(3) What else did Adam do but this same thing? It is said, it was because Adam ate the apple that he was lost, or fell. I say, it was because of his claiming something for his own, and because of his I, Mine, Me, and the like. Had he eaten seven apples, and yet never claimed anything for his own, he would not have fallen: but as soon as he called something his own, he fell, and would have fallen if he had never touched an apple. Behold! I have fallen a hundred times more often and deeply, and gone a hundred times farther astray than Adam; and not all mankind could mend his fall, or bring him back from going astray. But how shall my fall be amended? It must be healed as Adam’s fall was healed, and on the self-same wise. By whom, and on what wise was that healing brought to pass? Mark this: man could not without God, and God should not without man. Wherefore God took human nature or manhood upon Himself and was made man, and man was made divine. Thus the healing was brought to pass. So also must my fall be healed. I cannot do the work without God, and God may not or will not without me; for if it shall be accomplished, in me, too, God must be made man; in such sort that God must take to Himself all that is in me, within and without, so that there may be nothing in me which striveth against God or hindereth His Work.

(53) And there he spoke clearly of the Son of Man, of his Humanity, and not of his Deity merely; for he says plainly, The Son of Man. But God from Eternity was not the Son of Man, and therefore no Son of Man can proceed from the Trinity; therefore we must look upon it right. If Mary had proceeded out of the Trinity, where should our poor captivated Souls have been? If Christ had brought a strange Soul from Heaven, how should we have been delivered? Had it been possible to redeem Man [without it,] what Occasion was there for God to come into our Form, and be crucified? If it could have been so, then God should instantly have separated or freed Adam from Death, when he fell. Or dost thou suppose that God is so maliciously zealous, as to be so angry without a Cause?

(3) For as all men were lost in Adam and all men that with work will witness their will of salvation are saved or shall be by virtue of the Passion of only Christ: not in the same manner, but as it were in the same manner, a soul that is perfectly disposed to this work, and oned thus to God in spirit as the proof of this work witnesseth, doth that in it is to make all men as perfect in this work as itself is. For right as if a limb of our body feeleth sore, all the tother limbs be pained and diseased therefore, or if a limb fare well, all the remnant be gladded therewith—right so is it ghostly of all the limbs of Holy Church. For Christ is our head, and we be the limbs if we be in charity: and whoso will be a perfect disciple of our Lord’s, him behoveth strain up his spirit in this work ghostly, for the salvation of all his brethren and sisters in nature, as our Lord did His body on the Cross. And how? Not only for His friends and His kin and His homely lovers, but generally for all mankind, without any special beholding more to one than to another. For all that will leave sin and ask mercy shall be saved through the virtue of His Passion. And as it is said of meekness and charity, so it is to be understood of all other virtues. For all they be truly comprehended in this little pressing of love, touched before.

(43) And for this Cause God became Man, that he might in himself new generate the Soul of Man again, and might redeem it new the Chains of the Fierceness of Anger, and not at all [for the bestial Body's Sake] which must melt again into the four Elements, and come to nothing; of which nothing will remain, but the Shadow in the Figure of all his Works, and Matters, which he has wrought at any Time.

(3) Now if God took to Himself all men that are in the world, or ever were, and were made man in them, and they were made divine in Him, and this work were not fulfilled in me, my fall and my wandering would never be amended except it were fulfilled in me also. And in this bringing back and healing, I can, or may, or shall do nothing of myself, but just simply yield to God, so that He alone may do all things in me and work, and I may suffer Him and all His work and His divine will. And because I will not do so, but I count myself to be my own, and say “I,” “Mine,” “Me” and the like, God is hindered, so that He cannot do His work in me alone and without hindrance; for this cause my fall and my going astray remain unhealed. Behold! this all cometh of my claiming somewhat for my own.

(15) Man is created for true obedience, and is bound of right to render it to God. And this obedience fell and died in Adam, and rose again and lived in Christ. Yea, Christ’s human nature was so utterly bereft of Self, and apart from all creatures, as no man’s ever was, and was nothing else but “a house and habitation of God.” Neither of that in Him which belonged to God, nor of that which was a living human nature and a habitation of God, did He, as man, claim anything for His own. His human nature did not even take unto itself the Godhead, whose dwelling it was, nor anything that this same Godhead willed, or did or left undone in Him, nor yet anything of all that His human nature did or suffered; but in Christ’s human nature there was no claiming of anything, nor seeking nor desire, saving that what was due might be rendered to the Godhead, and He did not call this very desire His own. Of this matter no more can be said, or written here, for it is unspeakable, and was never yet and never will be fully uttered; for it can neither be spoken nor written but by Him who is and knows its ground; that is, God Himself, who can do all things well.

(80) Who is it that will presume to undertake to stand before the Source [or Spring] of the Mercifulness, and make Intercession [or pray] for one that invocates them? As if the Love in the Heart of God was dead, and did not desire to help those that call to him; gMatth.ll. whereas his Arms continually without End stand stretched out, to help all those that turn to him with their whole Heart. 8 1. Thou wicked Antichrist, thou sayest, that Faith alone does not justify the Soul, but thy invented Works, for thy Avarice or Covetousness, these must do the Deed. Wherein wilt thou be regenerated? In thy Maozim, [or Belly-God,] or through the Birth of Jesus Christ? Which is nearest of all to the Deity? Thy Works pass away, and follow thee in the Shadow; yet the Soul has no Need of any Shadow, but it must be earnest; it must enter in through the Gates of the Deep, and must pass through the Center of the [grim] Fierceness of Death, through the Wrath of the eternal Band, to the meek Incarnation of Jesus Christ, and become a Member of the Body of Christ, and receive of his Fulness, and live therein; his Death must be thy Death; his Essences must flow in thee; and thou must live in his Source, [Property or Virtue.] Thus thou must be regenerated anew in him, if thou wilt stand before his Father; otherwise nothing will help; if there had been any Thing in the whole Depth of the Deity, that could have helped, God would have bestowed it upon Adam, and would not have let his Heart (against the Course of Nature) to become Man. But there was no Counsel, [or Remedy,] neither in Heaven, nor in this World, except God did become Man. Therefore be thou in earnest, and do not seek Byways to Babel.

(95) And now when these two, thus captivated by the Devil and this World, stood before God with Fear and great Horror, and felt the Anger of God, and the severe Judgment; then the Heart of God, which had made them; pitied them, and it looked whether there was any [Remedy or] Counsel that might help poor Man, and redeem [or deliver] him from the Bands of the eternal [Fierceness or] Wrath, and from the mortal Body of this World. But there was nothing found, neither in Heaven, nor in this World, that could make them free; there was no Principality or Throne- Angel, which had the Ability to do it; all was lost, they were in the eternal Judgment of the temporal and eternal Death. For the first Principle had captivated them, in the Spirit of the Soul, and qualified [or mingled] with the Soul; the Kingdom of Heaven in the Light was shut up, [and there was a firm Enclosure] of a whole Principle between, and 1 it could not reach the Kingdom of Heaven again, except it were born of God again; otherwise there was no Council, nor Help, nor Refuge in any Thing at all.

(83) It is known to us, that (in Adam's Fall) we are fallen into the Anger of God, when the Spirit, or Soul of Adam, turned from the Heart of God into the Spirit of this World, where instantly the holy heavenly Image was extinguished, and the Anger in the Darkness held the poor Soul captive, and where the Devil instantly got his Entrance and Habitation in the Anger of the human Soul; and if the Treader upon the Serpent had not entered instantly into the Mark of Separation, in the Center of the Light of Life, then the Wrath would have devoured us, and we should have continued eternally to be Companions of the Devils; but when the Treader upon the Serpent thus entered into the Middle (though not so presently into the Humanity, but into the Center of the Light of Life) then the poor imprisoned Souls which turned themselves to God again, were (in the Center) bound or knit to the Deity again, till the Champion [or Saviour] came into the Humanity, where (in his Conception and Humanity) he received the whole Man again, and this we see clearly in his Baptism; for there was that one Person which was both God and Man, he had the heavenly and also the earthly Body.

(5) Adam possessed that union with God which we have spoken of, and while he had it, his capacity contained the capacities of all creatures. The load-stone attracts the needle, and the needle receives the magnetic power, so that it can also attract other needles and draw them to the load-stone. But if one draws the first needle away, all the other needles come with it. Thus was it with Adam: when, in his highest capacity, he was separated from God all his capacities deteriorated. Thence came also discord and the clashing of oppugnant wills among the lower creation, and deterioration of their powers down to the lowest. It is necessary, therefore, for all the creatures which issued forth from God to co-operate earnestly with all their powers to form a Man who may again attain that union with God which Adam enjoyed before he fell, and who may again restore to the creatures their forfeited powers.

This is fulfilled in Christ as He Himself said, "I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me." He means, if He is exalted in our knowledge, He will draw us unto Himself. In Him human nature grew divine, and thanked God and loved Him with immeasurable love. This also befits God that he loves human nature with so great love. I counsel you, sisters and brothers, that you grow in knowledge, and thank God, while you are in time, that He brought you out of non-existence to existence, and united you with the Divine Nature. But if the Divine Nature be beyond your comprehension, believe simply on Christ; follow His holy example and remain steadfast. Convert Jews, heathen, heretics, bad Christians, and all who do not enjoy your knowledge of God, and are still astray.

(23) Thus know (my beloved Reader) that our Father Adam is gone out of this Glory into the Out-Birth of the Substance of this World; and now if he is to be helped, then the Barmhertzigkeit, or Mercifulness of God (as above-mentioned) must new regenerate him; and in this Mercifulness of God Man was foreseen (before the Foundation of the World was laid) to live eternally therein, for (as to his Soul) he is out of the eternal Will of God the Father, out of which this Mercifulness is generated. The Gate of Immanuel.

(5) Therefore the Son came down from heaven, and was incarnate of a Virgin, and took upon Him all our bodily weaknesses, except sin and folly, into which Adam had cast us; and out of all His words and works and limbs and nerves, He made a cord, and drew us so skillfully, and so heartily, that the bloody sweat poured from His sacred Body. And when He had drawn men without ceasing for three and thirty years, He saw the beginnings of a movement and the redemption of all things that would follow. Therefore He said, "And I, if I be lifted up on the Cross, will draw all men unto Me." Therefore He was stretched upon the Cross, and laid aside all His glory, and whatever might hinder His drawing men.

(9) But because the Soul stood with its most inward Root in the Abyss of Hell, and according to the Kingdom of this World in the hard [frozen] Death, so that (if the Flesh and Blood, as also the Dominion of the Stars, should leave it) then it would continue inwardly in a Hardness, wherein there is no Source [or active Property,] and itself, in its own Property, would be but in the Fierceness of the Originality, in great Misery; therefore it was necessary, not only for God to come into the Soul, and generate it to the Light, (for there was Danger, that the Soul with its Imagination might go forth out of the Light again,) but also for God to assume a human Soul, from our Soul, and a new heavenly Body, out of the first glorious Body before the Fall, and put it on to the Soul, with the old earthly Body hanging on it, not only as a Garment, but really [united as one] in the Essences; so that it must be a Creature, that is, the whole God, with all the three Principles.

(25) And this was the Purpose of God, therefore to create but one Man, that the same might be tempted, [and tried] how he would stand, and that upon his Fall he might the better be helped: And the Heart of God did before the Foundation of the World in his Love before intend [or predetermine] to come to help [him;] and when no other Remedy could do it, the Heart of God himself would become Man, and regenerate Man again.

(6) Now therefore as we know, that Christ (by his Entrance into the Incarnation) has opened a Door into Heaven, into his holy Body, so that we (through a true Repentance and Confidence) may come to him and put the new white Garment of his Innocence, in his Love, upon our Souls, so we know also that the Soul stands yet fast bound with two Chains. One is the Birth of its own Life, whose most inward Root is Poison and Wrathfulness; and so the Soul being [sprung] out of the eternal Source, and having its Originality out of the Eternity, none can redeem it in its own Root of Eternity, or bring it out of the Anger, except there come one who is the Love in itself, and be born in its own very Birth, that so he may bring it out of the Anger, and set it in the Love in himself, as it was done in Christ.

(35) And thus you may well believe, that all whatsoever happened in the Fall of Adam, whereby Adam is fallen, the same was the second Adam fain to bear upon his Shoulders, for ohe was fallen into the Anger of God; and now if that must be allayed and reconciled, then the second Adam must set himself therein, and yield his outward Body with all Essences therein; and he must go through Death, into Hell, into the Anger of the Father, and reconcile it with his Love; and so himself must undergo that hard Condition, wherein we must have been in Eternity.

(4) Now, people say when they commit sin, that they do not intend to do so always; they intend to turn away from sin. That is just as though a man were to kill himself and suppose that he could make himself alive again by his own strength. That is, however, impossible; but to turn from sin by one's own power and come to God is still much more impossible. Therefore, whosoever is to turn from sin and come to God in His heavenly kingdom, must be drawn by the heavenly Father with the might of His divine power.

The Father also draws the Son who comes to help us with His grace, by stimulating our free will to turn away from, and hate sin, which has drawn us aside from God, and from the immutable goodness of the Godhead. Then, if she is willing, He pours the gift of His grace into the soul, which renounces all her misery and sin, and all her works become living. Now, this grace springs from the centre of Godhead and the Father's heart, and flows perpetually, nor ever ceases, if the soul obeys His everlasting love. Therefore He saith in the prophets: "I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee." Out of the overflow of His universal love He desires to draw all to Himself, and to His Only-begotten Son, and to the Holy Ghost in the joy of the heavenly kingdom.

Now, we should know that before our Lord Jesus Christ was born, the Heavenly Father drew men with all His might for five thousand, two hundred years; and yet, as far as we know, brought not one into the heavenly kingdom. So, when the Son saw that the Father had thus strongly drawn men and even wearied Himself, and yet not succeeded, He said to the Father: "I will draw them with the cords of a man." It was as though He said, "I see well, Father, that Thou with all Thy might, canst not succeed, therefore will I myself draw them with the cords of a man."

(3) Hereto I adjoin a parable. There were a certain man and wife; the woman by accident lost an eye, and was sorely troubled thereat. Her husband then said to her, "Wife, why are you troubled? "She answered, "It is not the loss of my eye that troubles me, but the thought that you may love me less on account of that loss." He said, "I love you all the same." Not long after he put one of his own eyes out, and came to his wife and said, "Wife, that you may believe I love you, I have made myself like you: I, too, now, have only one eye." So men could hardly believe that God loved them till God put one of His eyes out, that is took upon Himself human nature, and was made man.

Just as fire infuses its essence and clearness into the dry wood, so has God done with man. He has created the human soul and infused His glory into it, and yet in His own essence has remained unchangeable. If you ask me whether, seeing that my spiritual birth is out of time, whether I am an eternal son, I answer "Yes," and "No." In the everlasting foreknowledge of God, I slumbered like a word unspoken. He hath brought me forth His son in the image of His eternal fatherhood, that I also should be a father and bring forth Him. It is as if one stood before a high mountain, and cried, "Art thou there?" The echo comes back, "Art thou there?" If one cries, "Come out." the echo answers, "Come out."

(3) Above thyself thou art: for why, thou attainest to come thither by grace, whither thou mayest not come by nature. That is to say, to be oned to God, in spirit, and in love, and in accordance of will. Beneath thy God thou art: for why, although it may be said in manner, that in this time God and thou be not two but one in spirit—insomuch that thou or another, for such onehead that feeleth the perfection of this work, may soothfastly by witness of Scripture be called a God—nevertheless yet thou art beneath Him. For why, He is God by nature without beginning; and thou, that sometime wert nought in substance, and thereto after when thou wert by His might and His love made ought, wilfully with sin madest thyself worse than nought, only by His mercy without thy desert are made a God in grace, oned with Him in spirit without departing, both here and in bliss of heaven without any end. So that, although thou be all one with Him in grace, yet thou art full far beneath Him in nature.

(3) And therefore whoso were reformed by grace thus to continue in keeping of the stirrings of his will, should never be in this life—as he may not be without these stirrings in nature—without some taste of the endless sweetness, and in the bliss of heaven without the full food. And therefore have no wonder though I stir thee to this work. For this is the work, as thou shalt hear afterward, in the which man should have continued if he never had sinned: and to the which working man was made, and all things for man, to help him and further him thereto, and by the which working a man shall be repaired again. And for the defailing of this working, a man falleth evermore deeper and deeper in sin, and further and further from God. And by keeping and continual working in this work only without more, a man evermore riseth higher and higher from sin, and nearer and nearer unto God.