7. Thus the inward man held the outward captive in itself and penetrated it, as a fire through-heats an iron, that it seems as if it were all fire; but when the fire goes out, then the dark, swart iron is manifest.
8. Thus likewise was the first man when he stood in Paradise, in his fixed condition, in manner as time is before God, and God in the time; and they are distinct, but not parted asunder. As the time is a play before God, so also the outward life of man was a play unto [before] the inward holy man, which was the real image of God.
9. The outward spirit and body was unto the inward as a wonder of divine manifestation, according to the fire-dark-and-light world, a mirror of the great omnipotence and omniscience of God: and the inward was given unto it for a ruler and guide.
10. As God plays with the time of this outward world, so likewise the inward divine man should play with the outward in the manifested wonders of God in this world, and open the divine wisdom in all creatures, each according to its property; so likewise in the earth, in stones and metals, in which also there is a twofold essence, viz. one from the original of the dark fire-world, and one from the original of the holy light-world.
11. All this was given him for his play: he had the knowledge of all tinctures: all was subject to him; he ruled in heaven and earth and over all the elements, so also over all the constellations; and that, because the divine power was manifest in him: no heat nor cold did annoy him. As a tincture penetrates a body and preserves it from sickness, and as the warmth of the sun defends the body from cold, so likewise the highest tincture of the fire and light, viz. the holy power of the inward spiritual body, penetrated the outward body of flesh and blood, and took every outward elemental property, as also the limus of the earth, into its preservation or protection.
12. for as there was a temperature in the body of the inward and outward man, so likewise there was nothing without the body that could either destroy or annoy this temperature. As gold endures in the fire, and as a tincture penetrates all things, and yields or gives way unto nothing, so likewise man was not subject unto any thing, save only and alone to the only God, who dwelt through him, and was manifest in him with the power of the holy essence: and this was an image and likeness of God, in whom the spirit of God inhabited.
13. Reasons will understand us amiss, and say, I speak of a twofold man. But I say no ! I speak only of one only man, who is a likeness according to God, viz. according to the manifested God, according to the expressed formed Word of the divine power, of divine understanding.
14. As all things are in God essentially [in essence], and yet he himself is not that very essence; and yet that essence rules every essence according to its property; so likewise the inward spiritual man is an image of the formed Word of divine power, and the outward an image of the inward, viz. an instrument of the inward. As a master must have an instrument wherewith to finish and perform his work, so likewise the outward man from the limus of the earth and four elements, with its outward constellation, is only an instrument of the inward, wherewith the inward frames and makes what the inward spirit of the soul wills.
15. As we see that the will is the master in all purposes and undertakings; and [we] see further, that the inward man has divine will and desire, but the outward [has] only a bestial [will], which is so by reason of the fall. The whole man is but one only man, but his property lies in sundry degrees, according to the inward and outward heavens, viz. according to the divine manifestation through the seven properties of nature.
OF THE CREATION OF THE SEVENTH DAY
7. Thus the inward man held the outward captive in itself and penetrated it, as a fire through-heats an iron, that it seems as if it were all fire; but when the fire goes out, then the dark, swart iron is manifest.
8. Thus likewise was the first man when he stood in Paradise, in his fixed condition, in manner as time is before God, and God in the time; and they are distinct, but not parted asunder. As the time is a play before God, so also the outward life of man was a play unto [before] the inward holy man, which was the real image of God.
9. The outward spirit and body was unto the inward as a wonder of divine manifestation, according to the fire-dark-and-light world, a mirror of the great omnipotence and omniscience of God: and the inward was given unto it for a ruler and guide.
10. As God plays with the time of this outward world, so likewise the inward divine man should play with the outward in the manifested wonders of God in this world, and open the divine wisdom in all creatures, each according to its property; so likewise in the earth, in stones and metals, in which also there is a twofold essence, viz. one from the original of the dark fire-world, and one from the original of the holy light-world.
11. All this was given him for his play: he had the knowledge of all tinctures: all was subject to him; he ruled in heaven and earth and over all the elements, so also over all the constellations; and that, because the divine power was manifest in him: no heat nor cold did annoy him. As a tincture penetrates a body and preserves it from sickness, and as the warmth of the sun defends the body from cold, so likewise the highest tincture of the fire and light, viz. the holy power of the inward spiritual body, penetrated the outward body of flesh and blood, and took every outward elemental property, as also the limus of the earth, into its preservation or protection.
12. for as there was a temperature in the body of the inward and outward man, so likewise there was nothing without the body that could either destroy or annoy this temperature. As gold endures in the fire, and as a tincture penetrates all things, and yields or gives way unto nothing, so likewise man was not subject unto any thing, save only and alone to the only God, who dwelt through him, and was manifest in him with the power of the holy essence: and this was an image and likeness of God, in whom the spirit of God inhabited.
13. Reasons will understand us amiss, and say, I speak of a twofold man. But I say no ! I speak only of one only man, who is a likeness according to God, viz. according to the manifested God, according to the expressed formed Word of the divine power, of divine understanding.
14. As all things are in God essentially [in essence], and yet he himself is not that very essence; and yet that essence rules every essence according to its property; so likewise the inward spiritual man is an image of the formed Word of divine power, and the outward an image of the inward, viz. an instrument of the inward. As a master must have an instrument wherewith to finish and perform his work, so likewise the outward man from the limus of the earth and four elements, with its outward constellation, is only an instrument of the inward, wherewith the inward frames and makes what the inward spirit of the soul wills.
15. As we see that the will is the master in all purposes and undertakings; and [we] see further, that the inward man has divine will and desire, but the outward [has] only a bestial [will], which is so by reason of the fall. The whole man is but one only man, but his property lies in sundry degrees, according to the inward and outward heavens, viz. according to the divine manifestation through the seven properties of nature.
OF THE CREATION OF THE SEVENTH DAY
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