Part 2
Times welcome. Why have you forgotten Me so long, that I have been constrained in great Grief to stand without the Door and knock? Have I not always called you and entreated you? But you have turned away your Countenance from Me, and thine Ears have declined My Entreaties. You could not see My Light, for you walked in the Valley of Darkness. I was very near you, and entreated you continually, but your Sinfulness held you Captive in Death, so that you knew Me not. I came to you in great Humility, and called you, but you wert rich in the Power of the Anger of God, and didst not regard My Humility and Lowliness. You have taken the Devil to be your Paramour, who has defiled you thus, and built up his Fort of Prey in you, and turned you quite away from My Love and Faith into his hypocritical Kingdom of Falsehood; wherein you have committed much Sin and Wickedness, and torn your Will off from My Love. You have broken the Bond of Wedlock, and set your Love and Affection upon a Stranger, and suffered Me your Bride, whom God did give you, to stand alone in the extinguished Substance, without the Power of your fiery Strength. I could not be joyful without your fiery Strength, for you are My Husband; My shining Brightness is made manifest by you. You can manifest My hidden Wonders in your fiery Life, and bring them into Majesty; and yet without Me you are but a dark House, wherein is nothing but Anguish, Misery, and horrible Torment. O noble Bridegroom, stand still with your Countenance towards Me, and give Me your Rays of Fire. Bring your Desire into Me, and enkindle Me thereby, and then I will bring the Rays of My Love, from My Meekness into your fiery Essence, and be united with you forever. O My Bridegroom, how well am I, now that I am in Union with you! O kiss Me with your Desire in your Strength and Power, and then I will show you all My Beauty, and will rejoice and solace Myself with your sweet Love and shining Brightness in your fiery Life. All the Holy Angels rejoice with us, to see us united again. My dear Love, I now entreat you to stay faithful to Me, and do not turn your Face away from Me any more. Work you your Wonders in My Love, for which Purpose God has created you and brought you into Being.
II. The Soul says 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 You change me into Your Joy! O Beautiful Love, I have broken my Faith with You 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 You hadst not come into the House of my Misery, in Your great Faithfulness, by Your piercing through and destroying God's Anger, Hell, and dark Death, and restoring Your Meekness and Love to my fiery Life. O Sweet Love! You have brought the Water of Eternal Life out of the Fountain of God, with You into me, and refreshed me in my great Thirst. I behold in You the Mercy of God, which was hidden from me before by the strange Love. In You I can rejoice; You change my Anguish of Fire into great Joy in me. O amiable Love, give me Your Pearl, that I may continue in this Joy forever. Upon this the Noble Sophia answers the Soul again, and says, MY dear Love and faithful Treasure, you highly rejoice Me in your Beginning. I have indeed broken into you through the deep Gates of God, through God's Anger, through Hell and Death, into the House of your Misery, and have graciously bestowed My Love upon you, and delivered you from the Chains and Bonds wherewith you wert fast bound. I have kept My Faith with you, even though you have not kept thine with Me. But now you desires an exceeding great Thing of Me, which I cannot willingly trust in your Hands. You would have My Pearl as your proper own. Remember, I pray, O My beloved Bridegroom, that you didst carelessly lose it before in Adam; and you yourself stand yet in great Danger, and walk in two dangerous Kingdoms; for in your
original Fire you walk in that Country wherein God calls Himself a strong jealous God, and a consuming Fire. The other Kingdom which you walk in, is the outward World, wherein you dwell in the vain corrupt Flesh and Blood, and where the Pleasures of the World and Assaults of the Devil beset you every Hour. You may perhaps in your great Joy bring Earthliness again into My Beauty, and thereby darken My Pearl; or you may possibly grow proud, as Lucifer did, when he had the Pearl in his Possession, and so turn yourself 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 you, in your extinguished, but now in Me, revived, Humanity, and reserve My Pearl for Paradise, until you putt away this Earthliness from you, and then I will give it to you to possess. But I will readily present to you 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 your faithful loving Bride. I cannot espouse Myself with your earthly Flesh, for I am a heavenly Queen, and My Kingdom is not of this World. Yet I will not cast your outward Life away, but refresh it often with My Rays of Love; for your 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 your 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 yourself up into My Will; I will not forsake you in this earthly Life in your Danger. Though the Anger of God should pass upon you, so that you shouldst grow affrighted and disheartened, or shouldst think that I had deserted you, yet I will be with you and preserve you, for you yourself know not what thine Office is. You must work and bear Fruit in this Life's Time. You are the Root of this Pearl-Tree; Branches must be produced out of you, which must all be brought forth in Anguish. But I come forth
together with your Branches in their Sap, and produce Fruit upon your Boughs, and you know it not; for the Most High has ordered, that I should dwell with and in you. Wrap yourself 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 you in the fiery Essence, and give you My Kiss of Love. I will bring a Garland for you out of Paradise with Me, as a Token of My Affection, and put it upon you, and you shall rejoice in it. But I give you not My Pearl for a Possession during this Life's Time. You must continue in Resignation, and hearken what the Lord plays on His Instrument in your Harmony in you. Moreover, you must give Sound and Essence to your Tune, out of My Strength and Virtue, for you are now a Messenger of His Word, and must set forth His Praise and Glory. For this Cause it is that I have contracted Myself anew with you, and set My triumphal Garland upon you; which I have gotten in the Battle against the Devil and Death. But the Crown of Pearl wherewith I crowned you, I have laid aside for you. You must wear that no more till you are become pure in My Sight. III. The Soul says further to the Noble Sophia, O You Fair and Sweet Consort, what shall I say before You? Let me be wholly committed unto You; I cannot preserve myself. If You will not give me Your Pearl, I submit to Your Will; but give me Your Rays of Love, and carry me safely through my Pilgrimage. Do You awaken and bring forth what You will in me; I will from henceforth be Your own. I will or desire nothing for myself, but what You Yourself will through me. I had fooled away Your Sweet Love, and broken my Faith with You, whereby I was fallen into the Anger of God. But seeing that of Love You didst come to me into the Anguish of Hell, and have delivered me from Torment, and received me again for Your Consort, I will now therefore break my Will for Your Love's Sake, and be obedient unto You, and wait for Your Love. I am satisfied now that I know You are
with me in all my Troubles, and will not forsake me. O Gracious Love, I turn my fiery Countenance to You. O fair Crown, take me quickly into You, and bring me forth from Unquietness. I will be Yours forever, and never depart from You more. The Noble Sophia answers the Soul very comfortably, and says, MY noble Bridegroom, be of good Comfort. I have betrothed you to Me in My highest Love, and contracted Myself with you in My Faithfulness. I will be with you and in you always to the End of the World. I will come to you and make My Abode with you, in your inner Chamber. You shall drink of My Fountain; for now I am thine, and you are Mine; the Enemy shall not separate Us. Work you in your fiery Property, and I will put My Rays of Love into your Working. And so We will plant and manure the Vineyard of Jesus Christ. Afford you the Essence of Fire, and I will afford the Essence of Light, and the Increase. Be you the Fire, and I will be the Water, and thus We will perform that in this World for which God has 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 knows; it being the WAY that he himself has gone. He gives you 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 you therefore warned, that you may 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, You only True God. I thank You 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 You have set me to do in my Employment and Calling, into Your Protection. Be You the Beginning of my Conceptions, my Undertakings, and all my Doings. Work You so in me, that I may begin all Things to the Glory of Your Name, and accomplish them in Your Love for the Good and Service of my Neighbor. Send Your 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 Your Vineyard, that I may labor in my Office and Employment, and behave as Your obedient Servant therein. Bless me, and all that I am to go about and do this Day, with the Blessing of Your Love and Mercy. Continue Your Grace and Love in Jesus Christ upon me, and give me a Mind cheerfully to follow Your Leading and execute Yours Appointment. Let Your 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 You, O God, You Fountain of Eternal Life, and give You Thanks through Jesus Christ, Your 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 Your Disposal my Condition and Employment, together with the Work of my Hands, and humbly repose them on You. So fill my Soul with Your 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 You in Your Temple, and let Your good Angel stay with me, that I may rest safely in Your Power, and under Your 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 overcomes 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 seeks 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 has 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 has them not, neither has 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 flows, 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 declares, that the fleshly natural Man receives 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 says, that We are the Temples of the Holy Ghost, who dwells 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 has 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 turns to Earth again, and lives in the Vanity of this World, and continually lusts against God; that it is the Temple of the Holy Ghost; much less can it be said that the New Birth comes to pass in this earthly Flesh, which dies and putrifies, and is a continual House of Sin. 5. Yet seeing that it remains certain, that a True Christian is born of Christ, and that the New Birth is the Temple of the Holy Ghost which dwells in us, and that the New Man only, that is born of Christ, partakes of the Flesh and Blood of Christ; it appears that is is not so easy a Matter to be a Christian. 6. And that Christianity does not consist in the mere knowing of the History, and applying the Knowledge thereof to ourselves, saying that Christ died for us, and has destroyed Death and turned it into Life in us, and that He has 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 does not co-operate with Sin in the Flesh, nor wills it, that is the New-Birth in Christ. 8. For St. Paul says, 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 sinns not, for God has shut up all under Sin. As the Scripture says, No one living is righteous in your Sight, if you impute his Sins to him. The righteous Man falls seven Times a Day; and yet it cannot be meant that the righteous falls and sinns, but his mortal and sinful Man. For the righteousness of a Christian in Christ cannot Sin. 10. Moreover, St. Paul says, 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 dwells in Heaven; and then if we are his Temple, that Temple Heaven must be in us. 11. But for all this, seeing Sin tempts us within us, whereby the Devil has within us an Access to us, therefore Hell also must be in us too, for the Devil dwells in Hell; wheresoever he is, he is in Hell. and cannot come out of it. Yea, when he possesses a Man, he dwells 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 has paid the Ransom for us. For Righteousness avails 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 avails. 13. And as the earthly Flesh must die, so also the Life and Will must die from Sin, and be as a Child that knows nothing, but longs 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 wills 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 desires and admitts Vanity into itself; and yet there remains a Will which longs after Vanity, and sinns, even in the new-born or regenerate Man. Therefore the Image or Nature of Man should be well understood, and how the New-birth comes 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 says. 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 dwells in Heaven. And then also what Kind of Man it is, that the Devil rules and drives; for he cannot meddle with the Temple of Christ, nor does 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 dwells in it, but the Substance of the outward World comprehendeds him not. 18. We see also that the Light shines in Darkness, and the Darkness comprehends 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 separates itself into Four Properties, viz., into Fire, Air, Water, and Earth. 19. Who would believe that Fire produces or generates 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 dwells 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 dwells in the World, and fills all Things, and yet possesses nothing; and as the Fire dwells in Water, and yet possesses it not: Also, as the Light dwells in Darkness, and yet possesses 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 consists 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 dwells in that, be it Darkness or Light. 22. For Light and Darkness are both in him, but each of them dwells in itself, and neither of them possesses the other; but if one of them enters into the other, and will possess it, then that other loses its Right and Power. 23. The passive loses its Power; for if the Light be made manifest in the Darkness, then the Darkness loses 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 dwells in the other and begetts 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 lives in three Worlds; the First is the Eternal dark World, viz., the Centre of the Eternal Nature, which produces or generates the Fire, viz., the Source or Property of Anguish. 27. The Second is the Eternal light World, which begetts the Eternal Joy, which is the Divine Habitation wherein the Spirit of God dwells, and wherein the Spirit of Christ receives the human Substance, and subdues 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 has 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 has 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. How Man is created. HERE we are to consider the Creation of Man. Moses says, 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 contains 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-lightWorld 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 consists in, the inward dark Fire-World of the eternal spiritual Nature; according to which God calls 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 consists 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 reaches 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 calls himself a loving, merciful God; in which consists the true Spirit of Understanding, and of Life in Power. 37. For as Light shines 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 swallows up Darkness, and as the Fire devours 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, You shall not eat thereof, for on that Day that you eat thereof, you shall 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 says, 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 desires the Matrix of the Woman, and the Woman desires 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 has 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, You 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 burns. 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 has 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 dwells and works, 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 says, He is come from Heaven, it is meant of the Heavenly Substance, the Heavenly Corporeality; for the Power and Virtue of God needs no coming any whither, for it is every where altogether immeasurable and undivided. But Substance needs coming; the Power or Virtue needs 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 has 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 has 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. 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 has 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 derides it, because it goes forth from its own House wherein it was born, and regards Vanity no more, but merely desires the Love of God in Christ Jesus. 91. In such a Hunger and Desire the Will receives and impresses into itself the Spirit of Christ with his Heavenly Corporality; that is, the
Soul in its great Hunger and Desire takes hold of, and draws 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 brings 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 fills the Father all over, and is nigh unto all, and through all Things; and through that the disappeared Heavenly Body rises 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 eats the Flesh of Christ, and drinks 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, swallows its holy Substance into its fiery; for every Spirit eats of its own Body. 96. Now if the Soul eat of this sweet, holy, and Heavenly Food, then it kindles itself with the great Love in the Name and Power of JESUS; whence its Fire of Anguish becomes a great Triumph of Joy and Glory, and the true Sun arises to it, wherein it is born to another Will. 97. And here comes 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 obtains not this Pearl of the Divine Wisdom and Virtue for its own Property during the Time of this Life; because it has the outward Bestial Flesh sticking to its outward Man. 99. The Power of which Pearl of Divine Wisdom espouses itself in this Wedding of the Lamb, and sinks 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 darts its Beams of Love indeed very often into the Soul, whereby the Soul receives Light; but the Spirit of Christ yields 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 comes to pass, as follows. 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) has no Divine Will, neither does he understand any Thing of God, as the Scripture says, The natural Man perceives not the Things of the Spirit of God. &c. 103. But the Fire-Breath of the inward World, if it be once enlightened, understands it; it has a great Longing, Sighing, Hunger, and Thirst after the sweet Fountain of Christ; it refreshes 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 casts his venomous Rays of Influence upon it, and so sifts it, that it often bites at his Bait, and poisons itself. From whence Misery and Anguish arise, so that the Noble Sophia hides 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 calls to her Bridegroom the fiery Soul, and exhorts him to Repentance, and to the unburthening of himself, or going forth from the Abomination of Vanity. 107. And now War assaults the whole Man. The outward fleshly Man fights 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 says to the fiery Soul: O my Soul! O my love! Turn I beseech you and go forth from Vanity, or else you loses my Love and the noble Pearl. 109. Then says the outward Reason, viz., the Beastial Soul; You are foolish; will you be a Laughing-stock, and the Scorn of the World? You need the outward World to maintain this Life. Beauty, Power, and Glory are your proper Happiness; wherein only you can rejoice and take Delight. Why will you cast yourself into Anguish, Misery, and Reproach? Take your Pleasure, which will do both your Flesh and your Mind good. 110. With such Filth the true Man is often defiled; that is, the outward
Man defiles himself, as a Sow in the Mire, and obscures his noble Pearl. For the more vain the outward Man grows, the more dark the inward Man comes to be, until at length it disappears 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 uses to turn Hypocrite, and esteem itself Divine, even though the Pearl be gone; which lamentable Error sticks 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 makes 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 deceives and hinders 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. How a Man may call himself a Christian, and how not. HERE therefore a Christian should consider why he calls 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 has destroyed my Sins on the Cross, and shed His Blood for me, does not make me a Christian. 115. The Inheritance belongs only to the Children. A Maid-Servant in a House knows well enough what the Mistress would have to be done, and yet that makes her not the Heiress of her Mistress's Goods. The very Devils know that there is a God, yet that does 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 BondWoman, 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 moves 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 has 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 consists in the Will, but the true Life consists in the Doing; for the right Spirit does that which is right. 123. But if there be the Will to do, and yet the Doing follows not, then the true Man is still shut up in vain Lust, which suppresses the Doing. And therefore such a one is but an Hypocrite and an Ishmaelite; he speaks one Thing and does another, and witnesses thereby that his Mouth is a Lyar; for he himself does not that which he teaches, and consequently only serves 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, keeps 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 knows what Food is good for his Health, yet will not eat of it, but eats Poison instead thereof, from whence Sickness and Death, will certainly follow. 125. For what good does 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 teaches it. 126. This Comfort belongs only to the penitent Sinner, who strives against Sin and the Anger of God. When Temptations come, and the Devil assaults 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 has 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 leads through Death; and through that Gate we must enter. He receives 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 has merited. 128. For thus he said, Father, the Men were thine and you have 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 inherits not the Childship, but the innate Essence inherits it. 130. This innate Essence is not of this World, but in Heaven, of which St Paul speaks saying, Our Conversation is in Heaven. The filial Essence walks 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 has 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. 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 takes away Sin: Also that the Spirit of God comes into Men through their Ministry. All which has a proper Meaning, if it was rightly understood; and if Men did not cleave merely to the Husk. 135. Many a Man goes to Church twenty or thirty Years, hears Sermons, receives the Sacraments, and hears 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 goes into the Church, and to the Supper, and a Beast comes out from thence again. 136. How will he eat that has 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 has no Hearing? 137. What good End does 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 does 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 says 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 proffers 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 does it in a Beast to stand and listen, who has 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 says, The Devil plucks the Word out of their Hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. But how can he do so? Because the Word finds 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 you the Forgiveness of your Sins, when my Soul is wholly shut up in Sin? Whosoever says thus to a Sinner so shut up, errs; and he that receives it without the Voice of God within himself confirming the same, deceives himself. None can forgive Sins but God only. 141. The Preacher has not Forgiveness of Sins in his own Power; but it is the Spirit of Christ in the Voice of the Priest that has 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 has 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 does receive it, but in that Property only of which the Mouth of the Soul is. 144. That is, the outward Beast receives Bread and Wine, which it may have as well at Home. And the fiery Soul receives the Testament according to its Property, viz., in the Anger of God it receives the Substance of the eternal World, but according to the Property of the dark World; it receives therefore, as the Scripture says, to its own Judgement or Condemnation. For as the Mouth is, so is the Food which