Chapter 1. Of Man.

...gone forth out of the life of God (for Adam's children have inherited from the soul of their parents, as all are generated from a single tree); thus the life of God has reborn us anew in Christ, so that in the life of Christ we may again enter into the life of God.

And since it is now the case that our soul stands in the bond of the eternal original source German: uhrkundes. Böhme uses this term to describe the foundational, ungrounded source or "original record" of all being., infected with the spirit of this world, and captured by the wrath of the original source in the life of the eternal fire, as if in eternal nature. So we must, with our souls—each one for themselves—press into the life of Christ toward God in the new rebirth, in the life and spirit of Christ; and here no hypocrisy, false piety, or self-made works of merit help, for the poor soul cannot be counseled otherwise unless it enters into itself—as into a newly created will—with great, constant earnestness into the life of Christ. There it will be received with very great honors by God and His children in the second Principle: andern Principio. In Böhme's cosmology, the "second principle" represents the world of light and divine love, as opposed to the dark fire of the first principle. and it will be given the noble, precious treasure, namely the light of eternal life. This light illuminates the torment German: Quall. Böhme frequently uses this word as a pun, blending "Qual" (torment/agony) with "Quelle" (source/quality), suggesting that the very thing that causes suffering becomes the source of life when illuminated. of the soul's fire in the first Principle—wherein the soul stands substantially and eternally with its miseries German: Ellentien. An archaic term for distress or wretchedness.—and makes love out of anguish; it turns the rising and burning of the fire's "own right" Referring to the natural, harsh laws of the fiery soul-nature. into a humble, lovely laughter in gentle delight.

18. And the soul is thus in a delight in the Divine life, which I might perhaps compare to a lit candle, where the tallow of the candle burns and gives off a blissful glow, wherein there is no torment in the glow, but rather a