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Title: The WAY to CHRIST
Creator(s): Boehme, Jakob (1575-1624)
Rights: Public Domain

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by Jacob Behmen (Jakob Boehme) 1575-1624,

The Teutonic Theosopher

SHOWING HOW MAN SHOULD STIR HIMSELF UP IN MIND AND WILL AND WHAT HIS EARNEST
CONSIDERATION AND PURPOSE SHOULD BE

How Man must stir himself in Mind and Will; and what his Consideration
and earnest Purpose must be, when he will perform powerful and
effectual Repentance: And with what Mind he must appear before God,
when he would ask, so as to obtain, Remission of his Sins.

John 3.3-8 Jesus said unto Nicodemus, Verily, verily I say unto thee,
Except a Man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. Nicodemus
saith unto Him, How can a Man be born when he is old? Can he enter the
second Time into his Mother’s Womb and be born? Jesus answered, Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, Except a Man be born of Water, and of the
Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. That which is born of
the Flesh is Flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.
Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The Wind
bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the Sound thereof, but canst
not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: So is every one that
is born of the Spirit.

Matt 16.26 What is a Man profited if he should gain the whole World,
and lose his own Soul? or What shall a Man give in exchange for his
Soul?

Brought forth in the 1600 s by a humble shoemaker; translated into
English over 100 years later; suppressed and hidden away until recently
in theological archives around the world… a worthy personal study not
just for academics but for all those who are spiritually grounded in
the WORD, who are learning to hear the Lord, and who hunger for more.

These writings from out of the Past are in the Public Domain and may be
freely shared, photocopied, reproduced, faxed or transmitted in any way
by any means.
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Dear Reader,

If thou wilt use these Words aright, and art in good Earnest, thou
shalt certainly find the Benefit thereof. But I desire thou mayest be
warned, if thou art not in Earnest, not to meddle with the dear Names
of God, in and by which the most High Holiness is invoked, moved, and
powerfully desired, lest they kindle the Anger of God in thy Soul. For
we must not abuse the Holy Names of God. This little Book is only for
those that would fain repent, and are in a Desire to begin. Such will
find what Manner of Words therein, and whence they are born. Be you
herewith commended to the Eternal Goodness and Mercy of God.
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When Man will enter upon Repentance, and with his Prayers turn to God,
he should, before he beginneth to pray, seriously consider the State of
his own Soul. How it is wholly and altogether turned away from God,
become faithless to Him, and only bent upon this temporary, frail, and
earthly Life; bearing no sincere Love towards God and its Neighbor, but
wholly lusting and walking contrary to the Commandments of God, and
seeking itself only, in the temporal and transitory Lusts of the Flesh.

2. In the next Place, he should consider that all this is an utter
Enmity against God, which Satan hath raised and wrought in him, by his
Deceit in our first Parents; for which Abomination’s Sake we must
suffer Death, and undergo Corruption with our Bodies.

3. He should consider the three horrible Chains wherewith our Souls are
fast bound during the Time of this earthly Life. — The First is the
severe Anger of God, the Abyss, and dark World, which is the Center,
Root, or constituent Principle of the Soul’s Life. The Second is the
Desire of the Devil against the Soul, whereby he continually sifteth
and tempteth it, and without Intermission striveth to throw it from the
Truth of God into his own evil Nature and Element, viz. into Pride,
Covetousness, Envy, and Anger; and with his Desire, bloweth up and
kindleth those evil Properties in the Soul, whereby its Will turneth
away from God, and entereth into SELF. The Third and most hurtful Chain
of all, wherewith the poor Soul is tied, is the corrupt and altogether
vain, earthly, and mortal Flesh and Blood, full of evil Desires and
Inclinations. Here he must consider that he lies close Prisoner with
Soul and Body in the Mire of Sins, in the Anger of God, in the Jaws of
Hell; that the Anger of God burneth in him in Soul and Body, and that
he is that very loathsome Keeper of Swine, who hath spent and consumed
his Father’s Inheritance, namely, the precious Love and Mercy of God,
with the fatted Swine of the Devil in earthly Pleasures, and hath not
kept the dear Covenant and Atonement of the innocent Death and Passion
of Jesus Christ; which Covenant God of mere Grace hath given or put
into our Humanity, and reconciled us in Him. He must also consider that
he hath totally forgotten the Covenant of Holy Baptism, in which he had
promised to be faithful and true to his Saviour, and so wholly defiled
and obscured his Righteousness with Sin, (which Righteousness, God had
freely bestowed upon him in Christ), that he now stands before the Face
of God, with the fair Garment of Christ’s Innocency which he hath
defiled, as a dirty, ragged, and patched Keeper of Swine, that hath
continually eaten the Husks of Vanity with the Devil’s Swine, and is
not worthy to be called a Son of the Father, and Member of Christ.

4. He should earnestly consider that wrathful Death awaiteth him every
Hour and Moment, and will lay hold on him in his Sins, in his Garment
of a Swine-Herd, and throw him into the Pit of Hell as a forsworn
Person and Breaker of Faith, who ought to be reserved in the dark
Dungeon of Death to the Judgement of God.

5. He should consider the earnest and severe Day of God’s Final
Judgement, when he shall be presented living with his Abominations
before God’s Tribunal. That all those whom he hath here offended or
injured by Words and Works, and caused to do Evil, (so that by his
Instigation or Compulsion they also have committed Evil), shall come in
against him, cursing him before the Eyes of Christ and of all Holy
Angels and Men. That there he shall stand in great Shame and Ignominy,
and also in great Terror and Desperation, and that it shall forever
grieve him to reflect that he hath fooled away so glorious and eternal
a State of Salvation and Happiness, for the Pleasure of so short a
Time; and that he had not taken care in that short Time to secure to
himself a Share in the Communion of the Saints, and so to have enjoyed
with them Eternal Light, and Divine Glory.

6. He must consider that the ungodly Man has lost his Noble Image – God
having created him in and for His Image or creaturely Representation –
and has gotten instead thereof a deformed or monstrous Shape, like a
hellish Worm or ugly Beast. Wherein he is an enemy to God, to Heaven,
and to all Holy Angels and Men, and that his Communion is, and will be
forever, with the Devils and hellish Worms in horrible Darkness.

7. He must earnestly consider the eternal Punishment and Torture of the
Damned; how that in eternal Horror they shall suffer Torments in their
Abominations which they had committed here, and may never see the Land
of the Saints to all Eternity, nor get any Ease or Refreshment, as
appears by the Example of the Beggar and the rich Man. All this a Man
must earnestly and seriously consider, and remember also that God had
originally created him in such a fair and glorious Image, even in His
own Likeness, in which He, Himself, would dwell. That He created him
out of His Goodness, for Man’s own eternal Bliss and Glory, to the End
that he might dwell with the Holy Angels and Children of God in great
Happiness, Power, and Glory; in the Eternal Light; in the praiseful and
melodious Harmony of the Angelical and Divine Kingdom of Joy. Where he
should rejoice continually with the Children of God, without Fear of
any End. Where no evil Thoughts could touch him, neither Care nor
Trouble, neither Heat nor Cold. Where no Night is known; where there is
no Day or limited Time any more, but an everlasting Blessedness,
wherein Soul and Body tremble for Joy. And where he, himself, should
rejoice at the infinite Wonders and Virtues appearing in the Brightness
of Colors, and the Variety of Splendor opened and displayed by the
Omnipotent Powers and Glories of God, upon the new crystalline Earth,
which shall be as Transparent Glass. And that he doth so willfully lose
all this Eternal Glory and Happiness for the Sake of so short and poor
a Time, which even in this State of Vanity and Corruption, in the evil
Life of the voluptuous Flesh, is full of Misery, Fear, and utter
Vexation; and wherein it goeth with the Wicked as with the Righteous,
as the one must die, so must the other; only the Death of the Saints is
an Entrance into the Eternal Rest, while the Death of the Wicked is an
Introduction into the eternal Anguish.

8. He must consider the Course of this World, that all Things in it are
but a Play, wherewith he spends his Time in such Unquietness; and that
it goes with the Rich and Mighty as with the Poor and the Beggar. That
all of us equally live and move in the four Elements; and that the
hard-earned Morsel of the Poor is as relishing and savoury to him in
his Labour, as the Dainties of the Rich are to him in his Cares. Also,
that all of us subsist by one Breath, and that the rich Man hath
nothing but the Pleasures of the Palate and the Lust of the Eye, for a
little while more than his poor Neighbor, for the End of both is the
Same. Yet for this short-lived Lust’s Sake, many foolishly forego so
inconceivable a Happiness, and bring themselves into such extreme and
eternal Misery. In the deep Consideration of these weighty Truths, Man
shall come to feel in his Heart and Mind, especially if he at the same
Time represents and sets before his own Eyes his own End, a hearty
Sighing and Longing after the Mercy of God, and will begin to bewail
his committed Sins; and to be sorry he has spent his Days so ill, and
not observed or considered that he stands in this World as in a Field,
in the growing to be a Fruit either in the Love or in the Anger of God.
He will then first begin to find in himself that he has not yet labored
at all in the Vineyard of Christ, but that he is a dry fruitless Branch
of the Vine. And thus in many a one, whom the Spirit of Christ touches
in such a Consideration, there arises abundant Sorrow, Grief of Heart,
and inward Lamentation over the Days of his Wickedness which he hath
spent in Vanity, without any Working in the Vineyard of Christ. Such a
Man, whom the Spirit of Christ thus brings into Sorrow and Repentance,
so that his Heart is opened both to know and bewail his Sins, is very
easily to be helped. He needs but to draw to himself the Promise of
Christ, viz. That God willeth not the Death of a Sinner but that He
wisheth them all to come unto Him, and He will refresh them; and, that
there is great joy in Heaven for one Sinner that repenteth. Let such a
one but lay hold on the Words of Christ and wrap himself up into His
meritorious Passion and Death. But I will now speak to those who feel
indeed in themselves a Desire to repent, and yet cannot come to
acknowledge and bewail their committed Sins. The Flesh saying
continually to the Soul, Stay a while, it is well enough; or it is Time
enough tomorrow; and when tomorrow is come, then the Flesh says again,
Tomorrow; the Soul in the meanwhile, fighting and fainting, conceiveth
neither any true Sorrow for the Sins it hath committed nor any Comfort.
Unto such a one, I say, I will write a Process or WAY, which I myself
have gone, that he may know what he must do, and how it went with me,
if peradventure he be inclined to enter into and pursue the same; and
then he will come to understand what he shall find here afterwards
written.
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When any Man findeth in himself by the former or any other
Considerations, pressed Home upon his Mind and Conscience, a Hunger or
Desire to repent, and yet feeleth no true Sorrow in himself for his
Sins which he hath committed, but only a Hunger or Desire of such
Sorrow, so that the poor captive Soul continually sighs, fears, and
must needs acknowledge itself guilty of Sins before the Judgement of
God. Such a one, I say, can take no better Course than this, namely, to
wrap up his Senses, Mind, and Reason together, and make to himself
instantly, as soon as ever he perceiveth in himself the Desire to
repent, a mighty strong Purpose and Resolution that he will that very
Hour, nay, that very Minute, immediately enter into Repentance, and go
forth from his wicked Way, and not at all regard the Power and Respect
of the World. Yea, and if it should be required, would forsake and
disesteem all Things for true Repentance Sake; and never depart from
that Resolution again, though he should be made the Fool and Scorn of
all the World for it. But that with the full Bent and Strength of his
Mind, he will go forth from the Beauty and Pleasure of the World, and
patiently enter into the Passion and Death of Christ in and under the
Cross, and set all his Hope and Confidence upon the Life to come. That
even now in Righteousness and Truth he will enter into the Vineyard of
Christ, and do the Will of God. That in the Spirit and Will of Christ
he will begin and finish all his Actions in this World, and for the
Sake of Christ’s Word and Promise, which holds forth to us a Heavenly
Reward, willingly take up and bear every Adversity and Cross so that he
may be but admitted into the Communion or Fellowship of the Children of
Christ and in the Blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ, be incorporated and
united unto His Humanity.

He must firmly imagine to himself, and wholly wrap up his Soul in this
Persuasion, that in his Purpose he shall obtain the Love of God in
Christ Jesus, and that God will give unto him according to His faithful
promise, that Noble Pledge, the Holy Ghost, for an Earnest; that, in
the Humanity of Christ, as to the Heavenly Substance, he shall be born
again in himself, and that the Spirit of Christ will renew his Mind
with His Love and Power, and strengthen his weak Faith. Also that in
his Divine Hunger he shall get the Flesh and Blood of Christ for Food
and Drink, in the Desire of his Soul, which hungereth and thirsteth
after It as its proper Nutriment; and with the Thirst of the Soul drink
the Water of Eternal Life out of the Sweet Fountain of Jesus Christ, as
Christ’s most true and steadfast Promise is.

He must also wholly and firmly imagine to himself, and set before him,
the great Love of God. That God willeth not the Death of a Sinner, but
that he repent and believe; that Christ calleth poor Sinners very
kindly and graciously to Himself, and will refresh them; that God hath
sent His Son into the World, to seek and save that which is lost, viz.
the poor repentant and returning Sinner; and that for the poor Sinner’s
Sake He hath given His Life unto Death, and died for him in our
Humanity which He took upon Him.

Furthermore, he must firmly persuade himself that God in Christ Jesus
will much more readily hear him and receive him to Grace, than he will
readily come; and that God in the Love of Christ, in the most dear and
precious Name JESUS, cannot will any Evil. That there is no angry
Countenance at all in this Name, but that It is the highest and deepest
Love and Faithfulness, the greatest Sweetness of the Deity, in the
great Name JEHOVAH, which He has manifested in our Humanity, corrupted
as it is, and perished as to the Heavenly Part, which in Paradise
disappeared through Sin. And He was therefore moved in His Heart to
flow into us with His Sweet Love, that the Anger of His Father, which
was kindled in us, might be quenched and turned into Love by It. All
which was done for the poor Sinner’s Sake, that he might obtain an open
Gate of Grace again.

In this Consideration he must firmly imagine to himself that this very
Hour and Instant he standeth before the Face of the Holy Trinity, and
that God is really present within and without him, as the Holy
Scripture witnesseth, saying, Am not I He that filleth all Things? And
in another Place, The Word is near thee, in thy Mouth, and in thy
Heart. Also, We will come unto you and make Our abode with you. And,
Behold, I am with you always, even to the End of the World. And again,
The Kingdom of God is within you.

Thus he must firmly know and believe, that with, and in his Interior he
standeth really before the Face of Jesus Christ, even before the Holy
Deity, on whom his Soul hath turned its Back; and must resolve that he
will this very Hour turn the Eyes and Desire of his Soul towards God
again, and with the poor, lost, and returning Son, come to the Father.
He must, with the Eyes of his Mind cast down in Fear and deepest
Humility, begin to confess his Sins and Unworthiness before the Face of
God in manner following:

A short Form of Confession before the Face of God

Everyone, as his Case and Necessity requires, may order and enlarge
this Confession as the Holy Ghost shall teach him. I will only set down
a short Direction.

O Thou great unsearchable GOD, LORD of all Things; Thou, Who in Christ
Jesus, of great Love towards us, hath manifested Thyself with Thy holy
Substance in our Humanity: I, poor unworthy sinful Wretch, come before
Thy Presence, which Thou hast manifested in the Humanity of Jesus
Christ, though I am not worthy to lift up mine Eyes to Thee,
acknowledging and confessing before Thee, that I am guilty of
Unfaithfulness, and Breaking off from Thy great Love and Grace, which
Thou hast freely bestowed upon us. I have left the Covenant, which of
mere Grace Thou hast made with me in Baptism, in which Thou didst
receive me to be a Child and Heir of Eternal Life, and I have brought
my Desire into the Vanity of this World, and defiled by Soul therewith,
and made it altogether beastial and earthly. So that my Soul knoweth
not itself, because of the Mire of Sin; but accounteth itself a strange
Child before Thy Face, not worthy to desire Thy Grace. I lie in the
Guilt and Filth of Sin, and the Vanity of my corrupt Flesh, up to the
very Lips of my Soul, and have but a small Spark of the living Breath
left in me, which desireth Thy Grace. I am dead in Sin and Corruption,
so that in this woeful Condition I dare not lift up mine Eyes to Thee.

O God in Christ Jesus, Thou who for poor Sinners’ Sakes didst become
Man to help them, to Thee I complain; to Thee I have yet a Spark of
Refuge in my Soul. I have not regarded Thy purchased Inheritance, which
Thou hast purchased for us poor Men, by Thy bitter Death, but have made
myself a Partaker of the Heritage of Vanity, in the Anger of my Father
in the Curse of the Earth, and am ensnared in Sin, and half dead as to
Thy Kingdom. I lie in Feebleness as to Thy Strength, and the wrathful
Death waiteth for me. The Devil hath poisoned me, so that I know not my
Saviour: I am become a wild Branch on Thy Tree, and have consumed mine
Inheritance which is in Thee, with the Devil’s Swine. What shall I say
before Thee, who am not worthy of Thy Grace? I lie in the Sleep of
Death which hath captivated me, and am fast Bound with three strong
Chains. O Thou Breaker-through-Death, assist me, I beseech Thee; I
cannot, I am able to do nothing! I am dead in myself, and have no
Strength before Thee, neither dare I, for great Shame, lift up mine
Eyes unto Thee. For I am the defiled Keeper of Swine, and have spent
mine Inheritance with the false adulterous Whore of Vanity in the Lusts
of the Flesh; I have sought myself in my own Lust, and not Thee. Now in
myself I am become a Fool; I am naked and bare; my Shame stands before
mine Eyes; I cannot hide it; Thy Judgement waiteth for me. What shall I
say before Thee, Who art the Judge of all the World? I have nothing to
bring before Thee. – Here I stand naked and bare in Thy Presence, and
fall down before Thy Face bewailing my Misery, and fly to Thy great
Mercy, though I am not worthy of It; yet receive me but in Thy Death,
and let me but die from my Death in Thine. Cast me down, I pray Thee,
to the Ground in my innate SELF, and kill this SELF of mine through Thy
Death, that I may live no more to mySELF, seeing I in mySELF work
nothing but Sin. Therefore, I pray Thee, cast down to the Ground this
wicked Beast, which is full of false Deceit and SELF-Desire, and
deliver this poor Soul of mine from its heavy Bonds.

O merciful God, it is owing to Thy Love and Long-Suffering that I lie
not already in Hell. I yield my SELF, with my whole Will, Senses and
Mind, unto Thy Grace, and fly to Thy Mercy. I call upon Thee through
Thy Death, from that small Spark of Life in me encompassed with Death
and Hell, which open their Throat against me, and would wholly swallow
me up in Death; upon Thee I call, Who hast promised that Thou wilt not
quench the smoking Flax. I have no other Way to Thee but by Thy Own
bitter Death and Passion, because Thou hast made our Death to be Life
by Thy Humanity, and broken the Chains of Death, and therefore I sink
the Desire of my Soul down into Thy Death, into the Gate of Thy Death,
which Thou hast broke open.

O Thou great Fountain of the Love of God, I beseech Thee, help me, that
I may die from my Vanity and Sin in the Death of my Redeemer, Jesus
Christ.

O Thou Breath of the great Love of God, quicken, I beseech Thee, my
weak Breath in me, that it may begin to hunger and thirst after Thee. O
Lord Jesus, Thou sweet Strength, I beseech Thee give my Soul to drink
of Thy Fountain of Grace, Thy sweet Water of Eternal Life, that it may
awake from Death and thirst after Thee. O how extreme fainting I am for
Want of Thy Strength! O merciful God, do Thou turn me, I beseech Thee;
I cannot turn myself. O Thou Vanquisher of Death, help me, I pray Thee,
to wrestle. How fast doth the Enemy hold me with his three Chains, and
will not suffer the Desire of my Soul to come before Thee! I beseech
Thee, come and take the Desire of my Soul into Thyself. Be Thou my
Drawing to the Father, and deliver me from the Devil’s Bonds! Look not
upon my Deformity in standing naked before Thee, having lost Thy
Garment! I pray Thee, do but Thou clothe that Breath which yet liveth
in me and panteth after Thy Grace; and so shall I yet see Thy
Salvation.

O Thou deep Love, I pray Thee take the Desire of my Soul into Thee;
bring it forth out of the Bonds of Death through Thy Death, in Thy
Resurrection, into Thee. O quicken me in Thy Strength, that my Desire
and Will may begin to spring up and flourish anew. O Thou Vanquisher of
Death and of the Wrath of God, do Thou overcome SELF in me; break its
Will and bruise my Soul, that it may fear before Thee, and be ashamed
of its OWN Will before Thy Judgement, and that it may be ever obedient
to Thee as an Instrument of Thine. Subdue it in the Bonds of Death;
take away its Power, that it may will nothing without Thee.

O God, the Holy Ghost in Christ my Saviour, teach me, I pray Thee, what
I shall do, that I may turn to Thee. O draw me in Christ to the Father,
and help me, that now and from henceforward I may go forth from Sin and
Vanity, and never any more enter into them again. Stir up in me a true
Sorrow for the Sins I have committed. O keep me in Thy Bonds; and let
me not loose from Thee, lest the Devil sift me in my wicked Flesh and
Blood, and bring me again into the Death of Death. O enlighten Thou my
Spirit, that I may see the Divine Path, and walk in it continually. O
take that away from me, which always turneth me away from Thee; and
give me that which always turneth me to Thee; take me wholly from
MySELF and give me wholly to THYself. O let me begin nothing, let me
will, think, and do nothing without Thee. O Lord, how long! Indeed I am
not worthy of that which I desire of Thee, I pray Thee let the Desire
of my Soul dwell but in the Gates of Thy Courts; make it but a Servant
of Thy Servants. O preserve it from that horrible Pit, wherein there is
no Comfort or Refreshment.

O God in Christ Jesus! I am blind in my SELF, and know not myself
because of Vanity. Thou art hidden from me in my Blindness, and yet
Thou art near unto me; but Thy Wrath which my Desire hath awakened in
me, hath made me dark. O take but the Desire of my Soul to Thee; prove
it, O Lord, and bruise it, that my Soul may obtain a Ray of Thy Sweet
Grace.

I lie before Thee as a dying Man, whose Life is passing from his Lips,
as a small Spark going out; kindle it, O Lord, and raise up the Breath
of my Soul before Thee. Lord, I wait for Thy Promise, which Thou hast
made, saying, As I live, I will not the Death of a Sinner, but that he
shall turn and live. I sink myself down into the Death of my Redeemer,
Jesus Christ, and wait for Thee, whose Word is Truth and Life. Amen.

In this, or the like Manner, every one may confess his Sins, as he
himself findeth on examining his Conscience, what Sins he hath brought
his Soul into. Yet if his Purpose be truly earnest, to use a Form is
needless, for the Spirit of God, which at that Instant is in the Will
of the Mind, will Itself make the Prayer for him, in his Interior. For
it is the Spirit of God, which in a true earnest Desire worketh
Repentance, and intercedeth for the Soul before God, through the Death
of Christ.

But I will not hide from the beloved Reader, who hath a True Christian
Intent, how it commonly goeth with those who are in such a firm Purpose
and Resolution; though, indeed, it goeth otherwise with one than with
another, according as his Purpose is more or less earnest and strong.
For the Spirit of God is not bound, but useth diverse Ways or Processes
accordingly as He knoweth to be fittest for every one. Yet a Soldier
who hath been in the Wars can tell how to fight and instruct another
that may happen to be in the like Condition.

Now when such a Heart with strong Resolution and Purpose doth thus come
before God, and enter into Repentance, it happeneth to it as to the
Canaanitish Woman; that is, it seems as if God would not hear. The
Heart remaineth without Comfort as its Sins, Follies, and Neglects also
present themselves to it, and make it feel itself unworthy of any. The
Mind is as it were speechless; the Soul groaneth in the Deep; the Heart
receiveth nothing, nor can it so much as pour forth its Confession
before God; but it is as if the Heart and Soul were quite shut up. The
Soul would fain go towards God, but the Flesh keepeth it captive: The
Devil too shuteth it up strongly, and representeth to it the Way of
Vanity again, and tickleth it with the Lust of the Flesh, and saith
inwardly to it, Stay a while, do this or that first; get a Sufficiency
of Money or Goods beforehand, that thou mayest not stand in Need of the
World, and afterwards enter into Repentance and a Holy Life; it will be
Time enough then.

O how many Hundreds perish in such a Beginning, if they go back again
into Vanity; and become as young Grafts broken off by the Wind, or
withered by the Heat!

Beloved Soul, mark: If thou wilt be a Champion in thy Saviour Christ
against Death and Hell, and wouldst have thy young Graft grow, and
become a Tree in the Kingdom of Christ, thou must go on, and stand fast
in thy first earnest Purpose. It is as much as thy paternal Inheritance
is worth, and thy Body and Soul too, whether thou, becomest an Angel in
God, or a Devil in Hell. If thou wilt be crowned, thou must fight; thou
must overcome in Christ, and not yield to the Devil. Thy Purpose must
stand firm, thou must not prefer temporal Honor and Goods before It.
When the Spirit of the Flesh says, Stay a while, it is not convenient
yet; then the Soul must say, Now is the Time for me to go back again
into my Native Country, out of which my Father, Adam, hath brought me.
No Creature shall keep me back, and though thou earthly Body shouldest
thereby decay and perish, yet I will now enter with my Will and whole
Desire, into the Rose-Garden of my Redeemer, Jesus Christ; through His
Suffering and Death into Him, and in the Death of Christ subdue thee,
thou earthly Body, that hast swallowed up my Pearl from me, which God
gave to my Father, Adam in Paradise. I will break the Will of thy
Voluptuousness, which is in Vanity, and bind thee as a mad Dog with the
Chain of my earnest Purpose; and though hereby thou shouldest become a
Fool in the Account of all Men, yet thou must and shalt obey the firm
Resolve of my Soul. Nothing shall unloose thee from this Chain, but the
temporal Death. Whereunto God and his Strength help me.

A short Direction how the poor Soul must come before God again, and how
it must fight for the Noble Garland; what Kind of Weapons it must use,
if it will go to War against God’s Anger, against the Devil, the World
and Sin, against Flesh and Blood, against the Influence of the Stars
and Elements, and all its other Enemies.

BELOVED Soul, there is Earnestness required to do this, and not a bare
Recital of Words only! No, the earnest resolved Will must drive on this
Work, else nothing will be effected. For if the Soul will obtain the
triumphant Garland of Christ from the noble Sophia or Divine Wisdom, it
must wooe Her for it in great Desire of Love. It must entreat Her in
Her most Holy Name for It, and come before Her in most modest Humility,
and not like a lustful Bull or a wanton Venus. For so long as any are
such, they must not seek these Things; for they shall not obtain them,
and though something should be obtained by those who are in such an
impure State, it would be no more than a Glimpse of the true Glory. But
a chaste and modest Mind may prevail so far as to have the Soul in its
noble Image, which died in Adam, quickened in the Heavenly Corporality
as to the inward Ground, and the precious Garland set upon it. Yet if
this should come to pass, It is taken off again from the Soul, and laid
by, as a Crown useth to be, after a King is once crowned with it; it is
then laid by and kept. So it cometh to pass also with the Heavenly
Garland or Gift. It is taken from the Soul again, because the Soul is
yet encompassed with the House of Sin; so that if it should unhappily
fall again, its Crown might not be defiled. This is spoken plainly
enough for the Children that know and have tried these Things: None of
the Wicked are worthy to know more about them.
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A Man must bring a serious Mind to this Work. He must come before God
with sincere Earnestness, deep Humility, and hearty Sorrow for his
Sins, and with a deliberate and firm Resolution, not to enter any more
into the old broad Way of Vanity. And though the whole World should
account him a Fool, and he should lose both Honor and Goods, nay, and
the temporal Life also, for the Sake of his new Choice, yet he must
resolve firmly to abide by it.

If ever he will obtain the Love and Marriage of the noble Sophia, he
must make such a Vow as this in his Purpose and Mind. For Christ
Himself saith, He that forsaketh not Wife and Children, Brethren and
Sisters, Money and Goods, and all that he hath, and even his earthly
Life also, to follow Me, is not worthy of Me. Here Christ meaneth the
Mind of the Soul, so that if there were any Thing that would keep the
Mind back from It, though it should have never so fair and glorious a
Pretence or Show in this World, the Mind must not regard it at all, but
rather part with it than with the Love of the noble Virgin Sophia, in
the Bud and Blossom of Christ, in His tender Humanity in us as to the
Heavenly Corporality. For this is the Flower in Sharon, the Rose in the
Valley of Jericho, wherewith Solomon delighted himself, and termed it
his dear Love, his chaste Virgin which he loved; as indeed all other
Saints before and after him did; whosoever obtained Her, called Her his
Pearl.

After what Manner to pray for It, you may see by this short Direction
following. The Work itself must be committed to the Holy Ghost; He
formeth and frameth the Prayer for the Soul, in every Heart wherein He
is sought.
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I, a poor unworthy Creature, come before Thee, O Great and Holy God and
lift up mine eyes to Thee. Though I am not worthy, yet Thy great Mercy,
and Thy faithful Promise in the Word, have now encouraged me to lift
the Eyes of the Desire of my Soul up to Thee. For my Soul hath now laid
hold on the Word of Thy Promise, and received It into itself, and
therewith cometh to Thee. And though it is but a strange Child which
was disobedient unto Thee, yet now it desireth to be obedient; and doth
now infold itself with its Desire into that Word which became Man,
which became Flesh and Blood, and hath broken Sin and Death in my
Humanity. Which hath changed the Anger of God into Love unto the Soul,
hath deprived Death of his Power, and Hell of its Victory over Soul and
Body; and hath opened a Gate for my Soul to the clear Face of Thy
Strength and Power. O Great and Most Holy God, I have brought the
Hunger and Desire of my Soul into this most Holy Word, and now I come
before Thee, and in my Hunger call unto Thee, Thou living Fountain,
through Thy Word which became Flesh and Blood. Thy Word being made the
Life in our Flesh, I receive It firmly into the Desire of my Soul as my
own Life; and I pierce into Thee with the Desire of my Soul through the
Word in the Flesh of Christ; through His holy Conception in the Virgin
Mary, His Incarnation, His holy Nativity, His Baptism in the Jordan,
His Temptation in the Wilderness – where He overcame the Kingdom of the
Devil and this World in the Humanity. Through all His Miracles, which
He did on Earth; through His Reproach and Ignominy, His innocent Death
and Passion, the Shedding of His Blood, wherein God’s Anger in Soul and
Flesh was drowned. Through His Rest in the Sepulchre, when He awaked
our Father Adam out of his Sleep, who was fallen into a dead Sleep as
to the Kingdom of Heaven. Through His Love, which pierced through the
Anger and destroyed Hell in the Soul. Through His Resurrection from the
Dead, His Ascension, the Sending of the Holy Spirit into our Soul and
Spirit, and through all His Promises; one of which is, that Thou, O God
the Father, wilt give the Holy Spirit to them that ask It, in the Name
and through the Word which became Man.

O Thou Life of my Flesh and of my Soul in Christ my Brother, I beseech
Thee in the Hunger of my Soul, and entreat Thee with all my Powers,
though they be weak, to give me what Thou hast promised me, and freely
bestow upon me in my Saviour Jesus Christ, His Flesh for Food, and His
Blood for Drink, to refresh my poor hungry Soul, that it may be
quickened and strengthened in the Word which became Man, by which it
may long and hunger after Thee aright.

O Thou deepest Love in the most Sweet Name JESUS, give Thyself into the
Desire of my Soul. For therefore Thou hast moved Thyself, and according
to Thy great Sweetness manifested Thyself in the Human Nature, and
called us to Thee, us that hunger and thirst after Thee, and hast
promised us that Thou wilt refresh us. I now open the lips of my Soul
to Thee, O Thou Sweet Truth, and though I am not worthy to desire it of
Thy Holiness, yet I come to Thee through Thy bitter Passion and Death;
Thou having sprinkled my Uncleanness with Thy Blood, and sanctified me
in Thy Humanity, and made an open Gate for me through Thy Death, to Thy
Sweet Love in Thy Blood. Through Thy five holy Wounds, from which Thou
didst shed Thy Blood, I bring the Desire of my Soul into Thy Love.

O Jesus Christ, thou Son of God and Man, I pray Thee receive into
Thyself Thy purchased Inheritance, which Thy Father hath given Thee. I
cry within me, that I may enter through Thy Holy Blood and Death into
Thee. Open Thyself in me, that the Spirit of my Soul may reach Thee,
and receive Thee into it. Lay hold on my Thirst in me with Thy Thirst;
bring Thy Thirst after us Men, which Thou hadst upon the Cross, into my
Thirst, and give me Thy Blood to drink in my Thirst. That my Death in
me which holdeth me captive, may be drowned in the Blood of Thy Love,
and that my extinguished or suppressed Image, which as to the Kingdom
of Heaven disappeared in my Father Adam through Sin, may be made alive
through Thy powerful Blood, and my Soul clothed with It again as with
the new Body which dwelleth in Heaven. In which Image Thy Holy Power
and Word that became Man dwelleth, which is the Temple of the Holy
Spirit, Who dwelleth in us according to Thy Promise, saying We will
come to you and make Our Abode with you.

O Thou Great Love of Jesus Christ, I can do no more than sink my Desire
into Thee; Thy Word which became Man, is Truth; since Thou hast bidden
me come, now I come. Be it unto me according to Thy Word and Will.
Amen.

A Warning to the Reader

Beloved Reader, out of Love to thee, I will not conceal from thee what
is here earnestly signified to me. If thou lovest the Vanity of the
Flesh still, and art not in an earnest Purpose on the WAY to the new
Birth or Regeneration, intending to become a New Man, then leave the
above-written Words un-named; else they will turn to a Judgement of God
in thee. Thou must not take the Holy Names in vain, thou art faithfully
warned: They belong to the thirsty Soul. But if thy Soul be in earnest,
it shall find by Experience what Words they are.

A Direction how the Soul must meet its Beloved, when She knocketh in its
Center, or Shut-Inner-Chamber

Beloved Soul, if thou wilt be earnest without Intermission, thou shalt
certainly obtain the Favor of a Kiss from the Noble Sophia (or Divine
Wisdom) in the Holy Name JESUS; for She standeth ever before the Door
of the Soul, knocking, and warning the Sinner of his wicked Way. Now if
it once thus desireth Her Love, She is ready for it and kisseth it with
the Beams of Her Sweet Love, from whence the Heart receiveth Joy. But
She doth not presently lay Herself in the Marriage-Bed with the Soul,
that is, She doth not presently awaken the extinguished Heavenly Image
in Herself, which disappeared in Adam in Paradise. No, there might be
Danger to Man in that; for if Adam and Lucifer fell, having it
manifested in them, the same may easily happen to Man, who is still so
strongly enthralled in Vanity.

The Bond of thy Promise must be firm and steadfast. Before She will
crown thee, thou must be tempted and tried: She taketh the Beams of Her
Love from thee again, to see whether thou wilt prove faithful; also She
letteth thee stand as it were aloof, and answereth thee not so much as
with one Look of Her Love. For before She will crown thee, thou must be
judged, that thou mayest taste the bitter Potion of Dregs, which thou
hast filled for thyself in thine Abominations. Thou must come before
the Gates of Hell first, and there show forth thy Victory for Her in
Her Love, in that Strength wherewith She upheld thee in Opposition to
the Devil’s malign influence.

Christ was tempted in the Wilderness; and if thou wilt put on Him, thou
must go through His whole Progress or Journey, even from His
Incarnation to His Ascension. And though thou art not able, nor
required to do that which He hath done; yet thou must enter wholly into
His Process, and therein die continually from the Corruption of the
Soul. For the Virgin Sophia espouseth not Herself to the Soul, except
in this Property, which springeth up in the Soul through the Death of
Christ, as a new Plant standing in Heaven. The earthly Body cannot
comprehend Her in this Life-time, for it must first die from the
corruptible Vanity; but the Heavenly Image which disappeared in Adam,
viz. the true Seed of the Woman, wherein God became Man, and into which
He brought His living Seed, the Heavenly Substantiality, is capable of
the Pearl, after the Manner wherein it came to pass in Mary, in the End
or Fulfilling of the Covenant.

Therefore take heed what thou doest. When thou hast made thy Promise,
keep it, and then She will crown thee more readily than thou wouldst be
crowned. But thou must be sure when the Tempter cometh to thee with the
Pleasure, Beauty, and Glory of the World, that thy Mind reject it, and
say, I must be a Servant and not a Master in the Vineyard of Christ; I
am but a Steward of God in and over all that I have, and I must do with
it as His Word teacheth me; my Heart must sit down with the simple and
lowly, in the Dust, and be always humble. Whatsoever State and
Condition thou art in, Humility must be in the Front, or else thou wilt
not obtain the Noble Virgin in Marriage. The Free Will of thy Soul must
stand the Brunt as a Champion; for if the Devil cannot prevail against
the Soul with Vanity, nor catch it with that Bait, then he cometh with
its Unworthiness and Catalogue of Sins. And there thou must fight hard,
and the Merits of Christ must be set in the Front, or else the Creature
cannot prevail against the Devil. For in this Conflict it goeth so
terribly with many a poor Sinner, that outward Reason thinketh him to
be distracted, or possessed by an evil Spirit. The Devil defendeth
himself so horribly in some, especially if he hath had a great Fort of
Prey in them, that he must be stoutly assaulted before he will depart
and leave his Castle. In this kind of Combat, Heaven and Hell are
fighting one against the other.

Now if the Soul continue constant, and getteth the Victory over the
Devil in all his Assaults, disesteeming all temporal Things for the
Love of its Noble Sophia, then the precious Garland will be set upon it
for a Token or Ensign of Victory.

Here the Virgin, (which manifesteth Herself in the dear Name of JESUS
CHRIST, the Treader upon the Serpent, God’s Anointed) cometh to the
Soul, and kisseth it with Her Sweetest Love in the Essence most
inwardly, and impresseth Her Love into its Desire for a Token of
Victory. And here Adam in his Heavenly Part riseth again from Death in
Christ. Of which I cannot write; for there is no Pen in this World that
can express it: It is the Wedding of the Lamb where the Noble Pearl is
sown with very great Triumph; though in the beginning it be small as a
Grain of Mustard-Seed, as Christ saith.

Now when the Wedding is over, the Soul must take heed that this
Pearl-Tree, or Tree of Faith spring and grow, as it hath promised the
Virgin; for then the Devil will presently come with his furious Storm,
the ungodly People, who will scoff at, contemn, and cry down this WAY
for Madness; and then a Man must enter into the Process of Christ,
under his Cross. Here it will appear indeed and in Truth, what Sort of
a Christian he is. For he must suffer himself to be proclaimed a Fool
and ungodly Wretch; nay, his greatest Friends, who favored him, or
flattered him in the Lusts of the Flesh, will now be his Enemies, and
though they know not why, will hate him. Thus it is that Christ hideth
his Bride wholly under the Cross, that she may not be known in this
World: The Devil also striveth that these Children may be hidden from
the World, lest haply many such Branches should grow in the Garden
which he supposeth to be his.

This I have set down for the Information of the Christian-minded
Reader, that he may know what to do, if the same should befall him.

A very earnest Prayer in Temptation

Against God’s Anger in the Conscience; and also against Flesh and
Blood, when the Temptation cometh to the Soul, and wrestleth with it.

Most Deep Love of God in Christ Jesus, leave me not in this Distress. I
confess I am guilty of the Sins which now rise up in my Mind and
Conscience; and if Thou forsake me, I must perish. But hast Thou not
promised me in Thy Word, saying, If a Mother could forget her Child,
which can hardly be, yet Thou wilt not forget me? Thou hast set me as a
Sign in Thine Hands, which were pierced through with sharp Nails, and
in Thy open Side whence Blood and Water gushed out. Poor Wretch that I
am! I am caught in Thy Anger, and can in my Ability do nothing before
Thee; I sink myself down into Thy Wounds and Death.

O Great Mercy of God, I beseech Thee, deliver me from the Bonds of
Satan. I have no Refuge in any Thing, but only in Thy Holy Wounds and
Death! Into Thee I sink down in the Anguish of my Conscience; do with
me what Thou wilt. In Thee I will now live or die, as pleaseth Thee;
let me but die and perish in Thy Death; do but bury me into Thy Death,
that the Anguish of Hell may not touch me. How can I excuse myself
before Thee, that knoweth my Heart and Reins, and settest my Sins
before mine Eyes? I am guilty of them, and yield myself unto Thy
Judgement; accomplish Thy Judgement upon me, through the Death of my
Redeemer Jesus Christ.

I fly unto Thee, Thou Righteous Judge, through the Anguish of my
redeemer Jesus Christ, when He did sweat the bloody Sweat on the Mount
of Olives for my Sake, and was scourged by Pontius Pilate for me, and
suffered a Crown of Thorns to be pressed upon His Head, so that His
Blood came forth.

O Righteous God, hast Thou not set Him in my Stead? He was innocent,
but I guilty, for whom He suffered, wherefore should I despair under
Thy Wrath? O blot out Thy Anger in me through His Anguish, Passion and
Death; I give myself wholly into His Anguish, Passion and Death; I will
stand still in His Anguish and Passion before Thee; do with me what
Thou pleasest, only let me not depart from His Anguish. Thou hast
freely given me His Anguish, and drowned Thy Wrath in Him: And though I
have not accepted it, but am departed from Him and become faithless,
yet Thou hast given me this precious Pledge in my Flesh and Blood. For
He hath taken my Flesh and Soul upon His heavenly Flesh and Blood, and
hath satisfied the Anger in my Flesh and Soul in Him, with His Heavenly
Blood. Therefore receive me now in His Satisfaction, and put His
Anguish, Passion and Death in Thy Wrath, which is kindled in me, and
break Thy Judgement in me in the Blood of His Love.

O Great Love! in the Blood and Death of Jesus Christ, I beseech Thee,
break the strong Fort of Prey which the Devil hath made and built up in
me, where he resisteth me in the WAY of Thy Grace. Drive him out of me,
that he may not overcome me; for no one living can stand in Thy Sight,
if Thou withdraw Thy Hand from him.

O come, Thou Breaker-Through the Anger of God, destroy its Power, and
help my poor Soul to fight and overcome it. O bring me into Victory,
and uphold me in Thee; break in pieces its Seat in my Vanity, that is
kindled in my Soul and Flesh. O mortify the Desire of my Vanity in
Flesh and Blood, which the Devil hath now kindled by his false Desire,
by hellish Anguish and Desperation. O quench it with Thy Water of
Eternal Life, and bring my Anguish forth through Thy Death, I wholly
sink myself down into Thee; and though Soul and Body should this hour
faint and perish in Thy Wrath, yet I will not let Thee go. Though my
Heart saith utterly, No, no, yet the Desire of my Soul shall hold fast
on Thy Truth, which neither Death nor the Devil shall take away from
me; for the Blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, cleanseth us from
all our Sins. This I lay hold on, and let the Anger of God do what It
will with my Sin, and let the Devil roar over my Soul in his Fort of
Prey which he hath made, as much as he will: Neither the Devil, Death,
nor Hell shall pull me out of my Saviour’s Wounds. Thou must at length
be confounded in me, thou malicious Devil, and thy Fort of Prey must be
forsaken, for I will drown it in the Love of Jesus Christ, and then
dwell in it if thou canst. Amen.

An Information in Temptation

Beloved Reader, this is no jesting Matter; he that accounteth it so,
hath not tried it, neither hath he yet passed the Judgement; but his
Conscience is still asleep; and though it should be deferred to his
latter Days, which is very dangerous, yet he must pass through this
Judgement or fiery Trial. Happy is he that passeth through it in the
Time of his Youth, before the Devil buildeth his Fort of Prey strong;
he may afterwards prove a Labourer in the heavenly Vineyard, and sow
his Seed in the Garden of Christ; where he shall reap the Fruit in due
Time. This Judgement continueth a long while upon many a poor Soul;
several Years, if he doth not earnestly and early put on the Armour of
Christ, but stayeth till the Judgement of Tribulation first drive him
to Repentance. But to him that cometh by himself, of his own earnest
Purpose, and endeavoreth to depart from his evil Ways, the Temptation
or Trial will not be so hard, neither will it continue so long. Yet he
must stand out valiantly, till Victory be gotten over the Devil; for he
shall be mightily assisted, and all shall end in the best for him; so
that afterwards when the Day breaketh in his Soul, he turneth it to the
great Praise and Glory of God, that his grand Enemy and Persecutor was
overcome in the Conflict.
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When the Noble Sophia (or Eternal Wisdom) kisseth the Soul with Her
Love, and offereth Her Love to it

O Most Gracious and Deep Love of God in Christ Jesus! I beseech Thee
grant me Thy Pearl, impress It into my Soul, and take my Soul into Thy
Arms.

O Thou Sweet Love! I confess I am unclean before Thee. Take away my
Uncleanness through Thy Death, and carry the Hunger and Thirst of my
Soul through Thy Death in Thy Resurrection, in Thy Triumph! Cast my
whole SELF-hood down to the Ground in Thy Death; take it captive, and
carry my Hunger through in Thy Hunger.

O Highest Love! Hast Thou not appeared in me? Stay in me, and inclose
me in Thee. Keep me in Thee, so that I may not be able to depart from
Thee. Fill my Hunger with Thy Love; feed my Soul with Thy Heavenly
Substance; give it Thy Blood to drink, and water it with Thy Fountain.

O Great Love! Awaken my disappeared Image in me, which, as to the
Kingdom of Heaven disappeared in my Father Adam. By the Word, which
awakened the same Image in the Seed of the Woman in Mary; quicken It, I
beseech Thee.

O Thou Life and Power of the Deity, Who hast promised us, saying, We
will come to you, and make Our Abode in you. O Sweet Love! I bring my
Desire into this Word of Thy Promise. Thou hast promised also, that Thy
Father will give the Holy Spirit to those that ask Him for It;
therefore I now bring the Desire of my Soul into that Thy Promise, and
I receive Thy Word into my Hunger. Increase Thou in me my Hunger after
Thee. Strengthen me, O sweet Love, in Thy Strength: Quicken me in Thee,
that my Spirit may taste Thy Sweetness. O do thou believe by Thy Power
in me, for without Thee I can do nothing.

O Sweet Love! I beseech Thee through that Love wherewith Thou didst
overcome the Anger of God, and didst change it into Love and Divine
Joy; I pray Thee also change the Anger in my Soul by that same great
Love, that I may become obedient unto Thee, and that my Soul may love
Thee therein forever. O change my Will into Thy Will; bring Thy
Obedience into my Disobedience, that I may become obedient unto Thee.

O Great Love of Jesus Christ, I humbly fly to Thee; bring the Hunger of
my Soul into Thy Wounds, from whence Thou didst shed Thy Holy Blood,
and didst quench the Anger with Love. I bring my Hunger into Thy open
Side, from whence came forth Water and Blood, and throw myself wholly
into It; be Thou mine, and quicken me in Thy Life, and let me not
depart from Thee.

O my Noble Vine, I beseech Thee give Sap to me Thy Branch; that I may
bud and grow in Thy Strength and Sap, in Thy Essence; beget in me true
Strength by Thy Strength.

O Sweet Love, art Thou not my Light? Enlighten Thou my poor Soul in its
close Prison in Flesh and Blood. Bring it into the Right WAY. Destroy
the Will of the Devil, and bring my Body through the whole Course of
this World, through the Chamber of Death into Thy Death and Rest; that
at the Last Day it may arise in Thee from Thy Death, and live in Thee
forever. O teach me what I must do in Thee; I beseech Thee be Thou my
Willing, Knowing, and Doing; and let me go no whither without Thee. I
yield myself wholly up to Thee. Amen.

A PRAYER– For obtaining the Divine Working, Protection, and
Government; showing also how the Mind should work with and in God, in
Christ the Tree of Life

O Thou living Fountain, in Thee I lift up the Desire of my Soul, and
cry with my Desire to enter through the Life of my Saviour Jesus Christ
into Thee.

O Thou Life and Power of God, awaken Thyself in the Hunger of my Soul
with Thy Desire of Love, through the Thirst which Jesus Christ had upon
the Cross after us Men, and carry my weak Strength through by Thy
mighty Hand in Thy Spirit; be Thou the Working and Will in me with
Thine own Strength. Blossom in the Strength of Jesus Christ in me, that
I may bring forth Praise unto Thee, the true Fruit of Thy Kingdom. O
let my Heart and Desire never depart from Thee more.

But I swim in Vanity in this Valley of Misery, in this outward earthly
Flesh and Blood; and my Soul and Noble Image, which is according to Thy
Similitude, is encompassed with Enemies on every Side; with the Desire
of the Devil against me, with the Desire of Vanity in Flesh and Blood;
also with all the Opposition of wicked Men who know not Thy Name. And I
swim with my outward Life in the Properties of the Stars and Elements,
having my Enemies lying in wait for me everywhere, inwardly and
outwardly, together with Death the Destroyer of this vain Life. I fly
therefore to Thee, O Holy Strength of God, seeing Thou hast manifested
Thyself with Thy loving Mercy in our Humanity, through Thy Holy Name
JESUS, and hast also given It to be a Companion and Guide in us. I
beseech Thee let His Angels that minister to Him, attend upon the Souls
of me and mine, and encamp themselves about us, and defend us from the
fiery Darts of the Desire of that wicked One, which he shooteth into us
daily by the Curse of the Anger of God which is awakened in our earthly
Flesh. Keep back by Thy Divine Strength the malignant Influence of the
Stars in their Opposition, wherein the wicked Enemy of Mankind mingleth
himself with his Desire and Imagination, in order to poison us in Soul
and Flesh, and to bring us into false and evil Desires, as also into
Infirmity and Misery. Turn away these evil Influences by Thy Holy Power
Jesus, from our Souls and Spirits, that they may not touch us; and let
Thy Good and Holy Angels stand by us to turn away their noxious Effects
from our Bodies.

O Great Love and Sweet Strength JESU, Thou Fountain of Divine
Sweetness, flowing out of the great Eternal Name JEHOVAH, I cry with
the Desire of my Soul to come into Thee. My Soul cryeth to come into
that Spirit, from Which it was breathed into the Body, and Which hath
formed it in the Likeness of God. It desireth in its Thirst to get the
Sweet Fountain which springeth from JEHOVAH into itself, to refresh
God’s Breath of Fire, which itself is, that so the Sweet Love of JESUS
may rise in its Breath of Fire, through the Fountain JESUS springing
out of JEHOVAH; that CHRIST the Holy One may be manifested, and become
Man in my disappeared Image of Heavenly Spiritual Corporality, and that
my poor Soul may receive its beloved Bride again into its Arms, with
whom it may rejoice forever.

O IMMANUEL! thou Wedding-Chamber, God and Man, I yield myself up into
the Arms of Thy Desire towards us, in us; it is Thyself whom I desire.
O blot out the Anger of Thy Father with Thy Love in me, and manifest
Thy Strength in my Weakness, that I may overcome and tame the Evil of
Flesh and Blood, and serve Thee in Holiness and Righteousness.

O Thou Great and Most Holy Name and Majesty of God, JEHOVAH, Which hast
stirred Thyself with Thy Most Sweet Power JESUS, in the Limit of the
covenanted Promise to our Father Adam, in the Woman’s Seed; in the
Virgin Mary, in our disappeared Heavenly Humanity, and brought the
living Essentiality of Thy Holy Power in the Virgin Wisdom of God into
our Humanity, which was extinguished as to Thee; and hast given It to
us, to be our Life, Regeneration, and Victory; I entreat Thee with all
my Strength, beget a new Holy Life in me, by Thy Sweet Power JESUS,
that I may be in Thee and Thou in me; that so Thy Kingdom may be made
manifest in me, and the Will and Conversation of my Soul may be in
Heaven.

O Great and Incomprehensible God, thou who fillest all Things, be Thou
my Heaven in which my new Birth of Christ Jesus may dwell: Let my
Spirit be the stringed Instrument, Harmony, Sound and Joy of Thy Holy
Spirit. Strike the Strings in me in Thy Regenerate Image, and carry
through my Harmony into Thy Divine Kingdom of Joy, in the Great Love of
God, in the Wonders of Thy Glory and Majesty, in the Communion of the
Holy Angelical Harmony. Build up the Holy City Zion in me, in which as
Children of Christ we all live together in one City, which is Christ in
us. Into Thee I wholly plunge myself; do with me what Thou pleasest.
Amen.

A PRAYER — To be used by a Soul in Tribulation under the Cross of
Christ, when it is assaulted by its outward Enemies, who persecute and
hate it for being in the Spirit of Christ, and slander and reproach it
as an Evil-Doer.

Poor Man that I am! I walk full of Anguish and Trouble in my Return
towards my Native Country, from whence I wandered in Adam, and am going
back again through the Thistles and Thorns of this troublesome World. O
God my Father, the Briars tear me on every Side, and I am afflicted and
despised by my Enemies. They scorn my Soul, and revile it as an
Evil-Doer, who hath broken Faith with them; they deride my walking
towards Thee, and account it foolish. They think I am senseless,
because I walk in this straight and thorny Path, and go not along with
them in their hypocritical broad Way.

O Lord JESUS CHRIST, I fly to Thee under the Cross; O dear Immanuel
receive me, and carry me into Thyself through the Path of Thy
Pilgrimage, in which Thou didst walk in this World, namely through Thy
Incarnation, Poverty, Reproach, and Scorn; also through Thy Anguish,
Passion, and Death. Make me conformable unto Thy Example; send Thy good
Angel along with me, to show me the WAY through the horrible thorny
Wilderness of this World. Assist me in my Misery; comfort me with that
Comfort wherewith the Angel comforted Thee in the Garden, when Thou
didst pray to Thy Father, and didst sweat great Drops of Blood. Support
me in my Anguish and Persecution, under the Reproach of the Devils, and
all wicked Men, who know not Thee, and refuse to walk in Thy Paths. O
great Love of God, they know not Thy Way, and do this in Blindness,
through the Deceit of the Devil. Have Pity on them, and bring them out
of their Darkness into Thy Light, that they may learn to know
themselves, and how they lie Captive in the Filth and Mire of the
Devil, in a dark Dungeon fast bound with three Chains. O Great God have
Mercy upon Adam and his Children, redeem them in Christ, the new Adam.

I fly to Thee, O Christ, God and Man, in this Pilgrimage and Journey
which I must take through this dark Valley, despised and troubled on
all Sides, and accounted an ungodly wicked Man. O Lord, it is Thy
Judgement upon me, that my Sins and inbred Corruption may be judged in
this earthly Pilgrimage before Thee; and I, as a Curse, be made an open
Spectacle on which Thy Anger may satiate itself, and thereby may take
the eternal Reproach away from me. It is the Token of Thy Love, by
which Thou bringest me into the Reproach, Anguish, Suffering, and Death
of my Saviour Jesus Christ, that so I may die from Vanity and spring up
in His Spirit with a new Life, through His Reproach, Ignominy, and
Death.

I beseech Thee, O Christ, Thou patient Lamb of God, grant me Patience
in this my WAY of the Cross, through all Thy Anguish and Reproach, thy
Death and Passion, Thy Scorn and Contempt upon the Cross, where Thou
was despised in my Stead; and bring me therein as a patient Lamb to
Thee, into Thy Victory. Let me live with Thee in Thee; and do Thou
convert my Persecutors, who (unknown to themselves) by their
Reproaching sacrifice my Vanity and inbred Sins before Thy Anger. They
know not what they do; they think they do me Harm, but they do me Good!
They do that for me which I should do myself before Thee; for I should
daily lay open and acknowledge my Shame and Vileness before Thee; and
thereby sink myself down into the Death of Thy beloved Son, that my
Shame might die in His Death; but I being too negligent, weary, faint,
and feeble, therefore Thou usest these mine Enemies in Thine Anger, to
open and discover my Vileness before Thee, which Thy Wrath taketh hold
of, and sinketh it down into the Death of my Saviour.

O merciful God, my vain Flesh cannot know how well Thou intendest
towards me, when Thou sufferest mine Enemies to take my Vileness from
me, and sacrifice it before Thee. My earthly Mind supposeth that Thou
afflictest me for my Sins, and I am extremely perplexed at it; but Thy
Spirit, in my inward new Man, telleth me that it is of Thy Love towards
me, and that Thou intendest Good to me by it. When Thou sufferest my
Enemies to persecute me, it is best for me that they perform the Work
in my Stead, and unfold my Sins before Thee in Thy Anger, that it may
swallow up the Guilt of them, so that they may not follow me into my
Native Country; for mine Enemies are strong and mighty still in Thy
Anger, and therefore can do it better than I that am feeble and
fainting already in the Will of Vanity. This Thou knowest full well, O
Thou Righteous God.

I beseech Thee therefore, O Righteous God, since Thou usest them as
Friends to me, to do so good an Office for me, though my earthly Reason
knoweth it not, that Thou wouldst make them also to understand and
follow my Course, and send them such Friends in turn; but first bring
them to the Light, that they may know Thee, and give Thee Thanks.

O Merciful God in Christ Jesus, I beseech Thee out of Thy deep Love
towards us poor Men, which Thou hast manifested in me in the hidden
Man, call us all in Thee, to Thee. O stir Thyself in us yet once again
in this last Trouble; Thy Anger being kindled in us, do Thou resist it,
lest it swallow us up wholly both Soul and Body.

O thou Dawning of the Day-Spring of God, break forth to the Full! Art
Thou not already risen? Manifest Thy Holy City Zion, Thy Holy
Jerusalem, in us.

O Great God! I see Thee in the Depth of Thy Power and Strength. Awaken
me wholly in Thee, that I may be quickened in Thee. Break off the Tree
of Thy Anger in us, and let Thy Love spring forth and bud in us.

O Lord, I lie down in Thy Sight, and beseech Thee not to rebuke us in
Thine Anger. Are we not Thy Possession which thou hast purchased?
Forgive all of us our Sins, and deliver us from the Evil of Thy Wrath,
and from the Malice and Envy of the Devil; and bring us under Thy Cross
in Patience into Paradise again. Amen.

Here followeth a Prayer or Dialogue between the poor Soul and the Noble
Virgin Sophia, in the inward Ground of Man, viz. between the Soul and the
Spirit of Christ in the New Birth, out of His Humanity in us; showing how
great a Joy there is in the Heaven of the New regenerate Man; and how
lovingly and graciously the Noble Sophia presenteth Herself to Her
Bridegroom, the Soul, when it entereth into Repentance, and how the Soul
behaveth itself towards Her, when She appeareth to it.
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This is understood by none but the Children of Christ, who have known it by
Experience.

WHEN Christ the Corner-Stone stirreth Himself in the extinguished Image
of Man, in his hearty Conversion and Repentance, then Virgin Sophia
appeareth in the Stirring of the Spirit of Christ in the extinguished
Image, in Her Virgin’s Attire before the Soul; at which the Soul is so
amazed and astonished in its Uncleanness, that all its Sins immediately
awake in it, and it trembleth before Her; for then the Judgement
passeth upon the Sins of the Soul, so that it even goeth back in its
Unworthiness, being ashamed in the Presence of its fair Love, and
entereth into itself, feeling and acknowledging itself utterly unworthy
to receive such a Jewel. This is understood by those who are of our
Tribe, and have tasted of this Heavenly Gift, and by none else. But the
Noble Sophia draweth near in the Essence of the Soul, and kisseth it in
friendly Manner, and tinctureth its dark Fire with Her Rays of Love,
and shineth through it with Her bright and powerful Influence.
Penetrated with the strong Sense and Feeling of Which, the Soul
skippeth in its Body for great Joy, and in the Strength of this Virgin
Love exulteth, and praiseth the Great God for His blessed Gift of
Grace.

I will set down here a short Description how it is when the Bride thus
embraceth the Bridegroom, for the Consideration of the Reader, who
perhaps hath not yet been in this Wedding-Chamber. It may be that he
will be desirous to follow us, and to enter into the Inner Choir, where
the Soul joineth Hands and danceth with Sophia, or the Divine Wisdom.

I.

When that which is mentioned above cometh to pass, the Soul rejoiceth
in its Body, and saith,

PRAISE, Thanksgiving, Strength, Honor, and Glory, be to Thee, O great
God, in Thy Power and Sweetness, for that Thou hast redeemed me from
the Anguish of the fiery Driver. O Thou Fair Love! My heart embraceth
Thee; where hast Thou been so long? I thought I was in Hell in the
Anger of God. O Gracious Love! Abide with me, I beseech Thee, and be my
Joy and Comfort. Lead me in the right WAY. I give myself up into Thy
Love. I am dark before Thee, do Thou enlighten me. O Noble Love, give
me Thy Sweet Pearl; put it I pray Thee into me.

O Great God in Christ Jesus, I praise and magnify Thee now in Thy
Truth, in Thy Great Power and Glory, for that Thou hast forgiven me my
Sins, and filled me with Thy Strength. I shout for Joy before Thee in
my new Life, and extol Thee in Thy Firmament of Heaven, which none can
open but Thy Spirit in Thy Mercy. My Bones rejoice in Thy Strength, and
my Heart delighteth itself in Thy Love. Thanks be to Thee forever, for
that Thou has delivered me out of Hell, and turned Death into Life in
me. O Sweet Love! Let me not depart from Thee again. Grant me Thy
Garland of Pearl, and abide in me. O be my own proper Possession, that
I may rejoice in Thee forever.

Upon this, the Virgin Sophia saith to the Soul,

MY nobel Bridegroom, my Strength and Power, thou art a thousand Times
welcome. Why hast thou forgotten Me so long, that I have been
constrained in great Grief to stand without the Door and knock? Have I
not always called thee and entreated thee? But thou hast turned away
thy Countenance from Me, and thine Ears have declined My Entreaties.
Thou couldst not see My Light, for thou didst walk in the Valley of
Darkness. I was very near thee, and entreated thee continually, but thy
Sinfulness held thee Captive in Death, so that thou knewest Me not. I
came to thee in great Humility, and called thee, but thou wert rich in
the Power of the Anger of God, and didst not regard My Humility and
Lowliness. Thou hast taken the Devil to be thy Paramour, who hath
defiled thee thus, and built up his Fort of Prey in thee, and turned
thee quite away from My Love and Faith into his hypocritical Kingdom of
Falsehood; wherein thou hast committed much Sin and Wickedness, and
torn thy Will off from My Love. Thou hast broken the Bond of Wedlock,
and set thy Love and Affection upon a Stranger, and suffered Me thy
Bride, whom God did give thee, to stand alone in the extinguished
Substance, without the Power of thy fiery Strength. I could not be
joyful without thy fiery Strength, for thou art My Husband; My shining
Brightness is made manifest by thee. Thou canst manifest My hidden
Wonders in thy fiery Life, and bring them into Majesty; and yet without
Me thou art but a dark House, wherein is nothing but Anguish, Misery,
and horrible Torment.

O noble Bridegroom, stand still with thy Countenance towards Me, and
give Me thy Rays of Fire. Bring thy Desire into Me, and enkindle Me
thereby, and then I will bring the Rays of My Love, from My Meekness
into thy fiery Essence, and be united with thee forever.

O My Bridegroom, how well am I, now that I am in Union with thee! O
kiss Me with thy Desire in thy Strength and Power, and then I will show
thee all My Beauty, and will rejoice and solace Myself with thy sweet
Love and shining Brightness in thy fiery Life. All the Holy Angels
rejoice with us, to see us united again. My dear Love, I now entreat
thee to stay faithful to Me, and do not turn thy Face away from Me any
more. Work thou thy Wonders in My Love, for which Purpose God hath
created thee and brought thee into Being.

II.

The Soul saith again to its Noble Sophia , its Love, that is born again
in it,

O my Noble Pearl, and opened Flame of Light in my anxious fiery Life,
how Thou changest me into Thy Joy! O Beautiful Love, I have broken my
Faith with Thee in my Father Adam, and with my fiery Strength have
turned myself to the Pleasure and Vanity of the outward World. I have
fallen in Love with a Stranger, and would have been constrained to walk
in the Valley of Darkness in this strange Love, if Thou hadst not come
into the House of my Misery, in Thy great Faithfulness, by Thy piercing
through and destroying God’s Anger, Hell, and dark Death, and restoring
Thy Meekness and Love to my fiery Life.

O Sweet Love! Thou hast brought the Water of Eternal Life out of the
Fountain of God, with Thee into me, and refreshed me in my great
Thirst. I behold in Thee the Mercy of God, which was hidden from me
before by the strange Love. In Thee I can rejoice; Thou changest my
Anguish of Fire into great Joy in me. O amiable Love, give me Thy
Pearl, that I may continue in this Joy forever.

Upon this the Noble Sophia answereth the Soul again, and saith,

MY dear Love and faithful Treasure, thou highly rejoicest Me in thy
Beginning. I have indeed broken into thee through the deep Gates of
God, through God’s Anger, through Hell and Death, into the House of thy
Misery, and have graciously bestowed My Love upon thee, and delivered
thee from the Chains and Bonds wherewith thou wert fast bound. I have
kept My Faith with thee, even though thou hast not kept thine with Me.
But now thou desireth an exceeding great Thing of Me, which I cannot
willingly trust in thy Hands. Thou wouldest have My Pearl as thy proper
own. Remember, I pray, O My beloved Bridegroom, that thou didst
carelessly lose it before in Adam; and thou thyself standest yet in
great Danger, and walkest in two dangerous Kingdoms; for in thy
original Fire thou walkest in that Country wherein God calleth Himself
a strong jealous God, and a consuming Fire. The other Kingdom which
thou walkest in, is the outward World, wherein thou dwellest in the
vain corrupt Flesh and Blood, and where the Pleasures of the World and
Assaults of the Devil beset thee every Hour. Thou mayest perhaps in thy
great Joy bring Earthliness again into My Beauty, and thereby darken My
Pearl; or thou mayest possibly grow proud, as Lucifer did, when he had
the Pearl in his Possession, and so turn thyself away from the Harmony
of God, as he did, and then I must be deprived of My Love forever
afterwards.

No. I will keep My Pearl in Myself, and dwell in the Heaven in thee, in
thy extinguished, but now in Me, revived, Humanity, and reserve My
Pearl for Paradise, until thou puttest away this Earthliness from thee,
and then I will give it to thee to possess. But I will readily present
to thee My pleasant Countenance, and the sweet Rays of the Pearl,
during the Time of this Earthly Life. I will dwell with the Pearl
Itself in the inner Choir, and be thy faithful loving Bride. I cannot
espouse Myself with thy earthly Flesh, for I am a heavenly Queen, and
My Kingdom is not of this World. Yet I will not cast thy outward Life
away, but refresh it often with My Rays of Love; for thy outward
Humanity shall return again. But I cannot admit to My Embraces the
Beast of Vanity, neither did God create It in Adam with a Purpose to
have It so gross and earthly. But in Adam thy Desire, through the Power
of its strong Lust, formed this beastial Grossness, from and with all
the Essences of the awakened Vanity of the earthly Property, wherein
Heat and Cold, Pain and Enmity, Division and Corruption subsist.

Now, My dear Love and Bridegroom, do but yield thyself up into My Will;
I will not forsake thee in this earthly Life in thy Danger. Though the
Anger of God should pass upon thee, so that thou shouldst grow
affrighted and disheartened, or shouldst think that I had deserted
thee, yet I will be with thee and preserve thee, for thou thyself
knowest not what thine Office is. Thou must work and bear Fruit in this
Life’s Time. Thou art the Root of this Pearl-Tree; Branches must be
produced out of thee, which must all be brought forth in Anguish. But I
come forth together with thy Branches in their Sap, and produce Fruit
upon thy Boughs, and thou knowest it not; for the Most High hath
ordered, that I should dwell with and in thee.

Wrap thyself up therefore in Patience, and take Heed of the Pleasure of
the Flesh. Break the Will and Desire thereof; bridle it as an unruly
Horse; and then I will often visit thee in the fiery Essence, and give
thee My Kiss of Love. I will bring a Garland for thee out of Paradise
with Me, as a Token of My Affection, and put it upon thee, and thou
shalt rejoice in it. But I give thee not My Pearl for a Possession
during this Life’s Time. Thou must continue in Resignation, and hearken
what the Lord playeth on His Instrument in thy Harmony in thee.
Moreover, thou must give Sound and Essence to thy Tune, out of My
Strength and Virtue, for thou art now a Messenger of His Word, and must
set forth His Praise and Glory. For this Cause it is that I have
contracted Myself a-new with thee, and set My triumphal Garland upon
thee; which I have gotten in the Battle against the Devil and Death.
But the Crown of Pearl wherewith I crowned thee, I have laid aside for
thee. Thou must wear that no more till thou art become pure in My
Sight.

III.

The Soul saith further to the Noble Sophia,

O Thou Fair and Sweet Consort, what shall I say before Thee? Let me be
wholly committed unto Thee; I cannot preserve myself. If Thou wilt not
give me Thy Pearl, I submit to Thy Will; but give me Thy Rays of Love,
and carry me safely through my Pilgrimage. Do Thou awaken and bring
forth what Thou wilt in me; I will from henceforth be Thy own. I will
or desire nothing for myself, but what Thou Thyself wilt through me. I
had fooled away Thy Sweet Love, and broken my Faith with Thee, whereby
I was fallen into the Anger of God. But seeing that of Love Thou didst
come to me into the Anguish of Hell, and hast delivered me from
Torment, and received me again for Thy Consort, I will now therefore
break my Will for Thy Love’s Sake, and be obedient unto Thee, and wait
for Thy Love. I am satisfied now that I know Thou art with me in all my
Troubles, and wilt not forsake me.

O Gracious Love, I turn my fiery Countenance to Thee. O fair Crown,
take me quickly into Thee, and bring me forth from Unquietness. I will
be Thine forever, and never depart from Thee more.

The Noble Sophia answereth the Soul very comfortably, and saith,

MY noble Bridegroom, be of good Comfort. I have betrothed thee to Me in
My highest Love, and contracted Myself with thee in My Faithfulness. I
will be with thee and in thee always to the End of the World. I will
come to thee and make My Abode with thee, in thy inner Chamber. Thou
shalt drink of My Fountain; for now I am thine, and thou art Mine; the
Enemy shall not separate Us. Work thou in thy fiery Property, and I
will put My Rays of Love into thy Working. And so We will plant and
manure the Vineyard of Jesus Christ. Afford thou the Essence of Fire,
and I will afford the Essence of Light, and the Increase. Be thou the
Fire, and I will be the Water, and thus We will perform that in this
World for which God hath appointed Us, and serve Him in His Temple,
which We ourselves are. Amen.
__________________________________________________________________

BELOVED Reader, count not this an uncertain Fiction; it is the true
Ground, Sum and Substance of all the Holy Scriptures. For the Book of
the Life of Jesus Christ is plainly set forth therein, as the Author of
a Certainty knoweth; it being the WAY that he himself hath gone. He
giveth thee the best Jewel that he hath. God grant His Blessing with
it. A heavy Sentence and Judgement are gone forth against the Mocker of
this. Be thou therefore warned, that thou mayest avoid the Danger, and
obtain the Benefit.
__________________________________________________________________

Commending ourselves to God when we rise, before we suffer any other
Thing to enter into us.

BLESS me, O God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Thou only True God. I
thank Thee through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour, for the
Preservation of me, and for all other Benefits. I now commend myself,
both Soul and Body, and all that Thou hast set me to do in my
Employment and Calling, into Thy Protection. Be Thou the Beginning of
my Conceptions, my Undertakings, and all my Doings. Work Thou so in me,
that I may begin all Things to the Glory of Thy Name, and accomplish
them in Thy Love for the Good and Service of my Neighbor. Send Thy holy
Angel along with me, to turn the Temptations of the Devil and corrupt
Nature away from me. Preserve me from the Malice of evil Men; make all
my Enemies reconcilable to me, and bring my Mind into Thy Vineyard,
that I may labor in my Office and Employment, and behave as Thy
obedient Servant therein. Bless me, and all that I am to go about and
do this Day, with the Blessing of Thy Love and Mercy. Continue Thy
Grace and Love in Jesus Christ upon me, and give me a Mind cheerfully
to follow Thy Leading and execute Thine Appointment. Let Thy Holy
Spirit guide me in my Beginning, and my Progress, on to my Last End,
and be the Willing, Working, and Accomplishing of all in me. Amen.
__________________________________________________________________

When we have finished our daily Employment, and are going to Rest

I LIFT my Heart to Thee, O God, Thou Fountain of Eternal Life, and give
Thee Thanks through Jesus Christ, Thy Beloved Son, our Lord and
Saviour, for having protected and preserved me this Day from all
Mischief that might have befallen me. I commend to Thy Disposal my
Condition and Employment, together with the Work of my Hands, and
humbly repose them on Thee. So fill my Soul with Thy Spirit, that
neither the grand Enemy, the Devil, nor any other evil Influence or
Desire, may find Harbour therein. Let my Mind only delight in Thee in
Thy Temple, and let Thy good Angel stay with me, that I may rest safely
in Thy Power, and under Thy Protection. Amen.

Rev. 21, 6-7: I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give
unto him that is athirst of the Fountain of the Water of Life freely. He that
overcometh shall inherit all Things, and I will be his God, and he shall be
My Son.
__________________________________________________________________

by Jacob Behmen (Jakob Boehme) 1575-1624,

The Teutonic Theosopher

How he that earnestly seeketh Salvation, must suffer himself to be brought
out of the confused and contentious Babel, by the Spirit of CHRIST, that he
may be born a-new in the Spirit of CHRIST, and live to Him only.

Rev xviii.4 Come out of Babylon, my People, that ye be not Partakers of
her Sins, and that ye receive not of her Plagues; for her Sins have
reached unto Heaven, and God hath remembered her Iniquity.

Brought forth in the 1600 s by a humble shoemaker; translated into
English over 100 years later; suppressed and hidden away until recently
in theological archives around the world… a worthy personal study not
just for academics but for all those who are spiritually grounded in
the WORD, who are learning to hear the Lord, and who hunger for more.

These writings from out of the Past are in the Public Domain and may be
freely shared, photocopied, reproduced, faxed or transmitted in any way
by any means.
__________________________________________________________________

Though I have in my other Writings, set down a clear description of
Regeneration, or the New-Birth, from the Ground thereof; yet because
everyone hath them not, neither hath everyone the Capacity to
understand them; I have therefore, as a Service to the simple
Children of Christ, here set down a short Sum concerning the
New-Birth.

But if any desire to search the deep Ground from whence all floweth,
and have the Gift to understand it, let them read

I. The Three Principles of the Divine Essence.

II. The Threefold Life of Man.

III. The Forty Questions of the Original Essence, Substance, Nature,
and Property of the Soul.

IV. The Incarnation and Birth of Jesus Christ the Son of God; also
of his Suffering, Death, and Resurrection.

V. The Six Points treating of the Three Worlds how they are in one
another as one; and yet make Three Principles, viz., Three Births or
Centers.

VI. The Mysterium Magnum, which is an Interpretation upon Genesis.

And in them he shall find all that he can ask, and that as deep as
the Mind of Man is able to reach. I have written this for the true
Israelites, that is, for the Hungry and Thirsty Hearts that long
after the Fountain of Christ, who are my Fellow Members in the
Spirit of Christ: But not for the Ishmaelites and Scorners, for they
have a Book within them, wherewith they vex, persecute, and suppress
the Children of Christ that are under the Cross; and yet, though it
be unwillingly and unwittingly to themselves, they must be Servants
to such Children of Christ.
__________________________________________________________________

Showing how Man should consider himself.

CHRIST said, Except ye turn and become as Children, ye shall not see
the kingdom of God. Again, he said to Nicodemus; Except a Man be
born again, of Water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the
Kingdom of God; for that which is born of the Flesh is Flesh, and
that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.

2. Also the Scripture positively declareth, that the fleshly natural
Man receiveth not the Things of the Spirit of God, for they are
Foolishness unto him, neither can he know or conceive them.

3. Now seeing that all of us have Flesh and Blood and are mortal, as
we find by Experience, and yet the Scripture saith, that We are the
Temples of the Holy Ghost, who dwelleth in us, and that the Kingdom
of God is within us, and that Christ must be formed in us; also,
that He will give us his Flesh for Food, and his Blood for Drink:
And that, Whosoever shall not eat of the Flesh of the Son of Man,
and drink his Blood hath no Life in him. Therefore we should
seriously consider, what kind of Man in us it is, that is capable of
being thus like the Deity.

4. For it cannot be said of the mortal Flesh that turneth to Earth
again, and liveth in the Vanity of this World, and continually
lusteth against God; that it is the Temple of the Holy Ghost; much
less can it be said that the New Birth cometh to pass in this
earthly Flesh, which dieth and putrifieth, and is a continual House
of Sin.

5. Yet seeing that it remaineth certain, that a True Christian is
born of Christ, and that the New Birth is the Temple of the Holy
Ghost which dwelleth in us, and that the New Man only, that is born
of Christ, partaketh of the Flesh and Blood of Christ; it appeareth
that is is not so easy a Matter to be a Christian.

6. And that Christianity doth not consist in the mere knowing of the
History, and applying the Knowledge thereof to ourselves, saying
that Christ died for us, and hath destroyed Death and turned it into
Life in us, and that He hath paid the Ransom for us, so that we need
do nothing but comfort ourselves therewith, and steadfastly believe
that it is so.

7. For we find of ourselves that Sin is living, lusting, strong, and
powerfully working in the Flesh, and therefore it must be somewhat
else, which doth not co-operate with Sin in the Flesh, nor willeth
it, that is the New-Birth in Christ.

8. For St. Paul saith, There is no Condemnation to them that are in
Christ Jesus. And further, Should we that are Christians be yet
Sinners? God forbid, seeing we are dead to Sin in Christ.

9. Besides, the Man of Sin cannot be the Temple of the Holy Ghost;
and yet, there is no Man that sinneth not, for God hath shut up all
under Sin. As the Scripture saith, No one living is righteous in thy
Sight, if thou imputest his Sins to him. The righteous Man falleth
seven Times a Day; and yet it cannot be meant that the righteous
falleth and sinneth, but his mortal and sinful Man. For the
righteousness of a Christian in Christ cannot Sin.

10. Moreover, St. Paul saith, Our Conversation is in Heaven, from
whence we expect our Saviour Jesus Christ. Now, if our Conversation
be in Heaven, then Heaven must be in us; Christ dwelleth in Heaven;
and then if we are his Temple, that Temple Heaven must be in us.

11. But for all this, seeing Sin tempteth us within us, whereby the
Devil hath within us an Access to us, therefore Hell also must be in
us too, for the Devil dwelleth in Hell; wheresoever he is, he is in
Hell. and cannot come out of it. Yea, when he possesseth a Man, he
dwelleth in Hell, viz., in the Anger of God in that Man.

12. Therefore we ought to consider well what Man is, and how he is a
Man; and then we shall find that a true Christian is not a mere
historical new Man, as if it were enough for us outwardly to confess
Christ, and believe that he is the Son of God, and hath paid the
Ransom for us. For Righteousness availeth nothing, imputed from
without, that is, by believing only that it is so imputed. But it is
an inherent Righteousness born in us, by which we become the
Children of God, that availeth.

13. And as the earthly Flesh must die, so also the Life and Will
must die from Sin, and be as a Child that knoweth nothing, but
longeth only after the Mother which brought it forth. So likewise
must the Will of a Christian enter again into its Mother, viz., into
the Spirit of Christ, and become a Child in itself, in its own Will
and Power, having its Will and Desire inclined and directed only
towards its Mother. And a new Will and Obedience in Righteousness,
which willeth Sin no more, must rise from Death out of the Spirit of
Christ in him.

14. For that Will is not born a-new, which desireth and admitteth
Vanity into itself; and yet there remaineth a Will which longeth
after Vanity, and sinneth, even in the new-born or regenerate Man.
Therefore the Image or Nature of Man should be well understood, and
how the New-birth cometh to pass; seeing it is not wrought in the
mortal Flesh, and yet is wrought truly and really in us, in Flesh
and Blood, in Water and Spirit, as the Scripture saith.

15. We should therefore rightly understand what Kind of Man it is in
us, that is the Member of Christ, and Temple of God who dwelleth in
Heaven. And then also what Kind of Man it is, that the Devil ruleth
and driveth; for he cannot meddle with the Temple of Christ, nor
doth he care much for the mortal Flesh; and yet there are not three
Men in one another, for all make but one Man.

16. Now if we will understand this rightly, we must consider Time
and Eternity, and how they are in one another; also Light and
Darkness, Good and Evil; but especially the Original of Man.

This may be thus apprehended.

17. THE outward World with the Stars and four Elements, wherein Man
and all Creatures live, neither is, nor is called God. Indeed God
dwelleth in it, but the Substance of the outward World
comprehendedeth him not.

18. We see also that the Light shineth in Darkness, and the Darkness
comprehendeth not the Light, and yet they both dwell in one another.
The four Elements are also an Example of this; which in their
Original are but one Element, which is neither hot nor cold, nor
dry, nor moist; and yet by its stirring separateth itself into Four
Properties, viz., into Fire, Air, Water, and Earth.

19. Who would believe that Fire produceth or generateth Water? And
that the Original of Fire could be in Water, if we did not see it
with our Eyes in Tempests of Thunder, Lightening, and Rain; and did
not find also, that in living Creatures, the essential Fire of the
Body dwelleth in the Blood, and that the Blood is the Mother of the
Fire, and the Fire is the Father of the Blood.

20. And as God dwelleth in the World, and filleth all Things, and
yet possesseth nothing; and as the Fire dwelleth in Water, and yet
possesseth it not: Also, as the Light dwelleth in Darkness, and yet
possesseth not the Darkness; as the Day is in the Night, and the
Night in the Day, Time in Eternity, and Eternity in Time; so is Man
created according to the outward Humanity; he is the Time, and in
the Time, and the Time is the outward World, and it is also the
outward Man.

21. The inward Man is Eternity and the Spiritual Time and World,
which also consisteth of Light and Darkness, viz., of the Love of
God, as to the eternal Light, and of the Anger of God as to the
eternal Darkness; whichsoever of these is manifest in him, his
Spirit dwelleth in that, be it Darkness or Light.

22. For Light and Darkness are both in him, but each of them
dwelleth in itself, and neither of them possesseth the other; but if
one of them entereth into the other, and will possess it, then that
other loseth its Right and Power.

23. The passive loseth its Power; for if the Light be made manifest
in the Darkness, then the Darkness loseth its Darkness, and is not
known or discerned. Also on the contrary, if the Darkness arise in
the Light and get the upper-hand, then the Light and the Power
thereof are extinguished. This is to be observed also in Man.

24. The Eternal Darkness of the Soul is Hell, viz., an aching Source
of Anguish, which is called the Anger of God; but the Eternal Light
in the Soul is the Kingdom of Heaven, where the fiery Anguish of
Darkness is changed into Joy.

25. For the same Nature of Anguish, which in the Darkness is a Cause
of Sadness, is in the Light a Cause of the outward and stirring Joy.
For the Source or Original in Light, and the Source in Darkness are
but one Eternal Source, and one Nature, and yet they, viz., the
Light and Darkness, have a mighty Difference in the Source; the one
dwelleth in the other and begetteth the other, and yet is not the
other. The Fire is painful and consuming, but the Light is yielding,
friendly, powerful, and delightful, a sweet and amiable Joy.

26. This may be found also in Man; he is and liveth in three Worlds;
the First is the Eternal dark World, viz., the Centre of the Eternal
Nature, which produceth or generateth the Fire, viz., the Source or
Property of Anguish.

27. The Second is the Eternal light World, which begetteth the
Eternal Joy, which is the Divine Habitation wherein the Spirit of
God dwelleth, and wherein the Spirit of Christ receiveth the human
Substance, and subdueth the Darkness, so that it must be a Cause of
Joy in the Spirit of Christ in the Light.

28. The Third is the outward visible World in the four Elements and
the visible Stars; though indeed every Element hath its peculiar
Constellation in itself, whence the Desire and Property arise, and
is like a Mind.

29. Thus you may understand, that the Fire in the Light is a Fire of
Love, a Desire of Meekness and Delightfulness; but the Fire in the
Darkness is a Fire of Anguish, and is painful, irksome, inimicitious
and full of Contrariety in its Essence. The Fire of the Light hath a
good Relish or Taste, but the Taste in the Essence of Darkness is
unpleasant, loathsome and irksome. For all the Forms or Properties
in the Eternal Nature, till they reach to Fire, are in great
Anguish.
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How Man is created.

HERE we are to consider the Creation of Man. Moses saith, God
created Man in His Image, in the Image of God created he him. This
we understand to be both out of the eternal and temporal Birth; out
of the inward and spiritual World, which he breathed into him, into
the created Image; and then out of the Substance of the inward
spiritual World, which is holy.

31. For as there is a Nature and Substance in the outward World; so
also in the inward spiritual World there is a Nature and Substance
which is spiritual; from which the outward World is breathed forth,
and produced out of Light and Darkness, and created to have a
Beginning and Time.

32. And out of the Substance of the inward and outward World Man was
created; out of, and in the Likeness of the Birth of all Substances.
The Body is a Limbus (an Extract or a kind of Seed, which containeth
all that which the Thing from whence it is taken hath) of the Earth,
and also a Limbus of the heavenly Substance; for the Earth is
breathed forth out-spoken, or created out of the dark and light
World. In the Word Fiat (or creating Word) viz., in the eternal
Desire Man was taken out of the Earth, and so created an Image out
of Time and Eternity.

33. This Image was in the inward and spiritual Element, from whence
the four Elements proceed and are produced. In that one Element was
Paradise; for the Properties of Nature from the
Fire-dark-and-light-World were all in Harmony and Agreement in
Number, Weight, and Measure. One of them was not manifested more
eminently than another, therefore was there no Frailty therein. For
no one Property was predominant over another, neither was there any
Strife or Contrariety among the Powers and Properties.

34. Into this created Image God breathed the Spirit and Breath of
Understanding out of the three Worlds, as one only Soul which, as to
its Original Principle or Essence, is, or consisteth in, the inward
dark Fire-World of the eternal spiritual Nature; according to which
God calleth himself a strong jealous God, and a consuming Fire.

35. And this now is the eternal creaturely great Soul, a magical
Breath of Fire, in which Fire consisteth the Original of Life, from
the great Power of Separation. God’s Anger, or the eternal Darkness,
is in this Property, so far as Fire reacheth without giving Light.

36. The second Property of the Breath of God is the Spirit of the
Source of Light, proceeding from the great fiery Desire of Love,
from the great Meekness; according to which God calleth himself a
loving, merciful God; in which consisteth the true Spirit of
Understanding, and of Life in Power.

37. For as Light shineth from Power, and as the Power of
Understanding is discerned in the Light, so the Breath of the Light
was joined to the Breath of the Fire of God, and breathed into the
Image of Man.

38. The third Property of the Breath of God was the outward Air with
its Constellation or Astrum, wherein the Life and Constellation of
the outward Substance and Body did consist. This he breathed into
his Nostrils; and as Time and Eternity hang together, and as Time is
produced out of Eternity, so the inward Breath of God hung to the
outward.

39. This three-fold Soul was at once breathed into Man; and each
Substance of the Body received the Spirit according to its Property.
The outward Flesh received the outward Air and its Constellations,
for a rational and vegetative Life, to the Manifestation of the
Wonders of God; and the Light Body or Heavenly Substance received
the Breath of the Light of the great Divine Powers and Virtues;
which Breath is called the Holy Ghost.

40. Thus the Light pierced through the Darkness, viz., through the
dark Breath of Fire, and also through the Breath of the outward Air
and its Constellation or Astrum, and so deprived all the Properties
of their Power, that neither the Anguish of the Breath of Fire in
the inward Property of the Soul, nor Heat nor Cold, nor any of all
the Properties of the outward Constellation, might or could be
manifested.

41. The Properties of all the three Worlds in Soul and Body were in
equal Agreement, Temperature, and Weight. That which was inward and
holy ruled through and over the outward, that is, the outward Parts
of the outward Life, of the outward Stars and Constellations and the
Four Elements; and that original and universal Power of the inward
over the outward constituted the Holy Paradise.

42. And thus Man was both in Heaven and also in the outward World,
and was Lord over all the Creatures of this World. Nothing could
destroy him.

43. For such was the Earth also, until the Curse of God broke forth.
The Holy Property of the Spiritual World sprung up through the
Earth, and brought forth Holy Paradisaical Fruits, which Man could
then eat in a magical Paradisaical Manner.

44. And had neither need of Teeth, nor Entrails in his Body. For as
the Light swalloweth up Darkness, and as the Fire devoureth Water,
and yet is not filled therewith, just such a Centre Man also had for
his Mouth to eat withal, according to the Manner of Eternity.

45. And he could also generate his Like out of himself, without any
dividing or opening of his Body and Spirit, in such a Manner as God
generated the outward World; who did not divide himself; but did in
his Desire, viz., in the Word Fiat, manifest himself, and brought
that same Desire into a Figure according to the Eternal Spiritual
Birth. So also Man was created an Image and Likeness of God in that
Respect, according to Time and Eternity, out of both Time and
Eternity, yet in and for an immortal Life, which was without Enmity
or Contrariety.

46. But the Devil having himself been a Prince and Hierarch in the
Place of this World, and cast out for his Pride into the dark,
anguishing, painful and hostile Property and Source, into the Wrath
of God, envied Man the Glory of being created in and for the
Spiritual World, the Place which he himself once possessed; and
therefore brought his Imagination or Desire into the Image of Man,
and made it so lusting, that the dark World, and also the outward
World arose in Man, and departed from the equal Agreement and
Temperature wherein they stood, and so one predominated over the
other.

47. And then the Properties were each of them separately made
manifest in itself, and each of them lusted after that which was
like itself. That which was out of the Birth of the dark World, and
also that which was out of the Birth of the light World, would each
of them eat of the Limbus of the Earth, according to its Hunger; and
so Evil and Good became manifest in Adam.

48. And when the Hunger of the Properties went into the Earth, from
whence the Properties of the Body were extracted, then the Fiat drew
such a Branch out of the Earth, as the Properties could eat of in
their awakened Vanity; for this was possible.

49. For the Spirit of the strong and great magical Power of Time and
Eternity was in Adam, from which the Earth with its Properties was
breathed forth; and so the Fiat, viz., the strong Desire of the
eternal Nature, attracted the Essence of the Earth. And thus God let
the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil grow for Adam, according to
his awakened Properties; for the great Power of the Soul and of the
Body caused it.

50. And then Man must be tried, whether he would stand and subsist
in his own Powers, before the Tempter the Devil, and before the
Wrath of the eternal Nature; and whether the Soul would continue in
the equal Agreement of the Properties in true Resignation under God
s Spirit, as an Instrument of God s Harmony, a tuned Instrument of
divine Joyfulness for the Spirit of God to strike upon. This was
tried by that Tree, and this severe Commandment was added, Thou
shalt not eat thereof, for on that Day that thou eatest thereof,
thou shalt surely die.

51. But it being known to God that Man would not stand, and that he
had already imagined and lusted after Good and Evil, God said, It is
not good for Man to be alone, we will make him an Help-meet for him.

52. For God saw that Adam could not then generate magically, having
entered with his Lust into Vanity. Now therefore Moses saith, God
caused a deep Sleep to fall upon him, and he slept; that is, seeing
Man would not continue in the Obedience of the Divine Harmony in the
Properties, submitting himself to stand still as an Instrument of
the Spirit of God; therefore God suffered him to fall from the
Divine Harmony into an Harmony of his own, viz., into the awakened
Properties of Evil and Good; the Spirit of his Soul went into these.

53. And there in this Sleep he died from the Angelical World, and
fell under the Power of the outward Fiat, and thus bade farewell to
the Eternal Image which was of God s begetting. Here his Angelical
Form and Power fell into a Swoon and lay on the Ground.

54. And then by the Fiat God made the Woman out of him, out of the
Matrix of Venus, viz., out of that Property wherein Adam had the
Begettress in himself; and so out of one Body he made two, and
divided the Properties of the Tinctures, viz., the watery and fiery
Constellations in the Element; yet not wholly in Substance but in
the Spirit, viz., the Properties of the watery and fiery Soul.

55. And yet it is but one Thing still, only the Property of the
Tincture was divided; the Desire of Self-Love was taken out of Adam,
and formed into a Woman according to his Likeness. And thence it is
that Man now so eagerly desireth the Matrix of the Woman, and the
Woman desireth the Limbus of the Man, viz., the Fire-Element, the
Original of the true Soul, by which is meant the Tincture of Fire;
for these two were one in Adam, and therein consisted the Magical
Begetting.

56. And as soon as Eve was made out of Adam in his Sleep, both Adam
and Eve were at that Instant set and constituted in the outward
natural Life, having the Members given them for Propagation, after
the manner of the Brute Animals, and also the fleshly Carcase, into
which they might put their gross Earthliness, and live like Beasts.

57. Of which the poor Soul that is captivated in Vanity is at this
Day ashamed; and sorry that its Body hath gotten such a beastial
monstrous Shape. Nothing can be clearer than this. For it is because
Mankind are ashamed of their Members and Nakedness, that they borrow
their Clothing from the earthly Creatures. For this they would not
havedone, had they not lost the Angelical Form, and assumed that of
a Beast.

58. This borrowed Clothing, together with the awakened Earthliness,
and Subjection to the Powers of Heat and Cold, is a plain and full
Proof to Man, that he is not truly at Home in this World. For all
earthly Appetites, Cares, and Fears, together with this false
Clothing, must perish and be severed from the Soul again.

59. Now when Adam awoke from Sleep, he beheld his Wife, and knew
that she came out of him; for he had not yet eaten of Vanity with
his outward Mouth, but with the Imagination, Desire, and Lust only.

60. And it was the first Desire of Eve, that she might eat of the
Tree of Vanity, of Evil and Good, to which the Devil in the Form of
a Serpent persuaded her, saying, That her Eyes should be opened, and
she should be as God himself; which was both a Lie and a Truth.

61. But He told her not, that she should lose the Divine Light and
Power thereby: He only said, her Eyes should be opened, that she
might taste, prove, and know Evil and Good, as he had done. Neither
did he tell her that Heat and Cold would awake in her, and that the
Property of the outward Constellations would have great Power over
the Flesh and over the Mind.

62. His only Aim was that the Angelical Image, viz., the Substance
which came from the inward Spiritual World, might disappear in them.
For then they would be constrained to live in Subjection to the
gross Earthliness, and the Constellations or Stars; and then he knew
well enough that when the outward World perished, the Soul would be
with him in Darkness. For he saw that the Body must die, which he
perceived by that which God had intimated; and so he expected still
to be Lord to all Eternity in the Place of this World, in his false
Shape which he had gotten; and therefore he seduced Man.

63. For when Adam and Eve were eating the Fruit, Evil, and Good,
into the Body, then the Imagination of the Body received Vanity in
the Fruit, and then Vanity awaked in the Flesh, and the dark World
got the Upperhand and Dominion in the Vanity of the Earthliness;
upon which the fair Image of Heaven, that proceeded out of the
Heavenly Divine World, instantly disappeared.

64. Here Adam and Eve died to the Kingdom of Heaven, and awaked to
the outward World, and then the fair Soul as it stood in the Love of
God, disappeared as to the holy Power, Virtue, and Property; and
instead thereof, the wrathful Anger, viz., the dark Fire World,
awoke in it, and so the Soul became in one Part, viz., in the inward
Nature, a half Devil, and in the outward Part as related to the
outward World, a Beast.

65. Here are the Bounds of Death and the Gates of Hell, for which
Cause God became Man, that he might destroy Death, defeat the Devil
s Purpose, and change Hell into great Love again.

66. Let this be told you, Ye Children of Men; it is told you in the
Sound of a Trumpet, that you should instantly go forth from the
abominable Vanity, for the Fire thereof burneth.
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Of the lamentable Fall of Man, and of the Means of his Deliverance.

NOW when Adam and Eve fell into this Vanity, then the Wrath of
Nature awoke in each Property, and in or through the Desire
impressed the Vanity of the Earthliness and Wrath of God into
itself.

68. And then the Flesh became gross and rough, as the Flesh of a
Beast, and the Soul was captivated in that Essence therewith, and
saw that its Body was become a Beast, and had gotten the Bestial
Members for Multiplication, and the filthy Carcase into which the
Desire would stuff the Loathsomeness which it was ashamed of in the
Presence of God; and therefore Adam and Eve hid themselves under the
Trees of the Garden of Eden. Heat and Cold also seized on them.

69. And here the Heaven in Man trembled for Horror; as the Earth
quaked in Wrath, when this Anger was destroyed on the Cross by the
sweet Love of God; there the Anger trembled before the sweet Love of
God.

70. And for this Vanity’s Sake which was thus awakened in Man, God
cursed the Earth; lest the holy Element should spring or shine forth
any more through the outward Fruit, and bring forth Paradisaical
Fruit. For there was then no Creature that could have enjoyed it;
neither was the earthly Man worthy of it any more.

71. God would not cast the precious Pearls before Beasts; an ungodly
Man in his Body being but a mere gross beastial Creature; and though
it be of a noble Essence, yet it is wholly poisoned and loathsome in
the Sight of God.

72. Now when God saw that his fair Image was spoiled, he manifested
himself to fallen Adam and Eve, and had Pity on them, and promised
himself to them for an everlasting Possession, and that with his
great Love in the received Humanity he would destroy the Power of
the Serpentine Property, viz., of the Vanity in the Wrath of God
awakened in them. And this was the breaking of the Head of the
Serpent, which he would perform, viz., he would destroy the dark
Death, and subdue the Anger with his great Love.

73. And this Covenant of his Incarnation which was to come, he put
into the Light of Life; to which Covenant the Jewish Sacrifices
pointed as to a Mark or Limit, to which God had promised himself
with his Love; for the Faith of the Jews entered into the Sacrifices
and Offerings, and God s Imagination entered into the Covenant.

74. And the Offering was a Figure of the Restitution of that which
Adam hath lost, and so God did expiate his Anger in the human
Property, through the offering in the Limit of the Covenant.

75. In which Covenant the most holy sweet Name JESUS, proceeding out
of the holy Name and great Power of JEHOVAH, had incorporated
itself; so that he would again move and manifest himself in the
Substance of the Heavenly World which disappeared in Adam, and
kindle the holy divine Life therein again.

76. This Mark or Limit of the Covenant was propagated from Adam and
his Children, from Man to Man, and did go through from one upon all,
as Sin also and the awakened Vanity did go through from one upon
all.

77. And it stood in the Promise of the Covenant at the End, in the
Root of David in the Virgin Mary, who was, in the inward Kingdom of
the hidden Humanity, (viz., of the Essentiality that disappeared as
to the Kingdom of God) the Daughter of God s Covenant, but in the
outward according to the natural Humanity, she was begotten by her
true bodily Father Joachim and her true Mother Anna, out of the
Essences and Substance of their Souls and Bodies, like all other
Children of Adam; a true Daughter of Eve.

78. In this Mary from the Virgin (viz., the Wisdom of God) in the
promised Limit of the Covenant, of which all the Prophets have
prophesied. – the eternal Speaking Word, which created all Things,
did in the Fullness of Time move itself in the Name JESUS, according
to its highest and deepest Love and Humility, and bring again
living, divine, and heavenly Substantiality into the Humanity of the
heavenly Part, which disappeared in Adam, and from which he died in
Paradise, into the Seed of Mary, into the Tincture of Love, into
that Property wherein Adam should have propagated himself in a
magical and heavenly Manner, into the true Seed of the Woman, of
heavenly Substantiality, which disappeared in Paradise.

79. And when the Divine Light in the Heavenly Essence was
extinguished, the Word of God, viz., the Divine Power of the
Understanding, did bring in Heavenly and living Substantiality, and
awakened the disappeared Substantiality in the Seed of Mary, and
brought it to Life.

80. And so now God’s Substance, wherein He dwelleth and worketh, and
the disappeared Substance of Man, are become one Person; for the
Holy Divine Substantiality did anoint the disappeared; therefore
that Person is called CHRISTUS, the Anointed of God.

81. And this is the dry Rod of Aaron, which blossomed and bare
Almonds, and the true High Priest; and it is that Humanity of which
Christ spake, saying, that He was come from Heaven and was in
Heaven; and that no Man could ascend into Heaven but the Son of Man
which is come from Heaven, and is in Heaven.

82. Now when he saith, He is come from Heaven, it is meant of the
Heavenly Substance, the Heavenly Corporeality; for the Power and
Virtue of God needeth no coming any whither, for it is every where
altogether immeasurable and undivided. But Substance needeth coming;
the Power or Virtue needeth to move itself, and manifest itself in
Substance.

83. And that Substance entered into the human Substance, and
received it; not that Part only of Heavenly Substantiality, which
disappeared in Adam, but the whole human Essence in Soul and Flesh,
according to all the three Worlds.

84. But he hath not received, or taken upon himself, the awakened or
impressed Vanity, which the Devil, by his Imagination, brought into
the Flesh, by which the Flesh did commit Sin; though he hath indeed
taken upon him the awakened Forms of Life, as they were gone forth
from their equal Agreement, each of them into its own Desire.

85. For therein lay our Infirmity, and the Death, which He was to
drown with his Heavenly holy Blood. Herein he took upon himself all
our Sins and Infirmities, also Death and Hell in the Wrath of God,
and destroyed their Power in the human Properties.

86. The Wrath of God was the Hell into which the Spirit of Christ
went, when He had shed that heavenly Blood into our outward human
Blood, and tinctured it with the Love; thereby changing that Hell of
the human Property into Heaven, and reducing the human Properties
into equal Agreement, into the Heavenly Harmony.
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How we are born a-new; and how we may fall into God’s Anger again.

NOW here we may rightly understand what our New-Birth, or
Regeneration, is; and how we may become, and continue to be, the
Temple of God; though in this Life’s Time, according to the outward
Humanity, we are sinful mortal Men. 88. Christ in the human Essence
hath broken up and opened the Gates of our inward Heavenly Humanity,
which was shut up in Adam; so that nothing is now wanting, but that
the Soul draw its Will out of the Vanity of the corrupted Flesh, and
bring it into this open Gate in the Spirit of Christ. 89. Great and
strong Earnestness is required here; and not only a learning and
knowing, but a real Hunger and Thirst after the Spirit of Christ.
For to know only, is not Faith; but an Hunger and Thirst after that
which I want, so that I draw it in thereby to myself, and lay hold
on it with the Desire and Imagination, and, make it my own; this is
the Truth and Essence of a Christian s Faith.

90. The Will must go forth from the Vanity of the Flesh, and
willingly yield itself up to the Suffering and Death of Christ, and
to all the Reproach of Vanity, which derideth it, because it goeth
forth from its own House wherein it was born, and regardeth Vanity
no more, but merely desireth the Love of God in Christ Jesus.

91. In such a Hunger and Desire the Will receiveth and impresseth
into itself the Spirit of Christ with his Heavenly Corporality; that
is, the Soul in its great Hunger and Desire taketh hold of, and
draweth the Body of Christ, viz., the Heavenly Substantiality, into
its disappeared Image, within which the Word of the Power of God is
the Working.

92. The Hunger of the Soul bringeth its Desire quite through the
bruised Property of its Humanity in the Heavenly Part, which
disappeared in Adam; which Humanity, the sweet Fire of Love in the
Death of Christ did bruise, when the Death of that Heavenly Humanity
was destroyed.

93. And so the Hunger of the Soul received into it, into its
disappeared Corporality, through the Desire, the holy Heavenly
Substance, viz., Christ s Heavenly Corporality, which filleth the
Father all over, and is nigh unto all, and through all Things; and
through that the disappeared Heavenly Body riseth in the Power of
God, in the sweet Name JESU..

94. And this raised Heavenly Spiritual Body is the Member of Christ,
and the Temple of the Holy Ghost, a true Mansion of the Holy
Trinity, according to Christ s Promise, saying, We will come to you,
and make our Abode in you.

95. The Essence of that Life eateth the Flesh of Christ, and
drinketh his Blood. For the Spirit of Christ, viz., the Word, which
made itself visible with the Humanity of Christ out of, and in our
disappeared Humanity, through the outward Man of the Substance of
this World, swalloweth its holy Substance into its fiery; for every
Spirit eateth of its own Body.

96. Now if the Soul eat of this sweet, holy, and Heavenly Food, then
it kindleth itself with the great Love in the Name and Power of
JESUS; whence its Fire of Anguish becometh a great Triumph of Joy
and Glory, and the true Sun ariseth to it, wherein it is born to
another Will.

97. And here cometh to pass the Wedding of the Lamb, which we
heartily wish that the titular and Lip-Christians might once find by
Experience in themselves, and so pass from the History into the
Substance.

98. But the Soul obtaineth not this Pearl of the Divine Wisdom and
Virtue for its own Property during the Time of this Life; because it
hath the outward Bestial Flesh sticking to its outward Man.

99. The Power of which Pearl of Divine Wisdom espouseth itself in
this Wedding of the Lamb, and sinketh itself down into the Heavenly
Image, viz., into the Substance of the Heavenly Man, who is the
Temple of Christ; and not into the Fire-Breath of the Soul, which is
yet, during this whole Life’s Time, fast bound to the outward
Kingdom, to the Bond of Vanity, with the Breath of the Air, and is
in great Danger.

100. It darteth its Beams of Love indeed very often into the Soul,
whereby the Soul receiveth Light; but the Spirit of Christ yieldeth
not itself up to the Fire-Breath in this Life’s Time, but to the
Breath of Light only which was extinguished in Adam, in which the
Temple of Christ is, for that is the true and holy Heaven.

101. Understand aright now, what the New-Birth or Regeneration is,
and how it cometh to pass, as followeth. The outward earthly mortal
Man is not born anew in this Life’s Time; that is, neither the
outward Flesh, nor the outward Part of the Soul. They continue both
of them in the Vanity of their Wills which awoke in Adam. They love
their Mother, in whose Body they live, viz., the Dominion of this
outward World; and therein the Birth of Sin is manifest.

102. The outward Man in Soul and Flesh, (we mean the outward part of
the Soul) hath no Divine Will, neither doth he understand any Thing
of God, as the Scripture saith, The natural Man perceiveth not the
Things of the Spirit of God. &c.

103. But the Fire-Breath of the inward World, if it be once
enlightened, understandeth it; it hath a great Longing, Sighing,
Hunger, and Thirst after the sweet Fountain of Christ; it refresheth
itself by hungering and desiring, (which is the true Faith in) the
sweet Fountain of Christ from his new Body, from the Heavenly
Substantiality, as a hungry Branch in the Vine Christ.

104. And the Reason why the fiery Soul cannot attain to Perfection
during this Life’s Time, is because it is fast bound with the
outward Bond of Vanity, through which the Devil continually casteth
his venomous Rays of Influence upon it, and so sifteth it, that it
often biteth at his Bait, and poisoneth itself. From whence Misery
and Anguish arise, so that the Noble Sophia hideth herself in the
Fountain of Christ, in the Heavenly Humanity; for she cannot draw
near to Vanity.

105. For she knew how it went with her in Adam, when she lost her
Pearl, which is of Grace freely bestowed again upon the inward
Humanity; therefore she is called Sophia, viz., the Bride of Christ.

106. Here she faithfully calleth to her Bridegroom the fiery Soul,
and exhorteth him to Repentance, and to the unburthening of himself,
or going forth from the Abomination of Vanity.

107. And now War assaulteth the whole Man. The outward fleshly Man
fighteth against the inward spiritual Man, and the spiritual against
the fleshly; and so Man is in continual Warfare and Strife, full of
Trouble, Misery, Anguish, and Care.

108. The inward Spirit saith to the fiery Soul: O my Soul! O my
love! Turn I beseech thee and go forth from Vanity, or else thou
loseth my Love and the noble Pearl.

109. Then saith the outward Reason, viz., the Beastial Soul; Thou
art foolish; wilt thou be a Laughing-stock, and the Scorn of the
World? Thou needest the outward World to maintain this Life. Beauty,
Power, and Glory are thy proper Happiness; wherein only thou canst
rejoice and take Delight. Why wilt thou cast thyself into Anguish,
Misery, and Reproach? Take thy Pleasure, which will do both thy
Flesh and thy Mind good.

110. With such Filth the true Man is often defiled; that is, the
outward Man defileth himself, as a Sow in the Mire, and obscureth
his noble Pearl. For the more vain the outward Man groweth, the more
dark the inward Man cometh to be, until at length it disappeareth
altogether.

111. And then the fair Paradisaical Tree is gone, and it will be
very hard to recover it again. For when the outward Light, viz., the
outward Soul is once enlightened, so that the outward Light of
Reason is kindled by the inward Light; then the outward Soul
commonly useth to turn Hypocrite, and esteem itself Divine, even
though the Pearl be gone; which lamentable Error sticketh hard to
many a Man.

112. And thus it comes to pass that the Tree of Pearl in the Garden
of Christ is often spoiled; concerning which the Scripture maketh a
hard Knot or Conclusion, viz., That those who have once tasted the
Sweetness of the World to come, and fall away from it again, shall
hardly see the Kingdom of God.

113. And though it cannot be denied, but that the Gates of Grace
still stand open, yet the false and dazzling Light of the outward
Reason of the Soul so deceiveth and hindereth such Men, that they
suppose they have the Pearl, while they yet live to the Vanity of
this World, and dance with the Devil after his Pipe.
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How a Man may call himself a Christian, and how not.

HERE therefore a Christian should consider why he calleth himself a
Christian, and examine truly whether he be one or not. For surely my
learning to know and confess that I am a Sinner, and that Christ
hath destroyed my Sins on the Cross, and shed His Blood for me, doth
not make me a Christian.

115. The Inheritance belongeth only to the Children. A Maid-Servant
in a House knoweth well enough what the Mistress would have to be
done, and yet that maketh her not the Heiress of her Mistress’s
Goods. The very Devils know that there is a God, yet that doth not
change them into Angels again. But if the Maid-Servant in the House
shall be married to the Son of her Mistress, then she may come to
inherit her Mistress’s Goods. And so it is to be understood also in
the Matter of being a Christian.

116. The Children of the History are not the Heirs of the Goods of
Christ, but the legitimate Children regenerated by the Spirit of
Christ are the only true Heirs. For God said to Abraham, Cast out
the Son of the Bondwoman, he shall not inherit with the Son of the
Free. For he was a Scorner, and but an Historical Son of the Faith
and Spirit of Abraham; and so long as he continued such a one, he
was not a true Inheritor of the Faith of Abraham, and therefore God
commanded he should be cast out from inheriting his Goods.

117. This was a Type of the future Christendom. For the Promise of
Christendom was made to Abraham: Therefore the Type was then also
set forth by two Brethren, Isaac and Ishmael; foreshewing by them
the diverse State and Manners of Christendom; how that two sorts of
Men would be in it, viz., True Christians and Lip-Christians. Which
latter, under the Title or outward Profession of Christianity, would
be but mockers, as Ishmael was and Esau, who also was a Type of the
outward Adam, as Jacob was a Type of Christ, and His true
Christendom.

118. Thus every one who will call himself a Christian, must cast out
from himself the Son of the Bond-Woman, that is, the earthly Will,
and be evermore killing and destroying it, and not settle it in the
Inheritance.

119. Nor give the Pearl to the Beastial Man, for him to please and
amuse himself with in the outward Light, in the Lust of the Flesh.
But we must, with our Father Abraham bring the Son of the right Will
to Mount Moriah, and be ready in Obedience to God to offer it up,
ever in Will dying from Sin in the Death of Christ, giving no place
to the Beast of Vanity in the Kingdom of Christ, nor letting it grow
wanton, proud, covetous, envious, and malicious. For all these are
the Properties of Ishmael the Son of the Bond-Woman whom Adam begat
in his Vanity on the wanton Whore the false Bond-Woman, by the Devil
s Imagination, out of the earthly Property in Flesh and Blood.

120. This Mocker and titular Christian is the Son of the false
Bond-Woman, and must be cast out; for he shall not possess the
Inheritance of Christ in the Kingdom of God. He is not fit, he is
but Babel, a Confusion of that one Language into many. He is but a
Talker and a Wrangler about the Inheritance; he means to get it to
himself by Talking and Wrangling, by the Hypocrisy of his Lips and
seeming Holiness, although in his Heart he is no better than a
blood-thirsty Murderer of his brother Abel, who is the right Heir.

121. Therefore we say what we know, that he that will call himself a
true Christian must try himself, and find what Kind of Properties
drive and rule him, whether the Spirit of Christ moveth him to Truth
and Righteousness, and to the Love of his Neighbour, so that he
would willingly do what is right if he knew but how.

122. Now if he find that he hath a real Hunger after such Virtue,
then he may justly think that he is drawn. And then he must begin to
practise accordingly, and not be content with a Will only, without
Doing. The drawing of the Father to Christ consisteth in the Will,
but the true Life consisteth in the Doing; for the right Spirit
doeth that which is right.

123. But if there be the Will to do, and yet the Doing followeth
not, then the true Man is still shut up in vain Lust, which
suppresseth the Doing. And therefore such a one is but an Hypocrite
and an Ishmaelite; he speaketh one Thing and doth another, and
witnesseth thereby that his Mouth is a Lyar; for he himself doth not
that which he teacheth, and consequently only serveth the Beastial
Man in Vanity.

124. For he that will say, I have a Will, and would willingly do
Good, but the earthly Flesh which I carry about me, keepeth me back,
so that I cannot; yet I shall be saved by Grace, for the Merits of
Christ. I comfort myself with His Merit and Sufferings; who will
receive me of mere Grace, without any Merits of my own, and forgive
me my Sins. Such a one, I say, is like a Man that knoweth what Food
is good for his Health, yet will not eat of it, but eateth Poison
instead thereof, from whence Sickness and Death, will certainly
follow.

125. For what good doth it to the Soul to know the Way to God, if it
will not walk therein, but go on in a contrary Path? What good will
it do the Soul to comfort itself with the Filiation of Christ, with
His Passion and Death, and so flatter itself with the Hopes of
getting the Patrimony thereby, if it will not enter into the Filial
Birth, that it may be a true Child, born out of the Spirit of
Christ, out of His Suffering, Death and Resurrection? Surely, the
tickling and flattering itself with Christ’s Merits, without the
true innate Childship, is Falsehood and a Lie, whosoever he be that
teacheth it.

126. This Comfort belongeth only to the penitent Sinner, who
striveth against Sin and the Anger of God. When Temptations come,
and the Devil assaulteth such a poor repentant Soul, then it must
wholly wrap itself up in the Merits and Death of Christ, as its sole
Armour of Defence.

127. Christ alone indeed hath merited Redemption for us; but not in
such a Way as that for His own proper Merit s Sake, he will freely
grant us his Childship by an outward Adoption only, and so receive
us for Children, when we are none. No,. he himself is the Merit; he
is the open Gate that leadeth through Death; and through that Gate
we must enter. He receiveth no Beast into his Merit, but those only
that turn, and become as Children. Those Children that thus come to
him are his Reward, which he hath merited.

128. For thus he said, Father, the Men were thine and thou hast
given them to me (as my Reward) and I will give them eternal Life.
But the Life of Christ will be given to none, unless they come to
him in his Spirit, into his Humanity, Sufferings, and Merit, and
therein be born true Children of the Merit.

129. We must be born of his Merit, and put on the Merit of Christ in
his Passion and Death; not outwardly with verbal Flattery only, and
bare comforting of ourselves therewith, while we still remain Aliens
and strange Children, of a strange Essence or Nature. No; the
strange Essence inheriteth not the Childship, but the innate Essence
inheriteth it.

130. This innate Essence is not of this World, but in Heaven, of
which St Paul speaketh saying, Our Conversation is in Heaven. The
filial Essence walketh in Heaven, and Heaven is in Man.

131. But if Heaven in Man be not open, and the Man stand without
Heaven flattering himself, and say, I am still without, but Christ
will take me in through his Grace; is not his Merit mine? Such a one
is in Vanity and Sin with the outward Man, and with the Soul in
Hell, viz., in the Anger of God.

132. Therefore learn to understand rightly what Christ hath taught
us, and done for us. He is our Heaven; he must get a Form in us, or
else we shall not be in Heaven. Thus then the Soul’s inward Man,
with the holy Body of Christ, viz., in the New Birth, is in Heaven,
and the outward mortal Man is in the World, of which Christ spake
saying, My Sheep are in my Hand, and none shall pluck them away; the
Father which gave them to me is greater than all.
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Of the right and of the wrong going to Church, receiving the Sacraments, and
Absolution.

Of the right and of the wrong going to Church, receiving the
Sacraments, and Absolution.

BELOVED Brethren, we will teach you faithfully, not with flattering
Lips to please the Antichrist, but from our Pearl, the Virtue,
Power, and Spirit of Christ in us, from a Christian Essence and
Knowledge; not from the Husk and History, but from a New-born
Spirit, from Christ’s Knowledge, as a Branch growing on the Vine
Christ; from the Measure of that Knowledge which is opened in us,
according to the Will and Counsel of God.

134. Men tie us in these Days to the History, and to the material
Churches of Stone; which Churches are indeed good in their Kind, if
Men did also bring the Temple of Christ into them. They teach
moreover, that their Absolution is a Forgiving of Sins, and that the
Supper of the Lord taketh away Sin: Also that the Spirit of God
cometh into Men through their Ministry. All which hath a proper
Meaning, if it was rightly understood; and if Men did not cleave
merely to the Husk.

135. Many a Man goeth to Church twenty or thirty Years, heareth
Sermons, receiveth the Sacraments, and heareth Absolution read or
declared, and yet is as much a Beast of the Devil and Vanity at the
last as at the first. A Beast goeth into the Church, and to the
Supper, and a Beast cometh out from thence again.

136. How will he eat that hath no Mouth? Can any Man eat that Food
which is so shut up that he cannot get it? How will he drink that
can come at no Water? Or how will he hear that hath no Hearing?

137. What good End doth it answer, for me to go to the material
Churches of Stone, and there fill my Ears with empty Breath? or to
go to the Supper, and feed nothing but the earthly Mouth, which is
mortal and corruptible? Cannot I feed and satisfy that with a Piece
of Bread at Home? What good doth it to the Soul, which is an
immortal Life, to have the Beastial Man observe the Form, and
venerate the Shell of Christ s Institution, if it cannot obtain the
Kernel thereof? For St Paul saith of the Supper, – You receive it to
Condemnation, because ye discern not the Lord’s Body.

138. The Covenant stands firm, and is stirred in the Use of the
Institution. Christ proffereth his Spirit to us in His Word (viz.,
in his preached Word) and His Body and Blood in the Sacrament, and
His Absolution in a brotherly Reconciliation one to another.

139. But what good doth it in a Beast to stand and listen, who hath
no Hearing to receive the inward living Word, nor any Ground wherein
to lay the Word, that it may bring forth Fruit? Of such Christ
saith, The Devil plucketh the Word out of their Hearts, lest they
should believe and be saved. But how can he do so? Because the Word
findeth no Place in the hearing Mind to take Root in.

140. And thus it is with Absolution also: What Benefit is it to me
for one to say, I pronounce or declare to thee the Forgiveness of
thy Sins, when my Soul is wholly shut up in Sin? Whosoever saith
thus to a Sinner so shut up, erreth; and he that receiveth it
without the Voice of God within himself confirming the same,
deceiveth himself. None can forgive Sins but God only.

141. The Preacher hath not Forgiveness of Sins in his own Power; but
it is the Spirit of Christ in the Voice of the Priest that hath the
Power, provided the Priest himself is a Christian.

142. What good did it to those that heard Christ himself teaching on
Earth, when he said, Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy
laden, and I will give you Rest ? What good did this blessed Promise
to those that heard it, if they laboured not, nor were heavy laden?
What became of the Refreshment or Rest then? Seeing they had dead
Ears, and heard only the outward Christ, and not the Word of the
Divine Power; certainly they were not refreshed. Just so much good
the Beastial Man hath of his Absolution and Sacraments.

143. The Covenant is open in the Sacraments; and in the Office or
Ministry of teaching also the Covenant is stirred; the Soul doth
receive it, but in that Property only of which the Mouth of the Soul
is.

144. That is, the outward Beast receiveth Bread and Wine, which it
may have as well at Home. And the fiery Soul receiveth the Testament
according to its Property, viz., in the Anger of God it receiveth
the Substance of the eternal World, but according to the Property of
the dark World; it receiveth therefore, as the Scripture saith, to
its own Judgement or Condemnation. For as the Mouth is, so is the
Food which is taken in by the Mouth. And after this Manner also it
is that the Wicked shall behold Christ at the last Judgement as a
severe Judge; but the Saints shall behold him as a loving Immanuel.

145. God s Anger standeth open in his Testaments towards the Wicked;
but towards the Saints the heavenly loving Kindness, and in it the
Power of Christ in the holy Name JESUS, standeth open. What good
then doth the holy Thing do to the Wicked, who cannot enjoy it? Or
what is there, that can take away his Sins, when his Sin is only
stirred and made manifest thereby?

146. The Sacraments do not take away Sin; neither are Sins forgiven
thereby. But it is thus: When Christ ariseth, then Adam dyeth in the
Essence of the Serpent; as when the Sun riseth, the Night is
swallowed up in the Day, and the Night is no more: Just so are Sins
forgiven.

147. The Spirit of Christ eateth of his Holy Substance, the inward
Man is the Receiver of the Holy Substance; he receiveth what the
Spirit of Christ bringeth into him viz., the Temple of God, Christ s
Flesh and Blood. But what doth this concern a Beast? Or what doth it
concern the Devils? Or the Soul that is in the Anger of God? These
eat of the Heavenly Blood, that is in the Heaven wherein they dwell,
which is the Abyss, or bottomless Pit.

148. And thus it is also in the Office or Ministry of Preaching: The
ungodly Man heareth what the outward Soul of the outward World
preacheth; that he receiveth, viz., the History; and if there be
Straw or Stubble in that which is taught, he sucketh the Vanity out
of that. Yea, if the Preaching be mere Calumny, Railing, and
uncharitable Abuse, as is sometimes the Case, then his Soul sucketh
the venomous Poison, and the murdering Cruelty of the Devil from it,
wherewith it tickleth itself, and is pleased with learning how to
judge and condemn others.

149. Thus if the Preacher be one that is dead, and hath no true Life
in him, but soweth only Venom and Reproach proceeding out of his
evil Affections, then it is the Devil that teacheth, and the Devil
that heareth. Such teaching is received into a wicked heart, and
bringeth forth wicked Fruits. By which Means the World is become a
mere Den of murdering Devils. So that if you look among the Herd of
such Teachers and Hearers, there is little to be found but
Revilings, Slanderings, and Reproachings; together with Contention
about Words, and Wrangling about the Husk.

150. But the Holy Ghost teacheth in the holy Teachers, and the
Spirit of Christ heareth through the Soul, which is the Divine House
of the Divine Sound or Voice in the holy Hearer.

151. The holy Man hath his Church in himself, wherein he heareth and
teacheth. But Babel hath a Heap of Stones, into which she goeth with
her seeming Holiness and real Hypocrisy. There she loved to be seen
in fine Clothes, and maketh a very devout and godly Shew; the Church
of Stone is her God, in which she putteth her Confidence.

152. But the holy Man hath his Church about him every where, even in
himself; for he always standeth and walketh, sitteth and lyeth down
in his Church. He liveth in the true Christian Church; yea, in the
Temple of Christ. The Holy Ghost preacheth to him out of every
Creature. Whatsoever he looketh upon, he seeth a Preacher of God
therein.

153. Here now the Scoffer will say that I despise the Church Of
Stone, where the Congregation meeteth; but I say that I do not. For
I do but discover the hypocritical Whore of Babylon, which
committeth Whoredom with the Church of Stone, and termeth herself a
Christian, but is indeed a Strumpet.

154. A true Christian brings his holy Church with him into the
Congregation. For the Heart is the true Church, where a Man must
practise the Service of God. If I should go a thousand Times to
Church, and to the Sacrament every Week, and hear Absolution
declared to me every Day, and have not Christ in me, all would be
false, an unprofitable Fiction and graven Image in Babel, and no
forgiving of Sins.

155. A holy Man doth holy Works from the holy Strength of his Mind.
The Work is not the Atonement of Reconciliation, but it is the
Building which the true Spirit buildeth in his Substance; it is his
Habitation. But the Fiction and Fancy is the Habitation of the false
Christian, into which his Soul entereth with Dissimulation. The
outward Hearing reacheth but to the outward, and worketh in the
outward only; but the inward Hearing goeth into the inward, and
worketh in the inward.

156. Dissemble, roar, cry, sing, preach, and teach as much as thou
wilt; yet if thine inward Teacher and Hearer be not open, all is
nothing but a Babel a Fiction, and a graven Image, whereby the
Spirit of the outward World doth model and make to itself a graven
Image in Resemblance of the inward; and maketh a Holy Shew
therewith, as if he performed some divine or holy Service to God;
whereas many Times in such Service and Worship, the Devil worketh
mightily in the Imagination, and very much tickleth the Heart with
those Things wherein the Flesh delighteth. Which indeed not seldom
happeneth to the Children of God, as to their outward Man, if they
do not take great Heed to themselves; so busily doth the Devil beset
and sift them.
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Of unfprofitable Opinions, and Strife about the Letter.

Of unfprofitable Opinions, and Strife about the Letter.

A true Christian, who is born a-new of the Spirit of Christ, is in
the Simplicity of Christ, and hath no Strife or Contention with any
Man about Religion. He hath Strife enough in himself, with his own
Beastial evil Flesh and Blood. He continually thinketh himself a
great Sinner, and is afraid of God: But the Love of Christ by
degrees pierceth through, and expelleth that Fear, as the Day
swalloweth up the Night.

159. But the Sins of the impenitent Man rest in the Sleep of Death,
bud forth in the Pit, and produce their Fruit in Hell.

160. The Christiandom that is in Babel, striving about the Manner
how Men ought to serve God, and glorify him; also how they are to
know him, and what he is in his Essence and Will. And they preach
positively, that whosoever is not one and the same with them in
every Particular of Knowledge and Opinion, is no Christian, but a
Heretick.

161. Now I would fain see how all their Sects can be brought to
agree in that one which might be called a true Christian Church;
when all of them are Scorners, every Party of them reviling the
rest, and proclaiming them to be false.

162. But a Christian is of no Sect: He can dwell in the midst of
Sects, and appear in their Services, without being attached or bound
to any. He hath but one Knowledge, and that is, Christ in him. He
seeketh but one Way, which is the Desire always to do and teach that
which is right; and he putteth all his knowing and willing into the
Life of Christ.

163. He sigheth and wisheth continually that the Will of God might
be done in him, and that his Kingdom might be manifested in him. He
daily and hourly killeth Sin in the Flesh; for the Seed of the
Woman,viz., the inward Man in Christ, continually breaketh the Head
of the Serpent, that is, the Power of the Devil, which is in Vanity.

164. His Faith is a Desire after God and Goodness; which he wrappeth
up in a sure Hope, trusting to the Words of the Promise, and liveth
and dieth therein; though as to the true Man, he never dieth.

165. For Christ saith, Whosoever believeth in me, shall never die,
but hath pierced through from Death to Life; and Rivers of living
Water shall flow from him, viz., good Doctrine and Works.

166. Therefore I say, that whatsoever fighteth and contendeth about
the Letter, is all Babel. The Letters of the Word proceed from, and
stand all in, one Root, which is the Spirit of God; as the various
Flowers stand all in the Earth and grow about one another. They
fight not with each other about their Difference of Colour, Smell,
and Taste, but suffer the Earth, the Sun, the Rain, the Wind, the
Heat and Cold, to do with them as they please; and yet every one of
them groweth in its own peculiar Essence and Property.

167. Even so it is with the Children of God; they have various Gifts
and Degrees of Knowledge, yet all from one Spirit. They all rejoice
at the great Wonders of God, and give Thanks to the most High in His
Wisdom. Why then should they contend about him in whom they live and
have their Being, and of whose Substance they themselves are?

168. It is the greatest Folly that is in Babel for People to strive
about Religion, as the Devil hath made the World to do; so that they
contend vehemently about Opinions of their own forging, viz., about
the Letter; when the Kingdom of God consisteth in no Opinion, but in
Power and Love.

169. As Christ said to his Disciples, and left it with them at the
last, saying, Love one another, as I have loved you; for thereby Men
shall know, that ye are my Disciples. If Men would as fervently seek
after Love and Righteousness as they do after Opinions, there would
be no Strife on Earth, and we should be as Children of One Father,
and should need no Law, or Ordinance.

170. For God is not served by any Law, but only by Obedience. Laws
are for the Wicked, who will not embrace Love and Righteousness;
they are, and must be, compelled and forced by Laws.

171. We all have but one only Order, Law, or Ordinance, which is to
stand still to the Lord of all Beings, and resign our Wills up to
him, and suffer His Spirit to play what Musick he will. And thus we
give to him again as His own Fruits, that which he worketh and
manifesteth in us.

172. Now if we did not contend about our different Fruits, Gifts,
Kinds and Degrees of Knowledge, but did acknowledge them in one
another, like Children of the Spirit of God, what could condemn us?
For the Kingdom of God consisteth, not in our knowing and supposing,
but in Power.

173. If we did not know half so much, and were more like Children,
and had but a brotherly Mind and good Will, towards one another, and
lived like Children of one Mother, and as Branches of one Tree,
taking our Sap all from one Root, we should be far more holy than we
are.

174. Knowledge serves only to this End, viz., to know that we have
lost the Divine Power, in Adam, and are become now inclined to Sin;
that we have evil Properties in us, and that doing Evil pleaseth not
God; so that with our knowledge we might learn to do right. Now if
we have the Power of God in us, and desire with all our Hearts to
act and to live aright, then our Knowledge is but our Sport, or
Matter of Pleasure, wherein we rejoice.

175. For true Knowledge is the Manifestation of the Spirit of God
through the Eternal Wisdom. He knoweth what He will in His Children;
He showeth his Wisdom and Wonders by his Children, as the Earth
putteth forth its various Flowers.

176. Now if we dwell one with another, like humble Children, in the
Spirit of Christ, one rejoicing at the Gift and Knowledge of
another, who would judge or condemn us? Who judgeth or condemneth
the Birds in the Woods, that praise the Lord of all Beings with
various Voices, every one in its own Essence? Doth the Spirit of God
reprove them for not bringing their Voices into one Harmony? Doth
not the Melody of them all proceed from His power, and do they not
sport before Him.

177. Those Men therefore that strive and wrangle about the Knowledge
and Will of God, and despise one another on that Account, are more
foolish than the Birds in the Woods, and the wild Beasts that have
no true Understanding. They are more unprofitable in the Sight of
the holy God than the Flowers of the Field, which stand still in
quiet Submission to the Spirit of God, and suffer him to manifest
the Divine Wisdom and Power through them. Yea, such Men are worse
than Thistles and Thorns that grow among fair Flowers, for they at
least stand still and are quiet, whereas those Wranglers are like
the ravenous Beasts and Birds of Prey, which fright the other Birds
from singing and praising God.

178. In short; they are the Issue, Branches or Sprouts of the Devil
in the Anger of God, who, notwithstanding must by their very
tormenting be made to serve the Lord; for by their plaguing and
persecuting, they press out the Sap through the Essence in the
Children of God, so that they move and stir themselves in the Spirit
of God, with praying and continual sighing, in which Exercise of
their Powers the Spirit of God moveth himself in them.

179. For thereby the Desire is exerted, and so the Children of God
grow green, flourish, and bring forth Fruit; for the Children of God
are manifested in Tribulation; as the Scripture saith, When thou
chastiseth them, they cry fervently to thee.
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Wherein Christian Religion consisteth; and how Men should serve God and their
Brethren.

Wherein Christian Religion consisteth; and how Men should serve God
and their Brethren.

ALL Christian Religion wholly consisteth in this, to learn to know
ourselves; whence we are come, and what we are; how we are gone
forth from the Unity into Dissension, Wickedness, and
Unrighteousness; how we have awakened and stirred up these Evils in
us; and how we may be delivered from them again, and recover our
original Blessedness.

181. First, how we were in the Unity, when we were the Children of
God in Adam before he fell. Secondly, how we are now in Dissension
and Disunion, in Strife and Contrariety. Thirdly, Whither we go when
we pass out of this corruptible Condition; whither with the
immortal, and whither with the mortal Part.

182. And Lastly, how we may come forth from Dis-union and Vanity,
and enter again into that one Tree, Christ in us, out of which we
all sprung in Adam. In these four Points all the necessary Knowledge
of a Christian consisteth.

183.So that we need not strive about any Thing; we have no Cause of
Contention with each other. Let every one only exercise himself in
learning ahow he may enter again into the Love of God and his
Brother.

184. The Testaments of Christ are nothing else but a loving Bond or
brotherly Covenant, wherewith God in Christ bindeth himself to us
and us to him. All teaching, willing, living, and doing, must imply,
aim at, and refer to that. All teaching and doing otherwise,
whatsoever it be, is Babel and a Fiction; a mere graven Image of
Pride in unprofitable Judgings, a disturbing of the World, and an
Hypocrisy of the Devil, wherewith he blindeth Simplicity.

185. Every Preacher void of the Spirit of God, who without Divine
Knowledge, setteth himself up for a Teacher of Divine Things,
pretending to serve God thereby, is false, and doth but serve the
Belly, his Idol, and his own proud insolent Mind, in desiring to be
honoured on that Account, and esteemed Holy, or a Divine in Holy
Orders. He beareth an Office, to which he is set apart and chosen by
the Children of Men, who do but flatter him, and for Favour have
ordained him thereunto.

186. Christ said, Whosoever entereth not by the Door, that is,
through his Spirit, into the Sheepfold, but climbeth up some other
Way, the same is a Thief and a Murderer, and the Sheep follow him
not, for they know not his Voice.

187. He hath not the Voice of the Spirit of God, but the Voice of
his own Art and Learning only; the Man teacheth, and not the Spirit
of God. But Christ saith, Every Plant which my Heavenly Father hath
not planted, shall be plucked up by the Roots.

188. How then will he that is ungodly plant Heavenly Plants, when he
hath no Seed alive in its Power in himself? Christ saith expressly,
The Sheep hear not his Voice, they follow him not.

189. The written Word is but an Instrument whereby the Spirit
leadeth us to itself within us. That Word which will teach, must be
living in the literal Word. The Spirit of God must be in the literal
Sound, or else none is a Teacher of God, but a mere Teacher of the
Letter, a Knower of the History, and not of the Spirit of God in
Christ.

190. All that Men will serve God with, must be done in Faith, viz.,
in the Spirit. It is the Spirit that maketh the Work perfect, and
acceptable in the Sight of God. All that a Man undertaketh and doeth
in Faith, he doth in the Spirit of God, which Spirit of God doth
cooperate in the Work, and then it is acceptable to God. For he hath
done it himself, and his Power and Virtue is in it: It is holy.

191. But whatsoever is done in Self, without Faith, is but a Figure
and Shell, or Husk of a true Christian Work.

192. If thou servest thy brother, and doest it but in Hypocrisy, and
givest him unwillingly, then thou servest not God. For thy Faith
proceedeth not from Love, nor entereth into Hope, in thy Gift.
Indeed thou servest thy Brother, and he for his Part thanketh God
and blesseth thee, but thou blessest not him. For thou givest him
thy Gift with a grudging Spirit, which entereth not into the Spirit
of God, into the Hope of Faith; therefore thy Gift is but half
given, and thou hast but half thy Reward for it.

193. The same is true of receiving a Gift. If any giveth in Faith,
in Divine Hope, he blesseth his Gift by his Faith: But whoso
receiveth it unthankfully, and murmureth in his Spirit, he curseth
it in the Use or Enjoyment of it. Thus it is, that every one shall
have his own; Whatsoever he soweth, that shall he also reap.

194. So likewise it is in the Office of teaching; whatsoever a Man
soweth, that also he reapeth. For if any Man sow good Seed from the
Spirit of Christ, it sticketh in the good Heart, and bringeth forth
good Fruit; but in the Wicked, who are not capable of receiving the
good Seed, the Anger of God is stirred.

195. If any sow Contentions, Reproaches, and Misconstructions, all
ungodly People receive that unto them; which sticketh in them also,
and bringeth forth Fruit accordingly. So that they learn thereby to
despise, revile, slander, and misrepresent one another. Out of which
Root the great Babel is sprung and grown; wherein Men, from mere
Pride and Strife, contend about the History, and the Justification
of a poor Sinner in the Sight of God; thereby causing the simple to
err and blaspheme, insomuch that one Brother revileth and curseth
the other, and excommunicateth, or casteth him to the Devil, for the
Sake of the History and Letter.

196. Such Railers and Revilers fear not God, but raise the great
Building of Dissension. And seeing corrupt Lust lieth in all Men, in
the earthly Flesh still, therefore they raise and awaken
Abominations even in the simple Children of God, and make the People
of God, as well as the Children of Iniquity, to blaspheme. And thus
they become Master-Builders of the great Babel of the World, and are
as useful in the Church, as a fifth Wheel in a Waggon; yea, what is
worse than that, they erect the hellish Building too.

197. Therefore it is highly necessary for the Children of God to
pray earnestly, that they may learn to know this false Building, and
go forth from it with their Minds, and not help to build it up, and
persecute their Fellow-Children of God. For by that Means they keep
themselves back from the Heavenly Kingdom, and turn aside from the
right Way.

198. According to the saying of Christ to the Pharisees, Woe unto
you Pharisees; for you compass Sea and Land to make one Proselyte,
and when he is one, you make him two-fold more the Child of Hell
than yourselves. Which is truly too much the Case with the modern
Factions and Sects among these Cryers and Teachers of Strife.

199. I desire therefore, out of my Gifts, which are revealed to me
from God, that all the Children of God, who desire to be the true
Members of Christ, be faithfully warned to depart from such
abominable Contentions and bloody Firebrands, and to go forth from
all Strife with their Brethren, and strive only after Love and
Righteousness towards all Men.

200. For he that is a good Tree must bring forth good Fruits, and
must sometimes suffer Swine to devour his Fruits, and yet must
continue a good Tree still, and be always willing to work with God,
and not suffer any Evil to overcome him. And then he standeth and
groweth in the Field of God, and bringeth forth Fruit to be set upon
God s Table, which he shall enjoy forever. Amen, All that hath
Breath, praise the Name of the Lord. Hallelujah.
__________________________________________________________________

by Jacob Behmen (Jakob Boehme) 1575-1624,

The Teutonic Theosopher

SHOWING

How Man must DAILY die to his OWN Will in SELF; how he must bring his Desire
into God, and what he should ask and desire of God.

LIKEWISE

How he must spring up out of the dying sinful Man, with a new Mind and Will
through the Spirit of Christ.

ALSO

What the Old and New Man are, and what each of them is in Life, Will and
Practice.

Composed by a Soul that loveth all

who are Children of JESUS CHRIST, under the Cross.

Brought forth in the 1600 s by a humble shoemaker; translated into
English over 100 years later; suppressed and hidden away until recently
in theological archives around the world… a worthy personal study not
just for academics but for all those who are spiritually grounded in
the WORD, who are learning to hear the Lord, and who hunger for more.

These writings from out of the Past are in the Public Domain and may be
freely shared, photocopied, reproduced, faxed or transmitted in any way
by any means.

Christ saith, If any Man will come after Me, let him DENY HIMSELF, and
take up his Cross daily, and follow Me.Matthew 16,24 ;Mark 8,34 ;Luke
9,23.

Peter saith to Christ, Behold, we have forsaken All, and followed
Thee.Matthew 19,27 ;Mark 10,28 ;Luke 18,28.
__________________________________________________________________

We have a clear Example in Lucifer, and also in Adam the first Man,
of what SELF doeth, when it getteth the Light of Nature to be its
OWN, and when it can walk with the Understanding in its OWN
Dominion. We see also in Men learned in Arts and Sciences, that when
they get the Light of this outward World or Nature into the
Possession of their Reason, nothing cometh of it but Pride of
themSELVES. And yet all the World so vehemently desireth and seeketh
after this Light as the best Treasure; and indeed it is the best
Treasure this World affordeth, if it be rightly used.

2. But while SELF, viz. Reason, is captivated and fast bound in a
close and strong Prison, that is to say, in the Anger of God, and in
Earthliness, it is very dangerous for a Man to make Use of the Light
of Knowledge in SELF, as if it were in the Possession of SELF.

3. For the Wrath of the Eternal and Temporary Nature will soon take
Pleasure in it, and then SELF and a Man’s own Reason, will rise up
in Pride, and depart from the true resigned Humility towards God,
and will no longer eat of the Fruit of Paradise, but instead eat of
the Property of SELF, viz. of that Dominion of Life, wherein Good
and Evil are mixed as Lucifer and Adam did. Who both entered with
the Desire of SELF back again into the Original, out of which the
Creatures were brought forth and entered into the Condition of the
Creatures; Lucifer into the Center and wrathful Nature, into the
Matrix or Womb which bringeth forth Fire, and Adam into the earthly
Nature, into the Matrix of the outward World, viz. into the Lust
after Good and Evil.

4. This happened to them both, because they had the Light of
Understanding shining in SELF, in which they could behold
themselves, whereby the Spirit of SELF went into the Imagination,
(viz. into a Desire to get to the Center,) that they might exalt
themselves in Might, Power, and Knowledge. Now when Lucifer sought
after the Mother of Fire in his Center, and thought to reign
therewith over the Love of God and all the Angels, and when Adam
also desired to try in the Essence what the Mother or Root was from
whence Evil and Good did spring, and purposely brought his Desire
thereinto, in order to thereby become knowing and full of
Understanding thereby: Both Lucifer and Adam were captivated in
their evil or false Desire in the Mother, and broke off themselves
from Resignation which proceeds from God, and so were caught by the
Spirit of the Will, by the Desire in the Mother. Which Desire
immediately got the Dominion in Nature; and so Lucifer stuck fast in
the wrathful Source of Fire, and that Fire became manifest in the
Spirit of his Will, whereby the Creature in its Desire became an
Enemy to the Love and Meekness of God.

5. Adam in like Manner, was immediately caught by the earthly
Mother, which is Evil and Good, created out of the Anger and Love of
God, and compacted into one Substance. Whereupon the earthly
Property instantly got the Dominion in Adam, and from thence Heat
and Cold, Envy and Anger, and all Malice and Contrariety to God
became manifest, and bore Rule in him.

6. But if they had not brought the Light of Knowledge into SELF,
then the Glass of the Knowledge of the Center and of the Original of
the Creature, viz. of the Power which it had in itself would not
have been manifested, from whence the Imagination and Lust did
arise.

7. As also we often see at this Day how the same Error bringeth
Danger upon the enlightened Children of God; in whom when the Sun of
the great Presence of God’s Holiness shineth, by which the Life
passeth into Triumph, and then Reason beholds itself therein as in a
Glass, and the Will goeth on in SELF, in its OWN searching, and will
try what the Center is out of which the Light shineth, and will of
its OWN Motion and Strength force itSELF into it, how that from
thence arise abominable Pride and SELF-Love; so that its (the
Creature’s) own Reason, which is but a Mirror or Glass of the
Eternal Wisdom, supposeth itSELF to be greater than it is; and then
whatsoever it doeth, it thinketh God’s Will doeth in and by it, and
that he is a Prophet; though it is moved only by itSELF, and goeth
on in its OWN Desire, in which the Center of Nature presently riseth
up, and entereth into that false Desire of SELF against God, and so
the Will entereth into SELF-Conceit and Exaltation.

8. Then the subtle Devil insinuateth himself into the Creature, and
sifteth the Center of Nature, and bringeth evil or false Desires
into it, so that a Man becometh as it were drunken in SELF, and
still persuades himself that he is driven by God, by which Means the
good Beginning, wherein the Divine Light shone in Nature, cometh to
be spoiled, and so the Light of God departeth from him.

9. Yet the outward Light of the outward Nature still remaineith
shining in the Creature; for its own SELF throweth itself thereinto,
and supposeth that it is still the first Light of God; but it is not
so. And into this SELF-Exaltation in the Light of its outward
Reason, the Devil throweth himself again, (though in the first
Light, which was Divine, he had been forced to depart) now returning
with the seven-fold Desire, of which Christ spake, saying, When the
unclean Spirit departeth out of a Man, he wandereth through dry
Places seeking Rest, and findeth none; and then he taketh to himself
seven Spirits worse than himself, and returneth to his first House;
and finding it swept and garnished, he dwelleth therein, and so it
is worse with that Man than it was before.

10. This House, that is thus swept and garnished, is the Light of
Reason in SELF. For if a Man bringeth his Desire and Will into God,
and then goeth on in Abstinence from this wicked Life, and heartily
desireth the Love of God, then that Love will indeed manifest itself
to him with its most friendly and cheerful Countenance, by which the
outward Light also is kindled. For where the Light of God is
kindled, there all will be Light; the Devil cannot stay there, but
must depart thence; and then he searcheth through the Mother of the
Original of Life, viz. the Center, but finds that it is become a dry
feeble Place. For the Anger of God, viz, the Center of Nature, is in
its own Property altogether feeble, barren and dry and cannot get
the Dominion in its own wrathful Principle. Satan continually
searcheth through these Places to find an open Gate to enter with
his Desire, and so to sift the Soul that it might come to exalt its
SELF.

11. And now if the Spirit of the Will of the Creature throweth
itself with the Light of Reason back into the Center, viz. into
SELF, and entereth into SELF-Exaltation, then it goeth forth again
from the Light of God, and presently the Devil findeth an open Gate
for him to enter in at, and a garnished House to dwell in, viz. the
Light of Reason. Then he taketh to himself the seven Forms of the
Property of Life in SELF, viz. the Flatterers which are departed
from God into SELF; and there he entereth and putteth his Desire
into the Lust of SELF and evil Imaginations, wherein the Spirit of
the Will beholdeth itself in the Forms of the Properties of Life in
the outward Light, and then the Man sinketh into himself as if he
were drunk, and the Stars lay hold on him, and bring their strong
Influences into him, (into outward Reason) that he might seek the
Wonders of God there, that so they may manifest themselves therein.
For all Creatures groan and long after God. And though the Stars
cannot apprehend the Spirit of God, yet they would rather have a
House of Light wherein they may rejoice, than a House shut up,
wherein they can have no Rest.

12. Thus such a Man goeth on as if he were drunk, in the Light of
the outward Reason, which is called the Stars, and apprehendeth
great and wonderful Things, and hath a continual Guide, therein. And
then the Devil presently watcheth to see if any Gate standeth open
for him, through which he may kindle the Centre of Life, that so the
Spirit of the Will may mount aloft in Pride, Self-Conceit, or
Covetousness; (from whence Self-Arrogancy ariseth, the Will of
Reason desiring to be honored;) for it supposeth it hath attained
the Sum of all Happiness, when it hath gotten the Light of Reason,
and can judge the House of hidden Mysteries that is shut up; which
nevertheless God can easily unlock. The deluded Man thereupon
supposeth that now he hath reached the Mark, and that Honour is due
to him, because he hath gotten the Understanding of Reason, and
never considereth that the Devil maketh himself merry with his
Desire in his seven Forms of Life of the Center of Nature, nor what
abominable Error he setteth up.

13. From this Understanding of Reason false Babel is brought forth
in the Christian Church on Earth, wherein Men rule and teach by the
Conclusions of Reason, and have set the Child which is drunk in its
own Pride and SELF-Desire, as a fair Virgin upon the Throne.

14. But the Devil is entered into its seven Forms of Life of the
Center, viz. into its own SELF-conceited Reason, and continually
bringeth his Desire into this trimmed and decorated Virgin, which
the Stars receive. He is her Beast on which she rideth, well adorned
with her own Powers of Life, as may be seen in the Revelation of St.
John. Thus hath this Child of SELF taken into its Possession the
outward Glance of Divine Holiness, viz. the Light of Reason, and
supposeth itSELF to be the fair Child in the House, though the Devil
hath his Lodging within it all the while.

15. And thus it is with all those who have been once enlightened by
God, and afterwards go forth again from true Resignation, and wean
themselves from the pure Milk of their Mother, viz. true Humility.
__________________________________________________________________

Here Reason will object and say, Is it not right for a Man to attain
the Light of God, and also the Light of the outward Nature and
Reason, that he may be able to order his Life wisely, as the
Scripture directeth?

2. Yes, it is very right; nothing can be more profitable to a Man,
neither is he capable of any Thing better; nay, it is a Treasure
above all Earthly Treasures for a Man to have the Light of God and
of Time, for it is the Eye of Time and of Eternity.

3. But mark how thou oughtest to use it; when the Light of God first
manifesteth itself in the Soul, it shineth forth as Light from a
Candle, and kindleth the outward Light of Reason immediately; yet it
yieldeth not itself wholly up to Reason, so as to be under the
Dominion of the outward Man. No, the outward Man beholdeth himself
in this through-shining Lustre, as he doth his Likeness in a
Looking-Glass, whereby he presently learneth to know himself, which
is good and profitable to him.

4. Now, when he doth so, Reason, which is the creaturely SELF,
cannot do better than to behold itself in the SELF of the Creature,
and not enter with the Will of the Desire into the Center in seeking
itself. If it doth, it breaketh itself off from the Substance of
God, (which riseth together with the Light of God, of which the Soul
ought to eat, and refresh itself therewith,) and eateth of the
outward Substance and Light, and thereby draweth the Venom into
itself again.

5. The Will of the Creature ought to sink wholly into itself with
all its Reason and Desire, accounting itself an unworthy Child that
is no whit worthy of this so high a Grace; nor should it arrogate
any Knowledge or Understanding to itself, or desire of God to have
any Understanding in its creaturely SELF; but sincerely and simply
sink down into the Grace and Love of God in Christ Jesus, and desire
to be as it were dead to itSELF and its own Reason, in the Divine
Life, and wholly resign itself to the Spirit of God in Love, that He
may do how and what He will with it as with His own Instrument.

6. Its own Reason ought not enter upon any Speculation as to the
Ground of Divine or human Matters; nor to will and desire any Thing
but the Grace of God in Christ. And as a Child continually longeth
after the Breasts of the Mother, so must its Hunger be continually
entering into the Love of God, and not suffer itself to be broken
off from that Hunger by any Means. When the outward Reason or SELF
riseth up and triumpheth in the Light, saying, I have the true
Child, then the Will of the Desire must bow itSELF down to the
Earth, and bring itself into the deepest Humility and most simple
Ignorance, and say, Thou art foolish, and hast nothing but the Grace
of God. Thou must wrap thySELF up in that Belief with great
Humility, and become nothing at all in thySELF, and neither know nor
love thy SELF. All that thou hast, or is in thee, must esteem itSELF
as nothing but a mere Instrument of God; and thou must bring thy
Desire only into God’s Mercy, and go forth from all thy OWN Knowing
and Willing; and esteem it as nothing at all, nor ever entertain any
Will to enter into it again.

7. As soon as this is done the natural Will becometh weak and faint,
and then the Devil is not able to sift it thus any more with his
evil Desire, for the Places of his Rest become very powerless,
barren and dry; and then the Holy Spirit proceeding from God, taketh
Possession of the Forms of Life, and maketh His Dominion to prevail.
He kindleth the Forms of Life with His Flames of Love, and then the
high Knowledge of the Center of all Things ariseth, according to the
inward and outward Constellation or Complexion of the Creature, in a
very subtle drying Fire, attended with great Delight. Whereupon the
humbled Soul presently desires to sink down into that Light, and
esteems itself to be nothing and quite unworthy of It.

8. And thus its own Desire pierceth into that nothing, viz.(into
that wherein God createth) and doth what God wills therein, and the
Spirit of God springeth forth through the Desire of the resigned
Humility, and so the human Self immediately followeth the Spirit of
God in Trembling and humble Joy; and thus it may behold what is in
Time and Eternity, for All is present before it.

9. When the Spirit of God riseth up as a Fire and Flame of Love,
then the Sprit of the Soul descendeth, and saith, Lord, Glory be to
Thy Name, not to me; Thou art able to take to Thyself Virtue, Power,
Strength, Wisdom, and Knowledge; do as Thou wilt; I can do nothing;
I know nothing; I will go no whither but whither Thou leadest me as
Thy Instrument; do Thou in me and with me what Thou wilt.

10. In such a humble and total Resignation the Spark of Divine Power
falleth into the Center of the Forms of Life, as a Spark into
Tinder, and kindleth it, viz. the Fire of the Soul, which Adam had
made to be a dark Coal in himself, so that it glimmereth. And when
the Light of Divine Power hath kindled itself therein, the Creature
must go on as an Instrument of God’s Spirit, and speak what the
Spirit of God dictateth to it; and then it is no more in its own
proper Possession, but is the Instrument of God.

11. But the Will of the Soul must without ceasing, in this fiery
driving, sink into nothing, viz. into the deepest Humility in the
Sight of God. For no sooner doth the Will of the Soul in the least
Measure go on in its OWN Speculation or Searching, but Lucifer
layeth hold of it in the Center of the Forms of Life, and sifteth it
so that it entereth into SELF. It must therefore continue close to
resigned Humility, as a Well doth to its Spring, and must suck and
drink of God’s Fountain, and not depart from the Ways of God at all.

12. For as soon as the Soul eateth of SELF, and of the Light of
outward Reason, it goeth on in its OWN Opinion; and then its Doings,
which it sets forth for Divine, are but from the outward
Constellation, or Influence of the Stars, which presently layeth
hold on the Soul, and maketh it dry. And then the Soul goeth on in
Errors, till it yield itSELF up again into Resignation, and
acknowledging itSELF anew to be a defiled Child, resisteth Reason
and so getteth the Love of God again. Which is harder to do in that
Case than it was at first; for the Devil bringeth in strong Doubts
now, and will not easily leave his Fort of Prey.

13. This may be seen clearly in the Saints of God from the Beginning
of the World. For many who have been driven by the Spirit of God,
have yet oftentimes departed from Resignation into SELF, viz. into
their OWN Reason and Will, in which Satan hath cast them into Sins,
and into the Anger of God; as appeareth by David and Solomon, also
by the Patriarchs, Prophets, and Apostles; who have oftentimes
committed great Errors when they have departed from Resignation into
SELF, viz. into their own Reason and Lust.

14. Therefore, it is necessary for the Children of God to know how
to behave themselves when they will learn the WAY of God. They must
beat down and cast away their very Thoughts; and desire nothing, nor
have the least Will to learn any Thing, unless they find themselves
to be in true Resignation; so that God’s Spirit leadeth, teacheth,
and guideth Man’s Spirit, and that the human Will which is attached
to itSELF, be wholly broken off from its OWN Lust, and resigned to
God.

15. All Speculation in the Wonders of God is very dangerous, for the
Spirit of the Will may soon be captivated therewith, unless the
Spirit of the Will goeth or walketh after the Spirit of God, and
then it hath Power in the resigned Humility to behold the Wonders of
God.

16. I do not say that a Man should search and learn nothing in
natural Arts and Sciences. No; such Knowledge is useful to him; but
a Man must not begin with his OWN Reason. Man ought not only to
govern his Life by the Light of outward Reason, which is good in
itself; but should sink with that Light into the deepest Humility
before God, and set the Spirit and Will of God foremost in all his
searching, so that the Light of Reason may see and know Things
through the Light of God. And though Reason may be very wise in its
own Sphere, and help a Man to much Knowledge, yet it must not
arrogate such Wisdom and Knowledge to itSELF, as if they were in its
OWN Possession, but give the Glory thereof to God, to Whom alone all
Wisdom and Knowledge belongeth.

17. For the more deeply Reason sinketh itSELF down into simple
Humility in the Sight of God, and the more unworthy it accounts
itSELF in His Sight; the more truely it dieth from SELF-desire and
the more thoroughly the Spirit of God penetrateth it, and bringeth
it into the highest Knowledge, so that at length it may come to
behold the great Mysteries and Wonders of God. For the Spirit of God
worketh only in resigned Humility, in that which neither seeketh nor
desireth itSELF. The Spirit of God taketh hold of whatsoever
desireth to be simple and lowly before Him, and bringeth it into His
Wonders. He hath Pleasure only in those that fear and bow themSELVES
before Him.

18. For God hath not created us for ourSELVES only, but to be
Instruments of His Wonders, by which He desireth to manifest His
Wonders. The resigned Will trusteth God, and expecteth all Good from
Him alone; but SELF-Will ruleth itself, for it is broken off from
God. All that SELF-Will doeth is Sin and is against God; for it is
gone out of that Order wherein He created it, into Disobedience, and
desireth to be its OWN Lord and Master.

19. When a Man’s OWN Will dieth from itSELF, then it is free from
Sin, for it desireth nothing but that which God desireth of His
Creature; it desireth only to do that for which God hath created it
and that which God will do by it; and though it is and must be
involved in the Doing, yet it is but the Instrument of the Doing, by
which God doth what He will.

20. For this is the true Faith in Man, viz. to die from himSELF;
that is, from his OWN Desire; and in all his Undertakings and
Designs to bring his Desire into the Will of God, and arrogate the
doing of nothing to himSELF, but esteem himSELF in all his Doings to
be a Servant or Minister of God, and to think that all he doeth, and
undertaketh, is for God. For in such a Disposition the Spirit of God
leadeth him into true Uprightness and Faithfullness towards his
Neighbor. For he thinketh thus within himself, I do my Work not for
myself, but for God, Who hath called and appointed me to do it; I am
but a Servant in His Vineyard. He listeneth continually after the
Voice of his Master, Who within him commandeth him what he shall do.
The Lord speaketh in him, and biddeth him do what He would have to
be done by him.

21. But SELF doeth what outward Reason from the Stars commandeth,
into which Reason the Devil flyeth with his Desire. All whatever
SELF doth is without the Will of God, and is done altogether in the
Fantasy, that the Anger of God may accomplish its Pastime therewith.

22. No Work done without the Will of God can reach the Kingdom of
God; it is all but an unprofitable Imagery, or SELF-wrought work, in
this great Agitation of Mankind. For nothing is pleasing to God, but
what He Himself doth by the resigned Will, as His Instrument. For
there is but one only God in the Essence of all Essences, and all
that which worketh with Him in that Essence, is one Spirit with Him;
but that which worketh in itSELF only, in its OWN Will, is in itSELF
only, and not in His Dominion. It is indeed under that universal
Dominion of Nature, whereby He holdeth subject to Him every Life,
evil and good, but not under that special Divine Government in
Himself, which comprehendeth the Good only. Nothing is Divine which
walketh and worketh not in the Will of God.

23. Christ saith, Every Plant which my heavenly Father hath not
planted, shall be rooted out and burned in the Fire. All the works
of Man, which he hath wrought without the Will of God, shall be
burnt up in the last Fire and given to the Wrath of God, viz. to the
Pit of Darkness to recreate itself withal. For Christ saith, He that
is not with Me is against Me; and he that gathereth not with Me
scattereth. Whosoever worketh, and doeth it not in a resigned Will
with Confidence in God, doeth but make desolate and scatter; it is
not acceptable to God. For nothing is pleasing to Him but that which
He willeth with His Spirit, and doeth by His own Instrument.

24. Therefore, whatsoever is done by the Conclusions of human SELF
in Matters of Religion, is a mere Fiction. It is Babel, and but a
Work of the Stars, and of the outward World, and not acknowledged by
God to be His Work. It is only the Play of the wrestling Wheel of
Nature, wherein Good and Evil wrestle one with the other; what the
one buildeth, the other destroyeth. And this is the great Misery of
the vain Turmoiling of Men, the Issue whereof must be left to the
Judgement of God.

25. Whosoever therefore stirreth or laboreth much in such
Turmoilings, worketh but for the Judgement of God; for no whit of it
is perfect and permanent. It must all be separated in the
Putrefaction. For that which is wrought in the Anger of God will be
received thereby, and kept in the Mystery of its Desire to the Day
of God’s Judgement, when Evil and Good shall be severed.

26. But if a Man turn and go forth from himSELF, and enter into the
Will of God, then also that Good which hath been wrought in and by
him, shall be freed from the Evil which he hath wrought. As Isaiah
saith, Though your Sins be as red as Scarlet, yet if ye turn and
repent, they shall become as Wool, yea, as white as Snow. For the
Evil shall be swallowed up in the Wrath of God into Death, and the
Good shall spring forth as a Sprout out of the wild Earth.
__________________________________________________________________

Whosoever therefore intendeth to do any good and perfect Work,
wherein he hopeth eternally to rejoice, let him depart from himSELF,
viz. from his OWN Desire, and enter into Resignation, into the Will
of God, and work with God. And then though the earthly Desire of
SELF in Flesh and Blood cleaveth to him, yet if the Will of the Soul
doth not receive that Desire into it, SELF cannot perform any Work.
For the resigned Will continually destroyeth the Substance of SELF
again, so that the Anger of God cannot reach it. And if it should
happen to reach it sometimes, as may be the Case, yet the resigned
Will prevaileth with its superior Power, and then it beareth the
Figure of a victorious Work in the Wonders, and may inherit the
Filiation [or Childship]. Therefore it is not good to speak or do
any Thing, when Reason is kindled in and by the Desire of SELF
because that Desire springeth from, and worketh in, the Anger of
God; by which a Man would suffer Loss. For his Work is brought into
that Anger, and kept there to the great Day of God’s Judgement.

2. Every evil or false Desire, whereby a Man deviseth how to gather
to himSELF by Craft much worldly Gain from his Neighbor to his
Neighbor’s Hurt, is taken into the Anger of God, and belongeth to
the Judgement. Wherein all Things shall be made manifest and every
Power and Essence, every Cause and Effect, both in Good and Evil,
shall be presented to every one in the Mystery of the Revelation.

3. All evil Works, done purposely, belong to the Judgement of God.
But he that turneth from the SELF Will, goeth out from the Power of
them, and those his Works belong to the Fire. All Things shall and
must be made manifest in the End. For therefore God brought His
working Power into Essence or Substance, that His Love and Anger
might be made manifest, and become a Representation of His Deeds of
Wonder, to His Glory.

4. And every Creature ought to know that it should continue in that
Condition wherein it was created; otherwise it runneth on in
Contrariety and Enmity to the Will of God, and bringeth itself into
Pain. For every intelligent Creature that hath lost its Place or
State wherein God first created it, is in Disorder and Misery, till
it recovereth the same. A Creature which is created out of Darkness
hath no Pain in the Darkness; as a venomous Serpent hath no Pain
from its Venom. The Venom is its Life; but if it should lose its
Venom, and have some good Thing instead brought into it, and be made
manifest in its Essence, that would be Pain and Death to it. Thus
Good is Torment to a Being whose nature is evil, and Evil is in like
Manner Pain and Death to the Good.

5. Man was created of, for, and in Paradise; of, for and in the Love
of God; but if he brings himself into Anger, which is as a poisonous
Pain and Death, then that contrary Paradisical Life of Love is a
Pain and Torment to him.

6. If the Devil had been created out of the wrathful Matrix, for and
in Hell, and had not had the Divine Ens or Essence, he could have no
Pain in Hell. But he, being created for and in Heaven, and yet
having stirred up the Source or Property of Darkness in himself, and
thereby brought himself totally into Darkness, therefore the Light
is now a Pain to him; that is, it causeth an everlasting Despair of
God’s Grace, and a continual Enmity to God; because God cannot
endure him in Himself, but hath cast him out. Therefore, the Devil
is angry and wrathful against his own Mother, of whose Essence and
Substance he hath his Original, viz. the Eternal Nature, which
keepeth him Prisoner in his own Place, as a Revolter or fallen
Spirit, and sporteth in him with its Property of Anger. And, seeing
he would not bear his Part in promoting the Divine Joy, in and for
which he was created, therefore he must now do the contrary, and be
an Enemy to all Goodness. For, of God, and in Him, are all Things,
Darkness and Light, Anger and Love, Fire and Light; but He calleth
Himself God, only as to the Light of His Love.

7. There is an eternal Contrariety between Darkness and Light,
neither of them comprehendeth the other, and neither of them is the
other; and yet there is only one Essence, Being, or Substance,
wherein they both subsist. But there is a Difference in the Quality
and Will; yet the Essence or Substance is not divided, but a
Principle maketh the Division. So that the one is a nothing in the
other, and yet it is there, but not manifest in the Property of that
Thing wherein it is.

8. For the Devil continued in his own Dominion or Principality, not
indeed in that wherein God created him, but in the aching painful
Birth of Eternity, in the Center of Nature and Property of Wrath, in
the Property which begetteth Darkness, Anguish and Pain. Indeed he
is a Prince in the Place of this World, but in the first Principle,
in the Kingdom of Darkness, in the Pit or Abyss.

9. Not in the Kingdom of the Sun, Stars, and Elements; he is no Lord
or Prince there, but only in the wrathful Part, viz. in the Root of
the Evil of every Thing; and yet he hath not Power to do what he
pleaseth with that.

10. For there is some Good in every Thing, which holdeth the Evil
captive and shut up in the Thing; but he can walk and rule only in
the evil Part or Property when it stirreth up an evil Desire in
itSELF, and bringeth its Desire into Wickedness. This indeed the
inanimate Creature cannot do; but Man can do it through the
inanimate Creature, if he brings the Center of his Will, with the
Desire out of the Eternal Center into it, which is the Ground of
Enchantment and false Magic. The Will of the Devil can also enter
into that Evil whereinto Man bringeth the Desire of his Soul, which
is born also out of the Eternal Nature.

11. For the Original of the Soul and of Angels, out of the Eternal
Nature is the same. But the Devil hath no further Power over the
Time, or temporary Condition of this World, than in the great Turba
or Turba Magna, the Curse; wheresoever that kindleth itself in the
eternal and temporal Wrath, there he is busy, as in Wars, Fighting,
and Strife, as also in great Tempests without Water. In fire he
proceeds as far as the Turba (Mischief or Hurt) goeth in great
Showers or Tempests of Thunder, Lightning, and Hail; but he cannot
direct them, for he is not Lord or Master in them, but Servant only.

12. Thus the Creature stirreth up with its own Desire, Good and
Evil, Life and Death. The human Angelical Desire standeth in the
Center of the eternal Nature which is without Beginning; and
wherever it kindleth itself, whether in Good or Evil, it
accomplisheth its Work in that.

13. Now God created every Thing for and in that wherein it should
be; the Angels for and in Heaven, and Man for and in Paradise. If
therefore the Desire of the Creature goeth forth from its own
Mother, then it entereth into the contrary Will and into Enmity, and
it is tormented with the Contrariety therein, and so a false Will
ariseth in a good; and then the good Will entereth into its nothing
again, viz. into the End of Nature and Creature, and so leaveth the
Creature in its OWN Evil or Wickedness, as appeareth by Lucifer and
also Adam; and had not the Will of the Love of God met with Adam,
and of mere Mercy entered into the Humanity or human Nature again,
there could be no good Will in Man.

14. Therefore all Speculation and Inquiry about God’s Will is a vain
Thing, unless the Mind be converted. For when the Mind standeth
captivated in the SELF-Desire of the earthly Life, it cannot
comprehend what the Will of God is; it runneth on but in SELF, from
one Way into another, and yet findeth no Rest; for SELF-Desire
evermore bringeth Disquiet. But when it sinketh itself wholly into
the Mercy of God, desiring to die from itSELF, and to have God’s
Will for a Guide to the Understanding, so that it acknowledgeth and
esteemeth itSELF as nothing, and willeth nothing but what God
willeth, then shall it both know and do the Will of God. And if the
Desire of Anger in the earthly Flesh should go along or join with
the Devil’s Imagination, and assault the Will of the Soul, yet the
resigned Desire cryeth to God and saith, Abba, loving Father,
deliver me from Evil. And then, though the earthly Will should grow
too strong in the Wrath of God by the Infection of the Devil, the
Desire of Anger would work but in or upon itself. According to what
St. Paul saith, Now, if I sin, I do it not, but Sin that dwelleth in
my Flesh: Also, Now I serve the Law of God in my Mind, but in my
Flesh the Law of Sin. Paul meaneth not that the Will of the Mind or
Soul should consent to the Will of the Flesh; but Sin is so strong
in the Flesh, viz. the awakened Anger of God in SELF, that
oftentimes the Mind is brought into Lust, as it were by Force,
through the evil Incitements of the wicked, or else by beholding
worldly Pomp and Glory; so that it absolutely beareth down the
resigned Will, and ruleth by Force.

15. Now when Sin is wrought in the Flesh, then the Wrath sporteth
itself therewith, and catcheth at the resigned Will; and then the
resigned Will cryeth to God for Deliverance from the Evil, and
prayeth that God would remove the Guilt away from it, and bring Sin
into the Centre, viz. into Death, that it might die.

16. And St. Paul saith further, Now, there is no Condemnation to
those who are in Christ Jesus, who are called according to the
Purpose of God; that is, those who in that Purpose of God in which
He first called Man, are again called in the same Calling, to stand
again in that Purpose of God, wherein he originally created Man to
be His Image and Likeness.

17. So long as Man’s OWN Will standeth in SELF, so long it is not in
the Purpose and Calling of God; it is not called, for it is gone
forth from its original right Place; but when the Mind turneth
itself back again into the Calling, viz. into Resignation, then the
Will is in the Calling of God, that is, in the Place for and in
which God created it, and then it hath Power to become the Child of
God again; as it is written, He hath given us Power to become the
Children of God.

18. The Power which He hath given us is His Purpose, for and in
which He created Man in His Image. This God hath brought again into
the human Nature, and hath given Power unto that Power to break the
Head of Sin in the Flesh, namely, the Will and Desire of the
Serpent; that is, the resigned Will in Christ treadeth upon the Head
of the Desire of the sinful Will of the Serpent, and killeth again
the Sins which were committed. This Power that is given becometh a
Death to Death, and the Power of Life to Life.

19. Therefore no Man can make any Excuse, as if he could not will.
Indeed, while he sticketh fast in himSELF, in his OWN Desire, and
serveth only the Law of Sin in the Flesh, he cannot. For he is kept
back, as being a Servant of Sin; but when he turneth the Center of
his Mind away, and directeth it into the Will and Obedience of God,
then he can.

20. Now the Center of the Mind is come out of Eternity, out of God’s
Omnipotence; it can bring itself into what it will, and whither it
will. For that which is out of the Eternal, hath no Law. But the
Will hath a Law to obey God, and is born out of the Mind, and must
not rend or tear itself away from that out of which God created it.

21. Now God created the Will of the Mind for and in Paradise, to be
a Companion, with Him in the Kingdom of Divine Joy. It ought not to
have removed itself from thence; but since it hath removed itself
from thence, God hath brought His Will again into the Flesh, and in
His new-brought-in Will, hath given us Power to bring our Wills into
it, and to kindle a new Light therein, and so to become His Children
again.

22. God hardeneth no Man; but Man’s OWN Will, which goeth on in the
fleshly Life of Sin, hardeneth his OWN Heart. The Will of SELF
bringeth the Vanity of this World into the Mind, which is thereby
shut up, and continueth so.

23. God, so far as He is called God, and is God, cannot will any
Evil; for there is but one only Will in God, and that is Eternal
Love, a Desire of that which is His Like, viz. Power, Beauty, and
Virtue.

24. God desireth nothing but what is like His own Desire: His Desire
receiveth nothing but what Itself is.

25. God receiveth no Sinner into His Power and Virtue, unless the
Sinner go forth from His Sins, and enter with the Desire into God.
And then, He will not cast out those that so come unto Him. He hath
given to the Will an open Gate in Christ, saying, “come unto Me all
ye that are heavy laden with Sins, and I will refresh you; take My
Yoke upon you, that is, the Cross of the Enmity in the Flesh. This
was the Yoke of Christ, which He had to bear for the Sins of all
Men. This Cross or Yoke the resigned Will must also take upon itself
in the evil earthly sinful Flesh, and bear it after Christ in
Patience and Hope of Deliverance. It must also continually break the
Head of the Serpent, in and through Christ’s Will and Spirit, and
kill and destroy the earthly Will in God’s Anger, not letting it
rest on the soft Bed when Sin is committed, and thinking to repent
one Time or other.

26. No, no, the earthly Will groweth strong, fat, and wanton upon
this soft Bed, but as soon as the Light of God shineth in thee, and
sheweth Sin to thee, the Will of thy Soul must sink itself down into
the Passion and Death of Christ, and wrap itself up close therein.
It must take the Passion of Christ into its Possession, and be a
Lord over the Death of Sin by the Death of Christ, and kill and
destroy it in the Death of Christ.

27. The Will of Sin [thy outward SELF] must die, though it be never
so unwilling. Be at Enmity therefore with the voluptuous earthly
Flesh; give it not what it would have; let it fast and suffer Hunger
till its tickling ceases. Account the Will of the Flesh thine Enemy,
and do not do what the Desire in the Flesh willeth, and then thou
shalt bring a Death upon the deathful Property in the Flesh.

28. Regard not any Scorn of the World, as considering that it doth
but scorn thine Enemy, and that is become a Fool to it. Nay, do thou
thyself account it thy Fool, which Adam caused thee to possess, and
made to be thy false Heir. Cast out of the House the Son of the
Bond-Woman, that strange Child which God did not give to be in the
House of Life in Adam at the Beginning; for the Son of the
Bond-Woman must not inherit with the Son of the Free-Woman.

29. The earthly Will is but the Son of the Bond-Woman. For the Four
Elements should have been Man’s Servants, but Adam hath brought them
into the Sonship, or adopted them into himself. Therefore God said
to Abraham, when He had opened the Covenant of the Promise in him,
Cast out the Son of the Bond-Woman, for he shall not inherit with
the Son of the Free. This Son of the Free is Christ, which God of
His Grace hath brought again into the Flesh for us, namely, a new or
renewed Mind, wherein the Will, viz. the Eternal Will of the Soul,
may draw and drink the Water of Life, of which Christ speaketh,
saying, Whosoever shall drink of this Water that I will give him, It
shall spring up in him, and be a Fountain of Eternal Life. This
Fountain is the Renovation of the Mind or Will of the Soul.

30. Therefore I say that all Fictions and Devices to come to God by,
let them have what Name soever they will, which Men contrive and
invent for Ways to God, are but lost Labor and vain Endeavours,
without a new Mind. There is no other Way to God, but a new Mind,
which turneth from Wickedness, and entereth into Repentance for the
Sins it hath committed. Which goeth forth from its Iniquity and
willeth it no more; but wrappeth its Will up in the Death of Christ,
and with all Earnestness dieth from the Sin of the Soul in the Death
of Christ, so that it willeth Sin no more.

31. And though all the Devils should press hard upon it, and enter
with their Desire into the fleshly Mind, yet the Will of the Soul
must stand still and hide itself in the Death of Christ, willing and
desiring nothing but the Mercy of God.

32. No hypocritical Flattery, or outward comforting ourselves
availeth at all; as when Men will cover Sin and Iniquity in the
Flesh with the Satisfaction of Christ, while they remain in SELF
still. Christ saith, Except ye turn and become as Children, ye shall
not see the Kingdom of God. The Mind must become as wholly new, as
in a Child that knoweth nothing of Sin. Christ saith also, Ye must
be born anew, or else, ye shall not see the Kingdom of God. There
must arise a Will wholly new in the Death of Christ. It must be
brought forth out of Christ’s Incarnation or Entering into the
Humanity, and rise in Christ’s Resurrection.

33. Now before this can be done, the Will of the Soul [SELF] must
die in the Death of Christ; for in Adam it received the Son of the
Bond-Woman, viz. Sin into it. This the Will must cast out, and the
poor captive Soul must wrap itself up in the Death of Christ
earnestly with all the Power it hath, so that the Son of the
Bond-Woman, viz. the Sin that is in it may die in the Death of
Christ.

34. In very deed Sin must die in the Will of the Soul, or else there
can be no Vision of God. For the earthly Will, in Sin and the
wrathful Nature, shall not see God. It is only the regenerated
Nature, the new inward Man, that is capable of the Divine Vision or
Enjoyment. The Soul must put on the Spirit and Flesh of Christ; it
cannot inherit the Kingdom of God in this earthly Tabernacle. For
the Kingdom of Sin hangeth to it outwardly, which must putrify in
the Earth, and rise again in new Power.

35. Hypocrisy, Flattery, and verbal Forgiveness, avail nothing. We
must be Children, not by outward Imputation, but by being born of
God from within, in the new inward Man, which is resigned in and to
God.

36. All such Flattery of ourselves by saying, Christ hath paid the
Ransom, and made satisfaction for Sin, and that He died for our
Sins, is a false and vain Comfort, if we also do not die from Sin in
Him, and put on His Merit in new Obedience, and live therein.

37. He that is a bitter Enemy and Hater of Sin, can and may comfort
himself with the Sufferings of Christ. He that doth not willingly
see, hear, or taste Sin, but is at Enmity with it, and would
willingly always do that which is well and right, if he knew but
what he ought to do; such a one hath indeed put on the Sprirt and
Will of Christ, and is His true Disciple.

38. But the outward Flattery of being accounted a Child of God by
Imputation or external Application, is false and vain. The Work done
in, or by, the outward Flesh only, doth not make the Child of God;
but the working of Christ in the Spirit maketh, and indeed is, the
Child of God. Which inward Working is so powerful that it shineth
forth as a new Light in the outward Life; and proveth itself to be
the Child of God by its external Conduct and Actions.

39. For if the Eye of the Soul be Light, then the whole Body is
Light in all its Members. Now if any Man boast himself to be a Child
of God, and yet suffereth his Body to burn in Sins, he is no true
Child, nor capable of the Inheritance; but lieth bound by the Chains
of the Devil in gross Darkness. And if he doth not find in himself
an earnest and sincere Desire of Well-doing in Love, then his
Pretence to the Childship is but an Invention of Reason proceeding
from SELF. He cannot see God, unless he be born a-new, and show
forth by his Power and Life, that he is His true Child. For there is
no Fire but hath Light in it; and if the Divine Fire be in the Mind,
it will shine forth, and the Mind will do that which God will have
to be done.

40. But perhaps thou wilt say, I have a Will indeed to do so; I
would willingly do it, but I am so hindered that I cannot.

41. Nay, thou vile Man, God draweth thee to be His Child, but thou
wilt not; the soft Cushion in Evil is dearer to thee than to be so
readily parted with. Thou preferrest the Joy of Wickedness to the
Joy of God. Thou art wholly swallowed up in SELF still, and livest
according to the Law of Sin, and that is what hindereth thee. Thou
art unwilling to die from the Pleasure of the Flesh, and therefore
thou art not in the Filiation (Sonship). God draweth thee to it, but
thou thySELF wilt not yield.

42. O how fine a Thing would Adam think it, if he might be taken
into Heaven with this Will of the voluptuous Flesh about him, and
have the Child of Wickedness, that is full of Deceit, set upon the
Throne of God. Lucifer also would fain have had it so, but he was
spewed out.

43. It is a troublesome Thing to mortify the evil Will of SELF; none
are willing to do it. We would all gladly be the Children of God, if
we might be so with this rough Garment of fallen Nature about us.
But that cannot be. This World passeth away, and the outward Life
must die; what Good can the Adoption in the mortal Body of Flesh and
Blood only do me?

44. If we would inherit the Filiation, we must also put on the new
Man which alone can inherit it, as being like the Deity. God will
have no Sinners in Heaven, but only such as have been born a-new and
become Children, and to have put on Heaven.

45. Therefore it is not so easy a Matter to become a Child of God,
as Men imagine. Indeed, it is not a troublesome Thing to him that
hath put on the Filiation, whose Light shineth; for it is Joy to
such a one. But to turn the Mind and destroy SELF, there is a strong
and continued Earnestness requisite, and such a stout and steady
Purpose, that if the Body and Soul should part asunder by it, yet
the Will would persevere constantly, and not enter again into SELF.

46. A Man must wrestle till the dark Center that is shut up tight,
breaketh open, and the Spark lying hid therein kindleth and from
thence the noble Lily-Branch sprouteth, as from the divine Grain of
Mustard-Seed as Christ saith. A Man must pray earnestly, with great
Humility, and for a while become a Fool in his own Reason, and see
himself void of Understanding therein, until Christ be formed in
this new Incarnation.

47. And then when Christ is born, Herod is ready to kill the Child,
which he seeketh to do outwardly by Persecutions, and inwardly by
Temptations, to try whether this Lily-Branch will be strong enough
to destroy the Kingdom of the Devil, which is manifested in the
Flesh.

48. Then this Destroyer of the Serpent is brought into the
Wilderness, after he is baptized with the Holy Spirit, and tempted
and tried whether or not he will continue in Resignation to the Will
of God. In which Temptation he must stand so fast, that if Need
require, he would leave all earthly Things, and even the outward
Life, to be a Child of God.

49. No temporal Honor must be preferred before Filiation. But he
must with his Will leave and forsake it all, and not account it his
OWN, but esteem himself as a Servant only in it, who is to obey his
Master. He must leave all worldly Propriety. We do not mean that he
may not have or possess any Thing; but his Heart must forsake it,
and not bring his Will into it, nor count it his OWN. For if he
setteth his Heart upon it, he hath no Power to serve them that stand
in Need with it.

50. SELF is but a Slave to its temporal Possessions, but Resignation
ruleth over all that it hath. SELF must do what the Devil will have
it do in fleshly Voluptuousness and Pride of Life; but Resignation
treadth it all under with the Feet of the Mind. SELF despiseth that
which is lowly and simple; but Resignation sitteth down with the
lowly in the Dust. It saith, I will be simple in myself, and
understand nothing, lest my Understanding should exalt itself and
sin. I will lie down in the Courts of my God at His Feet, that I may
serve my Lord in that which He commandeth me. I will know nothing of
myself, that the Will and Power of my Lord may lead and guide me,
and that I may only do what God doth through me, and will have done
by me. I will sleep in myself until the Lord awaken me with His
Spirit; and if He will not, then will I look up to Him in Silence,
and wait for His Commands.

51. Beloved Brethren: Men at this Time boast much of Faith; but
where is it to be found? The modern Faith is but the History. Where
is that Child which believeth that Jesus has been born within his
own soul? If that Child were in Being, and did believe that Jesus is
born, it would also draw near to the sweet Child Jesus, and receive
Him and nurse Him.

52. Alas! the Faith of this Day is but historical, a mere Assent to
the matter of Fact that Jesus Christ was born,lived and died; that
the Jews killed Him; that He left this World, and is not King on
Earth in the outward Man; and the Faith of this Day allows that Men
may do what they please, and need not die from Sin and their evil
Lusts. All this the wicked Child SELF rejoiceth in, that it may
fatten the Devil by living deliciously.

53. This showeth plainly that true Faith was never weaker since
Christ’s Time, than it is now. When nevertheless the World cryeth
aloud, and saith, We have got the true Faith; and contend about a
Child, with a Contention which has never been worse since Men have
been on Earth.

54. If thou art truly Zion, and hast that new born Child which was
lost and is found again, then let It be seen in Power and Virtue.
Let us all openly see the sweet Child Jesus brought forth by thee,
and that thou art His Nurse. If not, then the true Children in
Christ will say, thou hast found nothing but the Cradle of the
Child, that is, the History.

55. Where hast thou the sweet Child Jesus, thou that art so exalted
with the History, and with thy false and seeming Faith? O how will
the Child Jesus visit thee one Day in the Father’s Property, the
Property of Anger, in thy own Turba which thou hast fatted! It
calleth thee now in Love, but thou wilt not hear, for thine Ears are
stopped with Covetousness and Voluptuousness. Therefore the Sound of
the Trumpet shall one Day alarm thee with the hard Thunder-clap of
thy Turba, and rouse thee up, if perhaps thou wilt then seek and
find the sweet Child Jesus.

56. Beloved Brethren, this is a Time of Seeking, of Seeking and
Finding. It is a Time of Earnestness; whom it toucheth, it toucheth
Home. He that watcheth shall hear and see it; but he that sleepeth
in Sin, and saith in the fat Days of his Belly, All is peace and
quiet; we hear no Sound from the Lord, shall be blind. But the Voice
of the Lord hath sounded in all the Ends of the Earth, and a Smoke
riseth, and in the Midst of the Smoke there is a great Brightness
and Splendor. Hallelujah. Amen.

Shout unto the Lord in Zion, for all Mountains and Hills are full of
His Glory. He flourisheth like a green Branch, and who shall hinder
It. Hallelujah.
__________________________________________________________________

by Jacob Behmen (Jakob Boehme) 1575-1624,

The Teutonic Theosopher

TWO

DIALOGUES

BETWEEN

A DISCIPLE AND HIS MASTER,

CONCERNING

THE LIFE WHICH IS ABOVE SENSE.

SHOWING

How the Soul may attain to Divine HEARING and VISION – to a life above sense;
and What its Childship in the Natural and Supernatural Life is; and How it
passeth out of Nature into God, and out of God into Nature and Self
again;also What its Salvation and Perdition are and What is the Partition
Wall that separates the Soul from God and How the Breaking down of this
Partition is effected; of the two Wills and two Eyes within the Fallen Soul;
and What is the shortest WAY to the attainment of the Internal Kingdom of God
and Why so few Souls do find It.

Composed by a Soul that loveth all who are Children of JESUS CHRIST, under
the Cross.

Brought forth in the 1600 s by a humble shoemaker; translated into
English over 100 years later; suppressed and hidden away until recently
in theological archives around the world… a worthy personal study not
just for academics but for all those who are spiritually grounded in
the WORD, who are learning to hear the Lord, and who hunger for more.

These writings from out of the Past are in the Public Domain and may be
freely shared, photocopied, reproduced, faxed or transmitted in any way
by any means.

Dear Reader

1 Corinthians 2.7-15We speak the hidden mystical Wisdom of God, which
God ordained before the World unto our Glory; Which none of the Princes
of this World knew; For had they known it, they would not have
crucified the Lord of Glory. But, as it is written, Eye hath not seen,
nor Ear heard, neither hath it entered into the Heart of man to
conceive the Things which God hath prepared for them that Love him. But
God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: For the Spirit searcheth
all Things, yea, the deep Things of God. For what Man knoweth the
Things of a Man, save the Spirit of a Man which is in him? Even so the
Things of God knoweth no Man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have
received, not the Spirit of this World, but the Spirit which is of God;
that we might know the Things that are freely given us of God. Which
Things also we speak, not in the Words which Man’s Wisdom teacheth, but
which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing Spiritual Things with
Spiritual. But the natural Man receiveth not the Things of the Spirit
of God: For they are Foolishness unto him; neither can he know them,
because they are Spiritually discerned. But he that is Spiritual
judgeth, or discerneth all Things.
__________________________________________________________________

The Disciple said to his Master: Sir, How may I come to the Place that
I may SEE with God, and may HEAR God speak – to a Life that is above my
Senses and Feelings – to the Supersensual Life?

The Master answered and said: Son, when thou canst throw thyself into
THAT, where no Creature dwelleth, though it be but for a Moment, then
thou HEAREST what God speaketh.

Disciple:

Is that Place where no Creature dwelleth near at Hand; or is it
afar off?

Master:

It is IN THEE. And if thou canst, my Son, for a while but cease
from all thy OWN Thinking and Willing, then thou shalt hear the
unspeakable Words of God.

Disciple:

How is it that I can hear Him speak, when I stand still from
Thinking and Willing?

Master:

When thou standest still from the Thinking of SELF, and the
Willing of SELF; when both thy Intellect and Will are quiet and
passive to the Impressions of the Eternal Word and Spirit; when
thy Soul is winged up, and above that which is temporal with the
outward Senses and the Imagination being locked up by Holy
Abstraction; then the Eternal Hearing, Seeing, and Speaking will
be revealed IN THEE; and so God heareth and seeth through thee,
being now the Organ of His Spirit; and so God speaketh in thee,
and whispereth to thy Spirit, and thy Spirit heareth his Voice.
Blessed art thou therefore if that thou canst stand still from
SELF-Thinking and SELF-Willing, and canst stop the Wheel of thy
Imagination and Senses; for it is hereby that thou mayest arrive
at Length to see the great Salvation of God, being made capable
of all Manner of Divine Sensations and Heavenly Communications.
Since it is nought indeed but thine OWN Hearing and Willing that
do hinder thee, so that thou dost not see and hear God.

Disciple:

But wherewith shall I hear and see God, for as much as He is
above Nature and Creature?

Master:

Son, when thou art quiet and silent, then art thou as God was
before Nature and Creature; thou art that which God then was;
thou art that whereof He made thy Nature and Creature: Then thou
hearest and seest even with that wherewith God Himself saw and
heard in thee, before ever thine OWN Willing or thine OWN Seeing
began.

Disciple:

What now hinders or keeps me back, so that I cannot come to
that, wherewith God is to be seen and heard?

Master:

Nothing truly but thine OWN Willing, Hearing, and Seeing do keep
thee back from it, and do hinder thee from coming to this
Supersensual State or the Life which is above Sense. And it is
because thou strivest so against that, out of which thou thyself
art descended and derived, that thou thus breakest thyself off,
with thine OWN Willing, from God’s Willing, and with thine OWN
Seeing from God’s Seeing. In as much as in thine OWN Seeing thou
dost see in thine OWN Willing only, and with thine OWN
Understanding thou dost understand but in and according to this
thine OWN Willing, as the same stands divided from the Divine
Will. This thy Willing moreover stops thy Hearing, and maketh
thee deaf towards God, through thy OWN Thinking upon terrestrial
Things, and thy Attending to that which is without thee; and so
it brings thee into a Ground, where thou art laid hold on and
captivated in Nature. And having brought thee hither, it
overshadows thee with that which thou willest; it binds thee
with thine own Chains, and it keeps thee in thine own dark
Prison which thou makest for thyself; so that thou canst not go
out thence, or come to that State which is above Nature and
above Sense.

Disciple:

But being I am in Nature, and thus bound, as with my own Chains,
and by my own natural Will; pray be so kind, Sir, as to tell me,
how I may come through Nature into the Supersensual and
Supernatural Ground, without the destroying of Nature?

Master:

Three Things are requisite in order to do this. The First is,
Thou must resign up thy Will to God; and must sink thy SELF down
to the Dust in His Mercy. The Second is, Thou must hate thy OWN
Will, and forbear from doing that to which thy own Will doth
drive thee. The Third is, Thou must bow thy Soul under the
Cross, heartily submitting thySELF to It, that thou mayest be
able to bear the Temptations of Nature and Creature. And if thou
doest thus, know that God will speak into thee, and will bring
thy resigned Will in to Himself, in the supernatural Ground; and
then thou shalt hear, my Son, what the Lord speaketh in thee.

Disciple:

This is a hard Saying, Master; for I must forsake the World, and
my Life too, if I should do thus.

Master:

Be not discouraged hereat. If thou forsakest the World, then
thou comest into that out of which the World is made; and if
thou losest thy Life, then thy Life is in that, for whose Sake
thou forsakest it. Thy Life is in God, from whence it came into
the Body; and as thou comest to have thine OWN Power faint and
weak and dying, the Power of God will then work in thee and
through thee.

Disciple:

Nevertheless as God hath created Man in and for the natural
Life, to rule over all Creatures on Earth, and to be a Lord over
all Things in this World, it seems not to be at all
unreasonable, that Man should therefore possess this World, and
the Things therein for his own.

Master:

If thou rulest over all Creatures but outwardly, there cannot be
much in that. But if thou hast a Mind to possess all Things, and
to be a Lord indeed over all Things in this World, there is
quite another Method to be taken by thee.

Disciple:

Pray, how is that? And what Method must I take, whereby to
arrive at this Sovereignty?

Master:

Thou must learn to distinguish well betwixt the Thing, and that
which only is an Image thereof; betwixt that Sovereignty which
is substantial, and in the inward Ground or Nature, and that
which is imaginary, and in an outward Form, or Semblance;
betwixt that which is properly Angelical, and that which is no
more than bestial. If thou rulest now over the Creatures
externally only, and not from the right internal Ground of thy
renewed Nature; then thy Will and Ruling is verily in a bestial
Kind or Manner, and thine at best is but a Sort of imaginary and
transitory Government, being void of that which is substantial
and permanent, the which only thou art to desire and press
after. Thus by thy outwardly Lording it over the Creatures, it
is most easy for thee to lose the Substance and the Reality,
while thou hast nought remaining but the Image or Shadow only of
thy first and original Lordship; wherein thou art made capable
to be again invested, if thou wouldest be but wise, and takest
thy Investiture from the Supreme Lord in the right Course and
Manner. Whereas by thy willing and ruling thus after a bestial
Manner, thou bringest also thy Desire into a bestial Essence, by
which Means thou becomest infected and captivated therein, and
gettest therewith a bestial Nature and Condition of Life. But if
thou shalt have put off the bestial and ferine Nature, and if
thou hast left the imaginary Life, and quitted the low imaged
Condition of it; then art thou come into the
Super-Imaginariness, and into the intellectual Life, which is a
State of living above Images, Figures and Shadows. And so thou
rulest over all Creatures, being reunited with thine Original,
in that very Ground or Source, out of which they were and are
created; and henceforth Nothing on Earth can hurt thee. For thou
art like all Things and Nothing is unlike thee.

Disciple:

O loving Master, pray teach me how I may come the shortest Way
to be like unto All Things.

Master:

With all my Heart. Do but think on the Words of our Lord Jesus
Christ, when He said, “Except ye be converted, and become as
little Children, ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.”
There is no shorter Way than this; neither can there be a better
Way found. Verily, Jesus saith unto thee, Unless thou turn and
become as a Child, hanging upon Him for All Things, thou shalt
not see the Kingdom of God. This do, and Nothing shall hurt
thee; for thou shalt be at Friendship with all the Things that
are, as thou dependest on the Author and Fountain of them, and
becomest like Him, by such Dependence, and by the Union of thy
Will with His Will. But mark what I have further to say; and be
not thou startled at it, though it may seem hard for thee at
first to conceive. If thou wilt be like All Things, thou must
forsake All Things; thou must turn thy Desire away from them
All, and not desire or hanker after any of them; thou must not
extend thy Will to possess that for thy own, or as thine own,
which is Something, whatsoever that Something be. For as soon as
ever thou takest Something into thy Desire, and receivest it
into thee for thine OWN, or in Propriety, then this very
Something (of what Nature soever it is) is the same with
thyself; and this worketh with thee in thy Will, and thou art
thence bound to protect it, and to take Care of it even as of
thy own Being. But if thou dost receive no Thing into thy
Desire, then thou art free from All Things, and rulest over all
Things at once, as a Prince of God. For thou hast received
Nothing for thine own, and art Nothing to all Things; and all
Things are as Nothing to thee. Thou art as a Child, which
understands not what a Thing is, and though thou dost perhaps
understand it, yet thou understandest it without mixing with it,
and without its sensibly affecting or touching thy Perception,
even in that Manner wherein God doth rule and see all Things; He
comprehending All, and yet Nothing comprehending Him.

Disciple:

Ah! How shall I arrive at this Heavenly Understanding, at this
Sight of All Things in God, at this pure and naked Knowledge
which is abstracted from the Senses; at this Light above Nature
and Creature; and at this Participation of the Divine Wisdom
which oversees all Things, and governs through all intellectual
Beings? For, alas, I am touched every Moment by the Things which
are about me; and overshadowed by the Clouds and Fumes which
rise up out of the Earth. I desire therefore to be taught, if
possible, how I may attain such a State and Conditions as no
Creature may be able to touch me to hurt me; and how my Mind,
being purged from sensible Objects and Things, may be prepared
for the Entrance and Habitation of the Divine Wisdom in me?

Master:

Thou desirest that I would teach thee how thou art to attain it;
and I will direct thee to our Master, from Whom I have been
taught it, that thou mayest learn it thyself from Him, Who alone
teacheth the Heart. Hear thou Him. Wouldest thou arrive at this;
wouldest thou remain untouched by Sensibles; wouldest thou
behold Light in the very Light of God, and see all Things
thereby; then consider the Words of Christ, Who is that Light;
and Who is the Truth. O consider now His Words, Who said,
“Without Me ye can do nothing” and defer not to apply thyself
unto Him, Who is the Strength of thy Salvation, and the Power of
thy Life; and with Whom thou canst do all Things, by the Faith
which He worketh in thee. But unless thou wholly givest thySELF
up to the Life of our Lord Jesus Christ, and resignest thy Will
wholly to Him, and desirest Nothing and willest Nothing without
Him, thou shalt never come to such a Rest as no Creature can
disturb. Think what thou pleasest, and be never so much
delighted in the Activity of thine OWN Reason, thou shalt find
that in thine OWN Power, and without such a total Surrender to
God, and to the Life of God, thou canst never arrive at such a
Rest as this, or the true Quiet of the Soul, wherein no Creature
can molest thee, or so much as touch thee. Which when thou
shalt, by Grace, have attained to, then with thy Body thou art
in the World, as in the Properties of outward Nature; and with
thy Reason, under the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; but with
thy Will thou walkest in Heaven, and art at the End from whence
all Creatures are proceeded forth, and to which they return
again. And then thou canst in this END, which is the same with
the BEGINNING, behold all Things outwardly with Reason, and
inwardly with the Mind; and so mayest thou rule in all Things
and over all Things, with Christ; unto Whom all Power is given
both in Heaven and on Earth.

Disciple:

O Master, the Creatures which live in me do withhold me, that I
cannot so wholly yield and give up mySELF as I willingly would.
What am I to do in this Case?

Master:

Let not this trouble thee. Doth thy Will go forth from the
Creatures? Then the Creatures are forsaken in thee. They are in
the World, and thy Body, which is in the World, is with the
Creatures. But spiritually thou walkest with God, and conversest
in Heaven, being in thy Mind redeemed from Earth, and separated
from Creatures, to live the Life of God. And if thy Will thus
leaveth the Creatures, and goeth forth from them, even as the
Spirit goeth forth from the Body at Death; then are the
Creatures dead in it, and do live only in the Body in the World.
Since if thy Will doth not bring itself into them, they cannot
bring themselves into it, neither can they by any Means touch
the Soul. And hence St. Paul saith,”Our Conversation is in
Heaven”; and also, “Ye are the Temple of God, and the Spirit of
God dwelleth in you.” So then True Christians are the very
Temples of the Holy Ghost, Who dwelleth in them; that is, the
Holy Ghost dwelleth in the Will, and the Creatures dwelleth in
the Body.

Disciple:

If now the Holy Spirit doth dwell in the Will of the Mind, how
ought I to keep myself so that He depart not from me again?

Master:

Mark, my Son, the Words of our Lord Jesus Christ; “If ye abide
in My Words, then My Words abide in you.” If thou abideth with
thy Will, in the Words of Christ; then His Word and Spirit
abideth in thee, and all shall be done for thee that thou canst
ask of Him. But if thy Will goeth into the Creature, then thou
hast broken off thereby thyself from Him. And then thou canst
not any otherwise keep thyself but by abiding continually in the
most resigned Humility, and by entering into a constant Course
of Penitence, wherein thou wilt be always grieved at thine own
Creatureliness and that Creatures do still live in thee, that
is, in thy bodily Appetites. If thou doest thus, thou standest
in a daily dying from the Creatures, and in a daily ascending
into Heaven in thy Will; which Will is also the Will of thy
Heavenly Father.

Disciple:

O my loving Master, pray teach me how I may come to such a
constant Course of holy Penitence, and to such a daily Dying
from all creaturely Objects; for how can I abide continually in
Repentance?

Master:

When thou leavest that which loveth thee, and lovest that which
hateth thee; then thou mayest abide continually in Repentance.

Disciple:

What is it that I must thus leave?

Master:

All Things that love and entertain thee, because thy Will loves
and entertains them; all Things that please and feed thee,
because thy Will feeds and cherishes them; all Creatures in
Flesh and Blood; in a Word, all Visibles and Sensibles, by which
either the Imagination or sensitive Appetite in Men are
delighted and refreshed. These the Will of thy Mind, or thy
supreme Part must leave and forsake; and must even account them
all its Enemies. This is the Leaving of what loves thee. And the
Loving of what hates thee, is the Embracing of the Reproach of
the World. Thou must learn then to love the Cross of the Lord
Jesus Christ, and for His Sake to be pleased with the Reproach
of the World which hates and derides thee; and let this be thy
daily Exercise of Penitence – to be crucified to the World, and
the World to thee. And so thou shalt have continual Cause to
hate thySELF in the Creature, and to seek the Eternal Rest which
is in Christ. To which Rest thou having thus attained, thy Will
may therein safely rest and repose itself, according as thy Lord
Christ hath said: “In Me ye may have Rest, but in the World ye
shall have Anxiety; In Me ye may have Peace, but in the World ye
shall have Tribulation.”

Disciple:

How shall I now be able to subsist in this Anxiety and
Tribulation arising from the World, so as not to lose the
Eternal Peace, or not enter into this Rest? And how may I
recover myself in such a Temptation as this is, by not sinking
under the World, but rising above it by a Life that is truly
Heavenly or Supersensual?

Master:

If thou dost once every Hour throw thyself by Faith beyond all
Creatures, beyond and above all sensual Perception and
Apprehension, yea, above Discourse and Reasoning into the
abyssal Mercy of God, into the Sufferings of our Lord, and into
the Fellowship of His Interceding, and yieldeth thySELF fully
and absolutely thereinto; then thou shalt receive Power from
above to rule over Death and the Devil, and so subdue Hell and
the World under thee: And then thou mayest subsist in all
Temptations, and be the brighter for them.

Disciple:

Blessed is the Man that arriveth to such a State as this. But
alas! Poor Man that I am, how is this possible as to me? And
what, O my Master, would become of me, if I should ever attain
with my Mind to that, where no Creature is? Must I not cry out,
I am undone!

Master:

Son why art thou so dispirited? Be of good Heart still; for thou
mayest certainly yet attain to it. Do but believe, and all
Things are made possible to thee. If it were that thy Will, O
thou of little Courage, could break off itself for one Hour, or
even but for one half Hour, from all Creatures, and plunge
itself into That where no Creature is, or can be; presently it
would be penetrated and clothed upon with the supreme Splendor
of the Divine Glory, would taste in itself the most sweet Love
of Jesus, the Sweetness whereof no Tongue can express, and would
find in itself the unspeakable Words of our Lord concerning His
great Mercy. Thy Spirit would then feel in itself the Cross of
our Lord Jesus Christ to be very pleasing to it; and would
thereupon love the Cross more than the Honors and Goods of the
World.

Disciple:

This for the Soul would be exceeding well indeed: But what would
then become of the Body seeing that it must of Necessity live in
the Creature?

Master:

The Body would by this Means be put into the Imitation of our
Lord Christ, and of His Body: It would stand in the Communion of
that most blessed Body, which was the true Temple of the Deity;
and in the Participation of all its gracious Effects, Virtues
and Influences. It would live in the Creature not of Choice, but
only as it is made subject unto Vanity, and in the World, as it
is placed therein by the Ordination of the Creator, for its
Cultivation and the higher Advancement; and as groaning to be
delivered out of it in God’s Time and Manner, for its Perfection
and Resuscitation in Eternal Liberty and Glory, like unto the
Glorified Body of our Lord and His risen Saints.

Disciple:

But the Body being in its present Constitution, so made subject
to Vanity, and living in a vain Image and creaturely Shadow,
according to the Life of the undergraduated Creatures or Brutes,
whose Breath goeth downwards to the Earth; I am still very much
afraid thereof, lest it should continue to depress the Mind
which is lifted up to God, by hanging as dead Weight thereto;
and go on to amuse and perplex the Same, as formerly, with
Dreams and Trifles, by letting in the Objects from without, in
order to draw me down into the World and the Hurry thereof;
where I would fain maintain my Conversation in Heaven, even
while I am living in the World. What therefore must I do with
this Body, that I may be able to keep up so desirable a
Conversation; and not to be under any Subjection to it any
longer?

Master:

There is no other Way for thee that I know, but to present the
Body whereof thou complainest (which is the Beast to be
sacrificed) “a living Sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God”:
And this shall be thy “rational Service”, whereby this thy Body
will be put, as thou desirest, into the Imitation of Jesus
Christ, who said, His Kingdom was not of this World. Be not thou
then “conformed to it, but be transformed by the Renewing of thy
Mind”; which renewed Mind is to have Dominion over the Body,
that so thou mayest prove, both in Body and Mind, what is the
perfect Will of God, and accordingly perform the same with and
by his Grace operating IN THEE. Whereupon the Body, or the
Animal Life would, being thus offered up, begin to die, both
from without and from within. From without, that is, from the
Vanity and evil Customs and Fashions of the World. It would be
an utter Enemy to all the Pomp thereof, and to all the Gaudery,
Pageantry, Pride, Ambition, and Haughtiness therein. From
within, it would die as to all the Lusts and Appetites of the
Flesh, and would get a Mind and Will wholly new, for its
Government and Management; being now made subject to the Spirit,
which would continually be directed to God, as would all that is
subject to thy Body. And thus thy very Body is become the Temple
of God and of His Spirit, in Imitation of thy Lord’s Body.

Disciple:

But the World would hate it, and despise it for so doing; seeing
it must hereby contradict the World, and must live and act quite
otherwise than the World doth. This is most certain. And how can
this then be taken?

Master:

It would not take that as any Harm done to it, but would rather
rejoice that it is become worthy to be like unto the Image of
our Lord Jesus Christ, being transformed from that of the World:
And it would be most willing to bear that Cross after our Lord;
merely that our Lord might bestow upon it the Influence of His
sweet and precious Love.

Disciple:

I do not doubt but in some this may be even so. Nevertheless for
my own Part, I am in a Straight betwixt two, not feeling yet
enough of that blessed Influence upon me. O how willingly should
my Body bear that, could this be safely depended upon by me,
according to what is urged! Wherefore pardon me, loving Sir, in
this one Thing, if my Impatience doth still further demand what
would become of it, if the Anger of God from within, and the
wicked World also from without, should at once assault it, as
the same really happened to our Lord Christ?

Master:

Be that unto it, even as unto our Lord Christ, when He was
reproached, reviled and crucified by the World; and when the
Anger of God so fiercely assaulted Him for our Sake. Now what
did He do under this most terrible Assault both from without and
from within? Why, He commended his Soul into the Hands of his
Father,and so departed from the Anguish of this World into the
Eternal Joy. Do thou likewise; and His Death shall become thy
Life.

Disciple:

Be it unto me as unto the Lord Christ; and unto my Body as unto
His; which into His Hands I have commended, and for the Sake of
His Name do offer up, according to His revealed Will.
Nevertheless I am desirous to know what would become of my Body
in its pressing forth from the Anguish of this miserable World
into the Power of the Heavenly Kingdom?

Master:

It would get forth from the Reproach and Contradiction of the
World, by a Conformity to the Passion of Jesus Christ; and from
the Sorrows and Pains in the Flesh, which are only the Effects
of some sensible Impression of Things without, by a quiet
Introversion of the Spirit, and secret Communion with the Deity
manifesting Itself for that End. It would penetrate into itself;
it would sink into the great Love of God; it would be sustained
and refreshed by the most sweet name JESUS; and it would see and
find within itself a new World springing forth as through the
Anger of God, into the Love and Joy Eternal. And then should a
Man wrap his Soul in this, even in the great Love of God, and
clothe himself Therewith as with a Garment; and should account
thence all Things alike; because in the Creature he finds
NoThing that can give him, without God, the least Satisfaction;
and because also Nothing of Harm can touch him more, while he
remains in this Love, which indeed is stronger that all Things,
and makes a Man hence invulnerable both from within and without,
by taking out the Sting and Poison of the Creatures, and
destroying the Power of Death. And whether the Body be in Hell
or on Earth, all is alike to him; for whether it be there or
here, his Mind is still in the greatest Love of God; which is no
less than to say, that he is in Heaven.

Disciple:

But how would a Man’s Body be maintained in the World; or how
would he be able to maintain those that are his, if he should by
such a Conversation incur the Displeasure of all the World?

Master:

Such a Man gets greater Favors than the World is able to bestow
upon him. He hath God for his Friend; he hath all His Angels for
his Friends: In all Dangers and Necessities these protect and
relieve him; so that he need fear no Manner of Evil; no Creature
can hurt him. God is his Helper; and that is sufficient. Also
God is his Blessing in every Thing; and though sometimes it may
seem as if God would not bless him, yet is this but for a Trial
to him, and for the Attraction of the Divine Love; to the End he
may more fervently pray to God, and commit all his Ways unto
Him.

Disciple:

He loses however by this all his good Friends; and there will be
none to help him in his Necessity.

Master:

Nay, but he gets the Hearts of all his true Friends into his
Possession, and loses none but his Enemies, who before loved his
Vanity and Wickedness.

Disciple:

How it is that he can get his true Friends into his Possession?

Master:

He gets the very Hearts and Souls of all those that belong to
our Lord Jesus to be his Brethren, and the Members of his own
very Life. For all the Children of God are but One in Christ,
which One is Christ in All; and therefore he gets them all to be
his Fellow Members in the Body of Christ, whence they have all
the same Heavenly Goods in common; and all live in one and the
same Love of God, as the Branches of a Tree in one and the same
Root, and spring all from one and the same Source of Life in
them. So that he can have no Want of spiritual Friends and
Relations, who are all rooted with him together in the Love
which is from above; who are all of the same Blood and Kindred
in Christ Jesus; and who are all nourished by the same
quickening Sap and Spirit diffusing Itself through them
universally from the one True Vine, which is the Tree of Life
and Love. These are Friends worth having; and though Here they
may be unknown to him, will abide his Friends beyond Death, to
all Eternity. But neither can he want even outward natural
Friends, as our Lord Christ when on Earth did not want such
also. For though indeed the High-Priests and Potentates of the
World could not have a Love for Him because they belonged not to
Him, neither stood in any Kind of Relation to Him, since He was
not of this World; yet those loved Him who were capable of His
Love, and receptive of His Words. So in like Manner, those who
love Truth and Righteousness will love that Man, and will
associate themselves unto him, yea, though they may perhaps be
outwardly at some Distance or seeming Disagreement, from the
Situation of their worldly Affairs, or out of some certain
Respects; yet in their Hearts they cannot but cleave to him. For
though they be not yet actually incorporated into one Body with
him, yet they cannot resist being of one Mind with him, and
being united in Affection, for the great Regard they bear to the
Truth, which shines forth in his Words and in his Life. By which
they are made either his declared or his secret Friends; and he
doth so get their Hearts, as they will be delighted above all
Things in his Company, for the Sake thereof, and will court his
Friendship, and will come unto him by Stealth, if openly they
dare not, for the Benefit of his Conversation and Advice; even
as Nicodemus did unto Christ, who came to Him by Night, and in
his Heart loved Jesus for the Truth’s Sake, though outwardly he
feared the World. And thus thou shalt have many Friends that are
not known to thee; and some known to thee, who may not appear so
before the World.

Disciple:

Nevertheless it is very grievous to be generally despised of the
World, and to be trampled upon by Men as the very Offscouring
thereof.

Master:

That which now seems so hard and heavy to thee, thou wilt yet
hereafter be most of all in Love with.

Disciple:

How can it be that I should ever love that which hates me?

Master:

Though thou lovest the earthly Wisdom now, yet when thou shalt
be clothed upon with the Heavenly Wisdom, then thou wilt see
that all the Wisdom of the World is Folly; and wilt see also
that the World hates not so much thee, as it does thine Enemy,
which is the Mortal Life. And when thou thyself shalt come to
hate the Will thereof, by Means of a habitual Separation of thy
Mind from the World, then thou also wilt begin to love that
despising of the Mortal Life, and the Reproach of the World for
Christ’s Sake . And so shalt thou be able to stand under every
Temptation, and to hold out to the End by the Means hereof in
the Course of Life above the World, and above Sense. In this
Course thou wilt hate thyself; and thou wilt also love thyself;
I say love thyself, and that even more than ever thou didst yet.

Disciple:

But how can these two subsist together, that a Person should
both love and hate himself?

Master:

In loving thyself, thou lovest not thySELF as thine OWN; but as
given thee from the Love of God thou lovest the Divine Ground in
thee; by which and in which thou lovest the Divine Wisdom, the
Divine Goodness, the Divine Beauty; thou lovest also by it God’s
Works of Wonders; and in this Ground thou lovest likewise thy
Brethren. But in hating thySELF, thou hatest only that which is
thine OWN, and wherein the Evil sticks close to thee. And this
thou dost, that so thou mayest wholly destroy that which thou
callest thine; as when thou sayest I or MYSELF do this, or do
that. All which is wrong, and a downright Mistake in thee; for
nothing canst thou properly call thine but the Evil SELF,
neither canst thou do any Thing of thyself that is to be
accounted of. This SELF therefore thou must labor wholly to
destroy IN THEE, that so thou mayest become a Ground wholly
Divine. There is, there can be no SELFishness in Love; they are
opposite to each other. Love, that is, Divine Love (of which
only we are now discoursing) hates all Egoity, hates all that
which we call I, or IHOOD; hates all such Restrictions and
Confinements, yea even all that springs from a contracted
Spirit, or this evil SELF-hood, because it is a hateful and
deadly Thing. And it is impossible that these two should stand
together, or subsist in one Person; the one driving out the
other by a Necessity of Nature. For Love possesses Heaven, and
dwells in Itself, which is dwelling in Heaven; but that which is
called I, this vile SELF-hood possesses the World and worldly
Things; and dwells also in itself, which is dwelling in Hell,
because this is the very Root of Hell itself. And therefore as
Heaven rules above the World and as Eternity rules above Time,
even so ought Love to rule above the natural temporal Life; for
no other Method is there, neither can there be of attaining to
that Life which is Supernatural and Eternal, and which thou so
much desirest to be led into.

Disciple:

Loving Master, I am well content that this Love should rule in
me over the natural Life, so that I may attain to that which is
Supernatural and Supersensual; but pray tell me now, why must
Love and Hatred, Friend and Foe thus be together? Would not Love
alone be better? Wherefore, I say, are Love and Trouble thus
joined?

Master:

If Love dwelt not in Trouble, It could have Nothing to love; but
when Its Substance which It loves, namely, the poor Soul, is in
Trouble and Pain, Love hath thence Cause to love this, Its own
Substance, and to deliver it from its Pain; that so the
Soul,itself, may by the indwelling Love be again Beloved.
Neither could any one know what Love is, if there were no
Hatred; or what Friendship is, if there were no Foe to contend
with. Or in one Word, for Love to be known It must have
Something which It might Love, and where Its Virtue and Power
may be manifested, by working out Deliverance to the Beloved
from all Pain and Trouble.

Disciple:

Pray what is the Virtue, Power, the Height and the Greatness of
Love?

Master:

The Virtue of Love is NOTHING and ALL, or that Nothing visible
out of which All Things proceed; Its Power is through All
Things; Its Height is as high as God; Its Greatness is as great
as God. Its Virtue is the Principle of all Principles; Its Power
supports the Heavens and upholds the Earth; Its Height is higher
than the highest Heavens; and Its Greatness is even greater than
the very Manifestation of the Godhead in the glorious Light of
the Divine Essence, as being infinitely capable of greater and
greater Manifestations in all Eternity. What can I say more?
Love is higher than the Highest. Love is greater than the
Greatest. Yea, It is in a certain Sense greater than God; while
yet in the highest Sense of all, God is Love, and Love is God.
Love being the highest Principle, is the Virtue of all Virtues;
from whence they all flow forth. Love being the greatest
Majesty, is the Power of all Powers, from whence they severally
operate; and It is the Holy Magical Root, or Ghostly Power from
whence all the Wonders of God have been wrought by the Hands of
his elect Servants, in all their Generations successively.
Whosoever finds It, finds Nothing and All Things.

Disciple:

Dear Master, pray tell me how to understand this.

Master:

First then, in that I said, Its Virtue is Nothing, or that
NOTHING which is the BEGINNING of All Things, thou must
understand It thus; when thou art gone forth wholly from the
Creature, and from that which is visible, and art become Nothing
to all that is Nature and Creature, then thou art in that
Eternal One, which is God Himself. And then thou shalt perceive
and feel in thy Interior, the highest Virtue of Love. But in
that I said, Its Power is through All Things, this is that which
thou perceivest and findest in thy own Soul and Body
experimentally, whenever this great Love is enkindled within
thee; seeing that It will burn more than the Fire can do, as It
did in the Prophets of old, and afterwards in the Apostles, when
God conversed with them bodily, and when His Spirit descended
upon them in the Oratory of Zion. Thou shalt then see also in
all the Works of God, how Love hath poured Itself into all
Things, and penetrateth all Things, and is the most inward and
most outward Ground in all Things – inwardly in the Virtue and
Power of every Thing, and outwardly in the Figure and Form
thereof. And in that I said, Its Height is as high as God; thou
mayest understand this in thyself; forasmuch as It brings thee
to be as high as God Himself is, by being united to God – as may
be seen by our beloved Lord Christ in our Humanity. Which
Humanity Love hath brought up into the highest Throne, above all
Angelical Principalities and Powers, into the very Power of the
Deity itself. But in that I also said, Its Greatness is as great
as God, thou art hereby to understand, that there is a certain
Greatness and Latitude of Heart in Love, which is inexpressible;
for It enlarges the Soul as wide as the whole Creation of God.
And this shall be truly experienced by thee, beyond all Words,
when the Throne of Love shall be set up in thy Heart. Moreover
in that I said, Its Virtue is the Principle of all Principles,
hereby it is given thee to understand, that Love is the
principiating Cause of all created Beings, both spiritual and
corporeal, by Virtue whereof the second Causes do move and act
occasionally according to certain Eternal Laws from the
Beginning implanted in the very Life and Energy of all the
Principles of Nature, superior and inferior -It reaches to all
Worlds, and to all Manner of Beings in them contained, they
being the Workmanship of Divine Love; and It is the first Mover,
and first Moveable both in Heaven above and in the Earth
beneath, and in the Water under the Earth. And hence there is
given to It the Name of Lucid Aleph, or Alpha; by which is
expressed the Beginning of the Alphabet of Nature, and of the
Book of Creation and Providence, or the Divine Archetypal Book,
in which is the Light of Wisdom, and the Source of all Lights
and Forms. And in that I said, Its Power supports the Heavens;
by this thou wilt come to understand, that as the Heavens,
visible and invisible, are originated from this great Principle,
so are they likewise necessarily sustained by It; and that
therefore if This should be but never so little withdrawn, all
the Lights, Glories, Beauties, and Forms of the heavenly Worlds,
would presently sink into Darkness and Chaos. And whereas I
further said, that It upholds the Earth; this will appear to
thee no less evident than the former, and thou shalt perceive It
in thyself by daily and hourly Experience; forasmuch as the
Earth without It, even thy own Earth also, (that is, thy Body)
would certainly be without Form and Void. By the Power thereof
the Earth hath been thus long upheld, notwithstanding a foreign
usurped Power introduced by the Folly of Sin. And should this
but once fail or recede, there could no longer be either
Vegetation or Animation upon it; yea, the very Pillars of it
would be quite overthrown, and the Band of Union, which is that
of Attraction or Magnetism, called the Centripetal Power, being
broken and dissolved, all must thence run into the utmost
Disorder, and falling away as into Shivers, would be dispersed
as loose Dust before the Wind. But in that I said, Its Height is
higher than the highest Heavens; this thou mayest also
understand within thyself; so shouldest thou ascend in Spirit
through all the Orders of Angels and heavenly Powers, yet the
Power of Love still is undeniably superior to them all. And as
the Throne of God, Who sits upon the Heaven of Heavens, is
higher than the highest of them, even so must Love also be,
which fills them all, and comprehends them all. And whereas I
said of the Greatness of Love, that It is greater than the very
Manifestation of the Godhead in the Light of the Divine Essence;
that is also true. For Love enters even into that where the
Godhead is not manifested in this glorious Light, and where God
may be said not to dwell. And entering thereinto, Love begins to
manifest to the Soul the Light of the Godhead; and thus is the
Darkness broken through, and the Wonders of the new Creation
successively manifested. Thus shalt thou be brought to
understand really and fundamentally, what is the Virtue and
Power of Love, and what the Height and Greatness thereof is; how
that It is indeed the Virtue of all Virtues, though It be
invisible, and as a Nothing in Appearance, inasmuch as It is the
Worker of all Things, and a powerful vital Energy passing
through all Virtues and Powers natural and supernatural; and the
Power of all Powers, nothing being able to let or obstruct the
Omnipotence of Love, or to resist Its invincible penetrating
Might, which passes through the whole Creation of God,
inspecting and governing all Things. And in that I said, It is
higher than the Highest, and greater than the Greatest; thou
mayest hereby perceive as in a Glimpse, the supreme Height and
Greatness of Omnipotent Love, which infinitely transcends all
that human Sense and Reason can reach to. The highest Archangels
and the greatest Powers of Heaven are, in Comparison of it, but
as Dwarfs. Nothing can be conceived higher and greater in God
Himself, by the very Highest and Greatest of His Creatures.
There is such an Infinity in It, as comprehends and surpasses
all the Divine Attributes. But in that it was also said, Its
Greatness is greater than God; that likewise is very true in the
Sense wherein it was spoken; For Love, as I before observed, can
there enter where God dwelleth not, since the most high God
dwelleth not in Darkness, but in the Light – the hellish
Darkness being put under His Feet. Thus for Instance, when our
beloved Lord Christ was in Hell, Hell was not the Mansion of God
or of Christ; Hell was not God, neither was it with God, nor
could it be at all with Him; Hell stood in the Darkness and
Anxiety of Nature, and no Light of the Divine Majesty did there
enter. God was not there; for He is not in the Darkness or in
the Anguish; but Love was there; and Love destroyed Death and
conquered Hell. So also when thou art in Anguish or Trouble,
which is Hell within, God is not the Anguish or Trouble; neither
is He in the Anguish or Trouble; but His Love is there, and
brings thee out of the Anguish and Trouble into God, leading
thee into the Light and Joy of His Presence. When God hides
Himself in thee, Love is still there, and makes Him manifest in
thee. Such is the inconceivable Greatness and Largeness of Love;
which will hence appear to thee as great as God above Nature,
and greater than God in Nature, so as considered in his
manifestative Glory. Lastly, whereas I also said, Whosoever
finds It, finds Nothing and All Things; that is also certain and
true. But how finds he Nothing? Why, I will tell thee how. He
that findeth it, findeth a Supernatural Supersensual Abyss,
which hath no Ground or Byss to stand on, and where there is no
Place to dwell in; and he findeth also Nothing is like unto It,
and therefore It may fitly be compared to Nothing; for It is
deeper than any Thing, and is as NoThing with respect to All
Things, forasmuch as It is not comprehensible by any of them.
And because It is NoThing respectively, It is therefore free
from All Things; and is that only Good, which a Man cannot
express or utter what It is; there being Nothing to which It may
be compared, to express It by. But in that I lastly said,
Whosoever finds It, finds All Things; there is nothing can be
more true than this Assertion. It hath been the BEGINNING of All
Things; and It ruleth All Things. It is also the END of All
Things; and will thence comprehend All Things within Its Circle.
All Things are from It, and in It, and by It. If thou findest
It, thou comest into that Ground from whence All Things are
proceeded, and wherein they subsist; and thou art in It a KING
over all the Works of God.

Here the Disciple was exceedingly ravished with what his Master had so
wonderfully and surprisingly declared, and returned his most humble and
hearty Thanks for that Light, which his Master had been an Instrument
of conveying to him. But being desirous to hear further concerning
these high Matters, and to know Somewhat more particularly, he
requested him that he would give him Leave to wait on him the next Day
again; and that he would then be pleased to show him how and where he
might find this which was so much beyond all Price and Value, and
whereabout the Seat and Abode of it might be in human Nature; with the
entire Process of the Discovery and bringing it forth to Light.

The Master said to him: This then we will discourse about at our next
Conference, as God shall reveal the same to us by his SPIRIT, which is
the Searcher of All Things. And if thou dost remember well what I
answered thee in the Beginning, thou shalt soon come thereby to
understand that hidden mystical Wisdom of God, which none of the Wise
Men of the World know; and where the MIND thereof is to be found in
thee, shall be given thee from above to discern. Be silent therefore in
thy Spirit, and watch unto Prayer; that when we meet again Tomorrow in
the Love of Christ, thy Mind may be disposed for finding that noble
PEARL, which to the World appears Nothing, but which to the Children of
Wisdom is All Things.
__________________________________________________________________

ARGUMENT

Herein is described and set forth the Manner of passing the Gulf
which divides betwixt the two Principles or States of Heaven and
Hell: And it is particularly shown how this Transaction is carried
on in the Soul; what the Partition Wall therein is, which separates
from God.

What the breaking down of this Partition Wall, and how effected;
what the Center of Light is, and the pressing into that Center is;
What the Light of God, and Light of Nature are; how they are
operative in their several Spheres, and how to be kept from
interfering with each other; with some Account of the two Wills and
their Contraposition in the Fallen State; of the Magical Wheel of
the Will, and how the Motion thereof may be regulated; of the Eye in
the Midst thereof, what the Right Eye is to the Soul, and what the
Left is, but especially what the Single Eye is, and in what Manner
it is to be obtained; of the Purification from the Contagion of
Matter; of the Destruction of Evil, and of the very Annihilation of
it, by the Subsidence of the Will from its own Something into
Nothing; of the Naked and Magical Faith, and the Attraction thereby
of a certain Divine Substantiality and Vestment; how all consists in
the Will, and proceeds but from one Point; where that Point is
placed, and how it may be found out; and which is both the safest
and nearest Way to attain to the high supersensual State, and the
internal Kingdom of Christ, according to the true Heavenly Magia or
Wisdom.
__________________________________________________________________

The Disciple being very earnest to be more fully instructed how he
might arrive at the Supersensual Life; and how, having found All
Things, he might come to be a King over all God’s Works; came again to
his Master the next Morning, having watched the Night in Prayer, that
he might be disposed to receive and apprehend the Instructions that
should be given him by a Divine Irradiation upon his Mind. And the
Disciple after a little Space of Silence, bowed himself, and thus brake
forth:

Disciple:

O my Master! my Master! I have now endeavoured to recollect my
Soul in the Presence of God, and to cast myself into that Deep
where no Creature doth nor can dwell; that I might hear the
Voice of my Lord speaking in me; and be initiated into that high
Life, whereof I heard Yesterday such great and amazing Things
pronounced. But alas! I neither hear nor see as I should; there
is still such a Partition Wall in me which beats back the
Heavenly Sounds in their Passage, and obstructs the Entrance of
that Light by which alone Divine Objects are discoverable, as
till this be broken down, I can have but small Hopes, yea, even
none at all, of arriving at those glorious Attainments which you
pressed me to, or of entering into that where no Creature
dwells, and which you call Nothing and All Things. Wherefore be
so kind as to inform me what is required on my Part, that this
Partition which hinders may be broken or removed.

Master:

This Partition is the Creaturely Will in thee; and this can be
broken by nothing but by the Grace of SELF-DENIAL, which is the
Entrance into the True Following of Christ, and totally removed
by Nothing but a perfect Conformity with the Divine Will.

Disciple:

But how shall I be able to break this Creaturely Will which is
at Enmity with the Divine Will? Or, what shall I do to follow
Christ in so difficult a Path, and not to faint in a continual
Course of SELF-DENIAL and RESIGNATION to the Will of God?

Master:

This is not to be done by thyself; but by the Light and Grace of
God received into thy Soul, which will, if thou gainsay not,
break the Darkness that is in thee, and melt down thine OWN
Will, which worketh in the Darkness and Corruption of Nature,
and bring it into the Obedience of Christ, whereby the Partition
of the Creaturely SELF is removed from betwixt God and thee.

Disciple:

I know that I cannot do it of myself. But I would fain learn,
how I must receive this Divine Light and Grace into me, Which is
to do it for me, if I hinder It not my own SELF. What is then
required of me in order to admit this Breaker of the Partition
and to promote the Attainment of the Ends of such Admission?

Master:

There is Nothing more required of thee at first, than not to
resist this Grace, Which is manifested in thee; and Nothing in
the whole Process of thy Work, but to be obedient and passive to
the Light of God shining through the Darkness of thy Creaturely
Being, which reaching no higher than the Light of Nature,
comprehendeth It not.

Disciple:

But is it not for me to attain, if I can, both the Light of God,
and the Light of the outward Nature too; and to make use of them
both for the ordering of my Life wisely and prudently?

Master:

It is right, I confess, so to do. And it is indeed a Treasure
above all earthly Treasures, to be possessed of the Light of God
and Nature, operating in their Spheres; and to have both the Eye
of Time and Eternity at once open together, and yet not to
interfere with each other.

Disciple:

This is a great Satisfaction to me to hear; having been very
uneasy about it for some Time. But how this can be without
interfering with each other, there is the Difficulty. Wherefore,
fain would I know, if it were lawful, the Boundaries of the one
and the other; and how both the Divine and the Natural Light may
in their several Spheres respectively act and operate, for the
Manifestation of the Mysteries of God and Nature, and for the
Conduct of my outward and inward Life?

Master:

That each of these may be preserved distinct in their several
Spheres, without confounding Things Heavenly and Things Earthly,
or breaking the golden Chain of Wisdom, it will be necessary, my
Child, in the first Place to wait for and attend the
Supernatural and Divine Light, as that superior Light appointed
to govern the Day, rising in the true East, which is the Center
of Paradise; and in great Might breaking forth as out of the
Darkness within thee, through a Pillar of Fire and
Thunder-Clouds, and thereby also reflecting upon the inferior
Light of Nature a Sort of Image of Itself, whereby only it can
be kept in its due Subordination; that which is below being made
subservient to that which is above; and that which is without to
that which is within. Thus there will be no Danger of
interfering; but all will go right, and every Thing abide in its
proper Sphere.

Disciple:

Therefore without Reason or the Light of Nature be sanctified in
my Soul, and illuminated by this superior Light, as from the
central East of the holy Light-World, by the Eternal and
Intellectual Sun; I perceive there will always be some
Confusion, and I shall never be able to manage aright either
what concerneth Time or Eternity; but I must always be at a
Loss, or break the Links of Wisdom’s Chain.

Master:

It is even so as thou hast said. All is Confusion, if thou hast
no more but the dim Light of Nature, or unsanctified and
unregenerated Reason to guide thee by; and if only the Eye of
Time be opened in thee, which cannot pierce beyond its own
Limit. Wherefore seek the Fountain of Light, waiting in the deep
Ground of thy Soul for the rising there of the Sun of
Righteousness, whereby the Light of Nature in thee, with the
Properties thereof, will be made to shine seven Times brighter
than ordinary. For it shall receive the Stamp, Image, and
Impression of the Supersensual and Supernatural; so that the
sensual and rational Life will hence be brought into the most
perfect Order and Harmony.

Disciple:

But how am I to wait for the Rising of this glorious Sun, and
how am I to seek in the Center, this Fountain of Light, which
may enlighten me throughout, and bring all my Properties into
perfect Harmony? I am in Nature, as I said before; and which Way
shall I pass through Nature, and the Light thereof, so that I
may come into that Supernatural and Supersensual Ground, from
whence this true Light, which is the Light of Minds, doth arise;
and this, without the Destruction of my Nature, or quenching the
Light of it, which is my – Reason?

Master:

Cease but from thine own Activity, steadfastly fixing thine Eye
upon one Point, and with a strong Purpose relying upon the
promised Grace of God in Christ, to bring thee out of thy
Darkness into His Marvelous Light. For this End gather in all
thy Thoughts, and by Faith press into the Center, laying hold
upon the Word of God, which is infallible, and which hath called
thee. Be thou then obedient to this Call; and be silent before
the Lord, sitting alone with Him in thy inmost and most hidden
Cell, thy Mind being centrally united in itself, and attending
His Will in the Patience of Hope. So shall thy Light break forth
as the Morning; and after the Redness thereof is passed, the Son
Himself, which thou waitest for, shall arise unto thee, and
under His most healing Wings thou shalt greatly rejoice;
ascending and descending in His bright and salutiferous Beams.
Behold this is the true Supersensual Ground of Life.

Disciple:

I believe it indeed to be even so. But will not this destroy
Nature? Will not the Light of Nature in me be extinguished by
this greater Light? Or must not the outward Life hence perish,
with the earthly Body which I carry?

Master:

By no Means at all. It is true, the evil Nature will be
destroyed by It; but by the Destruction thereof you can be no
Loser, but very much the Gainer. The Eternal Band of Nature is
the same afterward as before; and the Properties are the same.
So that Nature hereby is only advanced and meliorated; and the
Light thereof, or human Reason, by being kept within its due
Bounds, and regulated by a superior Light is only made useful.

Disciple:

Pray therefore let me know how this inferior Light ought to be
used by me; how it is to be kept within its due Bounds; and
after what Manner the superior Light doth regulate and ennoble
it.

Master:

Know then, my beloved Son, that if thou wilt keep the Light of
Nature within its own proper Bounds, and make use thereof in
just Subordination to the Light of God; thou must consider that
there are in thy Soul two Wills, an inferiour Will, which is for
driving thee to Things without and below; and a superiour Will,
which is for drawing to Things within and above. These two Wills
are now set together, as it were, Back to Back, and in a direct
Contrariety to each other; but in the Beginning, it was not so.
For this Contraposition of the Soul in these two is no more than
the Effect of the Fallen State; since before that they were
placed one under the other, that is, the superiour Will Above,
as the Lord, and the inferiour Below, as the Subject. And thus
it ought to have continued. Thou must also further consider,
that answering to these two Wills there are likewise two Eyes in
the Soul, whereby they are severally directed; forasmuch as
these Eyes are not united in one single View, but look quite
contrary Ways at once. They are in a like Manner set one against
the other, without a common Medium to join them. And hence, so
long as this Double-sightedness doth remain, it is impossible
there should be any Agreement in the Determination of this or
that Will. This is very plain; and it showeth the Necessity that
this Malady, arising from the Dis-union of the Rays of Vision,
be some Way remedied and redressed, in order to a true
Discernment in the Mind. Both these Eyes therefore must be made
to unite by a Concentration of Rays; there being nothing more
dangerous than for the Mind to abide thus in the Duplicity, and
not to seek to arrive at the Unity of Vision. Thou perceivest, I
know, that thou hast two Wills in thee, one set against the
other, the Superior and the Inferior; and that thou hast also
two Eyes within, one against another; whereof the one Eye may be
called the Right Eye, and the other the Left Eye. Thou
perceivest too, doubtless, that it is according to the Right Eye
that the Wheel of the superiour Will is moved; and that it is
according to the Left Eye, that the contrary Wheel in the lower
is turned about.

Disciple:

I perceive this, Sir, to be very true; and this it is which
causeth a continual Combat in me, and createth to me greater
Anxiety than I am able to express. Nor am I unacquainted with
the Disease of my own Soul, which you have so clearly declared.
Alas! I feel such irregular and convulsive Motions drawing me on
this Side and that Side. The Spirit seeth not as the Flesh
seeth; neither doth, or can the Flesh seeth as the Spirit seeth.
Hence the Spirit willeth against the Flesh; and the Flesh
willeth against the Spirit in me. This hath been my hard Case.
And how shall it be remedied? O how may I arrive at the Unity of
Will, and how come into the Unity of Vision?

Master:

Mark now what I say: The Right Eye looketh forward in thee into
Eternity. The Left Eye looketh backward in thee into Time. If
now thou sufferest thyself to be always looking into Nature, and
the Things of Time, and to be leading the Will, and to be
seeking Somewhat for thyself in the Desire, it will be
impossible for thee ever to arrive at the Unity, which thou
wishest for. Remember this; and always be upon thy Watch. Give
not thy Mind leave to enter into, nor to fill itself with, that
which is without thee; neither look thou backward upon thySELF;
but quit thySELF, and look forward upon Christ. Let not thy Left
Eye deceive thee, by making continually one Representation after
another, and stirring up thereby an earnest Longing in the
SELF-Propriety; but let thy Right Eye command back this Left,
and attract it to thee, so that it may not gad Abroad into the
Wonders and Delights of Nature. Yea, it is better to pluck it
quite out, and to cast it from thee, than to suffer it to
proceed forth without Restraint into Nature, and to follow its
own Lusts. However there is for this no Necessity, since both
Eyes may become very useful, if ordered aright; and both the
Divine and natural Light may in the Soul subsist together, and
be of mutual Service to each other. But never shalt thou arrive
at the Unity of Vision or Uniformity of Will, but by entering
fully into the Will of our Saviour Christ, and therein bringing
the Eye of Time into the Eye of Eternity; and then descending by
Means of this united through the Light of God into the Light of
Nature.

Disciple:

So then if I can but enter into the Will of my LORD, and abide
therein, I am safe, and may both attain to the Light of God in
the Spirit of my Soul, and see with the Eye of God, that is, the
Eye of Eternity in the Eternal Ground of my Will; and may also
at the same Time enjoy the Light of this World nevertheless; not
degrading but adorning the Light of Nature; and beholding as
with the Eye of Eternity Things Eternal, so with the Eye of
Nature Things Natural, and both contemplating therein the
Wonders of God, and sustaining also thereby the Life of my
outward Vehicle or Body.

Master:

It is very right. Thou hast well understood; and thou desirest
now to enter into the Will of God, and to abide therein as in
the Supersensual Ground of Light and Life, where thou mayest in
His Light behold both Time and Eternity, and bring all the
Wonders created of God for the exterior into the interior Life,
and so eternally rejoice in them to the Glory of Christ; the
Partition of thy Creaturely Will being broken down, and the Eye
of thy Spirit simplified in and through the Eye of God
manifesting Itself in the Center of thy Life. Let this be so
now, for it is God’s Will.

Disciple:

But it is very hard to be always looking forwards into Eternity;
and consequently to attain to this single Eye, and Simplicity of
Divine Vision. The Entrance of a Soul naked into the Will of
God, shutting out all Imaginations and Desires, and breaking
down the strong Partition which you mention, is indeed somewhat
very terrible and shocking to human Nature in its present State.
O what shall I do, that I may reach this which I so much long
for?

Master:

My Son, let not the Eye of Nature with the Will of the Wonders
depart from that Eye which is introverted into the Divine
Liberty, and into the Eternal Light of the holy Majesty; but let
it draw to thee those Wonders by Union with that heavenly
internal Eye, which are externally wrought out and manifested in
visible Nature. For while thou art in the World, and hast an
honest Employment, thou art certainly by the Order of Providence
obliged to labor in it, and to finish the Work given thee,
according to thy best Ability, without Repining or Complaining
in the least and to seek out and manifest for God’s Glory, the
Wonders of Nature and Art. Since let the Nature be what it will,
it is all the Work and Art of God; and let the Art also be what
it will, it is still God’s Work, and His Art, rather than any
Art or Cunning of Man. And all both in Art and Nature serveth
but abundantly to manifest the wonderful Works of God; that He
for all, and in all may be glorified. Yea, all serveth but to
recollect thee more inward if thou knowest rightly how to use
them, and to draw thy Spirit into that majestic Light, wherein
the original Patterns and Forms of Things visible are to be
seen. Keep therefore in the Center, and stir not out from the
Presence of God revealed within thy Soul; let the World and the
Devil make never so great a Noise and Bustle to draw thee out,
mind them not; they cannot hurt thee. It is permitted to the Eye
of thy Reason to seek Food, and to thy Hands, by their Labor, to
get Food for the terrestrial Body. But then this Eye ought not
with its Desire to enter into the Food prepared, which would be
Covetousness; but must in Resignation simply bring it before the
Eye of God in thy Spirit, and then thou must seek to place it
close to this very Eye, without letting it go. Mark this Lesson
well. Let the Hands or the Head be at Labor, thy Heart ought
nevertheless to rest in God. God is a Spirit; dwell in the
Spirit, work in the Spirit, pray in the Spirit, and do every
Thing in the Spirit; for remember thou also art a Spirit, and
thereby created in the Image of God. Therefore see that thy
Desire attract not Matter unto thee, but as much as possible
abstract thyself from all Matter whatever; and so, standing in
the Center, present thyself as a vacant, naked Spirit before
God, in Simplicity and Purity; and be sure thy Spirit draw in
nothing but Spirit. Thou wilt yet be greatly enticed to draw
Matter, and to gather that which the World calls Substance,
thereby to have somewhat visible to trust to. But by no Means
consent to the Tempter, nor yield to the Lusting of thy Flesh
against the Spirit. For in so doing thou wilt infallibly obscure
the Divine Light in thee; thy Spirit will stick in the dark
covetous Root, and from the fiery Source of thy Soul will it
blaze out in Pride and Anger; thy Will shall be chained in
Earthliness, and shall sink through the Anguish into Darkness
and materiality; and never shalt thou be able to reach the still
Liberty, or to stand before the Majesty of God. Since this is
opening a Door for him who reigneth in the Corruption of Matter,
possibly the Devil may roar at thee for this Refusal; because
nothing can vex him worse than such a silent Abstraction of the
Soul, and Controversion thereof to the Point of Rest from all
that is worldly and circumferential. But regard him not; neither
admit into thee the least Dust of Matter which he may pretend
any Claim to. It will be all Darkness to thee, as much Matter as
is drawn in by the Desire of thy Will. It will darken God’s
Majesty to thee; and will close the seeing Eye, by hiding from
thee the Light of His beloved Countenance. This the Serpent
longeth to do; but in vain, except thou permittest thy
Imagination upon his Suggestion, to receive in the alluring
Matter; else he can never get in. Behold then, if thou desirest
to see God’s Light in thy Soul, and be divinely illuminated and
conducted, this is the short Way that thou art to take; not to
let the Eye of thy Spirit enter into Matter, or fill itself with
any Thing whatever, either in Heaven or Earth; but to let it
enter by naked Faith into the Light of the Majesty; and so
receive by pure Love the Light of God, and attract the Divine
Power into itself, putting on the Divine Body, and growing up in
it to the full Maturity of the Humanity of Christ.

Disciple:

As I said before, so I say again, this is very hard. I conceive
indeed well enough that my Spirit ought to be free from the
Contagion of Matter, and wholly empty, so that it may admit into
it the Spirit of God. Also, that this Spirit will not enter, but
where the Will entereth into Nothing, and resigneth itself up in
the Nakedness of Faith, and in the Purity of Love, to Its
Conduct; feeding magically upon the Word of God, and clothing
itself thereby with a Divine Substantiality. But alas, how hard
it is for the Will to sink into Nothing, to attract Nothing, to
imagine Nothing!

Master:

Let it be granted that it is so. Is it not surely worth thy Time
and Effort, and all that thou canst ever do?

Disciple:

It is so, I must needs confess.

Master:

But perhaps it may not be so hard as at first it appeareth to
be; make but the Trial, and be in earnest. What is there
required of thee, but to stand still, and see the Salvation of
thy God? And couldst thou desire any Thing less? Where is the
Hardship in this? Thou hast Nothing to care for, Nothing to
desire in this Life, Nothing to imagine or attract. Thou needest
only cast thy Care upon God, who careth for thee, and leave Him
to dispose of thee according to His Good Will and Pleasure, even
as if thou hadst no Will at all in thee. For He knoweth what is
best; and if thou canst but trust Him, He will most certainly do
better for thee, than if thou were left to thine own Choice.

Disciple:

This I most firmly believe.

Master:

If thou believest, then go and do accordingly. All is in the
Will, as I have shown thee. When the Will imagineth after
Somewhat, then entereth it into that Somewhat, then presently
that same Somewhat taketh the Will into itself, and overcloudeth
it, so that it can have no Light, but must dwell in Darkness,
unless it return back out of that Somewhat into Nothing. For
when the Will imagineth or lusteth after Nothing, then it
entereth into Nothing, where it receiveth the Will of God into
itself, and so dwelleth in Light, and worketh all its Works in
that Light.

Disciple:

I am now satisfied that the Main Cause of any one’s Spiritual
Blindness is his letting his Will into Somewhat, or into that
which he hath wrought, of what Nature soever it be, Good or
Evil, and his setting his Heart and Affections upon the Work of
his own Hands or Brain; and that when the earthly Body
perisheth, then the Soul must be imprisoned in that very Thing
which it shall have received and let in; and if the Light of God
be not in it, being deprived of the Light of this World, it
cannot but be found in a dark Prison.

Master:

This is a very precious Gate of Knowledge; I am glad thou takest
it into such Consideration. The understanding of the whole
Scripture is contained in it; and all that hath been written
from the Beginning of the World to this Day, may be found
herein, by him that having entered with his Will into Nothing,
hath there found All Things by finding God; from Whom, and to
Whom, and in Whom are All Things. By this Means thou shalt come
to hear and see God; and after this earthly Life is ended, to
see with the Eye of Eternity all the Wonders of God and of
Nature, and more particularly those which shall have been
wrought by thee in the Flesh, or all that the Spirit of God
shall have given thee to labor out for thyself and thy Neighbor,
or all that the Eye of Reason enlightened from above, may at any
Time have manifested to thee. Delay not therefore to enter in by
this Gate, which if thou seest in the Spirit, as some highly
favored Souls have seen it, thou seest in the Supersensual
Ground, all that God is, and can do; thou seest also therewith,
as one hath said who was taken thereinto, through Heaven, Hell,
and Earth, and through the Essence of all Essences. Whosoever
findeth It, hath found All that he can possibly desire. Here is
the Virtue and Power of the Love of God displayed. Here is the
Height and Depth; here is the Breadth and Length thereof
manifested, as ever the Capacity of thy Soul can contain. By
this thou shalt come into that Ground out of which all Things
are originated, and in which they subsist; and in It thou shalt
reign over all God’s Works, as a Prince of God.

Disciple:

Pray tell me, dear Master, where dwelleth It in Man?

Master:

Where Man dwelleth not, there It hath Its Seat in Man.

Disciple:

Where is that in a Man, where Man dwelleth not in himself?

Master:

It is the resigned Ground of a Soul, to which NoThing cleaveth.

Disciple:

Where is the Ground in any Soul, to which there will NoThing
stick? Or, where is that which abideth and dwelleth not in
SomeThing?

Master:

It is the Center of Rest and Motion in the resigned Will of a
truly contrite Spirit, which is crucified to the World. This
Center of the Will is impenetrable consequently to the World,
the Devil, and Hell; Nothing in all the World can enter into it,
or adhere to it, though never so many Devils should be in the
Confederacy against it; because the Will is dead with Christ
unto this World, but quickened with Him in the Center thereof,
after His Blessed Image. Here it is where Man dwelleth not; and
where no SELF abideth, or can abide.

Disciple:

O where is this naked Ground of the Soul void of all SELF? And
how shall I come at the hidden Center where God dwelleth, and
not Man? Tell me plainly, loving Sir, where it is, and how it is
to be found by me, and entered into?

Master:

There where the Soul hath slain its OWN Will, and willeth no
more any Thing as from itSELF, but only as God willeth, and as
His Spirit moveth upon the Soul, shall this appear. Where the
Love of SELF is banished, there dwelleth the Love of God. For so
much of the Soul’s OWN Will as is dead unto itSELF, even so much
Room hath the Will of God, which is His Love, taken up in that
Soul. The Reason whereof is this; Where its OWN Will did before
sit, there is now Nothing; and where Nothing is, there alone is
it that the Love of God worketh.

Disciple:

But how shall I comprehend It?

Master:

If thou goest about to comprehend It, then It will fly away from
thee; but if thou dost surrender thyself wholly up to It, then
It will abide with thee, and become the Life of thy Life, and be
natural to thee.

Disciple:

And how can this be without dying, or the whole Destruction of
my Will?

Master:

Upon this entire Surrender and Yielding up of thy Will, the Love
of God IN THEE becometh the Life of thy Nature; It killeth thee
not, but quickeneth thee, who art now dead to thySELF in thine
own Will, according to Its proper Life, even the Life of God.
And then thou livest, yet not to thy own Will; but thou livest
to Its Will, forasmuch as thy Will is henceforth become Its
Will. So then it is no longer thy Will, but the Will of God; no
longer the Love of thySELF, but the Love of God, which moveth
and operateth in thee; and then, being thus comprehended in It,
thou art dead indeed as to thySELF, but art alive unto God. So
being dead thou livest, or rather God liveth IN THEE by His
Spirit; and His Love is made to thee Life from the Dead. Never
couldst thou with all thy seeking, have apprehended It; but It
hath apprehended thee. Much less couldst thou have comprehended
It. But now It hath comprehended thee; and so the Treasure of
Treasures is found.

Disciple:

How is it that so few Souls do find It, when yet all would be
glad enough to have It?

Master:

They all seek It in Somewhat, and so they find It not. For where
there is Somewhat for the Soul to adhere to, there the Soul
findeth but that Somewhat only, and taketh up its Rest therein,
until she seeth that It is to be found in Nothing, and goeth
again out of the Somewhat into Nothing, even into that Nothing
out of which all Things may be made. The Soul here saith, ” I
have Nothing, for I am utterly empty and stripped of every
Thing; I can do Nothing, for I have no Manner of Power, but am
as Water poured out; I am Nothing, for all that I am is no more
than an Image of Being, and only God is to me I AM; and so
sitting down in my own Nothingness, I give Glory to the Eternal
Being, and will Nothing of mySELF, that so God may will All in
me, being unto me my God and All Things.” Herein now that it is
that so very few find this most precious Treasure in the Soul,
though every one would so fain have It; and might also have It
were it not for this or that Somewhat into which every one
letteth.

Disciple:

But if the Love should proffer Itself to a Soul, could not that
Soul find It, nor lay hold on It, without going for It into
Nothing?

Master:

No verily. Men seek and find not, because they seek It not in
the naked Ground where It lieth; but in SomeThing or Other where
It never will be, neither can be. They seek It in their OWN
Will, and they find It not. They seek It in their Self-Desire,
and they meet not with It. They look for It in an Image, or in
an Opinion, or in an Affection, or a natural Devotion and
Fervour, and they lose the Substance by thus hunting after a
Shadow. They search for It in Something sensible or imaginary,
in Somewhat which they may have a more peculiar natural
Inclination for, and Adhesion to; and so they miss of what they
seek, for Want of diving into the Supersensual and Supernatural
Ground where the Treasure is hid. Now should the Love graciously
condescend to proffer Itself to such as these, and even to
present Itself evidently before the Eye of their Spirit, yet
would It find no Place in them at all, neither could It be held
by them, or remain with them.

Disciple:

Why not, if the Love should be willing and ready to offer
Itself, and to stay with them?

Master:

Because the Imaginariness which is in their own Will hath set up
itself in the Place thereof; and so this Imaginariness would
have the Love in it; but the Love fleeth away, for it is Its
Prison. The Love may offer Itself; but It cannot abide where the
Self-Desire attracteth or imagineth. That Will which attracteth
Nothing, and to which Nothing adhereth, is the only Will capable
of receiving It, for It dwelleth only in Nothing as I said, and
therefore they find It not.

Disciple:

If It dwell only in Nothing, what is now the Office of It in
Nothing?

Master:

The Office of the Love here is to penetrate incessantly into
Something; and if It penetrate into, and find a Place in
Something which is standing still and at Rest, then Its Business
is to take Possession thereof. And when It hath there taken
Possession, then It rejoiceth therein with Its flaming
Love-Fire, even as the Sun doth in the visible World. And then
the Office of it, is without Intermission to enkindle a Fire in
this Something, which shall burn it up; and then with the Flames
thereof exceedingly to enflame Itself and raise the Heat of the
Love-Fire by It, even seven Degrees higher.

Disciple:

O loving Master, how shall I understand this?

Master:

If It but once kindle a Fire within thee, my Son, thou shalt
then certainly feel how It consumeth all that which It toucheth;
thou shalt feel It in the burning up of thy SELF, and swiftly
devouring all Egoity, or that which thou callest I and Me, as
standing in a separate Root, and divided from the Deity, the
Fountain of thy Being. And when this Enkindling is made in thee,
then the Love doth so exceedingly rejoice in thy Fire, as thou
wouldst not for all the World be out of It; yea, wouldst rather
suffer thyself to be killed, than to enter into thy Something
again. This Fire now must grow hotter and hotter, till It shall
have perfected Its Office with respect to thee,and therefore
wilt not give over, till It come to the seventh Degree. Its
Flame hence also will be so very great, that It will never leave
thee, though It should even cost thee thy temporal Life; but It
would go with thee in Its sweet loving Fire into Death; and if
thou wentest also into Hell, It would break Hell in Pieces also
for thy Sake. Nothing is more certain than this; for It is
stronger than Death and Hell.

Disciple:

Enough, my dearest Master, I can no longer endure that any Thing
should divert me from It. But how shall I find the nearest Way
to It?

Master:

Where the Way is hardest, there go thou; and what the World
casteth away, that take thou up. What the World doth, that do
thou not; but in all Things walk thou contrary to the World. So
thou comest the nearest Way to that which thou art seeking.

Disciple:

If I should in all Things walk contrary to other People, I must
need be in a very unquiet and sad State; and the World would not
fail to account me for a Madman.

Master:

I bid thee not, Child, to do Harm to any one, thereby to create
to thyself any Misery or Unquietness. This is not what I mean by
walking contrary in every Thing to the World. But because the
World, as the World, loveth only Deceit and Vanity, and walketh
in false and treacherous Ways; thence, if thou hast a Mind to
act a clean contrary Part to the Ways thereof, without any
Exception or Reserve whatsoever, walk thou only in the right
Way, which is called the Way of Light, as that of the World is
properly called the Way of Darkness. For the right Way, even the
Path of Light, is contrary to all the Ways of the World. But
whereas thou art afraid of creating to thyself hereby Trouble
and Inquietude, that indeed, will be so according to the Flesh.
In the World thou must have Trouble, and thy Flesh will not fail
to be unquiet, and to give thee Occasion for continual
Repentance. Nevertheless in this very Anxiety of Soul, arising
either from the World or the Flesh, the LOVE doth most willingly
enkindle Itself, and Its cheering and conquering Fire is but
made to blaze forth with greater Strength for the Destruction of
that Evil. And whereas thou dost also say, that the World will
for this esteem thee mad, it is true the World will be apt
enough to censure thee for a Madman in Walking contrary to it.
And thou art not to be surprised if the Children thereof laugh
at thee, calling thee silly Fool. For the Way to the Love of God
is Folly to the World, but is Wisdom to the Children of God.
Hence, whenever the World perceiveth this holy Fire of Love in
God’s Children, it concludeth immediately that they are turned
Fools,and are beside themselves. But to the Children of God,
that which is despised of the World is the greatest Treasure;
yea, so great a Treasure It is, as no Life can express, no
Tongue so much as name what this inflaming, all-conquering Love
of God is. It is brighter than the Sun; It is sweeter than any
Thing that is called sweet; It is stronger than all Strength; It
is more nutrimental than Food; more cheering to the Heart than
Wine, and more pleasant than all the Joy and Pleasantness of
this World. Whosoever obtaineth It, is richer than any Monarch
on Earth; and he who getteth It, is nobler than any Emperor can
be, and more potent and absolute than all Earthly Power and
Authority.

“Behold, I stand at the Door and knock: if any man HEAR My voice,
and open the Door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and
he with Me.” “He that is of God HEARETH God’s Words; ye therefore
HEAR them not, because ye are not of God.” “My Sheep HEAR My Voice;
and I know them, and they follow Me… And a Stranger will they not
follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the Voice of
Strangers.” “He that has Ears to HEAR, let him HEAR.”
__________________________________________________________________

Indexes
__________________________________________________________________

Index of Scripture References

Matthew

[1]16:24 [2]16:26 [3]19:27

Mark

[4]8:34 [5]10:28

Luke

[6]9:23 [7]18:28

John

[8]3:3-8

1 Corinthians

[9]2:7-15

Revelation

[10]6 [11]18:4 [12]21

On this day...

• Ezra 5 - 2023
• Ezra 4 - 2023
• Galatians 3 - 2011
• When we cannot, by searching, find the bottom, we must sit down at the brink and adore the depth. - 2011
• I think we shall find a great many of our prayers that we thought unanswered answered when we get to heaven. - 2011
• The Lord delights in hearing His children make their requests known unto Him - telling their troubles all out to Him. - 2011
• Our walk by faith, if it is true biblical faith, will get us in trouble - 2011
• A good Christian is not a grave to bury God’s mercies, but a temple to sing His praises - 2011
• Our wretched body complains so easily because our soul is altogether too lifeless - 2011
• Faithfulness and Holiness: The Witness of J.C. Ryle - 2011