(17) The Propagation of the Love is most especially to be observed, for it is the loveliest, pleasantest, and sweetest Fountain of all. When the Love generates again a whole Birth, with all the Fountains of the original Essences out of itself, so that the Love in all the a springing Veins in that new Birth is predominant and chief, so that a Center arises therein, then the first Essence, vis. the Tartness, is wholly desirous or longing, wholly sweet, wholly light, and gives itself forth to be Food to all the Qualities, with a hearty Affection towards them all, as a loving Mother has towards her Children, and here the Bitterness may be rightly called Joy, for it is the Rising or Moving [thereof.] What Joy there is here, there is no other Similitude of it, than when a Man is suddenly and unexpectedly delivered out of the Pain and Torment of Hell, and put into the Light of the Divine Joy.

(51) And in this Joy, in the Water-Spring, [or Source,] the pleasant Source of the bottomless Love rises up, and all that rises up there is the second Principle: For the whole Begetting or Generating falls into a glorious Love; for the Harshness now loves the Light dearly, because it is so refreshing, chearly, and beautiful; for from this pleasant Refreshing it becomes thus sweet, courteous, and humble [or lowly;] and the Bitterness now loves the Harshness, because it is no more dark, nor so strongly [eagerly or fiercely] attractive to itself, but is sweet, mild, pure, and light.

(16) The Knowledge that is in the infinite God is various and manifold, but every one should rejoice in the Gifts and Knowledge of another, and consider, that God will give such superabundant Knowledge in the paradisical World, of which we have here (in the Variety and Difference of Gifts) but a Type: Therefore we must not wrangle nor contend about Gifts and Knowledge; for the Spirit gives to every one according to his Essence in the wonderful God, to express that [Gift he has] after his own Form [or Manner;] for that [Form] in the Perfection of Love in Paradise will be a very inward hearty Sport of Love, where every one shall speak from his Knowledge of the great Wonders of the tholy Birth.

(5) For it cannot be said that Fire, Bitterness, or Harshness, is in God, much less that Air, Water, and Earth are in him; only it is plain that all Things have proceeded out of that [Original.] Neither can it be said, that Death, Hell-fire, or Sorrowfulness is in God, but it is known that these Things have come out of that [Original.] For God has made no Devil out of himself, but Angels to live in Joy, to their Comfort and Rejoicing; yet it is seen that Devils came to be, and that they became God's Enemies. Therefore the Source or Fountain of the Cause must be sought, vis. what is the Prima Materia, or first Matter of Evil, and that in the Originality of God as well as in the Creatures; for it is all but one only Thing in the Origin: All is out of God, made out of his Essence, according to the Trinity, as he is one in Essence and threefold in Persons.

(17) Therefore we must know, that God, as he is all in all, so where he is not (in the Love) in the Light, there he is (in the Darkness) in the Fierceness, and Source [or Torment;] for before the Time of the Creation there was nothing but the Source, and over it the Deity, which continues in Eternity. There is no other Ground, you [can] find nothing more, therefore give over your deep Searching, for it is the End of Nature.

(42) Now therefore in the anguishing Mind of the Darkness, is the inexpressible [or unutterable] Source, [or rising Property,] from whence the Name Quality exists as from many [Sources, or Wells,] into one Source, and out of these many Sources [running] into one Source, springs forth the Plurality of Skill, so that there is a Multiplicity, [or Variety of it.] And the Spirit of God out of the Light comes to help every Skill, [or Science, or Knowledge,] and in every Skill of the Sources in the Quality (by its kind infecting of the Love) it makes again again, as a Twig out of a Tree, where again there springs forth [or infusing] of Kindness, makes all, every Thought in the Will, and [that] essentially.

(32) Now as is mentioned before, when the Joy rises up from the Mother, as the Light comes into her (which yet she cannot i comprehend) then the Joy (in the ascending Will) has a Center in it again, and generates out of itself again a very soft and pleasant Source [or Fountain,] an humble, amiable Source, which is immaterial; for then there can be generated Nothing that is more pleasant and full of Joy [and Refreshment,] therefore here is the End of Nature; and this is the Warmth of the Barm, or as I may say the Barmhertzigkeit, [the Mercifulness.] For here Nature neither seeks nor desires further any Birth more, it is the Perfection.

(2) This, then, is truer than all truth, and plainer than what the mind [’s eye] perceives;—that from that Universal God of Universal Nature all other things for evermore have found, and had bestowed on them, the mystery of bringing forth; in which there is innate the sweetest Charity, [and] Joy, [and] Merriment, Longing, and Love Divine. We might have had to tell the mighty power and the compulsion of this mystery, if it had not been able to be known by every one from personal experience, by observation of himself.

(12) For the Spring of the great Anguish, which was in the Beginning before the Light, in the [tart] Harshness, from which the bitter Sting or Prickle is generated, that is now in the sweet Fountain of the Love in the Light changed from the Water- Spirit, and from Bitterness or Stinging is now become the Fountain or Spring of the Joy in the Light. Thus now henceforth the Fire-flash is the Father of the Light, and the Light shines in him, and is now the only Cause of the moving Birth, and of the Birth of the Love. That which in the Beginning was the raking Source, is now S U L, or the Oil of the lovely pleasant Fountain, which presses through all the Fountains, so that from hence the Light is kindled.

(18) So also the Sound, where the Love is predominant; it brings most joyful Tidings or News into all the Forms of the Birth, as also the Fire in the Love, that kindles the Love rightly in all the Fountain-Spirits, as is mentioned above; and the Love kindles Love in its Essence. When the Love is predominant in Love, it is the sweetest, meekest, humblest, most loving Fountain of all that springs in all the Fountains; and it confirms and fixes the heavenly Birth, so that it is a holy divine Essence or Substance.

(20) For the Spirit of Knowledge intimates this, that there are Fruits and Things that grow in Paradise, as well as in this World, in such a Form or Figure, but not in such a Source [or Property,] and Palpability. For the Matter or Body of it is Power, and it grows in the heavenly yLimbus; its Root stands in the Matrix, wherein there is neither Earth nor Stone; for it is in another Principle. The Fire in that [Principle] is God the Father; and the Light is God the Son; and the Air is God the Holy Ghost; and the Virtue [or Power] out of which all springs is Heaven and Paradise.

(42) Behold, this they call understanding, and knowing. Yet this is not knowledge, but belief, and many things are known and loved and seen only with this sort of perceiving and knowing. There is also yet another kind of Love, which is especially false, to wit, when something is loved for the sake of a reward, as when justice is loved not for the sake of justice, but to obtain something thereby, and so on. And where a creature loveth other creatures for the sake of something that they have, or loveth God, for the sake of something of her own, it is all false Love; and this Love belongeth properly to nature, for nature as nature can feel and know no other love than this; for if ye look narrowly into it, nature as nature loveth nothing beside herself. On this wise something may be seen to be good and not loved. But true Love is taught and guided by the true Light and Reason, and this true, eternal and divine Light teacheth Love to love nothing but the One true and Perfect Good, and that simply for its own sake, and not for the sake of a reward, or in the hope of obtaining anything, but simply for the Love of Goodness, because it is good and hath a right to be loved. And all that is thus seen by the help of the True Light must also be loved of the True Love. Now that Perfect Good, which we call God, cannot be perceived but by the True Light; therefore He must be loved wherever He is seen or made known.

(70) Thou knowest that God himself is all, and there are but Three Principles (viz. Three Births of Distinction) in his Essence; or else all Things would be one Thing, and all were merely God; and if it was so, then all would be in sweet Meekness. But where would be the Mobility, Kingdom, Power, and Glory? Therefore we have often said, The Anger is the Root of Life; and if it be without the Light, then it is not God, but Hell Fire; but if the Light shines therein, it becomes Paradise and Fulness of Joy.

(39) Now behold, dear Soul, that is the Deity, and that comprehends in it the second or the middlemost Principle. Therefore God is only good, the Love, the Light, the Virtue [or Power.] Now consider, if the Mind did not stand in the Darkness, there would no such eternal Wisdom and Skill be; for the Anguish in the Will to generate, standeth therein; and the Anguish is the Quality, and the Quality is the Multiplicity [or Variety.] and makes the Mind, and the Mind again makes the Multiplicity [or Plurality.]

(35) Now the Question is, May not the Mind stand in one only Will (viz. in mere Love) like God himself? Here sticks the Mark, the Ground, and the Knowledge: Behold, if the Will were in one only Essence, then the Mind would also have but one Quality that could give the Will to be so, and it should be an immoveable Thing, which should always lie still, and should do no more but that one Thing always: In it there would be no Joy, no Knowledge, also no Art or Skill of any Thing at all, and there would be no Wisdom in it: Also if the Quality was not in infinitum, it would be altogether a Nothing, and there would be no Mind nor Will to any Thing at all.

(13) Thus it may very plainly be understood, that the Light of God is a Cause of all Things, and you may hereby understand all the three Principles: For if the Power, Virtue, and Light of God were not, then there would be also no attractive Longing in the dark Eternity, and also the sour Desire (which is the Mother of the Eternity) would be nothing at all; and it may be understood, that the divine Virtue shines in every Thing, and yet it is not the Thing itself, but the Spirit of God in the second Principle; and yet the Thing is his Ray, [Glance or Luster,] which thus proceeds from the longing, or attracting Will. But now the Heart of God is in the Father, [in] the first Will, and the Father is the first Desiring or Longing after the Son, and the Son is the Virtue and Light of the Father, from whence the eternal Nature becomes always longing; and so from the Heart of God, in the eternal dark Matrix, [it] generates the third Principle. For so God is manifest, but otherwise the Deity would remain hidden eternally.

(63) For because Man was to be eternal, therefore he must also come to be out of the Eternal; for nothing is created out of the Fountain of the Heart of God. For that is the End of Nature, and has no such Essences; no comprehensible [or palpable] Thing enters therein; otherwise it would be a Filling and Darkness, and that cannot be: Also from Eternity, there has been nothing else but only the Source [or working Property] where the Deity continually rises up, as is mentioned before.

(1) WE find by the divine Providence in all Things, as also in Arts and States, that the Things of this World are all good and profitable, and that only the Devil's Poison brought into them is evil; and so we find also all States [or Conditions,] high and low, come out of one i only Tree, and one always proceeds out of the other, so that the divine Providence comes to help all Things, and so the eternal Wonders (in all the three Principles) are manifested; to which End God brought to Light the Creation of all Things, which from Eternity in themselves stood only in the [Flowing, Budding, or] Springing up, but by the Creation of this World are put into the Wonders.

(11) Behold now, when the Bitterness, or the bitter Sting [or Prickle,] (which in the Original was so very bitter, raging and tearing, when it took its Original in the Harshness,) attains this clear Light, and tastes now the Sweetness in the Harshness, which is its Mother, then it is so joyful, and cannot rise or swell so any more, but it trembles and rejoices in its Mother that bare it, and triumphs like a joyful Wheel in the Birth. And in this Triumph the Birth attains the fifth Form, and then the fifth Source springs up, viz. the friendly Love; and so when the bitter Spirit tastes the sweet Water, it rejoices in its Mother [the sour tart Harshness,] and so refreshes and strengthens itself therein, and makes its Mother stirring zin great Joy; where then there springs up the sweet Water-Spirit a very sweet pleasant Source or Fountain: For the Fire-Spirit (which is the Root of the Light, which was a strong [fierce rumbling Shriek, Crack, or] Terror in the Beginning) that now rises up very lovely, pleasantly and joyfully. The divine everlasting Gates or Doors, by which we have Entrance to the Deity,

(33) Now in this pleasant Source, the moving Spirit (which in the Original, in the Kindling, was the bitter aching Spirit) springs forth very joyfully without removing, and it is the Holy Ghost; and the sweet Source [or Fountain,] which is generated in the Center from the Light, is the Word or Heart of God; and in this Joy is the Paradise, and the Birth is the eternal Trinity: In this you must dwell, if you will be in Paradise; and the same must be born [or generated] in you, if you will be the Child of God, and your Soul must be in it, or else you cannot enjoy nor see the Kingdom of God.