(4) Then what was it that God now did with Adam? Moses says, When Adam slept, he took one of his Ribs, and [made or] built a Woman of it, (viz. of the Rib which he took from Man,) and closed up the Place with Flesh. Now Moses has wrote very right: But who is it that can understand him here? If I did not know the first Adam in his virgin-like Form in Paradise, then I had been at a Stand, and should have known no other than that Adam had been made Flesh and Blood of a Lump of Earth, and his Wife Eve of his Rib and hard Bones; which before the Time [of my Knowledge] has oft seemed very strange and wonderful to my Thoughts, when I have read the Glosses upon Moses, that so [high or] deep learned Men should write so of it: Some of them will dare to tell of a Pit in the [Orient or] East Country, out of which Adam should be taken and made as a Potter makes

At that time the chief creator then expressed his opinion about humankind to those who were with him. Then each of them cast his seed into the midst of the navel of the earth. Since that day, the seven rulers have formed humankind with his body like their body, but his likeness is like the human who appeared to them. His fashioned body came into being one part at a time, and their chief created the brain and nervous system. Afterward the person appeared like the one before him. He became a person with soul, and he was called Adam, that is, father, after the name of the one who was before him. Now, after Adam was made, he left him as a lifeless vessel, since he had taken form like an aborted fetus, with no spirit in him. Regarding this, when the chief ruler remembered the word of Pistis, he was afraid that the true human might come into his fashioned body and rule over it. Because of this, he left this fashioned body forty days without soul. And he withdrew and left him. But on the fortieth day Sophia Zoe sent her breath into Adam, who was without soul. He began to move upon the earth, but he could not stand up. Now, when the seven rulers came and saw him, they were very much disturbed. They walked up to him and seized him, and the chief ruler said to the breath within him, “Who are you? And from where have you come here?” It answered and said, “I came through the power of the human for the destruction of your work.” When they heard, they glorified him because he gave them rest from their fear and concern. Then they called that day the day of rest, because they rested themselves from their troubles. And when they saw that Adam could not stand up, they rejoiced. They took him and left him in paradise and withdrew up to their heavens.

(115) Also such an image was Adam, as God created him, before his Eve was made out of him; but the corrupted Salitter did wrestle with the wellspring of life in Adam, till it overcame. And so Adam became weary, which made him fall into a sleep. Here he was undone: And if the Barmhertzigkeit, or the mercy of God, had not come to help him, and made a woman out of him, he would have still continued asleep. Of this we will speak in its proper Place.

(10) For Adam was the Heart of every Thing in this World, created out of the Originality of all Things; his Soul was out of the first Principle, thoroughly illustrated with the second [Principle;] and his Body was out of the [one] Element, out of the eBarm, or Birth, out of the divine Virtue [which is] before God, which [Body] was entered into the Out-Birth of the [one] Element, viz. into the four Elements, and wholly gone into the Spirit of this World, viz. into the third Principle. And therefore he had the Tincture of every Thing in him, by which he reached into all Essences, and proved [or searched] all Things in the Heaven, Earth, Fire, Air, and Water, and all whatsoever is generated from thence. 1 1. And so one Tincture took hold of the other, and the Stronger has proved [or tried] the Weaker, and given Names to all Things, according to their Essences; and that is the true Ground of Adam's Fall, that he went out of the eternal [Being] into the Out-birth of the corruptible [Being,] and has put on the corruptible Image which God forbade him.

Before Adam of light withdrew in the chaos, the authorities saw him. They laughed at the chief creator because he lied, saying, “I am god and there is no other god but me.” When they came to him, they said, “Is this not the god who ruined our work?” He answered and said, “Yes, but if you wish that he not be able to ruin our work, come, let’s create a human being from the earth according to the image of our body and according to the likeness of this being, to serve us, so that whenever this being sees his likeness, he may become enamored of it. Then he will no longer ruin our work, but we shall make those who are born from the light our servants through all the time of this age.” Now, all this came to pass according to the forethought of Pistis in order that humankind might appear after this likeness and condemn them on account of their fashioned bodies. And their fashioned bodies became fences for the light. Then the authorities received knowledge necessary to create people. Sophia Zoe, who is with Sabaoth, anticipated them and laughed at their decision because they were blind—in ignorance they created him against themselves. They do not know what they do. Because of this she anticipated them. She created her human being first in order that he might tell their fashioned body how to scorn them and thus to escape them. Now, the birth of the instructor occurred in this way. When Sophia let a drop of light fall, it floated on the water. Immediately a human being appeared, being androgynous. She molded that drop first as a female body. Afterward she molded it, with the body, in the likeness of the mother who appeared, and she finished it in twelve months. An androgynous human being was conceived, whom the Greeks call Hermaphrodite, while the Jews call his mother Eve of life, that is, the instructor of life. Her child is the creature who is lord. Afterward, the authorities called it the beast in order to lead their fashioned bodies astray. The meaning of the beast is the instructor, for it was found to be wiser than all beings. Moreover, Eve is the first virgin who gave birth without a man. She is the one who functioned as her own midwife.

(7) The first human being is a mixed formation, and a mixed creation, and a deposit of those of the left and those of the right, and a spiritual word whose attention is divided between each of the two substances from which he takes his being. Therefore, it is said that a paradise was planted for him, so that he might eat of the food of three kinds of tree, since it is a garden of the threefold order, and since it is that which gives enjoyment.

(20) But that Moses presses so hard upon it, and says, God created Man of a Lump of Earth; there the Vail is before his Face, so that the earthly Man cannot look him in the Face; indeed he was rightly a Lump of Earth, and Earth, when he had eaten earthly Fruit, which God did forbid him; but if Adam (before the Fall) had been of the Earth earthly, then God would not have forbid him the earthly Fruit; as also, if he had been created out of the earthly Element, why did not the earthly Element put its Clothes upon him instantly with a rough Skin? Why did that [earthly Element] leave Man naked and bare? And when it had plainly possessed him, yet it left him naked.

(31) Adam was in an angelical Form before the Sleep; but after the Sleep he had Flesh and Blood; and he was (in his Flesh) a Lump of Earth, and he saw from a threefold Spirit. With his Eyes he apprehended the Light of the Sun, and knew the first Image no more; although the four Elements had not yet fallen upon him, nor touched him; for he was yet in Innocence.

(89) Therefore the Providence of God, when Adam fell into Longing [Desire or Lust,] environed that Virtue and Strength with the Might of the first Principle (viz. with the Might of the Stars and Sharpness of God) that the Source [or Quality] of the first and third Principle might not so easily touch it; and this was done in Adam's Sleep, when God built Adam to [or for] this World, from whence Saint Paul also says, That the natural Man was created in the corruptible Life of this World; which was done at the Temptation of Adam, at that Time when God made his natural Wife out of him. But he was a holy Image before, and a he must be the same again in his Restoration at the last Day.

(10) Man, then, genetically considered, is formed in accordance with the idea of the connate spirit. For he is not created formless and shapeless in the workshop of nature, where mystically the production of man is accomplished, both art and essence being common. But the individual man is stamped according to the impression produced in the soul by the objects of his choice. Thus we say that Adam was perfect, as far as respects his formation; for none of the distinctive characteristics of the idea and form of man were wanting to him; but in the act of coming into being he received perfection. And he was justified by obedience; this was reaching manhood, as far as depended on him. And the cause lay in his choosing, and especially in his choosing what was forbidden. God was not the cause.

The human being Adam was revealed through the bright shadow within. And Adam’s ability to think was greater than that of all the creators. When they looked up, they saw that Adam’s ability to think was greater, and they devised a plan with the whole throng of rulers and angels. They took fire, earth, and water, and combined them with the four fiery winds. They wrought them together and made a great commotion. The rulers brought Adam into the shadow of death so that they might produce a figure again, from earth, water, fire, and the spirit that comes from matter, that is, from the ignorance of darkness, and desire, and their own false spirit. This is the cave for remodeling the body that these criminals put on the human, the fetter of forgetfulness. Adam became a mortal being, the first to descend and the first to become estranged. The enlightened afterthought within Adam, however, would rejuvenate Adam’s mind. They put their tree of life in the middle of paradise. I shall teach you the secret of their life, the plan they devised together, the nature of their spirit: The root of their tree is bitter, its branches are death, its shadow is hatred, a trap is in its leaves, its blossom is bad ointment, its fruit is death, desire is its seed, it blossoms in darkness. The dwelling place of those who taste of it is the underworld, and darkness is their resting place. But the rulers lingered in front of what they call the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which is the enlightened afterthought, so that Adam might not behold its fullness and recognize his shameful nakedness. But I was the one who induced them to eat. I said to the savior, Master, was it not the snake that instructed Adam to eat? The savior laughed and said, The snake instructed them to eat of the wickedness of sexual desire and destruction so that Adam might be of use to the snake. This is the one who knew Adam was disobedient because of the enlightened afterthought within Adam, which made Adam stronger of mind than the first ruler. The first ruler wanted to recover the power that he himself had passed on to Adam. So he brought deep sleep upon Adam. I said to the savior, What is this deep sleep? The savior said, It is not as Moses wrote and you heard. He said in his first book, He put Adam to sleep. Rather, this deep sleep was a loss of sense. Thus the first ruler said through the prophet, I shall make their minds sluggish, that they may neither understand nor discern.

(1) God produced He, predominant in Speech, crowned, combined, and formed Aries in the world, Nisan in the year, and the right foot of man.

(30) And so God, in his Sleep, made the Woman for him out of himself, by which he must now generate his Kingdom, for now it could not otherwise be. And when he awaked, he saw her, and took her to him and said; This is Flesh of my Flesh, and Bone of my Bone; for Adam was (in his Sleep) become quite another Image; for God had permitted the Spirit of this World in him to make his Tincture weary to Sleep.

(17) When God had created Adam thus, he was then in Paradise in the Joyfulness; and this clarified [or 1 brightened] Man was wholly beautiful, and full of all Manner of Knowledge; and there God brought all the Beasts to him, (as to the great Lord in this World) that he should look upon them, and give to every one their Name, according to their Essence and Virtue, as the Spirit of every one was figured in them. And Adam knew all what every Creature was, and he gave every one their Name, according to the Quality [or working Property] of their Spirit. As God can see into the Heart of all Things, so could Adam also do, in which his Perfection may very well be observed.

(40) Besides, he was created by the Word, or Heart of God, that he should be his Image and Similitude, very powerfully in all the three Principles, [and be] as great as a Prince or Throne- Angel. But this Tree standing thus in the Garden, and of all the Trees that only did bear Fruit, therefore Adam looked so often upon it, because he knew that it was the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and the Virtue of the Tree pressed him to it so very hard (which Virtue was also in him) that the one Lust infected [poisoned or mingled with] the other: And the Spirit of the great World pressed Adam so very hard, that he became infected, and his Virtue [or Power] was overcome. Here the paradisical Man was undone, and then said the Heart of God, It is not good that Man [should] be alone, we will make him a Help [or Consort] to be with him.

(21) This must be Adam's Condition; and thus he was a true and right Image and Similitude of God. He had no such hard Bones in his Flesh [as we now have,] but they were Strength, and such [a Kind of] Virtue; also his Blood was not of the Tincture of the aquitrish Matrix, but it was out of the heavenly Matrix. In brief, it was altogether heavenly, as we shall appear [and be] at the Day of the Resurrection. For the Purpose of God standeth, the first Image must return and come again and continue in Paradise; and seeing it could be done in no other Form, [Way, or Manner,] nor [that which was lost] be restored again, therefore God would rather spend his own Heart; his eternal Will is unchangeable, that must stand.

(18) Reason asks: Is Eve merely created out of the Rib [taken] out of Adam? Then she should be far inferior to Adam. No, beloved Reason, it is not so; the Fiat (being a sharp Attracting) took from Adam of all Essences and Properties of every Virtue, but it took from him no more Members in Substance; for the Image should be a Man, after a masculine Kind in the Limbus, yet not at all with this Deformity. Understand it rightly in the Ground, he should be, and (he was also,) a Man, and he had a virgin-like Heart, wholly chaste in the Matrix.

(14) But you must highly and worthily understand [and consider,] how it was taken out [of his Side,] not as a Spirit, but wholly in Substance: Thus it may be said, that Adam did get Yet there is some Difference in the Spirit; for the Woman bears the Matrix, and Adam the Limbus or Man; and they two are one Flesh, undivided in Nature, for now they two together must generate one Man again, which one alone could do before. A pleasant Gate.

(15) We being here in describing the Corruptibility of Adam, the Spirit frames in our Thoughts a heavenly Mystery, concerning Adam's Rib, which the Fiat took from him, and made a Woman of it; which [Rib] Adam afterwards must want; for the Text in Moses rightly says, God closed up the Place with Flesh.

(56) And now when Adam awaked from Sleep, then he was a Man, and no Angel; he drew Breath from the Air, and therewith kindled his starry Spirit, which had taken Possession of him; he knew his Wife to be a Woman, and that she was taken out of him, and took her to him, as all Beasts couple together; yet he had pure Eyes, for the Fierceness [or grim Wrath] did not yet stick in them, but the Infection [or Longing.] The Element of Fire with its Bitterness (which qualifies, [or mixes Properties] with the Abyss of Hell) had not pressed him wholly.