(15) Now observe, the Heaven is the whole Deep so far as the Ethera, or Skies have given up themselves to the Birth of this World, and that Heaven is the Matrix, out of which Earth, Stones, and the material Water are generated. And there God separated the material Water from the Matrix; and here it is very plainly discerned, that the material Water is as it were dead, or has Death in it; for it could not abide in the moving Mother, but was created [to be] upon the Globe of the Earth, and God called it Sea, [Meer;] in which [Word] is understood in the Language of Nature, as it were a Springing [or Growing] in Death, or a Life in Corruption: Although herein I shall be as one that is dumb to the Reader, yet I know it very well, and I am very well satisfied therewith. But because the bestial Man is not worthy to know it, therefore I will not here cast the Pearl before the Swine; but for the Children of God, which will be benefited by it, the Spirit of God will certainly teach and instruct them in it. Note.

(29) For when the Matrix became dthin again, dead and vanquished from the risen Light, then the material [Matrix] turned to Water, as we may perceive; and in this Kindling before the Light of the Sun (when the Matrix was still in the harsh Fierceness) the Matrix attracted that which was wrought together into the dark Earth, which before the Time of the Creation was but fiery Heaven, in the fifth Form in the Matrix, by the Fiat which the Father spoke through his Heart or Son, by and in the going forth of his Spirit, who there, upon the Matrix in the fifth Form, framed the fiery Heaven, as the highly worthy Moses has clearly written of it. For the Matrix is the Water-Spirit in the Original, in the first Form; and now when it became material in the Place of this World, then the Spirit moved upon the Water in the heavenly Matrix, which is immaterial, (from whence the material Water is generated), and so formed the Creatures.

(12) But to declare this further; when the Matrix stood thus in the Birth, where the Matter of the Earth was generated, then the Matrix with the Kindling became Water; you must understand it right, not wholly in Substance, but it has generated the Earth, Stones, and Metals, and yet the Matrix continues still, so also the Water still continues in the killing and overcoming; Note. whereby the material World took its Beginning, where the Globe of the Earth was drawn together in this Moving, and stands in the Middle of the Circle from above and from beneath as a Point [or Punctum.]

(84) And so instead of the paradisical Joy and Refreshment, there has been a mere Brimstone-Spirit, which stands in Anguish and Trembling, of Corruption [or Fragility,] which kindles the Tincture of the Blood, wherein Tearing, Stinging, and Tormenting is wrought; and if the Fire in the Brimstone-Spirit be too much kindled, then it burns the Tincture up, and the Light of Life goes out, and then the Body falls away to be a dead-Carcase; and if the tart Sourness be kindled too much by the hard Attracting and Holding, then also the Light of Life goes out, and the Body perishes; so also of the Water; if the Tincture kindles itself in the Meekness, then it becomes windy, gross, swelled, wholly dark, also infectious.and corrupt, wherein the Flash of the Life is as a pricking Thorn. And so Man's Life is every where begirt with Enemies, and the poor Soul is always in a close Prison fettered with many Chains, and is continually in Fear that (when the Body shall [die or] break) it may fall into the Kingdom of the Executioner, the Devil.

(23) Therefore, my beloved Soul, be lively, and see what thy noble Bridegroom has left thee in his Testaments for a Legacy; as namely, in the Baptism, the Water of his Covenant, flowing from his holy original Body. Whereas we in this World, viz. in the external Birth of his Body, do acknowledge four Things, namely, Fire, Air, Water, and Earth, wherein our earthly Body consists; so likewise in the heavenly Body there are four such Things. The Fire is the Enkindling of the divine Desire. The Water is that which the Fire desires, whence it becomes meek, and a Light. The Air is the joyful Spirit which blows up the Fire, and makes in the Water the Motion. And the Earth is the true Essence which is born in the three Elements, and is rightly called Ternarius Sanctus [the Sacred Ternary,] in which the Tincture is brought forth in the Light of the Meekness; and therein also is born the holy Blood out of the Water, being an Oil of the Water, in which the Light shines, and the Spirit of Life consists.