to his humanity, and will much more be done in his last manifestation, that all people will cleave to him and acknowledge him. When Babel takes its end then will this be first perfectly fulfilled, which dependence and cleaving to him at present the images, imaginations or fictions of opinions and sects in Babel, do keep back, in that the strange and foreign people and nations stumble, and are scandalised at the contentions and disputations of confounded speeches, and withhold from it.
52. But when the tower of Babel falls on every side, then shall all people cleave to him, honour and serve him, which dependence and cleaving to him supposed Christendom has hindered by the Antichrist, which has a Ion g time sat in the seat of Christ as an earthly god. When this ceases, then will the kingdom of Christ be wholly manifest, which men at present behold only in images [opinions, without certain knowledge] : This is understood by those of our society.
53. Also, He will bind his foal to the vine, and his she-ass's colt to the noble branch.
O you poor, sick, old, miserable Adam, if you did understand this rightly, then you would be delivered from all strife. What is the foal and the she-ass's colt? The foal is the human soul: for the young lion signifies the power of the divine Word in the soul; but the foal is the natural soul, which Christ should bind to the vine of the sweet-tasted divine love, viz. the eternal- speaking Word would bind this foal, the creaturely soul's word of the soul's essence and substance, to itself and be married to it; and the she-ass is the inward Paradisical man, viz. the divine man, from the ens of the inward ground, from the heavenly world's light's substance, viz. the Virgin Sophia.
54. This she-ass, which must bear the outward burden of the bestial man upon it, should Christ, that is, the Word, bind to the name Jesus, viz. to God's own self-subsisting substance, viz. to the most noble branch, which bears the sweet wine of the love of God.
55. And this she-ass is the temple of God, wherein the kingdom of God is again manifested in us; it is Christ in us (Col. i. 27 and iii. 11), which, as a she-ass in man, himself takes upon him the burden and sin of man, and slays it through the young lion.
56. This inward new spiritual holy man is rightly the she-ass's colt, for it must be manifested through the soul, as light is manifested through fire. Thus a man is to understand that the light is the fire's colt, and is manifested through the fire from the dying of the candle: thus also it is to be understood in the ground of the soul, which is also a fire-spirit.
57. O you poor Christendom! if you did understand this rightly, and did press into it, so that you also, with this she-ass which faded in Adam, stood bound to the foal's noble branch, what need of striving then? Is it not now a simple she-ass which bears Christ and Adam upon it, viz. Christ in it, which is its noble branch, viz. its sap and power, and Adam upon it as a burden?
58. O you Babylonish whore! you keep off this she-ass with your dragon-beast, so that poor Christendom must bear your evil beast;
whereon you, whore, ridest: but your time is near, that you are to go into the abyss of hell-fire, says the spirit of wonders.
59. Also, He will wash his garment in wine, and his mantle in the blood of the grape.
to his humanity, and will much more be done in his last manifestation, that all people will cleave to him and acknowledge him. When Babel takes its end then will this be first perfectly fulfilled, which dependence and cleaving to him at present the images, imaginations or fictions of opinions and sects in Babel, do keep back, in that the strange and foreign people and nations stumble, and are scandalised at the contentions and disputations of confounded speeches, and withhold from it.
52. But when the tower of Babel falls on every side, then shall all people cleave to him, honour and serve him, which dependence and cleaving to him supposed Christendom has hindered by the Antichrist, which has a Ion g time sat in the seat of Christ as an earthly god. When this ceases, then will the kingdom of Christ be wholly manifest, which men at present behold only in images [opinions, without certain knowledge] : This is understood by those of our society.
53. Also, He will bind his foal to the vine, and his she-ass's colt to the noble branch.
O you poor, sick, old, miserable Adam, if you did understand this rightly, then you would be delivered from all strife. What is the foal and the she-ass's colt? The foal is the human soul: for the young lion signifies the power of the divine Word in the soul; but the foal is the natural soul, which Christ should bind to the vine of the sweet-tasted divine love, viz. the eternal- speaking Word would bind this foal, the creaturely soul's word of the soul's essence and substance, to itself and be married to it; and the she-ass is the inward Paradisical man, viz. the divine man, from the ens of the inward ground, from the heavenly world's light's substance, viz. the Virgin Sophia.
54. This she-ass, which must bear the outward burden of the bestial man upon it, should Christ, that is, the Word, bind to the name Jesus, viz. to God's own self-subsisting substance, viz. to the most noble branch, which bears the sweet wine of the love of God.
55. And this she-ass is the temple of God, wherein the kingdom of God is again manifested in us; it is Christ in us (Col. i. 27 and iii. 11), which, as a she-ass in man, himself takes upon him the burden and sin of man, and slays it through the young lion.
56. This inward new spiritual holy man is rightly the she-ass's colt, for it must be manifested through the soul, as light is manifested through fire. Thus a man is to understand that the light is the fire's colt, and is manifested through the fire from the dying of the candle: thus also it is to be understood in the ground of the soul, which is also a fire-spirit.
57. O you poor Christendom! if you did understand this rightly, and did press into it, so that you also, with this she-ass which faded in Adam, stood bound to the foal's noble branch, what need of striving then? Is it not now a simple she-ass which bears Christ and Adam upon it, viz. Christ in it, which is its noble branch, viz. its sap and power, and Adam upon it as a burden?
58. O you Babylonish whore! you keep off this she-ass with your dragon-beast, so that poor Christendom must bear your evil beast;
whereon you, whore, ridest: but your time is near, that you are to go into the abyss of hell-fire, says the spirit of wonders.
59. Also, He will wash his garment in wine, and his mantle in the blood of the grape.
No commentary for this page.
There is commentary on page 1.