throughout and I might instance in very many particular places of Scripture but this is done by excellent hands who discourse largely on this Subject as Charnock and others we have also in Holy Writ an account of Mankind his divine Original being made after the Image of God in a Blessed State a little lower then the Angels and also of his Deplorable State that he by Disobedience fell into and became worse then the beasts that perish we have also an account of the most Admirable Work of the Redemption of Mankind by Jesus Christ our Lord the methods our Blessed Jesus took are discovered to us by which this great Work was performed for us and also the operation of his Spirit in us all these admirable Mysteries are delivered to us with that Authority Majesty Sweetness and Love that we can never be enough thankful for them But O! How short are we in our understandings of them How little acquainted with their Worth and Excellency till we receive the third and last Blessed Help afforded by God to poor Mankind his own Holy Spirit by whom our minds become Enlightned in the Knowledge of God and of our selves and by being Illuminated by the same Spirit which the Holy Pen-men were Inspired with we come to have the Scripture opened to us clearly and indeed though of our selves we know nothing as we ought to know yet in this Spirit we come to know all things for the Spirit searcheth all things even the deep things of God and shews them unto us our Blessed Saviour tells us in John 16. v. 12. 13. I have yet many things to say unto you but you cannot bear them now howbeit when the Spirit of Truth is come he will guide you into all Truth and he will shew you things to come Now it is our duty to attend to this Voice of God in us to the Teachings of his holy Spirit who is an Interpreter one of a Thousand Those things in St. Paul's Epistles and other Scriptures hard to be understood are made easie by the teachings of this Spirit the Lord did strive with the old World by his Spirit in the minds of men there was not many Preachers in those days but Noah we read was a Preacher of righteousness he preached by his Faith which he shewed forth by his Works Tho' the Lord hath been from the beginning striving with Mankind by his Spirit yet this is the time when we have the greatest Encouragement to pray and wait for this great Blessing as the Fruit and Effect of the Resurrection and Ascension of our blessed Saviour who ascended up on high that he might give Gifts unto men this great Gift of the Father his holy Spirit Our Lord chose some to be Witnesses of his Resurrection and Ascension he hath also made some able to witness to this effect of his Ascension and to the Unworthiest less than the least of all is this grace given He hath been pleased to open the still Eternity and to shew the ever-blessed Deity in the most sweet harmonious Stillness deep holy Silence looking into his own Center of Light beholding his own Heart the lovely Image of Himself which caused that Joy and Desire of bringing forth his own lovely Image and this Desire brought forth into manifestation the only begotten Son of God the glorious Image of the Invisible God and the express Character of his Person who is God blessed for evermore from the Love-Union and Co-Operation of God the Father and God the Son did proceed God the holy Ghost from the Union and pure Mingling of the Awful Majestick Light of the Father with the Refulgent bright Light of the Son doth proceed the sweet meek peaceful Light of the holy Spirit and these Three who bear Witness in Heaven the Father the Word and the Spirit agree in One and all their Operations are conjunct as well as distinct As in the Creation and Production of the World the holy Father and Son impowered and impregnated the blessed Spirit in order to the production of this beautiful World and the Spirit of God moved upon the Face of its own Waters it Self being the Principle of the Water the Comparison of a Hen may not be unfitly used who first produceth the Watry substance of the Egg and then being impregnated or filled with Life and Heat she by moving upon and hovering over this moist substance produceth her own form and resemblance And herein it is that the pure immaculate Virgin Wisdom the holy Spirit of the Eternal God first performs the Office of a Mother or Female from this fruitful Womb it is that all Forms of Things are brought By his Wisdom he formed the Earth and by his Spirit he garnished the Heavens Hear what the Voice of our blessed Mother Wisdom saith of this concerning her self in the Eighth of the Proverbs begin at the 22th Verse and read to the 29th In the 21th verse When he prepared the Heavens I was there when he set a Compass on the Face of the Depth c. Now as at first the World was made by Ruach Elohim the Spirit Wind or Breath of God so it is continued by the same Power if he with-draws his Spirit and his Breath we die and come to nothing he returns with his Spirit and renews the face of all things Now I 'll sing the praise of the Eternal One I know besides Him there is none No sort of Being that can say It hath its Life another way But from this Deep Abyssal Ground The Life of all things may be found To Flow out from th' Eternal Source As Springs do from their Water-Course Springs may wander Sheep may stray The Sun be clouded at Noon-Day The Shepherd seeks the stragling Sheep 'T is not the Clouds the Sun can keep From shining forth so glorious bright As to dispel their Darksome Night Great Rivers from the Sea do flow And back into it swiftly go So our Great Alpha's Omega too Tho' we like a Bird from her Nest flew Wander about to find out Rest We must Return ere we are Blest And now I am inspir'd by Thee Blest Spirit I 'll praise the One Two Three For in th' Eternal One doth lie The All-Mysterious Trinity Oh that Men would praise the Lord for his wonderful Works to the Children of Men All Creatures ought to praise the immense Fountain of their Lives I cannot but put down here a Verse I read in Dr. Ingelo's Bentivolio We thank thee God the Father of us All And celebrate the Worlds Original This is brought to my remembrance and I am glad to receive help through the Vessel of another to quicken me in this sweet work of praising God nay I should be glad to be stirr'd up by the chirping of a pretty little Bird who in its kind sings its Creators Praise But O what cause hath Man to adore and praise the great good God after whose Image he was made in Righteousness and Holiness Gen. 1.27 So
with thee in it as with the Three Children in the fiery Furnace when thou art brought to endure as they did Elijah was able to endure the fiery Chariot having been filled with the Spirit of the Lord that pure fiery Spirit had Tinctured him throughout and made him able to endure the fire Ah my God I am now in thy Furnace and have been some time Let me not think it strange concerning the Fiery Trial as if some strange thing happened to me make me to endure the time and degree of heat thou seest best for me I would be Gold seven times refined this I know cannot be done without entering into the Furnace again and again Lord continue this Work till thou hast finished Sin and made an end of Transgression Purge me that I may bring forth more Fruit Fruits of Righteousness Fruits of Renown that there may be Plants in me of thy own Right Hand Planting that I may be ready to every good Word and Work This do thou do for me and do not forsake me A Breathing after the holy Spirit of God Spring up O Well now spring in me Let me Refreshed by thy Waters be I feel thy Holy Quickning Breath Which brings me from the Gates of Death Thy Wind blows freely thy Water 's sweet The Power of thy Flames are great Thy Breath thy Fire thy Water-Spring Is the Life the Birth of every thing Outward and Inward both do grow y thy Pure Water's Over-flow If thou with draw'st thy Quickning Breath There 's nought remains in me but Death Do thou with Fire me now baptize That I may be a whole Burnt Sacrifice And into Ashes I would turn If thou O Lord wouldst be my Vrn Glory be to the Father and to the Son by the holy Spirit now and for ever Amen Amen Some may ask me What Right hast thou to Worship before the Altar to speak or write of Divine Things Thou art not qualified with Learning and Ordination of some great learned Man I say 'T is true I am neither Prophet nor Prophets Son in this sence I am not of the Aaronical or Levitical Priesthood nor capable of it However my God hath made me a King and a Priest to him in some degree and I doubt not but in my blessed Jesus by his Spirit I may offer some acceptable Sacrifice The Sacrifice of a broken and a contrite Heart thou wilt not despise O my God My blessed and glorious Jesus was not a Priest after the Order of the Aaronical and Levitical Priesthood but after the Order of Melchizedeck who was Priest of the most high God to whom Aaron paid Tythes in the Loyns of his Father Abraham And this Melchizedeck was King of Righteousness King of Peace 't is an excellent introduction to the Priesthood to be made so within our Selves this Temper of Mind doth not only introduce but always accompany the True Priesthood who are made Priests unto God by Jesus Christ our Saviour who was made a Priest after the Order of Melchisedeck and bore a resemblance with him as he was without Father and without Mother Which words wherein Melchizedeck was a type of Christ I have not upon me to explain as it relates to our Saviour but in this sence as it respects my Self I am without Father to appoint me to the Priesthood I mean without Man to do this without Mother as any Visible Church for ought I know that will own me yet I am not very solicitous for this if I may be of the Church of the First Born whose Names are written in Heaven I would act as a Free-Denison of this City who is my True Mother I would act by that Free Spirit that Teaches and Guides her Children And it is a Promise to her that all her Children shall be Taught of God and Great shall be the Peace of her Children O my God do thou thus Guide me and Teach me that being Born of the Spirit I may be led by the Spirit and know the Truth as it is in Jesus though I am in a Wilderness full of Difficulties let me not be without a Guide if Thou leavest me a moment I Slip I Fall I find the way Strait the farther I go in it the more Strait but also Pleasant I can Truly Feelingly say Lord All thy ways are pleasantness and all thy paths are peace I would not wander about to change my way do Thou help me to make strait steps to my feet help me to Travel onward through all Difficulties having my Loyns girt my Lamp trimmed ready to meet my Lord in that City of Solemnities where I would always Praise thee always Adore thee always Love thee Thou Great God of Sabbaths for ever Some may say they fear I do not enough Value Ordianances I seem so indifferent about Ordination I say the Spirit of the Prophets are subject to the Prophets there are Babes in Christ there are also Young Men and Fathers or Elders such whose Age Long Experience in the things of God being filled with the Spirit of Wisdom Understanding and a Sound Mind makes them very Venerable such who have known him that is from the Begining who have the Spirit of the Holy God living in them who can Unfold Mysteries and Reveal Secrets such who not only Speak but by the Power of God are Enabled to Effect something in the minds of Men to convey of the same Spirit they have Received It is a Natural Maxim Every Like produceth its Like It is true in Spiritual Things the Apostles and Prophets had this Power and I doubt not but there are some have the same Qualifications now such indeed who feel themselves empty of such Power and Vertue are ready to doubt of this and positively sometimes to say these Things are Ceased we must not expect them now this apprehension of theirs must needs hinder their receiving this Great Blessing and I know no ground they have for it from Scripture our Saviour tells his People He will be with them always to the end of the World He promised the Spirit to Teach them to Guide them to Assist them to do Great and Mighty Works our Saviour no where says he will take away this Blessing again the Prophets had the Spirit in an extraordinary manner under the Dispensation of the Law they performed Wonders they had Servants and such as were called Sons of the Prophets under their Tuition whom they Instructed in the Sacred Mysteries to whom they conveyed much of the Spirit as Elijah to Elisha by casting his Mantle upon him let not the pretensions of any in our time to this who have not been real Possessors of it make us doubt the thing no more then we doubt of the Truth of Christian Religion because we see so many who in Words Profess Christ but in Works Deny him This is a certain sign of a True Prophet He is one who fears God hates Covetousness he Feeds the People with Knowledge and Understanding the
have seen what our hands have handled that declare we unto you that ye may have Fellowship with us and truly our Fellowship is with the Father and with the Son through the Holy Spirit I tell ye from the Scriptures of Truth from my own Experience from the Witness of the Water the Blood and the Spirit and these three agree in one to bear witness on Earth That there is no coming to God nor being Partakers of the Redemption purchased by Jesus Christ but by the Illumination and Operation of the Holy Spirit that the Spirit of God may 〈◊〉 the Office of a Holy Mother in us to bring forth Jesus in Spirit in us that Christ may be formed in us The Spirit of God is the Jerusalem that is from Above that is Free the Mother of us all spoken of in the Revelations this is the New Jerusalem that comes down from God out of Heaven the Bride the Lambs Wife that had made her self ready When the Spirit of God hath finished the Work upon the whole Church of God throughout making it appear in the Eye of our Lord in Beauty Unity Purity then will it be presented as a Chaste Virgin to Jesus Christ Then she will appear Fair as the Moon Clear as the Sun Terrible as an Army with Banners She will then partake of the supercelestial Sun and Moon and of the Seven Stars the Seven Properties of God When the Church is thus Beautified and Adorned our Lord will say Arise my Fair One and come away Now this Work cannot be accomplished in the whole Church till it is first performed in particular Persons by the Uniting of whom this Work is compleated Therefore we must all look to it that this Work may be performed in our selves that the great three-fold Work of the Spirit may be wrought out in us the Dispensation of the Water the Blood and the Fire First We must know the Washing with pure Water the Purging our Consciences from dead works that we may serve the living God We must know also the shedding of Blood in us as well as for us the slaying our own Thoughts and Imaginations we must not spare any thing of self-hood not Agag and the choicest beasts we must also witness the Spirit of Judgment and Burning the Spirit sitting like a Refiners Fire till at last we shall find and feel a Refreshing Warmth and Heat a being Baptized with the Holy Ghost and with Fire this we must feel before we can come to dwell with Everlasting Burning for our God is a Consuming Fire shall we set the Hay and Stubble in Battle Array against Him He will pass through and Burn it nothing but what is Pure must Remain if we would dwell in the Holy Hill of God and abide in his Tabernacle we must have Clean Hands Pure Hearts The three great Dispensations of God with the great World doth agree with the workings of his Spirit in us the Deluge of Water was the First of these the Apostle speaking of it saith The like figure whereunto is Baptism not only outward Baptism with water which taketh away the filthiness of the Flesh but it signifies the being Baptized into Christ into his Death and Sufferings that being Buryed with him in Baptism being Dead with Christ we also may Arise with him and know the Power of his Resurrection that we being Risen with Christ may seek those things which are Above where Christ is at the right hand of God The Second Great Dispensation with the Great World was The Slaying of Beasts the Shedding of Blood without which there is no Remission but this was not only the Blood of Bulls and Goats that would not do for the Law is but a Shadow of Good Things to come for it is impossible that the Blood of Bulls and Goats should take away Sins but this great work was done by the Shedding the Precious Blood of Christ the First was done away that he might establish the Second the Sacrifice of the Law could not make the comers thereunto Perfect but Christ by one Offering hath Perfected for ever them that are Sanctified by the will of God we are Sanctified thorough the Offering of the Body of Jesus and those that are Members of his Body must also be Perfected through Sufferings when we come to know what it is to have the word of God Quick and Powerful in us Dividing between the Marrow and the Bone we shall know what this means there will be Cutting off Right Hands Plucking out Right Eyes Slaying and Crucifying the Old Man with the Affection and Lusts This is hard work Ah my God! let me give up all to it I would not spare any thing in me let this work go on in me to the making an end of Sin and the Finishing transgression that every thought may be brought into Subjection to Jesus Christ who I would have to Rule and Reign till all his Enemies are brought under I Bless and Praise thy Great and Glorious Name O Lord my God for what thou hast done for me and in me I Bow before Thee and Adore him that Sits upon the Throne and the Lamb that was Slain who was Dead and is Alive and Lives and Reigns for Ever The Third and Last Great and Universal Dispensation of God with the Great World will be the Fiery Tryal when the Elements shall Melt with Fervent Heat and the Earth and all things in it that is Cumbustible shall be Burnt up that which is Pure will Remain when the Goldsmith puts the Drossy Gold into the Fire some that may not know the nature of it may wonder that he should burn his Gold but he knows though the Dross will be burnt the Gold will remain and come forth more bright so will it be with the works of God not only his Throne but that which now is his Foot-stool shall be Pure Gold Clear as Chrystal he that reads let him understand what the Spirit saith But our great Work is to Cry to the Lord that the Fiery Work of his Spirit may pass upon us before this great and terrible day of the Lord come for this Day will try every Mans Work of what sort it is and the Hay and Stubble must be burnt up when our Lord shall appear in Flames of Fire to render Vengeance on all those that know him not and obey not the Gospel To fit us for this great Day the Lord sends his Spirit of Judgment and Burning into us and this Day of the Lord burns like an Oven his Eyes are a Flame of Fire who looks into us and we are all naked and bare before the Eyes of him with whom we have to do Let us not like Adam hide our selves but cry out Search me and try me O God Let us with Moses enter into the Darkness and the Fire God is in the Fire and tho' it may be terrible shrink not at it and endure as seeing him that is invisible who will appear to be
God created Man in his own Image in the Image of God created he him Male and Female created he them There is a great Mystery in these words which none but the Spirit of God can unfold not only Man but 't is obvious to us many other Creatures were thus made Male and Female the very Lights of Heaven are so made as saith Van Helmont in a little Book of his This I say not to shew my Reading no I have done with that vain-glorious Mind but I am made to value the Teachings of God I receive from others as also those which are more immediate to my self The fiery Male Lights as the Sun and others and the cool and watry Lights as Venus and the Moon with their Female Lights do by their various Motions Conjunctions and and the like perform strange Wonders in the Heavens above and in the Earth beneath by their Influence and Effects also our Terrestrial Sun and Moon and other Watry Lights which inhabit our Earth do also perform strange changes and alterrations in their work-house the Caverns of the Earth and doubtless had Man the Wisdom restored to him which he lost by the Fall could he return to his Paradisical State and regain his Empire over the Creatures he might with his own hands by rightly applying Agent and Patient these Fiery Active Lights and Passive Cool Lights our Sun and Moon or our unripe Watry Moon be enabled to perform Extraordinary Effects such as might free himself and his Fellow-Creatures in a great measure from the Burthen they groan under I would not boast beyond my line to say I have done much of this with my own hands but I see something of it in the Spirit and if it please the Great and Good God the time may come when I may be enabled to do more by receiving further Teachings either immediately from the Illuminations of his Spirit or by the Enlightenings of some Person so Taught but I find it a hard thing to come out of the Fallen State out of the World of Mixtures out of the Wisdom of this World so Purely so Fully as to be made Fit for the Blessed Teachings and Illuminations of the Spirit of God though I know the Wisdom of this World is Foolishness with God yet while any thing remains of the Fallen Nature we are apt to be taken with that which we think a Fine Curious Image in us or our own Reason and Imagination But this must be broken to pieces for I tell you ye great Admirers of Reason ye glory in your shame for it is but the Principle of the fall'n Nature 'T is said God breathed into Man the Breath of Life and he became a Living Soul Man received immediately from God an Intellectual Light and this Light was the Life of Man Adam while he stood acted according to or from this Principle When the Creatures were brought before him he did not enter into the Reasoning why this should be Named so and that otherwise no from his intellectual Sight and Knowledge he saw their Natures and gave them suitable Names immediately Had Man stood it is plain he had been governed according to this Principle by immediate Revelation and Positive Command by the Soveraign Will and Wisdom of his Creator as appears by the Command And the Lord God commanded the Man saying Of every Tree of the Garden thou mayest eat but of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil thou shalt not eat of it This Command is positive But Woman through the Subtilty of the Serpent entred into the Reasoning why she should not eat It was pleasant to the Eyes and good for Food and a Tree to be desired to make one wise The why wherefore how and for what brought in the deplorable Fall O how are the Mighty fallen How are the Mighty fallen How is our Gold become Dross God made Man upright but he hath sought out many Inventions Vain Man would be wise but he is like the wild Asses Colt snuffing up the East-Wind of Vanity and Emptiness When Man would remove himself from the immediate Conduct of the Wisdom and Will of God and would be guided by a Wisdom and Will of his own by his own Reason he broke himself off from God and instead of a Branch of that Noble Vine he became a degenerate Plant. And I tell you Till we return back by the way we came out of this blessed Paradisical State we cannot be happy but this is a way the Vultures Eye hath not seen nor can Reason comprehend it for the Natural Man perceiveth not the things of God neither can he they are spiritually discerned But when a Man is brought to say Lord I feel my self in a bewildred fall'n state of Darkness and the shadow of Death I see thy lovely Image defaced the Tabernacle of David fallen to the ground thy Light in me vailed and covered I feel my self broken off from thee my true Root and Original I would fain return to thee but I know not how Reason cannot shew me the way Then the Lord comes and seals Instructions gives his Spirit enlightens the Man and tells him No Reason cannot shew the way to Me it carried thee off from Me But come now lay down thy own Reason thy own Wisdom and Will lose thy own Life that thou may'st save it and I will shew thee a way my Wisdom hath found which thy Wisdom or Reason could not for the Wisdom of this World is Foolishness with Me but I have found out a way will cause in thee Wonder Admiration and Joy Then the Lord Enlightens our Minds in the reading the Scriptures the Revelation of the great work of Redemption of Man by Jesus Christ our Lord his Son our Blessed Saviour the Mysteries which are Revealed in the Sacred Scripture concerning our Blessed Saviour from his Conception to his Ascension are so Deep and Mysterious that the Plummet Line of Reason cannot fathom them but they are Revealed to Babes by the same Spirit in which they were written there is certainly a great Mystery in the Conception of our Saviour The Person chosen by God to have this Great Honour of being the Mother of our Lord was a most Excellent Holy Woman and Pure Virgin Mary the Espoused VVife of Joseph but Mary at first found difficulty to receive the Message the Angel brought this Great and Mysterious Revelation of the Mind of God concerning her and She was troubled at his Saying and She cast or reasoned in her mind what manner of Salutation this should be after the Angel had given her a further account of his Message which was wonderful She again asks How can this thing be in Luke 1.34 The Angel Condescends to Enlarge and to Discover the Mystery more clearly and in v. 35. And the Angel answered and said unto her The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the Power of the Highest shall Overshadow thee Therefore also that Holy Thing which shall be born of
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
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
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
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
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