THE Heart Opened TO Christ Jesus Translated out of High Dutch for the good of all Men. LONDON Printed by John Macock MDCLIII THE PREFACE ALL Men seek naturally their own Happiness and wish heartily well unto themselves Hence do all the varieties and multitude of humane Inventions proceed for the obtaining and maintaining of the said Happiness which some imagine to consist in Riches some in Highness Honor and Pleasure others in sharp Wits Arts and Sciences according as every mans several fancy is and leads him But whatsoever vanisheth and passeth away maketh no man truly happy But that which is unvisible being set and found above time and place the same is the root of true and saving Happiness the other is but deceit and illusion which casteth down into the Abyss whereby Adam was brought to fall Therefore it is necessary for every one to return back again from the Plurality to Unity which is the only true and infinite Good if he meaneth to obtain the true and saving Happiness for the everlasting and joyful possession of our Soul is its true Salvation and Happiness consisting only in God its Creator Whosoever therefore yields himself up to God and becomes one and united with Him hath found the true and blessed Happiness But who seeketh it in the Creatures and in his going and travelling from Eternity to Temporality such a one seeketh in vain or vanity it self and loseth his own self in turning himself from God his Creator to the Creature for all created things are nothing in comparison with God and shall in the fulness of time return again into their Chaos and lose their corporal clothing or else according to their desert become an Everlasting Reproach And this is the Subject where we in these following Chapters intend God willing briefly to speak and handle THE OPEN HEART TO CHRIST JESVS CHAP. I. What is that which a man ought to labor for in this life MAN is convinced in his Conscience and hath it written in his heart as an eternal sure and immutable word that he always ought to strive and endeavor after that wherein his Souls everlasting Property and Happiness consisteth to the end that he of whom he draweth his original and off-spring may thereby have his Praise Honour and Joy When he considereth this duly two ways presently offer themselves the one leading to Good the other to Evil The Evil as Evil he desireth not therefore he ought and must of necessity follow and stick close to the Good Here the Ens and seed of the Serpent worketh strange and subtle disturbances in Man and would fain sell Evil for Good seeing that the Evil always mingleth it self with the Good and thereby causeth horrible Deceits and Seducements All the World standeth open and ready to embrace the Evil and yet will not endure it to be called Evil but always hideth it self under the colour of Good so that the Good is not easily to be found out and discerned unless a Man look very narrowly into it Therefore these two ways ought very well to be discerned and distinguished lest a Man should lose himself therein and be seduced and led away by the Devil or blind Reason The Holy Scripture it self placeth one on the right hand and the other on the left hand That on the right hand is narrow but is the way of God whereby Man attaineth to the true in ward Rest and Peace therein liveth and is saved That on the left hand is the way of the World wherein a man with greatest trouble and unquietness posteth and hasteneth to Damnation All which very excellently is prefigured and represented unto us in the deliverance and going of the Children of Israel out of Egypt CHAP. II. An excellent Type of Love towards God and Love towards the World WHosoever is desirous to choose the way leading to God aright he must by no means pervert any thing nor receive any thing that is perverted but look well to himself that he may walk aright in this life being that the two ways are so easily mixed and changed one for the other as we may very well observe by the Children of Israel when they were brought out of Egypt Wherefore by the way towards Egypt again we do understand the World But by the way of God we understand the true Conversion and turning to the Land of Canaan that is the Kingdom of Heaven and Kingdom of Christ Now there be three things which hinder and disturb the Man in his true Conversion which are here to be observed Namely First Love of this temporal Life Secondly Delight and desire after temporal things Thirdly Lust of fleshly Pride and wanton Pleasure wherein Man is desirous to bathe and swim up to his very ears Hence it is that all those that are blinded and possessed with Jewish and self-love cannot be drawn from the highness and honor of the World but give themselves over to Covetousness and bend all their love and labor with all their thoughts and imaginations to this scope to wit how to gain these temporary things to the end that they may fulfil their lust of the flesh so that the poor Soul in the heart must be smothered and forgot yea robbed and deprived of the Everlasting Good for the pride and wanton pleasures sake of the flesh and of the Astral spirit Now those that continue in this course of life they fall in time into a senselessness or insensibility and hardness of heart so that they rather suffer all manner of pains then themselves to be drawn off from thence seeing that they rather undergo and endure all dangers and tribulations then themselves to be deprived or dismissed of their lust whereunto they are inclined and given in so much that all fellow-travellers addicted to this way had always rather to return back again into Egypt to the flesh pots which notwithstanding they ate with cumberness and servitude then to eat and enjoy the spiritual and heavenly Bread in the Wilderness and to follow Moses whither he by the Command of God was to guide them This People was with a mighty hand with signs and wonders brought out of Egypts house of Bondage to Canaan the Land of Promise and in the way was fed with bread of Angels tasting to them according to their own wish and desire so that with great Joy they might have obtained the Land of Promise But seeing they were drowned in the Love of their own self of the flesh and of the world denying and renouncing all obedience to the Spirit of God they would rather turn back again to Egypt to the flesh pots of their misery and calamity then with peace and comfort forget that way and suffer themselves to be led by Moses quietness and patience through the Wilderness Therefore whosoever is too much possessed and captivated with deceitful lusts of the world he evermore longeth after his former sinful qualities and doings whereunto he is addicted But to prevent this and to turn
himself to the right way of God to walk in the paths of Holiness Man must order and behave himself aright after the conduct and instruction of Moses who is Christ in the new Birth and Conversion Him always in the way we must carefully observe and look upon at his right hand and never set our eyes from him whatsoever he doth and taketh in hand in this life Therefore he must also leave the old Adam in Egypt that is hate and deny himself and on the contrary turn all his love to God in Christ and wholy yield and submit himself in an humble resignation to the Spirit of God and his good Government Now if he thus both within and without with a wholy converted Heart be yielded up and resigned unto God according to his Will and in his Love is desirous of nothing more then God then he walketh in the way at the right hand being no more his own self or an adherent of base and wicked Egypt but having quite left and abandoned the flesh pots is desirous through Christ to become one Spirit with God according to the desire of the Soul and likewise longeth with delight for Perfection that he may enter again into the first Image after which in the Begining he was created of God CHAP. III. Even as God is the Being of all Beings and the Life of all living so also must every one that meaneth to inherit Salvation become like unto him in Christ ALL the care and matter is how Man according to the Image of God may be transplanted again out of this temporary into the Eternal Kingdom of Joy Therefore according as the Man doth form and figure himself in this life under the government and domiminion of the Starry or Sydereal Spirit in such form and figure he also transplanteth and presenteth himself after this life unto Eternity Namely either into one principle of the Abyss or else into the other of the Divine Love and eternal Joy with God and his holy Angels Originally and in the Creation Man was created like unto God and became his Image that he according to that should be a Lord and Soveraign over the world which that he might better perform he was placed and ordained in Paradice with such an Heavenly and uniform body as was wanting in nothing that any way could be necessary to this excellent and glorious Performance Yea as a father and a son are one with another so was Man like unto God and had the perfect wisdom to govern all things aright according to the Will of God in his Image both within and without himself viz. all things so far as it belonged to him and was subject to temporary nature He had not gotten any frail body unless purposely he had thrown himself into this fragillity thus he was uniform with God according to his Image In which uniformity yet this difference is to be observed viz. God is and abideth the Creator and the Father Man is the Creature and childe God hath no time but is Eternal having nothing either afore or after himself But Man hath a Beginning and is comprehended by the Incomprehensible God There is nothing that God hath received but he hath and is all in Himself But man hath received all things from God and hath nothing of his own God needeth neither Angel nor Heaven nor world nor place nor time But Man can neither live nor be without God These differences shew plainly and sufficiently How man ought to live aright according to the properties of the Image both in this time and hereafter in Eternity viz. we must be his onely with Will Heart Soul Understanding and Being and no others besides neither our own but look meerly and onely upon Him by whom we are created and after our fall so dearly bought and redeemed besides whom we must choose or desire nothing seeing without him we be nothing and can do nothing as Christ saith But who so taketh delight in himself loveth himself seeketh and findeth himself he committeth two great and horrible Evils For first He thereby becometh a proud Thief in seeking the preeminence in Gods Being and Dominion arrogating it unto himself as if he were of Himself as God is which he likewise in secret esteemeth himself to be and will needs be equal with God Secondly He becometh also thereby a Murtherer in killing himself so miserably by falling off from God upon himself that is falling off from the Being upon his own nothing and making himself a reproach to him of whom he hath received his Being and Breath seeing that God had also therefore formed him after his won Image that he should not eat of the Tree of Knowledg of Good and Evil for God is the right hand and he himself the left hand viz. the Creature which afore was nothing Man should keep the Properties of the Image suffering the Will of God to work and do all things in him Man should be the Tool wherewith God should do all things But the desire to know Good and Evil is that horrible Fall whereby he is cast out of the Image of God and that is the right Serpent of Sin which so extreamly hath deceived us perswading us to eat of this forbidden fruit O what a lamentable state and condition is it that we thereby are fallen so deep far from the Image of God and the holy life of Paradice into the uttermost bestial Kingdom and Government of the Starry or Sydereal Spirit Yet it is an infinite and unspeakable Mercy that the Son of God Christ Jesus our Lord would not leave nor forsake us in this extream both temporal and eternal Perdition of our Soul but with his deep Humiliation c. brought back again his beloved Creature into its Principium and Heavenly Kingdom into Paradice opening the Blessed Gate to the former Image lest we in any thing should be wanting Therefore if so be we will enter again into the first and blessed estate of our Souls viz. of Eternal Image and Salvation then we must return back again from and out of the base and bestial Life of our sinful flesh and enter into the living and Heavenly Birth becoming like to Christ in all thins according to his love wherewith he hath loved us and thus with Christ wholy yielding our selves up to God in a perfect and humble resignation forgetting and denying our selves and hating our own life seeing that we our selves are our chiefest and worst enemies and all this to the end that we may attain to Christ Perfection according to the restored Image of his Love Psal 17.15 Not suffering our selves to be drawn back or hindered by any thing in the world CHAP. IV. Of Mans true Perfection in Christ and in the Love IT is a most dangerous and pernitious Doctrine whereby true Christianity most mightily is hindered when many give forth and teach against God Christ Jesus himself and his Holy word and Gospel that it is Impossible for a Man
to keep the Word of God Should God through his Son impose us things Impossible What an absurd speech is this Shall a Man think to make the most gracious and most merciful God a Tyrant O abominable Error to the greatest hinderance of the true Birth When Peter gave Christ hindersom and offensive counsel disswading him that he with his suffering should not fulfil the Will of his Father Christ reproved Peter calling his words the speech of Satan saying Get thee behind me Satan thou art an offence unto me for thou savorest not the things that be of God but those that be of men Mat. 16.23 Mark 8.33 Even so may a man likewise say to those that rather speak to please and nourish the security of the flesh and quench the Spirit then to help and set forth the Word of God by men and yet notwithstanding will be held and called good Christians therefore saith Christ Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 7.21 but he that doth the Will of my Father which is in Heaven Christ will have his Word kept in deed and not only with opinion tongue or oral faith comparing such a one with a wise man which built his house upon a rock Mat. 7.25 The true faith makes indeed up the house but good works of Love lays the foundation as Christ saith Joh. 14.23 If a man love me he will keep my words which consisteth properly in our life and conversation viz. to walk in his steps even as he hath walked 1 John 2.6 Therefore Christ neither regarded nor required in his followers any prating wit but obedient works of Love and charitable Deeds proceeding from a free heart and he saith further Whosoever will come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me Mark 8.34 Neither may any man boast of Christ as if he knew him unless he keepeth his Commandments for otherwise he is a Lyar in whom there is no truth But whosoever keepeth his Word in him verily is the love of God perfected Hereby know we that we are in him 1 Joh. 4.5 Also every one that doth righteousness is born of him 1 Joh. 2.29 Yea he that doth righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous 1 Joh. 3.7 Now what want or Impossibility is here Are the Commandments of christ too too grievous Saith not John that the Commandments of Christ are not grievous 1 John 5.3 And Christ himself wisheth us and all others to come freely and confidently unto him and take his yoke upon us being that his yoke is easie and his burden light Matth. 11.30 Now by whom I pray is the truth by Christ or by Antichrist But here lies all the difficulty viz. Antichrist and the Child of this World will not turn in and enter to the Love of God fully and aright leaving the cursed love of the world and of the flesh which hath taken so deep roots in his heart Therefore he had rather make God to be unjust and with the Excuse of Impossibility justifie himself leaving the whole Burden upon the neck of Christ only that he himself may go free and in the security of his wicked spirit and flesh according to his own bestial desire and disposition jump as it were into the Kingdom of God as if he need to do nothing and take no care for his Salvation but only to live freely forth on in pleasures and carnal lust of his Heart proceeding from the false and venomous seed of the wicked Serpent and yet would merit Heaven thereby though he never put on again the Heavenly Image of Christ changing his Bestial and Diabolical Malice into Love But what doth a Men else but shew forth that he hath an abomination to the Childship of God which is in Christ Jesus For St John saith in his 1 Epistle cap. 5.2 By this we know that we love the Children of God when we love God and keep his Commandments for this is the love of God viz. that we keep his Commandments and his Commandments are not grievous To whom therefore Love is hard and grievous he is as yet far from God and his Image being as fast and deep in Lyes Darkness and Death 1 Joh. 2.9 21. and cap. 3.14 Yea he is an Antichrist christ bearing the Mark of the Beast and of the Whore in his Heart and in his forehead Apoc. 19. c. For God Himself is Love and Love is God and he that loveth not knoweth not God 1 Joh. 4.7 Whosoever therefore will be and be called a right true Christian and attain to perfection desiring to be one Spirit with God and obtain his Image again he must make haste and strive to this Gate where the Love of Christ stands open continually and diligently exercising himself therein especially in the inward Image and Likeness of the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ esteeming it above all Creatures and then nothing will be hard and grievous for him for what can be grievous to him that rightly loveth Now to learn this aright we must look and consider well what is to be observed in christ CHAP. V. What are those seven thins in Christ which ought to be well and especially considered And how we may attain to the perfection of Love THere are summarily seven principal Points in our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ well and especially to be considered Viz. 1. His wonderous Humiliation and Conception 2. His Birth of a Virgin 3. His whole Life in his Infancy Youth and Mans Age 4. His bitter Passion and Death 5. His Descending into Hell Resurrection Apparition and Clarification 6. His Ascension and Entrance into his Glory again 7. His Glorious Manifestation or Revelation and coming again to Judgment and to his Kingdom In these seven Points all the Mysteries of God are comprehended without which no Man can be a true Teacher in the Church of God and of christ according to the Gifts of the Holy Spirit which are ordained by God to such Ministry although they are not absolutely necessary for every Child of God for it is not Knowledg and Science that saveth and maketh us happy in Christ Jesus but the true Faith being effectual by Love Therefore the knowledg wisdom and understanding of children is one thing and another thing that of the young Men and another thing that of Fathers and old Men for every one hath his own peculiar Gift of Grace of the Spirit of God as Paul teacheth 1 Cor. 14. For it is not a meer Outward Literal or Habitual work of Reason borrowed from the Heathens as now adays is taught in the Schools where the Spirit of God with his true Gifts is extruded and rejected But the Spirit of God and of Christ imparteth in to every one as much as it pleaseth and according as the holy Souls do order and behave themselves in praying aright that they may be fully and fundamentally Partakers of the Divine
Mystery of God the Father and of Christ Hitherto we could not for the whole world is full of fleshly-minded men and the spiritual men are so few among the children of men for men speak one with another unprofitable carnal vain and wicked words being voyd and ignorant of the mind of Christ yet notwithstanding a man may find now and then some few that have already received a Glimpse or Spark from the Father of Lights waiting together with us for the Glorious Manifestation of the Children of God who among all Nations as yet are hid for far be it and false it is that all Sects should be reprobate and rejected for God shall yet both call and gather many of and amongst them and use them as precious Stones for the Building of his great glorious third and last Temple False and idolatrous it is to think according to the Roman Catholiques self-love and conceit that all Protestants are damned Hereticks for the Lord hath chosen not a few of them whom he shall make his Evangelists and send them in Troops to preach his Salvation A great mistake and blindness it is that one Sect imagineth the other to be an Abomination before God not knowing the Lord will call of them many chosen Instruments to work upon his Temple and to convert his People Israel to Himself through his Spirit which shall be shed abroad upon all of us and so forth de Paribus idem Judicium for God neither seeth nor judgeth according to the judgment of man but he looketh to the Heart and dealeth with us in great forbearance He governeth us with great Patience and hath mercy upon us without Intermission Wherefore then should not we also have pity and compassion towards our fellow-servants let them be according to the letter what they will and love them from our very heart thereby praising our Father which is in Heaven If we be stronger wiser and more righteous then our fellow-servant is well and good let us bear his weakness folly and sin as Christ did that we may fulfil his Law If he erreth then let us instruct him in Love according to the simplicity of Children not with many Articles whereby he will be but more disturbed and confounded If he be faln let us help to raise him up again not with reproaches reviles and expostulations but with a meek spirit for he that thinks himself to stand let him take heed lest he fall not If he be obstinate and refractory then let us bear and carry him for it is neither strength nor art to carry one that is light and willing but him that is heavy hard and froward that the strength and vertue of God may be seen and known to dwell with us together with the patience of Christ and the meekness of his Spirit If he be altogether a weed yet we are willing to suffer him to grow until the time of the Harvest and not root him out lest we in so doing should also hurt the Wheat Now what a folly is it that we hitherto so unchristianlike have despised reproached judged and condemned one another I my self was also once among the Scornful Fools Blasphemers and untimely Judges whereof I am now justly ashamed Therefore beloved Man whosoever thou art boast not against another for who hath set thee before another or what hast thou beyond him or above him which thou hast not received or wherefore dost thou judg anothers servant and thereby curse his Master whether he stands or falls he stands or falls to his own Lord and Master We must all of us appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ and every one must give an account for his own self and every one must also bear his own burden and have his own honor or dishonor by himself and for himself and not by any other Wherefore dost thou vaunt and boast thy self being puffed up against another who hath Justified thee before thy Neighbor if thou perswadest thy self that thou understandest things better and to be of greater ability in they wisdom My Beloved boast not your selves one against another but rather love one another for the Spirit of Wisdom and Truth cometh is come and shall come and pass one sentence upon all your Sectarians to wit that ye know neither Christ nor your own selves nor one another if so be that you imagine your selves to be wiser more understanding and learned and more righteous then another But if ye be simple then abide ye in the Love of Christ not judging nor despising nor condemning one another and so ye shall neither be despised judged nor condemned but mercy shall be unto you from the Lord. Now when the Spirit of Judgment cometh then shall we plainly see how grievously we all of us have erred one as well as another not one of us excepted Therefore O Man examine thy self well and consider that we are not able to answer for one of a thousand Therefore let us in serious Repentance and contrition of heart lay hold on Love towards one another that we may also be apprehended by the Love and preserved to Eternal Mercy If thou think it strange when we say that all of us have erred and gone astray and thou thereby conceivest as if we should have been excluded from Salvation seeing we have not had the perfect Wisdom then know and understand that no Article of Faith no Prophecy no Knowledg no Wisdom no Mystery yea no Faith neither according to thy knowing as thou conceivest it in the letter nor Baptism nor Absolution nor Communion shall nor can save thee but only the Spirit the Spirit the Spirit I say it is which quickeneth and saveth where that is there is all the rest also be it what it will and call it what you will therefore things must be judged spiritually and not animally humanely and carnally And whosoever hath not the Spirit of Christ belongeth not to Him though he boast profess and protest never so much therefore in the time of their Ignorance God hath winked at all Sects call them what Sect you will seeing it hath been the time of Desolation whereby Christ is rooted out and the Man of Sin set up in the holy place and hath given out concerning himself that he is God to the end that he now might manifest the exceeding Riches and the great hidden Depths of his Wisdom and Knowledg and convert to himself not only the Christians being so confused and distracted among themselves but also all Jews Turks and Heathens yea all the World and therefore he will shew his exceeding great Mercy unto all Men in the whole World yea unto all Creatures CHAP. X. How in the End here we shall enter into the Kingdom of Christ and how we may beware of Hinderances SEeing he hath concluded All under the Error of Folly and confusion of great Babel so now he will also have Mercy upon all not only upon the distracted and perplexed Christians but also upon the erring
Jews and lost sheep of the house of Israel yea upon all Heathens and Nations which have gone astray from the Beginning because none should boast against another but rather be ashamed every one acknowledging and confessing his own fault and all of us boast only in the Lord and not in Paul Peter or Apollo much less in any Sect but only of and in the Lord to wit that we of him in him and through him have Mercy Justice and Righteousness upon Earth Therefore all this while we have neither converted Jews nor Turks nor Heathens to Christ First Because of our confused and entangled Faith wherein we our selves have found neither Ground nor Order nor Harmony nor Unity amongst our selves much less were it possible for any other to find it at which Scandal they have been justly offended and their Conversion hindered The second Cause was and is still our mischievous and desperate Hope by which we our selves judg and censure yea wholy banish one another to Death Hell and Damnation for which abomination Jews Turks and Gentiles have justly been amazed and astonished and so have remained in their own former ways The third Cause was and is still our accursed Love that is our Diabolical Hatred and Envy together with all our wicked works by which we have denyed troden under feet and blasphemed the true God the Love of Christ and the Unity of the Spirit both in Heart and Deed whom notwithstanding we confess with our mouth saying singing and protesting that we all beleeve in one God and in the mean time both defraud persecute banish destroy and kill one another far worse and more fiercely then wilde Beasts and yet we will be called Christians and therefore Jews Turks and Heathens may well say Can a Man gather Grapes of Thorns or Figs of Thistles therefore by their fruits you shall know them Or do you think that all those that say Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven No we must do the Will of God which is that we must love one another as he hath loved us Therefore many Jews Turks and Heathens shall stand up in that day and condemn us that are so unchristian for they have been far more serious diligent and devout in their Superstition Idolatry and Religion then we have been yea richer in good works and deeds then we in so much we have no reason to brag and boast against them but far rather to be ashamed Now where is our Christian Faith whereof we boast so much against Jews Turks and Heathens hath not Babel confounded it Baal spoiled it and Belial blotted it out In so much that Belzebub alas alas hath more of his Flies and Swarms amongst the falsly so named Christians then amongst Jews Turks and Heathens Where is our hope do not we amongst our selves judg it lost and those that should enter life them we judg and censure to death Where is our Love according to the Commandment of Christ that we should love our Enemies Do we not hate our very Friends yea betray and sell them even the Professors of our own Faith and Religion and give the sword into the hands of those that strive to take their lives Now where is our Glory whereof we can boast before another Is it not Abomination upon Abomination and Abomination of all Abominations and even the same Abomination whereof Christ his Apostles and Prophets have foretold But what Course shall we take against all these Abominations of Babylon We must go out from Babel and bring forth fruits worthy and meet for Repentance leaving off to sin if happily the Lord will have mercy upon us and not wholy root us out that we together with Israel might find grace and be converted to the Lord. Therefore thou Heathenish Christian be no more so proud and puffed up in thy vain and frivolous Faith and boast not against the Stock of Israel for thou bearest not it but it beareth thee thou art but an ingrafted Twig and Branch the Ax is ready there and shall hew thee off in an Instant and shall ingraft the naturall Olive tree with its Branches cutting off the wilde Branch The King of Israel shall demolish all Kingdoms and restore again the Kingdom of Israel for they have spoiled and destroyed the whole Earth with their Bestial Tyrannical and Irrational Doings and have made Israel in their sins seem righteous Therefore he shall be their Saviour and with a strong Hand and a mighty Arm bring them back again from the Sea and from the Islands and from the Ends of Heaven and from the End of the Earth for strong is the Lord of Hoasts their Redeemer and mighty is the God of Jacob and sweet is the comfort of Israel His Promise deceiveth not and his Prophecy faileth not for what he promiseth he performeth and he shall not break his Covenant but keep his Oath for ever and ever He shall bring Jacob back again convert his Tribe to him and redeem Israel from all their sins He shall work Wonders upon Earth Wonders in the Sea and Wonders in Heaven In the Skies Men shall see his Glory and the Stars shall shout for Joy before the Lord when Jacobs Star riseth again Sun and Moon shall kiss one another when the Virgin Israel shall return Lebanon shall rejoyce and be green again and its Cedars shall boast and together sing praise to the God of Jacob The Mountains of Israel shall be joyful and leap for Joy The Hill of Jerusalem shall skip for Joy like a young Lamb and rejoyce comfortably that its wall shall be taken away at the time of the wedding of the Lamb they shall All return again to Sion and there their Glory shall arise from the Lord for ever and ever Hallelujah O who shall live and see it and praise the Lord Now who is wise that can order and behave himself aright for the time Who knows how great an Alteration there is at hand and who will turn back with us and become a Childe Many shall be cleansed and purified and some wholy spued out and thrown away to wit those that care not whether a man sing pleasantly or unpleasantly whether a man laments them or laughs at them in their misery whether a man exhorts them mildly or severely for they imagine themselves to be far wiser and will not endure to hear Truth and Right spoken of but say they know them already sufficiently And whosoever preacheth to them of true Righteousness he must be to them an Heretick If a man pipeth they will not dance nor rejoyce with us for that which is to come If we bewail them they will not deplore their sins with us for they are righteous in the Imagination of their own Heart If we preach of the Kingdom of Christ in the thousand Years a man must immediately be to them a Millenary Revelatist and Phantastical Fellow In a word they will not endure to hear either of Good or Evil. But beloved Friend
that thinkest thy self to be wise turn turn and become a Child with us a Fool in the fight of the world and a Disciple or Scholer of Wisdom then thy heart shall first be quick to seek and thou shalt know and discern thy folly and become wise with the simple Think not with thy self I am a great Doctor or Master c. Not so for all these are words of an Hypocrite and not of Christ and unless thou humblest thy self and becomest a Fool with us before the world thou shalt never come to Honor Think not we instruct thee No there is but one that is the Master and the Lord over us all He will teach us all the right way to the Eternity in God and even he himself is the Way the Truth and the Life both in his Conception and Birth by which we must turn back from the old Adam and become Children otherwise we shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven in his Life and Suffering c. Him we must and will follow he regardeth not what is humane but what is divine Therefore leave the great folly with all thine ornaments wherewith thou hast adorned thy self hitherto for Christ in that day when all of us must give an accompt shall not ask thee whether thou hast been addicted to any Sect how many Articles of Faith thou hast had what opinion thou hast been of in every particular Point how thou hast studied proficed taught and preached how diligent thou hast been in hearing of Sermons c. No the Modus and Manner of Judgment is plainly enough set before thee by Christ himself viz. the Works of Love and Charity shall Judg and Censure us either to Salvation or Damnation and this is most true and Infallible Christ shall neither then ask thee what thou hast beleeved of him or according to which Sect thy Opinion hath been No for the Science Knowledg or Wisdom of the Letter and of the outward Man condemneth not Therefore we Judg no Man according to his Knowledg or Ignorance neither to Salvation nor Condemnation namely among those that are Children of Love All the rest do judg themselves and not we be it either according to their Knowledg or Ignorance for we judg no Man But the Lord it is that judgeth us all who also cometh with his Judgment whom we beseech for his Grace and Mercy that he would be pleased not to enter into Judgment with us else we all would be lost but that he would grant us the Spirit of Judgment that we by it may judg exhort and reprove our own selves amongst our selves in Love as loving Children while it is called to day lest we be condemned with the world but that we may through his Grace in Faith Hope and Love of Truth obtain Eternal Righteousness and Salvation through Jesus Christ Amen THE CONTENTS Of the Preceding TREATISE CHAP. I. WHat is that which a man ought to labor for in this Life Pag. 9. CHAP. II. An excellent Type of Love towards God and Love towards the World Pag. 12 CHAP. III. Even as God is the Being of all Beings and the Life of all Living so also must every one that meaneth to inherit Salvation become like unto him in Christ Pag. 18 CHAP. IV. Of Mans true Perfection in Christ and in the Love Pag. 26 CHAP. V. What are those seven things in Christ which ought to be well and especially considered And how we may attain to the Perfection of Love Pag. 33 CHAP. VI. Of the difference betwixt the unfeigned true Love and false Love and how the false Love always mingleth it self with the true Pag. 44 CHAP. VII Wherein doth the dayly Practise of Love towards our Neighbor truly consist Pag. 58 CHAP. VIII That Love is the true and only means whereby a man may attain the true Christianity Pag. 66 CHAP. IX Wherein Mans true Conversion consisteth and which way to attain it Pag. 76 CHAP. X. How in the End here we shall enter into the Kingdom of Christ and how we may beware of Hinderances Pag. 92 FINIS