153. And now when the light of all the three
Principles shineth, then the tincture goeth forth
from all the three Principles, and it is highly
[worthy] to be observed, that the middlemost
Principle receiveth no light from nature; but as
soon as the darkness is broken up [or dispelled],
it shineth in most joyful habitableness, and [hath]
the noble virgin dwelling in the joy, viz. in that
tincture ; and the Deity appeareth so very highly
and powerfully in man, that we cannot find it so
in any other thing, let us take what else we will
into our consideration.
54. In the first Principle is the fire-flash; and
in the tincture thereof is the l terrible light of the i the dazzling
sun, which hath its original very sharply out ofS?°
the eternal originalness, out of the first Principle,
with its root out of the fifth essence, through the
element, which may be expounded in another place,
it would be too long to do it here. And besides, it
should be hidden ; he that knoweth it, will conceal
it, as he would also [conceal] the springing-up of
the stars and planets. For the cornered cap will
needs have it under the jurisdiction of his schoollearning, though indeed he apprehendeth little or
nothing at all in the light of nature. Let it remain
[hidden] till the time of the lily, there it standeth
330
THE THREE PRINCIPLES
[Ch. 15
1 free, discovered, or
known.
2 appropriated), or
yieldeth itself up to it.
3 Or as in
death.
4 Or the refreshment.
5 numb.
2all * open : And the tincture is [then] the light of
the world.
55. And it is here very exactly seen how the
third Principle 2uniteth itself with the first, and
how they have one [only] will, for they proceed
from one another ; and if the second Principle were
not in the midst [between them] then they were
but one [and the same] thing. But speaking here
of the tincture in the life, we will therefore shew,
in the light of nature, the true ground of all the
three births.
56. The noble tincture is the dwelling-house of
the spirit, and hath three forms ; one is eternal,
and incorruptible ; the other is mutable [or
transitory], and yet with the holy [or saints]
continueth eternally ; but with the wicked it is
mutable [or transitory], and flieth into the ether ;
the third is corruptible 3in death.
57. The first tincture of the first Principle is
properly the 4 habitation in the fire-flash, which is
the source [life, or active property] in the gall,
which maketh the brimstone-spirit (viz. the indissoluble worm of the soul, which ruleth powerfully
in the sharp essences, and moveth and carrieth the
body whithersoever the mind, in the second centre,
will) to be its dwelling-house ; its tincture is like
the fierce [austere or grim] and sharp might of
God; it kindleth the whole body, so that it is
warm, and that it grow not 6 stiff [or congealed
with cold], and upholdeth the wheel in the crack
Ch. 15] KNOWLEDGE OF THE ETERNITY 331
3in the essences, out of which the hearing ariseth.
It is sharp, and proveth the smell of every thing
in the essences; it maketh the hearing, though
itself is neither the hearing nor smelling ; but it
is the gate that letteth in good and evil, as the
tongue and also the ear [doth]. All which cometh
from hence, because that l its tincture hath its l the active
life of the
ground in the first Principle ; and the kindling of gall,
the life happeneth in the sharpness, in the breaking
through the gate of the eternal darkness.
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.