Concerning the Three Principles of the Divine Essence
his kingdom. Ihe woman was out of the matrix, which (before the infection) was a chaste virgin,
3 Or gene- which Adam should have 3 brought forth out of rated.
himself ; but when the modesty of the wisdom, and ability [or potency] departed from him, (when he passed into the spirit of this world), he could not then bring forth [or generate] ; for in his sleep the spirit of this world clothed him with flesh and blood, and figured [formed or shaped] him into a beast, as we now see by very woeful experience, and know ourselves to be blind and naked as to the kingdom of God, [being] without any virtue [or strength] in the sleep of the great misery, clothed with corruptible [frail and transitory] flesh and blood.
56. And now when Adam awaked from sleep, then he was a man, and no angel ; he drew breath
4 Or astral from the air, and therewith kindled his 4 starry spirit.
spirit, which had taken possession of him ; he knew his wife to be a woman, and that she was
8 Or gene- 6 taken out of him, and took her to him, as all beasts rated.
couple together ; yet he had then pure eyes, for the fierceness [or grim wrath] did not yet stick in them, but the infection [or longing]. The element of fire with its bitterness (which qualifieth, [or mixeth properties] with the abyss of hell) had not pressed him wholly.
57. Thus now Adam with his wife went (in
Ch. 17] OF THE FALL OF ADAM AND EVE 393
great lust and joy) into the Garden of Eden, where Adam told her of the commandment concerning the Tree : But Eve (being a woman of this world) regarded it but little, and turned her from Adam to the Tree, and looked upon it with lust ; and the lust instantly took hold of her ; and the lying devil (when she was talking with him, whom she knew not, neither had heard of any devil) persuaded her, and she laid hold on the Tree, and brake off [an apple], and did eat of the fruit of the four elements and stars, and gave to Adam ; and when Adam saw that Eve l died not, then he ate also. 1 By eating.
58. And then their eyes were opened, and they knew that they had flesh and blood, and were quite naked. For the spirit of the great world took them captive with the four elements, and figured [or framed in] them stomach and guts ; though indeed in the sleep of Adam (when the matrix was severed from the limbus) the same forms were already figured, but they knew it not, till after the biting of the apple ; and then the spirit of the fierceness first gat in, and made its region, (as may be seen in the heart, liver, lungs, gall, and bladder, as also in the stomach) ; this regimen had Adam gotten in his sleep, and with the biting of the apple the spirit of the great world hath set itself in that [government].
59. And then they looked one upon another, and were ashamed one before another, and they were afraid of the wrath [or severity] that entered
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into them, for it was the anger of God ; and thus they were captivated by the first Principle, (as by the abyss of hell), which held Adam and Eve captive in their souls in the eternal [part] ; for it sprang up with terror, fear, and doubt, concerning the kingdom of God ; and they could have no comfort [in that condition], for they saw the paradise no more, but the Garden in Eden ; so also they had lost the Deity, they could set no will [or desire] into it, for the wrath and doubt stood in the way.
60. Then came the spirit of this world with its rough garment, with heat and cold, and pressed upon them, as upon naked people, and so struck the image of God half dead, (with their fierceness, anguish, and doubt, with their quality [or property] of hot and cold), and let it lie in pain, anguish, and doubt. And here man went from Jerusalem (out of the paradise) to Jericho, into the house of murderers, who stripped him of his paradisical garment, and robbed him, and struck him (with their poison, torment, plague, arid sickness, from their infection) half dead, and so left him and went their way, as the second Adam said in the Gospel, in a similitude [or parable],
61. And here now was no remedy, neither in heaven, nor in this world, they were captivated in hard slavery, (in misery and death) ; the abyss of hell held the soul, and the spirit of this world held the body [captive]. Death and corruption was in
his kingdom. Ihe woman was out of the matrix, which (before the infection) was a chaste virgin,
3 Or gene- which Adam should have 3 brought forth out of rated.
himself ; but when the modesty of the wisdom, and ability [or potency] departed from him, (when he passed into the spirit of this world), he could not then bring forth [or generate] ; for in his sleep the spirit of this world clothed him with flesh and blood, and figured [formed or shaped] him into a beast, as we now see by very woeful experience, and know ourselves to be blind and naked as to the kingdom of God, [being] without any virtue [or strength] in the sleep of the great misery, clothed with corruptible [frail and transitory] flesh and blood.
56. And now when Adam awaked from sleep, then he was a man, and no angel ; he drew breath
4 Or astral from the air, and therewith kindled his 4 starry spirit.
spirit, which had taken possession of him ; he knew his wife to be a woman, and that she was
8 Or gene- 6 taken out of him, and took her to him, as all beasts rated.
couple together ; yet he had then pure eyes, for the fierceness [or grim wrath] did not yet stick in them, but the infection [or longing]. The element of fire with its bitterness (which qualifies, [or mixes properties] with the abyss of hell) had not pressed him wholly.
57. Thus now Adam with his wife went (in
Ch. 17] OF THE FALL OF ADAM AND EVE 393 great lust and joy) into the Garden of Eden, where Adam told her of the commandment concerning the Tree : But Eve (being a woman of this world) regarded it but little, and turned her from Adam to the Tree, and looked upon it with lust ; and the lust instantly took hold of her ; and the lying devil (when she was talking with him, whom she knew not, neither had heard of any devil) persuaded her, and she laid hold on the Tree, and brake off [an apple], and did eat of the fruit of the four elements and stars, and gave to Adam ; and when Adam saw that Eve l died not, then he ate also. 1 By eating.
58. And then their eyes were opened, and they knew that they had flesh and blood, and were quite naked. For the spirit of the great world took them captive with the four elements, and figured [or framed in] them stomach and guts ; though indeed in the sleep of Adam (when the matrix was severed from the limbus) the same forms were already figured, but they knew it not, till after the biting of the apple ; and then the spirit of the fierceness first gat in, and made its region, (as may be seen in the heart, liver, lungs, gall, and bladder, as also in the stomach) ; this regimen had Adam gotten in his sleep, and with the biting of the apple the spirit of the great world has set itself in that [government].
59. And then they looked one upon another, and were ashamed one before another, and they were afraid of the wrath [or severity] that entered 394 THE THREE PRINCIPLES [Oil. 17 into them, for it was the anger of God ; and thus they were captivated by the first Principle, (as by the abyss of hell), which held Adam and Eve captive in their souls in the eternal [part] ; for it sprang up with terror, fear, and doubt, concerning the kingdom of God ; and they could have no comfort [in that condition], for they saw the paradise no more, but the Garden in Eden ; so also they had lost the Deity, they could set no will [or desire] into it, for the wrath and doubt stood in the way.
60. Then came the spirit of this world with its rough garment, with heat and cold, and pressed upon them, as upon naked people, and so struck the image of God half dead, (with their fierceness, anguish, and doubt, with their quality [or property] of hot and cold), and let it lie in pain, anguish, and doubt. And here man went from Jerusalem (out of the paradise) to Jericho, into the house of murderers, who stripped him of his paradisical garment, and robbed him, and struck him (with their poison, torment, plague, arid sickness, from their infection) half dead, and so left him and went their way, as the second Adam said in the Gospel, in a similitude [or parable],
61. And here now was no remedy, neither in heaven, nor in this world, they were captivated in hard slavery, (in misery and death) ; the abyss of hell held the soul, and the spirit of this world held the body [captive]. Death and corruption was in