IL SAID

How wilt thou see and speculate into them, when thou canst not know
their essence and property? Thou wilt look upon their outside only, as
upon a graven image, and canst not know them thoroughly.

THE SOUL SAID

How may I come to know their essence and property?

THE DEVIL SAID

Thine eyes would be opened to see them thoroughly, if thou didst but eat
of _that_, from whence the Creatures themselves are come to be _good_
and _evil_. Thou wouldst then be as God himself is, and know what the
Creature is.

THE SOUL SAID

I am now a noble and holy Creature: but if I should do so, the Creator
hath said that I should die.

THE DEVIL SAID

No, thou shouldst not die at all; but thy eyes would be opened, and thou
wouldst be as God himself, and be Master of Good and Evil. Also, thou
wouldst be mighty, powerful and very great, as I am; all the subtlety
that is in the Creatures would be made known to thee.

THE SOUL SAID

If I had the knowledge of Nature and of the Creatures, I would then rule
the whole World as I listed.

THE DEVIL SAID

The whole ground of their knowledge lieth in thee. Do but turn thy Will
and Desire from God or Goodness into Nature and the Creatures, and then
there will arise in thee a lust to taste; and so thou mayest eat of the
Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and by that means come to know all
things.

THE SOUL SAID

Well then, I will eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, that I
may rule all things by my own power, and be of myself a Lord on Earth,
and do what I will, even as God himself doth.

THE DEVIL SAID

I am the Prince of this World; and if thou wouldst rule on earth thou
must turn thy lust towards my Image, and desire to be like me, that thou
mayst get the cunning, wit, reason, and subtlety that my Image hath.

Thus did the Devil present to the Soul the Power that is in the fiery
root of the Creature, that is the fiery Wheel of Essence in the form of
a Serpent. Upon which,

THE SOUL SAID

Behold this is the Power which can do all things. What must I do to get
it?

THE DEVIL SAID

If thou dost break thy Will off from God, and bring it into this power
and skill, then thy hidden Ground will be manifested in thee, and thou
mayest work in the same manner. But thou must eat of that Fruit, wherein
each of the four elements in itself ruleth over the other, and is in
strife. And then thou wilt be instantly as the fiery Wheel is, and so
bring all things into