(35) Behold! thou blind Heathen; behold! thou Perverter, Obscurer, and Wrester of the Scriptures, open thy Eyes wide, and be not ashamed at this simple Plainness; for God lies hid in the Center, and is yet much more simple and plain, but thou seest him not.

(103) Thou Child of Man, behold now, how great a Gate of Heaven, of Hell, and of the Earth, as also of the whole Deity, the Spirit opens to thee.

(121) Behold, thou understanding Spirit: The Spirit speaks to thee, and not to the dead Spirit of the Flesh: Open the Door of thy astral Birth wide, and elevate that one Part of the astral Birth in the Light, and let the other in the Wrath stand still, and take Heed also that thy animated or soulish Spirit do wholly unite with the Light. And

(8) 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.

(2) The Reader should not make himself blind through his Unbelief, and dull Apprehension; for here I bring in the whole or total Nature, with all her Children, for a Witness and Demonstration. And if thou art rational, then look round about thee, and view thyself; also consider thyself aright, and then thou wilt soon find from, or out of what Spirit I write.

(13) But thou art to know this Mystery, that in the Center or Midst of these three Kingdoms is generated the Splendor or Son of God. [This needs Explanation: "Read the Second and Third Part of these Writings, where it is described more fundamentally: For nothing that is divisible, measurable, or circumscribible, is here meant or understood, only it was in Simplicity and Plainness set down so at the first, because of the slow and dull Apprehension."] [The Threefold Life.] [The Three Principles.]

(1) HERE thou shouldst open thy Eyes wide, for thou wilt see the hidden secret Things, which have been kept hidden from all Men since the World began. For thou wilt see the murtherous Den of the Devil, and the horrible Sin, Enmity, and Perdition.

(73) This is the other open Gate of the Deity, here thou must set thy Eyes wide open, and rouze up or awaken the Spirit in thy half dead Heart: For this is not an obscure Fiction, Contrivance or Fancy. Observe,

(125) If the Eyes of thy Spirit shall stand open, then thou must generate thus, else thy Comprehensibility is a foolish Virgin, and it befalls thee, as if a Limner should offer to pourtray the Deity on a Table, and tell thee, it is made right, the Deity is just so.

(6) Then saith to me Man-Shepherd: Didst understand this Vision what it means? Nay; that shall I know, said I. That Light, He said, am I, thy God, Mind, prior to Moist Nature which appeared from Darkness; the Light-Word (Logos) [that appeared] from Mind is Son of God. What then? - say I. Know that what sees in thee and hears is the Lord's Word (Logos); but Mind is Father-God. Not separate are they the one from other; just in their union [rather] is it Life consists. Thanks be to Thee, I said. So, understand the Light [He answered], and make friends with it.

(89) Open your Eyes, and consider your Selves: Man is made according to the Similitude, and out of the Power of God in his Ternary. Behold thy inward Man, and then thou wilt see it most plainly and clearly, if thou art not a Fool, and an irrational Beast; therefore observe,

(95) Hearken, there belongs more than so to this; thy animated or soulish Spirit must first qualify, operate or unite with the innermost Birth or Geniture in God, and stand in the Light, that it may rightly know and understand the astral Birth or Geniture, and that it may have a free and open Gate into all the Births or Genitures, else thou wilt not be able to write a holy and true Philosophy, but as it were full of Lice and Fleas, and to wit be found a Mocker against God. [Or many evil Beasts and creeping Vermine.]

(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."

(61) Is made to revolve by the strokes of the King's hand. O man of double vision, hearken with attention, Many are the holy words that find no entrance Into blind hearts, but they enter hearts full of light. But the deceits of Satan enter crooked hearts, Though you repeat pious expressions again and again, If you are a fool, they affect you not at all; Nay, not though you set them down in writing, And though you proclaim them vauntingly; Wisdom averts its face from you, O man of sin,