as it is in themselves though many have learned in this day to adde to their Faith Vertue and Patience and all good Fruits of the Spirit of God because of the Experience of the Work of Faith which through Patience they are kept in the sence of in the midst of Fiery Tryals and they hold fast the begettings of God thereby in a confidence of good in him XI And then as they increase in Knowledge it is on a good ground and foundation that hath learned them to rejoyce in the FLAMES of DEVOURING FIRE whose devouring QUALITY cannot reach their SENCE with any BITTERNESS of its Sting but through Patience and Submission thereto it is made sufferable and the Cross is made easie therein and the BURDEN light because of a quenching property in that love against whatever maketh the Judgement of God to be unsufferable Torment to his Creature for part of their Knowledge is that it is not only given them to believe but to suffer for the namesake of God though in the beginning of the Work of Faith the belief that was wrought by the Spirit of God in them is a Convincer of sin under which there was and is a suffering in the nature that hath contracted the guilt thereof on the Soul by unity of Spirit therewith even the Spirit and God of the World XII Further knowing and being perswaded in patience to wait for the perfecting of the Work of God in the Heart in that Faith and belief of the love of God therein shed abroad that they are kept sensible of a good experience of the Work thereof having the Testimony of a good Conscience to manifest the same in the World these can shew their Faith by its Works and have a birth thereof that makes not ashamed of a good CONFESSION among Men and the fained Humility and appearances of Love from the untimely Fruit of the Womb that can never come to see the glory of the Sun of this day withereth in its way for that which can indure and hold out to the End worketh by the love of God that hath begotten into a lively hope concerning the Resurrection from the Dead having a Life tinctured in the Souls reach after true Charity in God and Love unfained which is the highest attainment in a Christians state and the greatest Gift that can be attained by men under the Bond of Perfection XIII Sealing the Work in which God doth glory and delight in that which is made able to pass through the stroke of Death to leave an Earnest of the expectations of the Creature after the day of Redemption in that which is much more pretious than that of Gold that perisheth But how have I seen many in this day loading themselves with the Fancy and Imaginations of their disquieted Mind and then being burdened with a Fear and Jealousie that ariseth from the Unbelieving Heart and distrustful ground they are ready to cry out of the Burden of the Lord whereas their own words and thoughts are become their Burden who have taken that on them which God never layd on them and yet they make the concern for the Lords sake that lays no more on any than they are made able to bear in the Life of Patience XIV And in this ground stand all the several Separations and hasty receivings into Fellowships with sudden hands laid on Proselytes for herein is the ground of prejudice swayed by the creaturely affection yet in this mind may be maintained a fierce and fiery Zeal for the opiniatedness that may often call for fire to come down from Heaven and to have Vengeance and Plagues speedily executed on such against whom their Spirit is bent for having wished evil in their Hearts and mischief against the Persons of such towards whom they cannot admit of any CHARITABLE thoughts they proceed in a hasty Prophecy of their utter confusion and then would they rather that both Soul and Body of the subject over whom they seek to be avenged in that rejoycing should for ever perish than that they should be found False Prophets so evil a thing it is to be engaged in a Spirit of Enmity and Envy XV. But such Extremities many have this day put themselves on through rash censure and then run back to former Ages and Generations of the World for a President and Example to help them out as they think whereby they oft are ready to plead the lawfulness of cursing their Adversary who standeth not justified in their sight and approbation because ELISHA was once acted in that Ministration through the heat and zeal of his Spirit it being so far from their nature to live in that which is wayting for the Worlds redemption from sin and reconciliation to God that they rather strengthen their FURY in the expectation of utter Consumption and Destruction on all that cannot for wraths sake stoop to their perswasions and it is the end of such willings to see a People perish in their sins XVI Because of that mis-informed Zeal under which their Spirits are acted against the Enemies and Foes of that Cause for which they have found the life imboldened towards God according to the quickning of his Spirit as tinctured with that Power before which the Heavens have opened and do shut and in the like desire THEY are moved as was HE before whom Fifties were destroyed whose Spirit resteth Judgement on a Ground wherein God hath prepared Messengers to go before his face But considering the difference in Administrations that Zeal which runneth out after an Object to maintain the heat of Spirit against which it is enkindled is not now held and retained in the like Cause and Ground as that in which it first appeared XVII For God is gone out of that Administration as acted towards the Persons of Men in their Generations and cannot own any glory therein but as that which had a Testimony of his day in the Prophecy thereof wherein the Messengers went before his Face in a sence of that terror that was come on the Wicked World because such that wear the soft Cloathing are got into Kings Houses and they shall no more wear a rough Garment or prophesie in their Sackcloth Robes therefore whom would men go out to see since Times are come that the Sacrifice of the Rebellious savoureth of the Work of Death and there is not fire enough to kindle the combustible matter in the House on the top of which they are exalted while the Displeasure of God continueth unawakened in the Pleasure and Will of Men that bring Wood but where is the Flame of that other Spirit which God requireth even of Reconciliation to Himself in the Life of Forgiveness in that which is able to Appease and Quench the Wrath and Rage of the devouring Enemy and make Friends in the Well-Beloved Life XVIII Yet where is Love and Forgiveness enough to heap Coals of Fire on the Heads of Enemies the Gift hath been first left at the Altar and such
greeting to the four Churches in EUROPE I. SInce the WORLD is faln under the power of Corruption and Affliction hath overtaken the Inhabitants of the Earth in its divided Quarters let this Epistle be sounded throughout thy Borders O ASIA wherein is Power communicated to an Instrument in the Hand of God to raise up and awaken the sence of what hath overtaken thee in the Glory of thy seven Churches now dispersed abroad over the Earth that it may be known throughout the whole Land of JUDEA that our God is King in Israel who is come to Rule and Reign in RIGHTEOUSNES and is arisen as a Giant refreshed with WINE for he hath taken unto him VENGEANCE for a Cloathing and is cloathed with ZEAL as with a Cloak before his face goeth a consuming Fire and it is very tempestuous round about him II. For he hath raised up unto himself a Horn of Salvation which is a Witness awakened out of the Dust and from the Holy Place wherein it hath slept in the Earth and hath commended his love unto us while we were yet sinners having laid down his Life for his Enemies that he again might come to take it up in as many as are willing to joyn to his SPIRIT in the Work of Redemption and Reconciliation of the WORLDS to himself III. Whereby the Worlds are convinced of their SINS and their RIGHTEOUSNES in that Life of Sufferance wherein the Spirit of Reconciliation is manifested as a witness against the Spirit God and Spirit of the World in several sorts of Judgment for which the World is reproved that remains in unbelief and continues joyned to that cursed Spirit of Enmity being subject to sore Tryals of Bondage and Captivity to the Spirit of Darkness in which the Curse first wrought and therein is caused the groaning and waiting of the whole Creation of God IV. And thou O Europe let this have its free passage throughout thy quarters lest I tear thy flesh with Thorns saith the Mighty One that is High and Holy in the midst of this the day of his Exaltation as his Beloved becometh raised out of the dust a beautiful Daughter of dejected Zion whose glory hath been covered with Ashes while she hath sat mourning on the Floar of Corruption and all that are Enemies to my WORK and stand in my WAY shall be made like unto ZEBA and ZELMANA saith the FORMER of great Nations mighty and strong for by the Breath of his NOSTRILS and through the BRIGHTNES of his Appearance he will consume and destroy the Man of Sin and where will the WICKED appear since the Day of God is come on all the pleasant PICTURES and upon all that is lifted up above its SPHEAR and ORB to the staining of the beauty and glory of all FLESH that all high Oaks and sturdy Cedars in LEBANON may be made to bend to the Power of God which is the subjecter of all forms in Nature to their first servitude V. And unto the ANGEL of the Churches in EUROPE write these things saith the first born of every Creature under the Heavens The day and hour of thy Tryals is come therefore let thy Rulers hear and let thy Priests give ear for their Sacrifice hath been defiled while their Hands are full of Blood in the right Hand of thy Prophets is a lie and they feed upon Ashes Remember therefore the Day of God that hath measured the Ground in which thou hast been exalted in a time of prosperity because of the night that hath overtaken thy Glory and say no more I am prosperous in that strength which is the help of Nations VI. For because of transgression in JUDAH the Land doth mourn and through the iniquity of BENJAMIN they are scattered in ISRAEL and the ten Tribes have lost their name wherein the Glory of SAMARIA is rooted out of the Earth Hear therefore you that can for if your breaking off was that which made way for the reconciling the World unto God in the Life of the Sons Glory what will be your reconciling again but life from the dead Oh alas that I am born to see your Rebellion ye stiff-necked people and gainsaying house VII Ye have cast others out of your Synagogues and places of Worship and now are you cast off by all and made a scorn to the Inhabitants of the Earth and are become a Song of the Prophane for wherein you have despised the Servants of the Lord and slighted his Messengers that were sent unto you rising up early because the Lord did send them God hath given you up to be tormented by that Spirit of despite Yet are his Bowels again turned towards you and though you could not come up unto him nor receive him that came down unto you to suffer your contempt in a Servants state yet in the last day of the Worlds visitation he hath taken notice of your calamity and hath prepared a way for your return through the everlasting Gates of Glory set open that the Nations of the EARTH might enter in thereby VIII And unto the Angel of the Churches in ROME saith the searcher of all Hearts what hast thou done for thy nakedness is discovered and thy shame is seen though thou hast imboldned thy self in the calamity of Nations and in the destruction of mighty People great in their Generations Alas for thee that hast been cast out of the fellowship and community of a People that were more antient in Name to God then thy self and in like manner hast thou been found casting out of thy Temples and excommunicating from thy Church-Fellowship such that for Conscience sake could not conform to thy invented and superstitious Ceremonies IX But now what is come upon thee that art rejected by thy lovers For although the time is come that God will laugh at thy calamity and mock when thy fear cometh yet is there pitty to a handful of People that are in thee and the yearning Bowels are towards that which is ready to die under such Oppressors that are found in the cause of what hath stained the Day of thy Excellency my Heart my Bowels I am pained for thee in whose currant are centring all the divided streams that have been boasting themselves in what hath caused the breaking off the Branches from the Root in which they were first planted but they run in that wide and open way that leads to everlasting destruction that are boasting against the Root which first bore them Oh that thou mightest be yet helped X. But you have hardned your selves in the way that leadeth thither and therein you are become blind and cannot see the danger before you Is Italy strong enough to support thee or what defence is the House of Austria to that which is broke forth against thee See you not the flames the flames thereof in the Heavens and the glory of its brightness amongst the Stars in their Constellations I am weary I am weary of your ways saith the Lord but what shall
of moveability because God is the unchangeable being of Love Delight in REST in the Center of all that is good and Nature is that into which good and evil hath entered from whence its TREE hath sprung up and doth grow which the Creature who is the cause of work and labour in God hath fed on that hath brought the sence of pangs and misery into the World where is the worldly sorrow that worketh and bringeth under the power of Death and all other afflictions they meet with in their way CHAP. V. Describing the Form and Order of the WHEELS in their MOTION XXV FOR God is the cause of nothing without NATURE though in the Wheels there appeared two Motions whereby the cause of moveability was kept from centering in the ground of Corruption and Mortality under the power of which the Creature of God was thus fallen in a NATURAL Body through that which was sown in Weakness therefore in what ever the Creature was betrayed under the power of its guidance it was a CROSS to all proneness and adiction of Motion that did arise from the ground of Corruption XXVI And about the CENTER in which stood a Heart inflaming was made a Diurnal Motion in the Wheels which moved at a distance in two Rings of the inward Wheels wherein the third and inward Principle moved equally with the ground of Motion from the first CENTER and the two outward Principles of the inward World acted according to what was formed in a third Principle by which those three Principles came to manifest their CENTER in Nature XXVII But in the WHEELS there was also an Annual Motion that moved round that which stood fixed in the Center and this caused a ground without the Center as it stood manifest through the inward Motion to be corruptible and to Center under a power of Corruption though in those inward Rings of the Wheels there were kept and preserved a tincture of the first Motion XXVIII Yet having let in another Tincture from the power of Corruption under which the Worlds were labouring to Center what ever came forward under its motion must again be brought back into the sence and feeling of that which it reacheth after through DEATH to the cause of all labour and pangs wherein the Body of Nature standeth afflicted XXIX For there was neither East West North nor South from the Center in the inward Rings of the Wheels though it appeared to me in the ground whereon I lay for the beholding of the Vision that as the outward Rings in the Wheels were moved in a power of the four Winds of the Heavens the inward motion was from East to West and the Wheels went side wayes in all courses of the World XXX In which the three Rings of the outward Wheels did move and were moved according to the frame of the Worlds wherein centered the Principles of the whole but the inward Wheels moved by reflection the CENTER being unmoveable wherein two Rings only were discerned at a distance in that inward Wheel though in the Principles of each and both Worlds there were moved about three Rings in each Wheel XXXI And though in the outward Ring of the Inward Wheel in its Diurnal Motion the Heavens did move and were moved in what stood fixed toward the CENTER yet the outward Ring of the outward Wheel standeth 〈◊〉 in the 〈◊〉 distance of years from the motion in the 〈◊〉 as doth the inward Ring of 〈◊〉 inward Wheel from the revolution of the Moon in the Annual Motion of the Wheels And in the second Ring of the outward Wheels the Heavens were moved about in their Annual Motion at the same distance from the Center as they were in the second Ring of the inward Wheel in their Diurnal Motion CHAP. VI. Describing the MYSTERY of the sounding of the seven Golden TRUMPETS and the seven THUNDERS that are for the preparing a ground in which the Judgement of God is manifest XXXII ON the Ground and Principles of a third part of the Worlds into which the DRAGON drew a third part of the Stars of Heaven after him did five of these Golden Trumpets sound forth the Judgment of God in what is loosed and unsealed from the BOOK of WONDERS in the Heavens wherein the four BEASTS were manifest each in their day calling to come and see what lay slain under the ALTAR of God in his Temple and House wherein the Sun Moon and Stars of Heaven did shine through that which was smitten in its third part XXXIII And herein is discovered the seat of the BEAST in Nature whose torment is awakened out of the bottomless Pit though as yet the number of Horsemen and Riders do multiply on the Earth through that which is awakened from the sounding of the sixth Trumpet on the great River EUPHRATES in which hath been bound the four Angels that were prepared according to the time in which standeth the Execution of their destroying Power in with-holding the Winds from blowing on the EARTH as they are seen come up exalted on the four Corners of the same holding the four Corners of those Winds XXXIV Wherein each of those four Beasts in the forms of Nature recovereth six Wings according to the six Spirits of God in which the seventh unchangeable Spirit of Rest in him is begotten into the Creature and Creation that are become his Workmanship and they cover the living Creatures who day and night are crying HOLY unto the Lord and by the lifting up and letting down of their WINGS is the whole Earth and Worlds darkned or inlightned with GLORY XXXV And the Mansions or twelve Houses of the Fathers GLORY in the Heavens have their form defended with the WALL that is raised up on its antient Foundations wherein are twelve Pearls on its twelve Gates and under it are the twelve Foundations setled in the Refining Power through which are to be brought other three parts of a new World in its Heaven Earth in the destruction of a fourth part over which the fourth BEAST hath ruled with the Face of an Eagle who is come forth on his PALE HORSE like unto Death and Death and Hell follows him XXXVI Whose Power is by Famine Pestilence and Sword with WILD Beasts of Prey in all that lives in or moves on the GROUND and PRINCIPLES over which the seven THUNDERS are awakened to Thunder from those Places wherein Life doth strive to break forth and come into the CENTER of the creaturely being where every Birth hath its SIGNIFICATOR and the twenty four Wings of the four Beasts are the Army of the HEAVENS according to what came forth first MANIFEST in the four Wings of the FOWL that was stretched forth over the LYON in what strove to come up under the four Winds of the HEAVENS wherein the Heavens contended CHAP. VII Describing the MYSTERY of the four Beasts in the seven Forms of NATURE and of the Beast himself who is the Eighth XXXVII FRom the THUNDERS in