Concerning the Three Principles of the Divine Essence

38. Behold now, the mind is in the darkness, and it conceiveth its will to the light, to generate it ; or else there would be no will, nor yet any 1 birth : This mind standeth in anguish, and in a l working, longing [or is in labour] ; and this longing is the will, and the will conceiveth the virtue ; and the virtue fulfilleth [satisfieth or impregnateth] the mind. Thus the kingdom of God consisteth in the virtue [or in power], which is God the Father, and the light maketh the virtue longing to [be] the will, that is God the Son, for in the virtue the light is continually generated from eternity, and in the light out of the virtue goeth the Holy Ghost forth, which generateth again in the dark mind the will of the eternal essence. 39. Now behold, dear soul, that is the Deity, and that comprehendeth in it the second or the middlemost Principle. Therefore God is only good, the love, the light, the virtue [or power]. Now consider, if the mind did not stand in the darkness, there would no such eternal wisdom and skill be ; for the anguish in the will to generate, standeth therein ; and the anguish is the quality, and the

1 plurality, quality is the * multiplicity [or variety], and maketh the mind, and the mind again maketh the multiplicity [or plurality]. 40. Now, dear soul, see all over round about you, in yourself, and in all things : What find you therein ? You find nothing else but the anguish, and in the anguish the quality, and in the quality the mind, and in the mind the will to grow and 2 faculty or generate, and in the will the virtue [or 2 power], and in the virtue the light, and in the light its forth-driving spirit ; which maketh again a will to generate a twig [bud or branch] out of the tree like itself; and this I call in my book the centrum, [the centre], where the generated will becometh an essence [or substance], and generateth now again such [another] essence ; for thus is the mother of the genetrix. 41. Now the anguish hath the first Principle 1in * under its possession ; seeing it standeth in the darkness, it is another essence than the essence in the light is, where there is nothing else but mere love and meekness, where no source [or torment] is discovered ; and the quality which is generated in the centre of the light, is now no quality, but the eternal skill and wisdom of whatsoever was in the anguish before the light [brake forth] : This wisdom and skill now always cometh to help the conceived will in the anguish, and maketh in itself again the centre to the birth, that so the sprout may generate itself in the quality, viz.

the virtue, and out of the virtue the fire, and out of the fire the spirit, and the spirit maketh in the fire the virtue again, that thus there [may] be an indissoluble band. And out of this mind which standeth in the darkness, God generated the angels, which are flames of fire, yet 2 shining 2 Or through and through with the divine light. For enlightened. in this mind a spirit can and may be generated, and not else ; for before it in the Heart and light of God, there can no spirit be generated, for the Heart of God is the end of nature, and it hath no quality ; therefore also nothing cometh out of it more, but it continueth unchangeably in the eternity, and it shineth in the mind of the quality of the darkness, and the darkness cannot comprehend it.

42. Now therefore in the anguishing mind of the darkness, is the inexpressible [or unutterable] source [or rising property], from whence the name quality existeth, as from many sources [or wells] into one source, and out of these many sources [running] into one source springeth forth the plurality of skill, so that there is a multiplicity [or variety of it]. And the spirit of God out of the light cometh to help every skill [or science, or knowledge], and in every skill of the sources in the- quality (by its infusion. kind x infecting of the love) it maketh again a centre, and in the centre a source [or spring] is generated again, as a twig out of a tree, where again there spriugeth forth a mind in the anguish. And the spirit of love, with its infecting [or infusing] of kindness, maketh all, every thought in the will, and [that] essentially. 43. For the will in the centre climbeth aloft till it generateth the fire, and in the fire is the substance and essentiality generated. For it is the spirit thereof, and the end of the will in the dark mind, and there can be nothing higher generated in the anguish than the fire, for it is the end of nature, and it generateth again the anguish and the source, as may be perceived. Now therefore the dark anguishing [aching, or anxious] mind hath not only one substance, viz. one being [or essence] in itself, but many, or else no quality could be generated ; and yet it is truly but one [being, essence, or] substance, and not many.

44. Thou dear soul, thus saith the high spirit to thee ; yield up thy mind here, and I will shew it thee. Behold, what doth comprehend thy will, or wherein consisteth thy life? If thou sayest, In water and flesh : No, it consisteth in the fire, in the warmth. If the warmth were not, then thy body would be stiff [with cold], and the water would dry away ; therefore the mind and the life consisteth in the fire. 45. But what is the fire ? First, there is the darkness, the hardness, the eternal cold, and the dryness, where there is nothing else but an eternal hunger. Then how cometh the fire to be ? Dear soul, here [in the fire's coming to be] the spirit of God (viz. the eternal light) cometh to help the hunger; for the hunger existeth also from the light : Because the divine virtue beholdeth itself in the darkness, therefore the darkness is desirous [and longing] after the light ; and the desirousness is the will. 46. Now the will or the desirousness in the dryness cannot l reach the light ; and therein con- J Or attain, sisteth the anguish in the will [longing] after the

light ; and the anguish is attractive, and in the attracting is the woe, and the woe maketh the anguish greater, so that the anguish in the 2 harsh- - sourness, or , , . . astringency. ness attracteth much more, and this attracting in the woe is the bitter [sting or] prickle, or the bitterness of the woe ; and the anguish reacheth after the [sting or] prickle with attracting, and yet cannot 3 comprehend it, because it resisteth, and 3 Or catch it. the more the anguish attracteth, the more the [sting or] prickle raveth and rageth. 47. Now therefore the anguish, bitterness, and woe in the [sting or] prickle, are like a brimstonespirit, and all spirits in nature are brimstone : They [torment, or] cause the anguish in one another, till that the light of God cometh to help them ; and then there cometh to be a flash, and there is its end, for it can climb no higher in nature ; and this is the fire, which becometh shining in the flash, in the soul, and also in the mind. For the soul reacheth the virtue of the light, which doth put it into meekness ; and in this world it is the burning fire : In hell it is immaterial, and there it is the eternal fire, which burneth

1 Or property, in the x quality. 48. Now, thou dear soul, here you see in a glass how very near God is to us, and that he himself is the heart of all things, and giveth to all virtue 2 careless, [power] and life. Here Lucifer was very 2 heedless, and became so very proud, that when this brimstonespirit in the will of the mind of God was created, then he would fain have flien out above the end of nature, and would drive the fire out above the meekness ; he would fain have had all burn in the fire ; he would have ruled [or domineered] : The sparks of fire in the brimstone-spirit did elevate themselves too high ; and these spirits pleased not the Creator, or the spirit in the Fiat, and [therefore] were not [established] angels, although in the first mind (when the centre was opened to the [creation of the] spirits) he came to help them, and f1 beheld] them as well as the other angels : J Or reflected But they indeed generated a fiery will, when they should have opened their centre to the regeneration of their minds, and so should have generated an angelical will.

49. The first will, out of which they were created, that was God's, and that made them good ; and the second will, which they as obedient [children] should have generated out of their centre in meekness, that was evil : And therefore the 2 father, for 2 the gene- , 1-11 i f i rator, for the generating such a child, was thrust out from the will which he virtue of God, and so he spoiled the angelical 8 kingdom, and remained in the source of the fire : And because the 3 evil child of their mind did turn 3 the win that away from the meekness, therefore they * attained of their mind, what they desired. For the mind is the god and J^r came to the creator of the will ; that is free from the eternal nature, and therefore what it generateth to itself, that it hath. 50. Now if you ask, Wherefore came not the love of God to help them again ? No, friend, their mind had elevated itself, even to the end of nature, and it would fain have gone out above the light of God ; their mind was become a kindled source of fire in the fierce wrath, the meekness of God cannot enter into it, the brimstone spirit burneth eternally : In this manner he is an enemy to God, he cannot be helped ; for the centre is burning in the flash : his will is still, that he would fain go out above the meekness of God ; neither can he get [frame, or

create] any other [will], for his source hath revealed the end of nature in the fire, and he remaineth an unquenchable source of fire ; the heart of God in the meekness, and the Principle of God, is close shut up from him, and that even to eternity. 51. To conclude, God will have no fiery spirit in paradise, they must remain in the first Principle, in the eternal darkness ; if they had continued as God had created them (when the meekness shone [or appeared] to them), and had put the centre of their minds into the meekness, then the light of thoroughly 1111 <• -, TT i T\ • • enlightened and they should have eaten of the Verbum Domim [the Word of the Lord] ; and they should, with the root of their original, have stood in the first Principle, like God the Father himself ; and with the will in the mind [they should have stood] in the second Principle : Thus they should have had a paradisical source [quality or property], and an angelical will ; and they should have been friendly 2 Or heavenly in the 2 limbus of Heaven, and in the love of God.

Of all Circumstances of the Temptation. 1. ~^T"OW the highest question is, What that is -1-N which caused the mind of the devil so to elevate itself, and that so great a number of them are fallen in their high-mindedness [or pride] ? Behold, when God set the Fiat in the will, and would create angels, then the spirit first separated all qualities, after that manner as now you see there are many kinds of stars, and so the Fiat created them [several]. Then there were created the princely [angels], and the throne angels, according to every quality (as hard, sour, bitter, cold, fierce, soft, and so forth, 1 in the essences, till to the 1 in the end of nature) out of the source of the fire ; a simili- essential tude whereof you have in the stars, how different ^ they are. 2. Now the thrones and princely angels, are every one of them a great fountain ; as you may perceive the sun is, in respect of the stars, as also in the blossoming earth. The great fountain-vein [or well-spring] in the source, was in the time of the Fiat in the dark mind, the prince or throne-

angel : There out of each fountain came forth again a centre in many thousand thousands ; for the spirit in the Fiat manifested itself in the nature of the darkness, after the manner of the eternal wisdom. Thus the manifold various properties that were in the whole nature, went forth out of one only fountain, according to the ability of the eternal wisdom of God ; or as I may best render it to be understood by a similitude ; as if one princely angel had generated out of himself, at one time, many angels ; whereas yet the prince doth not generate them, but the essences ; and the qualities go forth with the centre in every essence, from the princely angels, and the spirit created 1 by them 1 with the Fiat, and they continue standing 2 Or company, essentially. Therefore every 2host (which pro- ceeded out of one [and the same] fountain) gat a will in the same fountain, which was their prince (as you see how the stars give all their will into the virtue [or power] of the sun) ; of this, much 3 The learned must not be said to my 3 Master in Arts, he holdeth

it impossible to know such things, and yet in God all things are possible, and to him a thousand years are as one day. 3. Now of these princely angels one is fallen (for he stood in the fourth form of the matrix of the genetrix in the dark mind, in that place in the mind where the flash of fire taketh its original) with his whole host that was proceeded from him : Thus the fiery kind [condition or property] moved him to go above the end of nature, (viz. above the Heart of God), that kind stood so l hard kindled J Or fiercely. 4. For as God said to the matrix of the earth, Let there come forth all kinds of beasts, and the Fiat created beasts out of all the essences ; and first divided the matrix, and after that the essences and qualities ; and then he created them out of the divided matrix, male and female. But because the creatures were material, therefore every kind [species or generation] must thus propagate itself from every essence ; but with the angels not so, but [their propagation was] sudden and swift ; as God's thoughts are, so were they.

5. But this is the ground : every quality [or source] would be creaturely, and the fiery [property] elevated itself too mightily, into which Lucifer had 2 brought his will ; and so it went 2 Or set his . , . 7 , . . delight or with Adam as to the tempting tree, as it is pleasure in it written ; and God suffered all sorts of trees to spring up in the Garden of Eden ; and in the midst of the garden the Tree of Life, and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. 6. Moses saith : God suffered to spring up out of the earth all sorts of trees pleasant to look upon, and good for food. But here is the veil in Moses, and yet in the Word it is bright, clear, and manifest, that the fruits were pleasant to behold, and good to eat, wherein there was no death, wrath, or 'corruptibility, but [it was] paradisical fruit, of "corruption. which Adam could live in clarity [or brightness] in the will of God, and in his love in perfection in eternity ; only the death stuck in the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, that only was able to bring man into another image.

7. Now we must needs clearly [conceive, or] think, that the paradisical fruit which was good, was not so very earthly, for (as Moses himself saith) they were of two sorts ; the one good to eat and pleasant to behold, and the other had the death and corruptibility in it : In the paradisical fruit there was no death nor corruptibility ; for if there had been any death or corruptibility therein, then Adam had eaten death in all the fruits ; but seeing there was no death therein, therefore the fruit could not be so altogether earthly ; though indeed it sprang out of the earth, yet the divine virtue of the second Principle was imprinted therein, and yet they were truly in the third Principle, grown [or sprung] out of the earth, which God cursed as to the earthly food, that no paradisical fruit did grow any more out of the earth. 8. Besides, if Adam had eaten earthly fruit, he must then have eaten it into his body, and have had guts [or entrails] : And how could such a stink [and dung] (as we now carry in the body) have been in paradise in the holiness of God ? Moreover, he would, by eating earthly food, have eaten of the fruit of the stars and elements, which would presently have infected [or qualified] in

him, as was done in the fall ; also so his fear over all the beasts would have ceased. For the essences of the beasts would presently have been like the human essences in virtue [and power], and l one1 Or the would have domineered more strongly over the would have domineered Other. over the 9. Therefore it was quite otherwise with Adam ; he was a heavenly paradisical man, he should have eaten of the heavenly paradisical fruit, and in the virtue [or power] of that [fruit] he should have ruled over all beasts [or living creatures], also over the stars and elements : No cold nor heat should have touched him, or else God would not have created him so naked, but like all beasts, with a rough [or hairy] skin [or hide]. 10. But the question is, Wherefore grew the earthly Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil? For if that had not been, Adam had not eaten of it : Or wherefore must Adam be tempted ? Hearken, Ask your mind about it, wherefore it so suddenly generateth and conceiveth in itself a thought of anger, and then of love ? Dost thou say [it cometh] from the hearing and seeing of a thing ? Yes, that is true, this God also knew very well ; and therefore he must be tempted. For the centre of the mind is free, and it generateth the will from hearing and seeing, out of which the imagination and lust doth arise.

11. Seeing Adam was created an image and whole similitude of God, and had all three Principles in him like God himself, therefore also his mind and imagination should merely have looked into the Heart of God, and should have set his lust and [desire, or] will thereon ; and as he was a lord over all, and that his mind was a threefold spirit, in three Principles in one^only essence, so his spirit also, and the will in the spirit, should have stood open [or free] in one only essence, viz. in the paradisical heavenly [essence]. And his mind and soul should have eaten of the Heart of God, and his body [should have eaten] of the heavenly linibus. 1 Or virtue 12. But seeing the heavenly llimbus was mani- fested through the earthly, and was in the fruit in one only essence, and Adam so too, therefore it behoved Adam (having received a living soul out of the first Principle, and breathed in from the Holy Ghost, and enlightened from the light of God standing in the second Principle) not to reach after the earthly matrix. 13. Therefore God here also gave him the command, not to lust after the earthly matrix, nor after her fruit, which stood in the corruptibility,

2 not in the and transitoriness, but the spirit of man 2 not. He corruptibility. , . - ,. 1-1 should eat of the fruit, but no otherwise than of the paradisical kind and property, [and] not of the earthly essences. For the paradisical essences had imprinted themselves in all fruits, therein they were very good to eat of, after an angelical manner, and also pleasant to behold, or corporeal, as Moses also saith. Now it may be asked, What then was properly the tempting in Adam ? The Gate of Good and Evil. 14. We have a very powerful testimony hereof, and it is known in nature, and in all her children, in the stars and elements, in the earth, stones, and metals; especially in the living creatures, as you see, how they are evil and good, viz. lovely creatures, and also venomous evil beasts ; as toads, adders, and serpents [or worms] ; so also there is poison and malice in every sort of l life of the l Or living third Principle : And the [fierceness or] strongness must be in nature, or else all were a death, and a nothing. The Depth in the Centre. 15. As is mentioned before, the eternal mind standeth thus 2in the darkness, and vexeth itself, a Or unknown, and longeth after the light, to generate that ; and

the anguish is the source, and the source hath in it many forms, till that it reacheth the fire in its substance, viz. [it hath] bitter, sour, hard, cold, strong, darting forth, or flashing ; in the root of itself sticketh the joy and pain alike ; viz. when it cometh to the root of the fire, and can reach the light, then out of the wrath [or sternness] cometh the great joy. For the light putteth the stern form into great meekness ; on the contrary, that form which cometh only to the root of the fire, 1 Or grimness, that continueth in the l wrath. 16. As we are to know, that when God would manifest the eternal mind in the darkness, in the 2 Or by. third Principle 2 with this world, then first all forms in the first Principle till fire were manifested, and that form now which comprehended the light, that became angelical and paradisical; but that which comprehended not the light, that remained to be wrathful, murderous, sour and evil, every one in its own form and essence. For every form desired also to be manifested, for it was the will of the eternal essence to manifest itself. But now one form was not able to manifest itself alone in the eternal birth, for the one is the member of the other, and the one without the other would not be.

17. Therefore the eternal Word, or Heart of God, wrought thus in the dark and spiritual matrix, which in itself, in the originalness without the light, would be [as it were] dumb [or senseless], and hath generated a corporeal and palpable [or comprehensible] similitude of its essence, in which all the forms were brought forth out of the eternal formation, and brought into essence. For out of the spiritual form, the corporeal [form] is generated, and the eternal Word hath created it by the Fiat, to stand thus. 18. Now then, out of these forms, out of the matrix of the earth, by the Fiat, in the Word, went forth all the creatures of this world ; also trees, herbs, and grass, every one according to its kind ; as also worms, evil and good, as every form in the matrix of the genetrix had its original. And thus it was also with the fruits in the paradise of this world in the Garden of Eden ; when the word was spoken, Let there come forth all sorts of trees and herbs, then out of all forms [or the genetrix or womb] trees and herbs came forth and grew, which were altogether good and pleasant ; for the word in the Fiat had 1 imprinted itself in ' imaged or

19. But then the darkness and source [or pain] were in the midst in the centre, wherein death, the wrathfulness, decay, and the corruptibility did stick ; and if that had not been, this world would have stood for ever, and Adam would not have been tempted: 2They also, like a 3 death (or a2 the darkness, . /• , -i \ T i i ,1 an(l source, or corrupting worm 01 the source) did work together, pain. and generate the Tree of Good and Evil in the3morsmidst of its seat [or place], because death stuck in the midst of the centre, by which this world will be kindled in the fire at the end of the days. And this source is even the anger of God, which by the Heart or light of God in the eternal Father is continually put into the meekness ; and therefore the Word or Heart of God is called the eternal mercifulness of the Father. 20. Seeing then all the forms of the eternal nature were to come forth [it is so come to pass], as you may see in toads, adders, worms, and evil beasts ; for that is the form which sticketh in the midst in the birth of all creatures, viz. the poison [venom], or brimstone-spirit ; as we see that all creatures have poison and gall ; and the life of the creatures sticketh in the power [or might] of it [the poison] ; as you may find before in this book, in all the chapters, how the eternal nature taketh its original, how it worketh, and how [or after what manner] its essence [being or substance] is.

21. Now thus the tree of the strong [tartness, or wrath] (which is in the midst of nature) grew also in the midst of the Garden of Eden ; and was (according to the ability of its own form which it hath from the eternal quality in the originalness) the greatest and the mightiest [tree]. And here it may be seen very clearly, that God would have preserved and had man to be in paradise, for he forbad him this tree, and caused other fruit enough [besides] to grow in the forms and essences. The Gate of the Tempting. 22. St Paul saith, God foresaw [or elected] man, before the ground [or foundation] of the world was laid : Here we find the ground so very [plain or] fair, that we have a delight to write on, wisdom of God, before the creation of the world, the fall of the devils, and also of man, appeared in the eternal matrix, and was seen. For the eternal Word in the eternal light knew very well, that if it came to manifest the fountain of the eternal birth, that then every form would break forth ; yet it was not the will of the love in the Word of the light, that the forms of the tart [sour, strong wrath] should elevate themselves above the meekness ; but it had such a mighty [or potent] form, that it is so come to pass.

23. Therefore the devil also, in regard of the might of the tart [strong fierce wrath], was called a prince of this world in the [angry strong] fierceness, of which you shall find [more] about the fall. And therefore God created but one man ; for God would that man should continue in paradise, and live eternally ; and on the contrary, the sternness [or strong fierce wrath] would tempt him, [to try] whether he would put his imagination and will wholly into the Heart of God, and into paradise, wherein he was. 24. And because Adam was drawn forth out of the strong [stern, sour] essences, therefore he must be tempted, [to try] whether his essences (out of which his imagination and lust proceeded) could stand in the heavenly quality, and whether he would eat of the Verbum Domini [the Word of the Lord] ; and [to try] which essence, whether the paradisical, or the strong [fierce, wrathful], would overcome in Adam. 25. And this was the purpose of God, therefore to create but one man, that the same might be tempted [and tried] how he would stand, and that upon his fall he might the better be helped : And the Heart of God did before the foundation of the world in his love foreintend [or prepurpose] to come to help [him] ; and when no other remedy could do it, the Heart of God himself would become man, and regenerate man again. x

26. For man is not fallen out of strong [fierce, angry] pride, like the devil ; but his earthly essences have overcome his paradisical essences, and brought them into the earthly lust, and in that regard he hath grace again bestowed upon him. The highest, strongest, and the mightiest Gate of the Temptation in Adam. 27. Here I will faithfully admonish the Reader, 1 not only in deeply to consider Moses, for l here, under the veil but in ail ' of Moses, he may look upon the face of Moses : ings. Also he may see the second Adam in the Move of or°iaWOmb' ^e yirgin : Also he may see him in ^s temptation, and upon the cross ; as also in death ; and lastly, in the virtue of the resurrection at the right hand of God : Also you may see Moses on mount Sinai ; and lastly, the clarification [or transfiguration] of Christ, Moses and Elias on mount Tabor : Also you may see herein the whole Scripture of the Old and New Testaments : Also you find herein all the Prophets from the beginning of the world hitherto, and all the might and power of all tyrants, wherefore things have gone so, and must still go [as they

do] : Lastly, you find the golden gate of the omnipotence [or almightiness], and of the great power in the love and humility; and wherefore the children of God must still be tempted ; and wherefore the noble grain of mustard-seed must grow in storms, crosses, and misery, and wherefore it cannot be otherwise : Also herein you find the essence of all essences. 28. And it is the gate of the lily, concerning which the spirit witnesseth, that it will l hereafter 1 shortly. grow in the wrathful tree, and when it groweth, it will bring us true knowledge, by its pleasant and fragrant smell, in the Holy Trinity ; by which smell Antichrist 2 will be stifled, and the tree of a Note, we the stern anger be broken down, and the beast ceaithe erp enraged, which hath its might and strength the tree for a time, till it be dry and fiery, because it can get no more sap from the wrathful tree that is broken down ; and then it will smell [or lift up itself] in the [fierce, tart] 3 wrath against the tree 3 Or rage. and the lily, till the tree (of which the beast did eat and was strong) destroyeth the beast, and his power remaineth in the fire of the originalness. And then all doors [will] stand open in the great tree of nature, and the priest Aaron [will] give his garment and fair ornament to the Lamb, that was slain and is [alive] again.

29. Reader, who lovest God ; hereby it will be shewn thee, that the great Mysteries * meet us, 4 Or are im- •_ . . parted to us. concerning the hidden things that were in Adam before his fall, and that yet there are much greater after his fall, when he was as it were dead, and yet essence, and wherefore it still must thus have been, that Adam must have been tempted, and wherefore it could not have been otherwise ; though reason 2speaketh continually 2gainsayeth it, and allegeth God's against it. . . . .' , . , omnipotency, that it was in him to hinder, or suffer the doing of it. 30. Beloved reason, leave off your thoughts, for with these thoughts and conceits you know not God, nor the eternity. Then how will you with such thoughts know the similitude which God generated out of the eternal mind ? It hath here been sundry times mentioned to you, that the mind (which yet is the greatest essence in man) 3 in a working doth not stand 3 in a source. is fre^. ' 31. If we think of [or consider] the incliner, what that was which inclined and drew Adam to that which was forbidden, that he should lust contrary to the command of God, whereas he was yet in great perfection, then we shall find the eternal mind, out of which Adam was also created ; and that because he was an extract out of the eternal mind, out of all essences of all the three Principles, therefore he must be tempted [to try] whether he could stand in paradise : For the Heart of God desired that he should continue in paradise, but now he could not continue in paradise, except he did eat paradisical fruit ;

therefore now his Heart should have been wholly 1 inclined towards God ; and so he should have 1 given up to lived in the divine centre, and God had wrought 32. Now what opposed him, or what drew him from paradise to disobedience, so that he passed into another image [form or condition] ? Behold, thou child of man, there was a threefold strife in Adam, without Adam, and in all whatsoever Adam beheld. Thou wilt say, What was it ? It was the three Principles ; first, the kingdom of hell, the power of the wrath ; and secondly, the kingdom of this world, with the stars and elements ; and thirdly, the kingdom of paradise, that desired to have him. 33. Now these three kingdoms were in Adam, and also 2 without him ; and in the 3 essences there 2 extra. was a mighty strife, all drew as well in Adam as t without Adam, and would fain have him ; for he was a great lord [come] out of all the [powers or] virtues of nature. The Heart of God desired to have him in paradise, and [would] dwell in him ; for it said, it is my image and similitude. And the kingdom of wrath [and of the fierce tartness] would also have him ; for it said, he is mine, and he is [proceeded] out of my fountain, out of the eternal mind of the darkness ; I will be in him, and he shall live in my might, for he is generated out of [that which is] mine ; I will, through him, shew great and strong power. The kingdom of

this world said, he is mine ; for he beareth my image, and he liveth in [that which is] mine, and I in him ; he must be obedient to me, I will tame him and compel him, I have all my members in him, and he in me ; I am greater than he, he must and virtues in him, he must manifest my wonders and virtues, he shall keep and manage my herds, I will clothe him with my fair glory ; as now it is to be seen. 34. But when the kingdom of the fierceness, of the wrath, of death, and of hell, saw that it had lost, and could not keep man, then it said, I am 2 mws. 2 death, and a worm, and my virtue [or power] is in him, and I will grind him and break him to pieces, and his spirit must live in me ; and although thou world supposeth that he is thine, because he beareth thy image, yet his spirit is mine, generated out of my kingdom ; therefore take what is thine from him, I will keep that which is mine. 35. Now what did the virtue in Adam, in this strife ? It flattered with all the three [kingdoms]. It said to the Heart of God, I will stay in paradise, and thou shalt dwell in me : I will be thine, for thou art my Creator, and thou hast thus concreted [or extracted] me out of all the three Principles, and created me : Thy refreshment is pleasant, and thou art my bridegroom, I have received of thy fulness, and therefore I am impregnated [or with child], and I will bring forth a virgin, that my

kingdom may be great, and that thou mayest have mere joy in me : I will eat of thy fruit, and my spirit shall eat of thy virtue [or power] ; and thy name in me shall be called 1MMANUEL, God with us. 36. And when the spirit of this world perceived that, then it said, Wherefore wilt thou only eat of that which thou comprehendest not, and drink of that which thou feelest not ? Thou art not yet merely a spirit, thou hast from me all the kinds of comprehensibility in thee ; behold, the comprehensible fruit is sweet and good, and the comprehensible drink is l mighty and strong, eat and l powerful, drink from me, and so thou shalt come to have virtue or all my virtue and beauty ; thou mayest in me be s mighty [and powerful] over all the creatures, for the kingdom of this world shall be thy own, and thou shalt be lord upon earth. 37. And the virtue in Adam said, I am upon earth, and dwell in this world, and the world is mine, I will use it according to my lust [will, and pleasure]. Then came the command of God (which

was 2 received in the centre of God, out of the a enclosed, circle [or circumference] of the eternal life), and compresaid, In the day that thou eatest of the earthly fruit, thou shalt die the death : This command was comprehended or enclosed (and hath its original in the eternal Father) in the centre, where the eternal Father continually from eternity generateth his Heart or Son. 38. Now when the worm of darkness saw the command of God, it thought with itself, here thou nothing to . 7 111 do. and contrariwise, Adam is corporeal, thou hast but a third part in him, and besides, the command is in the way ; thou wilt even slip [or creep] into the essences, and flatter with the spirit of this world, and take a creaturely form upon thee, and send a legate [or ambassador] out of my kingdom, clothed in the form of a serpent, and wilt persuade him to eat of the earthly fruit, and then the command destroyeth his body, and the spirit remaineth [to be] mine. Here now the legate [or ambassador], the devil, was very willing [and ready] at this, especially because Adam in paradise was in his place, where he should have been ; and [he] thought [with himself], Now thou hast an opportunity to be revenged ; thou wilt mingle lies and truth so together, that Adam may not [observe or] understand it, [the treachery], and so thou wilt tempt him.

Of the Tree of Knowledge [of] Good and Evil. 2 might. 39. I have told you before, out of what 2 power the tree is grown ; viz. that it grew out of the earth, and hath wholly had the nature of the earth in it, as at this day all earthly trees are [so] (and no otherwise, neither better nor worse), wherein corruptibility standeth, as the earth is corruptible, and shall pass away in the end, when all shall Cll. 11] CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE TEMPTATION 195 go into its l ether, and nothing else - shall remain l Or recepof it besides the figure. Now this was the tree which stood in the midst of the garden in Eden, whereby Adam must be tempted in all essences ; for his spirit should rule powerfully over all essences, as the holy angels, and God himself doth. 40. Besides, he was created by the Word, or Heart of God, that he should be his image and similitude, very powerfully in all the three Principles, [and be] as great as a prince or throne-angel. But this tree standing thus in the garden, and of all the trees that only did bear earthly fruit, therefore Adam looked so often upon it, because he knew that it was the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and the virtue of the tree pressed him to it so very hard (which virtue was also in him) that the one lust infected [poisoned or mingled with] the other : And the spirit of the great world pressed Adam so very hard, that he became infected, and his virtue [or power] was overcome. Here the paradisical man was undone, and then said the Heart of God, It is not good that man [should] be alone, we will make him a help [or consort] to be with him.

41. Here God saw his fall, and that he could not stand, because Adam's imagination and lust was so eager after the kingdom of this world, and after the earthly fruit, and that Adam would not generate a perfect paradisical man out of himself, but an infected [poisoned man], according to the lust, and would fall into corruptibility. And the text in Moses soundeth further very right, thus, And God let a deep sleep fall upon man, and he slept \orfelLasleep}.

Of ike Opening of the Holy Scripture, that the Circumstances may be highly considered. The Golden Gate, which God affordeth to the last World, wherein the LUy shall flourish [and blossom]. 1. ~T~ OVING Reader, I had need have an -J — J angelical tongue for this description, and thou an angelical mind, and then we should well understand one another : But seeing we have them not, therefore we will express the great deeds of God with the earthly tongue, according to our [received] gift and knowledge, and open the Scripture to the Reader, and give him occasion to consider further, whereby the Pearl might be sought and found at last ; therefore we will work in our day-labour, l according to our duty, till the 2 Pearl i and lead Of the lily be found. come after us 2. Reason asketh : How long was Adam in paradise before his fall, and how long did the temptation last? I cannot tell thee that, out of Moses' description of the creation, for it is for great cause concealed : Yet I will shew thee the wonders of God, and 3 expound them, according to into them. 8 in the spirit of the great world.

4 in the law. 8 the law. the knowledge that is given me, whereby thou mayest the better learn to * consider the temptation and the fall of Adam. 3. Beloved reason, look into the glass of the actions and deeds of God. When God appeared to Moses in the 2 burning bush, he said, Pull off thy shoes ; for here is a holy place : What was that? Answer: God shewed [Moses~\ thereby his earthly birth. For he would give him a law, wherein man should live (if it were possible), and attain salvation : But who was it that gave the law, and commanded man to live therein ? Answer : It was God the Father, out of his centre, and therefore it was done with fire and thunder ; for there is no fire and thunder in the Heart of God, but kind love. 4. Hereupon reason will say, Is not God the Father one [and the same] essence with the Son ? Answer : Yes, [they are] one essence and will. By what means then did he give the law ? Answer : By the spirit of the great world ; because Adam after the fall, and all men, lived 3 therein, therefore it must be tried, whether man could live 4 therein, in confidence towards God. Therefore he established it with great wonders [or miracles], and gave 6it clarity [shining brightness or glory] ; as may be seen in Moses, who had a [glorious bright] shining face. And when he had chosen to himself this people, he destroyed the children of unbelief, and brought 6them out with wonders into theT wilder-

ness ; and there it was tried whether men could live in perfect obedience under this clarity [glory or brightness]. 5. What was done there ? Answer : Moses was called by God (out from [among] the children of Israel) up into mount Sinai, and stayed there forty days : And then he would try the people whether it were possible for them to put their trust [or confidence] in God, that they might be fed with l heavenly bread, that so they might attain * manna, perfection. And there now stood the mind majoris mundi, of the 2 great world ; and on the contrary, 2 Or macro- the eternal mind of God, in strife one against another ; God required obedience, and the mind of this world required [or desired] the pleasure of this transitory life, as eating, drinking, playing, dancing ; therefore they chose them moreover their belly-god, a Golden Calf, that they might be free and live without law. 6. Here you see again, how the three Principles strove one against another about man : The law that was given to Adam in the Garden of Eden brake forth again, and desired to have obedience ; in like manner, also, the spirit of strong [fierceness or] wrath brake forth again in the false fruit and voluptuousness, and sought the corruptible life. And this strife now lasted forty days, before they set up the calf, and fell [wholly like Adam] from God ; so long the strife of the three Principles continued.

7. But now, when they were fallen away from God, [as Adam was], then came Moses with Joshua, and saw the apostasy [or falling away], and brake the tables in pieces, and led them into the wilderness ; where they must all die, except Joshua and Caleb : For the clarity [or brightness] of the Father in the fire, in the first Principle, could not bring them into the Promised Land ; and although they did eat manna, yet it did not help [in] the trial, only Joshua, and at length JESUS, must do it. 8. And when the time came, that the true Champion [or Saviour] returned again out of paradise, and became the child of the virgin, then was renewed, the strife of the three Principles 1 came again. For there he was again set before the tempting tree, and he -must endure the hard brunt before the tempting tree, and stand out the temptation of the three Principles, which was not possible for the first Adam to do. And there the strife continued forty days and forty nights, just so long as the strife with Adam in paradise continued, and not an hour longer ; and then the Champion [or Saviour] overcame. Therefore open your eyes aright, and look upon the Scripture aright ; although it be brief and obscure [to reason], yet it is very true.

9. You find not in Moses, that Adam was driven out of paradise the first day ; the temptation of Israel, and of Christ, informeth us quite otherwise. For the temptation of Christ is to a tittle (in all circumstances) the same with the temptation of Adam. 10. For Adam was tempted forty days in paradise, in the Garden of Eden, before the tempting tree, [and tried] whether he could stand, whether he could set his inclination on the Heart of God, and only eat of the Verbum Domini [the Word of the Lord] ; and then [if he had stood], God would have given him his body (the heavenly limbus) to eat, that he should eat it in his mouth, not into his body ; he should have brought forth the child of the virgin out of himself ; for he was neither man nor woman [male nor female] ; he had the matrix, and also the man [or masculine nature] in him, and should have brought forth the virgin full of modesty and chastity out of the matrix, without rending of his body. 11. And here is the strife in the Revelation of John, where a woman brought forth a son, which

the dragon and the 1worm would devour; and » Or serpent. there stood the virgin upon the earthly moon, and despiseth the earthiness, and treadeth it under feet. And so should Adam also have trodden the earthiness under foot, but it overcame him ; therefore afterwards the child of the virgin (when it had overcome the tempting tree) must also enter into the first death of the strong [fierce] wrath in the death, and overcome the first Principle. 12. For he stood forty days in the temptation in the wilderness, where there was no bread nor drink, then came the tempter, and would have brought him from obedience, and said, He should out of the stones make bread ; which was nothing else, but that he should leave the heavenly bread (which man receiveth in faith and in a strong confidence in God), and put his imagination into the spirit of this world, and live therein. 13. But when the child of the virgin laid the heavenly bread before him, and said, Man liveth 1 Or by, or of. not only * from this world, * from the earthly eating and drinking, then came the second way [or kind] of temptation forth, viz. the might [power, dominion, and authority] of this world ; the prince of the wrath [or strong fierceness] would give him all the power of the stars and elements, if he would put his imagination into him, and pray to [or worship] him. That was the right scourge [or whip] wherewith Adam was 2 scourged, [viz.'] with the might, riches, and beauty of this world, after which at last Adam lusted, and was taken ; but the child of the virgin laid before him that the kingdom was not his, [viz.'] belonging to the prince of the [fierce, strong] wrath, but [it belonged] to the Word and Heart of God ; he must worship God, and serve him only.

14. The third temptation was the same into which the devil also was fallen, 3with high-mindedness [or pride], when he [Christ] was tempted to have flien from above, from the pinnacle of the temple, and should have elevated himself above humility and 3 Or out of. meekness ; for the meekness maketh the angry Father, in the originalness, soft and joyful, so that the Deity [thus] becometh a soft and pleasant essence. 15. But lord Lucifer would (in the creation) have fain been above the meekness of the Heart of God, above the end of nature ; therefore he would fain also have persuaded the son of the virgin to fly without wings, above the end of nature, in pride ; of which shall be handled in its due place at large. I have brought this in thus, but in brief, that my writing may be the better understood, and how it stands with [or upon] the ground [or foundation] of the Scripture, and is not any new thing, neither shall there be any thing new [in them], but only the true knowledge, in the Holy Ghost, of the essence of all essences. 16. Adam had not eaten of the fruit before his sleep, till his wife was created out of him ; only his essences and inclination had eaten of it in the spirit by the imagination, and not in the mouth ; and thereupon the spirit of the great world captivated

him, and mightily * qualified in him [or infected him]. l Or wrought And then instantly the sun and stars wrestled with him, and all the four elements wrestled so mightily and powerfully, that they overcame him ; and [so] he sank down into a sleep. 17. Now to an understanding man it is very easy to be found and known, that there neither was, nor should be any sleep in Adam, when he was in the image of God. For Adam was such an image as we shall be at the resurrection of the dead, where we shall have no need of the elements, nor of the sun, nor stars, also [of] no sleep, but our eyes shall be always open eternally, beholding the glory of God, 1 from whence will be our meat and drink ; an^ tne centre iQ tne 2 multiplicity, or springing up of the birth, affordeth mere delight and joy ; for God will bring forth out of the earth into the kingdom of heaven no other [kind of] man, than [such a one] as the first [was] before the fall ; for he was created out of the eternal will of God ; that [will] is unchangeable, and must stand ; therefore consider these things deeply.

18. 0 thou dear soul, that swimmest in a dark 3 lake, incline thy mind to the gate of heaven, and behold what the fall of Adam hath been, which God did so greatly loathe, that [because of it] Adam could not continue in paradise : behold and consider the sleep, and so you shall find it all. 4 Or a being Sleep is nothing else but 4 an overcoming ; for the overcome. . ... n sun and the stars are still in a mighty strife, and the element of water, [viz.'] the matrix, is too weak for the fire and the stars, for that [element] is the [being] overcome in the centre of nature, as you find before in many places. 19. And the light of the sun is as it were a god in the nature of this world, and by its virtue [and Cb. 12] OPENING OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURE 205 influence] it continually kindleth the stars [or constellations], whereby the stars [or constellations] (which are of a very terrible and anguishing essence) continually exult in triumph very joyfully. For it [the sun] is an essence like the light of God, which kindleth and enlighteneth the dark mind of the Father, from whence, by the light, there ariseth the divine joy in the Father.

20. And so it [the sun] maketh a triumphing, or rising [to be] in the l matrix of the water, always J root or like a 2 seething ; for the stars altogether cast their 3 Or ^ virtue [or influence] into the matrix of the water, as s being therein ; in like manner also now the 3 the stars matrix of the water is continually seething and matrix, rising, from whence cometh the * growing in trees, « vegetation, plants, grass, and beasts. For the uppermost regimen [or dominion] of the sun and stars, and also of the elements, ruleth in all creatures, and it is a blossom or bud from them, and without their power, there would be in this world, in the third Principle, no life, nor mobility, in any manner of thing, nothing excepted. 21. But the living creatures, as men, beasts, and fowls, have the tincture in them, for in the beginning they were an extraction [taken] from the quality of the stars and elements by the Fiat. And in the tincture [there] standeth the continual kindling fire, which continually draweth the virtue or oleum [the oil] out of the water ; from whence cometh the blood, in which the noble life 6 standeth. • Or i«.

22. Now the sun and the stars [or constellations] continually kindle the tincture, for it is fiery ; and the tincture kindleth the body, with the matrix of the water, so that they are always boiling [rising] and seething. The stars [or constellations] and the sun are the fire of the tincture, and the tincture is the fire of the body, and so all are seething. And therefore when the sun is underneath, so that its beams [or shining] is no more [upon a thing], then the tincture is weaker, for it hath no kindling from the virtue of the sun. And although the virtue of the stars and the quality are kindled from the sun, yet all is too little, and so it becometh feeble [or as it were dead]. And when the tincture is feeble, then the virtue in the blood (which is the tincture) is wholly weak, and sinketh into a sweet rest, as it were dead or overcome. 23. But now in the tincture only is the understanding, which governeth the mind, and maketh the [thoughts or] senses ; therefore all is as it were dead, and the constellation now only ruleth in the root of the first Principle, where the Deity, like a glance [lustre] or virtue, worketh in all things : There the starry spirit in the glance of the glass of the divine virtue in the element of fire looketh into the matrix of the water, and setteth his jaws open after the tincture, but that is void of power ; and therefore he taketh the virtue of the tincture (viz. the mind) and mingleth [or qualifieth] with it, and then the mind sealeth the elements, and

worketh therein dreams and l visions, all according \representa- to the virtue of the stars ; for 2 it standeth in the 2 the mind working and quality of the stars ; and these are the Con818tethdreams and visions of the night in the sleep. The Gate of the highest Depth of the Life of the Tincture. 24. Though the doctor, it may be, knoweth what the tincture is, yet the simple and unlearned do not, who many times (if they had the art) have better gifts and understanding than the doctor, therefore I write for those that seek ; though indeed I hold, that neither the doctor, nor the alchemist, hath the ground of the tincture, unless he be born again in the spirit ; such a one seeth through all, whether he be learned or unlearned ; with God the peasant is as acceptable as the doctor. 25. The tincture is a thing that separateth, and bringeth the pure and clear from the impure ; and that bringeth the life of all sorts of spirits, or all sorts of essences, into its highest [pitch] degree [or exaltation]. Yea it is the cause of the shining, or of the lustre : It is a cause that all creatures see and live. But its form is not one and the same [in every thing] ; it is not in a beast, as in man ; so also it is different in stones and herbs ; although it is truly in all things, yet in some things strong, and in some weak.

26. But if we search what it is in essence and property, and how it is generated, then we find a 1 being, essence, or thing. 2 the image of itself. very worthy [precious] noble l substance in its birth, for it is come forth from the virtue, and the fountain of the Deity, which hath imprinted 2 itself in all things. And therefore it is so secret and hidden, and is imparted to the knowledge of none of the ungodly, to find it, or to know it. And although it be there, yet a vain, false [or evil] mind is not worthy of it, and therefore it remaineth hidden to him : And God ruleth all in all incomprehensibly and imperceptibly to the creature ; the creature passeth away it knoweth not how ; and the shadow and the figure of the tincture continueth eternally ; for it is generated out of the eternal will : But the spirit is given to it by the Fiat, according to the kind of every creature ; also in the beginning of the creation it was implanted and incorporated in jewels, stones, and metals, according to the kind of every one. 27. It was from eternity in God, and therefore it is eternally in God. But when God would create a similitude of his essence, and that it should be generated out of the darkness, then it stood in the flash of fire that went forth, in the place where the fifth form of the birth of love generateth itself in the similitude. For it was generated out of the fountain of the will, out of the Heart of God, and therefore its shadow continueth in the will of God eternally ; and for the sake thereof also the shadow of all creatures, and of every [essence] substance [or thing], which was ever generated

in the similitude, remaineth eternally ; for it is the similitude of God, which is generated out of the eternal will ; yet its spirit continueth not eternally in the third Principle of this world ; that ceaseth, or passeth away with the ceasing of the springing, or the ceasing of the life. 28. For all whatsoever liveth in the third Principle, corrupteth [or passeth away], and goeth into its ether and end, till [it cometh] to the figure of the tincture ; and that continueth standing eternally as a shadow or will, without spirit or mobility : But in the second Principle the tincture continueth eternally standing in the spirit, and in the substance [or essence], all very powerfully, viz. in angels and men, as also in the beginning [or first springing] of every substance ; for their centre to the birth is eternally fixed [or stedfast]. Of its [the Tinctures'] Essences and Property. The deep Gate of Life. 29. Its essence is the flash in the circle [or circumference] of the springing of the life, which in the water maketh the glance and shining ; and its root is the fire ; and the stock is the [sour] harshness. Now the flash separateth the bitterness and harshness from the water ; so that the water becometh soft [fluid], and clear, wherein then the

1 sight of all creatures doth consist, so that the » or faculty spirit in the flash in the matrix of the water doth ° see ; and the flash standeth therein like a glance 1 fuifiiieth or ("or lustre], and l filleth the spirit of the essences : from which the essence draweth vehemently to itself ; for it is the [sour] harshness, and the flash continually separateth the darkness from the light, and the impure from the pure ; and there now standeth the divine virtue [or power] : And the divine glance continually imagineth [or imprinteth] itself in the pure, from which the [sour] strong [property] is separated out from nature ; and the divine glance maketh the pure sweet ; for it mingleth itself [or infecteth] there. 30. But the sweetness is like oil or fire, wherein the flash continually kindleth itself, so that it shineth : But the oil being sweet, and mingled with the matrix of the water, therefore the shining 8 pleasant. light is steady [constant and fixed] and 2 sweet : But being it cannot, in the nature of the water, continue to be an oil only (because of the infection of the water) therefore it becometh thick ; and the [nature or] kind of the fire coloureth it red ; and this is the blood and the tincture in a creature, wherein the noble life standeth.

Of the Death and of the Dying. The Gate of Affliction and of Misery. 31. Thus the noble life in the tincture standeth in great danger, and hath hourly to expect the [corruption, or destruction, breaking, or] dissolution ; for as soon as the blood (wherein the spirit liveth) floweth out [or passeth away] the essence [breaketh or] dissolveth, and the tincture flieth away like a glance or shadow ; and then the source [or springing up] of the fire is out, and the body becometh stiff. 32. But alas ! the life hath many greater and more powerful enemies ; especially the four elements and the constellations [or stars]. As soon as [any] one element becometh too strong, the tincture flieth from it, and then the life hath its end : If it be overwhelmed with water, it groweth cold, and the fire goeth out, then the flash flieth away like a glance or shadow : If it be overwhelmed with earth, viz. with impure matter, then the flash groweth dark, and flieth away : If it be overwhelmed with air. that it be stopped, then the tincture is stifled, and the springing essences, and the flash breaketh into a glance, and goeth into its ether. But if it be overwhelmed with fire or heat, the flash is enflamed, and burneth up the tincture, from whence the blood becometh dark, and swarthy, or black, and the flash goeth out in the meekness.

33. 0 how many enemies hath the life among the constellations [or stars], which qualify [or mingle their influence] with the tincture and elements. When the planets and the stars have their conjunctions, and where they cast their poisonous rays into the tincture, there ariseth in the life of the meek tincture, stinging, tearing, and torturing. For the sweet [or pleasant] tincture (being a sweet and pleasing refreshment) cannot endure any impure thing. And therefore when such poisonous rays are darted into it, then it resisteth and continually cleanseth itself; but as soon as it is overwhelmed, that it is darkened, then the flash goeth out, the life breaketh, and the body falleth away, and becometh a cadaver, carcase [or dead corpse] ; for the spirit-is the life. 34. This I have here shewn very briefly and summarily, and not according to all the circumstances, that it might thereby be somewhat understood [by the way, what] the life [is]. In its due place all shall be expounded at large, for herein is very much contained, and there might be great volumes written of it; but I have set down only this, that the overcoming and the sleep might be apprehended.

The Gate [or Exposition] of the heavenly Tincture, how it was in Adam before the Fall, and how it shall be in us after this Life. 35. Great and mighty are these secrets, and that seeketh and findeth them, hath surpassing joy therein ; for they are the true heavenly bread for the soul. If we consider and receive the knowledge of the heavenly tincture, then there riseth up the knowledge of the divine kingdom of joy, so that we wish to be loosed from the vanity, and to live in this birth ; which yet cannot be, but we must finish our day's work. 36. Reason saith : Alas ! If Adam had not lusted, he had not fallen asleep : if I had been as he I would have stood firm, and have continued in paradise. Yes, beloved reason, you have hit the matter well, in thinking so well of thyself! I will shew thee thy strength, and the gate ; and do but thou consider how firm thou shouldst stand, if thou didst stand as Adam did before the tempting tree. 37. Behold, I give you a true similitude : Suppose that thou wast a young man, or young maid [or virgin] (as Adam was both of them in one [only] person), how dost thou think thou shouldst stand ? Suppose thus, set a young man of good complexion, beautiful, and virtuous ; and also a fair chaste modest virgin [or young maid], curiously featured, and put them together ;

and let them not only come to speak together, and converse lovingly one with another, but so that they may also embrace one another ; and command them not to fall in love together, not so much as in the least thought, also not to have any inclination to it, much less any infection in the will ; and let these two be thus together forty days and forty nights, and converse with one another in mere joy ; and command them further, that they keep their will and mind stedfast and never 1 conceive one thought to desire one another and 1 Or propose

not to infect [themselves] with any essence or property at all, but that their will and inclination be most stedfast and firm to the command ; and that the young man shall will [and purpose] never to copulate with this, nor any other maid [or virgin] ; and in like manner the maid [or virgin] be enjoined the same. Now, thou reason, full of misery, defects, and infirmities, how do you think you should possibly stand here ? Would you not promise fair with Adaml But you would not be able to perform it. 38. Thus, my beloved reason, I have set a gloss before you, and thus it was with Adam. God had created his work wisely and good, and extracted the one out of the other. The first ground was himself, out of which he created the world, and out of the world [he created] man, to whom he gave his spirit, and intimated to him, that without wavering or any other desire, he should live in him most perfectly. 39. But now man had also the spirit of this world, for he was [come] out of this world, and lived in the world : And Adam (understand the spirit which was breathed into him from God) was the chaste virgin ; and the spirit which he had inherited out of nature, from the world, was the young man. These were now both together, and rested in one arm.

40. Now the chaste virgin ought to be bent into the Heart of God, and to have no imagination to lust after the beauty of the comely young man ; but yet the young man was kindled with love towards the virgin, and he desired to copulate with her ; for he said, Thou art my dearest spouse [or bride], my paradise, and garland of roses, let me into thy paradise : I will be impregnated in thee, that I may get thy essence, and enjoy thy pleasant love ; how willingly would I taste of the friendly sweetness of thy virtue [or power] ! If I might but receive thy glorious light, how full of joy should I be ! 41. And the chaste virgin said, Thou art indeed my bridegroom and my companion, but thou hast not my ornament ; my pearl is more l precious than costly. thou, my virtue [or power] is incorruptible [or unfadeable], and my mind is constant [or stedfast] ; thou hast an inconstant mind, and thy virtue is corruptible [or brittle]. Dwell in my 2 court, and 2 AS in the I will entertain thee friendly, and do thee much Of the temple, good : I will adorn thee with my ornaments, and I will put my garment on thee ; but I will not give thee my pearl, for thou art dark, and that is shining and bright.

42. Then said the spirit of nature (viz. the young man), My fair pearl and chastity, I pray thee let me enjoy thy comfort, if thou wilt not copulate with me, that I may impregnate in thee, yet do but enclose thy pearl in my heart, that I may have it for my own. Art thou not my golden crown ? How fain would I taste of thy fruit. 43. Then the 3 chaste spirit out of God in Adam » Or modest. (viz. the virgin) said, My dear love, and ray companion ; I plainly see thy lust, thou wouldst fain copulate with me ; but I am a virgin, and thou a man ; thou wouldst defile my pearl, and destroy my crown ; and besides, thou wouldst mingle thy sourness with my sweetness, and darken my bright light; therefore I will not [do so]. I will lend thee my pearl, and adorn thee with my garment, into thy own but I will not give it to be l thy own. 44. And the companion (viz. the spirit of the world in Adam) said, I will not leave thee, and if thou wilt not let me copulate with thee, then I will take my innermost and strongest 2 force, and use thee according to my will, according to the innermost 2 power ; I will clothe thee with the power of the sun, stars, and elements ; wherein none will know thee, [and so] thou must be mine eternally : And although (as thou sayest) I am inconstant, and that my virtue is not like to thine, and my light not like thine, yet I will keep thee well enough in my treasure, and thou must be 3 my own.

45. Then said the virgin, Why wilt thou use 4 violence? Am I not thy ornament, and thy crown ? I am bright, and thou art dark ; behold, if thou coverest me, then thou hast no glance [or lustre] ; and [then] thou art a dark [dusky or black] worm : And [then] how can I dwell with thee ? Let me alone ; I [will] not give myself to be thy own : I will give thee my ornament, and thou shalt live in my joy, thou shalt eat of my fruit, and taste 6 Or mingle, my sweetness ; but thou canst not 6 qualify with me ; for the divine virtue is my essence, therein is 3 at my disposal. Oh. 12] OPENING OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURE 217 my fair [or orient] pearl, and my bright [shining] light generated ; my fountain is eternal : If thou darkenest my light, and defilest my garment, then thou wilt have no beauty [or lustre], and canst not subsist, but thy worm will [corrupt or] destroy thee, and so I shall lose my companion, which I had chosen for my bridegroom, with whom I meant to have rejoiced ; and then my pearl and beauty would have no l company : Seeing I have given ' recreation myself to be thy companion for my joy's sake ; if thou wilt not enjoy my beauty, yet pray continue in my ornament and excellency, and dwell with me in joy, I will adorn thee eternally.

46. And the young man said, Thy ornament is mine already, I [will] use thee according to my will ; in that thou sayest I shall be broken (corrupted or destroyed), yet my worm is eternal, I will rule with that ; and yet I will dwell in thee, and clothe thee with my garments. 47. And here the virgin turned her to the Heart of God, and said, My heart and my beloved, thou art my virtue, from thee I am clear and bright, from thy root I am generated from eternity ; deliver me from the worm of darkness which infecteth [poisoneth] and tempteth my bridegroom, and let me not be darkened in the obscurity ; I am thy ornament, and am come that thou shouldst have joy in me : Wherefore then shall I stand with my bridegroom in the dark ? And the divine answer said, The seed of the woman shall break 2 the Son of God. the head of the serpent, or worm ; and thou shalt, etc. 48. Behold, dear soul, herein lieth the heavenly tincture, which we must set down in a similitude, and we cannot at all express it with words. Indeed, if we had the tongue of angels, we could then rightly express what the mind apprehendeth ; but the pearl is clothed [covered or veiled] with a dark [cloak or] garment : The virgin calleth stedfastly to the 2 Heart of God, that he would deliver her companion from the dark worm ; but the divine answer 3 still is, The seed of the woman shall break the serpent's head ; that is, the darkness of the serpent shall be separated from thy bridegroom ; the dark garment wherewith the serpent clotheth thy bridegroom, and darkeneth thy pearl and beauteous crown, shall be broken [corrupted or destroyed], and turn to earth ; and thou shalt rejoice with thy

4 Or purpose, bridegroom in me ; this was my eternal 4 will, it must stand. 49. Now then when we consider the high mysteries, the spirit openeth to us the understanding, that this [afore-mentioned] is the true ground concerning Adam : For his original spirit (viz. the soul) that was the worm, which was generated out of the eternal will of God the Father, and in the time of the creation was by the Fiat (after the manner of a spirit) created out of that place where the Father from eternity generateth his Heart, between the fourth and the fifth forms in the centre of God, where the light of God from eternity discovereth itself, and taketh its beginning, and therefore the light of God came thus to help him, as a fair virgin, and took the soul to be her bridegroom, and would adorn the soul with her fair heavenly crown, with the noble virtue of the pearl, and beautify it with her garment. 50. Then the fourth form in the centre of the soul brake forth, there where the spirit of the soul was created, [viz.'] between the fourth and the fifth forms in the centre, * near the Heart of God ; and J next to. so the fourth form was in the glance in the darkness, out of which the world was created, which in

its form parteth itself in its centre into five parts in its rising, till [it attain] to the light of the sun. For the stars also in their centre are generated betwixt the fourth and the fifth forms, and the sun is the 2 spring of the fifth form in the centre ; as in 2 Or fountain. the eternal centre, the Heart and light of God [is], which hath no ground ; but this [centre] of the stars and elements hath its ground in the fourth form in the dark mind, in the rising up of the awakened [or kindled] flash of the fire. 51. Thus the soul is generated between both the centres, between the centre of God (understand [between the centre] of the Heart or light of God, where it is generated out of an eternal place), and also between the [propagated or] out-sprung centre of this world ; and it [the soul] hath its beginning from both, and qualifieth with both ; and therefore thus it hath all three Principles, and can live in all three. 52. But it was the law and will of the virgin, 1 mouideth, or that as God ruleth over all things, and l imprinteth

himself everywhere, and giveth virtue and life to all, and yet the thing comprehendeth him not, although he be certainly there ; so also should the 2 Or have con- soul 2 stand still, and the form of the virgin should tinned in true . ..,,,.. resignation, govern in the soul, and crown it with the divine light ; the soul should be the comely young man which was created, and the virtue [or power] of God [should be] the fair virgin ; and the light of God [should be] the fair [orient] pearl and crown, (^/ wherewith the virgin would adorn the young man. 53. But the young man desired to have the virgin to be his own, which could not be, because she was a degree higher in the birth than he ; for the virgin was from eternity, and the bridegroom was given to her, that she should have joy and delight with him in God. 54. But now when the young man could not obtain this of the virgin, then he reached back after the worm in his own centre. For the form of this world pressed very powerfully upon him, which also was in the soul, and [this form] would fain have had the virgin to be its own, that he might

3 Or woman, make her his 3 wife (as was done in the fall ; yet the wife was not from the pearl, but out of the spirit of this world) ; for it (viz. the nature of this world) continually groaneth [or longeth] after the virgin, that it might be delivered from vanity ; and it meaneth to qualify [or mingle] with the virgin ; but that cannot be, for the virgin is of a higher 1 birth. l Or descent. 55. And yet when this world shall break in pieces, and be delivered from the vanity of the worm, it shall not obtain the virgin ; but 2 it must a this world, continue without spirit and 3 worm, under its own * Or soul, shadow, in a fair and sweet rest, without any wrestling [struggling] or desiring : For thereby it cometh into its highest degree and beauty, and ceaseth [or resteth] eternally from its labour. For the worm which here tormenteth it, goeth into its own Principle, and no more toucheth the shadow nor the figure of this world to eternity, and then the virgin governeth with her bridegroom. 56. My beloved Reader, I will set it you down more plainly ; for every one hath not the

4 Pearl, to apprehend the virgin; and yet every 4 Or the lieht one would fain know how the fall of Adam was. Behold, as I mentioned just now, the soul hath all the three Principles in it ; viz. the most inward, [which is] the worm or brimstone-spirit and the source according to which it is a spirit ; and then [it hath] the divine virtue, which maketh the worm meek, bright, and joyful, according to which the worm or spirit is an angel, like God the Father himself (understand, in such a manner and birth) ; and then also it hath the Principle of this world ; wholly undivided in one another, and yet none [of the three Principles] comprehendeth the other, for they are three Principles, or three births. 57. Behold, the worm is the eternal, and in itself peculiarly [a Principle], the other two [Principles] are given to it, each by a birth ; the one to the right, the other to the left. Now it is possible for it to lose both the forms and births- that are given to it ; for if it reach back into the strong [or tart power, or] might of the fire, and become false to the virgin, then she departeth from it, and [she] continueth as a figure in the centre, and then

1 Or wisdom the door of the l virgin is shut. of Gou. -.-y • /» i »i r~ T i •• • 58. Now if thou wilt [turn] to the virgin again, then thou must be born anew through the water in the centre, and [through] the Holy Ghost ; and then thou shalt receive her again with greater honour and joy ; of which Christ said, There will be more joy in heaven for one sinner that repenteth, than for ninety and nine righteous, who need no repentance ; so very gloriously is the poor sinner received again of the virgin, that 2it must no more be a shadow, but a living and understanding creature, and [an] angel of God. This joy none can express, only a regenerate soul knoweth it ; which the body understandeth not ; but it trembleth, and knoweth nob what is done to it. 59. These two forms, or Principles, the worm loseth at the departing of the body ; although indeed it continueth in the figure, which yet is but 3 Or gnawing, of a serpent, and it is a 3 torment to it, that it was an angel, and is now a horrible fierce poisonous worm and spirit ; of which the Scripture saith, That the worm of the wicked dieth not, and their plague [torment or source] continueth eternally. If the worm had had no angelical and human form, then its source [torment or plague] would not have been so great ; but that causeth it to have an eternal anxious desire, and yet it can attain nothing ; it knoweth the shadow of the glory [it had], and can never more live therein.

60. This therefore in brief is the ground of what can be spoken of the fall of Adam, in the highest depth. Adam hath lost the * virgin by his lust, » Divine and hath received the 2 woman in his lust, which is 2 Or wife a 'cagastrish person, and the virgin waiteth still 3 Subject to n f i • r nil i MI corruption, continually tor him [to seej whether he will step and mingled again into the new birth, and then she will receive him again with great glory. Therefore, thou child of man, consider thyself; I write here what I certainly know, and he that hath seen it witnesseth it ; or else I also should not have known it. ity, or with the earthly tabernacle. Of the Creating of the Woman out of Adam. The fleshly, miserable, and dark Gate. 1. ~T~ CAN scarce write for grief, but seeing it J- cannot be otherwise, therefore we will for a while wear the garment of the woman, but yet live in the virgin ; and although we receive [or suffer] much affliction in the [garment of the] woman, yet the virgin will recompense it well enough. And thus we must be * bound with the 2 woman till we send her to the grave, and then she shall be a shadow and a figure ; and the virgin shall be our bride and precious crown. She will give us her 3 pearl and crown, and clothe us with her ornaments, for which we will give the venture for the lily's sake. And though we shall raise a great storm, and though Antichrist tear away the woman from us, yet the virgin must continue with us, because we are married to her ; let every one take its own, and then I shall have that which is mine.

2. Now when Adam was thus in the Garden of Eden, and the three Principles having produced such a strife in him, his tincture was quite wearied, and the virgin departed. For the lust - spirit in Adam had overcome, and therefore he sank down into a sleep. The same hour his heavenly body became flesh and blood, and his strong virtue [or power] became bones ; and then the virgin went into her ether and shadow, yet into the heavenly ether, into the principle of the virtue [or power], and there waiteth upon all the children of Adam, [expecting] whether any will receive her for their bride again, by the l new birth. » regeneration. 3. But what now was God to do ? He had created Adam out of his eternal will ; and because it could not now be, that Adam should generate out of himself the virgin in a paradisical manner, therefore God put the Fiat of the great world into the midst. For Adam was now fallen 2 home again 2 or into the to the Fiat as a half broken person. Now therefore m seeing he was half killed by his own lust and imagination, that he might live, God must help him again ; and if he be now to generate a kingdom, then there must be a woman, as all other beasts [have a female] for propagation : The angelical kingdom in Adam was gone ; therefore now there must be 3 a kingdom of this world. » Or a propa-

4. Then what was it that God now did with Son. 8 Adam?. Moses saith, When Adam slept .he took one of his ribs and [made or] built a woman of it, (viz. of the rib which he took from man), and closed up the place with flesh. Now Moses hath written very rightly : But who is it that can understand him here? If I did not know the first Adam in his virgin-like form in paradise, then I had been at a stand, and should have known no other than that Adam had been made flesh and blood of a lump of earth, and his wife Eve of his rib and hard bones ; which before the time [of my knowledge] hath oft seemed very strange and wonderful to 1 expositions, my thoughts, when I have read the l glosses upon note™ar' Moses, that so [high or] deep learned men should 2 Damascene, write so of it : 2 Some of them will dare to tell of a pit in the [orient or] east country, out of which Adam should be taken and made as a potter maketh a vessel or pot. 5. If I had not considered the Scripture, which plainly saith, Whatsoever is born of flesh is flesh ; also, Flesh and Hood shall not inherit the kingdom of heaven ; also, None goeth into heaven but the Son of Man (viz. the pure virgin) which came from heaven, and which is in heaven ; which was very helpful to me [to think] that the child of the virgin was the angel, which has restored again all that which was lost in Adam, for God brought again in the woman (in her virgin-like body) the virgin child, which Adam should generate. And now if I had not considered the text in Moses, (where God saith, It is not good that man should be alone, we will make a help for him), I should

3 Or in the yet have stuck in the 3 will of the woman. thoughts. 6. But that text saith, God looked upon all that he had made, and behold, it was all very good : Now if it were good in the creation, then it must needs have become evil when God said [afterwards], It is not good for man to be alone. If God would have had them like all beasts to have a bestial propagation, he would at one and the same instant [at first] have made a man and a woman. But that God did abominate [the bestial propagation] it appeared plainly in the first child of the woman, Cain, the murderer of his brother, also the fruit [or the curse] of the earth sheweth it plainly enough. But what shall I spend the time for, with these testimonies ? The proof of it will clearly follow. And it is to be proved, not only in the Scripture, which yet maketh a cover [over it], but in all things, if we would take time to do it, and not spend our labour about vain and unprofitable things. 7. Now thus saith reason : What are then the words of Moses concerning the woman ? To which I say : Moses hath written rightly, but I (living thus * in the woman) understand it not rightly. » in the Moses indeed had a brightened [or glorified face or] transitoriness. countenance, but he must hang a veil before it, so

that none could see his face. But when the 2 Son 2 the eternal > , TT. . . • • r • i n i Wisdom of oi the Virgin, wz. the virgin [wisdom] came, he the Father, looked him in the face, and put the veil away. 8. Then reason asketh : What was the rib [taken] out of Adam to be [made] a woman ? The gate of the depth : Behold, the virgin sheweth us this, that when Adam was overcome, and the virgin passed into her ether, then the tincture (wherein the fair virgin had dwelt) became earthy, weary, feeble and weak ; for the powerful root of the tincture, from whence it had its potency without any sleep or 1 Or is the rest (viz. the heavenly matrix, which * containeth foundation of. v i i i • fi \ • i i paradise and the kingdom of heaven) withdrew in 2 air or Adam, and went into its 2 ether. receptacle. T-»I t iri • -i -i • 9. Reader, understand [and consider] it aright : 3 broken. the Deity (viz. the fair virgin) is not 3 destroyed and come to nothing ; that cannot be ; only, she is remaining in the divine Principle ; and the spirit, or the soul of Adam, is, with its own proper worm, remaining in the third Principle of this world : But the virgin, viz. the divine virtue [or power] standeth in heaven, and in paradise, and beholdeth

4 in the herself in the earthly quality of the soul, viz. * in noUnnthean the sun, and not in the moon; understand, thereof. pa ^ the highest point of the spirit of this world, where the tincture is noblest and most clear, from whence the mind of man doth exist. 10. And she would fain return again into her place to her bridegroom, if the earthly flesh, with the earthly mind and senses [or thoughts did not hinder, or] were not in the way, for the virgin doth not go into them, she will not be bound [to, or] in the earthly centre ; she finisheth the whole time (while the woman liveth in her stead) of her speculation with longing and much calling, admonishing and hearty seeking : But [to] the regenerate she appeareth in a high triumphing manner, in the centre of the mind ; [she] also often diveth into the tincture of the blood of the heart, whereby the body, with the mind and senses, cometh to tremble and triumph so highly, as if it were in paradise ; it also presently getteth a paradisical will. 11. And there the noble grain of mustard-seed is sown, of which Christ saith, That it is at first small, and afterwards groweth to be like a great tree ; so far [or so long] as the mind persevereth in the will. But the noble virgin stayeth not continually, for her birth is [of a] higher [descent] ;

and therefore she dwelleth not in earthly vessels ; but she sometimes visiteth her bridegroom at a time when he is desirous of her ; although she always with observancy preventeth and calleth him, before he [calleth] her : which is only understood in the lily. This the spirit speaketh in a high and worthy seriousness, therefore observe it, ye children of God, the angel of the Great Council cometh in the valley of Jehosaphat with a golden charter, which he selleth :or oil without money ; whosoever cometh shall

12. Now when the tincture was become thus earthy and feeble, by the overcoming of the spirit of the great world, then it could not generate [in a] heavenly [manner], and was also possessed with inability ; and then the counsel of God stood there, and said : Seeing he is become earthly, and is not able [to propagate], we will make a help for him ; and the Fiat stood in the centre, and severed the matrix from the limbus : And the Fiat took a rib in the midst of Adam, out of his right side, and created a woman out of it. 13. But you must clearly understand [or conceive], that when the Fiat to the creating [of the woman] was in Adam, in his sleep, his body had not then such hard gristles and bones : 0 no ; that came to pass first when mother Eve did bite the apple, and also gave to Adam ; only the infection and the earthly death, with the fainting and mortal sickness, stuck in them ; the bones and ribs were yet strength and virtue, from which the ribs should come to be. 14. But you must highly and worthily understand [and consider] how it was taken out [of his side], not as a spirit, but wholly in substance : Thus it may be said, that Adam did get a rent ; and the woman beareth Adam's spirit, flesh and bones. Yet there is some difference in the spirit ; for the woman beareth the matrix, and Adam the limbus or man ; and they two are one flesh, undivided in nature, for now they two together must generate one man again, which one alone could do before.

15. We being here in describing the corruptibility of Adam, the spirit frameth in our thoughts a heavenly mystery, concerning Adam's rib, which the Fiat took from him, and made a woman of it ; which [rib] Adam afterwards must want ; for the text in Moses rightly saith, God closed up the place with flesh. 16. But now the x wrath of the serpent hath so J the malice or brought it to pass, that Adam is fallen in the lust, and yet the purpose of God must stand ; for 2 Adam * mankind, must rise again at the day of the resurrection wholly and unbroken in the first image, as he was created. So likewise the serpent and the devil have brought it about, that so terrible a rent is made in him. 17. Wherefore the spirit sheweth us, that as little as the worm or spirit of the soul could be helped, except that the virgin came, and did go into death in the worm in the abyss of the spirit of the soul (which in its own abyss reacheth the gate of hell and the fierce anger of God) and regenerate 8 him anew, and make him a new creature in the 3 Adam. first image, which is done in the Son of the Virgin, in Christ ; so little also could Adam's rib, and his hollow side, where it stood, be helped [healed] or brought to perfection, except that the second Adam (Christ) suffer himself in the virgin to be wounded [pierced or cut] in the same place, that his precious blood might come to help the first Adam, and repair his broken side again ; this, of high and precious worth, we speak according to our knowledge ; which when we shall write of the suffering and death of Christ the Son of the virgin,

we will so clear it, that them, 0 thirsty soul, shalt find a living fountain, which shall be little beneficial to the devil. Further concerning the Woman. 18. Reason asketh : Is Eve merely created out of the rib [taken] out of Adam ? Then she should be far inferior to Adam. No, beloved reason, it is not so ; the Fiat (being a sharp attracting) took from Adam of all essences and properties of every virtue, but it took from him no more members in substance ; for the image should be a man, after a masculine kind in the limbus, yet not at all with this deformity. Understand it rightly in the ground, he should be (and he was also) a man, and he had a virgin-like heart, wholly chaste in the matrix. 19. Therefore Eve was for certain created out of all Ada/rris essences, and so Adam thereupon had a great rent, and so likewise the woman might come to her perfection to [be] the image of God ; and this again sheweth a great mystery, whereby the virgin very preciously witnesseth again, that the Son of the Virgin hath not only suffered his side to be pierced through, and shed his blood out of the hole of his side, but he hath also suffered his hands and feet to be struck through, and a crown of thorns to be pressed upon his head, so that the blood gushed out from thence ; and in his body he endured to be whipped, so that his blood ran

down all over. So very lowly hath the Son of the Virgin debased himself, to l help the sick and l to heal, broken Adam, and his weak and imperfect Eve, to repair them and bring them again into the first glory. 20. Therefore you must know for certain, that Eve was created out of all Adam's essences. But there were no more ribs nor members broken from Adam ; which appeareth by the feebleness and weakness of the woman, and also by the command of God, who said, Thy will shall be in subjection under thy man [or husband], and he shall be thy lord [or ruler]. Because the man is whole and perfect, except a rib, therefore the woman is a help for him, and must help him to do his work in humility and subjection ; and the man must know - that she is very weak, being out of his essences ; he must help her in her weakness, and love her as his own essences : In like manner the woman must put her essences and will into [the essences and will of] the man, and be friendly towards her man [or husband] ; that the man may take delight in his own essences in the woman ; and that they two might be but one only will. For they are one flesh, one bone, one heart, and generate children in one [only] will, which are neither the man's nor the woman's alone, but of both together, as if they were from one only body. And therefore the severe commandment of God is set before the children, that they should with earnestness and

Author lived not so long to perform his purpose upon the Book of Exodus. subjection honour their father and mother, upon pain of temporary and eternal punishment : l Of which I will write concerning the Tables of Moses. Concerning the Propagating of the Soul. The Noble Gate. 21. The mind hath from the beginning of the world had so very much to do about this gate, and hath continually so searched therein, that I cannot reckon the wearisome heap of writers [about it]. But in the time of the lily this gate shall flourish as a bay-tree [or laurel-tree] ; for its branches will get sap from the virgin, and therefore will be greener than 2 grass, and whiter than the [whitest] roses, and the virgin will bear the pleasant smell thereof upon her pearly garland, and it will reach into the paradise of God. 22. Seeing then the mystery presenteth itself to us, therefore we will open the blossom of the sprout : Yet we would not have our labour givei to the wolves, dogs, or swine, which root in 01 garden of delight, like [wild] boars, but to thos that seek, that the sick Adam may be comforted.

23. Now if we will search after the tincture, what it is in its highest degree, we shall find the 3 spirit : For we cannot say, that the fire is th( tincture, nor the air either. For the fire is wholly contrary to the tincture ; and the air doth stifle it ; it is a very pleasant 4 refreshment ; its root, out of which it is generated, is indeed the fire : But I may rightly mention the seat where it sitteth, I cannot say otherwise, but that it is between the three Principles, viz. [between] the kingdom of God, the kingdom of hell, and the kingdom of this world, in the midst, and [it] hath none [of the three] for its own, and yet it is generated from all three : And it hath as it were a several Principle, which yet is no Principle, but a bright pleasant habitation. Neither is itself the spirit, but the spirit dwelleth in it, and it so reneweth the spirit, that l it becometh clear and visible. Its true name 1 the spirit. is Wonderful, and none can name [that name], but he to whom it is given, he nameth it only in

himself, and not without [or outwardly], it hath no place of its rest in the substance, and yet resteth continually in itself, and giveth virtue and beauty to all things, as the 2 glance of the sun giveth light, 2 Or sunshine. virtue and beauty to all things in this world ; and it is not the thing itself, though indeed it worketh in the thing, and maketh the thing grow and blossom, and yet it is found really [to be] in all things, and it is the life and heart of all things, but it is not the spirit which is generated out of 24. The tincture is the pleasant sweetness and softness in a fragrant herb and flower, and the spirit thereof is bitter and harsh, and if the tincture were not, the herb would get neither blossom nor smell ; it giveth to all essences virtue to grow. Itis also in metals and stones ; it maketh that the silver and gold do grow, and without it [the tincture] there is nothing in this world could grow. Among all the children in nature, [it only] is a virgin, and hath never generated any thing out of itself; neither can it generate, and yet it maketh that all things impregnate. It is the most hidden Dei. thing, and also the most manifest ; it is l a friend

she-friend of God, and a play-fellow of virtue ; it suffereth itself to be detained by nothing, and yet it is in all things ; but if anything be done to it against the right of nature, then it flieth [away], and that very easily : It standeth not fast, and yet it continueth immovable ; it continueth in no kind of decaying of any thing ; all the while that it standeth in the root of nature, not altered nor destroyed, so long it continueth. It layeth no burthen upon anything, but it easeth the burthen in all things ; it maketh that all things rejoice, and yet it 2 laughter, or generateth no shouting 2 noise ; but the voice cometh out of the essences, and becometh loud in the spirit. 25. The way to it is very near ; whosoever findeth that [way] dareth not to reveal it, neither can he, for there is no language that can express it : * the tincture. And although any seek long after 3 it, if the tincture will not, he cannot find it ; nevertheless it meeteth them that seek after it aright, in its own way [or manner], as its nature is, with a virginlike mind, not being [prone] to covetousness and [wantonness or] voluptuousness ; it suffereth itself

to be imprinted [represented or imagined] in a thing (where it was not before) by l faith, if it be1 Or belief. right in a virgin-like manner : It is powerful, and yet doth nothing ; when it goeth out of a thing, it cometh not into it again, but it stayeth in its 2 ether, it never breaketh [or corrupteth] more, and 2 air, or 26. Now you will say, this must be God ! No, it is not God, but it is God's 3 friend. Christ said, 3 She-friend. My Father worketh, and I work also ; but it worketh not ; it is in a thing imperceptibly, and yet it may well be overpowered and used ; especially in metals, there it can (if itself be pure) make pure gold of iron, and of copper ; it can make a little grow to be a great deal, and yet it puts forth nothing. Its way is as subtle as the thoughts of a man, and the thoughts do even arise from thence. 27. And therefore when a man sleepeth, so that the tincture resteth, then there are no thoughts in the spirit ; but the constellation rumbleth in the elements, and beateth into the brains what shall (through their operation) come to pass, which yet

is often broken again by another * conjunction, so « aspect of the that it cometh not to effect ; besides, it can shew p nothing exactly, except it cometh by a conjunction of planets and fixed stars, and that only goeth forward, but it representeth all [in an] earthly [manner], according to the spirit of this world ; so that where the 6 sidereal spirit should speak of men, * Or starry it often speaketh of beasts, and continually repre- 4 on God's side. sents the contrary ; as the earthly spirit fancieth from the starry spirit, so he dreameth. 28. Seeing now we have spoken of the tincture, as of the house of the soul, so we will speak also of the soul, what it is, and how it can be propagated, wherein we can the better bring the tincture to 1 light. The soul is not so subtle >s the tincture ; but it is powerful and hath great might [or ability]. It can by the tincture (if it rideth upon the virgin's bride-chariot 2in the tincture) turn mountains upside-down, as Christ said ; which is done in the pure faith, in the place where the tincture is master, which doth it, and the soul giveth the thrust; whereas yet no power can be discerned. Even as the earth 3moveth upon the heavenly tincture, whereas there is not more than one only tincture in the heaven, and in this world, yet [it is] of many sorts, according to the essence of every thing. In the beasts it is not as in men, also not in fishes as in beasts ; also in stones and gems otherwise ; also otherwise in angels, and in the spirit of this world.

29. But in God, angels, and in the virgin-like souls (understand pure souls) it is alike ; where yet it is only 4 for God. The devil hath also a tincture, but a false one (and it standeth not in the fire) wherewith he can gripe that man in the heart that letteth him in, as a [sly soothing] flattering false thief, that insinuateth himself, desiring to steal, concerning whom Christ warneth us, that we should watch. 30. And now if we will speak of the soul, and of its substance and essences, we must say that it is the l roughest [thing] in man ; for it is the origin- J Or crudest, ality of the other substances [or things]. It is digested, or fiery, harsh, bitter, and strong, and it resembleth a great [and] mighty power, its essences are like brimstone : Its gate or seat out of the eternal originality is between the fourth and the fifth forms in the eternal birth, and in the 2 unbeginning 2 Or indis- band, of the strong might of God the Father, where the eternal light of his Heart (which maketh the second Principle) generateth itself, and if * it * the soul, wholly lose the bestowed virgin of the divine virtue [or power] (out of which the light of God generateth itself, which is given to the soul to be its pearl, as is mentioned above) then it becometh, and is, a devil, like all other [devils] in essences, form, and in 4 quality also. 4 active

31. But if it put its will D forward into meekness 6 into true (viz. into the obedience of God) then it is in the resi^ationsource [or of the quality and property] of the Heart of God, and receiveth divine virtue, and then all its rough essences become angelical and joyful ; and then its rough essences are very serviceable to it, and are better and more profitable to it, than that it were altogether sweet in the originality ; in which [being sweet] there would be no strength, nor such mighty power as in the harsh, bitter, and fiery [essences]. 32. For the fire in the essence cometh to be a 1 pleasant or l soft meek light, and is nothing else but a zealous [or eager] kindling of the tincture, and the harsh essence causeth that the divine virtue can draw it to itself, and taste it, for in the [sour or] harsh essence the taste doth consist, in nature : In like manner the bitter essence serveth to [make] the moving rising joy, fragrancy and growing ; and out of these forms the tincture goeth forth, and it is the house of the soul ; as the Holy Ghost [goeth forth] from the Father and the Son, so also the tincture goeth forth from the light of the fiery soul, and then also from its virtuous [or powerful]

2 is like. essences, and so it 2resembleth the Holy Ghost, but yet the Holy Ghost of God is a degree higher ; for he goeth forth from the centre of the light wholly in the fifth form, from the Heart of God, at the end of nature. 33. Therefore there is a difference between the tincture in man, and the Holy Ghost ; and the bestowed virgin of the divine virtue [or power] dwelleth in the tincture of the soul, [that is] if it be true and faithful ; but if [the soul be] not 3 the virgin, [faithful] then 3she departeth into her centre, which is not wholly shut up ; for there is but half a birth between, except the soul pass into the * stock of a * stock of harshness and malice [evil or wickedness], grafted upon, and then there is a whole birth between. For the harshness standeth in the fourth form of the darkness, and the bitterness in the fire, between the fourth and fifth forms, as is mentioned before. 34. Now [reason's] question is, How hath Eve received the soul from Adam? Behold, when God's * harsh Fiat took the rib 2 out of Adam, l soar, then it attracted out of all essences also to it, and tr* the Fiat imaged [formed, imagined, or impressed] * Or in> itself together therein, [that it might] continually

and eternally stay therein. But now the tincture in Adam was not yet extinguished, but the soul of Adam sat yet wholly with might and virtue [or power] in the tincture ; only the virgin was departed : And therefore now the Fiat * took the * received, tincture, and the [sour] harsh essences mingled [or qualified] with the [sour] harsh Fiat ; for it, (viz. the Fiat) and the [sourness or] harshness in the essences, are one kind of essence. 35. Thus the Fiat inclined itself now to the Heart of God, and the essences received the divine virtue [or power], and there sprang up the blossom in the fire ; and out of the blossom [sprang] again the own [proper] tincture, and thus Eve was a living soul : And the tincture filled itself in the growth (even as it is a cause of all growing), so that * instantly there was a whole body in the Suddenly tincture. For that was possible, they were not yet fallen into sin, neither were there yet any hard gristles and bones. 36. You must understand [or conceive] it aright : Eve gat not Adam's soul, nor Adam's body, but one only rib ; but she was extracted

from the essences, and gat her soul in her essences [that were] given her, in the tincture, and the body grew for [or to] her in her own sprung-up tincture, yet in virtue [or power] ; but the Fiat had already formed [or made] her a woman. Indeed she was not deformed, but altogether lovely ; for she was 'Ofdistino of a heavenly kind, in paradise, yet the * marks were already also set upon her by the Fiat of the 2 macrocosm. 2 great world ; and it could not otherwise be, she must be a woman for Adam ; indeed they were in paradise. And if they had not eaten of the tree, and if they had returned to God, then they would have continued in paradise ; but the propagation must now needs have been after a womanly manner, and would not have stood [eternally]. For Satan had brought it too far, although he had not yet suffered himself to be seen, only he strewed sugar abroad in the spirit of this world, till at length the lovely beast did lay itself forth upon the tree as a flatterer and liar. The Gate of our Propagation in the Flesh.

37. As I have mentioned above, the noble tincture is now henceforth generated thus in a manly [or masculine] and womanly [or feminine] kind [or sex] out of the soul ; the tincture is so subtle and mighty, powerful, that it [can go, or] goeth into the heart of another, into his tincture ; which the devilish bewitching whores well know ; yet they understand not the noble art, but they s Or poison, use the [false] tincture of the devils, and 8 infect Ch. 1 3] OF THE CREATING OF THE WOMAN 243 many in [their] marrow and bones, by their 1 incantation, for which they shall receive their 1 exorcisms, wages, with Lucifer, who would fain have raised adjuration?' his tincture to be above God. 38. But know that the tincture is in menkind somewhat diverse from that in womenkind ; for the tincture in menkind goeth out of the limbus, or man, and the tincture in womenkind goeth out of the matrix. For the virtue of the soul frameth [imprinteth, fashioneth or imageth] itself not only in the tincture, but in the whole body ; for the body groweth in the tincture, 39. But thus the tincture is the longing, the great desire after the virgin, which belongeth to the tincture ; for it is subtle, without understanding ; but it is the divine inclination, and continually seeketh the virgin, [which is] its playfellow ; the 2 masculine seeketh her in the a manly.

8 feminine, and the feminine in the masculine ; s womanly, especially in the delicate complexion, where the tincture is most noble, clear, and vigorous ; from whence cometh the. great desire of the masculine and feminine sex, so that they always desire to copulate, and the great burning love, so that the tinctures mingle together, and [try, prove, or] taste one another with their pleasant taste ; whereas one [sex] continually supposeth that the other hath the virgin. 40. And the spirit of the great world now supposeth that he hath gotten the virgin ; he graspeth with his clutches, and will mingle his infection with the virgin, and he supposeth that he hath the prize ; it shall not now run away from him, he supposeth now he will find the Pearl well enough. But it is with him as with a thief, driven out of a fair garden of delight, where he had eaten pleasant fruit, who cometh, and goeth round about the enclosed garden, and would fain eat some more of the good fruit, and yet cannot get in, but must reach in with his hand, and yet cannot come at the fruit for all that ; for the gardener cometh, and taketh away the fruit ; and thus he must go away empty, and his lust is changed into discontent. Thus also it is with him [viz. with the spirit of this world], he soweth thus in his fiery [or burning] grain, or lust the 1 seed into the matrix, and the tincture receiveth it with great joy, and supposeth that to be the virgin ; but the [sour] harsh Fiat cometh thereupon, and attracteth the same to it, while the tincture is so well pleased.

41. Now then the feminine tincture cometh in to aid, and striveth for the child, and supposeth that it hath the virgin : And the two tinctures wrestle both of them for the virgin, and yet neither of them both hath her, and which of the two overcometh, according to that the fruit getteth the mark of distinction of sex. But because that the feminine [tincture] is weak, therefore it taketh the blood also to it in the matrix, whereby it supposeth it shall retain the virgin. The Secret Gate of Women. 42. Hence I must shew the ground to them that seek ; for the doctor cannot shew it him with his anatomy, and though he should kill a thousand men, yet he shall not find that [ground]. They only know that [ground] that have l been » Or attained 43. Therefore I will write from the virgin, which knoweth well what is in the woman. She is as subtle as the tincture. But she hath a life, and the tincture hath none : The tincture is nothing else but an exulting joyful mighty will, and a house [or habitation] of the soul, and a pleasant paradise of the soul, which is the soul's propriety [or own portion] so long as the soul with its imagination 2 dependeth on God. 2 sticketh to

44. But when it becometh false, so that its goodness, essences flatter with the spirit of the great world, and desire the 3 fulness of the world, viz. 1. [In] • Or its fill, the [sour] harshness [desire] much wealth [or riches], to eat and drink much, and to fill themselves continually. 2. In the bitterness [desire] great power, authority, and might, to rise high, to rule powerfully, and extol themselves above all, and put themselves forth to be seen like a proud bride. And 3. in the * source of the fire [desire] 4 in the active a fierce cruel power, and by kindling of the fire wrath, [of anger], supposing in the lustre thereof to be brave, and so are much delighted in themselves ; 1 imageth or then cometh the flatterer and liar, and x formeth himself. or ngureth himself also in the spirit of the great world, as [he did] in the Garden of Eden, and leadeth the soul : 1. In covetousness, to eating and drinking [too much], and saith continually, thou shalt [want and] not have enough, get more for thyself how thou canst, by hjook or by crook, that thou mayest always have enough [to serve thy turn]. And 2. in the bitter form he saith, Thou art rich, and hast much, aspire and lift up thyself, thou art greater than other people, the inferior is not like thee [or so good a man as thou]. And 3. in the might or power of the fire, he saith, Kindle [or stir up] thy mind, make it implacable and stout, yield to none, terrify the simple, and so thou shalt be dreadful, and make thy authority continue, and then thou mayest do what thou listest, and all whatsoever thou desirest will be at thy service : And is not this a fine brave glory ? Art thou not indeed a lord on earth ?

2 That the 45. And as soon as this is 2 brought to pass, then and yieideti/ the tincture becometh wholly false : For as the spirit V1 ' in a thing is, so is also the tincture ; for the tincture goeth forth from the spirit, and is the habitation thereof. Therefore, 0 man ! whatsoever you sow here, that you shall reap, for your soul in the tincture remaineth eternally : And all your fruits stand in the tincture, manifested in the clear light, and follow after you ; this the virgin saith in sincerity [for a warning], with great longing after the lily. 46. And now if we consider of the tincture, [and search] how various it is, and [that it is] many times so wholly false ; then we may [be able] fundamentally to demonstrate the falsehood of the many various spirits, [and] how they are generated. Therefore we will make a short entrance, concerning the propagation of the soul, which we will enlarge [when we speak] about the fall of Adam, and the birth of Cain. For the seed (as is above-mentioned) is sown in the lust of the tinctures, where the sour [or] harsh Fiat receiveth it, and supposeth that it hath received the virgin ; there both the tinctures (the masculine and the feminine) then strive together about it, and there the spirit of the great world, viz. the spirit of the stars and elements, figureth [imageth or imprinteth] itself also in it, and he filleth the tinctures with his elements, which the tinctures in the Fiat receive with great joy, and suppose they have the virgin.

47. But being the Fiat is the mightiest among them all, (for it is as it were a spirit, and although it be no spirit, yet it is the sharp essence), therefore it attracteth the seed to it, and desireth the limbus of God in paradise, out of which Adam's body was created by the Fiat, and l would create an Adam 1 will, out of a heavenly limbus ; and then the spirit of the great world insinuates himself and supposeth, [and saith], The child is mine, I will rule in the virgin ; and he always filleth it with the elements, from whence the tincture becometh full and very thick [gross, swelled, or impregnated] ; and there then the tincture getteth a loathing against the fulness ; for the tincture itself is clear, and the Fiat with the elements is thick [gross and] swelled; 1 Or are im- from whence women (when they 1 grow big [with with child, childj) know well enough, that many of them loathe some meats and drinks, and long still after some strange thing [to eat], for the tincture cometh to have a loathing of all that the spirit of this world with his elements filleth in, and willeth to have somewhat else ; for this virgin doth not relish them, but becometh [discontented and] sorry, and

2 Or own forsaketh them, and goeth into her 2 ether, and 48. And then the spirit of the sun, stars, and elements of this world, supposeth with itself [saying], Now thou art in the right, the child is thine, the foundation is laid, thou wilt bring it up, the virgin must be thine, thou wilt live therein, and have thy joy [delight, and habitation] in her, her ornament must be thine ; and thus [he] attracteth always to himself in his great lust, by the Fiat, which in eternity goeth not away ; and [he] supposeth that he hath the virgin. b Saturnus : This is done in the first month. 49. And there the blood of the mother (wherein the tincture of the mother is) is drawn into the seed. And when the [sour] harsh Fiat hath tried, [and perceiveth] that to be sweeter than its own essence, then it frameth [imageth or representeth] itself with great earnestness [or longing] therein, and becometh sharp in the tincture, and will create Adam, and so severeth the materia [or matter] ; and then the spirit of the stars and elements is in the midst, and ruleth mightily in the Fiat.

y. Jupiter : This is done in the second month. 50. And then the materia [or matter] is severed according to the wheel of the stars, as they (viz. the planets) stand in order at this time, and which of them [all] is predominant, that (by the Fiat) figureth the matter most, and the child getteth a form, after the kind of that [planet]. $ Mars : All this which f olloweth is done in the third month. 51. Thus the matter (by the Fiat) is severed into members. And now when the Fiat thus attracteth the blood of the mother into the matter, then l it is stifled [or choked] ; and then the tincture » the blood, of the blood becometh false, and full of anguish ; for the [sour] harsh essence (viz. the Fiat) is terrified, and all the joy (which the sour [harsh] Fiat gat in the tincture of the blood) withdraweth ; and the Fiat beginneth to tremble in the terror, in the sour [harsh] essence ; and the terror goeth away like a flash, and would fain depart and fly away out of the essence, and yet is withheld by the Fiat, which [terror] is now turned hard, and made

tough by the essence, which now closeth the child about ; this is the skin of the child. And the tincture flieth suddenly, flashing upwards in the terror, and would be gone ; yet it cannot either (for it standeth in the out-birth [or procreation] of 1 stretcheth the essences) but l riseth up suddenly in the terror, and taketh the virtue [or power] of all the essences with it. And there the spirit of the 2 represented, stars and elements 2 figureth itself also therein, and filleth itself also therein, in the flight, and supposeth that it hath the virgin, and will go along with it ; and the Fiat gripeth it all, and holdeth it [fast], and supposeth that the Verbum Domini [the Word of the Lord] is there in the 3 huriyburly, 3 uproar, that will create the Adam ; and it strengtheneth itself in the strong might of the terror, and createth again the uppermost [part] of the body, viz. the head : And from the hard terror (which is continually departing and yet cannot) cometh the skull, which encloseth the uppermost centre : And from the departing out of the essences of the tincture with the terror into the uppermost centre, come the veins and the neck to be, going thus from the body into the head, into the uppermost centre.

52. So also all the veins in the whole body come 4 choking, from the terror of the 4 stifling, where the terror goeth forth from all the essences, and would be gone ; and the Fiat withhdldeth it with his great strong might. And therefore one vein hath always a diverse essence from another, caused by the first departing, where then the essences of the stars and elements do also mingle [or figure themselves] therein, and the Fiat holdeth it all, and createth it, and it supposeth that the Verbum Domini [the Word of the Lord] with the strong mighty power of God is there, where the Fiat must create heaven and earth. The Gate of the great Necessity and Misery. 0 man, consider thyself, how hardly thou art beset here, and how thou gettest thy misery in thy mother's body : Observe it 0 ye * lawyers, from what spirit you J jurist*, '[come to] 3 know [what is] right; consider this2 can go to well, for it is deep. 53. The spirit of the virgin sheweth us the mystery again, and the great secrecy ; for the stifling [or stopping] of the blood in the matrix (especially in the fruit) is the first dying of the essences, where they are severed from the heaven, so that the virgin cannot be generated there, which should [have been] generated in Adam, from the heavenly virtue [or power] without woman, also without rending of his body. And here the kingdom [or dominion] of the stars and elements beginneth in man, where they take hold of man and mingle [or qualify] with him, make and fit him, also nourish and nurture him, of which you may read more about Cain.

Further in the Incarnation. 54. And so when the Fiat thus holdeth the terror in itself, so that the elements fill it, then that filling becometh hard bones ; and there the Fiat figureth the whole man with his bodily form, all according to the first wrestling of the two tinctures, when they wrestle [or strive] together in the sport of love, when the seed is sown ; and that tincture which there getteth the upperhand (whether the masculine or the feminine) according to that sex the man is figured. And the figuring [or shaping] is done very suddenly in the storm of the anguishing terror, where the blood is stifled [or stopped] ; and there the elementary man getteth up, and the heavenly [man] goeth down. For in the terror, the in the hard terrified [sourness or] harshness in the great anxiety of the stifled [or stopped] blood. 55. Women have sufficient experience of this, in the third month, (when this is done in the fruit), [and feel] how the raging and pricking cometh into their teeth, loins, back, and the like. This cometh upon them from the stifled [choked, or stopped] tincture in the fruit, and from their stifled [or stopped] blood in the matrix, because the evil tincture qualifieth [or mingleth] with the good [tincture] of their bodies. Therefore in the same manner as the tincture in the matrix sufiereth pain, after the same manner also the good [tincture]

suffereth in the members [limbs or parts] of the mother, as in the hard bones, teeth, and ribs, as such people know very well. 56. So now when the bitter sting [or prickle] (which is generated in the anxious terror in the stifling [or stopping] and in the entering in of death), doth thus rage and rave, and shew forth itself in the terror, and flieth upwards, then it is caught and withheld by the [sour] harshness, so that it cannot get up aloft. For the [sour] harshness draweth it continually the more eagerly and vehemently, because of l its raging, and cannot endure it, from * the raging whence the pricking often becometh more terrible, ° and this is after no other manner, than as when a man is dying, and soul and body part asunder ; for in the stifling [or stopping] of the blood by the [sour] harshness, the bitter death is also there ; and therefore 2 it is like a furious whirling wheel, 2 the bitter or swift horrible thought, which worrieth and vexeth prickle, itself: And here is a brimstone-spirit, a venomous [poisonous] horrible aching substance in the death ; for it is the worm to the springing up of life.

57. And now when the spirit of the stars and elements hath mingled [or figured] itself together in the incarnation, then the virtue [or power] of the stars and elements is together wheeled in this raging, where then (in this anguish) the spirit of the stars attracteth the virtue of the sun to it, and 3 manifesteth itself in the virtue of the sun, » or disfrom whence there ariseth a twinkling flash in this raging, from whence the hard [sour] harsh anxiety is terrified, and sinketh down, and there the terrible 1 Or recep- tincture goeth into its * ether ; for the essence of the [sour] harshness in the Fiat is so mightily terrified at the flash, that it becometh [faiut] 2 openeth it- impotent [or feeble], and sinketh back, 2 expandeth self outwards. . i i • itself, and groweth thin. 58. And the terror [shriek], or flash of fire, is done in the bitter prickle ; and when it reflecteth itself back in the dark [sour or] harsh anxiety in the mother, and findeth her so very soft [gentle] and overcome, then it is much more terrified than the mother : But this terror happening thus in the soft mother, she becometh white and clear in the twinkling of an eye, and the flash remaineth in the anguish, in the root of the fire, and now therefore it is a shriek [or terror] of great joy, and it is as when water is thrown into the fire, where

8 source or the [sour] harsh 3 quality is then quenched, and the [sourness or] harshness is then so mightily overjoyed with the light, and the light with the mother, the [sourness or] harshness, wherein it is generated, that there is no similitude to [compare] it [with], for it is the birth and the beginning of the life. 0 Sol : All this which followeth is done in the entrance of the fourth month. 59. And as soon as the light of life appeareth in the [sour] harshness and soft mother, so that the [sourness or] harshness cometh to taste the light of life, [and findeth] that it is so meek, pleasant [lovely], and full of joy, then it exulteth with great delight [desire and longing] after the light, to l mix l infect, itself therewith, and apprehend it, so that its lust [or longing delight] and virtue goeth forth from it after the light ; which lust [or longing delight] is the virtue of the light ; and this out-going 2 lust in 2 delight, the love is the noble tincture, which is there new generated to be the child's own ; and the spirit which is generated out of the anguish in the flash of the fire, is the true [and real] soul which is generated in man.

60. Now here it is especially to be observed, where 3 it dwelleth, and whence heart, lungs, and3 the soul, liver come, especially the bladder and * guts, and 4 Or entrails, the brain in the head ; also the understanding and senses ; these I will here set down one after another : It cannot [well or] sufficiently be expressed by a human tongue, especially the order which is B observed in the twinkling of an eye in 6 done or per- , , . , -i -i formed. nature ; it would require a great volume to describe it in. And as the world accounteth us too 6 weak 6 simple, or . silly, and void to [be able to] describe it, so we account ourselves of undermuch weaker [and more unable]. And it is with unabieDg> us as Isaiah saith, / am found of them that sought me not, and known of them that were ignorant of me, and of such as inquired not after me. 61. I say, 7 this hath not been sought, but we7 high knowsought the Heart of God, that we might hide us 1 storm. therein from the l tempest of the devil. But when we came there, then the loving virgin out of paradise met us, and offered us her love, she would be kind [and friendly] to us, and be betrothed to us for a companion, and shew us the

way to paradise, where we shall be safe from the stormy tempest, and she carried a branch in her hand, and said, We will plant this, and a lily shall grow, and I will come to thee again ; from whence we gat this longing to write of the amiable virgin, which did shew us the way into paradise, where we must go through the kingdom of this world, and also through the kingdom of hell, and no hurt done us ; and according to that [direction of her's] we write.

Of the Birth and Propagation of Man. The very Secret Gate. 1. TF we consider now the springing up of the *•*- life, and in what place of the body it is where the life is generated, then we shall rightly find the whole ground of man, and there is nothing so secret in man l but that it may be found. For 1 ,,*.,, not be found. we must needs say, that the heart is the place wherein the noble life is generated, and the life again generateth the heart. 2. As it is mentioned above, so the life in the anguish, with the kindling of the light, taketh its beginning from the glance of the sunshine, from the spirit of the stars and elements in the great anguish, where death and life wrestle one with the other. For when man departed from paradise into another birth (viz. into the spirit of this world, into the quality of the sun, stars, and elements) then the paradisical [vision or] seeing ceased [or was extinguished], where man seeth from the divine virtue, without [need of] the sun and stars ; where 258 THE THREE PRINCIPLES Ch. 14 life in the r a & .