The Exposition of the Philosophic Globe or Eye of both the Threefold l Circles, which signify especially the two Eternal Principles; the 2 Third being also clearly understood therein, and how it must be understood.n7390 ¶1
162. THOSE circles should be like round globes through which a cross should go, for it is the Eye of eternity, which cannot be portrayed; it representeth the Eye of the essence of all essences; the Eye of God, which is the glass of wisdom, wherein all wonders have been seen from eternity; and hereby is described how it is entered into an essence, for the Reader of this book to consider ofn7390 ¶2
163. Not as if it could be described or portrayed, for the mind only apprehendeth it, and only 3 that which can walk in the divine Mystery; not by art or reason, but by that understanding which the spirit of God openeth to the human spirit of the soul in the great Mystery, otherwise it cannot be apprehended.n7390 ¶3
1 Or semicircles.n7390 ¶4
2 third Principle.n7390 ¶5
3 that mind.n7390 ¶6
164. The Reader should observe the numbers, and also what standeth within or without a circle, and where every word in a circle beginneth and endeth; all of it hath its peculiar signification and meaning, for every word standeth in its due place.n7390 ¶7
165. That which is without the circle and wheel, signifieth the liberty of the abyss 1 without the Principle.n7390 ¶8
Number 1. Abyss.n7390 ¶9
166. The great Mystery of the abyss, wherein the eternal divine essence, in the glass of wisdom, doth bring itself forth in the 2 ground, is marked with the Number 1, and the Number 2 standeth close by it; which is so to be understood round about that whole circle.n7390 ¶10
Of the Three Circles.n7390 ¶11
167. The three circles drawn about one another, signify the eternal birth of the divine essence; and all eternal Mysteries, both within nature and without, viz. the original of all essences, as it is here described.n7390 ¶12
Note of the editor: the left dark half circle has the following numbers and text, from top to bottom:n7390 ¶13
37 Proud Deviln7390 ¶14
24 Darkness 25 Magic Fire 26 Anguishn7390 ¶15
23 Willn7390 ¶16
11 The Soul's Willn7390 ¶17
(horizontal bar)n7390 ¶18
18 Wrathn7390 ¶19
20 Deviln7390 ¶20
22 Artn7390 ¶21
Of that half of the Threefold Circle at the Left Hand, and of Number 2.n7390 ¶22
168. The threefold circle at the left hand (where also there standeth without the circle, at Number 2, the Mystery 3 without nature) signifieth how the abyss bringeth itself into a ground; that is, how the Eye of eternity, viz. the First will (which is called the Father of eternity and of all beginnings) bringeth itself in the wisdom into Trinity, into an eternal ground, and dwelleth in itself, and possesseth itself; and how it bringeth itself into nature; also how essence ariseth, as also * perceptibility and perception.n7390 ¶23
1 extra Principium.n7390 ¶24
2 Or centre.n7390 ¶25
3 extra naturam.n7390 ¶26
* "perceptibility and perception" (Empfindlichkeit und Findlichkeit). The idea is that of sensation, consciousness and experience in both passive and active modes. According to some German commentators, the first word, "Empfindlichkeit," may be rendered "awareness," and the second, "Findlichkeit," which is of Bohme's own coining, denotes a grasping in and holding, a retention of that which is perceived.n7390 ¶27
Of that half of the Threefold Circle at the Right Hand.n7390 ¶28
169. The other threefold circle at the right hand, signifieth the divine essence of the Holy Trinity, and the angelical world, which ariseth from the great Mystery of eternity, and is manifested by the Principle of fire.n7390 ¶29
What the Cross signifieth.n7390 ¶30
170. The Cross [whose arms go] through both the threefold Circles, signifieth then7390 ¶31
Persons of the Deity; and how they part themselves in the eternal unigeniture, as is further mentioned hereafter, according to the numbers.n7390 ¶32
1 Or semicircles, or half globes.n7390 ¶33
Of the Eye in the Circle.n7390 ¶34
171. The Eye in the circle through which the Cross goeth with an 1 angle, each [half of the Eye] signifieth a world, both that at the left, and that at the right: That at the left signifieth the great Mystery of the dark world, where the Eye of the wonders bringeth itself into nature; that at the right signifieth the hght world, where the divine Mystery, having brought itself forth through the fire, dwelleth in the majestic hght, with the first Mystery of the wonders.n7390 ¶35
Of the C^ in the Angle of the -J" .n7390 ¶36
172. The Heart in the angle of the Cross, signifieth the ground or centre of the Deity: Not as if it were separate, and did possess a place (for itself is the place or ground of the Deity, and is the midst everywhere), but that men might learn to distinguish God from nature; and that Christians may learn to understand the regeneration, viz. how God hath regenerated us in Christ, out of his heart upon the Cross: Therefore this Figure is thus delineated, that the Reader might further consider it; for this Figure comprehendeth all whatsoever God and the eternity is.n7390 ¶37
1 Or two arms.n7390 ¶38
The Exposition of the Circle at the Left Hand, Numbers 3, 4, 5.n7390 ¶39
173. The three 1 characters, A, O, V, marked with 3, 4, 5, signify the Mystery of the holy Deity: 2 without nature, and how it manifesteth itself in nature.n7390 ¶40
Of the A, Number 3; and of the Tincture, Number 6.n7390 ¶41
174. A signifieth the first eternal 3 unsearchable Will; which is called Father; go round that circle to the nether point, there Tincture standeth at Number 6, which is the Ens of the Will, and the first beginning of nature: for the divine Mystery of the Trinity standeth above, and the Mystery of nature beneath; each circle signifieth a Person of the Deity in the first Mystery.n7390 ¶42
Of the O, Number 4; and of Principle and of Fire, Number 7.n7390 ¶43
175. The O at Number 4, signifieth the ground of the Mystery, viz. the birth of the Heart or Word of God, which the first Will (viz. the A) in the glass of wisdom receiveth and holdeth in itself as a ground of its essence: For the O signifieth also the Eye of the glass of wisdom; for the eternal Word is 4 comprehended in the wisdom, and manifesteth itself in the hght world by the Principle of fire: go round from the O, and you will find Principle and Fire beneath, at Number 7.n7390 ¶44
1 Or letters.n7390 ¶45
2 Or beyond.n7390 ¶46
3 Or abyssal.n7390 ¶47
4 conceived, or formed.n7390 ¶48
O/V, Number 5; and of Essence, Number 8.n7390 ¶49
176. The V at Number 5, signifieth the spirit of the Mystery 1 without nature, viz. the spirit of the first eternal 2 unsearchable will; it ariseth out of the will in the power of the Word in the great Mystery, and proceedeth from the Will and Word, and its exit maketh essence, viz. wonders of the power, colours and virtue; where yet in the Mystery of the abyss without nature no colours are 3 discerned; for they lie all hid in one, which is a glimpse of a great wonder, and it is called an essence of the wonders: Go about in the circle from V, and you shall find beneath, near Number 8, Essence; which signifieth that the essence of all things is under the spirit of then7390 ¶50
4 Ternary, and that we must always distinguish essence from Deity.n7390 ¶51
177. For in the essence, nature with its seven forms ariseth; for the Ternary is but a spirit in the essence, and yet there is no essence 5 without the Ternary: for the desire of the Ternary is the eternal 6 magia, and it maketh essence; it bringeth [things] into a ground, according to the 7 model which the spirit openeth in the wisdom; out of it the creation came forth, according to the model in the glass of then7390 ¶52
8 virgin-like wisdom.n7390 ¶53
2 Or abyssal.n7390 ¶54
3 Or known.n7390 ¶55
4 Or Number Three.n7390 ¶56
5 absque.n7390 ¶57
6 magic.n7390 ¶58
7 Or idea.n7390 ¶59
8 virginalis sapientia.n7390 ¶60
A further Exposition of the first Principle, and of the Mystery of the Beginning in the Creation, also of the Dark World; and how the Angle or Line of the Cross, and Number 9, at the Left Hand, with its upper and nether Space, must ben7390 ¶61
Of FATHER; Number 9.n7390 ¶62
178. AT Number 9, Father standeth before the 1 point of the Cross, and Abyss before that; which signifieth the Mystery of the Father without nature: For nature beginneth at the point of the cross. The first and greatest Mystery is the abyss; wherein the nothing bringeth itself into a will, which is called Father, or the original to something: The creation is arisen out of the Mystery of the Father, through nature; hereby this Mystery, the eternal nature, with its seven forms, isn7390 ¶63
Soul; Number 10.n7390 ¶64
179. At the 3 point of the line, Number 10, Soul standeth; which signifieth the original of the eternal spirits, viz. of angels and souls of men; for the 4 point signifieth the centre in nature, where the threefold spirit manifesteth itself by nature, which again signifieth the magic fire in the Father's property, from whence the angels have their original, and also the souls of men.n7390 ¶65
180. We must here understand the ground and original of an eternal spirit; for nothing is eternal, except it have its original from the eternal magic fire: the original is not to be taken for the true spirit, but for the centre, viz. the cause of then7390 ¶66
1 Or angle.n7390 ¶67
2 Or meant.n7390 ¶68
3 Or angle.n7390 ¶69
4 The point of the arm at the left hand.n7390 ¶70
The Soul's Will; Number 11.n7390 ¶71
181. Every right spirit is understood in the light of life, 1 with the understanding; for no right understanding can be in the fire, but in the desire of the light; and therefore the fiery will must bend and incline towards the Heart of God, that is, towards the power of the light and understanding, as may be seen here, where the Soul's Will standeth upon the line of the Cross, marked with the Number 11, and there receiveth power from the Heart of God, and so *it becometh an understandingn7390 ¶72
Will, Number 12; and Soul, Number 13.n7390 ¶73
182. For it receiveth the power of the light, in the meekness and humility, and goeth with the spirit of its will (that is, with the noble image and similitude of God) through the power of the Heart, into the second Principle; that is, into the light world, as may be seen in the other 2 circle at the right side of the Heart, where, Number 12, Will standeth, and Soul, Number 13, which signifieth that the soul goeth out of the source of the fire, which is the Father's property, and entereth into the Son's property, and dwelleth in the divine power in the hght world.n7390 ¶74
1 Or, and so is the understanding.n7390 ¶75
2 Or half globe.n7390 ¶76
* "it becometh an understanding spirit," lit., "it is born" or "generated as an understandingn7390 ¶77
HOLY GHOST; Number 14.n7390 ¶78
183. ! Without the point of the Cross, Number 14, HOLY GHOST standeth, signifying the Holy GHOST, who ariseth from eternity in the will of the Father, at Number 9, before the 2 point at the left hand, and bringeth himself through nature, along through the Heart and divine power at the right hand, out 3 from nature, and also through the power of angels, or of the spirit of the soul, quite out, and dwelleth in the liberty in the glance of the power and Majesty; and is in nature, yet not comprehended by nature, but in the property of the divine power only.n7390 ¶79
Image; Number 15.n7390 ¶80
184. Beyond the word HOLY GHOST, Number 15, Image standeth, also without nature, which signifieth that the noble image groweth out of the fire of the soul, as a flower groweth out of the earth, and hath no feeling of the fiery property; for the fire is, as it were, swallowed up in it, and yet it is there, but in another source (viz. in the desire of love), a light flaming fire in the divine property.n7390 ¶81
Abyss; Number 16.n7390 ¶82
185. After Image, standeth Abyss, Number 16, signifying that the true image standeth in the abyss 4 beyond all source, and dwelleth in nothing, viz. in itself only, and through it God dwelleth; therefore there is nothing but the divine power that can find, move, or destroy it; for it is not in nature, although it ariseth from nature in its root, yet it is quite another thing, as an apple differs from the 5 tree; though it be upon the tree, and receiveth virtue from the tree, yet the sun also giveth virtue to it, and so the divine Sun (viz. the Majesty) giveth virtue to the image.n7390 ¶83
2 Or point of the Cross.n7390 ¶84
4 extra, without.n7390 ¶85
5 the tree it groweth upon.n7390 ¶86
Of the word Omnipotence, Number 17; and Wrath, Number 18.n7390 ¶87
186. Further, at the left hand, Number 17, standeth Omnipotence, and it standeth without the l circle of nature also, which signifieth the Father's Mystery, which bringeth itself by the magia (that is, by the desire) into wrath, wherein the strong sounding life and strength is understood in the entrance of nature in the first three forms, viz. astringency, bitterness, and anguish; and therefore the word Wrath standeth in the space under the line, Number 18, which signifieth, that the wrath toucheth not the angle of the 2 Ternary, but is born in the desire.n7390 ¶88
3 Craft; Number 19.n7390 ¶89
187. Craft standeth at Number 19, under the word Omnipotence, which signifieth the essence coming out of the glass of the Mystery; which Craft, in the second Principle, is changed into a right understanding, and here in the magic fire it is but craft; for it is subtle and sharp, and a cause of the understanding.n7390 ¶90
1 Or bounds.n7390 ¶91
2 Or Number Three.n7390 ¶92
3 Or subtlety.n7390 ¶93
Devil; Number 20.n7390 ¶94
188. Over against Craft, Devil standeth, Number 20, in the space of the dark world, which signifieth the malice of the devil, in that he is departed from the point of the Ternary, and hath put his will into wrath and craft, on purpose to domineer over the meekness of God thereby, and to use the strength and power of the fire andn7390 ¶95
Devil's Art; Numbers 21, 22.n7390 ¶96
189. Under the word Craft, standeth Devil's Art, Numbers 21, 22. Devil standeth without the circle of nature, and Art standeth within the circle of nature, which signifieth, that the devil was created out of the Mystery of the Father, upon the line or stroke of the cross in the eternal nature, as well as the other angels: But he gat his Art, Number 22, in the magic l seeking of nature in the centre of the dark world, whereas he should have gotten it in the power of the Heart of God, and that is the cause of his fall and of his envy.n7390 ¶97
Will; Number 23.n7390 ¶98
190. Above the line, Number 23, standeth Will; signifying, that the devil hath raised up himself from the divine line (upon which he was created), as a proud spirit, who would fain have been his own lord, and have ruled by his own art andn7390 ¶99
Darkness; Number 24.n7390 ¶100
191. As also the pride and subtlety of men do now; who in the same manner raise themselves up from the line of God, from obedience, in own selfhood, in which the will cannot reach the divine power and light, but falleth into itself, into the dark anguishing magic fire; as above, over the word Will, is noted with Number 24, and first into Darkness; for reason loseth the divine understanding, and the divine desire, wherein it can receive the essence of God, and so impregnate itself withn7390 ¶101
2 power from God.n7390 ¶102
Fire; Number 25.n7390 ¶103
192. And then 3 it kindleth the Magic Fire of covetousness, so that it willeth to have 4 much, and never hath enough, as here, Number 25.n7390 ¶104
Anguish; Number 26.n7390 ¶105
193. And when it hath filled itself with covetousness, then the magic fire in the Anguish beginneth to burn, Number 26; for that which is thrown into the fire by covetousness, is fuel for the magic fire, wherein the fire burneth: and there Death is born; which must separate what covetousness hath brought in.n7390 ¶106
i Or fill.n7390 ¶107
3 Or reason.n7390 ¶108
4 Or more.n7390 ¶109
Death; Number 27.n7390 ¶110
194. And herein also consisteth the grievous fall of Adam, who hath imagined as the devil did, and desired to have the variety of this world as his own: * He would be cunning, and get much 1 skill, and even the earthly and hellish source in the skill. Had he continued upon the stroke in the line of God, he had not been earthy, for the spirit of his will should have dwelt in God, and have f brought divine food into the body; but now he is in the Anguish, Number 26, and must again go through the Principle into Death, Number 27, where his body must be consumed in the Mystery.n7390 ¶111
195. And if he do not, in the time of this life, turn his will into the cross of Christ (as is to be seen in this Figure), then he is reserved in the Mystery for the Judgment of God, where he shall be tried in the fire, whether the spirit of his will hath any divine 2 power in it or not, or whether he can subsist in the fire, and there his proud earthly works will be burned up; and if the soul remain in the dark magic fire of the will (for itself is a magic fire, when the divine light-fire is not in it), then one magic fire receiveth the other, and then there is no remedy to help out from thence.n7390 ¶112
2 power or virtue.n7390 ¶113
* "He would be cunning and get much skill," etc. Lit., "He would [willed to] become clever, and acquired much skill, and also the earthly," etc.n7390 ¶114
f "brought divine food," lit., "introduced (eingefiihrt) divine food."n7390 ¶115
Will; Number 28. Light; Number 29. Spirit; Number 30. Man; Number 31.n7390 ¶116
196. But the soul, which in the time of this life did turn again, and did yield itself up with its will into the death of Christ, at the line of the cross, Number 27, that soul is then sunk down from its proud and 1 wicked works, and * become free in that same will, and is entered into the death of Christ, and sprouteth forth with the spirit of its Will, Number 28, in the divine power from the death of Christ, through the second Principle, where the spirit of the will (viz. the image) 2 obtaineth the divine Light again, Number 29, and the 3 Image, Number 30, standeth again in the divine Man, Number 31.n7390 ¶117
Image; Number 32. God; Number 33.n7390 ¶118
197. For when the spirit of the will entereth into death at the cross, then it putteth on the divine 4 essentiality (that is, Christ's flesh) into itself again, and bringeth it with itself into the light world, where the divine life springeth forth again in the holy body, and the Image is free again, as here, Number 32, is to be seen, and it dwelleth in God, Number 33, and eateth of God's Word or essence; for the Image here is 5 without nature, in the liberty, but the humanity is in nature, as it is here set down.n7390 ¶119
1 Or evil.n7390 ¶120
2 Or reacheth.n7390 ¶121
* "become free in that same will," lit., "become free from its own will" (Willen-los) [in the death of Christ].n7390 ¶122
198. But for those souls which abide in their proud covetous works in the Anguish, Number 26, they abide indeed in the magic fire of Anguish, and their works are fuel for that fire.n7390 ¶123
199. But if the spirit of the will at length doth incline itself towards the death of Christ, and yet is hard bound to the wrath, then it hangeth, as it were, by a thread to the death of Christ.n7390 ¶124
The Ninth Number; Number 34.n7390 ¶125
200. This soul must needs burn thus a while, till the spirit of the will can enter into the death of Christ, and till its sidereal *fuel be burnt up: when the earthly body dieth, the image must be 1 bathed, which this present too-wise world scorneth, but f shall be forced to try it in death, where that little spark (which did hang but as by a thread) must enwrap itself quite into the death of Christ; for it hath lost both body and essence, and remaineth naked without divine 2 essence or body in God's mercy in the divine tincture, viz. in the Ninth Number, Number 34, and waiteth for the Last Judgment, wherein God will restore, in the tincture, all that which Adam lost: But the works which it hath done here will not pass through the fire, but the dark magic fire hath swallowed them up into its Mystery in the dark world; let this be told thee, O man.n7390 ¶126
1 Or washed, scoured, or purged.n7390 ¶127
f "shall be forced to try it in death" (im Tod erfahret), "experienceth it in death."n7390 ¶128
Soul's Eternal Habitation; Number 35.n7390 ¶129
201. After the Ninth Number standeth the Soul's Eternal Habitation, noted with the Number 35; which signifieth that these escaped souls are yet in God, in the angelical world, but without their works; and they cannot so highly attain the glance of the Majesty, as those which Hn this life have clothed themselves with the power of God. The word Habitation entereth into the liberty, without nature, as also above it the word Image doth. For the soul must stand in nature, but the habitation of the Image is without nature, in the divine liberty.n7390 ¶130
Angelical World; Number 36.n7390 ¶131
202. Beyond the word Habitation standeth Angelical World, Number 36, signifying the whole 2 court of angels or 3 princely thrones in the liberty of the divine Majesty; whereas their root is in nature, but is not 4 felt.n7390 ¶132
Proud Devil; Number 37. Will of the Devil Lucifer; Number 38.n7390 ¶133
203. At the left hand, in the upper space, Number 37, standeth Proud Devil, with two 5 lines; one reaching to be upon the character O, Number 4, and the other reaching up above the great Mystery of the Ternary, where standeth Will of the Devil Lucifer, Number 38. Here the devil's fall is to be considered.n7390 ¶134
1 Or here.n7390 ¶135
3 thrones, or principalities.n7390 ¶136
4 Or apprehended.n7390 ¶137
5 Or strokes.n7390 ¶138
204. He hath driven his proud will from the line of the cross upwards, and would domineer over the Mystery of the divine wisdom by l cunning, subtlety and wrath, in the power of fire, and 2 kindle the Mystery of the Ternary, that he might be lord (as indeed he did kindle the essence in the Mystery, from whence earth and stones proceed), and would fain have flown out above the Mystery of the Ternary, Number 38, as still at this very day he desireth to fly out above *the highest thrones of angels.n7390 ¶139
Abyss of the Dark World; Number 39. Eternal Hell of Devils; Number 40.n7390 ¶140
205. And hence it followed, that he was thrust out from the divine Mystery, from the highest thrones, into the dark magic fire, and is thrown down beneath (viz. into the abyss of the Dark World,Number 39), where he must dwell without the Principle in f the 3 horror of fire (that is, in the first three forms 4 of fire) in the anguish: And there he hath his hell, as below, Number 40, is to be seen; and thither also do the damned souls fall, where to eternity they cannot see God.n7390 ¶141
1 Or reason, or in wit, craft, and fury.n7390 ¶142
2 Or inflame.n7390 ¶143
3 fire-crack.n7390 ¶144
4 Or to fire, or before the fourth form, which is fire itself.n7390 ¶145
* "the highest thrones of angels," lit., "the angelical princely thrones."n7390 ¶146
f "the horror of fire" (Feuerschrack), an expression peculiar to Bohme; denotes a bursting forth of fire, or the very point where fire breaks out. St Martin renders it, I'explosion du feu.n7390 ¶147
The other line of the Cross upwards.n7390 ¶148
206. Over that line Number 1, standeth Abyss Eternity, signifying the liberty without the Principle, and thereby is l meant the Mystery of the eternity, wherein every creature standeth in its own source, in its own fire, whether in darkness or in light, and hath no other light but what shineth 2 in itself, and it also comprehendeth that light 3 without itself: Both worlds, viz. the light and dark world, are in one another; but the light is not attained, except a creature be capable 4 of it.n7390 ¶149
207. There are angelical thrones, which we know nothing of; our knowledge reacheth only 5 unto the place of 6 this world, so far as the kindling in the creation did reach; and 7 therefore this wheel is made with the Cross in it.n7390 ¶150
SON; Number 41: and of the Heart.n7390 ¶151
208. Over the upright line standeth SON, Number 41, and at the left angle or point, Number 9, FATHER; and at the right line, Number 14, HOLY GHOST; signifying the Persons and birth of the Holy Trinity: The \? in the Cross is the centre, and signifieth the eternal band of the 8 Trinity.n7390 ¶152
209. The word SON, Number 41, signifieth the Word, which the eternal FATHER always speaketh from eternity in the light and dark Worlds, according to the property of each source.n7390 ¶153
2 Or in the creature itself.n7390 ¶154
3 Or beside itself outwardly.n7390 ¶155
4 Or to receive it.n7390 ¶156
5 in locum, or the space, or bounds.n7390 ¶157
6 Or that.n7390 ¶158
7 for a resemblance of it.n7390 ¶159
8 Or Ternary.n7390 ¶160
210. But the three Persons are free from the Cross, and touch not the line, which signifieth that God is free from nature, and is not comprehended 1 in nature; but he dwelleth in himself, and indeed also in nature, but is not comprehended by that which doth not 2 yield itself into him.n7390 ¶161
Of the Heart in the Cross.n7390 ¶162
211. The Heart in the cross signifieth, first, that the Heart of God hath manifested itself in nature 3 by the Principle of fire, whence the majestic light ariseth: secondly, it signifieth the manifestation in the humanity, wherein the Heart of God hath manifested itself with a human heart; and how that human heart hath obtained the comprehension of the Holy Trinity, as it is the centre in the cross, where we must understand the inward man, viz. the inward heart.n7390 ¶163
212. And we may see that the HOLY GHOST at the right line, Number 14, goeth forth from the Heart in the light world; which signifieth that the HOLY GHOST dwelleth in the new-born heart (viz. in the Image), and continually bringeth the will of the image into the divine light world: and as this Heart in the cross is united 3 to the Holy Trinity, so must the human heart (understand the inward man) be unitedn7390 ¶164
3 to the Deity, that God may be all in all in him, both will and deed.n7390 ¶165
213. But the word SON, Number 41, standing above over the line of the cross, separated from the Heart, signifieth that the man Christ is become Lord 4 of All, and is king over this whole circle: For God hath manifested himself in the humanity, and this man comprehendeth the whole divine 5 essence in him; for there is one and the same fulness, one God and divine essence, in him and without him: we can * 6 find God nowhere else but in the 7 essence of Christ, therein 8 is the whole fulness of the 9 Godhead bodily.n7390 ¶166
1 Or by.n7390 ¶167
2 give up itself to him.n7390 ¶168
3 Or with.n7390 ¶169
4 Or over all.n7390 ¶170
6 Or know, or acknowledge.n7390 ¶171
9 Or Deity.n7390 ¶172
* "find God" (erkennen), "to know, perceive, or recognize."n7390 ¶173
Heaven; Number 42.n7390 ¶174
214. The word Heaven, upon the upright line of the cross, Number 42, signifieth, first, that heaven is in the man Christ, and also in us, and that we must enter by his cross and death into him, in his heaven, which is himself; for upon the cross, Heaven is opened again, and born anew 1 in us. Secondly, it signifieth that the true divine heaven is a habitation 2 of the divine desire, viz. of the divine magia; therefore it cannot be said that we enter into it, but that we are begotten 3 in it, 4 out of Gods fire in the divine 5 essentiality, and no otherwise but upon the cross, viz. through and in the birth of the Holy Trinity.n7390 ¶175
Pure Element; Number 43.n7390 ¶176
215. The words Pure Element, Number 43, upon the upper line of the cross, signify the internal world, out of which the external, with the four elements, is brought forth, and its 6 essence standeth in the internal root.n7390 ¶177
1 Or to us.n7390 ¶178
2 for.n7390 ¶179
3 Or into it.n7390 ¶180
4 Or by.n7390 ¶181
Holy Ghost; Number 44. Son; Number 45.n7390 ¶182
216. Moreover, it is to be noted, how those 1 words stand, begin and end; for they begin at the outward circle at the left hand, where above, Number 5, the Holy Ghost's character V standeth, and below, Number 8, 2 Essence; and they go through the two circles at the right hand, to the 3 second space, which signifieth the original of the pure divine element, the habitation and 4 essence whence it ariseth, viz. from the spirit of the eternal Mystery in the divine essentiality , viz. in the essence of the great Mystery: and yet it is manifest only in the second Principle, viz. in the essence of the Son and Holy Ghost, as above at the circle on the right hand may be seen, Numbers 44 and 45.n7390 ¶183
Father; Number 46. Holy Spirit of Divine Wit, Wisdom, and Understanding; Number 47.n7390 ¶184
217. *The pure element is the working in the true heaven, and it shutteth itself in and out with the cross; it is the springing or stirring in the fire and in the heaven of light, whence the divine essentiality (understand the essence, and not the spirit of God) is a life: for it reacheth not into the essence of the Father, Number 46, below which circle there standeth Divine Wit or Wisdom: for the element giveth not divine wit [reason or understanding]; but the Holy 5 Spirit, Number 47, giveth divinen7390 ¶185
6 wisdom and 7 understanding.n7390 ¶186
1 Viz. Pure Element.n7390 ¶187
2 Or Being, or Substance.n7390 ¶188
3 Viz. the space between the second circle and the third.n7390 ¶189
5 Or Ghost.n7390 ¶190
6 Or wit, or reason.n7390 ¶191
7 Or knowledge.n7390 ¶192
* "The pure element is the working," etc. Lit., "The pure element is the operation in [or of] the true heaven, and it foldeth itself in and out [like floodgates] with the cross; it is the springing and moving in the fire-and-light-heaven."n7390 ¶193
218. The element is an 1 essence in respect of the Deity, as the life in the flesh 2 is in respect of the soul; for the tincture is higher, and giveth the ens of the spirit, wherein the light -fire is understood.n7390 ¶194
Humanity; Flesh; Number 48.n7390 ¶195
219. Under the words Pure Element, on the upper 3 line of the cross, Number 27, Death standeth; and the word beginneth at the left circle, and goeth through the cross, and through the first circle at the right hand. There look upon both the outward circles, that at the left, and that at the right, above, and below, and then thou shalt quickly find what the 4 right of death is, and that it is the dying source in the magic fire, and holdeth the essentiality captive in itself, as at the left hand below, Number 8, and at the right, Number 48, may be seen; and then above at this circle, Number 44, and at the left above, Number 5, is seen that the spiritual life goeth and sprouteth forth through death, and possesseth the highest circle. For whatsoever will attain the divine life, must go through the dying magic fire, and subsist therein, as the Heart on the Cross must subsist in the 5 fire of God.n7390 ¶196
2 must be taken to be.n7390 ¶197
3 Or stroke.n7390 ¶198
4 Or jurisdiction.n7390 ¶199
5 Or divine fire.n7390 ¶200
220. Moreover, we must know, that in Adam we have turned ourselves away from the cross, and are above the cross with our lust and desire, Number 23, and gone with our will into 1 a self-government, and now death hath captivated us in itself: We must therefore sink down from death upon the cross, upon the line of Christ, into the Heart again, and be born anew in the Heart, or else death retaineth us captive: For death standeth now upon the line of the cross; but at the Judgment it shall be given to the dark world: For our will must now enter into rest through the death on the cross; but the outward cross shall be done away, and then death shall be made a scorn.n7390 ¶201
221. Thirdly, it signifieth that the life of God in Christ made death a 2 spectacle upon the cross, when death was destroyed on the cross 3 by the dying of Christ, where life grew up through death, and the Heart yielded itself into the middle (viz. into the centre) as a Conqueror of death.n7390 ¶202
Paradise; Number 49.n7390 ¶203
222. Under the Heart, Number 49, standeth Paradise: The word beginneth at the outward circle on the left hand, where above, Number 5, is the Spirit of the Great Mystery of the Abyss of Eternity, viz. V J and below, at the same circle, Number 8, Essence is written; and it goeth through the cross, and at the right hand through all the three circles, and into the hberty; which signifieth the 4 station of paradise: It ariseth in the Mystery of eternity, and groweth up through the outward world, and also through the hght world, hidden in the outward world, and manifest in the second Principle in the light world; and therefore that word goeth through all the three circles, signifying the original of the human body.n7390 ¶204
1 Or own regimen.n7390 ¶205
2 a show.n7390 ¶206
3 Or in.n7390 ¶207
Divine 1 Essentiality; Number 50.n7390 ¶208
223. For in this place, out of this essentiality, was Adam's body (understand the outward body) created according to the third Principle, and the inward body (understand the body of the image) out of the heavenly part in the light world, out of the divine essentiality, as it is set down at the right hand near Paradise, Numbern7390 ¶209
Christ's Flesh; Numbers 51, 52.n7390 ¶210
224. That divine essence (understand essence, not spirit) is enclosed in the wisdom of God, and the heavenly tincture is in it: For this essence brought God's Word (which became man, 2 in Mary) into her essentiality (viz. in the body of the image), which was enclosed in death; and in 3 it God and man became one person:n7390 ¶211
For this flesh is Christ's flesh, according to the heavenly part; therefore after essentiality standeth Christ's flesh, Numbers 51, 52.n7390 ¶212
225. Christ had such flesh in the inward man, as Adam had before Eve [was taken out of him], when he stood in the divine image in purity; and therefore none can enter into paradise, except they obtain that flesh again that Adam had before the fall, and Christ in his incarnation: Therefore we must all be 4 born anew out of the Heart upon the Cross, and put on Christ.n7390 ¶213
2 into.n7390 ¶214
3 Viz. the essentiality, or substantialilty.n7390 ¶215
4 regenerated.n7390 ¶216
Mystery; Number 53.n7390 ¶217
226. Under the word Paradise, Number 53 standeth, 1 Mystery, and the word ariseth at the left hand in the second circle, where above, at the same circle, Number 4, the Character O standeth; and below, Principle and Fire, Number 7; and it goeth to the right hand through the cross, and through the first circle at the right hand: This rightly sheweth man's creation according to the body.n7390 ¶218
227. For the body is a Mystery taken out of the inward and outward world, from above and beneath; understand out of the matrix of the earth: This is the matrix of the earth; out of this 2 Principle 3 it is created, and we see that it was created out of the inward and outward 4 essence (that is, out of the dark and light world), and is mixed with evil (that is, with wrath), and also with good.n7390 ¶219
Wonder, Number 54; Angel, Number 55; Spirit, Number 56.n7390 ¶220
228. But man was created out of the Mystery an image and similitude of God, for 5 a divine wonder: Therefore at the right hand, Number 54, there standeth Wonder; for he was a wonder of all essences, a lord of all essences, taken out of all essences; and he was an angel in the inward image: As next to the word Wonder there standeth Angel, in the liberty, Number 55; for his spirit dwelt in the liberty of God, that is, in the Majesty: As after the word Angel there standeth Spirit, Number 56, which signifieth every true man, viz. the first before the fall, and the second in Christ, into whom he must enter again, or else he remaineth separated from God.n7390 ¶221
1 Mysterium.n7390 ¶222
3 the earth.n7390 ¶223
5 Or a wonder of God.n7390 ¶224
Four Elements; Number 57.n7390 ¶225
229. Under the word Mystery there standeth, at Number 57, Four Elements, which arise at the outward circle on the left hand, and go to the right hand through the cross, and through two circles; which signifieth the outward world, which ariseth as an 1 effluence out of the inward essence of the outward circle, and bringeth its wonders into the Mystery, first into the second Principle into the first two circles; for it should not go with its essence through the third circle at the right hand, into the liberty, but in the Principle pass into the Mystery, and be 2 tried in the Principle, viz. in the fire; for there is the limit of separation.n7390 ¶226
1 Or outbirth.n7390 ¶227
2 Or refined, or purified.n7390 ¶228
The Soul's Joy Un Ternario Sancto; Number 58.n7390 ¶229
230. Above, at the second circle on the right hand, Number 45, standeth Son, who is the Judge and 2 Arbitrator; and below, at the same circle, standeth Soul's Joy in Ternario Sancto; signifying, that the soul shall have joy in its works, which it hath brought into the inward Mystery in the angelical world, and which it hath wrought in the four elements to the praise of God; for the four elements stand with their root in the great Mystery.n7390 ¶230
231. And were not the 3 earth come into such a corrupt state and condition, and if the poison of the devil and his kindling had not procured it, it had been one essence in the other three elements, as in the heavenly essence it now is.n7390 ¶231
Spiritual Body's Habitation; Number 59.n7390 ¶232
232. Adam hath swallowed this morsel, and thereby lost his angelical form: For the four elements should be hidden in him, and he should live but in the one element *in divine power, and know nothing of evil, as at the right hand in the liberty, Number 59, there standeth f the Spiritual Body's Habitation; and there should the body of the image (that is, the body of the soul) dwell, but it was hindered, it must go under the earth, and be shut up in the earth.n7390 ¶233
1 in the Holy Ternary, or Trinity.n7390 ¶234
2 Or Separator.n7390 ¶235
3 angelical earth.n7390 ¶236
* "in divine power" (in Gottes Kraft), lit., "in the power [or virtue] of God," i.e. in virtue of the divine power. St Martin uses the word puissance.n7390 ¶237
f "the Spiritual Body's Habitation" (des geistlichen Menschen Wohnung), lit., "the spiritual man's dwelling, or habitation."n7390 ¶238
Earth; Number 60.n7390 ¶239
233. Under the words four elements, standeth Earth, Number 60, signifying that earth is wholly slipped out, or fallen off from the inward world; for the word Earth toucheth neither the left nor the right circle; it is, as it were, dead; but the cross goeth through it, signifying its Restoration; that the human earth is regenerated on the cross, and that the heavenly divine essence shall be separated from the essence of the dark world by the divine fire, where then there shall be new earth in a heavenly source, form, essence and property; and that which is in the earth hidden, shall spring up again in the heavenly part: and here the resurrection of man is to be considered; and further it is to be considered, that the earth is placed thus in the abyss, for it reacheth no Principle, therefore it must vanish.n7390 ¶240
Earthly Man; Number 61.n7390 ¶241
234. Under the word Earth, standeth Number 61, Earthly Man, there the cross is between the words, which signify the fallen earthly man; that is, fallen under, and into the earth; that is, he is fallen 1 to be the earth's; and the cross parteth the words Earthly and Man, for man shall be separated from the earth again, and enter into his eternal part, whether it be into the light or dark world.n7390 ¶242
1 Or to the earth as to his own home, or to be subject to it.n7390 ¶243
Wonder; Number 62.n7390 ¶244
235. Under the line of the cross, standeth Number 62, Wonder; which signifieth, that the evil wonders, and also the evil part of the earth, shall, 1 at the Judgment of God (when God shall make separation), fall 2 home to the abyss of darkness, and be the earth for all devils and 3 wicked people to dwell together upon; for the abyss standeth under it, Number 1.n7390 ¶245
Babel; Number 63.n7390 ¶246
236. Next to that word Wonder, standeth Number 63, Babel, signifying that Babel is only a wonder of the abyss, and she worketh only wonders in the abyss.n7390 ¶247
4 Own Reason in Babel; Number 64.n7390 ¶248
237. A little above, under the circle at the right hand, after Earthly Man, standeth Number 64, Own Reason in Babel, which goeth about the circle of the second Principle, and goeth along in its own power under the divine world; it supposeth itself to be in God and that it serveth God, and yet it is without God, in itself, and teacheth and doth its own matters only: it ruleth the outward world according to its own reason, without the spirit and will of God, even according to its own self-will only; therefore it goeth about the light world flattering, and giveth God 5 fair words, but remaineth without God * still in the abyss, and entereth into it.n7390 ¶249
1 Or in.n7390 ¶250
2 as to its own place.n7390 ¶251
4 Or Self-reason.n7390 ¶252
* "still in the abyss," lit., "over the abyss."n7390 ¶253
Wonder of the Great Folly; Number 65.n7390 ¶254
238. Under Own Reason, standeth Number 65, Wonder of the Great Folly, signifying Babel, which hath found all 1 arts, 2 subtleties, and * 3 devices, and lost itself: it seeketh gold and loseth God; it taketh earth for gold, death for life, and that is the greatest folly that can be found in the 4 Essence of all essences, as is enough demonstrated in other places.n7390 ¶255
The Conclusion.n7390 ¶256
239. Thus we see where our home is; not in this world, but in the two inward worlds; in which of them we 5 labour here in this life, into the same we enter when we die; we must leave the outward; we must be new-born only on the cross.n7390 ¶257
240. Babel hath wholly turned itself away from the cross; which signifieth proud men f wedded to their own wit and reason, who rule themselves by their witty folly.n7390 ¶258
241. The Earthly Man upon the cross, Number 61, signifieth that simple flock of people, which yet hang to the cross of Christ, and are at length regenerated through the cross.n7390 ¶259
1 Or inventions.n7390 ¶260
2 cunning, deceit, fallacies.n7390 ¶261
3 feats or tricks.n7390 ¶262
4 Or Being of all beings.n7390 ¶263
5 Or converse.n7390 ¶264
* "devices" (Geschicktlichkeit), "cleverness, skill."n7390 ¶265
f "wedded to their own wit and reason," etc. Lit., "clever in [the power of] their own reason, who govern themselves by the wit [the spirit] of their folly."n7390 ¶266
242. But reason hath also rent itself off from the cross, * by own pleasure, own power, and laws, and that is the wonder of folly, which the very devils do scorn and deride.n7390 ¶267
243. The Reader should consider this further, for there lieth much under it, it hath the understanding of all the three worlds; behold thyself therein, it is a most true glass; for the Ternary is a cross, and it hath two kingdoms in one, which part themselves by sinking through death.n7390 ¶268
244. Therefore the devil would be above God; and therefore God became man, that he might bring the soul out of the wrath, through death, into another life, into another world, which yet remaineth in the first, but it turneth the back to it, as this Figure is; and the cross standeth between the two Principles, and goeth from the fire-life into the life of light.n7390 ¶269
245. Understand us thus, my beloved Friend: the soul hath its original in the firelife (for no spirit subsisteth 2 without the source of the fire): and it goeth out from itself with its own will through death: it accounteth itself as dead, and sinketh itself down as dead, and so falleth with its will through the Principle of fire, into the divine light eye, and there it is the chariot of the Holy Ghost, whereon he rideth.n7390 ¶270
246. But when it will go [of] itself, then it continueth in its own fire-nest, in the original, wherein it was awakened, as Lucifer did: for it is awakened at the beginning of the cross at the left hand, as is to be seen in this Figure, and that is its original, as shall be further mentioned hereafter.n7390 ¶271
1 by taking its own pleasure, and making laws according to its own power, though against right.n7390 ¶272
247 '. l It is a whole figure of the cross: according to the outward image of the body, it resembleth a cross-tree; the body having two arms, signifying two Principles, and the body in the midst, which is a whole person: The heart is the first Principle, and the brain is the second; the heart hath the 2 soul, and the brain the spirit of the soul: and it is a new child, and yet not a new one either; the stock is from eternity, but the branches grow out of the stock.n7390 ¶273
248. And though it hath not been a soul from eternity, yet it hath been known from eternity in the virgin of the divine wisdom upon the cross; and in the root it belongeth to God the Father, in the soul to God the Son, and in the will to God the Holy Ghost.n7390 ¶274
249. Seeing then its will could not stand in the Father (but would rule and domineer, and so it fell into the fire of wrathfulness), therefore the Father gave it to the Son, and the Son took it into himself, and became man in it, and brought it by the 3 Word Fiat into the Majesty, into the light again: for the Son bringeth it through the anger and death into the eye of holiness again, at the right hand; into another world, in God, to the angels, whereof there shall be further mention made hereafter.n7390 ¶275
2 Viz. seated in it.n7390 ¶276
Now we come again to the Sixth Form of Fire.n7390 ¶277
250. Know then, wherefore we have set the cross here; the l Cross is otherwise the number Ten, when we number in the order of 2 reason: But according to the two Principles, where the eye appeareth parted, the cross should be between the fifth and sixth forms, where light and darkness part.n7390 ¶278
251. But you must know, that God is both the beginning and the end, and therefore we put the cross at the end, according to reason: for there we go through death into life; it is our resurrection.n7390 ¶279
252. Again, the number 3 Ten, is the first, and also the last, and through it is death, and after death, hell, viz. the wrath of the darkness, which is 4 without the cross, for it falleth again into the A, and the Creator is in the A, into which Lucifer would fain have insinuated himself, but he is driven out into darkness, which is his kingdom in the source.n7390 ¶280
253. You must understand, that we mean by the twofold eye, a round globe cut in two, wherein the cross stood from eternity: *it cannot be drawn in any portraiture, because the halves are so in one another, they are one, and yet two: the spirit only understandeth this; and whosoever doth not enter through death upon the cross, into regeneration (that is, into the divine body), he understandeth not this: and let him leave it 5 uncensured, or else he will 6 be a workman and censurer for the devil: we would have the Reader faithfully admonished, for it is most certain.n7390 ¶281
2 Outward computation according to the Roman numbering with capital letters.n7390 ¶282
4 Or extra crucem.n7390 ¶283
5 Or uncontrolled.n7390 ¶284
6 Or make himself a devil in so doing.n7390 ¶285
* "it cannot be drawn in any portraiture," or "no picture can represent it."n7390 ¶286
254. For this Figure containeth the whole ground, as deep as a spirit in itself is: and the Reader cannot know it without 1 true eyes; words cannot be set according to its right order, for the first is also the last, and the middlemost goeth through all, and is not known but in itself; therefore searching is not the best way to find the Mystery in: But to be born 2 in God, is the right way to find it; for without 3 that all is but Babel.n7390 ¶287
255. * All lieth in the will and in the earnestness, viz. that the will enter into the 4 magic, for the eternity is magical; all things come to essence out of the magic: for in the eternity, in the abyss, is nothing; but that which is, is magic.n7390 ¶288
256. 5 From magic cometh philosophy, which soundeth the magic, and seeking, findeth astrology therein eternally; and astrology again seeketh 6 its master and maker, viz. astronomy, the 7 Sulphur and Mercury, which hath its own Principle; and therein is the third magic, viz. the 8 physician; who seeketh the 9 corrupter and would heal it; but he findeth the fourth magic, viz. the 10 divine; who seeketh the 11 turba in all things, and would heal the turba; but he findeth the eye of the first magic, and there he seeth that all is the wonder of magic: then he leaveth off from seeking, and is a 12 magus in the first will; for he seeth he hath all power to find and to make what he will: and then he maketh himself an angel, and remaineth in himself, and so he is free from all other things, and continueth eternally: This is the highest ground of the Essence of all essences.n7390 ¶289
i Or right eyes, viz. spiritual eyes.n7390 ¶290
2 Or of God."n7390 ¶291
3 the new-birth.n7390 ¶292
4 in magiam.n7390 ¶293
5 Out of the rnagia.n7390 ¶294
6 his cause and ruler.n7390 ¶295
7 Sulphur and Mer curium.n7390 ¶296
8 medicus.n7390 ¶297
9 Or disease which destroyeth the health.n7390 ¶298
10 theologus.n7390 ¶299
11 the curse of God.n7390 ¶300
12 magician: Mdyoq. Matt. ii. 1.n7390 ¶301
* "All lieth in the will," etc. (es lieget alles am Wille), "it all depends upon the will."n7390 ¶302
257. Although the whore of Babel will by no means relish it, yet we speak from good ground and say, that Babel and her children are * born of whoredom, in their 2 magic, philosophy, astrology, astronomy, physic, and divinity. [258.] Babel is the true child of none of these, she is a refractory proud bastard. *We have known her in the A and O, by searching of her philosophy and astrology, have 3 known her to be a whore in all 4 glasses; she committeth whoredom in all glasses.n7390 ¶303
259. She saith she is the eye, but she hath a 5 false eye f that glanceth out of her whoredom, in pride, envy, and anger; and her seat in the magic is tthe e av erse left eye: § she boasteth upon the cross, but she entereth not into the centre, she will not go through death into life.n7390 ¶304
1 adulterous.n7390 ¶305
3 Or found.n7390 ¶306
4 specula, mirrors, or looking-glasses, or expositions, representations, illustrations, and similitudes in her teachings.n7390 ¶307
5 Or squint-eye.n7390 ¶308
6 Or back-turned.n7390 ¶309
* "We have known her," etc. Lit., "we have known her [i.e. found her out] through research in philosophy and astrology."n7390 ¶310
f "that glanceth" (das glintzet), "that glitters."n7390 ¶311
% "the averse left eye," or "the averted (abgewandl) left eye."n7390 ¶312
§ "she boasteth" (sie prangel) , "she maketh a great show." St Martin translates aptly, elle se pavane. This word, in its literal sense, describes the strutting of the peacock with outspread tail.n7390 ¶313
260. She saith, I live, and yet hath an unrighteous life; but that is her true hfe, if she will continue in it alone to herself; but she oppresseth the children that are born 1 upon the cross, and treadeth them under her feet.n7390 ¶314
261. Therefore the cross hath bent its bow, and will shoot away Babel from the cross: The spirit of the wonders declareth this in the magic.n7390 ¶315
The Seventh Form of Fire.n7390 ¶316
262. One 2 magic always proceedeth from the other, and is the glass and the eye of the other, wherein the wonders are known and propagated; for in the abyss there is nothing, but in the 2 magic is all, each glass is a centre, but yet its own, for *the lust, 3 seeking, and desire bringeth it forth; it is the model of the first.n7390 ¶317
263. For when I search to the beginning of the essence, then I find the eye, which is God; which is a desiring will of eternity, which entereth into itself, and seeketh the abyss in itselfn7390 ¶318
1 Or live in patience and resignation.n7390 ¶319
2 magia.n7390 ¶320
3 Or longing.n7390 ¶321
* "the lust, seeking, and desire," etc., (des ersten Lust, Sucht und Begehren), "the longing, attraction and desire of the first [looking-glass or magic] bringeth it forth: it [each glass] is a model of the first."n7390 ¶322
264. It is in nothing, but it is the glass of the abyss; it seeketh itself and findeth itself; and that which is found seeketh again a model, wherein it can seek, find, and see itself; and that proceedeth so far, till it cometh to the number 1 Ten.n7390 ¶323
265. Then the last findeth the first again in itself, and so the last becometh the model and glass of the first, and the first of the last, and so it becometh an eternal band, and standeth in the will, in the desiring, seeking and finding, and then7390 ¶324
2 Mysterium magnum is included in this essence.n7390 ¶325
266. But now the middlemost in the desire willeth to have a 3 fulfilling, wherein it may rest, or else all would be in an anguishing source: and the desiring draweth forth the middlemost of all forms, wherewith it satiateth its hunger, wherewith also it is in joy in itself in perfection; and so out of the anguish there cometh a love, a satiating of the source, and the middlemost is Sulphur, wherewith the spirit 4 refresheth itself in the will, for Sulphur hath two forms in it, viz. 5 power and light.n7390 ¶326
267. And this together is the essence born out of all forms, it is 6 matter, essentiality, corporality, the divine body, Christ's heavenly flesh, and it is the full satiating of the spirit in the O J also it is the rest, and the manifestation of the Deity; it subsisteth in the virgin of Wisdom.n7390 ¶327
2 great Mystery.n7390 ¶328
3 Or satiating.n7390 ¶329
4 Or quickeneth or enliveneth.n7390 ¶330
5 Phur, Power; Sul, light.n7390 ¶331
6 materia, substantiality.n7390 ¶332
268. The cross is its * limit; and it is the essentiahty, which by sinking entereth into death, as is mentioned before, where the wrath remaineth in death; and it isn7390 ¶333
2 still as a death or a nothing, and the life sprouteth up out of it, in anothern7390 ¶334
269. Itself is not the Principle, but the Principle is born in it, all glasses of then7390 ¶335
3 magic are manifested in it, and all the wonders of the 4 genetrix; it containeth the Mysterium magnum, and out of it the spirit openeth the wonders of eternity: the spirit giveth it the essences, for it is the food for the hunger of the spirit.n7390 ¶336
270. It is an essence of wonders, without number and end; also it hath no beginning, for the spirit in the desire maketh it begin from eternity, and it continueth 5 to eternity: it is 6 the body of the Ternary (which is called God), andn7390 ¶337
6 the body of angels; so that the spirit subsisteth in an image, or else it would not be known.n7390 ¶338
271. Thus it knoweth itself in the image, and seeketh the best 7 magic, and it findeth what it seeketh, and eateth it, and thereby giveth its will to the divine body, so that there is a unity in the holy Principle.n7390 ¶339
272. For the wonders arise in the will of the corporeal spirit; which wonders take hold of the spirit of eternity, viz. of the Holy Ghost, and thus there is a sound and song proceeding from the eternal wonders, for the will of the corporeal spirit is therein.n7390 ¶340
1 Or end, pitch, bounds.n7390 ¶341
2 Or quiet.n7390 ¶342
3 magia.n7390 ¶343
4 Or bearer.n7390 ¶344
5 Or in.n7390 ¶345
6 Or a.n7390 ¶346
7 magia, unity.n7390 ¶347
273. And in these seven forms, the joy of the Deity is increased and perfected, for it is a satiating of the eternal desire, and it is the eternal food.n7390 ¶348
274. But seeing all essences arise from fire, therefore we will clearly set before you the Mysterium magnum, and shew you paradise; if any to whom this is told and discovered, will be blind, let him * l adventure it with Babel.n7390 ¶349
275. You know that every life consisteth in fire and water, and the essentiality is its body, and the body proceedeth from the power of the spirit; for it is the food of the spirit, and the spirit again is the food of the body, and the highest and greatestn7390 ¶350
2 nutriment is in itself; for the outward body could not sustain it, if the true life were not in itself.n7390 ¶351
276. Now then fire is the first cause of life; and light is the second cause; and the spirit the third cause; and yet there is but one essence, which closeth itself in one only body, and manifesteth itself, and so findeth by seeking.n7390 ¶352
277. And every essence 3 consisteth 4 of two essences, viz. of an inward and an outward, one seeketh and findeth the other; the outward is nature, the inward is spirit above nature; and yet there is no separation, but in that which is included in a time; there the time parteth the limit, so that the end findeth the beginning.n7390 ¶353
1 to perish.n7390 ¶354
2 Or nourishment.n7390 ¶355
3 is.n7390 ¶356
* "adventure, perish" (hinfahren), "depart."n7390 ¶357
278. Thus you see, also, how the true essentiality ariseth from the light; for it is the satiating of the will: the water ariseth from the meekness of the light, for the desire taketh hold of the meekness, and keepeth it, because it hath a good 1 relish: and so the meekness becometh essential, and it is an essence of the fire, a satiating of the desiring wrath, a quenching of the wrath, and a corporality of the fire: for when the body 2 is dead, then its spirit is in the beginning, in that which gave a beginning to it, it is in that glass.n7390 ¶358
279. Now then, as the source is twofold, so also the water is twofold, viz. an outward and an inward; the one belongeth to the spirit, the other to the outward life; the outward is, as it were, a death, and the inward is the life of the outward; for the outward standeth between wrath and paradise, in the 3 insunken death, and the inward is paradise itself, for the spirit groweth up therein out of the eternity.n7390 ¶359
280. You may very well see that this is true, as followeth: Observe the summer and winter, heat and cold, and your eyes will soon be opened, if you be born not externally only but internally, with a true magic will to find God; 4 for it is veryn7390 ¶360
5 plain.n7390 ¶361
281. For the water in the deep ariseth from the fire, not from the wrath, but from the light; for the light proceedeth from the fire, and hath a 6 seeking of its own; it seeketh a glass to behold itself in, and it seeketh a habitation, and draweth it 7 by its desire into itself, and dwelleth therein, and that which is drawn in is water, which receiveth the light; else if the light did not dwell in the water, the deep of the world could not comprehend the light: The water is the satiating of the desire of the light.n7390 ¶362
1 Or taste.n7390 ¶363
2 Or perisheth, or dieth, or corrupteth, or departeth.n7390 ¶364
3 death that is sunk down into the centre in a thing.n7390 ¶365
4 for that is done in the twinkling of an eye.n7390 ¶366
5 visible.n7390 ¶367
6 longing, sucking, drawing.n7390 ¶368
7 Or in.n7390 ¶369
282. And the water again seeketh the glass, and would have a house to dwell in, and that is flesh; as you see, the water receiveth the shadow of all bodily substances, so that the body may be seen in the water, and that is because *the seeking of the water hath captivated it.n7390 ¶370
283. Furthermore, you see herein the end of nature; for the eye fmdeth its life in the water, and so goeth back into the seventh form, and f seeth its body in the water: The outward desireth no more; this body desireth no other body more in the outward, but it looketh back after its mother, of which a 1 glass is a true example, which is water and fire, and it receiveth the image very clearly.n7390 ¶371
284. And thus you see, that the end goeth back again and seeketh the beginning, and no further 2 in the outward. For this world hath a limit, and is X included in time, and hasteneth to the limit, and there the end findeth the beginning, and this world is as a model or glass in the beginning: By this you may find somewhat of the Mystery, and § remit yourselves well into the beginning, that you may be found to be a wonder in the love of God.n7390 ¶372
1 looking-glass.n7390 ¶373
2 Or outwardly.n7390 ¶374
* "the seeking of the water hath captivated it." Both 1682 and 1730 eds. have "the seeking of the fire" (des Feuers Sucht), and Schiebler has reprinted the same. St Martin, while rendering the original literally, adds in a footnote that he considers Sparrow's substitution of "water" for "fire" correct.n7390 ¶375
f "seeth its body," lit., "seeketh its body."n7390 ¶376
X "included in time," lit., "shut up (geschlosseri) or held captive in time."n7390 ¶377
§ "remit yourselves well," etc. (schicket euch recht), "seek for," or "make right [straight] for the beginning." St Martin's rendering is, placez-vous juste.n7390 ¶378
285. And know that the second J kind of water is in the spirit: it is the glass of its father, of its maker, which dwelleth in the spirit, and is found only by its maker; itself findeth not itself: for so long as a thing goeth forward externally, there is no finding in the inward; but the spirit which dwelleth in the inward, that findeth itself in the outward.n7390 ¶379
286. Yet the outward hfe findeth not the inward, unless it hath the spirit of the inward; and then it findeth by the inward spirit, and so the outward Hfe speaketh of the inward, and knoweth it not; but the inward spirit filleth the outward, so that the outward is as it were a mouth, and the inward hath, and produceth the word, and so the inward kingdom is manifest in the outward by the sound; which is a wonder.n7390 ¶380
287. The inward is a prophet, and the outward apprehendeth it not; but if it do come to apprehend it, then it hath the essentiality of God in it, that is, the divine flesh, Christ's flesh, the flesh of the virgin; and yet the prophet is in the spirit, but that flesh receiveth its power and virtue, and assureth the outward man that he doth nothing but what his Maker will have done; and such a condition this pen is in, and no otherwise.n7390 ¶381
1 Or form.n7390 ¶382
288. And thus we know the 1 ground of this world, that it is a figure of the inward, according to both the mothers, that is, according to both the fires, viz. according to the fire of wrath, and according to the fire of light: The sun is a 2 model or glass of the light of eternity; and the outward fire is a glass of the wrath; and the essentiality of them both is water and earth: The 3 earth is the essentiality of wrath; and the 4 water, of the light; and the 5 air, of the eternal spirit, which is called God the Holy Ghost.n7390 ¶383
289. Yet you must know, that this world is not the essence of eternity, but a figure, or a glass of it; therefore it is said to be a peculiar 6 Principle, because it hath its own life, and yet consisteth only in the magic seeking of the inward.n7390 ¶384
290. The 7 Word Fiat is the 8 master of the outward; for it keepeth the outward in its conceived glass: The outward is not the glass, but it is a similitude in which its spirit doth 9 express itself, in works of wonder; that it might see the wonders of both fires, viz. of the wrath, and of the light; and so continually bringeth the end of all essences into the beginning: Therefore this world 10 turneth round; for the end continually seeketh the beginning; and when it findeth wonders, then the end giveth the wonders to the beginning; and this is the cause of the creation of this world.n7390 ¶385
291. The life of every creature was a wonder before the beginning; for the abyss knew nothing of it: and the beginning of the eye findeth all, and setteth the model in itself; so that it hath an eternal number, and recreateth itself in the number of the wonders.n7390 ¶386
1 foundation.n7390 ¶387
2 Or idea, or instance.n7390 ¶388
3 resembleth the Father.n7390 ¶389
4 the Son.n7390 ¶390
5 the Holy Ghost.n7390 ¶391
6 Or third Principle.n7390 ¶392
8 Or maker, or ruler, or orderer, as an artificer.n7390 ¶393
9 Or contriveth, formeth, appeareth.n7390 ¶394
10 Or is like a wheel, sphere, globe, or orb, that turneth round.n7390 ¶395
The Eighth Form of Fire.n7390 ¶396
292. Seeing then there is one essence in two forms, the one of which taketh ann7390 ¶397
1 unsearchable beginning into itself, and keepeth it eternally; and the other of them is the model of the eternal, * 2 framed, and the body of it included in a limit: therefore the turba must be considered, which destroyeth the included, framed life again, and setteth the model of the framed wonders in the beginning again, and presenteth such a thing to the beginning as was not from eternity, but only in the 3 framed time.n7390 ¶398
293. My beloved Friend, such things as these are shewn to you, and such as you are, who seek the beginning: for your mind is our Mystery; you should seek it in Us, not in me; I (the outward man) have it not; but the inward, in the virgin (wherein God dwelleth) hath it, which 4 speaketh of itself in the plural number.n7390 ¶399
1 abyssal, bottomless.n7390 ¶400
2 Or contrived, conceived, or formed.n7390 ¶401
3 comprised.n7390 ¶402
4 Or calleth itself twofold.n7390 ¶403
* "framed" (gefasset), "compacted."n7390 ¶404
294. My outward man is not worthy of the Mystery; but * God hath so prepared it, that he might reveal himself to you by that means, that you should know him by some other means, and not say, it is from my own wit and understanding.n7390 ¶405
295. Because you are a very learned person, therefore you shall know that God also loveth the simple, and such as are contemned of the world, if they seek God as I have done; and you shall know also, that the true invention consisteth not in art, but in the spirit and will of God.n7390 ¶406
296. For this hand is simple and accounted foolish in the eye of the world, as you know; and yet there lieth such a 1 secret therein, as is incomprehensible to reason.n7390 ¶407
297. Therefore have a care, and pour oil into the wounds that require healing; and consider what Christ saith: 2 How hard it is for that man to enter into the kingdom of God, who is entangled with 3 worldly cares, having great power and honour.n7390 ¶408
298. You shall not find this plant in the highness and exaltation of the world; for 4 you cannot, you are a Mystery to them: the spirit itself seeketh the beginning: look to it, 5 play not the hypocrite (for the beginning is paradisical), that the impure enter not into the pure, and at last the serpent beguile Eve again.n7390 ¶409
1 arcanum, or a hidden treasure.n7390 ¶410
2 Mark x. 23-25.n7390 ¶411
3 Or cares for the belly.n7390 ¶412
4 you have no power with them.n7390 ¶413
5 flatter none.n7390 ¶414
* "God hath so prepared it," etc. Lit., "God hath ordained [disposed] things so as to reveal Himself to you through means (Mittel), that you, through means [or an instrument] should know Him and not say that the wit [ability] is mine." Mittel is rendered "intermede" by St Martin.n7390 ¶415
299. Let no 1 dissimulation be in you, but 2 plain dealing, yea and no: and fear not, for that which is eternal will continue; and the distemper is nothing else but the turba, which as a destroyer always insinuateth itself; beware of that (for the old serpent is subtle) and have a care, that you may be pure both in the beginning and in the end.n7390 ¶416
300. For this work endureth no dissembling, it hath a clear ground; also it belongeth not to the turba, but to the beginning of the 3 glory: therefore, beware of those that are born with a wolfish disposition, whose spirit is a subtle serpent: we speak freely to you.n7390 ¶417
301. Everything that hath a beginning is sought by the beginning; for the beginning seeketh through the deep, and would find the 4 ground: and if the beginning findeth the ground, and that there is a limit in a thing, then the beginning proceedeth to the limit, and leaveth the 5 first, and seeketh further till it findeth the abyss; and then it must remain in itself, and it can go no further, for there is nothing beyond.n7390 ¶418
302. But if the beginning leaveth the first, then it is under the power of the turba, which destroyeth it, and maketh it to be as it was in the beginning.n7390 ¶419
303. Then when the thing is destroyed, the turba is naked without a body, and yet seeketh itself, and findeth itself, but without 6 essence: and then it entereth into itself, and seeketh itself till it cometh into the abyss, and then the first eye is found, whence it proceeded.n7390 ¶420
1 fair gloss, or soothing.n7390 ¶421
2 speak roundly, or sincerely with your mouth, with yea and nay.n7390 ¶422
3 Or clarity.n7390 ¶423
4 Or bottom.n7390 ¶424
5 Or former.n7390 ¶425
304. But seeing it is naked, and without essence, therefore it belongeth to the fire, for it putteth itself into it; and in the fire is a desire to seek its own body again, and so the ifire of the beginning is awakened.n7390 ¶426
305. And herein we know the Last Judgment in the fire, and the resurrection of the flesh; for the turba desireth the body which it had before, though destroyed in the limit, and the desire of the soul was the life of the body.n7390 ¶427
306. But seeing there are two fires, therefore the turba is known in a twofoldn7390 ¶428
2 manner; in an incorruptible, and in a corruptible body, viz. the one in the fire of wrath, and the other in the fire of light, 3 wherein we understand the divine body; and in the wrathful fire the earthly body, which the turba destroyeth, for the turba findeth the limit of it.n7390 ¶429
307. Now the eternal fire in the eye of God is 4 both the fire of wrath, and also the light -fire of love: and you must understand, that the spirit without a body must remain in the wrathful fire, for it hath lost its 5 essentiality; the turba in the fire hath swallowed it up.n7390 ¶430
308. But the spirit which hath a body, which the turba could not devour, remaineth for ever in the essentiality, in the divine body, wherein his spirit is, which is the body in the love of God, which is the hidden man, in the old Adamical man, which hath Christ's flesh in the corruptible body.n7390 ¶431
1 Or original fire.n7390 ¶432
3 Viz. in the light-fire.n7390 ¶433
5 Or substantiality, or body.n7390 ¶434
309. And thus we understand the soul to be a life awakened out of the eye of God, its original is in the fire, and the fire is its life; but if it go not forth out of the fire with its will and imagination into the light (viz. through the wrathful death into the second Principle, into the fire of love), then it remaineth in its own original fire, and hath nothing for a body but the turba, viz. the l harsh wrath in the desire in the fire, a consuming, and a hunger, and yet * an eternal seeking, which is an eternal anguish.n7390 ¶435
310. But the soul, which with its desiring will entereth into itself, and sinketh down in its reason (viz. in its desire) and seeketh not itself, but the love of God, its own fire is as it were dead; for its will which the fire awakened is dead to the firelife, and is gone forth out of itself into the fire of love, that soul is fully in the fire of love: it hath also the body of the fire of love, for it is entered into it, and is a great wonder in the divine body, and it is no more in itself, for it hath mortified its will: and therefore the turba also is as it were dead, and the will of love doth wholly satiate the original fire, and therein it liveth eternally.n7390 ¶436
1 astringent.n7390 ¶437
* "an eternal seeking" (Sucht), or craving. See $ , par. 5.n7390 ¶438
311. But the souls which have awakened the turba, they have lost the image; for the turba hath devoured it: and therefore such souls get bestial images in the wrath, and in hell, according as the turba is in them; as Lucifer gat the image of a serpent: as the will was figured here in this life, it remaineth then l naked as it is.n7390 ¶439
312. For the wrathful turba always seeketh the image, but findeth it not, and therefore it figureth the image according to the will; for the earthly desires stick in the will: and that image remaineth in the wonders of God, in the eye of the wrathfuln7390 ¶440
313. And here we understand that the Eighth Form is the turba, which seeketh the image; and if it find the limit of it, it destroyeth it, and entereth into the limit, and seeketh further in itself, and findeth at last the abominations of that which the soul hath wrought in this life.n7390 ¶441
314. And also we understand here the fire (which at last shall purge the 2 floor) and the severe Judgment; and we understand that every fire shall receive its essence from the turba; and also what that turba is.n7390 ¶442
315. Where then the fire will devour the earth, and draw the elements with the wonders in them into the beginning; where that which was at first will be again, and the elements become one; and everything will represent its own wonders, everything in that fire whereinto its will entered.n7390 ¶443
1 Or apparent, in its true similitude.n7390 ¶444
2 Or threshing floor. Matt. iii. 12.n7390 ¶445
316. Hearken to this, you children of men, it concerneth you; for no beast proceedeth from the eternal beginning, but from the model of the eternal; and its spirit attaineth not the eternal, as the soul of man doth.n7390 ¶446
317. Also the corruptible body cannot possess the eternal; it belongeth to the turba: But the new man, born of God, shall possess the eternal; for he is departed from the corruptible, and hath put on God in Christ; he hath the divine body in the old body.n7390 ¶447
318. The turba taketh away the earthly source; the outward body from the earth remaineth in the earth; but the will taketh *its works along with itself, for they are in the new body, and follow it; therefore let a man consider what he doth whilst he is here in this life.n7390 ¶448
The Ninth Form of Fire, the great 1 Earnestness.n7390 ¶449
319. Seeing then we understand that all things proceeded from the beginning, and that one thing thus proceedeth always out of another; and seeing we understand that the fire is a cause of the life, and that the life divideth itself into two parts, and yet doth not corrupt; only the outward life is that which corrupteth; it falleth into the turba, which destroyeth it: we are now, therefore, to consider wherein the inward eternal life consisteth, and what upholdeth it, that the body 2 fadeth not, seeing essentiality hath a beginning; and yet we can say with good ground, that it hath no end; for it must have a 3 ground, or else the turba will have it, and that findeth the limit.n7390 ¶450
1 Severity.n7390 ¶451
2 corrupteth, or breaketh not.n7390 ¶452
3 Or sure foundation to uphold it.n7390 ¶453
* "its works" (seine Wesen) or "its essences."n7390 ¶454
320. The eternal body must not have a limit, but be free in the abyss, in the eternal nothing; or else another essence would again be in that essence, * which would divide it, and make a limit.n7390 ¶455
321. We have told you before, that all which shall endure for ever must pass quite through the fire, for the turba taketh that which remaineth in the fire; now no spirit is created x for the fire, that it should remain in it.n7390 ¶456
322. Only the turba hath captivated many of them, but not from the will of God, for God's will is only love; but the turba is the will of his wrath, which by its vehement hunger hath gotten a great dominion, wherein it hath manifested its wonders, viz. the devils and wicked souls of men.n7390 ¶457
323. But the eternal life consisteth in meekness, and hath no death or turba in it;n7390 ¶458
therefore we must say, that the soul and spirit are not in the turba, especially the 2 body of the soul; if it were, the turba would destroy it.n7390 ¶459
324. This is only to be understood, as it is mentioned before, that the will in the anguish source, in the fire (understand the will of the soul), sinketh down in itself as into death, and 3 should not live in the fire, and so 4 it falleth into another world, viz. into the beginning, or (as we may better say) into the free eternity, into the eternal nothing, wherein is no source, nor anything that 5 giveth or receiveth a source.n7390 ¶460
iin.n7390 ¶461
2 Or image.n7390 ¶462
3 may not.n7390 ¶463
4 the will.n7390 ¶464
5 Or maketh.n7390 ¶465
* "which would divide it, and make a limit," or "which would make for division and limitation."n7390 ¶466
325. Now there is no dying in the will that is thus sunk down, for it is gone quite out from the fiery beginning, in the eye, and so bringeth its life into another Principle, and dwelleth in the hberty; and yet it hath all the forms of the essences which arise from the fire in it, but 1 unperceived; for it is gone quite out from the fire.n7390 ¶467
326. And therefore the hfe of its essences is in the hberty; and it is also desiring, and receiveth in the desire, in its essences, the power of the hght which shineth in the hberty, which is power without turba: for this fire is only love, which consumeth not, but yet always desireth and satiateth, so that the wiU of the soul 2 putteth on a body.n7390 ¶468
327. For the will is a spirit, and the soul is the great life of the spirit, which upholdeth the spirit, and so the soul is 3 clothed with power, and dwelleth in two Principles, as God himself doth, and as to the outward life in three Principles, and is the similitude of God.n7390 ¶469
328. The inward water in the spirit of the soul, is the water of eternal life, of which Christ said, He that drinketh the water that I will give him, he shall never thirst 4 : this is that water.n7390 ¶470
329. And the essentiality of the spirit which the soul putteth on is God's or Christ's body, of which he saith, He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, he is in me, and I in him 5n7390 ¶471
1 imperceptible.n7390 ¶472
2 getteth, or attracteth.n7390 ¶473
3 endued.n7390 ¶474
4 John iv. 14.n7390 ¶475
5 Or dwelleth. John vi. 56.n7390 ¶476
330. But the true life in the light of the Majesty, in the Ninth Number, is the tincture of the * virgin; it is a fire, and yet not a fire; it burneth, but it consumeth not; it is the love, the meekness, the humility; it is the life of God, and of the holy souls, an incorruptible life, and an 2 unsearchable life; for it is in the abyss in itself; it is in the centre of it; which centre is its first life, and yet doth not comprehend it, as the fire doth not comprehend the light.n7390 ¶477
331. And thus the Ninth Number is the life in the fire of God, and it 3 is the life which standeth before the Ternary, viz. an angel standing before the cross, 4 for God's works of wonder, and 4 the heavenly glory.n7390 ¶478
The 5 Tenth Number and Form of Fire. The Gate 6 in Ternarium Sanctum.n7390 ¶479
332. You know from reason, that where there is a root, * there is a desiring will, which is the noble tincture that driveth upwards, out of itself, and seeketh a similitude of its form.n7390 ¶480
333. The tincture is a virgin, and is known in the wisdom of God in the wonders: it is 7 no genetrix, but an opener of the wonders which are in the wisdom; it seeketh no glass, but merely openeth the essences, that a whole similitude may bring forth itself out of the essences; it driveth the twig out of the tree.n7390 ¶481
1 Or wisdom of God.n7390 ¶482
2 Or infinite, unfathomable.n7390 ¶483
3 Or is called, or accounted the life in the presence of the Trinity.n7390 ¶484
4 Or to set forth.n7390 ¶485
6 into the Holy Ternary.n7390 ¶486
7 not one that is a bearer or bringer forth.n7390 ¶487
* "there is a desiring will," lit., "there is a desiring will within it."n7390 ¶488
334. This we understand of angels and the soul: they proceed from Gods essences, from the whole tree; the angels from two Principles; and the soul with the body of the outward life from three Principles, and therefore man is higher than the angels, if he continueth in God.n7390 ¶489
335. And in the l Tenth Number upon the cross, the angels and souls aren7390 ¶490
2 awakened, and incorporated into the heavenly essentiahty; * though you must understand, that the Tenth Number belongeth to the place between the fifth and sixth 3 , as in a globe, and the Heart is in the midst in the centre; which is the Heart of God, viz. the Word of God.n7390 ¶491
336. The power in the whole tree (viz. the pith in the wood) hath the essences of the whole tree; and thus God is a spirit, and the Word is his Heart, which hen7390 ¶492
4 soundeth forth from all powers and wonders: Therefore Isaiah calleth it an7390 ¶493
5 Wonder, Counsellor, and Power, the Prince of Peace, as a pacifier of the wrath, and an eternal power of the wonders; a Counsellor of the genetrix.n7390 ¶494
337. For the Word upholdeth the centre of nature, and is the Heart and Lord of nature; it is f the genetrix in the eye of God, a giver of power, and it is the strength of the omnipotence; it holdeth the centre of the fire captive with the love-fire; so that the fire must be dark in itself, and the Word only hath the light-life.n7390 ¶495
2 Or first quickened, or enlivened.n7390 ¶496
4 speaketh out of all, etc.n7390 ¶497
* "though you must understand," etc. Lit., "though the tenth number belongeth between the fifth and the sixth, but in a globe [sphere] as it were."n7390 ¶498
f "the genetrix," lit., "the begetter."n7390 ¶499
338. We cannot find but that the Tenth Number is a cross; and it is the original of the Essence of all essences, which essence divideth itself into three beginnings, as is mentioned before; each of which hath its essence, and they are all in one another, and have no more but one spirit.n7390 ¶500
339. And in the middle of the point is the centre, which is the cause of the life, and in the centre is the light of the Majesty, out of which the life proceedeth, viz. the second Principle; and out of it the Tree of the Eternal Life always grew from eternity, and the twigs grow out of the tree.n7390 ¶501
340. These twigs are the spirits of angels, which indeed were not corporeal from eternity; but the essences were in the tree, and their image appeared in the virgin of wisdom from eternity; for they were a figure from eternity in the tincture, not corporeal, but only essential without corporality.n7390 ¶502
341. And therefore this is the greatest wonder that the eternity hath wrought; that it hath 1 made the eternal a corporeal spirit; which thing no reason can comprehend, nor any sense find out, and it is 2 unfathomable to us.n7390 ¶503
342. For no spirit can sound itself: It seeth well its deep, even into the abyss, but it comprehendeth not its 3 maker; it beholdeth him indeed, and diveth into him, even to the abyss; but it knoweth not its 4 making, this is only hidden to it, and nothing else.n7390 ¶504
1 Or created, or formed.n7390 ¶505
2 Or not to be dived into by us.n7390 ¶506
3 former, or moulder.n7390 ¶507
4 forming, or fashioning.n7390 ¶508
343. For a child knoweth its father and mother well, but it knoweth not how its father made it; it is also as 1 highly graduated as its father; but it is hidden to it, how it was in the seed: and though it soundeth that, yet it knoweth not the time and place; for it was in the seed, in the wonders, and in the life a spirit in the wonders:n7390 ¶509
And here we are commanded to leave off diving any further, and to be silent.n7390 ¶510
344. For we are a creature, and should speak but so far as belongeth to a creature to know, in the inward and outward, in body and soul, in God, angels, men, and devils; also in beasts, fowls, worms, in plants and grass, in heaven and hell; all this we are able to sound, but not our own making.n7390 ¶511
345. * And yet we know and find the first Fiat in 2 that; though indeed we know not that which first moved God to create: we know well the making of the soul, but how that which 3 was in its essence from eternity is become movable, we know no ground of that, for it hath nothing that could f awaken that; and it hath an eternal will, which is without beginning, and unchangeable.n7390 ¶512
1 That is, as perfectly a man. Quoad genus humanum.n7390 ¶513
2 Viz. our own making.n7390 ¶514
3 Or stood.n7390 ¶515
* "And yet we know and find," etc. Lit., "and though we knew the Fiat and knew how we have been made, yet we should not [or do not] know the first motion of God towards creation." The present tense is used in the original, but a condition is implied by the construction of the sentence, and the conditional mood should be used in English. St Martin's rendering is also in the conditional form.n7390 ¶516
f "awaken" (erregen), "to excite," or "set in motion."n7390 ¶517
346. But if we should say, The angels and souls have been from eternity in the spirit: the propagation of the soul will not permit that, as we see by experience: Therefore *this is only God's Mystery; and the creature should continue in humility and obedience under God, and not soar higher, f for it is not God.n7390 ¶518
347. God is a spirit from eternity without ground and beginning; but the spirit of the soul and of angels hath a beginning, and are in God's hand: the Ternary hath the l casting shovel, which will purge the 2 floor.n7390 ¶519
348. We must only have patience and humility in obedience, here in this life, or else our proceeding from God availeth nothing; the devil was indeed an angel, but his pride threw him into darkness: Let none climb 3 above the cross, or if he do, he will fall into hell to the devil.n7390 ¶520
349. God will have children near him, and not 4 lords; he is Lord, and none else: We have received of his fulness, we are born out of his essences, we are his true children, not step-children out of a strange glass; also not a similitude only, but children; the body is a similitude, and the spirit is a similitude of God's spirit, but the 5 true soul is a child born out of God.n7390 ¶521
1 Or fan.n7390 ¶522
2 Or threshing floor.n7390 ¶523
3 We should not go beyond obedience, patience, humility and chastity, and live according to our own self-will, and desire.n7390 ¶524
4 such as wdl domineer.n7390 ¶525
5 Or right.n7390 ¶526
* "this is only God's Mystery," lit., "this is the Mystery of God alone." f "for it is not God," lit., "for it is not equal with God" (Gott gleich).n7390 ¶527
350. God's spirit witnesseth to our spirits, that we are the children of God, 1 not in that manner which Babel * 2 teacheth, who would so willingly be God upon earth; but our souls are children begotten of God's seed; our heavenly body, which the heavenly soul 3 weareth, cometh out of the divine body, and is hidden from the devil, and the old Adam.n7390 ¶528
351. Therefore, my beloved Brother in the divine body, know this clearly; and it is our Answer to your first Question, Whence the soul proceedeth. It proceedeth from God, out of eternity, without ground and number, and endureth in its own eternity; [352.] but the beginning to the moving of the creature, which is done in God, that should be mentioned no further.n7390 ¶529
353. Only we give you to understand this, that the Ternary longed to have children like itself out of itself, and so hath manifested itself in angels, and in the soul of Adam, and is become an image; like a tree which bringeth forth fruit, and beareth a twig out of itself; for that is the right manner of eternity, and no other.n7390 ¶530
354. fit is no strange glass; but indeed one glass out of the other, and one essence out of the other, and all seek the beginning; and it is all a wonder.n7390 ¶531
355. This is the entrance; and now we will answer the rest of the Questions; but briefly, for you see already in this description all your 4 Questions. But for your longing's sake, and to satisfy the simple, who have not our knowledge, we will go through with them.n7390 ¶532
1 Rom. viii. 16.n7390 ¶533
2 imagineth, or dreameth.n7390 ¶534
3 Or is clothed withal.n7390 ¶535
4 answered.n7390 ¶536
* "teacheth" (rumpelt), "rattles on." The word "rumpeln" applies to the noisy, confusing shaking of a clumsy vehicle. It also means to mix up everything in disorder.n7390 ¶537
f "It is no strange glass," lit., "There is nothing that is strange [alien], but only one glass," etc.n7390 ¶538
THE SECOND QUESTION What are the Essences, Substance, Nature, and Property of the Soul?n7390 ¶539
1. THE essences of the soul come out of the centre of nature, out of the fire, with all forms of nature: All the three Principles lie in the soul: All that God hath, and can do, and that God is in his 1 Ternary, that the soul is in its essences, as the virtue of a tree is in the twig that groweth out of it.n7390 ¶540
2. The substance of the soul is heavenly, created out of the heavenly divine essentiality; yet the will of it is free, either to demerse itself and esteem itself nothing, and so to eat of the love of God, as a twig feedeth upon a tree; or to rise up in its fire and be a tree of itself; and of which soever it eateth, of that it getteth 2 essentiality, viz. 3 a creaturely body.n7390 ¶541
3. The nature of the soul is the 4 centre itself, having seven spirits to propagate itself with; it is * a whole substance come out of all substances, and a similitude of the 5 Ternary, if it dwell in God; if not, then it is a similitude of Lucifer and all devils, as its property is.n7390 ¶542
1 Or Trinity.n7390 ¶543
3 Or the body of a creature.n7390 ¶544
4 the same with the centre of nature in the whole nature.n7390 ¶545
5 Number Three or Trinity.n7390 ¶546
* "a whole substance," or "a complete [perfect] substance."n7390 ¶547
4. The property of the first soul was created according to both mothers, and thereupon came the 1 temptation; and therefore it was commanded not to eat of good and evil, but of heavenly paradisical fruit, having the will and property of it obedient to God.n7390 ¶548
5. But all properties lie in it, it may awaken and let in what it will; and whatsoever it awakeneth and letteth in, is pleasing to God, if its will be in the love of God, in humility and obedience; and then it may do what 2 miracles it will, for then they all make for the glory of God.n7390 ¶549
1 proba, or trial.n7390 ¶550
* "thereupon came the temptation," etc., lit., "thereupon came the temptation, and the command not to allow itself to be seduced into eating of good and evil, but only of heavenly and paradisical fruit, and it [the soul] should have directed [inclined] its will and property in God." St Martin's rendering of the last words is good, Elle aurait du par set volonte et set propriete se gouverner en Dieu.n7390 ¶551
THE THIRD QUESTION How is the Soul created the Image of God?n7390 ¶552
1. THIS hath been satisfied already. The l Ternary, and all the three Principles, did long to have a whole similitude in essence and property, of the Essence of all essences.n7390 ¶553
2. And this longing was awakened in the Heart of God as a great wonder.n7390 ¶554
3. And the awakening was thus: The 2 astringent Fiat (viz. the desiring attraction) * contracted all into one; and this was an image of the similitude of God, of Heaven, of this world, and of the world of anger: The whole Fiat 3 in the Word of the Lord created all things out of the kingdom of God, and out of the kingdom of anger.n7390 ¶555
4. And as there is nothing higher than the soul, so there is nothing that can destroy it, for it hath all things under it, and in it; it is a child 4 of the whole Essence of all essences. Thus it was created.n7390 ¶556
1 Trinity, or Number Three.n7390 ¶557
2 harsh.n7390 ¶558
3 in Verbo Domini.n7390 ¶559
4 of the eternal essences that proceeded from God; or the divine powers of the Deity.n7390 ¶560
* "contracted all into one" (aus Allen in Eins gezogeri), lit., "contracted from" or "out of all into one."n7390 ¶561
THE FOURTH QUESTION What was the Breathing in of the Soul, and when?n7390 ¶562
1. EVERY spirit without a body, is 1 empty, and knoweth not itself, and therefore every spirit desireth a body for its food and *for its habitation.n7390 ¶563
2. And God having created the third Principle (which is a glass of the Deity) before the soul was created; and so that glass clave already to the 2 eternal, for it was born out of the eternal wonders, and so was created; and therefore the third Principle would not leave the soul free, seeing it also was created out of the wonders of God, and stood in the beginning as a figure in the wisdom of God, and desiredn7390 ¶564
(f being itself was material) to have a material similitude in the soul; and therefore (in the creation of the soul) it stirred up its own spirit also together in the Fiat.n7390 ¶565
1 crude, raw, void, naked, or feeble.n7390 ¶566
2 glass.n7390 ¶567
* "for its habitation" (zu einer Wonne), "for its joy." In the course of his translation of Bohme's writings, Sparrow has rendered the word "Wonne," "joy," so repeatedly in the same way, "habitation," that one must suppose he had some strong reason for doing so.n7390 ¶568
f "being itself was material," or, "because it was itself material."n7390 ¶569
3. * Hence the outward image, according to the spirit of this world, with the outward Fiat, was 1 conceived, and a body was created out of the 2 matrix of the earth, a 3 mass of red earth consisting of fire and water.n7390 ¶570
4. And the heavenly matrix also longed after the soul, and would that the soul should bear its image, and took its own Fiat, in the creation of the body, and did create therewith before the earthly Fiat did create: it was first; for out of the Centre of the Word, the Fiat went out 4 with the Word: and thus the third Principle was created in the second.n7390 ¶571
5. The virgin of the wisdom did encompass the spirit of the soul, first with heavenly essentiality, with heavenly divine flesh, and the Holy Ghost gave it the heavenly tincture, which maketh heavenly blood in the water, as is mentioned at large in our third book.n7390 ¶572
6. And thus the inward man was in heaven, and his essences were paradisical: his 5 glance in the inward eye was Majesty, an incorruptible body, which could speak the language of God, and of angels, and the language of nature; as we see in 6 Adam, that he could give names to all the creatures, to every one according to its essence and property; he was also in the outward image, and yet knew not the outward image, as indeed the body hath no apprehension.n7390 ¶573
1 contrived, or formed.n7390 ¶574
2 Or quitessence of the inward ground.n7390 ¶575
3 Mesch, a mixture.n7390 ¶576
4 Or by.n7390 ¶577
5 light, or lustre.n7390 ¶578
6 Gen. ii. 19, 20.n7390 ¶579
* "Hence the outward," etc., lit., "Hence the outward image according to the spirit of this world was seized (ergriffen) by the outward Fiat."n7390 ¶580
7. And in this twofold body which was created on the sixth day, in the sixth hour of the day, 1 in the same hour in which Christ was hanged on the Cross, after the body was finished, the 2 royal soul was breathed in from within, by the Holy Ghost into the heart, in the holy man, into its Principle, like an awakening of the Deity.n7390 ¶581
8. The 3 Ternary moved itself with the creation, and breathing-in of the soul, for it was in the centre of the seed, as a bud 4 growing from the essences, and thus it was breathed into the inward centre, into the inward man, into the heavenly heartblood, into the water of the eternal life, with both the inward Principles.n7390 ¶582
9. And the outward spirit (viz. the air), and the whole outward Principle, with the stars and elements, did cleave to the inward, and the outward spirit breathed its life 5 in the same manner with the soul, through the nostrils into the heart, into the outward heart, into the 6 earthly flesh, which was not then so earthy, for it came from the matrix, from the 7 seeking, from which the earth became corporeal.n7390 ¶583
10. And thus the Holy Ghost was carried upon the chariot of the soul, upon the inward majestic will, and moved upon the water: for the water comprehended him not, and therefore he moved upon it, and in it, it is all one; and the soul burned out from the blood of the heart, as a light doth from a candle, and went through all the three Principles, as a king through his dominions.n7390 ¶584
1 Note. — The hour when Christ was hanged on the cross. Matt, xxvii. 45. Mark xv. 33.n7390 ¶585
2 Or kingly.n7390 ¶586
3 Trinity, or Number Three.n7390 ¶587
4 Or of growing essences.n7390 ¶588
5 at the same time.n7390 ¶589
6 Adam's first flesh.n7390 ¶590
7 drawing, or longing.n7390 ¶591
11. And it could rule powerfully over the outward Principle, if its will were entered again into the Heart of God, into the Word of the Lord.n7390 ¶592
12. But the l source of the wrath also insinuated itself with the breathing in, viz. with the original of the soul.n7390 ¶593
13. So that the soul could not remain God's image, unless it remained in humility and obedience, and yielded its will into Gods will (wherein it was an angel, and the child of God), or else it was * very 2 difficult for a creature 3 to rule such two Principles, as the wrathful and the outward are; the outward being also born out of the wrathful.n7390 ¶594
14. Therefore its temptation was not the mere biting of an apple, nor did it continue only for some few hours, but forty days, just so long as Christ was tempted in the wilderness, and that also by all the three Principles; and so were the children of Israel in the wilderness, while Moses was forty days in the mount, when they stood not, but made a calf.n7390 ¶595
1 Or property.n7390 ¶596
2 Or dangerous.n7390 ¶597
3 to overpower.n7390 ¶598
* "very difficult" (eitel Fdhrlichkeit), "dangerous," or "sheer risk." St Martin translates, un danger eminent.n7390 ¶599
THE FIFTH QUESTION How is the Soul peculiarly fashioned, and what is its Form?n7390 ¶600
1. WHEN a twig groweth out of a tree, the form of it is like the tree; indeed it is not the stock and the root, but yet the form of it is like the tree: so also when a mother bringeth forth a child, it is an image of her.n7390 ¶601
2. And this cannot be otherwise; for there is nothing else that can make it otherwise, unless it belongeth to the turba, which many times awakeneth a monster according to the spirit of this world, according to its * inceptive maker, as in then7390 ¶602
2 menstrua, the Fiat maketh a 3 menstruous monster in the turba.n7390 ¶603
3. So we must understand that the soul is in the form of a round globe, according to the eye of God, through which the cross goeth, and which divideth itself into two parts, viz. into two eyes, standing back to back, as we have made the figure before with two 4 rainbows, the cross going through them both, and with one point reaching upwards in the midst between the bows, which 5 resembleth a sprouting through the fire, through the anguish as through death, and yet it is no death, but an7390 ¶604
6 going forth out of itself into another source; standing thus in the midst between the two bows, as a sprout springing out of the cross.n7390 ¶605
2 Mond signifieth the earthly matrix of the elementary macrocosm, in the microcosm, wherein 1 the imagination, or longing, or lusting of a woman with child,n7390 ¶606
3 maketh a mond monstrum, a moon monster, monstrum lunare, or a lust-monster; such a child, as is deformed by the mother's wanting of her longing.n7390 ¶607
'3En7390 ¶608
5 Or signifieth.n7390 ¶609
6 an exit.n7390 ¶610
4. And the arm of the cross at the right hand, signifieth the spirit of the soul, which entereth into the Majesty of the light, and clotheth the soul (viz. the centre) with divine essentiality.n7390 ¶611
5. The arm at the left hand of the cross signifieth its original in the fire, and containeth in it the first Principle, and so belongeth to the Father, and standeth in the original eye, in the strong and eager power, as a lord and ruler over nature.n7390 ¶612
6. And the nether part of the cross representeth water, viz. humility or death; signifying that it should not domineer in the fire, and enflame itself, but should sink down in itself, and under itself, before the Majesty of God, and be as it were dead in its will, that God may live in it, and the Holy Ghost lead and govern it; so that it may not do what the turba in the fire willeth, but what the will in 1 light willeth.n7390 ¶613
7. Therefore its will should sink down into soft humility, in the presence of God, and so it goeth out from the turba of the fire, for its will is not in it; and then there can be no imagination which can bring forth such a glass, as in which it may behold itself in the fire, and find that it is a lord, and so be proud, and rule itself by its own might, as Lucifer did, and Adam in paradise.n7390 ¶614
1 Or love.n7390 ¶615
8. We mean thus: the soul in itself is a globe with a cross, and two eyes, a holy divine one, and a wrathful, helhsh one in the fire; this it should shut and 1 secretly reign therewith, through the anguish (viz. through death) in the second Principle inn7390 ¶616
9. And if love embraceth it, then the wrathful fire is as it were dead, and not perceived, but it becometh the joyful life of paradise; otherwise there would be no life nor dominion in the meekness, if the fire did not put itself into it; but the still eternity would remain without essence; for all essences arise in the fire.n7390 ¶617
10. And then thirdly, as to the whole body, with all its members, the soul is formed as followeth.n7390 ¶618
11. The soul is the stock or root, resembling the centre of the Ternary, which is like an eye, a globe, a cross, and its will (which proceedeth from the eternal will) is a spirit, * which hath the true soul in its power.n7390 ¶619
12. And this spirit openeth the essences in the fire and water, so that its whole form seemeth like a tree, having many twigs and branches, being distributed into all the branches of its tree, which must be understood as followeth.n7390 ¶620
1 Or hiddenly.n7390 ¶621
* "which hath the true soul in its power," etc. (den hat die rechte Seele in ihrer Gewalt), "which the true soul hath in its power."n7390 ¶622
13. The spirit distributeth itself into the whole body (we mean in the tincture), into all the members; they are all of them its branches: The spirit of the soul resembleth the whole man, with every member.n7390 ¶623
14. And herein it is the true image of God also, for the Holy Ghost dwelleth in the spirit of it, if it be faithful; if not, then the devil dwelleth in it: to which of these it giveth itself, either to covetousness and haughtiness, or to love and humility, to that it belongeth.n7390 ¶624
15. But if it persisteth in l wickedness, and so loseth God, then it loseth the cross, and its eye is a hellish eye; and its turba introduceth the form and 2 model of a horrible beast into the eye, and into the will and spirit.n7390 ¶625
16. Therefore Christ called the Pharisees, 3 serpents, and generation of vipers; for so the figure of their spirit in their pride and covetous will appeared to him, for they would be lords of themselves, and not the servants of God in love and humility.n7390 ¶626
17. And so the figure of Antichrist in Babel appeareth, in the presence of God, as a dragon with seven heads, which are seven spirits, upon which its hypocritical spirit rideth in the image of man in the abyss; 4 it will be accounted an angel, and yet is a monster in respect of a true child of God; it beareth the name, but its heart is that beast, Apocalypse xii. It would have God, and also the devil; therefore it is such a monster, as is hke a man, and yet hideth the devil in and under itself.n7390 ¶627
1 malice, or abominations.n7390 ¶628
2 idea, or shape, or image.n7390 ¶629
3 Matt. xii. 34; xxiii. 33.n7390 ¶630
4 Viz. that spirit.n7390 ¶631
18. O child of man, fly away, the door is open, the turba is come, it will destroy this image; if you fly not, you must go with it; there is no other l remedy or help, but to seek the true image in love, or else there remaineth nothing but tribulation and death, saith the spirit of wonders.n7390 ¶632
19. And this is now our direct answer to this question: That the soul in the first Principle, according to the original, hath the form of an eye, and yet twofold like a heart, wherein there is a cross.n7390 ¶633
20. And in the second Principle, it is a spirit, and a whole image, as the outward man is.n7390 ¶634
21. And in the third Principle, it is a glass of the whole world; all whatsoever is contained in heaven and earth, every property of every creature lieth therein; for that glass is like the firmament and stars.n7390 ¶635
22. *This is such a crown, as in which the 2 number of the end of the life of the outward man is contained, and all whatsoever prosperity and adversity can happen outwardly from the spirit of this world.n7390 ¶636
1 medicine, or counsel.n7390 ¶637
2 How long he shall live.n7390 ¶638
* "This is such a crown," etc., lit., "Such a crown it [the soul in the third Principle] is, and therein stands the number of the outward man," etc.n7390 ¶639
THE SIXTH QUESTION What is the Power and Ability of the Soul?n7390 ¶640
1. WE know, that whatsoever cometh out of the abyss, and is the ground of itself, can in itself do all things, for it l is its own essence, it maketh itself.n7390 ¶641
2. But though the soul be a twig out of this tree, yet now it is 2 become a creature, and is its 3 own; it is an image of the whole, and a child of the whole; for when a child is born, then the mother and the child are two, they are two persons; but so long as it is in the seed in the mother, so long the seed is the mother's, and the mother governeth it.n7390 ¶642
3. But when the child is born, then it hath its own life in itself, and hath then7390 ¶643
4 centre of nature in its own 5 power: it governeth not only in itself, but also without itself in whatsoever is seed.n7390 ¶644
4. Understand us aright, thus: God's spirit, and the spirit of the soul, are two persons; each is free from the other, and yet both stand in the first beginning; each hath its own will.n7390 ¶645
5. Now it is but right, that the child should be obedient to his Father, upon forfeiture of the Father's inheritance: For the Holy Ghost is the 6 maker of the soul, he created it, and therefore the spirit of the soul should be obedient to the Holy Ghost, upon loss of the inheritance of the Holy Ghost, viz. the Deity.n7390 ¶646
1 Or subsisteth from itself.n7390 ¶647
2 Or entered into the condition of a creature.n7390 ¶648
3 Or sui juris, or a thing of itself.n7390 ¶649
4 centrum naturae.n7390 ¶650
6 workmaster, or builder.n7390 ¶651
6. And though we have much to say here, yet it is very dangerous to say it, in regard of the false magia; for when the false spirit knoweth it, it practiseth witchcraft with it.n7390 ¶652
7. Yet we will speak, so that the children may understand us, and reserve the full speaking of it for them; for it is not good to write such things, not knowing who shall be the readers.n7390 ¶653
8. But to the wicked we say, that they belong to the devil, and shall have no part in our writings; we shut them out with a thick wall and strong enclosure, that they may be blind, and not know our spirit, for we will not set the serpent in 1 it; our will is gone out from them, and therefore they shall not 2 know us, though they should carry us in their hands: there is a fast seal upon it.n7390 ¶654
9. Christ said, 3 Ifye have faith as a grain of mustard-seed, then you might say to the mountain, be removed, and cast into the sea: this is no vain word without truth or effect.n7390 ¶655
The First Power of the Will of the Soul.n7390 ¶656
10. The Will ( 4 that goeth strongly forward) is faith. It frameth its own form in the spirit; it hath also such 5 power, that it can frame another image in the spirit, out of the centre of nature; it can 6 give another form to the body, according to the outward spirit; for the inward is lord of the outward, the outward must be obedient to it: It can change the outward into another image, but not permanent.n7390 ¶657
1 Viz. in our spirit.n7390 ¶658
2 Or understand us.n7390 ¶659
3 Matt. xvii. 20.n7390 ¶660
4 If it be strong. Note what faith is. The strong desire is faith.n7390 ¶661
5 Or might.n7390 ¶662
6 change the body into another shape.n7390 ¶663
11. For Adam's soul hath let in the turba of this world, so that if the turba seeth a strange child, it riseth against it instantly, and destroyeth it: It continueth only so long as the inward spirit can subdue and overpower the outward.n7390 ¶664
12. And this iform is called Necromancy, a transmutation, where the inward overpowereth the outward, for it is natural; and we understand, that when 2 we shall all be changed, that change will be made thus by the same turba, which hath the first Fiat in it.n7390 ¶665
13. For the body is sulphur, and sticketh in the tincture, and the spirit driveth forth the tincture: now if the first ground, viz. the soul, wholly consenteth to it, then the soul can make another 3 manner of image in the sulphur, but the devil readily mingleth himself therewith, for it is the wonder of the abyss, over which he is lord.n7390 ¶666
14. You must understand, that the earnest 4 will (which otherwise is called faith) can do great things with the spirit; the will can change the spirit itself into another form, as followeth.n7390 ¶667
1 kind, or manner of power.n7390 ¶668
2 1 Cor. xv. 51.n7390 ¶669
4 Note the power of the will.n7390 ¶670
The Second Power of the Will of the Soul.n7390 ¶671
15. If the spirit were an angel, the similitude of God, yet the will can make it 1 a proud stubborn devil; and also make a devil 2 an angel, if it sinketh itself into death, into humility under the cross, and casteth itself into the spirit of God, and so submitteth to his government, then it sinketh into the eternity, out of the source into the still nothing, which is yet all; and so it is in the beginning again where God created it, and the Word Fiat, which keepeth the image of God, receiveth it again.n7390 ¶672
The Third Power of the Spirit, or Will of the Soul.n7390 ¶673
16. And then also, thirdly, the spirit of the soul hath power to enter into another man, into his marrow and bones, viz. into the sulphur; and to introduce the turba into him if he be 3 false, so far as every one is not armed with the spirit of God, but is found naked in the spirit of this world, as may be seen by 4 witches.n7390 ¶674
The Fourth Power of the Will of the Soul.n7390 ¶675
17. And fourthly, it hath such power, if it be the child of God, that it can lead the turba captive, and can pour it out upon the house of the wicked, as Elias did the fire, and Moses before Pharaoh; for it can throw down mountains and break rocks.n7390 ¶676
18. This you must understand to be, so far as that thing is 5 capable of the turba, by awakening the wrath, then it is possible; but if not, and that the spirit of God be in a thing, then it cannot be, for it would pour water upon the turba of the fire, which would then be as it were dead, and its power would he in derision.n7390 ¶677
1 a wicked man.n7390 ¶678
2 a child of God. Book of the Three Principles, chap. xv. ver. 64.n7390 ¶679
3 Or wicked.n7390 ¶680
4 Or the bewitching whores, and sorcerers.n7390 ¶681
5 Or liable to the turba.n7390 ¶682
19. And therefore heaven is a middle between God and hell, viz. between love and anger, and was created out of the midst of the waters, so that the devil cannot rule with his turba, the water turneth his purpose into derision, * as the false magic and blinding enchantments are l drowned in the water.n7390 ¶683
The Fifth Power of the Will, or Spirit of the Soul.n7390 ¶684
20. And fifthly, the spirit of the soul hath such power, that it may and can seek all wonders that are in nature, viz. all arts, languages, building, planting, destruction, f knowledge: It can command the starry heaven, as Joshua, when he commanded the 2 sun, and it stood still; and Moses the sea, and it stood up; also he commanded the darkness, and it came: it can make an earthly life, as Moses made the lice and frogs, also serpents and other wonders.n7390 ¶685
21. It hath death in its power, so that it can overpower that; if it rideth in then7390 ¶686
3 chariot of the bride. It can bridle and overcome the devil, if 4 it be in God: there is nothing can be named that it cannot subdue.n7390 ¶687
1 or nullified.n7390 ¶688
2 Josh. x. 12.n7390 ¶689
3 the will of the Holy Ghost.n7390 ¶690
4 Viz. the will or spirit of the soul.n7390 ¶691
* "as the false magic," etc., lit., "as the false magic is drowned in the water with its blinding [deceptive] enchantment." (Incantation.)n7390 ¶692
f "knowledge." This word is not in the original.n7390 ¶693
22. Only understand it aright, the soul hath such a power from its original, and it would still have had ability to l send forth such a spirit out of itself, if it had not let in the great 2 turba into itself, which now giveth the stop.n7390 ¶694
23. * Unless the Holy Ghost ride upon its chariot, as it did in Moses and Elias, and in all the Prophets, also in Christ and his disciples, and always still in the 3 holy children of God; they all have this power; they can raise the dead and heal the sick, and expel all diseases; it is natural, the spirit only ruleth therewith over the turba.n7390 ¶695
24. f But it hath this for an objection, that the soul knoweth well, whether it hath made any compact with the devil, and whether he hath anything to do with it; it will not go naked, except the spirit of God drive it, and except it have him for a shield, lest the subtlety of the devil should insinuate itself.n7390 ¶696
25. It doth no 4 wonder, except the spirit of God 5 stir it up; it attributeth the power to God, and giveth him the glory; it doth as a humble child, and standeth still under the cross, and letteth the devil $go rushing away over it; but it sprouteth forth in humility and meekness, through death into eternal life, and bringeth forth much fruit in patience.n7390 ¶697
1 Or give, or afford.n7390 ¶698
2 turba magna.n7390 ¶699
3 Note, the soul must now seek this power in Jesus Christ.n7390 ¶700
4 Or miracles.n7390 ¶701
5 Or awaken.n7390 ¶702
* "Unless" (Es set dann), "If therefore."n7390 ¶703
f "But it hath this for an objection" (dieses habet zurn Gegen-Bericht) , "the counter- statement to this is," or "on the other hand."n7390 ¶704
X "go rushing away" (rauscheri), to make a rushing noise or roar, like wind, water or fire.n7390 ¶705
26. And so the devil can do nothing to it, it is as it were dead 1 to him; he may make a stir and racket with his turba in the earthly hfe, with his helpers the wicked men; but this he hath as a scorn, in the sight of God: for he is a proud spirit, and would be above the wonders of God, but humility can 2 bind him.n7390 ¶706
27. After this manner every man may escape the false 3 magician, and also the necromancer; for no power can touch him in whom God dwelleth: and as Christ in his death overcame death and the devil, so also can we in Christ, for the Word which became man dwelleth in us, and in the Word we can rule over the devil and hell; nothing can hinder us.n7390 ¶707
28. And thus we give you for an answer to this Question, that the soul in its original is greatly powerful, it can do much; but its power is only in that Principle wherein it is, for the devil cannot rule over God.n7390 ¶708
29. Its power is not given to it, as a king giveth favour and power to a man, but it consisteth in a natural right; therefore we are children of the omnipotence of God, and inherit his goods in the omnipotence.n7390 ¶709
1 Or before.n7390 ¶710
2 Or subdue.n7390 ¶711
3 Or magus.n7390 ¶712
THE SEVENTH QUESTION Whether is the Soul Corporeal, or not Corporeal?n7390 ¶713
1. THAT thing which comes from no beginning, hath also nothing: But if it be somewhat, then it seeketh its beginning in itself; for every spirit dwelleth in the deepest abyss of its 1 essence: And if it must make the essence to itself, then it can dwell in nothing that can give it anything, but in itself, in its own essence.n7390 ¶714
2. When God created the soul, then the Holy Ghost 2 clothed it with the tincture; for one part of the soul consisted in the tincture; it was 3 naked of itself, as the glowing fire is naked, and is clothed when it hath the tincture.n7390 ¶715
3. But you understand, that *the growing proceedeth from the warmth; that is the driver forth of the tincture, it driveth the twig out of its root, viz. out of its own fire, be it cold or hot fire.n7390 ¶716
2 Or encompassed.n7390 ¶717
3 without a body, raw or red.n7390 ¶718
* "the growing proceedeth," etc., or, "from the warmth proceedeth the growing, which is an impulse of the tincture, and impels the twig," etc., or else, "from the warmth proceedeth the growing, that is, an impulsion of the tincture which actuateth the twig," etc.n7390 ¶719
4. For darkness hath the cold fire so long till it attaineth the anguish, and then it kindleth itself in the heat, as you see in a herb, if it cometh into another * property.n7390 ¶720
5. And thus we give you to understand, that the tincture is the true body of the soul; for the soul is fire, and the tincture ariseth from the fire; the fire draweth it again into itself, and allayeth itself therewith, so that the wrathful source is quenched, and then the tincture subsisteth in meekness.n7390 ¶721
6. *For it hath no essence nor 2 power in itself, but the fire is its power; for water proceedeth from the meekness of the tincture.n7390 ¶722
7. For the fire is desirous; and where there is a desiring of the original, there is also a finding of the original: Thus the fire findeth the water in the tincture, and turneth it into sulphur, according to the power of all the seven spirits of nature; and this is 3 a water of hfe.n7390 ¶723
8. For the tincture springeth up in the water like a sprout, and the fire in the abyss causeth it; and so the water in the sulphur of the seven spirits is turned into the Mystery; for the great 4 secret, what God and the eternity can do, lieth therein.n7390 ¶724
2 might or ability.n7390 ¶725
3 Or the.n7390 ¶726
4 arcanum.n7390 ¶727
* "For it hath no essence nor power in itself, but the fire is its power." So translated by Sparrow in the first English edition, but in the edition of 1665 he prints "but the water is its might or power." (The editor of the 1764 reprint adopted the latter rendering.) The German editions of 1682 and 1730 read: claim sie hat kein Wesen einer Macht in sich, sondern das Feuer ist ihre Macht: sie ivird aus der Sanftmuth der Tinctur Wasser. "For it hath no substance of any power in itself, but the fire is its power, and out of the meekness of the tincture proceedeth water."n7390 ¶728
9. And thus the Mystery containeth two forms, viz. fire and water, and changeth itself according to them both, viz. according to fire into red, and according to the tincture into white: l this is a splendour or glance of the fire, by which the life may see and know itself, from whence reason and the senses arise; and the mind is in the wheel of the anguish in the fire, out of which the essences exist.n7390 ¶729
10. And so we see what the blood is, viz. 2 a house of the soul, but the tincture is its body.n7390 ¶730
11. The true soul hath no comprehensible body, which may be called soul; but the body groweth in the tincture, in the sulphur out of sulphur; that is, each spirit of the seven spirits of nature desireth essentiality , and that concrete essentiality is sulphur.n7390 ¶731
12. For sul is the virtue of the light, and phur is the virtue of the four forms of the original of nature; as is mentioned at large in the third book.n7390 ¶732
13. And thus the phur desireth flesh, that is, 3 a mass of fire and water, and it is conceived and born in the tincture.n7390 ¶733
14. And the tincture is the sprouting of the body, and the fire is an original of the spirit, through the tincture; for the spirit of the soul taketh its original in the tincture, which then figureth the true image according to the image of God, that is, according to all the three Principles: For in the fire, the soul is no similitude of God; but in the spirit, it is the image of God.n7390 ¶734
1 this white.n7390 ¶735
2 Or a habitation.n7390 ¶736
3 Mesch, mixture, or concretion.n7390 ¶737
15. For the first soul was incorporated with the divine essentiality together in the tincture, so that it had the divine body in the virgin of wisdom, in which the tincture standeth, which is the angelical image.n7390 ¶738
16. And so we answer you, that as to the soul only, besides the spirit, it is a globe of fire, with a fire-eye, and a light-eye, which turn back to back, one within another, as the wheel in Ezekiel, that could go on all sides; though Babel hath contrived another meaning about it, but a blind one without spirit.n7390 ¶739
17. But as to its tincture proceeding from the light, which existeth out of the fire and light, l it is a spirit, in which the original of the soul, and of the spirit, cannot part asunder in eternity: It is an eternal band, and when the blood is 2 gone, and the body dieth, then that band remaineth in eternity.n7390 ¶740
18. As to the soul only, the body belongeth not to the essence of the soul, they are two several essences; for the body is the glass and the dwelling house of the soul, also its 3 proper portion; and it is also a cause, that the 4 mere soul altereth the spirit according to the lust of the body, or of the spirit of this world.n7390 ¶741
19. Whereby the image in the spirit is altered, altogether according to what is contained in the will, which the soul hath 5 brought out of the centre of fire, also out of the wrath into the light, and all according to the imagination.n7390 ¶742
2 run out.n7390 ¶743
3 inheritance, or possession.n7390 ¶744
4 Or poor.n7390 ¶745
5 Or created, or formed.n7390 ¶746
20. And we give you to understand, that the spirit, 1 while it stays here in the body, can alter itself; which is done without its knowledge by the imagination, viz. by the desire of 2 lust, so that the desiring figureth such a form in the will of the soul, as the lust is, either to evil or good.n7390 ¶747
21. And we further say, that the mere soul is not corporeal, but in its tincture a body groweth, whether it be a heavenly or a hellish body; and yet it is not a body which can be comprehended outwardly, but a virtual body, the divine body, Christ's heavenly body, the heavenly flesh, which he giveth us to eat in his 3 Testament.n7390 ¶748
22. It is such a body as the turba cannot touch or apprehend, it is immortal and incorruptible, comprised in nothing, but only in the noble tincture, which is without 4 essence, or materiality; and this body is incomprehensible to the outward flesh.n7390 ¶749
23. But the outward spirit (if the soul doth not hinder it, but letteth it in) bringeth its imagination into it, and spoileth it, so that another strange image cometh to be in the spirit, in the tincture, according to the contents of the lust: as the covetous cometh to be a wolf, the envious a dog, the proud a horse, peacock, or other beast; also toads, adders, serpents, and other worms and creeping things: Now God's spirit receiveth not their images, so long as they continue such.n7390 ¶750
1 Or in this time of the body.n7390 ¶751
2 Lust-sucht.n7390 ¶752
3 The Lord's Supper.n7390 ¶753
24. And therefore Christ said, You must be bom anew of water and of the spirit, if you would see the kingdom of God: and therefore God became man, and brought the divine image again into the tincture of the soul, when it was spoiled in Adam; so that now we must be born anew in Christ, if we will see God.n7390 ¶754
25. And this is done by the imagination, or faith, for faith is an eating of the divine body; and every body groweth by eating.n7390 ¶755
26. And the new birth is not at all after such a manner as Babel teacheth, *her matters are only as it were a glass of the true way to God; but that glass must be broken, for Moses' veil is gone; we shall see henceforward with clear paradisical eyes; we mean the children of God.n7390 ¶756
* "her matters" (ihr Ding), "her business," or "her work."n7390 ¶757