7. And thus we give you to understand, that all creatures have been created out of the nethermost and uppermost life: The matrix of the earth afforded body, and the constellations [afforded] spirit, and their life reacheth not up into the sun; for the earth hath attracted the sun's virtue into its matrix, and so all the creatures that dwell upon the earth have attained the virtue of the sun and of the stars: but the body of the fowls is out of the deep above the earth, and therefore they delight most to fly in their own matrix; and you see also how all beasts put their face and head forwards and downwards, and look after their matrix, and desire only the food thereof: for every life desireth its own mother, as you may soon perceive in the fowls, which are near of quality to the earth, that they eat flesh and are birds of prey; for they proceeded from two mothers in the creation, viz. out of the upper [mother], and out of the earth.
8. The earth is a peculiar centre, and therefore was created severally [apart by itself] on the First Day, and is an out-birth out of the eternal substantiality, a corrupted matrix, [corrupted by the Fall of Lucifer] :
in the eternity was therein known the virgin of
God's wisdom, wherein all the wonders of God are seen: And in the creation, and afterwards, even till Adam's fall, paradise sprang up through the earth, and so the upper centre of nature, viz.
the sun's heart, drew forth paradisical fruit out of the earth, which indeed was not eaten after an angelical manner by any creature, but only man, though indeed he had not eaten thereof either, for the longing of the twofold life caught hold of him suddenly, and there he stood till his sleep in trial, whether his will would continue in God, and
[whether] he [would] eat after an angelical manner:
But the beginning sheweth how he stood, which we must chew upon, and must therefore eat earth, and at last must become food for the earth.
9. Thus, if you consider it, you may see the creation of God, and how God created the other creatures before man, and you see how the life of all creatures standeth only in the matrix, out of which they were created.
10. Now you know what Moses saith, That God consulted in himself to create a similitude of his essence, an image of himself that should rule over all the creatures of this world, over beasts, fishes, and fowls, and over all that liveth and moveth, and saith, God said, Let us make man according to our image: and he created man to be his image, yea to the image of God created he him: But reason asketh, out of what? And Moses saith, God made man's body of a piece of clay.
11. Beloved reason, behold! open both your eyes, and look not with one eye only into the hidden Mystery of the humanity, as hath been used for a long while hitherto. Do you hear what Moses saith? God placed man in the Garden of Eden, which he had made, that he should till and keep it, and the paradise was therein. Do you now understand the hidden mystery of man? He was in paradise in the creation, and was created in [and for] paradise; for paradise grew up through the earth; and of that paradisical earth, wherein the heavenly property [source or quality] was, the body of Adam was created; for so it must be, seeing he was to be a lord over the earth, and all that was earthly, and was to open the wonders of the earth, else God had instantly given him an angelical body: But then the palpable substance, with its wonders, would not have been manifested, therefore he thus gave him a palpable body, but not so dark a rugged and bestial one as ours are, but a paradisical one.
7. And thus we give you to understand, that all creatures have been created out of the nethermost and uppermost life: The matrix of the earth afforded body, and the constellations [afforded] spirit, and their life reaches not up into the sun; for the earth has attracted the sun's virtue into its matrix, and so all the creatures that dwell upon the earth have attained the virtue of the sun and of the stars: but the body of the fowls is out of the deep above the earth, and therefore they delight most to fly in their own matrix; and you see also how all beasts put their face and head forwards and downwards, and look after their matrix, and desire only the food thereof: for every life desires its own mother, as you may soon perceive in the fowls, which are near of quality to the earth, that they eat flesh and are birds of prey; for they proceeded from two mothers in the creation, viz. out of the upper [mother], and out of the earth.
8. The earth is a peculiar centre, and therefore was created severally [apart by itself] on the First Day, and is an out-birth out of the eternal substantiality, a corrupted matrix, [corrupted by the Fall of Lucifer] :
in the eternity was therein known the virgin of
God's wisdom, wherein all the wonders of God are seen: And in the creation, and afterwards, even till Adam's fall, paradise sprang up through the earth, and so the upper centre of nature, viz.
the sun's heart, drew forth paradisical fruit out of the earth, which indeed was not eaten after an angelical manner by any creature, but only man, though indeed he had not eaten thereof either, for the longing of the twofold life caught hold of him suddenly, and there he stood till his sleep in trial, whether his will would continue in God, and
[whether] he [would] eat after an angelical manner:
But the beginning shows how he stood, which we must chew upon, and must therefore eat earth, and at last must become food for the earth.
9. Thus, if you consider it, you may see the creation of God, and how God created the other creatures before man, and you see how the life of all creatures stands only in the matrix, out of which they were created.
10. Now you know what Moses says, That God consulted in himself to create a similitude of his essence, an image of himself that should rule over all the creatures of this world, over beasts, fishes, and fowls, and over all that lives and moves, and says, God said, Let us make man according to our image: and he created man to be his image, yea to the image of God created he him: But reason asks, out of what? And Moses says, God made man's body of a piece of clay.
11. Beloved reason, behold! open both your eyes, and look not with one eye only into the hidden Mystery of the humanity, as has been used for a long while hitherto. Do you hear what Moses says? God placed man in the Garden of Eden, which he had made, that he should till and keep it, and the paradise was therein. Do you now understand the hidden mystery of man? He was in paradise in the creation, and was created in [and for] paradise; for paradise grew up through the earth; and of that paradisical earth, wherein the heavenly property [source or quality] was, the body of Adam was created; for so it must be, seeing he was to be a lord over the earth, and all that was earthly, and was to open the wonders of the earth, else God had instantly given him an angelical body: But then the palpable substance, with its wonders, would not have been manifested, therefore he thus gave him a palpable body, but not so dark a rugged and bestial one as ours are, but a paradisical one.
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