Soul being now sensible of its present state and seeing that there 's no Safety where the Devils have such access and influence sinks down into the Mercy and Love of God and flies to the Cross imbracing and delighting in it that so the Blood of the Cross may be shed into it to cleanse it throughout and to take away those Stains which are the Devils Mansions And here it clearly finds there 's no way of triumphing over the Prince of Death but through Death so it dies daily to that the Evil One lives in and lives to that which is death to Sin In this way there may much Discouragement sometimes seize on the Soul through the strength of Satans working and the reluctancy of Flesh and the Outward Man which is loath to subject his Neck to the sharp Axe of Death But this Bitterness is recompenced with that Refreshment the Soul finds in its Constancy of Self-denial which is attended with many glances of Divine Comfort darting in upon the Soul to encourage it and though it should for a while remain in this Progress which is bitter to the Flesh without any sensible Comfort which may well be through that great opposition the Dragon will make at this remove of the Soul yet when Patience hath had its Work and the Soul is come to be wrapt up in Contentation and Passiveness as to any Change of its Condition and so fitted for Enlargement the showers of God's Love will seasonably and sweetly descend to the strength and blessed Support of the Heart so that it will be forced to cry out It is good that a Man should both hope and quietly wait for the Salvation of the Lord And what the Spirit sometimes now enjoys so sweetens the Cross that it cannot but thus break forth Why should the Soul refuse that Cross That Gold returns instead of Dross Why should it fear that piercing Nail Which rends away the fleshly Vail And gives a Prospect of that Place Which Time and Age cannot deface CHAP. VI. BY this time the Soul begins to delight in the habit of strong Self-denyal and watches diligently over its self to discover whatever is to be slain upon the Cross of God's pure Will and now it begins to be ashamed of all Passions and Affections that flow from the Animal Man and therefore much restrains it and keeps it in subjection to the Angelical which is according to that Order God himself set at the beginning Now it likewise sees how the Animal Mortal part with its Motions and Passions is too much imbraced by most few understanding how it was in the Beginning or how it is to be changed and again subjected to the Angelical Part in the Children of the Resurrection But the Soul having now some Sight and Enjoyment of the inward Spiritual Body raised from the dead is much ashamed of the outward Body which stands in the Curse under awakened Wrath seeing what Temptation Spirits are exposed to by Union with this which should continually be under the Law of Mortification till its Change lest through its Earthly Inclination it should infect the Intellect and draw the Immortal Soul into Defilement which now dares not hearken to the Allurements of the sensitive Spirit which as tempting Eve oft presents the Apples of Mortality as those which are pleasing to the Eye and good for Food But through the renewal of the Spiritual Body with its five Faculties or Powers answering to the five Senses of the External Body the Objects and Pleasure of the Outward begin to be forgot and to displease instead of alluring and affecting the Heart For by the Exercise of the Internal Senses we see Spiritual Objects as the Internal Light-World Visions of Angels and Visions of Representation In this state we likewise hear the Songs Voices and Harmony of Angels with the Harpers upon Mount Sion who there continually praise the Lord We smell the Perfumes of Christ's Garments and are oft entertained with Paradisical Odours We touch and feel the powerful tincture of Christ's Body which many times strongly affects the Heart with powerful delight We also oft taste the Heavenly Manna and those Dews of Paradise which are sweeter than Honey to that Part which receives them I could here more largely particularize the several Objects Delights and Enjoyments of the inward Spiritual senses but because there may be great Variety according to the different Gifts and Capacities of several Persons and in regard some for ought I know may pass far in the Progress of the New Birth without a particular knowledge of those Enjoyments I shall not instance in many particulars I could nor set down my own with some others peculiar and various Experiences Yet in general I cannot but affirm that the unlocking the Sences of the inward Man is a great Priviledge and that the Soul by it attains many great Supports and Refreshments to uphold it and give it incouragement to hold out to the end For truly this Communion it lives in now with the Angels of God and other Divine Objects continually minds it of Heaven and Paradise and exceedingly draws the Heart from all that is in the World where Death and Corruption is wrote upon every thing And the Dragon and Beasts bring forth their various Wonders But in this state the Soul blesseth God for that Constancy he afforded under the Cross and for that Death it hath undergone in Resignation to his Will which hath proved a passage into this Life in which the Soul beholds the opening of a New World with its glorious Hoasts And begins to feel the Sweetness of the Angelical Life and to see what we fell from by descending into the Spirit of Mortality and the sensitive Nature Now this state cannot be attained but by a Death to that which was the chief Ingagement of the Soul to the World and the primary Chain that hindred its gradual Ascent towards God And we may find there is something in every one which is the Souls Dalilah that shaves its Locks and betrays its strength and whilst this remains it cannot effectually grow in the Love of God and Conformity to Christs Death But when this subtle Harlot comes to be discovered and killed the Soul flies apace and very swiftly to Eternity for when this Wheel is taken away the smaller that depended on it lose their strength and motion and so cease with it giving Freedom to the Soul of tending towards its true Center which having regained this Liberty and attained in some Measure the Restoration of the Holy Powers of Sensation sings a Song of praise to God in this manner Blest be that Power which hath that Idol broke Which did so long depress me with her Yoke Blest be that Hand which hath restor'd to me An Eye within this World a World to see Where Angels and blest Spirits freely move As they are acted by the Laws of Love Whence they a Visit sometime deign
a new Impression which more exciting the Powers of the Soul to a new Imbrace opens the way more for the King of Glory to enter with that power and unutterable force of Divine Love that the Soul becomes filled swallowed up and transported into a kind of Rapture not being able to express those Pleasures Gusts Imbraces Love-Extasies which then are piercing thorough it nor sufficient Praises and Hallelujahs to the great King of Saints who bestows such Royal tokens of Love upon it And as in this state there is such holy Commerce in pure Love betwixt God and the Soul so there is betwixt the Soul and other Saints who cannot but wonderfully own and love one another and delight in that likeness of God which they see in each other and bless him for those living Powers of Grace and Love that are communicated in the Worship of God by which they exceedingly refresh each others Spirits Now this mutual love chiefly flows from a sight and sense of Oneness which exceedingly enforceth this great closing and out-slowing of Spirit to delight comfort and refresh one another And here is that strength of Love that we could give our lives for the Brethren and endure much Affliction to flee them from sufferings Here we bear one anothers Burdens and so fulfil the Royal Law of Love for we can keep nothing as our own but what we heartily communicate and make our Brethren partakers of because they are part of our selves Here we come to practice that heavenly Law of loving our Neighbours as our Selves and of doing Gods Will on Earth as it is done in Heaven for which end Man and the visible World were brought forth For the breaking forth of sin and wrath was not according to Gods most pure and holy Will which is good and tends to Salvation and Blessing and the keeping of his Creatures in that primitive Harmony in which they came out of Gods hands as fitted to glorifie him through mutual Love and regular Obedience And this is the end of Christs Coming into the World of Mans Nature even to restore it from the Discord of Sin and Wrath to the Harmony of pure Love and Righteousness therefore 't is a happy state to have attained this Habit of Love before described which will not terminate within the Sphere of our Neighbours and Brethren but in some measure flow out to all causing us to breath after endeavour and pray for their Change for it is the Nature of true Love to communicate it self and to delight in propagating its own heavenly Image that so many may come to partake of Bliss and Happiness through it And in this Enjoyment if we find any that know and posses but little yet thirst much after God O how will our hearts burn within us How ready shall we be to employ our Talents for their good and to discover that Way which leads through Nature into the Kingdom of the Love What labour and pains could we take to be instrumental in changing and quickning them and in bringing them through the Cross to our ovvn state of Happiness so that this Dispensation abounds much in Love both to God and our Neighbour fitting the Soul for Ascention into Eternity there to see and know with Satisfaction and Delight those Wonders which the holy Angels and glorifyed Saints are continually viewing with Joy and Admiration Blest is that Soul which is arrived here Where quickning Love casts out dejecting Fear And gives that sweet Composure to the Mind That it lyes passive to that Holy Wind Which blowing from the highest Paradise Invites the Soul to come and Sabbatise In that bright day where the Arch-Angels sing Sweet Hallelujahs to our Christ their King CHAP. XVI Being the Conclusion to the Rest THE Soul being brought thus far in the Heart-Work by the Power of Jesus through the practice of the Cross in Self-denial and Resignation lives in habitual springings up of the Love in the Centre of it's Spirit where the work is near finished the Will being constantly drawn toward the Heart of God in the Chariot of Love And in this State the Soul is completely fitted for Ascension and the opening of the Eternal World which is part of the Head-work for in that the spiritual Eye is seated which is capable to see and know the wonders of Eternity And though some in a rapture may be taken up into that World long before the work in their Hearts Wills and Affections is finished yet such must afterward go through the work in Nature of rectifying all their Properties and of bringing their Wills into Death and pure Resignation that so they may be fitted for the Birth of the Love whence its clear that this State of Regeneration attained in the Will through the Death is far more considerable and nearer Perfection than the highest Rapture without such a foregoing work and the Ascension after this work of Regeneration in the Heart is more weighty and more tending to Perfection than any Rapture of Transportation before can be because by such a Work the Will is wrought up into a constant Union with Christ which by Ascension is more confirmed and established the Heart through that being more raised above all mortal corruptible Objects and more reduced into a passive silent waiting for the Opening of the Eternal Temple whence the infallible Voice proceeds and where the great High-Priest sparkles with the most bright Beams of divine Glory But the manner of the Souls Ascending from the Internal to the Eternal World is very remarkable and wonderful It cannot of its self move one degree upward That same hand of power which carried it downward to see the Wonders of God in the Depths must carry it upward to see his Wonders in the high places above So that in this the Soul is meerly passive The Spirit of Christ being the Agent which descending with an over-shadowing Vertue upon it wraps it up swiftly and in a strong force by which the Souls Acts are for a while suspended translates it as it were in a strait Line from the Inward toward the Inmost In this Translation or Ascension what Wonders are seen and felt I shall not particularly express But in general this I must declare That there is an unutterable Power transfusing the Soul in this Ascent which first comes into the Womb of the Invisible Worlds out of which they issue in which it finds an Universal Silence or Stilness and above which it discovers a great Glory inhabited by glorified Spirits who there live in perpetual Harmony and Joy singing Halelujahs to the Lamb of God and continually waiting upon the Infallible Voice proceeding from the Throne of God To be taken into this is a further degree of Ascension being the second Mansion in the Eternal World where Myriads of Angels attend those Commands which come out of the Most holy place which is the last and highest Mansion in that World answering to
the Excellency of the Holy Scriptures and how much those who profess to believe the Christian Doctrines are bound to live a holy Life and so gave a short but powerful Exhortation to Holyness as the only way to Happiness And then said I have Peace of Conscience I have lived up to my Light and loved God above all things And at another time he said to two intimate Friends I have Peace of Conscience I have walk'd with God tho I have made no Noise in the World The same day he died which was on Easter-Monday April 13th 1691. he oft cryed Come Lord Jesus come quickly O when when And one time he said My Lord my Rock and my strong Habitation Which words came from him with great Power The last words that ever he spoke were Watch watch whereupon he fell into a sweet Slumber for an hour and in it departed thus truly falling asleep in him to whom for whom and in whom he had lived to whom be Glory and Praise for ever and ever This was the End Reader of that pretious Saint who from the Light and Grace of God confer'd upon him pen'd the following Treatise concerning which I shall not need to add any thing further seeing the following Advertisement of the Author gives a full Account of the Design and Usefulness thereof The Paraphrase in Verse upon the 13th of the First of Corinthians printed at the end of the Treatise being found amongst the Authors loose Papers was thought fit to be publish'd herewith because it expresseth much of his Spirit and Temper But I must conclude after that I have inform'd the Reader that the Author has left several other excellent Spiritual Discourses behind him which if this be well received are intended to be made Publick for the use of the Church in her present Wilderness Condition The great and glorious God who hath given this Seed to the Sower make it with all Fruitfulness to spring up in the Hearts of all that are of Good-will to the Regeneration in Christ Jesus Amen AN ADVERTISEMENT FROM THE AUTHOR To all that shall read this following Discourse I Have written this Experimental Discourse of the New-Birth not for the Wise and Rich who think they see and enjoy enough but for the Poor in Spirit who enquiring the way to Sion are sensible of their Defects and breath after a Supply Let none then come with Prejudice for that will give a false Tincture to the Eye of the Mind and prevent the sight of Truth by a prepossession that 't is Error If any have attained and enjoy as much or more than is here expressed let them bless God for his Goodness both to themselves and me If not let them not be ashamed to learn and practice more than they have already for Teach a wise Man and he will be yet wiser Prov. 9.9 And 't is no diminishing of Esteem to grow in true Knowledge or disparagement of Age to gain Wisdom from those that are Young because true Wisdom is the Gift of God who is no respecter of Persons bestowing his Gifts on whom he pleaseth But think not I have here chalked out a Way for every one to walk in for I have only wrote my own Experience And I know there may be great variety in Gods Works upon Souls so that none are to be confined to one exact Path though all are to be informed That we must turn and become as little Children and be wholly dead with Christ before we can be as the Angels in the Resurrection delighting our selves in the Light and Life of Eternity Therefore the Perfect Death should be aimed at by all for nothing less can fit us for Glory For how can any Imperfection enter there where is nothing but Perfection or any thing of Darkness dwell with him who is Light and in whom there is no Darkness at all 'T is true many from mastaking that Principle of Gods being the Root of all things have endeavoured to reconcile Light and Darkness Good and Evil Flesh and Spirit Christ and Belial and so to laugh Tall Mortification and Self-denial out of the Church But alas what have the Practices and Notions of such ended in but shame and confusion of Face for they have sowed to the Wind and reaped the Whirl-wind grasped at an Imaginary Heaven and Perfection but have fallen like Lucifer into Hell and palpable Darkness having like foolish Virgins spent their Oyl and received Poyson into their Lamps and so made themselves unfit to meet and entertain the Bridegroom Others there are who come forth in such Outward Strictness and Severity as they are ready to judge all that are not in their peculiar Mode and Form and so refuse Communion with some who have attained much further in the true Death and Resurrection and are more acquainted with the Renewal of Gods Image and the State of Restoration than themselves And there be many others who though not owning the first sort and much disgusting the last yet give themselves too much to Earthly Indulgements under the notion of Christian Liberty and so make no real Progress in the Change of their Souls Some of which are cheated with false Notions of their being in Christ and others of them with sublime apprehensions of false Imaginary Deaths and ways of Self-denial which they much feed upon instead of that Death and Cross which should work their Spirits and Natures out of Flesh into the true spiritual Divine Image There are another sort who are too much offended at Forms and all usual ways of enjoying and speaking of God decrying them as Cheats and empty things though they be used never so spiritually and advantagiously to those that appear in them which is a great mistake flowing from Ignorance and the want of a clear sight which could not so confine the great and infinite Jehovah within the limits of No-forms and exclude him from appearing and working in and through Forms being it is at his own pleasure to shew himself how and in what he pleaseth But lastly a great part of those that profess Religion are such who rest too much upon the first work of Regeneration and two much eye their first Change afterward running in a Circle of Duties and Performances without making that Progress and Growth toward Perfection which the frequent Exhortations and Examples of the Holy Scriptures call and incite us to Now the work of Regeneration renewing both the Will and Vnderstanding will bring those who persevere in it to a clear sight of the forementioned Mistakes by which they will be able to discern betwixt Light and Darkness Chaff and Wheat and come to own the Good Seed in all and endeavour by walking according to the Royal Law of Love and Charity to cherish it Now this Law of Love is the Rule of Perfection being the Scope and end of a Christians Progress a true Conformity to which makes us like God who is Love and delights to impress his own eternal Character
Condition before they make a new advance towards Perfection usually much reflecting upon their former work of Conversion as the chief Basis of their Comforts And though sometimes they look forward and desire growth yet that desire of growth is so weak that it terminates in its self short of effectual accomplishment and though they sometimes begin yet their Endeavours are nipt in their first Blossoming and they themselves cast back into wonted Deadness and so they come to run in a Circle without getting ground of their Corruptions And I confess I was long detained in this State without any clear evident progress towards Eternity And though I grew much in Knowledge and mystical Notions of the Life Death Resurrection and Ascention of Christ and of our Conformity to his Example yet not in the Power of his Cross and Death working the same in my Nature But afterward I came to a clearer sight of the Narrow Way which leads to Life Eternal and of the necessity of our exact Conformity to Christs Sufferings and Death to bring us unto his Life and Resurrection And that every degree of Life must come through a degree of Death and the New-man spring up by the continual decay of the Old And though I saw This before yet not so distinctly and effectually as now Here likewise I was more powerfully convinced of the Straitness of the Pilgrims Path which leads through the Visible and Invisible Worlds into the third Heaven Every step being to be made through Death and Resignation and that the Soul could not attain perfect Bliss but through a Death to all things which it came to love through the Fall For as the Soul entred into Selfishness so it must come out of it casting away all that cloathing it is covered with through Lust And as it descended from Paradise into the Spirit of the World and the Kingdom of the Devil so it must re-ascend out of the Spirit of the World and the Kingdom of the Dragon through the Root of fallen Nature into the Bosom of Abraham Here I saw what a real Progress the Soul must make from the External into the Internal from thence into the Eternal And as it descended so it must ascend and as it fell by a gradual Change of the Will into Lust and Earthliness so it must Rise by a gradual renewing of the Soul from Lust into Divine Love Here I saw nothing without us could advantage but as it was apply'd to make a real change within For except we turn and become as Children we cannot enter into the Kingdom of God It must be by a Transmutation and Metamorphosis of the Soul from the Image of the Earthly into that of the Heavenly Nothing can ascend into Heaven but that which came from Heaven even the true Image of God the Earthly being predestinated to destruction For Earth it is and unto Earth it must return Now the motion of the Soul through the gate of Death towards Life Eternal is the motion of a Spirit which is to be looked upon as ascending or descending as it comes nearer or removes further from God the Center as Bodies ascend or descend in relation to their Center by their tending toward or from ward the Visible Heavens Vpward therefore to a Soul is Inward Outward is Downward The Center is the Highest the Circumference the lowest God is in the Center being most Inward Matter in the Circumference being most Outward yet God is in the Outward as his footstool but in the most Inward as his Throne filling both though in both not manifest alike In the Inmost he shews himself wholly in the Love in the Outmost in Love and Wrath Life and Death Generation and Corruption But in the Inward dark World altogether in Death Darkness and Wrath as in the Inmost all in Light and Life Therefore our Progress is from the Outward through the Inward to the Inmost The Outward is the place of Good and Evil and as to its corrupt State the Kingdom of the Beast The Inward is two-fold either the Dark or Light world The Dark is the Kingdom of the Dragron the Center of Evil and Wrath The Light World is the Paradisical Sphere or that Garden of Eden which is situate also in its Mesopotamia or betwixt the two great Rivers of Wrath and Love The first of which is called in Revelation 19.20 The Lake of Fire burning with Brimstone the last in Rev. 22. A pure River of Water of Life clear as Chrystal which proceeds out of the Throne of God and of the Lamb. The Inmost is the eternal Sanctuary or the true eternal Tabernacle of God and that spiritual Land of Peace where Abraham Isaac and Jacob and all the glorified departed Saints live and inhabit But none can ever reach This but through the perfect Death and as we die daily so we rise nearer and nearer it Death giving us a gradual passage towards this Eternal Kingdom of Life And is it so that Death must waft us ore The Sea of Nature to the Heavenly Shore Then bring thy Boat blest Death that thou and I May saile together towards Eternity A sweet Companion thou wilt be to me Till I imbosom'd am in Vnity CHAP. V. THe Soul having arrived so far as to see the necessity of a complete Death and of a perfect Conformity to the Cross of Christ and discovering much Selfishness which before it saw not as matter of this Death and Cross begins afresh the serious Practice of the Cross with great earnestness and resolution of Spirit to indulge i nothing that stands betwixt it and God Now it enters upon a strict Enquiry into its own Heart searching its own Jerusalem with the Candle of the Lord that so all Selfishness may be discovered and extirpated and now it finds that although before this Dispensation the chief Bent of the Will inclined habitually toward the Good yet it was not strong enough to bear down that Opposition of Flesh that hindred its constant Ascent toward Heaven and had therefore need of a new Alarm from thence to awaken it and raise it from that Bed of Drowsiness and arm it with Power and Resolution to cast out the Relicks of the Flesh and Corruption and defend its self against the Assaults of the Devil who having long possessed the unregenerate part of the Heart is loath to quit his hold least the Soul should get wholly out of his Kingdom and reach At this remove therefore the Spirits of Darkness exceedingly oppose and use all their art and strength to betray and weaken the Souls Endeavours Here then begins a new and great War in the Soul between the Seed of the Woman and the Serpent Michael and his Angels fight against the Dragon and his Angels Christ and Anti-Christ strongly oppose each other The Wrath and Love bring forth their mighty wonders being both stirred and awakened afresh in the Soul But the
to give To those imbodied Souls that purely live CHAP. VII THe Soul having now attained to the Death of that which so long hindered its growth in the Pure Life and to the Enjoyment of those Spiritual Objects which exceedingly refresh and quicken the Heart in the midst of all discouragements proceeds chearfully in the strait way of Resignation offering up its Sin-Offering daily as a Sacrifice to the Fathers Justice For now the Daily Oblation is restored in the Holy Place which must continue till the death of sin and the rending away the Vail of flesh from before the most Holy Now therefore the Circumcising Knife of Gods Power constantly cutts off the Fleshly part which is offered up in the Fire of Justice and consumed before the Lord Now the Soul sees it must resist to blood that is to the Death of the Body of sin which is wholly to be separated from the Spirit with all its Members For this is that false Covering it hath wrapped it self in through the Fall instead of that naked Innocency in which there was no uncomliness and therefore no shame Except therefore this Fore-skin of the Flesh be cut off the Angelical Robe cannot be put on and as that falls off this is assumed increasing as that decays for they cannot both rise and fall together for while the outward Man decays the inward Man is renewed day by day Here it clearly appears we must forsake all we have otherwise we cannot be Christs Disciples All Objects of our Carnal Affections all complacency in Fleshly things all Propriety of Will which assuredly came through the Fall and the Souls Departing from the Universal Love the true ground of heavenly Community into the particular Objects of self-affections which as it hath been awakened by the Souls going out of Gods Will into its own so it must be Crucified by returning from its self into the pure eternal Will of God which we can never attain till we are dead to the affections of the sensitive part For carnal Love Joy Hope Fear Desire Displeasure are all the selfish Motions of the Natural Man the corrupt Members of the Body of Sin together with earthly Pride Covetousness Envy Jealousy Emulation Wrath Strife all which are the Leggs of the earthly Adam and therefore to be cast away and destroyed and in their Fall the Will comes to be crucified to all their Objects and so to all selfish Propriety Here we come to lose our own Lives to hate our selfish Motions to be slain to all fleshly Things the Will hath espoused instead of God in Christ Here we begin to be truly Poor renouncing all for Christ owning no Propriety in earthly Estates We see here that the Earth is the Lords and the Fulness thereof and that Covetousness hath been the cause of Propriety and of all those engrossings of Land and Money which most are involved in and that Christ came to destroy this Work of the Devil by his Doctrine and Pattern who had all things in common with his Disciples even as the Primitive Christians one with another which was a renewing of the Law of Love by which we were and still are obliged to love our Neighbours as our selves and to do Gods Will on Earth as it is done in Heaven where the holy Angels and glorified Saints inherit their eternal Substance in common For he that overcomes shall inherit all things Here likewise we die to and forsake earthly Relations as part of that we call Ours And though we are not to destroy natural Affection nor to neglect the performing1 forming of any due Obligation laid upon us by the Law of Nature as it accords with the Will and Justice of God yet we are to die to all such Propriety of Affection as flows from corrupt Nature and hinders the impartial Communication of our Love to every one according to the perfect Example of our Heavenly Father who takes in no fleshly Respects in the giving forth of his Love to his Creatures which is our Pattern to imitate for we are to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect Here those that have Wives are as though they had none returning from Idolizing and desiring the Woman of the World to the Virgin Sophia who is the unspotted Mirrour of the eternal World the first and chief Spouse of Christ Rev. 21.2 And they that are unmarried follow the Example of Christ who lived and died in Virginity as he was born of a Virgin and this they do for the Kingdom of Heavens sake according to that precept Mat. 19.12 He that is able to receive it let him receive it where Christ speaks concerning the abstaining from Marriage and of those that have made themeselves Eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven Whence it is clear that the dying to and crucifying of that Root whence the enjoyment of that State comes is to such a real mean to the growth and encrease of Gods Kingdom in the Soul which is to be presented as a Chaste Virgin to Christ 2 Cor. 11.2 And Paul 1 Cor. 7.31 32 33 34 25. prefers the Virgins State far before the Married and therefore Verse 7. saith I would that all Men were as I am Which certainly he spake according to true Light found Judgment and great Experience in the Work and Progress of Regeneration But in a word in this State before described we come to see that we our selves are not our Own but the Lords and that we are to consecrate our Bodies Souls and Spirits to him and to resign up all we call ours to him whose is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory for ever And truly our gradual incorporation into the Body of Christ with the Enjoyment of new Relations and Treasures which are Spiritual and Eternal make it the more easie to die to and forsake all earthly Things which being of a lower Nature shew their Rise by their Fall for being of the Earth they are earthly and return to Earth as utterly incapable tâ— enter with us into the Kingdom of Love As we then leave the Spirit of the World they leave us and so we arrive to a good degree of Conquest and Victory over that Beast which rules the whole World which gives the Soul occasion thus to express its self in praise Blest be that Power by which the Beast Is made to serve and we releast From that base servile Drudgery Which some mistake for Liberty Sad Liberty that chains poor Souls to Dust And soils immortal Things with mortal Rust CHAP. VIII THe Soul having arrived so far in the Circumcision of the Heart from the Body of Flesh and in the Renovation of the Spiritual Image cannot but have attained a good step in the Command over Imagination especially in the death of it to Complacency in any corrupt fleshly Object which now becomes too gross for the renewed mind to regard But yet we shall find the Tempter working