and entereth with the desire into him and he will not cast out them that come unto him he hath given to the will an open gate in Christ saying Come unto me all yee that are heavie laden with sinnes I will refresh you take my yoak upon you that is the Crosse of the enmity in the flesh which was the yoak of Christ who must beare it for the sinnes of all men This crosse the resigned will must take upon it in the evill earthly sinfull flesh and beare it after Christ in patience in hope of deliverance and always brea kt he head of the Serpent with the resigned will of the soule in Christs will and Spirit and kill and destroy the earthly will in Gods anger and not let it rest on a soft bed when sinne is committed thinking I wil repent one time or other 26. No no the earthly will groweth strong fat and wanton upon this soft bed But so soon as the breath of God shineth in thee and sheweth sinne to thee the will of the soul must sink it selfe down into the passion and death of Christ wrap it selfe up close in it and take the passion of Christ into its possession and be a Lord over the death of sin by the death of Christ and kill it and destroy it in the death of Christ. 27. It must die though it be never so unwilling Be at enmity with the voluptuous earthly flesh give it not what it would have let it fast and suffer hunger till its tickling cease account the will of the flesh thy enemy and do not what the desire in the flesh will and then thou shalt bring a death into the death in the flesh 28. Regard not any scorne of the world think they doe but scorn thy enemy and that it is become a foole to them nay doe thou thy selfe account it thy foole which Adam caused thee to have in thee and suffered to be thy false heire Cast the sonne of the bond-woman out of the house that strange child which God did not give to be in the house of life in Adam at the beginning for the son of the bond-woman must not inherit with the son of the free-woman 29. The earthly will is but the son of the Bond-woman for the foure elements should have been mans servants but Adam hath brought them into filiation Therefore God said to Abraham when he had opened the covenant of the promise in him Cast out the son of the bond-woman for hee shall not inherit with the sonne of the free This sonne of the Free is Christ which God of his grace hath brought again into the flesh for us viz. a new mind wherein the will viz. the eternall will of the soul may draw and drink the water of life of which Christ speaketh saying Whosoever shall drink of this water that he will give us it shall spring up in him and be a Fountain of eternall life This Fountaine is the renovation of the mind of the soule viz. the eternall Astrum or Constellation of the eternall Nature viz. of the creaturely property of the soul. 30. Therefore I say that all fictions and devices to come to God by let them have what name soever they will which men contrive and invent for wayes to God are lost labour and unprofitable without a new mind There is no other way to God but a new mind which turneth from wickednes and entreth into repentance for the sinnes it hath committed and goeth forth from its iniquity and willeth it no more but wrappeth its will up in the death of Christ and with all earnestnesse dieth from the sinne of the soule in the death of Christ so that the mind of the soule willeth sinne no more 31. And although all the Devils did follow him hard and did go with their desire into the flesh yet the will of the soule should stand still and hide it selfe in the death of Christ willing and desiring nothing but the Mercie of God 32. No hypocriticall flattery or outward comforting ones self availeth at all as when men will cover sinne and iniquity in the flesh with the satisfaction of Christ and remain in Self still Christ saith Except ye turn and become as children yee shall not see the Kingdome of God the mind must become as wholly new as in a child that knoweth nothing of sinne Christ saith also Ye must be born anew or else yee shall not see the Kingdome of God There must arise a will wholly new in the death of Christ it must be brought forth out of Christs entring into the humanity and rise in Christs resurrection 33. Now before this can be done the will of the soule must dye in the death of Christ first for in Adam it received the son of the bond-woman viz. sinne into it This the will of the soul must first cast out and the poore captive soule must wrap it selfe up in the death of Christ earnestly with all the power it hath so that the sonne of the bond-woman viz. sin in it selfe may dye in the death of Christ. 34. Truly sin must dye in the will of the soule or else there can be no vision of God for the earthly will in sinne and the anger of God shall not see God but Christ that came into the flesh The soul must put on the Spirit and flesh of Christ it cannot inherit the Kingdome of God in this earthly Tabernacle for the kingdome of sin hangeth to it outwardly which must putrifie in the earth and rise again in new power 35. Hypocrifie flattery and verball forgivenesse availeth nothing we must be children not by outward imputation but born of God from within in the new man which is resigned in God 36. All such flattering of our selves in saying Christ hath paid the Ransome and made satisfaction for sinne he is dead for our sinnes if we also do not dye from sinne in him and put on his merit in new obedience and live therein all is false and a vain frivolous comfort 37. He that is a bitter enemy and hater of sinne he can and may comfort himselfe with the sufferings of Christ he that doth not willingly see hear nor tast sinne but is at enmity with it and would willingly always doe that which is well and right if he knew but what he ought to doe he that is such a one I say hath put on the Spirit and will of Christ. 38. The outward flattery of being accounted a child of God by imputation or externall application is false and vain the work done in the outward flesh onely doth not make the child of God but the working of Christ in the Spirit maketh and is the child of God which working is so powerfull in the outward work that it shineth forth as a new light and manifesteth it self to be the child of God in the outward work of the flesh 39. For if the eye of the soule be light then the whole body is
Christ calleth poore sinners so kindly and graciously to himselfe and will refresh them and that God hath sent his Sonne into the world to seeke and save that which is lost viz. the poore repentant and returning sinner and that for the poore sinners sake he hath given his Life into Death and died for him in our Humanity which he tooke upon him Furthermore he must firmely imagine to himselfe that God in Christ Jesus will much rather heare him and receive him to grace then he come and that God in the love of Christ in the most deare and precious Name JESUS cannot Will any evill that there is no angry countenance at all in this Name but that it is the highest and deepest love faithfulnesse the greatest sweetnesse of the Diety in the great Name JEHOVAH which he hath manifested in our Humanity corrupted and disappeared as to the heavenly part which in Paradise disappeared through sinne and therefore moved himselfe in his heart to flow into us with his sweet love that the anger of his Father which was kindled in us might be quenched and turned into love by it all which was done for the poor sinners sake that he might get an open gate of grace againe In this consideration he must firmely imagine to himselfe that this very houre and instant he standeth before the face of the holy Trinity and that God is really present within and without him as the holy Scripture witnesseth saying Am not I he that filleth all things and in another place it saith The word is neere thee in thy mouth and in thy heart also it saith We will come unto you and make our dwelling in you also Behold I am with you always even to the end of the world also The Kingdome of God is within you Thus he must firmely know and beleeve that with his soule he standeth really before the face of Jesus Christ even before the holy Deity and that his soule hath turned its backe to the face of God and must resolve that he will this very houre turne the eyes and desire of his soule towards God againe and with the poore lost and returning sonne come to the Father He must with the eyes of his soule and minde cast downe in feare and deepest humility beginne to confesse his sinnes and unworthinesse before the face of God as followeth A short forme of Confession before the eyes of God Every one as his case and necessitie requireth may order and enlarge this confession as the holy Ghost shall teach him I will but set downe a short direction O Thou great unsearchable God Lord of all things Thou who in Christ Jesus of great love towards us hast manifested thy selfe with thy holy substance in our Humanity I poore unworthy sinfull man come before thy Presence which thou hast manifested in the Humanity of Jesus Christ though I am not worthy to lift up mine eyes to thee acknowledging and confessing before thee that I am guilty of unfaithfulnesse and breaking off from thy great love and grace which thou hast freely bestowed upon us I have left the Covenant which of meere grace thou hast made with me in Baptisme in which thou hast received me to be a child and heire of eternall life and have brought my desire into the vanity of this world and defiled my soule therewith and made it altogether beastiall and earthly so that my soule knoweth not it selfe because of the mire of sinne but accounteth it selfe a strange child before thy face not worthy to desire thy grace I lie in the filth of sinne and the vanity of my corrupt flesh up to the very lipps of my soule and have but a small sparke of the living breath left in me which desireth thy grace I am so dead in vanity that in this vanity I dare not lift up mine eyes to thee O God in Christ Jesus Thou who for poore sinners sakes didst become Man to helpe them to thee I complaine to thee I have yet a sparke of refuge in my soule I have not regarded thy purchased inheritance which thou hast purchased for us poore men by thy bitter Death but made my self partaker of the heritage of vanity in the anger of thy Father in the curse of the earth and am ensnared in sinne and halfe dead as to thy Kingdome I lie in feeblenesse as to thy strength and the wrathfull death waiteth for mee the devill hath poisoned me so that I know not my Saviour I am become a wilde branch in thy tree and have consumed mine inheritance which is in thee with the devills Swine what shall I say before thee who am not worthy of thy grace I lie in the sleepe of death which hath captivated me and am fast bound with three strong chaines O thou breaker-through-death assist thou me I beseech thee I can not I am able to doe nothing I am dead in my selfe and have no strength before thee neither dare I for great shame lift up my eyes before thee for I am the defiled keeper of Swine and have spent my inheritance with the false adulterous whore of vanity in the lusts of the flesh I have sought my selfe in my owne lust and not thee Now in my selfe I am become a foole I am naked and bare my shame standeth before thy eyes I cannot hide it thy judgement waiteth for mee what shall I say before thee who art the Judge of all the world I have nothing else to bring before thee here I stand naked and bare before thee and I fall downe before thy face bewailing my misery and flie to thy great mercy though I am not worthy of it yet receive me but in thy Death and let me but die from my death in thy Death cast me down I pray thee to the groūd in my received self and kill this self of mine through thy death that I may live no more to my selfe seeing I in my self worke nothing but sin therefore I pray thee cast downe to the ground this wicked beast which is full of false deceit and selfe-desire and deliver this poore soule from itsheavie bonds O mercifull God it is thy love and longsuffering that I lie not already in hell I yeeld my selfe with my whole will sences and minde up into thy grace and flie to thy mercy I call upon thee through thy death from that small sparke of life in me encompassed with death and hell which open their throate against me and would wholly swallow me up in death upon thee I call who hast promised thou wilt not quench the smoaking flaxe I have no other way to thee but thy Death and Passion because thou hast made our death Life by thy Humanity and broken the chaines of Death and therefore I sinke the desire of my soule downe into thy Death into the gate of thy Death which thou hast broake open O thou great fountaine of the love of God I beseech thee helpe mee
that I may die from my vanity and sinne in the death of my Redeemer Jesus Christ. O thou breath of the great love of God quicken I beseech thee my weake breath in me that it may begin to hunger and thirst after thee O Lord Jesus thou sweete strength I beseech thee give my soule to drinke of thy fountaine of Grace thy sweete water of eternall life that it may awake from death and thrist after thee O how extreame fainting I am for want of thy strength O mercifull God doe thou turne me I beseech thee I can not turn my selfe O thou vanquisher of death helpe me I pray thee to wrestle How fast doth the Enemy hold me with his three chaines and will not suffer the desire of my soule to come before thee I beseech thee come and take the desire of my soule into thy selfe be thou my drawing to the Father and deliver me from the devills Bonds looke not upon my deformity in standing naked before thee having lost thy garment I pray thee doe but thou cloath my breath which yet liveth in me and desireth thy grace and let me yet once see thy salvation O thou deepe love I pray thee take the desire of my soule into thee bring it forth out of the bonds of Death through thy Death in thy Resurrection in thee O quicken me in thy strength that my desire and will may begin to spring up and flourish anew O thou vanquisher of death and of the wrath of God doe thou overcome in me selfe breake its will and bruise my soule that it may feare before thee and be ashamed of its owne will before thy judgement that it may be obedient to thee as an instrument of thine subdue it in the bonds of death take away its power that it may Will nothing without thee O God the Holy Ghost in Christ my Saviour teach me I pray thee what I shall doe that I may turne to thee O draw me in Christ to the Father and helpe me that now and from hence forward I may goe forth from sinne and vanity and never any more enter into it againe Stirre up in me a true sorrow for the sinnes I have committed O keepe me in thy Bonds and let me not loose from thee lest the Devill sift me in my wicked flesh and bloud bring me again into the death of dea h O enlighten thou my spirit that I may see the divine path and walke in it continually O take that away from me which alwayes turneth me away from thee O give me that which alwayes turneth me to thee take me wholy from my selfe and give me wholy to thy owne selfe O let me beginne nothing let me will thinke and doe nothing without thee O Lord how long Indeed I am not worthy of that which I desire of thee I pray thee let the desire of my soule dwell but in the gates of thy Courts make it but a servant of thy servauts O deliver it out of that horrible pit wherein there is no comfort nor refreshment O God in Christ Jesus I am blinde in my selfe and know not my selfe for vanity thou art hidden from me in my blindenesse and yet thou art neere unto me but thy wrath which my desire hath awakened in me hath made me darke O take but the desire of my soule to thee prove it O Lord and bruise it that my soule may attaine a Ray of thy sweete Grace I lie before thee as a dying man whose life is passing from his lipps as a smale sparke going out kindle it O Lord and raise up the breath of my soule before thee Lord I waite for thy Promise which thou hast made saying As I live I will not the death of a sinner but that he should turne and live I sincke downe my selfe into the Death of my Redeemer Jesus Christ and waite for thee thy Word is Truth and Life Amen In this or the like manner every one may confesse his sinnes as he himselfe findeth in his conscience what finnes he hath brought his soule into Yet if his purpose be truely earnest to use a forme is needlesse for the Spirit of God which at that instant is in the will of the minde will it selfe make the prayer for him in his conscience for it is it the Spirit of God which in a true earnest desire worketh repentance and intercedeth for the soule before God through the death of Christ. But I will not hide from the beloved Reader who hath a Christian purpose but shew how it commonly useth to goe with those who are in such a firme purpose and resolution though it goeth otherwise with one then with another according as his purpose is more or lesse earnest and great for the Spirit of God is not bound but useth diverse wayes as he knoweth fittest for every one Yet he that hath beene in the warres can tell how to fight and informe another that may happen to be in the like case Now if it so come to passe that such a heart with a strong resolution and purpose doth thus come before God and enter into repentance it hapneth to it as with the Canaanitish woman as if God would not heare the heart remaineth without comfort its sins and unworthynesse do also present themselves as if it were unworthy of comfort the mind is as it were speechlesse the soule groaneth in the deepe the heart receiveth nothing nor can it so much as poure forth its confession before God as if the heart and soule were shut up the Soule would faine but the flesh keepeth it captive the Devill shutteth it up strongly and representeth to it the way of vanity againe and tickleth it with the lust of the flesh and saith in the minde stay a while doe this or that first gather money or goods aforehand that thou maist not stand in neede of the world and then afterwards enter into an honest life into repentance it will be time enough then O how many hundreds doe perish in such a beginning if they goe backe againe into vanity and are as a young graft broken off with the winde or weithered by the heate Beloved soule marke if thou wilt be a champion in thy Saviour Christ against death and hell and would'st have thy yong graft grow become a tree in the Kingdome of Christ thou must go on and stand fast in thy first earnest purpose it costeth thy first paternall inheritance and thy body and soule too to become either an Angell in God or a Devill in Hell If thou wilt be crowned thou must fight thou must overcome in Christ and not yeeld to the Devill thy purpose must stand firme thou must not preferre temporall honour and goods before it when the spirit of the flesh saith stay a while it is not convenient yet then the soule must say now is my time for me to goe backe againe into my fathers my native Countrey out of which my father
viz. That these who have once tasted the sweetuesse of the world to come if they fall away again they shall hardly see the kingdome of God 113. And though it cannot he denied but that the gates of grace do yet stand open yet the seeming light of the outward Reason of the soule so keepeth them back that they suppose they have the Pearle and yet live to the vanity of this world and dance with the Devill after his pipe CHAP. V. How a man may call himselfe a Christian and how not 114. HEre a Christian should consider wherefore he calleth himselfe a Christian and ponder well whether he be one or no For surely my learning to know and understand that I am a sinner and that Christ hath killed my sins on the Crosse and shed his bloud for me doth not make me a Christian. 115. The inheritance belongeth onely to the children A maid-servant in a house knoweth well enough what the Mistresse would have to be done and yet that maketh her not an heire of her Mistresses goods The very Devils know that there is a God yet that doth not change them into Angels again But if the Maid-servant in the house shall be married to the Sonne of her Mistresse then she may come to inherit her Mistresses goods And so it is to be understood also in our Christianity 116. The children of the History are not the heires of the goods of Christ but the legitimate children regenerated of the Spirit of Christ For God sayd to Abraham Cast out the son of the Bond woman he shall not inherit with the son of the Free For he was a scorner and but a Historicall sonne of the faith and spirit of Abraham and so long as he continued such a one he was not a true inheritor of the faith of Abraham and therefore God commanded he should be cast out from inheriting his goods which was a type of the Christendome which was to come 117. For the promise of Christendome was made to Abraham therefore the type was then also represented by two brethren viz. Isaac and Ishmael shewing how Christendome would behave it selfe and that two sorts of men would be in it viz. true Christians and lip Christians who under the Title of Christianity would be but mockers as Ishmael and Esau was who also was a type of the outward Adam as Jacob was a type of Christ and his true Christendome 118. Thus every one that will call himselfe a Christian must cast away and out from himselfe the sonne of the Bond-woman that is the earthly will and be evermore killing and destroying of it and not settle it in the inheritance 119. Nor give the Pearle to the Bestiall man for him to spoâ—â— himselfe withall continually in the outward light in the lust of the flesh but we must with our Father Abraham bring 〈◊〉 sonne of the right will to Mount vooria and be willing in obedience to God 〈◊〉 offeâ— in up alwayes willingly dying from sin in the death of Christ giâ—â—ng no place to the Beast of vanity in the Kingdome of Christ nor â—â—ffâ—ring it to grow wanton proud covetous envious and malicious all these are the properties of Ishmael the son of the Bond-woman whom Adam begat in his vanity of the wanton whore the false Bond-woman by the Devils imagination out of the earthly property in flesh and bloud 120. This Mocker and Titular-Christian is the sonne of a whore he must be cast out for he must not inherit the inheritance of Christ in the Kingdome of God he is not fit he is but Babel a confusion of that one language into many languages he is but a talker and a wrangler about the inheritance he meanes to get it to himselfe by talking and wrangling by the hypocrisie of his lips and seeming holinesse and yet he is but a blood-thirsty murtherer of his brother Abel who is a true heire 121. Therefore we say what we know that he that will call himselfe a true Christian must try himselfe and find what kind of properties drâ—â—e and rule him whether the Spirit oâ— Christ driveth him to truth and righteousnes and to the love of his neighbour so that he would willingly doe good if he knew but how to perform it 122. Now if he find that he hath such a hunger after such a vertue then he may surely think that he is drawne And then he must put it in practice and not have a will onely without doing The drawing of the Father to Christ consisteth in the will but the true life consisteth in the doing for the right Spirit doth that which is right 123. But if there be the will to do and yet the doing followeth not then the true man is shut up in vain lust which keepeth the doing captive and he is but an hypocrite and an Ishmaelite he speaketh one thing and doth another and witnesseth that his mouth is a lyer for he himselfe doth not that which he teacheth and so he onely serveth the Bestiall man in vanity 124. For he that will say I have a will and would willingly doe good but for the earthly flesh which I have which keepeth me back that I cannot yet I shall be saved by grace for the merits of Christ I comfort my selfe with his merit and sufferings he will receive me of meere grace without any merits of my owne and forgive me my sinnes such a one I say is like him that knew what food was good for his health yet did not eat of it but eat poyson in stead thereof from whence sicknesse and death would follow 125. What good doth it the soule to know the way to good if it will not walk therein but go a wrong way that leadeth not to God What good will it doe the soule to comfort it self with the filiation of Christ with his passion and death and so flatter it selfe if it will not enter into the filiall birth that it may be a true child born out of the Spirit of Christ c. out of his suffering death and resurrection Surely the tickling and flattering of it selfe with Christs mirits without the true innate childship is falshood and a lye whosoever he be that teacheth it 126. This comfort belongeth onely to the penitent sinner who striveth against sinne and the anger of God When temptations come and the Devill assaulteth the soule then the soule must wholly wrap it selfe up in the passion and death of Christ and in his Merits 127. Christ indeed hath merited redemption for us alone but he hath not merited it as such a merit for upon a Merit a Reward is given that for his own proper merits sake he would outwardly freely grant us his childshîp and so receive us for children when we are none No hee himselfe is the merit he is the open gate that leadeth through death through that gate we must enter But he receiveth no beast into his merit but those onely that turn and become as children
THE WAY TO CHRIST Discovered BY IACOB BEHMEN In these Treatises 1. Of true Repentance 2. Of true Resignation 3. Of Regeneration 4. Of the Super-rationall life ALSO The Discourse of illumination The Compendium of Repentance And the mixt world c. LONDON Printed by M. S. for H. Blunden at the Castle in Corn-hill 1648. THE FIRST BOOK Of true Repentance SHEWING How man should stir up himself in mind and will in himselfe and what his earnest purpose and consideration must be Written in the Germane Language Anno 1622. BY JACOB BEHMEN MARK 1. 15. The time is fulfilled and the Kingdome of God is come neer Repent and believe the Gospel Printed by M. S. 1648. The AUTHORS Preface to the Reader that loveth God REader who lovest God if thou wilt use this Booke aright and act in good earnest thou shalt certainely finde the benefit thereof but I desire thou mayest be warned that if thou art not in earnest not to meddle with the deare Names of God in which and by which the Most High Holinesse is named stirred and powerfully desired lest they kindle the Anger of God in thy soule For we must not abuse the Holy Names of God This little Booke is onely for those that would faine repent and are in a desire to beginne Both sorts will finde what manner of words are therein and whence they are born Be you herewith commended to the Eternall goodnesse and mercy of God OF TRUE REPENTANCE How Man must stirre up himself in will and minde and what his consideration and earnest purpose must be when he will performe powerfull and effectuall Repentance and with what mind he must appeare before God when he will aske and obtaine of him remission of sinnes WHen man will go about Repentance and with his prayers turne to God before he begin to pray he must consider his own minde that it is wholly and altogether turned away from God that it is become faithlesse to God that it is onely bent upon this temporall fraile and earthly life bearing no sincere love towards God and his neighbour and also that it wholy lusteth and walketh contrary to the commandements of God seeking it selfe onely in the temporall and transitory lusts of the flesh Secondly he must consider that all this is an enmity against God which Satan hath raised and stirred up in him by his deceit in our first Parents for which abominations sake we die the death and must undergo corruption with our bodies Thirdly he must consider the three horrible chaines wherewith our soule is fast bound during the time of this earthly life the first is the severe Anger of God the Abysse and darke world which is the Center and creaturly life of the soule The second is the desire of the devill against the soule whereby he continually fifteth and tempteth the soul and without intermission striveth to throw it from the truth of God into vanity viz. into pride covetousnesse envie and anger and with his desire bloweth up and kindleth those evill properties in the soule whereby the will of the soule turneth away from God and entreth into selfe The third and most hurtfull chaine wherewith the poore soule is tied is the corrupt altogether vaine earthly and mortall flesh and blood full of evill desires and inclinations Here he must consider that he lieth close prisoner with soule and body in the mire of sinnes in the anger of God in the jawes of the pit of Hell that the anger of God burneth in him in soule and body and that he is that stinking keeper of Swine that hath spent and consumed his fathers inheritance viz. the love and mercy of God with the fatted swine of the divill in earthly pleasures and hath not observed the deare Covenant and atonement of the innocent death and passion of Jesus Christ which Covenant God of meere Grace hath given into our humanity and reconciled us in him also he must consider that hee hath wholy forgotten the Covenant of holy Baptisme in which he hath promised to be faithfull and true to his Saviour and so wholy defiled and obscured his righteousnesse with sinne which righteousnesse God hath freely bestowed upon him in Christ that hee now standeth before the face of God with the faire garment of Christs innocency which he hath defiled as a dirty ragged and patched keeper of Swine that hath continually eaten the graines of vanity with the devills swine and is not worthy to be called a Sonne of the Father and member of Christ. Fourthly he must earnestly consider that wrathfull death waiteth upon him every houre and moment and will lay hold on him in his sinnes in his garment of a Swine keeper and throw him into the pit of hell as a for sworne person and breaker of faith who ought to be kept in the darke dungeon of death to the judgement of God Fifthly he must consider the earnest and severe judgement of God where he shall be presented living with his abominations before the judgement all those whom he hath here offended and injured with words and works and caused to doe evill so that by his instigation or compulsion they also have committed evill shall come in against him cursing him and all this before the eyes of Christ and also before the eyes of all holy Angels and men and that there he shall stand in great shame and ignominy and also in great terror and eternall desperation and that it shall for ever grieve him that he hath fool'd away so great and eternall happinesse and salvation for the pleasure of so short a time and not looked to himselfe better that he might also have beene in the communion of the Saints and have injoyed eternall light and divine power and vertue Sixtly he must consider that the ungodly loseth his noble image God having created him for his Image and getteth in stead thereof a deformed vizard like a hellish worme or ugly Beast wherein he is Gods enemy and against heaven and all holy Angels and men and that his communion is for ever with the devills and hellish wormes in the horrible darknesse Seventhly He must earnestly consider the eternall punishment and torment of the damned that in eternall horror they shall suffer torments in their abominations which they have committed here and may never see the land of the Saints in all eternity nor get any ease or refreshment as appeareth by Dives the rich man All this man must earnestly and seriously consider and remember that God hath created him in such a faire and glorious Image in his owne likenesse in which he himselfe will dwell that he hath created him in his praise for mans owne eternall joy and glory viz that he might dwell with the holy Angels and children of God in great joy power and glory in the eternall light in singing and melodious harmonie of the angelicall and divine Kingdome of joy to rejoyce eternally with the children of God without
feare of any end where no evill thoughts could touch him neither care nor trouble neither heate nor cold where no night is knowne where there is no day or time any more but an everlasting joy where soule and body tremble for joy and where he should rejoyce at the infinite wonders and vertues in brightnesse of colours and ornament of the infinite begetting in the wisedome of God upon the new christaline Earth which shall be as transparent glasse that he doth so wilfully lose all this for so short and poore a times-sake which yet in this vanity in the evill life of the voluptuous flesh is full of miserie feare and trouble in meere vexation and it goeth with the wicked as with the righteous as the one must die so must the other yet the death of the Saints is an entrance into the eternall rest but the death of the wicked an entrance into the eternall unquietnesse Eightly He must consider the course of the world that all things are but a play wherewith he spendeth his time in unquietnesse and that it goeth with the rich and mighty as with the poore and the begger that all of us equally live and move in the foure Elements and that the mouthfull or morsell of the poore is as relishing and savoury to him in his toyle and labour as that of the rich is to him in his cares also that all of us doe live in one breath and that the rich man hath nothing but the pleasure of the palate and the lust of the eye more then other men for else it goeth with the one as with the other for which lust of the eye man so foolishly forgoeth so great a happinesse and for the sake thereof bringeth himselfe into so great and eternall unquietnesse In this consideration man shall feele in his owne heart and minde especially if he represent and set before his eyes his owne end that he shall get a hearty sighing and longing after the mercie of God and will begin to bewaile his committed sinnes that hee hath spent his dayes so ill and not observed nor considered that he standeth in this world in a field in the growing to be a fruit either in the Love or in the Anger of God and then he will first begin to find in himselfe that he hath not yet laboured at all in the vineyard of Christ and that he is a drie branch in the vine of Christ. And then in many whom the Spirit of Christ toucheth in such a consideration there ariseth aboundant sorrow griefe of heart and inward lamentation over the dayes of his wickednesse which he hath spent so in vanity without any working in the Vineyard of Christ. Such a one now whom the Spirit of Christ bringeth into sorrow and Repentance so that his heart is opened that he can know and bewaile his sins is very easily to be helped he needeth but to draw to him the promise of Christ viz. That God willeth not the death of a sinner but that he wisheth them all to come unto him and hee will refresh them and that there is great joy in heaven for one sinner that repenteth let such a one but lay hold on the words of Christ and wrap himselfe up into the passion and death of Christ. But I will speake with those who feele indeede a desire in themselves to repent and yet cannot come to acknowledge and sorrow for their committed sins the flesh saying continually to the soule stay a while it is well enough or it is time enough to morrow and when to morrow is come yet the flesh saith again to morrow the soul in the meane while sighing and fainting conceiveth neither any true sorrow for the sinnes it hath committed nor any comfort Unto such a one I say I will write a processe or way which I my selfe have gone that hee may know what he must doe and how it went with me if peradventure any be minded to follow it and then he shall perceive what is hereafter written A processe of Repentance WHen any man findeth in himself by the former consideration a hunger that he would willingly repent and yet findeth no true sorrow in himselfe for his sinnes which hee hath committed and yet perceiveth an hunger or desire to sorrow being the poor captive soule continually sigheth feareth and must acknowledge it selfe guilty of sinnes before the Judgement of God such a one I say can take no better course then this viz. to wrap up his senses and minde and also his reason together and make to himselfe at the same time presently in the first consideration when he perceiveth in himselfe a desire to repent a mighty strong purpose and resolution that he will this very houre nay this minite immediatly enter into Repentance and go forth from his wicked way and not at all regard the power and honour of the world and if it should be required would forsake and disesteeme all things for true Repentance sake and take such an earnest firme and strong resolution that he will never goe forth from it againe though he should be made the foole scorne of all the world for it and that with his minde he will goe forth from the beauty and pleasure of the world and patiently enter into the Passion and Death of Christ in and under the Crosse and set all his hope and confidence upon the life to come and that now in righteousnesse and truth he will enter into the Vineyard of Christ and doe the will of God and in the Spirit and will of Christ begin and finish all his actions in this world and for Christs Word and Promise sake who hath promised us heavenly reward willingly suffer and beare every adversitie and crosse that he may but be numbred in the communion or fellowship of the children of Christ and in the bloud of the Lambe Jesus Christ be incorporated and united unto his Humanity He must firmely imagin to himself wholly wrap up his soule in this that in this his purpose he shall obtaine the love of God in Christ Jesus and that God will give unto him according to his faithfull promise that noble pledge the holy Ghost for a beginning that in the Humanity of Christ as to the heavenly divine substance he shall be borne a new againe in himselfe and that the Spirit of Christ will renew his minde with his Love and Power and strengthen his weake faith also that in his divine hunger he shall get the flesh and bloud of Christ for foode and drinke in the desire of his soule which continually hungreth and thristeth after it and with the thirst of the soule drinke the water of eternall life out of the sweete fountaine of Jesus Christ as Christs most true and stedfast Promise is He must also wholly and firmely imagine to himselfe the great love of God That God willeth not the death of a sinner but that he repent and live that
Adam hath brought me no creature shall keepe me backe and though thou earthly body shouldest thereby decay and perish yet I will now enter with my will and whole desire into the Garden of Roses of my Redeemer Iesus Christ through his suffering and death into him and in the death of Christ subdue thee thou earthly body which hath swallowed up my Pearle from me which God gave to my Father Adam in Paradise and I will breake the will of thy voluptuousnesse which is in vanity and binde thee as a mad-dogge with the chaine of my earnest purpose and though thereby thou should'st become a foole in the account of all men yet thou must and shalt obey the earnest purpose of my soule none shall unloose thee from this chaine but the temporall death Whereto God and his strength helpe me Amen A short Direction How the poore soule must come before God againe and how it must fight for the noble garland what kinde of weapons it must use if it will goe to warres against Gods Anger against the Devill the World and Sinne against flesh and bloud also against the influence of the stars and elements and all his other enemies BEloved Soule there is earnestnesse required to doe this it must not be a meere commemoration or repeating of words the earnest resolved will must drive this worke else nothing will be attained For if the soule will obtaine the triumphant Garland of Christ from the Noble Sophia it must wooe her for it in great desire of love to get it at her hands it must intreate her in her most holy Name for it and come before her in most modest humility and not like a lustfull Bull or a wanton Venus for so long as any are such they must not desire these things for they shall not obtaine them and though something should be obtained by such in that condition it would be but as a glimpse but a chast and modest minde may well obtaine so much as to have the soule in its noble Image which died in Acam quickened in the heavenly Corporality as to the inward ground and put on the Garland yet if this come to passe it is taken off againe from the soule and layed by as a Crowne useth to be after a King is crowned with it it is layed by and kept so it is also with the soule because it is yet encompassed with the house of sinne that if the soule should fall againe it Crowne might not be defiled This â— spoken plainely enough for the children that know and have tried these things None of the wicked are worthy to know any more of them The Processe A sober minde is there requisite which in an earnest purpose all deepests humility with sorrow for â— sinnes cometh before God in which there is such a resolution that a man will not enter any more into the old footsteps of vanity and though the whole world should account him a foole for it and he should loose both Honour and Goods nay and the temporall life also yet he would abide constant therein If ever he will obtaine the love and marriage of the noble Sophia he must make such a vow as this in his purpose and minde For Christ himselfe sayth He that forsaketh not wife and children brethren and sisters money and goods and all that even he hath and even his earthly life to follow me he is not worthy of me Here Christ meaneth the Mind of the soule so that if there were any thing that would keepe the mind backe from it though it have never so faire and glorious a pretence or shew in this world the minde must not regard it but rather part with it then with the love of the Noble Virgine Sophia in the bud and blossome of Christ in his tender Humanity in us as to the Heavenly Corporality For this is the Flower in Sharon the Rose in the Valley wherewith Solomon delighteth himselfe and termeth it his deare Love his chast Virgine which he loved so much as all other Saints before and after him did whosoever hath obtained her called her his pearle After what manner to pray for it you may â—ee by this short direction following the worke it selfe must be committed to the Holy Ghost in every heart wherein it is sought he â—ormeth and frameth the Prayer for him The Prayer I Poore unworthy person come before thee O Great and Holy God and I lift up mine eyes to thee though I be noâ— worthy yet thy great mercy viz. thy faithfull Promise in thy word hath now encoucouraged me to lift the eyes of the deâ—iâ—e of my soule up to thee for my soule hath now layd hold on the word of thy promise and received it into it and therewith it conâ—eth to thee and though â—t be but a sâ—â—ange childe before thee which was dâ—sâ—â—bedieâ—t unto thee yet now it desireth to be obedient and my soule doth now iâ—fold it selfe with its desire into that word which became man which became flesh and bloud which hath broken 〈◊〉 and death in my humanity which hath changed the Anger of God into love in the soule which hath deprived death of its power and hell of its victory in soule and body which hath opened a gate for my soule to the cleare face of thy strength and power O Great and Most Holy God I have brought the hunger and desire of my soule into this most holy Word and now I come before thee and in my hunger call into thee thou living fountain through thy word which became flesh and bloud thy word being become the life in our flesh therefore I receive it firmely into the desire of my soule as my owne life and I pâ—erce into thee with the desire of my soul through the word in the flesh of Christ viz. through his holy conception in the Virgine Mary his whole Incarnation his holy Nativity his Baptisme in Jordan his temptation in the wilâ—ernene where he overcame the Kingdome of the Devill and of this world in the Humanity through all his powerfull miracles which he did on earth through his reproach and ignominy his innocent death and passion the shedding of his bloud when Gods anger in soule and flesh was drowned through his rest in the Sepulcher when he awaked our father Adam ouâ— of his sleepe who was fallen into a dead sleepe as to the Kingdome of Heaven through his love which pierced through the Anger and destroyed Hell in the soule through his resurrection from the dead his ascention the sending of the holy Spirit into our soule and spirit and through all his words and promises one of which is that thou O God the Father wilt give the holy Spirit to them that aske it in the Name and through the Word which became man O thou life of my flesh and of my soule in Christ my Brother I beseech thee in the hunger of my soule and intreate thee with all my powers though they be
weake to give me what thou hast promised me and freely bestow upon mee in my Saviour Jesus Christ viz. his flesh for food and his bloud for drinke to refresh my poore hungry soule that it may be quickened and strengthened in the Word which became man by which it may long and hunger after thee aright O thou deepest love in the most sweete Name JESUS give thy selfe into the desire of my soule for therefore thou hast moved thy selfe and according to thy great sweetnesse manifested thy selfe in the humane nature and called us to thee us that hunger and thirst after thee and hast promised us that thou wilt refâ—esh us I now open the lips of my soul to thee O thou sweet Truth and though I am not worthy to desire it of thy holines yet I come to thee through thy bitter passion death thou having sprinkled my uncleanesse with thy bloud and sanctified me in thy Humanity and made an open gatefor me through thy death to thy sweete love in thy bloud through thy five holy wounds from which thou did'st shed thy bloud I bring the desire of my soule into thy love O Jesus Christ thou Sonne of God and man I pray thee receive into thy selfe thy purchased inheritance which thy Father hath given thee I crie within me that I may enter thorough thy holy bloud and death into thee Open thy selfe in mee that the Spirit of my soule may reach thee and receive thee into it Lay hold on my thirst in me with thy thirst bring thy thirst after us men which thou haddest upon the Crosse into my thirst and give mee thy bloud to drinke in my thirst that my death in me which holdeth me captive may be drowned in the bloud of thy love and that my extinguished Image which as to the Kingdome of Heaven dis appeared in my father Adam through sinne may b made alive through thy powerfull bloud and cloath my soule with it âgaine as with the new body which dwelleth in heaven in which Image thy holy power and word which became man dwelleth which is the Temple of thy holy Spirit which dwelleth in us as thou hast promised us saying we will come to you and dwell in you O thou great Love of Jesus Christ I can doe no more but sinke my desire into thee thy word which became man is truth since thou hast bidden me come now I come Be it unto me according to thy Word and Will Amen A Warning to the Reader BEloved Reader of love to thee I will not conceale from thee what is here earnestly signified to me If thou lovest the vanity of the flesh still and arâ— not in an earnest purpose on the way to the new birth intending to become a new man then leave the above written words in these Prayers unnamed or else they will turne to a judgement of God in thee Thou must not take the holy names in vaine thou art faithfully warned they belong to the thristy soule if the soule be in earnest it shall finde by experience what words they are A Direction How the soule must meete its beloved when it s beloved knocketh in the Centre in the shut chamber of the soule BEloved soule thou must be earnest without intermission thou shalt certainely obtaine the love of a Kisse from the noble Sophia in the holy Name JESUS for shee standeth however before the doore of the soule knocking warning the sinner of his wicked way Now if he once thus desireth her love she is ready for him and kisseth him with the beames of her sweete love from whence the heart receiveth joy but she doth not presently lay her selfe into the Marriage bed with the soule that is shee doth not presently awaken the extinguished heavenly image in her selfe which disappeared in Adam there is danger to man in it for if Adam and Lucifer fell it may then easily so come to passe with man he being yet so strongly bound in vanity The bond of thy Promise must be faithfull before she will crowne thee thou must be tempted first and tried she taketh the beames of her love from thee againe to see whether thou wilt prove faithfull also she letteth thee stand and answereth thee not so much as with one looke of her love for before she will crowne thee thou must be judged that thou mightest tast the bitter potion which thou hast filled for thy selfe in thine abominations thou must come before the gates of hell first and there shew forth thy victory for her in her love in that strength wherewith she beheld thee in opposition to the devills aspect Christ was tempted in the wildernesse and if thou wilt put on him thou must go through his whole progresse from his Incarnation to his Assention and though thou art not able nor needest to doe that which he hath done yet thou must enter wholly into his processe and therein die continually from the vanity of the soule for the virgin Sophîa espouseth not her selfe to the soule except in this property which springeth up in the soule through the death of Christ as a new plant standing in heaven the earthly body cannot comprehend her in this life for it must first die from vanity but the heavenly Image which disappear'd in Adam viz. the true seede of the woman wherein God became man and into which he brought his living seede the heavenly substantiality is capable of the Pearle after the manner it came to passe in Mary in the limit of the Covenant Therefore take heede what thou dost when thou hast made thy promâ—se keepe it and then shee will crowne thee rather then thou wouldst be crowned but thou must be sure when the Tempter commeth to thee with the pleasure beauty and glory of the world that then thy minde reject it and say I must be a servant and not a master in the Vineyard of Christ I am but a servant of God in and over all that I have and I must doe with it as his Word teacheth me my heart must sit downe with the simple and lowly in the dust and be humble alwayes What state and condition soever thou art in humility must be in the front or else thou wilt not obtain her marriage the free will of thy soule must stand as a champion for it the devill cannot prevaile against the soule with vanity and if the soule will not bite at the baite then hee commeth with the soules nworthinesse and catalogue of sinnes and then thou must fight hard and here the merits of Christ must be set in the front or else the creature cannot prevaile against the devill for in this it goeth so terribly with many that the outward reason thinketh that person to be distracted and poâ—ened with the devill the devill defendeth himselfe so horribly in many especially if he have had a great Fort of prey in him that he must be stoutly assaulted before
he will depart and leave his fort of prey here heaven and hell are fighting one against the other Now if the soule continue constant and getteth the victory over the devill in all his aâ—â—aults disesteeming all temporall things for the love of its noble Sophia then the precious garland will be set upon it for a token of victory Here the virgine which manifesteth her selfe from the deare name JESUS with Christ the treader upon the Serpent Gods anointed commeth to the soule and kisseth it with her sweetest love in the essence most inwardly and impresseth her love into its desire for a token of victory and here Adam in his heavenly part riseth againe from death in Christ of which I cannot write for there is no pen in this world that can expresse it it is the wedding of the Lambe where the noble Pearle is sowne with very great triumph though in the beginning it be small like a graine of mustard-seed as Christ saith Now when the wedding is over the soule must take heed that this Tree oft spring and grow as it hath promised its Virgine For then the Devill will presently come with his tempestuous storme ungodly people who will scoffe at contemne and crie down this for madnesse and then a man must enter into the Processe of Christ under his crosse Here it will appeare indeed and in truth what Christians we are here he must suffe himselfe to be proclaimed a fooâ—e and ungodly wretch nay his greatest friends who favoured him or flattered him in the lusts of the flesh will now be his enemies and though they know not why yet they will hate him thus Christ hideth his Bride wholy under the crosse that she may not be knowne in this world The Devill also striveth that these children may be hidden from the world lest perhaps many such branches should grow in that Garden which he supposeth to be his This I have set downe for the Information of the Christian-minded Reader that he might know what to doe if the same should befall him A very earnest Prayer in Temptation Against Gods Anger in the Conscience and also against flesh and bloud when the Tempter cometh to the soule and wrestleth with it MOst deep Love of God in Christ Jesus leave me not in this distresse I confesse I am guilty of the sinnes which now rise up in my minde or conscience if thou forsake me I must sinke hast thou not promised me in thy word saying If a mother could forget her child which yet can hardly be yet thou wilt not forget me thou hast set me as a signe in thine hands which were pierced through with sharpe nailes and in thy open side whence bloud and water gushed out Poore man that I am I am caught in thy Anger and can in my ability doe nothing before thee I sink my selfe downe into thy wounds and death O Great Mercy of God I beseech thee deliver me from the Bonds of Satan I have no refuge in any thing but onely in thy holy wounds and death into thee I sinke downe in the anguish of my conscience doe with me what thou wilt In thee I will now live or die as pleaseth thee let me but die and perish in thy death do but bury me into thy death that the anguish of hell may not touch me How can I excuse my selfe before thee that knowest my heart and reines and settest my finnes before mine eyeâ— I am guilty of them and yeeld my self into thy Judgement accomplish thy Judgment upon me through the Death of my Redeemer Jesus Christ. I fly unto thee thou righteous Iudge through the Anguish of my Redeemer Iesus Christ when he did sweate the bloudy sweat on the Mount of olives for my sake and was scourged of Pontius Pilate for me and suffered a crown of thornes to be pressed on upon his head that his bloud came forth O Righteous God hast thou not set him in my stead he was innocent but I guilty for whom he suffered wherefore should I despaire under thy wrath O blot out thy anger in me through his anguish passion death I give my selfe wholly into his anguish passion death I will stand still in his anguish passion before thee do with me what thou pleasest onely let me not depart from his anguish thou hast freely given me his anguish and drowned thy Wrath in him and though I have not accepted it but am departed from him and am become faithlesse yet thou hast given me this precious pledge in my flesh and bloud for he hath taken my flesh and soule upon his heavenly flesh and bloud and hath satisfied the Anger in my flesh and soule in him with his heavenly bloud Therfore receive me now in his satisfaction and put his anguish passion and death in thy wrath which is kindled in me and breake thy Iudgement in me in the bloud of his love O Great Love in the Bloud and and Death of Iesus Christ I beseech thee breake the Fort of prey which the Devill hath made and built up in me where he resisteth me in the way of thy grace drive him out of me that he may not overcome me for no one living can stand in thy fight if thou withdraw thy hand from him O come thou breaker through the Anger of God destroy its power helpe my poore soule to fight and overcome it O bring me into thy victory and uphold me in thee breake in peeces its seate in my vanity that is kindled in my soule and flesh O mortifie the desire of my vanity in flesh and bloud which the Devill hath now kindled by his false desire by hellish anguish desperation O quench it with thy water of eternall life bring my anguish forth through thy death I wholy sink my selfe down into thee and though both soul and body should this houre faint and perish in thy wrath yet I will not let thee goe Though my heart saith utterly no no yet the desire of my soule shall hold fast on thy truth which neither death nor the devill shall take away from me For the Bloud of Iesus Christ the Sonne of God cleanseth us from all our sinnes this I lay hold on and let the Anger of God doe what it will with my sinne and let the Devill roare over my soule in his Fort of prey which he hath made as much as he will Neither the Devill Death nor Hell shall pull me out of my Saviours wounds Thou must at length be confounded in me thou noysome devill and thy fort of prey must be forsaken for I will drowne it in the love of Iesus Christ and then dwell in it if thou canst Amen An Information in Temptation BEloved Reader this is no jesting matter he that accounteth it so hath not tried it neither is he judged as yet and though it should be deferred till his last end which is dangerous yet he must passe through this Iudgement Happy
soule to come into thee my soule crieth to come into that Spirit from whence the soule was breathed into the body and which hath formed it in the likenesse of God my soule desireth in its thirst to get the sweete fountaine which springeth from IEHOVAH into it selfe to refresh Gods breath of Fire which it selfe is so that the sweete Love of IESVS may rise in its breath of Fire through the Fountaine IESVS springing out of IEHOVAH and that CHRIST the holy one may be manifested and become Man in my disappeared Image of heavenly spirituall corporality and that the poore soule may receive its beloved Bride againe in its Armes with whom it may rejoyce for ever O IMMANVEL thou Wedding Chamber God and Man I yeeld up my selfe into the Armes of thy Desire towards us in us it is thy selfe whom I desire O blot out the Anger of thy Father with thy love in me and strengthen my weake Image in mee that I may overcome and tame the vanity in flesh and bloud and serve thee in holinesse and righteousnesse O thou great and most holy Name and power of God IEHOVAH which hast stirred thy selfe with thy most sweete power IESVS in the limit of the Covenanted promise to our Father Adam in the womans seede in the Virgine Mary in our disappeared heavenly Humanity and brought the living essentiality of thy holy power in the Virgin-wisedome of God into our humanity which was extinguished as to thee and hast given it to us to be our life victory and new Regeneration I entreate thee with all my strength beget a new holy life in me by thy sweete power IESVS that I may be in thee and thou in me and that thy Kingdome may be made manifest in me and that the will and conversation of my soule may be in heaven O great and incomprehensible God thou who fillest all things be thou my Heaven in which my new Birth in CHRIST IESVS may dwell let my spirit be the stringed Instrument harmony sound and joy of thy holy Spirit strike the strings in me in thy Regenerate Image and carry through my Harmony into thy Divine Kingdome of Joy in the great Love of God in the wonders of thy Glory and Majesty in the Communion of the holy Angelicall Harmony build up the holy City Zion in me in which as children of Christ we all live together in one City which is Christ in us into thee I wholly plunge my self do with me what thou pleasest Amen A Prayer In temptation under the Crosse of Christ at that time when all our enemies assault us and when we are persecuted and hated in the Spirit of Christ and slandered and reproached as evill doers POore man that I am I walke full of anguish and trouble in my Pilgrimage into my native Country again from whence I came in Adam and goe through the thistles and thornes of this world to thee againe O God my Father The thornes teare me on every side and I am afflicted and despised by my enemies they scorne my soule and despise it as an evill doer who hath broken the faith with them they despise my walking towards thee account it foolish they thinke I am senselesse because I walke in this thorny way and goe not along with them in their hypocriticall way O Lord Jesus Christ I flie to thee under the Crosse O deare Immanuel receive me and carry me into thy selfe through the Path of thy Pilgrimage in which thy selfe didst walke in this world viz. Through thy Incarnation Poverty Reproach and Scorne also through thy anguish Passion and Death Make me like unto thy Image send thy good Angel along with me to shew me the way through the horrible thorny wildernesse of this world assist me in my misery comfort me with that comfort wherewith the Angel comforted thee in the Garden when thou didst pray to thy Father and didst sweat drops of bloud sustaine me in my Anguish and Perfecution under the reproach of the devills and all wicked men that know not thee but refuse to walke in thy way O great love of God they know not thy way and doe this in blindnesse through the deceit of the devill have pitty on them and bring them out of blindnesse into the light that they may learne to know themselves and how they lie captive in the filth and mire of the devill in a darke dungeon fast bound with three chaines O great God have mercy upon Adam and his children redeeme them in Christ the new Adam I flie to thee O Christ God and Man in this Pilgrimage which I must passe in this darke valley every where dispised and troubled and accounted an ungodly wicked man O Lord it is thy judgement upon me that my sinnes and inbred vanity may be judged in this pilgrimage before thee and I as a curse be made an open spectacle on which thy Anger may satiate it selfe and thereby may take the eternall reproach away from mee It is the token of thy love and thereby thou bringest me into the reproach anguish suffering and death of my Saviour Jesus Christ that so I may die from vanity in my Saviour and spring up in his Spirit with my new life through his reproach and ignominie through his Death I beseech thee O Christ thou patient Lamb of God grant me patience in my way of the Crosse through all thy anguish reproach thy death and passion thy scorne and contempt upon the Crosse where thou wert despised in my stead and bring me therein as a patient Lamb to thee into thy victory Let me live with thee and in thee and convert my persecutors which unknowne to themselves by their reproaching sacrifice my vanity and inbred sinnes before thy Anger they know not what they doe they thinke they doe me harme but they doe me good they doe that for me which I should doe my selfe before thee I should daily lay open and acknowledge my shame before thee and thereby sinke my selfe downe into the death of thy beloved Sonne that my shame might die in his death but I being too too negligent weary faint and feeble therefore thou usest them in thy Anger to open and discover my vilenesse before thy Anger which thy wrath taketh hold of and sinketh it downe into the death of my Saviour O mercifull God my vaine flesh cannot know how well thou intendest towards me when thou sufferest my Enemies to take my vilenesse from me and sacrifice it before thee my earthly minde supposeth that thou afflictest me for my sinnes and I am extreamely perplexed at it but thy Spirit in my inward new man telleth me that it is of thy love towards me that thou intendest good to me by it when thou sufferest my enemies to persecute me it is best for me that they performe the worke in my stead and unfold my sins before thee in thy anger that it may swallow them up that
can also enter into that whereinto Man bringeth the desire of his soul which is also from the eternall in wickednesse 11. For the originall of the soule and of Angels out of the eternall is the same But the Divell hath no power more over the time or temporary condition of this world but in the great Turba wheresoever that kind leth it selfe in the eternall and naturall wrath there he is busie as in warres fighting and strife as also in great tempests without water in the fire he proceedeth as farre as the Turba goeth in great showres and tempests of thunder lightning and haile but he cannot direct them for he is not Lord or Master in them but servant 12. Thus the creature stirreth up with the desire good and evill life and death The Humane Angelicall desire standeth in the center of the eternall Nature which is without beginning and wherein it kindleth it selfe whether in good or evill it accomplisheth its work in that 13. Now God created every thing for and in that wherein it should be the Angels for and in heaven and Man for and in Paradise if therefore the desire of the creature goe forth from its own mother then it entreth into the contrary will and into enmity and it is tormented with the contrariety therein and so a false will ariseth in a good and thence the good will entreth into its nothing again viz. into the end of Nature and Creature and so leaveth the creature in its own evill or wickednesse as appeareth by Lucifer and also by Adam and had not the will of the love of God met with him and of meere mercy entred into the humanity again there could be no good will in man 14. Therefore all speculation and searching about Gods will is a vain thing without the mind be converted For when the mind stādeth captivated in the selfe-desire of the earthly life it cannot o comprehend what the will of God is it runneth on but in Selfe from one way into another and yet findeth no rest for selfe-desire evermore bringeth disquietnesse but when it sinketh it selfe wholly into the mercy of God desiring to die from it selfe and to have Gods will for a guide to the understanding so that it acknowledgeth and esteemeth it selfe as nothing and willeth nothing but what God will and then if the desire of anger in the earthly flesh goe along or joyneth with the Devils imagination and assaulteth the will of the soule then the resigned desire crieth to God and saith Abba Ioving father deliver me from the evill And then though the earthly wil should grow too strong in the wrath of God by the infection of the Devill the desire of anger would work but in or upon it selfe as St. Paul saith Now if I sin I doe it not but sin that dwelleth in my flesh also now I serve the Law of God in my mind but in my flesh the law of sinne Paul meaneth not that the will should consent in the will of the flesh but sin is so strong in the flesh viz. the awakened anger of God in Selfe that oftentimes it is brought into lust by force through the evill provocations of wicked men or else by beholding worldly pomp and glory so that it wholly bedeafeth the resigned will and ruleth by force 15. Now when sin is wrought in the flesh then the wrath sporteth it selfe therewith and catcheth at the resigned will and then the resigned will crieth to God for deliverance from the evill and prayeth that God would remove the sinne away from it aud bring sin into the center viz. into death that it might die 16. And S. Paul saith further Now there is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus that are called according to the purpose of God that is those that in that purpose of God in which God called man are again called in the same calling to stand again in that purpose of God wherein he created man to be his likenesse and image of him 17. So long as a mans own will standeth in Selfe so long it is not in the purpose and calling of God it is not called for it is gone forth from its own place but when the mind turneth it selfe back again into the calling viz. into Resignation then the will is in the calling of God viz in the place for and in which God created it and then it hath power to become the child of God as it is written He hath given us power to become the children of God 18. The power which he hath given us is his purpose for and in which he created Man in his Image this God hath brought again into the humanity and he hath given power unto that power to break the head of sinne in the flesh viz. the will and desire of the Serpent that is the resigned will in Christ treadeth upon the head of the desire of the sinful wil of the Serpent and killeth again the sins which were committed This power that is given becommeth a death to death and the power of life to life 19. Therefore no man can make any excuse as if he could not will Indeed while he sticketh fast in himselfe in his own desire and serveth onely the law of sinne in the flesh he cannot For he is kept back as being a servant of sinne but when he turneth the center of his mind away and turneth it into the will and obedience of God then he can 20. Now the center of the mind is come out of eternity out of Gods Omnipotence it can bring it selfe into what it will and whither it will for that which 〈◊〉 out of the eternall hath no Law but the will hath a law to obey God and is born out of the mind and it must not rent it selfe away from that out of which God created it 21. Now God created the will of the mind for and in Paradise to be a companion with him in the Kingdom of divine joy it ought not to have removed it selfe from thence but since it hath removed it self from thence God hath brought his will again into the flesh in his new-brought-in will hath given us power to bring our will into it and to kindle a new light in it and so to become his children again 22. God hardeneth no man but his own will which goeth on in the flesh of sin that hardeneth the mind viz. the will of Self bringeth the vanity of this world into the mind and so the mind is shut up and continueth so 23. God so far as he is called God is God cannot will any eivll for there is but one onely wil◠in God and that is eternall love a desire of thatwhich is his like viz. Power Beauty and Vertue 24. God desireth nothing but what is like his desire his desire receiveth nothing but what it selfe is 25. God receiveth no finner into his power and vertue unlesse the sinner goe forth from his sinnes
calleth thee now in love but thou wilt not heare for thy eares are stopt with covetousnesse and voluptuousnesse Therefore the found of the Trumpet shall once shiver thee with the hard thunder-clap of thy Turba and awaken thee if perhaps thou wilt yet seek and finde the sweet child Jesus 55. Beloved brethren this is a time of seeking of seeking and of finding It is a time of earnestnesse whom it toucheth it toucheth home he that watcheth shall hear and see it but he that sleepeth in sin and saith in the fat dayes of his belly All is peace and quiet we heare no sound from the Lord he shall be blind But the voyce of the Lord hath sounded in all the ends of the earth and a smoke riseth and in the midst of the smoke there is a great brightnesse and splendor Ha le lu-Jah Amen Shout unto the Lord in Zion For all Mountains and Hills are full of his Glory he flourisheth like a green Branch and who shall hinder it Ha le lu JAH The end of the 2d Book THE THIRD BOOK OF REGENERATION OR The New-Birth Shewing how he that earnestly seeketh salvation must suffer himself to be brought out of the confused and contentious Babel by the Spirit of Christ that he may be born anew in the Spirit of CHRIST and live to him onely Written in the German Language Anno 1622 By JACOB BEHMEN Alias Teutonicus Philosophus LONDON Printed by M. S. for H. Blunden at the Castle in Corn-hill 1648. REVEL 18. 4. Come out of Babylon my people that yee bee not partakers of her sinnes and that yee receive not of her plagues For her sins have reached unto Heaven and God hath remembred her iniquity THE AUTHORS Preface to the Reader THough I have in my other Writings set down a clear Description of Regeneration or the New Birth from the ground thereof yet because ery one hath them not neither hath every one the capacity to understand them I have therefore as a service to the simple children of Christ here set down a short-summe concerning the New Birth But if any desire to search the deep Ground from whence all floweth and have the gift to understand it let them read these Books following I. The there Principles of the Divine Essence II. The three-fold life of Man III. The 40 Questions of the Originall Essence Substance Nature and Property of the Soule IV. The Incarnation and Birth of Jesus Christ the Sonne of God also of his suffering death and resurrection V. The six points treating of the three words how they are in one another as one and yet make three Principles viz. three Births or Centers VI. The Mysterium Magnum which is an Interpretation upon Genesis And in them he shall find all that he can ask and that as deep as the mind of man is able to reach I have written this for the true Israelites that is for the hungry and thirsty Harts that long after the Fountain of Christ who are my fellow members in the Spirit of Christ But not for the Ishmaelites and Scorners For they have a Book within them wherewith they vex persecute and suppresse the children of Christ that are under the Crosse and yet though it be against their wills they must be servants to the children of Christ though indeed they doe not understand so much OF REGENERATION CHAP. I. Shewing how Man should consider himselfe 1 CHRIST said Except yee turn and become as children yee shal not see the Kingdome of God Again he said to Nicodemus Except a man be born a-new of Water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God for that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit Joh. 3. 5 6. 2. Also the Scripture witnesseth plainly that the fleshly Naturall Man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishnesse unto him neither can he know them or conceive them 3. Now seing that all of us have flesh and bloud and are mortall as we see by experience and yet the Scripture saith that we are the Temple of the holy Ghost who dwelleth in us and that the kingdome of God is within us and that CHRIST must be formed in us also that he will give us his flesh for food and his bloud for drink and saith further Whosoever shall not eat of the flesh of the Sonne of Man he hath no life in him Therefore we should seriously consider what kind of man in us it is that is capable of being thus like the Deity 4. For it cannot be said of the mortall flesh that turneth to earth again and liveth in the vanity of this world and contînually Iusteth against God that it is the Temple of the holy Ghost much lesse can it be said that the New-birth commeth to passe in this earthly flesh which dyeth and putrifieth and is a continuall House of sin 5. Yet seeing it remaineth true that a true Christian is born of CHRIST and that the New-birth is the Temple of the' holy Ghost which dwelleth in us and that the new Man onely that is born of Christ partaketh of the flesh and bloud of Christ it appeareth that it is not so easie a matter to be a Christian 6. And that Christianity doth not consist in the meere knowing of the History and applying the knowledge thereof to our selves onely in saying that Christ died for us and hath destroyed death and turned it into life in us and that he hath paid the ransome for us so that we need do nothing but comfort our selves with this and stedfastly beleeve that it is so 7. For we find in our selves that sin is living lusting strong and powerfully working in the flesh and therefore it must be somewhat else that doth not co-operate in the flesh of sin nor willeth sin that is the New-birth in Christ. 8. For St. Paul saith There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus And further should we that are Christians be yet sinners God forbid seeing wee are dead to sinne in Christ. 9. Besides the Man of sinne cannot be the Temple of the holy Ghost and yet there is no man that sinneth not For God hath shut up all under sinne For the Scripture saith No one living is righteous in thy sight if thou imputest his sinnes to him The righteous man falleth seven times a day and yet it cannot be meant that the righteous falleth and sinneth but his mortall and sinfull man 10. For the righteousnesse of a Christian in Christ cannot sinne For St. Paul saith Our conversation is in heaven from whence we expect our Saviour Jesus Christ. Now if our conversation be in heaven then heaven must be in us Christ dwelleth in heaven and then if we are his Temple that Temple Heaven must hee in us 11. But for all this seeing sinne tempteth us within us whereby the Devill hath within us an accesse to us therefore hell also
themselves under the Trees of the Garden of Eden heat and cold also seized on them 69. And here the Heaven in Man trembled for horror as the earth did quake in wrath when this anger was destroyed on the Crosse with the sweet love of God there the anger trembled before the sweet love of God 70. And for this vanities sake which was thus awakened in Man God cursed the earth lest the holy Element should spring forth any more through the outward fruit and bring forth Paradisicall fruit for there was no creature could then have enjoyed it neither was the earthly Man worthy of it any more 71. God would not cast the pretious Pearles before Beasts an ungodly man in his body being but a meere grosse beastiall creature and though it be of a noble Essence yet it is wholly poysoned and loathsome in the sight of God 72. Now when God saw that his faire Image was spoyled he opened himselfe before them and had pitty on them and promised himselfe to them for an everlasting possession and that with his great love in the received humanity he would destroy the power of the Serpentine property viz. of vanity in the wrath of God with love And this was the breaking of the head of the Serpent which he would perform viz. he would destroy the dark Death and subdue the anger with his great love 73. And this covenant of his incarnation which was to come he put into the light of life to which Covenant the Jewish sacrifices pointed as to a mark to which God had promised himselfe with his love For the Faith of the Jewes entred into the Sacrifices and offerings and Gods imagination entred into the covenant 74. And the offering was a figure of the Restitution of that which Adam had lost and so God did expiate his anger in the humane property through the offering in the limit of the covenant 75. In which covenant the most holy sweet Name JESUS proceeding out of the holy Name and great power JEHOVAH had incorporated it selfe so that he would again move and manifest himselfe in the substance of the heavenly world which disappeared in Adam and kindle the holy divine life therein again 76. This mark or limit of the covenant was propagated from Adam and his children from Man to Man and did goe through from one upon all as sinne also and the awaked vanity did go through from one upon all 77. And it stood in the promise of the covenant at the end in the root of David in the virgin Mary who was in the inward Kingdome of the hidden humanity viz of the essentiality that disappeared as to the Kingdome of God the daughter of Gods covenant but in the outward according to the naturall humanity she was begotten by her true bodily father Joachim and her true mother Anna out of the Essences and substance of their soules and bodies like all other children of Adam a true daughter of Eve 78 In this Mary from the Virgin in the promised limit of the Covenant of which all the Prophets have prophesied the eternal speaking Word which hath created all things hath in the fulnesse of time moved it self in the name of JESUS according to its highest and deepest love and humility and hath brought living divine and heavenly substantiality into the humanity of the heavenly part which was disappeared in Adam from which he dyed in Paradise into the seed of Mary viz. into the Tincture of love viz. into that property wherin Adam should have propagated himselfe in a Magical and heavenly manner viz. into the true seed of the woman of heavenly substantiality which disappeared in Paradise 79. And when the Divine Light in the heavenly Essence was extinguished the Word of God viz. the divine power of the divine understanding did bring in heavenly and living Substantiality and awakened the disappeared Substantiality in the seed of Mary and brought it to life 80. And so now Gods Substance wherein God dwelleth and worketh and the disappeared Substance of man are become one person For the holy Divine Substantiality did anoynt the disappeared therefore that person is called CHRISTUS the anointed of God 81. And this is the dry Rod of Aaron that blossomed and bare Almonds and the true high Priest and it is that humanity of which Christ spake saying that he was come from heaven and was in heaven and that no man could ascend into heaven but the Son of man which is come from heaven and is in heaven John 3. 13. 82. Now when he saith He is come from heaven it is meant of the heavenly Substance the heavenly Corporality for the power and vertue of God needeth no comming any whither for it is every where altogether unmeasurable and undivided But Substance needeth comming the power or vertue needeth to move it selfe and manifest it selfe in Substance 83. And that substance entred into the Humane substance and received it and not that part onely of hevenaly substantiality which disappeared in Adam but the whole humane Essence in soule and flesh according to all the three Worlds 84. But the awakened and impressed vanity which the Devill by his imagination brought into the flesh by which the flesh did commit sinne he hath not received that nor taken that upon him he hath indeed received the awakened formes of life as they were gone forth from their equall agreement each of them into their own desire 85. For herein lay our infirmity and the death which he was to drown with his heavenly holy blood Herein he took upon himselfe all our sins and infirmities also Death and Hell in the wrath of God and destroyed the Devill in the humane properties 86. The wrath of God was the Hell into which the Spirit of Christ went when he had shed that heavenly bloud into our outward humane bloud and tinctured it with the love and changed that hell of the humane property into heaven and reduced the humane properties into equall agreement into the heavenly Harmony CHAP. IV. How we are born a-new and how we also fall into Gods anger again 87. NOw here we may rightly understand what our New-birth and Regeneration is and how we may be and continue to be the Temple of God though in this lifes time according to the outward humanity we are sinful mortall men 88. Christ in the humane essence hath broken up and opened the gates of our inward heavenly humanity which was shut up in Adam so that nothing remaineth wanting but that the soule bring its will out from the vanity of the corrupted flesh and bring it into this open gate in the Spirit of Christ. 89 Great and strong earnestnesse is required here and not onely a learning and knowing but a hunger and great thirst after the Spirit of Christ For to know onely is no faith but an hunger and thirst after that which I desire so that I imagine it to my self and lay hold on it with the
those children that come to him are his reward which he hath merited and deserved 128. For thus he sayd Father the men were thine and thou hast given them to me as my reward and I will give them eternall life But the life of Christ will be given to none unlesse they come to him in his Spirit into his humanity suffering and merit and in his merit be born a true child of the merit 129 We must be born of his Merit put on the merit of Christ in his passion and death not outwardly with verbal flattery with bare comforting of our selves and still remain aliens and strange children of a strange Essence No the strange Essence inheriteth not the childship but the innate essence inheriteth it 130. This innate essence is not of this world but in heaven of which St. Paul speaketh saying Our conversation is in heaven the filiall essence walketh in Heaven and Heaven is in man 131. But if heaven in man be not open and a man stand without heaven flattering himselfe and say I am still without but Christ will receive me in by his grace is not his merit mine Such a one is in vanity and sinne with the outward man and with the soule in Hell viz. in the anger of God 132. Therefore learn to understand rightly what Christ hath taught us and done for us he is our heaven he must get a forme in us or else we shall not be in heaven Thus then the soules inward man with the holy body of Christ viz. in the New-birth is in heaven and the outward mortall man is in the world of which Christ spake saying My sheep are in my hand and none shall plucke them away the Father which gave them to me is greater then all CHAP. VI. Of the right and of the wrong going to Church receiving the Sacraments and Absolution 133. BEloved brethren we will tell you faithfully not with flattering lips to please the Antichrist but from our Pearle from a Christian essence and knowledge not from the husk and History but from a filiall Spirit from Christs knowledge as a Branch growing on the Vine Christ from the measure of that knowledge which is opened in us according to the counsell of God 134. Men tye us now-a-dayes to the History to the Materiall Churches of stone which were indeed good in their kind if men did also bring the Temple of Christ into them And men teach that their absolution is a forgiving of sinnes c. That the Supper of the Lord taketh away sinne Also that the Spirit of God is infused into men by the Ministery All this hath a proper meaning if it were truly expounded and if men did not cleave meerly to the Husk 135. Many a man goeth to Church twenty of thirty yeares heareth Sermons receiveth the Sacraments and some heare Absolution read or declared and yet is as much a Beast of the Devill and vanity at the last as at the first A Beast goeth into the Church and to the Supper and a Beast commeth out from thence again 136. How will he eat that hath no mouth How will he heare that hath no hearing Can any man eat that Food which is so shut up that he cannot get it How will he drink that can come by no water 137. What good doth it to me to goe to the material Churches of stone and there fill my eares with empty breath Or to goe to the Supper and feed nothing but the earthly mouth which is mortall and corruptible cannot I feed and satisfie it with a peece of bread at home What good doth it to the soule which is an immortall life to have the beastiall man observe the form of Christs Institution if it cannot obtain the Jewell of the Institution For St. Paul saith of the Supper You receive it to judgement because yee discerne not the Lords body 138. The covenant stands firm and is stirred in the use of the Institution Christ proffereth his Spirit to us in his Word viz. in his preached Word and his Body and Bloud in the Sacrament and his absolution in a brotherly reconciliation one to another 139. But what good doth it to a Beast to stand and listen and yet hath no hearing to receive the inward living Word nor any vessell wherein to lay the Word that it may bring forth fruit of whom Christ saith the Devill plucketh the Word out of their hearts least they beleeve and be saved But how can he doe so Yes being the word findeth no place in the hearing to stick fast in 140. And thus it is with Absolution what good doth it me for one to say I pronounce or declare to thee the absolution of thy sinnes when the soule is wholly shut up in sinne Whosoever saith thus to a sinner so shut up erreth and he that receiveth it without the voyce of God within himselfe deceiveth himselfe None can forgive sins but God onely 141. The mouth of the Preacher hath not forgivenesse of sinnes in his own power but it is the Spirit of Christ in the voice of the Priests mouth that hath the power if he be also a Christian. 142. What good did it do to those that heard Christ himselfe teaching on earth when he sayd Come unto me all yee that are weary and are heavy laden I will give you rest What good did it to those that heard it and yet laboured not nor were heavy laden What became of the refreshment or rest then being they had dead eares and heard onely the outward Christ and not the word of the Divine power surely they were not refreshed and so much good the bestiall man hath also of his absolution and so much good also the Sacraments doe him 143. The covenant now is open in the Sacraments and in the office of teaching also the covenant is stirred the soule doth enjoy it but in that property the mouth of the Soule is of 144. That is the outward Beast receiveth bread and wine which it may have as well at home And the fiery soule receiveth the Testament according to its property viz. in the anger of God it receiveth the substance of the eternall world but according to the property of the dark-world as the mouth is so is the food also which belongeth to the mouth he receiveth it to his own judgement or condemnation And after that manner the wicked shall behold Christ at the last judgement as a severe Judge but the Saints shall behold him as a loving Immanuel 145. Gods anger standeth open in his Testaments towards the wicked but towards the Saints the heavenly loving kindnesse and in it the power of Christ in the holy name JESUS standeth open What good doth the holy thing doe to the wicked that cannot enjoy it And what then is it that can take away his sinnes when his sinne is but stirred and made manifest by it 146. The Sacraments doe not take away sinne neither are sinnes forgiven