127. Here I will frankly warn the reader to reflect seriously upon Moses: for, here under the veil of Moses, he can see Moses in the face; moreover, he can see the second Adam in the body of the virgin; moreover, he can see him in his temptation, and upon the cross, as well as in the death, and finally, in the power of the resurrection, and at the right hand of God. Moreover, thou seest Moses upon the mountain of Sinai; and finally, the transfiguration of the Christ, of Moses and of Elias, upon the mountain of Tabor: moreover, thou seest here all the scripture of the old and of the new testament; thou findest there all the prophets since the beginning of the world, as well as all the force and the power of all the tyrants; why things have been thus and must continue the same; finally, thou findest the golden gate of the omnipotence, as well as of the great power in love and humility; likewise the reason for which nevertheless the children of God must be tempted; and why nevertheless the noble grain of mustard-seed must grow in the tempests, the crosses and the sufferings, and what makes that this cannot be otherwise 5 moreover, thou findest there the being of all beings.
ch: II. ( »B3 )
2a8. And it is the gate of the lily, which, according as the spirit announces it, must soon grow in the choleric tree: and, when it grows, it brings us, by its agreeable and powerful odour, the true knowledge in the holy trinity; now, by this odour, the antichrist is stifled, the tree of anger bursts, and the anger rises in the great beast, which has for a time the force and the power of the tree, until this force become arid and all of fire, because it can no more receive of the sap of the choleric tree which has burst; then it rises in anger against the tree and the lily, until the tree whereof the beast has eaten, and which has made it strong, break the beast: thereby its power remains in the fire of the abyss; then, all the gates remain open in the great tree of nature, and the priest Aaron gives his jewel and his fair ornament to the lamb that has been slain, and that is returned therefrom.
29. Reader, who lovest God, one shows thee here that the great mysteries of the secrets which were in Adam before his fall are presented to us, and yet greater ones after his fall, when he was as dead, and also nevertheless living. One shows us the generation of the eternal essence, and why nevertheless it was thus necessary that Adam should be proved, and why this could not be otherwise: nevertheless reason always makes objections against it, and alleges the omnipotence of God, by which he could arrest it as well as
permit it. 3o. Dear reason, leave there thy obscurity, for
( i84 ) CH. IX.
3with thy thoughts and thy sense thou knowest neither God, nor the eternal essence. How, with such thoughts, wilt thou recognise the image that God has begotten of the eternal soul? One has here represented to thee often how the soul which, nevertheless, in man, is the greatest essence, does not consist in one single source.
3i. Now, if we reflect upon the inclination, or upon what could carry and draw Adam against the prohibition, so that he could covet against the order of God, whilst he was nevertheless in a great perfection, then we find the eternal soul whereof Adam had been created; and, since he was an extract of the eternal soul, and of all the essences of all the three principles, he was to be tempted to know whether he could maintain himself in paradise; for the heart of God would have willed that he should remain in paradise! now, he could not remain in paradise save in so far as he should eat of the paradisiacal fruits 5 thus his heart was to be entirely inclined toward God, and he would have lived in the centre, and God would have operated in him.
82. Now, who then was against him? or what has drawn him from paradise into disobedience, so that he has passed into another
image?
See 5 thou, s6o1n of man, there was a triple
combat; in Adam 5 out of Adam; and in all
that Adam contemplated. Wilt thou say: What was
it? There were three principles. The kingdom of
hell, and the power of anger was the fir1
CH. IT. (^lS5 )
st; and then the kingdom of this world, or the stars and the elements, were the second; finally, the third was the kingdom of paradise, which would also possess him.
Our translation, period-faithful. Citable as our translation, never as the source.