144. For as the compression of the desire brought the earth into a [1] mass, the compressure entering into itself, so the fiery Mercury thrust itself outwards by the compressure, and has enclosed the place of this world with the [2] stars and starry heaven.
[1] or lump [2] or constellations
The Fifth Day
145. In the FIFTH day's work the [1] spiritus mundi, that is, the [2] soul of the great world, opened itself in the fifth essence (we mean the life of the fiery and watery Mercury); therein God created all beasts, fishes, fowls, and worms; every one from its peculiar property of the divided Mercury.
[1] spirit of the world [2] anima macrocosmi
146. Here we see how the eternal Principles have moved themselves according to evil and good, as to all the seven properties, and their effluence and mixture; for there are evil and good creatures created, everything as the Mercury (that is, the separator) has figured and [1] framed himself into an ens, as may be seen in the evil and good creatures: and yet every kind of life has its original in the light of nature, that is, in the love of nature; from which it is that all creatures, in their kind or property, love one another according to this outflown love
[1] or imaged
The Sixth Day
147. In the SIXTH day's work, God created man; for in the sixth day the understanding of life opened itself out of the fiery Mercury, that is, out of the inward ground.
148. God created him in his likeness, out of all the three Principles, and made him an image, and breathed into him the understanding fiery Mercury, according to both the inward and outward ground, that is, according to time and eternity, and so he became a living understanding soul: and in this ground of the soul, the manifestation of the divine holiness did move, viz. the living outflowing Word of God, together with the eternal knowing idea, which was known from eternity in the divine wisdom, as a subject or form of the divine imagination.
149. This [1] idea becomes [2] clothed with the substance of the heavenly world, and so it becomes an understanding spirit and temple of God; an image of the divine [3] vision, which spirit is given to the soul for a spouse: as fire and light are espoused together, so it is here also to be understood.
[1] or images [2] indued or invested [3] or contemplation
150. This divine ground budded and pierced through soul and body; and this was the true paradise in man, which he lost by sin, when the ground of the dark world, with the false desire, got the upper hand and dominion in him.
The Seventh Day
151. In the SEVENTH day God rested from all his works which he had made, says Moses; yet God needs no rest, for he has wrought from eternity, and he is a mere working power and virtue; therefore the meaning and understanding here lies hidden in the word, for Moses says he has commanded [us] to rest on the seventh day.
152. The seventh day was the true paradise (understand it spiritually), that is, the tincture of the divine power and virtue, which is a temperament; this pierced through all the properties, and wrought in the seventh, that is, in the substance of all the other.
153. The tincture pierced through the earth, and through all elements, and tinctured all; and then paradise was on earth, and in man; for evil was hidden: as the night is hidden in the day, so the [1] wrath of nature was also hidden in the first Principle, till the fall of man; and then the divine working, with the tincture, [2] fled into their own Principle, viz. into the inward ground of the light-world
[1] or grim fierceness [2] or retired
154. For the wrath arose aloft, and got the predominancy, and that is the curse, where it is said, God cursed the earth; for his cursing is to leave off and fly from his working: as when God's power and virtue in a thing works with the life and spirit of the thing, and afterwards withdraws itself with its working; then the thing is cursed, for it works in its own will, and not in God's will.
Of the Spiritus Mundi, and of the Four Elements
144. For as the compression of the desire brought the earth into a [1] mass, the compressure entering into itself, so the fiery Mercury thrust itself outwards by the compressure, and has enclosed the place of this world with the [2] stars and starry heaven.
[1] or lump [2] or constellations
The Fifth Day
145. In the FIFTH day's work the [1] spiritus mundi, that is, the [2] soul of the great world, opened itself in the fifth essence (we mean the life of the fiery and watery Mercury); therein God created all beasts, fishes, fowls, and worms; every one from its peculiar property of the divided Mercury.
[1] spirit of the world [2] anima macrocosmi
146. Here we see how the eternal Principles have moved themselves according to evil and good, as to all the seven properties, and their effluence and mixture; for there are evil and good creatures created, everything as the Mercury (that is, the separator) has figured and [1] framed himself into an ens, as may be seen in the evil and good creatures: and yet every kind of life has its original in the light of nature, that is, in the love of nature; from which it is that all creatures, in their kind or property, love one another according to this outflown love
[1] or imaged
The Sixth Day
147. In the SIXTH day's work, God created man; for in the sixth day the understanding of life opened itself out of the fiery Mercury, that is, out of the inward ground.
148. God created him in his likeness, out of all the three Principles, and made him an image, and breathed into him the understanding fiery Mercury, according to both the inward and outward ground, that is, according to time and eternity, and so he became a living understanding soul: and in this ground of the soul, the manifestation of the divine holiness did move, viz. the living outflowing Word of God, together with the eternal knowing idea, which was known from eternity in the divine wisdom, as a subject or form of the divine imagination.
149. This [1] idea becomes [2] clothed with the substance of the heavenly world, and so it becomes an understanding spirit and temple of God; an image of the divine [3] vision, which spirit is given to the soul for a spouse: as fire and light are espoused together, so it is here also to be understood.
[1] or images [2] indued or invested [3] or contemplation
150. This divine ground budded and pierced through soul and body; and this was the true paradise in man, which he lost by sin, when the ground of the dark world, with the false desire, got the upper hand and dominion in him.
The Seventh Day
151. In the SEVENTH day God rested from all his works which he had made, says Moses; yet God needs no rest, for he has wrought from eternity, and he is a mere working power and virtue; therefore the meaning and understanding here lies hidden in the word, for Moses says he has commanded [us] to rest on the seventh day.
152. The seventh day was the true paradise (understand it spiritually), that is, the tincture of the divine power and virtue, which is a temperament; this pierced through all the properties, and wrought in the seventh, that is, in the substance of all the other.
153. The tincture pierced through the earth, and through all elements, and tinctured all; and then paradise was on earth, and in man; for evil was hidden: as the night is hidden in the day, so the [1] wrath of nature was also hidden in the first Principle, till the fall of man; and then the divine working, with the tincture, [2] fled into their own Principle, viz. into the inward ground of the light-world
[1] or grim fierceness [2] or retired
154. For the wrath arose aloft, and got the predominancy, and that is the curse, where it is said, God cursed the earth; for his cursing is to leave off and fly from his working: as when God's power and virtue in a thing works with the life and spirit of the thing, and afterwards withdraws itself with its working; then the thing is cursed, for it works in its own will, and not in God's will.
Of the Spiritus Mundi, and of the Four Elements