(9) For the holy Element continually longs, [or groans] through the four Elements, to be released from the Vanity of the four Elements; in like Manner also the Qualifying [or Influence] of the grim [Constellations or] Stars [labours;] and therefore it drives Man to seek such wonderful Forms [or Ways,] that the eternal Wonders of God might be manifested, which (in the Breaking of the World) shall stand all (in the P Figure) in the Shadow.

(26) Thus it is plain to our Sight, how the starry Heaven, (or as I may better render it to the enlightened Reader) the Quintessence, (or the fifth Form in the Birth,) is severed from the watery Matrix; or else there would have been no ceasing from the generating of Stones and Earth, if the fiery P Nature had not been severed: But because the eternal Essence (viz. God) would manifest himself in the dark Matrix, and [has desired] to make the Nothing Something, therefore he has severed the kindled Virtue, and made the Matrix clear or pure.

(7) For the Element is without Understanding, and that is that [which is attracted or] concreted in the Will of God, wherein the eternal Wisdom of God does [sparkle or] discover itself in infinitum [infinitely,] and in that spring up Colours, Arts, Virtues, and the eternal Wonders; out of which [Element] in the Beginning (in the Kindling of the Fire in the stern Fierceness) are the four Elements proceeded.

(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.

(48) And out of this Limbus (at the Time when the Earth was corporised) went forth the four Elements, as out of a Fountain; and that which was discovered [or manifested] by the Virgin (the Wisdom of God) in the Innumerability, were the Stars, as are the Quintessence zof the four Elements, not separated from the four Elements, but qualifying [or mixing Virtues] one with another, a and yet extracted from the four Productions, with their sharp Essences; and they are the Seeking [Longing or Hunger] of the four Elements, or, as I may express it by a Similitude, [they are] the Man, and the Elements are the Woman; and the Heart of these Things is the Element, in one only Substance, and the Essences in that [one Element] are the Virtues [or Power] of the Wonders of the Wisdom of God, and are called Paradise, an exulting Joy.

(2) All things being undefined and yet unwrought, the light things were assigned unto the height, the heavy ones had their foundations laid down underneath the moist part of Dry Space, the universal things being bounded off by Fire and hanged in Breath to keep them up. And Heaven was seen in seven circles; its Gods were visible in forms of stars with all their signs; while Nature had her members made articulate together with the Gods in her. And [Heaven's] periphery revolved in cyclic course, borne on by Breath of God.

(16) Now when the Heaven became clear [or pure,] and cleansed from the Earth and the dark Mist [or Dust] in the Concretion [or Driving together,] then in the Matrix of the Heaven there were the three Elements, Fire, Air, and Water, which are three in one another, in one Mother; and that Mother is here called the Heaven; therefore henceforward in my Writing, I shall use the Word Heaven instead of the Word Matrix.

(2) Earth hath, moreover, always many changes in its species;—both when she brings forth fruits, and when she also nourishes her bringings-forth with the return of all the fruits; the diverse qualities and quantities of air, its stoppings and its flowings ; and before all the qualities of trees, of flowers, and berries, of scents, of savours—species. Fire [also] brings about most numerous conversions, and divine. For these are all-formed images of Sun and Moon ; they’re, as it were, like our own mirrors, which with their emulous resplendence give us back the likenesses of our own images.

(46) Hereupon now the Spirit of the Stars and Elements would continually [get] again into the Element; for in the Element there is Meekness and Rest; and in the Kindling thereof there is mere Enmity and contrary Will, and the Devil rules also therein; and they would fain be released from that abominable and evil Guest, and they seek with great Anxiety after Deliverance, as Paul says; All Creatures groan together with us, to be freed from Vanity.

(8) For as the Soul of Man moves and swims between the Virtue of the Stars and Elements, so the created Heaven also moves between Paradise and the Kingdom of Hell, and it swims in the eternal Matrix; its Limit reaches as far as the Ethera [Skies or Receptacle] has yielded itself up to the Creation, so far as the Kingdom of Lucifer did reach, where yet no End is to be found: For the Virtue or Power of God is without End, but our Sense reaches only to the fiery Heaven of the Stars, which are a Propagation in the fifth Form of the eternal Mother, (or third Principle, (or in the Beginning of this World,) the Virtue or Power of the Matrix was separated, where now the Separation is thus moved: And then every Essence in the Propagation, in the manifold Centers of the Stars, have a longing Desire one after the other, and a continual Will to infect, [impregnate, or mix Influences;] and the one Essence, or Virtue, is the oMeat and Drink, as also the Chest [Case, or Receptacle] of the other. Or Outbirth, or Offspring.

(10) In this manner you must understand the four Elements, which yet are not four divided Things, or Essences, but one only Essence: And yet there are four Differences, or Distinctions in this Birth; and each Element lies in the other, as in a Chest, and it is its Receptacle, also it is a Member therein. Understand and consider the Ground aright, which follows. The P Sourness is the Matrix, and a Cause of all Things, which in its own Substance is very dark, cold, and as nothing; but the Eternal Deity being there, and speculating or beholding itself in the Sourness, therefore the dark Sourness is desirous after the divine Virtue, and attracts; although there is no Life or Understanding in the Sourness, yet it is the Ground of the first Essence, and the Original whence something comes to be: Here we can search no further into the Ground of the Deity, for it troubles [disturbs, or confounds] us.

(2) Moreover, the lations of the stars approximate to the eternal circulations of the heavens, not only locally, but also in powers, and the irradiations of light. But these are moved conformably to the mandates of the celestial Gods. For the most pure, agile, and supreme part of the air, is adapted to be enkindled [ i. e. is most inflammable], so that when the Gods assent, it is immediately set on fire. And if some one thinks that certain effluxions of the celestial bodies are imparted to the air, his opinion will not be discordant with what is frequently effected by the divine art. The union, also, and sympathy of the universe, and the simultaneous motion of the most remote parts, as if they were near, and belonged to one animal, cause these signs to be sent from the Gods to men in the most luminous manner, primarily, indeed, through the heavens, but afterwards through the air.

(6) But the fact that they are named winds denotes their rapid action, passing almost instantaneously to all things, and their transporting movement in passing from above to below, and again from below to above, their elevating the second to the height above, and moving the first to a common and provident advance of the inferior Orders. But perhaps some one would say that the appellation of wind, to the aerial spirit, also denotes the Divine likeness of the Heavenly Minds; for this also bears a likeness and type of the supremely Divine energy (as we have demonstrated more fully in the symbolic theology, in our explanation of the four elements) in accordance with the moving and life-producing, and the rapid and resistless development of Nature, and the Hiddenness of the moving sources and terminations to us unknown and invisible. For He says, "Thou knowest not whence it cometh nor whither it goeth." But also the Word of God attributes to them the appearance of a cloud, signifying, through this, that the holy minds are filled super-mundanely with the hidden Light, receiving the first manifestation without boasting over it as such, which they distribute ungrudgingly to the second, as a secondary manifestation, and in proportion to capacity; yea, further, that the productive, and life-producing, and increasing, and perfecting power is enshrined in them, after the fashion of the intelligible production of showers, which summons the receptive womb of the earth, by fruitful rains, to the life-giving pangs of birth.

(26) And though it be clear that the Stars in the outward Birth [Geniture or Operation] alter the Essences in every one according to their Source [Quality, Influence, or Property,] yet the Element is still there, and they cannot alter that with their Power, except Man himself does it; they have only the outward Region; and besides, the Devil dares not 1 image [or imprint] himself, before the Time of the Understanding, when Man can incline himself to the Evil or to the Good. Yet none must presume upon this [Impotency of the Devil, and four Elements,] for if the Parents be wicked, God can well forsake a wicked Seed. For he willeth not that the Pearl should be cast before Swine; although he is very inclined to help all Men, yet it is [effectual] but for those that turn to him; and although the Child is in Innocence, yet the Seed is not in Innocence; and therefore it has Need of the Treader upon the Serpent [or Saviour.] Therefore, ye Parents, consider what ye do; especially you Knaves and Whores; you have a hard Lesson [to learn] here, consider it well, it is no jesting Matter, it shall be shown you in its Place, that the Heaven thunders, [and passes away with a Noise.] Truly the Time of the Rose brings it forth, and it is high Time to awake, for the Sleep is at an End, there shall a great Rent be before the Lily; therefore let every one take Heed to his Ways.

(1) IF we consider the Separation and the Springing forth in the third Principle of this World, how the starry Heaven should spring up, and how every Star has a peculiar Form and Property in itself, in every of which a several Center is observed, so that every One of them is fixed [or steady] and Master [or Guider] of itself, and that every One of them rules in the Matrix of this World, and works and generates in the Matrix after their Kind; and then afterwards if we consider the Sun, which is their King, Heart, and Life, without whose Light and Virtue, they could neither act nor effect any Thing, but remain in the hard dark Death; and this World would be nothing but a fierce rough Hardness; and further, if we consider the Elements of Fire and Water, [and observe] how they continually generate one in another, and then how the Constellations rule in them, as in their own Propriety; and also consider what the Mother is, from whence all these Things must proceed; then we shall come to see the Separation, and the eternal Mother, the i Genetrix of all Things.

(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.

(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.

(6) We may now consider the question whether fire is the sole element existing in that celestial realm and whether there is any outgoing thence with the consequent need of renewal.

Timaeus pronounced the material frame of the All to consist primarily of earth and fire for visibility, earth for solidity- and deduced that the stars must be mainly composed of fire, but not solely since there is no doubt they are solid.

And this is probably a true account. Plato accepts it as indicated by all the appearances. And, in fact, to all our perception- as we see them and derive from them the impression of illumination- the stars appear to be mostly, if not exclusively, fire: but on reasoning into the matter we judge that since solidity cannot exist apart from earth-matter, they must contain earth as well.

But what place could there be for the other elements? It is impossible to imagine water amid so vast a conflagration; and if air were present it would be continually changing into fire.

Admitting that two self-contained entities, standing as extremes to each other need for their coherence two intermediaries; we may still question whether this holds good with regard to physical bodies. Certainly water and earth can be mixed without any such intermediate. It might seem valid to object that the intermediates are already present in the earth and the water; but a possible answer would be, "Yes, but not as agents whose meeting is necessary to the coherence of those extremes."

None the less we will take it that the coherence of extremes is produced by virtue of each possessing all the intermediates. It is still not proven that fire is necessary to the visibility of earth and earth to the solidarity of fire.

On this principle, nothing possesses an essential-nature of its very own; every several thing is a blend, and its name is merely an indication of the dominant constituent.

Thus we are told that earth cannot have concrete existence without the help of some moist element- the moisture in water being the necessary adhesive- but admitting that we so find it, there is still a contradiction in pretending that any one element has a being of its own and in the same breath denying its self-coherence, making its subsistence depend upon others, and so, in reality, reducing the specific element to nothing. How can we talk of the existence of the definite Kind, earth- earth essential- if there exists no single particle of earth which actually is earth without any need of water to secure its self-cohesion? What has such an adhesive to act upon if there is absolutely no given magnitude of real earth to which it may bind particle after particle in its business of producing the continuous mass? If there is any such given magnitude, large or small, of pure earth, then earth can exist in its own nature, independently of water: if there is no such primary particle of pure earth, then there is nothing whatever for the water to bind. As for air- air unchanged, retaining its distinctive quality- how could it conduce to the subsistence of a dense material like earth?

Similarly with fire. No doubt Timaeus speaks of it as necessary not to the existence but to the visibility of earth and the other elements; and certainly light is essential to all visibility- we cannot say that we see darkness, which implies, precisely, that nothing is seen, as silence means nothing being heard.

But all this does not assure us that the earth to be visible must contain fire: light is sufficient: snow, for example, and other extremely cold substances gleam without the presence of fire- though of course it might be said that fire was once there and communicated colour before disappearing.

As to the composition of water, we must leave it an open question whether there can be such a thing as water without a certain proportion of earth.

But how can air, the yielding element, contain earth?

Fire, again: is earth perhaps necessary there since fire is by its own nature devoid of continuity and not a thing of three dimensions?

Supposing it does not possess the solidity of the three dimensions, it has that of its thrust; now, cannot this belong to it by the mere right and fact of its being one of the corporeal entities in nature? Hardness is another matter, a property confined to earth-stuff. Remember that gold- which is water- becomes dense by the accession not of earth but of denseness or consolidation: in the same way fire, with Soul present within it, may consolidate itself upon the power of the Soul; and there are living beings of fire among the Celestials.

But, in sum, do we abandon the teaching that all the elements enter into the composition of every living thing?

For this sphere, no; but to lift clay into the heavens is against nature, contrary to the laws of her ordaining: it is difficult, too, to think of that swiftest of circuits bearing along earthly bodies in its course nor could such material conduce to the splendour and white glint of the celestial fire.

(20) And so it [the Sun] makes a Triumphing, or Rising [to be] in the Matrix of the Water, always like a Seething; for the Stars cast their Virtue [or Influence] in the Matrix of the Water, as being therein; in like Manner also now the Matrix of the Root or Mother, Water is continually seething and rising, from whence comes the Regimen [or Dominion] of the Sun and Stars, and also of the Elements, rules in all Creatures, and it is a Blossom or Bud from them, and without their Power, there would be in this World, in the third Principle, no Life, nor Mobility, in any Manner of Thing, nothing excepted.

(33) Thus on the fourth Day, by the Fiat, out of the Virtue, he prepared the Similitude of his Substance [and fitted it] to be a Matrix, which should generate all whatsoever was a Similitude of his Substance, and of the Wisdom which was in him from Eternity; that so all Forms might be brought forth and become visible, which were from Eternity in the Matrix. And the Similitude of the unsearchable manifold Varieties and Virtues are the Stars, which altogether give [or send] their Virtue into the Matrix of the Heaven, and the Heaven gives that same Spirit to the Creatures. This is the course of all Creatures after the same Essence, [or Substance,] and they are formed after the same Spirit, which is their Virtue, Spirit, and Life.