Three Principles of the Divine Essence
Chapter 12: Of the Opening of the Holy Scripture, that the Circumstances may be highly considered. The golden Gate, which God affords to the last World, wherein the Lily shall flourish [and blossom.]
LOVING Reader, I had need have an angelical Tongue for this Description, and thou an angelical Mind, and then we should well understand one another: But seeing we have them not, therefore we will express the great Deeds of God with the earthly Tongue, according to our [received] Gift and Knowledge, and open the Scripture to the Reader, and give him Occasion to consider further, whereby the Pearl might be sought and found at last; therefore we will work in our Day-labour, according to our Duty, till the Pearl of the Lily be found.
Reason asks, How long was Adam in Paradise before his Fall, and how long did the Temptation last? I cannot tell thee that out of Moses's Description of the Creation, for it is for great Cause concealed: Yet I will show thee the Wonders of God, and P explain them according to the Knowledge that is given me, whereby thou mayest the better learn to consider the Temptation and the Fall of Adam.
Beloved Reason, look into the Glass of the Actions and Deeds of God. When God appeared to Moses in the burning Bush, he said, Pull off the Shoes; for here is a holy Place: What was that? Answer: God showed [Moses] thereby his earthly Birth. For he would give him a Law, wherein Man should live, (if it were possible,) and attain Salvation: But who was it that gave the Law, and commanded Man to live therein? Answer, It was God the Father, out of his Center, and therefore it was done with Fire and Thunder; for there is no Fire and Thunder in the Heart of God, but kind Love.
Hereupon Reason will say, Is not God the Father one [and the same] Essence with the Son? Answer, Yes. [They are] one Essence and Will. By what Means then did he give the Law? Answer, By the Spirit of the great World; because Adam after the Fall, and all Men, lived therein, therefore it must be tried, whether Man could live therein, in Confidence towards God. Therefore he established it with great Wonders [or Miracles,] and gave uit Clarity, [shining Brightness or Glory;] as may be seen in Moses, who had a [glorious bright] shining Face. And when he had chosen to himself this People, he destroyed the Children of Unbelief, and brought them out with Wonders into the Wilderness; and there it was tried whether Men could live in perfect Obedience under this Clarity, [Glory or Brightness.]
What was done there? Answer, Moses was called by God (out from [among] the Children of Israel) up into Mount Sinai, and stayed there forty Days: And then he would try the People whether it was possible for them to put their Trust [or Confidence] in God, that they might be fed with heavenly Bread, that so they might attain Perfection. And there now stood the Mind Majoris mundi, of the great World; and on the contrary, the eternal Mind of God, in Strife one against another; God required Obedience, and the Mind of this World required [or desired] the Pleasure of this transitory Life, as Eating, Drinking, Playing, Dancing; therefore they chose them moreover their Belly-God, a Golden Calf, that they might be free and live without Law,
Here you see again, how the three Principles strove one against another about Man: The Law that was given to Adam in the Garden of Eden broke forth again, and desired to have Obedience; in like Manner, also, the Spirit of strong [Fierceness or] Wrath broke forth again in the false Fruit and Voluptuousness, and sought the corruptible Life, And this Strife now lasted forty Days, before they set up the Calf, and fell [wholly like Adam] from God; so long the Strife of the three Principles continued.
But now when they were fallen away from God, [as Adam was,] then came Moses and Joshua, and saw the Apostacy [or Falling away,] and broke the Tables in Pieces, and led them into the Wilderness; where they must all die, except Joshua and Caleb: For the Clarity [or Brightness] of the Father in the Fire, in the first Principle, could not bring them into the promised Land; and although they did eat Manna, yet it did not help [in] the Trial, only Joshua, and at length JESUS must do it.
And when the Time came, that the true Champion, [or Saviour,] returned again out of Paradise, and became the Child of the Virgin, then the Strife of the three Principles a came again. For there he was again set before the tempting Tree, and he must endure the hard Brunt before the tempting Tree, and stand out the Temptation of the three Principles, which was not possible for the first Adam to do. And there the Strife continued forty Days and forty Nights, just so long as the Strife with Adam in Paradise continued, and not an Hour longer; and then the Champion [or Saviour] overcame. Therefore open your Eyes right, and look upon the Scripture right; although it be brief and obscure [to Reason,] yet it is very true.
You find not in Moses, that Adam was driven out of Paradise the first Day; the Temptation of Israel, and of Christ, informs us quite otherwise. For the Temptation of Christ is to
For Adam was tempted forty Days in Paradise, in the Garden of Eden, before the tempting Tree, [and tried] whether he could stand, whether he could set his Inclination on the Heart of God, and only eat of the Verbum Domini, [the Word of the Lord;] and then [if he had stood,] God would have given him his Body (the heavenly Limbus) to eat, that he should eat it in his Mouth, not into his Body; he should have brought forth the Child of the Virgin out of himself; for he was neither Man nor Woman, [Male nor Female;] he had the Matrix, and also the Man [or masculine Nature] in him, and should have brought forth the Virgin full of Modesty and Chastity out of the Matrix, without rending of his Body.
And here is the Strife in the Revelation of John, where a Woman brought forth a Son, which the Dragon and the Worm would devour; and there stood the Virgin upon the earthly Moon, and despised the Earthiness, and treads it under Feet. And so should Adam also have trodden the Earthiness under Foot, but it overcame him; therefore afterwards the Child of the Virgin (when it had overcome the tempting Tree) must also enter into the first Death of the strong [fierce] Wrath in the Death, and overcome the first Principle.
For he stood forty Days in the Temptation in the Wilderness, where there was no Bread nor Drink, then came the Tempter, and would have brought him from Obedience, and said, He should out of the Stones make Bread; which was nothing else, but that he should leave the heavenly Bread, (which Man receives in Faith and in strong Confidence in God,) and put his Imagination into the Spirit of this World, and live therein.
But when the Child of the Virgin laid the heavenly Bread before him, and said, Man liveth not only from this World, from the earthly Eating and Drinking, then came the second Way [or Kind] of Temptation forth, viz. the Might, [Power, Dominion, and Authority] of this World; the Prince of the Wrath [or strong Fierceness] would give him all the Power of the Stars and Elements, if he would put his Imagination into him, and pray to [or worship] him. That was the right Scourge [or Whip] wherewith Adam was scourged, [viz.] with the Might, Riches, and Beauty of this World, after which at last Adam lusted, and was taken; but the Child of the Virgin laid before him, that the Kingdom was not his, [viz.] belonging to the Prince of the [fierce, strong] Wrath, but [it belonged] to the Word and Heart of God; he must worship God, and serve him only.
The third Temptation was the same into which the Devil also was fallen, with High-mindedness, [or Pride,] when he [Christ] was tempted to have flown from above, from the Pinnacle of the Temple, and should have elevated himself above Humility and Meekness; for the Meekness makes the angry Father, in the Originality, soft and joyful, so that the Deity [thus] becomes a soft and pleasant Essence.
But Lord Lucifer would (in the Creation) have fain been above the Meekness of the Heart of God, above the End of Nature; therefore he would fain also have persuaded the Son of the Virgin to fly without Wings, above the End of Nature, in Pride; of which shall be handled in its due Place at large. I have brought this in thus, but in brief, that my Writing may be the better understood, and how it stands with [or upon] the Ground, [or Foundation] of the Scripture, and is not any new Thing, neither shall there be any Thing new [in them,] but only the true Knowledge, in the Holy Ghost, of the Essence of all Essences. Of Adam 's Sleep.
Adam had not eaten of the Fruit before his Sleep, till his Wife was created out of him; only his Essences and Inclination had eaten of it in the Spirit by the Imagination, and not in the Mouth; and thereupon the Spirit of the great World captivated him, and mightily qualified in him [or infected him.] And then instantly the Sun and Stars wrestled with him, and all the four Elements wrestled so mightily and powerfully, that they overcame him; and [so] he sunk down into a Sleep.
Now to an understanding Man it is very easy to be found and known, that there neither was, nor should be any Sleep in Adam, when he was in the Image of God. For Adam was such an Image as we shall be at the Resurrection of the Dead, where we shall have no Need of the Elements, nor of the Sun, nor Stars, also [of] no Sleep, but our Eyes shall be always open eternally, beholding the Glory of God, from whence will be our Meat and Drink; and the Center in the Multiplicity, or Springing up of the Birth, affords mere Delight and Joy; for God will bring forth out of the Earth into the Kingdom of Heaven no other [Kind of] Man, than [such a one] as the first [was] before the Fall; for he was created out of the eternal Will of God; that [Will] is unchangeable, and must stand; therefore consider these Things deeply.
O thou dear Soul, that swimmest in a dark iLake, incline thy Mind to the Gate of Heaven, and behold what the Fall of Adam has been, which God did so greatly loath, that [because of it] Adam could not continue in Paradise: Behold and consider the Sleep, and so you shall find it all. Sleep is nothing else but an overcoming; for the Sun and the Stars are still in a mighty Strife, and the Element of Water, [viz.] the Matrix, is too weak for the Fire and the Stars, for that [Element] is the [being] overcome in the Center of Nature, as you find before in many Places.
And the Light of the Sun is as it were a God in the Nature of this World, and by its Virtue [and Influence] it continually kindles the Stars [or Constellations] whereby the Stars [or Constellations] (which are of a very terrible and anguishing Essence) continually exult in Triumph very joyfully. For it [the Sun] is an Essence like the Light of God, which kindles and enlightens the dark Mind of the Father, from whence, by the Light, there arises the divine Joy in the Father.
And so it [the Sun] makes a Triumphing, or Rising [to be] in the Matrix of the Water, always like a Seething; for the Stars cast their Virtue [or Influence] in the Matrix of the Water, as being therein; in like Manner also now the Matrix of the Root or Mother, Water is continually seething and rising, from whence comes the Regimen [or Dominion] of the Sun and Stars, and also of the Elements, rules in all Creatures, and it is a Blossom or Bud from them, and without their Power, there would be in this World, in the third Principle, no Life, nor Mobility, in any Manner of Thing, nothing excepted.
But the living Creatures, as Men, Beasts, and Fowls, have the Tincture in them, for in the Beginning they were an Extraction [taken] from the quality of the Stars and Elements by the Fiat. And in the Tincture [there] stands the continual kindling Fire, which continually draws the Virtue or Oleum [the Oil] out of the Water; from whence comes the Blood, in which the noble Life P stands.
Now the Sun and the Stars [or Constellations] continually kindle the Tincture, for it is fiery; and the Tincture kindles the Body, with the Matrix of the Water, so that they are always boiling, [rising] and seething. The Stars [or Constellations] and the Sun are the Fire of the Tincture, and the Tincture is the Fire of the Body, and so all are seething. And therefore when the Sun is underneath, so that its Beams [or Shining] is no more [upon a Thing,] then the Tincture is weaker, for it has no Kindling from the Virtue of the Sun. And although the Virtue of the Stars and the quality are kindled from the Sun, yet all is too little, and so it becomes feeble, [or as it were dead.] And when the Tincture is feeble, then the Virtue in the Blood (which is the Tincture) is wholly weak, and sinks into a sweet Rest, as it were dead or overcome.
But now in the Tincture only is the Understanding, which governs the Mind, and makes the [Thoughts or] Senses; therefore all is as it were dead, and the Constellation now only rules in the Root of the first Principle, where the Deity, like a Glance, [Luster,] or Virtue, works in all Things: There the starry Spirit in the Glance of the Glass of the divine Virtue in the Element of Fire looks into the Matrix of the Water, and sets its Jaws open after the Tincture, but that is void of Power; and therefore he takes the Virtue of the Tincture, (viz. the Mind,) and mingles, [or qualifies] with it, and then the Mind seals the Elements, and works therein Dreams and Visions, all according to the Virtue of the Stars; for it stands in the Working and quality of the Stars; and these are the Dreams and Visions of the Night in the Sleep. The Gate of the highest Depth of the Life of the Tincture.
Though the Doctor, it may be, knows what the Tincture is, yet the Simple and Unlearned do not, who many Times (if they had the Art) have better Gifts and Understanding than the Doctor, therefore I write for those that seek; though indeed I hold, that neither the Doctor, nor the Alchemist, has the Ground of the Tincture, unless he be born again in the Spirit; such a One sees through all, whether he be learned or unlearned; with God the Peasant is as acceptable as the Doctor.
The Tincture is a Thing that separates, and brings the Pure and Clear from the Impure; and that brings the Life of all Sorts of Spirits, or all Sorts of Essences, into its highest [Pitch,] Degree, [or Exaltation.] Yea it is the Cause of the Shining, or of the Luster: It is a cause that all Creatures see and live. But its Form is not one and the same [in every Thing;] it is not in a Beast, as in Man; so also it is different in Stones and Herbs; although it is truly in all Things, yet in some Things strong, and in some weak.
But if we search what it is in Essence and Property, and how it is generated, then we find a very worthy [precious] noble the Fountain of the Deity, which has imprinted itself in all Things. And therefore it is so secret and hidden, and is imparted to the Knowledge of none of the Ungodly, to find it, or to know it. And although it be there, yet a vain, false, [or evil] Mind is not worthy of it, and therefore it remains hidden to him; And God rules all in all incomprehensibly and imperceptibly to the Creature; the Creature passes away it knows not how; and the Shadow and the Figure of the Tincture continues eternally; for it is generated out of the eternal Will: But the Spirit is given to it by the Fiat, according to the Kind of every Creature; also in the Beginning of the Creation it was implanted and incorporated in Jewels, Stones, and Metals, according to the Kind of every One.
It was from Eternity in God, and therefore it is eternally in God. But when God would create a Similitude of his Essence, and that it should be generated out of the Darkness, then it stood in the Flash of Fire that went forth, in the Place where the fifth Form of the Birth of Love generates itself in the Similitude. For it was generated out of the Fountain of the Will, out of the Heart of God, and therefore its Shadow continues in the Will of God eternally; and for the Sake thereof also the Shadow of all Creatures, and of every [Essence,] Substance, [or Thing,] which was ever generated in the Similitude, remains eternally; for it is the Similitude of God, which is generated out of the eternal Will; yet its Spirit continues not eternally in the third Principle of this World; that ceases, or passes away with the Ceasing of the Springing, or the Ceasing of the Life.
For all whatsoever lives in the third Principle, corrupts, [or passes away,] and goes into its Ether and End, till [it comes] to the Figure of the Tincture; and that continues standing eternally as a Shadow or Will, without Spirit or Mobility: But in the second Principle the Tincture continues eternally standing in the Spirit, and in the Substance [or Essence,] all very powerfully, viz. in Angels and Men, as also in the Beginning [or first Springing] of every Substance; for their Center to the Birth is eternally fixed [or steadfast.] Of its [the Tincture' s] Essences and Property. The deep Gate of Life.
Its Essence is the Flash in the Circle [or Circumference] of the Springing of the Life, which in the Water makes the Glance and Shining; and its Root is the Fire; and the Stock is the [sour] Harshness. Now the Flash separates the Bitterness and Harshness from the Water; so that the Water becomes soft, [fluid] and clear, wherein then the Sight of all Creatures does consist, so that the Spirit in the Flash in the Matrix of the Water does see; and the Flash stands therein like a Glance, [or Luster,] and fills the Spirit of the Essences; from which the Essence draws vehemently to itself; for it is the [sour] Harshness, and the Flash continually separates the Darkness from the Light, and the Impure from the Pure; and there now stands the divine Virtue [or Power:] And the divine Glance continually imagines [or imprints] itself in the pure, from which the [sour] strong [Property] is separated out from Nature; and the divine Glance makes the Pure Sweet; for it mingles itself, [or infects] there.
But the Sweetness is like Oil or Fire, wherein the Flash continually kindles itself, so that it shines: But the Oil being sweet, and mingled with the Matrix of the Water, therefore the shining Light is steady, [constant and fixed,] and sweet: But seeing it cannot, in the Nature of the Water, continue to be an Oil only (because of the Infection of the Water) therefore it becomes thick; and the [Nature or] Kind of the Fire colours it red; and this is the Blood and the Tincture in a Creature, wherein the noble Life stands. Of the Death and of the Dying. The Gate of Affliction and of Misery.
Thus the noble Life in the Tincture stands in great Danger, and has hourly to expect the [Corruption, or Destruction, Breaking, or] Dissolution; for as soon as the Blood (wherein the Spirit lives) flows out [or passes away,] the Essence [breaks, or] dissolves, and the Tincture flies away like a Glance or Shadow; and then the source [or Springing up] of the Fire is out, and the Body becomes stiff.
But alas! the Life has many greater and more powerful Enemies; especially the four Elements and the Constellations [or Stars.] As soon as [any] one Element becomes too strong, the Tincture flies from it, and then the Life has its End: if it be overwhelmed with Water, it grows cold, and the Fire goes out, then the Flash flies away like a Glance or Shadow: If it be overwhelmed with Earth, viz. with impure Matter, then the Flash grows dark, and flies away: If it be overwhelmed with Air, that it be stopt, then the Tincture is stifled, and the springing Essences, and the Flash breaks into a Glance, and goes into its Ether. But if it be overwhelmed with Fire or Heat, the Flash is inflamed, and burns up the Tincture, from whence the Blood becomes dark, and swarthy, or black, and the Flash goes out in the Meekness.
O how many Enemies has the Life among the Constellations [or Stars,] which qualify [or mingle their Influence] with the Tincture and Elements. When the Planets and the Stars have their Conjunctions, and where they cast their poisonous Rage into the Tincture, there arises in the Life of the meek Tincture, stinging, tearing, and torturing. For the sweet [or pleasant] Tincture (being a sweet and pleasing Refreshment) cannot endure any impure Thing. And therefore when such poisonous Influences are darted into it, then it resists and continually cleanses itself; but as soon as it is overwhelmed, that it is darkened, then the Flash goes out, the Life breaks, and the Body falls away, and becomes a Cadaver, Carcase, [or dead Corpse;] for the Spirit is the Life.
This I have here shown very briefly and summarily, and not according to all the Circumstances, that it might thereby be somewhat understood [by the Way, what] the Life [is.] In its due Place all shall be explained at large, for herein is very much contained, and there might be great Volumes written of it; but I have set down only this, that the Overcoming and the Sleep might be apprehended. The Gate [or Explanation] of the heavenly Tincture, how it was in Adam before the Fall, and how it shall be in us after this Life.
Great and mighty are these Secrets, and he that seeks and finds them, has surpassing Joy therein; for they are the true heavenly Bread for the Soul. If we consider and receive the Knowledge of the heavenly Tincture, then there rises up the Knowledge of the divine Kingdom, of Joy, so that we wish to be loosed from the Vanity, and to live in this Birth; which yet cannot be, but we must finish our Day's Work.
Reason says; Alas! If Adam had not lusted, he had not fallen asleep: If I had been as he, I would have stood firm, and have continued in Paradise. Yes, beloved Reason, you have hit the Matter well, in thinking so well of thyself! I will show thee thy strength, and the Gate; and do but thou consider how firm thou shouldst stand, if thou didst stand as Adam did before the tempting Tree.
Behold, I give you a true Similitude: Suppose that thou wast a young Man, or young Maid, [or Virgin,] (as Adam was both of them in one [only] Person,) how dost thou think thou shouldst stand? Suppose thus, set a young Man of good Complexion, beautiful, and virtuous; and also a fair chaste modest Virgin, [or young Maid,] curiously featured, and put them together; and let them not only come to speak together, and converse lovingly one with another, but so that they may also embrace one another; and command them not to fall in love together, not so much as in the least Thought, also not to have any Inclination to it, much less any Infection in the Will; and let these two be thus together forty Days and forty Nights, and converse with one another in mere Joy; and command them further, that they keep their Will and Mind steadfast, and never conceive one Thought to desire one another, and not to infect [themselves] with any Essence or Property at all, but that their Will and Inclination be most steadfast and firm to the Command; and that the young Man shall will [and purpose] never to copulate with this, or no other Maid [or Virgin;] and in like Manner, the Maid, [or Virgin] be enjoined the same. Now, thou Reason, full of Misery, Defects, and Infirmities, how do you think you should possibly stand here? Would you not promise fair with Adam? But you would not be able to perform it.
Thus, my beloved Reason, I have set a Gloss before you, and thus it was with Adam. God had created his Work wisely and good, and extracted the one out of the other. The first Ground was himself, out of which he created the World, and out of the World [he created] Man, to whom he gave his Spirit, and intimated to him, that without Wavering, or any other Desire, he should live in him most perfectly.
But now Man had also the Spirit of this World, for he was [come] out of this World, and lived in the World: and Adam (understand the Spirit which was breathed into him from God) was the chaste Virgin; and the Spirit which he had inherited out of Nature, from the World, was the young Man. These were now both together, and rested in one Arm.
Now the chaste Virgin ought to be bent into the Heart of God, and to have no Imagination to lust after the Beauty of the comely young Man; but yet the young Man was kindled with Love towards the Virgin, and he desired to copulate with her; for he said, thou art my dearest Spouse [or Bride,] my Paradise, and Garland of Roses, let me into thy Paradise: I will be impregnated in thee, that I may get thy Essence, and enjoy thy pleasant Love; how willingly would I taste of the friendly Sweetness of thy Virtue [or Power?] If I might but receive thy glorious Light, how full of Joy should I be?
And the chaste Virgin said; Thou art indeed my Bridegroom and my Companion, but thou hast not my Ornament; my Pearl is more a precious than thou, my Virtue [or Power] is incorruptible, and my mind is constant [or stedfast;] thou hast an unconstant Mind, and thy Virtue is corruptible [or brittle.] Dwell in my Court, and I will entertain thee friendly, and do thee much good: I will adorn thee with my ornaments, and I will put my Garment on thee; but I will not give thee my Pearl, for thou art dark, and that is shining and bright.
Then said the Spirit of Nature (viz. the young Man) My fair Pearl and Chastity, I pray thee let me enjoy thy Comfort, if thou wilt not copulate with me, that I may impregnate in thee, yet do but inclose thy Pearl in my Heart, that I may have it for my own. Art thou not my golden Crown? How fain would I taste of thy Fruit.
Then the chaste Spirit out of God in Adam (viz. the Virgin) said; My dear Love, and Companion; I plainly see thy Lust, thou wouldst fain copulate with me; but I am a Virgin, and thou and besides, thou wouldst mingle thy Sourness with my Sweetness, and darken my bright Light; therefore I will not [do so.] I will lend thee my Pearl, and adorn thee with my Garment, but I will not give it dto be thy own.
And the Companion (viz. the Spirit of the World in Adam) said, I will not leave thee, and if thou wilt not let me copulate with thee, then I will take my innermost and strongest Force, and use thee according to my Will, according to the innermost Elements; wherein none will know thee, [and so] thou must be mine eternally: And although (as thou sayest) I am unconstant, and that my Virtue is not like to thine, and my Light not like thine, yet I will keep thee well enough in my Treasure, and thou must be fmy own.
Then said the Virgin; Why wilt thou use Violence? Am I not thy Ornament, and thy Crown? I am bright, and thou art dark; behold, if thou coverest me, then thou hast no Glance [or Luster;] and [then] thou art a dark [dusky or black] Worm: And [then] how can I dwell with thee? Let me alone; I [will] not give myself to be thy own: I will give thee my Ornament, and thou shall live in my Joy, thou shalt eat of my Fruit, and taste my Sweetness; but thou canst not qualify with me; for the divine Virtue is my Essence, therein is my fair [or orient] Pearl, and my bright [shining] Light generated; my Fountain is eternal: If thou darkenest my Light, and defilest my Garment, then thou wilt have no Beauty [or Luster,] and canst not subsist, but thy Worm [will corrupt or] destroy thee, and so I shall lose my Companion, which I had chosen for my Bridegroom, with whom I meant to have rejoiced; and then my Pearl and Beauty would have no i Company: Seeing I have given myself to be thy Companion for my Joy's Sake; if thou wilt not enjoy my Beauty, yet pray continue in my Ornament and Excellence, and dwell with me in Joy, I will adorn thee eternally.
And the young Man said; Thy Ornament is mine already, I [will] use thee according to my Will; in that thou sayest I shall be broken, (corrupted or destroyed,) yet my Worm is eternal, I will rule with that; and yet I will dwell in thee, and cloath thee with my Garments.
And here the Virgin turned her to the Heart of God, and said; My Heart and my Beloved, thou art my Virtue, from thee I am clear and bright, from thy Root I am generated from Eternity; deliver me from the Worm of Darkness which infects, [poisons,] and tempts my Bridegroom, and let me not be darkened in the Obscurity; I am thy Ornament, and am come that thou shouldst have Joy in me: Wherefore then shall I stand with my Bridegroom in the Dark? And the divine Answer said; The Seed of the Woman shall break the Head of the Serpent, or Worm.
Behold, dear Soul, herein lies the heavenly Tincture, which we must set down in a Similitude, and we cannot at all express it with Words. Indeed if we had the Tongue of Angels, we could then rightly express what the Mind apprehends; but the Pearl is cloathed [covered or vailed] with a dark [Cloak or] Garment: The Virgin calls stedfastly to the Heart of God, that he would deliver her Companion from the dark Worm; but the divine Answer still is, The Seed of the Woman shall break the Serpent's Head; that is, the Darkness of the Serpent shall be separated from the Bridegroom; the dark Garment wherewith the Serpent cloaths thy Bridegroom, and darkens thy Pearl and beauteous Crown, shall be broken, [corrupted or destroyed,] and turn to Earth; and thou shalt rejoice with thy Bridegroom in me; this was my eternal Will, it must stand.
Now then when we consider the high Mysteries, the Spirit opens to us the Understanding, that this [before-mentioned] is the true Ground concerning Adam: For his original Spirit (viz. the Soul) that was the Worm, which was generated out of the eternal Will of God the Father, and in the Time of the Creation The Son of God. was by the Fiat (after the Manner of a Spirit) created out of that Place where the Father from Eternity generates his Heart, between the fourth and fifth Form in the Center of God, where the Light of God from Eternity discovers itself, and takes its Beginning, and therefore the Light of God came thus to help him, as a fair Virgin, and took the Soul to be her Bridegroom, and would adorn the Soul with her fair heavenly Crown, with the noble Virtue of the Pearl, and beautify it with her Garment.
Then the fourth Form in the Center of the Soul broke forth there where the Spirit of the Soul was created, [viz.] between the fourth and fifth Form in the Center, near the Heart of God; and so the fourth Form was in the Glance in the Darkness, out of which the World was created, which in its Form parts itself in its Center into the five Parts in its Rising, till [it attains] to the Light of the Sun. For the Stars also in their Center are generated betwixt the fourth and the fifth Form, and the Sun is the P Spring of the fifth Form in the Center; as in the eternal Center, the Heart and the Light of God [is,] which has no Ground; but this [Center] of the Stars and Elements has its Ground in the fourth Form in the dark Mind, in the Rising up of the awakened [or kindled] Flash of the Fire.
Thus the Soul is generated between both the Centers, between the Center of God, (understand [between the Center] of the Heart or Light of God, where it is generated out of an eternal Place,) and also between the [propagated or] out-sprung Center of this World; and it [the Soul] has its Beginning from both, and qualifies with both; and therefore thus it has all three Principles, and can live in all three.
But it was the Law and Will of the Virgin, that as God rules over all Things, and imprints himself every where, and gives Virtue and Life to all, and yet the Thing comprehends him not, although he be certainly there; so also should the Soul stand still, and the Form of the Virgin should govern in the Soul, and crown it with the divine Light; the Soul should be the comely young Man which was created, and the Virtue [or Power] of God [should be] the fair Virgin; and the Light of God [should be] the fair [orient] Pearl and Crown, wherewith the Virgin would adorn the young Man.
But the young Man desired to have the Virgin to be his own, which could not be, because she was a Degree higher in the Birth than he; for the Virgin was from Eternity, and the Bridegroom was given to her, that she should have Joy and Delight with him in God.
But now when the young Man could not obtain this of the Virgin, then he reached back after the Worm in his own Center. For the Form of this World pressed very powerfully upon him, which also was in the Soul, and [this Form] would fain have had the Virgin to be its own, that he might make her his Wife (as was done in the Fall; yet the Wife was not from the Pearl, but out of the Spirit of this World;) for it (viz. the Nature of this World) continually groans [or longs] after the Virgin, that it might be delivered from Vanity; and it means to qualify [or mingle] with the Virgin; but that cannot be, for the Virgin is of a higher Birth.
And yet when this World shall break in Pieces, and be delivered from the Vanity of the Worm, it shall not obtain the Virgin; but it must continue without Spirit and Worm, under its own Shadow, in a fair and Sweet Rest, without any Wrestling, [Struggling,] or Desiring: For thereby it comes into its highest Degree and Beauty, and ceases [or rests] eternally from its Labour. For the Worm which here torments it, goes into its own Principle, and no more touches the Shadow nor the Figure of this World to Eternity, and then the Virgin governs with her Bridegroom.
My beloved Reader, I will set it you down more plainly; for every one has not the Pearl, to apprehend the Virgin; and yet every one fain would know, how the Fall of Adam was. Behold, as I mentioned just now, the Soul has all the three Principles in it; viz. the most inward, [which is] the Worm or Brimstone- Spirit, and the Source, according to which it is a Spirit; and then [it has] the divine Virtue, which makes the Worm meek, bright, and joyful, according to which the Worm or Spirit, is an Angel, like God the Father himself, (understand in such a Manner and Birth;) and then also it has the Principle of the World; wholly undivided in one another, and yet none [of the three Principles] comprehends the other, for they are three Principles, or three Births.
Behold, the Worm is the eternal, and in itself peculiarly [a Principle,] the other two [Principles] are given to it, each by a Birth; the one to the right, the other to the left. Now it is possible for it to lose both the Forms and Births that are given to it; for if it reaches back into the strong, [or tart Power, or] Might of the Fire, and becomes false to the Virgin, then she departs from it, and [she] continues as a Figure in the Center, and then the Door of the Virgin is shut.
Now if thou wilt [turn] to the Virgin again, then thou must be born anew through the Water in the Center, and [through] the Holy Ghost; and then thou shalt receive her again with greater Honour and Joy; of which Christ said; There will be more Joy in Heaven for one Sinner that repenteth, than for ninety and nine Righteous, who need no Repentance; so very gloriously is the poor Sinner received again of the Virgin, that ait must no more be a Shadow, but a living and understanding Creature, and [an] Angel of God. This joy none can express, only a regenerate Soul knows it; which the Body understands not; but it trembles, and knows not what is done to it.
These two Forms, or Principles, the Worm loses at the Departing of the Body; although indeed it continues in the Figure, which yet is but of a Serpent, and it is a Torment to it, that it was an Angel, and is now a horrible fierce poisonous Worm and Spirit; of which the Scripture says, That the Worm of the Wicked dieth not, and their Plague [Torment or Source] continues eternally. If the Worm had had no angelical and human Form, then its Source [Torment or Plague] would not have been so great; but that causes it to have an eternal anxious Desire, and yet it can attain nothing; it knows the Shadow of the Glory [it had,] and can never more live therein.
This therefore in Brief is the Ground of what can be spoken of the Fall of Adam, in the highest Depth. Adam has lost the which is a ecagastrish Person, and the Virgin waits still continually for him [to see] whether he will step again into the new Birth, and then she will receive him again with great Glory. Therefore, thou Child of Man, consider thyself; I write here what I certainly know, and he that has seen it witnesses it; or else I also should not have known it.