Whether is such a new Soul without Sin? We understand here, the propagated Soul in a Child newly born.n7393 ¶1
1. MY beloved Friend, this is a very 1 deep Question, yet you shall be answered; for the time of the manifestation is born, the day breaketh, the night is past; therefore eternal praise and thanks be given to God, that hath again begotten us to light, and to an inheritance that never fadeth away, and hath received us for his beloved children.n7393 ¶2
2. My beloved Friend, you know well the heavy fall of Adam, as we have shewn you copiously in all our writings, viz. that the soul hath turned itself away with the right eye from God into the spirit of this world, and is become disobedient to God, and hath wholly depraved its noble image, and changed it into a monstrous image, and hath let in the spirit of this world; whereas it should have powerfully ruled over it with the will, and not have let the soul eat of evil and good at all.n7393 ¶3
3. But now it hath plainly transgressed God's 2 command, and hath put its imagination into the earthly spirit, where the turba, which brought the earthly monster into its noble image, instantly took it captive, and so the turba instantly sought, and found the limit, in which the image perished; and if the Word had not 3 mediated, or interposed itself, it would have continued so for ever.n7393 ¶4
1 sublime, acute, or subtle.n7393 ¶5
2 pleasuren7393 ¶6
3 set itself in the midst.n7393 ¶7
4. And so, now the turba is once seated in the earthly abyss, and hath captivated both body and soul, it always driveth the body to the limit, and there destroyeth it, and casteth it away, and then the poor soul remaineth 1 naked without a body.n7393 ¶8
5. And except it turneth with its right eye again into the Word, and acquireth again a body born out of God, it is but naked, and hath the turba in it, which stirreth up the fire in its great anguish; for 2 it is an eager hunger, a seeker, and a finder.n7393 ¶9
6. Now it is thoroughly known to us, that our soul is fast bound to the spirit of this world, for the turba holdeth us captive in the wrath of the anger of God.n7393 ¶10
7. And although our soul goeth forth, and becometh new-born in God, yet 3 it possesseth the outward body still, and consumeth it, for *it pierceth through it even to the abyss, and there it findeth that it is only a glass of the eternal; and then it goeth forth from the glass into the eternal, and lets the body lie in the nothing.n7393 ¶11
1 raw.n7393 ¶12
2 Viz. the turba.n7393 ¶13
3 the turba,n7393 ¶14
* "it pierceth through" (durchsucht), or "it searcheth through."n7393 ¶15
8. Also you know well, that the soul, with the body in the seed, is half earthly; for it is Sulphur, that is, 1 Phur and 2 Sul 3 together, and the turba is in it, which hath ability enough to destroy the seed.n7393 ¶16
9. How then can a soul be born pure? It cannot be; it bringeth the turba with it into the world, and is sinful in the mother's 4 womb.n7393 ¶17
10. But know that God is become man, and the Word Fiat hath again put itself into the seed; and although the turba be now in the earthly part, so that the seed is not altogether free, yet the matter stands thus with the soul.n7393 ¶18
11. The soul is not wholly forsaken of God, so far as the father and mother aren7393 ¶19
5 honest, and in God; for it proceedeth from the soul of the father and of the mother: And although a child dieth in the mother's womb without 6 baptism, yet it is baptized with the spirit of the father, and of the mother, viz. with the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in them, and the turba is destroyed in death; for 7 the faith's part presseth through to God.n7393 ¶20
12. But the matter is far otherwise with wicked parents: If the child die in the mother's 8 womb, the soul of it falleth into the turba, and reacheth not God to eternity: It also knoweth nothing of him, but it is a life according to the essence and property of the parents.n7393 ¶21
1 Phur is power, matter, or substance.n7393 ¶22
2 Sul is spirit, or light.n7393 ¶23
3 in one another.n7393 ¶24
5 Or virtuous.n7393 ¶25
6 external baptism.n7393 ¶26
7 that which belongeth to faith.n7393 ¶27
8 Vide Question 19, ver. 12.n7393 ¶28
13. And yet it doth not by this reach to the kindling or burning, for that soul itself hath not yet committed 1 sin; but it is a spirit in the source, quite void of self-desire, and wonders; it is like the flame of brimstone, like the 2 Igiies Fatui, and cannot reach God, but remaineth between heaven and hell in the Mystery, until the Judgment of God, which shall at last gather in its harvest, and put everything in its own place.n7393 ¶29
14. Although 3 Mr Sophister may herein have other 4 philosophy; but we care not for his art, we have eyes and he hath art; we speak what we see.n7393 ¶30
15. Thus we give you to understand, that no soul is born into this world without sin, how honest soever the parents be; for it is 5 conceived in the earthly seed, and bringeth the turba of the body with it, which also hath surrounded the soul.n7393 ¶31
16. Therefore God made a covenant with [the] children in the Old Testament, in the Circumcision, and bound them in that covenant to have their blood shed, and so drown the turba of the soul therewith.n7393 ¶32
17. And in the New Testament there is the Baptism; wherein the Holy Ghost washeth away the turba of the water of the soul with the water of life, that it may 6 draw near to God and be his child.n7393 ¶33
18. But if any will say, that those who have not Baptism (as Jews and Turks, and other people[s] who have not the knowledge thereof among them, nor the Candlestick) are all rejected of God (although in their doctrine, life, and deeds, they do earnestly strive to enter into the love of God), they speak fantastically, and without knowledge, like Babel.n7393 ¶34
1 actual.n7393 ¶35
2 wandering false lights, that lead people astray in the night. WoAudeOKqc;.n7393 ¶36
3 Or one that is learned in the letter, or carnal reason.n7393 ¶37
4 meaning, or opinion.n7393 ¶38
5 ausgebrutet, engendered, or hatched.n7393 ¶39
6 stand, or appear before God.n7393 ¶40
19. Blessedness lieth not only in the outward word, but in power: Who shall cast out him that entereth into God?n7393 ¶41
20. Is not this Babel, which hath confounded the whole world, so that people have divided themselves in opinions, and yet in the will they go but one way? What caused this, but only the Antichrist, when he l drew the kingdom of God into his own jurisdiction, and made a mere fable of the New Birth, which the very children will be ashamed of, when it shall be day.n7393 ¶42
21. We can say, with good ground, that Antichrist's teaching is but 2 beating of the air, * a slight of the serpent which continually beguileth Eve.n7393 ¶43
22. Thus we know, that no soul cometh into the world without sin, every one bringeth the 3 turba with it; for if it were without sin, then it must also dwell in a body wholly pure, having no evil will in it, and in which is no earthly 4 desire.n7393 ¶44
23. Now body and soul are thus 5 bound together, until the turba findeth then7393 ¶45
6 limit of the body, and then it seeketh the works of the body, as is above mentioned.n7393 ¶46
1 took God's government upon himself.n7393 ¶47
2 a mere flourish, or juggling, or casting a mist before the eyes.n7393 ¶48
3 disharmony.n7393 ¶49
4 seeking, or strife of the four elements.n7393 ¶50
5 Or knit.n7393 ¶51
6 Or end.n7393 ¶52
* "a slight" (eijie Falschheit), "a falsehood."n7393 ¶53
THE FIFTEENTH QUESTION How cometh Sin into the Soul, seeing it is the Work and Creature of God?n7393 ¶54
1. AS it is mentioned before, so it is, the turba with the earthly 1 desire came together into this world, and so the soul is strongly drawn by two, viz. by the 2 Word of the Lord, which mediated or interposed itself, which out of love is become man; this draweth the soul continually into the kingdom of God, and plainly sheweth the soul the turba; so that the soul seeth in nature what falsehood and sin are, and if it suffereth itself to be drawn, then it becometh born again, and so becometh God'sn7393 ¶55
2. Secondly, the turba also mightily draweth the soul with its band, and continually bringeth the earthly desire into it, especially in the youth, when the earthly tree sticketh full of green sprouting essences and poison; then the turba doth so mightily insinuate itself, that many a soul is not freed to eternity.n7393 ¶56
3. In a thing which hath its rise from two beginnings, being of equal weight, one part will sink down, if weight be added to it, be it either good or evil that is added.n7393 ¶57
1 seeking, or longing.n7393 ¶58
4. Sin maketh not itself, but the will maketh it, it cometh from the imagination into the spirit; for the spirit entereth into a thing, and is infected by that thing, and so the turba of that thing cometh into the spirit, and first destroyeth the image ofn7393 ¶59
5. And the turba proceedeth further, and searcheth deeper, and so it findeth the abyss, viz. the soul; and seeketh in the soul, and so findeth the wrathful fire, by which it mingleth itself with the thing that is so introduced into the spirit; and thus at length sin is wholly born. Now, therefore, whatsoever desireth to bring that which is outward into the will, that is sin.n7393 ¶60
6. The will ought to incline to nothing, but to meekness and love, as if it were a nothing, or dead; we should only desire to hve to God, so that God may work in us, and whatsoever we do besides, our will must be directed so, that we do it to God.n7393 ¶61
7. But if we set our will upon the 1 essence, then we bring the essence into the spirit, and that taketh possession of our heart; and then the turba is born, and the soul is captivated by the thing.n7393 ¶62
8. And therefore we answer, that no soul cometh pure from the mother's 2 womb, be it begotten by holy or unholy parents.n7393 ¶63
9. And as the abyss and the anger of God, and also the earthly world, depend wholly on God the Father, and yet cannot comprehend and touch his heart and spirit; so it is also with the child in the mother's womb, if it be begotten by godly parents, then each Principle 3 standeth in its own part.n7393 ¶64
10. When the turba taketh the earthly body, then the heaven taketh the spirit, and the Majesty filleth the spirit; and then the soul is in God, it is free from pain.n7393 ¶65
11. But while the soul remain eth in the earthly life, it is not free; because the earthly spirit doth, with its imagination, always bring its abomination into it; and the spirit must continually stand in strife against the earthly life.n7393 ¶66
1 covetousness, or earthly desire, viz. pride, goods, power, and honour.n7393 ¶67
3 Or hath a part, or one part, or share in it.n7393 ¶68
THE SIXTEENTH QUESTION How is the Soul kept in such Union, both in the Adamical and Regenerate Body"?n7393 ¶69
1. WE have mentioned before, that there are three Principles, which are all three in the soul already, and are in one another, as one thing: and you must understand, that the strife in the soul beginneth before, in the seed, while it lieth hidden in both sexes, in the man and woman; *when also the turba stirreth up itself before, in that it driveth the essence of the seed to a false imagination, to a false desire.n7393 ¶70
2. Though the spirit tameth the body, yet it imagineth, and this the turba causeth in the seed; and no man can well deny, but that many times this imagination is offensive to him, and where there is a right spirit, it wisheth itn7393 ¶71
1 anathematized: And you must know, that the spirit of the soul sticketh thus in a miserable f strait, and cannot be loosed till the turba taketh the body.n7393 ¶72
1 banished from him.n7393 ¶73
* "when also the turba stirreth up itself before" (so erreget sich schon die Turba), lit., "when also the turba stirreth up itself already."n7393 ¶74
t "strait" (Quetsch) means a painful squeezing or crushing.n7393 ¶75
3. Now there is never any union between the outward and the regenerate man; the outward man would always devour the regenerate, for they are in one another, but each hath its own Principle, so that the outward cannot overpower the inward, if the spirit doth but continue Hn strife.n7393 ¶76
4. They may very well depend on one another; for all three set forth God's works of wonder, if they continue in due order, each keeping its own Principle.n7393 ¶77
5. For the soul hath the government of the fire, and it is the cause of the life of alln7393 ¶78
2 three: and the 3 spirit hath the government of the light, in which the noble heavenly image consisteth with the divine body: and the outward spirit hath the government of the earthly life; this should seek and manifest the wonders, and the inward spirit should give it understanding to do that; and the soul should manifest the abyss (viz. the highest secret) to 4 it.n7393 ¶79
6. The soul is the Pearl, and the spirit of the soul is the finder of the Pearl, and the earthly spirit is the seeker: the earthly body is the 5 Mystery, wherein then7393 ¶80
6 secret of greatest 7 abstruseness lieth: for the Deity hath manifested itself in the earthliness, viz. in a comprehensible essence; and therefore now three seekers belong thereto.n7393 ¶81
7. But you must not suppose that we * undervalue the outward hfe, for it is most profitable to us, as to the wonders of God: there is nothing more profitable to the whole man, than to stand still in his threefold dominion, and not go back with the outward into the inward, but with the inward into the outward.n7393 ¶82
1 the combat.n7393 ¶83
2 Note, three bear rule in man.n7393 ¶84
3 the spirit of the soul.n7393 ¶85
4 the outward spirit.n7393 ¶86
5 Mysterium.n7393 ¶87
7 Or hiddenness.n7393 ¶88
8. For the outward is a beast, and belongeth not to the inward; but its wonders, which it hath brought forth out of the inward, and which it hath opened in the comprehensible essence, they belong in their figure (not in their essence) to the inward: the inward spirit must receive these (which are God's works of wonder), for they shall be the joy of it for ever.n7393 ¶89
9. And thus we say, that the soul may be kept very well in the new man, if the spirit of its tincture do but * hinder its 1 longing and imagination; and though the outward spirit be bestial, yet the inward understanding [spirit] is able to keep in and subdue the outward, for it is lord over it: But he that suffereth the bestial spirit to be lord, he is a beast, and hath also a bestial image in the inward figure in the tincture.n7393 ¶90
10. And he that letteth the fire-spirit, viz. the turba, be Lord, he is an 2 essential devil in the inward image; therefore here it is necessary that the outward spirit pour 3 water into the fire, that it may hold that 4 strong spirit captive; whereas, whilst it will not be God's image, it is a beast, according to the inward image.n7393 ¶91
11. Now if we consider ourselves in the 5 union, the outward spirit is very profitable to us; for many souls would perish, if the bestial spirit were not, which holdeth the fire captive, and setteth before the fire-spirit earthly bestial labour and joy, wherein it may f busy itself, till it be able, by the 6 wonders in the imagination, to $ discover somewhat of its noble image, that it may seek itself again.n7393 ¶92
1 seeking, or desire.n7393 ¶93
2 substantial, or devil incarnate.n7393 ¶94
3 Viz. humility.n7393 ¶95
4 Or stern.n7393 ¶96
5 of the old and new man together.n7393 ¶97
6 Or works.n7393 ¶98
* "hinder" (wehren), "oppose," or "resist."n7393 ¶99
f "busy" (erlustigen), "amuse."n7393 ¶100
X "discover somewhat" (wieder erblickeri), "set eyes again upon," or "catch sight again of; the idea is not to "discover," but to recover the vision.n7393 ¶101
12. My beloved children, who are born * in God, I tell it you: it was not for nothing, that God breathed the outward spirit (viz. the outward life) into Adam 's nostrils; for great danger did attend this image.n7393 ¶102
13. God knew how it went with Lucifer, and also what the great eternal 2 magic could do: yea, Adam might have been a devil; but the outward glass hindered that, for where water is, it quencheth the fire.n7393 ¶103
14. Also many a soul by its wickedness would become a devil in a 3 moment, if the outward life did not hinder it, so that the soul cannot wholly inflame itself.n7393 ¶104
15. How many are there that are so full of poison and 4 evil, that they would murder and commit villainy, but this their fire hath water, or else they were past remedy? As you see in gall, which is a fiery poison, but it is mingled with water, and so the violence of the fire is allayed.n7393 ¶105
1 Or of.n7393 ¶106
2 Magia, or desire.n7393 ¶107
3 Or the twinkling of an eye.n7393 ¶108
4 Or malice, and wickedness.n7393 ¶109
16. Thus it is also with the inward essence: the spirit of this world hath * wound itself into the abyss of the soul, and in its source hath mortal water, wherewith it often moisteneth the soul, when it would spit fire.n7393 ¶110
17. Moreover, the outward spirit could not have life without this fire, seeing it hath fire in all creatures; but this fire is only the wrath of the inward fire.n7393 ¶111
18. The inward fire consumeth earth and stones, also the body and blood, yea, even the noble image, if it be 1 inflamed in the will: But there the water is a medicine for it, which allayeth its aspiring force, whereby it laboureth to get above the meekness of God, as Lucifer did.n7393 ¶112
1 Or kindled.n7393 ¶113
* "wound," or "entwined."n7393 ¶114
THE SEVENTEENTH QUESTION Whence, and wherefore is the Contrariety between the Spirit and the Flesh?n7393 ¶115
1. MY beloved Friend, you know well, that fire and water are contrary; for the fire is life, and the water is its death; and you see plainly, that when water is poured upon the fire, the source of the fire goeth out, and so the fire is dead.n7393 ¶116
2. And although in man [the fire] is not wholly dead, because of the light, which continually causeth fire, yet there is an enmity; as there is an enmity between God and hell; and yet hell, or the fire of wrath, is God's.n7393 ¶117
3. And God's Majesty would not be manifested, if his anger were not, which sharp eneth the divine obscure hiddenness of the eternity, by the wrath of nature, so that it is changed into fire, whence the high light in the free eternity is brought forth, which maketh a Majesty in the meek source.n7393 ¶118
4. And yet the fire is the only cause, that there is a * source in the light, in the meekness; for the light proceedeth from the glance of the fire, and hath in it the source of the fire.n7393 ¶119
1 Or life, or working.n7393 ¶120
5. But the will (as is mentioned before) sinketh down in the anguish, even into death, and springeth forth again into the liberty; and this is the hght which hath the l source of the fire; but yet it hath another Principle in it, for the anguish is become love.n7393 ¶121
6. After this manner also it is in the body, where the flesh striveth against the spirit: the life of the outward flesh is a glass of the most inward fire-life, viz. of the life of the soul; and the life of the spirit of the soul, with the light of the tincture, is the middlemost life, and yet it is born out of the soul.n7393 ¶122
7. But understand our depth aright: the spirit of the soul, wherein the divine image standeth, ariseth in the fire, and is first of all the will to the fire; but when the 2 wrath in the fire is sharpened and inflamed, then the will cometh into a great anguish, like a dying, and sinketh down in itself, out of the wrath into the eternal liberty; and yet there is no dying, but 3 another world thus cometh out of the first.n7393 ¶123
8. For then the will springeth up in the other world, as a sharpness out of the fire; yet it is without any such 4 anguish source in the eternal liberty: and it is a moving, a driving and an 5 acknowledging of the anguishing nature; it hath all the 6 essences, which in the first sharp fire-world are brought forth in the anguish; but they are like one that goeth out of fire into water, and so the anguish of the fire is left in the water.n7393 ¶124
2 Or wrathful desire, and indignation of the fire.n7393 ¶125
3 Or second.n7393 ¶126
4 Or aching property.n7393 ¶127
5 Or feeling.n7393 ¶128
6 Or springing virtues.n7393 ¶129
9. You must understand, that this hfe is the life of the spirit of the soul: the soul is the centre of nature, and the spirit is the precious and noble image, which God created for his image; herein standeth the high, x royal, and precious image of God; for God is thus, he is comprehended in the same source of life.n7393 ¶130
10. The spirit is not parted from the soul; no: as you see fire and light are not parted, and yet are not one, they have a twofold 2 source: the fire is wrathful, the light is meek and lovely: in the light is the life, and in the fire the cause of the life.n7393 ¶131
11. And thus without much seeking, you may find the cause of the contrariety, that is between the flesh and the spirit: for the inward spirit hath the 3 divine body from the meek essentiality; and the outward spirit hath the body of the glass of the wrathful fire, viz. the body of the glass of the soul, which would always awaken the 4 wrathfulness, viz. the great wonders which he 5 in the arcanum, in the 6 eagerness of the soul; but that the inward spirit of love hindereth it, lest it should elevate itself, and inflame the soul, and so it would lose * the 7 fruition of love and the image, and the wrathfulness of the soul would destroy it; and thus contrariety ariseth.n7393 ¶132
1 Or kingly.n7393 ¶133
3 Or God's body. 4 vehemency, or fierceness.n7393 ¶134
5 in the secret, or hidden Mystery of eternity.n7393 ¶135
6 sternness, or fierceness, or strength.n7393 ¶136
7 the habitation, or sweet taste.n7393 ¶137
* "the fruition of love," lit., "its dear joy."n7393 ¶138
12. The inward spirit would be master, for it subdueth the outward; and so also the outward would be master, for it saith, I have the great wonders, and the arcanum: thus it braggeth of the Mystery, and yet it is but a glass of the Mystery.n7393 ¶139
13. It is not the essence of the Mystery, but a 1 desire, like a palpable glass, in which the Mystery is beheld; but it would be master, seeing it hath attained a Principle, and is a life of itself; but it is a fool in respect of the Mystery.n7393 ¶140
14. Therefore, beloved Brother, if you would seek the Mystery, seek it not in the outward spirit, you will be deceived, and attain nothing, but a glimpse of the Mystery: enter in even to the cross, then seek gold, and you will not be deceived; you must seek in another world for the pure child that is without spot: in this world you find only the drossy child, that is altogether imperfect; but go about it in a right manner.n7393 ¶141
15. Go back from the cross into the fourth form, and there you have 2 Sol and Luna together, bring that in anguish into death, and * drive on that composed magical body so long, till it becometh again that which it was before the centre in the will, and then it becometh 3 magical and hungry after nature.n7393 ¶142
1 seeking, or longing.n7393 ¶143
2 sun and moon.n7393 ¶144
3 desirous.n7393 ¶145
* "drive" (zertreiben) "to work," implies a taking to pieces, recasting and transforming. St Martin aptly translates this "forgez."n7393 ¶146
16. It is a 1 longing in the eternal longing, and would fain have a body, therefore give it Sol, viz. the soul, 2 that it may have a body, and then it will soon make a body according to the soul; for the will springeth up in paradise, with fair heavenly fruit without blemish.n7393 ¶147
17. There you have the noble child; ye covetous gripers, we must indeed tell this to you, seeing it is born with the time, but those only that are ours will understand us.n7393 ¶148
18. For we mean not here a 3 glass or heaven, but gold, wherewith you vaunt, which for so long a time hath been your idol god; and your blind 4 owl-eyes are so quite put out, that you see less than before: But the children shall see, eat and be satisfied, that they may praise God.n7393 ¶149
19. We speak here wonderfully, yet we speak nothing but what we must speak: Let none marvel, that he knoweth the Mystery, who hath not learnt it from any man; doth not a herb grow without your 5 counsel? Neither doth it inquire for your art: yea, the Mystery is grown also without your art, it hath its own school; like the Apostles on the day of Pentecost, who spake with many languages and tongues, without premeditation and art; and so is this simplicity in like manner.n7393 ¶150
20. And this foretelleth thy fall, O Babel, 6 that thou mayest know it: no wrath nor anger will help you; the star is born which leadeth the 7 wisemen out of the East country; but seek thou only where thou art, and find thyself; and cast the 8 turba from thee, and then thou shaft live with the children: this we tell thee in good earnest, there is no other remedy; thy anger is thy fire, which will destroy thyself.n7393 ¶151
1 Or seeking, or desire.n7393 ¶152
2 Or for a body.n7393 ¶153
3 Or similitude, figure, or parable.n7393 ¶154
4 Or cow's eyes.n7393 ¶155
5 Or direction.n7393 ¶156
6 that you may be warned of it.n7393 ¶157
7 Magi.n7393 ¶158
8 wrangling, malice, and tyranny.n7393 ¶159
21. Or dost thou think that we are blind? If we did not see, we should be silent; what pleasure would a he be to God? Yea, we should be found in the turba, which searcheth through all human essences and works: Or do we this piece of service for wages? Is it our 1 living? Why do we not mind our bread only, according to outwardn7393 ¶160
22. But seeing it is our day labour, we must do what the Father will have us, for 2 we must give an account of it in the evening; this we speak seriously, and in good earnest.n7393 ¶161
23. Thus you may well understand the contrariety of flesh and spirit, and apprehend very well that two spirits are in one another, one striving against the other; for one desireth God, the other desireth bread, and both are profitable andn7393 ¶162
24. But thou child of man, let this be spoken to thee: Lead thy life circumspectly, and let the spirit of thy soul be master, and thou wilt 3 have fought here a good fight, for this time is but short.n7393 ¶163
25. We all stand here in the field and grow; let every one have a care what fruit he beareth, for at the end of the harvest every work shall be put into its own granary.n7393 ¶164
1 Or trade.n7393 ¶165
2 Matt. xx. 8.n7393 ¶166
26. It is better to labour a little while with toil and care in the vineyard, and to expect the great wages and refreshment, than to be a king here for a little time, and afterwards to be a lion, a wolf, a dog, a cat, a toad, serpent or worm, in 1 figure.n7393 ¶167
27. child of man! think upon this, be yet warned; we speak very seriously, out of a wonderful eye, you shall very shortly find it by experience; there is yet but a little time, for the beginning hath already found the end: this is a little 2 rose out of the beginning; *see yet, and put covetousness out of your 3 eyes, or else you shall wail and lament, and none will pity you; 4 for what a man soweth, that he must also reap; what will pomp and honour avail, when it leaveth you?n7393 ¶168
28. Here you are very potent, but afterwards you shall be impotent; 5 ye are gods, and yet you run on headlong to the devil; take pity on your own life, and on your fair heavenly image.n7393 ¶169
29. Pray be the children of God, and be not the devil's; let not the hypocrites keep you back by their 6 flattery; they do it for their bellies, for their honour's and for money's sake; they are the servants of the great Babel.n7393 ¶170
30. Examine yourselves, ask your conscience whether it be in God? That will blame you, and bid you drive the hypocrites from you, and seek the clear countenance of God, and look not through 7 a glass.n7393 ¶171
1 Or shape.n7393 ¶172
2 rose-bud.n7393 ¶173
3 Or sight.n7393 ¶174
6 Or example.n7393 ¶175
7 Or spectacles.n7393 ¶176
* "see yet" (werdet doch sehend), lit., "become seeing," or "let your eyes be opened."n7393 ¶177
31. God is for you, he is in you, confess to him, come to him with the lost son; there is no other can take the turba from you; you cannot enter but through death into the other world, whither your hypocrites can never come, otherwise there is no forgiveness of sin; and though you should give all to your hypocrites, yet then you would be as much captivated in the turba as you were before.n7393 ¶178
32. It is no such matter, as that one should stand by and take away the turba from you when you give x him good words; no, no, it is a magical thing: You must be born again, as Christ saith, or else you cannot come to God; do what you will, all hypocrisy is deceit.n7393 ¶179
33. If you would serve God, you must do it in the new man, the earthly Adam can do him no acceptable service; let him sing, roar, call, confess, pray, cry, and do whatever he will, all is but fighting with a shadow; the will must be in it, the heart must wholly resign itself up into it, else it is but conjecture, and a fable of Antichrist's, wherewith the whole earth is filled.n7393 ¶180
34. The will is greater and more powerful than much crying; it is able to destroy the turba, and to enter into the image of God; it hath power to be the child of God; it can throw down mountains, and raise the dead, if it be born in God, and if the Holy Spirit give it leave.n7393 ¶181
35. For a man must walk in obedience in great humility, and only cast his will into God's will, that God may be both the will and the deed in him: This is the way to salvation, and to the kingdom of heaven, and no other; let the Pope or doctors preach what they will to the contrary, all is but lying, and mere hypocritical juggling.n7393 ¶182
1 God fair words.n7393 ¶183
THE EIGHTEENTH QUESTION How doth the Soul depart from the Body at the Death of a Man?n7393 ¶184
1. HERE we would have the world invited for a guest, especially Babel the whore, and see whether 1 she can be made a true child; for death is a terrible guest, he casteth the proud rider and his horse to the ground.n7393 ¶185
2. My beloved Friend, this is a very 2 hard Question, and needeth the eyes of all the three Principles to see it well; they must not die in death that would enter in and behold this; they must be poison to death, and a pestilence to hell; they must take death captive if they will see it; no man's understanding can otherwise find it out, except he cometh into death himself, and then he will feel indeed what death is; he shall surely taste what it is, when one Principle (viz. the life) perisheth.n7393 ¶186
3. You understood before, that all 3 essences are 4 magical, and that one is always the 5 glass of the other, and that in this glass the desire of the first glass is opened, and cometh to be an essence; and then also that the turba is in every essence, which destroyeth all [till it cometh] to the first essence, and that is alone, and hath no destroyer.n7393 ¶187
1 a child of grace can be found in her.n7393 ¶188
2 Or deep.n7393 ¶189
3 things or substances.n7393 ¶190
4 See the book of the Small Six Points. Point 5, ver. 65.n7393 ¶191
5 Or resemblance.n7393 ¶192
4. For there is nothing more; it cannot be broken, it standeth in itself, and out of itself, and goeth whithersoever it will: and thus it is everywhere in no place, for it is in the abyss, where there is no place of rest, it must only rest in itself.n7393 ¶193
5. Now seeing all essences have proceeded from one, therefore the beginning is also in the last essence; for the last is 1 gone back into the first, and seeketh the first, and findeth it in itself; and when it findeth the first, it letteth all the other go, and dwelleth in the hmit, and there it can be without 2 source.n7393 ¶194
6. For there is nothing that maketh it a 2 source: It is itself the matter of the first essence; and though it be somewhat else, yet that is but the twig of itself, and its own will and nothing else; for there is nothing that can give it another will.n7393 ¶195
7. Thus we give you to understand what dying is: the beginning seeketh the hmit; and when it findeth it, then it casteth away the seeking, viz. the earthly hfe, that shall be cast away, it must break off itself.n7393 ¶196
8. For the beginning (viz. the soul) continueth in the limit, and letteth the body perish; there is no complaining about it, neither doth the soul desire it any more: it must go into its hmit, viz. into the wonders of that which it hath been.n7393 ¶197
1 Or retired.n7393 ¶198
9. For the spirit of the soul grieveth not when the body iperisheth, but the firelife grieveth, because the matter of the fire, which the fire hath produced, that also perisheth, but only in the substance.n7393 ¶199
10. The figure continueth still in the will, for the will cannot be destroyed: and thus the soul must continue in the will, and it taketh the figure instead of matter, and burneth in the will; for the first glowing of the fire doth not pass away, but it is quite deprived of the matter of the earthly life, viz. of the 2 Phur.n7393 ¶200
11. And thus the fire becometh impotent, and passeth into darkness, unless the spirit hath heavenly 3 essentially, viz. the divine body; and then the fire (viz. the true soul) receiveth that meek body for a 4 sulphur, and so the soul burneth in the love-fire, and is quite gone out from the first 5 fire-life.n7393 ¶201
12. It is now in God's Principle: 6 the first wrathful fire cannot touch it in eternity, for it hath received another source, and is truly born again, and knoweth no more of the first life, for it is swallowed up in the magia.n7393 ¶202
13. The turba remaineth in the earthly body, and is again become that which it was before the body was, viz. a nothing, a magia, wherein all its essences stand in the figure as in a glass, but not corporeally, but after the manner of eternity; as we know that all the wonders before this world stood in a Mystery, viz. in the virgin of wisdom, but without substance.n7393 ¶203
1 Or dieth, or falleth away.n7393 ¶204
2 substance, or dross.n7393 ¶205
3 substantiality, the glance of the Majesty; the glorified body of Christ; and Adam's body before he slept; Sophia's wedding garment.n7393 ¶206
4 Or glorified body.n7393 ¶207
5 Viz. the elementary fire of the outward nature.n7393 ¶208
6 the fire of the wrath of the outward life.n7393 ¶209
14. Therefore we here understand, that this Mystery hath been so manifested in its parting, that it cannot be 1 extinguished in eternity; but it remaineth eternally in distinction and partition, and is beheld in the magia, in the separation, in that manner as it formed itself here.n7393 ¶210
15. Thus we may perceive what the 2 separation is, that the turba hath found the limit of the essence; for sickness to death is nothing else, but that the turba hath inflamed itself, and will destroy the essence; it is at the hmit, and will cast away that which is introduced 3 between.n7393 ¶211
16. And this is also the cause that the body dieth; the turba passeth into itself into the fire, and so the outward hfe is extinguished; for it withdraweth the fire of the soul, and so it passeth into its own 4 aether, and is at its limit.n7393 ¶212
17. And if the fire of the soul hath not the divine body in the spirit, nor in the will in the desire, then it is a dark fire, which burneth in anguish and great horror; for it hath nothing but the first four forms of nature in anguish.n7393 ¶213
18. And if the will be quite void of the power of humility, then there is no sinking down, or into itself, through death into hfe, but it is like a 5 tormenting furious wheel, which would continually fly aloft, and yet it goeth downwards on the other side; it hath the condition of fire, but not the burning of fire.n7393 ¶214
1 Or made one again.n7393 ¶215
2 Or parting of the soul from the body.n7393 ¶216
3 Or middle, between the beginning and the end.n7393 ¶217
4 Or receptacle.n7393 ¶218
5 anxious, mad, senseless, giddy wheel.n7393 ¶219
19. For the turba is the exceeding strong 1 harshness and bitterness: and the bitterness continually seeketh the fire, and would strike it up, but the astringency holdeth it captive; so that it is only a horrible anguish, and continually turneth itself like a wheel, and imagineth, but findeth nothing but itself: it draweth itself into itself, and impregnateth itself: it devoureth itself, and is its own substance.n7393 ¶220
20. It hath no other substance, but that which the spirit of the soul continually 2 made in the outward life, viz. covetousness, pride, cursing, swearing, reviling, backbiting, slandering, * 3 murder, hatred, 4 wrath, anger, falsehood; this is its food, sport, and 5 pastime; for the turba in the will taketh the substance with it: its works follow it.n7393 ¶221
21. And although it hath done some good, yet that is done only in 6 a glistering show and appearance, from an ambitious mind; and afterwards it continueth thus, in its aspiring, always endeavouring to climb up, it always elevateth itself, it would continually be above the meekness, and yet it neither knoweth it nor seeth it; it is an incessant elevation above God, and yet an eternal f depression; it seeketh a ground, and there is none: this is its life.n7393 ¶222
22. Yet if it had comprehended any purity of love in its will (as many a one that is converted at last in his end), then it thus sinketh into itself through the anguish; for the humble spark falleth down through death into life, and then the 7 source of the soul endeth: but it is a small twig budding forth into the kingdom of God.n7393 ¶223
1 Or astringency.n7393 ¶224
2 Or did, or wrought.n7393 ¶225
3 cruelty.n7393 ¶226
4 rage, or surliness.n7393 ¶227
5 work, or business.n7393 ¶228
6 Or hypocrisy.n7393 ¶229
f "depression" (sincken), "sinking" or "descent" (see par. 26).n7393 ¶230
23. It cannot sufficiently be described, what refining the soul hath, and how it is * hindered and plagued by the devil, ere it can get this spark into itself. But this wise world will not believe this, it is too wise, and yet it is so stark blind, it understands nothing, but hangeth continually to the letter: O! that none might feel this by experience, we would willingly be silent.n7393 ¶231
24. We speak not here of any strange * source, but only of that which is in the turba, and also of no other power of the devil over the poor soul, but its own horror and 2 abominable suggestions, by which the imagination of the soul is so tormented.n7393 ¶232
25. The condition of hell is far otherwise than Babel teacheth; she saith that the devil 3 beateth and tormenteth the soul; but this is spoken in mere blindness; the devil is not at odds with his own children; they must all do his will; the anguish and horror of hell plague every one of them sufficiently in their own abominations; every one hath his own hell; there is nothing but his own poison that apprehendeth him.n7393 ¶233
2 Or wicked.n7393 ¶234
3 whippeth.n7393 ¶235
* "hindered" (gehalten), "held," or "held back."n7393 ¶236
26. *The four forms of the original of nature, are the common plague which every one feeleth according to his own turba, but one far otherwise than another: the covetous hath frost; the angry, fire; the envious, bitterness; the proud, a high aspiring, and yet an eternal sinking and falling into the abyss; the 1 scorner swalloweth down the turba of those abominations which he here belched forth; the false f deceitful heart hath the fourth form, viz. the great 2 anguish.n7393 ¶237
27. For the turba standeth in the circle of the fire, viz. in the heart of the soul; and false speaking, lying, and 3 untruths, are an abomination and gnawing, and make it curse itself.n7393 ¶238
28. A potentate who hath oppressed the poor, and consumed his 4 sweat in pride, he rideth in the curses of the poor in the height of fire; for all the 5 necessities of the poor stick in him.n7393 ¶239
29. He hath no rest, his pride always climbeth up, he behaveth himself just as he did here; he continually seeketh, and yet wanteth all things; what he had too much of, that he hath too little of there; he continually desireth to devour his own essence, but he hath none, for he is magical.n7393 ¶240
30. He hath lost his 6 true image; he hath the image, as it were, of a proud prancing horse, or of what else he hath been delighted with; whatsoever he took with him in his will, that is his image; where his heart is, there is his treasure also, and that in its eternity.n7393 ¶241
31. But hearken, Friend, what the Last Judgment will bring with it! then all things shall pass through the fire, and the floor shall be swept clean; and every one shall go into his own place; at this the very devils themselves do tremble.n7393 ¶242
1 Or blasphemer.n7393 ¶243
2 Or aching.n7393 ¶244
3 idle words, unfaithfulness, or jeering.n7393 ¶245
4 Or labour.n7393 ¶246
5 Or miseries.n7393 ¶247
6 Or right.n7393 ¶248
* "The four forms . . . are the common," etc. Both 1682 and 1730 editions have "The fourth form ... is the common," etc.n7393 ¶249
t "deceitful" (verleumderisch), "slandering."n7393 ¶250
THE NINETEENTH QUESTION How is the Soul Mortal? and how Immortal?n7393 ¶251
1. A THING which hath an eternal beginning, hath also an eternal end, and so hath the essence of the soul.n7393 ¶252
2. As concerning the image which God created, and which hath a temporal beginning, that is born out of the eternal, and is placed in the eternal essence without 1 source.n7393 ¶253
3. And where there is no 1 source, there is also no death; and though there be a source (as there is a source in heaven), yet it is but in one only will, and that hath its foundation in the eternity; and as nothing is there that can find it, so there is nothing that can come into it.n7393 ¶254
4. But where there is one will only (as in God, who is All in All), there is nothing that can find the will; there is no turba there; for the will desireth nothing but itself only, and its 2 twigs, which all stand in one tree, in one essence; the tree is its own beginning, and its own end.n7393 ¶255
5. The soul is proceeded out of the mouth of God; and when the body dieth, it goeth again into the mouth of God: It is in the Word, the essence; and in the will, the deed.n7393 ¶256
1 Or pain, or working property, or nature.n7393 ¶257
2 Or branches.n7393 ¶258
6. Now who will condemn that which he hath in his own body? Now the soul is in the divine body, it is hidden in God from all evil; and who can find it? None but the spirit of God, and one soul another, and the communion of angels.n7393 ¶259
7. But the wicked souls have lost their image in the limit, for it is entered into a limit, and that limit is the end of the image; the turba destroyeth the first image, and attracteth the 1 essences of the will for an image; and this is also immortal, for the eternal nature dieth not, because it had no beginning.n7393 ¶260
8. If the eternal nature in the fire of anger should die, then also God's Majesty would be extinguished, and the eternal something would again become an eternal nothing; and that cannot be, but whatsoever is from eternity, that continueth eternally.n7393 ¶261
9. The false soul cannot awaken any other source, but that only which stood from eternity in the eye of anger, viz. in the centre of nature.n7393 ¶262
10. All things have been from eternity, but essentially in the essence, not in the substance of the essence, not substantial spirits, but spirits 2 in figure, without corporality; they have been from eternity as in a magia, where one hath swallowed up the other in the magia.n7393 ¶263
11. And a third is come out of these two, according to the form of these two; there hath been a wrestling from eternity, and a figured substance: the creation hath placed all in the 3 wonders, so that now in eternity all things stand thus in the eternal magia in the wonders.n7393 ¶264
2 figurales spiritus.n7393 ¶265
3 Or works of wonder.n7393 ¶266
12. Now if the wicked souls had l brought no substance into their wills, then they should have no pain, there would be no feehng or perception of pain, but magia; but the substance is an image, and that is the turba, and so there is a source that may be felt.n7393 ¶267
13. There is a dying, and yet no dying, but a will of dying, viz. an anguish in that substance which was introduced into the will.n7393 ¶268
14. And this is caused by the longing that all things have after God, and yet are not able to reach him; and this causeth anguish and sorrow for the introduced evil, when the soul continually thinketh, Hadst thou not done this, or that, then thou mightest have attained the grace of God; and the evil substance causeth the eternal despair.n7393 ¶269
15. And thus we say no soul is mortal, whether it be in God or in hell; and its substance remaineth for ever to God's wonders.n7393 ¶270
1 Note the condition of the evil souls of such infants as die in their mother's womb, before they commit sin actually.n7393 ¶271
THE TWENTIETH QUESTION How doth the Soul return to God again?n7393 ¶272
1. THIS hath been already sufficiently explained; that it was 1 spoken out of the mouth of God, and created by the Holy Ghost in the image of God.n7393 ¶273
2. Now if it so continueth, then, when it leaveth this earthly life, it is already in the mouth of God; for it is in the divine body, no 2 source can touch it.n7393 ¶274
1 Or breathed.n7393 ¶275
2 evil, pain, or hurt can come at it.n7393 ¶276
THE TWENTY-FIRST QUESTION Whither goeth the Soul when it departeth from the Body; be it saved, or not saved?n7393 ¶277
1. HE that rightly understandeth the three Principles need not ask this Question; for the soul departeth not out at the mouth, for it did not come in at the mouth; but it only passeth out of the earthly life; the turba breaketh off the earthly life, and then the soul remaineth in its own Principle.n7393 ¶278
2. For the body retaineth it not, no wood, no stone, can 1 retain it; it is thinner than the air; and if it have the divine body, then it goeth direct as a conqueror through the turba, viz. through the anger of God, and quite through death; and when it is through, then it is in God's 2 essence.n7393 ¶279
3. It remaineth in its 3 wonders and essences which it wrought here; it beholdeth the Majesty of God, and the angels, face to face.n7393 ¶280
4. Wheresoever it is, it is in the abyssal world, where there is no end nor hmit.n7393 ¶281
Whither should it go? 4 Where the carcass is, there the eagles gather together: It is in Christ's flesh and blood, with Christ its Shepherd.n7393 ¶282
1 comprehend, enclose, keep or withhold it.n7393 ¶283
3 deeds and works.n7393 ¶284
4 Matt. xxiv. 28. Luke xvii. 37.n7393 ¶285
5. Though it should go a thousand miles off, yet it would be in the same place from whence it went; for in God there is no limit, near and far off is all one in him.n7393 ¶286
6. It is as swift as a thought, it is magical, it dwelleth in its wonders, they are its house.n7393 ¶287
7. The essentiality that is without it, is paradise, a springing, blossoming, and growing of all manner of fair heavenly fruits; just as we have all kinds of fruit here in this world, which we eat after an earthly manner, so also there are all manner of fruits in paradise, which the soul may eat; they have colours and virtues in the substance, and not like a thought: though they be as thin and subtle as a thought, but substantial, comprehensible, and palpable to the soul, virtual and sappy with the water of life, and all this from the heavenly substantiahty.n7393 ¶288
8. For the heavenly body of the soul is from the pure element (whence the four elements are brought forth), and that giveth flesh, and the tincture giveth blood: the heavenly man hath flesh and blood, and paradise is the * power of the substantiahty; it is heavenly earth, incomprehensible to our outward reason.n7393 ¶289
9. But we will again teach you another l A. B. C. All in this world have not Christ's flesh in them, hidden in the old Adam: indeed among very many, scarce one, but the regenerate, who are departed from their own will into God's will, in whom the noble grain of mustard-seed is sown, out of which a tree is grown.n7393 ¶290
1 Or lesson.n7393 ¶291
* "power" {Kraft), or "virtue."n7393 ¶292
10. Most souls depart from the body without Christ's body, yet they hang as by an7393 ¶293
1 thread, and are at last in their faith entered into the will; these souls indeed are in the image in the spirit, but not in the flesh.n7393 ¶294
11. Such as these wait for the last day; when the image {viz. the body) shall come forth out of the grave, out of the first image, for God will raise it up by the voice of Christ, even that image which Adam had in his innocency, which hath sprouted with or by Christ's blood.n7393 ¶295
12. But the earthly body shall not touch it, that must come before the Judgment in the turba; but after the sentence of the Judgment, the turba shall swallow it up, and the 2 wonders [of it] shall only remain.n7393 ¶296
13. You must understand us aright: These souls must wait till the last day for their bodies, they remain with their bodies in the still rest, till the last day, without feeling any 3 pain, but in another Principle.n7393 ¶297
14. They have neither darkness, nor Majesty, in the earth, but are at rest without pain, in the eternal still hberty, without touching of the body.n7393 ¶298
1 The small thread of faith.n7393 ¶299
15. Yet they see their * wonders, but they perform nothing in them, for they wait upon God, and are in humility; for they are sunk down through death, and are in another world, yet there is a great 2 space between them and the holy souls that are in Christ's flesh and blood; but not a Principle, they are in one and the samen7393 ¶300
16. But a spirit without a body hath not that 3 might, which the spirit in the body hath; therefore they are in rest, and are under the altar of God.n7393 ¶301
17. When the last day shall come, then shall they come forth, and eat of the bread of God, and put on the divine body, as is mentioned in the 4 Revelation of John; where the souls under the altar, clothed in white, say, Lord, when wilt thou avenge our blood? And it was answered them, that they should rest a little while, till their brethren were accomplished, which should be killed for the witness of Jesus.n7393 ¶302
18. But the souls of the wicked have another place, viz. in the most 5 innermost, which also is the most outermost in the darkness; they dare not go up and down; they remain merely with the body, in their 6 substance, yet not in this world, neither do they touch the earth.n7393 ¶303
19. They have, indeed, power enough over the earth; they can open it withoutn7393 ¶304
7 substance and perceptibility: But they have not the outward Principle; they have not power enough over the outward spirit; yet they can for a time 8 make apparitions in the 9 sidereal spirit.n7393 ¶305
2 gulf, or distance.n7393 ¶306
4 Rev. vi. 9-11.n7393 ¶307
5 The innermost is the utter darkness.n7393 ¶308
6 essence or works.n7393 ¶309
7 essence and feeling.n7393 ¶310
8 shew juggling tricks.n7393 ¶311
9 Or spirit of the air.n7393 ¶312
20. As many appear again in the astral spirit, and seek 1 abstinence, and make many afraid, with causing disturbances in houses; all which they do by the astral spirit, till that be consumed, and then their 2 tricks lie in the darkness; and they expect the Last Judgment.n7393 ¶313
21. Our Babel saith, It is the devil which goeth up and down in the shape of the soul; indeed the damned soul hath enough of the devil, but it is not the very devil; he is in the abyss, and tormenteth the soul in the time of the body willingly, in the abyss of the soul.n7393 ¶314
22. * Neither doth he altogether want a cloak for his knavery, for he can put on an outward cloak, to seduce or terrify men in.n7393 ¶315
23. But this complaint we have against Babel, that she is so extreme bhnd, and hath so httle knowledge of God, she hath cast away the true magia and philosophy, and received the Antichrist; now she hath lost her understanding, she hath a kind of art still, but her understanding quite faileth her, she hath broken the glass, and peereth through the holes of the spectacles.n7393 ¶316
24. What shall we say? The world is blindfolded, it is drawn into a snare, and taken captive, and it seeth it not, yet it were at liberty if it did but see it; the snare wherewith it is bound is malicious knavery; thou shalt soon be made to see: It is broad daylight, do but awake, thou keeper of Israel.n7393 ¶317
1 Or rest.n7393 ¶318
2 Or pomp and show.n7393 ¶319
* "Neither doth he altogether want a cloak," etc., or "Neither doth he disdain any cloak," etc.n7393 ¶320
25. Thus, my beloved Friend, know that there is a difference of places where souls are, according to that whereinto the soul is entered; if it be holy and regenerate, then it hath a 1 body which expecteth only the 2 wonders of the body at the Last Judgment-day; it hath 3 comprehended them already in the will, but at the last day they must stand before the Judgment.n7393 ¶321
26. All souls, good and bad, shah every one receive their sentence and reward: The holy shall be set in the presence of the wicked, that they may see and 4 feel the cause of their 5 pain.n7393 ¶322
27. If any should * feign a peculiar residence, or place where they should consort or sit together, that contradicts the rule of the magia: Every soul is in its own country, and not bound to the place of the body, but it may be where it will; wheresoever it is, it is either in God, or in darkness.n7393 ¶323
28. God is everywhere, and darkness is everywhere; the angels are also everywhere, each in its own Principle, and in its own 6 property.n7393 ¶324
29. The fiction of outward reason, without the knowledge of the Principles, is 7 as a fighting with a shadow: If I should ask a thousand times, and should always be told somewhat from God himself, and yet were but in flesh and blood, I should look upon it as Babel doth; which supposeth that the soul flieth into a heaven above the stars; I know not that heaven they speak of, and I desire not to come there.n7393 ¶325
1 The body of Christ.n7393 ¶326
3 conceived, or formed.n7393 ¶327
4 Or taste.n7393 ¶328
5 Or source and torment.n7393 ¶329
7 Or a false glass, a conceit.n7393 ¶330
* "feign," or "imagine, fancy."n7393 ¶331
30. Heaven is indeed above; but there are the angelical principahties and thrones: This l eye of the 2 aether is our principality and kingdom.n7393 ¶332
31. The same is with them above which is with us, but our creation and essence is in our aether: A soul may come to them if it earnestly desireth, and the angels of God will lovingly entertain it.n7393 ¶333
32. For the same essence of God, which is with us, is with them; this only is the difference, that they have among them angelical works, wholly pure without blemish, and we have the great wonders, and therefore they long to be with us; and besides, they are our ministering servants during the life of the body, and withstand the devil.n7393 ¶334
33. Now if the angels be in this world, in the holy Principle, whither then shall the soul fly first? Perhaps into pride, as Lucifer did, might Babel think. O no! they continue in humility, and look upon 3 God's wonders; as God's spirit moveth, so do they.n7393 ¶335
1 Or globe.n7393 ¶336
2 skies, mansions, or spheres.n7393 ¶337
3 what God doth.n7393 ¶338
THE TWENTY-SECOND QUESTION What doth every soul departed? Doth it rejoice till the Last Judgment-day?n7393 ¶339
1. THIS Question containeth the exceeding joyful gate of glory, leading to the knowledge of the * 1 victorious garland of the soul.n7393 ¶340
2. When a darling son travelleth afar off into a strange country, for art and honour, he often thinks of home, and of the time when he shall enjoy his parents and friends; he rejoiceth at the thought of that day, and expecteth it with inward joy and longing: also he plieth himself hard in his business, that he may get arts and skill, wherewith he may rejoice his parents, kindred, and friends.n7393 ¶341
3. Think of this similitude, and take it into consideration. It is just so with the soul; the souls without body have a great inward joy, and wait for the last day with great inward desire, when they shall again receive its fair and holy body with itsn7393 ¶342
4. Also their ornament is in their will, where they behold their works after the manner of the eternal abyssal magic, which they shall then first receive at the last day, in the figure, with the new body out of the old.n7393 ¶343
1 Or triumphant.n7393 ¶344
2 Or works, which it did here.n7393 ¶345
* "victorious garland" (Ritter-Krdnzleiri), "knightly-crown."n7393 ¶346
5. Also we know and 1 highly perceive, yet in the spirit only, according to its knowledge, that the blessed souls do rejoice in the labour which they took here, and exceedingly recreate themselves in their wonders, which they see magically: for they that have led many to righteousness, they have their reward in the magia, in the will, before their eyes.n7393 ¶347
6. They that have suffered much persecution for the truth's sake, they see their bright 2 triumphant garland, which at the last day they shall set upon the new body.n7393 ¶348
7. They that have done much good, they see that plainly shining in the will.n7393 ¶349
8. They who have been scorned, contemned, persecuted, and slain for Christ's doctrine, honour, and truth's sake, they see the triumphant victory, like one that hath overcome his enemy in a fight, and then represents the victory to his prince or king; for which he hath exceeding great glory, when his king receiveth him with great joy, and keeps him with him for his faithful assistant.n7393 ¶350
9. We have no pen that can write what exceeding joy is in them; only this we know, that those for the most part have put on the divine body in this world, and so have greater perfection than the other: they expect the last day with great joy and glory, when their works shall be presented to them, and set before their eyes in heavenly figures; and the wicked shall see, then, 3 against whom they have kicked.n7393 ¶351
1 Or fuUy.n7393 ¶352
2 Or crown of victory.n7393 ¶353
3 Or whom they have tyrannized over.n7393 ¶354
10. Every soul rejoiceth before the face of God, in great hope of that which it shall receive again, for it knoweth its reward; but without the body it cannot receive it: for it hath wrought its works in the body, and therefore its works follow it in the new body, and come to it again.n7393 ¶355
11. For although the exceeding precious holy souls have put on Christ's body in this world, so that they stand in heaven, viz. in the image of God; yet all their works were wrought in the old body, which was Gods glass: and in the resurrection they shall be represented in the true heavenly figure in that l body.n7393 ¶356
12. For the first image which Adam was before the fall, is regenerated in Christ; and shall again, with its wonders, be put upon the soul; and although it had the divine body before, yet the 2 wonders stand in the first image.n7393 ¶357
13. But the turba, with the outward kingdom of the outward source, is gone, for 3 it was a glass, and is now become a wonder; it liveth without spirit as a wonder, and shall be put upon the soul in great 4 glory, which it shall have from the light of God; at which the holy souls do exceedingly rejoice, and expect it with great longing.n7393 ¶358
14. You must know, that every blessed soul trimmeth its lamp, so that it willingly meeteth its bridegroom at the last day: it always reneweth its will, and thinketh how it shall rejoice with all holy men and angels, in its new body in the wonders: there is a continual springing up of joy in them, when they think of that which is to come, each as its virtues are.n7393 ¶359
1 Or old body.n7393 ¶360
3 the first image.n7393 ¶361
4 clarity, transfiguration, or brightness.n7393 ¶362
15. And as their works have been different upon earth, so also is their hope: for, a day-labourer, who hath wrought much, rejoiceth at his wages; so also here; there is a friendly essence among them, and in them.n7393 ¶363
16. All the scorn and disgrace which was put upon them that were innocent, is a great triumphant glory to them, in that they have suffered in innocency, and put on in hope the patience which they, moreover, still have [on]; death cannot take it away, nor put it off, but the soul taketh that with it which it hath 1 conceived.n7393 ¶364
17. Its many hearty prayers, wishes, and good deeds in love to its neighbour, are its food which it eateth, and joyfully enjoyeth, till its new body shall eat paradisical fruit.n7393 ¶365
18. But they who have put on the divine body here, they eat at God's table without ceasing; yet the paradisical fruit belongeth to the body of the wonders, which shall arise out of the grave, and which was created in paradise; for it was made out of the beginning, and it bringeth the end with the 2 wonders into the beginning again.n7393 ¶366
1 Or wrought.n7393 ¶367
19. But wonder not, nor think that we understand it so, though we seem to speak of two bodies of the holiest saints; for they are not two, but one: But consider that God's essentiality filleth all, and that is the divine body, which is put upon the 1 holy souls, even in this life.n7393 ¶368
20. For they cast their will into God's will, and so they receive the divine body which filleth all things: their will dwelleth in the divine body, and eateth of Gods word, of God's fruit, of God's 2 virtue, in the divine body; and Christ is in God; God is become Christ.n7393 ¶369
21. And so they 3 wear Christ's body in God, and yet wait for their first Adamical holy body, with the 4 wonders, which shall be put upon them with paradisicaln7393 ¶370
22. For God's purpose must stand; he created the first body 6 for paradise; it should have continued there eternally, and it must go thither again: and the soul must remain upon the cross of the Ternary, in the mouth of God, whence it came: and yet the whole person continueth with body and soul in one another; but God filleth all in all.n7393 ¶371
23. 0! that we had but a human pen, and were able to write it in the spirit of your soul, according to our knowledge: 0! how many would then return out of Sodom and Gomorrah, out of Babel, out of the covetous, proud valley of misery, which is but anguish and pain, full of fear, vexation and horror!n7393 ¶372
24. And here we shall let you know, that you may deeply consider it, what is the lamentable and miserable condition of the damned souls, and what they have to expect, and but briefly, seeing the following Question doth it at large.n7393 ¶373
1 great holy souls.n7393 ¶374
3 Or are clothed with.n7393 ¶375
4 Viz. the works and deeds which were done by the elementary body, during the whole life.n7393 ¶376
6 Or in.n7393 ¶377
25. Their expectation is like that of an imprisoned malefactor, who continually listeneth (when anything stirreth) when the executioner should come and execute judgment, and give him his reward: just so do they.n7393 ¶378
26. They have a false conscience, which gnaweth them; their sins are set continually before them: they also see their works magically; they see all their unrighteousness and vanities, their unmeasurable pride and haughtiness; they see the oppression of the poor; their scorning and suppression of them.n7393 ¶379
27. Their false confidence flieth from them, their hypocrisy was only a deceitful glass; it reached not the Heart of God; it standeth visibly before them in the magic, viz. in their will; but when they search therein, they stir up the turba of the fire, which will always consume the glass, and then they are in fear and horror.n7393 ¶380
28. For they see and know that all must be tried at the last day, by the eternal fire of God's anger; and they feel very well that their works will stay in the fire.n7393 ¶381
29. The devils also exceedingly tremble when they consider their fall, which rests in God's judgment what he will do; of which the Holy Scripture telleth us plainly enough, especially the Judge Christ himself.n7393 ¶382
30. Thus know, that the totally miserable condition of the damned is, that when they should trim their lamps to meet the bridegroom at his coming, they tremble, and smother all their works, which the turba nevertheless sets before their eyes.n7393 ¶383
31. But now those souls that are damned in a high degree are very presumptuously bold, they reject God, and curse him, and are his l worst enemies.n7393 ¶384
32. They hold their cause to be just, they oppose God with daring impudency, and think, Is there fire? so are we fire: Is there 2 source? then we will climb up above God, and heaven, in the source of the fire; what care we for humility, we will have the strength and might of the fire, we will be above God, and do wonders by ourn7393 ¶385
33. We have the root, God hath but the glance: let us be lords, God shall be servant; our 3 mother is his life, we will overthrow his strong tower at once.n7393 ¶386
34. They have the mind of soldiers that scale forts and walls, and think the city is theirs, though indeed they lose their lives and never get it.n7393 ¶387
35. You must understand that hell is against heaven, and the inhabitants thereof against the inhabitants of heaven; and this in God is also a great wonder; all maketh for his glory.n7393 ¶388
1 most malicious.n7393 ¶389
2 rising, boiling properties.n7393 ¶390
3 The wrath of the eternal nature.n7393 ¶391