soule departed from it The distressed soules course This distressed soul began its course now under the patient suffering of Christ and entred into hope in Divine confidence and from day to day grew stronger and stronger and its evill inclinations dyed moâ—e and more in it so that it came to be set in a great dominion or kingdome of grace and the gates of the divine revelation and the kingdome of heaven were opened and manifested in it viz. in the soule And thus the soule in faith returned to its true rest and became a child of God again to which God help us all Amen The end THis foregoing Discourse concerning Illumination is called by the Authour A Dialogue between the enlightned and the unenlightned Soule as it is set down in the Catalogue of his works AN APPENDIX to a large treatise of ELECTION Which Treatise is dated February 9. 1623. This Appendix is A Compendium of Repentance OR A short Description of the Key which openeth the Divine Mysteries and leadeth to the knowledge of them Dated also February 9. 1623. Written in the German Language Anno 1624 By JACOB BEHMEN LONDON Printed by M. S. for H. Blunden at the Castle in Corne-hill 1648. To the Reader IN The Authors Treatise of Election the ground of all doubts in any Soule about Election is laid down which wil resolve them all that they may see their condition and find the way to attain the election if they have not yet atained it And in this short Treatise is the practise of every soule in repentance set down which will lead to the understanding of Divine mysteries in such a way as that the soule may get so much of the heavâ—ly divine treasure hidden in them as it shall perceive it standeth in need of To that end this labour is taken for thee by J. S. A Compendium of Repentance Whosoever will attain to divine vision in himself and speak with God in Christ let him follow this course and he shall attain in 1. LET him gather all his thoughts and reason together and all his mind into this one imagination take a strong purpose and resolution in himselfe to consider what he is being the Scripture calleth him the the Image of God the Temple of the holy Ghost who dwelleth in him and a member of Christ and offereth the flesh and bloud of Christ to him to be his meat and drink 2. He must consider himselfe in his life whether he be capable of so great grace and worthy of so high a Title as that of a Christian and begin to examine his whole life and think with himself what he hath done and how he hath spent all his time and examine whether he findeth himselfe to be in Christ whether he hath a godly will or holy desires in him or no or to what he is inclined or whether he find at any time in himselfe a will or desire heartily panting after God and goodnesse and so would fain bee saved 3 And if he find in himselfe a will never so weak deeply hidden which would fain turn to the grace of God if it could let him know that that will is the ingrafted incorporated and in-spoken word of God in Paradise after sinne was committed and that the God JEHOVAH viz. the Father doth draw him thereby still to Christ for in selfe we have no will at all to obedience 4. But that drawing of the Father viz. the ingrafted incorporated inspoken word draweth all eveu the most ungodly if he be not altogether a Thistle if hee will but stand stil froÌ„ his evil working for a moment 5 So that none have cause to doubt of the grace of God if at any time he once find in himselfe a desire or inclination to turn 6. And let that party not defer his turning one moment but as it is written To day when you shall heare the voyce of the Lord harden not your eares and hearts 7 For that desire or inclination once to turn is the voyce of God in man which the Devill covereth and shutteth up by the Species representations or Images which he bringeth into the mind whereby turning is delayed and put off from one day to another and from one yeare to another till at length the soule commeth to be a very Thistle and can reach grace no more 8 But let him that findeth a desire to turn take it into his heâ—rty confideration to examine his whole course of life and lay it to the ten commandements and to the love which is required by the Gospel which commandeth him to love his neighbour as himselfe and consider that he is a child of grace onely in Christs love and see how farre he is departed from it and what his daily practIce desire and inclination is and then that drawing of the Father will bring him into the righteousnesse of God and shew him the Images that are imprinted in his heart which he hath loved in stead of God and still accounteth them to be his best treasure 9 Which Images he shall find to be 1. Pride in liking and loving himselfe and desiring to be honored by all others also an image inclining him to get power and dominion in his pride that he might be honoured above all others 2. An Image of a Swine Covetousnesse which would have all to it selfe onely and if it had the whole world and heaven too yet it would have the dominion in hell also desiring more then this temporall life hath need of and hath no faith towards God in it but is a defiled Swine that desireth to swallow all things into it selfe 3. An Image of Envie stinging the hearts of all others envying and grudging that any other should have more temporall goods and honour then it selfe hath 4. An Image of anger which when envy as a poyson dwelleth in it will upon any very little or frivolous occasion storm fight wrangle and be furious and will revenge it selfe Also there will be found a multitude yea thousands of earthly beasts to be in him which he loveth and fostereth sor he loveth every thing that is in the world and hath set it in the stead of Christ and honoureth it more then he doth God Let him but observe the words of his mouth and see how his lips slander upbraid and speak evill of others secrerly and setteth them forth in the worst sense and giving others the worst character to their fellows associats and familiar friends and often back bite without any sure ground or cause rejoycing at his neighbours mishap or the evill that commeth upon him and wishing it to him All which are the pawes and ginnes slights or tricks of the Devill and the Image of the Serpent which man beareth in him 10. And let him compare all this with the word in the Law and in the Gospel and he shall find that hee is more a beast and a Devill then a man and shall clearly see how these here ditary imprinted ingraved or
feare of any end where no evill thoughts could touch him neither care nor trouble neither heate nor cold where no night is knowne where there is no day or time any more but an everlasting joy where soule and body tremble for joy and where he should rejoyce at the infinite wonders and vertues in brightnesse of colours and ornament of the infinite begetting in the wisedome of God upon the new christaline Earth which shall be as transparent glasse that he doth so wilfully lose all this for so short and poore a times-sake which yet in this vanity in the evill life of the voluptuous flesh is full of miserie feare and trouble in meere vexation and it goeth with the wicked as with the righteous as the one must die so must the other yet the death of the Saints is an entrance into the eternall rest but the death of the wicked an entrance into the eternall unquietnesse Eightly He must consider the course of the world that all things are but a play wherewith he spendeth his time in unquietnesse and that it goeth with the rich and mighty as with the poore and the begger that all of us equally live and move in the foure Elements and that the mouthfull or morsell of the poore is as relishing and savoury to him in his toyle and labour as that of the rich is to him in his cares also that all of us doe live in one breath and that the rich man hath nothing but the pleasure of the palate and the lust of the eye more then other men for else it goeth with the one as with the other for which lust of the eye man so foolishly forgoeth so great a happinesse and for the sake thereof bringeth himselfe into so great and eternall unquietnesse In this consideration man shall feele in his owne heart and minde especially if he represent and set before his eyes his owne end that he shall get a hearty sighing and longing after the mercie of God and will begin to bewaile his committed sinnes that hee hath spent his dayes so ill and not observed nor considered that he standeth in this world in a field in the growing to be a fruit either in the Love or in the Anger of God and then he will first begin to find in himselfe that he hath not yet laboured at all in the vineyard of Christ and that he is a drie branch in the vine of Christ. And then in many whom the Spirit of Christ toucheth in such a consideration there ariseth aboundant sorrow griefe of heart and inward lamentation over the dayes of his wickednesse which he hath spent so in vanity without any working in the Vineyard of Christ. Such a one now whom the Spirit of Christ bringeth into sorrow and Repentance so that his heart is opened that he can know and bewaile his sins is very easily to be helped he needeth but to draw to him the promise of Christ viz. That God willeth not the death of a sinner but that he wisheth them all to come unto him and hee will refresh them and that there is great joy in heaven for one sinner that repenteth let such a one but lay hold on the words of Christ and wrap himselfe up into the passion and death of Christ. But I will speake with those who feele indeede a desire in themselves to repent and yet cannot come to acknowledge and sorrow for their committed sins the flesh saying continually to the soule stay a while it is well enough or it is time enough to morrow and when to morrow is come yet the flesh saith again to morrow the soul in the meane while sighing and fainting conceiveth neither any true sorrow for the sinnes it hath committed nor any comfort Unto such a one I say I will write a processe or way which I my selfe have gone that hee may know what he must doe and how it went with me if peradventure any be minded to follow it and then he shall perceive what is hereafter written A processe of Repentance WHen any man findeth in himself by the former consideration a hunger that he would willingly repent and yet findeth no true sorrow in himselfe for his sinnes which hee hath committed and yet perceiveth an hunger or desire to sorrow being the poor captive soule continually sigheth feareth and must acknowledge it selfe guilty of sinnes before the Judgement of God such a one I say can take no better course then this viz. to wrap up his senses and minde and also his reason together and make to himselfe at the same time presently in the first consideration when he perceiveth in himselfe a desire to repent a mighty strong purpose and resolution that he will this very houre nay this minite immediatly enter into Repentance and go forth from his wicked way and not at all regard the power and honour of the world and if it should be required would forsake and disesteeme all things for true Repentance sake and take such an earnest firme and strong resolution that he will never goe forth from it againe though he should be made the foole scorne of all the world for it and that with his minde he will goe forth from the beauty and pleasure of the world and patiently enter into the Passion and Death of Christ in and under the Crosse and set all his hope and confidence upon the life to come and that now in righteousnesse and truth he will enter into the Vineyard of Christ and doe the will of God and in the Spirit and will of Christ begin and finish all his actions in this world and for Christs Word and Promise sake who hath promised us heavenly reward willingly suffer and beare every adversitie and crosse that he may but be numbred in the communion or fellowship of the children of Christ and in the bloud of the Lambe Jesus Christ be incorporated and united unto his Humanity He must firmely imagin to himself wholly wrap up his soule in this that in this his purpose he shall obtaine the love of God in Christ Jesus and that God will give unto him according to his faithfull promise that noble pledge the holy Ghost for a beginning that in the Humanity of Christ as to the heavenly divine substance he shall be borne a new againe in himselfe and that the Spirit of Christ will renew his minde with his Love and Power and strengthen his weake faith also that in his divine hunger he shall get the flesh and bloud of Christ for foode and drinke in the desire of his soule which continually hungreth and thristeth after it and with the thirst of the soule drinke the water of eternall life out of the sweete fountaine of Jesus Christ as Christs most true and stedfast Promise is He must also wholly and firmely imagine to himselfe the great love of God That God willeth not the death of a sinner but that he repent and live that
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
he will depart and leave his fort of prey here heaven and hell are fighting one against the other Now if the soule continue constant and getteth the victory over the devill in all his aâ—â—aults disesteeming all temporall things for the love of its noble Sophia then the precious garland will be set upon it for a token of victory Here the virgine which manifesteth her selfe from the deare name JESUS with Christ the treader upon the Serpent Gods anointed commeth to the soule and kisseth it with her sweetest love in the essence most inwardly and impresseth her love into its desire for a token of victory and here Adam in his heavenly part riseth againe from death in Christ of which I cannot write for there is no pen in this world that can expresse it it is the wedding of the Lambe where the noble Pearle is sowne with very great triumph though in the beginning it be small like a graine of mustard-seed as Christ saith Now when the wedding is over the soule must take heed that this Tree oft spring and grow as it hath promised its Virgine For then the Devill will presently come with his tempestuous storme ungodly people who will scoffe at contemne and crie down this for madnesse and then a man must enter into the Processe of Christ under his crosse Here it will appeare indeed and in truth what Christians we are here he must suffe himselfe to be proclaimed a fooâ—e and ungodly wretch nay his greatest friends who favoured him or flattered him in the lusts of the flesh will now be his enemies and though they know not why yet they will hate him thus Christ hideth his Bride wholy under the crosse that she may not be knowne in this world The Devill also striveth that these children may be hidden from the world lest perhaps many such branches should grow in that Garden which he supposeth to be his This I have set downe for the Information of the Christian-minded Reader that he might know what to doe if the same should befall him A very earnest Prayer in Temptation Against Gods Anger in the Conscience and also against flesh and bloud when the Tempter cometh to the soule and wrestleth with it MOst deep Love of God in Christ Jesus leave me not in this distresse I confesse I am guilty of the sinnes which now rise up in my minde or conscience if thou forsake me I must sinke hast thou not promised me in thy word saying If a mother could forget her child which yet can hardly be yet thou wilt not forget me thou hast set me as a signe in thine hands which were pierced through with sharpe nailes and in thy open side whence bloud and water gushed out Poore man that I am I am caught in thy Anger and can in my ability doe nothing before thee I sink my selfe downe into thy wounds and death O Great Mercy of God I beseech thee deliver me from the Bonds of Satan I have no refuge in any thing but onely in thy holy wounds and death into thee I sinke downe in the anguish of my conscience doe with me what thou wilt In thee I will now live or die as pleaseth thee let me but die and perish in thy death do but bury me into thy death that the anguish of hell may not touch me How can I excuse my selfe before thee that knowest my heart and reines and settest my finnes before mine eyeâ— I am guilty of them and yeeld my self into thy Judgement accomplish thy Judgment upon me through the Death of my Redeemer Jesus Christ. I fly unto thee thou righteous Iudge through the Anguish of my Redeemer Iesus Christ when he did sweate the bloudy sweat on the Mount of olives for my sake and was scourged of Pontius Pilate for me and suffered a crown of thornes to be pressed on upon his head that his bloud came forth O Righteous God hast thou not set him in my stead he was innocent but I guilty for whom he suffered wherefore should I despaire under thy wrath O blot out thy anger in me through his anguish passion death I give my selfe wholly into his anguish passion death I will stand still in his anguish passion before thee do with me what thou pleasest onely let me not depart from his anguish thou hast freely given me his anguish and drowned thy Wrath in him and though I have not accepted it but am departed from him and am become faithlesse yet thou hast given me this precious pledge in my flesh and bloud for he hath taken my flesh and soule upon his heavenly flesh and bloud and hath satisfied the Anger in my flesh and soule in him with his heavenly bloud Therfore receive me now in his satisfaction and put his anguish passion and death in thy wrath which is kindled in me and breake thy Iudgement in me in the bloud of his love O Great Love in the Bloud and and Death of Iesus Christ I beseech thee breake the Fort of prey which the Devill hath made and built up in me where he resisteth me in the way of thy grace drive him out of me that he may not overcome me for no one living can stand in thy fight if thou withdraw thy hand from him O come thou breaker through the Anger of God destroy its power helpe my poore soule to fight and overcome it O bring me into thy victory and uphold me in thee breake in peeces its seate in my vanity that is kindled in my soule and flesh O mortifie the desire of my vanity in flesh and bloud which the Devill hath now kindled by his false desire by hellish anguish desperation O quench it with thy water of eternall life bring my anguish forth through thy death I wholy sink my selfe down into thee and though both soul and body should this houre faint and perish in thy wrath yet I will not let thee goe Though my heart saith utterly no no yet the desire of my soule shall hold fast on thy truth which neither death nor the devill shall take away from me For the Bloud of Iesus Christ the Sonne of God cleanseth us from all our sinnes this I lay hold on and let the Anger of God doe what it will with my sinne and let the Devill roare over my soule in his Fort of prey which he hath made as much as he will Neither the Devill Death nor Hell shall pull me out of my Saviours wounds Thou must at length be confounded in me thou noysome devill and thy fort of prey must be forsaken for I will drowne it in the love of Iesus Christ and then dwell in it if thou canst Amen An Information in Temptation BEloved Reader this is no jesting matter he that accounteth it so hath not tried it neither is he judged as yet and though it should be deferred till his last end which is dangerous yet he must passe through this Iudgement Happy
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
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
very fooles and laughing stockes to the world and must must be forced to starve 18 If a man should not give his children liberty to learn the fashions and dealings of the world they would be nothing but derided and despised also if a man should not be somwhat like in his carriage and take some state and bravery upon him he should not be regarded and except he use some device to get by he cannot maintaine that for with truth and love and righteousnesse saith hee I am sure to get nothing but shall dye a Beggar I must do as others do and then I may be able to live amongst them Why should I onely bee the foole of all the world If I do commit sin God is gracious and mercifull hath not Christ slain finne and death upon the crosse and taken away the power of the Devill I shall once repent well enough and be saved 19 This is the Rule that the world goeth by this is the course both of superiour and inferiour of the shepheard and of the sheep Christs passion and suffering must be the cloak for their knavery every one would bee accounted a Christian and weare the Mantle of Christ when the poore soule playeth the whore with the Devill if with the mouth they can but confesse themselves to be Christians and cover their knavery with the purple mantle of Christ then all is well and so we are brave Christians with our lips under the mantle of Christ and yet we lodge the whore of Antichrist in our hearts 20 O yee false Shepheards of Christ you that climb up into the sheep-fold by the doore of Robbers why doe you tickle or comfort the knave of wickednesse with the sufferings and death of Christ Doe you think that Christ was such a one For none should weare his mantle but such as are like him Search the center or ground of Nature and shew the people the Abysse that is in their hearts shew them the snares of the Devill which we lye intangled in that they may no more look after the cursed course of the world but that they may learn to fight against flesh and bloud and also against the Devill and an hypocriticall life that they may goe forth from the pride of the Devill and enter into righteousnesse love and humility 21 The passion of Christ will benefit none unlesse they turn from their evil false and wicked purposes and repent and enter into the Covenant of God to such a one the sufferings of Christ are very powerfull and profitable The hypocrites they seemingly carry themselves so that they may have the Name of Christ put upon them but they thereby abuse the Name of God and must give a strict account of that 22 O yee Antichristian Shepheards of the new Order you that with with false hypocrisie for the favour of men or for your own Idols sake the belly cast the garment of Christs sufferings over the hypocrites and deceivers who are but seeming Christians how will you answer it when Christ shall require an account of his sheep from you you having wittingly and wilfully for favour money riches honour and reputation covered Wolves in whom the Devill dwelleth with the purple mantle of Christ why doe you not breake the Nut shell and looke upon the kernell and heart that lieth within it and tell the superior as well as the inferior of his abominations and wickednesse If you be the Shepheards of Christ why doe you not as Christ did who told every one the truth to his face he did both bruise and heale not for favour or respect to the person of any but according to the will of his Father the shepheards of Christ ought to doe so too 23 O beloved Reason thou walkest very wisely in the way of this world as farre as concerneth the outward body but what becometh of the poore soule this outward body is not its home it is not its eternall native countrey What will it avail thee to take thy pleasure here a very little while and suffer eternall losse Or what profit will it be to suffer they children to follow their own will in bravery luxury and insolence or what ill they please for a little while in this world and for thee to take delight in their despising of the poore and needy when after this life thou shalt lose them for ever Thou supposest thou lovest them and doest them good when thou hast so brought them up that the word commendeth their cunning fetches deceit and gallantry and it likes thee well but the Devill taketh that to himselfe and thou art the murtherer of thy own children and art their greatest enemy for children look upon their parents at every turn and when they see their idle unhappy waggery and roguish trickes doe please them then the children play their trickes the more and grow stouter hardened bold and brazen-faced in their villany These will cry out at the last judgement day against their parents for not with-holding and restraining them from vanity and their wicked course by nurturing them correcting them and bringing them up in vertue and in the feare of God 24 If thou lovest thy life and thy children then lose thy life and thy children as to the iniquity of this world that they neither walk nor be therein and then thou shalt find them and thy life again in heaven as Christ saith Whosoever loveth his life shall lose it but whosoever loseth his life his goods his credit for my sake he shall find them again in the kingdome of heaven Also when the world despiseth persecuteth and hateth you for my sake then rejoyce your reward is great in the kingdom of heaven Also what wil it profit a man to enjoy temporall pleasure and honor here in this life that endureth but for a moment and lose his soule that endureth to eternity 25 Loving children in Christ let every one consider in what soyle he groweth here we must not stay a fitter season for the bettering of our life but to day to day when the voyce of God soundeth let every one enter into himself and search and try himself let none regard the broad way of the world if he doe he will goe into the Abysse to the Devils for the way to the kingdome of heaven is a very strait and narrow way whosoever will walk therein must not carry till the Devil quite grateth or stoppeth up the doore he must not regard the course of this world he must onely enter into himselfe and seek or search himselfe the time will come that he shal think that himselfe onely is left alone but God hath alwayes his seven thousand with Elias besides himselfe whom he knoweth not of 26 For a sincere earnest Christian doth not altogether know himselfe he seeth nothing but his vices and faults in which the Devill fighteth against him they are alwayes in his sight but he knoweth not his own holinesse in this world for Christ hideth it under
God that love hath powred forth it selfe into all things and is the most inward and most outward ground in all things Inwardly in the vertue and power and outwardly in the figure forme or shape of every thing And that I said Its height is as high as God thou mayest understand this in thy selfe in that it bringeth thee to be as high as God himselfe is as may be seen by our beloved Lord Christ in our humanity which humanity love hath brought into the highest throne into the power of the Deity But that I also said Its Greatnesse is greater then GOD that is also true for love entreth into that where God dwelleth not as when our beloved Lord Christ was in hell hell was not God but love was there and destroyed death Also when thou art in anguish or trouble God is not the anguish or trouble but his love is there and bringeth thee out of anguish into God when God hideth himselfe in thee love is there and maketh him manifest in thee Also that I sayd whosoever findeth it findeth nothing and all things that is also true for he findeth a supernaturall super-sensuall abysse having no ground where there is no place to dwel in he findeth also nothing that is like it and therefore it may be compared to nothing for it is deeper then any thing and is a as nothing to all things for it is not comprehensible and because it is nothing it is free from all things and it is that onely Good which a man cannot expresse or utter what it is But that I lastly sayd He that findeth it findeth all things is also true it hath been the beginning of all things and it ruleth all things If thou fiâ—dest it thou comest into that ground from whence all things are proceeded and wherein they subsist and thou art in it a King over all the workes of God The Scholar 28. Loving Master pray tell me where dwelleth it in man The Master Where man dwelleth not there it hath its seat in man The Scholar 29. Where is that in a mans selfe where man dwelleth not The Master It is in the soul that is resigned to the ground where the soule dyeth to its own will and willeth no more of it selfe but onely what God wil and there it dwelleth for so much of the soule as its own will is dead to it selfe in so much place love hath taken up therein for where it s own will sate before there now is nothing and where nothing is there the love of God is working alone The Scholar 30 But how may I comprehend it without the dying of my will The Master If thou wilt comprehend it it flyeth away from thee but if thou yeeldest thy self wholly up to it then thou art dead to thy selfe in thy will and love will then be the life of thy Nature it killeth thee not but quickneth thee according to its life then thou livest yet not to thy owne will but to its will for thy will becometh its will and then thou art dead to thy self but livest to God The Scholar 31. How is it that so few finde it when all would so faine have it The Master They all seeke it in something viz. in an Imaginary opinion in self-desire whereto almost all have a peculiar naturall Lust or Inclination though Love should proffer it selfe to them it would find no place in them because the Imaginarinesse that is in their own will hath set it selfe in the place thereof and so the Imaginarinesse of selfe-lust would have the love in it but love flyeth away for it dwelleth onely in Nothing and therefore they finde it not The Scholar 32. What is the Office of it in Nothing The Master It s office is to penetrate without intermission into something and if it finde a place in something which standeth still then its office is to take possession thereof and to rejoyce therein with its flaming fire of Love more then the Sun in this world and without intermission to kindle a fire in something and to consume the something and to over-enflame it selfe therewith The Scholer 33. O loving Master How shall I understand this The Master If it may but kindle a fire in thee thou shalt feele how it consumeth thy selfe which thou callest I and rejoyceth so exceedingly in thy fire that thou wouldst rather suffer thy selfe to be killed then to enter againe into thy something Its flame also is so great that it would not leave thee though it should cost thy Temporall Life it would goe with thee in its fire into Death and if thou wentest into Hell it would breake Hell in pieces for thy sake The Scholar 34 Loving Master I can no more endure any thing should divert mee how shall I finde the neerest way to it The Master Where the way is hardest there walke thou and take up what the world rejecteth and what the world doth that doe not thou walk contrary to the world in All things and then thou commest the neerest way to it The Scholar 35. If I should walke contrary to every thing I must needs be in meere misery and unquietnesse and I should also be accounted a foole The Master I doe not bid thee do harme to any but because the world loveth only deceit and vanity and walketh in false and wicked ways therefore if thou wilt act a cleane contrary part to the wayes thereof in all things walk only in the right way for the right way is contrary to all the wayes of the world But that thou â—aist thou shouldst be in meere anguish and trouble that indeed will be so according to the flesh and it will give thee occasion of continuall Repentance and in such Anxiety the Love must willingly kindle its fire That thou sayest also thou shouldst be accounted a â—illy foole is true for the way to the love of God is solly to the world but wisedome to the children of God when the world perceiveth this fire of love in the Children of God it faith they are turned fooles but to the children of God it is the greatest Treasure so great that no Life can expresse it nor Tongue so much as name what the fire of the inflaming love of God is it is whiter then the Sunne and sweeter then any thing it is far more nourishing then any meate or drinke and more pleasant then all the joy of this world whosoever getteth this is richer then any King on Earth more noble then any Emperour can be and more potent and strong then all Authority and Power The Scholar 36. Then the Scholar asked his Master further saying whether goeth the soule when the body dyeth be it either saved or damned The Master His Master answered It needed no going forth only the outward mortall life with the body doe separate themselves from the soule the soule hath Heaven and Hell in it selfe before as it is written The Kingdome