Selected quad for the lemma: heart_n
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A86160
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The heart opened to Christ Jesus. Translated out of High Dutch for the good of all men.
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1653
(1653)
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Wing H1311; Thomason E1287_1; ESTC R208966
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25,961
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108
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be converted to Christ And even this is the Eternal Gospel viz. that God hath loved us in Christ from Eternity and he himself is Love and this is the Evangelium or good tydings which we have heard from him viz. that he hath loved the whole world and therefore given his Son that we might live through him for he is not willing that one should be lost This is the Eternal Commandment and the Tydings which we have heard from him viz. that he is Love it self and hath sent his best Beloved through him commanding us to love one another Hereby we know the Children of God for he that loveth is Born of God let him be according to the outward man a Heathen Turk Jew or Infidel yet by this he is a true Christian and known by the Spirit in his Christianity though according to the letter and the flesh or according to the outward man he be neither baptized nor circumcised nor acknowledged For as the Circumcision in the flesh is not accounted for the right and true Circumcision availing in the sight of God unto Salvation neither the Baptism of and in the flesh nor Faith consisting in a literal and historical knowledg So is neither this true and saving Faith which is according to the literal knowledg and history but according to the Spirit the Power and the Deed which is Love therefore saith the Scripture very well In Christ neither Circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth any thing nor Baptism neither but Faith which worketh and is effectual by Love CHAP. VIII That Love is the true and only means whereby a man may attain the true Christianity SEeing that the Body of Christians is by discord so divided yea wholy rent and turn asunder that there is nothing but Envy Hatred Strife and Contention among them in so much that one Member in hostile manner sets upon the other kills and destroys it whereby the right and true Christianity wholy goes to ruine and Christ himself according to the Prophecy of Daniel seems to be rooted out being here is no unity nor doth Christ find true Faith upon Earth It is plain therefore and manifest that of Necessity they must all return to be of one Mind one Faith and Knowledg one Religion and Worship of God lest the Lord come and smite the Earth with a curse and they all perish together This General and Universal Conversion will not be done by any carnal humane literal mind but by the mind of the Spirit of God which is not Pauls Cephas and Apollos according to the self-willed Imagination of literal and carnal Christians but the mind of Peter Paul and Apollo is the mind of the Spirit of whom they received it Now although Paul planteth Apollo watereth Peter dresseth and cleanseth yet they are not divided though different If therefore the mind of the Sects be also the mind of the Spirit and if they have received it from the Spirit then it is right and good and then they are the children of the Spirit And although one man hath labored more then another and one hath planted Christianity amongst the Heathens another watered it the third cleansed and refined it yet they must not hate one another much less command their Disciples and Followers to kill one another or although they now and then yea for the most part find but false Apostles yea many Wolfs amongst the sheep yet notwithstanding the whole Apostleship and the whole Herd is not to be rejected therefore but rather know this that the Church and Congregation of God is amongst all sorts of people offices sorts and degrees and hath this seal viz. the Lord knoweth who are his and no man else And this is the true mark of Christians viz. Love out of a pure Heart of a good Conscience and of Faith unfeigned In every Nation he that feareth God and worketh Righteousness is accepted with him Act. 10. This is the most precious and blessed way to Salvation viz. Love being the chiefest of all graces 1 Cor. 13. Therefore how can the torn Body of the Christians become whole and happy again Verily not otherwise then by Love Here all the great and learned Schollers among all sorts of Sects must lay down their great Wisdom Arts and Sciences and must turn and become Children laying hold on Love otherwise they shall never come to unity nor enter into the Kingdom of Heaven and eternal Salvation Therefore says the Scripture 1 Cor. 1.20 c. Where is the wise where is the Scribe where is the disputer of this world hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world For it is written I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world let him become a fool that he may be wise for the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God for it is written He taketh the wise in their own Craftiness And again The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise that they are vain Therefore woe be to those that pack and heap up so many Articles of Faith and pass over Judgment and the Love of God Luk. 11.42 If we were wise we should know that there is but one Article of Faith that is but one Commandment of Faith which we ought to learn confess and practise viz. Love towards God and All men even towards our very Enemies This is such an Article as all men can beleeve apprehend and understand let them be called Heathens Turks Jews or Christians whether they be children young men or old men man or woman whosoever hath but a rational mind and indeed every man can easily find and know it of himself in his own Heart and Conscience neither can nor dare he contradict it and even in this only thing the whole Law and all Laws and Commandments yea the Gospel it self is comprehended This is called and is also the Everlasting Gospel which shall and must be preached to those that sit and dwell upon the Earth viz. to all Heathens Generations Tongues and Nations and thereby shortly shall all Heathens Jews Turks and unchristian men be converted to God Therefore this only Article is above all others that are forged by humane wit and Imagination It is the first and the last and the only Article which is above all Faith Prophecy Mystery and Knowledg yea above all Treasures and precious things and above all Tongues both of Men and Angels having so sure a ground of truth that it never can be found fault withall much less judged or rejected And it is such a permanency as shall endure for ever and ever All Faith Hope Prophecy Tongues Knowledg c. shall cease But this only Article of all true Christians shall never cease in all Eternity This is our Everlasting Gospel which we do preach This is both our Law and our Gospel which we have received This is our Faith our Prophecy our Wisdom our
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