(32) And I came to the Garden of Righteousness, and saw beyond those trees many large trees growing there and of goodly fragrance, large, very beautiful and glorious, and the tree of wisdom whereof they eat and know great wisdom.

Then justice created the beautiful paradise. It is outside the circuit of the moon and the circuit of the sun in the luxuriant earth, which is in the east in the midst of stones. And desire is in the midst of trees, since they are beautiful and appealing. And the tree of immortal life, as it was revealed by the will of god, is in the north of paradise to give life to the immortal saints, who will come out of the fashioned bodies of poverty in the consummation of the age. Now, the color of the tree of life is like the sun, and its branches are beautiful. Its leaves are like those of the cypress, and its fruit is like clusters of white grapes. Its height rises up to heaven. And next to it is the tree of knowledge, possessing the power of god. Its glory is like the moon shining forth brilliantly, and its branches are beautiful. Its leaves are like fig leaves, and its fruit is like good, delicious dates. And this tree is in the north of paradise to raise up the souls from the stupor of the demons, so they might come to the tree of life and eat its fruit and condemn the authorities and their angels. The effect of this tree is described in the Holy Book as follows: You are the tree of knowledge, which is in paradise, from which the first man ate and which opened his mind, so that he loved his female partner, and condemned other alien likenesses, and loathed them. Now, after this there sprouted up the olive tree, which was to purify kings and chief priests of justice, who will appear in the last days. The olive tree appeared in the light of the first Adam for the sake of the anointing that they will receive.

(13) Wherefore also Moses says, " Show Thyself to me," - intimating most clearly that God is not capable of being taught by man, or expressed in speech, but to be known only by His own power. For inquiry was obscure and dim; but the grace of knowledge is from Him by the Son. Most clearly Solomon shall testify to us, speaking thus: "The prudence of man is not in me: but God giveth me wisdom, and I know holy things." Now Moses, describing allegorically the divine prudence, called it the tree of life planted in Paradise; which Paradise may be the world in which all things proceeding from creation grow. In it also the Word blossomed and bore fruit, being "made flesh," and gave life to those "who had tasted of His graciousness;" since it was not without the wood of the tree that He came to our knowledge. For our life was hung on it, in order that we might believe. And Solomon again says: "She is a tree of immortality to those who take hold of her." "Behold, I set before thy face life and death, to love the Lord thy God, and to walk in His ways, and hear His voice, and trust in life. But if ye transgress the statutes and the judgments which I have given you, ye shall be destroyed with destruction. For this is life, and the length of thy days, to love the Lord thy God."

Next, let me continue. When the rulers saw him and the woman who was with him erring in ignorance like beasts, they rejoiced greatly. When they learned that an immortal human was not going to pass them by, but that they would even have to fear the woman who had turned into a tree, they were troubled and said, “Is this, perhaps, the true human, who blinded us and taught us about this defiled woman who is like him, that we might be conquered?” Then the seven took counsel. They came to Adam and Eve timidly, and they said to him, “The fruit of every tree created for you in paradise may be eaten, but beware, don’t eat from the tree of knowledge. If you do eat, you will die.” After they gave them a great fright, they withdrew up to their authorities. Then came the one who is wiser than all creatures, who was called the beast. When he saw the likeness of their mother, Eve, he said to her, “What is it that god said to you? ‘Don’t eat from the tree of knowledge’?” She said, “He said not only ‘Don’t eat from it’ but also ‘Don’t touch it, lest you die.’” He said to her, “Don’t be afraid! You certainly shall not die. For he knows that when you eat from it your mind will be sobered and you will become like gods, knowing the difference between evil and good people. For he said this to you because he is jealous, so that you would not eat from it.” Now, Eve believed the words of the instructor. She looked at the tree and saw that it was beautiful and appealing, and she desired it. She took some of its fruit and ate, and she gave to her husband also, and he ate too. Then their minds opened. For when they ate, the light of knowledge shone for them. When they put on shame, they knew that they were naked with regard to knowledge. When they sobered up, they saw that they were naked, and they became enamored of one another. When they saw that their makers had beastly forms, they loathed them. They understood a great deal.

(24) Thus it is shown us in the Light of Nature, that when Adam was thus impregnated [or possessed] from the Spirit of this World, then God built [or made] a Garden in Eden upon Earth, in the Paradise, and caused to grow up all Sorts of paradisical Fruit, pleasant to behold, and good to eat, and the Tree of Temptation in the Midst [of the Garden of Eden,] which had its Essences from the Spirit of this World; and the other [Trees and Fruits] had paradisical Essences.

(33) So she pulled off an Apple and did eat, and gave to Adam also, and he eat of it likewise. That was a Bit at which the Heavens might well have blushed, and the Paradise have trembled, as it was indeed really done, as is to be seen at the Death of Christ, (when he entered into Death, and wrestled with Hell,) that the Earth and the Elements trembled, and the Light of the Sun was darkened, when this Bit of the Apple was to be a healed up. The Gate of the great Affliction, and Misery of Man.

(57) Thus now Adam with his Wife went (in great Lust and Joy) into the Garden of Eden, where Adam told her of the Commandment concerning the Tree: But Eve (being a Woman of this World) regarded it but little, and turned her from Adam to the Tree, and looked upon it with Lust; and the Lust instantly took hold of her; and the lying Devil (when she was talking with him, whom she knew not, neither had heard of any Devil) persuaded her, and she laid hold on the Tree, and broke off [an Apple,] and did eat of the Fruit of the four Elements and Stars, and gave to Adam; and when Adam saw that Eve died not, then he eat also.

(39) 1 have told you before, out of what Power the Tree is grown; viz. that it grew out of the Earth, and has wholly had Might. the Nature of the Earth in it, as at this Day all earthly Trees are [so,] (and no otherwise, neither better nor worse,) wherein Corruptibility stands, as the Earth is corruptible, and shall pass away in the End, when all shall go into its Ether, and nothing else shall remain of it besides the Figure. Now this was the Tree which stood in the Midst of the Garden in Eden, whereby Adam must be tempted in all Essences; for this Spirit should rule powerfully over all Essences, as the holy Angels, and God himself does.

(25) In this [Garden] now the Image of God stood altogether free. It might embrace [and take] what it would, only the Tree of Temptation, that was forbidden. There he was forty Days in the paradisical Knowledge, Joy, and Habitation, where yet there was neither Day nor Night to him, but only the Eternity; he saw with his Eyes [from or] out of the divine Power [and Virtue.] There was in him no Shutting of his Eyes; he had no Need of the Sun at all, yet all Things must serve and be subject to him. The Out-Birth [or Production] of the four Elements did not touch him; there was no Sleep in him, nor Pain, nor Fear. A thousand Years were to him but as a Day; he was such an Image as shall rise at the last Day; there will rise no other Image than that which God created in the Beginning, therefore consider it well.

Paradise is the perfection in the thought of the father, and the plants are the words of his reflection. Each one of his words is the work of his will alone, in the revelation of his word. Since they were in the depth of his mind, the word, who was the first to come forth, caused them to appear, along with an intellect that speaks the unique word by means of a silent grace. It was called thought, since they were in it before becoming manifest. It happened, then, that the word was the first to come forth at the moment pleasing to the will of him who desired it; and it is in the will that the father is at rest and with which he is pleased. Nothing happens without him, nor does anything occur without the will of the father. But his will is incomprehensible. His will is his footstep, but no one can know it, nor is it possible for them to concentrate on it in order to possess it. But that which he wishes takes place at the moment he wishes it—even if the view does not please people before god: it is the father’s will. For the father knows the beginning of them all as well as their end. For when their end arrives, he will greet them. The end, you see, is the recognition of him who is hidden, that is, the father, from whom the beginning came forth and to whom will return all who have come from him. For they were made manifest for the glory and the joy of his name.

(33) And there the noble Virgin (in the Spirit of the Prophets) pointed at the Seed of the Woman, at his Incarnation [or becoming Man,] his suffering and dying for the poor Soul of Man, that it might be delivered from the eternal Death, and be regenerated anew, in the Son of the Virgin; which was done after three Thousand nine Hundred and seventy Years; and then the Word of the Promise, which God promised to Adam and Eve in the Paradise in the Garden of Eden, when they fell into Sin, and which imaged [or imprinted] itself in the Center of the Life, through which all Men that come to God are justified, became Man.

(2) Our Wit [Skill and Understanding] is so very hard bound up, that we have no more Knowledge of Paradise at all. And except we be again born anew by Water and the Holy Ghost, the Vail of Moses lies continually before our Eyes when we read his Writings, and we suppose that was Paradise whereof Moses said; GOD placed him in the Garden of Eden which he had planted, that he might till it.

(3) O beloved Man, that is not Paradise, neither does Moses say so; but that was the Garden of Eden, where they were tempted; the Explanation whereof you may find about the Fall of Adam. The Paradise is the divine Joy; and that was in their Mind, when they were [standing] in the Love of God. But when Disobedience entered, they were driven out, and saw that they were naked; for at that Instant the Spirit of the World caught them, in which there was mere Anguish, Necessity, Trouble and Misery, and in the End Corruptibility and Death. Therefore it was of Necessity that the eternal World did become Flesh, and bring them into the paradisical Rest again; whereof you shall find [the Explanation] in its due Place, about the Fall of Adam.

(6) But now when the Meekness was in the Father, then the Love held the Anger captive, and [the Love] went out of the Source of the Father, and that was the Holy Ghost, in the Wonders. There stood the highly worthy heavenly Virgin of the Wisdom of God, in the highest Ornament, with her Garland of Pearls; there stood Mary in Ternario Sancto, of which the Spirit (in the Ancients) has spoken wonderfully. And here Adam was brought into Paradise again.

(432) 782 To say: Great lady, who didst become heaven, thou didst become (physically) mighty, 782 thou art become victorious, thou hast filled every place with thy beauty. 782 The whole earth lies (lit. is) under thee; thou hast taken possession of it; 782 thou encompassest the earth and all things (therein) in thine arms; 782 mayest thou establish this N. in thee as an imperishable star.

(32) And as the fierce [wrathful] Essence of the Anger of God pressed into Adam, whereby he entered into Death, of which God spoke, saying, If thou eatest of the Tree, thou shalt die the Death, understand the Death in the Flesh, even while they were in the earthly Life, so the sharp Nails must pierce through the Hands and Feet of Christ, and so he must enter into Death; and as there is in the human Essences (before the Light of God) a Cross-Birth, so when the Light of God shines therein, all is turned into a pleasant flourishing Blossom, wherein the sharp Essences are not found or perceived.

(80) Now when Adam and his Wife had eaten of the earthly Fruit, then they were ashamed one of another, for they perceived the bestial Members for Propagation; and they broke off God went into the Garden, highly into their Minds, and they hid themselves behind the Trees in the Garden.

(1) 'There is that ancient tree, whose roots grow upward and whose branches grow downward;--that indeed is called the Bright, that is called Brahman, that alone is called the Immortal. All worlds are contained in it, and no one goes beyond. This is that.'

(41) And the Keeper of the Garden is the Cherubim, the Cutter off of the Source [or Quality] of the Stars, which holds the four Elements for a while, and then breaks them, and with its bitter Sharpness severs them from the Soul, and passes away itself also with its Sword. This [Keeper] is here in the Way, that we cannot come to the Tree of the eternal Life; he is in the Midst, and suffers us not to come into Paradise. The gross Garden of Eden (which is our earthly Flesh) is the Hedge [or Fortification] before the Garden,

(38) Besides, I hear a great Howling and Lamentation, that all thy Servants cry Woe over thee, because thou plaguest them; and moreover, thou hast shed my noble Seed, and not sown it, but [thou hast sown] thy wild [Seed] for [the promoting of] thy great Devouring and Pomp. Behold, I have spewed thee out towards Babel in the Press of my fierce Wrath, and there I will press thee; and I will plant my Lily-Branch in my Garden of Roses, which brings me forth Fruit, after which my Soul lusts, of which my sick Adam shall eat, that he may be strong, and may go into Paradise. Of the Thrusting Adam and Eve out of the Paradise of the Garden in Eden.