account: Though indeed there is a certain number of them, whereby we know that they must enter again into the ether.
42. For in the eternal centre there is no number [or measure], but it is the omnipotence in the springing up without number; for that which can be numbered or comprehended, is not eternal; it hath a beginning and end: But we know that the spirit and soul of man hath no beginning and end, nor can it be numbered [or measured] : which we understand by the constellations of the mind, from whence so many thoughts arise, which are numberless; for out of one thought, in a while, there may go forth many more, as many as the stars in the firmament, wherein we highly know our eternity, and do most highly rejoice that we know it.
43. Understand us rightly, how this world is, in the ground and foundation of it. The eternal centre, and the birth of life, and the substantiality, are every where. If you make a small circle, as small as a little grain, [or kernel of seed], there is the whole birth of the eternal nature, and also the Number Three in Ternario sancto [contained] therein: but you include not, nor comprise, the eternal nature, much less the Number Three; but you comprehend the out-birth of the centre: the eternal nature is incomprehensible, as God also is.
44. When I take up any thing and carry it away, I do not carry away the eternity, much less God: and yet the eternity is in that very thing, but the thing is out-born, and stirreth not the eternity; and that which is out-born comprehendeth not the eternity, but the eternity comprehendeth that which is out-born, thoroughly, without stirring; for the eternity, as also the Deity, is in one place as well as in another, [every where] : for there is no place [in the eternity], but the out-birth maketh a place and room. Therefore God saith, I am A and O, the Beginning and the End.
45. This word maketh a beginning, and God in the Number Three [not without it] is the beginning, and it also maketh an end, and that is the eternity, and also God: For before [the time of] this world there was nothing but God, from eternity; and after this world, there will be nothing but God, in eternity: but the cause why we comprehend not this, is because there is no comprehensibility in God. For where there is a comprehensibility [as there is in the Trinity] there is beginning and end. And therefore we are shut up in darkness, that we might labour and manifest God; as we have mentioned to you concerning the seven forms of nature, what an eternal labour there is therein, so that one form generateth another, till they are all brought to light, and so the eternal is manifest in a threefold form, which otherwise would not be known.
46. And we declare unto you, that the eternal Being, and also this world, is like man: The eternity generateth nothing but that which is like itself; for there is nothing in it but is like it, and it is unchangeable, or else it would pass away, or it would come to be some other thing, and that cannot be.
47. And as you find man to be, just so is the eternity: consider man in body and soul, in good and evil, in joy and sorrow, in light and darkness, in power and weakness, in life and death: All is in man, both heaven and earth, stars, and elements; and also the Number Three of the Deity; neither can there be any thing named that is not in man; all creatures (both in this world, and in the angelical world) are in man. All of us, together with the whole essence of all essences, are but one body, having many members, each member whereof is a total: and each member hath but one several [peculiar, singular, individual faculty or office] work.
48. O Man! seek thyself, and thou shalt find thyself. Behold! thy whole man [consisteth of] Three Principles, one whereof is not without the other, one of them is not beside or above the other, but they are in one another as one, and they are but one thing; but according to the creation they are three.
49. You will say, how can that be? Adam's
account: Though indeed there is a certain number of them, whereby we know that they must enter again into the ether.
42. For in the eternal centre there is no number [or measure], but it is the omnipotence in the springing up without number; for that which can be numbered or comprehended, is not eternal; it has a beginning and end: But we know that the spirit and soul of man has no beginning and end, nor can it be numbered [or measured] : which we understand by the constellations of the mind, from whence so many thoughts arise, which are numberless; for out of one thought, in a while, there may go forth many more, as many as the stars in the firmament, wherein we highly know our eternity, and do most highly rejoice that we know it.
43. Understand us rightly, how this world is, in the ground and foundation of it. The eternal centre, and the birth of life, and the substantiality, are every where. If you make a small circle, as small as a little grain, [or kernel of seed], there is the whole birth of the eternal nature, and also the Number Three in Ternario sancto [contained] therein: but you include not, nor comprise, the eternal nature, much less the Number Three; but you comprehend the out-birth of the centre: the eternal nature is incomprehensible, as God also is.
44. When I take up any thing and carry it away, I do not carry away the eternity, much less God: and yet the eternity is in that very thing, but the thing is out-born, and stirrs not the eternity; and that which is out-born comprehends not the eternity, but the eternity comprehends that which is out-born, thoroughly, without stirring; for the eternity, as also the Deity, is in one place as well as in another, [every where] : for there is no place [in the eternity], but the out-birth makes a place and room. Therefore God says, I am A and O, the Beginning and the End.
45. This word makes a beginning, and God in the Number Three [not without it] is the beginning, and it also makes an end, and that is the eternity, and also God: For before [the time of] this world there was nothing but God, from eternity; and after this world, there will be nothing but God, in eternity: but the cause why we comprehend not this, is because there is no comprehensibility in God. For where there is a comprehensibility [as there is in the Trinity] there is beginning and end. And therefore we are shut up in darkness, that we might labour and manifest God; as we have mentioned to you concerning the seven forms of nature, what an eternal labour there is therein, so that one form generats another, till they are all brought to light, and so the eternal is manifest in a threefold form, which otherwise would not be known.
46. And we declare unto you, that the eternal Being, and also this world, is like man: The eternity generats nothing but that which is like itself; for there is nothing in it but is like it, and it is unchangeable, or else it would pass away, or it would come to be some other thing, and that cannot be.
47. And as you find man to be, just so is the eternity: consider man in body and soul, in good and evil, in joy and sorrow, in light and darkness, in power and weakness, in life and death: All is in man, both heaven and earth, stars, and elements; and also the Number Three of the Deity; neither can there be any thing named that is not in man; all creatures (both in this world, and in the angelical world) are in man. All of us, together with the whole essence of all essences, are but one body, having many members, each member whereof is a total: and each member has but one several [peculiar, singular, individual faculty or office] work.
48. O Man! seek yourself, and you shall find yourself. Behold! your whole man [consists of] Three Principles, one whereof is not without the other, one of them is not beside or above the other, but they are in one another as one, and they are but one thing; but according to the creation they are three.
49. You will say, how can that be? Adam's
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