57. Nature [1] arises in the outflown word of the divine perception and knowledge; and it is a continual framing and forming of sciences and perception: whatsoever the word works by the wisdom, that nature frames and forms into properties: Nature is like a carpenter, who builds a house, which the mind figured and contrived before in itself; so it is here also to be understood.
[1] or consists
58. Whatsoever the eternal mind [1] figures in the eternal wisdom of God in the divine power, and brings into an idea, that, nature frames into a property.
[1] or models
59. Nature, in its first ground, consists in seven properties; and these seven divide themselves into infinite.
The First Property
60. The First property is the desire which causes and makes [1] harshness, sharpness, hardness, cold, and substance.
[1] or astringency
The Second Property
61. The Second property is the stirring or attraction of the desire; it makes [1] stinging, breaking, and dividing of the hardness; it cuts asunder the attracted desire, and brings it into multiplicity and variety; it is a ground of the bitter pain, and also the true root of life; it is the [2] Vulcan that strikes fire.
[1] or pricking [2] Faber or smith
The Third Property
62. The Third property is the perceptibility and feelingness in the breaking of the harsh hardness; and it is the ground of anguish, and of the natural will, wherein the eternal will desires to be manifested; that is, it will be a fire or light, viz. a flash or shining,wherein the powers, colors, and virtues of the wisdom may appear: in these three first properties consists the foundation of anger, and of hell, and of all that is [1] wrathful.
[1] grim, fierce, cruel, odious, or evil
The Fourth Property
63. The Fourth property is the fire, in which the Unity appears, and is seen in the light, that is, in a burning love; and the wrath in the [1] essence of fire.
[1] operation or property
The Fifth Property
64. The Fifth property is the light, with its virtue of love, in and with which the Unity works in a natural substance.
The Sixth Property
65. The Sixth property is the sound, voice, or natural understanding, wherein the five senses work spiritually, that is, in an understanding natural life.
The Seventh Property
66. The Seventh property is the subject, or the [1] contence of the other six properties, in which they work, as the life does in the flesh; and this seventh property is rightly and truly called the ground or place of nature, wherein the properties stand in one only ground.
[1] compass, conclusion, comprising, or continent
The First SUBSTANCE in the Seven Properties
67. We must always understand two substances in the seven properties: we understand the first, according to the abyss of these properties, to be the divine [1] Being; that is, the divine will with the outflowing Unity of God, which together flows forth through nature, and brings itself into the receivingness to sharpness, that the eternal love may become working and sensible thereby, and that it may have something which is passive, wherein it may manifest itself, and be known; and of which also it might be desired and beloved again, viz. the [2]aching passive nature, which in the love is changed into an eternal joyfulness: and when the love in the fire manifests itself in the light, then it inflames nature, as the sun a plant, and the fire [3] iron.
[1] essence or substance [2] or painful [3] a red-hot iron
The Second SUBSTANCE
68. The Second substance is nature's own substance, which is [1] aching and passive, and is the tool and instrument of the agent; for where no passiveness is, there is also no desire of deliverance, or of something better; and where there is no desire of something better, there a thing rests within itself.
[1] painful
69. And therefore the eternal Unity brings itself by its effluence and separation into nature, that it may have an object, in which it may manifest itself, and that it may love something, and be again be loved by something, that so there may be a perceiving, or sensible working and will
57. Nature [1] arises in the outflown word of the divine perception and knowledge; and it is a continual framing and forming of sciences and perception: whatsoever the word works by the wisdom, that nature frames and forms into properties: Nature is like a carpenter, who builds a house, which the mind figured and contrived before in itself; so it is here also to be understood.
[1] or consists
58. Whatsoever the eternal mind [1] figures in the eternal wisdom of God in the divine power, and brings into an idea, that, nature frames into a property.
[1] or models
59. Nature, in its first ground, consists in seven properties; and these seven divide themselves into infinite.
The First Property
60. The First property is the desire which causes and makes [1] harshness, sharpness, hardness, cold, and substance.
[1] or astringency
The Second Property
61. The Second property is the stirring or attraction of the desire; it makes [1] stinging, breaking, and dividing of the hardness; it cuts asunder the attracted desire, and brings it into multiplicity and variety; it is a ground of the bitter pain, and also the true root of life; it is the [2] Vulcan that strikes fire.
[1] or pricking [2] Faber or smith
The Third Property
62. The Third property is the perceptibility and feelingness in the breaking of the harsh hardness; and it is the ground of anguish, and of the natural will, wherein the eternal will desires to be manifested; that is, it will be a fire or light, viz. a flash or shining,wherein the powers, colors, and virtues of the wisdom may appear: in these three first properties consists the foundation of anger, and of hell, and of all that is [1] wrathful.
[1] grim, fierce, cruel, odious, or evil
The Fourth Property
63. The Fourth property is the fire, in which the Unity appears, and is seen in the light, that is, in a burning love; and the wrath in the [1] essence of fire.
[1] operation or property
The Fifth Property
64. The Fifth property is the light, with its virtue of love, in and with which the Unity works in a natural substance.
The Sixth Property
65. The Sixth property is the sound, voice, or natural understanding, wherein the five senses work spiritually, that is, in an understanding natural life.
The Seventh Property
66. The Seventh property is the subject, or the [1] contence of the other six properties, in which they work, as the life does in the flesh; and this seventh property is rightly and truly called the ground or place of nature, wherein the properties stand in one only ground.
[1] compass, conclusion, comprising, or continent
The First SUBSTANCE in the Seven Properties
67. We must always understand two substances in the seven properties: we understand the first, according to the abyss of these properties, to be the divine [1] Being; that is, the divine will with the outflowing Unity of God, which together flows forth through nature, and brings itself into the receivingness to sharpness, that the eternal love may become working and sensible thereby, and that it may have something which is passive, wherein it may manifest itself, and be known; and of which also it might be desired and beloved again, viz. the [2]aching passive nature, which in the love is changed into an eternal joyfulness: and when the love in the fire manifests itself in the light, then it inflames nature, as the sun a plant, and the fire [3] iron.
[1] essence or substance [2] or painful [3] a red-hot iron
The Second SUBSTANCE
68. The Second substance is nature's own substance, which is [1] aching and passive, and is the tool and instrument of the agent; for where no passiveness is, there is also no desire of deliverance, or of something better; and where there is no desire of something better, there a thing rests within itself.
[1] painful
69. And therefore the eternal Unity brings itself by its effluence and separation into nature, that it may have an object, in which it may manifest itself, and that it may love something, and be again be loved by something, that so there may be a perceiving, or sensible working and will