Three Principles of the Divine Essence
Chapter 13: Of the Creating of Woman out of Adam. The fleshly, miserable, and dark Gate.
I CAN scarce write for Grief, but seeing it cannot be otherwise, therefore we will for a While wear the Garment of the Woman, but yet live in the Virgin; and although we receive [or suffer] much Affliction in the [Garment of the] Woman, yet the Virgin will recompence it well enough. And thus we must be bound with the Woman till we send her to the Grave, and then she shall be a Shadow and a Figure; and the Virgin shall be our Bride and precious Crown. She will give us her Pearl and Crown, and cloath us with her Ornaments, for which we will give the Venture for the Lily's sake. And though we shall raise a great Storm, and though Antichrist tear away the Woman from us, yet the Virgin must continue with us, because we are married to her; let every one take its own, and then I shall have that which is mine.
Now when Adam was thus in the Garden of Eden, and the three Principles having produced such a Strife in him, his Tincture was quite wearied, and the Virgin departed. For the Lust- Spirit in Adam had overcome, and therefore he sunk down into Blood, and his strong Virtue [or Power] became Bones; and then the Virgin went into her Ether and Shadow, yet into the heavenly Ether, into the Principle of Virtue [or Power,] and there waits upon all the Children of Adam, [expecting] whether any will receive her for their Bride again, by the i new Birth.
But what now was God to do? He had created Adam out of his eternal Will; and because it could not now be, that Adam should generate out of himself the Virgin in a paradisical Manner, therefore God put the Fiat of the great World into the Midst. For Adam was now fallen khome again to the Fiat as a half broken Person. Now therefore seeing he was half killed by his own Lust and Imagination, that he might live, God must help him again; and if he be now to generate a Kingdom, then there must be a Woman, as all other Beasts [have a Female] for Propagation: The angelical Kingdom in Adam was gone; therefore now there must be 1 a Kingdom of this World.
Then what was it that God now did with Adam? Moses says, When Adam slept, he took one of his Ribs, and [made or] built a Woman of it, (viz. of the Rib which he took from Man,) and closed up the Place with Flesh. Now Moses has wrote very right: But who is it that can understand him here? If I did not know the first Adam in his virgin-like Form in Paradise, then I had been at a Stand, and should have known no other than that Adam had been made Flesh and Blood of a Lump of Earth, and his Wife Eve of his Rib and hard Bones; which before the Time [of my Knowledge] has oft seemed very strange and wonderful to my Thoughts, when I have read the Glosses upon Moses, that so [high or] deep learned Men should write so of it: Some of them will dare to tell of a Pit in the [Orient or] East Country, out of which Adam should be taken and made as a Potter makes
If I had not considered the Scripture, which plainly says, Whatsoever is born of Flesh is Flesh; also, Flesh and Blood shall not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven; also, None goeth into Heaven, but the Son of Man, (viz. the pure Virgin) which came from Heaven, and which is in Heaven; which was very helpful to me [to think] that the Child of the Virgin was the Angel, which has restored again all that which was lost in Adam, for God brought again in the Woman (in her virgin-like Body) the virgin Child, which Adam should generate; and now if I had not considered the Text in Moses, (where God says, It is not good that Man should be alone, we will make a Help for him,) I should yet have stuck in the Will of the Woman.
But that Text says; God looked upon all that he had made, and behold, it was all very good: Now if it were good in the Creation, then it must needs have become evil when God said [afterwards,] It is not good for Man to be alone. If God would have had them like all Beasts to have bestial Propagation, he would at one and the same. Instant [at first] have made a Man and a Woman. But that God did abominate [the bestial Propagation,] it appeared plainly in the first Child of the Woman, Cain the Murderer of his Brother, also the Fruit [or the Curse] of the Or a propagated Generation. Earth shows it plainly enough. But what shall I spend the Time for, with these Testimonies? The Proof of it will clearly follow. And it is to be proved, not only in the Scripture, which yet makes it, and not spend our Labour about vain and unprofitable Things.
Now thus says Reason; What are then the Words of Moses concerning the Woman? To which I say; Moses has written right, but I (living thus P in the Woman) understand it not right. Moses indeed had a brightened [or glorified Face or] Countenance, but he must hang a Vail before it, so that none could see his Face. But when the Son of the Virgin q, viz. the Virgin [Wisdom] came, he looked him in the Face, and put the Vail away.
Then Reason asks; What was the Rib [taken] out of Adam to be [made] a Woman? The Gate of the Depth. Behold, the Virgin shows us this, that when Adam was overcome, and the Virgin passed into her Ether, then the Tincture (wherein the fair Virgin had dwelt) became earthy, weary, feeble, and weak; for the powerful Root of the Tincture, from whence it had its Potency without any Sleep or Rest (viz. the heavenly Matrix, which contains Paradise and the Kingdom of Heaven) withdrew in Adam, and went into its Ether.
Reader, understand [and consider] it right; the Deity (viz. the fair Virgin) is not destroyed and come to nothing; that cannot be; only she is remaining in the divine Principle; and the Spirit, or the Soul of Adam, is with its own proper Worm remaining in the third Principle of this World: But the Virgin, viz. the divine Virtue [or Power] stands in Heaven, and in Paradise, and beholds herself in the earthly Quality of the Soul, viz. in the Sun, and not in the Moon; understand in the highest Point of the Spirit of this World, where the Tincture is most noble and clear, from whence the Mind of Man exists.
And she would fain return again into her Place to her Bridegroom, if the earthly Flesh, with the earthly Mind and Senses [or Thoughts did not hinder, or] were not in the Way, for the Virgin does not go into them, she will not be bound [-to, or] in the earthly Center; she finishes the whole Time (while the Woman lives in her Stead) of her Speculation with Longing and much Calling, Admonishing and hearty Seeking: But [to] the Regenerate she appears in a high triumphing Manner, in the Center of the Mind; [she] also often dives into the Tincture of the Blood of the Heart, whereby the Body with the Mind and Senses comes to tremble and triumph so highly, as if it were in Paradise; it also presently gets a paradisical Will.
And there the noble Grain of Mustard-Seed is sown, of which Christ says; That it is at first small, and afterwards groweth to be like a great Tree; so far [or so long] as the Mind perseveres in the Will. But the noble Virgin stays not continually, for her Birth is [of a] higher [Descent;] and therefore she dwells not in earthly Vessels; but she sometimes visits her Bridegroom at a Time when he is desirous of her: Although she always with Observance prevents and calls him, before he [calls] her, which is only understood in the Lily. This the Spirit speaks in a high and worthy Seriousness, therefore observe it, ye Children of God, the Angel of the great Council comes in the Valley of Jehosaphat with a golden Charter, which he sells for Oil without Money; W7hosoever comes shall have it.
Now when the Tincture was become thus earthy and feeble, by the Overcoming of the Spirit of the great World, then it could not generate [in a] heavenly [Manner,] and was also possessed with Inability; and then the Council of God stood there, and said; seeing he is become earthly, and is not able [to propagate,] we will make a Help for him; and the Fiat stood in the Center, and severed the Matrix from the Limbus: And the Fiat took a Rib in the Midst of Adam out of his right Side, and created a Woman out of it.
But you must clearly understand [or conceive,] that when the Fiat to the Creating [of the Woman] was in Adam, in his Sleep, his Body had not then such hard Grisles and Bones: O no; that came to pass first when Mother Eve did bite the Apple, and also gave to Adam; only the Infection and the earthly Death, with the fainting and mortal Sickness, stuck in them; the Bones and Ribs were yet Strength and Virtue, from which the Ribs should come to be.
But you must highly and worthily understand [and consider,] how it was taken out [of his Side,] not as a Spirit, but wholly in Substance: Thus it may be said, that Adam did get Yet there is some Difference in the Spirit; for the Woman bears the Matrix, and Adam the Limbus or Man; and they two are one Flesh, undivided in Nature, for now they two together must generate one Man again, which one alone could do before. A pleasant Gate.
We being here in describing the Corruptibility of Adam, the Spirit frames in our Thoughts a heavenly Mystery, concerning Adam's Rib, which the Fiat took from him, and made a Woman of it; which [Rib] Adam afterwards must want; for the Text in Moses rightly says, God closed up the Place with Flesh.
But now the Wrath of the Serpent has so brought it to pass, that Adam is fallen in the Lust, and yet the Purpose of God must stand; for Adam must rise again at the Day of the Resurrection wholly and unbroken in the first Image, as he was created. So likewise the Serpent and the Devil have brought it about, that so terrible a Rent is made in him.
Wherefore the Spirit shows us, that as little as the Worm or Spirit of the Soul could be helped, except that the Virgin came, and went into Death in the Worm in the Abyss of the Spirit of the Soul (which in its own Abyss reaches the Gate of Hell and the fierce Anger of God) and regenerate him anew, and make him a new Creature in the first Image, which is done in the Son of the Virgin, in Christ; so little also could Adam's Rib, and his hollow Side, where it stood, be helped [healed] or brought to Perfection, except that the second Adam (Christ) suffered himself in the Virgin to be wounded [pierced or cut] in the same Place, that his precious Blood might come to help the first Adam, and repair his broken Side again; this of high and precious Worth we speak according to our Knowledge; which when we shall write of the Suffering and Death of Christ the Son of the Virgin, we will so clear it, that thou, O thirsty Soul, shalt find a living Fountain, which shall be little beneficial to the Devil. Further concerning the Woman.
Reason asks: Is Eve merely created out of the Rib [taken] out of Adam? Then she should be far inferior to Adam. No, beloved Reason, it is not so; the Fiat (being a sharp Attracting) took from Adam of all Essences and Properties of every Virtue, but it took from him no more Members in Substance; for the Image should be a Man, after a masculine Kind in the Limbus, yet not at all with this Deformity. Understand it rightly in the Ground, he should be, and (he was also,) a Man, and he had a virgin-like Heart, wholly chaste in the Matrix.
Therefore Eve was for certain created out of all Adam's Essences, and so Adam thereupon had a great Rent; and so likewise the Woman might come to her Perfection to [be] the Image of God; and this again shows a great Mystery, whereby the Virgin very preciously witnesses again, that the Son of the Virgin has not only suffered his Side to be pierced through, and shed his Blood out of the Hole of his Side, but he has also suffered his Hands and Feet to be struck through, and a Crown of Thorns to be pressed upon his Head, so that the Blood gushed out from thence; and in his Body he endured to be whipped, so that his Blood run down all over. So very lowly has the Son of the Virgin debased himself, to a help the sick and broken Adam, and his weak and imperfect Eve, to repair them and bring them again into the first Glory,
Therefore you must know for certain, that Eve was created out of all Adam's Essences. But there were no more Ribs nor Members broken from Adam; which appears by the Feebleness and Weakness of the Woman, and also by the Command of God, who said; Thy Will shall be in Subjection under thy Man [or Husband,] and he shall be thy Lord [or Ruler.] Because the Man is whole and perfect, except a Rib, therefore the Woman is a Help for him, and must help him to do his Work in Humility and Subjection; and the Man must know that she is very weak, being cut of his Essences; he must help her in her Weakness, and love her as his own Essences: In like Manner the Woman must put her Essences and Will into [the Essences and Will] of the Man, and be friendly towards her Man [or Husband;] that the Man may take Delight in his own Essences in the Woman; and that they two might be but one only Will. For they are one Flesh, one Bone, one Heart, and generate Children in one [only] Will, which are neither the Man's nor the Woman's alone, but of both together, as if they were from one only Body. And therefore the severe Commandment of God is set before the Children, that they should with Earnestness and Subjection honour their Father and Mother, upon Pain of temporary and eternal Punishment: Of which I will write concerning the Tables of Moses. Concerning the Propagating of the Soul. The Noble Gate.
The Mind has from the Beginning of the World had so very much to do about this Gate, and has continually so searched therein, that I cannot reckon the wearisome Heap of Writers [about it.] But in the Time of the Lily this Gate shall flourish as a Bay-Tree [or Laurel- Tree;] for its Branches will get Sap from the Virgin, and therefore will be greener than Grass, and whiter than the [whitest] Roses, and the Virgin will bear the pleasant Smell thereof upon her pearly Garland, and it will reach into the Paradise of God.
Seeing then the Mystery presents itself to us, therefore we will open the Blossom of the Sprout: Yet we would not have our Labour given to the Wolves, Dogs, or Swine, which root in our Garden of Delight, like [wild] Boars, but to those that seek, that the sick Adam may be comforted.
Now if we will search after the Tincture, what it is in its highest Degree, we shall find the a Spirit: For we cannot say, that the Fire is the Tincture, nor the Air neither. For the Fire is wholly contrary to the Tincture; and the Air stifles it; it is a very pleasant Refreshment; its Root, out of which is generated, is indeed the Fire: But if I may rightly mention the Seat where it sits, I cannot say otherwise, but that it is between the three Principles, viz. [between] the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Hell, and the Kingdom of this World, in the Midst, and [it] has none [of the three] for its own, and yet it is generated from all three: And it has as it were a several Principle, which yet is no Principle, but a bright pleasant Habitation. Neither is itself the Spirit, but the Spirit dwells in it, and it so renews the Spirit, that fit becomes clear and visible. Its true Name is Wonderful, and none can name [that Name,] but he to whom it is given, he names it only in himself, and not without [or outwardly,] it has no Place of its Rest in the Substance, and yet rests continually in itself, and gives Virtue and Beauty to all Things, as the in this World; and it is not the Thing itself, though indeed it works in the Thing, and makes the Thing grow and blossom, and yet it is found really [to be] in all Things, and it is the Life and Heart of all Things, but it is not the Spirit which is generated out of the Essences.
The Tincture is the pleasant Sweetness and Softness in a fragrant Herb and Flower, and the Spirit thereof is bitter and harsh, and if the Tincture were not, the Herb would get neither Blossom nor Smell; it gives to all Essences Virtue to grow. It is also in Metals and Stones; it makes that the Silver and Gold grow, and without it [the Tincture,] there is nothing in this World could grow. Among all the Children in Nature, [it only] is a Virgin, and has never generated any Thing out of itself; neither can it generate, and yet it makes that all Things impregnate. It is the most hidden Thing, and also the most manifest; it is a Friend of God, and a Play-fellow of Virtue; it suffers itself to be detained by nothing, and yet it is in all Things; but if any Thing be done to it against the Right of Nature, then it flies [away] and that very easily: It stands not fast, and yet it continues immoveable; it continues in no Kind of Decaying of any Thing; all the while that it stands in the Root of Nature, not altered nor destroyed, so long it continues. It lays no Burden upon any Thing, but it eases the Burden in all Things; it makes that all Things rejoice, and yet it generates no shouting i Noise; but the Voice comes out of the Essences, and becomes loud in the Spirit.
The Way to it is very near; whosoever finds that [Way] dares not to reveal it, neither can he, for there is no Language that can express it: And although any seek long after kit, if the Tincture will not, he cannot find it; nevertheless it meets them that seek after it right, in its own Way [or Manner,] as its Nature is, with a virgin-like Mind, not being [prone] to Covetousness and [Wantonness or] Voluptuousness; it suffers itself to be imprinted [represented or imagined] in a Thing, (where it was not before) by Faith, if it be right in a virgin-like Manner: It is powerful, and yet does nothing; when it goes out of a Thing, it comes not into it again, but it stays in its Ether, it never breaks [or corrupts] more, and yet does grow.
Now you will say, this must be God! No, it is not God, but it is God's Friend. Christ said; My Father works, and I work also; but it works not; it is in a Thing imperceptibly, and yet it may well be overpowered and used; especially in Metals, there it can (if itself be pure) make pure Gold of Iron, and of Copper; it can make a little grow to be a great deal, and yet it puts forth nothing. Its Way is as subtle as the Thoughts of a Man, and the Thoughts do even arise from thence.
And therefore when a Man sleeps, so that the Tincture rests, then there are no Thoughts in the Spirit; but the Constellation Air, or Receptacle. rumbles in the Elements, and beats into the Brains what shall (through their Operation) come to pass, which yet is often broke again by another Conjunction, so that it comes not to effect; besides, it can show nothing exactly, except it comes by a Conjunction of Planets and fixed Stars, and that only goes forward, but it represents all [in an] earthly [Manner,] according to the Spirit of this World; so that where the syderial Spirit should speak of Men, it often speaks of Beasts, and continually represents the Contrary; as the earthly Spirit fancies from the starry Spirit, so he dreams.
Seeing now we have spoken of the Tincture, as of the House of the Soul, so we will speak also of the Soul, what it is, and how it can be propagated, wherein we can the better bring the Tincture to P Light. The Soul is not so subtle as the Tincture; but it is powerful and has great Might [or Ability.] It can by the Tincture (if it rides upon the Virgin's Bride-chariot in the Tincture) turn Mountains upside-down, as Christ said; which is done in the pure Faith, in the Place where the Tincture is Master, which does it, and the Soul.gives the Thrust, whereas yet no Power can be discerned. Even as the Earth moves upon the heavenly Tincture, whereas there is not more than one only Tincture in the Heaven, and in this World, yet [it is] of many Sorts, according to the Essence of every Thing. In the Beasts it is not as in Men, also not in Fishes as in Beasts; also in Stones and Gems otherwise; also otherwise in Angels, and in the Spirit of this World.
But in God, Angels, and in the virgin-like Souls (understand pure Souls) it is alike; where yet it is only for God. The Devil has also a Tincture, but a false One (and it stands not in the Fire) wherewith he can gripe that Man in the Heart that lets him in, as a [sly soothing] flattering false Thief, that insinuates himself, desiring to steal, concerning whom Christ warns us, that we should watch.
And now if we will speak of the Soul, and of its Substance and Essences, we must say that it is the roughest [Thing] in Man; for it is the Originality of the other Substances [or Things.] It is fiery, harsh, bitter, and strong, and it resembles a great [and] mighty Power, its Essences are like Brimstone: Its Gate or Seat out of the eternal Originality is between the fourth and the fifth Form in the eternal Birth, and in the unbeginning Band, of the strong Might of God the Father, where the eternal Light of his Heart (which makes the second Principle) generates itself, and if it wholly loses the bestowed Virgin of the divine Virtue [or Power] (out of which the Light of God generates itself, which is given to the Soul to be its Pearl, as is mentioned above) then it becomes, and is a Devil, like all other [Devils] in Essences, Form, and in Quality also.
But if it puts its Will forward into Meekness (viz. into the Obedience of God) then it is in the Source [or of the Quality and Property] of the Heart of God, and receives divine Virtue, and then all its rough Essences become angelical and joyful; and then its rough Essences are very serviceable to it, and are better and more profitable to it, than that it were altogether sweet in the Originality; in which [being sweet] there would be no Strength, nor such mighty Power as in the harsh, bitter, and fiery [Essences.]
For the Fire in the Essence comes to be a a soft meek Light, and is nothing else but a zealous [or eager] Kindling of the Tincture, and the harsh Essence causes that the divine Virtue can draw it to itself, and taste it, for in the [sour or] harsh Essence the Taste does consist, in Nature: In like Manner the bitter Essence serves to [make] the moving rising Joy, Fragrancy and Growing; and out of these Forms the Tincture goes forth, and it is the House of the Soul; as the Holy Ghost [goes forth] from the Father and the Son, so also the Tincture goes forth from the Light of the fiery Soul, and then also from its virtuous [or powerful] Essences, and so it resembles the Holy Ghost, but yet the Holy Ghost of God is a Degree higher; for he goes forth from the Center of the Light wholly in the fifth Form, from the Heart of God, at the End of Nature.
Therefore there is a Difference between the Tincture in Man, and the Holy Ghost; and the bestowed Virgin of the divine Virtue [or Power] dwells in the Tincture of the Soul, [that is] if it be true and faithful; but if [the Soul be] not [faithful] then she departs into her Center, which is not wholly shut up; for there is but half a Birth between, except the Soul passes into the Stock of Harshness and Malice [Evil or Wickedness,] and then there is a whole Birth between. For the Harshness stands in the fourth Form of the Darkness, and the Bitterness in the Fire, between the fourth and fifth Form, as is mentioned before.
Now [Reason's] Question is; How has Eve received the Soul from Adam? Behold, when God's harsh Fiat took the Rib out of Adam, then it attracted out of all Essences also to it, and the Fiat imaged [formed, imagined, or impressed] itself together therein, [that it might] continually and eternally stay therein. But now the Tincture in Adam was not yet extinguished, but the Soul of Adam sat yet wholly with Might and Virtue [or Power] in the Tincture; only the Virgin was departed: And therefore now the Fiat took the Tincture, and the [sour] harsh Essences mingled [or qualified] with the [sour] harsh Fiat; for it, (viz. the Fiat) and the [Sourness or] Harshness in the Essences, are one Kind of Essence.
Thus the Fiat inclined itself now to the Heart of God, and the Essences received the divine Virtue [or Power,] and there sprung up the Blossom in the Fire; and out of the Blossom [sprung] again the Own [proper] Tincture, and thus Eve was a living Soul: And the Tincture filled itself in the Growth (even as it is a Cause of all growing) so that instantly there was a whole Body in the Tincture. For that was possible, they were not yet fallen into Sin, neither were there yet any hard Gristles and Bones.
You must understand [or conceive] it right: Eve got not Adam's Soul, nor Adam's Body, but one only Rib; but she was extracted from the Essences, and got her Soul in her Essences [that were] given her, in the Tincture, and the Body grew for [or to] her in her own sprung-up Tincture, yet in Virtue [or Power;] but the Fiat had already formed [or made] her a Woman. Indeed she was not deformed, but altogether lovely; for she was of a heavenly Kind, in Paradise, yet the i Marks were already also set upon her by the Fiat of the great World; and it could not otherwise be, she must be a Woman for Adam; indeed they were in Paradise. And if they had not eaten of the Tree, and if they had returned to God, then they should have continued in Paradise; but the Propagation must now needs have been after a womanly Manner, and should not have stood [eternally.] For Satan had brought it too far, although he had not suffered himself to be seen, only he strewed Sugar abroad in the Spirit of this World, till at length the lovely Beast laid itself forth upon the Tree as a Flatterer and Liar. The Gate of our Propagation in the Flesh.
As I have mentioned above, the noble Tincture is now henceforth generated thus in a manly [or masculine] and womanly [or feminine] Kind [or Sex,] out of the Soul; the Tincture is so subtle and mighty powerful, that it [can go, or] goes into the Heart of another, into his Tincture; which the devilish bewitching Whores well know; yet they understand not the noble Art, but they use the [false] Tincture of the Devils, and 1 infect many in [their] Marrow and Bones, by their Incantation, for which they shall receive their Wages, with Lucifer, who would fain have raised his Tincture to be above God.
But know that the Tincture is in Mankind somewhat diverse from that in Womankind; for the Tincture in Mankind goes out of the Limbus, or Man, and the Tincture in Womankind goes out of the Matrix. For the Virtue of the Soul frames [imprints, fashions or images] itself not only in the Tincture, but in the whole Body; for the Body grows in the Tincture.
But thus the Tincture is the Longing, the great Desire after the Virgin, which belongs to the Tincture; for it is subtle without Understanding, but it is the divine Inclination, and continually seeks the Virgin, [which is] its Play-fellow; the masculine seeks her in the feminine, and the feminine in the masculine; especially in the delicate Complexion, where the Tincture is most noble, clear, and vigorous; from whence comes the great Desire of the masculine and feminine Sex, so that they always desire to copulate, and the great burning Love, so that the Tinctures mingle together, and [try, prove, or] taste one another with their pleasant Taste; whereas one [Sex] continually supposes that the other has the Virgin.
And the Spirit of the great World now supposes that he has gotten the Virgin; he grasps with his Clutches, and will mingle his Infection with the Virgin, and he supposes that he has the Prize; it shall not now run away from him, he supposes now he will find the Pearl well enough. But it is with him as with a Thief, driven out of a fair Garden of Delight, where he had eaten pleasant Fruit, who comes, and goes round about the inclosed Or Poison. Garden, and would fain eat some more of the good Fruit, and yet cannot get in, but must reach in with his Hand, and yet cannot come at the Fruit notwithstanding; for the Gardener comes, and takes away the Fruit; and thus he must go away empty, and his Lust is changed into Discontent. Thus also it is with him [viz. with the Spirit of this World,] he sows thus in his fiery [or burning] Lust the P Seed into the Matrix, and the Tincture receives it with great Joy, and supposes that to be the Virgin; but the [sour] harsh Fiat comes thereupon, and attracts the same to it, while the Tincture is so well pleased.
Now then the feminine Tincture comes in to aid, and strives for the Child, and supposes that it has the Virgin: And the two Tinctures wrestle both of them for the Virgin, and yet neither of them both has her, and which of the two overcomes, according to that the Fruit gets the Mark of Distinction [or Sex.] But because that the feminine [Tincture] is weak, therefore it takes the Blood also to it in the Matrix, whereby it supposes it shall retain the Virgin. The secret Gate of Women.
Hence I must show the Ground to them that seek; for the Doctor cannot show it him with his Anatomy, and though he should kill a thousand Men, yet he shall not find that [Ground. They only know that Ground,] that have qbeen upon it.
Therefore I will write from the Virgin, which knows well what is in the Woman. She is as subtle as the Tincture. But she has a Life, and the Tincture has none: The Tincture is nothing else but an exulting joyful mighty Will, and a House [or Habitation] of the Soul, and a pleasant Paradise of the Soul, which is the Soul's Propriety [or own Portion] so long as the Soul with its Imagination depends on God.