On the New Birth; Lip-Christians; Lip-Priests, Being Taught of God.
12. For as God the Father in his own Substance comprehends all the Three Principles, and is himself the Substance of all Substances, wherein both Joy and Sorrow are comprehended, which yet goes forth in itself out of the Source of the Anguish, and makes the Kingdom of Joy to himself, inconceivable to the Sorrow, and incomprehensible to the Source of his Anger in the Anguish, and generates to himself his Heart in the Love, wherein the Name of God takes Original, so also the Mind has in it all the three Principles, and therein the Soul is comprized, viz. in the Band of Life, [the Soul] must enter again into itself, and create a Will in the Life of Jesus Christ, and endeavour after it, desiring it with a strong Will and Purpose, and not stay merely in the History or in the Knowledge of it, and being able to speak of it and suppose the Words and Discourse make a sufficient Christian, when the Mind is still in mere doubt in Babel. No, that is not the Regeneration, but it must be an earnest Resolution; the Mind must in itself go forth into the Humility towards God, and enter into the Will of God, in Righteousness, Truth and Love.
13. And though indeed the Mind is not able to do this in its own Ability, because it is captivated with the Spirit of this World, yet it has the Purpose in its Power, and God is presented with [and in] the Purpose, and receives it in his Love, and sows therein the Seed of Love in his Virtue [or Power,] out of which the new Man in the Life of Jesus Christ grows. Therefore all lies in the true earnest [Purpose,] which is called true Repentance; for the Receiving of the Word of God in the Obedience of Love grows not in the earthly Life, but in the new-born, in the Life of Jesus Christ.
14. Therefore the Kingdom of Heaven is a bestowed Bounty of Grace for all those that earnestly desire it; not that it is enough to say to one's self, I have indeed a Will to yield myself earnestly to God, but I have need to have this World for a while, and afterwards I will enter into the Obedience of God, and that continues from one Time to another, and from one Day to another, and in the mean While the evil Man [or the Child of Perdition] grows; if you defer it to the end, and then desire [and think] to be a heavenly Fruit or Birth, when all the Time of your Life you have grown in the Anger of God, in the Abyss of Hell: No; that is Deceit, thou deceivest thyself.
15. The Priests in Babel have after that no Key to open the Kingdom of Heaven for thee; thou must enter in thyself and be new-born, or else there is no Remedy for thee in this World, nor in Heaven; thou standest here in this [Life] Time, in the Ground, and art a Plant, but when Death comes and cuts down the Stock, then thou art no more in the Growing, but art a Fruit; and then if thou art not Food for God, thou dost not belong to his Table, and then God will not dwell in thee.
16. For we know that the Deity only is the Virtue to the new Birth, which [Virtue,] if thou longest for it, and desirest it with Earnestness, sowest itself in thy Mind, and in thy Soul, out of which the new Man in the Life of Christ grows, so that in this World the earthly [Man] does but hang to it. Thus the new Man is in God in the Life of Jesus Christ, and the old Man is in this World; of which St. Paul writes clearly in his Letter to the Romans, that if we thus live in the new Birth, we live to God, but as to the old Adam we are in this World; where then the Source of the eternal Band in the Soul is also changed, and the Soul enters in itself into the Life of Christ, into the holy and pure Element; which in some Places of my second Book [The Three Principles] I call the Ternarius Sanctus.
17. This is not according to the Understanding of the Latin Tongue, but according to the Understanding of the divine Nature; by which Word is excellently expressed the Life of Jesus Christ in God the Father; as also the Characters of the Letters themselves and the Spirit in the Syllables signify; wherein the Birth [Unigeniture or eternal Working] of the Deity is excellently understood; though it is hidden to the historical Man of the School [Or Universities] of this World, yet it is wholly comprehensible to those that are enlightened from God, who then also understand the Source [or working Property] of the Spirit in the Letter, which is not at this Time to be set down here, and yet it shall be brought to the Understanding.
18. And there is nothing more profitable for Man for his Beginning to the new Birth, than true earnest Repentance, with great earnest Purpose and Resolution; for he must press into the Kingdom of Heaven, into the Life of Christ, where then his Regenerator is ready, deep in his Mind in the Light of Life, and with Desiring and Earnestness helps [to wrestle,] and so sows himself as a Grain of Mustard-Seed into the Soul of a Man, as a Root to a new Creature. And if the Earnestness in the Soul of a Man be great, then the Earnestness in his Regeneration is also great.
19. And it is not possible to describe the New Birth in Christ fully; for he that comes into it, can find it only in himself by Experience; there grows another Bud in his Mind, another Man with other Knowledge; he is taught of God, and sees that all the Labour in the History, without the Spirit of God, is but a confused Work of Babel, from whence Strife and Contention (in Self-pride) come; for they aim only at Pride and Advancement, to recreate themselves in the Lusts of the Flesh, and in Self. They are no Shepherds or Pastors of Christ, but Ministers or Servants of the Antichrist; they have set themselves upon Christ's Throne; but they have erected it in this World.
20. Yet the Kingdom of Christ is not of this World, but consists in Power. And there is the true Knowledge of God in no Man, except he be regenerated in God, out of his corrupted House of Sins, where then the Fierceness changes itself into Love, and he is a Priest of God in the Life of Jesus Christ, who always seeks that which is in Heaven in the Wonders of God; and the New Man is hid in the old Man, and is not of this World, but he is in Ternario Sancto, in the holy Body of Jesus Christ, understand, in the Virtue of his Body.
21. For such also his Covenant with us is, both in the Baptism and the Last Supper. He took not the Flesh of his Creature and gave it to his Disciples, but he took the Body of the pure Element [that is] before God, wherein God dwells, which is present in all Creatures but comprised in another Principle, and gave it to his Disciples to eat and to drink under earthly Bread and Wine; so also he baptized the outward Man with earthly elementary Water, but the inward new Man he baptized with the Water in the holy pure Element of his Body and Spirit, which Substance appears only in the second Principle, and is present every where, yet is hid to the third Principle, viz. to the Spirit of this World.
22. For as we know, that our Mind reaches all over this World, and also into the Kingdom of Heaven to God, so also the Life of the pure Element (wherein the Creature Christ, and our new Man in Christ stands) reaches every where all over, and it is all over full of the Fullness of the Life of Jesus Christ, but only in the [one pure holy] Element, and not in the four Elements, in the Spirit of the Stars.
23. Therefore there needs not in our Writings much toil, nor hard Consideration or Study; we write out of another Principle; no Reader understands us rightly in the Ground, except his Mind be born in God; there ought no historical Skill and Knowledge to be sought for in our Writings; for as it is not possible to see God with earthly Eyes, so also it is not possible that an unenlightened Mind in the Earthiness can comprehend it. Heavenly Thoughts and Meaning can comprehend it [the ground of our writings]; like must be comprehended by like.
24. Indeed we carry the heavenly Treasure in an earthly Vessel, [or Receptacle]; there must be a heavenly Receptacle [or Vessel] hidden in the earthly, else the heavenly Treasure is not comprised nor held. None should think or desire to find the Lily of the heavenly Bud with deep Searching and Studying, if he be not entered by earnest Repentance in the new Birth, so that it be grown in himself; for else it is but a History, where his Mind never finds the Ground, and yet itself supposes it has comprehended it; but his Mind makes it manifest, [of what Spirit it is generated] what Spirit's Child it is; for it is written, They are taught of God.
25. We know that every Life is a Fire that consumes, and must have somewhat to feed its Consuming, or else it goes out; so also we know that there is an eternal Band of Life, where there is a Matter whereon the eternal Fire feeds continually, for the eternal Fire makes that Matter for Food to itself.
26. So also we know that the eternal Life is twofold, in a twofold Source [Quality or Property,] and each stands in its own Fire. The one burns in the fierceness, and in the Woe, and the Matter thereof is Pride, Envy, and Anger; its Source is like brimstone Spirit; for the Rising up of the Pride in Covertness, Envy, and Anger, makes together a Brimstone, wherein the Fire burns, and continually kindles itself with this Matter [Material]; for it is a great Bitterness [like Gall], wherein the Mobility of the Life consists, as also the Striker up [Vulcan] of the Fire.
27. Now we know also, that every Fire has a Shining and Glance, and that Glance goes in itself forth from the Source [or Quality,] and enlightens the Matter of the Source, so that in the Source there is a Knowledge and Understanding of a [Thing or] Substance, from whence a Mind and the Might takes its Original of doing and comprehending a Will to somewhat, and yet was not there in the Originality; and that it will in itself, in the Source, go forth, and make a Liberty for itself in the Source, and the Will desires the Liberty, that it might stand therein, and has its Life from the Will in the Light, and in itself, in the Habitation, lives without Source, and yet there it stands in the Originality in the Ground of the Source.
28. Thus, my beloved, worthy, seeking Mind [or Friend], know and observe that every Life stands upon the Abyss of the Fierceness; for God calls himself, A consuming Fire; and also, A God of Love; and his Name GOD has its Original in the Love, where he goes forth out of the Source in himself, and makes it, in himself, Joy, Paradise, and the Kingdom of Heaven.
29. We all in the Originality of our Life have the Source of the Anger, and of Fierceness, or else we should not be alive; but we must look to it, and in ourselves go forth out of the Source of the Fierceness with God, and generate the Love in us, and then our Life shall be a joyful and pleasant Habitation to us, and then it stands rightly in the Paradise of God; but if our Life stays in the Fierceness, viz. in the Covetousness, Envy, Anger, and Malice, and goes not forth into another Will, then it stands in the anguishing Source, as all Devils do, wherein no good Thought or Will can be, but a mere Enmity in itself.
30. Therefore these two Lives, viz. the Life in the loving Regeneration, and the Life in the Originality of the Source [or Property,] are one against another; and because the Life in the Love is not enemicitious, therefore it must suffer itself to be pinched, pierced through and wounded, and upon it the Cross is laid to be borne with Patience of Meekness, and in this Bud, in this Ground, [Soil, or Field,] a Child of God must be a Bearer of the Cross; and for this End has God appointed in himself a Day of Judgement, and of Separation, where then he reaps what is grown in every Life; and herewith shall all Forms of the eternal Life be manifested; all must stand to the manifesting of God's Deeds of Wonder.
31. Therefore, O Man! look to it, destroy not thyself; see that thou grow in the Ground [or Field] of Love, Meekness, and Righteousness, and enter with thy Life, in thyself, into the Meekness of Jesus Christ, in the Regeneration to God, and then thou shalt live in God's Source of Love; and so when the Field of this Sprout [or Bud] is taken away, then thy Life is a Fruit and Plant of God, and thou shalt spring and grow with a new Body out of the holy and pure Element before God, in the Life of thy dear Saviour and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Give up, [or dedicate] thyself to it, in this contentious Life, wholly and altogether, and so thou shalt with him, through his Death and Resurrection, grow up in a new Man before God.
Extract from Jacob Boehme's "Appendix to The Three Principles of the Divine Essence or Fundamental and True Description of the Threefold Life in Man", From: " The Works of Jacob Behmen, The Teutonic Theosopher." Reverend William Law's Edition: Volume One; London, 1764, Printed for M. Richardson, in Pater-noster Row. Paragraphs 12 to end.
