(80) In short, there are therefore five in the princely council, that one should advise another, and every one is of a peculiar sundry quality; and that compacted or concreted spirit which is generated out of all the powers is their king or prince, and he sitteth in the head in the brain of a man, and in an angel in that power which is instead of the brain of a man, and in the head also, upon his princely throne, and executeth everything which was concluded and decreed by the whole princely council.

(48) A king rejoices in those whom he governs, and therefore God rejoices in the wise man. He who governs likewise, is inseparable from those whom he governs; and therefore God is inseparable from the soul of the wise man, which he defends and governs.

(125) Now as all angels are bound to the king, so is the king also bound to God his Creator, as body and soul; the body signifieth God; and the soul signifieth the angelical king, who is in the body of God, and is become a creature in the body of God, and abideth eternally in the body of God, as the soul does in its nest. And therefore also has God so highly glorified him, as his own propriety, or as the soul is glorified in the body.

(4) And it, varies according to the nature and the material. In the case of arms and of fighting animals the ordering power is the soul and mind, by means animate and inanimate; and in the case of the passions of the soul, which we master by virtue, reason is the ordering power, by affixing the seal of continence and self-restraint, along with holiness, and sound knowledge with truth, making the result of the whole to terminate in piety towards God. For it is wisdom which regulates in the case of those who so practise virtue; and divine things are ordered by wisdom, and human affairs by politics - all things by the kingly faculty. He is a king, then, who governs according to the laws, and possesses the skill to sway willing subjects. Such is the Lord, who receives all who believe on Him and by Him. For the Father has delivered and subjected all to Christ our King," that at the name of Jesus every knee may bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.'

(13) Now when this is done, then thou art as the whole or total God, who himself is heaven, earth, stars, and the elements, and hast also such a regimen or dominion in thee, and art also such a person, as the whole God in the place of this world. Now thou sayest, How shall I understand this? For the kingdom of God and the kingdom of hell and of the devil are distinct one from the other, and cannot be one body. Also the earth and stones are not God; nor the heaven, stars and elements; much less can a man be God; for if so, he could not be rejected by God. Here I will, by degrees, tell thee the ground of all, one thing after another; therefore keep the question in mind. Of the astral Birth or Geniture, and of the Birth or Geniture of God.

(7) The whole Being of God is contained in God alone. The whole of humanity is not contained in one man, for one man is not all men. But in God the soul knows all humanity, and all things at their highest level of existence, since it knows them in their essence. Suppose any one to be in a beautifully adorned house: he would know much more about it than one who had never entered therein, and yet wished to speak much about it. Thus, I am as sure, as I am of my own existence and God's, that, if the soul is to know God, it must know Him outside of time and place. Such a soul will know clearly how near God's kingdom is.

(1) Our Lord saith that the Kingdom of God is near us. Yea, the Kingdom of God is within us as St Paul saith "our salvation is nearer than when we believed." Now we should know in what manner the Kingdom of God is near us. Therefore let us pay diligent attention to the meaning of the words. If I were a king, and did not know it, I should not really be a king. But, if I were fully convinced that I was a king, and all mankind coincided in my belief, and I knew that they shared my conviction, I should indeed be a king, and all the wealth of the king would be mine. But, if one of these three conditions were lacking, I should not really be a king.

(20) But the king is the heart of all the qualities, and has his circumference, court, [or province] quarters or residence in the midst or centre, like a fountain: As the sun stands in the midst among the planets, and is a king of the stars, and the heart of nature in this world, so great also is a Cherubim or king of angels.

(74) ["The angelical king is the centre or fountain; as Adam's soul is the beginning and centre of all souls. And, as from the place of the sun was created and generated the planetic wheel or sphere, wherein each star is desirous of the splendour and power of the sun, so the angels are desirous of their Cherubim or prince; all according to God, and to his similitude."]

(3) But the kingdom belongs to God the Father, who has made it out of his powers, and he may set it and dispose it which way he pleaseth; otherwise their body is made according to all, and out of all, the powers of the Father.

(102) But the difference lies in this, that man is made by God himself out of the best kernel or pith of nature, to be his angel and similitude, and God ruleth in man with his holy spirit; so that man can speak, discourse, distinguish and understand all things.

(2) Of the kingly office one kind is divine, - that which is according to God and His holy Son, by whom both the good things which are of the earth, and external and perfect felicity too, are supplied. "For," it is said, "seek what is great, and the little things shall be added." And there is a second kind of royalty, inferior to that administration which is purely rational and divine, which brings to the task of government merely the high mettle of the soul; after which fashion Hercules ruled the Argives, and Alexander the Macedonians. The third kind is what aims after one thing - merely to conquer and overturn; but to turn conquest either to a good or a bad purpose, belongs not to such rule.

(13) And in the head is the divine councilseat or throne, and [the throne] signifieth God the Father, and the five senses or qualities are the counsellors, which have their influences out of the whole body, out of all the powers.

(102) We must continue in this Throne [which is ours.] What are the other Thrones to me, where the Principalities of Angels are? They are indeed our Friends, and faithful Helps in the Service of God; we must look upon our own Throne wherein we were created and made Creatures, and upon our Prince in that Throne, upon God. The first Purpose of God when he created us, and beheld us in the eternal Band, that must stand.

(123) So also are the three angelical kings lords over their angels, even to the heart and deepest ground, though they cannot corporeally or bodily vary or change themselves, as God himself can who has created them; yet they rule them (viz. the angels) corporeally, and are bound or united to them, as body and soul are bound the one to the other.

(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.

(22) Therefore consider what Weight thou puttest in by the Senses: Thou hast the Kingdom of Heaven in thy Power, for the Word of the divine Virtue [or Power] in Christ, has given itself to thee to be thy own; and so also thou hast the Kingdom of Hell in a Bridle, in the Root, and thou hast it for thy own by the Right of Nature; and thou hast the Kingdom of this World also (according to thy Humanity received from Adam) for thy own.

(59) The person or the body of a king of angels is generated out of all the qualities, and out of all the powers of his whole kingdom, through the moving, welling-up spirit of God; and therefore such a one is their king, in that his power reacheth into all the angels of his whole kingdom, and he is the head and general or leader, the most beautiful and most powerful Cherubim or throne angel. Such a one was lord Lucifer also before his fall. [60. "This also is more fundamentally described in our second and third books; viz. in the Three Principles of the Divine Being, and in the Threefold Life of Man."] Of the Ground or Foundation, and Mystery.

(2) In similar fashion our salvation depends upon our knowing and recognizing the Chief Good which is God Himself. I have a capacity in my soul for taking in God entirely. I am as sure as I live that nothing is so near to me as God. God is nearer to me than I am to myself; my existence depends on the nearness and presence of God. He is also near things of wood and stone, but they know it not. If a piece of wood became as aware of the nearness of God as an archangel is, the piece of wood would be as happy as an archangel. For this reason man is happier than the inanimate wood, because he knows and understands how God is near him. His happiness increases and diminishes in proportion to the increase and diminution in his knowledge of this.

His happiness does not arise from this that God is near him, and in him, and that He possesses God; but from this, that he knows the nearness of God, and loves Him, and is aware that "the Kingdom of God is near." So, when I think on God's Kingdom, I am compelled to be silent because of its immensity, because God's Kingdom is none other than God Himself with all His riches. God's Kingdom is no small thing: we may survey in imagination all the worlds of God's creation, but they are not God's Kingdom. In whichever soul God's Kingdom appeareth, and which knoweth God's Kingdom, that soul needeth no human preaching or instruction; it is taught from within and assured of eternal life. Whoever knows and recognizes how near God's Kingdom is to him may say with Jacob, "God is in this place, and I knew it not."

(106) Thus, my dear Mind, know, rthat the Creature of Christ is the Center of this Throne, from whence every Life proceeds, viz. whatsoever is heavenly; for in the Center is the Holy Trinity, and not alone in this Center, but also in all angelical Thrones, also in the Souls of holy Men; only we must thus speak, that it may be understood. Now the Body (understand the Creature, the Man Christ) is set in the Midst of this Throne, and stands also in Heaven (understand in this Principle) sitting in his Throne at the Right-hand of God the Father.