as betweene a woman and a serpent And I wish all this were sufficient to perswade the soule to give consent to the divorce and death of this usurping and bloudy husband without whose death there can be no marriage betweene her happines for though all reason and right doe joyne for his removal yet power and possession and union worke mightily for him The friends of the Bridegroome cry aloud Put off the olde man corrupt throgh deceiuable lusts put on the new created in righteousnes and holines And If ye live after the flesh ye shall die but if ye mortifie the deedes of the flesh by the spirit ye shall live And Abstaine from fleshly lusts which fight against the soule The authority love and reasons of these voices deserve to be heard perswading the soule to no other but a separation from a deadly enemy who can give her no dower but death eternall And I wish that thus yet the soule may be perswaded And when the soule is come even to the point of perswasion even then will lust come weeping after the soule like the false husband of Michal hee will raise up in her remembrance the images of grosse and filthy pleasures to awake the old unhappy love and to cause a cruell and unmercifull pitty For a cruell pitty it is when the soule pitties her owne murtherer and not her owne murther But rather put on a mercifull cruelty being mercifull to thy selfe by killing him that would kill thee It is better he should endure one death who is not worthy to live than that a soule should be ever dying which should live for ever If thou kill not lust now hee must shortly die with the death of the body and this short life of his will cost thee everlasting death but if thou kill him presently who must die shortly by this small oddes of death thou preservest to thy selfe everlasting life Wherefore that which shall shortly be necessary make it presently voluntary and so shalt thou turne necessity into a sacrifice even a freewill offering and by his death thou shalt change thy owne death into life eternall And know that they are but false teares which lust doth shed and his cryes are lyes for there is no such happinesse in his union as his teares would tell thee but thy happines is then most when thou art gotten free from lust even when lust is dead and the soule new maried to her Saviour For the first soule was happy before she was maried to lust and miserable onely after that accursed mariage To bee without lust is a true Paradise for man had not this lust when hee was first placed in Paradise neither could Paradise endure man when this lust was placed in him Therefore the true way to returne to Paradise or the state of happines wherof it was a type is to put off this lust wherewith began our misery And lust being put off frō the soule by death and she new maried to the Lord of life then will she say that she was never happy till then and that her former imaginary happinesse was but painted and glittering misery She will looke on dead lust as on a loathsome carkasse and shee will loath the remembrance of her former not loves but adulteries she will be like one awaked from a foolish dreame or an inchanted love and shee will wonder that shee hath so long beene bewitched with vanity folly sinne and misery But withall in her new mariage having tasted how sweete her Lord is shee will wonder and lament that shee hath so long lacked this sweetnesse Excesse of joy will be to her a cause of sorrow for her joy is now so great that she is sorry shee was no sooner partaker of this joy And in this joyfull sorrow shee will kisse the feete of her Lord and weepe on them while she kisseth them The feete of her Lord are now more precious to her than the head and top of lust for therefore she kisseth them because she loveth thē and therefore she weepeth because she hath loved lust so long a time and her Lord so little For lust that once falsly appeared to her as her greatest joy now truly appeares to her as her greatest sorrow and her now Lord in whom before she tooke no delight now appeares to be her chiefest and truest joy And both these her teares doe tell us CAP. III. The happinesse of the soule in her second Marriage NAbal being dead David marries his wife lusts name is Nabal and folly is with him and folly being dead the Sonne of David yea the Sonne of God who is the highest wisdome marriage A right kindly and blessed marriage wherein a spirit marries with a spirit a derived spirit with the originall and and roote of spirits yea with a spirit that hath abundance of spirit and so can continually refresh and nourish her with a new supply of spirit For being thus fed and supplied with a sap of her owne kinde shee growing in being and well-being she is more spirituall by receiving more juice and fatnesse of the spirit and consequently more full of divine light beauty love vertue power life joy and glory Behold the highest knot of blessednesse on earth and a preparation yea a pledge of the highest happinesse in heaven And though this inchoate marriage here on earth compared to the consummate marriage in heaven seeme but like to a betrothing yet even this betrothing compared to earthly marriages casts a shadow of darknesse on them for all the beauty all the glory all the joy in the world are but beames rayes flashes of this King of glory beauty and joy By him were all things made that were made and therfore the goodnesse of the things that are made by him must be borrowed of him that made them and then must the borrowed goodnesse needes be ashamed to be compared with his goodnesse that gave or lent it Christ Iesus is all lights in one light all glories in one glory all beauties in one beauty all joyes in one joy Whē he gave light and glory and beauty and joy to the creature he left the roote of light and glory and beauty and joy in himselfe So did he leave infinitely more in himselfe than hee gave out of himselfe for an internall and infinite fountaine hath infinitely more in it than all the streames that ever issued from it and hee is a fountaine for largenes unlimited and for spring without beginning and ending The dew of his birth is of the wombe of the morning even of that morning which hath an everlasting rising and shall be free from setting for all eternities Thus the soule being united to him is united to an eternall roote and fountaine of blessednes she is lightened with the primitive light she enjoyeth the primitive beauty she is adorned with the primitive glory shee tasteth the radicall utmost and uppermost sweetnesse Being made one with him who is God she hath the
teach thee they teach thee that Christ is better than his gifts and that Christs love is better than the gifts of his love Therefore learne especially to fasten thy love on Christ and next on his love and thinke thy selfe happy enough in having thē though thou hast nothing but them yea know also that thou hast them even when thou hast them not they are thine when thou seest or feelest not that they are thine He and his love see thee when thou seest them not yea they love thee when thou feelest them not and he and his love are better than the seeing and feeling of him and his love and it is better for thee that they are thine than that they doe appeare to be thine Yea it is good for thee somtimes that they do not appeare to be thine that thou maist love them better then their appearing to bee thine and this love do thou learne even from their not appearing Yea farther Christ and his love are thine even when he chideth and chastiseth thee for it is his very love that chideth and chastiseth thee And he doth it to purge thy blemishes to trie and exercise thy vertues and amonge others this excellent love which loveth him chastening Therefore though he kill thee do thou trust in him and love him for Hee that loveth thee so that hee gave his owne life for thee may well be trusted with thy life For his owne life was infinitly better then thy life hee that gave so precious a life for thy good will not take so meane a life from thee but for thy good Hence it is that even by loosing thy life thou shalt finde it and thou shalt finde it with him for whom thou loosest it for thou shalt finde it hid with Christ in God And when Christ which is thy life shall appeare thē shal this hid life appeare with him but not such a fraile and base life as that which thou gavest for him but a glorious immortall and incorruptible life shall that be which he will give unto thee Therefore at all times and in all estates even in darkest desertions and greatest sufferings trust him whose love turnes all things to good unto his beloved even death unto life For bee thou assured that this Almighty husband out of this eater will bring meate and out of this strong one will bring forth sweetnes He himselfe broke the gates and barres of death and carried thē away and so made away open for us to eternall life He quickened himselfe whē he dyed an universall death even when all our deaths were included in his death And as we all dyed in his death so in his quickning rising doe we all rise againe as the universall death of the head is given particularly to all the members so shall the vniversall Resurrection of the Head be also particularly communicated to the members Much more easily in the desertions of this life which are a kinde of sownings and seeming deaths will he give thee life againe when thou hast learned by them that which thou wouldst not learne without them When thou lovest Christ alone when thou lovest him hiding himselfe chastising thee then he that said to the woman O woman great is thy faith be it unto thee even as thou wilt He will say to the Spouse O woman great is thy love be it unto thee as thou wilt Thou willest him most be it unto thee even as thou wilt For when thou willest him most thou shalt have him whom thou willest most he will come unto thee yea hee will come much unto thee and thy latter end shall be more then thy beginning By wanting him shalt thou have him more then thou hadst before thou wantedst him because by wanting him thou dost love him more then thou didst when thou haddest him Fifthly these Desertions are profitable to the Soule by teaching her patience and by making patience to bring forth her kindly fruites wayting and attendance The husband of the soule is a King of glory and he will sometimes expect the honour and service of patient attendance He is a free agent and his Spirit bloweth when as well as where he listeth And to a free agent there is due a waiting patience He that gives freely gives when himselfe will give and not still when the receiver will have In this case he will answer his Spouse as hee did his Mother Woman my houre is not yet come There are times and tides wherein the spirit moveth as it is said of Sampson The spirit of the Lord moved him at times in the campe of Dan The Angel of the Lord not alwayes but at a certaine season went downe and moved the waters Now these times and seasons are in his owne hands and it is not in the soules power to know and appoint them Therefore as the eyes of the handmaides are to the hands of her Mistresse so must the eyes of the spouse be to her Lord untill hee regard her Her part is patience and attendance and the patient abiding of the righteous shall not perish for ever When the soule hath submitted her will unto his will the Lords houre wil shortly come wherein the water shall be turned into wine the water of colde desertions into the warming and comfortable wine of joyfull visitations When thy Lord hath the honour and service due to a most free and wise giver then shalt thou have the crowne of thy patience and attendance For God hath given his word that those which honour him he will honour and againe Waite on the Lord and commit thy way to him and he shall bring it to passe A blessed waiting which honoureth the Lord and blesseth his handmaid and a blessed absence that procures this waiting which draweth his presence accompanied with blessednesse But take heede that thy patience be not the effect of dulnesse or neglect nor a cause of idlenesse be not patient in the absence of thine husband because thou carest not for his presence desire his presence above all earthly joyes and the shining of his countenance above all corn and wine But let thy patience be meerely grounded in a submission to his will and let his will be the cause that thy will is content to want that which above all the world it desireth And this desire thou maist expresse in prayers praying to drinke the cuppe of salvation as Christ prayed not to drinke the cup of his passiō but with Christs reservation even with a will submitted to the will of God Not when I will but when thou wilt Thou maist say unto him My soule thirsteth for God even for the living God And thou maist sigh out this longing unto thy Saviour When wilt thou come unto mee And thou maist looke for him more than they that watch for the morning even more than they that watch for the morning For blessed shalt thou be if when he comes
as a thiefe and adulterer A theefe he is for he hath stollen the foule from her first Lord and husband even the Lord that made her and an adulterer he is for he lives with her that belongs to another and while hee lives with her he keeps her not for love but lust wherefore let the soule give her consent to his death that thereby her true husband may recover his right in her and that she may receive her true husband and in him life liberty and felicity And indeed she may well be weary of the old for her living with him is most unreasonable most slavish and most miserable It is most unreasonable for there is no sense in the mariage of a soule with lust What good can lust do to a soule there being no likenesse but a meere contrariety betweene them and wee know that things are cherished and augmented by their like but they are destroyed by their contraries The soule is light and lust is darknesse and can darknesse give any increase of being or wellbeing to light Yea doth not darknesse goe about to lessen to quench and kill light Againe lust hath in it a venome contrary to goodnesse and can evill give any accesse or addition of goodnesse to the soule Yea this venome hath in it a force and power to draw the wil and affections from that soveraigne good which is the true and onely beatificall object of the soule and to glue and fasten her to objects of vanity yea of death and misery Againe the soule in her substance is a spirit and what kindly or naturall pleasure or profit can a spiritual essence receive from grosse and fleshly lust The soule hath no savour in the ranke and grosse pleasures of the flesh but they are to her as the onions and garlike of Egypt to a dainty delicate taste Surely so well may the earth lighten the Sunne and a tempest give rest to the sea as lust can give light or life or rest or happinesse to the soule but darknesse and death and misery it can and doth give and so under the shape of an husband it is a cruell enemy and a very murtherer of the soule And surely hee could be no other but a mortall enemy of the soule that made such a marriage betweene the soule and her mortall enemy And hee had neede to be as cunning as malicious to put a shew of reason upon a match so absurd and unreasonable And if in a second place wee beholde the slavery of the soule in this marriage with lust the teares that bewailed the virginity of Iephthahs daughter are not sufficient to bewaile this slavish marriage The body commands the soule earth heaven and dust that noble and divine essence which was breathed into man even from Gods owne mouth and had his owne image imprinted on it Neither is it the body of dust onely that commands the heavenly soule but the body it selfe being commanded by lust doth command the soule so is lust the chiefe lord both of body and soule even a certaine venome itch and fury dwelling in this earth of man There may be some proportion betweene the dust which God turned into a body and that soule which God made with his breath though in a large and remote distance and difference But betweene the soule which God made according to his owne image and this blinde and wilde lust which God made not in man there is no portion or part of proportion whereupon any right or power of command may be grounded Yet in this base and wretched marriage vile and odious lust spurs up the soule with his commands and makes her to trudge up and down in businesses of darknesse filthinesse and wretchednes The soule is set on work in things that are no kin to her no good to her yea that are contrary to her being and well-being For contrary they are to that image of God which is in her and consequently contrary to that God whose image this is and to whō this image points and leades her as to her soveraigne good And thus have wee a third mischiefe of this marriage even misery annexed to slavery For as the image of God in the soule turnes the eye and heart of the soule to looke unto God her chiefe happinesse so lust turnes about the eye and heart of the soule from her happinesse and what can her prospect and object be then but misery And if the eye of the soule happen to cast up some glances to heaven and happinesse yet the heart even the will and affections are hurried away by this lust to objects and workes of vanity and misery so that the soule can onely say I see the better things and follow the worse I see happines and runne after misery Thus by slavery shee buyeth misery and slavery it selfe being misery by misery she earneth misery And indeed is it not the true misery of an Egyptian bondage that the soule should bee still set on worke by lust in a fiery fornace yea be beaten and tormented when shee doth not worke though her worke concerne her selfe nothing but onely to strengthen her owne bondage and to increase her owne misery And indeede therefore is she kept so hard at this worke that she may haue no leisure to thinke beyond bondage and misery Accordingly if the soule at any time doe but lift up her eyes above her present bondage to that Lord of life liberty and happinesse which would once have married her and still makes new offers unto her this tyrannous husband like a Taske-master strikes in deepe lashes into her side and tells her she is idle though she thinkes on her nearest businesse and dearest happinesse If it be in the morning there is a bargaine of profit imposed on her and this lot of bricke must be made that day and about it must the soule goe being pierced throgh with the thorns of covetousnesse by the violent hand of her false husband that she may have no leisure respiration or rest And if at night the soule be weary of this dayes worke and would faine goe to bed with the body the night is lusts day as it is the Owles for both are blinde and then there is a wife whose husband is from home and the poore soule being a spirit must crafficke in this errand for the flesh to make a wary but a wicked meeting betweene her owne lewd husband and another mans wife and while she plots it she doth a worke of slavery and when she hath done it she shall have no other but the wages of misery But endlesse were it to set forth the whole story of this Aegyptian bondage Let the carnall man reade over the story of his owne life and he may see the one in the other And all being summed together amounts to this that the marriage betweene the soule and lust is monstrous as betweene a woman and a beast slavish as betweene a woman and a tyrant mischievous and mortall
beleeve his love when thou feelest it not as well as when thou feelest it And indeed that is most like faith which beleeves what it feeles not but how canst thou shew this vertue if still thou hast feeling Hee expects perchance that the old stocke of assurances in visitations and sensible aproches shold have lasted longer with thee and thou shouldst not so soone have neede of new tokens of love on his part and new feelings on thine owne The former tastes and tokens of his love shold have longer told thee that he still loves thee though thou doe not still receive tokens from him and tastes of his love True it is that he seldome failes to meete a soule duely trimmed and prepared for him Neverthelesse he is still free and perchance will have it somtimes to appeare so And if he doe thus at somtimes when we are prepared then at other times hee comes being unexpected and so by a compensation gives us that which we asked though onely with a difference of time And indeede his dispensations are wiser then our desires and it is fittest that times and seasons should be in his hands and not ours especially for his owne gifts For we indeed do not all waies open our mouthes in due season but hee alwaies openeth his hand and filleth vs with his blessings in due season and accordingly though the spouse somtimes seeke him find him not yet another time hee is found of her that seekes him not for when she is sleeping he comes knocking and saith Open to me my sister my loue my doue my vndefiled Wherefore let vs looke mainely to our owne part to haue our lampes trimmed with faith and loue and let vs trust him with his owne part the choise of the times and seasons of his comming Yea againe and againe be not discouraged though hitherto thou hast not felt the spiritual kisses of Christ Iesus the extasyes of his wine nor the rauishments of his vnion It may be the houre of thy Lord Sauiour is not yet come nor the day wherein hee shall say This day shalt thou bee with me in Paradise This day was the last day to him to whom it was first said and it may be one of thy latter dayes wherin it shall bee said to thee this day will I be with thee and make a Paradise within thee Yet let not these dayes be late dayes much lesse last dayes by thy delayes howsoever late they may be his dispensations Remember him in thy youth and first dayes and be thou as a servant ever ready and hearkening when his Lord will come and knocke that when he knockes thou maist open and he may come in and dwell with thee for ever It is just that the giver should chuse his owne time for his owne gifts and it is just that if thou refuse his time he should refuse thine and then will he be like one that turnes aside to the flockes of thy companions And yet lesse let those be discouraged who have small and but small tastes of these spirituall joyes Hee that made us knowes our frame and what is the fittest proportion both for our age and measure There are babes in Christ and we seldome give wine to children because it is too high for them Christ gave his doctrine so as they were able to heare it and so gives he the joy of his spirit as we are able to beare it As by the strength of the same spirit the joy may be converted into into spituall advantage and not perverted by the flesh into carnall voluptousnesse security or swelling the soule must be faithfull in little before shee bee an owner of much and therefore there is commonly some time of tryall and acquaintance between Christ and the soule before he will trust her with great familiarity and give her the great and high degrees of his hidden joyes Besides it must be knowne and considered that Christ Iesus hath some parts whose measure even at their full growth is so small as the infancy of other parts A finger in his full growth is not so bigge as the legge of an infant And such little parts may have lesse feeling of these joyes because of their littlenesse and yet they may be as lively as the greater for a finger liveth as well as an arme And indeed let such especially look that their life be sound in them that shall they know by the actions of life If faith and love bee active in them then are they lively and living For it is no other but the life of Christ in them which makes faith and love to bee lively and operative in them and then let them not feare for they are passed from death to life On these fruites therefore let them especially looke for though they have not here many sweetnesses and joyes yet if they have many fruites of faith and love they shall hereafter have a greater measure of joys in heaven than those who have had here greater joies than they and have not improved them as they should have done to a fruitfulnesse greater than theirs whose joyes were lesser Yet farther if this matter be duely weighed we shall see in Gods dispensations a greate wisdome and equity for commonly those that haue the greatest consolations haue also the greatest tribulations And the one are so ballanced with the other that the soule is kept in an evennesse the tribulations not making her to sinke by reason of the counterpoising consolations nor the consolations over much weighing her downe into pride for pride though seeming to look upward is an infernall thing because of the counterballancing tribulations Wherefore if thou envie another mans consolations why doest thou not also envie his tribulations If thou wish to be rapt with Paul into the third heaven wish also to be in labours often in watchings often in perills by sea in perills by land and under that loade of sufferings which he fulfilled for Christ. But withall take heede what thou wishest lest thy owne wishes being granted doe sinke thee If thou know not thine owne strength God knowes it and what thy vessell is able to beare both of the one and other And be thou contented if with lesse tribulations he give thee lesse consolations this lesser measure of both being fitted for a lesser vessell and yet the same proportion betweene both in the lesser that is in the greater CAP. IX A Song of Loves THou hast touched my soule with thy spirit O most beloved and vertue is gone out of thee into me and draweth me to thee Thy spirit is a loadstone of love and where it toucheth spirits it leaveth love and this love makes a soule to move to her beloved that touched her So by thee doth she run after thee O thou fountaine and rest of loves thy oyntments draw her to the anoynter her loves begin and end in thee O let my soule ever runne this circle of love