(39) And when God had thus provided Adam and Eve a bestial Garment to cover their Shame, and to defend them against the Cold, then he let them out of the Garden, and set the Cherubim with a naked a two-edged Sword before it, to keep the Way to the Tree of Life, and he [Man] must now till the Ground. But the Understanding of us poor Children of Adam and Eve is sunk so much, that at our last old Age we scarce reach [the Understanding of] any Thing concerning the lamentable Fall of Adam and Eve, seeing we must seek very deep for it in the Center of the Light of Life; for it is very wonderful which Moses says, God set the Cherubim before the Garden, to keep and guard the Way to the Tree of Life. Who could understand it? If God did not open our Eyes, we should speak simply of a Keeper with a Sword; and Reason sees nothing else.

(42) Now if any Body would come into the Garden, he must press in through the Sword of Death; though indeed Christ has broken the Sword, so that now we can much easier enter in with our Souls, yet there is a Sword before it still; but he that finds the Way right, him it does not cut very much, for it is blunt, and it is bent; and if the Soul goes but into the Gate into the Center, then it is presently helped by the noble Champion Christ; for he has gotten the Sword into his Hands. He is the slain Lamb of the House of Israel, in the Revelation of John, which took the Book of the first Principle, out of the Hand of the Ancient [of Days] who sat upon the Throne, with his four and twenty Elders, which [Book] had seven Seals, or seven Spirits of the Birth of God, and opened them; where the Elders fell down before him, and worshipped the Lamb that was slain, and gave Praise and Honour to him which sat upon the Throne, because the Champion of the House of Israel had overcome. The seven golden Candlesticks are his Humanity, the seven Stars are his Deity, as the divine i Birth in itself stands in a sevenfold Form, as it is explained in the Beginning of this Book, in the first four Chapters.

(41) And the Keeper of the Garden is the Cherubim, the Cutter off of the Source [or Quality] of the Stars, which holds the four Elements for a while, and then breaks them, and with its bitter Sharpness severs them from the Soul, and passes away itself also with its Sword. This [Keeper] is here in the Way, that we cannot come to the Tree of the eternal Life; he is in the Midst, and suffers us not to come into Paradise. The gross Garden of Eden (which is our earthly Flesh) is the Hedge [or Fortification] before the Garden,

(48) And as Adam had opened the Gate of the Anger, so has the Deity of Christ opened the Gate of the eternal Life, so that all Men can press in to God, in this opened Gate. For the third Principle is broken here, and Judgment passed upon the Prince of Darkness, which so long held us Prisoners in Death.

(40) But the noble Virgin shows us the Door, [and] how we must enter again into Paradise, through the Sharpness of the Sword; yet the Sword cuts the earthly Body quite away from the holy Element, and then the new Man may enter into Paradise by the Way of Life. And the Sword is nothing else, but the Kingdom or Gate of the Fierceness in the Anger of God, where Man must press in, through the fierce [bitter] Death, through the Center, into the second Principle, into the Paradise of the holy Element before God; where then the fierce [grim] Death cuts off the earthly Body (viz. the four Elements) from the holy [one] Element.

(99) Thou hast been a clear Glass (in him) of Men's own Conceits [or Opinions,] what one's own good Meaning (without the Spirit of God) is. Cain went not into the Sheepfold at the Door (which God made for Adam and Eve, with the Word, and Treader upon the Serpent,) but climbed into it another Way, by his strong lionish Mind, and would be a Lord over the Sheep, and became a Thief and Murderer of the Sheep, and the Sheep followed him not, but they went (with Abel) through the Sword of the Angel [or] Cherubim (out of this frail and corruptible Life) with the Treader upon the Serpent, into their resting Sheepfold, where there is not one Wolf; for the Cherubim will let none of them in. And if any of them come, then he cuts their Wolf's Heart of the Fierceness of the Kingdom of this World quite away, and then they also become Sheep, and lay themselves patiently among the Sheep, and seek no more after the Wolf, for he is beyond Eden, in the Land of Nod; but they are gone through the Sword of the Cherubim into Paradise, where no Wolf enters in; there is a Wall of a Principle and whole a Birth before it.

(63) And Adam's Body was also created out of it; and the whole World was made through the Element out of its Proceeding forth. Now therefore this Gate is [every where] all over; that which is most inward is also the most outward, but the Middlemost is the Kingdom of God; the outward World hangs to the outermost, and yet is not the outermost; but the Ground of Hell is the outermost, and none of them all comprehends the other, and yet they are in one another, and the one is not seen in the other, but the Source which is broke forth.

(32) Now what opposed him, or what drew him from Paradise to Disobedience, so that he passed into another Image, [Form or Condition?] Behold, thou Child of Man, there was a threefold Strife in Adam, without Adam, and in all whatsoever Adam beheld. Thou wilt say, What was it? It was the three Principles; first, the Kingdom of Hell, the Power of the Wrath; and secondly, the Kingdom of this World, with the Stars and Elements; and thirdly, the Kingdom of Paradise, that desired to have him.

(67) What is it now that lies in the Way of the Wicked, that he cannot come? It is the Angry- sword of the Angel (or Cherubim) which he will not break; the fair, glistering, hypocritical, dainty World in his Bosom, [Malice or Wickedness,] in Flesh and Blood, pleases him too well; he will not break his Mind, which yet he is able to do; and if he does break it, then he is drawn of God (by Christ) to the Father, and instantly is chosen to [be] a Child of God; and out of the Image of the Serpent there comes [to be] the Image of an Angel.

(50) And as long as he set his Imagination in the Heart of God, the Paradise was in him, [and he in the Paradise,] and the Band of the Abyss in him (in the Source) was a Paradise of transcendent Joy; and the Kingdom of this World held him from beneath also in the Band, because it goes forth from the Element. But so long as he set his Mind in the Heart of God, it [the Kingdom of the four Elements] could not lay hold on him [or master him,] and it was impotent, as to him, as this World is impotent as to God. 5 1. And thus the Spirit and Soul of Adam stood in the Midst (in the joyful Paradise) forty Days, as one [only] Day, and all inclined to him; one [whereof was] the Kingdom of Hell, of the eternal Originality out of the dark Mind, out of which his Worm of the Soul (in the opened Gate) was gone forth; and secondly, [there inclined to him] the Deity of the Kingdom of Heaven in the opened Gate, in the pleasant Luster; and thirdly, the Spirit of the Stars and Elements [inclined to him] drawing him to their Bands, and heartily desiring him.

(8) Salutations, O Peacock of the Garden of the Eight Doors! You have been afflicted because of the seven-headed serpent, through whom you were expelled from Eden. If you deliver yourself from this detestable serpent Adam will take you with him into Paradise.

(44) Now when Adam and Eve went out of the Garden, they kept together, as now married People do, and now would make Trial of their bestial Condition, [to try] what Wonders might proceed from them; and the Spirit of the great World did well enough to teach them, in their Reason, what they were to do. And Adam knew his Wife Eve, and she conceived and bore a Son, and called him Cain; for she said, I have a Man from the Lord. These are sealed Words which Moses writes, that she said, / have a Man from the Lord. [For] then said the Major Mundus, I have the Lord of this World. Eve spoke no otherwise, than as the Apostles thought, that Christ was to erect a worldly Kingdom; so Eve thought that her Son (as a strong Champion) should break the Head of the Devil, and set up a glorious Kingdom; from whence instantly a twofold Understanding [or different Condition] followed, and two Sorts of Churches; the one [built or relying] upon the Mercy of God; and the other, upon their own Might, Authority or Power.] And therefore Cain could not endure his Brother, because Abel pressed hard upon the Mercy of God, and Cain [relied] upon his own Power [Might and Authority.] He thought himself to be the Lord of the whole World, as his Mother had instructed him; and therefore now he would break the Head of the Serpent in his own Might as a Warrior [or Soldier,] and began with his Brother Abel, for his Faith relied not on God, but on his own Power; and here the Serpent stung the Treader upon the Serpent in the Heel the first Time. The Gate of the Mysteries, [or the Explanation of the hidden Secrets.]

(20) For the Adamical a however (according to the inward Element which stands open in the Mind) can live in Paradise, if he strives against Evil, and wholly with all his Strength gives himself up to the Heart of God, then the Virgin dwells with him, in the inward Element in Paradise, and enlightens his Mind, so that he can tame the Adamical Body.

(54) But while he thus stood (between the Kingdom of Hell and the Kingdom of this World) in the Paradise, bound with Bands, and yet also wholly free, in the Might of God, he [reflected himself into or] discovered himself in the great Deep of the Kingdom of this World; in which the great Wonders also stand hidden in the Center, as we see, that Man has (by his eternal Mind) discovered it, and brought it to Light, as is seen before our Eyes. And in his Discovering [or Reflecting] he imagined, and fell into Lust, for the Spirit of the World took hold of him, as a Mother makes a Mark upon a Child in the Mother's Womb, and [he] became (in the Lust) impregnated from the Spirit of this World, and then was blind as to God, and saw neither God nor the Virgin any more in his Mind. And thus the Kingdom of Heaven continued in the opened Gate of the Omnipotence, (in the Paradise) in its [own] Principle to itself (and the Virgin in it) hidden in the Center, and was in Adam, and yet Adam (with his Mind) was not in God, but in the Spirit of this World; and he became feeble as to the Kingdom of God, and so fell down and slept.

(16) But now the Wrath of the Serpent has so brought it to pass, that Adam is fallen in the Lust, and yet the Purpose of God must stand; for Adam must rise again at the Day of the Resurrection wholly and unbroken in the first Image, as he was created. So likewise the Serpent and the Devil have brought it about, that so terrible a Rent is made in him.

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.

(3) Now when poor fallen Man (viz. Adam and Eve) stood thus in great Fear, Horror, and Trembling, being fast bound with the Bands of the Devil, and of Hell, in great Scorn and Shame before the Heaven and Paradise, then God the Father appeared to them with his angry Mind of the Abyss, into which they were fallen; and his most loving Heart went forth through the Word of the Father in Adam and Eve, and placed itself before the Wrath, highly in the Gate of Man's Life, and enlightened the poor Soul again; yet they could not comprehend it in the Essences of the Soul; but received the Rays of the Almighty Power, whereby Adam and Eve became tglad again; and yet they stood trembling, by Reason of the Wrath [or fierce Horror or Grimness] that was in them, and heard the Sentence which God pronounced; for God said, Because thou hast eaten of the Tree whereof I told thee that thou shouldst not eat, cursed be the Ground for thy Sake; with Care thou shalt maintain thy Life thereon all thy Life long; Thorns and Thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the Herb of the Field, till thou become Earth again, from whence thou wast taken; for thou art now Earth, and to Earth thou shall return again.

(9) Jesus said: "These are the regions of the way of the midst. For it came to pass, when the rulers of Adamas mutinied and persistently practised congress, procreating rulers, archangels, angels, servitors and decans, that Yew, the father of my father, came forth from the Right and bound them to a Fate-sphere. "For there are twelve æons; over six Sabaōth, the Adamas, ruleth, and his brother Yabraōth ruleth over the other six. At that time then Yabraōth with his rulers had faith in the mysteries of the Light and was active in the mysteries of the Light and abandoned the mystery of congress. But Sabaōth, the Adamas, and his rulers have persisted in the practice of congress. "And when Yew, the father of my father, saw that Yabraōth had faith, he carried him and all the rulers who had had faith with him, took him unto himself out of the sphere and led him into a purified air in face of the light of the sun between the regions of those of the midst and between [?] the regions of the invisible god. He posted him there with the rulers who had had faith in him. "But he carried Sabaōth, the Adamas, and his rulers who had not been active in the mysteries of the Light, but have been persistently active in the mysteries of congress, and inbound them into the sphere.

(126) ["This strife and battle is about that most high, noble, victorious garland, till the corrupted, perished Adamical man is killed and dead, in which the devil has an access to man.

The authorities came up to their Adam. When they saw his female partner speaking with him, they became very excited and enamored of her. They said to one another, “Come, let us sow our seed in her,” and they pursued her. And she laughed at them for their foolishness and blindness. In their clutches she became a tree and left before them her shadowy reflection resembling herself, and they defiled it foully. And they defiled the seal of her voice, so that by the form they had modeled, together with their own image, they made themselves liable to condemnation. Then the female spiritual presence came in the form of the snake, the instructor, and it taught them, saying, “What did he say to you? Was it, ‘From every tree in the garden shall you eat, but from the tree of recognizing evil and good do not eat’?” The woman of flesh said, “Not only did he say ‘Don’t eat,’ but even ‘Don’t touch it. For the day you eat from it, you will surely die.’” The snake, the instructor, said, “It is not the case that you will surely die, for out of jealousy he said this to you. Rather, your eyes will open and you will be like gods, recognizing evil and good.” And the female instructing power was taken away from the snake, and she left it behind, merely a thing of the earth. And the woman of flesh took from the tree and ate, and she gave to her husband as well as herself, and those beings, who possessed only a soul, ate. And their imperfection became apparent in their lack of knowledge. They recognized that they were naked of the spiritual, and they took fig leaves and bound them around themselves. Then the chief ruler came, and he said, “Adam, where are you?”—for he did not understand what had happened. Adam said, “I heard your voice and was afraid because I was naked, and I hid.” The ruler said, “Why did you hide, unless it is because you have eaten from the tree from which alone I commanded you not to eat? You have eaten!” Adam said, “The woman you gave me gave me fruit and I ate.” And the arrogant ruler cursed the woman. The woman said, “The snake led me astray and I ate.” They turned to the snake and cursed its shadowy reflection, so it was powerless, and they did not comprehend that it was a form they themselves had modeled. From that day, the snake came to be under the curse of the authorities. Until the perfect human was to come, that curse fell on the snake. They turned to their Adam and took him and expelled him from the garden along with his wife, for they have no blessing, since they too are under the curse. Moreover, they threw human beings into great distraction and into a life of toil, so that their human beings might be occupied by worldly affairs and might not have the opportunity of being devoted to the holy spirit.