thee shall be called the Son of God This answer Mary could only receive by Faith and Intellectual Light And to strengthen her Faith he further tells her With God all things are possible What our Belief commonly called the Apostles Creed saith of this Mystery is very Excellent that he was conceived by the Power of the holy Ghost in the Womb of the Virgin Mary Doubtless the Substance of the Virgins own Body was the purer for her being a Virgin and a holy Woman yet it was much purer when the holy Ghost came upon her the Spirit of the living and Eternal God the Virgin Wisdom the true Virgin Mother did not as in the Birth of the World produce the Substance purely from her self this would have been Creation but the holy Ghost did penetrate the Substance of the Virgin and did purify and rarisy it that it was a holy Thing indeed that was born of her It was a great Honour and Priviledge the Virgin Mary was made Partaker of and doubtless a good measure of the Spirit of God did abide upon her but this power of the Spirit did not rest upon her but it did abide upon that holy thing which was born of her our blessed Lord Jesus Now this miraculous Work the Conception of our Lord is the second time the Spirit of God the holy Ghost performed the Office of a Mother in such an immediate and extraordinary manner and as the Conception was wonderful so doubtless the Thing conceived was extraordinary the Body of our Lord was a very pure and in a great measure a spiritual Body and yet a true Body for no Substance is the less true but the more so for being Spiritual The World and all things in it as it came immediately from the Spirit of God in its first Creation was very good and therefore true and substantial for nothing can be Good but what is True And now I see how Truth Being and Goodness are One Words I have before heard but never understood till now After the Fall Man and the whole Creation sunk more deep into Materiality but thereby did not become a more real and substantial Being but a more shadowy one as it went farther from the Light Now Matter when it is most dark shadowy and at a distance is capable of being reduc'd to a spiritual state by the Power of God through the Merits of Christ by the Operation of his Spirit for he shall change our vile Bodies and make them like his glorious Body Wonderful changes do pass upon Matter in this lower World by Natural Productions and Alterations and also by Artificial ways As I my self have seen and handled Matter changed from putrified vile stinking to beautiful sweet and in a degree rarified and refined and I believe far greater things of this kind may be performed than I have yet seen And I know Substances freed in any degree from the clogs of Materiality may perform extraordinary things How much more might the Body of our Saviour that never was so strongly fettered perform Wonders while he was on Earth in the Body after his Resurrection and now since his Ascension especially being in all these various states united to his Divinity The Body of our blessed Saviour is now in the blessed State of Glorification and I will not dispute what he can do but I do not at all believe he will change this most glorious bright shining Body of his into Flesh Blood and Bone and give it us to eat and to drink raw whole with I know not how many Absurdities that some profest Christians dare to mention but I hope this is far from any to believe there is no need of this the Flesh profits nothing the Spirit quickens and except we do eat the Spiritual Flesh and drink the Spiritual Blood of Christ we have no part in him Not Flesh and Blood in a more gross sence than our Saviour ever had to give us but in such a sence as a spiritual Man by a spiritual Discerning may receive Lord evermore give me this Bread not only two or three times a year once a month or once a week or only in a piece of Bread so qualified and blest do I desire it but that it may be my daily Food that I may live upon it I can no more spiritually live without it a day than I can live without my daily Bread I desire continually to feed upon the hidden Manna and to drink the Wine of the Kingdom and to feel more of that blessed Promise made good in me that our blessed Jesus gave forth to those that believe on him That out of their Bellies shall flow Fountains of Living Waters I would have my spiritual Sences always exercised about spiritual Objects my Eye stedfastly fix'd on my blessed Jesus Here I must set down a Love-Desire and Breathing after Him Ah blessed Jesus Let me see thy Face Let me draw near to thy most Holy Place With Wings of Eagles let me mount on High There to behold thy Bright Divinity Tho' I am here encompassed with Clay Let me behold the Dawning of thy Day Shine forth O Lord from the Center of my Heart Let Light Divine fill me in every part O fill my Soul with thy Celestial Fire With thy pure Spirit do thou me now inspire That I may sing and bless thy Holy Name And may return to thee thy own pure Flame I will return to thee my Love my All Be always ready to obey thy Call Write in my Heart the Royal Law of Love That whilst Below I may be like those Above Whose blest Employment is to love and sing Hallelujahs to their Heavenly King Now I will joyn with this most blessed Quire With them I 'll Praise with them I will Admire O Holy Holy is the Lord for he Gives Life from Death he sets the Pris'ner free Vnbind my fetter'd Soul that it may be Above the Earth and Materiality c. Let all the People praise thee O God let all the People praise thee thy Saints shall bless thee While I have a being my Soul shall magnify thy Name thou hast done for me great things and that my Soul knows right well Tho' I am nothing nor can do nothing nor know nothing but in thee and by thee I cannot praise thee without thee thou art my Life thou hast begotten me again to a lively hope and through the Riches and free Grace of my God to a poor sinful Creature a worthless Worm to me is this Grace given to become the Child of God and to know this third and last Work of the Spirit of God in performing the Office of a Mother in making me partaker of the New Birth and to know what it is to be born again not of Water nor of Blood but of the Spirit of the living and true God Words are empty things and perish in their own sound but it is a blessed thing to be enabled with the holy Apostles to say What we
away In thy Light let me see Light Strengthen my Optick Faculty that I may look within the Vail and behold Thee Thou Sun of Suns the Brightness of the Fathers Glory I can see but little of Thee I can know but little of Thee I cannot Comprehend Thee do thou Comprehend me Surround me with thy Brightness Gather me up into thy Self that Inferiour Lights may be under my feet that I may no longer be governed by their Influences but may be under the immediate Conduct of thy Light World where they need not the Light of the Sun for thy Self is the Light thereof When shall it be said to thy Church Arise and shine for thy Light is come Even so come Lord JESUS come quickly And God said Let there be Lights in the Firmament of the Heaven to separate the Day from the Night and let them be for Signs and for Seasons c. and let them give Light on the Earth And God made two great Lights the greater Light to rule the Day the lesser Light to rule the Night He made also the Stars and God set them in the Firmament to shine upon the Earth and to rule the Night and the Day and separate the Light from the Darkness And God saw that it was good God by his Spirit made the Heavens and by his Spirit he garnished and embellished the Heavens The Firmament was before a beautiful Looking-Glass it was an admirable one indeed when the lovely Forms of Bodies of Light were to be seen in it God said Let there be Lights in the Firmament This was not only to Adorn but for many admirable Uses for Signs and for Seasons They sign and signify out much to the Inhabitants of this lower World they have a Voice to us if we could understand it there is no Tongue nor Language where their Voice is not heard but how few understand the Language They were to give Light on the Earth Light is one of the most comfortable Blessings we have it is one of the good Gifts that comes from the Father of Lights If it were ask'd Hath the Light a Father As Job was ask'd concerning the Rain We might answer It hath a Divine Original For the Firmament is a Mirror as it shews to us the Births and Representations of the upper Light World the Supercelestial Sun and Moon and Stars the seven Spirits of God the seven Golden Lamps shew themselves in their various Lights and put forth their Influences in the visible Heavens from thence they are conveyed down to our lower World and we have our Sun and Moon and Stars in the Earth we have our Sun Centralis as some Philosopher calls it I think Sandivogius Some other Enlightned Person saith There is Heaven above and Heaven beneath know this and be happy I mention this in this place because the Mineral Kingdom hath some share in this Fourth Days Work for when the Lights of the Firmament were made to shine forth being a Reflection from the most glorious Upper Light World they did not rest there so but that they put forth Themselves into a Birth into a Reflection or Mirror in this Lower World but here the Christal is so thick it is hard seeing through it the Fall hath so much mudded this Principle this Lower Earth Besides our Sun and Moon are but the Reflection of a Reflection the Shadow of a Shadow Therefore we must dig deep for this Wisdom as for hid Treasures and we shall see Wisdom hath builded her House so as to lay her seven Pillars deep in the very Foundation in the very Center of all things I was ready to wonder that the Mineral Kingdom was not described as well as the Creation of the Vegetable and Animal in this first Chapter of Genesis till my Eyes were opened to see it did belong to this Fourth Day 's Work And now I see more clearly the deep Significancy of Joseph's Blessing which hath contained in it the Sweetness of Heaven above and the Deep lying beneath the sweet Increase of the Sun and of the Moon Lord after this sight let me no more think any of thy Creatures mean or little let me be always thankful for the least of thy Favours Nothing can be little that comes from Thee thou Being of all Beings Thou hast nothing little to give All thy Works are wonderful in Wisdom hast thou made them all Thy Footsteps are glorious thy Footstool is richly adorned All thy Ways are Pleasantness all thy Paths are Peace I desire to be in Subjection to Thee thou Father of my Spirit that I may live that I may live to praise live to love and to adore thee for ever The lower Sun Moon and Stars that inhabit our Earth are for the use of Man especially a wise Man who knows their Original Nature and Use and when he intends to improve them for the health of his Body or benefit of his Estate he makes them to shine in his Firmament and they are to him for Signs and Seasons by which to govern his Work they are to enlighten his Earth to make it fruitful to bring forth their own bright Forms till his véry Earth is throughout enlightned and comes to be it self a bright shining Sun This Fourth Day 's Work is figured out in Man who is the Little World in the Frame of his outward Body as is said in the 12th of the Ecclesiastes Whilst the Sun is not dark nor the Light nor the Moon nor the Stars The Fall of Man Eclipsed the Lights and laid them liable to Darkness It entied into the very Soul and Spirit and darkned the Light there But when the Spirit of the Lord comes to work the New Birth the New Creation this Fourth Day 's Work comes to be known in the Soul O who can express the glorious Splendor if it When the Lord himself comes to be a Sun and a Shield When the Sun of Righteousness doth arise with Healing in his Wings The Dawning of this Day the Morning Redness the Sun Rising Who can express the unutterable Sweetness and Strength that is felt in the happy Soul that is thus shined upon But to have this Sun shine brighter and brighter to the perfect Day to increase into the Light of seven Days O may a poor low humble Soul that feels a little Refreshment from the Beams of this Sun lie prostrate till it feels that it is throughout penetrated and filled till it is cloathed with the Sun and hath the Moon under its Feet that it may go forth in the power of this Sun as a Giant refreshed with Wine and as a strong Man to run a Race O my Soul lie low prostrate thy self at the Feet of thy JESVS in silence wait his pleasure stir not up thy Beloved till he please He hath sometimes visited a Soul with such Favours as hath made it sing silent Waiting I do find A Treasure opens in my Mind Turn in my Soul turn in and see The fulness of
hard than hardest stones Here lies shrieking tortur'd Souls Vnder ugly Spirits Controuls Now those that thro' all this can see A lovely beauteous Harmony Must be Baptized of the Spirit And his Tincturing Love inherit The Lamb is made a Sacrifice But out of Death he does arise And in his rising gives a Spring Of Light and Life to every thing The Captiv'd Soul he did set free In Life and Immortality Such as in darkest Chains are led Are now arising from the dead To dry and ghastly Bones does give Power to Arise and Live The Tortur'd Souls he does unbind The foulest Spirits are calcin'd But now my Soul fall down and praise Before the Antient of Days The Praises of the Lamb proclaim Exalt and magnifie his Name The Holy Spirit do thou adore Who opens thus his hidden store The Three in One I 'll Celebrate All things in Love he did Create Those who are Objects now of woe They may have Cause to think it so All Creatures now bow down and fall Before the Father of us all And his high Praises with me sing Who is our Everlasting King A Short Discourse Concerning those Two Great Principles of Natural Philosophy Matter and Motion IT is the fault of many Ingenious Persons in their Discourses of Natural Things that they only Speak or Write of them in their Second Causes and not ab Origine in their first Root and Fountain the Divine Being who is the Source of all Being Blessedness and Happiness and I doubt not this hath been the fault of some who have had in their Minds a high Adoration of the Ever Blessed God Yet this neglect hath been a great Evil in Three Respects First That they have not as they ought acknowledged God in all their Ways and did not begin with him who is the Beginning of all things Secondly By this they may have misled some of the Illiterate and Unthinking World in making some ready to doubt of the First Cause because these Men who they value mention nothing of it others think ill of the Men and the Truths they Discourse of because the Ground of all Truth is left out in their Writings Thirdly This kind of Philosophy cannot be solid and substantial wanting a good Foundation I hope in what I have to say about Matter and its Diversification about Motion and the Origine Order and End of it will be all plainly deduced from the Almighty Goodness the beginning of them and return'd to him who is their Rest The Learned Mr. Boyle tells us in his Book called The Origine of Forms and Qualities that the World is made of one Universal and Catholick Matter which is a great Truth but few or none tells us what this Matter is much less what it was indeed some tells us it was Nothing why then it is so still 't is not better than in the Paradisical State of things indeed it is nothing compar'd with its Original it is nothing if it were possible to separate it from its Root but since that cannot be I will write of it as something or else my Discourse would soon be at an end for of nothing It should have but little to say Matter is a continued Emanation from the Visible Heavens which are a kind of middle Natures between Spirit and Matter they are Spirit compar'd with Matter and Matter compared with Spirit What Communications are between these middle Natures and the Glorious upper Light World I will not now Discourse but I am sure they have their Life Light Power Virtue all from thence which if the Visible Heavens did not convey to this Lower World it would be brought almost as near nothing as some Men imagine it once to have been The Scriptures teach us the best Natural Philosophy when they tell us the Light is the Life of Man and doubtless it is so of all other Creatures not by shining upon them but by shining in them being their substantial Root and Original the Sun as a second Cause was not made only to Illuminate the World to shine upon it but to be the Parent or Father of Vegetables and other Creatures that do inhabit the Earth the Sun doth impregnate and stir up the Vegetive Faculty of the Earth and causes it to bring forth first the Root of an Opacous Colour like the Earth in which it is fixt lighter than that the Stalk grows up out of the mixture of the Nitrous Azure Air and the Sulphureous Yellow Earth which being mingled causes the Verdant Stalk and Leaves and by a greater Maturation and Ripening of the Substances is produced the lovely Red or Purple the Glory of the Vegetable Kingdom How the Sun and other Luminous Bodies do produce Minerals and and are Conducive to Animal Births I shall not now Discourse each part would make a large Tract that these Congregate Bodies of Light are Conducive to the Production of things and are the most excellent active Second Causes is obvious almost to our very outward Senses but there was a time when these bright Bodies had not a Being as they now have and then they could not produce other Beings nor give Being to themselves the Light that is the Life of Man is also the Light and Life of these Creatures of this bright Sun and Moon he is a Wise and All-powerful Agent who gave them their shining and when he withdraws his Influences the Sun shall be turned into Darkness and the Moon into Blood before the great and notable Day of the Lord come as the Holy Scriptures tell us And though we have not seen this particular change here mentioned we know not how soon it may be and however we have seen enough Alterations upon the whole Face of Visible Things to make us know they are not perfect Beings and did not make themselves but are made and governed by a Perfect and Intelligent Being The Second Principle to be Discours'd of about Matter is That the great Bodies of Light and other Creatures of Bulk do consist and are made up of lesser Bodies which we may call Atoms Corpuscles or Particles these little parts of Matter have their determinate size shape scituation colour in order to constitute something of greater Bulk Beauty and Service the Texture and Joining together of these are contrived by a Wise Agent to conduce to a Noble End The motion or moving of these little Particles did at first conduce as a Second Cause to the making Varieties of Creatures and it is now highly conducing to the Changes that pass upon all material things which brings me to the Second Head of Discourse I principally intended which is to say something of Motion Matter had an Occult Principle of Motion hid in its Nature not being made of a dull insensible nothing out of I know not what imaginary empty space but was made of an active Substance yet it did not actually move in a regular determinate Motion till the Spirit of the Living God Moved upon it and
moved upon the face of the Waters Fire and Water are the two most substantial Principles Earth and Air are produced from them Water is the Root and Beginning Fire the Perfection and End of all things The Unctuousness Oyliness of the Chaos produc'd the Light or rather was the Light and Fire the Water was in this beginning of things the greatest quantity till the Fire gets the Predominancy the Firmament the Light and Heat divided the Waters from the Waters thus a vast quantity of Waters was most wisely placed part of it below the Fire that its piercing substance might not with its fiery heat penetrate the Earth too swiftly with its quick motion till the Earth was brought more towards a state of Perfection the Firmament was placed between the Waters to Concoct and Ripen them and to bring their Watry into a Fiery Substance the Oleous Quality of the Chaos was Fire but when it was expanded into the Firmament it much lost its force and became more properly Light and Heat than Fire as it is now placed so that we here see the meaning of that word The Voice of the Lord divideth the Flames of Fire the most compact Body of Fire is divided till it comes to be hardly any longer Fire Bodies are divisible Spirits not the nearer any Body is to Spirit the more hard to have its parts divided Fire is that wonderful Substance I must not I dare not at this time say any more of the Nature of it But notwithstanding the Fire is brought into this peaceful Temperature in the making the Firmament yet it retains so much the Nature of Fire that if it is agitated and contracted it becomes Fire again as we see by a common Experiment it is done by the Burning-Glass But it is made out Excellently and Clearly by the account we have of the Last Great Conflagration in the Scriptures it is said The Element shall melt with fervent heat and that it shall be wrapped up like a Scroul which passage explains the former it s being wrapped up contracted and brought into a narrower compass will so increase the intense heat that the Element shall melt and the Earth and all things in it shall be burnt up And thus it is shewed mo the Conflagration burning the Earth by Fire shall in some respects resemble the Deluge by Water then the Windows of Heaven were opened and the Fountains of the great Deeps were broken up So in the Dispensation of Fire the Element shall perform its Office of Burning as hath been a little before described also the imprisoned Fires in the Powels of the Earth shall be set at liberty their Deep shall be broken up that they may meet their beloved upper Flames to which they always tend And it appears to me that as the World grows nearer its period nearer this Dispensation of Fire the Central Fires do more break their Prisons make their way out of the Earth gain Victory over the Waters under the Earth and sometimes above the Surface of the Earth as is seen by Vesuvius Aetna and other Burnings that in our time have wonderfully issued forth and shewed their Conquest over the Water by sad Effects And Earthquakes may be sometimes caused by the strife of Fire and Water which when Fire gets the predominancy causes the Earth to open for we commonly see the excess of Driness makes the Earth chap and gape Moisture makes it more continuous or clinging together Now I cannot but return with Admiration to behold the Beauty and Wisdom of this Second Day 's Work and say t It was very good And the Evening and the Morning was the Second Day O Admirable Order of things How am I ravished with the sight Who can enter into the deep of this one Sentence The Evening and the Morning was the Second Day According to my scanty measure I shall describe the Philosophers Second Day 's Work It is not to be wondred if I do it not so exactly as some others who have more of the Spirit of Wisdom and are Possessors of her Treasures while I profess to be only a Seeker and Lover It appears to me that the Philosophers Firmament is spread out like a Molten Looking-Glass and to me none but a wise Man can well understand this Passage he hath seen his Light arise out of the Darkness and expatiate it self to the filling his Recipient how large soever it be his Firmament is Light hath the Nature of Fire in it which is encompassed with Water above and underneath the Water is predominant in the beginning of his Work is the greatest quantity that he is ready to call it Superfluous Humidity but as his Work grows towards a state of Perfection the Fire prevails it becomes a Child of the Fire lives in the Fire feeds on the Fire I mean not Devouring Fire this appears not to be in it unless it is agitated and stirred up by too violent motion But Light or Fire so mingled by gentle procedure with the Water that it partakes of the Meek Peaceful Nature of the Water and gives forth so much of its own permanent compact Substance that they become one excellently qualified Essence Fire being in this state of Perfection predominant but such a Fire as is before described that doth not destroy but exalt the Substance to a more fix'd pure permanent state I say something of this Work as it is at the conclusion in this Second Day 's Work because Light and Heat whereof the Firmament consists are powerful Agents to begin and end the Work withal But the spreading forth the Light into a Beautiful Mirror is the end of his Second Day 's Work Now there is an admirable Teaching in this it is a Figure of the Work of the Spirit of God in illuminating the Minds of Men which is a Translating them out of the Kingdom of Darkness into the Kingdom of the dear Son of God This is done in some measure in the beginning in the first Day 's Work but is greatly increased in the Second till we are brought into his Marvellous Light When the Light Center is open in us which was shut and vailed in the Fall it is a blessed thing but when it spreads it self that the Understanding is enlightened in the Knowledge of God of himself and in some degree of the Creation round about him he comes again to be but a little lower than the Angels who are Intelligences who are Fire He maketh his Angels Spirits and those Ministers of his Flames of Fire Nay Man in his first Creation was an Excellently Noble Creature he was the Epitomy of the whole World he was the Little World in which the Great was comprised he had the Elements and all Creatures within himself We may well say We are fearfully and wonderfully made with holy David who had his Eyes opened to see his own Excellent Make. But if the first Creation was glorious how much more is the Second the New Creation in Man
this Treasury 'T was placed here by thee O Lord 'T is opened by thy Living Word 'T is he himself doth keep the Key Of all thâ— hidden Mystery He is my Sun of Righteousness Who my whole Person doth possess He is my Gold tried in the Fire He is my Cloathing my Attire He is my Food on him I feed And find him to be Meat indeed Now prostrate Soul do thou arise For thou hast won the glorious Prize Do not sit sighing here alone Since thou this happy Day hast known The Lovely Garland thou hast won Thy Head is wreathed with the Sun The Fifth Day 's Work of Creation was The Lord 's calling forth the Prolifick Virtue of the Water and Air which was immediately obeyed and they brought forth abundantly And God said Let the Waters bring forth abundantly the moving Creature that hath life and Fowl that may fly above the Earth in the open Firmament of Heaven And God created great Whales c. This word abundantly is twice used in the account of the Fifth Day 's Work this shews the abundant quantity of Water that there was to bring forth and the abundance of Creatures that were brought forth of Fish and Fowl which are innumerable and wonderfully various in their size shape and other qualities their Number being so wonderful and beyond comprehension their disproportion of size was wisely made the most vastly disproportionate of any of the other Creatures the Whale being of the largest Bulk of all living Creatures and therefore may be called the Chief of all the ways and works of God and as Mr. Boyle observes in his Excellent Book of Natural Philosophy There is bred in a liquid substance in Vinegar the smallest Creature so that there is room left for wonderful Variety to come between which is admirably filled up with great Variety O blessed Eternity that will give Time and Capacity to see the Wonders of the Ways and Works of God! To see them in their Original not only in a Glass in shadowy Representations the great quantity and prolifick Virtue of the Waters is seen in their wonderful Encrease which is seen now in their Spawning and bringing forth Multitudes at once one Fish bringing forth a greater Number at one time than any other Creature doth produce in many years The Fowls those curious Aerial Inhabitants are very admirable they also were the Fifth Day 's Work and tho' they inhabit the Air the Water is only mentioned as the cause of their Production by the power of God which proves what I have before said of the affinity between the Water and Air and there were some of these Creatures made as it were of a Middle Nature as Fish that fly and Fowl that swim These Inhabitants of the Aerial Region are very worthy Contemplation their excellent Situation curious Make variety of Colour pleasant Employment admirable Oeconomy or Government are all cause of much Wonder There is no sort of sublunary Creatures I would so soon change my Make with as these Their Aerial Bodies are so light their motion is swift David was ready to envy their getting so near the Altars he desired the Wings of a Dove to fly away and be at rest Their Employment is pleasant chearfully singing their Creators praise They are immediately under their Creator's bountiful Care and Provision they sow not nor reap yet are taken care of and have their Meat in due season I cannot but particularly admire the Bee that pretty little Chymist that knows how to separate the Substances We may learn Natural and Moral Philosophy from this little Insect It industriously works and wisely improves the matter that it works upon by separating the Precious from the Vile Their Government is Excellent there is Superiority for Orders sake and yet love makes an Equality they dwell in their little Houses one by another without encroaching and yet communicating tho' there is something of particularity it hath one Foundation and is closely joyned so that it encreases into a common stock I cannot but much admire this Order of Beings the winged Choristers If I could understand the Language of Nature they would all teach me much to know the God of Nature who hath made them and taught them and takes care of them continually In the Philosophers Fifth Day 's Work there is the Exaltation of Eagles the Doves of Diana whose meek Natures might teach their Masters Patience their Phaenix is their most Noble Bird for out of its Ashes is produced and doth arise a young One more Noble In the Inword Work upon the Minds of Men there is a great Advance of the Work towards a finishing the New Creation the New Birth and may be called the Fifth Day 's Work when we are made to mount up with Wings as Eagles It is a blessed thing to know this Fifth Number to be accomplished in us when we come to be above the perturbation of the Elements when we dwell in the Upper Region in Serenity and Stillness in the One pure Element If we have Faith as a grain of Mustard-seed it will grow up till at last it will become a great Tree that the Fowls of the Air shall lodge in the Branches our own Spirits will come to dwell in this beautiful Tree of Faith which is another Life than we knew before and other good Spirits will inhabit with us that we shall say with the Spouse The time of the singing of Birds is come and the Voice of the Turtle is heard in our Land We shall joyn with Quires of Angels to sing Hymns of Praise to our God and King Hallelujah Hallelujah Some Souls are redeemed and brought to this state but O when shall the Church be brought from amongst the Pots from amongst the soil and impurity that cleaves to them When shall she arise like a Bird of Paradise with her Wings of yellow Gold O my Soul wrestle in secret with thy God that this may be accomplished that there may be a going on to the Sixth Day 's Work Moreover the Lord said Let the Earth bring forth the living thing after its kind Cattel and every creeping thing c. And it was so Furthermore God said Let us make Man in our Image c. Read to the end of the Chapter The Lord may open more to thee whoever thou art than to me who know nothing but am a little Child I am become a Fool that I may be made Wise I desire that my blessed Jesus may be made of God to me Wisdom 'T is the Fools and simple Ones to whom Wisdom cries She lifts up her Voice and saith Whoso is simple turn in hither And to a poor simple One as I am she may shew the Excellency of the Six Day 's Work of Creation And the Lord said Let the Earth bring forth This was a pure Earth as it came forth immediately from the Lord as it was the immediate Product or Birth of his Spirit And when the dry Land did appear
at the Command of God the Lord saw that it was good And tho' at the first appearance the dry Earth had not so great a Lustre as afterwards when it was beautified and adorned but was partly like a calcined Earth the Fire and Water and Air being in a great degree separated from it yet when the Lord by his powerful Word call'd forth its Virtue it shew'd it self to have an admirable Life in it And indeed the Earth it self was exceedingly more pure beautiful lovely than since the Curse It did far excel in Colour Virtue Clarity and Brightness that all the Creatures that were then the immediate product of this Earth were like it self very good very lovely and transparent such were then the Plants the Beasts and the Man whose Name signifies the Red Earth of which he was made Whosoever hath his Eyes opened by the Lord to see the Paradisical State of things they will see the Plants to appear Christaline like precious Stones and all other things proportionably advanced to a most Noble Excellent state which I doubt not some Persons have seen while in the Body more clearly than my self Could we see or else believe that the Beasts were ever such Excellent Creatures and capable of being made so again there would not be such cruelty used towards our fellow-Creatures as there is when we see they are part of the same Day 's Work with our selves of the Sixth Day 's Work and that they were very Excellent in their Make and that by the Fall of Mankind who was made the Lord of them the poor Creatures came to sink with him into a low deplorable state of Misery sure we shall commiserate them we shall gain the true Empire over them by behaving our selves towards them with much love and some respect tho' as to inferiour Creatures yet this love will gain our true Empire over the Creatures When this Spirit of Love goes forth that Promise shall be made good That the Lion shall lie down with the Lamb and a little Child shall lead them While we are wrathful toward the Creatures it stirs up wrath and enmity in them but when we rule them in love with wisdom they easily subject themselves to us when we rule more from a Spirit given us of God to govern than from a desire in us or a will to have Superiority over our fellow-Creatures Lord Let not my Sins my Struggle with thy Will any longer hinder thy great Blessings from going forth in the Earth to the Release of the poor groaning Creatures Man and Beast but help me to groan with them for the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God And if an evening must go before this morning help me to submit to it and help all thy People to submit in holy Resignation to thy Divine Will thou Soveraign Lord of Lords and King of Kings to whom be ascribed all Power Might and Dominion for ever Thus have I been enabled to say something of the first part of the Sixth Day 's Work Now the Lord help me to know my self such Knowledge it too wonderful for me So God created Man in his own Image O that the Vail might be more perfectly drawn away that clouds this Image in me that I may see its brightness so clearly shine forth in me that what I see and feel I may declare Surely this Image doth consist in Rectitude and Order in the Union of Truth Being and Goodness God made Man upright he was made sincere in simplicity and integrity the uprightness of Man is the Image of God as he is a pure Unity the One from whom all Variety flows and this Image of God is most admirable most lovely thus God himself characterizeth Job Hast thou considered my Servant Job a Perfect Man and Vpright When the Lord had thus described Job presently he was set up as a Mark for the Enemy of Mankind to shoot at Also Job's Friends and others try their Skill upon the good Man being stirred up by the Evil One. There is nothing so much hated by the Evil One nor wicked Men as Integrity and Uprightness There is nothing to which they are so much contrary because all sin is a breach of the Unity It dwells in Contrariety Disorder Confusion but when we once gain the blessed Image again of Uprightness there is nothing so secures a Soul from evil Spirits and Men and from the strife of Tongues as this There is a passage in the Scriptures Integrity and Vprightness shall preserve me or to that purpose Mark the Perfect man and behold the Vpright for the end of that man is Peace from this Root an Admirable Variety doth flow God made Man Upright upon this Tree in the midst of the Garden did grow Twelve manner of Fruits Righteousness Holiness Love Peace Joy Humility Patience and other excellent Fruits here grows forth a numerous variety but all in a Beautiful Order and Harmony in the Tree of Mixture of Good and Evil there is Contrariety and Disorder there is Breaking in pieces and Confusion but where there is Integrity we shall be as Mount-Sion that cannot be moved Man was made in this blessed state of Rectitude and and Order Uprightness and Integrity of Spirit and Soul and also his very Body was of an Excellent Proportion Transparent Brightness Admirable Colours to set out this Curious Structure we shall know more of this when we shall be made to return into the Paradisical State more fully that the very Body may partake of it and the Youth be Renewed like the Eagles it is but few yet know any thing of this some there are though I am but waiting for the Redemption of the Body In the Image of God Created he him Male and Female Created he them Man was in every respect made after the Image of God the Female as well as the Male. I do not see that Adam sinned in desiring to bring forth his Female Self It was before the Fall and was no part of the Fall it was a Variety but not Contrariety it was a Pattern of things in the Heavenly Distinction is consistent with Unity Marriage is Honourable and the Bed Vndefiled True Marriage is very Honourable The Apostle saith it represents Christ and the Church who when the Spirit of God hath made ready she will be the Bride the Lambs Wife After these Considerations methinks none should dare to profane that State And the Lord blessed them and said Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the Earth and subdue it and have Dominion c. This Authority was given to the Female as well as to the Male therefore it is unjust in any to say they are not capable to Rule they are in most cases certainly to give Man the Superiority yet the Woman is capable to receive a Spirit of Government when the Lord pleases to give it But it is certainly more happy to be Governed than to Govern unless God calls for such a Service The subordinate Station of
a Woman in Governing a Family which is usually allowed them is Honourable and Comfortable if it is faithfully and prudently managed But Women are capable of other Employments than these Their Mother Wisdom who hath builded her House and hewn out her seven Pillars hath called simple ones to come in hither and she doth not exclude Females but they may receive the Law from her Mouth she will open her hid Treasures to them and shew them that Wisdom is better than Gold yea than much fine Gold better than Rubies that the Merchandise is better than Silver and the gain thereof than much fine Gold If Man did but know himself he would soon find Wisdom's Golden Mine If Man did but know and would consider his Divine Original his admirable Make in his Paradisical state that his outward Form was so lovely his Noble Soul was easily seen through it surely he would not behave himself unseemly towards his own Body which is a Temple for the holy Ghost to dwell in as the blessed Apostle tells us And did Man and Woman consider though now they are in a distinct Existence they were once One and when they are United in Marriage come to be so again surely they would behave themselves well in that Relation each in love and honour esteeming the other especially let the Woman be careful to perform her Duty for she was first in the Transgression she hath the more need to watch and pray that she enter not into Temptation When this Relation is thus lived in with this regard to themselves and one towards another it is a holy happy state and if ye be holy the Apostle tells us then are your Children also holy Jacob Behm that enlightened man saith Endeavour to get your Children good Souls This state so lived in is not unbecoming a Paradisical state and certainly entails a great Blessing upon Posterity But notwithstanding there is an Excellency in the Paradisical state yet the Heavenly is most Excellent wherein there is neither Male nor Female Bond nor Free but we are all one in Christ Jesus Our blessed Saviour tells us In Heaven there is neither Marrying nor giving in Marriage but we shall be like the Angels in Heaven And as all Variety proceeds from Unity so they must return to Unity again Christ himself shall deliver up the Kingdom to the Father and God shall be all in all Unity is the Beginning and End of all things and Rest is the Beginning and End of all things which leads me to the Seventh Day 's Rest The Evening and the Morning was the Sixth Day Now let all Creatures praise the Lord my Soul shall bless him while I have a being Glory to him that sits upon the Throne for ever and ever Amen Hallelujah The Lord Omnipotent reigns Let the Earth rejoyce and the multitude of Isles be glad Rejoyce O my Soul Rejoyce in the Lord evermore The Wise Mans Sixth Day is When his Work comes to Animality shall I say It hath then a Paradisical Body and rather more then so for it can penetrate Bodies and it is not the Property of Bodies to have Penetration of Dimensions But draw a Vail here lest Unhallowed Hands Touch or their Eyes See Whoever is a thirst let him come If he is not athirst for Gold but for Wisdom he will find Wisdom's House Open to Receive the Hungry and Thirsty And for such she hath prepared a Feast she hath mingled her Wine and made ready her Delicacies The Internal Sixth Day 's Work is When we come to the state of Manhood To be a Man in Christ Jesus is a blessed happy state nay to be a Babe in Christ is so but much more to be a strong Man There is Food prepared for all these states Milk for Babes Meat for Men strong Meat for strong Men when we grow up to the measure of the stature appointed to us in Christ Jesus All true Life and growth is from our being united to Jesus Christ our Head who will perfect and compleat his Body Now to our blessed and glorious JESUS who is able to perfect what concerns us and to sanctifie us wholly in Soul Body and Spirit To Him be Glory Honour and Praise for ever He will in his own time bring us to the Day of Rest the perfect Number Seven And God Rested the Seventh Day So God blessed the Seventh Day and hallowed it This Seventh Day was a Day without Clouds It is not said of the Seventh Day The Evening and the Morning were that Day as it was said of the First and so on to the Sixth Indeed the Natural Day that appears to this lower World is as other Days and to those who dwell in the mixtures of Light and Darkness Good and Evil nay they love Darkness rather than Light to them this Day hath not much more in it than other Days But the All-glorious God tho' he condescended to work and operate in this Principle wherein is some mixture of Darkness and we cannot but say God was in the Darkness yet he dwells not in the Darkness he dwells in the Light he Rests there he entred into his own Light Principle and Rests there God is Light and in him is no Darkness at all He is Love Anger is his strange Work so it should be with his Children Anger rests in the Bosom of Fools If a Prophet or Prophetess have a Command from God to go forth with a Message of Wrath a Denuntiation of Threatning they must be obedient but they must not rest in it they must not stir up the Wrath they must rather qualifie it with the Meek Love of JESUS there they may Rest in him they find Rest to their Souls I did in the beginning of my Writings say something as I was enabled of the Rest and Repose of the glorious Deity before his going forth into Manifestation or Operation It was then and is now an harmonious Stillness a sweet Repose only now there is an Additional Joy The Lord saw his Works and they were all very good He was pleased to behold his Works having so much of his own Image of Goodness in them this causeth Joy in God himself And tho' Sin did Cloud and Vail this Image yet the Lord in infinite Mercy and Wisdom did by Jesus Christ restore the faln Creation of Man break down the middle Wall of Partition not only between Jew and Gentile but between God and Man And our blessed Lord Jesus himself is the New and Living Way by which we enter in within the Vail now When one Sinner returns there is Joy in Heaven over one Sinner that repents and the Father receives the Prodigal with Joy till at last the whole Work shall be accomplished and every Creature of things in Heaven things on Earth and under the Earth shall bless and praise the Lord for ever O what a blessed Sabbath will that be But who can express any thing of it Only the Lord makes a poor weary
heavy laden Soul to feel something of it in himself when we die in the Lord and rest from our Labours When we die into the Lord out of all things besides we shall know what it is to Rest and to rejoyce with Joy unspeakable and glorious To rest from our Labours and to have our Works follow us this is not a working for Life by Legal Performances it is rather a working from a Principle of Life where the Works follow and go not before the Life But there is something more than this there is a State of Rest and Joy wherein the Works of the Spirit that are wrought in us when the Lord works in us to Will and to Do follow us and are set before us to cause in us Joy and Rejoycing To look back upon our own Works which are performed from a Legal Selfish Princiciple causeth no true Joy nor Rest but rather lifting up in Pride and Self-will But in the true Work of the Spirit tho' we may go forth weeping bearing precious seed we shall return rejoycing bringing our Sheaves with us These Fruits of the Spirit Love Joy Peace follow such a Soul into the Rest and sweet Repose it attains here and also into the Rest which remains for the People of God Lord Let me know such a lasting permanent sixt Rest as may not have Evening nor Morning but may be a Day without a Cloud that I may have thy Light shining in me brighter and brighter to the perfect Day when thou wilt be my Light for ever The Wise Men whom God himself hath Enlightned are the only Wise Men and the most Happy having the inward Repose which the World cannot give nor take away Wisdom enables them to work and when their Work is come to the Seventh Day of Perfection they rest from their Labours their Work which was bulky and laborious comes to be easily portable pleasant Employment which they account rather Rest than Labour and the effects of their Works and the Work it self follows them where-ever they go and so mighty Works shew forth themselves in them as in their glorious Lord and Master who promised that the Works that he did they should do also Now these Works shew forth themselves in them more in their Patience Stillness and Rest than in all their busie Working 'T is but little Man hath to do in inward or outward Working when he hath committed himself and all his ways to the Lord. Now it is a blessed thing to feel any beginnings of this sweet Day this holy happy state of Rest within tho' it may not be brought forth thro' the whole Person But the Lord is the Rock and his Work is perfect He will perfect what concerns those that trust in him Wait patiently on the Lord O my Soul for he will give thee Rest for the Days wherein he hath afflicted thee O that the Peace of God that passeth all Vnderstanding may guard my Heart and Mind that no Storm nor Tempest may break in that I could retire into my strong Hold as a Prisoner of Hope waiting for the Redemption of my Body and not mine only but of the whole groaning Creation that the Year of Jubilee may be known to them when there shall be proclaimed Liberty for the Captives that the Creation may be brought forth into the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God O happy time when Jerusalem shall become the Praise of the whole Earth when the Lord shall set his King upon the holy Hill of Sion when our King shall be exalted by and upon a People who are as a barren Mountain nothing in themselves that so our King and our God the blessed JESUS may Reign to whom all Power in Heaven and Earth is given and of whose Dominion there is no End To whom be Glory and Honour and Blessing and Praise for ever and for ever Amen Hallelujah Great Lord of Lords and King of Kings Thou mak'st my dry and thirsty Earth to sing And in the Desart causeth a New Spring Awake my Soul and sing Jehovah's Praise Who giveth Life and from the Dead doth raise Mercy and Goodness are in all his Ways Hymns IN lowly Meekness I will dwell The Lilly of the Vale is sweet Ofttimes the loftiest Cedars fall And then alas their fall is great The Sp'rit that in the Myrtles moved Is a pure breath of holy Air Sometimes these Shrubs are visited Whilst higher Trees neglected are Come my Beloved o're Mountain top Come skipping o're the highest Hill Let thy Winds on my Garden blow Do thou with sweets my Spices fill When thou bright Sun vouchsaf'st to shine On my Beloved Sharon Rose It hath its sweetness all from thee And with thee takes a sweet Repose It opens as the Morning fair When thou bright Sun art pleas'd to appear Then shuts up all its hidden store Till thy Sight does again draw near Thus I 'm a Garden clos'd to all A Fountain seal'd to all but thee Lest little Foxes should spoil my Vine The tender Grape planted by thee And lest the Silver-running Stream That is pure as it comes from thee Should mingle with the muddy Earth Partake of its impurity Hymns OH how shall I the praises sing Of our great God and glorious King Vnless his Spirit doth indite What I should sing what I should write His Spirit doth Secrets Reveal He opens the Mystick seventh Seal The seventh Seal the seventh Thunder Opens in me a sacred Wonder He leads me to the Centre deep Where Spirits dark their Prison keep Yet in this doleful Night does dwell A Light that Conquers Death and Hell For from the dark and hidden Ground The Light arising may be found I have seen a darksome gloomy shade Aweful and Majestick made But at Sun-rising with his light Hath been more pleasing to the sight With the sweet and lovely Green Guilded with the Sun between So have I seen a Picture fair Made by Artists Hand more rare When from darkest shades I see The Light arising to a degree Most perfect pleasing and most sweet Made from Variety so great So have I heard a pleasing sound Arising from deep Gamuts ground But Oh my spirits how they fail When I in this vast Ocean sail Now I 've a deep and hidden sense From the Centre to the Circumference Most holy Spirit keep me still I may be guided by thy will Oh how can I describe the fall My self so great a Criminal Darker than night darker than shade Or all things else that have been made More sad than Musicks deepest ground I must my Lamentation sound And from this doleful dismal Cry I would call all the standers by To see this sad and tragiâ—k sight Which may the hardest Spirits fright Here you may see a Lamb lye slain With the deepest sharpest pain There you see Spirits Captive led Sure they are free amongst the dead Here are Spirits led in Chains Vnder cruel torturing pains There lye dry and ghastly Bones With hearts more