Concerning the Three Principles of the Divine Essence
43. And yet every form hath its own height, source [or quality] and perception ; and [yet] the divine [source] hath not so mixed, that [thereby] it is the less ; but what it was, that it continueth to be ; and that which it was not, that it is, without severing from the divine substance ; and the Word abode in the Father ; and the natural humanity, in this world, in the bosom of the Virgin Mary.
Of the. three Regions of the [Incarnation, or] becoming Man ; the forming [or imaging'} of the Lord Jesus Christ.
44. The forming of this highly worthy person is severally [done] ; first there is the Word, or the Deity, which hath had its forming from eternity in the Father; and assumed in the becoming man no other forming [or image], but continued in the Father, as it was from eternity, in its seat.
45. The second forming is done naturally, in the same time of the angel Gabriel's greeting, when the virgin said to the angel, Let it be done unto me as thou hast said. In the performance of the same Word, the imaging [or forming] in the
1 element was done, which [image] was like the i inward first Adam before the fall, which then should have e generated such an angelical creature out of himself ;
p. 444
and the whole propagation of the angelical men [should have been] so ; and that he could not do now, because he had entered into the spirit of this world ; and therefore there must be such a virginlike creature born in the earthly virgin, which must bring the earthly virgin (with her brethren and sisters) out of the earthliness again into the [pure] element (before God) through himself. And this forming [or imaging] is done in the twinkling of an eye, wholly and perfectly without any defect ; and nothing at all hath happened to it the more with the length of time.
46. And the third forming was together, in the same twinkling of an eye, with the other formings also at once (out of the [pure] element) produced, just as if an earthly seed were sown, out of which a whole child springeth forth, and took its beginning naturally ; and the new creature (in perfection of the element) was the masculine seed of the earthly man, which the earthly matrix of the virgin conceived in the bosom of the Virgin Mary ; yet the earthliness defiled not the limbus of the new creature in the holy element, for the Word of the Deity (which was the mark of the limit of separation) did hinder that.
47. And the angelical image, as to the limbus of the [holy pure] element, came naturally to be flesh and blood, with the infecting and figuring of all natural regions of human members, as in all the children of men, and attained his natural soul in
Ch. 18] PROMISED SEED OF THE WOMAN 445
1the beginning of the third month, as all other l or in the children of Adam, which hath its ground out of ei the first Principle, and hath raised up its throne and seat into the divine element, into the joy [or habitation] wherein it sat (in the creation) in Adam ; and there it hath attained its princely throne (in the kingdom of heaven, before God) again, out of which it was gone forth with sin in Adam.
48. And thither the second Adam (with his becoming man) brought it in again, and [there] as a loving child it was bound up » with the Word of God, in love and righteousness ; and there the new creature (out of the element) came to be the body of the soul. For in the new creature of the limbus of God, the soul was holy, and the earthly essence (out of flesh and blood) clave to it, in the time of the earthly body ; which [essences] Christ (when his soul with the new creature went into death) left in death, and with the new body in the natural soul he arose from death, and triumphed over death ; as hereafter you shall see the wonders concerning the death and resurrection of Christ.
49. But that the soul of Christ could be generated both in the new, and also in the old earthly creature, is because the gate of the soul in the first Principle
.standeth in the source [or quality] of the eternity, and reacheth into the deep gate of the eternity, in the Father's original will, wherewith he breaketh
43. And yet every form has its own height, source [or quality] and perception ; and [yet] the divine [source] has not so mixed, that [thereby] it is the less ; but what it was, that it continues to be ; and that which it was not, that it is, without severing from the divine substance ; and the Word abode in the Father ; and the natural humanity, in this world, in the bosom of the Virgin Mary.
Of the. three Regions of the [Incarnation, or] becoming Man ; the forming [or imaging'} of the Lord Jesus Christ.
44. The forming of this highly worthy person is severally [done] ; first there is the Word, or the Deity, which has had its forming from eternity in the Father; and assumed in the becoming man no other forming [or image], but continued in the Father, as it was from eternity, in its seat.
45. The second forming is done naturally, in the same time of the angel Gabriel's greeting, when the virgin said to the angel, Let it be done unto me as you have said. In the performance of the same Word, the imaging [or forming] in the
1 element was done, which [image] was like the i inward first Adam before the fall, which then should have e generated such an angelical creature out of himself ;
444 THE THREE PRINCIPLES [Ch. 18
and the whole propagation of the angelical men [should have been] so ; and that he could not do now, because he had entered into the spirit of this world ; and therefore there must be such a virginlike creature born in the earthly virgin, which must bring the earthly virgin (with her brethren and sisters) out of the earthliness again into the [pure] element (before God) through himself. And this forming [or imaging] is done in the twinkling of an eye, wholly and perfectly without any defect ; and nothing at all has happened to it the more with the length of time.
46. And the third forming was together, in the same twinkling of an eye, with the other formings also at once (out of the [pure] element) produced, just as if an earthly seed were sown, out of which a whole child springs forth, and took its beginning naturally ; and the new creature (in perfection of the element) was the masculine seed of the earthly man, which the earthly matrix of the virgin conceived in the bosom of the Virgin Mary ; yet the earthliness defiled not the limbus of the new creature in the holy element, for the Word of the Deity (which was the mark of the limit of separation) did hinder that.
47. And the angelical image, as to the limbus of the [holy pure] element, came naturally to be flesh and blood, with the infecting and figuring of all natural regions of human members, as in all the children of men, and attained his natural soul in
Ch. 18] PROMISED SEED OF THE WOMAN 445
1the beginning of the third month, as all other l or in the children of Adam, which has its ground out of ei the first Principle, and has raised up its throne and seat into the divine element, into the joy [or habitation] wherein it sat (in the creation) in Adam ; and there it has attained its princely throne (in the kingdom of heaven, before God) again, out of which it was gone forth with sin in Adam.
48. And thither the second Adam (with his becoming man) brought it in again, and [there] as a loving child it was bound up » with the Word of God, in love and righteousness ; and there the new creature (out of the element) came to be the body of the soul. For in the new creature of the limbus of God, the soul was holy, and the earthly essence (out of flesh and blood) clave to it, in the time of the earthly body ; which [essences] Christ (when his soul with the new creature went into death) left in death, and with the new body in the natural soul he arose from death, and triumphed over death ; as hereafter you shall see the wonders concerning the death and resurrection of Christ.
49. But that the soul of Christ could be generated both in the new, and also in the old earthly creature, is because the gate of the soul in the first Principle
.stands in the source [or quality] of the eternity, and reaches into the deep gate of the eternity, in the Father's original will, wherewith he breaks