on to the soule of Mary as a new Regenerated Man and in that same shee hath conceived the Saviour of all the world and borne him into this world Therefore he said to the Jewes I am from above but you are from beneath and of this world I am not of this world and he said also to Pilate My kingdome is not of this world This ought highly to be Considered 38. You are to know that as Mary did beare the heavenly Image viz. a new Man borne out of the Mercy of God in the old Earthly Man viz. in the kingdome of this world which kingdome shee had in her as her own which yet did not comprehend the New Man so also the Word of God entred into the body of the virgin Mary into the heavenly Matrix into the Eternall virgin of God and that word in that Eternall virgin of God became a heavenly Man out of the Paradisicall holy pure Element in the Person of the new Regenerated Man of the virgin Mary and with his Eternall Deity was together generated in the beginning own soule of Mary and with his entrance of his Deity hath brought the soule of Mary againe into the holy Father so that the soules of Men which were gone out from the Deity were new-borne againe in the soule of Christ and begotten to the Heart of God 39. For Christ brought no strange soule out of Heaven with him into the highly blessed heavenly pure virgin but as all soules are generated so Christ also received his soule in his body though in his undefiled body of holinesse which was become Maries own For wee must say that the pure Element in the Mercy of God became Maries own wherein her new body in her Originall soule consisteth The most precious Gate 40. For no other soule is generated in any Man but a new body but the soule is renewed with the pure Deity and Christ with his entrance into Death where he severed his holy Man from the Kingdome of this world severed it also from the fierceness of the eternall Anger and from the source of the Originality 41. And as the pure Element which is in the presence of God and wherein God dwelleth is truly every where in the whole space of this world and hath attracted to it the Kingdome of this world viz. it s own Out-Birth as a body and yet this very body doth not comprehend the Element no more than the body comprehendeth the soule so Christ also hath truly in the body of the virgin Mary attracted to him or put on our humane Essences and is become our Brother yet these humane Essences cannot comprehend his Eternall Deity onely the new Man borne in Cod comprehendeth the Deity after the same manner as the body doth the soule and no otherwise 42. Therefore the body of Christ is inferiour to the Deity and in these our humane Essences he suffered Death and his Deity of the holy Man in the pure Element entered together also into Death and bereaved Death of its power and did seperate the naturall soule which Christ commended to his Father when he dyed on the Crosse from the Kingdome of this world also from Death from the Devill and from Hell in the strong divine Might or power and opened a Gate for us all who come to him and incline our selves with minde and thoughts to him then the Father draweth our soule which is in him into the pure love of Christ where then it putteth its Imagination againe through Christ forward into the holy Trinity and is fed againe from the Verbum Domini the Word of the Lord where then it is an Angel againe cleane seperated from the Kingdome of the Devill and of this world in the Death of Christ 43. And for this cause God became Man that he might in himselfe new generate the soule of Man againe and might redeeme it from the chaines of the fiercenesse of Anger and not at all for the Beastiall bodies sake which must melt againe into the foure Elements and come to nothing of which nothing will remaine but the shadow in the figure of all its works and matters which he hath wrought at any time 44. But in the New Man which wee attract on to our soules in the bosom of the virgin wee shall spring and flourish againe and therein is no necessity nor Death for the Kingdome of this world passeth away Therefore he that hath not this Image in the new Birth shall in the Restoration of the Spirit of the Eternall Nature have the Image of what his heart and Confidence hath been set upon here put upon him for every Kingdome Imageth or figureth its Creatures according to the Essences which were growne here in their will 45. And that you may rightly and properly understand us wee meane or understand here no strange Christ who is not our Brother as himselfe said at his resurrection Goe to my Brethren and your Brethren and tell them I goe to my God and to your God As indeed the body which wee here carry about us is not the Image of God which God created for the Kingdome of this world put its Image upon us when Adam consented to yeeld to it and wee if wee be regenerated are not at home in this world with our New Man as Christ said to his Disciples I have called you out of this world that you should be where I am and Saint Paul saith Our Conversation as to the New Man is in Heaven Thus wee understand also that our Immanuel who is the most holy of all with his true Image of God wherein also our true Image of God doth consist is not of this world but as the Old Mortall Man from the Kingdome of this world hangeth to us so our Mortall Man also hung to the Image of God in Christ which he drew from his Mother Mary as the pure Element draweth the Kingdome of this world to it 46. But now wee must not think that the holy Man in Christ dyed for that dyeth not but the mortall Man from the Kingdome of this world is that which dyeth that was it which cryed on the Crosse My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee and wee see very cleerly the great Might and power of the holy Man in Christ when the mortall which was taken from this world went into Death how the holy Allmighty Man wrestled with Death in so much that the Elements did shake with it and the Sunne which is the Light of the Nature of this world lost its splendor as if it were then to perish and then the living Champion in Christ fought with the Anger and stood in the Hell of the Anger of God and loosed the soule which he commended into his Fathers hands quite off from the Anger of God also from the source or Torment of Hell and that was it which David said Thou wilt not leave my soule in Hell nor
When the Word or Heart of God went into the holy Ternary there it was the Sonne of the Father and also his servant as Esayah saith and as it is in the Psalmes for he had united or espoused himselfe to the Element and had the forme of a servant but the Word which went into the pure Element was his Sonne and thus he took our soule upon him not onely as a Brother for the Limbus of God in the heavenly Tincture was the Man and that was our Lord for the whole world standeth in the Might thereof and that Might shall sweepe the threshing floare of this world And thus wee are his servants and also his Brethren in respect of his Mother but in respect of his Father wee are his servants and before the Fall wee were the Fathers also till his humanity or becoming Man though in the Word of the Promise it was in which the faithfull entred into God 72. Thus he is a King over the house of David Eternally and his Kingdome hath no end and he hath the Throne of his father David for this world is become his he is entred into this world and hath taken possession of it he standeth in the holy Ternary and in the Trinity and also in this world he hath the Casting shovell in his hand as John the Baptist saith the Judgement is his at which the Devils doe tremble He hath the Throne of David from the Counsell of God for David was a Type of him and had the Promise and God set him upon the Throne in the Promise for the Scepter of his Kingdome was the Scepter of the faithfull who looked upon God who was the King and so also indeed the outward Kingdome was his Thus also Christ was a King in the holy Ternary and this world also was his owne Of the deare Name Immanuel 73. And thus wee can truly say Immanuel God with us God in us In the Language of Nature it soundeth right but our Tongue wee have from this world doth but stammer it and cannot name it according to our understanding For Im is the Heart of God in the holy Ternary for it is conceived or comprehended as thou mayst understand it in the conception or comprehending or expressing of the Word Ma is his entring into the Humanity in the soule for that word or syllable presseth out from the Heart and wee understand that he conceived or comprehended the Heart viz. the vertue of the Father in the soule and goeth with the word or syllable nu aloft which signifieth his ascension into Heaven as to his soule El is the name of the great Angel which with the soule triumpheth above the Heaven not onely in the Heaven but in the Trinitie 74. For the word Himmel Heaven hath another meaning in the Language of Nature The syllable Him goeth out from the Heart viz. out of the vertue of the Father or out of the Essences of the soule and putteth forth upwards into the holy Ternary and then it compresseth it with both the Lips and bringeth the Angels name downwards viz. the syllable Mel which signifieth the Humility of the Angels that they doe not exalt their heart in pride flying into the Trinity but as Isaiah sayth that they cover their faces in humility before the holy God with their wings and continually cry Holy holy holy is the Lord of Hosts 75. So now you understand that this Angel is greater than any Angel in Heaven for he hath a heavenly humane body and hath a humane soule and hath the eternall heavenly Bride the virgin of wisdome and hath the holy Trinity and wee can truly say he is a Person in the holy Trinity in Heaven and a true Man in Heaven and in this world an eternall King a Lord of Heaven and earth 76. His name Jesus sheweth it more properly in the Language of Nature for the syllable Je is his humbling in-coming out of his Father into the Humanity and the syllable sus is the bringing in of the soule above the Heaven into the Trinity as the syllable sus indeed presseth aloft through all 77. Much more is understood in the Name Christus which comprehendeth not his incarnation but goeth as a Man that is borne through Death for the syllable Chris presseth through the Death and the syllable tus signifieth his strong might in that he thus goeth forth from Death and presseth through and it is very properly understood in the word how he severed the Kingdome of this world and the Angelicall Man asunder and continueth in God in the Angelicall Man for the syllable tus is pure without Death 78. Though indeed here wee shall be as one that is dumb to the world yet wee have written it for our selves for wee understand it very well and it is plaine enough to the Tree of the Lilly But that the Person of Christ with his Deeds and Essence might be rightly demonstrated to the Reader that he might apprehend it aright I therefore direct him to the Temptation of Christ in the Wildernesse after his Baptisme whereat thou shouldst open thine eyes and not speake like the Spirit in Babell which sayth wee know not what his Temptation was and lay the fault upon the Devill that he was so impudent to presume to tempt Christ saying moreover wee ought not to dive into it nor be so inquisitive about it wee will let that alone till wee come thither into the other life and then wee shall see what it is Besides they forbid him that hath eyes to see none must search into it if they doe they are called Enthusiasts and are cryed out upon for Novellists such as broach new opinions and pretend new Lights and for Hereticks 79. O yee blinde Wolves of Babell what have we to doe with you wee are not generated from your Kingdome why will you rend and teare our deare Immanuel out of our hearts and eyes and so would make us blinde Is it a sinne for us to enquire after God our salvation and after our true Native Countrey Sure it is much more sinne to hearken after your partaking and blasphemy whereby you make our women and children scoffers so that they learne nothing but scornfull and reproachfull speeches and so persecute and vex one another therewith in Babell Can the Kingdome of Christ be found in such things or rather do you not build the scornfull reproachfull Church of Babell where is your Apostolicall heart consisting in Love Is your scorne and derision of others Christs Meeknesse Who said Love one another be yee followers of mee and so it shall be knowne that yee are my Disciples To you it is said the Anger burneth in Babell when the flame thereof riseth up then will the Elements shake and tremble and Babell shall be burnt in the fire 80. The Temptation of Christ rightly sheweth us his Person therefore open thy eyes and let not Babell trouble thee it is the
Saviour went through Death into Life and put on that pure Element for a Body then their soules in the Saviour in whom they stood in hope gat the upperhand and put on their new Body in the Body of Christ and lived in him in his power and vertue there were the holy Patriarchs and Prophets who in this world had put on the Treader upon the Serpent in the Word of God wherein they had prophesied of him and wrought Miracles they were now quickened in the vertue of Christ for the vertue of Christ sprung up through Death and reconciled the Father who held the soules captive in the Anger and they now entered with Christ into Life 47. Heere yee beloved Sheepe observe When Christ dyed he did not cast away his Body which he had heere and yeelded it up to the foure Elements to be swallowed up so that he must have wholly a strong Body no but the source or property of this world which is in the Starres and Elements and the Incorruptible swallowed up the Corruptible so that it is a Body which liveth in the vertue of God in God and not in the Spirit of this foure Elementary world and Paul saith concerning the Last Judgement That the Incorruptible viz. the New Man shall over-cloath the Corruptible and shall swallow up the Corruptible so that Death shall be made a scorne according to that saying O Death where is thy Sting O Hell where is thy Victory 48. You must know that Christ while he lived upon the Earth and all wee that are new-borne in him have and carry the heavenly flesh and bloud in the earthly Man and wee carry it also in the New Man in the Body of Christ And when wee die thus in the old Earthly Body then wee live in the New Body in the Body of Jesus Christ and spring up in him out of Death and our springing up is our Paradise where our Essences spring up in God and the Earthly is swallowed up in Death and wee put on our Lord Jesus Christ not onely in the Faith and Spirit but in the vertue and power of the Body in our Heavenly Flesh and Bloud and so wee live to God the Father in Christ his Sonne and the Holy Ghost confirmeth all our Doings for all what wee shall doe it is God doth it in us 49. And thus there will be A Tabernacle of God with Men and the Body of Christ will be Our Temple wherein wee shall know and see the Great Wonders of God and speake of them with rejoycing And that is the Temple the New Jerusalem of which the Prophet Ezckiel writeth 50. And behold I tell you a Mystery as all whatsoever Adam was guilty of must stand yet and be manifested in this world on the Body of Christ and must be seene in this world so also you shall see this Temple before the time that the Incorruptible shall wholly swallow up the Corruptible in the Lilly in the Wonders where the Anger opposeth the Lilly till it be reconciled in Love and till the Driver be put to open shame as was done also in the Death of Christ which the Jewes hope for But their Scepter is broken and the life standeth in the Birth of Christ yet they come from the ends of the World and goe out from Jericho againe into the Holy Jerusalem and eate with the Lamb this is a wonder but the Driver is taken captive and therefore wee speake thus wonderfully and at present wee shall not be understood till the Hunter is destroyed and then our life cometh to us againe and standeth in the valley of Jehosaphat The other Gate of the sufferings of Christ 51. It is cleerly shewed to us wherefore the Man-Christ must thus suffer himselfe to be mocked despised scourged Crowned with Thornes and Crucified also wherefore he must endure to be cryed out upon for one that had a Devill and wherefore he must be so spoken against by the wise and Prudent also wherefore the simple people onely hung to him and but some few of the Honourable and Rich of this world Though indeed wee shall not please every one yet wee speak not our own words but wee speake in our knowledge and driving in the Spirit that which is shewen us of God therefore understand and consider it aright 52. Behold the Guiltlesse Man Christ was set in our stead in the Anger of the Father he must reconcile and satisfie not onely all that which Adam had made himselfe guilty of by his going forth from Paradise into the Kingdome of this world and so fell foulely in the presence of God and was scorned of all the Devils but he must make attonement for all that which was done afterwards and which is still done or will be done by us 53. And this wee set before your eyes in the knowledge of God and in true earnest Sincerity not that wee will despise any Man and exalt our selves wee would rather be banished from this world than that wee should seeke our own Praise in Pride that is but dung and drosse and the Spirit of knowledge would not stay with us this ought well to be considered Therefore wee will write in our knowledge for our selves and leave the event to God 54. Behold when Adam entred into this world Pride wrought in him he would be as God as Moses saith the Serpent the Devill perswaded him to it He Man would have the Third Principle working and flowing in him and thereby he lost God and the Kingdome of Heaven But that it is true that Pride acted in Man looke upon Cain he would be Lord alone he would not that his brother should be accepted before God fearing that he should then get the Dominion and therefore he slew him 55. And so Cain and his Successours have set up a Potent Kingdome from whence Dominion proceedeth whereby one Brother aspireth above another and have made them slaves And thus horrible Tyranny hath been hatched and the Potent have done whatsoever they listed he hath oppressed the needy at his pleasure he hath gotten to him the Kingdome of the Earth and therewith exerciseth Tyranny wickednesse and wrong and yet men must say to him it is right he hath contrived all sorts of Policy and cunning Devices and made Lawes of them and established them for Right and afterwards sold them to others for Rights and hath brought up his Children with wickednesse and falshood He hath beaten downe the Conscience of the simple-hearted in his good meaning he hath invented Rights which in his Lawes serve to promote his decent contrary to the light of Nature all reproach and Blasphemies have subsisted in his strength and authority whereby he hath terrified the simple-hearted that his power might be great 56. Thus falshood is wrought with falshood and the Inferiour is become false also who hath set lyes to sale for truth and so falsly cheated his superiour from whence is growne
with this creation and separation the length of one day was finished and out of beginning and end and morning and evening was the first day as Moses writeth 14. But that we may so speak of the heaven that the reader might come to understand what that heaven is which God then created consider what Moses writeth of it God made a Firmament between the waters and separated the water beneath the Firmament from the waters above the Firmament and the Firmament he called Heaven which is very right but hitherto it hath been very ill understood 15. Now observe the Heaven is the whole Deep so farre as the Ethera or Skies have given up themselves to the birth of this world and that heaven is the matrix out of which earth stones and the materiall water is generated And there God separated the materiall water from the matrix and here it is very plainly discerned that the materiall water is as it were deaded or hath death in it for it could not abide in the moving mother but was created to be upon the globe of the earth and God called it Sea Méer in which word is understood in the language of Nature as it were a springing or growing in death or a life in corruption although nerein I shall be as one that is dumb to the Reader yet I know it very well and I am very well satisfied therewith but because the bestiall man is not worthy to know it therefore I will not here cast the Pearle before the Swine but for the children of God which will he benefited by it the Spirit of God will certainly teach and instruct them in it 16. Now when the heaven became cleare or pure and cleansed from the earth and the dark mist or dust in the concretion or driving together then in the matrix of the heaven there was the three Elements Fire Aire and Water which are three in one another in one mother and that mother is here called the Heaven therefore henecforward in my writing I shall use the word Heaven in stead of the word Matrix 17. For the Heaven is the Matrix and is called Heaven because of the separation because the fifth essence of Heaven is severed and set in the higher Heaven where the Matrix is more firery as it is properly understood in the language of Nature and is plain before our eyes But here the quality birth and property of the heaven ought to be described because the foure Elements sprung out of it as out of their mother and because the vertue of every life consisteth therein therefore the originall of the foure Elements must be described wherein it will first truly be understood what the Heaven is CHAP. VII Of the Heaven and its eternall Birth and Essence and how the foure Elements are generated wherein the eternall band may be the more and the better understood by meditating and considering the materiall world The Great Depth 1. EVery Spirit seeth no further then into its mother out of which it hath its originall and wherein it standeth for it is impossible for any Spirit in its own naturall power to look into another principle and behold it except it be regenerated therein But the Naturall man who in his fall was captivated by the matrix of this world whose naturall spirit moveth between two principles viz. between the Divine and the Hellish and he standeth in both the gates into which principle he falleth there he cometh to be regenerated whether it be as to the Kingdome of Heaven or the Kingdome of Hell and yet he is not able in this life time to see either of them both 2. He is in his own essence and substance a twofold man For his soule in its own substance is out of the first Principle which from eternity hath no ground nor beginning and in the time of the creation of man in Paradise or the kingdome of heaven the soule was truly bodified by the Fiat in a spirituall manner but with the first vertue or power which is from eternity in its own first vertue or power it hath remained inseparably in its first root and was illustrated or made shining bright by the second principle viz. by the heart of God and therewith standing in Paradise was there by the moving Spirit of God breathed into the matrix of the third Principle into the starry and Elementary man and now therefore he may understand the ground of heaven as also of the elements and of hell as farre as the light of God shineth in him for if that light be in him he is born in all the three Principles but yet he is onely a spark risen from thence and not the great source or fountain which is God himselfe 3. And therefore it is that Christ sayth If you had faith as a grain of Mustard-seed you might say to the mountain Cast thy selfe into the sea and it shall be done And in this power men have raised the dead and healed the sick by the word and the vertue and power of the Spirit or else they could not have been able to have done such things if they had not stood in the power of all the three Principles 4 For the created Spirit of man which is out of the matrix of this world that ruleth by the vertue of the second principle in the vertue of the light over and in the vertue of the spirit of the starres and elements very mightily as in that which is its proper own But in the fall of Adam we lost this great power when we left Paradise and went into the third Principle into the matrix of this world which presently held us captive in restraint But yet we have the knowledge of that power by a glance or glimmering and we see as through a dim or dark glasse the eternall birth 5 And although we move thus weakly or impotently in all the three births and that the gate of Paradise is so often darkned to us and that the Devill doth so often draw us into the hellish gate and that also the elements do cover the sydereall gate and wholly cloud them so that we oftentimes move in the whole matrix as if we were deafe dumb or half dead yet if the Paradificall light shineth to us we may very well see into the mother of all the three principles for nothing can hinder us the threefold spirit of man seeth every form and quality in its mother 6 Therefore though we speak of the creation of the world as if we had been by at present and had seen it none ought to marvell at it nor hold it for impossible For the Spirit that is in us which one man inherits from the other that was breathed out of the eternity into Adam that same spirit hath seen it all and in the light of God it seeth it still and there is nothing that is farre off or unsearchable for
and the Principle of God is close shut up from him and that even to Eternitie 51. To Conclude God will have no fiery Spirit in Paradise they must remaine in the first Principle in the Eternall Darknesse if they had continued as God had created them when the meeknesse shined or appeared to them and had put the Centre of their mindes into the meeknesse then the light of God should for ever have shined through them and they should have eaten of the Verbum Domini the Word of the Lord and they should with the roote of their Originall have stood in the first Principle like God the Father himselfe and with the will in the minde they should have stood in the second Principle thus they should have had a Paradificall source quality or property and an Angelicall will and they should have been friendly in the Limbus of Heaven and in the love of God CHAP. XI Of all Circumstances of the Temptation 1. NOw the Highest Question is What that is which caused the minde of the Devill so to elevate it selfe and that so great a number of them are fallen in the high mindednesse or pride Behold when God set the Fiat in the will and would create Angels then the Spirit first separated all qualities after that manner as now you see there are many kinds of Starres and so the Fiat created them severall Then there were created the Princely Angels and the Throne-Angels according to every Quality as hard soure bitter cold fierce soft and so forth in the Essences till to the end of Nature out of the source of the fire a similitude whereof you have in the Starres how different they are 2. Now the Thrones and Princely Angels are every one of them a great fountaine as you may perceive the Sunne is in respect of the Starres as also in the blossoming Earth The great fountaine veine or Well-spring in the source was in the time of the Fiat in the dark minde the Prince or Throne-Angel There out of each fountaine came forth againe a Centre in many thousand thousands for the Spirit in the Fiat manifested it selfe in the nature of the Darknesse after the manner of the Eternall Wisdome Thus the manifold various properties that were in the whole nature went forth out of one onely Fountaine according to the ability of the eternall wisdome of God or as I may best render it to be understood by a similitude as if one Princely Angel had generated out of himselfe at one time many Angels whereas yet the Prince doth not generate them but the Essences and the qualities goe forth with the Centre in every Essence from the Princely Angels and the Spirit created them with the Fiat and they continue standing essentially Therefore every Host which proceeded out of one and the same fountaine gat a will in the same fountaine which was their Prince as you see how the Starres give all their will into the vertue or power of the Sun of this much must not be said to my Master in Arts he holdeth it impossible to know such things and yet in God all things are possible and to him a thousand yeares are as one day 3. Now of these Princely Angels One is fallen for he stood in the fourth forme of the Matrix of the Genetrix in the dark minde in that place in the minde where the flash of fire taketh its originall with his whole host that was proceeded from him Thus the fiery kinde condition or property moved him to goe above the end of Nature viz. above the heart of God that kinde stood so hard kindled in him 4. For as God said to the Matrix of the Earth Let there come forth all kinds of Beasts and the Fiat created Beasts out of all the Essences and first divided the Matrix and after that the essences and qualities and then he created them out of the divided Matrix male and female But because the creatures were materiall therefore every kinde species or generation must thus propagate it selfe from every Essence but with the Angels not so but their propagation was sudden and swift as Gods thoughts are so were they 5. But this is the Ground every quality or quall or source would be creaturely and the fiery property elevated it selfe too mightily into which Lucifer had brought his will and so it went with Adam as to the Tempting Tree as it is written And God suffered all sorts of Trees to spring up in the Garden of Eden and in the midst of the Garden the Tree of Life and of the knowledge of Good and Evill 6. Moses saith God suffered to spring up out of the Earth all sorts of Trees pleasant to look upon and good for food But here is the vaile in Moses and yet in the Word it is bright cleere and manifest that the fruits were pleasant to behold and good to eate wherein there was no death wrath or corruptibility but it was Paradificall fruit of which Adam could live in clarity or brightnesse in the will of God and in his love in perfection in Eternity onely the Death stuck in the Tree of knowledge of good aod evill that onely was able to bring man into another Image 7. Now wee must needs cleerely conceive or think that the Paradisicall fruit which was Good was not so very earthly for as Moses himselfe saith they were of two sorts the one good to eate and pleasant to behold and the other had the death and corruptibility in it in the Paradisicall fruit there was no death nor corruptibility for if there had been any death or corruptibility therein then Adam had eaten death in all the fruits but seeing there was no death therein therefore the fruit could not be so altogether earthly though indeed it sprung out of the earth yet the divine vertue of the second Principle was imprinted therein and yet they were truly in the third Principle growne or sprung out of the earth which God cursed as to the earthly food that no Paradisicall fruit did grow any more out of the earth 8. Besides if Adam had eaten earthly fruit he must then have eaten it into his body and have had gut or entrailes and how could such a stinck and dung as wee now carry in the body have been in Paradise in the holinesse of God Moreover he should by eating earthly food have eaten of the fruit of the Starres and Elements which would presently have infected or qualified in him as was done in the fall also so his feare over all the beasts would have ceased For the essences of the Beasts would presently have been like the humane essences in vertue and power and one would have domineered more strongly over the other 9. Therefore it was cleane otherwise with Adam he was a heavenly Paradisicall Man he should have eaten of the heavenly Paradisicall fruit and in the vertue or power of that fruit he should have
ruled over all Beasts or living creatures also over the Starres and Elements no cold nor heat should have touched him or else God would not have created him so naked but like all Beasts with a rough or hairy skin or hide 10. But the Question is Wherefore grew the earthly Tree of the knowledge of good and evill for if that had not been Adam had not eaten of it or wherefore must Adam be Tempted Hearken Aske your minde about it wherefore it so suddenly generateth and conceiveth in it selfe a thought of anger and then of love Doest thou say it cometh from the hearing and seeing of a thing Yes that is true this God also knew very well and therefore he must be tempted For the Centre of the minde is free and it generateth the will from hearing and seeing out of which the imagination and lust doth arise 11. Seeing Adam was created an image and whole similitude of God and had all three Principles in him like God himselfe therefore also his minde and imagination should meerly have looked into the heart of God and should have set his lust and desire or will thereon and as he was a Lord over all and that his minde was a threefold Spirit in three Principles in one onely Essence so his Spirit also and the will in the Spirit should have stood open or free in one onely Essence viz. in the Paradisiciall heavenly essence and his minde and soule should have eaten of the heart of God and his body should have eaten of the heavenly Limbus 12. But seeing the heavenly Limbus was manifested through the earthly and was in the fruit in one onely Essence and Adam so too therefore it behoved Adam having received a living soule out of the first Principle and breathed in from the Holy Ghost and enlightened from the light of God standing in the second Principle not to reach after the earthly Matrix 13. Therefore God here also gave him the Command not to lust after the earthly Matrix nor after her fruit which stood in the corruptibility and transitorinesse but the Spirit of Man not He should eate of the fruit but no otherwise than of the Paradisicall kinde and property and not of the earthly Essences For the Paradisicall Essences had imprinted themselves in all fruits therein they were very good to eate of after an Angelical manner and also pleasant to behold or corporeall as Moses also saith Now it may be asked What then was properly the Tempting in Adam The Gate of Good and Evill 14. Wee have a very powerfull testimony hereof and it is knowne in Nature and in all her children in the Starres and Elements in the Earth Stones and Metalls especially in the living creatures as you see how they are evill and good viz. lovely creatures and also venomous evill beasts as Toads Adders and Serpents or Wormes so also there is poyson and malice in every sort of life of the third Principle and the fiercenesse or strongnesse must be in Nature or else all were a Death and a Nothing The Depth in the Centre 15. As is mentioned before the eternall minde standeth thus in the Darknesse and vexeth it selfe and longeth after the light to generate that and the anguish is the source and the source hath in it many formes till that it reacheth the fire in its substance viz. it hath bitter soure hard cold strong darting forth or flashing in the roote of it selfe sticketh the joy and paine alike viz. when it cometh to the roote of the fire and can reach the light then out of the wrath or sternnesse cometh the great joy for the light putteth the sterne forme into great meeknesse on the contrary that forme which cometh onely to the roote of the fire that continueth in the wrath 16. As wee are to know that when God would manifest the Eternall Minde in the Darknesse in the third Principle with this world then first all formes in the first Principle till fire were manifested and that forme now which comprehended the light that became Angelicall and Paradisicall but that which comprehended not the light that remained to be wrathfull murtherous soure and evill every one in its own forme and essence for every forme desired also to be manifested for it was the will of the Eternall Essence to manifest it selfe But now one forme was not able to manifest it selfe alone in the Eternall Birth for the one is the member of the other and the one without the other would not be 17. Therefore the Eternall Word or heart of God wrought thus in the dark and spirituall Matrix which in it selfe in the Originalnesse without the light would be as it were dumb or senslesse and hath generated a corporeall and palpable or comprehensible similitude of its essence in which all the formes were brought forth out of the Eternall formation and brought into Essence for out of the spirituall forme the corporeall forme is generated and the eternall Word hath created it by the Fiat to stand thus 18. Now then out of these formes out of the Matrix of the earth by the Fiat in the Word went forth all the Creatures of this world also Trees hearbs and grasse every one according to its kinde as also Wormes evill and good as every forme in the Matrix of the Genetrix had their originall and thus it was also with the fruits in the Paradise of this world in the Garden of Eden when the Word was spoken let there come forth all sorts of Trees and hearbs then out of all formes or the Genetrix or womb Trees and hearbs came forth and grew which were altogether good and pleasant for the word in the Fiat had imprinted it selfe in all the formes 19. But then the Darknesse and Quall source or paine were in the middest in the Centre wherein Death the wrathfulnesse decay and the corruptibility did stick and if that had not been this world would have stood for ever and Adam should not have been tempted they also like a Death or a corrupting worme of the Quall or source did work together and generated the Tree of Good and Evill in the midst of its seate or place because Death stuck in the midst of the Centre by which this world shall be kindled in the fire at the end of the dayes And this Quall or source is even the anger of God which by the heart or light of God in the Eternall Father is continually put into the meeknesse and therefore the Word or heart of God is called the Eternall Mercifulnesse of the Father 20. Seeing then all the formes of the Eternall Nature were to come forth it is so come to passe as you may see in Toads Adders Wormes and evill Beasts for that is the forme which sticketh in the midst in the birth of all Creatures viz. the poyson venome or Brimstone Spirit as wee see that all Creatures have poyson and gall and the
and meeknesse is extinguished for there cometh to be a fierce substance in the stopping or congealing of the Tincture that before the kindling of the light of life in the childe there is no heavenly Creature and although it be figured or shaped with all the formes or parts of the body yet for all that the heavenly Image is not therein but the beastiall and if that body perish corrupt or breake before the kindling of the Spirit of the soule in the springing up of the life then nothing of this figure appeareth before God on the day of the Restitution but its shadow and shape for it hath yet had no Spirit 39. This figure doth not as many judge goe into the Abysse but as the Parents were so is also their figure for this figure is the Parents till the kindling of its life and then it is no more the Parents but it s own The Mother affordeth but a lodge and the nutriment and therefore if shee destroyeth it willingly in her body shee is a murtheresse and the Divine Law judgeth her to the Temporall Death 40. Thus now the Starres and the Elements after the withdrawing of the love in the Tincture take the house into possession and fill it the first Moneth and in the second they sever the Members or parts by the soure Fiat as is mentioned before and in the third the strife beginneth about the Regions of the Starres and Elements where then they separate and every Element maketh its own house and Region for it selfe viz. the Heart Liver Lungs Bladder and Stomack as also the Head to be the house of the Starres where they have their Region or dominion and their Princely Throne as it followeth further 41. And now after that the Starres and Elements as is mentioned before have gotten their Region and the house to dwell in then beginneth the mighty strife in great anxiety about the King of the life for the chamber of the building or fabrick standeth in very great anguish and here wee must consider the Originall of the Essence of all Essences the Eternall Birth and the Roote of all things as that there is in the house of the Anguish first one onely Essence or Beeing and that Essence is the mixing of all Essences and it hath first a will to generate the light and that will is attractive astringent or soure 42. For the desiring is the attracting of whatsoever the will desireth and that will is first pure neither darknesse nor light for it dwelleth in it selfe and it is even the Gate of the divine vertue that silleth all things And thus the attracting filleth the will with the things which the will desireth and although it be pure and desireth nothing but the light yet there is no light in the dark anxiety that it can attract but it draweth the Spirit of the Essences of the Starres and Elements into it selfe and therewith the will of the divine vertue is filled and the same is all rough and dark And thus the will is set in the Darknesse and this is done also in the heart 43. The will now standing thus in the dark anxiety it getteth another will to fly out of the anxiety again and to generate the light and this other will is the minde out of which proceed the senses or thoughts not to continue in the anxiety and the will appeareth discovereth it selfe in the Essences of the sourenesse as in the fierce hardnesse of Death and the glimps or glance breaketh through the Essences of the soure hardnesse as a swift or sudden flash and sharpeneth it selfe in the soure hardnesse that it becometh pale white or glimmering like a flash of fire and in its sudden flight breaketh the soure darknesse and there standeth the hardnesse and the harsh sourenesse of Death like a broken turning wheele which with the flash of the breaking flyeth swiftly as a thought as also then the re-conceived will which is the minde appeareth so very suddenly and seeing it cannot flie forward out of the Essences it must goe into the turning wheele for it cannot get from that place and so it breaketh the darknesse and when the darknesse is thus broken then the sharp glance discovereth it selfe in the pleasant joy without or beyond the darknesse in the sharpnesse of the will viz. in the minde and findeth it selfe habitable therein from whence the flash or glance is terrified and flieth up with strong might through the broken essences out of the heart and would out at the mouth and raiseth it selfe farre from the heart and yet is held by the soure or harsh Fiat and yet then maketh it selfe a severall Region viz. the Tongue wherein then standeth the skreeke or the crack of the broken Essences and seeing then it reflecteth or recoileth back againe into the heart as into its first dwelling house and findeth it selfe so very habitable and pleasant because the Gates of the darknesse are broken then it kindleth it selfe so highly in the loving will by reason of the meeknesse and goeth no more like a sterne or fierce flash through all Essences but it goeth trembling with great joy and the might of the joy is now many hundred times stronger than first the flash or glance was which yeelded or discovered it selfe through the soure harsh Essences of the Death and goeth with strong might out of the heart into the head in the will or purpose to possesse the heavenly Region 44. For it is Paradisicall and it hath its most inward roote therein when Adam in sinne dyed the first Death then said God The seed of the Woman shall breake the Serpents head the same word imprinted it selfe in Adam in the centre of the springing up of his life and so forth with the Creation of Eve in the springing up of her life and so forth in all Men so that wee can in our first minde through the word and vertue of God in the Treader upon the Serpent who in the time became man or was incarnate trample upon or breake the Head and will of the Devill and if this might or power were not in this place then wee were in the eternall Death Thus the minde is its own in the free will and moveth in the vertue or power of God and in his promise in the Free substance or beeing 45. Seeing then that the skreek of joy in the vertue of God which breaketh the doores of the deep Darknesse thus springeth up in the heart and flieth with its glimpse or sparkling into the Head then the vertue of the joy setteth it selfe above as being the strongest and the flash or glance beneath as being the weakest and so when the flash or glance cometh into the Head into its seate then it maketh it selfe two open Gates for it hath broken the doores of the deep Darknesse and therefore it continueth no more in the Darknesse but it must be free as a
Christ through his Incarnation sufferings and Death might draw them to him they will not endure that drawing for they have the Essences of the Serpent which draw into Hell but this is not from God as if he did willingly leave them no but from their doggish nature ingrafted from the Starres and from the Devill which God knoweth well and will not cast the Pearle before swine whereas neverthelesse it were possible if they did but turne and did step into the New Birth they should obtaine the Jewell though indeed it seldom happeneth therefore God knoweth who are his 104. As is mentioned above so hath that same Word out of the Heart of God which God spake to Adam and Eve Imaged or formed it selfe in Adam and Eve in the light of the Life in its own Centre and espoused it selfe with the deare and worthy virgin of chastity to continue eternally with Adam and Eve and to defend them from the fiery Essences and Darts of the Devill as also if they would incline to that same Word that then they should thereby receive the rayes of the holy Trinity and also the wisdome of the virgin 105. And this word should enlighten the soule and at the departure of the body be the light of the soule and bring the soule through the Gate of the Darknesse into Paradise before the bright countenance of God into the second Principle into the Element where there is no paine 106. For there the Word clothed the soule and shut up the kingdome of Hell and there it shall waite till the day of the Restitution and then it shall get a body againe out of the Element out of the body that was here in this life when the fiercenesse shall be washed and melted away in the fire at the last day and not a strange body but the same it did beare in the one Element hidden in the foure Elements that same shall goe forth and flourish as Adam had done in his Creation The Gate of the Redemption 107. And the same Word is propagated by the two first Persons or People from one to another and that in the Birth of the life and in the kindling of the soule yet in the Centre and the kingdome of Heaven is neere in every ones minde and they can attaine it if they will themselves for God hath bestowed it to every one out of Grace 108. Yet thou must know that the Word sticketh not in thy mortall flesh and bloud as thy flesh cannot inherit the kingdome of Heaven so therefore it cannot stick in the flesh but it sticketh in the Principle in the Centre of the soule and it is the Bridegroom of the soule if the soule be faithfull then he resteth in its bosom but if it turne unfaithfull then it the soule forsaketh or goeth away out of the Word 109. For it standeth in the Gate in the Centre viz. in the doore way between Heaven and Hell and the Word is in the Heaven and if the soule giveth way to be drawne away from that Gate then it looseth the Word but if the soule reach forward againe towards the Gate then it attaineth that againe and the virgin who is the servant of the Word goeth continually along with the soule and warneth it of the evill wayes 110. But if the soule be a Dog an Adder or Serpent then the virgin goeth away to the Word into the Heaven and then the doore is shut And then there is a whole Birth between the soule and the Word whereas else there is but halfe a Birth between the Word and the soule and then there is need of hard striving and such a soule will hardly enter into the kingdome of Heaven yet it is possible enough 111. This word hath brought the soules of Men which have inclined their mindes to it ever since the beginning of the world when their bodies have been dead into the bosom of Abraham into the Element into the Rest which is without source or paine and there the soule being yet without a body hath no Paradisicall source or active property or faculty but dwelleth in the broken Gate in the meeke Element in the bosom of the virgin in the presence of their Bridegroome after the long strife of unquietnesse and waiteth for its body without paine and as to the soule there is no time but it is in stillnesse it sleepeth not but it seeth without disturbance in the light of the Word 112. But because the Essences of the soule were infected with the poyson of the Devill and of Hell so that the soule could not be helped againe except it were borne a new through the word out of the mouth of God viz. through his beloved Heart if ever it should attaine the Paradisicall Joy and source condition or quality againe and qualifie or mingle in the Paradisicall Essences and if ever its body should come out of the Element againe to the soule then the Word in the virgin-chastity must become Man and take Mans flesh and bloud and become a humane soule and enter into Death as also into the first Principle into the dark Minde of the Eternity where the soule hath its Originall into the ground of Hell and breake in pieces the Dark Gate in the ground of the soule and the chaines of the Devill and generate or beget the soule anew againe out of the ground thereof and present it as a new childe without sinne and wrath before God 113. And as the first sinne did passe or presse from one upon all so also the Regeneration passeth by one upon all and none are excluded except they will themselves whosoever saith otherwise hath no knowledge in the kingdome of God but telleth meere stories or speaketh but according to the History or Letter onely without the Spirit of Life 114. Here following wee will highly and orderly set downe Gods great deeds of Wonder for the comforting of the fick Adam which for the present sticketh in the Presse and must suffer anguish yet this which is set downe shall stand against all the Gates of the Devill also against all Sects and Schismes and that in the ground of the Light as it is given to us of God and besides out of the ground of the holy Scriptures upon the highly precious words of the Promise in the Prophets and the Psalmes as also the Apostolicall writings which though wee doe not here alledge their Scriptures yet wee will sufficiently prove it to every one themselves which will not be contented with this summary description The Gate of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ the Sonne of God The firme Articles of the Christian Faith 115. Beloved Minde wee write no conceits and tales it is in earnest and 't is as much as our bodies and soules are worth wee must give a strict account of it as being the Talent that is committed to us if any will be scandalized at it
and lieth halfe dead 5. My deare Minde thou supposest thou art very sound but thou art so beaten that thou feelest thy disease no more art thou not very neere unto Death how then canst thou account thy selfe to be sound O my deare Soule boast not of thy soundnesse thou liest fettered in heavy Bonds yea in a very dark Dungeon thou swimmest in a deepe water which riseth up to thy very lips and thou must continually expect Death Besides the Hunter is behinde thee with a great company of thy worst Enemies whereby he draweth thee continually downe by his chaines into the horrible Deepe into the Abysse of Hell and his crew thrust thee on behinde thee and run upon thee on all sides yelling and hunting as if they had the Hinde they hunt after 6. Then saith Reason wherefore doe they so O my deare Soule they have great cause for it behold thou hast been their Hinde and thou art broken out of their Garden besides thou art so strong that thou hast broken downe the Hedge of their Garden and hast taken possession of their dwelling besides thou hast made their meate as bitter as Gall that they cannot eate it thou hast broken their Throne with thy Hornes and hast brought a strong hoast into their Garden and thou hast used a strange power to drive them out of their Garden and though they have thee in their Fetters yet thou opposest them as if thou wouldest destroy their kingdome thou breakest their coards in pieces and breakest their Bands and thou art a continuall stormer of their Kingdome thou art their worst Enemy and they thine and if thou wert but gone out of their Garden they would be contented but thou being in it still the strife continueth and hath no end till the Ancient of dayes cometh who will part you asunder 7. Or doest thou suppose that wee are madde that wee write thus if wee did not see and know it wee should then be silent Or canst thou not once know the thorny Bath wherein thou swimmest Doest thou still say thou art in the Garden of Roses If thou thinkest thou art there see well whether thou art not in the Devils Pasture and art his most beloved Hinde which he fatneth to the slaughter for his food 8. I tell thee for certain and it is in earnest when I was at Jericho there my beloved companion opened my eyes for mee that I saw and behold a great Generation of Men and multitudes of People and Nations were together one part were like Beasts and one part like Men and there was strife between them and beneath there was the Abysse of Hell and the Beasts saw not that but the Men were afraid and would be gone to which the Devill would not consent because his Garden had no doores open but they brake open his Garden and so he must watch at the Doore that they doe not run away from him but the Beasts which were Men also they did eare of his food and drank of his drink and he did nothing to them because he fatned them for his slaughter and there was a continuall Emnity between the right Men and the Beastiall Men. 9. Or doest thou suppose this is not true which my beloved companion hath shewed mee when he opened my eyes that I saw then come and goe with mee to Jerusalem wee will goe together along the way to Jericho and see it well enough and by the way is this Garden wherein the Devill with this great Generation dwelleth wee will shew thee great Wonders thou shalt see and know all that which wee mentioned above if thou art but a Man and not the Devils fatted Beast 10. Behold wee understand by Jerusalem the Paradise and by the way to Jericho the going forth out of Paradise into this world where then the world captivated us in her Garden where continually the great Sea of misery is wherein our soule swimmeth Also the Devill is therein who hath bound us with the chaines of the Anger of God and he leadeth the poore soule captive in the dark Garden of flesh and bloud into his fierce Garden of Anger where the new-borne soules continually break out of his Garden and break his Hellish kingdome in pieces also they have taken possession of his Royall Throne where he was an Angel and with their Hornes which are the Spirit of God have broken in pieces his hellish Kingdome which he set up also they oppose him with their storme out of Hell into Heaven and assault his Kingdome but he holdeth the poore soule captive with the chaines of the Anger in this evill flesh and bloud and continually setteth on the crew of the wicked that they seduce it and baptize it in the Anger of God up to the very lips and there the poore soule standeth up to the neck in the Sea of misery ready to be drowned and there the Devill thrusteth it downe with the vices and sinnes of the body and would drowne the poore soule in the Anger of God in the Abysse of Hell 11. All malicious captived Men whom he hath captivated are his hounds which hunt the poore soule with haughtinesse bravery covetousnesse unchastity anger cursing and wrongfull oppression so that the poore soule is infected with these things and is very often set upon the Devils Horse as one of the Devils Captives and then the Devill will ride with it into Hell into the Anger of God O how often doth he rob the poore soule of her faire Garment of the knowledge of God how doth he rend away the Word of God from their eares and hearts as Christ saith cleerely Now if it will not doe as he will and that it break out of his Garden then he casteth his durt and filth upon it and then he stirreth up all his Bloud-hounds they must bawle at it and cast meere disgrace upon it and then it standeth as an Owle among the Birds who one and other will have a fling and a pluck at it and so it is also with the poore soule which steppeth through earnest Repentaoce out of the Devils net into the New Regeneration 12. On the contrary those others who feed upon the weeds of the Devill in vices and sinnes are in peace for he fastneth them in the Anger of God and they are his Bloud hounds wherewith he hunteth the Hinde the poore soule which would escape and storme his Hellish Kingdome The Devill would be well contented though some soules should escape though he had rather increase than weaken his Kingdome but that his Kingdome would be broken by it which he cannot like 13. For as he goeth a hunting in his Kingdome and catcheth the poore soules which way soever he can and layeth waite for them by his servants with all manner of vice and wickednesse and so continually setteth such looking glasses before the soule that it should behold it selfe in its own wickednesse and tickleth it also with faire promises of
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
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
yours you need not send any forraine Embassadours it is not heere as at Court Christ would alwayes faine increase his Heaven in his Joy Why stand you so long in doubt because of your finnes Is not the Mercy of God greater than Heaven and Earth what doe you meane There is nothing neerer you than the Mercy of God onely in your sinfull impenitent Life you are with the Devill and not with Christ Say what you will though you sent a Million of Embassadours to him if your selfe be wicked you are but with the Devill still and there is no remedy but you must your selfe rise with Christ and be borne anew in the body of Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Ghost in the Father in your own soule If thou makest a feast or keepest a solemnity doe it for the benefit and reliefe of the afflicted and needy whereby God is praised in thy Love and that is well but if it be for the Rich Glutton who onely useth it out of pride and lazinesse thou hast no benefit of that for God is not praised therewith neither doth Paradise grow therein 87. And doe not relie upon the hypocrisie of the Antichrist he is a lyar and covetous and a dissembler he mindeth onely his Idoll the Belly and is a Thiefe in the sight of God he devoureth the Bread that belongeth to the needy he is the Devils Hell-hound learne to know him 88. Speaking then of the true Resurrection of Christ wee will also shew somewhat concerning his conversation those forty Dayes after his Resurrection before his Ascension Because wee know that he is become a reall Lord over Heaven Earth and Hell therefore wee shew you how the Kingdome of this world with all the Essences and qualities thereof hath been subjected to him And although he did not alwayes converse visibly with his Disciples yet many times he shewed himselfe to them visibly palpably and staying with them according to the Kingdome of this world according to his body which he had heere which was swallowed up by the new Body which he must present againe as God would have it to be presented for God is Lord of every thing and every thing must be changed as he pleaseth that he might thus shew his Disciples his reall Body and the Print of the Nayles which stand in the Holy Christ in his holy Body in Eternity as a signe of his victory and shine brighter than the Morning-Starre 89. He thereby confirmed his Disciples weake faith and so shewed that he is Lord also over the Kingdome of this world and that all whatsoever wee sow build plant eate and drinke is fully in his Almighty power and that he can blesse and increase it and therefore he is not severed or parted from us but as a flower groweth out of the Earth so his Word Spirit and power or vertue groweth in every thing and if our minde be sincerely inclined to him then wee are blessed of him in body and soule but if not then the curse and the Anger of God is in all things and wee eate death in all fruits or food And therefore it is that wee pray that God will blesse our meate and drinke also our bodies and soules in Christ and that is right 90. Secondly wee intimate also how Christ conversed upon Earth forty dayes after his Resurrection understand in the Kingdome of this world whereas yet he was in Heaven yet he bare that Image without any outward Glory or Clarity before the eyes of Men and he had the body wholly with every Essence as it hung on the Crosse except the source of the Principle which he had not but else he had all Essences in flesh and bloud and yet the outward flash stood in the might and power of the Heavenly This wee see by his going in to his Disciples the Doore being shut and passed with his body through the wood of the Doore Thus you may understand that the world is as nothing to him and that he hath power over all things 91. And further also wee intimate to you that these forty dayes are the forty dayes of Adams being in Paradise before his sleepe ere the Woman was made out of him where he stood in the Paradisicall Temptation where he was still pure and heavenly And so this Christ must also stand forty dayes in the Paradisicall source or condition in the Temptation to try whether the body would continue Paradisicall before he was Glorified and therefore he did eate and drinke with his Disciples in a Paradisicall manner as Adam should have done into the Mouth and not into the Body for the contuming consisted in the vertue or power 92. Heere it was rightly tempted whether the body would live in divine vertue and power as Adam also should have done while he was in Paradise in this world and though he were there yet he was in this world and yet he lived not in the source of this world but in the Paradisicall property above the world and also above the wrath of the Anger in the Hell he should have lived in the source of Love Humility Meeknesse and Mercy in the friendly will of God and so he should have ruled over the Starres and Elements and there should have been no death nor frailty or corruption in him 93. Therefore yee Turkes and other superstitious People you should observe and understand aright wherefore Christ gave us such Lawes as command us not to be revengefull and that when any strike us on the one cheeke wee should present the other to him and so further that wee should blesse them that curse us and doe well to them that hate us and hurt us understand yee this 94. Behold a true Christian who liveth in the Spirit of Christ must also walke in the conversation of Christ he must not walke in the fierce sterne revenging Spirit of this world but as Christ lived and conversed in this world after his Resurrection and yet not in the source or property of this world And though it is not possible for us while wee live in the source of this world to doe so yet in the new Man in Christ whom the Devill bideth and obseureth wee may if wee live in meeknesse then wee overcome the world in Christ if wee recompence Good soa Evill then we witnesse that the Spirit of Christ is in us and then wee are dead to the Spirit of this world for the sake of the Spirit of Christ which is in us and though wee are in this world yet the world doth but hang to us as it hung to Christ after his Resurrection and yet he lived in the Father in the Heaven even so doe wee also if wee be borne in Christ 95. Therefore let this be told you yee Jewes Turkes and other Nations yee need not looke for any other there is no other Time at hand but the Time of the Lilly and the signe of that time is the
in a friendly humble loving Spirit together with good sound Reason this will dispell and drive away the smoak of the Devill and flourish in its time Therefore let none thinke that when strife goeth on and he getteth the upper hand now it is well and right and he that is under and subdued let him not thinke sure I am found to be in the wrong I should now goe to the other opinion or side and help that party to prosecute the other no that is not the way such a one is meerely in Babell 33. But let every one enter into himselfe and labour to be a righteous Man and feare God and doe right and consider that this his worke shall appeare in Heaven before God and that he standeth every moment before the face of God and that all his works shall follow after him and then the Lilly of God springeth and groweth and the world standeth in its Seculum AMEN FINIS AN APPENDIX OR Fundamentall and true Description of the Threefold Life in Man First Of the Life of the Spirit of this world in the qualities and Dominion of the Starres and Elements Secondly Of the Life of the Originality of all Essences which standeth in the Eternall indissoluble Band wherein the Roote of Mans soule standeth Thirdly of the Paradisicall Life in Ternario sancto viz the Life in the New Regeneration which is the Life of the Lord Jesus Christ wherein the Angelicall Life is understood as also the Holy Life of the New Regeneration All searched out very fundamentally in the Light of Nature and set downe for the comfort of the poore sick wounded soule that it might seek the holy life in the new Regeneration wherein it goeth forth out of the earthly and passeth into the life of Jesus Christ the Sonne of God By the same Author 1. BEcause in our foregoing Writings there are some words which the Reader may not perhaps apprehend especially where wee have written that in the Resurrection of the Dead we shall be in the Body of Christ in Ternario Sancto where wee call the sernarius sanctus Holy Earth which must not be understood of Earth but of the holy Body out of the holy vertue or power of the Trinity of God d that b y Ternarius sanctus is properly understood in our writings the Gate of God the Father from whence all things proceed as out of one onely substance Therefore wee will instruct the Reader of the Second Booke of our Writings a little more fundamentally that he may not hang so to the bare letter and make a Historicall matter of our Writings but that he may observe the minde and spirit what that Spirit meaneth when it speaketh of the Divine Life and useth not alwayes the same words and names 2. For if wee look into the Creation of God wee finde very wonderfull things which yet in the beginning proceeded out of one onely Fountaine for wee finde evill and good life and death joy and sorrow love and hate weeping and laughing and wee finde that it all sprung out of one onely substance for that may very well be seene in all Creatures especialiy in Man who is the similitude of God as Moses writeth and the Light of Nature convinceth us Therefore wee ought to consider of the Threefold Life in Man which is found so also in the Gate of God the Father 3. If wee consider of the alteration how the minde is changed as it is how suddenly joy is turned into sorrow and sorrow into joy then wee ought well to consider from whence that taketh its Originall For wee finde it all to be in one and the same minde and if one forme property or quality riseth and getteth above the other there then presently something followeth so that the minde collecteth all its thoughts together and sendeth them to the Members of the Body and so the hands the feete the mouth and all goe to worke and doe something according to the desire of the minde and then wee say that forme or property that driveth the work is predominant qualifying and working above other formes wherein yet all other formes of Naturelye yet hidden and are subject to that one forme And yet the minde is such a wonderfull thing that suddenly out of one forme that is now predominant and working more than all other it bringeth forth and raiseth up another and quencheth the forme that was kindled before so that it becometh as it were a nothing as may be seene in joy and sorrow 4. Now therefore when wee consider whence all taketh its Originall wee finde especially three formes in the minde wee speak not heere of the Spirit of this world onely for wee finde that our minde hath also a desire or longing after another minde and that it is anxious for that which the eyes of the body see not and which the mouth tasteth not and the feeling of the earthly body doth not perceive neither doth the earthly eare heare it nor the nose smell it which yet the Noble Minde can see raste feele perceive and heare if the forme of the Divine Kingdome in that minde he predominant or qualifieth more than the other two there then instantly the other two are as it were haise dead and overcome and the Divine forme riseth up alone and then it is in God 5. And wee see also how instantly the Minde raiseth up another forme and maketh it predominant viz. the Spirit of this world in covetousnesse pride in the oppressing of the needy and lifting up it selfe onely and so drawing all to it whereupon then instantly also the third forme breaketh forth out of the Eternall Indissoluble Band as falshood envy anger and malice so that the Image of God is as it were dead and overcome where then the minde in this manner is in the Anger of God in Death in the Jawes of Hell over which Hell in the Anger of God insulteth for hereby its Jawes are set wide open and it becometh predominant but when the Divine forme breaketh forth againe then the Kingdome of Hell is overcome and as it were dead and the Kingdome of Heaven cometh to be predominant and working againe 6. Therefore S t Paul saith To whom you yeeld your selves as servants in obedience his servants you are whether of sinne unto Death or of the obedience of God to righteousnesse and that source or property wee have and in that Kingdome wee live and that Kingdome with the property thereof driveth us seeing then heere in this life all is in the sowing and in the growing therefore the harvest also shall one day follow where then the one Kingdome shall be seperated from the other 7. For there are in the minde of Man Three Principles all which Three in the Time of this foure Elementary Life he may open but when the body is broken then he liveth in one Principle onely and then he hath lost the Key and can open no other