toiling Day into which all are fallen but can bear the Burthen as if it were indeed a Paradisical Sphere so lightly hath the whole Creation yet cared for its relasped state How choice and few are those that do seek herefrom to be released being of that Perswasion that the Earthly with the Heavenly must unseparably grow together as Twins Which is not so determined by the great God and Creator but he doth still expect that through the many depressions both in Spirit and Body some one or other are this long-run out time would be so weary of the Body of toil sorrow and Sin as to violate upon the Love Pity and Power of God the Father who cannot resist to send forth saving Succour to ransom such as still do fill his Ears with Cries and Groans for Redemption out of that which is the external Original matter of all and every kind of thraldom Hearken now and hear the Glad-tydings which is sent from your Father to you who hath taken notice of your travelling Sorrows while yoked with that Man upon whom Sentence is past that he might live by care and labour yet to you I say he shall not always and for ever be your clog There is a Birth of Strength upon the rising that will easily throw off this depressing Weight Yet a little while and the Iron-rod shall rule the Man of Sin so as to divide him from thee Many ways have been tryed to make him dye but all have been too short for he hath been a Warriour from his Original Sin-Conception and will keep the Field of this out-birth as he hath done from Adam's Day What hopes then say you that out of us he shall be thrown out for here I did object in Love Fear and Faith that many worthy Ones had striven hard to conquer by Death some of whom did go very far but scarce in any did this Death-Arrow so hit as to obliterate Sin altogether in its Root Then was it replyedâ— It is sufficient that one was perfect and just without Sin in a humane Figure then was that Scripture spoken in me Rom. 5. 19. As by one mans disobedience so by the obedience of one many shall be made righteous The Words were thus opened by the Spirit who said God revealed to Paul in his Day that nothing less was designed than a full and clear Acquitment from that first Man which did so naturally work in toyl and labour bringing only forth Fruit unto Death And who but that Man called the Branch shall answer to that defectiveness in abolishing the very Sperm of Sin that as nothing thereof could be found in himself so likewise in those who are elected for to be in joynt Heir-ship in the Kingdom of Mount Sion with him Whereunto he translates none till the old Adamical Life is laid in an everlasting Sleep of Death no more to awake for Contempt and Shame As often now it doth which hath stopped the New Ierusalem from descending down because once hath been perfect ready to meet this heavenly City Therefore saith the most Holy and True another manner of Church must be gathered from among Men who out of the Womb of that first Morning Star that is now upon breaking out a Star-like Off-spring is to proceed that shall go forth with the iron Rod of Power and dash in pieces every one of the Dragons Heads till this Church be born upon the Earth Who all are of Angelical Natures till then expect no Power over the Dragons and Beasts to reign To you who Numbred are to bear the Lambs Trophies stand to your Virgin Call fly not from her innocent White Colours whatever shall be here said against her If ye shall be the first born Star who shall shine upon Wisdoms Crown the Loves eternal Testimony for this end hath opened the clear Body of the Heavens that ye might understand what may be looked for in this Age. Therefore do you stand as mighty and immoveable Pillars for the Lamb and the Brides Church and great Indignation have against those that would it down decry Fear not those pushing Horns that war here against her she will make the glittering Sword of Power to be your defence against all your Enemies Be not troubled at the fewness of your Number for out of one or two that shall be perfect in their Generation a strange Generation may proceed who all mighty Warriours shall be for God and the Lamb to follow him in trampling down all earthly Powers Keep but up to your Leaders and ye need to fear no ill for invisible Seraphims shall still pitch a mighty Pavilion round about you March the 20th 1666 7. Thus ended this Revelation from the Vision I had seen which left a sweet perfumed Sence of Love Peace and Joy to feed upon Another Idea was presented to me from the History of Ahashuerus and Vashti his first espoused Queen Who by her act of Disobedience to her Royal Consort was banished his Throne This Word with great Power did through me sound A Virgin Queen among the Captives shall be found that shall be crown'd in the room of Vashti Then saw I one in the similitude of a Woman cloathed with Scarlet which was said This is one of Wisdom's Houshold who but she for the King of the New Ierusalem whose Garment is of an unstainable Dye From hence the Spirit made use of the whole literal Discourse Ahashuerus Vashti and Esther The most high Majesty hereby Figuring out himself having created and made for the Excellency and Glory of his Kingdom according to the state of so wise and infinite a Being That so he might take Pleasure in all the Glory and Riches of his Kingdom or Creation being all made perfect and good and high Princely Angels and Powers for Attendance As also Creating one more Noble Image as Male and Female who was in Election to be advanced to very high Dignity no ways inferiour to any Princely Spirit in the Angelical Figure But now the Sovereignty of the most High resolved to try this his new formed Creature with a Law of Restriction as from the Lord their Maker and Husband who might well expect a ready and punctual Obedience Who Vashti like was disobedient to the great King's Command and so thereby was turned into an earthly Eve and immediately banished out from the high Throne Presence For else it would have been an ill President if God should not thus have done the heavenly Hierarchy might have questioned God's immutability and thereby have taken advantage to deviate from those known Angelical Laws which the great Creatour had to them perfixed Thus much was opened of this Original Eve from whence the contradicting and slighting Vashti Spirit doth proceed The true Virgins Life which the first formed Man was once in is now as to him and all of his Posterity carried away as a Captive and sold for nought For this Virgin Nature was wholly taken away upon this act of Disobedience Who
to be seen or known by us after the manner of what hath been so as without you follow this Example to go apart you will hardly dye away quietly but you will be disturbed to bring your Life back again so as it will be a lingring dying Death therefore well consider this impeding thing and that you might not be alone in a suffering dying state I have provided one that will be a dying-Mate with you to support and strengthen each other till a Dissolution is finished Then you may totally cast your selves upon your dying Beds there waiting for the Hour of your Change The utmost grievousness of it will be but as a slumbering Trance that will make you forget this Principle with all its good or evil Properties all things will be alike unto you because gathered unto your own People in the Land of Light where more transparent things will take up your Minds and satisfie your Sights There be certain measures and rules whereby ye may know whether or no your approaching End be near First Consider the Years and Date of your Age there is a set and appointed time for Spiritual Death as well as for the Natural The bounds thereof are determined though few or rarely any have tasted this Spiritual Death before their outward Man hath been broken by Natural Death Yet some known and some unknown Examples hereof have been as Enoch Moses and Elias with the Lord of Life who though he suffered Death yet rising in that Body again was with it for a certain time conversant in the Earth to testifie another Change was to pass thereupon or else he never could have stood upon the Sea of Glass without being changed into another Figure meet for Mount Sion Light More also have found this Translation though happily concealed But it is enough that you know by what means it may possibly be reached through the serious disposing of your selves unto this dying state Making observation by self-Examination of those Signs and Marks that you may certainly conclude that the time of your departure is at hand Secondly For the Bounds and Time without all controversie the Body of Sin is old enough to dyeâ— it is not few but many and evil have been its days which have been spent unprofitably therefore the Life thereof is not to be prolonged but to seek the cutting of it off as an unprofitable Member with all that do pertain unto it As the vile Body which through the corrupt Principle entring in changed the very Form into the like deformed Image which being brought back again unto a Nullification then the Eternal Life will spring and set all in order as to the very outward Vehicle again The Third Symptom you are to take notice of is this how your Life-Pulse beats weak or strong that is whether the Life and Vigour of the Heart be much deaded and spiritless to all whatever can be named that hath its Root from this degenerated Principle The Fourth Symptom is this do you feel your Stomach and Appetite fully gone that yon cannot digest any of the Fruits that is brought forth by the Sweat of the Brow and Toil of the Hands all which was the product of the Curse A Fifth Symptom is this nay more try your selves that to all which seems to carry a more refined excellency in it are you able to distinguish it as garnished only with somewhat out of Paradise but mixed with the wild and sowre Vintage of this World whether you do feel real disgusts and loathing hereunto The Sixth place this is another palpable Sign the Life-Breath is much pent and stopped The thick Air and unsavoury Fumes of this worldly Region have near stifled the very Life-Breath so as it will be unbearable finding nothing at all in this whole Universe pleasant unto you because of this your Spiritual Sickness which presageth Death to be so near Can you now but give a real Proof of such languishing Symptoms then may you hope and believe a glorified Translation is hereby working out where nothing more that is uneasie shall be felt Concerning some means to this perfect Death consider these that follow Ianuary the 27th 1676 7. First Let your Bridegroom Spirit you who are thus truly dying and direct you wisely to put your visible Affairs into order as only using them as for a meer constrained necessity during the time of your sick mortal state always expecting that their Date is wearing out For a transformed Body will hereof have no need Secondly Then yet again take this Rule from your dear Comforter who would have you finish all things that may be in order to this accomplishment of what may make perfect and entire lacking nothing that may make comely The Third Place There is another Act as necessary to be performed as this in passing away and making a disposal as your last Will of all that you possess in and from the Spirit of this mutable Region that doth constitute and give forth to the fallen Ones their several Portions by and through the visible Constellations that work uncessantly in all the Rational and Sensitive Faculties as also from the subtle introducement of the Prince of Darkness who thereby holds the Life captive that it cannot so easily come to its total decease Therefore give up all as they have proceeded from the Earthly Rudiments let them inherit them as their own again For the Spiritual Birth and Body that is to take place upon the Remove of this hath more high graduated Intellectuals and Faculties supersensually engraven upon the Mind which will always generate from the Crystal Source of the Immense Being Ianuary the 28th 1676 7. This Morning the Spirit gave this Word of Counsel as also for a Caution in and upon this great Expectation Beware of the Tempter in relation to the Hope of Transmutation Who subtilly stands ready here to mingle who waiteth to see if you should hereby be exalted by any elevated aims that are not clear and justifiable in the Eye of the Holy Trinity Therefore keep down upon the sure ground of Deaths deep Humility make no terms or conditions what Body you shall come forth with leave that to him who is the Resurrection and Life Who will give every Spirit a Body as may answer to what for them is designed whether to appear or disappear in this Principle according as the most Holy shall see meet to employ you in new raised Bodies or to draw up into that Orb which is all invisible to officiate as an Eternal Sanctuary Only in this be watchful and purge out all high and self-ambitious aims testifying how great your Rejoycings are in the dying Marks and Signs whereby as it is said the World is crucified to you and you unto the same and hereby you shall lose no due Fame whether or no ye look unto the Reward that shall follow all this God himself hereunto will have respect for you upon whose Faithfulness and Truth you may well rest Who
transparent form of God having no more Shadow of Mutation to prevent those higher Degrees of Glorification which but by the ascended cannot be known or felt Hereupon I called all in me to account to be judged by the Superiour Will and Spirit of Light which gave me to see what was in Bondage and what was free that would not now be any longer in Bondage to the Condemnation of Sin Having that Word brought to me to search and find out that Salt Stone that would make all perfectly sound and savoury which the Corrupter had most subtlely defiled For I saw for every Sacrifice to be salted with this Stone of Fire was absolutely necessary for in it lay hid all Perfuming Sweets Therefore an express Charge came down to re-assume it to our selves as the choice Altar-Stone where the unknown Superscription should be written Oh then said the Spirit of Truth ye cannot ask any thing fruitlessly as ye have done do but will and it shall be done Oh that the Most High could have such as were so fixed in Body Soul and Spirit to this all-seasoning Stone of Wisdom as to trust them with this Jewel of Superiority so as to leave all Matters whether great or small with them in whom his Heart might rest That all and every Circumstance of things might be managed for those Ends and Services which might agree with the In-written Name that as a Fountain of Oyl doth run into those Vessels which are seasoned by this Salt Stone of Fire For know in Verity the most Holy hath no pleasure to see his own in this World to live and walk up and down in so mean a Capacity unskilful to set a Foot or Hand to what lieth in the Divine Magia Root Which you may lawfully stir up since for you Christ the Lord hath made the Way by ascending on High for to subdue all things under him that so of the same Power he might subordinately pass away from himself unto you Who calleth you to draw out the Purchase of his Death by like dying and by like immortal Living according to the penetrating quality Which by stirring up may effect thereby great and mighty things answerably to the Wisdom and Soveraignty of Holiness which all as in Inclosure doth lie about this holy thing for you You little know what a Principality is nigh to you but your Superiour Will hath yet somewhat that doth clog its Wheel which is designed for to be the running Chariot whereunto the Spirit of Infinite Might must joyn Now then by all means seek the unthralling of your Will for could nothing mingle therewithal but what did fall from the pure Deity how would you find God all-active in and through you But herein lieth the great Nicety to keep the Will-Spirit untouched that nothing from the Bryery Root doth twist about it if this is kept spotless and free what may you not find Power to do with the Most Holy Observe and keep this great Secret it is from great and high Love that I have given an insight to thee that so all Offences may be removed who would you should come to Reign over all of the Earthly Further of this I besought the Lord might be revealed For the great Depravation was in the matter of the Will for it was shewn me it was unequally yoked and had married strange Flesh from which there must be a Separation by Death Had not the Royal Will yielded to the tempting Eve but had kept its Priority how great and mighty a Lord might Man have been in and over the whole Creation of God having absolute Power in himself But hearkening to the Dalilah that is still acted by the Serpent-like Spirit to this day it becometh successively despoiled of this Lock of Strength and Power and so hereby the Shame of our Nakedness doth appear as to what Cloathing we might have been made known in Had not Adam thus lost his Dignity and so hereby brought forth Fruit unto Death running through all his Posterity in and after the Similitude of his Sin Which hath brought Impotency deflowring us of all that Spiritual Might of this we need no other Proof then what we do each one carry about with us But the great Thing is Oh thou who art promised as the mighty Restorer of this Breach What must we do who are so unavoidably overtaken with the same Thral and come bound with the same twisting Cords which hath altogether weakened the force of our Wills To this great Query as I humbly pursued so I had my desire resolved February the 7th 1676 7. This know and well consider that your Original is from high extracted Matter which is so Eternal that it cannot dye but it stands at the pleasure of the Will what way it will drive forth it self into For now it is a distinct Essence and had it not been corrupted from that simplified Being of Purity you could never have fallen into such an dishonourable state wherein the Royalty of your Power is so withdrawn as ye have no defence nor can make against those numerous Circumstances of Evils that do conspire where they may find degenerated ground for to work upon Now then yet for a more clear and perfect Information what further on your behalf is to be done that the choice faculty of the Will may come to regain its Primary Liberty that so it may have all powerful success as before it was enthral'd by the tempting Eve No other way there is but for the Will to be born again that thereby it may recover its Virgins Might and Force then every right Essence will move and open from pure Nature's Center This Birth is not according to the Will of Man but God Who out and from an infinite Pity and Love is come by Water Blood and Spirit to recover and lift up your relasped Wills that so they may stand upon their true native Prerogative being also set free from the flattering Dalilah which includes the whole variety of all attractive Delights from this Principle that as with Cords hath bound the Will down Oh now then as beloved of your God for ever drink in this Word of Counsel and herein joyn and work with the Spirit of your Lord Jesus who is come to perswade and allure you to fuffer joyfully the breaking up of your whole Earthly Family Which only consisteth of what is indged but lawful and expedient by the false Seers who are Babylon's Merchants But to you I have other things revealed and do incite you to be at variance with whatever will not consist with the new-born Will Who is to be matched with her who is the real Bride and Heir to whom a great Retinue doth belong of which Family you are to bear the Name only Therefore let it not seem grievous to rend and divide from what is of this evil World for verily hereby as God is true ye shall sustain no loss For your Superiour Will will hereby be so free chast pure
A FOUNTAIN OF Gardens Vol. II. Being a Continuation of the Process of a Life according to Faith of the Divinely Magical Knowledge and of the New Creation IN Mutual ENTERTAINMENTS BETWIXT The Essential Wisdom and the Soul in her Progress through Paradise to Mount Sion and to the New Ierusalem By I. LEAD Isa. LVIII 11. Thou shalt be like a Watered GARDEN and like a Spring of Water whose Waters fail not London Printed and Sold by the Booksellers of London and Westminster 1697. THE EDITOR TO THE READER IN this Second Volume of the Diary which is here Presented there are many Things very Considerable relating to the several Progresses of a Life of Faith with various Manuductions to this Mystick and Supersensual State recorded within the Space but of One Year wherein this Author was most plentifully Visited of God There are many Informations given concerning the Paradisiacal the Angelical and the Divine Life in the Gradual Augmentation and Operation of the Holy Seed of Faith within the Soul Many things concerning the Bank of Wisdom with her Laws of Merchandize which besides an Interiour do carry also with them an Exteriour Sense that will be made good to her Children many things respecting the Establishment of a Royal Order of the Melchizedeck Priesthood upon the Earth with the Return of Prophecy and Miracles in a more Extraordinary and Fixed Manner than ever hitherto They are all Great and Momentous Matters which are here deliver'd Concerning both the Church of Christ in general and each Member thereof in particular neither are they such as are at a distance but such as are near at hand and at the very Door they beginning already to be accomplished in some Persons in divers Countries even almost of all Ranks Constitutions and Manners of Living Whereof much could be said And if they be not only Great but also Uncommon and Strange though it cannot be expected that they should easily be Receiv'd yet it may that they should at least be admitted to a fair Hearing and candid Examination as to the Pretences which are made Whatever also the Method of Delivering them down may be and how liable soever to the Exceptions of the Eloquent and the Learned this will not be a Prejudicate strong enough to make the Wise and Prudent in Heart throw away a rich Treasure that may be put into their hands because of the many Coverings that may be put upon it And if the Matters be of the greatest Consequence though they be couched for the most part under certain Parables Similitudes and Visional Ideas it is not at all doubted but that Many will be found who may hereby be stirred up to dive into and comprehend what others will slight and despise as seeing nothing more in it than an Enthusiastick Jargon of Words But let the Thoughts of these be never so mean it is certain to me that Wisdom will be justified of her children and that her Children are Children indeed Children in the Eyes of the World in their own Eyes and in the Eyes of God No wonder then it is that the World despises them laughs at their weakness and with a sort of Disdain pities their Folly It has been so from the days of Christ and of his holy Apostles and it is no new thing for the Mystick Wisdom of God to be accounted Foolishness and those that are led by an higher Spirit than that of this World to be termed Mad or even possess'd with a Devil But if the World know them not a Greater than the World doth know them Hear then Oye Little Ones and rejoice Hear also O ve Despisers and mourn For a glorious Kingdom and a beautiful Crown even the Crown of Philadelphia is now set before you both Take heed that ye neglect not so great an Offer and deride not those who do Believe and consequently Accept it If so the Evil Day of Temptation that is to try the whole Earth will overtake you suddenly and then will ye be constrain'd to confess How are these whom we counted Mad numbred among the Children of God and how is their Lot fallen among the Redeemed out of the Earth who stand upon the Mount of Sion with Crowns and Palms in their Hands following the Lamb The Ascending Steps to which Mount you will find Here so described as could be by none but such as have went up by them in conformity with that process of the Regeneration and the Transformation which hath been expressed by the Ascension-Ladder sent down that was in the year 1681. set forth by the Author and in the Year 1694. Translated into High Dutch and soon after that into Low Dutch Wherein it is at large declared how the Actions and Passages of our Blessed Lord in the Way to Glorification are not only Representative and Imputative as to their Meritoriousness or Efficacy but are also Operative of the same in the Members of his Mystical Body Who must also pass through Death and the Resurrection before they can Ascend and be glorified with him in the Kingdom of Mount Sion or of the New Ierusalem Let us then as many as Love the Lord JESUS and his Appearance behold the Cloud now breaking wherein he will Descend into Us in like manner as he Ascended and having carry'd us through the Cross will lead us back into Paradise whence we came out by restoring again the bright and pure Image of God through his all-virtual Resurrection and from thence conduct us still higher and higher as we shall be herewith by him Adorned into those Superiour States of Glorification in the Heavens above Paradise where he sits as at the right Hand of the Father in the Fulness of Majesty and Glory From whence he will Personally also descend to Judge the World according to Righteousness and Truth or Equity when he shall have thus prepared a Body of Saints made like unto him in the midst of whom he may pitch his Glorious Tabernacle Out of which his Edicts will be sent as on the Wings of the Lightning to the utmost ends of the Earth by Flying Angels who have liv'd in Bodies of Mortality but shall have then receiv'd the Immortal Crown and the Incorruptible Name O Blessed yea thrice Blessed are all those who through that Faith which in these Sheets is Discrib'd are made partakers of this First Resurrection and of the high Immunities and Prerogatives of the First-born But who is sufficient for these things And it may now again be said Alas Who hath believed our Report We are accounted as Liars all the day long for they sake O God of Truth Alas who will believe that thou hast remembred thy Promises of Old which all thy Holy Prophets have repeated from thy Mouth O Lord most Holy O Lord most True Or that thou hast spoken unto us out of the Cloudy Pillar and communed with us in the Silence of our Hearts How hast thou made us to bear thy Reproach O God and to be in
Act of your own Wills into a slumbering Trance that so ye shall gradually dye away as all sensitive Operations shall be wonderfully suspended which must be done actually through the disposing and yielding up the Life of the corruptible Body That Life must dye because of the habitual course of Sin After that way of dying of which it is written I am dead and crucified yet I live through that Life which swallows up Mortality Even so likewise the Time shall come when ye shall reckon your selves dead and freed from the Body of Sin when you shall lie passive and still in the sweet and pleasant Trance as fled away from out of this Principle no more to be known or seen but as in the Heavenly Form of a Powerful Body to work the mighty Works of God your Father in It is true what Eye hath yet seen this the Ear hath only heard hereof but who hath come to believe the possibility of such a Transformation Oh but Faith gives a mighty heave hereunto now as it hath been your Cry Who and how shall ye be delivered from the Body of Sin and Death and get a thorough Pass from Death unto such a fluent Vehicle whereby ye may be able to say neither Heights nor Depths Light or Darkness neither Earth or Air shall be able to seperate you from the Love nor yet from those immediate accesses into the Heavenly Places as belonging to that Royal Priesthood Truly it is your Father's pleasure for to bring you hereunto not only in the flight of your Spirits without a Body adjoyning consonant thereunto because a naked Spirit cannot produce and effect such Effects and Acts as a Body adhearing thereunto Therefore see and believe it of necessity for to be turned into a sublime Body in which only you can be with your Jesus in Glory and thereof take and bring thereby to declare which whom you have been Come ye who are the blessed of the Lord that have united with one accord fall on hard and close this Work Continually give up your selves and lo I will break for you all the Bands of Sin and Death that so the pure Spirit which even was at work in you may assume its own Body of Spiritual ability to pass and enter where nothing of Corporeity can be admitted Your Priestly portion is for such a time reserved whenas you shall come into the most holy of all for then you will have Boldness to make all your own Demands Ianuary the 23d 1676 7. In the sobriety of a wise and understanding Spirit that shall be your Advocate to plead in the shining Face of a transmuted Body In which the Majesty of Glory will very well know you and hear all you have to offer by way of request because you bear no more the Image Mark or Name of what is accursed from the Mountain of Holiness The Situation of the Great King is seen of none till they have put on the high Priestly Garment upon which is written the New Name that is given in the Baptizing Water of the Holy Ghost who hath sprinkled us from all Consciousness of Sin Now then slack not but drive forward for this Verily is the Mark I your Death-conqueror do set before you For it would be my Crown of Rejoycing to meet you as translated out of this gross and Elemenâ—â—â—y state which while ye are ranging and pudling in I cannot be so clearly seen nor afford to give out those more eminent and choice things because you are not yet saperated from the vile Body that so ye may be redeemed from all that is of a hurtful Conversation For indeed I would wholly appropriate you for my self who being in a glorified state must of necessity glorifie you before I can shew my self in such a familiarity as is so desirable For when I was in the World for the accomplishing of the State of Humiliation then the human Figure was proper for to unfold suitably the Mystery of the Most High and to relate it as Bearable in that Age. But now as a Prince and Shepherd of a glorified Fold I set in Heavenly Places to call my own by Name to pass away out of their dark Cloudy Bodies and not to stay till they fade away and fall down as Houses of Câ—â—y as it hath been hitherto universally Because this superiour Change hath not been believed in nor the Foundation by a thorough Death been understood in order hereunto or surely laid whereupon the Rising Body that is to swallow up Mortality hath not been manifested but now observe those Deaths and Life-Rules which have been set so evidently before you and you may possibly be changed into such a vigorous Spirit and Body as to pass through that Glassy Sea which is so brickle which whoever can stand upon it are probationed indeed to enter into farther Degrees of Glory all in Light the God of Light to see without any other Medium Ah Lord even so let it be Ianuary the 25th 1676 7. Oh from hence I did see with what Bodies we must enter withal into the Mystery that is on the other side of the Glassy Sea for there the Thrones were shewed me that were placed for the Conquerors Who could be able to say with their Jesus I was dead and slain but now Life is rising evermore then also will follow the Keys of Death and Life to open and shut Heaven and Hell as the Hand of the Spirit will Thus having great and manifold Discoveries of what was to be possessed after Death we came easily henceforth to be reconciled to all the deep Demensions thereto beloning For the Lord had dealt with us and carried it much after the manner as he did with Moses who upon the Mount of Vision had shewn unto us the New Heavens with all their Privileges and Glories also with the New Ierusalem and King thereof and though Moses was prohibited entring into that which was but a Shadow of what he really passed into by Death's Transmutation yet God did him no wrong by all that thereby to translate him out of the Mortal Principle into that of Duration which he had often Sights Gusts and Tasts of while he was in the Corporeal Figure and he enjoyed the Image of good things to come as he passed through the Worldly Sanctuary Ianuary the 26th 1676 7. This Word came this Morning fresh unto me saying Now I have shewn you what Rewards the Death-Conqueroâ—s will have will you not desire and most freely obey as my Servant Moses did to go up and dye on Mount Nebo That is take leave of this Earthly Congregation and go apart from all that still would invite you to abide with them For if you do not withdraw out of their sight you will never be able voluntarily to dye while they do see any strength vigour or force to be in your natural Ability as the beloved Moses had They will be crying What need is there of such a dying as no more
Death shall not at all hurt you let not your Souls faint but direct your Prayers to the Holy Temple that so through great fervency from these nether Depths you may there into enter and from Death's Bands ye shall beloosed The Body of mortality as the Fish shall vomit you up when great IEHOVAH shall once the Word give forth These Openings are still for your Support February the 21st 1676 7. I saw a Vision thus presented to me I did see a green Cloath-Covering which was sown over a White Sheet which was let down and I was bid to unrip it which after a metaphorical manner was done I know not how And under it there were Creeping Creatures that were of a devouring Quality then under the Linnen there appeared a Lamb pure and white with sparkling Eyes as Flames of Fire Which thing considering it was thus opened unto me This was the Face of the Covering that the Word of Command came forth to have unripped and taken off By which the very inward ground might be discovered where the fatned Beasts did lurk under who by the Covering were bounded But now the shame of their Nakedness did appear so as they crept away and could no longer abide by reason of the Lamb's sparkling Eye which caused the Remove to be made saying to me Now give place who am come to scatter and destroy all of this evil quality from before my Face I can no longer bear this Covering upon me this partition Vail must be rolled away even that dark Body of Sin which hath been as a weight upon the Lamb of God Whose Eyes do pierce to find out every thing that hath made a breach that so the Heart of God should not be concealed from you into which you could never see so long as this thick dark Covering remained whereby hid hath been the very Original matter that hath brought in all the Woe and Sorrow For which purpose by way of this Similitude you may come hereby to understand the force of that great Love that moveth to lay all naked and bare that so through the medium of that light Eye which did lie under covert for a time ye might see the Image of that Sin-breeding Beast that could multiply into such encrease under the green Covering Whose Seat and breeding-place shall make discovery to the most innermost Ground unto thee that so thou mayst be at rest from the source of Sin 's working property Let us in the first place now make enquiry into the Originality of this Monster how he came to have a Being For in the beginning of the Paradisical Creation all was created by God comely good and perfect how came then this strange Essence to be brought in to dispoil and alter the whole Heavenly Course of things in this Paradisical Creation Now know that before this there was a Creation of Angelical Hosts as an immediate product from the everlasting Being Who delighted to generate Thrones Mights and Powers that so God through distinct Existencies of Celestial Spirits of that high Angelical Order might come to manifest his Attributes which before lay void and hid in an Eternal Stillness So as here was the Angelical World in pre-existency before the Paradisical The Superiour Heavens were furnâ—shed in the first Place with Dignities suited for God's own peculiar Habitation Of which Number there was a Spirit of high Elevation that did awaken in some of them who were Principalities in this Kingdom to exalt themselves equal or above the Lord their Maker For which cause being cast out from the most meek and holy Presence they consulted how to spoil and infect having great Envy against God's new Creation and formation of Man in and after the express Image of himself This blew up their Coals of Jealousie and fiery Indignation which as deadly Arrows were soon sent forth namely so soon as Adam came to have an existency He must be tried by this subtle Serpent And the first onset was whether they could by their Magical Art cast him into a deadly Sleep that so thereby his Impotency might be manifested stupifying his seven high graduated Faculties Who hereby before he was aware did loose his Virgin generating strength and whereas it was said That God cast him into that Sleep the meaning is God suffered it and permitted the probation to come upon him to see whether he could stand this first Insinuation which was by some secret Poyson that he had drunk in from the fallen Spirits who had somewhat already of their evil Seed cast in In that God said Seeing Man is already fallen from that primary force and strength that he cannot bring forth from that Virgin Female property Now it will not be good for him to be alone he shall have a Companion answerable to his present state which is already lower by many degrees then when the pure immortal Breath did enter in But had Adam with his Eve here staid and had not been brought in a further Premunire Mankind had not seen the Sin fatal Death of Mortality But the Serpent seeing his Invisible Sorcery had taken so good â—ffect he now is more bold to adventure upon the second Tryal suiting his Temptation more subtlely telling them they should be as Gods Which was an inducing Argument at which Sugar-Bait they presently nibled and did eat of it and in that very moment were turned into that mortal Beastly shape the Figure whereof you do to this Day wear But well had it been if this had been all the injury but oh the Serpently Seed was cast in there who at once sent in that Poyson that hath had its death operation ever since Thus you see the Originality from whence ye have derived your Earthly Life of Mortality which is so inherent that as a boiling Source it is maintained from this strange introduced Fire so as though you are in continual Labour to scum off the Filth thereof yet it still renews again So while the root of this corrupt Matter remains your toil fear and care will have no end Now what is it think ye must enter in so deep as to suck out the Serpent's deadly Sting that hath made all this disorder in Nature Many Medicines have been applied and some have been safe and undoubted of yet they have not reached the place of Sin 's Conception to destroy both the Serpently Seed with the first Earthly Eve which is the Mother of all Living in the Earthly Property Her Womb is fruitful still to bâ—iâ—g forth Viperous Thoughts and evil Earthly Motion from a flowing Source throughout all Generations Now you will say how and by what means shall this be remedied You cry the Power is not in us how can that come to be nullified that is so essentially in us The Boughs may while but tender Boughs be bent and when strong grown they may be cropt but the stock as a deep grounded Oak our Arm is too short to reach We cannot move it the very Earth will
upright moral Conversation the Law of God written in their Hearts according to the Letter As it is said their Conscience accusiâ—g or excusing according to Truth or Falshood acted by them for by Nature things contained in the Law may be done so that you may take in this higher degree of things into the knowledge of the Spirit of a Man as an earthly Man and yet not able to receive or comprehend the more high wonderful and deep things of God It is only possible to that which is the meer Birth of the Spirit distinct from the Earthly Now then said the most holy Anointing that ye may know that this Spiritual Man is born shall appear by what shall be revealed unto it March the 2d 1676 7. Now as to the things of God which are given only to the Spirit of a Spiritual Man to find out verily they are so great various and numerous as in times Volumâ— they can never be unfolded Only the Spirit for the use of this new Born Creature or Spiritual Born Man doth bring down a Breviate of those invisible Things that are in heavenly Places or rather that are in God who is the Original from whence all glorious things that are in Existency are brought forth which may be named as the Back-parts of God framed and stretched forth into a Light Seraphick Globe which God furnisheth with his own Majestick Forms which no one ever saw or therfore can take upon them to describe The Spirit only hereof can make report to the Spiritual Man while yet imprisoned in a corporal Shrine and Shape But you will say what more of the things of God are discoverable when you are wholly in the Spirit you need not thus Quere but in the mean time there is a Spirit which will take it's range for you to view the Fathers Goods Possâ—ssions and Eternal Lands because as Heirs ye are concerned thereunto To proceed then to the heights depths and bredths of what are yours in Reversion within the Circle of Mount Sion state Consider then what of God's is there they are all yours as ye stand engrafted into the Tree of Life Now what hath the Spirit found out in all the heights above this earthly Sphere First into Paradise it doth take its Flight where all things are in good Order and flourishing state as before Adam had lost his Virgin Mate Paradise is now stock'd again with such as have waded through the floating Sea of Sin and Mortality in order to the putting on that image of Purity where the least Guile or Fault may not be found in any there The Spirit doth see all in wonderful Harmony for this Voice was heard to say from the high and lofty One with Men risen from the Dead I will also dwell though it be alotted for a time to be a separated Mansion till all be gathered into â—that one superior Kingdom Thus you hear good News that is all rich and flourishing within the Paradysical Kingdom no decay since Adam's day but much encrease and augmentation is daily through the Resurrection of a Spiritual Man March the 3d. 1676 7. These things whereof an account has been given you may be defined as the local Place of Paradice whereinto Spirits separated in a natural Death putting off there mortal Bodies do enter into it and there put on their Virgin Body which doth prepare them to meet their Bridegroom who from thence fetcheth them up to mount Sion These are such who in this very time have fought the good Fight of Faith and had very near overcome this World What is lacking to make them fully perfect in this Paradisical Place they are appointed to stay here till all their Bridal Trimming be finished and they find that they can pass the way to the Tree of Life through the flaming Cherub who still is a Guard upon that figurative Tree In that place holy Angels do there also wait by their course to minister to those who do come here as designed Heirs of that more glorious State which in Sion is revealed This is some part of those good things which belong to your Eternal Father But to open to thee a further Mystery which is what may be entred upon in this very Life time know there is a mystical Paradise as well as a local which springs metaphorically opening from a pure magical Center this is a wonderful state to know and wittness it chiefly stands in divine Visions Revelations Ideas Presentations Manifestations in Sounds Trumpets Voices in Speakings in Powers Raptures Joys and sensible-Feelings I say all these Golden Springs do flow from out of the Bowels of the new Paradisical Earth This will amount to your present Peace and Joy Wait I say to feel that Now that your Spirits may give a Seal with me that ye have received the anointing and that you do walk with your Spiritual Man in this Paradise where you do often hear the Eccho of the Bridegroom's Voice calling to you still to hast the getting on all that which will make you look sweet and amiable and the fragrant Sweets that may you perfume and scent that so all your Garments may smell of these Beds of Spices upon which you may stretch your selves Here a while confined be to dwell after the manner of Spirits in Spiritual Bodies till you shall all of this visible Orb over-come and much excell all Creatures in it having the Tree of Life to live upon Which is that which will rarify and put upon you a more transparent Body for they who here do daily feed upon it shall be in good deed metaphorized Behold to you this Paradise Gate doth open stand and what of the things of God is there not only to know but them as your own to enjoy But this Word of caution to you who resolved are to tast more deep of these flowing Sweets take heed of the Laws of Paradise which once in particular were given to you remind and observe them For you must not be in the Quality halting between two Principles but here keep company each with other and your Jesus will most frequently talk with you and shew himself according to the Love's betrothment that is made a fresh with you in this Paradise March the 4th 1676 7. The GLASSY-SEA Now from hence the Spiritual Man must make another remove to see what doth lie for him beyond this among the pretious things that out-flow from that rich Ocean-Sea which is betwixt Paradise and Mount-Sion This is that Glassy-Sea spoken of which doth encompass the Beloved City where is the residence of God your King and the Throne of the Lamb and the Seaven Sealing Powers that do go forth from the most Holy One. Now this Burning Sea is for Probation who is able to pass through here but they who have got a thorough Victory over the Beast and his Image that nothing more of his Mark do bear They and they only can stand here because they are signatur'd from this
lower Orb. Therefore abide till full â—â—edged in Wing ye shall be able to fly and mount away when any creeping thing or hurtful Beast shall set upon you from this low World then fly to your munition Rock This is allotted for your more constant place of Dwelling for to be which so near bordering is upon the Heavens of Heavens where the immense Deity is Resident Who may appear while we keep oft to his Eagle Off-spring For when you come hither to Paradise there is still another Principle that must be passed through which will be very easy when ye shall bear this risen Eagle Body on you How suddenly will the ghostly Dove bring you into the very third Heavens there to see your Jesus with your Eagle Eye as Iohn Personally did when he upon the Wing of the Spirit was risen high Possibly somewhat of these Glories may be seen before ye actually enter in For blessed will they be called who are flying Angels that can declare what they have heard or seen in these higher Worlds These are they who shall bring down glad Tidings to the elect Number When any of these begin to sound the Tabernacle of God will out of the Heavens descend Oh what of Flesh shall live When the mighty Eagle shall call her own away to behold what she doth unfold within the third Principle The fight of the Eye and the hearing of the Ear in that eternal Sphere will so fill all with the Melody and Joy of the holy Ghost as nothing of the earthly Sence of things shall or can enter into this Eagle Brood Now hereby try your selves For the understanding of the foregoing Mystery you must then know every one of us have within our selves an inward eternal Man and an outward Man Now the inward eternal Man hath within himself his own eternal Adam and his own eternal Eve His eternal Adam is his own eternal Spirit within himself and his own eternal Eveâ— it is his own eternal Soul within himself This eternal Adam and Eve in themselves are now to be considered in their fallen and lapsed State as both being separated from their first true original Mate to wit from the eternal Virgin Wisdom of God who was united to both these in Paradise For they both sinned in Paradise then lost the Life of the Virgin Wisdom of God and their Virgin Purity in Paradise And therefore their true Mate being lost out of themselves in Paradise they were driven out of Paradise For when as before the eternal Spirit in Union with the eternal Soul both being united to their true Mate the Virgin Wisdom of God could and might have brought forth a holy Generation in their own Image and Similitude like unto themselves in Holiness and Righteousness and in Perfection But after that the eternal Spirit and Soul had sinned in Paradise that is after the eternal Adam and the eternal Eve belonging to the inward eternal Man had transgressed in Paradise and were ejected out then they lost their fructifying Power and then they could not bring forth a holy Off-spring Now this eternal Eve which is the eternal Soul belonging to the inward Man is called to return to her Restoration State and to return again to her first State in Paradise and to reunite her self again to her lost Mate to wit to the eternal Virgin Wisdom of God and then her Womb should be fruitful again and she shall bring forth none but Eagle Birds none but a holy Off-spring to make up a perfect Church on Earth without Spot or Wrinckle Here is now a Prophesie a Prediction that now the time is come that this eternal Eve which is no other but the inward eternal Soul in its lapsed State whose Womb hath been hitherto barren and unfruitful but now the eternal Virgin Wisdom of God will sow her Virgin Seed into her Womb and she shall be fruitfull and shall bear Twins and bring forth a perfect Eagle Off-spring and they shall make a perfect Church on Earth And now the Soul in her Restoration shall again be fruitful in Child-bearing in bringing forth Children to inherit perfect Justification and perfect Sanctification and Salvation but then this Eve must continue in Faith and Charity and Holiness with Sobriety as the Apostle mentioneth 1 Tim. 2. 15. The restored Soul by its Union with her true Guide and Mate the Virgin Wisdom of God shall bring forth a Royal Off-spring presented to be the strong Eagle Brood and this is the Work that Wisdom is about to do to reunite her self to the eternal Soul which is the eternal Eve as her true Mate and Guide and to sow her Virgin Seed into the Womb of Eve to break the Head of the Serpent then Eve shall be no more deceived but now shall become the Mother of Celestial and Heavenly Children all her Children shall possess Mount Sion and the new Ierusalem State of Glory This is the eternal Eve the eternal Soul which now shall be the Mother of all Living that is all her Posterity shall now feed upon the Tree of Life and thereby become all eternal immortal and incorruptible And all this shall be brought about by Wisdom's Art and Contrivance to wit by reuniting her self to the Soul and thereby becoming again the Souls true Mate and Guide This is the State of Restoration and this is that State that Wisdom is bringing forth upon the Earth and in this Figure of the Eagle birth Wisdom Prophesieth and Predicteth what is near at hand to be fulfilled and brought to pass to egg us forward in the belief of it to be done within our own eternal Man in the work of Regeneration But now there is belonging to the outward Man the mortal Man the immediate Product of the Fall a mortal Adaâ—â— and a mortal Eve The mortal Adam is the mortal Spirit of the outward Man and the mortal Eve is the mortal Soul of the mortal Man She is in her fallen State the Mother of all Living that is of all living mortal Spirits with mortal Souls and with mortal Bodies Her Womb in this state of Apostacy hath been very Fruitful She hath ever since brought forth in all Ages a mortal Off-spring subject to the death of Mortality who have only fed upon the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. She hath brought forth a fleshly Off-spring in her likeness and similitude and hath had a long Day in the World Now the Prophesie and Prediction is not concerning this mortal Eve belonging to the outward Man in relation to her Restoration but it is to be understood of the eternal Soul that eternal Eve that hath been so long barren in her lapsed state But now Sophia will once more espouse her self unto her and she shall bring forth a holy Issue a birth of Divine eternal Eagles to make up a perfect Church on Earth whereof Christ will be the Head and King to reign over This is only wrought for explanation sake that you might not
Birth being extraordinary and marvelous so soon as it was but noised abroad Councel was taken for to destroy him nay he had much ado to live out his determined time but as he preserved himself by his inward virtual Body upon every storm and assault The world that lieth in the evil of darkness could not bear such a Light to live amongst them whose life was that which did reprove them Therefore it is no needless question to ask of the most high Wisdom how in this Age such a Birth may be succoured and sustained till it hath got a body of might and fortitude which no weapon can destroy or hurt The resolve must be fetched up from the deepest of all centers as it is a matter of the most primary consequence to them who have such a Birth in such a dangerous Principle for to bring up a Birth which is from the power of the overshadowing hand Hence then for satisfaction to this Query saith the all knowing Spirit be it given you to understand That every Birth of what kind soever brings along with it through the wise Provision in Nature it s own nutriment That which is of corruptible seed hath what answers to it of its own perishing Quality What feeds on flesh either as to its fleshly mind or body shall suffer loss to purpose though all the care be to prop and nourish it to make it a well favoured piece of mortality Which to the most holy is a strange Similitude which he hath no delight to see or know his own any longer in Therefore he inciteth and calleth to look after another Birth that may be all of Quintessential matter of the very Nature of the Deity such a pure thing may have corporal humanity a while for its visible case As your Immanuel had assumed as the garment of Sackloath in which he humbled himself for the sins of the world and for that end sacrificed it Who though he took it up again it was for the manifestation of greater wonders by it through various changes which it was made the subject of For in that sometimes he was known and then again in such a figure unknowable to them who were daily conversant with him Who after that the pleasure and design of the Father was in that body finished then the power of the inward spiritual body was manifested to anatomise the visible humanity for that was not to pass into the Heavens From all which learn we to discern where the Christ like birth with his spiritual body is though clouded with a corporeal figure And that ye may not be mistaken take these special signs to know where it is truly fixed or impressed First then know this overshadowing hand through which this birth doth spring incompasseth only what is Paradisical ground there it drops in its golden seed This ground in its true native Virgin pureness must be separated from the common cursed matter of what produceth the earthly birth These two different soyles are to be found in the first Adam's generative off-spring but it is so mingled and overrun with the dark muddy element that great care labour and painful industry is used for its recovery out by the wise and learned Spirit in the heavenly Chymistry rightly to prepare for this holy Birth Which will be easily known from the course and rudimental that is in the image of the earthly For first here is a pure conception as from the high and pure radical infusive Spirit that quickens the Virgin soil and so cooperates it into a spiritual Body that it may be all of one and the same pure clear undefiled subtile matter with the quickning Spirit that you may know what that is which contributes to the Christ-like Births wherewith it will be one and the same that it may degenerate in nothing from the first perfection and pattern of his Life But only this heavenly man may be excused from that personal suffering in the tragical part as an outward death Which will not be required upon the same account having finished the mystery of the mystical death through this Birth taking place and bearing dominion over the outward But now to resolve that Question What this Birth that is from above which is coagulated into one unmixed matter must live upon in the house of humanity Which for a time it must be brought up in as Christ himself was and tempted with the evil fruits that will be daily proffered from the market of this world but yet in no danger though in minority For it is left under the guardian Spirit who warns it what to abstain from whose nature and composition is of such heavenly essentiality that it inclines naturally to obey the Paradisical laws Which is the second character of this New Creature Then again in the third place while but in its Infancy it will suck of no other but its Eternal Virgin Mother lay it to any other and it will be sick to Death And if at any time contrary Food is forced upon it it doth presently Vomit it up Then when grown to a further degree of strength not only the pure Milk of Wisdom its Mother those living Precepts of her Word but the very Body of the Deity which is the spiritual Flesh Christ spoke of and the Blood the Milk of the Word But when come to that Age as to be able to take and feed upon that Body that is extracted out of the very Being of all Eternal Spirits of what kind must this be brought forth but even such a Celestial Body as Christ told them could never taste of Death For as he did live by the Father by feeding upon the very power of the God-head So likewise that Birth which was of this extraction should live eternally by feeding it self upon his divine Flesh. Your Fathers saith he did eat Manna and are dead but I the Bread of Life will sustain you and thereby immortalize you if ye henceforth do feed upon no other but me the Tree of Life It was further revealed to me That the Mould and Paradisical Matter was found in us and brought out of all dispersions into one holy lump formed and quickned by that pure azure stream or breath which did present it self by way of Vision And this in process of time might come to be no less than God manifested in our fleshly forms of Corporeities therefore let us be careful and watchful over it and to hide it under the sheltering hand of the everlasting power forasmuch as it is enclosed with a terrestrial form as its house where the light of the Sun Moon and Stars of this Visible Region did break in and thereby would assume a government over it which might bind and keep it under as upon the outward elementary Spirit This was my fear and jeoperdy Concerning which the everlasting Comforter did satisfie me declaring This was a free birth not subject in any respect to the rudiments of this world because that nothing of
in all wariness Then is this word uttered as I was hereof writing You of all others I saith the Lord have desired for to keep separated for my use therefore take heed what you let in to my Temple Body Oh saith the Just One that I could but have such large Credit from you as I had from some in past-ages that could lean and rest upon me without the Crutch of Reason under their Arms. For alas you are yet but as Children that are not able to stand alone You dare not trust your selves upon the bare ground of Faith and that makes you fly so readily to what is before your sensible Eye True Oh Soul thy terrestrial man hath a near disposition to the production of this earthly Climate and runs thereunto upon all occasions as to its nourishing and providing Mother knowing yet no better having found all sensible sustainment thereby according to the manner of this fallen Creation But know you have a Mother of a higher degree that is more true and natural to your Spirits and she would now you should come to understand and know her to be the Everlasting Wisdom of the Mighty God that can do much above Nature and Creature for you Who would have you desert all other and hear and learn from her mouth from which doth drop the Law of Love and Kindness Iune the 3d. 1677. Upon this Manifestation and Councel of the Spirit I found all my internal Powers strongly knit together to find out this more sure and all-sufficient Providence For there was somewhat in me of Infinite Being that was too great to be kept under the tuition and law of that which was earthly and terrestrial From out of the bounds of which my Spirit would break away to live to obey that Law of Faith which hitherto no Adeptist that I know hath arrived to Which hath failed as to my own part because so oft have I given place to self-reasoning being by a Foster-Mother so long brought up in that way that death it is therefrom to withdraw But taught I am not to favour my Life herein though daily solicited hereunto by thousands of Spirits Who do cry spare that delicate natural thing which this world doth glory in For indeed it hath carried all in a forcible stream but now in Spirit I do see this great Volative will be dried up For this Night I did see by way of Vision a muddy Sea boyling as a Pot but under it to my great marvel there was an invisible Fire hidden under the Mud and Water Which I did view thinking at first sight nothing less but that the Fire would there be choaked but it did get the Victory And in the Morning as I was hereof considering it was opened to me that this Muddy Sea was the natural rational Life that must be purged by Fire till all consumed it be in such who like worthy Champions shall come to shew themselves in the Life of Faith I did also see a Clear Water separated from the Muddy Water which by the Fire was driven upward as if it had been a Spring From whence it was given me to understand That there was a pure Heavenly Matter which when the Celestial Fire did work in any it would separate from the gross and evil quality This Muddy Sea was said to be the rolling Motions that work from the common sense of earthly things taken into the Mind which makes it soul and muddy Now what can purge this but fire that lieth in the deep beneath which gradually worketh through it by virtue of an Eternal force and might when once struck in by the Saphire Stone of the Deity Then it inkindles every property and becomes a pure Fire Element which suffers nothing combustible to mix with it After this I did see when the Fire had got the mastery of this pudled Sea that it became all as a bright Firmament and there sprung up a wonderful Tree Iune the 4th 1677. The Saphire Tree In Vision was shewn me a wonderful Tree which was strange and amazing being out of the course of Nature of all which formerly I had seen The Body of it was of the Fire Element and the Branches thereof were clustered with various sparkling Stones of all manner of Colours which were of such a dazling Glory that nothing less than the reflexion of this Tree could give the capacity of sight For as the day doth exceed the night for Light so did these Stones for lustre excel what are of the choisest of this Creation It no sooner appeared but it did again disappear but it left its light Raies upon my Mind for some certain time Whereupon this word was spoken This is the great original Saphire-Tree which as a Light springeth up out of the Dark Valley Iune the 5th 1677. Being much inquisitive to have the Mystery of this Oriental Tree that sprung out of the pure Element opened further unto me as I was waiting in the Fire of pure silence it was revealed that the Tree was shewn to make known that this was a degree beyond all in Paradise For no such lustrous Tree could be manifested in that Sphear Trees of Life and Righteousness might spring thereout but this Tree was a Diadem of Glory that doth grow out of the Element of the New Ierusalem Then was it upon my heart to plead thus with my Lord Ah my Jesus what doth this signifie to us as to our present state This surely presents the highest latitude of Glory which thou thy self art capable of We have many removes yet surely to pass through before we can come to the Clusters of this Stately Tree As we now appear what is more contemptible and vile And if so in our own Eye what in thine Therefore what Time will or may be allowed for our transportation into such Fire Stones of amazing Glory This and much more which would be too numerous to record was my Expostulation To which the Spirit made reply thus that this Vegetable Stone must have several Transplantations before it could rise to such a degree of Celestiality of Glory As first out of the dry hungry barren Earth to a Ground moistned with the dew of Paradise there it hath a certain season to work through as a Plant of Righteousness sending forth its fruitful operations according to the heavenly constellations which work with it It shifteth it self into various forms as the Center doth open for Multiplication of the Vegetable Life to bring it forth into manifestation of those more eminent Fruits of the Spirit As in clusters of Love Patience Meekness Faith Hope Joy to perseverance All which are to spring up unto Perfection as making way for a higher Transformation For when these Fruits are grown to their full Ripeness in any then expect such a pure conjunction as doth make up the very matter of this Saphire-stone Which may be adventured to be cast into that most holy burning Element that thereout all these may come forth
your selves lie waste Then again this word met me Take heed of the Commonsewer that corrupteth the whole Earth that it break not in upon you For it is a Noah's flood it will sweep all away that are out of God's Ark. Upon which warnings I guirded up upon my Watch-Tower to hear what would be further opened to me Having had somewhat yesterday passing through me upon Abimelechs taking Sarah from Abraham The Meaning of it was this day made out further unto me the Spirit taking up that Scripture as in way of a Parable to shew us the danger in passing through with the Virgin Mind amongst Foreigners and Strangers though not intending to take it up as a dwelling place but only to sojourn as Abaham did in Gerar. Iune the 24th 1677. Now after this manner the Spirit did parly or commune with me Know that ye have had a call to pass out from among the throng of the worldly Spirits whereof Abraham was a type whom God called to sojourn as a Stranger removing from place to place till he did come to live alone by himself and to be planted as a Root for a mighty Off-spring Wherefore the Most High had designed him and so Abraham with his Sarah went through the Philistines Country and was in danger to have had Sarah violently taken from him who was to bring â—orth the blessed Seed Even so it was opened after a high mystical manner that this Abraham did represent the Spirit of Faith whom God would bless and make fruitful through Marriage-union with the Virgin Wisdom And it was further shewâ— me that there should be a Male and a Female that would be made choice of to bring forth an eternal spiritual Off-spring for a true Church Which should be known from all others by terrible things wrought in righteousness through the Ghostly Power breaking forth And therefore note and observe said the Word of Life whether or no God in the Spirits voice hath not spoken to you to come out of the Chaldeans Country considered both as to the vain evil conversations of Persons without and to internal Spirits within the Region of the Mind from both which there is to be a real departure out And as there are two Persons that are thus to be deputed visibly who are to wiâ—hdraw and and plant themselves as out of all other gathered Fellowships of the World So are they to be extraordinarily endowed in giving proof of Love Faith and Obedience to him that hath power thus to dignifie and make blessed God knows Abraham was such as one as would approve himself in all perfect walking before him and answer whatever Trust was committed to him by the Most Holy and just one to keep every Charge and Command given as did appear when he came out of his own Land to go where he knew not Now it was from hence revealed that those who shall be counted worthy to bring forth a pure spiritual Generation must come out internally as well as externally from that Native Country where numerous Spirits that have no Visible Bodies do dwell and have their concourse in the Mind after a magical manner Now here will be the trial for to go through their Eartbly Regions and not be hurt For no sooner did Abraham falter in his Faith through fear but his Spouse was taken away which if he had kept up in the majesty and authority of Faith and had owned her then the dread of that Power and Spirit of Faith and the Virgins Beauty and Innocency would have been upon Abimelech so as there would not have been any attempt of that kind From whence this was a warning councel in particular unto us given in our present journying on through strange People and Nations which lie in our way before we can come to Hebron the City of David our King And these are mystically opened from within us as occasions offer from without For the Prince of this World knowes herein he hath great advantage while but passing through his Dominions he will have one device or other against those who are designed to pitch their Tents remote from his Territories Therefore he doth bestir himself to raise all Forces to stop their Progress that if possible he might keep them under his Arbitrary Power Seeking always of subtilty to weaken the hand of Faith by alluring away the Virgin Love and so he would make a separation For in the pure conjunction of Faith and Love they are knit together as the Bridegroom and the Bride to travel together till they obtain the promised Seed To whom all excellency of strength doth belong and Wisdom to govern those Nations that would usurp an evil Power over the blessed Seed Oh saith the living Oracle take heed of denying your pure heavenly Mate that is found in the comely dress of Love Purity Meekness simplicity and holiness For this is that vertuous Woman who is a Crown to her Lord and Husband She will never depart from him without she be disoâ—ned through fear and incredulity None shall imbrace her but the Arms of Faith If she at any time be violated from her true Abraham she will be as the Ark that will bring plagues and and death upon those that would engross her to themselves from him whose true Spouse she is Therefore consider this O ye to whom this word and councel is givenâ— Keep up Faith in its own true Royalty Fear not Earthly Powers While ye must pass through their Land Trust in Iehovah your sheild Forfeit not that Dowry which the Virgin Spirit of Love will bring to you Be watchful to strengthen what is in you already wrought that ye may not lose what ye have thus far â—un and suffered for even so you will find the Sealing Power from the Amen Iune the 30th 1677. The Birth of Cyrus The Voice of the Daughter of Sion cried in me what ailest thou who art travelling for the Birth of Power Faint not for it is a God Almightiness that will be the issue of all those internal pangâ— of her who is travelling in the greatness of his strength Every Arm of created Power is too short to bring it forth God must bring forth God Then queried my Spirit where and how and after what manner will be so marvelous a thing Sure nothing of mortality can compass such an Immensity as a Gods excellency in this World to be manifested No said the Spirit of Councel the Terrestrial Man cannot have any share herein either to conceive or bring it forth But yet such may be the high act of Love in the Most Holy as to open his Mighty Name Iehovah through that mean form of Mortality and send forth somewhat of a deified express of his Existency in terrestrial Creatures so as to make them signifie unto the World what power it is that moves through them Who have been in strong and unwearied travel for this all-saving Birth of Almighty Power For indeed such a Birth is needed in the
World that may deliver from all the evils of it There is nothing but an Omnipotent Force will conquer the sinful Authorities that have been so long in Government over all the Creation Therefore what are ye to look and wait for but the Birth of this Mighty Prince Cyrus to arise in and to go before you for it is by meer strength that he must prevail to subdue all Nations whether they be within or without Many have been the forerunners of this by inferiour Births which ye have passed through As those of Regeneration and Divine Inspirations and Productive Revelations all in order hereunto But all these have been too weak and too short to deliver out of the Servile Spirit The Babylonish Power doth yet keep and serve it self upon you and will not let you go free till this Mighty Prince doth arise to remand you back unto your own Land and native Freedom again Thus I did evidently see nothing but the all-saving Arm could pluck us back again And moreover this word was with me and in me spoken Pray for the Cyrus Might to be joined with the Nazarite Wisdom of Purity for without Power ye cannot perform any of my Pleasure in subduing the Babylonish Power that hath enlarged it self over the whole universal state of things It is well for the elected ones in this World that their Redeemer is now a Mighty King over all Kingdoms And this day is drawing near for the revealing of this his shut up Power that hath been reserved with him in the Heavens By reason of which a sorrowful bondage and servile Life hath been upon the very Nerves of the New Ierusâ—lem Who are now sensible and do now cry unto this Mighty Cyrus to appear and to break for them this Babylonish Yoak which hath made them so long groan and mourn as being made to serve with rigour under the Prince of Darkness Who hath had a long Reign through his Agents in this Principle but his Time is â—igh worn out Of which this is an assured hope when a deep sense is upon any of the Children of the Captivity As upon Daniel and Ieremiah Ezra and Nehemiah who set themselves to enquire for that Messiah who is to restore and gather together the Stones for to build the Mystical Ierusalem Verily to such as do sigh and mourn for all the Abominations of Desolations which they see to be of Authority To such I say the Most High will have respect not only to reveal but to intrust the Scepter of his Kingdom with them Who he knows will sway all in righteousness according to his own heart They shall be his Kings and Savâ—ours upon Earth Yet once again they who are of a Daniel Spirit wholly addicting their Minds hereunto and in nothing else taking pleasure but in diving into the Secrets of the Most High that if by any means they might find out the Jubile-year of release when the Mourning Tribes might return again to their own possessions even they shall be chose hereunto Oh the wise in heart after this do look waiting in true spiritual abstinence as Daniel did that so eternal Secrets may be revealed unto them Know ye how beautiful would those be who shall bring news and glad-tidings hereof from the Most Holy to the Mourners in Sion That the Lord is indeed without delay coming for a full and perfect Redemption to the Groaning and Oppressed Creationâ— Even so Lord Jesus come quickly Iuly the 1st 1677. THIS Morning after some special Manifestations and intimate Communion with the invisible Trinity whereby my Spirit was as ingulphed into this sweet Celestiality of that which passeth all understanding This word uttered it self Is it not good to dwell here where the Covert is all Love and defensive Power Oh call in others with thee here to meal if you do delight to sip of this Cup of Divine Pleasure and then according to the vigour of Spirit felt herefrom dispence hereof And commend it to him who is a noted consecrated Vessel to take in of the same with the unknown Rarities which the Father doth â—rovide for his own Houshold that so no cause ye may have to wander out of his rich and fat Pasture While keeping here your Shepherd will you feed and by his Golden Crook will you guide and translate out of one glorious place to another till ye shall come into the beloved City This blessed winding in of my Spirit was an introduction hard usage of the King of this Bottomless Pit who would keep them evermore in bondage and would not that they should ever remember that once they had a pre-existency in that Paradisical World of Liberty Iuly the 2d 1677. But now the Ancient Records are brought to Light whereby it is given to the Wise among the Children of the Captivity to understand their high and eternal Nativity and that for the cause of sin they were brought into this dark and evil Region yet not so as for ever herein to be included till natural death doth release as they would persuade For no such Decree did ever go forth from the Throne of the Most High For after this dark grisled Globe with its natural Inhabitants all which like troubled whirling Wheels do grind the Faces of one another there shall another arise which shall set free from this Old Creation Captivity Upon which there was a mighty cry by some that here were sealed to the day of Redemption saying Holy Lord God of the Sabbath let us come to rest with thee For in six days labour we have been and now full weary we are of sinful thrall and cannot but remind thee of the promised Liberty which is for to be brought to pass by the travelling Daughter of Ierusalem Then was portraied before me a Mourners Zion-eye beholding a bright flaming Globe upon the rising of which the other Globe like a dark Stone sunk down before it into a bottomless depth And this was in the sight of the right-born Israelite who here was suddenly snatched out and translated into a higher and more quiet Sphere Oh here was indeed the Sabbath of the 7000 years all here were clothed in white lying down as Flocks by their Shepherd of all Princely Might all fastned together in a Golden Chain to shew there was no more to be a dividing for the Sheep never more was to be scattered out of this eternal Fold For nothing but Seraphical Pleasure is here with the highest Peace Joy and Rest from all former Toil Labour and Sorrow And the Law of God as a Gulf is here broke up and drowns all in its own Sea of Endless Love This is what was presented for the inforcement of our travel in Spirit for Sion deliverance out of the Babylonish servitude which now is throughout the whole World Iuly the 3d. 1677. Then was it with me to enquire with earnestness Oh my Lord when shall be this Zions Reign All things yet in visible view appear in a dull sluggish
Prove me herein if I do not answer to that Conjugal Marriage-state after which you do make I will be yours as you are mine and free from all others No cause of jealousie shall be ministred on my part for as a sealing witness you may daily read me as ye are fixed with the pure ointment for to dip your finger in and therewith annoint your Eyes that so ye may have a right and clear sight of me and of all that is of a Celestial Nature and that is set out for your more pleasant and full rejoycing as you shall take up your living in me Oh here I do invite you as my Bride to make your abode Let all know who have their habitation in this World of distress and confusion that ye have found out a rest which is far more excelling being lodged in the Bosom of the Triune Soveraignty that can command all great and good things to satisfie you as ye remain in constancy Therefore over all this Worlds Temptations maintain victory that ye may inherit with your Bridegroom revenues of Crowns Princedomes Principalities over all universally in the Marriage Knot of Unity August the 27th 1677. Then there was presented unto me a fine piece of Wrought Work that was given one to take out and one said they could never learn it without going to some skilful one to teach them therein Then heard I a grave wise Person say No find it out of thy self Stir up the Gift which is within thee that is sufficient hereunto and thou wilt have the glory of it rest upon thee August the 28th 1677. An Interpretation was given to me of this Vision and thus it was interpreted That this Vision alluded to and did present the Workmanship of God renewed in Christ Jesus and so successively in those who are created again in him Now the draught without is Christ the Lord in all his holy and perfect Deportment as he lived without sin in this World in that he is become our example that according as it is written we might be as he was in this World Now this Pattern of Perfection was given to us but the curiosity and difficulty thereof put us to whom it was offered to a plunge not knowing how to take it out without a Guide And so likely we might spend and run out our whole time before we had attained half thereof always learning and yet not perfected Therefore while I was in this demur a word came to me This skill must spring from that New Birth within Yet it is in vain for any by imitation ever to attempt the Christ-like Life till they be born again As that grows up to the degree of Divine Capacity so it will be all perceiving and will aptly find out the Mystery of a God's likeness though incarnate in this terrestrial State Where Precepts and Patterns of Evil are continually inviting so that ye are in danger of taking a wrong Pattern out But this pure Birth in you will prevent that for it scents all what is of this Principle as a putrefactious life and therefore flies from it to its own express incorruptibility For which will proceed Gifts and Powers answerably to what your Head Pattern here acted marvelously Look to it for the Root of this Matter must rise from within your own inward holy ground Call up the Ghostly Power of Might that lieth hidden there and then ye may be able to produce the same wonderful working piece according to the form of the New Creation which must bear down and outdo all which came in by the fall Then was it further given me to know that there would be a trial and probation made of what ever was wrought it must be brought to the view of the Impartial Judge whose rejoycing it will be to pass the Sentence of Justification found in the imitation both of the Death and Life from the Birth Spirit which was in Jesus and is now entred into us to bring forth the same express Workmanship in all glorious variety as in the dying so in the rising conquering reigning Life Which is not to be manifested barely by Words but by mighty Deeds and Works from the Alpha and Omega Whose day of Love Light Peace and Joy is already working known and felt in the New Born August the 29th 1677. This Night I saw my self making hard towards a place wherein I was assured of all desirable good as relating to Company and Place And as I was striving to reach thereto there came a stubborn prancing Horse in a Cart and there was one went by to guide him but the Horse was so headstrong that he would no way be governed but would run in a hostile way towards the Gate that gave entrance into this secure place Seeing which I ran with all might and hast lest I should be stopped and just as I was entring in at the passage he came furiously upon me to grind me with the Wheels So that I was put to it hard but I passed through to great admiration as if I only had a Spirit without a Body so swift was my escape out of this danger For I saw it a perfect design to have prevented my going in then took I care of the well minded Person that would have otherwise ruled this head-strong Beast if he could have managed him but such was his inkindled rage that he would stand cross the Gate to hinder him that was to be his Governour from following after me But he wisely crept upon his Knees under the Cart and so got in and shut the Gate upon this tyrannical Beast This Vision had a considerable speaking in it unto us when we cannot but understand there is a foreseeing watchful Eye that does warn us of all evil occurrences that may ensue while yet we are but in our travelling way True it is we are running hard to enter within the everlasting Gate but much lumber and stuff there is which hath loaded the Cart of the Mind which is drawn by the prancing Horse of the Will that doth drive furiously and will not be under check or controul by that which doth see its danger This Principle with all its cares businesses and employs are dangerous to step in as a grinding Wheel to prevent our passing into that pleasant place Where not any of those Inhabitants are found in any working dress For they lived there by a Creating Breath that renews all fresh supplies There needed neither Building nor Planting nor Vine-dressing nor Seed-sowers for it was uttered by voice to me that passed through me This is the place of Iehovah's rest Who so can get through hereinto shall have cessation from all their works considered as they relate either to the Mind interiour taking thought or concern about its Salvation or to the Body exteriour for Food and Raiment Health or whatever else makes the Life worth living in it is to be here But then my Spirit objected Ah my Lord who ever could pass in here
crazy Building you may take the Word of your Lord Jesus who by his Spirit is now come to tell you the material Matter of this House which you are to enter upon the Matter and Form of which is God himself Who hath had the Denomination of Old to be the Dwelling-place of his People and the Saints Pavilion throughout all Generations This Building is all of Saphire Stone having perfect measures of Length Breadth and Heights according to the Figure de-declared by Ezekiel who obscurely pourtraied out this high and wonderful Palace for the most holy Priests to enter in and to perform their daily Worship God is not a naked unfurnished House you will find it already provided to your Hand without any care or toil in first second and third Story with suitable Furniture to every place So that you will cry Oh how amiable are the Courts of Holiness Here you will desire to dwell for ever in him who doth so splendorously dilate himself to your Internal Senses that all may have a satisfying Content Now the next thing to be considered is to know what is here included in the Promise Ans. Here is included the whole Number of Divine and Celestial Relations promised upon a new Score of which Iob was a true Similitude who lost all in this very same kind and had all again restored as a Figure of this new replenished state All the Comfort that may be expected further from hence is Marriage-Union From whence Encrease may come without this the other will not altogether perfect the Joy Therefore be assured that Care is taken for this also there is a numerous Off-spring out of this Holy Habitation to be Born Your Father hath already made the Match before Hand before you do come thither All things while you are in this Principle are determined upon Oh! here you will know the unutterable Pleasure of a Bridegroom who will be so intimately tender over you that you shall say Never was such kind of Love known or fathomed when you shall know no more any Interposing Lover but can appropriate each other in all Purity A blessed exchange here will then be understood But yet there are higher Degrees of Joy when you shall bring forth after your own Heavenly perfect Likeness The great Blessing that is promised upon this Conjunction with the Virgin-Bride is Fruitfulness Ye shall also see of the travel of your Spiritual Bodies and therewith be satisfied Wisdom as a fruitful Vine upon the sides of this Eternal House and Building will spread forth her self Consider that of Isaiah which Prophecy is yet to be fulfilled Isa. 49. 20 21. In this time the Children which thou shalt have after thou hast lost the other shall say the Place is too strait meaning this earthly Principle they cannot thereto be confined they may look into it and pass through it as Strangers to shew themselves as Jesus did after his Resurrection but no continued Habitation for them is here v. 22. But thou shalt say in thy Heart who hath begotten these seeing I had lost my Children and was left alone This represents your dead and deplorable state once and the suddain and unexpected Restoration In that clause Where have they been So that a Nation and Kingdom of Priests seems to be born in one Day This is marvellous indeed when ye shall see your Spiritual Offspring as Olive-Plants about your Table set This must needs heighten your Peace and Joy in him who is your Tabernacle framer who hath such durable and pleasant Comforts provided in this Mountain of Holiness Besides there are also Brethren and Sâ—sters which are born with you from one and the same Eternal Spirit whose Loves are pure and immutable as God's Love is rejoycing Not envying at each others Degrees of Glory No grudgings there is though a Benjamin's Portion be doubled Among these nothing known is but an high sweet refreshing Harmony A blessed Family thus compact It may well make you groan to put off this Earthly House that so this Royal Society may be made known to you And as ye have been long herefrom kept as Exiles so let this true and faithful account which now is given by that Spirit who doth bear a true Witness hereof provoke you this Translation to seek and that withal your Might For the Emphasis lieth in that Word of your Jesus his Promise if you well observe which runs Now in this Time or in this very time signifying all Here to be made good Which will awaken great Persecutions as it is said strange Uproars within and without you Which the Prince of this World will raise when he seeth that any one shall in great earnest resolve to put off all that he can challenge right unto It is the earthly Sinful Body that he disputes for leave it him for after this manner he contended for Moses Body which God had hid Be ye henceforth Exiles here but real Inhabitants with God your appointed dwelling Place Leave this Principle and all what is its own care not but render up what you had from it For when you have quitted all doubt not but the hundredfold will come upon you according as hath been revealed Be you the first Adventurers here for it and ye shall be undoubtedly highly blessed The same Day I had this Word spake in me thy Soul is among tearing Lyons but a Daniel guard is about thee They shall make no Prey whilst thou dost fly to thy Rock for shelter thou shalt see their Mouthes sealed up forcibly February the 18th 1676 7. Arguments to plead with the Lord were given to me this Night Which I found was from the Spirit of Prayer that urged strongly and potently in me for our remove out of this Tent of vile Humanity into what I did in Spirit see Upon which I had this Word spoke to me Be patient in Hope stedfast in Faith ardent in Love and ye will move the Trinity to send forth Decrees for your enlargement Then again was given into me an Idea as the Dr. and I did mutually joyn in Prayer in and for the same thing that our Condition was like to Ionah swallowed up in the Belly of the Whale shut up in the House of Death enclosed in the Body of Sin round which the Seas and Floods did beat upon and the Deeps did roar and boil as a Pot of Ointment All which presented this World with the mutinous Spirits that are as the restless Waves that would as the Belly of Hell devour us if not bounded It was thus shewed to me that the true Prophetical Ionah was in us who was cast into this boisterous Sea which would drown the Prophetical Life but that the wise preventing Love of God hath provided for Ionah's safety in the very Belly of Death Out of this Grave the Lord our God doth hear our Voice though the Earth with her Bars are about us yet said the Living Word out from Corruption your Lives shall be brought Thus