will dignifie and honour what hath been set mostâ— light and contemptably by therefore observe and narrow up to this Death-Path in the first place and that most circumspectly Aâ—d the Blessing of Life will evermore attend you Ianuary the 30th 1676 7. In the first part of the Night my Meditations were wholly intent upon that Way Order and Method by which a Decease might be to the Body of Sin For the Spirit intimated and declared plainly that while it was alive there could be made no Claim to Mount Sion's Revenue For as much as the wise and holy God and our Father had made a Settlement according to eternal Counsel upon the true Birth-Heirs begotten of the Virgin-Spirit who only the Eternal Goods can inherit Now then so long as the false evil intruding Birth reigneth in the Mortal Body the Heavenly Off-spring must needs be kept down and made to serve in a strange Country Because of their first-born Lord Esau that is so potent and great in this earthly Principle that until such time as the Iacob's Birth is grown strong and mighty he cannot look the supplanted Esau in the Face Therefore full armed with God's Host we must maintain our Battel and be in no fear but the Edomites will fall down when they shall see the Angel of the Most Holy with his Flaming Sword passing before us to make our way into our own Land where our Inheritance doth lie God saying unto us Come return unto your Rock and there I will hide you till the Fury Wrath and Indignation shall pass away and I will be unto you and Eternal Cleft of Stillness Where secured ye shall be as in Death's sweet passive Liberty so as ye shall no more hear the noise of the pransing Warriour who always is annoying while he can find you on this side of Death Therefore see it of necessity ye must from Mount Nebo into this Rock ascend where buried as out of sight ye shall be for your Dying shall only be Hiding till such time as the Life Power and Goodness of the Deity shall re-enter as a quickning Breath all fully to Spirit you withal That so the very Nature and Goodness of this Rocky precious Stone may out-flow in you Then when-ever you will smite this Rock with the Rod of the Spirit it shall gush out Rivers of Living Waters to be come in each of you a Springing Well That so you may Proclaim the mighty Name of him that hath gotten unto a Life and Victory by lying close hid as in the Heart of this ever blessed Saphire Rock February the 1st 1676 7. AFter this Opening I saw as I lay in my Bed waving Clouds descend upon me one after another as the Night and the Day dark Clouds and Light swiftly following one after another At which I was somewhat amazed till I did understand the meaning hereof Which was thus manifested that the black Clouds were hard pursuing as the dark Shadow of Death that still would be enterposing with the light Cloud which presented the Life that was to reign over Death I saw the Sâ—rife and Contest was very great but the bright Cloud was last which descended By which assurance was given that Death 's black Cloud of Mortality in the Light of the Crystal Rock should be swallowed up If we thereto did resort and fixedly abide as the unknown Sepulchre where the Dead in the Lord as Lillies of Paradise shall first thereout spring as the Glory renewed for to plant as encrease a most Holy and Priestly Generation For this Word followed also sayiâ—g What Goodness the Lord hereby shall shew unto you the same shall ye be able to do and shew forth in marvellous Deeds as giving Proof that the Cloud of Death is passed away and that Life which hath been hid with God is risen with a Body like to the Rock from whence it hath proceeded Then with the high Saints in Light ye shall be equally Sharers in what hitherto hath been kept from you February the 2d 1676 7. There was this Day set before me a Crystal Gate by which Glassy clearness we might see and take a measuring view of that wonderful place Wherein was the New Ierusalem-Seat with all her Temple-Magnificency which was shewn to be the high Serene Majesty who as circling Bow all of Saphire Stone did include such as could pass through chis Gate For only those true and Sacred Worshippers who with the Lamb had overcome could stand within that Temple as Kindly Priests of the high Tabernacle-Order for to be Then this Word hereupon followed What have you through this Glassy Gate beheld but such things as might make you strive hard and even force an entrance within the Glassy Screen For these Presentations are given forth from the Celestial Globe to set a Work that transforming Stone that must all-power fully Anatomize the gross fleshly Body that no way can pass through here till it is changed like to that Door which you did see which till then is as a bright Bar of Separation This Privilege only you have a Prospect as Moses had of the Figurative Land but hereinto you can by no means come till you have endured the Refining Fire of the Saphire Stone Which will be given for to do the last finishing part that so Transubstantiation may be set afoot The Worthy will certainly it see who are found in the Life of Conquest resolving to beat down that Sinacting Body which is all the Alienation that separates you from your God and this Holy Place which within the pure Gate hath been viewed These words lay up as from the Holy and Just One and go forward to this high Procedure As not being satisfied with these transient Discoveries no further then as Mediums of Provocation to call up all your Powers and thereby to encourage that other who is to be for me a Witness in Priestly Power working in his measure steadily till the Shadow of Death shall fully flee away That so successively each one may be cloathed substantially with a Body declaratively which will be God's mark to testifie who are partakers of the First Resurrection Therefore set your Hearts hereunto fully for your Labour shall not be in vain as co-working with the Lord whose Spirit will have its day for to do Wonders February the 3d. 1676 7. Thus I did by all come to learn and know how strait the Passage would be into that Temple which all over was a God-flaming Glory with the mighty great Change that must come upon Soul Spirit and Body before entrance here could be Which awaked and set all my Intellectual Powers fresh awork to Nothingnize what in me was found in the non-conformity to the Rule day by day set before me Such a force of Attractive Sweetness did take hold upon my Heart that I did desire upon some other to shed of the same abroad that they might not faint or be weary till we might walk and talk together as in the
A FOUNTAIN OF Gardens Vol. II. Being a Continuation of the Process of a Life according to Faith of the Divinely Magical Knowledge and of the New Creation IN Mutual ENTERTAINMENTS BETWIXT The Essential Wisdom and the Soul in her Progress through Paradise to Mount Sion and to the New Ierusalem By I. LEAD Isa. LVIII 11. Thou shalt be like a Watered GARDEN and like a Spring of Water whose Waters fail not London Printed and Sold by the Booksellers of London and Westminster 1697. THE EDITOR TO THE READER IN this Second Volume of the Diary which is here Presented there are many Things very Considerable relating to the several Progresses of a Life of Faith with various Manuductions to this Mystick and Supersensual State recorded within the Space but of One Year wherein this Author was most plentifully Visited of God There are many Informations given concerning the Paradisiacal the Angelical and the Divine Life in the Gradual Augmentation and Operation of the Holy Seed of Faith within the Soul Many things concerning the Bank of Wisdom with her Laws of Merchandize which besides an Interiour do carry also with them an Exteriour Sense that will be made good to her Children many things respecting the Establishment of a Royal Order of the Melchizedeck Priesthood upon the Earth with the Return of Prophecy and Miracles in a more Extraordinary and Fixed Manner than ever hitherto They are all Great and Momentous Matters which are here deliver'd Concerning both the Church of Christ in general and each Member thereof in particular neither are they such as are at a distance but such as are near at hand and at the very Door they beginning already to be accomplished in some Persons in divers Countries even almost of all Ranks Constitutions and Manners of Living Whereof much could be said And if they be not only Great but also Uncommon and Strange though it cannot be expected that they should easily be Receiv'd yet it may that they should at least be admitted to a fair Hearing and candid Examination as to the Pretences which are made Whatever also the Method of Delivering them down may be and how liable soever to the Exceptions of the Eloquent and the Learned this will not be a Prejudicate strong enough to make the Wise and Prudent in Heart throw away a rich Treasure that may be put into their hands because of the many Coverings that may be put upon it And if the Matters be of the greatest Consequence though they be couched for the most part under certain Parables Similitudes and Visional Ideas it is not at all doubted but that Many will be found who may hereby be stirred up to dive into and comprehend what others will slight and despise as seeing nothing more in it than an Enthusiastick Jargon of Words But let the Thoughts of these be never so mean it is certain to me that Wisdom will be justified of her children and that her Children are Children indeed Children in the Eyes of the World in their own Eyes and in the Eyes of God No wonder then it is that the World despises them laughs at their weakness and with a sort of Disdain pities their Folly It has been so from the days of Christ and of his holy Apostles and it is no new thing for the Mystick Wisdom of God to be accounted Foolishness and those that are led by an higher Spirit than that of this World to be termed Mad or even possess'd with a Devil But if the World know them not a Greater than the World doth know them Hear then Oye Little Ones and rejoice Hear also O ve Despisers and mourn For a glorious Kingdom and a beautiful Crown even the Crown of Philadelphia is now set before you both Take heed that ye neglect not so great an Offer and deride not those who do Believe and consequently Accept it If so the Evil Day of Temptation that is to try the whole Earth will overtake you suddenly and then will ye be constrain'd to confess How are these whom we counted Mad numbred among the Children of God and how is their Lot fallen among the Redeemed out of the Earth who stand upon the Mount of Sion with Crowns and Palms in their Hands following the Lamb The Ascending Steps to which Mount you will find Here so described as could be by none but such as have went up by them in conformity with that process of the Regeneration and the Transformation which hath been expressed by the Ascension-Ladder sent down that was in the year 1681. set forth by the Author and in the Year 1694. Translated into High Dutch and soon after that into Low Dutch Wherein it is at large declared how the Actions and Passages of our Blessed Lord in the Way to Glorification are not only Representative and Imputative as to their Meritoriousness or Efficacy but are also Operative of the same in the Members of his Mystical Body Who must also pass through Death and the Resurrection before they can Ascend and be glorified with him in the Kingdom of Mount Sion or of the New Ierusalem Let us then as many as Love the Lord JESUS and his Appearance behold the Cloud now breaking wherein he will Descend into Us in like manner as he Ascended and having carry'd us through the Cross will lead us back into Paradise whence we came out by restoring again the bright and pure Image of God through his all-virtual Resurrection and from thence conduct us still higher and higher as we shall be herewith by him Adorned into those Superiour States of Glorification in the Heavens above Paradise where he sits as at the right Hand of the Father in the Fulness of Majesty and Glory From whence he will Personally also descend to Judge the World according to Righteousness and Truth or Equity when he shall have thus prepared a Body of Saints made like unto him in the midst of whom he may pitch his Glorious Tabernacle Out of which his Edicts will be sent as on the Wings of the Lightning to the utmost ends of the Earth by Flying Angels who have liv'd in Bodies of Mortality but shall have then receiv'd the Immortal Crown and the Incorruptible Name O Blessed yea thrice Blessed are all those who through that Faith which in these Sheets is Discrib'd are made partakers of this First Resurrection and of the high Immunities and Prerogatives of the First-born But who is sufficient for these things And it may now again be said Alas Who hath believed our Report We are accounted as Liars all the day long for they sake O God of Truth Alas who will believe that thou hast remembred thy Promises of Old which all thy Holy Prophets have repeated from thy Mouth O Lord most Holy O Lord most True Or that thou hast spoken unto us out of the Cloudy Pillar and communed with us in the Silence of our Hearts How hast thou made us to bear thy Reproach O God and to be in
sâ—aled with Holy Spirit of Promise Though in that day soon upon Christs ascending the Spirit of working power was suddainly showred down upon some as in the Acts mention is made who had no foregoing work of sanctification upon them Upon which it made the Apostles themselves astonished that the Holy Ghost should be sent down upon the Gentiles also who did not believe in the Lord Jesus But that is now ceased The giving forth of the Holy Ghost in this day will first produce inward effects and be a Spirit of burning seasoning the Vessels within and inflaming it with the pure fire of Love and Joy And then being all divinely leavened there will be found all sufficiency to do the most wonderful things easily flowing forth from the substantial body which by degrees may work it self fixedly through the humane form in great splendor and glory So from hence we are taught how the Holy Ghost hath his first inspiring work upon us To make all clean pure and perfect within our Minds and Wills For we shall be Witnesses what he doth first in and for us before he will shew forth by us the Seal of his great Power to what lies without us Who by signal Working Powers and Gifts are to be convinced and brought over to the Faith which will work by that Love that will be shed abroad by the Holy Ghost Whos 's first enkindlings and stirrings ye are saith the Holy and True to cherish and wait upon till ye are leavened throughout with Righteousness Light Love and Joy Which will make way for the going out of Wisdoms Power and God's all sufficiency in a more marvelous manner then ever Blessed highly are they whose lot it shall be to come up to the Mount of God's Habitation through all these degrees This word take along with you for certainty that it is possible for the close wise persevering diligent Spirits to see this great and mighty salvation in the Lord Christ's Kingdom in and through the ghostly power working mightily April the 28th 1677. This Morning awaking about three of the Clock my Spirit after some divine ejaculations was inkindled through the Love-melting Powers of the Spirit of my Lord Jesus which did pass as a burning Lamp through all my Intellectuals finding there matter to feed upon answerable to its own light property whereby refreshing was found After this I slept till five a Clock or somewhat more as by me surmised Then I was awakened with the beholding one in the figure of a man in a blue clear firmament enclosed as in an oval frame Rainbow-like his Countenance was grave and majestical facing me with great majesty Upon the sight of whom I did feel within me a mighty rapture of joy So I making to get nearer to this Person thus plainly portraied then he did further withdraw for such was the â—ervour of my Spirit that I would have proceeded into the very Circle where he was Who seemed to be in the very fashion of a man from the Loyns upward but I saw no Legs or Feet but he fixed his Light Countenance still on me which was no way terrible but all reviving Now I was expecting somewhat to be spoken from him but the voice was uttered within me saying thus This is the Sign of your Lord from Heaven that Jesus whom you have desired to see Upon which words I attempted again to break through to him upon which this Representation did pass away that I could no longer gratifie my spiritual Eye with this blessed Personality After whose departure I was left sad for I would willingly have left my corporeal form to have entred into that Oval Cloud where I might have joined the Hand of my Spirit with his But then it was again further revealed to me that if this sight was so pleasing and grateful what would the coming in of the Fathers glory be which would be much more then what I now did see Then this word spake in me go on to believe and ye who look for me shall yet further see greater things then all this Some days after this Vision it was further manifested to me that this visible Figure of my Lord Jesus did signifie the formation of himself in our corporeity which would be much more advantagious then in beholding him in a distinct Personality as without us till we can come to say as he is so are we Till which there can be no fixed view for a constant retaining of his now glorified Person in our Eye Now it was given me to understand that the Reason I could not be admitted to enter into that Oval Light where he was presented was because said the Spirit thou art not come to the same perfect state and degree in which you did him see wanting yet your more high clear and elementary Body so that ye could not possibly make your pass unto him But only hereby your Jesus knoweth that these transient sights would have a pure magical power upon you for the begetting of the same likeness within you that was shewn outward For it was revealed to me that all representations that did not work to this effect would be little available as to the fruition of the blessed Object it self Then I was cautioned to be heedful in this respect and to watch how to receive all powerful impressions hereby all which was for the bringing on the heavenly Birth to every degree of perfection Then no strange nor unusual thing it shall be to see the very express glory of the Majesty when you are Christed and all clothed upon with him Then shall ye see That in your selves which to others is invisible Philip could not see the Father in Christ while he was looking outwardly for some wonderful appearance of God in visible Glory he did not consider how uncapable he was of that sight but Jesus invites him to see and know the Father in the pure simplified humanity God will to all first manifest himself here in that which can assume the Christ-like Life which is the only light and medium in which we can see God Christ would have directed Philip to have looked for this Vision of God in himself but he knew he was not clarified in his Mind and Spirit for that species his Eys were not anointed the Holy Ghost not being yet given to him Therefore Christ directed him to turn his Eye inward to see the influence of the Divine Power and Presence of the Father in and by Christ. Who gave him this rebuke Have I been so long with you and yet have you not seen the Power of the Deity acted forth in me The Disciples were but of dull sight and flow of belief so that it was not the conversation of Christ although all holy perfect and good in his Visible Figure That did give the transformation till he did convey his Spiritual Body into them they could not rightly know him nor yet the Father in him Then the Spirit ecchoed this through me O haste