1faculties] of [or to] the life of man, and without it
there would not be one member [to, or] of the life
of man generated. For when we search [into] the
beginning and kindling of life, we find strongly
with clear evidences all manner of [faculties or]
264 THE THREE PRINCIPLES [Ch. 14
members ; so that when the clear light of the soul
kindleth, then the Fiat standeth in very great joy,
and in the twinkling of an eye doth in the matrix
sever the pure from the impure, of which the
1 Or work- tincture of the soul in the light is the l worker,
which there reneweth it, but the Fiat createth it.
15. And now when the [sour] harsh matrix is
[made] so very humble, thin, and sweet, by the
light, the [stern or] strong horror (which was so
very poisonous before the light [kindled]) flieth
upward ; for it is terrified at the meekness of the
matrix ; and it is a terror of great joy, yet it
retaineth its strong [or stern] right [or property],
and cannot be changed ; neither can it get far from
thence (for it is withheld by the Fiat) but it raiseth
itself suddenly aloft, and the terror maketh it a film
from the [sour or] harsh Fiat which holdeth the
8 about, or terror fast, and that is now the gall2 of the heart.
216. But when the matrix (from which the terror
was gone forth) was thus loosed from the terror of
the anxiety, and became so very sweet, like sweet
water, then the spirit of the great world figured [or
imprinted itself] instantly, in the matrix, and
filleth the four elements also within it, and thinketh
with itself, now I have the sweet virgin ; and the
» that which Fiat createth 3 it, and severeth the elements, which
was brought . .
in. also are in strife : And each 01 them would have
the virgin, and are in a wrestling, till they overcome one another, and that the fire (being the
mightiest and most strong) stayeth above, and the
Ch. 14] BIRTH AND PROPAGATION OF MAN 265
water sinketh down ; and the earth, being a hard
gross thing, must stay below: But the fire will
have a * region of its own. J kingdom or
17. For it saith, I am the spirit, and the life, I
will dwell in the virgin ; and the [sour] harsh Fiat
attracteth all to it, and maketh it a Mesch [massa,
2 concretion], and moreover [it maketh it] flesh ; 2 Or snband the fire keepeth the uppermost region, viz. the
heart : For the four elements sever themselves by
their strife, and every one of them maketh itself a
several 3 region ; and the Fiat maketh all to be 3 Or dominflesh : Only the air would have no flesh ; for it
said, I dwell in no house ; and the Fiat said, I
have created thee, thou art mine, and closed it in
with an enclosure, that is, the bladder.
318. Now the other regions set themselves in
order ; first the stern flash, that is, the gall ; and
beneath the flash, the fire, whose region is the
heart ; and beneath the fire, the water, whose
region is the liver ; and beneath the water, the
earth, whose region is [in] the lungs.
19. And so every element qualifieth [or acteth]
in its own source [or manner of operation], and one
could do nothing without the other, neither could
one have any mobility without the other. For one
generateth the other, and they go all four out of
one original, and it is in its birth but one only
[thing or] substance, as I have mentioned before at
large about the creation, concerning the 4 birth of * Or generthe four elements.
266 THE THREE PRINCIPLES [Ch. 14
20. The [sour, strong, or] bitter gall (viz. the
terrible poisonous flash of fire) kindleth the warmth
in the heart, or the fire, and is itself the cause,
from whence all else take their original.
21. Here we find again, in our consideration, the
lamentable and horrible fall in the incarnation,
because when the light of life riseth up, and when
the Fiat in the tincture of the spirit of the soul
reneweth the matrix, then the Fiat thrusteth the
death of the stifling [choking, checking, or stopping]
and perishing, in the sternness (viz. the impurity of
the stifled [or checked] blood) from itself, out of
its essences, and casteth it away, and will not
1 corpus. endure it in the l body, but as a 2 superfluity ; the
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.