much upon Imagination sometimes taking advantage of the strong Influences of the external Heavens and if we are so strong as to reject Thoughts which tempt to speculative Delight in Objects which our corrupt Nature formerly imbraced but now being changed abhorreth we shall find the Evil One drawing us to close with and entertain thoughts not evil in themselves yet very evil to us because they present and feed the Soul with unprofitable Pictures which should be alone entertained with the sweet Meditation of Christs Love and the way to be compleated in it And I know many are exceedingly troubled with the working of their Imaginations on inconsiderable trifling Objects when as they dare not entertain any Thoughts grosly evil and where this State is grown into a long habit it will be difficult to come out of it though a Soul be very sensible of the Vanity of it and long to be freed from it as finding the Imagination in these workings to be like the Witch of Endor raising up the Old Prophet Samuel or the Inward Man from the sleep of Silence and innocent Stilness to be disquieted with vain Earthly things 1 Sam. 28.15 In this case therefore it concerns the Soul to stand continually upon its Watch lest it be sometimes snatcht away unawares and ingaged in Vanity before it sees where it is Here the continual Exercise of the Cross is very necessary that by it we may cast down imaginations and lead Captive every thought into the Obedience of Christ so that the chief work now is the reducing this moveable Sea into Subjection to the illuminated Understanding therefore the Soul prays and strives continually against the Power of Imagination and Activity of Thoughts which hinder the silent actings of the Intellect upon Eternity and supernatural Truths And here Faith and Perseverance are very needful We need Faith to believe that by the Power and strength of Christ we may overcome these Imaginations and Perseverance that we may not faint in the Way and give off the constant Exercise of the Cross in rejecting beating down and ceasing from these Motions of the imaginary faculty till we come to be conquerors and to Command them which is possible through Christ who is come into our World to destroy the Works of the Devil and to rule till he hath put all his Enemies under his Feet of which these idle Thoughts are a part And as the Soul here uses the Power it hath received from Christ in checking rejecting and beating down all idle thoughts as a means to overcome them so likewise it is oft Exercising of its Understanding upon the Eternal Love and free Grace of God and in considering the mystery of that Paradisical World in which the Angels and Spirits of the just are It much also reflects upon the Presence of its Saviour who hath promised to be with us to the end of the World filling all things in his Divine Nature for he continually stands at the Door and knocks so that the Soul waits every moment for the fulfilling of that Promise of his coming into it and supping with it Rev. 3.20 And this constant attending upon God with the Eye of the Understanding proves a very effectual mean to the destroying of those Imaginations which come to Entangle the Soul in unprofitable diversions In this practice the Understanding gets such power over the Imaginations that it enjoys almost a continual sight or apprehension of God's Presence and sees beyond the working of Imagination by the Eye of the Understanding enlightned and by little and little attains that strength that although we should have necessary occasion to take up our thoughts in some external Employment yet the Understanding pierceth thorough it and in the very time of exercising its reason on that particular it hath strong and clear Apprehensions of the Presence of God and the Spiritual World which clearly shews that Intellection or the true acting of the Understanding is somewhat beyond Reason which is not able to do two things at once and Act upon several Objects at the same instant And this constant Apprehension or Sense of the divine Presence is without any Fantasm it being in that Moment when the Phantasms are employed upon another Object and they having somewhat of materiality cannot afford that spiritual Sight and Apprehension such a Soul hath constantly of God which is without figure colour or similitude yet I must confess the usual Contemplations of the Soul in this state upon spiritual Objects whether of Paradise Angels supernatural Truths and Scripture Verities are not without the use of Phantasms which being ordered by Divine Light and Wisdom do in some measure according to their nature express spiritual Truth Though I confess this is far below the true Intellection of the Understanding informed with the presence of Divine Light in regard these Phantasms being generally drawn from Corporeal Objects cannot reach the essence of a Spirit And truly here the Soul plainly discovers its fall from the Divine Mind Image and Light in which it saw intuitively and could give Names according to the natures of things into the imaginary Spirit which belongs to this World and is too gross a Glass to express truly and essentially Spiritual Eternal Objects And here it appears how easily Man's Reason being the apt and methodical ordering of his Phantasms may misguide the Understanding in Spiritual things as in Comments upon Scriptures which were inspired by the Holy Ghost and wrote by Revelation and so require the help of that same Spirit to elevate the Understanding above Imagination in the true Interpretation of them especially in things which are out of the Road of those Moral Vâ—â—ities which the light of Nature impresseth upon Mens Consciences to steer them in their Lives and Conversations Then let us pray for that true Light Which gives a true and constant Sight Of God Christ Angels who do lie Much deeper than laps'd Reasons Eye Which in the Glass of Phantasie A lively Picture may espy But not the Essence of true Verity CHAP. IX THe Soul having arrived so far as to enjoy almost a continual apprehension of the Presence of God and Angels finds its self much freed from those vain thoughts which in former Dispensations were very troublesom But being Conquerour over these it must take heed lest the new Objects of Heaven Angels and spiritual Gifts set the Imagination too much a work in representing their Excellencies and picturing forth such a State of the Soul enriched with them which may yield too much imaginary Delight and draw the Spirit into the admiration of fine pleasant Pictures instead of the true Substance Therefore we are strictly to watch over the Phantasie which may easily err in this particular and not without great prejudices following upon it for first by such working of Imagination we come to slacken the Exercise of the Cross both upon Imagination its self which
of Love upon his Children who are nearer to or further from Perfection as they partake more or less of this Essential Love which is the Spirit and Life of Christianity without which all Duties and Observances are but as sounding Brass and perishing Shadows In which all have their worth and use From the Dictates and Impulses of this Law I have written this small Discourse as believing it may be instrumental to undeceive many who are wandering in the Labyrinths of Error yet seek the true way And to confirm strengthen and direct oothers who are making their way through the Cross to the Crown of Life And truly thâ—s Subject is of great Concernment to all because all are capable of the New-Birth and none without it can ever be happy To mistake this work is very dangerous because 't is the Passage to eternal Rest The highest Heaven is situate in the large Plains of Eternity yet the Way to it is very narrow At the Entrance the sharp Sword of Circumcision is placed On the left hand there 's a Gulf of Fire on the right hand a deep Water at the end there stands a Cherubin with a flaming Sword whose Office is to cut off the Reliques of all Corruption from the Soul so that the least Grain of Selfishness or Flâ—sh cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven The Spirit of Man is totally to be inhabited by Christ There 's not one Weed to be left there We are to be stript of all the Riches of corrupt Nature before we can pass through the last Gate into the City A naked Spirit quickly enters Hence that of Christ Blessed be the poor in Spirit for their's is the Kingdom of God An empty Spirit God will fill For God is Love and delights through his Son to communicate of his own Fulness to all that can receive it The Soul cannot be emptyed but through Regeneration nor filled if not first emptyed We part with Darkness Vanity and Lust We receive Light Substance and Love A complete exchange brings complete Happiness How few are willing to sell all for Christ How many Distinctions are created by Reason to avoid the Cross and Death of Christ But it is very dangerous to take up such Principles that may indulge any part of that which must be destroyed It may make us fall short of Heaven when we expect to enter into it 'T is far more safe to be too strict than too remiss But the mean is best which I believe is here somewhat clearly discovered Farewell The Way to the SABBATH of REST OR THE Souls Progress in the NEW-BIRTH CHAP. I. REgeneration is absolutely necessary to Salvation John 3.3 Hence it greatly concerns us to know its Nature and Operation how it is to be considered either in it's Initiation Progress or Consummation As it is taken for the Beginning of the Work it implies that first Change of the Soul when in general the Frame of the Will is swayed God and Heaven-ward In it's Progress 't is the growth and motion of the Soul from the Image of the Earthly toward the Image of the Heavenly In it's End it is the bringing forth of the perfect and complete Image of God in our Humanity 1 Cor. 15.49 When we attain this we are completely in Christ wholly New-born 2 Cor. 5.17 and made fit to see and enjoy that eternal Kingdom which hath been prepared for us from the beginning of the World Regeneration then in it's full Latitude comprehends all three States and may be thus defined It is that transforming quickning Work of Gods Spirit which begins carries on and compleats Gods Image in us And so it is taken by Christ Matth. 19.28 where he promiseth twelve Thrones to his twelve Disciples as Rewards for their Faithfulness in following him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Regeneration where it is expressed by an emphatical Note insinuating the Fulness and Completeness of it as there meant But in the ordinary acceptation amongst Professing Christians 't is used in the most restrained sense for the first Change of the Soul when the bent of the Heart begins to be habitually carried toward God in Christ And by what I have heard and seen from most I have conversed with I find too much weight laid upon this first Work as though it were the complete New-Birth and that which might give sufficient ground of Comfort even to those who feel not the comfortable growth of the inward Man in it's Motion towards Perfection Hence many rest upon their first supposed Conversion and have a continual Eye to it as a great prop to their Souls though they feel their Chariot-Wheels stand still yea go backward and are in much more Deadness and Drowsiness of Spirit habitually than when they first entred into the work of the New-Birth But certainly this is dangerous Ezek. 18.24 and may much deceive the Spirits of many by making them more eye what they were than what they are or may be by pressing toward the Mark of perfect Union for it stops their Motion and hinders their Ascont toward Heaven and their constant practising Conformity to the Death of Christ by which Death only we pass out of the Fall are fitted for Glory and at length attain the Crown of Life Rev. 2.10 Oh! then take heed of resting there Where living Flesh brings deadly fear And casts the Soul on that sharp Reed Which for a Cure will make it Bleed Then stand not still nor turn thine Eye Backward unto Mortality But wing'd with Faith move apace Forward in thy Heavenly Race CHAP. II. HAving briefly shewed what I mean by Regeneration I shall now proceed to it's actual Work as it gradually discovers it's self in the Soul The first Appearance of it in the Heart is by Conviction through which the Soul comes to see its Corruption in the darkness of the Understanding the vanity of Imagination the delusion of the Will in imbracing defiled Carnal Objects and the irregular motions of the Affections running earthward like swift Torrents down a Precipice In a word the Light of God shining into the Soul gives it a view of it's sad Apostacy from it's Primitive State when it was created in the Image of God whereas now it sees it self in the Image of the Serpent bespattered with the dust of the Earth cloathed with polluted Rags wrapt up in darkness and hellish Confusion stained with the poyson of Sin centred in the fire of Gods Wrath dwelling in the Valley of the shaddow of Death where Devils are it's Associates and Companions pleasing themselves in the pollutions and stains of the Soul as delighting to dwell in such Graves of Corruption Now when the Soul once beholds this Oh how it begins to be amazed How it wonders at it's self What Tumults begin to be raised in it What Earthquakes discover themselves What a Monster it appears to it's self when compared to the Righteousness Holiness and Purity of God expressed
in the Image of his Law It sees 't is impossible in this State ever to enjoy God or come near him for without Holiness no Man can see the Lord. Here it sees 't is eternally undone without the great Mercy and Compassion of God not being able to Answer the strict Requirings of the Law obliging to that which the Soul is not capable to perform through the presence and strength of Corruption Here the Soul is driven to Christ the only Mediator betwixt God and Man who long waited for this time that so he might discover himself having long stood in the midst of it unknown and unregarded who upon the melting of the Soul into Tears of Repentance upon the renouncing Flesh and Blood with all corrupt Objects and upon the opening of the Will in the Thirst and desire of Faith enters into the Heart or rather shews himself to be There by opposing Hell by shedding abroad his holy Blood to quench the fire of Gods Wrath and wash the Soul from those sad Defilements it then lyes under Here he quiets the Soul gives the wings of Faith to it by which it flies above the reach of despairing Fears and by little and little enters into Peace and Stilness and shrouds it's self in some measure from the awakened Storms of wrathful Terror Now so far as the Soul can get by Faith into Christ so far it finds Ease Refreshment and Peace and a cessation from the sense of Guilt with cherishing Belief of the present Pardon of Sin as finding at such a time no stirring of the Will to that which had so endanger'd it before by it's poysonous Insinuations Now therefore beginning to hate Evil as a Monster and to love Christ as a Saviour it feels the Effects of Christs Meditation by satisfying Gods Justice taking away the Enmity in the Soul by the Blood of his Cróss by the meltings of Love which it feels towards God and sweet Refreshments it receives from him Now it comes to be sensible how it hath resisted Gods Love Christs Mercy the Spirits motions how it hath given the Devil interest in Christs Tabernacle and shut Him out from his own Possession Hence flow Tears of Love and Soul-melting Groans with the Mournings of the Turtle Now it imbraces Jesus weeps over Him whom it hath pierced and is wounded the more the kinder He seems in Returns of Love in regard he was before so much disobliged by the Souls Unkindness now the Soul wants ways of expressing Love overwhelmed with the sense of Goodness In this State it could die Ten thousand Deaths undergo any thing in requital to it's Saviour all it's Motions and Expressions tend to advance Christ to extol Him and predicate His unutterable Love thinking nothing enough for Him who thought not his own Life too much for it O that the Soul would faithfully remain In this sweet Frame until He comes again To waft her in his Chariot to that Throne Where God and Man are in full Vnion For Love doth pitch its true Pavilion there In other Places Love is mixt with Fear CHAP. III. WHen the Soul after its shakings attains this Settlement in Christs Love freely streaming towards it usually 't is much carried out in the sight and opening of Free-Grade which for a time strongly work upon it and induce it to yield suitable Returns in constant Obedience And this is commonly a Season of much Joy and Refreshment the Soul feeling that sensible Consolation and Divine Sweetness that causes it to break forth into continual Praises and Halelujah's to God Now as this flows from the lively apprehension of Gods Love in Christ so likewise from the clear sight of Christ in us and of that mystical transcendent Union betwixt him and the inward Man the Soul now beholding him in the ground and centre of her own pure humanity there thence darting forth the Rays of Love upon her whom before she look'd upon as at a distance without her as only sitting at the right hand of God in Heaven Now whilst this Dispensation lasts the Soul is in a perpetual Spring and a kind of delightful Paradise bathing and delighting its self in the sweet Fruition of Christs Love who in this time expresseth much kindness to it and gives frequent Testimonies of his Divine Presence But this day seldom continues very long and this Summer by little and little usually inclines toward an Autumn in which the Flowers of sensible Comfort and love-Raptures begin a little to wither and benumming flesh again shews its power in secret almost insensible dullings of the Souls Affection till by little and little it comes to a sensible Deadness which is the more tedious and burdensom the more the former dispensation was pleasant and Joyous Now what may be the reason of this declining in the Souls Enjoyments I shall not positively determine for it may proceed from different causes in different persons In some it may flow from the want of Watchfulness over their Hearts thorough the great Elevations of Free Grace in which time the flesh by little and little may collect Strength Gifts then being more eyed then Graces It may also flow from the decay of the Souls lively apprehensions of Gods Love which it felt in freeing it from the poyson and Guilt of Sin when it groaned sadly under them for so long as the strong impressions of that state remained Gods mercy eminently discovered forced the Soul into suitable meltings at the sight of it but these somewhat vanishing in time the effects likewise might cease by litle and little It may also come from want of practising the way of the Cross through our misapprehensions of being Dead when we are not or accidentally through the sensible overflowings of new Comforts which may carry the Soul out of that watchful Exercise of the Cross which at such a time is most needful But whatever is the Cause of it the Soul ought to enter into a strict Examination of it's self to sift every corner of it's inward Chambers and to pray for a clearer Light to view all subtil Corruptions that may gull it and hinder its Progress and make it set up a Standard as though all were done Oh! 't is dangerous sticking here and resting upon former Changes for this tends to the indulging of spiritual Drowsiness and Stupidity and may bring the Soul in danger of losing it's former Works by present Idleness and Relapses For God looks not at what we were but what we are our present State making us either capable of Gods out-flowing Love or obnoxious to his chastising Justice If so awake dull Soul think not to be Excused from thy present Lethargy By former Kindness when the force of Love Did pierce thy Heart and made it upward move Awake and pray that Christ in thee may give New quickning to thy Dead that it may live CHAP. IV. MAny Souls stick long in this
is continually to be restrained and as much as is possible reduced unto subjection to the illuminated Understanding and also upon the Relicks of the Old Man in any other Faculty which are always to be slain in their first Buddings and therefore to be strictly eyed which cannot be whil'st Imagination is so busie in its motions The second is that Complacency which the Soul may take by representing its self adorned with and enjoying the Gifts of Hearing Seeing Touching Tasting and Smelling in a spiritual Way with all the Beauty and Sweetness of the Objects of those Faculties both in its self so proviledged and in the Objects themselves most of which being but Streams and not the Fountain it self the Soul may be in danger of taking too much delight and so of being entangled in them The third inconvenience is the obstructing that Still Silence of the Soul in which it should be oft wrapped up as a mean to those extraordinary effusions of Light and Power which God many times affords the Soul in its passive quiet waiting Whereas this labour of Imagination too much keeps the Soul in action and so in an unfitness for those Divine Impressions which very seldom come down but into a Spirit profoundly silent Seeing then there may be so much danger in indulging Imagination even in these pure Objects we shall find it very requisite oft to cease from all Imagination and to act no Thought upon any thing in the heights above or the depths below I say no Thought Thoughts being but Images which reach not the Essence of spiritual Objects But this Practice excludes not that general constant intellectual sight and apprehension of God which the Soul thus far arrived enjoys Therefore I speak not here to those who have not attained a continual habitual apprehension of the Divine Presence for if they should strive to cease from their good Thoughts they might fall into a kind of Stupidity far worse But I here give Directions to those who having attained constant habitual Communion with God press after Perfection in their constant Progress through all Impediments of which this working of Imagination being one we here give experimental Directions to over come it And certainly there is no better way than the Annihilation of all Thoughts and the retiring from the Phantasie into the silent Mind which more fits the Soul for Divine Irradiation and spiritual Imbraces for the more quiet we are the less resistance we make against a supernatural Impression and the easier we perceive the Beginnings of Divine Attraction and so yield our selves to it And truly when the Soul hath attained the Power to throw its self as oft as it is meet into the silent super imaginary State which must be attained by the habitual constant Practice of it it will then come to internal Openings and intellectual Sights of the Invisible worlds and many times receive quickning Glances from the Eternity with those strong infusions of Love that bring the Soul many times near to a Rapture And truly the enjoyment we have in this State fully recompenceth all that Self-denial we pass through to the attainment of it Here then the false Prophet which is irregular Imagination comes to be conquered being commanded by the inward Mind that now oft draws up the Soul into the Paradisical World from the motion of Phantasie and Imagination And now the Soul doth bid Adieu To Phansies Glass ' cause 't is not true And to that Mirrour turns its Eye Where Things are view'd Essentially And there in silence waits that State to know To which all former Dispensations bow Wait on blest Soul and know this Passive Life Will send thee into Oneness from all strife CHAP. X IMagination being now over-come and the Animal Man mortified the Soul cannot but clearly discover its growth in the Image of God and the Resurrection of the Angelical Man which now evidently perceives its self springing up in a new Principle above the Spirit of the World and its mixt Laws And here we come to own and receive new Relations contracted by our Progress in the New-Birth and our tendency from the Spirit of the World toward Eternity And as through the Act of Generation we came to be invested with Earthly Relations so by the Work of Regeneration we come to possess those that are Spiritual Here we come to honour God as our Father in the Spirit not excluding any other of his beloved Ones who have been instrumental to beget us into the Divine Image and Wisdom or Jerusalem above as our true Mother And so all other Saints who have been begotten by the same Power into the same Nature become our true Brothers and Sisters all standing upon one Root drawing one nourishment and knit together by one Spirit which is the Instructer Leader and Comforter of all But we shall here find a nearer Vnion and Communion amongst those who have been by one particular Instrument begotten into the Life of Christ having a peculiar Vein of Spiritual Enjoyment running through them which others who received not that particular Tincture do not partake of And had we lived in the Apostles times we should have seen this among the Primitive Christians for certainly they that were begotten by Paul had a particular endearment to him and to one another and so it may be said of those that were converted by Apollo Cephas and others Which is clear by that Scripture 1 Cor. 1 12. Evâ—ry one of you saith I am of Paul and I of Apollo and I of Cephas And though Paul blames them here for Contention Emulation and Irregularity in their particular Affections to their Spiritual Fathers yet not for a peculiar ownment of those who instrumentally converted them for that is according to the Law of pure Justice seeing he that Converts a Sinner saves a Soul from Death and covers a Multitude of Sins And Paul himself in some places speaks of himself as a Spiritual Father requiring of those he had begotten into the Faith due Respect Obedience and Love But amongst those who are thus peculiarly united we shall see some more closely knit in Spiritual agreement than others and essensed into one anothers Spirits as may appear by that great Union which Christ had with John and that particular Affection he bare towards him which was the reason why John was called by way of eminency and distinction from the rest The Disciple whom Jesus Loved Now when we come to experience this we shall know the meaning of that Scripture where Bone is said to come to His Bone For as some Bones are locked one in another and some Members grow more immediately one out of another though all make up but one Organical Body so some Spirits are nearer united in Christs body then others and stand closer joynted and more intrinsecally compacted but all make up but one spiritual and mystical Body And this we shall find to flow from
and sparks of fire leap out Out of his Nostrills goeth Smoak as out of a seething Cauldron His breath kindleth Coals and a flame goeth out of his Mouth v. 31. He maketh the Deep to boil like a Pot of Ointment 34. He beholdeth all high things He is a King over all the Children of Pride which are the Principalities Powers and spiritual Wickednesses of this Dark World Many of which in their Dark Bodies bear the forms of terrible Beasts Rev. 9.3.17 Into this Region Christ descended after his giving up of the Ghost upon the Cross for this is a distinct Article of the Ancient Creed and agrees with Acts 2.27 Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell which was Prophetically spoken by the Psalmist of Christ's descending into Hell and of his Redemption from it and Ephes 4.9 't is said that before he ascended he descended into the lower parts of the Earth which cannot be meant of his outward Body because that lay in or near the superficies of the Earth or as in Mat. 12.40 into the Heart of the Earth Where there is a parallel made betwixt Jonas and Christ the Type and the Antitype which cannot well correspond except Christ descended into the Sphere of the inward Spiritual Leviathan as Jonas into the belly of the outward from whence in Type of Christ he said Jonah 2.2 Out of the Belly of Hell cryed I and thou heardest my Voice Now Hell or the Dark World may be called the heart of the Earth 1. In allusion to that large Sphere or Lake of Fire which according to Des Cartes and some learned Hermetick Philosophers is seated in and about the Center of the Earth 2 dly In that acording to the eternal Gradation of Beings and Principles it may be said to be within in the middle or Center of it the Earth and all Terrestrial Matter being more outward in the Circumference And though Hell is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 8.12 The utter or more outward darkness yet that 's spoken in relation to Paradise and the Eternal World not in reference to the Earth and this World Now Christ having passed through this Principle into Paradise draws us all after him according to that Promise When I am lifted up on the Cross I will draw all Men unto me Now this is no other way than that he went through himself for there is but one way into everlasting Life and the Kingdom of Glory and that very narrow too according to Christs words Strait is the Gate and narrow or afflicted is the way that leads into Life and few there be that find it Even they only who deny themselves and take up their Crosses and follow him who is the Way not only through this World but even through Death and Hell also for though in conformity to his pattern we come to be cast into Hell which Mat. 13.50 is called the Furnace of Fire typed forth by Nebuchadnezzars fiery Furnace into which the three Children were cast yet the Son of God walks there with us keeping us from that Torment and Pain which the damned undergo and making us with him to triumph over Principalities and Powers and to conquer them by the Blood of the everlasting Covenant which quenching the fire of wrath raiseth the Spirits of the Obedient out of this dark grave into the joys of Paradise But we must know that in our Progress we may many times be cast into Terror and Anguish Yea feel Hell awakened in us and afterwards be delivered by some influence of Christs Spirit and infusions of his Love and yet be short of this Resurrection and of passing through Hell as Conquerors which can never be till we descend thither without Guilt in Child-like Innocency with the Candle of the Lord in our hands which is the Pillar of Fire which alone can lead us through this Night into the Day of Paradise To which State whoever attain cannot but sing thus in the joy of their Spirits Ye Morning Stars ye Sons of Light Rejoice with Jubilation As once ye did when that first Night Was scatter'd by Creation Behold the Prince of Night is thrown Into his proper Place And he that cast the Dragon down Hath raised me by his Grace And now I stand above that Grave Where Wrath entombed is And wait that rich Crown to receive Which will be perfect Bliss CHAP. XIII BY this time the Soul experienceth the happy state of being freed from the principle of Selfness in returning to God from the Spirit of the World and sees the real progress it hath made from the Outward through the Inward Dark World into the Internal Paradise where Adam lived before his Fall and where Christ conversed betwixt the time of his Resurrection and Ascention In this spiritual Region the Curse is not manifest there being a perpetual Spring Here are the Idea's of all visible bodies in much Beauty and appearing lustre Here are those bright Clouds which overshadowed Christ on the Mount and when he was received up into Heaven in which he will descend when he comes again to judge the Earth Now the Soul having attained to the State of this Angelical Garden knows what it is to turn and become as a Child and to attain a secret and quiet Life of Innocency and pure Love free from those Passions and Evil Affections it had formerly groaned under And here it experienceth what it is to be born of Water and the Spirit as a necessary qualification to do the will of God And sees its Conception in the Womb of Wisdom which is our new Mother who here distills the Milk of the Eternal Word from the Eternal World to feed and nourish the Soul whither it now Travels as fixing its sight upon that pure River of Water of Life clear as Chrystal proceeding out of the Throne of God and of the Lamb. But now likewise the Soul lives the life of Spiritual Vegitation and grows like a Willow by the Water-Courses or a Lilly in the Garden of the Lord being continually refreshed with the Dews of the Eternal Heavens and quickened by the Beams of the Sun of Righteousness and cherished with the enlivening gales of the Holy Spirit All that are in this state are like the harmless flowers in a fruitful Garden springing from the same ground yet differing in Colour Virtue Smell and growth according to their several Natures and times of Planting yet all serving to express the Power Love and Wisdom of their Creator without any Strife or Contention for Eminency Place or Esteem being all satisfyed with what God affords them and their different Capacities fit them for O what a sweet Harmony is here What a beautiful consent in expressing the goodness of the great Creator of all things How far are Spirits here from envying the different Beauties and Ornaments one of another How sweetly do they incline to mutual love and agreement as being the Branches of one pure
a new Impression which more exciting the Powers of the Soul to a new Imbrace opens the way more for the King of Glory to enter with that power and unutterable force of Divine Love that the Soul becomes filled swallowed up and transported into a kind of Rapture not being able to express those Pleasures Gusts Imbraces Love-Extasies which then are piercing thorough it nor sufficient Praises and Hallelujahs to the great King of Saints who bestows such Royal tokens of Love upon it And as in this state there is such holy Commerce in pure Love betwixt God and the Soul so there is betwixt the Soul and other Saints who cannot but wonderfully own and love one another and delight in that likeness of God which they see in each other and bless him for those living Powers of Grace and Love that are communicated in the Worship of God by which they exceedingly refresh each others Spirits Now this mutual love chiefly flows from a sight and sense of Oneness which exceedingly enforceth this great closing and out-slowing of Spirit to delight comfort and refresh one another And here is that strength of Love that we could give our lives for the Brethren and endure much Affliction to flee them from sufferings Here we bear one anothers Burdens and so fulfil the Royal Law of Love for we can keep nothing as our own but what we heartily communicate and make our Brethren partakers of because they are part of our selves Here we come to practice that heavenly Law of loving our Neighbours as our Selves and of doing Gods Will on Earth as it is done in Heaven for which end Man and the visible World were brought forth For the breaking forth of sin and wrath was not according to Gods most pure and holy Will which is good and tends to Salvation and Blessing and the keeping of his Creatures in that primitive Harmony in which they came out of Gods hands as fitted to glorifie him through mutual Love and regular Obedience And this is the end of Christs Coming into the World of Mans Nature even to restore it from the Discord of Sin and Wrath to the Harmony of pure Love and Righteousness therefore 't is a happy state to have attained this Habit of Love before described which will not terminate within the Sphere of our Neighbours and Brethren but in some measure flow out to all causing us to breath after endeavour and pray for their Change for it is the Nature of true Love to communicate it self and to delight in propagating its own heavenly Image that so many may come to partake of Bliss and Happiness through it And in this Enjoyment if we find any that know and posses but little yet thirst much after God O how will our hearts burn within us How ready shall we be to employ our Talents for their good and to discover that Way which leads through Nature into the Kingdom of the Love What labour and pains could we take to be instrumental in changing and quickning them and in bringing them through the Cross to our ovvn state of Happiness so that this Dispensation abounds much in Love both to God and our Neighbour fitting the Soul for Ascention into Eternity there to see and know with Satisfaction and Delight those Wonders which the holy Angels and glorifyed Saints are continually viewing with Joy and Admiration Blest is that Soul which is arrived here Where quickning Love casts out dejecting Fear And gives that sweet Composure to the Mind That it lyes passive to that Holy Wind Which blowing from the highest Paradise Invites the Soul to come and Sabbatise In that bright day where the Arch-Angels sing Sweet Hallelujahs to our Christ their King CHAP. XVI Being the Conclusion to the Rest THE Soul being brought thus far in the Heart-Work by the Power of Jesus through the practice of the Cross in Self-denial and Resignation lives in habitual springings up of the Love in the Centre of it's Spirit where the work is near finished the Will being constantly drawn toward the Heart of God in the Chariot of Love And in this State the Soul is completely fitted for Ascension and the opening of the Eternal World which is part of the Head-work for in that the spiritual Eye is seated which is capable to see and know the wonders of Eternity And though some in a rapture may be taken up into that World long before the work in their Hearts Wills and Affections is finished yet such must afterward go through the work in Nature of rectifying all their Properties and of bringing their Wills into Death and pure Resignation that so they may be fitted for the Birth of the Love whence its clear that this State of Regeneration attained in the Will through the Death is far more considerable and nearer Perfection than the highest Rapture without such a foregoing work and the Ascension after this work of Regeneration in the Heart is more weighty and more tending to Perfection than any Rapture of Transportation before can be because by such a Work the Will is wrought up into a constant Union with Christ which by Ascension is more confirmed and established the Heart through that being more raised above all mortal corruptible Objects and more reduced into a passive silent waiting for the Opening of the Eternal Temple whence the infallible Voice proceeds and where the great High-Priest sparkles with the most bright Beams of divine Glory But the manner of the Souls Ascending from the Internal to the Eternal World is very remarkable and wonderful It cannot of its self move one degree upward That same hand of power which carried it downward to see the Wonders of God in the Depths must carry it upward to see his Wonders in the high places above So that in this the Soul is meerly passive The Spirit of Christ being the Agent which descending with an over-shadowing Vertue upon it wraps it up swiftly and in a strong force by which the Souls Acts are for a while suspended translates it as it were in a strait Line from the Inward toward the Inmost In this Translation or Ascension what Wonders are seen and felt I shall not particularly express But in general this I must declare That there is an unutterable Power transfusing the Soul in this Ascent which first comes into the Womb of the Invisible Worlds out of which they issue in which it finds an Universal Silence or Stilness and above which it discovers a great Glory inhabited by glorified Spirits who there live in perpetual Harmony and Joy singing Halelujahs to the Lamb of God and continually waiting upon the Infallible Voice proceeding from the Throne of God To be taken into this is a further degree of Ascension being the second Mansion in the Eternal World where Myriads of Angels attend those Commands which come out of the Most holy place which is the last and highest Mansion in that World answering to
Love as the second to Life and the first to Light corresponding with the threefold manifestation of Father Son and Holy Ghost But to speak much of the two last requires greater Experience than yet I have enjoyed Neither is it expedient to describe the first nor those Wonders which are in it in regard of that Blindness and general Enmity which is in Mens hearts against the deep Mysteries of God in Invisible Nature But after Ascension into the first the Soul becomes so much indued with the sense and apprehension of those Spiritual Mysteries it was there acquainted with and hath such a clear View of the outward World and of the Misery that most there lye in that it cannot but weep over the greatest part of Men as Christ did over Jerusalem as seeing them exceeding Ignorant of Eternity and so of their own Everlasting happiness and involved in the Spirit of the outward World where the Prince of the World holds them Captive and makes them Enemies to the Kingdom of Love in which there is no Enmity Covetousness Lust nor Deceit nor any such things as those are which in the World are most courted and admired After this also the Soul begins to discover the Evil Properties and Habits of Mens Spirits very much portrayed in their Faces discovering in their very Aspects and Signatures those Bestial and devillish Passions by which they are swayed and captivated within so that the Eye many times affects the Heart with grief in viewing the sad Estate of Souls estranged from the Life of Innocency and pure Virginity and imprisoned in the dark Chains of Corrupt flesh and blood Here likewise the Soul is exceeding Passive and much comprehended in deep abstract Silence by which it much enjoys unutterable Pleasures and Gusts from the inward ground of Eternity having much sense of the nearness of that Kingdom where the Angelical Thrones sing Hallelujahs and sport themselves in the Innocent delights of their Eternal Spheres and Luminous Mansions And as the Soul passeth from the first Mansion towards the second and third Jesus of Nazareth in his glorified Humanity begins to give great demonstrations of his Presence and to visit the inward Man with frequent and very great impressions so that it cannot doubt but that he is some times personally present infusing the Tincture of his glorified Body into the Heart which is sweeter than Hony and burns like Oil and fire mixed together And truly this Dispensation is exceeding comfortable and very weighty for the discovery of Christs presence sometimes swallows up the Soul into unspeakable Joy being transfused with the breath of his Mouth which is most Odoriferous and quickened by the touch of his Body which is most Delightful and pierced through with the Sound of his Voice which is most harmonious and powerful causing the Soul deeply to admire the Grace of God and to cry out with Thomas my Lord and my God In this dispensation Christ shews very powerfully the necessity of his Mediation as God-Man and that whatever we receive is through him who standing in the deepest Vnion with the Father conveys all Light Life and Love from himself into us who at the time of the Restitution of all things Act. 3.21 will again Breath the Holy Ghost on his chosen Vessels of which those in the Primitive time received but the first Fruits He also reveals in this state how the Mystery of Iniquity even the Spirit of Anti-Christ works in most Sects of Christians carrying them either to deny or slight the great Mystery of his Mediatory Office Or by misconceptions to cry up his Blood and Merits to the prejudice of Mortification Self-denyal and the Imitating of his most Innocent Life as our Pattern to walk by in this World Moreover in this Dispensation the Soul enjoys very great Openings of Eternity in the Heart which are different from Openings in the Head where the inward Senses of hearing and seeing are resident for whatever in a Divine Sight Eternity opening in the Head we clearly and distinctly view and behold the same in a Heart-opening we really feel and handle in a Spiritual way for in it we come experimentally to know and perceive the Motions and Administring Influences of Angels the Vertue and Efficacy of Christs universal and particular Body The Harmony Love and Enjoyments of the Spirits of Just Men made Perfect with much of the Glory and Majesty of that Kingdom prepared for us from the beginning of the World into which none can enter but those who have forsaken all for Christ and have devested themselves of all the Vestments of Corruption and have put on the Robe of Innocency which is the Garment of true Virginity in which they will not be ashamed to stand before the Son of Man in his Kingdom Then be ye wise Immortal Sparks of Fire And strive to get you Garments of pure Light In which you may from mortal Dregs retire Into that Glory where 's no Spot of Night O do but weigh how swiftly Time goes by And how all Earthly Pleasures rise and fall As soon as they a Being have they die And nothing can their hasty Joy recall But when the outward Garment is withdrawn Eternity presents its constant Face In which all Actions clearly will be shown Which ever have been wrought in Times short Race But such alone can there possessed be Of Happiness that have been born again Others will feel the Pangs of Misery Who in their Wills Corruption still retain Then die to Sin while on the Earth you live So after Death true Life you shall receive A Brief ESSAY In VERSE Upon the 13th Chapter of Corinthians the First 1. THo' I with Eloquence should vested be Above the Pitch of meer Humanity So as in Tongues with Angels for to Vie Yet all is Nothing without Charity Like Sounding Brass or the loud Cymbals Noise Without true Life I should but form a Voice 2. And tho' I have the Gift of Prophecy And hidden Wisdom be unvail'd to me So that in Knowledge equal I become To the great Soul of Mighty Salomon Yea tho' by Faith vast Hills I could remove Yet all is nothing without perfect Love 3. Tho' all my Goods on the Poor I bestow And so great Zeal for my Religion show As to consent my Flesh in Flames should burn Rather than from my Dear Opinion turn Yet thence no Profit to my Soul can rise Except to Love it's self 's a Sacrifice 4. This Love by its true Characters may be Distinguish'd from pretended Charity It perseveres in Patience and is kind Then when to try it all things seem combin'd Envies black Tincture it did never know Nor Ostentation in its great Deeds show 'T is not inflated but will kiss the Dust To help those Souls which in its Goodness trust 5. Comely to all it self it doth express Through Condescention seeking for to bless No Self-Love ever did its Actions stain It stoops to suffer to make others