Jacob Boehme's Aurora
Chapter 7: Of the Court, Place and Dwelling, also of the Government of Angels, how these things stood at the Beginning, after the Creation, and how they became as they are.
HERE the devil will oppose like a snarling dog, for his shame will be discovered; and he will give the Reader many a sore stroke, and always put him in doubt that these things are not so.
For nothing does torment the devil more than when his glory is upbraided to him, by signifying what a glorious king and prince he has been: When this is objected to him, then he is in a rage and madness, as if he would storm and overflow all the world.
If this chapter should be lighted upon by a Reader in whom the fire of the Holy Spirit should be somewhat weak, I fear the devil would be very busy to set upon him, tempting him to doubt whether the things set down here be so or no, that the devil's kingdom might not stand so very naked, nor his shame be so quite discovered.
Now if he can but suppose that he will bring it to pass to be doubted of in any heart, he will not fail to use his utmost skill, pains and labour therein. Already I see very well that he has it in his purpose.
Therefore I would have the Reader warned that he be diligent in the reading hereof, and patient so long till he cometh to the reading of the creation and of the government of this world, then he will find it plainly and clearly demonstrated from nature. Now observe:
When God Almighty had decreed in his council that he would make angels or creatures out of himself, then he made them out of his eternal power and wisdom, according to the form and manner of the Ternary in his Deity, and according to the qualities in his divine being.
At first he made three kingly governments or dominions, answerable to the number of the Holy Trinity, and each kingdom had the order or ordinance, power and quality of the divine being.
Now elevate thy sense, thoughts and spirit into the deep of the Deity, for here a gate is opened. The place or space of this world, the deep of the earth, and above the earth even to heaven, as also the created heaven, which was made out of the midst [or center] of the waters, which moveth above the stars, and which we behold with our eyes, whose depth we cannot sound or reach with our sense, all this place or room together was one kingdom, and Lucifer was king therein, before his being thrust out.
The other two kingdoms, that of Michael and that of Uriel, are above the created heaven, and are like that other kingdom.
These three kingdoms together contain such a deep as is not of any human number, nor can they be measured by anything.
Yet you must know that these three kingdoms have a beginning and an end; but that God, who has made these three kingdoms out of himself, is infinite, and has no end.
Yet without and beyond and besides these three kingdoms there is likewise the power of the Holy Trinity, for God the Father has no end.
But thou art to know this Mystery: that in the centre or midst of these three kingdoms is generated the splendour or Son of God. [14. "This needs explanation: Read the second (The Three Principles) and the third part (The Threefold Life) of these writings, where it is described more fundamentally: for nothing that is divisible, measurable or circumscriptive is here meant or understood, only it was in simplicity and plainness so set down at the first, because of the slow and dull apprehension."]
And the three kingdoms are circular round about the Son of God, neither of them is farther from or nearer to the Son of God, for one is equally as near about the Son of God as another.
From this fountain [or tree], and from all the powers of the Father, goeth forth the Holy Ghost, together with the light and power of the Son of God, in and through all angelical kingdoms or dominions, and without, beyond and besides all the angelical kingdoms; which no angel or man is able to dive or search into.
Neither have I any purpose to consider of it further, much less to write; but my revelation reacheth even into the three kingdoms, like an angelical knowledge.
But not in my reason or apprehension, nor in perfection like an angel, but in part, and so long only as the spirit tarrieth in me, further I know it not.
When he parteth from me I know nothing but the elementary and earthly things of this world: but the spirit seeth even into the depth of Deity. Question.
Now one may ask, What manner of substance or thing is it, that the Son of God is [thus] generated in the centre or midst of these three kingdoms? Surely one angelical host must needs be nearer unto him than another, seeing their kingdom has so great a deep?
Then, also, the glory, clarity or brightness and power of the Son of God would not be so great without, beyond or besides those kingdoms, as in, with and among those that are near him, and as in the angelical circuit or court. Answer.
The holy angels were made to be creatures from God, that they should praise, sing, ring forth and jubilate before the Heart of God, (which is the Son of God), and increase the heavenly joy.
Where else then should the Father place them, than before the gate of his Heart? Does not all joy of man, which is in the whole man, arise from the fountain of the heart? So then in God also there ariseth the great joy out of the fountain of his Heart.
Therefore has he created the holy angels out of himself, which are as it were little gods, answerable to the being and qualities of the whole God, that in the divine power they should act forth the praise, and sing and ring forth in the power, and increase the arising joy from the Heart of God.
But the splendour and the power of the Son of God, or Heart of God, which is the light or source and fountain of joy, taketh up his fairest and most joyful original in the centre or midst of these kingdoms, and shineth into and through all the angelical gates.
Thou must understand this properly, what the meaning of it is: For when I speak by way of similitude, and liken the Son of God to the sun, or to a round globe, it has not that meaning as if he were a circumscriptive fountain, which can be measured, or whose depth, beginning or end could be fathomed. I write so by way of similitude only, till the Reader can come to the true understanding.
For the meaning here is not that the Son of God should be generated in the centre or midst of these angelical gates only, and nowhere else without, beyond or besides these angelical gates.
For the powers of the Father are everywhere, from and out of which the Son is generated, and from which the Holy Ghost goeth forth; how then should he be generated in the centre of these angelical gates only?
This therefore is the only ground and meaning, that the holy Father, who is ALL, would have in these angelical gates his most joyful and most richly loving qualities, out of which is generated the most joyful and most richly loving light, word, heart, or fountain of powers; and therefore has he created his holy angels in this place for his joy, honour and glory. [30. "In the abyssal or bottomless eternity indeed, it is [the same] in one place as in another; but where there are no creatures nothing can be known, except by the spirit in its wonders."]
And this is the select place of the glory of God, which God the Father, in himself, has made choice of, wherein his holy WORD or Heart is generated in highest glory, clarity or brightness, power and triumphing joy.
For observe this mystery: The light, which is generated out of the powers of the Father, who is the true fountain of the Son of God, is generated also in an angel, and in a holy man, so that in the same light and knowledge he [the Son of God] triumpheth in great joy.
How then is it that the light should not be generated everywhere, in the whole Father? For its power is ALL, and everywhere, even there, where our heart and senses or thoughts cannot reach.
So now, where the Father is, there also is the Son and the Holy Ghost; for the Father everywhere generateth the Son, his holy WORD, power, light and sound, and the Holy Ghost goeth everywhere forth from the Father and the Son, even within all the angelical gates, and also without, beside or beyond the angelical gates.
Now if a man likeneth the Son of God to the globe of the sun, as I have often done in the foregoing chapters, that is spoken in the way and manner of natural similitudes; and I was constrained to write so, because of the lack of understanding of the Reader, that so he might raise his sense or thoughts in these natural things, and climb from step to step, from one degree to another, till he might come into the high Mysteries.
But it has not this meaning, that the Son of God is a circumscribed, compacted, figured image, like the sun.
For if it were so, then must the Son of God have a beginning, and the Father must have generated him in time, and then he could not be the eternal, almighty Son of the Father; but the Son would be like a king, who had yet a greater king above him, who had generated him in time, and in whose power it was to alter and change him.
This would be such a Son as had a beginning, and his power and splendour would be like the power of the sun which goeth forth from the sun, the body or globe of the sun standing still in its place: If this were so, then indeed one angelical gate [or port] would be nearer to the Son of God than another.
But here I will shew to thee the highest gate of the divine Mystery, and thou needest seek no higher; for there is no higher. Observe:
The Father's power is all, in and above all heavens, and the same power everywhere generateth the light. Now this UNIVERSAL POWER is, and is called, the universal power of the Father; and the light which is generated out of that universal power is, and is called, the Son.
But it is therefore called the Son, in that it is generated out of the Father, so that it is the Heart of the Father in his powers.
And being generated, it is another person than the Father is; for the Father is the power and the kingdom, and the Son is the light and the splendour in the Father, and the Holy Ghost is the moving or exit out of the powers of the Father and of the Son, and formeth, figureth, frameth and imageth all.
As the air goeth forth from the power of the sun and stars, and moveth in this world, and causes that all creatures are generated, and that the grass, herbs and trees spring and grow, and causes all whatsoever is in this world to be:
So the Holy Ghost goeth forth from the Father and the Son, and moveth or acteth, formeth or frameth and imageth all that is in the whole God.
All growing or vegetation and forms in the Father arise and spring up in the moving of the Holy Ghost; therefore there is but ONE only GOD, and three distinct Persons in one divine being, essence or substance.
Now if a man should say the Son of God were an image, circumscriptive or measurable like the sun, then the three Persons would be only in that place where the Son is, and his splendour or shining would be without or beyond him, and as gone forth from the Son; and the Father would be one, only externally, without or beside the Son, and then the power of the Father, which would be afar off and wide distant from the Son, would not generate the Son and Holy Ghost, externally, without and beyond the angelical gates; and so there would be an unalmighty being, externally, without or beside this place of the Son; and, moreover, the Father would be a circumscribed or measurable being.
Which is not so: But the Father everywhere generateth the Son out of all his powers, and the Holy Ghost goeth everywhere forth from the Father and the Son, and so there is but ONE only God in one being, with three distinct persons.
Of which you have a similitude in the precious gold ore, or a goldstone unseparated. First there is the matter, that is, the Salitter and Mercurius, which is the mother or the whole stone, which generateth the gold everywhere in the whole stone; and in the gold is the glorious power or virtue of the stone.
Now the Salitter and Mercurius signify the Father, the gold signifieth the Son, and the power or virtue signifies the Holy Ghost: In such a manner also is the Ternary in the holy Trinity, only that all moveth and goeth forth therein universally.
In a goldstone men find also a little piece of it in some place, wherein there is more and purer gold, than in another not discerned, though there is gold in the whole stone or ore.
Thus also is the place or space in the centre or midst of the angelical gates a more pleasant, more gracious, amiable and blessed place to the Father, wherein his Son and Heart is generated in the most richly and fully loving manner, and wherein the Holy Ghost goeth forth from the Father and the Son in the most richly and fully loving manner.
Thus you have the right ground of this Mystery, and you ought not to think that the Son of God was generated of the Father at once, at a certain time, as one that has a beginning, and that he stands now as a king, and would be worshipped.
No; this would not be an eternal Son, but one that had a beginning, and was under, beneath or inferior to the Father that had generated him.
Neither would he be all-knowing, for he could not know how it was before his Father had generated him.
But the Son is generated continually from eternity unto eternity, and shineth continually from eternity into the powers of the Father again, whereby the powers of the Father are always from eternity to eternity continually impregnated with the Son, and generate him continually.
Out of which the Holy Ghost continually existeth from eternity to eternity, and so continually from eternity to eternity goeth forth from the Father and the Son, and has neither beginning nor end.
And this being is not so in one place only of the Father, but everywhere in the whole Father, who has neither beginning nor end; into which no creature can reach with its senses or thoughts. Of the Nativities or Genitures of the Angelical Kings, and how they came to be. [58. "This also is more fundamentally described in the second and in the third book."]
The person or the body of a king of angels is generated out of all the qualities, and out of all the powers of his whole kingdom, through the moving, welling-up spirit of God; and therefore such a one is their king, in that his power reacheth into all the angels of his whole kingdom, and he is the head and general or leader, the most beautiful and most powerful Cherubim or throne angel. Such a one was lord Lucifer also before his fall. [60. "This also is more fundamentally described in our second and third books; viz. in the Three Principles of the Divine Being, and in the Threefold Life of Man."] Of the Ground or Foundation, and Mystery.
If a man would find out the Mystery, and the deepest ground, he must diligently and exactly view and consider the creation of this world, the government or dominion, and rule or order, as also the qualities of the stars and the elements.
Although these are of a corrupted and twofold being, which is not living, nor has understanding; for it is but the corrupt Salitter and Mercurius, in which king Lucifer kept house, wherein is both evil and good; though it be indeed the real power of God, which before its corruption was bright and pure, as now it is, in heaven.
These powers of the stars and elements, did the Creator, after the horrible fall of Lucifer's kingdom, bring together again into the same order as that in which the kingdom of the angels stood in the divine pomp before this fall. Sparrow's original rendering.
Only thou must not think that the angelical kingdom with its creatures was so rolled, wheeled and turned round about, as now the stars are, which are only powers, and in regard of the birth or geniture of this world are thus wheeled or turned about, whose birth or geniture stands in the moving, boiling anguish in evil and good, in corruption and redemption, till the end of this enumeration, or till the last day. Now observe:
The sun stands in the centre or midst of the deep, and is the light or heart which proceeded out of all stars: For when, in the kingdom of Lucifer, before the creation of the world, the Salitter and Mercurius was thin or dim, and had qualified the one with the other, then God extracted the heart out of all the powers, and made the sun thereof.
Therefore the sun is the most shining and the brightest of all, and reenlighteneth all the stars [planets] again; all the stars work in its power, and it itself has the power of all the stars; it kindleth all the powers of the stars with its splendour and heat, and so every star receiveth from the sun, according to its power and condition or kind.
Thus also is the frame and constitution of the angelical kingdom: The sun signifieth the supreme throneangel, the Cherubim or king in an angelical kingdom: Such a one as lord Lucifer was before his fall: He had his seat in the centre or midst of his kingdom, and reigned by his power in all his angels.
Just as, in the Salitter and Mercurius, the sun ruleth in all the powers of this world, that is, in softness and hardness, in sweetness and sourness, in bitterness and astringency, in heat and cold, in air and water.
As is apparent in winter, when there is so hard cold or frost that the water becometh ice; though the sun shineth somewhat warm through all the cold frost, yet for all its beams, by which it shineth on them, water freezeth into snow and ice.
But here I will shew thee the right Mystery. Behold, the sun is the heart of all powers in this world, and is compacted, framed or composed out of all the powers of the stars, it reenlighteneth all the stars, and all the powers in this world, and all powers grow active, operative or qualifying in its power. [71. "Understand it magically: For it is a mirror, looking-glass, or similitude of the eternal world."]
As the Father generateth his Son, that is, his heart or light out of all his powers, and that light which is the Son generateth the life in all the powers of the Father, so that in the same light, in the Father's powers, goeth forth all manner of growing, vegetation, springing, ornaments and joy; so is the kingdom of angels also constituted, all according to the similitude and being of God.
A Cherubim or leader of a kingdom of angels is the fountain or heart of his whole kingdom, and is made out of all the powers out of which his angels are made, and is the most powerful and the brightest of them all.
["The angelical king is the centre or fountain; as Adam's soul is the beginning and centre of all souls. And, as from the place of the sun was created and generated the planetic wheel or sphere, wherein each star is desirous of the splendour and power of the sun, so the angels are desirous of their Cherubim or prince; all according to God, and to his similitude."]
For the Creator has extracted the heart out of the Salitter and Mercurius of the divine powers; ["Understand he has composed it by the Fiat, viz. the centre of nature."]
And the Creator has formed out of that the Cherubim or king, that the Cherubim or king might press or penetrate again with his power into all the angels, and affect them all with his power.
Just as the sun with its power presseth into all the stars, and affecteth them all; or as the power of God the Son presseth into all the powers of God the Father, whereby they are all affected, wherein the birth or geniture of the heavenly joyfulness springeth up.
In this form, condition and manner it is with the angels also. All the angels of one kingdom signify the many and various powers of God the Father; the angelical king signifieth the Son of the Father, or the heart out of the powers of the Father, out of which the angels are made; the exit out of the king of angels, or his going forth into his angels, or his affecting of his angels, signifieth God the Holy Ghost.
As the Holy Ghost goeth forth from the Father and the Son, and affecteth all the powers of the Father, as also all heavenly fruits and forms, from whence all has its rising, and wherein the heavenly joyfulness does consist:
Just in such a manner is the operation or power of a Cherubim or throne angel, which works or operateth in all his angels, as the Son and Holy Ghost operate in all the powers of the Father; or as the sun operateth in all the powers of the stars [planets].
Whereby all angels obtain the will of the throne-angel, and are all obedient to him; for they all work in his power which is in them all.
For they are the members of his body; as all the powers of the Father are members of the Son, and he is their heart; and as all heavenly forms and fruits are members of the Holy Ghost, and he is their heart, in whom they rise up.
Or as the sun is the heart of all the stars, and as all stars are members of the sun, and work one among another as one star, and yet the sun is the heart therein; though indeed there are many and various powers, yet all work in the power of the sun, and all has its life from the power of the sun; look on what you please, be it in animals, in metals or in vegetables of the earth.