and of the whore will stand in great shame, and none will buy their wares any more. No sword destroyeth the whore, but her own mouth choketh her, for there are nothing but lies and blasphemies in it; and yet she seemeth as if she were God. Therefore say we, let everyone look to his own doing: Lift up your heads, as Christ saith, for the time of your redemption draweth near; you are baptized with water, but he that will baptize with the Holy Ghost, and with the fire of his wrath, is already on his way; be not wilfully blind.

50. Thus understand us rightly concerning the life of man, as we have now mentioned: This last forementioned life, is singly [solely, or alone] in the beasts, for it hath its original only in the Principle of this world, in the matrix of nature, which is everywhere such a spirit, and such a life, in itself.

51. And in man the life is two-fold: for man hath also the life of this [outward] Principle in him: but he desireth also another life, which is higher and better than this.

52. And now, where there is a desire, there is a mother, which is the desire itself; for no desire can make itself, it must arise out of a will; and the will must come out of the tincture, which is the life of the will.

53. Thus we know, and have searched out, that in the tincture of the Principle of this world, viz. in the life of this world, there is also another tincture, which we have an apprehension of in ourselves. If there were not another tincture, the life would desire nothing more.

54. Yet we cannot say, that the outward life desireth anything more: It desireth nothing else but its own mother, viz. the Principle of this world, for it is only a spirit therein; for no Principle desireth another; a Principle is a peculiar life, and hath its centre to nature; and therefore we call it a Principle, because there is a total dominion in it, as there is in the eternity; which dominion desireth nothing more nor higher, but only that which may be generated in its own centre; as you may easily perceive it by the kingdom of heaven, and the kingdom of hell; for the kingdom of heaven desireth nothing but the divine Being: but hell [desireth] that which is wrathful, murderous, fiery, sour, soaring, astringent; and whatsoever is in the property of anger in the fire.

55. Now, there being in us a desire after the highest good, and after the eternity, that desire must needs proceed out of the eternal and highest will, out of the highest Being; and its life is also out of the highest tincture: for where there is a desire, there is fire; for the fire desireth substantiality, that it may have whereon to feed, and yet itself can make no substantiality, but it maketh the tincture, and the tincture maketh the substantiality, as is above mentioned.

56. Now, the tincture is a creature, for it hath a body [as may be seen in the tincture (or colour) of gold]; though it be not palpable, yet it is substantial [essential]; and the understanding is in the tincture, for it is a wrestling with the fire, and flieth before the fire; and yet it cannot fly away, because the fire generateth [desireth] it, and continually attracteth it again into itself; and it still striveth to get out from the fire with the substantiality, and is after the manner, as a man fetcheth breath.

57. Therefore we give you now rightly to understand it thus: you see that the tincture shineth, and in the shining there is no stirring, but a constant lustre; and yet in the lustre there is all power, as in the tincture: and it is an eternal stillness, and the tincture is the stirring, and also the life. Understand us rightly and deeply, for it is the deepest ground, and foundation in heaven.

58. The other desire in man, after the highest good, is the soul, which standeth in the eternal mother: for every desire hath its original out of its own mother: therefore this is a desire of the eternity; and not the eternity [itself], but the tincture of the eternity, and the Majesty, viz. the glance in the still habitation, as is now mentioned.

59. Now, if a spirit be in its own mother, it desireth not to go out from her again; [as the air-spirit doth not desire to go away from the body]; neither doth it desire anything more than what is in its mother, and in its centre.

60. But yet we find and understand it in our mind, that the soul willeth to be out of this [earthly] mother, in which it standeth at present: and not only so, [but] it desireth the house of its own mother, viz. its own tincture, and the majesty; also the eternal rest out of the tincture.

61. And so we search and find, and have it in true knowledge, that the poor soul in the spirit and in the tincture [or life] of this [outward] world, lieth captive in a strange lodging, and hath not its light of the Majesty, for if it had that, it would be at rest, and desire nothing more.

62. Also we find, that it lieth captive in death in much weakness: for if it had its [right] tincture, then should the Majesty, wherein it is a child of God, shine in it.

63. Therefore we say, that the poor soul of Adam was captivated by the spirit and Principle of this world, and received the tincture of this world into it; and then instantly the Majesty and brightness of God remained standing in its [own] Principle: for the soul put its will and desire into the spirit of this world, and itself entered into it.

64. Thus God shut up the heaven in the soul, so that it knew its Majesty no more; and there was perplexity and great misery, that an eternal creature should come to be in another Principle in another centre. Here the seven seals to the Book of the eternal life were shut to the soul, for the centre of its life was shut up and captivated in the eternal death, it could no more stir any form in the centre of its life, it lay in hell, like dead bones, the dragon had it in his jaws.

65. For it was in the house of misery, there was none that could help it; no angel, no throneprince, no creature, neither could the centre of the soul help it: for its fire was extinguished, the spirit of this world had swallowed it up [as the water devoureth the brightness of the flaming iron]: For the will of the soul was entered into the spirit [of this world], and had married [or joined] itself thereto, it [The will] was in another mother, as it is now at this day.

66. And so now, if the mother of this world had been broken (as it doth break [indeed]) then the soul would have stood in the eternal death in the darkness. Here counsel [Or remedy] was at an end, the fair creature was captivated by the kingdom of hell, which triumphed over it. The highly Precious Gate.

67. Here was no counsel in the whole Deity, unless the eternal Word and Heart of God did become man, and did enter into the Third Principle into human flesh and blood, and assume a human soul, and go into death to the poor soul, and did take away the power of death (which held the soul captive) and the wrathful sting of hell, which it had stuck into the soul, and did lead the poor soul out of death, and out of hell, in [by or through] himself.

68. And here we see, that after the Word became man, that man suffered himself to be hanged on the cross, and entered into death on the cross: Understand here, the new living Man born of God went into the abyss, and brake death in the soul, and opened the centre of the soul: He brake all the seven seals of the centre of nature, so that the soul came to have its own powers again; for he kindled the divine fire in the soul again, so that the soul again reached the eternal tincture out of its own fire.

69. And thus it came again into its first mother, in power and Majesty: and the Old Adam hung to the cross as a curse, to the scorn of all devils; there they might do as far as they could with it, as indeed they were busy with the sophisters and Antichrists, the Pharisees.

70. There the devils ran with other subtlety and tricks into holes [corners and secret places] and hid [covered and concealed] the Resurrection, through the ministers of the dragon, the Pharisees, which yet pretended to be the ministers of God; but they served the devil in his lies, as is done nowadays, where the death and power of Christ is closed up and denied.

71. This hanging on the cross is nothing else, but that as the soul hath its original upon the cross in the centre of nature, (out of the Word of the Lord, ex verbo Domini), where the name of the Number Three standeth, there hath the Word. of the Father moved itself, and is entered into the humanity, as is heretofore mentioned concerning the virgin, and is become man on the cross, in the eternal and in the earthly virgin; and hath been made a spectacle on the cross, to the old Adamical man and all devils, and their lofty pride; and hath slain death on the cross, and thereby broke through it, and so brought the Adamical man (with flesh and blood) as a spectacle into death; and hath cast away from him all earthliness, and brought him powerfully through death into life.

72. Thus he is new born in God, and sitteth upon the rainbow, on the substantiality and colours of the eternity, in the power of the Majesty; and is a Lord of heaven and of this world, and a judge of hell, and a conquest [Or power] over death.

73. Of this you have a true ground, ye that are regenerated in Christ, that as Christ brought his body, both the heavenly and the earthly, (which he received in his mother Mary), out from death again, and cast away from him nothing else but the earthly source [or property,] viz. the spirit of this [outward] world.

74. So also must our bodies in the power of the souls that are in him, (that is, in his Word and Heart, which is every where), come forth again at the Last [Judgment] Day, and cast away no more from them, but this source and spirit [of the outward world]; for none rise again in the entire corrupt body, but in the flesh and blood of Christ.

75. But the corrupted spirit (which remaineth in the earthly matrix in its tincture) must appear before the Judgment of God at the end of days; and there shall the sentence and judgment of the Judge Christ be pronounced; and then, after the pronouncing, all goeth into the ether [receptacle or devourer]: and then the spirit of God, which created the world, will execute that sentence.

76. But that I may not meet with false interpreters, that may mistake this text, as the spirit sheweth me, therefore you must know, that when the soul is born anew, in the Word and in the spirit of Christ (in this [life] time), then also the first substantiality (viz. the inward body of the soul, which Adam had in Paradise) out of the eternal virgin (wherein he was created man) becometh new born, and getteth the flesh of Christ.

77. This new body, in which the new regenerate soul sticketh, sticketh in the old corrupt flesh, and is incomprehensible and immortal: But the Old Man [which is] conceived from the spirit of this world, must perish in the earth: It goeth into its mother, who must bring it forth, and present it at the Last [Judgment] Day: but after the sentence of Christ, it goeth into the ether, and is only as a figure to [for or before] the eternal New Man; for in that figure all a man's works follow him.

78. So also they that be alive at the hour of the last Judgment, the Old Man will fall away from them, with the perishing of the world, and pass into the ether: For all the bodies of the wicked shall be presented there in the mother, viz. in the spirit of this world; and the souls shall hear the sentence: and then their bodies also pass away with the mother, and stand as a figure: and their works follow them into the Abyss.

THE NINTH CHAPTER

Concerning the Threefold Life. Also of the Inclination [Driving or impulsion] and whole Government of Man in this World. Highly to be Considered.

1. IT is shewn to me, what the devil's intention is, how he will endeavour to smother these high and precious writings: therefore be watchful, ye children of God, believe not the sophisters too much, who cry out, heretic! heretic! To the fire with them. That is not the voice of the Holy Ghost, but the voice of the Antichrist, and of the dragon: for these writings will exceedingly discover the devil's smoking pit; and not only so, but they shew also the whore of Babel very plainly, like a whore put to open shame.

2. But (because the men of the spirit of this world take care only for their belly, and are loth to lose their honour, credit, reputation and goods, but had rather part with God and the kingdom of heaven) we shall be persecuted by the whore through the instigation of the devil: therefore be watchful, ye children of God, and look not upon that which is high, and hath great authority; but regard the wellfare of your souls. This we leave you for the last [farewell].

3. Christ saith, No one kindleth a light, and setteth it under a cover, or under a bushel, but setteth it upon a table, that all that are in the house may see by the light thereof. Thus must we also do, and must not bury our talent (which is so dearly bestowed upon us) in the earth; for we must give an account thereof at the Day of the Judgment of God, as the spirit of the mother intimateth to us.

4. If this knowledge [or understanding] of this spirit shall happen to fall upon any, they will be then certain what it is. We need no letters of commendation; Christ is our letter of commendation, which is sufficient for us. None ought to call themselves after my name: All of us that know Christ, put on him, and are members of his body: we call ourselves Christians and children of God, and brethren and sisters one of another.

5. Therefore now, when we consider the dominion [or course] of our life, we find a powerful strife therein, which the devil hath with the soul, and also which the spirit of this world hath with the soul. For there is a knowledge in the spirit of this world; indeed there is no divine understanding in it, but there is an apprehension planted in the matrix, viz. in the centre of nature.

6. For this world, before the creation, stood from eternity in the eternal wisdom, as an invisible figure, and is now created as a proper Principle of its own, to the end that it might bring all its wonders and works into essence, that they may appear in their figure after the time [of this world].

7. And so there is a natural strife with man therein, for no creature but man can bring the wonders of the world to light; and therefore also the spirit of this world hath so very much longed after man, and hath drawn him to it, that it might shew forth its wonders in him, that man should produce all arts and languages in it; moreover, the spirit and heart out of earths and metals, viz. that Precious Stone, the Philosophers Stone, which indeed, since Solomon's time, hath been found by few, but now at the end shall be found more clearly, as we know and understand.

8. For he that rightly understandeth our writings concerning the centre of nature, and its progress to the Number Three upon the cross, and to the glance of the Majesty, may well find it in metals, it is not difficult; if he learn but the right entrance, he hath the end at hand, of which we shall not here make mention; for it belongeth to the Magi, which are born magically: we speak only of the ground of nature, and of the spirit of this world.

9. And we declare unto you, that the spirit of this world is created with such an inclination, and that it hath a natural will to reveal itself and all its mysteries, as we see before our eyes by what it hath built or brought forth, how it hath erected a dominion and kingdom upon earth.

10. Do but look upon the doings of man, from the highest to the lowest: the spirit of this world hath thus built the whole order of them, and God hath permitted it. For God is not a destroyer, but a preserver of that which his power buildeth up, and accounteth it for his ordinance: for there is nothing brought forth which hath not stood in the eternity.

11. But you must understand it rightly; hell and the anger are the abyss which mingleth its wonders also therein, as we see where there is good ground, and that the sower also soweth good seed, yet thistles and thorns grow up amongst it; according as Christ hath given us a similitude of the sower: and as it is in the mind of man, so it is also in the spirit of this world.

12. You are to know, that all weeds, as thistles and thorns, also serpents, toads, evil beasts and worms, have their original from the wrathful matrix: For in the time of the creation, all, both good and evil, came forth, every thing according to its kind and property: there is good and evil in every thing, and the kingdom of anger hath also wholly imprinted itself therein [Or formed its image]; and therefore the fruit is good and evil, and Adam should not have eaten thereof.

13. I give you to understand, by the fruits of the earth, how good and evil are in one another, and have each of them their usefulness, the evil as well as the good: All serve to manifest God's deeds of wonder; and each is serviceable to the spirit of this world; what the one hurteth, the other healeth, and that also is a wonder.

14. Furthermore, we see the Mysterium Magnum, the Great Mystery, in the trees; though indeed they are different and mixed, yet we discern the paradisical form [or condition in them]; for they bear their fruit upon twigs, and the fruit is a thing different from the tree: The tree is bitter, and the fruit is sweet: And we give you to understand, that the trees and fruit we have nowadays were paradisical, if the curse did not stick in them: the paradise is flown from them, and now all fruit is but such as the apple was from which Eve did eat death. And you are to know, that the kingdom of anger did also press into the Garden of Eden, which brought forth a tree that did bear such fruit, as all the trees nowadays which we feed upon.

15. Only we are to consider, that the fruits for man do not grow of themselves, he must plant and dress them, as you see in all trees, both in the wood and stalks of them: and man desireth not willingly [to eat of] the [first] essences of the earth; except it be a very pleasant herb, but he desireth the second birth out of the earth, viz. the kernel [seed or fruit]; which is indeed the second birth out of the earth, whereby we understand our high descent; but before the Fall, paradise sprang up through all trees, and through all the fruits which God created for man.

16. But when the earth was cursed, the curse entered into all fruits, and then all was evil and good; death and corruption was in them all, which before was but in that one tree only, which was named [the Tree of] Good and Evil; and therefore it is that we eat death in all the fruits, and the spirit [ of] evil and good ruleth in us. The spirit of this world ruleth in us, and so doth the devil with the spirit of anger; and each of them shew forth their wonders in and by man. [Of the Great Strife about the Image of Man.]

17. There is a great strife about man's image, each kingdom would have it: hell, in the anger saith, It is mine by the right of nature, it is generated out of my root. Also the spirit of the world saith, I have it in my body, and I give it life and nourishment, I bring it up, and give it all my powers and wonders; it is mine. And the kingdom of God saith also, I have set my heart upon it, and have regenerated it, it is proceeded out of my kingdom, I have sought and found it again, it is mine, it must reveal my wonders.

18. Thus there is a vehement strife in and about man: Look upon his conversation and doings; his desire standeth especially in Three Things, and they are Three Kingdoms which rule him: and into which of them he falleth, there he lieth.

19. First, He desireth power, honour, and glory, that all might fear and honour him. This is even the poison of the devil, who hath also such an intention, which he satisfieth by doing as much as he can.

20. Secondly, He desireth riches, goods, and money, much eating and drinking, and careth not by what means he cometh by it; it is the spirit of this world which desireth only shelter and fullness as a beast doth.

21. And, Thirdly, he desireth the kingdom of heaven also, he desireth and panteth after that, but in much weakness, and is always in doubt [thinking] he is a sinner, [and that] God desireth not to have him: yet he sigheth and panteth after it, and would fain be saved: he prayeth and yet doubteth, he hopeth and yet feareth, he hopeth for amendment and deliverance from one day to another, and always supposeth it will be well to-morrow, to-morrow thou wilt have power to go from this [course of] life and enter into another: thus it is always with him.

22. This we do not speak concerning the swinelike men, who lie wallowing in the mire, who never seek for any amendment: but we speak concerning the poor sinners that are between heaven and hell, who have incitements to both of them, and yet are held back.

23. Yet observe what man doth: He followeth all these three [desires]; he continually seeketh power and honour till his end; he continually hunts after covetousness, money, and goods, to eat and drink; and though he have superfluity, yet in his covetousness he hath not enough; he doth as if he were to live here for ever; and then, thirdly, he hath also panted [after the kingdom of heaven], for the poor soul is very much perplexed, and is ever afraid of the devil, and the anger of God, and would fain be released; but the first two kingdoms do press it down, and bar it up in their prison, insomuch that many a poor soul casteth itself away into the abyss, and despaireth of the kingdom of God.

[Of the Devil, who changeth himself into an

Angel of Light.]

24. They say, The devil cometh to man in the form of an angel, and it is true: Observe what he doth, that he is accounted an angel, and is accounted good; when the poor soul is thus disquieted, and many times presenteth to the body, death and the anger of God, he hindereth not that; he often lets the poor soul run with the body to the houses of stone [to the churches], or whither it will: He puts it on most willingly of all to go to the stone churches, and there saith to the soul, Now thou art godly and devout, thou goest diligently to church.

25. But what doth he then? When any teach of the temple of Christ, and of the New Birth, then he soweth other thoughts into the spirit of this world in man: Sometimes covetousness; sometimes he sets the eyes upon pride, state, and beauty; sometimes he catcheth the spirit with the lust and imagination towards men or women, according to their sex, and tickleth the heart with wanton lust; sometimes they are lulled fast asleep.

26. But when the preacher is a sophister, and a malicious slanderer or railer; or perhaps many times in performance of his office, and from a good meaning, he rebuketh men according to their deserts; there the devil sets open every door and gate, and tickleth the hearts [of the hearers] therewith; and the heart wisheth still more and more of that, that is very fine [to keep them from falling asleep].

27. And when such people go from church, they can repeat every word very readily, and that best of all which tends to the disgrace of others: With that they feast themselves the whole week long; it is more acceptable to them than the Word of God.

28. Behold, this is a devil in an angelical form; when they suppose, that if they do but run to church together, then such are very good Christians. But if they have learnt no more but to scorn, mock, and deride others, and bring it home to their families, it had been better they had all that time been wallowing in the mire, or that they had been fast asleep, and then the devil would not have defiled their souls in the church of stone with wantonness and scorn: O how happy a sleep it is in the church, when the preacher inviteth the devil into the heart for a guest! It is better to sleep than to imagine wantonness, or to fill the heart with revilings and scorn.

29. O you sophisters! that fill your sermons with reviling of your forefathers that are dead long ago; you that out of envy often revile honest hearts according to your own pleasure; how will you be able to stand with your lambs? Whereas you should have led them into fresh green pastures, into the ways of Christ, viz. into love, chastity, and humility, but you have filled them with revilings; it were better you were in a stable or hog's sty with your revilings, than in a pulpit, and there you would seduce nobody.

30. I speak not this out of a desire [to reproach anybody], but I do only what I ought to do, I despise none, I only discover the smoky pit of the devil, that it may be seen what is in man, as well in one as in another, unless he be regenerated anew, and then he resisteth the spirit of the devil, and thrusteth it away from him.

31. The other devil is more crafty and cunning than this, but is also a glistering angel with cloven feet; when he seeth that the poor soul is afraid, and desireth to repent and amend, then he saith, Pray, and be devout; Repent for once and away; but when the soul goeth about to pray, he slippeth into its heart, and taketh away the understanding of the heart, and putteth the heart into mere doubting, as if God did not hear it: he represents sin before the heart, and saith, To-morrow it will be better, leave off, you will not now be heard.

32. Thus the heart standeth and repeateth over the words of a prayer, as if it were learning somewhat without book; and the devil taketh away the virtue and efficacy of them out of the heart, so that the soul cannot reach the centre of nature: as Christ saith, The devil taketh the word out of your hearts, that you may not believe and be saved.

33. Then again the soul standeth and saith, it hath prayed. But it hath not prayed. It hath only rehearsed words, not in the spirit of the soul in the centre where the fire is to be struck [or kindled], but in the mouth, in the spirit of this world; and they vanish in the air, or else as words wherewith God's name is taken in vain: But here this should be observed, Thou shalt not use the name of God in vain, and unprofitably in thy mouth, for God will not leave him unpunished that useth his Name in vain.

34. There belongeth great earnestness to prayer: for praying is calling upon God: to entreat him, to speak with him, and to go out of the house of sin, and enter into the house of God: and if the devil offers to hinder it, then storm his hell: Set thyself against him, as he setteth himself against thee, and then thou shalt find what it is which is here told thee: if he opposes strongly, then oppose thou the more strongly; thou hast, in Christ, far greater power than he.

35. And if you doubt the grace of God, you sin greatly, for he is always merciful, and there is no other will in him at all but to be merciful: He cannot do otherwise, his arms are spread abroad day and night towards a poor sinner. And when any cometh [with the lost son to the Father], and so stormeth hell, then there is amongst the angels of God, greater joy for such an one, than for ninety-nine righteous that need not that; as Christ himself teacheth us.

36. With such a devil as covereth the heart of man, there is no better course to be taken with him, than not to dispute with him at all about the multitude of sins; but to wrap up all sins on a heap (though they were as many as the sand on the sea-shore), and throw them on the devil's shoulders, and to say in his heart, Behold, thou devil, thou art the cause of all this evil, I leave my sins to thee, but I take the mercy of God and the death of Christ to myself, therein will I roll myself, devour me if thou canst.

37. Do but fix thy trust and confidence upon the promise of Christ: and let your storming be always grounded in the death of Christ, in his sufferings and wounds, and in the love of Christ: Dispute no farther about your sins, for the devil involves himself therein, and upbraideth thee for thy sins, that thou mightest despair.

38. Make trial in this manner, and you will quickly see and feel another man, with another sense and will [in you]: We speak as we know, and have found by experience: We speak not by way of opinion, or as an historical relation, but that which we have a ground for, for a soldier knoweth how it is in the wars: but he that hath not tried and been present, always thinketh otherwise than it is. This we mention out of love, for your learning and instruction, as a spirit which speaketh how it hath gone with it, for an example to others, to try if any would follow us, and then they would find how true it is. The Gates of the Deep Ground concerning Man.

39. Since the beginning of the world there hath been a controversy about this: because these gates were shut with Adam, and we have been held captive in darkness: but seeing God hath favoured us, and opened them to us, and also hath given us an earnest will to write it down, we shall therefore do it, and give thanks for it to God the Father in Christ Jesus in eternity, who hath redeemed us out of the darkness of death.

40. Therefore when we would know what man is, and why there is so great difference and variety amongst men, so that one doth not as another doth and that one differeth in form and feature from another; we must set before us the most inward ground of his [incarnation or] becoming man, and consider it, and then we shall find all.

41. For when a man that is regenerated in God, so that he seeth the light, beginneth to search out his original, then the spirit of the soul searcheth in all the Three Principles, what he is in each of them; for we know it, and cannot say otherwise, than that we, in the image of the spirit, and also of the body, in all the Three Principles, have but one only rule [or dominion] in us; but that dominion is in three sources [or qualities]: the spirit and the body are driven according to each Principle, and what Principle it is which getteth the upper hand in man, so that man with his will inclineth to it, according to that he performeth his work, and the other [Principles] do but cleave to it, not having sufficient power.

42. But when we will speak of the image, we must see what it is in the ground thereof. For we are sown as a seed in a field, into the matrix [womb]: Now, consider what precedeth that: Nothing but a longing will and desire of man and woman to copulate, and yet the fruit is not always desired, of which we have an example in whores and whoremongers, also indeed in the state of marriage.

4 3. Now the question is, What is that which provoketh [to copulation] in the male and female, of all kinds, as also in man? Behold, in the eternity all hath been in one being, viz. the tincture, which is the centre and cause of life, as hath been mentioned at large before; and also the substantiality, which is generated out of the tincture, which hath also all the forms of the centre, yet without fire, for it [substantiality] is a sinking down, and cannot kindle the life in it, it is corporeal, and affordeth body, but not life; for the fire affordeth life.

44. And we give you to understand, in the copulation, that the man hath the tincture, and the woman the substantiality, viz. the matrix, which is generated out of the tincture: Now observe, in the eternity they were in one another, and this world stood therein as a figure; for the wisdom had overshadowed the tincture, and received it into itself as the body doth the spirit; and this could not be brought to a substance visible to the angels, unless God did move the eternity, for the angels are in a substance.

45. Now when God, viz. the Number Three, moved himself, there was moved therewith also the centre of nature in the eternity, whereby all became essential, substantial: The tincture became substantial, and prevailed; and the substantiality became material, and yet was not divided, for that cannot be, it is one only substance.

46. And now when God placed the Fiat in the material substantiality, or, as I may better say, did awaken [the Fiat therein], so that the word in the substantiality said, Let there come forth all sorts of beasts, according to their hind; then there went forth out of the material substantiality two kinds [male and female], and that corporeally; for through the Word of the Lord, the tincture took on it substantiality, and the spirit of the substantiality took also to it a body, and so there were two sexes or kinds. The body of the tincture had in it the centre of the life; and the body of the substantiality had not the centre to the striking up of the fire; indeed it had the life, but an impotent life.

47. This we demonstrate thus, that you may rightly understand it: Look upon a flaming [red hot] iron, which sendeth two spirits forth from itself, one hot one, which hath the centre, and can kindle and awaken another fire; and one airy one, from which water proceedeth, which hath also all powers of the fire; yet the tincture therein is not fire, but it is an eternal bar that no fire can be therein, and yet is the spirit of the fire, which hath its source out of the fire, and its life like to the fire, for in the eternity there is no death. Therefore, in the female kind no life can proceed out of their tinctures, but the matrix must get the tincture from the seed of the male.

48. Thus we declare unto you also the ground of the difference between the male and the female kind: for when God created the material substance, there went forth the kinds of all essences in the centre of nature, according to all the properties: for as you see the stars, that one hath a property different from another, which all are created out of the centre of nature, according to the material substantiality; and so all essences stood in the material substantiality, and the Fiat attracted all towards the created earth.

49. And there hath every form of the tincture, and of the spirit of the several kinds, figured every one its own body, according to its properties, as to be beasts, fowls, worms, fishes, trees and herbs, also to be metals and earth, all according as the life was in them. And this you may well perceive by the difference of each day's work [of the creation].

50. For on the first day, God created the material water, (which hath an impotent life, and is a bar upon the fire of the anger, and upon the devil's smoky pit, where he thought in the burning fire to domineer over God). Also [he then created] the earth and the stones, and so the gross part [dross] was separated, which consisted in mortal and fierce essences, whereby Lucifer supposed to be king and creator (therein).

51. When this was done, God said, Let there be light, (let the light of the tincture open itself), and there was light: then God separated the light from the darkness. Understand this rightly. He [God] shut up the fierce fire which Lucifer had kindled (which taketh its source out of the darkness), and let the tincture in the quintessence burn, as in the fat of the water-spirit, as in a beast [the fire of its life burneth].

52. Thus the life did burn in the tincture, and turned the fat, viz. the oil, into a quintessence, viz. blood, and so that life did burn in the blood; for therein standeth the noble tincture: and God hath reserved in his own power the centre of the fire: for he hath shut it up in the darkness, as it hath stood from eternity in the darkness: and so every life standeth in his hand: for if he let the fire come into the tincture, then the spirit is in the hellish fire.

53. Now when the light did shine out of the tincture, he divided the tincture into two parts, even as it divideth itself, viz. into the fire-life, and into the light-life, as hath been mentioned before; and created the two lives, the fire-life to be a heaven and a firmament between the holy meekness, viz. the Heart of God, and the impotent airspirit : and yet the air goeth forth from its mother, the tincture of the fire-spirit, and God dwelleth between them both.

54. The fire-spirit of the tincture hath the eternity in [or for] its root, and the air-spirit hath the material life, which sourced forth with the awakened substantiality, and ruleth the outward bestial life: for it is the bestial life of every creature, also [it is the life] of trees, herbs and grass; it hath also a tincture, but not strong enough.

55. Thus you see how the life standeth in the water, and hath two dominions, viz. fire and air; and you see whence the blood hath its original, which maketh a creature [that hath blood] more noble than one that hath not blood in it; for that creature hath a false tincture, and is proceeded from the will of the devil, as you see in vipers and venomous worms, they have not the noble tincture [or the noble life].

56. But when the devil intended to be lord in the tincture, and would create, he awakened such a life in his will, which yet is not all his [life]: he is indeed of the same essences, and the devils' bodies are figured also in hell into such serpents, venomous worms, and ugly beasts: for they cannot in their own form be otherwise; although indeed they have not a body from the divided tincture from its substantiality, but [they have a body] out of the centre of nature, out of the fierce matrix, out of the eternal substantiality, out of the darkness, which is a spiritual body.

57. Now when God had created the earth, the water was over the whole earth, which God separated, that the earth became dry, and called the water sea, Meer, which in the language of nature signifieth a covering and holding fast the fierceness of the devil, a true reproach to the devil, that his power was drowned: To expound this, very acute writings are requisite, and man would hardly be able to apprehend it.

58. Thus the earth sprang in its own essences and tincture, which were also comprehended in the first creation.

59. It shall also be rightly expounded to you what Moses saith, God separated the water above the firmament from the water under the firmament; that is, into the water and blood of the [living] creatures; for the water above the firmament is blood, and therein standeth the tincture [or life], which separateth the heaven from the water beneath the firmament, viz. from the elementary water; as we see that each of them hath its own habitation and dominion: of which may be spoken more at large in another place.

60. Only we understand therein two kingdoms, viz. the soul dwelleth in the blood in the tincture, and in the water dwelleth the air-spirit, which is corruptible, for it had a beginning, but the soul had none; for the tincture is from eternity, and therefore the figures of all kinds must remain in eternity; account it not for an opinion, it is really so.

61. Now, when heaven, earth, and the elements were thus formed, then the fiery tincture was as shining light, and was a firmament, called heaven: for this world had no other light: And then God suffered the centre of nature to open itself in the created substantiality, (for this whole Principle became but one body), and there brake forth it heart, [viz. the heart of this Principle] with its own proper will and faculties out of the essences; that is, the sun and the stars are its essences, and the six planets are the spirits at the centre of the heart, and the sun is their heart: all just as the Deity hath been from eternity.

62. Thus there came a true life and understanding, with reason and perception, yet a bestial one, into the outward tincture and the air-spirit, and so the great wonders stood there manifest; for God had manifested himself in a figurative form: And you see that it is true; do but consider what we have written before concerning the centre of nature, and so on, to the light of the Majesty, and concerning the Number Three, and you will find here in this world a figurative similitude [of Him]. Consider of the Planets.

63. Saturn, the first and highest, is astringent, cold, dusky, and maketh the desiring and attracting: for it is the sharpness. If you will have a right understanding of this, you must transpose the planets. (See figure on next page)

64. First, take the uppermost [planet] and unto it the nethermost, for in the wheel everywhere is uppermost and undermost, understand in the Wheel of Life, and it wheeleth the upper part undermost when it turneth round; which is only to be understood concerning fond conceited men, and beasts, with whom the wheel of nature falleth a turning; for the Cross stayeth it. Therefore observe well: Saturn attracteth the Moon, which is beneath, and causeth in the matrix of the creature the corporising, viz. that there be flesh; for Saturn and the Moon make sulphur [or corporeity].

65. Now Saturn desireth only to shut up, it seizeth upon and holdeth fast; as [in turning] liquor into a sulphur. But Saturn hath not sul; for sul is from the liberty,- but Saturn hath a willing, and the will hath sul, for it originally proceedeth out of the Majesty.

66. Consider now, beneath Saturn standeth Jupiter, which is proceeded out of the virtue of Sol [or the sun] as the heart of Saturn, (else there would be no desiring, no Saturn); for nature desireth only the heart and Sol [or the sun]; yet Jupiter is not Sol, but is the brain.

67. And observe it, the wheel of nature windeth itself from without inwards into itself; for the Deity dwelleth innermost in itself, and hath such a figure [as is here shown]. Not that it can be delineated; it is only a natural similitude; Even as God pourtrayeth [represented or revealeth] himself in the figure of this world. For God is everywhere total and perfect, and dwelleth thus in himself.

68. Observe; The outward wheel is the Zodiac, with the constellations, and then the seven planets follow to Sol, after Sol standeth Fire, after Fire Tincture, after Tincture Majesty, after Majesty the Number Three, with the Cross.

69. And observe it, the desiring goeth inwards into itself towards the Heart, which is God, as you may conceive by such a figure: for the Regeneration goeth also into itself to the Heart of God.

70. Observe it also well, for it is the centre [or the ground] of the outward birth. In the eighth circumference [next] after the zodiac is the globe of the earth; after that, right against it, about on the wheel is Saturn, and going about the wheel, there is the Moon, and again about on the wheel is Jupiter, and again about on the wheel is Mercury, and about again is Mars, and then Venus, and Sol in the midst, and after Sol, the Fire which Sol affordeth, and after- the fire the other world, viz. the Heavenly Tincture, and after the Heavenly Tincture the Number Three, viz. the eternal Heart, and that is the eternal centre of nature, and in the eternal centre is the whole power of the Majesty of God throughout, held or shut up by nothing, and is of no substance or nature [imaginable], even as the shining of the sun.

71. You may well perceive what we set before you, thus: The zodiac, with the constellations, belong to the mind, as well in the deep of the world, as also in the creature, the twelve signs are the twelve parts which the cross in the centre maketh; from which the upper dominion is divided into twelve parts, as also the mind is: For the six forms in the centre, besides Sol, each of them divide themselves into two parts, [Sol divideth not itself but only into the Number Three, or into the splendour-fire and Tincture], one according to the tincture that hath life [in it], the other according to the tincture of the air, which hath spirit [in it], and yet maketh no life.

72. Thus the signs are twelve, which divide themselves into two governments, viz. into a heavenly, according to the Tincture, and into an earthly according to the spirit of this world, viz. the air; and the two kingdoms are also twofold, viz. in the tincture of the fire there is an angelical kingdom, and backwards [retrograde] a hellish; and the kingdom in the spirit of the air is also twofold: for the inward [kingdom] is the spirit of God, and the outward is the spirit of the creatures; as David saith, The LORD rideth upon the wings of the wind; that is, the spirit of God which cometh to succour and relieve his work.

73. So also the tincture kingdom in God maketh also six forms; and that of the spirit, out of the tincture, which is the Heart and life, and is the spirit of God, maketh also six in number, and they are together twelve in number: These the woman in the Revelation, which the dragon would devour, weareth upon her head, being twelve stars; for one number six she received from the spirit of this world, wherein the Holy Ghost keepeth the eternal life; and the other number six she hath from the eternal tincture, out of the eternal centre, out of the Word: for she weareth the angelical zodiac, and also the human.

74. And each centre hath six in number, which make together the number twelve: the seventh number of the centre is substantiality, and the [dominion or] kingdom; for God became man, and brought the two kingdoms into one: for men and angels are in one kingdom in God.

75. And so the Image [of the woman] in the Revelation hath twelve stars upon the crown: for the Image representeth God; it is the similitude of God, in which he revealeth himself, and wherein he dwelleth. The crown signifieth the power of the Majesty of God, as a king weareth a crown, which signifieth dominion and majesty.

76. But that the Image weareth a crown, with twelve stars upon the crown, it signifieth that the Deity is above the humanity, and that Mary is not God himself; but the crown signifieth God, and the stars [signify] the spirits of God: six in the Deity, and six in the humanity: for God and man are become one person; Therefore Mary also weareth all [the twelve stars], for we are God's children.

77. Seeing then, that the number twelve containeth two kingdoms in the doubled number [of six], viz. an angelical and a human, each in the number of six, which together make twelve, so also the two kingdoms have other two numbers of six in them, (viz. the fire, the kingdom of the abyss; and the air, the kingdom of living creatures and all earthly things); and these have each of them in the centre the number six, according to the six planets earthy, and according to the six planets fiery, which now together make the number of four-and-twenty, which are the fourand- twenty letters in languages, whence they are sprung; and we perceive that the tongue speaketh that which is good, and that which is evil, that which is heavenly, and that which is devilish, according to the two sources [or properties] of the letters; as proper names intimate, according to the language of nature.

78. Now, when this number, according to the Number Three [or Trinity], is numbered to thrice four-and- twenty, (as indeed the Number Three doth manifest itself in three kingdoms and persons, and according to the Number Three all is threefold, but according to the creatures all is twofold), then the sum is seventy-two in number, which signify, and are, the seventy-two languages, which signify Babel, a confusion and wonder.

79. If we should go on here, we should shew you the whore and the beast, which the Revelation speaketh of, and moreover all the wonders which have been since the world began: The greatest secret lieth herein, and is called Mysterium Magnum, the Great Mystery, and all the controversies in matters of religion and faith arise from hence, and all willing, evil and good.

80. The Seven Spirits, wherein the Son of Man consisteth, in the Revelation, are the seven spirits of nature; one of them is the kingdom, and the six are the centre of nature, [viz. the] heavenly: if this be set down according to the human number, it maketh the number twelve, and according to the two kingdoms, viz. the kingdom of God, and the kingdom of this world, out of which the faithful are generated, then there are four-and-twenty spirits, which are the Elders before the throne of God, who worship God, and the slain Lamb: consider it well.

81. We further intimate, concerning this world's centre of nature, thus: The birth of life windeth itself like a wheel inwards into itself, and when it cometh to the innermost point, then it attaineth the Liberty, yet not [the Liberty] of God, but only the tincture out of which the life burneth.

82. For that which will catch hold of God must pass through the fire; for no substantiality reacheth God, unless it subsist in the fire: understand in a peculiar fire: If that should kindle, the world would melt away. We mean not the fire of the out-birth, which is no fire, but only a sharp fierceness, which consumeth the outward substantiality which springeth from the water, viz. wood and flesh, but doth not stir the inward fire in stone.

83. Therefore observe it; the Liberty, without the nature of this world, is only the eternity without substance. Now, as the eternal centre generateth itself out of the desiring of the eternal willing, as is mentioned before; so hath also the other centre of the Third Principle, (through the Word Fiat in the out-birth, out of the eternal,) generated itself [in like manner].

84. For from the first creation of the first day, the outward centre of nature had wound itself thrice about, (understand before the sun and stars were corporeally created), and had attained six forms, three superior, and three inferior; and there are always twelve of them that belong to one form of the centre, where there is always a sign; understand, the signs [of the zodiac] in the eighth sphere (in the crown).

85. Saturn, with his harsh, strong, attracting and cold, is one form and spirit in the centre, which shutteth up the abyss, and maketh darkness in the deep, and attracteth the substantiality of the outward power of this principle, and the centre windeth about like a wheel; and that which is concrete standeth over against Saturn, as in a wheel, and is called Mond [the Moon] in respect of its property, which would be too large to set down in writing.

86. Then the wheel windeth further inwards into itself, and maketh Jupiter: For Saturn, with its attracting, desireth the Liberty of the divine substance, but he maketh Hirn [the brain]; for it catcheth with its desire the power of the Liberty, and not the Liberty of the divine Majesty itself which is without substance.

87. But because there is understanding in the power, and yet the power cannot in its own might awaken the understanding, therefore Jupiter desireth a life in the power, and that is about on the wheel Mercury: for the wheel is always winding about, and Mercury is a stirrer, a maker of a sound and a noise, and yet hath not the life, for that existeth in the fire; and therefore it desireth the fierce stormy turbulency, which striketh up the fire; and that about on the wheel is Mars, which is a rager, stormer, and striker up of the fire.

88. But now the four forms cannot subsist in the fire: for they have substantiality, and the fire desireth substantiality (for the fire itself subsisteth not, if it have not fuel to feed upon), which substantiality desireth meekness, and that about on the wheel is Venus: for it is the meekness of the outward nature, and maketh love; for it is that which the other five forms desire: for every form windeth itself inwards and desireth the Liberty of God, which is meek stillness, and as nothing, and yet is All: and if they have the meekness, which also maketh water [to be], then the water is thick, and is like a duskiness which desireth light, and becometh pregnant with it, so that the meekness, viz. Venus, hath a lustre of its own above all the stars in the firmament; for the desiring catcheth the light.

89. Now the light is without substance, and only still and meek, which desireth life and spirit, and yet can produce no life nor spirit out of the water and meekness; therefore Venus desireth with its meekness and light the heart; that is, the power and virtue of all forms, and so it catcheth the heart, which about on the wheel, in the point, is the Sun, which is the heart of all the six forms, and they are the forms of their heart, which together is a life. Now, if that were unsteadfast, it would pass away [or move about], so often as the wheel windeth once about; and though it would be long, it would endure but a seculum age, or term of twenty-nine years.

90. Now the seven forms desire fire, [being the eighth number, and the eighth number desireth a life,] which may continue, for the heart is not alive without fire, and [therefore] the heart catcheth hold of the fire: and that fire is fierce and consuming, and consumeth all the seven forms of the centre, with their substantiality.

[The Heart standeth between two Worlds.]

91. Thus the heart is in anguish, vexed within and without, for it hath nothing more in the substantial life outwardly; though it seeketh, yet it findeth nothing, and yet seeketh with anxious longing, and penetrateth through all forms, and seeketh mitigation of the fire, and yet cannot so find it either.

92. Thus all the six forms of the heart receive the virtue of the sun: for it penetrateth mightily into all the six forms, and seeketh rest and ease, and if it find not that, then it presseth in itself forth from itself through the fire, and desireth the eternal liberty, and attaineth the liberty through desiring, and yet cannot be free, for the sharpness of the fire is in its desiring. But the liberty attracteth itself in the desiring in the fire; for the desiring presseth into it [viz. the liberty].

93. Thus the liberty sharpeneth itself in the fire, and appeareth through the fire as a flash [of lightning], that is, the glance and shining of the sun, and that sharpened liberty desireth its eternal delight, viz. its meek still virtue, and presseth inwardly into itself into the virtue: and that eternal virtue in the liberty is the eternal Word, and that Word is generated out of the eternal Heart, and in the Heart is the Cross of the Number Three, and is the end of nature; and in the end is the virtue and glance of the liberty, which is generated out of the eternal centre, out of the Heart upon the Cross, and is called the divine Majesty of the eternal substance [or essence].

94. Now consider, as the outward desiring of the outward nature goeth inwards into itself towards the eternal Heart, which is God, (for the outward nature longeth again after the substance of the liberty, to be as it was before the creation, that it might be delivered from the vanity, viz. the fierce wrath), so also the inward heart longeth after the outward nature, and would fain manifest itself outwardly in figurative similitudes [resemblances], thus the inward desireth the outward for a figure, and the inward catcheth the outward in its desiring.

95. For the similitude of the eternal centre was indeed already before the creation of the sun and stars in the outward substantiality: but it was not figured and kindled. [As a limner, before he draweth a picture, hath an image in his mind, but not framed exactly.]

96. Thus God's Heart of the Number Three put its will into the astringent Fiat, into the matrix of nature, into the heart of the out-birth, into the firmamental heart, viz. into the place of the sun, and created with the spirit of his mouth [the spirit of the soul] through the Fiat round about on the wheel, the seven forms of the centre of nature; for as the wheel turneth and windeth, so went the Fiat also, magically, in the midst, in the willing of the wheeling.

97. And seeing the out-birth of the earth was a sinking down of death, therefore the life turned away from that death upwards. And you see that the three planets, viz. the forms of the centre of nature, (which make the spirit of the centre and the house of the spirit), stand upwards above the sun, as the life in its beginning taketh its original: and the three which belong to the body and to mobility, beneath the sun, one under another, even as the corporising taketh its original; and the heart, viz. the sun in the midst; and the form standeth right upwards toward the firmament, as a man.

98. Which you are to understand thus: Observe; above the heart, the sun, standeth Mars, which is the striker up of the fire, and a kindler of the heart, and a breaker in pieces of the essences, that the thick substantiality may not remain covered and stifled; it breaketh that, so that the spirit can awaken the faculties [or senses], for it maketh the tincture in the sun. Mars is poison and anger, and denoteth the fierceness of the fire, as is mentioned before concerning the centre; it is the bitter raging form in the wheel, and causeth the essences in the flash of the fire: It is a cause of the life. The Sun and Mars have together the tincture-life; and Venus with Mercury and the Sun have the spirit-life, viz. the air; that is, the feminine life; understand, the matrix, viz. a female life of all kinds.

99. And above Mars standeth Jupiter, which is the power and virtue of the heart, (to which Mars giveth its fire-life, which it receiveth out of the heart of the sun); that maketh the brain, wherein Mars can dwell.

100. And above that, standeth Saturn, which attracteth the virtue, and maketh for the spirit a house, viz. the brainpan [skull], and maketh the substantiality, as the skin upon the body; thus the outward life upwards from the sun [or heart] is the head, a house for the spirit, which taketh its original in the heart in the fire, and dwelleth in the head in the five senses in the air-life.

101. And under the sun, downwards, is Venus, which taketh its original from the pressing forth out of the fire, out of the tincture, and therefore hath its peculiar lustre; it maketh water and love, and is a sinking down, for it is a cause of the sun's substantiality, and a beginner of the inferior body; also it hath the tincture, and is a cause and beginner of the seed to another centre to propagation; for it strengthened itself with the superior power and virtue, and receiveth therewith the form of the spirit, both from the heart, and from the brain: for all forms desire to have it, and do mingle with it: for it is love and meekness. Thus it hath the power and virtue of all forms, and is a pleasant lutist: for it singeth a song that they all love to hear and relish [feel], which ought to be well considered.

102. And below Venus, is Mercury, to whom Venus giveth its virtue, together with its sinking, and therefore Mercury is so pleasant, and loveth to talk of all the ingenuities of nature, it is a nimble sudden awakener of the seed which Venus giveth to it: for it will [needs] awaken the body [or bring the body into being]: and because it hath much skill, therefore it will wander into every thing, and giveth speech to the body, and awakeneth the body, and giveth it senses, especially in the brain, and in the matrix of the seed.

103. Under Mercury standeth the moon, and there the sinking standeth still, and is a substance mixed of all: it affordeth the carcass, and all that belongeth thereto: it taketh all to it, and maketh the whole image as a beast; it is the corporeity: Venus congealeth in it; it retaineth all; for it letteth nothing sink down, and it standeth always in fear of falling, in respect of the earth, which standeth under it; for it feeleth the anger in the earth, and therefore is afraid, and doth not sink down, but runneth and maketh haste about, as if it were fugitive: It is a false thing, for it desireth both that which is superior and that which is inferior, and flattereth with the centre of the earth, and with the centre of the sun.

104. And as this dominion or government is in itself, so is the dominion in every creature, also their life standeth thus: and you see how the wheel turneth round, as [in] the centre, and the body with the essences standeth still.

105. The six planets run round about the sun, as about their heart, and afford virtue to it, and draw virtue from the sun: so also the life windeth itself thus about the heart, and penetrateth into the heart; for the spirit-life penetrateth to the soul, which burneth as a light out of the heart, out of the tincture of the heart, and windeth itself inwards thereinto, and they always drive forth one another: and so this form is as a turning wheel: for the life of the spirit is thus, in its original.

106. They who say, that the sun goeth forth, speak as the blind do of colours, and have never known the centre [of nature]; yet they are not to be blamed for that: for it was reserved [or sealed] till the seal of the sun opened itself at the seventh sounding of the trumpet. Observe this, it is no fiction or boasting: It doth concern you all, or else you will die in blindness, for which God is not to be blamed.

107. The world, after the Fall, hath but one eye, for it hath lived under the six seals; understand, under the six planets, with its knowledge: but you shall see the seventh seal with the eye of Sol; we here speak what we know.

108. Understand us aright, thus we will give light to those that hardly apprehend i t: Behold, and observe: The whole government of this world, in every life, cometh from the constellations, good and evil; and they are also the cause that the four elements, fire, air, water, and earth, were stirred up: else all in this world would be still.

109. And so now you see the upper government, especially in the seven planets: for they are the government or dominion of the spirit, and that is twofold: They have the tincture-government, viz. the fire-life, and also the air-government, viz. the water-life: The three planets above the sun, together with the sun, manage the fire-life and government: and the three beneath the sun, are the going forth of the fire's tincture, and are a sinking down, and together with the sun manage the air-government, and have the female kind, for they have the substantiality of the matrix, and the tincture of the upper matrix; the tincture retaineth the soul, and the nether matrix of Venus [retaineth] the spirit.

110. Thus the upper desireth the lower, and the lower desireth the upper, and is indeed but one body: for Sol is the heart, and hath the lustre of the Majesty of this [outward third] Principle.

111. Thus you understand the two kinds, the male and the female: The [male or] man is the head, and hath in him the upper government, with the fire of the tincture, and he hath in his tincture the soul, which is desirous of Venus, which is the corporeal matrix: for the soul will have spirit, and also body, and that hath the matrix of the [female or] woman.

112. And the lower government is the [female or] woman, and her government consisteth in the Moon: for Sol affordeth it heart, and Venus [affordeth it] tincture, and yet hath no fiery, but a watery [tincture]: and therefore it [The Moon] affordeth the air-spirit, and her tincture doth not stand in the wisdom, and therefore the man must rule her: for the tincture of the fire is the sharp trial of every substance.

113. Mercury is the stirrer up of their [women's] tincture: and therefore they are so talkative; and the moon hath their matrix, which is out of all the planets, and is afraid of the earth, and therefore maketh such haste, and taketh virtue and power in the wheel, from all the planets and stars, wherever it can: It desireth Sol vehemently, and therefore draweth also his lustre to itself; and, as the moon longeth after the sun, (for itself is of an earthly quality, and desireth the heavenly heart), so also the feminine matrix longeth after the heart of the man, and after his tincture, viz. after the soul; for the soul is the eternal good.

114. Thus nature longeth after the eternal, and would fain be delivered from the vanity. And thus the vehement desire in the feminine and masculine gender of all creatures doth arise, so that one longeth after the other for copulation. For the body understandeth it not, nor the spirit of the air, only the two tinctures, the masculine and the feminine understand it, for a beast knoweth not what it doth, only the tinctures know it, which drive it thus.

115. For the Fiat sticketh in them [the two tinctures], they must manifest the great wonders of God: For the spirit of God moveth upon the water of the matrix in Venus, and in the matrix of Jupiter, (viz. in the matrix of the brain), and leadeth the Fiat.

116. For the heart hath the matrix of Venus, and the brain hath the matrix of Jupiter. Thus the spirit of God rideth upon the wings of the wind in his own Principle, and yet goeth forth from the Father and the Son in the [continual] creation, and openeth the wonders which were seen from eternity in the wisdom: and therefore he is the Workmaster of every being, and is sent of God to that purpose.

THE TENTH CHAPTER

Further of the Creation of every Being: And how a Man may seek and find himself: Also how he may find all Mysteries, even to the Ninth Number, and no Higher.

1. YOUR seeking in the stars and elements, supposing to find the mysteries of nature, is but labour in vain; you find no more but one eye, and see with but one eye; and when you suppose you have found Sol, you have scarce found Luna, but only a glance of Sol, and are far from the heart, and do but run with the moon about the centre.

2. There is but one way which you must go, if you will find the Great Mystery, Mysterium Magnum; for if you should seek in Luna all your life long, it would be wholly in vain; your desire would remain to be but Luna: If you should take great and hard labour and pains in Mercury, and suppose the Stone lieth therein, your alchemy would prove but dung and dross.

3. When you come into Venus, you suppose you have Sol, and that it is gold, but is the woman [or female], and hath only a watery tincture; her life is air, and so you vainly labour in [or upon] the body: But if you take the spirit of the tincture, then indeed you go in a way in which many have found Sol; but they have followed on the way to the heart of Sol, where the spirit of the heavenly tincture hath laid hold on them, and brought them into the liberty, into the Majesty, where they have known the Noble Stone, Lapis Philosophorum, the Philosopher's Stone, and have stood amazed at man's blindness, and seen his labouring in vain.

4. Would you fain find the Noble Stone? Behold we will shew it you plain enough, if you be a Magus, and worthy, else you shall remain blind still: therefore fall to work thus; for it hath no more but three numbers. First, tell from one till you come to the Cross, which is ten, and is a cross number, (from one to ten is one number): but you have power only over the number nine, you must stay at the tenth, for it is the end of nature, which the creature ought not to search into: If the creature stay under the cross, it remaineth in the conceived will of God, and then it hath ten times ten, that is a hundred, and ten times a hundred is a thousand: and there lieth the Stone without any great painstaking, for it is pure, and is not defiled with any earthly nature: Make it thus, as I have written above [in the ninth Chapter] concerning the centre: Transpose the planets that are about the wheel; and take always one masculine, and then one feminine, one for the spirit of the soul, and the other for the air-spirit; you need not take care for the body, for each planet maketh a body to itself well enough, according as its desire is: Begin with Saturn, (for he is the first to the fire-life to the noble tincture); and then go about the wheel to Luna; for you must always take one planet for the life of the tincture, and then one for the spirit of the air, for the one subsisteth not without the other, or else you get a spirit without a body, a fire-spirit, which burneth in a lantern like a kindled fire, but it yieldeth nothing, it is only a mere pride, willing to be without a body.

5. Go thus about in the wheel to Sol, which is the seventh number in the first number [or account]: and when you get into that, you suppose you have the Stone: but it doth not prove fixed, Mars destroyeth it: go on further through the sun's fire, which is the eighth number, and when you come through it, lay hold through the tincture, on the eternity [which] is the ninth number, and; bring that upon the cross upon the tenth number, which is the end of nature; here handle the Stone, and take as much of it as you will, no fire will destroy i t: It is free from the wrath and out-birth: Its splendour and light stand in the power of the Majesty: Its body is out of the eternal substantiality, its number upon the cross is a hundred, and in the Majesty a thousand.

6. We give this to the seeker: for none findeth the Stone in Luna, unless he come upon the cross into the tenth number: and then, if he longs further to seek this world, and would fain have the splendour of this world, and desireth the Stone of this world, viz. in metals, let him go thus from the inward into the outward; let him go into Luna, and divide or break it into a thousand parts, and give it a little of Sol; but if its covetousness [hunger and thirst] be great, then give it a seventh part of Sol, and then it is complete.

7. For all the planets and stars run after the heart, every one of them taketh strength and virtue from the heart, and maketh to itself its own body; for Luna is out of all the six planets, and hath even Sol, but not the heart; for it hath Sol only in desire: as you see that it shineth with Sol, and not with a splendour of its own: and therefore the spirit of the heart must be added to it, which was pure before, and then all the planets resort to it, each of them desireth the pure child, and each buildeth its house therein: But look to it, have a care of Venus, that it may not by tattling bring its feminine tincture into it: for it appeareth bright and fair: but it is a woman, and maketh a dark body, and quickly devoureth Sol: Keep black Saturn in Mars's heat, and so at length bounteous Jupiter will appear, who is courteous and kind, and hath the superior house, the house of the spirit of the tincture; when it is come out from black Saturn, then that is the Metalline Stone.

8. Trouble not yourself so very much and long with fire, it affordeth no more than it is able; or else you number back again into loss; indeed not into perdition, but yet in Solem Hungariae, into the Sol of Hungaria: Venus exulteth the more, but your covetous hope and expectation is disappointed and taken away; Although indeed you ought justly to rest satisfied in the tenth number: for the riches of this world are but dung [and dross]; and if you attain to the tenth number with your former preparation, you need not take so great care about the number thousand: It standeth upon the crown of the virgin, in which are set twelve stars: six [of them] divine, and six human: The crown hath the number thousand, and the virgin the [number] hundred.

9. Christ saith, Seek first the kingdom of God, and all other things will be added to you. All lieth in the willing, for the willing maketh the desiring, and the desiring receiveth where nothing is, though indeed there is something there; yet it is hidden to us men, unless a man hath attained the Stone upon the cross, and then he findeth, where reason saith there is nothing; for that which hath not been from eternity is not at all, and thereof we know nothing, we know only of that which is, and hath ever been, though indeed not manifested to us men, but yet is of God in his wisdom, from eternity to eternity.

10. Therefore, although we speak of two kingdoms, viz. of the kingdom of God, and of the kingdom of this world, in that manner as if we saw them with bodily eyes, let it not seem a wonder; if God reveals himself in man, then he is in two kingdoms, and seeth with twofold eyes, and yet this way is not so hard and difficult, as reason's seeking in outward things: It lieth all in the willing; the outward willing must enter into the inward, it must deny itself, as if it were dead to the outward, and had no life in the outward, and yet liveth: As God liveth, and is in the outward, and the outward is dead to him, so that it cannot apprehend him; so also thou, O man, thou art with thy soul in the inward; but thy soul's will hath turned itself about with Adam into the outward; therefore, if thou wilt behold God and the eternity, turn thyself about with thy will into the inward, and then thou art as God himself; for thou wert thus created in the beginning; and thus thou livest according to the inward will unto God, and in God, and according to the outward [will thou livest] in this world, and hast both kingdoms thy own, and art indeed rightly an image and similitude of God; thou searchest out all things, and findest that which lay hidden in secret; for thou findest that in the eternity, and beholdest it standing backward in the out-birth, in the figure.

11. The ground of the creation of this world is much easier to be known in the inward man, in the Will of God, than visible things to the outward [man]: The outward knoweth less, that which he seeth with his eyes, and taketh hold of with his hands, heareth with his ears, smelleth with his nose, and tasteth with his mouth, than the inward doth the ground and the existency of the outward: The inward seeth indeed the creature in the ground of it; but is as it were dead to the outward, and yet liveth therein; and in that he liveth to the outward he liveth to God, in regard of his works of wonder, in that he manifesteth, and bringeth into being, that which standeth hidden in the figure.

12. And yet we say still, that the eternal standeth in the willing, and the will maketh desiring, and in the desiring standeth the figure of the willing. Thus it was before the time of this world: But when God moved himself in his willing, he so created the desiring, that it stood in a being. And other than this very thing we know nothing.

13. Therefore, now, the desiring is another thing than the willing, for the willing is without being [or substance], and the desiring maketh being; and so out of the eternal nothing is come whatsoever is: and before there was nothing, but only a willing, which was a virgin, without image, and yet was a figure of an image in the willing; and this figure hath discovered the spirit, and created it into a being [or substance], as we perceive in the form of this world: The figure hath caused the spirit, that it hath expressed the wonders in figure, and that is the matrix of the genetrix, and that is the spirit of this world: for the spirit could express nothing but a similitude of itself; for there was nothing else.

14. Therefore we demonstrate the creation to you thus; for to create signifieth to comprehend in the willing whatsoever standeth in the figure in the willing: for when a carpenter will build a house, he must first frame a model of it in his willing, how he will build it, and then he buildeth it according to the model of his willing.

15. Thus also hath the spirit of God framed in his will a model after his likeness, and so created that model; for you see in this world, that when the spirit through the word Fiat (upon the First Day) created the out-birth in the wrath, viz. water and earth, he comprehended the figure in the will; and that was the heaven which he created on the Second Day, and tried the work on the Third Day, and suffered to proceed out of the earth forms and images out of the essences, viz. trees, herbs, and grass, which were images of the essences of the desiring; but the image of the spirit remained still hidden, and yet was in being even unto the Fourth Day. (Here understand) a Day without the sun, is one turning about of the wheel of nature in the desiring of the willing. The inward will hath the number six, according to the six spirits, and the outward [will] in the desiring of the figure hath also the number six, according to the similitude of the spirit; and the two kingdoms [viz. the inward and the outward] make, with their number sixes, four-and-twenty, which divide themselves into four parts, viz. six before noon, and six after noon, six before mid-night, and six after mid-night, till the beginning or morning again.

16. And according to this, the spirit in the desiring did set a sign, and a reckoning, whence times and years proceed, which were not before; for every number [of the] twelve, which is heavenly, divine, and earthly, human or bestial, hath a sign in the firmament, which the spirit created into a visible being, together with the crown of the centre, which is the circumference [or sphere] of the constellations. And we give you notice, that the creating of the spirit, is a going forth out of itself into the outward. For in Loco Solis, in the place of the sun, is the point where the spirit created the similitude; for the word Fiat stood there, and went forth from the inward number ten as a body, and that is Luna, and in such a comprehension was the manner and form of the deep apprehended: and the spirit went forth, and drave the essences of the centre even to the crown, and there comprehended them with the signs [or framed them into the signs], and all forms of the image, which stood in the virgin in the figure in the willing, and they are the stars, and created them as a circumference [or sphere] of the spirit, and they are all together a body of that spirit, which is called Sol: for there the eternal spirit hath comprehended or conceived the similitude of the spirit [of this world]: and it goeth thus forth out of the natural body of this world, as a spirit; even as the eternal spirit [goeth forth] out of the eternal centre of nature, out of the number ten. And as they have ordered themselves with their revolution in the three days, understand, before the sun [was], so they also remained standing in the Fiat in that order, and are not material or palpable, though as to the eternity it is a material being, but not as to us; but they are powers; an out-birth out of the eternal hidden and secret centre, and a similitude of the eternal, and have power and strength to shape and figure bodies and images, according to all the properties of every star.

17. Understand us thus: Out of the place of the sun, Ex loco solis, goeth forth the manifestation of all the stars and elements, and all the stars are the sun's children, even unto Saturn, which is the house of the sixfold spirit: for the planets are the spirit, and the crown, which is the uppermost, [is] the body; and is in that manner as we have mentioned before concerning the centre of nature, and concerning the thrones of the angels. Very great things are herein contained, which we justly conceal, because of the wickedness of the world, which if they knew them, they would misuse the powers of nature to their covetousness and falsehood.

18. Therefore we tell you, that those to whom the number ten is opened, have it also given them into their will to speak no more than what is requisite and necessary for the world, and that at all times as need requires, and is known in God.

19. Thus we give you to understand, how God on the Fourth Day created the sun, and with that leading spirit the stars also; and what they are, being together nothing else but a life according to the similitude of God, wherein the eternity hath manifested itself in a being.

20. On the Fifth Day God moved this being and life, and set the Fiat therein, and created out of the matrix all kinds of similitudes, according to every form in the spirit; and in this creation now hath the third kingdom, viz. the kingdom of anger, pressed hard in with it, and there went forth all manner of beasts, fowls, fishes, worms, and whatsoever moveth and liveth; all went forth out of the outward matrix, and stood upon the earth: and in the deep went forth all sorts of spirits of fire, (such as are the Ascendents and Phoenix); and in the air also all sorts of spirits, according to the substantiality of the air; and in the water, and in the earth, all sorts of spirits, every one according to the property of its mother [genetrix]; and the whole deep between the constellations, so far as the Word gave itself in unto the creation, is nothing but a life and stirring of spirits.

21. Now reason asketh, Seeing the devil dwelleth in this world, and hath his princely dominion there, whereabouts doth he then dwell? Behold, O man! Consider this well. There are in the whole deep no more than seven revolutions [or orbs], which roll and turn about like a wheel, or as the life windeth itself about the soul; and the heart, as the centre, standeth still, in the midst, that is, the Sun; and the revolutions about the Sun, are the six planets, as spirits of the centre, and the seventh revolution is the earth, which turneth itself once about in four and twenty hours, and runneth along in the course of the planets once a year, and besides, carrieth the Moon with it about the Sun, as the others do also, but some in shorter and some in much longer time: as first Saturn in twenty-nine years, in respect of his large course. But the Moon, which runneth back, doth it every month, twelve times in a year, and passeth somewhat on yet further [in a thirteenth revolution].

22. Now this together maketh the wheel of the birth; wherein standeth the Verbum Fiat, which hath driven the devil out from this circle, and so he dwelleth without this circle, and there is a great darkness about the crown of stars in the firmament, so that many stars in the firmament are not seen because of the darkness; and that otherwise hath a great signification as to men, which we would indeed make mention of, if the world were not so mad, and suffered the devil to drive it, who derideth all manner of revelations, that thereby he may blindfold men: It shall in the Last Time stand manifest to the children, which see with both eyes, [viz. with the eye that seeth into the eternity, and the eye that seeth into that which is temporary].

23. Thus the devil dwelleth near us, and yet hath a princely dominion much deeper, nearer towards the constellations, in the midst [amongst them], where it is darkest: for he may not come [dares not, likes not] near the shining lustre of the stars: and so is a prisoner, and dare not touch the seven governments of the word Fiat, and hath no power therein, and so is the poorest creature in the crown.

24. This cannot be described by a circle, for the sun standeth innermost in the most inward circle, and the other [planets] always further outwards, even to the crown which includeth the outwardmost heaven: and it cannot be understood [by outward reason], but the spirit understandeth it in itself; for, as it is, so is this circle also: neither can it be set down in writing, for the life windeth itself inwards to the sun: and so also the spirit of life in man windeth itself inwards into the soul, as you may consider concerning the Three Principles, where the outermost is also the innermost, which the outward spirit of our reason cannot conceive, for it is but one and not three in number. But the spirit of the soul, if it be turned about, so that it looketh with its own eyes into the innermost, and with the eyes of this world into the outermost, understandeth it: for this is the vision in Ezekiel, of the spirit with inward and outward eyes, where the spirit goeth right forward wheresoever it goeth.

25. Although the wise Magi and mathematicians have made a sphere, and described the wheel, yet that is not enough: It is indeed a help to the unskilful to consider of the Mysterium Magnum, the Great Mystery: but the wheel hath a much more subtle understanding, and cannot be made in any circle after this manner: for it goeth into itself towards the heart of the sun, and out from itself towards the figure of the substantiality; it driveth upwards and downwards; for the spirit of the tincture, viz. the right fire-life, driveth upwards inwards towards the liberty of God, and yet desireth the spirit of the substantiality, which driveth downwards, for without that the fire-life doth not subsist: Thus the fire-spirit turneth itself about, as it were side-ways, and always reacheth after the spirit of the substantiality, and the spirit of the substantiality flieth from the fire; but since it is generated out of the fire-life, and cannot be severed from it, therefore it is wheeled about with the fire-spirit: For when the fire-spirit wheeleth to the right-side, and reacheth after the spirit of the substantiality, then the spirit of the substantiality wheeleth also on the left-side upwards, and that maketh a wheeling round, and one maketh haste after the other; for the substantiality flieth from the fire, and yet it cometh out of the fire, as you see that out of the fire goeth air, and out of the air water, which is the substantiality.

26. Thus the fire, which is an anguish, desireth meekness, and the liberty, which is without source [or pain], and reacheth after the water-source: and the meekness, viz. the water-source, desireth a body, and that it may be free from the fire and covered, and the fire runneth always after the water, and the water flieth from the fire; for if the fire should go away upwards, and the water go away downwards, there would then be a great separation between them, and each [both the fire and the water] would die and come to nothing. But seeing the fire inclineth towards the water, and refresheth itself therein, it so preserveth itself, and can send forth the spirit of the air again from itself, so that the life subsisteth.

27. Thus we shew you the Great Mystery, Mysterium Magnum, that you might learn to understand how far you should go, and where your number and end is; for the fire, (after the seven spirits of nature), is the eighth number [or form], and is a cause of the seven spirits. Now no creature subsisteth in the fire, for the fire consumeth the substantiality wherein the natural life standeth; but yet the fire maketh tincture; and that twofold: One reaching inward into itself after the eternal liberty, after the still meekness [that is] without being; and the other reaching forth out from itself, after the outward substantiality, viz. after the oil, which cometh out from the water, which is from Venus, and wherein its outward splendour and shining spring up: and in the inward tincture, in the desiring of the eternal liberty, the Majesty of the liberty springeth up.

28. Understand us rightly thus: The fire hath the eighth number, and the inward tincture hath the ninth number; and so far [only] we ought to go; for the tenth number is the eternal fire of God, and holdeth in the midst of, its birth the cross, which severeth the centre of the eternal nature into two kingdoms, of which we have made mention formerly: and what creature soever will go back through it, that creature cometh through the kingdom of God back again into the outermost out from God, and out from this world back into the centre of the fire, as into an eternal darkness, where the fire is black, and a perpetual hunger: The kindling of the light of the fire standeth only under the cross, in the meekness, in the ninth number, which is a single number; the tenth number is a twofold number, and belongeth to angels and men but they ought not to reach further into the centre of the cross, but must stand there before the cross of the Number Three, and cast their minds down into the tincture of humility backwards into the ninth number, and look forward into the tenth number, but with a timorous mind, not desiring to create and have [any thing] in the tenth number, viz. to go back into the centre of the fire of God; but highly rejoice before the tenth number eternally, and with their songs of praise and Hallelujahs, sing, Holy! Holy! Holy! is our God the Lord of Hosts; and that song is a food to the divine fire, from whence goeth forth, in the divine essences, the wonder, paradise, the element and heavenly substantiality, and it standeth before the Number Three as a virgin of the eternal knowledge of God; and that is the Wisdom of God; for in the wisdom appeareth the substantiality of all divine essences, which to write of here we have no more pen nor tongue.

29. Only, we shew you how far you should search into such a revelation: for in the ninth number you see all things, for it is the tincture of the heavenly life; you see [in the ninth number] the hundredth number of the virgin of wisdom, and also the thousandth number of the, crown of the Majesty.

30. But you must not search further into the tenth number, there to search and dive into the abyss, else you go out from God as Lucifer did, who would fain be a creator in the tenth number, and sought [to have] the fire of the eternal original, and therein he must remain as in the death, in the darkness, eternally.

31. Therefore let the Reader be warned, not to dive further into these very deep writings, nor plunge his will deeper, than [so far] as he apprehendeth: he should always rest satisfied with his apprehension: for in the apprehension he standeth yet in the substantiality, and there he erreth not, how deep soever the spirit leadeth him: for to one more will be given than to another: And this only is the mark [to be aimed at], that every one continue steadfast in humility towards God, and submit himself to God, that he may make the will and the deed as he pleaseth. When you do that, you are in yourself as dead: for you desire nothing but God's will; and the will of God is your life, which goeth inward even to the thousandth number, and searcheth into the deep of the Deity with all wonders: He leadeth your will, submitted to him, into the virgin of his wisdom, so that you may behold all wonders: But you must not leave him, and imagine into the wonders; so soon as you do so, you go quite out from God's will, which is the eternal liberty, and are captivated in your imagination: Mark this; for every imagination maketh substantiality, and therein you stand, and must go out from that again, or else you shall not see God.

32. Therefore Christ teacheth us humility, love, pureness of heart, and to be merciful; and calleth upon us to seek after the will of God, and to submit ourselves to it: For in God's will we are able to do ALL; our own nature must not do it; but God himself is zealous in us, and he is our doing if we work any wonder: For no human soul should say or think, I will do wonders: No, that cannot be: for the wonders above the outward nature go forth only from the centre of the eternal nature, out of the tenth number, which the creature cannot [do]: but if it be yielded up into the will of God, then God in the creature doth the wonder:

for it is his delight to manifest himself in the weak; for the strong is stiff in his own will, and will not submit it unto God: He relieth upon his own wit and reason. Thus his will is out from God, and is able to do nothing; and then, if he speaketh from himself concerning God's being and will, he is an ignorant liar, he speaketh not from God's spirit and will, but from himself, from his own opinion, in which there is mere doubt; and from thence ariseth the contention about [matters of] faith [and religion], about divine knowledge, so that men seek God in their own willing and knowing: Men will think to find God in their own willing, and he is not therein; for he dwelleth merely and barely in that willing which yieldeth itself with all its reason and knowing wholly to him, and to that he giveth knowledge and power to understand his being.

33. Therefore lift up your heads and observe this: the will of God is not in any strife and contention, but man's will and the devil's; it is the will of the wrath of God; let not the flattering hypocrites seduce you, who enter in, boasting of the history, and say, We have the will of God by us, we are his ministers, look upon us, we are God's officers, and though we be wicked, yet we rightly bear the office, and [dispense the] will [of God]. O cursed generation of Cain and Judas, you are neither born nor known in God: Why then boast you of the will of God? How can you say that you bear the Great Mystery of God, whereas you are without God, in a strange will, and in yourself you carry not the Mysterium Magnum? But a poor sinner, who converteth, but is captivated by the devil, and is in strife against the devil, he that panteth, sigheth, and crieth after God, he runneth in sorrow and abstinence to the office of the Great Mystery, which Christ hath given to his disciples and children, who are in the will of God, and they have the true key to heaven and hell.

34. But you, sophister, bear not the office while you are without the will of God; but the poor repentant man bringeth the Mysterium Magnum, the Great Mystery, with him to you, and rendereth himself up to the apostolical power, which you have not; but -the church or congregation of Christ, which is in the will of God, [hath it]: and so one faith receiveth the other, and the church, or congregation of Christ, absolveth the repentant sinner, and not you, sophister, who have neither virtue nor power, nor knowledge of the kingdom of God, but are yourself the devil's captive; and you sit in the anger of God, and are only the proud whore of Babel, and swim aloft upon the office of the Great Mystery, and are incapable of it, unless you be in the will of God, and then you are Christ's apostle, and wear the garment of Aaron, and God openeth and shutteth by your mouth; but your natural will doth it not, that should always be dead, or else you are not capable of the office; also in your own will, you sit not in the office of Christ, upon Peter's chair, but upon the stool of pestilence, and are the Antichrist, as we have known you in the number seventy-two, which you bear: for you are in contention about the cup of Christ, and you have it not in your power, but the church or congregation of Christ, which is submitted to the will of God, hath it: The Ark of the Covenant is with them at Shilo, and not in your [contentious] schismatical sectarian Jerusalem, which you have made full of abominable blasphemies.

35. But what shall the spirit judge more concerning you, seeing you are an adulterous woman, and have lost your faith and fidelity? He hath given you time to repent, and you do not repent, but lie in whoredom day and night, and therefore he will spew you out in the wine-press, and Babel shall burn up itself. Thus Christ saith, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. And so he saith also to you now, you desolate Jerusalem in Babel. The time cometh that the children of Christ will go out from you, and it is already, and you shall perish in your whoredom. Behold, your merchants will stand afar off, and say, Behold! Babel, in which we became rich and fat, is become desolate.

THE ELEVENTH CHAPTER

Of the True Knowledge concerning Man

1. We have shewn you, what the essence of all essences is, and what its life and spirit is, and what the matrix of the genetrix is, viz. that it standeth in the eternal willing, and in that eternal willing is the centre of nature, and therein is the Number Three, which is the heart, which manifesteth the eternity in creatures, figures, and similitudes; especially in three kingdoms; viz. the heavenly angelical; and then the hellish fiery diabolical; and thirdly, the substantial kingdom of the out-birth, viz. this world.

2. Now you know very well that the dear man Moses saith in his first book, [called Genesis], That on the Fifth Day, God created all the living creatures at once: which you are to understand thus; that in one revolution of the earth, God created (out of the earthly great mystery, out of the matrix of the spirit of the earthly property, as an out-birth out of the eternal property), all living creatures, that they should be images and similitudes of the eternal being [essence or substance].

3. Now they are indeed created out of the earthly Mysterium Magnum, but yet the spirit there is not so wholly earthly; for it is yet Luna, as we see that the earth standeth next the moon, and [in the circle about] from the moon, and as every circle is, so also is the spirit in its own inclination, and the property of the wheel in that circumference [orb].

4. Thus the circle between the moon and the earth, is both earthly and lunar; for the moon hath the properties of all the stars, and is as a sack or container of all the properties of the stars, which it continually poureth forth in its circle: for the earth longeth vehemently after the moon, and therefore attracteth the shining and glance of the moon, as also the shining and splendour of the sun: for all things long after the heart, and desire the liberty, that so they may be freed from the vanity.

5. Thus the earth, in its longing desire, hath attracted the spirit of the sevenfold wheel, and holdeth that in it as its peculiar matrix of nature, and would always fain awaken in itself the wheel of life; and therefore it wheeleth [turneth] itself about, for it hath both fires, the hot and the cold; and the nethermost always striveth upward towards the sun, for it receiveth virtue and spirit from the sun: and therefore it is so rolled about [turned]; for the fire wheeleth it about: it would fain be kindled, that it might have a life of its own, but though it must remain in death, yet it hath a longing after the upper life, and attracteth the upper life to it, and continually openeth wide its centre, after the sun's tincture and fire.

6. Thus from the longing after the sun, springeth forth the budding and growing out of the earthly matrix: for the essences of the earth climb forth (with the captivated life of the upper centre) always, upward out of the earth, and spread forth themselves into a great tree and stalk: and you see very well, that upon the tree and stalk there groweth a mixed fruit, half earthly, and half according to the upper centre: and the fruit never cometh into a joy [or to perfection], unless it be satiated with the upper [part], and then it is ripe, for it hath attained Venus's body. But as Venus's body is unfixed, and would soon fade, if the sun did not stay it with the virtue of Saturn, so also [it is with the ripe fruit], it is not durable, but soon turns to rottenness: It cannot be preserved [long], because the paradise is out of it.

7. And thus we give you to understand, that all creatures have been created out of the nethermost and uppermost life: The matrix of the earth afforded body, and the constellations [afforded] spirit, and their life reacheth not up into the sun; for the earth hath attracted the sun's virtue into its matrix, and so all the creatures that dwell upon the earth have attained the virtue of the sun and of the stars: but the body of the fowls is out of the deep above the earth, and therefore they delight most to fly in their own matrix; and you see also how all beasts put their face and head forwards and downwards, and look after their matrix, and desire only the food thereof: for every life desireth its own mother, as you may soon perceive in the fowls, which are near of quality to the earth, that they eat flesh and are birds of prey; for they proceeded from two mothers in the creation, viz. out of the upper [mother], and out of the earth.

8. The earth is a peculiar centre, and therefore was created severally [apart by itself] on the First Day, and is an out-birth out of the eternal substantiality, a corrupted matrix, [corrupted by the Fall of Lucifer]: in the eternity was therein known the virgin of God's wisdom, wherein all the wonders of God are seen: And in the creation, and afterwards, even till Adam's fall, paradise sprang up through the earth, and so the upper centre of nature, viz. the sun's heart, drew forth paradisical fruit out of the earth, which indeed was not eaten after an angelical manner by any creature, but only man, though indeed he had not eaten thereof either; for the longing of the twofold life caught hold of him suddenly, and there he stood till his sleep in trial, whether his will would continue in God, and [whether] he [would] eat after an angelical manner: But the beginning sheweth how he stood, which we must chew upon, and must therefore eat earth, and at last must become food for the earth.

9. Thus, if you consider it, you may see the creation of God, and how God created the other creatures before man, and you see how the life of all creatures standeth only in the matrix, out of which they were created.

10. Now you know what Moses saith, That God consulted in himself to create a similitude of his essence, an image of himself, that should rule over all the creatures of this world, over beasts, fishes, and fowls, and over all that liveth and moveth, and saith, God said, Let us make man according to our image: and he created man to be his image, yea to the image of God created he him: But reason asketh, out of what? And Moses saith, God made man's body of a piece of clay.

11. Beloved reason, behold! open both your eyes, and look not with one eye only into the hidden Mystery of the humanity, as hath been used for a long while hitherto. Do you hear what Moses saith? God placed man in the Garden of Eden, which he had made, that he should till and keep it, and the paradise was therein. Do you now understand the hidden mystery of man? He was in paradise in the creation, and was created in [and for] paradise; for paradise grew up through the earth; and of that paradisical earth, wherein the heavenly property [source or quality] was, the body of Adam was created; for so it must be, seeing he was to be a lord over the earth, and all that was earthly, and was to open the wonders of the earth, else God had instantly given him an angelical body: But then the palpable substance, with its wonders, would not have been manifested, therefore he thus gave him a palpable body, but not so dark a rugged and bestial one as ours are, but a paradisical one.

12. You must understand it thus: The eternal Virgin of Wisdom, stood in paradise as a figure, in which all the wonders of God were known, and was in its figure an image in itself, but without substance like to man: and in that virgin God created the matrix of the earth, so that it was a visible palpable image in substance, wherein heaven, earth, stars, and elements, stood in substance, and all whatsoever liveth and moveth was in this one image. The matrix of the earth could not overpower it, [viz. the image man], much less could the outward elements do it; because it was higher in degree than them all: It had received the neverfading substantiality with the virgin: The virgin was not brought into the image; but the matrix of the earth was brought into the virgin-like image; for the virgin is eternally uncreated and ungenerated: It is the wisdom of God and a [reflection, antitype, and] image of the Deity in Ternario Sancto, in the Holy Ternary, according to the Number Three, and all the eternal wonders of the eternal centre of nature, and is known in the Majesty in the wonders of God; for it is that which bringeth forth to light the hidden things of the deep of the Deity: Thus, beloved man [mankind], you see what you are.

13. Now, saith Moses, And God breathed into him the living breath into his nostrils, and then man became a living soul. This is the ground, O ye universities, and high schools! dance about this as much as you can, shew yourselves here Doctors, Masters, or Batchelors [in Arts]: If ye be what you please to conceit yourselves to be, why then are you blind in this? Why will you be called doctors, when in the ground you are yet scarce school-boys? What do you understand by that [inspiration or] breathing-in? Doth not Moses tell you, that God breathed into man the breath of life? What do you understand here? Do you understand it to be only air? That is not solely the breath of God: for he breathed the air into his nostrils: but the breath of God cannot be breathed in from without, for God himself is the fullness of all things, and is present there already before-hand, where any outward thing cometh [to pass].

14. Now therefore, that you may rightly and fundamentally, and also certainly come to under- stand it, look upon what we have before mentioned; viz. How God longed after the visible substance of his similitude and image; and the image of the virgin, wherein his wonders stood, hath thus caused it, so that the one imagination embraced and conceived the other; though indeed God is without substance and longing [lusting]; [for his longing is only Majesty and liberty]: But the centre of nature, upon the cross of the wonders, longed [lusted] after the image which was beheld in the virgin, where the spirit of God goeth forth into the wisdom, so that the wisdom causeth substantiality.

15. Behold! God's breathing-in was thus: The spirit of God moveth on the waters, and rideth on the wings of the wind, as the Scripture speaketh: that [spirit] had then comprehended the dominion of this world with the word Fiat, and breathed it into Adam's nostrils: Now, the spirit breathed in the air from without, and itself forth from within into the centre of the heart; for it dwelleth not outwardly, Tout in the centre of nature, and goeth forth from within out of the Deity into the out- ward, and openeth [or discloseth] an image [manifested in a being] according to itself; understand, according to the centre of nature.

16. We have told you before, how the wheel of the outward nature windeth itself inwards, even to the sun, and further through the fire into the liberty of God, where then it keepeth its station: and the inward longing of the eternal centre presseth with the spirit of God forth into the heart of the sun, which is the great life and fire, which melteth away stone and earth, wherein the eternal tincture is known within, in the ninth number.

17. You must also understand the breathing-in thus: The outward dominion of the spirit of this world, which reacheth even into the sun, was breathed into him from without, as an outward life; and the inward dominion out of the inward fire in the eighth number was from within breathed into the heart; for that was out of the eternal fire, which reacheth into the ninth number, towards the cross, after its own tincture which goeth towards the Number Three, viz. into the eternal liberty; and there man became a living soul, with spirit and soul; for the soul hath its original a degree deeper than the sun, out of the eternal fire which burneth in the eternal willing, which willing is, to generate the Heart of God, and to exalt the Majesty in the wonders.

18. Understand us rightly, thus: God's Holy Spirit hath awakened the living soul, out of the centre of the eternal nature upon the cross, as a peculiar centre of its own; not out of the Number Three, but out of the eternal nature, out of the fire of the centre of nature, in the fifth form of the centre, where the two 'kingdoms, viz. God's love and anger, part: There hath the spirit of God awakened the soul, and brought it forth from within, outwards into the tincture of the outward spirit, into the blood of the heart, through himself, and this is the soul: Master doctor, understand it aright, and do not vaunt so proudly, stately, and insultingly; for the soul is the child of God: Its will should always be inclined into the will of God in the tenth number, and then it is an angel, and liveth in God, and eateth of the word of God, of the virtue and life of God: It should not turn back into the spirit of this world, into the fire of the out-birth, but into the fire of the Number Three, in Ternarium Sanctum, into the Holy Ternary.

19. And thus thou mayest understand what thou art, and what thou wast before the Fall, for thou couldst rule over the sun and the stars, all was in thy power; the fire, the air, and the water, together with the earth, could not compel thee: no outward fire could burn thee, no water could drown thee, no air could suffocate or stifle thee, every living thing feared before thee, thou hadst thy own food of the paradisical fruit to give to the outward life, and the Verbum Domini to the inward life of the soul: thou hadst lived eternally without woe, or feeling of any sickness or disease, in mere joy and delight, and besides, without care and toil: Thy mind was as the mind of a child that playeth with his father's wonders [or workmanship], no knowledge of any evil will was in thee: No covetousness, no pride, no envy, no anger, but all a sport of love.

20. Now behold, that you may once apprehend this: God took to himself a particular day's work about man; if he would have had him to have been earthly, bestial, and mortal, he would have created him on the Fifth Day with the other beasts: And that yet you may well apprehend this, he created but one man, with the whole cross in the brainpan, which signifieth the Number Three: He was both man and woman, yet you are not to understand any woman, but a virgin wholly pure and chaste: he had in him the spirit of the tincture of the fire, and also the spirit of the tincture of the water, viz. of Venus: He loved himself, and through himself [he loved] God: he could generate virgin-like (out of his will), out of his essences, without pain, without tearing or dividing [his body] such a man as himself was; for he had all three centres in him: and as the centre of the eternal nature was not torn nor divided, when the spirit of God conceived his soul upon the cross, and brought it into the wisdom; also as the spirit of this world was not torn nor divided, when the spirit of God breathed into him the spirit of this world, as an outward life, so he also was not torn or divided: for he had a body that could go through trees and stones: If he had instantly gone on in the will of God, then had he brought HIM [viz. God], with him into the great wonders.

21. The noble Philosopher's Stone was as easy to be found by him as any other stone, and then he might have adorned the outward life with gold, silver, and precious stones, jewels and pearls, all to his own joy, and to [the manifestation of] God's deeds of wonder: He had not needed bestial clothing; for he went naked, yet clothed with the heavenly tincture: He had no such members as he might be ashamed of, as his Fall demonstrateth. This was his Fall: His soul imagined after the outward fire of the out-birth, after the spirit of this world, and turned himself away from God, and desired to live in his own property [or self], and to be lord; his will turned itself out from God's will, and was disobedient to God, and desired the earthly fruit, out of the earthly essences, and caused God to suffer the tree of temptation to grow, that he might try what his image would do; and he forbad him that tree.

22. But his lust was instantly gone after the earthly essences, good and evil, which the devil did eagerly help forward, (as he doeth still), till Adam was overcome, and went forth from the will of God, and suffered himself to be wholly captivated by the spirit of this world; and then all was done with him: The heavenly image became earthly: The soul became captivated in the fire of God's anger: It had the heavenly tincture no more, and could not eat of the Verbum Domini any more; it had turned itself away into the spirit of this world, and was gone out from God's will into the lust of this world; and so also, at the instant of the Fall, the spirit of this world made the body wholly earthly: The paradise, with all heavenly knowledge, retired into itself [and so departed from Adam], and the dear virgin of wisdom remained standing in grief, till the Word of the Lord came again, and looked upon her [the noble Sophia] again with the promise of the seed of the woman, and then she passed into the light of life, and now warneth men of their ungodly ways; concerning which we have mentioned at large in our former writing, and also concerning his wife; therefore we here forbear to write any further of it, and only further shew you our propagation as to body and soul.

23. We have formerly mentioned, how the provocation between both kinds, masculine and feminine, to copulate, existeth; viz. out of two governments [or dominions] of one [only] substance [being or essence]: for when Adam could not subsist, then God let a sleep fall upon him, and took the one dominion, viz. the tincture of the spirit, from him, and left him [the other, viz.] the tincture of the soul, and framed a woman out of him: But that she might have a soul also, God took a rib from his body, with his flesh and blood, and comprised the soul therein, but without power of further propagation, [of itself], for her soul remained in Venus, being desirous of the man's soul, even as the lower dominion of the three planets under the sun, which make spirit and flesh, desire the three uppermost for their life, as is before mentioned: so also is the dominion in the man and the woman: for the man hath the tincture of the fire wherein the soul consisteth, in his seed; and the woman hath in her the tincture of the spirit of this world, viz. of Venus, naturally so called, in her seed and matrix. If it were not for the scoffers, I could exactly demonstrate it in the members of their copulation: You would indeed wonder rightly why each is as it is: It shall be set down in a paper by itself, for there is nothing without cause. Nature hath its own mouth, if it desireth to have any thing, it maketh itself a mouth fit for it, and giveth a form to that thing which it desireth, that it may fit the mouth, according as nature liketh best. Observe this.

24. Now, when the seed is sown, then not only the sower soweth, but the ground also affordeth its essences [or virtue] to it: The man soweth soul, and the woman soweth spirit, and both of them afford body, and not the one without the other: The tincture of the fire hath indeed a body, but it became very small in this corruption: and therefore the nature of the water (in Venus) must give a soft spirit to it; for the man and the woman are one body, and St Paul saith, If the man have an unbelieving woman [to his wife], and the woman have an unbelieving man [to her husband], let not the one forsake the other: for the man knoweth not whether he shall save the woman, or the woman the man. Even as Adam saved his [wife] Eve, who first ate the bit [of the forbidden fruit], for she was a part of the life, out of his flesh and blood: and the same spirit and the same soul which Adam had, and which Eve got from Adam, is now also in us, in both kinds [or sexes].

25. Therefore ground your judgment thus: When the man soweth his seed, he soweth flesh and blood, and the noble tincture of the soul; and the woman receiveth that into her matrix, and instantly affordeth to the man's seed her tincture of Venus, wherein standeth the elementary spirit, and that assumeth Saturn, and bringeth it round on the wheel about to Sol, and there the natural life, with the life of the soul, is disclosed; for Saturn giveth it to the Moon, which breedeth it, and in a circuit of all the stars, maketh essences therein: and then the essences exist, and wind themselves about to Mars, which striketh up the fire; and there count the signs in the heavens, how many hours each of them hath, and double that with two kingdoms, and then you have the ground of the incarnation [or becoming man], and what is done every hour with the sulphur, [viz. with the substance which cometh to be man], for man hath yielded himself over to the spirit of this world, and is fallen home to it: and so now that spirit maketh an earthly elementary child, according to the stars and their dominion.

26. If God had not become man [or been incarnate], we had remained beasts, according to the body, and according to the soul, devils: and if we go not forth out of the house of our sins, we are such.

2 7. And therefore God hath made his covenant with us in Christ, that we should be new born again in Christ: for he hath given up his life into death for us, and hath brought our soul again quite through the eternal fire, and turned it about, that so we may see into the tenth number again.

28. Christ saith [through the Apostle Paul], All shall be tried by the Jire: let every one have a care that his works burn not, for so he shall suffer loss. And know this, that at the end, (when this world shall pass again into the ether), God will awaken the fire in the centre, which is the eternal [fire], and will purge this floor: Understand, it is the soul's fire: and so then if the soul have been turned into the will of God, then the Holy Ghost, with the divine tincture, shall burn forth from the soul, and the tincture of the soul shall be taken into the Majesty of God; which the soul attracteth again into itself, and that will be its refreshing and quenching, and so it will be able to subsist in the fire: But that soul which is turned back into this world, and that the substance of this world cometh to be in the fire, then the soul will be without God, for in the abyss of this world is the hellish fire, and into that it must go, and there eat what it had cooked here: for every one's works follow him.

29. And then they will say to the wise virgins; O give us some of your oil: but the wise virgins will say; O no, lest we should want as well as you, and perish with you: Go to the merchants of this world, to the sophisters, and buy oil for yourselves. But before they shall bethink themselves how the oil is to be bought, and where it is to be had, the gates of heaven and hell shall be shut: and upon that followeth the eternity, and this being [of this created world] passeth away. Consider this, for there is no dallying with the spirit of this revelation: It concerneth body and soul: he that will see, let him see, but he that will not, yet he is warned.

The Gates of the Great Misery and Lamentation, [shewing] How the Image in the Mother's Womb, while it is yet a Sulphur, [viz. an inanimate Lump or Mass], is destroyed: [infected or poisoned] so that many an Image, according to the spirit, is a Beast, also a Toad, and a Serpent; which afterwards appeareth plain enough by its Condition, Will, and Conversation; and if it should not be helped again by God in Christ, so that it is new-born again, it must remain so Eternally in its Figure.

30. Dear children in Christ, our purpose in revealing this, is not thereby to reproach mankind: It is the very truth, we have highly known it: Moreover, Christ, the mouth of truth itself, saith so, who calleth Herod a fox, and the Pharisees a generation of vipers and serpents: and the Scripture here and there calleth the tyrants, lions, bears, wolves, and cruel beasts; and the Revelation of John, also Daniel, and the other Prophets, have deciphered the potent rulers of this world, by evil, fierce, and cruel beasts; truly they have not meant thereby the image of God; for that were not right, that God should compare his image, which is angelical, to such abominable beasts: and yet he is the truth itself, and out of his mouth proceedeth no deceit or falsehood, nor any untruth: and seeing he hath called the rulers of this world so, therefore it is [spoken] concerning their governments; for they raise wars, murders, and all mischief in their dominions: and are those devouring wolves, lions, bears, foxes, vipers, and serpents; for they appear so in the presence of God: though outwardly they have the image of man, yet the spirit of their soul is such a beast: and upon that followeth God's Predestination [Election]: although God willeth that all men should be helped [or saved], yet he knoweth very well who are desirous and capable of any help.

31. We do not here shut up the grace of God from those that turn and become New-born out of this bestial condition: for Christ is therefore become man on purpose to help us, that we may come again into the similitude of God: and HE hath therefore brought our human soul into the fire of the anger of God, as into the abyss of the centre, into hell, and into death, where our souls lay shut up, and out of death and hell again, into the tenth number, into the eternal tincture of God, upon the cross, from whence the soul existed from eternity, which appeared before the time of this world, in his wisdom.

32. And you are to know, that every soul, while it is yet in the seed, is no [living] creature, but is in the fire, or a fire of the tincture, and is a will of the creature; and it standeth yet in the power of the parents, either to quicken [enliven] or destroy the creature, which [to destroy] runs opposite against the order of the creation, and is an abomination in the sight of God: and hereby is shewed you, that such as the tree is, such is the fruit that groweth out from it: yet the compulsion is not wholly perfect, for the two kingdoms, viz. love and anger, stand presently in the wrestling, one against another: For God hath brought his love in Christ again into the humanity: and so it standeth in strife against the anger.

33. But you must know, that a false wicked seed may well be forsaken: and if that come to be so, then the nature of the fire often figureth the spirit of the soul in a horrible form, which is not known in the outward image, but only in the evil [or false] conversation and will; as is seen that everyone's conversation is from his abyss, and the spirit of his soul is so in figure: for the inward goeth outward: whatsoever the will in the abyss is, that the body doth; and though he dare not do it openly, because of disgraceful punishment, yet he doth it secretly, and hath continually a will to it, neither doth he account it any vice: for he knoweth not himself, but he himself doth that which he judgeth [to be evil in another].

34. And then, secondly, we give you to understand, that the outward dominion (viz. the spirit of this world) is also in the seed, while it is yet a sulphur, [that is, matter without form or life], and in that [spirit] hath the constellation its dominion, and it draweth also with it inwards the constellation of the stars, as they have influence [aspects], and infect or poison a thing, and also make it lovely, according as the imagination is at all times: for every star is a seeking; a desiring (viz. of the wonders), according to its property: Each of them desireth a life, and the elementary sulphur, which is also desirous, longeth after the desiring of the stars, and attracteth, or letteth that into it, and becometh pregnant therewith.

35. Now, in the stars, there are all the properties of this world, whatsoever all the creatures are, that the stars are, every one of them helpeth towards life, and to the revelation of the wonders of God: for therefore they are brought into being, because God would open all forms of nature: and many of them make a property of a dog in the outward spirit of this world; many of a wolf, a bear, a lion, a fox, a hare, a bull, a peacock, a cock, also of a toad, a serpent, and so forth, after the condition of all sorts of creatures; and so, if such a star be fixed, so that it hath received the virtue of the sun through the introducing of the spirit; then it is powerful, and its imagination presseth along in the seed, whereby a creature getteth such a property in the elementary life and spirit, as well in men as in beasts.

36. And such an evil property many times covereth the soul, and enticeth it from the will of God, so that it goeth out from God's will; for it often cometh to pass, that the image of God is in the soul (which desireth [or longeth after] God), and is captivated with such an outward spirit, which plagueth and tormenteth it; this you see and may know by such as many times fall into foul and heinous sins and wickedness, (for the outward spirit casteth them headlong thereinto), and then suddenly they fall into such great sorrow and repentance upon it, that they sigh and turn and go on towards abstinence [or amendment]; and that is a strong combat of the soul against the spirit of this world: for it often doth a thing that it never had in its mind or thought, much less in the purpose to do it, and yet is so suddenly entangled [and overcome].

37. For when a man is secure, and doth not always stand in fear and trembling before the anger of God, then the devil slippeth into the spirit, and looketh narrowly when there is in a man any evil constellation of his property and stars, and so casteth a man headlong into an unexpected fall, into wrath, murder, whoredom, theft, poisoning, and death: This is his art, which he is most diligent in.

38. For the outward life is fallen quite under the power of the stars, and if thou wilt withstand them, thou must enter into God's will, and then they are but as a shadow, and cannot bring that to effect which they have in their power: neither do they desire it, but the devil only desireth it: For the whole nature boweth itself before the will of God: For the image of God in man is so powerful and mighty, that when it wholly casteth itself into the will of God, it overpowereth nature, so that the stars are obedient to it, and do rejoice themselves in the image: for their will is that they may be freed from the vanity, and thus are kindled in meekness in the image, at which the heaven rejoiceth, and so the anger of God in the government of this world is quenched; for when that is burning, man's wickedness is guilty of it, in that men kindle it in the spirit of this world.

39. For a false wicked malicious man kindleth the elements, for he casteth his evil power and falsehood into them, which the wrath of the abyss devoureth, and thereby groweth stirring and working; which otherwise the love, in the meek life, would keep back: But if the wrath of God be strong, then it overpowereth this world, and then saith the prophet from the spirit of God, I will let my wrath come upon you, which will devour and destroy you.

4 0. For God is nothing but goodness, and willeth not the evil: He warneth man before-hand, that he should still the wrath, by turning and going out from the anger; but when this is not done, then he suffereth that to come which man hath awakened, viz. wars, famine, pestilence: Now God doth not this, but man himself, which maketh wars; and the heaven withdraweth its fruitfulness, and the spirit of this world kindleth itself in the hellish poison and wrath, and so diseases and the pestilence come forth, which God is not guilty of, but man hath awakened them, and they devour him: for thereby the anger is sharpened, and getteth a longing to devour: for men awaken it in their wickedness and malice, and kindle it, whereas otherwise it would be at rest.

41. You must understand it thus; Adam hath left it us for an inheritance: If he had continued in the will of God, the anger had not touched him to eternity; and then the devil had been shut up in the wrath; and therefore he hath wrestled with man, and thrown him into sin, so that he hath awakened the anger in the spirit of this world, in which the devil is the Great Prince, and increaseth his kingdom with the souls of men: and thus the devil is a prince of this world, or else he could not touch a fly, or move a leaf, if man had not kindled the property [and working] of the anger; even as he is altogether void of strength in a time when men are virtuous and honest; and therefore he driveth men so eagerly to unchastity, for he knoweth well what he getteth by that, and what ability it hath in the incarnation, [or man's coming to be], and what fine spirit is begotten out of a false will [and unchastity], to which [spirit] he hath a great access and power.

42. And then, thirdly, we give you to understand, from a true ground, what the great secret mystery of the anger, and of the devil is; for we demonstrate it to you thus: There are two sorts of dominions in man, even while he lieth in the seed, enclosed in the mother's womb, as in two tinctures; one out of the eternal matrix, as the tincture of the soul; and the other out of the centre of this world, as from the spirit and life of this world; so that often a whole false soul is figured (according to the devil's will), and so is captivated by the anger; and then also the spirit of this world, (if it be in a good constellation at the time of the spirit's awakening), oftentimes figureth a very friendly, lovely, outward spirit, which can give good words cheap enough, and yet its soul is a devil: He giveth sweet words with his mouth, and the spirit of his heart is poison, and he thinketh only how to do evil or mischief, and that with a pretence of fair carriage to hide it; and such an one dwelleth in two kingdoms, viz. in this world, and with the devil: He doth not believe in any God at all, for he accounts himself a god; and although he liveth in the history as an hypocrite, as if he were the child of God, that he doth for a show; and so the devil tickleth his heart, so that he supposeth the kingdom of God consisteth in an historical knowledge; if he can tell that there is one God in three Persons, and that God became man, and hath turned his grace and favour towards us, then he is Christian, and the child of God [enough].

43. Some ascribe to the sophister power and authority to forgive sins: but he that is a sophister, and attributeth such a power and authority to himself without the will of God, without entering with his will into God, he is the devil's and Antichrist's priest, as well as the hypocrite which hangeth on the history, and accounteth the knowledge [of that] for faith: No, righteousness and truth must follow faith; and although the devil, in the outward spirit, (being evil in respect of its constellation), assaulteth man, and often overthroweth him, yet the heart suddenly desireth righteousness and truth again, and is at variance with the devil concerning the sin committed.

44. But a false wicked soul careth not for righteousness: If it can but cover its sin, then it is well enough: It seeketh merely to deceive under an outward appearance, which it carrieth about in the hypocritical spirit of this world: Its holiness is a mere outward show, and it knoweth not the will of God at all; but it supposeth the will of God consisteth in ceremonies; but the ceremonies are of this world, and are but signs, that the simple laity [or common people] might consider what God hath to do with man.

45. The covenants of the most precious testament, which the hypocrite useth for a show, are no benefit to him: He doth but provoke God to anger, in that he will go about to make God a dissembler, to cover his own wickedness.

46. O thou Antichristian world, what mischief hast thou done with thy ceremonies, in that thou hast set them in the place of God? If thou hadst declared to sinners God's anger and punishment, and the devil's false lust, and how a sinner must go forth from his sins into the will of God, and with true sorrow and repentance, in a right trust and confidence, be born again in God, and that God only seeketh and would have the abyss of the heart, viz. the soul, and that all false and wicked lusts and desires must be removed out of the heart, O how well hadst thou taught!

47. But the Councils [Nice, Trent, etc.] have been brought in, only that thou mightest be lord over silver and gold, and over the souls, minds, and consciences of men; and so thou art indeed the Antichrist in thy hypocrisy and appearing holiness: Thou hast instituted ceremonies, and glisterest in imitation of Aaron; but why do you not live in the obedience of Aaron towards God? Every one looketh upon the fine hypocritical performance of the work, and his heart is carried away towards the hypocrisy, and supposeth, that when it keepeth or celebrateth the ceremonies, that it is an atonement of the anger of God; but it is idolatry, and that which entangleth the heart, and leadeth it captive in the hypocrisy: It were better to use no ceremonies, but barely to perform the express command of God, which he hath left us in his covenant and testament: The congregation of Christ can well sound forth, and sing of God's deeds of wonder, but best of all in the mother tongue, which every one understandeth, and can lift up his heart and soul therein, and so the whole church or congregation of Christ, as one body, exulteth in God, and singeth of the wonders of God, which doth stir up attention and consideration, which in a strange, or foreign language, is but hypocrisy and ostentation, whereby pride will vaunt itself, for it always appeareth very willingly in a seeming divine posture in hypocrisy: for the devil is such an idol, for he mocketh God, his Creator, therewith, and so painteth forth the Antichrist before the face of God, that God should see what a potent lord and prince he is, who can shine as the Majesty of God shineth, and so he maketh such a glistering in mockery to God, and bringeth the souls of men into the glistering [hypocritical show of holiness].

48. O thou proud and covetous Antichrist, what hast thou done that thou hast thus brought thyself and many thousand souls away from God to thy own glistering pomp? How wilt thou be able to subsist, when the bright countenance of God appeareth? Where will thy poor soul turn away, in thy glistering hypocrisy, when the day of Judgment shall come? Seeing all must pass through the fire, where will your own appearing holiness remain? Will it not remain in the fire? For no soul can reach God, unless it be turned into the will of God, and be regenerated in God, else there is no subsisting in the fire.

49. For the soul must be tried through the fire, and must not be turned in any whither, but into great humility, unto the love and mercy of God, in the humility of Jesus Christ; it must bring Christ's body, and stand in the wisdom of God, that must be its body, else it will not be acknowledged for God's child: for it must be as pure as it was when it was created upon the cross: It must be regenerated upon the cross of Christ, and enter with Christ in the flesh and blood of Christ, through the death of Christ, through the anger of God, into the ninth number, as into the tincture of the eternal divine fire; and there it standeth as a creature before the tenth number, as before the holy Number Three, and humbleth itself before the Number Three, and the Majesty of the Number Three embraceth it as a dear child: So the humility is the food and strength of the Majesty, out of which the brightness goeth forth from eternity to eternity.

50. Where wilt thou, hypocrite, remain with thy glistering lustre, which is generated out of covetousness and pride? O ye children of God, Go out from this whore! She standeth on the devil's stage, and is carried in a show of triumph, to God's disgrace and contempt.

The Great Open Gate of the Antichrist

51 Hearken and see, thou poor soul, we will shew thee the very Antichrist who domineereth over the whole world, whom God hath made known to us that thou mightest see him: for thou hast hitherto accounted him a god; but now his shame must come to light: for he is so secret that none know him, unless they be born of God, so that they apprehend God's essence and will, otherwise he remaineth hidden in every man; for there is none but hath him, and carrieth him in his heart; yea, if one be a child of God, and yet hath not the deep knowledge of God, he hangeth still to him [depends on him]: for the devil hath insinuated himself in the form of an angel into him: Therefore mark what here followeth, for it is the number of the Seventh Seal, and declareth the eternal day.

52. Observe it, ye children of God, for I myself formerly, before the time of my high knowledge, did thus reverence and honour him, and supposed it was [according to] God's will: for I was taught no otherwise; and the whole world is in the same conceit; though that doth not hurt the ignorant, but that he may be saved in his simplicity well enough, yet God will reveal him in this last time. For here the devil will lose his sting in the children of God, into whose hearts this knowledge shall spring up: for it is the right steel wherewith God's love-fire is struck, and whereby the soul receiveth Christ's body, and is born in God: for the soul needeth no other birth, but a returning and entering into God.

53. Behold! thou poor wounded soul, thou standest and prayest thus, O God, forgive me my sins, let thy anger cease, and receive me into thy grace; and it is very well done; but thou understandest not how God receiveth a poor sinner:

Thou supposest it is as when thou comest before the prince or judge of the land, and hast forfeited thy life, and prayest him, and he of grace forgiveth thee thy misdeed, and so thou art quit and freed: But thy sins fly in thy face, and thy heart accuseth thee, that thou art yet guilty of the punishment: And just thus you come also before God: and so many hypocrites are thereby generated: You suppose God, in his essence and spirit, taketh your sins away from you: Do you not know what the Scripture saith, that all our works shall follow us? And if it shall happen, as aforesaid, then God must move himself upon every one's will and purpose to call upon him, and cast away his sins from him, and yet from eternity God hath moved himself no more but twice; once with the creation of the world and all creatures; and a second time in Christ's becoming man, and there the Heart of God moved itself. [Note, The third time God will move himself in the power of the Holy Ghost through the mouth of Christ at the Last Judgment Day, when all shall return again into the ether: The first moving is according to the Father; the second according to the Son; and the third according to the Holy Ghost; otherwise he moveth himself no more in eternity.]

54. Behold! when God forgiveth thee thy sins, when thou callest upon him, he taketh nothing away from thee, neither doth he fly down from heaven into thee, for he is from eternity in thy soul, but in his own Principle; thy soul, as to him, is only gone out from his Principle; understand, out from the holy will in the Majesty, into the anger. Now, in the anger, thou wert in the eternal death, and the man Christ, who is God and man, hath made a passage through the death and anger to the Majesty of God; you need only to turn, and go through that passage, through the death of Christ, through the anger into the Majesty, and so you will be embraced as the most beloved angel, that never committed any sin: also no sin will be known in thee, but God's deeds of wonder only, which must be opened in the anger: for the love hath nothing to do with that fire, [viz. the love cannot open the wonders of the anger], neither doth it mix itself with the fire [of wrath], but flieth from it.

55. Now, therefore, when you pray thus, O God! forgive me; you always doubt, because of your sins, whether God will hear you, and come into your heart. Behold! do not doubt; for by your doubting you despise and contemn the Majesty: It is also a sin; but cast all your sins in general upon a heap, and come confidently [or earnestly] with your desiring soul, in humility, to God, and enter into him: Do but turn your soul out from the will of this world into the will of God: cast yourself, with your whole reason, and all your thoughts, into the will of God; and although your heart and the devil say utterly, No, yet make your outward reason dead, and enter in with force, and continue steadfast: Look not back, as Lot's wife did, who was turned again into sulphur, and into a pillar of salt, but stand fast: Let the devil, and the spirit of this world, and also thy heart, with flesh and blood, struggle [what they will], yet give no place to reason; when it saith, thou art without God, then say, No, I am in God, I am in heaven in him, I will not in eternity depart from him: The devil may keep my sins, and the world this body, yet I live in the will of God; his life shall be also my life, and his will shall be my will: I will be dead as to my reason, that HE may live in me: All my doing shall be his doing: Give thyself up to him, in all thy purposes: Whatsoever thou takest in hand, commit it to his pleasure and government, that all may be done in [or according to] his will: Behold! if thou dost thus, all evil lusts will depart from thee; for thou standest fast in the presence of God, and the Virgin of his wisdom leadeth thee, and openeth to thee the way to eternal life, she warneth thee of the evil or false ways, she always driveth thee on to abstinence or amendment, and submission or resignation.

56. But, that you have so great obstacles and hindrances of doubting in this way, is [caused by] the strife of the soul against the devil, who layeth himself in the way as a filthy swine; therefore cast thy sins upon his neck, and do not doubt; and if thou canst not leave that [doubting], then reach with thy soul into God, for God is in thee: Christ hath opened the gates into his Father; do but enter in, let nothing keep thee back; and though heaven and earth, and all the creatures, should say thou canst not, believe them not, go forward, and thou wilt suddenly get in; and as soon as thou comest in, thou gettest a new body on to the soul, that is, the body of Christ, which is God and man; and thou wilt afterwards have ease and refreshment in thy heart; thou wilt get one that will draw thee, and set the falsehood of the world before thy eyes, and warn thee of it.

57. Therefore, observe, there are many that think with themselves, saying, I will pray to God to take away my sins from me, that I may be released of my old sins: and when it cometh to pass that they attain the love of God, they think the old sins are passed away and forgiven; [saying], I may now sin anew, I will afterwards repent once again, and cast the abomination away from me: Indeed that were a good way, if the purpose were at hand: But hear, when thou goest out from the love of God, then thou hast all thy sins, which thou hast committed all thy life long, upon thy neck again: for thou turnest back again into the house of sin, and forsakest God; thou goest out from God into the kingdom of the devil, and thy works follow thee whithersoever thou goest: The purpose cannot help you, unless you go on in your purpose.

58. Or do we alone say this? Doth not Christ say, When the unclean spirit goeth out from a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest and finding none; and then he returneth again into his house, and when he cometh there, he findeth it swept and trimmed; and then he goeth and taketh with him seven other spirits, which are worse than himself, and entereth in, and dwelleth there, and so the last [condition] of that man is worse than the first? Do you understand this [similitude]? You have driven out Satan, and have cleansed your heart, and have well swept your house of sin, and trimmed it; and now, when you are secure and careless, then cometh the devil with all the seven forms of nature, and slippeth in, and thrusteth the old worldly lusts into thy heart again, out of which all wickedness and blasphemies are generated; for he dwelleth in those seven spirits, and tickleth thy heart therewith, and deceiveth thee seven times more, and so thou yieldest to him, and fallest from one sin into another; and then he bindeth the poor soul fast to the sin, and letteth it not run after abstinence or amendment, but bringeth it into fleshly lusts; and when the soul beginneth to stir [or struggle], he saith, To-morrow, to-morrow: so long till he get the venison.

59. Therefore it is said, We must stand still and watch; for the devil goeth about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour: He cometh at all hours before the door of thy heart, to see whether he can get in or no: for it is his beloved lodging: He hath no rest in hell, but in the soul of man he hath joy and pleasure: he can therein open his malicious wonders, wherewith he may sport himself after this time also, wherein he taketh his pleasure; for hell and the anger of God desireth that.

60. Again, you see how the great whore of Babel hath set herself up in this her play of forgiving [sins]: She boasteth of the keys of Absolution, that she can forgive sins, and boasteth of the Apostolical Keys, and maketh sale of sins for money, and usurpeth that from Christ's words, Whose sins ye remit, &c.

61. Now I would fain know, how the sins of the repentant sinner, who casteth himself into God's will, and who goeth forth from this world's reason into God's mercy, can have his sins retained? And much more would I fain know, how one sinful man can fetch another out of hell into the kingdom of heaven, when he cannot get in himself, and goeth about only to make the devil proud with his covetousness, in that he selleth the forgiveness of sins for money? Whereas all sins are drowned only in Christ's New Body, in Christ's flesh and blood: And Isaiah saith, in the person of Christ, I tread the wine-press alone: and I alone blot out your sins, and none besides me. But if it were true, which Antichrist boasteth of, then one devil must drive away another; and then, what would become of the New Regeneration in Christ's flesh and blood, whereby our souls are brought into God?

62. If it could possibly have been that God might have taken away Adam's sin in such a manner, God had not [needed to] become man, and so have brought us into God again: He might rather have forgiven Adam his sin, as a prince pardoneth a murderer, and granteth him his life: No, you yourself must go out from sin, and enter into the will of God; for God doth not stand by as a king, and forgive sins with words: It must be power: You must go out from the fire into the light; for God is no image for us to stand before, and give good words to, but he is a spirit, and penetrateth through the heart and reins, that is, soul and spirit: He is the fire of love, and his centre of nature is the fire of anger; and if you were in hell among all the devils, yet then you are in God, for the anger is also his, it is his abyss; and therefore when you go out from that, you go into the love of God, into the liberty that is without source [or pain].

63. There is no other forgiveness [to be] understood, but that thou goest out from [the will of] this world, and of thy flesh also, from the devil's will, into God's will; and then God's will receiveth thee, and so thou art freed from all sins, for they remain in the fire, and thy will [remaineth] in the tincture of God, which the Majesty enlighteneth: All is near thee; thy sins are near thee, but they touch thee not; for, as we have mentioned to thee before, the still eternity is a liberty; but yet do not think that it will take away thy sins from thee into itself, as also thy abominations and wickedness; but they belong to the anger of God, there they must swim, and be bestowed on the devil; but they stand beneath thee in the centre, and thou art as a fair sprout [and fruit] which springeth up forth through the anger, to the love [fire], and to God's deeds of wonder; and yet the anger is not in God, but in the abyss; and when the devil lifted himself above God, then he went into the abyss, and became God's footstool.

64. The text in Matthew, Chap. 16. ver. 18, 19, hath another understanding in it: The Temple of Christ (viz. Christ's children) is Christ's Bride, he hath adorned her with his fairest ornament; and, as he hath loved us, and brought us through himself into God, his Father, so we should love one another: And when a sorrowful repentant man cometh, which will yield himself into the congregation of Christ, and desireth Christ, him the congregation should receive, for Christ hath received him; and so we are all one body in Christ: And as one member preserveth and loveth another, so we should receive the poor converted sinner into our congregation, and in the place of God make known to him the forgiveness of his sin, and lay our hands upon him, and make him partaker of our body and congregation; and so our spirit, and virtue or power, will rest upon him, as is to be seen by the Apostles of Christ.

65. And when we receive him into the congregation of Christ, then he is [become] our brother: When we say, thy sins are forgiven thee, then they are drowned in the blood and death of Christ, and he is a member of us: We take not away his sins from him, but Christ, in us, drowneth them in his blood, through our, and his, faith [earnest desire]: When we lay our hands upon him, and pray over him, then we, with our will, which is [given up] into God, penetrate into his will; and bring him into our will, as into one [and the same] body in Christ, to the Father: His will becometh our will; for he giveth up himself through Christ into the bride, as into our will, which is also Gods will; and we receive him with good cause into our love, into our will, and sink ourselves down in him through Christ into God: Thus we forgive him his sins; for we are the congregation and bride of Christ, whom he loveth, and what we do, that doth Christ in us, and God in Christ: It is all one, Christ is ours, and God is Christ's; and the converted sinner is ours and Christ's, and also God's: We live in one body, and have one spirit, and are one flesh; and as we enter into the will of God, so we also take our brother along with us: We cast the sins away behind us into the fire of anger, but we live and flourish in God: We have the key of heaven and of hell: When we make known to a sinner his sins, and he will not be converted, then we bind him up in the abyss; for we pass through and shut it up, and then he must swelter in his sins; and then the devil buffeteth him: When we draw him no longer with our word, which hath power, then the devil draweth him, but if he turn at length, then we have power to take him away from the devil again, (and through our spirit) in Christ to bring him into God.

66. Behold! such a power Christ's bride only hath, and none else; and if it were so, that a man were in a wilderness where he never could meet or see any man, and turned himself away from sin into Christ, and desired and longed after our society, when he could not possibly come to us, and though we did never know of him, yet nevertheless, since he casteth himself into our society [by his desire], we take him along with us through Christ to the Father, and thrust his sins quite away behind him, and spring up with him out of one and the same ground, for Christ's body is the ground of our souls, wherein he groweth and beareth fair fruit in Ternarium Sanctum. The Highly Precious Gate.

67. Now, saith reason, How can Christ's body be our body? Is he a creature? How can we dwell in the body of Christ?

68. Behold, O man! Adam was our father, and also our mother: Now, we have all of us Adam's flesh, soul, and spirit; for we are all begotten out of one and the same flesh, soul, and spirit, and are all of us members of him, (as the branches are members of the tree), and he brought us into death.

69. He had the fair virgin of the wisdom of God in him, which is every where, and is the fullness of all things, as God himself is, which he lost: He should have left it us as an inheritance, yet he went out from it: But the second Adam, Christ, came forth from God, and was the heart of God, and had the fair virgin in him: He took our flesh and soul into his virgin, and that became flesh, soul, and spirit; flesh of our flesh, and soul of our soul; and yet remained God: Our flesh stood in Christ, in Ternario Sancto, he received from us, in the virgin of God, the eternal, and also the earthly flesh; though indeed it was only the earthly source [and property], for nothing that is corruptible entereth into God.

70. When the Word came into [became] the flesh, it then became heavenly; as in Adam it was become earthly; for the flesh of Christ was in the eternal will brought into the Word, so that the flesh and the Word was one undivided Person: Now, the business is done in the eternal will, out of which Adam was gone away, and God brought us, in the soul of Christ, into that will again.

71. Now Christ's soul is our soul, for it is Adam's soul; and Christ's flesh is our flesh, for he took it on him from our humanity; and the fair virgin of God in Christ is our virgin, for Christ hath put the same into our souls; and so now, if we give up ourselves wholly into Christ, then Christ liveth in us, and we in him: though the outward mortal body hangeth to us, yet Christ liveth in us, and will at the end of the world present us wholly pure, without blemish, in his flesh.

72. Thus we are one body in him, for he is our body in God; and Adam is our body in this world: There is no such gross untoward body in God, but a body in power, with heavenly flesh and blood; where our will is, there is our heart also: God is in us, and when we enter into his will, then we put his wisdom on to us, and in the wisdom Christ is a man. Thus we enter into his humanity, and are a New Man in the life of Christ, in the soul of Christ, in Christ's flesh, in the tincture of Christ, in the Majesty of Christ; and Christ is in his Father, and his Father is the eternity, and the end of nature.

73. And whither wilt thou go further, thou poor man? Let not the devil and Antichrist befool thee: No man hath any power in God, unless he be in the will of God, in God's love in Christ, and then he hath the soul and flesh of Christ; but if he have that, then he is not a covetous wretch, nor a flattering hypocrite, and one that selleth the kingdom of heaven for money; as Simon Magus offered to give money to St. Peter, that he would give him the power, that on whomsoever he laid hands, they should receive the Holy Ghost: Then, saith Peter, Be thou accursed with thy money: Dost thou suppose that the gifts of God will be sold for money?

74. And where then have you your power and authority, ye sophisters, to sell the kingdom of heaven, and usurp it into your power? Ye are not Christ's disciples, but the disciples of Antichrist, the whore of Babel: No priest is capable of the office, unless he be in the will of God, his absolution is no absolution; but? the congregation of Christ, to whom he giveth up himself, absolveth him: The sophister is as useful to the church, as a fifth wheel is to a waggon.

75. Thou sophister, how wilt thou impart the Mysterium Magnum, which thou hast not? The congregation or church hath it; and the repentant sinner that cometh to thee hath it, and thou art a sophister, and art fitter to be in a stall of oxen, than in the church: How can the devil absolve a sorrowful sinner? And thou only servest thy idol, the belly.

76. O thou blind world, how art thou blinded? Thou supposest thou oughtest not to dare to meddle with the Mysterium Magnum, and that thou art not capable of it, and that the priest only is capable of it; but if thou art in Christ, thou hast all free [unto thee], thou hast his covenant, [together] with the Baptism and Sacrament, and the body and blood of Christ therein; but the covenant belongeth to the believers, and not to the sophisters; Christ's disciples, and again their disciples, and successors, have baptized; and the believing church or congregation have broken bread in houses, and where they could, and have fed upon the body and blood of Christ: The Temple of God was everywhere, wheresoever Christians were met together.

77. We do not mention this for the pulling down of churches, in which Christ's office is exercised; but we shew you the hypocrites, who bind you wholly to them, that you may go out from them, and go to the congregation of Christ, into the temple of Christ, and that you may not rest satisfied merely with the churches of stone walls, for they are only a heap of stones, which is a dead thing; but Christ's Temple is living.

78. You are all agreed about the church, and go diligently thither, but none will enter into the temple of Christ: But pray go into the temple of Christ, and then of dead you will become living: There is no other remedy, neither in heaven, nor in this world: It must be so, or else you remain in darkness.

79. Not that we judge so rigorously, for the will of God standeth open for all men, by what name soever they are called: A Heathen may be saved, if he turn to the living God, and with true reliance yield himself up to the will of God, for then he cometh into the will of God, though he knoweth not what the kingdom of Christ is; and in the will of God, there is the Heart of God, and Christ hath the Heart of God in him, for such an one doth truly believe: Yea, one that is dumb and deaf is saved, that never heard of God at all, if he incline his imagination unto obedience, into the will and righteousness of God.

80. Who will judge such an one? Wilt thou, sophister, do it? Thou who makest [Articles of] Faith out of opinions? What need opinions? Opinions are not the spirit of Christ, which is a quickening spirit; but Christ's spirit testifieth to our spirits, that we are the children of God: It is in us; what need we then seek so long after opinions? We say, that in all [sorts of] opinions there is heresy, as also Antichrist. But if you have the words of Christ, cleave to them sincerely, not only to the letter, but to the living Word, which is God and man. That is the Scripture which you should read and preach out of Christ's spirit, and not out of conjecture: but if you cannot apprehend that, why then do you teach so much, and contrive opinions? Do you suppose God to be a liar, as you are, that he should hold your invented opinions to be his Word, whereas you are but dead to God? He that hath an opinion whether a thing be or no, he is in doubt: Now doubting is not believing, but is a dangerous way to go.

81. But now the troubled soul, which is thus tossed to and fro, from one conceit and opinion to another, when it perceiveth every one to cry out, Here is Christ, Here is Christ; follow me: the other party are heretics, and speak from a false spirit: The soul then asketh, To what party shall I turn and apply myself? Whither shall I go, that I may hear the right gospel preached? Where shall I find Christ? They all curse and judge one another, and yet I hear them all speak from the Bible, and confirm their doctrine from thence, and teach the way of God: What shall I do? For I find them to be so spiteful and bitter one against another, and they ride up and down in the hearts of princes, and stir up wars and persecutions for the cause of faith and religion, and deliver one another up to the devil, and say one of another, that the devil speaks out of this and that man, he is a heretic, fly away from him.

The Gate of IMMANUEL.

82. Behold, dear soul, how faithfully Christ warneth us concerning these times, concerning which we have been hitherto blind: For these false self-erected priests will cry out and say, Christ is in the wilderness: Another of them will say, He is not in the wilderness, he is in the chamber, or he is in the field; and another again will say, No, he is here or there, or he is in the Supper, or in the Baptism; and another will say he is not in them, they are only signs and symbols: But Christ saith, Believe them not, and go not forth; for as the lightning shineth from the east to the west, so also shall the coming of the Son of Man be; for where the carcase is, thither the eagles gather together.

83. Christ saith, l am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, none cometh to the Father, but by me: I am the Door to the Sheepfold, and am a Good Shepherd; but all that came before me, in their own name, of themselves, are thieves and murderers, and seek only to rob and steal; for they seek their own honour, but I seek not my own honour, but my Father honoureth me, and they dishonour me: I am the Light of the World, whosoever followeth me, shall have the light of the eternal life; my Father will give the Holy Ghost to them that pray unto him for it; when he shall come, he shall lead you into all truth, for he shall receive of mine, and make it known unto you: Take no care of your life, for my Father careth for you: for where your heart is, there is your treasure also. [Therefore let your heart and mind be in the will of God, and then your treasure is there also.]

84. Which is as much as to say: Run not after the self-erected teachers, who teach from the history, without the spirit of God: If they can speak a little in a strange language, then they will be teachers, and teach out of art and vain-glory, to exercise their eloquence, wherein one flattering hypocrite helpeth forward the other, especially where much money and honour may be gotten in the office. Christ said, I seek not my own honour; my kingdom is not of this world: But they teach that Christ's kingdom is in the history, [viz. in art, in eloquence, in the universities, in synods and councils]. But Christ said to his disciples, The Holy Ghost will receive of mine, and make it known unto you, and bring into your mind all whatsoever I have spoken.

85. Thus, dear children of Christ, let none run after contentions, controversies, and disputations, they all say the truth one of another; for they are all grown out of one and the same tree, and they. are at variance about the booty and prey of Antichrist, whose end is at hand: Turn away your heart and mind from all contention, and go in very simply and humbly at the door of Christ, into Christ's sheepfold; seek that in your heart; you need not much disputation: Pray to God the Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, upon his promise, that he would open your heart through his holy spirit, turn with all diligence into him, let all go whatsoever maketh a fine glistering holy show in the heaps of stone, and enter into the temple of Christ, and there the Holy Ghost will meet you: Yield yourself entirely up unto him, and he will open your heart, and bring into your mind all the merits and benefits of Christ; he will open your understanding, and bring into your mind whatsoever Christ hath spoken, for he shall receive from Christ, and make it known unto you.

86. Neither trouble yourself with taking care where the best place is for him to open it in, [whether in a cloister, a college, a wilderness; in this or that office, ministry, or opinion] for, as the sun riseth in the east, and shineth to the west, so Christ shineth in every corner and chink of his Incarnation, or being man, even to eternity: seek not after one place more than after another, he is every where; for where the carcase is, thither the eagles gather together: Christ is every where, and his children can come to him every where, and when we enter into Christ, then we are with our carcase, and satiate ourselves with his flesh, and drink of his blood; for he said, My flesh is the true food, and my blood is the true drink, they that eat of my flesh and drink of my blood continue in Me, and I in them. Also, [he saith], Father, I will that those whom thou hast given me, may be where I am; they were thine, and thou hast given them unto me, and I give them the eternal life; and I will raise them up at the Last Day: if you continue in me, then my words continue in you.

87. Now therefore, when you see that the world contendeth about the kingdom of Christ, then know that they have lost the keys, the Mysterium Magnum, and are not in Christ, for there is no contention in Christ, but love and humility, and a desire to walk before his neighbour in righteousness; wheresoever we are, there we are in Christ: Whensoever we meet together, we should all bring his will with us into the congregation, viz. the desire of Christ; and when we desire him, we receive him, and become one body in him: He feedeth us with his body and blood: When we use his testaments, with the Last Supper, then he feedeth us with his flesh, and giveth us his blood to drink, he baptizeth us with the baptism, to be one body in him: Why then are we so long a-searching? for as the sunshine filleth the whole world, so doth the body and blood of Christ also: His substance is the eternity, where there is no space nor place: He is shut up in nothing, for he is in the Father, and the Father is in him, and the Holy Ghost goeth forth from the Father and the Son: Now, every being [or all whatsoever is brought into a being] is created out of the Father, and the Father is in all [things], and upholdeth and preserveth all [things], he giveth to all things life and being: And the Son is in the Father, and giveth to all things virtue and light: He is our light; without him we know not God: How can we then speak rightly of him? If we will speak rightly of him, we must speak from his spirit, for that testifieth of God; but if we speak from art and history, we speak from ourselves, and not from God, and so we are thieves and murderers, and not shepherds of Christ: A thief cometh but to rob and steal, and so the disputers come but in their own name only, in that they desire to have great respect, and many rich friends; and such cry out, Here is Christ! and there are heretics!

88. Dear children of Christ, stop your ears from these blaspheming wolves, for they scandalize not only one another, but the congregation of Christ, which is every where, in all countries where there are repenting men, who turn from their sins unto God: They are in Christ, though they be Turks: There is no respect of persons or of names and opinions with God: he seeketh the abyss [or bottom] of the heart.

89. Antichrist is the cause of the Turks falling into peculiar opinions of their own; for there was no end in controversies and disputations, which was a stumbling-block of ofFence to the Asians, Assyrians, Egyptians, Moors, Grecians, and Africans: The Indians lead a more divine life, in their plain simplicity, than Antichrist; though indeed not all of them; yet nevertheless there are many customs among them that are more pious than the pride of the whore.

90. The whore hindereth the kingdom of Christ, so that all people are scandalized and stumble at it, and say, How can those be God's people, who are only tyrants, proud, covetous, obstinate, stubborn, blood-thirsty people, which practise only how to get away that which is another's, and seek after power and honour? The very Heathen are not so malicious: We will not make ourselves partakers with them: God dwelleth every where, he is as well with us as with them: We will lead an honest, virtuous, and pious life, and call upon the only true God, who hath created all things, and go out from their contentious disputations: We will continue in one sort of opinion, and then our country will continue in peace; when we all believe in one God, then there is no strife, but then we have all one and the same will, and may live in love one among another.

91. See here, beloved Christian, this is that which hath so advanced the Turk, and brought him to that great strength, so that their might is climbed up into the number thousand: They rule in one opinion and love towards [or over] the whole world; for they are a tree of nature, which standeth also in the presence of God; but it groweth no higher than to the number thousand, for then its wild heart gettefch a countenance, having eyes, [or he will then come to see].

92. Thou Antichrist shalt not devour him with thy dragon's mouth, as may be seen in the Revelation: He possesseth his kingdom to the end: but when thou shalt be gone down into the pit, and that Christ himself shall feed his lambs, then will he come to be [of the fold] of the lambs, when thy murdering sword is broken; thou shalt not be broken with spears, or weapons of war, thou hypocrite, but thy lies shall stifle thee.

93. He that goeth about to slay Antichrist, is Antichrist's beast, upon which he rideth: he will be but the more potent in contention; for the hearts of people turn away from the truth, and go out from God into contention: and there every one looketh after the wonders of the contention, and runneth after the eloquent sermons, and so cometh out from Christ into opinions, and seeketh ways in the darkness, wherein there is no light: thus the devil ruleth in the Antichrist, and leadeth the children astray into by-ways of human invention, so that they see no more in the light of Christ.

94. Thus it happened also to the mighty countries over which the Alcoran ruleth, where they departed from Christ, and fell into opinions, and then there grew to them a tree out of nature in their heart, and they fell upon one opinion, and so lived in that wild tree.

95. But the Antichristian kingdom liveth in many trees; they run from one to another, and know not which is the best; for they are gone forth from the paradise of Christ, they boast of the doctrine of Christ, and deny the power thereof, and thereby they testify that Christ is not in them: nay, they desire not to have him in them: they thrust him, with his body and blood, with his humanity, out of the congregation, they will have a sign from him, whereby they may in their pride possess his place, and so keep up their rich fat bellies: Christ, in this outward life upon earth, was poor, and had not whereon to lay his head: But they in Christ's place will be rich and fat:

they say, He is in heaven, we will therefore erect a stately glorious pompous kingdom to his honour, that we may enjoy good times, and honour in his office. We are the highest in this world, for we are God's stewards, we manage the office of Christ, and have the Mysterium Magnum: How dare any speak against us? We will quickly make them hold their peace.

96. O beloved children of Christ, open your eyes, and see; do not run so after the devil; do you not see? Pray learn to see! Do you not see how all is done for money? If one give them store of money, they praise him for a gracious Christian, who is beneficial and bountiful to the Church: If one die, though all his life long he was an unjust false usurer, whoremonger, thief, and murderer, and they knew it very well, if he or his bestow much upon the Church [colleges or learned men], O how is he applauded for a blessed and glorious man! What great sermons do they make for him, that other unrighteous men may hear and consider, and follow their example to do the like? But stay, doth the kingdom of Christ consist in such [giving of] money, and in the mouth of the priest? No, it shall not prosper; here the wine-press yieldeth much blood, as the Revelation of John speaketh.

97. And thus the innocent are seduced, [or the poor souls hereby fall into despair], for he that giveth not to them much, or hath it not to give, is no honest man with them: He is not beneficial towards the ministry: but if the least mote is found amiss in his life, O how they divulge it, and make a great matter of it, how is he trodden underfoot! However, at length, they devoutly send a good wish after him, and say, God forgive him. Open your eyes, ye children of Christ, this is the Antichrist, go not a-whoring after him: Many such have been sinners, and have turned from their sins, and have entered into Christ, and their soul is in Christ an angel of God; and therefore how dare you, proud Antichrist, according to your own pleasure, despise one that is the angel of God? O thou blind man, dost thou not see this? Art thou the shepherd and minister of Christ, and steward of God? Hast thou the Mysterium Magnum about thee? Is thy office the office of Christ, as thou boastest? Why then art thou a liar, in applauding the wicked for money? Have Christ and his Apostles done so?

98. Hearken, thou opposer of Christ, look into the Acts of the Apostles; Where one sold his possessions, and laid a part of the price of the money at the Apostle's feet: And Peter asked him, saying, Have you sold the. field for so much? And he said yea; and had a false, doubtful [and deceitful] mind: then said Peter, thou hast lied unto the Holy Ghost; behold the feet of them that stand at the door, they shall carry you away out of the congregation of truth. What think you now of yourself? Seeing this has happened to the hearers of Peter, what would have been done to Peter himself if he had thus lied for greediness of money, and so blasphemed the Holy Ghost? But thou art he that dost so: thou applaudest the unrighteous, that thou mayest but get money; but thou regardest not his soul, neither dost thou regard how thou broachest forth thy lies in the congregation. How many times do some stand and bewail the wickedness and deceit of those thou praisest, wherewith they unjustly oppressed and wronged the needy, and also bewail thy flattering hypocrisy and lies?

99. Hearken! Is not the name of Christ blasphemed thereby, and the congregation of Christ scandalized? When they say, The priest tells lies in the pulpit for money, if it were a sin, he would not do i t: and so in like manner, when any lie and deceive people to get money, goods, and honour, if they can but cover it with a fine pretence, what matter is it? For [they think] if it were so great a sin, the priest would not do it; they think they will once repent of it, and the priest hath grace enough in store for them.

100. Behold, thou false and wicked Antichrist, thus thou liest to the Holy Ghost (in Christ's office) who trieth the heart; and thou liest to the congregation of Christ, and dost scandalize it therewith: it were a great deal better they had never heard thy lies, and then their hearts would not have been so filled with lies.

101. How canst thou say, that thou executest the office of Christ, seeing thou art a liar and mocker of Christ? Thou art not born of Christ, but of lies; and when thou speakest lies, thou speakest from thy beast, on which thou ridest, in the Revelation; thou speakest of thy own, from the spirit which is in thee, and yet wilt [take upon thee] to feed the sheep of Christ; thou shouldst feed them in a green meadow, in the fat pasture of Jesus Christ, and tell them the truth; but thou feedest them upon the devil's rocks, and the mountains of the abyss, in his lustful grass.

102. If you be the minister of Christ, then serve him in spirit and truth; reprove sins without any respect of persons; spare not; lift up your voice like a trumpet; reprove all wickedness of all persons, both superior and inferior; teach the way of Christ rightly; praise [or sooth] none for his money and honour's sake: for Christ praised none of the potentates for gain's sake; neither did he reprove any of them out of envy of their greatness and honour; for he commendeth order and saith, Give to Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's: but he reproveth the hypocrites, the Pharisees, in that they made long prayers, and stood in the streets, making a devout show, and would be seen of people, and sought only after praise; and such an one is the Antichrist also: and therefore the spirit in the Revelation of Christ saith, Go out from her my people, that you be not made partakers of her sins; for he that alloweth of sin is one spirit with the sin; he that for favour confirmeth [or consents to] the lie of liar, he is guilty of that lie, and of the wickedness thereof.

103. God the Father hath regenerated us in Christ, out of the truth, therefore we should not be the servants of lies; for when we enter into lies, we go out from Christ, and are with the devil, who is the father of lies; and so is the Antichrist also, and all that depend on him, and serve him; it were better to be far absent, and to have Christ formed in the heart, than to hear lies in the Antichristian office [of the ministry].

104. I know, thou evil beast wilt cry out upon me for an envious person, as if I did grudge what good people give thee; no, that is not my ground [or meaning]; for Christ saith, Whosoever ministereth the Gospel, should live of the Gospel; you must not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn, it must feed: they cleave not all to the Antichrist; we have only set forth the wicked Antichrist, who rideth in the hearts of men; we despise none for their good conscience: Only, the Antichrist shall stand naked for a witness to all people: He rideth over the face of the earth in all countries and nations.

[Note: wheresoever pride, covetousness, envy, and wrath, are predominant in falsehood, deceit, self-seeking, and an hypocritical show of holiness, there is the greatest Antichrist of all.]

105. People now suppose they have rooted him out, and are now in strife and contention about him; every one will slay him: O thou blind simplicity, thou slayest him not; do but go out from him, and enter into the temple of Christ, and let Antichrist's houses stand [empty], and then he will fall of himself, and at length be ashamed of his own abominations and whoredom: only do not worship him; do not bow the knee before him; but worship God.

106. Do but open your eyes, the whole world is full of God, the whole matter [of conversion] is about the outward life; in the inward God dwelleth in himself; and the outward life is also God's; but the abyss is in it, viz. the centre of nature, in which the severe, stern life is, which is the cause of this warning.

107. There are Three Principles, (three kingdoms), two are eternal, and one hath a beginning, and is transitory: Each of them is desirous of man: for man is an image of all three: and the Being of all Beings is a longing, seeking, and desiring, which existeth out of the eternal will, and the will is the eternity.

108. In God there is no dominion, but in the Three Principles, in their creatures: There is in God no more but one only spirit, which cometh to succour his whole Being in the water and in the fire, out of which everything existeth; he is no destroyer, but preserver of a thing; and if any thing perisheth, the fault lieth in the dominion [government] of nature; but that which is out of the eternal cannot perish, but only changeth into another property; for which [cause] we give you warning: and all the teaching and seeking in this world is only that you may be warned of the severe source or property of the fire; there is indeed a life in it, and no creature can subsist without it have that life: but we that are men are not created for that life, and therefore God would have every creature in that property wherein he created it, that his eternal will may stand stedfast, and not be broken.

109. Every thing hath free-will, and therein its inclination to its property; the whole being of this world, and of the angelical world, also of the hellish world, is merely a wonder in the presence of God: He hath set light and darkness before every one, thou may est embrace which thou wilt; thou wilt not thereby move God in his Being; his spirit goeth forth from him, and meeteth all those that seek him; it is God's seeking, in which God desireth the humanity, for it [the humanity] is his image, which he hath created according to his whole Being, wherein he will see and know himself: yea he dwelleth in man. Why then are we so long a-seeking? Let us but seek to know ourselves; and when we find ourselves, we find all; we need run no whither to seek God, for we can thereby do him no service; if we ourselves did but seek and love one another, then we love God; what we ourselves do to one another, that we do to God; whosoever seeketh and findeth his brother and sister, hath sought and found God: In him we are all one body, of many members, every one having its own office, government and work; and that is the wonder of God.

110. Before the time of this world we were known in his wisdom, and he created us into a being that there might be a sport in him. Children are our schoolmasters, (in all our wit and cunning we are but fools to them); when they are born, their first lesson is to learn to play by themselves, and when they grow bigger, they play one with another: thus hath God from eternity (in his wisdom, in our hidden childhood) played with us: but when he created us in knowledge and skill, we should then have played one with another, but the devil grudged us that, and made us fall out at our sport; and therefore it is that we are still at variance, in contention; but we have nothing to contend about but our sport; when that is at an end, we lie down to our rest, and go to our own place; and then come others to play, and strive and contend also, till the evening, till they go to sleep into their own country, out of which they are come: for we were in the land of peace, but the devil persuaded us to go into his unpeaceable country.

111. Dear children, what do we mean, that we are so obedient to the devil? Why do we so contend about a tabernacle which we have not made? Nay, this country is not ours; nor this government ours; it is our mother's, and the devil hath defiled it; let us pull it off and go to our mother, that she may put on us a fair, pure garment again, and then we need not contend about the defiled garment: here we contend about a garment, because one brother hath a fairer garment than another; and yet the mother putteth every one's own garment upon him; And why therefore do we contend with our mother, who hath brought us forth? Are we not all her children? Let us be obedient children, and then she will purchase a new garment for every one of us, and then we shall rejoice, we shall all forget the defiled one.

112. We go into the garden of roses, and there are lilies and flowers enough; we will make a garland for our sister, and then she will rejoice with us; we have a round to dance, and we will all hold hands together; let us be very joyful; there is no more might to hurt us, our mother taketh care for us: we will go under the fig-tree; how abundant is its fruit! How fair are the pine-trees in Lebanon! Let us be glad and rejoice, that our mother may have joy of us.

113. We will sing a song of the driver [or oppressor] who hath set us at variance. How is he captivated! Where is his power! He is not here to be found; neither hath he gotten the defiled garment, which we contended about, the mother hath it in her keeping. How poor he is! He domineered over us, but now he is bound! O great power, how art thou thus brought to scorn! thou that didst fly aloft above the cedars, art now laid under foot, and so art void of power: Rejoice, ye heavens, and ye children of God; for he that was our driver [oppressor, and persecutor], who plagued us. day and night, is captivated: Rejoice, ye angels of God, for men are delivered, and malice and wickedness taken captive.

THE TWELFTH CHAPTER

Of the [true] Christian Life and Conversation. What Man is to do in this Valley of Misery, that he may work the works of God, and so attain the Eternal highest Good.

1. THERE is nothing more necessary and profit- able to man in the valley of misery upon earth, than for him to learn to know what he is, from whence he is, and whither he tendeth, what course he taketh, and whither he goeth when he dieth: There is nothing more profitable than to know these things; for the outward conversation remaineth in this world, but what the heart conceiveth, that a man taketh with him: The will of the spirit of the soul is eternal, that which is comprehended in the will of the spirit of the soul, that the soul carrieth with it when the soul and body part. Therefore it is necessary for us to labour for something that is good, wherein the soul may accomplish its eternal sport, and have its joy therein; for the works of our soul follow after us; and the works of our hands, and of the outer spirit, remain in this world: for the soul is in the eternity, whatsoever it maketh and imagineth here, that standeth always before it; unless it breaketh that again, and then it is as a broken work, which it hath no more to do withall, for it is gone out from that; for the eternal cutteth an eternal model, and the corruptible and inceptive cutteth a corruptible model; for after this time every thing will stand in its own model; for that which the eternal will conceiveth, that getteth an incorruptible form, if itself doth not break it.

2. Therefore it is good for man to choose in this life that which is best, in which he may have joy eternally; for when thou choosest beauty, bravery, and honour or riches, then thou art thereby made unbeneficial [useless] to thy brother and sister, who are in misery in this world; for the bravery of this world despiseth the mean and simple; and riches wring away the sweat from the poor, [or grind the faces of the poor]; and great power and authority press and oppress the low and miserable; great honour despiseth the simple, and will not condescend to the needy. Seeing therefore in the other life, the souls of many that have been simple, miserable, and in this world contemned; poor, oppressed, and dejected, will appear; and seeing it is certain, that in their form will not be comprehended much highness, bravery, desire of might and honour; for their souls have, in this valley of misery, only shut up themselves into the meek love of God, and yielded themselves into simplicity and lowliness, and have not dared to have communion with might, pomp, and great honour, for such things have had no affinity with them.

3. And seeing it is so, that the souls in the other life shall have joy one with another, and enjoy the gifts and virtues one of another; and seeing then the souls will have their substance which they have here taken in and conceived, and appear in their eternal will as a figure, therefore we ought very highly and heartily to consider it, that we do not in this world conceive, and let into our hearts, pride and stoutness, also covetousness and oppression of the miserable; for with these we cannot enter into the congregation of Christ, they receive us not into their society, for it is a contrariety to them.

4. For in the kingdom of heaven there is nothing but love and concord: every one inclineth his love and favour to the other, and every one rejoiceth in the gifts, power, and beauty [lustre] of the other, which they have obtained from the Majesty of God: and they all give thanks to God the Father in Christ Jesus, that he hath chosen and received them to be children: for the mighty power of the strong [who have been mighty in faith, and in the wonders of God] rejoiceth for the weak, that the spirit of God is in them, and that they also are in the wonders in the eternal will.

5. Therefore, dear children and brethren in Christ, let us, in this world, enclose our hearts, minds and wills, in humility into one love, that we may be one in Christ: If thou art highly advanced to power, authority, and honour, then be humble, despise not the simple and miserable, but consider that in the other life they shall be in one highness with thee; squeeze not the oppressed; afflict not the afflicted; that they may not take it to heart, and bar up the gates of heaven against thee: if thou art fair, beautiful and comely of body, be not proud; nor do thou despise those that are not like thee, that thy simple brother's and sister's soul may not loathe thee, and reject thee out of their mind: Be humble, that thy brother and sister may rejoice in thee, and present thy beauty to the praise of God, who hath created so beautiful a chaste and humble creature; be modest and friendly in words and works.

6. Thou that art rich, let thy streams flow into the houses of the miserable, that their soul may bless thee: Thou that art in authority, bow not the right [bend not the law] to please the mighty, that the oppressed may bless thee in thy righteousness; and then thou also art in the congregation of Christ: If thou art exalted to high dignity, give not place to thy mind to fly [aloft]; humble thyself in the congregation of Christ, and then the congregation will bless thee, and will receive thee into their love.

7. O how well is it with the rich and potent, when the mean and simple congregation of Christ love and bless them: O how well is it with a teacher and preacher, who is a right minister of Christ, who giveth the meat and drink of Christ to the lambs that are committed to his trust, and refresheth them therewith, so that they yield their souls into his obedience, and heartily love him, and desire all welfare to him! O how happy and shining is he in Christ I How glorious a shepherd is he! For his lambs follow him, and he bringeth them to the chief shepherd.

8. O how ill a condition is he in whom they curse according to his true deserts! The bright garment will be taken away from him, and he putteth on the vizor of wickedness: But he that is cursed for righteousness sake, he presseth forth as the gold out of the ore, and putteth on Christ's crown of martyrdom, wherein all the holy souls at the Last Day will highly rejoice, in that he hath continued the stedfast disciple of Christ, who hath not looked upon honour, power, money or goods, but hath rightly fed the sheep of Christ.

9. Dear brethren and sisters in the congregation of Christ, bear with us: Let us a little rejoice one with another: We bear a hearty love towards you, and speak from the spirit of our mother, out of the spirit of the eternal wisdom of God, [viz. from the spirit of humility].

10. We will speak friendly with you concerning our mother, and concerning our native country. We will speak of great wonders, how things go with us all: and so we will comfort ourselves, for we are in a strange country: We will persuade one another, and agree, and will go home into our own country, to our mother: O how will she rejoice when she seeth her children [come to her into the eternity]: We will tell her of the great afflictions which we underwent in Jericho, we will speak of the great danger we were in, among many evil beasts: We will speak of the driver or oppressor, who held us so long captive; and we will speak how we were freed from him: Let us be unanimous, that our mother be not grieved and offended with us.

11. Rejoice ye heavens with us, and let the earth be glad, for the praise of the LORD goeth over all mountains and hills: He openeth the doors for us, that we may go to our mother: Let us rejoice and be glad, for we were born blind, and now we are come to see: Open the gates of the LORD, ye servants of God, that the virgins with their music may go in; for that is the dance wherein we shall rejoice and be glad with the virgin, saith the spirit of the LORD of LORDS.

12. O beloved children of men, even all that have proceeded and been generated from Adam, in every island and country, wheresoever ye dwell, by what name soever ye are called: Mark, The God of heaven and earth, who hath created us all and begotten us out of one body, who giveth us life and breath, who preserveth our body and soul: He calls us all into one love: Ye have gone astray a long while, for ye have followed human inventions and opinions, and the devil hath deceived you, so that ye hate, persecute, and murder one another, and are utter enemies one against another. Open your eyes, and see: Have we not all one and the same breath, and are generated from one and the same soul? We have all of us one God, whom we honour and worship; that very one God hath created us all: Moreover, we have one and the same heaven, which is God's, and God dwelleth therein: We shall all meet together at the Last Day who have trusted in God, why therefore do we so long dispute about God and his will?

13. If we lift up our hearts into him, and yield ourselves to him in obedience, then we are all in his will: None can thrust us out of it. We all stand in this life, in a field, and are growing: The stars and the elements are the field wherein we grow: God hath sown us therein: Adam is the first grain that God himself did sow, and out of that grain we all grow, we are all from one seed, we are are all brothers and sisters. [of one body]

14. But the devil hath sown weeds amongst us; he hath sown no man, (for that he cannot do in eternity), but he hath blinded us, and hath sown pride, envy, anger, covetousness, and evil will [or malice'] into our mind, therewith to destroy us, for he grudged us the prerogative to be children of God in the place he was in: He is fallen away from God, through anger, pride, and envy, and hath turned himself away from God, and therefore he will deceive us, that his own kingdom may be great.

15. O dear children, trust him not; for where God soweth his good seed, the devil followeth and soweth weeds amongst it. This you see in the doctrine of Moses, and the Prophets, also in Christ's doctrine: They all preached the way of God in one and the same love, and directed us unto the living God, and that we should go out from our evil fleshly lusts, (from lying and falsehood, from unclcanliness, from covetousness, from murder and theft), and enter into a pure chaste humble life in the fear of God, and wholly put our trust in him as his children, and acknowledge him for our Father, and then he will give us rain and blessing to our body and soul, and will after this life take us to himself into his kingdom, where we shall all be eternally freed from our afflictions. This, and no other, is the doctrine of Moses, of the Prophets, and of Christ, that we should love one another, as one [and the same] life, and God in us.

16. But observe what the Antichristian devil hath sown into it: He hath sown pride and selfhonour, with state and pomp into it: He hath set himself in the chair of Moses, and of the Prophets, as also upon the authority of Christ, and hath led us astray, so that we have made a rent and division [or sect] amongst us: He hath erected a Predestination, and of the spirit of God, which hath often shewn itself forth in man with wonders and mighty works, hath gone about to make an envious malice, as if he loved one people, and hated another, as if he chose one generation, and not another; whereby he (who is called the devil's Christ and Satan) sitteth only in honour and voluptuousness. He hath raised wars among the people, so that people are at variance, and set up opinions, and have stirred up the anger of God, for they are gone away from God with their opinions, and so the anger of God hath ruled over them, and oftentimes destroyed them; for that which hath no good in it, God will never endure it in his country, but giveth it up to the anger, though indeed itself runneth headlong into it, and whetteth the sword, so that one people devoureth another: From the beginning of the world to this time, all contentions, disputations and wars, as also envy and malice, have risen from Antichrist, who will be honoured as a god in the form of an angel, and the devil dwelleth in him.

17. Which Antichrist is plainly to be discerned by Cain and Abel, in that Cain slew his brother for faith [and religion's] sake, for Abel had set his heart upon God, and had committed himself to God, which [whom] God loved, and accepted his sacrifice; and Cain had set his heart upon this world, and would be a lord upon earth, and his mouth gave God good words, but his heart stuck fast in an earthly conceit [and opinion]: He loved the spirit of the Mammon of this world, and the devil slipt into it, and so his sacrifice was not acceptable to God, but the smoke fell down to the earth, and the devil accepted his sacrifice, and so he slew his brother by the devil's instigation, and in his false conceit and opinion: He desired the glory, honour, and power of this world, and Abel desired the love and grace of God.

18. Thus, dear people, all over the earth, ye see that ye are all of one flesh, but that you have divided yourselves one from another, which the devil in the Antichrist hath brought to pass: Your fear of God hath many times been great, and ye have done great honour and reverence to men, even from a good meaning out of your love, as thankful people towards the government of the Holy Ghost: But because ye have given such honour to men as belongeth to God, (though God was contented, so long as they continued in the love of God in humility), therefore they are fallen off from what they were, into lust after temporal honour, and have fallen into a lust to domineer with cunning and deceit, over your goods and souls, and are become a snare unto you; for the Antichristian devil is slipt into them, and the spirit of God is departed from them, and they have no more spoken from the spirit of God, but from their pride and art: Strange languages must do the work, and must be the bringers forth of the Mysterium Magnum.

19. But behold, dear brethren, how very thievishly they have dealt with you, they have set themselves up over the earth, and have drawn to themselves all power, might, and honour, and ascribe all authority to themselves, and have blinded you with flattering hypocrisy, and have led you from God into opinions, and there you go astray; they have stirred you up to contention and wars, so that you have murdered one another, and wasted your native countries: They have bereaved you of body and soul, also of your goods and wits, and made you believe you did God good service in it, when you became enemies to those that are not of your opinion; and yet you are all thus blind [even on both sides].

20. Behold! these are the curates over your souls, your spirituality, the clergy: Look upon Popery, whence hath that sprung? From the devil at Rome: He hath caused Asia, Africa, Assyria, Persia, and Greece, to depart from his deceit; for the Antichristian priest-devil hath blinded the whole world, and brought them into vain traditions and opinions, and turned them away from that unanimous love: He hath placed more holiness in one order and opinion than in another, and hath sold the highest degree of [sacerdotal] orders for money: That order which had much, and rich livings and revenues, must give much to the Chief Devil, that he might be fat, and a lord upon earth: The simple lay-people were persuaded these orders were holiness, and so worshipped before the dragon in the Revelation, and sought for pardon, absolution, and forgiveness of sins from thence: O how the common people were tied to them! Whomsoever spoke against it, was accounted a heretic, and the people burnt them with fire: Thus did the simple people do, and were persuaded they did God good service in it.

21. O thou simple holiness [devotion]! Thou art not guilty in so doing; neither shall it be imputed or accounted to you at the Last Day, (for you went on blindly in it); and though on that day the holy Martyrs shall be set before your eyes, yet you have been zealous for God in blindness: The Blessed Martyrs (who have seen the light of God) will not therefore cast you out of their congregation, seeing you knew not [what you did], but were blindly led on to do it.

22. Yet, behold and observe what a zealous will, or earnest desire can do, if one enters into the will of God with his whole desire; and although he knoweth not what he doth, and is zealous in a strange opinion, and yet his heart is directed into God, and believeth in ignorance, very stedfastly, that it is pleasing to God, in such an opinion many great wonders and works have been done in the midst of the Antichristian kingdom, for there is not any thing impossible to a strong faith.

23. Into these wonders hath Antichrist insinuated himself, and hath made almost as many opinions [tenets and sects] as there are days in the year, among which, in the believers, who have so in blindness believed in their opinion, even wonders and miracles have been done, and the Antichrist hath ascribed it to the opinion: whereas the opinion could not make a fly to stir, but the firm and strong faith which went out of the opinion into God, that hath awakened the wonders; for the spirit: of God is in the faith, and not in the opinion; and the faith is from God; for the soul inclineth itself in the opinion into God, and layeth hold on the spirit of God: The opinion is the fire, but the soul stayeth not in the fire, but presseth out from thence into God; it blossometh out of the fire, as a fair flower [out of the earth].

24. The opinions have been tolerable enough, in God, and God rejected them not, so long as the soul sought God through the opinion; and so long also the church of Christ stood in a government; but when the devil crept into it, and made a stately glistering kingdom of it, when the priests sought only honour, covetousness, and voluptuousness in it, and did lead men away from God merely into their works [ceremonies], and so the opinions became altogether blind; for they themselves went out from God into the works of their hands, in forged and invented ways, therefore God let them go, seeing they would not be directed by his spirit.

25. And Asia, Africa, and Greece, are to be accounted happy, in that they are gone out from the works of men into the one only God again: Although indeed they have been blind concerning the kingdom of Christ, yet their mind continued in the one only God, and in concord one among another; and have not so vehemently scandalised and reproached one another about the dear name of Christ, as these have done who have been led blindfold in the darkness of their works; for these have not only hated those that departed from them, but they themselves have reproached and snarled at one another in their opinions, as dogs about a bone, and have led the laity astray, who go groping in the dark, and know not which opinion is the best.

26. Thus you hang to opinions, and are perfidious to God, so that when a simple man cometh to die, he knoweth not whither his soul shall enter: He hangeth to his works and opinion, and forsaketh the will of God, and so remaineth without God: And where now do you suppose the poor soul remaineth, when it is without God's will? Behold, we will tell you, for we know certainly, for the spirit of our mother openeth it to us, so that we see with both eyes.

27. Behold, Christ saith, Where your treasure is, there is your heart also. Behold, the soul is involved in the opinion, and so runneth with it to the patron [or author of it] who hath so taught it, and seeketh him, and if it findeth him not, then it becometh sorrowful, and hath no rest, and so hovereth between heaven and hell, and would fain escape the devil; therefore it happeneth that many times the poor souls have appeared again in the congregation, or else in houses, fields, and churches, and have cried to the congregation for help with their prayers, and have submitted themselves to the orders, and supposed to find ease; from whence Purgatory was framed; for that soul hath the purgatory indeed, if it cannot attain the will of God; and in such fervent casting itself down in the opinion, it is sunk down through the opinion, and at length come into the still eternity. But we understand here those souls which in their opinions have imagined [or sought] after the kingdom of God; and not the souls of the deceivers, who have sought their profit and pleasure therein; those are quite gone a-whoring with Antichrist, for they are bound to him with an oath; and though they sit in hell-fire a-whoring with him, yet they flatter him with their hypocrisy, and reproach God as if he had dealt unjustly with them; for what the soul doth here in this [life] time, into which it involveth itself, and taketh it into its will, that it taketh with it in its will, and after the ending of the body cannot be freed from it; for afterwards it hath nothing else but that, and when it goeth into that and kindleth it, and seeketh with diligence, that is but an unfolding of the same thing [substance of the work it has wrought in this life], and the poor soul must content itself with that: Only in the time of the body can it break off that thing which it hath wrapped up in its will, and that standeth afterwards as a broken wheel, which is broken and useless, and no soul entereth into it any more, neither doth it seek any more therein.

28. Thus we say unto you, that the Antichristian souls, after the breaking of the body, seek no more for the door of Christ, for they know nothing of it; they know only of what they here conceived or took in, and the souls sink down in that opinion into the deepest ground, much deeper than they here conceived; for that which was known in many of them of the same opinion, what any or all of them know in the same opinion, that one soul alone knoweth, for it is one body with all those that are of the same opinion, and they have one heart in many members, wherein every one manageth their business, which standeth so till the judgment of God, which afterwards shall make separation, where then all kindreds upon earth shall howl and lament, when they shall know that Judge whom they here so despised.

29. Hearken, you accursed Antichrist, What answer will you give, in that you have led astray the people from faith in God, and from the justification of the passion and dying of Jesus Christ, into thy deceitful hypocrisy in opinions, only for thy pride, honour, and covetousness sake? You have persuaded them so, that many of them in their youth and ignorance have sworn and vowed to you: What have you done? Even the same that Christ said to the Pharisees, Woe unto you Pharisees, who compass sea and land, till you have made a Jew and Proselyte, and when you have made him so, then you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves; and this also the Antichrist doth.

30. In Germany they suppose they are now gone out from Antichrist with their contentions, but it is not so yet: for they which now curse Antichrist, and lay his shame open, are even grown out from the tree of Antichrist, and are the wolves and bears of Antichrist, which suck from him, and devour him; for the spirit of this principle hath commanded them so, they must do it; for they are one trumpet among the seven angels in the Revelation; but they all wind one horn, and sound so that the earth shaketh with it: But when the thunder of it shall follow, then will the mystery of the Kingdom of God be revealed again, and our door of grace in Christ be opened again, which Antichrist hath sealed up, for he shall be thrown down into the abyss: Observe this.

31. The opinions about the cup and person of Christ, which are frequent now in Germany, are also sprung from the Antichristian tree, and they are the children of Antichrist, which he introduceth very finely and subtly: O what a cunning artist is the devil! If you will not open your eyes, it will continue so to the end: It is told to the simple, and they are directed to open their eyes, and not to regard opinions: There stick mere heresies in opinions: And though they be zealous in their opinion, and in the opinion press into God, and so attain God and the kingdom of heaven, yet they have the tail of Antichrist hanging on them, for they are zealous against others, and reproach and persecute them, who are not of their opinion.

32. Mark this, ye princes, rulers, and magistrates, suffer not yourselves to be seduced; drive the teachers into the churches, and command them to teach the will of God in his love, give them not lordly power; and do not put any authority into their hands to make canons and constitutions, else they will hang to covetousness, and Antichrist sticketh in all covetousness, and so do what you can, you will have him on your neck.

33. Look to it ye princes, and regard to hear those men that are born of God, and not of art only; for where there is great art [or learning], and not an humble heart inclined to God, that seeketh not its own honour and covetousness, there is Antichrist most assuredly; for in art [or learning] sticketh pride and self-honour, which would fain rule the world, and desire to get much gain to themselves; trust not these, they are not Christ's shepherds: If you will not follow what is revealed to you, then the last Antichrist will be worse than the first, and it will come to that pass, that the world will be constrained to cast them headlong together on a heap into the abyss, which Daniel and the Revelation sheweth them plain enough, and as we have known it that it will so befall them; for they are now a besom and rod upon the old Antichrist their grandfather; but there is one coming who will gird them also, and set the truth before their face.

34. Observe it, ye children of God, this is a sign of the last Antichrist: In his kingdom and opinions, they deny the [spiritual] body and blood [spirit] of Christ, [see bread and wine symbolism] in which we are born in God: Lift up your heads, and behold, for your redemption draweth near: Be not so led astray, and lulled asleep, look not with strange eyes, but open your own eyes, and fly from Antichrist into the spirit of Christ: There are no more ways but one to enter into the kingdom of Christ, which is set down thus, [as followeth].

A Gate, [shewing] which Way we must walk through this world, into the Kingdom of God.

35. You must go out from your reason out of the fleshly spirit, and bring your heart, mind, and thoughts, wholly into the obedience of God, and yield your will into God's will; and do not feign ways of your own reason, or ask, Where is Christ? Direct your way into Christ, and know for certain that Christ is in your heart: Submit yourself to him in great humility, cast all your purposes and doings into his will and pleasure, and consider that you always stand before the clear countenance of God, and that Christ sitteth on the rainbow at the right hand of God in you, and consider that you stand every moment before the holy Number Three, and that God, the holy Number Three, always examineth, and seeth the abyss of your heart; and take heed that you enter into no deep thought or searching, but merely into his love and mercy, and resolve never to go out from it any more, but ever to continue therein.

36. And then, secondly, consider that you do what is pleasing in the sight of God the most high, when you seek with your love your brethren and sisters in this world, whosoever they are, and by what name soever they are called, and what opinion soever they are of. Embrace them in your heart, help to pray for them, and help them to wrestle against the devil, and as far as is possible instruct them with all humility; but if they will not receive it, then put on the garment of Christ, and be a good example unto them; be serviceable and helpful to them, forgive them when they hurt and wrong you: When they curse you, do you bless them; when they do you injury, if you cannot turn it into good and avoid, them, let it pass, and consider you are but a pilgrim here: Withdraw your love from none, for your God, in whom you live, withdraweth himself from none that do but seek him; be readily yielding to your adversary, if he once offer to turn his mind: In all your affairs and conversation love righteousness, and always have a care that you do your work for God: We must in this world, in this troublesome valley of misery, compass our affairs with labour and pains: We should not go into holes, cloisters, cells and corners; for Christ saith, Let your light shine before men, that your Father may have praise in your works: Do all things from a sincere heart, in a pure mind, and consider you do it to Christ, and that the spirit of Christ doth it in you: Be always ready, expecting the Bridegroom: Let your heart have no leave to meditate and search into any other opinion: It is not profitable for you to know much: Let every one learn to do his own work, wherewith he may have sustenance for his body, whether he be magistrate, or lay person.

37. Let the magistrate learn righteousness, and to distinguish the false from the pure, for he is the officer of God: What he doth and judgeth, that he judgeth for God, and God through him. Let the laity be humble and mannerly before the ordinance of God: If any wrong be done him with a high hand, and that it cannot be otherwise, let him consider that he suffereth wrong for the truth's sake, and that it is a great honour for him in Christ, in the presence of God.

38. In all your matters, conversation, dealing, and actions, always set the judgment of God before your eyes, and have a care that you live blameless here, for this [life] time is short; and we stand here in a field a-growing: Therefore see that you be good fruit for God, at which all the angels and hosts of heaven may be pleased, and rejoice: Bear malice to none, for that inviteth the devil to a lodging: Be sober and temperate: Let not the desire of this world persuade you, and though it happen sometimes, do not go on in it: Go every hour out of death into life: Crucify yourselves in true repentance and conversion from evil.

39. When you are reproached for your fearing God, and evil spoken of, and it is false and untrue, then rejoice most of all, that you are become worthy to suffer reproach for the doctrine and honour of Christ: When you are in affliction, be not dismayed, consider you are in the will of God, he will suffer no more to be laid upon you than you shall be able to bear.

40. Turn away your eyes from covetousness, from high-mindedness and state, and do not readily look after such things, that you be not captivated; for the devil catcheth his birds with state and high-mindedness, but go not into his net: Be always watchful, never be secure; for that fowler goeth constantly about to see where he can catch any one: Where honest people are mocked and scorned, go not thither, make not yourselves partakers of such wickedness, let it not enter into your ears; that the devil may not tickle your heart with that foolish laughter, and so you become infected with it.

41. Summarily, commit yourselves to God in Christ, and pray to God the Father in the Name and upon the promise of Christ, for his holy spirit; desire it upon the promise of Christ, and so you will receive it; for he is faithful who hath promised it: He will not deny you of it: You will receive it most certainly; only give yourself wholly up to him, that is the greatest and chiefest [thing]: Commit all to his will, and when you have it, that will teach you sufficiently what you are to do: He teacheth you to speak: He giveth you a mind and knowledge and understanding how to behave yourselves: Be not careful after what manner you should do a thing, when you are to deal with men; but commit all your doings to him, he will do that in you well enough which is well pleasing to God; and though you should be in a burning zeal, and should bring fire from heaven from the Lord of Lords upon the wicked, yet it is acceptable to him, for the wicked have awakened and kindled it.

42. But go on in the power of God, and then all your doing is well pleasing to God; for, that any defendeth himself against his enemy, upon necessity, without any other intent or desire, that is not against God; for he who hath his house on fire may quench, it; yea, God hath given leave to Israel to defend themselves.

43. But he that causeth and beginneth a war, he is the devil's officer; for all wars are driven on by the anger of God, wherein the devil dwelleth: God hath not been the author of wars, for he created us in love, that we should dwell together in paradise in friendly love, as loving children, but the devil grudged us that, and led us into the spirit of this world, which hath awakened all wars and mischief in the anger of God, so that we hate and murder ourselves.

44. Seeing then we are thus begirt with enemies in this valley of misery, so that we grow among thorns and thistles, therefore we ought to watch; for we must watch also over the enemy which we carry in out bosom, viz. our mind and thoughts, for that is the worst enemy; also the devil hath his den of thievery therein, and there is required great labour and toil to cast out that devil: He slips many times into our mind, and leadeth us on in smooth delightful hypocritical ways, so that we suppose we are in God, and that our ways are right: There we should constantly have our touchstone with us, which is the blessed love towards God and man: We should not take pleasure in ourselves, but we should be of such a conversation, that God and man may take pleasure in us for our virtue; [self-seeking must be quenched, and true resignation and self-denial must grow and flourish].

45. And when we thus converse in the love and the righteousness of God, and in the obedience of faith, then we put on Christ, who setteth the fair orient crown of pearls upon us, viz. the crown, the Mysterium Magnum: He crowneth us with his wisdom, so that we know his wonders, which we were blind in before, as it hath happened to this hand, which before the time of the tenth number, when it was yet in the unit, was as simple in the Mystery as the meanest of all; but, as the gold must be tried in the fire, so also it happened to this hand: corruption and putrefaction were not wanting: Every one would needs tread the simple child under foot; where was the first time that a garland was set upon it: O what great labour and toil did the devil take that he might sully it!

O how busy was he, which, when I think upon, I very much wonder and thank God who hath preserved me! O how he bestirred himself, that he might tear the garland in pieces! O how eager was he with Antichrist, in putting him on to persecute this hand, that every one might abominate it! But it happened to the devil, as about Christ, when he so set on the pharisaical Antichrist that they crucified Christ; then thought the devil, he is gone now, I shall be quiet enough, and not be troubled with his doctrine, which destroyeth my kingdom; so also here: but he thereby awaked the first storm: Christ stormed his hell, and took him captive in the anger, and so his den of robbery was first opened by this hand, which he shall never be able to shut up again, but it shall stand open till his judgment: This we write for an example to the Reader, that he may know what he must expect in this way, even nothing else but scorn and reproach.

46. But be of good courage, you dear children of God, do but help to wrestle faithfully and valourously, for we all wrestle in this life for an angelical crown, which lord Lucifer had upon his head. And how can he be but angry, who hath lost his country and kingdom, when another cometh and taketh his crown, and throweth him to the ground, and holdeth him captive?

47. But wrestle courageously, you dear children of God, it is but for a little while, and then we shall get the sceptre and crown: It is better to be a lord than a captive slave and servant: The sufferings of this world, if they cannot be avoided, are not worthy to be called sufferings in respect of the great glory, which shall be manifested on us.

48. We stand here between heaven and hell, in a field, and there groweth either an angel, or a devil out of us: Now, therefore, if any one have a love to the kingdom of heaven, and would fain be an angel, he ought to look well to himself: It is soon done with a man: Thou hast free will, whithersoever thou inclinest, there thou art: What thou sowest, that thou shalt also reap: Let this be told thee [for a warning].

THE THIRTEENTH CHAPTER

Of Christ's most precious Testaments *, that Fair Garland of Pearls of the Noble Highly Precious Stone ** of The Great Mystery, and Philosopher's Stone, which the Antichristian Church danceth about, and is ever seeking it, but not in the Right Ground and Place.

* Baptism and the Lord's Supper

** Mysterii Magni and Lapidis Philosophorum [philosopher's stone]

1. IN this Stone there lieth hidden, whatsoever God and the eternity, also heaven, the stars, and elements contain, and are able to do: There never was from eternity any thing better or more precious than this, and it is offered by God, and bestowed upon man; every one may have it that doth desire it; it is in a simple form, and hath the power of the whole Deity in it.

2. Christ saith, I have the water of eternal life, whosoever thirsteth, let him come to me and drink of it for nothing, it shall flow in him into a fountain of eternal life, and whosoever drinketh thereof shall never thirst any more: Christ giveth us his flesh for food, and his blood for drink: We should eat his flesh and drink his blood, and then he will continue in us, and we shall continue in him; where he is, there shall we be also, both here and there [in the other Life]; for he will be with us always, unto the end of the world: He will not let us his children want; as a father careth for his children, so he careth for us; and though a father perhaps might forsake his children, yet he will never forsake us: for he hath imprinted us in his hands struck through with nails, and received us into the wound [or hole] of his side, out of which did run water and blood; we should believe and trust him, as his precious Word hath told us, he is the mouth of truth, and cannot lie.

3. Hear, thou dear Christianity, open thy mind, and let not reason, which is without God, lead thee astray: Consider this well: We will shew you the right ground and scope, without conceits and opinions: We will set it before you wholly pure, without spot or blemish, and only shew you what Christ is: We will bring no conceit of human invention to please any man's opinion; neither will we take it from that which the world sets forth, as in their glosses; but we will speak that which is revealed to us out of the mouth of Christ, and what his Testaments are in reality [or substance].

4. For this is the jewel, the noble stone, which the Church of Babel danceth about, and about which she raiseth wars and persecutions: How very many scandalous and scurrilous books and pamphlets have been written about it!

5. This is the true jewel of the congregation of Christ; when the Church of Rome lost it, then it became a Babel, and the spirit of God departed from her, and the most potent countries towards the east, south, and west, turned away from her: For the Revelation told them, saying, If thou continue not in my love, I will come unto thee, and take away thy candlestick from thee; which come to pass thus:

6. Europe kept the name of the jewel, and Asia the colour of it; but the virtue of it remained sealed to them both, for they were both departed from it: they went groping in the dark: they grew fat, proud, and stately, and would be lord over the jewel: they only sought good [or frolic] days, great honour and glory by it; they built them upon it a brave glistering earthly kingdom, as is to be seen by the Romish Babel, which they do as hypocrites, that they may be honoured by the congregation, and had in great esteem. That which Paul and the Apostles left [behind them] viz. That the congregation should abide in reverence and in love, and that the elders which behaved themselves well, should be accounted worthy of double honour, (which was right in the congregation to do it to them that behaved themselves well), this they usurp to themselves, into their own power in [a way of] compulsion: Men must perform it to them, though they be no way worthy of it; and because they could not handsomely use any other sword, therefore they made to themselves a false sword, viz. Curse [of Excommunication], and that should make men reverence their holiness, that they might not seem to be bloody Executioners themselves; just as the Pharisees did, who delivered Christ up to Pilate; so these also, they are so devout in show and appearance [they will shed no blood with their own hands], but their heart is a devil: They stir up the magistrates upon their devilish Curse of Excommunication, who must be their executioners, to execute what their devilish heart hath concluded upon.

7. O dear princes, open your eyes; your office, if you do that which is right, is indeed grounded in nature; but their fictions and conceits are not; therefore be not Executioners under them: See with your own eyes; you shall, and must, at the Last Day, give an account of your office; be not led about without eyes, blindfold; you should see with your own eyes: You are the true heads of the congregation: The lambs of Christ are committed to your trust; the priests are but elders in the congregation; if they walk rightly before them, and give good example to the congregation by their good doctrine, life, and conversation, then honour and respect should be given to them as elders of the congregation of Christ; not that they are lords over the congregation, but servants of the congregation: They should have the spirit of Christ, and bless the congregation, and the congregation should give themselves up with them into one love, into one will, and so pray and sing, and speak together of God's love and wonders, that so there may be one spirit, one heart, in one will, and so the weak may be helped by the prayer and faith of the strong.

8. The congregation should incline their ear to the speech of the elders, who are strong and powerful in the spirit, and should receive the word of the spirit with earnest desire: The elders should teach with meekness, and deal with the congregation as with their own children, they should instruct them in their teaching and reproving with modest admonition: They should not bring bitter hearts into the congregation, in sending forth reproaches against the weak children, that the feeble be not quite discouraged.

9. But he that despiseth the congregation of Christ, and departeth from the Christian-way, they should privately warn and admonish such an one: If he will not regard, then they have the curse [or Excommunication] of the spirit to bind him in hell in the anger of God, that Satan may vex his heart, till he turn and repent: for the congregation hath in Christ great power, they have the key to open and shut; but, as is mentioned before, the priest alone hath not the power: No, he hath it not alone, for he is but the servant of the congregation: The meanest of them all, if he is faithful [loyal in Faith], hath as much authority in the curse or Excommunication as the greatest; for we are all members of the body of Christ: If the meanest of all shut any out of the congregation in the curse of Excommunication, if the party is guilty, then he is in [or under] the curse, or Excommunication; but if the party has wrong done him, then he is in the curse, or Excommunication, who hath done him the wrong, who hath belied him: Therefore look to it, ye elders, consider what you do, and do not make the congregation of Christ, which Christ hath dearly purchased with his blood, to scandalize [reproach, or offend] one another, else you yourselves are in [or under] the curse of Excommunication, and are without the congregation of Christ. Search [try, and examine] and consider beforehand, ere you judge what spirit's child he is whom you judge: Try his spirit beforehand, for many are zealous out of ignorance, whom you should instruct and receive: you know not what God's spirit giveth to every one; for he hath many and sundry gifts: Judge all in the way of love; be not rigid, be not furious, stern and obstinate: Instruct the simple in meekness, that he may place his delight in the congregation; for such were Christ's Apostles, your predecessors: They taught in such a manner, and instructed the congregation by good example, doctrine, and life.

[Concerning the Lord's Supper.]

10. When they met together, and made known the wonders of the LORD, and sat together with a fervent spirit; then, after exhortation one of another, they distributed the Lord's Last Supper, as he had commanded them: They took bread and brake it, and ate of it, and thereby, and therewith, have commemorated the Lord's death; in like manner also they took the cup, and drank of it, and commemorated the shedding of his blood; saying one to another, Take, and eat the Lord's body, which was given for us on the cross.

11. So also they did with the cup; they took it in their hand, and drank of it; for the uppermost of the congregation began, and said to the other, Take the cup and drink the blood of Christ our Lord, which he hath shed for us on the cross for the remission of sins, and commemorate his death, and the shedding of his blood, until he come again to judgment, and bring us into himself.

12. This, dear children, was the true Apostolical practice, and the Last Supper of Christ was even so; for, when Christ had instructed and taught his disciples, he began (after supper, when they had eaten the Paschal Lamb) the right eating of the Paschal Lamb, and gave them that Paschal Lamb [Passover] to eat, of which the first instituted by Moses was but an image and a shadow [or type]; for he gave them his heavenly body to eat, and his heavenly blood to drink, which he had introduced into Mary's womb in the eternal beginningless heavenly Virgin of God, in the pure chaste immaterial [virginity], without spot or blemish, and had assumed it from his earthly mother.

13. You ought highly [deeply] to understand this: He gave not his disciples the earthly substance, which did but hang to Christ's body, in which he suffered death, which was despised, buffeted, spit upon, scourged, and slain; for then had he given them the mortal flesh; but he gave them his holy body, his holy flesh, which hung also on the cross in the mortal substance, and his holy blood, which was shed together with the mortal, as an immortal flesh and blood which the disciples received into their body, which was put on to the soul as a new body out of Christ's body, whereby the disciples were capable of [receiving] Christ, and became members of his body.

14. You must not understand it thus, that Christ's disciples took a piece of the outward body of Christ, viz. of his earthly body, and put it in their mouths, and chewed it with their outward earthly teeth, and so swallowed it down into their bellies: No, this is apparent, in that he sat with them at the table, and did not divide his outward body.

15. But note, As the Deity had conceived in its will the image which God created in his Virgin of his wonders and wisdom, and brought the flesh and blood together with the eternal tincture, in which the soul liveth, (viz. the eternal fire which reacheth into the Deity after the substance of the Majesty, and allayeth, filleth, and strengtheneth itself therewith), out of Mary in the virgin into the Holy Ternary, into which the Word gave itself, (as a life in the tincture of the eternity), and became the spirit, life, and virtue of that flesh, which sprouteth out of the tincture of that fire of the soul; for the spirit was in the Word, and the Word was the power or virtue, and out of the virtue shone the light of the Majesty, and the kingdom, with the power of this world, hung to it [the spirit] also as its proper own, which was generated out of the Virgin of its wonders and wisdom out of the eternal centre of nature, wherein also Mary stood, with the outward virtue and life, with the outward flesh and blood: So also in such a manner as this hath Christ the true Son of God, [and] our Brother, given to his disciples his body to eat, and his blood to drink.

16. And as God, in his heavenly Virgin (out of which the heavenly substantiality is espied, and attaineth substance in the tincture of the fire) is a substance; which substance, God (with the Word and Heart, with the receiving in of the tincture out of Mary's blood, in which the soul dwelt) did, with the word Fiat, as with the eternal astringent matrix, comprehend, and let them together become flesh and blood after a human way and manner; (understand, as the eternal substantiality, with the wisdom, viz. the eternal virginity, hath given itself into the perished tincture and matrix of Mary, wherein was the promised Word, which gave itself also in the eternal substantiality into the perished tincture [or life], and so became a New Man, being strange and unknown to the earthly man); so this New Body of Christ, (understand the inward Christ, which the outward man which was mortal covered), gave itself under bread and wine, as an outward [thing] into the tincture of the souls of the Apostles, and became man in the Apostles, in the tincture of the soul; and that is the New Body which Christ hath brought us from heaven; [of which he said, None goeth to heaven, but he that is come from heaven]; so that when we wholly yield up ourselves to him in obedience, and with our old will go out from ourselves into his will, and so come into Christ's congregation, and desire his flesh and blood, with all his benefits, then he giveth us this body and blood to eat and to drink, which the inward man born of God receiveth: for the body of Christ is everywhere present in substance: it containeth the Second Principle: [that is, the angelical world, according to which God is called Merciful, and the eternal good].

17. For, to say that Christ feedeth the soul with spirit without body, is not true; the Holy Ghost maketh not a Principle, but the eternal substantiality in which the Holy Ghost dwelleth, and goeth out from thence in a form of many thousand innumerable essences, even that which is so gone forth, is the virgin of chastity, viz. the eternal wisdom, in which all the wonders of this world were beheld from eternity.

18. Understand us rightly, according to its high and precious worth; that substantiality, wherein the virgin of God consisteth, Adam had on him: for the spirit of this world was given him, and breathed into him therein; but the essences were paradisical, and sprung up through the [one pure] element, which the substantiality containeth, and that substantiality the spirit of this world, in Adam, took into itself, into its power, [as the water taketh the light (in a flaming red hot iron) into it, and quencheth it].

19. First the heavenly substantiality had the power [or predominancy], but afterwards, when Adam went back with his lust into the earthly [substantiality], then the earthly [substantiality] got the power and predominancy, and that is the cause that our perished heavenly substantiality is become earthly: and therefore must God, with the heavenly substantiality, in us become man, and in the heavenly virgin and in the earthly, God is become man, and hath put on upon our souls the heavenly substantiality again, viz. his heavenly body: yet our earthly must pass away, but the heavenly remaineth standing for ever.

20. And yet, nevertheless, we are captivated poor sinners with the old Adam, into which the devil hath an entrance, and we go many times out from the fair image, understand, the soul turneth its will often into the outward man; and there- fore God hath, appointed this Testament [The Lord's Supper], so that when we turn again to him, he then giveth our soul the new garment again, viz. the New Body, and reneweth and feedeth it.

21. He that once getteth the body of Christ, it departeth not from him, unless he spoil it as Adam did; it is only covered with the old Adam, and moreover passeth into the Mystery; and it is very possible for the soul to go out from it, therefore the soul should not be secure or careless, but watchful.

22. Therefore know, that Christ gave his disciples his true all-present eternal divine body to eat, and his blood to drink, out of which the Holy Ghost proceedeth; and the inward mouth which received it was the desirous willing of their souls; for the soul of man hungereth and thirsteth continually since the heavy fall, after such flesh and blood, and putteth the same on as the garment of God; for the soul in itself is a spirit, and hath need of a body, and there it attaineth a body, a new eternal incorruptible body into the old Adamical body.

23. Thus, you are to know, the bread which Christ gave to his disciples, was that which the outward mouth took, and gave to the belly; but the word, whereof Christ said Eat, this is my body, that same word was the eternal body of Christ, and had heavenly flesh and blood in it, and that the soul received, as a new body; and thus there was at once, in the hand of Christ, two kingdoms, viz. a heavenly and an earthly.

24. But you must know, that the heavenly cannot be comprehended or carried forth by the earthly; for the heavenly man, viz. the heavenly body of Christ, which was in the outward Christ, that all at once, and in eternity, also filled the angelical world, viz. the second Principle of God; so that without that same bodily substance God is not known at all, for the power of the Deity hath manifested itself therein, and yet the outward image remaineth standing; so that in heaven men see the human nature palpably and apprehensively standing in that form it was in here upon earth: Thou seest nothing else in it but the Majesty of the clarity of the brightness, which filleth the angelical world; and wheresoever now the Majesty is, there is the substantiality of Christ; for the Heart and Word of God hath united it in the substantiality: As we consider that the Word is every where, so is the substantiality (the body of the Word) [every where], though indeed without image; for the creature hath only the [formation or] image.

25. Behold, I give you a similitude: Consider, all things are created out of the water, and in the water was all power and virtue; for you find that all things have water, though it be a very stone, or flesh, or whatsoever it is; but the sulphur is therein with the power of nature, which formeth the substantiality.

26. Now, behold, in the whole deep, there is nothing but water, air, and fire, out of which there is the substance, viz. the body or the earth [come to be].

27. Now, you see very well, that the sun (being but one) causeth that, and is also the virtue and majesty in this elementary substance: It all belongeth to the sun, and all desireth the sun, and the sun with its virtue affordeth the dominion [or government of everything in the universe].

28. See, and consider this in a similitude: God is the eternal sun in the second Principle: understand the Heart, splendour, virtue, and Majesty; and the elements, fire, water, and earth, are (spoken by way of similitude) [as it were] God the Father: Now the sun standeth there as a body, as indeed it is, which resembleth the creature Christ; and the whole substance of the four elements resembleth the substantiality of the creature, wherein the splendour of the sun shineth: the sun resembleth the Word and the Majesty; and the four elements resemble the virtue of the body, and the Father, out of which the Son shineth.

29. Therefore know, that in heaven, every where all over, is the Father's virtue or power, and in the virtue the Word; and the Word hath the substantiality, which belongeth all to the person of Christ; for Christ standeth in the Father [as] an image, as the sun in the elements.

30. If God should once open himself, the whole world would be mere sun; for the deep receiveth the splendour of the sun; or else if there were no such thing in the deep as the sun is, the deep could not receive the light; but thus it desireth its like: And thus it is also in heaven: The Son is every where in the Father, and is become man: The total holy Number Three without end and substance, hath manifested itself in an image in substance, and that is Christ, and we are his members: We are God's, if we continue in him; he is our fountain, our light, and we are his stars: He giveth us his body and virtue, and his splendour for [our] light.

31. Thus he feedeth us here upon earth in the Supper, and when we desire it, with the virtue of his body, and with the spirit which proceedeth from that virtue, (for that is the spirit and life of the virtue or power), then we receive the total holy Number Three [or Trinity]: The substantiality hath sulphur, understand the body of Christ, that is the Father, and the sulphur hath the virtue or power; and in the virtue is the light of life as another person, and out of the virtue in the light goeth forth the smell and spirit of the virtue, and is not comprisable or detainable by the virtue, and yet it goeth forth from the virtue, and is the Holy Ghost.

32. Understand us rightly, thus: We receive not in the Supper another creature, with a new soul; No, but we receive on to our soul, the body of Christ, which filleth heaven, and is already [before-hand] the eternal Creature: The soul eateth Christ's flesh, and drinketh his blood, which filleth heaven; and out of that which the soul receiveth and eateth, there groweth a body to the soul, and in that body it is in the hand of God, and can at the end of the world go with that body through the fire of the anger of God, without feeling [of it ]; and as the fire cannot lay hold on Christ in the Number Three, so not of us either; for the fire receiveth the meekness [or allay] from God's meekness and ours, and becometh in us changed into a rising up of the desire of love, so that our fire and burning in us is a mere love-desire; for it cometh to be a brightness of the Majesty, and thus we are in God, and the children of God, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah. [Concerning the Baptism.]

33. And after such a manner is it with the baptism of children, the soul consisting in two things, viz. in fire and water; for the blood hath two forms, viz. sulphur and water: Sulphur giveth tincture and life, for it giveth light, which is the burning out from the sulphur, and that is life. The Phur is fire, and the Sul is light, and out of the light goeth the meekness, which draweth the Phur to it again, and quencheth its fierceness therewith, and that attracting maketh the meekness substantial, which is water; and Mercury maketh therein the great life, viz. a life in the water, and the heavenly Luna breedeth it, that it turneth to a liquor and to blood, wherein is the centre of nature with seven forms.

34. Now observe, When the seed to the child is sown, then the tincture of the fire, viz. the man's tincture, is sown into the tincture of Venus, out of which proceedeth a Twofold Life, viz. a fire-life of the soul, and in Venus a water-life of the spirit, [or a water-spirit life], which spring up together, and become a man. And thus now both tinctures in Adam are corrupted.

35. The tincture of the soul was captivated by the eternal anger of God, wherein the devil sat, and the tincture of the spirit was captivated by the Spiritus Majoris Mundi [of the macrocosmos], the spirit of the great world, the spirit of this world, and they had both remained captivated by the devil, if the Verbum Domini, the Word of the Lord, which at length became flesh, had not interposed in the midst [as a mediator].

36. Therefore hath God, through Christ, instituted Two Testaments, one [testament] (for little children) in the Holy Ghost, who performeth the office, who chiefly manageth the office in the Baptism, and maketh in the water of the soul a water of life in his virtue; and one [other testament] (for poor sinners that are more in years, to understand it) in the Word of life, as in flesh and blood, where the Word, viz. the Heart of God chiefly manageth the office, and feedeth with his body, and giveth his blood for drink; which testament with flesh and blood belongeth to the tincture of the fire-life, to the soul; and the testament of water belongeth to the spirit-life, viz. to the other tincture, and yet is but one man: But before the birth of Christ, the devil used great treachery, and wrought much mischief with man, in that he spiritually possessed them, [as may be read concerning the idol oracles], and here [in the Baptism] his trade and handicraft was laid aside; for Christ erected for the children a laver of Regeneration in the Holy Ghost, (for a child hath not faith as yet, also there are very few that learn [or are taught] what faith is), that there might be one testament that might preserve poor ignorant man.

37. Not that the Holy Ghost alone baptizeth, indeed he chiefly manageth the office, and taketh the virtue of the Number Three wherewith he baptizeth; and so when the baptizer saith, I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; then the Holy Ghost taketh hold in the Number Three, and baptizeth in the water of the soul, in the water of life, which is in the blood of the tincture, which containeth the spirit-life, viz. the second centre of nature; and so the spirit of the soul receiveth the virtue and office of the Holy Ghost, and here lieth the Mysterium Magnum, [the Great Mystery].

38. Dear brethren in Babel, do not so dance about on the outside of the Mystery, enter in, or else ye are not the ministers of Christ; if you cannot apprehend this, yet continue in the faith on the Word: But when you say Christ's testaments are only signs and not substance, then you are the Antichrist, and deny the Deity, and are not capable of the office: You cannot baptize the child, but the congregation of God, (which hath the faith), baptizeth it: A keeper of sheep, or a keeper of swine, that simply believeth that baptism is a great hidden Mystery, wherein the holy Number Three baptizeth, and that himself is but the servant, minister, or instrument, which performeth only the outward work, he in his simplicity baptizeth much better than you do.

39. You great school rabbis and masters, that sit aloft, let this be told you: There is one coming who will baptize you with the fire of wrath, because you deny his power and virtue: You have a hard bit [to chew] of Christ's testaments: If you will not go forth from your councils into the temple of Jesus Christ you must be quite cast away.

40. In times of old you were very many of you; for you propagated yourselves, and not the office of Christ: But you are now become very thin in Germany; where you were a thousand, you are now scarce a hundred of you: If you will not leave off your human wit and your own inventions, God will so cast you away, that where you are now a hundred, there shall not remain ten of you, nor a less number. Awake from your sleep, lest you thus go down into perdition into the abyss.

41. You say we laugh you to scorn: It may be you think so, for there is one that laugheth you to scorn whom we know, who sheweth it to us: He will suddenly awake: be not so secure and careless: Consider of it; for none taketh any thing to himself, unless it be given him of God; neither will this be spoken in vain.

42. O beloved and worthy Christendom, observe it well: Do not say, If our teachers lead us not aright, let them look to it: O no, it concerns your very self, it will cost the loss of your body and soul. Dear Christendom is departed from all the apostolical ordinances, virtue, and power, into human inventions and institutions; and instead of Christ's kingdom, there is a pompous, stately, hypocritical one set up, by Baptism and the [Lord's] Supper.

43. Men set up ceremonies: O, if they had kept the true faith, and had shewn people the divine way into the new regeneration: If they had shewn them the clear countenance of God, then people had departed from their sins into a divine life.

44. But thy wit and subtlety, O thou whore, hath blinded all: If my eyes had not been opened by God, how should I have known thee? I should indeed have still worshipped thee: The world shall seek thee, and at length find thee; and then Europe shall be a crown, and Asia the man [or husband], and Africa the country, and a simple shepherd shall lead us to pasture: If thou didst understand this, thou wouldst enter into thyself; but thou wilt be blind till thou art recompensed: As thou hast poured forth affliction, so thou shalt drink up misery and torment, for thou hast made it so very great as it is, and art a wild tree, and shalt be broken off: There is no remedy, thy own wrath casteth thee to the ground; for thou art weighed in a balance, and art found too light, saith the spirit of the Great Wonders. The Magia out of the Wonders.

45. A thing which groweth out of a beginning, hath beginning and end, and groweth no higher than that thing hath in its number out of which it groweth; but that which in the one number [or unit number] is incorruptible, for it is but one and no more, there is nothing in it that can break it; for, not any thing that is one is at enmity with itself; but when there are two things in one, there is plain contrariety and strife; for that which is one striveth not against itself, but draweth into itself, and out of itself, and remaineth one, and though it seek more in itself, yet it findeth no more, and that can never be at odds with itself; for it is one thing, whithersoever it goeth, it goeth in one will; for where there are two wills, there is division or separation; for one will often goeth inward and the other outward; and then, if that thing have a body, then that kingdom or government in that body is at odds: And so if one enter into the other with enmity, there that is a contrary will which goeth in against the other, and then therein dwelleth the third number; and the third number is a mixed essence out of the first two, and is against them both, and will be its own, and yet hath also two wills in itself from the first two, one whereof tendeth to the right hand, and the other to the left.

46. Thus the thing riseth up from two into many, and every one hath its own will, and if it be in one [only] body, then it is at odds with itself, for it hath many wills, and needeth a judge to part them, and keep the wills in awe; but if the wills be strong, and will not be kept under in awe by the judge, but go out aloft, then of one government [or kingdom] there becometh two, for that which is flown out judgeth or ruleth itself according to its own will, and hateth the first, because that is not in its will, and so there is a strife, one desiring to keep down the other, and so to elevate itself alone in one substance, and if it cannot keep down the other, (though it maketh never so much opposition,) then each of them increaseth in itself to its highest

number [ degree, or pitch of its strength or limit], and is always in strife against the other:

And if it come to pass that it be grown to its highest number, that it can go no farther, then it entereth into itself, and vieweth itself to see why it can grow no farther, and so it seeth the end of the number, and setteth its will in the end of the number, and desireth to break the band or limit asunder, and in that will (which it puts into the end of the number, wherewith it will break it) the prophet is born, and he is its own prophet, and prophesieth of the errors in the will, that they cannot go further, and of the breaking of them, for he is born in the highest number of the crown, at the end of the limit, and speaketh of the Turba [disturbance] in its kingdom, how it shall have an end, and what the cause is that it cannot go beyond its own number, and then he prophesieth of a new [kingdom or government], which shall be again generated out of the breaking; for he [the prophet] is the mouth of that kingdom [or government], and pointeth at the contrary will, how it is grown from one will, and how with its own desire it is gone out of itself into many wills, and discovereth the pride of the kingdom [or government], and the covetousness and envy of it, and in that the kingdom had but one root, out of which it was grown; therefore he sheweth the evil twigs or branches which are grown out of the root, which are the distraction and disturbance, or turba of the kingdom, which destroy the old tree, and take away its virtue and sap, so that it must wither away.

47. And then he sheweth also the falsehood of the twigs and branches, which have taken away the virtue of the tree, and thrown it to the ground. They say they are a new tree, and a good kingdom [or government], and vaunt it, as if they were strange guests, with great wit and seeming devotion, and yet they are grown out of the old tree, and are its children, and so devour their own father: And therefore saith the prophet, They are no children, but wolves, they are come to murder and devour, and to set up themselves in the stead of the old tree; which pride of theirs thus also driveth on till the limit, and then it will again be devoured by their children.

48. This is their own prophet, which is grown upon their crown; for he declareth the evilness of the root out of which the first tree was grown: He sheweth the poison wherewith the root was poisoned, so that out of one will many wills are grown, out of which the strife and malice is sprung.

49. And so then, if the turba in a thing be grown up with it, which of one maketh many, where the multiplicity is at enmity with itself, then the turba also breaketh the multiplicity; for the first will to a thing desireth only that one thing which is its body and delight: But the multiplicity in a thing maketh enmity: for the one will always rise up above the other; and yet the other will not endure it; and thence cometh envy and falsehood, out of which grow anger and strife, so that one desireth to break off, and throw down the other; and although the first will be judge, yet the turba is also sprung up in all the twigs and branches, which destroyeth obedience; and so each will go its own way, and will not be judged or ruled, but taketh upon itself, and contemneth the father, and all the [other] children, which yet are its brothers and sisters; and saith itself alone is the tree and the virtue of it, whereas it is but a broken self-willed proud murderer, which opposeth itself against the first will, viz. the root.

50. And now, when the father seeth his evil disobedient child, he seeketh a remedy, to heal that which is broken, and poureth oil into the wounds: but he findeth that the oil is poison to them, for they have turned away their will from the first will, as from the root, out of which the oil floweth, and the turba hath generated another oil in them: so that there is no remedy to heal this kingdom [government or dominion]: it must be devoured in and by itself as an evil kingdom: and yet it groweth to its highest number, as to the number thousand, till the end: for the crown hath the number thousand, and then there is no remedy more; for then it will be wholly one with itself again, and go into the first will again, and give itself into obedience, and become one thing again; and then it beginneth to number again; yet it is good at, first, so long as it remaineth in paucity [a small or little thing]: but that which hath a great deal of room is not easily quashed; but that which is squeezed into a narrow room, and shut up close, will always strive to get out above its limit, and easily surmises that its neighbour's dwelling doth also belong to it, and will always break the reins and bounds. And although, thus out of one thing there groweth another, yet being not agreeable to the first will, out of which it is grown originally, therefore it is not its true son, but is a wild twig [or branch], which is opposite to the mother, and loveth not the mother: for it groweth up in its malice, and therefore the mother taketh it not again into her first will, that it may subsist eternally, but letteth it run on to its limit [or end].

51. But when the mother seeth that all her children thus break off from her, forsake her, and become strange to her, she falleth into sorrow and lamentation, she hopeth for amendment, and yet it cometh not, and then she herself seeketh the turba [or destruction], for she turneth her will again into herself, and seeketh the genetrix: and there she findeth a new child in the lily twig [the purity] and giveth the apostate children to the turba, so that they themselves devour and murder one another; also she poureth forth their own turba and poison upon them, that they may be divided and taken out of the way; that she may bring up her young son that may continue in her house, wherein she may have joy.

52. Thus it is spoken to thee, thou great and broad tree [of the generation of Adam], who in the beginning wast a little branch; thou wast created in one will only, all thy twigs should have that will of thine, but the devil grudged thee that, and strewed poison into thy will, out of which the turba grew: and so thou hast spoiled all thy children and twigs therewith, so that the turba is grown up also into every little twig: Thou didst enter into pride, and wentest forth from the first will, which God gave thee, into the great wonders of the great turba [or uproars, and commotions, contention and destruction in the four elementary worlds], wherewith all thy children were enamoured, and left thee [thy first will].

53. Therefore saith the mother of the genetrix [the eternal nature], I am in anguish, I had planted me a little tree, and desired to eat of its good fruit; but it hath borne much wild fruit, which I have no mind to eat of; I will conceive, and bring forth a young son in my old age, which may continue in my house, and do my will, that I may have joy at last; since all my children leave me, I will take comfort in my young son, and he shall remain in my house while I live, and Satan shall not tempt him. I will put a child's garment upon him, and he shall dwell with me in a total childish simplicity: behold! I will generate him out of the first root, and will break the turba: for its number in the crown is accomplished.

54. What seek you so much, you wild branches? You say you are above the mother, [above the spirit of God]; you have art, knowledge, and learning; what delight hath the mother in your wit and art? She desireth no art and wit; for she is altogether simple, and counteth but [the number] one; if you would please the mother, you must go from the multiplicity into one again; not through art and wit, but you must go forth out of your proud turba, out of self, into simple humility; you must leave the bravery and hypocrisy of your own wit that proceeds from the turba, and become as children, else you are not acceptable to your first mother, but the turba taketh you up; and then consider where you shall remain, when God shall judge the secrets of mankind, when all shall pass through the fire of his wrath, saith the spirit of the great wonders.

55. Mother Eve said, when she brought forth the first child; Behold! I have the man, the Lord; he shall effect the breaking of the serpent's head, and possess the kingdom: but it was Cain the murderer.

56. And thus also you now say, We have found the Lord: now we will possess the kingdom; for we have found the true doctrine, we will teach thus and thus, and then we are God's children. But hearken! You have indeed found the true doctrine; but you are Cain, you look after the kingdom, and not the power and virtue of Abel's sacrifice: you desire only to continue in fleshly pleasure, and retain only the shell of God's word, which hath no virtue or power: You retain the history, (and contend about it, and so destroy your country and people), but you deny the power of it: you say, We are near to the kingdom of God; and are yet far from it, which your end will testify.

57. What doth your knowledge avail? The devil knoweth as much as you, but he doth it not, no more do you: and therefore the kingdom of God remains hidden from you both: your knowledge is the snare that catcheth you: if you were simple, you would not be so proud: what doth the simple know concerning the false, subtle, cunning deceit, if he learn it not from the wit of the turba [contentious disputations]? Do you say, that you have God's wilh and teach it? Are you not Cain that murders ] Abel every day? Consider yourself well, you are he indeed: Abel lieth at your feet, and beseecheth you, but you are that evil beast, that treadeth Abel under foot; you ride over the bended knee, and account the poor and simple to be but dirt and dung, and yet devour his sweat and labour, and fill yourself with deceit without measure: How dare you then say, Here is the Church of Christ? O you are Babel, that city of whoredom and falsehood.

58. Thou knowest the will of God, and yet dost only thine own will, and sayest moreover, We are gone out from Babel: we have the true teaching [or doctrine] amongst us: indeed if you had the spirit of righteousness, and truth, and would content yourself with a little, then the mother would always give you enough, you should want nothing: but your pride and haughtiness do not trust God, therefore you trust only in covetousness, and are greedy to devour the fat of the earth; you take it by force and not of right; the right you produce, claim, and plead, hath only been invented by your covetous heart, you live only in deceit: you persuade and deceive yourself to your own loss: if you had wit and understanding, you would have respect to your end, and what will follow hereafter: but you blindfold yourself with pride, and say, Behold! here are golden times; many have desired to see what we see, and to hear what we hear, and have not seen or heard it: Hearken! indeed that shall be a witness against you, and will make your judgment the heavier; you have not hitherto been the better for it, but the worse, therefore know that what is declared to you [by the Reformation] is by your own prophet, who hath called you back again from your pride into your mother humility:

but you are become worse and worse; you have broken the sword of the spirit, that you may do what you list: but he hath left you, and given you up to the turba, which shall devour you, as was done of old to Israel: there is no counsel or remedy to help: Your covenants are all nothing, while you rely upon the arm of flesh; and so God also is departed from you, and leaveth you to devour yourself.

59. Or wherefore do you take the covenant of God into your mouth, seeing you hate to be reformed, and thirst after covetousness? Do you suppose God to be a false hypocrite and liar, as you are? Leave off your clamouring, you are not acceptable to God, except you turn, and go out from your falsehood.

60. It is with you now according to the turba's driving, which taketh its recreation in accomplishing the anger of God, and to devour what is grown in its kingdom, and you are blind concerning it, and see it not: Why are you so covetous? Go but out from it. Do you not see how the noble tincture [the blossom of life] hath raised up itself? It is near its blossoming, and then you will have silver and gold enough.

61. But what shall we say? You have committed whoredom till you have fallen asleep: you go down alive into the abyss, rather than you will forsake the whore; and therefore it shall be unto you as your own prophet testifieth, who hath very long called you by his trumpet; you wait for [deliverance by] the fiery sword, which will also cut you in pieces.

62. Or do you suppose us to be mad, in that we speak thus? Indeed we are born out of you; we see and understand the complaint of our mother, which reproveth her children; for she declareth the wrath in the turba, which is grown up into the fierce wrath of God.

63. We speak what is given to us, which we know in the zeal of the Lord: What have we to do with Babel [ confusion, strife, and jangling]? We speak to ourself, and to the fellow-members of our body, and those that dwell in the courts of God, with those who at present mourn with us, whose mourning shall be turned into joy.

THE FOURTEENTH CHAPTER

Of the Broad Way in this World, which leadeth us into the Abyss. And of the Narrow Way [that leadeth] into the Kingdom of God.

1. DEAR children of God, let us heartily and seriously consider, from whence we are, and whither we are to go, and what we do and purpose, that we may not lose the eternal and highest good; wherefore do we so very much labour after temporary pleasure and voluptuousness, after honour, money, and goods? Are we not in this world strange guests, and pilgrims, which should continually expect when this life shall end? We are not created for the pleasure and lust of this life, but for paradisical joy, and to lead a simple child-like life; we should not know of any pomp, state, or haughtiness, but live together as children in a loving sport of joy: we are gone out from our true, pure, paradisical mother, wherein we should live in her as dear and loving children.

2. We are shut up in the mother, [the temporary nature], which generateth the evil beast; and we have received bestial properties; we do no otherwise than as evil beasts, we have given up ourselves to a strange mother, which educateth us and leadeth us captive in her bands: and we must at length leave the outward man to the earthly mother, we cannot get away from her, for she hath captivated us in flesh and blood; she breedeth us, and bringeth us up in herself, and keepeth us for her children: But yet we have a very precious jewel hidden therein, with which we are God's children: with that let us endeavour after the highest good, that we may attain it.

3. Dear children, our strife about the highest good consists not in the sword, in killing and slaying, that we should make wars and fight for the cause of God and his kingdom, and so persecute and murder one another: neither doth it consist in much knowing, but merely in a simple, childlike obedience, that we should go out from the will of our flesh, which is bestial, wherein the devil dwelleth, and enter into the will of God: it lieth in no man's opinion or knowledge, for the spirit of God giveth knowledge to every one out of the wonders, out of which he is born.

4. You see how we are put under subjection to the spirit of this world: for when a child is sown in [into] its mother's womb, that spirit is there ready, and formeth it according to the wheel of the outward nature, that giveth condition, will, and disposition to it; that sheweth it the wonders of its secret mystery, and openeth to it the way of the will thereof, that leadeth it into the entrance into its mother, and out of its mother through this world: that giveth its body to the earth, and its soul to hell.

5. Therefore, since we know this, we ought to lift up the spirit of our soul, and make war only against that evil earthly spirit, and oppose it with our soul and body, and not against our brethren and sisters; we cannot overcome the devil with disputing and knowing much; neither can we maintain God's word with wars and the sword, but with the simple obedient life of God, that we be! contented with that little which we have, and depart from the evil lust after pride, into an humble, child-like life, wherein every one should with all diligence perform his work, for the benefit and profit of his brethren and sisters, endeavouring thereby to serve God his Creator, and to pleasure his brother; not seeking his own honour, but with a desire to do so well, that his brother and sister may sincerely love him, and wish all happiness and welfare to him.

6. If you will serve God, give offence to none, that your good and benefit be not hindered; Let not Satan have power over your heart to sift [or prevail with] you; Put away all evil thoughts, instigations, and influxes [of the mind]; for Satan insinuateth himself in the influxes from the spirit of this world, and possesseth your mind; be continually watchful, and strive against him; cast those false and evil influxes upon his head, and send him away with them; and consider that you walk upon a very narrow path between heaven and hell, in very great danger; be at no time secure or careless, for you know not when the spirit of this world will take away from you its own, for your limit was set in your mother's womb, which you cannot pass, neither do you know the day and hour wherein the spirit of this world will leave you, and then your poor soul will stand quite naked, hungry, and empty, and then if it have not Christ's body on it, it will be captivated by the devil.

7. Dear children, it is a very strait, narrow way that leadeth into God's kingdom; he that will walk therein in this life must [submit and] prepare himself for affliction; for every thing is against him; the devil is altogether against him; his own flesh and blood set themselves earnestly against him; for the spirit of this world, in flesh and blood, seeketh only the matters and dominion of this world: the devil continually sets on his children and servants against him: he [that walks towards heaven] must be trampled upon and despised: he is not in this world acknowledged to be a child of God.

8. Dear children, look well to yourselves in this world: at present men lead you on in hypocritical ways: they boast much of faith, and lead people on in an historical faith, which is but mere notion [or opinion], they teach you the notion, and he that doth not stick to that is accounted an heretic: O how dead is the present faith! It stayeth at the knowledge, or the notion; they suppose that when people know how to speak much of God, of Christ's merits, sufferings, and death for mankind, and comfort themselves therewith, that it is the way to eternal life.

9. O no, all that availeth nothing, that thou knowest and ticklest thyself with it: true faith in Christ is quite another thing; it lieth not barely in the history, and in the letter: the [bare] letter is not the Word, it is but a leader and director to the word: the Word is living, and hath the spirit; the right faith is the right will, which entereth into the Living Word.

10. If you comfort yourself never so long with the sufferings of Christ, and yet your will and purpose remain in deceit and wickedness, then the spirit which proceedeth out of your will, is a thief and a murderer; you teach one thing, and do another: God desireth no flattering hypocrisy, but an earnest [sincere purpose and] will, which entereth into him by obedience, and this is right believing [or faith] in the Holy Ghost; and therein is the word and death of Christ fruitful indeed.

11. Christ saith, You must turn and be as little children, who are not yet conscious of any falsehood, deceit, or wickedness, and in Christ, through Christ's death, be born of his flesh and blood, if you will see the kingdom of heaven; for he that eateth not the flesh of the Son of Man, and drinketh not his blood, hath no part in him.

12. Dear brethren, it consisteth not in the Host [which the priest delivers for Holy Bread] only, which you deliver to the people, and in the cup or chalice [wherein they carry the Host]: No, but when the soul converteth, and bringeth the body under subjection, and giveth itself up wholly in obedience unto God, and into his will, and desireth to go in at Christ's entrance to the Father; then it goeth out from the life of this world, and goeth with Christ into the Father, who giveth it Christ's flesh and blood; for it eateth of the Word of the Lord at God's table, and getteth Christ's flesh for its body, and Christ's blood for its refreshment and habitation; for the soul dwelleth in the heart, and burneth out of the heart-blood as a kindled light; and hath its principal dominion in the head, in the brains, and there it hath five open gates [the five senses], in which it governeth with the spirit of its life.

13. And therefore if the tincture in the soul, in the heart-blood, be entered into Christ's will, then that will governeth the spirit of the soul in the head; and though it hath many obstacles and hindrances from the earthly bestial spirit, as also from the devil, who infecteth the earthly spirit, (so often as the soul is secure or careless), and bringeth it into fleshly lust; yet nevertheless, when the soul doth but reject the earthly bestial thoughts and influences, or instigations, then it remaineth in Christ still; for the body of Christ, which the soul hath, is too hard a bit for the devil to overcome; and yet a harder bit it is for the soul to turn away from the spirit of this world, and enter into the obedience of God.

14. Dear brethren, it is not a handful of historical faith that will do, for men to set the merits of Christ aloft: it must be sincere and earnest: You must earnestly enter through death and hell of the devils into the merits of Christ: You must overcome the spirit of this world: Your will must press itself with all its reason and thoughts into the will of God, and then you will see how little the historical knowledge can do.

15. If you will not drive the devil out of your heart, then he will not let you enter into God's will: If you will keep the iniquity of falsehood in your heart, and so fight with the merits and satisfaction of Christ against him, then you will be hindered; for the devil opposeth it strongly: He striveth against the soul as long as he can: He letteth not the soul go before it heaps all earthliness upon his neck, and departs from it; when the soul doth so, then it departeth out of his country, and then he is overcome: But O, how doth he continually lay that [as a net] before it, and goeth always about like a fowler; and if he can possibly, he will cast the earthly garment on to it again.

16. O how hard a combat must the poor soul hold out against the devil; but therein the sufferings, merit, satisfaction, and death of Christ, are available, when the devil hath ensnared the poor soul again, and will not let it go, but goeth down with it into the abyss, into despair: There the soul must take with it the sufferings and death of Christ, and walk with the devil through hell, into the death of Christ, and out of Christ's death spring up with Christ into God again; and then it is the lily which the devil doth not like to smell upon.

17. But for you to depend wholly on the history, and so to apply the merit, suffering, and death of Christ, and will still keep the devil lodging in your soul, that is a reproach to Christ: What doth it avail you to pray, that God would forgive you for Christ's sake, when you forgive not all others? Your heart sticketh full of revenge and robbery.

18. You go to church, into the congregation of Christ, and you bring a false hypocrite, liar, a covetous, angry, adulterous, proud person and soul in with you; and the same you bring out with you again. What benefit have you thereby? You go into the congregation to the Supper of Christ, and desire Christ's flesh and blood, and yet keep the black devil in you for a guest: What mean you? You receive nothing but the severe anger of God: How would you feed upon Christ's flesh and blood, if your soul be not inclined with all earnestness and sincerity into God? Do you suppose that Christ's body and blood dwell so in the earthly element that you can chew it with your teeth? No, friend, it is a more pure and subtle thing; the soul must apprehend it, the mouth of the soul must receive it: But how shall it receive Christ, if the devil be still lodging in the soul? The soul must be in the will of God, if it will feed upon God: Indeed it can continually eat of Christ's flesh, if it live in the flesh of Christ, for every spirit eateth of its own body [is fed by its own substance which is its flesh and blood].

19. This testament is ordained to that end that in the congregation we should there eat the flesh of Christ, and drink his blood; that we should thereby commemorate his death, and teach the same to our children, and tell them what Christ hath done for us, that we might be preserved in one mind and will, and that we should be one body in Christ, and walk together in one love; and therefore we should eat of one and the same bread, and drink of one and the same cup, and acknowledge that Christ hath begotten us again to one body in himself, and that he hath, through his death, brought us again, through hell and the fire of God's wrath into his Father in himself, that we might wholly put our wills into his will, and love one another, and make one another rejoice in him, and sing, speak of, and declare his marvellous deeds and benefits, and thereby renounce the old devil who hath held us captive, and tread him under foot in our mind.

20. This is the right Catholic [or universal] way of true faith: He that teacheth and liveth otherwise is not appointed for a shepherd by Christ, but is a shepherd sprung up of himself from his own art and reason, which, in the kingdom of Christ, according to the outward man, should be continually dead, that Christ in us may live: None is a true shepherd over Christ's sheep unless he hath the spirit of Christ; if he hath not that, then he hath not the true apostolical power and authority of Excommunication: He mus t in Christ's spirit have the key to heaven and to hell, else he is but a vizor and image without life: How can such an one, who is captivated by the devil, judge in the congregation of Christ? Can the word and commandment of such an one be the word of God, whereas he speaketh but from a false spirit? 21. O you false bishops [come] from the universities, how hath the devil of pride blinded you, that you set shepherds over the lambs of Christ, according to your own favour and respect! St. Paul teacheth you, do but read it, what a heavy account you are to give: Nothing availeth with you but art; and in the kingdom of Christ art is but dross and dung: God leadeth a pure heart by his own spirit; if one incline towards him, and submit unto his will, to such an one he teacheth heavenly art.

22. The congregation of Christ should be in one will, and the shepherds thereof should have the spirit and will [or consent] of the congregation: It is not so slight a matter to put on the garment of Christ, as many suppose who seek only covetousness and honour therein, and they find nothing but the anger of God therein.

23. Or, what shall we say? The priest-devil hath blindfolded the kingdom of Christ, so that the congregation of Christ is stark blind, where men suppose they are gods, and that they teach from the Holy Ghost, whereas their own honour and covetousness are merely sought after in deceit and falsehood: Men see how great mischief they have caused in the world: How many countries have they caused to be laid waste, and murdered many hundred thousand persons with their false opinions, and have only served the devil in the garment of Christ. If the congregation did but discern it, they would presently consider it; but all this cometh to pass, in that they afford not honour to the spirit of Christ: Men will choose shepherds themselves, whereas the devil is in all mere human elections, when it concerneth the honour and doctrine of God.

24. The bishops [or pastors] that are grown up of them- selves, and chosen for favour, without the spirit of God, are as profitable to the world as a fifth wheel to a waggon: Indeed they do but little, except it be to make the congregation go astray, slander, jangle, and dispute; as their scandalous pamphlets testify, in many of which there is as much of the fear of God, and love to their neighbour, as the devil in hell hath: Bloody provocations are the devil's drums and trumpets, by which he reproacheth the simple congregation of Christ.

25. O dear children, open your eyes wide, go out from the priest's contentions, and enter into combat against the devil, against your voluptuous flesh and blood: A Christian is not a wrathful soldier or warrior, who desireth the kingdom of this world: For Christ saith, My kingdom is not of this world, else my servants would contend for it. St. Paul saith, Seek that which is above, where Christ is; we are called by Christ out of this world, that so we might serve God with the soul, and be in Christ; but with the body in this world, that we may have maintenance and sustenance for it: Therefore the earthly life ought to labour and maintain its body, but the soul should be lord and governor, and rule the body; it should not suffer the starry-spirit to practise any falsehood, and fill itself with lies and deceit, for such things are so brought into the soul.

26. The poor soul is here in this life in very great danger, where the jaws of hell continually reach to its lips, for it is infected with the spirit of the stars and elements, which fight against it day and night: Consider thyself now, thou dear mind, and think in what vessel thy soul, viz. thy best treasure, lieth, and thou wilt surely awake out of the sleep of the bestial life; and consider what will follow hereafter, when the spirit of the stars and elements will leave thee, where then, thy best jewel (which thou thyself art) will remain, in what condition thou wilt be for ever without end; for we know that the soul dwelleth in the heart: Its own substance is the centre of the seven spirits of nature: The six spirits are the government of the life, and the seventh is the tincture of the substantiality, for its substantiality is blood and flesh which maketh the tincture, though the tincture is not blood and flesh, but a virgin without generating; yet the six spirits in the tincture continually generate one another, as is mentioned before concerning the centre of nature; but the brightness of the noble pearl of the soul is especially known in the tincture, for therein it attaineth God's power and spirit; and there getteth its right name [Seel], SOUL; for, as God is above nature, which cannot comprehend him, so the virgin [Sophia, Wisdom] in the tincture is a spirit above the spirits of nature, which belong to the centre: and yet the virgin, without the spirits of nature, would not be; even as the Number Three of God, without the eternal nature, would not be known: so also the soul.

27. The six spirits of nature contain the eternal centre, with which the darkness and anger of God is comprehended, for the original of mobility consisteth therein; for the fire existeth therein, though indeed it standeth but in four forms, and in the fifth form springeth up the true life, and in the sixth the understanding; and then first there is in the seventh another spirit, which is not the centre in the anguish source [or property]; for in the seventh form there is another source [or property]: Indeed the first six forms rule therein, and are the life of the source, and a cause of the life; but they make together one spirit, which liveth in the blood, water, and air.

28. And though it be so, that we are, through the heavy fall of Adam, brought into the outward dominion, so that the soul swimmeth in the palpable [or visible water], yet the eternal water, viz. the mother of the water, is hidden in the outward, in which the soul is an angel: We give you to understand that the soul is a spirit, as God the Holy Ghost is, who goeth forth from the Father and the Son, and is the mobility of the Deity; for the Father standeth still, and hath moved himself but once, viz. in the creation; but the spirit hath the Word of the Father, and performeth all things through the Word.

29. And thus, also, the soul is a spirit generated out of the eternal centre of nature, out of its own spirits of its own nature, not strange ones, which [soul] hath the word, which compriseth itself in the six forms of nature upon the wheel of the cross, and performeth all things through the Word; for it is the spirit and life of the Word, and moveth upon the wings of the wind as a flash or blaze; it formeth the Word, and produceth it, and the six spirits are its counsellors; though there are but five, for the sixth is the form of the Word itself, but the five contain the five senses.

30. Where we woefully find, and have great cause to lament it, how our father Adam hath here introduced the evil, poisonous, earthly dominion, so that the poor soul is thus wholly captivated by the spirit of this world, which floweth forth, and worketh powerfully in the soul; so that often and hourly there breaketh forth out of the word of the soul the evil of the abyss; in which the devil mingleth himself, and possesseth our hearts outwardly, and then also most inwardly, viz. in the first four forms of nature, and turneth us away from the will of God, into all abominations and wickedness which are in him: And as he now observeth how man is qualified, viz. what spirit is predominant according to the dominion of his body, [whether it be pride, covetousness, envy, wrath, unchastity, wantonness, voluptuousness, and such like], accordingly he assaulteth [or tempteth] him continually, and effecteth such great wickedness with the soul, as no tongue can express; for in the outward dominion there are also seven forms, viz. the seven planets, which rule the outward-man, and reach into the bottom of the soul, if without ceasing it do not resist, and reject the evil malignant influences [influxes or instigations]:

In the same the devil hath a power- ful access to the soul, but yet he hath not that dominion, nor any complete power therein, unless the Turba Magna in the anger of God be kindled [as in judgments, pestilence, thunder, and the like plagues and punishments], and there he is the executioner; but he hath the inward dominion of the four forms to the fire-life, these he can possess, as often as the soul plungeth itself thereinto: If he get it there, O how fast he holdeth it, and will quite down with it, for that is his kingdom, [viz. the abyss of the four forms].

31. And observe it, according to its precious depth: The four forms contain in them the original of nature; where first (in the desiring willing,) the darkness, with the attracting, entereth into a desire; and so the desiring becometh strong,[sharp, astringent],

harsh, hard, and cold; and the desiring maketh an attraction and stirring in the strong harshness, which are two forms, and the third form is the great anguish, in that the desiring would be free, which stirreth the anxious wheel of nature, and in the end [stirreth up] the flash of fire, which is the fourth form, as is at large mentioned before.

32. And so that harsh attraction maketh in the desiring of the will, in the outward nature of this world, a great covetousness, so that the mind would attract all to itself, and possess it alone; and though it cannot devour it, yet will possess it, and would not willingly afford any thing to any other; and this is one root of the abyss of hell, wherein the devil vehemently assaulteth the soul, that it might not go out, and come to the light of God.

33. The second root is the bitterness of nature, which in the harshness is an inimicitious sting, and will not endure to be subdued: The more it is resisted, the greater is its sting: This is the second form, which maketh in the outward nature, an inimicitious, stinging, envious, bitter mind, whereinto also the devil windeth himself, and kindleth the word of the soul, with a despiteful, stinging, envious subject [matter or substance], so that the will continually burneth in envy, and never speaketh any good, but mere vanity and wantonness, which is serviceable to the devil; whence proceed liars, slanderers, backbiters, false hearts: God have mercy upon us in our great misery, into which we are plunged!

34. The third root is the anxious wheel of the mind, whence the senses [or thoughts] arise and are generated, which containeth in it especially the miserable house of sadness, and yet is the house of the springing up of life; this is chiefly the dwelling place of the devil, within which he seateth himself: It is his seat, and he continually raiseth up that house of sadness, so that the soul groweth timorous and doubteth of the grace of God, and of the light of eternal life: He continually casteth in the two first forms, viz. covetousness and envy, and with that poison windeth the wheel of the mind about, and maketh a hurlyburly in the essences of the thoughts: He continually mixeth covetousness and envy together, that he may retain his seat; and so when the poor soul would go out aloft and be gone, then he barreth it up into the chamber of anguish, and straiteneth it, that it might and should despair; for the chamber of anguish is always in darkness, and there he casteth it down, that it may not get aloft on the wheel, lest it should discover the fire, and so he would be known.

35. The fourth root is the fire-flash; and when the devil cannot detain the soul still in the house of sadness, but that it reacheth after the flash of the light of the liberty of God, then he slips into the flash, and bringeth the thoughts in the word of the soul out aloft above the cross in high-mindedness, [as men that through learning strive after the light of God, and having attained it, little think how the devil slippeth into it, and bringeth them into high-mindedness, to be proud of themselves, esteeming themselves as clergymen to be better than the laity], so that the soul thus flieth out aloft, and elevateth itself above the meekness, as the devil himself did.

36. For (as we have mentioned before) nature getteth, in the kindling of the fire, two kingdoms, [or two Principles, as may be seen in a candle, out of which (in the kindling) ariseth the consuming fire, and the pleasant refreshing light], viz. one in the fierceness of the fire, which flieth out aloft above the centre, with the four wrathful severe forms; and the other in the light of the meekness, which remaineth standing immoveably, and hath also all the power of the centre, in which power the spirit of the Deity and of the Majesty is known; wherein standeth the [rain-] bow with the cross of the Number Three; for the Majesty is here the brightness of the Deity; and here the eternal liberty without [or beyond] nature, (which hath but one only will), getteth the strength, power, majesty, and glory; for the eternity is thus revealed [or manifested], which otherwise would be as it were a still nothing, in the creature's esteem and account.

37. Above this still soft humility the devil leadeth the soul of man in its will out aloft in the fire-flash; for herein, according to the spirit of this world, consisteth the dominion of the sun, which giveth might and strength to the outward man, and also the light and power of the outward senses, so that reason cometh to see; and the outward spirit getteth great outward skill and wisdom, according to the dominion of this world.

38. Also herein all subtleties of the essences and senses disclose themselves, which the devil very well observeth: If any, in the upper dominion, according to the spirit of this world, be a child of the sun, then he [the devil], in the centre of nature without ceasing, slippeth into the fire-flash of the soul, where the fire and heat exist, and always bringeth in with him the other three poisonous forms in the original: He bringeth the soul out aloft over the cross above the meekness of the Majesty, in the wrathful fire-flash, so that it groweth proud, lascivious, and fierce; he maketh it to contemn meekness and humility, and so it flieth forth in its own wit, in the fierceness of the flash, above God and the kingdom of heaven, [and scorneth all that belongeth to God and to eternal life].

39. And all this, (dear brethren in Babel), proceedeth from hence; that you are void of the divine wit and understanding, so that you fly above the wheel of nature in your own wit; you should stay in the cross in humility, and your soul should be inverted and inclined into the meek Majesty of God; but now you fly upon the wheel of the fire in your pride, aloft over the Deity; and this the devil doth to you in subtle craftiness, that he may thus lead you, that thereby the kingdom of God might not be known; you seek the kingdom of God in art; but art hath the six forms of the wheel of nature; the Deity hath another centre in the cross; for the divine spirit separateth itself from the fire, and yet is not quite asunder from it; but it maketh another Principle, which consisteth in meekness, in mere love and joy; the forms of nature are therein a mere power of love; for it is an accomplishment of the eternal will, out of which nature existeth, and the wrathful kingdom is an accomplishment of the eternal hunger and thirst, which cannot be otherwise in eternity, for the essence of all essences is thus.

40. For it is sufficiently known to us (seeing God is merely good) that he created nothing evil; for that which was not from eternity, was not in the creation.

41. God created no hell, nor any devils, but angels: Only Lucifer hath turned himself away from the meekness, and is flown out above the cross of the Number Three, and hath himself awakened the fire of anger in the flash, which had from eternity remained hidden in secret, which is now his hell and habitation; he can now be no otherwise than covetous, envious, anxious, and wrathful; there is no other property [quality or living faculty] or source in him; for his own mother, out of which he was brought forth and created, holdeth him now, so that he is a devil with all his legions.

42. Therefore, dear children, since we know that we are thus environed with hell and the devils, in the anger of God, it is very necessary for us to fly into humility; and therefore Christ teacheth us so very earnestly to study meekness, love, and mercy, that we should love one another, and should not so eagerly endeavour after the spirit of this world; for the devil slippeth into it, and seduceth us: We should watchfully take heed of pride, for the devil flieth into it; and of anger, for that is the devil's sword, wherewith he commiteth all murders.

43. O how lamentable a thing it is that the soul is thus blinded that it knoweth not the heavy shackles and bands wherein it lieth captive! The fire of hell riseth up to its very lips, the whole world is full of snares which the devil hath laid to catch the poor soul: If the eyes of the outward man should be opened, he would be terribly affrighted: All whatsoever man doth but touch or look upon, there is a net and snare of the devil in it; and if the Verbum Domini, the Word of the Lord, which is become man, were not in the middle, so that the hidden eternal substantiality of the Word is a body, there would none be saved: the devil would catch and devour all souls.

44. Therefore, dear children, Christ hath well told us, That the kingdom of God in us is small as a grain of mustard-seed; but he that endeavoureth seriously, and striveth after it, to him it groweth great as a tree, and the devil must needs let it alone; and though he often breaketh off a twig, yet the stock standeth still.

45. Christ warned the rich young man to beware of covetousness, and told him, that a camel would easier go through the eye of a needle, than a rich man enter into the kingdom of heaven; and the cause of all this is, that the soul entereth into lust, and into the dominion of this world: for if the soul wholly giveth up itself into the lust, pleasure, and dominion of this world, then the devil doth not sift [or tempt] it so strongly, but carrieth it in his triumphant chariot, from one abomination and wickedness to another: his chariot is Venus, viz. the love of the flesh, wherein the soul continually endeavoureth after temporary power, authority, and honour, after riches, beauty, and the desires of the flesh, after bestial inordinate copulation; though indeed the soul doth not so eagerly desire it, unless it be totally infected: but it is only from hence that the soul in Adam hath lusted after it, and is captivated therewith; and the devil continually maketh it stirring, he continually tickleth the soul therewith, that it might confidently and freely eat of the forbidden fruit.

46. We find that the human life is Threefold, with three spirits together in one, as if it were but one spirit, and it is indeed but one life; but it hath three dominions, each of which hath its own mother, which afibrdeth or generateth it; the centre of nature, with its forms [or properties], is the eternal life; for it is the fire-life; and the spirit, which is generated and goeth forth out of the centre of nature, which dwelleth in the tincture, is the eternal life of the soul; and the air-spirit, with the qualities or properties of the dominion of the stars, is the beginning, ending, and transitory life, which is the bestial life, [the animal life which we have in common with beasts].

47. Now the soul is generated only out of the first two, and the third is breathed into it; not that it should enter into it, and give up itself thereto, as Adam hath done; but that the soul should mightily rule over it, and therein open the great wonders of God, which from eternity were beheld in the wisdom of God; for the third dominion is generated and created out of the first; and the second dominion should continue in its own place (in the noble tincture) in paradise, and should open the great wonders in the third: And therefore man was made lord over all things; he had the tincture [or life] of the earth in his own hand [or power], and gold and silver were as easy for him to find as any other visible thing: The tincture of the earth was his ornament and sport, altogether child-like, without covetousness; he needed no other clothing; and as the gold was pure without dross so was his child-like mind also.

48. But the devil awakened unto him the sulphur [or gross matter] therein, and hath set the bestial spirit in the superior dominion in him; that which man should have ruled over, ruleth over him, and that is his Fall.

49. Thus now the devil hath gotten power, inasmuch as the outward dominion is generated out of the inward, [viz. the centre of nature], and that he dwelleth in the most innermost, and so he slideth out of the innermost into the outermost, and kindleth the outermost in the mind; from whence arise false lusts and inclinations, and evil concupiscence, so that two dominions [viz. the inward and the outward] strive against the soul; and so the poor soul is in the midst between the dominion of this world, and the dominion of the hellish source [or quality], and there it standeth before the gate of heaven, in a very great deep, in great danger; its root is the anger of God and hell-fire; and its superior or predominant spirit is the dominion of this world; and there it standeth in the tincture of the fire, in the midst; and whithersoever it inclineth, thither it entereth; if it goeth into the lust and pleasure of this world, then it standeth therein, and is captivated by the devil; but if it entereth into itself inwards into God, then the devil will buffet it, for then it is in his country.

50. But when it getteth the flesh of Christ for a new body, then it is not in his country: that is a tree before him, which is poison and death to him: at which he is vexed, and loath to touch it: But he stirreth up his servants and ministers against the outward body, that must bear re- proach and scorn, that thereby he may cover and hide this tree, that it may not be known; else it might bring forth more branches, whereupon at last hell would be too narrow for him; therefore he will prevent it as long as he can.

51. And so now, when the poor soul breaketh away from him, and with its dear bridegroom Christ turneth to the love of God, so that through earnest Repentance and turning into God, it entereth into the will of God; yet then the devil hath seven cords still, with each of which he holdeth it fast, before he will let it go; and then it must get itself through all the seven, and leave his cords wholly to himself.

[These seven bands are the seven spirits of nature hereafter mentioned.]

52. And eighthly, it must go through the fire, and there is the earnest severe proba, or hard trial; and when it is come through, it getteth the heavenly tincture in the ninth number: and in the tenth number, upon the cross, it getteth the body of Christ, and so is an angel in heaven, and a stranger and pilgrim upon earth, in this tabernacle.

53. The seven snares wherewith it is entangled, are the seven spirits of the outward nature of the dominion of this world: these it must wind through, and press quite through them, and cast them all behind it; and in the eighth number standeth Moses, with his Law; and there is first read to the soul, what a fine fowl it was; and there cometh the devil with his register or catalogue, and readeth what it is, and sheweth his right to it: and there it is directed to bow down and lay hold on the wounds and passion of Christ: and here it is necessary that the poor soul take hold on the merits and death of Christ, and wrap itself fast therein, for out of these swaddling bands the devil cannot pull the soul; nay, he dare not touch them: and here the devil must leave the soul, for Christ standeth in the fire of the Father's anger, and is the accomplishment of obedience; and there the soul is brought into the ninth form, into the tincture of the eternal life: and there it is surrounded with the Majesty of God; and the fair blessed virgin (the wisdom of God) meeteth it with her garland of pearls, and crowneth the soul as a heavenly conqueror.

54. What joy is here to the angels of God, and what joy the soul attaineth there, we have no pen to describe it, nor in this world any tongue to express i t; only we wish to the Reader, and all men, that they might themselves have experience of it, for which cause we set about this writing with much toil and deep labour.

55. For we write what we ourselves have known, and have seen with spiritual eyes; we speak it not to our own boasting, but that the Reader may know, that if he will follow us, what he is to expect from it; seeing he perceiveth how the world maketh a gazing stock of the children of God: But we shall after this short life have full recompense; and moreover, this garland is more delicious than this whole world: and though it be often covered and hidden from us, yet it dieth not.

56. For as the rough winter hideth the budding and flourishing of the earth, so that reason saith, All is dead; but when the spring cometh, then it beginneth to bud and blossom again; so also it is with the noble and fair garland of Christ; when that springeth again, then it produceth lilies without number; and every spring, when the mind is renewed in Christ, it multiplieth tenfold.

Of the Company and Assistance of the Holy Angels.

57. As we that are men in this world, if we be the children of God, assist and help one another in necessity and distress, and readily deliver one another from misery and trouble; thus also it is in heaven, concerning the children of God, while the soul belongeth to the fellowship of angels; they affect the company of honest, virtuous, and chaste men, that fear God, and stand by them in necessity: for the Scripture saith, They are all ministering spirits, sent forth for the service of those that are to inherit the kingdom of God. They often avert the fiery darts of wickedness: what mischief would the devil often do, if he were not opposed and hindered by the throne-princes of the legions! How often would he terrify and cast men down headlong to the ground!

58. But the angels are our servants and keepers, if we be Christians, and not beasts; though indeed the devil setteth upon Christians most of all; how very often would many be drowned and killed by a fall, who yet receive wonderful deliverance from angels: they are ready about people, who sing and speak of God; they have great delight among little infants, so that they many times manifest themselves to an infant, and play with it, if it be the child of God.

59. How many examples are there in the Scripture, of the angels leading and conducting the children of God; especially the example of Tobiah: though our school-rabbis will rather have it cast out of the Bible [than believe it]: but consider of the three angels with Abraham, and the two angels with Lot: also how they have plainly foretold and declared the conception of highly worthy men, [as of Isaac, Jacob, Samuel, Samson, etc.] especially of John [the Baptist], and of CHRIST: consider what was done at his birth, [to the shepherds in the field] and to the wisemen [ Or Magi] of the east: and at length to Joseph [how he was directed] to go with Mary and the Babe into Egypt: whereby we may sufficiently perceive their great carefulness about us; for they are God's ministers; he sendeth them to conduct us [through this valley of misery, through this world of thistles and thorns], and to defend us from the devil: O how great joy they have for one poor soul, when it is delivered from the snares of the devil, yea, more than for ninety-nine righteous, as Christ saith.

60. Therefore we should not so suddenly despair in adversity, when we are in necessity; when often suppose that the whole world is against us, yet the choir or host of angels, and the spirit of God, are with us; it is often with us as with the Canaanitish woman, so that we cannot find the countenance of God; but we must wait for the proof, and trial must pass over the soul; the more gold is purified, the finer it is; so also the soul, the more it is brought into trial, if it holds out, the fairer and brighter it is: and God's aim is to have fair and lovely children, and such as are of understanding, and learn to discover [the deceits of] the old devil.

61. But you must know that the angels are very pure, chaste, modest spirits, also humble and friendly, and are like to infants who know of no deceit or iniquity, but what is innate in them.

62. Now, whosoever will enjoy the company and assistance of angels must not be a lustful bull or heifer, or a lascivious wanton Venus, or have a false wicked mind, which day and night studieth nothing but cunning tricks and deceit, how to get money and wealth: neither must always dabble and swim in the world's back-biting, scoffing jests and conceits, and tickle and feed the soul with them, in which the world useth to provoke one another, and to take exceptions one at another: No, no angel will stay with such men, but the black devil, who possesseth the hearts of these men, so that they take pleasure in wickedness.

63. Whosoever will have the assistance of angels need not call upon them, or pray to them; for they accept not of that honour, they give all honour to God; but [he] ought only to turn away from uncleanness of heart and enter through true Repentance into God's will, and continually put away evil thoughts and influences; he must continually incline his will to God [and goodness], and pray to God for the guidance of his holy Spirit.

64. And though the devil holdeth fast, and will not let go, and layeth open his uncleanness before him; there is no better course to be taken, than to leave all his uncleanness and filthiness upon the devil's neck, and wind himself out from it, in spite of all [carnal] reason, and cast himself in humility into God's will, and commit himself to it, and leave all doubting to the devil (for that is his lodging), and he must consider that it is a great sin to continue in doubting; he should consider that doubting is the devils band wherewith he holdeth the soul fast: When any man's uncleanness meeteth him and representeth itself before him, so that the soul can receive no strength, that is not God's hardening [of the heart], but the devil wrappeth himself about the soul, and will not let the soul come to the light, that it may receive strength and virtue; and there the words and promises of Christ, with his bloodshedding, suffering and death, are a sovereign medicine; when the soul wrappeth itself up in them, and leaveth all its uncleanness upon the devil's neck, that is poison to the devil, which maketh him faint and feeble; and so the soul then presseth forth into the light of God, and receiveth strength and virtue; and there it must earnestly enter into humility, and then it treadeth upon the devil's head, and destroyeth his hell; and then the angels associate with that man, and have great joy that the devil is overcome, who intended to be God and creator in the soul.

65. But a soul in Christ must be a continual warrior, and although the devil cannot get posses- sion of the soul, yet he still holdeth it before the unclean forbidden tree, that it should taste of unchastity, iniquity, lies and deceit, of anger and envy: and if he can bring it to pass that the soul letteth the evil lust and desire kito itself, O how doth he hide and cover it! how doth he strew sugar upon it! And if he should once draw it into Venus's heaven, he will spare no pains to get his fortress again. For the devil is never better at ease than in man, for there he can be lord of this world, and perform his work, and accomplish his will; which he cannot do in the spirit of this world without man; for his kingdom is not in the outward dominion of this world, but in the inward, in the root in the abyss.

66. He can do nothing in this world, in the external [part], unless the turba Magna in the wrath of God be kindled, and there he is busy, especially when the elements are kindled [or inflamed] with tempestuous storms [of thunder and lightning]; and then if the anger of God burneth therein, there he is a busy executioner; if he could ruin the whole world he would do it; but he hath no further room than the fierce wrath in the turba affordeth him; The turba [plague, vengeance and destruction] is his master, he is but a juggler and destroyer, so far as the anger in the turba is kindled.

67. Know also, that the devil often striveth and fighteth with the angels; and when the soul is careless and secure, he setteth upon it strongly: but he is held off, that he cannot do what he will; but so soon as the soul imagineth, and is captivated by the lust, [like Adam and Eve], then the devil overcometh; but then again so soon as the soul casteth away that evil lust, [and entereth into repentance], then he is driven away by the angels.

68. And there is a continual strife about the soul of man; God desireth to have it; the devil also would have it; and the cause of this is, that the two kingdoms part in the cross: the one is the love of God, the kingdom in Ternario Sancto, viz. the angelical one: and the other is the fierce wrath out of the centre of nature, which is the anger and severity [or sharpness] of God.

69. And therefore it is that God manifesteth his will to us, and setteth before man light and darkness; he may endeavour after which he will: And that we might know that God would have the soul into his holy kingdom, he affordeth us teaching and instruction, and sheweth us the way to life [or light]; he stirreth up by his spirit highly worthy teachers, who are the light of the world, that men might beware of his anger and fierce wrath, and not awaken it in themselves.

70. For the anger must indeed be in every life, [as the gall in living creatures]; but where the love and meekness prevail over it, it is not manifested in eternity, but is only a cause of the life; for in the love, the anger maketh great exulting joy and paradise. The anger [or Mars] in the kingdom of God is the great wondrous joy, where nothing of the anger is perceived. As weeping and laughing come from one place, and the weeping is turned into joy; after such a manner is it with the love and anger of God.

71. Therefore it is, that Christ so earnestly teacheth us love, humility, and mercifulness; and the cause why God is become man, is for our salvation and happiness sake, that we should not turn back from his love: God hath spent his heart that we might be his children, and remain so eternally; when there was no remedy, neither in heaven nor in this world, then he moved himself for man's sake, that he might be delivered from the devil, and from his anger [into which he was fallen in Adam],

72. Therefore, dearly beloved children, do not so reject and cast from you the love and grace of God, else you will lament it in eternity; for after this time [of the temporary life] there is no more remedy or help. Pray learn divine wisdom; and learn to know what God is; and do not imagine or set any image of any thing before you, thinking God to be an image any way but in Christ: We live and are in God, we are of his [essence or] substance [or being]: We have heaven and hell in ourselves. What we make of ourselves, that we are: If we make of ourselves an angel in the light and love of God in Christ, we are so; but if we make of ourselves a fierce, angry, false and wicked, haughty, flying devil, which flieth aloft above all love and meekness, in mere covetousness, greedy hunger and thirst, then also we are so; for after this life, it is otherwise with us there than here; what the soul here embraceth, that it hath there; and so, though the outward breaketh in death, yet the will retaineth that embraced thing in its source [or property,] and that is its sus- tenance; but how that will subsist before the paradisical source and dominion of God, and before his angels, you yourself may consider: We would have it faithfully set before you [for a warning], as it is given to us [for that purpose].

THE FIFTEENTH CHAPTER

Of the mixed World, and its wickedness, as it now standeth, and as it exerciseth its Dominion at present. A Glass wherein Every one may see himself; and may try what Spirit's Child he is; out of the Seal of the Wonders.

1. CHRIST saith, Matth. 23. O Jerusalem,

Jerusalem! How often would I have gathered thy children together as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and you would not: O Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, etc. Also, We have piped unto you, and you have not danced, etc. What should I do more to this stiff-necked people, who will not suffer my spirit to reprove them? Also, Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; the poison of adders is under their lips; they speak mere deceit, and their hearts are never at unity. O how fain would I eat of the best grapes; but I am as a vine-dresser that gleaneth: I had planted me a vineyard, but it bringeth forth nothing but sour grapes: I am become strange to my mother's children: They which eat at my table, tread me underfoot.

2. Thus the mother then complained of the wicked children of men; but what shall she now do in these present times? She standeth yet in great sorrow and lamentation, and hath turned away her countenance from those wicked children, and will not have any of them that are in that garment: [ Of filthy wickedness] She crieth, and none heareth: She standeth in great mourning and lamentation over the wickedness of those false unruly and perverse children: Every one runneth after the covetous whore, who is full of blasphemies, and abominations; both the shepherd [pastor] and the sheep [people] do so: It is a most lamentable time, and if it should not be shortened, no man should be saved.

3. It is a time which all the prophets have prophesied of, and thou supposest it to be a golden time; but consider thyself, thou blind man, whither art thou gone? Dost thou suppose that this wickedness and falsehood which thou practisest is the ordinance of God? Wait but a while, and you will soon see. It is the time of the last seal, wherein the anger of God hath poured forth its vials, so that the wonders of hell come to light [that they may be known]. Let this be told you, we have known it in Ternario Sancto; [or understood it in the angelical world, in the heavenly substantiality].

4. For the mother hath rejected it, and will have none of those abominations any more: She is big with child, and bringeth forth a son in her old age, which shorteneth the days of wickedness. Let this be told you; whosoever persevereth and goeth on in wickedness, shall have great shame thereof.

5. Is not the little boy (which runneth up and down in his childish sport) very full of the poison, venom, and wickedness of the devil? And do not all vices and abominations stick in him? He is a scorner, and blasphemer of God, a swearer, curser, liar and deceiver, very fit and apt to serve the devil in all manner of shameful filthiness: Scurrility and obsceneness are his best Latin and eloquence, he knoweth how to mock, disgrace, and lay all manner of aspersions upon the simple: All manner of thievery, cheating tricks and cozenage, are fine arts with him: Deceit, over-reaching, and circumvention, are his glorious boasting: They mock and deride poor people without any cause: He that feareth God is by them accounted a fool, and set as an owl to be wondered at. This, parents and ancient people see, and take delight and pleasure in it, that their children are so dexterous and witty in their wantonness and waggery: They are tickled at the heart with it when they unhappily jest at honest people; that which old folks dare not do for shame, that they teach the children, that thereby the lust of their hearts may be brought to pass: All this the devil teacheth them, and so rideth in their hearts as lord over body and soul.

6. If any can but cozen and cheat his neighbour, despise, slander, and find fault with him, and bereave him of his honour and goods, these are the satisfying of their lusts: All immodest wanton words and manners are held the best art and courtship: He that can laugh and jeer his neighbour out of countenance, is master upon the place: All these are devil's pranks and tricks; and thus he leadeth the poor soul in his string, and man understandeth it not.

7. Youth, both of the male and female sex, learn first the devil's trade before they take any thing else in hand: Disdainful malicious wantonness is the first work they learn; and the parents encourage their children in it, and hold it for a necessary worldly fashionable accomplishment.

8. When they are grown up a little, then the desire of bestial unchastity is the second work they learn, which they call a trick of youth, and allure one another to it: Thus youths give room to the devil, at the first blossoming, to enter into the heart, so that the devil maketh his nest therein, and so catcheth one with the abominations of another, the male with the female, and the female with the male.

9. If any one send a son to the university to learn somewhat that is good, that he may be serviceable to God, and useful in the world; then he learneth wantonness, bravery, pride, subtlety, how to deceive the simple of their own, and bereave them of their sweat, and contrive a cloak for it, saying, it is his right by law; but that cloak is the devil's, and the false deceitful heart is his minister. If he can speak a little Latin, or foreign language, then no simple man is good enough for his company: His high-mindedness flies aloft, the stinking carcase [which is but meat for worms] must be trimmed with ribands and baubles; to go a-whoring, and deflowering maids, is courtship: There are people that can behave themselves so finely, till they awaken the gnawing worm of conscience in the heart of many a mother's daughter.

10. And such are advanced in the churches and universities, and set up for shepherds [pastorsor ministers] of Christ, and yet they have the devil lodging in their heart; and so also they are promoted to worldly government [or the civil magistracy], and then they govern as their guest in their heart will have it: Thus the superior, or magistrate, worketh the greatest abominations, and the inferior learneth of him: He inventeth tricks how he may, with the appearance of law, justice, and equity, get the goods or estate of the inferior to himself: He maketh constitutions, orders, and statutes, and saith they are for the public good: He constraineth the poor and miserable to do hard service, that he may satisfy his pride and state: He crusheth the simple with harsh, cruel language, he taketh away his sweat, and tormenteth his body: He maketh him his very slave, and though he hath no more but one soul of his own, [no more than others], and is but a stranger and pilgrim in this world, [yet he thinks] the needy must spend his sweat wholly in his service; there is no pity nor release to be had from him: his dog hath a better life than the poor needy soul under his roof, and this he accounteth his right and prerogative; whereas it is not at all grounded in nature, but only in the abyss, where one form or property plagueth, vexeth, and tormenteth the other, where the life is its own enemy; [and there it is grounded].

11. This the inferior learneth from the superior, and so getteth his living also with subtlety and deceit, covetousness and knavery; for, if he doth not use these things, he can hardly fill his belly in righteousness; and therefore reason persuadeth him that necessity forceth him, that he must enhance his labour and commodities, and must wrest from his neighbour his sweat again, without love and righteousness, that he may but fill his belly: He leameth from his superior to gormandize and pamper his body, and live a bestial life. What the superior spendeth in a courtly stately fashion, that the inferior spendeth in a beastly, swinish fashion, and manner of life: Thus one wickedness effecteth another, and the devil remaineth prince on earth over body and soul.

12. How wilt thou be able to subsist, when God in his zeal or jealousy shall judge the secrets of mankind, when the cause of every thing will appear, why that or the other thing came to be evil? And there every soul will cry out of those that lead it astray, and curse them: Every thing will have its cause appear before it, and the soul will feel it in its conscience: Where then will you, superior, remain, when your inferior shall cry out and say, Woe be to you, in that you have forced him to such wicked courses, and that you have bereaved him of his sweat, and consumed his goods and labours in idleness and wantonness? How will you give an account of your office, into which you are put, wherein you should stop unrighteousness, and hold the wicked in awe by reproof and punishment? And you have not regarded his wicked courses, that you might prevent and hinder them, but have only looked after your covetousness, how you might bereave him of his sweat: You have not sought his soul's good, but his sweat and labour: He might else do what he would: And besides, you have given an evil example to him, so that he hath looked upon your courses, and made them his pattern. Cursing, blaspheming,

threatening, daring surliness [provocations], have been your fashion, and that he hath learnt of you, and hath so constantly reproached the name of God, which you have not regarded; you have only looked after, his money, and not after his soul.

13. And now, when the severe judgment of God shall appear, and that every work shall be manifested in the fiery essences, where then all shall be tried in the fire, what think you? Shall not all such works remain in the eternal fire? And there will the poor soul cry out upon your ungodly cursed deeds, words and works: And one will curse and wish all evil to the other, for being the cause of such evil to him, and the source and property of falsehood and wickedness will rise up in the soul, and gnaw it, that, for so short and empty vanity, voluptuousness and false lust, it hath fooled away such great eternal glory.

14. All manner of reproaches, all slanders, all scoflings, all covetousness, pride, and deceit shall rise up in the soul, and one source [or property] shall continually kindle and gnaw the other, which hath given cause to the stirring up of the other, and the soul will think, if these abominations were not in thee, thou mightest attain grace; and when it shall behold and consider itself, it will find how one abomination hath generated another, and will see that itself is a mere stinking abomination in the presence of God; and there it will cast itself down in the source of anguish, into the centre of nature, and curse God, that he hath made it a soul; and the deeper it desireth to plunge itself, the deeper it falleth, and yet must continue in the place of its abominations: It cannot go from thence, for the hellish matrix holdeth it, and it must thus feed itself with anguish, cursing, abominations, and bitterness, and even with that which its heart hath done here [in this life], wherein at length it despaireth, and that is its eternal food.

15. All earthly food and lust passeth away at the end of days, and returneth again into the ether; but the will remaineth standing eternally, and the desire in the will.

16. Therefore, you parents and children, you superiors and inferiors, observe, you have filled the mother of nature full with abominations, the fierce anger of God is at hand, the Last Judgment is at the door, God will purge the earth with fire, and give every one his wages: The harvest cometh, this garment will remain no longer, every thing will be gathered into its barn: He that will not take counsel, let him take his course; he will find by woeful experience what the seventh seal at the centre bringeth with it.

17. When reason looketh all about and considered, it saith, I see not yet that it is otherwise than it was in former times: Moreover, the world was always good and bad, as histories relate: Also, a man must take such courses, else he will be accounted a fool and an owl in the world, and must starve and perish for hunger.

18. If I do not give my children leave to learn the manners and fashions of the world, then they would be despised and scorned of every body: And if I myself did not carry it out with state, loftiness, and stoutness, I should not be regarded: And if I must have credit, I must use some cunning to get it; for with truth, love, and righteousness, I shall not attain it: I must therefore do as other people do, and then I may be able to live amongst them: Must I needs be made the fool of all the world? Though indeed I commit sin, yet God is gracious and merciful; and hath not Christ slain sin and death on the cross, and taken away the power of the devil? I shall one day repent well enough, and be saved.

19. This is the rule of the world which the superior and inferior go by; also the shepherd [ pastor] and the sheep: Christ's sufferings must be a cover for their wickedness: Every one will be a Christian under the cover of Christ, when the poor soul sitteth a-whoring with the devil: If one do but say with the mouth he is a Christian, and yet cover his wickedness with the purple mantle of Christ, all is well: Thus we are brave lip- Christians under the mantle of Christ; but in the heart we have the Antichristian whore sitting as a guest.

20. O you false shepherds of Christ, who go into the sheepfold at your thievish back-door, why do you cover your wickedness with Christ's sufferings and death? Do you think Christ was wicked? Seek the centre of nature, and shew people the abyss that is in their heart: Shew them the snares of the devil, wherewith we lie bound, that they may not esteem cursed worldly things; but that they may learn to strive against flesh and blood, against the devil, and against the hypocritical life and conversation, that they may go forth from the devil's high-mindedness into righteousness, into love and humility.

21. The suffering of Christ is profitable to none, unless they turn from their false evil purposes, and repent, and enter into the covenant of God; and to these it is very effectual. The hypocrites use this for a show, and that they may be called Christians; but thereby they take the name of God in vain, and must give a strict account thereof.

22. O you Antichristian shepherds of the new order [ordination], who use the suffering of Christ with false hypocrisy to please men, for their favour, and for your idol the belly's sake, to cover over the hypocrite and false deceiver, who is but a show- Christian: How will you be able to answer it, when Christ will require his sheep at your hands, and you have wittingly and willingly, under his purple mantle, covered wolves, in whom the devil dwelleth? Why do you not crack the nut-shell, wherein the kernel and heart lieth, and tell the superior as well as the inferior of his abominations? Are you Christ's shepherds? Why do you not then as Christ did, who set the truth before the eyes of every one? He reproved and healed, not for man's favour and respect, but according to the will of his Father; and so ought Christ's shepherds to do also.

23. O dear reason, thou walkest wisely in the paths of this world, in what concerneth the outward body: But where lieth the poor soul? The soul is not at home in this body, that is not its eternal native country. What will it avail thee to enjoy pleasure for a little while, with eternal shame and torment? Or, why dost thou suffer thy children to have their wills to follow fashions and finery, for a little while in this world, and takest delight therein when they scorn the miserable and the needy, and shalt lose them hereafter eternally? Thou thinkest thou lovest them, and dost well for them: When the world commends their cunning and bravery, falsehood and wickedness, that commendation delighteth thee, but the devil accepteth and receiveth it as belonging to him, and thou art the murderer of thy children: Thou art their greatest enemy; for children look upon their parents, and when their untoward tricks please their parents, then they follow them the more, and grow the more audacious in them. At the Last Judgment-day they will cry out of their parents, that they have not rebuked their wantonness and ungodly life, and brought them up in modesty and in the fear of God.

24. If you love your life, and your children, then lose them as to the wickedness of this world, that they may not be nor converse therein; and then you shall find them, together with your life, in heaven again; as Christ teacheth us, saying, He that loveth his life shall lose it; but he that loseth his life, goods and honour, for my sake, shall find it in the kingdom of heaven: Also, When the world despiseth, persecuteth, and hateth you for my sake, then rejoice, for your recompense is great in the kingdom of heaven. Also, What will it profit a man to have all temporal honour and pleasure, and lose his own soul? Whereas this life continueth but for a moment, in comparison of the eternity.

25. Dear children in Christ, let every one have a care in what soil he groweth: You must not expect any better time of life to repent in; but to-day, while the voice of God soundeth, let every one enter into himself, and search himself, let none regard the broad way of this world, for it leadeth into the abyss to all devils; but the way to the kingdom of heaven is very narrow and strait: He that will set into it, must not defer nor linger out the time till the devil barreth up the door: He must not regard the course of the world, he must go directly into himself, and seek himself: The time will come that he will think that he is alone in this way, but God hath always his seven thousand with Elijah, whom he knoweth not of.

26. For a sincere Christian doth not wholly know himself, he seeth nothing but his vices, in which the devil striveth against him, they are continually before him; but in this world he knoweth not his sanctity [or holiness]; for Christ hideth such people under his cross, so that the devil doth not see them. Therefore be watchful and sober, and resist the subtle devil, that you may live eternally.

THE SIXTEENTH CHAPTER

Of Praying and Fasting, and due Preparation to the Kingdom of God. What Praying is, and bringeth to Effect: What the Power of it is, and what the final use and benefit of it is.

1. FOR the instruction and comfort of the sincere simple Christianity, and for a constant awakening of ourselves, that we might be found worthy to hear the voice of the noble bridegroom, who calleth his bride, and will bring her home!

A very lovely Gate.

2. A hungry spirit that is weary and faint, is desirous of the still meekness and rest, that it may go forth from the source [force or power] of the driver, and may satiate itself with meekness and stillness, and so with that which is the desire of its life, whereby it may sustain its body.

3. Thus, my dearly beloved mind, thou art generated out of the eternal still meekness, and wert (before the time of this world) in the wisdom of God, [in the eternal virgin]; the meekness of the love of God was thy source [or property], and thou wast a fruitful rain in thy still eternal mother [the eternal nature], where thou wast not yet created a spirit: Consider thyself, how great unquietness thou art now in: Thou art immeasurably hungry, thou always thirsteth after the food, and source [or property] of thy mother: O that the time of refreshment were come! This doth the poor soul wish and pant after: One day crieth to another, the morning crieth to the evening, and the night longeth after the day, and there is no place nor rest (from the driver [persecutor, tormentor]) for the poor soul, the driver taketh hold of its very throat; and though it hideth itself, yet it findeth no place nor rest free from the source [or property] of its driver: He driveth it further and further, till it findeth the bosom of its mother, where it layeth down itself, and is as one that is escaped in a great battle, who dareth not lift up his head for fear of the enemy.

4. My dear children in Christ, and all you that have given up yourselves in Christ, to the kingdom of heaven, you elect in Christ; thus it is with our souls: Our souls stick in such great unquietness; and as it is with a soldier in a fight, who is continually in expectation of death, where the enemies press upon him on every side, and strike at him, and continually desire his death; or, as it is with one that is fallen into a deep sea, and swimmeth there, and seeth no shore, and continually expecteth death, where the water goeth into his mouth, who sigheth and desireth help from above; or, like one that is falling into a deep pit, where no help is discerned, who also expecteth help from above.

5. So it is also with the poor soul, it is fallen into a dark dungeon, and swimmeth in a dangerous and deep water, where it is encompassed with enemies on every side, who all strike at it: Every one would murder it, and it seeth no help about it; if it searcheth through its body, through its flesh and blood, also through marrow and bones, it findeth they all are its enemies, which leadeth it into the abyss.

6. The spirit of this world (in flesh and blood) draweth it, and boweth it down to the ground, in the deep of the waters, and continually desireth to drown it; for it would only maintain and pamper the bestial life.

7. So also the devil draweth it mightily down into the abyss, and would fain throw it into the eternal aching source [or torment] of hell; and if it resist, he striketh at it with the anguish of hell, that it should despair, and throw itself into the abyss; and there it hath no helper with it, nor about it, nor can it discover any to appear, till it raise itself upwards into the love and mercy of God, where then it must leave and forsake all whatsoever is in its house, and must wind quite through from it, as a spirit without substance; that is, it must go forth with its will from all its thoughts, and out from all its mind, into the mercy of God, into the first original mother [eternal nature], where it was only a seed before the creation of the world.

8. And when it cometh thither, it findeth that the same Word which created it, is become man; into which it casteth itself, and eateth of that humanity, as of a pure and new body, in which there is no source [or property] of enmity, but only a meek, pure, desirous love; and there its will is accepted [or received] of God, and the Holy Ghost entereth into its will, and bringeth to the poor captive soul heavenly refreshment and comfort, so that it feedeth on the flesh of the eternal Word of its original mother, and drinketh of the water of eternal life, wherein, before the world, it was only a seed.

9. There it findeth the place of its rest, and cooleth its flames therewith, and resteth in the bosom of its mother, for it entereth into the land of the living, and the Holy Ghost leadeth it out of prison, and it eateth at God's table, and sitteth among the children of love [God's love]. O how humble it is, that the Holy Ghost hath delivered it from the strife of battle! and then God hath a true, obedient, and humble child of it. And thus it is with the souls which press forth out of this sea of misery into God, or which with the deliverance from the earthly life enter into God, and so are released from the driver [the devil].

10. Since therefore it is certainly thus, and that we have found out the way, we will speak what we know, and testify the truth: For Christ saith; My Father will [or desires to] give the Holy Ghost to them that ask him for it: No son asketh the Father for an egg, and he qffereth him a scorpion instead of it: or for bread, and he giveth him a stone; or for fish, and he giveth him a serpent: Ask and ye shall receive, knock and it shall be opened unto you, saith Christ.

11. When the heart and mind, and all the senses or thoughts; resolve into a will and purpose, that the soul will enter into the mercy of God, and repent of its misdeeds, and is resolved to seek after love and mercy, then it is said, Before they call, I have heard them; as may be seen by Daniel, when the angel said to him, When thou chastisedst thyself, and didst intend to pray for thine own sins, and the sins of the people, I brought thy prayer before God, and this command went forth. Read the history of Tobiah, what praying and fasting, and due preparation for the kingdom of God, are able to effect: briefly, the whole scripture is full of such examples.

12. Consider the prayer of Christ; how his human soul in God the Father called, and awakened the Verbum Domini in him, when he would do great wonders [or miracles]; especially about Lazarus, whom he raised from the dead: then he sighed to his Father, and awakened the centre of nature, and the Word in the centre of nature on the cross of the Number Three: There the Holy Ghost, and the Word which the Holy Ghost then awakened, went forth in his soul: and then the soul of Christ thanked his Father who had heard him, and said in the power of the Word to dead Lazarus, Lazarus, come forth; and there they saw the power of the Word in the soul, that the dead must arise; which power the soul of Christ had opened and awakened with his knocking.

13. You must know that Lazarus was awakened from within; and we shall all at the last day hear the voice of God from within, in the centre of the soul: for the Word, with the Number Three, dwelleth within it, in the centre on the cross, and that soundeth forth outwards, and raiseth up the body of the essences: For the souls of men are all, as it were, one soul; for they are all propagated out of one only soul; and therefore they will all hear the voice of the human soul in Christ, and arise with their bodies.

14. So, then, when we pray to God, God heareth our souls in the centre in ourselves; that is, the soul presseth forth with its repenting will, out of the centre of anguish, out of the abyss of hell, and also out of the spirit of this world, into the second Principle, into God, which is also in the soul; for all the Three Principles are in the soul, viz. the two eternal, and the corruptible, which maketh the death of this world.

15. Understand us accurately, according to its high worth, thus; God the Father moveth not himself [when thou prayest], the Holy Ghost only moveth himself: though that indeed availeth us not either. But the Word which hath created our soul is become man, and that hath the Holy Ghost in it, and he goeth forth from the Father in the Word, and meeteth the calling mind and will, and openeth himself from within outwards into the soul: For the outward bestial body is not worthy of the Holy Ghost, that he should open himself in it; though sometimes it happened so to the saints, that he went forth of the soul into the outward Principle; and then the body triumpheth, and for very joy knoweth not what is happened to it: but in the new body of the soul in Christ, when the soul attaineth the body of Christ, in that the Holy Ghost dwelleth.

16. And so when the devil cometh, and will set upon the soul from beneath, in the first Principle, in the centre of the first four forms to the source of the fire, then the will of the soul presseth into the flesh of Christ, into the second Principle, inwards into itself, and there it is refreshed and released, and the devil must go down; for that life doth not relish with him: yet he is so furious, that he setteth upon the soul, so often as he perceiveth it to be secure and careless, or never so little burdeneth itself with falsehood and wickedness: he always seeketh an opportunity wherein he might find his nest open [for him].

17. Therefore, dear children, when ye pray, think not that God dwelleth afar off from you, and so neither heareth you, nor seeth you; that is a false conceit and opinion. Indeed those, who will not enter into God, those that stick fast in their malice and iniquity, and retain wickedness in their soul, those indeed are not heard. He that crieth to God, that he would outwardly accept his words from him, and yet retaineth the evil one in his soul, he mocketh God: God dwelleth not outwardly; for the outward is the bestial starry spirit: he dwelleth inwardly in himself; the outward substance is only a figure and similitude of God: Indeed it is of God, and generated out of the inward centre, and expressed [or spoken forth] through the Verbum fiat: but it is not the substance of the Number Three, which is a substance and spirit in the Trinity, above nature, and yet dwelleth in nature in itself; incomprehensible to nature, as the wind and the light are not comprehended by the fire, and yet are the spirit, brightness, and life of the fire.

18. Therefore, when you will pray, put away the abominations out of your soul, and enter into yourself; that is, you must loathe the abominations, and frame a will and purpose in your soul, that you will not let such abominations unto you any more; also you must not suffer your will to stick in any abomination and despair; for when you despair, you sink yourself down into the abyss.

19. But consider, that it is the dear will and pleasure of God, that you press earnestly and strongly through, and leave the abominations to the devil upon his neck, and come very humbly, praying as a sinful child to God: he is the Father of the lost son, you have vainly rioted and spent your beauty and righteousness with the devil, and with the Antichristian whore, you are amongst the swine at Babel; and having lost your goods you eat grains and husks with the swine; you are naked and torn, and are not worthy to be called his son: Consider and imagine this in yourself, for it is true, and so come with true conversion out of the filth and mire of the swine to our ancient loving Father, and pray for his grace and favour, that he would but make thee as one of his hired servants in his court: acknowledge to him thy evil deeds, and that thou art not worthy to be called his son. Behold, dear soul, observe it, it is the very precious truth.

20. When you thus enter into yourself, and search out your abominations, and the husks of the devil, and of the world, which you have so long devoured, and consider of God and his mercy, then turn not again into the hogsty; and say not, I am ashamed to come before my good old Father; I dare not come into his sight, for great shame and abomination; for I was a glorious son, and now am a naked swineherd; but consider that your Father taketh more care about you who are his lost prodigal son, than you do about his favour and love, which you have wilfully trifled away.

21. Frame but a loving, humble, submissive, obedient will and purpose, and come, come away from the swine, leave the husks to the world, let the swine devour them and feed themselves fat: but enter you into yourself, and knock at your evil heart: break in through the doors and gates: and though all swine cry, and devils should howl for their keeper, yet come you to your Father with any humble demeanour and words, you need not trouble yourself about the adorning of them with accurate eloquence; for though you have no more words than the poor publican, it is no matter, it lieth not in them, but in an earnest constant purpose without ceasing: and though hell should break in pieces, and body and soul part asunder, yet stand still, and go not forth again out of the doors of the Father.

22. For as soon as you will open the door in your soul, and will go out of the mire, towards the ancient Father, that he doth but perceive that it is you his son, and that you are returned to him, then he saith; This is my son which was lost, for whom my heart was troubled, and is entered into the humanity, into this world, and hath sought him, and now I have found him.

23. And there he sendeth the Holy Ghost to meet him, and falleth kindly about his neck, and receiveth him with joy, and for a token of his love, he putteth the seal and the ring of the Holy Trinity, in the suffering and death of Christ, on to the hand of the soul: and there he bringeth the blessed virgin of his wisdom, the new angelical garment (viz. the flesh of Christ) and putteth it on to the soul; and all the servants of God (viz. the holy angels in the house of the Father) must rejoice and be merry with the lost Son; and there the ancient Father slayeth the fatted calf, and feedeth his son at his table (of the heavenly substantiality), with the power and with the flesh of his obedient Son Christ, and giveth him to drink of the water of eternal life, in the blood of Christ, in the first mother, out of which the soul hath been created; and there is joy in heaven among the ninety-nine angels, or holy souls, which are with God, that a dear brother is come into their society.

24. And although the own [invented] works of holiness (viz. the elder son, who hath always been busy at home in the Antichristian house) murmur and grumble at it, (and boasteth of his obedience, labour, and toil, which he had taken in hypocrisy), the Father regardeth not that; the new son pleaseth him better than he that had continued in the house: He thought that he alone was heir, that the kingdom of heaven belonged to him: he had merited it, and hath not gone out of the house; to him belongeth the keys of the treasure; the other is but a swineherd: All this doth not divert the Father, but he is merry with his servants the angels and holy souls, and letteth him that was angry (who would not rejoice with his brother) go down into the wrathful pit of the devil; and he is merry with his children. But seeing the hypocrite is angry, and despiseth the supper of the Father, therefore he doth not taste of the heavenly joy.

25. Hearken, you Roman Pope, and you Roman Emperor, Why are you angry with us poor lost sons in Germany who go into our first true Father? Would he not fain have us? Are you not our brother? Wherefore then do you grumble? Are you Pope in the house? Then have a care that you be the Father's obedient son, and rejoice with the lost son, when he goeth out from Antichrist, to the Father: If you will not do so you must eternally be angry, and shall have no joy with us [once] lost, but [now] again living children, to eternity.

26. O you Antichristian wolf, Why are you angry, when the Father receiveth a swineherd for a dear child, and giveth him the seal-ring, the Mysterium Magnum? Do you think you do right in it? Though indeed you are born of an academy [or from an university], and the swineherds [are born] in the field among the swine, as you account them; yet in them the greatest wonders are awakened [or manifested] above your hypocritical reason: look to it, rule well in the house of your academy; we heard a watchman say, Leave off; The City Babel is fallen: see that you be not taken in Babel: for it burneth in the fire: the Turba Magna will spew it out; there is no other remedy or counsel, but for all to go together with the swineherd to the Father, and pray to him for grace; else you will be fain to try, by woeful experience, what this pen hath written, and out of what spirit it flowed, and was revealed.

27. When Christ drave the devil out of the lunatic that was possessed, his disciples said to him, Master, why could we not drive him out? Then said Christ, This kind doth not go out but by fasting and prayer.

28. Dear children, brethren and sisters, be advised, for the kind love of God the Father in his heart (which for our sakes is become man), hath lifted up himself in the crown of the spirit of this world, and calleth us: It grieveth his mercy that we are fallen home to the wrath of the Turba Magna; he now sendeth you many messengers, and calleth you in their voice, and he will send more unto you: Why do you despise them and kill them? Try them whether their spirit be born of God or no; or whether they seek their own way of their belly in Antichrist: Surely it is time to awake from sleep: No jesting matter will follow: you should not dare to jest so with the keys of the Holy Ghost, and make conclusions of faith, according to your own opinions, tenets and conceits: Faith will not be begotten by conclusions and canons, but is awakened by true sincerity, by being obedient children of Christ.

29. Saint Paul did not say to his disciple, Dispute of the Mysteries of God; but he said, Awaken or stir up the gifts that are in thee: No man's own wit can do it; much less the pride of the high schools [or universities], which yet they cloak with hypocrisy, and hide it under the mantle of the Holy Ghost: Why do you make conclusions about the body and the person of Christ? Have you power and authority to do so? Is it not a Mystery to you? And you understand nothing in it unless you be new born again in Christ; Doth he not say, Behold, I am with you even to the end of the world? Is he with you? Why then do you set yourselves upon his throne, and deny his presence? Are you not Pilate who sentenceth Christ? From whom have you the might and authority to make conclusions and articles? Are you his lords? Then you are not children: have a care you prove not the eldest son in the house, who striveth about the inheritance, and about the power and authority, and yet continueth to be a proud angry murmurer against the Father. Dear children, it availeth nothing to go such a way: Christ said to his disciples, when he drave the devil out of the lunatic that was possessed, which the disciples could not do in their own reason, This kind goeth not out but by fasting and prayer.

30. Dear brethren, you will not [be able to] drive the devil out of us, if you have not Christ with you; your art and conclusions of reason will do nothing else but cause people to go out from God into their own self-will: We must fast and pray, that we fall not into temptation, and into the nets and snares of the devil in our reason: for the devil always holdeth his net before reason, and he that falleth into it, supposeth he is caught in Christ's fishing net: but he is taken in Anti- christ's net: Reason comprehendeth nothing of the kingdom of God but the husk; the virtue and power of it remaineth hidden to reason, unless it be born in God, and then reason goeth forth as a burning fire in the spirit of God; but the spirit letteth it not fly aloft, but boweth it to the earth [in humility], for he knoweth the warrior [Satan] that fighteth against reason.

31. A watchful life is requisite, which is chastened and not overflown with the fleshly voluptuous spirit of this world, and not a life always drunken and full: for as soon as the soul is inflamed with the vigour and power of the earthly spirit, then God's spirit passeth into its own Principle; and the soul is captivated by the spirit of this world, and the devil gaineth an access to it; and then its former wit and understanding (known in God) is changed into outward reason, and then man supposeth still that it is God's spirit.

32. O no friend! the constellation [of the stars within us], which should rest in the spirit of Christ, lusteth also to possess such a heart and soul, where the spirit of God hath been sitting; for every creature longeth after the virtue and power of God: but the constellation, though it come into the temple of God, driveth on its own matters that lie in its power, it knoweth nothing of divine wisdom: it hath a wisdom, and constituteth the spirit of this world: indeed it hath great art and learning: for the earthly and elementary Mysterium Magnum lieth therein: but it hath not the key to the Principle of the liberty of God without and beyond nature; for it hath a beginning and end, and looketh no further; it maketh and seeketh only a hypocritical bestial life.

33. Therefore let us not be proud [stout, surly] and secure, nor rely upon art and learning, much less upon the letter: for the spirit thereof is hidden to us, without the spirit of God: we have the will of God in the Holy Scripture: yet without the spirit of God we have but the husk and the dead word (except God's spirit first awaken the living word in us, that we may understand the letter and the written word); which is plain enough, in that the learned in arts are but learned in the letter, and not learned in God, otherwise they would not contend and wrangle about Christ's honour and doctrine, nor so dispute about the cup of Christ.

34. Though there were a thousand men learned in God, who are born in the spirit of Christ, and were together, and had each of them a special gift and knowledge in God, yet they would all be but one in the root of Christ, and would every one desire only the love of God in Christ: What disciple or scholar will exalt himself above his master? We are one body in Christ, why then should one member contend with the other about the food? When the desirous mouth feedeth, then all the members receive strength and virtue; every member hath its own office or work in opening the wonders of God: we do not all bring one and the same words, but one spirit in Christ, every one hath that which is his own imparted to him, what he shall open in God, that the great mysteries of God may be made manifest, and the wonders which have been foreseen from eternity in his wisdom might be revealed: to which end the soul was created of God.

35. I know, and the spirit sheweth it to me, that thou, Antichristian sophister, wilt object against me, that even among the Apostles there hath been strife and contention about the words of Christ: It is true indeed, and it was Satan's masterpiece to sift Christ's disciples, and the disciples of those disciples, so soon as they became secure: for they were men as well as we, and one was stronger in spirit than another, according as they did search [or examine] themselves, and raise up themselves in God: for they lived among evil men, and many times must apply themselves to the world, and must give the weak milk to drink, at which others many times stumbled in their reason, and grew hot and zealous, and reproved one another for it; as may be seen about Cornelius, when Peter went in to the heathens, and the other Apostles supposed that the kingdom of God belonged only to Israel.

36. But you are to know, that the love of God is so humble [pliable], that when it hath kindled the soul itself, itself is subject to the soul; but no soul will enjoy that, but those that are humbled in the love of God, and constantly go forth from their desires, that the spirit of God may live in them, and that they may have an eye unto him: the soul is permitted to be zealous, but it doth better to live in meekness, in which it entereth into the Majesty [of God], and is a totally beloved child; what doth it avail me that I pour out fire upon my brother, and so burn myself therein? It is more blessed to continue under the cross in patience and in meekness, than to bring fire from heaven.

37. Christ is come to seek and to save that which was lost; not to awaken his anger against us, but that he might help us out of the jaws of the devil; and hath regenerated us in himself to be a living creature in God, and hath brought us quite through the fire of his Father's anger. He hath broken the bands, that we might follow him in love and meekness, as children should follow their parents: Therefore he teacheth us faithfully what we should do, and how we should pray.

[Of the Lord's Prayer.]

38. The prayer which he hath taught us is an instruction and teaching of all whatsoever we should do and leave undone; and what we should ask and expect from God: and is always rightly to be understood according to the Three Principles, which we will here make a short introduction to, though it cannot be confined or concluded, for the spirit in the prayer comprehendeth in it the whole eternity, also nature and every thing; so that no tongue can sufficiently expound it. The more it is considered, the more is found in it. Yet we will venture upon it, and give the reader an introduction; not to tie or limit the spirit: for it riseth up in every one's soul, as virtue and power is given from the wonders of God. And so it is also with the Gospel, that is not tied to any exposition: The more any search into it, the more they find therein: for the spirit of God itself teacheth us to pray aright, and also presenteth us to God. For we know not what we should say; our whole business of praying and conversion consisteth only in the will and purpose that we give ourselves up into God; God the Holy Ghost himself maketh the springing and growing up through himself in God, he driveth forth the blossom of the new body of the soul, out from the divine centre forth through the soul, so that the fruit of eternal life springeth forth out of the soul's body, with many branches and fair fruit, and standeth as a glorious tree in the kingdom of God; so that when we pray our soul eateth of many heavenly fruits, which are all grown out of the body of the soul as out of a heavenly soil or ground: and the soul eateth of them again in prayer, and they are its food on the table of God: Thus it eateth ex verbo Domini, of the Word of the Lord; concerning which Christ saith; Man liveth not by bread only, but by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

39. The Lord's Prayer affordeth a very high and excellent understanding in the language of nature: for it expresseth the eternal birth, also all the three Principles, also the lamentable Fall of man, and sheweth him the Regeneration in Christ: it sheweth him what he should do, and how he should behave himself, that he may come again into the divine union; and sheweth him how kindly the spirit of God meeteth him.

40. But because it is hard to be understood we will set down a brief summary, contents and| exposition; and commit the further work of the Highest tongue to the spirit of God in every soul; and it may well be handled at large in a treatise by itself, if the Lord give us leave. [Here followeth a summary exposition of the LORD'S Prayer, how it is to be understood in the language of nature from syllable to syllable, as it is expressed in the words of the High German tongue [German language], which was the author's native language; but because the language of nature is not yet clearly understood by me, therefore I cannot transfer it to the English tongue: but must set it down in the syllables of the High German words, and interline the English under it. "Whosoever desireth to see more concerning the language of nature, let him read in the fifth chapter of this Book, verse the 85th, upon the word Schuff, and elsewhere in his other writings [Aurora; Epistles; Mysterium Magnum; etc.]]

[The Entrance.]

Unser Vater im Himmel.

(Our Father which art in Heaven)

41. When we say, Unser Vater im Himmel, then the soul raiseth up itself in all the Three Principles, and giveth itself up into that out of which it is created; which we understand, in the language of nature, very exactly and accurately. For Un- is God's eternal will to nature, -ser comprehendeth in it the first four forms of nature; wherein the first Principle consists.

42. Vater giveth the two distinctions of the two Principles; for va- is the matrix upon the cross, -ter is Mercury in the centre of nature; and they are the two mothers in the eternal will, out of which all things are come to be; the one severeth itself into fire, and the other into the light of meekness, and into water: for va- is the mother of the light, which affordeth substantiality, and -ter is the mother of the fire's tincture, which affordeth the great and strong life: and Vater is both of them.

43. When we say im, we understand the innermost, viz. the heart, from which the spirit goeth forth: for the syllable im goeth forth from the heart, and soundeth through the lips, and the lips keep the heart in the innermost unawakened.

44. When we say Him-, we understand the creation of the soul. The syllable -mel is the angelical soul itself, which the heart on the cross in the centre between the two mothers hath comprehended; and with the word Him-, framed it into a creature, viz. into -mel: for Him- is the habitation of -mel: therefore the soul is created in heaven, that is, in the loving matrix [or mother].

The First Petition.

Dein Name werde geheiliget.

Thy Name be hallowed [sanctified.]

45. When we say Dein, we understand how the poor soul swimmeth in the water of this world; and how it casteth itself with its will into the Principle of God: it goeth with the syllable Dein into the voice of God.

46. In the syllable Na- it inclineth inwards, and in the syllable -me it comprehendeth the heavenly substantiality: and this is done in the will of the soul.

47. And when we say wer-, then the whole creature goeth along in the will: for wer- hath the whole centre, and with the syllable -de, it layeth itself down in obedience in the meekness, and will not kindle the wer- in the fire, as Lucifer had done.

48. And when we say ge-, then the soul goeth into the heavenly substantiality, as a quiet child without anger, and then -hei- is the powerful entering upon the cross, into the Number Three, where the soul's will presseth into the Majesty, into the light of God; with the syllable -li-, the soul's will hath comprehended the Holy Ghost. [In the syllable] -get, there the soul's will goeth forth with the Holy Ghost: for the brightness of the Majesty shineth in the will, and the Holy Ghost goeth along in the glance of the Majesty upon the chariot of the soul; for the will is the soul's wedding chariot, with which it rideth in Ternarium Sanctum into the Holy Ternary, wherein the Holy Ghost sitteth with the brightness of the Deity.

The Second Petition.

Dein Reich komme.

Thy Kingdom come.

49. Dein, there the poor soul giveth itself up again into the will of God, as God's child.

50. Reich, here the soul giveth itself into the virtue and power of the angelical world, and desireth to come out of the deep of the waters into the power of God.

51. Komme, in the syllable Kom-, it goeth into the virtue and power, and apprehendeth it: and with the syllable -me, it maketh the heaven be open, and goeth forth with the apprehended power into the kingdom, as a sprout: for the -me maketh the lips be open, and letteth the sprout of the will go forth, and lets it grow softly by degrees. The Third Petition.

Dein Willen geschehe wie im Himmel also auch auf Erden. Thy Will be done as in Heaven so also on Earth.

52. Dein, here the soul doth with its will, as in the first and second petition: it casteth itself into God's will.

53. Wil- is its desire to will the same with the Holy Ghost: -len, with this syllable it taketh in the spirit with the will into the centre, as into the heart, and willeth that its will in the Holy Ghost should flow up in the heart.

54. Ge-, with this syllable it goeth into the will: -sche-, with this syllable it worketh the work of God: for there it doth what the counsel of the Father is, what the Heart of God wills: as the soul of Christ suffered itself to be hanged on the cross, and as we in misery bow down under the cross: -he, in this syllable it taketh patiently what God worketh; it boweth itself as a child.

55. Wie, there it goeth again into the voice of the high Majesty. Im, is the Heart of God, out of which the spirit goeth forth: in which will it would be. Him-, is again the creating of the creatures; -mel, is the soul, that is, it willeth to act in the will of God, like the angels, who do that which God's will accepteth.

56. Al-, there it comprehendeth that will, and driveth it on, with the syllable -so, out of its centre into this world, into the outward Principle. Auch, there it affordeth all whatsoever it hath in itself out into the outward, out from itself into this world.

57. Auf, with this syllable it apprehendeth the same again, and desireth that its substance should not be dissipated: for it only letteth the will of the substance go forth through the closed lips to the teeth, and desireth that the form of the will should remain as a figured substance eternally.

58. Er-, with this syllable it bringeth its substance into the spirit of this world upon the earth, and there the will shall work wonders, as in the kingdom of the angels in the power of God: the will must manifest the hidden secrets of God: -den, with this syllable it sheweth that they must not be done in the fire of the anger, in which the devil dwelleth: for this syllable doth not break up the centre: they should be done in meek love, and yet be taken out of the Er-. The soul shall mightily rule in all hidden secrets: but it must not let in the devil.

59. Here our want is very much, the heavy Fall presseth us hard. O, there is very much herein hidden, which would be too long to describe. For the will of God should be done, and not the will of the flesh, and of the devil. And therefore it is that we are so doubtful in prayer, because the poor soul runneth on in the will of the flesh, and of the devil. If it did live in innocence we should have this skill perfect, and there would be no doubting in our prayers, but an acting and accomplishment of them: [This the Apostles of Christ wanted, when they asked why they could not cast out the dumb devil]. We do really swim here in misery, which the spirit of the wonders sheweth us. The Fourth Petition. Gib uns unser taglich Brot heute. Give us our daily Bread today.

60. Gib, there the will sticketh in the heart, and presseth outwards, and the mouth catcheth it; that is, the soul would be fed: what the word giveth forth, that the soul taketh; for that belongeth to it, it will have that.

61. Uns, with this syllable the soul desireth food for all its [fellow] members, viz. for all souls, as if they were but one tree with many branches, whereof every branch must have sap and virtue from the stock: and so it desireth to have this in common, out of the virtue of God, for the life of all souls: for it attracteth that with all its desire to it, and in all [others], as a loving brother; it willeth to have it in common, and not alone to itself in covetousness, as the devil did.

62. Un-, with this syllable the will of the soul goeth into the eternal wisdom, wherein, before the creation in the seed, it was discerned, in the eternal will: -ser, with this syllable it taketh the original of nature in the will, where one form in the original generateth, filleth, and preserveth the other: and that is the band of the soul, whereby it eternally liveth and subsisteth: and that the will of the soul desireth, else it would be dissolved. For a spirit desireth no more than to retain its band, and to fill it with virtue, that it may flow forth.

63. And here lieth the key of the greatest hidden secret of the Being of all Beings. Beloved doctors, if you were learned you would seek here; and if you understand nothing here, nor will to understand, then you are not learned, but are only tellers of stories, which the simple, if he did use himself to it, would perform as well as you: This is the true doctorship in the Holy Ghost: the outward [in the learning of the school of reason] is but a foppery, and puffeth up into a high mind.

64. Tag-, with this syllable the heavenly number is understood, as wherein the spirit on the cross in the holy matrix comprehendeth the genetrix in the multiplication, where the will of the spirit recreateth, confirmeth, and strengtheneth itself: -lich, in this syllable the soul's will quickeneth itself in the light and virtue of the Majesty of God; and strengtheneth the soul with the heavenly number, which springeth up out of the Majesty infinitely: and herein the soul is acknowledged for an angel, and liveth in the hand of God.

65. Brot, here the corporeal substance springeth up, and our misery: for Brot [bread] is generated out of the centre of nature, although the last letter in the syllable Brot expresseth that it is paradisical bread: for the cross in its character [T] in the language of nature, carrieth the severe name of God [GOTTES]; which, if men will rightly expound it, and understand it according to the language of nature, may be understood powerfully, and in its highest depth, in the word Tetragrammaton [Jehovah]; for that word comprehendeth all the Three Principles; and in the word Adonai, God is understood as in one Principle, viz. in the angelical world; which may be expounded in a treatise by itself. We set down this, that this syllable might be considered of; for Brot [bread] is the food of the body; and is to be understood concerning the fierce wrath, that it hath mixed itself in it, and signifieth the house of lamentation and mourning: But since we must have this food, therefore the soul reacheth after it for the maintenance of its bestial body.

66. Heu-, this syllable signifieth the eternal bread of the soul, the new body, viz. the heavenly substantiality: for the will goeth forth out of the bread into the Heu, that is, the eternal substantiality, viz. the bread of God, Christ's flesh; -te, this syllable confirmeth that it affordeth and frameth the severe name [Gottes] of God; for the soul desireth a twofold bread, one for the belly, and the other for its holy heavenly body.

The Fifth Petition.

Und verlasse uns unser Schuld, als wir verlassen unser Schuldigern. And forgive us our Debts [trespasses], as we forgive our Debtors.

67. Und, this syllable is that wherein the will of the soul awakeneth the love of God; for the will sticketh fast in the word und, as in the meekness; it satiateth the ver-, viz. the anger, and springeth with the und [or meekness] up, as a budding, growing substance [vegetable], like a blossom out of the ver-, and yet they remain one in another: for ver- is the centre of the life, it hath the fire of the wrath, and the und belongeth to the second Principle: -lasse or -lass is the cleansing of that which is generated out of the ver-, of which Isaiah saith; Were your sins red as blood, if you turn, they shall be as wool, white as snow. In the syllable -lasse, is the bath or laver, wherein the ver- must be washed, or else it cannot subsist in the kingdom of God.

68. Uns is the union again, where the will of the soul, viz. the communion or fraternity, that is all souls, in one will, desire to be washed.

69. Un-, there the will yieldeth itself into the love of God, and washeth [cleanseth] the evil child, -ser; and thereby confesseth all evil and wickedness [for all in common], as if they were but one only soul.

70. Schuld, this is the true catalogue or register, which the anger hath brought into the soul, which catalogue the will desireth to cast away altogether: But the mouth catcheth the syllable again as a flash, to signify that our works shall stand eternally to the wonders of God; and we need only wash them, that they might not be comprised in the fierce wrath of God, and inflamed; else they belong to the abyss, to the dark Principle.

71. Als, in this syllable the will of the soul compriseth together all whatsoever is called soul, and speaketh of many, as if they were but one.

72. Wir, in this syllable the will complaineth against the anguish of the source of disquietness in the soul, where one soul often hurteth another, and therefore the will compriseth together the turba of all souls, and saith [as followeth]: 73. Ver-, that is, the will [of the soul] desireth that the fierce wrath of all souls might be thrust downward upon a heap into the abyss: -las-, that is, to let it go, and not know it more in the fierceness of the anger: for the syllable -sen retaineth the form of the wonder: but it must be washed in the Lassen [or letting it go], for Lassen is the laver or bath [to wash it in].

74. Un-, this syllable yet again presseth into the love of God, and desireth to bring the washed souls into the love: -ser, this syllable, in the presence of God, sheweth the evil child, which is now washed in the love, and there putteth it among the wonders of God, for it setteth forth whatsoever is come to be a wonder in the tincture of the fire in the soul.

75. Schul-, this syllable sheweth the unprofitable [or vain] works, which one soul hath wrought towards another out of the tincture of the fire [fierce wrathful life], and is a setting forth of the evil, which the soul in the will itself hath washed and cleansed again: -di-, this syllable putteth the union again into the Majesty, and into the Holy Ghost, where there is no contrary will any more: -gern, is the evil child, which now standeth before God, to God's deeds of wonder; from whence the will took its fall, and desireth that the Holy Ghost will take it in as a wonder into the Majesty.

The Sixth Petition.

Und fuhre uns nicht in Versuchung.

And lead us not into Temptation.

76. Und is once more an injection into the loving meekness of God, where the will of the soul in the Majesty humbleth itself before the Number Three [or Trinity].

77. Fuh-, there the will goeth along with the Holy Ghost: -re, there the will would not go through the fierce wrath; for it is afraid of the prison of the fierce wrath; for the will should always be stedfastly inclined into God, that it may pass through the fire without molestation, and also through the outward Principle, viz. through this world, and yet should not catch at, or offer to lust after, any thing: but seeing the soul knoweth that it stood not out in the first temptation, when it was brought into the spirit of this world, when the Verbum Fiat breathed it into the image, therefore it flieth now to the Holy Ghost, entreating that he would not enter with its will into the temptation, proba, or trial, for it trusteth not in itself that it shall stand stedfastly against the devil; when he shall sift it: as Christ said to Peter, The devil hath desired to sift thee; but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not: that is, I have enclosed thee in the Word, and have not given the devil any leave, but I have in my prayer brought thee into the will of God, that thou shouldst be preserved by the Holy Ghost; else thou shouldst have been sifted by the devil, through the anger, and through the spirit of this world.

78. Uns, this syllable once again compriseth the brotherly union, as in one will in the Majesty, and flieth into the spirit.

79. Nicht, in this syllable the will rendeth itself quite out from the root of the anger, and retaineth a peculiar government without the anger, and then the soul burneth forth from the fire, and is the true life without the fire, in the light flaming tincture in air, and virtue or power.

80. In, there it standeth as a sound and substance of its own, as if it were the centre itself: ver-, there it must, with the will, go through the fierce wrath, and mitigate or satiate it, and must cool it, that it might not enflame its meek life: -such-, with this syllable it presseth through the fierce wrath with its love-tincture, viz. through the centre of nature, and quencheth the fierce wrath after a divine manner, and driveth the subtlety of the devil out of the fire-source out of the original, where otherwise he would have an access into the soul: ung, there the soul taketh the virtue out of the seven forms of its nature with it, as a spirit, and setteth itself mightily over the centre, and ruleth over it as a king over his kingdom; for now it hath overcome [or cooled] the centre with its love, and will now let in the tempter no more.

The Seventh Petition.

Sondern erlose uns vom Ubel.

But deliver us from Evil.

Son-, in this syllable it [the soul] appeareth in the Majesty with its virtue, power and brightness over the centre of the heart, and hath a principle of its own in the Majesty: -dern, there it commandeth the fierce wrath in the centre, and ruleth over it, and tameth it with its will (as may be seen by Moses, when the fierce wrath said; Let me alone, that 1 may consume Israel).

82. Er-, there it bringeth a blossom and sprout out of the centre, and openeth the wonders of God; for it here goeth about with the centre, as it will, for it hath overcome: -lo-, that is, the sprout, which groweth out of the fierce wrath out of nature, and is now lovely, good, and useful in the kingdom of God: -se, there it continueth to be fruit upon God's table, free from the anger.

83. Uns, there it once again taketh the union of all souls with it, and layeth it open there, that it was a root in the kingdom of God before its creation, and hath now brought forth many, that is, it is a tree, and hath put forth many branches, and presenteth them there as in a tree.

84. Vom, that is the great wonder that God hath made of one two, and yet it remaineth but one: It sheweth this; for you see that the root in the earth is another thing than the stalk which groweth out of the root; so you must understand it also concerning the true holy soul; that groweth as a stalk out of the root, out of the centre of nature, and is another thing than the centre; and yet the centre generateth it, and it moveth in full omnipotence over the centre, and ruleth over it as God ruleth over nature; and yet there the name of the Number Three in the eternal nature ariseth: And as God is free from nature, and yet nature is of his essence or substance, and not separated from God, so is the soul also; it is free from nature, and is a lord of nature, for it is one spirit with God, and yet blossometh or sprouteth out of nature. Indeed God is not wholly to be likened to the soul; for God's eternal will is a cause and beginning of nature, but [the soul is to be likened] to the Majesty of God, whose brightness ariseth out of the sharpness of the eternal nature, and yet ariseth before nature, like the flash of the eternal liberty, from whence nature, in its sharp generating, receiveth the lustre, and elevateth it in the fire, to a triumphant high light: for which cause sake, the eternal liberty without nature longeth after nature, because it desireth to be manifested in wonders, and will have majesty in glory and power.

85. For, if there were no nature, there would be no glory, nor power, much less Majesty; also there would be no spirit, but only a stillness without substance [essence or being]: But thus in nature there appeareth power and virtue, might, glory, Majesty, Number Three [Trinity], and Being [essence or substance], and are the manifestation of the eternal Being. Now, since the soul, as a spirit, is discovered and taken out of this Being, it hath therefore two forms, one is nature, and the other is the divine blossom, or the sprout out of nature, which is above nature, and is a spirit in itself, as God is a spirit in himself, as you may see this by the fire: The fire is the nature, and the flame with the air [or vapour] which goeth forth out of the fire, is a spirit with all the power of the fire's nature, and yet is above the fire's nature, for the fire's nature cannot com- prehend it [or rule it]; and so also the fire's nature could not subsist, if the spirit of the air did not blow up the fire again.

86. Thus the fire generateth the spirit with the lustre, and longeth earnestly again after the spirit, and attracteth it continually into itself, and yet retaineth it not; for it is the life of the fire, and the glance or lustre is out of the sharpness of the fire, yet there is no feeling in the glance or lustre, and yet the glance hath the virtue or power, and not the fire; for, from the virtue of the lustre there springeth up and groweth a sprout, and not from the fire, as you may perceive by the [sunshine or] lustre of the sun.

87. Now, seeing the poor soul, in the heavy fall of Adam, was captivated by two fires, viz. by that fire through which the spirit of this world hath comprised it in itself, under which lieth the fire of the original; therefore it would be again free with its spirit-life, in which it is an angel, and the image of God, and goeth with its will vom [from], that is, as a sprout out from nature, and also out from the spirit of this world, out of the wonders of God, forth from them; and standeth rightly quite vom, [from], that is, it hath now the virtue of nature and Mercury, in the virtue and power of the Majesty, which is another Principle, and yet hath also the severe fiery [Principle], but not manifested; for the holy Principle in the Majesty changeth the fierce wrath into love.

88. And if the severe Principle should be awakened again, it would be fire, and the first four forms of nature would flow forth; and therefore God is become man, that the love-spirit [might] have a body.

89. Therefore it flieth, (if it be yet unregenerated, and so sticketh only in the earthly body) and saith, Erlose uns vom Ubel, [deliver us from evil]: It desireth to be released from the anger; for u-, and -bel, are two wills in one substance: u- is the fire-child, and -bel hath also two Principles; for the first letter -b- hath the outward dominion, and the other two, viz. -e- and -l, that is, -el, hath the angel, the will to be delivered from both, [viz. from the child of the fire, and the spirit of the outward world], not presently separated, (for it is the counsel of God that they dwell in one another); but the angel's will would be free from the falsehood; it would rule over the Ubel or evil: He desireth to be in the will of God, and the Ubel or evil shall stand, the one [part] (according to the spirit of this world) to the wonders of God, and the other [part] (according to the source of the fierce wrath) to the wonders of the anger of God.

90. For both the mothers are stirring, and desire to open their wonders; yet the will of the soul would not go into the anger; for it knoweth the devil, that he is haughty, and flying aloft over the love and meekness of God, at which the soul is amazed; so also it would not willingly work in the spirit of this world, for that hideth also God's light from it, and therefore it goeth forth with its will from them both, and would be free in its will: The spirit of this world may awaken its wonders in the flesh, but it casteth its will into God's spirit, he shall govern it; and he will not let the Ubel [or evil] enter into its will: It desireth [with its will] to be dead in [or to] this world, that it may live in the Holy Ghost; so also it will not awaken the abyss, and therefore it hideth or sheltereth itself under the cross, and letteth the roaring devil pass by; also it letteth the spirit of this world, viz. the fleshly life, pass by, it doth as if it were dead: It suffereth, yet not in God, but in the Ubel [or evil], which the soul of Adam hath left it as an inheritance; it holdeth not that Ubel [or evil] for its own, but for the wonders of God.

91. Therefore it remaineth patient, as a sufferer (and yet also not a sufferer), under the cross of patience, till Christ shall settle it again upon the cross, in the rainbow, [in the eternal substantiality, or in the eternal covenant]: For he sitteth on the rainbow, and his body, his substance, is the fullness of heaven [or the heaven is full of his substance].

92. The three colours in the rainbow are the Three Principles, the fourth [colour] is his body in Ternario Sancto; [or in the inward heavenly working power in the angelical world, in the eternal substantiality, wherein the divine Trinity worketh].

93. O how great are the wonders! he that comprehendeth them hath great joy thereon, there can nothing be named that is like these hidden secret mysteries, no tongue can express them: For what is better than to have God for his spouse, to be in God with one's will; and after this [life] time to be wholly in substance a heavenly body and a clarified or glorified soul?

94. O great depth, why art thou so hidden to men? It cometh from hence: because they love the devil, and the haughty proud fierceness, more than thee; and therefore they are not able thus with fierceness to enter into thee. O mercy of God! bring again the tree which thou hast planted: Why should thy wrath boast that it hath borne more fruit upon thy tree than thy love? Build again the ruined city, Jerusalem, that thy kingdom may come, and thy will be done. Who will give thee thanks in hell? Draw us yet in with thy spirit, into thy praise [or temple, where they sing of thy praise]. How long shall hell drop with fatness? Behold! it hath opened its jaws, and would devour us all: Come yet, and build the city of thy court, that we may dwell near thee, that thy wonders may leap for joy, when thy love-spirit judgeth: Tarry not, O Lord, for thy tree is become old for sorrow; [that is, the number of virtuous people is small]: Bring yet forth the new green branches, which against the devil's will spring up through his kingdom: Let the day break forth: Wherefore shall the night of the anger keep back the lily-twig? O Lord, thy tree groweth through the whole world; therefore awaken us, O Lord, that we may eat of its fruit.

Of the Amen.

So be it.

And Close [of the Prayer in the Language of Nature].

95. A- is the first letter, and presseth forth out of the heart, and hath no nature [or fierceness in the pronunciation]; but we clearly understand herein, the seeking, longing, or attracting of the eternal will without nature, wherein nature is generated, which hath been from eternity. For the will desireth the heart, and the heart desireth the will, they are Father and Son; and the virtue, which goeth forth from them, is the spirit of the eternal life, of which we formerly made mention. [in this book.]

96. Now, as the A- is generated out of the heart, viz. out of the eternal will, and thrust forth out of the will, so out of A- afterwards cometh the whole alphabet with four and twenty numbers [letters]; for the A- beginneth to number, and compriseth the whole number in the [syllable] -men: These are the wonders and works of God, which appear in the spirit above nature, viz. in the brightness of the Majesty; which you may understand thus: We are with our soul in a strange inn, viz. in the spirit of this world, which holdeth it captive, and so it could not come into God, if God were not become man, who hath brought our soul into the Word, as into the living power of God, in himself; but now we are branches on that tree, and must attract the sap of the tree into us, if we would spring from the tree; else, if we only imagine [and reach] after the air and sun, then our branch withereth: Our will must be put or grafted into the tree, and that is [the ground of true] prayer.

97. When we pray, then the will goeth into the tree, and attracteth the sap of the tree into the hungry, thirsty and dry soul; and then there groweth out of that sap a body, and then saith the soul with great joy, -men, that is, it is mine; that is to say, yes, it is done, take what thy will desireth: This is faith, and not [the knowledge or] the history which Babel makes a stir about; for prayer hath two things in it; one is the earnest will, which presseth forth out of the miserable smoky house of the heart, out of the soul in great humility, and giveth itself up into the Heart of God, which became man, as into the tree of life.

98. And that is called Glau- [Glauben], and then the will eateth of the divine power, and that [is the other, and] is called -ben, for the spirit of the soul apprehendeth it, and holdeth it with the tongue to the teeth; (understand it according to the language of nature); and lets the Holy Ghost go forth out of the virtue and power which the will introduceth into the soul, out of the virtue and power which the soul hath apprehended; even as it mightily goeth forth, out of the heart through the apprehended virtue and power, through the teeth; for in the virtue and power of God nothing consumeth: The more the will apprehendeth, and the soul eateth, the more is the virtue and power, and the mightier and more joyful is the body of God, that is, the body of Christ; not that it is greater at one time than at another: No, for it is always greater than all; only the virtue and power in the great wonders of joy climb up out of eternity into eternity [or from eternity to eternity].

99. Understand us accurately, according to its precious depth, thus; When we pray, we do not only speak before God; indeed the will boweth itself before God; but it entereth into God, and there is filled with the power and virtue of God, and bringeth that into the soul: The soul eateth at the table of God, and that is it of which Christ said, Man liveth by every word of God.

100. The Lord's Prayer is God's Word, and hath seven petitions, and an entrance [introduction] and Amen, or conclusion, which together are nine in number, and the tenth is God himself: With the entrance of the Lord's Prayer the will of the soul entereth into the Father; and with the seven petitions it receiveth whatsoever is the Father's, for thereby it becometh an angel again; for in the seven petitions it attaineth the heavenly and divine centre of nature; and in the Amen it compriseth all together and dwelleth therein; for it is the body of the soul, it is the flesh of Christ, the body of God; that is the ninth number in Ternario Sancto; herein is the tincture, heavenly and divine; and the tenth number holdeth the cross, into which no creature can go: the will of the soul only goeth thereinto: The will of the soul is as subtle as the spirit of God, and God's spirit rideth also in the will of the soul; it is his chariot which he loveth to have.

101. Understand us thus: The mere Deity is Spirit, and as thin as a will; but it is become man, and the thin spirit of God dwelleth in the humanity, so that our souls may well come to God; and so when the soul thus eateth of the body of God, then it getteth also the body of God on to it, and is the child of God: God in Christ is the tree; and our souls, in its holy body, are the boughs and branches thereof.

102. Let us be revealed to you, O worthy Christianity, [from the east to the west], from the rising to the setting: The time is near wherein the Bridegroom will fetch home his Bride: Be not blind, but see: Buy you oil, O you foolish virgins: Go forth from the whoredom of covetousness, and of pride, or else you will not taste of this [Wedding-]Supper: Whosoever shall not have the body of God on the soul shall not be guests, neither can they enter into the kingdom of God.

103. And so now, when we speak of the con- clusion of the Lord's Prayer, we find that he [God] is the tenth number; for it is said, Dein ist das Reich, und die Krafft, und die Herrligkeit in Ewigheit: Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory in Eternity. That is, God himself in his Number Three [or Trinity]; for, understand it rightly, thus: The kingdom is the Father's, he is it all; and the virtue or power is the Son's who is also all in the kingdom; and the Holy Ghost is the glory, for he possesseth all in the kingdom, and is the life in the kingdom.

104. And this Trinity is of the eternal liberty, and remaineth eternally to be the liberty. There is one God, one Will, one Spirit, one Lord, which together is called Wonder, Counsel, Power, and is become Man; who is called the Prince of Peace, Saviour, and Conqueror; and it is done to the end, that his dominion may be great, and that peace may have no end, saith Isaiah the prophet of God.

THE SEVENTEENTH CHAPTER

Concerning God's Blessing in this World. A very good and necessary Revelation for those that are weak in Faith.

1. DEAR children, if we be converted from our reason, and give up [or submit] ourselves into the will of God, that he may do with us, and make us, what he will, then, when we put our trust in him, we go in to our true Father, and are his children.

2. And now, as a father careth for his children, so also God our Father doth for us, as Christ hath faithfully taught us, saying, First endeavour after the kingdom of God, and the righteousness thereof anl then all other things shall be afforded [or added to you] you. Also, Behold the fowls of heaven, they sow not, neither do they spin, neither do they gather into the barn; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them; and are you not more worth than these?

O ye of little faith!

3. The soul knoweth that this garment (of earthly flesh and blood) is a strange garment, wherein it is heartily and deeply ashamed before the Majesty of God, and therefore it doth so much doubt of God's grace, when it prayeth; it always thinketh its sins are so many that it cannot reach into the Majesty of God.

4. And such pain the devil putteth it to, who always openeth his smoky pit, with the anger, and draweth the smoke into the will of the soul, that it keepeth back, and is afraid of God: The devil always presenteth God as a severe judge.

5. Thus the poor soul keepeth back, and entereth into the spirit of this world, and seeketh a livelihood and maintenance: It thinketh God lets things go as they will, and that things prosper with those that build upon, and trust in, themselves. For, when the soul thus sticketh in reason without God, it supposeth that it must use carking and caring to bring it to pass; it thinketh there is no other way, it must be done thus, the labour of the hands (or else cunning and subtlety) must do it; from whence so many

[strong delusions] potent evils do arise.

6. Dear children, be rightly informed. The outward earthly life is fallen home to the spirit of this world, the belly needeth earthly food, and the body earthly clothing, and a house to dwell in; after these things the outward spirit must endeavour: it should labour and take pains; for in the sweat of thy face shalt thou (earthly man) eat thy bread, till thou return to earth from whence thou wast taken, saith God in Moses.

7. For the body was taken from the matrix of the earth, and hath imagined [or put its mind] into the earth, and the earth hath captivated that again, so that it hath eaten earthly fruit; and so is turned to earth, from whence it was taken.

8. For God took it from the earth, that is [he took] a Mesch, a mass or concretion of red earth, [* Adam from Adamah], from the fire's centre, and from the water's centre, viz. from both the mothers of nature, and breathed into it the breath from without by the spirit of the great world, and the soul from within out of the second Principle into the Heart.

9. The soul doth not dwell quite in the outward, only it is captivated with the outward: Its will is entered into the outward, and there is impregnated with the outward dominion, and so the outward dominion is come into the soul.

10. And that was it which God did forbid to man, that he should not lust after earthly fruit, power, and virtue; neither was there any necessity that drave him to it, for he was in paradise, and had paradisical food, without want and death; and as God dwelleth in the earth, and yet the earth knoweth him not, and apprehendeth him not; so also man; he could have dwelt in the matrix of the earth and yet have been with the soul in God, and the will of the soul had brought divine food to the soul: but now, being turned away, the soul eateth of the centre of nature, and the outward spirit eateth of the earth: but if the soul turn, and go with its will into the love of God, then it eateth of God's word, and the outward body eateth of the blessing of God.

11. For when the soul is blessed, then God blesseth the body also, for the soul carrieth an heavenly body in the old Adamical one: And so his meat and drink is blessed, and all that the whole man doth and hath: he obtaineth a wonderful blessing which his reason cannot apprehend: he must labour and trade, for therefore he is created into the outward world, that he should manifest God's wonders with his skill and trading [handicraft and business].

12. All trades, businesses, and conditions, are God's ordinance; every one worketh the wonders of God: and so now, if the soul stand in the hand of God in his love, then the body is in God's works of wonder; and God hath no displeasure at its business or doings, whatsoever it doth, whereby it getteth its food and living.

13. The outward life consisteth in three parts: one is the dominion of the stars; the second is the [one] element divided into four parts, as into the four forms, of fire; air, water, and earth; the third is the dominion of God; for the spirit of God moves upon the water, upon the capsula [surface], upon the matrix. What man soever puts his trust in God, and doth not wholly set his heart upon his reason, hath the spirit of God for a creator; which spirit of God hath the Verbum Fiat, and createth continually: it blesseth him in body and soul, in the house and in the field, in the work of his hands, his business and trading; whatsoever he doth, the spirit of God is continually in it, and createth [or effecteth it].

14. How should it be otherwise? The soul hath the body of the spirit of God; How can the spirit of God then forsake the outward body, which must open its wonders? 15. Man doth well enough in every thing that is not false or wicked, and if it be not contrary to God and the love of mankind: If a man did only cast stones into the sea (if his brother be pleased with it, and that he get his living by it) then he is as acceptable to God as a preacher in a pulpit: for what careth God for the labour? He hath not any need of that.

16. Man hath free will [choice or liberty]; he may recreate himself upon earth, in what work he will; let him do whatsoever he will, it all standeth in the wonders of God. A swineherd is as acceptable to God (as a doctor), if he be honest, and trusteth only in God's will; the simple is as profitable to him as the wise; for with the wise he ruleth and governeth, and with the simple he buildeth and tilleth the ground; they are all his labourers in his works of wonder.

17. Every one hath an employment [or calling] wherein he spendeth his time; all are alike to him; only, the spirit of this world hath its pitch, which it distributeth in its might, as the spirit of God doth in heaven; there are great distinctions and degrees there also; as the spirit or soul is endued with divine power and virtue, so accordingly is its degree of exaltation in heaven, also its beauty and clarity, or glory, but all in one love.

18. Every angel and soul hath joy in another's power and beauty: as the flowers of the earth do not grudge at one another, though one be more beautiful and fuller of virtue than another; but they stand kindly one by another, and enjoy one another's virtue: and as a physician puts many sorts of herbs together, and every one of them affordeth its virtue, and all benefit the sick, so we all please God, if we give up ourselves into his will; we stand all in his field.

19. And as the thorns and thistles grow out of the earth, and choke and spoil many a good herb or flower; so also doth the wicked, who trusteth not in God, but buildeth upon himself, and thinketh with himself, I have my God in my chest: I will covet, and leave my children great treasure behind me, that they also may sit in my place of honour and dignity, that is the best way. And thereby he spoileth many a good heart, and maketh it take base and wicked courses, and thinketh that to be the only way to get happiness; and so, if they have riches, honour and power, then they have goods indeed; but if any consider it, it is no better with these than others, and besides, the poor soul is lost thereby.

20. For the dainties of the rich relish not so well with them as a bit of bread doth to the hungry: There is every where, care, sorrow, vexation, fear, sickness; and at last death: All in this world is but mere foppery: The mighty sit in the dominion of the spirit of this world; and they that fear God sit in the dominion of the divine power and wisdom: The dominion of this world taketh its end with the dying of the body; and the dominion in the spirit of God continueth standing eternally.

21. It is a very lamentable thing that man runneth so eagerly after that which would run after man if he were righteous and honest: he runneth after cares and sorrows, and they run after him; he is as if he were continually mad; he maketh disquiet to himself; if he would be contented, he would have rest and quiet enough. He putteth an eating worm [or cancer] into his heart that a plagueth and tormenteth him, and causeth an evil conscience that gnaweth him, and he is a mere fool with all this: for he leaveth his goods to others, and taketh the gnawing worm in the evil conscience with him from this world; and that which plagueth him eternally, that he holdeth for his treasure. There cannot be a greater folly found under the sun than this, That man, who is the noblest and most rational creature in this world, should, in covetousness, be the greatest fool of all, to hunt and press so eagerly after that which he hath no need of; for every one hath his sufficient portion given him from the spirit of this world, if he would but be contented with it.

22. Thus one man is a devil to another; and they torment one another; and all the business is but about a handful of earth, or for a stone, of which the earth hath enough; And must not that be a wonder indeed? Doth not the fierce hellish spirit accomplish its wonders according to its wish in man? As the Book of the Revelation witnesseth; where one seal of anger hath been opened after another, and men are become the servants and ministers of wrath; they have wilfully entered upon it with their blood and goods [or estate], and thought they did God good service in it.

23. O blind man! how art thou captivated in the anger! What dost thou, or where art thou? Why dost thou suffer the devil to befool thee? Heaven and earth is wholly thine, God will give it thee all: He hath given thee all: thou hast a natural right and propriety in it; the sun and the stars are thine, thou art lord of all; let now thy foolish will go: Why dost thou give thyself up into covetousness and haughtiness? Doth not the kingdom of God consist in love and humility?

24. Or dost thou suppose it is so good to dwell in the wrath? Behold, when the light of thy eyes doth cease, then thou goest into darkness, and takest thy folly, to which thou hast here addicted thyself, along with thee: Is then the darkness better than the eternal light? Ask the night whether it is better than the day. Or dost thou suppose that we are mad that we speak thus? We speak what we see, and testify what we know, and thou art blind.

25. Thus art thou blinded by the Babylonish whore, which the covetous devil brought forth when men were secure and careless, when they loathed the word and spirit of God, as the Revelation of John testifieth, saying; I will come and take away thy candlestick from thee: And Paul saith; God shall suffer powerful errors to fall among them, that they shall believe the spirit of lying, which speaketh lies in hypocrisy and deceit; [So that] they will stick close [cleave] to the devils. But in the Last Time (saith the prophet David) shall the word of the Lord spring up like grass upon the earth: open wide the gates in the world and set open the doors, that the Lord may enter in: Who is the Lord? He is the champion in the battle; all swords and spears shall be turned into ploughshares and sickles (saith the prophet of God), and it shall be done: whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

26. Therefore, it is good to trust in God; and though the earthly body should always lie in dung, it is but for a little while, and no one knoweth what hour his time in this world is out, and then followeth the judgment, according to his life: Therefore desist from covetousness; it is the eternal root of all evil, and of all folly. A covetous man is the greatest fool on earth, for he devoureth himself, and causeth disquietness to himself, and so bringeth evil upon himself by it: He knoweth not what man it will be who shall possess his covetousness; and many times it is shamefully consumed in whoring: That wherewith one hath destroyed his soul, with the same another is frolic, in another foolery: For it must all come to its effect. But he that trusteth in God hath continually enough: whatsoever he hath he is contented with it, and so he is much richer than the foolish covetous [person], who oppresseth the miserable for money, which cannot prolong his life from death nor preserve him from hell.

27. The honest and virtuous gathereth treasure in heaven, he getteth a new body, wherein there is neither hunger nor thirst, nor frost nor heat, and he hath rest in his conscience, and will eternally rejoice in his treasure: And the covetous fool gathereth an earthly treasure, which he must leave to others; and an evil conscience, and a treasure in the abyss, which will gnaw and eat him eternally.

28. God's blessing never leaveth any that sincerely trust in God, and letteth that go which will not stay: God has wonderful ways, wherewith he feedeth and nourisheth his children; as Daniel in the lions' den; and Elijah under the juniper tree; and the widow of Sarepta in the famine. He that trusteth in God, hath built sure in heaven and on earth.

THE EIGHTEENTH CHAPTER

Of Death, and of Dying. How Man is when he Dieth; and how it is with him in Death. A Great Gate of Wonders.

1. I KNOW that reason will say: Thou hast never tried it [or undergone it], and thou art yet in this world in the outward life, How then canst thou know this? Indeed, dear reason, according to my outward man I must say so too; and I say the truth as to the outward man.

2. But seeing we can live both in God and in this world together; and seeing the soul, if it will know God, must with Christ press into God through a narrow strait gate, through death and hell; therefore we have power to write of the way, and will set it down for a memorial, since we are yet in this world: For God is wonderful, who judgeth [or determineth] in a thing and yet the judgment is not executed in the thing at that instant: and so, though we are in the earthly life, we shall yet speak of the life in death, which we well know [and understand].

3. For there is no knowledge incomprehensible to the matrix of nature; if the spirit ride upon its wings, it goeth through the three Principles, and if it ride upon its triumphant chariot, may it not then ride through death and hell? Who can hinder it? And may not a soul thus behold the wonders of God; especially when this is the time wherein all wonders shall be revealed [or made manifest]?

4. We speak not of ourselves alone: The star [of the sixth seal] is appeared which hath broken the seal: why dost thou long stand gazing? Observe it, the time is come, there is no preventing of it more.

5. All that hath a beginning hath an end, that which is included in time goeth with time again into the ether: If we had lived in this world without necessity, and without death, in a pure body without spot or blemish, yet the outward kingdom at the end would have departed from us, and so we should have remained in the heavenly substantiality, after the manner of Enoch and Elijah, as also Moses; yet Moses entered through death into the paradisical life: But Enoch and Elijah were taken up without dying; and there the outward dominion with the spirit of this world was taken from them without dying; which will also be done at the last trumpet; upon which will follow an eternal life, and an eternal death.

6. The true man in the heavenly image hath no time; his time is like a round crown, or a whole rainbow, which hath no beginning nor end: for the image, which is the similitude of God, hath neither beginning nor number: it hath stood from eternity in the wisdom of God as a virgin without bringing forth [generating], or without willing; for God's willing was the willing in her; she hath appeared [shone forth] in the Holy Ghost with all the wonders which we have brought to essence and light in this world.

7. But she was without body, without substance, without essences; the essences were out of the eternal centre in her made stirring with their creation, as in three mothers, according to the Three Principles: That God would be manifested in all the Three Principles was the creation; and that the dominion of the image did not continue in its order and appointment was the death, in that the middle gave itself into the outward, and the outward into the middle, which is not the ordinance [order of law] of the eternity: and therefore there happened a breaking: for the outward in the middle hath a beginning, and a number, and therefore it goeth to the end, and must break itself off from the middle again, and this the longing desire hath done, it hath set the middle (wherein there is an eternal life) outward, and let in the outward into the middle.

8. Thus the life consisteth in three parts; as first, the inward, which is God's eternal hidden Mystery in the fire, from whence the life existeth: And secondly, the middle, which hath stood from eternity as an image or similitude of God in the wonders of God, without substance, in which God's desire was to see himself in an image; and just as a man seeth himself in a glass, so was this also: And so thirdly, this image in the creation hath again got a glass to see itself in, which was the Spiritus Majoris Mundi, the spirit of the great world, viz. the outward Principle, which is also a figure of the eternal [Principle].

9. And on this [outward] figure the image hath so gazed that it hath imagined and received in the outward image; which must now break off again: but seeing it is bound with its bond to the eternal centre of nature, therefore it happeneth to be very painful to break off, as to that bond; for there one life is broken off.

10. And when the air ceaseth, then the fire must be smothered, and go into its ether, and that is death: for the outward Principle and the inward break off one from another; for the outward hath a beginning, and the inward not; and therefore the outward must break off.

11. The outward consisteth only in the sun's tincture, and its dominion is the planets and stars, who always drive on their dominion to the limit [or period of their course], for every planet hath its limit in that place it stood in at the creation, and that is its period, and its seculum, or course: and when it cometh to that place, or point, then all whatsoever it was wholly lord over, breaketh: for it beginneth a new course or seculum.

12. But you must understand it aright, [thus], Every one [of the planets] hath not the tincture of life: Saturn, Mars, and Jupiter have the great life; Saturn separateth whatsoever he getteth in his limit, he doth it not [actually], but he leaveth the life, and then it hath no leader, but breaketh of itself, and so it is with the other [planets]. But its limit or period must reach to the crown of the stars [or zodiac of signs], in that sign and point in which the planet hath its limit and period.

13. And therefore many a young child, even in its mother's womb, is old enough for death, for its lord [The lord of its ascendant] is at his period, and leaveth its child; and the cause why we cannot [easily] search out our end is, that we do not properly and exactly know the limit of our leader [calculation of nativities]: for we must know its number or period, and the number or period of the sign, if we will hit the point of our limit or end.

14. Behold now in what danger we are, according to the outward life; neither are we at home in this life, and yet we are quickened and awakened, through the outward life, and so a soul comes to be generated: though indeed the outward life cannot generate a soul; for the seed is sown with [or in] all the three Principles, and there are three mothers, each of which hatcheth its chicken.

15. This might was given to man: though indeed the image of God did not stand thus: For Adam, before his Eve [was made], was a chaste virgin, not man nor woman: he had both the tinctures, that in the fire, and that in the spirit of meekness, and could of himself have brought forth after a heavenly manner, without dividing or rending of himself, if he had stood out the trial; and then one man had been generated from another, after that manner; as Adam in his virgin-like manner was man, and the image of God.

16. For that which is out of the eternal hath also. an eternal manner of generating, its substance must go wholly out of the eternal, else it subsisteth not in eternity. But having no tongue to bring to light how one is in death, when he is dead, though indeed we understand it, therefore we must shew it in similitudes.

17. A dead man hath no breath, neither hath he any fire in his body: the body hath no feeling, for it breaketh [or corrupteth] altogether: its essences go into the earth: its elementary spirit, viz. the air, goeth into the air, and vanisheth in a vapour: the water and blood is received by the water and earth, and then there remaineth nothing of the outward man: he is quite gone, for he hath beginning and end, all his essences are gone.

18. Understand us after this manner: As the image stood in a form from eternity, and yet it had no certain form, but was a wonder, like one that dreameth of a sight or image; and so it hath been foreseen in the wisdom of God, with all wonders.

19. Also observe this; when God the Father once moved himself to the creation, then he awakened (in the image) essences, which stood hidden in the centre of nature; and these essences are out of the eternal liberty, they should work their wonders in or according to the will of God; they should frame no other will, for that which they should do and open should stand eternally, for it was out of the eternal, and should work in the fragile or corruptible, and bring its similitudes into the wonders.

20. For the fragile or corruptible hath in the inward an eternal mother; and seeing now that the eternal image hath let the corruptible into its will, therefore hath the root of the corruptible (which is also eternal) wrought in the image, and put its wonders therein, which continue now standing eternally as a figure, seeing they are generated out of the eternal: and so they stand in the will, in the desire of the soul, when it is departed from the body.

21. And though it happen that the will (in the time of this life, viz. in the time of the body) goeth forth out of falsehood and wickedness, yet the will [purpose and intention (The representation of the thought)] remaineth as a figure, which followeth the will as a shadow, for it is generated out of the eternal, the soul, in its eternal essences, hath made that; for the soul worketh by its will in the centre, and the starry spirit worketh in the body, in the flesh and blood, and hangeth on to the soul, and maketh the soul to long and lust, that it also may do as the starry spirit doth.

22. And so now what the soul doth, it doth in its Principle, in the eternal, and all that followeth the soul in the deceasing of the body; only in the time of the body, it hath ability to draw its will out from it: and when the will is renewed, then also the substance [or subject matter], which the will hath made in the centre, is renewed; and though it had been evil, yet it becometh good, and so standeth in the centre, to the manifestation of God's works of wonder.

23. Thus also we give you to consider how the condition of the wicked soul is, which thus in covetousness, haughtiness, in tyranny, and mere falsehood and wickedness, departeth from the body, when all that still sticketh in the will of the soul unconverted from it; in those very works the soul must eternally swim [or swelter], for that is its substance which it hath here made [to itself], neither doth it desire any other: And though it offereth to hate it, and seeketh in the centre for abstinence [to avoid it], yet it awakeneth but the fire-root thereby, which kindleth and increaseth this substance; for the meekness [viz. the water of eternal life] is not in its will, whereby it might quench. the fire, and turn itself from the evil into the will of God: and though it seek for that, yet there is no finding of it.

24. Then cometh sorrow and lamentation upon it, and kindleth the evil substance many hundred times more, so that the soul desireth to cast itself down headlong, and yet falleth continually deeper into the centre of the abyss.

25. It is with that soul as with one that dreameth that he is in great torment and anguish, and seeketh help every where, and yet cannot find it, and so in the end despaireth and giveth himself over to the driver [or tormentor], when he seeth no remedy, to do what he will with him: And thus the poor soul falleth into the devil's arms, and neither dare nor can go any further: but what he doth, that it must do also.

26. It must be God's enemy, and in highmindedness, in its falsehood and wickedness which it committed here, fly out in the fire above the princely thrones of angels; and that is its recreation in its foolish sport; and being it hath constantly [here on earth in the body] made itself a fool, there also it remaineth to be a fool and a juggler.

27. For every damned soul goeth forth (in its here practised false wicked matters) in the anger of God, as a stout, proud devil; that which it hath here acted, that it doth there also; for that very matter of folly is its treasure, and therein is its will also, and its heart, as Christ saith.

28. But those souls which at the end narrowly escape the devil, and but then first enter into the will of God, when the body is deceasing, they are as one that is escaped from a fight, for they are quite naked, and have little of the body of the heavenly substantiality; and they are very humble, and love to lie down in rest, and so in the stillness wait for the Last Judgment, hoping with the clarification [transfiguration or renovation] of the heavens to have joy with all the souls: and although they have joy with them, yet they see their substance under them, and are very humble in the Majesty: for their dwelling and delight is only paradise, viz. in the one element, but not Majesty; for the clarification or glory is different, all according as the holiness and love is.

29. But the zealous souls in the wonders of God, which here under the cross wrought the wonders of God in obedience to his will, which are mighty in the power of God, which have put on the body of God, that is, Christ's body, and walked therein in righteousness, and truth, all their doings [works, matters, or essences] also follow them in their strong will and desire; and they have unspeakable joy in the love and mercifulness of God.

30. For the meek love of God embraceth them continually: all the wonders of God are their food; and they are continually in such glory, power, might, majesty, and wonder, as no tongue can express; for they are God's children, God's wonder, God's power and virtue, God's strength, God's honour and glory; they are his praise, they sing his song of praise or Hallelujah in paradise, in the element, and in the centre of nature; there is no awakening of the wrath [there] in eternity; but every spirit in nature is a love desire: they there know no devil, anger, nor hell; there is eternal perfection: whatsoever the will desireth, that is there, and all in power.

31. It is written, The kingdom of God consisteth in power, and not in the earthly substance, for this earthly substance is not from eternity, therefore also it will not be to eternity; if you will conceive of the heavenly substance, you must have a care that you bring a heavenly mind to it, and then the spirit of God will well shew the heavenly substance, it is much easier for the enlightened to conceive of the heavenly substance, than of the earthly: Let not the Reader imagine the thing so difficult.

32. But in the thoughts of his own reason he cannot reach to it; let him leave off, for thereby he attaineth only a glimpse, even as Antichrist hath but a glimpse of the Word of God, and of the doctrine of Christ, and yet strongly supposeth that he hath apprehended the Word; but it is a mere foppery, their crying and roaring is mere juggling.

33. If you have not the right hammer you cannot strike the clock that awakeneth the poor captive soul; heaven and earth and every thing lie in man, you need but to use the right hammer, if you will strike his clock and awaken him out of his sleep: your crying aloud will not do it, you will not be able to beat the divine sound into him, if you yourself have it not: But those that have the right hammer, they awaken him indeed: therefore all teachers without God's hammer are but jugglers, hammers for the belly, hammers for the ear, and no hammers for the soul.

34. The soul dwelleth not in the outward spirit; indeed the outward spirit hath insinuated itself as an evil companion into the soul, but hath not the Principle in it wherein the soul dwelleth, but is only a cover and hindrance to it.

35. And so also the Antichrist is but a hindrance to the poor soul; for if the poor soul were not so fast-tied and bound to the crying, which only filleth people's ears in sermons, it would enter into itself, and seek itself; it would endeavour after amendment and abstinence from sin; but now it supposeth that to be holiness which entereth in at the ear, and yet many times there is nothing but dross, filth, and reproach against love and concord in it.

36. What shall a man say? Is not all quite blindfolded and full of hypocrisy; every one endeavoureth after nothing but for the belly; both the shepherd, and the sheep, the superior [or magistrate], and the inferior [or subject]; the spirit of God is very scarce and rare among them, and though they boast much of it, yet it is but a show of holiness and hypocrisy, where the heart knoweth little of the spirit of God, it is a mere notional conjectural knowledge, and matter [thing or confused medley] without spirit.

37. O thou worthy Christianity, behold thyself: O Europe, Asia, and Africa, open your eyes and look upon yourself; do but seek [or examine] yourself. Let every one seek himself, or else it will not be well with him: There is a strong bow bent: Fall into the arms of the archer, and be converted, and find thyself; or else thou wilt be shot away [as an arrow out of a bow]. Be not rocked to sleep by children, but rise and walk upon thy own feet: It is high time, the sleep is at an end: The angel hath sounded his trumpet, do not draw back: Consider what the Revelation of Jesus Christ saith, That those which hang to the whore of Babel [that is, to the confusion], will go along with her into the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone; [viz. the lake of God's anger, which burneth with judgment, famine, and pestilence, which will sweep the whole earth].

38. For the whore will not be converted, she must drink of the dregs of that cup which she hath filled; therefore let every one himself open his own eyes, for God is great, who will judge her: She will continue, and go on in her sins, and at length despair: She crieth, Mordio [Murder, Murder], and yet none hurteth her, but it is her own evil that plagueth and tormenteth her, viz. the hypocrisy, supposed holiness, high-mindedness, and covetousness: She hath wolves that bite and tear her, yet they are but wolves that do so; and are none of the sheep.

39. Therefore it is necessary to awake, not in much searching after opinions and fooleries, but in seeking thyself; for much searching, without conversion from evil, is mere deceit, and seduction from this way: And though thou shouldst read this a thousand times without conversion of thy will, thou wouldst understand as much of it, as the ass doth of the Psalm-book and just thus it is with the belly-priests, the Antichrist.

40. Do you suppose it a slight matter, to set an ass upon a kingly throne? How then shall the belly-ass stand before God, who setteth himself with an ass's heart in the throne of Christ, which is the dwelling-place of the Holy Ghost, only for the sake of gain, honour, and esteem, and is merely a teller of stories, or relater of a history, without any knowledge; and besides, is full of blasphemy and wickedness? Or, dost thou suppose thou art fit enough to sit in the throne of Christ, when thou hast studied some arts and foreign languages? Pray consider! Look upon God's choice, upon Abraham, and the patriarchs, also upon Moses and the shepherds, also upon the prophets and apostles, and thou wilt soon see whom God chooseth, and whether he chooseth art or spirit.

41. Therefore be warned, let every one consider the state and condition he is in: He that worketh, worketh the wonders of God, and goeth in simplicity with his will into God's will, and hangeth as a child to God: He hath but two ways to go, one in his work, wherewith he may sustain his body; the other, in the will of God, and so putteth his trust in God, let him make and do with him what he will; and wheresoever he is, or whatsoever he is going about, he saith, Lord, it is my employment, or calling, thy will be done, give me what is good for me; and such go on very rightly in God's works of wonder.

42. But he that is chosen by nature to be a ruler, governor, or leader, especially in a spiritual state and condition, he ought well to have a care of his doings, that he doth not go without his weapons, or armour; for he leadeth the flock of Christ: He is a shepherd [or pastor], the wolf is continually about him.

43. If he be watchful, and consider that he hath Christ's sheep under his keeping, and feed them aright, as a faithful shepherd, then the shepherd's crook shall be a great glory to him in the eternity: But if he seek only the wool, viz. his own honour and esteem, might, power, and authority, pomp, state, glory, and voluptuousness, and spend or consume the sheep's pasture, and do not give them food and drink, but is a lazy sleeper, snoring in fleshly lust and pleasure, while one sheep is going astray here, and another there, being scattered, and liable to be devoured by wolves; and such as will not go in by the door of the sheepfold, but climb up on the outside, and only contrive how they may by cunning, subtlety, and crafty tricks, steal away their food, and shear off their wool: All such are of the number of wolves, and have not the shepherd's crook of Christ; but they have and use the devil's shears, and must hereafter howl with the wolves eternally.

44. How may any call himself a shepherd of Christ, who is not chosen to be a shepherd by the spirit of Christ? Or may a wolf make a shepherd over the sheep? Are they not both wolves? Or do we speak from conjecture? It is not so in the order of nature, for an evil thing cannot produce a good thing out of itself, but one evil thing generateth another.

45. How then can one wrathful soldier appease another furious soldier, who fully purposeth to kill, slay, and murder? Or how wilt thou awaken the Holy Ghost in man, seeing there is only the spirit of this world in thy voice? That cannot be, unless it were already awakened in the hearer, who heareth the voice of the Holy Ghost in all words which are spoken of the wonders [or works] of God.

46. And, if an ass could speak, and should speak of God's word, the hammer of the awakener would then strike in the soul which is in God: Whosoever is of God, heareth God's word, saith Christ; Ye therefore hear not, because you are not of God, but of the devil, and of the spirit of this world.

47. In some there is no word or spirit of God at all to be awakened; for the wrathful matrix hath captivated them; which is plain and manifest in some to whom Christ himself spake: He had the hammer indeed, but his spirit entereth not into the malicious obstinate soul, but into those who would fain be virtuous, honest, and godly, if they could: And when once the hammer thus awakeneth the spirit of the soul, that the soul turneth and casteth itself into God, then it can.

48. The old man [the old Adam] should not have the dominion, but the spirit of God should have it; else there is no ability, but a keeping back by the wrath; for there is a twofold longing or seeking in the soul: One is the fire's greedy covetous fierce longing, which always seeketh after earthly matters; and the other is from the spirit, which is brought forth out of the fire, wherein the right life of the soul in the image of God is understood, that is, God's longing, which seeketh the kingdom of heaven.

49. And so, when the right hammer (viz. the spirit of God) striketh in it. then that longing is so strong, that it overcometh the fire-source and longing, and maketh it meek, so that it desireth the longing of love, viz. the longing of the soul's spirit; and there is good to be done: Such a soul is easy to be awakened, so as to subdue the outward dominion, especially when the hammer of the Holy Ghost soundeth through the ears into the heart, then the tincture of the soul receiveth it instantly; and there it goeth forth through the whole soul, through both the longings, for it casteth itself into one will; for two wills do not subsist in eternity, there must be but one; one of them must be- impotent, or of no might; and the other omnipotent, or almighty, or else there is disunion, and no agreement.

50. For that is the right [or true property] of eternity, and of the eternal subsistence, to have but one only will: If it had two, one would break or destroy the other, and so there would be strife: Indeed the eternity consisteth in many powers and wonders, but its life is merely and only the love, out of which goeth forth light and majesty: All creatures in heaven have but one will, and that is inclined into the Heart of God, and goeth into God's spirit, even into the centre of multiplicity in the springing and blossoming: but God's spirit is the life in every thing.

51. The centre of nature affordeth the substance, and the Majesty affordeth power; and the Holy Ghost is the bringer forth: He hath the predominancy; and it hath been so from eternity, but in an invisible substance before [or to] the creatures: There is nothing new in heaven that was not before, but only that the substance is become palpable and comprehensible: God himself hath shewn forth himself in similitudes and images, else all had been but merely and only God: The devil is God's; he is his wrath or fierceness in the most inward centre, which is also the most outward, for his kingdom is the darkness in nature, as is before mentioned.

52. Therefore man should have a care of him self, and endeavour to propagate or put forth himself [ bring forth, or regenerate himself] for he is a root in the soil of God, and hath gotten the spirit of understanding: He must bring forth fruit out of the spirit of the soul, in the power of the Holy Ghost; not according to the form and manner of darkness, but out of the power of the light; for whatsoever groweth out of the power of the light, that belongeth to God's table; and whatsoever groweth out from the darkness, which remaineth a fruit in darkness, belongeth to the darkness in the abyss in the wrathful matrix [or in the fierce genetrix].

53. After this [life] time there is no recalling; for, as an herb is sprung up and grown, so it remaineth, and so it relisheth, and is afterwards desired for food only of those that are of the same essences [or quality]; but those that have not the same essences, desire it not for food; neither do they gather it into their barns.

54. Therefore, let every soul try and examine itself, and consider what kind of fruit it is: It is good converting while we are here in this life, and to prune off [the evil] branch, and to send forth a better from its root: But when the Great Reaper cometh, he cutteth off all, one and other; and then the weeds and evil branches are bound in bundles, and cast into the fire; but the good herbs are set upon God's table.

55. We have very faithfully opened this according to our gifts, and whosoever is hungry let him eat, and whosoever thirsteth let him drink; they may have it without money, that our joy in God may be full, and that we also may have to eat in the other world [the world to come].

Hallelujah. Amen.