16.Therefore the Children of Darkness, and the Children of this World also, are wiser than the Children of the Light, as the Scripture says. Thou askest, why ? They have the magical Root of the Original of Essences manifest in them; and this was even the Desire of Adam. However, the Devil persuaded them that they should be wiser, their Eyes should be opened, and they should be as God himself.
17. This Folly caused King Lucifer to aspire, desiring to be an Artist, and absolute Lord, like the Creator. The Water of Meekness had been good for his Fire- will; but he would have none of that: Hence it is, that the Children of God must be the most plain, sincere, and simple; as Esaias prophesied of Christ, who is so simple as my Servant, the righteous one, who turneth many unto Righteousness? viz. Upon [or to] the Way of Humility.
18. All Angels live in Humility, and are resigned to the Spirit of God, and are in the Eternal Speaking Word of God, as a well-tuned, puresounding Instrument, in the Harmony of the Kingdom of Heaven; of which the Holy Spirit is chief Master and Ruler.
19. But the Devil has forged to himself a strange Fool's-play, where he can act his Deceptions with his several Interludes, and Disguises, and demean himself like an apish Fool, and transform himself into monstrous, strange, and hideous Shapes and Figures, and mock at the Image of angelical Simplicity and Obedience. And this was his Aim and Intent, for which he departed from the Harmony of the angelical Choirs: For the Scripture says, that he was a Murtherer and Lyar from the Beginning; his juggling Feats and Fictions are mere strange Figures and Lies, which God never formed in him, but he brings them to Forms and Shapes in himself; and seeing that they are contrary to his Creation, they are Lies and Abominations.
20. He was an Angel, and has belied his angelical form, and Obedience, and is entered into the Abomination of Fictions, Lies, and Mockeries; he has awakened the envious, hateful forms, and Properties of the dark World in his Center, whence Wrath and Iniquity spring: He sate in heavenly Pomp and Glory, and introduced his hateful Desire, and malicious Will, into the Essence, viz. into the Water-source, and cast forth his Streams of Enmity and Malignity.
21. His Properties were as the venomous Stings of Serpents, which he put forth out of himself: When the Love of God was withdrawn from him, he figured his Image according to the Property of the wrathful Forms, (wherein there are also evil Beasts, and Worms in the serpentine Shape) and infected, or awakened the Sal-niter of the Center of Nature in the expressed Essence, in the Generation of the Eternal Nature; whence the Combat arose, that the great Prince Michael fought with him, and would no longer endure him in Heaven among the Fellowship of the holy Angels.
22. for which Cause the Will of the Abyss, viz. of the Eternal Father, moved itself, and swallowed him down, as a treacherous perjured Wretch, into the Gulf and Sink of eternal Darkness, viz. into another Principle: The Heaven spewed him out of itself; he fell into the Darkness as Lightning, and he lost the Mansion of God in the Kingdom of Heaven, in the holy Power, and all his Servants with him: There he has the Mother for his enchanting Delusions; there he may play them juggling Feats, and antick Tricks.
23. Moreover, we are to know, that he had his royal Seat in the Place of this World: Therefore Christ calls him a Prince of this World, viz. in the Kingdom of Darkness, in the Wrath, in the Place of this World.
24. His kingly Throne is taken from him, and another has Possession of it in the heavenly World's Property, in the Place of this World: He shall not obtain it again.
16.Therefore the Children of Darkness, and the Children of this World also, are wiser than the Children of the Light, as the Scripture says. You askest, why ? They have the magical Root of the Original of Essences manifest in them; and this was even the Desire of Adam. However, the Devil persuaded them that they should be wiser, their Eyes should be opened, and they should be as God himself.
17. This Folly caused King Lucifer to aspire, desiring to be an Artist, and absolute Lord, like the Creator. The Water of Meekness had been good for his Fire- will; but he would have none of that: Hence it is, that the Children of God must be the most plain, sincere, and simple; as Esaias prophesied of Christ, who is so simple as my Servant, the righteous one, who turns many unto Righteousness? viz. Upon [or to] the Way of Humility.
18. All Angels live in Humility, and are resigned to the Spirit of God, and are in the Eternal Speaking Word of God, as a well-tuned, puresounding Instrument, in the Harmony of the Kingdom of Heaven; of which the Holy Spirit is chief Master and Ruler.
19. But the Devil has forged to himself a strange Fool's-play, where he can act his Deceptions with his several Interludes, and Disguises, and demean himself like an apish Fool, and transform himself into monstrous, strange, and hideous Shapes and Figures, and mock at the Image of angelical Simplicity and Obedience. And this was his Aim and Intent, for which he departed from the Harmony of the angelical Choirs: For the Scripture says, that he was a Murtherer and Lyar from the Beginning; his juggling Feats and Fictions are mere strange Figures and Lies, which God never formed in him, but he brings them to Forms and Shapes in himself; and seeing that they are contrary to his Creation, they are Lies and Abominations.
20. He was an Angel, and has belied his angelical form, and Obedience, and is entered into the Abomination of Fictions, Lies, and Mockeries; he has awakened the envious, hateful forms, and Properties of the dark World in his Center, whence Wrath and Iniquity spring: He sate in heavenly Pomp and Glory, and introduced his hateful Desire, and malicious Will, into the Essence, viz. into the Water-source, and cast forth his Streams of Enmity and Malignity.
21. His Properties were as the venomous Stings of Serpents, which he put forth out of himself: When the Love of God was withdrawn from him, he figured his Image according to the Property of the wrathful Forms, (wherein there are also evil Beasts, and Worms in the serpentine Shape) and infected, or awakened the Sal-niter of the Center of Nature in the expressed Essence, in the Generation of the Eternal Nature; whence the Combat arose, that the great Prince Michael fought with him, and would no longer endure him in Heaven among the Fellowship of the holy Angels.
22. for which Cause the Will of the Abyss, viz. of the Eternal Father, moved itself, and swallowed him down, as a treacherous perjured Wretch, into the Gulf and Sink of eternal Darkness, viz. into another Principle: The Heaven spewed him out of itself; he fell into the Darkness as Lightning, and he lost the Mansion of God in the Kingdom of Heaven, in the holy Power, and all his Servants with him: There he has the Mother for his enchanting Delusions; there he may play them juggling Feats, and antick Tricks.
23. Moreover, we are to know, that he had his royal Seat in the Place of this World: Therefore Christ calls him a Prince of this World, viz. in the Kingdom of Darkness, in the Wrath, in the Place of this World.
24. His kingly Throne is taken from him, and another has Possession of it in the heavenly World's Property, in the Place of this World: He shall not obtain it again.
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