THE THREE PRINCIPLES OF THE DIVINE ESSENCE By Jacob Behmen

T H E 

THREE PRINCIPLES 

O F T H E 

DIVINE ESSENCE.

OF THE 

Eternal Dark, Light, and Temporary World.
SHOWING 

What the SOUL, the IMAGE and the SPIRIT of the SOUL
are: As also what ANGELS, HEAVEN 

and PARADISE are.

How ADAM was before the Fall, in the Fall, and after the Fall,

AND

What the WRATH of GOD, SIN, DEATH, the DEVILS, and HELL 

are: How all Things have been, now are, and
how they shall be at the last.

By JACOB BEHMEN, the Teutonic Theosopher.

1909

YOGI PUBLICATION SOCIETY,
Masonic Temple, Chicago, 111. LONDON AGENTS:
L. N. FOWLER & CO., 7 Imperial Arcade, Ludgate Circus

Fragment

The First  Chapter.

Of the first Principle of the Divine * Essence.

SEEING we are now to speak of God, what he is, and where he is, we must say, that God himself is the Essence of all Essences; for all is generated or born, created and proceeded from him, and all Things take their first Beginning out of God; as the Scripture witnesses, saying, Through him, and in him are all Things. Also, The Heaven and the Heaven of Heavens are not able to contain him: Also, Heaven is my Throne, and the Earth is my Footstool: And in Our Father is mentioned, thine is the Kingdom and the Power; understand all Power.

2. But there is yet this difference [to be observed,] that Evil neither is, nor is called God; this is understood in the first Principle, where it is the earnest Fountain of the Wrathfulness, according to which, God calls himself an angry, wrathful, zealous God. For the original of Life, and of all Mobility, consists in the Wrathfulness; yet if the tartness be kindled with the Light of God, it is then no more Tartness, but the severe Wrathfulness is changed into great Joy.

3. Now when God was to create the World, and all things therein, he had no other a Matter to make it of, but his own

*) Being, or Substance.

a) Or Materials, Materia.

b Being, out of himself, But now, God is a Spirit that is incomprehensible, which has neither Beginning nor End, and his Greatness and Depth is all. Yet a Spirit does nothing but ascend, flow, move, and continually generate itself, and in itself has chiefly a threefold Manner of Form in its Generating or Birth, vis. Bitterness, Harshness, and c Heat, and these three Manner of Forms are neither of them the first, second, nor third; for all these three are but one, and each of them d generates the second and third. For between e Harshness and Bitterness, Fire is generated: and the Wrath of the Fire is the Bitterness or Sting itself, and the Harshness is the Stock or Father of both these, and yet is generated of them both; for a Spirit is like a Will, Sense, [or Thought,] which rises up, and in its Rising beholds,f perfects, and generates itself.

4. Now this cannot be expressed or described, nor brought to the Understanding by the Tongue of Man; for God has no Beginning. But I will set it down so as if he had a Beginning, that it might be understood what is in the first Principle, whereby the difference between the first and second Principle may be understood, and what God or Spirit is. Indeed there is no difference in God, only when it is enquired from whence Evil and Good proceed, it is to be known, what is the first and original fountain of Anger, and also of Love, since they both proceed from one and the same Original, out of one Mother, and are one Thing. Thus we must speak after a creaturely Manner, as if it took a Beginning, that it might be brought to be understood.

5. For it cannot be said that Fire, Bitterness, or Harshness, is in God, much less that Air, Water, and Earth are in him; only it is plain that all Things have proceeded out of that [Original.] Neither can it be said, that Death, Hell-fire, or Sorrowfulness is in God, but it is known that these Things have come out of that [Original.] For God has made no Devil out of himself, but Angels to live in Joy, to their Comfort and Rejoicing; yet it is seen that Devils came to be, and that they became God's Enemies. Therefore the Source or Fountain of the Cause must be sought, vis. what is the Prima Materia, or first Matter of Evil, and that in the Originality of God as well as in the Creatures; for it is all but one only Thing in the Origin: All is out of God, made out of his g Essence, according to the Trinity, as he is one in Essence and threefold in Persons.

b) Essence or Substance.

c) Or Scorching.

d) Begets, bears, or brings forth.

e) Astringency, or attracting,

f) Infects, impregnates.

g) Being or Substance.

6. Behold, there are especially three Things in the Originality, out of which all Things are, both Spirit and Life, Motion and Comprehensibility, viz. h Sulphur, i Mercurius, and k Sal. But you will say that these are in Nature, and not in God; which indeed is so, but Nature has its ground in God, according to the first Principle of the Father, for God calls himself also an angry zealous God; which is not so to be understood, that God is angry in himself, but in the Spirit of the [Creation or] Creature which kindles itself; and then God burns in the first Principle therein, and the Spirit of the [Creation or] Creature suffers Pain, and not God.

7. Now to speak in a creaturely way, Sulphur, Mercurius, and Sal, are understood to be thus. S U L is the Soul or the Spirit that is risen up, or in a Similitude [it is] God: P H U R is the Prima Materia, or first Matter out of which the Spirit is generated, but especially the 1 Harshness: Mercurius has a fourfold Form in it, viz. Harshness, Bitterness, Fire, and Water: Sal is the Child that is generated from these four, and is harsh, eager, and a Cause of the Comprehensibility.

8. m Understand right now what I declare to you: Harshness, Bitterness, and Fire, are in the Originality, in the first Principle : The Water-source is generated therein: and God is not called God according to the first Principle; but according to that, he is called Wrathfulness, Anger, the earnest [severe or tart] Source, from which Evil, and also the woeful tormenting Trembling, and Burning, have their Original.

9. This is as was mentioned before; the Harshness is the Prima

Materia, or first Matter, which is strong, and very eagerly and earnestly attractive, that is Sal: The Bitterness is n in the strong Attracting, for the Spirit sharpens itself in the strong Attracting, so that it becomes wholly aching, [anxious or vexed.] For Example, in Man, when he is enraged, how his Spirit attracts itself, which makes him bitter [or sour,] and trembling; and if it be not suddenly withstood and quenched, we see that the Fire of Anger kindles in him so, that he burns in Malice, and then presently a

0 Substance or whole Essence comes to be in the Spirit and Mind, to be revenged.

h) Wherein the Kindling consists.

i) The Spirit of a Substance.

k) Salt, Body, or Substantiality.

l) Astringency or Attraction.

m) Observe or consider.

n) Generated.

o) An essential, real Imagination, or Purpose.

10. Which is a Similitude of that which is in the Original of the Generating of Nature: Yet it must be set down more intelligibly [and plainly.] Mark what Mercurius is, it is Harshness, Bitterness, Fire, and Brimstone-water, the most horrible p Essence; yet you must understand hereby no Materia, Matter, or comprehensible Thing; but all no other than Spirit, and the Source of the original Nature. Harshness is the first Essence, which attracts itself; but it being a hard cold Virtue or Power, the Spirit is altogether prickly [stinging] and sharp. Now the Sting and Sharpness cannot endure attracting, but moves and resists [or opposes] and is a contrary Will, an Enemy to the Harshness, and from that q Stirring comes the first Mobility, which is the third Form. Thus the Harshness continually attracts harder and harder, and so it becomes hard and tart, [strong or fierce,] so that the Virtue or Power is as hard as the hardest Stone, which the Bitterness [that is, the Harshness's own Sting or Prickle] cannot endure; and then there is great Anguish in it, like the horrible brimstone Spirit, and the Sting of the Bitterness, which rubs itself so hard, that in the Anguish there comes to be a twinkling Flash, which flies up terribly, and breaks the r Harshness : But it finding no Rest, and being so continually generated from beneath, it is as a turning Wheel, which turns anxiously and terribly with the twinkling Flash s furiously, and so the Flash is changed into a pricking [stinging] Fire, which yet is no burning Fire, but like the Fire in a Stone.

11. But seeing there is no Rest there, and that the turning

Wheel runs as fast as a swift Thought, for the Prickle drives it so fast, the Prickle kindles itself so much, that the Flash (which is generated between the Astringency and Bitterness) becomes horribly fiery, and flies up like a horrible Fire, from whence the whole Materia or Matter is terrified, and falls back as dead, or overcome, and does not attract so t strongly to itself any more, but each yields itself to go out one from another, and so it becomes thin. For the Fire-flash is now predominant, and the Materia, or Matter, which was so very harsh [astringent or attracting] in the Originality, is now feeble, and as it were dead, and the Fire-flash henceforth gets Strength therein, for it is its Mother; and the Bitterness goes forth up in the Flash together with the Harshness, and kindles the Flash, for it is the Father of the Flash, or Fire, and the turning Wheel henceforth stands in the Fire-flash, and the Harshness remains overcome and feeble, which is now the Water-spirit; and the Materia, or Matter of the Harshness, henceforth is like the Brimstone-spirit, very thin, raw, aching, vanquished, and the Sting in it is trembling; and it dries and sharpens itself in the Flash; and being so very dry in the Flash, it becomes continually more horrible and fiery, whereby the Harshness or Astringency is still more overcome, and the Water-spirit continually greater.

p) Being, Substance, or Thing.

q) Or opposing.

r) Or astringent Attraction.

s) Or senseless and madly.

t) Or eagerly.

And so it continually refreshes itself in the Waterspirit, and continually brings more Matter to the Fire-flash, whereby it is the more kindled; for (in a Similitude) that is the u fuel of the Flash or Fire-spirit.

12. x Understand rightly the Manner of the Existence of this

Mercurius. The Word M E R, is first the strong, tart, harsh Attraction; for in that Word (or Syllable Mer) expressed by the Tongue, you understand that it jars [proceeding] from the Harshness, and you understand also, that the bitter Sting or Prickle is in it; for the Word M E R is harsh and trembling, and every Word [or Syllable] is formed or framed from its Power or Virtue, and expresses whatsoever the Power or Virtue does or suffers. You [may] understand that the word [or syllable] C U, is [or signifies] the Rubbing or Unquietness of the Sting or Prickle, which makes that the Harshness is not at Peace, but

y heaves and rises up; for that Syllable [thrusts itself or] presses forth with the Virtue [or Breath] from the Heart, out of the Mouth. It is done thus also in the Virtue or Power of the Prima Materia [or first Matter] in the Spirit, but the syllable C U having so strong a Pressure from the Heart, and yet is so presently snatched up by the Syllable R I, and the whole Understanding [Sense or Meaning] is changed into it, this signifies and is the bitter prickly Wheel in the z generating, which vexes and whirls itself as swiftly as a Thought: The Syllable U S is [or signifies] the swift Fire-flash, that the Materia, or Matter, kindles in the fierce Whirling between the Harshness and the Bitterness in the swift wheel; where you may very plainly understand [or observe] in the Word, how the Harshness is terrified, and how the Power or Virtue in the Word sinks down, or falls back again upon the Heart, and becomes very feeble and thin: Yet the Sting or Prickle with the whirling Wheel, continues in the Flash, and goes forth through the Teeth out of the Mouth; where then the Spirit hisses like a Fire in its kindling, and returning back again strengthens itself in the Word.

u) Or Wood.

x) Or consider seriously, observe, or mark.

y) Or boils.

z) Or Geniture.

13. These four Forms are in the Originality of Nature, and from thence the Mobility exists, as also the Life in the Seed, and in all the Creatures, has its Original from thence; and there is no Comprehensibility in the Originality, but such a Virtue or Power and Spirit. For it is a poisonous or venomous, hostile or enemicitious a Thing: And it must be so, or else there would be no Mobility, but all [would be as] nothing, and the Source of Wrath or Anger is the first b Original of Nature.

14. Yet here I do not altogether [mean or] understand the Mercurius [Mercury or Quicksilver] which is the third Principle c of this created World, which the Apothecaries use, (although that has the same Virtue or Power, and is of the same Essence,) but I speak [of that] in the first Principle, viz. of the Originality of the Essence of all Essences, of God, and of the eternal unbeginning Nature, from whence the Nature of this World is generated. Although in the Originality of both of them there is no Separation; but only the outward and third Principle, the syderial and elementary Kingdom [Region or Dominion] is generated out of the first Principle by the Word and Spirit of God out of the eternal Father, out of the holy Heaven.

Greek translation in progress, any help?

ΒΛΈΠΟΝΤΑΣ πρόκειται τώρα να μιλήσουμε για το Θεό, τι είναι, και που είναι, πρέπει να πούμε, ότι ο Θεός ο ίδιος είναι η ουσία όλων των ουσιών, γιατί όλα παράγονται ή γεννιούνται, δημιουργούνται και εξελίσσονται από αυτόν, και όλα τα πράγματα εκκινούν,παίρνουν την πρώτη τους αρχή από το Θεό,όπως η Γραφή επιμαρτυρεί,λέγοντας, μέσω αυτού, και σε αυτόν όλα τα πράγματα υπάρχουν. Επίσης, ο Ουρανός και ο Ουρανός των Ουρανών δεν είναι ικανοί να τον περιέχουν: Επίσης, ο Ουρανός είναι ο θρόνος μου, και η Γη είναι το υποπόδιο μου: Και στον Πατέρα Μας αναφέρεται, δική σου είναι το βασίλειο και η δύναμη καταλάβετε όλη τη δύναμη.