imagination and make it my own this it is to beleeve 90. The will must goe forth from the vanity of the flesh and willingly yeeld it selfe up to the suffering and death of Christ and to all the reproach of vanity which scorneth it because it goeth forth from its owne house wherein it was born and minds vanity no more but meerly desires love of God in Christ Jesus 91. In such a hunger and desire the will impresseth into it self the Spirit of Christ with his heavenly corporality that is its great hunger and desire taketh hold of and receiveth the body of Christ viz. the heavenly substantiality into its disappeared Image within which the word of the power of God is the working 92. The hunger of the soule bringeth its desire quite through the bruised property of its humanity in the heavenly part which disappeared in Adam which humanity the sweet fire of love in the death of Christ did bruise when the death of that heavenly humanity was destroyed 93. And so the hunger of the soule received into it into its disappeared corporality through the desire the holy heavenly substance viz. the heavenly corporality Christs heavenly corporality which filleth the Father all over and is high unto all and through all things And through that the disappeared heavenly body riseth in the power of God in the sweet name Jesus And this raised heavenly spirituall body is the member of Christ and the Temple of the holy Ghost a true mansion of the holy Trinity according to Christs promise saying we wil come to you and make our abode in you 95. That essence of that life eateth the flesh of Christ and drinketh his bloud For the Spirit of Christ viz. the Word which made it selfe visible with the humanity of Christ out of and in our disappeared humanity through the outward man of the substance of this world swalloweth its holy substance into its fiery every spirit eateth of its own body 96. Now if the soule eat of this sweet holy and heavenly food then it kindleth it selfe with the great love in the Name JESUS whence its fire of anguish becommeth a great triumph and glory and the true Sunne ariseth to it wherin it is born to another will 97. And here is the wedding of the Lamb which we heartily wish that the Titular and Lip-christians might once find by experience and so passe from the history into the substance 98. But the soule obtaineth not the pearle of the Divine power and vertue for its proper own during the time of this life because it hath the outward bestiall flesh sticking to its outward man 99. The power of which espouseth it selfe in the wedding of the Lamb sinketh it selfe down into the heavenly Image viz. into the substance of the heavenly Man who is the Temple of Christ and not into the fire-breath of the soul which is yet during this whole lifes time fast bond to the outward Kingdome to the bond of vanity with the breath of the aire and is in great danger 100. It darteth its beames of love indeed very often into the soul whereby the soule receiveth light but the Spirit of Christ yeeldeth not it self up to the fire-breath in this lifes time but to the breath of light onely which was extinguished in Adam in which the Temple of Christ is for it is the true and holy heaven 101. Understand aright now what the New-birth or Regeneration is and how it commeth to passe as followeth The outward earthly mortall man is not born anew in this lifes time nor the outward flesh nor the outward part of the soule they continue both of them in the vanity of their wills which awaked in Adam they love their mother in whose body they live viz. the Dominion of this outward world and therein the birth of sin is manifest 102. The outward man in soule flesh we mean the outward part of the soule hath no Divine will neither doth he understand any thing of God as the Scripture saith The naturall man perceiveth nothing of the Spirit of God c. 103. But the Fire-breath of the inward world if it be enlightned once understandeth it It hath a great longing sighing hunger and thirst after the sweet fountain of Christ it refresheth it selfe by hungring and desiring which is the true faith in the sweet Fountain of Christ from his new body from the heavenly substantiality as a hungry Branch in the Vine Christ. 104. And the cause why the fiery soule cannot attain to perfection during this lifes time is because it is fast bound with the outward bond of vanity through which the Devill continually casteth his venemous Rayes of influence upon it and so fifteth it that it often biteth at his bait and poysoneth it selfe from whence misery and anguish ariseth so that the Noble Sophia hideth her selfe in the Fountain of Christ in the heavenly humanity for she cannot draw neere to vanity 105. For she knew how it went with her in Adam when she lost her Pearle which is of grace freely bestowed again upon the inward humanity therefore she is called Sophia viz. the Bride of Christ. 106. Here she faithfully calleth to the fiery soule viz. to her Bridegroom and exhorteth him to repentance and to the unburthening of himselfe or going from the abomination of vanity 107. Here warre assaulteth the whole man wherein the outward fleshly man lusteth against the inward spirituall man and the Spirituall against the fleshly and so man is in continuall warfare and strife full of trouble misery anguish and care 108. The inward saith to the fiery soule O my soule O my love turne I beseech thee and goe forth from vanity or else thou losest my love and the noble Pearle 109. Then saith the outward Reason viz. the bestiall soule Thou art foolish wilt thou be a foole and the scorn of the world Thou needest the outward world to maintain this life beauty power and glory is thy chiefest Treasure wherein onely thou canst rejoyce and take delights Why wilt thou cast thy selfe into anguish misery and reproach Take thyâ— pleasure which will doe both thy flesh and thy â—mind good 110 With such filth the true man is often defiled viz. the outward man defileth himselfe as a Sow in the mire and obscureth his Noble Pearle For the more vain the outward man groweth the more dark the inward man cometh to be till at length it disappeareth together 111. And then the faire Paradificall Tree is gone and it will be very hard to recover it again for when the outward light viz. the outward soule is once enlightned so that the outward light of Reason is kindled by the inward light then the outward soule commonly useth to turn hypocrite and esteem it selfe divine and though the Pearle be gone which sticks hard to many a man 112. And so the tree of Pearle in the Garden of Christ is often spoyled concerning which the Scripture maketh a hard knot or conclusion
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
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
soule to come into thee my soule crieth to come into that Spirit from whence the soule was breathed into the body and which hath formed it in the likenesse of God my soule desireth in its thirst to get the sweete fountaine which springeth from IEHOVAH into it selfe to refresh Gods breath of Fire which it selfe is so that the sweete Love of IESVS may rise in its breath of Fire through the Fountaine IESVS springing out of IEHOVAH and that CHRIST the holy one may be manifested and become Man in my disappeared Image of heavenly spirituall corporality and that the poore soule may receive its beloved Bride againe in its Armes with whom it may rejoyce for ever O IMMANVEL thou Wedding Chamber God and Man I yeeld up my selfe into the Armes of thy Desire towards us in us it is thy selfe whom I desire O blot out the Anger of thy Father with thy love in me and strengthen my weake Image in mee that I may overcome and tame the vanity in flesh and bloud and serve thee in holinesse and righteousnesse O thou great and most holy Name and power of God IEHOVAH which hast stirred thy selfe with thy most sweete power IESVS in the limit of the Covenanted promise to our Father Adam in the womans seede in the Virgine Mary in our disappeared heavenly Humanity and brought the living essentiality of thy holy power in the Virgin-wisedome of God into our humanity which was extinguished as to thee and hast given it to us to be our life victory and new Regeneration I entreate thee with all my strength beget a new holy life in me by thy sweete power IESVS that I may be in thee and thou in me and that thy Kingdome may be made manifest in me and that the will and conversation of my soule may be in heaven O great and incomprehensible God thou who fillest all things be thou my Heaven in which my new Birth in CHRIST IESVS may dwell let my spirit be the stringed Instrument harmony sound and joy of thy holy Spirit strike the strings in me in thy Regenerate Image and carry through my Harmony into thy Divine Kingdome of Joy in the great Love of God in the wonders of thy Glory and Majesty in the Communion of the holy Angelicall Harmony build up the holy City Zion in me in which as children of Christ we all live together in one City which is Christ in us into thee I wholly plunge my self do with me what thou pleasest Amen A Prayer In temptation under the Crosse of Christ at that time when all our enemies assault us and when we are persecuted and hated in the Spirit of Christ and slandered and reproached as evill doers POore man that I am I walke full of anguish and trouble in my Pilgrimage into my native Country again from whence I came in Adam and goe through the thistles and thornes of this world to thee againe O God my Father The thornes teare me on every side and I am afflicted and despised by my enemies they scorne my soule and despise it as an evill doer who hath broken the faith with them they despise my walking towards thee account it foolish they thinke I am senselesse because I walke in this thorny way and goe not along with them in their hypocriticall way O Lord Jesus Christ I flie to thee under the Crosse O deare Immanuel receive me and carry me into thy selfe through the Path of thy Pilgrimage in which thy selfe didst walke in this world viz. Through thy Incarnation Poverty Reproach and Scorne also through thy anguish Passion and Death Make me like unto thy Image send thy good Angel along with me to shew me the way through the horrible thorny wildernesse of this world assist me in my misery comfort me with that comfort wherewith the Angel comforted thee in the Garden when thou didst pray to thy Father and didst sweat drops of bloud sustaine me in my Anguish and Perfecution under the reproach of the devills and all wicked men that know not thee but refuse to walke in thy way O great love of God they know not thy way and doe this in blindnesse through the deceit of the devill have pitty on them and bring them out of blindnesse into the light that they may learne to know themselves and how they lie captive in the filth and mire of the devill in a darke dungeon fast bound with three chaines O great God have mercy upon Adam and his children redeeme them in Christ the new Adam I flie to thee O Christ God and Man in this Pilgrimage which I must passe in this darke valley every where dispised and troubled and accounted an ungodly wicked man O Lord it is thy judgement upon me that my sinnes and inbred vanity may be judged in this pilgrimage before thee and I as a curse be made an open spectacle on which thy Anger may satiate it selfe and thereby may take the eternall reproach away from mee It is the token of thy love and thereby thou bringest me into the reproach anguish suffering and death of my Saviour Jesus Christ that so I may die from vanity in my Saviour and spring up in his Spirit with my new life through his reproach and ignominie through his Death I beseech thee O Christ thou patient Lamb of God grant me patience in my way of the Crosse through all thy anguish reproach thy death and passion thy scorne and contempt upon the Crosse where thou wert despised in my stead and bring me therein as a patient Lamb to thee into thy victory Let me live with thee and in thee and convert my persecutors which unknowne to themselves by their reproaching sacrifice my vanity and inbred sinnes before thy Anger they know not what they doe they thinke they doe me harme but they doe me good they doe that for me which I should doe my selfe before thee I should daily lay open and acknowledge my shame before thee and thereby sinke my selfe downe into the death of thy beloved Sonne that my shame might die in his death but I being too too negligent weary faint and feeble therefore thou usest them in thy Anger to open and discover my vilenesse before thy Anger which thy wrath taketh hold of and sinketh it downe into the death of my Saviour O mercifull God my vaine flesh cannot know how well thou intendest towards me when thou sufferest my Enemies to take my vilenesse from me and sacrifice it before thee my earthly minde supposeth that thou afflictest me for my sinnes and I am extreamely perplexed at it but thy Spirit in my inward new man telleth me that it is of thy love towards me that thou intendest good to me by it when thou sufferest my enemies to persecute me it is best for me that they performe the worke in my stead and unfold my sins before thee in thy anger that it may swallow them up that
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
is set apart and chosen by the children of men who doe but flatter him and for favour have ordained him thereunto 186. Christ sayd Whosoever etreth not by the doore into the Sheepfold that is through MEE but climbeth up some other way the same is a thiefe and a murtherer and the sheep follow him not 187. For they know not his voyce he hath not the voyce of the Spirit of God but the voyce of his own Art and learning onely himselfe teacheth and not the Spirit of God But Christ sayth Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shal be plucked up by the roots 188. How then will he that is ungodly plant heavenly plants that hath no seed alive in its power in himselfe Christ saith expresly the sheep heare not his voyce they follow him not 189. The written Word is but an Instrument whereby the Spirit leadeth us to it selfe within us That Word which will teach must be living in the literall Word The Spirit of God must be in the literall sound or else none is a Teacher of God but a meere Teacher of the Letter a knower of the History and not of the Spirit of God in Christ. 190. All that men will serve God with must be done in faith viz. in the Spirit the Spirit maketh the worke perfect and acceptable in the sight of God All that a man beginneth and doth in faith he doth that in the Spirit of God which Spirit of God doth co-operate in the work◠and that is acceptable to God for he hath done it himself and his power and vertue is in it it is holy 191. But whatsoever is done in Selfe without faith is but a figure and shell of a true Christian work 192. If thou servest thy brother and dost it but in hypocrisie and givest him unwillingly then thou servest not God for thy faith proceedeth not from love nor entreth into hope into thy gift Indeed thou servest thy brother and hee for his part thanketh God and he for his part also blesseth thee but thou blessest not him for thou givest him a grudging spirit in thy gift which entreth not into the Spirit of God into the hope of faith therefore thy gift is but halfe given and thou hast but halfe thy reward for it 193. The same is to be understood of receiving a gift if any giveth in faith in Divine hope he blesseth his gift in his faith but he that receiveth it unthankfully and murmureth in his Spirit he curseth it in the use or enjoyment of it Thus every one shall have his own whatsoever he soweth that he shall also reap 194. And so it is in the Office of teaching what ever a man soweth that also hee reapeth For if any man sow good seed from the Spirit of Christ it sticketh in the good heart and bringeth forth good fruit but in the wicked that are not capable of it the anger of God is stirred 195. If any sow contentions reproaches misconstructions all ungodly people receive it into them it sticketh in them also and bringeth forth fruit accordingly so that men despise revile slander and misconstrue one another out of which Root the great Babel is sprung and grown where men out of meere pride and strife contend about the History and the justification of a poore sinner in the sight of God and thereby make the simple erre and blaspheme insomuch that one brother despiseth and curseth the other and excommunicateth or casteth him to the Devill for the History and the Letters sake 196. Such Railers and Revilers fear not God but to raise the great building of dissention and seeing corrupt lust lyeth in all men in the earthly flesh still therefore they raise and awaken abominations even in the simple children of God and make the people of God as well as the children of Iniquity to blaspheme and so are master-builders of the great Babel of the world and are as usefull as a fift wheele in a Wagon and beside that they erect the hellish building 197. Therefore it is highly necessary for the children of God to pray earnestly that they may learn to know this false building and goe forth from it with their minds and not help to build it up and so themselves to persecute their fellow-children of God whereby they keep themselves back from the kingdome of God and are seduced 198. According to thē saying of Christ to the Pharisees Woe unto you Pharisees For you compasse Sea and Land to make one Proselite and when he is one you make him twofold more the child of Hell then your selves which truly commeth to passe after the same manner in these modern Factions and Sects among these Cryers and Teachers of strife 199. I desire therefore out of my gifts which are revealed to me from God that all the children of God that intend to be the members of Christ faithfully be warned to depart from such abominable contentions and bloudy fire-brands and to goe forth from all strife with their Brethren and to strive onely after love and righteousnesse towards all men 200. For he that is a good Tree must bring forth good fruits and must sometimes suffer Swine to devour his fruits and yet must continue a good tree still and be alwayes willing to work with God and not suffer any evill to master him And then he standeth and groweth in the Field of God and bringeth forth fruit to be set upon Gods Table which he shall enjoy for ever Amen All that hath breath praise the Name of the LORD Ha le lu JAH Finished by Jacob Behmen 24. Junii 1622. A Table of the Contents of the Chapters CHap. 1. How Man ought to consider himselfe from verse 1. to 29. Ch. 2. How man is created from 30. to 66. Ch. 3. Of the miserable fall of man how he is delivered again from 67. to 86. Ch. 4. How we are born anew and also how we fall into the wrath of God again from 87. to 113. Ch. 5. How a man may call himself a Christian how not from 114. to to 132. Ch. 6. Of right and wrong going to Church receiving of Sacraments Absolution from 133. to 157. Ch 7. Of unprofitable opinions and contention about the Letter from 158. to 179. Ch. 8. Wherein Christian Religion consists and how men must serve God their brethren from 180. to 200. THE Authors Letter to his faithfull Friend Dr Balthasar Walter 1. MY writing to you is to exhort you from a deep Christian consideration and good will not to commit my writings into the hands of every one for they belong not to every one 2. Also none should cast the Pearle into the way to bee troden under foot whereby the highly pretious Name of God might be blasphemed For I know very well what Satan intendeth to doe but it is signified to me that his purpose shall bee brought to nought 3. Yet there is a thicke darknes to be feared in the
if it would wholly yeeld it selfe to death and cease to be a creature any more and so did yeeld it selfe to death and desired nothing else but to dye and perish in the death of its Redeemer Jesus Christ who had suffered such torments and death for its sāke and in this perishing it began to sigh and pray in it selfe very inwardly to the mercy of God and to sink down into the meerest mercy of God Upon this there appeared unto it the amiable countenance of the love of God and penetrated through it as a great light by which it grew exceeding joyfull and began to pray aright and to thank the most high for this grace and to rejoyce exceedingly that it was delivered from the death and anguish of Hell and there it tasted of the sweetnesse of God and of his promised truth And in that very instant all evill spirits which had afflicted it before and kept it back from the grace love and inward presence of God were forced to depart from it and the wedding of the Lamb was kept and solemnized with the espousing or contracting of the Noble Sophia with the Soule and the Seal-ring of Christs victory was impressed or printed or set upon its substance or into its essence and it was received to be a child and heire of God again When this was done the soule became very joyfull and began to work in this power and to celebrate with praise the wonders of God thought henceforth to walk continually in this power strength and joy but it was assaulted from without or outwardly by the shame and reproach of the world and within by great temptation so that it began to doubt whether its ground were from God or no and whether it had really and truly partaken of the grace of God or no for the Accuser or Satan went to it and would lead it out of this way and make it doubtfull of its way and sayd to it inwardly The Accuser or Satan spake to the Soule saying It is not of God it is but thy Imagination Also the Divine Light retired in the soule and shone but in the inward ground as light in Embers or fire raked up in ashes so that Reason was solly to it selfe and thought it selfe forsaken and the soule knew not what had happened to it selfe nor whether it were true that it had tasted the Divine Light of Grace or not and yet it could not leave off strugling for the burning fire of love was sowne in it by which there arose in it a great hunger and thirst after the Divine sweetnesse and now at length began to pray aright and to humble it self in the presence of God and to examine and trie its evill inclinations in its thoughts and to put them away by which the will of reason was broken and the evill inbred innate or native inclinations were killed and destroyed more and more And this was very wofull to the nature of the bodie for it made it faint feeble and weake as if it had been very sick and yet it was no naturall sicknesse that it had but it was the Melancholy of the eatthly Nature of the bodie because its evill lusts were destroyed And when the earthly Reason found it self thus forsaken the poore soule saw that it was derided outwardly and despised by the world because it would now walke no more in the way of the wicked and ungodly and that it was inwardly assaulted by the Accuser Satan who also mocked it and continually set before it the beautie Riches and glorie of the world and esteemed the soule foolish that embraced them not which made the soule thinke thus with it selfe O Eternall God! what shall I now doe to come to Rest The Enlightned soule met it again While it was in this consideration the enlightned soule met with it againe and said What ailest thou my brother that thou art so heavie and sad The distressed soule said I have followed thy counsell and thereby attained a ray looke or glimps of the Divine sweetnesse but it is gone from me againe and I am now forsaken and outwardly have very great tryalls and afflictions in the world for all my good friends forsake me and scorne me and also inwardly I am assaulted with Anguish and doubt and I know not what to doe The enlightned soul sayd Now I like thee very well for now our beloved Lord Jesus Christ walketh in his pilgrimage on earth with thee and in thee as he did himselfe when he was in this world being alwayes reviled slandered and evill spoken of and had nothing of his own and now thou bearest his mark or Ensigne but doe not wonder at it nor think it strange for it must be so that thou must be tried refined and purified In this anguish and distresse thou shalt have often cause to pray and hunger after deliverance and in thy hunger and thirst thou attractest grace to thee from within and from without For thou must grow from above and from beneath to be the image of God again And as a young plant is stirred by the wind and must stand in heat and cold drawing strength and vertue to it from above and from beneath by that stirring and must endure many a tempest and undergoe much danger before it can come to be a tree and bring forth fruit for in that stirring the vertue of the Sunne commeth to move in it whereby the wild properties of that plant come to be penetrated and tinctured or qualified with the vertue of the Sun and grow thereby And now is the time wherein thou must behave thy selfe as a valiant Souldier in the Spirit of Christ and cooperate with it thy selfe For now the eternall Father by his fiery power begetteth his Sonne in thee who changeth the fire of the Father or the wrath into the flame of love so that out of fire and light viz. wrath and love there commeth to be one Essence Being or Substance which is the true Temple of God and now thou shalt bud forth out of the vine Christ in the vineyard of Jesus Christ and bring forth fruit in thy life and teaching of others and shew forth thy love in abundance as a good Tree For paradise must thus spring up again in thee through the wrath of God and Hell be changed into Heaven in thee Therefore be not troubled at the temptations of the Devill for he striveth for the kingdome which he had in thee and having lost it once he must be confounded and depart from thee therfore he coveres◠thee outwardly with the shame and disgrace of the world that his own shame may not be known and that thou mayst be hidden to the world for with thy New-birth or regeneration thou art in the divine harmony in heaven therefore be patient and wait upon the Lord and whatsoever shall befall thee take it from the hands of the Lord as intended by him for thy best good And so the enlightned
meere gift of God given not for my sake onely but for your sakes also and for all theirs that shall get to read it 16. Let none gaze any longer after the time it is alreadie borne or begun whomsoever it hitteth him it hitteth hee that watcheth seeth it and he that sleepeth seeth it not the time is alreadie appeared and shall suddenly appeare more hee that watcheth he shall see it many have already felt it but a very great tribulation and calamity must passe over before it be wholly manifested The cause of which misery and calamity is the contention of the Learned who tread the cup of Christ under their feet and contend about a child with a contention then which there was never worse since men were that must be manifested therefore let no honest man defile himselfe with such contentions there is a fire from the Lord therein that shall consume them and himselfe reveale the Truth 17. You shall receive of Mr. Walter what he hath more especially a Table with an Exposition of it wherein the whole ground of all Mysteries is plainly laid down And so I commend you sir to the love of JESUS CHRIST Dated the 20. of April Anno 1624. Your Servant in the love of CHRIST JACOB BEHMEN AN EXPLICATION OF Some words in the writings of JACOB BEHMEN Turba Magna 1. THE Turba Magna the great Turba is the stirred and awakened wrath of the inward ground when the foundation of Hell is made manifest in the Spirit of this world from whence great plagues and diseases arise And it is also the awakened wrath of the outward nature as may bee seen in great tempests of Thunder and lightning when the fire is manifested or generated in water In briefe it is the effusion of the Anger of God by which Nature is disturbed Ternarius 2. By the word Ternarius the Ternary or number three in the Language of Nature we understand the Divine Birth or Propagation in the six formes or properties of Nature which are the six Seales of God Ternarius Sanctus 3. The Ternarius Sanctus or holy Ternary is the Inward heavenly working power in that Substance wherein the Trinity of God worketh and so I understand thereby an Essentiall power and the Number Three or Trinity in the seven formes or Properties wherein also the Angelicall world is comprehended Tria Principia The three Principles Primum Principium The first Principle 4. By the first Principle is meant the Eternall Darknesse which consisteth in the receivingnesse of the Properties whence feelingnesse ariseth and its ground extendeth as farre as to Fire in order of the seven Properties fire being the fourth property into which its ground reacheth by which ground we meane the Eternall Nature and the wrath of God according to which God is said to be a zealous Angry Jealous God and a consuming fire Secundum Principium The second Principle 5. By the second Principle is meant the Light and the Angelicall powrefull World in which the effluence of the Divine Power and Will doth manifest it selfe by the Magicall Fire in the Light with the flaming fire of love by this is meant the Kingdome of God according to which God is said to be a loving mercifull God and the Eternall goodnesse and Light Tertium Principium The third Principle 6. By the third Principle is meant the visible produced and created world with all its hosts which is an effluence out of the first and second Principle caused by the motion and breathing forth of the Divine Power and will in which the spirituall world as to Light and Darknesse is represented and come to be a creature Tincture 7. By the Word Tincture is meant the power and vertue of Fire and Light and the stirring up or putting forth like a bud of this vertue is called the holy and pure Element the vertue of the Sunne is the Tincture of all things that grow and live in the visibility of the world so also the colour is the Tincture of the ground Christ â—s the Tincture of the soule in briefe the Tincture is the life and the perfluent and informing vertue by which any thing doth subsist for without the Tincture that proceedeth from the Sunne Gold were no Gold and so also the Image of God in the soule without the true Tincture the Eternall Sun of Righteousnesse were not the Image of God CHRISTUS Christ. 8. By the Word Christ is meant the inward new man in the Spirit of Christ understood inwardly Satan 9. By the word Satan is meant the Spirit of errour in us and not alwayes a creaturely Devill but the property of such an erroneous Spirit The end COncerning the Authors life the Reader may finde some information in the Preface to his 40. Questions of the Soul in English And at the end of that Book a Catalogue of his other Writings * * Or Worke. * * Or put a a Larva or monstrous shape b b Or by c c Or modell d d Or obtaine a drawing * * Or a way to conversion a a Or in b b As its nutriment c c Or represent or set before himself d d De caâ—ed e e Or blowne out * * Or beings f f Or Step-child g g Barren or unprofitable h h I that which is called I or my self k k Or dying sparke ready to goe out l l Or I or I-hood or Inesse that which wee meane when we say 't is I. m m Or Bowe a a Or processes b b Or dumb c c Vertuous pious or godly life * * Or the Divine wisedome * * Or way ††Iericho a a Or disappeared ‖ ‖ Or Regeneration * * Or Divine wisedome d d In Paradise e e Having it manife sted in them f f The vineger or dreggs g g Processe or journey h h Or Time i i Bound end or full filling k k Or victorize l l Fortresse Castle or den m m Or â—nsigne n n pearlâ—ree or tree of faith o o His conscience is a sleepe still p p Triall or temtation q q Or Dawning ‖ ‖ Or eternal wisedome s s Or selfehood * * The Image * * Or aâ— guide ‖ ‖ The inward starres costellations in our bodies a a Or evill desires b b Gole or marke * * In virginali sapientiâ ‖ ‖ Or in thy sight c c Or sinck * * For. e e Or Valley f f Or journey g g Or vilenesse h h My enemies i i Or shame k k My enemies l l Or Day-breake * * Shineth through or coâ—â—ureth ‖ ‖ Or the divine wisedome * * Sporteth o o Or into p p Division corruption or breaking asunder ‖ ‖ Or processe or course that he hath taken * * Or calling ††Sensing * * Or Vomb which bringeth forth fire * * Or false o o The