Concerning the Three Principles of the Divine Essence
and therefore he would give to the place of this world an angelical 1host again, which should 'Or company.
continue to stand for ever. And now he having created the creatures, whose shadows after the changing of the world should continue for ever, yet there was no creature found that could have any joy therein [in the shadows], neither was there any creature found that might manage the beasts in this world ; therefore God said, Let us make man an image like unto us, which may rule over all the beasts, and creatures upon the earth; and
God created man to be his image, after the image of God created he him.
9. Now the question is : What is God's image ? Behold, and consider the Deity, and then you will light upon it. For God is not a bestial man ; but man should be the image and similitude of God, wherein God should dwell. Now God is a spirit, and all the three Principles are in him : And he would make such an image, as should have all the three Principles in him, and that is rightly a similitude of God ; And he created him, etc. Whereby Moses may be rightly understood, that God created him, and not made him of a lump of earth.
10. But the limbus out of which he created him is the matrix of the earth ; and the earth was generated out of it ; yet the materia [or matter] out of which he created him was a massa, a quinta
p. 156
THE THREE PRINCIPLES
[Ch. 10
1 Or progeneration.
2 stedfaat, chief, master, or predominant.
3 working property.
4 Or qualify.
6 Or breath of life.
6 substantiality, or nature.
essentia, out of the stars and elements ; which instantly became earthly, when man awakened the earthly centre, and did instantly belong to the earth and corruptibility.
11. But yet this massa was out of the heavenly matrix, which is the root of the l out-birth, or [the root] of the earth. The heavenly jcentre ought to remain 2 fixed ; and the earthly ought not to be awakened. And in this virtue [and power] he was lord and ruler over the stars and elements ; and all creatures should have stood in awe of him, and he should have been incorruptible ; he had the virtue and properties of all manner of creatures in him, for his virtue was out of the virtue [or power] of the understanding. Now then he ought to have all the three Principles, if he were to be the similitude of God, \viz.~\ the 3 source of the darkness, and also of the light, and also the 8 source of this world : And yet he should not live and 4 act in all three, but in one of them only, and that in the paradisical [property], in which his life [quickened] arose, [or did exist].
12. Now that this is demonstratively and certainly thus, [appeareth] in that it is written, And God breathed into him, the 6 living breath, whereby man became a living soul. All other creatures which were produced out of the corruptible 6 limbus by the Fiat, in all those the will in the Fiat had awakened the spirit in their centre, and every creature's spirit went forth out of the essence and
Ch. 10] THE CREATION OP MAN, AND HIS SOUL 157 property of its own self, and mixed afterwards with the spirit of the great world of the stars and elements, and that ought not to have been in man ; his spirit ought not to have mixed itself [or been united] with the spirit of the stars and elements. The two Principles (viz. the darkness and the spirit of the air) ought to have stood still in such a substance [as should be the image of God] ; and therefore he breathed into him the
1 living breath ; understand God's breath, that is, J Or breath of life the paradisical breath or spirit, [vizJ] the Holy
Ghost ; that should be the breath of the soul, in the centre of the soul. And the spirit which went forth out of the limbus, or out of the quinta essentia (which is of the 2 condition of the stars) 2 kind, or r> e- ft- property, or
and therefore he would give to the place of this world an angelical 1host again, which should 'Or company.
continue to stand for ever. And now he having created the creatures, whose shadows after the changing of the world should continue for ever, yet there was no creature found that could have any joy therein [in the shadows], neither was there any creature found that might manage the beasts in this world ; therefore God said, Let us make man an image like unto us, which may rule over all the beasts, and creatures upon the earth; and
God created man to be his image, after the image of God created he him.
9. Now the question is : What is God's image ? Behold, and consider the Deity, and then you will light upon it. For God is not a bestial man ; but man should be the image and similitude of God, wherein God should dwell. Now God is a spirit, and all the three Principles are in him : And he would make such an image, as should have all the three Principles in him, and that is rightly a similitude of God ; And he created him, etc. Whereby Moses may be rightly understood, that God created him, and not made him of a lump of earth.
10. But the limbus out of which he created him is the matrix of the earth ; and the earth was generated out of it ; yet the materia [or matter] out of which he created him was a massa, a quinta
p. 156
THE THREE PRINCIPLES
[Ch. 10
1 Or progeneration.
2 stedfaat, chief, master, or predominant.
3 working property.
4 Or qualify.
6 Or breath of life.
6 substantiality, or nature.
essentia, out of the stars and elements ; which instantly became earthly, when man awakened the earthly centre, and did instantly belong to the earth and corruptibility.
11. But yet this massa was out of the heavenly matrix, which is the root of the l out-birth, or [the root] of the earth. The heavenly jcentre ought to remain 2 fixed ; and the earthly ought not to be awakened. And in this virtue [and power] he was lord and ruler over the stars and elements ; and all creatures should have stood in awe of him, and he should have been incorruptible ; he had the virtue and properties of all manner of creatures in him, for his virtue was out of the virtue [or power] of the understanding. Now then he ought to have all the three Principles, if he were to be the similitude of God, \viz.~\ the 3 source of the darkness, and also of the light, and also the 8 source of this world : And yet he should not live and 4 act in all three, but in one of them only, and that in the paradisical [property], in which his life [quickened] arose, [or did exist].
12. Now that this is demonstratively and certainly thus, [appears] in that it is written, And God breathed into him, the 6 living breath, whereby man became a living soul. All other creatures which were produced out of the corruptible 6 limbus by the Fiat, in all those the will in the Fiat had awakened the spirit in their centre, and every creature's spirit went forth out of the essence and
Ch. 10] THE CREATION OP MAN, AND HIS SOUL 157 property of its own self, and mixed afterwards with the spirit of the great world of the stars and elements, and that ought not to have been in man ; his spirit ought not to have mixed itself [or been united] with the spirit of the stars and elements. The two Principles (viz. the darkness and the spirit of the air) ought to have stood still in such a substance [as should be the image of God] ; and therefore he breathed into him the
1 living breath ; understand God's breath, that is, J Or breath of life the paradisical breath or spirit, [vizJ] the Holy
Ghost ; that should be the breath of the soul, in the centre of the soul. And the spirit which went forth out of the limbus, or out of the quinta essentia (which is of the 2 condition of the stars) 2 kind, or r> e- ft- property, or