The Way to Christ, Described in the Following Treatises — Jacob Boehme, trans. after John Sparrow

THE

WAY to CHRIST,

Described

In the following TREATISES:

Of True Repentance. Of Regeneration.

Of True Resignation. Of the Super-Sensual Life.

Written in the Year 1622,

By JACOB BOEHME,

of Goerlitz in Northern Germany.

c Be Earnest — Be Earnest

CANTERBURY :

Rep ublished, with an Illustrated Memoir , by G. Moreton, 42, Bur gate Street, 1894.

[Price Seven Shillings .)

PREFATORY MEMOIR.

r ^HE materials available for describing the Life of JACOB Boehme are but scanty, consisting for the most phrt of a few surprising incidents, some of which, were they not so well authenticated and narrated by himself, would be deemed to be fabulous and incredible — and these incidents, more or less paraphrased, have had to serve for the purpose of a Biography by successive Editors of his Works.

Jacob Boeiime, thqpgh by trade a Shoemaker, was a very remarkable man, and became the greatest Theosopher that has ever lived. His writings are not to be understood without considerable effort working in spiritual sympathy with his ideas, consequently, they have proved to be foolishness to multitudes, and but few have discovered, what has been called, the Pearl hiddeft within them.

Of Jacob Boehme’s birth and parentage, it is known that he was born in the year 1575 at Alt or Old, Seidenberg, a small market-town in Northern Qermany, now situated at the confines of the Prussian frontier ; and within two miles of the principal town of Qoerlitz, which at that time was a place of much importance, and still forms a considerable business centre. He was named after his father, and his Mother’s name was Ursula ; of whom he was not their only child, although neither the names of the other children nor any allusion to them beyond a “ dead brother,” appears to be recorded. As a boy he was employed with other lads to tend the cattle and such similar occupation, as could be found for him near home. Even at that age he appears to have been of a pensive and dreamy disposition and much inclined to reverie ; nor was he of a robust form of constitution ; to which even in manhood, he did not attain.

One of the earliest recorded incidents of Jacob's life is that which occurred to him while herding the cattle. It is narrated that one day at noon, having left his companions to look after the herd, he went to a hill close by called the Land’s Crown, *where a formation ^of the rock bore some resemblance to a cave, where, finding an» opening through the brushwood, he entered, and saw a large wooden vessel filled with money : the sight of which so alarmed him*that he ran back to his companions and . told them of the occurrence ; but although they at once returned with him, both the entrance and the fairy-like money had disappeared. Some years afterwards, as Jacob Boehme himiv ‘Prefatory {Memoir .

self narrates, a foreign artist ” found and appropriated the hidden treasure ; and, in consequence, came to an untimely end.

The place of this strange occurrence is still known, and is one of the excursions from Qoerlitz . It is called the “ Landskrone,* ?nd is in reality a basaltic hill, on the summit of which an ancient Robbers’ Stronghold formerly stood — which may to some extent account for the hidden treasure — and is now occupied by a castellated form of building, used as an Inn and a “ Belvedere,” from which an expansive view of the surrounding country is obtained.

As Jacob grew up and completed his elementary schooling, his father, not finding him sufficiently strong for agricultural work, apprenticed him to a Shoemaker at Qoeiditz , where after he had worked for some time another singular incident occurred tc? him. We are told that his Master having temporarily left him in charge of the shop, a man, who was a stranger to Jacob , entered, and desired to purchase a pair of shoes. Jacob , not venturing to sell anything in his Master’s absence, declined to serve him ; but the Stranger becoming importunate about it, Jacob offered thtm to him at such a price as would certainly save him harmless from his Master’s blame, and would probably deter the Stranger from purchasing. The Stranger, however, paid the price demanded and took the shoes ; and having left the shop, he called to the lad, “Jacob, come outside,” or, as some of his Biographers more dramatically render it, “ J acob , J acob , come forth !” which the lad did, so soon as he had recovered from his astonishment, when the Stranger thus addressed him : “Jacob, thou art as yet but little, but the time will come when thou shalt be great and become another man, and the world shall marvel at thee. Therefore, be pious, fear God, and reverence His Word ; especially read the Bible diligently where thou hast comfort and instruction, for thou must endure much misery and poverty, and suffer persecution. But be courageous and persevere, for God loves and is gracious unto thee.” The Stranger then pressed his hand, gave him a kind look, and departed — with the shoes.

It is questionable whether these incidents were not visionary with, rather than of actual occurrence to, JACOB BOEHME ; but the result of them was that his thoughts assumed a deeply religious form — far deeper than that of the mere “ Lutherarir^ Faith” in which he had been brought up — which so operated 8 upon him in the years to come that his Spirit was able to penetrate into the innermost mysteries of Nature : to foresee and foretell what is now known as Electricity, with its immense possibilities ; and also to divine the three great Principles or first Laws of Nature — attraction, equal resistance producing orbicular

Prefatory ^Memoir . y

movement, resulting in gravitation : which Principles, Sir Isaac NEWTON, who was a diligent though unavowed Student of Boehme's works, by reducing to a Mathematical Form, established that grand Theory of the Universe — the Solar System : which THOMAS CARLYLE described as the most perfect approach to a Theory that has ever been propounded.* ■> ’

Meanwhile, however, Jacob continued his shoemaking occupation, although we are told that at times he worked alm'ost unconsciously for days together, when his thoughts were in devout contemplation. At other times he did not hesitate to rebuke any loose conversation to which the other workmen might yield indulgence, which so irritated his Master that he discharged him from his service, and Jacob was obliged to set out as a travelling journeyman. In the year 1594 he returned to Qoerlits, vOiaere he became a Master shoemaker, and married Catherine, daughter of John Hunshman, a Butcher of Qoerlitz.

About six years after marriage, Jacob's first Illumination occurred — the result, as he says, of strenuously clinging by Faith to.the Promise of the Spirit to those who seek it — in the following manner :

We are told that while one day sitting in his room he noticed a burnished pewter dish, which reflected the sunlight with such a degree of brilliancy that he was overcome with an inward ecstasy, and it seemed to him as if he could now look into the principles and deepest foundations of things. He believed that it was only fancy, and in order to banish it from his mind he went out into the fields about the Town. But here he remarked that he gazed into the very heart of things, the very grass and herbs ; that actual Nature harmonized with what he had seen ; and that he could distinguish the essences, uses, and properties in a manner that was to him a most wonderful insight or Revelation. He is said to have kept his knowledge of the occurrence very much to himself, and returning home continued to take care of his family and worked on in silence until the year 1610, when a further Illumination occurred to him, and of which he wrote a Memorial.

Of his insight into these Mysteries he says : “ I never desired to know anything of the Divine Mystery, much less understood & the way to seek and find it. I knew nothing of it, as is the ‘^condition of poor laymen in their simplicity. I sought only after the Heart of Jesus Christ, that I might hide myself therein from the wrathful Anger of God, and the violent

* Hahnmann also derived his principles of Homoeopathy from Jacob Boehme, as described in the “ Signatura Rerum.”

c

! 'Prefatory ^Memoir

Y 1

Assaults of the Devil. And I besought the Lord earnestly for His Holy Spirit and His Grace, that He would please to bless and guide me in Him, and take that away from me which turned me from Him ; and I resigned myself wholly to Him, that I might not live to my own Will, but °His ; and that He on!y might lead and direct me — to the End I might be His Child in His Son Jesus.

“ In r this my earnest and Christian seeking and Desire (wherein I suffered many a shrewd repulse, but at last resolved rather to put myself in Hazard than give over and leave off) the Gate was opened to me, and in one quarter of an hour I saw and knew more than if I had been w many years together at an University, at which I exceedingly admired, and thereupon turned 'fay Praise to God for it.

“For I saw and knew the Being of all Beings, the Byss*and the Abyss, and the Eternal Generation r of the Holy Trinity, the Descent and Original of the World, and of the Creatures through the Divine Wisdom. I knew and saw in myself all the three Worlds, namely, the Divine, Angelical, and Paradisaical ; a^id the Dark World, the original of the Nature to the Fire ; and then, thirdly, the External and visible World, being a Procreation or External Birth from both the Internal and Spiritual worlds. And I saw and knew the whole working Essence, in the Evil and the Good, and the Original and Existence of each of them, and likewise how the fruitful bearing Womb of Eternity brought forth.

“So that I did not only greatly wonder at it, but did also exceedingly rejoice, and presently it came powerfully into my Mind to set the same down in writing, for a Memorial for myself, though I could scarcely apprehend the same, in my external man, and express it with the Pen.”

The Memorial which Jacob Boehme wrote of his first Illumination is entitled “ Aurora, or the Morning Redness but before the Manuscript was completed it was seen by Carl VON ENDERN, a Nobleman of philosophical tastes, who, being very much interested in it, prevailed upon Boehme to lend it to him, and, having obtained the loan of it, he had several copies of it made, which thus got into general circulation. A copy also came into the possession of one who became a bitter Persecutor of JACOB Boehme ; and who in that relation will £ver be associated*- with him — Gregory Richter, the Primate or Chief Clergyman 1 of Qoerlitz y whose life-long resentment against Boehme appears to have already originated in an incident, ludicrous as it was trivial, which is related as follows :

It appears that a Baker in Qoerlitz , desiring to make some cakes for sale at Eastertide, and not having any money with

‘Prefatory ^Memoir . vji

which to buy the necessary meal, borrowed a Dollar from the Primate for that purpose. The cakes were made ; and having sent the Minister a large one for a Thank Offering, the Baker sold . the remainder and was able within a fortnight, to repay the loan. But the Minister having expected usury for even so small a sum and so short a period, and being a very passionate man, was greatly incensed against the poor Baker, and, cursing him, threatened condemnation to his soul. The poor Baker" returned home much dejected and in superstitious despair of his Salvation, and, his Wife being related to Jacob Boehme, told Jacob of the incident, and begged his intercession with the Primate, to whom Jacob at once, went and interceded with, offering compensation for any injury sustained. ,

The Primate, on hearing of Jacob's mission, in greaV' wrath, ordered jjim to leave the house, which order Jacob at once proceeded to obey, praying God to keep his Worship ; but he had scarcely reached the door of the room when his Worship, who appeared to have been angered at Jacob's goodness and humility, threw his shoe at him as he departed. Jacob at once picked it up, and with much reverence and humility laid it at the Primate’s feet, and with another prayer for his Worship departed, leaving him in a state of great anger.

The following Sunday the Primate reviled Jacob by name from the Pulpit, and informed the assembled and worshipping Council, much to their alarm, that unless Jacob Boehme were expelled from the City, God in His wrath will destroy it as He did those who withstood Moses and Aaron. To all of this , Jacob who was a regular worshipper at the Church, listened with patience ; and after the service, with much humility, asked the Primate in what manner he had offended ; but he only abused him and ordered him out of his sight.

The next morning Jacob was summoned to appear before the Council, who were in too much fear of the Primate to listen to * Jacob’s defence ; and they sentenced him to instant and perpetual banishment, without one moment’s farewell to his Wife and family. His reply was : “ Yes, dear Sirs, it shall be done, since it cannot be otherwise ; I am content,” and as one of his Biographers says, “he went out of the Town, spending the remainder of the day in a melancholy walk about the Town fields,

’ and the night i« what harbour we know/not.”

But the next morning the Councillors having somewhat recovered from theii* fear of the Primate, and considering that they had acted with undue severity against a man whose gentle bearing had evidently won their hearts, revoked the Sentence ; and sent for Jacob Boehme, who was brought back into the

viii f ‘Prefatory {Memoir.

Town with honour. They, however, requested him to deliver up his Manuscripts, which he did ; and forbade him to write any more ; but, as a Shoemaker, to stick to his Last.

This occurrence, which was naturally much talked about, brought JACOB Boehme into general notice, and procured for hifii the friendship and — as his shoemaking business gradually declined — the pecuniary assistance of many clever and influential men of ithat time, including Doctors and Chemists, who were attracted by the “ Aurora ” : particularly of Dr. Walther, Director of the Chemical Laboratory at Dresden , who had travelled in the East, and who was so much attracted by Jacob's writings, that he came and stayed a,t his house for three months, so that he might enjoy his uninterrupted conversation. It was“this Dr. Walther who propounded the Forty Questions concerning the Soul which, with JACOB BOEHME’s replies — which were to the Doctor’s great satisfaction — were published with Boehme's other works. Another important friendship was that of Dr. Kober of Qoerlitz, who afterwards attended Jacob Boehme’s death-bed.

It is said that from these learned friends JACOB BOEHME acquired the technical Latin terms which he uses in his works ; and we are told that when he first heard from them the Greek word “ Idea,” he became as if electrified, and said, “ I see a pure and heavenly Maiden.” This is the Maiden whom he designates in his works as Sophia or Wisdom, and “ who reflects the Glory of God, of the World, and of Man.”

For some years following, Jacob, in obedience to the Councils’ Injunction, abstained from expressing his thoughts in writing, which was a great hardship to him. He says, “ I had resolved to do nothing in future, but to be quiet before God in obedience, and to let the Devil with all his Host sweep over me. But it was with me as when a seed is hidden in the Earth. It grows up in storm and rough weather against all Reason. For in winter-time all is dead, and Reason says, It is all over with it: But the precious Seed within me sprouted and grew green, oblivious of all storms, and amid disgrace and ridicule, it has blossomed forth into a Lily.” At the expiration of seven years, owing to the urgent solicitations of his friends to set forth his Light, he resumed his writing, and in the few years following before his death he produced a wonderful series <of works.

His book of “ The Way to Christ ” * was published by his

* It is stated by the late Mr. Walton that some of the German editions of this book bear as a motto “ Be earnest : be Earnest,” which has therefore been perpetuated in this Reprint.

‘Prefatory {Memoir . jxfriends, and is the only one of all his Works that was published during its Author's lifetime. Its publication appears to have further incensed the Primate Richter, who assailed Jacob BOEHM E from the Pulpit and the Press with the greatest abuse * some of it being too* bad for repetition. To these attacks Jacob BOEHME published his Defence, written, as one of his Biographers remarks, “ with an earnestness that inspires holy awe, and, at the same time with a most hearty gentleness and love,” — good feelings which it is almost needless to say, were entirely lost upon the Primate.

The superstitious fears of the Councillors too, had again been taken advantage of by the Primate, and Jacob Bo-ehme was brought before them. They dared not accept Jacob's defence ; and extricated themselves from the difficulty by suggesting to him that, asjie made himself liable to be treated as an Heretic by the Emperor, he should, far the peace of all concerned, go into a voluntary exile : which in two months’ time he did, but before many months had elapsed he returned, for the last time, unmolested, to Qoerlitz, to die.

On leaving Qoerlitz he was invited to the Electoral Court at Dresden , where he had, through his writings, become well known. It is stated that the Elector himself much admired him, and assembled all the chief Theologians and two Professors of Mathematics for a conference with Jacob Boehme, in order that they might express an opinion about him. After hearing him, Dr. Gerhard, who is regarded as a great dogmatist of that time, said : “ I would not take the whole World and help to .condemn this man and one of the other Doctors said : “ My good Brother, neither would I. Who knows what stands behind this man ? How can we judge what we have not understood ? May God convert the man if he is in error. He is a man of marvellously high mental gifts, who at present can be neither condemned nor approved and these eminent men who ex- . amined him, afterwards became his warmest admirers.

In England the opinion of those who read Jacob Boehme’ s works was similar to that of the Theologians. Charles the First was a great admirer of them ; and it is related that, after he had rea fyBoehme's Answers to the Forty Questions concerning the >Soul, he said : “ God be praised that there are still men in existence who are abl£ to give from their own experience a living Testimony of God and His Word;” and it is to John Sparrow,

" * e.g. “ There are as many Blasphemies in this Shoemaker’s book as there are lines : it smells of shoemaker’s pitch and blacking. May this insufferable stench be far from us.”

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a Barrister of the Inner Temple, that we owe an excellent translation of Boehme s works into English, which he produced between the years 1646 and 1662.

It is -stated that Henry Moore, a Professor at Cambridge , % was instructed to examine JACOB Boehme’s works and to report against them. He examined them, but, strange to say, he pronounced in their favour ; although he owned there were some things in them which he did not then understand, and added, that those who treated Boehme with contempt were, in his opinion, ignorant and mentally blind. The Professor was convinced that Jacob Boehme had been specially awakened for the purpose of correcting and guiding those who believed merely 'in an external Christ, without regard to having the Spirit of Christ within themselves.

In the month of August , 1624, the Primate GRlibORY RICHTER died,* having had the mortification of seeing one of his sons become an ardent disciple of Jacob Boehme, whose works he had copied and circulated ; and a few months later, the man whom the Primate had so ruthlessly reviled and persecuted also died.

As to the manner of JACOB BOEHME’S death, it is stated that, while staying with a Nobleman in Silesia , he was taken with a fever produced by gastric disease. At his request he was carried back to (joei'litz , where he was attended by his old friend, Dr. Tobias KOBER. On his arrival, he told his friend that he was dying, and that he was quite willing to die according to the Will of God, adding : “ In three days’ time you will see how God will make an end of me.” This appears to have been on Thursday , the 14th November , 1624.J*

On the following Sunday morning, shortly after midnight, he called his son Tobias to him, and asked him whether he could hear sounds of sweet music. Tobias said he could not ; and his father asked him to open the door of the room so that he could the better hear it. He then asked the hour, and when told he., said : “ My time is not yet ; three hours henc£ is my time” — as it proved. A little later he was overheard to say : “ Oh, Thou

# According to Dr. Martensen, who quotes from Frankenberg’s Biography ; but according to Dr. Hartmann, Richter survived Jucob Boehme. There does not appear to have been miigh difference between Richter and his successor in their treatment of Boehme.

f There appears to be some confusion as tp the date of Jacob Boehme’s death, by his Biographers. According to the M New Style ” it occurred on Sunday, the 17 th November , 1624, as recorded on his gravestone; but according to the “ Old Style” it occurred on Sunday , the 21 st November , in that year.

‘Prefatory ^Memoir . xi.

strong God of Sabaoth, deliver me according to Thy. Will,” and immediately afterwards, “ Thou crucified Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me, and take me to Thyself in Thy kingdom.”

He afterwards gave his Wife directions as to his Manuscripts and other matters, and told her that she would not long survive him : which prediction was fulfilled, as she died of the Plague hi the following year.

It is very beautifully related that towards the end his* Spirit seemed to be kept from departing solely by the loving looks of his eldest son, who constantly attended him ; but, at Six O'clock on Sunday morning, the lyth of November , 1624, he suddenly bade them Farewell, witl\a smile, and said, “ Now I enter Paradise ” — th«i supreme moment arrived — and his Spirit was gone.

A FEW months before JACOB BOEHME’S death, in one of bus Letters he # wrote as follows: “ That which my Native Country casteth away, other Nations will take up.” His writings are now universally known, and . there is scarcely a civilized country in the language of

which they may not be found.

In personal appearance Jacob Boehm e is said to have been “ somewhat mean,” of small stature, with a low forehead, prominent temples, and aquiline-shaped nose, a scanty beard, grey eyes “ sparkling into heavenly blue,” a feeble but genial, voice. In his bearing he was modest and unassuming, patient under suffering, and full of gentle humility. His portrait in the Council Hall of Qoerlitz, from which the frontispiece to this volume* has been prepared, scarcely corroborates this description, and may ' be a modern idealism : it is however the authentically received portrait of him there. There is an engraving by Wolfe , which appears to be a more realistic portrait of Boehme, but of its authenticity nothing can be ascertained. It bears the German

lines by Angelus , of which the following is a translation :

'■>

/ N Water lives the Fish, the Plant in the Earth ,

The Bird in the Air , in the Firmament the Sun.

The Salamander must subsist in Fire ,

And the Heart of Qod is Jacob Boehme’s Element.

'ft is grievous to relate that after Jacob Boehme’S death, the tlfcw Primate refused his body a decent burial, and the poor

* The illustrations to tftis Memoir have been prepared from photographs specially taken at Goerlitz,. The thanks of all whom they may interest are due to the Rev. G. H. Moxon, British Chaplain at Dusseldorf for the trouble he has kindly taken in procuring the original photographs.

xii ‘Prefatory {Memoir.

Councillors of Qoerlitz knew not what to do, confronted as they were by the Clergy and by the Populace, whose prejudices had been excited against Boehme. The intervention of the Catholic Count Hannibal von Drohna was secured, who ordered the body to be buried in a solemn manner in the presence of two iiiembers of the City Council, which was done. It is said that the Primate’s last characteristic act with regard to Boehme, was to take medicine to avoid being obliged to preach the Funeral . Sermon ; and his Deputy began his address by expressing his disgust at the duty he had been called upon to perform.

It is related that some of Jacob Boehme’s friends in Silesia sent a Cross, figured with occult symbols, for his Grave. On the top was a flaming symbol “ with a Hebrew inscription' signifying IHSVH ” with twelve golden rays. Below were the initials of his favourite Motto and a picture of a Child asleep resting upon a skull, signifying the regeneration by means of the mystic death, with an inscription: “ Here rests Jacob Boehme, born oj (jod ; died in Christ, sealed with the Holy Spirit." On the right was a black Eagle upon a Mountain, with the word Vidi written beneath it ; on the left was a Lion, with the word Vici; below was a Lamb, with the word Vent. One of his Biographers thus explains the meaning of these words and symbols: “ Veni , I came into the World ; Vidi, I saw Satan descend ; Vici, I conquered the Infernal,” &c. But others might render their meaning-as : Veni, I came— with the gentleness of a Lamb ; Vidi, I saw — with the swift piercing vision of an Eagle ; and Vici, I conquered in upholding my convictions — with the courage of a Lion.

It is stated that this Cross was soon removed and destroyed by the Townspeople ; whose descendants have, however, done ample honour to Jacob Boehme’s memory. In the year 1875, on the tercentenary of his birth, a Great Festival was held at Qoerlitz, at which thousands were present. His Portrait has been received and hung with honour in the Council Hall ; his House is distinguished by having a plate affixed to it, recording the fact that he lived and died therein; and over his Grave there has been placed a huge monumental block, which is, like his Works, sufficiently substantial to endure for Ages to come.

“ %

I T has frequently been asserted by very able Commentators upon Jacob Boehme, that to no one are-his works essential — -with the exception of his “ Way to Christ,” which is the least metaphysical of any of thdtn — any further than a knowledge of Physics is essential to an Agriculturalist; who without any such knowledge can cultivate the ground and reap its fruits. In like manner the Christian can cultivate an

Prefatory {Memoir .

holy Spirit and reap its fruits without any knowledge of the Mysteries of Nature such as Boehme has penetrated and revealed to us.

a Jacob Boehme’s Works are, as the Rev. W. Law long ago asserted, “just as they should be for those that are fit for them,” and this is the true standpoint from which to regard them. No one has ever studied them in vain ; and Freher , who is regarded as one of Jacob Boehme’s most able Commentators, read all Boehtne's books in the original more than ten times over, though not without the greatest disgust imaginable in the beginning.

During Jacob Boehmd’s lifetime he was frequently questioned by his friends and followers in their anxiety respecting the state of the soul immediately after death ; and upon this subject he has written, some very impressive passages, as in a case where the Soul, not having passed through regeneration in this life, had at a the hour of its departure clung by Faith to the Promise of Forgiveness and Salvation. He writes : “ When the hour of Death approaches and the Conscience awakens, such a Soul trembles in great Fear of Hell, and would like to be saved ; but there is only very little of the saving power of Faith within her, while before her is nothing but (a past of) injustice and falsehood, earthly lust, and the tears and sighs of the downtrodden. *Her desire turns to a certain extent towards God, but the sins she has committed are in her way, and there arises in her a great doubt and unrest. Many a Soul then clings to the saving power, as it were by a thin thread. When, then, .death actually occurs and separates the Soul from the Body, the poor Soul will then cling to that thread and refuse to let go her hold of it, but all her essences are still deeply immersed in the Wrath of God. She is tormented by her gross sins, and the thread of Faith (the umbilical cord) of the new-born being is vqjy feeble. Therefore when the Bridegroom says ‘ Come !’ the poor Soul answers * I cannot, my lamp is not yet ready but she clings to the thread, and puts her imaginaion into the Heart of God, and thus she becomes ultimately redeemed by the suffering of the Christ in her from the pool of putrefaction.*

“/t is not possible to describe what kind of a Purgatory - }* such a Soul will have to pass through before, by means of her little spark of love, she can enter into Eternal life. The World would not believe such a description; the World is too clever and likewise too blind *to understand it. People cling for ever

* “ Three Principles.”

+ Jacob Boehme was of the “ Lutheran ” form of Belief.

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to the letter. I wish to God that no one should have to pass through that experience. I would then gladly keep still and say nothing about it”*

There is no Writer with whom Jacob B&ehme can be compared. His “Way to Christ” might to some minds suggest the “ Jmitation of Christ ” written by that good man THOMAS A Kempis ; but their similarity consists only in the identity of their subject. For the space of seventy-one years Thomas A KEMPIS led a calm monastic life, comfortably sheltered from the World and most of its every-day trials ; and his work, though traly beautiful in its composition, is of a nature, perhaps, more poetical than practical, and is indeed in the original written in metre. Jacob Boehm E on the contrary had to adhere to his convictions at the loss of his employment and means of sustenance : forced to silence respecting mysteries into which he had the deepest insight ; and banished from hjs home disgraced and ridiculed. It is therefore not surprising that his work should be of a nature strenuously practical ; the tfery title of his book the “ Way,” rather than the “ Imitation,” suggesting activity rather than passivity of its author’s own experiences.

In conclusion. Those whom this republication may lead to the study of Jacob BoEIIME’S Works should recollect the homely, but true, Maxim — that Where there is no Love there can be no True Knowledge ; and, if inclined — like the unenviably memorable Gregory Richter, Primate of Qoerlitz — to reject and condemn them, let it not be in his manner; but rather let them bear - in mind the cautious tolerance displayed by the old German Theologian Dr. Meissner, who, when asked for his opinion of them, replied: “How can we judge what we have not understood ?”

G. B. M.

\jth of January, 1894.

* Answers to Forty Questions.

O F

TRUE REPENTANCE.

SHOWING

How Man should stir up himself

IN

M' I N D and WILL ,

AND

What his EARNEST CONSIDERATION and PURPOSE should be.

Written in the German Language, (Anno. 1622)

By y A COn no EH ME.

J ESUS said unto Nicodemus, Verily , verily , / unto thee ,

Except a Man be born again , tye cannot see the Kingdom of God. <■

Nicodemus saith unto him , How can a Man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second Time into his Mother s Womb and be born ? 4

Jesus answered , Verily , verily, I say unto thee , Except a Man be born of Water , 0 / Spirit , cannot enter into

the Kingdom of God.

'That which is born of the Flesh , z'j Flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit , « Spirit.

Marvel not that I said unto thee , 2V be born again. The Wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof. \ but canst not tell whence it cometh , and whither it goeth : So is every one that is born of the Spirit . — John iii. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

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. — Matt. xvi. 26.

THE

AUTHOR’S PREFACE,

TO THE

READER.

D EAR Reader, if thou wilt use this Book aright, and art in good Earnest, thou shalt certainly find the Benefit thereof. — But I desire thou mayest be warned, if thou art not in earnest , not to meddle with the dear Names of God, in and by which the most High Holiness is invoked, moved, and powerfully desired, lest they kindle the Anger of God in thy Soul. For we must not abuse the Holy Names of God. — This little Book is only for those that would fain repent, and are in a Desire to begin. Such will find what manner of Words are therein, and whence they are born. Be you herewith commended to the External Goodness and Mercy of God.

OF TRUE REPENTANCE.

How Man must stir up 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 Sins.

W HEN Man will enter upon Repentance , and with his Prayers turn to GOD ; he should, before he beginneth to pray, seriously consider the State of his own Soul. How it is wholly and altogether turned away from God, become faithless to Him, and only bent upon this temporal, frail, and earthly Life; bearing no sincere Love towards God and its Neighbour, but wholly lusting and walking contrary to the Commandments of God, and seeking itself only, in the temporal and transitory Lusts of the Flesh.

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

Thirdly, 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 A Tiger of God, the Abyss and dark World, which is the Centre, Root, or Constituent Principle of the Soul’s Life. The Second is the Desire of the Devil against the Soul, whereby he continually sifteth and tempteth it, and without Intermission striveth to throw it from the Truth of God into his own evil Nature and Element, viz., into Pride, Covetousness, Envy and Anger ; and with his Desire, bloweth up and kindleth those evil Properties in the Soul, whereby its Will turneth away from God, and entereth into Self. The Third and most hurtful Chain of all, wherewith the poor Soul is tied, is the corrupt and altogether vain, earthly, and mortal Flesh and Blood, full of evil Desires and Inclinations.

Here he must consider, that he lieth close Prisoner with Soul and Body in the Mire of Sins, in the Anger of God, in the Jaws of Hell ; that the Anger <?/God burneth in him in Soul and Body, and that he is that very loathsome Keeper of Swine, who hath spent and consumed his Father’s Inheritance , namely,

6

The TVay to Christ.

the precious Love and Mercy of God, with the fatted Swine of the Devil in earthly Pleasures, and hath not kept the dear Cove - nant and Atonement of the innocent Death and Passion? of Jesus Christ ; which Covenant God of mere Grace hath given or put into our Humanity, and reconciled us in Dtim . He must also consider, that he hath totally forgotten the Covenant of holy Baptism , in which he had promised to be faithful and true to his Saviour , and so wholly defiled and obscured His Righteousness with Sin } (which Righteousness God had freely bestowed upon him in Christ) 9 that he now standeth before the Face of GOD, with the fair Garment of Christ's Innocency which he hath defiled, as a dirty, ragged, and patched Keeper of Swine \ that hath continually eaten the Husks of Vanity with the Devil* s Swine , and is not worthy to be called a Son of the Father , and Member of Christ

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

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

Sixthly , he must consider that the Ungodly Man loseth his noble Image 9 God having created him in and for His Imagi or creaturely Representation, and getteth instead thereof a deformed or monstrous Shape , like a hellish Worm or uglp Beast* Whereirf he is an Enemy to God, Heaven, and all Holy Angels and Men, and that his Communion is, and will be forever, with the Devils and hellish Worms in horrible Darkness *

Seventhly, he must earnestly consider the eternal Punishment and Torture of the damned ; how that in eternal Horror they shall suffer Torments in their Abominations which they had com7

Of "True Repentance .

mitted here, and may never see the Land of the Saints to all Eternity, nor get any Ease or Refreshment, as appears by the ExamjJle.of Dives the rich Man.

* All this a Man must earnestly and seriously consider, and remember also that Gdd had originally created him in such a fair and glorious Image , even in His own Likeness , in which He Himself would dwell. That He created him out of His Goodness for Man's own eternal Bliss and Glory, to the end that he -might dwell with the holy Angels and Children <?/God in great Happiness > Power and Qlory ; in the eternal Light ; in the praiseful and melodious Harmony of the Angelical and Divine Kingdom of Joy . Where he should rejoice continually with the Children of God without Fear of any End. Where no evil Thoughts could touch him, neither Care nor Trouble , neither Heat nor Cold. Where no Jfight 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 Colours, and the Variety of Splendour opened and displayed by the Omnipotent Powers and Glories of God, upon the new Chrystalline Earth, which shall be as transparent Qlass. And that he doth so wilfully lose all this eternal Glory and Happiness for the sake of so short and poor a Time , which even in this State of Vanity and Corruption, in the evil Life of the voluptuous Flesh, is full of Misery , Fear and utter Vexation ; and wherein it goeth with the wicked as with the righteous, as the one must die so must the other ; only the Death of the Saints is an Entrance into the eternal Rest, while the Death of the wicked is an Introduction into the eternal Anguish.

Eighthly , he must consider the Course of this World , that all Things in it are but a Play , wherewith he spendeth his Time in such Unquietness; and that it goeth with the Rich and Mighty ag 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 hafch nothing but the Pleasures of the Palate and the Lust of the Eye for a little while, more than his poor Neighbour, for the End of both is the same. Yet for this short-lived Lusts Sake, many foolishly forego so inconceivable a Happiness, and bring themselves into so 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 represent and set before his Eyes his own End , a hearty sighing and longing after the Mercy of God, and will begin to

8 The Way to Qhrist .

bewail his, committed Sins ; and to be sorry he hath spent his Days so ill, and not observed or considered, that he standeth in this World as in a Field, in the growing to be a Fruity either in the Love or in the Anger of God. He will then first begin to find in himself that he hath not yet laboured at all in the Vine - yard of Christ , but that he is a dry fruitless Branch of the Vine. And thus in many a one, whom the Spirit of Christ touchfcth in such & Consideration, there ariseth abundant Sorrozu, Qnef of Heart , and imvard Lamentation over the Days of his Wickedness which he hath spent in Vanity, without any working in the Vineyard of Christ .

Such a Man whom the Spirit of Christ thus bringeth into Sorrow and Repentance , so that his Heart is opened bcAh to know and bewail his Sins, is very easily to be helped. He needeth but to draw to himself the Promise of Christ , viz,, That God willeth not the Death of a Sinner , but that He wisheth them all to come unto Him , and He will refresh them ; and that there is great Joy in Heaven for one Sinner that repentcth . 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 acknozvledgc and bewail their committed Sins. The Flesh saying continually to the Soul, Stay a-while , it is zvell enough ; or it is Lime enough Tomorrow ; and when To-morrow is come, then the Flesh saith again To-morrow ; the Soul in the meanwhile, sighing and fainting, conceiveth neither any true Sorrow for the Sins it hath committed, nor any Comfort . Unto such a one, I say, I will write a Process or Way, which I myself have gone, that he may know what he must do, and how it went with me, if peradventure he be inclined to enter into and pursue the same, and then he will come to understand what he shall find here afterwards written.

A Prpcess of Repentance ;

Or Way to Conversion.

W HEN any Man findeth in himself by^he former or any other Considerations, pressed home upon his Mind and Conscience, a Hunger, ox Desire to repent, and yet feeleth no true Sorrow in himself for his Sins which he hath committed, but only an Hunger , or Desire of such Sorrow ; so that the poor captive Soul conOf 'True ‘Repentance. 9

tinually sigheth , fcareth , and must needs acknowledge itself guilty of Sins before the Judgment of God. Such a one, I say, can .take no better Course than this, namely, to wrap up his Senses , Mind, and Reason together, and make to himself instantly, as soon as ever he perceiveth in himself the Desire to 1'epent , a mighty strong Purpose and Resolution that he will that very Hour , nay that Minute , immediately t enter into Repentance , and go forth from his wicked Way, and not at all regard the Power and Respect of the World. Yea, and if it should be required, would forsake and disesteem all Things for true Repentaiice 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 , a^id set all his Hope and Confidence Upon tfie 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 1 s Word and Promise, which holds forth to us an Heavenly Reward ’ willingly take up and bear every Adversity and Cross, so that he may but be admitted into the Communion or Fellowship of thb 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 such 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 (jhost, 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 Pqper , and strengthen his weak Faith. Also that in his Divine Hunger he shall get the Flesh and Blood of Christ for Food and Drink , in the Desire of his Soul, which hungereth and thirsteth after it as its proper Nutriment ; and with the Thirst of the Soul drink the Water of eternal Ufe 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 gteat Love of Qod. That Qod willeth not the Death of a Sinner , but that he repent and believe; that Christ calleth poor Sinners vefy kindly and graciously to Himself, and ‘will refresh them ; that 4 God hath sent His Son into the World, "to seek and save that which is lost/ viz., the poor Repentant and returning Sinner ; and that for the poor Sinner’s Sake

ib The VPay to Qhrist.

He hath given His Life unto Deaths 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 come ; and that God in the Love of Christy 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 ft is the highest and deepest Love and Faithfulness , the greatest Sweetness of the Deity, in the great Name JEHOVAH, which He hath manifested in our Humanity corrupted as it is, and perished as to the Heavenly Part , which in Paradise disappeared through Sin. And He wa s therefore moved in His Heart to flow into us with His sweet Love , that the A'ager 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 o^ Grace again.

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

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

Of True Repentance . I'l

A Short Form of Confession before the Face of God.

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

O THOU great unsearchable God, Lord of all Things;

Thou, who in Christ Jesus , of great Love towards us, hath manifested thyself with thy Holy Substance in our Humanity : I, poor unworthy sinful Wretch, come before thy Presence, which thou hast manifested in the Humanity of Jesus Christy though I am not worthy to lift up mine Eyes to thee, acknowledging and confessing before thee, that I am guilty of Unfaithfulness, and breaking off from thy great Love and* Qrace , which thou hast freely bestowed upon us. I have left the Covenant \ which of mere Grace thou hast made with me in Baptism , in which thou didst receive me to be a Child and Heir of Eternal Life, and have brought my Desur into the Vanity of this World, and defiled my Soul therewith, and made it altogether Bestial and Earthly . So that my Soul knoweth not itself, because of the Mire of Sin ; but accounteth itself a strange Child before thy Face, not worthy to desire thy Grace. I lie in the Quilt and Filth of Sin, and the Vanity of my corrupt Flesh, Up to the very Lips of my Soul, and have but a small Spark of the living Breath left in me, which desireth thy Grace. I am dead in Sin and Corruption, so that in this woeful Condition I dare not lift up mine Eyes to thee.

O God in Christ Jesus , thou who for poor Sinners’ Sakes didst become Man to help them, to thee I complain, to thee I have ye? a Spark of Refuge in my Soul. I have not regarded thy purchased Inheritance , which thou hast purchased for us poor Men by thy bitter Death , but have made myself Partaker of the Heritage of Vanity, in the Anger of my Father in the Curse of the Earth, and am ensnared in Sin, and nearly dead as to thy Kingdom. I lie in Feebleness as to thy Strength, and the wrathful Death waiteth for me. The Devil hath poisoned me, so that I know not my Saviour : I am become a wild Branch on thy Tree, and have consumed mine Inheritance which is in thee, •with the Devil's Swine. What shall I say before thee, who am not worthy of thy Grace ? I lie in the Sleep of Death which hath captivated me, and am fast bound with three strong Chains . O

ra The Way to Qhrist .

thou Breaker-through-death , assist me, I beseech thee, I cannot, I am able to do nothing! I am dead in myself, and have no Strength before thee, neither dare I for great Shame lift up mine Eyes unto thee. For I am the defiled Keeper of Swine, and have spent mine Inheritance with the false adulterous Whore of Vanity in the Lusts of the Flesh ; I have sought myself in my own Lust, and not thee . Now in myself I am become a Fool ;

I am naked and bare ; my Shame standeth before mine Eyes ; I cannot hide it; thy Judgment waiteth for me. What shall I say before thee, who art the Judge of all the World? I have nothing to bring before thee. — Here I stand naked and bare in thy Presence, and fall down before thy Face bewailing my Misery, and fly to thy great Mercy, though I am nob worthy of it ; yet receive me but in thy Death, and let me but die from my Death in thine . Cast me down I pray thee to the Ground in my innate Self \ and kill this Self of mine through thy Death , that I may live no more to myself \ seeing I in myself work nothing but Sin. Therefore, I pray thee, cast down to the Ground this wicked Beast which is full of false Deceit and Selfdesire, and deliver this poor Soul of mine from its heavy Bonds.

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

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

O thou Breath of the great Love of God, quicken I beseech thee my weak Breath in me, that it may begin to Hunger and Thirst after thee. O Lord Jesus , thou sweet Strength, I beseech thee give my Soul to drink of thy Fountain of Grace, thy sweet Water of eternal Life, that it may awake from Death and thirst after thee. O how extreme fainting I am for Want of thy Strength ! O merciful God, do thou turn me I beseech thee, I cannot turn myself. O thou Vanquisher of Death, help me I pray thee to wrestle. How fast doth the Enemy hold me with his three Chains , and will not suffer the Desire of my Soul to

Of True Repentance . 1*3

come before thee ! I beseech thee come and take the. Desire of my Soul into thyself. Be thou my drawing to the Father, and delivef me from the Devils Bonds ! Look not upon my Deformity in standing naked before thee, having lost thy Garment! I pray thee, do but thou clothe that Breath which yet liveth in me and panteth after thy Grace ; and so shall I yet see thy Salvation.

O thou deep Love, I pray thee take the Desire of my Soul into thee : bring it forth out of the Bonds of Death through thy Death, in thy Resurrection, in thee. O quicken me in thy Strength, that my Desire and Will may begin to spring up and flourish anew. O thou Vanquisher of Death and of the Wrath m of God, do thou overcome in me Self; break its Will and bruise my Soul, that it may fear before thee, and be ashamed of its own Will “before „thy Judgment ', and that it may be ever obedient to thee as an Instrument ; of thine. Subdue it in the Bonds of Death; take away its Power, that it may will nothing without thee.

Q God the Holy Ghost in Christ my Saviour, teach me, I pray thee, what I shall do, that I may turn to thee. O draw me in Christ to the Father, and help me, that now and from hence forward 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 k have committed. O keep me in thy Bonds, and let me not loose from thee, lest the Devil sift me in my wicked Flesh and Blood, and bring me again into the Death of Death. O enlighten thou my Spirit, that I may see the Divine Path, and walk in it continually. O take that away from me, which always turneth me away from thee ; and give me that which always turneth me to thee : take me wholly from myself, and give me wholly to thyself. O let me begin nothing, let me will, think, and do nothing without thee. O Lord how long ! Indeed I am not worthy of thg.t which I desire of thee, I pray thee let the Desire of my Soul dwell but in the Gates of thy Courts ; make it but a Servant of thy Servants. O preserve it from that horrible Pit, wherein there is no Comfort or Refreshment.

O God in Christ Jesus! I am blind in myself, and know not myself for Vanity. Thou art hidden from me in my Blindness, and yet thou art near unto me ; but thy Wrath which my Desire hath av'akened i» me, hath made me dark. O take but the Desire of my Soul to thee? prove it, O LORD, and bruise it, that my Soul may obtain a Ray of thy sweet Grace.

• I lie before thee as a dying Man, whose Life is passing from his Lips, as a small Spark going out ; kindle it, O Lord, and raise up the Breath of my Soul before thee. Lord, I wait for

I2J. The TV ay to Qhrist .

Thy Promise, which Thou hast made, saying, ‘As I live, I will not ‘ the Death of a Sinner, but that he shall turn and live.’ I sink myself down into the Death of my Redeemer Jesus Christ , and Wait for thee, whose Word is Truth and Life. Amen. ■>

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

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

Now when such a Heart with strong Resolution and Purpose doth thus come before God, and enter into Repentance, it happeneth to it as to the Canaanitish Woman ; that is, it seems as if God would not hear. The Heart remaineth without Comfort ; its Sins, Pollies, and Neglects, also present themselves before it, and make it feel itself unworthy of any. The Mind is as it were speechless ; the Soul groaneth in the Deep; the Heart receiveth Nothing, nor can so much as pour forth its Co?ifession before God ; but it is as if the Heart and Soul were quite shut up. The Soul would fain go towards God, but the P'lesh keepeth it Captive : The Devil too shutteth it up strongly, and represented to it the Way of Vanity again, and tickleth it with the Lusts of the Flesh, and saith inwardly to it, ‘ Stay awhile ; do this or that first ; get ‘ a Sufficiency of Money or Goods beforehand, that thou mayest ‘not stand in need of the World, and afterwards enter into ‘ Repentance and an 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 Qrafts broken off with the Wind, or withered by the Heat !

Beloved Soul, mark : If thou wilt be a Champion in thy Saviour Christ against Death and Hell', and wouldst have thy young Qraft grow, and become a Tree in the Kingdom of Christ, thou must go on, and stand fast in thy first earnest Purpose. It is as much as thy paternal Inheritance is worth, and thy Body

Of True Tfepentance,

and Soul too, whether thou becomest an Angel in .God, or a Devil in Hell. If thou wilt be crowned , thou must fight , thou must overcome in Christ \ and not yield to the Devil Thy Purpose must stand firm, thou must not prefer temporal Honour and Goods before it. When the Spirit of the Flesh saith, Stay awhile , it is not convenient yet ; then the Soul must say, ‘Now is the ‘Time for me to go back again into my Native Country, out of ‘which my Father Adam hath brought me. No Creature shall ‘ keep me back, and though thou earthly Body shouldest thereby ‘decay and perish, yet I will now enter with my Will and whole

* Desire, into the Rose-Garden of my Redeemer Jesus Christy ‘ through His Suffering and Death into Him, and in the^Death of

* Christ subdue thee, thou earthly Body, that hath swallowed up my ‘ Pearl from me, which God gave to my Father Adam in Paradise. ‘I will breaV the Will of thy Voluptuousness, which is in Vanity, ‘and bind thee as a mad Dog, with the Chain of my earnest Pur- ‘ pose ; and though thereby thou shouldest become a Fool in the ‘Account of all Men, yet thou must and shalt obey the firm ‘Resolve of my Soul. Nothing shall unloose thee from this ‘Chain, but the temporal Death. Whereunto Goi) and his 4 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.

B ELOVED 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 triumphal (parland of Christ from the Noble Sophia, ox Divine Wisdom, it must woo her for it in great Desire of Love. It must entreat her tn 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, thfey 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 Qlimpse of the true Qlory. But a chaste and modest Mind

1 6 The Way to

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 Qround, and the precious (garland set upon jit. Yet if this should come to pass, it is taken off again from the Soul, and laid by, as a Crown useth to be, after a King is once crowned with it ; it is then laid by and kept. So it cometh to pass also with the Heavenly Qarland or Qift. It is taken from the Soul again,' because the Soul is yet encompassed with the House of Sin ; so that 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.

The Process, or Way.

A MAN must bring a serious Mind to this Work. He must come before God with sincere Earnestness, dyep 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 Honour and Goods, nay, and the temporal Life also, for the Sake of his new Choice , yet he must resolve firmly to abide by it.

If ever he will obtain the Love and Marriage of the noble Sophia, he must make such a Vow as this in his Purpose and Mind. For Christ himself saith : ‘ He that forsaketh not Wife and Children, ‘ Brethren and Sisters, Money and Goods, and all that he hath, ‘ and even his earthly Life also, to follow me, is not worthy of * me.’ Here Christ meaneth the Mind of the Sozil ; 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 ratlifer 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 fericho, wherewith Solomon delighted himself, and termed it his dear Love, his chaste Virgin which he loved ; as indeed all other Saints before and after hiip 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 Qkost, He formeth and frameth the Prayer for the Soul, in every Heart wherein He is sought.

Of 'True ‘Repentance. } 7

The Prayer.

ir A poor unworthy Creature, come before thee, O great and I Holy God, and lift up mine Eyes to thee. Though I am

f not worthy, yet thy great Mercy, and thy faithful Promise

in thy Word, have now encouraged me to lifttheEyes of the Desire of my Soul up to thee. For my Soul hath noiv laid hold on the Word of thy Promise, and received it into itself, and therewith cometh to thee. And though it is but a strange Child which was disobedient unto thee, yet now it desireth to be obedient; and doth now infold itself with its Desire into that Word which became Man, which became Flesh and Blood , and hath broken Sin a«d De^th in my Humanity. Which hath changed the Anger of God into Love in the Scjul, hath deprived Death of his Power, and Hell of its Victory over Soul and Body ; and hath opened a Qate for* my Soul to the clear Face of thy Strength and Power. O Qreat and most Holy God, I have brought the Hunger and Desire of my Soul into this most Holy Word \ and now I come before thee, and in my Hunger call unto thee, Thou living Fountain , through thy Word which became Flesh and Blood. Thy Word being made the Life in our Flesh, I receive it firmly into the Desire of my Sousas my own Life; and I pierce into thee with the Desire of my Soul through the Word in the FJesh of Christ; through His holy conception in the Virgin Mary , His Incarnation, His Holy Nativity, His Baptism in 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 y 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 iTis Sleep, who was fallen into a dead Sleep as to the Kingdom of Heaven. Through His love, which pierced through th e Anger and destroyed Hell in the Soul. Through His Resurrection from the Dead, His Ascension, the sending of the Holy Spirit into our Soul and Spirit, and through all His Promises ; one of which is ‘ that thou, O God the Father, wilt give the Holy Spirit to them f tjiat ask it, in the Name and through the Word which became * Man.’

O thou Life of my Fleih and of my Soul in Christ my Brother, I. beseech thee in the Hunger of my Soul, and entreat thee with all my Powers, though they be weak, to give me what thou hast promised me, and freely bestow upon me in my Saviour Jesus

1*3 The Way to Qhrist .

Christ, His Flesh for Food and his Blood for Drink, to refresh my poor hungry Soul, that it may be quickened, and strengthened in the Word which became Man, by which it may long and hunger after thee aright.

O thou deepest Love in the most sweet* Name JESUS, give thyself into the Desire of my Soul. For therefore thou hast moved thyself, and according to thy great Sweetness manifested thyself, in the Human Nature, and called us to thee: we who hunger and thirst after thee, and hast promised us that thou wilt refresh us. I now open the Lips of my Soul to thee, O thou sweet Truth ; and though I am not worthy to desire it of thy Holiness, yet I come to thee through thy bittec Passion and Death : thou having sprinkled my Uncleanness with thy Blood, arid sanctified me in thy Humanity , and made an open Gate for me through thy Death, to thy sweet Love in thy Blood. Through thy five holy Wounds, from which thou didst shed thy Blood, I bring the Desire of my Soul into thy Love.

O fesus Christ, thou Son of GOD and Man, I pray thee receive into thyself thy purchased Inheritance, which thy Father -hath given thee. I cry within me, that I may enter through thy holy Blood and Death into thee. Open thyself in me, that the Spirit of my Soul may reach thee, and receive thee into it. Lay hold on my Thirst in me with thy Thirst ; bring thy Thirst after us Men, which thou hadst upon the Cross, into my Thirst, and give me thy Blood to drink in my Thirst. That my Death in me which holdeth me Captive, may be drowned in the Blood of thy Love, and that my extinguished or suppressed Image, which as to the Kingdom of Heaven disappeared in my Father Adam through Sin, may be made alive through thy powerful Blood, and my Soul clothed with it again as with the new Body which dwelleth in Heaven. In which Image thy holy Power and Word that became Man dwelleth, which is the Temple of the Holy Spirit, who dwelleth in us according to thy Promise, saying, ‘ we will come to you t and ‘ make our Abode with you.’

O thou great Love of fesus Christ, I can do no more than sink my Desire into thee ; thy Word which became Man, is Truth ; since thou hast bidden me come, now I come. Be it unto me according to thy Word and Will. Amen.

Of 'True 'Repentance.

A ’Vy'arning to the Reader.

B ELOVED Reader, out of Love to thee, I will not conceal from thee what is here earnestly signified to me. If thou lovest the Vanity of the Flesh still, and art not in an earnest Purpose on the Way to the New Birth of Re - generation , intending to become a Nezv Alan, then leave the above-written Words in these Prayers unnamed ; else they will turn to a Judgment of God in thee. Thou must not take the holy Names in vain, thou art faithfully warned : They belong to the Thirsty Soul. But if thy Soul be in earnest, it shall find by Experience what Words they are.

A direction,

How the Soul must meet its Beloved , when she knocketh in its Centre , or Closed Inner-Chamber .

B ELOVED Soul, if thou wilt be earnest without Intermission; thou shalt certainly obtain the Favour of a Kiss from the Noble Sophia {or Divine Wisdom ) in the Holy Name JESUS ; for she standeth ever before the Door of the Soul \ knocking , and warning the Sinner of his wicked Way. Now if he once thus desireth her Love, she is ready for him, and kisseth him with the Beams of her sweet Love, from whence the Heart receiveth Joy. But she doth not presently unite herself with the Soul, that is, she doth not presently awaken the extinguished Heavenly Image in herself, which disappeared in Adam in Paradise . No, there might be Danger to Man in that ; for if Adam and Lucifer fell having it manifested in them, the same may easily happen to Man, who is still so strongly enthralled in Vanity.

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

2 — 2

i& The W'ay to Qhrist.

Christ' was tempted in the Wilderness, and if thou wilt put on Him, thou must go through His whole Progress or Journey, even from His Incarnation to His Ascension, And though thou art not able, nor required to do that which H$ hath done ; yet thou must enter wholly into His Process , and therein die continually from the Corruption of the Soul. For the Virgin Sophia espouseth not herself to the Soul, except in this Property which springeth up in the Soul through the Death of Christ , as a new Plant standing in Heaven. The earthly Body cannot comprehend her in his Lifetime, 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 Go D became Man, and into which He brought His living Seed, the Heavenly Substantiality , is capable of the Pearl \ after the Manner wherein it came to pass in Mary, in the End or Fulfilling of the Covenant*.

Therefore, take heed what thou cfoest ; When thou hast made thy Promise, keep it ; and then she will crozvn thee mo # re readily than thou wouldst be crowned. But thou must be sure, when the Tempter cometh to thee with the Pleasure, Beauty, and Glory of the World, that thy Mind reject it and say, ‘ I must be a Servant 4 and not a Master in the Vineyard of Christ ; I am but a Steward 4 of God in and over all that I have, and I must do with it as his i Word teacheth me ; my Heart must sit down with the simple 4 and lowly, in the Dust, and be always humble.' * Whatsoever State and Condition thou art in, Humility must be in the Front, or else thou wilt not obtain the noble Virgin in Marriage . The free Will of thy Soul must stand the Brunt as a Champion ; for if the Devil cannot prevail against the Soul with Vanity, nor catch it with that Bait, then he cometh with its Unworthiness and Catalogue of Sins. And there thou must fight hard, and the Merits of Christ must be set in the Front, or else the Creature cannot prevail against the Devil. For in this Conflict it goeth so terribly with many a poor Sinner, that outward Reason thipketh him to be distracted, or possessed by an evil Spirit . The Devil defendeth himself so horribly in some, especially if he hath had a great Fort of Prey in them, that he must be stoutly assaulted before he will depart and leave his Castle . In this kind of Combat Heaven and Hell are fighting one against the other. - '

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

Here the Virgin (which manifesteth herself in the dear Name of fESUS CHRIST , the Treader tipon the Serpent , Qod's Anointed ) cometh to the Soul, and kisseth it with her sweetest.

Of True Repentance. 2 i

Love in the Essence most inwardly, and impresseth her Love into its Desire for a Token of Victory. And here Adam in his Heavenly Phrt riseth again from Death in Christ . Of which I cannot write, for therejs 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 , like a Qrain of Mustard-seed, as Christ saith. *

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

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

A very earnest PRAYER in Temptation.

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

P

M OST deep Love of God in Christ Jesus , leave me not in this Distress. I confess I am guilty of the Sins which now rise up in my Mind and Conscience ; and if thou forsake me I must perish. But hast thou not promised me in thy Word, saying, if a Mother could forget her Child, which can hardly be, yet thou wilt not forget me ? Thou hast set me as a Sign in thine Hands ‘which were pierced through with sharp Nails, and in thy open

2 a The U^ay to Qhrist .

Side whence Blood and Water gushed out. Poor Wretch that I am, I am caught in thy Anger, and can in my Ability do nothing before thee; I sink myself down into thy Wounds ancl Death.

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

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

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

O great Love ! in the Blood and Death of Jesus Christ , I beseech thee break the strong Fort of Prey which the Devil hath made and built up in me, where he resisteth me in the Way of thy Qrace. Drive him out of me, that he mav not overcome me for no one living can stand in thy Sight, if thou withdraw tby.. Hand from him. ,

O come thou Breaker-through the A nger of GOD, destroy its Power, and help my poor Soul to fight and overcome it. 0 bring me into Victory, and uphold me in thee ; break in Pieces its Seat in my Vanity, that is kindled in my Soul and Flesh.

Of True ‘Repentance .

O mortify the Desire of my Vanity in Flesh and Blood, which the Devil hath now kindled by his false Desire , by hellish Anguish and Desperation. O quench it with thy Water of eternal Life , and bring my Anguish forth though thy Death. I wholly sink myself down into thee; and though Soul and Body should this Hour faint and perish in thy Wrath, yet I will not let thee go. Though my Heart saith utterly, No , No, yet the Desire of my Soul shall hold fast on thy Truth, which neither Death nor the Devil shall take away from me. For the ‘ Blood of Jesus Christ ‘ the Son of God cleanseth us from all our Sins.’ This I lay hold on, and let the Anger of God do what it will with my Sin, and let the Devil roar over my Soul in his Fort of Prey which he hath mifde, as much as he will : Neither the Devil, Death nor Hell, shall pull me out of my Saviour s Wounds . Thou must at lengfh be confounded in me, thou malicious Devil, and thy Fort of Prey must be forsaken, for I will drown it in the Love of Jesus Christ , gmd then dwell in it if thou canst. Amen.

An Information in Temptation.

B ELOVED Reader, this is no jesting Matter ; he that accounteth it so, hath not tried it, neither hath he yet passed the Judgment ; 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 Judgment, or fiery Trial. Happy is he that passeth through it in the Time of his Youth , before the Zkw'/buildeth his Fort of Prey strong ; he may afterwards prove a Labourer in the heavenly Vineyard, and sow his Seed in the Qarden of Christ ; where he shall reap the Fruit in due Time. This Judgment continueth a long while upon m%ny a poor Soul; several Years, if he doth not earnestly and early put on the Armour of Christ; but stayeth till the Judgment of Tribulation first drive him to Repentance. But to him that cometh of himself, of his own earnest Purpose , and endeavoureth 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, until Victory be gotten over the Devil ; for he Shall be mightily assisted, and all shall end in the best for him. — So that afterwards when the Day breaketh in his Soul, he turneth it to the great Praise and Glory of God, that his grand Enemy *and Persecutor was overcome in the Conflict.

24 The JVay to Qhrist.

Short PRAYERS'

When the noble Sophia {or eternal Wisdom) kisseth the Soul with her Love , and offereth her Love to it.

O MOST gracious and deep Love of God in Christ Jesus !

I beseech thee grant me thy Pearl , impress it into my Soul, and take my Soul into thy Arms.

O thou sweet Love ! I confess I am unclean before thee. Take away my Uncleanness through thy Death , and carry the Hunger and Thirst of my Soul through' thy Death in thy Resurrection, in thy Triumph! Cast my whole Selfhood down to the Ground in thy Death ; take it Captive*, and (Carry my Hunger through in thy Hunger . „

O Highest Love, hast thou not appeared in me? Stay r> in me, and inclose me in thee. Keep me in thee, so that I may not be able to depart from thee. Fill my Hunger with thy Love , feed my Soul with thy Heavenly Substance , give it thy Blood to drink, and water it with thy Fountain .

O great Love ! Awaken my disappeared Image in me, which as to the Kingdom of Heaven disappeared in my Father Adam . By that Word which awakened the same Image in the Seed of the Woman in Mary , quicken it, I beseech thee.

O thou Life and Poiuer of the Deity, who hast promised us saying: ‘We will come to you, and make our Abode in you/ O sweet Love ! I bring my Desire into this Word of thy Promise . Thou hast promised also, that thy Father will give the Holy Spirit to those that ask him for it ; therefore I now bring the Desire of my Soul into that thy Promise , and I receive thy Word into my Hunger . Increase thou in me my Hunger after thee. Strengthen me, O sweet Love , in thy Strength : Quicken me in thee, that rjjy Spirit may taste thy Sweetness. O do thou believe by thy Power in me, for without thee I can do nothing .

O sweet Love ! I beseech thee through that Love wherewith thou didst overcome the Anger of God, and didst change it into Love and Divine Joy ; I pray thee, also change the Anger in my Soul by the same great Love , that I may become obedient unto thee, and that my Soul may love thee therein for ever. O change my Will into thy Will, bring thy Obedience into my Disobedience, that I may become obedient unto thee.

O great Love of Jesus Christy I humbly fly to thee, bring the Hunger of my Soul into thy Wounds , from whence thou didst shed thy Holy Blood , and didst quench the Anger with Love . I

Of ’True Repentance .

bring rpy Hunger into thy open Side, from whence qame forth Water aftad Blood , and throw myself wholly into it ; be thou mine and quiclren me in thy Life, and let me not depart from thee.

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

O sweet Love, art thou not my Light? Enlighten thou my poor Soul in its close Prison, in Flesh and Blood. Bring it into the right Way. Destroy the Will of the Devil , and bring my Body through the whole Course of this World, through the Chamber of Death, into thy Death and Rest ; that at the last Day it rnay arise in thee from thy Death , and live in thee forever. O teach mb what I must do in thee : I beseech thee be thou my tvilling , knowing ; and doing ; and let me go no whither without thee.' I yi^ld myself wholly up to thee. A men.

A PRAYER.

For obtaining the Divine Working , Protection , and Government ; showing also how the Mind should work with and Jn God , in Christ the Free o f Fife.

O THOU Living Fountain, in Thee I lift up the Desire of my Soul, and cry with my Desire to enter through the IFfe of my Saviour Jesus Christ into thee.

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

But I swim in Vanity, in this Valley of Misery, in this outward Earthly Flesh and Blood. And my Soul and noble Image , which is according to thy Similitude, is encompassed with Enemies on every Side ,* with the Desire of the Devil against me, with the Desire of Vanity in Flesh and Blood ; also with all the Opposition of wicked Men who know not thy Name. And I swim with my outward Life in the Properties of the Stars and Elements , having *my Enemies lying in wait for me everywhere, inwardly and outwardly , together with Death, the Destroyer of this vain Life. I fly therefore to thee, O holy Strength of Go D, seeing thou hast

i6 t The JVay to Qhrist .

manifested thyself with thy loving Mercy in our Humanity, through thy holy Name Jesus , and hast also given ifc/to be a Companion and Guide in us. I beseech thee let His Angels that minister to Him, attend upon the Souls of me and mine, and encamp themselves about us, and defend us from the fiery Darts of the Desire of that Wicked One, which he shooteth into us daily by the Curse of the Anger of God which is awakened in our Earthly Flesh. Keep back by thy Divine Strength the malignant Influence of the Slat's in their Opposition ; wherein the Wicked Enemy of Mankind mingleth himself with his Desire and Imagination , in order to poison us in Soul and Flesh, and to bring us into false and evil Desires , as also into Infirmity and Misery . Turn away these evil Influences by thy holy Power Jesus from our Souls and Spirits, that they may not touch us ; and let thy good and hoi y Angel stand by us to turn away their noxious Effects from our Bodies. %

O great Love and sweet Strength Jesus , thou Fountain of # Divine Sweetness , flowing out of the great eternal Name JEHOVAH, I cry with the Desire of my Soul to come into thee. My St>ul crieth to come into that Spirit , from which it was breathed into the Body, and which hath formed it in the Likeness of GOD. It desireth in its Thirst to get the sweet Fountain which springeth from JEHOVAH into itself, to refresh God’s Breath of Fire, which itself is, that so the sweet Love of JESUS may rise in its Breath of Fire , through the Fountain JESUS springing out of JEHOVAH. That CHRIST the Holy One may be manifested and become Man in my disappeared Image of Heavenly Spiritual Corporeality , and that my poor Soul may receive its beloved Bride again into its Arms, with whom it may rejoice for ever.

O IMMANUEL! Thou Wedding-Chamber , God and Man,

I yield myself up into the Arms of thy Desire towards us, in us; it is Thyself whom I desire. O blot out the Anger of thy Father with thy Love in me, and manifest thy Strength in my Weakness, that I may overcome and tame the Evil of Flesh and Blood , and serve thee in Holiness and Righteousness .

O thou great and most holy Name and Majesty of God, JEHOVAH, which hast stirred thyself with thy most sweet Power JESUS, in the Limit of the Covenanted Promise to our Father Adam, in the Woman" s Seed ; in the Virgin Mary, in our disappeared Heavenly Humanity , and brought the Living Essen - tiality of thy Holy Power in the Virgin Wisdom of God, into our Humanity, which was extingttished as to thee ; and hast given it to us, to be our Life , Regeneration , and Victory ; I entreat thee 1 with all my Strength, beget a new Holy Life in me, by thy sweet Power JESUS, that I may be in thee and thou in me ; that so

Of \ True Repentance .

thy K%igdorn may be made manifest in me, and the Will and Conversion of my Soul may be in Heaven .

0 gresft and incomprehensible God, thou who fillest all Things, be thou my Heaven in which my new Birth in CHRIST JESUS may dwell: Let my Spirit be the stringed Instrument, Harmony, Sound, and Joy of thy Holy Spirit . Strike the Strings in me, in thy Regenerate Image , and carry through my Harmony ipto thy Divine Kingdom of Joy , in the great Love of God, in the Wonders of thy Glory and Majesty, in the Communion of the Holy Angelical Harmony. Build up the Holy City Zion in me, in which as Children of Christ we all live together in one City, which is Christ in us. I^to thee I wholfy plunge myself, do with me*what thou pleasest. Amen .

A PRAYER.

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

P OOR Man that I am ; I walk full of Anguish and Trouble in my Return towards my Native Country, from whence I wandered in Adam, and am going back again through the Thistles and Thorns of this troublesome World. O GOD my Father, the Briars tear me on every Side, and I am afflicted and despised by my Enemies. They scorn my Soul, and revile it as an Evil Doer , who hath broken Faith with them; they deride my walking towards thee, and account it foolish. They think I am Senseless , because I walk in this Strait and Thorny Rath, and go not along with them in their Hypocritical Broad Way.

O Lord Jesus Christ ; I fly to thee under the Cross ; O dear Immanuel, receive me, and carry me into thyself through the Path of thy Pilgrimage, in which thou didst walk in this World ; narpely through thy Incarnation, Poverty , Reproach and Scorn ; also through thy Anguish , Passion and Death. Make me conformable unto thy Example ; send thy good Angel along with me to show me the way through the horrible Thorny Wilderness of this World. Assist me in my Misery ; comfort me with that Comfort wherewith the Angel comforted thee in the Garden, when thou didst pray to thy Father, and didst sweat great Drops of Blood. Support me in my Anguish and Persecution, under the Reproach of the Devils and all wicked Men, who know not thee.

28 f Fhe W'ay to Qhrist.

and refuse to walk in thy Paths. O great Love of God// they know not thy Way, and do this in Blindness, through the'jDeceit of the Devil . Have Pity on them, and bring them out of their Darkness into thy Light , that they may learn to know themselves , and how they lie Captive in the Filth and Mire of the Devil, in a dark Dungeon fast bound with three Chains . O great God, have Mercy upon Adam and his Children, redeem them in Christ the new Adam.

I fly to thee, O Christ , God and Man, in this Pilgrimage and Journey which I must take through this dark Valley , despised and troubled on all Sides, and accounted an ungodly wicked Man,

0 LORD, it. is thy Judgment upon me ; that my Sins and inbred Corruption may be judged in this earthly Pilgrimage before thee, and I as a Curse be made an open Spectacle, on which thy Anger may satiate itself, and thereby may take the eternal ' Reproach away from me. It is the Token of thy Love ; by which thou bringest me into the Reproach , Anguish, Suffering and Death of my Saviour Jesus Christ , that so I may die from Vanity and spring up in His Spirit with a new Life , through His Reproach , Ignominy , and Death .

I beseech thee, O Christ, thou patient Lamb of God, grant me Patience in this my Way of the Cross , through all thy Anguish and Reproach , thy Death and Passion, thy Scorn and Contempt upon the Cross , where thou wast despised in my Stead; and bring me therein, as a patient Lamb to thee, into thy Victory. Let me live with thee in thee : and do thou convert my Persecutors, who (unknown to themselves) by their Reproaching sacrifice my Vanity and inbred Sins before thy Anger. They know not what they do ; they think they do me Harm, but they do me Good ! They do that for me which I should do myself before thee. For

1 should daily lay open and acknowledge my Shame and Vileness before thee, and thereby sink myself down into the Death of thy beloved Son , that my Shame might die in his Death . But I being too negligent, weary, faint, and feeble, therefore thou usest these mine Enemies in thy A uger, to open and discover my Vileness before thee, which thy Wrath taketh hold of, and sinketh it down into the Death of my Saviour .

O merciful God, my vain Flesh cannot know how well thou intendest towards me, when thou sufferest mine Enemies to take my Vileness from me, and sacrifice it before the# My Earthly Mind supposeth that thou affiictest me for my Sins, and I am extremely perplexed at it ; but thy Spirit , in my inward New Man , telleth me, that it is of thy Love towards me, and that thou intendest Good to me by it. When thou sufferest my Enemies to persecute me, it is best for me that they perform the Work in

Of \ True ‘Ifepentance. *29

my'S^ead, and unfold my Sins before thee in thy A nger, that it may sallow up the Guilt of them, so that they may not follow me in torn y Native Country. For mine Enemies are strong and mighty still in thy Anger, and therefore can do it better than I that am feeble and fainting already in the Will of Vanity. This thou knowest full well, O thou righteous God. I beseech thee therefore, O righteous God, since thou usest them as Friends to me, to do so good an Office for me, though my Earthly Reason knoweth it not, that thou wouldst make them also to understand and follow my Course, and send them such Friends in turn. But first bring them to the Light , that they may know thee, and give thee Thanks. ,

O mertiful God in Christ Jesus, I beseech thee, out of thy deep Love towards us poor Men, which thou hast manifested in me, in th® hidden^ Man, call us all in thee, to thee. O stir thyself in us yet once again in this last Trouble ; thy Anger being kindled in us, do thou resist it, lest it swallow us up wholly both Soul and Body.'

. O thou Dawning of the Day-spring of God, break forth to the full ! art thou not already risen ? Manifest thy holy City Zion, thy holy Jerusalem, in us. O great God! I see thee in the Depth of thy Power and Strength. Awaken me wholly in thee, that I may be quickened in thee. Break off the Free of thy A nger ir? us, and let thy Love spring forth and bud in us. O LORD, I lie down in thy Sight, and beseech thee not to rebuke us in thine Anger. Are we not thy Possession which thou hast purchased? Forgive all of us our Sins, and deliver us from the Evil of thy Wrath, and from the Malice and Envy of the Devil ; and bring us under thy Cross in Patience into Paradise again. Amen.

Here followeth a Prayer or Dialogue between the poor Soul and the noble Virgin Sophia , in the inward Ground of Man , viz., between the Spirit of Christ in the New Birth, out of his Humanity in us, and the Soul. Showing how great a Joy there is in the heaven of the New Regenerate Man ; and how lovingly and graciously the noble Sophia f re senteth herself to her Bridegroom the Soul, when it entereth into Repentance, and how the Soul behave th itself towards her, when she appeareth to it.

3 © The JFay to Qhrist .

The Gates of the Paradisaical Garden of Roses.

This is wider stood by none but the Children of Christ , who have known it by Experience.

W HEN Christ the Corner-stone stirreth Himself in the extinguished Image of Man, in his hearty Conversion and Repentance; then Virgin Sophia appeareth in the ' stirring of the Spirit of Christ , in the extinguished Image , in her Virgins Attire before the Soul. At which the Soul is so amazed and astonished in its Uncleanness , that all its Sins immediately awake in it, and it trembleth before her. For then the Judgment p&sseth upon the Sins of the Soul, so that it even goeth back in its Un worthiness, o being ashamed in the Presence of its fair Love, and entereth into itself feeling and acknowledging itself utterly unworthy to receive such a Jewel. This is understood by those who are of our Tribe , and have tasted of this Heavenly C jift , and by none else. But the Noble Sophia draweth near in the Essence of the Soul, and kisseth it in friendly Manner, and tinctureth its dark Fire with her Rays of Love , and shineth through it with her bright and powerful Influence. Penetrated with the strong Sense and Feeling of which, the Soul skippeth in its Body for great Joy , and in the Strength of this Virgin Love , exulteth, and praiseth the great God, for his blessed Gift of Cjracc.

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

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

P RAISE, Thanksgiving, Strength, Honour, and Glory, be to thee, O great God, in thy Power and Slveetness y for that thou hast redeemed me from the Anguish of the Fiery Dtdver. O thou fair Love ! My Heart embraceth thee ; where hast thou been so long ? Methought I was in Hell in the Anger of God. O gracious Love ! abide with me, I beseech thee, and be my Joy and Comfort Lead me in the right Way.

Of \ ’True Repentance . 31

— v —

I give riiiyself up into thy Love . I am dark before thee, do thou

^/^/^me. O noble Love , give me thy Pearl ; put it I

pray thee into me.

O great God in Christ Jesus , I praise and magnify thee now in thy Truth, in thy great Power and Glory, for that thou hast forgiven me my Sins , and filled me with thy Strength . I shout for Joy before thee in my new Life , and extol thee in thy Firmament of Heaven, which none can open but thy Spirit in thy Mercj*. My Bones rejoice in thy Strength, and my Heart delighteth itself in thy Love . Thanks be to thee for ever, for that thou hast delivered me out of Hell, and turned Death into Life in me. O sweet Loiy ! Let me not depart from thee again. Grant me* thy Qarland of Pearl , and abide in me. O be my own proper Possession, that I may rejoice in thee for ever.

Upon this , Virgin Sophia saitli to the Sou /,

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

O noble Bridegroom , stand still with thy Countenance towards me, and give me thy Rays of Fire. Bring thy Desire into me,

3 &

T^he W^ay to Qhrist .

and enkindle me thereby, and then I will bring the Ray.sof my Love, from my Meekness into thy fiery Essence, and hi united with thee for ever. 4

O my Bridegroom, how well am I, now I am in Union with thee ? O kiss me with thy Desire in thy Strength and Power, and then I will show thee all my Beauty, and will rejoice and solace myself with thy sweet Love and shining Brightness in thy fiery Life. All the holy Angels rejoice with us, to see us united again. My dear Love, I now entreat thee to abide in my Faith, and do not turn thy Face away from me any more. Work thou t.hy Wonders in my Love, for which Purpose God hath created thee and brought thee into Being. ,,

t

1 The Soul saith again to its noble Sophia , its Love , that is born again in it.

O MY noble Pearl, and opened Flame of Light in my anxious fiery Life, how thou changest me into thy foy ! O beautiful Love, 1 have broken my Faith with thee, in my Father Adam, and with my fiery Strength have turned myself to the Pleasure and Vanity of the outward World. I have fallen in Love with a Stranger, and had been constrained to walk in the Valley of Darkness in this strange Love, if thou hadst not come into the House of my Misery, in' thy great Faithfulness, by thy piercing through and destroying Gqd’s Anger, Hell, and dark Death, and restored thy Meekness and Love to my fiery Life.

O sweet Love ; thou hast brought the Water of eternal Life out of the Fountain of God, with thee into me, and refreshed me in my great Thirst. I behold in thee the Mercy of God, which was hidden from me before by the strange Love. In thee I can rejoice ; thou changest my Anguish of Fire into great Joy in me. O amiable Love , give me thy Pearl, that I may continue in tliis foy for ever.

Upon this the noble Sophia answereth the Soul again ,

and saith ,

M Y dear Love and faithful Treasure, thou highly rejoiceth me in thy Beginning. I have indeed broken into the? through the deepGates of God, through God’s A nger, through Hell and Death, into the House of thy Misery ; and have graciously bestowed my Love upon thee, and delivered , thee from the Chains and Bonds wherewith thou wert fast bound. I have kept my Faith with thee, though thou hast not kept thine

Of True "Repentance .

witn^e. But thou desireth now an exceeding great Thing of me, whic:h I cannot willingly trust in thy Hands. — Thou wouldest have my Pearl as thy proper own . Remember, I pray, O my beloved Bridegroom , that thou didst carelessly lose it before in Adam; and thou thyself standest yet in great Danger, and walkest in two dangerous Kingdoms. For in thy Original Fire , thou walkest in that Country wherein God calleth himself a strong jealous God, and a consuming Fire . The other Kiftgdom which thou walkest in, is the outward World , wherein thou dwellest in the vain corrupt Flesh and Blood, , and where the Pleasures of the World and the Assaults of the Devil beset thee every Hour. Thou ma^est perhaps in thy great joy bring Earthlines again into my Beauty, and thereby darken my Pearl. Or thou mayest possibly grow proud , as Lucifer did, when he had»the Pearl in his Possession, and so turn thyself away from the Harmony of God, as he did and then I must be deprived of my Love for ever afterwards.

No. 9 I will keep my P earl in myself, and dwell in the Heaven in thee, in thy extinguished , but now in me, revived , Humanity ; and reserve my Pearl for Paradise , until thou puttest away this Earthliness from thee, and then I will give it thee to possess. But I will readily present to thee my pleasant Countenance , and the sweet Rays of the Pearl \ during the Time of this Earthly Life. I will dwell with the Pearl itself in the inner Choir , and be thy faithful loving Bride . I cannot espouse myself with thy Earthly Flesh, for I am a Heavenly Queen, and my Kingdom is not of this World. Yet I will not cast thy outwai'd Life away, but refresh it often with my Rays of Love; for thy outward Humanity shall return again. But I cannot admit to my Embraces the Beast of Vanity , neither did God create it in Adam with a Purpose to have it so gross and earthly. But in Adam thy Desire , through the Power of its strong Lust, formed this Bestial (jrossness from and with all the Essences of the awakened Vanity of the Earthly Property, wherein Heat and Cold, Pain and Enmity , Division and Corruption, subsist.

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

3

3 6 r Tthe Way to Qhrist .

- — — .... — - — ~jZ

taking's, and all ray Doings. Work thou so in me, that P may begin all Things to the Glory of thy Name, and accomplish them in Thy Love for the Good and Service of my Neighbour. Send thy Holy Angel along with me, to turn the Temptations of the Devil and corrupt Nature away from me. Preserve me from the Malice of evil Men , make all my Enemies reconcilable to. me, and bring my Mind into thy Vineyard, that I may labour in my Office and Employment, and behave as thy obedient Servant therein. Bless me, and all that I am to go about and do this Day, with the Blessing of thy Love and Mercy. Continue thy Qrace and Love in Jesus Christ upon me, and give me a Mind cheerfully to follow thy Leadings and execute thine Appointment. Let thy Holy Spirit guide me in my Beginning, and m/Progress, on to my last End, and be the Willing, Working , and Accomplishing of all in me. Amen. % "

An Evening Prayer,

When we have finished our daily Employment , and are

going to Rest.

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

Revelation xxi. 6. * I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning

‘and the End. I will give unto him that is athirst, of the ‘ Fountain of the Water of Life freely. He that overcometh ‘ shall inherit All Things, and I will be his God, and he shall be * my Son.’

THE

S NE C O N D BOOK.

O F

TRUE RESIGNATION,

SHOWING

How Man must daily die to his own Will i?t Self*; how he must bring his Desire into God, and what Ke should ask and desire of God. Likewise How he must spring up out of the dying sinful Man , with a new Mind and Will through the Spirit of Christ.

ALSO,

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

Written in the German Language, (Anno. 1622)

By J‘ACOB BO E H ME.

Matthew xvi. 24. Mark viii. *34. Luke ix. 23.

John xii. 26. •

HRIST saith, He that will follow me, let him deny himself \ and take up his Cross and follow me.

Matthew xix. 27. Mark x. 28. Luke xviii, 28.

Peter saith to Christ, Behold, W ? have forsaken All, and followed thee.

Of true resignation

Chapter I.

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

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

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

4 . This happened to them both, because they had the Light of Understanding shining in Self, in which they could behold themselves, whereby the Spirit of Self went into the Imagination, (viz., into a Desire to get the Centre ,) that they might exalt themselves in Might, Power and Knowledge. Now when Lucifer sought after the Mother of Fire in his Centre, and thought to reign therewith over the Love of Qod, and all the Angels ; and when Adam Also desired to tTy in the Essence what the Mother or Root was from whence Evil and Qood did spring, and purposely brought his Desire thereinto in order to become Knowing and full of Understanding thereby : Both Lucifer and Adam were captivated in their evil or false Desire in the Mother, and broke off themselves from Resignation which proceeds from God, and so were caught

40 The JFay to Qhrist .

by the Spirit of the Will, by the Desire in the Mother, ^VVhich Desire immediately got the Dominion in Nature; and so Lucifer stuck fast in the wrathful Source of Fire , and that Fire became manifest in the Spirit of his Will , whereby the Creature in its Desire became an Enemy to the Love and Meekness of GOD.

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

6. But if they had not brought the Light of Knowlodge into

Self then the Qlass of the Knowledge of the Centre and of the Original of the Creature , viz., of the Pozver which it had in itself , had not been manifested , from whence the Imagination and Lust did arise. ^

7. As also we often see at this Day how the same Error bringeth Danger upon the enlightened Children of Qod ; in whom when the Sun of the great Presence of God’s Holiness shirieth , by which the Life passeth into Triumph , and Reason then beholdeth itself therein as in a Glass, and the Will goeth on in Self in its own searching, and will try what the Centre is out of which the Light shineth, and will of its own Motion and Strength force itself into it, how that from thence arise abominable Pride and Self Love ; so that its (the Creative' s) own Reason , which is but a Mirror or Qlass of the eternal Wisdom , supposeth itself to be greater than it is ; and then whatsoever it doth, it thinketh God’s

Will doth in and by it and that it is a Prophet. Though it is moved only by itself \ and goeth on in its own Desire ; in which the Centre of Nature presently riseth up and entereth into that False Desire of Self against Qod } and so the Will entereth into Self conceit and Exaltation .

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

9. Yet the outward Light of the outward Nature still remaineth shining in the Creature. For its own Self throweth itself thereinto, and supposeth that it is the first Light of Qod ; but it is not so. And into this Self Exaltation in the Light of its outward Reason the Devil throweth himself again, (though in the first $ight which was Divine> he was forced to depart), returning with

Of True ‘Resignation . 4*1

» •

a Sevefi-fold Desire , of which Christ spake, saying, ‘ When the ‘ Unclean Spirit departeth out of a Man, he wandereth through ‘dry Places seeking rest, and findeth none; and then he taketh ‘ to himself seven Spirits worse than himself, and returneth to ‘his first House; an # d finding it swept and garnished, he dwelleth ‘therein, and so it is worse with that Man than it was before.'

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

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

• 12. Thus such«a Man goeth on as if he were drunk, in the Light

of the outward Reason, which is called the Stars , and apprehendeth great and wonderful Things, and hath a continual Guide, therein. And then the Devil presently watcheth to see if any Qate standeth open for him, through which he may kindle the Centre of Life, that so the Spirit of the Will may mount aloft in Pride, Self

42 The Way to Qhrist.

Conceit , or Covetousness ; (from whence Self- A rrogancy r ar ise t h , the Will of Reason desiring to be honoured:) for it supposeth it hath attained the Sum of all Happiness, when it hath gotten the Light of Reason , and can judge the Housp of hidden Mysteries that is shut up ; which nevertheless God can easily unlock. The deluded Man thereupon supposeth that now he hath reached the Mark , and that Honour is due to him, because he hath gotten the Understanding of Reason , and never considereth that the Devil maketh himself merry with his Desire in his seven Forms of Life of the Centre of Nature , nor what abominable Error he setteth up.

13. From this Understanding of Reason false Babel is brought

forth in the Christian Church on Earth, where Men rule and teach by the Conchcsions of Reason , and have set the Child , which is drunk in its own Pride and Self Desire as a fair Virgin upon the Throne. .

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

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

Chapter II.

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

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

3. But mark, how thou oughtest to use it ; when the Light of Qod first manifesteth itself in the Soul, it shineth forth as Light

Of \ True Resignation. 43

from a Candle, and kindleth the outward Light of Reason immediately ; yet it yieldeth not itself wholly up to Reason, so as to be under the Dominion of the outward Man. No, the outward Man beholdeth himself in this through-shining Lustre, as he doth his Likeness in a Looking-Glass ; whereby he presently learneth to know himself ; which is good and profitable for him.

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

5. *The WJll of the Creature ought to sink wholly into itself with all its Reason and Desire, accounting itself an unworthy Child that is no w'hit worthy of this so high a Qrace ; nor should it arrogate any Knowledge or Understanding to itself or desire of Gob to have any Understanding in its Creaturely Self ; but sincerely and simply sink down into the Qrace and Love of God in Christ fesus, and desire to be as it were dead to itself and its own Reason, in the Divine Life, and wholly resign itself to the Spirit of God in Love, that He may do how and what he will with it, as with His own Instrument.

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

• 7. As soon as this is done, the natural Will becometh weak and faint, and then the Devil is not able to sift it thus any more with his evil Desire , for the Places of his Rest become very power44 T/fo Way to Qhrist .

L i

less, barren and dry ; and then the Holy Spirit proceeding from God, taketh Possession of the Forms of Life : And maketh His Dominion prevail. He kindleth the Forms of Life with His Flames of Love, and then the high Knowledge of the Centre of all Things ariseth, according to the inivard and outward Constellation or astral Complexion of the Creature , in a very subtle drying Fire , attended with great Delight. Whereupon the humbled Soul presently desires to sink down into that Light, and esteems itself to be nothing, and quite unworthy of it.

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

9. When the Spirit of Qod riseth up as a Fire and Flame of Love , then the Spirit of the Soul descendeth, and saith, * Lord,

‘ Glory be to thy Name, not to me ; thou art able to take to thy- ' self Virtue, Power, Strength, Wisdom, and Knowledge; do as ‘ thou wilt, I can do nothing, I know nothing ; I will go no ‘whither but whither thou leadest me as thy Instrument; do ‘ thou in me and with me what thou wilt.’

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

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

12. For as soon as the Soul eateth of Self, and of the Light , of outward Reason, it goeth on in its own Opinion; and then its Doings, which it sets forth for Divine, are but from the outward Constellation, or Influence of the Stars , which presently layeth hold on the Soul, and maketh it dry. And then the Soul goeth on in Errors , till it yield itself up again into Resignation, and

Of True ‘Resignation .

acknowledging itself anew to be a defiled Child \ resisteth Reason , and so getteth the Love of God again. Which is harder to do in that Case than it was at first ; for the Devil bringeth in strong Doubts now, and will pot easily leave his Fort of Prey.

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

14. Therefore, it is necessary for the Children of God to know how to behave themselves when they will learn the Way of God. They must beat down and fast away their very Thoughts ; and desire nothing, nor have the least Will to learn any Thing, unless they find themselves to be in true Resignation ; so that Qod's Spirit leadeth, teacheth, and guideth Mans Spirit and that the human Will which is attached to itself j be ivholly broken off from its own Lust, and resigned to God.

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

16. I do not say that a Man should search and learn nothing in natural Arts and Sciences ; no ; such Knowledge is useful to him ; but a Man must not begin with his own Reason. Man ought not only to govern his Life by the Light of outward Reason, which is good in itself, but should sink with that Light into the deepest Humility before God, and set the Spirit and Will of God foremost in all his searching, so that the Light of Reason may see and know Things through the Light of God. And though Reason

"'may be very wise in its own Sphere, and help a Man to much Knowledge , yet must it not arrogate such Wisdom and Knowledge to itself as if they were in its ow?t Possession, but give the Glory thereof to God, to whom alone all Wisdom and Knowledge belong.

17. For the more deeply Reason sinketh itself down into simple PPumilityxw the Sight of God, and the more unworthy it accounts itself in His Sight ; the more truly it dieth from Self desire, and the more thoroughly the Spirit of GWpenetrateth it, and bringeth it’ into the Highest Knowledge , so that at length it may come to behold the great Mysteries and Wonders of God. For the Spirit

, of Qod worketh only in resigned Humility , in that which neither

4 6 Fhe TV ay to Qhrist.

seeketh nor desireth itself. The Spirit of Qod taketh hold of whatsoever desireth to be simple and lowly before Him, and bringeth it into His Wonders; He hath Pleasure only in those that fear and bow themselves before Him.

1 8. For God hath not created us for ourselves only, but to be Instruments of His Wonders , by which He desireth to manifest his Wonders . The resigned Will trusteth God, and expecteth all g;ood from Him alone ; but Self Will ruleth itself for it is broken off from God. All that Self Will doth is Sin, and against God ; for it is gone out of that Oi'der wherein He created it, into Disobedience , and desireth to be its own Lord and Master .

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

20. For this is the true Faith in Man, viz,, to die from himself ; that is, from his own Desire ; and in all his Undertakings ' and Designs to bring his Desire into the Will of God, and arrogate the doing of nothing to himself, but esteem himself in all his doings to be but a Servant or Minister of God, and to think that all he doth and undertaketh, is for God. For in such a Disposition the Spirit of Godle&deXh him into true Uprightness and Faithfulness towards his Neighbour, For he thinketh thus with himself, 4 1 do my Work not for myself, but for God, who hath called 4 and appointed me to do it ; I am but a Servant in His Vineyard.' He listeneth continually after the Voice of his Master, who within him commandeth him what he shall do. The Lord speaketh in him, and biddeth him do what He would have to be done by him.

21. But JSV^doth what outward Reason from the Stars commandeth, into which Reason the Devil flieth with his Desire . AU whatever Self doth is without the Will of Qod, and is done altogether in the Phantasy, that the Anger of God may accom-v plish its Pastime therewith.

22. No work done without the Will of Qod can reach the Kingdom of Qod ; it is all but an unprofitable Imagery, ox self wrought Work , in this great Agitation of Mankind. For Nothing is

pleasing to Qod, but what He Himself doth by the Will, as his Instrument For there is but One only Qod in the Essence of all Essences , and all That which worketh with Him in that Essence , is one Spirit with Him ; but that which worketh in itself, in its own Will, is in itself only and not in His Dominion . It is indeed under that universal Dominion of Nature, whereby He holdeth

Of "True Resignation .

subject fro Him every Life evil and good, but not under that special Divine (government in Himself, which comprehendeth the food only. ‘ Nothing is Divine, which walketh and worketh not in ‘ the Will of God.’

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

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

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

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

48 The JVay to Qhrist .

Chapter III.

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

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

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

4. And every Creature ought to know, that it should continue in that Condition wherein it was created; otherwise it runneth on in Contrariety and Enmity to the Will of God, and bringeth itself into Pain. For every Intelligent Creature that hath lost its Place or State wherein God first created it, is in Disorder and Misery, till it recovereth the same. A Creature which is Created out of Darkness hath no Pain in the Darkness ; as a venomous Serpent hath no Pain from its Venom. The Venom is its Life ; but if it should lose its Venom, and have some good Thing instead

Of 'True ‘Resignation. 4*9

thereof*brought into it, and be made manifest in its Essence , that would be Pain and Death to it. Thus Qood is Torment to a Being whose Nature is evil, and Evil is in like Manner Pain and Death to the good.

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

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

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

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

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

4

59 The Way to Qhrist.

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

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

12. Thus the Creature stirreth up with its Desire, Qood and Evil, Life and Death. The human Angelical Desire standeth in the Centre of the eternal Nature which is without Beginning; and wherein it kindleth itself, whether in Qood or Evil, it accomplished its Work in that.

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

14. Therefore all Speculation and Enquiry about God's Will is a vain Thing, unless the Mind be converted. For when the Mind standeth captivated in the Self -Desire af the earthly Lifg, it cannot comprehend what the Will of God is; it runneth on but in Self, from one Way into another, and yet findeth no Rest ; for Self-Desire evermore bringeth Disquiet. But when it sinketh itself wholly into the Mercy of God, desiring to die from itself, and to have God’s Will for a Guide to the Understanding, so

Of ’True "Resignation . ^ i

that it* acknowledgeth and esteemeth itself as nothmg, and Willeth nothing but what God Willeth , then shall it both know and do the Will of God. And if the Desire of Anger in the earthly Flesh should go along or join with the Devil's Imagination , and assault thb Will of the Soul, yet the resigned Desire crieth to God and saith, Abba , loving Father , deliver me from Evil : And then, though the earthly Will should grow too strong in the Wrath of God by the Infection of the Devil , th <z*Desire of Anger would work but in or upon itself According to what St. Paul saith, ‘Now if I Sin, I do it not, but Sin that dwelleth

* in my flesh ; also now I serve the Law of God in my Mind, but ‘in my Flesh the Law of $in/ Paul meaneth not, that the Will of the Mind or Soul should consent to the Will of the Flesh ; but that Sin is so strong in the Flesh , viz., the awakened Anger of God in Self that oftentimes the Mind is brought into Lust as it were fry Force , through the evil Incitements of the wicked \ or else by beholding worldly Pomp and Qlory ; so that it absolutely bbareth down the resigned Will, and ruleth by Force .

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

16. And St. Paul saith further, 4 Now there is no Condem-

* nation to those that are in Christ Jesus, who are called according ‘ to the Purpose of God ; that is, those who in that Purpose of ‘ God in which He first called Man, are again called in the same 4 Calling/ to stand again in that Purpose of God, wherein He originally created Man to be His Image and Likeness .

17. So long as Man's own Will standeth in Self, so long it is not in the Purpose and Calling of God ; it is not called, for it is gone forth from its original right Place : but when the Mind tu?neth itself back again into the Calling, viz., into Resignation, then the Will is in the Calling of God, that is, in the Place for and in which God created it, and then it hath Power to become the Child of Qod again, as it is written, ‘ He hath given us Power ‘ to become the Children of God/

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

4—2

5 V 2 The TV ay to Christ .

Power that is given becometh a Death to Death, and the Power of Life to Life .

19. Therefore no Man can make any Excuse, as if he could not Will. Indeed, while he sticketh fast in himself in his own Desire , arid serveth only the Law of Sin in the Flesh] he cannot. For he is kept back, as being a Servant of Sin ; but when he turneth the Centre of his Mind away, and directeth it into the Will and Obedibnce of Qod, then he can.

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

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

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

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

24. Qod desireth nothing but what is like His oivn Desire ; His Desire receiveth nothing but what itself is.

25. God receiveth no Sinner into His Poiver and Virtue , unless the Shiner go forth from his Sins , and enter with the Desire into God. And then, 1 He will not cast out those that so 'come unto him/ He hath given to the Will an open Qate in Christ , saying, ‘ Come unto me all ye that are heavy laden with ‘ Sins/ and ‘ I will refresh you ; take my Yoke upon you/ that is, the Cross of the Enmity in the Flesh . This was the Yoke of Christ , which he had to bear for the Sins of all Men. This Cross or Yoke the resigned Will must also take upon- itself in the evil earthly sinful Flesh , and bear it after Christ in Patience and Hope of Deliverance. It must also continually break the Head of the Serpent , in and through Christ's Will and Spirit \ and kill . and destroy the earthly Will in God’s Anger \ not letting it rest

Of True Resignation . 55

on a soft Bed when Sin is committed, and thinking to repait one Time or other.

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

27. The Will of S in must die, though it be never so unwilling. Be at Enmity therefore with the voluptuous earthly Flesh ; give it not what it would have ;• let it fast and suffer Hunger. until its ticklmg ceases. Account the Will of the Flesh thine Enemy, and do not what the Desire in the Flesh Willeth, and then thou shalf bring » Death upon the Deathfiil Property in the Flesh .

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

29. The earthly Will is but the Son of the Bond - Woman . For the four Elements should have been Man’s Servants, but Adam hath brought them into the Sonship , or adopted them into himself. Therefore God said to Abraham , when He had opened the Covenaiit of the Promise in him; ‘ Cast out the Son of the ‘Bond-Woman, for he shall not inherit with the Son of the Free/ This Son of the Free is Christ , which God of his Qrace hath brought again into the Flesh for us, namely, a new or renewed Mind. Wherein the Will , viz., the eternal Will of the Soul, may draw and drink the Water of Life, of which Christ speaketh, saying, * Whosoever shall drink of this Water that I will give

^ him, it shall spring up in him, and be a Fountain of eternal ‘ Life/ This Fomitain is the Renovatio?i of the M hid or Will of the Soul.

30. Therefore I say, that all Fictions and Devices to come to Qodby, let them have what Name soever they will, which Men

.contrive and invent for Ways to Cjod, are but lost Labour and vain Endeavours, without a new Mind . There is no other Way to (jod, but a new Mind, which turneth from Wickedness and fcntereth into Repentance for the Sins it hath committed. Which goeth forth from its Iniquity and Willeth it no more; but wrappetli its Will up in the Death of Christ , and with all Earnestness

54 The W'ay to Qhrist .

1

dieth from the Sin of the Soul in the Death of Christ , so that it Willeth Sin no more.

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

32. t No Hypocritical Flattery, or outward Comforting ourselves,

availeth at all ; as when Men will cover Sin and Iniquity in the Flesh with the Satisfaction of Christ , and remain in Self still. Christ saith, ‘ Except ye turn and become as Children, ye shall ‘not see the Kingdom of God.’ The Mind must become as wholly new, as in a Child, that knowe^h nothing of Iqin. Christ saith also, 1 Ye must be born anew, or else ye shall not see the ‘ Kingdom of God/ There must arise a Will wholly nez£, in the Death of Christ. It must be brought forth o\fc of Christ's Incarnation or entering into the Hufnanity, and rise in Christ's Resurrection . *

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

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

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

36. All such Flattery of ourselves by saying, 4 Christ hath paid * the Ransom, and made Satisfaction for Sin/ and that he died for our Sins , if we also do not die from Sin in him, and put on his Merit in new Obedience, and live therein, is a false and vain Comfort.

37. He that is a bitter Enemy and Hater of Sin, can and may comfort himself with the Sufferings of Christ . He that doth not willingly see, hear , or taste Sin , but is at Enmity with it, and would willingly always do that which is well and right, if he knew

Of 'True Resignation, 55

but what he ought to do ; such a one hath indeed put on the Spirit and Will of Christ , and is His true Disciple .

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

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

40. But perhaps thou wilt say, ‘ I have a Will indeed to do so;

‘ I would willingly do it, but I am so hindered that I cannot ’

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

42. O how fine a Thing would Adam think it, if he might be taken into Heaven with this Will of the voluptuous Flesh about

'him, and have the Child of Wickedness , that is full of Deceit, set upon the Throne of God. Lucifer also would fain have had it so, but he was cast out .

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

44. If we would inherit the Filiation , we must also put on the New Man which can inherit it, as being like the Deity . God

5 6 The JFay to Qhrist .

A,_

will have no Sinners in Heaven , but only such as are boin anew and become Children , and so have put on Heaven .

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

46. A Man must wrestle till the dark Centre , that is shut up close, break open, and the Spark lying therein kitidle ; and from thence immediately the Noble Lily-branch sprouteth, ac from the Divine Qrain of Mustard-seed , as Christ saith. A man must pray earnestly , with great Humility , and for a while become a Fool in his own Reason , and see himself void of Understanding therein, until Christ be formed in this "new Incarnation.

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

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

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

50. Self is but a Slave to its temporal Possessions, but Resignation hath Rule over all that is under it. Self must do what the Devil will have it to do in Fleshly Voluptuousness and Pride of Life ; but Resignation treadeth it all under with the Feet of the Mind. Self despiseth that which is lowly and simple; but Resignation sitteth down with the lowly in the Dust. It saith, ‘ I will be simple in myself, and understand nothing, lest my 1 Understanding should exalt itself and sin. I will lie down in

Of "True T^e sign at ion. ^7

* the Ccfurts of my God at his Feet, that I may serve my Lord i in that which he commandeth me. I will know nothing of my- ‘ self, that the Will and Power of my Lord may lead and guide ‘ me, and that I may only do what God doth through me, and 6 will have done by me. I will sleep in myself until the Lord ‘ awaken me with his Spirit ; and if he will not, then will I look *' up to him in Silence, and wait his Commands.’

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

52. Alas! The Faith of This Day is but Historical \ a mere Assent to tfye Matter of Fact that Jesus Christ lived and died, that the Jews killed him, tfyat he left this World , and is not King on Earth in the outward Man ; but that Men may do what they list, and ‘need not die frojn Sin, and their evil Lusts. All this the -wicked Child Self rejoiceth in, that it may fatten the Devil by living deliciously .

53. This showeth plainly that true Faith was never weaker since Christs Time, than it is now . When nevertheless the World crieth aloud, and saith, ‘ We have got the true Faith and contend about a Child , with a Contention, than which there were never worse, since Men were on Earth.

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

55. Where hast thou the sweet Child Jesus , thou that art so exalted with the History , and with thy false and seeming Faith? O Sow will the Child Jesus visit thee one Day in the Father's

•Property, the Property of Anger , in thy own Ttirba which thou hast fatted ! It calleth thee now in Love, but thou wilt not hear, for thine Ears are stopped with Covetousness and Voluptuousness . Therefore, the Sound of the Trumpet shall one Day alarm thee with the hard Thmiderclap of thy Turba, and rouse thee up, if haply thou wilt then seek and find the sweet Child Jesus .

56. Beloved Brethren, this is a Time of seeking, of seeking and of finding. It is a Time of Earnestness ; whom it toucheth, it toucheth home . He that watcheth shall hear and see it ; but he that sleepeth in Sin, and saith in the fat Days of his Belly, ‘ All is 4 Peace and quiet; We hear no Sound from the Lord,’ shall be

58 The Way to Qhrist .

blind. But the Voice of the Lord hath sounded in all the Ends of the Earth, and a Smoke riseth and in the midst of the Smoke there is a great Brightness and Splendour. Hallelujah. Amen.

‘ Shout unto the Lord in Zion, for all Mouptains and Hills are ‘ full of his Glory : He flourished! like a Green Branch, and who ‘ shall hinder it ?’ Hallelujah.

THE

T H I R D BOOK

O F

REGENERATION,

O’R THE

NEW.- BIRTH,

SHOWING

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

Written in the German Language, (Anno. 1622.)

By JACOB BOEHME

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

The Author’s Preface to the Reader.

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

But if any desire to search the deep Ground from whence all floweth, and have the Gift to understand it, Tet theili read these Books following.

i. The Three Principles of the Divine Essence.

2. The three-fold Life of Man.

3. The forty Questions of the Original Essence, Substance, Nature, and Property of the Soul.

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

5. The six Points treating of the Three W or Ids how they are in one another as one ; and yet make Three Principles, viz.. Three Births or Centres.

6 . 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 ior 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.

OF REGENERATION

Chapter L

Showing how Man should consider himself.

C HRIST said, * Except ye turn and become as ChUdren, ‘ ye shall not see the Kingdom of God.’ Again, he said to Nicodeinus ; ‘ Except a Man be born again, of ‘ Water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the ‘ Kingdom of God ; for that which is born of the Flesh * is Flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.’

2. Also the Scripture positively declareth, that ‘ the Fleshly ‘-neural Man receiveth not the Things of the Spirit of God, for ‘ they are Foolishness unto him, neither can he know or conceive ‘ them.’ J

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

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

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

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

‘ and stedfastly believe that it is so.’

7. For we find of ourselves that Sin is living , lusting , strong,

64 The JVay to Qhrist .

and powerfully working in the Flesh , and therefore it must be somewhat else, which doth not co-operate with Sin in the Fleshy nor Willeth it, that is the New -Birth in Christ .

8. For St, Paul saith, 4 There is no Condemnation to them ‘that are in Christ Jesus/ And further, 4 Should we that are 4 Christians be yet Sinners ? God forbid, seeing we are dead to 4 Sin in Christ/

9. 'Besides, the Man of Sin cannot be the ‘Temple of the

4 Holy Ghost and yet ‘ there is no Man that sinneth not, for 4 God hath shut up all under Sin/ As the Scripture saith, 4 No 4 one living is righteous in thy Sight, if thou imputest his Sins 4 to him. The righteous Man falleth* seven Times a Day and yet it cannot be meant that the righteous falleth and Sinneth, but his mortal and sinful Man . For the righteousness of a Christian in Christ cannot Sin. , f

10. Moreover, St. Paul saith, ‘OurjConversation is in Heaven,

‘ from whence we expect our Saviour Jesus Christ/ Now, if our Conversation be in Heaven , then Heaven must be in us; Christ dwelleth in Heaven , and then if we are his Temple , that Temple Heaven must be in us.

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

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

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

14. For that Will is not born anew, which desireth and admitteth Vanity into itself ; and yet there remaineth a Will

Of generation .

which longeth after Vanity , and sinneth , even in the New-born or Regenerate Man. Therefore the Image or Nature of Man should be well understood, and how the New-Birth cometh to pass ; seeing it is qot wrought in the mortal Flesh , and yet is wrought truly and really in us, in Flesh and Blood , in Water and Spirit , as the Scripture saith.

15. We should therefore rightly understand what Kind of Man it is in us, that is the Member of Christ , and Temple of Qod who dwelleth in Heaven . And then also what Kind of Man it is, that the Devil ruleth and driveth ; for he cannot meddle with the Temple of Christ , nor doth he care much for the 7 tiortal Flesh ; and yet there are »not three Men in one another, for all make but tine Man.

16. Now if we will understand this rightly, we must consider 'Meme and Eternity, and how they are in one another ; also Light and Darkness , Cjood and Evil ; but especially the Original of Man, which 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 Qod. Indeed Qod dwelleth in it, but the Substance of the outward World comprehendeth him not.

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

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

1 as God dwelleth in the World , and filleth all Things,

and yet possesseth nothing ; and as the Fire dwelleth in Water, and yet possesseth it not ; Also, as the Light dwelleth in Darkness, and yet possesseth not the Darkness ; a's the Day is in the Night, and the Night in the Day, Time in Eternity, and Eternity in Time«$ so is Man created according to the outward ‘ Humanity, he is the Time, and in the Time, and the Time is the outward World, and it is also the outward Man .

• 21. The inward Man is Eternity and the Spiritual Time and World , which also consisteth of Light and Darkness , viz., of the Love of God, as to the eternal Light , and of the Anger of God

5

66 The Way to Qhrist.

as to the eternal Darkness ; whichsoever of these is manifest in him, his Spirit dwelleth in that, be it Darkness or Light .

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

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

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

25. For the same Nature of Anguish , which in the Parkncss 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 Smirce in Darkness are but one eternal Source , and one Nature , and yet they, viz., the Light and Darkness , have a mighty Difference in the Source; the one dwelleth in the other and begetteth the other, and yet is not the other. The Fire is painfid find consuming , but the Light is yielding, friendly, power j id, and delightful, a sweet and amiable Joy .

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

27. The second is the eternal light World , which begetteth the eternal Joy , which is the Divine Habitation wherein the Spirit of Qod dwelleth, and wherein the Spirit of Christ receiveth the human Substance , and subdueth the Darkness, so that it musj; be a Cause of Joy in the Spirit of Christ in the Light .

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

29. Thus you may understand, that the Fire in the Light is a

Fire of Love, a Desire of Meekness and Delightfulness ; but the Fire in the Darkness is a Fire of Anguish, and is painful, irksome, inimical and full of Contrariety in its Essence. The Fire of the Light hath a good Relish or Taste, but the Taste in the Es-* sence 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. ^

Of Regeneration . 67

Chapter II.

How Man is created .

H ERE we are to consider the Creation of Man . Moses saith, ‘ God created Man in His Image, in the Image ‘of God created He him.’ This we understand to be both out of the eternal and temporal Birth ; out of the inward and spiritual World which he breathed into him, into the created Image'; and then out of the Substance of the inward spiritual World \ which is Holy .

31. For as there is a Nature and Substance in the outward T tfiwld ; 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 Dime .

32. And out of the Sidistance of the inward and outwardWorld Alan was created ; out of and in the Likeness of the Birth of all Substances. The Body is a Limbus (an Extract or a kind of Seed \ which containeth ail that which the Thing from whence it is taken hath) of the Earth , and also a Limbus of the Heavenly Sitbstance ; for the Earth is breathed forth outspoken, 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 Eai'th, and so created an Image out of Time and Eternity .

33. This Image was in the inward and spiritual Element, from whence the four Elements proceed and are produced. In that one Element was Paradise ; for the Properties of Nature from the Fire-dark-and-light-W orld 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 &r«afefe&r, neither was there any Strife or Contrariety among the Pozvers 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 con - sisteth in, the inward dark Fire - World of the eternal spiritual 'Nature ; according to which God calleth himself a strong jealous God, and a consuming Fire .

. 35, And this now is the eternal Creaturely great Soul, a Magical Breath of Fire, in which Fire consisteth the Original of Life , from the great Power of variation. Gqd’S Anger, or the ' 5—2

68 The TV ay to Qhrist .

eternal Darkness , is in this Property , so far as Fire reacheth without giving Light.

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

37. ' For as Light shineth from Poiver, 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 BiieAiuy hang together, and as Time is produced out of Eternity, so the inward Breath of God hung to the outzvard.

39. This threefold 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 fight of the great Divine Powers and Virtues ; which Breath is called the Holy Qhost.

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 oittffldrW', that is, the outward Parts of the outward Life, of the outward Stars or 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 out- _ ward 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 Gorr broke forth. The Holy Property of the Spiritual World sprung up through the Earth, and brought forth Holy Paradisaical^

Of Regeneration.

Fruits, tvhich Man could then cat in a Magical Paradisaical Manner.

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

45. And he could also generate his like out of himself, without any dividing or opening of his Body and Spirit, in such a Manner as God generated the outward World ; Who did not divide himself ; but did in his Desire, viz., in the Word Fiat, manifest himself, and broyght 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 k^dTinue 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 darJc, 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 Cjood became manifest in Adam.

48. And when the Hunger of the Properties went into the

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 fTime and Eternity was in Adam, from which the Earth with its Properties was breathed forth ; and so the Fiat, vis., 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.

jo The IV iy to Qhrist .

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

* thereof, for on that Day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt

* surely die.’

5 1. But it being known to God that Man would not stand, and that he had already imagined ^nd lusted after (food and Evil, God said, ‘ It is not good for Man to be alorte, we will ‘ make him an Help-meet for him.’

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

53. And there in this Sleep he died from the Ange'lical 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, vis., 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, vis., the watery and fiery Constellations in the Element ; yet not whoUy in Substance but in the Spirit, vis., the Properties of the Watery and Fiery Soul.

55. And yet it is but one Thing still, only the Property of the Tincture was divided ; the Desire of Self-Love was taken out of Adam, and formed into a Woman according to his Likeness. And thence it is that Man now so eagerly desireth the Matrix of the Woman, and the Woman desireth the Limbus of the Man , vis., 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.

$6. 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

Of T^e generation . yj

— i — — » —

the outlvard natural Life, having the Members given them for Propagation, after the manner of the Brute Animals, and also the Fleshly Carcase, into which they might put their gross Earthliness, and live like Beasts.

57. Of which the* poor Soul that is captivated in Vanity is at this Day ashamed; and sorry that its Body hath gotten such a Bestial 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 have done, 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 tfie Powers of Heat and Cold, is a plain and full Proof to Man, that he is not truly at Home in this World.

•For 4II Earthly Appetites, Cares, and Fears , together with this false Clotlnng, must perish and be severed from the Soul again.

59. Now when Adam afvoke from Sleep, he beheld his Wife, and knSw that she came out of him ; for he had not yet eaten of Vgnity 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 food, 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 caine 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, when he perceived by that which God had intimated ; and so he expected still to be Lord to all

, Eternity in the JPlace 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 Upper hand and Dominion in the Vanity

7-2* The Way to Qhrist .

Jts .. ..

of the Earthliness ; upon which the fair Image of Hearten, 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, vis., the dark Fire World, awoke in it, and so the Soul became in one Part, vis., in the iuivard 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 Qod became Man, that Jiie might destroy Death , defeat the Devil's Purpose, and change Hell into great Love again.

66. Let this be told you, Ye Children of Men ; it is tol$,

in the Sound of a Trumpet, that you should instantly go forth from the abominable Vanity , for the Pire thereof burneth.

Chapter III.

Of the lamentable Fall of Man , and of the Means of his Deliverance.

N OW 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 Qod into itself.

68. And then the Flesh became gross and rough, as the Flesh of a Beast, and the Soul was captivated in the 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 Loathsonfeness which it was ashamed of in the Presence of God ^ an d— 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

Of j Regeneration . 73

could have enjoyed it ; neither was the earthly Man worthy of it any more.

7 1. GOD would not cast the precious Pearls before Beasts ; an ungodly Man in his JBody being but a mere gross Bestial 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 Qod awakened in them. And this was the Breaking (ff the Head of the Serpent which he would perform, viz., he would destroy the dark Death , and subdue the Anger *vith his gre^at Love.

73. And this Covenant 0/ his Incarnation which was to come, he put into the Light of Life ; to which Covenant the Jewish Sacrifices pointed as to a Mark or Limit , to which God had promised himself with his Love ; for the Faith of the Jews entered into the Sacrifices and Offerings , and God's Imagination entered into the Covenant .

74. And the Offering was a Figure of the Restitution of that which Adam hath lost , and so God did expiate his Anger in the human Property , through the Offeidng 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 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 Ada?n and his Children, from Man to Man, and did go through frojn one upon all ; as Sin also and the aivake 7 ied 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 imvard 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 w*s 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

The Way to Qhrist.

have prophesied. — The Eternal Speaking Word \ which 1 created all Things, did in the Fulness of Time move itself in the Name Jpsus , 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 k wherein He dwelleth and worketh, and the disappeared Substance of Man, are become one Person ; for the Holy Divine Substantiality did anoinl the disappeared ; therefore that Person is called Christies , the Anointed of God.

Sr. 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, 1 He was come from Heaven * and was in Heaven/ and that 1 no man could ascend into Heaven f but the Son of Man which is come from Heaven, and is in ‘ Heaven/

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

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

84. But He hath not received, or taken upon Himself, the awakened or impressed Vanity , which the Devil , by his Imagination , brought into the Flesh , by which the Flesh did commit Sin . Though He hath indeed taken upon Him the awakened Forms of Life , as they were gone forth from their equal Agree-* ment, 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

Of ‘Regeneration.

7*5

the WPath 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 JHe 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.

Chapter IV

How we are born anew, and how we may fall into God's

Anger again.

N ' OW here we may rightly understand what our New- * Birth , or Regeneration , is ; and how we may become, and continue to be, the Temple of Qod ; though in this lifetime, according to the outzvard Humanity, we are sinful mortal Men.

88. Christ in the human Essence hath broken up and opened the Qates 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 from the Vanity of the corrupted Flesh, and bring it into this open Qate in the Spirit of Christ.

89. Qreat 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 Christians Faith.

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

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

j6 The Way to Qhrist .

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

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

94. And this raised Heavenly Spiritual Body is the Member of Christ \ and the Temple of the Holy Q/iost , a true Mansion of the Holy Trinity according to Christ's Promise , saying, 4 We will 4 come to you, and make our Abode in you.’

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

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

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

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

99. The Poiver of which Pearl of Divine Wisdom esp«©usetfc itself in this Wedding of the Lamb , and sinketh itself down into the Heavenly Image , viz., into the Substance of the Heavenly Man , who is the Temple of Christ ; and not into the Fire-breath of the Soul, which is yet, during this whole lifetime, fast bound to the outward Kingdom , to the Bond of Vanity , witluthe Breath of the Air, and is in great Danger.

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

Of generation.

in which the Temple of Christ is, for that is the true and holy Heaven.

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

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

• 105? But, the Fire-breath of the inward World, if it be once enlightened, understandeth.it ; it hath a great Longing, Sighing, Hunger „ and Thirst after the sweet Fountain of Christ ; it refresheth itself by Hungering and Desiring, (which is the true Faith in)* the sweet Fountain of Christ from his New Body, from the Heavenly Substantiality , as a hungry Branch in the Vine Christ.

104. And the Reason why the fiery Soul cannot attain to Perfection during this Lifetime, is because it is fast bound with the outward Bond of Vanity, through which the /^//continually casteth his venomous Rays of Influence upon it, and so sifteth it, that it often biteth at his Bait, and poisoneth itself. From whence Misery and Anguish arise, so that the Noble Sophia hideth herself in the Fountain of Christ, in the ILeavetily 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.

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

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

108. The inward Spirit saith to the fiery Soul : O my Soul! O my Love ! Turn 1 beseech thee and go forth from Vanity, or else thou loseth my Love and the noble Pearl.

109. Then saith the outward Reason, viz., the Bestial Soul;

* Thou art foolish ; wilt thou be a Laughing-Stock, and the

yS The TV ay to Qhrist .

‘Scorn of the World? Thou needest the outward World to ‘ maintain this Life. Beauty, Power, and Glory are thy proper * Happiness ; wherein only thou canst rejoice and take Delight.

‘ Why wilt thou cast thyself into Anguish* Misery, and Re- ‘ proach ? Take thy Pleasure, which will do both thy Flesh and ‘ thy Mind good.’

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

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

1 12. And thus it comes to pass that the Tree of Pearl in the Qarden of Christ is often spoiled ; concerning which the Scripture inaketh 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 (jod.

1 13. And though it cannot be denied, but that the Qates of Qrace still stand open, yet the false and dazzling Light of the outward Reason of the Soul so deceived and hindered 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.

Chapter V.

How a Man may call himself a Christian , and how not.

c

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

115. The Inheritance belongeth only to the Children. A Maid Servant in a House knoweth well enough what the Mistress would have to be done, and yet that maketh her not the Heiress of her Mistress’ Goods. The very Devils know that there is a

Of ‘Regeneration . 79

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God, ydt that doth not change them into Angels again. But if the Maid Servant in the House shall be married to the Son of her Mistress, then she may come to inherit her Mistress' Goods And so it is to be understood also in the Matter of being a Christian .

1 16. 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, h^ was not a true Inheritor of the Faith of Abraham , and therefore God commanded he should be cast out from inheriting his Goods ; which was a Type of the Christen -

was to come.

1 17. For*the Promise of Christendom was made to Abraham ; therefore the Type was therf also set forth by two Brethren, Isaac and IshTnael , in order to show how Christendom would behave itsejf, and that two Sorts of Men would be in it, vis,, true Christians and Lip- Christians. Which latter under the Title of Christianity would be but mockers , as Ishmael was and Esau , who also was a Type of the outward Adam , as facob was a Type of Christ , and His true Christendom.

1 18. Thut; 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 ever-more killing and destroying it, and not settle it in the Inheritance .

1 19. Nor give the Pearl to the Bestial Man , for him to sport himself with in the outward Light , in the Lust of the Flesh ; but we must with our Father Abraham being 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 Christy not suffering it to grow wanton , proud, covetous , envious, and maliciqus. 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 Devils Imagination * out of the earthly Property in Flesh and Blood .

120. This Mocker and Titular Christian is the Son of the false flond- Woman , anji 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 Languages. 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 he is

So

The Way to Qhrist.

no better than a hlood-thirsty^Murderer of his brother Abel, who is the right Heir.

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

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

123. But if there be the Will to do, and yet the 1 ) oipg fo ] 1 ^ e t k not, then the true Man is still shut up in vain Lust, which suppresseth the Doing. And therefore such a one is but an Hypocrite and an Ishmaelite ; he speaketh one Thing and doth’ another, and witnesseth thereby that his Mouth is a Liar ; for he himself doth not that which he teacheth , and consequently only serveth the Bestial Man in Vanity.

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

125. For what good doth it to the Soul to know the Way to

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

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

Of Regeneration. 8,1

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

128. For thus he said, 4 Father, the Men were thine and thou ‘ hast given them to me,’ [as my Reward] 4 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

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

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

13 1. 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 Qrace ; is not his Merit mine ? Such a one is in Vanity and Sin with the outward Man, and with the Soul in Hell , viz., in the Anger of God.

132. Therefore learn to understand rightly what Christ hath taught us, and done for us. He is our Heaven ; He must get a Form in us, or else we shall not be in Heaven. Thus then the Sbul’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 who ‘ gave them to me is greater than all/

6

3 2 The TV ay to Qhrist .

— .

Chapter VI.

Of the Right and of the Wrong going to c Church , receiving the Sacraments, and Absolution.

B ELOVED 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 Knozvledge ; 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 ris opened in us, according to the Will and Counsel of God.

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

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

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

137. What good End doth it answer, for me to go to the material Churches of Stone , and there fill my Ears with emjjty Breath? Or to go to the Supper , and feed nothing byt the earthly Mouth, which is mortal and corruptible ? Cannot I feed and satisfy that with a Piece of Bread at Home? What good doth it to the Soul, which is an immortal Life, to have the Bestial Man observe the Form, and venerate the Shell, of Christ's Institution, if it cannot obtain the Kernel thereof? For St. Paul saith of the Supper , — £ You receive it to Condemnation,

4 because ye discern not the Lord’s Body/

138. The Covenant stands firm, and is stirred in the Use of thq Institution/ Christ proffereth His Spirit to us in His Word (vis., in His preached Word) and his Body and Blood in the

Of ‘Regeneration . 83

•

Sacrament , and His Absolution in a Brotherly Reconciliation one to another.

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

140. And thus it is with Absolution also : what Benefit is it

to me for one to say, I pronounce or declare to thee the Forgiveness of thy Sins , when my Syoul is wholly shut up in Sin ? Whosoever saith thus to a Sinner so shut up , erreth ; and he that receiveth it without the Voice of God within himself confirming tjie^i^tne, deceiveth himself. None can forgive Sins but Qod only . *

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

142. What good did it to those that heard Christ Himself teaching on Earth, when he said, ‘ Come unto me all ye that are ‘weary and heavy laden, and 1 will give you Rest’? What good did this blessed Promise to those that heard it, if they laboured not, nor weit heavy laden ? What became of the Refresh 7 nent or Rest then ? Seeing they had dead Ears, and heard only the outward Christ , and not the Word of the Divine Poiver, certainly they were not refreshed . Just so much good the Bestial Ma?i hath of his Absolution and Sacraments .

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

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

145. God's Anger standeth open in his Testaments towards the Wicked; but towards the Saints the Heavenly Loving Kin<F ness , and in it the Power of Christ in the Holy Name Jesus ,

6 — 2

84 ^The Way to Qhrist.

r -

standeth open. What good then doth the Holy Thing do to the Wicked, who cannot enjoy it? Or what is it there, that can take away his Sins, when his Sin is only stirred and made manifest thereby ?

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

147. The Spirit of Christ eateth of his Holy Substance , the

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

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

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

1 50. But the Holy Qhosl teacheth in the Holy Teacher, and the Spirit of Christ heareth through the Soul, which is the Divine House of the Divine Sound or Voice in the Holy Hearer.

151. The Holy Man hath his Church in himself, wherein he Heareth and Teacheth „ But Babel hath a Heap of Stones, intbt vjhich she goeth with her seeming Holiness and real Hypocrisy. There she loveth to be seen in fine Clothes, and maketh a very devout and godly Show ; the Church of Stone is her Qod, iri which she putteth her Confidence.

Of Regeneration

?s

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

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

154. A true Christian bfings his Holy Church with him into the Congregation. For the Heart is the true Church, where a Man must practise the Service of (jod. If I should go a thousancF’Ttmes* to Church, and to the Sacrament every week, and hear Absolution declared to me every Day, and have not Christ in me, all would be false, an unprofitable Fiction and graven Image in Babel , and no forgiving of Sins.

1^5. A Holy Man doth Holy Works from the Holy Strength of his Mind. The Work is not the Atonement of Reconciliation, but it is the Building which the true Spirit buildeth in his Substance ; it is his Habitation. But the Fiction and Fancy is the Habitation of the false Christian, into which his Soul entereth with Dissimulation. The outward hearing reacheth but to the outward, and worketh in the outward only; but the inward Hearing goeth into the inward, and worketh in the inward.

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

86 The JVay to Qhrist .

Chapter VII.

Of Unprofitable Opinions, and Strife ' about the Letter.

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

159. But the Sins of the Impenitent Man rest in the Sleep of Death , bud forth in the Pit , and produce their Fruit'»in Ketl.

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

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

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

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

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

- 165. For Christ saith, ‘Whosoever believeth in me, shall never 1 die, but hath pierced through from Death to Life ; and. Rivers' ‘ of living Water shall flow from him,’ viz., good Doctrine and Works.

Of Regeneration. 87

t 0

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

1 67. Even so it is with the Children of God ; they have various Qifts and Degrees of Knowledge , yet all from one Spirit . They all rejoice at the great Wonders of God, and give Thanks to the most High in His Wisdom. Why then should they con - tend about Him in whom they live and have their Being , and of

Substance they themselves are ?

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

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

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

17 1. We all have but one only Order , Law , or Ordinance , which is to stand still to the Lord of all Beings, and resign our Wflls up to Him, and suffer His Spirit to play what Music He will. And thus we give to Him again as His own Fruits, that which#He worketh and manifesteth in us.

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

173. If we did not know half so much, and were more like Children, and had but a Brotherly Mind and good Will, towards

• one another, and lived like Children of one Mother, and as Branches of one Tree, taking our Sap all from one Root, we should be far more Holy than we are.

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

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

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

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

178. In short ; they are the Issue, Branches or Sprouts of the

Devil in the Anger of God, who, notwithstanding must by their very tormenting be made to serve the LORD ; for by their plaguing and persecuting, they press out the Sap through the Essence of the Children of Qod so, that they move and stir themselves in the Spirit of Qod, with praying and continual sighing, in which Exercise of their Powers the Spirit of Qod moveth Himself in them. " .

179. For thereby the Desire is exerted, and so the Children of Cjod grow green, flourish, and bring forth Fruit ; for the Children of Qod, are manifested in Tribulation ; as the Scripture saith, ‘ When thou chastiseth them, they cry fervently to thee.’

Of 7 \ Regeneration . 89

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Chapter VIII.

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

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

18 1. First how we were in the Unity , when we were the * Cttiidrm of Qod in Adam before he fell. Secondly , how we are now in Dissension and pisunion , in Strife and Contrariety. Thirdly * whither we go when we pass out of this corruptible condition ; whither with the immortal , and whither with the mortal Part.

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

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

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

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

1 86. Christ said, ‘\yhosoever entereth not by the Door/ that is, through his Spirit, * into the Sheepfold, but climbeth up some

tyo rfhe W'ay to Qhrist .

1 — - — ■ — ;

‘other Way, the same is a Thief and a Murderer, and the Sheep ‘follow him not, for they know not his Voice.’

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

l88i How then will he that is Ungodly plant Heavenly Plants, when he hath no Seed alive in its Pozver in himself? Christ saith expressly, ‘The Sheep hear not his Voice, they follow him not.’

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

190. All that Men will serve God with, must be ^one in

Faith , viz., in the Spirit. It is the Spirit that maketh the Work perfect, and acceptable in the Sight of God. All that a Man undertaketh and doeth in Faith, he doeth in the Spirit of Qod, which Spirit of Qod doth co-operate in the Work, and then it is acceptable to God. For He hath done it Himself, and His Power and Virtue is in it : It is Holy. ,

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

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

193. The same is true of receivings. Gift. If any giveth in Faith, in Divine Hope, he blesseth his Gift by his Faith » But whoso receiveth it unthankfully, and murmureth in his Spirit, he curseth it in the Use or Enjoyment of it. Thus it is, that everyone shall have his -own; ‘ Whatsoever he soweth, that shall he ‘ also reap.’

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

195. If any sow Contentions, Reproaches, and MisconstrueOf Regeneration. 9»i

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

196. Such Railers and Revilers fear not God, but raise the great Building of Dissension. And seeing corrupt Lust lieth in all Men, in the earthly Flesh still, therefore they raise and awaken Abominations even in the simple Children of Qod, and

* make She People of God, as well as the Children of Iniquity, to blaspheme. And thus .they become Master-Builders of the great Babel of the World, and are as useful in the Church, as a fifth Wheel in a Waggon ; yea, what is worse than , that, they erect the Hellish Building too.

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

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

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

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

THE

F.O U R T H BOOK!

A

DIALOGUE

BETWEEN A

Scholar and his ^Master.

Concerning the

SUPER-SENSUAL LIFE.

SHOWING

How the Soul may attain to Divine Hearing and Vision , and what its Childship in the Natural and Supernatural Life is ; and how it passeth out of Nature into God , and out of God into Nature and Self again ; also what its Salvation and Perdition are.

Written in the German Language, (Anno. 1624.)

By JACOB ‘BO EH ME.

speak the hidden Mystical Wisdom of God , which God ordained before the World unto our Glory : Which none of the Princes of this World knew : For had they known it , they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. But , as it is written , Eye hath not seen, nor Ear heard , neither hath it entered into, the Heart of Mah,‘ to conceive the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his , Spirit : For the Spirit searcheth all Things, yea, the deep Things of God. For what Man knoweth the Things of a Man save the Spirit of a Man which is in him ? even so the Things of God knoweth no Man, but the Spirit of God. Now, we have received, not the Spirit of the World, but the Spirit which is of God ; that we might know the Things which are freely given us of God. Which Things also we speak, not in the Words which Man's Wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth ; comparing spiritual Things with spiritual. But the natural Man receiveth not the Things of the Spirit of God: For they are foolishness unto him : neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth, or discerneth, all Things . — i Corinthians ii. 7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15.

OF THE

SUPER-SENSUAL LIFE,

OR THE

Life which is above Sense .

In a Dialogue between a Scholar or Disciple and Jiis Master,

T HE Scholar said to his Master; How may I come to the Super- sensual Life , that I may see God and hear him speak ?

'• His Master said, When thou canst throw thyself for a Moment into that where no Creature dwelleth, then thou hearest what Got) speaketh.

2 . THE SCHOLAR. — Is That near at Hand, or far off?

The Master. — It is in thee, and if thou canst for a while cease from all thy Thinking and Willing , thou shalt hear unspeakable Words of Gto.

3. The Scholar. — How can I hear when I stand still from Thinking and Willing ?

The Master. — When thou standest still from the Thinking and Willing of Self then the eternal Hearmg, Seeing , and Speaking , will be revealed in thee; and so God heareth and seeth through thee. Thine own Hearing, Willing, and Seeing hindereth thee, that thou dost not see nor hear God.

4. The Scholar. — Wherewithal shall I hear and see God ; seeing he is above Nature and Creature ?

The Master. — When thou art quiet or silent , then thou art That which God was before Nature and Creature , and whereof he made thy Nature and Creature ; then thou hearest and seest with That wherewith God saw and heard in thee before thy own Willing, Seeing, and Hearing began.

5. The Scholar. — What hindereth or keepeth me back that I cannot come to T/iat ?

• * The Master. — Thy own Willing, Hearing, and Seeing; and because thou strivest against That out of which thou art come, thou breakest thyself off with thy own Willing from (foci's Willing, and with thy own Seeing thou seest in thy own Willing only, and thy Willing stoppeth thy Hearing with thy own thinking of

^The Way to Qhrist.

?

earthly natural Things , and bringeth thee into a Qround-oi essential State, and darkeneth thee with that which thou Wiliest, so that thou canst not come to That which is Supernatural and Super-sensual,

6. THE Scholar. — S eeing I am in Nature, how may I come through Nature into the Super-sensual Qround, without destroying Nature ?

The Master. — Three Things are requisite here ; the first is, thou must resign thy Will to God, and sink thyself down to the Ground in his Mercy. The second is, thou must hate thy own Will, and not do that whereto thy own Will driveth thee. The • third is, thou must submit thyself under the Cross, that thou mayest be able to bear the Temptations of Nature and Creature. If thou dost so, God will speak into thee, and bring thy resigned Will into himself, into the Supernatural Qround-, and then tjhop shalt hear what the Lord speaketh in thee. ' *'

7. The Scholar. — If I should do thus, I must forsake the

World and my Life too. *

The Master. — If thou forsakest the World, thou comest into That whereof the World is made ; and if thou losest thy Life, and comest to have thy own Power faint, then thy Life is in That for whose sake thou forsakest it, viz., in God, from whom it came into the Body.

8. The Scholar. — God hath created Man in 'and for the natural Life, to rule overall Creatures on Earth, and to be a Lord over all Things in this World ; and therefore Reason suggests that he should possess it as his own.

How Men may and should rule over all Creatures , and can be like all Things.

The Master. — If thou rulest over all Creatures outwardly only, then thy Will and Ruling is in a Bestial Kind, and is but an imaginary transitory Ruling ; and thou also bringest thy Desire into a Bestial Essence, whereby thou becomest infected and captivated, and gettest also a Bestial Condition. But if thou hast left the imaginary Condition, then thou art in the Superimaginariness, and rulest over all Creatures in that Qround out of which they are created, and nothing on Eart'n can hurt thee ; for thou art like all Things, and nothing is unlike to thee.

9. The Scholar. — O loving Master, pray teach me the shortest Way how I may come to be like all Things.

The MASTER. — With all my Heart; do but think on the Words

Of the Super-Sensual Life. 9,7

- ... _____ •

of our "Lord Jesus Christ , when he said, ‘ Unless ye turn and 4 become as Children, ye shall not see the Kingdom of God/ Now if thou wilt be like all Things, thou must forsake all Things, and turn thy Desire^ away from them, and not desire them, nor seek to possess that for thy own , which is something . For as soon as thou takest something into thy Desire , and receivest it into thee for thy own , then that something is the same with thyself, and it worketh with thee in thy Will, and then thou art obliged to protect it, and to take Care for it as for thy own Being. But if thou receive nothing into thy Desire y then thou art free from all Things, and rulest over all Things at once. For thou hast received nothing for thy own , and art nothing to all Things, and all Things are nothing to thee. Thou art as a Child which understandeth not what a Thing is ; or though thou dost under- •sfctnd it^e^thou understandest it without being affected thereby; in that Manner wherein God ruleth and seeth all Things, and yet nothing comprehendeth or captivateth him.

Thou 'didst also desire that I would teach thee how thou mightest attain it. Consider then the Words of Christ , who said, ‘ Without me ye can do nothing/ In thy own Power thou canst not come to such Rest that no Creature should touch thee, unless thou givest thyself wholly up to the Life of our Lord Jesus Christ , and resignest thy Will and Desire wholly to Him, and Wiliest nothing without Him. Then with thy Body thou art in the World, in the Properties , and with thy Reason under the Cross of our I^ord Christ ; but with thy Will thou walkest in Heaven , and art in the Original from whence all Creatures proceeded, and to which they go again. And then thou mayest behold all Things outwardly with thy Reason , and inwardly with thy Mind \ and rule in and over all Things with Christy to whom all Power is given both in Heaveji and on Earth.

10. The Scholar. — O Master, the Creatures that live in me so withhold me, that I cannot wholly yield and give up myself as I willingly would.

Th$ Master. — If thy Will goeth forth from the Creatures , then the Creatures are forsaken in and by thee ; they are in the World, and thy Body only is with the Creatures , but in thy Spirit thou walkest with God. And if thy Will leaveth the Creatures , then the Creatures are dead in it, and live only in the JBody in the World ; and if thy Will doth not bring itself into * them, they cannot touch thy Soul. For St, Paul saith, ‘Our ‘Conversation is in Heaven;’ also, ‘Ye are the Temple of the ‘Holy Ghost, who dwelleth in you;’ so then, the Holy Qhost dwelleth in the Will, and the Creatures dwell in the Body .

11. The Scholar. — If the Holy Qhost dwell in the Will of

7

9,8 The TV ay to Qhrist .

the Mind, how may I keep myself that He may not depart from me?

THE MASTER. — Mark the Words of our Lord Jesus Christ; * If ‘you abide in my Word, then my Words abide in you.’ If thou dost abide with thy Will in the Words of CUrist , then His Word and Spirit abide in thee. But if thy Will goeth into the Creatures, then thou hast broken off thyself from Him, and then thou canst not any other Way keep thyself, but by abiding continually in resigned Humility, and entering into continual Repentance, so that thou art always grieved that Creatures live in thee. If thou dost thus, thou standest in a daily dying from the Creatures, and in a daily ascending into Heaven in and with thy Will again.

12 . The Scholar. — O loving Master, pray teach me how 1 may come into such a continual Repentance,

How Men may come to continual Repentance , and- subsist

in Temptation.

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

13. The Scholar. — What is that which I must thus leave?

The Master. — T hy Creatures in Flesh and Blood, and all

other Things that love thee ; love thee because thy Will entertaineth, nourisheth, and preserveth them. These the Will must leave and account as Enemies ; and the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ together with the Reproach of the World hateth thee, which thou must learn to love, and take for a daily Exercise of thy Repentance. And then thou shalt have continual Cause to hate thyselj in the Creature, and to seek the eternal Rest, wherein thy Will may rest ; as Christ said, * In the World you shall have ‘ Tribulation, but in me you shall have Rest.’ «•

14. The Scholar. — How may I stand firm in such a Temptation as this? *■

The Master. — If every Hour thou dost once throw thyself beyond all Creatures, above all sensual Reason , into the mere Mercy of God, into the Sufferings of our Lord, and yield thyself thereinto, then thou shalt receive Power to rule over Sin, Death , and the Devil, over Hell and the World, and then thou mayest* stand firm in all Temptations.

15* The Scholar. — Poor Man that I am, what would become of me, if I should attain with my Mind to That where no Creature is !

Of the Super-Sensual Life . 99

THE MASTER. — Loving Scholar, if thy Will could break off itself for one Hour from all Creatures , and throw itself into that where no Creature Js, it would be presently clothed with the highest Splendour of God's Qlory , and would taste in itself the most sweet Love of our Lord Jesus , which no Man can express ; and it would find in itself the unspeakable Words of our Lord concerning his great Mercy. It would feel in itself that the Cross of our Lord Christ would be very pleasing to it, and it would love that more than the Honour and Goods of the World .

1 6. The Scholar. — But what would become of the Body, since it must live in the Creature ?

The Master. — The Bddy would be put into the Imitation of our Lord Christ, who said, His Kingdom was not of this World. It would begin to die from without and from within; from with - it wpulfl die from the Vanity and evil Deeds of the World ; it would be an utter Enemy to all Pride and Insolence . And from within , it would die from all Evil Lusts and Envy, and would get a Mind and Will in itself wholly new, which would be continually directed towards God and Goodness.

17. The SCHOLAR. — But the World would hate and despise a Man for doing so, seeing he must contradict the World, and live and do otherwise than the World doth.

The Master. — He would not take that as any Harm done to him, but would rather rejoice that he is become worthy to be thus conformed to the Example of our Lord Christ , and be willing to bear that Cross after our Lord, merely that the Lord might bestow the Influence of his sweet Love upon him.

18. The Scholar. — What would become of him, when the Anger of God from within , and the wicked World from without, should assault him, as happened to our Lord Christ ?

The Master. — Let him be thereunto what our Lord Christ was. When He was reproached, reviled, and crucified by the Wjtrld and the Priests , He commended His Soul into the Hands of His Father, and so departed from the Anguish of this World into th*e eternal Joy . So also such a Soul would get forth from the Reproach and Anguish of all the World, and penetrate into itself, into the great Love of God, and be sustained and refreshed by the most sweet Name Jesus , and see and fiVid in itself a nezv World springing forth through the Anger of God; then should it wrap itself up herein, and account all Things alike. And thus ‘whether the Body be in Hell or on Earth, yet would the Soul be in the greatest Love of God.

. 19. The Scholar. — But how would a Man maintain himself

in the World, and those that belong to him, if he should thus incur the Displeasure of all the World?

7—3

ioo The W'ay to Qhrist .

The MASTER. — He thereby getteth greater Favour than the World is able to bestow, for he hath God, and all His A ngels for his Friends , who protect him in all Dangers and Necessities. GOD is his Blessing in every Thing, and though sometimes it may seem as if God would not bless him, it is but to try him, and is in truth the drawing of God’s Love , that he might the more earnestly pray to God, and commit all his Way to Him.

20 . The SCHOLAR. — But he loseth all his good Friends , and there will be none to help him in his Necessity.

The Master. — Nay, he getteth the Hearts of all his good Friends into his Possession, and loseth none but his Enemies, who before loved his Vanity and Wickedness.

21 . The Scholar. — How is it that he getteth his good Friends into his Possession ?

The Master. — He getteth the Souls of all those, tha* belong • to our Lord Jesus to be his Brethren and the Members of his own Life. For the Children of God are but One in Christ, which One is Christ in all. Therefore he getteth them all to be his FellowMembers in the Body of Christ, for they have the Heavenly Qaods in common, and live in one and the same Love of God, as the Branches of a Tree spring from one and the same Sap. Nor will he want outward natural Friends, any more than our Lord Christ did. For though the High Priests and Potentates of the World who belonged not to Him, nor were His Members and Brethren, loved Him not, yet those who were capable of His Words loved Him. So likewise those that love Truth and Righteousness, would love that Man, and associate themselves with him ; as Nicodemus did with Christ, who came to Him by Night, and in his Heart loved Jesus for the Truths Sake, yet outwardly feared the World. And thus shall such a Man have many Friends rise up who were not known to him at the Beginning.

22. The Scholar. — B ut it is very grievous to be despised by all the World.

The Master. — That which now seems hard and heavy to thee thou wilt afterwards love most of all.

23. The Scholar. — How can it be that I should love that which hateth me ?

The Master.— Though thou lovest the earthly Wisdom now, yet when thou art clothed with the heavenly, thou wilt see that all the Wisdom of the World is but Folly, and that the World hateth but thine Enemy, viz., the mortal Life ; and when thou ' thyself comest to hate the Will thereof, then thou also wilt begin to love that despising of the mortal Life.

24. The Scholar. — But how may these two stand together, viz., that a Man should both love and hate himself?

Of the Super-Sensual Life . 101

- a —

THE Master. — In thus loving thyself thou lovest not thyself \ as thy own , but as given from the Love of God ; thou lovest the Divine Q round in thee ; by which thou lovest the Divine Wisdom , God’s Works of Wonder, and thy Brethren . But in hating thyself thou hatest only that which is thy own , wherein Evil sticketh close to thee ; and this thou dost, that thou mayest wholly destroy in thee that which thou callest thine , when thou sayest I or myself do this or that. This thou wouldst wholly destroy in thee, that thou mayest become a Qround wholly Divine . Love hateth Self or that which we call /, because it is a deadly Thing, and they two, viz., Love and Self cannot well stand together. For I^ovP possesseth Heaven , and dweileth in itself ; but that which I call /, possesseth the World \ and worldly Things , and also dweileth in itself. And as Heaven ruleth the "*W<orld, sarnd as' Eternity ruleth Time , so Love ruleth over the natural Life.

25. TyE SCHOLAR. — Loving Master, pray tell me wherefore must Love and Trouble , Friend and Foe be together ; would not Love alone be better ?

How Low and Sorrow stand together in one ; and what Love is > what its Power , Virtue , Height and Greatness are ; and where it dweileth in Man ; also the nearest Way to attain it.

The Master. — If Love dwelt not in Trouble , it could have nothing to love ; but its Substance which it loveth, viz., the poor Soul, being in Trouble and Pain, Love hath cause to lose its own Substance , in order to deliver its Beloved from Pain, that itself also might be beloved again. Neither indeed could it be kftown what Love is, if it had not something which it might love .

26. # The Scholar. — What is the Virtue, Power \ Height , and Qreatness of Love ?

The Master. — Its Virtue is that nothing whence all Things proceed, and its Power is in and through all Things ; its Height is as high as God, and its Qreatness is greater than Gop. [Here is meant the Manifestation of the Deity in the glorious eternal Light of the Divine Essencel\ Whosoever findeth it, findeth nothing and all Things.

27. The Scholar.— L oving Master, pray tell me how I may understand this.

The Master. — What I meant by saying, < its Virtue is that 4 nothing whence all Things proceed thou mayest understand thus.

1,02 The JFay to Qhrist .

When thou art wholly gone forth from the Creature , and become nothing to all that is Nature and Creature ; then thou art in that eternal One which is God Himself, and then thou shalt perceive and feel the highest Virtue of Love . *

But as to what I said that ‘ its Power is in and through all ‘ Things' thou shalt perceive and find that in thy own Soul and Body, when this great Love is kindled in thee, it will burn more than^any Fire can do. Thou shalt see also in all the Works of God that Love hath poured forth itself into all Things, and is the most inward and most outward Qround in all Things, Inwardly, in the Virtue and Power ; and outwardly , in the Figure , Form and Shape , of every Thing. «

The Meaning of that which I said, viz., ‘ its Height is as high ‘as Qod , 1 thou mayest also come to understand in thyself, in that it will bring thee to be as High as God himself ^s ^as mSy* be seen by our beloved Lord Christ in our Humanity ; which Humanity Love hath brought into the highest Throne , even into the Power of the Deity .

But that which I further said, 4 its Qreatness is greater than ‘ Qod,' is also true. For Love entereth into that where GOD dwelleth not , as when our beloved Lord Christ was in Hell , Hell was not God but Love was there and destroyed Death . Also, when thou art in Anguish and Trouble of Soul, GOP is not the Anguish or Trouble , but His Love is there, and bringeth thee out of Anguish into God. When God hideth Himself in thee, Love is there, and maketh Him manifest in thee.

And that which I said, ‘ whosoever findeth it, findeth nothing ‘ and all Things is also true, for he findeth a Supernatural Supersensual Abyss having no Qround, where there is no Place to dwell in. He findeth also nothing that is like it, and therefore it may be compared to nothing; for it is deeper than any Thing, and is as nothing to all Things, for it is not comprehensible. And, because it is nothing , it is free from all Things, and is that onjv Qood which a Man cannot describe or express what it is.

But that which I lastly said, ‘ he that findeth it, findeth all ‘ Things / is also true ; it hath been the Beginning of all Things, and it ruleth all Things. If thou findest it, thou comest into that Qround from whence all Things proceeded, and wherein they subsist ; and thou art in it a King over all the Works of God.

28. The Scholar. — Loving Master, pray ‘tell me where < dwelleth it in Man ?

The Master. — Where Man dwelleth not , there it hath its Seat in Man.

29. The SCHOLAR. — Where is that in a Man’s Self where Man dwelleth not ?

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THE MASTER. — It is in the Soul that is resigned to the Ground, where the Soul dieth to its own Will, and Willeth no more of itself, but only what God Willeth. That is the Place in a Man’s Self where Man dwelleth not, and there Love dwelleth. For so much of the Soul as its own Will is dead to itself in, so much Place Love hath taken up therein ; for where its own Will sat before, there now is nothing , and where nothing is, there the Love of God is working alone. ,

30. The Scholar, — B ut how may I comprehend or attain it without the dying of my Will ?

The Master. — If thou wilt comprehend it in thy own Will, it flieth away from thee ^ but if thou yieldest thyself wholly up to it, then thou art dead to thyself in thy own Will, and Love will then be the Life of thy Nature. It killeth thee not, but quickeneth 'Ulee asco^ding to its Life, and then thou livest, yet not to thy own Will, but to its Will ; for thy Will becometh its Will, and then thou art dead to thyself, but alive unto Qod.

31. I* he Scholar. — How is it that so few find it, when all would so fain have it ?

The Master. — Because they all seek it in something, viz., in an imaginary Opinion, in Self Desire, whereto almost all have a peculiar natural Lust or Inclination. And though Love should proffer itself to them, it could find no Harbour or Dwelling-place in them, because the Imaginativeness that is in their own Will, hath set itself in the Place thereof. And that Imaginativeness of Self-Lust would fain have the Love in it ; but Love flieth away, for it dwelleth only in nothing, and therefore such Souls find it not.

32. The Scholar. — What is the Office of it in nothing?

The Master. — Its Office is to penetrate without Intermission

into something ; and if it find a Place in something which standeth still, then its Office is to take Possession thereof, and to rejoice therein with its flaming Fire of Love, more than the Sun in this JVorld ; and without Intermission to kindle a Fire in something, and to consume the something, and to enflame itself therewith.

33> The Scholar. — O loving Master ! How shall I understand this ?

The Master. — If it may but kindle a Fire in thee, thou shalt feel how it consumeth thy Selfhood, that which thou callest /, and rejoiceth so exceedingly in thy Fire, that thou wouldest rather suffer thyself to be killed, than to enter again into thy something. Its Flame also is so great, that it would not leave thee, though it should cost thy temporal Life ; it would go with thee in its Fire into Death ; nay if thou wentest into Hell, it would even destroy Hell for thy Sake.

34. The Scholar. —Loving Master, I can no longer endure

104 Way to Qhrist .

that any Thing should divert me from this Love ; how shall I find the nearest Way to it ?

THE MASTER. — Where the Way is hardest, there walk thou, and take up what the World rejecteth ; and what the World doth, that do not thou. Walk contrary to the W< orld in all Things, and then thou takest the nearest Way to it.

35. The Scholar.— If I should walk contrary to the World in every Thing, I must needs live in mere Misery and Unquietness , and f should also be accounted a Fool.

The Master. — I do not bid thee do Harm to any ; but because the World loveth only Deceit and Vanity, and walketh in false and wicked Ways ; therefore if t thou wilt act a quite contrary Part to the Ways thereof in all Things, walk only in the Right Way. For the Right Way is contrary to all the Ways of the World. r ^ *'■"

But whereas thou sayest thou shouldest live in mere Anguish and Trouble : that indeed will be so according to the Flesh ; and will give thee Occasion of continual Repentance-, and in such 'Anxiety the Love will most readily kindle its Fire. «,

What thou sayest also, viz., ‘ that thou shouldest be accounted a 'fool,' is true ; for the Way to the Love of Goi) is Folly to the World, but Wisdom to the Children of Qod. When the World perceiveth this Fire of Love kindled in the Children of Qod, it saith they are turned Fools ; but to the Children of Qoditls the greatest Treasure ; so great that no Life can express, nor Tongue describe, what the Fire of the inflaming Love of God is. It is brighter than the Sun, and sweeter than any Thing. It is far more nourishing and vital than any Meat or Drink, and more pleasant than all the Joy of this World. Whosoever getteth it is richer than any King on Earth, more noble than any Emperor, and more potent and strong than all Authority and Power.

Whither the blessed and damned Souls go, ‘when,, they depart from their Bodies ; and how Heaven and Hell are in Man.

36. Then the Scholar asked his Master further saying, Whither go the Souls, both of the Saved and Damned, when they leave these mortal Bodies ?

His Master answered , The Soul needeth no going forth ; only the outward mortal Life and the earthly Body do at Death separate themselves from the Soul. The Soul hath Heaven and Hell in itself before ; as it is written, ‘ The Kingdom of God cometh

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i not with outward Observation ; neither shall they say, lo here,

4 or lo there, it is, for behold, the Kingdom of God is within you/ And whether of the two States , viz., either Heaven or Hell , shall be manifested in the#Soul, in that it standeth.

37. The Scholar. — Doth it not enter into Heaven or Hell , as a Man entereth into a House, or goeth through a Door or Passage, into another Place?

The Master. — No, there is no such Kind of entering f for Heaven and Hell are present everywhere, and it is but the turtiing of the Will either into God’s Love , or into his Anger , that introduced into them. And that cometh to pass in this Life, according to the saying of St. Paul, 4 Our Conversation is in Heaven and Christ saith also, 4 My Sheep hear my Voice, and I know ‘them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal Life, •'Ufld nor*e $Jhall pluck them out of my Hand/

38. The SCHOLAR. — How cometh this entering of the Will into Heaven or Hell to pass ?

The Toaster. — When the Qround of the Will yieldeth itself up«to God, then it sinketh down from itself beyond all (ground and Place, where God only is manifest, worketh and Willeth, and then it becometh Nothing to itself, as to its own Willing , and so God worketh and Willeth in it. Yea, God dwelleth in this resigned Will*; by which means the Soul is Sanctified, and so cometh into Divine Rest . Now when the Body is dead, the Soul is throughly penetrated and saturated with the Love of GOD, and throughly enlightened with the Light of God ; even as the Fire throughly inflameth a red-hot Iron, whereby it loseth its Darkness. This is the Right Hand of Christ ; where the Loveoi God throughly possesseth the Soul all over, and is a shining Light and a new Life in it; and thus the Soul is in Heaven, and a Temple of the Holy Cjhost ; yea, it is indeed itself the very Heaven of God in which He dwelleth. But the Case of the wicked Soul is tlys: It will not in the Time of this Life enter into the Divine Resignation of its Will, but goeth on continually in its own Lust and Falsehood, in the Will of the Devil. It receiveth into itself nothing but Wickedness , Lies , Pride , Covetousness , Envy, and Anger, and yieldeth its Will unto them. By which Means the Hellish Element also becometh manifest and working in the Soul, and throughly penetrateth and possesseth it all over, as •Fire doth a burning hot Iron. Now such a Soul cannot come to * Divine Rest, for God’s Anger is manifested in it. And therefore when the Body parteth from it, then its eternal Qrief and Despair . begin. For it perceiveth and findeth, that it is become a mere self tormenting Abomination, and is ashamed to strive to enter with its false Will into God. Nay, it cannot ; for it is captivated

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in the Wrath , and is itself Wrath , and hath shut itself up therein by its false and evil Desire , which it hath raised up in itself. And seeing the Light of God shineth not in it, and his Love toucheth it not, therefore it is a great Darkness and an aching anguishing Source of Fire, which carrieth Hell in itself, and cannot reach the Light of God. Thus it dwelleth in itself in Hell, and needeth no entering into it, for wheresoever it is, it is in Hell ; though it should cast itself many Hundred Thousand Miles from the Place it is in, yet it abideth still in the same Property and Source of Darkness .

39. The Scholar. — H ow cometh it therj that a Holy Soul in this Life-Time, doth not perfectly plrceive that Heavenly Light and foy , nor a wicked Soul feel Hell \ when both of them are thus in Man, and one of them of Necessity voorketh in him ?

The Master. — T he Kingdom of Heaven in the Saints is working and sensible in their Faith ; they feel the Loveoi God in their Faith , by which the Will yieldeth itself up into God/ But the natural Life is environed with Flesh and Blood \ standeth in the Contrariety of God’s Anger , and is also compassed about and closely beset with the vain Lust of this outivard World. So that the poor Soul liveth in the Midst of its Enemies , having the World on one Side , the Devil on the other ; and on a third the Curse of the Anger of God in Flesh and Blood; which continually sift , try , and throughly penetrate the Life of Man, who is often brought into bitter Anguish, through these several Assaults of Hell, which would fain manifest itself in him. But the Soul sinketh down in the Hope of Divine Qrace , and standeth like a fair Rose in the midst of Thorns, until the Kingdom of this World falleth off from it in the Death of the Body ; and then doth it become first truly and really manifest in the Love of God, having nothing more to hinder or molest it. But during the Time of this Life in the Body it must walk with Christ , who will stand by it and deliver it out of its own Hell by throughly pevetrating it with his Love , and thus change its Hell into Heaven.

But to thy Question, why do ?iot the wicked feel Hell in the Time of this Life ? I answer, he hath it indeed, and sometimes feeleth it in his evil Conscience , but not perfectly, nor doth he know that it is Hell. For he possesseth earthly Vanity as yet, with which he is enamoured, and in which he taketh Delight and Pleasure; also the outward Life hath yet the Light of the outward Nature, and so the Hellish Pain cannot be fully manifested and felt. But when the Body dieth, and the Soul can no longer enjoy temporal Pleasure , or be cheered with the Light of this outward World , then it standeth in eternal Hunger and Thirst after such Vanity , as it was in Love withal here. Yet it can reach

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nothing but that evil Will which it had impressed in itself, and too much gratified in this Life, though it was not, nor indeed could be, satisfied with such Gratification of it. However there it cannot gratify it a t all, which maketh it to be in everlasting and fruitless Hunger and Thirst after Vanity, Wickedness, and vile Lewdness . It would fain do more Evil still, but hath not wherein or wherewith to perform it, and therefore performeth it only in itself, in its Will : And this Hellish Hunger and Thirst cannot be fully manifested in it, till the Body dieth, wherewith the Soul hath played the Wanton in Voluptuousness, and which hath ministered to the Soul what it lusted after.

40. The Scholar. — Heaven and Hell being in us in Strife in this Life-Time, and God being also thus near us, where do the Angels and Devils dwell ?

Where fihe Angels and Devils dwell in this World's Time ; how far Heaven and Hell are asunder ; and what and whence the Angels and human Souls are .

The Master. — Where thou dost not dwell as to thyself and thy own Will, there the Angels dwell with thee and everywhere all over the»Universe ; but where thou dwellest as to thyself and thy own Will, there the Devils dwell with thee, and everywhere all over the Universe.

41. The SCHOLAR. — I understand not this.

The Master. — Where the Will of Qod Willeth in any Being, there God is manifested in that Being ; and in that Manifestation the Angels also dwell : but where Goi) in any Being Willeth not with the Will of the Being, there God is not manifested in it, but dwelleth in Himself without the co-operating of the Being. In that Being its own Will is without Qod's Will, and there the Devil dwelleth, and all whatever is without God.

42. The Scholar. — How far then are Heaven and Hell from each other ?

The Master. — As far as Day and Night, Something and Nothing are from one another ; they are in each other, and they cause Joy and Trouble one to the other. Heaven is through the whole World, and without the World all over the universal System •of Nature, withbut being divided or included in a Place, and worketh through the Divine Manifestation, but only in itself, and in that which cometh into it, or in that wherein it becometh manifest ; and there God is revealed. For Heaven is nothing but a Manifestation of tli t Eternal One, wherein all worketh and Willeth in quiet Love.

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Hell also is through the whole World , and dwelleth and worketh only also in itself, and in that wherein the Foundation of Hell is manifested , viz., in Self and in the false and evil Will The visible World hath both Heaven and Hell in* it. Man, as to his temporal Life ; is only of the visible World , and therefore during the Time of this Life he seeth not the spiritual World , ’ For the outward World with its Substance is a Cover to the Spiritual Worlf, as the Body is to the Soul. But when the outward Man dieth, then the spiritual World is manifested in and to the Soul, either in the eternal Light with the holy Angels , or in the eternal Darkness with the Devils .

43. The Scholar. — What is an Angel or the Soul of a Man , that they may be manifested thus, either in God's Love or Anger?

The Master. — They came from one Original ; they are Branches or Out-births of the Divine Science of the JQfdine Wtifrf sprung from the Divine Word , and made Objects of the Divine Love . They are come out of the (f round of Eternity , from whence Light and Darkness spring, viz . , Darkness consisting in the harbouring and cherishing Self-desire , and Light consisting in Willing the same with God. In which Willing the Love of God readily and gladly worketh ; but in the receiving and entertaining Self in the Willing of the Soul, God's Will worketh in Pain , and becometh a Darkness that the Light may be known . Xhus Heaven and Hell are nothing else but a Manifestation of the Divine Will, either in Light or Darkness , according to the Properties of the spiritual World .

44. The Scholar. — What then is the Body of Man ?

What the Body of Man is ; and why the Soul is capable of receiving Good and Evil.

The Master. — It is the visible World ; an Image and Quintessence or Compound of all that the World is ; and the visible World is a Manifestation of the inward spiritual World, come out of the eternal Light and out of the eternal Darkness, out of the spiritual Compaction or Connection ; and it is also an Image or Figure of Eternity, whereby Eternity hath made itself visible ; where Self Will and resigned Will, viz., Evil and Qood work one with the other.

Such a Substance is the outward Man. For God created Man of the outward World, and breathed into him the inward spiritual World for a Soul and an intelligent Life, and therefore in the Things of the outward World Man can receive and work evil and good.

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45. The Scholar. — What shall be after this World, when all Things perish, and come to an End ?

Of the Destruction of the World ; of Man s Body in and after the Resurrection ; where Heaven and Hell shall be ; of the hast ^Judgment ; and wherefore the Strife in the Creature must be.

The Master. — The material Substance only ceaseth ; viz., the four Elements, the Sun, Moon, and Stars. And then the inward World will be wholly visible and manifest. But whatsoever hath been wrought by the Will or Spirit of Man in this Worlds Time, pjSifcether evil or good, I say, every such Work, shall there separate itself i n "a spiritual Manner, either into the eternal Light or into the eternal Darkness. For that which is born from each Will penetrateth and passeth again into that which is like itself. And there the Darkness is called Hell, and is an eternal forgetting of all Cjood ; and the Light is called the Kingdom of (jod, and is an eternal Joy in and to the Saints, who continually glorify and praise GOD, for having delivered them from the Torment of Evil.

The Last Judgment is a Kindling of the Fire both of God’S Love and * Anger , in which the Matter of every Substance perisheth, and each Fire shall attract into itself its own, that is, the Substance that is like itself : Thus God’s Fire of Love will draw into it whatsoever is born in the Love of God, or LovePrinciple, in which also it shall burn after the Manner of Love, and yield itself into that Substance. But the Torment will draw into itself what is wrought in the Anger of God in Darkness , and consume the false Substance ; and then there will remain only the painful aching Will in its own proper Nature, Image , and Figure.

* 46. The SCHOLAR. — With what Matter and Form shall the human Body rise ?

The Master. — It is sown a natural Gross and Elementary Body, which in this Life-Time is like the outward Elements ; yet in this gross Body there is a subtle Power and Virtue. As in the Earth also there is a subtle good Virtue, which is like the Sun and is one and the same with the Sun ; which also in the Beginning of T'ime did spring and proceed out of the Divine Power and Virtue, from whence all the good Virtue of the Body is likewise derived. This good Virtue of the mortal Body shall come again and live for ever in a kind of transparent Crystalline material Property, in spiritual Flesh and Blood-, as shall also the

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good Virtue of the Earth, for the Earth likewise shallbecome Crystalline , and the Divine Light shine in every Thing that hath a Being , Essence , or Substance . And as the Earth

shall perish and never return, so also the gross Flesh of Man shall perish and not live for ever. But alt Things must appear before the Judgment , and in the Judgment be separated by the Fire; yea, both the Earth and also the Ashes of the human Body . For when God shall once move the spiritual World , every Spirit shall attract its spiritual Substance to itself. A good Spirit and Soul shall draw to itself its good Substance , and an evil one its evil Substance. But we must here understand by Substance such a material Power jmd Virtue , the Essence of which is mere Virtue , like a material Tincture (such a Thing as hath all Figures, Colours and Virtues in it, and is at the same time transparent ), the (jrossness whereof is perished in Things.

47. The Scholar. — S hall we not rise again with our visible Bodies , and live in them for ever ? See the 40 Questions of the Soul , 21 Question , 12 Verse.

The Master. — W hen the visible World perisheth, then all that which hath come out of it, and hath been external , shall perish with it. There shall remain of the World only the Heavenly Crystalline Nattire and Form , and of Man also only the spiritual Earth ; for Man shall be then wholly like the spiritual World \ which as yet is hidden.

48. TlIE SCHOLAR. — Shall there be Husband and Wife, or Children or Kindred , in the Heavenly Life , or shall one associate with another, as they do in this Life ?

The Master. — W hy art thou so fleshly -minded? There will be neither Husband nor Wife , but all will be like the Angels of God \ viz., masculine Virgins . There will be neither Son nor Daughter , Brother nor Sister , but all of one Stock and Kindred \ For all are but One in Christ , as a Tree and its Branches are One , though distinct as Creatures ; but God is All in All. Indeed, there will be spiritual Knowledge of what every one hath been , and done , but no possessing or enjoying , or Desire of possessing earthly Things, or enjoying fleshly Relations any more.

49. The Scholar. — S hall they all have that eternal Joy and (glorification alike ?

The Master. — T he Scripture saith, ‘ Such as the People is, ‘such 13 their God/ And in another Place, ‘ With the Holy thou ‘ art Holy, and with the perverse thou art perverse/ And St. Paul saith, ‘In the Resurrection one shall differ from another in ‘ Glory, as do the Sun, Moon and Stars/ Therefore know, that

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the Blessed shall indeed all enjoy the Divine Working in and upon them ; but their Virtue , and Illumination, or Qlory, shall be very different, according as they have been endued in this Life with different Measures and Degrees of Power and Virtue in their painful Working. For the painful Working of the Creature in this Life-Time is the opening and begetting of Divine Power, by which that Poiver is made movable and operative. Now those who have wrought with Christ in this Life-Time, and not in the Lust of the Flesh, shall have great Power and transcendent Calorification in and upon them. But others, who have only expected, and relied upon, an imputed Satisfaction , and in the meanwhile have served their Belly-Qod, and yet at last have turned, and obtained Qrace f those, I say, shall not attain to so high a Degree of Power and Illumination. So that there will be aft great a Difference of Degrees between them, as is between the Sun, MooIT.^md Stars ; or between the Flowers of the Field in their Varieties of Beauty, Power, and Virtue.

50. TH£ SCHOLAR. — How shall the World be judged, and by whom ?

The MASTER. — Jesus Christ, that Word of (fid which became Man shall by the Power of His Divine Stirring or Motion separate from Himself all that belongeth not to Him, and shall wholly manifest His Kingdom in the Place or Space where this World now as ; for the separating Motion worketh all over the Universe, through all at once.

51. The Scholar.— Whither shall the Devils and all the damned be thrown, when the Place of this World is the Kingdom of Christ, and as such shall be glorified ? Shall they be cast out of the Place of this World? or shall Christ have and manifest His Dominion out of the Sphere or Place of this World ?

The Master. — Hell shall remain in the Place or Sphere of this World everywhere, but hidden to the Kingdom of Heaven, as the Night is hidden in and to the Day. ‘ The Light shall ‘shine for ever in the Darkness, but the Darkness can never ‘ comprehend, or reach, it.’ And the Light is the Kmgdom of Christ ;* but the Darkness is Hell, wherein the Devils and the Wicked dwell ; and thus they shall be suppressed by the Kingdom of Christ, and made His Footstool, vis., a Reproach.

52. The Scholar. — How shall all People* and Nations be brought to fudgment ?

* The Master.— The Eternal Word of God, out of which every Spiritual Creaturely Life hath proceeded, will move itself at that Hour, according to Love and Anger, in every Life which is come •out of the Eternity, and will draw every Creature before the Judgment of Christ, to be sentenced by this Motion of the Word.

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The Life will then be manifested in all its Works , arrd every Soul shall see and feel its Judgment and Sentence in itself. For the Judgment is, indeed, immediately at the Departure of the Body , manifested in and to every Soul : And the Last Judgment is but a Return of the Spiritual Body , and r a Separation of the World , when the Evil shall be separated from the Qood y in the Substance of the World , and of the human Body , and every Thing enter into its eternal Receptacle . And thus is it a Mani - festhtion of the Mystery of God in every Substance and Life .

53. The Scholar. How will the Sentence be pronounced ?

Ti-IE MASTER. Here consider the W ords of Christ. ‘ He will •

‘ say to those on his Right Hand^ Come, ye blessed of my ‘ Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the Founda- ‘ tion of the World. For I was hungry and ye gave me Meat, I 4 was thirsty and ye gave me Drink ; I was a Stranger and # jjg: * ‘took me in ; naked and ye clothed me. I was £ 1 ( 5 :, and ye * visited me, in Prison, and ye came unto me.

‘Then shall they answer him, saying LORD, when saw we thee ‘hungry, thirsty, a Stranger, naked, sick, or in Prison, and 4 ministered thus unto thee ?

‘ Then shall the King answer and say unto them ; inasmuch ‘ as he have done it unto one of the least of these my Brethren,

‘ ye have done it unto me.

‘And unto the wicked on his Left Hand he wiK say, depart ‘ from me, ye cursed, into everlasting Fire, prepared for the ‘ Devil and his Angels. For I was hungry, thirsty, a Stranger,

‘ naked, sick, and in Prison, and ye ministered not unto me.

‘ And they shall also answer him and say, When did we see ‘ thee thus, and ministered not unto thee ?

‘And he will answer them, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch 4 as ye have not done it unto one of the least of these, ye did it ‘ not to me.

‘ And these shall depart into everlasting Punishment, but the 4 righteous into Life eternal.’

54. The Scholar. — L oving Master, pray tell me why Christ saith, ‘ what you have done to the least of these you have done 4 to me ; and what you have not done to them, neither have you 4 done it to me.’ And how doth a Man this so, as he that doeth it to Christ himself \

The Master . — Christ dwelleth really and essentially in the Faith of those that wholly yield up themselves to Him, and giveth them His Flesh for Food, and His Blood for Drink ; and thus possesseth the Qround of their Faith , according to the Interior or inward Man . And a Christian is called a Branch of the Vine Christ , and a Christian , because Christ dwelleth spiriOf the Super-Sensual Life, i l.3

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tnally in him ; therefore whatsoever (/Wa? an y shall do to such a Christian in his bodily Necessities , it is done to Christ Himself who dwelleth in him. For such a Christian is not his own , but is wholly resigned to Christ , and become //& peculiar Possession , and consequently the good Deed is done to Christ Himself. Therefore also whosoever shall withhold their Help from such a needy Christian , and forbear to serve him in his Necessity , they thrust Christ away from themselves, and despise Him in His Members. When a poor Person that belongeth thus to Christ asketh any Thing of thee, and thou deniest it him in his Necessity , thou deniest it to Christ Himself And whatsoever Hurt any shall do to such a Christian , they do it to Christ Himself. When any mock, scorn, revile, reject, or thrust away such a one, they do all that to Christ ; but he that receiveth him, giveth him **Meat wa^f)rink, or Apparel , and assisteth him in his Necessities , doth it likewise to Christy and to a Fellow-Member of his own Body . Nay, he doth it to himself if he be a Christian; for we all are fine in Christ , as a Tree and its Branches are One.

{ 5. The SCHOLAR. — How then will those subsist in the Day of that Fierce Judgment \ who afflict and vex the poor and distressed , and deprive them of their very Sweat ; necessitating and constraining them by Force to be subject to their Wills , and trampling upon them, as their Foot-stools , only that they themselves may live in Pomp and Power, and spend the Fruits of this poor People’s Sweat and Labour in Voluptuousness , Pride , and Vanity ?

The MASTER. — Christ suffereth in the Persecution of His Members. Therefore all the Wrong that such hard Exactors do to the poor Wretches under their Control, is done to Christ Himself ; and falleth under His severe Sentence and Judgment. And besides that, they help the Devil to augment his Kingdom ; for by such Oppression of the Poor they draw them off from Cfirist , and make them seek unlawful Ways to fill their Bellies, Nay, they work for and with the Devil himself, doing the very same Thing which he doth ; who, without Intermission, opposeth the Kingdom of Christ, which consisteth only in Love . All these Oppressors, if they do not turn with their whole Hearts to Christ , and minister to, or serve, Him, must go into. Hell-fire, which is fed and kept alive by nothing else but such m.ere Self as that ^vhich they have*exercised over the Poor here.

56. The SCHOLAR. — But how will it fare with those , and how will they be able to stand that severe Trial who in this Time do so fiercely contend about the Kingdom of Christ , and slander , revile , and persecute one another for their Religion ; as they do ?

The Master. — A ll such have not yet known Christ ; and are

8

1 . 1 4 The TV ay to Qhrist .

but as a Type or Figure of Heaven and Hell, striving with each other for the Victory.

All rising, swelling Pride , which contendeth about Opinions , is an Image of Self. And whosoever hath not Faith and Humility , nor liveth in the Spirit of Christy which is Love , is only armed with the Anger of God, and helpeth forward the Victory of the Imaginary Self that is, the Kingdom of Darkness , and the Anger of God. For at the Day of Judgment all Self shall be * given to the Darkness ; as shall also all the unprofitable Contentions of Men ; in which they seek not after Love , but merely after their Imaginary Self that they may exalt themselves by exalting and establishing their Opinions ; stirring up Princes to Wars for the sake of the same, and by that means occasioning the Desolation of whole Countries of People. All such Things belong to the Judgment , which will separate the fah e* from th^. true ; and then all Images or Opinions shall cease, and all the Children of Qod shall dwell for ever in the Love of Christ , and , That in them. °

All whosoever in this Time of Strife, namely, from the Fall to the Resurrection , are not zealous in the Spirit of Christ , and desirous to promote Peace and Love , but seek and strive for themselves only, are of the Devil , and belong to the Pit of Darkness, and must consequently be separated from Christ . For in Heaven all serve GOD their Creator in humble Love . 1

57- Tiie Scholar. — Wherefore then doth God suffer such Strife and Contention to be in this Time ?

THE MASTER. — The Life itself standeth in Strife , that it may be made manifest , sensible, and palpable , and that the Wisdom may be made separable and known .

The Strife also cpnstituteth the eternal Joy of the Victory. For there will arise great Praise and Thanksgiving in the Saints from the Experimental Sense and Knowledge that Christ in them hath overcome Darkness , and all the Self of Nature , and that they are at length totally delivered from the Strife; at which they shall rejoice eternally , when they shall know how the Wicked are recompensed. And therefore God sufferetk all Souls to stand in a Free Will, that the eternal Dominion both of Love and Anger, of Light and of Darkness, may be made manifest and known ; and that every Life might cause and find its own Sentence In itself. For that which is now a Strife and Pain to, the Saints in their wretched Warfare here , shall in the End beturned into great Joy to them ; and that which hath been a Joy and Pleasure to Ungodly Persons in this World, shall afterwards be turned into eternal Torment and Shame to them. Therefore the Joy of the Saints must arise to them out of Death , as the

Of the Super-Sensual Life . i ^5

— . « —

Light ariseth out of a Candle by the Destruction and Consumption of it in its Fire ; that so the Life may be freed from the Painfulness of Nature , and possess another World.

And as the Light hath quite another Property than the Fire hath, for it giveth and yieldeth itself forth ; whereas the Fire draweth in and consumeth itself ; so the holy L ife of Meekness springeth forth through the Death of Self- Will, and then God’s Will of Love' only ruleth, and doth all in all. For thus the eternal One hath attained Feeling and Separability , and brought itself forth again with the Feeling , through Death , in great Joyfulness ; that there might be an eternal Delight in the infinite Unity, and an eternal Caiffie of Joy ; and therefore Painfulness must now be the Qround and Cause of this Motion or Stirring to the Manifestation of all Things. And herein lieth the Mystery ^>f the hidden Wisdom of God.

FINIS.