the Wise and their Works are in the hand of God and weighed in the Ballance of Equity No Man knoweth either Love or Hatred Joy or Sorrow and how it will be in the other World by all that is before him in this World All things come alike to all There is one Event to the Righteous and to the Wicked God maketh the Sun and Rain to come upon the Just and Unjust His Divine Sun enlightens every one that comes into this World both the Clean and the Vnclean Him that sacrificeth his Lusts and him that sacrificeth not Him that sweareth to Gods Covenant and him that fears the Oath of Divine Allegiance and him that forswearâ—s it This seems an evil among all things that are done under the Sun that there is one Event unto all Yea also the Heart of the Sons of Men is full of Evil and Madness is in their Heart while they live and after that they go to the Dead For to him that is joyned to all the Living in the holy World there is hope in this Life-time for a living Dog which may be cultivated by degrees is better than a dead Lion And the Living know that they shall dye the Eternal Death if they cut themselves off from the Root But the Dead who die the second death know not anything at all but only pain neither have they any more a reward from God for the memory of them when the Days of Mourning shall be past is for ever forgotten Also their Love and their Hatred and their Envy is so perished that it can never hurt any of the Celestial Incolists Neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the Sun of their Eternity in the dark Center of their Abyss §. 10. All alike Relieved by a Poor Wise Man SO I returned and saw under the clear Sun of Divine Light that the Race is not always to the Swift nor the Battel to the Strong nor yet Bread to the Skilful Tiller of the harsh Earth nor yet Favour to Men of Skill But Time and Chance happeneth to them all and a wise Man discerneth both Time and Judgment But a wise Man also knows not his time As the Fishes that are taken in an evil Net and as the Birds that are caught in the Snare so are the Sons of Men snared in an evil time or Unlucky Hour of the Enemies temptation when it falleth suddenly upon them and that for want of Divine Skill and Wisdom with which whoever is endued he cannot be cheated This wisdom also have I seen under the Sun and it seemed great unto me There was a little Microcosmick City and few skilful Soldiers within it And there came a great King against it and by Authority from Luciscer besieged it and built great Bulwarks against it Now there was found in it a poor contemptible wise Man and he by his Wisdom delivered the City by giving his Life for the Inhabitants Yet no Man remembred that same poor servile Man Then said I Wisdom is better than strength nevertheless the poor Mans Wisdom is despised and his words are not heard The Words of the Wise are heard in quiet as a still pure Voice more than the cry of a King that ruleth among Fools and his losty loud words in the streets of Confusion Wisdom is better than Weapons of War But one sin ful Affection destroyeth much Good and by its jarring spoils the still Harmony in the Humane Harp even as one scabbed Sheep infects the whole Flock CHAP. II. The Souls Longing § 1. Crying Give Give VAnity of Vanities faith the Soul's Spirit All extern Objects are a vexation of my Spirit Now O Man saith the Eternal Preacher of the holy Gospel Knowest thou what thy Soul and what the Spirit of thy Soul is The Soul is a dry Hunger It is a longing Anguish It is a Fire without Fewel Lay thy hand upon thy Brest and feel thy own Root the Heart and then tell me dost thou feel no panting there No Breathing or Longing there No Hungring nor Thirsting there Art thou sensible of no Labour and Travail there No restless and incessant Crying there Crying Give give O give me that which I labour for O give me that which I seek after Even as every thing would fain live so would I Thou wilt say That 's the throboing and motion of the Heart and Pulses proceeding from the Vital Spirit Tho' that be true yet Life and Sense in Man are rooted in the Abyss of the Source of Eternal Joy and Delightful Affection of a thing Loved And that is the Soul who cries in the Gate of Mans Pallace Give me some Food true Food for me § 2. Seven-fold Craving O Saith the Spirit of the Soul Pity me my dear Soul O pity a poor Prisoner Bring me out of this Dungeon of Confinement enlarge my Habitation that I may find my late home again and solace my hankering eager Mind with my own dear Family and Relations Oh have pity upon a poor Beggar Give me a little Food to satisfie a hungry craving Soul O give me a little Water out of the Living Fountain to quench the great thirst and furious fire of my Passion O have compassion upon a poor Pilgrim shew me the way to a quiet lodge of Repose I want the shadow of a great Rock in this weary Land I cannot take a Nap of sweet sleep and refreshment in this parched Heath Here is no spreading Elm nor Beech nor Fountain of Chrystal Streams no warbling River beside which I may take my rest to recreate my languishing and tired Spirits O come dear Shepherd to seek thy roving Sheep Call me again with thy Melodious Shepherds Pipe I listen at times to hear it but cannot I dare not bleat my self lest the Wolves hear me O come blessed Shepherd and stand upon a high place where thy Voice may be audible Come skipping upon these Mountains and leaping upon the Hills of my wandring Mind For I am quite â—â—â—ed in this tedious Wilderness O give Rest to my travailing weary Spirit O this is not my Rest O somebody have mercy upon a distracted Innocent condemned by false Witnesses to be confined as in Bedlam I cannot set my heart at rest because of a pannick Fear that seizeth upon me Oppression makes a wise Man mad and besides himself O some Skilful Musician come and refresh my Senses and self-afflicting Conscience with the Har mony of the holy Gospel and the Melody of the blessed Tidings of Everlasting Serenity O who will pity a poor wounded and sick Person Give me some heavenly Balm or Cordial to heal my heavy heart and to slop the raging of my Sore and the swelling of my furious Agony Break the sence that separates me from my desired Object O shew mercy to a poor naked Person O I have been stripped naked in a Wilderness by Thieves and Murderers they have whipped me and smote me with sore Boils all over As
shalt not have thy Liberty to choose an altering of that painful property by reason of thy own false Tincture which had tinctured the Souls Spirit and fermented it by a false Leaven into that Nature which is contrary to its first Creation §. 2. It altereth not Observe therefore O Man what I say I the Truth the Eternal Preacher By searching have found out and know that whatsoever God doth it shall be for ever The same Commandment still remains unalterable Nothing can be put to it nor any thing taken from it And God doth it that Men his Off-spring should fear before him and love him That Law which hath been in the Angelical Republick is now in the â—â—umane Commonwealth And that which is to be after the End of the humane Judgment hath already been before Mans Creation And God requireth and wiâ—â— at the great Assizes require an account of that which is past if done contrary to the old Law for he requires that it for ever continue the same And God deth this that all his Generation Angels and Men may by an awful Obedience take an Eternal Oath of Allegiance and Submission to his Law that altereth not and make an Everlasting Covenant with him and love him Therefore I counsel thee O Man my Brother to keep the King's Commandment even my Law and that in regard of the Eternal Oath of God Be not hasty to fly away and sneak as a Fugitive out of my sight and stand not in an evil thing For a King doth whatsoever pleaseth him Therefore bring thy Deeds to the Light that they may be discerned Where the Word and Law of a Lawfully succeeding King is there is Power And who may say unto him What doest thou Or why hast thou appointed me to be a Vessel of Wrath Nay None hath power to call him to question tho he hath been the occasion of his Subjects Rebellion and then torment them for Râ—bâ—lling Which is an unjust thing Yet it is not to be supposed that the right King of Kings who is Justice it self can or will do such injustice Whoso keepeth the Kings Commandment shall feeâ— no evil thing And a wise Mans Heart by Wisdom and Divine Skill discerneth both Time and Judgment Both when and how he must act according to the Unalterable Law And because to every purpose there is Time and Judgment therefore the misery of many a Man is great upon him for he knoweth not that which shall be and who can tell him when it shall be if he himself hath not Skill § 3. Yet it is inverted by Man MOreover I saw under the Sun of Time and Vanity the Place of Judgment that Wickedness was there That there is a time wherein one ruleth over another even his lawful King to his own hurt I saw also the place of Righteousness which ought to be Righteous that Iniquity was there that Servants were put upon Horses and Princes of the Noble Royal Blood even of the pure Seed in the Conscience walking in the form of Servan's upon the humane Earth And so Folly I have seen was set in great dignity and the Rich Free and Right Honourable sit waiting upon them in a low place as a Gleaner or Beggar Which is an evil that I have seen as an Error that proceedeth from the Ruler of an humane City who succeeded not as a lawful Heir to the Kingdom O my Soul come not thou into the secret Plots of such as these unto their Assembly and Cabal O mine Honour be not thou united Neither do thou O Noble Soul of Man be privy to their Treachery and Treason For in their anger they slew the right Seed and Gods Image and in their self-will like Lucifer they would dig down the Wall of Heaven Cursed be their Anger for it is suâ—ce and unfit for the Holy Heaven and their Wrath let it be for ever separated from the Divine Order and Harmony for it is Cruel and wild I will divide them in Eden and scatter them in Paradise § 4. But it must be Observed I Said in my heart when I saw this breaking of the Antient Law in the place of Judgment God by Christ shall judge the Righteous and the Wicked and put each one in their due place and station For there is allowed a time for every purpose and for every work to prevent the Sentence of Condemnation Therefore O Man keep thy foot When thou goest to the Temple of God from stumbling And be more ready to hear his Law from the Mouth of his Messenger than to give the sacrifice of fools who sacrifice the Lord of Glory the Holy seed to their false Lusts For they consider not that they do evil Be not rash with they mouth to add any thing and let not thy heart be hasty to utter any new Commentary upon the Ancient Law of God For God is still the same in the unchangeable Heaven and thou upon the corrupted Earth therefore let thy Commentaries and words be few For a Dream comes through the multitude of Business in Vanity And a fools Voice is known by multitude of words When thou vowest a Vow to God defer not to pay that which thou hast vowed Better it is that thou hadst never been born an humane Being to vow the Vow of necessary Obedience to God than that thou shouldst become such an Essence and not pay thy Vow Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin not performing the Oath of thy Covenant Neither say thou before thy Angel Guardian the Witness of all that thou doest that it was a foolish Error and I am sorry that ever I was born to make a Vow to be broken by deliberation Wherefore should God be angry at thy Voice and destroy the Work of thy plotting Hands For in the multitude of Whimsies Images of Fancies and many Vain Words there are also divers Vanities But be thou wise and fear God §. 5. To indulge the Good Genius The Injunction MOreover O Man consider by all this that there is a strict Obligation laid upon thee if thou be'st born a Man the Son of God's Loins and a meer Necessity put upon the Soul that he must do what in him lies to promote the Joy and Pleasure of his Mind For an Heavenly Feast is purposely made for his Eternal Solace Coelestial Nectar and Fruit of the pure Vine is appointed to make thy heart everlastingly merry Gods Virgin hath told thee so in the Prophecy which she taught thee as soon as thou wast born saying What my Son And what the Son of my Womb And what the Son of my Vows Give not thy Strength and Purity to Whorish Women Nor thy Ways to that which destroyeth the Royal Off spring It is not for Kings O Man-King it is not for Kings to drink the Gall and Poyson of Wine which intoxicates the Senses Nor for Princes of the Divine Monarchy to drink that which inebriates the Brain and causeth Pain in the Bowels Lest
of the Spirit of the World destroyeth his own Soul A wound and dishonourable stigmatized Mark shall he get which shall never be wiped away in this World or in that to come For Jealousie is the rage of a Rival Therefore he will not spare in the Day of Vengeance he will not regard any Ransom neither will he rest Content though thou givest all that thou art worth Neither will the Spirit of the Soul be reconciled though thou shouldst give him all the Substance of thine House for a Bribe §. 10. Misery the End of Vice NOW the Covenant is a Lamp and the Law of Loving the Virgin is Eternal Life And the reproof of her Instruction is the high Way to Heaven When thou goest she shall lead thee When thou sleepest she shall keep thee When thou art awake she shall talk with thee in Divine Contemplation By her thy Days shall be multiplied upon the Eternal Earth and the Years of thy immortal Life shall be endless Therefore keep thy Heart true to the Virgin with all Diligence for out of it are the issues of Life and Death Believe not the Whore in her flattering Speech for she is a Lyar when she cries Stoln Waters are sweet and a secret Banquet in a Corner of Darkness is pleasant Be sure that her Cave leads to the Shadow of Death and her Guests go to the Depths of Hell And a desperate wo is pronounced against them that delight to lurk in the holes of Guilt and despise the light of Purity lest their Deeds should be reproved Come to my Tavern saith she It is indeed a House of Sin but not of Darkness For our Candles and hellish Squibs never go out It is like a Country near the Frozen Zone as clear at Midnight as at Noon Beware therefore O humane Souldier For armed Mars doth not so much wound thee as this naked Venus The Sorceresses Mouth drops as the Honey-comb and her Lips are smoother then Oil but her end is as Wormwood it will cost the Soul that loves her many a bitter Tear Her Instruments are sharp as a two edg'd Sword It will cut the Conscience to the Heart Her Feet go down to the Abyss And her steps lead to the Hell of Eternal horror Lest thou ponder the Paths of Life Her ways are moveable that thou canst not know them Remove thy way therefore far from her And come not nigh the Doors of her House CHAP. VII The Virgins Espousal §. 1. Reconcilement IF the Soul recant and change his Mind Fair Virgin-Vertue bearing no grudge in her pure Mind welcometh and entertains him again most joyfully unless he be stigmatized with the Disease of the Stews and so renews their mutual Acquaintance And the Virgin wandring in her Shepherds Rural Fields The long absence of her late Beloved had grieved her Spirit She had enquired of Passengers did they see a Shepherd passing along that way They answered No It was but a little that I passed from them saith she even from the pretended Guides into Paradise but I found him whom my Soul loveth I held him and would not let him go until I had perswaded him to come into my Virgin-Mothers Habitation in Heaven and into the Chamber of her that conceived me of the Divine Seed Who is this said the neighbouring Angels who were Proxime to the Deity as Princes before a Monarch Virgin that cometh out of the Wilderness of Wo and Despair leaning upon the Breasts of her Beloved I raised thee up said he under the Tree of Life there thy Virgin Mother brought thee forth in the upper Paradise There she conceived thee as an Holy Birth of Newness of Life in the Womb of her Virgin-Purity I charge you O ye Daughters of the Holy City said she by the Roes of Paradise and by the Hinds of Edens fair Fields that ye stir not up nor awake my Beloved until he please for he is very weary after his Journey and long Travel upon the Mountains of Vanity And requires a due time of Rest from his Labours and vain Wandrings And now the wearied Bees return home with laden Thighs The tired wandring Sheep that had forgotten their resting place have found their Fold of rest where they may lye down with the Leopards in a safe and quiet repose And now when I perceived how he admired my transcendant Beauty and the form of God in my aspect My Cheeks being comely with rows of precious Jewels and how I was adorned with Topazes and Rubies with Amethysts and Saphires with Diamonds and Gold I gave him a present of borders of Gold with knobs of Silver and the richest Gems For our Mountains are big with Mines and the Veins of our hidden Treasures are Infinite When my Royal Shepherd sits at my Table my Spikenard sends forth the Odours thereof Abundle of Myrrh is my welbeloved unto me My Pastoral Friend is unto me as a Cluster of Camphire in the Vineyards of Eden Because of the Savour of this pure Ointment wherewith I besprinkled thee thy new Name of Vertue is as heavenly Oil poured forth out of Golden Vials full of sacred Odours §. 2. Consecration of the Soul I Am the Holy Rose and the Lilly of the low Vallies As the Lilly among Thorns so is my Love said he among the Daughters of Vanity As the Apple-tree of Eternal Life among the Trees of the divided Properties in the Wood. So is my Beloved among the Sons of worldly Wisdom I sate down under his Shadow with great Delight and the Fruits of his rural Trees were sweet to my Taste He brought me to his Banqueting Arbor and his Banner over me was the Canopy of Love I am come said he into my Gardens my Sister I have led thee through a Wilderness my Spouse I have conducted thee into the Meadows of May Blessed be the Hour that first I saw thy Face I have brought thee to the Rivers of Milk and Honey which flow in this Land of Rest and Rural Refreshment Thou hast accompanied me my lovely Mate to the Mountains of Myrrh and the Holy Hills of Frankincense I have gathered my Flowers said I in the Meadows with my Aroma's in the Vallies Here in this perfect State of Holiness the Earth is not unburdened with Tillage neither is it wounded with Culture Come now said he O fair Virgin of Purity sit down with me under this Vine and under this Fig-tree where none can make us afraid And we will take a walk in the calm Evening in the cool of the Eternal Day and the Divine Springs and aquaeducts shall refresh our Spirits after our Journey Thy Breath is as the Odors of Myrrh as the pure gale of Refreshment upon my late-languishing Spirits Awake O. Eternallybreathing Spirit Come thou Divine Wind and blow upon the Garden of my longing Heart that the Spices thereof may flow out to the rejoycing of our Minds Come my fair one into my rural Garden and eat these pleasant Fruits I have gathered
if she be a Door of Invitation we will enclose her with boards of Coelestial Caedar to receive her saithful Shepherd in her Holy Habitation and Tent of Contentment under the Trees of Eternal Life §. 7. The Soul's Anguish THus as it happened to the Fool that is in Labour and Travail to obtain his false Delilah So it happened to this fair Virgin But they shall not have the same Catastrophe in the end of the Act or Play For they shall dye in a different manner which when they shall have sacrificed their Souls devoted to the service of their Lovers The one shall dye to his Condemnation The other to the Resurrection of Everlasting Life and Joy Now the Soul that slighted this fair Virgin being deceived by a blind Fancy of false Passion forsakes her for ever and falls in love with an unworthy Harlot far inferiour to himself and his nobility whereby he degenerates into a bestial State by a Soul-Transmigration Verifying the Proverb Pares cum paribus facillimè Congregantur And this Delilah only plays the Fool with him to sport her self and make a Mock play of him with her Companions and her fellow-Harlots And will not Love him again as he Loves her It is hard to rob a Thieves House And so he becomes a Vagabond and Fugitive upon the Earth and Eternally seeks after her but can never obtain her Love And though perhaps he may so far prevail with her as to have the favour of defiling her in the Bed of obscene wantonness yet that is only to give him a Taint of her Infection which will Eternally burn in and wast his griping Bowels And this is a Description of Mans Hell almost without a Metephor viz. A Separation of the Soul from God his desired Object in his dying Hour and last Minutes when he finds himself by Reason of a wilful and continued course in deadly Sins excluded the Enjoyment of Heaven nor can he lay any claim to the Benefit of the Sacrifice having shut himself out by false Lust falling in Love and being inamoured with a blind Passion A false Delilah having had the Flower of his youthful Love he is no more for her turn And so to speak in a similitude Mans Soul shall be confined to an Eternal Wilderness So that it is very clearly understood how the labour of the foolish Souls will weary every one of them because they know not the way to go to the City of mutual Love and Solace All which ways leads him to endless Sorrow and Miseries being the effects of Sin which confine him to an un-openable Prison in which he shall feel within him a Fire of Eternal Pain and aking of his Mind whereby his Heart shall burst in pieces and yet remain whole by renewing it to endure a fresh wracking Torment in the Grim Life §. 8. The Soul's Despair ANd all this because he would not allow the right Spirit of the Soul the thing that he earnestly begged and cryed after Yea he shall as through a Goal-Grate at times behold this Harlor who was the occasion of his Misery mocking him and saying O Fool now pay Eternally for thy Folly in believing me Now eat thy sower Sawce after thy sweet Meat Also he shall see Heaven above him by looking at times beyond the great Gulf and he shall to his Repentance ever to be repented and to his Grief never to be expiated at times espy his once fair Virgin whom he might have Eternally enjoyed to his unspeakable Solace and mutual Refreshment for she was if he had not undone the knot of true Love his own proper Right by the Law of Eternity And because he refused her there must be a Transmigration of Souls and out of his Ashes must spring another who will gladly step into his Throne and Love his Virgin who never was defiled And this his Rival-Successor he shall look at with an envious Eye embracing his Virgin who is now become his Rivals own by the unalterable Law of the Deity Thus this spiritual Adulterer shall see his Late Virgin in the dear Arms of another but he shall never in Eternity receive so much as one smile nor so much as one of her looks to refresh him wherewith his Heart used lately to be ravished Instead of this he shall Conceit she frowns upon him tho' indeed her Nature is ignorant of the manner of frowning And so shall feel intolerable Pain and Griping in his Conscience which is a difference or Combustion between the Soul and Spirit of the Soul because he hath foolishly squandred away his fair Virgious Gifts and scorned or refused a good or blessed Fortune which the Creator had appointed him And upon the Monument set over his Hâ—llish Grave shall be this Epitaph engraved Here lies the cursed Ashes the Object of Scorn once the Seat of the Fire of pure Love who deceived his own Soul like a Fool and now suffers the Punishment of his own procuring and burns in the Fire of his own kindling Therefore O Man have a Care defraud not the pure Mind of the true Pleasure it earnestly cryeth longeth and panteth after or of the Virgin it laboureth and travails for think not that it will be put off with Foperies and shammed with Toys of Vanity or lusled asleep by a Song of Vanity If it be cast by some Soporiferous Poyson into Sleep yet it will again awake to thy Condemnation And will never cease craving for the right Food that is proper for his Eternaâ— Health and Life and will by his Officer Scourge and Torment thee till he obtain his Desire §. 9. Late Repentance THerefore spend not thy Money for that which is not Right Bread nor thy Labour for that which profiteth not the Spirit of the Soul For I say again he will not be cheated For when the Body comes to drop as a Leaf from the Tree of the Soul to the Grave Death will by no means in the World by no fair Speeches be bribed to put off the time when the forcible Wind is sent to blow it down When the guilty Sinner sees that Death will not be put off then he endeavours to bribe the Souls Spirit and to speak him fair saying O be reconciled to me in my extremity The Soul's Spirit saith Fly hence thy House doth Crack it falls Get under Ground for safer Walls The Soul answers Oh but give me a token of thy savour before the thread of my Life be cut off by the Sword of the Cherub I have done brave Exploits for thee in former days O saith the Spirit so Lucifer's Cities were once famous where Satyrs now dance and doleful Birds howl No I will never be reconciled in Eternity to thee The time is past Where was this desire of Reconcilement before when I was willing to keep peace with thee on condition I should have my will and the end of my longing which once was easily attainable But now thou art wise too late O but saith the Soul
happens according to the Work of the Righteous I said that this is also the result of Vanity §. 4. Retaliation THe Soul that diggeth a Pit for the pure Spirit of the Soul shall fall himself into it And whoso breaks an Hedge the Fence betwixt the two Properties a Diabolical Serpent shall sting and bite him Whoso removeth Stones or the true Land-mark shall be hurt therewith and the building of his false Imagination shall fall upon him And he that cleaveth the Pillars of Heaven shall be endangered thereby If the Iron be blunt and there be no Stone to what the Edge because it is lost by Negligence then thou must put more Strength in the Gate of Purgatory in this Life but Wisdom if in time she had been embraced would have directed thee Surely the Serpent will bite without Inchantment And a Babler or false Accuser of the Spirit of the Soul is no better The Tongue will break a Bone Yet it is the best weapon of Defence if skilfully handled The Words of a Wise Man is Gracious and refresh the Spirit of the Soul with his good News and Story of his Travels and escape in Shipwrack but the Self-accusation of a Fool will condemn and swallow up himself in the Abyss He needs no Bell at his Neck His Bolt is soon shot The beginning of the Words of his Mouth contradicting his Conscience is Foolishness And the end of his talk at the Day of Judgment is Mischief and Madness and an eternal Frenzy Curse not therefore the King O Man no not in thy thought Speak not reproachfully against the Princely Spirit in the Bed-Chamber of thy Whorish Companion For the Angel-Guardians of the Air shall carry the Voice And the winged Cherub shall discover the High-Treason For Rebellion is as the Sin of Witchcraft And as a Witch is a Rebel in Physicks So reversing the Point a Rebel is a Witch in the spiritual Politicks §. 5. The Souls Metamorphosis ALso I said in mine Heart concerning the State of the Sons of Men that God might manifest them and they may see that they themselves are of a Bestial Shape in the inward Signature except they be new-born in the right Humane Shape For that which befalleth Men befalleth the outward Animals Even one thing befalleth them as the one dieth the External Death so doth the other Yea they have all one Breath drawn from the Airs Power So that a Man hath no preheminence above a Beast for all is Vanity which is in the outward Love and vanisheth as a Shadow All Animals Humane and Bestial Sensitive and Rational go unto one Place the Grave of the four Elements the Womb of their first Mother which conceived them swallows them again All are of the Dust or of the hoil of Atoms and all turn into the same Chaos again Now observe this Mystical Ancient Philosophical Point who knoweth the noble Soul or Spirit of a Right Humane Being that goeth upward into his own Heaven and the Spirit of the Bestial Man by the Transmigration of his Soul into an Eternal Brute or rather by the Metamorphosis thereof into a degenerated Viper or Toad or other sensual Animal according as his Soul was inclined in its Nature in this Life that goeth downward into the Opacious Cave of the gross dark Earth in the bottomless Abyss This is not set down here to reproach Mankind but because it is certainly known in the Light of the Eternal Sun O Man consider thy self here §. 6. Work in Time CAst thy Bread into a Ship floating upon the Waters of thy Eternal Ocean as Treasures laid up in Heaven and thou shâ—dt find it after many Days in Eternity Give a Portion to seven thy seven Properties and also to the Eighth hidden in the seven the beginning of a new Harmony For thou knowest not what evil may be hereafter in thy Humane Earth If the Clouds of blessing be full of Rain and Heavenly Dew they empty themselves upon the Earth of Man And if the Humane Tree falleth by Ballance toward the pleasant South or toward the Grim North in the Place where the Tree falleth there it shall be to all Eternity He that observeth the Mystical Original of the Holy Wind or Spirit or Breath of God thinking God will come by force into his Heart to compel him to come to Heaven shall not sow Divine Seed And he that regardeth the Clouds of Darkness thinking the Time of the spiritual Harvest is not yet come shall not reap a spiritual Crop As thou knowest not what is the way of the Spirit of the Soul nor how the Bones do grow in the Womb of the Virgin that is with Child of the Regenerated Birth Fven so God thou knowest not the Works of who maketh all In the Morning of thy Youth betimes while it is called to Day sow the blessed Seed and in the cool of the Evening-Gale of God's pure Breath withhold not thine Hand And commit the Improvement to God by Resignation For thou knowest not whether shall prosper either this or that Or whether they both shall be alike good §. 7. Before the Evil Days come REmember therefore O Man thy Creator and Father in the Days of thy renovated Youth Think of the Ancient of Days in the beginning of thy New Regeneration And he will prolong thy Eternal Days call to mind thy Everlasting State before the evil Days come in which thou shalt say I have to Pleasure in them If thou Love God and the Virgin of Eternal Youth and perpetual Beauty the Evil Days or Years of Sorrow will never draw nigh or overtake thee or if they come they shall not continue For an Everlasting Calm will come after a Storm of true Repentance Therefore remember the kindness of her Youth and the Love of thy Spouse while the Sun of the Eternal Spirit of the Soul or the Mind of the Affections of the Astral Nature be not clouded in blindness nor the Clouds of Darkness return after the Shower of a Purgatory in this Life In the Day when the Keepers of the Humane House and the Maintainers of the Soulish Family tremble and quake for Rottenness in their Bones and the strong Men that carry Provision to the Mill shall bow themselves under their burden And the Milstones cease because they are worn â—ut and the sound of the Mill is low and the Voice that calleth to Repentance is not audible And the Sentinels that keep Watch and Ward at the Windows of true Light be darkned and blinded by false Phantasie And so cannot prevent the Invasion of the Whores Brats which will seize upon the Castle And the Door of the Lips shall be shut in the Streets of the little City and will not be opened to the cries of the miserable Beggar and Wanderer and yet are open from within to utter Blasphemies And Self-accusations in Despair And he shall rise up as being frighted at the noise and terrour of his own Evil Conscience Because he would
not in Time attend to the Crowing of Aurora's Bird. And the Daughters of Musick shall be brought low that they cannot hear the Voice of their chief Musician §. 8. Before a second Apostacy ALso when they shall be afraid of an high Precipice on the brink of the great Abyss or Depth of Depths And a panick fear shall seiz upon them in the way of their Wandring And the Almond-Tree of Fading Youth shall flourish in its last Leaves ready to fall And the Grashoppers singing which calls them to labour in the Harvest shall be a tedious Note And he that blows with the Bellows upon the Fire of Life shall spoil them by unstopping them or fit them for kindling the Eternal Fire of a false Passionate Love And Desire of Generation in the Virgins Love shall fail Because Man leaves this Country of his Pilgrimage and seeks to wander to his long home but cannot find it except in the Grave of Silence and Darkness And his Oil in his Lamp is wasted in his Virgins Hand which should shew him the way whither he should go And the Mourners the Virgin and his good Genius and the Spirit of the Soul go cloathed in black about the Streets of his little City And the Conscience rings a sad and doleful Passing Bell. Or â—ver the silver Cord be loosed from the Pitcher which should draw Water out of the Fountain of the holy Blood be cracked Which Pitcher tho' it went oft to the Well of Salvation yet comes home broken at last by Negligence Or the Wheel of the circular motion of the incorrupted Juice be discompacted by Retroversion at the Cistern of Living Water Or the Golden Candlestick of a Pyramid-Figure be broken Or the Sieve of Separation of the impure Recrements from the pure parts be crushed Or the Sink of the Hellish Fundament be stoppâ—d whereby the whore House becomes an Infectious Jakes Thâ—n shall this confused Chaos without form and void return to the Womb of the Earthly Mother as it was And the Spirit of the Soul shall return to God that gave it to receive a Commission to apprehend the Soul and the Soul shall go back to the Original Matrix of its own Worm Vanity of Eternal Vanities saith the Immortal Preacher All the Actions and Qualities and Passions in the dark World is Vanity and the real Scene of a false Phantasie in the insinite Abyss O Man beware of thy self This Abyss is the cause of thine own Being Be therefore advised O Man Of Searching the Original Books of Science falsely so called i. e. vain Philosophy of which there is no end And too much study therein is a weariness of the Soul §. 9. No Redemption out of Hell KNow this O Man if thou doubtest whether of the Two Ways thou oughtest to choose and thou perhaps lightest on the wrong and so comest to a bad Misfortune then thou wilt say I intended to go the other way once When thou art already come into the irrevocable Pit Now I say know thou therefore what was the cause of this Because thou by some evil Imagination a little before didst stop the Ear of the Spirit of the Soul which only is capable to hear the Voice of Fair Wisdom the Pure Virgin Tho' the Virgin did at that Instant direct thee aright at the Parting or Turning of the Two Ways yet thou hadst not an Ear to hear her who cried behind thee in the Wilderness This is the Way walk in it When thou shalt come to be hid from the presence of thy dear Relations and banished as a Vagabond from thy right Native Country this may be thy Note Ah Wretch that I am How am I become a Wanderer and Fugitive or Renegado Why can-cannot I find my dearly Beloved whom I long after Must this be my Eternal Work and Labour to long uncessaâ—tly after the end of my Journey and yet never find the true Joy of my Soul and Refreshment of my Spirit O Almighty Creator of us all canst thou not break forth to me tho' I cannot rush forward to thee For I know thou bearest no malice towards me It is a thing inferiour to the Nobility of thy Nature to bear a grudge to a Delinquent and that Eternally O must I continue for ever in this Labyâ—inth seeking my Beloved and nâ—ver eâ—joy the Fruit of my 〈◊〉 What prâ—sit is in my mâ—rtal Blood Those that go 〈◊〉 into the 〈…〉 cannot add to thy Praise The Answer from God wiâ—â— be Those that would come from thence 〈◊〉 cannot And they that wouâ—d go from hence thither cannot 〈◊〉 so as to â—etch out a Captive thence aâ—d redeem him This is thy woful Work and Wages to Eternity §. 10. Conclusion LEt us hear the Conclusion of the whole System Fear God Fear to break his Law Which Law is Three-fold in the Root and Seven-fold in the Branches viz. Love God above all And the Virgin as thy self as being thy own Flesh and Blood She it is whom God hath appointed to preserve thy Seven Properties in an Harmony of Joy which Joy thou art bound to be Eternally affected with For this is the Whole Duty of Man But feed not on the false Mandrake-Tree of the Hellish Jezebel's Property which is Pain opposing Pleasure by vertue of her Baneful Breath But if thou art one that meanest thinking thou mayst be able as a Self-conceited God to alter the Fundamental Constitution and Law of the Coelestial Realm by calling Good Evil and commanding Pain to be Pleasure or the contrary Thou must first begin thy self That is A King or Law-giver ought to prescribe the same Law to his Subjects which he himself is willing to keep As Gods Law is to promote the heavenly Joy so he himself doth so But if thou art minded to frame a tormenting Engine a self-invented Idol for others If thou desirest as a pecullar God to correct Gods work and make a new Repugnant Law that is Let the sighting Properties be thy right Food or let the Hellish Pain be promoted then thou must begin and do so thy self and so thou shalt become a God in the dark World and thou shalt sit in a Throne of Anguish as being inspired by a malignant Blast from Hell by the Whore's side in the Chamber of Contagious and Fiery Infection without end and all Creatures shall wonder at thy ever-abiding the Flame of Consumption never to be consumed and at thy Necromantick Fabrick never to be blown up by thy self-produced Powder-Plot For God will bring every Thought Word and Deed to Judgment to be weighed in the Ballance of his Sanctuary by the motion of the Seven Wheels and every secret thing must be tried in the Eternal Fire which discovers the inward Impurities that it may be known whether it be good or whether it be evil that is Whether the Good or Evil Property be predominant in moving the Souls Wheel Backward or Forward As Gods Law was in the Beginning So it is now and ever shall be World without End Amen FINIS