therefore the Time shall come that thou shalt call to me but I shall be married to another Who was thy Rival in the time when I would have consummated the Wedding with thee Be not entangled with one that will bring thy Soul to ruine and who is far inferiour to the Souls Nobility For there are an indefinite number of these gone out into the World to trapan Mankind Whereof there are variety of kinds but especially seven As sprung forth from the Mystical Mother of Harlots They Lust after the best richest greenest fairest strongest tallest wittiest soundest noblest and most durable Essences And they find too many humane Souls fit for their turn They perceive that the Souls of Men are Eternal and Excellent Fair Lovely and Lively Essences As being made after the Image and Similitude of the Divine Being Now every Created Being lusteth after something that is of a higher Nature than it self that in the Fruition thereof it self may be perfected §. 4. The Blind falling Headlong FOR every Creature groaneth and travelleth for its own Perfection But cannot attain it without the Assistance of some one above him Hence it is that this sevenfold Whorish Spirit is become an earnest Attractor and Enticer of the immortal Souls of Adam's off-spring And for to solemnize the Wedding-seast she furnishes her Table and presents Man with the delicate Dishes of Pleasure and false Joy viz. Counters for Gold But when she hath once got the Poor Soul within her Net and cropt off the Flower of the noble Affections of the Heart which the right Virgin should have had and so spoiled the Spirit of the Mind with a false Vizzard or Mark of Infection when Mans Body fall as a Leaf to the Grave and the Souls Wedding-day draws on and he is to be settled in one of the two Eternal States Then this false Whore crâ—eth Aha! Thou humane Soul thou art Eternal I am but Temporal and Mortal and thou dost partake of my Mortality Eternally to seek Death and yet never Die I had my Pleasure with thâ—e Go now into Eternity I indeed was only the cause of alluring of thee to Sin But how thou must answer for it thy self I am but for a time In the end I return to the Original Abyss of Nihility Now here ariseth a great Question seeing Mans fate is so dismâ—â— Whether hath his unlacky Soul sinned or his Parents that he is thus born Blind Answ No Soul is born stark Blind But if some one should be so born yet there is Veâ—tuâ— bestowed through the Merit of the perfect Sacrifice upon every Soul to open his blind Eyes if he do not wilfully neglect the means of washing them in the Pool to which he is sent But if he will not go where his Virgins great Champion and Physician doth seâ—d him then let him groap in his Blindness For there is no Man that hath Power over his Spirit and passionate Mind that loves a Harlot without the Assistance of the foresaid great Counsellour Prince of Peace in Mental Calmness Now these foresaid Whorish Jezebels have painted their Faces and adorned themselves with an Image of seeming Beauty like the Fruits of Sodom which when touched will fall into Ashes but no real Beauty They lay waâ— at the Head of every Humane Street Some are like Hartors that receive hire And some scorn hire like Marrons that commit Adultery and take Strangers to defile their Husbands Beds And are contrary to common Harlots in that they give Gifts to all Lovers that they may come to defile them §. 5. For Destruction of the Individuum FIrst the Thief or surveying Harlot that surveys the whole World comes and saith All this will I give thee if thou Marry me and be joyned to my Nature in the Bed of my Friendship under Ground There I will nourish thee and thou shalt have the Entrails of the Earth for thy Chest and Coffer But I do not promise thee to see Day-light for many a Year if ever But there like a Slave in the American Mines thou shalt see Gold and Silver enough and thou shalt sleep among the heaped Treasures But the Spirit of the Soul cryeth O this is not Happiness O who will release me out of this under-ground Prison If this were Felicity then my Purse would be better than my self A Horse is not esteemed by his Trappings nor a Man by his Rich Concubine The Womb of this Whore is a snare of Temptation Which catcheth in the Pit of Perdition She gapes like a Gulf for the Mind of Man And spreads like a Sea for his Soul She is beautified by the Hand of her Whorish Mother Who writes on her Face sweet Solace But O Son of Man Child of God legal Heir of the Kingdom of Heaven If thou hast Oxen do thou offer Oblations And if thou hast Sheep thou shalt Sacrifice to God And if thou hast Children thou shalt candidly Consecrate them With the Wife of thy Wedlock to the Lord That his Heavenly Blessings may be upon thee Which the World doth hold for a Curse And yet knows not the Curse on the earthly Blessings Nor how they are a Curse unto them Who strive for Content in much But when they have much are hungry Yea they thirst as the gaping Grave whose Womb consumes them that gape after her But if thou hast the Virgin be thou content For she will make thee to flourish as a fruitful Field Thy Gardens shall be garnished with Greens With the fashions and fragrancies of Flowers Having Hope thy Seed shall spring up And in Faith shalt thou fill thy Vessels If this Harlot cannot prevail then comes the Riotous Luxurious or Swinish Jezebel I see saith she thou art a quiet harmless Man Wilt thou therefore live in Joy Get thee Wine and strong Drink Drink until the Poyson thereof be enraged Quaff this noble Liquor in Bowls Strive to conquer thy Companions in the Valour of Bacchus's Souldiers Eat the Lambs out of the Flock and Calves out of the Stall And make thy Body as mine is a Sepulchre of Dead Carkasses Put far away the Evil Day Let not thy Conscience trouble thee nor Reproofs awaken thee So thou shalt be an easie-hearted Sot or Voluptuous Flog-like Epicure of whom much shall be made in the Swine-house until thou be fully fattened for the House of Slaughter Come therefore along with me to the Banquetting house And we will cast away Care and remove that Melancholick Fit with a cherupping Glass We will treat thee with variety of Dishes dressâ—d after a new Fashion with poinant Sawces We will rant it and make merry over the Witness of God in the Conscience For this Solace is better than Gold or Silver Spend it away prodigally upon thy Lusts and gratifie thy Luxurious Palate And we will anticipate Prayer in the Morning with the Incense of our burning Lusts as preferring Sacrifice before Devotion Oh but in the midst of my Mirth my Heart is sad saith the Souls
others Societies and Embraces as previous to their future Felicity the Soul oftentimes shews the inconstancy of Lovers and as a rolling Stone that gathers no Moss cuts of the increase of Love in the Bud and so playing fast and loose does and undoes gives the slip to the Virgin though she remains faithful and constant on her part For the Soul hankers after other Lovers and dissembling as the Proverb saith Holds with Hounds and runs with the Hare And thus hunting after other Lovers is never satisfied but Conceits there is more Pleasure hidden in other pretended Virgins of the Land after whom he gazeth and by whose forged Beauty he is smitten though they have no real Beauty their Faces being painted with Artificial â—olours to deceive and so the Soul imagines the Enjoyment of one of these is a Heaven of an higher Degree than the Virgins Paradise And so Heaven as the Atheist saith though falsly were not Heaven if its Mystery were known I say the Soul often nourisheth foolish Fancies in it self and because he finds the Virgin or Pleasant Vertue too easie to be attained according to the false Epicure Meus est amor huic similis Nam Transvolat in medio posita fugentia captat Therefore he aims at those who seem more rare and harder to be attained in his Judgment Dis-esteems her Gifts and undervalues her Graces But here his Judgment is blinded For he seeth no form or comeliness in the Virgin nor any thing in her that might make her worthy to be desired And becomes gradually infected with false Love He seeth and looketh upon another pretended Delilah or Maid far more fair then God's Daughter and endued in his Opinion with rarer and nober Qualities Thus the higher the Souls attainments and enjoyments of the pure Virgin hath been the more basely he becomes degenerated For as dead Flyes cause the most precious Ointment of the Apothecary to cast forth a most nauseous smell So doth a little Folly him that was in a high Degree of Reputation for Wisdom and honourable Enjoyment of God's Virgin-Child §. 2. The Baits of Sin A Wise Mans Heart is at his Right Hand toward Heaven but a Fools Heart is at his Left whose Rumb is Hed-wards Yea also when he that is a Fool walketh in this way his Wisdom which he once had faileth him and he saith to every one he is a Fool for adds he I am deepty in Love with such and such a Delilah But O thou immortal Man wake not a sleeping Lioness let the Hellish Properties rest still O Son of Man look before thou leapest For the Abâ—s is deep which is the Womb of the false Whoâ—e Keep thou the Covenant and live for ever and the Law of Wisdom as the Apple of thine Eye which suffers not thee to be bewitched by gazing after Vanity Bind her Vows upon thy Fingers and write them upon the Tables of thine Heart say unto fair Wisdom Thou art my Sister and my Spouse And call pleasant Vertue thy near Kinâ—â—â—oman That she may keep thee from the Whore and the Stranger Who is not Kin to thee in the Divine Linage even from her that can flatter with her Serpents Tongue She is the Serpents Daughter An â—vil Crow an evil Egg. For at the Windows of my House I looked through the Casement of the Creation And I behold among the humane Fools there was a young Soul void of Wisdom passing through the Street near the Angle where two ways lead to the Eternal Life and Death he went on the Left Hand the way to the Whores House In the Twilight in the Evening When the black and dark Night at last covered him and thus he began to be blinded And there met him a Woman in the attire of an Harlot suâ—tiller than this Fool She is a Stranger at home but overmuch acquainted in the Streets of Deceit Her loud Words are heard in the broad-ways She never wears her Eyes but when she goes abroad Now she is without now she is in the Street and lies in wait in every turning So she is a Saint abroad and a Devil at home She caught him invergled him and bâ—ssed him and impudently spake to him I have Peace-offerings with me to appease the Justice of God and to stifle the secret Convictions of thy Conscience This day have I paid my Vows and have vowed to love Thee Therefore came I forth to meet thee and have found thee unexpected I have decked my Bed with coverings of Tapestry With carved Works according to thy enlarged Phancy and with fine Linnen of seeming Innocency I have persumed my Nest with Myrrh Aloes and Cinnamon Come and let us take our fill of Love until the Morning dawn upon us if ever Let us selace our selves with Pleasures until the Eternal Aurora appears though perhaps never For the Man of the Family is not at home The Spirit of this World my Husband is gone a long Journey This Husband she hath married only as a Cloak for her filthy Lust He hath taken a Bag of Treasures with him to wait upon the Creator his Master whose Embassadour he is and wilâ— come home at the day appointed With her much fair Speech she caused him to yield with the flattering of her Lips she forced him He goes after Her straightway as an Ox to the slanghter or a Feel to the Correction of the Stocks Till a Dart strike through his Heart as a Bird that is caught in the snare and is taken in an evil Net not knowing that it is for his Eternal Life §. 3. Seven-fold Vice BUT O Son of Man consider let not thy Heart be taken with her incline not towards her Paths For she hath cast down many wounded Yea many Valiant Heroes who came from Heaven have been slain by her Her House is a Cave leading to Hell going down to the dark Chambers of Eternal Death And as this Pestilent Whore bawleth in every Corner to watch and inveigle Souls So also the fair Virgin cryeth in the Gates of every Humane City Though with a far different Voice for her Voice is a still small Voice and yet it is heard in quiet by the Wise more than the cry of him that ruleth among Fools She hath erected a House in Heaven to entertain her Bridegroom she hath hewen out seven Pillars whereon are engraven the seven Rewards of Vertue or the Goods of Fortune She hath sent forth Maidens the five senses Virgins to invite Souls She cryeth upon the high Places of Mans City Yet being despised she for the Souls sake invites him Whoso is simple let him come in hither how long O scorner wilt thou scorn me who wish thee well O Fool how long wilt thou hate that which is for thy good Because I have called and thou wouldst not answer though thou didst hear my Voice in thy Conscience Because I have piped to thee and thou wouldst not Dance And I mourned for thee and thou hast not sympathized
now I repent from the bottom of my heart O be favourable to me and shew me some kindness remit that rigour which thou threatnest me with now at my last gasp where with I will pray Heaven to requite thee Keep thy thanks to feed thy hellish Brood saith the pure Mind This is but to gain the time because thou seest the thing I longed for is gone from me Thouhast prepared lying and corrupt Words to speak beforeme till the time be changed therefore there is but one Decree Either procure to me my dear Virgin and wash thy Blackmore's Skin white or thou shalt be utterly destroyed and thy House shall be made a Dunghil §. 10. The Soul 's Hellish Blasphemy BUt saith the Soul O be not so cruel and rigid She is unattainable she is taken into thy Rivals Favour It is impossible to substract a greater number from a lesser that I cannot do Only remit the penalty of this severe Law Nay saith the Noble Mind I must proclaim an Eternal War against thee For as thou hadst not Power over the false Spirit to retain the Spirit of thy Affections so neither hast thou power in the day of Eternal Death neither hath any one the Power to retain the Virgin when she is gone into her place and quite rejected And therefore I say There is no discharge in this War no redeeming of thee from the Fury of the bloody Souldiers and avenging Officers who will now cast thee into Prison Neither shall wickedness deliver them that have been all their time given to it Therefore O humane Soul think not that thou shalt escape and that the Spirit of the humane Soul shall die for the rest of the humane Commonwealth and come under the Lash for the loss of his dear Virgin for tho' thou shouldst give all the Substance of thine House and all that thou art worth to be reconciled to her it cannot be when the day of Grace is sinned out and that this Divine Essence shall suffer for thee No no this Divine Essence shall remain as an Image in a Looking-glass and thou shalt endure the Pain as being condemned by this said Essence who will arise again out of the Grave which thou hast digged for him and condemn thee as being thy Eternal Judge And here is seen what part suffers for where the sore is there will be the Hand And here begins the great and Hellish Blasphemy of a Soul in the real Tophet the Soul will gnaw his Tongue for pain and vexation and Revenge against the Spirit of the Soul as if he were in sault whereas himself was the cause of Bringing this tormenting Wo upon himself And now the dumb guilty Soul may be long at the Gate of the deaf Spirit who will not hear his Cries because he himself was lately as the deaf Adder who would nor hearken to the Charms of the Spirit charming never so wisely And struck his Conscience oft-times as dumb as a Sheep before the Shearer Yea the Soul will rave and rage as if he would tear the Deity it self in pieces And when a poysoned Arrow does light upon his Flesh he knowing not whence it comes he will receive the Blood into his hands flushing out and throw it up to the Abyss crying out O Almighty Power thou hast conquered me and so blaspheming dies the Eternal Death CHAP. IX The Souls Rest §. 1. Where is this Rest IF the Soul do but attain the End of his Journey which was appointed as the true final Cause of his Travail and Labour by the Creator then he becomes happy and not before The Sleep and Rest of the Labouring Soul is sweet whether he sleep little or much but the bundame of the covetous Rich and conceited Soul who conceits he needeth nothing as being not beholden to God will not suffer him to sleep and to take a quiet Nap of sweet Repose But where is this Rest to be found There 's the Question The Elements say It is not in us The Depth saith It is not in me Hell and Death say We have heard the Faâ—e thereof with our Ears There is a Path which the sâ—â—tillest Fowl knows not and which the quick sighted Vultures Eye hath not seen Nay let Man search and grope into every Corner and Cranny of the whole Creation yet he shall never find Rest for his Soul until he come and return to Virgin Vertue Gods fair Daughter his appointed and predestinated Spouse As the Stars and Astral Powers bear sway over Mortals so also the Minds of Men have a reflexive Influence upon the Starry Natures For Evil Minds by Sympathy or Simile attract the Evil Influences which infect the Air and so alight upon the first Authors Even as a Not oft-time generateâ—h within it self that which destroyeth it namely the Worm of an evil Influence In like manner also vertuous and holy Souls attract the good Influences of the Astral Properties by Sympathy Now who knoweth the Spirit of a Man that goeth upwards to his own natural Heaven and attracts the good and sweet Influences thereof For God with a lofty Mind did Man indue And bid him Heavens transcendent Glory view As being his Natural Scope and right Home But if any humane Soul approve not of this Form choosing a prone or downward Look and to be leaded with the guilt of an evil or guilty Conscience he shall sink down into the Abyss §. 2. Not God's Fault if missed THo' God commands the Soul to choose Life and Eternal Joy and let every Bird delight in his own Note which th Creator hath inspired into him to praise the Inspirer yet most Men choose Death and let them thank themselves But now Heaven is the appointed Home of Mans Soul And if the Soul miss to find his home there 's his Hell and there 's the Inverting of the Mind of God or frustrating of the Intent of the Almighty which makes the Wo and the Hell But some may say Hell was also appointed to some Men as Heaven was predestinated to others Answ Yes Hell was conditionally appointed to Adam and all his Posterity upon their slighting of Heaven But Heaven was Mans native Place or Home And thither he must return if the Causes of Man co-work and suit together in their genuine coherence And to say that Hell was the sinal Cause of some Mens Creation is absolute Blasphemy But as the younger Brother said in the Epigram Sum pauper non culpa mea c. It was not my Fault that I am poor but the Fault of my Parents who have not begotten me before my Elder Brother who had the Inheritance This is the case of the Fool that lays the Fault upon the Almighty Father of Mankind As it was affirmed by the old Heathen Polytheists that one Idol-God or Power could not undo what another did So it is true in this sense That whatsoever is made Crooked by the hellish Power can never be made Straight again no not by the Power