Jacob Boehme's Aurora
Chapter 23: Of the Deep above the Earth.
WHEN Man beholds the Deep above the Earth, he sees nothing but Stars and Clouds of Water, and then he thinks, sure there must be another Place, where the Deity presents or shows forth itself, together with the heavenly and angelical Government: He will needs have the Deep together with its Regimen or Dominion separated from the Deity; for there he sees nothing but Stars; and the Regimen or Dominion between, is Fire, Air, and Water.
Then presently he thinks God has made this thus, out of or from his predestinate Purpose, out of nothing: How then can God be in this Being? Or, can that be God himself? He continually imagines, that this is only a House, wherein God rules and dwells by his Spirit. God cannot be such a God, whose Being consists in the Power of this Government, or Dominion.
Many will dare to say, What Manner of God would that be, whose Body, Being, and Power or Virtue, stands or consists in Fire, Air, Water and Earth?
Behold! thou unapprehensive Man, I will show thee the true Ground of the Deity. If this whole or universal Being be not God, then thou art not God's Image. If he be any other, or strange God, then thou hast no Part in him: For thou art created out of this God, and livest in this very God, and this very God continually gives thee Power or Virtue, and Blessing, also Meat and Drink out of himself; also all thy Knowledge stands in this God, and when thou diest, then thou art buried in this God.
Now, if there be any other or strange God without, and besides this God, who then shall make thee living again out of this God, in whom thou shalt be departed and turned to Dust? How shall that strange God, out of whom thou art not created, and in whom thou didst never live, bring thy Body and Spirit together again?
Now if thou art of any other Matter than God himself, how canst thou then be his Child? Or how can the Man and King Christ be God's bodily or corporal Son, whom he has generated or begotten out of his Heart? [Or of any other Materials.]
Now, if his Deity be another Being, Substance, or Thing, than his Body, then there must be a twofold Deity in him; his Body would be of or from the God of this World, and his Heart would be of or from the unknown God.
O, thou Child of Man! open the Eyes of thy Spirit, for I will show thee here the right and real proper Gate of the Deity, as indeed that very one only God will have it.
Behold! that is the true one only God, out of whom thou art created, and in whom thou livest; and when thou beholdest the Deep and the Stars, and the Earth, then thou beholdest thy God, and in that same thou livest, and also art, or he by thy Being therein, and that same God governs or rules thee also, and out of or from that same God also thou hast thy Senses, and thou art a Creature out of or from him and in him; else thou hadst been nothing, or wouldst never have been.
Now perhaps thou wilt say; I write in a heathenish Manner. Hearken and behold! observe the distinct Understanding, how all this is so; for I write not heathenishly, or barbarously, but philosophically; neither am I a Heathen, but I have the deep and true Knowledge of the one only great God, who is ALL.
When thou beholdest the Deep, the Stars, the Elements, and the Earth, then thou comprehendest not with thy Eyes the bright and clear Deity, though indeed it is there and in them; but thou seest and comprehendest with thy Eyes, first Death, and then the Wrath of God, and the hellish Fire.
But if thou raisest thy Thoughts, and considerest where God is, then thou apprehendest the astral Birth or Geniture, where Love and Wrath move one against another. But when thou drawest up the Faith in God, who rules in Holiness in this Government or Dominion, then thou breakest through Heaven, and apprehendest or layest hold on God at his holy Heart.
Now when this is done, then thou art as the whole or total God is, who himself is Heaven, Earth, Stars, and the Elements, and hast also such a Regimen or Dominion in thee, and art also such a Person, as the whole God in the Place of this World is.
Now thou sayest: How shall I understand this? For the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Hell and of the Devil are distinct one from another, and cannot be one Body. Also the Earth and Stones are not God; nor the Heaven, Stars and Elements; much less can a Man be God; for if so, he could not be rejected by God. Here I will tell thee the Ground of all by Degrees, one Thing after another; therefore keep the Question in Mind.
Of the astral Birth or Geniture, and of the Birth or Geniture of God.
Before the Times of the created Heavens, the Stars and the Elements, and before the Creation of angels, there was no such Wrath of God, no Death, no Devil, no Earth nor Stones, neither were there any Stars. But the Deity generated itself very meekly and lovingly, and formed, framed, and figured itself in Ideas, Shapes, and Images, which were incorporated according to the qualifying or fountain Spirits in their generating, wrestling, and rising up, and passed away again also through their Wrestling, and figured or framed themselves into another Form or Condition, all according to the Primacy or Predominance of each qualifying or fountain Spirit, as you may read before.
But observe here rightly the earnest and severe Birth or Geniture, out of which the Wrath of God, Hell and Death, are come to be, which indeed have been from Eternity in God, but * not accessible nor capable of being elevated. [Not kindled or domineering.]
For the whole or total God stands in seven Species or Kinds, or in a sevenfold Form or Generating; and if these Births or Genitures were not, then there would be neither God, nor Life, nor Angel, nor any Creature.
And these Births or Genitures have no Beginning, but have so generated themselves from Eternity; and as to this Depth, God himself knows not what He is: For He knows no Beginning of Himself, also he knows not any Thing that is like Himself, as likewise He knows no End of Himself.
These seven Generatings in all are none of them the first, the second, or the third, or last, but they are all Seven, every one of them, both the first, second, third, fourth, and last. Yet I must set them down one after another, according to a creaturely Way and Manner, otherwise thou couldst not understand it: For the Deity is as a Wheel with seven Wheels made one in another, wherein a Man sees neither Beginning nor End.
Now observe,
I. First, there is the astringent Quality, which is always generated from the other six Spirits, which in itself is hard, cold, sharp like Salt, and yet far sharper. For a Creature cannot sufficiently apprehend its Sharpness, seeing it is not singly and alone in a Creature; but according to the Manner and Kind of the kindled hellish Quality, I know how it is: This astringent Harp Quality attracts or draws together, and by it divine Love holds or retains the Forms and Images, and dries them so, that they subsist or are fixed.
II. The second Generating is the sweet Water, which is generated also out of all the six Spirits; for it is the Meekness, which is generated out of the other six, and proffers itself forth in the astringent Birth or Geniture, and always kindles the astringent again, and then quenches and mitigates it, that it be not too much astringent, as it might be in its own Sharpness, if it was not for the Water.
III. The third Generating is the Bitterness, which exits out of the Fire in the Water; for it rubs and vexes itself in the astringent and sharp Coldness, and makes the Coldness moveable, from whence Mobility exists.
IV. The fourth Generating is the Fire, which exists from the Mobility or Rubbing in the astringent Spirit, and that is now sharp Burning, and the Bitter is Stinging and Raging. But when the Fire-Spirit rubs itself thus ragingly in the astringent Coldness, then there is an anxious horrible Quaking, Trembling, and sharp opposite contentious Generating.
Observe here the Depth.
I speak here as to the Kind and Manner of the Devil, as if the Light of God had not yet kindled itself in these four Kinds; and as if the Deity had a Beginning; I can no other or nearer Way offer it to your Judgment, that you may understand it.
In this fourth Rubbing is a very hard, and most horrible sharp and fierce Coldness, like a refined, melted, and very cold Salt-water, which yet is not Water, but such a hard Kind of Power and Virtue, as is like Stones.
There is also therein a Raging, Raving, Stinging, and Burning, and that Water is continually as a dying Man, when Body and Soul are parting asunder, a most horrible Anxiety, a woeful painful Birth or Geniture.
O Man! Here consider thyself, here thou seest, from whence the Devil and his fierce wrathful Malice has its Original, as also God's Wrath, and the hellish Fire, also Death and Hell, and eternal Damnation. Ye Philosophers, observe that!
Now when these four Generatings rub themselves one upon another, then Heat gets the Primacy and Predominance, and kindles itself in the sweet Water, and then instantly the Light rises up.
Understand this rightly.
[Understand this rightly.]
When the Light kindles itself, then the Fire-Terror or Crack comes forth first, as when you strike upon a Stone, the Fire-Crack is first, and then the Light first conceives itself from the Fire-Crack.
Now the Fire-Crack in the Water goes through the astringent Quality, and makes it moveable, but the Light generates itself in the Water, and becomes shining Light, and is an impalpable, meek, and most richly loving Being, which neither I nor any other Creature can sufficiently write or speak of, but I stammer only like a Child, which would fain learn to speak.
That same Light is generated in the Midst or Center out of these four Species, out of the Unctuosity or Fatness of the sweet Water, and replenishes the whole Body of this Generating. But it is such a meek, pleasing, well-doing, good-smelling, and well-tasting Relish, that I know no Similitude to liken it to, but where Life is generated in the Midst or Center of Death; or as if a Man did sit in a huge scorching hot flaming Fire, and was suddenly snatched out from thence, and set in such a very exceeding easy Place of Refreshment, where instantly all the smarting scalding Pains, which he felt before by the Burning of the Fire, should suddenly pass away, and he be put into such a pleasing Temper and Soundness. Just so the Generating of the four Kinds or Species are set, or put into such a soft and meek Welldoing, and Refreshment, as soon as the Light rises up in them. Thou must understand me here right.
I write, and mean it, in a creaturely Kind and Manner, as if a Man had been the Devil’s Prisoner, and was suddenly removed out of the hellish Fire into the Light of God.
For the Light has had no Beginning in the Generating of God, but has finished or given Light from Eternity in the Generating, and God himself knows no Beginning therein.
Only the Spirit here sets open for thee the Gates of Hell, that thou mayest see what is the Condition of the Devils and of Hell, and what the Condition of Man is, when the divine Light extinguishes in him, so that he sits in the Wrath of God, and then he lives in such a Generating, in such an Anguish, Smarting, Pains, Woe and Misery.
Neither can I declare it unto thee in any other Manner; for I must write so, as if the Generating, or Geniture of God had or took a Beginning, when Things came to be thus; but I write here really true, and precious dear Words, which the Spirit alone understands.
Now observe the Gates of God.
The Light, which generates itself from the Fire, and becomes shining in the Water, and replenishes or fills the whole Geniture, and enlightens it, and mitigates it, that is the true Heart of God, or Son of God; for he is continually generated out of the Father, and is another Person than the Qualities and Geniture of the Father. [John 1. 14.]
For the Generating, or Geniture of the Father cannot catch or comprehend the Light, and use it to its Generating, but the Light stands by itself, and is not comprehended by any Geniture, and it replenishes and enlightens the whole Geniture, viz. 'the only begotten Son of the Father. And this Light I call, in the human Birth or Geniture, the animated or soulish Birth,' [*understand the Image, which budded forth out of the Essences of the Soul, according to the Similitude of God,*] or the Soul’s Birth or Geniture which qualifies, mixes, or unites with this animated or soulish Birth or Geniture of God; and herein is Man’s Soul one Heart with God; but that is when it stands in this Light.
V. The fifth Generating in God, is when this Light thus very gently, mildly, and amiably presses through the first four Births or Generatings, and then it brings along with it the Heart, and most pleasant lovely Power and Virtue of the sweet Water; and lo when the sharp Births or Genitures taste of it, then are they very meek, and richly full of Love, and it is as if continually the Life did rise up in and from Death.
There each Spirit tastes of the other, and gets mere new Strength and Power, for the astringent Quality grows now very pliable and yielding, because it is mitigated by the Power of the Light that springs out of the sweet Water, and in the Fire the meek Love rises up, for it warms the Coldness, and the sweet Water makes the sharp Taste very pleasant, lovely, and mild.
And so in the sharp and fiery Births or Generatings, there is nothing but a mere Longing of Love, a Tasting, friendly affecting, gracious, amiable, and blessed Generating; there is nothing but mere Love, and all Wrath and Bitterness in the Center is bolted up as in a strong Hold. This Generating is a very meek beneficial Welldoing, and the bitter Spirit now is the living Mobility.
VI. Now the sixth Generating in God, is, when the Spirits in their Birth or Geniture thus welse one of another, for then they become very full of Joy: For the Fire-flash, or the Sharpness out of or from the Birth or Geniture, rises up aloft, and moves as the Air in this World does.
For when one Power or Virtue touches the other, then they taste one another, and become very full of Joy; for the Light becomes generated out of all the Powers, and presses again through all the Powers; whereby and wherein the rising Joy generates itself, from whence the Tone or Tune exits.
For from the Touching and Moving, the living Spirit generates itself, and that same Spirit presses through all Births or Generatings, very inconceivably and incomprehensibly to the Birth or Geniture, and is a very richly joyful, pleasant, lovely Sharpness, like melodious sweet Music.
And this moving Spirit is the Third Person in the Birth or Geniture of God, and is called God the Holy Ghost. [Melody or Music.]
VII. The seventh Generating is, and keeps its Birth or Geniture, and Forming, in the Holy Ghost, and when that goes through the sharp Births or Genitures, then it goes forth with the Tone, and so forms and images all manner of Figures, all according to the Wrestling of the sharp Births, or Genitures one with another.
For they wrestle in the Birth or Geniture continually one with another, like a loving Play or Scene, and according as the Birth or Geniture is with the Colours and Taste in the Rising up, so are the Figures also imaged.
And this Birth or Geniture now is called GOD the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost: And neither of them is the first, and neither of them is the last; though I make a Distinction, and set the one after the other, yet neither of them is the first or the last, but they have all been from Eternity thus sted in the same Equality of Being.
I must write by this Way of Distinction, that the Reader may understand it; for I cannot write mere heavenly Words, but must write human Words. Indeed all is rightly, truly, and faithfully described: But the Being of God consists only in Power, and the Spirit only comprehends it, and not the dead or mortal Flesh. And
thus thou mayest understand what manner of Being the Deity is, and how the three Persons in the Deity are. Thou must not liken the Deity to any Image; for the Deity is the Birth or Geniture of all Things. And if there were not in the first four Species or Kinds the sharp Birth or Generating, then there would be no Mobility, neither could the Light kindle itself, and generate the Life.
But now this sharp Birth or Geniture is the Original of Mobility and of Life, as also of the Light, from whence exits the living and rational Spirit, which distinguishes, forms, and images all in this Generating.
For the astringent cold Birth or Geniture is the Beginning of all Things, which is astringent, severe, contracting, and retentive, and forms and contracts the Birth together, and makes the Birth thick or solid, so that out of it Nature comes to be; and hence Nature and Comprehensibility has its Original in the whole Body of God.
Now this Nature is as a dead unintellectual Being, and stands or consists not in the Power of the Birth or Geniture, but is a Body, wherein the Power generates.
But it is the Body of God, and has all Power as the whole Geniture has, and the generating Spirits take their Strength and Power out of, or from the Body of Nature, and continually generate again, and the astringent Spirit continually compacts or draws it together, and dries it; and thus the Body subsists, and the generating Spirits also.
Observe,
Now when the Light shines through the astringent contracted Body of Nature, and mitigates it, then the mild beneficent Well-doing generates itself in the Body, and then the hard Power grows very mild, and melts as Ice in the Heat of the Sun, and is extenuated or rarefied as Water is in the Air; and yet the Stock of Nature as to the heavenly Comprehensibility remains standing.
For the astringent and Fire-Spirit holds it fast, and the meek Water, which melts from the Body of Nature in the Kindling of the Light, that goes through the severe and earnest, cold and fiery Birth or Geniture, and is very sweet, pleasant, and lovely.
Whereby now the earnest and austere Birth or Geniture is refreshed; and when it tastes thereof, it grows capable to be raised up, and rejoices, and also is a joyful rising-up, wherein the Life of Meekness generates itself.
For this is the Water of Life,
wherein the Love in God, as also in Angels and Men, generates itself: For it is all of one Sort of Power, Virtue, and Birth or Geniture. [Water of Life.]
And now when the Births or Genitures of the Powers taste the Water of Life, then they quake or tremble for very Love-Joy, and that Trembling or Moving, which rises up in the Midst or Center of the Birth or Geniture, is bitter.
For it rises up swiftly out of the Birth, when the Water of Life comes into the Birth or Geniture; like a joyful Leaping or Springing up of the Birth.
But seeing it rises up so swiftly, that the Birth elevates itself so suddenly before it be fully affected with the Water of Life, thereupon that Terror or Crack keeps its Bitterness which it has out of or from the austere Birth; for the Beginning or inceptive Birth or Geniture is very austere, cold, fiery, and astringent.
Therefore also is the Terror or Crack now so swelling and trembling; for it moves the whole Birth, and rubs itself therein, till it kindles the Fire in the hard Fierceness, from whence the Light takes its Original. And then the trembling Crack becomes enlightened with the Meekness of the Light, and goes in the Birth or Geniture up and down, and cross-ways, both upwards and downwards, like a Wheel made with seven Wheels one in another.
In this pressing through and turning about exists the Tone, according to the Quality of each Spirit; and always one Power affects the other, for the Powers are as loving Brethren in one Body; and the Meekness rises up; and the Spirit generates and shows itself infinitely. [loving Brethren.]
For that Power, which in the Turning about shows itself the Strongest in the Generating, according to that Power, Manner, and Colour, the Holy Ghost also images, shapes, or frames the Figures in the Body of Nature. [Holy Ghost also images.]
Thus thou seest, that none of the Powers is the first, also none the second, third, fourth, or last; but the last generates the first, as well as the first the last, and the middlemost takes its Original from the last, as also from the first, as well as from the second, third, or any of the rest. [Thus thou seest.]
Thou seest also, that Nature cannot be distinguished from the Powers of God, but is all one Body.
The Deity, that is, the holy Power of the Heart of God, is generated in Nature, and so also the Holy Ghost exists or goes forth out of the Heart of the Light continually, through all the Powers of the Father, and figures all, and images or frames all.
This Birth or Geniture is now in three distinct Parts, every one being several and total, and yet neither of them is divided asunder from the other.
The Gate of the Holy Trinity.
The whole Birth or Geniture, which is the Heaven of all Heavens, as also this World, which is in the Body of the whole, as also the Place of the Earth and of all Creatures, and whatever thou canst think on, all that together is God the Father, who has neither Beginning nor End, and whereforever and whatsoever thou thinkest upon, even in the smallest Circle that can be imagined, is the whole Birth or Geniture of God, perfectly, incessantly, and irresistibly.
But if in a Creature, or in any Place, the Light be extinguished, then is the austere Birth or Geniture there, which lies hid in the Light in the innermost Kernel: And this now is one Part.
The second Part, or the second Person, is the Light, which is continually generated from or out of all Powers, and enlightens again all the Powers of the Father, and has the Fountain of all Powers; but is therein distinguished from the Father as a singular Person, in that it cannot comprehend the Birth or Geniture of the Father, and yet is the Father's Son, which is always generated from or out of the Father: An Instance whereof you have in all the kindled Fires in this World; do but consider of it.
And the Father loves this his only begotten or innate Son therefore so heartily, because he is the Light and the meek beneficent Well-doing in his Body, through whose Power the Father's Joy and Delight rises up.
Now these are two Persons, and neither of them can apprehend, retain, or comprehend the other, and the one is as great as the other; and if either of them were not, the other could not be neither.
Observe here, ye Jews, Turks, and Heathens, for it concerns you; so you here are opened the Gates of God, harden not yourselves, for now is the acceptable Time.
You are not forgotten of God at all, but if you convert, then the Light and Heart of God will rise up in you, as the bright Sun at Noon-day.
This I write in the Power and perfect Knowledge of the great God, and I understand his Will herein very well. For I live and am in him, and spring up with this Work and Labour out of his Root and Stock, and it must be so:
Only take thou Heed, if thou blindest thyself, then there is no Remedy more; neither canst thou say, thou knewest not of it, therefore arise, for the Day breaks! [Or have my Being in him.]
The third Diversity, or the third Person in the Being of God, is the moving Spirit, which exits from the rising up in the Terror or Crack, where Life is generated, which now moves in all Powers, and is the Spirit of Life; and the Powers can no more comprehend him, or apprehend him, but he kindles the Powers, and by his Moving makes Figures and Images, and forms them according to that kind and manner, as the wrestling Birth stands in every Place.
And if thou art not wilfully blind, thou mayest know, that the Air is that very Spirit, but in the Place of this World Nature is kindled therein very swelling in the Wrath-fire, which Lord Lucifer effected, and the Holy Ghost, who is the Spirit of Meekness, lies hidden therein in his Heaven.
Thou needest not to ask, where that Heaven is. It is in thy Heart, do but open it, the Key is here shown to thee.
Thus there is one God and three distinct Persons one in another, and neither of them can comprehend, or withhold, or fathom the Original of the other, but the Father generates the Son, and the Son is the Father's Heart, and his Love and his Light, and is an Original of Joy, and the Beginning of all Life.
And the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of Life, and a Former, Framer and Creator of all Things, and a Performer of the Will in God, that has formed and created out of or from the Body, and in the Body of the Father, all Angels and Creatures, and holds and forms all still daily, and is the Sharpness and the living Spirit of God. And as the Father speaks or expresses the Word out of or from his Powers, so the Spirit forms or frames them.
Of the great Simplicity of God.
Come on, brave Sir, upon thy brown Nag! who ridest from Heaven into Hell, and from Hell into Death, and therein the Sting of Death lies; view thyself here, thou worldly wise Man, that art full of base Wit, Cunning, and subtle Policy.
Take Notice, ye worldly wise Lawyers, if you will not come before this Looking-Glass, even before the bright and clear Face of God, and view yourselves therein, then the Spirit presents to you the Birth or Geniture in the innermost astringent Circle; where Wit, Cunning, and Prudence are generated, where the Sharpness of the anxious Birth or Geniture of God is, for there your Prudence, Cunning, and deep reaching Wit are generated.
Now if you will be Gods, and not Devils, then make use of the holy and meek Law of God; if not, then you shall for ever eternally generate in the austere and severe Birth or Geniture of God. This says the Spirit, as the Word of God, and not of my dead or mortal Help.
Thou must know, that I do not suck it out from the dead or mortal Reason, but my Spirit qualifies, mixes, or unites with God, and proves or searches the Deity, how it is in all its Births or Genitures in its Taste and Smell: And I find, that the Deity is a very simple, pure, meek, loving and quiet Being; and that the Birth of the Ternary of God generates itself very meekly, friendly, lovingly, and unanimously, and the Sharpness of the innermost Birth can never elevate, or swell itself into the Meekness of the Ternary, but remains hidden in the Deep.
And the Sharpness in the hidden Secrecy is called God's WRATH; and the Being of Meekness in the Ternary or Trinity is called GOD. Here nothing goes out of, or forth from the Sharpness which perishes, or which kindles the Wrath, but the Spirits play very gently one with another, like little Children, when they rejoice one with another, where every one has his Work, and so they play one with another, and lovingly kiss and court one another.
Such a Work also the holy Angels exercise themselves in; and in the Ternary of God there is a very meek, pleasant, and sweet Being, where the Spirit always elevates itself in the Tone, and the one Power touches the other, as if there were pleasant melodious Hymns or Songs, and Consorts of musical Instruments plaid upon. [Tune, Melody, or Music.]
And as the rising up of the Spirits in every Place is, so the Tone also forms itself, but very meekly, and incomprehensibly to the Bodies of the Angels, but very comprehensibly to the animated or soulish Birth or Geniture of Angels: And as the Deity presents itself in each Place, so the Angels also present themselves: For the Angels were created out of this Being, and have among them their Princes of the qualifying or fountain Spirits of God, as they are in the Birth or Geniture of God.
Therefore as the Being of God presents or shows forth itself in the Birth or Geniture, so do the Angels also, and that Power, which at any Time has the Primacy in the Birth or Geniture of God, and rejoices out of the Heart of God in that Holy Ghost, that Power's Prince of the Angels begins also his Hymn, and jubilates with his Host or Army, now one, then suddenly another; for the Birth or Geniture of God is like a Wheel.
But when the Heart of God shows forth itself with its Clarity or Brightness, then there rises up the whole Host or Army of all the three Kingdoms of the Angels; and in this Rising up of the Heart of God the Man JESUS CHRIST is King and Chief. He leads the royal Chorus or Quire with all the holy Souls of Men till the last Judgment-Day. And then the holy Men are perfect Angels, and the wicked perfect Devils, and that in its Eternity.
Here view thyself, thou witty subtle World, and consider from whence thy Prudence, Subtilty, and Wit proceeds.
Now thou wilt say to me:
Dost not thou seek after deeper Subtilty than we? Thou wilt needs climb into the most hidden Secrets of God, which is not fit for any Man to undertake. We seek only after human Prudence and Subtilty, but thou would’st be equal with God, and know all; how God is in every Thing, both in Heaven, and in Hell, in Devils, Angels and Men. Therefore surely it is not unlawful to seek for a cunning sharp Wit, and after crafty Designs, which bring Honour, Power or Authority, and Riches.
A Reply.
If thou climbest up this Ladder on which I climb up into the Deep of God, as I have done, then thou hast climbed well: I am not come to this Meaning, or to this Work and Knowledge through my own Reason, or through my own Will and Purpose; neither have I sought this Knowledge, nor so much as knew any Thing concerning it. I fought only for the Heart of God, therein to hide myself from the tempestuous Storms of the Devil.
But when I got in there, then this great, weighty, and hard Labour was laid upon me, which is to manifest and reveal to the World, and to make known the great Day of the LORD; and seeing they seek and long so eagerly after the Root of the Tree, to reveal to them what the whole Tree is, thereby to intimate, that it is the Dawning, or Morning-Redness of the Day, which God has long ago decreed in his Council. AMEN.
Thus thou seest, what God is, and how his Love and Wrath have been from Eternity, also how his Birth or Geniture is: And now thou canst not say, that thou art not in God, or dost not live in God, or that God is any strange Thing which thou canst not come at, but must confess, that where thou art, there is the Gate of God.
Now if thou art holy, then as to thy Soul thou art with God in Heaven; but if thou art wicked, then as to thy Soul thou art in Hell-fire.
Now observe further.
When God created the Angels, all of them were created wholly out of this Birth or Geniture of God; their Body was compassed or incorporated out of Nature, therein their Spirit and Light generated themselves, as the Deity generated itself. And as the qualifying or fountain Spirits of God always took their Power and Strength out of or from the Body of Nature, so the Angels also, they took their Power and Strength always out of, or from the Nature of God.
And as the Holy Ghost in Nature forms and images, or frames all, so the Spirit of the Angels also qualified or united with the Holy Ghost, and helped to form, frame, and image all, that all might be one Heart and Will, and a mere Delight and Joy: For the Angels are the Children of the great God, which he has generated in his Body of Nature for the multiplying of the divine Joy.
But here thou must know, that the Bodies of Angels cannot apprehend the Birth or Geniture of God, neither does their Body understand it, their Spirit only understands it, but the Body holds still, as the Nature in God does, and lets the Spirit co-work and labour with God, and play lovingly.
For the Angels play before and in God, as little Children play before their Parents, whereby the divine Joy is increased.
But when the mighty potent Prince and King Lucifer was created, he would not do so, but elevated and swelled himself, and would be God alone, and kindled the Wrath-fire in himself, and so did all his Angels also.
But when that was done, he roared with his kindled Fire-spirit abroad into the Nature of God, and then the whole Body in the Nature of God, as far as his Kingdom and Dominion reached, was kindled. But seeing his Light was instantly extinguished, he could no more qualify or unite with his Spirit in the two Births or Genitures, viz. of the Son of God, and of the Holy Spirit of God, but remained standing in the sharp Birth or Geniture of God.
For the Light of God, and the Spirit of God, cannot comprehend the sharp Birth or Geniture, and therefore they are two distinct Persons; and so Lord Lucifer could no more touch, see, feel, or taste the Heart of God and the Holy Spirit of God, with his austere, cold, and hard Fire-birth, but was spewed out with his Fire-spirit into the outermost Nature, wherein he had kindled the Wrath-fire.
And that Nature is indeed the Body of God, wherein the Deity generates itself, but the Devils cannot apprehend the meek Birth of God, which rises up in the Light. For their Body is dead to the Light, and lives in the outermost and austere Birth or Geniture of God, wherein the Light never kindles itself again any more.
For their Unctuosity or Fatness in the sweet Water is burnt up, and that Water is turned into a sour Stink, wherein the Light of God can no more kindle itself, and the Light of God can no more enter into it.
For the qualifying or fountain Spirits of the Devils are shut up in the hard Wrath, their Bodies are a hard Death, and their Spirits are a fierce Sting of the Wrath of God, and their qualifying or fountain Spirits generate themselves continually in the innermost Sharpness, according to the sharp Law of the Deity. [Right or Order.]
For otherwise they cannot generate themselves, neither can they die or pass away, vanish, and be no more, but they stand in the most anguishing Birth or Geniture, and there is nothing in them but mere Fierceness, Wrath and Malice; the kindled Fire-source rises from Eternity to Eternity, and they can never touch, nor see, nor apprehend the sweet and light Birth or Geniture of God any more.
Of the kindled Nature.
But God has therefore kindled Nature so much and so hard, and did so kindle the Burning in his Wrath therein, that he might thereby build a Dwelling-House for the Devils, and keep them Prisoners therein, in that they were the Children of Wrath, in whom he rules with his fierce Zeal or Jealousy, and they also in the Wrath of God.