Forty questions of the soul concerning its original, essence, substance, nature or quality and property, what it is from eternity to eternity : framed by a lover of the great mysteries, Doctor Balthasar Walter, and answered in the year 1620 / by Jacob Behme, called Teutonicus Philosophus ; Englished by John Sparrow ...

The Five and Thirtieth Question. (Book 35)

What the Enochian Life is, and how long it lasteth. (Book 35)

1. THis is also above Humane Reason, and which no outward Reason can Comprehend: but seeing it is born or generated, therefore it shall stand open, for there stick such Mysteries here, that the World cannot comprehend, and we shall not mention them at large, for it hath its limit, how far it shall go; for in this [Time] shall Wonders be done upon Earth, for which cause our speech is taken from us that we must be silent.

2. Yet we shall shew what kind of Life it is, or whither Enoch is gone, as also Elias and Moses: It is no Conjecture, we speak what here is given us, we shall fur∣ther be silent, and not believe Reason, it is a Fool herein.

3. And we may well mention this, for the Time is Born, that Enoch speaketh, and Elias worketh Wonders, which Babel shall try by Experience: For Moses hath Horns, and yet is a Patient or Meek Lamb.

4. O how wouldest thou rejoyce, if thou wouldst go amongst Moses Flock: for he hath a good Message or Embassie, re∣joyce ye Heaven and be merry ye Earth; for Enoch is in the field and keepeth his Flock.

5. What will Elias do? He had a white Garment on, and was with Christ on the Mount, and spake to him concerning the finishing the Redemption of Mankind, and spake to him also of the Entrance into Paradise, and of the final Deliverance from the Driver or Persecutor.

6. He that is born Blind seeth Nothing: how can a Lame Man run to the limit for the Prize, and a Deaf Man distinguish•••…•••… Words and Languages? Doth not the Sun shin all the Day, and yet the Mole re∣maineth blind still; Will Babel then come to see? We say she is a Scorner, and therefore also she must be blind though the Sun shineth to her:

7. How can any see what is in TWO

Worlds, that dwelleth alwayes but in ONE? Or is it not Art and Wit, that hath understanding, that can search the Deep Gates? But it flyeth aloft like a Wind, that holdeth nothing, and yet maketh such a Bluster; so also Babel.

8. When we will speak of the Enochian Life, we must consider the Scripture, and see who Enoch was, and what Life he lead; and then we may soon find, where he is, and what his going away and taking up is.

9. The Scripture saith, his Father was called Jared: if you understand the Lan∣guage of Nature, you had the whole Ground;

10. And Enoch begat Methusalah, who attained the Highest Age of any Man; and after he had begotten him, he conti∣nued in a Godly or Divine Life, till the Lord took him into his Principle.

11. And we are not so to understand it, as if he were wholly perfect in the Light of God's Majesty, and should not appear at the Judgment Day: He is indeed in God without necessity and Death, also in God's Love, but in the Birth of God's Principle; for he had also Adam's Flesh.

12. So you know very well, that the

outward Kingdom, with the Earthly Flesh, belongeth to the Turba, though indeed, he had in the outward Body, the Body of God's Wonders, as to which he was taken up into the Mystery, so that the outward Body, was as it were swallowed up of the Mystery.

13. But now must the Mystery give up again, all whatsoever it hath swallowed up, as ye know that at the End it shall present the outward Body with all Substances or Works, before the Judgment of God, so also is the Turba still in the outward Body with the Wonders, which shall be mani∣fested and tryed in the Fire.

14. Seeing then Enoch is taken up, with Body and Soul, with both Bodies, there∣fore his outward Body is in the Mystery, and the inward Body is a Heavenly Myste∣ry in the Arcanum or hiddenness, and so he liveth in two Mysteries, invisibly and incomprehensibly to the outward World: as we give you to understand, that Para∣dise is still at hand and not vanished, but is as it were swallowed up by the Curse of God, and lyeth yet as a Mystery uncorrup∣ted in the Curse.

15. For we can with good ground of Truth, say; that Paradise is still upon

Earth; but we are not therein, yet Enoch is therein; but he hath still the Body of the Turba in the Mystery, and in the Hea∣venly Mystery he hath God's Body, a Pa∣radisical Body, that is capable of Paradise: thus he is a Wonder, and is a Prophet on the Crown at the limit of the Wonders.

16. For ye know, the Scripture saith, that after he begat Methuselah, the Man of the highest Age, that afterwards he conti∣nued in a Divine Life: and that is signifi∣cant.

17. Methuselah sheweth the end of the Wonders of this World, and Enoch in his Divine Life after the Birth of Methu∣selah, sheweth as to his Three hundred years, the opening of the Wonders, and the open Ministry, viz. a preaching of Righteousness, whereby every one hath his Turba shewen him, and the End of the Wonders of this World is shewed, viz. God's punishment and reward to the Good.

18. And the Time after Enoch, wherein Enoch lived till the Number of the Crown, when Enoch with his Preaching was taken up, sheweth that the Enochian Light, which appeared in his Time, will pass again into the Principle, and will

seek the Earthly Body of Enoch, and it will be found that the Turba is still there∣in, so that there is no seeking more, for the Turba is found at the Limit, and worketh only to the Fire and to the Judg∣ment.

19. Thus the End of this World is as the Dreggs of the Cup, and worketh in the Turba, to the blowing up of the Fire, and to the Judgment; for the outward World is become generated out of the Turba, and hath taken its beginning in the Turba, and the Turba is its proper own, thus the Be∣ginning seeketh the End again in the fierce Wrath.

20. And as this World is become Cor∣poreal in the fierce Wrath, so also will the beginning at the End, have the Spirit again in the fierce Wrath; for the Begin∣ning and the End is all one; therefore you see very well, that in the Beginning the Turba swallowed up Adam, and brought him into Anger and Murthered Abel.

21. Therefore ye Elect, desire none of you to live to the time of the End, after Enochs taking up; but consider, that when Enoch Preacheth, the Sun shineth, then go out of Babel it is a Golden Time; but your

Turba causeth that Enoch shall be taken up.

22. Enoch is not flyen away out of this World, he is passed into the Mystery in the VVonders; for he is God's Preacher, and after that the Turba hath overcome the VVorld, then must he be silent, till the six Seals have ended their VVonders, and the Angels of the Turba poured forth their Viols, and then are the VVonders of the Anger finished.

23. Then cometh Enoch again out of the Mystery, and goeth into the Mystery, and telleth what hath been done, and re∣proveth the World because of the Turba, hecause they have let the abomination come into them, and have not withstood it.

24. And after the world becometh fat and wonton in the Golden Year, and seek∣eth Sodom and Gommorrah again, then will also their Turba be fat and Wanton, and seek the fierce VVrath and the Limit, and the Golden Time cometh to an End, and will be swallowed up in the Turba, and then Methuselah, the oldest Man dy∣eth, and suddenly cometh the Sin Deluge in the Fire; think of it, it is an Earnest severe thing.

25. We say not, that you shall feel Enoch with your hands, No! Enoch preach∣eth not from the Earthly Lifes Spirit, but from that which was a Prophet which in∣troduced the outward Man into the Prin∣ciple: thus you shall not touch the out∣ward Enoch, but hear the Prophet which speaketh out of Enoch out of the Mystery;

26. Babel holdeth it in derision, and despiseth Enoch for a time, then Enoch calleth Noah, but they account him an Old Fool, for Preaching of the downfal of Babel.

27. And Noah passeth into the other World through the Water, and calleth to Moses, with his Wonders, and he Com∣eth, for he hath God's Wonders.

28. For, he is gone through Death, and hath brought his Body through Death, where then the Turba desired to consume it, and the Devil contended about it, and would have the Turba in Moses, because he had been an Angry Man, and brought the Turba on many.

29. But it was said to the Devil, that the Turba in the fire did not belong to him, for it served to the Majesty of God, and hath the VVonders: to him belonged the Turba in the Darkness in the fierce

wrath, and is without the City, it shall not dwell in the City in the Principle, but without it;

30. For, God hath not Created him in and for the Fire, he may continue in his own awakened fire-Life, for he hath no∣thing to do with Moses Body; for Moses's VVonders in the Anger belong not to his Turba, he is an Outcast a Castaway.

31. And Moses's Body is gone through Death, his unfadable Body, which hath the VVonders, hath swallowed up the Earthly in the Turba, and yet not in a fa∣dable manner consumed it; but he is also in the Mystery: and his Turba which killed the first born in Egypt, and drowned Pha∣raoh in the Water, and slew the Wor∣shippers of the Calves, also swallowed up Corah Dathan and Abiram with the Earth; that remained in Death;

32. When he dyed, then went his Spi∣rit and Soul forth out of the Turba, and he remained in the Wonders in the My∣stery.

33. And now he is become a Lamb, and bringeth his works into Isaac's and Sems Goods, as a Mystery of God in his Deeds of VVonder; But the House is Isaac's, and they all dwell in Sems Tents, in his

Kingdom: Consider that, ye Jews and Christians.

34. Now seeing Moses is gone from the con∣tention of the Turba and of the Devil, with Righteousness, into the Mystery, and hath likewise his first Body, yet unfadably on him, brought out from the Turba, but yet it shall be tryed in the Fire, at the End of the Day, therefore his Prophet is in the Mystery:

35. And seeing he is become a Lamb after the Turba, therefore he hath sent his people many Prophets, to Preach of the Mystery, as in the Mystery there is not only the Law and Works, but also the Lamb Christ, into which he also Entred and made his Law to be of the houshould of the Lamb, so that his Wonders dwell in the lodging of the Lamb.

36. This Moses calleth to Enoch, seeing he also is in the Mystery, & hath the white Garment on, which he gat from the Lamb in the other VVorld; to whose help Moses cometh, with the Lamb's Deeds of Won∣der, seeing they call Noah Fool, who with∣out Wonders teacheth as an honest or ver∣tuous Man.

37. This will not Babel endure, for so

her pomp and loftiness will be taken away, she sets her self against Moses and Enoch, and persecuteth them, she would kill them; but Moses is dead already, and Enoch is taken up, and none in the outward Life is with them: They say, well, where is Enoch and Moses, let us see their Won∣ders, and they are blind, and cannot see them: thus they rage against Moses and Enoch, and go forth to Battel.

38. Then Moses calleth to Elias, which went out of this World in the Fire of God, in the Abysse of the Principle, with Body and Soul, he dwelleth in the Principle with strong Might, and when he cometh and seeth the Cry that Babel standeth in the Fire, then he kindleth the Turba, where∣in the Great Fire Burneth, which consu∣meth Flesh and Blood, also Stones and the Elements, and then shall Babel drink her last Draught.

39. And after that Enoch hath peace a little Time, and it is the Golden Year, till my Beloved become fat and wanton, and stuffeth his Turba well, so that it seek∣eth the Limit, and then cometh the End of all Time.

40. Let it not be a Wonder to you, we will

stay in the mean while with Noah, till Moses and Elias, come; and then you will find it by Experience, all you that are the Children of God,

41. But to the wicked it remaineth hidden, till the Turba devoureth them; they look upon it, as the Jews did upon Christ, and the first World upon Noah; what should a scorner do with the Myste∣ry? he seeketh only for plenty to Eat and to Drink, and looketh how he may satisfie his Pomp, wherewith he might Ride on in Babel.

42. Thus, my Beloved Friend, we have given you a short hint of the Enochian Life, also what his Office and Condition is, as also of Moses and Elias: you should further consider of them as a discerning Man; for we dare not speak otherwise of it; also our Understanding and Will is turned into such a way of Speech, and in this place at this time I am not allowed to write more fundamentally with a simple understanding,

43. If God permit, and that it be given to Us, to write somewhat upon the * 1.1 first and also the † 1.2 second Book of

Moses, more may be opened; for the Names that are set down of the Fathers be∣fore the Deluge or Flood, belong all to the Mystery, and there are Great Won∣ders therein; when it will be Day, then you shall by them apprehend the whole Course of the World.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Genests fin∣nished.
• † 1.2

  Exod. none of it exstant.