The Way to Christ

How Man must stir up himself in Mind and Will; and what his Consideration and earnest Purpose must bey when he will perform powerful and effectual Repentance : and with what Mind he must appear before God, when he would ask J so as to obtain j Remission of Sins. WHEN Man will enter upon Repentance^ and with his Prayers turn to GOD ; he should, before he beginneth to pray, seriously consider the State of his own Soul. How it is wholly and altogether turned away from God, become faithless to Him, and only bent upon this 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 omx 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 Anger of GOT>, 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 ol Hell ; that the Anger of Goi> 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 T'he JVay to Qhrist. the precious Love and Mercy of GOD, with the fatted Swine of the Devil in earthly Pleasures, and hath not kept the dear Covenant and Atonement of the innocent Death and Passion of Jestts Christ ; which Covenant GoD of mere Grace hath given or put into our Humanity, and reconciled us in Him. He must also consider, that he hath totally forgotten the Covenant of holy Baptism, in which he had promised to be faithful and true to his Saviour, and so wholly defiled and obscured His Righteousness with Sin, (which Righteousness GOD had freely bestowed upon him in Christ), that he now 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 DeviPs Swine, and is not worthy to be called ^'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 fudgment of GOD. Fifthly, he should consider the earnest and severe Day of God's Final fudgment, 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 short , Time to secure to himself a Share in the Communion of tlie 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, GOD having created him in and for His Image or creaturely Representation, and getteth instead thereof a deformed or monstrous Shape, like a hellish Worm or ugly Beast. Wherein 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 com- Of "True "Repentance. 7 mitted here, and may never see the Land of the Saints to all Eternity, nor get any Ease or Refreshment, as appears by the Example of Dives the rich Man. All this a Man must earnestly and seriously consider, and remember also that GoD had originally created him in such a fair and glorious Image ^ even in His own Likeness, in which He Hint' selfvio\x\A dwell. That He created him out of His Goodness for Man's own eternal Bliss and Glory, to the end that he might dwell with the holy Angels and Children of GoD in great Happiness^ Power and Qloty ; in the eternal Light ; in the praiseful and melodious Harmony of the Angelical and Divine Kingdom oijoy. Where he should rejoice continually with the Children of God without Fear of any End.

Where no evil Thoughts could touch him, neither Care nor Trouble, neither Heat nor Cold. Where no Night is known ; where there is no Day or limited Time any more, but an everlasting Blessedness, wherein Soul and 'Body tremble {or foy. 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 i» 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 Worlds 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 as with the Poor and the Beggar. That all of us equally live and move in the four Elements ; and that the hard-earned Morsel of the Poor is as relishing and savoury to him in his Labour, as the Dainties of the Rich are to him in his Cares. Also, that all of us subsist by one Breath, and that the rich Man hath nothing but the Pleasures of the Palate and the Lust of the Eye for a little while, more than his poor Neighbour, for the End of both is the same. Yet for this short-lived Lusfs 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

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 Fieldy in the growing to be a Fruit either in the Love or in the Anger of GOD. He will then first begin to find in himself that he hath not yet laboured at all in the Vine^ yard of Christ, but that he is a dry fruitless Branch oftlte Vine, And thus in many a one, whom the Spirit of Christ toucheth in such a Consideration, there ariseth abundant Sorrow, Qrief of Heart, and inward Lamentation over the Days of his Wickedness which he hath spent in Vanity, without any working in the Vineyard of Christ. Such a Man whom the Spirit of Christ thus bringeth into Sorrow and Repentance, so that his Heart is opened both 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 repenteth. Let such a one but lay hold on the Words of Christy and wrap himself up into His Meritorious Passion and Death,

But I will now speak to those, who feel indeed in themselves a Desire to repent, and yet cannot come to acknowledge and bewail their committed Sins. The Flesh saying continually to the Soul, Stay a-while, it is well enough ; or it is Time enough Tomorrow ; and when 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 Process of Repentance ; Or Way to Conversion. WHEN any Man findeth in himself by the former or any other Considerations, pressed home upon his Mind and Conscience, a Hunger, or Desire to repent, and yet feeleth no true Sorrow in himself for his Sins which he hath committed, but only an Hunger, or Desire o{ such Sorrow ; so that the poor captive Soul con-

Of "True "Repentance. 9 tinually sigheth, feareth^ 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 repenty a mighty strong Purpose and Resolution that he will that very Hour, nay that Minute, immediately enter into Repentance, and go forth from his wicked Way, and not at all regard the Power and Respect of the World. Yea, and if it should be required, would forsake and disesteem all Things for true Repentance sake; and never depart from that Resolution again, though he should be made the Fool and Scorn of all the World for it. But that with the full Bent and Strength of his Mind he will go forth from the Beauty and Pleasure of the World, and patiently enter into the Passion and Death of Christ in and under the Cross, and set all his Hope and Confidence upon the Life to come. That even now in Righteousness and Truth he will enter into the Vineyard of Christ, and do the Will of God. That in the Spirit and Will of Christ he will begin and finish all his Actions in this World, and for the sake of Chrisfs 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 the Children of Christ, and in the Blood of the Lamb Jesus Christ be incorporated and united unto His Humanity.

He must firmly imagine to himself, and wholly wrap up his Soul in this Persuasion, that in 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 Qhost, for an Earnest ; that, in the Humanity of Christ, as to the Heavenly Substance, he shall be born again in himself, and that the Spirit of Christ will renew his Mind with His Love and Power, and strengthen his weak Faith. Also that in his Divine Hunger he shall get the Flesh and Blood of Christ for Food and Drink, in the Desire of his Soul, which hungereth and thirsteth after it as its proper Nutriment ; and with the Thirst of the Soul drink the Water of eternal Life out of the sweet Fountain of Jesus Christ, as Christ s most true and steadfast Promise is. He must also wholly and firmly imagjine to himself, and set before him, the great Love of Qod. That Qod willeth not the Death of a Sinner, but that he repent and believe ; that Christ calleth poor Sinners very kindly and graciously to Himself, and will refresh them ; that • God hath sent His Son into the World, 'to seek and save that which is lost,' viz,, the poor Repentant and returning Sinner ; and that for the poor Sinner's Sake

lo I'he Way to Qhrist. He liath 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 vj\\\ 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 it 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 was therefore moved in His Heart to flow into us with His sweet Love^ that the Anger of His Father, which was kindled in us, might be quenched and turned into Love by it. All which was done for the poor Sinner's Sake, that he might obtain an open Gate of Grace again. In this Consideration he must firmly imagine to himself that this very Hour and Instant he standeth before the Face of the Holy Trinity^ and that GOD is really present within and without him, as the Holy Scripture witnesseth, saying, * Am not I He ' that filleth all Things ?' And in another Place, ' The Word is 'near thee, in thy Mouth, and in thy Heart.' — Also, 'We will

* come unto you, and make our Abode with you/ And, * Behold, * I am with you 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 J 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, 1 1 A Short Form of Confession before the Face of God. Everyone f as his Case and Necessity requirethy may order and enlarge this Confession as the Holy Ghost shall teach him. I will only set down a short Direction. OTHOU 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 oi 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 Desire 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 yet a Spark oj 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 Devifs 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 12 T'he Way to Qhrtst. 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 toy 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 not worthy of it ; yet receive me but in thy Deaths 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 Deaths 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 oi 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 HeU, which open their Throat against me and would wholly swallow me up in Death; upon thee I call, who hast promised that thou wilt not quench the smoking Flax, I have no other Way to thee but by thy own bitter Death and Passion^ because thou hast made our Death Life by thy Humanity, and broken the Chains of Deaths 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 thee, help me, that I may die from my Vanity and Sin in the Death of my Redeemer, fesus 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 fesus^ 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 witii 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 deliver me from the DeviFs Bonds I Look not upon my Deformity in standing nakedheXox^ 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 Deaths 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 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 fudgment^ and that it may be ever obedient to thee as an Instrument of thine. Subdue it in the Bonds of Death; take away its Power, that it may will nothing without thee.

O God the Holy Ghost in Christ my Saviour, teach me, T 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 I have committed. O keep me in thy Bonds, and let me not loose from thee, lest the Devil sift me in my wicked Flesh and Blood, and bring me again into the Death of Death, O enlighten thou my Spirit, that I may see the Divine Path^ and walk in it continually. O take that away from me, which always turneth me away from thee ; and give me that which always turneth me to thee : take me wholly from myself and give me wholly to thyself. O let me begin nothing, let me will, think, and do nothing without thee. O Lord how long ! Indeed I am not worthy of that which I desire of thee, I pray thee let the Desire oi 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.

God in Christ fesus! 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 awakened in me, hath made me dark. O take but the Desire of my Soul to thee ? prove it, O LORD, and bruise it, that my Soul may obtain a Ray of thy sweet Grace. 1 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 14 T'he Way to Qhrist. Thy Promise, which Thou hast made, saying, * As I live, \ 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. ATnen, 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 bounds 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, Follies, 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 Confession before God; but it is as if the Heart and Soul were quite shut up. The Soul would fain go towards GOD, but the Flesh keepeth it Captive : The Devil too shutteth it up strongly, and representeth 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 oflf 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 Christy 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 "Repentance. 15 and Soul too, whether thou becomest an Angel m GOD, or a Devil in Hell. If thou wilt be crowned^ thou must fight^ thou must overcome in Christy 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 break 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 God and his ' Strength help me.' How the poor Soul musf 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 y against the Devils the World and Sin^ against Flesh and Bloody against the Influence of the Stars and EJementSy and all its other Enemies.

ELOVED Soul, there is Earnestness required to do this, and not a bare Recital of Words only ! No, the earnest resolved W^z// must drive on this Work, else nothing will be effected. For if the Soul will obtain the triumphal Qarlandoi Christ from the Noble Sophia^ or Divine Wisdom^ it must woo her for it in great Desire of Love. It must entreat her in her most Holy Name for it, and come before her in most modest Humility y and not like a lustful Bull or a wanton Venus. For so long as any are such, they must not seek these Things ; for they shall not obtain them, and though something should be obtained by those who are in such an impure State, it would be no more than a Qlimpse of the true Qlory. But a chaste and modest Mind 1 6 The Way to Qhrist, 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 Qarland set upon it. Yet if this should come to pass, it is taken off again from the Soul, and laid by, as a Crown useth to be, after a King is once crowned with it ; it is then laid by and kept. So it cometh to pass also with the Heavenly Garland or Qift. It is taken from the Soul again, because the Soul is yet encompassed with the House of Sin; so that it should unhappily/a:// 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. AM AN must bring a serious Mind to this Work. He must come before GOD with sincere Earnestness^ deep Humility, and hearty Sorrow for his Sins, and with a deliberate and firm Resolution, not to enter any more into the old Broad Way of Vanity. And though the whole World should account him a Fool, and he should lose both 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 Soul; so that if there were any Thing that would keep the Mind back from it, though it should have never so fair and glorious a Pretence or Show in this World, the Mind must not regard it at all, but rather part with it than with the Love of the Noble Virgin Sophia, in the Bud and Blossom of Christ, in His tender Humanity in us as to the Heavenly Corporality. For this is the Flower in Sharon, the Rou in the Valley oi fericho,'^\iext:^Wsx 5^/<?;«^« delighted himself, and termed it his dear Love, his chaste Virgin which he loved ; as indeed all other Saints before and after him did; whosoever obtained her, called her his Pearl.

After what Manner to pray for it, you may see by this short Direction following. The Work itself must be committed to the Holy (jhostf He formeth and frameth the Prayer for the Soul, in every Heart wherein He is sought. Of 'True 'Repentance, 1 7 ■ ' —^—^— ■ -II ■ . Ml, I ■■I^MIMIMIIBB, ■- I A poor unworthy Creature, come before thee, O great and Holy God, and lift up mine Eyes to thee. Though I am not worthy, yet thy great Mercy, and thy faithful Promise in thy Word, have «^ze/ encouraged me to lift the Eyes of the Desire of my Soul up to thee. For my Soul hath now laid hold on the Word of thy Promise, and received it into itself, and therewith Cometh to thee. And though it is but a strange Child vjhizh ze/<3^ 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 afid Blood, and hath broken Sin and Death in my Humanity. Which hath changed the Anger of God into Love in the Soul, hath deprived Death of his Power, and Hell of its Victory over Soul and Body ; and hath opened a Gate for my Soul to the clear Face of thy Strength and Powers

Qreat and most Holy GOD, I have brought the Hunger and Desire of my Soul into this most Holy Word, and now I com* before thee,and in my Hunger cd\\ unto thee, Thou living Fountain^ through thy Word which became Flesh and Blood. Thy Word being made the Life in our Flesh, I receive it firmly into the Desire of my Soul as my own Life; and I pierce into thee with the Desire of my Soul through the Word in the Flesh of Christ; through His holy conception in the Virgin Mary, His Incarnation, His Holy Nativity, His Baptism in Jordan, His Temptation in the Wilderness, where He overcame the Kingdom of the Devil and this World in the Humanity. Through all His Miracles, which He did on Earth ; through His Reproach and Ignominy, His innocent Death and Passion, the Shedding of His Blood, wherein God's Anger in Soul and Flesh was drowned. Through His Rest in the Sepulchre, when He awaked our Father Adam out of his Sleep, who was fallen into a dead Sleep as to the Kingdom of Heaven. Through His love, which pierced through \ht Anger and destroyed Hell in the Soul. Through His Resurrection from the Dead, His Ascension, the sending of the Holy Spirit into our Soul and Spirit, and through all His Promises ; one of which is * that thou, O God the Father, wilt give the Holy Spirit to them 'that ask it, in the Name and through the Word which became ' Man.'

O thou Life of my Flesh and of my Soul in Christ my Brother, 1 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 jpromised me, and freely bestow upon me in my Saviour Jesus 1 8 'the JVay 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 bitter Passion and Death : thou having sprinkled my Uncleanness with thy Blood, and sanctified me in thy Humanity, and made an open Gate for me through thy Death, to thy sweet Love in thy Blood, Through thy five holy Wounds, from which thou didst shed thy Blood, I bring the Desire of my Soul into thy Love.

O festcs 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 9f 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 fFi^rrf that became Man dwelleth, which is the Temple of the Holy Spirit, who dwelleth in us according to thy Promise, saying, ' we will come to you, and ' make our Abode with you.' O thou great Love oi 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, 19 A Warning to the Reader. BELOVED Reader, out of Love to thee, I will not conceal from thee what is here earnestly signified to me. If thou lovest the Vanity of the Flesh still, and art not in an earnest Purpose on the Way to the Ne%v Birth or Regeneration^ intending to become a New Man, then leave the above-written Words in these Prayers unnamed ; else they will turn to 2. 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. How the Soul must meet its Beloved^ when she knocketh in its Centre J or Closed Inner-Chamher . BELOVED 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 Crown thee thou must he judged, that thou may est Taste the bitter Potion of Dregs, which thou hast filled for thyself in thine Abominations. Thou must come before the Gates of Hell, ifirst, and there show forth thy Victory for her in her Love, in that Strength, wherewith she upheld thee in Opposition to the DeviFs malign Influence* 20 T'he Way to Qhrist. Christ was tempted in the Wilderness, and if thou wilt put on Him, thou vaxM&tgo through His whole Progress or Journey, even from His Incarnation to His Ascension, And though thou art not able, nor required to do that which He hath done ; yet thou must enter wholly into His Process^ and therein die continually from the Corruption of the Soul. For the Virgin Sophia espouseth not herself to the Soul, except in this Property which springeth up in the Soul through the Death of Christy 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 tlie Woman wherein GoD became Man, and into which He brought His living Seed, the Heavenly Substantiality, is capable of the Pearl, after the Manner wherein it came to pass in Mary, in the End or Fulfilling of the Covenant.

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

Now if the Soul continue constant, and getteth the Victory over the Devil in cdl his Assaults, disesteeming all temporal Things for the Love of its noble Sophia, then the precious Qarland 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 upon the Serpent, Qods Anointed) cometh to the Soul, and kisseth it with her sweetest Of "True 1(epentance. 21 Love in the Essence most inwardly, and impresseth her Love into its Desire for a Token of Victory. And here Adam in his Heavenly Part riseth again from Death in Christ. Of which I cannot write, for there is no Pen in this World that can express it ! It is the Wedding of t/te 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 Christy under his Cross. Here it will appear indeed and in Truth, what Sort of a Christian he is.

For he must suffer himself to be proclaimed a Fool and ungodly Wretch ; nay his greatest Friends, who 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 Bloody when the Temptation cometh to the Soulj and wrestleth with it. MOST deep Love of GoD in Christ fesus, 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 t/iou 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 22 T'he Tf^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 and Death. 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 Deaths 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 mine 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 the Anguish of my Redeemer Jesus Christ, when He did sweat the Woody Sweat on the Mount of Olives for my Sake, and was scourged by Pontitis 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 Anguish, 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 I 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 may not overcome me ; for no one living can stand in thy Sight, if thou withdraw thy Hand from him. O come thou Breaker-through the Anger of GOD, destroy its Power, and help my poor Soul to fight and overcome it. 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 ^pentance. 23 O mortify the Desire of my Vanity in Flesh and Blood, which the Z>^/hath now kindled by \i\% 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, Noy yet the Desire of my Soul shall hold fast on thy Truth, which neither Death nor the Devil sh^W take away from me. For the * Blood of Jesus Christ * the Son of God cleanseth us from all our Sins/ This

I lay hold on, and let the Anger of GOD do what it will with my Sin, and let the Devil roar over my Soul in his Fort of Prey which he hath made, as much as he will : Neither the Devil^ Death nor Helly shall pull me out of my Saviours Wounds. Thou must at length be confounded in me, thou malicious Devil, and thy Fort of Prey must be forsaken, for I will drown it in the Love of Jesus Christ, and then dwell in it if thou canst. Amen.

An Information in Temptation. BELOVED Reader, this is no jesting Matter ; he that accounteth it so, hath not tried it, neither hath he yet passed the Judgtnent; but his Conscience is still asleep. And though it should be deferred to his latter Days, which xss^ty dangerous, y^X. he must pass through thlsfudgment, ox fiery Trial Happy is he that passeth through it in the Time of his Youth, before the Z^^//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 Judgmefit continueth a long while upon many a poor Soul ; several Years, if he doth not earnestly and early put on the Armour of Christ ; but stayeth till the 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 lo7ig. 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 'fhe Way to Qhrist. When the noble Sophia {or eternal Wisdom) kisseth the Soul with her Love, and offereth her hove to it. O MOST g'radous and deep Love of GOD in Christ Jesus ! I beseech thee grant me thy Pearly 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 Deaths and carry the Htmger and thirst of my Soul through thy Death in thy Resurrection^ in thy Triumph I 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 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 I 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 Power of the Deity, who hast promised us saying : * We will come to you, and make our Abode in you.' O sweet Love ! I bring my Desire into this Word of thy Promise, Thou \i^^t promised also, that thy Father will give the Holy Spirit to those that ask him for it ; therefore I now bring the Desire of my Soul into that thy Promise, and I receive thy Word into my Hunger. Increase thou in me my Hunger after thee. Strengthen me, O sweet Love, in thy Strength : Quicken me in thee, that my Spirit may taste thy Sweetness. O do thou believe by thy Power in me, for without thee I can do nothing, O sweet Love I I beseech thee through that Z^x/^ 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 fesus Christ, I humbly fly to thee, bring the Hunger of my Soul into thy Wounds, from whence thou didst shed thy Holy Blood, and didst quench the Anger with Love, I Of T'rue "Repentance. 25 bring my Hunger into thy open Side, from whence came forth Wa^eraind Blood, and throw myself wholly into it; be thou mine and quicken me in thy Life, and let me not depart from thee. O my noble Vine, I beseech thee give Sap to me thy Branch; that I may bud^vid grow in thy Strength and Sap, in thy Essence ; beget in me true Strength by thy Strength. O sweet Love, art thou not my Light ? Enlighten thou my poor Soul in its close Prison, in Flesh and Blood. Bring it into the right Way. Destroy the Will of the Devil, and bring my Body through the whole Course of this World, through the Chamber of Death, into thy Death and Rest ; that at the last Day it may arise in thee from thy Death, and live in thee forever. O teach me what I must do in thee : I beseech thee be thou my willing, knowing, and doing, and let me go no whither without thee. I yield myself wholly up to thee. Amen.

For obtaining the Divine Workings Protection^ and Government ; showing also how the Mind should work with and in Gody in Christ the Tree of Life. OTHOU Living Foufitain, in Thee I lift up the Desire of my Soul, and cry with my Desire to enter through the Life of my Sdiwlouv fesus Christ into thee. O thou Life and Power of GOD, awaken thyself in the Hunger of my Soul with thy Desire of Z<9z;^, through the Thirst which fesus 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 fesus Christ in me, that I may bring forth Praise unto thee, the true Fruit of thy Kingdom, O let my Heart and Desire never depart from thee more. But I swim in Vanity, in this Valley of Misery, in this outward Earthly Flesh and Blood. And my Soul and noble Image, which is according to thy Similitude, is encompassed with Enemies on every Side ; with the Desire of the Devil against me, with the Desire of Vanity in Flesh and Blood ; also with all the Opposition of wicked Men who know not thy Name. And I swim with my outward Life in the Properties of the Stars and Elements, having my Enemies lying in wait for me everywhere, inwardly and outwardly, together with Death, the Destroyer of this vain Life. I fly therefore to thee, O holy Strength of GoD, seeing thou hast

manifested thyself with thy loving Mercy in our Humanity, through thy holy Name JesuSy and hast also given it to be a Companion and Guide in us. I beseech thee let His Angels that minister to Him, attend upon the Souls of me and mine, and encamp themselves about us, and defend us from tht fiery Darts of the Desire of that Wicked One, which he shooteth into us daily by the Curse of the Anger of GOD which is awakened in our Earthly Flesh. Keep back by thy Divine Strength the malignant Influence of the Stars in their Opposition ; wherein the Wicked Enemy of Mankind mingleth himself with his Desire and Imagination, in order to poison us in Soul and Flesh, and to bring us into false and evil Desires, as also into Infirmity and Misery, Turn away these evil Influences by thy holy Power Jesus from our Souls and Spirits, that they may not touch us ; and let thy good and \io\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 Soul 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-Chaynber, God^nA 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 \\it Evil of Flesh and Blood, and serve theje 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,\n the Woman's Seed ; in the Virgin Mary, in our disappeared Heavenly Humanity, and brought the Living Essentiality of thy Holy Power in the Virgin Wisdom of GoD, into our Humanity, which was extinguished ^s^ to thee ; and hast given it to us, to be our Life, Regeneration, and Victory ; I entreat thee with all my Strength, beget a new Holy Life in me, by thy sweet Power JESUS, that I may be in thee and thou in me ; that so Of "True "Repentance. 27 thy Kingdom may be made manifest in me, and the Will and Conversation of my Soul may be in Heaven.

O great and incomprehensible GOD, thou who fillest all Things, be thou my Heaven in which my new Birth 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 Itnage^ and carry through my Harmony into thy Divine Kingdom of Joy, in the great i^z/^ of GOD, in the Wonders of thy Glory and Majesty, in the Communion of the Holy Angelical Harmony. Build up the Holy City Zion in me, in which as Children of Christ we all live together in one City, which is Christ in us. Into thee I wholly plunge myself, do with me what thou pleasest. Amen, To be used by a Soul in Tribulation under the Cross oj Christ J 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, POOR Man that I am ; I walk full of Anguish and Trouble in my Return towards my Native Country, from whence I wandered in Adain,3X\d 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 Path, and go not along with them \vi their Hypocritical Broad Way, O TLORD Jesus Christ ; I fly to thee under the Cross ; O dear Imnianuely receive me, and carry me into thyself through the Path of thy Pilgrimage, in which thou didst walk in this World; namely through thy Incarnation, Poverty, Reproach and Scorn ; also through thy Anguish, Passion and Death. Make me conformable unto thy Example ; send thy good Angel along with me to show me the Way through the horrible Thorny Wilderness of this World, Assist me in my Misery; comfort me with that Comfort wherewith the Angel comioti^d 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 T'he Tf^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 Deceit of the DeviL Have Pity on them, and bring them out of their Darkness into thy Lights 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 Christy 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. Lord, it is thy Judgment upon me ; that my Sins and inbred Corruption may h^ 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 ^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 A7iger, to open and discover my Vileness before thee, which thy Wrath taketh hold of, and sinketh it down into the Death of my Saviour, O merciful GOD, my vain Flesh cannot know how well thou intendest towards me, when thou sufferest mine Enemies to take my Vileness from me, and sacrifice it before thee. My Eartfdy Mind supposeth that thou afflictest me for my Sins, and I am extremely perplexed at it ; but thy Spirit, in my inward New Man, telleth me, that it is of thy Love towards me, and that thou intendest Good to me by it. When thou sufferest my Enemies to persecute me, it is best for me that they perform the Work in

Of T'rue "Repentance. 29 my Stead, and unfold my Sins before thee in thy Anger ^ that it may swallow up the Guilt of them, so that they may not follow me into my Native Country. For mine Enemies are strong and mighty still in thy Anger, and therefore can do it better than I that am feeble and fainting already in the Will of Vanity, This thou knowest full well, O thou righteous GOD. I beseech thee therefore, O righteous GoD, since thou usest them as Friends to me, to do so good an Office for me, though my Earthly Reason knoweth it not, that thou wouldst make tfum also to understand and follow my Course, and send them such Friends in turn. But first bring them to the Light, that they may know thee, and give thee Thanks. O merciful GOD in Christ Jesus, I beseech thee, out of thy deep Love towards us poor Men, which thou hast manifested in me, in the hidden Man, call us all in thee, to thee. O stir thyself in us yet once again in this last Trouble ; thy Anger being kindled in us, do thou resist it, lest it swallow nis up wholly both Soul and Body,

O thou Dawning of the Day-spring of GoD, break forth to the full ! art thou not already risen ? Manifest thy holy City Zion, thy holy Jerusalem, in us. O great GOD ! I see thee in the Depth of thy Power and Strength, Awaken me wholly in thee, that I may be quickened in thee. Break off the Tree of thy Anger \n us, and let thy Love sprinjs: 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 Si^is, 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 J viz., between the Spirit of Christ in the New Birthy 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 pre senteth herself to her Bridegroom the Soul, when it entereth into Repentance j and how the Soul behave th itself towards her, when she appeareth to it.

30 T'he Way to Qhrist. The Gates of the Paradisaical This is understood by none but the Children of Christ j who have known it by Experience. WHEN Christ the Comer-stone stirreth Himself in the extinguished Image of Man, in his hearty Conversiomnd Repentance ; then Virgin Sophia appeareth in the stirring of the Spirit of Christy in the extinguished Image, in her Virgin* s Attire before the Soul. At which the Soul is so amazed and astonished in its Uncleanness, that all its Sins immediately awake in it, and it trembleth before her. For then the Judgment passeth upon the Sins of the Soul, so that it even goeth back in its Unworthiness, being ashamed in the Presence of its fair Love^ and entereth into itself feeling and acknowledging itself utterly unworthy to receive such a Jewel. This is understood by those who are of our Tribe f and have tasted of this Heavenly Qift, 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 /<c?;/, and in the Strength of this Virgin Love, exulteth, and praiseth the great GOD, for his blessed Gift of Qrace,

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 pasSy the Soul rejoiceth in its Body^ and saith, PRAISE, Thanksgiving, Strength, Honour,and Glory, be to thee, O great GOD, in thy Power ^XiA Sweetness ^ for that thou hast redeemed me from the Anguish of the Fiery Driver. O thow fair Love I My Heart embraceth thee; where hast thou been so long ? Methought I was in HeU 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 T'rue 'Repentance. 3 1 «_ ■■■■ ^■■■■.■^■■■i ■■■ ■■ m il 11^ I give myself up into thy Love. I am dark before thee, do thou enlighten me. O noble Love, give me thy sweet Pearl ; put it I pray thee into me.

O great GoD in Christ Jesus, I praise and magnify thee now in thy Truth, in thy great Power and Glory, for that thou hast forgiven me my Sins, and filled me with thy Strength. I shout for Joy before thee in my new Life, and extol thee in thy Firmament of Heaven, which none can open but thy Spirit in thy Mercy. My Bones rejoice in thy Strength, and my Heart delighteth itself in thy Love. Thanks be to thee for ever, for that thou hast delivered me out of Hell, and turned Death into Life in me. O sweet Love ! Let me not depart from thee again. Grant me thy Qarland of Pearl, and abide in me. O be my own proper Possession, that I may rejoice in thee for ever. Upon thisy Virgin Sophia saith to the Soul^ MY 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. Thoucouldst notsee v^y Light, for thoudidst walk in the Valley of Darkness. I was very near ^t^, 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 Lowlifiess.

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 Substaitce, without the Power of thy fiery Strength, I could not be joyful without thy fiery Strength, for thou art my Husband; my shining Brightness is made manifest by thee. Thou canst manifest my hidden Wonders in Xhy fiery Life, and bring them into Majesty ; and yet without me thou art but a dark House, wherein is nothing but Anguish, Misery ^ and Iwrrible Torment.

O noble Bridegroom, stand still with thy Countenance towards me, and give me thy Rays of Fire. Bring thy Desire into me, 32 T'he Tf^ay to Qhrist. and enkindle me thereby, and then I will bring the Rays of my Lave, from my Meekness into thy fiery Essence, and be united with thee for ever. 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 thy Wonders in my Love, for which Purpose GoD hath created thee and brought thee into Being. The Soul satth again to its noble Sophia^ its Love, that is born again in it. OMY noble Pearl, and opened Flame of Light in my anxiousyf^r;/ Life, how thou changestm^ into \hy Joy ! 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 God'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 oi Fire into gre^itfoy in me. amiable Love, give me thy Pearl, that I may continue in this Joy for ever. Upon this the noble Sophia answereth the Soul again^ MY deairLove and faithful Treasure, thou highly rejoiceth me in thy Beginning, 1 have indeed broken into thee through the deep Gates of GOD, through Ggi^*S Anger, through Hell and Death, into the House of thy Misery; and have graciously bestowed my Love upon thee, and delivered thee from the Chains and Bonds wherewith thou wert fast bound. 1 have kept my Faith with thee, though thou hast not kept thine Of T'rue "Repentance. 3 3 with me. But thou desireth now an exceeding great Thing of me, which I cannot willingly trust in thy Hands. — Thou wouldest have my Pearl as thy proper own. Remember, I pray, O my beloved Bridegroom^ that thou didst carelessly lose it before in Adam; and thou thyself standest yet in great Danger, and walkest in two dangerous Kingdoms. For in thy Original Fire^ thou walkest in that Country wherein GOD calleth himself a strong jealous God^ and a consuming Fire, The other Kingdom which thou walkest in, is the outward World, wherein thou dwellest in the vain corrupt Flesh and Blood, and where the Pleasures of the World and the Assaults of the Devil beset thee every Hour.

Thou mayest perhaps in thy great J(yy bring Earthliness again into my Beauty, and thereby darken my Pearl. Or thou mayest possibly grow proud, as Liicifer did, when he had the Pearl in his Possession, and so turn thyself away from the Harmony of God, as he did and then 1 must be deprived of my Love for ever afterwards.

No. I will keep my Pearl m 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 7iotof this World, Yet I will not cast thy outward Life away, but refresh it often with my Rays of Love ; for thy outward Humanity shall return again. But I cannot admit to my Embraces the Beast of Vanity y 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 Qrossness from and with all the Essences of the awakened Vanity of the Earthly Property, wherein Heat and Cold, Pain and Enmity, Division and Corruption, subsist.

Now, my dear Love and Bridegroom, do but yield thyself up into my Will ; I will not forsake thee in this Earthly Life in thy Danger. Though the Anger of GoD should pass upon thee, so that thou shouldst grow affrighted and disheartened, or shouldst think that I had deserted thee, yet I will be with thee and preserve thee, for thou thyself knowest not what thine Office is. Thou must 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 34 ^>^^ JVay to Qhrist. BoughSy and thou knowest it not ; for the Most High hath so ordered, that I should dwell vfith and in thee. Wrap thyself up therefore in Patience, and take Heed of the Pleasure of the Flesh. Break the Will and Desire thereof; bridle it as an unruly Horse. And then I will often visit thee in the fiery Essence, and give thee my Kiss of Love, I will bring a Qarland ior thee out oi Paradise with me, as a Token of my Affection, and put it upon thee, and thou shalt rejoice in it. But I give thee not my Pearl for a Possession during this Life's Time. Thou must continue in Resignation, and hearken what the LORD playeth on his Instrument in thy Harmony in thee.

Moreover, thou must give Sound and Essence to thy Tune out of my Strength and Virtue, for thou art now a Messenger of His Word, and must set forth His Praise and Qiory. — For this Cause it is that I have contracted myself <2-;/^ze/ with thee, and set my triumphal Qarland upon thee ; which I have gotten in the Battle against the Devil and Death. But the Crown of Pearl wherewith I crowned thee, I have laid aside for thee. Thou must wear That no more till thou art become pure in my Sight.

The Soul saith further to the noble Sophia, OTHOU fair and sweet Comfort, what shall I say before thee.** Let me be wholly committed unto thee, I cannot preserve myself. If thou wilt not give me thy Pearl, I submit to thy Will; but give me thy Rays of Love, and carry me safely through my Pilgrimage. Do thou awaken and bring forth what thou wilt in me ; I will from henceforth be thy own. I will or desire nothing for myself, but what thou thyself wilt through me. I had fooled away thy sweet Love and broken my Faith with thee, whereby I was fallen into the Anger of GOD. But seeing that of Love thou didst come to me into the Anguish oi HeU, and hast delivered me from Torment, and received me again for thy Comfort, I will now therefore break my Will for thy Lovis Sake, and be obedient unto thee, and wait for thy Love, I am satisfied now that I know thou art with me in all my Troubles, and wilt not forsake me. O gracious Love, I turn my fiery Countenance to thee. O fair Crown^ take me quickly into thee, and bring me forth from Unquietness : I will be thine forever, and never depart from thee, more.

Of "True "Repentance. 35 The noble Sophia answereth the Soul very comfortably y MY Noble Bridegroom^ be of good Comfort. I have betrothed thee to me in my highest Love^ and contracted myself with thee in my Faithfulness, *I * will be with thee and in thee always to the End *of the World. I will come to thee and make * my Abode with thee, in thy inner Chamber.* Thou shalt drink of my Fountain ; for now I am thine, and thou art mine, the Enemy shall not separate us. Work thou in thy fiery Property y and I will put my Rays of Love into thy Working. And so we will plant and fertilize the Vineyard of Jesus Christ. Afford thou the Essence of Firey and I will afford the Essence of Light, and the Increase. Be thou the Fire, and I will be the Water, and thus we will perform that in this World (or which GOD hath appointed us, and serve him in his Temple, which we ourselves are. Amen. BELOVED Reader, count not this an uncertain Fiction ; it is the true Qround, Sum and Substance of all the Holy Scriptures. For the Book of the Life of Jesus Christ is plainly set forth therein, as the Author of a Certainty knoweth ; it being the Way that he himself hath gone. He giveth thee the best Jewel that he hath. GOD grant his Blessing with it A heavy Sentence and Judgment are gone forth against the Mocker of this. Be thou therefore warned, that thou mayest avoid the Danger ^ and obtain the Benefit.

Commending ourselves to God when we rise^ before we suffer any other Thing to enter into us. LESS me, O God, the Father, Son and Holy Qhost^ thou only true GOD. I thank thee through Jesi4s Christ our Lord and Saviour, for thy Preservation of me, and for all other Benefits. I now commend myself, both Soul and Body^ and all that thou hast set me to do in my Employment or Calling, into thy Protection. Be thou the Beginning of my Conceptions^ my Under^ 36 T'he Way to Qhrist. takings, and all my Doings. Work thou so in me, that I may begin all Things to the Glory of thy Name, and accomplish them in Thy Love for the Good and Service of my 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 ^/W/ guide me in my Beginning, and my Progress, on to my last End, and be the Willing^ Workings and Accomplishing of all in me. Amen.

When we have finished our daily "Employment , and are I LIFT my Heart to thee, O God, thou Fountain oi Eternal Li/CySLnd give thee Thanks through /esus Christ thy Beloved Son, our Lord and Saviour, for having protected and preserved me this Day from 3\lMischie/th^,t mighthave 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 Devils nor any other evil Infiuence 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 How Man must daily die to his own Will in Self ; how he must bring his Desire into God, and what he should ask and desire of God, Likewise How he must spring up out of the dying sinful Man^ with a new Mind and fTill through the Spirit of Christ.

What the Old and New Man are, and what each of them is in Life^ Will^ and Practice. Written in the German Language, By JACOB BO EH ME Matthew xvi. 24. Mark viii. 34. Luke ix. 23. 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. Feter saith to Christy Behold^ JVe have forsaken All^ and followed thee.

WE have a clear Example in Lucifer^ and also in Adam the first Man, of what 5^^ 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 cometh of it but Pride of themselves. And yet all the World so vehemently desireth and seeketh after this Light as the best Treasure ; and indeed it is the best Treasure this World SiffordSy if it be rightly used. 2. But while Self, viz.^ Reason, is captivated and fast bound in a close and strong Prison, that is to say, in the Anger of GOD, and in Earthliness ; it is very dangerous for a Man to make Use of the Light of Knowledge in Self as if it were in the Possession of Self 3. For the Wrath of the Eternal and Temporal Nature will soon take Pleasure in it, and then Self^.nd 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 Evtl are mixed, as Lticifer^,nd Adam did. Who both entered with the Desire of 5^^ back again into the Original, out of which the Creatures vf^XQ 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 Worlds viz., into the Lust after Qood and Evil.

4. This happened to them both, because they had the Li^ht of Understanding shining in Self in which they could behold thern^ selves, whereby the Spirit oi 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 try 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 evU or false Desire in the Mother, and broke off themselves from Resignation which proceeds from GoD, and so were caught 40 T'he W^ay to Qhrist. by the Spirit of the Will^ by the Desire in the Mother. Which Desire immediately got the Dominion in Nature; and so Lucifer stuck fast in the wrathful Source of Fire, and that Fire became manifest in the Spirit of his Will, whereby the Creature in its Desire became an Enemy to the Love and Meekness of GOD.

5. Adam in like Manner, was immediately caught by the earthly Mother^ which is Evil and Qoody 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, z,nd all Malice and Contrariety to Qod became manifest, and bore Rule in him. 6. But if they had not brought the Light of Knowledge into Self then the Qlass of the Knowledge of the Centre and of the OrigincUolUcit Creature, viz.^ of the Power 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 shineth^ 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 Creature'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 ox 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 \Msght which was Divine, he was forced to depart), returning with Of T'rue "Resignation. 41

a Seven-fold Desire, of which Christ spake, saying, * When the * Unclean Spirit departeth out of a Man, he wandereth through * dry Places seeking rest, and findeth none ; and then he taketh * to himself seven Spirits worse than himself, and returneth to *his first House; and finding it swept and garnished, he dwelleth * therein, and so it is worse with that Man than it was before.* 10. This House that is thus swept and garnished, is the Light of Reason in Self For if a Man bringeth his Desire and Will into God, and goeth on in Abstinence from this wicked Life^ and heartily desireth the Love of Qody then that Love will manifest itself to him with its most friendly and cheerful Countenance, by which the outward Light also is kindled. For where the Light of Qod'is kindled, there ^/ will be Light ; the Devil cannot stay there, but must depart thence ; and then he searcheth through the Mother of the Original of Life, viz,, the Centre, but it is become a dry feeble Place, For the 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 own wrathful Principle, Satan searcheth through these Places to find an open Qate to enter with his Desire, and so to sift the Soul that it might come to exalt itself

1 1 . 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 into 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 5^^ and evil Imaginations, wherein the Spirit of the Will beholdeth itself in the Forms of the Properties of Life in the outward Light, and then the Man sinketh into himself as if he were drunk, and the Stars lay hold on him, and bring their strong Influences into him, {into outward Reason) that he might seek the Wonders of GOD there, that so they may manifest themselves therein. For all Creatures groan and long after 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 Witt may mount aloft in Pride, Self- 42 I'he JVay to Qhrist. Conceit^ or Cavetousness ; (from whence Self-Arrogatuy arisetb, 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 House of hidden Mysteries that is shut up ; which nevertheless GOD can easily unlock. The deluded Man thereupon supposeth that now he hath reached the Mark, and that Honour is due to him, because he hath gotten the Understanding of Reason, and never considereth that the Devil maketh himself merry with his Desire va 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 Conclusions of Reason^ and have set the Child^ which is drunk in its own Pride and Self Desire as difair Virgin upon the Throne.

14. But the Devil is entered into its seven Forms of Life o{ 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.fohn. Thus hath this Child of Self tdken into its Possession the outward Qlance of Divine Holiness, viz., the Light of Reason^ and supposeth itself to be the fair Child in the House, though the Devil hath his Lodging within it all the while. 15. And thus it is with all those 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.

HERE Reason will object and say, * Is it not right for a ' Man to attain the Light of GOD, and also the Light * of the outward Nature and Reason, that he may be 'able to order his Life wisely, as the Scripture ' directeth ?' 2. Yes, it is very right; nothing can be more profitable to a Man, neither is he Capable of any Thing better ; nay, it is a Treasure above all Earthly Treasures for a Man to have the Light of Qod and of Time^ for it is the Eye of ^im£ and of Eternity. 3. But mark, how thou oughtest to use it ; when the Ligkt of Qod first manifesteth itself in the Soul, it shineth forth as Light Of "True ^signation. 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 Selfoi the Creature, 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 Will of the Creature ought to sink wholly into itself with aU its Reason and Desire, accounting itself an unworthy Child that is no whit worthy of this so high a Qrace ; nor should it arrogate any Knowledge or Understanding to itself or desire of God to have any Understanding in its Creaturely Self ; but sincerely and simply sink down into the Qrcu:e and Love of GOD in Christ Jesus, and desire to be as it were decui 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 Christy 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 th^ outward Reason triumpheth in the Light, saying, / have the true Child, then the Will of the Desire must bow itself down to the Earth, and bring itself into the deepest Humility and most simple Ignorance, and say, * Thou art foolish, and hast nothing * but the Grace of God.' Thou must wrap thyself up in that Belief with great Humility, and become nothing at all in thyself, and neither know nor love 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 ztid 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 \tty power- 44 '^ke Way to Qhrist, 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 inward 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 Lights and esteems itself to be nothings and quite unworthy of it 8. And thus its own Desire pierceth into that Nothing, (viz,^ into that wJierein Qod createih) 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 foUoweth the Spirit of Qod in trembling and humble foy ; 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 tlu 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 Sparkol 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, 1 1. But the Will of the Soul must without ceasing, in this^^rydriving, 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 ovon 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 T'rue "Resignation. 45 acknowledging itself anew to be a defiled Child, resisteth Reason, and so getteth the Love of GOD again. Which is harder to do in that Case than it was at first ; for the Devil bringeth in strong Doubts now, and will not easily leave his Fort of Prey, 13. This may be seen clearly in the Saints of GoD from the Beginning of the World. For many who have been driven by the Spirit of GOD, have yet oftentimes departed from Resignation into Selfy 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 Patriarclis, Prophets , and Apostles ; who have oftentimes co\x\m\\X,^A great Errors when they have departed from Resignation into Self viz,, into their own Reason and Lust.

14. Therefore, it is necessary for the Children of God to know how to behave themselves when they will learn the Way of God. They must beat down and cast away their very Thoughts ; and desire nothing, nor have the least Will to learn any Thing, unless they find themselves to be in true Resignation ; so that Qods Spirit leadeth, teacheth, and guideth Man's Spirit and that the human Will which is attached to itself, be wholly broken off from its own Lust, and resigned to GOD. 15. All Speculation in the Wonders of GOD is very dangerous, for the Spirit oi the Will ra^y soon be captivated \kierew\\}ci, 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 oi 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 zs if they were in its own 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 Humility in 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 (Jt^rfpenetrateth 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 o?tly in resigned Humility ^ in that which neither 46 T'he W^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 ^^X. fear and bow themselves before Him. 18. For God hath not created us for ourselves only, but to be Instruments of His Wonders^ by which He desireth to manifest his Wonders. The resigned Will trusteth GOD, and expecteth all good from Him alone ; but Self Will ruleth itself for it is broken off from GOD. All that Self Will doth is Sin, and against God ; for it is gone out of that Order wherein He created it, into Disobedience, and desireth to be its own Lord and Master,

19. When a Man's own Will dieth from itself ^ then it is free from Sin, for it desireth nothing but that which GOD desireth of His Creature ; it desireth only to do that for which GOD hath created it ; and that which GoD will do by it ; and though it is and must be the Doing, yet it is but the Instrument of the Doings by which GOD doth what He will. 20. For this is the true Faith in Man,z//>., 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 God ledidcth him into true Uprightness and Faithfulness towards his Neighbour, For he thinketh thus with himself, * I do my Work not for myself, but for God, who hath called * and appointed me to do it ; I am but a Servant in His Vine-

* yard.' 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 SelfAo^ what outward Reason from the Stars commandeth, into which Reason the Devil flieth with his Desire. All whatever Self doth is without the Will of Qod^ and is done altogether in the Phantasy, that the Anger of GOD may accomplish its Pastime therewith. 22. No work done without the Will of Qod can reach the King' dom 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 In^ strument For there is but One only Qod in the Essence of all Essences, and all Tihat 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. 47

subject to Him every Life evil^nAgood^ but not under that special Divine Qovemment in Himself, which comprehendeth the Qood 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 witJiout the Will of God, shall be burnt up in the last Fire and given to the Wrath of God, viz.y 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 GoD. For nothing \s 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 Work of the Stars, and of the outward Worlds 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 labour eth 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 oi GOD will be r^^^/z/^dT thereby, and kept in the Mystery of its Desire to the Day of God's fudgment, when Evil and Qood shall be severed. 26. But if a Man turn and go forth from himself, and enter into the Will of Qod, then also that Qood which hath been wrought in and by him, shall be freed from the £z^// 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 Qood shall spring forth, as a Sprout^ out of the wild Earth. 48 T'he JVay to Qhrist.

WHOSOEVER therefore intendeth to do any ^^^^/ 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 continuaiiy destroyeth the Substance of Self again, so that the Anger of GoD cannot reach it. And if it should happen to reach it sometimes, as may be the Case, yet the resigned Will, prevaileth with its superior Power ; and then it beareth the Figure of a Victorious Work in the Wonders, and may inherit the Filiation or Childship. Therefore it is not good to speak or do any Thing, when Reason \% 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 mcule manifest, and become a Representation of His Deeds of Wonder, to His Glory. 4. And every Creature ought to know, that it should continue in that Condition wherein it was created; otherwise it runneth on in Contrariety and Enmity to the Will of GOD, and bringeth itself into Pain, For every Intelligent Creature that hath lost its Place or State wherein GoD first created it, is in Disorder and Misery, till it recovereth the same. A Creature vACio^x 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 ^signation. 49 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 iS\'tgood.

5. Man was created of, for, and in Paradise ; of , for, and in the Love of GOD ; but if he bring himself into Anger, v/hich is as a poisonous Pain and Death, then that contrsLvy Paradisaical Life of Z^z/^ is a Pain and Torment to him. 6. If the Devil had been created out of the wrathful Matrix, for and /« //i?//, and had not had the Divine Ens or Essence, he could have no P^/« in Hell. But he being created for and /« Heaven, and yet having stirred up the Source or Property of Darkness in himself, and thereby brought himself totally into Darkness, therefore the Light is now a /'^m to him, that is, it causeth an everlasting Despair of GOD'S Qrace, and a continual Enmity to GOD, because GOD cannot endure him in Himself, but hath cast him out. Therefore the Devil is angry and wrathful against his own Mother, of whose Essence and Substance he hath his Original, viz., the eternal Nature, which keepeth him Prisoner in his own Place, as a Revolter or fallen Spirit, and sporteth in him with its Property ol Anger. And, seeing he would not bear his Part in promoting the Divine foy, in and for which he was created, therefore he must now do the contrary, and be an Enemy to all Qoodness, For, of Qodand 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 comprehendeth the other, and neither of them is the other ; and yet there is only one Essence, Being, or Substance, wherein they both subsist. But there is a Difference in Quality and Will ; yet the Essence or Substance is not divided, but a Principle maketh the Division. So that the one is a nothing in the other, and yet it is there, but not manifest in the Property of that Thing wherein it is. 8. For the Devil continued in his own Dominion or Principality, not indeed in that wherein GOD created him, but in the aching, painful Birth of Eternity, in the Centre of Nature and Property of Wrath, in the Property which begetteth Darkness, Anguish and Pain. Indeed he is a Prince in the Place of this World, but in the first Principle, in the Kingdom of Darkness, in the Pit or Abyss. 9. Not in the Kingdom of the Sun, Stars, and Elements ; he is no Lord or Prince there, but in the wrathful Part, viz., in the Root of the Evil of every Thing ; and yet he hath not Power to do what he pleaseth with That.

50 ^he Way to Qhrist. 10. For there is some Qood in every Thing, which holdeth the Evil captive and shut up in the Thing ; but fie 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 the Devil hath no further Power over the T/w/^, or temporary Condition, of this World, than in the great Turba, or Turba Magna, the Curse; wheresoever That kindleth itself in the eternal said temporal Wrath, there he is busy, as in Wars, Fighting, and Strife, as also in great Tempests without Water. In the Fire he proceedeth 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.

J 2. 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 accomplisheth its Work in that. 13. Now God created every Thing/t^r and in That wherein it should be, the Angels for and in Heaven, and Man for and in Paradise. If therefore the Desire of the Creature goeth forth from its own Mother, then it entereth into the contrary Will and into Enmity, and it is tormented with the Contrariety therein, and so a false Will ariseth in a good; and then the good Will entereth into its nothing again, viz,, into the End of Nature and Creature, and so leaveth the Creature in its own Evil or Wickedness^ as appeareth by Lucifer and also by Adam ; and had not the Will of the Love of GOD met with Adam and of mere Mercy entered into the Humanity or human Nature again, there could be no good Will in Man, 14. Therefore all Speculation and Enquiry about God^s Will is a vain Thing, unless the Mind be converted. For when the Mind standeth captivated in the Self Desire of the earthly Life, it cannot comprehend what the Will of GOD is ; it runneth on but in Self, from one Way into another, and yet findeth no Rest; for Self Desire evermore bringeth Disquiet. But when it sinketh itself wholly into the Mercy of GOD, desiring to die from itself, and to have God's Will for a Guide to the Understanding, so

Of "True "Resignation. 5 1 that it acknowledgeth and esteemeth itself as nothings and Willeth nothing but what God Willethy then shall it both know and do the Will of GOD. And if the Desire of Anger in the earthly Flesh should go along or join with the Devil's Imagination, and assault the Will of the Soul, yet the resigned Desire crieth to GOD and saith, Abba, loving Father^ deliver me from Evil: And then, though the earthly fF/7/ should grow too strong in the Wrath of GOD by the Infection of the Devil, the Desire oi Anger vjoxAA work but in or upon itself According to what St. Paul saith, ' Now if I Sin, I do it not, but Sin that dwelleth * in my flesh ; also now I serve the Law of God in my Mind, but *in my Flesh the Law of Sin.' Paul meaneth not, that the WUl 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 by Force, through the evil Incitements of the wicked, or else by beholding worldly Pomp and Qlory ; so that it absolutely beareth down the resigned Will, and ruleth by Force,

15. Now when Sin is wrought in the Flesh, then the Wrath sporteth itseif 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, '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 * Calling/ to stand again in that Purpose of God, wherein He originally created Man to be His Image and Likeness. 17. So long as Man's own Will standeth in Self, so long it is not in the Purpose and Calling of GOD ; it is not called, for it is gone forth from its original right Place : but when the Mind turneth itself back again into the Calling, viz., into Resignation, then the Willis in the Calling oi GOD, that is, in the Place /^r and in which GOD created it, and then it hath Power to become ttte Child of Qod again, as it is written, * He hath given us Power

* to become the Children of God.' 18. liYi^ Power which he hath given us is his Purpose, for and in which he created Man in his Image. This GOD hath brought again into the Human Nature, and hath given Power unto that Power to break the Head of Sin in the Flesh, namely, the Will and Desire of the Serpent ; that is, the resigned Will in Christ treadeth upon the Head of the Desire of the sinful Will of the Serpent^ and killeth again the Sins which were committed. This 52 T'he JVay to Qhrist. Power that is given becometh a Death to Deaths 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, aild 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 Obedience 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 Law 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 o{ the Mind for and in Paradise, to be a Companion with Him in the Kingdom of Divine Joy, It ought not to have removed itself from thence ; but since it hath removed itself from thence, GOD hath brought His Will again into the Flesh, and in his New-brougkt-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 WiU of ^^i^bringeth the Vanity ol this World into the Mind, which is thereby shut up, and continueth so. 23. ^od, so far as He is called (jod 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, viz,, Power, Beauty and Virtue, 24. Qod desireth nothing but what is like His own Desire; His Desire receiveth nothing but what itself \s, 25. God receiveth no Sinner into His Power and Virtue, unless the Sinner go forth from his Sins, and enter with the Desire into God. And then, * He will not cast out those that so

* come unto him.' He hath given to the Will an open 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 t arthly sinful Flesh, and bear it after Christ in Patience and Hope of Deliverance. It must also continually break the Head of tlie Serpent, in and through Christ's Will and Spirit, and kill and destroy the eartldy Will in GOD'S Anger, not letting it rest Of "True "Resignation. 53 on a soft Bed when Sin is committed, and thinking to repent one Time or other. 26. No, no, the earthly Will groweth strong, fat y and wanton 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 ^xViof Sin 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 xXfast and suffer Hunger until its tickling ceases. Account the Will of the Flesh thine Enemy^ and do not what the Desire in the Flesh Willeth, and then thou shalt bring a Death upon the Deathful Property in the Flesh. 28. Regard not any Scorn of the World, as considering that it doth but scorn thine Enemy, and that is become a Fool to it. Nay, do thou thyself account it thy Fool, which Adam caused thee to possess, and made to be thy false Heir. Cast out of tfie 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 J^r Elements should have been Man's Servants, but Adam hath brought them into the Sonship, or adopted them into himself. Therefore GOD said to Abraham, when He had opened the Covenant of the Promise in him ; * Cast out the Son of the

* Bond-Woman, for he shall not inherit with the Son of the Free.' This Son of the Free is Christ, which GOD of his 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 Fountain is the Renovation of the Mind or Will of the Soul. 30. Therefore I say, that all Fictions and Devices to come to Qod by, let them have what Name soever they will, which Men contrive and invent for Ways to Qody are but lost Labour and vain Endeavours, without a new Mind. There is no other Way to Qodf but a new Mind^ which turneth from Wickedness and entereth into Repentance for the Sins it hath committed. Which goeth forth from its Iniquity and Willeth it no more ; but wrappeth its Will up in the Death of Christ, and with all Earnestness 54 ^^^ JVay to Qhrist.

dieth from the Sin of the Soul in the Death of Christ, so that it Willeth Sin no more. 31. And though all the Devils should press hard upon it, and enter with their Desire into the fleshly Mind, yet the Will of the Soul must stand still and hide itself in the Death of Christ, Willing and desiring nothing but the Mercy of GOD. 32. No Hypocritical Flattery, or outward Comforting ourselves, availeth at all ; as when Men will cover Sin and Iniquity in the Flesh with the Satisfaction of Christ, and remain in Self still. Christ saith, * Except ye turn and become as Children, ye shall *not see the Kingdoni of God.' The Mind must become as wholly new, as in a Child, that knoweth nothing of Sin. Christ saith also, * Ye must be born anew, or else ye shall not see the * Kingdom of God.' There must arise a Will wholly new, in the Death of Christ, It must be brought forth out of Christ's Incarnation or entering into the Humanity, and rise in Chrisfs 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 new Power, 35. Hypocrisy, Flattery, and z/^r^o/ Forgiveness, avail nothing. We must be Children, not by outward Imputation, but by being bom of Qod from within, in the new Man, which is resigned in and to God. 36. All such Flattery of ourselves by saying, ' Christ hath paid * the Ransom, and made Satisfaction for Sin,' and that he died for our Sins J 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