Three Principles of the Divine Essence
Chapter 20: Of Adam and Eve's going forth out of Paradise, and of their entering into this World. And then of the true Christian Church upon Earth, and also of the Antichristian Cainish Church.
HERE we shall not be acceptable to the Antichrist, much less to his stout Horse [or stately Beast.] But seeing it thus appears to us in the Wonder, we will describe it for a Memorial to ourselves, and behold how the Beginning and End of every Thing is, that we also (in our Combat) may labour in the Gate of the Deep: although it is plain that we have nothing else to expect, in this World, for this Revelation [or Manifestation,] from Antichrist and his Beast, but Scorn, [Contempt,] Disgrace, and Danger of our temporal Life, yet we comfort ourselves with the eternal Conquest in our Saviour Christ, wherein we have to expect our great Recompense, the Glimpse of which appears to us here, a in the great Wonder; for which Cause we will proceed, and not look upon this World, but esteem that which is to come greater than all.
Our Writing also will serve in its due Time, when the a noble Rose-bud, which at present (because of the great Darkness in Babel) cannot be known; but there is a Time, wherein it shall stand according to its Spirit.
Now if we here discover the Antichrist, the Devil (gin his Beast) will mightily resist us, and cry out upon us, as if we would stir up [Sedition,] Tumults and Uproars; but that is not true. Do but earnestly consider what a Christian is; it belongs not to him to make Uproars, for he is a Sheep, in the Midst among Wolves, and must be in the Form and Mind of a Sheep, and not of a Wolf.
Though indeed the Spirit of God (in Zeal and in the great Might of the Father) arms many in the Fierceness [or Wrath,] as may be seen by Elias; where sometimes the Sword of the Wrath of God is given to the Angel, for the Slaying of Baal's Priests in Babel by Elias. Also, where Moses broke the Tables, and employed the Sword against the Sin of the Worshippers of the Calf; which neither Moses does, nor Elias; but the Fire of the Wrath of God by Elias on the Mount.
Now when God the Lord had pronounced Adam and Eve's Sentence, about their earthly Misery, Labour, Cares, and hard Burden, which they must bear, and [that he had confirmed them] Husband and Wife, and also bound them in the Oath of Wedlock, to keep together as one [only] Body, and to love and help one another, as the Members of one [and the same] Body, they were then wholly naked, they stood and were ashamed of their earthly Image, and especially of the Members of their Shame; also [they were ashamed] of the i Excrement of the Earthly Food of their Bodies, for they saw that they had a bestial Condition, according to the outward Body with all its Substance; also Heat and Cold fell upon them, and the chaste Image of God was extinct; and now they must propagate after a bestial Manner.
And then God the Lord, through the Spirit of this World, made them Clothes of the Skins of Beasts, and put those on them through the Spirit of this World, that they might see, that (according to this [outward] World) they were Beasts; and [he] taught them how they should seek the Wonders, in the Spirit of this World, and manifest them, and clothe themselves out of the Wonders.
And here it may be seen very perfectly, that Man in this World is not at Home, but he is come into it as a Guest, and has not brought the Clothes of this World with him, as all other Creatures that are at Home therein do, but must borrow Clothing from the Children of the Stars and Elements, and must cover himself with strange Cloathing, which he brought not along with him when he entered into the Spirit of this World, with which he struts like a proud Bride, and shows himself, supposing that he is very fine and brave in it; and yet it is but borrowed from the Spirit of this World, which in its due Time takes it away again, and lends it him but for a While, and then consumes it again.
And this is done to the End (because the Spirit of this World continually seeks the noble Virgin of the divine Wisdom, and knows that she is in Man) that Man should seek the great Or from the Creatures of the four Elements. Wonders that are in mit, and bring them to Light: mlt still supposes, that it shall through Man bring the noble Tincture to light, that the Paradise might appear, and that it might be freed from Vanity.
For the holy Element continually longs, [or groans] through the four Elements, to be released from the Vanity of the four Elements; in like Manner also the Qualifying [or Influence] of the grim [Constellations or] Stars [labours;] and therefore it drives Man to seek such wonderful Forms [or Ways,] that the eternal Wonders of God might be manifested, which (in the Breaking of the World) shall stand all (in the P Figure) in the Shadow.
Therefore all Arts and Sciences, [or Trades,] are (through the starry Spirit of this World) from God, manifested in Man, that they may appear in Wonders; and to that End God created this World, that his Wonders might be made manifest; and therefore God permitted, that Man is entered into the Spirit of this World, that he might manifest his Wonders through him. Yet he desires also that he should not misuse this World, but that he should go again out of this World into him; he desires that Man should be where he is. And therefore he instantly showed Adam and Eve their monstrous Form, by the bestial Cloathing which he put on them, per Spiritum majoris Mundi, [by the Spirit of the great World.]
But now if Adam had continued in Paradise, he should have been able to manifest the Wonders much better, for they should have been much nearer to the Form of Angels, and such great Sins and Abominations had not been brought to Effect with umany, as is usually done now.
But the Spirit of the Grimness [or Fierceness] in the eternal Source [or working Property] would also be manifested, and open its Wonders; of which much may not be written, for it is a Mysterium [Mystery or hidden Secret] that belongs not to us to open, though indeed we have the Knowledge of it; let it stay till the Time of the Lily, wherein then the Rose will blossom, and then the Thorns in Babel will not prick us.
When the Chains of the Driver are broken, and the thorny Bush is burnt, then one may go more safely by the Thorns of the Burner; and then this Mysterium [or hidden Secret] may well stand in the Light; for it is great and wonderful, and reaches into the Gate of the Father.
The Rose-branch in the Wonders will understand us well; but Babel is not worthy of it. She seeks nothing but the Thorns, and loves to strike with them; therefore we will give the Driver no Cause [to do so,] but rather let these Mysteries stand for the Children of the Lily-Rose; they are a wise, and have the noble Tincture in the Light; the Luster of the Driver will be no more so esteemed, for the Guests of this World have that [Government] in Hand.
Thy proud Horse [or Beast,] thou shameful Whore, shall ride no longer alone over the bended Knees; in that Time it will no more be said, The Power [Might or Authority] sticks in my Chest of Money; that Mineral [or Metal] becomes a Blossom in the Light; and the Tincture stands in the Blossom of the Lily; Stones are of as much worth [as that Metal is;] the Clothing of the Virgin is brighter than thy Pride. How finely does the Ornament of this World stand on Modesty and the Fear of God, if the Heart be humble? How does thy silken and golden Clothes adorn thee? Dost thou not appear in God's Deeds of Wonder? Who will call thee a false Woman, if thou be so very chaste? Dost thou not stand to the Honour of the Great God? Art thou not his Work of Wonder? Is there not a friendly laughter before thee? Who can say that thou art a wrathful Woman? Thy modest Countenance shines over Mountains and Valleys. Art thou not at the End of the World, and [will not] thy Glance [or Luster] be espied in Paradise? Wherefore stands thy Mother in Babel, and so very malicious? O! thou shameful Whore; get thee out, for Babel is % on Fire, or else thou wilt be burnt thyself.
Or dost thou suppose that we are mad? If we did not see thee, we would be silent. Thou boastest now (by the Flatterers) of a golden Time; but they are most of them Wolves of Babel; when the Day breaks, then they will be known. Or should I not tell thee this, thou proud Whore? Behold, when thou with Adam and Eve wentest out of Paradise into the Spirit of this World, then thou wast as a God in the Spirit of this World; thou Slightest seek all Mysteries, and use them for thy Ornament. If thou hadst always gone cloathed in Silk and Purple, [or Scarlet,] yet thou hadst not [thereby] offended God; but thou hadst gone [in them] to the Honour of the great God in his Deeds of Wonder. Why hast thou forsaken the Love, and art become a Murderer? Was not Covetousness thy Sin, in that thou affordest not thy Members so much as thyself? Thou desirest to be only fine thyself alone. Thy Way only i should be holy. Wherefore was the Fratricide between Abel and Cain? The self-honouring Pride brought it about, so that Cain envied Abel's Uprightness, for the Sake of which he was so much beloved of God. Why was not Cain also humble and pious?
Wilt thou say, the Devil beguiled him? Yes indeed, and he beguiles thee too, so that thou enviest the Comeliness and Beauty of others. Has God made thee a Degree higher? Art thou not a Child of Eve? Pray tell me the Truth, Art thou not the Antichrist, which under a Cloak [of being counted the Minister and Servant of God] ridest upon the Devil's Horse? Methinks I see thee. Hearken! When thou wentest out of Paradise into this World, why didst thou not continue in one [only] Love? Why didst thou not rejoice in thy Neighbour? Why didst thou not love the Members of thy Body? Why dost thou not adorn thy Brother with thy Ornament? Didst thou not see him plainly? Was not the Earth thy own? Thou mightest have made what thou wouldst of it. Who did hinder thee in it? Why didst thou not eat with thy Brother? Thou mightest have had fully enough; there would never have been any Want. If thy Humility towards thy Brother had continued, then his also had continued towards thee. And then what a fine Habitation and Dwelling had there been upon Earth? What need had there been for thee to have coined Silver and Gold, if Unity had continued? Thou mightest have made thy Ornaments of it well enough; if thou hadst adorned thy Brother and Sister, then they would have adorned thee again with their ready serviceable Love. Dost thou think it had been of thy Brother, and to the Honour of the great God?
O thou blind Babel! I must tell thee, how thou becamest thus mad; thou hast suffered thyself to be possessed by the Region of the Stars, and to be led by the abominable Devil, and art become a perjured [or forsworn] Whore to God, and nevertheless, thou hast built thyself a Kingdom upon Earth, as 1 they lead their Region, thou leadest thine; as they generate by the Elements, and consume it again, so dost thou with thy Children also; thou generatest them and killest them again; thou makest War, and art a Murderer for thy Pride and Covetousness Sake, so that thou hast no Room at all upon the Earth.
Dost thou suppose that God takes Pleasure in it? Yes, the Spirit of the great World is pleased with it; and through that Spirit the fierce Anger of God [is also pleased,] because they qualify [or mingle] with one another, and out of one and the same Root.
Dost thou suppose that all the Prophets have spoken from the pleasant kind Love of God, from the Heart of God, when they said to the Kings of Israel, Enter into Battle, thou shalt overcome, God shall give you Victory? Indeed they spoke from God, but from his fierce Wrath against Sins, through the Spirit of the great World, which would devour again what it has made, because the Love was extinguished.
Or dost thou suppose that God sent Moses to slay the Kings of the Heathens in the promised Land, and that he is so well pleased with Murderings? No, Friend, look under the Vail of Moses, and thou shalt find it quite otherwise.
Why did God keep Israel forty Years in the Wilderness, and feed them with heavenly Bread? That they should be a People full of Love, such as love one another, and should depend on God in one Love; and therefore he gave their Laws, Brightness [or Clarity,] to see if they could live in the Love of the Father, and then he would have sent them among the Heathens, to turn them with their Wonders; as was done at the Time of the Apostles. And in that he fed them from the Heaven, and that none of them (which gathered much or little) had any Want, thereby they ought to have known, that the Kingdom [the Power and all] is God's, and that they were in him; they ought to have left their Covetousness, and to converse among one another with brotherly Love, none ought to look after Covetousness, because he horribly punished nit.
Also when the Heathens should hear, that God would send this People, which he had brought out of Egypt with great Wonders [or Miracles,] among them to destroy them, that they should turn to God and depart from Covetousness, and enter into The Stars order their Government, Brotherly Love, therefore he gave them a long Time of Respite; as also to Israel (whom he fed from Heaven) for an Example, that one People should be an Example to the other, that there is and only evil, and seeing they did live in the Father' fierce Anger, therefore the Anger and Severity of God lusted also to devour them, because they continually kindled P it.
Therefore he said to Joshua, Pass over Jordan and destroy that People; and leave none of them among you, that you be not polluted. This (Saying of his) proceeded not out of his Love, when he bid him kill the Heathens; as also the Prophets did not all speak from his Love, but from his Anger, which was awakened by the Wickedness of Man; so also he speaks many Times through the Spirit of the Prophets in the great World (in the Prophets and in Moses) in the Fire, or in other Terrors, in an angry Zeal.
And should we therefore say, that God is well pleased with Anger and Strife? No, the Prophets complained often (in the Holy Spirit of God) that this evil People offended their God, when they moved him to Anger, so that accordingly his severe Wrath went forth and devoured them, David says in the fifth Psalm; Thou art not a God that art pleased with wicked Ways.
Now if Man awakens Sin, then the fierce Anger [or severity] of God is stirred in himself, viz. in Man, which otherwise (if Man stood in Humility) would rest and be turned into great Joy, as was often mentioned before. But now when he burns [in Wrath,] then one People devours the other, and one Sin destroys another. If Israel had been upright, they had not been put to make War, but they should have entered in with Wonders, and have converted the People; Moses should have led them into the [promised Land] with his [Miracles] or Deeds of Wonder. But because they were wicked, they could not enter in (with the brightness of Moses, with Deeds of Wonder, in the Luster [or Glance] of the Father) to convert the Heathens; but Moses (with his Deeds of Wonder) must stay in the Wilderness, and the whole People was consumed and devoured in the Wrath; and Joshua must war with the Heathens, and destroy them, for one
Whereas Joshua was an Image and Similitude, that Israel (because they could not subsist in the Father's Clarity and Love) should be led by the second Joshua (or Jesus) out of the Wrath into the Love, through the Breaking of his Body, and Entering into Death. Moses must enter through Death into Life, and bring his Clarity through Death into Life; even as he appeared with Elias on Mount Thabor to the second Joshua or Jesus, in the Clarity of the Father, and showed him the Pleasure of the Father, [viz.] that he (the second Joshua) should bring Israel through his Death and Clarity into the Promised Land of Paradise.
Yet it could not be (how vigorously soever it was sought after) that Man (in his own Power) could enter into Paradise. And therefore poor captive Man must sit in this World in the Devil's murdering Den; where now the Devil has built his Chapel close by the Christian Church, and has quite destroyed the Love of Paradise, and has in the Stead of it set up mere covetous, proud, self-willed, [or self-conceited,] faithless, sturdy, malicious Blasphemers, Thieves and Murderers, which lift themselves up against Heaven and Paradise, and have built themselves a Kingdom according to the Dominion of the fierce sour [Stars or] Constellations, wherein they domineer (with Silver and Gold) and consume the Sweat one of another; whosoever is but able, oppresses the other to the Ground. And though he flies before him, yet then he only puts forth his Dragon's Tongue, and spits Fire upon him; he terrifies him with his harsh Voice, and plagues him Day and Night.
What can be said of thee, O Cain? Dost thou suppose that God does not see thee? Thou monstrous Beast, thou shalt stand naked, as the Spirit in the Wonders signifies, that thy Ornament may be made known. How art thou become thus? O Eve! are not all thy Children, which thou hast brought forth, all come out of thy Loins? Was it then the Purpose of God that the Evil should domineer among the Good, and one plague another?
O no: But the Devil, who is a Cause of the Wrathfulness. Adam was made good out of the pure Element, but the Longing [Desire or Lust] of the Devil deceived him, so that he went into the Spirit of this World. 3 1. And now it cannot be otherwise, the two Kingdoms wrestle one with another in the Children of Men; the one is the Kingdom of Christ, [generated] through the new Birth into Paradise; that (in this World) is miserable and contemned, there are not many that desire it, for it has mere Scorn and Contempt from the Devil and his Followers; it consists in Righteousness and Truth, and that is not valued in this World, and therefore it must lie at the rich Man's Door with poor Lazarus, and at his Feet. If any do but let it appear that they are the Children of God, then the Devil will away with them presently, or else will put them to such Scorn and Disgrace, that they cannot be known; that so the Devil may continue to be the great Prince upon Earth, and that the World may not learn to know him.
The other Kingdom is that of Antichrist, with a golden [Splendor or] Glance, prancing in State, glistering on every Side. Every one says, It is a happy Thing, for it adorns itself most sumptuously, and sets its Seat over the Hills and Mountains; every one salutes it, [or does it Reverence.] It draws the Tincture of the Earth to itself, that it may glister alone; it bereaves the Kingdom of Christ of its temporal [Food, Livelihood, or] Bread; it devours the Sweat of the Needy, and says to him, You are mine, I am your God, I will set you where I please; you are the Dog that lies at my Feet: If I had a Mind to it, I could hunt you out of my House, you must do what I will; and the needy Worm must say, I am your poor Servant, do but spare my Life. And if he squeezes out the Sweat of his Brows, so that he smarts, which his Master consumes [or spends,] then he grows impatient with his Master, and curses him, and seeks out Ways of Lying and Deceit, and by what Way he might make his heavy Burden lighter.
And then if he finds his Master so unjust, that he rises up against him, and takes away his unrighteous Bread, which he thinks to eat under a soft Yoke, and worries him to the uttermost, and leaves him no Time to escape, he sticks full of Impatience under that heavy Burden, and grumbles and murmurs, and seeks all evil Devices to ease his Yoke, that he might eat his Bread in Quietness; and yet it will not be, the Driver [Hunter, cruel Tyrant his Master] is behind him, and takes away his Bread, and feeds him with Sorrow under his Yoke.
And then he studies Cunning and Deceit, and casts about [to find] which Way he may by Shifts and Tricks fill his Belly and live; he curses his Master secretly, and though he steals away covertly by some Slight the Bread of another needy Man, yet that must be right [with him;] and his Master does not regard it, so he eats not of his Cost, and so that he continues to be his Dog under his Yoke. Thus the Master [Lord or Superior] is unrighteous and wicked, and makes also that his Servant is unrighteous and wicked; whereas otherwise (if he might eat his Bread under an easy Yoke) he would not be so cursed, and cunning in Thievery.
But what will the Spirit of this Kingdom say? Art thou not shining in Splendor? Hast thou not taken Possession of all? Hast thou not the Earth in Possession freely as God gave it thee? Dost thou not right? Dost thou not punish the Wicked, and look to it, where the Enemy breaks it? Dost thou not defend thy Country? Art thou not a Light to the Blind, and appointest Teachers for them, which drive them to Patience? The Kingdom is thine indeed, thou hast purchased it; the Poor is thy Servant indeed, that [in thy Opinion] cannot fail [but be right.]
But the divine Answer in the Light of Nature says to me; Behold, out of what art thou grown? Have I planted thee? Art thou not grown in my wild Garden? When Adam went into the wild Garden, there he a planted thee. How art thou grown so great? Who has given thee Virtue [or Sap,] thou wild Tree? My Love never stirred thee up, all thy Branches are wild, and thy Fruit is wild. Dost thou think that my Soul lusts after thy Food? I will not eat of thy Fruit: I am strong, and the Kingdom is mine; he that comes under my Wings, I will shelter him, no Storm can touch him; moreover, the Country is mine. I have left it to you, to be used in unanimous Love; and have set you out of one [and the same] Root, that you should be alike, and love one another, and prevent one another in chaste Love.
Thou wild Beast, how comest thou so great and strong? Hast thou not trampled in my Garden of Roses, and there made thee a Couch? Where are thy Brothers and Sisters? How comes it to pass, that they lie at thy Feet, and that they are so lean, and thou only art strong [and lusty?] Hast thou not devoured my Branches, and brought forth young Wolves, which devour thy I suffer thee in my Garden of Roses? Where is the noble Fruit which I sowed? Have you not turned them all into wild Branches? And where now shall I seek for the Fruit and Profit of my Garden of Roses? My Soul would fain eat of the good Fruit, but thou hast trampled all under-foot, and made it a Den of Murder.
Besides, I hear a great Howling and Lamentation, that all thy Servants cry Woe over thee, because thou plaguest them; and moreover, thou hast shed my noble Seed, and not sown it, but [thou hast sown] thy wild [Seed] for [the promoting of] thy great Devouring and Pomp. Behold, I have spewed thee out towards Babel in the Press of my fierce Wrath, and there I will press thee; and I will plant my Lily-Branch in my Garden of Roses, which brings me forth Fruit, after which my Soul lusts, of which my sick Adam shall eat, that he may be strong, and may go into Paradise. Of the Thrusting Adam and Eve out of the Paradise of the Garden in Eden.
And when God had thus provided Adam and Eve a bestial Garment to cover their Shame, and to defend them against the Cold, then he let them out of the Garden, and set the Cherubim with a naked a two-edged Sword before it, to keep the Way to the Tree of Life, and he [Man] must now till the Ground. But the Understanding of us poor Children of Adam and Eve is sunk so much, that at our last old Age we scarce reach [the Understanding of] any Thing concerning the lamentable Fall of Adam and Eve, seeing we must seek very deep for it in the Center of the Light of Life; for it is very wonderful which Moses says, God set the Cherubim before the Garden, to keep and guard the Way to the Tree of Life. Who could understand it? If God did not open our Eyes, we should speak simply of a Keeper with a Sword; and Reason sees nothing else.
But the noble Virgin shows us the Door, [and] how we must enter again into Paradise, through the Sharpness of the Sword; yet the Sword cuts the earthly Body quite away from the holy Element, and then the new Man may enter into Paradise by the Way of Life. And the Sword is nothing else, but the Kingdom or Gate of the Fierceness in the Anger of God, where Man must press in, through the fierce [bitter] Death, through the Center, into the second Principle, into the Paradise of the holy Element before God; where then the fierce [grim] Death cuts off the earthly Body (viz. the four Elements) from the holy [one] Element.
And the Keeper of the Garden is the Cherubim, the Cutter off of the Source [or Quality] of the Stars, which holds the four Elements for a while, and then breaks them, and with its bitter Sharpness severs them from the Soul, and passes away itself also with its Sword. This [Keeper] is here in the Way, that we cannot come to the Tree of the eternal Life; he is in the Midst, and suffers us not to come into Paradise. The gross Garden of Eden (which is our earthly Flesh) is the Hedge [or Fortification] before the Garden,
Now if any Body would come into the Garden, he must press in through the Sword of Death; though indeed Christ has broken the Sword, so that now we can much easier enter in with our Souls, yet there is a Sword before it still; but he that finds the Way right, him it does not cut very much, for it is blunt, and it is bent; and if the Soul goes but into the Gate into the Center, then it is presently helped by the noble Champion Christ; for he has gotten the Sword into his Hands. He is the slain Lamb of the House of Israel, in the Revelation of John, which took the Book of the first Principle, out of the Hand of the Ancient [of Days] who sat upon the Throne, with his four and twenty Elders, which [Book] had seven Seals, or seven Spirits of the Birth of God, and opened them; where the Elders fell down before him, and worshipped the Lamb that was slain, and gave Praise and Honour to him which sat upon the Throne, because the Champion of the House of Israel had overcome. The seven golden Candlesticks are his Humanity, the seven Stars are his Deity, as the divine i Birth in itself stands in a sevenfold Form, as it is explained in the Beginning of this Book, in the first four Chapters.
Thus Moses has a Vail before his Eyes; and if thou wouldst see his Face, then thou must only set Christ thy Champion before thee, that he may lift up his Vail, and then thou shalt see that Moses has kno Horns, but that he is a patient Lamb, fast bound to the Death of Christ, and that his Vail was the Book that was shut, so that we could not be well enough till the Champion came, and broke its seven Seals with his Entering into Death, and there the Vail [or Covering] was done away; and in that Book there stood the holy Gospel of the Kingdom of God, which our worthy Conqueror Jesus Christ has mleft us. Evangelium.
Now when Adam and Eve went out of the Garden, they kept together, as now married People do, and now would make Trial of their bestial Condition, [to try] what Wonders might proceed from them; and the Spirit of the great World did well enough to teach them, in their Reason, what they were to do. And Adam knew his Wife Eve, and she conceived and bore a Son, and called him Cain; for she said, I have a Man from the Lord. These are sealed Words which Moses writes, that she said, / have a Man from the Lord. [For] then said the Major Mundus, I have the Lord of this World. Eve spoke no otherwise, than as the Apostles thought, that Christ was to erect a worldly Kingdom; so Eve thought that her Son (as a strong Champion) should break the Head of the Devil, and set up a glorious Kingdom; from whence instantly a twofold Understanding [or different Condition] followed, and two Sorts of Churches; the one [built or relying] upon the Mercy of God; and the other, upon their own Might, Authority or Power.] And therefore Cain could not endure his Brother, because Abel pressed hard upon the Mercy of God, and Cain [relied] upon his own Power [Might and Authority.] He thought himself to be the Lord of the whole World, as his Mother had instructed him; and therefore now he would break the Head of the Serpent in his own Might as a Warrior [or Soldier,] and began with his Brother Abel, for his Faith relied not on God, but on his own Power; and here the Serpent stung the Treader upon the Serpent in the Heel the first Time. The Gate of the Mysteries, [or the Explanation of the hidden Secrets.]
Reason saith, how might that come to pass, that the first Man born of a Woman was [so evil] a malicious Murderer? Behold, thou immodest vile whorish World, here thou shalt find the great Secrets meet us in the Light of Nature, very clearly and plainly to be understood. For Adam and Eve were entered into the Spirit of this World, and the Region of the four Stars, with the Infection of the Devil, had miserably possessed them. And although they did somewhat stick to the Word of the Promise, yet the true Longing and Love towards God was very much extinguished; and on the contrary, the Longing and Desire after this World was kindled in them; and besides, they got (from the Region of the Stars) a bestial Lust [or wanton Desire] towards one another, so that their Tincture thus became a fierce bestial [Lust or] Longing; for they had no Law but the Light of Nature, which they suppressed, and kindled themselves in wanton [Lust,] to which the Devil helped them.
And now when Eve was impregnated, her Tincture was wholly murderous and false, for her Spirit in the Love looked not upon God with a total Trust and Confidence. Also the Wisdom of God stood hidden in the Center of the Light of her Life. Eve did not unite [or yield herself] to it with Love and Confidence, but much rather to the Lust of this World; she must bring it to pass, if any Thing was to be done; and seeing her Trust was not in God, so also God was not in her, but in his own Center [or Principle;] and the Wrath begun to flow forth [boil or work;] and this is that which Christ said, An evil Tree brings forth evil Fruit; and so out of a false Tincture grew a sour evil Root, and consequently such a Tree and Fruit. Also that which goes forth [is] as the Tincture in the Mixture was, and such a Child is generated, for the Spirit of the Life generates itself out of the Essences.
And seeing Adam was gone out of Paradise into the Spirit of this World, therefore now the Strife was already between the two Kingdoms (viz. the Kingdom of Heaven, and the Kingdom of Hell) about the Children of Eve; and here it is seen that the Wrath had the Victory; and the Spirit of God complains, not without Cause, [saying,] I am as a Grape-Gatherer that gleaneth, and yet fain would eat of the best Fruit.
But the Fault lies in Man; if he did put his Trust in the Love of God, then the Kingdom of God would have the Victory; but if he puts it in his evil Lust and Wantonness, in himself, in his own Ability [or Power,] then he is captivated by the Wrath, and his Body and Soul are in the Wrath. But when he puts his Mind and Confidence in God, then he goes out from the Wrath, and the Kingdom of God works (in him) to Righteousness; and thus it is seen as clear as the Sun, what the Cause is that the first Man born of a Woman became a Murderer.
For as the Tree was, so was the Fruit; and though the Tree was not wholly evil [or false,] yet as to the becoming Man, the Tincture (by the Wrestling of the two Regions) became false [or evil.] And besides, afterwards Eve (his Mother) helped him forward very much, because she sought after an earthly Lord and Treader upon the Serpent, and instructed him, [telling him,] that he was the Warrior [or Soldier to overcome] against the Devil, he must do it; and so the Wrath held him captive, and his Offering [or Sacrifice] was not acceptable to God, because (in Wrath) he built upon himself, and so his Prayer reached not the Gate of Heaven, but the Driver took it up, because it proceeded out of Self-Pride, like the proud Pharisee, out of an [evil or] false Mind.
And xhere, thou fair lascivious Whore in Babel, full of Immodesty and Lechery, in such Whoredom thou hast a Gloss in thy [evil or] false Copulation without the Fear of God; thou shouldst look [well to it] what thou sowest, that there grows not a Tree in Hell-Fire. Thou supposest that it is a small Matter to commit Whoredom. But I pray consider thyself, whither dost thou send thy Tincture? Which, if it be true [or faithful,] reaches the Element of God; and now, if you pour it forth thus, in such a false [or evil] Way, in the Impulsion of the Region of the Stars, with the Infection of the Devil, and also into such an unclean Vessel, what dost thou suppose shall accept it? Dost thou not know that the Tincture in the Seed is a Blossom of the Life, which qualifies [or mingles] with thy Body and Soul, which (as often as it is generated) is a Figure before God? How dost thou think, whether does it stand in the Love, or Anger of God? 51.0 thou Babylonish Whore, when thou thus committest Whoredom, and breakest afterwards the Limbus, together with the Matrix, wherein the Figure of the Image of God stands, only for thy filthy Lechery Sake; what dost thou think, how shall this Figure appear? Seeing all (whatsoever is generated at any Time out of the Tincture) shall after the Breaking of this World stand before God. And will not these Figures appear in the Anger of God? Or hast thou an Absolution for that which thou sowest in Hell? Look to it that this Figure does not qualify [or mingle] with thy Body and Soul; for the Tincture [then] is not yet become the Blood of Christ) then thou must bathe [swim or swelter] therein eternally. It is not I that say this, but the high Spirit in the Bosom of the Virgin.
Therefore consider thyself, and say not, I stand in the Dark, and exercise Love, none sees it. Thou standest before the clear Countenance of God; also thou standest before the Abyss of Hell, before the Council of all Devils, who mock at thee; and besides, thou hast an evil [false] or unfaithful Love, and it is no other than a [wanton] Lechery; if ait was faithful, thou wouldst not defile thy Brother or Sister; both of you miserably defile the Image of God, and are the worst Enemies one of another; you cast one another into the Devil's murdering Den, and are in the Wrestling; but the Devil amuses you, and strows Sugar, that he may catch you and bind you fast; and then he leads you to Jericho, and scourges, [wounds,] and plagues you sufficiently.
And then when the poor Soul shall travel [Home,] there are great Mountains in its Way; and then thy fair Tincture will appear before the [holy] Element like a defiled Cloth; and there stands the Devil and reads the Law to you about it; and then the poor Soul quakes, and begins to doubt; and when it is to break through the bitter Gate [of the Cherubim,] then it continually fears that the fierce Anger of God shall seize upon it, [as upon hellish Brimstone,] and kindle it; as it comes to pass for certain, if it be not born anew in Christ, through earnest Repentance.
Therefore, O Man, consider what thou sowest here, that thou shalt reap; take an Example in Cain. Or dost thou suppose, that it is an invented Fable, [which I here write?] Do but ask thy own Mind, that will convince thee, except thou art too much captivated by the Devil. Behold the horrible Punishments from the Anger of God, since the Beginning of the World; the Flood [or Deluge] was a Punishment for the Unchastity, [or Uncleanness,] whereby God would drown the Matrix of the burning Lust of Lechery; and therefore he punished the World with Water; for the Water is the Matrix of all Things.
Therefore God established the State of Wedlock with Adam and Eve, and bound it fast with a strong Chain, in that he said; A Man shall leave Father and Mother, and cleave to his Wife, and they two shall be one Flesh. And God tolerates their as one Body and its Members, and must aim (in the Fear of God) at the Getting of Children; or else the Wantonness [or Lust] in itself (without that true Love of the State of Wedlock) is continually a bestial Lust, [Infection,] and Sin. And if you (in the State of Wedlock) seek nothing but the Lust and Lechery, then in such a Condition, thou art not a Jot better than a Beast, And do but consider it rightly, that without this, thou standest [already] in a bestial Birth [or Generation,] contrary to the first Creation, like all Beasts. For the holy Man in Adam was not predetermined to have propagated so, but in great modest Love out of himself.
Therefore, O Man, look to it! [have a care] how you use the bestial Lust; it is (in itself) an Abomination before God, whether it be in the State of Wedlock, or out of it. But the right Love and Fidelity (in the Fear of God) covers it before the Countenance of God; and (through the Sun of the Virgin) it is regenerated to be a pure undefiled Creature again, in the Faith, if thy Confidence be in God.
But for the Whores and Rogues (who run a whoring without marrying in lustful Lechery) we have no other Language for them h; neither can we find any otherwise in the Light of Nature, than that it is an Abomination [or Loathing] in the Anger of God; and if earnest Repentance (with Mary Magdalene) be not there performed in the Regeneration, then we find nothing else but the Anger of God and Hell-Fire to be their Wages. Amen. Of the innocent and righteous Abel. The Gate of the Christian Church.
Seeing then that Adam and Eve had yielded themselves to the Spirit of this World, and lived in two [Kingdoms,] viz. in the holy Element before God; and also in the Out-Birth, [viz.] the four Elements, which reaches that which is most outward, [viz.] the Kingdom of the [sour, fierce] Grimness, so there were also two Sorts of Children generated out of them, viz. one a Mocker [or Scorner,] and another a plain honest Man; as is sufficiently to be seen by Isaac and Ishmael [the Sons of] Abraham; also by Jacob and Esau.
And although the Church in Babel will prattle much here about the Election from the Purpose of God, yet it has as little Knowledge thereof as the Babylonish Tower, whose Top should reach to Heaven, [had] of God. As if it was not possible, that the Love in the Breaking of the Anger does i fully appear, [or shine forth;] and it is for Want of Repentance, that Man suffers himself to be held by the Devil.
And the Hardening is not so wholly in the Birth, that the Soul (from the Mother' Womb) should be quite dead to God, or that God did not desire it. The Anger is in the Flowing [Working or Boiling] of the Father, and the Father is God indeed, and generates his dear Heart and Love (in the Breaking of the Gate in the Habitation) out of himself. Should he then be at odds with himself, because his Anger is under the Root of his Love? Should he be at Enmity against himself? his Anger is his Strength and Omnipotence, and consuming Fire; and his Heart in the Love is his Meekness; and so now, that which approaches and enters into his Anger, is captivated in the Anger.
But it is possible to go after the Anger; as his dear Heart is generated out of the Anger, which [cools, pacifies, or] stills the Anger, and is rightly called the Paradise or the Kingdom of Heaven. And his Anger is not known in the Heaven; and so there also, his Election goes always over the Children of Love, which belong to the Kingdom of Heaven. And St. Paul speaks no otherwise of his Election, but means [it of] them that draw near to him, and enter into his Covenant, and give up themselves to him; and these the Father draws with the Holy Ghost, through the Death of Christ into the pure Element [that is] before the Father, Fear not thou [O] my Servant Jacob, and thou upright [one] whom I have chosen.
But that God (out of his Purpose) should harden the Will of any, and make it dark, that is not true; the Spirit of God is withdrawn from the Wicked, who only wrestle for the Might [or Power] of the Fire, for he himself goes out from God, and desires not [to enjoy] God. God withdraws himself from none. Man has a free Will, he may lay hold on what he will; but he is held by two, by Heaven and by Hell, to which he yields, he is in that.
Cain was not rejected in the Mother's Womb [or Body;] Isaiah 44. 4. though it is plain, that God does not love such a false [or evil] Seed, yet it stands free, it may press into the Love, or into the Anger, the one as well as the other will receive it, as Paul also saith; To whom you yield yourselves Servants in Obedience, his Servants you are whom you obey; whether it be in the Obedience of God to Righteousness, or of Sin unto Death.
Now God has no malicious Soul [to be] in the Love, but in the Anger; and he is the Searcher of the Hearts, and knows well what is in Man, and what he will do, even while [Man] is in the Seed, and will not cast the Pearl before Swine; and yet the false [or evil] Seed is not [come] out of his Will and Purpose, else he must also have willed the Devil to be a Devil.
And know you not that the Band of the Eternity stands free, and makes itself? But that which inclines to him, is also P generated in God. And yet the Love presses not into the Anger, qbut the Love is generated out of the Anger, and is wholly free; and therefore the Heart of God in the Love, is another Person than the Father, and the Proceeding forth from them is the Holy Ghost, who goes not [back] again into the Anger.
Then why does not the Soul of Man go also [therewith] out of the Anger into the Love, and so it should be generated [to be] another Creature in the Love? Saint Paul says; Whom he hath foreseen, those he has sanctified, that they may be like his Image; the Foreseeing, is in his Election; he always elects [or chuses] his Sheep. Those who come to him, he assures them the eternal Life. But that he hardens those that desire earnestly to come to him, and will not foresee, [predestinate or elect them,] that is not so. His Will is to help all Men. And Christ himself says, Come ye all to me that are weary and heavy laden, (here it is, those that are laden with Sins) / will refresh you; that is, certainly foresee, [or elect,] and draw [them] to me; and there wants only to come.
What is it now that lies in the Way of the Wicked, that he cannot come? It is the Angry- sword of the Angel (or Cherubim) which he will not break; the fair, glistering, hypocritical, dainty World in his Bosom, [Malice or Wickedness,] in Flesh and Blood, pleases him too well; he will not break his Mind, which yet he is able to do; and if he does break it, then he is drawn of God (by Christ) to the Father, and instantly is chosen to [be] a Child of God; and out of the Image of the Serpent there comes [to be] the Image of an Angel.
For so long as the Image stands in the Anger, it is the Image of the Serpent; but if it goes forth [from the Lust of Sin, or Desire of Evil] into the breaking [or destroying thereof,] then a heavenly Image is figured by the Treader upon the Serpent, and uthe Serpent's Head is broken; the two Kingdoms fight [or wrestle] one with another, and that which overcomes, figures the Image.
Whereby it is seen, how great the Anger was in Adam and Eve, in that the wrathful Kingdom sooner overcame than the Kingdom of Heaven; and the Scorner is sooner generated than the upright. But yet the Fault of this was in the Parents; had they not sinned, and let the Anger into them, then it had not been so, as at this Day.
Although indeed, Nature takes hold of the Child in the Mother's Body [or Womb,] and [shapes, figures, or] images it; yet the Region of the Stars has no other than the Image in the four Elements, and not [that] in the holy Element. And although indeed it images [or frames] a Man in the outward bestial Mind with a little Understanding many Times, yet that is no Matter; the outward Man is the Beast of the Stars, but the inward in the [one] Element is the Image of God; and the divine Framing [Figuring or Imaging] is not performed in the a outward, but in the inward Element.
For a Man is many Times (in the outward) so very evil natured, [or malicious, froward Conditioned,] from the Stars, that he becomes loathsome to himself; but when he considers himself, then he enters into himself, into the inward Man, and reaches after Abstinence [or Forbearance of Evil,] and yet cannot be quite loosed from, [or rid of] the outward wicked malicious Man, but must continually (with the inward) break the Head of (the outward) the Serpent.
For the Serpent stings many in the outward; but if it gets the inward Man, then the Image of God is gone. The Evil [or Malice] of the Stars drives many [strongly] to murder, steal, lie, and deceive, till they come to the Gallows, and Sword [or Block], and yet have not wholly [captivated] the inward; he is yet in the Gate, and is able (through repentance) to go into another Image, which is not like the outward. Man cannot judge the inward Man so wholly according to the outward, except they see that he despises God, and blasphemes the Holy Ghost; in such a one there is no divine Image. And it is hard [with him]; yet his Judgment is not [in the time of] this Body; the Gate of the merciful- ness stands open towards him, while he is in this Tabernacle.
But after this Life we shall attain it no more, except he has [hold of] the mercifulness [of God] by a Thread; for God will not quench the smoking Flax, as Isaiah says; though indeed he must bathe [swim or swelter] in his Sins, till the Anger between time and eternity: see more in the preceding chapter. (through the Death of Christ) be overcome; on which Thread he must hang, and the Putrefaction is his Purgatory in his Sins, and no strange [or distinct heterogeneous Purgatory] of which Antichrist feigns and prates, but his own self [Purgatory] in his Sins.
And it is all vain and idle [which is said] concerning Purgatory, as the Wolf of the Whore's Beast feigns [or conceits], for it is well known, that after the [outward] Life, there is an eternal Life, and that all Sins are remitted here; but as long as thou art between the Door and the Hinges, and hangest by a small Hair, thou art yet not wholly in the i eternal Life; but if thou be once in the eternal Life, then thou art perfect [or fully there], whether it be in the Heaven or in the Hell, out of that there is no Redemption, for it is the i eternal Life.
But while we are thus speaking of the upright Abel, we cannot say, that the Kingdom of Heaven was not assisting in him, and that he merely out of his own Might and Power made himself such an upright [honest] Man; for it was in the wrestling, and overcame the Anger. For Man is weak and ignorant, and can do little by his own Power [or Ability], yet he has the Imagination, and the choosing, or the free yielding [to a thing], where then the Maker is ready beforehand, which makes him [to be] according as his Lust [or Desire] is; as it is to be seen by Adam, for when he longed and lusted in the Spirit of this World, there instantly the Maker was present, and made (of an angelical Image) a Man. The heaven.
The Lust [or longing Desire] is the introducing ointo a Thing, and out of the Lust comes the Form [or Image] of the Lust, viz. a Body, and the Source [or active Quality] of Sins sticks therein; and you may more easily hinder the Lust, than break the Body, which is very hard; therefore it is good to turn away the Eyes, and then the P Tincture goes not into the Essences by which the Spirit is impregnated; for the Lust indeed is not the Mind wholly, but they are Sisters; for when the Lust impregnates the Mind, then it is already a half Substance, and there must necessarily follow a Breaking, or there comes to be a whole Substance, and an Essence of a Thing.
Now Abel is the first Christian Church in Patience, which God established, that the Cainish Church should be converted by Abel; he has not therefore so rejected the Cainish Church, that he would have no Member of it. Understand it thus; the true Christian Church stands like a Sheep among Wolves; though indeed we are Men and not Wolves, but in Mind and in Figure. him, and he is figured into an Image [of God;] and thereby Joy is caused among the Angels of God, that the Kingdom of Heaven has the Victory.
Or dost thou suppose, that the Word in Daniel is nothing, concerning the Angel Gabriel, who said; that the Prince in Persia withstood him one and twenty Days, and that our Prince Michael came to help him? Thereby it may be seen how the Princes and Throne-Angels strive against the Kingdom of the fierce Wrath, and assist Men; the Cause whereof is this, the Devil awakens the Anger against Men; and the Angels of God (viz. the Throne-Princes) keep it back, because God yet wills not Evil.
We are especially to observe in Cain and Abel, what their Purpose was. Cain was a Plowman [or Tiller of the Ground,] and Abel was a Shepherd [or Keeper of Sheep.] Abel relied upon the Blessing of God towards his Flock, to maintain himself by the Blessing of God. Cain relied upon his own Labour, to maintain himself by his own Skill and Industry. Eve took Part with Cain, and Adam with Abel; for Eve counted him to be the Prince on Earth, to whom the Kingdom did belong, and supposed that he (as a Champion) would chase and hunt away the Devil; although she knew him not.
But if Men search very deep, this [that follows they will find] is the very Ground. Eve was the Child in the Matrix of Adam, which Adam (if he had not been overcome) should have generated out of himself, in great Modesty [Purity] and Holiness; but because Adam' Matrix was impregnated from the Spirit of this World, therefore God must frame a fleshly Woman out of it, which afterwards (in her first Fruit) became lustful, and infected from the Devil, as well as the Limbus in Adam. 8 1. And therefore they also generated such a towardly Child as looked only after Covetousness; as Eve also did, who would be like God; and surely Adam had some Mind that Way, or else he should not have entered into the Spirit of this World.
And such also now was their Son Cain; he supposed that he was Lord on Earth; and therefore he grudged that his Brother should have any Thing; especially when he saw that he was accepted before God, that vexed him, and he thought that Abel should come to be Lord on Earth; in his Sacrifice, he regarded not the Fear of God, though he, as a seeming holy Man [or Hypocrite,] sacrificed also; but he regarded only the Region.
And here the Antichristian Kingdom took its Beginning, where Men xgive God good Words, and their Heart is possessed with Covetousness, and seek after nothing but Power and Authority, to domineer over the Needy and Miserable, who trust and rely upon God. Therefore Antichrist has his God in his Chest, and in the Strength of his Power, and behind his Cloak there hangs a Fox. He prays, yet he desires nothing else but the Kingdom of this World; his Heart does not leave off to persecute and to hunt poor Abel. But Abel prays to the Lord, and his Heart inclines itself to the Love of God, in the true Image, for he desires the Kingdom of Heaven, and the Blessing of God here, for his Maintenance.
Now the Devil cannot endure that a holy Church should grow up in his Dominions, he will murder Abel still, as he did then; because Cain feared not God, therefore the Devil got an Access to him, and stirred up the inbred Wrath in Cain against Abel, that he slew him. Here surely all the Devils danced at it, and thought, now is the Kingdom ours again; whereat Adam and Eve were much amazed and affrighted, when they saw that he whom they accounted for a Prince, became a Murderer; and they copulated [or knew one another] no more in seventy Years after.
Now it being, thus, therefore they sought for quite another Treader upon the Serpent; also now they inclined their Heart to God, so that seventy Years after this Murder, they begot a very upright [virtuous] holy Son that feared God, (who established again the pure Church of the Fear of God and promised Seed of the Woman,) whose Name was Seth; who also begot a very upright [virtuous] Son, whose Name was Enos, and then Men began to preach openly [or plainly] of God; and the Christian Church always rose up like a small Flock, in spite of all the Ragings of the Devils.
But Cain exalted himself to be a Lord over his Kindred; from whence arose the Dominion, and Rule or Government of this World, all (according to the Influence of the Stars) generated per Spiritum majoris Mundi, [by the Spirit of the great World,] and is not, as Cain supposed, so ordained by the clear Deity.
It is true indeed, when the World became so evil, malicious, and murderous, then there must needs be Judges and Magistrates, that the fierce Wrath might be stopped by Punishment and Fear; but if thou hadst continued in Love, then thou shouldst have had no Lords, but loving Brothers and Sisters. O Cain! thy potent Kingdom comes not from God, but has its Influence from the starry Heaven in Anger, which domineers over thee, and many Times gives thee Tyrants, who consume thy Sweat in Pride, and this thou hast for thy Paradise.
Saint Paul writes very well, that there is no [Power, Authority, or] Magistracy, but of God; but he says, it is an a Avenger of the Wicked, and bears not the Sword in Vain; herein thou hast Ground enough, that God uses the Worldly Government, and the Sword thereof, for the Wicked's Sake, under which thou must now (for the Sake of Sin) bear thy Yoke, because thou art a continual Devourer and Murderer; do but behold thyself, together with the avenging Sword, perhaps thou wilt see thyself.
But if any say, that God does [abhor or] loath the great Tyranny and Oppression, when they domineer and take away the Sweat of the Poor and Needy, and consume it in Pride and Stateliness, that Cain cannot endure; if the terrible Example of the Flood [or Deluge] did not stand there, then [Tyranny] would be accounted Holiness; but thy Kingdom, O Cain! is set up in Babel, and thy Beast rules in Sodom and Gomorrah; there is a Fire from the Lord of Heaven in it; it is Time to go with Lot out of Sodom, Sin is awakened in Cain.
Now when Cain had murdered his Brother, then he went securely as a Lord, and thought, now thou art sole Prince on Earth; but the Voice of the fierce Anger of God came, and said; Where is thy Brother Abel? and he answered, / know not, Shall I be my Brother's Keeper? And he said, What hast thou done? Behold, the Voice of thy Brother's Blood cries to me from the Earth; and now thou art cursed upon the Earth, which has opened its Mouth to receive thy Brother's Blood from thy Hands. When thou shalt till the Ground, it shall not yield its Strength to thee henceforth; thou shalt be a Vagabond and Fugitive upon Earth.
And now when the Anger of God stirred the Sin in Cain, then it became awakened, and he was perplexed [or troubled,] and then his false Faith was seen; for he despaired, and said, My Sins are greater than that they can be forgiven me; behold thou drivest me away from the Lord this Day, and I must bide myself 'c from thy Countenance, and I must be a Fugitive and Vagabond upon the Earth; and it shall so befall me, that whosoever dfindeth me will slay me.
Here there appears to us the most terrible, lamentable, and miserable Gate of Despair, upon the Committing of Sins; for when God said, Cursed art thou upon the Earth, which has opened its Mouth, and received thy Brother's Blood from thy Hands; then the lofty, self -potent, glistering, hypocritical, flattering Kingdom of Antichrist was rejected of God; and it has (with its entering into the fierce Wrath, in the Murder) separated itself from God.
Therefore said God; Be thou cursed; and the Distinction of this Cursing or Flying out of the Fierceness is, that the Love of God will not dwell in the Fierceness, and that Kingdom must O shows. not be called after his Name; for God consented not to the Murder, but the Fierceness [or Wrath] of which God warned Cain at his sacrificing, [saying,] Be thou upright, and thou shalt be accepted; if not, then Sin (and the Kingdom of fierce Wrath) lies at the Door; he should not let it have any Power, but should rule over it; but when he lets it have Power, then it rules and vanquishes him.
Thus also God withdrew, that is, Cain went out from God, from the Kingdom of God into the Kingdom of the Fierceness of the Driver; therefore also his Affairs (which he further [managed, held forth, and] pretended) were not of God, but from the Kingdom of the fierce Wrath; that [Fierceness] led him, and generated or awakened its Wonders through him, that the [Kingdom of the Fierceness] might be also manifested, even as it was a great Wonder, i how the noble Image in Abel, by the Fierceness of Hell, and of this World, could be separated in the Breaking of the Body; whereas the Kingdom of Hell would fain have found [or felt] it; and therefore the first Death must be hastily [or suddenly,] where then the Treader upon the Serpent showed his first Master-piece, when the Kingdom of this World parted from Abel, when the Cherubim did this first Time cut off the four Elements from the holy Element.
And there the Word, or the Treader upon the Serpent, stood in the new regenerated Element, in the Soul of Abel, in the Center, in the Gate of the Deep, and did break the Serpent's Head (that is, the Kingdom of the Fierceness) of its Might; for the Head signifies the strong Might of the fierce Anger. And there the Love of God (out of the Heart of God) P let itself into the Hell of the Anger, and smothered the kindled Fire of the poor Soul in the Love again; and here the first Work was proved, according as was promised from God to Adam and Eve.
Secondly, also the terrible Work of the Entering into the Fierceness [or Anger] was proved in Cain, for each Kingdom proved its own. And now when Cain went into the Anger, then the Love of God stood in the Center before him, wholly hidden; there Cain (as a Champion) should have broken the Serpent's Head, which he before supposed, that he was the Man that should do it, and would do it in his own Power and Might; and here it Dissolution. was rightly tried, whether it was possible in one's own Self -power (through the Luster of the Father in the Fire) to possess the Kingdom of God.
But it was miserable, and all in vain, for Cain (in his tender Humanity) cried. Woe, woe is me. His Sins were greater than he, he could not in his own Power press into God; he trembled, and at length stood amazed before the Abyss of Hell, which had captivated him, and held him in it; he severed himself now also from [the Company of] Men, and said, Now whosoever shall find me will slay me, for I must fly from thy Face.
And here is seen the separating of the Christian Church from the Cainish, where God expelled Cain, that he must dwell in another Place; and the true Understanding of these high hidden Secrets sticks wholly in the Word, under the Vail [of Moses,] and was almost never known [yet,] but (in the Time of the Lily) it shall stand in the Wonders. And thou Antichristian Church on Earth shouldst know, that all (whatsoever thou inventest without the Spirit of God for thy Adorning and Pride, also for thy Strength and Power) is gone forth with Cain from Abel, out from the Church of Christ, beyond Eden, into the Land of Nod; if thou art so highly learned, and dost understand this in the Language of Nature, what it is, as thy Flatterers in their Bonnet [or Promotion] suppose [they do;] but they apprehend nothing but the four Elements in the Going forth with Cain, and not the [one] Element before God; therefore the same is the Babel of Confusion and of various Opinions, and not the Ground in the [one] Element, which stands in one alone, and not in Multiplicity.
Thou hast been a clear Glass (in him) of Men's own Conceits [or Opinions,] what one's own good Meaning (without the Spirit of God) is. Cain went not into the Sheepfold at the Door (which God made for Adam and Eve, with the Word, and Treader upon the Serpent,) but climbed into it another Way, by his strong lionish Mind, and would be a Lord over the Sheep, and became a Thief and Murderer of the Sheep, and the Sheep followed him not, but they went (with Abel) through the Sword of the Angel [or] Cherubim (out of this frail and corruptible Life) with the Treader upon the Serpent, into their resting Sheepfold, where there is not one Wolf; for the Cherubim will let none of them in. And if any of them come, then he cuts their Wolf's Heart of the Fierceness of the Kingdom of this World quite away, and then they also become Sheep, and lay themselves patiently among the Sheep, and seek no more after the Wolf, for he is beyond Eden, in the Land of Nod; but they are gone through the Sword of the Cherubim into Paradise, where no Wolf enters in; there is a Wall of a Principle and whole a Birth before it.
And thou Cainish Church (with thy Laws and Pratings, thy acute Comments, and Explanations of the Writings of the holy Men who spoke in the Spirit of God) should look well upon thyself, and do not build thy voluptuous and soft Kingdom so much upon those Things; for they are most of them in Paradise; they speak out of the Root of the holy Element through the the Out-Birth) the fierce Wrath, which Men had awakened; therefore look to it, that thou build not Stubble, Straw, or Weeds thereupon. If thou hast not the Spirit of Understanding out of the holy Element, then let them alone, do not daub them with the four Elements, or else those Things stand in Babel, it is not good to build the four Elements thereupon; for the Cherubim stands between, and he will cut off whatsoever does not belong to the Sheepfold; thou wilt have no Benefit of it, for thy Labour [or Work] stays fin the Land of Nod.
O Cain! look but upon thy Kingdom, and consider what befell thy great [grand] Father Cain, who built this Kingdom, who cried out, Woe is me! my Sins are greater than can be forgiven me, when he saw himself (with his Kingdom) to be without God, in the Abyss of Hell. And if the loving Word of God had not recalled it, (when it said, No; Whosoever killeth Cain, it shall be avenged sevenfold; and God made a Mark upon him, that none that met with him should kill him) he had been quite lost. Those are wonderful Words, Moses's Face is so very much under the Vail; for the Vail is rightly the Cainish Church, which covers the Kingdom of Christ.
Here is the clear and plain Ground and Root of the false Cainish Church; for Cain had made himself a Lord of this World, and built [or relied] upon himself. Yet now he had in fin Self. himself nothing for a Propriety, but the first and the third Principles; for as to his Soul, he was in the first Principle, as all Men [are,] and as to the Body, he was in the third Principle in the Kingdom of this World. And now he should with his Soul go out of the Kingdom of this World, and press into the second Principle, (viz. into the Trust in God, into the Word of the Promise) to God, as Abel did, and labour with his Hands in this World, and plant and build; but his Mind should be directed to God in Confidence, and should commend the Kingdom of this World to God, and carry himself therein as a travelling Stranger, which only with this strange Body is in his Propriety, as to the Body, and a Stranger only as to the Soul, and besides as an ashamed Guest like a Prisoner in it, whose only Study should be, to get again into his true native Country, out of which he is gone forth with his Father Adam; but he let the second Principle, the Kingdom of Heaven go, and yielded himself wholly with his Soul into the Kingdom of this World, where he would be Lord; and so the Anger took hold on him, for he went out from the Word, the Promise of Grace.
And then the Word stood against him, in the Center of the Heaven; and he stood (in the Root of the Fierceness) against the Word; for his Spirit went out of the Gate of the Center of Heaven, and stood in the Source [or active Property] of the Original of the Creation in the fierce Root of the Fire, and desired the Out-Birth out of the holy Element (which also stood in the Kindling in the Fierceness) viz. the four Elements.
His Anger against Abel came from hence, because Abel stood not in his Birth, and his Spirit would not endure the Kingdom of Abei in his Kingdom; for he would rule (as by his own Power) in the i two Principles wherein he stood; and therefore he slew Abel.
Yet God would not have it so, but kkindled the Anger in Cain, which rested before in the swelled Kingdom of the four Elements, and was only climbed up in great and mighty Joy, whereas Cain did not know the Anger, nor understand any Thing of it; only the Essences of the Soul knew that they dealt falsly, but they knew not the fierce Source in the Kindling of the Fire, till they went forth from the Center of God into the Horror, Trembling, and Crying; for they were gone out from Or Wickedness. God, and neither saw nor felt the heavenly Source any more; and therefore they despaired, because they found [or felt] themselves in the Source of the Wrath; and the Body with all its Essences cried; My Sins are greater than that they can be forgiven.
And here is apparently seen the Glass of the Abyss of Hell, and [of the] eternal Despair; when the Anger of God rises up in the Source, that the Malice [and Wickedness] is made stirring, and there begins Trembling, Galling, and Crying, and Despair in itself as to God; there the Soul seeks Abstinence in the Kingdom of this World, and finds mnone; and then it leaves the Kingdom of this World also, and runs also into the Originality into the Root of the eternal Birth, and seeks Abstinence, and yet finds nothing; and then casts itself into the abominable Deep, supposing to reach the Original of the Abstinence, or the Gate of the Breaking in; but it mounts only above the Heaven, out (into the most outermost) into the fierce [wrathful, grim] Eternity.
Then it begins venomously to hate the Body, wherein it has borne the Image of God; and many run headlong into the Water, or take a Rope, or a Sword, and murder the Body, which has bereaved it of the Image of God, through temporal Pleasure, through false Confidence, relying upon itself, to contemn and scorn its Brother and Sister, to murder him, to take away his daily Bread, and also to give Occasion of Wantonness to their Brethren and Sisters.
And thou Cainish Church, here thou hast a Glass, in thy Rising up in Pride, and Self-Power, also in thy voluptuous self-honouring Life, behold thyself [in it.] For thou art gone into the Spirit of this World, and thou hast made the Kingdom of this World thy Kingdom of Heaven, and thou trustest only in thyself; thou makest thyself a Lord over Babel, and thou drawest the Kingdom of this World to thee only by cunning [Subtilty;] and thou makest thyself a Patron therein, and therewith thou goest out from God; thou supposest that thou art holy, though thou suppressest the poor Abel under thy Yoke, and vexest him Day and Night; he must here be thy Blood-Hound, and thou accountest him thy Slave, though thou hast not right to the least Hair of his Head as thine own; and therefore thou art no other than his Driver [or Hunter] in Jericho, thou art his Murderer, who strippest him, beatest, and killest him.
Dost thou ask why? Behold, I will tell thee, thou art Cain the Lord of the World, for thou hast made thyself so; and now Abel is thy Servant, who is entered into this World as a Guest, yet he stands and desires to be gone out of this World into his native Country, which thou canst not endure; thou pressest him to the Ground, two Manner of Ways, very subtilly, and in Self-Power. First with thy hypocritical false Doctrine, [teaching or preaching] Babel, where he shall and must believe whatsoever thou P prescribest him, without the Spirit of God, that thereby thou mayest but strengthen thy gorgeous fat Kingdom, whereby thou drawest him away from God, into the Spirit of this World, so that he must gape upon thy Prating; and if he does not so, then thou murderest him, as Abel [was murdered.] 1 10. And secondly, thou hast set thyself to be Lord over him, and hast made him thy Slave, and so bravest it over him, as the proud Woman of this World, thou vexest him Day and Night, and consumest his Sweat in High-mindedness, all according to the tFury of the Wrath [or Fierceness.] And so he sticks not only in the Darkness, but [also] in great Misery, Cares, and Perplexity, and seeks Ways to get out of them, and how to come to the Light again, and escape the Driver.
But he finds nothing in thy Gates but the Way of Falsehood, Bribery, Cunning, Subtilty, Lying, and Deceit, also Covetousness, and to wind himself about so under thy Yoke, that he may but live; and so himself murders his own poor Soul, under thy Yoke, and rends himself off thus from the Kingdom of God, and gives himself up to the Kingdom of this World, kneeling and praying before thy Beast, and honours thy proud Bride that rides upon thy Beast, as the Spirit of God in the Revelation of John witnesses.
Thus thou continually murderest poor Abel two Manner of Ways, and givest him great Occasion of stumbling; by thy Pomp and Power thou drawest him away from God into the Spirit of this World, where he then grows stark blind, and so he will continually ride after thee; he will still sit upon thy Beast, and be Lord also, and ride over the bended Knees; and thus the Kingdom of this World is a right Den of Thieves, and in the Presence of God a Lake of Abominations. 1 13. The Spirit of thy stout Beast is the hellish Worm; the crowned Bride that sits upon it is the false Woman [or Whore] of Babel: She drinks only out of the Cup of Whoredom and Abominations, her Drink in that Cup is the Fierceness of the Anger of God, of which the People [or Nations] drink, and become drunk, and so in their Drunkenness they become Murderers, Robbers, Thieves, false perfidious Mockers, Jesters, Scorners, proud, high-minded, Self-honourers, stern malicious People, there is no End of the Number of those that hate one another; every one supposes his Way is right, and that he walks in the right Path; if his Brother and Sister go not in the same Way with him, he scorns them, and calls them Heretics; and so one Wolf bites another; his Way is in his own Opinion, as his Master teaches him, who yet never regards any Thing but his a Belly- God, that his Esteem and Glory may be great among Men; thus one Hypocrite deceives the other, and they are Scorners and Persecutors one of another among themselves; and one is a Wolf as well as another; and the poor Abel (who stands in true Resignation, and relies upon God) must continually be their Footstool, he is continually murdered in a two-fold Manner. 1 14. One is, that he is deceived, and goes along into Babel, and is murdered, as to the Kingdom of Heaven. The other is, that if he remains constant, then the Devil (with Cain) will not endure him, but murders him outwardly, as to the Body, or takes away his good Name and Credit, and covers him so that he may not be known, that so the Kingdom of Cain and the Antichrist may remain in Babel; of which we know well how to speak by our own Experience, if Wrath and Anger did please us. But it fares very well with our Abel, and our being scorned springs up in the Blossoming of the Lily, whereat we will rejoice well enough, when we return again from Jericho to Jerusalem to our Father Abel.
And now what hast thou to expect, thou proud Bride of Babel, for thy stately Pride, from the Spirit of this World, that thou servest it so faithfully? Behold, thou hast a threefold [Reward to expect;] first, that the Spirit of this World leaves thee, and departs from thee, and tears away thy proud Body from thee, and turns it to Dust and Ashes; and it takes thy Goods, Power, and Pomp, and gives them to another, and torments him for a while therein.
And secondly, that it receives all thy Purposes and Deeds, and sets them in the Tincture of thy Soul, and makes of it another Dwelling-house for thy Soul, that it may not send thee so naked away from it. 1 17. And then, thirdly, that it has brought thy Soul out of Heaven into the Pleasures of this World, and now leaves it in its Misery, wholly naked and bare, sitting in its Filthiness, and goes away and regards no more where the Soul is, or how it is with it, if it was in the Abyss of Hell [it were all one to the Spirit of this World;] this thou hast to expect for thy Recompense from the Spirit of this World, because thou hast so truly served it.
Therefore, O Cain! fly away from the Spirit of this World, there is a Fire (out of the Root of the Originality) from the Lord of Heaven in it; thy swelled secret Kingdom is kindled, that Men may see [or know] thee in every Place; thou shalt stand quite open [or naked] with all thy Secrecies; for the Spiritus majoris Mundi [or Spirit of the great World] has found the Tincture, and its Roses blossom in the Wonders.