Concerning the Three Principles of the Divine Essence
1 Or bringeth secrecies, and the body is that which l generate th, that which • i / • - is hidden to so also here ; the wisdom (or the eternal virgin) of essence. _. .. , ., _ -i • i i i
God openeth all the great wonders in the holy element, for there are the essences, wherein the buds [or fruits] of paradise spring up ; and if we take the eternal band (and that together) wherein the Deity generateth from eternity, then it is called the eternal limbus of God, wherein consisteth the essence of all essences.
22. For in the root of the limbus in the dark anxiety is the anger and the darkness, and the first cause of the essences ; but because we have before handled it at large, therefore here we leave it thus, for we should not be well understood [in brief] ; and so we will reach after our Immanuel.
23. Thus know (my beloved Reader) that our father Adam is gone out of this glory into the out-birth of the substance of this world ; and now if he is to be helped, then the Barmhertzigkeit, or 2 mercifulness of God (as above mentioned) must new regenerate him ; and in this 2 mercifulness of God man was 3 foreseen (before the foundation of the world was laid) to live eternally therein, for (as to his soul) he is out of the eternal will of God the Father, out of which this mercifulness is generated.
The Gate of Immanuel.
24. Therefore know (beloved Christian mind) how thou art helped, and consider this gate diligently, it is an earnest one ; for Moses and all the Prophets
Or mercy.
3 Or predestinated.
Ch. 22] THE NEW REGENERATION IN CHRIST 597
witness concerning these things, viz. concerning our salvation in restoring [us] ; be not drowsy here, it is the fairest • gate of this book ; the more thou readest it, the more thou wilt be in love with it.
25. Seeing now we know, that we lost our heavenly man in our first fall, so also we know that a new l one is generated to us in the merciful- l heavenly ness of God, into which we should and must enter, if we will be the children of God ; and without 1 this we are the children of the anger of God.
26. And as the Prophets have written of it, so the new man (which is born 2to us of God) is the2 Or in. Son of the virgin, not of earthly flesh and blood, also not of the seed of man, but conceived by the Holy Ghost, and born of a pure divine chaste virgin, and (in this world) revealed [or manifested] in our flesh and blood, and is entered with his holy body into death, and hath separated the earthly [body], together with the might of the anger, from the holy element, and hath 3 restored the soul 3 brought it again, and hath opened the gate to the light of again. God again, so that the averted soul can (with the essences of the Father in the holy will) reach the light of God again.
27. Therefore now we know, that we were not created to generate f* that which is] earthly, but 4 Or in an earthly, but heavenly, out of the body of the pure element, heavenly which [body] Adam had before his sleep, and [before] his Eve [was], when he was neither man nor woman [male nor female], but one only imagep. 598 of God, full of chastity, out of the pure element. He should have generated an image again like himself; but because he went into the spirit of this world, therefore his body became earthly, and so the heavenly birth was gone, and God must make the woman out of him, as is before mentioned. Now if we, the children of Eve, are to be helped, then there must come a new virgin, and bear us a Son, who should be God with us, and in us.
1 Or brings secrecies, and the body is that which l generate th, that which • i / • - is hidden to so also here ; the wisdom (or the eternal virgin) of essence. _. .. , ., _ -i • i i i
God opens all the great wonders in the holy element, for there are the essences, wherein the buds [or fruits] of paradise spring up ; and if we take the eternal band (and that together) wherein the Deity generats from eternity, then it is called the eternal limbus of God, wherein consists the essence of all essences.
22. For in the root of the limbus in the dark anxiety is the anger and the darkness, and the first cause of the essences ; but because we have before handled it at large, therefore here we leave it thus, for we should not be well understood [in brief] ; and so we will reach after our Immanuel.
23. Thus know (my beloved Reader) that our father Adam is gone out of this glory into the out-birth of the substance of this world ; and now if he is to be helped, then the Barmhertzigkeit, or 2 mercifulness of God (as above mentioned) must new regenerate him ; and in this 2 mercifulness of God man was 3 foreseen (before the foundation of the world was laid) to live eternally therein, for (as to his soul) he is out of the eternal will of God the Father, out of which this mercifulness is generated.
The Gate of Immanuel.
24. Therefore know (beloved Christian mind) how you are helped, and consider this gate diligently, it is an earnest one ; for Moses and all the Prophets
Or mercy.
3 Or predestinated.
Ch. 22] THE NEW REGENERATION IN CHRIST 597 witness concerning these things, viz. concerning our salvation in restoring [us] ; be not drowsy here, it is the fairest • gate of this book ; the more you readest it, the more you will be in love with it.
25. Seeing now we know, that we lost our heavenly man in our first fall, so also we know that a new l one is generated to us in the merciful- l heavenly ness of God, into which we should and must enter, if we will be the children of God ; and without 1 this we are the children of the anger of God.
26. And as the Prophets have written of it, so the new man (which is born 2to us of God) is the2 Or in. Son of the virgin, not of earthly flesh and blood, also not of the seed of man, but conceived by the Holy Ghost, and born of a pure divine chaste virgin, and (in this world) revealed [or manifested] in our flesh and blood, and is entered with his holy body into death, and has separated the earthly [body], together with the might of the anger, from the holy element, and has 3 restored the soul 3 brought it again, and has opened the gate to the light of again. God again, so that the averted soul can (with the essences of the Father in the holy will) reach the light of God again.
27. Therefore now we know, that we were not created to generate f* that which is] earthly, but 4 Or in an earthly, but heavenly, out of the body of the pure element, heavenly which [body] Adam had before his sleep, and [before] his Eve [was], when he was neither man nor woman [male nor female], but one only image
598 THE THREE PRINCIPLES [Ch. 22 of God, full of chastity, out of the pure element. He should have generated an image again like himself; but because he went into the spirit of this world, therefore his body became earthly, and so the heavenly birth was gone, and God must make the woman out of him, as is before mentioned. Now if we, the children of Eve, are to be helped, then there must come a new virgin, and bear us a Son, who should be God with us, and in us.