Concerning the Three Principles of the Divine Essence

7. Thus we give you to understand, that this world (when the will was moved) was created out of the darkness, and the outgoing out of the will in itself is God ; and the outgoing out of God is spirit, which hath discovered itself in the dark will ; and that which was

2 Or the discovered were the essences, and the 2 Vulcanus fire, which was the wheel of the mind, that divided itself striketh up the thoughts into seven forms.

of the mind. , . _ . . ,

8. And as is mentioned belore, these seven .forms divide themselves again every one in itself

ȣ0r spark ling, into an infinity of forms, according to the 3 discovery of the spirit, and therein standeth the essence of all essences, and it is all a great wonder ; and our whole teaching doth but aim at this, that we men might enter into the light holy wonders ; for at the end of this time all shall be manifested, and everything shall stand in that wherein it is grown; and then when that substance (which at present it possesseth and bringeth forth) perisheth, then it is all an eternity.

9. Therefore let every one have a care how he useth his reason, that he may therewith stand in great honour in the wonders of God. "We know that this world shall perish in the fire ; it shall be DO fire of straw or wood, (that would turn no

Ch. 27] OF THE LAST JUDGMENT 749

stones to ashes, and further to nothing), neither will there any fire gather together, into which this world shall -be thrown ; but the fire of nature kindleth itself in all things, and will melt or dissolve the body of everything (or whatsoever is palpable), and turn it to nothing.

10. For as all in the Fiat was held and created according to the [will of the] * fashioner, which was i framer or the sole and total workmaster in all things, in al the seven spirits of nature, which brake nothing when he fashioned it, nor threw one [part] from the other when he had made it, but everything separated itself, and stood in the source of its own essences, so there shall not need much blustering, thunder and lightning, and breaking, as this world in Babel teacheth, but everything 2 perisheth 2 Or passeth in itself; the source [or flowing forth] of the away' elements ceaseth, as a man when he dieth [ceaseth from working], and all passeth into its ether [or receptacle].

11. And at the time (before this fabric [of heaven and earth] perisheth and passeth into its ether) cometh the Judge of the living and the dead ; there all men must see him in his, and in their flesh ; and all the dead must rise through his voice, and stand before him ; and there the angelical world shall be manifested. And all the generations of the earth (which are not comprehended in the body of Christ) shall howl, and then they shall be separated into two flocks ; and

p. 750

the sentence of Christ passeth over all, both good and bad ; and there will be howling, trembling, yelling, roaring, and cursing themselves, the children cursing their parents, and wishing that they had never been born.

12. Thus one of the wicked curseth the other, who hath caused him to commit such wickedness ; the inferior his superior that hath given him offence, [and been a stumbling-block to him] ; the

1 ministers or laity curse the clergy or l priests, who have given them evil examples, and seduced them with false doctrine ; the wicked curser, swearer, and blasphemer, biteth and gnaweth his tongue, which hath so murdered him; the mind beateth the head against the stones ; and the ungodly hide themselves in the caves and holes of the earth, before the terror of the LORD ; for there is great quaking and stirring in the essences of the anger and fierce wrath of the LORD ; and the anguish breaketh the heart, and yet there is no dying ; for the anger is stirring, and the life of the ungodly floweth up in the anger. There the ungodly curseth the heaven and the earth that did bear him, as also the constellation [or stars] that led him, and the hour of