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Freher's Elucidations on Boehme Section 1 [incomplete] Transcribed by Adam McLean JESUS IMMANUEL
! I. Of God, considered without all Nature and Creature. (1). It is a deep-grounded Central Axiome of
Unmoveable and unquestionable Truth, firm and solid throughout all Principles,
and most worthy of being exactly pondered, as in the very Beginning of all this
writing, so also chiefly in the Beginning of this first Head thereof, that No
Eye can see beyond its own Sphere, or world, wherein it is born, or wherein it
doth Exist, and hath its only Essence and all its Seeing Faculty. V.3.
Princ: II. 1
- 4 etc. VIII. 1,2 etc Baptism:
Sign: R: III. 7 - 10. NB Epist: XI. 2,3, etc NB XLVII. 1,2. NB (2). According then to this
Fundamental Position, it is an absolute Impossibility for all created
Intellectual Eyes, to look essentially into that Abyss, which is beyond Eternal
Nature, or to apprehend distinctly, and to declare positively by an Affirmative
Way, what God is without all Nature and Creature. Truly if we would say that either Men or Angels
were able to do it, our Saying would bear the selfsame, Absurd and
contradicting non-sense, as if we did say, that this or that can act without,
or beyond its own sphere of activity. (3). For
every created Eye or Intellect is a particular thing, having a distinct Existency from other things, being posterior to, and
standing (as to all its Faculties) within the Sphere of Eternal Nature: Whereas
without Eternal Nature there is and must be an Eternal Nothing, in comparison
to all created things in Nature, and an Eternal Chaos or Temperature, or an
Eternal Oneness, in comparison to that Divisibility, and Innumerable
Multiplicity, that is in Nature. In which Eternal Nothing, Temperature, and
Oneness, no creature can exist, nor ever be brought forth. Seeing it is self evident, that Something and
Nothing, Distinction and Temperature, Multiplicity and Oneness, cannot stand
together in one and the same sphere, but do imply the very highest and most Irreconciliable Contradiction. V. 3 pl: v: Predest: II. 37 - 40 III. 4. (4). But nevertheless, the
created Intellect, both in men and Angels, considering things a posteriori, as they are in Nature, and knowing they came
into Natural Existency, from such a deeper Original
or Foundation-Essence, as is itself All things in a most eminent sense, must
needs on One Side own All things to have been in that same Original Fountain,
before Eternal Nature, because they came forth from out thereof, and must also
on the other Side disown any thing to have been therein so, as it is now in its
created Existency, after Eternal Nature: Or else we
would say, that it hath been a Creature before it was created. (5). This we are able to
apprehend, but to declare further distinctly and positively What this Original
or Foundation-Essence is in itself, and how all things have been therein before
Eternal Nature, will be much more impossible for us, than to apprehend
distinctly, and to declare positively, what, and How we have been in the Loins
of our Father Adam v. Of the soul. I. 269 - 273 (6). All
what we can conceive and say thereof is this: that we all, when yet in the
Loins of Adam, have been Nothing, laying in One only Chaos, without All
Distinction from each other : Which in a sense, and with Respect to what we are
now, is very true. And yet it is not without all Limitation true, and in an absolute
transcendent Sense. For we may see, that
even from this same Nothing the Apostle can, and doth draw forth a most
excellent, and Emphatical argument, to demonstrate
thereby the great Pre-eminence of the Melchisedech
Priesthood above the Levitical, saying that Levi, who
received Tithes after he was in Existency, paid
Abraham, when he was yet so nothing, as to be only in the loins of his Father. (7). Though therefore our author
hath written most deeply and solidly, as of Nature and Creature, so also even
of God himself without all Nature and Creature, yet we are not to think that he
had, or could have had an Essential Prospect, or Looking as it were a Priori
into that most Incomprehensible Abyss of all Abysses: For no Illumination,
though ever so high, can afford such a one unto any created Eye, but only a
Sight a posteriori, whereby (in a comparative or
negative way and manner), He could and did Express that first Original Being,
out of Nature, with natural words, being made able to find out the fittest
Expressions, that could be found in Outward nature. And of all these, I think those three,
mentioned before, are the most accommodate to every capacity. (8). But this must yet
especially be taken notice of, that these three Expressions (and chiefly that
of Oneness), relate not only to the Creature, but also to all what God hath
manifested through Eternal Nature, to be Himself. Which will be so much as to say: That here in
this Place, where God is considered without all Nature and Creature, no
distinct Idea may be had (and shall also not be desired to be had) of the Holy
Trinity: No Father, Son, nor Holy Ghost, no Wisdom, no Light, Glory, Majesty,
Goodness, Holiness are yet here brought forth into distinct manifestation. For though all these things have been verily
there also, and must not be said, to have had a Beginning after, much less to
be generated by Eternal Nature, yet they were as yet unknown, Incomprehensible
and Unmanifest. And this Expression : They were then so, and
are now so, doth not import, that ever any Change, Turning or Alteration was
made, for All is Eternal, and Co-Eternal, without any Beginning or Shadow of
Turning: But we, that live and understand in time, and are used to periodical
Distinction, cannot express what we conceive thereof otherwise, but by a Before
and After. Which yet
doth signify nothing else, but our own Distinct Idea of One and the selfsame
Eternal Object. Which Idea is an
other thing when we consider this Eternal Object abstractively,
as it is in itself without all Nature, for then it is to us, that are in
Nature, unknown, hid and Unintelligible: And is an other again, when we
consider it an manifest through the concurrence of Eternal Nature, for then we
are able to have an Apprehension or Sight thereof, more or less, according to
that Degree, in which our Eye is Illuminated by the Eternal Light. In respect now to that former consideration
we cannot express it better and nearer, than by saying: All these things were
(or rather are) an Eternal Incomprehensible Nothing, when compared to that
which we now, after their manifestation through Eternal Nature, can apprehend
them to be: They are an Eternal Unintelligible Oneness, in Opposition to Our
distinct manifold Ideas, we can now have of them: They are an Eternal
Unconceivable Temperature, in comparison to that Distinction, we can now
conceive therein. He therefore that hath but a due Apprehension of these three
Expressions, may easily be freed from being disturbed by such seeming Contradictions,
as might appear in some of these places, where Jacob Behmen
writes of God considered without Nature and Creature, and may also easily
discern, what here and there is intermixed, relating to his Eternal
Manifestation. Which Places are these following. 3fold: of the Incarn:2 part: I. 8 - 12 II. 1 - 7
III. 1,2 etc Praedestin I. 3 - 29 NB Contempl:Div. I. 7 - 12 Baptism: I. 1 - 9 Myster: M: I. 2 - 8 III. 1 - 7
XXIX. 1 -5 NB LX. 37 - 46 LXI. 23 - 65 NB LXVI. 63 etc
Append: 1 - 4 etc VI.
Punct: I. 7 -
30 NB Terr: et Coel: Myst: I.II. et III 177
L. Theosoph:
I. et II. NB Signat:
Rer: III. 1 - 6 VI. 1 - 4 Clavis: 1 -23 NB Tab: Princ: 9 - 24 Apol: Stief: 145 - 151, 245 - 254 2. Apol: B: Tilk: 86 NB 146. II. Of God, considered as
Manifesting Himself through Eternal Nature (1). We are our selves a living Image of God, wherein, and whereby He
hath expressed visibly; and represented comprehensibly, his own Invisible and
Incomprehensible Being; as it is manifested in and to Himself, through Eternal
Nature. All these things therefore that here may come into Consideration, and
relate to his Eternal Manifestation, we do carry along with ourselves verily
and really, in our own Body, Soul and Spirit: And we should find them there all
together, more or less, plainly, distinctly and Intelligibly, if we were not so
very great Strangers to our own created Beings. v. (2). Two things do follow from hence unquestionably: 1. That many litteral Books and writings
without us, nay even the very best of them, are so far from being able to
afford us any true and solid Knowledge of ourselves, and of God our Creator,
that they rather are so many Hindrances and Impediments, darkening the Light of
our Intellectual Eye, by filling the Brain with a great multitude of void and
empty notions; or when at the best, with many confused if not quite false
Ideas. Though we are not to deny, but that some of them, written by a Teaching
from above may be able to give us (and this chiefly at the beginning) some manuduction, fit to direct us into our true and nearest
way; which is all their Office and ministry, besides and beyond which we are to
desire and to expect from them nothing else. 2. That when once we received this Benifice
and ministry, of being directed by them into the right way, we are to lay them
aside, and so turn away from all that is without, and so Introvert our Mind,
and to consider only, or primarily Ourselves, our Will, Senses, Motions,
threefold Life and Actions etc, which are so many legible characters and
Lineaments; drawn by the Eternal Invisible God after his own Original Image.
And then by this means, and by this only, all these things that else are quite
abstruse, remote and Incomprehensible, will be made so plain and clear, and so
near unto us as we are unto ourselves. And this is to Read our own Book,
written by the creating Finger of our God. Which Reading only, or chiefly, is
most seriously recommended unto us, especially in this our present Age,
wherein, more than ever before, Man's Mind is stirred up by a great Desire,
after the very deepest Ground of that most Mysterious Tree rooted in Eternity,
and stretching forth its Branches throughout all this Temporal Principle. v. Auror: Preface 61-65 etc. 3 Princ: V. 1-7. NB 3 pl: Vit: (3). In This our own Book then, we may find a
more evident Demonstration than any mathematical can be, that this Eternal
Nothing, spoken of before hath an Eternal Will, or rather that it is a Will
itself. And moreover we may find also in ourselves something, answering even to
that Eternal Nothing itself, and declaring, (tho' but
as in a Shadow), its Eternal manifestation through Eternal Nature. Let us consider our Will, the Beginning of all our Actions; the Root
and Ground of our whole life, and the chief Foundation Pillar of our
Regeneration too; justly so called when this Work is considered as on our Side,
but not that of God. Our Will is an other thing when yet within its own deepest Sphear, in a Calm Stillness, and Unmoving Rest or
Tranquillity, without any perceivable Activity or Propensity to this or that:
And is an other thing again, when stirred up to and brought to a moving life;
so as to exert its Faculties, either by an Inclination to this or that, or by
an aversion from this or that Object. As Long as it is the former, we are quite
Insensible thereof, for it is then so deeply hid, or so subtle, and vanished
away, as it were, out of all our Sight and Apprehension; that we might be apt
to think It is nothing at all. But as soon as it comes
to be the latter, we have a plain and distinct Sense, Feeling and Idea thereof,
and are able to declare presently, what it doth Incline
to, what it withdraws from, and what it is busied about. And nevertheless, both that former and this latter are but One and the
same Will, differing from each other no further, than a hidden secret thing may
differ from that same, when open and manifest. For the former is an Unknown,
Secret Incomprehensible Unground, manifested in the
latter, as in his more Exterior, perceiveable
Ground, Seat or Dwelling-place; wherein and whereby it acts and moveth. After the Scholastic Expressions we might call the
former a Will in Potentia, and the latter a Will in Actu, which yet are not two but only One, and can also
never be separated from each other; for there could never be any Will in Actu, if their had not been in Us already before a Will in Potentia; Like as there could be no manifestation of any
thing; if that same thing had not been already before in itself hid and Unmanifest. And truly we are not to think, that our Will in Potentia
is a mere Nothing, or Privation, an Ens
Rationis, or Chimaera. Let
it be what it will to our own Sensibility, and narrow Capacity; it is not so to
God, that Immense Original Being of all created Beings, whose Eternal Oneness,
Nothingness or Temperature it doth in some measure represent. For to Him even
our Will in Potentia, before it comes to be in any
Act, and tho' it may never come to any act, is
thoroughly known, and is All Manifest before his piercing Eyes, All its Abysses
are unveiled, and stand naked before Him; and He will Judge not only our Will
in Actu, but even our Will in Potentia
also. (4). If we now look further into our own Book, and consider what our
Will is in its Activity; for before that we can have no Apprehension thereof,
we find that the first and nearest thing to all its Essentiality, always
implied and included in the very Idea of our Will, is a Desire. For no Will can
be conceived without a Desire, and also no Desire without a Will. And
nevertheless this Desire is different from the Will itself, for it is as it were more exterior than the Will, and is also posterior to
the Will in Actu; like as this is Exterior and
posterior to the Will in Potentia. This Desire, when considered in our created Particular Will, proceeds
or goeth out from us towards such other particular
things or Objects, as our Will is touched with. But as to
this Eternal Manifestation of that first Universal Original Will, the only
Creating Will of all particular things, there is no Object at all, neither
before nor behind, and neither above nor beneath, which this Eternal
Will could be touched with, or which it could stretch forth any Desire unto. It
cannot and doth not therefore go out of itself towards any other Object, for
there is none. All particular things are infinitely posterior to it, and are
brought forth after this Eternal Manifestation: Its only Object is therefore Itself, and its only Desire is to manifest itself, and to
behold in its Manifestation its own Powers and Wonders. This Desire is now further Attracting, for so is every Desire in its
own proper Essentiality; And this Attraction is darkening, filling,
Impregnating; for it is, in a Spiritual Sense and manner, much thicker, and
more perceivable, or as it were palpable, than that clear, still, and free Will
before and beyond this Attracting Desire. As we may find also
a plain Resemblance, nay more that a bare Resemblance thereof within our
selves. This Desire, with its darkening, filling Attraction, is now the real
Centre, Ground and Beginning of Eternal Nature. And here it is the most Considerable and most Important thing, duly to discern, and
not to confound Fog and Eternal Nature. The Eternal Will is God, before and
above Eternal Nature, without any Ground or Beginning, He is himself both his
own Unground and Ground; But Nature is brought forth
in and by his Will, and is eternally under God; for it is not the free, pure
and clear Eternal Will itself, though they both are co-eternal, and so near
unto each other as a Will is near to its Desire, and a Desire to its Will.
Nature goeth forth from Form to Form, and displays
itself first in a Sevenfold variety, and then further in a numberless
multiplicity; but God, the Original Eternal Will, is, and continueth
One only Unchangeable and unmoveable God, without any alteration, or Shadow of
Turning. He is not darkened, not filled, not disturbed, nor Unquieted
by any Form of Nature, and alone Omnipotent above Nature, from Everlasting to
Everlasting. And so from this attracting, filling and Darkening Desire, the
Generation of Eternal Nature goes on, in Order to the Manifestation of that
Eternal Nothing, which was, and is, and will be for ever, before and beyond
Eternal Nature. And this successfully or gradually, from one Form to the other,
as to our partial Understanding, which is not able to apprehend them altogether
as they are at Once; for in this Eternal Generation itself there is no such
distinguished Degrees, as outward words, and several different Denominations of
One and the same thing, may be apt to represent unto us, and to mislead thereby
our Understanding. Neither is there any successiveness, or Order of Priority
and Posterity, no Form is the first, none the second or third, and none the
last, but all this Order is only relating to our weak Capacities. Which, when
duly observed, will much contribute to a plainer Understanding of all these
following Places, where the whole Process, of all the Eternal Generation, and
manifestation, is most abundantly declared. Which
places, for more conveniency we may distinguish in
three different sorts, setting down first these, where our author describeth only the 3 or 4 first Forms, which are the most
considerable and the most difficult also: Secondly those where taketh them all seven together, and thirdly these where he
brings them again into three, according to the number of the holy Trinity. He doth then declare the 3 or 4 first Forms of Eternal Nature, 3 Princ:
I. 10,11 etc V. 23 NB
XIV. 60 -69 3 pl: Vit: I. 25 -
36 II. 11 - 16 20 - 37 XIV. 22 - 26. NB 26 - 38 Inc: 2. Part: I.
7 etc IV. 4 -
8 etc NB VIII. 9 - 11 VI. Punct: Sign: Rer: II. 7 - 34 NB XIV. 14 - 20 etc He explains them all seven together, De Amina I. 13 etc Praedest: III. 3 -
40 NB Myst: M: III. V. et VI. VI. 13 - 24 NB 177
Theos: quest: III Sign: Rer: IV. 4 -12, 20, 21 IX. 8 - 24
XIV. 10,11 etc Clav: 24 - 80 NB Tab:
Princ: 31 -
50 NB Epist: XLVII. Tab: macro: et micro: He brings these 7 again unto 3 according to the number of the holy
Trinity. Praedest: III. 6 - 9 Clav: 75 - 80 (5). Two things are yet here of a particular Consideration, making very
much towards a clearer understanding of these 7 Forms of Eternal Nature. The
first is that Eternal Cross, made up by the Generation of the four first, and
the second is the Number Seven itself. Concerning that Eternal Cross, I shall
only set down some considerable places, wherein there is made a particular mention
of, by Jacob Behmen: viz:
these following: 3. Princ: II. 13
NB XXV. 22 - 24 etc. NB 3 pl: Vit: II. 27.
70,71 NB III. 11 IV. 16,17
V. 21,22 NB 34 - 38 NB Sign: R: XIV. 29 (6). Concerning the number Seven, it is worthy of our consideration,
Why they are said to be neither more nor less, but only Seven; Whereas Eternal
Nature hath verily not Seven only, but an Innumerable Multitude of Forms and
Properties, which was said so in some of the former alledged
places, V. 3 pl: v: 2.45. And whereas also even these Seven particularly thus
mentioned and distinguished, are verily but Three, and are also verily but One,
which both was also plainly said in several places. So that it is not without Reason to ask: Why then can there be so
much insisted upon this Number Seven. Truly it will not satisfy a deep
searching Mind, to say only (though it may be said verily) that these 7 are the
chiefest of all the rest, for then this number would
not yet appear to be Radical or Essential but only arbitrary, depending but
upon the Apprehension of this or that particular understanding, which in
several Persons might differ severally. For either One might conceive some
other Forms more out of that Innumerous Multiplicity,
which could seem to him to be of the same Importance and Necessity; And so this
Number should Increase: or an other might Apprehend this or that of these 7 to
be superfluous, and not so chiefly required; And so as to his apprehension this
number should be lessened. And therefore it is of great Concern to have a plain
Demonstration, that the Forms of Eternal Nature are really Seven, and but
Seven, in respect to this Eternal Manifestation of that great Universal
Nothing, or Original Being of all Inferior and posterior Beings: and that this
Number is most Radical and Essential, which Nothing is to be added unto, nor
taken therefrom. And such a Demonstration may be
produced indeed, not only by a Posteriori but ever a
Priori also. To bear an evident Testimony of an Unalterable Fixity of this number 7
a Posteriori, both the holy
Scripture, and outward Nature, do most Unanimously concur. Concerning first the
Scripture alone by itself, it may suffice to say only, that the 7 Spirits
before the Throne of God, mentioned in the Revelations and typified by the 7 burning
Lamps before the Mercy-Seat in the Mosaicall
Tabernacle, manifesting there, without any other Light, all what was in the
most holy Place, are these 7 Forms of Eternal Nature, whereby all this Eternal
manifestation of all what was, and is beyond Eternal Nature, is performed. That
the 7 Seals shutting the Book of Life, which no man was able to open, except
only that Immaculate Lamb with 7 Horns and 7 Eyes, are that same, considered in
an other respect. That these 7 Horns
and 7 Eyes of this Lamb, which are said to be the 7 Spirits of God, sent forth
into all the Earth, are that same also, though with a different respect again.
That the 7 Thunders St John was prohibited to write, the 7 Vials full of the
Wrath of God, the 7 Heads, both of the Dragon and of the Beast, and the 7
Mountains, whereupon the Babylonish Whore sitted, are all that very same again, considered in several
respects (7 Pillars NB) v. 3 pl: Vit
III. 20 - 81 V. 42,43 Concerning this outward Nature, it is a Fundamental Position, that if
this Number 7 be verily Radical in Eternal Nature, it must have brought forth a
plain, visible, Resembling Outbirth thereof in this
Outward temporal Nature also. And so it hath really done, both in the Macrocosm
and Microcossm, and on both these sides in a twofold
manner, to with both Heaven and Earth. If we reflect upon the Macrocosm, we
find there in the Firmament above the 7 Planets, and in the Earth beneath the 7
Metals, answering punctually thereunto. And if we consider the Microcosm, we
find there, both in his Astral and in his Terrestrial Part, quite the same
sevenfold variety, in an exact Parallelism with the Macrocosm. Which is there on both sides so essentially and firmly fixed, that
nothing at all can be added unto, nor taken therefrom
by our own Inventions, though never so subtle. But the chiefest and most ponderous argument
a Posteriori, for the Constancy and unchangeableness of these 7 Forms of Eternal Nature,
wherein both outward Nature and Scripture, and both Macro- and Microcosm, even fromtheir first Origin until this present Day, do most
harmoniously concur, is this : The whole working Process of all the Creation,
or Temporal Manifestation of Outward Nature in the Macrocosm, was finished and
accomplished in 6 Natural Days, for the 6 first Forms of Eternal Nature (which
were then at work to bring forth a true visible Likeness or Outbirth
of all their own Invisible Essences), do also finish and accomplish the whole
working Process of this Eternal Manifestation. But on the 7th Day God was said
to have Rested from all his works. For the 7th Form of
Eternal Nature is also that, wherein the 6 former do
Rest for Ever and Ever. For it is both true in different respects: They work
and Act without ceasing and Interruption for ever and ever, and yet they have
also a Scope or End set before them, beyond which Nothing is then further (nor
can be) intended or desired by them, but in this End they Rest for Ever and
Ever. And now the Microcosm, that most noble masterpiece of all the Creation,
was brought forth into manifestation on the 6th Day, by a General Concurrence
of all the 6 working Properties, then in their full motion and activity; and
was introduced presently into the 7th Day, as into his proper Eternal Sabbath
of Rest and Peace. Which 7th Day in Outward Nature was further said to have
been blessed and sanctified by the Lord. For so is the 7th Form of Eternal
Nature (the only Resting Place of the 6 former) not only blessed by the Lord
Creator whose Holiness dwelleth therein, but was also
the Fullness of Blessing unto Adam, who was created thereunto, as it is now
again unto every One, that by Regeneration cometh to be Reintroduced thereinto. And therefore, for a Constant and perpetual
Memorandum of this blessed 7th Form of Eternal Nature, the 7th Day was Hallowed
in Outward Nature also, and was afterwards strictly commanded to be kept from
Generation to Generation in holy Rest, and so that no work should be done
therein. But it will be replied: If these 6 Days of the Creation, Inclusively
with the 7th of Rest, be so significant, and to demonstrate sufficiently the unalterableness of the Number 7 in the Forms of Eternal
Nature, why could this 7th Day, so strictly commanded unto the Jews, have been
altered by the Christians? And why was instead of it the Eighth Day ordained to
be hallowed, and rested in without work? Answ: Man
had in his primeval State these 7 Days or Properties within himself. The 6
Former were the 6 working Forms of pure Eternal Nature, and the 7th was his
holy Paradisical Sabbath of Rest. This 7th Day he
departed from by his Transgression, and went out into the 6 scattered,
Restless, Turmoiling Days, or Properties of Temporal
Nature. If he now should be Reintroduced into his
former Rest, it must have been done by such a One who was the Eight, or really
above these 7 and so greater and stronger than they, and who came verily into
these 7 to Reunite and to appease them again. The Jews therefore, whose whole
Dispensation stood in the Process of Nature, must keep indeed to the 7th Day,
according to the first Natural Creation, but they must also circumcise their
children on the Eighth Day, and neither sooner nor later, with a mysterious
Relation to this Restoration or New Creation, that was to be performed by him,
who was both this Eighth Day, Reunited the former 7 and the only true
Circumcision himself. This was now Jesus Christ the Lord from Heaven, who after
he was made Flesh, and came into these 7 broken Properties of Man's Eternal
Nature, hath restored them into their former State and hath changed the Outward
Symbol of Circumcision into that of Baptism; So that there is no Law any more,
neither for the Eighth, nor for any other Day, but every Day Children may be
baptised. And justly then the first Ordinance of Hallowing the 7th Day (according
to the Numeration down from the first Creation) was altered and translated from
the 7th to the 8th for to declare, that this great Restoring Work, so long
expected and desired after, was now performed by Him who was the true
Circumcision on the Eighth Jewish Day himself. But yet not every eighth Day
could be ordained from that time to be hallowed withut
work, not 7 Working Days could be made, but only 6 and every 7th was hallowed
as always before, to signify that the first 7 Days or Properties of Man's Eternal
Nature were unalterable, and though formerly Scattered, Confused and
Disordered, were yet now Reunited and Reestablished
in their primeval Order, and true Paradisical
Sabbath, which in their first Creation they were ordained unto. v. Myst: M: XLI. 35 - 40 NB All this I think is significant and firm enough, to be called a
Demonstration a Posteriori; but it will yet more be
confirmed by a further Demonstration, brought forth even a Priori also. Which
if it shall deserve to be called so, not only this number 7 must be deduced
from the holy Number 3, but also the Number 3 itself from the Eternal
Unmoveable Oneness, or Unity beyond Eternal Nature. But here in the first Place a deep and due apprehension of that
Transcendental Oneness before Eternal Nature, is required, to wit in such a
sense as it may be had by Creatures, that are but in and after Nature. For truly it is quite another and deeper thing, than our common
Idea of the first Number 1, from which we do begin all our Natural Numeration.
Which number 1 is equally Outward, and equally
Intelligible in Outward Nature with all its following fellow-numbers. But this
is Incomprehensibly Antecedent both to Outward and
Eternal Nature, and is also Infinitely more Individual, than any Number 1
throughout the whole Nature can be conceived. A serious consideration of the
Places, mentioned before, will be much subservient to raise
up such an Idea thereof, as Our weak and limited Capacity may be able to bear. And then it will appear to be a true and well grounded saying, that no
such thing that is but One, and so transcendentally One, as to admit not at all
of the very least, or even the most subtle Shadow of any Imaginable Plurality,
can neither see, nor know nor feel, nor love itself, but all these and the like
Expressions do always verily Imply and presuppose a Trinity or the number 3
within the One thing. For that which is said to see, to know, to feel or to
love is the first: That which is seen, known, felt or loved is the second: and
that seeing, knowing, feeling or loving Ray, betwixt this first and second, is
the third; uniting them both in One Sight, Knowledge, Sensibility and Love, and
participating itself of the Nature and Property of both. And so is now here already the Trinity in One Eternal Unity before
Eternal Nature. Which in a manner may be Symbolised by a Triangle: The first
Side whereof showeth forth the Father, the Ungrounded
Original Will; the second represents the Son, the Eternal Grounded Will, which
the first doth find and Rest and Delight in, and is One Will with him. And the
third touching both the first and second, and combining them into One, signifieth the Eternal Spirit, proceeding from the Father
and the Son, communicating to both their Reciprocal Life and Love, and
partaking also himself of them both, as being also One with them. And so they are 3 indeed and nevertheless also but 1. For
the Father seeth, knoweth, feeleth and loveth not another
thing, but only himself in the Son, and so the Son in the Father, and so also
the Eternal Spirit in the Father and in the Son. And nevertheless the Father is
not the Son, and the Son is not the Father, and the holy
Ghost is not the Father nor the Son; and notwithstanding they all three are
verily but One. And there can be neither more nor less in this Eternal One but
these 3. Like as it is Impossible and quite a Contradicting Non-Sense, that
there should be more or less than 3 sides or Corners in One Triangle. But now all this is so before all Nature and Creature, and therefore
without all manifestation: and Eternal Nature is to be subservient to the
manifestation thereof, which manifestation it must of all necessity bring forth
by the Number 7 and neither by more nor less. 7 are so Essential
in and to Nature, as 3 are to this Eternal Oneness before and beyond Nature. But a strong Unmoveable Axiom must here be laid down again for a sure
Foundation, which may be this: that no manifestation could ever have been
brought forth without a Contrarity. For that which
was to be manifested laid in a Calm, peaceable Rest and Stillness, without any
Motion or Activity; and in an equal Temperature without all Distinction and
Difference, which was itself the very Hidden and Secrecy thereof. How then
could it have been manifested, or how could this Veil have been taken away from
the Face of this great Still Universal Mystery of Eternity, if there had not
been an awakening, a stirring up, a Drawing, Motion, Activity, etc, and so
further a Distinction and Separation? And if now all this be nothing else but a
pure and mere Contrarity and Opposition to that
former Rest and Silent Stillness, as it is indeed, then this Axiom is of the
selfsame Unquestionable Truth and Evidence, as it that every hath three Corners. But besides this, we know and grant, that Nothing
could have been Manifested but what before was hid and Unmanifest.
Seeing then in this Outward Nature there are so many Contrary things, both Good
and Evil, Light and Darkness, Life and Death, Peace and War, Joy and Sorrow,
Fire and Water, Summer and Winter, Cold and Heat, Day and Night, which also
shall not cease while the Earth remaineth: Which all
we see, are and must be subservient to a Reciprocal Temporal Manifestation of
each others Nature and Properties: We cannot but say, that all these things,
now manifested, must have been Unmanifest before, and
must have had a secret hidden Root and Ground, from which they were brought
forth into a manifest Distinction. But where shall we seek and find this Root
and Ground. Truly not in God who is All Love, All Holiness, All Goodness, and
all this Unalterably, without any Shadow of Turning:
for this would verily be to approach more or less to the damnable Doctrine of
Manes. But it must be sought and will be found only in such a place, as is more
Inward and Superior than Outward Nature is, for into Outward Nature it was and
must have been derived down from thence. And yet this Place must also be more
Outward and Inferior than God is, who is not Good and Evil, but only Good, and
who is alone beyond and above Nature, both before and in and after its Eternal
Manifestation. This place therefore is no other but Eternal Nature itself, which also
nevertheless is not Good and Evil in itself, but only Good, but it must be
called Good and Evil, as to its further more outward manifestation
; and chiefly with respect to these living and understanding Creatures
that are fallen thereinto. If then now 1. This Eternal Nature in its manifestation is
itself, as to the first beginning part of it, a real Contrarity
and Opposition to that former Unmanifested Rest and
Stillness; as indeed it is, which was Demonstrated
before. And if 2. It hath in itself (viz. in its own first 4 Forms,
considered before and without the 5th of Light and Love) the very Root and
Ground of all Contrarities and Oppositions in Outward
Nature; as indeed it hath, because this is but an Inferior, Temporal and
Secondary, subordinate Outbirth thereof, then our
Foundation Axiom stands as a strong Rock firm and unmoveable, that no
manifestation of that still and Silent Eternity could ever have been made
without Contrarity and Opposition. And then also we
have now already by this same, without any further Inquisition, and without
Doubt or Scruple, 6 different Forms or Properties of this Eternal Nature: 3 in
the One of these Contrarities, and 3 also answering
thereunto in the other, and these both according to that first primeval Number
Three, that was, and is, and will be for ever before, beyond and above Eternal
Nature, which is eternally the only Foundation Ground thereof. And these 3 on
both Sides make together 6. Like as now that, which before Eternal Nature did combine together in One the two Sides of that figurative Triangle, was the third
Number, completing there that whole Harmonious Unity. So now here in this
Eternal Manifestation, that which doth distinguish these two Contrarities, setting them in Separation and Opposition to
each other, is the 7th Number; whereby the whole manifestation of that formet still Eternal Nothing, and Original Oneness, is
perfectly accomplished. No 8th nor 9th can here be
invented more, nor can any of these 7 be taken away, as if it were Superfluous.
3 must stand on the right Hand, according to the first Original Trinity before
and beyond Eternal Nature; which 3 do dwell again beyond Nature, in the free
Eternal Liberty, being only brought into Manifestation, Life, Motion and
Sensibility by Eternal Nature. And 3 must be on the left Hand, which properly
do remain in Nature, and are Opposite and Subservient
to the former 3. But as yet by all these 6 no manifestation could yet appear,
all would yet still continue Unknown and Unmanifest,
there is therefore required also the 7th Number, after the common Order called
usually the fourth which is really the chiefest, the
strongest and the most Powerful, bearing the greatest Office in all this
Manifestation, for it is that which makes on every side these 3 to appear, by
distinguishing and separating them from each other, and showing forth thereby
the several contrary Powers and Wonders of this twofold number 3, and this is
the Fire, standing in the midst between 3 and 3, and opening or manifesting in
the first Contrary on the left Hard its own dark Wonders, in Strength, Might
and Power; and in the second on the Right, its Illustrious Wonders of Glory,
Joy, Love, Light and Majesty. All this now summed up and pondered together, can bear I think, the name of a sufficient Demonstration of this
Constant Unalterable Number 7 we are to own in the Forms of Eternal Nature, and
to alter by no means, neither by adding thereto nor by taking away therefrom. Which we also are seriously commanded to
observe, in the conclusion of that same holy Book of Revel: wherein so great
and manifold Mention was made of this deep and wonderful number 7. (7). To the Process of this Eternal Manifestation doth yet appertain
the consideration of the Two Eternal Principles, made up by these 7 Forms of
Nature. Whereof I think not that I need to make many words, for if these 7 be
understood, these 2 will as it were declare themselves easily. Only this Denomination
of a Principle ought to be settled, and rightly apprehended what our author
will say properly thereby. For it is not to say a Beginning, though some Kind
of Beginning, or some thing like to a Beginning, is in its Idea to be included:
which can be seen in these following Places. 3 Princ:
V. 6, 8 3
Pl. Vit: VIII.
32 NB 54 Aia I. 30 NB
49 - 52 113 Inc:
2. P V. 1, 2 NB VI.
Punct: II. 1 2 Ap: B. T. 78 - 86 (8). The two Eternal Principles then, which are not properly Darkness
and Light (as many times is misapprehended, because perhaps here and there they
may have been called so by Jac: Behmen
himself, in this or that particular respect) but Fire and Light, which he doth
mention very often, are abundantly declared in all these following Places. Aurora XXIII. 13 - 60 3 Princ: II. and III. IV. 42 - 66 IX. 30 - 36 XIV. 60 - 90 NB. 3 pl Vit: II. 72 - 94 NB. III. 7 - 28 Aia Incar: 1. P. I. 6 - 14 NB 2. P. III. IV. et V. NB. Myst: Magn:
IV. V. et VI. VI.
Punct: I. 20
- 74 Coel: et Terr: Myst: I. -
V. 177
Quest: Theos: III. NB Sign: R: XIV.
20 - 35 NB XVI. 11 - 28 NB Clav: 48 - 65 etc Tab:
Princ: 25 -
50 Apol: I. B. T. 485 - 520 II. 40 - 51 (9). But whereas it will much contribute to a deeper Understanding of
these 2 Eternal Principles, to consider some other particular things relating
thereunto, I shall mention them but in short, and add unto every one some few
places out of many, where they may be found declared. (1) What the dark World is by itself, considered as in its own Sphere,
Essence and Property, without the Principle of Fire, Vid: 3
pl V: IV. 13 - 19 Amina I. 19 - 51 NB VI.
Punct: IX. NB Sign:
R II. 24 - 30 (2) What these two Eternal Principles are in ourselves, and how we
shall find them even within our own Eternal Soul and Spirit. 3 Princ: V. 1 - 6
NB VII. 24 - 27 NB 3 pl: Vit: IV. 57 -
90 NB XIV. 19 - 33 Regener: II. 17,
18 Myst: Magn:
XV. 14 - 27 etc Tab: Princ: 63 - 67 NB (3) What several Fruits and Effects they bring forth in this third
Temporal Principles, and chiefly in man himself Incarn:
2 P. VIII. 7 - 12 VI.
Punct: II. 41 - 56 NB VII. 33 - 46 X. tot: (4) How these 2 Eternal Principles are visibly and most significantly
represented in this Outward World, by common Fire and Light. Aia: I. 86 - 97 etc Praedest: II. 19 etc 29 - 35 NB Apol. I. B. T. 150 - 180 NB (10). The whole Process of this Eternal Manifestation is now here
perfectly accomplished by these 7 Forms of Nature, making up and setting in
Opposition to each other the two Eternal Principles. In the next place is then
now further to be considered that which properly is said to be manifested
thereby. And this can be Nothing else but what was Secret,
hid, still, and unmanifest before. But there was and
is before Eternal Nature Nothing else but the silent Still Eternity, or God
himself in his Incomprehensible Trinity, and Eternal Wisdom. God hath therefore
by all this manifesting Process manifested only himself to be One, Individual,
Eternal God, and yet also Three, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in his
Eternal Virgin Wisdom. All these distinct Denominations then are to be
considered particulatrly. GOD, that great Universal Holy Name, common to the Father, Son and Holy
Ghost, is manifested in the Lights-Principle. Therein, and therein Only (not as to the Fire, much less as to the Dark World,
both belonging properly to Nature) God is called God. Before Eternal Nature He
hath properly no name. For all names do Imply more or
less a Distinction and Comprehensibility, and are thus posterior to this
manifestation through Eternal Nature. And though He be now called @@@@@@ and
thereby expressed that which we can conceive him to be before Eternal Nature,
yet, both this Concept and Expression are but in part, and relating to us only,
and both therefore posterior also to this Eternal manifestation. And as this
name is Incomprehensible in itself, so it is also Uneffable
and was not without a Mystery prohibited to be pronounced by the Jews. Aurora XXIII. 77
- 82 NB 3
pl. V: II. 6, 7 etc. 75, 76 etc. Inc: I.P. I. 9 III. 3, 4 etc V. 15, 16 Praed: II. 35, 36 IV. 41, 42 NB Myst: Magn:
V. 10 VIII. 23 - 27 LX. 37 - 47 NB LXI. 36, 37 (11). The FATHER is manifested by the Fire-World, wherein he doth call
himself in his Centre an Angry, Jealous God, and a Consumming
Fire, who accordingly hath led his Peculiar People of the Old Covenant, in a
Fiery Dispensation, and kept under a Fiery Law; which He gave unto Israel out
of the midst of Fire, with Thunderings and Lightnings, and great noise of a Trumpet. In which fiery
Dispensation His Light and Love was then yet hid, and only to be revealed
thereafter in his Son Aur: VIII. 13 - 20 XIII. 55 - 63 3 Princ: XII. 3 - 5 3 pl: V: II. 58 NB
75 - 90 NB Inc: 1. P. I. 13 Inc: 2. III. 1 - 10 V. 7 - 10 NB Praed: II. 31 - 33 Myst: Magn:
VII. 13, 14 etc 177 Q. Theos. III. 11 - 15 NB (12). The SON is manifested in and by the Light World, out of the Fire,
and is in his Centre a Sweet, meek, quickening, ravishing, Flaming Fire of
Light and Love, calling himself, when in our Humanity, the Light of the World,
Illuminating every man; and having fulfilled that former fiery Law, and
quenched its burning Intolerable Flames, by holy Blood and Water, He hath
settled justly his own Centre in the Place of it, making his meek and humble
Love, to be the only Law of his peculiar Redeemed People. From whence it is,
that whereas in all the Old Testament God was said only to be Merciful, Long
suffering, Well doing, etc, which all doth Include a hidden Love indeed. He is
now said expressly and absolutely in the New (but never before in all the Old)
to be Love: which is an exceeding higher, deeper and more Emphatical
Denomination, than all the former. Aur: VIII. 78 - 82 XI. 19 etc XXIII. 26 - 36 3
pl. V. I. 53, 54 III. 2, 3. 8 - 24 IV. 62 - 71 NB Inc: 1. P. I. 13, 14 Inc: 2 III. 9 - 11 NB V. 7 etc Myst:M: VII. 13 - 16 Apol: Stief: 65, 66 (13). The HOLY GHOST is manifested out of the Father's Fire in the
Light World of the Son, wherein only He is called God the Holy Ghost, being
there a living proceeding, moving Power, or Flame of Life, Light, and Love, or
a quickening Virtue, going forth out of the Fire, in the Flame of Love. But in
the Father's Centre and its Property, He is called a strong Flame of Consuming
Fire, and the Spirit of God's Anger. For though it be
but One, as the Father and the Son are One; yet there is, in relation to men, the
same Distinction to be observed, that is between the Father's Dispensation in
the Old, and the Son's in the New Covenant. The Spirit of God, according to the
Father's fiery Centre and Law, was in the former Dispensation moving, Acting,
Leading and Ruling indeed, but not so as thereafter, according to the Sons. For it is plainly and most considerably said John 7.
@@@@@@@. The English Translation saying: The Holy Ghost was not yet given, saith the Truth indeed, but showeth
forth plainly, that it seemed to him a hard Expression to say barely according
to the Greek: The holy Ghost was not yet, and that he
reached not to the Bottom of this Mysterious Truth. Which doth evidence itself
yet more by the words of our Lord and Master, rebuking his Disciples, when they
would bring down Fire from Heaven, according to the Pattern of the most Eminent
Prophet under the Father's fiery Dispensations, for He said unto them most
plainly:@@@@@ 3 pl.V. IV. 72 - 83 etc NB Anima XXX. 11, 12, 13 Inc: 1: P. I. 8, 9, 13 Inc 2: III. 12 NB Praed: XII. 17 - 25 Baptism: III. 14,
15 etc Myst: M: VII. 13 VI.
Punct: I. 58 - 61 NB Sign:
R: XIV. 33 - 35 Cens:
Steif: 34 etc Apol: 1. B. T. 503, 504 NB (14). All which will be made yet more plain by the own Words of our
Author in the next following places, where he doth declare the HOLY TRINITY, or
the Father, Son and Holy Ghost together, whom he will not have to be called 3
Persons, but Threefold, or rather Triune, or at least he will have this
Denomination of 3 Persons to be well and soundly understood, because it is so
common that it hardly may be quite removed, and according to that usual way he
cannot but make also himself some use thereof, having nevertheless plainly premonished, cautioned and declared, that God is properly
No Person, except in Jesus Christ; but that He is verily Threefold or Triune in
his Eternal Generation and manifestation Aur: III. tot VII. 15 - 35 VIII. 78 - 84 XI. 19 - 22 XII. 41, 42 XIII. 71 - 89 XXIII. 15 - 46. 61 - 73 3. Princ: IV. 57 - 64 NB XIV. 70 - 90 NB 3
pl: V: I. 41 - 54 Aia I. 33 - 35 91 - 100 NB Inc: 2.P. II. tot. NB V. 7 - 10 Praed: Myst: M: VII. 5 - 17 NB VI. Punct: Sign: R. III. 1 - 6 Clav: 3 - 11. Apol: Steif. 245 - 252 NB 1 Apol: B.T. 501 - 504 (15). In the last Place there is yet to be considered, in this
manifestation of the holy Trinity the Eternal VIRGIN WISDOM; which in the Light
World only is called Sophia, but before Eternal Nature a Looking Glass of
Wonders. What and how She was, and is both before
Eternal Nature, and in and after this Eternal Manifestation and in what
Difference as to the first and second Principle. What her Essence, Nature,
Property and Office is, will be found declared in these following Places. 3 Princ: XII. 36 - 61 XIII. 8 - 11 XIV. 86 - 89 XVI. 3 NB XVIII. 18 - 25 XXI. 62 - 71 NB XXII. 25, 26, 38. 69 - 74 NB 3 pl: V: V. 39 - 58 NB 72, 73 VII. 23 XI. 13, 14, 15 XIV. 17
XVII. 11, 12 Anima I. 45 - 55 NB Inc:
1. P. I. 12 NB
IX. 15 etc Inc: 2. P. I. 8 - 12
II. 1, 2, 3 IV. 10 V. 5 Praed: I. 6, 7, 9. 14, 15 III. 21, 22. NB 26, 27, 28 VII. 33, 34 Poenit: 45 - 51 NB Cont:
Div: I. 31 - 42 NB Myst: M: I. 5, 6, 7 VII. 9, 10 XXIX. 1 - 8 L. 48 VI.
Punct: I. 7 - 24. 60 - 63 6
punct: I. 4 - 6 Sign: R: XIV. 7, 8 Epist: XLVI. 37 - 41 Clav: 17, 18, 19 Tab: Pr: 19 Apol: Steif: 30, 253 2 Apol. B. T. 62 - 76 NB P. S To give a larger and more particular account of the two Principles, and
first especially of the 7 Forms of Eternal Nature, I think it will be most
convenient to look upon them Distinctly, according to the Distinction made
before: And so to consider 1. the three Beginning Forms on the left Hand, 2. the three others answering thereunto on the
right, and, 3. that which is their Distinguishing mark,
standing in the midst between three and three. Concerning the three first Forms, which are the most abstruse and Difficult,
I think it not to be the nearest way of declaring them, that I should gather
together all their several Denominations, made use of by J. B. though it easily
could be done by looking after the Practices alledged
before. For by so doing, I fear justly, I should but cover them with greater
Darkness, instead of bringing any Light upon them, being sure it will be very
hard, if not quite Impossible to come, as from without, to a plain
understanding of the thing itself, by so many and so various and disagreeing
Denominations, when we will have them to be subservient thereto a priori,
though they were never so studiously searched into and compared to One another.
But when once the thing itself is had any true Idea of, though but as dimly and
darkly, then all these Denominations may be much subservient a posteriori, to clear it up still more and more. And
therefore in the first place I shall try, whether I could make these 3 first
Forms to appear a little clearer, all by my own words, without any Reflexion upon this or that Expression used by J.B. but
afterwards I shall bring in some of his own Expressions also, for to show, that
I said no other thing but only the same. The whole Process then of these 3 first Forms is very short: They are
all 3 but 1 Individual thing, which hath nevertheless in itself 3 Different and
Disagreeing qualities. But the Difference between them,
and chiefly between the 1 and 2 is so subtle, that it is very hard to be
plainly declared and apprehended, though the words and Denominations be
distinct and different enough. They cannot so properly be Distinguished
by any Denominations, for some of the 1 contain also the 2 and some of the 2 do
imply the first. And therefore, though they be now and then apprehended as it
were plainly enough; yet suddenly they may vanish away again out of all
apprehension; which truly is not at all to be wondered at, for if their
Differences were so easily perceivable as it is with things in outward Nature,
they could not be in Eternal Nature. The nearer they are to the first Original
Incomprehensible Temperature, the nearer they must also be to Oneness and
Individuality, and the more distant from gross and obvious Distinction. But for
as much as they are already gone out of the Eternal Temperature, into a Beginning
of Division, they must also be different and Distinguished
from each other, though their Distinction be never so subtle, as to our weak
capacities. They are therefore but one one Individual
Thing, which yet doth generate and multiply itself, in a threefold variety of
disagreeing and contrary Properties; Each whereof hath its own particular
Birthright, and proper Will, or Natural Inclination. For the 1 draws in, and striveth, as it were, backwards, from without towards
itself; the 2 moveth and presseth
forward, out of itself. The 1 shuts up, the 2 openeth. The first will hold all fast, and the 2 will not
be held, but will enjoy its own free The first builds up, and the 2 breaks down. The 1 gathereth,
the 2 Disperseth, and so they stand in a great
Disagreement and Opposition, for each of them goeth
to work in such a way, as it is quite contrary to the other. The first is a strong, harsh, austere attraction, taking in, gathering
and compacting together, and the second is a free, moving, acting, stirring,
spreading and displaying Agility. And yet, this selfsame Desiring attraction, is itself both the former and the latter;
differing and disagreeing only with itself in respect to these 2 contrary
qualifications. For the 1 is this attraction, as it is Astrictive,
shutting up, narrowing, filling, Impregnating, Darkening, pressing and keeping
down, binding, confining, compacting, congealing, etc, for all of these things
it is the first Essential Root and Ground, though none of all these and the
like Expressions, nay also all jointly together, are not sufficient to express
it enough. And the second is this same Attraction again, as it is actually
drawing, moving, running, working, stirring; and in this respect it is a free,
lively, vigorous Motion, quite contrary to binding and shutting up, and can
have no Communion nor Fellowship with any Astringency.
As also Astringency or Compaction can have no Communion with any free Motion or
Mobility. They are both to one another like as Death and Life. For Astringency approacheth unto Death, and shuts up into gross compaction,
as it were into a dark Grave; and motion is a free Agility, and proper Working
of Life, running freely to and fro. And nevertheless they both are all Unseparable,
none of them can subsist by itself alone, but each is implied in the very
nearest Essentiality, and proper Idea of the other. For attraction and
Astringency is itself a Motion and cannot be conceived without a motion. If it
were without motion, it must lie unmoveable in the former still and calm
Nothing or Temperature. And this motion also can neither be, nor be conceived
without Attraction and Compaction, for before it there is an Eternal Nothing,
which is quite Incapable of admitting any motion, except there be first out of
this Nothing (in a Spiritual Sense) attracted and compacted something, wherein
this motion may exercise its Agility. We shall find this plainer, when we consider these 2 first Properties
as they are in their further exterior manifestation in this Outward Nature,
though there but gross and rude Lineaments thereof may be found, but nowhere a
full, constant and exact Representation. All therefore is to be apprehended
beyond the common Notions we have of Outward things, and all words are to be
taken in the highest sense, and in such a full Extent and Latitude as can be
Imagined, seeing it is far transcendent All, whatever is or can be any visible
Likeness thereof in this temporal Principle. Such a Likeness then of the first Form of Eternal Nature is to be seen
in the Cold, Slow, blockish, Astringing Saturn, which, though he cannot be
without all motion, for his Magnetical Attraction is
itself a Motion, yet as to his own, proper and most natural, Styptic Property,
he is a professed Enemy to all Motion; we see he congealeth
and compacteth the flowing, liquid, moving water and turneth it into Ice, and maketh
it to be like an Unmoveable Stone. He shuts up into Death all the motion of
every vegetable Life, so that in those most northern countries, where by reason
of the far and long absence of the Sun, he can more powerfully exercise his
strong Astringing Dominion, no grass or tree can be brought forth; nay no such
living creature also, as hath not some higher and stronger Ascendent
in the Generation of its Life. And this is the nearest Representation of this
first Property of Eternal Nature, that may be had upon
all this Outward Theatre. The second we may see plainly also, by a due Consideration of the
Materiality of its outward metal answering thereunto, which is Mercury. For
this showeth forth even Demonstratively, by its
Liquidity and Fluidity, which Mercury alone is capable of among all the rest,
that in his own proper particular Nature he is a professed Enemy to all Astriction and Compaction; for he will be always free,
moving, flying, liquid, unfixed, wandering, moveable, Inconstant, running up
and down etc. Which is also the peculiar Nature and essential
Property of the Planet Mercury, and of all these Creatures that are under his
dominion. Though nevertheless even Mercury himself is not, and cannot be
free from all Attraction and Compaction too, else he should have no visible and
palpable Body at all. It is the first Astringing Form of Nature itself, that
hath the greatest Hand in making the Consistency, thickness or Palpability, not
of Mercury only and of every other metal, but also of all the other visible
things. It was this first Form of Outward Nature that made our Bodies so gross,
thick, bulky, ponderous and Earthly, as they are now; whereas the first of pure
Eternal Nature, made it (in its first Creation) to have a clear, transparent,
Crystalline, Spiritual Consistency; according to the Nature and Condition of
the Paradisical Earth and World. So then it is to be seen thereby, not only that No Form is or can be
without the other, but also that these 2 First Forms chiefly ans especially are but One and the same thing, though its
disagreeing qualiifiactions stand in the greatest
opposition to each other, having each of them its own will, which never can be
reconciled to the other in this state, except there be made a further Progress
towards the Production of Light and Love, which they all do willingly submit
unto: but as things stand between them now in this Beginning State, all
Reconciliation or Harmonizing of these two first Forms is absolutely an
Impossible thing. For none of them can prevail against the other. The stronger the 1
would attract and astringe, with Intention to bind ans
to keep under the 2 or to stiffle its motion, the
stronger is the second also made, even by this same Increasing Attraction.
Truly it is most evident, that the 2 must of all necessity always increase unto
greater Opposition, in the very same Degree in which the 1 would Increase for
to prevent this Opposiition. For in the 1 lieth already the 2. In the attraction is the motion
implied, and the attraction is itself the motion. If therefore the former doth
Increase, the latter must Increase also, and this always in the same Degree.
And so again : The stronger the 2 would move, run and
stir, and thereby endeavour to break the Compaction, and to prevent a further Astriction, for to make so far itself a free way, the
stronger is also the 1 made even by this same Increasing motion, for this
Motion is the Attraction itself, which is therefore but strirred
up thereby, and compelled to exert its own Power the more, and so to maintain
its own Natural Right. Seeing then, that each of these two will and must maintain its own
Will; that none of them can subdue or dispossess the other from its own Natural
Birthright; that none can subsist without the other; but it is generated
immediately by the other, and implied in its own Generation, that none can
condescend to the other, by denying itself or ceasing from its own Essential
Inclination; and that also they both can not remain in such a State, because
thus not yet sufficient to produce anything, or to bring forth any
manifestation; they must therefore go on toward the Production of the Fire, and
further of the Light. But before they can reach to the Fire, they make in their
next Step, or rather they both are themselves a swift, flying Whirl, called so
not as in a mere Parable, but very properly, for they both do whirl round
about, like as a terrible Whirlpool or swift turning Wheel, that by no means
can be stopped. Which is now the 3 Form. And that this must be so most naturally, and necessarily, may be seen
even in Outward Nature also, though it be but a gross Resemblence
thereof, for there we may observe that every Motion, when prevented to move
freely in a straight way, and supposed it is so violent that it cannot be
stopped must of necessity make a Digression from a right Line and turn into a
crooked Round. And this 3rd Form is Anguish, Pain, Trouble, and if highly
increased, Madness, Rage and Fury. But NB, here we must not think, as we commonly are apt to do, that all
this is so in Eternal Nature, properly and punctually, according our common
notions, we have of such and the like Expressions. No truly, no such thing at
all; There is no Pain, Trouble, or Anguish, no Madness, Rage, or Fury in
Eternal Nature; There is nothing that did or could feel any Woe or Torment, all
is good and very good, beyond all such an Imaginable Goodness, as we are able
to think of: and it hath never been from all Eternity such a Place or State,
divided and divorced from Light and Love, wherein there had been such a
Condition of these 3 first Forms of Eternal Nature, as is hitherto described,
or as may be described further hereafter (which is also never said by J.B. but
rather the pure Contrary) but Eternal Light and Love did shine and rule therein
for all Eternity. All these and the like Expressions then are taken a posteriori, after the Fall of Angels and Men, and with
respect to them it is rightly and verily said, that in Eternal Nature there are
3 such Spiritual Properties or qualifications, which when separated and diverced from Light and Love (as actually is done in Angels
and Men, but never before in Eternal Nature itself) are unto them really (and
must therefore also justly be called) Anguish, Woe and Torment, Madness, Rage
and Fury, for they are then so in them, and to them, and not in, or to Eternal
Nature without them. Let us for Instance consider such a wicked man, as hath fixed his
strong, fervent Desire and perverse Own Will upon some or other treacherous
Design, which maugre God and Men he will have
performed. Such a man, if he cannot reach to his Mark, being prevented by a
Superior Hand, may really fall into Madness, Rage and Fury, and may come out of
all his wit, so as to care not, and to know also not at all, what he speaks or
doeth. And in such a Man these 3 first Forms, both as to his temporal Outward,
and as to his Inward Eternal Nature, are divorced, both from their Astral and
from their Eternal Light, and are in a full and free Exercise of their own
peculiar qualities, natural and essential unto them, when separated from their
only Superior Rule of Light and Love. For Madness and Fury are nothing else but
such a Disordered State, wherein the Wheel of Nature (Rota Nativitatis
v. Jac: III. 6) is brought into such a swift terrible
Whirling, as that Man's Mind is not able to hold in Order its own turning and
violently whirling senses, or to fix them upon One only thing, or to lead them
moderately and decently from One to the other, but is totally dispossessed from
its Sovereignty, due unto it over all its senses. A more outward and artificial Likeness thereof we may see in a
Mechanical Watch, which hath besides many little Wheels, moving continually,
such a greater One also, that is ordained to move or turn but Once, when the
Clock is One, twice when it is two; thrice when thee etc. Which
aptly doth typify Man's Mind and Senses. For this Wheel is appointed to
rule over all the Strikings of the Clock, and to hold
them in due Order; and therefore in a well ordered Watch it is fixed or
fastened again immediatley, after it hath stuck so or
so much, as the time of Day or Night doth require, and neither sooner nor
later. But when this is out of order, it many whirl about continually, with being
fastened in due time, and so thereby it may make the Clock to strike a hundred
times or more, immediately one after another. And such a disordered watch is in
a common proverb said to be mad, but such a Man is mad indeed, or quite Raging
and furious, according to the Degree of his Disordered Condition. This third Form of Eternal Nature that it doth really and most terribly
whirl about, like to a dreadful whirlpool, is all
Unquestionable, not only to me, but also to every such a one as hath had a
living Self Experience thereof in the Depth of his Soul. This only, but nothing
else, I can call an Unexceptionable Witness; But Anguish, Trouble, Sorrow,
Anxiety in Man's Outward Mind and Nature, as they are Exterior to the depth of
his Eternal Soul, so they can be but as a shadowy Figure thereof, far short of
being able to declare the Internal Essentiality of such a deep Spiritual thing,
as is transcendently Superior to all External Nature. But I am sure, it is an Impossible thing to express such an Experience by any words,
and yet more Impossible to understand it really, except there be had before a
real Self Experience, and living Sensibility thereof. But that it must be so of
all necessity, and that by no means it can be otherwise, may more easily be
both declared and apprehended. For the two first Forms, are, as it were engaged with one another in a great war, fight or Combat. The 1 doth assault and lay hold
on the 2 to restrain or astringe its mobility. And the 2 can defend itself by
Nothing else, but by a vigorous awakening, animating, raising and stirring up
of all its moveable Strength and agility, whereby it lays hold on the 1 receiprocally, for to break thereby its Astringing Force.
And again the 1 hath nothing to resist with, and to oppose to this Increasing
motion, but only a stronger and more violent attraction, whereby it endeavours
to prevail, and to shut up into a still Death this restless motion; but instead
of shutting up into Death, it doth itself raise up this motion unto greater
Life,, and so unto stronger opposition; for the more vehemently it doth attract
the more vehemently it doth also move: and this very selfsame motion of its own
attraction, is the only Enmity and opposition of its attraction, so near and
proper, and present, and essential unto attraction, as attraction is near,
proper, present, and essential unto itself. If they were two distinct separable things, of such different Essences
as brought unto, and set in Opposition to each other from without, there might
be found out an other Way, to prevent that whirling Wheel, either by
Reconciliation, made by Arbitration of a third One, coming in also from
without, or else by Separation, Retirement and Departing from each other, or at
last by Conquest and victory, obtained by the stronger Part over the weaker.
But now they are both but one single thing, and this Strife and fighting is not
from without, but is in the most Inward and nearest
Essentiality of this One single, Unseparable thing
itself. When we conceive but the minutest Point, as
any Indivisible mote can be Imagined, and this both as to time and place, which
is but a low Natural Concept, easily to be formed, and if we but think that
there is in this Point Attraction, then surely these 2 Forms, and this Fighting
between them is therein also essentially Implied. For the 1 Form bears the 2
upon its neck, or carries it always and everywhere within itself, in its own
deepest Bosom, and is neither prior nor superior to it, and neither stronger
nor weaker than it. And so is the 2 also to the 1. When the 1 doth attract,
then instantly the 2 doth move, and so the fighting is begun for the 2 cometh
not upon the 1 as a posteriori, and not as from
another distinct place: And so the 1 also not to the 2 but they both are most
Intrinsically joined, and con-substantiated into one another; that same which
is the first is the second also; and that same which is the Attraction, is in
the same Instant the Motion also itself. And nevertheless there is the greatest
Enmity, contrarity, and Opposition between this One attracting motion, and moving attraction. And in this
Enmity and Strife they must of all necessity drive and toss, or turn and tumble
One another up and down. So that there is no way for any Reconciliation, nor
Separation and Retirement, nor also for Victory of the One, and subduing or
keeping under of the other; but the very next and quite Unavoidable thing, that
can come forth from this fighting of these two, is nothing else, but a swift,
turning turbulent, restless, anguishing, tormenting Whirlpool, or whirling,
which is the third Form. And this third is also not an other strange thing, coming in or upon
the former two from without, but as the first is the second, and the second is
the first, so now the first and second, in their war and fighting are
themselves both together this third whirling Form also. These 3 first Forms of Eternal Nature, as they bear their certain
Relation, to that most Perfect and Regular Triangle before Eternal Nature, the
first being related to the Father; the second to the Son, and the third to the
Holy Ghost; so they may be said to have somewhat like to a Triangle also. But
as yet this Triangle in Nature is very short of the Perfection and Regularity
of that, before and beyond Eternal Nature, and may aptly, as to my apprehension,
by represented to the Mind by such a Character. The 1 gross and straight line showeth forth the strong attraction and compaction of the
first, filling and Darkening Property. The 2 fine and crooked, running up and
down represents the Mobility of the second. And the 3 compounded out of these
former two, and turning at length as in a Whirl, declareth
the Anguishing qualification of the third; which is an Inordinate Combination
of the first and second, partaking of both, and agreeing with none of them, but
running on after its own peculiar Way and will, no less than the former two. They all three spring up out of One Root or
Centre, wherein only they are united. Which is to say, that they are 3 are but
one Inseparable thing, and that they can be separated and divided into 3 things
no more, than their One Centre can be divided into 3 Centres, but that they all
3 must continue in each other together, within their own Sphere of Activity. This Centre is dark and thick, and doth thereby represent that primitive,
strong, Desiring Will, by its magnetical Attraction,
filling, ingrossing and darkening itself. But, notithstanding that they are but One thing in their Centre, they are also 3 in their
Outgoing; running each of them its own peculiar Way and making thereby as it
were 3 Corners. In which respect it was said they had something like to a
Triangle. But as in that former most Regular and Perfect Triangle, the 3
Corners thereof were Harmoniously United in their Circumference, where its 3
Sides did touch, love and embrace each other, so contrariwise, here is in the
Circumference of these 3 no Uniting, no Concord, nor Harmony, nor Unanimity at
all. They do rather fly from one another as much as they can; nay they hate,
accuse and blame one another. Each of them doth only justify itself, and lays
all the Fault and Guilt of all their Trouble and Restlessness, to the Charge of
the other two. The first crieth to the second: If thou werest quiet as I am, and didst not so move, and stir, and
sting, and break, I could be in Rest, thou art therefore the only Cause of all
my Trouble. The 2nd replieth: The Fault is only thine and not mine; for I love Rest and Peace, but if thou
didst not draw in, and astringe so vehemently, and shut up into Death, I could
move moderately and peaceable, and so we could both be delivered from this
turbulent whirling wheel, which is the only true cause of all our Distress. And
the third sayeth: Ye are both Liars, full of
Injustice and Perversity, for ye seek the Guilt in a harmless and Innocent One,
which ye could find only in yourselves, for it is evident to every Impartial
Judge, that if ye both were not so harsh, sharp, bitter, rough, fighting and quarreling with one another, I could be regular and
moderate, and had no need to whirl about in such an Anxiety, as ye both force
me to do, to my own greatest Trouble and misery, etc. This is all their Friendship, Good Will and Love they bear to one
another. And though they all 3 speak the Truth in part, being all 3 guilty of
their Distressed Condition, yet they are also all 3 Liars and false witnesses
against each other, and none of them will look directly into its own Bosom, and
find there its own Guilt; for they are all 3 without Light and Love, and so
blinded and darkened by their own will, self Love and selfishness. And this Ground lieth now really both in the
Devil and in the Unregenerated Part of Man. In the
Devil absolutely Dark, and quite Divorced from all and every Light, but in Man
surrounded and Irradiated by an Outward Astral Light, and made thereby as a
Specious Picture, coloured and shining forth pleasantly, more or less,
according to that Degree, in which thie Astral Light
doth shine upon it. Unto both therefore this Word of our Lord is really
applicable. When they speak Lies they speak of their Own. For these three Forms
of Eternal Nature, divorced from their Light, are become their own Natural Life
and only Essence, exalted in them, ans set upon the
Throne in a full Dominion; that so therefore they cannot but rule and lead
their Subjects, according to their own proper Essential Right, Law and Will,
they have by themselves in their own dark Sphere, when departed from their Obedianec and Submission, due unto the Light of Love. Let us now see further but in short, how all this Description of these
3 first Forms will agree with the Expressions of Jacob Behmen. The first is commonly called by him, Harshness, a Harsh Desire, the
Desiring Will, sometimes he calls it a Magnet, a Magnetical
Hunger, a strong Attraction and Impression; and in Conjunction with the first,
Original, Superior Will, he calls it the Verbum Fiat;
but most significantly he calls it the great stillstanding
Death. Its own peculiar qualities, Effects and Products are said to be
Darkness, Hardness, Roughness, Sharpness, Coldness, Saliness,
Grossness, Thickness, Heaviness or Ponderosity,
Materiality, Palpability, and in living Creatures a great Avarice. The second is commonly called by him, Bitterness, or the Bitter
quality, a bitter Sting, trembling, piercing and mounting up, a breaking and
Stinging motion, a stirring drawing Mobility, the Beginning of Opposition. etc. The third is usually called by him Anguish, Sensibility, and most
significantly a little continually dying Death, in Opposition to that former
great stillstanding Death in the first; which there
was called so, because there was yet nothing of Sensibility, but a still,
silent, Insensible Deadness, opposite to Life and Motion, as for Instance might
be conceived in an Unmoveable congealed water: but here this third Form is now
the Sensibility itself, or the Root and Ground of the Sensitive Life in
Creatures; and therefore a continual sensible, tormenting Death unto them, that
awakened this Ground in themselves, by departing from their only Eternal Life,
or Light and Love. Which all I think is evident enough to be well agreeing to
all what was said thereof before, and can also easily be found out by those
many places alleged before. Let us now look out in this world for something plain and obvious to
Human Senses and Reason whereby these 3 first Properties of Eternal Nature as
to their Generation, The 1st is an intensive force, astringent, making straight and stiff,
and binding violently. The 2nd is a reluctance, or as it were an impatience or
Unwillingness of being by violence drawn and bound or constrained; and a
Natural Tendency to break the bands, and so set itself at Liberty; which 2nd
Property increases always in the same Degree, in which the first increases in
its binding. And these two are (in one sense and respect) one thing and not
two; for neither of them comes in upon its fellow from without, as an other
thing raised from an other ground, but they are so deeply and essentially
united, that neither the 1st can be without the 2nd, nor the 2nd without the
1st, each of them including and carrying the other along with itself in its own
being. When nevertheless thay are also (in another
sense and respect) Two things and not one; for they stand against each other in
a Natural Enmity, contrarity and Direct Opposition;
each of them keeping strictly to its own quality, and excluding the other from
the same, because it is opposed and resisted thereby. But further from these 2
not from the 1st nor from the 2nd alone, but from the 1st and 2nd in
Conjunction, and even (NB) by means of their Contrarity,
arises also the 3rd, which is neither the 1st nor the 2nd but different from
both, and yet participating both of the one and the other, and as it were a
mixture of them both, not only produced by them and out of them unavoidably,
but increasingly also necessarily in strength, always in the same Degree in
which their contrarity increaseth;
so that it could not be at all what it is, if they were not what they are. And
this 3rd now is a Natural Disposition or Tendency to a circular whirling
motion; for although it be kept under, whilst the 1st prevails, nay though it
be invisible also no less than the former two, during that prevailing of the
first; yet no sooner can the String be broken or cut off, but it will instantly
show forth not only its own internal Signature to the Eye, but also that of the
former two to our reason; so that we cannot but apprehend and conclude them to
have been the only true immediate Causes of this 3rd which also will be so much
more violent, and continue so much the longer, as much the Contrarity
was greater between the 1st and 2nd. So then it is plain that this 3rd is so
united to the 1st and the 2nd as the 2nd was to the 1st. And that nevertheless it is also no less distinct and different from
both, than the 2nd was from the 1st. Enmity and Contrarity
is between all 3. Each of them hath its own Inclination or Tendency or (as it
may be called significantly) Birthright; each goes as it were, its own way;
each is uneasy and impatient of being opposed and resisted by the other, being
there is a Violence in all, and in every one of them. None will, nor can Submit to the other, but each can only stand its own ground,
and maintain its own Natural Right, or be only for the preservation of its own
particular being, as the same is distinct from and contrary to that of the
other two. None of them can be subdued, or swallowed up by the other, or
changed into the particular nature of the other, nor endued with an other quality agreeable to the other 2. For it is plain
there must be these 3 and can be neither more nor less. Nay there must be these
3 even in this their Disagreement and contrarity, if
a pleasant Sound shall be expected from that String. Nor can this Contrarity be composed, reconciled or ended any ways but by
breaking the String, upon the safety of which they all 3 do depend. And
moreover, they are all 3 equally co-existent to each other, none of them can be
called prior or posterior as to distinction of time, when nevertheless in our
distinct Conception they are rightly distinguished, and called the 1st, 2nd and
3rd because we apprehend their generation successively, and cannot express it
otherwise but by saying, the 1st id the beginning root or Original, the 2nd its
immediate Offspring or product, and the 3rd a mixture of them both. Which 3rd
therefore in our Idea necessarily presupposes the 1st and 2nd like as the 2nd
of the same necessarily presupposes the 1st. When they
are nevertheless all 3 but one thing, which cannot be divided into 3 things,
existing each by itself, but only distinguished as to 3 different qualities
inseparably knit together and all 3 subservient and required to the bringing
forth of a certain musical Sound. Which cannot be done if any of them could
fail, or if the String be broken, for then all 3 are such a Nothing again as
they were before, because all their being wholly depends upon the beign and tuning of a material String; when contrariwise
the 3 first Properties of Eternal Nature must needs be everlasting, unalterable
and indissoluble, as not depending upon any thing without and inferior to
themselves. All this now and what might be said more the like, if attentively
considered, may be able to illustrate in a manner what was hitherto declared
concerning the 3 first Principles of Eternal Nature. These are now the 3 first Forms of Eternal Nature on the left Hand. The
fourth, standing in the midst between 3 and 3, we shall consider hereafter, and
now proceed to the 3 others on the Right, which are Parallel to these first
beginning three. The Fifth then, answering to the Third is Light or Love. Its Generation
will appear plainer hereafter, when the fourth Form which is the Fire shall be
declared, but here in this place it is to be considered only as it stands both
in Relation and in Opposition to the third. The third was an Anguishing Wheel, whirling about most terribly in the
greatest Anxiety, Terror and Darkness, and had nothing in the whole
Circumference of its dark region, whereby, it could be stopped. But now by this
arisen Light and in this flaming Love it is stopped immediately and brought
into Rest and Peace; for that Cross, which before was said to be made up by the
4 first Forms, stands now itself also in this Light and Love out of the Fire,
and this is that which stoppeth its turbulaent whirling, and fasteneth
it as it were in its own 4 Corners. And nevertheless it is not thereby undone,
nor abolished, nor Annihilated, but it is yet still quite the same that it was
before, with this only Difference, that it stood before in Darkness, and stands
now in the Light; that its Propriety was before Hatred, Anguish, and
Restlessness, and is now Love, Joy and Peace; that its former whirling about,
is now made a fixed Triumphing Exultation; that it was before a Continually
dying Death, and is now a continually living Life. Before it was called Sensibility, but then it had nothing which it
could be Sensible of, except its own anguishing Nature in itself; For that
Joyful Rest and Peace, which it sought and longed for to be sensible of, was
not yet, and could also not yet be found, before or without the Production of
the 4th Form of Fire. But this being now brought forth, and the Light being
risen out of this Fire, and having settled itself in the place of the former
Darkness, this third anguishing Form continueth to be
Sensibility, and doth also still retain tgis very
Name, nay it hath it now, as is the fifth Form, more justly as properly, more
really, and mor abundantly; for it is now the only
true and living Sensibility of the Ravishing Love, Influencing Goodness and
Transcendent Unity of the most Holy Trinity; and is therefore enjoying therein
most sensibly Eternal Rest and Peace, manifested and displaying in this Light
even throughout All this Eternal Nature. Before it could not but have its own Will and run its own Race, and
hate its two former Fellows, because they would not approve of but did oppose
to it; But now having forsaken its own whirling Course, and submitted its own
Will to that of Light and Love; and being therefore now fully ruled and
actuated by the only Will of Love, it cannot but love and embrace all its
Fellows, no less that it loveth and embraceth itself; for it stands now in Individual Unity,
Concordance and Harmony, and is made by Love of one Mind, Heart and Will with
them. Before it was but troubled by its Fellows, and was also itself most troublesome
unto them, because it was full of Self, and would stand by itself alone, and
desired the other two to be destroyed or subdued, and all changed into its own
turbulent Nature; but now it cannot but rejoice in and with them, and desire
them to be preserved in their several Essences, for it owneth
them now to be its Needful Fellow-Members, without which it could not subsist
one moment. So therefore this 5th Form is not at all another or strange thing, but
quite that same which the 3rd; only its qualification is changed, transmuted,
and exalted into its highest Degree of Perfection: like as a rough Iron, which
is its proper metal, may be transmuted into the finest Gold, whereby it is not
destroyed, but exalted to its highest Perfection; or like as a wicked raging
man may be appeased, transmuted, renewed and Regeneratedm
and is thereby not undone but delivered from Perdition; and therefore justly
said to have received a New Heart, Will and Spirit, whereas nevertheless he is
not made another strange Creature, but continueth
really the very same Man that was before, as to all his Essentiality. In this Temporal Principle this 3rd and 5th Form is lively represented
by the Air, surrounding our Earthly Globe: This may ne
in one Hour a most turbulent, dreadful and destroying Whirlwind; and
immediately after a most pleasant refreshing Breath, or meek and gentle Gale,
and is nevertheless not 2 but 1 and the same Air, differing only as to 2
Contrary Properties which both it is capable of, from the 2 Eternal Principles,
as they are brought forth into a temporal manifestation, both together within
one and the same Sphere. So also this 3rd and 5th Form are absolutely one and not two, bearing
their Relation to the Holy Ghost who is also but one and not two, and is
nevertheless in the same different Respect, both a Spirit of God's Wrath or a
Flame of Consuming Fire, and a Flame of quickening Love. The Sixth Form, answering to the 2nd is now called a Sound, Noise, or
Sounding forth, a Speech, Voice, Word, a Distinguishing Intellect, a Mobility
of Spiritual Senses as Seeing, Hearing, Feeling, Tasting, and Smelling. But,
notwithstanding all these different Denominations, it is also not another, new
or strange thing, but quite that same which the 2nd was, no less than the 5th was
that very same which the 3rd was. And the only Difference between this 6th and
2nd is Darkness as to the 2nd and Light as to the 6th, as it was also the only
Difference between the 5th and 3rd. Before in the Darkness, as it was the 2nd its peculiar Nature or only
essential quality was to move, but in a bitter Enmity and strong Opposition
against the first Form, its own mother, whereby it was brought forth. And now
in the Light, as it is the 6th Form, it hath not lost so much as one Grain of
its proper Natural qualification; rather it is yet more established, settled
and perfected therein, and continueth to move, to
stir up, to excite and to actuate in all its former Vigour and Liveliness, but
all in the highest Love, Concordance and Unity, and to the greatest Pleasure
and Satisfaction of all its Fellows; which all could not at all consist, nor
live without it, but should be like as a dead Unmoveable Lump. Before it moved as a dreadful Thundering or Terrible Thunderbolt,
breaking, renting and tearing the first Form in its Stypticity,
but now it moveth as a sweet small Voice, or as a
Gentle gale, running to and fro through all, bringing unto every one glad
tidings, and proclaiming the blissful Generation of Light and Love. Before it was called a bitter Sting, or a sharp piercing Prickle, for
it @@@@ was so the 1st stinging though it like as a soft, mild, healing Oil,
penetrating both the first and 7th, that is, the whole Nature even through and
through. Before it stood in the midst between the 1st and 3rd and could agree
with none, but was hated by them both, for it would itself rule and govern all
alone, and would all its Fellows have reformed, according to its own Likeness:
and therefore it was resisted and opposed both from after and from @@@@
Scorpion or Serpent, but now it is like as a from before, not less that it was
itself also resisting and opposing both to that great stillstanding
Deadness of the first, and to that lesser continually dying Death of the 3rd.
And now in the Light it keeps yet still that some former Place, standing in the
midst also between the 5th and 7th which are answering to toe 3rd and first.
But it is now well beloved from both, because perfectly agreeing with both, for
it hath now nothing more of its own Will and Selflove;
and therefore it is now helped forward, assisted, and supported from both Sides
also, because it is now in all, and to all, a quickening Virtue of Life, common
unto all; penetrating through all, communicating itself unto all, and unto
every one, according to its peculiar qualification, and is so both delivered
itself and Delivering all the others also from all that Death and Deadness
which they all before were heavy laden and overburdened with. And thus it keeps
quite unchangeably, really and actually always all its former true Mercurial
Property, but without all its former mercurial Poison; For it is no less than
before continually moving, wandering, running to and fro, flowing, diffusing,
spreading and displaying itself through all its Fellow-forms, and raising up thereby,
in all and in every One of them, Life and Motion of Life, Gladness, Rejoicing,
Praise and Exultation. The Apostle James hath set before us a true Representation, bot of this Oneness of the 6th and 2nd Form, and also of
this Distinction between them; which truly hath much more in it that at first
may appear, or also easily may be declared. For he sayeth
that Our Tongue (the Natural Organ of our Speech, standing really in a very
near Relation to this 6th and 2nd Form of Nature) is but one little and single
member; and that nevertheless, when set on Fire of Hell; when ruled by the dark
2nd Form, as divorced from the 6th, it is a World of Iniquity, an Unruly Evil,
full of deadly Poison, it defileth the whole Body,
and setteth on Fire the Wheel of Nature. But also
contrariwise, when it is set on meek and holy Fire of Love, when it is actuated
by this 6th Form moving in the Light-World, it may verily be called a World of
Godliness, a peaceable Reconcile of Enmities, full of healing, Balsamical Virtue, and it may justly be said to adorn and
beautify the whole Body, and to inflame with living, moving and penetrating
Flames of Love the whole Wheel of Nature, so that all what is within it, must
bless the Lord and praise his holy Name. And nevertheless it is not two, but
only one and the same Individual Tongue. But we are to consider more especially, why this 6th Form, which before
was only called Mobility, is now called a Sound, Noise, Speech, Word and
chiefly a Distinguishing Intellect with Spiritual Senses, and what Communion
these Expressins can be said to have with this
Denomination and Property of Mobility or mercuriality
which is thus to be understood. When the Fire is produced, it divideth and separateth, as we see it doth in outward Nature also, where
it is always refining and separating Impurity from that which is Pure: And
because of this Division and Separation all these former Properties do See,
Hear, Feel, Taste, Smell and Understand One another, and this in the Light out
of the Fire. For if they all were absolutely but one, or quite alike to each
other, without all Differences or Distinction, there could be neither Senses
nor Intellect, all would be but One and the same thing without any knowledge of
itself; but now, though they all be really but one, yet they are distinguished
also by several qualifications. The 1 is
not so as the 2. And
the 2 not as the 3. And the 3 differeth from both the former. The 4 is not as the 5 and the 5 is not as any
of all the rest, but each is Immutable in its own qualification. When therefore the One doth enter or arise in
the others with its Differency, then it is
immediately seen and felt by the others, for it represents presently to the
others its own peculiar Property, and bears its own Distinguishing Character
always along with itself, whereby it is discerned to be this or that Form, and
not an other. And so only their
Distinction is the Cause of all these Senses, which are in a continual
Exercise, because they do continually enter or arise in one another, which is
their mutual and never ceasing Generation.
And in this mutual Communion or Communication with each other, doth now
consist the true Sound or Sounding forth of all of them, whereby every one doth
declare and plainly represent to the others its own natural qualification,and is thereby understood and approved by the
others, understanding and approving them reciprocally. A true Likeness thereof we may see in our own Speech: If we all were
but one, or thoroughly alike to each other, without all Distinction, we could
communicate Nothing to each other, and so we could neither be seen, nor heard,
nor felt, nor understood, nor liked, nor disliked by each other. But because we are all distinct and different
from each other, we can show forth or declare by Sounds, or Words, or
Characters, our several Thoughts, Apprehensions and Ideas, whereby we may
convey our own peculiar Signature of our mind into that of an other; which
there can arise iup in him either an Approbation or
Disliking thereof. And as this is
between several Persons, so it is also between the several Senses, Thoughts and
qualifications of one and the same Individual mind. If all our Senses and Thoughts were but one
Sense and Thought, without all Difference, we could not have any knowledge of
our selves: But because they are all Distinct and Different enough, they do
represent their various Figures in the Looking-Glass of our Mind, and are made
thereby able to know and to feel, to discern, to like and approve, or else to
dislike and disapprove each other. This 6th Form therefore for as much as it is a continual Reciprocal
Communication between all these Forms of Nature, whereby every one, when
arising with its peculiar Difference in the different qualities of the others
(which they all do continually in their mutual Generation of each other) doth
essentially declare and make known to them its own peculiar Property, it is
most properly called their Voice, Word, Sound or Speech, for it is that in
Eternal Nature which a Human Voice is in outward Conversation. And now as from our outward Speech a Distinguishing Intellect cometh
forth, or is raised up in them that hear our words, which is able to discern
between between one thing and the other. Nay as also from our own Inward Speech, or
mutual Communication of our own different Thoughts and Senses, such a
distinguishing Intellect is raised up in ourselves also, which is able to
discern between our own Thoughts, so it is, in a higher and more eminent
manner, in Eternal Nature also; where therefore this 6th Form is also rightly
called a Distinguishing Intellect. Which
yet altogether is built upon this One only Foundation Ground of Motion or
Mobility, of arising or Springing up in One another, of Influencing or
Conveying into each other their several qualities, and so of Seeing, Hearing,
Tasting, Feeling, Smelling, Discerning, Understanding and Approving of one
another. Without which Mobility they
should all be either in their primeval Stillness and Nothingness, or in their
succeeding Deadness and Insensibility, that was in the first Form, at their
Beginning of Coming forth out of the Eternal Temperature. So then this 6th and 2nd Form are absolutely but one and not two,
bearing Relation to the Son, the Eternal Word of the Father, who is also but
One and not two; and nevertheless to be distinguished alsoe,
almost according to such a Difference as there is between this 6th and 2nd
Form. For in Respect to this
Distinction, it is one word of the Eternal Father, whereby the strong Might and
Power of his consumming Fire is expressed or
declared, and an other, whereby the Meekness, Love and Glort
of his Light. According to which Distinction
this One Eternal Word of the Father will appear in our Humanity, in the Clouds
of Heaven, and in his Fathers Glory, not only with his Light and Love, but also
with Flames of his Fire, to execute vengeance against all ungodliness of Men,
and to pronounce by Sounding Words, a Judicial Sentence in Truth and
Righteousness, not only of Blessing, relating unto Light and Love, but also of Curse,
relating to the Fire. The 7th Form, answeeing to the first, is now
the whole completed Nature itself, called by J.B. with many and manifold
Denominations; which though they are not all to be understood in an absolute
Sense, but some of them in this or that peculiar Respect; yet they all do
declare what is plainly enough, and truly so, that this 7th Form is more
Intelligible that all the former. For he calls it the Mother of all the former 6 Properties, giving
unto them all Substantiality, Power and meekness. The coagulated corporeity
of all the 6 Forms or Powers. The
formed or Outspoken word. The Substantiality of the Light, the One pure Element, the Angelical World, the And many other Denominations more might be gathered together; But
notwithstanding they are never so many or various, this 7th Form is one and the
same with the first, and as before between all the others on the Right and Left
Hand the only Difference was darkness and Light, so it is here also between this
first and seventh. Before it was a strong harsh Spiritual Attraction, compacting together,
binding and keeping down, and coming forth from a Violent Desire, which stood only in Darkness. But now it is really Attracted and Compacted,
bound and kept down by a most potent Desire also, but by such a one as stands
now in the Light of Love; which Desire is verily attracting and compacting
also, but no more as before shutting up into Death. And nevertheless even unto that great stillstanding Death, which was the proper Denomination of
the first Form, this Seventh still continueth to bear
a very near Relation also. For this 7th
Form, for as much as it is really Material, Visible and Palpable (to such Hands
and Eyes as are answering thereunto) it is quite different and
contra-distinguished from a pure Immaterial Spirit, and is therefore but Dead,
having no Life, no Sense, nor activity in itself, or so, that it really and
properly did belong to its own peculiar Material Substantiality. For though it verily be Influenced with Life
and living Virtue, yet this Life which is the Working Activity of the 6 former,
doth not belong to this 7th Essentially, but is Superior to it: Like as a
living human Body hath Life indeed, and yet its Life is a whole Degree Superior
to its Materiality, and doth not belong essentially to this Body itself, as far
as it is Material; but rather, in respect to its materiality it is but a Dead
thing even while it liveth. And so this 7th Form, in respect to its
materiality is really but dead, without Senses, Intellect or Understanding, and
hath no Life at all as far as it is material, but it hath Life as far as it is
in Conjunction with its 6 Fellows, which are its only Life, like as a human
Body hath Life indeed while it is in Conjunction with its living Soul. And because now this Conjunction can never be
broken nor dissolved, this Seventh Form is no less than all ther
former Immortal and Unalterable, growing, feeding and nourishing all the former
6 because animatedm actuated and Influenced by them
All. And so that former great stillstanding Death in the 1st Form is now become in this
7th a multiplying Life, though nevertheless something of its Deadness is to be
found even in this Life also; whereby it doth the clearer evidence itself, that
they both are One and the same, distinguished from each other only by Darkness
and Light. Which also from this only Consideration following might be evident
enough: That all the Office of Eternal Nature being none other, but to bring
about a Manifestation of that former Eternal Nothing, which Manifestation was
to be made both by Spirituality and Materiality; the Beginning thereof, which
was a harsh Desire, could desire and attract in its Desiring nothing else but
what first was intended; and the End thereof, which is a Fullfilling
of this first beginning Desire, could also be nothing else but a Perfection of
that same which in the Beginning was attracted; and which could not be brought
unto Perfection but by Concurrence as well of Darkness as of Light. This 7th
Form therefore can be nothing else but the first in its Perfection, like as the
first was the 7th in its Beginning. This first and 7th Form therefore, being the Beginning and the End, and
returning into itself as a Sphere or Circle, bear their relation to the Eternal
Father, who is also himself the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last,
and this in a more eminent or transcendent, nay let us say, in a more Eternal
Way and manner: For though we cannot say so, with respect to any Imaginable
Priority of Times, or Succeeding ages; yet we with respect to his Eternal
Priority and Superiority of being, which is before, beyond and above Eternal
Nature. In which respect therefore He
hath and can have nothing Co-eternal with himself, in the same highest sense
and perfectest Degree of Eternity. For from him alone are all things, and
Eternal Nature itself; and so to him alone do return all things again, and all
Eternal Nature itself, as to its only Superior Author, first Original Beginning,
and Extremest End.
To Him be Praise and Glory both in our Time; and in the Eternity of
Eternal Nature; and in hos own, yet more Eternal
Eternity, far surpassing all created Understanding. And thus we had now here also the 3 Forms of eternal Nature, standing
on the Right Hand in the Light, Opposite in One Sense, and answering in an other, to the 3 former, standing on the Left in darkness,
and bearing relation jointly together to the most Holy Trinity. Now then we are further to consider that
which doth distinguish and Divide between them, for though there was rightly
said, it was darkness and Light, yet there is also something else, standing
exactly in the midst, not only between Darkness and Light itself, which is the
4th Form of Eternal Nature, called the Fire.
For this hath Darkness below, as its own Root and Ground, and Light
above, as its own proper Product or Natural Offspring; but itself stands in the
midst, and is neither Darkness nor Light, but it is that which springeth up out of Darkness, and bringeth
forth the Light. To understand its Generation is in all this matter of the highest
concern; for without this, neither the 3 Forms before it, nor the 3 following
after it, can br rightly understood; but truly it
cannot be declared, plainly enough by a few Lines only. None of all is so much
enlarged upon by J.B. as this, which he doth declare with all its particular
Circumstances; for this 4th Form of Eternal Nature, as it bears the greatest
Office in all this Eternal Manifestation, so it is also worthy of the exactest Consideration;
and may justly be called a key opening the understanding of all the Rest. I
shall nevertheless make it as short as I can, leaving behind all such
Particulars, as I think may from this be Understood easily, by reading and
considering his own Words, in the Places mentioned before. First there must be recalled to the Mind the Condition of the 3
beginning Forms, in their fighting and whirling about. The first doth attract
vehemently, and seeing it hath Nothing to attract from
without, it doth attract only NB itself. And the 2nd cannot endure this
astringing attraction, but resisteth valiently, moving, stirring, stinging and breaking with its
Mobility. This is a great Intolerable Enmity to the first, which therefore
attracts but harder and harder to bind and to keep down this domestic Enemy,
and to stiffle its free motion; and so it maketh itself to be so hard and strongly compacted, as in a
gross Likeness might be said of the hardest Rock. Which is again but an
Increasing Enmity, and stronger Opposition to the 2nd for it is unto it nothing
else but a violent strangling, suffocating, or taking away of all its Life;
which yet cannot be taken away by any Force, neither can it willingly give it
up, by any Condescending to the Desire of the first. There is then from hence
the greatest Hatred, Terror, and Anxiety both in the 1st and 2nd which, finding
no Rest nor Resting place, become a swift turning
Wheel, which is the 3rd Form. And this, though it whirls about in the most
horrible Anguish, Terror and Darkness; yet, it cannot fly, nor depart from its
2 former Fellows, for in their never ceasing Fight and war they do themselves
generate it so continually, neither can it be prevented nor stopped by any
thing else; for there is nothing else in all this Dark Region but only these 3.
It can therefore reach nothing at all by its swift turbulent whirling, but only
greater and greater Anxiety, which is its own most
Natural, Intrinsical and essential Property. And
nevertheless there is a most vehement panting and longing for Rest and Peace in
all these 3 for they are all 3 as in the extremest
Pangs of Death and this is so their present State. What shall now further become of this most miserable Condition,
Irreconcilable Enmity, and endless Anxiety, Truly if this could be Imagined to
have been so, only from itself, without any deeper Original Ground, whereout it came forth into this State, or eithout any such will, as is really prior and Superior to
it, and all free from it; we should be constrained to say, that it must abide
and continue so, without any possibility of making a further Progress, and
Attaining unto Rest and Peace, nay we must say also, that there could not be
any Desire after Rest and Peace in them: But seeing there is before and beyond
these 3 Forms an Eternal Liberty, and a most absolute Sovereign Will, Design or
Intent to be made manifest in its Secret Powers and Wonders. And seeing also,
there is really something else in these 3 even while they stand in this
Condition; which is not of them, but is from, or out of that former Eternal
Liberty, and is gone along with them, through all these 3 Degrees, and is
itself the only Secret cause of their Desire after Rest and Peace, though as
yet all Incomprehensible unto them; there can therefore a further advancement
be made, and their panting Desire after Rest and Peace can be fulfilled. We
must needs consider what this is, how, or wherein it differs from these 3 first
Restless and Anguishing Forms; Why it went along with
them through all these Steps or Degrees. And why it is as yet quite
Incomprehensible unto them; or else the Generation of the 4th Form of Fire
cannot be understood. For the Conjunction of these 2 things will prove to be
itself the Enkindling of the Fire. We must then know and understand that in the Eternal Liberty, before
the strong harsh, attracting Hunger or Desire in the first Form of Nature,
there is a meek, soft, mild, and sweet, pleasant or Delightful Imagination in
the primitive Original Will, which is all free from Nature, and from any Trouble
that is is Nature; for it hath no Communion with any Harshnesh nor Attraction, and so neither with any stinging
motion, nor whirling Anxiety; but is most pleasantly playing in or with itself,
or lusting, and in its Lust intending to manifest its own hidden Powers and
Secret Wonders (known and seen, as in a great Abyssal Depth, in that eternal
Looking-glass of Wonders, which afterwards in the Light World is called the
Eternal Virgin Wisdom) and so to satisfy its own Lust by this Manifestation.
This Lust I see is in the English Translation very aptly and significantly
expressed by the Latin word Lubet, which doth imply
nothing of Austerity, Sharpness, or Vehemency; but
denotes only a soft Inclination, or pleasant Propensity, or a still peaceable
Intention, playing most harmoniously with itself, and delighting itself in its
own sweet Imagination. The great Difference of these 2 we may find a plain Resemblence
of, in our own Mind, where we can observe and plainly discern, that our
Imagination, when in a peaceable Stillness or sweet Tranquility
playing with itself about this or that Intended Design, is quite another thing,
than when it runs out into a harsh, strong Impatient Desire, longing, panting
and <travelling> that its Intent may be performed, with Force and
violence: for that former is sweet and pleasant, and this letter is restless
and turbulent, troubling and disturbing all the former Peace, Serenity and
Pleasantness of Mind. And in a more gross and outward manner, we may feel and
discern this same Difference, or rather but a rude Similitude thereof, in our
own Earthly Stomach, where it is plainly discernable, that a moderate Natural
Appetite is quite another thing, than a great, Restless, Dissatisfied, Hunger,
for that former is agreeable and this latter aching, stinging and tormenting. Such a sweet and meek Lust or Lubet then is
without, or before all troubling Nature, in the Eternal Liberty or Temperature,
but the harsh, Desiring attraction is in Nature, and
the very Beginning of Nature itself. And nevertheless that former is the Root
and Ground of this latter, and this cometh forth out of that. For that first
Original Lubet of the Eternal Liberty, lusteth to be made manifest; to be sensible of itself; to
be in the Life and motion; to have Properties and qualifications; to stand in a
shining Light and Lustre; and to show forth in this Light its own Powers,
Virtues and Energies, which it cannot in its own primeval Dwelling-place of
Eternal Liberty, as it is before Eternal nature, for there is no shining Light
nor Lustre, as also no darkness; there are no Properties nor qualifications;
there is no Life, nor Motion of Life, nor any Sensibility, but there is an
Incomprehensible abyssal Nothing, prior both to Light and darkness, which is
nevertheless the first Original Source of all posterior things. If now this Lubet shall be satisfied in its
Lust, it must make its own Dwelling place of Eternal Liberty to be full of
shining Light and Lustre; and therefore it must not only awaken the 1st and
further the 2nd and 3rd Form of Nature, but it must also itself go forth along
with these 3 through all their qualifications; that so by their concurrence it
may put on Life and Motion, Vigour, Strength and Sensibility, and may by its
returning home bring along with it these things into its own Native Country,
which is Eternal Liberty. Thus now these two are Inseparably
within each other, and nevertheless never commingled with, but always distinct
and different from each other, and Incomprehensible to each other as to their
several Essentialities. For this Lust of Lubet becometh never the Nature itself, but continueth
always to be Thus now from these two most different things there is a twofold most
different Desire within each otherm, and neither this
nor that can satisfy itself; but each of them must fetch its desired
Satisfaction from the other. For Eternal Liberty desireth Life, Strength, Motion, Activity, Light, and
Manifestation; which it cannot attain unto but only by this harsh, fierce and
turbulent Nature. And Nature desireth
Stillness, Rest and Peace, Tranquility and
Deliverance from its anxious Travelling and Turmoil; which it cannot find
within itself, but only in the Meekness of Eternal Liberty. And now the
Conjunction of these two, when they enter into or apprehend each other (but it
must never be understood that they apprehend each other essentially, or so as
to be changed into each others Essences, for this can never be) is the
Enkindling of this Eternal Fire, which is the 4th Form of Nature, which
Enkindling is further thus to be understood. Let us consider a gross Similitude, taken from visible earthly things,
and let us consider it by some distinct Degrees, following after each other;
for though there be none such in Eternal Nature where all is absolutely at once
together, without any before or after; yet we may make use of such Partitions,
for to succour thereby the weakness of our understanding, which is not able to cenceive, or to bear all this together, as it is at onece. Let us then consider, that when two pieces of hard
Wood (that of an Oak, having a near relation to the first, darkening, and
astringing Form of Nature, may be the fittest) are rubbed strongly and
incessantly against each other, they come successively more and more to be Hot,
and then also black and dark, about that place, where they touch each other,
and further, by the continuance and Increasing of this violent runbbing, they become so strongly incensed and exasperated,
that they really bring forth a Substantial consuming Fire, able to devour
themselves, and to reduce them all into Ashes. Though now our visible
Elementary Fire, cannot absolutely be compared, to
that Invisible, Spiritual, and Eternal One, yet it is a near and true Likeness
thereof, and this same manner of its Production also. For when the 3 first
Forms, in their most violent commotion, tossing, driving and whirling, are, as
it were, vehemently and continually rubbed against each other, they do thereby
incense, provoke and irritate each other more and more, and at length they are
thereby so exasperated, and their Desire after the meekness of Eternal Liberty
is thereby so vehemently stirred up, that they sting into it as it were with
sharp Thorns or prickles, by their fiery Hellish Hunger; for this is (as now)
its own and proper Name. Whereof we are here deeply to mind and understand (1) that the free Lust or Lubet of the
Eternal Liberty, which is in, though still Incomprehensible unto them, is
itself the only Mystical Cause of this their vehement Desire, and that without
its secret moving there could be no such Desire in them, for in their own
Natural Essences they know nothing of meekness, and much less how or where to
find it out. And, (2) that this Desire is a dark and false Desire, coming forth only out
of a false Ground of Own Will and Self Love; for they don't desire after
Eternal Liberty for any other sake, but that they may be satisfied each of them
in its own Will; for they know not what Eternal Liberty is, and know it will
devour all their Selfishness, even in one twinkling of an eye. And in short,
they know, and mind not, that their own proper Essential Selfishness, which
they all stand, and live, and move, and have their Being
in, is the One only Cause of all their Darkness, Enmity, Anxiety and
Restlessness. And so their Desire after Meekness, Rest and Peace, without a
foregoing Self Denial of all their own Will and Self Love, is but a dark,
ignorant and false Desire. By this their sharp and prickling Hunger then they stir up reciprocally
the Meekness of that still Lust or Lubet, which is
all hid and Incomprehensible unto them no less than they are themselves
secretly stirred up by it, whereby they bring it actually more and more into
Life, Motion, and Sensibility, according to its own first Intention. And so on both sides they do gradually approach unto each other
nearer and nearer, until they come to a full and open Conjunction, whereof they
are as yet at a great Distance. For the 3 hungry Forms of Nature run as it were
out of themselves, and cast forth their stinging Desires as so many flying
Darts, into the Meekness of Eternal Liberty and if I dare speak so grossly of
such a deep Spiritual matter, I would say, as in a rough Likeness, they make
thereby so many little hours through their own thick Wall, surrounding their
dark Region, through which they see indeed some small flshing
Glances of what is beyond it. But, being all their Essences are so dark, rough,
and Impure without all measure, these little holes are as in a moment filled
again, shut up and clouded with mist, Darkness, and Impurity, and so their
Anxious, Stinging, Hunger, whereby they are as to be killed or strangled, for
want of a free Air and Breath, can attract but very little, if anything at all,
of refreshing and Satisfaction. For the Meekness of Eternal Liberty doth thereby
appear unto them indeed, but only as in the twinkling of an Eye. And for as
much as this is a swift transient Conjunction if these two, there is now
already Fire indeed, but as yet far distant from that only true Fire of the
First Principle. For it is not a constant abiding Fire, burning in
free, clear, lively Flames; but it is as a captivated Fire, covered with many
impure and suffocating Matters, whereunder it wrestleth anxiously, to break through into Liberty; Darting
forth then and when, as it can move or less prevail, but one or other Flame,
which having no convenient food from beneath, and no free Opening from above,
must presently vanish away. It is most fittly to be
compared to the Fire of a swift Lightning, which in one only twinkling of an
Eye is both generated, and seen, and vanished away again, out of all Light,
Apprehension, and Substantiality; and is nevertheless a Real Fire as to that
same Instant of its Appearing. For truly this Generation of a Lightning in our
temporal Principle, where (in a great Tempest) by a strong Rubbing against each
other and exasperating of these 3 first Forms of Outward Nature; the Fire os enkindled even visibly and substantially, and this even
in the midst of Water, Rain and Hail, is a most lively Representation thereof,
as might be made out demonstratively if it would not too much enlarge. This only Difference might there be observed
therein, that in Outward Nature such a Lighning is
nearer to a flaming Fire, and doth really bring forth a bright shining Light in
that swift flying Instant of its Generation; which is not to applicable to this
Lighning in the dark World of Eternal Nature, where
it is rather to be called a dark Fire, and in this particular respect to be
compared to that, which is strongly kept down in the hard Compaction of a
Flint-stone; out of which it must be brought forth by a violent striking,
Irritating and exasperating the 3 first Forms, and so also breaking the dark
Compaction by an Opposite vehement Commotion, where only in this Breaking
something of the Liberty, or rather soemthing
answerable to the Eternal Liberty doth appear like a swift Lightning, but
without shining Light; having nevertheless something in or with it, as in a
Sense might be said to bear an Analogy to the Light, or to be the first
Original Seed thereof; Which in that twinking Instant
rends the Darkness asunder, but vanisheth away
immediately, and cannot be held or apprehended by the Darkness, because it is
free from Nature; neither can it abide in that Being, which in that breaking
Instant was seen, because it can have no Being without the Conjunction with
Nature. The Darkness therefore, by its harsh astringency, repairs immediately
these Breeches againm swalloweth
up all those little Sparks of Fire, and remains in that same State wherein it
was before: Except they both be brought by a further Process, and by the Help
of Tinder, Brimstone, etc, to a free and perfect Conjunction; which Process
would be too long to declare particularly. This one only Similitude of Striking Fire out of a
Steel and But I must return to my Interrupted Discourse,
concerning the Generation of the fourth Form of Eternal Nature, which as yet is
but a dark Fire, and not at all the Fire of the True first Principle. This
Lightning therefore, thus produced in these 3 first Forms, wherein they really
taste or apprehend (as in a swift, twinkling, and like as at a great Distance
from them) some little Sparkles of the Eternal Liberty, cannot but increase
their Anxiety, and provoke their violent Desire still more and more, and so
exasperate their Hunger even to the very highest Degree, which neverthless can by no means be satisfied, until Eternal
Liberty itself draw nearer to Succour this Anguishing and most despairing
Condition; which it doth verily by its own Lust or Lubet,
which is in them, and was gone with them though all their Steps, though
Incomprehensibly unto them. For this is now that which here in this Extremity
doth again begin to move itself more and more, and as might be spoken in a
human manner, it doth take another Will or Resolution, which is, to separate
itself again, or to depart from this troubling turbulent nature, and to retire
itself into its own former Eternal Dwelling place of Freedom and Liberty. But
seeing there is no other Way for it, but to pass also further through the 4th
Form of Fire, if it shall bring home along with it, according to its first
Intention, Life, Motion, Sensibility, Properties and qualifications out of this
Nature; for out of this Nature they must be taken, there is nothing else
besides it, but so as they are in this Nature they cannot be brought into
Eternal Liberty, but they must be first refined, mortified and Spiritualized by
ye Fire. This Lubet then must also Resolve to a Real,
Substantial Enkindling of the Fire, that so it may prepare and open a free way
for itself, to fly home out of thie restless Nature,
through the Fire, and upon the Wings of Light. And so there is in this new Will
or Resolution Resolved both a nearer Conjunction, and also a further
Separation. In this Conjunction now we shall find the Enkindling of the Fire,
and in this Separation or Division the Generation of the Light. As to their Conjunction, it is plain and Evident,
that if there were but so much as one little Grain, or even as the Minutest Mote of Relation, Analogie,
Likeness, Answerableness, or of any thing the like between these two, viz: this Eternal Restless, fighting and whirling Nature,
and this yet more or deeper Eternal Liberty, Meekness, Stillness and
Nothingness; this little Grain of Relation might facilitate their Conjunction,
and could be Imagined to be the Ground thereof: But now, there is not so much
as the least Imaginable Shadow thereof to be found in them: They rather stand
in such a Distance from, and Opposition to each other, as all the Distances,
Contradictions and Oppositions, Enmitys, Strifes and Wars in this whole Temporal Principle, when
laid together in one Heap, or melted in one Lump, could not come up so much as
to be compared with. For they stand, (even now while in this their Spiritual
only State,) in the same Distance from, and Opposition to each other, as
afterwards Heaven and Hell, when in their Substantial Existency.
And nevertheless, these two must absolutely enter into Conjunction or else they
should on both Sides continue to be disatisfied, and
that Glorious design of the Supreamest Original Will
in Eternal Liberty could not be performed. There must then most certainly a
great and mighty work be done and a strong Birth must be brought forth in this
Conjunction; the bringing forth of which can be neither easie
nor pleasant, and this neither on the left nor on the right Hand. Which is said
but after a To call him a Consuming Fire, as He is before and
above this Eternal Nature, in his own yet more Eternal Still Eternity or We are then now to take this strong and wonderfull Conjunction into a nearer and more particular
Consideration, and to demonstrate its Absolute Necessity, for to make this most
Important Point as plain as by outward Words and by my small Ability can be
made. For truely it is not wothout
great Reason to say, that this is a strong Expression; seeing that this
Conjunction is to be made of two such things, as are without all thos Limits of things, which we can Imagine to be capable
of Conjunction; for so it is indeed. And therefore I cannot but premonish, that here in this only Point, concerning the
Generation of this fourth Form of Eternal Nature, lyeth
the very Ground of all those seeming Contradictions, that everywhere are abvious to rational Eyes and minds, throughout all the
Writings of Jacob Behmen; which All must vanish away,
if this one only Point is duely apprehended, insome or other outbeaming Ray of
that same shining Light, which will be the 2nd Birth of this Conjunction. For theser Contradictions are not in his Writings, much less in
the Center whereout they
come forth, which is but one single Thing, but only in our own Sight, or in the
rays of Astral Ligth, proceeding from our Rational
Eyes, by which we look upon them, and presume thereby to see beyond that Sphear, wherein they are born, and have their only Existency, and all their seeing Faculty; considering not,
they are scattered and confused, and ought first to be Reunited to their One
true Original Ground. When the rays in a Circle are fixed to their Center, they can proceed directly from that one Center to its One Circumference, and so return also Directly from this into that without all Contrariety, Confussion, Disorder or Disharmony; for none of them can
Resist, stopp or hinder the other, tho' they were of an Innumerable Multitude. But when they
are Rent asunder, and Dislocated from their Center,
Running by themselves from one Point of the Circumference to the other, there
can be nothing else but Contrariety, Confusion and Opposition, for they lay
then each of them cross in the way of the other, tho'
they were never so few in Number. And yet this Contrariety, obvious
every-where, is neither in the Center nor in the
Circumference, but only in themselves, or in their own broken and confused
State; wherein they cannot, as long as it continueth
so, combine the Center with its Circumference, but
can and do only hinder their own free Prospect, and must of all necessity but
Intricate themselves always so much the more, as more they will run to and fro
against each other. This is a true Emblem of all the Ability of our Reason, if
it hath not a deeper Light than that Astral one from the Outward Sun and
Jupiter, which Light is also further made yet still more Important, by the
great Imperfection, Shortness, want and Deficiency of our outward words and
Expressions, we must be used to in the strange Country of our Pilgrimage. And
therefore I see no Possibility, to declare that which is now to follow of this
deep Matter so, as to be in the Sight of every one wholly free from all seeming
Contradictions, but I shall nevertheless endeavour to Reconcile and to make
them as plain as may be given unto me from Above, both for myself,and
for such as may find more or less some Benefit thereby: Leaving all the Rest to
Him alone who hath the Key of David, and Power to Open and to shutt according to his good Pleasure. For truely Our Understanding
doth nor depend upon any plain Declaration of things, but upon His Opening
only. And with Respect to Him no Declaration (how plain and Evident soever) can be subservient; but it may only with Respect to
us, whom it can excite and stirr up, for to seek
after more earnestly, and to Desire of Him his own free Opening more Sincerely. But if we Expect to Receive Understanding of
things, by this or that plain Declaration; and so Rely upon this only, we shall
find at length ourselves to be disappointed, and misled by our own vain
Expectation, having gott nothing else but empty,
shadowy, and always Doubtfull Notions, never
sufficient to satisfy our Inward Searching Ground, or to settle it in Rest and Acquiescency. The first thing then, that in this Consideration presents itself to my
mind, which I must make mention of, before I can proceed directly to the Fire,
and to the manner of its Production, is this: That it must be granted, this one
only and single Expression of a Conjunction, hath something of Contradiction in
itself, when said of these two that here are to be brought into Conjunction.
For we can conceive no Conjunction but between such things, as have on both
Sides a Real Existency; Let them else be never so
distant from, or so Opposite to one another, Or also never so Spiritual and
Material to each other, yet we can conceive more or less a Possibility of their
being brought into Conjunction, if they but are both within the same Sphear of Real Existency. But Seeing here is between these two afar greater Distance and
Opposition than can be Imagined; For here is Nature, and no Nature; or Nature
and Liberty, free from Nature; that is, Something and Nothing, to come into
Conjunction; which is contradicting indeed, for every Conjunction doth
presuppose and require a Reall Existency
on both sides. It could not suffice, if I would say, that this Nothing or
Eternal Liberty is also Really Something in and to itself; and that it hath its
own Existency, even before and above Eternal Nature,
nay even in a higher and more Eminent Reality that Nature itself. For this
Conjunction is not to be made in this Eternal Liberty, but it shall be made in
Nature; and that which is Immediately to be brought forth by this Conjunction, abideth in Nature; and beareth
the Name of Nature for ever and ever; and can come up nevermore into Eternal
Liberty itself. And now, to Nature this Eternal Liberty is Nothing at all, let
it have whatever it can or will, of Existency and
Reality, in and to itself, within its own Abyssal Sphear:
It must have Existency in Nature, if there in Nature
shall be made a Conjunction between them. Truely no Reason can be able to find here out such
a Medium, as could be sufficient to reconcile this Contradiction, and so
further to Rectify this Expression. But to an Intellectual Eye it is near at
hand; and lyeth allready
Implied in what was said thereof before; which only we will make Recourse unto.
For there could be said something more, yet, seeing it would be too much
enlarge, and make but a New Digression to the Process of the Production of
Something out of Nothing, this only can be for this place Sufficient Enough: we
are then but to consider, that Eternal Liberty, tho'
it is yet still verily Nothing to Nature, in Respect to that Substantiality,
which it shall come to be, by, and after this Conjunction; yet nevertheless it
is also Something allready, even in and to Nature
also, in Respect to that primitive Original Lubet,
which is now in Nature, and is gone allready with
Nature through its 3 fighting and whirling Forms, and is thus stirred up
thereby and brought into Life, Motion and Sensibility, tho'
not yet in such a Substantiality, as it shall come into, by, and after this
Conjunction. So therefore as to this there is no Difficulty, they can be
conceived to be capable of being brough into
Conjunction even in Nature, and can abide in Conjunction, even afterwards also,
when (in an other Sense) separated again and sett in
Opposition to each other. And now we shall find also further, that this Conjunction must be made
up of all Necessity by two such things, as the one whereof is in Nature, and
Nature itself, and the other without, before and beyond Nature, free from Nature,
and Nothing to Nature. For we have seen allready 3
different Forms of this nature, coming all 3 forth out of one only Root and
Ground, nay being also all 3 but one and the same Individual Thing, and
standing nevertheless all 3 in the greatest hatred, Fight and Opposition to
each other, without all Possibility of becoming Subdued by, or Reconciled to
each other. If now this following fourth should also be, only and wholly, out
of that same Ground and Root, what would at lenght
become of this turbulent whirling Nature. Out of this
same Root and Source, and by these former three it must be generated indeed, or
else it could have no Fellowship with them, much less coult
it be the fourth Form of Nature; But if it were generated only and wholly by
the former 3 out of this single Root and Ground without being joined or United
to such an other thing, as is not of this Warring and fighting, but of an
other, deeper, meek, still and quiet Source, what could be expected from the
Coming forth of this fourth Form upon the former 3 ? Would not then Enmity, Confusion, Opposition and
Anxiety still more increase, which is allready
beforehand upon the highest top ot ever can mount up
unto? It is then evident enough, that there must be two such things out of two
such different Grounds and Sources in this 4th Form of Eternal Nature. But seeing now further, that these two things stand at such an Unmeasureable Distance from each other, what can they bring
forth without Conjunction? Their Respective Dwelling-places and Native Countrys are so Remote from, and strange to each other, as
Heaven and Hell. Tho' we are not to give Room to such
low, gross and earthly Thoughts as we are used to, when we speak of distinct
Places and Distances, in this outward Principle, yet when it is but taken in a
due magical Sense, it is most properly expressed by Remoteness, Distance and
Strangeness. For the 3 first Forms came not in or upon each other from without,
but were generated Immediately and most Intrinsically by each other; and so
this fourth Form also, as to that part thereof which is in Nature, and belongs
to Nature, and hath the former 3 for its Root and Ground. But there cometh now
also in such an other thing all from without, and from a deeper Sphear, or Source, which hath as to itself no Communion at
all with this troublesome, anguishing Generation of Nature, but is to bring the
greatest alteration upon it, and to sett its fighting
Forms down into Rest and Peace; for they have each of them their own peculiar
Will, and run Headstrong their own Race; which is the only Cause of their
Endless Enmity, Restlessness and Anxiety; called Endless most justly, with
Respect to this whole, dark, Abyssal Circle of Nature; for in all its
Circumference there is no End thereof to be found. But this most Distant and
strange thing, coming in really from without is only that, which, after it hath
entred into this Conjunction, will have Ability and
Sufficiency to put an End and Stop to it: but as long as it stands as at a
Distance from them, and looks upon them only from without, it can effect
nothing at all. It must therefore of all necessity enter into Conjunction, and
the proper Place of this Conjunction can be no other, but this same fourth
Generation or Form of Eternal Nature, which is to be the only Distinguishing
mark between 3 and 3 or between Nature, and Eternal Liberty, brought into
Substantiality by Nature. Further, this Endless War cannot be turned into Rest and Peace, except
by Conquering and Subduing all these three fighting Forms and by Ruling over
them in One only Will. The 3 first Forms hath each of
then their own Will and so there were 3 Contrary Wills in this one Wheel of
Nature. If now this 4th should, or could be generated only out of the same
mould, it would and must have its own peculiar Will also, no less that its 3
Parents had, as it also hath indeed, when considered as to itself without this
Conjunction. And so then (without this Conjunction) there should be nothing
else in all this Dark World but a four-headed Monster. But this strange and Distant thing, springing up out of another Source, and now
about to enter into Conjunction with the fourth Generation of Nature, is
actually to break down, to bruise and to trample upon all these Wills, and so
to bring them all into Subjection unto itself. For there must be but One Will
in One Eternity, two, three, or four cannot rule together in One and the same
Eternal Sphear, if it shall be called a Dwelling
place of Rest and Peace. There are then now two Partys
against each other, 3 are against 1, and 1 is against 3. What will further
become of this new Opposition? Truely these cannot
both stand continually besides, or over against each other, and look upon each
other from without: Neither can they draw near to each other, to embrace each
other as 2 loving Friends; for there is no Likeness nor Conveniency
between them, but the One of them is absolutely to prevail and to rule, and the
other to be conquered and subdued. That which is Stronger and of a higher Descent is justly to Rule; and
that which is Weaker and of a lower Rank, is justly to be in Sunjection. The 3 Forms before were all alike unto each
other in Might, Power and Strenght, and in Degree of
Nobility also, being all 3 sprung up out of one only Seed, and so they all 3
would rule, and none of them could prevail or dispossess the other from its
Pretension. But now this strange and Distant thing,
coming forth out of Eternal Liberty, is of a Higher Extraction indeed, and of a
more antient Nobility. But truely this Birth-right alone, or for itself, would not yet
be sufficient to raise it up upon the Throne, and to establish its Sovereign
Dominion over these 3. But it must also prove effectually to be
Stronger, and of great might and Power; and without this there is no Conquest,
nor Victory, nor Subduing of these 3 to be obtained. A strong man cannot be
overcome nor subdued, except there come in upon him a Stronger than he, and
take from him his Armour, wherein he trusted. Eternal Nature in these 3 Forms
is not only strong, potent and Powerfull, but it is
actually Omnipotent, yet with Restriction to its own
particular Sphear, for therein is nothing at all,
that could presume to Oppose, much less to prevail against these three. Whereas
on the other Side Eternal Liberty, which is actually to Oppose, and effectually
to prevail, is verily but weak and Impotent, as to itself alone, before and
without this Conjunction; For it hath no Life, nor Liveliness; no activity; not
properties nor qualifications; and much less any Strength, Might or Power, but
it is only a Still, Silent, Resting, Calm, Peaceable, Serene Tranquillity. For
this End therefore it must enter into this Conjunction with Nature, that it may
put on Strength and Power in or by Nature, and may so become absolutely Omnipotent above that particular Omnipotence, which is in
the 3 first Forms of Nature. But here I would not be misunderstood, I don't
say, that Nature is to give Omnipotence unto this Eternal Liberty; this would
be Non Sense indeed, for so it should but depend upon Nature, and must be Inferior
to Nature, whereas it is that which Nature doth depend upon, to which it is
itself infinitely Superior and hath allready
beforehand in itself the vert Root of Onmipotence, nay of a higher Omnipotence too, that that of
Nature. But this Root is not yet sprung up out of its deep and Secret Ground. Tho' it is also verily (in a Sense) sprung up allready; for that Omnipotence in Nature is itself an
Offspring thereof; Yet this Offspring stands as yet only by itself; driveth on in its own will; and is separated from that,
which it Ought to own as its only Root and Ground. And so this Nature in its
own will, is but as an Usurper of its Omnipotence,
having not the very Root thereof withing itself but
only an Usurper Dominion. And Eternal Liberty, is as it were, deprived and
dispossessed of its own proper Right and due; and this is as long as they both
stand without each other, and are not entred actually
into Conjunction. For Nature was brought forth by the only Supreamest
Original Will of Eternal Liberty; and its meek Lust or Lubet
was past itself (all Secretly and Incomprehensibly to Nature's own Will) along
with it, through all its Generations, for this same End, that it might be
stirred, awakened and raised up out of its silent Stillness, and might have not
only Liveliness and Ability, but also Occasion and Opportunity, to take unto
itself its own Right again, by Conquering and Subduing this warring Nature, and
thus further to exert its own, Absolute, Original Omnipotence; and to settle it
above that which was abused by Nature in its own Will. Which
yet cannot be done before, or without a Conjunction with Nature. For before and without this conjunction, it is but one single
thing, nay also Nothing at all to Nature; and so but weak and Impotent, and not
able to prevail against this valiant Omnipotent Nature. But in, or after
this Conjunction it is, as it were, two or twofold, having one thing in and of
Nature, and the other in and of Eternal Liberty, and these two United into One.
These two therefore, joined and united, shall then be sufficient to prevail
against this fighting Nature, which is but One, and yet divided against itself
into three; Whose Dominion therefore cannot stand, much less prevail against
these two United into One. Which one, is this plainly evident again, that it
cannot have these two United into One, except it enter Actually
into Conjunction with Nature, and this in the 4th Form or Generation thereof. But further again, This Conquering and Subduing of the 3 first Forms of
Nature cannot be done, but by a Real Intrinsecal
Transmutation of all their harsh, rough, fierie and
anguishing Eseences. They cannot be subdued in an
outward Superficial Manner, like as for Instance, a Potent Prince of this World
might subdue his Rebellious Subjects, so that after his Conquest they must live
in Rest and Subjection, when nevertheless they may continue the very same Rebells in their Hearts and Wills, despising him, and
wishing for Opportunity,to
break his yoake from off their Necks again. So can it
not be here with these 3 Properties of Eternal Nature; but their Subduig must be an Essential Changing Renewing and
Transmuting; They must all be brought into One only Harmonious will of Love and
Unity; and this Will cannot be put upon them from without, like as a yoake upon the Neck; but it must be most Intrinsecall and Essential unto them, that it may spring
up, and flow forth, out of their own Ground and Bottom; so as to know
henceforth nothing more of own Will and self Love. Changed and Transmuted they must be not killed, undone, or annihilated.
For this could not be a Progress forward into Manifestation and Substantiality;
but a Going back, Hiding and Turning again, into that former Silent
Nothingness: Neither could it be an Effect or work of Omnipotence, but rather a
meere Impotence, desisting from its first Design,
because of being not sufficient to perform, and to bring it unto Perfection.
But to leave them in Being and Existence, and to go on with them; to bring them
into Subjection, Rest and Peace; to subdue and Transmute their tripartite,
Omnipotent Own will, and to Rule over it in One anly
Universal Will, this is he only true and most Supream
Omnipotence itself. The Tranmutation of base Metals into Gold, by
the Philosophical Tincture, is in this Outward World a true Representation
thereof. The Tincture itself is a proper Representation of the Eternal Liberty,
not as this is in its pure Spirituality before and without Nature; but as it is
in Substantiality, after this Conjunction with Nature, which here is spoken of.
For it is the Vertue of Fire and Light, united in One
only Will. Fire is in Nature, and Light is free from Nature, and above Nature, tho' it cometh forth even out of Nature. The Tincture
therefore, being the Vertue of these two, is both in
Nature because of the Fire, and also above Nature because of the Light; and
because of this Conjunction it hath such a Stupendous Power and Energy in
Nature, as to subdue unto itseelf all Inferior Metalls, by changing and Transmuting their very Essences,
and bringing them all into One only Harmonious Golden Will. But as it first
itself must have past through this Conjunction, for to become a Transmuting
Tincture, so it must enter into Conjunction again with all those Metalls, that shall be Transmuted
thereby. But how shall now such a Transmutation be
brought about in these 3 Inferior Forms of Eternal Nature. Here is not Tincture
in this Eternity for here is no Fire, and so also no Light. It should therefore
continue an Impossible thing to all Eternity, that ever they could be changed
and Transmuted, if not the Transmuting Tincture be first prepared; that is, if
not the Fire be first produced, and then further out of the Fire the Light
whose United Vertue alone can be able, to perform
this great Work of such a Glorious Transmutation. For Eternal Liberty cannot be
the Tincture; tho' it will have afterwards the
Greatest Hand in all this Transmutation; yet as it is now, before and without
this Conjunction, it can have no Efficacy in Nature; because it is still
Nothing to Nature, and must continue so, untill it
enter Actually into this Conjunction with this fourth Form of Nature. For the Absolute Necessity of which I cannot forbear to bring in
but one Argument more, most worth of our deepest consideration, and then I
shall conclude this Demonstration. Let us consider attentively the Process of our own Restoration or
Regeneration, which is, (in short, and chiefly) nothing else, but an Essential
Reconciliation, and most Intrinsecal Transmutation of
the harsh, rough, bitter, fierce, stinging, hating, fighting, whirling and
anguishing Properties of our own Immortal Soul; awakened therein in Adam, when
we fell with him under the Dominion of the 3 first Forms of Eternal Nature,
divorced from their Eternal Light and Love. What was there to be done with us?
Could God our Omnipotent Creatour have Annihilated
Adam's Soul again, and have created an other new one?
Certainly such Thoughts of our Astral Reason, are
nothing else but Foolishness. He could have done this no more than he could
have changed or Denyed Himself, or broken His Originall Will, by turning back, form his Designed
manifestation of Powers and Wonders, into his own former Stillness, Hiding,
Temperature, and Nothingness. Which was as Impossible
for Him, as either to lye, or to Dye. His Counsel must stand, and his Decrees
are as unalterable as He is himself. He must then go forward, to bring forth
such a Renovation and Transmutation in time upon Man's Immortal Soul, as was
wrought on from Eternity in Eternal Nature itself; for to Reintroduce Adam into
Paradise again, nay even in to a higher and more glorious State, than his first
Paradise hath been. Like as Eternal Nature was itself reintroduced into Eternal
Temperature and into such a one, as was now more Glorious and Illustrious, than
that out of which its first came forth. In Respect to
which the seventh Form of Nature itself is called the Temperature in
Substantiality. But by what means could there be effected such a Transmutation of our
Souls? Here was no Transmuting Tincture, neither in Heaven nor upon Earth. Our
Loving Father in Heaven was not changed in his Love by our Transgression; but
still he loved us, no less thereafter than before. But his Love could not yet
be our Transmuting Tincture. For in this State, and in such a Sense as it is to
be taken with respect to this State, our own Will and Self Love was our only
Something, and his Love was Nothing viz to us, and in
our own Selfworking Sphere of own Activity; for
therein it had no Being nor Existency; what Efficacy
then could it have had upon our Souls? Verily no more than Eternal Liberty can
have upon Nature, as long as it is without, and nothing to Nature. Tho' God himself, our loving Father, would have looked down
upon us all with Mercifull, Longsuffering and
Gracious Eyes, and would have cryed unto us all the
Day long: Return my Children, Return unto me, your Sinas
are forgiven, and your Iniquity is pardoned; and tho'
we should have heard, even Day by Day, his own Voice from Heaven, as Israel
heard it with outward Ears from upon Mount Sinai; yet all this could not have
been so much of Efficacy as to Renew and Transmute the Internal Essences of our
Degenerated Soul. For we could not so much, as but have heard his Voice in our
Inward Ground and Depth, which was captivated, and so strongly compacted by
that great stillstanding Death in the first Form of
Eternal Nature, as the hardest Rock: and much less could we have broken our own
Will, which was with its Root of Selfishness, and with its Product of Self
Love, not only strong and Potent in its Own Circle, but also really Omnipotent,
in that Sense in which Nature is Omnipotent in its 3 fighting Forms. And there
then all his Love was but weak and Impotent, in that Sense in which Eternal
Liberty is so, before its Conjunction with Eternal Nature, in this fourth
Generation thereof. His Eternal Love then must itself come down from Heaven in Order to
prepare a Transmuting Tincture for our Souls; and for this End it must enter
actually into Conjunction with our Degenerated Nature. Which
was also done accordingly, in the Womb of the Virgin Mary. But that Holy
thing which was born of her, was not then immediately the perfected or
Consummated Tincture, bur stood as then in the beginning Process only, by the
Consummation of which it was to be made a Transmuting Tincture for our Souls.
Which Process to declare particularly is not proper for this place, where it is
enough to say only in General, that our Corrupted and all Degenerated Essences
of our Soul, could not have been transmuted, and so also not brought again into
Paradise, except the Love of God itself did enter actually into Conjunction
with our Nature, and became really a Man in this temporal World, which we went
into, when we went out of Paradise. Like as this Process of Eternal Nature can
go no further; no 4th Form thereof can be brought forth thereof can be brought
forth, and this Disharmonious Nature cannot become a Substantial Temperature,
except Eternal Liberty do enter with it into Conjunction. Our Astral Reason is apt, and ready to think, or say: God was not alone
Omnipotent above all, and therefore He could have pardoned Adam, and so could
have Reintroduced him presently into Paradise again, even without the
Incarnation, Passion and Death of his only beloved Son, if it had not been his
own free Pleasure, to take this way rather than another. But Reason is blind in
all these things, and knoweth nothing solidly,
neither of Adam's Fall, nor of his Restoration, nor of
God's Omnipotence also. It knoweth and granteth indeed, that Man's Fall
was not only a Transgression and Disobedience, in Respect to God; but that it
was also, in Respect to himself, an Actuall Killing,
murdering and Destroying of his own Paradisical Life
and of the holy Image of God, and a raising up of the Devil's Image in his
Soul. But it knoweth not in any Reality these 2
Contrary Images, as they are in themselves, but paints only to itself a
Counterfeit of both with its own Colours, and looks upon its Painting as upon
the most Excellent Masterpiece, thinking to look thereby directly both into
Paradise and into the dark World; which is but Ignorance and Folly. For Reason, as to itself, is properly neither God's nor the Devil's
Image, but distant from both so far as this World is distant both from Heaven
and Hell. And therefore it cannot know nor understand at all, without a
higher Light, what was required to Restore man out of
his Fall, and to bring him back out of his Hell, into his lost Heaven again. As
to his Transgression, God could on his Side, not only have Pardoned him, or
else his consuming Fire would have devoured him Immediately.
But this Pardoning could not yet, on Man's Side, loose the 7 Seals of Death, in
the 7 Properties of his Immortal Soul, neither could it break that flaming
Sword of the Cherubim, keeping the Way to the Tree of Life; Which Sword was
not, or not only, without, but chiefly and primarily within himself: Nor could
it also Reconcile and Harmonize his Divided, Scattered, fighting and Warring
Properties of Eternal Nature, now divorced in Him from their only Light, whose
Harmony is the Paradise, and whose Discordance is this Condition of the Dark
World, in its 3 divided fighting Forms. What Recourse can here be made by Reason unto God’s Omnipotence?
Surely, if God could Deny himself, he could not be
Omnipotent, that which maketh him to be Omnipotent
above all, is only this that He cannot Deny Himself. But if he could take into
Paradise such a Degenerated Disharmonious Soul, without Renovation and
Transmutation, by a meere Pardoning from without, He
could Deny himself, that is, He could sett the
Devil’s Image upon his Throne, He could make his holy Glorious Paradise to be a
Hold of every Soul Spirit, & a Cage of every Unclean and Hateful Birth,
& in a word, He could make Darkness to be Light, & Hell to be Heaven.
Which in our Souls He can and doth indeed, but only by a most Intrinsecal & Essential Transmutation of its Dark and
Hellish Properties into Paradisical qualifications;
and not by a Superficial Pardoning from without. And
that this might be done in our Souls, it was of the most absolute necessity,
that his only beloved Son must come down out of his Eternal Substantial
Temperature into our own Human nature, & must in conjunction with our
Humanity pass through all the Forms of Eternal Nature, to break the 7 Seals of
Death therein; and must Enter with his Human Will into that first Original
Womb, out of which Eternal Nature was broughtforth
etc. And then only after all this, when he could be called the First begotten
from the Dead, when his whole Process was fully Consummated, & when He was
returned unto Him that sent Him, into his Substantial Temperature, then He was
& is the only Transmuting Tincture of our Souls; not therefore so much to
be looked upon as He was on Earth in the Flesh, & in the Process of his own
Personal Transmutation (according to the words of the Apostle who would not
know him any more after the Flesh) but more as He is now a quickning
Tincturing Spirit, & a Living Vertue united both
of Fire and Light. Which he shewed himself to be
effectually in the Day of Pentecost, Tincturing thereby the cloven Tongue of St
Peter 3000 Souls at once; whereas in all his Life upon Earth He could not yet
Tincture One single Soul, in such a Sense and Degree as then was done; nay not
his own Apostles also, who stood then only still under the fiery Dispensation
of the Father, & were but in a Preparation & beginning Progress towards
their following Transmutation; which could as then not yet have been perfected in them, because the Holy
Ghost was not yet; Joh: VII. The Tincture was not yet
fully prepared, The Vertue of Fire & Light was
not yet perfectly united & tho’ united verily
& perfectly also, yet nevertheless, not yet in this …. incomplete If you have problems understanding these alchemical texts, Adam McLean now provides a study course entitled How to read alchemical texts : a guide for the perplexed. |