A description of the three principles of the divine essence viz., of the un-originall eternall birth of the Holy Trinity of God ... : of man, of what he was created and to what end, and how he fell from his first glory into the angry wrathfulnesse ... : what the anger of God, sinne, death the Devill, and hell are ... / written in the German language, anno 1619, by Jacob Beme.

The Gate [or Exposition] of the great sinne, and contrariety of will against God, in Man.

70. If wee did well consider the abominations and great sinnes of Man before God, which our first Parents inherited for us, then wee should scarce ever be merry in this world at all, if the Spirit of this world did not cast foolish fancies, and seeming joyes and pleasures be∣fore us, in our imprisonment; or if the Regeneration did not cause us so highly to rejoyce that wee shall once be delivered out of this Pri∣son; for in this life, wee finde nothing else but meere abomination, sinne, misery and death, and scarce attaine (in this [temporary] life) so much as a glimpse of the Eternall Joy.

71. Now the minde asketh, What is sinne then? How is it sinne? Wherefore hath God a loathing against the substance which he hath created? Behold thou childe of Man, there is no sinne in Heaven in the presence of God: onely in thy selfe there is sinne, and sinne sepe∣rateth us and our God asunder: otherwise all things are fix, [or per∣fect], and good, in their own beeing [or substance]; the kingdome of Hell and of wrath is good in it selfe, according to its [own] Regi∣on, it doth not vex or torment it selfe: but its woe [paine or smart] is its birth, and the rising of its source; also it desireth nothing else.

72. And so also the Kingdome of this world is fix [or perfect] and good, in it selfe: neither doth it vex or torment it selfe; but the elevating of the Elements (viz. the kindling of the heate, cold, aire, and water,) is its growing and springing: neither doth it torment it selfe in it selfe; nor hath it any distresse or feare in it selfe.

73. Onely Man (who is proceeded out of another Principle) hath in both those [forementioned] Principles, woe, misery, sorrow, and distresse; for he is not in his native Countrey: and none of these two Principles can attaine his native Countrey. Therefore the poore soule must be thus g plagued and tormented, that it may attaine its native Countrey againe: it must goe againe through the Gate of the deep anguish of Death; it must breake through two kingdomes, and it sticketh here h between the Doore and the hinges, and is continu∣ally infected with those things which keep it back and plague it, it sticketh as it were in a Presse.

74. If it straineth to God [ward], then the Devill holdeth it on one side with one Band, and the world, with another Band; and they i set upon it: the Devill handleth it in fiercenesse, [sternnesse, fro∣wardnesse, or] wrath, which is a source [or quality] and sinne, which cannot attaine to the kingdome of God; and the world leadeth it in∣to pride, covetousnesse, and fleshly lust, so that the k Essences of the soule grow full [or impregnated] with the fleshly will; for the will of the minde, draweth these things into the soule, and so the soule (from that which is attracted) becometh wholly uncleane, l swelled and dark, and cannot attaine the light of God; its Essences that should give up themselves to God, cannot: for they are too rough and can∣not get into the light, that kindleth not it selfe in its Essences; the Gates of the Deepe must be broken open first, and then the Essences [of the soule may] presse into the liberty, m without the darknesse: but if the minde be n filled, then it cannot [come into the liberty,] and then begin horrour, feare, distresse, and despaire of the kingdome of God, and this maketh meere torment [woe, paine, and smart] in the soule.

75. Thus thou shalt know in what manner it is sinne before God: thou hast in thy selfe the [one eternall pure] Element, which is a joy in the presence of God: and now if thou rage and rave with the source [quality or property] of Hell, then thou touchest [or troublest] the Element: and thou stirrest up the o wrath [and makest it] to goe forth, and thou doest as the Devill did, when he awakened [or stirred up] and kindled the fierce o wrath in the Fiat, whereby the o fierce∣nesse generated earth and stones; thou sinnest [piercing] into the Heaven in the presence of God, upon which the Prophets complained in many places, That the disobedient did grieve their God: though (in himselfe) he felt no paine, yet his wrath was kindled in the first Principle, in the Gate of the Deepe, wherein the soule standeth, and that is a meere abomination before him.

76. Behold, all whatsoever thou lettest into thy minde (if thy soule be not inclined [or yeelded up] to God, so that p it beleeveth and trusteth in him) then all whatsoever thou doest is sinne: for thou bringest an earthly Minde into the Gate of the Deepe, where the Spi∣rit of God [moveth, walketh, or] goeth, and thou defilest the Ele∣ment which is in the presence of God.

77. Thou wilt say, How? God dwelleth in Heaven. O! thou blinde Minde, full of Darknesse; the Heaven where God dwelleth is also in thee, as Adam was both upon Earth, and also in Paradise at once; and give not way to Antichrist to direct thee aloft without [the place of] this world above the Starres, for he telleth thee a lye, as the De∣vill himselfe did. God is every where, as the Prophet David saith: If I fly to the Day-break, or into Hell; thou art there. Also where is the

place of my rest? am not I he that filleth all things? yet I behold the mi∣serable and those that are of a broken Spirit, and I will dwell in them: Also, I will dwell in Jacob, and my q Tabernacle shall be in Israel: under∣stand it right, he will dwell in the contrite and broken Spirit, which breaketh the Gate of Darknesse, he will presse into that [Spirit].

78. Therefore beware of the r longing [lust or desire]: and say not in thy selfe, I stand in the dark, the Lord seeth mee not [nor] what I thinke and doe; he standeth in the Gate of thy Minde, where the soule standeth (before the cleere face of God) in the opened Gate: and all thy abominations are knowne before God, and thou makest the Element of God blush [or change colour] with them: thou grievest the chast virgin (which dwelleth in her own Centre, and is given to be a companion to thee in thy minde) and makest her sad: shee warneth thee of the way of the ungodly: if thou follow [her counsell], and turnest, and breakest in unto her, by earnest Repentance, then shee crowneth thee in thy minde with wisdome and understanding, that thou mayest then very well avoyde the Devill; but if thou doest not, then thou fallest out of one sinne and abomina∣tion, into another, and makest thy measure full and running over, and then the Devill helpeth thee into his kingdome, and thou art ve∣ry serviceable to him: for thou art a true s scourge to the children of God, not onely with reproaching, but also in deeds [or in the work of thy hands] which the Devill dare not doe, thou doest him accep∣table service. He tickleth thee finely with the Name [t of God] so that thou bringest forth from thy lips, and teachest it; but thy heart is a Theefe and a Murtherer, and thou art wholly dead to the kingdome of Heaven.

79. Therefore O thou beloved Minde! Examine thy selfe to what thou art inclined: whether thou art inclined to righteousnesse, love, fidelity, and truth: Also to chastity, modesty, and mercifulnesse: if so, it is well for thee; but if not, then dive into thy bosome, and consi∣der thy fleshly heart, and try it, wrap thy u senses together, and put them in prison, and storme thy fleshly heart, that the Elements in thee may quake and tremble: The flattering and lying Devill (who hath possessed thy fleshly heart) shall feele these x stroakes (which he will not like) & then he must be gone: and thou wilt be of another minde; This is no y conceit from a minde not opened, it selfe hath tried this, and therefore it shall stand for a Memoriall and a continuall Moni∣tour: and whosoever pleaseth, let him try it, and he shall finde won∣ders-indeed.

80. Now when Adam and his wife had eaten of the earthly Fruit, then they were ashamed one of another, for they perceived the bea∣stiall Members for z Propagation: and they broke off a boughs, and held them before their b shame: and the voice of God went into the

Garden, highly into their Mindes, and they hid themselves behinde the Trees in the Garden.

81. Here wee see clearly, yes we feele, that God (in the begin∣ning) created no such Image with beastiall Members for Propagati∣on, for that which God created for Eternity, that hath no c shame be∣fore it. Yet also they then first perceived that they were naked: the Elements had taken possession of them, and yet put no earthly Gar∣ment [like the Beasts hairy skin] upon them: for the Spirit of Man was not from the essences and properties of the Elements [as the Spirit of the Beasts] but [Man] was out of the Eternall.

82. And here in this place, there is nothing more palpable, than that it is seene and knowne, that Adam had no Beastiall forme before his sleepe, before his wife; [was formed]; for he was neither Man nor Woman, but, a chast virgin without Beastiall forme: he had no c shame nor breasts, neither had he need of them: he should have ge∣nerated in love and chastity (without paine, or opening of his Body) a virgin as himselfe was; and it should have been possible, that the whole Hoast of Angelicall Men, should have proceeded out of one onely Man, (as the Angels did,) out of one fountaine, if he had stood in the Temptation; even as all those (who come to the onely Arch-Shepherd, to his Rest) were redeemed (by one onely Man,) from the Eternall Death and Torment of Hell.

83. Here now wee finde, that they heard the voice of God in the Garden: for the Element (which is before God, wherewith Man qua∣lifieth [or mixeth]) that did tremble because of sinne: and sinne was manifested in the Element of the Minde, first in Adam and Eve; and then feare and terrour fell into the Essences of the soule: for the first Principle in the [fierce] sternnesse was stirred: so that [Princi∣ple] gat (as a Man may say) fewell for its source of fire. And is risen up in the kindling, in a contrariety of will, in the Essences, where one forme hath continually opposed the other, viz. the soure tartnesse, and the cold with their attracting, have awakened the bitter stinging and tormenting in the Essences of the Tincture of the bloud in the Spirit: and the bitter raging and rising hath awakened the fire.

84. And so instead of the Paradisicall Joy and refreshment, there hath been a meere Brimstone-Spirit, which standeth in anguish and trembling of corruption [or fragility]; which kindleth the Tincture of the Bloud, wherein tearing, stinging, and tormenting is wrought; and if the fire in the Brimstone Spirit be too much kindled, then it burneth the Tincture up, and the light of Life goeth out, and then the body falleth away to be a dead carkasse: and if the tart soure∣nesse be kindled too much by the hard attracting and holding, then also the light of Life goeth out, and the body perisheth; so also of the water; if the Tincture kindleth it selfe in the meeknesse, then it be∣cometh

d windy, grosse, swelled, wholly dark, also infectious and e cor∣rupt, wherein the flash of the life is as a pricking Thorn: and so Mans life is every where begirt with enemies, and the poore soule is alwayes in a close prison fettered with many chaines: and is continu∣ally in feare that (when the body shall [dye or] breake) it may fall into the kingdome of the Executioner, the Devill.

85. Thus, in Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (after the bi∣ting of the Apple) there sprung up the first fruit in the Gate of the Deepe, where the soule standeth before God, and qualifieth [or mix∣eth] with the will of the Justice of the Father: who setteth his will before him (in the breaking of the Darknesse) in the light of the Meeknesse, and continually generateth his beloved Heart and Sonne (in the vertue of the meeknesse of the will) viz. his Eternall Word, from Eternity.

86. And so should the Angelicall Man also set his will in the bro∣ken Gates of the Darknesse, through the will of the Father (where∣with the soule qualifieth [or mingleth]) in the meeknesse of the Heart of God, and then the source [or quality] of the Darknesse in the [fierce] wrathfulnesse, should not have f stirred him, but he should have continued a glorious Prince of Paradise, in triumph over the kingdome of Hell and of this world.

87. But when he set his g Imagination in the kingdome of this world, then the bright and cleere will of his soule, drew the swelled kingdome of the out-Birth to the soule into its will: and so the pure Paradisicall soule became darke, and the Element of the body did get the h Mesch or Massa, which the will of the soule of the minde attract∣ed into the Element [of the body]; and then he was a fleshly Man, and gat the fiercenesse of the first Principle, which the strong break∣ing through to God, in the Gate of the Deepe, did make to be hard i Grissles and Bones.

88. And wee are seriously and highly to know (for it is seene in the light of Life,) that the marrow in the bones, hath the noblest and highest Tincture, wherein the Spirit is sweetest, and the light clearest; which may be knowne in the fire, if you be not blinde with your gain-saying; and it is accurately knowne, that those k places (where the hard bones now are) were wonders and vertue [or power] which have broken the Gates of the Darknesse, in which [power] the Angelicall Man in the Light, stood.

89. Therefore the Providence of God (when Adam fell into long∣ing [desire or lust]) environed that vertue and strength, with the might of the first Principle (viz. with the might of the Starres and sharpnesse of God) that the source [or quality] of the first and third Principle, might not so easily touch it; and this was done in Adams sleepe, when God built Adam to [or for] this world, from whence

Saint Paul also saith; That the naturall Man was created in the corrup∣tible life of this world: which was done at the Temptation of Adam, at that time when God made his naturall wife out of him: but he was a holy Image before, and l he must be the same againe in his Restora∣tion at the Last Day.

90. Though the Devill and this world rage and rave against this; yet it is neverthelesse the ground of Truth, highly knowne in the won∣ders of God: and not from the Fables or Suppositions, such as the proud appearing-holy or hypocriticall world now ground their m Babble upon, about the Cup of Jesus Christ, for the advancing of their pomp and haughtinesse, their own honour and supposed wis∣dome, for their pleasure, and the n filling of their Bellies; Like the Proud Bride in Babylon, who rideth upon the Evill Beast, which de∣voureth the miserable; Therefore thus saith the Spirit, against Babell in the Confusion, I have spewed thee out: in the time of the wrath, thou shalt drink of the Cup of thy Pride, and thy source [or Tor∣ment] shall rise up in Eternity.

Notes

• Cōmitted by, or through Man.
• g

  Pinched and squeesed.
• h

  In the chinck, cranny, on clo∣sing of the doore,
• i

  Or, assault it.
• k

  Or, budding substantiall vertues.
• l

  Mudded.
• m

  Beyond.
• n

  Or, big with pride, cove∣tousnesse, envy, anger, might and pomp.
• o

  Or, fierce grimnesse.
• o

  Or, fierce grimnesse.
• o

  Or, fierce grimnesse.
• p

  It standeth in beliefe and con∣fidēce towards God and Good∣nesse.
• q

  Or, Tent.
• r

  Infection or hunger.
• s

  Rod or Whip.
• t

  Of a godly zealous Man, professour, or godly Divine.
• u

  Or, thoughts.
• x

  Earnest zeale of Repentance.
• y

  Or, inventi∣on.
• z

  Bodily.
• a

  Or, branches of leaves.
• b

  Privities.
• c

  Or, Privities.
• c

  Or, Privities.
• d

  Pursie with fatt.
• e

  Sare or ak∣ing.
• f

  Touched or hurt him.
• g

  Thoughts, minde, desire, or lust.
• h

  The concreti∣on, masse, or lump.
• i

  Or, joynts.
• k

  Issues, passa∣ges or wayes.
• l

  The Adami∣call Man.
• m

  Or, Inventi∣ons, conceits, and notions.
• n

  Gourmundi∣zing.