(13) And it is highly to be found and considered by us, in the Light of Nature, how the Fierceness [or Wrath] is the Root of all Things, and moreover the Originality of the Life; therein only consists the Might and the Power, and from thence only proceed the Wonders; and without the Fierceness [or Wrath] there would be no Enmity, but all [would be as it were] a nothing, as is formerly mentioned.

(23) Therefore the Devil also, in Regard of the Might of the tart [strong fierce Wrath,] was called a Prince of this World in the [angry strong] Fierceness, of which you shall find [more] about the Fall. And therefore God created but one Man; for God would that Man should continue in Paradise, and live eternally; and on the contrary, the Sternness [or strong fierce Wrath] would tempt him, [to try] whether he would put his Imagination and Will wholly into the Heart of God, and into Paradise, wherein he was.

(84) And so instead of the paradisical Joy and Refreshment, there has been a mere Brimstone-Spirit, which stands in Anguish and Trembling, of Corruption [or Fragility,] which kindles the Tincture of the Blood, wherein Tearing, Stinging, and Tormenting is wrought; and if the Fire in the Brimstone-Spirit be too much kindled, then it burns the Tincture up, and the Light of Life goes out, and then the Body falls away to be a dead-Carcase; and if the tart Sourness be kindled too much by the hard Attracting and Holding, then also the Light of Life goes out, and the Body perishes; so also of the Water; if the Tincture kindles itself in the Meekness, then it becomes windy, gross, swelled, wholly dark, also infectious.and corrupt, wherein the Flash of the Life is as a pricking Thorn. And so Man's Life is every where begirt with Enemies, and the poor Soul is always in a close Prison fettered with many Chains, and is continually in Fear that (when the Body shall [die or] break) it may fall into the Kingdom of the Executioner, the Devil.

(33) Thus there are three in Man that strive against one another, viz. the eternal proud malicious Anger, [proceeding] out of the Originality of the Mind. And secondly, the eternal holy chaste Humility, which is generated out of the Originality. And thirdly, the corruptible Animal wholly bestial, generated from the Stars and Elements, which holds the whole House in Possession.

(14) And then we find also, how the Meekness is the Virtue and the Spirit, so that where the Meekness is not, there the Fierceness (in itself) is nothing but a Darkness and a Death, where no i Growing can spring up, and it cannot generate nor discover its Wonders; and thus we find that the Fierceness [Wrath or Sourness] is a Cause of the Essences, and [that] the Meekness [is] a Cause of the Joy, and a Cause of the Rising and [Budding] or Growing forth of the Essences; and then that the Spirit is generated by the Flowing, [Working, Springing,] and Rising up, out of the Essences, and that the Fierceness so becomes the Root of the Spirit, and the Meekness is its Life.

(3) But now that the Wrath devours all, and wholly darkens the Mysteria, [Mysteries or hidden Secrets,] and makes the Source [or Quality] of the eternal Birth [to be] a Darkness, only that it may exalt its Wrath, and sees nothing in the Birth of Eternity, but brings all Things that are therein to nothing; that is a very great Babel, for it not only devours itself, but makes itself stark blind in Nature; and it makes of Man's Image mere evil wolfish Beasts, which think that they are gone out from Babel, and yet are begotten in Babel, and are in the Body of the evil devouring Beast, and so devour the House of their Mother, and manifest it to be a vile stinking Lake; and yet themselves will not go out from it, and it is altogether a Kingdom, which continually generates itself, in its own Voluptuousness and Pride, and also continually manifests its own Shame, and devours itself in the Wrath of its own Sins, and is rightly called Babel.

(2) But there is yet this difference [to be observed,] that Evil neither is, nor is called God; this is understood in the first Principle, where it is the earnest Fountain of the Wrathfulness, according to which, God calls himself an angry, wrathful, zealous God. For the original of Life, and of all Mobility, consists in the Wrathfulness; yet if the tartness be kindled with the Light of God, it is then no more Tartness, but the severe Wrathfulness is changed into great Joy.

(3) For you find in the Root of the Original of the Spirit of the Soul, in itself, in the Substance of the eternal Birth and incorruptible eternal Band of the Soul, the most exceeding horrible enemicitious irksome Source, wherein the Soul (without the Light of God) is like all Devils, wherein their eternal Source consists, being an Enmity in itself, a Will striving against God [and Goodness,] it desires nothing that is pleasant or good, it is a climbing up of Pride in the Strength of the Fire, a bitter, [fierce, odious, Malice, or] Wrathfulness against Paradise, against God, against the Kingdom of Heaven; also against all Creatures in the second and third Principle, lifting up themselves alone, [against all this,] as the Bitterness in the Fire does.