Concerning the Three Principles of the Divine Essence
THE THREE PRINCIPLES
word of God infallibly, as the holy men that penned the Scriptures, and others also. And he that can understand these things in himself, may well know who speaketh by the spirit of God, and who speaketh his own fancies and delusions ; as our Saviour said, He that doth the will of my Father which is in heaven, shall know of my ivords whether they be of God. But if that will of his Father in heaven had not been in them from the beginning of their life, in their conception in their mother's womb, how could they, to whom he said this, have done that will, whereby they might know whence his words proceeded ? And according to this rule may any discern the words and writings of all. Therefore such things as these are necessary to be known.
There are some who have desired his writings might be epitomized, for ease of those that have not leisure to read so large treatises. Truly the spare time they spend in any other outward thing, may be spent with more benefit a thousandfold in this ; and where he hath written at large it would not be understood if it were contracted more in brief; and all his books, as large as they are, are but a small spark of the Great Mystery ; and where he hath written more in brief it is so obscure to some that they think it impossible to be understood. He wrote both so briefly and obscurely, as I conceive, that none but such as would be diligent in the practice of that which he hath written plainly and at large should be able to understand it.
TO THE READER XV
It is intended that the book of the Threefold Life (which with the Three Principles and Forty Questions are a complete contence1 of all the Mysteries) should be published in English with the soonest conveniency ; and in the meantime, for a taste of the spirit of prophecy which the author had, there is a little treatise of some prophecies concerning these latter times collected out of his writings by a lover of the Teutonic philosophy, and entitled Mercurius Teutonicus.
In turning the German into English I retain in some places the propriety of the German language, because the author should be rendered as near as might be in his own expression, that those excellent notions which he layeth down might not be slipped over as men do common current English, but that the strangeness of the words may make them a little stay, and consider what the meaning may be, having some difference from the vulgar English phrase. Also, where it is somewhat hard at first sight to know what some of the words mean, I have set the synonyms in the margin, and sometimes the English rendering between two semiquadrates [ ].2
In the Preface to the lovers of wisdom set before the Forty Questions in English, there are some of
1 Obs. = Table of contents.
z Note. — The side-notes and all words within square brackets in the text are additions by the translator. Marks of parenthesis are usually equivalent to commas, the enclosed words being translations from the German. — C. J. B.
THE THREE PRINCIPLES
THE THREE PRINCIPLES
word of God infallibly, as the holy men that penned the Scriptures, and others also. And he that can understand these things in himself, may well know who speaks by the spirit of God, and who speaks his own fancies and delusions ; as our Saviour said, He that does the will of my Father which is in heaven, shall know of my ivords whether they be of God. But if that will of his Father in heaven had not been in them from the beginning of their life, in their conception in their mother's womb, how could they, to whom he said this, have done that will, whereby they might know whence his words proceeded ? And according to this rule may any discern the words and writings of all. Therefore such things as these are necessary to be known.
There are some who have desired his writings might be epitomized, for ease of those that have not leisure to read so large treatises. Truly the spare time they spend in any other outward thing, may be spent with more benefit a thousandfold in this ; and where he has written at large it would not be understood if it were contracted more in brief; and all his books, as large as they are, are but a small spark of the Great Mystery ; and where he has written more in brief it is so obscure to some that they think it impossible to be understood. He wrote both so briefly and obscurely, as I conceive, that none but such as would be diligent in the practice of that which he has written plainly and at large should be able to understand it.
TO THE READER XV
It is intended that the book of the Threefold Life (which with the Three Principles and Forty Questions are a complete contence1 of all the Mysteries) should be published in English with the soonest conveniency ; and in the meantime, for a taste of the spirit of prophecy which the author had, there is a little treatise of some prophecies concerning these latter times collected out of his writings by a lover of the Teutonic philosophy, and entitled Mercurius Teutonicus.
In turning the German into English I retain in some places the propriety of the German language, because the author should be rendered as near as might be in his own expression, that those excellent notions which he lays down might not be slipped over as men do common current English, but that the strangeness of the words may make them a little stay, and consider what the meaning may be, having some difference from the vulgar English phrase. Also, where it is somewhat hard at first sight to know what some of the words mean, I have set the synonyms in the margin, and sometimes the English rendering between two semiquadrates [ ].2
In the Preface to the lovers of wisdom set before the Forty Questions in English, there are some of
1 Obs. = Table of contents.
z Note. — The side-notes and all words within square brackets in the text are additions by the translator. Marks of parenthesis are usually equivalent to commas, the enclosed words being translations from the German. — C. J. B.
THE THREE PRINCIPLES