(22) For there is in the Original, first, Harshness, which attracts, shuts up, makes Darkness, and sharp Cold; but the Tartness cannot endure the Attracting: For the Attracting in the Cold makes in the Bitterness a Sting, [or Prickle,] which rages and resists against the hard Death, but not being able to come away out of the Tartness, (being its Mother wherein it stands,) therefore it rages very horribly, as if it would break the Harshness [in Pieces;] it flies upwards and sideways, and yet finds no Rest, till that the Birth of the Harshness falls into an aching horhible Essence, like a Brimstone- Spirit, very rough, hard, Stinging in itself, [or Kindling in itself,] like a whirling Wheel, and that the Bitterness flies up very swiftly, from whence proceeds a twinkling Flash; at which the dark Harshness is terrified, and sinks back as vanquished. And so when the Bitterness finds the Mother overcome, and as it were half dead, or soft, [or meek,] it is terrified more than the Mother. But the Shriek or Terror being past in the harsh Mother, which is now half dead, or soft, [pliable or meek,] then the Bitterness loses its terrible Right, [or Property,] and becomes white, light, and clear; and thus is the Kindling and Birth of the Fire, as is mentioned before.

(47) Now therefore the Anguish, Bitterness, and Woe in the [Sting or] Prickle, are like a Brimstone-Spirit, and all Spirits in Nature are Brimstone: They [torment, or] cause the Anguish in one another, till that the Light of God comes to help them; and then there comes to be a Flash, and there is its End, for it can climb no higher in Nature; and this is the Fire, which becomes shining in the Flash, in the Soul, and also in the Mind. For the Soul reaches the Virtue of the Light, which puts it into Meekness; and in this World it is the burning Fire: In Hell it is immaterial, and there it is the eternal Fire, which burns in the P Quality.

(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,

(42) And the Element remains hidden to the Anger and Fierceness [or Wrath,] and stands in Paradise; and the fierce Wrath goes still out from the Element; and therefore God has captivated the Devils with the Element in the fierce Wrath, and he keeps them [in] with the Element; and the fierce Wrath cannot [touch or] comprehend it, like the Fire and the Light; for the Light is neither hot nor cold, but the fierce Wrath is hot; and the one holds the other, and the one generates the other.

(13) For observe it, although now in the Harshness there be Bitterness, Fire, Sound, Water, and that out of the springing Vein of the Water there flows Love (or Oil) from whence the Light arises and shines; yet the Harshness retains its first Property, and the Bitterness its Property, the Fire its Property, the Sound or the Stirring its Property, and the overcoming the first harsh or tart Anguish, (viz. the returning down back again) or the Water-Spirit, its Property, and the springing Fountain, the pleasant Love, which is kindled by the Light in the tart or sour Bitterness, (which now is the sweet [Source or] springing Vein of Water,) its property; and yet this is no separable Essence parted asunder, but all one whole Essence or Substance in one another. And each Form or Birth takes its own Form, Virtue, Working and Springing up from all the Forms; and the whole Birth now retains chiefly but these four Forms in its generating or bringing forth; viz. the rising up, the falling down, and then through the turning [of the Wheel in the sour, harsh,] tart Essence, the putting forth on this Side, and on that Side, on both Sides like a Cross; or, as I may so say, the going forth from the Point [or Center] towards the East, the West, the North and the South: For from the Stirring, Moving, and Ascending of the Bitterness in the Fire-Flash, there exists a cross Birth. For the Fire goes forth upward, the Water downward, and the Essences of the Harshness sideways.

(9) Behold, the three Essences, (viz. [Sourness or] Harshness, Bitterness and Fire) are the Worm or Spirit [that dies not.] God's eternal Will; and in the Attracting of the [sour] Harshness is the Sting [or Prickle] of the Bitterness, which the [sour] Harshness cannot endure, but attracts continually the more forcibly to it, from whence the Prickle continually grows greater, which yet the [sour] Harshness holds Prisoner; and this together is the great Anxiety, which was there in the dark Mind of God the Father, when the Darkness was anxious [or longed] after the Light; from whence in the Anxiety (from the Glance of the Light) it attained the Twinkling Flash: Out of which the Angels were created, which afterward were enlightened from the Light of God (mby their Imagination into the Heart of God;) and the other (like Lucifer) for their Haughtiness [or Pride's] Sake, remained in the Flash of Fire and Anxiety.

(15) As is mentioned before, the eternal Mind stands thus lin the Darkness, and vexes itself, and longs after the Light, to generate that; and the Anguish is the Source, and the Source has in it many Forms, till it reaches the Fire in its Substance, viz. [it has] Bitter, Sour, Hard, Cold, Strong, Darting forth, or Flashing; in the Root of itself sticks the Joy and Pain alike; viz. when it comes to the Root of the Fire, and can reach the Light, then out of the Wrath [or Sternness] comes the great Joy. For the Light puts the stern Form into great Meekness; on the contrary, that Form which comes only to the Root of the Fire, that continues in the Wrath.

(14) Thus in the Harshness there is a new Birth again; understand, where the tart [sour Astringency] is predominant in the Birth, and where the Fire is not kindled according to the bitter Sting or Prickle, or from the Beginning of the Anguish: But the rising [or exulting] Joy, is now the Center and Kindling of the Light, and the Tartness [or Astringency] has now in its own Quality the S U L, Oil, and Light of the Father: Therefore now the Birth out of the Twig or Branch of the first Tree is qualified altogether according to the harsh Fountain; and the Fire therein is a tart [or sour] Fire; and the Bitterness a tart Bitterness; and the Sound a tart Sound; and the Love a tart Love; but all in mere Perfection, and in a totally glorious Love and Joy.

(19) You must also mark the Form of the Water-Spirit; when that generates its like, so that it is predominant in its Regeneration or second Birth, and that a Center is awakened in it, (which itself in its own Essence does not awaken, but the other Fountain- Spirits do it therein,) it [the Water-Spirit] is still and quiet as a meek Mother, and suffers the other to sow their Seed into it, and to awaken the Center in it, so that the Fire rises up, from whence the Life is moved. In this [Form] the fire is not a hot burning [scorching] Fire, but cool, mild, soft and sweet; and the Bitterness is no Bitterness, but cool, mild, budding, and flowing forth, from whence the Forming [or Figuring and beauteous Shape] in the heavenly Glory proceeds, and is a most beautiful Substance; for the Sound also in this Birth flows forth most pleasantly and harmoniously, all as it were palpably or feelingly, or in a Similitude, as a Word that comes to be an Essence, or a comprehensible Substance. For in this Regeneration that is brought to pass in the Water-Spirit, (that is, in the true Mother of the Regeneration of all the Fountain-Spirits,) all is as it were comprehensible or substantial; although no Comprehensibility must be understood here, but Spirit.

(15) And thus also the first bitter Sting or Prickle, or the first Bitterness (after the Light is kindled, and that the first Birth stands in Perfection,) generates again out of its own Quality an or Source springs up in a new Fire or Life, having the Condition and Property of all the Qualities, and yet the Bitterness in this new Sprout is chief est among all the Qualities; so that there is a bitter Bitterness, a bitter Tartness, a bitter Water-Spirit, a bitter Sound, a bitter Fire, a bitter Love, yet all perfectly in the rising up of great Joy.

(11) Now the Sourness (in its Lust or great Longing [or Panting] after the Light) attracts continually, and in its own Substance it is nothing else but a vehement Hunger, very dry, and as [a Vacuum or] nothing at all, a desiring Will, as the Darkness after the Light; and its Hunger, or Attracting, makes the Bitterness, the Woe [or Lamentation] that it cannot be satiated, or mollified, from whence the Anguish rises, so that the Will, or Prickle, [or Sting] is rubbed, [or struck] in itself, from the Lust of the Desiring, and it will not yield itself to the dark Nothing, or dead Will, but sets its Desire and Anguish, and also its [eager or] strong Will so very hard towards the hidden Light of God, that thereby the Will becomes a twinkling Flash, like a sparkling or crackling Fire, whereby the Sourness, that is so very aching, is continually filled, and as it were deadened, whereby the sour Spirit comes to be soft, sweet, and material, even Water.