Concerning the Three Principles of the Divine Essence
ness ; and there it was tried whether men could live in perfect obedience under this clarity [glory or brightness].
5. What was done there ? Answer : Moses was called by God (out from [among] the children of Israel) up into mount Sinai, and stayed there forty days : And then he would try the people whether it were possible for them to put their trust [or confidence] in God, that they might be fed with l heavenly bread, that so they might attain * manna, perfection. And there now stood the mind majoris mundi, of the 2 great world ; and on the contrary, 2 Or macroco sin the eternal mind of God, in strife one against another ; God required obedience, and the mind of this world required [or desired] the pleasure of this transitory life, as eating, drinking, playing, dancing ; therefore they chose them moreover their belly-god, a Golden Calf, that they might be free and live without law.
6. Here you see again, how the three Principles strove one against another about man : The law that was given to Adam in the Garden of Eden brake forth again, and desired to have obedience ; in like manner, also, the spirit of strong [fierceness or] wrath brake forth again in the false fruit and voluptuousness, and sought the corruptible life. And this strife now lasted forty days, before they set up the calf, and fell [wholly like Adam] from God ; so long the strife of the three Principles continued.
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7. But now, when they were fallen away from God, [as Adam was], then came Moses with Joshua, and saw the apostasy [or falling away], and brake the tables in pieces, and led them into the wilderness ; where they must all die, except Joshua and Caleb : For the clarity [or brightness] of the Father in the fire, in the first Principle, could not bring them into the Promised Land ; and although they did eat manna, yet it did not help [in] the trial, only Joshua, and at length JESUS, must do it.
8. And when the time came, that the true Champion [or Saviour] returned again out of paradise, and became the child of the virgin, then was renewed, the strife of the three Principles 1 came again. For there he was again set before the tempting tree, and he -must endure the hard brunt before the tempting tree, and stand out the temptation of the three Principles, which was not possible for the first Adam to do. And there the strife continued forty days and forty nights, just so long as the strife with Adam in paradise continued, and not an hour longer ; and then the Champion [or Saviour] overcame. Therefore open your eyes aright, and look upon the Scripture aright ; although it be brief and obscure [to reason], yet it is very true.
9. You find not in Moses, that Adam was driven out of paradise the first day ; the temptation of Israel, and of Christ, informeth us quite otherwise. For the temptation of Christ is to a tittle (in all
Ch. 12] OPENING OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURE 201
circumstances) the same with the temptation of Adam.
10. For Adam was tempted forty days in paradise, in the Garden of Eden, before the tempting tree, [and tried] whether he could stand, whether he could set his inclination on the Heart of God, and only eat of the Verbum Domini [the Word of the Lord] ; and then [if he had stood], God would have given him his body (the heavenly limbus) to eat, that he should eat it in his mouth, not into his body ; he should have brought forth the child of the virgin out of himself ; for he was neither man nor woman [male nor female] ; he had the matrix, and also the man [or masculine nature] in him, and should have brought forth the virgin full of modesty and chastity out of the matrix, without rending of his body.
11. And here is the strife in the Revelation of John, where a woman brought forth a son, which the dragon and the 1worm would devour; and » Or serpent. there stood the virgin upon the earthly moon, and despiseth the earthiness, and treadeth it under feet. And so should Adam also have trodden the earthiness under foot, but it overcame him ; therefore afterwards the child of the virgin (when it had overcome the tempting tree) must also enter into the first death of the strong [fierce] wrath in the death, and overcome the first Principle.
12. For he stood forty days in the temptation in the wilderness, where there was no bread nor drink,
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ness ; and there it was tried whether men could live in perfect obedience under this clarity [glory or brightness].
5. What was done there ? Answer : Moses was called by God (out from [among] the children of Israel) up into mount Sinai, and stayed there forty days : And then he would try the people whether it were possible for them to put their trust [or confidence] in God, that they might be fed with l heavenly bread, that so they might attain * manna, perfection. And there now stood the mind majoris mundi, of the 2 great world ; and on the contrary, 2 Or macroco sin the eternal mind of God, in strife one against another ; God required obedience, and the mind of this world required [or desired] the pleasure of this transitory life, as eating, drinking, playing, dancing ; therefore they chose them moreover their belly-god, a Golden Calf, that they might be free and live without law.
6. Here you see again, how the three Principles strove one against another about man : The law that was given to Adam in the Garden of Eden brake forth again, and desired to have obedience ; in like manner, also, the spirit of strong [fierceness or] wrath brake forth again in the false fruit and voluptuousness, and sought the corruptible life. And this strife now lasted forty days, before they set up the calf, and fell [wholly like Adam] from God ; so long the strife of the three Principles continued.
200 THE THREE PRINCIPLES [Ch. 12
7. But now, when they were fallen away from God, [as Adam was], then came Moses with Joshua, and saw the apostasy [or falling away], and brake the tables in pieces, and led them into the wilderness ; where they must all die, except Joshua and Caleb : For the clarity [or brightness] of the Father in the fire, in the first Principle, could not bring them into the Promised Land ; and although they did eat manna, yet it did not help [in] the trial, only Joshua, and at length JESUS, must do it.
8. And when the time came, that the true Champion [or Saviour] returned again out of paradise, and became the child of the virgin, then was renewed, the strife of the three Principles 1 came again. For there he was again set before the tempting tree, and he -must endure the hard brunt before the tempting tree, and stand out the temptation of the three Principles, which was not possible for the first Adam to do. And there the strife continued forty days and forty nights, just so long as the strife with Adam in paradise continued, and not an hour longer ; and then the Champion [or Saviour] overcame. Therefore open your eyes aright, and look upon the Scripture aright ; although it be brief and obscure [to reason], yet it is very true.
9. You find not in Moses, that Adam was driven out of paradise the first day ; the temptation of Israel, and of Christ, informs us quite otherwise. For the temptation of Christ is to a tittle (in all Ch. 12] OPENING OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURE 201 circumstances) the same with the temptation of Adam.
10. For Adam was tempted forty days in paradise, in the Garden of Eden, before the tempting tree, [and tried] whether he could stand, whether he could set his inclination on the Heart of God, and only eat of the Verbum Domini [the Word of the Lord] ; and then [if he had stood], God would have given him his body (the heavenly limbus) to eat, that he should eat it in his mouth, not into his body ; he should have brought forth the child of the virgin out of himself ; for he was neither man nor woman [male nor female] ; he had the matrix, and also the man [or masculine nature] in him, and should have brought forth the virgin full of modesty and chastity out of the matrix, without rending of his body.
11. And here is the strife in the Revelation of John, where a woman brought forth a son, which the dragon and the 1worm would devour; and » Or serpent. there stood the virgin upon the earthly moon, and despises the earthiness, and treads it under feet. And so should Adam also have trodden the earthiness under foot, but it overcame him ; therefore afterwards the child of the virgin (when it had overcome the tempting tree) must also enter into the first death of the strong [fierce] wrath in the death, and overcome the first Principle.
12. For he stood forty days in the temptation in the wilderness, where there was no bread nor drink,
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