116. Can this be no joy and rejoicing? And
should not that be a pleasant thing, with the many
thousand sorts of angels to eat heavenly bread,
and to rejoice in their communion and fellowship ? What can possibly be named which can be
more pleasant ? Where there is no fear, no anger,
no death : where every voice and speech is salvation, power, strength, and might, be to our God ;
and this voice going forth into the eternity. Thus
with this sound the divine virtue of paradise goeth
forth ; and it is a mere growing in the divine centre
160
THE THREE PRINCIPLES
[Ch. 10
of the fruits in paradise. And there is the place
where St Paul heard words unutterable, that no
man can express. Such a man was Adam before
his fall. And that you may not doubt, that this
is very sure and most truly thus, look upon the
circumstances.
17. When God had created Adam thus, he was
then in paradise in the joyfulness ; and this clarified
1 illustrious [or l brightened] man was wholly beautiful, and
or shining.
2full of all manner of knowledge ; and there God
brought all the beasts to him (as to the great lord
in this world), that he should look upon them, and
give to every one its name, according to its essence
and virtue, as the spirit of every one was figured in
it. And Adam knew all what every creature was,
and he gave every one its name, according to the
quality [or working property] of its spirit. As
God can see into the heart of all things, so could
Adam also do, in which his perfection may very
well be observed.
18. And Adam and all men should have gone
wholly naked, as he then went ; his clothing was
the clarity [or brightness] in the virtue [or power] ;
no heat nor cold touched him ; he saw day and
night [clearly] with open eyes ; in him there was
no sleep, and in his mind there was no night, for
the divine virtue [and power] was in his eyes ;
and he was altogether perfect. He had the
2 seed. zlimbus, and also the3 matrix in himself; he was
8 womb- no [male] or man, nor [female or] woman ; as we
Ch. 10] THE CREATION OF MAN, AND HIS SOUL 161
in the resurrection shall be [neither]. Though
indeed the knowledge of the marks [of distinction
will] remain in the figure, but the limbus and the
matrix not separated, as now [they are].
319. Now man was to dwell upon the earth as
long as it was to stand, and manage [rule and
order] the beasts, and have his delight and recreation therein : But he ought not to have eaten any
earthly fruit, wherein the corruptibility [or transitoriuess] did stick. It is true he should have
eaten, but only with the mouth, and not into the
body ; for he had no [entrails, stomach, or] guts,
nor any such hard dark flesh, it was all perfect ;
for there grew paradisical fruit for him, which
afterwards l went away, 2 when he went out of l Or dis-
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paradise : And then God cursed the earth, and the a because that
heavenly limbus was drawn from him, together he>
with that fruit, and he lost paradise, God, and the
kingdom of heaven. For before sin, when paradise
was upon the earth, the earth was not bad [or evil,
as now it is].
20. If Adam had continued in innocency, then
he should in all fruits have eaten paradisical fruit,
and his food should have been heavenly, and his
drink [should have been] out of the mother of the
heavenly water of the source [or fountain] of the
eternal life. The 3 out-birth touched him not, the 3 Or the maelement of air he had no need of in this manner [as
now] ; it is true, he drew breath from the air, but
he took his breath from the incorruptibility, for he
11
162
THE THREE PRINCIPLES
[Ch. 10
1 Or was not did not l mingle with the spirit of this world, but
united.
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.