Concerning the Three Principles of the Divine Essence
84. But now Baptism was not instituted in respect of the earthly corruptible [man], which belongeth to the earth, nor for the heavenly [man's] sake, which was pure and spotless without that, but for the poor soul's sake. Seeing the heavenly man in Christ took our natural soul (in the body of the Virgin Mary) to his heavenly man, and that also the earthly man hung to the soul, therefore the holy Trinity [by the hand of man] took the water of the eternal life in the pure element, and dipped the soul therein, as I may so speak.
85. See, thou beloved soul, thou wast gone out from God ; but his love caught hold of thee again, and 1 fastened thee (with the Promise) to his thread ; l tied or knit. and then came the fulfilling of the Promise, and put another new body on to thee ; but thou canst not have another soul, for thy soul was out of the eternity. Therefore now as the Holy Ghost overshadowed and filled [or impregnated] Mary, so the water out of the heavenly matrix (which hath its beginning out of the Trinity) in the baptism of
p. 624
Christ (and in all baptized Christians) overshadowed and l filled the soul of Christ in the baptism in Jordan, and also the souls of all Christians, and so renewed the earthly water (of the out-birth) in the 2 in true soul, and washed it clean, that it is 2in itself a pure angel, which of itself may eat of the heavenly fruit ; and that is the cause of the baptism.
0 Man consider thyself.
8 6. Now when the poor soul was thus bathed in the water of eternal life (out of the pure element) which sinTerncrio is 3 in the holy Ternary, that it not only enjoyed the same outwardly, but was also filled [or impregnated] therewith, as the Holy Ghost impregnated Mary in the holy Ternary ; then it stood [inclined]
4 in true * forward, viz. right forward towards God, and into
God, as a new half-generated and washed creature,
6 in self. and 5 behind it was the anger of the darkness in the kingdom of this world still fast bound to it, so that it could not be wholly freed from it, except it entered into death, and quite brake off the kingdom of this world.
Of the Temptation of Christ.
87. Therefore must Christ now (after the baptism) be tempted ; and he was set against the kingdom of the fierce wrath, to see whether this [second] Adam, thus new prepared, could stand in the new and old man, with the half new-born and washed soul, and set his imagination upon God,Ch. 22] THE NEW REGENERATION IN CHRIST 625 and eat of the Word of the Lord. And there it was tried whether the soul would press in to God, or into the spirit of this world again.
88. And here you may clearly know, that the spirit of God brought this Christ into the wilderness to be tempted, in that the devil was permitted, in the kingdom of God's anger, to set upon him, and to tempt this second Adam, as he had tempted the first Adam in the Garden of Eden.
89. And there now was no earthly meat or drink ; and the soul in Christ understood now very well what inn [or house] it was in, that it was in God, and that it could of stones make bread, seeing there was none there ; but it must eat no earthly bread, but heavenly [bread] out of the holy Ternary, in its heavenly body ; and the earthly body must be hungry, that the soul might be rightly tempted. For the earthly body was an hungred, as the text in the Gospel saith very rightly.
90. Now the heavenly [body] must overcome the earthly, that the earthly may be as it were dead and impotent, and that the heavenly may
1 keep the dominion. And now as Adam stood in i or be prethe 2 angle (between love and wrath) when he was 2° tempted, there stood both kingdoms against him, balanceand pulled at him ; and as God the Father (direct forward, in his reconciled will) is the kingdom of heaven, and the clear Deity ; and backward (in the eternal root of nature) there is his wrath and
p. 40
p. 626
1 the kingdom auger, and yet * both of them are in the eternal of heaven and , ., , kingdom of Father ; and as in the eternal nature 01 the wrath, the light or the kingdom of heaven is not known, and also in the eternal light, the kingdom of fierceness and wrath is not known, because each kingdom is in itself, so is the soul of man also ; it hath both
2imagineth, kingdoms in it; in which it 2 tradeth, in that it ia inclined, or . i i • i c
84. But now Baptism was not instituted in respect of the earthly corruptible [man], which belongs to the earth, nor for the heavenly [man's] sake, which was pure and spotless without that, but for the poor soul's sake. Seeing the heavenly man in Christ took our natural soul (in the body of the Virgin Mary) to his heavenly man, and that also the earthly man hung to the soul, therefore the holy Trinity [by the hand of man] took the water of the eternal life in the pure element, and dipped the soul therein, as I may so speak.
85. See, you beloved soul, you were gone out from God ; but his love caught hold of you again, and 1 fastened you (with the Promise) to his thread ; l tied or knit. and then came the fulfilling of the Promise, and put another new body on to you ; but you can not have another soul, for your soul was out of the eternity. Therefore now as the Holy Ghost overshadowed and filled [or impregnated] Mary, so the water out of the heavenly matrix (which has its beginning out of the Trinity) in the baptism of
624 THE THREE PRINCIPLES [Ch. 22
Christ (and in all baptized Christians) overshadowed and l filled the soul of Christ in the baptism in Jordan, and also the souls of all Christians, and so renewed the earthly water (of the out-birth) in the 2 in true soul, and washed it clean, that it is 2in itself a pure angel, which of itself may eat of the heavenly fruit ; and that is the cause of the baptism.
0 Man consider yourself.
8 6. Now when the poor soul was thus bathed in the water of eternal life (out of the pure element) which sinTerncrio is 3 in the holy Ternary, that it not only enjoyed the same outwardly, but was also filled [or impregnated] therewith, as the Holy Ghost impregnated Mary in the holy Ternary ; then it stood [inclined]
4 in true * forward, viz. right forward towards God, and into
God, as a new half-generated and washed creature,
6 in self. and 5 behind it was the anger of the darkness in the kingdom of this world still fast bound to it, so that it could not be wholly freed from it, except it entered into death, and quite brake off the kingdom of this world.
Of the Temptation of Christ.
87. Therefore must Christ now (after the baptism) be tempted ; and he was set against the kingdom of the fierce wrath, to see whether this [second] Adam, thus new prepared, could stand in the new and old man, with the half new-born and washed soul, and set his imagination upon God,
Ch. 22] THE NEW REGENERATION IN CHRIST 625 and eat of the Word of the Lord. And there it was tried whether the soul would press in to God, or into the spirit of this world again.
88. And here you may clearly know, that the spirit of God brought this Christ into the wilderness to be tempted, in that the devil was permitted, in the kingdom of God's anger, to set upon him, and to tempt this second Adam, as he had tempted the first Adam in the Garden of Eden.
89. And there now was no earthly meat or drink ; and the soul in Christ understood now very well what inn [or house] it was in, that it was in God, and that it could of stones make bread, seeing there was none there ; but it must eat no earthly bread, but heavenly [bread] out of the holy Ternary, in its heavenly body ; and the earthly body must be hungry, that the soul might be rightly tempted. For the earthly body was an hungred, as the text in the Gospel says very rightly.
90. Now the heavenly [body] must overcome the earthly, that the earthly may be as it were dead and impotent, and that the heavenly may
1 keep the dominion. And now as Adam stood in i or be prethe 2 angle (between love and wrath) when he was 2° tempted, there stood both kingdoms against him, balanceand pulled at him ; and as God the Father (direct forward, in his reconciled will) is the kingdom of heaven, and the clear Deity ; and backward (in the eternal root of nature) there is his wrath and
p. 40
626 THE THREE PRINCIPLES [Ch. 22
1 the kingdom auger, and yet * both of them are in the eternal of heaven and , ., , kingdom of Father ; and as in the eternal nature 01 the wrath, the light or the kingdom of heaven is not known, and also in the eternal light, the kingdom of fierceness and wrath is not known, because each kingdom is in itself, so is the soul of man also ; it has both
2imagineth, kingdoms in it; in which it 2 trads, in that it ia inclined, or . i i • i c