(19) Thus, my very precious Mind, apprehend it right. This same Throne was made in Time (when the Time of his Covenant was revealed) an angelical Principality in the Mercy of God, in the holy pure Element, in the sacred Ternary, that is, in the holy Earth, wherein the Deity is substantially known; so that the whole Mercy of God (which is unmeasurable, and every where in the sacred Ternary; which is likewise so great in the holy Element, that it comprises Heaven and this World) became a Man; that is, a substantial Similitude of the Spirit of the Trinity, in which Likeness the Trinity dwells with complete fullness; and in this great angelical Throne and Principality stood in the Beginning, and from Eternity the Aspect in the infinite Multiplicity proceeding from all the Essences in the Limbus of the Father, and became truly illustrate [or manifest] in the Time of the Promise.

(2) And as in glass, in amber, or in crystal A sunbeam flashes so, that from its coming To its full being is no interval, So from its Lord did the triform effect Ray forth into its being all together, Without discrimination of beginning. Order was con-created and constructed In substances, and summit of the world Were those wherein the pure act was produced. Pure potentiality held the lowest part; Midway bound potentiality with act Such bond that it shall never be unbound. Jerome has written unto you of angels Created a long lapse of centuries Or ever yet the other world was made; But written is this truth in many places By writers of the Holy Ghost, and thou Shalt see it, if thou lookest well thereat. And even reason seeth it somewhat, For it would not concede that for so long Could be the motors without their perfection. Now dost thou know both where and when these Loves Created were, and how; so that extinct In thy desire already are three fires.

(16) And therefore God [created or] generated the third Principle, that he might be i manifested by the material World: He having created the Angels and Spirits in the second Principle in the paradisical World, they could thereby understand the eternal of God, wherein they could behold themselves, and set their Imagination merely 1 upon the Heart of God, in which Form they could remain in Paradise, and continue to be Angels; which the Devils have not done, but they intended to rise up in the Matrix, and domineer in great Power over Paradise, and all angelical Regions, upon which they fell out of Paradise, and besides were driven out of their Place (or Locus) into Restraint, so that the Matrix of this World also holds them captive. Or into,

(18) 1 set you a deep Consideration; behold, how the angelical Thrones and Principalities were in the Beginning beheld [apprehended or aspected] by the Wisdom of God; which Aspect [Manifestation or Idea] the Fiat took to create; and in the angelical Throne the infinite Multiplicity, according to the eternal Wisdom in the Wonders of God. All which was so created in the Fiat of God, according to all the Essences of the eternal gLimbus of God, so that all Angels, in every Throne, gave their Will unto the angelical Throne or Arch-Angel; as it is sufficiently to be known by the Fall of Lucifer; and also may be discerned in the Regions of the kingly Governments of this World; if the Devil did not so destroy the right Union, as is very clearly to be seen. Thus likewise (understand us, I pray thee, thou very precious and noble Mind) this second surpassing excellent Creation is in the Fiat; when God saw and took Notice of our miserable Fall, he did illustrate [or manifest] himself by the holy eternal Virgin of his Wisdom in the eternal Wonders, in i Mercy which always flows out of his Heart, and comprehended with his Speculation [or Manifestation] the Throne; and further illustrated himself in the Throne into many Millions without Number, and established his Covenant with his Oath therein, with his precious Promise of the Woman's Seed.

(13) And as this Place was now twofold, and P with the eternal Originality threefold, viz. [having] the first Principle in the great Anxiety, and the second Principle in the divine Habitation in Paradise, and then the third Principle in the Light of the Sun, in the Quality of the Stars and Elements, so must Man also be created out of all three, if he must be an Angel in this Place, and receive all Knowledge and Understanding, whereby he might have eternal Joy also with [or in] the Figures and Images, which stand not in the eternal Spirit, but in the eternal Figure, as all Things in this World are [to do.]

(65) Behold, O Child of Man! All the Angels were created in the first Principle, and by the outflowing Spirit were formed, and made a Body in a true angelical and spiritual Manner, and enlightened from the Light of God, that they might increase the paradisical Joy, and abide [therein] eternally. But seeing they were to abide eternally, they must be figured [or formed] out of the indissoluble Band, out of the first Principle, which is an indissoluble Band; and they ought to look upon the Heart of God, and feed upon the Word of God, and this Food would be their holy Preservation, and would make their Image clear and light; as the Heart of God, in the Beginning of the second Principle, enlightens the Father, (that is, the first Principle;) and there the divine Power, Paradise, and the Kingdom of Heaven spring up.

(2) But we affirm that, whilst often using the appellation, Heavenly Powers, for all in common, we do not introduce a sort of. confusion of the characteristics of each Order. But, inasmuch as all the Divine Minds, by the supermundane description given of them, are distributed into three,--into essence, and power, and energy,--when we speak of them all, or some of them, indiscriminately, as Heavenly Beings or Heavenly Powers, we must consider that we manifest those about whom we speak in a general way, from their essence or power severally. For we must not apply the superior characteristic of those holy Powers, whom we have already sufficiently distinguished, to the Beings which are entirely inferior to them, so as to overthrow the unconfused order of the Angelic ranks. For according to the correct account which we have already frequently given, the superior Orders possess abundantly the sacred characteristics of the inferior, but the lowest do not possess the superior completeness of the more reverend, since the first-manifested illuminations are revealed to them, through the first Order, in proportion to their capacity. Next: Caput XII. Sacred Texts | Christianity « Previous: The Works of Dionysius the Areopagite: On the Heavenly Hi... Index Next: The Works of Dionysius the Areopagite: On the Heavenly Hi... » Sacred Texts | Christianity

(7) Thus now herein is understood, how the divine Essence in the divine Principle has wrought in the Root of the first Principle, which is the Begetter, Matrix, or Genetrix in the eternal Birth in the a Limbus, or in the original Water-Spirit; by which Operation at last, the Earth and Stones come forth. For in the second Principle, (viz. in the holy Birth,) there is only Spirit, Light, and Life; and the eternal Wisdom has wrought in the eternal inanimate Genetrix, which is void of Understanding (viz. in her own Property) before the Original of the Light; out of which came the dark Chaos, which in the Elevation of Lord Lucifer (when the Light of God departed from him, and the Fierceness of the Source of the Fire was kindled) became hard Matter, (viz. Stones and Earth,) whereupon followed the gathering together of the Earth, as also the spewing out of Lucifer from his Throne, and the creating of the third Principle; and thereupon it followed, that he was shut up in the third Principle as a Prisoner, expecting henceforth the [Judgment or] Sentence of God. Now whether it be not a Shame, Disgrace, and Irksomness to him to be so imprisoned between Paradise and this World, and not to be able to comprehend either of them, I propose it to be considered.