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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
earth_n	creature_n	heaven_n	world_n	8,020	5	4.5844	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29649	The way to the Sabbath of rest, or, The souls progress in the work of regeneration being a brief experimental discourse of the new-birth in which many of the serpents wiles are detected, the mysteries of the Cross unvailed, the death of the old man, the life of the new man, the angelical dispensation, with the entrance to the divine / clearly laid open and discovered by Mr. Thomas Bromley.	Bromley, Thomas, 1629-1691.	1692 (1692)	Wing B4888B; ESTC R35790	39,085	70

a new Impression which more exciting the Powers of the Soul to a new Imbrace opens the way more for the King of Glory to enter with that power and unutterable force of Divine Love that the Soul becomes filled swallowed up and transported into a kind of Rapture not being able to express those Pleasures Gusts Imbraces Love-Extasies which then are piercing thorough it nor sufficient Praises and Hallelujahs to the great King of Saints who bestows such Royal tokens of Love upon it And as in this state there is such holy Commerce in pure Love betwixt God and the Soul so there is betwixt the Soul and other Saints who cannot but wonderfully own and love one another and delight in that likeness of God which they see in each other and bless him for those living Powers of Grace and Love that are communicated in the Worship of God by which they exceedingly refresh each others Spirits Now this mutual love chiefly flows from a sight and sense of Oneness which exceedingly enforceth this great closing and out-slowing of Spirit to delight comfort and refresh one another And here is that strength of Love that we could give our lives for the Brethren and endure much Affliction to flee them from sufferings Here we bear one anothers Burdens and so fulfil the Royal Law of Love for we can keep nothing as our own but what we heartily communicate and make our Brethren partakers of because they are part of our selves Here we come to practice that heavenly Law of loving our Neighbours as our Selves and of doing Gods Will on Earth as it is done in Heaven for which end Man and the visible World were brought forth For the breaking forth of sin and wrath was not according to Gods most pure and holy Will which is good and tends to Salvation and Blessing and the keeping of his Creatures in that primitive Harmony in which they came out of Gods hands as fitted to glorifie him through mutual Love and regular Obedience And this is the end of Christs Coming into the World of Mans Nature even to restore it from the Discord of Sin and Wrath to the Harmony of pure Love and Righteousness therefore 't is a happy state to have attained this Habit of Love before described which will not terminate within the Sphere of our Neighbours and Brethren but in some measure flow out to all causing us to breath after endeavour and pray for their Change for it is the Nature of true Love to communicate it self and to delight in propagating its own heavenly Image that so many may come to partake of Bliss and Happiness through it And in this Enjoyment if we find any that know and posses but little yet thirst much after God O how will our hearts burn within us How ready shall we be to employ our Talents for their good and to discover that Way which leads through Nature into the Kingdom of the Love What labour and pains could we take to be instrumental in changing and quickning them and in bringing them through the Cross to our ovvn state of Happiness so that this Dispensation abounds much in Love both to God and our Neighbour fitting the Soul for Ascention into Eternity there to see and know with Satisfaction and Delight those Wonders which the holy Angels and glorifyed Saints are continually viewing with Joy and Admiration Blest is that Soul which is arrived here Where quickning Love casts out dejecting Fear And gives that sweet Composure to the Mind That it lyes passive to that Holy Wind Which blowing from the highest Paradise Invites the Soul to come and Sabbatise In that bright day where the Arch-Angels sing Sweet Hallelujahs to our Christ their King CHAP. XVI Being the Conclusion to the Rest THE Soul being brought thus far in the Heart-Work by the Power of Jesus through the practice of the Cross in Self-denial and Resignation lives in habitual springings up of the Love in the Centre of it's Spirit where the work is near finished the Will being constantly drawn toward the Heart of God in the Chariot of Love And in this State the Soul is completely fitted for Ascension and the opening of the Eternal World which is part of the Head-work for in that the spiritual Eye is seated which is capable to see and know the wonders of Eternity And though some in a rapture may be taken up into that World long before the work in their Hearts Wills and Affections is finished yet such must afterward go through the work in Nature of rectifying all their Properties and of bringing their Wills into Death and pure Resignation that so they may be fitted for the Birth of the Love whence its clear that this State of Regeneration attained in the Will through the Death is far more considerable and nearer Perfection than the highest Rapture without such a foregoing work and the Ascension after this work of Regeneration in the Heart is more weighty and more tending to Perfection than any Rapture of Transportation before can be because by such a Work the Will is wrought up into a constant Union with Christ which by Ascension is more confirmed and established the Heart through that being more raised above all mortal corruptible Objects and more reduced into a passive silent waiting for the Opening of the Eternal Temple whence the infallible Voice proceeds and where the great High-Priest sparkles with the most bright Beams of divine Glory But the manner of the Souls Ascending from the Internal to the Eternal World is very remarkable and wonderful It cannot of its self move one degree upward That same hand of power which carried it downward to see the Wonders of God in the Depths must carry it upward to see his Wonders in the high places above So that in this the Soul is meerly passive The Spirit of Christ being the Agent which descending with an over-shadowing Vertue upon it wraps it up swiftly and in a strong force by which the Souls Acts are for a while suspended translates it as it were in a strait Line from the Inward toward the Inmost In this Translation or Ascension what Wonders are seen and felt I shall not particularly express But in general this I must declare That there is an unutterable Power transfusing the Soul in this Ascent which first comes into the Womb of the Invisible Worlds out of which they issue in which it finds an Universal Silence or Stilness and above which it discovers a great Glory inhabited by glorified Spirits who there live in perpetual Harmony and Joy singing Halelujahs to the Lamb of God and continually waiting upon the Infallible Voice proceeding from the Throne of God To be taken into this is a further degree of Ascension being the second Mansion in the Eternal World where Myriads of Angels attend those Commands which come out of the Most holy place which is the last and highest Mansion in that World answering to

to give To those imbodied Souls that purely live CHAP. VII THe Soul having now attained to the Death of that which so long hindered its growth in the Pure Life and to the Enjoyment of those Spiritual Objects which exceedingly refresh and quicken the Heart in the midst of all discouragements proceeds chearfully in the strait way of Resignation offering up its Sin-Offering daily as a Sacrifice to the Fathers Justice For now the Daily Oblation is restored in the Holy Place which must continue till the death of sin and the rending away the Vail of flesh from before the most Holy Now therefore the Circumcising Knife of Gods Power constantly cutts off the Fleshly part which is offered up in the Fire of Justice and consumed before the Lord Now the Soul sees it must resist to blood that is to the Death of the Body of sin which is wholly to be separated from the Spirit with all its Members For this is that false Covering it hath wrapped it self in through the Fall instead of that naked Innocency in which there was no uncomliness and therefore no shame Except therefore this Fore-skin of the Flesh be cut off the Angelical Robe cannot be put on and as that falls off this is assumed increasing as that decays for they cannot both rise and fall together for while the outward Man decays the inward Man is renewed day by day Here it clearly appears we must forsake all we have otherwise we cannot be Christs Disciples All Objects of our Carnal Affections all complacency in Fleshly things all Propriety of Will which assuredly came through the Fall and the Souls Departing from the Universal Love the true ground of heavenly Community into the particular Objects of self-affections which as it hath been awakened by the Souls going out of Gods Will into its own so it must be Crucified by returning from its self into the pure eternal Will of God which we can never attain till we are dead to the affections of the sensitive part For carnal Love Joy Hope Fear Desire Displeasure are all the selfish Motions of the Natural Man the corrupt Members of the Body of Sin together with earthly Pride Covetousness Envy Jealousy Emulation Wrath Strife all which are the Leggs of the earthly Adam and therefore to be cast away and destroyed and in their Fall the Will comes to be crucified to all their Objects and so to all selfish Propriety Here we come to lose our own Lives to hate our selfish Motions to be slain to all fleshly Things the Will hath espoused instead of God in Christ Here we begin to be truly Poor renouncing all for Christ owning no Propriety in earthly Estates We see here that the Earth is the Lords and the Fulness thereof and that Covetousness hath been the cause of Propriety and of all those engrossings of Land and Money which most are involved in and that Christ came to destroy this Work of the Devil by his Doctrine and Pattern who had all things in common with his Disciples even as the Primitive Christians one with another which was a renewing of the Law of Love by which we were and still are obliged to love our Neighbours as our selves and to do Gods Will on Earth as it is done in Heaven where the holy Angels and glorified Saints inherit their eternal Substance in common For he that overcomes shall inherit all things Here likewise we die to and forsake earthly Relations as part of that we call Ours And though we are not to destroy natural Affection nor to neglect the performing1 forming of any due Obligation laid upon us by the Law of Nature as it accords with the Will and Justice of God yet we are to die to all such Propriety of Affection as flows from corrupt Nature and hinders the impartial Communication of our Love to every one according to the perfect Example of our Heavenly Father who takes in no fleshly Respects in the giving forth of his Love to his Creatures which is our Pattern to imitate for we are to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect Here those that have Wives are as though they had none returning from Idolizing and desiring the Woman of the World to the Virgin Sophia who is the unspotted Mirrour of the eternal World the first and chief Spouse of Christ Rev. 21.2 And they that are unmarried follow the Example of Christ who lived and died in Virginity as he was born of a Virgin and this they do for the Kingdom of Heavens sake according to that precept Mat. 19.12 He that is able to receive it let him receive it where Christ speaks concerning the abstaining from Marriage and of those that have made themeselves Eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven Whence it is clear that the dying to and crucifying of that Root whence the enjoyment of that State comes is to such a real mean to the growth and encrease of Gods Kingdom in the Soul which is to be presented as a Chaste Virgin to Christ 2 Cor. 11.2 And Paul 1 Cor. 7.31 32 33 34 25. prefers the Virgins State far before the Married and therefore Verse 7. saith I would that all Men were as I am Which certainly he spake according to true Light found Judgment and great Experience in the Work and Progress of Regeneration But in a word in this State before described we come to see that we our selves are not our Own but the Lords and that we are to consecrate our Bodies Souls and Spirits to him and to resign up all we call ours to him whose is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory for ever And truly our gradual incorporation into the Body of Christ with the Enjoyment of new Relations and Treasures which are Spiritual and Eternal make it the more easie to die to and forsake all earthly Things which being of a lower Nature shew their Rise by their Fall for being of the Earth they are earthly and return to Earth as utterly incapable t● enter with us into the Kingdom of Love As we then leave the Spirit of the World they leave us and so we arrive to a good degree of Conquest and Victory over that Beast which rules the whole World which gives the Soul occasion thus to express its self in praise Blest be that Power by which the Beast Is made to serve and we releast From that base servile Drudgery Which some mistake for Liberty Sad Liberty that chains poor Souls to Dust And soils immortal Things with mortal Rust CHAP. VIII THe Soul having arrived so far in the Circumcision of the Heart from the Body of Flesh and in the Renovation of the Spiritual Image cannot but have attained a good step in the Command over Imagination especially in the death of it to Complacency in any corrupt fleshly Object which now becomes too gross for the renewed mind to regard But yet we shall find the Tempter working

and sparks of fire leap out Out of his Nostrills goeth Smoak as out of a seething Cauldron His breath kindleth Coals and a flame goeth out of his Mouth v. 31. He maketh the Deep to boil like a Pot of Ointment 34. He beholdeth all high things He is a King over all the Children of Pride which are the Principalities Powers and spiritual Wickednesses of this Dark World Many of which in their Dark Bodies bear the forms of terrible Beasts Rev. 9.3.17 Into this Region Christ descended after his giving up of the Ghost upon the Cross for this is a distinct Article of the Ancient Creed and agrees with Acts 2.27 Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell which was Prophetically spoken by the Psalmist of Christ's descending into Hell and of his Redemption from it and Ephes 4.9 't is said that before he ascended he descended into the lower parts of the Earth which cannot be meant of his outward Body because that lay in or near the superficies of the Earth or as in Mat. 12.40 into the Heart of the Earth Where there is a parallel made betwixt Jonas and Christ the Type and the Antitype which cannot well correspond except Christ descended into the Sphere of the inward Spiritual Leviathan as Jonas into the belly of the outward from whence in Type of Christ he said Jonah 2.2 Out of the Belly of Hell cryed I and thou heardest my Voice Now Hell or the Dark World may be called the heart of the Earth 1. In allusion to that large Sphere or Lake of Fire which according to Des Cartes and some learned Hermetick Philosophers is seated in and about the Center of the Earth 2 dly In that acording to the eternal Gradation of Beings and Principles it may be said to be within in the middle or Center of it the Earth and all Terrestrial Matter being more outward in the Circumference And though Hell is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 8.12 The utter or more outward darkness yet that 's spoken in relation to Paradise and the Eternal World not in reference to the Earth and this World Now Christ having passed through this Principle into Paradise draws us all after him according to that Promise When I am lifted up on the Cross I will draw all Men unto me Now this is no other way than that he went through himself for there is but one way into everlasting Life and the Kingdom of Glory and that very narrow too according to Christs words Strait is the Gate and narrow or afflicted is the way that leads into Life and few there be that find it Even they only who deny themselves and take up their Crosses and follow him who is the Way not only through this World but even through Death and Hell also for though in conformity to his pattern we come to be cast into Hell which Mat. 13.50 is called the Furnace of Fire typed forth by Nebuchadnezzars fiery Furnace into which the three Children were cast yet the Son of God walks there with us keeping us from that Torment and Pain which the damned undergo and making us with him to triumph over Principalities and Powers and to conquer them by the Blood of the everlasting Covenant which quenching the fire of wrath raiseth the Spirits of the Obedient out of this dark grave into the joys of Paradise But we must know that in our Progress we may many times be cast into Terror and Anguish Yea feel Hell awakened in us and afterwards be delivered by some influence of Christs Spirit and infusions of his Love and yet be short of this Resurrection and of passing through Hell as Conquerors which can never be till we descend thither without Guilt in Child-like Innocency with the Candle of the Lord in our hands which is the Pillar of Fire which alone can lead us through this Night into the Day of Paradise To which State whoever attain cannot but sing thus in the joy of their Spirits Ye Morning Stars ye Sons of Light Rejoice with Jubilation As once ye did when that first Night Was scatter'd by Creation Behold the Prince of Night is thrown Into his proper Place And he that cast the Dragon down Hath raised me by his Grace And now I stand above that Grave Where Wrath entombed is And wait that rich Crown to receive Which will be perfect Bliss CHAP. XIII BY this time the Soul experienceth the happy state of being freed from the principle of Selfness in returning to God from the Spirit of the World and sees the real progress it hath made from the Outward through the Inward Dark World into the Internal Paradise where Adam lived before his Fall and where Christ conversed betwixt the time of his Resurrection and Ascention In this spiritual Region the Curse is not manifest there being a perpetual Spring Here are the Idea's of all visible bodies in much Beauty and appearing lustre Here are those bright Clouds which overshadowed Christ on the Mount and when he was received up into Heaven in which he will descend when he comes again to judge the Earth Now the Soul having attained to the State of this Angelical Garden knows what it is to turn and become as a Child and to attain a secret and quiet Life of Innocency and pure Love free from those Passions and Evil Affections it had formerly groaned under And here it experienceth what it is to be born of Water and the Spirit as a necessary qualification to do the will of God And sees its Conception in the Womb of Wisdom which is our new Mother who here distills the Milk of the Eternal Word from the Eternal World to feed and nourish the Soul whither it now Travels as fixing its sight upon that pure River of Water of Life clear as Chrystal proceeding out of the Throne of God and of the Lamb. But now likewise the Soul lives the life of Spiritual Vegitation and grows like a Willow by the Water-Courses or a Lilly in the Garden of the Lord being continually refreshed with the Dews of the Eternal Heavens and quickened by the Beams of the Sun of Righteousness and cherished with the enlivening gales of the Holy Spirit All that are in this state are like the harmless flowers in a fruitful Garden springing from the same ground yet differing in Colour Virtue Smell and growth according to their several Natures and times of Planting yet all serving to express the Power Love and Wisdom of their Creator without any Strife or Contention for Eminency Place or Esteem being all satisfyed with what God affords them and their different Capacities fit them for O what a sweet Harmony is here What a beautiful consent in expressing the goodness of the great Creator of all things How far are Spirits here from envying the different Beauties and Ornaments one of another How sweetly do they incline to mutual love and agreement as being the Branches of one pure