Here followeth a Prayer or Dialogue between the poor Soul and the noble Virgin Sophia^ in the inward Ground of Man J viz., between the Spirit of Christ in the New Birthy out of his Humanity in us, and the Soul. Show- ing how great a Joy there is in the heaven of the New Regenerate Man; and how lovingly and graciously the noble Sophia pre senteth herself to her Bridegroom the Soul, when it entereth into Repentance j and how the Soul be- have th itself towards her, when she appeareth to it.
30 T'he Way to Qhrist.
The Gates of the Paradisaical Garden of Roses.
This is understood by none but the Children of Christ j who have known it by Experience.
WHEN Christ the Comer-stone stirreth Himself in the ex- tinguished Image of Man, in his hearty Conversiomnd Repentance; then Virgin Sophia appeareth in the stirring of the Spirit of Christy in the extinguished Image, in her Virgin* s Attire before the Soul. At which the Soul is so amazed and astonished in its Uncleanness, that all its Sins immediately awake in it, and it trembleth be- fore her. For then the Judgment passeth upon the Sins of the Soul, so that it even goeth back in its Unworthiness, being ashamed in the Presence of its fair Love^ and entereth into itself feeling and acknowledging itself utterly unworthy to receive such a Jewel. This is understood by those who are of our Tribe f and have tasted of this Heavenly Qift, and by none else. But the Noble Sophia draweth near in the Essence of the Soul, and kisseth it in friendly Manner, and tinctureth its dark Fire with her Rays of Love^ and shineth through it with her bright and powerful Influence. Penetrated with the strong Sense and Feeling of which, the Soul skippeth in its Body for great /<c?;/, and in the Strength of this Virgin Love, exulteth, and praiseth the great GOD, for his blessed Gift of Qrace, I will set down here a short Description how it is when the Bride thus embraceth the Bridegroom, for the Consideration of the Reader, who perhaps hath not yet been in this Wedding- Chamber. It may be, he will be desirous to follow us, and to enter into the Inner- Choir, where the Soul joineth Hands and danceth with Sophia or the Divine Wisdom.
When that which is mentioned above cometh to pasSy the Soul rejoiceth in its Body^ and saith, PRAISE, Thanksgiving, Strength, Honour,and Glory, be to thee, O great GOD, in thy Power ^XiA Sweetness ^ for that thou hast redeemed me from the Anguish of the Fiery Driver. O thow fair Love I My Heart embraceth thee; where hast thou been so long? Methought I was in HeU in the Anger of GOD. O gracious Love! abide with me, I beseech thee, and be my Joy and Comfort. Lead me in the right Way.
I give myself up into thy Love. I am dark before thee, do thou enlighten me. O noble Love, give me thy sweet Pearl; put it I pray thee into me.
O great GoD in Christ Jesus, I praise and magnify thee now in thy Truth, in thy great Power and Glory, for that thou hast forgiven me my Sins, and filled me with thy Strength. I shout for Joy before thee in my new Life, and extol thee in thy Firmament of Heaven, which none can open but thy Spirit in thy Mercy. My Bones rejoice in thy Strength, and my Heart delighteth itself in thy Love. Thanks be to thee for ever, for that thou hast delivered me out of Hell, and turned Death into Life in me. O sweet Love! Let me not depart from thee again. Grant me thy Qarland of Pearl, and abide in me. O be my own proper Possession, that I may rejoice in thee for ever.
Upon thisy Virgin Sophia saith to the Soul^ MY noble Bridegroom, my Strength and Power, thou art a thousand Times welcome. Why hast thou forgotten me so long, that I have been constrained in great Grief to stand without the Door and knock? Have I not always called thee and entreated thee? But thou hast turned away thy Countenance from me, and thine Ears have de- clined my Entreaties. Thoucouldst notsee v^y Light, for thoudidst walk in the Valley of Darkness. I was very near ^t^, and entreated thee continually, but thy Sinfulness held thee Captive in Death, so that thou knewest me not. I came to thee in great Humility and called thee, but thou wert rich in the Power of the Anger of God, and didst not regard my Humility and Lowlifiess. Thou hadst taken the Devil to be thy Paramour, who hath defiled thee thus, and built up his Fort of Prey in thee, and turned thee quite away from my Love and Faith into his Hypocritical Kingdom of Falsehood; wherein thou hast committed much Sin and Wicked- ness, and torn thy Will off from my Love. Thou hast broken the Bond of Wedlock, and set thy Love and Affection upon a Stranger, and suffered me thy Bride, whom GOD did give thee, to stand alone in the extinguished Substaitce, without the Power of thy fiery Strength, I could not be joyful without thy fiery Strength, for thou art my Husband; my shining Brightness is made manifest by thee. Thou canst manifest my hidden Wonders in Xhy fiery Life, and bring them into Majesty; and yet without me thou art but a dark House, wherein is nothing but Anguish, Misery ^ and Iwrrible Torment.
O noble Bridegroom, stand still with thy Countenance towards me, and give me thy Rays of Fire. Bring thy Desire into me, and enkindle me thereby, and then I will bring the Rays of my Lave, from my Meekness into thy fiery Essence, and be united with thee for ever.
O my Bridegroom, how well am I, now I am in Union with thee? O kiss me with thy Desire in thy Strength and Power, and then I will show thee all my Beauty, and will rejoice and solace myself with thy sweet Love and shining Brightness in thy fiery Life, All the holy Angels rejoice with us, to see us united again. My dear Love, I now entreat thee to abide in my Faith, and do not turn thy Face away from me any more. Work thou thy Wonders in my Love, for which Purpose GoD hath created thee and brought thee into Being.
The Soul satth again to its noble Sophia^ its Love, that is born again in it.
OMY noble Pearl, and opened Flame of Light in my anxiousyf^r;/ Life, how thou changestm^ into \hy Joy! O beautiful Love, 1 have broken my Faith with thee, in my Father Adam, and with my fiery Strength have turned myself to the Pleasure and Vanity of the outward World, I have fallen in Love with a Stranger, and had been constrained to walk in the Valley of Darkness in this strange Love, if thou hadst not come into the House of my Misery, in thy great Faithfulness, by thy piercing through and destroying God's Anger, Hell, and dark Death, and restored thy Meekness and Love to my fiery Life.
O sweet Love; thou hast brought the Water of eternal Life out of the Fountain of GOD, with thee into me, and refreshed me in my great thirst. I behold in thee the Mercy of GOD, which was hidden from me before by the strange Love, In thee I can rejoice; thou changest my Anguish oi Fire into gre^itfoy in me.
amiable Love, give me thy Pearl, that I may continue in this Joy for ever.
Upon this the noble Sophia answereth the Soul again^ and saithy MY deairLove and faithful Treasure, thou highly rejoiceth me in thy Beginning, 1 have indeed broken into thee through the deep Gates of GOD, through Ggi^*S Anger, through Hell and Death, into the House of thy Misery; and have graciously bestowed my Love upon thee, and delivered thee from the Chains and Bonds wherewith thou wert fast bound.
1 have kept my Faith with thee, though thou hast not kept thine with me. But thou desireth now an exceeding great Thing of me, which I cannot willingly trust in thy Hands. — Thou wouldest have my Pearl as thy proper own. Remember, I pray, O my beloved Bridegroom^ that thou didst carelessly lose it before in Adam; and thou thyself standest yet in great Danger, and walkest in two dangerous Kingdoms. For in thy Original Fire^ thou walkest in that Country wherein GOD calleth himself a strong jealous God^ and a consuming Fire, The other Kingdom which thou walkest in, is the outward World, wherein thou dwellest in the vain corrupt Flesh and Blood, and where the Pleasures of the World and the Assaults of the Devil beset thee every Hour. Thou mayest perhaps in thy great J(yy bring Earthliness again into my Beauty, and thereby darken my Pearl. Or thou mayest possibly grow proud, as Liicifer did, when he had the Pearl in his Possession, and so turn thyself away from the Harmony of God, as he did and then 1 must be deprived of my Love for ever afterwards.
No. I will keep my Pearl m myself, and dwell in the Heaven in thee, in thy extinguished, but now in me, revived, Humanity; and reserve my Pearl for Paradise, until thou puttest away this Earthliness from thee, and then I will give it thee to possess. But I will readily present to thee my pleasant Countenance, and the sweet Rays of the Pearl, during the Time of this Earthly Life, I will dwell with the Pearl itself in the inner Choir, and be thy faithful loving Bride. I cannot espouse myself with thy Earthly Flesh, for I am a Heavenly Queen, and my Kingdom is 7iotof this World, Yet I will not cast thy outward Life away, but refresh it often with my Rays of Love; for thy outward Humanity shall return again. But I cannot admit to my Embraces the Beast of Vanity y neither did GOD create it in Adam with a Purpose to have it so gross and earthly. But in Adam thy Desire, through the Power of its strong Lust, formed this Bestial Qrossness from and with all the Essences of the awakened Vanity of the Earthly Property, wherein Heat and Cold, Pain and Enmity, Division and Corruption, subsist.
Now, my dear Love and Bridegroom, do but yield thyself up into my Will; I will not forsake thee in this Earthly Life in thy Danger. Though the Anger of GoD should pass upon thee, so that thou shouldst grow affrighted and disheartened, or shouldst think that I had deserted thee, yet I will be with thee and preserve thee, for thou thyself knowest not what thine Office is. Thou must in this Life's Time work and bear Fruit, Thou art the Root of this Pearl-Tree; Branches must be produced out of thee, which must all be brought forth in Anguish. But I come forth together with thy Branches in their Sap^ and produce Fruit upon thy *> J 34 ^>^^ JVay to Qhrist.
BoughSy and thou knowest it not; for the Most High hath so ordered, that I should dwell vfith and in thee.
Wrap thyself up therefore in Patience, and take Heed of the Pleasure of the Flesh. Break the Will and Desire thereof; bridle it as an unruly Horse. And then I will often visit thee in the fiery Essence, and give thee my Kiss of Love, I will bring a Qarland ior thee out oi Paradise with me, as a Token of my Affec- tion, and put it upon thee, and thou shalt rejoice in it. But I give thee not my Pearl for a Possession during this Life's Time. Thou must continue in Resignation, and hearken what the LORD playeth on his Instrument in thy Harmony in thee. Moreover, thou must give Sound and Essence to thy Tune out of my Strength and Virtue, for thou art now a Messenger of His Word, and must set forth His Praise and Qiory. — For this Cause it is that I have contracted myself <2-;/^ze/ with thee, and set my triumphal Qarland upon thee; which I have gotten in the Battle against the Devil and Death. But the Crown of Pearl wherewith I crowned thee, I have laid aside for thee. Thou must wear That no more till thou art become pure in my Sight.
The Soul saith further to the noble Sophia, OTHOU fair and sweet Comfort, what shall I say before thee.** Let me be wholly committed unto thee, I cannot preserve myself. If thou wilt not give me thy Pearl, I submit to thy Will; but give me thy Rays of Love, and carry me safely through my Pil- grimage. Do thou awaken and bring forth what thou wilt in me; I will from henceforth be thy own. I will or desire nothing for myself, but what thou thyself wilt through me. I had fooled away thy sweet Love and broken my Faith with thee, whereby I was fallen into the Anger of GOD. But see- ing that of Love thou didst come to me into the Anguish oi HeU, and hast delivered me from Torment, and received me again for thy Comfort, I will now therefore break my Will for thy Lovis Sake, and be obedient unto thee, and wait for thy Love, I am satisfied now that I know thou art with me in all my Troubles, and wilt not forsake me.
O gracious Love, I turn my fiery Countenance to thee. O fair Crown^ take me quickly into thee, and bring me forth from Un- quietness: I will be thine forever, and never depart from thee, more.
Of "True "Repentance. 35 The noble Sophia answereth the Soul very comfortably y and saithy MY Noble Bridegroom^ be of good Comfort. I have be- trothed thee to me in my highest Love^ and con- tracted myself with thee in my Faithfulness, *I * will be with thee and in thee always to the End *of the World. I will come to thee and make * my Abode with thee, in thy inner Chamber.* Thou shalt drink of my Fountain; for now I am thine, and thou art mine, the Enemy shall not separate us. Work thou in thy fiery Pro- perty y and I will put my Rays of Love into thy Working. And so we will plant and fertilize the Vineyard of Jesus Christ. Afford thou the Essence of Firey and I will afford the Essence of Light, and the Increase. Be thou the Fire, and I will be the Water, and thus we will perform that in this World (or which GOD hath appointed us, and serve him in his Temple, which we ourselves are. Amen.
To the Reader.
To the Reader.
BELOVED Reader, count not this an uncertain Fiction; it is the true Qround, Sum and Substance of all the Holy Scriptures. For the Book of the Life of Jesus Christ is plainly set forth therein, as the Author of a Certainty knoweth; it being the Way that he himself hath gone. He giveth thee the best Jewel that he hath. GOD grant his Bles- sing with it A heavy Sentence and Judgment are gone forth against the Mocker of this. Be thou therefore warned, that thou mayest avoid the Danger ^ and obtain the Benefit.
A Morning Prayer, Commending ourselves to God when we rise^ before we suffer any other Thing to enter into us.
LESS me, O God, the Father, Son and Holy Qhost^ thou only true GOD. I thank thee through Jesi4s Christ our Lord and Saviour, for thy Preservation of me, and for all other Benefits. I now commend myself, both Soul and Body^ and all that thou hast set me to do in my Employment or Calling, into thy Protec- tion. Be thou the Beginning of my Conceptions^ my Under^ 3—2 36 T'he Way to Qhrist.
takings, and all my Doings. Work thou so in me, that I may begin all Things to the Glory of thy Name, and accomplish them in Thy Love for the Good and Service of my Neigh- bour. Send thy Holy Angel along with me, to turn the Tempta- tions of the Devil and corrupt Nature away from me. Preserve me from the Malice of evil Men^ make all my Enemies reconcil- able to me, and bring my Mind into thy Vineyard^ that I may labour in my Office and Employment, and behave as thy obedient Servant therein. Bless me, and all that I am to go about and do this Day, with the Blessing of thy Love and Mercy. Continue thy Qrace and Love in Jesus Christ upon me, and give me a Mind cheerfully to follow thy Leadings and execute thine Appointment. Let thy Holy ^/W/ guide me in my Beginning, and my Progress, on to my last End, and be the Willing^ Workings and Accom- plishing of all in me. Amen.
An Evening Prayer, When we have finished our daily "Employment, and are going to Rest.
I LIFT my Heart to thee, O God, thou Fountain oi Eternal Li/CySLnd give thee Thanks through /esus Christ thy Beloved Son, our Lord and Saviour, for having protected and pre- served me this Day from 3\lMischie/th^,t mighthave befallen me. I commend to thy Disposal my Condition and Employ- ment^ together with the Work of my Hands, and humbly repose, them on thee. So fill my Soul with thy Spirit, that neither that Qrand Enemy the Devils nor any other evil Infiuence or Desire^ may find Harbour therein. Let my Mind only delight in thee in thy Temple, and let thy good Angel stay with me, that I may rest safely in thy Power, and under thy Protection. Amen, Revelation xxi. 6. * I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning 'and the End. I will give unto him that is athirst, of the * Fountain of the Water of Life freely. He that overcometh * shall inherit All Things, and I will be his God, and he shall be * my Son.'
THE SECOND BOOK O F TRUE RESIGNATION, SHOWING How Man must daily die to his own Will in Self; how he must bring his Desire into God, and what he should ask and desire of God, Likewise How he must spring up out of the dying sinful Man^ with a new Mind and fTill through the Spirit of Christ.
ALSO, What the Old and New Man are, and what each of them is in Life^ Will^ and Practice.
Written in the German Language, (Anno. 1622) By JACOB BO EH ME c Matthew xvi. 24. Mark viii. 34. Luke ix. 23.
John xii. 26.
HRIST saith, He that will follow me^ let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me.
Matthew xix. 27. Mark x. 28. Luke xviii. 28.
Feter saith to Christy Behold^ JVe have forsaken All^ and followed thee.
OF TRUE RESIGNATION.
Chapter I.
WE have a clear Example in Lucifer^ and also in Adam the first Man, of what 5^^ doth, when it getteth the Light of Nature to be its own, and may walk with the Understanding in its own Dominion. We see also in Men learned in Arts and Sciences, that when they get the Light of this outward World or Nature into the Possession of their Reason, nothing cometh of it but Pride of themselves. And yet all the World so vehemently desireth and seeketh after this Light as the best Treasure; and indeed it is the best Treasure this World SiffordSy if it be rightly used.
2. But while Self, viz.^ Reason, is captivated and fast bound in a close and strong Prison, that is to say, in the Anger of GOD, and in Earthliness; it is very dangerous for a Man to make Use of the Light of Knowledge in Self as if it were in the Possession of Self 3. For the Wrath of the Eternal and Temporal Nature will soon take Pleasure in it, and then Self^.nd a Man's own Reason^ will rise up in Pride, and depart from the true resigned Humility towards GOD, and will no longer eat of the Fruit of Paradise^ but of the Property of Self viz., of that Dominion of Life, wherein Qood and Evtl are mixed, as Lticifer^,nd Adam did. Who both entered with the Desire of 5^^ back again into the Original, out of which the Creatures vf^XQ brought forth, and into the Condition of the Creatures; Lucifer into the Centre and Wrathful Nature^ into the Matrix or Womb which bringeth forth Fire; and Adam into the Earthly Nature, into the Matrix of the outward Worlds viz., into the Lust after Qood and Evil.
4. This happened to them both, because they had the Li^ht of Understanding shining in Self in which they could behold thern^ selves, whereby the Spirit oi Self went into the Imagination, {viz., into a Desire to get the Centre,) that they might exalt themselves in Might, Power and Knowledge. Now when Lucifer sought after the Mother of Fire in his Centre, and thought to reign there- with over the Love of Qod, and all the Angels; and when Adam also desired to try in the Essence what the Mother or Root was from whence Evil and Qood did spring, and purposely brought his Desire thereinto in order to become Knowing and full of Under- standing thereby: Both Lucifer and Adam were captivated in their evU or false Desire in the Mother, and broke off themselves from Resignation which proceeds from GoD, and so were caught by the Spirit of the Will^ by the Desire in the Mother. Which Desire immediately got the Dominion in Nature; and so Lucifer stuck fast in the wrathful Source of Fire, and that Fire became manifest in the Spirit of his Will, whereby the Creature in its Desire became an Enemy to the Love and Meekness of GOD.
5. Adam in like Manner, was immediately caught by the earthly Mother^ which is Evil and Qoody created out of the Love and Anger of GoD and compacted into one Substance, Where- upon the earthly Property instantly got the Dominion in Adam, and from thence Heat and Cold, Envy and Anger, z,nd all Malice and Contrariety to Qod became manifest, and bore Rule in him.
6. But if they had not brought the Light of Knowledge into Self then the Qlass of the Knowledge of the Centre and of the OrigincUolUcit Creature, viz.^ of the Power which it had in itself had not been manifested^ from whence the Imagination and Lust did arise.
7. As also we often see at this Day how the same Error bringeth Danger upon the enlightened Children of Qod; in whom when the Sun of the great Presence of GOD*S Holiness shineth^ by which the Life passeth into Triumph, and Reason then be- holdeth itself therein as in a Glass, and the Will goeth on in Self in its own searching, and will try what the Centre is out of which the Light shineth, and will of its own Motion and Strength force itself into it, how that from thence arise abominable Pride and Self Love; so that its (the Creature's) own Reason, which is but a Mirror or Qlass of the eternal Wisdom, supposeth itself to be greater than it is; and then whatsoever it doth, it thinketh GOD's Will doth in and by it and that it is a Prophet. Though it is moved only by itself, and goeth on in its own Desire; in which the Centre of Nature presently riseth up and entereth into that False Desire of Self against Qod, and so the Will entereth into Self conceit and Exaltation.
8. Then the Subtle Devil insinuateth himself into the Creature, and sifteth the Centre of Nature, and bringeth evil ox false Desires into it, so that a Man becomes as it were drunken in Self; and still persuades himself that he is driven by GOD; by which means the good Beginning, wherein the Divine Light shone in Nature, Cometh to be spoiled, and so the Light of Qod departeth from him.
9. Yet the outward Light of the outward Nature still remaineth shining in the Creature. For its own Self throweth itself there- into, and supposeth that it is the first Light of Qod; but it is not so. And into this Self Exaltation in the Light of its outward Reason the Devil throweth himself again, (though in the first \Msght which was Divine, he was forced to depart), returning with Of T'rue "Resignation. 41 a Seven-fold Desire, of which Christ spake, saying, * When the * Unclean Spirit departeth out of a Man, he wandereth through * dry Places seeking rest, and findeth none; and then he taketh * to himself seven Spirits worse than himself, and returneth to *his first House; and finding it swept and garnished, he dwelleth * therein, and so it is worse with that Man than it was before.* 10. This House that is thus swept and garnished, is the Light of Reason in Self For if a Man bringeth his Desire and Will into God, and goeth on in Abstinence from this wicked Life^ and heartily desireth the Love of Qody then that Love will manifest itself to him with its most friendly and cheerful Countenance, by which the outward Light also is kindled. For where the Light of Qod'is kindled, there ^/ will be Light; the Devil cannot stay there, but must depart thence; and then he searcheth through the Mother of the Original of Life, viz,, the Centre, but it is become a dry feeble Place, For the Anger of GOD, viz., the Centre of Nature, is in its own Property altogether feeble, barren, and dry, and cannot get the Dominion in its own wrathful Principle, Satan searcheth through these Places to find an open Qate to enter with his Desire, and so to sift the Soul that it might come to exalt itself 1 1. And now if the Spirit of the Will of the Creature throweth itself with the Light of Reason into the Centre, viz., into Self, and entereth into Self Exaltation, then it goeth forth again from the Light of Qod, and presently the Devil findeth an open Qate for him to enter in at, and a garnished House to dwell in, viz., the Light of Reason, Then he taketh to himself the seven Forms of the Property of Life in Self, viz,, the Flatterers which are de- parted from God into Self: And there he entereth and putteth his Desire into the Lust of 5^^ and evil Imaginations, wherein the Spirit of the Will beholdeth itself in the Forms of the Properties of Life in the outward Light, and then the Man sinketh into himself as if he were drunk, and the Stars lay hold on him, and bring their strong Influences into him, {into outward Reason) that he might seek the Wonders of GOD there, that so they may mani- fest themselves therein. For all Creatures groan and long after Qod, and though the Stars cannot apprehend the Spirit of Qod, yet they had rather have a House of Light wherein they may rejoice, than a House shut up wherein they can have no Rest, 12. Thus such a Man goeth on as if he were drunk, in the Light of the outward Reason, which is called the Stars, and apprehendeth great and wonderful Things, and hath a continual Guide, therein. And then the Devil presently watcheth to see if any Qate standeth open for him, through which he may kindle the Centre of Life, that so the Spirit of the Witt may mount aloft in Pride, Self- 42 I'he JVay to Qhrist.
Conceit^ or Cavetousness; (from whence Self-Arrogatuy arisetb, the Will of Reason desiring to be honoured:) for it supposeth it hath attained the Sum of all Happiness, when it hath gotten the Light of Reason^ and can judge the House of hidden Mysteries that is shut up; which nevertheless GOD can easily unlock. The deluded Man thereupon supposeth that now he hath reached the Mark, and that Honour is due to him, because he hath gotten the Understanding of Reason, and never considereth that the Devil maketh himself merry with his Desire va his seven Forms of Life of the Centre of Nature, nor what abominable Error he setteth up.
13. From this Understanding of Reason false Babel is brought forth in the Christian Church on Earth, where Men rule and teach by the Conclusions of Reason^ and have set the Child^ which is drunk in its own Pride and Self Desire as difair Virgin upon the Throne.
14. But the Devil is entered into its seven Forms of Life o{ the Centre^ viz.^ into its own Self conceited Reason^ and continually bringeth his Desire into this trimmed Virgin, which the Stars receive. He is her Beast on which she rideth, well adorned with her own Powers of Life, as may be seen in the Revelation of St.fohn. Thus hath this Child of Self tdken into its Possession the outward Qlance of Divine Holiness, viz., the Light of Reason^ and supposeth itself to be the fair Child in the House, though the Devil hath his Lodging within it all the while.
15. And thus it is with all those that have been once enlightened by God, and afterwards go forth again from true Resignation^ and wean themselves from the pure Milk of their Mother, viz., true Humility.
Chapter II.
HERE Reason will object and say, * Is it not right for a ' Man to attain the Light of GOD, and also the Light * of the outward Nature and Reason, that he may be 'able to order his Life wisely, as the Scripture ' directeth?'
2. Yes, it is very right; nothing can be more profitable to a Man, neither is he Capable of any Thing better; nay, it is a Treasure above all Earthly Treasures for a Man to have the Light of Qod and of Time^ for it is the Eye of ^im£ and of Eternity.
3. But mark, how thou oughtest to use it; when the Ligkt of Qod first manifesteth itself in the Soul, it shineth forth as Light Of "True ^signation. 43 from a Candle, and kindleth the outward Light of Reason immedi- ately; yet it yieldeth not itself wholly up to Reason, so as to be under the Dominion of the outward Man. No, the outward Man beholdeth himself in this through-shining Lustre, as he doth his Likeness in a Looking-Glass; whereby he presently learneth to know himself; which is good and profitable for him.
4. Now when he doth so, Reason, which is the Creaturely Self cannot do better than to behold itself in the Selfoi the Creature, and not enter with the Will of the Desire into the Centre in seek- ing itself If it doth, it breaketh itself off from the Substance of God, (which riseth together with the Light of GOD, of which the Soul ought to eat, and refresh itself therewith,) and eateth of the outward Substance and Light, and thereby draweth the Venom into itself again.
5. The Will of the Creature ought to sink wholly into itself with aU its Reason and Desire, accounting itself an unworthy Child that is no whit worthy of this so high a Qrace; nor should it arrogate any Knowledge or Understanding to itself or desire of God to have any Understanding in its Creaturely Self; but sincerely and simply sink down into the Qrcu:e and Love of GOD in Christ Jesus, and desire to be as it were decui to itself and its own Reason, in the Divine Life, and wholly resign itself to the Spirit of God in Love, that He may do how and what he will with it, as with His own Instrument.
6. Its own Reason ought not to enter upon any Speculation in Divine or in the Qround of human Matters; nor to will and desire any thing but the Qrace of GoD in Christy And as a Child con- tinually longeth after the Breasts of the Mother, so must its Hunger be continually entering into the Love of God, and not suffer itself to be broken off from that Hunger by any Means. When th^ outward Reason triumpheth in the Light, saying, / have the true Child, then the Will of the Desire must bow itself down to the Earth, and bring itself into the deepest Humility and most simple Ignorance, and say, * Thou art foolish, and hast nothing * but the Grace of God.' Thou must wrap thyself up in that Belief with great Humility, and become nothing at all in thyself, and neither know nor love thyself All that thou hast, or is in thee, must esteem itself as nothing but a mere Instrument of GoD; and thou must bring thy Desire only into God's Mercy, and go forth from all thy own knowing and willing; and esteem it as nothing at all, nor ever entertain any Will to enter into it again.
7. As soon as this is done, the natural Will becometh weak ztid faint, and then the Devil is not able to sift it thus any more with his evil Desire^ for the Places of his Rest become \tty power- 44 '^ke Way to Qhrist,