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(39) Seeing now Man is entered into the Spirit of this World, and has all Gates in [him,] viz. the Kingdom of Heaven, and the Kingdom of Hell, and also the Kingdom of this World, and must thus live in the Press, [or narrow Chink,] between Heaven and this World, where the Devil stirs up one Mocker after another, (who are brought up by the Kingdom of Fierceness,) and continually stirs them up against the Children of God, so that the World is full of Tyrants, and bestial, bloody, incestuous Persons, also Murderers and Thieves, and because Covetousness grew up, therefore the Office of Ruling was most profitable, that the wicked P Driver might be stopped by Power [and Authority.]

(16) And if the Will be thus in Darkness, then it is in Anguish; for it desires to be out of the Darkness, and that Desiring is the Flowing [or Working,] and the Attracting in itself, where yet nothing is attained but a fierce Source in itself, which by its Attraction makes Hardness and Roughness, which the Will cannot endure, and thus it stirs up the Root of the Fire in the Flash, as is before-mentioned, whereupon the re-comprehended Will goes forth from the Flash, into itself, and 1 breaks the Darkness, and dwells in the broken Darkness, in the Light, in a pleasant [Joy or] Habitation in itself; after which [Joy or] Habitation, the Will (in the Darkness) continually lusts, from whence Longing arises, and thus it is an eternal Band, which can never be loosed; and thus the Will now labours in the broken Gate, that it may manifest or discover his Wonders out of himself, as may be seen well enough in the Creation of the World and all Creatures.

(19) But then the Darkness and Source [or Pain] were in the Midst in the Center, wherein Death, the Wrathfulness, Decay, and the Corruptibility did stick; and if that had not been, this World would have stood for ever, and Adam should not have been tempted: P They also, like a Death, (or a corrupting Worm of the Source,) did work together, and generate the Tree of Good and Evil in the Midst of its Seat [or Place,] because Death stuck in the Midst of the Center, by which this World shall be kindled in the Fire at the End of the Days. And this Source is even the Anger of God, which by the Heart or Light of God in the Eternal Father is continually put into the Meekness; and therefore the Word or Heart of God is called the Eternal Mercifulness of the Father.

(17) But we should not here again wholly set down the Ground of the Deity, so far as it is otherwise meet and known by us, we account that needless [here,] for you may find it before the Incarnation of a Child in the Mother's [Womb or] Body. We set down thus much here, to the End that the Region of his World may be understood. And thus we give the Reader exactly to understand and know how the Region of Good and Evil are in one another, and how it is an imperishable Thing [or Substance,] so that one is generated out of the other, and that also the one goes forth out of the other into another Substance [or Being,] which it was not in the Beginning; as you may learn to understand this in Man, who in his Beginning, in the Will of Man and Woman, viz. in the Limbus, and in the Matrix, is conceived in the Tincture, and sown in an earthly Soil; where then the first Tincture A Desiring or Attracting. Dispels. (in the Will) breaks, and his own Tincture springs forth out of the anxious [or aching] Chamber of Darkness, and of Death, out of the anxious Source [or Property,] and blossoms out of the Darkness, in the broken Gate of the Darkness in it, as a pleasant Habitation, and so generates its Light out of the anxious Fierceness out of itself; where then (in the Light) there goes forth again the endless Source of the [Thoughts or] Senses, which make a Throne and Region of Reason, which governs the whole House, and desires to enter into the Region of Heaven, out of which it proceeded not. And therefore now this is not the original Will, which there desires to enter into the Region of the Heaven; but it is the preconceived Will out of the Source of the Anxiety, [which Will is a Desire to] enter through the deep Gate of God.

(36) Here in this Life he must stick between the Door and the Hinges, between the Kingdom of Hell, and the Kingdom of this World, and the noble Image must suffer much Wrong, [or be wounded,] for he has not only Enemies outwardly, but also in himself; he bears the bestial and also the hellish Image of Wrath in him, so long as this House of Flesh endures. Therefore that causes Strife and Division against himself, and also without him, against the Wickedness of the World, which the Devil mightily presses against him, and tempts him on every Side, misleads, and distorts him every where, and his own Household in his Body are his worst Enemies; therefore the Children of God are Bearers of the Cross in this World, in this evil earthly Image.

(90) Now the heavenly [Body] must overcome the earthly, that the earthly may be as it were dead and impotent, and that the heavenly may xkeep the Dominion. And now as Adam stood in the Angle (between Love and Wrath) when he was tempted, there stood both Kingdoms against him, and pulled at him; and as God the Father (direct forward in his reconciled Will) is the Kingdom of Heaven, and the clear Deity; and backward (in the eternal Root of Nature) there is his Wrath and Anger, and yet both of them are in the eternal Father; and as in the eternal Nature of the Wrath, the Light or the Kingdom of Heaven is not known, and also in the eternal Light, the Kingdom of Fierceness and Wrath is not known, because each Kingdom is in itself, so is the Soul of Man also; it has Kingdoms in it, in which it a trades, in that it stands. If it trades in the Kingdom of Heaven, then the Kingdom of Hell is dead in it; not that it is ceased, but the Kingdom of Heaven is predominant, and the Kingdom of Fierceness is changed into Joy; so also, if it trades in the Kingdom of Wrath, then that is predominant, and the Kingdom of Heaven is as it were dead; although indeed (in itself it does not vanish) yet the Soul is not in it.

(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.

(23) Has it wrought Good here? then it shall eat that Good; for all Sins stand before it in its Tincture: If it thinks inwardly in itself of the Kingdom of Heaven, which yet it neither sees nor knows, then it sees the Causes why it is in such a Source [or Misery;] for itself has made that. And there all the Tears of the Oppressed and Afflicted are in its Tincture, and they are fiery, stinging and burning in a hostile Manner, fretting and gnawing in themselves, and make an eternal Despair in the Essences, and an hostile Will against God; the more it thinks of

(74) If it stretches to God, then the Devil holds it on one Side with one Band, and the World with another Band; and they set upon it; the Devil handles it in Fierceness, [Sternness, Frowardness, or Wrath, which is a Source [or Quality] and Sin, which cannot attain to the Kingdom of God; and the World leads it into Pride, Covetousness, and fleshly Lust, so that the Essences of the Soul grow full [or impregnated] with the fleshly Will; for the Will of the Mind draws these Things into the Soul, and so the Soul (from that which is attracted) becomes wholly unclean, a swelled and dark, and cannot attain the Light of God; its Essences, that should give up themselves to God, cannot: For they are too rough, and cannot get into the Light, that kindles not itself in its Essences. The Gates of the Deep must be broken open first, and then the Essences [of the Soul may] press into the Liberty, without the Darkness; but if the Mind be filled, then it cannot [come into the Liberty,] and then begins Horror, Fear, Distress, and Despair of the Kingdom of God, and this makes mere Torment, [Woe, Pain, and Smart,] in the Soul.

(33) For by the great Longing of the Darkness after the Light and Virtue of God, this World has been generated out of the Darkness, where the holy Virtue of God [shone, or] beheld itself in the Darkness, and therefore this great Desiring and Longing after the divine Virtue, continues in the Spirit of the Sun, Stars, and Elements, and in all Things. All groan and pant after the divine Virtue, and would fain be delivered from the Vanity of the Devil: But seeing that cannot be, therefore all Creatures must wait till their Dissolution, when they [shall] go into their Ether, and get a Place in Paradise, yet only in the Figure and Shadow, and the Spirit [must] be dissolved, which here has had such Lust [or Longing.]

(21) God, who is the eternal Light, he is the eternal Will; he shines in the Darkness, and the Darkness has comprehended the Will: And in that Will (which has comprehended the Darkness) the Anguish rises up, and in the sour [harsh] Anguish the Fire, and in the Fire the Light, and out of the Light [comes] the Virtue [or Power,] and out of the Virtue the Kingdom. So now out of the Fire [came] the Constellations, and moreover the Sun, and out of the Virtue came the Heaven; and the Kingdom is God's. All this was in the first Will in the Creation, one with another; wherein God severed the fiery Will from the mild Will of the Light, and called the fiery [Will] Stars, and the mild [Will] Heaven, in respect of the Virtue of each of them.

(49) The first Will, out of which they were created, that was God's, and that made them good; and the second Will, which they as obedient [Children] should have generated out of their Center in Meekness, that was evil: And therefore the Father, for generating such a Child, was thrust out from the Virtue of God, and so he spoiled the angelical Kingdom, and remained in the Source of the Fire: And because the evil Child of their Mind did turn away from the Meekness, therefore they attained what they desired. For the Mind is the God and the Creator of the Will; that is free from the eternal Nature, and therefore what it generates to itself, that it has.

(3) For you find in the Root of the Original of the Spirit of the Soul, in itself, in the Substance of the eternal Birth and incorruptible eternal Band of the Soul, the most exceeding horrible enemicitious irksome Source, wherein the Soul (without the Light of God) is like all Devils, wherein their eternal Source consists, being an Enmity in itself, a Will striving against God [and Goodness,] it desires nothing that is pleasant or good, it is a climbing up of Pride in the Strength of the Fire, a bitter, [fierce, odious, Malice, or] Wrathfulness against Paradise, against God, against the Kingdom of Heaven; also against all Creatures in the second and third Principle, lifting up themselves alone, [against all this,] as the Bitterness in the Fire does.

(69) Besides, the Kingdom of Hell, and of [fierce] Wrath, always gape after the Soul, and set their Jaws wide open to devour the captive Soul; which is held fast fettered with two strong Chains; the one of the Kingdom of Hell; the other of the Kingdom of this World; and it is continually led by the heavy, lumpish, bestial, and sickly Body, as a Thief who is often led to the Place of Execution, and still by a Petition reprieved, and laid in Prison again, and the poor Soul must lie thus in Prison the whole Time of the Body; where the Devil on the one Side very suddenly rushes upon it with his devouring Fierceness, Wrath, and Malice, and would carry it into the Abyss. Then instantly [it is beat upon by] the glistering [flattering] World, with Pomp, Bravery, Covetousness, and Voluptuousness of Perdition; presenting [again come upon it] Sickness and Fear, and it is continually trembling and quaking; and when Man goes but in the Dark, how is it amazed, and continually afraid that the Executioner will take it, and tdo Execution upon it! The Gate [or Explanation] of the great Sin, and Contrariety of Will against God, in Man.

(43) The eternal Will is incorruptible [or intransitory,] and unchangeable [or unalterable;] for the Heart of God is generated out of it, which is the End of the Nature and of the Willing. If the Spirits of the Source [or Torment] had put their imagination, and their desiring Will a forward into the Light of Meekness, into the End of Nature, they should have continued Angels; but seeing they out of Pride would fain be above the Meekness, and above the End of Nature, and awakened the Center, they found nothing more; for from Eternity there had been nothing more [than the End of Nature;] and therefore they awakened the Center of the Source [or Torment] in themselves. The same they now have, and they were thrust out of the Light into the Darkness.

(8) Yet this first Will in the Mind ought not to stay behind in the Abyss of the sour Fierceness, (in which the fierce Malice is,) but ought to go forward in the Center of the Breaking forth out of the Darkness into the Light, for in the Light there is mere Meekness, Lowliness, Humility, Good- Will, and friendly Desires, that it might with its re-conceived Will go out of itself, and to Or earnest Will. open itself in its precious Treasury. For in the re-conceived Will to the Birth of the Light, there is no Source of Anxiety, but only mere friendly Desires; for the Glimpse rises up out of the Darkness in itself, and desires the Light; and the Desiring draws the Light into itself, and there the Anguish becomes an exulting Joy in itself, an humble Chearfulness, a pleasant Habitation. For the re-conceived Will in the Light is impregnated, and its Fruit in the Body is Virtue [or Power,] which the Will desires to generate, and to live therein; and this Desiring brings the Fruit out of the impregnated Will, [and presents it] before the Will, and the Will discovers itself [glimmers or shines] in the Fruit in an infinite pleasant Number; and there goes forth, in the pleasant Number, in the discovered [or manifested] Will, the high Benediction [or Blessing,] Favour, loving Kindness, pleasant Inclination [or yielding Pliableness,] the Taste of Joy, the Well-doing of Meekness [or Affability,] and [further] what my Pen cannot express. The Mind would much rather be freed from Vanity, and live therein without Molestation or Disturbance.

(20) So now a Spirit is nothing else but a Springing Will, and in the Will there is the Anguish to the Birth, and in the Anguish the Fire generates itself, and in the Fire the Light, and from the Light the Will becomes friendly, pleasant, mild, and sweet, and in the sweet Will the Kingdom and the Glory generates itself. Thus the Light keeps the Might [or Power;] and if that be put out, then the Virtue [or Power] and Glory ceases, and the Kingdom also.

(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.

(61) And in the sour [or harsh] Essence of the Tincture of the Worm of the Soul, he infects the sour harsh Essence, whereby it becomes sharply attractive, and gets a Will to draw all to itself, and yet is not able to do it; for the conceived Will is not easily filled, but is a dry hellish thirsty Hunger to have all; and if it did get all, yet the Hunger would not be the less, but it is the eternal Hunger and Thirst of the Abyss, the Will of Hell-fire, and of all Devils, who continually hunger and thirst, and yet eat nothing; but it is their satiating, that they [suck or], draw into themselves, the strong Source of the Essences of the harsh, bitter Might of the Fire, wherein consists their Life and Satiating; and the Abyss of the Wrath and of Hell is also such [a Thing.]

(47) And seeing Adam was gone out of Paradise into the Spirit of this World, therefore now the Strife was already between the two Kingdoms (viz. the Kingdom of Heaven, and the Kingdom of Hell) about the Children of Eve; and here it is seen that the Wrath had the Victory; and the Spirit of God complains, not without Cause, [saying,] I am as a Grape-Gatherer that gleaneth, and yet fain would eat of the best Fruit.