(22) St. Paul says; God foresaw [or elected] Man, before the Ground [or Foundation] of the World was laid: Here we find the Ground so very [plain or] fair, that we have a Delight to write on, and to seek the Pearl. For behold, in the eternal Wisdom of God, before the Creation of the World, the Fall of the Devils, and also of Man, appeared in the eternal Matrix, and was seen. For the eternal Word in the eternal Light knew very well, that if it came to manifest the Fountain of the eternal Birth, that then every Form should break forth; yet it was not the Will of the Love in the Word of the Light, that the Forms of the tart [sour, strong Wrath] should elevate themselves above the Meekness; but it had such a mighty [or potent] Form, that it is so come to pass.

(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.

(12) Therefore all Objections, which fall into Reason, are nothing else but the subtle Contradictions [or Fallacies] of the Devil, who would very fain maintain, that God did will the Fall of Man, There are also Men that dare to say, that God did will it; [and say] that he fitted the Tongue of the Serpent to seduce Eve; whose Judgment is very justly upon themselves, because they [offer to] confirm the Devil's Word with Lying, and [go about to] make God a Lyar,

(30) O no: But the Devil, who is a Cause of the Wrathfulness. Adam was made good out of the pure Element, but the Longing [Desire or Lust] of the Devil deceived him, so that he went into the Spirit of this World. 3 1. And now it cannot be otherwise, the two Kingdoms wrestle one with another in the Children of Men; the one is the Kingdom of Christ, [generated] through the new Birth into Paradise; that (in this World) is miserable and contemned, there are not many that desire it, for it has mere Scorn and Contempt from the Devil and his Followers; it consists in Righteousness and Truth, and that is not valued in this World, and therefore it must lie at the rich Man's Door with poor Lazarus, and at his Feet. If any do but let it appear that they are the Children of God, then the Devil will away with them presently, or else will put them to such Scorn and Disgrace, that they cannot be known; that so the Devil may continue to be the great Prince upon Earth, and that the World may not learn to know him.

(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.

(100) This now the Devil did not understand; because God spoke of the Serpent, and cursed it to [be] a horrible Worm, and he supposed that it did not concern him; neither does he yet know his own Judgment, he knows only what he learns from Men, that declare [Things] in the Spirit of God; yet the Spirit of God does not wholly intimate his Judgment to him, but all in the Depth, afar off, so that he cannot wholly understand it. For to the enlightened Men all Prophesies (even concerning the Wickness of Men) are thus given, and they dare not set them down clearer, that the Devil may not wholly learn the Counsel of God, and strow his Sugar upon it; though in this Place there are very excellent Things, that ought not to be revealed to the World, for they remain till the Judgment of God; that the Devil may bring no new Sects into it, and lead Men into Doubt; and therefore they shall be passed over till the Time of the Lily.

(6) "For he speaks some truths. For the devil fills him with his own spirit, if perchance he may be able to cast down any one from what is right." All things, therefore, are dispensed from heaven for good, "that by the Church may be made known the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal foreknowledge, which He purposed in Christ." Nothing withstands God: nothing opposes Him: seeing He is Lord and omnipotent.

(23) And now because the Devil had so highly triumphed, and had Man in the eternal Prison, therefore it was now permitted to the Spirit of this World, that they (viz. the Pharisees, who lived only according to the Spirit of this World) all of them might do and bring to pass whatsoever the Devil had brought into the Essences, in the Garden of Eden; and there all was turned into to [show] us, that all (whatsoever we suffer to come into the Soul, and fill the Soul full of with a total Will) stands in the Figure, and must come to Light at the Judgment of God.