form, or quality, would then — but then only — appear as these evil things. If this idea is clearly grasped, most of the obscurity of Boehme's system will disappear, and all will be lucid. For, according to him, any quality is the surface appearance of an unseen, hidden power or spirit which, so long as it remains as invisible spirit, is unknown, has no name, no consciously cognised quality. But it is possible to bring it up out of the hiddenness, and then it appears as a definite quality; and then, for the first time, it gets a name; and is either love or hate, darkness or light, falsehood or truth, according to the nature of the spirit of which it is the manifestation.
But why should God permit any spirit to be which, when manifested, must appear as these evil qualities? Boehme's reply is that contrariety is the very condition and basis of manifestation; and that, apart from the existence of a contrary, manifestation could not be. For a single will does nothing new; and had the will of the Still Rest not been met and crossed by a contrary will, the Still Rest had been the ceaseless condition, and manifestation would not have taken place. And there is very much to be said for this presentation of the case. Contraries do exist for us; and we must either suppose that they exist against the will of God (which is hard to believe, for "Who hath resisted His will?"), or that they exist by His will, and subserve some necessary purpose, as Boehme asserts. We know, too, that it is through opposition that consciousness is effected. Where there is no opposition, no work can be consciously done. If things had no weight to resist our strength, we should never know we possessed strength. If we could never do wrong, we should never know that we could do right. Abstract terms are nothing to us, apart for some concrete embodiment. Strength is unknown to us apart from the strong thing, showing its strength in what it does. Colours would be unknown were there no " bodies " that were red or blue or green. So "strong," "powerful," "good," "thick," "heavy," "light," "dark," " hard," "soft," "sweet," "bitter," etc., etc. are all adjectives — that is, they are qualities of things which we only know through the things of which they are the qualities. We know that we cannot conceive of pure, abstract spirit apart from some visible or cognisable thing in and through which it manifests; but this is part of the predication, for if we could know it, it would be manifested and not hidden. We know that God is Spirit, and that God is unknowable and incognisable apart from His self-revelation of Himself in His Son, who is His manifestation.
form, or quality, would then — but then only — appear as these evil things. If this idea is clearly grasped, most of the obscurity of Boehme's system will disappear, and all will be lucid. For, according to him, any quality is the surface appearance of an unseen, hidden power or spirit which, so long as it remains as invisible spirit, is unknown, has no name, no consciously cognised quality. But it is possible to bring it up out of the hiddenness, and then it appears as a definite quality; and then, for the first time, it gets a name; and is either love or hate, darkness or light, falsehood or truth, according to the nature of the spirit of which it is the manifestation.
But why should God permit any spirit to be which, when manifested, must appear as these evil qualities? Boehme's reply is that contrariety is the very condition and basis of manifestation; and that, apart from the existence of a contrary, manifestation could not be. For a single will does nothing new; and had the will of the Still Rest not been met and crossed by a contrary will, the Still Rest had been the ceaseless condition, and manifestation would not have taken place. And there is very much to be said for this presentation of the case. Contraries do exist for us; and we must either suppose that they exist against the will of God (which is hard to believe, for "Who has resisted His will?"), or that they exist by His will, and subserve some necessary purpose, as Boehme asserts. We know, too, that it is through opposition that consciousness is effected. Where there is no opposition, no work can be consciously done. If things had no weight to resist our strength, we should never know we possessed strength. If we could never do wrong, we should never know that we could do right. Abstract terms are nothing to us, apart for some concrete embodiment. Strength is unknown to us apart from the strong thing, showing its strength in what it does. Colours would be unknown were there no " bodies " that were red or blue or green. So "strong," "powerful," "good," "thick," "heavy," "light," "dark," " hard," "soft," "sweet," "bitter," etc., etc. are all adjectives — that is, they are qualities of things which we only know through the things of which they are the qualities. We know that we cannot conceive of pure, abstract spirit apart from some visible or cognisable thing in and through which it manifests; but this is part of the predication, for if we could know it, it would be manifested and not hidden. We know that God is Spirit, and that God is unknowable and incognisable apart from His self-revelation of Himself in His Son, who is His manifestation.
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