_A Treatise of the Incarnation of the Son of God_ comes next, and then we
have three smaller works written to clear up and to establish several
difficult and disputed matters in it and in some of his former works. To
write on the Incarnation of the Son of GOD would need, says Behmen, an
angel's pen; but his defence is that his is better than any angel's pen,
because it is the pen of a sinner's love. The year 1621 saw one of
Behmen's most original and most powerful books finished,--the _Signatura
Rerum_. In this remarkable book Behmen teaches us that all things have
two worlds in which they live,--an inward world and an outward. All
created things have an inner and an invisible essence, and an outer and a
visible form. And the outward form is always more or less the key to the
inward character. This whole world that we see around us, and of which
we ourselves are the soul,--it is all a symbol, a 'signature,' of an
invisible world. This deep principle runs through the whole of
creation. The Creator went upon this principle in all His work; and the
thoughtful mind can see that principle coming out in all His work,--in
plants, and trees, and beasts.
As German Boehme never cared for plants
Until it happed, a-walking in the fields,
He noticed all at once that plants could speak,
Nay, turned with loosened tongue to talk with him.
That day the daisy had an eye indeed--
Colloquized with the cowslips on such themes!
We find them extant yet in Jacob's prose.
But, best of all, this principle comes out clearest in the speech,
behaviour, features, and face of a man. Every day men are signing
themselves from within. Every act they perform, every word they speak,
every wish they entertain,--it all comes out and is fixed for ever in
their character, and even in their appearance. 'Therefore,' says Behmen
in the beginning of his book, 'the greatest understanding lies in the
signature. For by the external form of all creatures; by their voice and
action, as well as by their instigation, inclination, and desire, their
hidden spirit is made known. For Nature has given to everything its own
language according to its innermost essence. And this is the language of
Nature, in which everything continually speaks, manifests, and declares
itself for what it is,--so much so, that all that is spoken or written
even about GOD, however true, if the writer or speaker has not the Divine
Nature within himself, then all he says is dumb to me; he has not got the
hammer in his hand that can strike my bell.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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