By Way of Introductionn7352 ¶1
TO this book I have given this name,n7352 ¶2
The ROOT or MOTHER of Philosophy, Astrology, and Theology.n7352 ¶3
And that you may know what it doth treat of,n7352 ¶4
Observe,n7352 ¶5
1. In the Philosophy it treateth of the divine power.n7352 ¶6
1. What God is.n7352 ¶7
II. How in the being of God, is created nature, the stars and the elements.n7352 ¶8
III. From whence every thing hath its original.n7352 ¶9
IV. How heaven and earth were created.n7352 ¶10
V. How angels, men, and devils were created.n7352 ¶11
VI. How heaven and hell, and whatever is creaturely, were created, and what the Two Qualities are in nature.n7352 ¶12
All out of a true ground in the knowledge of the spirit, by the impulse and motion of God.n7352 ¶13
2. In the Astrology it treateth,n7352 ¶14
I. Of the powers of nature, of the stars and of the elements.n7352 ¶15
II. How all creatures proceeded from thence.n7352 ¶16
III. How the same do impel and rule all.n7352 ¶17
IV. And work in all, and how good and bad are wrought by them in men and beasts.n7352 ¶18
V. Whence it cometh that good and bad are, and reign in this world.n7352 ¶19
VI. And how the kingdoms of heaven and of hell consist therein.n7352 ¶20
3. My purpose is not to describe the course, place and name of all stars, and what is their annual conjunction, opposition, quadrate, or the like, and what they yearly and hourly operate, which, by a long process of time, and by diligent contemplation, observation, deep sense, calculation and computation, hath been observed by wise, skilful and expert men, who were rich and large in spirit.n7352 ¶21
4. Neither have I studied or learned the same, and I leave that to the learned to discourse of; my intention is to write according to the spirit and sense, and not according to speculation.n7352 ¶22
5. In the Theology it treateth,n7352 ¶23
I. Of the kingdom of Christ, what constitutethn7352 ¶24
II. How it is set in opposition to the kingdomn7352 ¶25
III. How in nature itfighteth and striveth against the kingdom of hell.n7352 ¶26
IV. How men, through faith and spirit, are able to overcome the kingdom of hell, and triumph in divine power and obtain eternal blessedness, and all this as a victory in the battle.n7352 ¶27
V. How man, through the operation or working in the hellish quality, casts himself into perdition.n7352 ¶28
VI. And what the issue of both will be at last.n7352 ¶29
6. The supreme title is AURORA, that is, The Dawning of the Day in the East, or Morning Redness in the rising of the SUN.n7352 ¶30
It is a secret Mystery, concealed from the wise and prudent of this world, of which they themselves shall shortly be sensible: But to those who read this book in singleness of heart, with a desire after the Holy Spirit, who place their hope in God only, it will not be a hidden secret, but a manifest knowledge.n7352 ¶31
7. 1 will not explain this title, but commit it to the judgment of the impartial Reader, who wrestleth in the good quality of this world.n7352 ¶32
8. Now if Mr Critic, who qualifieth or worketh with his wit in the fierce quality, gets this book into his hand, he will oppose it, as there is always a stirring and opposition between the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of hell.n7352 ¶33
I. First, he will say that I ascend too high into the Deity, which is not a meet thing for me to do.n7352 ¶34
II. Then, secondly, he will say that I boast of the Holy Spirit, and that I had more need to live accordingly, and make demonstration of it by wondrous works or miracles.n7352 ¶35
III. Thirdly, he will say that I am not learned enough.n7352 ¶36
IV. Fourthly, he will say that I do it in a vainglorious way.n7352 ¶37
V. Fifthly, he will be much offended at the simplicity of the author; for in the world it is usual [or customary] to be mindful only of high things, and to be irritated by simplicity.n7352 ¶38
9. To these partial, worldly critics I set in opposition the patriarchs of the first world, who were mean despised men, against whom the world and the devil raged, as in the time of Henoch. When the holy fathers first preached [or when they began to preach] powerfully of the name of the Lord, they did not ascend with their bodies into heaven, and behold all with their eyes: yet the Holy Ghost revealed himself in their spirits.n7352 ¶39
10. Afterwards, it is seen in the next world among the holy patriarchs and prophets, who were all mean simple men, and some of them were herdsmen.n7352 ¶40
11. And when the MESSIAH, CHRIST, the Champion in the battle in nature, assumed the humanity, though he was the King and Prince of men, yet in this world he kept himself in a low estate and condition, and was a stranger to the world. And his Apostles were poor despised fishermen.n7352 ¶41
12. Nay, Christ himself returneth thanks to [Matt, xi his heavenly Father, that he hath concealed these things from the worldly wise men, and revealed them unto babes.n7352 ¶42
13. Besides, it is seen how they also were poor sinners, having the impulses both of good and of bad in nature. And yet they reproved and preached against the sins of the world, yea, against their own sins, which they did by the impulse of the Holy Spirit, and not in vainglory.n7352 ¶43
14. Neither had they any ability from their own strength and power to teach of God's Mysteries in that kind, but all was by the impulse of God.n7352 ¶44
15. So neither can I say anything of myself, nor boast or write of anything, save this: that I am a simple man, and, besides, a poor sinner, and have need to pray daily, Lord, forgive us our sins; and to say with the Apostle, O Lord, thou hast redeemed us with thy blood.n7352 ¶45
16. Neither did I ascend into heaven, and behold all the works and creatures of God; but the same heaven is revealed in my spirit, so that in the spirit I know the works and creatures of God.n7352 ¶46
17. Besides, the will to that is not my natural will, but it is the impulse of the spirit; and for it I have endured many an assault of the devil.n7352 ¶47
18. The spirit of man is descended not only from the stars and elements, but there is hidden therein a spark of the light and power of God.n7352 ¶48
19. It is not an empty word which is set downn7352 ¶49
[Gen. i. 27] in Genesis, God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him. For it hath this sense and meaning, viz. that he is created out of the whole being of the Deity.n7352 ¶50
20. The body is from the elements: therefore it must have elemental food.n7352 ¶51
21. The soul hath its original, not only from the body, though it taketh its rise in the body, and hath its first beginning in the body; yet in it it hath also its source from without, by and from the air; and so the Holy Ghost ruleth in it, in that manner as he replenisheth and filleth all things, and as all things are in God; and so God himself is all.n7352 ¶52
22. Seeing then in the soul the Holy Spirit is creaturely, viz. the propriety or portion of the soul, therefore it searcheth even into the Deity, and also into nature; for it hath its source and descent from the being of the whole Deity.n7352 ¶53
23. When it is kindled or enlightened by the Holy Ghost, then it beholdeth what God its Father doth, as a son beholdeth what his father doth at home in his house.n7352 ¶54
24. It is a member or child in the house of the heavenly Father.n7352 ¶55
25. As the eye of man seeth even unto the stars, from whence it hath a. finite original and beginning, so also the soul seeth even into the divine being wherein it liveth.n7352 ¶56
26. But the soul having its source also out of nature, and that in nature there is good and bad, and that man hath cast himself, through sin, into the fierceness or wrath of nature, so that the soul is daily and hourly defiled with sins, therefore it knoweth but in part.n7352 ¶57
27. For the wrath or fierceness in nature reigneth now also in the soul. The Holy Ghost doth not go into the wrath or fierceness, but reigneth in the source of the soul, which is in the light of God, and fighteth against the wrath or fierceness in the soul.n7352 ¶58
28. Therefore the soul cannot attain unto any perfect knowledge in this life, till at the end, when light and darkness are separated, and wrath or fierceness is, with the body, consumed in the earth, then the soul seeth clearly and perfectly in God its Father.n7352 ¶59
29. But when the soul is kindled or enlightened by the Holy Ghost, then it triumpheth in the body, like a huge fire, which maketh the heart and reins tremble for joy.n7352 ¶60
30. There is not presently a great and deep knowledge in God its Father, but its love towards God its Father triumpheth thus in the fire of the Holy Spirit.n7352 ¶61
31. The knowledge of God is sown in the fire of the Holy Ghost, and at first is as small as a grain of mustard-seed, as Christ makes then7352 ¶62
[Matt xiii.] comparison. Afterwards it groweth large like a tree, and spreadeth itself abroad in God its Creator.n7352 ¶63
32. Just as a drop of water in the ocean cannot avail much; but if a great river runneth into it, that maketh a great commotion.n7352 ¶64
33. Time past, present, and to come, as also depth and height, near and afar off, are all one in God, one comprehensibility.n7352 ¶65
34. The holy soul of man seeth the same also, but in this world in part only. It happeneth sometimes that it seeth nothing at all, for the devil doth assault it furiously in the fierce wrathful source that is in the soul, and oftentimes covereth the noble mustard- seed; therefore man must always be at strife [or in conflict] .n7352 ¶66
35. In this manner, and in this knowledge of the spirit, I will write in this book concerning God our Father, in whom are all things, and who himself is all; and will handle how all is become separable and creaturely, and how all is impelled and moveth in the whole tree of life.n7352 ¶67
36. Here you shall see, 1. The true ground of the Deity; 2. How all was one being, essence or substance before the time of this world; 3. How the holy angels were created, and out of what; 4. How the terrible fall happened, of Lucifer, together with his legions; 5. How heaven, earth, stars and the elements were made; 6. How metals, stones and the creatures in the earth are generated: 7. How the birth of life is, and the corporeity of all things; 8. What the true heaven is, in which God and his saints do dwell; 9. What the wrath of God is, and the hellish fire;n7352 ¶68
10. And how all is become kindled and inflamed.*n7352 ¶69
In brief, how, and what, the essence of all being is.n7352 ¶70
* " kindled and inflamed " (anziindlich), " inflammable." Man.n7352 ¶71
37. The first seven chapters treat very plainly and comprehensibly of the being of God, and of angels, by similitudes, that the Reader may, from one step to another, at last come to the deep sense and true ground.n7352 ¶72
38. In the eighth chapter beginneth the depth in the divine being, and so on, the further the deeper.n7352 ¶73
39. Special points are often repeated, and described still more deeply, for the Reader's sake, and by reason of my slow and dull apprehension.**n7352 ¶74
** See Ch. X. par. 41 et seq., and Ch. XXI. par. 66.n7352 ¶75
40. That which you do not find sufficiently explained in this book, you will find more clearly in the second and third books. [Of the Three Principles and Of the Threefold Life of Man.]n7352 ¶76
41. For corruption is the cause why we know but in part, and have not perfect knowledge at once.n7352 ¶77
42. Yet this book is THE WONDER OF THE WORLD, which the holy soul will understand well enough. Thus I commit the Reader into the meek and holy love of God.n7352 ¶78