AS for the creation of the world, it is in Mans heart, as Ecclesi­astes saith in the third Chapter, it is internally; and in the first of the Hebrewes, he saith that God hath created the worlds, speaking in the plurall number; that is, he makes a first and second creation of Man: now the creation of Gods first world in Man, is Man and God joyned together from eternity; and this was that deep silence and waters that God moved or brooded on, and he separated the waters from the waters, for God is that light and holy spring, and Man is that darke and blacke water; and God is the Heaven, and Man is the Earth; and the separation is the first day for distinctions sake that we may know God from our selves, I meane the fir­mament and separating light and darknesse is the distinction; and that is the first day in Man which is called the Evening and the Morning: So these waters is the flowing of the mindes of God and Man which was separated; the minde of God floweth above the firmament and in his owne light or sphere or in himselfe. The Man, his minde floweth under the firmament and on the earth or in himselfe, that his dry land or earth might appeare; and this separation of mindes or waters is the second day or light that discovers two, one discoursing to the other, and saith, let us make or doe these things, and so this day or light hath its evening and morning, which is a whole day: and God saith, let the Earth bring forth fruits; now the desires and affections are the herbs and fruits with their seeds, that is their proper selves that bringeth forth their owne kinde in Man, for every affection, thought and inclination, hath its owne seed in it selfe, and doth produce its own fruit out of us, which is good in their owne kinde; and the appearance of these things in us is the third day in man, with its evening and morning, for the evening and morning maketh the whole day. And God said, let there be light in the firmament, which light is the Son and glory of God and Man Christ Jesus, and is the light which distinguishes or discovers the mindes both of God and Man to each other: and the Moon that is in this distinction that rules the night or the darke Man, is the instruction, and the good advises, that the Sunne or true day light shineth [Page 2]through them to the Man, and all the starres in this firmament are the lights of Gods graces that is severall to the Man to enlighten his darke heart that hee might see the glorious Son through these gimmering lights, for his dark eyes is not able at the first to behold the glorious Sonne, but by degrees the holy God brings him to it; so these holy lights in the Man are the fourth day with his evening and morning. And God said, let the waters bring forth fowle and fishes; which waters are the flowing sea of thy minde, and the fowle or birds are the flying fantasies that flye about the heaven of our souls, and the fishes are thy delightfull thoughts that swim up and downe in thy minde, and all these are proper selves with their seeds, and are very good in their owne kinde, and are usefull for the Man, and for his pleasure and delight; and this is the fifth day in man with its evening and morning. And God said, let the Earth bring forth all beasts and creeping things; which beasts is the passions of thy minde, some of which thou maiest use and eat of, and some thou must keep under and not eat of, as the Hare which is thy fearfull passions, and the Swine which is thy voluptuous appetite, and the birds and fishes (which will not be orderly) thou must keep under and not taste of; for we must reigne and keep our phantasies (that is the ravenous and destructive birds) hood winkt, that they may not see nor goe beyond their limits to disturbe the soule with their disorderlinesse; for David did kill a Lion and a Bear, and fought with Goliah and killed him; which Lion is thy strong unruly appetite, and the Beare is thy unorderly and bloody selfe will, and the Goliah is that evill or divell, that is thy unreasonablenesse that raileth against thy God, or good which is thy reason­ablenesse. Now these thoughts and phantasies (unruly passions, appetites and unreasonablenesse) must be kept under and ruled, or else they will disturbe and destroy thy soul, but kept under, ruled and ordered are usefull to the Man; but this keeping them under is death to them, for they are mad and cruell (let loose) and keeps the soule and reason in all subjection, so that no good shall appeare in the soule but they will destroy it; for these beasts, birds and fishes, will destroy and devoure all the rest of the peaceable beasts, birds and fishes (as the dove, or thy innocencie or meek lambe, or peaceablenesse) and all those peaceable creatures that would be at rest in thee, and please thee, and give thee rest: for Sampson killed that Lion that came roaring upon him, that was his strong and ravening appetite that would have devoured him, so he saith af­terward (when he had overcome his ravening appetite) there came sweetnes out thereof where with he was refreshed; for he saith, out of the eater came meat, and out of the strong came sweetnesse, so that appetite that would have devoured him (keepst under and set upon the love or desire of goodnesse) was meat and sweetnesse to him. And God and Man said, let us make or set forth [Page 3]our image, which is male and female, that is true righteousnesse, holinesse and purenesse, that should rule over these birds, beasts, fishes, and all creeping things that moveth in the world of Man; and they give them names accor­ding to their natures and qualities that they see in them: so this is the sixth day in Man with its evening and morning, and all things is good in their kinde. So the rest of Gods discovering (or creating things) is that holy rest and dwelling of God and good in the Man, for he hath shewed Man all things, and he discovers himselfe the last, which is the best and holy rest and peace of things, and is the Sabbath or seventh day with its evening and morning, the holy rest in man which hee should have kept for ever, and never have lost or broken: this rest is the holy Godhead or breath of life that is given to the Man, and is light of his light, and the life of his life, or breath of his breath; for Man without God is dead, and his life and breath is death without the life and breath of God: So God gave himselfe into the hands of Man to see what he would doe with him, for he loveth the Man as himselfe. Now when the Man seeth that God hath given all things in his owne power, then comes the subtilest beast that is in the earth of Man to intice or allure the Man, and to be master of all in him, and to rule all things, and this beast is the wisdome of the flesh, or the wisdome of the darke man which is sensuall and devillish; and now the Man or female having her will, and beeing free, having all things in her possession by the free gift & love of God to her, desires to rule by her will and wisdome, and to let God alone, and forsake his counsell and wisdom, & rule by herself and wisdome, which is blind, sensuall and evill, and this is her guide, and she will be her own God to do her will, lusts and desires, and she in blinde­nesse wil distinguish between good and evill, who knowes nothing at all but by the light of Gods grace and goodnesse in her, which she hath forsaken, and is ruled by her owne selfe and wisdome, that calls good evill, and evill good, and so it is all lies and falshood which the Man is ruled by; and so he is lost and damned from God and goodnesse, and is joyned to a lie and deceitfulnesse, and hath made God taste of her deceitfulnesse by her forsaking him: for shee that is his wife hath forsaken him which is her mate and yoak fellow, and so he is lost and hidden from her, and is under her earthly man of sin, which is in hell: for that which should be uppermost is undermost (which is God) and that which should bee undermost is uppermost, for all thy brutiall passions and beastly appetites (which should bee keept undermost and ruled) is upper­most, and they rule and governe thee, and all things in thee, for they keep God and goodnesse under them and will not let them appeare in thee, but kills and crucifies them as soone as they appeare in thee to give thee counsell for thy good; and so the Lambe of God is slaine in the beginning of our first [Page 4]world, or at the first appearance, discovering and distinctions of things in us; for in one infancie or nonage, all things is in silence, and we are a Chaos, and God is in this silence, and with us in this Chaos, and in his time and when hee saw the ripenesse of this Chaos, he set forth all things in us, and made them ap­peare in their order and places to us, and gave all things to us as our owne, and in our owne power, because we should be free to binde our selves or stand free according to our pleasure; for there was life and death set before us, so that we might binde our selves to either or stand free as we were, and binde our selves to neither, because that Man should not complaine, nor grieve in his spirit that he should be tyed against his will to any thing, therefore all men appear free to stand or fall, or binde themselves to what they please: but Man tyes himselfe to the brutiall passions of his mind, and leaves God and good­nesse, and so they be hidden and lost in him, so thy passions, rules & domineers over thee, and thy blinde wisdome or subtle serpent carries thee into all mis­thiefe and lies, and deceives thee, and makes thee have a hellish mind which is a cage of all unclean and hatefull birds: for thou art the kingdome of hell, and thou art full of hell-hounds, dogs and swine, wolfes, and Tygers, Lions, and Beares, Serpents, and Cockatrices, and all venomous things, so that there is no good thing in thee in thy off-fallen estate, for if God or goodnesse should appeare in thee, thy beastly and divilish crew would destroy him out of thee, so that thy God or goodnesse doth lye under thy earth (or under thy hellish bee­ing) which a mighty power holding forth a slickering sword, which is the law of sin that cries vengeance, and saith, I will repay, and saith, thou must dye, and all thy hellish crew: for this law requires death for death, eye for eye, and tooth for tooth, for thou hast killed God and goodnesse, and these murthers flyeth in thy face by this mighty power with the sword of justice in his hand, that stands to execute thee and kill thee for killing: and this is the patience of the Saints, which saith that they that killeth by the sword must dye by the sword; for this is justice that the blood-thirsty might drinke blood, and so Man thou shalt never bee happy till this justice is executed upon thee and upon all thy hellish crew, and that thou art dead, buried, damned and lost with Christ and God, and that thou and thy wicked crew is seen no more, and thou art turned to thy dust, and into thy old silence with God againe, and art as if thou wert not; and then God in his time will create thee a new world, and renue all things againe in thee; for there shall bee new heavens and a new earth, wherein shall dwell righteousnesse in thee. David saith, Create in me a new heart, O Lord, and renue a right spirit within mee; that is, when thy old world, or Adam is destroyed in thee, that Man of sinne, or that vessell of wrath that was borne for destruction or to be damned; for our [Page 5]old world is to shew the glory and justice of God and his mighty power in the Man, and to the Man, and that the Man should see himselfe lost and dam­ned; and when he is come to this passe then shall he see his mighty power in saving him, and creating him a new creature or new world: for the first world was to shew the manhood, and all her glory, what she is, and that all things were given into her hands to doe what seemed good in her own eyes: and she let all things run disorderly and spoyled all things, and that which she should have governed did governe her, so that all things is turned upside down, and Man sees his owne strength and wisdome is foolishnesse: for God lets man alone with his first creation, to shew him what he is in his own free­dome; and if man had not been left alone and free, and had not had all things in his owne power, he would have repined, therefore he was left free to see his owne weaknesse and inability: so he desired to be his owne God and ru­ler, therefore God gave man all things in his power, yea even himselfe also, to see how he would use him, for God saw mans covetous desires, and so God put himselfe and all things else into his hands to do what seemed good in his own eyes, and so nature or man appeared, for that that is naturall is first, and is the first Adam, and that which is spirituall is last, and last Adam or God; for the first man Adam is earthly, and the last Man or Adam, is the heavenly or God­head Man: so man if he desres not to be changed, or become the last Adam, shall remain for ever in his first estate, creation or first world, for his first world is his misery, because he desires to be his owne guide, and his blinde wisdome is his owne destruction; and because he disregards all good, so hee shall bee with himselfe and his hellish crew till he is weary of himselfe, for he hath gi­ven himselfe to pride, which makes him thinke he is better then other men, which is a lie and a deceit: and he is given to covetousnesse of the riches of this world, which all perish with the using; and he is given to luxury, glut­tony and drunkennesse, which makes him ready to starve, another time for mispending the goods he getteth to maintaine his livelihood: and he is given to seek honour and worldly estimation, to wrath and furiousnesse, about these things which are all lies and vanities, and perish with the using; and to back­byting and evill surmising one another, to murder in secret and openly, to ha­tred malice and hypocrisie, with all uncharitablenesse, about these lies which all perish with the using, for here is nothing but howling, crying, sighing and mourning, about these lies and deceiveable things: for when pride hath ex­alted a man to honour and great estimation, then he rejoyees, and that is his heaven or God to him; and straight envy in another man is troubled at this his honour and greatnesse, and devises some plot to throw him downe, and when he is throwne downe, that is hell and death to him, then hee sighs, [Page 6]mourns and grieves for this deceiveable lie; and the covetous man he covets the riches of this world, and will cosen, lie and cheat any man to make himself rich thereby, and many times comes fire and destroyes his riches, or one back­byter or slanderer or other, devises some mischiefe against him, and bringeth him under the penalty of some law of men, that he pretendeth he hath broken, whereby all his riches that he hath gotten is lost and taken from him, then hee mournes and grieves, because this deceiveable god hath left him, and is fled, leaving him comfortlesse; and the glutton and drunkard that lives in luxury and voluptuousnesse (which is his heaven or god) when penury, want and grievous diseases commeth upon him, then cries he out against himselfe, and grieves at his folly, which is a hell to him, now when it is too late; yet so soon as he recovers health and means againe, he returnes as bad as he was before, like the dog to his own vomit, and the sowe that is washed to her wallowing in the mire: and the murtherer that in his wrath and choller doth kill a man (which murder in his passion is the heaven or god of lies that pleased him) afterwards when the law of sin, or justice of man, comes to execute him, then justice or the law of sin executing its office, proves a hell unto him: therefore if thou desirest no harme to be done to thee, thou oughtest not to doe any to another, but if thou dost, this revenge (or justice in him whom thou wrongest and does to him as thou wouldest not he should do to thee) retort [...] backe upon thy selfe, and thy owne conscience cannot deny but that it is just and good, al­though it be death and hell to thee, and that thou canst not abide to suffer it, for thy justice and law of sin saith, an eye for eye, tooth for tooth, and life for life: the morall Law and ten Commandements is in thy selfe, and it is thy own na­turall desires to them, for thou lovest God or good with all thy soule, minde and strength to be done to thee, and thou dost naturally love thy neighbour as thy selfe, because he is thy Samaritane, and doth good to thee, for thou dost naturally love those that doe thee good, and that is reasonable; thou dost love the Sabbath day, for naturally thou dost love rest, and naturally thou dost love and honour the place from which thou camest which is thy father and mother; thou dost not naturally desire to be killed, therefore thou saiest, I must not kill; thou dost not desire any should take thy naturall propriety from thee, nor fals­hood to be done to thee, therefore thou sayest, I must not wrong another man by enjoying his wife and propriety, or rob or steale from him his right, or what he hath laboured for, for the labourer is worthy of his hire; thou doest naturally hate to have a false accusation on thee, therefore thou dost say, I must not beare false witnesse against any one, and so the rest is what thou wouldest not have done to thee that thou must not doe to another; for S. Paul cryed out against himselfe, and said, that he did the thing he hated, and did [Page 7]disallow, and did not the thing that he did allow and love, but sold himself un­der the law of sin which he hated; for this law and curse is added because of the transgression, which is just to reward every man according to his works, for this law of workes saves no man, but condemnes all because all men have sinned; and as long as man lives in the fleshly lusts of sin and concupiscence, he is under this law of sin and curse, and cannot please God: but the world is mistaken of Paul, and thinks that he meant and said that as long as he lived in the flesh (or in this organicall creature of the foure elements of clay) hee should sin; if this were the meaning of St. Paul, sure he must kill himselfe, and advise all men to doe the like, or else they could not please God, for that which hinders us from pleasing of God must be taken out of the way; but Paul saith, that Christ hath taken him away from the curse and law of sin by faith, which faith is the power of perswasion, and convincing the heart of sin and unrighte­ousnesse, and the workes of faith is to crucifie the sinfull flesh and lusts, and to be obedient to God and goodnesse, and that faith of Christ saves thee: and Paul saith, that he thanks God he is dead, and that Christ is now his life, and that he lives now by the faith of the Son of God, which is by his loving per­swasions, and that confidence and reality of truth which he found by the o­bedience of Christ in him to God and goodnesse, and so that flesh of Paul is dead and crucified to him, so that it is evident by the sense of Scripture that Paul meant that flesh of sin, and not the organicall creature that he then lived in: for we know nothing of God nor of the divell, but what we see in our selves: for St. John saith, what we have heard and seen and tasted, that de­clare we unto you; for we must not imagine the powerfull and mighty God­head to be any Idea, Image, or likenesse of any thing, but what he hath decla­red himselfe to be to us; for it is said, that Christ is in us, and God is in Christ, so that the Godhead lives bodily in us that hath ceased from sin, for of that om­nipotent and mighty power that upholdeth and discovereth all things, wee know nothing neither of our selves or any thing else but what he pleaseth to discover unto us: therefore in thy first creation, or first birth, God discovers thy selfe to thee which is Esau or Adam, and thou hast all things in thy possessi­on, and thou art the God and Lord of all, for thou art the God of this first world that hath blinded thine owne eyes with thy serpent subtilty and wis­dome of the flesh, and thou art ashamed of the naked truth, that is the light of Gods grace to discover and lay all things naked and bare before thee; but thou coverest and hides the truth with the leaves of thy owne fruits, for thou art ashamed of the truth, and when God calls thee in the coole of his day, and that his light and fire begins to wax cold in thee, thou hidest thy selfe from him and art ashamed of him as thy nakednesse, for thy wisdome hath opened [Page 8]thine eyes to thy selfe will, and hath shut them up to the naked truth, and so thou art lost and damned from God and goodnesse, for thou hast deprived thy selfe of him, and hath hid God in thy selfe as thy shame, for thou art ashamed to come before him, and therefore thou hidest him with thy partition walls of sinne, and now thou art cloathed with thy owne death, that is the law of sin, and thy owne justice in thee; for the skinnes of thy innocency that thou hast lulled within thee (which is the death of God and Christ) is thy cloathing, and so thou art cloathed with the death of God in thee, and God now never appeares to thee but in this death, with terror and feare which terrifies thee, and this justice of terror and feare lyeth in the death of God, which thou hast slaine and dis-regarded, and is that slickering sword that keeps this death (which was the tree of life) till thou be killed by it as thou hast killed: as it is said, I have been dead but now am alive for evermore, for this tree of life is the Lambe of God that is slaine in the beginning of our first world, and so hee lyeth dead to us till our wicked world is at an end, and this our wicked world shall bring forth nothing but thornes and thistles, which is sins that shall prick thee to the heart, and thou shalt eat of thy owne fruits with the sweat of thy browes; that is the labour of thy sinnes, that toyleth thee with their labori­ousnesse, and this toyle shalt thou have with thy sinnes till thou returnest to thy dust againe, or to thy old silence wherein thou wert before, and thy serpent (or sleshly wisdome) shall goe creeping on thy earthly beeing of sin, and shall live on their dust or first originall, which is lies, and is thy subtle serpents food, and thy husband which is thy lie or unreasonablenesse that thou hast united thy self to) shall rule and domineere over thee, and thou shalt be subject to his will, and all thy children or sinnes that he begetteth of thee thou shalt bring forth in sorrow, and they shall be a pain unto thee; for what is said to Adam is said to both, for she or he is one, and is the female of God, for man or woman signifies both, and this sword of justice which standeth in the death of Christ, is the enmity the seed of the woman or humaine nature, that shall breake the serpents head, and destroy his seed; and this enmity shall bruise the humanities heele or foot that he shall never walke any more in false wayes; so this enmity or sword standeth in the death of Christ, crying vengeance and saith, that this world (or Adam, Edom, or Esau) is the childe of wrath, and he hath prepared or ordained himself to destruction, and so this whole world of Man is destroy­ed, damned and utterly lost, and Man shall never bee happy in his first birth, because of his fall, for he must be dead, buried and borne againe, or else hee shall never enter into the Kingdome of heaven, for his owne nature is wrath, but God did not make him so, but his nature was so for ever, for according to Scripture we are the children of wrath by nature, and at the first wee ap­peare [Page 9]so, and God did make him appeare to himselfe what he was, and gave himselfe and all things into his power, that he might not complaine, and that the Man might see how he would use God himselfe, and all things in him, and so he destroyes himselfe, God, and all things within him, and hath ordained himselfe and all to be lost, so the first creation in Man is lost, and God shewes Man his miserable condition in this death and losse of God and goodnesse, and the power of God that lyeth in this death, is called the death of Christ, or the two edged sword that standeth to divide the soule asunder, or that flesh of Christ that is the curtaine that stands before the most holy place, or Sanctum Sanctorum: and this power of Christ is in hell under our earthly beeing and Man of sinne, till we and all ours is turned to dust againe, and this power or death stayes with patience and long sufferance under us in hell till we are wea­ry of our selves and sins, for we grieve the Spirit of God by whom we are sea­led, and he daily shews us our owne misery, and toyle and sorrow sinne doth make in us, and this toyl we shall have for ever till we are weary of our selves and desire to be ended with all our hearts, and to forsake our selves and our owne wicked world, and all that is within us that is wicked, then doth this holy power, Man himselfe in us, and destroyes us and all within us, and turns us to our dust againe; and when we are in silence with God againe, then doth he create us anew and make us a new world, and prepares us a bride for him­selfe, a heavenly Jerusalem, a City and house for God, and he is our Lord and husband, and he is a holy and righteous ruler, and doth governe all the facul­ties of our soule in peace and love, with all orderlinesse and union, for then the Lion (our strongest passions) is in peace with the lambe or innocencie, and all our other beasts, birds and fishes (which is our phantasies) is orderly and in peace; then shall the childe or innocencie lay his hand on the Cockatrice hole, and the Wolves, Beares and Lions shall be together, and one shall not sting or hurt the other, for God is King and ruler in man, which orders all things well and in peace in him, and the Son of glory or God, shines seven times more brighter then hee did in the former world, and this glorious world or Man of God shall last for ever and ever, in his glorious transcendent bright­nesse, and there is no sorrow or paine in this world, but everlasting ravishing joyes and sweet content of minde; for this holy God doth ravish the soule continually with his delectable pleasures, so the soule is ever satisfied; for God when he is our Lord, and we have given our selves to him, hee uses us thus sweetly, and doth give us all pleasure and content, but when he gave him­selfe to us in our first creation, and first world, we were ashamed of him, and hid and destroyed him from us, but he is not ashamed of us, but uses us with all love; for nature appeared first and in that Adam all dyed, for God and [Page 10]Christ was Sonne and borne there, and he became mortall in this nature, for God appeared there in weaknesse, which weaknesse is humility and lowlines of spirit, with all gentlenesse and love; and when the wisdome of the flesh (the serpents subtilty) had opened natures eyes to pride and high mindednesse, and to wrath, covetousnesse and envie, which eyes is the serpents eyes, which is the evill eyes or the Devils, which the nature or man lookt through, which made him thinke that this high mindednesse and pride, with selfe-will, was a glorious tree, and that there was glorious fruit on it, and that it would elevate him highly, and that he should be his owne God and ruler, and that he should know good and evill which he did by wofull experience, taste of its good which had the evill in it, for it was full of confusion as was said before, and was the mans toyle: but he thought it was a glorious fruit, and much to be de­sired, and so doe all men that are in the first creation, and first world: so when Man had tasted of pride, high mindednesse, and selfe-will (the forbidden fruit) he despised God which is humility and lowlinesse of spirit and meeknesse, and was a shamed of this, and thought it foolishnesse, to bee humble, meeke and lowly, for hee thought this to bee poore beggarly nakednesse, and was ashamed of such a lowly and beggarly minde as he thought it to be, so he covered this meek and lowly spirit with his lofty high mindednesse, and so the divine, gentle and holy nature is in hell under this filthy covering; and this is the covering upon God and Man, and is the partition wall betwixt them, and so man hath made the Devill god and lord of all, and hath given all that was given him into his hands, so God in man is in the Devils power, and he reigns as King and Lord of all in this first world or creation that is fallen into the De­vills hards by mans will that gave it him: for God gave man himself and all, and man delivered, and gave or sold him to the Devill; for nature in the first creation is a Judas that is raised up to destruction, and is the son of perdition that sells the innocent life in him, and afterward he hangs and destroyes him­selfe, and puts himselfe wholly into the Devils hands, and in the end of time when the man is weary of this wicked world with all his soule and minde, and will, wholly returne all into the hands of God againe, hee takes all upon him with his mighty power and sword that stands in justice hands, and re­deems himselfe and the man out of the Devils hands, for he comes to redeem himselfe the lost sheep of the house of Israel, which was lost and hid in man, and covered with mans sinnes. Now this holy and mighty power taketh all upon him for he becomes our first borne Esau, Adam or Edome, and will bee our first world that is fallen, and will suffer with us and for us, as if he had dore all out sinnes, for when be hath our man of sinne on him he gives the huma­nity power to indure this justice of the death of God for his sinnes, and this [Page 11]sword of justice and Gods death doth destroy death, and this death or sword of God that frights and feares the man, is the beginning of the wisdome of God in him to destroy sinne, for the man in his first appearance destroyed the Lambe of God or good, and then he and the Devill, the wisdome of the flesh rule all in all in him till the man is weary of himselfe, and desires this death of God to helpe him, and this death of God is his backe parts that made Moses face to shine, for the wrath, anger and frownes of God (which is his backe parts) is better for the man then the Devills face or smiles; and Gods death is better for the man then the Devills life, and his hell better then his heaven; for it is better to be in the house of mourning, then to heare the song of fools, though man in his off fallen estate thinks it not so: but this death and morta­lity of God (which is his backe parts) doth make our face shine, for no man shall see his face & live, nor shall or can we see his face, glorious countenance, and cheerfull smiles till our man of sinne is destroyed and rooted out, and we returne to our dust as we were before, and in silence with God againe; and so this death and mortality of God (which i [...] his angry frowns and the wrath of the Lambe that takes away the sinnes of our wicked world) is entered into our Esau or Adam (which is the vessells of wrath prepared for destruction) and is become our flesh which is dead in sinnes and trespasses; and this death of God doth destroy us which is death, for this Esau with the death and wrath of God is a hunter, and doth kill meat or venison for his fathers supper, which venison is the wilde and heathenish brutiall man whose death shall reconcile us to God againe: for in the fifth of the Rom. he saith, that we are reconci­led to God by the death of Christ, which death hath mortified us and killed our man of sinne, so this death hath given us power by his death to destroy, kill and mortifie ourselves, for this Christ after the flesh or death, was it that lay under our earthly beeing, and said, that he was a worme and no man, and that the great Bulls of Bashan gaped upon him to devoure him, which was our sinnes, and that the great water floods and seas of our sinnes run over him, and he lay still, and the man of sin thought that he had been asleepe or dead, and did not see their evill workes, but he made this darknesse (or darke man) his hiding place, and so he saw and heard all his evill workes; for he saith, I create light, and I create darknesse, that is that, I set forth my selfe which is light, and I set forth man which is darknesse, and he regards not me, nor my light, because his deeds are evill, and so I am hid in his darknesse; but when the man is weary of himselfe, then he seeketh for mee, and hath need of mee, though he thought I did not heare nor see him before, then he runs to me and cryeth, and saith, arise, O Lord, in mee, and thy enemies (which is my sinnes) shall be scattered and rooted out in me; so this death or flesh of God (which [Page 12]is death) destroyesman (which is death) in God in becomming his death or his flesh, for in becomming the man of sinne, he destroyes man which is sinne and evill of himselfe without this power of the holy Godhead, which holy power he hath given to the man to arraigne himselfe before himselfe, and to condemne himselfe in himselfe and to execute himselfe, and so make an end of the whole man of sinne, and so he becomes dead and buried with this po­wer of the holy Godhead, for it is better be dead with God, and to be at rest with him, then to be alive with the Devill, and to be in torment in his hell: for this death of God is death to the sinne (which sinne is death) and shall raise us up into everlasting immortality and ravishing joyes of minde: for hee saith, that that which never eye saw, nor care heard, nor ever entred into the heart of wicked man (in his first creation) is now revealed to them that love him, and those that are of the new borne creature, and the second creation that love him, and are the men of God who are ruled and governed by him; for he saith, that the troubles and sufferings which wee endure (in the cruci­fying the man of sin in the former world) is not worthy of that joy and sweet consolation that we shall receive, and shall be given to us that hath tasted of the death of Christ, and hath gone through his sufferings with him into the se­cond world that is full of joy, for this end of Esau (or Edom) is the end of the first creation, and the vessell of wrath that hath ordained himselfe to destru­ction, and God foreknew that he would doe all these things to himselfe, and gave him all in his hand that hee should not complaine, and say he was tyed from any thing, so that he was free, and might have stood or fell; but he fell, and all Adams knows this, their owne conscience accusing them, for hee made man upright and shewed himselfe to bee good, but he sought out many inventions to destroy himselfe, yet God hath mercy on him, and hath brought forth his elected seed to save him, which was Isaac or Jacob, that wrastled with God in this darke night of man to save and blesse him; for this Esau was faine to sell his birthright, and was so hungry with hunting and kil­ling the man of sinne that he had almost lost himselfe, but his brothers pottage (which is love, and mercy, and power) was given him to strengthen him to overcome the man of sinne in himselfe; yet he thought this pottage should not have taken away his birthright and destroyed his first creation, which he wept for, although it was too late, for it was for his further good which is hid from his eyes for a time, and whilst he is a hunting, for Jacob puts on Esaus rough garment or flesh (which is the law of sin which made the man of sin mad) and hee thought to destroy this Jacob, or this second creation which appeared in the man; but in the end when sinne is destroyed, they will be loving brothers, and one man of God, for this Jesus Christ (or seed of promise the destroyer of [Page 13]sin) will make all peace and quietnesse, for this holy God is in Christ reconci­ling the world to himselfe (in mortifying and cleansing this man, and burn­ning up all the chaffe of sin with unquenshable fire) that there might bee great love betwixt God and man againe, for this Jesus was three dayes and three nights in the man of sinne, and in the heart of the earth, and was carried into his wildernessed land, and was tempted of him, the manner whereof shall af­terwards be expressed; for he shewed Man all his filthinesse, and how wic­ked he was and regardlesse of God and goodnesse, and this was the first day in him, and the night of that day was the death and wrath of God that appeared in the Man, which did te [...]rifie and feare him, and was the wounds of consci­ence that told him what he deserved, and he threw downe himselfe at Gods mercy; and the second day or light God gave him true grace and sorrow for his sinnes, and the night of that day is that bloody fight in heaven betweene the Man of sinne and God, and that terrible agony and sweat of death was on the humanity; and the third day or reigne of Christ is that day that Christ shall reigne a thousand yeares in Man with death, which day is that power of pa­tience and long sufferance that lasts till the Man of sinne is rooted out, for a thousand yeares is but as one day with the Lord, and one day in this suffering and reigne of Christ is as a thousand years to the man; for he must reigne till all sinne is subdued, and the night of that day all hell is broke loose to torment the Man for a short time, but this Almighty power gives the Man a strong and victorious power that he fights with himselfe and overcomes himselfe and all his devillish crew, and so the wicked world is ended, and Man shall come into a happy condition: There are many that think that Christ will come and reigne a thousand yeares here on earth personally, but they will be deceived, for they look and judge of the Scripture after the outward appearance, which is not righteous judgement, for we are to looke on it with a spirituall eye, and then shall we see it as it is, for the looking on it as a history (and not as it is a sacred and holy mystery) makes so many false Religions; for the birth of Christ in this elementary world was after a extraordinary manner, and not af­ter the ordinary manner of men, for he was not as the seed of man, nor did the Virgin Mary feele any manner of paine in bringing him forth (as the wise and learned hold) nor doth the Scripture make mention of her paine as they doe of others, as Rebeckah Isaacs wife, and Rachel Jacobs wife, for the Di­vinity is a spirit, and the humanity is a spirit, and the Divinity and the huma­nity joyned together in conjunction as man and wife, is but one spirit, and spirits bring forth a spirit, and can doe no otherwise; for this Jesus Christ is a Spirit, and is the Spirit and life of God that is sowne in our hearts and spirits, which makes us cry, Abba Father, for he was and is a Spirit comming forth [Page 14]of God and man that were and is spirits, and that organicall body or figure that he seemed to be in (and to eat and drinke, and that he was like flesh and blood) was as three Angells that appeared to Abraham, which he did dresse a kid for, who seemed to be men, and did eat and drinke with them as they thought [...] so Christ seemed to be in that figure and flesh of the man, but he was a reall spirit, for with that body he walked on the sea, the which Peter could not doe with his heavy body, but did sinke; and Christ did hide himselfe ma­ny times and could not be found, for he did walke in visibly, and when they did leek him to destroy him they could not finde him till he pleased to give himself into their hands, and he could come with his body into any roome the doores being shut, as he did after the resurrection come to his Disciples, saying, Peace be unto you, and he did eat a broyled fish, and they knew him by eating and breaking of bread; and there is surely some secret mystery in that, for when hee walked like a gardener they knew him not, but by breaking of bread; and Thomas would not beleeve that it was the body that was crucified (because he could come through a chinke of the doore as he thought) till Christ shewed him the print of his nailes, after which, he said, he beleeved because hee saw those things; but Christ said to him, they were more blessed that beleeved and saw not, but beleeved and trusted in God without the death of Christ: for if we had beleeved and trusted in God, wee should not have fallen and sinned, but have been more blessed, for the whole had not had need of the Physitian: but we all have fallen, and need the death of Christ to make us whole againe, and we cannot beleeve till wee see the print of his death and nailes in our hearts and spirits, which he hath taken on him, and is now his humane nature; for his Godhead and humanity is in us, if Christ be in us, for he is whole Christ in us, God and man, nor can he be divided and be in part in us; and if he had a corporall body of clay (consisting of foure clements, made up of flesh and blood as ours is) it were impossible, and against reason that he could be in us; therefore looke into the Scripture with spirituall eyes, for that Christ that see­med to have a body to be nailed on a cosse was a spirit, and shewed to thee how he is nailed with thy sins to patience and long sufferance in thee which is death to him, for he grieveth and mourneth for thee; for we grieve the holy Spirit by whom we are sealed and made the sons of God, and we quench and put out the Spirit of God from us, and this is death or griefe and paine to God for us; for there is no death to any but grief and pain, and no life but joy and pleasure, and sweet content, for the soule is an eye, and is composed of joy and harmony, and desires to flye into harmony which is God; and sorrow and paine is a living death and dying life; nor know I any other life and death but these, though there is some other things that is called life, as [Page 15]stirring and motion and the leaving the body is called death, and in forsaking any thing, I am said to be dead to that, and that dead to me. The Sonne of God, Jesus Christ was and is a Spirit, God and man, which now doth live and walke amongst us, and we doe really kill and crucifie him every day to ourselves, and the flesh and bloud of Christ which he would have us eat and drinke, was not such flesh and bloud as ours is; but there were then some that followed Christ as foolish as we are now, that when Christ spoke these words they did leave him, for they thought he meant they should eat this sigure or or­gan that he seemed to be in when he was a Spirit. The flesh of Christ which he would have us eat is his bloud and passion, which is the death and mortifying of our sinfull flesh; which St. Paul saith, so long as he lived in he could not please God: so Christ would have us eat his flesh and drinke his bloud, and joyne our sinfull flesh to his flesh; so his death or flesh, doth destroy our death or sinfull flesh; and so that death of Christ doth save us, and reconcile us to God again. Now I know no other flesh of Christ but this flesh which is the new and living way, is the curtaine and vaile before the most holy place, and all that will be saved must enter through this vaile; and when this vaile or flesh or death hath done the worke he came for, hee must be taken out of the way, for no flesh and bloud that is death, can enter into the Kingdome of Heaven; therefore when we enter into the most holy place, the vaile or flesh of Christ is rent in twaine from the top to the bottome, and so the death and flesh of Christ is finished and ceaseth, and he is taken out of the way; for there is no mourning, nor wayling in the most holy place, for all teares are wiped from our eyes. Now he saith, that he (Christ after the flesh) must be taken out of the way, or else the comforter will not come, which is the life and ravishing joy of Christ: And Paul saith, though he knew Christ after the flesh: now hee knew him so no more, as I shall speake of all these things more at large in this booke. Now when Melchisedeck appeared on the earth hee was without father and mother, and he seemed to Abraham to be a man, a Priest and King, and blessed him when he came from the slaughter of the Kings, which are the seven deadly sinnes: This Melchisedeck is that Christ that was before Abra­ham; as it is said, Before Abraham was, I am; and this Christ that appeared in the end of time, is that Melchisedeck that was before Abraham, and that Elias that was carried up into Heaven in a fiery chariot with fiery horses, which was a Spirit and the power of God, though he seemed to be a man of flesh and bloud; for Elias is said to be the power of God in man, and I beleeve that all mankinde (when they have put off this lower elementary body that is dead clay without Spirit) shall be like Christ: Melchisedeck and Elias, which are spirits, and may assume any bodily likenesse as they were and did appeare in [Page 16]these lower elements: my reason is this, because Samuell assumed the like­nesse of his owne body, and came to the witch at Endor, and Moses and Elias appeared to Peter and Christ on the Mount; so I beleeve any one may appear to their friends as many have, for there have many appeared that have beene killed in secret to discover their murthers, and many of the Saints appeared when Christ was crucified: certainly it was not their lower elementary bo­dies of clay that appeared, but some aireall and spirituall body they assumed, which was the likenesse of their former and lower elementary bodies, and like unto Christs spirituall body that appeared like flesh and was not flesh but to our appearance, and that it might discover to us and tell us what we do in­ternally and in our intellectuall mau; and Christ called Lazarus his spirit, and made him appeare as if he had been in his former flesh and blood; sure these things must be so, or what did become of Lazarus, and where did hee recide before Christ opened Heaven gates; for it is said, that he is the first that riseth from the dead, and openeth heaven gates to all beleevers: we read that Elias raised a childe from death, and another when the Prophets dead body did touch his dead body, the dead body of the Prophet did raise the dead, so the dead did raise the dead, which is a miracle; therefore there is some greater and further consideration in it; for certainly they could not be dead, but this ele­mentary body seemed to be dead, which was dead before (never being alive) although it seemed to be alive whilst the spirit of man lived in it, as I have spo­ken more at large in this booke; therefore let us consider well how all these things can stand together with reason, or else wee shall make a confusion of the holy written word of God that is given to lead us into all truth; for there must be a reason given where Lazarus and all the Saints were that ap­peared, whether they did dye againe, or where they now be; for wee never read of any thing they did on earth since; for it seemes they have seen the last day before it comes to us, and before it came to Christ; as the childe that was raised by Elias, and the dead man raised by the dead Prophet, and Laza­rus that was raised by Christ, as also a maid, where did they recide with their corporeall body of clay and elements till Christ did open heaven gates [...] sure therefore the man must be a spirit, and hath assumed and taken this body out of the foure elements, and casting it off againe as a borrowed garment, and may assume a more rarified and aircall body to appeare in, as Christ, Mel­chisedeck, Samuell and Moses, for nothing is impossible; only that may ap­peare to our darke eyes to be flesh which is not, as the three Angells to Abra­ham and to Lot; for we beleeve appearances to be that which they are not in deed and in truth (which we finde by wofull experience) the which makes such contention, and cutting of throats about Religion; the cause of this [Page 17]distraction is that we doe not see things with a righteous eye.

I desire all friends and readers, who doe read this booke, and all to whose hands it shall come, that you will looke into it rightly, and not construe it amisse, but as it is really intended for the good of all; and where I speak of the death of God, and Christ in man, I doe not meane that the Almighty and po­werfull Godhead can dye or be lost, but as he is dead and lost to the man that despises truth and treads it under foot; and so I meane that God is dead and lost, and the truth lyeth in the streets of his heart (which is God, who is that truth) and the two witnesses lye dead in the street of his heart unregar­ded (which is mercy and righteous judgement and is God) which we should have shewed forth to all the world, even mercy, and righteous judgement, but we have hid these witnesses. So I desire that the most holy and righteous God may be your guide and director to lead you into all truth.

NOw what a spirit is, is to be considered; for all things appea­ring to the man he gave them severall names according to their natures, and as they appeared unto him; for in Gen. it is said, that Adam the man, gave every thing and creature his name according as his nature was to the man, and it was so, and could bee no otherwayes; for the genius and wisdome of God in man gave these severall names by his inspirations and lights which hee discovered to the man how the natures and qualities of things were, and they are really so, for they be named by the Spirit of God in man: but there are many cavellers that dispute about it, and would destroy all order, and bring all into confusion; for they say they cannot tell what a spirit is, nor what man or beast is, nor what fire, water, earth or aire is; yet they themselves see all these severall things, and their severall natures and operations in them and to them; so that if these things had no name they must of necessity give them some name, or else all the world would be dumbe, and have no discourse; for they could not discourse of these severall things (and their natures) unlesse they had names to call them by that the one might understand the other, and know what subject they speak of, and what each would have another to do; but these mad people love to confound themselves.

A spirit is that internall fire, life and motion of all things, as the spirit or fire, and life of herbes, and trees, which is named the negative spirit that ma­nifesteth it selfe to the world and all other spirits. Now there is another spirit or sure that groweth and bloweth it selfe up into one organ, and feeleth any thing that toucheth it, and its name is the sensitative spirit. There is another [Page 22]spirit, eye, light or fire, that groweth and bloweth it selfe up into an organ, whose name is called the rationall spirit or eye of capability and judgement, which discerneth all things in their order and place, and this is the man.

And there is another spirit, eye, light or fire, that is a motion joyned to the man, that discovers the reall truth of all things to him for his good or hurt, and his name is called the spirit of wisdome or God, and this is the light or right eye to the man, that foreseeth all things for his good, if he will regard his in­structions.

And there is another spirit, eye, light or fire, that is a motion that moves to the man that he feeleth in his intellectuall, which is the spirit and eye of dark­nesse that looketh into all things for the mans harme, the which if hee looke through leads him into all folly and blindnesse, and worketh him into all mis­chiefe; and this spirit is the destruction of the man, and bringeth him to all misery and calamity; and this spirits name is called the Devill, the worker of mischiefe; for these two spirits move to the man in his intellectu­all, and he feedeth, seeth and heareth them internally, and discourseth with them as two men discourse and talke one with another, and these spirits are instrumentall to the man to perswade him to what he shall doe, for he can do nothing but by these instruments, the one for his good, the other for his harm, and he tasting of both he knowes the difference, and how opposite the onces to the other, and how they change him and make him good or evill; for if any man doth good by the good instrument, hee that is ruled by the evill instru­ment contradicts the good works of the good, and the good instrument con­tradicts the man that is ruled by the evill instrument: but there bee some that say, the evill is good, and the good evill, which cannot be so; for the good is good still to the man, and is one and the same for ever, and the evill is evill still to the man, and is one and the same for ever; for if thou dost evill to any man that evill is evill to thy selfe, and if that man that thou doest evill to, should retort the like backe on thy self, then thou wouldst quickly be sensible that it is evill, and not call that evill good (falling upon thy selfe) which fal­ling upon another thou didst, call good: for if thou shouldst vassallize any man, abuse or starve him, or cut off his limbs, and doe him all the harme thou couldst, what good is this to thee? surely thy conscience tells thee, it is evill and not good to thee; for thou dost not like to have those things done to thy selfe, for retorting and falling backe upon thy selfe thou findest it evill: So thou art evill and wicked. O man, whosonver thou art that dost those things, and tea­chest another so to doe, for thou teachest him lies, that the evill is good, and the good evill, and thy owne conscience condemnes thee in doing the evill, [Page 23]and so doth the conscience of the others whom thou teachest so to doe, also defnding him with thy lies to deceive himselfe with, for thou oughtest not to doe any thing to any man that thou dost not like to be done to thee, nor must thou doe that which thou wouldest not have done backe againe; for thou seest it is evill, say what thou wilt, to deceive thy selfe, for thou dost cosen thy selfe with these vaine delusions. Surely those that are of the minde that one spirit acts in all, would (if it were not for seare of the laws of men) fall a cut­ting one anothers throats, and do [...] all mischiefe being devills one to the other in their passion, for they will admit of no law of goodnesse for their restraint. If but one man had this evill power to execute his will upon all the world for pleasure then might it be thought to be good; but you see in all men a desige to have their will, therefore thou must expect and it is just and fight according to thy desert, that thou shouldest be killed for killing, and for stealing to re­store double, or be his servant to worke it out, and make double satisfaction for his losse and troubling him, for this is the law of sin, and death for sin, and this is in man and can be no other wife, for the evill that hee doth to another man riseth up in judgement against him, by the other whom he bath wronged to retort the like backe upon him, for this law of sin in the man saith, an eye for an eye, tooth for tooth, arme for arme, &c. and so with the froward to be froward, and evill for evill, saith the law of sinne in man, which is just to re­ward every man according to his owne evill workes: but thou caust not abide this law of sinne, for thou wouldst doe a great deale of mischiefe and injury to other men, and take pleasure in it, but that this pleasure brings this sting of death and paine backe againe to thee, which thou canst not abide, so this thy God or pleasure perisheth with the using, and change thy pleasure into pain by falling backe upon thee. But thou wilt say, that if thou murtherest a man in secret (so that none be private thereto but thy selfe) how can that murther be discovered, or the law of sin be executed upon thee? I answer, that the law of sin is in thy self, and riseth up in judgement against thee in condemning and wounding thy conscience, so that thou art weary of thy life (and in the and discovers thy selfe) never being at quiet till the law of sinne be executed upon thee; for we see few murthers that are long concealed: another questi­on may be demanded, if this law of sinne (which seemeth to be good or God, and is executed upon thee) is not murther and cruelty likewise: I answer it is, and is thy God and ruler (in thy off-fallen estate) that is a furious God and a consuming fire, who will consume thee in his wrath and in his sore displeasure, forthy sinnes have raised up this furious God that holdeth thee in with a rough bit and bridle, whilst thou art a wilde asse colt that striveth to overthrow thy rider, and this cruell God shall be thy Lord, King and husband, and will tor­ment [Page 24]thee, so long as thou livest in thy sinnes, and in thy heathenish nature, for thy sinnes have sold thee into his hands; as it is said in the Thessalonians, that thou hast thrust the holy God out of his roome or Temple, and wouldst not receive the love of the truth, that is the reall good or God, and is true life and joy to the man, who is one and the same for ever, and is no change to the man, as the delusive God is, for he seemeth to be good, or is not the God, nor reall good to the man for ever, as the most holy God is: for if we breake the Law or Commandements of this angry God, he is very cruell and jealous, and will make us drinke the cursed and bitter waters that shall make our belly swell, and our thigh to rot if we breake his Commandement, commit adultery or Idolatry against him, for hee it is that worketh this evill of punishment in our City, and is that cruell thundering voice that terrifieth us and makes our hearts to tremble: we would faine be at quiet with our sinnes, and delight our selves with our wicked abominations; but this God doth so trouble us, that we cannot injoy our wicked selves, hee doth so torment us, and shall doe so still till we are weary of our selves and sinnes, and desire to be freed from all, or to seek some way to please this furious God which wee by our sinnes have raised up; for this law is added because of the transgressions, and doth conti­nue till sinne endeth in us; but wee are not able of our selves alone to satisfie this severe God that is the strong delusion and consuming fire (and is not the reall God or good to us, which we shall find in the second world or creation) which now sitteth in the Temple of God as God, and hath thrust the reall holy God out of his roome, and is the just God that roigneth in the man of sinne, being froward with the froward, rendering evill for evill, and is righteous with the righteous; for he is just in rewarding every one according to his workes; and although the man is so wicked that he cannot abide this judge, yet he shall be with this seeming God or good for ever, if he doe not hate and forsake himselfe, and send for the mourning woman, and call and proclaime a fast, and rent his heart and not his garments, which is an acceptable day to him, and seeke for the innocent Lamb to make satisfaction to this angry God, that he may overcome him with his innocent life; for when this innocent Lambe is borne in thee, he doth strive and wrestle with this severe God for thee, and doth overcome his wrath and evill with his goodnesse; and if any do wrong him he doth not revenge, but doth good for evill, and so overcommeth this revenging God: he doth no wrong to offend this God, and when he hath wrong done him he will not become the evill God, or judge, to revenge evill, for evill: thus and in this manner doth he take away the linnes of the world and the law or punisher of sinne, and in taking away the cause, the effect cea­soth: but whilst the crucifying the man of sinne is a doing. it makes the hu­manity [Page 25]in a great agony and bloudy sweat in overcomming the sinne and the wrathfull judge; and this is that most innocent Lambe which worketh all in all in us, and for us, and he is that still and soft voice that lyeth in thy inmost selfe (and in the cave of thy earth) till thou seek, cry and call for him to save thee; therefore looke to it in time, and whilst time doth last. What time is, and concerning man, I shall speake more at large hereafter in this book. The spirit of man, and the two instrumentall spirits, is to bee seene and felt in the man and by the man, and is discerned by their severall natures, the good instru­ment is justice with which the just doth justly; and prudence, with which the prudent doth use prudence; and fortitude, with which the strong doth valiant­ly, the good in heart; and temperance, with which the temperate walketh temperately; and faith, with which one beleeveth that to be true that they doe not understand, if they see reason for it; and hope, with which one ho­peth and confideth in that that is good; and charity, with which (having proper goods) he maketh them common to the good of another that needeth them; and patience, with which the patient overcommeth, and is not over­come; and piety, with which the pious condoleth the miseries of another that is in misery: so if thou art guided by these good vertues thou needst not be afraid of the law ofsin, nor any thing else, for thy conscience justifieth thee that thou dost what thou wouldest have done to thee, and if any one is angry with thee for thy charity that thou useth to another, this evill flyeth in his own face and doth thee no hurt, for he condemneth the good hee would have done to him if he stood in need, and so he is a devill to himselfe for condemning the good that thou dost, for all evill flyeth in the faces of them that use it, so that none is so great an enemy to a man as himself: therefore thou art happy, ô man, whosoever thou art, that is guided by the good spirit, for he is all good to thee, and the other is all evill: let it seem never so good to thee, yet thou shalt finde it so in the end, for his qualities are these: the first is avarice, with which the rich is poore and a begger, because he knoweth not how to use his riches: and gluttony, with which the glutton is imprisoned, and is never free to injoy himselfe in regard of his slavery to it: and leachery, with which the man useth the powers of his body unlawfully to his destruction: and pride, with which the proud man endeavours to be above all others, which is a lie and deceiveth him: and sloth or negligence, with which the idle grieves at the good of ano­ther man, and rejoyceth at their harme: and envy, with which the envious desires unjustly the goods of another, which covetousnesse is Idolatry: and wrath or anger, with which the angry man bindes his owne liberty, so that he is not free but is a slave to wrath or passion: and lying or a lie, with which the liar speaks against the truth, doing great mischiefe in the world: [Page 26]and unconstancie, with which the man is manifestly changeable, so that no good man dare trust him: so thou mayest plainly see and discerne if thou wilt (for thy owne conscience tells thee) which is the best of these two, thinke what thou wilt to deceive thy selfe, for none shall suffer for it but thy self. This good instrument is the ten stringed instrument or harpe of David, on which he praised the Lord, and chased a way the envious evill spirit of Saul; and thy soule being an eye or light that is composed of harmony and joy, this instru­ment (which is the most holy life) is given thee to sound sweet harmony to thy harmonious soule; for if thou sound on the evill instrument of ten strings, which instrument is that which was founded in Daniel before the Image, and made him be cast into the Lions den, it raised up the most horrible sound of thunder, lightning, and violent fire; so that if thy brutiall passions touch the mount where this sound comes forth, he shall be shot through with a dart, for thy touching of this evill ten stringed instrument, hath raised up the most furi­ous God that is a consuming fire, who turnes thy joyes into sorrow and pain, so that thy life is now a living death, and a dying life, which thou shalt finde by wofull experience; for thou thinkest thou knowest not what of thy selfe, that thou art something, and that thou camest from nothing, then by conse­quence thou art nothing, and to nothing must returne; so that thou art like a mad man that can give no reason of thy selfe from whence thou camest, and whither thou goest, and so doest what thou list and what seemeth best in thy owne eyes, although it bee never so much hurt to another man. O dost not thou thinke that he that is the cause of thy appearance will take account of thy life, and of thy stewardship, and what thou hast done here, whether good or bad, thy owne conscience tells thee he will, therefore doe not deceive thy selfe with thy fallacies and deceits? Thou art that one spirit that is or may be acted in all, and thy spirit or eye is the great Abyss of eternity, and thy eye doth or may looke in or through all eyes or worlds, whether good or evill, and if thou be joyned or looke through the evill eye, and art guided by that evill instrument, thou art most unhappy, and all that evill that is said before falleth upon thee, and thou shalt or mayest for ever be with that evill eye or world, unlesse thou desire with all thy heart, soule and minde, to be changed and delivered out of this evill and wicked world; for it is thy will that hath damned thee by the evill instrument, and thy will saves thee by the good in­strument, for thou art passive, and mayest be carried by thy will to give thy selfe to what thou pleasest, to bee carried or ruled by the good or by the evill, and thou canst not be joyned to both at once; therefore thou must be dead to the evill, and the evill to thee, before thou canst be joyned to the good to bee moved thereby. Now when thou art acted by the evill instrument, thou cal­lest [Page 27]evill good, and good evill; so that when thou thinkest it good, and takest pleasure in doing wrong or mischiefe to another, thou takest pleasure in a lie, and thinkest that evill to be good, because thou art not sensible, nor feelest the truth of the thing acted, but the fallacie, lie and deceit which deceiveth all mankinde; therefore all things are not to man as hee imagineth, for many imagine themselves to be better then other men, as Kings, Lords, and all o­thers who thinke themselves great, taking pleasure in the same, although in­deed and truth there is no such matter, for all men are alike and made of one mould; so that it may evidently appeare that they who doth thinke so, take pleasure in a lie, and this seemeth to them to be good: this lie transformeth himselfe into an Angell of light to be like the reall God or good, when indeed and truth, it is but a delusion, and a joy or pleasure which perisheth with the using; for the reall God or good is one and the same for ever, and no man or thing can take away that joy, for it continueth still the same, being no change; but thou takest pleasure in that which is nothing to thee, and grievest at that which is nothing to thee, so thy griefe and joy is lies; for when thou thinkest that to be to thee which is not reall indeed and in truth, thou deceivest thy owne soule, and none shall suffer for it but thy owne selfe: when thou a bu­sest any man the action falleth upon him and he it is that feeleth it, and if the like action falleth upon thee thou feelest it in the same manner; for all actions of one kinde falleth alike to all that are passive or suffers, therefore deceive not thy selfe for thou that actest is one and he that suffers is another; and thou that acteth is not the other that suffereth; for that which is felt by the one is nothing to the other that feeleth not, for the passive and active are two, therefore doe not thou deceive thy selfe and take pleasure in that which is paine to another, for in doing so thou joyest, whereas thou wouldest grieve if it did fall upon thy selfe; and if harme fall to any man we should participate of his griefe as if it did befall us, and not rejoyce at anothers harme, for this is the delusion of the Devill to rejoyce where is no cause of joy, but is his own imagined joy, which is a lie, and perisheth with the using; and to grieve where is no cause of griefe, is a delusion and lie to torment our selves withall, as some doe torment themselves that they have not so much means and riches as they would have, and such honour and estimation as they would have, or to be so well or better thought of then others; and they grieve that they cannot doe as much mischiefe as they intended to doe, and they grieve when any shews mercy or charity to another whom they hate, although they see that o­ther stand in need of his charity, and doth say that this action of charity is a Devill to that man that hated him, and God to him that received it, so making an action to be God or the Devill; canst not thou discerne the fallacie and the [Page 28]lie here? is this charity any thing to thee seeing thou didst not receive it? if it had been to thee, and thou hadst received the same, it had beene as good to thee as to him, for all things fall alike to all as was said before: therefore thou rejoycest at thou knowest not what till thou feelest the same, and seest where the fallacie lyes: wherefore when thou discernest the fallacie, thou mayest see that thou oughtest to be glad when any good commeth to another as if it had come to thy selfe; for nature tells us, that we should make every mans case our owne: and the Scripture speaketh (without exception) saying, Rejoyce with them that rejoyce, and receive good, and grieve with them that grieve or receive hurt or harme; but to grieve at another mans joy or good, is the Devill that grieveth where no cause of griefe is; for in grieving at the other mans joy hee imagineth a lie (which is not the truth of that joy in the other man) so tormenting himselfe with that which is not, for if that joy of the other were in thee it could not be griefe, but thou deludest thy selfe when thou ma­kest anothers griefe thy joy, or his joy thy griefe, and so thy faith or beleefe is that that is not, but is a lie, for joy is not griefe, nor griefe joy; but thou dost deceive thy selfe in saying anothers griefe is thy joy, or his joy thy griefe, for anothers joy or griefe can be nothing to thee in reallity, but by participation, and so it is thy joy or griefe, and no otherwayes, so that by participation, we rejoyce with them that rejoyce, and grieve with them that grieve, and when wee doe the contrary (as to grieve at anothers joy, or joy at his griefe) it is a delusion of the Devill that maketh joy seem griefe, and griefe seem joy, by his deceitfull fallacies; and when thou shalt looke with a righteous and just eye, then thou shalt see all these fallacies and deceits, wherein thou hast so willingly cose [...]ed thy selfe to lose thy owne soule: but thou thinkest thou canst not lose it, for thou thinkest thou art something, and nothing, and it is no matter let every thing run which way it will, all things will be well at last, but thou art as greatly mistaken in this, as thou art in the rest, as thou shalt find by wofull experience when it falls upon thee, and it is as true as thou art, and that there is a God, that thou must answer for all that thou hast done whether good or evill, to him that is the cause of thy appearance, think what thou wilt to deceive thy selfe. So thou thinkest also that all things else is something and nothing, when something is something still, for there is no such thing as nothing, neither is there any demonstration or words to expresse the same, therefore in saying thou knowest nothing, it is true so farre and in this manner, thou canst not possibly know that that is not, but canst know some­thing, and possibly all things if thou hast to doe with all or some; for that that thou usest and hast to doe with all thou knowest its qualities, for all things hath quallities and quantities, and are to be knowne by the same; and as their qual­lities [Page 29]be, so are they called and named, for every thing hath its severall quallity and so a severall name, and thy owne eyes sees these severall things and their quallities, for thou seest the quallity of fire that it will consume or burne any thing that is put in it, and some things it will melt, and harden others; so thou seest really what fire is by these quallities, and it is verily so and very true, and is no other thing then it shews it selfe to be: and the quallity of water is to moysten and cleanse, or to quench thirst or fires, and many other things that I need not expresse, which is really so as it manifesteth it selfe to all the world, and can be no other thing then as it is manifested: And the aires quallity is manifested by many severall operations, for it makes the fire burne and set forth his quallity, and it deadneth and taketh away the life of many thing, and reviveth and refresheth many things that walke in it, and many other opera­tions of life and death it hath which I cannot expresse: And the earth hath divers setting forth of its quallities, as to make all seeds set forth themselves in their shapes and formes, making them appeare to all the world: and all these seeds and herbes have their severall quallities and setting forthof them­selves, which those who study nature can set forth and shew the reall truth of by their effects; for the least herbe, tree or mettall, or any other living creature hath his severall quallities, as the Galenist, Herbalist, or those who study mineralls finde out; and those Doctors and Physitians see the severall qualli­ties of things with the antipathies and simpathies of their severall quallities, and it is really so and they be the very same thing as they set themselves forth to be, for their nature is really declared by these their quallities.

Now every man and woman hath severall quallities, and is proper selfe. and their quallities are either antipathies or simpathies one with another, for the natures of some are so opposite, and there is such antipathy that they can­not agree nor abide to live one with the other, but in continuall opposition; and there are others whose natures and quallities doe sympathize, and those doe agree and live most happily together in sweet society: now every mans nature is as his complexion is, and is composed of the spirituall elements of earth, water, aire, and fire, which is the intellectuall and internall man: I doe not meane the earth, water, aire, and fire that is materiall (and those lower elements which is a dead matter) but the intellectuall, internall and spirituall elements which are all spirit and life; for some men and women are compoun­ded most of the spirituall element of fire, and they are more full of fury and wrath; and another is more compounded of aire, and hee is more amorous, sweet and pleasantly disposed, and given more to the act of generation then any other, for his minde is full of spirits that would appeare by him; for the spirits of men and women doe more animate the aire all man then any other [Page 30]to make them appeare in this lower elementary world; the reason is, because he is most flexible, and more easie to be moved by their instigation to bring them forth: and the flegmaticke man that is more compounded of the spiritu­all waters is more dull, and his capacity cannot very soone reach or conceive any thing, but when he receives he will hardly lose it againe, whether good or bad, therefore it is good for him to have his mind set upon the best object: and the man that is more compounded of the spirituall earth, he is of the most deep reaching minde of all, for he hath all the elements more powerfully con­tracted together in him, and he containes more of them then all the rest, being more capatious; and if his minde be set upon the evill object the Devill, hee is the most wicked that is upon the earth, and the Devill can worke more mis­chiefe by him then by all the rest, for his capatious minde can sooner con­ceive mischiefe (when it is shewed him) then all the rest besides, and the De­vill by him doth most prodigious and horrid cruelties, although hee doth e­nough and too much by all; for this wicked spirit through and by them all, sets Kingdomes together by the eares, making one to kill another, perswading them to take pleasure in doing such mischiefe, but it is a mad pleasure and wickednesse so to doe, and so it will be found in the end, let them thinke as well as they will of it for the present: sometimes they set Countries on fire, consuming all their victualls and corne, and this they take pleasure in, but if rightly considered it is miserable paine and madnesse, for they themselves come afterward to suffer such misery and want for their wastefull spoyling and consuming of things, that they starve and dye for hunger, and are forced many times to eat one another, as may be seen and heard of where these pra­ctises are. If this be God or good that acteth those things, and tells me that it is pleasure, I will abandon such a god as the most abominable and hatefull thing that is, and desire to have nothing to doe with such and abominable and wicked god that blindes my eye, and makes me thinke good to be evill, and evill good; for the Scripture faith, Woe to him that calleth evill good, and good evill, and light darknesse, and darknesse light; for wee are all ready to mistake, but our nature and quallities cannot be altered, for we use our quallities and natures upon what object we light on, whether good or evill: For the cholericke man, whieh is most composed of fire, if he light upon the evill in­strument, he hath so many severall temptations to wrath and anger, that his soule or himselfe is never at quiet for one disturbance or other, and many times in his wrath the Devill tempts him to kill a man, and he is in continuall vexations; so that he is in a living death and dying life, although he see it not, but loves this living death more then the everlasting life which hath no bit­ternesse therein, but is full of all sweet content, and all the workes that this [Page 31]life or spirit animates thee to doe, breeds thee no sting, discontent or any thing to be repented off; but this evill instrument animates thee unto horrid and cru­ell things full of mischiefe, which cruelties riseth up in thy conscience and fly­eth in thy face, making thee condemne thy selfe, saying, what a wicked man and beastlike wretched creature am I that doth such wicked actions, I would not have such things done to me, why would I doe thus to another? sure there shall some heavy judgement fall upon mee, and I shall have the same measure met to me againe, and so still the law of sinne flyeth in the wicked mans face, and is called the law of God or the wrath of God, that moveth man to repent for the wickednesse he hath committed, and to condemne and arraigne himself at this barre of Gods judgement within himselfe, which shews him all his sins and wicked life, and so hee kills and crucifies himselfe with these horrible wounds of conscience in him, and is never at quiet, nor never shall till the cause is taken out of the way, which cause is the Devill and sinne, and there must a greater power take away this death with another death (that is by the death of Christ being a death unto Devill and sinne) which death is called the death of Christ in us, that sighteth against our sinnes and all our lusts and affections, and crucifieth all our sin and sinfull life, so that there is no more sin, death and devill in us; for it is this death of Christ that destroyes the death for sin, and the cause of sin, which death of sin was done by the law for sin exe­cuted upon sinne so taking away the cause and the effect, which cause was the devill and sin, and the effect was the law of sinne; so that when the cause is taken away, of necessity the effect must cease: and this death or mortality of Christ, shall raise us up into immortality; so that we may say, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? for the strength of our sins was the law of sinne, which law or wounds of conscience was our grave wherein we were dead and buried: so this death of Christ hath freed us from all deaths and mortallities, and his death and mortallity will bring us into the true sweet and everlasting life, which I desire all soules may come into and injoy. Now he whose spirit is most composed of spirituall fire (as was said before) when he was ruled by the evill instrument doing such wrathfull and cruell things, when he is turned to God and goodnesse, his quallity and nature of fire is tur­ned into burning zeale, so that he is on fire of love to doe all goodnesse, and is never well but when he can doe some deeds of charity and love to others; so that his minde is swallowed up in God, and this his nature and quallity of fire is turned to all God or goodnesse, for the Divine Nature is wholly in­corporated in him; the which I desire all fiery and choloricke men may attain unto.

As for the spirituall ayreall or sanguine man, if he sets his nature or quallity [Page 32]upon the evill instrument, hee is very lascivious and given to leachery, gluttony, and drunkennesse, and to all vaine pleasure which doth besot the minde, for nothing doth besot the minde so much as leachery and drunken­nesse, and all these his follies doe flye in his face, calling him foole and sot, and it doth so besot them to all good, that it makes them careles of wife, chil­dren, and all other friends, and makes them apt only to devise a thousand plots and mischiefes to maintaine their beastly, brutiall and sensuall life, so that they spend all their owne estates and other mens, and in the end goe a begging or live upon others, and they defile and spoyle their owne bodies with the pox and other diseases, so spoyling both body and minde with their sensuall living, for they are in an extasio below themselves, and ravished with a brutiall and sensuall life; and this their evill instrument (the Devill or unreasonablenesse) hath brought them to: and when they have lost their organicall man, then commeth in their greater griefe or hell, because they cannot execute their beastly and sensuall life; so they are tormented in that they cannot doe as they formerly did when they had a body here, for their minoe is upon nothing else but on their beastly, brutiall and sensuall life, which perisheth with the using, leaving them in great discontents; and the Devill sets alwaies this joy and pleasure before their eyes, and the want of their bodies to execute their for­mer fooleries, which want torments them to the death, so that they are in a living death, and dying life, and the law of sinne still rising out of their consci­ence condemneth them for what they have done, and for what they desire, and so they are with death and hell, except they could returne: but the Scrip­ture speaketh of time, and of a day, and whilst time doth last; and he saith, there is an appointed time, and after that time there is no time more, for in that time the death of Christ should have taken away death and the cause of death, which is the Devill and sinne, who hath brought them into this miserable con­dition under the law of sinne and condemnation which is the second death: for he saith, in dying thou shalt dye the death; so then all men of all quallities and complexions shall be in this condition for ever, except they bee amended by the death of Christ, for he is that innocent Lambe which taketh away the sinnes of the world, and so maketh amends for all.

Now when this ayreall or sanguine man returneth, and is moved by the good instrument which is God, and doth wholly follow him, then doth God ravish his minde with his sweet contents and ravishing joyes, so that his soule is taken off from all things below, and is never at quiet but in this sweet con­templation: for he sings in minde, rejoycing in the spirit, so that his soule is wrapt up in God and goodnesse, and hee sheweth forth to all the world all love and goodnesse, so that happy is that man that can injoy his company: I [Page 33]doe earnestly wish that all ayreall or languine men or women, may set their minde upon the holy God that they may injoy this good, for their minde in this estate, is carried up in such raptures in the holy God, that they live here below in this world as if they lived not.

As for the phlegmaticke or spirituall watry man, which hath a dull and grosse capacitie if he suffer his minde to be moved by the evill instrument, hee is so strongly set on him that he will very difficultly leave him; and he ma­keth him live so lazily that he is good for nothing, and setteth his minde on all lasciviousnesse, on evill surmisings and suspitions, constrning all things in the worst sense, so that he is never at quiet for one suspition or another, being in continuall mistrust of every one, because his capacity is shallow, and the De­vill hath blinded his eyes with these fallacies, so that he thinketh every one to be his enemy; and he doth a great deale of mischiefe in these his evill suspiti­ons thinking to begin with others first, and in his blindnesse of minde doth undoe himselfe and others, and then riseth up the law of sinne in his minde tormenting him, accusing him of what mischiefe he hath done to others with­out any other cause, save only his owne wrong apprehensions, and so this law of sinne condemnes and wounds him to the death, till the death of Christ takes away this death, and the cause of this death, which is the devillish delusions, and the evill surmisings which makes him do all this mischiefe to others with­out a cause: And if this spirituall watry or phlegmatick man forsake the evill instrument with all his soule and minde, and returne to the holy God, or good instrument with his whole strength and minde to bee joyned to and ruled thereby, then all his thoughts are set upon goodnesse, and then doth hee con­struct all things in the best sense which is done to him, and he seeth all things that fall crosse in this world, to be good for him, to wean and draw his love from earthly things which perish with the using, and his minde is wholly swallowed up in God and goodnesse, and all his thoughts and contemplati­ons are upon God, and hee she weth forth nothing in all his life but God and goodnesse to the whole world, and to the sonnes of men, for his life is swal­lowed up in the most holy Godhead; if all the phlegmatick men and women were come to this estate, then were they happy, but till then most unhappy.

And for the spirituall earthly or melancholly man, if hee joyne himselfe to the evill instrument the Devill to be ruled thereby, he is wisest of all in doing mischiefe, for he hatha vast capacity and can receive all suggestions, and (as was said formerly) by him is acted the greatest cruelties, and therefore hee hath the greater wounds of conscience; for the law of sinne raiseth up all his cruell deeds against him, so that his soule is heavily vexed unto the death, and he hath such feare and dread in him, that he wisheth that he had never been, [Page 34]for he hath such fearfull and melancholy thoughts that every houre he feareth to be torne in peeces, and this is in him till the death of Christ takes away the cause, and then this wounding law of sin will cease: but many love their sins too well to part with them, to let Christ take them away, and so they live and dye with them, so that the Devill and they are together for ever and for ever in his world which is without end; for the beginning of his world is the ending with the man, for the beginning and ending is with the man one and the same for ever; for as he was at first to him, so hee is the last and the same for ever, for he changeth not but continueth still evill: therefore, O man, looke to it in time, and whilst time doth last, for after one time there is no time more, and looke to it before the decree (where of the Prophet speaketh) come forth, for after that decree is past, there is no hope; therefore looke to it whilst it is called to day, and whilst this day doth last in thee, which day is Jesus Christ that commeth to help and save thee; but if thou dost not regard this day or Je­sus Christ, then the decree commeth forth to thee, which is the eternall black night of death and darknesse, which darknesse or night, is the depriving thee of Gods grace and comfort, for thou regardest it not when it was offered to thee, and so in despising it thou shalt bee for ever without it, thinke as much as thou wilt to the contrary; for as sure as there is a God, and as thou livest, this will come to passe upon thee if thou dost not looke to it be­fore all these things come to passe in thee: so if this melancholy and earthly man forsake the Devill and evill one, and turne to God and goodnesse, to bee joyned to and guided by him, he conceiveth more of the secret mysteries of God then all the rest, for hee findeth out all the deepest mysteries, and all things are opened unto him; for as he hath suffered more, so more is revealed to him, and so God and he are joyned for ever in all love, and he is in everla­sting joy and comfort in God for ever and for ever. I wish that all spirituall earthly and melancholy men and women may bee joyned to this everlasting joy and comfort.

Where as I have spoken of the delusive God in this Chapter, I desire I may not be mistaken, for the Scripture speaketh of two Gods, the most holy God, and the wicked God of this world that blindeth the eyes of mankinde; one is the reall good, and the other is the reall evill. And the Scripture maketh mention of two Sathans, Devills or evills; and of two guiles or two delusions; the one Sathan, guile, evill or delusion, is for the good of the man; and the other Sathan, guile or delusion is for his utter destruction; for the incestuous person was delivered to the good Sathan or evill, for the destruction of his sin full flesh, that his spirit or soule might be saved in the day of the Lord; and St. Paul tooke his disciples with a good guile, and made them grieve and [Page 35]mourne, deceiving them by that godly sorrow for their good. And in the Thessa. it is said, that God did send them strong delusions that they should be­leeve a lie, because they would not receive the love of the truth. Now all the delusions that God sends to the man is for his good, and the delusion is, that he worketh such a beliefe and perswasion in the mans heart for the sinnes cause, that he seemeth to the man to bee nothing else to him but wrath, fury, and destruction; and thus hee terrifieth man to make him forsake sinne for his good, and to make him returne from his evill life: for whatsoever God doth too or for the man, it is for his reall good, whatsoever the man thinketh to the contrary; and it is just so, as if a father should correct his childe for his good and future profit, although for the present it seem contrary to him; even so is man deluded by Gods fatherly discipline and law, till sinne cease in him, and then this rod, discipline or delusion (which kept him in a we or fear to offend God) shall be taken away; that is to say, when sinne wholly ceaseth in him, and when he ceaseth to offend God his Father any more: and this is the evill which is spoken of by the Prophet saying, Is there any evill in the city, and I the Lord have not done it? that is the evill of punishment. And that lying spirit spoken of in the Kings (that the Lord did send to be a deluder in the mouth of the false Prophess) was sent for a punishment to them, because they would not believe the truth; and this is done to reclaime the man, and to let him see his errors, and that he may returne home againe to the reall truth: And againe it is said, hee created the destroyer to destroy, and hath sent forth the evill Angells with flaming fire, rendring vengeance to those that will not know God. And it is said in the Psalmes by Davld, and in Job, That the ar­rows of the Almighty stucke fast in him, all which evills, wraths, furies, or delusions, is the law of sinne which was added because of the mans transgres­sion, and they shall continue with him (as I have formerly said) till sin cease in him: but God in himselfe is none of all these, for he is a most pure and ho­ly Spirit, and is subject to no passions, but is a reall essence full of goodnesse, neither is there any thing can change or disturbe him: but the evill one trans­formeth himselfe into an Angell of light, to delude and deceive the man with his seeming goodnesse for his hurt, losse and damnation: So the most holy God, by his ministering spirits assumes an Angell of darknesse, or taketh upon him the body of sinne to destroy sinne; and in the Scripture the Divinity is sometimes said to be Sathan in the destroying of sinne, being evill, with the evill, and he is said to be Lucifer the sonne of the morning, or that morning starre that is fallen in our hearts, for hee could fall no where else, and it must be hee that is that day or morning starre that shall arise in our hearts againe: so wee must looke into the Scripture with a righteous eye, and consider it [Page 36]rightly in its order and place, how all things hang and depend one upon ano­ther, or else we shall lose our selves, and confound the Scriptures, or forsake and neglost them as many doe, because they see many seeming contradictions not having the spirit of unity to reconcile or unite them together; for it speaketh sometimes, and in some cases that man is passive, and God active, and that God is passive in some case, and man the active; and in some case it is said that the Divinity suffers for sinne and doth all in all, and sometimes it is understood that the humanity suffers for sinne; therefore if wee have not the spirit of the most holy Godhead, we cannot finde out the intricacies and secret mysteries of the spirit and minde of the holy written word, and how all things stand in their orders and places: for some things seeme strange, as that God which is all goodnes should destroy so many for Davids numbring the peoples and in one place of the Scripture it is said, that God moved him to number the people, and in another place it is said, that Sathan moved him to number them; and in the fifteenth of Jeremy it is said, that he would destroy so many with severall deaths for the sinnes of Manasses: so that the Prophet Jer. was trou­bled and said, that the Lord seemed to him to be a liar, because hee thought these things seemed strange to him to come forth of goodnesse; but all these things are secret mysteries bidden from all sinfull flesh and bloud, and none shall see them aright but those which have ceased from sinne; for God and man have been for ever together, and they both have appeared in time to each other, and in this time there hath beene a partition wall let in by the man which hath parted their union of love, so that the man seemeth to fight against God and goodnesse, and God fighteth against man and his evilnesse, and nothing can be discerned rightly by the man till the partition wall of sin be pulled downe; so in the end of time that holy Jesus the Sonne of God pulleth down all partition walls that have made the divisions betwixt God and man, and he uniteth them againe in all lovely unity.

MOSES hath spoken of the Creation of the World, and certainly it cannot bee that he meaneth this externall world; for I could never heare any true reasons that can bee given to prove the same, for it stands at one stay, and the Sunne, Moone, and Starres keepe one course; and the Sea runs her race up and down, and they still are one and the same in their orders and pla­ces; neither doe they increase or decrease to or from what they first seemed to be unto man, nor doe they wax old as a garment, nor as the creatures which we see appeare that have a beginning and ending; for we see every spirit that appeares here hath a crea­ted body which increaseth and is diminished, and is gone againe and is seene no more: but this externall world is one and the same for ever, for any thing I could see or heare to the contrary.

The greatest multitude of men beleeve it to bee created of nothing, but I cannot see nor heare any reason for the same, because that of nothing can come nothing; then what must it be made off? for sure it cannot be made of the most holy God as some do imagine and say, that there was nothing before but God, and therefore of necessity (if it be as they alleadge) he must make all things of himselfe, but it cannot stand with reason that out of one should come so many antipathies; therefore without all question the most holy Godhead that is one is of a more pure and excellent nature then these lower changeable elements of earth, water, ayre, and fire, of which this lower world is compo­sed off; for this lower world bringeth forth nothing but his owne nature, as earth, water, aire and its spirit of fire, from which all spirits have borrowed a body which they cannot keep for ever, because its nature is changeable and runneth or whirling round, never standing at one certaine stay; for the Sunne (which is soule, fire or life of this world) never standeth still but every yeare runneth his race round, and in his running he melts, hardens, congeales, wi­thers, [Page 38]and makes grow green, so that there is a continuall death and resurre­ction every yeare of things under the Sunne; for nothing stands at one stay but is in continuall motion and change, and in this change is, was, and shall be one and the same for ever; for no man can consume, diminish, or annihilate the least atom or dust, or bring any thing that is to nothing, neither can any man finde the beginning or end of things; but thou hast borrowed a garment or body which did lye potentially in that matter, and when thou makest it ap­peare, it is said to be a beginning to thee, and when thou leavest it as it was, it is called an ending to thee: As for the world whereof Moses speaketh (that the most holy God made) certaine it is some more excellent, better, or purer world for man to live in then this: for hee hath no true content here in this world or body of clay; for this world is the visible God or good that is in con­tinuall change, but in the invisible world or invisible God is no change nor shadow of turning, but is one and the same for ever: if thou borrow a body or garment of this internall and invisible world, he never looketh for it again, for he is the righteous that lendeth never looking for it againe. O that all soules did keep this body or garment that was given them out of this internall world, that they might see with those eyes the Sun, Moon, and all the glori­ous orders of Starres, which glorious world is for thee, O man, therefore look for thy internall garment that is given thee for ever; for the eyes or lights of this body shall never wax dimne, but in those lights or eyes we shall see and behold the eternall eye or light from whence those our eyes or lights came, which shall be our everlasting body that wee need not feare losing or chan­ging, for it continues one and the same for ever, being the free gift of the in­ternall God.

There is a time wherein it seemeth to us that we had a beginning to this in­ternall and invisible body, although indeed and in truth this body hath neither beginning nor ending, because it lay potentially hid in God and in his essence, for its beginning to us is its ending, because the beginning reacheth unto e­ternity, and we shall for ever have this body if we doe not lose and disregard it, as I feare we all have done; for wee have not remembred our Creator in these dayes of our youth, before our evill dayes came, wherein we have had no pleasure; for our evill dayes is this, when we disregrad this holy body, and then those eyes begin to wax dim in us, though in themselves they are one and the same for ever; and those grinders cease from eating the internall life, the food of our soules, and the mourners shall carry this dead body about the streets and walks of our hearts, mourning and grieving for us and for our great losse, and this is the grieving of the holy Spirit by whom we are sealed & made sonnes of God; for we have quenched, crucified, and killed this holy body of [Page 39]the Lord which he gave us for a garment for ever to cover our nakednesse, and so he returnes to that holy divine earth from whence he came, and the soule, spirit, or life of that body, returnes to him that gave it. And now, O man, what shall we doe for our great losse? for we see nothing but death on every side, for this externall world is but a living death to us, for wee are in conti­nuall expectation to be called out of it; and besides there is one that is worse then death that followes us to cloath us with his mortall garments or body of wickednesse: for he prepareth a body which is a lie or delusion, and shews us a body which is a lie or vanity to cloath us with, so that this body is worse then death, for it is a living death, and dying life, and we were better to bee dead and (and if possible to be annihilated quite) then to live in such a wicked body of sinne and death: and it had beene better we had never beene borne or brought forth in it, as Job saith, cursing the houre of his birth, and the day wherein he was borne, and wisheth that he had dyed in the birth, and that he had never been seen in this wicked world; therefore we see many worlds, yet cannot see what reason man hath to believe that this externall world was ever made as he imagineth, seeing there will follow so many absurdities on it; for what reason can be given that there was but one man and one woman at first, seeing there is blackmores or men, and white, and it is contrary to nature and impossible for a man naturally black or blackmore to bring forth a white, or a white to bring forth a blacke, and we see it so by experience? and when Cain killed Abel, the Lord being angry with him, said, that he should be a vagabond and runnagate; Cain answered, that his punishment was greater then he could beare, and if any man should meet him he should kill him, when there was none to kill him; for if there was but one man and woman created at first, there was but his father and he in the world; and afterward it is said that hee went into the land of Nod, and tooke him a wife, who did inhabit that land, and what man was the father of his wife? how can all these things bee made good by the letter of the Scripture? or doe you thinke that there was a mate­riall garden, or a tree whereon did grow the fruit of good and evill, or that a Serpent did goe up in the same to speake to the woman? sure it cannot stand with reason that it could be so, for it is said that all the creatures did come to Adam, and he gave them names according to their natures: now it is contrary to the Serpents nature to speake after the manner of men, unlesse you will al­leadge that she understood the language of the beasts, and thought them wiser then God, and resolved to be ruled by them, which to me seems altogether a­gainst reason, that the woman should be so ignorant and irrationall, who was created rationall after the image of God to be ruler of all creatures: for at this day if a Serpent went up into a tree, and did speake from thence to men and [Page 40]women, it would make them afraid in so much that they would not doe what he bid them: or dost thou thinke that in Mesopotamia (a great way off beyond the seas) that there is a materiall garden wherein standeth the tree of life, and the tree of knowledge of good and ill, both in one place, and an Angell standing with a slickering sword to keep the tree of life from the man; and that Adam and Hevah were cast out of this garden (for harkening to the Ser­pent) to till the earth, and that it should bring forth nothing but thorns and thistles, all which in my judgement cannot stand with reason or truth? for the Scripture saith, that none shall be saved but those who shall eat of the tree that is in the paradise of God: why then doe not all soules or men goe to looke for this paradise and garden of Eden to eat of this tree of life whereby they must be saved, for none can be saved without it? And why doe not all men and women goe to fight with this Angell that holdeth this sword which keepeth them from the tree of life, and consequently from salvation? I see none, nor heard I ever any that went to seek out this garden, Angell, nor tree of life: and so if the Scripture be to be understood according to the litterall sense, or this a materiall garden, none can be saved because the same hath ne­ver been found out by any since the fall of Adam: and that earth which is said to bring forth nothing but thornes and thistles, cannot be the externall earth, for we see it bringeth forth very good herbes, fruit and corne, fit for the use of the externall manhood, and but few thornes and thistles.

Therefore, O man, looke not thou on the history of the Scripture, but upon the mystery which is hidden since thy wicked world began, for these are all holy and sacred mysteries which are hid from all fleshly and sinfull hearts, whose foreskin of sin is before them as a partition wall: therefore, O man, let thy partition wall be pulled downe by the mighty power of God in thee, and let the foreskin of thy sinfull flesh bee cut off, and be thou plunged, dipped, dyed, or baptised in the most holy and divine nature, or in the most holy God­head; for if thou goest into this river of Jordan or judgement as red as bloud with thy sinnes, thou shalt come forth as white as snow, and then thou shalt see all these secret and holy mysteries which are revealed to perfect and just men, and to no other; for to the wicked and sinfull men, it is a closed booke, and a dead letter, for S. Paul saith in the second chap. of the second to the Corinths, that he speaketh the wisdome of God to them that are perfect, for none can understand it but such as are perfect and without sinne, for to the wise of this world the wisdome is foolishnes, and they laugh it to scorne, and thinke it meer madnesse, as Felix did of Paul, saying, That too much learning had made him mad. O that all soules, had this foolishnesse and madnesse, it would be more pretious to them then all the wisdomes and riches of this [Page 41]world, for the wisdome of this world is earthly, sensuall, and divillish, all which perish with the using; and the foolishnesse and madnesse of God (as men esteem) is to us our right and perfect minde. O that all men were bapti­sed into the Father Son, and Holy Ghost, then should they see things cleerly and never have more trouble in soule, then should they know all good things, and all teares should be wiped from their eyes, and be in everlasting ravishing joyes and sweet content of minde.

As for the seven Nations (that the Scripture maketh mention of) which should be destroyed when their sins were full, as the Amorites, Jebusites, Hit­tites, &c. it cannot be meant the destruction and killing of men, because it is contrary to the nature of God and goodnesse to be the cause of destruction, for he is the author and cause of all goodnesse and preservation; therefore wee should be like God, to pray for them, and doe them all the good we can, and not destroy and kill them in their sins, for we should deale with them by the spirit of meeknesse, and not send them to hell headlong, for wee know not how soon they may return to God & goodnesse: wherefore those seven are the seven deadly sinnes which have set themselves forth as Nations in us, which when they are at the full in us, the Israel of God (Jesus Christ) must come and destroy them out of us that the whole society of God with Saints and Angells may dwell in us, and that our soule may be a land that floweth with milke and hony, and till all those good things come to passe in us we are not saved.

And whereas it is said of Abrahams beeing commanded to kill his sonne Isaac (which is contrary to the law of nature and to God and goodnesse to command him to kill his naturall son) there is some secret & sacred mystery in it, for in this is set forth the whole passion of Christ; or Isaac (or Jesus Christ) is the promised seed which is brought forth in the Ancient of dayes, or in the end of time, and is the sole and only joy of the man; and God to trye the man would have this sole joy and life of the man to be brought to the sacrifice, but the Divinity or holy life cannot dye (but as it may seeme to the man) but the ramme or humanity which was caught in the bush of sin, he must dye and bee sacrificed for sin, for all sacrifices are for sin, and the soule that sinneth he must dye: wherefore we should not looke on the Scripture as a history, but as a holy and secret mystery: for in Gal. 4.24. it is said, that by Hagar and Sarah is signified the two Testaments, and that their children are two seeds, the one fleshly, and the other spirituall; and Jacob and Esau that wrestled in the womb are said to be two Nations, the one spirituall, the other carnall: and the Scripture testifieth them to bee two worlds, which is meant the first and se­cond birth in man, and not as most imagine, that God ordained the one to damnation, and the other to salvation; and the Scripture witnesseth plainly that [Page 42]those are allegories, and to be understood as mysteries, or else we shall altoge­ther disorder and confound the Scripture, and this is the reason of so many Re­ligions one fighting against the other: for the Scripture in the letter seemeth to contradict it selfe, so that if we have not the Spirit of God (which is above the Scripture) wee cannot understand one word or tittle thereof aright, and none can have that Spirit, but he that hath ceased from sin.

As for the drowning of the world and building of Noahs Arke so many cubits high and broad, as the Scripture speaketh, it could not containe all the creatures in the world by couples and sevens, and all their meats so long time, also it might be thought that God did inspire & move all the creatures to come to Noahs Ark to be saved, the which I desire you to consider of, and the many absurdities that would fall upon it to be understood according to the letter, which cannot be agreeable to reason, but that there must be some higher my­stery in it; for the Scripture saith, that there was but eight persons in the Ark, and that all the world was drowned save these eight; and presently after he spea­keth of Kings and Kingdomes: I pray tell mee, from whence these Kings and Kingdomes came from in so short a time? for we read how many of the children of Israell went into Egypt, and were there foure hundred yeares; marke their increase during that space, and compare the times, and you shall see how many eight persons could bring forth in so short a time; for the E­gyptian Kingdome, and all the rest of the Kingdomes must come from those eight persons, which they can never prove to have increased so many in so short a time; for we read but of sixty six persons that came of Shem, betwixt his comming forth of the Arke, and their entring into Egypt, and their abode in Egypt was foure hundred and thirty yeares, the which in all that time did but increase to six hundred thousand till the time they came out of Egypt again to go into the land of Canaan: therefore if you will compare those things and exactly calculate the times, you will finde strange contradictions in them; wherefore you must not look to the history of the Scripture but to the mystery, for the deluge of Gods wrath must needs fall upon some other world then this externall, even the world of sinne and iniquity, and drowns all their delight­full pleasures and marriages by his heavy judgement and law of sinne that he executeth upon them many and divers wayes: but the holy and divine man­hood with all the beasts (which are the passions and phantasies of his minde) and the eight persons (which are the five senses, with the will, reason and un­derstanding, which is to rule and governe all these beasts) are shut up in the Arke, Chest or Divinity of God while this deluge runs over the wicked world, and are preserved in the same to bee brought forth as a new and heavenly Je­rusalem [Page 43]to a better and more divine world, which is the humanity to live in the Godhead, or the holy divine life. Likewise the history of Joseph & his bre­thren, is to be understood spiritually, for the twelve sonnes of Jacob, with their father and mother, is the whole divinity and humanity joyned together, and Joseph signifies the highest perfection or divinity, which was sold into the hands of the wicked by his brethren which is the humanity with his affecti­ons, and the wickednesse sold him unto the lust of the flesh, which was Po­tiphars wife, so that the lusts of the flesh desired to injoy the perfection to her lust, will and desires, as the Devill did to Christ, which this doth presigurate, and he left this garment of flesh (which hee seemed to be cloathed with) into her hands for a witnesse against him that hee was with her: so the wicked lusts of the flesh put this perfection or Joseph in prison, because he would not consent to her, and helyeth in this dungeon or hell under the fleshly lusts of sinne, till our Pharaoh (King of ignorance and servitude) begin to dream of all the miseries and famines that is to come upon us; then Ioseph or our perfecti­on is sent for in haste, to provide food for us in this our famished land of ser­vitude and ignorance, where wee must sell our selves under this perfection (who is as King and Lord in this land for a time) otherwise we cannot be sa­ved nor preserved; and after a small time this Joseph dyeth in the land of ser­vitude and ignorance, after whose death comes a cruell Pharaoh to reigne o­ver thee, who doth impose such cruell and hard burdens and taskes on thee, which makes thee long and cry out for a Saviour; then comes the most po­werfull God with his mighty signes and wonders to helpe thee, plaguing thy wicked king of wickednesse in thee; and when all those wonders and plagues are fulfilled upon thy king of servitude, thou must enter into a wildernessed land where is no comfort, carrying the dead bones of Joseph (or thy dead per­fection) and in thy going thou must eat the pascall lambe, or the supper of our Lord; which wildernessed land, is the whole passion and death of our Lord Jesus, whereby thou must forsake the onions, garlike, flesh pots, and all the pleasant meats which thou catest of in the land of Egypt: and in walking through this wildernesse (or this death and passion of our Lord Iesus) we are brought to the heavenly Ierusalem, or City of God, wherein we shall rest in all peace and sweet content: I doe not deny the history or litterall sense of the Scripture, but there is nothing therein profitable for me, save only the my­stery and spirituall sense. As for the sacrifice in the old law, where mention is made of killing of bulls, rams, goats and lambs, sure it cannot bee that the killing of these creatures could ever make satisfaction for sinne; nor could the speech of a Priest speaking over the head of a goat, carry away sinne into the [Page 44]wildernesse, as it is said of the seape goat; but these are holy mysteries, and must be understood otherwise, and the chusing of the Priests as that they should have no impediment, as a lame leg, or one arme, or but one eye, and that their attire should bee most glorious, with the breastplate of Urim and Thummim, and the Crown with writing upon it, and the pure white linnen, which to understand according to the history seemeth strange for the Priests to weare such babling things, but that all those are mysteries.

As for the sacrifices which should be without blemish (as the lambs and in­nocent doves, with the sweet odours and perfumes) is this to offer up a most holy and upright life without spot or blemish of sinne, which is his holy Son Iesus in us, a sacrifice most pleasing in his sight, for he careth not for the sa­crifice of bulls and rams, but this most holy body hath he chosen: O therefore, let us offer up this most holy body and pure life for an acceptable sacrifies most pleasing in his sight; this holy life is the odours and sweet perfumes, which sweet savor deligh eth his nostrills, and ravisheth his minde with most sweet contents; and the divine humanity is the Priest that must offer up this most pure sacrifice, for he must be a perfect man without the blemish of sinne, and must wear the breastplate of judgement with Urim and Thummim, which is light and perfection, with the crowne of glory which is holinesse to God, and be cloathed in white linnen which is a most pure and innocent life: and now you see that Priest, people, and sacrifice must be pure and unspotted with­out sinne having all perfection.

As for the holy Arke which was builded by the free will offering of the people, and Moses going up into the mountaine to the Lord for a paterne to shew the people that it might be builded with all their pretious stones, and fine silks for curtaines, and the drinking pots of gold, with the candlesticks, snuffers, and snuffing dishes, and the mercy seat, with the Cherubins that hol­deth up the mercy seat, and the holy and most holy place, with the curtaine be­twixt the holy and most holy; and the Altar and hookes, the table and shew­bread, with Arons rod that budded, and the pot of manna, which to under­stand as a history, that such a glorious building was made to look upon is no­thing to me; for to looke or judge of it so is to looke according to the out­ward appearance which is not righteous judgement, for in this is to be seene the whole mystery of the Godhead and the humanity; for in the holy place is the whole worke of the law, with the death and sacrifices for sinne for a re­conciliation, which death and sacrifices is the Godhead and manhoed which lyeth upon the holy Alter, fire, wrath, crosse or patience till the man of sinne be destroyed and rooted out of us: And the golden candlesticks, with the lights in the holy place, is the law or grace that shineth from the morning till [Page 45]the evening, or till sinne is extinguished and done away in us, and is the lights of Gods grace which is true repentance for sinne, with a broken and contrite heart and sorrowfull spirit, which shineth till all things are finished, and then giveth up the ghost unto the Father from whence he came, and then the vaile or curtaine which standeth in the most holy place is rent in twaine from the top to the bottome, which vaile is the flesh and death of Christ, and is the new and living way, through which all must enter or else they cannot be saved, nor enter into the most holy or Sanctum Sanctorum, where the mercy seat is held up by the Angells and Cherubins.

Now when the Priesthood which is the holy humanity, hath fulfilled the whole worke of the Law (the sacrifice for sinne in the holy place) then they put on all their holy garments and attires, and so enter into the most holy place with their bells or hymns that soundeth forth the praise of God in­ternally to God, and externally all good to men, for in this holy attire must he enter in the most holy place with odours and sweet perfumes of a holy life, and the smoke of these odours, and perfumes of a holy life, ascendeth to the mercies seat, and ravisheth the most holy Godhead, and then he imbra­ceth him in his armes saying, Thou art my beloved Sonne in whom I am well pleased; and this is he that maketh us Kings and Priests to God, and giveth us himselfe to be offered up for a sacrifice to God his Father for us. O man, how great is the love of God to thee, that hee becommeth thee to save thee, and makes thee himselfe for the great love he hath to thee? for in thy first appea­rance he created himselfe in thee, and then there appeared unto thee foure worlds; first this externall world, whereof thou hast borrowed a body or gar­ment, and knowest not how foone it shall be called for againe, for the world whitleth about and calleth for her owne againe, and there can be no certain­ty of any thing here, because here is nothing but change and mortality; for this world of it selfe is death, but that the spirits that are in it is its life, so that this world is not worthy so much as to bee thought off, for it perisheth with the using as doth a garment, only it is good in this respect, because wee could not know light but by darknesse, nor life but by death, nor immortallity but by mortallity; and the reason we were in obscurity or in silence before wee could come here, is this, that there is one eternall increase of the seed of man, and they can but appeare in time here; for this externall world is time, and time is a running round, and there is no new thing here but as it is to me; for this materiall world doth neither increase nor decrease, but is one and the same for ever in its turning round, only it seemeth to me to increase and di­minish, and so it is finite, and because the seed of man is an eternall increase; and this world being one and the same may be called finite in this respect, be­cause there is not matter enough for all spirits to have bodies or garments of [Page 46]at one time, and therefore some must goe before others can come, for the spi­rits to come are infinite, and this world is finite, because of its materiall con­fine, not increasing but running round, so that which is called the body of one to day, may be called the body of another to morrow; for there is no certain­ty here, and all soules must stay their time till they can come here, and in their comming and being here is the time to see distinctions and all worlds, and if thou doe not looke about thee and see them here in this world of time (but be neglective of the time) thou hadst better never have been born or brought forth in time, for this time vanisheth away to thee and thou shalt bee seen no more; for when man is in honour and knows it not, he is like the brute beast that perisheth being without God in the world: therefore whilst time doth last to us, let us looke about us and redeeme our mispent time, and seek the e­verlasting good or reall true world that is beyond all time or change; and this is the divine world which God hath placed in thy heart, as is said in Ec­clesiastes the 3. and the world whereof Moses speaketh Gen. 1. and is the Angelicall world or paradise out of which the man had an Angelicall body which is but a part of Gods house, for God shewed himselfe but in part, and this part he lost, and in that part he was that great Lucifer or Angell that was the Sunne of the morning, or starre that fell, and in falling fought against his Maker, or him that gave him that Angelicall body or world, in which the most holy world stood as a tree of life unseen or untouched by the man, for he had more minde of the diabolicall world, for all worlds being opened to the man he desires the evill and worst of worlds desiring to be free before his time, because he could not abide the servanthood to till and dresse the garden of the Lord (which servanthood is the angelicall body or world, which is the servant of the Lord) but desired to be as great as God himselfe before his time, and so his pride threw him downe into the most lowest world which is the diabolicall; so that his body is now the body of sinne, death, and all wicked­nesse: and besides, he hath pulled downe the divine and most holy world up­on him as a judge with wrath and violent fire, and so hee standeth still over him till the man desire to come forth againe out of the diabolicall world and returne with humility, true repentance and reall sorrow for his sin, and then the divine and most holy world doth worke this true reall death in mans heart, and descendeth into the hell of his heart (that is into the lowest parts of his earth where the wrath of God is) and there pacifieth this wrathfull Iudge or God with his humility and true sorrow for sinne, by which sorrow and humi­lity he crucifies and destroyes all sinne out of the man, and then he raiseth him out of the lowest world into the divinest and most holy world; and this world is the second creation that God maketh in man and is himselfe which he crea­teth [Page 47]in him, for in his comming he first humbleth and then exalteth the man; for the divine and most holy world in his comming downe into hell (or the most lowest world to the man to save him) doth appeare in humility and low­linesse of spirit, very meeke and gentle, enduring patiently all that the law would have him suffer, and so teacheth and incorporateth this humility and lowlinesse of spirit into the man that hath learned God, so that they twain are made one spirit; and this is the new creation of which David speaketh, saying, Create in me a cleane heart, O God, and renue a right spirit in mee: this is that poore, humble, meek soule that lyeth in the dust and seeth no help which shall be [...]ised up from thence to dignity, and shall sit with Princes, which is to sit with the most highest God; and he is the barren that shall beare, and bring forth the holy Godhead or divine life out of him.

Now, O man, mayest thou see how great the love of God is to thee; there­fore forsake all worlds for his sake, because he loveth thee so deerly, and look upon all things through his spirituall and holy eyes, and then shalt thou see things cleerly and as they are, and not esteem of any thing above it selfe, nor above its owne deserving. Wherefore wee must looke into the Scripture with those holy eyes, or else we shall see nothing aright, or as it is.

Now to looke upon all the histories of the Prophets, Judges and Kings without those divine and holy eyes, where through we see the holy mystery of the same, it will appeare very strange to us, and contrary to nature and rea­son; as for example, that of Bilaams Asse speaking to him, and Nebuchadnez­zar being turned to a Beast to eat grasse with the Oxen till the dew of hea­ven had wet him seven times; and the fiery furnace spoken of in Daniell, in which the three children were cast, wherein they had no hurt, nor so much as their cloaths burned; and the great Image of brasse, iron and clay, which is also spoken of in Daniell, with many other mysteries which setteth forth the creation, fall and restauration of man by the whole worke of the law, toge­ther with his new creation: so that the whole history of the Scripture (right­ly understood) tendeth to those things, but are illustrated and set forth many and divers wayes; therefore this worke of man is wonderfull, and would make an eternall discourse in the minde of man to expresse himselfe. And the hi­story of David that he did kill a Lion and a Beare, and did kill Goliah, is the whole worke of the law to destroy the Devill and sin out of the man; also he complaineth sometimes that he is in the lowest hell, and in a deepe pit, and that he is a worme and no man, and that he is in the deep waters and the ra­ging seas run over him, so that in all this he carries a double death which is to kill and be killed, for the whole worke of the law is to kill and bee killed; therefore the law (or David) cannot build a house for God to dwell in, for [Page 48]he saith that David or the law is a man of blood, and that he should pull down all buildings of sin, and destroy the enemies of the Lord, and prepare timber and stones hewed and cut for the house of the Lord, that there might bee no noise of the hammer, or of the worke mans tools; for the law of the Lord hews, cuts and prepares us for the house of the Lord before we are or can be set in, that there should be no noise of hammer or worke mans tooles hewing or cutting, which hewing or cutting is the wounds of conscience making a true sorrow and mourning for sinne, and when we are prepared and made li­ving stones and a spirituall house (Christ being the head and corner stone that upholdeth this house and holy building, and this whole house is covered with­in and without with pure gold, that is with a most pure, holy and glorious life) then the most holy and wise Solomon (the wisdome of the Godhead, the sonne of David, or the law) enters in this most glorious house that shineth with his most bright and glorious rayes, and there he worships and adores this great and most holy Godhead, and there was and is continuall songs of Hallelujah, praise and thanksgiving to him that liveth for evermore: and without this house is the middle court where the peace offerings that was and is offered up to this most holy God, and was and is the fulfilling of the law by obedience in killing the man of sinne, the which doth pacifie and reconcile us to God againe, that we may enter the Temple with this holy and wise Solo­mon to worship and sing praises to the most glorious and most holy God. O that it were so well with all the soules of men, and that it were so come to passe in them, then were they happy, but till then most un­happy.

Now to understand these buildings of the Temple and house of the Lord as a history, with all these glorious externall things, how that there were galle­ries and chambers, and in those roomes pictures of Angels and Cherubins, and that they did uphold the Arke and Alter, and that the same should bee co­vered within and without with pure gold, and that the stones must be hewed and prepared before they were set in that there should be no noise of the ham­mer or workmans toole: what is that to thee, O man, to read the history of these things? for all externall buildings must perish with the using, and thou never the better for it; but looke thou into the mystery thereof because it concernes thy selfe, for this building is thee and God joyned together, and is the rocke Christ Jesus, that living stone disallowed of men, but chosen of God, and yee as living stones are joyned to him and made a spirituall house, and an holy Priesthood to offer up spirituall sacrifices to God by this holy Ie­sus Christ our Lord and only Saviour, that hath called us from death to life, and hath made us sit with him in his holy place, that is in the most holy Father: [Page 49]therefore O man, seeke after this holy building, and let it be built in thee, for all the hystories of the Scripture is concerning thy selfe, thy falling, rising, or something that concerns thee or the holy Godhead; therefore thou oughtest to looke into the scripture with a vigilant eye, and with due respect, for it is the true looking glasse which showes thee in what condition thou art, and therefore read it not as thou dost other hystories, but read it and take it to heart, and esteeme it as it is the most holy and sacred mysteries concerning the great and most powerfull Godhead and thy selfe, O man.

And as for the Hystory of Iesus Christ that he was borne in an Inn, and in a stable, betwixt an Oxe and an Asse, and laid in a Crach, and that the Inn was full and no roome in it but the stable, is a great mystery, for this Inn is thy selfe O man, and the chambers of thy heart is full of thy sinnes, the great Kings of thy earthly being, which is pride, vaine glory, hypocrisie, lust, vani­tie wrath and selfe will: so that the chambers and roomes of thy heart are full of such guests as these, and there was nor is no roome for the most holy life but in the worst place of thy house, and thy Herod (or bloody mind) will not let him ly there, but seeketh to destroy and kill him, and so hee is carried away and hid in thee till those be dead that seeke his life: Now when Christ (the holy divine nature) comes into our earthly Man of sinne, hee hath not a place to lay or rest his head on, but is sought for by our sinnes to bee destroy­ed, for he sayeth, the foxes (that are our worldly Passions) have holes, and the birds (that are our vain Phantasies) have nests, but bee hath not whereon to lay his head; Doest thou not see (O vain man) that the most holy and divine world or divine life is neglected of thee? and kept under thy earthly being, and he is in the most lowest parts of thy earth, and under thy sinfull manhood, hee is that most glorious and holy light that commeth into thy wicked world of sinne, but thou art ashamed of him, because hee discovers thy deeds of darke­nesse, so thou putst out this light and quenchest this spirit, for thou lovest the deeds of darknesse more then the works of light, therefore this light or holy life is carryed away by Ioseph and Marie (the perfection and fountaine of Love) to the holy light, from whence he came, till all thy sinne and iniquity which sought his life is dead in thee, for the holy life cannot live in thee, till sinne be dead and rooted out of thee.

Now to looke upon Christ comming into this externall world, in such a mean manner, his birth so low, and his condition so poore and dispised, and sought out by the Kings of the earth to bee destroyed, was because they thought scorne that one of so poore and mean birth should bee King of all the earth; And thou mayest see the mystery of his comming into this world in so poore and dispised manner, which is to shew thee how hee is in thy [Page 50]selfe and in thy internall world dispised and sought for to bee destroyed by thy finnes the great Kings of thy earthly being: therefore (O man) if thou readst the history of the birth of Christ, and not look into the mystery how much it concerns thee, thou art never the better for his comming; for his ex­ternall comming to the sight of the world shall vanish away like a tale that is told, or a dreame that is seene no more: therefore O man looke into the Scri­pture (and into the holy writ) with a diligent and circumspect eye, and into thy selfe where is written the holy word to thy condemnation or to thy sal­vation: compare thy selfe and the scripture together, and thou shalt see thy selfe there for it is the true reall lookeing glasse wherein thou mayest behold thy selfe; and thy owne soule or spirit is a witnesse to thee, that it relates to thee thy selfe, and it speaks the reall truth to thee in condemning or justify­ing thee, wherefore O man take it to heart, for thou needst not no other wit­nesse of the truth thereof but thy selfe.

As for Christs being led aside by the spirit into the Wildernesse to bee tem­pted of the Devill, and that he fasted fourty dayes and fourty nights, and that he was set upon a Pinacle of the Temple, shewing him from thence all the Kingdoms of the earth in the twinckling of an eye, and that hee told him all the Kingdoms of the earth were his, for they were given him, and if hee would fall down and worship him they should bee his; certainly this cannot be meant of the externall, for no mortall creature (taking on this elementa­ry body of clay) can subsist without foode so long, nor could it be that all the Kingdomes of the world were the Devills, for who did give them to him? nor can there bee any reason given, why or how hee could possible see all the Kingdomes of this world with his externall eyes at one time: for this world being imagined round, high and low, it is impossible that any externall eye should see it at once: therefore O man looke to the mystery thereof, for when this holy Jesus is borne into us, this wicked spirit commeth to him, and seeing him cloathed with our fraile and weake nature thinking to overcome him, shewing him our barren and wildernessed nature wherein is no good thing for foode for him, so that hee must bee starved if hee lived in it, therefore hee would have him obedient unto him and hee should have all his honour king­dome and riches, but he did forsake them all as abhominable, and brought his owne foode or kingdome with him, for he liveth by the power and life of the Godhead from whence he came, and by this mighty power he makes this sto­ny and barren ground of mans nature food for him to live of and with, for hee participates and liveth of both natures; the Godhead and the manhoode, and this Godhead and manhood being joyned together by a conjunction (or re­ciprocall union) have betwixt them both brought forth Jesus Christ the [Page 51]Sonne of God and Sonne of man, who is both God and man, and being in the wombe of the humanity, is nourished and fed by the same as of his mother, for all children live of the mothers life and nature, and are fed by it: so this Iesus Christ comes into our barren ground, and by his mighty power maketh it fer­till and fruitfull, bringing forth himselfe in us, to live of us, and we by him, for our barren ground is plowed up by the law of God, and all the thornes and thistles which is our sinnes, is plucked up and throwne away, that this holy seed may be sowed in our hearts in place of our sinnes, and this seed is a tender plant: wherefore, O man, look diligently to it, and weed up all things that is like to destroy the same in thee.

And as for the Devill carrying Christ up into the holy City, and setting him upon a pinacle of the Temple, and shewing him all the Kingdomes of the Earth in the twinkling of an eye, and saying, that those Kingdoms were given to him; this holy City is thy selfe, O man, and thou hast given it to the Devill, and he hath begot many wicked generations and kingdomes in thee which is his; and Christ taking thy sinfull nature upon him to destroy it, the Devill be­ing in that nature of sin thinks to exalt Jesus, shewing him what kingdomes he had got in that nature, for which he would have him worship him, and hee would give him them all; but he reproves him and cares not for his wicked kingdomes, but crucifies him and them, and casts him out of this nature, and makes this his humanity to worship God, and saith, Get thee from me Sathan, for I will worship my Lord and God; so Christ the divine power of God, ta­king upon him the sinfull nature, had upon him the power of the Devill who thought to destroy him in it, so the Devill and hee being in one nature strove for victory who should have this nature for his possession and dwelling place, the divinity hath the victory when the humanity consenteth thereto, and then there is two against one, but if thou consentest to the devill there is no fighting for thee, nor art thou worthy the fighting for; therefore if thou hast a minde to stay with the Devill still thou mayest, for hee will not pull thee out of his clawes against thy will: wherefore looke to it, O man, for there stands be­fore thee life and death, chuse life and live for ever; but if thou lovest death, thou hast death for ever.

As concerning the Asse that Christ tooke away, and his cursing the fig-tree, it seemeth strange in the letter, because it contradicteth the truth, for the truth saith, that we should use no violence, nor take any mans goods from him, and that we should not curse but blesse; but we see here that Christ hath taken a­way the Asse that was bound, and cursed the fig-tree against reason, for the time of figs was not yet come; therefore certainly there is another mystery in it, for it cannot bee true according to the history that Christ should doe such [Page 52]unjust things, for no falshood nor guile was found in his hands: therefore this Asse is that simple innocencie that is tyed in thee with the cords of iniquity and cannot stir; for the humanity never did ride thereon, till Christ came in our humanity to make it free, and then he rideth into Jerusalem the City of God meekly sitting upon this Asse, which Asse is now the simple innocencie of God, on which (before Christ came into thy humanity) Balams did ride up­on and did kicke and spurne this innocencie without a cause; therefore bee thou, O man, this simple innocent Asse, that the King of Sion may ride meek­ly upon thee to Jerusalem the holy City of God.

And for the fig-tree that had no time to bring forth its fruits but was cur­sed, is the humanity that Christ did take upon him, induring therein the curse of the law for the sins cause, nor could it bring forth fruit till Christ came in it, and made it indure the curse of the law, which made it seem to dye and vanish away: for this fig-tree or humanity, could not bring forth fruit till Christ came againe in spirit to vivifie and renue the same, for he is the life of the true fig-tree that bringeth forth fruit in due season: so this first fig-tree that was accursed shews unto us the first creation in man, how that it could not bring forth fruit being lyable to the curse for sins cause; and this tree is the humanity of Christ according to the flesh, that indureth the judgement and curse of God with us for firs cause, without cause in himselfe, save only his love to us.

And as for that certaine man that fell amongst the theeves and was hurt, many passing by and would not helpe him till the Samaritane came: O man, this certaine man is thy selfe that is gone out of Ierusalem (the City of God) to travell, and hath met with the Devill and all his company, which is pride, vaine-glory, hypocrisie, lust, intemperance, wrath, envy, malice, bit­ternesse of spirit, covetcusnesse, evill censuring, murtherous mindes, and all the wickednesse that is: and these are the theeves that hath robbed thee of all goodnesse, wounding thy soule, and leaving thee for dead: so the Priest and Levit that passeth by thee is the law, wrath, and curse of God that is upon thee, and leaves thee alone to thy selfe for thy condemnation, because thou bast left the city and house of God to travell thou knowest not whither to lose and damne thy selfe with the Devill and all his Angells and wicked spirits, that hath killed and spoyled thy soule, for thy wounds of sinne stinke and are puttified within thee (as David saith, my wounds are festred and stinke within me) and so we lye as dead in trespasses and sinnes till the good Samaritane (which is Iesus Christ) come and have mercy on us, and take us up and set us upon his Asse which is his most innocent and harmlesse life, whereon he carries thee as halfe dead, and after poureth in the oyle of his gracious goodnesse in­to thy wounds to heale them, so that hee becommeth a plaister for thy sores to [Page 53]heale thee, and indures all thy stinking filthinesse upon him, for hee hath thy sores in his salve which is himselfe, and is that most innocent and harmlesse life, and hee it is that beares the iniquities of us all, for all our sinnes and trans­gressions is upon him; so this holy Christ is in hell in us till wee are cured of sinne, for he is a salve for our stinking sores that is a hell to him, and he indures thee, and the wrath of God upon thee, which is upon him in thee, till thou art perfectly cured and made whole from all blemish or spot: O how great is the love of God to thee, O man! why doth not thy heart melt in love to him againe, seeing he is so good to thee? Where, O man, canst thou finde such a love and lover, or such goodnesse as he is to thee without any cause of thine, but for his owne goodnesse sake whereby he takes pity on thee to helpe and save thee? therefore, O man, (whosoever thou art that is dead in trespasses and sinnes) if thou dost not feele this power of God Jesus Christ in thee, who is a salve for all sores (which doth draw, scoure and wash them within thee, and put thee to paine with the power of his working salves) thou shalt never bee well, thinke or believe what thou wilt of Christ without thee, and of his great works, he nor they shall profit thee nothing unlesse thou hast the power of Christ working within thee, and that thou sensibly feele the power of his working against sinne in thee, which is a grievous hell and torment to thee for the present to indure; but thou hadst better indure this hell against thy sin for a moment, then be for ever lost and damned, and be deprived of God and goodnesse for ever, having the sting of conscience stinging thee for what thou hast done, and for what thou hast lost and deprived thy selfe off for ever: therefore, O man, looke to it in time whilst time doth last, for this world is time, the which if thou mispendest there is no time more; and in this time is all worlds opened to thee, and if thou dost not chuse the divine and most holy world in this time, it is for ever shut up against thee, and so thou art deprived of God and goodnesse, and art in a most miserable condition: wherefore, O man, doe not dally with thy selfe, nor deferre the time, putting it off from one time to another; for time is a thiefe and steales away from thee, therefore do not cheat or cosen thy selfe with false beliefes and faiths of Iesus Christ, and what he hath done for thee, the which he never hath done till thou feele the power of his working in thee with many agonies and bloody sweats; and till thou feele the nailes of his crucifying pricke thee to the very heart, and that thou feelest the stings of death for sinne in thee; therefore O man, put no confidence in Christ till thou findest the mighty power and worke of Christ in thee; for if thou doest thou deceivest thy selfe, and thy beliefe is in vaine, and a dead faith without this worke of Christ working mightily in thee, pul­ling downe all thy strong holds of sinne and vaine imaginations, and offe­ring [Page 54]thee up a pure soule to his Father, that God may be all in all in thee: O that it were so come to passe in all soules, then were they happy, but till then most unhappy.

And for that man that was said to be borne blinde, is Christ after the flesh in thee, which became thy selfe, who is conceived and borne in iniquity in thee to save thee; for thy father (which is the devill) is become his father and thy mother (which is lust) is become his mother; and Iesus Christ is that true Physitian that maketh himselfe see in thee, and Christ saying to his Disciples that the father of this blind man sinned not, nor the son, is meant that as he is Christ (the holy unction or anointing) he commeth of God, and is the Sonne of God, and God is his Father, and they be no sinners, neither he nor his Son; but Christ to shew the glory of God became this blinde man in us, and ope­ned his owne eyes in us, which see not in man any good thing till sinne is de­stroyed out of the man: so these holy eyes are blinde in us, till that time that Christ have destroyed sinne out of us, and then he openeth his owne eyes in us, which eyes then are ours which sinne had blinded in us before, so that we could not see with those righteous eyes, but made those eyes to us to bee the eyes of the wicked nature, through which we looked not as they were in deed and in truth (righteous and holy eyes) but as they seemed to us, in so much that we have taken the holy God to be that to us which he is not in himselfe, for our sinnes hath made us thinke him our enemy when as hee is our dearest, friend, that till our sinnes are destroyed he doth and will seeme so to us that which he is not in himselfe, for his eyes shall be blinde to us, and his ears deaf to us, so that he will neither see nor heare when we call and cry to him, be­cause there is a darke cloud of sinne that separateth him and us, and hee will not heare us till this cloud is taken out of the way, and that we become a true father and mother to him, for we have been wicked parents to him heretofore, and have brought him into all wickednesse and misery, and have killed him in suffering for us as if he had done all wickednesse, when as there was no guile found in his mouth, but is that innocent Lambe that was slaine in the begin­ning of thy world of sin.

Also thou art that woman that is bound with Sathan eighteen yeares, and art become double with his bonds untill thou goest to Christ, that he may loose thee from the bonds of Sathan, and make thee whole and streight again.

And thou art shee that hast that bloody issue of sinne for twelve yeares: O touch therefore his garment, his flesh or mortification, and thou shalt be made whole; and this garment is the law of sinne which cleanseth thee from sinne.

And thou art he that is possessed with legions of Devills or sinnes; O then [Page 55]let Christ by his mighty power cast him out of thee that thou mayest be in thy right minde againe.

And thou art the man possessed with a deafe and dumbe Devill, so that thou canst not speake to God, nor heare him when he speaketh to thee: O fast thou the true reall fast, which is from all thy sinnes) and pray to God continually, (with a broken and contrite heart and true sorrowfull spirit) then mayest thou speake to God and heare him when he speaks to thee.

And thou art or mayest be in that ship on that stormy sea, that is ready to sinck thy ship with its boisterous waves, for God and the Devill are at strife for thee, when thou hast once joyned thy selfe to God, and then beginneth the bloody warrs betwixt these two Kingdomes in thee, for when thy wick­ed world of sinne begins to be at an end, then is there Kingdom against King­dome, and nation against nation in thee, and stormy rageing seas roaring, so that the heart of thy man of sin begins to faile in thee, and Christ is asleepe in the cabbin (that is in thy inmost selfe, and is that still and soft voice) there­fore seeke for him and awake him that he may save thee, and calme these ra­ging stormy seas within thee, with his most still and soft voyce: and these are the seas that St. Paul did saile through, God, and the Devill the truth, and thely, which clasheth one against the other, and the humanitie is the ship that saileth betwixt those two seas and tasts of both and is broken, and the fore­part of that ship that stuck fast, (and was not hurt nor moved by the clashing waves of those seas) is the most holy and divine Godhead Jesus Christ with­in thee, which can indure, and is able to make thee indure (if thou stay in the ship with him) all the stormy seas of hell, death, and Devill. But the hinder part of the ship (which is the humanity,) must be broken because of our sinnes and transgressions, and must taste of death for sinnes cause, but nothing in the ship that stayes in it to indure this storme of death shall perish, and all the pri­soners that are bound in it shall be saved and swimme to shoare on the broken peeces of this ship: the true sence and consummation of all is, that when we have indured the battle till sin be destroyed, then do we enter into the most ho­ly life and are saved.

Now to read the history of Christs last supper how that the same was kept in an upper Chamber, and that he did eat bread, and drinke wine, and give of the same unto his disciples: and that he was whipt, scourged, and crowned with thornes, and how Judas sold him, and how that he was afraid to die, in­somuch that hee did sweate drops of blood, and that hee was nailed upon a Crosse, and was pierced through with a Spearel, so that there came forth of his side blood and water, and that at his death the sunne was darkened and the moone was put out, and that hee had gall and vi­negar [Page 56]to drinke, and that he was crucified betweene two theeves. This is the most holy and sacred mystery which is acted in the soule of every man that is saved; and this upper chamber is thy inmost selfe, and this bread and wine, is the bitter cup of Gods wrath and indignation whereof thy soul must drinke for the sinnes cause, and thou art not able of thy selfe to beare or drink this cup without some mighty power come to assist thee to doe it: now thy Judas or man of sinne that is raised up to destruction, hath sold the most inno­cent life into the hands of the wicked to suffer for thy sinnes; for the most in­nocent life commeth to thee in fearfulnesse and trembling, and thou being in him (in this feare and trembling) preparest thy selfe to suffer with him; and thy Judas, Devill or wicked nature commeth to thee as if he were thy friend; and now seeing that thou wilt leave him hee fawneth on thee as if hee loved thee and were thy friend, saluting thee as if it were with a kisse of love; but he selleth thee to the blinde Jewes to be killed and crucified of them, which Jewes are thy blinde selfe will that now crucifies thy selfe and Saviour within thee, and thy selfe will carries thy selfe and Saviour into condemnation (with thy condemning conscience) into the judgement hall of condemnation, where all thy sinnes riseth up against thee taunting, mocking and scourging thee, and crowning thee with the thornes of thy sinfull life, which pricketh and woundeth thee and thy Saviour with griefe for what thou hast done; so that thou and he art in a bitter agony and sweat of death, insomuch that thou desirest and wouldst faine have this bitter cup to passe from thee; but thou must indure it if thou wilt be saved, for Gods will must be done and not thine, for it is he that raiseth up all thy sinnes against thee to condemne thee, crowning, whipping and scourging thee with what thou hast done, so that thou must now taste of the death of thy sinnes or otherwise thou shalt never taste of the life of God, for the life of thy sinnes is the death of God in thee, and the life of God is the death to sinne; and thou and thy sinnes must be nailed to this crosse, which crosse is the patience and long suffering of Jesus Christ in thee, unto which thou and thy sinnes art nailed till thou art dead to thy sinnes, and thy sinnes to thee, for thy sinnes hath nailed thee and thy Saviour together, and hath pricked him and thee to the very heart, so that he and thou dost dye of those wounds, and he and thou cryest out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? and in the time of thy sufferings (or Iesus that makes thee in­dure this curse or shamefull reproach of thy sinnes according to thy due de­sert) the Son of glory, the life and brightnesse of the Godhead is darkened or put out, so that there is all darknesse, death and hell over the internall divine, and most holy world, till thy sinnes and thou art dead one unto another; so thou seest that the divine and most holy world is in hell under thy earthly be­ing [Page 57]till thy sinnes be destroyed; and being in hell under thy body of sinne and death, he raiseth up all thy sins against thee to condemne and shame thee, and shews thee what a partition wall is betwixt thee and him, which is the law of sinne and death that condemneth thee, alwaies rising against thee till sinne be destroyed: so the love of God to thee offers thee his power, which is Iesus Christ that enters into thee to destroy the body of sinne in thee, which body of sinne is the workes of the Devill that hath destroyed the body or works of God in thee. It is not the divine and holy God that is against thee, but it is thy sinnes that standeth in judgement against thee to condemne and arraigne thee, so that thou must goe under their judgement, condemnation and execu­tion for what thou hast done against God and goodnesse; for he it is not that is angry with thee, nor condemneth thee for he is that righteous and holy one that can indure all, and is one and the same for ever; nor can he be any other, for he cannot be moved to wrath or fury, for then were he changeable; but he is the unchangeable, and one and the same for ever; but the deeds that thou hast done (against that holy One that is so good to thee) slyeth in thy face crying vengeance against thee, and telling thee that thou must dye for what thou hast killed and cast away from thee, so till the law of sinne hath done his office and killed thee (for killing) and laid thee under the earth in hell (where thou hast laid the holy One) thou shalt never be at rest; for thou hast killed, but art loath to be killed; but thou must cast off this death or [...]p, other­wise thou shalt be ignorant of justice, for justice is to reward every one ac­cording to his workes, and as he hath done to another, whether good or evill; so the most holy One by his mighty power inlightens thee, and shews thee all thy sinnes how they slye in thy face against thee, and shews the justice of the law of sinne, and that thou must dye for thy evill deeds, the which worketh feare and trembling in thy heart, and then doest thou cry and morne for helpe and can finde none, till the goodnesse of God commeth to thee, taking pity and compassion on thee, and helpeth thee to indure the death of sinne for sinne in thee; so that now thou lyest on the patience of God till thou art freed from sinne, and the Devill lyeth upon the other side of the patience or crosse, and is that theefe that cannot repent, and thou art the other theefe that art repentant for what thou hast done, and so findest mercy, and in that day or light of mercy thou shalt enter into Paradise thy Masters joy, for now you have suffered together, you shall also rise and relgne toge­ther and enter into the joy together, which joy lyes into thy inmost self in the cave of thy earth, even there lyeth the most still and soft voice, which was not in the great windes that did blow downe the rocks of sinne, nor in that carthquake for sinne, nor in that fire that consumeth sinne in which God is [Page 58]lost to the man, for in that the man casteth the holy God from him, is the very thing that doth condemne him and rise against him, so that he can never be at rest nor quiet till he hath found God againe; and even thus doth God appeare to the man that which he is not in himselfe, even a consuming fire, as he saith in Thessalon. God sendeth them strong delusions that they should believe lies because they will not receive the love of the truth; for man thinketh that God is angry with him, and he neither can nor shall believe otherwise untill sinne be destroyed out of him, for God doth seem to appeare in thy sinnes as an an­gry judge, condemning thee till thou hast suffered under them and for them, and so worketh feare in thy heart, and all these angers that he seemeth to have against thee, and those feares that he worketh in thy heart, is for thy future good, and for the great love he hath to thee recalling thee from thy sinfull life, and when thou hast forsaken sinne, then he doth appeare to thee in his glori­ous, amiable and bright rayes full of sweet ravishing contents, and then thy Judas, Devill or sinnes hath condemned themselves in thee and with thee, and hath arraigned themselves at the barre of Gods justice, and then they hang themselves, in thee and breake their owne necks and brust their bowells a­sunder, and so there is an end of them to thee, and an end of thee to them, and then thou cryest to thy Father or God. It is finished, and so yeeldest up thy ghost or spirit into him, and the vaile (that is the flesh of Christ that divided betwixt the holy and most holy place) is rent in twaine from the top to the bottome, which vaile, death or flesh, is the long-sufferance and patience of Christ, that rasteth in us till our sinnes are extinguished and blotted out, and this standeth betwixt the holy place, and the Sanctum Sanctorum, and all that will be saved must taste of this flesh, death, patience, long-sufferance, bitter cup, agony, or bloudy sweat which stands before the holy of holies; and when wee have tasted this bitter death or cup, wee enter through this vaile, flesh or death of Christ (which is the new and living way) into the holy of holies, or Sanctum Sanctorum, which is the Kingdome of Heaven that is within you, and is peace, righteousnesse, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

Now when the flesh of Christ hath finished his course, then is he taken out of the way, and then cometh hee againe to thee the second time, and is thy holy Ghost or Spirit which leadeth thee into all truth, which truth is meekenesse, lowsinesse of Spirit, gentlenesse, lovingnesse, rejoycing in mind, ravishing thoughts, sweet contemplations, singing Hymnes and Halelujahs, praise and thanksgiving to the Holy Ghost for their victoriousnesse, and this is thy ra­vishing joy and comfort eternally, so that all the externall losses in this pre­sent world doth not trouble thee, for thy mind is not below on these perisha­ble things; for thou art dead to them and livest here as if thou livedst not, and [Page 59]useth all things here as if thou used them not, and if thou had all the honours and riches of this world thou wouldest dispise them, and think them but dung and drosse, for thou hast farre more excellent honour and riches then this world can affoorde, but if by chance the Godly have the riches of this world, as it is but a chance, seeing the Godly and ungodly oftentimes injoy them a­like here, he accounteth not the same his, but distributeth as he seeth need or necessity, as a faithfull steward, but the ungodly thinketh all that hee getteth here is his; and will suffer another to starve and perish by him, and in this thou may perceive a difference betwixt the Godly and ungodly, let them brag of their Christianity as much as they will, their workes show what they bee, but wee see what a Christian is, and what a difficult thing it is to be one, and how many difficulties he must runne through, before he attain to the perfecti­on to be a Christian.

Now to understand and read the history of the crucifying of Christ, of his condemnation, death, and buriall, what is this to thee or me, if we feele not the mystery of his condemnation, death, and buriall, his resurrection, ascention, and comming to judgement in me and with me, for if we doe not suffer with him, we shall not reigne with him? therefore let us dye and bee buried with him, that we may arise and ascend into the heaven with him, and from thence come to judge the quick and the dead, which dead is the sinnes that is dead and lost for ever out of us: and the quicke, is the living righteousnesse to raign in us for ever; therefore unlesse I see the mystery of these things wrought in me, the history thereof can do me no good, for in the history of the death of Christ, is shewed a great deale of weakenesse, for it is said that hee was so mightily afraid of death, that he did sweat drops of blood, and all the wrath of his Father did but extend to the death of the externall manhood upon the Crosse, but it seemeth strange to me (that hee that had the power of heaven and earth) should be so much afraid of an externall and bodily death, when there hath beene many since that have dyed for their religion, and for his sake more terrible deaths: being drawn to peeces with wild horses, fleyed, bur­ned alive, broyled, roasted, boyled in lead, and all the terrible deaths that could be devised by wicked and devillish men to put them to, as is made men­tion of in the booke of Martyrs, yet there was seene no such weaknesse in them, but they went to their deaths cheerfully, thinking themselves happy to suffer for his sake: Wherefore you may easily perceive, that there is a greater mystery in the same which few doe see or discerne.

For my part I do not deny the history of the Scripture, but doe beleeve that those things were acted upon the Theater of this externall world, to shew to us what is acted upon the Theater of our internall world; but if we [Page 60]looke upon the hystory of Scripture, as things acted by other men, and take no more notice of it, we deceive our selves, for all the hystories points upon us, and we are the man intended; for when Nathan the Prophet came to Da­vid, he seemed to speake to him of another, when as hee meant himselfe, and David did conclude what the action represented to him in the person of ano­ther (by Nathan) was unjust, not thinking that the Prophet intended himself but another, and so judged him to death: but when the Prophet said it was himself; and that he was the man; hee was sorry, and loth to dye himselfe, although he did judge the other to death, and thought he deserved death justly: but in condemning the other he judged himselfe. Therefore wee are the men that are to be condemned or saved, according as our deservings are, and the Scri­pture is the reall truth, and is our true Nathan the Prophet that tells us what we have done, but he tells us our selves in histories, and in the person of others, to try how farre we condemne others, and justifie our selves, but when wee condemne others we condemne our selves, for wee are the guiltie and that wicked man, therefore looke into the scripture as if it were thy owne soule, for all that is written there, is written in thy selfe: and there is the two ta­bles, the table of stone, (thy stony heart) that is ingraven with a rough penne and with a thundering voice, which is the whole worke and curse of the law for thy sinnes, and the other table is the heart of flesh, which is soft and mel­teth at the word that is written in thee, and is ready to obey all the words of the commandements that speaketh in thee: but the table of stone (thy diso­bedient and stony heart) must be broken for thy sinne and disobedience cause, and for thy Idolatries and all thy sinnes riseing up against thee, crying venge­ance, so that thy God (or goodnesse in his great zeale) throweth downe thy stony heart, breaking it to peeces, and burneth up all thy Idoll Gods to pow­der, makeing thee drinke up their ashes (which is to make thee taste of the death and losse of them) and still his zeale is so great towards thee, that hee maketh thee sheath thy sword into thy brothers belly, which brother is thy nearest selfe will or thy darling sinnes, so when thou hast fulfilled the will of thy Jelous God, he returneth to his place where hee was before, and the ta­bles of stone or stony heart is turned to flesh, and is obedient to the will of God and keepeth his commandements, the which I wish all Soules may do for their soules health and safety.

There be many at this time that looke externally for an infallible spirit, when as the infallible spirit is internall in the soule of every man, for the same spirit is Jesus Christ▪ the word of life that is neare thee, even in thy heart and mouth to do it, and to be obedient unto the same; and he is that pearle hid in the field of thy heart, for which thou must sell all that thou hast to purchase this field that thou mayest injoy that pearle.

And there are others that thinke that the externall body is the soule, and that it must dye and must answer for sinne by that death, and that it must rise a­gaine at the last day by Christ; therefore God cannot be their God whilst their body is dead, for he is not the God of the dead but of the living; then whilst they live here they may live as they list, and commit what sinnes they will, for their body dying which they take for the soul) doth make satisfaction for their sinne, which of necessity must draw this consequence, that if one man kill a­nother he doth but the will of God, for he saith, the soul that sinneth must dye: I wonder much what those people (that hold such opinions) can say or think of little children that dye in the wombe, or as soon as they are borne certain­ly no man in reason can say that their soule hath sinned, but you will alleadge their parents have sinned for them, as others have said; if it be so, the sinne of one condemneth a great many that of themselves hath not sinned, the which to me appeareth to be altogether against reason and justice, and is against the nature of God to condemne the children for the sinne of the parents, for Ezkiel saith 18. that this proverb should be no more in israel, that the fa­thers had eaten four grapes, and the childrens teeth are set on edge; at he saith that every soule standeth upon his owne bottome or its owne selfe, and the four [...] that sinneth shall dye: also there are many creatures or bodies (which they call soules) that are drowned in the sea, and divers fishes have fed upon that body, or that which they call the soul, and these fishes have concocted or digested the soule of this man, and it is turned into the flesh of a fish, and af­terwards this fish is taken, and another man or soule eats this fish which is the concocted soule of the other man, so that his soule is made fat and increased thereby, the one soule by eating the other, and Caniballs which are men, eat other men and are fed thereby: now when the soules of all these men are dead and concocted in those that have eat them, how shall every one have his own proper soule at the last day when all the soules shall arise? I would willingly hear it proved by good reason how every one can have his owne soule againe, seeing they are all concocted and digested one in another: but perhaps you will say we must believe against reason, which is consequently that we must believe an absurdity; and the Apostle St. Paul desireth to be delivered from unreasonable men, which were absurd and did believe against reason, for all men have not faith whose foundation is grounded upon reason; this body which they call the soule is dead without the spirit, as St. James witnesseth in the second Chap. where he saith, that as the body without the spirit is dead, even so is faith without workes; by which Scripture it is manifest, that the bo­dy without the soul or spirit is dead, and as is said before, God cannot be their God, because their body (which they tearm the soul is dead, so as he ceaseth to [Page 62]be their God while they are dead, all which is contrary to sense, reason and Scripture, where it is said that he is the living God, and the God of the living and not of the dead; also it is contrary to sense and reason in this, that that which is the God, good, felicity, or chiefe happinesse of those that live, and are rationall and sensible of the same, cannot in sense, reason or Scripture, be said to be the joy, happinesse, or God of the dead, because he is not sensible or capable of any joy, felicity or happinesse at all.

THe summe of all, and the whole discourse of this Book is, that we should feare to disobey the holy God, but keep all his Commandements which is the whole duty of man, and to live a pure, exact, just and holy life, not doing to any man what we would not have done to us, but doing all the good to a­nother that we would have done to us; and this is the infallible Spirit, Jesus Christ, the power of God in us, which directs, corrects, instructs, perswades, and makes us wise unto salvation; for he is the holy word of life unto us, and he is the Father, Elder, true Bishop, and high Priest of our soules; so that we need no other Father, Elder, Bishop, nor high Priest, but this holy Iesus Christ in us, for he is the holy unction that we have from above, and the holy One that teacheth us all things, and discovers all mysteries unto us, leading us into all truth, if so be that we are obedient unto him; but if we are not obedi­ent unto this infallible Spirit Iesus Christ in us, then wee shall know nothing of God or of the Scripture, but it shall be a sealed book, a dead letter, and see­ming contradiction unto us: but I hope we shall all learne and bee taught of him, and declare every one to his friend and neighbour what the Lord (the infallible Spirit) hath done for his poore soule, saying, What we have lear­ned, heard, felt and tasted of the good word of life, that will we declare unto you.