(10) When he who produced himself as perfect actually did bring himself forth, he became weak like a female nature which has abandoned its virile counterpart.

(54) But while he thus stood (between the Kingdom of Hell and the Kingdom of this World) in the Paradise, bound with Bands, and yet also wholly free, in the Might of God, he [reflected himself into or] discovered himself in the great Deep of the Kingdom of this World; in which the great Wonders also stand hidden in the Center, as we see, that Man has (by his eternal Mind) discovered it, and brought it to Light, as is seen before our Eyes. And in his Discovering [or Reflecting] he imagined, and fell into Lust, for the Spirit of the World took hold of him, as a Mother makes a Mark upon a Child in the Mother's Womb, and [he] became (in the Lust) impregnated from the Spirit of this World, and then was blind as to God, and saw neither God nor the Virgin any more in his Mind. And thus the Kingdom of Heaven continued in the opened Gate of the Omnipotence, (in the Paradise) in its [own] Principle to itself (and the Virgin in it) hidden in the Center, and was in Adam, and yet Adam (with his Mind) was not in God, but in the Spirit of this World; and he became feeble as to the Kingdom of God, and so fell down and slept.

(21) In this chapter we have attempted, in some degree, to expound the greatness of man's soul. He who neglects it and suffers its capacities to rust or to degenerate must necessarily be the loser in this world and the next. The true greatness of man lies in his capacity for eternal progress, otherwise in this temporal sphere he is the weakest of all things, being subject to hunger, thirst, heat, cold, and sorrow. Those things he takes most delight in are often the most injurious to him, and those things which benefit him are not to be obtained without toil and trouble. As to his intellect, a slight disarrangement of matter in his brain is sufficient to destroy or madden him; as to his power, the sting of a wasp is sufficient to rob him of ease and sleep; as to his temper, he is upset by the loss of a sixpence; as to his beauty, he is little more than nauseous matter covered with a fair skin. Without frequent washing he becomes utterly repulsive and disgraceful.

(22) In truth, man in this world is extremely weak and contemptible; it is only in the next that he will be of value, if by means of the "alchemy of happiness" he rises from the rank of beasts to that of angels. Otherwise his condition will be worse than the brutes, which perish and turn to dust. It is necessary for him, at the same time that he is conscious of his superiority as the climax of created things, to learn to know also his helplessness, as that too is one of the keys to the knowledge of God.

(87) But when he set his Imagination in the Kingdom of this World, then the bright and clear Will of his Soul drew the swelled Kingdom of the Out-Birth to the Soul in its Will; and so the pure paradisical Soul became dark, and the Element of the Body got the xMesch or Massa, which the Will of the Soul of the Mind attracted into the Element [of the Body;] and then he was a fleshly Man, and got the Fierceness of the first Principle, which the strong Breaking-through to God, in the Gate of the Deep, made to be hard Gristles and Bones.

(58) And then their Eyes were opened, and they knew that they had Flesh and Blood, and were quite naked. For the Spirit of the great World took them captive with the four Elements, and figured [or framed in] them Stomach and Guts; though indeed Or astral Spirit, in the Sleep of Adam (when the Matrix was severed from the Limbus) the same Forms were already figured, but they knew it not, till after the Biting of the Apple; and then the Spirit of the Fierceness first got in, and made its Region, as may be seen in the Heart, Liver, Lungs, Gall, and Bladder, as also in the Stomach; this Regimen had Adam got in his Sleep, and with the Biting of the Apple the Spirit of the great World has set itself in that [Government.]

(84) When God had thus gently incorporated it, or compacted it together, then it found and felt itself to be mighty and powerful, and saw that it had or possessed a body more beautiful than the figures were, that were without, distinct from it; thereupon it became high minded, and elevated itself in its body, and would be more severe and eager than the Salitter was, which was without, distinct from its body.

(4) God fashioned man in such a way as to render it manifest, that he is not through the want of power, or of deliberate choice, incapable of being impelled to what is beautiful in conduct. For he implanted in him a principle of such a kind as to comprehend at one and the same time the possible and the pre-eligible; so that man might be the cause of power, and the possession of good, but God of impulse and incitation according to right reason. On this account also, he made him tend to heaven, gave him an intellective power, and implanted in him a sight called intellect, which is capable of beholding God. For it is not possible without God to discover that which is best and most beautiful, nor without intellect to see God, since every mortal nature is established in conjunction with a kindred privation of intellect. This however is not imparted to it by God, but by the essence of generation, and by that impulse of the soul which is without deliberate choice.

(10) Man, then, genetically considered, is formed in accordance with the idea of the connate spirit. For he is not created formless and shapeless in the workshop of nature, where mystically the production of man is accomplished, both art and essence being common. But the individual man is stamped according to the impression produced in the soul by the objects of his choice. Thus we say that Adam was perfect, as far as respects his formation; for none of the distinctive characteristics of the idea and form of man were wanting to him; but in the act of coming into being he received perfection. And he was justified by obedience; this was reaching manhood, as far as depended on him. And the cause lay in his choosing, and especially in his choosing what was forbidden. God was not the cause.

(4) Thus man’s an animal; yet not indeed less potent in that he’s partly mortal, but rather doth he seem to be all the more fit and efficacious for reaching Certain Reason, since he has had mortality bestowed on him as well. For it is plain he could not have sustained the strain of both, unless he had been formed out of both natures, so that he could possess the powers of cultivating Earthly things and loving Heaven. X

(56) And now when Adam awaked from Sleep, then he was a Man, and no Angel; he drew Breath from the Air, and therewith kindled his starry Spirit, which had taken Possession of him; he knew his Wife to be a Woman, and that she was taken out of him, and took her to him, as all Beasts couple together; yet he had pure Eyes, for the Fierceness [or grim Wrath] did not yet stick in them, but the Infection [or Longing.] The Element of Fire with its Bitterness (which qualifies, [or mixes Properties] with the Abyss of Hell) had not pressed him wholly.

(37) But when he saw that he was so fair and beautiful, and found or felt his inward birth and great power or authority, then his spirit, which he had generated in his body, and which is his ANIMAL (or animated) or lifespirit, or son or heart, exalted itself, intending to triumph over the divine birth, and to lift up or extol itself above the Heart of God. [Note, The author calls the soulish birth the ANIMAL birth, from anima, which signifieth the soul; but seeing the Scripture otherwise understands by the word animal the perished or corrupted soul, or animalem hominem, the animal man, or the corrupted natural man, that is, the Adamical bestial man, and so he being advertised of it, he altered that expression, and used it no more any further.] Here observe the Depth.

(76) For as soon as the light had rightly laid hold on the body, the body was captivated in the light; and the heat was captivated, and was changed into a moderate, tolerable or suitable meekness, and could stand or extend no longer in such anguish.

(20) Then the knowledge of the outward man is gone, and he walketh up and down in an afflicted and anxious birth or geniture, as a woman with child, who is in her travail, and would always fain bring forth her child, but cannot, and is full of throes.

(18) Thou canst not better comprehend, apprehend or understand this, than in and by thy own body, which, through the first fall of Adam with all its [the body's] birth or geniture, fitness, faculties and will, is become just such a house as the place of this world is come to be.

(3) But yet when he fell, and was set into the outward birth or geniture, he knew it no more, but kept it in remembrance, only as a dark and veiled story; and this he left to his posterity.

(2) How much more helpless, then, was his condition when he was a mere drop of water! Thus, as we have seen in the first chapter, he finds in his own being reflected in miniature, so to speak, the power, wisdom, and love of the Creator. If all the sages of the world were assembled, and their lives prolonged for an indefinite time, they could not effect any improvement in the construction of a single part of the body.

(41) Here God saw his Fall, and that he could not stand, because Adam's Imagination and Lust was so eager after the Kingdom of this World, and after the earthly Fruit, and that Adam would not generate a perfect paradisical Man out of himself, but an infected, [poisoned Man,] according to the Lust, and would fall into Corruptibility. And the Text in Moses sounds further very right, thus; And God let a deep Sleep fall upon Man, and he slept, [or fell asleep.]

(16) Adam had not eaten of the Fruit before his Sleep, till his Wife was created out of him; only his Essences and Inclination had eaten of it in the Spirit by the Imagination, and not in the Mouth; and thereupon the Spirit of the great World captivated him, and mightily qualified in him [or infected him.] And then instantly the Sun and Stars wrestled with him, and all the four Elements wrestled so mightily and powerfully, that they overcame him; and [so] he sunk down into a Sleep.

(26) For Man is not fallen out of strong [fierce, angry] Pride, like the Devil; but his earthly Essences have overcome his paradisical Essences, and brought them into the earthly Lust, and in that Regard he has Grace again bestowed upon him. The highest, strongest, and the mightiest Gate of the Temptation in Adam.