Concerning the Three Principles of the Divine Essence
16. Thus you must understand what it is [or meaneth] when the Scripture speaketh of revenging the ungodly, that there is joy in the saints at it ; for the fierce wrath [or grimness], and the source [or torment] of hell, is the 2joy of the heaven : For if there were no source [or pain], there would be 3 no flowing-up [or springing]. But if the light cometh [to be] in the fierce [austere, sour] source, then there is mere joy ; and in the darkness there is a peculiar enmity in itself, and therein is the eternal worm generated.
17. Therefore we must know, that God, as he is all in all, so where he is not (in the love) in the light, there he is (in the darkness) in the fierceness, and source [or torment] ; for before the time of the creation there was nothing but the source, and over it the Deity, which continueth in eternity. There is no other ground, you [can] find nothing more, therefore give over your deep searching, for it is the end of nature.
18. Although such 4 revelations have been hidden [or concealed] from the beginning of the world, yet because 5 it must now go into its ether, and into the breaking-through, therefore all standeth naked, whatsoever hath been hidden in nature ; and there shall very great things (which have been hidden) be revealed [or manifested] ; and this 6 Mystery isCh. 18] PROMISED SEED OF THE WOMAN 431 the break of day. Therefore it is time to awake, for the awakening of the dead is near at hand.
19. Now when God had pronounced his sentence upon Adam, and ordained the Treader upon the Serpent for him, for his comfort and assistance in his toil and misery upon earth, then he pronounced Eve's [sentence] also, and established her perfectly to be a woman of this world, and said to her, Thou shalt bear children with much pain, and thy will shall be in subjection to thy husband [or man], and he shall be thy Lord, and I will cause many pains to thee, when thou art conceived with child.
20. And here it is as clear as the sun, that it was not intended that man (in the beginning) should generate in such a manner, for it should all have been done without l pain, without bestial 2 impregnation, l Or smart.
without a wife [or woman], and without a husband 2orc™^gn'
[or man]. And therefore the Treader upon thebi«withchildSerpent was born of a virgin, without the seed of man ; although now that [also] must come to be done in such a human manner, yet that was to this end only, that the Deity might enter into flesh, and [so might] generate the soul of flesh again out of dark flesh, out of death into life.
But else, the Saviour [or Champion] is wholly the virgin's son, and a virgin mind, as the first Adam
[was] in the creation ; for you must earnestly and accurately [consider and] understand what manner of person he is.
21. First, he is God, and is in the Father of
p. 432
eternity, generated out of the Father of eternity from eternity, without beginning and end, out of the depth of the almightiness, out of the broken gates of the sharpness [or depths] of God in the iQrbegetteth.joy [or habitation], where the Father xattracteth the pleasant joy in his eternal will, whereby the will is impregnated with the attracted virtue of the light, out of which [impregnation] the Father
2 Or compre- 2 conceiveth the other [or second] will to generate hendeth. . . , . r _ the virtue ; and that conception [or comprehension] is his Word, which the Father speaketh (out of the
8 for, or to be will, s before the will) out of himself ; and this speaking remaineth in the mouth of the Father,
4 a Word as 4 a comprehended Word, with the second will ;
comprehended -i i • /• •> -i TIT / • by the second and the issue out of the spoken Word (which goetn will forth out of the will through the Word) is the 6 Or for to be spirit ; and that which is spoken forth 5 before the will, is the eternal wisdom of God, the virgin of the chastity.
16. Thus you must understand what it is [or means] when the Scripture speaks of revenging the ungodly, that there is joy in the saints at it ; for the fierce wrath [or grimness], and the source [or torment] of hell, is the 2joy of the heaven : For if there were no source [or pain], there would be 3 no flowing-up [or springing]. But if the light comes [to be] in the fierce [austere, sour] source, then there is mere joy ; and in the darkness there is a peculiar enmity in itself, and therein is the eternal worm generated.
17. Therefore we must know, that God, as he is all in all, so where he is not (in the love) in the light, there he is (in the darkness) in the fierceness, and source [or torment] ; for before the time of the creation there was nothing but the source, and over it the Deity, which continues in eternity. There is no other ground, you [can] find nothing more, therefore give over your deep searching, for it is the end of nature.
18. Although such 4 revelations have been hidden [or concealed] from the beginning of the world, yet because 5 it must now go into its ether, and into the breaking-through, therefore all stands naked, whatsoever has been hidden in nature ; and there shall very great things (which have been hidden) be revealed [or manifested] ; and this 6 Mystery is
Ch. 18] PROMISED SEED OF THE WOMAN 431 the break of day. Therefore it is time to awake, for the awakening of the dead is near at hand.
19. Now when God had pronounced his sentence upon Adam, and ordained the Treader upon the Serpent for him, for his comfort and assistance in his toil and misery upon earth, then he pronounced Eve's [sentence] also, and established her perfectly to be a woman of this world, and said to her, You shall bear children with much pain, and your will shall be in subjection to your husband [or man], and he shall be your Lord, and I will cause many pains to you, when you are conceived with child.
20. And here it is as clear as the sun, that it was not intended that man (in the beginning) should generate in such a manner, for it should all have been done without l pain, without bestial 2 impregnation, l Or smart.
without a wife [or woman], and without a husband 2orc™^gn'
[or man]. And therefore the Treader upon thebi«withchildSerpent was born of a virgin, without the seed of man ; although now that [also] must come to be done in such a human manner, yet that was to this end only, that the Deity might enter into flesh, and [so might] generate the soul of flesh again out of dark flesh, out of death into life.
But else, the Saviour [or Champion] is wholly the virgin's son, and a virgin mind, as the first Adam
[was] in the creation ; for you must earnestly and accurately [consider and] understand what manner of person he is.
21. First, he is God, and is in the Father of
432 THE THREE PRINCIPLES [Ch. 18 eternity, generated out of the Father of eternity from eternity, without beginning and end, out of the depth of the almightiness, out of the broken gates of the sharpness [or depths] of God in the iQrbegetts.joy [or habitation], where the Father xattracts the pleasant joy in his eternal will, whereby the will is impregnated with the attracted virtue of the light, out of which [impregnation] the Father
2 Or compre- 2 conceives the other [or second] will to generate hends. . . , . r _ the virtue ; and that conception [or comprehension] is his Word, which the Father speaks (out of the
8 for, or to be will, s before the will) out of himself ; and this speaking remains in the mouth of the Father,
4 a Word as 4 a comprehended Word, with the second will ;
comprehended -i i • /• •> -i TIT / • by the second and the issue out of the spoken Word (which goetn will forth out of the will through the Word) is the 6 Or for to be spirit ; and that which is spoken forth 5 before the will, is the eternal wisdom of God, the virgin of the chastity.