169. IV. The birds or fowls, fishes and beasts, signify and denote the several forms or shapes of figures in heaven. 170. Thou art to know this, for the spirit in the flash testifieth the same, that in heaven there arise all manner of figures or shapes like the beasts, fowls, birds and fishes of this world, but in a heavenly form or manner, clarity or brightness and kind, as also all manner of trees, plants and flowers. 171. But as they rise, so they go away again, for they are not incorporated or compacted together, as the angels are: for these figures are so formed in the birth of the rising qualities, in the spirit of nature or naturespirit. 172. If a figure be imaged in a spirit, so that it subsisteth; and if another spirit wrestleth with this, and gets the better, then it comes to be divided, and indeed changed or altered, all according to the kind of the qualities; and this is in God as a holy sport, play or scene. 173. Therefore also the creatures, as beasts, fowls or birds, fishes and worms in this world, are not created to an eternal being, but to a transitory one, as the figures in heaven also pass away. 174. This I set down here only for a manuduction or introduction: You will find it described more at large concerning the creation of this world.
THE THIRTEENTH CHAPTER Of the terrible, doleful, and lamentable, miserable Fall of the Kingdom of Lucifer. 1. IT WOULD have all proud, covetous, envious and wrathful men invited to look into this glass, and there they will see the original of their pride, covetousness, envy and wrath, also the issue and final requital or wages thereof. 2. The learned have produced many and various monsters concerning the beginning of sin, and original of the devil, and scuffled one with another about it; every one of them thought he had the axe by the handle, yet it continued hidden from them all till this very time. 3. But since it will henceforth be fully revealed, as in a clear lookingglass, therefore it may well be supposed or expected that the great day of the revelation of God is now near at hand, wherein the fierceness and the kindled fire will be separated from the light. 4. Therefore let none make himself stark blind, for the time of the restitution of whatsoever man hath lost is now near at hand: the day dawneth, or the morningredness breaketh forth; it is high time to awake from sleep. Question. Now it may be asked, What is ths source or fountain of the first sin of Lucifer's kingdom? Answer. 5. Here we must again take in hand the highest depth of the Deity, and see out of what king Lucifer became a creature, or what was the first source or fountain of evil or malice in him. 6. The devil and his crew continually excuse themselves, and so do all wicked men who are begotten in corruption, saying, God doth them wrong in thrusting them out or rejecting them. 7. Nay, this present world doth dare to say that God hath decreed or concluded it so in his predestinate purpose and council that some men should be saved, and some should be damned; and they say, to that end also God hath rejected prince Lucifer, that he should be a spectacle of God's wrath. 8. As if hell, or malice and evil, had been from eternity, and that it was in God's predestinate purpose that creatures should and must be therein; and so they pull and hale and bestir themselves to prove it by Scripture, though indeed they have neither the knowledge of the true God, nor the understanding of the Scriptures, though also some erroneous things are brewed from the Scriptures. 9. Christ saith, The devil was a Murderer [John viii. 44] and liar from the beginning, and did not stand in the truth. But seeing these justifiers and disputers assist the devil so steadfastly, and pervert God's truth, and change it into lies, in that they make of God a thirsty and fierce wrathful devil, and such a one as hath created and still willeth evil, so all of them, together with the devil, are jointly murderers and liars. 10. For as the devil is the founder and father of hell and damnation, and hath himself built and prepared for himself the hellish quality to be his royal seat, so also such writers and scribblers are the masterbuilders of lies and damnation, who help to confirm and establish
169. IV. The birds or fowls, fishes and beasts, signify and denote the several forms or shapes of figures in heaven. 170. You are to know this, for the spirit in the flash testifies the same, that in heaven there arise all manner of figures or shapes like the beasts, fowls, birds and fishes of this world, but in a heavenly form or manner, clarity or brightness and kind, as also all manner of trees, plants and flowers. 171. But as they rise, so they go away again, for they are not incorporated or compacted together, as the angels are: for these figures are so formed in the birth of the rising qualities, in the spirit of nature or naturespirit. 172. If a figure be imaged in a spirit, so that it subsists; and if another spirit wrestls with this, and gets the better, then it comes to be divided, and indeed changed or altered, all according to the kind of the qualities; and this is in God as a holy sport, play or scene. 173. Therefore also the creatures, as beasts, fowls or birds, fishes and worms in this world, are not created to an eternal being, but to a transitory one, as the figures in heaven also pass away. 174. This I set down here only for a manuduction or introduction: You will find it described more at large concerning the creation of this world.
THE THIRTEENTH CHAPTER Of the terrible, doleful, and lamentable, miserable Fall of the Kingdom of Lucifer. 1. IT WOULD have all proud, covetous, envious and wrathful men invited to look into this glass, and there they will see the original of their pride, covetousness, envy and wrath, also the issue and final requital or wages thereof. 2. The learned have produced many and various monsters concerning the beginning of sin, and original of the devil, and scuffled one with another about it; every one of them thought he had the axe by the handle, yet it continued hidden from them all till this very time. 3. But since it will henceforth be fully revealed, as in a clear lookingglass, therefore it may well be supposed or expected that the great day of the revelation of God is now near at hand, wherein the fierceness and the kindled fire will be separated from the light. 4. Therefore let none make himself stark blind, for the time of the restitution of whatsoever man has lost is now near at hand: the day dawns, or the morningredness breaks forth; it is high time to awake from sleep. Question. Now it may be asked, What is ths source or fountain of the first sin of Lucifer's kingdom? Answer. 5. Here we must again take in hand the highest depth of the Deity, and see out of what king Lucifer became a creature, or what was the first source or fountain of evil or malice in him. 6. The devil and his crew continually excuse themselves, and so do all wicked men who are begotten in corruption, saying, God does them wrong in thrusting them out or rejecting them. 7. Nay, this present world does dare to say that God has decreed or concluded it so in his predestinate purpose and council that some men should be saved, and some should be damned; and they say, to that end also God has rejected prince Lucifer, that he should be a spectacle of God's wrath. 8. As if hell, or malice and evil, had been from eternity, and that it was in God's predestinate purpose that creatures should and must be therein; and so they pull and hale and bestir themselves to prove it by Scripture, though indeed they have neither the knowledge of the true God, nor the understanding of the Scriptures, though also some erroneous things are brewed from the Scriptures. 9. Christ says, The devil was a Murderer [John viii. 44] and liar from the beginning, and did not stand in the truth. But seeing these justifiers and disputers assist the devil so steadfastly, and pervert God's truth, and change it into lies, in that they make of God a thirsty and fierce wrathful devil, and such a one as has created and still wills evil, so all of them, together with the devil, are jointly murderers and liars. 10. For as the devil is the founder and father of hell and damnation, and has himself built and prepared for himself the hellish quality to be his royal seat, so also such writers and scribblers are the masterbuilders of lies and damnation, who help to confirm and establish
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