Concerning the Three Principles of the Divine Essence

same l ignominy must our dear Lord Christ bear i shame or upon his shoulders. Or do ye think again, that we re are mad ? Truly our folly will be set before your eyes at the Last Judgment, and thither we appeal.

31. And as Adam must carry the untoward gross body, that the spirit of this world had put upon him, and was scorned of all devils, because he had changed his angelical [body] into a monstrous vizard, so Christ must carry his heavy wooden cross, and was for our sakes scorned of all these wicked people.

32. A.nd as the fierce [wrathful] essences of the anger of God pressed into Adam, whereby he entered into death, (of which God spake, saying, If thou eatest of the Tree, thou shalt die the death, understand the death in the flesh, even while they were in the earthly life), so the sharp nails must pierce through the hands and feet of Christ, and so he must enter into death ; and as there is in the human essences (before the light of God) a crossbirth, so when the light of God shineth therein,

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1 parted asunder, or broken.

2 upon the brain-pan of a man s skull, and of a woman's skull, thus,

3 Or thieves.

4 Adam.

all is turned into a pleasant flourishing blossom, wherein the sharp essences are not found or perceived.

33. And when Adam with his soul entered into the fourth form, into the spirit of this world, then that cross -birth was stirred ; and when his wife was made out of his essences, he was l divided in that cross-birth ; and so the woman hath the one half of the cross, and the man the other half; which you may see 2in the skull, as also in the essences ; and therefore Christ must die upon the cross, and destroy death on the cross.

34. And as the soul of Adam hung between two evil kingdoms, between the kingdom of this world, and the kingdom of hell, so Christ hung on the cross between two 3 murderers ; and thus Christ must restore again all that Adam had lost. And as the one malefactor turned and desired to be with Christ in his kingdom, so the one kingdom, viz. the earthly man, must also turn again, and the poor soul must enter into Christ again through the earthly death, and spring up again, like this murderer [thief, or malefactor], on the cross, who desired the kingdom of Christ.

35. And thus you may well believe, that all whatsoever happened in the fall of Adam, whereby Adam is fallen, the same was the second Adam fain to bear upon his shoulders, for * he was fallen into the anger of God ; and now if that must be allayed and reconciled, then the second Adam

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must set himself therein, and yield his outward body with all essences therein ; and he must go through death, into hell, into the anger of the Father, and reconcile it with his love ; and so himself must undergo that hard condition, wherein we must have been in eternity.

36. And now when this earnest business was taken in hand, that the Saviour of the world hung on the cross, as a curse, and wrestled with earth and hell, he said, / thirst. 0 that great thirst ! The fierce wrathful kingdom was weary, as also the kingdom of this world, they desired strength ; and the kingdom of heaven thirsted after our souls ; it was a thirst of all the three Principles.

37. And when he saw John with his mother under the cross ; he said, Behold, that is thy mother-, and to her he said, Behold, that is thy Son ; and instantly that disciple took her to him. His mother signifieth his eternal new humanity, which he had l received in his mother (viz. in the 1 assumed, holy Ternary) which we should take to us, and refresh ourselves with his mother ; and therefore he shewed her to John, of which very much might be written ; but this shall be expounded in another place.

38. And this is as clear as the sun, that as the poor soul in us hangeth between two kingdoms, which both keep it altogether imprisoned, so must Christ hang between two malefactors ; take this

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