(17) Therefore must Christ in his Temptation overcome the Kingdom of the Anger, and this external Birth; and by his Entrance into Death, he broke the Head of the Serpent, viz. the Devil, and all Devils, and took them captive. Thou must understand it thus; That the inward Element (which comprises the whole Body of this World) became Christ's eternal Body; for the whole Deity, in the Word and the Heart of God, entered thereinto, and espoused itself to remain therein to all Eternity; and this same Deity became a Creature, even such a Creature as can be everywhere, as the Deity itself; and this same Creature has captivated all Devils in the Kingdom of this World. And all Men who with their Mind draw near to this Christ, and desire him in right Earnest, they are drawn by the Spirit of the Father, (viz. of the clear and pure Deity) into the Humanity of Christ, that is, into the pure Element before the Trinity. And if they continue steadfast, and do not again depart from God into the Desire of the Devil, then the precious Pearl, viz. the Light of God, is sown in their Soul, which [Light] attracts to itself the precious Body of Jesus Christ, with Paradise, and the Kingdom of Heaven. And thus the right new man (Christus) grows on the Soul in the heavenly Virgin of God's Wisdom, in the Holy Ternary, in the Kingdom of Heaven. And thus such a Man is according to the new Man in Heaven in the Body of Jesus Christ, and as to the old earthly Man, which hangs unto the holy [Man,] he is in this World in the House of Sin, and the Deity actuates the new Humanity, and the Spirit of this World the old, until he puts him off in Death; for he is a Man in Heaven, born in the Mercy of God in the Body of Jesus Christ.

(3) For he took not one Lump after another, or many Lumps together, and made Beasts of them, that is not likely; and it is much more a bestial than a human Thought. But, as is mentioned before, after that the Devil was fallen with his Legions, (who had his Throne in the Place of this World, standing bodily after the Manner of a Spirit, in the first Principle, and thoroughly enlightened all over with the second Principle, truly dwelling in Paradise, and in the divine Virtue, [or Power,] and yet with Pride fell from the Light of God, and catched at his own Mother, the Root of the Fire, thinking to domineer over the Meekness of the Heart of God) then his Dwelling continued to be the first Principle in the fiery dark Matrix; and God created the Out-Birth of the Matrix, for a Principle; and in the eternal Matrix, in the longing Will, he opened the Center or Birth of Life; and there (after the manner of the Deity, as the Eternal Deity from Eternity has always generated,) arose [and sprung up] the third Principle, in which the Deity stands as it were hid, yet forming, imagining, or imprinting itself powerfully in all Things; which is incomprehensible and unprofitable for the Devil.

(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.

(30) Thus in this springing up [or going forth] the material Matrix was extinguished, and the Wrathfulness [Tartness or Fierceness] is come in the Stead thereof. And the Devil remained in the Original of the Matrix (which cannot be altered in Eternity) between Paradise and this World, in the dark Matrix; and with the Creation of the Earth, he was thrust down from his high Throne [or Seat,] where now the fiery starry Heaven is.

(13) And that (when the Soul is departed from the Body) it might no more possibly be tempted by the Devil and the Spirit of this World; there is a quiet Rest for the Soul included in its Center in its own Tincture, which stands in Paradise, betwixt the Kingdom of this World and the Kingdom of Hell, to continue until God shall put this World into its Ether, when the Number of Men, and Figures (according to the Depth of the eternal Mind of God) shall be finished.

(104) Thus the Place of this World (according to the heavenly Principle) is the Throne and Body of our Christ; and all (whatsoever is in this World in the third Principle) is his own also; and the Devil (who dwells in this Place in the first Principle) is our Christ's Captive [or Prisoner.]