(14) Now therefore we say (as the Scripture informs us) that God dwells in Heaven, and it is the Truth. Now mark, Moses writes, that God created the Heaven out of the Midst of the Waters, and the Scripture says, God dwells in Heaven; therefore we may now observe, that the Water has its Original from the Longing of the eternal Nature after the eternal Light of God; but the eternal Nature is made manifest by the Longing after the Light of God, as is mentioned before; and the Light of God is present every where, and yet remains hidden to Nature; for Nature receives only the Virtue of the Light, and the Virtue is the Heaven wherein the Light of God dwells and is hid, and so shines in the Darkness. The Water is the Materia, or Matter that is generated from the Heaven, and therein stands the third, which again generates a Life, and comprehensible Essence, or Substance, out of itself, viz. the Elements and other Creatures.

(15) Now observe, the Heaven is the whole Deep so far as the Ethera, or Skies have given up themselves to the Birth of this World, and that Heaven is the Matrix, out of which Earth, Stones, and the material Water are generated. And there God separated the material Water from the Matrix; and here it is very plainly discerned, that the material Water is as it were dead, or has Death in it; for it could not abide in the moving Mother, but was created [to be] upon the Globe of the Earth, and God called it Sea, [Meer;] in which [Word] is understood in the Language of Nature, as it were a Springing [or Growing] in Death, or a Life in Corruption: Although herein I shall be as one that is dumb to the Reader, yet I know it very well, and I am very well satisfied therewith. But because the bestial Man is not worthy to know it, therefore I will not here cast the Pearl before the Swine; but for the Children of God, which will be benefited by it, the Spirit of God will certainly teach and instruct them in it. Note.

(5) Now the Heaven comes out of the four Matrix, which in the paradisical [Heaven] is the Water-Spirit; and out of that Paradisical [Water-Spirit or Matrix] the Material [Heaven or Matrix] is created; as Moses writes, that the Heaven was created out of the Midst of the Waters; and it is very right. And also in that very Hour the Earth and the Stones, and all Metals (the Matrix of this World being yet dark) were generated out of the Matrix.

(1) 'Water (ap) is better than food. Therefore if there is not sufficient rain, the vital spirits fail from fear that there will be less food. But if there is sufficient rain, the vital spirits rejoice, because there will be much food. This water, on assuming different forms, becomes this earth, this sky, this heaven, the mountains, gods and men, cattle, birds, herbs and trees, all beasts down to worms, midges, and ants. Water indeed assumes all these forms. Meditate on water.

(30) Therefore Moses writes, that God created the Heaven out of the Midst of the Waters: [This you must] understand [to be] out of the eternal watery Matrix, which is but a Spirit, wherein the Paradise is, and the Holy Heaven, viz. the divine Virtue, which the dark Matrix lusted after in its Hunger, out of which the visible Matrix of the four Elements is proceeded; out of which the Essence of all Essences, that now are, were created by the Fiat through the Eternal Spirit of God.

(21) As we see that here out of the Earth there springs Plants, Herbs, and Fruits, which receive their Virtue from the Sun, and from the Constellation: So the Heaven or the heavenly Limbus is instead of the Earth; and the Light of God instead of the Sun; and the eternal Father instead of the Virtue of the Stars. The Depth of this Substance is without Beginning and End, its Breadth cannot be reached, there are neither Years nor Time, no Cold nor Heat; no moving of the Air; no Sun nor Stars; no Water nor Fire; no Sight of evil Spirits; no Knowledge nor Apprehension of the Affliction of this World; no stony Rock nor Earth; and yet a figured Substance of all the Creatures of this World. For all the Creatures of this World have appeared to this End, that they might be an eternal figured Similitude; not that they continue in this Spirit in their Substance, no not so: All the Creatures return into their a Ether, and the Spirit corrupts [or fades,] but the Figure and the Shadow continue eternally.

(29) Thus the starry Heaven rules in all Creatures, as in its proper own; it is the [Husband or] Man; and the Matrix, or the watery Form, is its [Wife or] Woman, which it continually impregnates; and the Matrix is the Genetrix, which brings forth the Child which the Heaven begets; and that is the created Heaven in the third Principle, from whence the Elements are proceeded; viz. the watery Matrix, out of which the visible Water generated itself, and still always does generate itself in the Anguish.

(6) 'And where could its root be except in water? As water is an offshoot, seek after its root, viz. fire. As fire is an offshoot, seek after its root, viz. the True. Yes, all these creatures, O son, have their root in the True, they dwell in the True, they rest in the True. 'And how these three beings (devatâ), fire, water, earth, O son, when they reach man, become each of them tripartite, has been said before (VI, 4, 7). When a man departs from hence, his speech is merged in his mind, his mind in his breath, his breath in heat (fire), heat in the Highest Being.

(19) The true Heaven, wherein God dwells, is all over, in all Places [or Corners,] even in the Midst [or Center] of the Earth. He comprehends the Hell where the Devils dwell, and there is nothing without God. For wheresoever he was before the Creation of the World, there he is still, viz. in himself; and is himself the Essence of all Essences: All is generated from him, and is originally from him. And he is therefore called God, because he alone is the Good, the Heart, or [that which is] best; understand, he is the Light and Virtue, [or Power,] from whence Nature has its Original.