15. And thus the wrath of the eternal nature (and also the prince who dwells therein, viz. the devil in his legions) does satiate and recreate itself in the strife and contention of man in the compacted word of the tongues; and thus the Antichrist, who is the tower of Babel, viz. the self-will of the Ham-like man, domineers in the temple of God, and there has set himself up in the place of the Holy Spirit.
16. For the temple of God is the formed word of the human languages and tongues in man's understanding; as it is written, The word is nigh thee, namely in thy mouth and heart (Rom. x. 8); and the seat and habitation of the opposite adverse devil is the monstrous property out of the dark world.
17. In this formed word of divine understanding, the Antichrist, viz. the will of self out of the properties of nature, has set up and established himself, and pranks and set forth himself with his property of nature, as if he were God, and yet he is the condemned accursed son chosen to death, which cannot inherit the kingdom of God, for he was not made a creature out of God's will but out of the will of self; as the devil, who was an angel, yet became a devil from the will of the dark world which advanced itself in him.
18. The like also we are to understand concerning the Antichristian Babaylonical beast of reason's self-will, which terms itself divine, and is only a monster of the true man which died in Adam to the holy image of God's spiritual world, and shall and must be born anew in the Word, which did again manifest itself in the human property in Christ; or else it cannot see the holy Word, viz. the unformed divine Word of power.
19. This same holy Word must again enter into the compacted sensual tongue, and bruise the same, so that the whole and perfect understanding of all tongues may be again manifest in one; as Christ said of the corner-stone that it should be a rock of offence; upon whomsoever it should fall, him it should bruise (Rom. ix. 33;
1 Pet. ii. 8).
20. Thus understand us now what the Antichrist or the Babylonical whore with the dragon-beast is, as may be seen in the Revelation: Every man which is not born again of God has the mark of the beast and the false whore in him.
21. The beast is the animal [natural] earthly Ham- like man, who is from the limus of the earth, according to the earth's grossness and malignant malice, which arises out of the dark world, and stands in the curse of God. This beast did arise in Adam and Eve, when they did imagine after evil and good; and came into its self-fullness, away from the divine power and will; and is before God only as a beast. This beast, the devil has infected with his desire, and made it wholly monstrous, and insinuated his desire thereinto, so that it only lusts after vanity, as a cow does after grass.
22. But the whore of the beast is the poor soul, captivated in vanity; which soul had its rise in the formed Word of the three Principles, which was God's image; but now, by the lust of the beast, it has begotten to itself an own self-will, which is departed from God into selfhood, as a self-willed, self-born creature, which does what it pleases, and not what God's spirit wills. This self-will, revolted and apostatized from God, is the whore of the beast, which whores with itself in the pride of selfhood.
15. And thus the wrath of the eternal nature (and also the prince who dwells therein, viz. the devil in his legions) does satiate and recreate itself in the strife and contention of man in the compacted word of the tongues; and thus the Antichrist, who is the tower of Babel, viz. the self-will of the Ham-like man, domineers in the temple of God, and there has set himself up in the place of the Holy Spirit.
16. For the temple of God is the formed word of the human languages and tongues in man's understanding; as it is written, The word is nigh you, namely in your mouth and heart (Rom. x. 8); and the seat and habitation of the opposite adverse devil is the monstrous property out of the dark world.
17. In this formed word of divine understanding, the Antichrist, viz. the will of self out of the properties of nature, has set up and established himself, and pranks and set forth himself with his property of nature, as if he were God, and yet he is the condemned accursed son chosen to death, which cannot inherit the kingdom of God, for he was not made a creature out of God's will but out of the will of self; as the devil, who was an angel, yet became a devil from the will of the dark world which advanced itself in him.
18. The like also we are to understand concerning the Antichristian Babaylonical beast of reason's self-will, which terms itself divine, and is only a monster of the true man which died in Adam to the holy image of God's spiritual world, and shall and must be born anew in the Word, which did again manifest itself in the human property in Christ; or else it cannot see the holy Word, viz. the unformed divine Word of power.
19. This same holy Word must again enter into the compacted sensual tongue, and bruise the same, so that the whole and perfect understanding of all tongues may be again manifest in one; as Christ said of the corner-stone that it should be a rock of offence; upon whomsoever it should fall, him it should bruise (Rom. ix. 33;
1 Pet. ii. 8).
20. Thus understand us now what the Antichrist or the Babylonical whore with the dragon-beast is, as may be seen in the Revelation: Every man which is not born again of God has the mark of the beast and the false whore in him.
21. The beast is the animal [natural] earthly Ham- like man, who is from the limus of the earth, according to the earth's grossness and malignant malice, which arises out of the dark world, and stands in the curse of God. This beast did arise in Adam and Eve, when they did imagine after evil and good; and came into its self-fullness, away from the divine power and will; and is before God only as a beast. This beast, the devil has infected with his desire, and made it wholly monstrous, and insinuated his desire thereinto, so that it only lusts after vanity, as a cow does after grass.
22. But the whore of the beast is the poor soul, captivated in vanity; which soul had its rise in the formed Word of the three Principles, which was God's image; but now, by the lust of the beast, it has begotten to itself an own self-will, which is departed from God into selfhood, as a self-willed, self-born creature, which does what it pleases, and not what God's spirit wills. This self-will, revolted and apostatized from God, is the whore of the beast, which whores with itself in the pride of selfhood.
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