(13) This [Image] is not the Heart of God, but it reaches into the Heart of God, and it receives Virtue, Light and Joy from the Heart and Light of God. For it is in the eternal Will of the Father, out of which he [the Father] continually generates his Heart and Word from Eternity; and ehis Essences, which, in the Element of his Body, viz. [in the Element] of Ignorance in the eternal Wonders of God now breathed into him, they (in respect of the high triumphing Light, out of the Heart and Light of God) were Paradise; his Meat and Drink was Paradise, out of the Element, in his Will; whereby then he drew the Virtue of the eternal Wonders of God into him, and generated the Noise [Voice] Sound, or the eternal Hymn of the eternal Wonders of God, out of himself before the Will; and all this stood before the chaste, high, noble, and blessed Virgin, the divine Wisdom, in a pleasant Sport, and was the right Paradise.

(2) But yet they have two Sorts of Inclinations [or Desires,] each in itself for its own. Yet because the divine [Being or] Essence from Eternity is generated out of itself, therefore it is inclined to help the Weak, and is rightly called Barm-hertz-ig-keit [Mercifulness.]

(9) But that the sharp and severe Essence with the Attraction might cease, therefore God generated a Similitude according to the Fountain of the Heart of God, viz. the Sun; and herewith sprung up the third Principle of this World, and that [viz. the Sun] put all Things into Meekness and well doing.

(60) Here was no Remedy now, neither in God, nor in any Creature; only the mere Deity of the Heart of God must enter in Ternarium Sanctum, [into the holy Ternary,] viz. into the Barmhertzigkeit, [the Mercifulness,] which is from Eternity generated out of his Holiness, wherein the eternal Wisdom, which [coming] out of the Speaking of the Word, through the Holy Ghost, stands as a Virgin before the Deity, and is the Great Wonder, and a Spirit in the Barmhertzigkeit, [the Mercifulness,] and the Mercifulness makes the holy Ternary (the holy Earth) the Essences of the Father in the Attracting to the Word, viz. the holy Constellations, as may be said in a Similitude.

(17) The first will fashion it according to its fierce Might and Pomp, and mingles therein prickly [stinging] Sourness, Wrath and Malice. And the second Principle with the Virgin stands in the Midst, and sheds its Rays of loving Meekness therein, and resists the first [Principle.] And if the Spirit be kindled in that, then the Word is wholly gentle, friendly, and humble, and inclines itself to the Love of our Neighbour; it desires not to seize upon any with the haughty Sting [or Prickle] of the first Principle, but it covers the Prickles of the Thorns, and qualifies the Word with Clearness [and Plainness,] and arms the Tongue with Righteousness and Truth, and it sheds abroad its Rays, even into the Will of the Heart. And when the Will receives the pleasant friendly Rays of Love, then it kindles the whole Mind with the Love, Righteousness, Chastity of the Virgin, and the Truth of all those Things that are by all Regions tried upon the Tongue. And thus it together with the five Senses makes the Tongue shrill, and [thereby] the dear Image of God appears inwardly and outwardly, so that it may be heard and seen in the whole % Abyss, what Form it is of. O Man! behold what the Light of Nature discovers to thee.

(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.

(20) Thus the pure Element is the Barm [or warm] in the Essences of the Attracting to [be] the Word; the Essences are Paradise, and the Barm [or warm] is the Element. Thus now the Father continually speaks the eternal Word, and so the Holy Ghost goes forth out of the Speaking, and that which is spoken forth is the eternal Wisdom, and it is a Virgin; and the pure Element, viz. the Barm [or warm,] is her Body, wherein the Holy Ghost discovers himself through the out-spoken Wisdom; and so the Flash [or Glance] out of the Light of God in the Holy Ghost, is called hertz [or Heart,] this receives the Element in the Essences of Paradise, that it may be substantial, and then it is called ig [or ed;] and the Strength of the Father, and the great Might of the Fire, goes as a Flash into the Essence, and that is called keit [or ness,] like a Might [or Force] which presses through, as a Sound [or Noise] which severs not the Substance asunder; and this together is called Barm-hertz-ig-keit [Warm-heart-ed-ness,] or ^Mercifulness, and this stands before God; and God (the Holy Trinity) dwells therein.

(56) For behold, the Father is the original Essence of all Essences. And if now the second Principle did not break forth and spring up in the Birth of the Son, then the Father would be a dark Valley. And thus you see, that the Son (who is the Heart, the Love, the Brightness and the mild Rejoicing of the Father,) [in whom he is well-pleased,] opens another Principle in his Birth, and makes the angry and wrathful Father (as I may say, as to the Originality of the first Principle) reconciled, pleased, loving, and as I may say, merciful; and he is another [Manner of] Person than the Father; for in his a Center there is nothing else but mere Joy, Love, and Pleasure. And yet you may see that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son, for when the Heart or Light of God is generated in the Father, then there springs up (in the Kindling of the Light in the fifth Form) out of the Water-Source in the Light, a very pleasant sweet smelling and sweet tasted Spirit; and this is that Spirit which in the Original was the bitter Sting or Prickle in the Harshness [or Tartness;] and that makes now in this Water-Source many thousand of the Water.

(10) Behold, God the Father is every where, and his Heart and Light is every where in the Father, for it is always from Eternity begotten every where of the Father, and his Birth has neither Beginning nor End, he is even at this very Day continually generated of the Father; and then also when he was in the Body of Mary, yet he stood in the Father's Birth, and was continually begotten of the Father, and the Holy Spirit proceeded continually from Eternity, from the Father through his Heart; for the whole Generation of the Deity is no otherwise, neither can it be otherwise.

(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.

(43) Here observe; Adam was created out of the Element, out of the Attracting of the Heart of God, which is the Will of the Father, and therein is the Virgin of the divine Virtue [or Power,] and the outward Regimen (which in the Kindling parted itself into four Parts) would fain have had the same [Virgin] in itself; that is, the Fierceness of the Devil would fain have dwelt in the Heart of God, and have domineered over it, and have opened a Center there, which the Fierceness without the Light cannot do; for every Center was generated and opened with the Kindling of the Light. Thus the Fierceness would fain be over the Meekness, and therefore has God caused the Sun to come forth, so that it has thus opened four Centers, viz. the going forth out of the Element.

(5) But the favourable Love, (that is, the only begotten Son of God, or that I may set it down so that it may be understood, the lovely Fountain where the Light of God is 1 generated,) sprung up, and grew again in Adam in the Center of the Birth of his Life, in the fifth Form of his Birth; whereby Adam perceived that he was not broken off from the divine Root, but that he was still the Child of God, and repented him of his first evil Lust: And thereupon the Lord showed him the Treader upon the Serpent, who should destroy his monstrous Birth; and so he should from the monstrous Birth be regenerated anew, in the Shape, Form, Power and Virtue of the Treader upon the Serpent, and be brought with Power again into Paradise, into the holy Birth, and eat of the mWord of the Lord again, and live eternally, in Spite of all the Gates of the Wrathfulness, wherein the Devil lives; concerning which there shall be farther mention made in its due Place.

(49) So I will now write of the second Principle, of the clear pure Deity, of the Heart of God. In the first Principle (as I have mentioned above) is Harshness, Bitterness, and Fire; and yet they are not three Things, but one only Thing, and they one generate another. Harshness is the first Father, which is strong, [fierce or tart,] very sharp and attracting to itself; and that Attracting is the [Sting] or Prickle, or Bitterness, which the Harshness cannot endure, and it will not be captivated in Death, but rises and flies up like a strong fierce Substance, and yet cannot remove from off its Place: And then there is a horrible Anguish, which finds no Rest; and the Birth is like a turning Wheel, pulling so very hard, and breaking or bruising as it were furiously, which the Harshness cannot endure, but attracts continually more and more, harder and harder; as when Steel and a Flint are struck one against another, from which the twinkling Flash of Fire proceeds; and when the Harshness perceives mit, nit starts and sinks back, as if it were dead and overcome. And so when the Flash of Fire comes into its Mother, the Harshness, and finds her thus soft and overcome, then it is much more terrified [than the Harshness,] and becomes in the Twinkling of an Eye white and clear. And now when the harsh Tartness attains the white clear Light in itself, it is so very much terrified that it [falls or] sinks back as if it were dead and overcome, and expands itself, and becomes very thin and [pliable or] vanquished: For its own Source was dark and hard, and now is become light and soft; therefore now it is first rightly become as it were dead, and now is the Water-Spirit.