Concerning the Three Principles of the Divine Essence
37. And the will of the Heart of God in the Father, is from the heart entered into the will of the wisdom, before the Father, into an eternal 5 contract ; and the same virgin of the wisdom of God, in the Word of God, hath, in the bosom of the Virgin Mary, given itself into her virgin matrix, and united itself, as a propriety, not to depart in eternity ; [you must] understand, into the essences, and into the tincture of the element, which is pure and undefiled before God. In that,
4 Or maidservant or ministress.
8 Or espousalCh. 18] PROMISED SEED OF THE WOMAN 441 the Heart of God is become an angelical man, as Adam was in the creation ; and the going forth out of the Heart of God, with the whole fulness of the Deity (out of which also the Holy Ghost [or spirit] of God, and out of the spirit the virgin, goeth forth) maketh this high angelical image greater than Adam, or ever any angel was ; for it is the blessing, and the might of all things, which are in the Father eternally.
38. For the Word (by its being given into the element, into the virgin matrix) is not severed from the Father ; but it continHieth eternally in the Father, and it is (in the heaven of the element) everywhere present ; into which [element] the same [Word] is entered, and is become a new creature in man ; which [new creature] is called God. And you must here very highly and accurately understand, that this new creature in the holy element is not generated of the flesh and blood of the virgin, but of God, out of the element, in a total fulness, and union l of the holy Trinity ; » or with, which [creature] continueth with total fulness without 2 ending therein eternally : Which [crea- 2 fading, ture] everywhere filleth all, in all the gates of the holiness, whose depth hath no ground, and is without number [measure] and name.
39. Yet you must know, that the corporeity of the element of this creature is 3 inferior to the * Or less than Deity ; for the Deity is spirit, and the element is generated out of the Word from eternity ; andp. 442 the Lord entered into the servant, at which all the angels in heaven do wonder. And it is the greatest wonder that is done from eternity, for it is against nature ; and that may [indeed rightly] be [called] love.
40. And after that this high princely angelical creature, in the twinkling of an eye, in the Word and Holy Ghost (in the holy element) was figured [fashioned, formed, or made] a self-subsisting creature (with perfect life and light) in the Word ; then also in the same twinkling of an eye the four elements (with the dominion of the sun and stars) in the tincture of the blood, together with the blood and all human essences, which were in the body of the Virgin Mary in her matrix (according
1 assumed. to the counsel of God) in the element, x received the creature, wholly and properly, as one [only] creature, and not two.
41. And the holy [pure] element of the heaven, which encloseth the Deity, that was the Linibus (or the masculine seed) to this creature ; and the Holy Ghost, with the holy Fiat, in the virgin of the divine wisdom, was the master-builder, and the first beginner; and every regimen built its own (in its own centre) therein.
42. The holy spirit of God built the formation in the wisdom of the virgin, in the [holy] element, in its centre of the heaven, even the highly worthy princely and angelical formation ; and the regimen of the stars and elements of this world formed theCh. 18] PROMISED SEED OF THE WOMAN 443 outward man (wholly, with all essences of our human bodies), with a natural body and soul (wholly like us) in one only person.
37. And the will of the Heart of God in the Father, is from the heart entered into the will of the wisdom, before the Father, into an eternal 5 contract ; and the same virgin of the wisdom of God, in the Word of God, has, in the bosom of the Virgin Mary, given itself into her virgin matrix, and united itself, as a propriety, not to depart in eternity ; [you must] understand, into the essences, and into the tincture of the element, which is pure and undefiled before God. In that,
4 Or maidservant or ministress.
8 Or espousal
Ch. 18] PROMISED SEED OF THE WOMAN 441 the Heart of God is become an angelical man, as Adam was in the creation ; and the going forth out of the Heart of God, with the whole fulness of the Deity (out of which also the Holy Ghost [or spirit] of God, and out of the spirit the virgin, goes forth) makes this high angelical image greater than Adam, or ever any angel was ; for it is the blessing, and the might of all things, which are in the Father eternally.
38. For the Word (by its being given into the element, into the virgin matrix) is not severed from the Father ; but it continHies eternally in the Father, and it is (in the heaven of the element) everywhere present ; into which [element] the same [Word] is entered, and is become a new creature in man ; which [new creature] is called God. And you must here very highly and accurately understand, that this new creature in the holy element is not generated of the flesh and blood of the virgin, but of God, out of the element, in a total fulness, and union l of the holy Trinity ; » or with, which [creature] continues with total fulness without 2 ending therein eternally : Which [crea- 2 fading, ture] everywhere fills all, in all the gates of the holiness, whose depth has no ground, and is without number [measure] and name.
39. Yet you must know, that the corporeity of the element of this creature is 3 inferior to the * Or less than Deity ; for the Deity is spirit, and the element is generated out of the Word from eternity ; and
442 THE THREE PRINCIPLES [Ch. 18 the Lord entered into the servant, at which all the angels in heaven do wonder. And it is the greatest wonder that is done from eternity, for it is against nature ; and that may [indeed rightly] be [called] love.
40. And after that this high princely angelical creature, in the twinkling of an eye, in the Word and Holy Ghost (in the holy element) was figured [fashioned, formed, or made] a self-subsisting creature (with perfect life and light) in the Word ; then also in the same twinkling of an eye the four elements (with the dominion of the sun and stars) in the tincture of the blood, together with the blood and all human essences, which were in the body of the Virgin Mary in her matrix (according
1 assumed. to the counsel of God) in the element, x received the creature, wholly and properly, as one [only] creature, and not two.
41. And the holy [pure] element of the heaven, which encloses the Deity, that was the Linibus (or the masculine seed) to this creature ; and the Holy Ghost, with the holy Fiat, in the virgin of the divine wisdom, was the master-builder, and the first beginner; and every regimen built its own (in its own centre) therein.
42. The holy spirit of God built the formation in the wisdom of the virgin, in the [holy] element, in its centre of the heaven, even the highly worthy princely and angelical formation ; and the regimen of the stars and elements of this world formed the
Ch. 18] PROMISED SEED OF THE WOMAN 443 outward man (wholly, with all essences of our human bodies), with a natural body and soul (wholly like us) in one only person.