a true time therefore the misery of Man 〈…〉 upon him Now here lies the Great Mâ—â—stery because of Ignorance in the Souls Original and Nobility many a Man becomes a wretched Mâ—screant Nay may some say It is by Gods predestinate purpose that Man is to know and seel pain Yes this is the predestinate purpose of God and the Antient Law of Eternity That whoever would be greater than God and oppose his own Lumour and self-will to Gods will must feel Eternal Pain that proceeds from this chiefly He will gnash his Teeth and eat his own Flesh yea from his own Center shall stream Flashes of burning Brimstone because he will think how he hath fooled himself away by his own Folly when he might have been a Royal Prince So that Ignorance is the cause of Mans Wretchedness Man shuts his Eyes and seeth not how God the Root of Man cannot by any Skill or Device be plucked up And so Man comes to be subject to an evil time and ill chance by breaking himself off from his true Eternal Root § 6. The Soul's Circle THe words of the Preacher the Prophetical Sound the Son of God King of Heaven Prince of Order and Ruler of the seven Worlds One Humane or Angelical Spirit passeth away into its own Place and Lot and another brood cometh into this World in his stead But the Mansion of the Spirit abideth unmoved for ever The Humane Sun ariseth and seems to set out of sight and so Immortal Man seems to be Mortal but he hasteth to the place of Eternity where he arose and wheeleth from one Tropick to another by an uncessant Labor and Eternal Motion The Wind of the Soul goeth towards the South and turneth to the opposite side it whirleth about continually as upon seven Wheels whether moved backward with Lucifer and so remaining still Or returning again according to its Circuits as moved forward by the Divine Motion and Breath All Humane Rivers run into the Ocean of Eternity yet Eternity is never fill'd Vnto the place from whence the Rivers of Generation came thither they return again Some flowing hiddenly to the springing Fountain and some abiding in the restless and tossed State in the Abyss The Son of Man before his External Birth was as it were taking his Rest or a sweet Nap of Repose upon the Brests of the Virgin his dear Mother the holy Bride of God who cometh down from God out of Heaven And there the Eternal Soul was at Rest until his Natural Parents waked him and disturbed his Beatifical Visions His Natural Parents sent for him into this outward Region to see the Beauty of this fair World and to receive the Salutation of a Joyful Welcome thereinto Who as a Birth of Time out of the Matrice of Eternity came very mean simple and helpless into this lower Country even as a most vile sprâ—wling Worm not bearing the least malice to the Creator or any other Creature of the Creation And lived a year ten years or more or perhaps a hundred years and then leaves all in great longing after some New Friends or Beloveds which he had chosen to his Solace in this strange Land § 7. Fatal Necessity of the Soul 's Being BY reason hereof he goes back with an ill will towards his Antient home and parts in great anguish and pain and perhaps in that anguish and despair he Eternally abides and that for following some Lusts and pursuing some Pleasures which he would fain solace his Mind with for a few years in this World and never so much as considered that he must endure a thousand millions of painful years in lieu of that little short pleasure till the hour of Death or rather the time of taking his leave of his Friends being too late And tho' truly the Light of the World be sweet and tho' it be a pleasant thing for the Eyes to behold the Sun of Time yet if a Man live many years and rejoyce in them all let him remember the Days of Darkness for they shall be many All that cometh is Vanity Now then where lies the fault here Here ariseth a great Question Is it any promoting of Gods Honour Joy or Profit that Man must know Pain opposed to Pleasure or be sensible of and really feel in the Practick what Anguish and Torment is I say Doth this increase Gods Joy or Beatitude and as it were perfect the Perfection of the perfect God Some may answer No. But it was God's Will that it should be so Well! Then there must be some Cause wherefore God willed this Evil The Objector may reply He doth all for his Glory If so He confesseth God torments his own Child for his own Glory § 8. Gods Repentance BUt this is a Belying of the Deity and of his Love to the Children of his own Loyns and making of God an unnatural cruel fierce wrathful Judge or Executioner yea crueler than the Savages of the Desert which love their own Issue nay than the very Devils of Hell For alas It is no Glory nor ' Pleasure at all to God to hear that his own dear Children are imprisoned in an Eternal Wilderness where they can never find the way to their Journey 's End their Creator But he counts it a great Loss and Dishonour and cause of Rpentance if we may use that Metaphor that God repenteth that when he views his Brides Room and finds that his Children each one with his Mate are not returned to the Great and Solemn Wedding of his Son He will say Where are all my Children but these It will be answered They have listed themselves Soldiers under another Power and would not come Here again we must be forced to frame another Metaphor to speak or utter these high Mysteries with a humane Tongue For no Grief can ever enter into God nor the loss whereof may vex him if we speak properly God perceiving that his Children took not his Sons Counsel will as it were mourn for them a few days and when the mourning Days shall be ended He will consider that there is no Redemption out of the Jaws of Eternal Death and and so he will for ever forget them And so I considered in mine Heart even to declare all this that tho' Mankind go forth from one Root or Fountain Ocean yet the greatest part comes not back to the same Door or Gate of Enterance into their Antient Resting Place but enter in at a false Door by a gross mistake And being once entred there there is no Recovery because they would not hearken to the Voice of Divine Wisdom and Skill Therefore in a humane sense it is an Addition to God's Glory to see his dear Children returning to Heaven Oh! what hearty and kind Embracing and Welcoming is here Their Ships laden with Divine Treasures and carved with the Story of the Afflictions which happened to them in a strange Land § 9. The same Event to all by allowance of God's Ballance THe Righteous and
of the Spirit of the World destroyeth his own Soul A wound and dishonourable stigmatized Mark shall he get which shall never be wiped away in this World or in that to come For Jealousie is the rage of a Rival Therefore he will not spare in the Day of Vengeance he will not regard any Ransom neither will he rest Content though thou givest all that thou art worth Neither will the Spirit of the Soul be reconciled though thou shouldst give him all the Substance of thine House for a Bribe §. 10. Misery the End of Vice NOW the Covenant is a Lamp and the Law of Loving the Virgin is Eternal Life And the reproof of her Instruction is the high Way to Heaven When thou goest she shall lead thee When thou sleepest she shall keep thee When thou art awake she shall talk with thee in Divine Contemplation By her thy Days shall be multiplied upon the Eternal Earth and the Years of thy immortal Life shall be endless Therefore keep thy Heart true to the Virgin with all Diligence for out of it are the issues of Life and Death Believe not the Whore in her flattering Speech for she is a Lyar when she cries Stoln Waters are sweet and a secret Banquet in a Corner of Darkness is pleasant Be sure that her Cave leads to the Shadow of Death and her Guests go to the Depths of Hell And a desperate wo is pronounced against them that delight to lurk in the holes of Guilt and despise the light of Purity lest their Deeds should be reproved Come to my Tavern saith she It is indeed a House of Sin but not of Darkness For our Candles and hellish Squibs never go out It is like a Country near the Frozen Zone as clear at Midnight as at Noon Beware therefore O humane Souldier For armed Mars doth not so much wound thee as this naked Venus The Sorceresses Mouth drops as the Honey-comb and her Lips are smoother then Oil but her end is as Wormwood it will cost the Soul that loves her many a bitter Tear Her Instruments are sharp as a two edg'd Sword It will cut the Conscience to the Heart Her Feet go down to the Abyss And her steps lead to the Hell of Eternal horror Lest thou ponder the Paths of Life Her ways are moveable that thou canst not know them Remove thy way therefore far from her And come not nigh the Doors of her House CHAP. VII The Virgins Espousal §. 1. Reconcilement IF the Soul recant and change his Mind Fair Virgin-Vertue bearing no grudge in her pure Mind welcometh and entertains him again most joyfully unless he be stigmatized with the Disease of the Stews and so renews their mutual Acquaintance And the Virgin wandring in her Shepherds Rural Fields The long absence of her late Beloved had grieved her Spirit She had enquired of Passengers did they see a Shepherd passing along that way They answered No It was but a little that I passed from them saith she even from the pretended Guides into Paradise but I found him whom my Soul loveth I held him and would not let him go until I had perswaded him to come into my Virgin-Mothers Habitation in Heaven and into the Chamber of her that conceived me of the Divine Seed Who is this said the neighbouring Angels who were Proxime to the Deity as Princes before a Monarch Virgin that cometh out of the Wilderness of Wo and Despair leaning upon the Breasts of her Beloved I raised thee up said he under the Tree of Life there thy Virgin Mother brought thee forth in the upper Paradise There she conceived thee as an Holy Birth of Newness of Life in the Womb of her Virgin-Purity I charge you O ye Daughters of the Holy City said she by the Roes of Paradise and by the Hinds of Edens fair Fields that ye stir not up nor awake my Beloved until he please for he is very weary after his Journey and long Travel upon the Mountains of Vanity And requires a due time of Rest from his Labours and vain Wandrings And now the wearied Bees return home with laden Thighs The tired wandring Sheep that had forgotten their resting place have found their Fold of rest where they may lye down with the Leopards in a safe and quiet repose And now when I perceived how he admired my transcendant Beauty and the form of God in my aspect My Cheeks being comely with rows of precious Jewels and how I was adorned with Topazes and Rubies with Amethysts and Saphires with Diamonds and Gold I gave him a present of borders of Gold with knobs of Silver and the richest Gems For our Mountains are big with Mines and the Veins of our hidden Treasures are Infinite When my Royal Shepherd sits at my Table my Spikenard sends forth the Odours thereof Abundle of Myrrh is my welbeloved unto me My Pastoral Friend is unto me as a Cluster of Camphire in the Vineyards of Eden Because of the Savour of this pure Ointment wherewith I besprinkled thee thy new Name of Vertue is as heavenly Oil poured forth out of Golden Vials full of sacred Odours §. 2. Consecration of the Soul I Am the Holy Rose and the Lilly of the low Vallies As the Lilly among Thorns so is my Love said he among the Daughters of Vanity As the Apple-tree of Eternal Life among the Trees of the divided Properties in the Wood. So is my Beloved among the Sons of worldly Wisdom I sate down under his Shadow with great Delight and the Fruits of his rural Trees were sweet to my Taste He brought me to his Banqueting Arbor and his Banner over me was the Canopy of Love I am come said he into my Gardens my Sister I have led thee through a Wilderness my Spouse I have conducted thee into the Meadows of May Blessed be the Hour that first I saw thy Face I have brought thee to the Rivers of Milk and Honey which flow in this Land of Rest and Rural Refreshment Thou hast accompanied me my lovely Mate to the Mountains of Myrrh and the Holy Hills of Frankincense I have gathered my Flowers said I in the Meadows with my Aroma's in the Vallies Here in this perfect State of Holiness the Earth is not unburdened with Tillage neither is it wounded with Culture Come now said he O fair Virgin of Purity sit down with me under this Vine and under this Fig-tree where none can make us afraid And we will take a walk in the calm Evening in the cool of the Eternal Day and the Divine Springs and aquaeducts shall refresh our Spirits after our Journey Thy Breath is as the Odors of Myrrh as the pure gale of Refreshment upon my late-languishing Spirits Awake O. Eternallybreathing Spirit Come thou Divine Wind and blow upon the Garden of my longing Heart that the Spices thereof may flow out to the rejoycing of our Minds Come my fair one into my rural Garden and eat these pleasant Fruits I have gathered
Spirit I was but now bathing in a River of Wine But what 's the Matter What are these qualms upon my Stomack They seem now to revenge my out-daring of Bacchus's Foes because I was not a fit Souldier for his Service Therefore his Chirurgion hath given me some of his Pills which now I cast up by filthy Vomitings and Spewings Sure he will give me a Foil at Wrestling Thus I shall stumble over the Dead and reel into a Grave of Worms and Serpents who will be drunk with my Blood Therefore O thou naturally found and healthful Spirit of Man The Luxurious is as full of Diseases as an Hospital For as the Night doth call him to the Supper of Surfeit And as the Morning doth rouze him to his Breakfast He languisheth in the hunger of his Lust making but one Meal a Day Until he hath glutted himself with the Dainties of his Delights And thus eating He wipeth his Mouth in a Corner Accompanied with his Drunken Hostess Whose Body is a Pit of Poyson But to touch it is danger of Death Therefore rather than Dine on her Delicates do thou mingle thy Meat with Mourning §. 6. For spoiling the Souls Sport THen comes a Third the sluggish Harlot come my Dear saith she we will go to the Gaming-house or if thou please to the Temple of the Gods where we will send for the blind Lover our Captive to make us some Sport We will have Musick and Dancing We will wheel about our God Now our Bellies are glutted with the butcherly and bloody Sacrifice of Beasts we will rise up to Play We will lye upon Beds of Ivory and stretch our selves upon our Lazy Couches We will chant to the sound of the Viol And invent to our selves Instruments of Musick like David the sweet Psalmist of Israel We will sing his Psalms in Canting and Mocking of God But O Man consider Give not thy Heart to the Musick of false Mirth Tremble to tread in the Tracks of it Use the Cross as thy Crutches to bear thee upright in the Way Nail the Flesh to the Fashion thereof And the Spirit shall save the Soul Give not sleep O Man to thine Eyes nor slumber to thine Eye-lids Vntil thou find an Habitation for thy self with thy Virgin For thou art born to a good Fortune When O Sluggard wilt thou awake from thy sleep The Day is far spent Go to the Antâ— Consider her ways and be wise at last If not this Harlot hath prepared a Net of Mischief to ensnare thee She will hunt thee into her Pit As thou didst drive the Beasts of thy own Image into the Nooze to be slain So she will draw thee as a Beast into the depth of her Dungeon But the Counsel of the Virgiâ— is the safety of Deâ—ence Which delivers thee from the sweep of her Dragg It saves thee from sliding in the slippery Places And stablisheth thy standing on the Rock Avoid Her that enticeth into every treacherous Trap And allureth into the Doors of Destruction She polisheth her Parlour with artificial carved Images and with the works of most curious Limners Her Entry inviteth with the Odors of Perfumes But her Bed is the Infection of Plague Her Breath is the Contagion of Death And her Breasts the Bottles of Bane He that layeth his Head to repose between them shall be smothered in a deep sleep Enter thou not into the Doors of her House Lest her allurements should murder thy simplicity For she will entice thee with all things that are lovely to the Eye But her purpose is to an end of Slaughter Mark the Line of her Path And behold whom she catcheth with her Hook He that studies the steps of her Feet runs swift to the Doom of Destruction But he that seeks deliverance from her Door shall dwell in the Temple of God He shall draw to a Rest from the Travel of Iniquity which shall compass his Soul with Salvation If this will not do then comes another the Crafty Witch Saying come to my School and I will make thee a Necromancer I will teach thee all the Philosophical Learning of the World and the highest Contemplation of things Thou shalt understand how the Worlds Wheel is rolled about And how the Chain of Eternity is entangled by an indissolvable Band So thou shalt be accounted the Wise Magus among the People O! I will not do so saith the right Spirit of the Soul I am afraid of the Deep of Deeps Lest I fall headlong into the Abyss and by searching and seeking the Universal Tincture I may get a wound in my Soul and then I shall be sent to finish my Contemplation in a Circle of Misery Therefore O Man be wise This false Wisdom is a snare of Death which is hid from the Eye of Man He seeth not her mischievous End Because she hath made his Day a Curse She bewitched by enchantments a couple in Paradise and dragged them from Life to Death And bolted their Generations within the Doors of Darkness And locked them from the Light of the Day Beware therefore lest she lead thee by her subtle Art and Serpentine Wisdom To taste of the Tree of Knowledge of Evil and Good Whose Fruit is desirable to make one wise And to open the Eyes of Curiosity §. 7. For hindering the Propagation of the Species BUT anon the Amazonian shews her self whose hand is against every one and every ones hand against her She will accompany thee in a Virile Garb to the Field of Mars and lead thee to Akeldama She will beat Plough-shares into Swords and perfume thy Nostrils with the stink of her murdering Powder She will perswade thee to cut off many of thy fellow-Creatures as a mighty Hunter of Men before the Lord as if the Earth were too narrow to maintain such a numberless number of Men in the same world saying Keep up thy Pomp gallantly and oppress all monyless Wretches and Widows Make many Martyrs by thy Sword of Cruelty and Rigour Search for the pâ—ths which the Lyons Whelps have not trodden and which the Vultures Eye hath not seen For there is a Vein for the Silver and a Place for the hidden Treasures of Gold But the Martial Iron is Lord of both Dig therewith into the Bowels of thy Fellow-Offspring and see if the Golden Mine be there or no. If any oppose thee see here I give thee these snaky Hairs as so many Furies in the Conscience O no I had rather saith the Souls Spirit dwell in the Corner of a poor Cottage in content and quietness than with a brawling Whore such as thou art in a wide Habitation I had rather sleep in a whole Skin than to boast of Wounds and Scars upon my Body Let Cyrus if he like it glut himself in his Bowl of Blood I love not his Mess I am weary with such Sacrifices This Martial Strumpet drags the Valiant by the Nose and the Lofty by the Fore-lock Yea the Mighty do plunge in her Bloody
happens according to the Work of the Righteous I said that this is also the result of Vanity §. 4. Retaliation THe Soul that diggeth a Pit for the pure Spirit of the Soul shall fall himself into it And whoso breaks an Hedge the Fence betwixt the two Properties a Diabolical Serpent shall sting and bite him Whoso removeth Stones or the true Land-mark shall be hurt therewith and the building of his false Imagination shall fall upon him And he that cleaveth the Pillars of Heaven shall be endangered thereby If the Iron be blunt and there be no Stone to what the Edge because it is lost by Negligence then thou must put more Strength in the Gate of Purgatory in this Life but Wisdom if in time she had been embraced would have directed thee Surely the Serpent will bite without Inchantment And a Babler or false Accuser of the Spirit of the Soul is no better The Tongue will break a Bone Yet it is the best weapon of Defence if skilfully handled The Words of a Wise Man is Gracious and refresh the Spirit of the Soul with his good News and Story of his Travels and escape in Shipwrack but the Self-accusation of a Fool will condemn and swallow up himself in the Abyss He needs no Bell at his Neck His Bolt is soon shot The beginning of the Words of his Mouth contradicting his Conscience is Foolishness And the end of his talk at the Day of Judgment is Mischief and Madness and an eternal Frenzy Curse not therefore the King O Man no not in thy thought Speak not reproachfully against the Princely Spirit in the Bed-Chamber of thy Whorish Companion For the Angel-Guardians of the Air shall carry the Voice And the winged Cherub shall discover the High-Treason For Rebellion is as the Sin of Witchcraft And as a Witch is a Rebel in Physicks So reversing the Point a Rebel is a Witch in the spiritual Politicks §. 5. The Souls Metamorphosis ALso I said in mine Heart concerning the State of the Sons of Men that God might manifest them and they may see that they themselves are of a Bestial Shape in the inward Signature except they be new-born in the right Humane Shape For that which befalleth Men befalleth the outward Animals Even one thing befalleth them as the one dieth the External Death so doth the other Yea they have all one Breath drawn from the Airs Power So that a Man hath no preheminence above a Beast for all is Vanity which is in the outward Love and vanisheth as a Shadow All Animals Humane and Bestial Sensitive and Rational go unto one Place the Grave of the four Elements the Womb of their first Mother which conceived them swallows them again All are of the Dust or of the hoil of Atoms and all turn into the same Chaos again Now observe this Mystical Ancient Philosophical Point who knoweth the noble Soul or Spirit of a Right Humane Being that goeth upward into his own Heaven and the Spirit of the Bestial Man by the Transmigration of his Soul into an Eternal Brute or rather by the Metamorphosis thereof into a degenerated Viper or Toad or other sensual Animal according as his Soul was inclined in its Nature in this Life that goeth downward into the Opacious Cave of the gross dark Earth in the bottomless Abyss This is not set down here to reproach Mankind but because it is certainly known in the Light of the Eternal Sun O Man consider thy self here §. 6. Work in Time CAst thy Bread into a Ship floating upon the Waters of thy Eternal Ocean as Treasures laid up in Heaven and thou shâ—dt find it after many Days in Eternity Give a Portion to seven thy seven Properties and also to the Eighth hidden in the seven the beginning of a new Harmony For thou knowest not what evil may be hereafter in thy Humane Earth If the Clouds of blessing be full of Rain and Heavenly Dew they empty themselves upon the Earth of Man And if the Humane Tree falleth by Ballance toward the pleasant South or toward the Grim North in the Place where the Tree falleth there it shall be to all Eternity He that observeth the Mystical Original of the Holy Wind or Spirit or Breath of God thinking God will come by force into his Heart to compel him to come to Heaven shall not sow Divine Seed And he that regardeth the Clouds of Darkness thinking the Time of the spiritual Harvest is not yet come shall not reap a spiritual Crop As thou knowest not what is the way of the Spirit of the Soul nor how the Bones do grow in the Womb of the Virgin that is with Child of the Regenerated Birth Fven so God thou knowest not the Works of who maketh all In the Morning of thy Youth betimes while it is called to Day sow the blessed Seed and in the cool of the Evening-Gale of God's pure Breath withhold not thine Hand And commit the Improvement to God by Resignation For thou knowest not whether shall prosper either this or that Or whether they both shall be alike good §. 7. Before the Evil Days come REmember therefore O Man thy Creator and Father in the Days of thy renovated Youth Think of the Ancient of Days in the beginning of thy New Regeneration And he will prolong thy Eternal Days call to mind thy Everlasting State before the evil Days come in which thou shalt say I have to Pleasure in them If thou Love God and the Virgin of Eternal Youth and perpetual Beauty the Evil Days or Years of Sorrow will never draw nigh or overtake thee or if they come they shall not continue For an Everlasting Calm will come after a Storm of true Repentance Therefore remember the kindness of her Youth and the Love of thy Spouse while the Sun of the Eternal Spirit of the Soul or the Mind of the Affections of the Astral Nature be not clouded in blindness nor the Clouds of Darkness return after the Shower of a Purgatory in this Life In the Day when the Keepers of the Humane House and the Maintainers of the Soulish Family tremble and quake for Rottenness in their Bones and the strong Men that carry Provision to the Mill shall bow themselves under their burden And the Milstones cease because they are worn â—ut and the sound of the Mill is low and the Voice that calleth to Repentance is not audible And the Sentinels that keep Watch and Ward at the Windows of true Light be darkned and blinded by false Phantasie And so cannot prevent the Invasion of the Whores Brats which will seize upon the Castle And the Door of the Lips shall be shut in the Streets of the little City and will not be opened to the cries of the miserable Beggar and Wanderer and yet are open from within to utter Blasphemies And Self-accusations in Despair And he shall rise up as being frighted at the noise and terrour of his own Evil Conscience Because he would