Jacob Boehme's Aurora
Chapter 11: Of the Seventh Qualifying or Fountain Spirit in the Divine Power.
THE Seventh Spirit of God in the Divine Power is the Corpus or Body, which is generated out of the other Six Spirits, wherein all heavenly Figures subsist, and wherein all Things image and form themselves, and wherein all Beauty and Joy rise up.
This is the very Spirit of Nature, yea Nature itself, wherein Apprehensibility or Comprehensibility consists, and wherein all Creatures are formed in Heaven and on Earth. Yea Heaven itself is therein formed; and all Naturality in the whole God consists in this Spirit.
If it was not for this Spirit, there would be neither Angel nor Man, and God would be an unsearchable Being, subsisting only in an unsearchable Power.
Question.
Now the Question is: How is this Form? Or in what Manner is this so?
Answer.
If thou art a rational mercurial Spirit, which presses through all the seven Spirits of God, and beholds, proves and examines them, how they are, then thou wilt, by the Explanation of this seventh Spirit, conceive and understand the Operation, and the Being of the whole Deity, and apprehend it in thy Sense or Mind.
“
But if thou understandest nothing by this Spirit, then let this Book alone, and (Richter) Judge neither of the Cold nor of the Warmth therein: For thou art too hard bound and captivated in Saturnus, and art not a Philosopher in this World.” [Gregorius Richter, Primarius Zua Gorltiz.]
Let thy (Richter) Judging alone, or else thou wilt receive thy evil Wages for it; therefore I will have thee faithfully warned of it. Tarry till thou comest into the other Life, for then the heavenly Gate will be opened to thee, and then thou also wilt understand this.
Now observe the Depth.
[Gregory Richter, the Primate or Superintendant of the Clergy of Gorltiz.]
Here I must lay hold on the whole divine Body in the Midst or Center at the Heart, and explain the whole Body, how Nature is or exists, and there you will see the highest Ground, how all the seven Spirits of God continually generate one another, and how the Deity has neither Beginning nor End.
Therefore behold and see the longing desired Pleasure of thy Spirit, the eternal divine Joyfulness, and the heavenly Delight and corporeal Joy, which in all Eternity has no End.
Now observe.
When the Flash rises up in the Center, then the divine Birth stands in its full Operation: In God it is continually and eternally thus; but not so in us poor fleshly Children.
In this Life, the triumphing divine Birth lasteth in us Men only so long as the Flash lasteth, therefore our Knowledge is but in Part, whereas in God the Flash stands unchangeably, always eternally thus.
Behold, all the seven Spirits of God are generated alike together at once; none of them is the first, and none of them is the last; but we must have an Eye to the Kernel, and consider how the divine Birth or Geniture rises up, otherwise Man understands it not.
For the Creatures cannot comprehend at once all the seven Spirits, one in another, but they look upon them; but when one Spirit is touched or stirred, then that touches or stirs all the other, and then the Birth or Geniture stands in full Power.
Therefore it has a Beginning in Man, but none in God; and therefore I must also write in a creaturely Manner, or else thou canst not understand it.
Behold all the seven Spirits without the Flash were a dark Valley, but when the Flash rises up between the astringent and bitter Qualities, in the Heat, then it becomes shining in the sweet Water, and in the Flames of the Heat it becomes bitter, and triumphing and living, and in the astringent it becomes corporeal, dry and bright. And
now these four Spirits move themselves in the Flash, for all the four become living therein, and so now the Power of these four rises up in the Flesh, as if the Life rose up, and the Power which is risen up in the Flash is the Love, which is the fifth Spirit. And
that Power moves so very pleasantly and amiably in the Flash, as if a dead Spirit became living, and was suddenly in a Moment set into great Clarity or Brightness.
Now in this Moving one Power touches or stirs the other: And first the astringent beats or strikes, and the Heat makes in that Beating or Stroke a clear ringing Sound, and the bitter Power divides the Ringing, and the Water makes it mild and soft, and mitigates it; and this is the fifth Spirit. And
now the Tone in all the five Spirits rises up like a melodious pleasant Music, and remains so standing; for the astringent Quality exsiccates or dries it up.
So now, in the same Sound that is gone forth, which now subsists, being dried, and is the Power of all the six qualifying or fountain Spirits, and is as it were the Seed of the other six Spirits, which they have there compacted or incorporated together, and made one Spirit of it, which has the Quality of all the Spirits: And that is the seventh Spirit of God in the divine Power.
Now this Spirit subsists in its Colour like Azure or Heaven-Bleu, for it is generated out of all the six Spirits; and when the Flash, which stands in the Midst or Center in the Heat, shines into the other Spirits, so that they rise up in the Flash, and generate the seventh Spirit, then the Flash rises up also in the Birth of the six Spirits together in the Seventh.
But because the Seventh has no peculiar Quality in it, therefore cannot the Flash in the Seventh be brighter, but it receives from the Seventh the corporeal Being of all the seven Spirits, and the Flash stands in the Midst or Center of these seven Spirits, and is generated from all the Seven. And
the seven Spirits are the Father of the Light, and the Light is their Son, which they always continually generate thus from Eternity to Eternity, and the Light enlightens and always eternally makes the seven Spirits living and joyful, for they all receive their Rising and Life in the Power of Light.
Again, they all generate the Light, and all are together alike the Father of the Light, and the Light generates no one Spirit, but makes them all Living and Joyful, that they always continually stand in the Birth.
Behold I will show it thee once more, that so by any means thou mayest apprehend it, that this high Work may not pass away in vain without Profit to thee.
The astringent Quality is the first Spirit, and that attracts or draws together and makes all dry: The sweet Quality is the second Spirit, and that softens or mitigates it: Now the third Spirit is the bitter Spirit, which exists from the fourth and first. And
so when the third Spirit in its Rage rubs itself in the Astringent, then it kindles the Fire, and then the Fierceness in the Fire rises up in the Astringent. In that Fierceness now the bitter Spirit becomes self-subsisting; and in the sweet it becomes meek or mild; and in the hard it becomes corporeal; and so now it subsists, and is also the fourth Spirit.
Now the Flash in the Power of these four goes forth in the Heat, and rises up in the sweet Spring Water or Fountain; the Bitter makes it triumphing; the Astringent makes it shining, dry, and corporeal; and the Sweet makes it meek and mild; and so it receives its first Shining and Lustre in the Sweet; and here now the Flash, or the Light, subsists in the Midst or Center, as a Heart.
Now when that Light, which stands in the Midst or Center, shines into the four Spirits, then the Power of the four Spirits rises up in the Light, and they become Living, and love the Light; that is, they take it into them, and are impregnated with it, and that Spirit which is so taken in, is the Love of the Life, which is the fifth Spirit.
Now when they have taken the Love into them, then they qualify, act or operate for great Joy; for the one sees the other in the Light, and so the one touches or stirs the other. And
then the Tone rises up; and the hard Spirit beats, strikes, or thumps; but the Sweet makes that Beating or Striking mild; and the Bitter divides it according
In this Tone rises up the Power of all the six Spirits, and becomes a palpable Body, to speak after an angelical Manner, and subsists in the Power of the other six Spirits, and in the Light; and this is the Body of Nature, wherein all heavenly Creatures, Ideas, Figures, and Sprouts, or Vegetations, are imaged or fashioned.
The Holy Gates.
But the Light, which subsists in the Midst or Center in all the seven Spirits, and wherein stands the Life of all the seven Spirits, whereby all seven become triumphing and joyful, and wherein the heavenly Joyfulness rises up,
this is that which all the seven Spirits generate, and that is the Son of all the seven Spirits, and the seven Spirits are its Father, which generate the Light; and the Light generates in them the Life; and the Light is the Heart of the seven Spirits. And
this Light is the true Son of God, whom we Christians worship and honour, as the second Person in the Holy Trinity. And
For no one Spirit of them is alone or without the other; they all seven generate one another; for if one was wanting, the other could not be.
But the Light is another Person, for it is continually generated out of, or from the seven Spirits, and the seven Spirits rise up continually in the Light; and the Powers of these seven Spirits go forth continually in the Glance or Splendor of the Light in the seventh Nature-spirit, and form and image all in the seventh Spirit; and this Out-going or Exit in the Light is the Holy Ghost. [Or Spirit of Nature.]
The Flash, or Stock, or Pith, or the Heart, which is generated in the Powers, remains standing in the Midst or Center, and that is the Son; and the Splendor or Glance in all the Powers goes forth from the Father and the Son, in all the Powers of the Father, and forms and images in the seventh Nature-spirit all, according to the Power and Operation of the seven Spirits, and according to their Distinction and Impulse. And this is the true Holy Ghost, whom we Christians honour and adore for the third Person in the Deity.
Thus, O blind Jew, Turk and Heathen, thou seest that there are Three Persons in the Deity, thou canst not deny it, for thou livest and art, or hast thy Being in the Three Persons, and thou hast thy Life from them, and in the Power of these Three Persons thou art to rise from the Dead at the last Day, and live Eternally.
Note.
Now if thou hast lived well and holily in the Law of Nature, in this World, and hast not extinguished the clear Flash, which is the Son of God, which teaches thee the Law of Nature in thy seven qualifying or fountain Spirits, and hast not put it out through a fierce Elevation, which runs on contrary to the Knowledge of Nature, then wilt thou with all Christians live in eternal Joy.
Note.
[Or Conscience.]
["
The Law of Nature is the Divine Ordinance out of the Center of Nature, he that can live therein, needs no other Law, for he fulfills the Will of God."]
For it lies not in thy Unbelief to hinder it; thy Unbelief does not take away or make void the Truth of God: but Faith blows up the Spirit of Hope, and testifies that we are God's Children. The Faith is generated in the Flash, and wrestles to long with God, till it overcomes and gets the Victory. [Or Ignorance.]
Thou judgest us, and thereby thou judgest thyself, in that thou blowest up the zealous or jealous Spirit in Anger and Wrath, which extinguishes thy Light. Note. * But if thou art grown on a sweet Tree, and suppressest the evil Influence or Suggestions, and livest well and holily in the Law of Nature, that shows thee very well what is right, if thou art not indeed grown out from a fierce or wrathful Twig or Branch. [Ezek. 18. 20.]
[“
Here is meant or understood, out of or from a very wicked Seed, out of which there often grows a Thistle; though yet there were a Remedy, if the Will was but once broken; but it is a rare and precious Thing; however indeed on a good Tree it is often so, that some Branches also wither.”]
Note.
Moreover, thou art blind. For who shall separate thee from the Love of God, in which thou art born or generated, and wherein thou livest, if thou perseverest, and continuest therein till the End? Who shall separate thee from God, in whom thou hast lived here?
That which thou hast sown in the Ground, that will spring up, be it Rye, Wheat, Barley, Tares or Thorns; that which is not combustible or capable of the final or last Fire, that will not burn at all: But God will not corrupt or spoil his good Seed himself, but will husband, till, and manure it, that it may bear Fruit in the eternal Life.
Seeing then all live and have their Being in God, why do the Weeds glory, and boast against the Wheat? Dost thou think, that God is a Dissembler, and that he regards or respects any Man’s Person, or Name?
What Man was the Father of us All? Was it not Adam? And when his Son Cain lived wickedly before God, why did not his Father Adam help him? But here it may be said: ’ He that sinneth, shall be punished.
If Cain had not quenched or extinguished his Light, who could have separated him from the Love of God?
So thou also, thou boastest thou art a Christian, and knowest the Light, why dost thou not walk therein? Dost thou think the Name will make thee Holy? Tarry, Friend, till thou comest thither into the other World, then thou wilt know it by Experience. Behold! many a Jew, Turk, and Heathen, will sooner enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, who had indeed their Lamps well trimmed and furnished, than thou who boastest.
Question.
What Prerogative or Advantage then have the Christians?
Answer.
Very much; for they know the Way of Life, and know how they should rise from the Fall: But if any will lie still, then he must be thrown into the Ditch, and there must perish with all the wicked Heathens.
Therefore take heed what thou dost, and consider what thou art; thou judgest others, and art blind thyself.
But the Spirit saith, thou hast no Cause for it, viz. to judge him who is better than thee: Have we not all one Flesh, and our Life subsists in God, be it in his Love, or in his Anger? For what thou sowest, that thou shalt reap.
Note.
God is not the Cause that thou art lost: For the Law, to do Right or Righteousness, is written in Nature, and thou hast that very Book in thy Heart.
Thou knowest very well, that thou shouldst deal well and friendly with thy Neighbour; also thou knowest well, that thou shouldst not vilify thy own Life, that is, thou shouldst not bemean and defile thy own Body and Soul, and lay open their Shame.
Surely herein consists the Pith and Kernel, and the Love of God. God does not regard any Man’s Name or Birth, but he that moves or acts in the Love of God, moves in the Light, and the Light is the Heart of God. Now he that sits in the Heart of God, who can spew him out from thence? No one; for he is begotten or generated in God.
O thou blind, half-dead World, cease from thy Judging; O thou blind Jew, Turk, and Heathen, desist from thy calumniating, and submit thyself in Obedience to God, and walk in the Light, then thou wilt see how thou shouldst rise from thy Fall, and how thou shouldst arm thyself in this World against the hellish Fierceness and Wrath, and how thou mayest overcome, and live with God eternally.
Most certainly there is but One God; but when the Veil is put away from thy Eyes, so that thou seest and knowest him, then thou wilt also see and know all thy Brethren, whether they be Christians, Jews, Turks, or Heathens.
Or dost thou think that God is the God of you Christians only? Do not the Heathens also live in God, 'whosoever doth Right or Righteousness, God loves and accepts him. [Acts 10. 35:]
Or what didst thou know, that art a Christian, how God would redeem and deliver thee from Evil? What Friendship and Familiarity hadst thou with HIM? or what Covenant hadst thou made with HIM, when God caused his Son to become Man, or be incarnate, to redeem Mankind? Is he only thy King? Is it not written, 'He is the Comfort of all the Heathen. [Haggai 2. 7.]
Hearken, 'By one Man Sin came into the World, and pressed through one upon all. And through one came the Redemption into the World, and pressed through one upon all.' What therefore lies in any Man’s Knowledge? No! indeed, thou didst not know how God would deal with thee, when thou wast dead in Sins. [Rom. 5. 18.]
Now as Sin without Distinction reigns through one Man over all, so Mercy and Redemption reigns through one over all.
But unto those Heathens, Jews, and Turks, Blindness did befall, yet notwithstanding they stand in an anxious Birth, and seek for a Rest; they desire Grace, though they seek not for it at the right Mark, or in the right Place or Limit: but God is every where, and looks upon the Ground of the Heart.
Behold! thou blind Man, I will demonstrate this to thee thus: Go into a Meadow, there thou seest several Sorts of Herbs, and Flowers; thou seest some that are bitter, some tart, sweet, sour, white, yellow, red, blue, green, and many various Sorts.
Do they not all grow out of the Earth? Do they not stand one by another? Does the one grudge the beauteous Form of the other?
But if one among them lifts up itself too high in its Growth, and so withers, because it has not Sap enough, how can the Earth help it? Does it not afford its Sap to that as well as to the other?
But if Thorns grow among them, and the Mower comes to reap his Crop, he cuts them down together, but he casts out the Thorns, and they are to be burnt in the Fire; but the various Flowers and good Crop he gathers, and causes it to be brought into his Barn.
Thus it is also with Men, there are Diversities of Gifts and Accomplishments, Endowments, or Aptitudes; one it may be is much lighter or brighter in God than another; but all the while they do not wither in the Spirit, they are not rejectible; but when the Spirit withers, then that is good and useful for Nothing but for Fewel, and is only as Wood for the Fire.
But if the Turks be of an astringent Quality, and the Heathens of a bitter, what is that to thee? Is the Light become shining in the astringent and bitter Qualities? then it gives Light also.
But thou art generated in the Heat, where the Light rises up in the sweet Spring or Fountain-Water; have a Care lest the Heat burn thee; it is Time, thou shouldst do well to quench that.
Question.
Thou sayest: Is it right then that the Heathens, Jews, and Turks, should persevere in their Blindness?
Answer.
No; but this I say; How can he see, that has no Eyes? For what does the poor lay or vulgar Man know of the Tumults which the Priests have in their Drunkenness? He goes on in his Simplicity, and generates anxiously in his spiritual Birth.
Question.
[spiritual]
But then thou sayest; has God blinded the Turks, Jews, and Heathens?
Answer.
No; but when God kindled the Light for them, then they lived after the Pleasures, Voluptuousness and Lusts of their own Hearts, and would not be led or directed by the Spirit, and so the outward Light extinguished. [by the Spirit]
But it is not therefore to totally extinguished, that it could not be generated in Man; for Man is out of or from God, and lives in God, be it either in Love, or in Wrath.
Now if Man be in a Longing, should he not be impregnated in his Longing? And so if he be impregnated once, then he can generate also. But because the outward Light does not shine to him, therefore he does not know his Son, whom he has generated.
Guess, Friend, where lies the Crown? Towards the North; for in the Center of the astringent Quality the Light will be clear and bright.
But from whence comes the Bridegroom? From the Midst or Center, where the Heat generates the Light, and goes towards the North into the astringent Quality; there the Light grows bright.
What do these towards the South? They are in the Heat fallen asleep, but a stormy Tempest will awaken them; among these many will be terrified to Death.
Then what do those in the West? Their bitter Quality will rub itself with the other, but when they taste the sweet Water, then will their Spirit be mild and meek.
But what do these in East? Thou art a lofty proud Bride, from the Beginning; the Crown was always offered to thee from the Beginning, but thou thoughtest thyself too fair already; thou livest as the rest do.
Of the Divine and Heavenly Nature’s Operation and Property.
Now if thou wilt know, what Kind or Manner of Nature there is in Heaven, and what Kind of Nature the holy Angels have; also what Kind of Nature Adam had before his Fall, and what properly the holy, heavenly, and divine Nature is; then observe the Circumstances exactly concerning this seventh qualifying or fountain Spirit of God, as follows.
The seventh qualifying or fountain Spirit of God is the qualifying or fountain Spirit of Nature: For the other six generate the seventh; and the seventh, when it is generated, is then as it were the Mother of the seven, which encompasses the other six, and generates them again: For the corporeal and natural Being consists in the seventh.
Observe here the Sense.
[In the seventh Fountain Spirit of Nature.]
The six rise up in a full or a compleat Birth according to the Power and Condition of each of them, and when they are risen up, then is their Power mingled one in another, and the hardness dries it, and is as it were the whole Being.
This corporeal Exsiccation, or Drying, I call in this Book the divine SALITTER, for it is therein the Seed of the whole Deity, and is as it were a Mother, which receives the Seed, and always generates Fruit again, according to all the Qualities of the Seed. [The said seventh Spirit.]
Now in this rising up of the six Spirits, there rises up also the Mercurius, Tone, or Sound of all the six Spirits, and in the seventh Nature-spirit it subsists as in the Mother; and then the seventh generates all Manner of Fruits and Colours, according to the Operation of the six.
"
By the Word SALITTER, in this Book, is understood, how out of the eternal Center of Nature, the second Principle grows and springs up out of the first, just as the Light springs up out of the Fire, wherein two Spirits are understood, viz. I. a Hot, and an Aerial one; whereas in the aërial Life, the true Vegetation or growing consists, and in the Fire-life, is the Cause of the Quality.
So when it is written, the Angels are created out of God, then it is understood, or meant, out of God’s eternal Nature, wherein are understood, or meant, the seven Forms, and yet the divine holy Nature is not understood to be in the Fire, but in the Light. And
yet the Fire gives or represents to us a Mystery of the eternal Nature, and of the Deity also, wherein a Man is to understand two Principles of a twofold Source, viz. I. a hot, fierce, astringent, bitter, anxious, consuming One in the Fire-source. And out of the Fire comes the II. viz. the Light, which dwells in the Fire, but is not apprehended or laid hold on by the Fire; also it has another Source then the Fire has, which is Meekness, wherein there is a Desire of Love, where then, in the Love-desire, another Will is understood than that which the Fire has.
For the Fire will consume all, and causes a high Rising in the Source, and the Meekness of the Light causes Entity or Substantiality; viz. in the eternal Light it causes the Water-spirit of eternal Life: and in the third Principle of this World, it causes Water, together with the Existence or Original of the Air.
Thus the Reader is to understand this Book as concerning three Principles or Births; viz. One is the Original of the eternal Nature, in the eternal Will or Desire of God, which Desire drives itself on in great Anguish till it comes to the fourth Form, viz. to the Fire.
Wherein the second, which is the Light, exists, and replenishes the eternal Liberty besides or beyond Nature, wherein we understand the holy Ternary in the Light, without or beyond Nature, in the Power of the Light, in the Liberty, as another or second Spring or Source without Being, and yet united with the Fire’s Nature, viz. as Fire and Light together in One. "And
the third Principle of this World is generated and created out of the first, that is, Magically: As is clearly demonstrated in our Second, and Third Book, unto which this Book is only an Introduction, and is the first Book, which was not sufficiently apprehended by the Author at the first Time, though it appeared clearly enough, yet all of it could not be conceived; also it was as when a Torrent or stormy Shower of Rain passes over a Place, from whence Vegetation and Springing exists; for therein is the Seed of the whole Deity."
But here thou must know, that the Deity does not stand still, but works and rises up without Intermission, as a pleasant Wrestling, Moving, or Struggling. [Threefold Life.]
Like two Creatures which in great Love play together, embracing, struggling and wrestling one with the other; now the one is above, and by the other, and when one has overcome, it yields or gives over, and lets the other rise up again.
Thou mayest also understand it thus in a Similitude, as when seven Persons had begun a friendly Sport and Play, where one gets the upper hand above another, and a third comes to help that one which is overcome; and so there is a pleasant friendly Sporting among them; whereas indeed they all have one and the same Agreement or Love-will together, and yet strive and fight or vie one against the other in a Way of Love, in Sporting and Pastime. And
thus also is the working of the six Spirits of God in the seventh; suddenly one of them has a strong rising up, suddenly another; and thus they wrestle in Love one with another. And
when the Light rises up in this striving, then the Holy Ghost moves in the Power of the Light, in the Play of the other six Spirits, and so in the seventh spring up all Manner of Fruits of Life, and all Manner of Colours and Vegetations, or Ideas and Forms.
Now as that Quality is which is strongest, so the Body of the Fruit is imaged, and the Colours also; in this Striving, or Wrestling, the Deity forms itself into infinite and unsearchable Variety of Kinds and Manners of Images or Ideas.
For the seven Spirits are the seven head Sources or Springs, and when Mercurius rises up therein, that stirs all, and the bitter Quality moves it, and distinguishes it, and the Astringent dries it up.
"
Nature and the Ternary are not one and the same; they are distinct, though the Ternary dwells in Nature, but unapprehended, and yet is an eternal Band, as is plainly unfolded in our second and third Book."
Now observe here, how the Imaging in Nature is in the seventh Spirit.
The sweet Water is the Beginning of Nature, and the astringent Quality draws or attracts it together, that it becomes natural and creatural, to speak in an angelical Way.
Now being drawn together, it looks like Azure or Sky-colour blue, but when the Light or Flash rises up therein, then it looks like the precious Jaspis, or Jasper Stone, or as I may call it in my Language, a glassy Sea, on which the Sun shines, and that very clear and bright.
But when the bitter Quality rises up therein, then it divides and forms itself, as if it was alive, or lively, or as if the Life did rise up there, in a greenish flourishing Manner and Form, like a green Flash of Lightning, to speak after the Manner of Men, so that it dazzles a Man's Eyes, and blinds him.
But when the Heat rises up therein, then the green Form inclines to a half red or ruddy Form, as when a carbuncle Stone shines from the green Flash or Beam of Light.
But when the Light, which is the Son of God, shines into this Sea of Nature, then it gets its yellowish and whitish Colour, which I cannot compare with any Thing; but you must be content to stay or tarry with this Aspect or Vision, till you come into the other Life.
For this now is the true Heaven of Nature, which is out of or from God, whence the Holy Angels dwell, and out of which they were created in the Beginning.
Behold now, when the Mercurius or Tone in this Nature-Heaven rises up, there the divine and angelical Joyfulness rises up, for therein rise up Forms, Imaginings, Colours, and angelical Fruits, which blossom curiously, grow, spring, flourish, and stand in Perfection, as to all Manner of Bearing or Fruit Trees, Plants and springing Growths, of a gracious, comely, lovely, amiable, blessed Prospect, Vision or Sight to be looked upon, with a most delicious, lovely, pleasant Smell and Taste.
But here I speak with an Angel’s Tongue, thou must not understand it earthly, like to this World.
It is with Mercurius in this Manner or Form also; thou must not think that there is any hard beating, striking, toning, or founding, or whistling and tuning, in the Deity, as when one takes a great Trumpet, and blows in it, and makes it to sound.
O no, dear Man, thou half dead Angel, that is not so, but all is done and consists in Power; for the divine Being stands in Power. But the holy Angels sing, tune and trumpet forth, with clear and shrill Sounding; for to that End God has made them out of himself, that they should increase and multiply the heavenly Joy: [And therefore were the Angels made out of God.]
Also such an Image was Adam, as God created him before his Eve was made out of him; but the corrupted Salitter wrestled with the Well-spring of Life in Adam, till it overcame. And so Adam became faint, which made him fall into a Sleep. Here he was undone: And if the Barmhert-zig-keit, or the Mercy of God, had not come to help him, and made a Woman out of him, he should have continued still asleep.
Of this we will speak in its proper Place.
This, as is mentioned above, is that fair, bright and holy Heaven, which is thus in the total Deity, which has neither Beginning nor End, whither no Creature with its Sense can reach.
Yet thou shalt know this, that always in a Place suddenly one Quality shows itself more powerfully than the other, suddenly the second prevails, suddenly the third, then suddenly the fourth, suddenly again the fifth, suddenly the sixth, then again suddenly the seventh.
Thus there is an eternal wrestling, working, and friendly amiable rising up of Love; where then in this rising up, the Deity continually shows itself more and more wonderful, more incomprehensible, and more unsearchable.
So that the holy Angels cannot sufficiently enough rejoice themselves, nor sufficiently enough converse, walk, and most lovingly sport therein, nor sufficiently enough sing that Te Deum laudamus, We praise thee, O God, in Hallelujah’s, as to each Quality of the great God, according to his wonderful Revelation, and Wisdom, and Beauty, and Fruit, and Form.
For the Qualities rise up eternally, and so there is not with them or among them, either Beginning, Middle, or End. And
although I have wrote here how all is come to be, and how all is framed, formed, and imaged, and how the Deity rises up, yet notwithstanding thou must not think, that it has any Rest, Ceasing or Extinction, and that afterwards it rises up thus again.
O no: But I must write in Part or by Pieces, for the Reader’s better Understanding, that he might thereby apprehend somewhat, and to attain the Sense and Meaning thereof.
[* See c. 7.]
Neither must thou think, that I have climbed up aloft into Heaven, and beheld it with my carnal or fleshly Eyes. O, no; hear me, thou half-dead Angel, I am as thou art, and have no greater Light in my outward Being than thou hast.
Moreover, I am a sinful and mortal Man, as well as thou, and I must every Day and Hour grapple, struggle, and fight with the Devil who afflicts me in my corrupted lost Nature, in the fierce or wrathful Quality, which is in my Flesh, as in all Men continually.
Suddenly I get the better of him, suddenly he is too hard for me; yet notwithstanding he has not overcome or conquered me, though he often gets the Advantage over me: For our Life is as a perpetual Warfare with the Devil.
This Strife and Battle is about that most high, noble, victorious Garland, till the corrupted, perished Adamical Man is killed and dead, in which the Devil has an Access to Man.
Of which the Sophister will know nothing: For he is not generated of God, but is born of Flesh and Blood: and though indeed the Birth stands open for and towards him, yet he will not enter; for the Devil with-holds him: God blinds none.
If he buffets me, then I must retire and give back, but the divine Power helps me again; then he also gets a Blow, and often loses the Day in the Fight. [* See v. 68.]
But when he is overcome, then the heavenly Gate opens in my Spirit, and then the Spirit sees the divine and heavenly Being; not externally without the Body, but in the Fountain or Well-spring of the Heart there rises up the Flash in the Sensibility or Thoughts of the Brain, and therein the Spirit does contemplate or meditate.
For Man is made out of all the Powers of God, out of all the seven Spirits of God, as the Angels also are. But now seeing Man is corrupted, therefore the divine Birth does not always spring, qualify, or operate in him; no, nor in all Men neither: And though indeed it springs in him, yet the high Light does not presently shine in all Men; and though indeed it shines, yet it is incomprehensible to the corrupted Nature. [* See v. 69.]
For the Holy Ghost will not be caught, held, or retained in the sinful Flesh, but rises up like a Flash of Lightning, as Fire flashes and sparkles out of a Stone, when a Man strikes Fire upon it.
But when the Flash is caught in the Fountain of the Heart, then the Holy Ghost rises up in the seven qualifying or fountain Spirits, into the Brain, like the Day-break, Dawning of the Day, or Morning Redness: And therein sticks the Mark, Aim, or Scope and Knowledge.
For in that Light the one sees the other, feels the other, smells the other, tastes the other, and hears the other, and is as if the whole Deity rose up therein. And
herein the Spirit sees into the Depth of the Deity; for in God, near and far off is all one; and that same God, of whom I write in this Book, is as well in his Ternary in the Body of a Holy Soul, as in Heaven. [* See v. 71.]
From this God I take my Knowledge, and from no other Thing, neither will I know any other Thing than that same God, and the same it is which makes that Assurance in my Spirit, that I steadfastly believe and trust in him. And
though an Angel from Heaven should tell this to me, yet for all that I could not believe it; much less lay hold on it, for I should always doubt whether it was certainly so or no: But the Sun itself arises in my Spirit, and therefore I am most sure of [* See v. 72.] it, and I myself do see the Proceeding and Birth of the holy Angels, and of all Things both in Heaven and in this World.
For the holy Soul is one Spirit with God; though indeed it is a Creature, yet it is like to the Angels: Also the Soul of Man sees much deeper than the Angels; for the Angels see only to the heavenly Pomp, but the Soul sees both the heavenly and the hellish, for it lives between both.
Therefore it must undergo many hard Blows and Pinches, and must every Day and Hour wrestle and struggle with the Devil, that is, with the hellish Qualities, and it liveth in great Danger in this World; and therefore this Life is very well called, the Valley of Misery, full of Anguish, a perpetual Hurlyburly, Pulling, and Haling, Worrying, Warring, Fighting, Struggling and Striving. [Or devilish Condition*, Inclination*, and Passions in us.]
But the cold and half-dead Body does not always understand this Fight of the Soul: The Body does not know how it is with it, but is heavy and anxious; it goes from one Room or Business to another; and from one Place to another; it seeketh for Ease and Rest. And
when it comes thither, where it would be, yet it finds no such Thing; then Doubtings and Unbelief fall in between and come upon it; sometimes it seems to it as if God had quite cast it off; but it doth not understand the Fight of the Spirit, how the same is sometimes down, and sometimes gets aloft. And
what vehement and furious War and Fight there is betwixt the hellish and heavenly Quality, which Fire the Devils blow up, and the Holy Angels quench it, I leave to every holy Soul to consider of.
Thou must know, that I write not here as a Story or History, as if it was related to me from another, but I must continually stand in that Combat or Battle, and I find it to be full of heavy Strivings, wherein I am often struck down to the Ground, as well as all other Men. [See v. 76.]
But for the Sake of the violent Fight, and for the Sake of the Earnestness which we have together, this Revelation has been given me, and the vehement Driving or Impulse, to bring it to pass, as to set all this down on Paper.
But what the total Sequel is, which may follow upon, and after this, I do not fully know: Only sometimes, future Mysteries in the Depth are shown to me.
For when the Flash rises up in the Center, one sees through and through, but cannot well apprehend or lay hold on it; for it happens to such a one as when there is a Tempest of Lightning, where the Flash of Fire opens itself, and suddenly vanishes. [See v. 79.]
So it goes also in the Soul, when it presses or breaks quite through in its Fight or Combat, then it beholds the Deity, as a Flash of Lightning; but the Source, Quality, or Fountain of Sins, covers it suddenly again: For the Old Adam belongs to the Earth, and does not, with this Flesh, belong to the Deity. [Or into.]
I do not write this for my own Praise, but to that End, that the Reader may know wherein my Knowledge stands, that he might not seek that from me which I have not, or think me to be what I am not. [See v. 81.]
But what I am, that all Men are, who wrestle in JESUS CHRIST our King for the Crown of the eternal Joy, and live in the Hope of Perfection; the Beginning whereof is at the Day of the Resurrection, which is now shortly near at Hand; which, in the Circle of the Rising or Horizon of the East in the Flash, is very well to be seen, in which Nature flows itself as if it would be Day-break.
Therefore take heed, that you be not found asleep in your Sins; surely the Prudent and the Wise will take Notice hereof, but the Wicked will continue in their Sins.
They say, what ails the Fool, when will he have done with his Dreaming? This is, because they are asleep in fleshly Lusts. Well, well, you shall see what Kind of Dream this will be. [Rise, Original, Geniture, or Springing forth.]
I would willingly take Ease and Rest in my Meekness, if I was not put upon this Work; but that God who has made the World is too strong for me, I am the Work of his Hands, he may set me and place me where he will. And