(39) 1 have told you before, out of what Power the Tree is grown; viz. that it grew out of the Earth, and has wholly had Might. the Nature of the Earth in it, as at this Day all earthly Trees are [so,] (and no otherwise, neither better nor worse,) wherein Corruptibility stands, as the Earth is corruptible, and shall pass away in the End, when all shall go into its Ether, and nothing else shall remain of it besides the Figure. Now this was the Tree which stood in the Midst of the Garden in Eden, whereby Adam must be tempted in all Essences; for this Spirit should rule powerfully over all Essences, as the holy Angels, and God himself does.

(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.

(33) For all Things are come to be Something out of Nothing: And every Creature has the Center, or the Circle of the Birth of Life in itself; and as the Elements lie hid in one another in one only Mother, and none of them comprehends the other, though they are Members one of another, so the created Creatures are hidden and invisible to one another. For every Creature looks but into its Mother that is fixed [or predominant] in it. The material Creature sees a material Substance, but an immaterial Substance (as the Spirits in the Fire and in the Air) it sees not; as the Body sees not the Soul, which yet dwells in it; or as the third Principle does not comprehend, nor apprehend the second Principle wherein God is; though indeed itself is in God, yet there is a Birth between: As it is with the Spirit of the Soul of Man, and the elementary Spirit in Man, the one being the Case, [Chest,] or Receptacle of the other; as you shall find, about the Creation of Man.

(32) But what do you think there was before the Times of the World, out of which the Earth and Stones proceeded, as also the Stars and Elements? That out of which these proceeded was the Root. But what is the Root of these Things? Look, what do you find in these Things? Nothing else but Fire, Bitterness, and Harshness, [or astringent Sourness,] and these three are but one Thing, and hence all Things are generated. Now this was but a Spirit before the Times of the World, and yet you cannot find God in these three Forms. The pure Deity is a Light which is incomprehensible, and unperceivable, also almighty and all-powerful, where is it then that Men may find God?

(21) As we see that here out of the Earth there springs Plants, Herbs, and Fruits, which receive their Virtue from the Sun, and from the Constellation: So the Heaven or the heavenly Limbus is instead of the Earth; and the Light of God instead of the Sun; and the eternal Father instead of the Virtue of the Stars. The Depth of this Substance is without Beginning and End, its Breadth cannot be reached, there are neither Years nor Time, no Cold nor Heat; no moving of the Air; no Sun nor Stars; no Water nor Fire; no Sight of evil Spirits; no Knowledge nor Apprehension of the Affliction of this World; no stony Rock nor Earth; and yet a figured Substance of all the Creatures of this World. For all the Creatures of this World have appeared to this End, that they might be an eternal figured Similitude; not that they continue in this Spirit in their Substance, no not so: All the Creatures return into their a Ether, and the Spirit corrupts [or fades,] but the Figure and the Shadow continue eternally.

(6) But that God said, Thou shalt turn to Earth from whence thou wast taken, that is also very true; but the Understanding is [hidden] in the Word, and the earthly Vail hangs before it, we must look under the Vail. For Adam was taken out of the Earth, not out of the four Productions of the Elements, [but he was] an Extract out of the Element, which qualified [or mingled] with the Earth. But when he fell into the four Elements, then he became Earth, as also Fire, Air, and Water. And now what should the bestial Man do [with] the heavenly paradisical Fruit? He could not a eat of it; and therefore God does not cast his heavenly Kingdom to Beasts and Swine, but it belongs to Angels.

(26) And thirdly, you find in all Things a glorious Power and Virtue, which is the Life, Growing and Springing of every Thing, and you find that therein lies its Beauty and pleasant Welfare, from whence it stirs. Now look upon an Herb or Plant, and consider it, what is its Life which makes it grow? And you shall find in the Original, Harshness, Bitterness, Fire, and Water, and if you should separate these four Things one from another, and put them together again, yet you shall neither see nor find any Growing; but if it were severed from its own Mother that generated it at the Beginning, then it remains dead; much less can you bring the pleasant Smell, or Colours into it.

(4) Here now stand the great Secrets (which we cannot see with our earthly Eyes) wholly naked and plain, and there is no Vail before it, only we are blind to the Kingdom of God; for God cursed the Earth, and said, it should now bear Thorns and Thistles, and Man should eat the Fruit of the accursed Earth. This indeed is a new Thing. He allowed them not in Paradise to eat of the earthly Herbs, but of the pleasant Fruit. And if he had eaten of the Herbs of the Fields, yet that which he had eaten, was heavenly; and when the Lord cursed the Earth, then all became earthly; and the holy Element was withdrawn, and the Fruit did grow in the Proceeding-forth of the four Elements, in the Kindling of the Fierceness, out of which Thorns and Thistles grew.

(18) But though we speak of the paradisical Essence, and also of the Principle of this World, of its Power and wonderful Birth, and what the divine and eternal Wisdom is, yet it is impossible, for us to utter and express it [all;] for the Lake of the Deep can be comprehended in no Spirit, (whether it be Angel or Man,) therefore the innumerable eternal Birth and Wisdom makes a wonderful eternal Joy in Paradise. This innumerable Power and Wisdom may now also be known by us Men, in the third Principle, if we will take it into our Consideration; if we look upon the starry Heaven, the Elements and living Creatures, also upon Trees, Herbs, and Grass, we may behold in the material World, the Similitude of the paradisical incomprehensible World; for this World is proceeded out of the first Root, wherein stand both the material, and also the paradisical spiritual World, which is without Beginning or Transitoriness.

(5) That the disturbance which below is made By exhalations of the land and water, (Which far as may be follow after heat,) Might not upon mankind wage any war, This mount ascended tow'rds the heaven so high, And is exempt, from there where it is locked. Now since the universal atmosphere Turns in a circuit with the primal motion Unless the circle is broken on some side, Upon this height, that all is disengaged In living ether, doth this motion strike And make the forest sound, for it is dense; And so much power the stricken plant possesses That with its virtue it impregns the air, And this, revolving, scatters it around; And yonder earth, according as 'tis worthy In self or in its clime, conceives and bears Of divers qualities the divers trees; It should not seem a marvel then on earth, This being heard, whenever any plant Without seed manifest there taketh root. And thou must know, this holy table-land In which thou art is full of every seed, And fruit has in it never gathered there.

(5) We must conceive, that there was then a very pleasant Habitation upon the Earth; for all the Fruits did grow [spring and bud] out of the hidden Element, through the Fierceness of the four Elements; and although the four Elements had also their Fruits, yet Man should not (but the Beasts of the Field should) have eaten thereof. But now when the Lord cursed the Earth, then the Element withdrew from the Root of the Fruit, for God's Cursing is nothing else, but this Flying from a Thing; and thus God's Holiness is flown from the Root of the Fruit, and so the Root [of the Fruits] remains in the four Elements, in the Out-Birth; and Adam and Eve were also fallen thereinto. And thus now like came to like; his Body also was become earthly, and must turn to Earth again.

(32) Thus now we may know, that God is All in All, and fills All, as it is written; Am not I he thatfilleth all Things? And therefore we know, that the holy pure Element in Paradise is his Dwelling, which is the second Principle, and is in all Things, and yet the Thing (as a dead dark Out-Birth) knows it [the second Principle] not, as the Pot [knows not] its Potter, so also that [Thing] neither comprehends nor apprehends that [second Principle.] For I cannot say (when I take hold of, or comprehend any Thing) that I take hold of the holy Element, together with the Paradise and the Deity, but I comprehend the Out-Birth, the Kingdom of this World, viz. the third Principle and the Substance thereof, and I move [or stir] not the Deity therewith. And so we are to know [and understand] that the holy new Man [is thus] hidden in the old, and not separated, but in the temporal Death.

(28) Now since there are Varieties of Growth, according to the Essences of the Stars, and yet the Seed of God (which was sown in the Beginning) is in the Ground, and so they grow together, should God now therefore cast away the whole Crop because all have not the same Essences? Does it not all stand in his Wonders? And is it not the Joy of his Life, and the Quickening of his Tincture? [This is] spoke by Way of Similitude.

(30) But when we consider [or mean] the Original of the first Principle, then we find the [Nature, Property, or] Species of the Tree, and also the Will to the Tree. We find there the Abyss of Hell and of Anger [and Wrath;] and moreover we find the Will of all the Devils, we find the envious Will of all the Creatures of this World, why they all are the Enemies one of another, and do hate, bite, worry, kill and devour one another. My beloved Reason, here I will show you the Tree of the Temptation, and you shall look Moses in the Face: Keep your Mind stedfast, that you may apprehend it. 31.1 have often given you to understand in this Book already, what the Essence of all Essences is; but because it is most of all highly necessary in this Place to know the Ground [thereof,] therefore I will a set it you down all at large, and very fundamentally, so that you shall know it in yourself; yea you shall understand it in all Creatures, and in all Things that are, or that you look upon, or at any Time may possibly think on; all these shall be Witnesses. I can bring Heaven and Earth, also the Sun, Stars, and Elements for a Witness, and that not in bare Words and Promises only, but it shall be set before you [very convincingly and] very powerfully in their Virtue and Essence; and you have no Virtue [or Power, or Faculty] in your Body, that shall not [convince you and] witness against you; do but not suffer the lying Spirit, the old Serpent, to darken your Mind, who is the Inventor of a Thousand Tricks.

(7) Thus now herein is understood, how the divine Essence in the divine Principle has wrought in the Root of the first Principle, which is the Begetter, Matrix, or Genetrix in the eternal Birth in the a Limbus, or in the original Water-Spirit; by which Operation at last, the Earth and Stones come forth. For in the second Principle, (viz. in the holy Birth,) there is only Spirit, Light, and Life; and the eternal Wisdom has wrought in the eternal inanimate Genetrix, which is void of Understanding (viz. in her own Property) before the Original of the Light; out of which came the dark Chaos, which in the Elevation of Lord Lucifer (when the Light of God departed from him, and the Fierceness of the Source of the Fire was kindled) became hard Matter, (viz. Stones and Earth,) whereupon followed the gathering together of the Earth, as also the spewing out of Lucifer from his Throne, and the creating of the third Principle; and thereupon it followed, that he was shut up in the third Principle as a Prisoner, expecting henceforth the [Judgment or] Sentence of God. Now whether it be not a Shame, Disgrace, and Irksomness to him to be so imprisoned between Paradise and this World, and not to be able to comprehend either of them, I propose it to be considered.

(25) For you see, feel, and find, that all these must yet have a higher Root from whence they proceed, which is not visible, but hidden; especially if you look upon the starry Heaven which endures thus unchangeably; therefore you ought to consider from whence it is proceeded, and how it subsists thus, and is not corrupted, nor rises up above, nor falls down beneath, though indeed there is neither above nor beneath there. Now if you consider what preserves all thus, and whence it is, then you find the eternal Birth that has no Beginning, and you find the Original of the eternal Principle, viz. the eternal indissoluble Band: And then, secondly, you see the Separation, in that the material World, with the Stars and Elements, are out of the first Principle, which contains the outward and third Principle in it; for you find in the elementary Kingdom or Dominion, a Cause in every Thing, wherefore it is, generates, and moves as it does: But you find not the first Cause, from whence it is so: There are therefore stwo several Principles; for you find in the visible Things a Corruptibility, and perceive that they must have a Beginning, because they have an End.

(36) But the divine Answer in the Light of Nature says to me; Behold, out of what art thou grown? Have I planted thee? Art thou not grown in my wild Garden? When Adam went into the wild Garden, there he a planted thee. How art thou grown so great? Who has given thee Virtue [or Sap,] thou wild Tree? My Love never stirred thee up, all thy Branches are wild, and thy Fruit is wild. Dost thou think that my Soul lusts after thy Food? I will not eat of thy Fruit: I am strong, and the Kingdom is mine; he that comes under my Wings, I will shelter him, no Storm can touch him; moreover, the Country is mine. I have left it to you, to be used in unanimous Love; and have set you out of one [and the same] Root, that you should be alike, and love one another, and prevent one another in chaste Love.

(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.

(24) By this you might find and understand the Ground, how the Kingdom of this World is generated, and how one Kingdom is in the other, and how one is the Chest and Receptacle of the other, and where yet there is no captivating at all, but all is free in itself: and Man stands manifested in all three [Principles,] and yet knows neither of them in the Ground, except he be generated out of the Darkness into the Light, and then that a Source knows the fierce Eternity, as also the Out-Birth of the Eternity. But he is not able to search out the Light, for he is environed therewith, and it is his Dwelling-House; whereas yet he is (with this Body) in this World, and with the Originality of the Soul in the Ground of the eternal Source, and with the noble Blossom of the Soul in the Kingdom of Heaven with God, and is thus rightly a Prince in the Heaven, over Hell and Earth; for the fierce Source [or Torment] touches it not; but the Blossom makes out of the fierce Source [or Quality] Paradise, [viz.] the high exulting Joy in the Springing up.

(3) Now ope thine eyes to what I answer thee, And thou shalt see thy creed and my discourse Fit in the truth as centre in a circle. That which can die, and that which dieth not, Are nothing but the splendour of the idea Which by his love our Lord brings into being; Because that living Light, which from its fount Effulgent flows, so that it disunites not From Him nor from the Love in them intrined, Through its own goodness reunites its rays In nine subsistences, as in a mirror, Itself eternally remaining One. Thence it descends to the last potencies, Downward from act to act becoming such That only brief contingencies it makes; And these contingencies I hold to be Things generated, which the heaven produces By its own motion, with seed and without. Neither their wax, nor that which tempers it, Remains immutable, and hence beneath The ideal signet more and less shines through; Therefore it happens, that the selfsame tree After its kind bears worse and better fruit, And ye are born with characters diverse.