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<TEMPHEAD>
<REVDESCR>
<CHANGE>
<DATE>2014-07-02</DATE>
<RESPSTMT>
<NAME>Kate Allen</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
</RESPSTMT>
<ITEM>Checklist: x *Add TEMPHEAD, change DATE, validate x*Review over structure: FRONT,BODY, BACK, DIV or rarely GROUP x*Add DIV TYPEs, make sure that @types makes sense as a navigational aide, and work in the context of the whole text, validate x*Survey book for troublesome formats of all kinds, including lists, illustrations, tables, music, math, end-notes, quasi-tabular arrangments, and marginalia. x*Proof title page(s) x*Examine marginalia. Is it all best tagged as NOTE? x*Observe divtop and divbottom material marking beginnings and ends of divisions, check that they are correctly tagged as HEAD, HEADNOTE, CLOSER, OPENER, ARGUMENT, EPIGRAPH, SIGNED, DATELINE, BYLINE, TRAILER, etc. x*Check for GAPs x*Check PB placement and completeness, ensure sequence of N="" x*Check ^, oe, abq, italic I / J, _Initals, space between &amp;c., -- x*Check for illustrations and correct usage of FIGURE. Add FIGDESCs if necessary. x*Check q, startq, endq, Q
*Correct excusable and inexcusable errors x*If appropriate, check for yoghs. x*If appropriate, check for Latin problems, e.g. oe and ae digraphs x*If appropriate, check for abbreviation and brevigraph problems. x*If appropriate, check for units of measure, symbols (alchemical, astronomical, etc.) and the like. x*Correct illegibles from proofsheet x*Check illegible page, para, line, span, word, dollar signs
*Final validate Corrected [ ] illegible groups out of [ ]. Converted [ ] illegible groups to GAP DESC="illegible". DONE</ITEM>
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<EEBO>
<IDG S="marc" R="UM" ID="B25706">
<STC T="W">L763A_VARIANT</STC>
<BIBNO T="umi">99832619</BIBNO>
<VID>206625</VID>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>LAZARVS AND HIS SISTERS Di&s;cour&s;ing of PARADISE: OR, A Conference about the excellent things of the other WORLD.</P>
<P><HI>LONDON</HI> Printed, and are to be &s;old at the three Bibles at the We&s;t end of <HI>Pauls,</HI> 1655.</P>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="dialogue">
<PB REF="2">
<PB N="1" REF="2">
<HEAD><HI>LAZARVS</HI> AND HIS SISTERS Di&s;cour&s;ing of PARADISE: OR, A Conference about the ex|cellent things of the other World.</HEAD>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>_MAry.</SPEAKER>
<P><HI>It is an e&s;pecial wonderfull favour from Ie&s;us, to thy two poor &s;i&s;ters, to have opportunity to &s;peak again with thee, even with thee that art ri&s;en from the dead; Ah, my Brother (my altered Brother</HI> Lazarus) <HI>tell me &s;omewhat of heaven and happine&s;s, and of the
<PB N="2" REF="3">world to come, and of my &s;oul, and where it go|eth when it departeth out of the body; for thou ha&s;t had experience for four dayes thereof.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Lazarus.</SPEAKER>
<P><HI>Mary,</HI> The dead may &s;peak in another manner then the living do; I am re|&s;tored to thee again, and to thy &s;i&s;ter, for the information of the faithfull under the Sun, and as a witne&s;s for Ie&s;us Chri&s;t, again&s;t the whole world of unbelievers and Athei&s;ts, that know not the inhabitants of eternity, nor them that dwell in heaven, in earth.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Mary.</SPEAKER>
<P><HI>Where then do the &s;ouls of people go when they are out of the body: for thencefor|wards we hear nothing from them, nor they from us in this life (that we know of) and which way do &s;pirits go out?</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Lazarus.</SPEAKER>
<P>Immortall &s;ouls do not go out at the mouth, for they came not in at that entrance; the way &s;ouls come into their bo|dies the &s;ame way they go out. But the world and Chri&s;tians have hitherto been much blin|ded, in this matter, that &s;o much concerneth their whole &s;ub&s;tance and being of their &s;oul and body, not knowing the eternall nature with us, which is the very root of us (in which we all live, and move, and have our be|ings) but they ignorantly conceit, when they &s;ee the fome of the gall go out at the mouth (of &s;ome more vi&s;ibly) that it is the &s;oul de|parting:
<PB N="3" REF="3">whereas the &s;pirits and &s;ouls of all people enter fir&s;t into the naturall root of their own tree, into the bottom of their own naturall con&s;titution, in the great deep. I am <HI>Lazarus,</HI> and though dead, yet I &s;peak as <HI>A|bel;</HI> yea, it is po&s;sible for &s;ome on earth (whe|ther in the body, or out of the body, they cannot tell) to demon&s;trate to others the e&s;tate of &s;ouls, if they them&s;elves be pa&s;&s;ed quite through the gulf of the new-birth; for that &s;pirit once born in man, &s;earcheth all things, yea, the deeps of God.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Mary.</SPEAKER>
<P><HI>But do not &s;pirits go out in time of death at the five &s;en&s;es, and &s;o at the eyes, mouth, and through the re&s;t of tho&s;e parts (as now in this life they run forth through the &s;en&s;es, and man can hardly retain them within?</HI>)</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Lazarus.</SPEAKER>
<P>Think not &s;o at thy perill; for while man is in this life, he is putting forth through the life which is &s;en&s;uall, by rea&s;on of the fir&s;t fall; but at his departure from the body, he is drawing inward to his root, as a tree in Winter. But this withdrawing is by degrees; for as ye may &s;ee &s;ome bodies &s;ome at the mouth, and &s;well at the belly, after that the breath is gone out of their no&s;trils, which is a plain proof, even to meer men, that all life is not then out of the body; for no life, no working; but for that time the &s;oul is
<PB N="4" REF="4">gone to the heart (the mans fir&s;t and la&s;t li|ving corporeity) &s;o from the heart it doth by the like graduall withdrawing, walk &s;ome turns on the face of the great deep, in the inward elements (being withdrawn from the outward, as from its exteriour branch, like limbs) before it goes into eternity, unle&s;s it be ha&s;tened by the prevalency of light and dark|ne&s;s within it &s;elf; and yet every &s;oul goeth quick to eternity, yea, very &s;uddenly, without delay, con&s;idering the while it mu&s;t tarry there.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Mary.</SPEAKER>
<P><HI>Do all &s;ouls travell the &s;ame way, or the &s;ame pace in their way?</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Lazarus.</SPEAKER>
<P>No, becau&s;e they are not of the &s;ame nature, they have not the &s;ame guilt of &s;in one as another, and &s;o they &s;ink not &s;o &s;oon as &s;ome do; or they have not the &s;ame &s;trengthened wings of heavenly de&s;ires in earne&s;t; for as the hearts de&s;ires to good or evill are &s;tronger or weaker, even &s;o the &s;pi|rit of the heart of man &s;hall ha&s;ten to his pre|pared lodging in eternity; they that are cloa|thed with the Divine nature, pa&s;s through the fire into God. And through that fire no unclean or mixed &s;pirits could ever pa&s;s; and for any to dream of another foundation in this matter, is a vanity and vexation of &s;pirit.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Mary.</SPEAKER>
<P><HI>Brother</HI> Lazarus, <HI>What pain had&s;t
<PB N="5" REF="4">thou in and after thy late corporeal lamented death?</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Lazarus.</SPEAKER>
<P>I know my words may be abu|&s;ed by many, yet hear, or hear not, I will te&s;tifie: my naturall life was put out like a candle, or as if one did fall a&s;leep into &s;en&s;i|ble vi&s;ions of the night But <HI>(Mary)</HI> thou do&s;t remember that Ie&s;us loved me, and I love him again dearly: otherwi&s;e my &s;pirit &s;hould not have been &s;o ea&s;ie in and after my departure. I found my &s;elf full of thoughts, but very quiet, having no lu&s;t, or will, or motion of my own, but my mind breathed in Gods own will all the while; I waited only for his plea&s;ure in the quiet region of holy Angels, hearing (by an inward ear) the heavenly melody, and &s;eeing (with the &s;pirit of my mind) the unutterable wonders of the God-head: It was a &s;leep to me, yet I was very &s;en&s;ible all the while of the love of God, and of my own nothing|ne&s;s; &s;o &s;weet was it, that I never felt be|fore, nor &s;ince the like; becau&s;e Ie&s;us loved me fir&s;t, I &s;lept and nodded in his love, not in his wrath.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Mary.</SPEAKER>
<P><HI>Brother, The people expect to hear much news from thee that wa&s;t dead and buried four dayes, and many hone&s;t hearts would gladly know where, or into what life their &s;ouls will pa&s;s, as
<PB N="6" REF="5">where thine was, what thou did&s;t think of, wha<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="right margin cropped or obscured" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1+ letters"> thou dide&s;t &s;ee and hear, which fle&s;h and blood cannot; yea, &s;ome now deny the immortality of the &s;oul, &s;uppo&s;ing thou wert as if thou had&s;t ne|ver been: al&s;o, &s;ome feel not their own minds, nor any thoughts in them at all, when they are &s;woun|ding or &s;leeping, or in a convul&s;ion, or &s;tunned, or wounded in the head, yet they come to them&s;elves afterwards.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Lazarus.</SPEAKER>
<P>I am ri&s;en from the dead, yet the people (thou &s;ee&s;t) care not what I &s;ay; for unle&s;s they hear <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and the Prophets, it is in vain for me to &s;peak to &s;uch, although I have &s;een by experience what the Pro|phets have writ of. My dear and deep Lord Je&s;us told them &s;o in his parable of <HI>Dives,</HI> and of my brother <HI>Lazarus</HI> (who is yet where I was, and not returned where I am.) Yet if tho&s;e knew they &s;hould return as I did, they would po&s;&s;ibly be content to be ab|&s;ent four dayes from their bodies; but let them be ab&s;ent four hours from &s;elf (that wo|full body, and hou&s;e &s;elf) and they &s;hall &s;ee what I have &s;een, and hear what I have heard; for I have &s;een the root of the immortality of the &s;oul in God him&s;elf; and how every Angel, every man, yea, every foul, fi&s;h, bea&s;t, plant, mettall, or other Creatures, all grow up from their root, all &s;pring from their
<PB N="7" REF="5">fountain, every one in his kind, as at the re|&s;urrection.</P>
<P>This doctrine all proud Prie&s;ts (fal&s;ly cal|led Saints) will laugh at as notions; they will not &s;ee it, but they &s;hall feel it after their death; for they are proud, knowing no|thing; they &s;ee not how God is the father of all this world, and of all &s;pirits in it; &s;ome are his immediate off-&s;pring, and &s;ome more remote: All Saints are his children, grow|ing on the &s;ame tree of God, and in him as he is properly called God: all the naturall &s;pirits of <HI>Adams</HI> children, are chil|dren removed; and &s;ome other &s;pirits of creatures, and things are yet farther di&s;tant in nature from his being. The blind guides are drunk with vain traditions without, and no|tions within, of their naturall or &s;pirituall fa|thers (as they call them) they &s;ee not, neither will they under&s;tand how all this Creation came out of God (as a birth of time, from the womb of eternity) and that of him are all things, as my beloved <HI>Paul</HI> &s;aith, They know not God that &s;itteth on the circle of the earth, in the chair of the center of this creati|on; they think and teach their di&s;ciples, that heaven and hell are far off from them in this world, &s;omewhere above the firmament, or under the earth; but they con&s;ider not that
<PB N="8" REF="6">God in heaven, or Satan in hell is in them, in their own hearts and minds, and that real|ly and eternally.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Mary.</SPEAKER>
<P><HI>But I am &s;till doubtfull, how one &s;hould be dead four dayes, and not be all that while in the highe&s;t heaven, nor in the nether|mo&s;t hell, or not &s;en&s;ible of &s;omewhat to &s;peak of to others more then ordinary.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Lazarus.</SPEAKER>
<P>Why do&s;t thou <HI>(Mary)</HI> run about as a &s;wift Dromedary, traver&s;ing her wayes? Do&s;t thou not yet &s;ee that either heaven or hell beginneth in every heart in this life? What is heaven, but a fixed &s;weet heavenly eternall nature, in and with Gods love? What hell can be more helli&s;h then a fixed fiery malicious gnawing dunghill na|ture and condition of a &s;oul excommunica|ted from the plea&s;ant love of God? Do&s;t thou fir&s;t of all con&s;ider what a &s;oul or mind is? It can &s;tep in a minute, yea, in the twink|ling of an eye, millions of miles, as to a lo|cality (it is far &s;wifter then the wind, and no room or locality can contain it.) Do&s;t thou not &s;ee how the Bats and Blind-guides &s;et forth heaven as a place they know not them&s;elves, where above or about the orbe of this world it is, nor who, nor what is there? They may &s;ooner makes &s;hooes for the whirlwinde, and provide a bed-chamber in &s;ome outward hou&s;e for the winds
<PB N="9" REF="6">of the heavens, then a locality for the mind and &s;oul of one departed; they know not their own &s;pirits, neither do they note the ranges and cha&s;es of their own thoughts, &s;leeping and waking all day and all night: he that knoweth not what his mind is, how can he di&s;cern what the man&s;ion and dwelling place of his mind mu&s;t be? Of what materials is that hou&s;e made? O <HI>Mary,</HI> think not of places, but under&s;tand thy own thoughts (though (mark this al&s;o) beyond the compa&s;s of the Creation of God, there is that which is uncreated; for the creature is not eternity, and in eternity there is no place, neither time nor change.) Now where is that that is mo&s;t fitting thy affections? Thou &s;aye&s;t it is above, and thou &s;aye&s;t true. It is above thy apprehen&s;ions. And what is that above? Is it a place? It is not. Is not this Heaven, Earth and Sea, all one piece of Gods workman&s;hip, round as a globe? Is not our firmament above (as thou fancie&s;t) to them that live in our Antipodes, who yet lift up their eyes to heavens over them where they live and breath? And did not Ie&s;us Chri&s;t, &s;tanding in <HI>Pale&s;tina,</HI> lift up his face to pray? And &s;hall they in the other &s;ide of the globe of the earth, look a&s;quint or downwards with their bodily eyes? (I &s;peak all this to
<PB N="10" REF="7">thy under&s;tanding) and Chri&s;t would have thee when thou praye&s;t, to look into the &s;ame heavens which we &s;aw open when he pray|ed. He as Mediator &s;aw the father to be above him, and looked to that nature (or to him who is God by nature, as <HI>Paul</HI> &s;aith) filling the lower as well, and as e&s;&s;entially as the upper part of the earth or heaven. Do not follow fal&s;e fancies of heaven, paradi&s;e, &amp; the upper countreyes of God, but get thou up thy heart to the upper and higher things, even the things that are at the right hand, and high e&s;teem of the invi&s;ible, incomprehen&s;i|ble being; for &s;pirits departed enter deeper in|to their own root, whether it be good or evil.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Martha.</SPEAKER>
<P><HI>Do&s;t thou my brother Ju&s;tifie the Pa|pi&s;ts Purgatory at all? Do&s;t thou give a re&s;urre|ction to that doctrine that lay long dead among the Prote&s;tants?</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Lazarus.</SPEAKER>
<P>I ju&s;tifie not their conceits of me|rits at all, nor their &s;everal Limbus, and cham|bers of torments; yea, when they talk of pur|gatory, they know not what it is, nor where it is (whether in the air, earth or &s;ea) nor who are tormented there, nor who torments them, nor how far they go in, nor when they may come out; they dream, but cannot give account of what they hold: and both Papi&s;ts and Prote&s;tants &s;peak very much of what they neither know experimentally,
<PB N="11" REF="7">nor yet by a certain fore&s;ight; Now I &s;ay that the godly &s;ouls immediately are in paradi&s;e without their bodies, but not in the mo&s;t per|fect eternall &s;tate, till God be all in all.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Martha.</SPEAKER>
<P><HI>Do&s;t thou di&s;tingui&s;h between heaven and paradi&s;e? what ground is there for this?</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Lazarus.</SPEAKER>
<P>It is plain. The repenting thief on the cro&s;s was that day with Chri&s;t in Pa|radi&s;e (which is the Kingdom of Chri&s;t, the fifth Monarch) but not in highe&s;t joy or hea|ven, till his body came to him. And it is evi|dent that Chri&s;ts paradi&s;e will fir&s;t be re|vealed in the la&s;t dayes, before he deliver up the Kingdom to the father, that &s;o Chri&s;t fir&s;t, and the father after may be all in all.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Martha.</SPEAKER>
<P><HI>What doth the word paradi&s;e &s;ignifie?</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Lazarus.</SPEAKER>
<P>As <HI>Eden</HI> doth in one language &s;ignifie plea&s;ure and private re&s;t with God, &s;o doth paradi&s;e in another. The figure of it was a plot of ground in <HI>Me&s;opotamia,</HI> that is (be|ing interpreted) between the four rivers mentioned by <HI>Mo&s;es.</HI> In it were two chief trees, figuring two natures, and there our fir&s;t parents al&s;o before their fall, lived in the paradi&s;icall nature, without &s;in, or &s;weat, or mixtures of &s;orrows, cares and fears; of which inward nature that outward paradi&s;e was but a &s;hadow, yet reall repre&s;entation. Now that nature is near every one of us eve|rywhere
<PB N="12" REF="8">in this life time, and not far from any of us. But thou <HI>Martha</HI> being full of dung|hill cares and vexations of this world, can&s;t not perceive this land that is very far off from the worldly, neither do the eyes of thy mind &s;ee the King in his beauty, &s;itting in his throne here: But as for thy thought and mind, while it &s;hould walk on the earth, it &s;inketh over brea&s;t into it, and is fitter for earth then heaven.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Martha.</SPEAKER>
<P><HI>Who is fit for paradi&s;e?</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Lazarus.</SPEAKER>
<P>They that are dead to this world, and the world crucified to them. If thou <HI>(Martha)</HI> continue thy thoughts in the thorn-hedge of this world, thou can&s;t not go in there; None enter into heaven but &s;uch as are made meet for that inheritance before|hand: and &s;uppo&s;e thou wert admitted there, art thou able <HI>(Martha)</HI> to abide in heaven, and to dwell with the everla&s;ting burnings?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Martha.</SPEAKER>
<P><HI>Yea, I tru&s;t I could gladly &s;tay and abide in heaven, if I could once get in through the gate?</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Lazarus.</SPEAKER>
<P>Light cannot &s;tay in darkne&s;s; for when the night cometh, the day flieth away; when death comes, life is gone; when cold cometh, heat taketh its leave; when &s;ad|ne&s;s entereth, then joy is turned into mourn|ing; and if thou be darkne&s;s, and night, and
<PB N="13" REF="8">death, and dirt, and a meer muckworm, laden with thick clay; how can&s;t thou in|habit the mo&s;t excellent glory and light in the greate&s;t clarity, and everla&s;ting burn|ings? Is it fit for a bea&s;t to be Lord of a cu|rious garden, or for the night to intrude in|to the Sun? Or for &s;in and &s;inners to get into Gods bo&s;ome or paradi&s;e? Examine thy own thoughts: Go, try, kneel and pray to God in &s;ecret, and there &s;ee whether thou can&s;t keep thy mind one hour, or one half hour, yea, or one quarter of an hour upon God and good things only, without &s;teal|ing out, and thinking of the world, and the lu&s;ts, or bu&s;ine&s;&s;es, or hopes, or fears, or things of this life; and now thou wilt &s;ay thy &s;elf, that thou art full of wandring thoughts, even in prayer before God. How then can that mind &s;tay with God in hea|ven (if it were admitted there) until fir&s;t its vagabonding principle be changed? and if it mu&s;t have a change of nature and thoughts, when &s;hall it be? why not now? wilt thou put it to the adventure at the hour of death? Grim death (mi&s;take it not) is no &s;uch Savi|our as will change any &s;oul or &s;pirit in its gate of pa&s;&s;age; for it leaves the mind in the nature where he found it; only his work is <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 word"> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ut and loo&s;en the corporeal marriage-knot
<PB N="14" REF="9">between &s;oul and body; that only is the office of death that is abroad as executi|oner of wrath: or wilt thou (poor &s;oul) ad|venture on the Popi&s;h purpagory? (that fal&s; meritorious fiery airy pit) yea, thou art like to delay. O <HI>Martha,</HI> thou art a&s;leep in earth, the bottomle&s;s pit is not awakened in thee; thou art in the world &s;noring in the &s;nare for the pre&s;ent. Thou would&s;t fain &s;erve two Ma&s;ters; thy combu&s;tible wit is pleading for the things of time, and lawfull callings and occa&s;ions, to the forgetting of the things of Eternity. Thou art lull'd a&s;leep with the plea&s;ant &s;ong of fle&s;h, earth and deceit; but thou &s;pende&s;t all thy time in a continued dream. O Lord Je&s;us, that ha&s;t awaked me (by thy mighty voice of power) out of the &s;leep of the grave; do thou awake poor <HI>Martha</HI> (whom thou knowe&s;t) out of her &s;leep and incumbrances; touch her from hea|ven, and rouze up her &s;pirit, that &s;he may once forget the vanities and vexations of &s;pi|rit that are in this outward creation.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Martha.</SPEAKER>
<P><HI>But for all this, Is it not lawfull for us, and nece&s;&s;ary to follow our callings, and live hone&s;tly in our imployments?</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Lazarus.</SPEAKER>
<P>Thou &s;eeke&s;t an excu&s;e, and a cloak for thy covetou&s;ne&s;s; not thy hand only, but thy heart al&s;o is in the mire and
<PB N="15" REF="9">dirt of earth; I &s;ay all ought diligently to attend to God in &s;ome outward convenient calling to the good of all, to the hurt of <GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="left margin cropped or obscured" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 span"> one; but let them u&s;e the world as though they u&s;ed it not (and pick it as a dry bone, &amp; let the mind be always fixed upon intellectu|al angelicall glories.) But thou art &s;erious where thou &s;hould&s;t be trifling, and thy mind is planted in the world, as a tree planted in a dunghill; if &s;ome fine creatures which thou <GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="left margin cropped or obscured" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1+ letters">ove&s;t be taken away from thee, a piece of <GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="left margin cropped or obscured" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1+ letters">hy heart goeth with them along, and &s;uch a rented heart cannot dwell in heaven. If thou &s;hould&s;t &s;tand at the &s;acred entrance, God would cry and &s;ay to thee, If thou come here to the heaven of my holine&s;s, here is no worldly lu&s;ts, no wanton lu&s;ts, no envi|ous lu&s;ts, there is not a bit of food &s;utable to that nature, thou maye&s;t &s;tarve in heaven for any meat that nature can find there in eter|nity; and al&s;o thou &s;halt in hell finde none of thy &s;weet lu&s;ts, for there is nothing of that in hell but bitter angui&s;h. And for the outward world, thou can&s;t now no more for ever feed upon that third table; for thy bo|dy (which is the mouth of that life of this &s;en&s;uall world) is in the grave an unfit in&s;tru|ment to convey to the mind any outward comfort; and thus the naturall mind falleth into a perpetual di&s;traction, by rea&s;on of an
<PB N="16" REF="10">eternall hungring after that which it cannot enjoy nor reach to, and &s;o becomes a wan|dering vagabond, and a rogue before the face of the Iudge for ever and ever; and all this becau&s;e the &s;pirit of the heart is &s;trongly wedded, and &s;weetly married to the &s;pirit o<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="right margin cropped or obscured" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1+ letters"> this great world, and cannot willingly par<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="right margin cropped or obscured" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1+ letters"> with it, and yet it mu&s;t depart; and this ma|keth a &s;ore rupture, and rent in the minde, which will torment for ever.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Mary.</SPEAKER>
<P><HI>O Brother</HI> Lazarus, <HI>Thou &s;aye&s;t true, we are wofully bu&s;ie about this vain &s;elfi&s;h world; this world is a witch, and unle&s;s he that rai&s;ed thee from the dead &s;peak to us, we remain bewitched out of our right minds. He &s;pake to me, and I &s;at at his feet in the hou&s;e within (in the inward Temple) but my &s;i&s;ter ran into the outward court, riding on the wheels of the &s;pirit of this pre&s;ent world, as</HI> Demas.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Lazarus.</SPEAKER>
<P>Do&s;t thou ju&s;tifie thy &s;elf, O <HI>Mary?</HI> The fir&s;t may be la&s;t; <HI>Mary</HI> may halt, and <HI>Martha</HI> may come forwards; the &s;ame evil nature thou e&s;pye&s;t in her, is with thee as really as in her. Thou &s;eeme&s;t to boa&s;t of thy &s;itting at Chri&s;ts feet; but what ha&s;t thou learnt?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Mary.</SPEAKER>
<P><HI>He opened many wondrous things in the hou&s;e, I need not tell thee, nor tho&s;e that live in the &s;pirit he &s;pake by; for one &s;pirit through all
<PB N="17" REF="10">things revealeth all things to one people that walk in the green heavenly way hand in hand, with that only one true di&s;coverer: he is I believe but one, and di&s;cerneth them that are fled out of this life, as clearly as he doth tho&s;e that breath in the air of time, for as night is as day with him, &s;o al&s;o the life of many is one, and death of all is but one death al&s;o. But how do&s;t thou clearly prove it to me, that I have in me the &s;ame nature as</HI> Martha <HI>hath? and how may I be la&s;t that once was fir&s;t? and how wilt thou convince me that I am a boa&s;ter?</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Lazarus.</SPEAKER>
<P>If thou could&s;t commune with thy own heart, and dwell with thy &s;elf a lit|tle while, thou would &s;oon &s;ee that boa&s;ting and &s;pirituall pride hath blo&s;&s;omed and bud|ded in thy own garden, and that thou art confident in fine fle&s;h and outward var|ni&s;h; a boa&s;ter remembreth his own feathers, he de&s;pi&s;eth others attainments, he in&s;ulteth in words or in carriage, and mo&s;t of all in &s;welling thoughts known in his bo&s;ome: Yea, the woman compares her &s;elf with her &s;elf, not with Chri&s;t, nor with pure &s;potle&s;s angels; &s;he is as proud in the dunghill of her vile body, as if &s;he were above all the &s;tars of God; and the man boa&s;ter al&s;o thinketh he hath got the vanguard of all Saints be|&s;ides; he &s;aith he judgeth all things, and all
<PB N="18" REF="11">&s;ouls (though he never heard the words of the la&s;t eternal judgement of God;) he con|demneth in another what he alloweth to creep into him&s;elf (as thou <HI>Mary</HI> do&s;t de&s;pi&s;e thy fellow-branch <HI>Martha</HI>) for though ye be two &s;i&s;ters in nature, yet ye have two natures that are common to both.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Mary.</SPEAKER>
<P><HI>I know not what thou &s;aye&s;t; how can natures be thus in common, and yet divided? for by this rule all will be in pieces, and every one mu&s;t fall out and be broken within him&s;elf, and &s;o no mortall man or woman can have peace on earth.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Lazarus.</SPEAKER>
<P>Thou &s;aye&s;t true, &s;in is the &s;ting of death, and of the con&s;cience too; none can enjoy perfect peace till he be perfect, <HI>for there is no peace to the wicked, &s;aith my God:</HI> no &s;miles upon the wicked nature in <HI>Abra|ham, David, Peter, Paul,</HI> or any other; and until thou be in pieces in thy &s;elf, thou can&s;t not be united to God and his life. Sin will not be de&s;troyed but in a war; a war cannot be till there be fir&s;t a falling out be|tween two natures within; all is at peace within the heart, while Satan is not re&s;i&s;ted; &s;o much corruption, &s;o much &s;eed for divi|&s;ion; &s;o far as any is at peace with &s;elf, he is in war with God: but when any is &s;o re&s;olved to fight with his own lu&s;ts, as ne|ver
<PB N="19" REF="11">to leave pur&s;uit till they be conquered, &s;uch a one hath the inward &s;tillne&s;s and bo|&s;om of <HI>Abraham.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Mary.</SPEAKER>
<P><HI>I hear they &s;peak much of</HI> Abrahams <HI>bo&s;ome that is mentioned by Je&s;us; and this is a main u&s;efull que&s;tion I would ask thee, even thee that ha&s;t been traveller in the inward world. What is</HI> Abrahams, <HI>bo&s;ome where</HI> Lazarus <HI>was carried from the dogs and gates of</HI> Dives, <HI>the rich dainty glutton?</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Lazarus.</SPEAKER>
<P>By <HI>Abrahams</HI> bo&s;ome (thou wilt hear divers &s;ay) is meant an inward fami|liarity (as of the wife of the bo&s;ome, which phra&s;e is u&s;ed of <HI>Uriahs</HI> wife, al&s;o of <HI>Abi&s;hag,</HI> and of <HI>Hagar</HI> before) in the bo&s;ome lyeth a a welcome gue&s;t, (as <HI>John</HI> in Chri&s;ts bo&s;ome, and Je&s;us in the Fathers bo&s;ome) or a fickly child (as weak lambs in the &s;hepheards bo|&s;ome) where there is &s;pecial owning and care for pre&s;ervation (as is al&s;o &s;aid of the &s;inner in that &s;en&s;e, he hideth iniquity in his bo&s;ome too.) But <HI>Abrahams</HI> bo&s;ome is the inward hive where the &s;piritual &s;ouls re&s;ort out of this life; the woe is, <HI>the Bee knoweth her way to the hive, but not the fool to the City of God:</HI> the City and bo&s;ome of <HI>Abraham</HI> is neer thee; if thou wert quieted and &s;ilent from thy rea&s;on (as was <HI>Abraham</HI>) thou &s;hould&s;t &s;oon arrive there; but while thou lo|ve&s;t
<PB N="20" REF="12">&amp; live&s;t in the pa&s;&s;ion of fle&s;h and blood, <HI>Abraham</HI> will have no &s;uch whirlwind in his bo&s;ome; there is no &s;uch wind in heaven, nor yet in the lower paradi&s;e; neither is there true peace in any con&s;cience where earthline&s;s re|mains, becau&s;e earthline&s;s is the mother of winde and trouble: look thou to thy own bo|&s;ome; is the faith of <HI>Abraham</HI> there? then art thou in his bo&s;ome: ha&s;t thou believed in hope beyond hope? then art thou in heaven already unawares to thy &s;elf, and in his bo|&s;ome unknown to thee. But now to &s;ome &s;ouls it is hard to be quiet and cool-&s;pirited, e&s;pecially to the cholerick; hard to the &s;anguine to be cha&s;t and pure-minded; hard to the &s;tout-hearted to be aba&s;ed under the feet of all; hard to the worldly-wi&s;e to be loo&s;ned, weaned, and cut from the love of this world; now to them, to all them it is hard to enter through the gate into paradi&s;e: but the hardne&s;s and difficulty is not in the gate of God, as if Gods love were narrow, but the narrowne&s;s is in our own natures (as <HI>Paul</HI> &s;aith of &amp; to the <HI>Corinthians</HI>) this al&s;o is of old e&s;tabli&s;hed in the heavens, that as nothing un|clean &s;hall enter there (into his love-dwellings) &s;o the more earthly, lu&s;tfull, angry, proud, envious, di&s;contented or unbelieving any &s;oul is, the further he is from the heavenly
<PB N="21" REF="12">nature that is from God: Ie&s;us &s;aid, <HI>It is hard, or very difficult for &s;uch to enter into the King|dom of heaven,</HI> becau&s;e the &s;oul hath a great pack upon it, which is the crooked nature be|fore the gate of God; which corrupt nature is united to mo&s;t (as the Camels bunch to it) though to a few its the greate&s;t burthen. Now as heaven is not an earthly City, ho u&s;e|room or locality, but a life in the eternall na|ture of the love of God, in purity, tranquillity, certainty, and all-enjoying; &s;o far di&s;tant then from this glory is a &s;oul, by how much the more unclean and ungodly he is; though it be po&s;sible and u&s;uall with God to make the fir&s;t la&s;t, and la&s;t fir&s;t. Wherefore let none &s;pare his wicked di&s;po&s;ition, but kill it, and in &s;o doing, lay hold on the un&s;peakable mercy, for though they are now &s;ick about que&s;tions in this life, and talk and di&s;pute about Chri&s;t and his Church without and within, yet Chri&s;t is but one, and the Church that is of God is but one in <HI>Abrahams</HI> bo|&s;ome.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Mary.</SPEAKER>
<P><HI>My heart longeth for</HI> Abrahams <HI>bo&s;ome and heavenly quiet of faith; I am often &s;ad and &s;orrowfull when I hear one pa&s;sing-bell after another, and I &s;ee one grave opening to devour one corps, and another gaping for another; then think I, where goeth the life and &s;oul of
<PB N="22" REF="13">yonder body that is buried! and though I &s;ee one go after another, and dye like bea&s;ts, and pa&s;s like &s;heep or goats into &s;ome inward fold; wo is me, I know not where they nor I my &s;elf go!</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Lazarus.</SPEAKER>
<P>None can perceive his everla&s;ting habitation, but he that is come to be acquain|ted with the eternal nature in this world, as I &s;aid before; for whil&s;t the &s;oul liveth without in the &s;en&s;uall life, it remaineth for that time in the outer darkne&s;s, ca&s;t out from the Bride|grooms love-light; thou &s;aye&s;t true, that holy Angels (or powers) attend upon Nations, and e&s;pecially upon believers in this world con|tinually; yet it is written, that they are in heaven on earth, looking on the fathers face while they are thus &s;pirits mini&s;tring with the Chri&s;tians; if thou enter their life, and con|tinue therein, thou &s;halt not be to &s;eek when thou dye&s;t: but if any one liveth as doth a &s;en&s;uall, &s;leepy, or fierce, crafty, wanton bea&s;t, he &s;hall be turned into Hell. Therefore &s;ink down out of the old &s;elf into a new &s;elf in the inward nature, and &s;o &s;hall ye (O people) get within heavens gate in this life, otherwi&s;e your work will be a long knocking from without the gate of God, where many horri|bly freeze for angui&s;h for ever: but ble&s;&s;ed are they that do his Commandments, for they do enter through his twelve gates into
<PB N="23" REF="13">the one City. Now as God hath at &s;undry times, and in divers manners appeared, and doth now (as after Chri&s;ts re&s;urrection) ma|nife&s;t him&s;elf in the &s;hape or habit of a gard|ner, a traveller, and &s;o there be &s;everall com|mands from his throne, that binde not all at one time; but watchwords, and particular or|ders there are for every age, nation, or man, woman or child: find it particularly in thy &s;elf, and live out of the &s;pirit of this world.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Mary.</SPEAKER>
<P><HI>Many now &s;peak of the &s;pirit of the great world, or the &s;pirit of this world; what is the &s;pirit of this world? and how doth it work and deal with us in this life?</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Lazarus.</SPEAKER>
<P>The &s;pirit of this world wherein they live, is no Angel, nor the Angelical life of Chri&s;t within, nor God, though this &s;pirit be a very great one, &s;wift, cunning, ancient and univer&s;all; He is as broad as the natural heavens, and is filling the earth and Seas, and all created beings at once; it is the &s;ap and life of nature in all things; a good &s;ervant, but a bad ma&s;ter in the &s;oul: it is naturally an under&s;tanding, ambitious, voluptuous principle. This ocean &s;pirit lu&s;teth for the be&s;t, greene&s;t, &s;tronge&s;t, faire&s;t, talle&s;t, wittie&s;t, and mo&s;t durable; and he finds the &s;ouls of peo|ple fit for his turn: He &s;eeth that &s;ouls are eternall and excellent, fair, lovely and lively
<PB N="24" REF="14">&s;pirits, as being made after the image and &s;i|militude of Gods nature. Now every created being lu&s;teth after &s;omwhat that is of a higher nature then it &s;elf, that in the fruition there|of, it &s;elf may be perfected, for every crea|ture groaneth and travelleth for its own perfe|ction, but ca~not attain it without the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of &s;ome one above him: hence it is the &s;pirit of this world is become an earne&s;t Sutor to the immortal &s;ouls of <HI>Adams</HI> off-&s;pring. And for to &s;olemnize the marriage fea&s;t, he pre&s;enteth and layeth on the table of mans nature, all the delicate di&s;hes of plea&s;ure, wealth, honour, ea&s;e, imployments, &s;ciences, and noble natural engagements. But when he hath once got the poor &s;oul fully into his po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, &amp; cropt off the flower of the affecti|on of the heart (which God &s;hould have had) and thus hath &s;poiled the &s;pirit of the mind in the lu&s;ts or cares, fears or rea&s;onings ofnature, then when man comes to dye, this &s;pirit of the world cryeth out to him, &s;aying, Aha, thou &s;oul of man art immortal, I am but temporal. I had my plea&s;ure with thee, go now to eter|nity, I will turn the ladder; I was indeed on|ly an occa&s;ion of alluring thee to &s;in, but now thou mu&s;t an&s;wer it thy &s;elf, I am but a time, in the end I am annihilated. Thus the lu&s;t of time, and prince in the corrupt nature, &s;hall
<PB N="25" REF="14">play the hangman with the poor &s;oul, whom he now bu&s;ily and craftily woeth to all man|ner of wickedne&s;s; and none e&s;cape this cliff of &s;in and judgement, but &s;uch as are here born again from out of the &s;pirit of this world, for that &s;pirit is the pri&s;on of minds, and afterwards brings the &s;pirits to the lad|der of death, and then he him&s;elf turns the ladder; therefore take heed le&s;t the great &s;pirit of nature deceive and ravi&s;h your hearts from the true delight of God.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Mary.</SPEAKER>
<P><HI>But of the other</HI> Lazarus <HI>that lay at the gates of</HI> Dives <HI>full of &s;ores among the dogs, what are we to think of him yet further?</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Lazarus,</SPEAKER>
<P>That worm <HI>Lazarus</HI> had a con|tented mind, weaned from dainties of fle&s;h, thankfull when providence &s;ent a dog to re|lieve him, longing for the ble&s;&s;ed eternity, &s;uf|fering the beatings &amp; abhorrings of &s;ervants, acquainted with the life of angels living above. But <HI>Dives</HI> (for Chri&s;t counts his particular name unworthy to be named on earth) he lo|ved his belly, his dinner, his &s;upper, his di&s;hes, cups, parlors, ornaments, walks, recreations, &s;eats, foot-&s;tools, adorations from men, and the like. He loved the&s;e things &s;o well, that rather then loo&s;e them for a &s;ea&s;on, he would go to hell for ever, as they all do that live luxuriou&s;ly, wantonly, &s;lothfully, daintily,
<PB N="29" REF="15">ea&s;ily, idly and proudly in this ba&s;e mi&s;erable life. Now the &s;pirit of this great world is the air where &s;uch fowls flie, the Sea to &s;uch fi&s;h, and the earth to &s;uch bea&s;ts as live to them|&s;elves, not to God that made them, nor to Chri&s;t that bought them; they never knew a new &s;elf within them, <HI>it is hard for the rich to enter;</HI> of him it is &s;aid, <HI>he hath received his reward, he hath eaten his &s;weet mor&s;ell in this life time:</HI> and of the poor none of them is poor indeed, but the poor in &s;pirit, they on|ly are near the Kingdome of God; and they alwayes beg long, and prai&s;e before the throne of grace; the&s;e are not &s;lothfull, &s;leepy, conceited, or domineering in this world; but wo is to the rich in any &s;elf, that are not rich towards God: the great gulf is in their own hearts, and &s;eparates them from the divine nature, which is heaven indeed.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Mary.</SPEAKER>
<P><HI>Whom did&s;t thou &s;ee in paradi&s;e? what people are we bound to believe to be in heaven?</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Lazarus.</SPEAKER>
<P>All that were like God and Chri&s;t in this world, loving, meek, pure, wi&s;e, active, harmle&s;s, and &s;piritual as he is: whe|ther Magi&s;trates, Mini&s;ters, Servants, Soul|diers, Husbands, Wives, Children, Infants, Idiots, and Off-&s;courings of this world, they are in the heavens that have in this nature pa&s;|&s;ed their time on earth. But for the dogged
<PB N="27" REF="15">&s;ouls, cunning bea&s;ts, voluptuous hogs, grin|ning &s;pirits, de&s;perate hearts, &s;cornful di&s;po|&s;itions, and ungodly minds, they are &s;hut up (as I have &s;een them) by them&s;elves in their own wills, they are gone to their long homes, to the bottomle&s;s pit, where they remain in intollerable flames; but the&s;e are out of this life, yet not out of this world.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Mary.</SPEAKER>
<P><HI>If they be not out of this world, do they not conver&s;e with their friends and equals, and others in this life?</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Lazarus.</SPEAKER>
<P>They that are &s;piritual on earth, conver&s;e with the Angels of God by day and by night. And as the &s;tars work undeniably upon the outward life of the body, &s;o do Angels operate upon the&s;e heavenly &s;pirits (as they have done all along under the Old and New Te&s;tament, much more mu&s;t they in the New Ieru&s;alem, under the third la&s;t di&s;|pen&s;ation, for tho&s;e Angels are not dead nor a&s;leep, nor yet far from any of ye:) al&s;o the gho&s;ts of people that are recovered for &s;ome minutes to walk on the deep between the gates (as is &s;aid before) the&s;e al&s;o may (with <HI>Zim</HI> and <HI>Iim</HI>) trouble hou&s;es, and appear in &s;hapes till they have their errand, or rather until their remaining &s;trings be worn out, to let them down to their deep. But ye in this life cannot or will not know this matter (the
<PB N="28" REF="16">ground whereof is deep) for ye are already prejudiced. Notwith&s;tanding, &s;ome will &s;ee that the &s;oul is like a tree in the earth; though the fruit falls, the leaves are not gone &s;o &s;uddenly; the root of the tree is the eter|nal will and plea&s;ure, the body of it is the &s;pi|rit, &s;oul and body of man, woman or child, the fruit thereof is the thoughts, words and works of the heart, the rine or bark is the outward body, the &s;ap and juice of the tree is the &s;pirit in the natural complexion, the leaves are the outward appearances and true reports of him in his generation, and the fall of the tree is the death of the man, whether to South or North, whether to the South plea|&s;ant Sunny life, or to the North, &s;harp grim gna&s;hing of teeth, where he falleth, there he remaineth O ye trees of the field, and for|re&s;t of this world, look, look what fruits your &s;ouls bear, and which of both ye incline to; for there ye &s;hall be; look I &s;ay to your hearts betimes, for Satan looks to have every tree to make up his own fire; he knew what your grand-fathers and ance&s;tors were, and where you mo&s;t incline heaven-ward or hell-ward, and he that ob|&s;erves you &s;o &s;harply in your life-time, will put him&s;elf hard to it at your deaths, to force your natures (if po&s;&s;ible) to him&s;elf; and &s;o
<PB N="29" REF="16">thru&s;t the tree to Satans own cold and heat. Be ye therefore wakefull, O ye precious chil|dren of men; take the &s;word of God, the word or &s;pirit of the Son, and u&s;e that in your deep thoughtfull wra&s;tlings; &s;o &s;hall ye tread the &s;erpent under feet, &s;o &s;hall ye valiantly thur&s;t the devil to his own pit which he digged for you, when you &s;hall have e&s;ca|ped your own &s;ins, and entered the everla|&s;ting South light with God in this world, to your comfort eternally.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Maty.</SPEAKER>
<P><HI>But now Brother</HI> Lazarus, <HI>Do&s;t thou de|light to live here with us? would&s;t not thou rather return to that unmixed life from whence thou art come?</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Lazarus.</SPEAKER>
<P>My fathers will brought me once from you through death into the other life, and now my Lords will hath fetched me again to you for his own glory; in both am I in his will, and his will is my heaven and hap|pine&s;s wherever and whatever I be; my own will is crucified, dead and buried, and &s;hall never ri&s;e again. Now it is all one to me to be here as el&s;ewhere, in his will, to his prai&s;e; and all they that are crucified with Chri&s;t, are of this my mind: in this perfect will of my God I re&s;t, till my change come from him.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Mary.</SPEAKER>
<P><HI>But art thou not now &s;ubject to &s;in, as I &s;uppo&s;e thou wert not before thy late return to us for &s;ome dayes?</HI></P>
</SP>
<PB N="30" REF="17">
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Lazarus.</SPEAKER>
<P>My life which is Chri&s;t in me, is not &s;ubject to &s;in; and be&s;ides this, that my life is become Lord and Governour of my whole man, &s;oul, &s;pirit and body, and &s;hall put off all Satans a&s;&s;aults and &s;nares; But the wayes of my God are deep and un&s;earchable, whereof I may not &s;peak much for the pre|&s;ent unto thee, yea, it is not lawfull for me to tell all that I have &s;een and heard; I &s;peak to thee and to thy &s;i&s;ter familiarly. And peace be unto thee <HI>Mary,</HI> in following the lamp of God that burneth and &s;hineth in thee, and &s;hall be alwayes with thee; for&s;ake not the words thou ha&s;t learned at the feet of Ie|&s;us; and O thou <HI>Martha</HI> (which looke&s;t in this conference as a figure of the outward court, and external form, as <HI>Mary</HI> is the mid|dle) awake and ari&s;e from the dead things, thoughts and &s;ocieties, and Chri&s;t &s;hall give thee (with thy &s;i&s;ter) more light. He is wait|ing and watching to fill us with the love and light of life; live ye in peace, power, purity, &amp; &s;elf-denial, with charity and &s;trong &s;trivings and &s;tirrings in the faith of Ie&s;us and the Lord (my Lord) of Paradi&s;e will fill you with his own fulne&s;s. Amen, when he plea&s;eth, we &s;hall again &s;peak together. <HI>But for the pre&s;ent, &s;ilence is better then more words.</HI></P>
</SP>
<DIV2 TYPE="excursus">
<PB N="31" REF="17">
<HEAD>Where is Chri&s;t?</HEAD>
<P N="1">1. Many now enquire for the true Chri&s;t, what he is, where he is, how far off, how near, how like man, in what appearance or form he is, whether he be onely in heaven, or how is he on earth with his Church, and what Church that is (for many cry out, loe here, loe there) for &s;aith one, There is no|thing of Chri&s;ts per&s;on on this &s;ide the &s;tar|rie firmament (for he hath to this day &s;uch fle&s;h, blood and bones as we have) Another believeth that he hath no humane nature about him at all, but is become all &s;pirit, and is everywhere, &s;o as that his fle&s;h may be fed on by faith, and his blood drunk in all places, &s;ea&s;ons, and conditions by a believing mind. One &s;peaketh loud for a Chri&s;t that dyed for him at Ieru&s;alem, and in greate&s;t love hath ju&s;tified him without his own works or help. Another &s;peaks of a Chri&s;t within him, and makes his voice to be heard in the &s;treets (as if men would divide Chri&s;t al&s;o, and tear him to pieces as they are torn within them&s;elves) His Government is que|&s;tioned, his Monarchy is di&s;puted, his in&s;tru|ctions are much &s;leighted, his body undi&s;cer|ned. One &s;aith he is a great way off, and
<PB N="32" REF="18">others have long &s;aid he is near and at the door. Thus the a&s;&s;embly is divided, and the greate&s;t part know not what they &s;ay nor think, nor whereof they affirm.</P>
<P N="2">2. O ye &s;eeing eyes, weep and &s;hed tears of blood while ye look upon the ignorance and unacquaintance of precious &s;ouls with the Saviours per&s;on, and with the &s;piritual, wonderful, ble&s;&s;ed and incomparable being and will! After all their breaking-bread, &amp; hearing-&s;ermons, and kneeling-prayers, after all their Scripture-reading, conference and &s;ingings, and repetitions, and writings, and mu&s;ings, and namings of Chri&s;t Ie&s;us, to be &s;o blind as not to know aright (with certain|ty) what is Chri&s;t whom they wor&s;hipped, nor how near to them he is in them. Ah thou earth of man be a&s;toni&s;hed at this! Is the Sun hid from thee? Do&s;t thou not know thy own breath and life? How long wilt thou yet be learning, and not knowing the true Ie&s;us? Wilt thou adventure thy immortal &s;oul upon &s;omething like Chri&s;t feigned in thy fancy? Wilt thou tread upon a wave or a cloud of thy own imagination, and &s;o &s;ink into eternity? How little of the book of Chri&s;ts Per&s;on or Being is opened? It looks as if mo&s;t of its &s;eals were fa&s;t to this day; wherefore while it is thus, weep, lament
<PB N="33" REF="18">and mourn until the book be opened and read, that the children of men may under&s;tand the acceptable and perfect will of God con|cerning his dear Son Ie&s;us.</P>
<P N="3">3. Chri&s;t Ie&s;us is all, and yet nothing that your natural eyes can &s;ee. If there were no Chri&s;t, there were no creature, nor a true God. If Chri&s;t were not the mo&s;t High God, the Almighties everla&s;ting plea&s;ure coequal to him would be wanting in him, and then would there be no Almightine&s;s nor any thing made. If Chri&s;t were not &s;till the man Chri&s;t Ie&s;us (as he was and is unknown to men) no man would have a being continu|ed, or have life to &s;tand on his legs, nor yet be a &s;omething in the grave, nor have any con&s;iderable life more then the body hath without a head (for Chri&s;t is head of every man) If Chri&s;t were not the Angel of the Creation and Covenant (&s;itting on the circles of the earth and of the Church) the holy Angels could no more live as they do in the heavens, then the fowles of the air &s;ub&s;i&s;t in the firmament without the Sun at all. If Chri&s;t al&s;o were not the creature (even the head of every creature) all this world and the things in it would in a moment vani&s;h and wither into nothing: Yea, if Chri&s;t were not Conqueror over all devils
<PB N="34" REF="19">and evil influences of this Creation, all would be &s;oon overturned or &s;walloed up by the malignant powers, and the whole become a dunghil quickly without any plea&s;ure, lu|&s;tre, order or beauty in it.</P>
<P N="4">4. Wonder then O friends a little at the Chri&s;t who&s;e name is wonderful, and limit no more that holy One of I&s;rael in his per&s;on; life, death or will, as we have done; for with him we have dealt as <HI>Dalilah</HI> did with <HI>Samp|&s;on.</HI> We have tyed him with our cords, and impri&s;oned him in our confinements, and by our &s;ins betrayed him to the hands of themo&s;t furious wraths; we have &s;tudied how to lock up the Sun in our poor Chamber, in our Opi|nions, Iudgements and Church-fellow&s;hips, in our apprehen&s;ions of the Scriptures, Crea|tures and light within: We have attempted to weigh his mountains in our &s;cales, and have baptized our &s;elf-conceited mind into the name of the ballance of the Sanctuary, thinking to drink &amp; draught up his ocean in our earthen di&s;hes: Ah mi&s;erable mind of man, and wild confident fancy of the woman. If God and Chri&s;t would or could be tyed to thy Iudgement, thou would&s;t quickly fall under burnings of eternal judgements; ble&s;s God for that he is above thy reach, and thou within his, yea, even his works are above all
<PB N="35" REF="19">thy thoughts, and (yet further) above all his works are his mercies. That mercy mu&s;t &s;ave thee beyo~d all thy own thoughts, el&s;e thou art totally and eternally lo&s;t, as thy con&s;cience can &s;ometimes tell thee. And though upon &s;ad fits thou can&s;t not &s;tand before the &s;entence and face of thy own candle, con&s;cience; Wilt thou notwith&s;tanding pre&s;ume to judge all Scripture, Saints, Churches and &s;orts of men? yea, to terminate the per&s;on of the infinite Lord Ie&s;us, and &s;o &s;eek to &s;tarve him in thy pinfold: He is higher then the heavens, what can Angels &s;ay to him? He is deeper then Hell, &s;o as to be able to fetch out thence; what can devils an&s;wer? (as the Sun is big|ger then one du&s;t in the air above the earth) He is broader then the earth, what then can man &s;ay to limit him? Let mans bu&s;ie mind no more bethink how to tramel him, but with &s;hame fall down before him for this abu&s;e of his infinitene&s;s, le&s;t his greatne&s;s fall on man, and devour his &s;pirit.</P>
<P N="5">5. If this age were not too dull of hearing, many more wondrous things would be made manife&s;t of Chri&s;ts Per&s;on, that would evi|dence them&s;elves to all hone&s;t hearts, to be no errors nor Antichri&s;t, but the truth in God; then &s;hould many more eyes &s;ee how he is man, and yet the Lord, the &s;pirit from
<PB N="36" REF="20">heaven; how he is the quickning heart to all kind of things (as the heart in the body, is (un&s;een) to all the members) How he is nea|rer man then his marrow to his bone, and yet man con&s;idereth him not within him. Then would it be more manife&s;t how Chri&s;t him|&s;elf is really pre&s;ent with the &s;oul of man, as a raiment to be put on, as food to nouri&s;h him as a well-&s;pring to water him, yea, as the breath of the life of his thoughts (though he little thinks of the &s;ub&s;tance of his breath by which he prolongs his life) But how mon|&s;trous a vanity is it to imagine the great Lord Chri&s;t cooped up in &s;ome clo&s;et of heaven, or of one heart, or of one form or opinion? Moreover, mo&s;t profe&s;&s;ing eyes &s;ee not the ground-work and main wheel of all; neverthe|le&s;s this is joyous that thy &s;imple &s;oul &amp; mine, (though we have not attained the intellectual co~pa&s;s of things, (of all things) may yet lodge &s;ecurely in the body of the tree the Cedar Ie&s;us, (in whom birds of all wings &s;helter.) Howbeit the inward body and deep root of this Sun of righteou&s;ne&s;s is from us under a continued Eclip&s;e (an Eclip&s;e of many digits) becau&s;e there is an earth within the heart that darkneth the great light that ruleth by day, &amp; many &s;corn the notions and further know|ledge of Chri&s;ts per&s;on. Others abu&s;e him,
<PB N="37" REF="20">and rant it after Satan; yet in the children of life, though the bickerings of cold winter, of bondage and corruption be not &s;uddenly over (but they will have need of patience and ef|fectual faith too) the &s;ummer will come on upon the Saints (and that &s;ummer is in them) and &s;o overwhelm all their dark weakne&s;&s;es, and &s;inful di&s;tracted &s;adne&s;&s;es and di&s;tru&s;ts.</P>
<P N="6">6. I have &s;een more of the Lord Je&s;us by reading and con&s;idering nine words, then in many Books, Sermons and per&s;onal opini|ons. The words of him were written to this effect: the eternal meekne&s;s is Chri&s;t, becau&s;e he mitigateth the wrath. He is al&s;o the Son, becau&s;e he is born out of the fathers nature, and none el&s;e as he. And Chri&s;t is his word, becau&s;e he revealeth the hidden God-head. He is called a Per&s;on, becau&s;e he is a &s;elf-&s;ub|&s;i&s;ting e&s;&s;ence, which doth not belong to the birth of nature, but is the light and under|&s;tanding of nature. He is called the heart of the father, becau&s;e he is the vertue and power in the center of nature, as the heart in the body which giveth &s;trength and under|&s;tanding to its members. He is called the light of God, becau&s;e the light is kindled in him, and taketh its original in him. He is &s;ti|led the brightne&s;s of the fathers glory, be|cau&s;e in the eternal &s;till liberty he maketh a
<PB N="38" REF="21">glance, which taketh its original out of the &s;harpne&s;s of the eternal nature. He is called the love of the Father, becau&s;e the Fathers fir&s;t will to the genetrix of nature, de&s;ireth only this his mo&s;t beloved heart, and this is the be&s;t beloved above nature, and yet is the Fathers own e&s;&s;ence. His name al&s;o is cal|led Wonderful, becau&s;e he is the creator of all things, by whom all things out of the Center of the e&s;&s;ences of the Father are brought to light and being, &s;o that the nature of the Father &s;tandeth in great wonders.</P>
<P N="7">7. Is not this plain language to a plain heart that knoweth any thing of what the Scriptures te&s;tifie of Chri&s;t? The increa&s;e of his knowledge is wonderful (as a Chri&s;t within and without all one, Chri&s;t God-man ble&s;&s;ed for ever.) Here is milk for babes, and &s;ettlement for the weak-minded concer|ning Chri&s;t Ie&s;us. And here is meat &s;trong enough for the &s;trong (as perfect as he is) complain not thou in the&s;e dayes that the hou&s;e is dark and &s;ome &s;peak in the clouds, but mourn that the eyes of thy mind remain &s;till darkned. For now is Chri&s;t held forth powerfully, clearly and truly as equal with God, quieting the &s;everity and turning all to love which love al&s;o was the cau&s;e of his incarration; note it and lo&s;e it not. The bo|tom
<PB N="39" REF="21">and deep things of God are &s;ounded here and brought forth by the &s;pirit of the Lord, as <HI>Paul</HI> &s;aith. But wo is to that man or mind that with a natural vain dancing fancy playeth with the&s;e mo&s;t venerable things, and with his imagination makes dalliance in a dream with the greate&s;t wonders of eter|nity upon the bed of time and vanity. Many people and Preachers prattle of Chri&s;t, and they &s;ay, This is &s;ound doctrin, here is Chri&s;t; the truth is in our Chamber or Synagogue, or wilderne&s;s at the wor&s;t. But they &s;eek not the Lord Ie&s;us in the worthy root, mi&s;taking <HI>Paul</HI> that &s;pake again&s;t Philo&s;ophy in his let|ter to the <HI>Colo&s;sians,</HI> though they ob&s;erve not that the &s;ame <HI>Paul</HI> to the <HI>Galatians</HI> taught, that there is no true God but he that is God by nature (whereof more yet.) Now the&s;e are the men that dig not for under&s;tanding as for pieces of gold, but &s;peak evil of the heavenly mettal, which they know not they tread it under their feet: they count it earth (all earth and natural) that is under them, yea the &s;tars of heaven (they think) have no more influence on their complexions then the earth under their feet, nor &s;o much as the flowers in their gardens, or pot-hearbs in their Kitchins. And as others intrude into the Angelical world, &amp; boa&s;t of what they have not experi|mented;
<PB N="40" REF="22">&s;o the&s;e confident and fooli&s;h hearts deny the Magois from the Ea&s;t that followed a &s;tarry light to the babe Ie&s;us, not con&s;i|dering that all &s;tars, Angels, men and other Creatures are leaders to the Lord the Son, the fir&s;t-born and only begotten of God.</P>
<P N="8">8. They poor &s;ouls intend to &s;et up Chri&s;t in their own private way, and to build the great mountain, that &s;hall fill the earth upon their own narrow pinacle of opinion, which building of theirs mu&s;t fall, becau&s;e it is not broad enough to undergo the &s;uper&s;tructure; and the generation of undergoers have been too narrowly partial. Therefore undergo no more then thou can&s;t bear, le&s;t thou be bu|ried in the rubbi&s;h and ruins of thy own edi|fice; <HI>be not wi&s;e above what is written:</HI> writ|ten! where &s;aye&s;t thou? in the books of men, or in the Apocrypha, or in the tran&s;lated let|ter canonical (&s;o called) in the book of God, which cannot be corrupted by tran&s;lations, nor belyed by interpretations, expoundings and comments? That book is not &s;ubject to the&s;e things (that little book) mentioned in the 10. of the <HI>Revelation</HI> at the opening of the &s;eventh and la&s;t &s;eal; and in that book if thou ca&s;t read it in that paradi&s;e light with thee, in thee, thou &s;halt then behold what the Chri&s;t is in the &s;pirit of Revelation, without
<PB N="41" REF="22">which no man can &s;ee the Lord: but what &s;aith the Scripture? Be not thou a dull hor&s;e, or a &s;wift witted mule, or any other evil bea&s;t, fierce, proud, irrational, un&s;piritual, unpeace|able, but &s;earch humbly and con&s;tantly for the perfect and acceptable will of God in Chri&s;ts per&s;on, and then &s;halt thou find the everla&s;t|ing cupboard of food to thy &s;oul, and the ca&s;ement of the Creation, and the pearl of great price, and the changer of all natures, the center of true Chri&s;tians, the general randez|vouz of Saints, and the &s;alvation of thy &s;oul.</P>
<P N="9">9. They all err and wander that wor&s;hip any God but he who is God by nature (as I &s;aid before) There is no true Chri&s;t but he that is truly Chri&s;t in the eternal begetting. No true Church but what was eternally known in Gods plea&s;ure and e&s;&s;ence; no true Saint, or Scripture, or providence manife&s;t to men, but what &s;hone evermore fully in the gla&s;s of the inhabiter of eternity. Ye read of our fall in <HI>Adam,</HI> it was the reall Chri&s;t in God that then relieved him: Then of the Patriarchs this very &s;ame appeared to <HI>Abra|ham, Lot, Gideon,</HI> and others, e&s;pecially to <HI>I&s;aiah,</HI> who cryeth out of his undoing at his appearance. And &s;ince this old di&s;pen&s;ation (as one and the &s;ame Chri&s;t) he the fountain of immortality, was de&s;irous to unlock the New Te&s;tament. He &s;tepped over that great
<PB N="42" REF="23">gulf to take mans dunghil into Gods Sun, yet &s;o (as without mixture) the dunghil of man might be &s;wallowed up into the divine na|ture, by the influence of the Sun. Now that man is cur&s;ed that denieth the Ie&s;us that dy|ed at Ieru&s;alem to be the only begotten Son of God; for who&s;oever denieth the Son, hath not the Father, but lyeth in deep darkne&s;s or malice, and &s;o in hell, and there is left till he be awakened, and his fle&s;h &s;ubdued. But ble&s;|&s;ed is the man that is built upon Ie&s;us of <HI>Na|zareth</HI> as on the onely foundation, and by no means or pretence de&s;pi&s;eth that per&s;onal death, at which the whole fabrick of heaven and earth did move (the Sun Ecclip&s;ed, the graves opened) yet withal he is happy in this, that he knows that Chri&s;t was crucified by him, to live his own life in him, for he was dead, and is now alive in his &s;pirit, and &s;hall dye no more, nor he fall away; without this none are &s;aved. But thou who reade&s;t, be warned not to divide the Chri&s;t without, and the Chri&s;t within; it is the gulf of condemnation, a pit for &s;elf-conceited hearts; He that writeth hath &s;een the deceit.</P>
<P N="10">10. And for things called Ordinances and in&s;titutions, be not thou a mocker and &s;cor|ner, as if all outwards were under thy feet (if it be &s;o indeed, why do&s;t thou eat, drink,
<PB N="43" REF="23">&s;leep, marry, buy, &s;ell, or work in the clay?) let not Satan puff up in thee a vain mind; &s;peak not reproachfully of the outward Bible, nor give it a railing accu&s;ation. It proves a tree bearing fruit, and occa&s;ioning good thoughts in many (though ink, paper and let|ter be dead things.) And the &s;ouldiers of I&s;rael were forbidden to cut down any &s;uch tree, though the tree it &s;elf was not proper food for any. The Papi&s;ts &s;ay this Bible is the cau&s;e of all evils in Chri&s;tendom; but the Lord Ie&s;us &s;aith, that which cometh out of mans heart doth all the mi&s;chiefs. Art thou &s;o bruti&s;h as not to &s;ee how dark the people mu&s;t have been in the hi&s;tory and my&s;terie of things, if there had never been an outward Bible &s;een or read among us at all? Mo&s;t now that pretend highe&s;t, &s;peak as in that book-language, and that book &s;peaks beyond them all, and is a greater and more publique gene|ral witne&s;s externally for God, then all their own outward books put together: but for all this, idolize no book; it is not the God that can &s;ave thee, nor the word of God that made this world; only in&s;tead of vilifying of outward things (as the manner of &s;ome is) &s;eek after the Chri&s;t who is hid through all the&s;e; for Chri&s;t filleth the Scripture, Chri&s;t appeareth through all Creatures, Chri&s;t li|veth
<PB N="44" REF="24">in all Saints of all forms, Chri&s;t &s;uppor|teth all beings, Chri&s;t is all &s;piritually, and Chri&s;t is nothing carnally, Chri&s;t is God in the father, and Chri&s;t would become man in thee. His work and office is reconciling and reaching to bring things di&s;tant into one, and to recapitulate all things in heaven and in earth. Therefore mu&s;t the Lord from hea|ven become man from earth.</P>
<P N="11">11. Now the poor &s;oul in the&s;e difficult days doth ask, what &s;hall I do to have Chri&s;t, and be &s;aved by him? Fir&s;t, fa&s;ten this in thy inmo&s;t mind; Chri&s;t to me, and I to him (&s;ay &s;o ever) and let worldlings take the world, &amp; lu&s;ters their lu&s;ts; then look for Chri&s;t next where he is to be found for ever, and that is within thy heart: run not after every noi&s;e of power, light or religion in the &s;treets, yet keep &s;o to the light within, as not to be tur|bulent, uncivil, cen&s;orious, partial or proud|hearted. Think of Chri&s;t as all love to thy unworthy &s;oul: he is the good-will of the Father that dwelleth in thy bu&s;h, yielding him&s;elf into thee as the Sun doth to the earth; harbour no hard thoughts of him upon any terms (whatever thy &s;ins or mi&s;eries may be.) Can thy corruptions le&s;&s;en the Sun in the firmament of God? And if thou thus look upon him, thou &s;halt be melted daily into his
<PB N="45" REF="24">eternal love, and &s;o become one with him (as he hath prayed for thee.) But abu&s;e not his love by wantonne&s;s or idlene&s;s, carele&s;sne&s;s, &s;elf-boa&s;tings and hoggering between the heavenly &s;eed and thy own lu&s;tings: The way is plain if thou ha&s;t under|&s;tanding, if not ask wi&s;dom of God. Ask, and ask it earne&s;tly, without doubt he will give it thee; but when it hath entred into thee, murther it not in thy &s;elf, but le<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> it have &s;cope to teach thee more, and then it will &s;hew clearly and certainly to thee how thou art one with Chri&s;t and God, and God in thee one with Chri&s;t, and thou one with the harm|le&s;s people in him, and reconciled to all things but to &s;in, Sa<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">an, death and hell, which thou &s;halt tread upon, and trample under feet; Reject nothing ra&s;h|ly, receive nothing doubtingly, watch evermore, and when thou art a&s;&s;aulted, run earne&s;tly and boldly to him that was in all points tempted as thou art, flye to him that conquered and &s;inned not. Behold he is near thee, in thee, bone of thy bone, fle&s;h of thy fle&s;h, that thou maye&s;t be one &s;pirit with him; do but turn thy will from thy inward &s;elf, and forth|with thou meete&s;t Chri&s;t embracing thee with his love within.</P>
<P N="12">12. La&s;tly, Although Chri&s;t were &s;poken of mo&s;t clearly, yet there is nothing in man (unle&s;s God the Father lives in him) that can know Chri&s;t; the &s;trength of imagination, and depth of rea&s;on, and heat of blind zeal, are all vanities in this matter. The wi&s;e&s;t naturali&s;t cannot as much as perceive this holy thing of God what he is; He hath not &s;een the Sun, He is more woful then the untimely birth that dwelleth in darkne&s;s. Give therefore no &s;leep to
<PB N="46" REF="25">thine eyes, nor &s;lumber to thine ey-lids, untilthe fa|ther and the Son become formed and living in thy &s;pirit; for none knoweth the true light but the child of the day; and until it be day within thee, all is dark without thee. Remember and under&s;tand how the heart of God, the father and the head of man is but one: the light (this light) of men and Mediator for man is one, and not two; know Chri&s;t in God, and God in Chri&s;t, and Chri&s;t in thee, and thy &s;elf in Chri&s;t, and thou ha&s;t eternal life in thee; and when it is asked where is Chri&s;t? and what is Chri&s;t? and where is he gone? and how &s;hall I follow him? (and &s;ome point at the Synagogue or private chamber, or wilderne&s;s, or the within limited) then &s;ee that Chri&s;ts being be thy chief good or choice above all; his &s;eat within in thy bottom and &s;pirit, and thy following of him (where he is gone) be in earne&s;tne&s;s, humblene&s;s, &s;elf-abhorring, diligence, charity, fear and continuance in all good works, and therein farewel.</P>
<PB REF="25">
</DIV2>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
