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(30) The outward Comprehensibility or Palpability in the whole Nature of this World, and of all Things which are therein, stands all in the Wrath-fire of God, for it is become thus through the Kindling of Nature. And Lord Lucifer with his Angels has his Dwelling now in the same outward Birth or Geniture which stands in the Wrath-fire.

(76) 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.

(37) And indeed he has done somewhat, in that he has set the divine Power into a Burning, which appears even in the Sun and Stars; also the Fire in the Salitter in the Elements is often kindled, so that it seems as if the Deep was of a burning Fire; of which I shall speak in another Place. He slept back out of the Meekness into the anxious Fire-will, and fell into Darkness. The Reader is advertised, that he must not understand in any Place, as if the Devil had kindled or fired the Light of God; no, but the Forms of Nature only, out of which the Light shines. For he has not comprehended the Light, as little as the Fire does, which cannot lay hold on the Light: But he entered into the Fire, and is expelled into the Darkness, and has neither Fire nor Light, besides, without, or distinct from his Creature. [Or his own creaturely Existence.]

(91) 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.

(68) For the Wrath-Fire in Nature is not, during this Time of the World, the Devil’s own House of his Power; for the Love stands hidden in the Center of the Wrath-Fire, and Lucifer, together with his Angels, lies imprisoned in the outward Wrath-Fire, even until the Judgment of God: Then he will have the Wrath-Fire separated from the Love, for an eternal Bath or Lake, and doubtless he will wash his Juggler’s Head and Face with it.

(37) But now thou must not think, that thereupon the whole Nature or Place of this World is become a mere bitter Wrath of God. No; here lies the Point; the Wrath does not comprehend the innermost Birth or Geniture in Nature, for the Love of God is yet hidden in the Center, in the whole Place of this World, and so the House which Lord Lucifer is to be in, is not fully separated, but there is still in all Things of this World, both Love and Wrath one in another, and they always wrestle and thrive one with another.

(74) in the Deep the Power of all Stars, together with the Heat and Lustre of the Sun, are all but one Thing, a moving boiling Hovering, like a Spirit or Matter; only it has not Reason, for it is not the Holy Spirit. And thus also the fourth Element must adhere or belong to a natural Spirit, or it is not capable of Reason. ["And thus God the Father goes forth in his Deep out of all his Powers, and generates the Splendor, the Heart, or the Son of God in his Center."]

(51) whatsoever thou dost but look upon, there is God, but the Comprehensibility stands in this World, in the Wrath, which the Devil has kindled; and in the hidden Kernel, in the Midst or Center of the Wrath, the Light or Heart of God is generated, incomprehensibly as to the Wrath, and to each of them remains in its Seat.

(34) But that also the Element of Fire is, and rules in the Deep of the Air and Water, thou seest in Tempests of Lightning; also thou perceivest, how the Light of the Sun kindles the Element of Fire on the Earth with its Reflection, although many times aloft in the upper Region towards the Moon it is very cold.

(9) Eximenus saith:—God hath created all things by his word, having said unto them: Be, and they were made, with the four other elements, earth, water, air, and fire, which He coagulated, and things contrary were commingled, for we see that fire is hostile to water, water hostile to fire, and both are hostile to earth and air. Yet God hath united them peacefully, so that they love one another. Out of these four elements, therefore, are all things created—heaven and the throne thereof; the angels; the sun, moon, and stars; earth and sea, with all things that are in the sea, which indeed are various, and not alike, for their natures have been made diverse by God, and also the creations. But the diversity is more than I have stated; each of these natures is of diverse nature, and by a legion of diversities is the nature of each diverse. Now this diversity subsists in all creatures, because they were created out of diverse elements. Had they been created out of one element, they would have been agreeing natures. But diverse elements being here mingled, they lose their own natures, because the dry being mixed with the humid and the cold combined with the hot, become neither cold nor hot; so also the humid being mixed with the dry becomes neither dry nor humid. But when the four elements are commingled, they agree, and thence proceed creatures which never attain to perfection, except they be left by night to putrefy and become visibly corrupt. God further completed his creation by means of increase, food, life, and government. Sons of the Doctrine, not without purpose have I described to you the disposition of these four elements, for in them is a secret arcanum; two of them are perceptible to the sense of touch and vision, and of these the operation and virtue are well known. These are earth and water. But there are two other elements which are neither visible nor tangible, which yield naught, whereof the place is never seen, nor are their operations and force known, save in the former elements, namely, earth and water; now when the four elements are not commingled, no desire of men is accomplished. But being mixed, departing from their own natures, they become another thing. Over these let us meditate very carefully.

And the Turba:—Master, if you speak, we will give heed to your words.

Then he:—I have now discoursed, and that well. I will speak only useful words which ye will follow as spoken. Know, all present, that no true tincture is made except from our copper.* Do not therefore, exhaust your brains and your money, lest ye fill your hearts with sorrow. I will give you a fundamental axiom, that unless you turn the aforesaid copper into white, and make visible coins* and then afterwards again turn it into redness,t until a Tincture results, verily, ye accomplish nothing. Burn therefore the copper, break it up, deprive it of its blackness by cooking, imbuing, and washing, until the same becomes white. Then rule it.