When you are art gone forth wholly from the creature [human], and have become nothing to all that is nature and creature, then you are in that eternal one, which is God himself, and then you will perceive and feel the highest virtue of love. Also, that I said whoever findes it finds nothing and all things; that is also true, for he finds a supernatural, supersensual Abyss, having no ground, where there is no place to live in; and he finds also nothing that is like it, and therefore it may be compared to nothing, for it is deeper than anything, and is as nothing to all things, for it is not comprehensible; and because it is nothing, it is free from all things, and it is that only Good, which a man cannot express or utter what it is. But that I lastly said, he that finds it, finds all things, is also true; it has been the beginning of all things, and it rules all things. If you find it, you come into that ground from whence all things proceed, and wherein they subsist, and you are in it a king over all the works of God.
Böhme, Jakob. The Way to Christ. 1623.
DEAR Reader,
If thou wilt use these Words aright, and art in good Earnest, thou shalt certainly find the Benefit thereof. But I desire thou mayest be warned, if thou art not in Earnest, not to meddle with the dear Names of God, in and by which the most High Holiness is invoked, moved, and powerfully desired, lest they kindle the Anger of God in thy Soul. For we must not abuse the Holy Names of God. This little Book is only for those that would fain repent, and are in a Desire to begin. Such will find what Manner of Words therein, and whence they are born. Be you herewith commended to the Eternal Goodness and Mercy of God.
Böhme, Jakob. The Way to Christ. 1623.
He must consider the Course of this World, that all Things in it are but a Play, wherewith he spends his Time in such Unquietness; and that it goes with the Rich and Mighty as with the Poor and the Beggar.
Böhme, Jakob. The Way to Christ. 1623.
Unto such a one, I say, I will write a Process or Way, which I myself have gone, that he may know what he must do, and how it went with me, if peradventure he be inclined to enter into and pursue the same; and then he will come to understand what he shall find here afterwards written.
Böhme, Jakob. The Way to Christ. 1623.
He must also wholly and firmly imagine to himself, and set before him, the great Love of God. That God willeth not the Death of a Sinner, but that he repent and believe; that Christ calleth poor Sinners very kindly and graciously to himself, and will refresh them; that God hath sent his Son into the World, to seek and save that which is lost, viz. the poor repentant and returning Sinner; and that for the poor Sinner's Sake he hath given his Life unto Death, and died for him in our Humanity which he took upon him.
Böhme, Jakob. The Way to Christ. 1623.
He must, with the Eyes of his Mind cast down in Fear and deepest Humility, begin to confess his Sins and Unworthiness before the Face of God [...]
Böhme, Jakob. The Way to Christ. 1623.
O THOU great unsearchable GOD, LORD of all Things; thou, who in Christ Jesus, of great Love towards us, hath manifested thyself with thy holy Substance in our Humanity: I, poor unworthy sinful Wretch, come before thy Presence, which thou hast manifested in the Humanity of Jesus Christ, though I am not worthy to lift up mine Eyes to thee, acknowledging and confessing before thee, that I am guilty of Unfaithfulness, and breaking off from thy great Love and Grace, which thou hast freely bestowed upon us.
Böhme, Jakob. The Way to Christ. 1623.
O thou great Fountain of the Love of God, I beseech thee, help me, that I may die from my Vanity and Sin in the Death of my Redeemer, Jesus Christ.
Böhme, Jakob. The Way to Christ. 1623.
If ever he will obtain the Love and Marriage of the noble Sophia, he must make such a Vow as this in his Purpose and Mind. For Christ himself saith, He that forsaketh not Wife and Children, Brethren and Sisters, Money and Goods, and all that he hath, and even his earthly Life also, to follow me, is not worthy of me.
Böhme, Jakob. The Way to Christ. 1623.
O thou great Love of Jesus Christ, I can do no more than sink my Desire into thee; thy Word which became Man, is Truth; since thou hast bidden me come, now I come. Be it unto me according to thy Word and Will. Amen.
Böhme, Jakob. The Way to Christ. 1623.
BELOVED Reader, out of Love to thee, I will not conceal from thee what is here earnestly signified to me. If thou lovest the Vanity of the Flesh still, and art not in an earnest Purpose on the Way to the new Birth or Regeneration, intending to become a new Man, then leave the above-written Words un-named; else they will turn to a Judgement of God in thee. Thou must not take the holy Names in vain, thou art faithfully warned: They belong to the thirsty Soul. But if thy Soul be in earnest, it shall find by Experience what Words they are.
Böhme, Jakob. The Way to Christ. 1623.
O Great Love! in the Blood and Death of Jesus Christ, I beseech thee, break the strong Fort of Prey which the Devil hath made and built up in me, where he resisteth me in the Way of thy Grace. Drive him out of me, that he may not overcome me; for no one living can stand in thy Sight, if thou withdraw thy Hand from him.
Böhme, Jakob. The Way to Christ. 1623.
O great Love! Awaken my disappeared Image in me, which, as to the Kingdom of Heaven disappeared in my Father Adam. By that Word, which awakened the same Image in the Seed of the Woman in Mary; quicken it, I beseech thee.
Böhme, Jakob. The Way to Christ. 1623.
O my Noble Vine, I beseech thee give Sap to me thy Branch; that I may bud and grow in thy Strength and Sap, in thy Essence; beget in me true Strength by thy Strength.
Böhme, Jakob. The Way to Christ. 1623.
BELOVED Reader, count not this an uncertain Fiction; it is the true Ground, Sum and Substance of all the Holy Scriptures. For the Book of the Life of Jesus Christ is plainly set forth therein, as the Author of a Certainty knoweth; it being the Way that he himself hath gone. He giveth thee the best Jewel that he hath. God grant his Blessing with it. A heavy Sentence and Judgement are gone forth against the Mocker of this. Be thou therefore warned, that thou mayest avoid the Danger, and obtain the Benefit.
Böhme, Jakob. The Way to Christ. 1623.
WE have a clear Example in Lucifer, and also in Adam the first Man, of what Self doth, when it getteth the Light of Nature to be its own, and may walk with the Understanding in its own Dominion. We see also in Men learned in Arts and Sciences, that when they get the Light of this outward World or Nature into the Possession of their Reason, nothing cometh of it but Pride of themselves. And yet all the World so vehemently desireth and seeketh after this Light as the best Treasure; and indeed it is the best Treasure this World affordeth, if it be rightly used.
Böhme, Jakob. The Way to Christ. 1623.
But while Self, viz. Reason, is captivated and fast bound in a close and strong Prison, that is to say, in the Anger of God, and in Earthliness, it is very dangerous for a Man to make Use of the Light of Knowledge in Self, as if it were in the Possession of Self.
Böhme, Jakob. The Way to Christ. 1623.
Adam in like Manner, was immediately caught by the earthly Mother, which is Evil and Good, created out of the Anger and Love of God, and compacted into one Substance. Whereupon the earthly Property instantly got the Dominion in Adam, and from thence Heat and Cold, Envy and Anger, and all Malice and Contrariety to God became manifest, and bore Rule in him.
Böhme, Jakob. The Way to Christ. 1623.
But if they had not brought the Light of Knowledge into Self, then the Glass of the Knowledge of the Centre and of the Original of the Creature, viz. of the Power which it had in itself had not been manifested, from whence the Imagination and Lust did arise.
Böhme, Jakob. The Way to Christ. 1623.
From this Understanding of Reason false Babel is brought forth in the Christian Church on Earth, wherein Men rule and teach by the Conclusions of Reason, and have set the Child which is drunk in its own Pride and Self-Desire, as a fair Virgin upon the Throne.
Böhme, Jakob. The Way to Christ. 1623.
And thus it is with all those who have been once enlightened by God, and afterwards go forth again from true Resignation, and wean themselves from the pure Milk of their Mother, viz. true Humility.
Böhme, Jakob. The Way to Christ. 1623.
Yes, it is very right; nothing can be more profitable to a Man, neither is he capable of any Thing better; nay, it is a Treasure above all earthly Treasures for a Man to have the Light of God and of Time, for it is the Eye of Time and of Eternity.
Böhme, Jakob. The Way to Christ. 1623.
And thus its own Desire pierceth into that nothing, viz.(into that wherein God createth) and doth what God wills therein, and the Spirit of God springeth forth through the Desire of the resigned Humility, and so the human Self immediately followeth the Spirit of God in Trembling and humble Joy; and thus it may behold what is in Time and Eternity, for All is present before it.
Böhme, Jakob. The Way to Christ. 1623.
All Speculation in the Wonders of God is very dangerous, for the Spirit of the Will may soon be captivated therewith, unless the Spirit of the Will goeth or walketh after the Spirit of God, and then it hath Power in the resigned Humility to behold the Wonders of God.
Böhme, Jakob. The Way to Christ. 1623.
But Self doeth what outward Reason from the Stars commandeth, into which Reason the Devil flyeth with his Desire. All whatever Self doth is without the Will of God, and is done altogether in the Phantasy, that the Anger of God may accomplish its Pastime therewith.
Böhme, Jakob. The Way to Christ. 1623.
But if a Man turn and go forth from himself, and enter into the Will of God, then also that Good which hath been wrought in and by him, shall be freed from the Evil which he hath wrought. As Isaiah saith, Though your Sins be as red as Scarlet, yet if ye turn and repent, they shall become as Wool, yea, as white as Snow. For the Evil shall be swallowed up in the Wrath of God into Death, and the Good shall spring forth as a Sprout out of the wild Earth.
Böhme, Jakob. The Way to Christ. 1623.
All evil Works, done purposely, belong to the Judgement of God. But he that turneth from the Will, goeth out from the Power of them, and those his Works belong to the Fire. All Things shall and must be made manifest in the End. For therefore God brought his working Power into Essence or Substance, that his Love and Anger might be made manifest, and become a Representation of his Deeds of Wonder, to his Glory.
Böhme, Jakob. The Way to Christ. 1623.
Man was created of, for, and in Paradise; of, for and in the Love of God; but if he brings himself into Anger, which is as a poisonous Pain and Death, then that contrary Paradisical Life of Love is a Pain and Torment to him.
Böhme, Jakob. The Way to Christ. 1623.
Not in the Kingdom of the Sun, Stars, and Elements; he is no Lord or Prince there, but in the wrathful Part, viz. in the Root of the Evil of every Thing; and yet he hath not Power to do what he pleaseth with that.
Böhme, Jakob. The Way to Christ. 1623.
Thus the Creature stirreth up with its own Desire, Good and Evil, Life and Death. The human Angelical Desire standeth in the Centre of the eternal Nature which is without Beginning; and wherever it kindleth itself, whether in Good or Evil, it accomplisheth its Work in that.
Böhme, Jakob. The Way to Christ. 1623.
Now when Sin is wrought in the Flesh, then the Wrath sporteth itself therewith, and catcheth at the resigned Will; and then the resigned Will cryeth to God for Deliverance from the Evil, and prayeth that God would remove the Guilt away from it, and bring Sin into the Centre, viz. into Death, that it might die.
Böhme, Jakob. The Way to Christ. 1623.
And St. Paul saith further, Now, there is no Condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who are called according to the Purpose of God; that is, those who in that Purpose of God in which he first called Man, are again called in the same Calling, to stand again in that Purpose of God, wherein he originally created Man to be his Image and Likeness.
Böhme, Jakob. The Way to Christ. 1623.
God hardeneth no Man; but Man's own Will, which goeth on in the fleshly Life of Sin, hardeneth his own Heart. The Will of Self bringeth the Vanity of this World into the Mind, which is thereby shut up, and continueth so.
Böhme, Jakob. The Way to Christ. 1623.
God, so far as he is called God, and is God, cannot will any Evil; for there is but one only Will in God, and that is Eternal Love, a Desire of that which is his Like, viz. Power, Beauty, and Virtue.
Böhme, Jakob. The Way to Christ. 1623.
God desireth nothing but what is like his own Desire: his Desire receiveth nothing but what itself is.
Böhme, Jakob. The Way to Christ. 1623.
The Will of Sin must die, though it be never so unwilling. Be at Enmity therefore with the voluptuous earthly Flesh; give it not what it would have; let it fast and suffer Hunger till its tickling ceases. Account the Will of the Flesh thine Enemy, and do not do what the Desire in the Flesh willeth, and then thou shalt bring a Death upon the deathful Property in the Flesh.
Böhme, Jakob. The Way to Christ. 1623.
Now before this can be done, the Will of the Soul must die in the Death of Christ; for in Adam it received the Son of the Bond-Woman, viz. Sin into it. This the Will must cast out, and the poor captive Soul must wrap itself up in the Death of Christ earnestly with all the Power it hath, so that the Son of the Bond-Woman, viz. the Sin that is in it may die in the Death of Christ.
Böhme, Jakob. The Way to Christ. 1623.
Hypocrisy, Flattery, and verbal Forgiveness, avail nothing. We must be Children, not by outward Imputation, but by being born of God from within, in the new Man, which is resigned in and to God.
Böhme, Jakob. The Way to Christ. 1623.
All such Flattery of ourselves by saying, Christ hath paid the Ransom, and made satisfaction for Sin, and that he died for our Sins, if we also do not die from Sin in him, and put on his Merit in new Obedience, and live therein, is a false and vain Comfort.
Böhme, Jakob. The Way to Christ. 1623.
But perhaps thou wilt say, I have a Will indeed to do so; I would willingly do it, but I am so hindered that I cannot.
Böhme, Jakob. The Way to Christ. 1623.
If we would inherit the Filiation, we must also put on the new Man which alone can inherit it, as being like the Deity. God will have no Sinners in Heaven, but only such as are born a-new and become Children, and to have put on Heaven.
Böhme, Jakob. The Way to Christ. 1623.
Beloved Brethren, this is a Time of seeking, of seeking and finding. It is a Time of Earnestness; whom it toucheth, it toucheth home. He that watcheth shall hear and see it; but he that sleepeth in Sin, and saith in the fat Days of his Belly, All is peace and quiet; we hear no Sound from the Lord, shall be blind. But the Voice of the Lord hath sounded in all the Ends of the Earth, and a Smoke riseth, and in the Midst of the Smoke there is a great Brightness and Splendor. Hallelujah. Amen.
Böhme, Jakob. The Way to Christ. 1623.
WHEN we consider the beginning of our
life, and compare the same with the
eternal life, which we have in the promise, we cannot
say nor find that we are at home in this life. For
we see the beginning and the end of the outward life,
as also the total decay and final corruption of our
bodies; and besides, we see or know of no returning
into this [outward] life, neither have we any
promise of it from the high and eternal Good.
Böhme, Jakob. The Threefold Life of Man. 1620.
For you must here understand another new
birth in the soul: For it must not only press forth
out of the life of the stars and elements, but also
out of its own source [or property] of life, and
incline its will into the life of God, endeavouring to
be therein : this [inclined or] created will is received
of God, and God dwelleth in that will ...
Böhme, Jakob. The Threefold Life of Man. 1620.
Therefore now we should speak of the forms
of the sour [or astringent] dark nature. For we
understand that the darkness hath a longing after
the light, which eternally standeth before it, but
in another Principle.
Böhme, Jakob. The Threefold Life of Man. 1620.
Consider here, my beloved mind, whence
light and darkness come, also joy and heaviness,
love and hate; as also the kingdom of heaven and
the kingdom of hell, good and evil, life, and the
shutting up in death.
Böhme, Jakob. The Threefold Life of Man. 1620.
It is mere pride that forbiddeth you to
search or seek, that you should not find, and
that (the pride) with her crowned [or cornered]
cap may domineer (like a proud woman) over the
wonders of God; for so the devil would have it,
that he might not be known: they are more
blind than the simple laity.
Böhme, Jakob. The Threefold Life of Man. 1620.
Seeing then that the will of the Father in
the eternity is the first, therefore also he is the first
person in the ternary [trinity], viz. the centre itself. So
now the will or the centre is to desire to generate
the Word or Heart: for it is nothing else, and it
can be called nothing else, but the desiring in the
will.
Böhme, Jakob. The Threefold Life of Man. 1620.
Seeing then that the Raver maketh such a
stinging bitter wheel (in the sharp cold) therefore
the centre is so terrible, like a great anguish, where
the life is continually broken [or destroyed], and
by the essences is also built [again] in such a
manner, and is like to life and death.
Böhme, Jakob. The Threefold Life of Man. 1620.
As is mentioned concerning the Sulphur,
the centre is and may very well be called PHUR:
but if the light be generated, the light that shineth
out of the PHUR is called SUL, for it is the soul
thereof. And as I say of the dark centre, wherein
the divine light is generated, the same I say also of
nature : though indeed they are one : but we must
so speak, that we might bring it into the thoughts
of the Reader, that he might incline his mind to
the light, and so attain it.
Böhme, Jakob. The Threefold Life of Man. 1620.
For the two forms, viz. sharp cold, and bitter
stinging, which are generated by the longing in
eternal will, they hold the centre, and make the
wheel of the essences, whence the senses [Or thoughts], as also
perception and mobility continually arise eternally.
Böhme, Jakob. The Threefold Life of Man. 1620.
And therefore as soon as the devils went
away from the light of God, and would domineer
in the might of the fire, over the meekness of the
Heart of God, they were immediately, in the same
hour and moment, in the abyss of hell, and were
held by it: for there was no peculiar source [or
place of torment] made for them: but they
remained without God, in the four forms of the
eternal nature.
Böhme, Jakob. The Threefold Life of Man. 1620.