(102) the sweet Spring or fountain-Water is generated by the driving about or rising up of the Spirits, for when the Light is generated in the Heat, then the astringent Quality is amazed or terrified for great Joy, and this is a submitting or lying down, or growing thin, and the hard corporeal Being sinks down like a Meekness or Mildness. And so

(30) 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.

(38) In the Middle, or central Fountain or Well-spring, which is the Heart, where the Birth rises up, the astringent or harsh Quality rubs itself with the bitter and hot; and there the Light kindles, which is the Son, of which it is always impregnated in its Body, and that enlightens and makes it living.

(38) When the Light is generated in the bitter Quality; that is, when the bitter and dry Fountain-sources catch the sweet Fountain-water of Life, and drink it, then the bitter Spirit becomes living in the astringent Spirit, and the astringent Spirit, which is as a Spirit impregnated with Child, is impregnated with Life, and must continually generate the Life.

(39) 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.

(108) For in the Light in the sweet Water all Astringency, and Hardness, and Bitterness, and Heat, are mitigated and made pleasant, and so there is in the seven Spirits nothing else but a pleasant Striving, Struggling, and wonderful Generating, like a divine holy Sport or Scene of God.

(29) there the Light kindles in the Heat in the sweet Fountain-water, and this is the Beginning of Life: For the astringent and bitter Qualities are the Beginning and Cause of the Heat and of the Light, and thus the sweet Fountain-water becomes a shining Light, like the blue or azure Light of Heaven.

(60) For in the first four qualifying or fountain Spirits stand the divine Birth or Geniture; therefore they must be very earnest, and strong also, though they have among them too their meek Mother, the sweet Water, and in the Fifth stands the gracious, amiable and blessed Love, and in the Sixth the Joy, and in the Seventh the Framing, Imaging, or Comprehensibility.

(119) For the kindled Spirits of God generate themselves thus. I. The Hardness generates a hard, raw, rough, cold, and astringent Quality. II. The Sweetness is grown faint, like a glowing Coal, when there is no more Sap in the Wood, that gasps, and there is no Refreshment for it. III. The Bitterness tears like a hot Plague, and is as bitter as Gall. IV. The Fire burns as a fierce wrathful Sulphur. V. Love is an Enmity here. VI. The Sound is a mere Beating, Rumbling, or Cracking, like the Noise of a Fire breaking forth out of a hollow Place, as if it were great Claps of Thunder. VII. The Circuit, Region, Court, or Residence of the Body is a House of Mourning.

(104) The second Spirit is the Water: And as the astringent or harsh Quality is the Father of the other six Spirits, which attracts or draws them together, and so holds them, so the sweet Water is the Mother, in which all Spirits are conceived, kept and generated, that softens, and moistens, or soaks them, wherein and whereby they get their Life, and then the Light of Joyfulness rises up therein.

(33) In this rising up, the astringent Quality becomes meek, light, thin, or transparent, and pleasant or lovely, and obtains its Life, whose Original rises up out of the Heat in the sweet Water, and this now is the true Fountain or Well-spring of Love. Observe this in the deep Sense. [Observe this in the deep Sense.]

(58) 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.

(119) When the astringent or harsh Quality, as the Father, forms the Word or Son, or Spirit, then it stands captive in the Center of the Heart, and is examined or tried by the other Spirits, whether it be good or no. Now if it pleases the Fire, then the Fire lets the Flash (in which the bitter Spirit stands) go through the sweet Water, wherein it conceives the Love, and goes with it into the astringent Quality.