of the Almighty Creator himself For it cannot be expected that God should or would help Man any more having created him like himself and also created him a new when there was possibility lest of Recovery But if Man becomes his own Creator and a Necromancer in the Hellish Operation a third Relief can never be And why Because God himself cannot work against the Truth or the right Order of Eternity He himself being the Prince of Order And he cannot deny himself and belye his own Nature Neither will he call back a Day that is past §. 3. God alloweth Time NOw now now is the time It may be possible to day to do a thing which cannot be done to morrow Yea the true Hour must be waited upon to do it Go not about a Business against the Hair Because to every thing and business there is Time and Judgment which Man oâ—t times neglecteth therefore his Misery is great upon him Lose not the Tyde of the Eternal Ocean which should carry the Soul to Paradise for it stays for none Now is the time to work with all thy might and to lay up for Heaven the end of thy Labour and Work For in the Grave whither thou goest it cannot be attained Tâ—o ' God promises Forgiveness to Repentants yet he doth not promise to morrow to repent in For many shall strive to enter in at the Gate of Heaven but when the day of Grace is past they shall not be able Whoever he be that sinneth out his Day or despiseth the last Day of his Visitation by Obstinacy slighteth the Holy Ghosts last Reproof rejâ—cts him out of his Company and becomes Reprobate A Man in a Christian Warfare may quarrel with his Reprover oft-times and be reconciled again considering that those Reproofs were for his Good But the Reprobate is past Reproof and hates to be Reformed He shall not be forgiven in this World nor in that which is to come No tho'he Esau-like doth seek to repent for his Repentance is too late And tho' he work at the Hour of Death with all his might what soever his hand sindeth to do towards his New Creation yet the Mystery of the false Nature prevails And it is folly to seek the Living among the Dead It is true God and his benign Powers or Influences wait for an Advantage against the Devils Temptations at all times And therefore the good Genius will not leave the very worst Sinner till the last gasp For according to the Right of the Deity the holy Angels claim the first sifting and searching of the Soul when Man is a dying As a Physitian when he seeth his Patient mortally sick yet he gives him some Cordials to ease him So God may lessen the Punishment and Damnation of one that hath sinned out his Day of Grace offered once to him and now repents heartily that he hath passed by the Gate of Mercy at such and such times which is now fresh in his Memory and is forry by late repentance But he can never enter in at Heavens Gate For the Door will be shut in its right time and â—arries for no Mans lingering And the Tyde of the Eternal Ocean will wait no Mans leasure §. 4. And Tallents SEranimis Vita est Câ—asina vive Hodie To Morrow's Life is too late Live to Day Feed on thy true daily Bread to Day or to Morrow thou wilt dye Eternally Post Mortem Aeternam nulla Voluptas Expect not therefore after thou hast eaten thy Morsel in wantonness to have it too when there is need of it to refresh thee in thy Journey Thus Men complain now-a-days of the hardness of the Times not considering how they spend in a Day many times in a Drunken Feast what might naturally supply them with sufficiency as to the maintenance of their Bodies in Health for a Month. This is abusing or rather a Fascination of Gods Blessings Therefore as One said In this World is the Place of Mercy in the Other of Justice and Judgment And The Eeginnings of Things are in our own Power but the End in God's And He that considers what is past may foresee what is to come One scoffingly said to one that lost his Watch or Horary Engine Time will away all the World cannot help it So may it be said to the Fool that lost his spiritual Instrument of discerning Time and Eternity O Man Provide Oyl and Treasures for Heaven before-hand Trimmed Lamps without Oyl are of no real Use Tho' one of thy Feet may be already in the Grave of Hell as being one that came when the Door of Mercy was shut and tho' thou may'st be an old and reprebate Sinner and yet wouldst now repent at the Twelfth Hour after thou hast been working for thy Master the Devil as being one of those that stood idle in the Market-place expecting Work from the Lord of the Vineyard tho' it be too late now Make thy self a Friend in time for old Friends and old Wine are best Thou wilt perhaps hope God will make thee his new Friend at the last Hour but that is too late For saith Christ It is not mine to give you to sit on my Right or Left Hand but to whom it is prepared of my Father according to the condition of the Covenant But whosoever comes to God in time God can in no wise cast out For such a one takes Heaven violently by Force and as one said overcomes God and claims Heaven as his Right as tho' Heaven were his true native Home and God his real Father as indeed he is Tho' it must be confest Mans Fall made Heaven to become a Free Gift §. 5. The Seed sown at Death SOme may object If Man be a small Incarnation wherein God was pleased to multiply himself Or if Man be God's Off-spring and Essence how can God pass Sentence upon his own Essence Answ Here lies the great Mystery The Work of Eternity is the World not yet made and yet ever made by Eternity viz. This World was made in six Days but the World for which this was made will scarce be finished in less than Six thousand Mystical Days or Years The Soul as to the stamp mold or eternal shape thereof will not be finished till the death of the Body Even then the Signature of the Soul's Spirit or else of its Worm will be charactered for Eternity Every wicked Soul is but an Embryo And the Divine Child or Pious Soul is now a forming in the Womb of the outward Body and not perfected in an holy Man till the fall of the Body Therefore whatsoever God doth it shall be for ever established by his Graver the Spirit on the Souls Beast-Plate Consider his Work For who can make straight that which he hath made crooked by the Law which altereth not And say not thou What is the cause that the former Days in the outward Life were better than these dark and gloomy Days nigh Deaths Door For thou dost not
the Wise and their Works are in the hand of God and weighed in the Ballance of Equity No Man knoweth either Love or Hatred Joy or Sorrow and how it will be in the other World by all that is before him in this World All things come alike to all There is one Event to the Righteous and to the Wicked God maketh the Sun and Rain to come upon the Just and Unjust His Divine Sun enlightens every one that comes into this World both the Clean and the Vnclean Him that sacrificeth his Lusts and him that sacrificeth not Him that sweareth to Gods Covenant and him that fears the Oath of Divine Allegiance and him that forswearâ—s it This seems an evil among all things that are done under the Sun that there is one Event unto all Yea also the Heart of the Sons of Men is full of Evil and Madness is in their Heart while they live and after that they go to the Dead For to him that is joyned to all the Living in the holy World there is hope in this Life-time for a living Dog which may be cultivated by degrees is better than a dead Lion And the Living know that they shall dye the Eternal Death if they cut themselves off from the Root But the Dead who die the second death know not anything at all but only pain neither have they any more a reward from God for the memory of them when the Days of Mourning shall be past is for ever forgotten Also their Love and their Hatred and their Envy is so perished that it can never hurt any of the Celestial Incolists Neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the Sun of their Eternity in the dark Center of their Abyss §. 10. All alike Relieved by a Poor Wise Man SO I returned and saw under the clear Sun of Divine Light that the Race is not always to the Swift nor the Battel to the Strong nor yet Bread to the Skilful Tiller of the harsh Earth nor yet Favour to Men of Skill But Time and Chance happeneth to them all and a wise Man discerneth both Time and Judgment But a wise Man also knows not his time As the Fishes that are taken in an evil Net and as the Birds that are caught in the Snare so are the Sons of Men snared in an evil time or Unlucky Hour of the Enemies temptation when it falleth suddenly upon them and that for want of Divine Skill and Wisdom with which whoever is endued he cannot be cheated This wisdom also have I seen under the Sun and it seemed great unto me There was a little Microcosmick City and few skilful Soldiers within it And there came a great King against it and by Authority from Luciscer besieged it and built great Bulwarks against it Now there was found in it a poor contemptible wise Man and he by his Wisdom delivered the City by giving his Life for the Inhabitants Yet no Man remembred that same poor servile Man Then said I Wisdom is better than strength nevertheless the poor Mans Wisdom is despised and his words are not heard The Words of the Wise are heard in quiet as a still pure Voice more than the cry of a King that ruleth among Fools and his losty loud words in the streets of Confusion Wisdom is better than Weapons of War But one sin ful Affection destroyeth much Good and by its jarring spoils the still Harmony in the Humane Harp even as one scabbed Sheep infects the whole Flock CHAP. II. The Souls Longing § 1. Crying Give Give VAnity of Vanities faith the Soul's Spirit All extern Objects are a vexation of my Spirit Now O Man saith the Eternal Preacher of the holy Gospel Knowest thou what thy Soul and what the Spirit of thy Soul is The Soul is a dry Hunger It is a longing Anguish It is a Fire without Fewel Lay thy hand upon thy Brest and feel thy own Root the Heart and then tell me dost thou feel no panting there No Breathing or Longing there No Hungring nor Thirsting there Art thou sensible of no Labour and Travail there No restless and incessant Crying there Crying Give give O give me that which I labour for O give me that which I seek after Even as every thing would fain live so would I Thou wilt say That 's the throboing and motion of the Heart and Pulses proceeding from the Vital Spirit Tho' that be true yet Life and Sense in Man are rooted in the Abyss of the Source of Eternal Joy and Delightful Affection of a thing Loved And that is the Soul who cries in the Gate of Mans Pallace Give me some Food true Food for me § 2. Seven-fold Craving O Saith the Spirit of the Soul Pity me my dear Soul O pity a poor Prisoner Bring me out of this Dungeon of Confinement enlarge my Habitation that I may find my late home again and solace my hankering eager Mind with my own dear Family and Relations Oh have pity upon a poor Beggar Give me a little Food to satisfie a hungry craving Soul O give me a little Water out of the Living Fountain to quench the great thirst and furious fire of my Passion O have compassion upon a poor Pilgrim shew me the way to a quiet lodge of Repose I want the shadow of a great Rock in this weary Land I cannot take a Nap of sweet sleep and refreshment in this parched Heath Here is no spreading Elm nor Beech nor Fountain of Chrystal Streams no warbling River beside which I may take my rest to recreate my languishing and tired Spirits O come dear Shepherd to seek thy roving Sheep Call me again with thy Melodious Shepherds Pipe I listen at times to hear it but cannot I dare not bleat my self lest the Wolves hear me O come blessed Shepherd and stand upon a high place where thy Voice may be audible Come skipping upon these Mountains and leaping upon the Hills of my wandring Mind For I am quite â—â—â—ed in this tedious Wilderness O give Rest to my travailing weary Spirit O this is not my Rest O somebody have mercy upon a distracted Innocent condemned by false Witnesses to be confined as in Bedlam I cannot set my heart at rest because of a pannick Fear that seizeth upon me Oppression makes a wise Man mad and besides himself O some Skilful Musician come and refresh my Senses and self-afflicting Conscience with the Har mony of the holy Gospel and the Melody of the blessed Tidings of Everlasting Serenity O who will pity a poor wounded and sick Person Give me some heavenly Balm or Cordial to heal my heavy heart and to slop the raging of my Sore and the swelling of my furious Agony Break the sence that separates me from my desired Object O shew mercy to a poor naked Person O I have been stripped naked in a Wilderness by Thieves and Murderers they have whipped me and smote me with sore Boils all over As
Images upon Tables and made Law to distinguish every Mans Propriety from another But those Laws being not able to Bridle them they at last invented there was a Just Eye in secret that observed every Unjust Action That so they might be afraid to steal or commit Fornication Answ That God made Man upright and that Man found out many Inventions part of which was the Languages now extant we acknowledge But withal we affirm That the first Language was a Natural Mental Speech Let such an Atheist read History For he shall find there is no History that shews the Manners of any People but it shews also or gives a hint of their Religion The Voice of every Animal likewise calling to the Lord of Nature when any sudden fear seizeth upon them proves a Superiour Power There was one told his Friend That when he was young he thought there was no Hell in the Conscience but now being old he began to doubt what if there be one Now seeing the Atheist pleads That as the Flame of an Extinguished Candle dissolves and loseth it self in the Circumambient Air even so the Taper of Life vanisheth into pure AEther and is no more when the Law of Union of Body and Soul is violated and broken Second Spira Answ Here some Atheist may perhaps acknowledge as Reason will force any one that hath common Sense that there is a First Mover Which is demonstrated in all things So many Fountains from one Trunk or Bole which is the Ocean So many Branches from one Root So many Members receiving a Radical Life from one Heart so many Stars receiving Light from one Fountain of Light the Sun But seeing he will not acknowledge that God will be so cruel to be the Cause of an Everlasting Hell to the Soul of Man I acknowledge the same thing Yet there is a Hell and that Eternally For if it were not so Man would have destroyed the whole Creation ere this time in which there is such an an excellent Order and sympathetical Harmony between Superiours and Inferiours between Bodies and their Spirits and rifled the Closet of him that sits Eternally upon the Fire the Root of every Being As God made all Visibies of Nothing or rather out of his own invisible Essence So thou O Chymical Atheist makest of the whole nothing § 8. By Religion and Dreams AGain The Atheist asserteth That Pride and Humility are but one thing only they differ a little in Circumstances For Pride looks upon all its desired Accomplishments to be behind i◠Humility expects its Perfections as being before it not yet attained And so Humility is a kind of Pride saying to it self Thou shalt be advanced to Honour some time or other Answ But let him know that right Honour is an Advancement of Love For in Heaven there is not the least defire of Revenge As may be seen in the Son of God himself than whom none is more Honourable yet He is that which helpeth and saveth Nature which is gone out of its Order and becomes a Servant of Servants stooping to Death for the sake of Mankind The Babe is greatest in Heaven But Honour that rigorously ruleth by Force is no Honour He is not long feared that is not always loved It is true God alone by his Power must keep up the Wall and Fence of the Gulf between the two Natures to keep them in Harmony which Harmony he himself is in the Abstract Or else the Fire of Hell would break in and destroy the being of the first Essence in the Love-World which was without beginning But the Atheist yet imagines that because he dreams of frightful things and the Idea's that he hath of them impress afflicting Resentments upon his Spirits as if they were real but when he awakes he saith all vanishes Second Spira Answ We will suppose a Man in a terrible Melancholick Dream and that the said man should Eternally remain in that Condition wherein the Soul is as really disturbed frighted and put out of Harmony as if he had been awake That is The Fright that he is assaulted with is real to the Imagination of the Soul as may be perceived that it many times trembles and continues in a trembling posture after waking a long time Now you will say all vanishes and passeth into Silence when the Soul recovers it self by the outward Senses Answ But suppose it had no such recourse as to seiz upon the Body and wake it when it is so exceedingly affrighted to rid it self out of the supposed imminent Danger Suppose it were then in the Sleep of Death and the Body will not be waked where shall the Body seek shelter then The temporal Sleep being a true figure of Death even the first Death or sleep of the Body in the Grave And as the Soul is sensible of a real Joy or Sorrow in Dreams and Visions So also in Death why may not it feel the same Seeing the Soul by its creative Imagination frames either an Heaven or Hell to it self and is really sensible thereof without the use of the material Organs while the Body is incapable of Sense in sleep or which is all one dead to the Natural Functions of the External Sensoriums So that it is very clear and plain against all Atheistical Deniers of the Souls Immortality even an Eternal Testimony for Gods being and the Souls everlasting abode either in Life or in feeling Deaths Property called Pain or Hell that there is no material thing that can hurt or afflict the Soul either in Sleep or Death but only its own Imagination or Turba which the Worm of the Soul causeth Thus in Dreams the Passion wherewith the Soul is affected seems a Shadow of a Fancy after waking So the matter of this outward World seems and is indeed nothing more than a Shadow in respect of the two Real Substantial Eternal Worlds For when this World was made or rather New-modelled or formed yet there was no new matter under the Eternal Sun §. 9. By Love's Passion AGain The Atheist objecteth The Irrational Animals dream as well as Man And therefore the Phantacy that fancieth Images in sleep is Temporary Answ In the Creation of the World there was no new thing done but what was done in the Eternal Mystery before in the Nonage of Time And all Created Beings will eternally abide in the Figure and Shadow Yet in the Stilness For when we say Beasts have no immortal Souls it must be meant they enter back again or downwards into the Root of their First Constitution That is Though they are now out of their first Order yet the Breach thereof shall not be imputed to them because it was not their Fault but Mans and they sprung forth each according to his kind or Eternal Property in the Seed of their Souls of Life so they shall be manifest Eternally in the same But the Atheist objecteth still That the Conceit of the Soul is very deceitful and as unconstant as Proteus For
thou goest §. 9. Phantasie inverted WHY saith my Objector This is a wonderful thing If this be the only Law and Right of Eternity And if God never eâ—acted any Counter-Law but only as a Penalty upon the breaking of this Law which cannot be altered What would the Soul have Or what would Mortal Man have to give himself rest For the End of all Motion is Rest And the End of all Travail is Refreshment the End of Longing is the Enjoyment of a thing Loved Answer Phantafie sorceth the Soul out of its natural Posture to work against the Hair And as the Ancient Proverb saith Love is Blind and that which is deformed seems fair in the Souls Eye And because God hath forbidden the Tree of Contrariety to be touched therefore Man hath a strong Fancy that there is some great Mystery in it And so like a Fool he comes to be governed by Fancy not considering there is no Smoak without Fire which not prevented his House may be burned But to clear the Mystery of this Subject still plainer to the Understanding It is well known where Fancy is strong the Author chooseth a Laborious Life while he enjoyeth a thing loved or fancied and feels not the Pain And prefers it before a Life of Pleasure without the Society of the Object his Love For he cannot enjoy Pleasure in Pleasure while the one thing fancied is withheld and kept back from him And the best thing being out of sight is out of Mind Now saith my Objector â— apprehend the Matter God who is a true Rest to the Soul offers a bitter Cup to the Soul saying Drink this first and thou shalt enjoy Eternal Pleasure And Lucifer presents Dishes pleasant to the Palate though bitter to the Belly God saith Come to me O all ye that labour and are heavy laden with Vanity and I will give you rest for my Yoke is easie and my Burden is Light But here is a Yoak of Burden of Affliction mentioned §. 10. Soul and Body must Sympathize ANswer I deny the Objection God commands the Soul to enjoy the Pleasure of Temporal as well as Eternal Life For the temperate Man hath a thousand times more Pleasure in Eating and Drinking then the Spewing Sick intoxicated Drunkard And as for the Yoak and Burden mentioned before the upright Soul counteth it no yoak of uneasiness For indeed it is not uneafie to any part but only the corrupted Fancy and the crooked Nature which judgeth the delightful way of Vertue to be irksome because unaccustomed thereunto For the Spirit of the Soul desires only his Right Object which if he obtains he lâ—ts the Soul enjoy Temporal Pleasure as he will out of what hath been said it is clear that it is not God fault that Man attains not the Fruition of his longing Desire and the Rest of his labouring Mind For like a Leech he chooseth to glut himself with the Blood of false Pleasure and then to spue up all again rather than to enjoy the true rest of his Mind in Contentment So Mans Ruine is of himself And the Soul sacrificing the Spirit as being the true Child in the Regeneration there are Drums and loud Musicks sounding to stop his Cries that the Voice of this Divine Complainer cannot be audible As thou knomest not the way of the Spirit or how the Bones do grow in the Womb of the Holy Pregnatress So thou knowest not the Work of God that makes all except thou be born of this Holy Seed And here also ariseth another Question how shall the Soul attain to satisfie his Longing and vehement Desire This is the Lesson which the whole World of Mankind are yet seeking to learn and for the most part learned as well as unlearned are stupid and dull in the comprehending of it because they would learn it the wrong way And God hath set the World in Mans Heart so that Man cannot find out the Work that God maketh from the beginning to the end of his Life without the Assistance and Revelation of the Spirit of the same God For first Man must by the Assistance of this spiritual Physitian cure the Distemper of his Soul and then he will love the thing enjoyned For what is the most pleasant Dainties in the World to an ill-prepared Stomack And also here also ariseth another great Question Is it possible for every Man born of a Woman to reach and attain to this Food or Fewel which he earnestly longs after Answer Though it hath been concluded by some pretended famous Divines that it is not possible for some who have been excluded by Gods predestinate Purpose who according to the Poet Inscripsere Deos sceleri numenque supernum Coede laboriferi credunt gaudere juvenci And though this Doctrine be horrid Blasphemy or Reproaching of God Yet I must be forced now to remit the Answer to another place CHAP. V. The Virgins Suit §. 1. Mans meet Help I The Preacher was Prince over the three Worlds in Eden I Preached the ancient Law in the Throne of Paradice And I gave my 〈◊〉 to seek and to search out by Wisdom concerning all things that are done under the Holy Heaven This sore Travel hath God given to the Sons of Men to be exercised therewith This sealed Book hath he given to Mankind to unclasp and to Read I have seen all the Labour and Travel and Work that are done under the lower Firmament And behold all is Vanity and Vexation of the pure Spirit of the Soul I communed with my own Heart saying Lo I am come to great Estate and have gotten more Wisdom then all the ancient Revolted Princes and â—ord Lucifer whâ— hath been Prince in Eden before me Yea my Heart had great Experience of Wisdom and Knowledge and I gave my Heart to know Wisdom and to know Madness and Folly by Reason whereof Lucifer lost his Throne I perceived also that this is a Vexation of the Holy Spirit For in mach Serpentine Wisdom and Subtilty is much grief And he that increaseth the Knowledge of good and evil in Opposition increaseth Sorrow as not practising what he knows And so all is Vanity whatever is a Vexation to the fair Virgins Spirit And promoteth not the mutual Joy of the Spirit of the Soul and the Divine Virgin or Humane Goddess And here lieth the great mistake of Mankind Folly is the grand Cause or rather a foolish Fancy of setting the Affection upon an Object Loved which cannot easily be withdrawn How is that Man will not love the fair Virgin whom God hath appointed for his Eternal Solace and Pleasure in the pure Paradise of undesiled Love and immaculate Chastity the tâ—ue Cause of Eternal Joy Now what is Joy but the Enjoyment of a thing loved and longed for But here lieth the great Error and here is Mans Misery he chooseth to eat and wipe his Mouth in a corner and to sit sotting over a Cup of Hellish Liquor in Private like a Fool or Self-conceited
not in Time attend to the Crowing of Aurora's Bird. And the Daughters of Musick shall be brought low that they cannot hear the Voice of their chief Musician §. 8. Before a second Apostacy ALso when they shall be afraid of an high Precipice on the brink of the great Abyss or Depth of Depths And a panick fear shall seiz upon them in the way of their Wandring And the Almond-Tree of Fading Youth shall flourish in its last Leaves ready to fall And the Grashoppers singing which calls them to labour in the Harvest shall be a tedious Note And he that blows with the Bellows upon the Fire of Life shall spoil them by unstopping them or fit them for kindling the Eternal Fire of a false Passionate Love And Desire of Generation in the Virgins Love shall fail Because Man leaves this Country of his Pilgrimage and seeks to wander to his long home but cannot find it except in the Grave of Silence and Darkness And his Oil in his Lamp is wasted in his Virgins Hand which should shew him the way whither he should go And the Mourners the Virgin and his good Genius and the Spirit of the Soul go cloathed in black about the Streets of his little City And the Conscience rings a sad and doleful Passing Bell. Or â—ver the silver Cord be loosed from the Pitcher which should draw Water out of the Fountain of the holy Blood be cracked Which Pitcher tho' it went oft to the Well of Salvation yet comes home broken at last by Negligence Or the Wheel of the circular motion of the incorrupted Juice be discompacted by Retroversion at the Cistern of Living Water Or the Golden Candlestick of a Pyramid-Figure be broken Or the Sieve of Separation of the impure Recrements from the pure parts be crushed Or the Sink of the Hellish Fundament be stoppâ—d whereby the whore House becomes an Infectious Jakes Thâ—n shall this confused Chaos without form and void return to the Womb of the Earthly Mother as it was And the Spirit of the Soul shall return to God that gave it to receive a Commission to apprehend the Soul and the Soul shall go back to the Original Matrix of its own Worm Vanity of Eternal Vanities saith the Immortal Preacher All the Actions and Qualities and Passions in the dark World is Vanity and the real Scene of a false Phantasie in the insinite Abyss O Man beware of thy self This Abyss is the cause of thine own Being Be therefore advised O Man Of Searching the Original Books of Science falsely so called i. e. vain Philosophy of which there is no end And too much study therein is a weariness of the Soul §. 9. No Redemption out of Hell KNow this O Man if thou doubtest whether of the Two Ways thou oughtest to choose and thou perhaps lightest on the wrong and so comest to a bad Misfortune then thou wilt say I intended to go the other way once When thou art already come into the irrevocable Pit Now I say know thou therefore what was the cause of this Because thou by some evil Imagination a little before didst stop the Ear of the Spirit of the Soul which only is capable to hear the Voice of Fair Wisdom the Pure Virgin Tho' the Virgin did at that Instant direct thee aright at the Parting or Turning of the Two Ways yet thou hadst not an Ear to hear her who cried behind thee in the Wilderness This is the Way walk in it When thou shalt come to be hid from the presence of thy dear Relations and banished as a Vagabond from thy right Native Country this may be thy Note Ah Wretch that I am How am I become a Wanderer and Fugitive or Renegado Why can-cannot I find my dearly Beloved whom I long after Must this be my Eternal Work and Labour to long uncessaâ—tly after the end of my Journey and yet never find the true Joy of my Soul and Refreshment of my Spirit O Almighty Creator of us all canst thou not break forth to me tho' I cannot rush forward to thee For I know thou bearest no malice towards me It is a thing inferiour to the Nobility of thy Nature to bear a grudge to a Delinquent and that Eternally O must I continue for ever in this Labyâ—inth seeking my Beloved and nâ—ver eâ—joy the Fruit of my 〈◊〉 What prâ—sit is in my mâ—rtal Blood Those that go 〈◊〉 into the 〈…〉 cannot add to thy Praise The Answer from God wiâ—â— be Those that would come from thence 〈◊〉 cannot And they that wouâ—d go from hence thither cannot 〈◊〉 so as to â—etch out a Captive thence aâ—d redeem him This is thy woful Work and Wages to Eternity §. 10. Conclusion LEt us hear the Conclusion of the whole System Fear God Fear to break his Law Which Law is Three-fold in the Root and Seven-fold in the Branches viz. Love God above all And the Virgin as thy self as being thy own Flesh and Blood She it is whom God hath appointed to preserve thy Seven Properties in an Harmony of Joy which Joy thou art bound to be Eternally affected with For this is the Whole Duty of Man But feed not on the false Mandrake-Tree of the Hellish Jezebel's Property which is Pain opposing Pleasure by vertue of her Baneful Breath But if thou art one that meanest thinking thou mayst be able as a Self-conceited God to alter the Fundamental Constitution and Law of the Coelestial Realm by calling Good Evil and commanding Pain to be Pleasure or the contrary Thou must first begin thy self That is A King or Law-giver ought to prescribe the same Law to his Subjects which he himself is willing to keep As Gods Law is to promote the heavenly Joy so he himself doth so But if thou art minded to frame a tormenting Engine a self-invented Idol for others If thou desirest as a pecullar God to correct Gods work and make a new Repugnant Law that is Let the sighting Properties be thy right Food or let the Hellish Pain be promoted then thou must begin and do so thy self and so thou shalt become a God in the dark World and thou shalt sit in a Throne of Anguish as being inspired by a malignant Blast from Hell by the Whore's side in the Chamber of Contagious and Fiery Infection without end and all Creatures shall wonder at thy ever-abiding the Flame of Consumption never to be consumed and at thy Necromantick Fabrick never to be blown up by thy self-produced Powder-Plot For God will bring every Thought Word and Deed to Judgment to be weighed in the Ballance of his Sanctuary by the motion of the Seven Wheels and every secret thing must be tried in the Eternal Fire which discovers the inward Impurities that it may be known whether it be good or whether it be evil that is Whether the Good or Evil Property be predominant in moving the Souls Wheel Backward or Forward As Gods Law was in the Beginning So it is now and ever shall be World without End Amen FINIS
HEAVEN The End of Man OR FINAL CAUSE OF THE SOUL's SPIRIT By WILLIAM WILLIAMS Teutonico-Philosopho-Theologus Juvenal Satyr VIII Summum crede nefas animam praeferre pudori viz. Virginis Pudicitiae Et propter vitam vivendi perdere CAVSAS Viz. Deum Efficientem Virginem Formalem Coelum Finalem Causam He that loveth his Life above the end of Life shall lose it LONDON Printed for Eliz. Whitlock in Amen-Corner near Stationers-Hall 1696. READER THou art here presented with a small Tract written in an Uncommon Stile The Author hath been much conversant in and a Studier of the Teutonick Philosophy His Notions which he hath here delivered though somewhat uncouth yet are they not to be rejected He hath express'd himself for the most part in a Metaphorical manner in which the Curious Readers are desired to receive them With this Request Not to permit the Non or Misunderstanding of the Rational Reader if not a little Elevated and more Divinely Enlightned then the unthinking World generally is be imputed as a fault to the Unintelligibleness of the Book it self It is not denied but that somewhat may be Objected against it but what then I know of no Systems of Divinity nor Philosophy exposed to Humane View but there may be Objections raised that cannot by the best Wits be easily if at all Answered It will likewise be expected from him that is so Captious and enviously Critical to set forth something in which will be no Contradiction nor Disconsonancy and then he may more reasonably find fault But as it is improbable nay utterly impossible to please all so the Author expects not to be disliked by all and if what he hath here publish'd please but the best or be profitable to any he hath his end who desires nothing more than the Manifestation of the Truths of God in Nature and Scripture whose aim and end is to be his Servant and every Mans Brother Dum Spiritus hos regit Artus Reader Thou mayst here perceive 1. What Mans Condition was 2. What it is 3. What it ought to be 4. What it ought not to be 5. What it may be if he accept 6. Or if he refuse 7. What it must be if persevere 8. Or if he fall from Grace 9. What it will be in the Bliss 10. Or in the Curse CHap. I. The Souls Antiquity S. 1. Lucifer's Noble Birth 2. Lucifer's Fall 3. His Captivity 4. The Souls Eternity 5. Man now a Subject of Time 6. The Souls Circle 7. Fatal Necessity of the Souls being 8. Gods Repentance 9. His Ballance allows the same event c. 10. All alike relieved by a poor wise Man Chap. II. The Souls Longing 1. Crying Give give 2. Seven-fold Craving 3. The Souls Importunity 4. He desires some real thing 5. It is no Whimsey 6. Atheists Objections Answered 7. By Humane Laws 8. By Religion and Dreams 9. By Loves Passion 10. By the Seven Properties Chap. III. The Souls Allegiance 1. There is a Divine Law 2. It altereth not 3. Yet it is inverted by Man 4. But it must be observed 5. To indulge the good Genius c. 6. It is no indifferent thing 7. Mans Portion from God 8. The Fool neglecteth it 9. And hateth his own flesh 10. No middle state Chap. IV. The Souls Rebellion 1. The Fools Appetite 2. Trust not in Vncertainties 3. The Lawâ—ivers Example 4. His Wisdom 5. Travall appointed to Man 6. Christs Sorrows 7. Mans Ignorance 8. And Mortality 9. Thantasie inverted 10. Soul and Body most sympathize Chap. V. The virgins Suit 1. Mans Meet Hâ—lp 2. Virgin Vertue 3. The Beginnings of Grace 4. The Excellency of Vertue 5. The Gospel of Peace 6. The Pleasantness of Vertue 7. Divine Contemplation 8. The Contentment of Vertue 9. The Acceptable Sacrifice 10. The Authority of Vertue Chap. VI. The Whores Suit 1. The Soul 's Backsliding 2. The Baits of Sin 3. Seven-fold Vice 4. The blind fall headlong 5. The Destruction of the Individuum 6. For spoiling the Souls sport 7. Not propagating the Species 8. Degrading the Soul 9. The Divine Reprover in the Conscience 10. Misery the end of Vice Chap. VII The Virgins Espousal 1. Reconcilement 2. Consecration of the Soul 3. Full Assurance 4. Perfect Liberty 5. Religious Vows 6. Pious Resolution 7. Seven-fold Vertue 8. Seven-fold Reward 9. Grace turned into Wantonness 10. By Double-Heartedness Chap. VIII The Virgins Farewel 1. Beware of falling from Grace 2. For there is no third Recovery 3. Vertue very Rare 4. Christs profered Service slighted 5. A seared Conscience 6. The Tallent given to another 7. The Souls Anguish and 8. Despair 9. Late Repentance 10. Hellish Blasphemy Chap. IX The Souls Rest 1. Where is this Rest 2. Not Gods fault if missed 3. God alloweth Time 4. And Tallents 5. The â—eed sown at Death 6. The Heavenly Feast stays for Man 7. Mans self-enjoyment Gods glory 8. Spoil not the End for the Means 9. Seven fold state in Eternity 10. Heaven Describ'd Chap. X. The Souls Transmigration 1. Christ is the Lawful King 2. His Right to reign in Man 3. False Judgment 4. Retaliation 5. The Souls Metamorphosis 6. Work in time 7. Before the Evil Days come 8. Before a second Apostacy 9. No Redemption out of Hell 10. The Conclusion HEAVEN The End of Man OR FINAL CAUSE OF The SOULS Spirit CHAP. I. The Souls Antiquity The PREFACE THe Words of the Eternal Preacher Son of God King of Heaven Vanity of Vanities saith the Great Prophet Vanity of Vanities All the Labour of Lucifer is Vanity And it is in vain to act against God it shall never prosper What profit hath Lucifer now of all the Labour in opposition to God which he hath taken under the Sun of his Eternity One Generation of Angels hath passed away and another humane off spring comes in their stead But the Kingdom and the Prize which is to be contended for abideth still §. 1. Lucifer's Noble Birth WHen Almighty God was pleased to multiply himself in Generating the holy Angels even the three Throne-Angels from whom again sprung many thousand Millions Lucifer's Dominion stood in the middle betwixt Michael and Vriel And he receiving and partaking of the brightness and beauty of the other two as by reflexive Rays was invested with a most transcâ—ndent Glory and Fairness But when he gazed and looked upon the most excellent Clarity and Beauty of the Son of God and also of his Pure and Blessâ—d Virgin making her self ready as a Bride for the reception of her Husband and when he perceived that this Virgin of God was the most beautiful of the Virgins he took a distaste against his own Virgin whom God had appointed for him as his chaste Consort and fell deeply in love with Gods Queen Virgin desiring to be like her or indeed brighter and fairer than she And was exceeâ—â—liâ—â—ly importunate to unite with and defile her in the Bed of Incest not being content to enjoy her pleasant Aspect and Serenity to
Monarch in his own Black Region Therefore O Man beware to come thither For to return again to God's Jurisdiction Hac Labor Hoc Opus est But you will say Why did God create or generate Man seeing he knew it would increase the Devils Kingdom Answ The Devil could not be captivated otherwise And there was no necessity that Man should â—â—ll except he would himself For if our Noble 〈…〉 â—ast â—â—d stood in the great Trial in Paradise 〈◊〉 Lucifer had infected the Macrocosm as to one part yet the infected part was hidden in the black Principle and the Earth had been a meer Paradise in this 〈◊〉 World § 4. The Souls Eternity NOw O Man behold thy self Thou art Lucifer's Rival Consider the Eternity Antiquity and Beginningless Noble Birth of thy Soul Thou art but a little or small Incarnation and yet God was pleased therein to multiply himself O Man consider thy self here Thou hast the Image of the Great Creator upon thy Soul tho' defaced yet capable to be restamped upon thy Spirit Vanity of Vanities All is Vanity whatever it be that offendeth or vexeth the pure Spirit of God and his Divine Image Therefore whatever hurteth or hindereth the well-being of the Soul or Separates it from God its Creator must be removed What profit hath he that worketh in all wherein he laboureth for the Wind God hath made every thing beautiful in his time also he hath set the World in Mans Heart Yea the three Worlds are in the little World so that no Man can find out the Work that God maketh from the Not beginning of Eternity to the infinite End For the Work of Eternity is the World not yet made and yet ever made by Eternity And Good and Evil do manifest themselves one by the other so Pain and Pleasure remain in one another hidden yet both remain in the wonder of God to his own Manifestation and Glory And so when I applied my Heart to know Wisdom and to see the business that is done upon the Humane Earth in this lower World for there is that neither day nor night enjoyeth a sweet rest of sleep with his Eyes in the Darkness of the Hellish Shadows Then I beheld all the Work of God that a Man cannot find out the Work that is done under the Eternal Sun Because tho' a Man labour to seek it out yet he shall not find it Yea though a Wise Man by the Serpents Craft think to know it yet he shall not be able to search it out The thing that hath been before the Creation is that which shall be and that which is done at present is that which shall be done in the succeeding World and there is no new thing under the Temporal or Eternal Sun Is there any Soul whereof it may be said See this Essence is New It hath been already of old time in the Nonage of Mans Generation which was before us There is no remembrance of former things that were done in Lucifer's Apostacy The New Man forgets all old things Neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are â—o come in Man's Apostacy by the succeeding Generations that shall come after us For to every purpose under the unmixed Heaven there is a season and a time for every Action A time to dye to the World and a time to be New born A time to plant good Herbs and a time to pluck up evil Weeds that are planted in the Heart A time to kill evil Beasts and a time to heal the wounds of the Soul A time to break down Lucifer's Bulwarks and a time to build up the holy Tabernacle for God in Man A time to weep for sins past and a time to laugh in Heaven A time to mâ—urn when the holy Bride is with-drawn And a time to dance with her when she is found A time to cast away Stones out of the Soulish Field and a time to gather Stones together for Gods Building A time to embrace the Virgin and a time to refrain A time to get Heavenly Treasures and a time to lose all for the sake of the Beloved A time to keep the Divine Talent and a time to cast away Lucifer's Jewels A time to rent the Heart and a time to sew new Garments with new Cloth A time to keep silence from uttering vain words and a time to speak to Gods praise A time to love God and his fair Daughters and a time to hate what is contrary to him A time to War with Lucifer and a time of Peace when the End of our Journey is found § 5. Man a Subject of Time SO that tho' Time be mutable yet there is an uninterrupted coherence between its Links or Chains and if the Cause go before the Effect must follow For if there be a departure out of the Order there must be a time to put that which departs therefrom in its due place again or turn it out And so if there be a time of a false Birth there must be a time to die Eternally if not new born If there be a time to plant evil Weeds there must be a time to pluck them up and throw them without the Garden and the Planter together If Man affords time to kill the Son of God in his Conscience God will find a time to raise him again to judge the Murderer If Man sin is time to build up a Babel of Confusion God will break it down in his time If there be a time to langh in vanity there must be a time to weep in repentance or to weep in Eternity If a time to dance to Satan's Musick there must be a time to mourn in Sackcloth and Ashes If there be a time to gather stones together to Babel there must be a time to cast them away If there be a time to embrace Jezabel there will be a time to refrain from that embracing If there be a time to get Riches by false dealings there will be a time to lose them by Thieves and Rust or other means If there be a time to keep Gods Talent in a Napkin and hide it there will be a time to take it away and give it to another If there be a time to sew Fig-leaves there must be a time to rent them and discover the Nakedness of those that sew them If there be a time that the dumb Conscience who betrays his Author keeps silence there must be a time that it will speak to Condemnation If there be a time to love the Whore there will be a come to hate and curse her that ever she was aâ— occasion of Allurement If there be a time of false peace and taking up a false Rest short of the 〈…〉 end there must be a timâ— that the Conscience will proclaim an implacable War against him thaâ— doth so and cause him to wander as a Fugitive and Vaâ—abond to Eternity and yet never obtain his Desire upon 〈◊〉 Enemies And thus because to every Action there 〈◊〉 appointed
Lions they have broken and crushed my Boâ—es O somebody cloath me with the Robes of Panity and white â—innen of Sanctity to cover the Nakedness of my Lustful Affections and Longing Mind O Pity a poor Slave a Servant of Servants a condemned Person Redeem me from under the Captivity of Luciser and raise my drooping Life into the Heaven of Everlasting Safety and Undisturbed Quietness O give some Fewel to feed the Coals of my aspiring Love that it may blaze in a holy Flame of Divine Light §. 3. The Soul's Importunity TO these Demands the Soul Answers Trouble me not Get thee gone and come another time when I shall have convenient opportunity I will take thy condition into Consideration I will not be gone saith the Spirit Now is my time I will not be put off so Be gone saith the Serpentine Soul I have nothing for thee Go work and earn it where thou canst get it Whence comest thou O saith the Divine Spirit of the Soul I have been wandering and travailing upon the Mountains on thy Errand I have not been idle Think not that I am come to put a Trick upon thee as to beg of thee an Alms for the maintaining of my self in Idleness Go saith the Soul to thy vagabond Companions Thou art a Spy coming to see the Nakedness of the Land I am no Spy saith the Soul's Spirit I am in great necessity and that not for my own sake but for the sake of others Who is there in the House saith the Soul One of the Handmaids answers and saith What wilt thou have me to do to this Disturber of our Peace and Enjoyments Go saith the Soul and give him some of these Orts the Refuse of vain Pleasures When these are proffered to the Spirit he saith utterly refusing them Take them your selves I will not meddle with it I must have some true Food or none at all Nay saith the Soul if thou art so sawcy a Beggar and so wanton want thou shalt for me Sayest thou so saith the Divine Spirit Is it come to that Must I now be a Gleaner And yet would fain tasle and eat the best ripe Grapes O give me some of your Superfluities A little pittance of what you throw away to the Infernal Dogs would be greatly pâ—ized by me and rellish as a sweet Morsel O give me some No no saith the Soul go and get where thou canst Is it thus you requite me saith the Spirit It is by my Labour and Procurement that you enjoy all your Pleasures And I defire a part Either procure some for me or suffer me to go to fetch some my self or I will never leave complaining in thy Streets Lay therefore thy hand on thy heart and give some to this Beggar and I will be gone And I will never trouble vex nor worry thee any more I will be quiet and gone to my Place and Lot Thou shalt have quiet for me Give me my desire and I have done Thou shalt hear no more of my murmurs my tormenting and pricking of thy Conscience Get thee gone quickly saith the Serpent thou art a sturdy bold brazen-fac'd Beggar let me alone Nay saith the Soul's Spirit I will never stir I will not be gone I will never let thee alone until I have the Alms I seek I am so sturdy I will not be deny'd I am fully resolved I never will cease vexing of thee till I have my Desire Therefore I pray consider of it Take this Fellow faith the Soul to one of his Servants Bind him hand and foot strike the Conscience dumb we will not be controuled by it The Oppressed Spirit still Cries and Moans in the Gates of Mans City Cease saith the Soul What is all this Clamour for Let us have no more Noise Be packing thou impudent Bawler and disturb not our sweet sleep and quiet Rest our present Joys and Recreations I will not give over saith he if I bring my Blood upon thee I will never cease though you slay me I am so importunate and impudent that I will never stir a foot from this place till I have my Errand My words shall break thy Rest My Words shall be as Goads and Nails in thy side Clenched by the chief Architects and Masters of the Assemblies I will prick and vex thee in thy Conscience everlastingly until I have my deDesire But if thou grant me my Divine Object I will deal so fair that in token of gratuity I will give thee a Vantage of Temporal Joys added unto thee If first thou allowest me my desire do what thou wilt Enjoy Temporal Pleasures freely It shall not be imputed a Violation of Gods Law and the Righteousness thereof § 4. He Desireth some Real Thing BUt to what shall I compare this Cry in the Soul The Soul is like a Child that cannot speak even as a Lamb dumb before the Butcher his Voice is not heard in the Street of Mans City He is afflicted and grieved and yet opens not his Mouth I say The Soul's Spirit is like a poor afflicted sickly Child that can nothing but jabber a little The poor Child repines murmurs whines and grumbles and is still discontented Give him what you will yet still he hath the same tone Then the Mother or Nurse asks What dost thou lack my dear Child O that I knew thy want Come my sweet Child my poor sick Child we will make thee a well-relish'd Dish No no saith the Child in effect making Signs by the Aversion of his head Wilt thou have this sine Rattle to play with No. I will sing thee a sweet Lullaby No. Will nothing in this World we can procure or do for thee please thee My sweet Babe art very hard to please and humoursome All we can do for this Child is to no purpose O that some skilful Body would come and direct us For we are at our Wits end because of this Child it is past our Skill to humour it Am I so hard to please saith the Child if he could speak Yes saith the Nnrse thou knowest not thy own Mind Do I not saith the Child in his Mind I want none of those fine things you would put me off with I want no Lullaby I want Ease and Quietness I would fast some small time from those false Delights which was the cause of my Malady I want Ease O ease me of this pain and then I will be quiet and not before Therefore hereby All know very well what it is the Soul would have and what it seeks after that is Food Fewel and Satisfaction for its fiery longing Hunger Which if it hath it will be satisfied and not till then The fire longs for the Light If it burns in secret it is in pain and in anguish All things are full of Labour Man especially cannot utter his own Labour and travail of his Soul The Eye of the Mind is not satisfied with seeing Vanity Nor the Ear of the Spirit filled with hearing Childish
Rattles Therefore Vanity of Vanities saith the first and last Preacher Vanities of Vanities all is Vanity whatever it is tho' seemingly pleasant which refresheth not the Spirit of the Soul §. 5. It is no Whimsey AGain The Soul is like the Horse-Leech It hath two Daughters crying Give Give There are three things that are never satisfied yea Four that never say It is enough The Grave of Devouring Hell in which every Soul that entreth is Eternally Lost and then gapeth for more Souls And the barren unsatisfied Womb of a false Virgin which receiveth without Conception And the Fire of false Lust which never saith No more it is enough And lastly The Soul which is not filled with Vanity But O Man if thou findest in thy self that thou longest for nothing that thou hast all things according to thy wish as thou wouldst have it to be and that thou art fortunate in every accident that happens to thee and that nothing crosseth thy Mind that thou art content in whatsoever state thou art that thou never vexest nor tormentest thy self in Prosperity or Adversity and that thy Soul takes all Accidents for Good having framed it self to receive all things in good part then it hath attained its desire and the Longing ceaseth Thou wilt say My Soul is not in that Frame My Soul within me is always wanting and craving and very hard to please It knows not what it would have It wills and it wills not Am I so humoursome saith the Soul Well might I deserve the blame if I were like one mad or frantick as if one longed for the Kings Crown to which one can claim no Title seeming to be possessed with a strange fury or if I were like a Childing Woman longing for things unprocurable for money Even as a whorish Deceiver being pregnant of a false Essence longeth for strange Properties which endangers the Soul But I desire that which desires me and cries O my dear Companion come and receive me for I stand here very lonesome in a solitary condition except some Soul pity me and entertain me If I longed for far-fetched Treasures and dear-bought bought Sawces and Jewels procured by the Blood of others which all hazard the Eternal Life there would be some colour for blaming me But that which I long for is easily procured and if not too much slighted and neglected at first obtained without wracking Labour and Care Now perhaps you will mock me and impute this my Longing to a foolish Fancy and say to me in scorn Ah ha But I defie your Reproaches Give me my Desire or I will vex and worry you for evermore Now I am come as a Sojurner to view this outward World But I will not partake of your false Joys and count them a satisfaction of my mind For all is a Vexation of my Spirit If you will not give me Food for my Hunger mark well I will be glutted like an Horse-Leech with the Blood of humane Souls to Eternity and then I will vomit up all again as previous to a fresh thirst after Blood I was born crying when I came first into this World and that makes it manifest that I longed to go back again to lean upon my Virgin-Mothers sweet Brests I cried Give give O give me some of my Virgin-Milk Here may seem an Objection to lie in the wny Whimsie of Whimsies saith the vain Atheist Vanity of Vanities All is a Whim whatever checketh the Soul and is a Vexation to his lustful Spirit What is the Voice in the Conscience which opposeth the Hamane Lust but a Vain Whimsie which the Beasts are not sensible of Therefore Man by his Sensibility and being immoderately affected with a vain Fancy degradeth himself below a Beast and sensual Animal And see now what his witty and wise conceit bath hath brought him to So that he cannot enjoy all sorts of pleasure at his Liberty without being controuled by a Consciential Whimsey Let him thank himself for his Folly §. 6. Atheists Objections Answered NOw Who is the Wise Man And who knows the Interpretation of the Souls Enigmatical Mystery And who can search out that which is far off and exceeding deep Who can discover the Devices and Intrigues of the Harlot the Souls Enemy Wisdom makes the Face to shine And the boldness of the Countenance shall be changed by which means the Divine Virgin the Souls Friend will be enamoured with him and invited to love him But he that is wilfully blind in a foolish Passion of false Love hates the Light of the blessed Sun in the Virgins Beautiful Face And why doth Darkness hate the Light Why cannot Obscurity endure the splendid Rays of Beauty Perhaps it fears lest the Light should inspire it and so it should become Fantastical or posfessed with an Enthusiastick Fury Object Here the Atheist encounters with me saying What is this whole World but a Stage The Actors are Mankind When the Play 's ended the Stage down they fling And then there is no difference in this thing Between a Beggar and a King As saith the Poet Answ Then if it be a Stage it represents some Actions that are really done or that were and will be acted in a real Substance in one of the two Eternal Worlds But still he will object saying Death is Nothing and after Death there will be Nothing And who but a Fool will be asraid of Nothing What is Heaven but a sublime Fancy What is Hell but a Child-frighting Bugbear A Whim Chimera built by the Phantasie in the Air of Darkness and hudled up in the Chaos or Hoil of Nihility Ye that believe Immortality rid away the Hag of your Fancy which Night-Mareth your Souls Send her packing to the Hell of Silence and the Grave of Non-entity Answ There was a Man asked what Life was The other returned an Answer Answerless for prefently he turned his back and went away As much as if he had said If thou knowest not experimentally thy own Death and Life it is not a matter of Discourse therefore he by his removing from his place did actually define what Life was The Fool saith in his heart and wisheth There were no God But he believeth not so in his Heart For tho' he tells you so in the day time yet by night he doubteth § 7. By Humane Laws But the Atheist affirms Cum prorepserunt primis Animalia terris c. There was a time when Humane Animals as a mute and filthy Cattle crept upon the Earth and wandred like Beasts the stronger driving the weaker out of his Cave Fighting with their Claws and Fists until afterwards Use and Art invented the framing of Weapons After wandring they came into Society And then invented Articulate Sounds to discover the meaning of their Minds to one another and so Reason taught them to abstain from sighting about their Food and from snatching as Bulls or Dogs an uncertain Concubine one from the other Then they invented the Marking out their Minds by
Man as for his Mouth for the Preservation of the Individuum and the Propagation of the Species and yet the Appetite of the Fool is never filled For what hath the Wise Conceited more than the Fool What hath the Poor and Vagabond Beggar that faith he knoweth how to walk before the Living Bâ—tter is the sight of the Eyes and real Enjoyment of the thing longed for then the Vagabond wandring of the Desire This is Vanity and a grievous Vexation of the Spirit of the Soul That which hath been is named already And it is known that it is Man who is the second Angel Neither may be contend as Lucifer did with the Deity who is mightier than he and Cross the natural Inclination of his Soul by forcing it to change it into the contrary Property and so to desire on Opposition of both Seeing that there be many things that increase Vanity which is no real Felicity to the Soul what is Man the better if he try the false Tree and Poyson himself as Lucifer For what Fool knoweth what is good for Mans Perfection in this Life all the Day of his vain Life which he spendeth as a Shadow or a Fancy For who shall tell him what shall be after him under the Sun of Vanity Nay though he should know that out of his Ashes should arise a vertuous holy Property yet that will not bring him back to the Living and immortal Nature §. 9. And hateth his own Flesh AGain I considered all Travel and every right Work that for this a Man is envied of his Neighbour Lucifer This Envy is also Vanity for it will not prosper And it increaseth the Vexation of his proud Spirit The Fool foldeth his Hands together and rather then stir to find that which his Soul desireth he Eats his own Flesh There is one alone and there is not a second Yea he hath neither Successor nor Companion Yet there is no End of all his Labour after something that the Soul wanteth not Neither is the Eye of his Mind satisfied no more then the Grave or Horse-Leâ—ch with vain Riches Neither saith he for whom do I labour and bereave my Soul of that which it longs after This is a great Vanity and a sore fruitless Labour Then after all I commended Mirth and true Pleasure because a Man hath no better thing under the Temporal or Eternal Sun then to Eat the pure Manna and Drink the Nectar that God hath appointed him and chear up his Heart and be Merry for that shall abide with him of his Labour all the days of his Eternal Life which God hath appointed and given him under the Sun of Immortality Though I said before that there was an unalterable Law or Rule of Eternity by which all Eternal Creatures Angels and Men must be governed yet it is not meant that this Law was any other than a Law of natural Love It was no Imposition contrary to the Inclination of the said Eternal Essences For to speak properly a Law is given to shew Transgression But it was a Law of Love and Sympathy which they by natural Instinct observed as naturally as every Creature loves Life and shuns Death It was the straight Rule of Eternal Life and Joy From which if any Eternal Essence swerve and change his Form and become Crooked it cannot be ever made straight again And that which is wanting to the composing of an Harmony cannot be numbred in the Election of God It was the Law of pure Philautia Love thy self and God whose Image thou thy self art Indulge thy Fortunate Genius defraud him not This Law was not indifferent but necessary and therefore may well be termed an Eternal Law §. 10. No Middle State BUt perhaps some may say I desire no such sensibility or Knowledge of extraordinary Joy and Pleasure in the enjoyment of my Life If I could but avoid Pain and Death I desire no more Or if I could be annihillated again I would be content I labour not after the Promotion of Pleasure in the highest intenseness or degree that my Soul is capable to partake of which this Law enjoyns me to I desire but a little Corporal Pleasure and that but for a time in this Life I Answer thou shalt not be left to thy Choice herein For thou art strictly bound to avoid Death and love thy Life Aut Coesar aut nullus Either give me my Desire or nothing Saith the Soul and for this end thou wast Created and Begotten to increase the Joy of thy Mind to its highest Pitch as a Play-fellow in the Scene of Heaven And yet not so much for the sake of others as if the Divine Joy were not perfect without Thee but chiefly for thy own sake and for the sake of the Divine Prisoner within Thee who longs to be released out of Captivity For it is but just and fit that if any will not Dance with the Celestial Incolist's in the Divine Sport of Love but murmureth and is discontented He shall be excommunicated and turned out of the Society as a Disturber of the harmless Peace and Love-sport CHAP. IV. The Souls Rebellion §. 1. The Fools Appetite NOW then O Man I will ask Thee a Question Dost thou think thou camest to be a Creature into the World purposely to Eat and Drink and to take thy Pleasure Thou wilt say No perhaps But I say Yes That was the Cause thou camest into this World and only so thou glorisiest thy Creator who sent for Thee out of the Abyss and Womb of Eternity This was his beginningless Law to Angels and Manpreceding Essences and this same Law will stand for Man-succeeding Creatures in the endless Eternity if any shall ever be Created by the Creator hereafter when the Humane World shall be consummated For as we said before All the Labour of Man is for his Mouth and his holy digesting Throat if he knows how to feed on the Tree of Eternal Life and Pleasure in eating and drinking and sporting in the Angelical Pastime and gathering of Flowers in Paradise And yet the Appetite of the Fool who misused this Pleasure and contracted upon himself the Disease of the Greedies is not filled His Canine Appetite or Orexis is never satisfied Again another Fool longs after strange Heterogeneous Objects which tend not to the satisfaction of the Appetite and are not proper Food for him And gives his Money for that which is not Bread and his Labour for that which profiteth not his Soul and the well-being of himself What is Man the better for them What would this Fool have He knows not himself He wills this He refuses that He wracks himself and his own Spirit And what is this but much Pains to little purpose And though it be true that it is a piece of Wisdom to reserve the best till last And he is not wise that suffers himself to be condemned by the poor silly Ant who knows by an instinct of Nature or Law of Creation his time
is wrought under the Sun of Vanity is grievous unto me For all is Vanity and Vexation of the pure Spirit of the Soul Yea I hated all my Labour which I had taken under the Tempoâ—al Sun because I should leave it unto the External Man who shall supply my Place in Eden And who knows whether he shall be a Wise Man or a Fool â—â—t shall he have Rule over all my Labour wherein I have laboured and wherein I have shewed my self wise under both Suns This is also the Vanity of mutable and fading things §. 6. Christs Sorrows THerefore I went about to despair of all the Labour which I took under the Sun of Muâ—ability For there is a Divine Man whose Labour is in Wisdom and in Knowledge and in Equity Yet to an Earthly Man that hath not laboured therein shall he leave it for his Portion This is also Vanity and a great Evil Yea it is a great piece of Injustice and Abuse of the Kindness of the Divine Man who undertâ—ok all this Travail for the sake of the Earthly For what hath the Divine Mâ—n of all hit Labour and of the Vexation of his Hearâ— wherein he hath laboured under the Sun For all his Days are Sorrows and his Travel Grief And he is a Man of Afflictiâ—ns and acquainted with Vexaâ—ions yea his Heart taketh not Rest in the Night of his Anguish which he feeleth in his continual waiting upon his Companion for his Companions sake And what Thanks hath he What return of an Acknowledgment of his Love hath he from many a Man but to add Affliction to his Sorrow This is also Vanity or rather a great Cruelty which will be imputed to such ingrateful Men. The time will come that all the Days of their Eternity shall be Sorow and their Travail endless Grief weeping and gnashing of Teeth Their Hearts shall never take a sweet Repose and Rest in the Night of their Wo because of their Worm which will Everlastingly gnaw them like a Fury in the Conscience §. 7. Mans Ignorance NAy Let such cruel Men use all the Skill they can in this World yet they shall not prosper The Race is not to them be they never so Swift The Battel is not to them be they never so Strong But they will be taken at last by more subtile Powers in an evil time as Animals in a Snare And so become subject to Fate or Fortune as passing by and slighting the good Fortune which God hath appointed for them And Fortune being now their Goddess Ruleth and Governeth them making Sport with them just as rude Boys make sport with any thing that they can master when they go about to kill it and put it to as much pain as they can Thus we see a good or bad Fortune happens to all Good Fortune is called the Mind or Astrum of the Deity And according as Mans Manners be here such a God he will have to sport with him either in anger or in Love in the other World O Man heware here Thus for want of Divine Skill in the super-coelâ—stial Astrology of discerning the true Time and good Fortune which God hath appointed for every Man that comes into this World the Misery of many a Man is great upon him and he becomes most wretched and cast into an Eternal Hell Hell What 's that An inward â—iâ—e and I orment in the Bowels puâ—â—ing him to an unspeakable Pain because a good Foâ—tâ—â—e oâ— Conciâ—ion of Serenity and Satisfaction once proferâ—d unto Man was neglected or slighted Fâ—r if the 〈◊〉 Liâ—â—t or Candle had not come to direct them iâ—to tâ—e â—ay out of Blindness and Ignoraâ—ce theâ—e could â—e no Hell And if a good Foâ—tune had not been appointed for every Man there could be no Vexation of Spirit or Torment for the loss of that which was impossible to be obtained But now because his place in Heaven stands empty there 's his Hell and there 's his Wo. Man also by his wilful Blindness stands in his own Light and becometh more ignorant still while he will not use his Wit and Skill with all his Might to do whatever the hand of his Power sinds to do by Divine Assistance and the helping hand of God reached forth in mercy to him in order to his future well-being and everlasting happy Estate For also he loseth his Senses and Reason and knows not so much as how to distinguish the true Form of Propâ—rties from the false by the Skill of Divine Logick which is infused into every Man if he be a Man Nay he knows not the FORM of his own Soul viz. God He understands not what God in the Abstract is viz The Pure Nature shining in the Soul But he seeks to find him in the Concrete and cannot reach him As the Philosopher said Whoever seeth God seeth nothing diverse or heterogeneous from himself Further Ignorant Man knows not how to give a Species its right Genus He makes Fleshly Pleasure to depend on the pure Nature And therein the grosly Mistakes as in many other things too tedious here to enumerate §. 8. And Mortaliâ—y ANother Folly is to do that first which should be done last To do that to Excess which should be confined to a Mean For in Musick the Mean is the sweetest Note To take care for a temporal before an Eternal Inheritance is a like folly For Pleasure I mean temporal Joy is not Sin but the manner of using it in a wrong way and manner makes it a sin and a breach of the Antient Order Then let us not rank the Excess of Vertue in the Predicament of Vice Thus Man because he will not give to his Soul the thing that he craves after makes his Soul an Eternal Beggar or Craver and yet shall never procure the thing craved Here 's the Wo Here is the Misery Here 's the Hell Wo to thee O Humane Land when thy King is a Beggar and an ignorant Child And thy Princes eating in the Morning of their Eternity devour all and are in want when the time of Hunger comes But blessed art thou O Microcâ—smical City when thy King is the Son of the Noble Deity and thy Princes eat of the Tree of Life in due Season for their Eternal Health and Joy of their Everlasting Lives Blessed art thou O Immortal Man that Livest for ever in this pure Life But cursed for ever art thou O Immortal Man that choosest to dâ—e or to be for ever feeling Death's Property which is Eternal Pain This therefore in short is the sum of this Eternal Law Eat not of Poyson where Two Properties strive for Mastery Lut feed on the Tree of the Joyous Life O Man King live for ever Eat drink and make thy self morry in the Divine Sport And satisfie thy Mind 〈◊〉 Eternal Delights for there is no Pleasure after the 〈◊〉 Death which is a Living Death and an Eternally Dying-Life No Wisdom nor Skill to sind this Life in the Crave of Anguish whither
therefore the Time shall come that thou shalt call to me but I shall be married to another Who was thy Rival in the time when I would have consummated the Wedding with thee Be not entangled with one that will bring thy Soul to ruine and who is far inferiour to the Souls Nobility For there are an indefinite number of these gone out into the World to trapan Mankind Whereof there are variety of kinds but especially seven As sprung forth from the Mystical Mother of Harlots They Lust after the best richest greenest fairest strongest tallest wittiest soundest noblest and most durable Essences And they find too many humane Souls fit for their turn They perceive that the Souls of Men are Eternal and Excellent Fair Lovely and Lively Essences As being made after the Image and Similitude of the Divine Being Now every Created Being lusteth after something that is of a higher Nature than it self that in the Fruition thereof it self may be perfected §. 4. The Blind falling Headlong FOR every Creature groaneth and travelleth for its own Perfection But cannot attain it without the Assistance of some one above him Hence it is that this sevenfold Whorish Spirit is become an earnest Attractor and Enticer of the immortal Souls of Adam's off-spring And for to solemnize the Wedding-seast she furnishes her Table and presents Man with the delicate Dishes of Pleasure and false Joy viz. Counters for Gold But when she hath once got the Poor Soul within her Net and cropt off the Flower of the noble Affections of the Heart which the right Virgin should have had and so spoiled the Spirit of the Mind with a false Vizzard or Mark of Infection when Mans Body fall as a Leaf to the Grave and the Souls Wedding-day draws on and he is to be settled in one of the two Eternal States Then this false Whore crâ—eth Aha! Thou humane Soul thou art Eternal I am but Temporal and Mortal and thou dost partake of my Mortality Eternally to seek Death and yet never Die I had my Pleasure with thâ—e Go now into Eternity I indeed was only the cause of alluring of thee to Sin But how thou must answer for it thy self I am but for a time In the end I return to the Original Abyss of Nihility Now here ariseth a great Question seeing Mans fate is so dismâ—â— Whether hath his unlacky Soul sinned or his Parents that he is thus born Blind Answ No Soul is born stark Blind But if some one should be so born yet there is Veâ—tuâ— bestowed through the Merit of the perfect Sacrifice upon every Soul to open his blind Eyes if he do not wilfully neglect the means of washing them in the Pool to which he is sent But if he will not go where his Virgins great Champion and Physician doth seâ—d him then let him groap in his Blindness For there is no Man that hath Power over his Spirit and passionate Mind that loves a Harlot without the Assistance of the foresaid great Counsellour Prince of Peace in Mental Calmness Now these foresaid Whorish Jezebels have painted their Faces and adorned themselves with an Image of seeming Beauty like the Fruits of Sodom which when touched will fall into Ashes but no real Beauty They lay waâ— at the Head of every Humane Street Some are like Hartors that receive hire And some scorn hire like Marrons that commit Adultery and take Strangers to defile their Husbands Beds And are contrary to common Harlots in that they give Gifts to all Lovers that they may come to defile them §. 5. For Destruction of the Individuum FIrst the Thief or surveying Harlot that surveys the whole World comes and saith All this will I give thee if thou Marry me and be joyned to my Nature in the Bed of my Friendship under Ground There I will nourish thee and thou shalt have the Entrails of the Earth for thy Chest and Coffer But I do not promise thee to see Day-light for many a Year if ever But there like a Slave in the American Mines thou shalt see Gold and Silver enough and thou shalt sleep among the heaped Treasures But the Spirit of the Soul cryeth O this is not Happiness O who will release me out of this under-ground Prison If this were Felicity then my Purse would be better than my self A Horse is not esteemed by his Trappings nor a Man by his Rich Concubine The Womb of this Whore is a snare of Temptation Which catcheth in the Pit of Perdition She gapes like a Gulf for the Mind of Man And spreads like a Sea for his Soul She is beautified by the Hand of her Whorish Mother Who writes on her Face sweet Solace But O Son of Man Child of God legal Heir of the Kingdom of Heaven If thou hast Oxen do thou offer Oblations And if thou hast Sheep thou shalt Sacrifice to God And if thou hast Children thou shalt candidly Consecrate them With the Wife of thy Wedlock to the Lord That his Heavenly Blessings may be upon thee Which the World doth hold for a Curse And yet knows not the Curse on the earthly Blessings Nor how they are a Curse unto them Who strive for Content in much But when they have much are hungry Yea they thirst as the gaping Grave whose Womb consumes them that gape after her But if thou hast the Virgin be thou content For she will make thee to flourish as a fruitful Field Thy Gardens shall be garnished with Greens With the fashions and fragrancies of Flowers Having Hope thy Seed shall spring up And in Faith shalt thou fill thy Vessels If this Harlot cannot prevail then comes the Riotous Luxurious or Swinish Jezebel I see saith she thou art a quiet harmless Man Wilt thou therefore live in Joy Get thee Wine and strong Drink Drink until the Poyson thereof be enraged Quaff this noble Liquor in Bowls Strive to conquer thy Companions in the Valour of Bacchus's Souldiers Eat the Lambs out of the Flock and Calves out of the Stall And make thy Body as mine is a Sepulchre of Dead Carkasses Put far away the Evil Day Let not thy Conscience trouble thee nor Reproofs awaken thee So thou shalt be an easie-hearted Sot or Voluptuous Flog-like Epicure of whom much shall be made in the Swine-house until thou be fully fattened for the House of Slaughter Come therefore along with me to the Banquetting house And we will cast away Care and remove that Melancholick Fit with a cherupping Glass We will treat thee with variety of Dishes dressâ—d after a new Fashion with poinant Sawces We will rant it and make merry over the Witness of God in the Conscience For this Solace is better than Gold or Silver Spend it away prodigally upon thy Lusts and gratifie thy Luxurious Palate And we will anticipate Prayer in the Morning with the Incense of our burning Lusts as preferring Sacrifice before Devotion Oh but in the midst of my Mirth my Heart is sad saith the Souls
Spirit I was but now bathing in a River of Wine But what 's the Matter What are these qualms upon my Stomack They seem now to revenge my out-daring of Bacchus's Foes because I was not a fit Souldier for his Service Therefore his Chirurgion hath given me some of his Pills which now I cast up by filthy Vomitings and Spewings Sure he will give me a Foil at Wrestling Thus I shall stumble over the Dead and reel into a Grave of Worms and Serpents who will be drunk with my Blood Therefore O thou naturally found and healthful Spirit of Man The Luxurious is as full of Diseases as an Hospital For as the Night doth call him to the Supper of Surfeit And as the Morning doth rouze him to his Breakfast He languisheth in the hunger of his Lust making but one Meal a Day Until he hath glutted himself with the Dainties of his Delights And thus eating He wipeth his Mouth in a Corner Accompanied with his Drunken Hostess Whose Body is a Pit of Poyson But to touch it is danger of Death Therefore rather than Dine on her Delicates do thou mingle thy Meat with Mourning §. 6. For spoiling the Souls Sport THen comes a Third the sluggish Harlot come my Dear saith she we will go to the Gaming-house or if thou please to the Temple of the Gods where we will send for the blind Lover our Captive to make us some Sport We will have Musick and Dancing We will wheel about our God Now our Bellies are glutted with the butcherly and bloody Sacrifice of Beasts we will rise up to Play We will lye upon Beds of Ivory and stretch our selves upon our Lazy Couches We will chant to the sound of the Viol And invent to our selves Instruments of Musick like David the sweet Psalmist of Israel We will sing his Psalms in Canting and Mocking of God But O Man consider Give not thy Heart to the Musick of false Mirth Tremble to tread in the Tracks of it Use the Cross as thy Crutches to bear thee upright in the Way Nail the Flesh to the Fashion thereof And the Spirit shall save the Soul Give not sleep O Man to thine Eyes nor slumber to thine Eye-lids Vntil thou find an Habitation for thy self with thy Virgin For thou art born to a good Fortune When O Sluggard wilt thou awake from thy sleep The Day is far spent Go to the Antâ— Consider her ways and be wise at last If not this Harlot hath prepared a Net of Mischief to ensnare thee She will hunt thee into her Pit As thou didst drive the Beasts of thy own Image into the Nooze to be slain So she will draw thee as a Beast into the depth of her Dungeon But the Counsel of the Virgiâ— is the safety of Deâ—ence Which delivers thee from the sweep of her Dragg It saves thee from sliding in the slippery Places And stablisheth thy standing on the Rock Avoid Her that enticeth into every treacherous Trap And allureth into the Doors of Destruction She polisheth her Parlour with artificial carved Images and with the works of most curious Limners Her Entry inviteth with the Odors of Perfumes But her Bed is the Infection of Plague Her Breath is the Contagion of Death And her Breasts the Bottles of Bane He that layeth his Head to repose between them shall be smothered in a deep sleep Enter thou not into the Doors of her House Lest her allurements should murder thy simplicity For she will entice thee with all things that are lovely to the Eye But her purpose is to an end of Slaughter Mark the Line of her Path And behold whom she catcheth with her Hook He that studies the steps of her Feet runs swift to the Doom of Destruction But he that seeks deliverance from her Door shall dwell in the Temple of God He shall draw to a Rest from the Travel of Iniquity which shall compass his Soul with Salvation If this will not do then comes another the Crafty Witch Saying come to my School and I will make thee a Necromancer I will teach thee all the Philosophical Learning of the World and the highest Contemplation of things Thou shalt understand how the Worlds Wheel is rolled about And how the Chain of Eternity is entangled by an indissolvable Band So thou shalt be accounted the Wise Magus among the People O! I will not do so saith the right Spirit of the Soul I am afraid of the Deep of Deeps Lest I fall headlong into the Abyss and by searching and seeking the Universal Tincture I may get a wound in my Soul and then I shall be sent to finish my Contemplation in a Circle of Misery Therefore O Man be wise This false Wisdom is a snare of Death which is hid from the Eye of Man He seeth not her mischievous End Because she hath made his Day a Curse She bewitched by enchantments a couple in Paradise and dragged them from Life to Death And bolted their Generations within the Doors of Darkness And locked them from the Light of the Day Beware therefore lest she lead thee by her subtle Art and Serpentine Wisdom To taste of the Tree of Knowledge of Evil and Good Whose Fruit is desirable to make one wise And to open the Eyes of Curiosity §. 7. For hindering the Propagation of the Species BUT anon the Amazonian shews her self whose hand is against every one and every ones hand against her She will accompany thee in a Virile Garb to the Field of Mars and lead thee to Akeldama She will beat Plough-shares into Swords and perfume thy Nostrils with the stink of her murdering Powder She will perswade thee to cut off many of thy fellow-Creatures as a mighty Hunter of Men before the Lord as if the Earth were too narrow to maintain such a numberless number of Men in the same world saying Keep up thy Pomp gallantly and oppress all monyless Wretches and Widows Make many Martyrs by thy Sword of Cruelty and Rigour Search for the pâ—ths which the Lyons Whelps have not trodden and which the Vultures Eye hath not seen For there is a Vein for the Silver and a Place for the hidden Treasures of Gold But the Martial Iron is Lord of both Dig therewith into the Bowels of thy Fellow-Offspring and see if the Golden Mine be there or no. If any oppose thee see here I give thee these snaky Hairs as so many Furies in the Conscience O no I had rather saith the Souls Spirit dwell in the Corner of a poor Cottage in content and quietness than with a brawling Whore such as thou art in a wide Habitation I had rather sleep in a whole Skin than to boast of Wounds and Scars upon my Body Let Cyrus if he like it glut himself in his Bowl of Blood I love not his Mess I am weary with such Sacrifices This Martial Strumpet drags the Valiant by the Nose and the Lofty by the Fore-lock Yea the Mighty do plunge in her Bloody
Pit which swallows them as Sops into her Womb The Fruit of her Womb is the first-born of Tophet which was in the beginning a Devil Whose Jaws are the Gates of Hell to slaughter the Soul and to spill the Blood of the Blessed But turn thou thy Windows from her Martial Colours lest her Drums and loud Musick stop thy Ears from hearing the Virgins Voice And that she should bite thee with the Teeth of an Asp and thou be stung to death with her Venom But O Immortal Man Love thou the Virgin of Innocency and she shall surround thy Scituation like a Silver Munition and be for ever to thy Gladness the Glory of a Golden Dwelling If this cannot prevail upon the Soul then comes the lustful unsatisfied Harlot saying What wilt thou dye without a Child of thy Lust to receive thy Soul by a Transmigration of the Humane Nature into the Bestial Behold the Sylphs and Nymphs of the Woods Mountains and Waters are in Love with thee and will entertain thee in the Garden of Delights O saith the Soul having found the deceit of this Strumpets embraces now I enjoy the Sweet-heart of my fading Youth which to fetch I endangered my precious Life by passing through a fierce Fire of infernal Adultery The Fire of my Passion is not so fierce as it was When I was further from my desired Fire I burned me thought with Myrrha more violently by a secret Conceit Therefore now my Mind is variable and wanders after fresh Lovers I thirst as the unsatisfied Womb which receiveth without Conception O thou fair Angel consider whom thou eagerly longest after It is the Catamite-Strumpet He that toucheth her Flesh is tainted with her Filthiness And he that goeth in unto her corrupteth his Soul She makes a Man as a Monster And an unspotted Lamb as a Leopard Her false Pleasures are as many Ponds where Serpents Toads and Vipers do drink Their Palates do delight to pamper with Poyson For their Nature is one with the Venom The Love of their Lust doth Sacrifice their Seed to Molech And infects them with the stink of the Stews There is not a Man that dwells in their House That saith no more I have enough But their Heart is as a tired travelling Pilgrim that cannot find a lodge of Repose They flame in their Bowels as a burning Bush and cannot find Water to quench it They fill up their bundle as a Faggot of Fuel To blaze in the Torment of Tophet §. 8. For degrading the Soul LAstly the imperious Harlot saith if all did bow down before thee as before God O what a brave sellow shouldst thou be Then thou couldst rule by force over the Virgin and make her Handmaid to thy ambitious Harlot But many a Soul in the midst of these enjoyments is often struck with a Panick fear and knows not whence it comes For the Virgin who causeth it is become a Stranger to her Flesh and Blood O saith he I have conquered in Triumph over one World now I Lust after another Vtopia But as the Philosopher told the great Conqueror there are innumerable Worlds How then doth it seem so difficult to me to gain the Government of one I will sit down and weep and search my own little World Wo to him that wandereth out of it And wo to him that goes not out of himself and out of his own mortal World And yet as little as this World is Many a Man cannot Travel to the utmost bounds of it in the whole compass of his Live For it is a very long Journey to their own true Native World O Man this is she that draws to a draught of desire To Drink up Dominions like a Dram And in a Compendious Circle would compass all Crowns And trample upon Thrones as Trifles The Entireness of Empires could not extinguish his enterprizes Except he be greater than God But wait thou with wariness That the haughty Hand may not tear down thy Tent Mark the Example of Jesus the Just who joined not to the Joys that the Jews would have given him He was a King without Enjoyment of the earthly Kingdom or Contemplation of the corruptible Crown He was a Prince a Pilgrimage of Passions Without the Propriety of a supposed Palace Thou shalt tread in the Trace of his Travel And run in the Race of his Righteousness Thou shalt obey his Message as thy Master in Meekness and Honour him in the House of Humility And then the Blessings which he preached shall be thy proper Possession with the Constitution of a Kingdom and Crown The Glory of the World runs down as a Minute But the Crown of Gods Kingdom lasteth for ever §. 9. The Divine Reprover in the Conscience NOW when the Soul is in Love with any thing that it fancies Give him the choicest Pleasures Proffer him the fairest Virgins Yet they are slighted and contemned in Comparison of the one thing loved and longed after In this sense Love is called Blind So the Spirit of the Soul is in Love with his appointed Virgin and therefore is still unsatisfied discontented murmureth grumbleth repineth whineth pricketh vexeth and worrieth Man and disturbeth his Peace in the Conscience when ever he goes to look after other Lovers crying as it were plucking him by the Skirt or twitching him by the Ear This is the right way walk in it when the Soul is in the Wilderness wandring after his Lovers And he often sees the burning Bush of his Heart on Fire and well may he wonder that it is not consumed This Fire is the Flame of the Virgins Love to him O therefore turn aside and see this great miraculous sight And look back and listen to the Voice behind thee And if thou turn thy course then the Voice that was behind thee in thy own Wilderness will go before thee and lead thee into the Land of Eternal Rest Now these Whores are they that aim at Mans ruine by Emulation for they envy that Mans Soul should be a Favourite of the Deity But if Man would Love Gods Daughter she would keep him from the Strange Woman Who forsook the Guide of her Youth and would allure Man to do so too and to forget his Contract or Covenant with the Virgin Her House declineth to Death and her Paths to Hell None that go into her return again Lust not after her false Beauty in thy Heart neither let her take thee with her Eye-lids For by means of a whorish Woman Man is brought to a piece of mouldy Bread And the Adulteress hunts for the precious Life Can one go on hot Coals of a Phantastical Passion and his Feet not be burnt as in the Fire of Hell Men do not despise a Thief if he steal to satisfie his Soul when it craves and longs after the right Food being withheld from it by the Fancy But if he be found he shall restore sevenfold according to Gods Ballance and right Measure But whosoever committeth Adultery with the Wife
of the Spirit of the World destroyeth his own Soul A wound and dishonourable stigmatized Mark shall he get which shall never be wiped away in this World or in that to come For Jealousie is the rage of a Rival Therefore he will not spare in the Day of Vengeance he will not regard any Ransom neither will he rest Content though thou givest all that thou art worth Neither will the Spirit of the Soul be reconciled though thou shouldst give him all the Substance of thine House for a Bribe §. 10. Misery the End of Vice NOW the Covenant is a Lamp and the Law of Loving the Virgin is Eternal Life And the reproof of her Instruction is the high Way to Heaven When thou goest she shall lead thee When thou sleepest she shall keep thee When thou art awake she shall talk with thee in Divine Contemplation By her thy Days shall be multiplied upon the Eternal Earth and the Years of thy immortal Life shall be endless Therefore keep thy Heart true to the Virgin with all Diligence for out of it are the issues of Life and Death Believe not the Whore in her flattering Speech for she is a Lyar when she cries Stoln Waters are sweet and a secret Banquet in a Corner of Darkness is pleasant Be sure that her Cave leads to the Shadow of Death and her Guests go to the Depths of Hell And a desperate wo is pronounced against them that delight to lurk in the holes of Guilt and despise the light of Purity lest their Deeds should be reproved Come to my Tavern saith she It is indeed a House of Sin but not of Darkness For our Candles and hellish Squibs never go out It is like a Country near the Frozen Zone as clear at Midnight as at Noon Beware therefore O humane Souldier For armed Mars doth not so much wound thee as this naked Venus The Sorceresses Mouth drops as the Honey-comb and her Lips are smoother then Oil but her end is as Wormwood it will cost the Soul that loves her many a bitter Tear Her Instruments are sharp as a two edg'd Sword It will cut the Conscience to the Heart Her Feet go down to the Abyss And her steps lead to the Hell of Eternal horror Lest thou ponder the Paths of Life Her ways are moveable that thou canst not know them Remove thy way therefore far from her And come not nigh the Doors of her House CHAP. VII The Virgins Espousal §. 1. Reconcilement IF the Soul recant and change his Mind Fair Virgin-Vertue bearing no grudge in her pure Mind welcometh and entertains him again most joyfully unless he be stigmatized with the Disease of the Stews and so renews their mutual Acquaintance And the Virgin wandring in her Shepherds Rural Fields The long absence of her late Beloved had grieved her Spirit She had enquired of Passengers did they see a Shepherd passing along that way They answered No It was but a little that I passed from them saith she even from the pretended Guides into Paradise but I found him whom my Soul loveth I held him and would not let him go until I had perswaded him to come into my Virgin-Mothers Habitation in Heaven and into the Chamber of her that conceived me of the Divine Seed Who is this said the neighbouring Angels who were Proxime to the Deity as Princes before a Monarch Virgin that cometh out of the Wilderness of Wo and Despair leaning upon the Breasts of her Beloved I raised thee up said he under the Tree of Life there thy Virgin Mother brought thee forth in the upper Paradise There she conceived thee as an Holy Birth of Newness of Life in the Womb of her Virgin-Purity I charge you O ye Daughters of the Holy City said she by the Roes of Paradise and by the Hinds of Edens fair Fields that ye stir not up nor awake my Beloved until he please for he is very weary after his Journey and long Travel upon the Mountains of Vanity And requires a due time of Rest from his Labours and vain Wandrings And now the wearied Bees return home with laden Thighs The tired wandring Sheep that had forgotten their resting place have found their Fold of rest where they may lye down with the Leopards in a safe and quiet repose And now when I perceived how he admired my transcendant Beauty and the form of God in my aspect My Cheeks being comely with rows of precious Jewels and how I was adorned with Topazes and Rubies with Amethysts and Saphires with Diamonds and Gold I gave him a present of borders of Gold with knobs of Silver and the richest Gems For our Mountains are big with Mines and the Veins of our hidden Treasures are Infinite When my Royal Shepherd sits at my Table my Spikenard sends forth the Odours thereof Abundle of Myrrh is my welbeloved unto me My Pastoral Friend is unto me as a Cluster of Camphire in the Vineyards of Eden Because of the Savour of this pure Ointment wherewith I besprinkled thee thy new Name of Vertue is as heavenly Oil poured forth out of Golden Vials full of sacred Odours §. 2. Consecration of the Soul I Am the Holy Rose and the Lilly of the low Vallies As the Lilly among Thorns so is my Love said he among the Daughters of Vanity As the Apple-tree of Eternal Life among the Trees of the divided Properties in the Wood. So is my Beloved among the Sons of worldly Wisdom I sate down under his Shadow with great Delight and the Fruits of his rural Trees were sweet to my Taste He brought me to his Banqueting Arbor and his Banner over me was the Canopy of Love I am come said he into my Gardens my Sister I have led thee through a Wilderness my Spouse I have conducted thee into the Meadows of May Blessed be the Hour that first I saw thy Face I have brought thee to the Rivers of Milk and Honey which flow in this Land of Rest and Rural Refreshment Thou hast accompanied me my lovely Mate to the Mountains of Myrrh and the Holy Hills of Frankincense I have gathered my Flowers said I in the Meadows with my Aroma's in the Vallies Here in this perfect State of Holiness the Earth is not unburdened with Tillage neither is it wounded with Culture Come now said he O fair Virgin of Purity sit down with me under this Vine and under this Fig-tree where none can make us afraid And we will take a walk in the calm Evening in the cool of the Eternal Day and the Divine Springs and aquaeducts shall refresh our Spirits after our Journey Thy Breath is as the Odors of Myrrh as the pure gale of Refreshment upon my late-languishing Spirits Awake O. Eternallybreathing Spirit Come thou Divine Wind and blow upon the Garden of my longing Heart that the Spices thereof may flow out to the rejoycing of our Minds Come my fair one into my rural Garden and eat these pleasant Fruits I have gathered
Daughters of the Holy City Now set me as a seal upon thine Heart As a Divine Stamp upon thine Arm Think upon me and the ways of Vertue as thou walkest in the way and as thou sittest and oestest and as thou risest up For my Love to the is as strong as Death My Jealousie will be cruel as the Grove it will devour the perjured Soul if thou prove false to thy Vow in Eternal Death But O God my Father may that never be For the coals of Jealousie are as coals of Eternal Fire which hath a most cruel Scorching Flame of Torment Many Waters of Sorrows cannot quench my Love to thee Neither can the Floods drown it Neither can the Rivers or Tears of a thousand Suitors and Rivals to thee stop the burning thereof If one should give all Substance of his House for my Love it would be utterly contemned And so if thou abusest me hereafter and runnest gadding in thy Mind after other Lovers though thou shouldst give all that thy Soul and Body are worth and all the Substance of thy House for the enjoyment of me the third time it will be utterly rejected and despised as a vain trifle Take notice of it And be true to me thy Spouse After this Day the Divine Damsels saw me and praised me with this Blessing Be thou Mother of thousands of Millions And the Author of a numberless number to People the Coelestial City by the new Regeneration And let thy Seed effess the Gates of Heaven which Lucifer lost Build thou the House of the Humane Off-spring Thou art our Sister Do thou worthily in Heaven and be thou famous in Paradise And this was the Contract that the Wedding must be solemnized in the preseâ—â—e of the King our Father on the Day of my Tridâ—grooms â—â—tting off his Earthly Tabernacle and Elementary Robe Now Happy is the Man that can arrive to the Haven of so great a Happiness as this so as to find Virgin Vertue God's most Beautiful Daughter called also pure Pleasure or Divine Delight of the Son of Man For her Priâ—e is far â—bove Râ—â—â—es §. 7. Seven-fold Vertue NOW these Coelestial Virgins are of different Degrees for some Vertues are predominant in these which are weak in those And yet all cloathed with the Garments of Unity 1. One is a good House-keeper and diligent as the Bee The Heart of her espoused doth safely trust in her So that he need fear no spoil She seeketh Flax and Wool she worketh willingly with her Hands She is like the Merchants Ships She bringeth her Food from a far She considereth a Field in fair Eden and buys it With the Fruit of her Hands she planteth a Vineyard of Refreshing Bowers She lays her Hands to the Distaff and her Candle goes not out in the Eternal Night She reacheth forth her Hands to the needy And all her houshold are cloathed with Scarlet She makes her self coverings of Tapestry Her Garments are Silk and Purple 2. Another is skilled by Divine Wisdom in playing upon Instruments of Musick She inventeth means for the Recreation of Humane Life She maketh Songs in the Praise of her Creator and Father The Workmanship of her Tabrets were prepared in her in the Day that she was Created whereby she chaseth the evil Spirit that troubleth the Humane Mind 3. A third by her Politick skill in Martial Discipline delivereth a besieged Microcosmical City surrounded by Lucifer and his Souldiers by causing one Man the Offender to dye whose Head shall be thrown over the Wall that the whole City perish not This is the anoynted Virago 4. Another is more beautiful and amiable in her Divine Form as cloathed with the Shape of God and bearing the very Picture of her Virgin-Mother in her Lovely Visage as they indeed all do but this in an especial Manner She is most meek and courteous in Carriage and Communication therefore the froward and grudge-bearing Sycophant shall never partake of her Love 5. Another is wise in true Wisdom and foretelleth of Evils which are like to befal a Humane Soul that is espoused to her if he observe the Divine Motion of her pure Gale in the â—ool of the blessed Day She reveals hidden Mysteries to the Humane Spirit that loveth her Thus though also she be acute and eloquent yet she is intirely Sincere This is the Angelical Philosopher and Prophetess 6. Another is sound and healthy and by that means hath skill in the Plant of Life and the Vertue thereof for the healing of Maladies in Humane Body and Soul This is the Coelestial Physitianess §. 8. Seven-fold Reward LAstly The most Noble is she whose Cloathing is Divine Honour and Magnanimity Majesty and an Heroick Greatness of Spirit is in her Countenance She is adorned with a generous Brightness and she shall rejoyce in time to come in Eternity and shine as the Celestial Star in the Holy World as being brighter than the rest as partaking more of the solar property She openeth her Mouth as one speaking with Authority yet in Modesty and Wisdom yea in her Tongue is the Law of Kindness Her Children in the new Birth arise up and call her Blessed Her Husband also he praiseth her Many Daughters have done Vertuously but thou excellest them all Tho' not equal with the Bride of the Anointed Champion the Sister and Friend of the Great Messias Fawning Favour is deceitful and counterfeit Beauty is vain but this Divine Virgin that obeyeth her Father shall be praised Give her of the Fruits of her Hands and let her own Works praise her in the Gates of Heaven Thus in particular Fair Vertue which is pure Pleasure of the Soul gives to the Soul that accepts of her according to the capacity of the Receiver 1. Treasures of Eternal Life 2. A Clue of Thread to direct Man out of the Labyrinth of false Pleasures and Sports 3. An Armour to resist Lucifer 4. Jewels and Ornaments 5. A Book of Prophecy compiled by the Prince of Philosophers and a new Name written therein 6. Food Bread and Wine without end proceeding from the Tree of Eternal Life 7. A Golden Scepter to rule over the adverse party Thus Man by accepting of a good Fortune proffered to him doth become Rich Sound Prosperous Wise Potent Fair and Noble and so preferred to an Heavenly Dignity and Office §. 9. Grace turned into Wantonness O Man therefore be not so self-conceited and obstinate Be not Osor Mulierum one that Disregards God and the Desire of Women Dan. 11.37 An Hater of the fair Virgin Be willing to enter into the holy Estate of Matrimony for to this thou art purposely born Else thy Soul if thou refuse will be left to be tormented by the Demons and thou wilt die the Eternal Death for Love of a Harlot whose Love thou shalt never enjoy If thou art in love with the fair Virgin have a care of abusing her and offering Violence to her by deflowring her Tho' thou indeed shalt never be able to
make her comply to thy false Will Yet thy evil attempt before the Wedding which is the Day of the Fall of the outward Body will make thee guilty of her departure and the fault shall Eternally lie at thy Door Do not thou like a Vagabond combine to put a trick upon the Virgin thy Spouse and to murder thy dear Companioness If thou dost be sure the Murder will come to light for she will rise again to judge you both Be not hasâ—y in thy Choice lest thou do that in a day or unlucky hour which cannot be undone in an Age of Eternity But some may say Nature seems cruel in this That a fair young Man the Soul cannot dart his Eyes upon a supposed Beauty without great peril of being wounded himself Answ Leave the Cross and lose the Crown The youthful Soul who formerly took pleasure in Exploits and brave Actions is now turned devout and become a Zealous and Religious Votary to some Feminine Beauty O humane Soul beware of Idolatry As Christ descended into Hell so must the Soul of Man too That is if he finds himself unworthy of all comfort in this World and if things should fall cross with him in outward things and iâ— he should become the scorn of Devils yet he esteems it all just and according to his Desâ—rts so he obtains the Favour of God and the Virgin again He must deâ—cond into the Infernal Shadows to seek and fetch her home again §. 10. By Double-Heartedness HE that keeps not the Virgins Love for Love-sake but supposeâ—h he hath it for a Reward to him it is most grievous and he desires to be soon rid of it and this is the Property of every Hireling to desire and wish an End of his Toil. Whereas a true Lover thinks no Pains Labour or Time too much and grievous so he may but retain his love If Vertue could be seen by Men in her own Natural Beauty Naked said the Philosopher Men would be wonderfully in love with her But the Soul suspects the Virgins Purity thinking to find the same impure lasciviousness in her which he finds in himself Another would willingly enjoâ— both He loves the Virgin a little and Jezebel a little But the Virgin never appears in the Society of the incestuous Strumpet And that is the Reason that the Soul often longs after her and fetcheth many a deep sigh for her when in the midst of vain Mirth and Laughter the Heart is sad and heavy Tho'at long run the Soul becomes tinctured by a false Ferment bâ— the Whores Society Also if the Virgin should appear in the House of this Trull all the Ravenous Birds would have a peck at her And that is the Reason when any goes to the House of Feasting on vain and counterfeit Food he cannot hear the Voice of Wisdom as Christs Voice could not Eccho forth to the Questions of them that envied him at his Examination For two Contraries cannot be of equal Authority at one and the same time in the same Subject CHAP. VIII The Virgins Farewel §. 1. Beware of Falling from Grace GIve not thy Honour thy honourable Soul to another Nor thy Eternal years unto the Cruel Lest Strangers be filled with thy Wealth and thy Labours be in the House of thine Enemies And lest the Jewels of the Virgin which she gave thee be ridiculed by them that emulate her happiness And thou mourn at the last when thy flesh is consumed in the Grave of Despair and say O now I wonder that I could not esteem her How was I such a Fool as to despise the Instruction of my Virgin Ah! What did I call her MY Virgin She is not mine but she was mine O that I could say she never was so now But there is my Eternal Hell Because I crossed the Mind of my Creator who appointed her to be mine But I appointed her Enemy for my everlasting Companion who will not lead a loving Life with me but torment me with the Snake-like Scourges of her Scorpion Furies Now observe here is the crossing of the Eternal Fancy of the Soul if thou call it a Phantasie the Spirit of the Soul must have his Will his desired Object the Virgin Or he will die and that Eternally And the false Mind will enjoy Jezabel the Object of his Love or he will also dye the Eternal Death And so Man lies in a great strait as compassed about with Nets on every side And there is no way to escape the Gulf but by being faithful to his Virgin For tho' Man prove faithful to the said Humane Sorceress yet she will not be true to him but will play the Harlot and defile his Bed in Eternity Therefore O Man poor Wretch consider thy self here Drink Water out of thine own Cistern And running Waters of Eternal Pleasures out of thine own undefiled Virgin Well Let thy Holy Fountain be blessed everlastingly and Rejoyce with the beautiful Maid ef thy ever-flourishing Youth Let her be as the loving Hind and pleasant Roe and let her Breasts satisfie and refresh thee at all times And be thou ravished world without end with her chaste love And why wilt thou be ravished with a strange Woman and embrace the Bosom of a Whore that is common to the evil Demons who will not love the again in truth Go then thy way from this Trull Eat thy Bread of Life in Joy and drink thy heart-chearing Wine of eternal Beatitude with a merry heart For God now if thou art true to his Virgin-Daughter accepteth thy Works For this is the Antepast of Heaven Let thy Garments be always pure clean and white and let thy Head blessed by thy Virgin-Mother lack no Ointment of heavenly Oyl Live joyfully with thy Espoused Virgin whom thou lovest all the days of the Life of thy Vanity which God hath given under the Sun all the days of thy temporal Vanity for that is thy Portion in this Life to thy Labour which thou takest under the Sun of Time and that only is the end of thy Travail and the final Cause of thy Journey which to perform necessity is laid upon thee by the Creator He sets thee upon this Work and Labour to see whether thou wilt love his Virgin-Daughter by the Light of the Sun and not suffer thy self to be blinded by not looking for true Light in the Virgins Face and so be dazled and struck blind for love of an unworthy Guest at her seeming Beauty §. 2. Or there is no third Recovery SIn not against the Virgins holy Spirit for thy Sin will never be forgiven If thou prove faithful to the Virgin here under the Sun of her Light which is pure thou shalt Eternally enjoy her pleasant Aspects and Smiles and loving Communications under the Sun of an ever-shining Light in Heaven Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do in reference to the Nods and Pointings of the Virgin do it with thy might For there is no Work nor Device nor Knowledge nor
if she be a Door of Invitation we will enclose her with boards of Coelestial Caedar to receive her saithful Shepherd in her Holy Habitation and Tent of Contentment under the Trees of Eternal Life §. 7. The Soul's Anguish THus as it happened to the Fool that is in Labour and Travail to obtain his false Delilah So it happened to this fair Virgin But they shall not have the same Catastrophe in the end of the Act or Play For they shall dye in a different manner which when they shall have sacrificed their Souls devoted to the service of their Lovers The one shall dye to his Condemnation The other to the Resurrection of Everlasting Life and Joy Now the Soul that slighted this fair Virgin being deceived by a blind Fancy of false Passion forsakes her for ever and falls in love with an unworthy Harlot far inferiour to himself and his nobility whereby he degenerates into a bestial State by a Soul-Transmigration Verifying the Proverb Pares cum paribus facillimè Congregantur And this Delilah only plays the Fool with him to sport her self and make a Mock play of him with her Companions and her fellow-Harlots And will not Love him again as he Loves her It is hard to rob a Thieves House And so he becomes a Vagabond and Fugitive upon the Earth and Eternally seeks after her but can never obtain her Love And though perhaps he may so far prevail with her as to have the favour of defiling her in the Bed of obscene wantonness yet that is only to give him a Taint of her Infection which will Eternally burn in and wast his griping Bowels And this is a Description of Mans Hell almost without a Metephor viz. A Separation of the Soul from God his desired Object in his dying Hour and last Minutes when he finds himself by Reason of a wilful and continued course in deadly Sins excluded the Enjoyment of Heaven nor can he lay any claim to the Benefit of the Sacrifice having shut himself out by false Lust falling in Love and being inamoured with a blind Passion A false Delilah having had the Flower of his youthful Love he is no more for her turn And so to speak in a similitude Mans Soul shall be confined to an Eternal Wilderness So that it is very clearly understood how the labour of the foolish Souls will weary every one of them because they know not the way to go to the City of mutual Love and Solace All which ways leads him to endless Sorrow and Miseries being the effects of Sin which confine him to an un-openable Prison in which he shall feel within him a Fire of Eternal Pain and aking of his Mind whereby his Heart shall burst in pieces and yet remain whole by renewing it to endure a fresh wracking Torment in the Grim Life §. 8. The Soul's Despair ANd all this because he would not allow the right Spirit of the Soul the thing that he earnestly begged and cryed after Yea he shall as through a Goal-Grate at times behold this Harlor who was the occasion of his Misery mocking him and saying O Fool now pay Eternally for thy Folly in believing me Now eat thy sower Sawce after thy sweet Meat Also he shall see Heaven above him by looking at times beyond the great Gulf and he shall to his Repentance ever to be repented and to his Grief never to be expiated at times espy his once fair Virgin whom he might have Eternally enjoyed to his unspeakable Solace and mutual Refreshment for she was if he had not undone the knot of true Love his own proper Right by the Law of Eternity And because he refused her there must be a Transmigration of Souls and out of his Ashes must spring another who will gladly step into his Throne and Love his Virgin who never was defiled And this his Rival-Successor he shall look at with an envious Eye embracing his Virgin who is now become his Rivals own by the unalterable Law of the Deity Thus this spiritual Adulterer shall see his Late Virgin in the dear Arms of another but he shall never in Eternity receive so much as one smile nor so much as one of her looks to refresh him wherewith his Heart used lately to be ravished Instead of this he shall Conceit she frowns upon him tho' indeed her Nature is ignorant of the manner of frowning And so shall feel intolerable Pain and Griping in his Conscience which is a difference or Combustion between the Soul and Spirit of the Soul because he hath foolishly squandred away his fair Virgious Gifts and scorned or refused a good or blessed Fortune which the Creator had appointed him And upon the Monument set over his Hâ—llish Grave shall be this Epitaph engraved Here lies the cursed Ashes the Object of Scorn once the Seat of the Fire of pure Love who deceived his own Soul like a Fool and now suffers the Punishment of his own procuring and burns in the Fire of his own kindling Therefore O Man have a Care defraud not the pure Mind of the true Pleasure it earnestly cryeth longeth and panteth after or of the Virgin it laboureth and travails for think not that it will be put off with Foperies and shammed with Toys of Vanity or lusled asleep by a Song of Vanity If it be cast by some Soporiferous Poyson into Sleep yet it will again awake to thy Condemnation And will never cease craving for the right Food that is proper for his Eternaâ— Health and Life and will by his Officer Scourge and Torment thee till he obtain his Desire §. 9. Late Repentance THerefore spend not thy Money for that which is not Right Bread nor thy Labour for that which profiteth not the Spirit of the Soul For I say again he will not be cheated For when the Body comes to drop as a Leaf from the Tree of the Soul to the Grave Death will by no means in the World by no fair Speeches be bribed to put off the time when the forcible Wind is sent to blow it down When the guilty Sinner sees that Death will not be put off then he endeavours to bribe the Souls Spirit and to speak him fair saying O be reconciled to me in my extremity The Soul's Spirit saith Fly hence thy House doth Crack it falls Get under Ground for safer Walls The Soul answers Oh but give me a token of thy savour before the thread of my Life be cut off by the Sword of the Cherub I have done brave Exploits for thee in former days O saith the Spirit so Lucifer's Cities were once famous where Satyrs now dance and doleful Birds howl No I will never be reconciled in Eternity to thee The time is past Where was this desire of Reconcilement before when I was willing to keep peace with thee on condition I should have my will and the end of my longing which once was easily attainable But now thou art wise too late O but saith the Soul
now I repent from the bottom of my heart O be favourable to me and shew me some kindness remit that rigour which thou threatnest me with now at my last gasp where with I will pray Heaven to requite thee Keep thy thanks to feed thy hellish Brood saith the pure Mind This is but to gain the time because thou seest the thing I longed for is gone from me Thouhast prepared lying and corrupt Words to speak beforeme till the time be changed therefore there is but one Decree Either procure to me my dear Virgin and wash thy Blackmore's Skin white or thou shalt be utterly destroyed and thy House shall be made a Dunghil §. 10. The Soul 's Hellish Blasphemy BUt saith the Soul O be not so cruel and rigid She is unattainable she is taken into thy Rivals Favour It is impossible to substract a greater number from a lesser that I cannot do Only remit the penalty of this severe Law Nay saith the Noble Mind I must proclaim an Eternal War against thee For as thou hadst not Power over the false Spirit to retain the Spirit of thy Affections so neither hast thou power in the day of Eternal Death neither hath any one the Power to retain the Virgin when she is gone into her place and quite rejected And therefore I say There is no discharge in this War no redeeming of thee from the Fury of the bloody Souldiers and avenging Officers who will now cast thee into Prison Neither shall wickedness deliver them that have been all their time given to it Therefore O humane Soul think not that thou shalt escape and that the Spirit of the humane Soul shall die for the rest of the humane Commonwealth and come under the Lash for the loss of his dear Virgin for tho' thou shouldst give all the Substance of thine House and all that thou art worth to be reconciled to her it cannot be when the day of Grace is sinned out and that this Divine Essence shall suffer for thee No no this Divine Essence shall remain as an Image in a Looking-glass and thou shalt endure the Pain as being condemned by this said Essence who will arise again out of the Grave which thou hast digged for him and condemn thee as being thy Eternal Judge And here is seen what part suffers for where the sore is there will be the Hand And here begins the great and Hellish Blasphemy of a Soul in the real Tophet the Soul will gnaw his Tongue for pain and vexation and Revenge against the Spirit of the Soul as if he were in sault whereas himself was the cause of Bringing this tormenting Wo upon himself And now the dumb guilty Soul may be long at the Gate of the deaf Spirit who will not hear his Cries because he himself was lately as the deaf Adder who would nor hearken to the Charms of the Spirit charming never so wisely And struck his Conscience oft-times as dumb as a Sheep before the Shearer Yea the Soul will rave and rage as if he would tear the Deity it self in pieces And when a poysoned Arrow does light upon his Flesh he knowing not whence it comes he will receive the Blood into his hands flushing out and throw it up to the Abyss crying out O Almighty Power thou hast conquered me and so blaspheming dies the Eternal Death CHAP. IX The Souls Rest §. 1. Where is this Rest IF the Soul do but attain the End of his Journey which was appointed as the true final Cause of his Travail and Labour by the Creator then he becomes happy and not before The Sleep and Rest of the Labouring Soul is sweet whether he sleep little or much but the bundame of the covetous Rich and conceited Soul who conceits he needeth nothing as being not beholden to God will not suffer him to sleep and to take a quiet Nap of sweet Repose But where is this Rest to be found There 's the Question The Elements say It is not in us The Depth saith It is not in me Hell and Death say We have heard the Faâ—e thereof with our Ears There is a Path which the sâ—â—tillest Fowl knows not and which the quick sighted Vultures Eye hath not seen Nay let Man search and grope into every Corner and Cranny of the whole Creation yet he shall never find Rest for his Soul until he come and return to Virgin Vertue Gods fair Daughter his appointed and predestinated Spouse As the Stars and Astral Powers bear sway over Mortals so also the Minds of Men have a reflexive Influence upon the Starry Natures For Evil Minds by Sympathy or Simile attract the Evil Influences which infect the Air and so alight upon the first Authors Even as a Not oft-time generateâ—h within it self that which destroyeth it namely the Worm of an evil Influence In like manner also vertuous and holy Souls attract the good Influences of the Astral Properties by Sympathy Now who knoweth the Spirit of a Man that goeth upwards to his own natural Heaven and attracts the good and sweet Influences thereof For God with a lofty Mind did Man indue And bid him Heavens transcendent Glory view As being his Natural Scope and right Home But if any humane Soul approve not of this Form choosing a prone or downward Look and to be leaded with the guilt of an evil or guilty Conscience he shall sink down into the Abyss §. 2. Not God's Fault if missed THo' God commands the Soul to choose Life and Eternal Joy and let every Bird delight in his own Note which th Creator hath inspired into him to praise the Inspirer yet most Men choose Death and let them thank themselves But now Heaven is the appointed Home of Mans Soul And if the Soul miss to find his home there 's his Hell and there 's the Inverting of the Mind of God or frustrating of the Intent of the Almighty which makes the Wo and the Hell But some may say Hell was also appointed to some Men as Heaven was predestinated to others Answ Yes Hell was conditionally appointed to Adam and all his Posterity upon their slighting of Heaven But Heaven was Mans native Place or Home And thither he must return if the Causes of Man co-work and suit together in their genuine coherence And to say that Hell was the sinal Cause of some Mens Creation is absolute Blasphemy But as the younger Brother said in the Epigram Sum pauper non culpa mea c. It was not my Fault that I am poor but the Fault of my Parents who have not begotten me before my Elder Brother who had the Inheritance This is the case of the Fool that lays the Fault upon the Almighty Father of Mankind As it was affirmed by the old Heathen Polytheists that one Idol-God or Power could not undo what another did So it is true in this sense That whatsoever is made Crooked by the hellish Power can never be made Straight again no not by the Power
enquire wisely concerning this And the Day of Death if the Soul be perfected in its formation is better than the Day of the false Birth Dicique beatus ante Obitum nâ—mâ— supremaque funera debet No Man before Death should be accounted happy This World is a wide Prison and every Day is Execution Day §. 6. The Heavenly Feast stays for us THe Apostate Soul is like the Viper dying at the parturition of her young ones But the Right Soul is perfected at the Death of the Body Being formed a perfect Divine Man whose Form is the Image of the Deity Even then is the Marriage and full fruition of the Virgin of God who is to be cloathed in fine Linnen clean and white the Purity and Righteousness of a holy Soul as being her Delight and Ornament And therefore O Man be sure thou be related by Affinity to the Great Messias whose Bride will shortly make her self ready in the presence of God and the holy Angels Blessed art thou that shalt be called to the Wedding Supper of the Lamb-like Prince of Innocency These Sayings are Faithful and Real Not a Scene of an Imaginary Phantasie God would have all to be saved The Devil none And so neither of them is a Respecter of Persons The Reprobate wrongs himself yet seems to do the wrathful Powers a kindness Yet his kindness is no kindness He is like one that throws Brine into the Sea For Hell is never satisfied Come therefore O Man to Heaven and there thou shalt be welcome If thou art fairer than another he shall not envy but rejoyce at thy Beauty God himself desires thy company for there is a Superfluity of Dainties at his Feast The Profit of the Holy Earth is for all The King himself is served by the Fruits of Eden's Field But if we speak properly we must acknowledge God hath no loss by a Reprobate Soul seeing he is Perfection it self But the loss is thy own Thou hast not cheated the Virgin for she hath another appointed her upon thy Refusal But thou hast fooled deceived and put a Cheat upon thy â—elf and art fallen into the Snare which thou hast prepared for another And it is an ill Bird that defiles her own Nest They use to say of a Dâ—unkard or some such luxurious Fellow He doth no Hurt to any but what he doth to himself I pray who can trust such a 〈…〉 a harmless Man He is the greatest Cheat of 〈◊〉 who cheats himself Seeking to undermine God and his Virgin To be fore such a one if he finds but opportunity will prove false to his Neighbour also and to the whole Creation I love thee as my own Soul said a fat luxurious Man to his Sweetheart Then you love me not as your Body said she or you love me not at all For I see you love not your self because you repent not of your sins §. 7. Mans Self-Enjoyment Gods primary Glory THus many a Soul thinks to advance himself by a vain expectation of the Death of God Christ and the Soul's Spirit whose Officer is like to torment him in a Fiery Lâ—ke There was a rich thriving Man that had a Servant who thrived not at all but was very Unfortunate in outward things The Master indeed pitied him because he proved honest in his place and perhaps there was a vigilant Eye over him that he could not cheat his Master But his Master payed him the Arrears of his Wages and turned him away from his Service saying While you thrive not your self you cannot be profitable to another and therefore you are no servant for me and so God â—less you This is the Case between God the Master of the great humane Family and us his Servants Therefore every Man for his own Soul chiefly and God for us all And so where nothing is to be had God loses his Right as it were Yet he is accidentally glorisied by the Reprobate Heaven is the true End of Man or final Cause of the Soul And if the End be frustrated the whole Work is in vain It is the Glory of a King and the Ornament of a Kingdom that his Subjects are Populous and Valiant And Children are the Riches of a Parent So Man attaining the 〈…〉 his Generation becomes the Glory of God aâ—â— his Coelestial Kingdom But all is Vanity and a Frustration of the Right End whatever excludes and vexeth the pure Spirit of Soul and hinders him from reaching the scope of his Desire and Labour It might be judged that he that adventureth his best Jewel his precious Life in behalf of his Prince is a Magnanimous Man But as the Poet said Vivere pro patriâ dulcius esse puto So it is the case of the Soul And it is very clear For if the final Cause be marred or cut off the whole Action is vain As for instance A Man whose House is on fire and leaps into the Fire to save his Goods spoils the End And so doth a Thief that adventures his Life for the enjoyment of a sum of Money for he disesteems the End and undervalues it in comparison of the Meâ—ns to preserve and promote the said End The End of the Treasure stolen is to preserve Life If therefore he haâ—ards his Life in the attaining of it wheâ— it might he preserved without such hazard he is a Fool and a vain Fellow Just so is the Case of one that hazards his Soul in the attaining of some strange Lust or supposed Means of promoting the well-being of the Soul What is a House good for if the End which is Dwelling in it be frustrated 〈…〉 one that angleth with a Golden Hook and 〈…〉 own Flesh and rather than sleep in a whole 〈◊〉 â—â—igâ—atizeth his Soul §. 8. Spoil not the End for the Means ONe feared to go on a Message to the Grand Vizier saying He is so unconstant he may take my Head off upon no occasion given The Governour that sent him said I would he durst I will have a thousand of his Mens Heads off in lieu of it Yes but I question said the Embassador whether any of them will sit my Shoulders Thus may the Souls Spirit upbraid the Soul when sent by him upon desperate and unlawful hazarding of his Life Take another Example or Comparison A Dissolute Fellow under pretence of honouring his Prince and wishing well to his Patriots and Praying for the Health of his Friends Drinks large Healths as he calls them as in remembrance of his said Friends and to the Commemoration of their Prosperity And what is all this for but chiefly to gratifie his greedy Belly tub which like a sink receive these Health-resisting Bowls under pretence of Praying for the Health of another But let any impartial Man judge whether these impious pretended Salutations do add any thing to the Health or Happiness of him who is pretended to be the Subject of these flatteries Nay it is plain robbing of the King and his Honour and a
his Will whom he loves nor will never seek to please him You shall never have any good of a Maid that is compelled to Marry against her Will She will be but the more perverse the more you endeavour to humour her Have a Care lest thou neglâ—â—â— thy own Good And when thou art well hope not in vain for higher preferment lest thou justle thy self out of all and repent too late A Hen or some other Fowl aiming at the End of Procreation by the impulse of the natural Spirit counts it no toil to sit upon her Eggs a whole Month or more or less and is willing to be confined without the Element of her Pleasure and Recreation Mayest thou be as willing to promote the Glory of God the End of thy Journey and Labour which to promote is the right Heaven of Mans Soul To which place O King of Heaven direct us all Amen CHAP. X. The Souls Transmigration § 1. Christ the Lawful King BEtter is a Poor and Wise Child the innocent off-spring of God than an old and foolish King that tyrannizeth over the pure Seed who will no more be admonished as being Reprobate or past Reproof For out of an infectious Prison or Dungeon of Darkness he cometh to Reign as being no lawful Heir and not of the Right Line He is an Usurper Whereas also every Subject the Faculties of his Mind that is born in his Kingdom becomes Eternal Beggars I considered all the Living which walk under the Sun of Time with the second Child of Regeneration that shall stand up and sit in the Divine Throne Eternally in his stead There is no end of all the People and Subjects of illegal Tyrants even of all that have been before them in â—â—cifers Apostacy whose Seed lives in the Humane Generation They also that succeed or come after either before or after the end of this World shall not rejoyce in Lucifer or an Humane Usurper This also is Vanity and Vexation of God's Holy Spirit The Humane Commonwealth comes to Ruine under a Foolish Prince even as the Feet stumble by the Intoxication of the Head In the Day of Prosperity be joyful and when things fadge well between thee and thy Virgin let thy Heart be merry But in the Day of Adversity when thou art crossed in thy Desire or Love by the Sorceress consider what thou art a doing God also hath set the one over against the other to the end that Man should find nothing after and Superior to the fair Virgin of God worthy to be sought after §. 2. His Right to Reign THe Fire of Hell and the Ocean-Womb of Eternity are good Servants but bad Masters The Virgin it is true should be Queen in the Humane Republick And the Spirit of the Soul Vice-Roy But if Man inverteth the right Order he himself must pay the Forfeiture or suffer the Penalty Yet the Rebel must have his due And as the Proverb saith He that cannot bear to be a Servant let him be his own Servant When thy Work is done and the Crown obtain'd then rest in Security but wo to him that hath an ill Name in his Youth He will be suspected by the Virgin As having put the Crown of blooming Youth upon the Serpents Head But if thou follow Vertue thou mayest become the Head of all thy kindred Therefore O Son of the Virgin if thou seest the oppression of the Poor Spirit of the Soul in the Humane Republick Marvel not at the matter and if thou beholdest a violent perverting of Justice and Judgment in the Soulish Province for a time wonder not For he that is higher than the proudest and highest Mind regardeth And there be higher than they For the Spirit though ost as a Servant walking a Foot in low place is higher than the Rebel Soul O Man mark what I say I the Preacher returned and reflected upon all the Oppressions that are done under the Sun of this vain Light And behold the Tears of such as were oppressed and the sighing of the Spirit of the Soul and they had no Comforter And on the side of the Soul there Oppressour there was Power for there was no Compulsion to draw him to Sin against his Will but he would not open his Ear of Compassion Wherefore I praised the Dead that are already Dead even the Mortal Animals more then the Living that are yet alive for a time but are like to dye the Eternal Death Yea better is he then both they which have not yet been who hath not seen the Evil that is done under ehe Sun of Time and Eternity An Embryo is more happy than the false Birth Yea an Eunuch is happier than he that is joyned to the Witch like Traduction of a false Will which rebelleth against the Will of the Deity All these things have I seen in the Days of my Conversation in the Vanity There is a Just one the Spirit that perishe or rather vanishes in his Righteousness And there is a wicked one the false Mind who prolongeth his Life of Eternity in his wickedness and yet would willingly Dye but shall not find Death §. 3. False Judgment THis also have I seen and applied my Heart to every Work that is done under both Suns there is a Time wherein one Ruleth over another as the Soul oveâ— the Spirit to his own Eternal Hurt And so I saw the wicked buried in the Abyss who had come and gone from the Place of the Holy by his Aposâ—acy And they were forgotten in the Holy City where they had done any good for their good Works did not follow them This is a great Vanity Because Sentence against an evil Work is not executed speedily for the Spirit of the Soul or Conscience hath not Power to pronounce it till the Day of Death therefore the Heart of the Soul Son of the Humane Root is fully set upon mischief by plotting against his own Judge and working wickedness against God's Friend But know this though a Sinner do evil an hundred times and the Days of his Eternity be prolonged in Pain and Horrour Yet surely I know that it shall be well with the Spirit of the Soul that fears to Sin against God's Law and to the Soul that consents to the Spirit and fears before him And so all is well that ends well But it shall not be well with the Wicked neither shall he prolong his Days of Vanity in this inferiour World which are as a Shadow and whose Spirit will vanish as an Image in a Looking-glass because he feareth not God and to offend his Virgin There is a Vanity which is done upon the Earth of Humanity that there be Just men unto whom if they Apostatize it happens according to the Work of the Wicked And if the Father hath eaten sower Grapes the Child of this Apostate as by Transmigration of or into an unlucky off-spring his Teeth shall be set on Edge Again there be wicked ones to whom if they retract it
happens according to the Work of the Righteous I said that this is also the result of Vanity §. 4. Retaliation THe Soul that diggeth a Pit for the pure Spirit of the Soul shall fall himself into it And whoso breaks an Hedge the Fence betwixt the two Properties a Diabolical Serpent shall sting and bite him Whoso removeth Stones or the true Land-mark shall be hurt therewith and the building of his false Imagination shall fall upon him And he that cleaveth the Pillars of Heaven shall be endangered thereby If the Iron be blunt and there be no Stone to what the Edge because it is lost by Negligence then thou must put more Strength in the Gate of Purgatory in this Life but Wisdom if in time she had been embraced would have directed thee Surely the Serpent will bite without Inchantment And a Babler or false Accuser of the Spirit of the Soul is no better The Tongue will break a Bone Yet it is the best weapon of Defence if skilfully handled The Words of a Wise Man is Gracious and refresh the Spirit of the Soul with his good News and Story of his Travels and escape in Shipwrack but the Self-accusation of a Fool will condemn and swallow up himself in the Abyss He needs no Bell at his Neck His Bolt is soon shot The beginning of the Words of his Mouth contradicting his Conscience is Foolishness And the end of his talk at the Day of Judgment is Mischief and Madness and an eternal Frenzy Curse not therefore the King O Man no not in thy thought Speak not reproachfully against the Princely Spirit in the Bed-Chamber of thy Whorish Companion For the Angel-Guardians of the Air shall carry the Voice And the winged Cherub shall discover the High-Treason For Rebellion is as the Sin of Witchcraft And as a Witch is a Rebel in Physicks So reversing the Point a Rebel is a Witch in the spiritual Politicks §. 5. The Souls Metamorphosis ALso I said in mine Heart concerning the State of the Sons of Men that God might manifest them and they may see that they themselves are of a Bestial Shape in the inward Signature except they be new-born in the right Humane Shape For that which befalleth Men befalleth the outward Animals Even one thing befalleth them as the one dieth the External Death so doth the other Yea they have all one Breath drawn from the Airs Power So that a Man hath no preheminence above a Beast for all is Vanity which is in the outward Love and vanisheth as a Shadow All Animals Humane and Bestial Sensitive and Rational go unto one Place the Grave of the four Elements the Womb of their first Mother which conceived them swallows them again All are of the Dust or of the hoil of Atoms and all turn into the same Chaos again Now observe this Mystical Ancient Philosophical Point who knoweth the noble Soul or Spirit of a Right Humane Being that goeth upward into his own Heaven and the Spirit of the Bestial Man by the Transmigration of his Soul into an Eternal Brute or rather by the Metamorphosis thereof into a degenerated Viper or Toad or other sensual Animal according as his Soul was inclined in its Nature in this Life that goeth downward into the Opacious Cave of the gross dark Earth in the bottomless Abyss This is not set down here to reproach Mankind but because it is certainly known in the Light of the Eternal Sun O Man consider thy self here §. 6. Work in Time CAst thy Bread into a Ship floating upon the Waters of thy Eternal Ocean as Treasures laid up in Heaven and thou shâ—dt find it after many Days in Eternity Give a Portion to seven thy seven Properties and also to the Eighth hidden in the seven the beginning of a new Harmony For thou knowest not what evil may be hereafter in thy Humane Earth If the Clouds of blessing be full of Rain and Heavenly Dew they empty themselves upon the Earth of Man And if the Humane Tree falleth by Ballance toward the pleasant South or toward the Grim North in the Place where the Tree falleth there it shall be to all Eternity He that observeth the Mystical Original of the Holy Wind or Spirit or Breath of God thinking God will come by force into his Heart to compel him to come to Heaven shall not sow Divine Seed And he that regardeth the Clouds of Darkness thinking the Time of the spiritual Harvest is not yet come shall not reap a spiritual Crop As thou knowest not what is the way of the Spirit of the Soul nor how the Bones do grow in the Womb of the Virgin that is with Child of the Regenerated Birth Fven so God thou knowest not the Works of who maketh all In the Morning of thy Youth betimes while it is called to Day sow the blessed Seed and in the cool of the Evening-Gale of God's pure Breath withhold not thine Hand And commit the Improvement to God by Resignation For thou knowest not whether shall prosper either this or that Or whether they both shall be alike good §. 7. Before the Evil Days come REmember therefore O Man thy Creator and Father in the Days of thy renovated Youth Think of the Ancient of Days in the beginning of thy New Regeneration And he will prolong thy Eternal Days call to mind thy Everlasting State before the evil Days come in which thou shalt say I have to Pleasure in them If thou Love God and the Virgin of Eternal Youth and perpetual Beauty the Evil Days or Years of Sorrow will never draw nigh or overtake thee or if they come they shall not continue For an Everlasting Calm will come after a Storm of true Repentance Therefore remember the kindness of her Youth and the Love of thy Spouse while the Sun of the Eternal Spirit of the Soul or the Mind of the Affections of the Astral Nature be not clouded in blindness nor the Clouds of Darkness return after the Shower of a Purgatory in this Life In the Day when the Keepers of the Humane House and the Maintainers of the Soulish Family tremble and quake for Rottenness in their Bones and the strong Men that carry Provision to the Mill shall bow themselves under their burden And the Milstones cease because they are worn â—ut and the sound of the Mill is low and the Voice that calleth to Repentance is not audible And the Sentinels that keep Watch and Ward at the Windows of true Light be darkned and blinded by false Phantasie And so cannot prevent the Invasion of the Whores Brats which will seize upon the Castle And the Door of the Lips shall be shut in the Streets of the little City and will not be opened to the cries of the miserable Beggar and Wanderer and yet are open from within to utter Blasphemies And Self-accusations in Despair And he shall rise up as being frighted at the noise and terrour of his own Evil Conscience Because he would