(46) And now when Eve was impregnated, her Tincture was wholly murderous and false, for her Spirit in the Love looked not upon God with a total Trust and Confidence. Also the Wisdom of God stood hidden in the Center of the Light of her Life. Eve did not unite [or yield herself] to it with Love and Confidence, but much rather to the Lust of this World; she must bring it to pass, if any Thing was to be done; and seeing her Trust was not in God, so also God was not in her, but in his own Center [or Principle;] and the Wrath begun to flow forth [boil or work;] and this is that which Christ said, An evil Tree brings forth evil Fruit; and so out of a false Tincture grew a sour evil Root, and consequently such a Tree and Fruit. Also that which goes forth [is] as the Tincture in the Mixture was, and such a Child is generated, for the Spirit of the Life generates itself out of the Essences.

(49) For as the Tree was, so was the Fruit; and though the Tree was not wholly evil [or false,] yet as to the becoming Man, the Tincture (by the Wrestling of the two Regions) became false [or evil.] And besides, afterwards Eve (his Mother) helped him forward very much, because she sought after an earthly Lord and Treader upon the Serpent, and instructed him, [telling him,] that he was the Warrior [or Soldier to overcome] against the Devil, he must do it; and so the Wrath held him captive, and his Offering [or Sacrifice] was not acceptable to God, because (in Wrath) he built upon himself, and so his Prayer reached not the Gate of Heaven, but the Driver took it up, because it proceeded out of Self-Pride, like the proud Pharisee, out of an [evil or] false Mind.

(103) And this is that which Saint Paul said, That Man is elected in Christ, before the Foundation of the World; and not those Dregs of Despair that are now taught about the Election of Grace; they are not the right Understanding. I will show thee Paul's [Meaning about] his Election of Grace in its due Place, when I shall write of the bestial, wolfish, and doggish Minds of Men, that will not give Way that the Treader upon the Serpent may enter into them, so that the heavenly Father (in his Son Jesus Christ, through his Incarnation, Sufferings and Death) might draw them to him; they will not endure that Drawing, for they have the Essences of the Serpent which draw into Hell: But this is not from God, as if he did willingly leave them; no, but from the dogish Nature, ingrafted from the Stars and from the Devil; which God knows well, and will not cast the Pearl before Swine. Whereas [nevertheless] it were possible, if they did but turn, and did step into the new Birth, they should obtain the Jewel, though indeed it seldom happens, therefore God knows [who are] his.

(34) And it is here with the Image of Man, as St. Paul said; To whom you give yourselves as Servants in Obedience, his Servant you are, whether it be of Sin unto Death, or of the Obedience of God to Righteousness, that Driving [or Property] you have. If a Man yields his Mind up to Malice, Pride, Self-power, and Force, to the Oppressing of the Miserable, then he is like the proud, haughty Devil, and he is his Servant in Obedience, and loses the Image of God; and out of the Image comes a Wolf, Dragon, or Serpent to be, all according to his Essences, as he stands figured in the Mind. But if he yields up himself to another swinish and bestial Condition, as to a mere bestial voluptuous Life, to Gormandizing, Gluttony, and Drunkenness, and Lechery, Stealing, Robbing, Murdering, Lying, Cozening, and [Cheating] Deceit, then the eternal Mind figures him also in such an Image as is like an unreasonable ugly Beast and Worm. And although he bears the elementary Image in this Life, yet he has indeed the Image of an Adder, Serpent, and Beast, hidden therein, which will be manifested at the Breaking [or Deceasing] of the Body, and it belongs not to the Kingdom of God.

(56) Thus Falsehood is wrought with Falsehood, and the Inferior is become false also, who has set Lies to Sale for Truth, and so falsly cheated his Superior; from whence is grown Cursing, Swearing, Stealing, and Murdering, so that they have continually held one another for cozening Cheats, Liars, and Unjust; for they are so indeed, and they have exchanged Words for Words, and therewith in Lying and in Truth also they rub one another with the bitter unsavory Salt of Devils in the Anger of God, whereby the Name of God is blasphemed and abused, and the World is found [to be] in the Anger of God, and is become a Den of Thieves and Murders.

(48) Yet he sows the Pearl in his afflicting Anguish, and the Devil covers it in him, that he may not know it, neither does he know himself; he sows in the Kingdom of God, and knows not his own Seed, but the Seed of Sin, and of the Hunter. And so he consents not to the Sins which he commits; but the Devil with his Followers [or Associates] overpower him, so that the Adamical Man in the Anger does that which the new-born [Man] in the holy Element wills not; now though he does it, yet the new Man in the Image does it not, but the old Man in the Anger. And therefore there is in him a continual Strife, and he runs continually to Repentance; where yet the hidden Man in the

(48) But the Fault lies in Man; if he did put his Trust in the Love of God, then the Kingdom of God would have the Victory; but if he puts it in his evil Lust and Wantonness, in himself, in his own Ability [or Power,] then he is captivated by the Wrath, and his Body and Soul are in the Wrath. But when he puts his Mind and Confidence in God, then he goes out from the Wrath, and the Kingdom of God works (in him) to Righteousness; and thus it is seen as clear as the Sun, what the Cause is that the first Man born of a Woman became a Murderer.

(31) Man is made out of the seed of the earth, out of an incorporated or compacted mass or lump— ["Understand, out of the matrix of the earth, wherein the eye is twofold, the one in God and the other in this world, out of three Principles."] —and not out of the wrath, but out of the birth or geniture of the earth, as a king or heart of the earth, and stood in the astral birth or geniture in the part of the love; but wrath hung to him, which he should have put forth from himself, as the fruit putteth forth from itself the bitterness of the tree.

(89) Therefore the Providence of God, when Adam fell into Longing [Desire or Lust,] environed that Virtue and Strength with the Might of the first Principle (viz. with the Might of the Stars and Sharpness of God) that the Source [or Quality] of the first and third Principle might not so easily touch it; and this was done in Adam's Sleep, when God built Adam to [or for] this World, from whence Saint Paul also says, That the natural Man was created in the corruptible Life of this World; which was done at the Temptation of Adam, at that Time when God made his natural Wife out of him. But he was a holy Image before, and a he must be the same again in his Restoration at the last Day.

(45) Yet there is found in the Original the most horrible and [fierce or] strong Birth, viz. the Harshness, Bitterness, and Fire; of which we cannot say, that it is God; and yet it is the most inward first Source of all, that is in God the Father; according to which, he calls himself, an angry, zealous [or jealous] God. And this Source (as you find before in the first three Chapters concerning the Original of the eternal Birth) is the first Principle, and that is God the Father in his Originality, out of which this World has its Beginning.

(20) And here it is as clear as the Sun, that it was not intended that Man (in the Beginning) should generate in such a Manner, for it should have been done without a Pain, without bestial Impregnation, without a Wife [or Woman,] and without a Husband [or Man.] And therefore the Treader upon the Serpent was born of a Virgin, without the Seed of Man; although now that [also] must come to be done in such a human Manner, yet that was to this End only, that the Deity might enter into Flesh, and [so might] generate the Soul of Flesh again out of the dark Flesh, out of Death into Life. But otherwise, the Saviour [or Champion] is wholly the Virgin's Son, and a virgin Mind, as the first Adam [was] in the Creation; for you must earnestly and accurately [consider and] understand what Manner of Person he is.

(13) But when the Child of the Virgin laid the heavenly Bread before him, and said, Man liveth not only from this World, from the earthly Eating and Drinking, then came the second Way [or Kind] of Temptation forth, viz. the Might, [Power, Dominion, and Authority] of this World; the Prince of the Wrath [or strong Fierceness] would give him all the Power of the Stars and Elements, if he would put his Imagination into him, and pray to [or worship] him. That was the right Scourge [or Whip] wherewith Adam was scourged, [viz.] with the Might, Riches, and Beauty of this World, after which at last Adam lusted, and was taken; but the Child of the Virgin laid before him, that the Kingdom was not his, [viz.] belonging to the Prince of the [fierce, strong] Wrath, but [it belonged] to the Word and Heart of God; he must worship God, and serve him only.

(60) And the Hardening is not so wholly in the Birth, that the Soul (from the Mother' Womb) should be quite dead to God, or that God did not desire it. The Anger is in the Flowing [Working or Boiling] of the Father, and the Father is God indeed, and generates his dear Heart and Love (in the Breaking of the Gate in the Habitation) out of himself. Should he then be at odds with himself, because his Anger is under the Root of his Love? Should he be at Enmity against himself? his Anger is his Strength and Omnipotence, and consuming Fire; and his Heart in the Love is his Meekness; and so now, that which approaches and enters into his Anger, is captivated in the Anger.

(45) Reason saith, how might that come to pass, that the first Man born of a Woman was [so evil] a malicious Murderer? Behold, thou immodest vile whorish World, here thou shalt find the great Secrets meet us in the Light of Nature, very clearly and plainly to be understood. For Adam and Eve were entered into the Spirit of this World, and the Region of the four Stars, with the Infection of the Devil, had miserably possessed them. And although they did somewhat stick to the Word of the Promise, yet the true Longing and Love towards God was very much extinguished; and on the contrary, the Longing and Desire after this World was kindled in them; and besides, they got (from the Region of the Stars) a bestial Lust [or wanton Desire] towards one another, so that their Tincture thus became a fierce bestial [Lust or] Longing; for they had no Law but the Light of Nature, which they suppressed, and kindled themselves in wanton [Lust,] to which the Devil helped them.

(24) And thus there goes forth out of the earthly a Senses and Mind, Lies and Folly, Deceit and Falsehood, [also] mere Subtilty, [with Lust and Desire] to be elevated; many [to be elevated] in the Might of the Fire, as by Force and Anger; and many by human Art and Policy of this World, which is but a Knave in the Sight of God, yet wrestles [or holds fast] till it has prevailed; many in the Form of a tame and gentle Beast, very cunningly alluring, and drawing to itself, under a fair Pretence; many in Pride, and Stateliness of Body [in Carriage] and Manners, which is a right diabolical Beast, who contemns all that does not please him, and elevates himself above all Meekness and Humility, and over the Image of God; yea, there is so very much of false Untowardness, that I may not mention it; every one follows the Region [Rule or Dominion] of the Stars, even that which serves most to the Voluptuousness of the earthly Life.

(69) Whereby it is seen, how great the Anger was in Adam and Eve, in that the wrathful Kingdom sooner overcame than the Kingdom of Heaven; and the Scorner is sooner generated than the upright. But yet the Fault of this was in the Parents; had they not sinned, and let the Anger into them, then it had not been so, as at this Day.

(57) Seeing then out of this unrighteous People, there should an Host [or Generation] be born to the Kingdom of Heaven, and seeing none lived upon Earth that was not defiled with this Wickedness, and yet that in the Love of God there was a Possibility found [that such (who are sorry and grieved at this forementioned evil Beast, and desire to go out from it) might come to the Grace of God, and yet no otherwise but in this Christ; and yet that it is daily found among the regenerated Christians, that the old earthly Body is so kindled in such Wickedness, and that (although they would fain go out from it and leave it quite) yet they cannot, for the Anger holds us captive in the old Man, and the Devil is Lord therein, who drives the Body (in the Spirit of this World) often into Evil and Wickedness, which Man intended not to do, for the Wickedness of the Ungodly (by his Cursing and Falshood) kindles the Anger of the old Man, and although he be inwardly [new] born in God, yet it is not known, therefore (seeing our Falshood and Unrighteousness, as also our Offences are manifested before God, and appear in the Tincture, and that we could not [otherwise] be freed from such Evil) Christ has taken upon him all our Transgressions.

(64) Now God has no malicious Soul [to be] in the Love, but in the Anger; and he is the Searcher of the Hearts, and knows well what is in Man, and what he will do, even while [Man] is in the Seed, and will not cast the Pearl before Swine; and yet the false [or evil] Seed is not [come] out of his Will and Purpose, else he must also have willed the Devil to be a Devil.

(5) But the favourable Love, (that is, the only begotten Son of God, or that I may set it down so that it may be understood, the lovely Fountain where the Light of God is 1 generated,) sprung up, and grew again in Adam in the Center of the Birth of his Life, in the fifth Form of his Birth; whereby Adam perceived that he was not broken off from the divine Root, but that he was still the Child of God, and repented him of his first evil Lust: And thereupon the Lord showed him the Treader upon the Serpent, who should destroy his monstrous Birth; and so he should from the monstrous Birth be regenerated anew, in the Shape, Form, Power and Virtue of the Treader upon the Serpent, and be brought with Power again into Paradise, into the holy Birth, and eat of the mWord of the Lord again, and live eternally, in Spite of all the Gates of the Wrathfulness, wherein the Devil lives; concerning which there shall be farther mention made in its due Place.

(70) And when he raised up his Imagination, then he kindled to himself the Source or Root of the Fire, and then when the Root of the Fire sought for the Water, (viz. the true Mother of the Eternal Nature,) it found the stern [or tart astringent] Harshness, and the Mother in the aching Death; and the bitter Sting [or Prickle] formed the Birth to be a fierce raging Serpent, very terrible in itself, rising up in the indissoluble Band, an eternal Enmity, a Will striving against itself, an eternal Despair of all Good; [the bitter Sting also formed] the Mind to be a breaking striking Wheel, having its Will continually aspiring to the Strength of the Fire, and to destroy the Heart of God, and yet could never at all be able to reach it.