erect a light and office of Preaching that the world might learne from them But all availed nothing the Starres ruled Men according to their source or quality in meere covetousnesse unchastity and pride which was indeed so very great that they purposed to build a Tower whose top should reach to Heaven such blinde people they were as to the kingdome of God 27. And then God confounded their Language that they might yet see that they had onely confounded senses or thoughts and should turne them to God that they also might see that they did not understand the Language of the Saints or holy people of the stock of Sem and that they must be scattered abroad over the whole world so that a holy seede might be preserved and that all might not perish but it availed not they were wicked 28. Then God out of the fiercenesse of the first Principle burnt Sodom and Gomorrah those five kingdomes with fire for a Terrour but it availed not sinne grew like a greene Branch And then God promised the chosen Generation that if they would walke before him he would blesse them as the Starres of Heaven and make them so great that they should not be numbered and yet there were still among them evill Birds hatched And then God brought them into a strange Land and prospered them to try whether they would acknowledge his goodnesse and depend on him but they were yet worse 29. Then God did stirre up a Prophet among them even Moses who gave them Lawes and sharp Doctrines as Nature required and these were given them through the Spirit of the great world in zeale in the fire Yet seeing they would live still in the roughnesse therefore they were tryed or tempted to see whether they would live in the Father and God gave them Bread from Heaven and fed them forty yeares to try what manner of people they would be and whether they would by any meanes be brought to cleave to God he gave them Ordinances and Customes to observe in meats and drinks and also a Priestly Order with heavy and hard precepts and punishments which he published also to them but it availed not they were onely wicked and walked in the Dominion or Regiment of the Starres and yet far worse they walked altogether according to the wrathfulnesse of Hell 30. And there is a great matter for us to see in the severall Meats which God forbad them especially Swines flesh whose source quality or property will not subsist in the fire but affordeth onely a stinck and so it doth also in the fire of the soule which reacheth or stirreth the Originality of the first Principle from whence the first Principle in the soule stincketh or maketh a stinck which is contrary to the Word and the noble virgin and it maketh the Gates of the breaking through into the light swelled thick misty fumy and dark for the soule is also a fire which burneth and if it receive such a source quality or property then that darkeneth it the more and burneth in the vapour like a flash of lightening as may be seene in the fat of swine for which cause God did forbid it them 31. And there was no other cause of their employment about offering sacrifice than because Man was earthly and so the Word standing neere the soule in the Gate of the light of life he heard their Prayers through the earthly source quality or property of their smells or Incense and so they had a token in the fire that their prayer was acceptable to God as may be seene in many places in Moses which shall be expounded in its due place 32. And there is a very great matter to be seene in Moses concerning his brightened face where it was tryed whether it were possible that the soule could be ransomed by the Fathers clarity or brightnesse in the fire if they did live in his Law which was sharp and consuming and a great piercing to the soule but it was in vaine it might not be 33. And there the noble virgin in the Spirit of the Prophets did point at the seede of the Woman at his Incarnation or becoming Man his suffering and dying for the poore soule of Man that it might be delivered from the Eternall Death and be regenerated anew in the Sonne of the virgin which was done after three thousand nine hundred and seventy yeares and then the Word of the Promise which God promised to Adam and Eve in the Paradise in the Garden of Eden when they fell into sinne and which Imaged or imprinted it selfe in the Centre of the life through which all Men that come to God are justified became Man 34. It continued a long time in the Covenant of Circumcision in the life and light of the Father with the shadows and types of the Incarnation of the Sonne But these could not reach the earnestnesse of the coming againe of the body out of the grave But the Word must become Man if Man must rise againe out of the grave It the Covenant ransomed the soule indeed so that it could stand before the Father in the Gate of the corruptibility in the fire of the sharpnesse but not in the pleasant Joy before the light of the holy Trinity and besides it could not bring the new body forth out of the Element for it was defiled too much with sinne 35. Thus in that fore-mentioned yeare the Angel Gabriel came being sent of God the Father to Nazareth to a poore yet chast and modest virgin called Mary her name signifieth plainly in the Language of Nature A Redemption out of the valley of misery and though it be plaine that wee are not borne of the High Schooles with many Languages yet wee have the Language of Nature in our Schoole of Wonders or Miracles fixed stedfast or perfect which the Master of Art in his Pontificalibus will not beleeve and he Greeted her through God and brought the Eternall Command of the Father out of his will and said to her Haile full of grace the Lord is with thee thou blessed among Women And when shee looked upon him shee was terrified at his saying and considered in her thoughts what manner of salutation this was And the Angel said to her feare not Mary thou hast found Grace with God behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb or body and beare a sonne whose name thou shalt call Jesus he shall be great and be called the sonne of the most High and God the LORD will give unto him the Throne of his Father David and he shall be King over the house of Jacob Eternally and of his Kingdome there will be no end Then said Mary to the Angel How shall that come to passe since I know not a Man And the Angel answered to her and said the Holy Ghost will come upon thee and the vertue or power of the most High will overshadow
thus yet the one must be parted from the other viz. the Kingdome of this world which is a Roote or stirrer up of the Roote of the fiercenesse and therefore it was necessary that God should passe with the new Body into the Seperation of the Roote and of the Kingdome of this world as into the Death of the fiercenesse and should destroy Death and spring with its own vertue and power through Death as a flower springeth out of the Earth and so hold the inward fiercenesse captive in his own vertue of the New Body 11. And this wee understand of Christ who is truly entred in such a manner and hath taken the strong Anger and the Devill in it captive and hath sprung with his holy heavenly body through Death and hath destroyed Death so that the Eternall Life springeth forth through Death and thus Death was taken captive by the New Eternall Body and it is an Eternall imprisonment so that an Eternall life is growne in Death and the New Body treadeth upon the Head of Death and of the fiercenesse the property of Death standeth in the Prison of the New Eternall Life 12. And so the Woman in whom the Eternall Life springeth standeth upon the Earthly Moone and despiseth that which is Earthly for that which is Earthly perisheth and then there remaineth of that which is Earthly the hard frozen Death and so now the Word of God as a living fountaine is entred into Death and hath generated the soule in its selfe and springeth forth out of the soule through Death like a new flower and that flower is the new Body in Christ 13. After this manner you may understand how he destroyed Death by the Springing of the Eternall Life in the Deity through Death and you may understand how the new Body in the Love of God holdeth the Eternall source of the Anger captive for the Love is the prison of the Anger for the source of the Anger cannot enter into the Love but continueth onely by it selfe as it was from Eternity and therein the Devils are imprisoned for the Light of God striketh them downe they neither can nor dare behold that Light in Eternity a Principle is between for the Love springeth forth in the Centre of the soule and therein the Holy Trinity appeareth or shineth 14. Thus wee have gotten a Prince of the Eternall Life and wee need doe no more but to presse in to him with a firme trust and strong Beliefe and then our soule receiveth his Love and springeth forth with him through death and standeth upon that which is Earthly viz. upon flesh and bloud and is a fruit in the Kingdome of God in the body of Jesus Christ and triumpheth over the fiercenesse for the Love holdeth that captive and that is a reproach to Death as Paul saith O Death where is thy Sting O Hell where is thy Victory Thanks be to God who hath given us victory 15. And because wee cleerly understand and apprehend it in the Spirit therefore wee are indebted to shew the light to those that apprehend it not and doe lie thus captivated in Reason and continually search into the Circumstances why it happened so in the Passion of Christ For Reason saith If it must needs be so that Christ must enter into Death and destroy Death and spring up through Death and so draw us unto him what is the cause then that he must be so despised and scourged and crowned with a Crowne of Thornes and at last be Crucified between Heaven and Earth Could he not dye some other Death and so spring through Death with his Heavenly Body 16. These hard Points cast downe all Jewes Turkes and Pagans and they keepe them back from the Christian Faith Therefore now wee must write for the sake of the Tree of Pearle and not conceale what appeareth to us in the Great Wonder Behold thou Childe of Man consider what wee set downe here gaze not on the hand of the Penne if you doe you erre and will loose the Jewel which in all Eternity you will be sorry for consider thy selfe onely and thou shalt finde in thy selfe all the causes of the Passion of Christ that are here written downe for there was a Wonderfull Penne in the writing of it and neither thou nor the Hand knoweth him sufficiently that directed it in the writing though indeed the Spirit knoweth him very well yet the naturall Man is blinde in it neither can it be expressed with earthly words Therefore consider thy selfe and if you search into the new-borne-Man then you will finde the Pearle The very horrible wonderfull Gate of Mans Sinnes 17. As wee have in the beginning of this Booke mentioned the Eternall Birth in the Originality so wee have mentioned the Birth of the Essences and the seven Spirits of the Eternall Nature and therein wee shewed how there is a Crosse-Birth in the Eternall Birth in the fourth forme where the Essences in the turning wheele make a Crosse-Birth because they cannot goe out from themselves but that the Eternall Birth is every where so in all things in the Essence of all Essences 18. And wee give you to understand thus much in very exact knowledge at the instant of this Text that all Essences in all qualities at the time of the over-coming of Death when Christ was to overcome death and destroy hell and captivate the Devill were predominant for so it must be he must release the soule from all Essences 19. Now the Crosse-Birth is the middlemost in the Essences yet before the Fire it standeth in the Anxious Death in the fiercenesse of the Hell as you may reade before for from the fierce flash in the Brimston Spirit the fire cometh forth and in the flash the Light and the fiercenesse it selfe maketh the Brimstone-Spirit and out of that in the Light cometh water as is before-mentioned Now then the soule of Man is discovered in the flash as a Spirit and held by the Fiat and so is created or generated and was brought in it selfe into the fift forme of the Birth as into the Love where then it was an Angel in the Light of God 20. But this world being created as a Principle in the fourth forme as an out-Birth and the Paradise being between the fourth and the fifth forme and the Element being in the fift forme and therein the Eternall Light of the Deity having opened another Centre and the soule having reflected back againe into the fourth forme and entered thereinto it made all Essences predominant in it which stood in the fourth forme 21. And now when the body of the soule in the fourth forme was come to be a Masse out of the water with a mixture of the other formes then stuck all Essences out of the fourth forme upon the soule and it was captivated with this body and it had continued in an Eternall Prison if the Eternall Word had not instantly given it selfe into
Abysse of Death and so the inward Materia or matter is filled from the Essences of the vertue or power and in the inward there riseth up another will out of the sterne vertue of the essences that it might lift it selfe up into the Light of the meeknesse and in the outward standeth the desire to be severed the impure from the pure for that the outward Fiat doth 30. Wee must consider in the vertue or power of the virgin that the will first is threefold and each in its Centre is fix stedfast or perfect and pure for it proceedeth out of the Tincture In the first Centre there springeth up between the Parents of the childe the inclination or lust and the beastiall desire to copulate this is the outward Elementary Centre and it is fix in it selfe Secondly there springeth up in the second Centre the inclinable love to the copulation and although they were at the first sight angry and odious one to another yet in the copulating the Centre of love springeth up and that onely in the copulating for the one pure Tincture receiveth or catcheth the other and in the copulating the Masse receiveth them both 31. Now thus the love qualifieth or mixeth with the inward one Element and the Element with the Paradise and the Paradise is before or in the presence of God and the outward seede hath its Essences which qualifie first with the outward Elements and the outward Elements qualifie with the outward Starres and the outward Starres qualifie with the outward sternnesse grimnesse fiercenesse frowardnesse wrath and malice and the wrath and malice in the fiercenesse severity or austernesse qualifieth with the Originall of the first fiercenesse of the Abysse of Hell and the Abysse qualifieth with the Devills 32. Therefore O Man Consider what thou hast received with thy beastiall body to eate and to drinke of evill and good which God did forbid Look here into the ground of the Essences and say not with Reason It was meerly for disobedience which God was so very angry at that his anger could not be quenched thou art deceived for if the cleere Deity were angry it would not have become Man for thy sake to help thee look but upon the mark in the Eternity and then thou wilt finde all 33. Thus also the Kingdome of Darknesse and of the Devill is sowne together in the copulating and the third Centre of the great desire springeth up along with it out of which the fiercenesse grimnesse or wrath and the house of flesh is generated for the pure love which reacheth the Element and consequently the Paradise hath a wholly modest and chast Centre and it is fix in it selfe of which I here give you a true Example Diligently and deeply to be considered 34. Behold two young people who have attained unto the blossome of the noble Tincture in the Matrix and Limbus so that it be kindled how very hearty faithfull and pure love they beare one towards another where one is ready to impart the very heart within them to the other if it could be done without death this now is the true Paradisicall blossome and this blossome qualifieth with the one Element and Paradise but as soone as ever they take one another and copulate they infect one another with their inflamation or burning lust which is generated out of the outward Elements and Starres and that reacheth the Abysse and so they are many times at deadly enmity or have venomous spitefull hatred one against another and though it happen that their Complexions were noble so that still some love remaineth yet it is not so pure and faithfull as the first before copulation which is fiery and that in the burning or burnt lust is earthly and cold for that must indeed keepe faithfull while it cannot be otherwise as is seene by experience in many how afterwards in wedlock they hunt after whoredome and seek after the Devils Sugar which he stroweth in the noble Tincture if Man will let him 35. Whereby then you see here that God hath not willed the earthly Copulation Man should have continued in the fiery love which was in Paradise and generate out of himselfe But the Woman was in this world in the outward Elementary Kingdome in the inflamation of the forbidden fruit of which Adam should not have eaten And although now he hath eaten and thus destroyed us therefore it is now with him the Adamicall Man as with a Theefe that hath been in a pleasant Garden and went out of it to steale and cometh againe and would faine goe into the Garden and the Gardiner will not let him in he must but reach into the Garden with his hand for the fruit and then cometh the Gardiner and snatcheth the fruit out of his hand and he must goe away in his burning lust and anger and cometh no more into the Garden and in stead of the fruit there remaineth his desirous burning lust with him and that he hath gotten in stead of the Paradisicall Fruit of that wee must now eate and live in the Woman 36. Thus I give you accurately to understand what Man is and what Man soweth and what groweth in the seede viz. Three Kingdomes as is above-mentioned and seeing the three Kingdomes are thus sowen so are they in like manner before the Tree of Temptation and there beginneth the strugling and great strife there stand the three Kingdomes in one another the Element in Paradise will keep the pure minde and will which standeth in the love in the Tincture of the seede and the outward Elements viz. that which went forth from the Element will have the Element and mix it selfe therewith and then cometh the outward fiercenesse of the Starres and draweth it together with the outward Fiat and setteth it selfe in the rule or dominion whereby the inward will in the love together with the Element and the Paradise becometh darkened and the love in the Paradise goeth into its Ether and is extinguished in the Tincture of the seede and the heavenly Centre goeth under for it passeth into its Principle 37. And then cometh the Woman with her stopped or congealed bloud with the Starres and Elements and setteth her selfe in the Dominion And here is the Paradisicall Death where Adam in the living body dyed that is he dyed as to Paradise and the Element and lived to the Sunne Starres and the outward Elements concerning which God said to him That day thou entest of good and evill thou shalt dye the Death and this is the Gate of the first Death in the Paradise in which now Man liveth in the Elementary Woman of this world in the corruptibility 38. And it highly concerneth us to know and apprehend that when the seede is sowne in the Matrix and that it be drawne together by the Fiat when the Starres and the outward Elements set themselves in the dominion and that the love
onely in Agriculture but also in Mettalls and further all Arts according to the seven Spirits of Nature which in the Letter is well to be seene wherein our Schooles or Universities will now be Masters but they are not yet Schollars in the Ground 8. And it is excellently shewen that they had the light of the Tincture in their hands wherein they found their Inventions though it was not wholly knowne for sinnes were not then in such multiplicity upon the Earth and therefore the Mysteries were not so very hard and close hidden to them but all was found out very easily especially by Adam who had the Mysteries in his hands and was but entered out of the Wonders of Paradise into the Wonders of this world who knew not onely the Essences Natures and properties of all the Beasts but also of all Plants and Mettalls he knew also the ground of the seven liberall Arts arising out of the seven formes of Nature yet not so altogether out of the Ground or fundamentally But he was the Tree out of which afterwards all the rootes and branches grew 9. But the Depth in the Centre of the Birth he knew much better than wee in our Schooles or Universities which is shewed by that saying That he gave names to all things to every thing according to its Essence Nature and property as if he had stuck or dwelt in every thing and tryed all Essences whereas he had the knowledge of them only from their sound also from their forme and aspect smell and tast the Metalls he knew in the Glance of the Tincture and in the fire as it may yet well be knowne 10. For Adam was the Heart of every thing in this world created out of the Originality of all things his soule was out of the first Principle throughly illustrated with the second Principle and his body was out of the one Element out of the Barm or Birth out of the Divine vertue which is before God which body was entered into the out-Birth of the one Element viz. into the foure Elements and wholly gone into the Spirit of this world viz. into the third Principle And therefore he had the Tincture of every thing in him by which he reached into all Essences and proved or searched all things in the Heaven Earth fire aire and water and all whatsoever is generated from thence 11. And so one Tincture took hold of the other and the stronger hath proved or tried the weaker and given names to all things according to their Essences and that is the true ground of Adams fall that he went out of the Eternall being into the Out-birth of the corruptible being and hath put on the corruptible Image which God forbad him 12. And here the two strong Kingdomes of the Eternity are to be seene which have been in strife with one another and are alwaies so and the strife continueth to Eternity for it is also from Eternity viz. between the fiercenesse and the meeknesse If the fiercenesse were not there would be no mobility but it overcometh in this world onely according to the Kingdome of Hell and in the Heaven it maketh the ascending Joy and the Meeknesse 13. And it is highly to be found and considered by us in the light of Nature how the fiercenesse or wrath is the Roote of all things and moreover the Originality of the Life therein onely consisteth the Might and the Power and from thence onely proceed the Wonders and without the fiercenesse or wrath there would be no enmity but all would be as it were a nothing as is formerly mentioned 14. And then wee finde also how the Meeknesse is the vertue and the Spirit so that where the meeknesse is not there the fiercenesse in it selfe is nothing but a Darknesse and a Death where no growing can spring up and it cannot generate nor discover its wonders and thus wee finde that the fiercenesse wrath or sourenesse is a cause of the Essences and that the Meeknesse is a cause of the joy and a cause of the rising and budding oâ— growing forth of the Essences and then that the Spirit is generated by the flowing working springing and rising up out of the Essences and that the fiercenesse so becometh the Roote of the Spirit and the Meeknesse is its Life 15. Now there can be no meeknesse without Light for the Light maketh the Meeknesse and there can be no fiercenesse without the light for the light maketh a Longing in the darknesse and yet there is no darknesse there but the longing maketh the darknesse in the will so that the will attracteth to it selfe and impregnateth the longing so that it becometh thick and dark for it is thicker than the will and therefore it shadoweth the will and is the darknesse of the will 16. And if the will be thus in darknesse then it is in anguish for it desireth to be out of the darknesse and that desiring is the flowing or working and the attracting in it selfe where yet nothing is attained but a fierce source in it selfe which by its attraction maketh hardnesse and roughnesse which the will cannot endure and thus it stirreth up the Roote of the fire in the flash as is afore-mentioned whereupon the re-comprehended will goeth forth from the flash into its selfe and breaketh the darknesse and dwelleth in the broken darknesse in the light in a pleasant joy or habitation in it selfe after which joy or habitation the will in the darknesse continually lusteth from whence longing ariseth and thus it is an Eternall Band which can never be loosed and thus the will now laboureth in the broken Gate that it may manifest or discover his wonders out of himselfe as may be seene well enough in the Creation of the world and all Creatures 17. But wee should not here againe wholly set downe the Ground of the Deity so farre as it is meete and knowne by us wee account that needlesse here for you may finde it before the incarnation of a Childe in the Mothers womb or body Wee set downe thus much here to the end that the Region of this world may be understood and thus wee give the Reader exactly to understand and know how the Region of Good and Evill are in one another and how it is an unfadable thing or substance so that one is generated out of the other and that also the one goeth forth out of the other into another substance or being which it was not in the beginning as you may learne to understand this in Man who in his beginning in the will of Man and Woman viz. in the Limbus and in the Matrix is conceived in the Tincture and sowen in an Earthly soyle where then the first Tincture in the will breaketh and his own Tincture springeth forth out of the anxious or aking chamber of Darknesse and of Death out of the anxious source
inclination towards God and Goodnesse that thou wouldst faine enter into true Repentance then truly that thought is not from thy own selfe but the Love of God doth draw thee and invite thee and the Noble Virgin of God calleth thee thereby and thou shouldst onely come and not neglect it And so truly when in such a way thy great sinnes come before thee and hold thee back so that thy heart many times receiveth no comfort this is the Devils staying of thee who casteth into thy thoughts that God will not heare thee thou art yet in too great sinnes he will let no comfort come into thy soule he layeth the sinfull Kingdome of this world over it but be not discouraged he is thy Enemy It is written If your sinnes were as red as Bloud if you turne they shall be as wooll white as snow Also As true as I live I have no pleasure in the Death of a poore sinner but that he turne and live 30. Thou must continue stedfast in this resolute purpose and though thou gettest no vertue or strength into thy Heart and though the Devill also should beate downe thy Tongue that thou couldst not pray to God yet then thou shouldst desire and sigh to him and continually hold and goe on in this thought and purpose with the Cananitish Woman the more thou pressest forward the weaker the Devill is thou must take the suffering death and satisfaction of Jesus Christ before thee and must throw thy soule into his Promise where he saith My Father will give the Holy Ghost to them that aske him for it Also Knock and it shall be opened unto you seeke and you shall finde aske and you shall receive and the more earnestly thou pressest forth from the Devill and from thy sinnes the more mightily doth the Kingdome of God presse into thee but have a care that thou doest not depart from this thy will before thou hast received the Jewel and though it hold off from morning till night and still from day to day let not that discourage thee if thy earnestnesse be great then thy Jewel will also be great which thou shalt receive at thy over-coming 31. For none knoweth what it is but he that hath found it by experience It is a most pretious Guest when it entreth into the soule there is a very wonderfull Triumph there the Bridegroome there embraceth his beloved Bride and the Hallelujah of Paradise soundeth O! must not the Earthly Body needs tremble and shake at it and though it know not what it is yet all its Members doe rejoyce at it O what beauteous knowledge doth the Virgin of the Divine Wisdome bring with her shee maketh learned indeed and though one were dumb yet the soule would be crowned in Gods works of Wonder and must speake of his Wonders there is nothing in the soule but longing to doe so the Devill must be gone he is quite weary and faint 32. Thus that Noble Jewel and in it the Pearle is sowne But observe it well it is not instantly become a Tree O how often doth the Devill rush upon it and would faine roote up the Graine of Mustard-seed how many hard stormes must the soule undergoe and endure how often is it covered with sinnes for all that is in this world is against it it is as it were left alone and for saken even the children of God themselves rush upon it for the Devill doth plague the poore soule thus to try if he can lead it astray either with flattery and hypocrisie that the soule might flatter it selfe or else with sinnes in the Conscience he never ceaseth and thou must alwayes strive against him for so the Tree of Pearle groweth as Corne doth in the tempestuous stormes and windes but if it grow high and come to blossom then thou wilt enjoy the fruit well enough and understand better what this Penne hath written and where it was borne for it was a long time in this condition many stormes went over its head and therefore this shall be for a lasting Memoriall and continuall remembrance to it seeing wee must sit here in the murthering den of the Devill if wee doe but overcome our great reward will soone follow us 33. Now saith Reason I see no more in thee nor in any such as thou art then in other poore sinners it must needs be but a hypocriticall pretence besides saith Reason I have been also in such a way and yet I stick in my wickednesse still and doe that which I would not doe and I am still moved to anger covetousnesse and malice What is the matter that a Man doth not performe what he purposeth but that he doth even what himselfe reproveth in others and that which he knoweth is not right 34. Here the Tree of Pearle standeth hidden behold my beloved Reason the Tree of Pearle is not sowen into the outward Man he is not worthy of it he belongeth to the Earth and the Man of sinne sticketh in him and the Devill often maketh his seate therein who heapeth together anger and malice therein and bringeth the poore soule often into lusts unto which it doth not consent so that the body medleth with that which the soule is against and now when this is so it is not alwayes the soule that doth it but the Spirit of the Starres and Elements in Man the soule saith it is not right nor well but the outward Body saith wee must have it that wee may live and have enough and so it is one time after another so that a true Christian knoweth not himselfe how then should he be knowne by others also the Devill can cover him sufficiently that he may not be knowne and that is his Master-piece when he can bring a true Christian into wickednesse to fall into sinnes so that outwardly nothing is discerned by him but that he reproveth the sinnes of others and yet sinneth outwardly himselfe 35. But now when he doth thus commit sinnes yet he committeth them not in the New Man but the old Man in sinne who is subjected under sinne who is in the Anger of God he is driven by the Anger so that he doth not alwayes that which is right and if he doe any thing that is Good yet he doth it not out of his own will and ability but the new Man compelleth him to it that he must doe it for the old Man is corruptible but the soule is uncorruptible and therefore the poore soule is alwayes in strife and sticketh between the Doore and the Hinges and must be often pinched and bruised 36. But yet wee do not say that sinne in the old Man is no hurt though indeed it cannot sway the new Man yet it giveth offence and wee must with the new Man live to God and serve him though it is not possible to be perfect in this world yet wee must continually goe on and hold out and the new Man is in a field where the
the Centre of the fift forme as was manifested in Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden 22. And now when the time came that the Word became Man then the Deare Life came into the soule againe But when the strife came that the fourth forme should be broken then the outward body of Christ and wee all in the fourth forme were environed with death and then all the formes in Nature did stirre and were all predominant together whereupon the Person of Christ in the Garden did sweat bloud out of his body when he cryed Father if it be possible take this cup from mee Thus the outward Man cried out and the Inward said yet not my will understand my outward will but thy will be done 23. And now because the Devill had so highly triumphed and had Man in the Eternall Prison therefore it was now permitted to the Spirit of this world that they viz. the Pharisees who lived onely according to the Spirit of this world all of them might doe and bring to passe whatsoever the Devill had brought into the Essences in the Garden of Eden and there all was turned into a substance and to an Essentiall work for a terrible Example to shew us that all whatsoever wee suffer to come into the soule and fill the soule full of with a totall will standeth in the figure and must come to light at the Judgement of God 24. For when Adam went out of the Angelicall forme into the fiercenesse of the forme of the Serpent then the Devils mocked him and that mocking must at this time be essentially or actually done upon the outward Man Christ and the Devils fatted swine the high Priests must have their pleasure upon him 25. And so when Adam went out of the Angelicall forme and property into the fourth forme then all the fierce wrathfull Effences fell upon him and wrought in him and scourged him exceedingly But the Word of God in the Promise mitigated that againe though indeed wee must still feele it enough if thou hast any Reason consider it And now the outward Man Christ underwent this paine also outwardly when he was scourged for all the Inward formes which the Man Christ must beare inwardly for our sakes which caused him to sweate drops of bloud they stood also outwardly on his body to shew that the outward Man in this outward world stood and dwelt in such a source property or condition 26. And as Adam in Pride desired the Kingdome of this world and would be like God in it and weare the Crowne of this world so must Christ weare a Crowne of Thornes and must endure to be mocked by it as a false King for so the Devils also did to Adam when they had set the Crowne of folly upon him the Kingdome of this world 27. And as Adam after his entrance into the Spirit of this world must have his Essences broken when the Woman was made out of him and a ribbe was broken from his side for a wife so must bloud flow out of all the Essences of Christ in his scourging and his side must be opened with a Speare that therein wee may behold the broken Man within us which the Devill had mocked thus this Christ must beare the reproach for us in his body 28. And as Adam went out from the Eternall Day into the Eternall darke Night wherein the Anger of God was so this Christ must be bound in a dark Night and be lead before the angry Murtherers who all opened their Jawes and would powre out their fury upon him 29. And as Adam in confidence of himselfe desiring to be high and wise like God himselfe went into the Spirit of the fierce source or property in this world so the second Adam must endure all mocking torment and paine to be inflicted upon him from the wise Scribes that wee might see that in our greatest Art which wee suppose to have from the Schooles and Universities in this world wee are but fooles and that such wisdome is but folly before God and our own opinions and conceits stick therein as in Adam who thought he could not now faile he was become Lord therein viz. in his selfe-wisdome and he was but a foole Thus also when we fall from God and relie upon our own Reason wee are but fooles 30 How will yee then O Antichristian fooles binde us to your Art that wee should turne away from the Heart of God to behold your invented fables and fopperies Whereas in your wisdome of this world yee are but fooles as Adam also was when he drew away his Spirit from the Heart of God The same ignominie must our deare Lord Christ beare upon his shoulders Or doe yee thinke againe that wee are madde Truly our folly will be set before your eyes at the Last Judgement and thither wee appeale 31. And as Adam must carry the untoward grosse body that the Spirit of this world had put upon him and was scorned of all Devils because he had changed his Angelicall Body into a monstrous Vizard so Christ must carry his heavy woodden Crosse and was for our sakes scorned of all these wicked people 32. And as the fierce wrathfull Essences of the Anger of God pressed into Adam whereby he entered into Death of which God spake saying If thou eatest of the Tree thou shalt dye the Death understand the Death in the flesh even while they were in the earthly life so the sharp Nayles must pierce through the hands and feet of Christ and so he must enter into Death and as there is in the humane Essences before the Light of God a Crosse Birth so when the Light of God shineth therein all is turned into a pleasant flourishing blossome wherein the sharp Essences are not found or perceived 33. And when Adam with his soule entered into the fourth forme into the Spirit of this world then that Crosse Birth was stirred and when his wife was made out of his Essences he was divided in that Crosse Birth and so the Woman hath the one halfe of the Crosse and the Man the other halfe which you may see in the skull as also in the Essences and therefore Christ must dye upon the Crosse and destroy Death on the Crosse 34. And as the soule of Adam hung between two evill Kingdomes as between the Kingdome of this world and the Kingdome of Hell so Christ hung on the Crosse between two Murtherers And thus Christ must restore againe all that Adam had lost And as the one Malefactor turned and desired to be with Christ in his Kingdome so the one Kingdome v. z. the Earthly Man must also turne againe and the poore soule must enter into Christ againe through the earthly Death and spring up againe like this Murtherer Theefe or Malefactour on the Crosse who desired the Kingdome of Christ 35. And thus you may well beleeve that all whatsoever happened in the Fall of Adam whereby Adam is fallen
him againe and if he be now to generate a Kingdome then there must be a Woman as all other Beasts have a Female for propagation The Angelicall kingdome in Adam was gone therefore now there must be a kingdome of this world 4. Then what was it that God now did with Adam Moses saith When Adam slept he took one of his ribs and made or built a Woman of it viz. of the rib which he took from Man and closed up the place with flesh Now Moses hath written very right but who is it that can understand him here If I did not know the first Adam in his virgin like forme in Paradise then I had been at a stand and should have known no other than that Adam had been made flesh and bloud of a lump of Earth and his wife Eve of his rib and hard bones which before the time of my knowledge hath oft seemed very strange and wonderfull to my thoughts when I have read the Glosses upon Moses that so high or deep learned men should write so of it some of them will dare to tell of a Pit in the Orient or East Countrey out of which Adam should be taken and made as a Potter maketh a vessell or Pot. 5. If I had not considered the Scripture which plainly saith Whatsoever is borne of flesh is flesh Also Flesh and bloud shall not inherit the kingdome of Heaven Also None goeth into Heaven but the son of Man viz. the pure virgin which came from Heaven and which is in Heaven which was very helpfull to mee to think that the childe of the virgin was the Angel which hath restored againe all that which was lost in Adam for God brought againe in the Woman in her virgin-like body the virgin childe which Adam should generate And now if I had not considered the Text in Moses where God saith It is not good that man should be alone wee will make a helpe for him I should yet have stuck in the will of the Woman 6. But that Text saith God looked upon all that he had made and behold it was all very good Now if it were good in the Creation then it must needs have become evill when God said afterward it is not good for Man to be alone If God would have had them like all beasts to have a beastiall propagation he would at one and the same instant at first have made a Man and a Woman But that God did abominate the beastiall propagation it appeared plainly in the first childe of the Woman Cain the murtherer of his brother also the fruit or the curse of the earth sheweth it plainly enough But what shall I spend the time for with these testimonies the proofe of it will cleerly follow And it is to be proved not onely in the Scripture which yet maketh a cover over it but in all things if we would take time to doe it and spend our labour about vaine and unprofitable things 7. Now thus saith Reason What are then the words of Moses concerning the Woman to which I say Moses hath written right but I living thus in the Woman understand it not right Moses indeed had a brightened or glorified face or countenance but he must hang a vaile before it so that none could see his face But when the sonne of the virgin viz. the virgin wisdome came he looked him in the face and did the vaile away 8. Then Reason asketh What was the rib taken out of Adam to be made a Woman The Gate of the Depth Behold the virgin sheweth us this that when Adam was overcome and the virgin passed into her Ether then the Tincture wherein the faire virgin had dwelt became earthy weary feeble and weake for the powerfull roote of the Tincture from whence it had its potency without any sleepe or rest viz. the heavenly Matrix which containeth Paradise and the Kingdome of Heaven withdrew in Adam and went into its Ether 9. Keader understand and consider it aright the Deity viz. the faire virgin is not destroyed and come to nothing that cannot be onely shee is remaining in the divine Principle and the Spirit or the soule of Adam is with its own proper Worme remaining in the third Principle of this world But the virgin viz. the divine vertue or power standeth in Heaven and in Paradise and beholdeth her selfe in the earthly quality of the soule viz. in the Sunne and not in the Moone understand in the highest point of the Spirit of this world where the Tincture is noblest and most cleare from whence the minde of man doth exist 10. And shee would faine returne againe into her place to her Bridegroome if the earthly flesh with the earthly minde and senses or thoughts did not hinder or were not in the way for the virgin doth not goe into them shee will not be bound to or in the earthly Centre shee finisheth the whole time while the Woman liveth in her stead of her speculation with longing and much calling admonishing and hearty seeking but to the regenerate shee appeareth in a high triumphing manner in the Centre of the minde shee also often diveth into the Tincture of the bloud of the heart whereby the body with the minde and senses come to tremble and triumph so highly as if it were in Paradise it also presently getteth a Paradisicall will 11. And there the noble Graine of Mustard-seed is sowne of which Christ saith That it is at first small and afterwards groweth to be like a great Tree so far or so long as the minde persevereth in the will but the noble virgin stayeth not continually for her Birth is of a higher descent and therefore shee dwelleth not in earthly vessels but shee sometimes visiteth her Bridegroom at a time when he is desirous of her although shee alwaies with observancy preventeth and calleth him before he calleth her which is onely understood in the Lilly this the Spirit speaketh in a high and worthy seriousnesse therefore observe it ye children of God the Angel of the great Councell cometh in the valley of Jehosaphat with a Golden Charter which he selleth for Oyle without Money whosoever cometh shall have it 12. Now when the Tincture was become thus earthy and feeble by the overcoming of the Spirit of the great world then it could not generate in a heavenly manner and was also possessed with inability and then the Counsell of God stood there and said Seeing he is become earthly and is not able to propagate wee will make a help for him and the Fiat stood in the Centre and severed the Matrix from the Limbus and the Fiat took a rib in the midst of Adam out of his right side and created a Woman out of it 13. But you must cleerly understand or conceive that when the Fiat to the creating of the woman was in Adam in his sleepe his body had not then such hard grissles and bones
O no that came to passe first when Mother Eve did bite the Apple and also gave to Adam onely the infection and the earthly death with the fainting and mortall sicknesse stuck in them the bones and ribs were yet strength and vertue from which the ribs should come to be 14. But you must highly and worthily understand and consider how it was taken out of his side not as a spirit but wholly in substance thus it may be said that Adam did get a rent and the Woman beareth Adams spirit flesh and bones yet there is some difference in the Spirit for the Woman beareth the Matrix and Adam the Lambus or Man and they two are one flesh undivided in nature for now they two together must generate one man againe which one alone could doe before A Pleasant Gate 15. Wee being here in describing the corruptibility of Adam the Spirit frameth in our thoughts a heavenly mystery concerning Adams rib which the Fiat took from him and made a Woman of it which Rib Adam afterwards must want for the Text in Moses rightly saith God closed up the place with flesh 16. But now the wrath of the Serpent hath so brought it to passe that Adam is fallen in the lust and yet the purpose of God must stand for Adam must rise againe at the day of the Resurrection wholly and unbroken in the first Image as he was created So likewise the Serpent and the Devill hath brought it about that so terrible a Rent is made in him wherefore the Spirit sheweth us that as little as the Worme or Spirit of the soule could be helped except that the virgin came and did goe into Death in the Worme in the abysse of the Spirit of the soule which in its own abysse reacheth the Gate of Hell and the fierce anger of God and regenerate him a new and make him a new Creature in the first Image which is done in the sonne of the virgin in Christ 17. So little also could Adams Rib and his hollow side where it stood be helped healed or brought to perfection except that the second Adam Christ suffer himselfe in the virgin to be wounded pierced or cut in the same place that his precious bloud might come to helpe the first Adam and repaire his broken side againe this of high and precious worth wee speake according to our knowledge which when we shall write of the suffering and death of Christ the Sonne of the virgin wee will so cleere it that thou O thirsty soule shalt finde a living fountaine which shall be little beneficiall to the Devill Further concerning the Woman 18. Reason asketh Is Eve meerely created out of the Rib taken out of Adam then shee should be far inferiour to Adam No beloved Reason it is not so the Fiat being a sharp attracting tooke from Adam of all essences and properties of every vertue but it took from him no more members in substance for the Image should be a man after a masculine kinde in the Limbus yet not at all with this deformity Understand it rightly in the ground he should be and he was also a man and he had a virgin-like heart wholly chaste in the Matrix 19. Therefore Eve was for certaine created out of all Adams Essences and so Adam thereupon had a great Rent and so likewise the Woman might come to her perfection to be the Image of God and this againe sheweth a great mystery wherehy the virgin very preciously witnesseth againe that the sonne of the virgin hath not onely suffered his side to be pierced through and shed his bloud out of the hole of his side but he hath also suffered his hands and feete to be struck through and a Crowne of thornes to be pressed upon his head so that the bloud gushed out from thence and in his body he endured to be whipped so that his bloud run down all over So very lowly hath the Sonne of the virgin debased himselfe to help the sick and broken Adam and his weak and imperfect Eve to repaire them and bring them againe into the first Glory 20. Therefore you must know for certain that Eve was created out of all Adams Essences but there were no more ribs nor members broken from Adam which appeareth by the feeblenesse and weaknesse of the Woman and also by the Command of God who said Thy will shall be in subjection under thy Man or husband and he shall be thy Lord or Ruler because the Man is whole and perfect except a Rib therefore the Woman is a help for him and must help him to doe his work in humility and subjection and the Man must know that shee is very weak being out of his Essences he must help her in her weaknesse and love her as his own Essences in like manner the Woman must put her Essences and will into the Essences and will of the Man and be friendly towards her Man or husband that the Man may take delight in his own Essences in the Woman and that they two might be but one only will For they are one flesh one bone one heart and generate children in one onely will which are neither the Mans nor the Womans alone but of both together as if they were from one onely body And therefore the severe commandement of God is set before the children that they should with earnestnesse and subjection honour their father and mother upon paine of temporary and eternall punishment of which I will write concerning the Tables of Moses Concerning the Propagating of the soule The Noble Gate 21. The minde hath from the beginning of the world had so very much to doe about this gate and hath continually so searched therein that I cannot reckon the wearisome heap of writers about it but in the time of the Lilly this Gate shall flourish as a Bay-tree or Lawrell tree for its branches will get sap from the virgin and therefore will be greener than Grasse and whiter than the whitest Roses and the virgin will beare the pleasant smell thereof upon her Pearly-Garland and it will reach into the Paradise of God 22. Seeing then the mystery presenteth it selfe to us therefore we will open the blossome of the Sprout yet wee would not have our Labour given to the Wolves Dogges or Swine which roote in our Garden of delight like wilde Boares but to those that seek that the sick Adam may be comforted 23. Now if wee will search after the Tincture what it is in its highest degree wee shall finde the Spirit for wee cannot say that the fire is the Tincture nor the aire neither For the fire is wholly contrary to the Tincture and the aire doth stifle it it is a very pleasant refreshment its roote out of which it is generated is indeed the fire but if I may rightly mention the seate where it sitteth I cannot say otherwise but that it is between the three Principles viz. between