therefore the Time shall come that thou shalt call to me but I shall be married to another Who was thy Rival in the time when I would have consummated the Wedding with thee Be not entangled with one that will bring thy Soul to ruine and who is far inferiour to the Souls Nobility For there are an indefinite number of these gone out into the World to trapan Mankind Whereof there are variety of kinds but especially seven As sprung forth from the Mystical Mother of Harlots They Lust after the best richest greenest fairest strongest tallest wittiest soundest noblest and most durable Essences And they find too many humane Souls fit for their turn They perceive that the Souls of Men are Eternal and Excellent Fair Lovely and Lively Essences As being made after the Image and Similitude of the Divine Being Now every Created Being lusteth after something that is of a higher Nature than it self that in the Fruition thereof it self may be perfected §. 4. The Blind falling Headlong FOR every Creature groaneth and travelleth for its own Perfection But cannot attain it without the Assistance of some one above him Hence it is that this sevenfold Whorish Spirit is become an earnest Attractor and Enticer of the immortal Souls of Adam's off-spring And for to solemnize the Wedding-seast she furnishes her Table and presents Man with the delicate Dishes of Pleasure and false Joy viz. Counters for Gold But when she hath once got the Poor Soul within her Net and cropt off the Flower of the noble Affections of the Heart which the right Virgin should have had and so spoiled the Spirit of the Mind with a false Vizzard or Mark of Infection when Mans Body fall as a Leaf to the Grave and the Souls Wedding-day draws on and he is to be settled in one of the two Eternal States Then this false Whore crâ—eth Aha! Thou humane Soul thou art Eternal I am but Temporal and Mortal and thou dost partake of my Mortality Eternally to seek Death and yet never Die I had my Pleasure with thâ—e Go now into Eternity I indeed was only the cause of alluring of thee to Sin But how thou must answer for it thy self I am but for a time In the end I return to the Original Abyss of Nihility Now here ariseth a great Question seeing Mans fate is so dismâ—â— Whether hath his unlacky Soul sinned or his Parents that he is thus born Blind Answ No Soul is born stark Blind But if some one should be so born yet there is Veâ—tuâ— bestowed through the Merit of the perfect Sacrifice upon every Soul to open his blind Eyes if he do not wilfully neglect the means of washing them in the Pool to which he is sent But if he will not go where his Virgins great Champion and Physician doth seâ—d him then let him groap in his Blindness For there is no Man that hath Power over his Spirit and passionate Mind that loves a Harlot without the Assistance of the foresaid great Counsellour Prince of Peace in Mental Calmness Now these foresaid Whorish Jezebels have painted their Faces and adorned themselves with an Image of seeming Beauty like the Fruits of Sodom which when touched will fall into Ashes but no real Beauty They lay waâ— at the Head of every Humane Street Some are like Hartors that receive hire And some scorn hire like Marrons that commit Adultery and take Strangers to defile their Husbands Beds And are contrary to common Harlots in that they give Gifts to all Lovers that they may come to defile them §. 5. For Destruction of the Individuum FIrst the Thief or surveying Harlot that surveys the whole World comes and saith All this will I give thee if thou Marry me and be joyned to my Nature in the Bed of my Friendship under Ground There I will nourish thee and thou shalt have the Entrails of the Earth for thy Chest and Coffer But I do not promise thee to see Day-light for many a Year if ever But there like a Slave in the American Mines thou shalt see Gold and Silver enough and thou shalt sleep among the heaped Treasures But the Spirit of the Soul cryeth O this is not Happiness O who will release me out of this under-ground Prison If this were Felicity then my Purse would be better than my self A Horse is not esteemed by his Trappings nor a Man by his Rich Concubine The Womb of this Whore is a snare of Temptation Which catcheth in the Pit of Perdition She gapes like a Gulf for the Mind of Man And spreads like a Sea for his Soul She is beautified by the Hand of her Whorish Mother Who writes on her Face sweet Solace But O Son of Man Child of God legal Heir of the Kingdom of Heaven If thou hast Oxen do thou offer Oblations And if thou hast Sheep thou shalt Sacrifice to God And if thou hast Children thou shalt candidly Consecrate them With the Wife of thy Wedlock to the Lord That his Heavenly Blessings may be upon thee Which the World doth hold for a Curse And yet knows not the Curse on the earthly Blessings Nor how they are a Curse unto them Who strive for Content in much But when they have much are hungry Yea they thirst as the gaping Grave whose Womb consumes them that gape after her But if thou hast the Virgin be thou content For she will make thee to flourish as a fruitful Field Thy Gardens shall be garnished with Greens With the fashions and fragrancies of Flowers Having Hope thy Seed shall spring up And in Faith shalt thou fill thy Vessels If this Harlot cannot prevail then comes the Riotous Luxurious or Swinish Jezebel I see saith she thou art a quiet harmless Man Wilt thou therefore live in Joy Get thee Wine and strong Drink Drink until the Poyson thereof be enraged Quaff this noble Liquor in Bowls Strive to conquer thy Companions in the Valour of Bacchus's Souldiers Eat the Lambs out of the Flock and Calves out of the Stall And make thy Body as mine is a Sepulchre of Dead Carkasses Put far away the Evil Day Let not thy Conscience trouble thee nor Reproofs awaken thee So thou shalt be an easie-hearted Sot or Voluptuous Flog-like Epicure of whom much shall be made in the Swine-house until thou be fully fattened for the House of Slaughter Come therefore along with me to the Banquetting house And we will cast away Care and remove that Melancholick Fit with a cherupping Glass We will treat thee with variety of Dishes dressâ—d after a new Fashion with poinant Sawces We will rant it and make merry over the Witness of God in the Conscience For this Solace is better than Gold or Silver Spend it away prodigally upon thy Lusts and gratifie thy Luxurious Palate And we will anticipate Prayer in the Morning with the Incense of our burning Lusts as preferring Sacrifice before Devotion Oh but in the midst of my Mirth my Heart is sad saith the Souls
Pit which swallows them as Sops into her Womb The Fruit of her Womb is the first-born of Tophet which was in the beginning a Devil Whose Jaws are the Gates of Hell to slaughter the Soul and to spill the Blood of the Blessed But turn thou thy Windows from her Martial Colours lest her Drums and loud Musick stop thy Ears from hearing the Virgins Voice And that she should bite thee with the Teeth of an Asp and thou be stung to death with her Venom But O Immortal Man Love thou the Virgin of Innocency and she shall surround thy Scituation like a Silver Munition and be for ever to thy Gladness the Glory of a Golden Dwelling If this cannot prevail upon the Soul then comes the lustful unsatisfied Harlot saying What wilt thou dye without a Child of thy Lust to receive thy Soul by a Transmigration of the Humane Nature into the Bestial Behold the Sylphs and Nymphs of the Woods Mountains and Waters are in Love with thee and will entertain thee in the Garden of Delights O saith the Soul having found the deceit of this Strumpets embraces now I enjoy the Sweet-heart of my fading Youth which to fetch I endangered my precious Life by passing through a fierce Fire of infernal Adultery The Fire of my Passion is not so fierce as it was When I was further from my desired Fire I burned me thought with Myrrha more violently by a secret Conceit Therefore now my Mind is variable and wanders after fresh Lovers I thirst as the unsatisfied Womb which receiveth without Conception O thou fair Angel consider whom thou eagerly longest after It is the Catamite-Strumpet He that toucheth her Flesh is tainted with her Filthiness And he that goeth in unto her corrupteth his Soul She makes a Man as a Monster And an unspotted Lamb as a Leopard Her false Pleasures are as many Ponds where Serpents Toads and Vipers do drink Their Palates do delight to pamper with Poyson For their Nature is one with the Venom The Love of their Lust doth Sacrifice their Seed to Molech And infects them with the stink of the Stews There is not a Man that dwells in their House That saith no more I have enough But their Heart is as a tired travelling Pilgrim that cannot find a lodge of Repose They flame in their Bowels as a burning Bush and cannot find Water to quench it They fill up their bundle as a Faggot of Fuel To blaze in the Torment of Tophet §. 8. For degrading the Soul LAstly the imperious Harlot saith if all did bow down before thee as before God O what a brave sellow shouldst thou be Then thou couldst rule by force over the Virgin and make her Handmaid to thy ambitious Harlot But many a Soul in the midst of these enjoyments is often struck with a Panick fear and knows not whence it comes For the Virgin who causeth it is become a Stranger to her Flesh and Blood O saith he I have conquered in Triumph over one World now I Lust after another Vtopia But as the Philosopher told the great Conqueror there are innumerable Worlds How then doth it seem so difficult to me to gain the Government of one I will sit down and weep and search my own little World Wo to him that wandereth out of it And wo to him that goes not out of himself and out of his own mortal World And yet as little as this World is Many a Man cannot Travel to the utmost bounds of it in the whole compass of his Live For it is a very long Journey to their own true Native World O Man this is she that draws to a draught of desire To Drink up Dominions like a Dram And in a Compendious Circle would compass all Crowns And trample upon Thrones as Trifles The Entireness of Empires could not extinguish his enterprizes Except he be greater than God But wait thou with wariness That the haughty Hand may not tear down thy Tent Mark the Example of Jesus the Just who joined not to the Joys that the Jews would have given him He was a King without Enjoyment of the earthly Kingdom or Contemplation of the corruptible Crown He was a Prince a Pilgrimage of Passions Without the Propriety of a supposed Palace Thou shalt tread in the Trace of his Travel And run in the Race of his Righteousness Thou shalt obey his Message as thy Master in Meekness and Honour him in the House of Humility And then the Blessings which he preached shall be thy proper Possession with the Constitution of a Kingdom and Crown The Glory of the World runs down as a Minute But the Crown of Gods Kingdom lasteth for ever §. 9. The Divine Reprover in the Conscience NOW when the Soul is in Love with any thing that it fancies Give him the choicest Pleasures Proffer him the fairest Virgins Yet they are slighted and contemned in Comparison of the one thing loved and longed after In this sense Love is called Blind So the Spirit of the Soul is in Love with his appointed Virgin and therefore is still unsatisfied discontented murmureth grumbleth repineth whineth pricketh vexeth and worrieth Man and disturbeth his Peace in the Conscience when ever he goes to look after other Lovers crying as it were plucking him by the Skirt or twitching him by the Ear This is the right way walk in it when the Soul is in the Wilderness wandring after his Lovers And he often sees the burning Bush of his Heart on Fire and well may he wonder that it is not consumed This Fire is the Flame of the Virgins Love to him O therefore turn aside and see this great miraculous sight And look back and listen to the Voice behind thee And if thou turn thy course then the Voice that was behind thee in thy own Wilderness will go before thee and lead thee into the Land of Eternal Rest Now these Whores are they that aim at Mans ruine by Emulation for they envy that Mans Soul should be a Favourite of the Deity But if Man would Love Gods Daughter she would keep him from the Strange Woman Who forsook the Guide of her Youth and would allure Man to do so too and to forget his Contract or Covenant with the Virgin Her House declineth to Death and her Paths to Hell None that go into her return again Lust not after her false Beauty in thy Heart neither let her take thee with her Eye-lids For by means of a whorish Woman Man is brought to a piece of mouldy Bread And the Adulteress hunts for the precious Life Can one go on hot Coals of a Phantastical Passion and his Feet not be burnt as in the Fire of Hell Men do not despise a Thief if he steal to satisfie his Soul when it craves and longs after the right Food being withheld from it by the Fancy But if he be found he shall restore sevenfold according to Gods Ballance and right Measure But whosoever committeth Adultery with the Wife
diminishing of his Revenues O Immortal Man to thee I speak and not to him that prefers Mortality to Eternal Life Love Vertue and her Gists Long Life Health Peace Plenty Joy and Rest from Labour Accept thou of the Fair Virgins Heavenly Balsom wherewith she will so embalm thy Soul that it shall never turn to Putrefaction but continue an Immortal Mummy for Gods use Now it is well known that the Humane Body while it is kept in Health and Fresh by the natural Balsom or Oil the Tincture of Life its natural Ferment it is preserved free from Decay or Rottenness For we well may see and observe when the Oil is corrupted by the Impur ties of Vâ—nus or some other anomalous means the Body many times gradually begins to rot above the Earth Live thou therefore Eternally O Humane Soul lest thou become also Subject to such a Fate And be thou Immortal For there is no Profit to God in the spilling of thy Holy Blood neither can they that go down into the Pit of Eternal Death Praise and Celebrate his Blessed Name §. 9. Seven Properties of a future Being LAy therefore thy Hand upon thy Heart O noble Soul and consider For the choice lies at thy own Hands Whether wilt thou choose to repossess thy Native Inheritance Or like a Fool to become Surety for a Stranger the Serpent or Worm who would invade thy proper Right Consider what thou dost before thou sign the Bond lest thou make a forfeiture of Heaven thy natural home and so suffer thy Soul to be fined and taken for a Pledge For what will it profit thee if thou shouldst gain the whole World while thy Soul which should enjoy it is amerced by a Mulct which never can be redeemed by any Ransom by the Law of the Soâ—lish Court And so thou shalt look upon Heaven with doleful Eyes as a Prodigal that is become a Beggar and begs a piece of Bread at the Door of his Fathers House to which he was born Heir now possessed by a Stranger But perhaps thou mayest say I have purchased a new Birth-right the Kingdom of Hell Nay Hell also spews thee out as being thy sworn Enemy and loaths thee as a false out coming Renegado or Traytor aiming to become Lord in the Kingdom whereunto thou wast not created Whether wouldst thou choose to feed on the Tree of Eternal Life in Paradise And to drink of the Living Fountains of Water or to be confined in the barren Heath of the Abyss where thou shalt be starved to Death Or else thou shalt Eternally Vomit out thy own Blood and the Poyson which thou didst swallow in this Life in Everlasting Pain and Sickness And when thou art about to fill thy Belly thy Enemy shall cast the Fury of his Wrath upon thee Wilt thou refuse Rest after thy Travails and a soft repose in the Beatisical Vision and Divine Recreation and Heavenly Joy And in stead thereof choose to sport with Hellish Squibs in Hell-Fire with Evil Angels Where thou shalt be terrified as a feaverish Body with broken Sleeps and frightful Dreams And all this for thy slothfulness in this Life Because thou wouldst not Labour in Harvest thou must want in the Eternal Winter While thou madest as if thou observedst the Wind and the Clouds for an excuse to thy Laziness when the time of Sowing and Reaping was Now therefore thou shalt neither Day nor Night see a sweet Repose of Sleep with thine Eyes O Poor Prisoner hard is thy Fate Wilt thou refuse Fair Wisdom the Virgin for thy Consort And choose to be a Fool or else to know Pain opposed to Pleasure and to be wise like God Or to become a raging Bedlam whose Wheel of the inward Seuses wants Reason to guide it Longing for strange things which are impossible to be attained Whether wilt thou choose to be a Valiant Hero in Heaven And a Conqueror of the World Or to pine away the Remainer of the Days of thy Eternity as a wounded Souldier Lurking in Holes from the noise of the Battel for fear of thy Enemies who won the Field And now a dreadful sound is in thy Ears as of a Hound or Hellish Fiend pursuing thee Day and Night and waiting to apprehend thee as a Catchpole by the Authority of Lucifer who will deliver thee to the Judge and so to the Officer who will do Execution upon thy cursed Body O faint-hearted Coward Now thy fears are in the way and lay wait to seize upon thee Wilt thou refuse the Bosom of thy chast Spouse for the embraces of a Harlot Wilt thou be the Devils Catamite Wilt thou loose thy beautiful Garments to sit in the Dust Wilt thou refuse Divine Honour of a Prince in the Kingdom of Heaven And choose to be hissed and mocked by them whom thou hast scorned and despised in this Life time Wilt thou leap down into the Abyss and Hellish Fire and there burn Eternally in the slame of aspiring self-love Wilt thou cast thy self down from the Pinacle of thy false Imagination and Fancy by highmindedness and Pride O stop the Carrcer of thy Mind lest thou fare as Luciser doth §. 10. 〈◊〉 Described O Heaven the Eternal source of all Joy O Paradise 〈◊〉 Garden of Everlasting Delight How shall I describe thee Even as the Holy Spirit worketh from Eternity to Eternity and continually manifesteth the inâ—â—â—ite and number less Forms oâ— the 〈◊〉 Virgins of God Just as the Earth produceth fair Forms of Plossoms Herbs and Fruits and putteth them forth sometimes more fair and manifesteth their Vertues more soveraign and powerful than at other times And when one ariseth in the Essence another falleth down And there is a continual lasting uncessant Enjoyment and Labour Thus likewise is the Paradisical blossoming in the Holy Bud of the Divine Pregnatress Where the Plants of Holy Souls stand as in a sweet odoriserous Meadow by one another And all is as a perpetual Love-combate or Wrestling-delight A blooming of fair and curious Colours in the Beauty of Gods Virgins An Harmony of excellent Heart-chearing Musick from their sweet Voices A pleasant ravishing Smell of Odorates in their Holy Breath A continual pleasant taste of Love in their Divine Kisses And a full Frnition of their Vertues as being the Productions of the Blessed Deity in the pure Garden of Everlasting Pleasure and Joy The Prince of Salem had a fair Vineyard in the Fields of Eden He set out the Vineyard unto Keepers of the Humane Race Every one for the Fruits and Prosits thereof was to bring and pay a thousand Pieces of Coelestial Gold My Vineyard which is mine by free Gift is before me saith the Virgin the Companion of the Holy Soul Thou O Price of Salem must have a thousand And they that keep the Fruit thereof five hundred Pounds or five Talents Now O Man dost thou know where to sind thy Souls Satisfaction Beware of despising the means A Sesvant being sorced to stay with a Master against