(72) And first there goes forth the great luminary, named the Sun, and his circumference is like the circumference of the heaven, and he is quite filled with illuminating and heating fire.

(46) Now observe: The sun stirreth in the midst, in the deep between the stars, in a round circle, and is the heart of the stars, and giveth light and power to all the stars, so tempering the power of the stars that all becometh pleasant and joyful.

(66) 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.

(25) Now if we consider rightly of the sun and stars, with their corpus or body, operations and qualities, then the very divine being may be found therein, and we may find that the virtues of the stars are nature itself.

(76) Which may be likened to the round globe of the sun, which shineth upwards, downwards, and on every side; and so the splendour, together with all the powers, goeth forth from the Son of God in the whole Father.

(19) And the Light of the Sun is as it were a God in the Nature of this World, and by its Virtue [and Influence] it continually kindles the Stars [or Constellations] whereby the Stars [or Constellations] (which are of a very terrible and anguishing Essence) continually exult in Triumph very joyfully. For it [the Sun] is an Essence like the Light of God, which kindles and enlightens the dark Mind of the Father, from whence, by the Light, there arises the divine Joy in the Father.

(24) And thence a Fiery Whirlwind drawing down the brilliance of the flashing flame, penetrating the abysses of the Universe; for from thence downwards do extend their wondrous rays.

(42) For should the love of God, through its heaven, kindle the whole body of this world through the heat, it would be everywhere all over as light as it now is in the sun.

(10) First there is the light (as I may naturally compare or resemble it) like the light of the sun, but not so intolerable as the light of the sun is to our corrupted perished eyes, but very lovely, pleasant and delightful, an aspect or glance of love.

(53) Further, the sun is made or generated from all the stars, and is a light taken from the whole nature, and shineth again into the whole nature of this world; it is united with the other stars, as if itself together with all the stars were but one star.

(7) But seeing the heart or power of the sun could not open the anxious birth or quality of fierceness and wrath, and temper the same, especially as it could not do so aloft in that height above Jupiter, thereupon that whole circumference or sphere stood in a horrible anxiety, just as a woman in travail; and yet could not awaken or raise the heat, because of the horrible coldness and astringency.

(48) For as the sun stands in the midst, between the stars and the earth, enlightening all powers, and is the light and heart of all the powers, and is all the joy in this world, besides, all beauty and pleasantness stands in the light and power of the sun.

(28) But that there are so many stars of so manifold different effects and operations is from the infiniteness, which is in the efficiency [infection or affecting] of the seven spirits of God, in one another, which generate themselves infinitely.

(83) 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.

(21) For, just as the sun not only illumines heaven and the whole world, shining over land and sea, but also through windows and small chinks sends his beams into the innermost recesses of houses, so the Word diffused everywhere casts His eye-glance on the minutest circumstances of the actions of life.

(1) After the truth against the present life Of miserable mortals was unfolded By her who doth imparadise my mind, As in a looking-glass a taper's flame He sees who from behind is lighted by it, Before he has it in his sight or thought, And turns him round to see if so the glass Tell him the truth, and sees that it accords Therewith as doth a music with its metre, In similar wise my memory recollecteth That I did, looking into those fair eyes, Of which Love made the springes to ensnare me. And as I turned me round, and mine were touched By that which is apparent in that volume, Whenever on its gyre we gaze intent, A point beheld I, that was raying out Light so acute, the sight which it enkindles Must close perforce before such great acuteness. And whatsoever star seems smallest here Would seem to be a moon, if placed beside it. As one star with another star is placed. Perhaps at such a distance as appears A halo cincturing the light that paints it, When densest is the vapour that sustains it,

(10) The sun does not thine there, nor the moon and the stars, nor these lightnings, and much less this fire. When he shines, everything shines after him; by his light all this is lighted.

(5) O splendour of God! by means of which I saw The lofty triumph of the realm veracious, Give me the power to say how it I saw! There is a light above, which visible Makes the Creator unto every creature, Who only in beholding Him has peace, And it expands itself in circular form To such extent, that its circumference Would be too large a girdle for the sun. The semblance of it is all made of rays Reflected from the top of Primal Motion, Which takes therefrom vitality and power. And as a hill in water at its base Mirrors itself, as if to see its beauty When affluent most in verdure and in flowers, So, ranged aloft all round about the light, Mirrored I saw in more ranks than a thousand All who above there have from us returned. And if the lowest row collect within it So great a light, how vast the amplitude Is of this Rose in its extremest leaves! My vision in the vastness and the height Lost not itself, but comprehended all The quantity and quality of that gladness.

(51) As the sun is a self-subsisting creature, power and light, which shineth not forth from or out of all creatures, but in and into all creatures, and all creatures rejoice in its power.

(61) But if the fierceness should be generated in the shining light, then surely it would reach as far also as the splendour or shining of the light, but it does not so.