sun, and we see in the substance the body, but not the sun, although it works therein; so likewise the spirit of Christ is hid in the children of God. But as a herb springing from the earth does by the virtue of the sun put forth a fair blossom and fruit, so also God's children out of their disregarded form [or homeliness, to the lewd world's or prating hypocrite's eye, do bring forth the fair fruits of humility and piety].
The forty-First Chapter
Of the Seal of the Covenant of Circumcision, and of Baptism
1. WHEN God had made a Covenant with Abram, 1 and blessed him, and made him a father of many nations, which should be blessed through him, viz. by Abram's blessing in the Covenant, then he gave him the seal of the Covenant, viz. the sign and the figure upon what ens the blessing passed; and showed him in this figure, what in man should inherit and possess the eternal blessing; that is to say, not the gross earthly bestial man, which is conceived and born in the lust of the flesh, out of the bestial lust of man and woman; which did involve or insinuate itself into Adam, according to the brutish and bestial property of the divided life's essence. Upon this the Covenant and blessing does not pass; but upon the ens of the Word formed out of the heavenly world's property, out of the limus of the earth; not upon the introduced Serpent's ens out of the dark world's ens and property; but upon the soul, and its right body, which was created to it in Adam.
1 Gen. xvii.
2. And we here see by the circumcision the types that the bestial copulation of man and woman is an abomination before the holiness of God, which yet is borne withal, by divine patience and permission, seeing now it cannot be otherwise with man, he having lost the magical birth of Paradise. For here God set forth the figure in the circumcision, that every male must be circumcised on this member of the propagation of the masculine seed, in that man sows his own will out of the property of nature in his seed; therefore God set forth the figure with the circumcision, both of the earthly seed, and also of the member and will. For the spirit in the Covenant must cut off, through Christ's death, this figure in the inward spiritual man, together with this bestial will and desire.
3. For the bestial gross earthly seed of the man or woman shall not put on the Covenant and blessing, as Christ also said; but he who is not born of the will of man, nor of the flesh, but of God (John i. 13). The bestial birth, with its members, must be cut off through the temporal death; and die in the spiritual birth through Christ's death, and be buried in the eternal death, viz. in the nothing.
4. But seeing the Covenant of God had incorporated itself in Abraham's seed to a propagation, God did here set before him by the circumcision the person of Christ, in whose death this beast and monster should die, and out of his death a new angelical form should come forth. For the circumcision was not the atonement, but the apprehended [or conceived] ens of faith was the atonement; out of which ens of faith Christ should be born; but the circumcision was the sign that the ens of faith in the Word of God, should cut off the earthly seed.
5. For the living Word of God looked into the Covenant; and in the Covenant the human seed of the heavenly part lay disappeared; and in the disappeared ens stood the aim or limit of the new regeneration in Christ's motion, where the Word of the divine tincture and power would again move itself in the true humanity created in Adam; and also it did move itself in the spirit of the children of faith, so that they were received and accepted of God in the spirit (upon the promise of the motion or manifestation of the shut-up ens) as dear innate children.
sun, and we see in the substance the body, but not the sun, although it works therein; so likewise the spirit of Christ is hid in the children of God. But as a herb springing from the earth does by the virtue of the sun put forth a fair blossom and fruit, so also God's children out of their disregarded form [or homeliness, to the lewd world's or prating hypocrite's eye, do bring forth the fair fruits of humility and piety].
The forty-First Chapter
Of the Seal of the Covenant of Circumcision, and of Baptism
1. WHEN God had made a Covenant with Abram, 1 and blessed him, and made him a father of many nations, which should be blessed through him, viz. by Abram's blessing in the Covenant, then he gave him the seal of the Covenant, viz. the sign and the figure upon what ens the blessing passed; and showed him in this figure, what in man should inherit and possess the eternal blessing; that is to say, not the gross earthly bestial man, which is conceived and born in the lust of the flesh, out of the bestial lust of man and woman; which did involve or insinuate itself into Adam, according to the brutish and bestial property of the divided life's essence. Upon this the Covenant and blessing does not pass; but upon the ens of the Word formed out of the heavenly world's property, out of the limus of the earth; not upon the introduced Serpent's ens out of the dark world's ens and property; but upon the soul, and its right body, which was created to it in Adam.
1 Gen. xvii.
2. And we here see by the circumcision the types that the bestial copulation of man and woman is an abomination before the holiness of God, which yet is borne withal, by divine patience and permission, seeing now it cannot be otherwise with man, he having lost the magical birth of Paradise. For here God set forth the figure in the circumcision, that every male must be circumcised on this member of the propagation of the masculine seed, in that man sows his own will out of the property of nature in his seed; therefore God set forth the figure with the circumcision, both of the earthly seed, and also of the member and will. For the spirit in the Covenant must cut off, through Christ's death, this figure in the inward spiritual man, together with this bestial will and desire.
3. For the bestial gross earthly seed of the man or woman shall not put on the Covenant and blessing, as Christ also said; but he who is not born of the will of man, nor of the flesh, but of God (John i. 13). The bestial birth, with its members, must be cut off through the temporal death; and die in the spiritual birth through Christ's death, and be buried in the eternal death, viz. in the nothing.
4. But seeing the Covenant of God had incorporated itself in Abraham's seed to a propagation, God did here set before him by the circumcision the person of Christ, in whose death this beast and monster should die, and out of his death a new angelical form should come forth. For the circumcision was not the atonement, but the apprehended [or conceived] ens of faith was the atonement; out of which ens of faith Christ should be born; but the circumcision was the sign that the ens of faith in the Word of God, should cut off the earthly seed.
5. For the living Word of God looked into the Covenant; and in the Covenant the human seed of the heavenly part lay disappeared; and in the disappeared ens stood the aim or limit of the new regeneration in Christ's motion, where the Word of the divine tincture and power would again move itself in the true humanity created in Adam; and also it did move itself in the spirit of the children of faith, so that they were received and accepted of God in the spirit (upon the promise of the motion or manifestation of the shut-up ens) as dear innate children.
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