31. And to this end Lucifer was swallowed up in the wrath, seeing his free will went forth from the resignation and departed from God's spirit, into the centre, to be its own self-full maker and creator; that the angels now have an example in this revolted fallen prince and puissant hierarch; for the kingdom of God, which is [peculiarly and properly] called God's kingdom, stands in the deepest humility and love, and not at all in the wrathful fire's-might, but in the light fire's- might, viz. in power.
32. But the devil's kingdom, after which he longed and laboured, stood in the wrathful fire's-might, but the same was, essentially, taken from him in his place, and he was spewed out into the eternal hunger of the darkness.
33. And that he had infected and possessed the ens of the Serpent, which was so crafty, may be seen in its body, which is only a dry hungry skin, and fills itself with poison in the tail, in which property the great craft arises; and therefore the Serpent carries the poison in the tail (which may soon be pulled off), in that the same in the beginning was introduced into its virgin-like ens.
34. For the Serpent is therefore called a virgin according to the right of eternity, because it has both tinctures, which is in no kind of earthly creature besides; but it is now in the curse of God. Yet if the artist knew what its pearl was, he would rejoice at it: yet by reason of the world's false desire, which seeks only the false magic, it remains hidden; also [it is not manifest] that the wicked may bear his rebuke.
35. For the pearl of the whole world is trodden under foot; and there is nothing more common than the same, yet it is hidden; in order that the holy ens might not be introduced into an ungodly one, which is not worthy of it; and so God's power and Word in the virginlike essence be thereby brought into a serpentine [ens], as it is to be understood in the Serpent: enough, here, for our school-fellows.
36. Thus we do fundamentally understand the original of sin's birth; how sin was borne and opened in the human word; and how God is provoked to anger in his expressed Word by the human reexpressing. For man bears the Word, which created heaven and earth, in his ens, for the same Word is brought to substance.
37. Now God has inspired into man's ens, viz. into the formed compacted Word, the living soul, viz. the original [Or understanding] out of all the three Principles, as a spirit of the formed Word. This understanding has now power and might to re-conceive, and to generate again, a formal voice in the ens, viz. in the formed compacted Word.
38. But seeing the Serpent's craft, viz. the devil's introduced desire, became manifest in the ens of Adam and Eve, viz. in their compacted and formed word; thereupon the free will does now draw forth from this Serpent's essence mere adder's poison and death, and forms its word therein, unless the holy ens or seed of the woman be again awakened in the new-born love of God in Christ; then the free will may conceive in this same holy ens, and bruise and tread under foot the head of the Serpent's-and-devil's-ens in the anger of God; that is, reject and abhor the evil will, which desires to idea and imprint itself from the Serpent's ens, in the formation of the words, and bruise it in the will of the thoughts, with the ens of the woman, viz. of Christ, and esteem it as the devil's mire and dirt; which, in the children of God, is a continual combat and strife between the ens of the Serpent in the flesh, and between the regenerate ens of the heavenly part.
39. Also know this: Every thought which is formed in the will, so that a man consents unto lies, or anything else which is false, or if his will has conceived [and contrived] anything that is unjust, and he brings that contrivance into the desire, that he would very willingly do it, or express it in the false evil-formed word, if he could or knew how, and yet must let it alone, either for fear or shame; this same is all sin, for the will hath formed itself in the Serpent's ens.
31. And to this end Lucifer was swallowed up in the wrath, seeing his free will went forth from the resignation and departed from God's spirit, into the centre, to be its own self-full maker and creator; that the angels now have an example in this revolted fallen prince and puissant hierarch; for the kingdom of God, which is [peculiarly and properly] called God's kingdom, stands in the deepest humility and love, and not at all in the wrathful fire's-might, but in the light fire's- might, viz. in power.
32. But the devil's kingdom, after which he longed and laboured, stood in the wrathful fire's-might, but the same was, essentially, taken from him in his place, and he was spewed out into the eternal hunger of the darkness.
33. And that he had infected and possessed the ens of the Serpent, which was so crafty, may be seen in its body, which is only a dry hungry skin, and fills itself with poison in the tail, in which property the great craft arises; and therefore the Serpent carries the poison in the tail (which may soon be pulled off), in that the same in the beginning was introduced into its virgin-like ens.
34. For the Serpent is therefore called a virgin according to the right of eternity, because it has both tinctures, which is in no kind of earthly creature besides; but it is now in the curse of God. Yet if the artist knew what its pearl was, he would rejoice at it: yet by reason of the world's false desire, which seeks only the false magic, it remains hidden; also [it is not manifest] that the wicked may bear his rebuke.
35. For the pearl of the whole world is trodden under foot; and there is nothing more common than the same, yet it is hidden; in order that the holy ens might not be introduced into an ungodly one, which is not worthy of it; and so God's power and Word in the virginlike essence be thereby brought into a serpentine [ens], as it is to be understood in the Serpent: enough, here, for our school-fellows.
36. Thus we do fundamentally understand the original of sin's birth; how sin was borne and opened in the human word; and how God is provoked to anger in his expressed Word by the human reexpressing. For man bears the Word, which created heaven and earth, in his ens, for the same Word is brought to substance.
37. Now God has inspired into man's ens, viz. into the formed compacted Word, the living soul, viz. the original [Or understanding] out of all the three Principles, as a spirit of the formed Word. This understanding has now power and might to re-conceive, and to generate again, a formal voice in the ens, viz. in the formed compacted Word.
38. But seeing the Serpent's craft, viz. the devil's introduced desire, became manifest in the ens of Adam and Eve, viz. in their compacted and formed word; thereupon the free will does now draw forth from this Serpent's essence mere adder's poison and death, and forms its word therein, unless the holy ens or seed of the woman be again awakened in the new-born love of God in Christ; then the free will may conceive in this same holy ens, and bruise and tread under foot the head of the Serpent's-and-devil's-ens in the anger of God; that is, reject and abhor the evil will, which desires to idea and imprint itself from the Serpent's ens, in the formation of the words, and bruise it in the will of the thoughts, with the ens of the woman, viz. of Christ, and esteem it as the devil's mire and dirt; which, in the children of God, is a continual combat and strife between the ens of the Serpent in the flesh, and between the regenerate ens of the heavenly part.
39. Also know this: Every thought which is formed in the will, so that a man consents unto lies, or anything else which is false, or if his will has conceived [and contrived] anything that is unjust, and he brings that contrivance into the desire, that he would very willingly do it, or express it in the false evil-formed word, if he could or knew how, and yet must let it alone, either for fear or shame; this same is all sin, for the will has formed itself in the Serpent's ens.
No commentary for this page.
There is commentary on page 1.