(6) Now, to fill fully each desire of thine, Return I to elucidate one place, In order that thou there mayst see as I do. Thou sayst: 'I see the air, I see the fire, The water, and the earth, and all their mixtures Come to corruption, and short while endure; And these things notwithstanding were created;' Therefore if that which I have said were true, They should have been secure against corruption. The Angels, brother, and the land sincere In which thou art, created may be called Just as they are in their entire existence; But all the elements which thou hast named, And all those things which out of them are made, By a created virtue are informed.

(45) And I will transform the earth and make it a blessing: And I will cause Mine elect ones to dwell upon it: But the sinners and evil-doers shall not set foot thereon.

(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.

(31) Man is made out of the seed of the earth, out of an incorporated or compacted mass or lump— ["Understand, out of the matrix of the earth, wherein the eye is twofold, the one in God and the other in this world, out of three Principles."] —and not out of the wrath, but out of the birth or geniture of the earth, as a king or heart of the earth, and stood in the astral birth or geniture in the part of the love; but wrath hung to him, which he should have put forth from himself, as the fruit putteth forth from itself the bitterness of the tree.

(29) Now as man in his outward being is corrupted, and as to his fleshly birth or geniture is in the wrath of God, and is moreover also an enemy of God, and yet is but one man, and not two; and on the other hand, in his spiritual birth or geniture he is a child and heir of God, who ruleth and liveth with God, and qualifieth, mixeth or uniteth with the innermost birth or geniture of God; thus also is the place of this world come to be.

(24) Then thus say the three Elements (the Fire, the Air, and the Water) to the Earth; Thou art indeed too dark, too rough, and too cold, and thou art rejected by the Fiat: We cannot take thee in; thou destroyest our Dwelling, and makest it dark and stinking, and thou afflictest our Virgin, which is our only Delight and Treasure wherein we live. And the Earth says; Yet pray take my P Children in; they are lovely, and of good Esteem; they afford you Meat and Drink, and cherish you, that you never suffer Want.

(4) For no such Earth or Flesh as we carry about us can subsist in the Light of God: Therefore also Christ said; None goes to Heaven, but the Son of Man who is come from Heaven, and who is in Heaven. Thus our Flesh before the Fall was heavenly, out of the heavenly Limbus. But when Disobedience came, in the Lust of this World, to generate itself in another Center, then it [the Flesh] became earthly; for by the Biting of the earthly Apple in the Garden of Eden, the earthly Dominion [or Kingdom] took its Beginning: And the Mother of the great World instantly took the little World into its Power [or Virtue,] and made it to be of a bestial P Kind, both in Form and in Substance.

(23) Thus the earth brought forth no strange life, except that which had been in it from eternity: As before the time of the wrath it had brought forth heavenly fruits, which had a holy, pure heavenly body, and were the food of angels, so now it brought forth fruits according to its comprehensible, palpable, hard, evil, wrathful, poisonous, venomous, half-dead kind; for as the mother was, so were her children.

(74) Behold the mystery of the earth: as that generateth or bringeth forth, so must thou generate or bring forth. The earth is not that body which grows or sprouteth forth, but it is the mother of that body; as also thy flesh is not the spirit, but the flesh is the mother of the spirit.

(39) Neither ought any man to say that he is generated in the wrath-fire of the total corruption or perdition, out of God's predestinate purpose. No; the corrupted earth does not stand in the total wrath-fire of God, but only in its outward comprehensibility or palpability, wherein it is so hard, dry and bitter.

(65) The Mind (which knows [or understands] nothing in the Light of Nature) will marvel at such Writings, and will suppose that it is not true, that God has extracted and created Man out of such an Original. Behold, thou beloved Reason and precious Mind, bring thy five Senses hither, and I will show thee whether it be true [or not.] I will show thee [plainly,] that thou hast not the least Spark [or Degree of Reason or Cause] to allow any other Ground [to build upon,] except that thou wilt let thy Heart be, imbittered by the Devil in bestial Reason, and except thou wilt wilfully contemn the Light of Nature, which stands in the Presence of God. And indeed, if thou art in such a bestial Way, leave my Writings, and read them not, they are not written for such Swine, but for the Children [of Wisdom,] that are to possess the Kingdom of God. But I have written them for myself, and for those that seek, and not for the Wise and Prudent of this World.

(41) Therefore in this World all Things are given into Man's Power, because he is an eternal Spirit, and all other Creatures [are] no other than a Figure in the Wonders of God; and therefore Man ought well to consider himself, what he speaks, does, and purposes, in this World; for all his Works follow after him, and he has them eternally before his Eyes, and lives in them. Except it be, that he is again new regenerated out of Evil and Falshood, through the Blood and Death of Christ, in the Water and the Holy Spirit, and then he breaks forth out of the hellish and earthly Image, into an angelical [Image,] and comes into another Kingdom, into which its Untowardness [or Vices] cannot follow, and that [Untowardness, Contrariety, or Vice] is drowned in the Blood of Christ, and the Image of God is renewed out of the earthly and hellish.

(77) Behold! the birth of the earth stands in its birth or geniture as the whole Deity does, and there is no difference at all, but only as to the corruption in the wrath, wherein comprehensibility or palpability stands; that only is the difference or distinction, and is the death between God and the earth.

(24) Not that the fruits of the earth are thereupon wholly in the wrath of God; for the one only, incorporated or compacted word, which is immortal and incorruptible, which was from eternity in the Salitter of the earth, sprang up again in the body of death, and brought forth fruit out of the dead body of the earth; but the earth comprehended not the word, though the word comprehended the earth.

(23) Now consider what thou lettest into thy Mind by thy Senses, for thou hast in each Kingdom a Maker, which there makes [an Image of] whatsoever thou layest into the Scales, by the Senses; for all lies in the Making [or Formation,] and thou art (in this Body) a Field [Ground or Soil;] thy Mind is the Sower, and the three Principles are the Seed; what thy Mind sows, the Body of that grows, and that thou shalt reap to thyself, and so when the earthly Field or Soil breaks, then the new-grown Body stands in [its] Perfection, whether it be grown in the Kingdom of Heaven, or in the Kingdom of Hell.

(32) And I shall give to thy seed all the earth which is under heaven, and they will judge all the nations according to their desires, and after that they will get possession of the whole earth and inherit it for ever."

"They found me, the son of the majesty, in front of the womb that has many forms. I put on the beast and laid before her a great request that heaven and earth might come into being, so that the whole light might rise up. For in no other way could the power of the spirit be saved from bondage except that I appear to her in animal form. Therefore she was gracious to me as if I were her son. And on account of my request, nature arose, since she possesses the power of the spirit and the darkness and the fire. For she had taken off her forms. When she had cast it off, she blew upon the water. The heaven was created. And from the foam of heaven the earth came into being. And at my wish it brought forth all kinds of food in accordance with the number of the beasts. And it brought forth dew from the winds on account of you and those who will be conceived the second time upon the earth. For the earth possessed a power of chaotic fire. Therefore it brought forth every seed. And when the heaven and the earth were created, my garment of fire arose in the midst of the cloud of nature and shone upon the whole world until nature became dry. The darkness that was the earth's garment was cast into the harmful waters. The middle region was cleansed from the darkness. But the womb grieved because of what had happened. She perceived, in her parts, water like a mirror. When she perceived it, she wondered how it had come into being. Therefore she remained a widow. It also was astonished that it was not in her. For still the forms possessed a power of fire and light. The power remained, that it might be in nature until all the powers are taken away from her. For just as the light of the spirit was completed in three clouds, it is necessary also that the power that is in Hades be completed at the appointed time. For, because of the grace of the majesty, I came forth to her from the water for the second time. For my face pleased her. Her face also was glad.

(99) I have sworn unto you, ye sinners, as a mountain has not become a slave, And a hill does not become the handmaid of a woman, Even so sin has not been sent upon the earth, But man of himself has created it, And under a great curse shall they fall who commit it.

(36) Thus I give you accurately to understand what Man is, and what Man sows, and what grows in the Seed, viz. three Kingdoms, as is above-mentioned; and seeing the three Kingdoms are thus sown, so are they in like Manner before the Tree of Temptation; and there begins the Struggling and great Strife; there stands the three Kingdoms in one another. The Element in Paradise will keep the pure Mind and Will, which stands in the Love in the Tincture of the Seed; and the outward Elements, viz. that which went forth from the Element, will have the Element, and mix itself therewith; and then comes the outward Fierceness of the Stars, and draws it together i with the outward Fiat, and sets itself [in the Rule or Dominion,] whereby the inward Will in the Love together with the Element and the Paradise becomes darkened; and the Love in the Paradise goes into its Ether, and is extinguished in the Tincture of the Seed; and the heavenly Center goes under, for it passes into its Principle.

(6) But so much more malignant and more savage Becomes the land untilled and with bad seed, The more good earthly vigour it possesses. Some time did I sustain him with my look; Revealing unto him my youthful eyes, I led him with me turned in the right way. As soon as ever of my second age I was upon the threshold and changed life, Himself from me he took and gave to others. When from the flesh to spirit I ascended, And beauty and virtue were in me increased, I was to him less dear and less delightful; And into ways untrue he turned his steps, Pursuing the false images of good, That never any promises fulfil;