15. And here may be seen very exactly, who was
the accuser of Cain, viz. the blood of Abel, which
cried to God from the earth, and awakened the
fierce anger against Cain ; where the essences of
the soul of Abel, through the deep gate of anger,
pressed into God, through the Treader upon the
Serpent, and so stirred the root of the fire in
Cain, whereby the anger was awakened. Here
consider what the sighings of the righteous, and
their pressing in to God (in their being unequally
oppressed) can do, how it kindleth the anger of
God, as in Cain ; whereas then fiery coals are
heaped upon the driver's [or oppressor's] head.
3 the wrath, or 6. But when 3 it was allayed again by the voice
of God, then Cain did not know how that came
to pass, and set his murder at rest, like one who
hath a secret gnawing dog sitting in the dark ; yet
conscience.
Ch. 21] THE CAINISH AND ABELLISH KINGDOMS 559
2he proceeded and built his powerful earthly kingdom, and did not wholly put his trust in God.
For when he saw, that he must seek for his bread
out of the earth, and must take his clothing from
the l children of the earth, therefore all his business 1 the beasts,
lay in the art of seeking how and which way he wWc
might find, and how possess the treasure of that earthf the
which was found, that he might always have
enough ; because he saw God no more, therefore
he did like Israel, who were brought out of Egypt
by Moses, and when they saw him not (because he
was on the mount) then they begun their dancing
and false worship of God, and asked after Moses
no more.
7. Thus Cain now built his earthly kingdom,
and began to search all manner of arts, not only in
* agriculture, but also in metals, and further [all » husbandry,
arts] according to the seven spirits of nature, tai!?go
which 3in the letter is well to be seen, wherein gr°und-
* • j »
our schools [or universities] will now be masters ;
but they are not yet scholars in the ground. circumstances.
8. And it is excellently shewn, that they had
34 the light of the tincture in their hands, wherein 4 That is, in
they found [their inventions], though it was not£yhad7he
wholly known, for sins were not then in such thTiTjSJeV
multiplicity upon the earth; and therefore the
6 Mysteries were not so very hard and close hidden' the Mysteries
to them, but all was found out very easily ; S tfthL.
especially by Adam, who had the Mysteries 6 in his 6 Or naked,
hand, and was [but] entered out of the wonders of plain*11'
560
THE THREE PRINCIPLES
[Ch. 21
1 Or kinds.
2 speech or
word.
3 Or kind.
paradise into the wonders of this world, who knew
not only the essences, * natures, and properties of
all the beasts, but also of all plants and metals ;
he knew also the ground of the seven liberal arts
[arising] out of the seven forms of nature ; yet not
so altogether out of the ground [or fundamentally].
But he was the tree, out of which afterwards all
the roots and branches grew.
9. But the depth in the centre of the birth he
knew much better than we in our schools [or
universities] ; which is shewn by that 2 saying,
That he gave names to all things, to every thing
according to its essence, 3 nature, and property, as
if he had stuck [or dwelt] in every thing, and tried
4 Or beings, all 4 essences ; whereas he had the knowledge of
them only from their sound, also from their
form and aspect, smell and taste ; the metals he
knew in the glance of the tincture, and in the fire,
as it may yet well be known.
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.