187. And do not rely upon the hypocrisy of the
Antichrist, he is a liar, and covetous, and a dissembler ; he mindeth only his idol the belly, and
is a thief in the sight of God ; he devoureth the
bread that belongeth to the needy ; he is the devil's
hell-hound ; learn to know him.
88. Speaking then of the true resurrection of
Christ, we will also shew [somewhat] concerning
his conversation (those forty days) after his resurrection, before his ascension. Because we know
that he is become a real Lord over heaven, earth,
and hell, therefore we shew you how the kingdom
of this world, with all the essences and qualities
thereof, hath been subjected to him. And although
he did not always converse visibly with his disciples,
yet many times he shewed himself to them visibly,
palpably, and staying with them, l according to the * according
f . . .. ,. , to the ruling
kingdom of this world, according to his body which property of
he had here, which was swallowed up by the new elements.
body, which he must present again, as God
would have it to be presented ; for God is Lord of
everything, and everything must be changed (as
he pleaseth) that he might thus shew his disciples
his real body, and the print of his nails, which
stand in the Holy Christ, in his holy body in
eternity, as a sign of his victory, and shine brighter
than the morning star.
718 THE THREE PRINCIPLES [Ch. 25
289. He thereby confirmed his disciples' weak
faith, and so shewed, that he is Lord also over the
kingdom of this world, and that all whatsoever we
o
sow, build, plant, eat and drink, is fully in his
almighty power, and that he can bless and increase
it, and therefore he is not separated or parted from
us ; but as a flower groweth out of the earth, so
his word, spirit, and power [or virtue] groweth in
everything ; and if our mind be sincerely inclined
to him, then we are blessed of him, in body and
soul ; but if not, then the curse and the anger of
God is in all things, and we eat death in all fruits
[or food]. And therefore it is that we pray, that
God will bless our meat and drink, also our bodies
and souls in Christ, and that is right.
90. Secondly, we intimate also how Christ
conversed upon earth forty days after his resurrection, understand, in the kingdom of this world,
whereas yet he was in heaven, yet he bore that
image without any outward glory or clarity before
the eyes of men, and he had the body wholly with
every essence, as it hung on the cross, except the
31 Or working l source of the Principle, which he had not; but
° else he had all essences in flesh and blood, and yet
the outward flesh stood in the might [and power]
of the heavenly. This we see, by his going in to
his disciples, the door being shut, and passed with
his body through the wood of the door. Thus you
may understand, that the world is as nothing to
him, and that he hath power over all things.
Ch. 25] CHRIST'S DEATH AND RESURRECTION 719
91. And further also we intimate to you, that
these forty days are the forty days of Adam's
being in paradise before his sleep, ere the
woman was made out of him, where he stood in the
paradisical temptation, where he was still pure
and heavenly. And so this Christ must also stand
forty days in the paradisical source [or condition],
in the temptation, [to try] whether the body
would continue paradisical before he was glorified ;
and therefore he did eat and drink with his
disciples in a paradisical manner (as Adam should
have done) into the mouth, and not into the
body ; for the consuming consisted in the virtue
[or power].
92. Here it was rightly tempted, whether the
body would live in divine virtue and power, as
Adam also should have done, while he was in
paradise in this world ; and though he was there,
yet he was in this world, and yet he lived not in
the source of this world, but in the paradisical
property above the world, and also above the wrath
of the anger in the hell ; he should have lived in
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.