viz. That these who have once tasted the sweetuesse of the world to come if they fall away again they shall hardly see the kingdome of God 113. And though it cannot he denied but that the gates of grace do yet stand open yet the seeming light of the outward Reason of the soule so keepeth them back that they suppose they have the Pearle and yet live to the vanity of this world and dance with the Devill after his pipe CHAP. V. How a man may call himselfe a Christian and how not 114. HEre a Christian should consider wherefore he calleth himselfe a Christian and ponder well whether he be one or no For surely my learning to know and understand that I am a sinner and that Christ hath killed my sins on the Crosse and shed his bloud for me doth not make me a Christian. 115. The inheritance belongeth onely to the children A maid-servant in a house knoweth well enough what the Mistresse would have to be done and yet that maketh her not an heire of her Mistresses goods The very Devils know that there is a God yet that doth not change them into Angels again But if the Maid-servant in the house shall be married to the Sonne of her Mistresse then she may come to inherit her Mistresses goods And so it is to be understood also in our Christianity 116. The children of the History are not the heires of the goods of Christ but the legitimate children regenerated of the Spirit of Christ For God sayd to Abraham Cast out the son of the Bond woman he shall not inherit with the son of the Free For he was a scorner and but a Historicall sonne of the faith and spirit of Abraham and so long as he continued such a one he was not a true inheritor of the faith of Abraham and therefore God commanded he should be cast out from inheriting his goods which was a type of the Christendome which was to come 117. For the promise of Christendome was made to Abraham therefore the type was then also represented by two brethren viz. Isaac and Ishmael shewing how Christendome would behave it selfe and that two sorts of men would be in it viz. true Christians and lip Christians who under the Title of Christianity would be but mockers as Ishmael and Esau was who also was a type of the outward Adam as Jacob was a type of Christ and his true Christendome 118. Thus every one that will call himselfe a Christian must cast away and out from himselfe the sonne of the Bond-woman that is the earthly will and be evermore killing and destroying of it and not settle it in the inheritance 119. Nor give the Pearle to the Bestiall man for him to spoâ—â— himselfe withall continually in the outward light in the lust of the flesh but we must with our Father Abraham bring 〈◊〉 sonne of the right will to Mount vooria and be willing in obedience to God 〈◊〉 offeâ— in up alwayes willingly dying from sin in the death of Christ giâ—â—ng no place to the Beast of vanity in the Kingdome of Christ nor â—â—ffâ—ring it to grow wanton proud covetous envious and malicious all these are the properties of Ishmael the son of the Bond-woman whom Adam begat in his vanity of the wanton whore the false Bond-woman by the Devils imagination out of the earthly property in flesh and bloud 120. This Mocker and Titular-Christian is the sonne of a whore he must be cast out for he must not inherit the inheritance of Christ in the Kingdome of God he is not fit he is but Babel a confusion of that one language into many languages he is but a talker and a wrangler about the inheritance he meanes to get it to himselfe by talking and wrangling by the hypocrisie of his lips and seeming holinesse and yet he is but a blood-thirsty murtherer of his brother Abel who is a true heire 121. Therefore we say what we know that he that will call himselfe a true Christian must try himselfe and find what kind of properties drâ—â—e and rule him whether the Spirit oâ— Christ driveth him to truth and righteousnes and to the love of his neighbour so that he would willingly doe good if he knew but how to perform it 122. Now if he find that he hath such a hunger after such a vertue then he may surely think that he is drawne And then he must put it in practice and not have a will onely without doing The drawing of the Father to Christ consisteth in the will but the true life consisteth in the doing for the right Spirit doth that which is right 123. But if there be the will to do and yet the doing followeth not then the true man is shut up in vain lust which keepeth the doing captive and he is but an hypocrite and an Ishmaelite he speaketh one thing and doth another and witnesseth that his mouth is a lyer for he himselfe doth not that which he teacheth and so he onely serveth the Bestiall man in vanity 124. For he that will say I have a will and would willingly doe good but for the earthly flesh which I have which keepeth me back that I cannot yet I shall be saved by grace for the merits of Christ I comfort my selfe with his merit and sufferings he will receive me of meere grace without any merits of my owne and forgive me my sinnes such a one I say is like him that knew what food was good for his health yet did not eat of it but eat poyson in stead thereof from whence sicknesse and death would follow 125. What good doth it the soule to know the way to good if it will not walk therein but go a wrong way that leadeth not to God What good will it doe the soule to comfort it self with the filiation of Christ with his passion and death and so flatter it selfe if it will not enter into the filiall birth that it may be a true child born out of the Spirit of Christ c. out of his suffering death and resurrection Surely the tickling and flattering of it selfe with Christs mirits without the true innate childship is falshood and a lye whosoever he be that teacheth it 126. This comfort belongeth onely to the penitent sinner who striveth against sinne and the anger of God When temptations come and the Devill assaulteth the soule then the soule must wholly wrap it selfe up in the passion and death of Christ and in his Merits 127. Christ indeed hath merited redemption for us alone but he hath not merited it as such a merit for upon a Merit a Reward is given that for his own proper merits sake he would outwardly freely grant us his childshîp and so receive us for children when we are none No hee himselfe is the merit he is the open gate that leadeth through death through that gate we must enter But he receiveth no beast into his merit but those onely that turn and become as children
Adam hath brought me no creature shall keepe me backe and though thou earthly body shouldest thereby decay and perish yet I will now enter with my will and whole desire into the Garden of Roses of my Redeemer Iesus Christ through his suffering and death into him and in the death of Christ subdue thee thou earthly body which hath swallowed up my Pearle from me which God gave to my Father Adam in Paradise and I will breake the will of thy voluptuousnesse which is in vanity and binde thee as a mad-dogge with the chaine of my earnest purpose and though thereby thou should'st become a foole in the account of all men yet thou must and shalt obey the earnest purpose of my soule none shall unloose thee from this chaine but the temporall death Whereto God and his strength helpe me Amen A short Direction How the poore soule must come before God againe and how it must fight for the noble garland what kinde of weapons it must use if it will goe to warres against Gods Anger against the Devill the World and Sinne against flesh and bloud also against the influence of the stars and elements and all his other enemies BEloved Soule there is earnestnesse required to doe this it must not be a meere commemoration or repeating of words the earnest resolved will must drive this worke else nothing will be attained For if the soule will obtaine the triumphant Garland of Christ from the Noble Sophia it must wooe her for it in great desire of love to get it at her hands it must intreate her in her most holy Name for it and come before her in most modest humility and not like a lustfull Bull or a wanton Venus for so long as any are such they must not desire these things for they shall not obtaine them and though something should be obtained by such in that condition it would be but as a glimpse but a chast and modest minde may well obtaine so much as to have the soule in its noble Image which died in Acam quickened in the heavenly Corporality as to the inward ground and put on the Garland yet if this come to passe it is taken off againe from the soule and layed by as a Crowne useth to be after a King is crowned with it it is layed by and kept so it is also with the soule because it is yet encompassed with the house of sinne that if the soule should fall againe it Crowne might not be defiled This â— spoken plainely enough for the children that know and have tried these things None of the wicked are worthy to know any more of them The Processe A sober minde is there requisite which in an earnest purpose all deepests humility with sorrow for â— sinnes cometh before God in which there is such a resolution that a man will not enter any more into the old footsteps of vanity and though the whole world should account him a foole for it and he should loose both Honour and Goods nay and the temporall life also yet he would abide constant therein If ever he will obtaine the love and marriage of the noble Sophia he must make such a vow as this in his purpose and minde For Christ himselfe sayth He that forsaketh not wife and children brethren and sisters money and goods and all that even he hath and even his earthly life to follow me he is not worthy of me Here Christ meaneth the Mind of the soule so that if there were any thing that would keepe the mind backe from it though it have never so faire and glorious a pretence or shew in this world the minde must not regard it but rather part with it then with the love of the Noble Virgine Sophia in the bud and blossome of Christ in his tender Humanity in us as to the Heavenly Corporality For this is the Flower in Sharon the Rose in the Valley wherewith Solomon delighteth himselfe and termeth it his deare Love his chast Virgine which he loved so much as all other Saints before and after him did whosoever hath obtained her called her his pearle After what manner to pray for it you may â—ee by this short direction following the worke it selfe must be committed to the Holy Ghost in every heart wherein it is sought he â—ormeth and frameth the Prayer for him The Prayer I Poore unworthy person come before thee O Great and Holy God and I lift up mine eyes to thee though I be noâ— worthy yet thy great mercy viz. thy faithfull Promise in thy word hath now encoucouraged me to lift the eyes of the deâ—iâ—e of my soule up to thee for my soule hath now layd hold on the word of thy promise and received it into it and therewith it conâ—eth to thee and though â—t be but a sâ—â—ange childe before thee which was dâ—sâ—â—bedieâ—t unto thee yet now it desireth to be obedient and my soule doth now iâ—fold it selfe with its desire into that word which became man which became flesh and bloud which hath broken 〈◊〉 and death in my humanity which hath changed the Anger of God into love in the soule which hath deprived death of its power and hell of its victory in soule and body which hath opened a gate for my soule to the cleare face of thy strength and power O Great and Most Holy God I have brought the hunger and desire of my soule into this most holy Word and now I come before thee and in my hunger call into thee thou living fountain through thy word which became flesh and bloud thy word being become the life in our flesh therefore I receive it firmely into the desire of my soule as my owne life and I pâ—erce into thee with the desire of my soul through the word in the flesh of Christ viz. through his holy conception in the Virgine Mary his whole Incarnation his holy Nativity his Baptisme in Jordan his temptation in the wilâ—ernene where he overcame the Kingdome of the Devill and of this world in the Humanity through all his powerfull miracles which he did on earth through his reproach and ignominy his innocent death and passion the shedding of his bloud when Gods anger in soule and flesh was drowned through his rest in the Sepulcher when he awaked our father Adam ouâ— of his sleepe who was fallen into a dead sleepe as to the Kingdome of Heaven through his love which pierced through the Anger and destroyed Hell in the soule through his resurrection from the dead his ascention the sending of the holy Spirit into our soule and spirit and through all his words and promises one of which is that thou O God the Father wilt give the holy Spirit to them that aske it in the Name and through the Word which became man O thou life of my flesh and of my soule in Christ my Brother I beseech thee in the hunger of my soule and intreate thee with all my powers though they be
calleth thee now in love but thou wilt not heare for thy eares are stopt with covetousnesse and voluptuousnesse Therefore the found of the Trumpet shall once shiver thee with the hard thunder-clap of thy Turba and awaken thee if perhaps thou wilt yet seek and finde the sweet child Jesus 55. Beloved brethren this is a time of seeking of seeking and of finding It is a time of earnestnesse whom it toucheth it toucheth home he that watcheth shall hear and see it but he that sleepeth in sin and saith in the fat dayes of his belly All is peace and quiet we heare no sound from the Lord he shall be blind But the voyce of the Lord hath sounded in all the ends of the earth and a smoke riseth and in the midst of the smoke there is a great brightnesse and splendor Ha le lu-Jah Amen Shout unto the Lord in Zion For all Mountains and Hills are full of his Glory he flourisheth like a green Branch and who shall hinder it Ha le lu JAH The end of the 2d Book THE THIRD BOOK OF REGENERATION OR The New-Birth Shewing how he that earnestly seeketh salvation must suffer himself to be brought out of the confused and contentious Babel by the Spirit of Christ that he may be born anew in the Spirit of CHRIST and live to him onely Written in the German Language Anno 1622 By JACOB BEHMEN Alias Teutonicus Philosophus LONDON Printed by M. S. for H. Blunden at the Castle in Corn-hill 1648. REVEL 18. 4. Come out of Babylon my people that yee bee not partakers of her sinnes and that yee receive not of her plagues For her sins have reached unto Heaven and God hath remembred her iniquity THE AUTHORS Preface to the Reader THough I have in my other Writings set down a clear Description of Regeneration or the New Birth from the ground thereof yet because ery one hath them not neither hath every one the capacity to understand them I have therefore as a service to the simple children of Christ here set down a short-summe concerning the New Birth But if any desire to search the deep Ground from whence all floweth and have the gift to understand it let them read these Books following I. The there Principles of the Divine Essence II. The three-fold life of Man III. The 40 Questions of the Originall Essence Substance Nature and Property of the Soule IV. The Incarnation and Birth of Jesus Christ the Sonne of God also of his suffering death and resurrection V. The six points treating of the three words how they are in one another as one and yet make three Principles viz. three Births or Centers VI. The Mysterium Magnum which is an Interpretation upon Genesis And in them he shall find all that he can ask and that as deep as the mind of man is able to reach I have written this for the true Israelites that is for the hungry and thirsty Harts that long after the Fountain of Christ who are my fellow members in the Spirit of Christ But not for the Ishmaelites and Scorners For they have a Book within them wherewith they vex persecute and suppresse the children of Christ that are under the Crosse and yet though it be against their wills they must be servants to the children of Christ though indeed they doe not understand so much OF REGENERATION CHAP. I. Shewing how Man should consider himselfe 1 CHRIST said Except yee turn and become as children yee shal not see the Kingdome of God Again he said to Nicodemus Except a man be born a-new of Water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God for that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit Joh. 3. 5 6. 2. Also the Scripture witnesseth plainly that the fleshly Naturall Man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishnesse unto him neither can he know them or conceive them 3. Now seing that all of us have flesh and bloud and are mortall as we see by experience and yet the Scripture saith that we are the Temple of the holy Ghost who dwelleth in us and that the kingdome of God is within us and that CHRIST must be formed in us also that he will give us his flesh for food and his bloud for drink and saith further Whosoever shall not eat of the flesh of the Sonne of Man he hath no life in him Therefore we should seriously consider what kind of man in us it is that is capable of being thus like the Deity 4. For it cannot be said of the mortall flesh that turneth to earth again and liveth in the vanity of this world and contînually Iusteth against God that it is the Temple of the holy Ghost much lesse can it be said that the New-birth commeth to passe in this earthly flesh which dyeth and putrifieth and is a continuall House of sin 5. Yet seeing it remaineth true that a true Christian is born of CHRIST and that the New-birth is the Temple of the' holy Ghost which dwelleth in us and that the new Man onely that is born of Christ partaketh of the flesh and bloud of Christ it appeareth that it is not so easie a matter to be a Christian 6. And that Christianity doth not consist in the meere knowing of the History and applying the knowledge thereof to our selves onely in saying that Christ died for us and hath destroyed death and turned it into life in us and that he hath paid the ransome for us so that we need do nothing but comfort our selves with this and stedfastly beleeve that it is so 7. For we find in our selves that sin is living lusting strong and powerfully working in the flesh and therefore it must be somewhat else that doth not co-operate in the flesh of sin nor willeth sin that is the New-birth in Christ. 8. For St. Paul saith There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus And further should we that are Christians be yet sinners God forbid seeing wee are dead to sinne in Christ. 9. Besides the Man of sinne cannot be the Temple of the holy Ghost and yet there is no man that sinneth not For God hath shut up all under sinne For the Scripture saith No one living is righteous in thy sight if thou imputest his sinnes to him The righteous man falleth seven times a day and yet it cannot be meant that the righteous falleth and sinneth but his mortall and sinfull man 10. For the righteousnesse of a Christian in Christ cannot sinne For St. Paul saith Our conversation is in heaven from whence we expect our Saviour Jesus Christ. Now if our conversation be in heaven then heaven must be in us Christ dwelleth in heaven and then if we are his Temple that Temple Heaven must hee in us 11. But for all this seeing sinne tempteth us within us whereby the Devill hath within us an accesse to us therefore hell also
of God commeth not with outward observation neither shall they say Loe here or Loe there it is for behold the Kingdome of God is within you and whether of the two viz. either Heaven or Hell shall be manifested in it in that the soule standeth The Scholar 37. Doth it not enter into Heaven or Hell as a man entreth into a house or as a man goeth through a hole door or window into another world The Master No there is no such kind of entring for Heaven and Hell are present every where and it is but the turning in of the will either into Gods love or into his anger and this commeth to passe in this life according to that of Saint Paul Our conversation is in Heaven and Christ saith also My sheepe heare my voyce and I know them and they follow me and I give them the Eternall life and none shall plucke them out of my Hand The Scholar 38. How commeth this entring of the will into Heaven or Hell to passe The Master When the ground of the will yieldeth it selfe up to God then it sinketh down from it self beyond all ground place where GOD onely is manifest worketh and willeth and then it becommeth nothing to it selfe as to its own willing and so God worketh and willeth in it and God dwelleth in this refigned will whereby the soule is sanctified and so commeth into Divine Rest. Now when the body is dead the soule is throughly penetrated all over with the love of God and throughly inlightned with the light of God as the fire throughly enflameth a bright shining hot iron whereby it looseth its darknesse and this is the hand of Christ where the love of God throughly inhabiteth the soul all over and is a shining light and a new life in it and then it is in heaven and a Temple of the holy Ghost and is it self the very heaven of God in which he dwelleth But the ungodly soule will not in the time of this life enter into the Divine Resignation of its will but goeth on continually in its own lust and falshood in the will of the Devill it receiveth into it selfe nothing but wickednesse lyes pride covetousnesse envie and anger and yeeldeth îts will into them and so this vanity also becometh manifest and working in the soule and throughly penetrateth it all over as fire doth a burning hot Iron and this soule cannot come to Divine rest for Gods anger is manifested in it Now when the body parteth from this soule eternall griefe and despaire beginneth for it perceiveth and findeth that it is become a meere tormentive abomination and is ashamed to strive to enter with its false will into God nay it cannot for it is captivated in the wrath and is it selfe meere wrath and hath shut it selfe up therewith by its false desire which it hath raised up in it self And since the light of God shineth not in it and that his love toucheth it not it is a great darknesse and an aking anguishing source of fire and carrieth hell in it selfe and cannot see the light of God Thus it dwelleth in it selfe in hell and needeth no entring into it for wherein soever it is it is in Hell and though it should cast it selfe many hundred thousand miles from its present place yet there it is in the same property source and darknesse it was in The Scholar 39. How commeth it then that a holy soule in this lifes time doth not perfectly perceive that light and great joy nor a wicked soule feel hell when both of them are in man and one of them of necessity worketh in him The Master The Kingdome of Heaven in the Saints is working and sensible in their faith they feele the love of God in their faith by which the will yeeldeth it selfe up into God But the naturall life is compassed with flesh and blood and in the contrariety of Gods anger is compassed with the vain lust of this world which coÌ„tinually doth throughly penetrate the outward mortall life where the world on one side the Devill on the other and on a third the curse of the anger of God in flesh and bloud throughly penetrateth and â—iâ—teth the life whereby the soule is often in anguish when hell thus assaulteth it and would manifest it selfe in the soule But the soule sinketh down into the hope of Divine grace and standeth like a faire Rose in the midst of Thornes till the Kingdome of this world falleth off from it in the death of the body and then the soule becommeth first truly manifest in the love of God having nothing more to hinder it but the soule during the time of this life must walk with Christ in this world and then Christ delivereth it out of its own hell by throughly penetrating it with his love and standeth by it in hell and changeth its hell into heaven But that thou sayest Why doe not the wicked feel hell in the time of this life I answer he feeleth it indeed in his false or wicked conscience but he understandeth it not for hee hath earthly vanity yet with which he is enamoured and in which he taketh delight and pleasure also the outward life hath yet the light of the outward nature and so the pain cannot be revealed but when the body dieth the soule cannot enjoy such temporall pleasure any longer and the light of this outward world is also extinguished to it and then it standeth in eternall hunger and thirst after such vanity as it was in love withall here in this â—â—e yet it can reach nothing but that false will which it * imprinted in it selfe which it had too much of in this life and yet was not contented but then it hath as little of it which maketh it to bee in everlasting hunger and thirst after vanity wickednesse and vile lewdnesse it would fain doe more evill still but it hath not wherein or wherewith to perform it and therefore it performeth it onein it selfe And this hellish hunger and thirst cannot be fully manifested in it till the body dyeth wherewith the soule hath played the wanton in voluptuousnesse and which hath ministred to the Soule what it lusted after The Scholar 40. Heaven and hell being in us in strife in this lifes time and God being also thus neere us where doe the Angels and Devils dwell The Master Where thou dost not dwell as to thy selfe and thy own will there the Angels dwell with thee and every where all over but where thou dwellest as to thy selfe and thy owne will there the Devils dwell with thee and every where all over The Scholar 41. I understand not this The Master Where the will of God willeth in any thing there God is manifested and in that manifestation the Angels also dwell but where God in any thing willeth not with the will of the thing there God is not manifested to it but dwelleth in himselfe without the co-operating of the thing in that
weake to give me what thou hast promised me and freely bestow upon mee in my Saviour Jesus Christ viz. his flesh for food and his bloud for drinke to refresh my poore hungry soule that it may be quickened and strengthened in the Word which became man by which it may long and hunger after thee aright O thou deepest love in the most sweete Name JESUS give thy selfe into the desire of my soule for therefore thou hast moved thy selfe and according to thy great sweetnesse manifested thy selfe in the humane nature and called us to thee us that hunger and thirst after thee and hast promised us that thou wilt refâ—esh us I now open the lips of my soul to thee O thou sweet Truth and though I am not worthy to desire it of thy holines yet I come to thee through thy bitter passion death thou having sprinkled my uncleanesse with thy bloud and sanctified me in thy Humanity and made an open gatefor me through thy death to thy sweete love in thy bloud through thy five holy wounds from which thou did'st shed thy bloud I bring the desire of my soule into thy love O Jesus Christ thou Sonne of God and man I pray thee receive into thy selfe thy purchased inheritance which thy Father hath given thee I crie within me that I may enter thorough thy holy bloud and death into thee Open thy selfe in mee that the Spirit of my soule may reach thee and receive thee into it Lay hold on my thirst in me with thy thirst bring thy thirst after us men which thou haddest upon the Crosse into my thirst and give mee thy bloud to drinke in my thirst that my death in me which holdeth me captive may be drowned in the bloud of thy love and that my extinguished Image which as to the Kingdome of Heaven dis appeared in my father Adam through sinne may b made alive through thy powerfull bloud and cloath my soule with it âgaine as with the new body which dwelleth in heaven in which Image thy holy power and word which became man dwelleth which is the Temple of thy holy Spirit which dwelleth in us as thou hast promised us saying we will come to you and dwell in you O thou great Love of Jesus Christ I can doe no more but sinke my desire into thee thy word which became man is truth since thou hast bidden me come now I come Be it unto me according to thy Word and Will Amen A Warning to the Reader BEloved Reader of love to thee I will not conceale from thee what is here earnestly signified to me If thou lovest the vanity of the flesh still and arâ— not in an earnest purpose on the way to the new birth intending to become a new man then leave the above written words in these Prayers unnamed or else they will turne to a judgement of God in thee Thou must not take the holy names in vaine thou art faithfully warned they belong to the thristy soule if the soule be in earnest it shall finde by experience what words they are A Direction How the soule must meete its beloved when it s beloved knocketh in the Centre in the shut chamber of the soule BEloved soule thou must be earnest without intermission thou shalt certainely obtaine the love of a Kisse from the noble Sophia in the holy Name JESUS for shee standeth however before the doore of the soule knocking warning the sinner of his wicked way Now if he once thus desireth her love she is ready for him and kisseth him with the beames of her sweete love from whence the heart receiveth joy but she doth not presently lay her selfe into the Marriage bed with the soule that is shee doth not presently awaken the extinguished heavenly image in her selfe which disappeared in Adam there is danger to man in it for if Adam and Lucifer fell it may then easily so come to passe with man he being yet so strongly bound in vanity The bond of thy Promise must be faithfull before she will crowne thee thou must be tempted first and tried she taketh the beames of her love from thee againe to see whether thou wilt prove faithfull also she letteth thee stand and answereth thee not so much as with one looke of her love for before she will crowne thee thou must be judged that thou mightest tast the bitter potion which thou hast filled for thy selfe in thine abominations thou must come before the gates of hell first and there shew forth thy victory for her in her love in that strength wherewith she beheld thee in opposition to the devills aspect Christ was tempted in the wildernesse and if thou wilt put on him thou must go through his whole progresse from his Incarnation to his Assention and though thou art not able nor needest to doe that which he hath done yet thou must enter wholly into his processe and therein die continually from the vanity of the soule for the virgin Sophîa espouseth not her selfe to the soule except in this property which springeth up in the soule through the death of Christ as a new plant standing in heaven the earthly body cannot comprehend her in this life for it must first die from vanity but the heavenly Image which disappear'd in Adam viz. the true seede of the woman wherein God became man and into which he brought his living seede the heavenly substantiality is capable of the Pearle after the manner it came to passe in Mary in the limit of the Covenant Therefore take heede what thou dost when thou hast made thy promâ—se keepe it and then shee will crowne thee rather then thou wouldst be crowned but thou must be sure when the Tempter commeth to thee with the pleasure beauty and glory of the world that then thy minde reject it and say I must be a servant and not a master in the Vineyard of Christ I am but a servant of God in and over all that I have and I must doe with it as his Word teacheth me my heart must sit downe with the simple and lowly in the dust and be humble alwayes What state and condition soever thou art in humility must be in the front or else thou wilt not obtain her marriage the free will of thy soule must stand as a champion for it the devill cannot prevaile against the soule with vanity and if the soule will not bite at the baite then hee commeth with the soules nworthinesse and catalogue of sinnes and then thou must fight hard and here the merits of Christ must be set in the front or else the creature cannot prevaile against the devill for in this it goeth so terribly with many that the outward reason thinketh that person to be distracted and poâ—ened with the devill the devill defendeth himselfe so horribly in many especially if he have had a great Fort of prey in him that he must be stoutly assaulted before
is he that passeth through it be times in his young years before the Devill buildeth his fort of prey strong he may afterwards prove a Labourer in the Vineyard of Christ and sow his seede in the Garden of Christ he shall reape the fruit in due time This judgement continueth a long while upon many for severall yeares if he doe not earnestly put on the Armour of Christ but stay till the judgement of temptations first exhort him to Repentance But he that commeth of himselfe of his owne earnest purpose and endeavoureth to depart from his evill wayes the temptation will not be so hard for him neither will it continue so long yet hee must stand out valiantly till victory be gotten over the devill for he shall be mightily assisted all shall turne to the best for him so that afterwards when the day breaketh in the soule he turneth it to the great praise and glory of God that the driver is overcome Short Prayers When the noble Sophia kisseth the soule with her love and offereth her love to it O Most gracious and deepest love of God in Christ Jesus I beseech thee grant me thy Pearle impresse it into my soule and take my soule into thy Armes O thou sweete love I confesse I am uncleane before thee take away my uncleanenesie through thy death and carry through the hunger and thrist of my soule through thy Death in thy Resurrection in thy Triumph cast my whole selfe downe to the ground in thy death take it captive and carry my hunger through in thy hunger O highest love hast thou not appeared in me stay in me and inclose me in thee keepe me in thee so that I may not be able to depart from thee fill my hunger with thy love seede my soule with thy heavenly substance give it thy bloud to drinke and water it with thy Fountaine O great love awaken my disappeared Image in me which as to the Kingdome of heaven disappeared in my father Adam by that word which awakened it in the seede of the woman in Mary quicken it I beseech thee O thou Life and Power of the Deity which hast promised us saying wee will come to you and dwell in you O sweete love I bring my desire into this word of thy Promise thou hast promised that thy Father will give the holy Spirit to those that aske him for it therefore I now bring the desire of my soule into thy Promise and I receive thy Word into my hunger increase thou in me my hunger after thee strengthen me O sweete love in thy strength quicken me in thee that my spirit may taste thy sweetnesse O doe thou beleeve by thy power in me for without thee I can doe nothing O sweete Love I beseech thee through that Love wherewith thou didst overcome the Anger of God and didst change it into Love and divine Joy I pray thee also change the anger in my soule by the same great love that I may become obedient unthee and that my soule may love thee therein for ever O change my will into thy Will bring thy Obedience into my disobedience that I may become obedient to thee O great Love of Jesus Christ I humbly flie to thee bring the hunger of my soule into thy wounds from whence thou didst shed thy holy bloud and didst quench the Anger with Love I bring my hunger into open side from whence came forth both water and bloud and throw my selfe wholy into it he thou mine and quicken me in thy life and let me not depart from thee O my Noble Vine I beseech thee give sappe to me thy branch that I may budde and grow in thy strength and sappe in thy Essence beget in me true strength by thy strength O Sweete Love art not thou my Light enlighten thou my poore soule in its close prison in flesh and bloud bring it into the right way destroy the will of the Devill and bring my body through the whole course of this world through the chamber of death into thy death and rest that at the last day it may arise in thee from thy death and live in thee for ever O teach me what I must doe in thee I beseech thee be thou my willing knowing doing and let me goe no whether without thee I yeeld my selfe wholy up to thee Amen A Prayer For the obtaining the Divine Protection and Government shewing how he minde should worke with in God in Christ the Tree of Life O Thou living Fountaine in thee I lift up the desire of my soule and crie with my desire to enter through the life of my Saviour Jesus Christ into thee O thou Life and Power of God awaken thy selfe in the hunger of my soule with thy desire of love through the thirst which Jesus Christ had upon the crosse after us men and carry my weake strength through by thy mighty hand in thy Spirit be thou the working and will in me with thine own strength blossome in the strength of Iesus Christ in me that I may bring forth praise unto thee the true fruite in thy Kingdome O let my heart and desire never depart from thee But i swimme in vanity in this valley of misery in this outward earthly flesh and bloud and my soule and noble Image which is according to thy Similitude is encompassed with enemies on every side viz. with the desire of the Devill against me with the desire of vanity in flesh and bloud also with all the opposition of wicked men who know not thy Name and I swimme with my outward life in the properties of the starres and elements having my enemies lying in waite for me every where inwardly and outwardly together with death the destroyer of this vaine life and therefore I flie to thee O holy strength of God being thou hast manifested thy selfe with thy love in mercy in our humanity through thy holy Name Jesus and hast also given it to be a companion in us therefore I beseech thee let his Angels that minister to him attend upon our soules and encamp themselves about us and defend us from the fiery darts of the desire of that wicked one which shooteth into us dayly by the curse of the Anger of God which is awakened in our earthly flesh keepe backe by thy strength the infectious rayes of the influence of the stars in their opposition into which raves the wicked one mingleth himselfe with his desire to poison us in soule and flesh and to bring us into false desires and also into infirmity and misery Turne away these Rayes of Anger with the holy Name Jesus in our soule and spirit that they may not touch us and let thy good and holy Angel stand by us to turne away these Rayes of Poyson from our bodies O great Love and sweete strength IHSVH thou fountaine of divine sweetnesse flowing out of the great Eternall Name IEHOVAH I crie with the desire of my