Part 1
The Way to Christ 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 you, Except a Man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. Nicodemus says 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 you, 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 you, You must be born again. The Wind blows where it lists and you hear the Sound thereof, but can not tell whence it comes, and whither it goes: 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?
Dear Reader, If you use these Words aright, and are in Earnest, you shall certainly find the Benefit thereof. But if you are not in Earnest, do not 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 your Soul. For we must not abuse the Holy Names of God. This little Book is only for those that wish to repent, and Desire to begin. Such will find those Words, and whence they are born. Be commended to the Eternal Goodness and Mercy of God. When Man wishes to enter Repentance, and with his Prayers turn to God, he should, before he begins to pray, seriously consider the State of his own Soul. How it is 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 Neighbour, but wholly lusting and walking contrary to the Commands of God, and seeking itself only, in the transitory Lusts of the Flesh. 2. In the next Place, he should consider that all this is an utter Enmity against God, which Satan has 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 sifts and tempts it, and without Intermission strives 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, blows up and kindles those evil Properties in the Soul, whereby its Will turns away from God, and enters 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 burns in him in Soul and Body, and that he is that loathsome Keeper of Swine, who has spent his Father's Inheritance, namely, the precious Love and Mercy of God, with the fatted Swine of the Devil in earthly Pleasures, and has not kept the dear Covenant and Atonement of the innocent Death and Passion of Jesus Christ; which Covenant, God of mere Grace has put into our Humanity, and reconciled us in Him. He must also consider that he has 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 given him in Christ), that he now stands before the Face of God, with the fair Garment of Christ's Innocency which he has defiled, as a dirty, ragged, and patched Keeper of Swine, that has 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 awaits him every 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 has here offended or injured by Words and Works, and caused to do Evil, (so that by his Instigation 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 also in great Terror and Desperation, and that it shall forever grieve him to reflect that he has fooled away so glorious and eternal a State of Salvation and Happiness, for so short a Pleasure; and that he had not taken care in that short Time to secure 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 His Image - and has instead of that a monstrous Shape, like a hellish Worm or ugly Beast. So he is an enemy to God, to Heaven, and to all Holy Angels and Men, and his Communion is, and will be forever, with the Devils in horrible Darkness. 7. He must earnestly consider the eternal Punishment 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 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, so 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 Angelic 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 so wilfully loses 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 goes 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 has 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 has 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 wills not the Death of a Sinner but that He wishes them all to come unto Him, and He will refresh them; and, that there is great joy in Heaven for one Sinner that repents. 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, conceives neither any true Sorrow for the Sins it has 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 he may be inclined to enter into and pursue it; and then he will come to understand what he shall find here afterwards written. When any Man finds in himself by the former or any other Considerations, pressed Home upon his Mind and Conscience, a Hunger or Desire to repent, and yet feels no true Sorrow in himself for his Sins which he has committed, but only a Hunger or Desire of such Sorrow, so that the poor captive Soul continually sighs, fears, and needs to 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 perceives 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 scorn 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 hungers and thirsts 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 wills not the Death of a Sinner, but that he repent and believe; that Christ calls poor Sinners very kindly and graciously to Himself, and will refresh them; that God has 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 has 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 stands before the Face of the Holy Trinity, and that God is really present within and without him, as the Holy Scripture witnesses, saying, Am not I He that fills all Things? And in another Place, The Word is near you, in your Mouth, and in your 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 stands really before the Face of Jesus Christ, even before the Holy Deity, on whom his Soul has 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 You great unsearchable GOD, LORD of all Things; You, Who in Christ Jesus, of great Love towards us, have manifested Yourself with Your holy Substance in our Humanity: I, poor unworthy sinful Wretch, come before Your Presence, which You have manifested in the Humanity of Jesus Christ, though I am not worthy to lift up my Eyes to You, acknowledging and confessing before You, that I am guilty of Unfaithfulness, and Breaking off from Your great Love and Grace, which You have freely bestowed upon us. I have left the Covenant, which of mere Grace You have made with me in Baptism, in which You received 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 knows not itself, because of the Mire of Sin; but accounts itself a strange Child before Your Face, not worthy to desire Your 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 desires Your Grace. I am dead in Sin and Corruption, so that in this woeful Condition I dare not lift up my Eyes to You. O God in Christ Jesus, You who for poor Sinners' Sakes didst become Man to help them, to You I complain; to You I have yet a Spark of Refuge in my Soul. I have not regarded Your purchased Inheritance, which You have purchased for us poor Men, by Your 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 Your Kingdom. I lie in Feebleness as to Your Strength, and the wrathful Death waits for me. The Devil has poisoned me, so that I know not my Saviour: I am become a wild Branch on Your Tree, and have consumed my Inheritance which is in You, with the Devil's Swine. What shall I say before You, who am not worthy of Your Grace? I lie in the Sleep of Death which has captivated me, and am fast Bound with three strong Chains. O You Breaker-through-Death, assist me, I beseech You; I cannot, I am able to do nothing! I am dead in myself, and have no Strength before You, neither dare I, for great Shame, lift up my Eyes unto You. For I am the defiled Keeper of Swine, and have spent my Inheritance with the false adulterous Whore of Vanity in the Lusts of the Flesh; I have sought myself in my own Lust, and not You. Now in myself I am become a Fool; I am naked and bare; my Shame stands before my Eyes; I cannot hide it; Your Judgement waits for me. What shall I say before You, Who are the Judge of all the World? I have nothing to bring before You. - Here I stand naked and bare in Your Presence, and fall down before Your Face bewailing my Misery, and fly to Your great Mercy, though I am not worthy of It; yet receive me but in Your Death, and let me but die from my Death in Yours. Cast me down, I pray You, to the Ground in my innate SELF, and kill this SELF of mine through Your Death, that I may live no more to mySELF, seeing I in mySELF work nothing but Sin. Therefore, I pray You, cast down to
the Ground this wicked Beast, which is full of false Deceit and SELFDesire, and deliver this poor Soul of mine from its heavy Bonds. O merciful God, it is owing to Your Love and Long-Suffering that I lie not already in Hell. I yield my SELF, with my whole Will, Senses and Mind, unto Your Grace, and fly to Your Mercy. I call upon You through Your 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 You I call, Who have promised that You will not quench the smoking Flax. I have no other Way to You but by Your Own bitter Death and Passion, because You have made our Death to be Life by Your Humanity, and broken the Chains of Death, and therefore I sink the Desire of my Soul down into Your Death, into the Gate of Your Death, which You have broke open. O You great Fountain of the Love of God, I beseech You, help me, that I may die from my Vanity and Sin in the Death of my Redeemer, Jesus Christ. O You Breath of the great Love of God, quicken, I beseech You, my weak Breath in me, that it may begin to hunger and thirst after You. O Lord Jesus, You sweet Strength, I beseech You give my Soul to drink of Your Fountain of Grace, Your sweet Water of Eternal Life, that it may awake from Death and thirst after You. O how extreme fainting I am for Want of Your Strength! O merciful God, do You turn me, I beseech You; I cannot turn myself. O You Vanquisher of Death, help me, I pray You, to wrestle. How fast does the Enemy hold me with his three Chains, and will not suffer the Desire of my Soul to come before You! I beseech You, come and take the Desire of my Soul into Yourself. Be You my Drawing to the Father, and deliver me from the Devil's Bonds! Look not upon my Deformity in standing naked before You, having lost Your Garment! I pray You, do but You clothe that Breath which yet lives in me and pants after Your Grace; and so shall I yet see Your Salvation. O You deep Love, I pray You take the Desire of my Soul into You; bring
it forth out of the Bonds of Death through Your Death, in Your Resurrection, into You. O quicken me in Your Strength, that my Desire and Will may begin to spring up and flourish anew. O You Vanquisher of Death and of the Wrath of God, do You overcome SELF in me; break its Will and bruise my Soul, that it may fear before You, and be ashamed of its OWN Will before Your Judgement, and that it may be ever obedient to You as an Instrument of Yours. Subdue it in the Bonds of Death; take away its Power, that it may will nothing without You. O God, the Holy Ghost in Christ my Saviour, teach me, I pray You, what I shall do, that I may turn to You. 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 Your Bonds; and let me not loose from You, lest the Devil sift me in my wicked Flesh and Blood, and bring me again into the Death of Death. O enlighten You my Spirit, that I may see the Divine Path, and walk in it continually. O take that away from me, which always turns me away from You; and give me that which always turns me to You; take me wholly from MySELF and give me wholly to THYself. O let me begin nothing, let me will, think, and do nothing without You. O Lord, how long! Indeed I am not worthy of that which I desire of You, I pray You let the Desire of my Soul dwell but in the Gates of Your Courts; make it but a Servant of Your 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. You are hidden from me in my Blindness, and yet You are near unto me; but Your Wrath which my Desire has awakened in me, has made me dark. O take but the Desire of my Soul to You; prove it, O Lord, and bruise it, that my Soul may obtain a Ray of Your Sweet Grace. I lie before You 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 You. Lord, I wait for Your Promise, which You have
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 You, whose Word is Truth and Life. Amen. In this, or the like Manner, every one may confess his Sins, as he himself finds on examining his Conscience, what Sins he has 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 works Repentance, and intercedes for the Soul before God, through the Death of Christ. But I will not hide from the beloved Reader, who has a True Christian Intent, how it commonly goes with those who are in such a firm Purpose and Resolution; though, indeed, it goes 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 uses diverse Ways or Processes accordingly as He knows to be fittest for every one. Yet a Soldier who has 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 does thus come before God, and enter into Repentance, it happens to it as to the Canaanitish Woman; that is, it seems as if God would not hear. The Heart remains 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 groans in the Deep; the Heart receives 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 keeps it captive: The Devil too shuts it up strongly, and represents to it the Way of Vanity again, and tickles it with the Lust of the Flesh, and says inwardly to it, Stay a while, do this or that first; get a Sufficiency of Money or Goods beforehand, that you may 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 you will be a Champion in your Saviour Christ against Death and Hell, and wouldst have your young Graft grow, and become a Tree in the Kingdom of Christ, you must go on, and stand fast in your first earnest Purpose. It is as much as your paternal Inheritance is worth, and your Body and Soul too, whether thou, become an Angel in God, or a Devil in Hell. If you will be crowned, you must fight; you must overcome in Christ, and not yield to the Devil. Your Purpose must stand firm, you 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, has brought me. No Creature shall keep me back, and though you earthly Body should 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 you, you earthly Body, that have swallowed up my Pearl from me, which God gave to my Father, Adam in Paradise. I will break the Will of your Voluptuousness, which is in Vanity, and bind you as a mad Dog with the Chain of my earnest Purpose; and though hereby you should become a Fool in the Account of all Men, yet you must and shall obey the firm Resolve of my Soul. Nothing shall unloose you 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 uses to be, after a King is once crowned with it; it is then laid by and kept. So it comes 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. 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 says, He that forsakes 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 means 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 forms and frames the Prayer for the Soul, in every Heart wherein He is sought. I, a poor unworthy Creature, come before You, O Great and Holy God and lift up my eyes to You. Though I am not worthy, yet Your great Mercy, and Your faithful Promise in the Word, have now encouraged me to lift the Eyes of the Desire of my Soul up to You. For my Soul has now laid hold on the Word of Your Promise, and received It into itself, and therewith comes to You. And though it is but a strange Child which was disobedient unto You, yet now it desires to be obedient; and does now infold itself with its Desire into that Word which became Man, which became Flesh and Blood, and has broken Sin and Death in my Humanity. Which has changed the Anger of God into Love unto the Soul, has deprived Death of his Power, and Hell of its Victory over Soul and Body; and has opened a Gate for my Soul to the clear Face of Your 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 You, and in my Hunger call unto You, You living Fountain, through Your Word which became Flesh and Blood. Your 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 You 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 You, O God the Father, will give the Holy Spirit to them that ask It, in the Name and through the Word which became Man. O You Life of my Flesh and of my Soul in Christ my Brother, I beseech You in the Hunger of my Soul, and entreat You with all my Powers, though they be weak, to give me what You have 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 You aright. O You deepest Love in the most Sweet Name JESUS, give Yourself into the Desire of my Soul. For therefore You have moved Yourself, and according to Your great Sweetness manifested Yourself in the Human Nature, and called us to You, us that hunger and thirst after You, and have promised us that You will refresh us. I now open the lips of my Soul to You, O You Sweet Truth, and though I am not worthy to desire it of Your Holiness, yet I come to You through Your bitter Passion and Death; You having sprinkled my Uncleanness with Your Blood, and sanctified me in Your Humanity, and made an open Gate for me through Your Death, to Your Sweet Love in Your Blood. Through Your five holy Wounds, from which You didst shed Your Blood, I bring the Desire of my Soul into Your Love.
O Jesus Christ, you Son of God and Man, I pray You receive into Yourself Your purchased Inheritance, which Your Father has given You. I cry within me, that I may enter through Your Holy Blood and Death into You. Open Yourself in me, that the Spirit of my Soul may reach You, and receive You into it. Lay hold on my Thirst in me with Your Thirst; bring Your Thirst after us Men, which You hadst upon the Cross, into my Thirst, and give me Your Blood to drink in my Thirst. That my Death in me which holds me captive, may be drowned in the Blood of Your 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 Your powerful Blood, and my Soul clothed with It again as with the new Body which dwells in Heaven. In which Image Your Holy Power and Word that became Man dwells, which is the Temple of the Holy Spirit, Who dwells in us according to Your Promise, saying We will come to you and make Our Abode with you. O You Great Love of Jesus Christ, I can do no more than sink my Desire into You; Your Word which became Man, is Truth; since You have bidden me come, now I come. Be it unto me according to Your Word and Will. Amen. A Warning to the Reader Beloved Reader, out of Love to you, I will not conceal from you what is here earnestly signified to me. If you love the Vanity of the Flesh still, and are not in an earnest Purpose on the WAY to the new Birth or Regeneration, intending to become a New Man, then leave the abovewritten Words un-named; else they will turn to a Judgement of God in you. You must not take the Holy Names in vain, you are faithfully warned: They belong to the thirsty Soul. But if your Soul be in earnest, it shall find by Experience what Words they are. A Direction how the Soul must meet its Beloved, when She knocks in its Center, or Shut-Inner-Chamber
Beloved Soul, if you will be earnest without Intermission, you shall certainly obtain the Favor of a Kiss from the Noble Sophia (or Divine Wisdom) in the Holy Name JESUS; for She stands ever before the Door of the Soul, knocking, and warning the Sinner of his wicked Way. Now if it once thus desires Her Love, She is ready for it and kisses it with the Beams of Her Sweet Love, from whence the Heart receives Joy. But She does not presently lay Herself in the Marriage-Bed with the Soul, that is, She does 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 your Promise must be firm and steadfast. Before She will crown you, you must be tempted and tried: She takes the Beams of Her Love from you again, to see whether you will prove faithful; also She lets you stand as it were aloof, and answers you not so much as with one Look of Her Love. For before She will crown you, you must be judged, that you may taste the bitter Potion of Dregs, which you have filled for yourself in thine Abominations. You must come before the Gates of Hell first, and there show forth your Victory for Her in Her Love, in that Strength wherewith She upheld you in Opposition to the Devil's malign influence. Christ was tempted in the Wilderness; and if you will put on Him, you must go through His whole Progress or Journey, even from His Incarnation to His Ascension. And though you are not able, nor required to do that which He has done; yet you must enter wholly into His Process, and therein die continually from the Corruption of the Soul. For the Virgin Sophia espouses not Herself to the Soul, except in this Property, which springs 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 you doest. When you have made your Promise, keep it, and then She will crown you more readily than you wouldst be crowned. But you must be sure when the Tempter comes to you with the Pleasure, Beauty, and Glory of the World, that your 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 teaches me; my Heart must sit down with the simple and lowly, in the Dust, and be always humble. Whatsoever State and Condition you are in, Humility must be in the Front, or else you will not obtain the Noble Virgin in Marriage. The Free Will of your 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 comes with its Unworthiness and Catalogue of Sins. And there you 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 goes so terribly with many a poor Sinner, that outward Reason thinks him to be distracted, or possessed by an evil Spirit. The Devil defends himself so horribly in some, especially if he has 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 getts 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 manifests Herself in the dear Name of JESUS CHRIST, the Treader upon the Serpent, God's Anointed) comes to the Soul, and kisses it with Her Sweetest Love in the Essence most inwardly, and impresses Her Love into its Desire for a Token of Victory. And here Adam in his Heavenly Part rises 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 says. Now when the Wedding is over, the Soul must take heed that this Pearl-Tree, or Tree of Faith spring and grow, as it has 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 hides his Bride wholly under the Cross, that she may not be known in this World: The Devil also strives that these Children may be hidden from the World, lest haply many such Branches should grow in the Garden which he supposes 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 comes to the Soul, and wrestles 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 You forsake me, I must perish. But have You not promised me in Your Word, saying, If a Mother could forget her Child, which can hardly be, yet You will not forget me? You have set me as a Sign in Yours Hands, which were pierced through with sharp Nails, and in Your open Side whence Blood and Water gushed out. Poor Wretch that I am! I am caught in Your Anger, and can in my Ability do nothing before You; I sink myself down into Your Wounds and Death.
O Great Mercy of God, I beseech You, deliver me from the Bonds of Satan. I have no Refuge in any Thing, but only in Your Holy Wounds and Death! Into You I sink down in the Anguish of my Conscience; do with me what You will. In You I will now live or die, as pleases You; let me but die and perish in Your Death; do but bury me into Your Death, that the Anguish of Hell may not touch me. How can I excuse myself before You, that knows my Heart and Reins, and sett my Sins before my Eyes? I am guilty of them, and yield myself unto Your Judgement; accomplish Your Judgement upon me, through the Death of my Redeemer Jesus Christ. I fly unto You, You 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, have You not set Him in my Stead? He was innocent, but I guilty, for whom He suffered, wherefore should I despair under Your Wrath? O blot out Your 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 You; do with me what You please, only let me not depart from His Anguish. You have freely given me His Anguish, and drowned Your Wrath in Him: And though I have not accepted it, but am departed from Him and become faithless, yet You have given me this precious Pledge in my Flesh and Blood. For He has taken my Flesh and Soul upon His heavenly Flesh and Blood, and has 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 Your Wrath, which is kindled in me, and break Your Judgement in me in the Blood of His Love. O Great Love! in the Blood and Death of Jesus Christ, I beseech You, break the strong Fort of Prey which the Devil has made and built up in
me, where he resists me in the WAY of Your Grace. Drive him out of me, that he may not overcome me; for no one living can stand in Your Sight, if You withdraw Your Hand from him. O come, You 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 You; 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 has now kindled by his false Desire, by hellish Anguish and Desperation. O quench it with Your Water of Eternal Life, and bring my Anguish forth through Your Death, I wholly sink myself down into You; and though Soul and Body should this hour faint and perish in Your Wrath, yet I will not let You go. Though my Heart says utterly, No, no, yet the Desire of my Soul shall hold fast on Your Truth, which neither Death nor the Devil shall take away from me; for the Blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, cleanses 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 has made, as much as he will: Neither the Devil, Death, nor Hell shall pull me out of my Saviour's Wounds. You must at length be confounded in me, you malicious Devil, and your Fort of Prey must be forsaken, for I will drown it in the Love of Jesus Christ, and then dwell in it if you can. Amen. An Information in Temptation Beloved Reader, this is no jesting Matter; he that accounts it so, has not tried it, neither has 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 passes through it in the Time of his Youth, before the Devil builds 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 continues a long while upon many a poor Soul; several Years, if he does not earnestly and early put on the Armour of
Christ, but stays till the Judgement of Tribulation first drive him to Repentance. But to him that comes by himself, of his own earnest Purpose, and endeavors 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 breaks in his Soul, he turns it to the great Praise and Glory of God, that his grand Enemy and Persecutor was overcome in the Conflict. When the Noble Sophia (or Eternal Wisdom) kisses the Soul with Her Love, and offers Her Love to it O Most Gracious and Deep Love of God in Christ Jesus! I beseech You grant me Your Pearl, impress It into my Soul, and take my Soul into Your Arms. O You Sweet Love! I confess I am unclean before You. Take away my Uncleanness through Your Death, and carry the Hunger and Thirst of my Soul through Your Death in Your Resurrection, in Your Triumph! Cast my whole SELF-hood down to the Ground in Your Death; take it captive, and carry my Hunger through in Your Hunger. O Highest Love! Hast You not appeared in me? Stay in me, and inclose me in You. Keep me in You, so that I may not be able to depart from You. Fill my Hunger with Your Love; feed my Soul with Your Heavenly Substance; give it Your Blood to drink, and water it with Your 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 You. O You Life and Power of the Deity, Who have 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 Your Promise. You have promised also, that Your Father will give the Holy Spirit to those that ask Him for It; therefore I now bring the Desire of my Soul into that Your Promise, and I receive Your Word into my Hunger. Increase You in me my Hunger after You. Strengthen me, O sweet Love, in Your Strength: Quicken me in You, that my Spirit may taste Your Sweetness. O do you believe by Your Power in me, for without You I can do nothing. O Sweet Love! I beseech You through that Love wherewith You didst overcome the Anger of God, and didst change it into Love and Divine Joy; I pray You also change the Anger in my Soul by that same great Love, that I may become obedient unto You, and that my Soul may love You therein forever. O change my Will into Your Will; bring Your Obedience into my Disobedience, that I may become obedient unto You. O Great Love of Jesus Christ, I humbly fly to You; bring the Hunger of my Soul into Your Wounds, from whence You didst shed Your Holy Blood, and didst quench the Anger with Love. I bring my Hunger into Your open Side, from whence came forth Water and Blood, and throw myself wholly into It; be You mine, and quicken me in Your Life, and let me not depart from You. O my Noble Vine, I beseech You give Sap to me Your Branch; that I may bud and grow in Your Strength and Sap, in Your Essence; beget in me true Strength by Your Strength. O Sweet Love, are You not my Light? Enlighten You 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 Your Death and Rest; that at the Last Day it may arise in You from Your Death, and live in You forever. O teach me what I must do in You; I beseech You be You my Willing, Knowing, and Doing; and let me go no whither without You. I yield myself wholly up to You. 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 You living Fountain, in You I lift up the Desire of my Soul, and cry with my Desire to enter through the Life of my Saviour Jesus Christ into You. O You Life and Power of God, awaken Yourself in the Hunger of my Soul with Your Desire of Love, through the Thirst which Jesus Christ had upon the Cross after us Men, and carry my weak Strength through by Your mighty Hand in Your Spirit; be You the Working and Will in me with Yours own Strength. Blossom in the Strength of Jesus Christ in me, that I may bring forth Praise unto You, the true Fruit of Your Kingdom. O let my Heart and Desire never depart from You 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 Your 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 Your 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 You, O Holy Strength of God, seeing You have manifested Yourself with Your loving Mercy in our Humanity, through Your Holy Name JESUS, and have also given It to be a Companion and Guide in us. I beseech You 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 shoots into us daily by the Curse of the Anger of God which is awakened in our earthly Flesh. Keep back by Your Divine Strength the malignant Influence of the Stars in their Opposition, wherein the wicked Enemy of Mankind mingles 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 Your Holy Power Jesus, from our Souls and Spirits, that they may not touch us; and let Your Good and Holy Angels stand by us to turn away their noxious Effects from our Bodies. O Great Love and Sweet Strength JESU, You Fountain of Divine Sweetness, flowing out of the great Eternal Name JEHOVAH, I cry with the Desire of my Soul to come into You. My Soul cries to come into that Spirit, from Which it was breathed into the Body, and Which has formed it in the Likeness of God. It desires in its Thirst to get the Sweet Fountain which springs 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! you Wedding-Chamber, God and Man, I yield myself up into the Arms of Your Desire towards us, in us; it is Yourself whom I desire. O blot out the Anger of Your Father with Your Love in me, and manifest Your Strength in my Weakness, that I may overcome and tame the Evil of Flesh and Blood, and serve You in Holiness and Righteousness. O You Great and Most Holy Name and Majesty of God, JEHOVAH, Which have stirred Yourself with Your 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 Your Holy Power in the Virgin Wisdom of God into our Humanity, which was extinguished as to You; and have given It to us, to be our Life, Regeneration, and Victory; I entreat You with all my Strength, beget a new Holy Life in me, by Your Sweet Power JESUS, that I may be in You and You in me; that so Your Kingdom may be made manifest in me, and the Will and Conversation of my Soul may be in Heaven.
O Great and Incomprehensible God, you who fille all Things, be You my Heaven in which my new Birth of Christ Jesus may dwell: Let my Spirit be the stringed Instrument, Harmony, Sound and Joy of Your Holy Spirit. Strike the Strings in me in Your Regenerate Image, and carry through my Harmony into Your Divine Kingdom of Joy, in the Great Love of God, in the Wonders of Your 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 You I wholly plunge myself; do with me what You 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 has broken Faith with them; they deride my walking towards You, 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 You under the Cross; O dear Immanuel receive me, and carry me into Yourself through the Path of Your Pilgrimage, in which You didst walk in this World, namely through Your Incarnation, Poverty, Reproach, and Scorn; also through Your Anguish, Passion, and Death. Make me conformable unto Your Example; send Your 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 You in the Garden, when You didst pray to Your 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 You, and refuse to walk in Your Paths. O great Love of God, they know not Your Way, and do this in Blindness, through the Deceit of the Devil. Have Pity on them, and bring them out of their Darkness into Your 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 You, 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 Your Judgement upon me, that my Sins and inbred Corruption may be judged in this earthly Pilgrimage before You; and I, as a Curse, be made an open Spectacle on which Your Anger may satiate itself, and thereby may take the eternal Reproach away from me. It is the Token of Your Love, by which You bring 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 You, O Christ, You patient Lamb of God, grant me Patience in this my WAY of the Cross, through all Your Anguish and Reproach, your Death and Passion, Your Scorn and Contempt upon the Cross, where You was despised in my Stead; and bring me therein as a patient Lamb to You, into Your Victory. Let me live with You in You; and do You convert my Persecutors, who (unknown to themselves) by their Reproaching sacrifice my Vanity and inbred Sins before Your 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 You; for I should daily lay open and acknowledge my Shame and Vileness before You; and thereby sink myself down into the Death of Your beloved Son, that my Shame might die in His Death; but I being too negligent, weary, faint, and feeble, therefore You use these my Enemies in Yours Anger, to open and discover my Vileness before You,
which Your Wrath takes hold of, and sinks it down into the Death of my Saviour. O merciful God, my vain Flesh cannot know how well You intend towards me, when You suffer my Enemies to take my Vileness from me, and sacrifice it before You. My earthly Mind supposes that You afflict me for my Sins, and I am extremely perplexed at it; but Your Spirit, in my inward new Man, tells me that it is of Your Love towards me, and that You intend Good to me by it. When You suffer my Enemies to persecute me, it is best for me that they perform the Work in my Stead, and unfold my Sins before You in Your Anger, that it may swallow up the Guilt of them, so that they may not follow me into my Native Country; for my Enemies are strong and mighty still in Your Anger, and therefore can do it better than I that am feeble and fainting already in the Will of Vanity. This You know full well, O You Righteous God. I beseech You therefore, O Righteous God, since You use them as Friends to me, to do so good an Office for me, though my earthly Reason knows it not, that You 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 You, and give You Thanks. O Merciful God in Christ Jesus, I beseech You out of Your deep Love towards us poor Men, which You have manifested in me in the hidden Man, call us all in You, to You. O stir Yourself in us yet once again in this last Trouble; Your Anger being kindled in us, do You resist it, lest it swallow us up wholly both Soul and Body. O you Dawning of the Day-Spring of God, break forth to the Full! Art You not already risen? Manifest Your Holy City Zion, Your Holy Jerusalem, in us. O Great God! I see You in the Depth of Your Power and Strength. Awaken me wholly in You, that I may be quickened in You. Break off the Tree of Your Anger in us, and let Your Love spring forth and bud in
us. O Lord, I lie down in Your Sight, and beseech You not to rebuke us in Yours Anger. Are we not Your Possession which you have purchased? Forgive all of us our Sins, and deliver us from the Evil of Your Wrath, and from the Malice and Envy of the Devil; and bring us under Your Cross in Patience into Paradise again. Amen. Here follows 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 presents Herself to Her Bridegroom, the Soul, when it enters into Repentance, and how the Soul behaves itself towards Her, when She appears to it. This is understood by none but the Children of Christ, who have known it by Experience. WHEN Christ the Corner-Stone stirs Himself in the extinguished Image of Man, in his hearty Conversion and Repentance, then Virgin Sophia appears 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 trembles before Her; for then the Judgement passes upon the Sins of the Soul, so that it even goes back in its Unworthiness, being ashamed in the Presence of its fair Love, and enters 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 draws near in the Essence of the Soul, and kisses it in friendly Manner, and tinctures its dark Fire with Her Rays of Love, and shines through it with Her bright and powerful Influence. Penetrated with the strong Sense and Feeling of Which, the Soul skipps in its Body for great Joy, and in the Strength of this Virgin Love
exults, and praises the Great God for His blessed Gift of Grace. I will set down here a short Description how it is when the Bride thus embraces the Bridegroom, for the Consideration of the Reader, who perhaps has 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 joins Hands and dances with Sophia, or the Divine Wisdom. I. When that which is mentioned above comes to pass, the Soul rejoices in its Body, and says, PRAISE, Thanksgiving, Strength, Honor, and Glory, be to You, O great God, in Your Power and Sweetness, for that You have redeemed me from the Anguish of the fiery Driver. O You Fair Love! My heart embraces You; where have You been so long? I thought I was in Hell in the Anger of God. O Gracious Love! Abide with me, I beseech You, and be my Joy and Comfort. Lead me in the right WAY. I give myself up into Your Love. I am dark before You, do You enlighten me. O Noble Love, give me Your Sweet Pearl; put it I pray You into me. O Great God in Christ Jesus, I praise and magnify You now in Your Truth, in Your Great Power and Glory, for that You have forgiven me my Sins, and filled me with Your Strength. I shout for Joy before You in my new Life, and extol You in Your Firmament of Heaven, which none can open but Your Spirit in Your Mercy. My Bones rejoice in Your Strength, and my Heart delights itself in Your Love. Thanks be to You forever, for that You has delivered me out of Hell, and turned Death into Life in me. O Sweet Love! Let me not depart from You again. Grant me Your Garland of Pearl, and abide in me. O be my own proper Possession, that I may rejoice in You forever. Upon this, the Virgin Sophia says to the Soul, MY nobel Bridegroom, my Strength and Power, you are a thousand