Symbolism # 2
Jakob Bรถhme
(1575 November 17, 1624) was a German Christian mystic
The Way to Christ: For he that will say, I have a Will, and would willingly do Good, but the earthly Flesh which I carry about me, keepeth me back, so that I cannot; yet I shall be saved by Grace, for the Merits of Christ. I comfort myself with his Merit and Sufferings; who will receive me of mere Grace, without any Merits of my own, and forgive me my Sins. Such a one, I say, is like a Man that knoweth what Food is good for his Health, yet will not eat of it, but eateth Poison instead thereof, from whence Sickness and Death, will certainly follow
Bรถhme's cosmogony or the Philosophical Sphere or the Wonder Eye of Eternity (1620).
Bรถhme had a number of mystical experiences throughout his youth, culminating in a vision in 1600 as one day he focused his attention onto the exquisite beauty of a beam of sunlight reflected in a pewter dish. He believed this vision revealed to him the spiritual structure of the world, as well as the relationship between God and man, and good and evil. At the time he chose not to speak of this experience openly, preferring instead to continue his work and raise a family.
Jacob Bรถhme - Theosophia Revelata (detail), 1730
Jacob Bรถhme from his Theosophische Wercke, Amsterdam, 1682.
On the Suffering and Death of Jesus Christ (detail), “Theosophia Revelata”, 1730.
Theosophische Schriften. 5 Tle. in 2 Bdn. 1682
The True Principles of All Things JACOB BĂ–HME The works of Jacob Behmen. 4 Bde. 1764-1781