THE MYSTICALL MARRIAGE Experimentall Discoveries of the heavenly Marriage betweene a Soule and her Saviour By F. ROVS LONDON Printed by William Iones dwelling in Red-crosse-street 1631. TO THE BRIDE THE LAMBES WIFE A REASON OF THIS WORKE IF any man fearefull of waste doe ask To what end serveth this labour I answer To the maine end Gods glory by mans edification And to this I thinke it conduceth many wayes First by the fitnesse of it to all times and seasons either of prosperity or adversity For if the times be joyfull this subject brings the best joy with it and enables us to rejoyce with them Yea it rectifies amends and exalts our joyes for upon an earthly it sets a crowne of heavenly joy And indeede without this joy we may say to joy Thou art mad and to laughter What is it that thou doest But if the times prove sad and dangerous by pestilence famine sword or other calamities this Doctrine brings strong consolation even stronger than all sorrowes and discomforts For our Communion with Christ is a fastning of the soule to a mighty and impregnable Rocke that makes her stedfast even against the gates of hell By this Communion we are made Temples of the holy Ghost the very Comforter himselfe and by him there is a Sanctuary made within us into which the soule may fly for rest safety and comfort amid all feares and dangers For into this Sanctuary the Avenger may not enter There is a chamber within us and a bed of love in that chamber wherein Christ meetes and rests with the soule and the force of friends or men either dares not or cannot breake in to disturbe the rest of Christ with the soule nor of the soule with Christ. It is an undeniable Axiome We are more than conquerours through him that loveth us An omnipotent lover gives an excessively conquering and unconquerable safety And for this safety of us and our joy we have also the immediate word of the lover himselfe I will see you again and your heart shall rejoyce and your joy shall none take from you No wonder then if the Disciple beloved of this Lover doe tell us that writing of this communion hee writes that our joy may bee full for in this communion stands the fulnesse of joy both for soundnesse measure and safety And surely with these last times of the world it hath too great a fitnesse For it hath beene foretold that in these times the love of many should waxe colde and what fitter remedy is there for love when it hath taken cold than to kindle a fire to it even that spirituall fire which issueth frō the spirit that baptiseth with fire A second advancement to edification is this that that it presents to the view of the world some bunches of grapes brought from the land of promise to shew that this land is not a meere imagination but some have seene it and have brought away parcels pledges and earnests of it In these appeares a world above the world a love that passeth human love a peace that passeth naturall understanding a joy unspeakable and glorious a taste of the chiefe and soveraigne good Neither doth the benefit of it rest onely in the conviction of the understanding but thirdly it goes on to the will and affections It warmes and drawes them and by them the whole man to partake of the same pledges and by the incouragement of these pledges to goe on laboriously and constantly to the possession of the whole And that as by a borrowed sight men are provoked to come to tasting so by their owne tasting they may come to a sight of their owne which onely tasting can teach them But withall that by these foretastes they may be led on to that fulnesse wherewith the soule shall eternally be satisfied Fourthly it may provoke others of this Nation to bring forth more boxes of this precious oyntment even of that mysticall loue which droppeth downe from the Head Christ Iesus into the soules of the Saints living heere below For so the house of God shall bee filled with the savour of his oyntments and we know that because of the savour of his oyntments the Virgins love him And loving him they cry Draw me and I will runne after thee So the more savour of this oyntment the more love of Christ the more love the more running after Christ. But if the number of those who have written on this subject of mysticall and experimentall Divinity be tolde I thinke this worke will not be found supernumerary THE MYSTICAL MARRIAGE I. The soule seeketh a Husband and findes him I WAS first breathed frō heaven and I came from God in my Creation I am divine and heavenly in my originall in my essence in my character and therfore my happines must be divine and heavenly For to a divine and heavenly essence can agree no other but a divine and heavenly happinesse I am a spirit though a low one and God is a Spirit even the highest one and God who is a Spirit is the fountaine of this spirit Where should a low spirit finde happinesse but in the highest Spirit and where should a created Spirit seeke happinesse but in the Spirit that created it Wherefore being a Spirit I will fasten my selfe on a spiritual happinesse and this spirituall happinesse I will looke for in no other but in the first and best Spirit beyond whom there is neither good nor being Then what hast thou to doe O soule any longer among these grosse thicke and bodily things here below to cast thy love on them or to seeke happinesse in them what are they to thee or what agreeablenesse is there betweene thy purity and their grossenesse The bodie that lives by breathing the thinne element of ayre may as well live in the bottome of the thicke water as thou canst live continue much lesse better thy Being by sucking these grosse and bodily Creatures Thy being is of a higher and purer nature and therefore thy well-being must bee fetched from something that is higher and purer than they The maine use of them is to serve the body which is some kinne to their grossenesse but remember that the bodie it selfe is to serve the soule and what base felicity must that be which she shall find in her servants servant Much more reasonable were it for the soule to fetch her well-being from some being higher and better than her selfe for such onely can better her and withall to lift up the body to the participation of the soules high and spirituall happinesse for there is a naturall body and there is a spirituall body then that the body should draw downe the soule to the grosse and transitory things that are given to serve the body in the bodies service of the soule And thus may man be perfectly happy the soule a spirit by union with the highest Spirit and the body by union with the soule united also to that Spirit And now the
to the increase of happines since the more happy shee is in time the greater shall her happinesse be in eternity CAP. IIII. The heavenly marriage is happy not onely in the pleasures but in the labours of love A WISE husband though most loving is not alwayes embracing hee doth love ever but doth not ever embrace For there is a time to embrace and a time to be farre from embracing There is the service and labour of love as well as the pleasure of love and accordingly as we reade once that Isaac sported with Rebekah so wee reade also that she made savoury meat such as her husband loved No doubt she had pleased him before by the like service that she pleased him so certainly now at least she was no better than Sarah who did her husband the service of making cakes for the entertainment of his guests So doth the mysticall wife also she thinkes sometimes how she may please her husband by service and not onely how she may take pleasure in him and of him For the soules husband will not onely please but be pleased hee will not onely give love but take it and the love which he takes shall be sometimes in the labours of love Hee is her Lord and therfore he expects service from her that shee may not call him Lord in words onely but in deedes even in doing his will Neither is this service a meere service or a thing onely of toyle and trouble but it is an easie yoake and a light burthen yea it is full of profit and advantage for it bringeth and increaseth rest and happinesse to the soule For indeede love ever seekes the good of the beloved and accordingly Christ Iesus who is love sets the soule on worke for her owne good For the soule hath many gaines annexed to her worke she gaines before she workes she gaines in her worke and she gaines after her worke She gaines before the worke for this is one maine cause why those weighty joyes sweete embracements and ravishing consolations are given her that she may cheerfully runne the race and performe the service set before her When Angels bring meate to Elijah it is because hee hath a great journey to goe so that he is beholding to his great journey for his Angels foode The outward Israel is fed with the bread of heaven to maintaine him in his walke unto Canaan and the inward Israel is fed with the true bread that commeth downe from heaven to enable him in his workes and walkes through this pilgrimage to heaven Neither doth this course holde onely in the service of doing but in the service of suffering in the passive as in the active obedience Christ Iesus shews his Disciples on the Mount a patterne of his heavenly glory and then to Christ thus gloriously transfigured Moses and Elias doe speake of the suffering which hee should accomplish at Ierusalem So to the Head himselfe the glory set before him is an encouragement to the enduring of the Crosse and despising the shame And if it be so to the head it should be such also to the body And such it is indeed to the true members of that body for they receive not the grace of God in vaine but can doe and will doe all things through Christ that strengtheneth thē For as they finde that they are strengthened with all might according to Gods glorious power so they know the end for which they are thus strengthened even unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulnesse Wherefore let us think that the parcels of glory joy and strength which we now receive in the visitations of Christ Iesus are a kind of wages paid aforehand to encourage us more cheerfully confidently to the worke of doing and suffering And accordingly having received them let us not dreame of rest but of labour not of setting up Tabernacles but of service and sufferings And let us not doubt but if the Angels foode be a preparation and call to a long or laborious journey of doing or suffering the same foode will also strengthen and enable us to performe the journey unto which it calls so that in the strength thereof we shall be able to walk even to the Mount of God Yet neither is all the comfort encouragement and gaine given to the soule before her worke but even in her worke she gaineth In the service of her husband is continuall gain and that not of strength onely but of pleasure and delight For the soule having tasted Christ in an heavenly communion so loves him that to please him is a pleasure and delight to her selfe Yea there is such a law of love shed into her by that communion that his commandements are so farre from being grievous to her that there is no pleasure in her taste comparable to them No sweet things no precious things in her judgement may be compared to the sweetnes and preciousnes of cōmandements Therefore it is the true voice of the Spouse and therein not so much her mouth as heart speaketh They are more to be desired than gold yea than much fine golde sweeter also than hony and the hony combe Behold how the soule married unto Christ delights in the law of her husband and no wonder if she love his law when she loves him neither if her heart be to his law when his law is written in her heart Besides the law of his lips is a law of grace and a law of grace is a lovely law So she loves his law because his law is lovely she loves it because it is his law whom she loves she loves it because the love of his law is written in her heart And as she loves his law so she loves to fulfill it for her love will not be quiet untill it see her words turned into her deedes And this she doth not negligently nor heavily but like a lover pleasantly and chearfully Looke but to a carnall lover and see how he affects the title of a servant and is more than glad even proud to receive and fulfill the commands of his beloved Give then spiritual love to a soule and she will rejoyce also to perform the spiritual commands of her beloved If a man know not this it is because hee loves not but let him love and then he will both know and doe it For the nature and law of love in the lover naturally moveth to the fulfilling of the law of the beloved And as the Sun in whom a law or covenant of motion is written rejoyceth like a gyant to runne the race and motion of that covenant so the soule in whom this law of love is written rejoyceth to runne the race and motion of this law Obedience is the kindly fruite of a loving soule and a loving soule bringeth forth this fruite as kindly as a good tree bringeth forth good fruite And as this law of love is active and laborious so is it strong and mighty Even
teach thee they teach thee that Christ is better than his gifts and that Christs love is better than the gifts of his love Therefore learne especially to fasten thy love on Christ and next on his love and thinke thy selfe happy enough in having thē though thou hast nothing but them yea know also that thou hast them even when thou hast them not they are thine when thou seest or feelest not that they are thine He and his love see thee when thou seest them not yea they love thee when thou feelest them not and he and his love are better than the seeing and feeling of him and his love and it is better for thee that they are thine than that they doe appeare to be thine Yea it is good for thee somtimes that they do not appeare to be thine that thou maist love them better then their appearing to bee thine and this love do thou learne even from their not appearing Yea farther Christ and his love are thine even when he chideth and chastiseth thee for it is his very love that chideth and chastiseth thee And he doth it to purge thy blemishes to trie and exercise thy vertues and amonge others this excellent love which loveth him chastening Therefore though he kill thee do thou trust in him and love him for Hee that loveth thee so that hee gave his owne life for thee may well be trusted with thy life For his owne life was infinitly better then thy life hee that gave so precious a life for thy good will not take so meane a life from thee but for thy good Hence it is that even by loosing thy life thou shalt finde it and thou shalt finde it with him for whom thou loosest it for thou shalt finde it hid with Christ in God And when Christ which is thy life shall appeare thē shal this hid life appeare with him but not such a fraile and base life as that which thou gavest for him but a glorious immortall and incorruptible life shall that be which he will give unto thee Therefore at all times and in all estates even in darkest desertions and greatest sufferings trust him whose love turnes all things to good unto his beloved even death unto life For bee thou assured that this Almighty husband out of this eater will bring meate and out of this strong one will bring forth sweetnes He himselfe broke the gates and barres of death and carried thē away and so made away open for us to eternall life He quickened himselfe whē he dyed an universall death even when all our deaths were included in his death And as we all dyed in his death so in his quickning rising doe we all rise againe as the universall death of the head is given particularly to all the members so shall the vniversall Resurrection of the Head be also particularly communicated to the members Much more easily in the desertions of this life which are a kinde of sownings and seeming deaths will he give thee life againe when thou hast learned by them that which thou wouldst not learne without them When thou lovest Christ alone when thou lovest him hiding himselfe chastising thee then he that said to the woman O woman great is thy faith be it unto thee even as thou wilt He will say to the Spouse O woman great is thy love be it unto thee as thou wilt Thou willest him most be it unto thee even as thou wilt For when thou willest him most thou shalt have him whom thou willest most he will come unto thee yea hee will come much unto thee and thy latter end shall be more then thy beginning By wanting him shalt thou have him more then thou hadst before thou wantedst him because by wanting him thou dost love him more then thou didst when thou haddest him Fifthly these Desertions are profitable to the Soule by teaching her patience and by making patience to bring forth her kindly fruites wayting and attendance The husband of the soule is a King of glory and he will sometimes expect the honour and service of patient attendance He is a free agent and his Spirit bloweth when as well as where he listeth And to a free agent there is due a waiting patience He that gives freely gives when himselfe will give and not still when the receiver will have In this case he will answer his Spouse as hee did his Mother Woman my houre is not yet come There are times and tides wherein the spirit moveth as it is said of Sampson The spirit of the Lord moved him at times in the campe of Dan The Angel of the Lord not alwayes but at a certaine season went downe and moved the waters Now these times and seasons are in his owne hands and it is not in the soules power to know and appoint them Therefore as the eyes of the handmaides are to the hands of her Mistresse so must the eyes of the spouse be to her Lord untill hee regard her Her part is patience and attendance and the patient abiding of the righteous shall not perish for ever When the soule hath submitted her will unto his will the Lords houre wil shortly come wherein the water shall be turned into wine the water of colde desertions into the warming and comfortable wine of joyfull visitations When thy Lord hath the honour and service due to a most free and wise giver then shalt thou have the crowne of thy patience and attendance For God hath given his word that those which honour him he will honour and againe Waite on the Lord and commit thy way to him and he shall bring it to passe A blessed waiting which honoureth the Lord and blesseth his handmaid and a blessed absence that procures this waiting which draweth his presence accompanied with blessednesse But take heede that thy patience be not the effect of dulnesse or neglect nor a cause of idlenesse be not patient in the absence of thine husband because thou carest not for his presence desire his presence above all earthly joyes and the shining of his countenance above all corn and wine But let thy patience be meerely grounded in a submission to his will and let his will be the cause that thy will is content to want that which above all the world it desireth And this desire thou maist expresse in prayers praying to drinke the cuppe of salvation as Christ prayed not to drinke the cup of his passiō but with Christs reservation even with a will submitted to the will of God Not when I will but when thou wilt Thou maist say unto him My soule thirsteth for God even for the living God And thou maist sigh out this longing unto thy Saviour When wilt thou come unto mee And thou maist looke for him more than they that watch for the morning even more than they that watch for the morning For blessed shalt thou be if when he comes
soule is resolved of her choise for she hath fixed her love on that Spirit which is the true object of the love of spirits But even that excellency which draweth her love awaketh her fear and beholding admirable purity and majesty together with her owne impurity and lownesse shee is moved at once both to runne to happinesse and to fly from it Shee stands distracted and in this distraction asketh Will God indeede dwell with men and will the highest Spirit who inhabiteth eternity and cannot abide iniquity dwell with low spirits that are defiled and be full of impurity Who shall dwell with the devouring fire and who shall dwell with everlasting burnings But the Lord himselfe speaketh to her and saith Feare not for thy maker is thine husband the Lord of Hosts is his Name and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel the God of the whole earth It is the glory of the greatest spirit to blesse the lesser spirits as it is the happinesse of the lesser to bee blessed by the greatest Fulnesse is glorified most by filling the greatest emptinesse and majesty by succouring greatest infirmity As for thy impurity true it is that thou art indeed too uncleane to touch God in an immediate unity but there is a pure counterpart of thy nature and that pure humanity is immediatly knit to the purest Deity And by that immediate union thou maist come to a mediate union For the Deity and that humanity being united make one Savior Head and Husband of soules and thou being married to him who is God in him art also one with God He one by a personall union thou one by a mysticall And being thus united and married to him his spirit flowes into thy spirit and the sappe of the Deity sheds it selfe into the soule For as man and wife in a corporall marriage are one flesh so in this spirituall and mysticall marriage Christ and his spouse are one spirit The spirit of Christ entring into our spirits layes in them an immortal seed and from thenceforth those whom he found impure he makes pure even pure in heart so that they may see God The Sonne of God so loved the soules of men that hee would make them a wife and marry them And that hee might make this wife fit to be brought into his Fathers house hee left his Father to come to his wife that he might cleanse her frō spots blemishes and present her pure glorious to his Father By his precious blood he purgeth her from her guilt by his spirit he purifieth her from her uncleannesse and both of these hee bestoweth on her in his marriage with her And then the soule thus washed hath boldnesse to approach unto God through her husband the Sonne of God who hath loued her and giuen himselfe for her and giuen himselfe unto her For God beholds her and she beholds God as one with his Sonne euen as his Sonnes wife Then draw neere O soule to this husband of soules the Lord is the spirit that marieth spirits and makes them one spirit with him in a knot of eternall blessednes Cleare vp thine eye and fixe it on him as upon the fairest of men the perfection of spirituall beauty the treasure of heauenly joy the true object of most feruent loue and inflamed affections and accordingly fasten on him not thine eye only but thy mightiest loue and hottest affections Looke on him so that thou maiest lust after him for here it is a sinne not to looke that thou maist lust and not to lust hauing looked For the spirit hath his lust also it lusteth against things contrary to it and it lusteth for things connaturall to it Accordingly it lusteth against the flesh but it lusteth after spirituall objects wherof Christ Iesus is the chiefest Let thy spirit then looke and long and lust for this Lord who is the spirit the chiefest spirit let it cleaue to him let it hang about him and neuer leaue him till hee bee brought into the chambers of the soule Yea tell him resolutely thou wilt not leaue him untill thou here a voyce in thy soule saying My wellbeloved is mine and I am my wellbeloveds To this end bee still gazing on him and still calling on him Kisse me with the kisses of thy mouth Yea kisse my soule with such a kisse of thy spirit that they may be no longer two but one spirit say to him whom haue I in heauen but thee and whom haue I desired on earth besides thee My soule thirsteth and panteth for thee the liuing God Tell him that thou art sicke of loue Vexe him with Importunity and put him out of hope of ease as the widdow did the Iudge but onely by satisfiing thy desires It is the right-voyce of the spirit I found him whom my soule loveth I held him and would not let him go If then thou hast found him with thine eye hold him with thine heart and winde thy affections round about him And if he see thee all on flame with loue and obstinate in Importunity by loue he who is loue cannot deny the importunity of loue The bowels of loue in him melt at the sound of loue in thee as one string danceth at the sound of another agreeing with it Hee was great with loue before thou louedst him and hee looked but for a loue to draw his loue from him Hee was great with spirit and did but looke for spirits that by loue would draw some spirit from him And now when his loue meeteth with thine his loue joyneth with thine when his spirit meeteth with thine his spirit powreth it selfe out into thine hee is joyned to thee and thou art one spirit with him his spirit and thine being united and mingled in a blessed communion II. The soule hath but one husband at once THere is a law in heaven that the heavenly Bride may at one time have but one Husband The first marriage on earth was a patterne of this Law for then God gave one woman to one man God that made this first marriage gave not two women to one man nor two men to one woman but he gave one to one that two not three or foure may be one flesh Accordingly the heavenly marriage-makers espouse the Church to one husband and that they may doe so they doe teach that the former husband must be dead before the soule can marry with another No soule can marry with Christ Iesus but a widow for she must be freed from the law of her old husband by his death before shee can come to be subject to the law of the new Her olde husband was concupiscence to who she was married in carnall generation and this husband must be slaine and put off by death if Christ Iesus the new and true husband of the soule shall be put on in regeneration And indeede if the soule will give her consent this new and true husband will kill the old not so much an husband
as betweene a woman and a serpent And I wish all this were sufficient to perswade the soule to give consent to the divorce and death of this usurping and bloudy husband without whose death there can be no marriage betweene her happines for though all reason and right doe joyne for his removal yet power and possession and union worke mightily for him The friends of the Bridegroome cry aloud Put off the olde man corrupt throgh deceiuable lusts put on the new created in righteousnes and holines And If ye live after the flesh ye shall die but if ye mortifie the deedes of the flesh by the spirit ye shall live And Abstaine from fleshly lusts which fight against the soule The authority love and reasons of these voices deserve to be heard perswading the soule to no other but a separation from a deadly enemy who can give her no dower but death eternall And I wish that thus yet the soule may be perswaded And when the soule is come even to the point of perswasion even then will lust come weeping after the soule like the false husband of Michal hee will raise up in her remembrance the images of grosse and filthy pleasures to awake the old unhappy love and to cause a cruell and unmercifull pitty For a cruell pitty it is when the soule pitties her owne murtherer and not her owne murther But rather put on a mercifull cruelty being mercifull to thy selfe by killing him that would kill thee It is better he should endure one death who is not worthy to live than that a soule should be ever dying which should live for ever If thou kill not lust now hee must shortly die with the death of the body and this short life of his will cost thee everlasting death but if thou kill him presently who must die shortly by this small oddes of death thou preservest to thy selfe everlasting life Wherefore that which shall shortly be necessary make it presently voluntary and so shalt thou turne necessity into a sacrifice even a freewill offering and by his death thou shalt change thy owne death into life eternall And know that they are but false teares which lust doth shed and his cryes are lyes for there is no such happinesse in his union as his teares would tell thee but thy happines is then most when thou art gotten free from lust even when lust is dead and the soule new maried to her Saviour For the first soule was happy before she was maried to lust and miserable onely after that accursed mariage To bee without lust is a true Paradise for man had not this lust when hee was first placed in Paradise neither could Paradise endure man when this lust was placed in him Therefore the true way to returne to Paradise or the state of happines wherof it was a type is to put off this lust wherewith began our misery And lust being put off frō the soule by death and she new maried to the Lord of life then will she say that she was never happy till then and that her former imaginary happinesse was but painted and glittering misery She will looke on dead lust as on a loathsome carkasse and shee will loath the remembrance of her former not loves but adulteries she will be like one awaked from a foolish dreame or an inchanted love and shee will wonder that shee hath so long beene bewitched with vanity folly sinne and misery But withall in her new mariage having tasted how sweete her Lord is shee will wonder and lament that shee hath so long lacked this sweetnesse Excesse of joy will be to her a cause of sorrow for her joy is now so great that she is sorry shee was no sooner partaker of this joy And in this joyfull sorrow shee will kisse the feete of her Lord and weepe on them while she kisseth them The feete of her Lord are now more precious to her than the head and top of lust for therefore she kisseth them because she loveth thē and therefore she weepeth because she hath loved lust so long a time and her Lord so little For lust that once falsly appeared to her as her greatest joy now truly appeares to her as her greatest sorrow and her now Lord in whom before she tooke no delight now appeares to be her chiefest and truest joy And both these her teares doe tell us CAP. III. The happinesse of the soule in her second Marriage NAbal being dead David marries his wife lusts name is Nabal and folly is with him and folly being dead the Sonne of David yea the Sonne of God who is the highest wisdome marriage A right kindly and blessed marriage wherein a spirit marries with a spirit a derived spirit with the originall and and roote of spirits yea with a spirit that hath abundance of spirit and so can continually refresh and nourish her with a new supply of spirit For being thus fed and supplied with a sap of her owne kinde shee growing in being and well-being she is more spirituall by receiving more juice and fatnesse of the spirit and consequently more full of divine light beauty love vertue power life joy and glory Behold the highest knot of blessednesse on earth and a preparation yea a pledge of the highest happinesse in heaven And though this inchoate marriage here on earth compared to the consummate marriage in heaven seeme but like to a betrothing yet even this betrothing compared to earthly marriages casts a shadow of darknesse on them for all the beauty all the glory all the joy in the world are but beames rayes flashes of this King of glory beauty and joy By him were all things made that were made and therfore the goodnesse of the things that are made by him must be borrowed of him that made them and then must the borrowed goodnesse needes be ashamed to be compared with his goodnesse that gave or lent it Christ Iesus is all lights in one light all glories in one glory all beauties in one beauty all joyes in one joy Whē he gave light and glory and beauty and joy to the creature he left the roote of light and glory and beauty and joy in himselfe So did he leave infinitely more in himselfe than hee gave out of himselfe for an internall and infinite fountaine hath infinitely more in it than all the streames that ever issued from it and hee is a fountaine for largenes unlimited and for spring without beginning and ending The dew of his birth is of the wombe of the morning even of that morning which hath an everlasting rising and shall be free from setting for all eternities Thus the soule being united to him is united to an eternall roote and fountaine of blessednes she is lightened with the primitive light she enjoyeth the primitive beauty she is adorned with the primitive glory shee tasteth the radicall utmost and uppermost sweetnesse Being made one with him who is God she hath the
taste of God and God being tasted overfloweth and steepeth and drencheth the soule with overcomming and inebriating sweetnesse For a high and large and mighty joy poured into a low and measured and weake spirit overcommeth her with quantity and quality and so carries her away into extasie and ravishment she is too narrow and feeble to containe and beare a joy that is too large and strong for her and therefore having filled her to the utmost capacity it goes beyond and runnes over So is she blessed in that fulnesse which her measure containeth yea she is more than blessed even blessed in a kinde of excesse by being overcome and overflowed with blessednesse And if we will consider the quality of this joy as well as the quantity there is no joy to the spirituall joy the joyes of the body being base in comparison of it the spirituall joy is pure piercing and full of activity the joy of bodies is grosse heavie dull and earthy In the bodily wine it is the spirit of the wine that rejoyceth the spirits of the body But a wine that is all spirit and spirit in the height and top of spiritualnes and newly drawne and sucked from the prime and chiefest spirit how doth that rejoyce how doth that ravish the spirits that drinke it when mans highest part doth tast the highest good Man hath no higher part whereby to taste and receive happinesse neither is there any higher happinesse to be tasted and received Therefore the soule that tasteth this wine at her spirituall marriage saith as the Master of the Feast at the earthly marriage Lord Thou hast kept the best wine untill the last And this being best the soule gives it the best place in her judgement and affection she forgets that which is behinde and indeavours to that which is before she will not rest in the low and backward joyes of the bodie but strives toward the high and forward joyes of the spirit and having attained them she rests in them as in the best joyes yet so rests in them in this life of growth that she desires to grow by them presently to a greater capacity of them and finally to a full large and everlasting fruition of them in a nearer accesse unto the very spring and fountaine of joyes But when all is said of this marriage-happinesse one taste of it wil tell thee more than all that is or can be said The true knowledge of the sweetnes of God is gotten by tasting and therefore taste first and then see how sweet and gracious the Lord is The taste of it will truly tell him that tasteth it how sweet it is but hee that knoweth this sweetnes by tasting cannot deliver over the full and perfect image of this sweetnes to him that hath not tasted it For this sweetnes surmounts all knowne sweetnesse of the creatures and by that which is knowne must that which is unknowne be made knowne But if that which is knowne be lesse and lower than that which is unknown that which is knowne may teach and tell us what the unknowne is not but not what it is So the joy of love and union in an earthly marriage cannot expresse a heavenly joy that is spiritually pure and purely active Only these and the like comparisons may serve for staires whereby to ascend even above these comparisons and to set our foot on something beyond them For if the soule rests on these she rests short of the knowledge of the sweetnesse which is beyond these shee is still in the sweetnesse of the creature and hath not attained the sweetnesse of the Creatour Therefore when she hath gone as farre as she may in the sweetnesse of the creature let her advance one step more into that spirituall union wherein is to be tasted and seene by tasting the sweetnes of the Creatour and ther shall shee see more by tasting than all the creatures could shew her by resembling she hath met with that joy which onely can truly teach it selfe and therefore it is called unspeakable And whereas before it was tasted the being of it was doubted and much more the manner and shape of it was unknowne now it is both knowne to be and the shape and manner of it is also known And being knowne all other sweetnesses which before were alone knowne and esteemed are now despised as it were unknown For this is that blessed estate of spirituall love and union whereof the spouse of Christ truely saith If a man would give all the substance of his house for loue it would utterly bee contemned And indeed the spouse having Christs love she hath that which is better than all things and having Christ with his love how can she with him but have all things also Christ is the heire of all things and the soule having married this heire is a joynt-heire annexed with Christ. She hath him by whom the worlds were made and therefore she hath also the worlds made by him yet he that made the worlds being Infinitely better than the worlds made by him she despiseth the worlds in respect of him that made them she quencheth her thirst in the fountaine onely and she accounts it a folly and a losse to leave the fountaine and to run after the streames Therefore setting her mouth to this fountaine she is filled with the waters of life with the oyle of gladnesse with the new wine of the kingdome of God with the joy of the holy Ghost even a joy unspeakable and glorious In Christ Iesus she hath all-sufficiency all safety all supply shee receives from Christ that spirituall oyntment which gives her spiritual light power goodnesse love and life yea it adorneth the soule with the most excellent beauty even the likenesse and image of God himselfe And being thus lovely the bridegroom kisseth and embraceth her with spirituall visitations he tells her his counsailes and his eyes are ever toward her even when hee seemes to be turned from her For she is set as a signet upon his heart and much water cannot quench his love she also looketh on him and is changed from glory to glory as the Moon when with more open face shee beholdeth the Sunne But of the particular benefits ane advantages of this blessed Marriage more hereafter Thus happy and thus growing in happinesse shee walkes on in this life of marriage inchoate untill she come to the eternall life of marriage consummate She is happy now in her union with happinesse and she shall be happy hereafter in a full fruition of happinesse She is happy now in the earnests and peeces of that happinesse which shall be full hereafter yea daily more and more happy here by a daily enlarging of those earnests and peeces and shee shall be the more happy hereafter by how much more these earnests and peeces of happinesse have beene here enlarged And thus shall she walke by happines unto happines and by the increase of happines
secondly there is yet a farther use and benefit of desertions For it may be thou hast gone beyond neglect of thy beloved and hast proceeded unto some offensive crosse and contrary carriage toward him thou hast entertained some thought purpose or act which hee cannot endure and then it is best both for him and thee that he hide himselfe from thee If thou come once to entertaine his enemies and to lodge them in one roome with him how canst thou expect but that hee should leave that roome since there is no agreement betweene light and darknesse betweene Christ and Belial And surely hee should neither regard himselfe nor thee if hee should give thee his loves when thou entertainest his enemies For since thy husband is thy happinesse the enemies of thy husband are the enemies of thy happinesse and so both his and thine enemies Therefore is it good that thy friend should a while goe aside when that thou grievest him and hurtest thy selfe by the entertainment of his and thine enemies And while thus hee is hid from thee and thou art left to those enemies whom thou hast entertained in stead of him thou maist learne what odds there is betweene a friend and an enemy and what a folly it was to grieve him that loved thee by loving them that hate thee Thou hast perchance had a touch with thy olde husband the flesh and jealousie which is the rage of a man much more of a man that is a jealous God is angry with thy whorishnesse and puts a day of wrath upon thee wherin he seemes not to spare thee Therefore thy conscience is let loose upon thee and it teares thee to peeces it breakes thy bones and grindes thee to powder Satan also who tempted thee hath leave to set upon thee and to teare thee with vexations whom he had seduced by tentations And now art thou left as it were wholly in hell who wouldest entertaine a peece of hell into thy heaven And indeede it is both a just and mercifull dispensation to tyre thee with thine owne wayes to make the flesh to come out at thy nostrills to make thee weary of thine enemies and to make thee long and looke grone and cry for thy friend whom thou hast grieved and driven out of thy sight Therefore is heaven shut up and become as brasse unto thee and hell hath enlarged her mouth to swallow thee yea thou art like Ionah in the belly of hell thou art like Nebuchadnezzar cut downe by the commandement of the holy one and driven away from men to the beasts of the field thou art like Sampson when his lockes were cut off the good Spirit leaves thee and the evill Spirits like Philistims are upon thee But hath God forgotten to be mercifull and hath he shut up his tender mercies in an everlasting displeasure Will hee breake the bruised reede and deliver up the soule of his Turtle into the hands of her enemies Nay wee shall not die O Lord Thou hast ordained them for judgement and O mighty God thou hast established them for correction The enemies of the soule are suffered to scourge her for loving her enemies so to beate that love out of her and to beate her into that olde love from which in some great degree shee was fallen Thus is she beaten by her enemies from her enemies and the stripes sent her from her friend bring her backe to him that sent them Shee had grieved the spirit of her beloved and by the griefe of her owne spirit shee now learnes what the griefe of a grieved spirit is and thereby learnes to grieve him no more Hereupon she resolves to cast out whatsoever hath offended him and to put on that singlenes and purity of soule which makes her one for one and one fitted by holinesse for that one who is holy She will be his alone whose alone she is and from henceforth shee will scorne and hate any sinne that will offer to bee a rivall with her wellbeloved and especially that sinne whose rivalty hath lately cost her so deare as the losse of his familiarity And the soule being thus washed and trimmed by repentance holy resolutions and renewing her covenant the bridegroome of the soule appeareth to her againe and giveth her his loves And now is she like a garden watered after a scorching heate the heate being overcome by moysture makes her more flourishing and more fruitfull the belly of hell having vomited up the soule of a Saint because it could not digest her shee then runnes much more readily in the wayes of Gods cōmandements The stumpe of the tree for it was not pulled up by the rootes springeth and flourisheth againe being watered with the dew of heaven and is more glorious than before by a greater acknowledgement and glorifying of the Lord of glory The haire for it was onely polled groweth again so doth the strength of the spirit and greater exploits are done against the enemies of the soule than ever before For the soule having beene long kept fasting feedes more heartily on the bread of life and this being the true bread that strengthens the heart of man the more feeding on it the more strength of heart A long drynesse of spirit hath made her very thirsty and the more thirsty she is the more doth shee drinke of the waters of life and the more shee drinkes of life the more lively and active shee is The late breach of love increaseth her love and by love her union with her Lord and husband and the increase of that union is the increase of holinesse and happinesse There is yet a third profit by spirituall desertions and it is the preventing of pride which usually ariseth upon spirituall revelations or any other excellencies of the spirit It is a precious and a glorious thing to know the counsels of heaven and the secrecies of that kingdome and these mysteries doth the husband of the soule often reveale unto her in the bed of love There is a secret murmure of things inutterable and then the soule wonders at the deepe wisedome and unspeakeable truthes which are discovered to her yea anon she wonders at her selfe and her owne happinesse because they are discovered to her But then the flesh which is apt to swell upon the apprehension of any honour or eminence steps in too often and puts his swelling into the soule and then the thoughts of the soule are changed For whereas before shee was a spirit that did magnifie the Lord and rejoyced in God her Saviour because to her lowlinesse hee shewed high and great things now shee rejoyceth in her selfe because of that which she hath received even as if she had not received it She growes proud against the giver even by his owne gifts and boasts of a selfe-sufficiency even against him from whom her sufficiencie came and without whom she hath no sufficiency Accordingly as shee changeth her thoughts so she changeth her voice for now she speakes in
the Queene come in boldly with her request though it be for a kingdome Yea this King likes it best If thou doe first seeke a kingdome wherefore whatsoever thou askest be sure to aske this kingdome yea to aske it first and the righteousnesse inseparably annexed to it It were a madnes in thee to offend him by asking a lesse gift when thou mayst please him by asking a greater especially since if thou aske and obtaine the greater the lesser by promise is annexed to the greater And accordingly thou maist come down in thy petitions from the greater to the lesser and having desired the mayne petitions that the King of glory may bee glorified by the comming of his kingdome of grace with the righteousnes therof then after mayst thou petition for dayly bread to bee given thee Yea know that thou art now in a high degree the Temple of the holy Ghost and whatsoever prayer or supplication shall be made in this Temple by a man that shall know the plague and griefe of his owne heart He that dwelleth in Heaven will heare the prayer made on earth he will forgive and doe according to that prayer The spirit of prayer supplication is in this Temple and he is most powerfull in these seasons of love he who gives this spirit of praier will heare the prayer of the spirit which himselfe giveth For he gave this spirit of purpose to make those prayers in vs which himself might approve grant We know not how to pray as wee ought for we are carnall and flesh will not aske so as it may bee pleasing to a spirit A spirit loves a spirituall prayer and therefore hee gives the spirit that he may have that spirituall prayer which he loves So when he heareth his spouse hee heareth himselfe and how can any one deny his owne prayers Christ and his Spouse are now and that in a height of eminence one spirit And if a man who is flesh do not hate his owne flesh but cherisheth it surely much more assuredly the Lord who is a spirit cannot hate his owne spirit but loveth and cherisheth and consequently heareth it Thirdly when the soule is visited by the spirit of the Bridegroome then set upon some good yea upon some great worke The spirit which we receive is a spirit of power and when the spirit floweth much into us in these tides of grace we receive much power Now great power can doe a great worke and it were both a losse and a shame to thee with a great power to doe a little worke when thou maist doe a great one Therefore if there be a worke which was before too great and too hard for thee yet now set upon it for when thy strength is greater thou maist doe that worke which thou couldest not doe when thy strength was lesse Our Saviour saith to Peter Thou canst not follow me yet but thou shalt follow me hereafter thou canst not follow mee yet untill thy strength be greater by a greater portion of the spirit But when thou art more strengthened by the spirit then thou shalt follow mee And accordingly he that before Christs resurrection denied Christ at the voice of a maid after his resurrection confessed him in the face of a Councell And no wonder for for it is then said of Peter that he was filled with the holy Ghost Neither is it true of Peter alone that a great measure of the spirit enables to a great worke but in others also When the spirit of the Lord comes mightily upon Sampson he doth mighty workes for hee breaketh cords as flax and slayes a thousand with the bone of an asse And Paul being filled with the holy Ghost worketh a miracle by which at once he confounded Elymas and converteth the Deputy Though two talents gaine but two yet five can gaine five Therefore marke when the spirit comes mightily upon thee and then attempt some mighty worke As the Seaman watcheth the naturall winde and tide so doe thou watch the winde and tide of the spirit The spirit bloweth when he lifteth and when hee listeth to blow then set forth on some noble action when the tide of the spirit floweth then put thy hand to the oare for then if thou rowe strongly thou maist advance mightily The soule lying in flesh and bloud is like a boate on ground all the rowing in the world will not move it but let the tide come and set him afloate the same tide that enables him to move will also mightily advance the motion which it first enabled VVherefore if there be any vertue or any worke of excellence not yet well done thinke upon it in these times and tides of grace now set upon them that so thou maist goe from vertue to vertue untill thou be skilfull active in all vertues and having attained the full number of them then strive to the fulnesse and perfection of degrees On the contrary if thou have some mighty enemie that hath beene too hard for thee even some raging and wasting concupiscence feare distrust or other tentation now set upon him mightily for now canst thou best see the way to conquer him and now hast thou most might to effect this conquest and to doe what thou seest Having tasted this honey thine eyes shall be opened and thy strength revived wherfore make thou now a more mighty slaughter of the enemies of God and thy soule And let thy fighting be against all these enemies though chiefly against the chiefest There are some little foxes that have strong holdes and these will ask some strength to be digged out and taken Remember that thy warfare is against the whole Nation of the Canaanites thou maist not suffer a little one to live Thou must strive against all sinne and strive for all righteousnesse for the fruite of the spirit is all goodnesse righteousnesse and truth It is the saying of a Saint I can doe all things through Christ that strengthens mee If therfore Christ strengthen thee strive thou to doe all things also Neither hast thou in these times onely a greater strength to encourage thee to great workes but also a great joy And indeede the joy of the Lord is our strength The joy that is in us is a peece and patterne of the joy set before us and by this peece of joy within us beholding the joy set before us we may despise the shame and endure the Crosse and runne with patience the race set before us As sure as wee have this pawne so sure shall wee have the performance and therefore we may labour comfortably in the workes of doing and suffering because our labour is not in vain in the Lord. The joy which we have excites us to labour because as this joy is followed with labour so shall the labour be followed with an over-waighing joy and the greater the labours are to which this joy of the spirit
felicity And yet againe she may looke on it to see the curse that is cast upon it and in the terriblenesse of that curse shee may see the horrour of sinne that looking from it againe to her Lord and Saviour she may see the excellency of his love and inestimable value of his person who hath taken away the curse and the sinne from his beloved Spouse and gives her a blessed use of the creature and full blessednesse in the eternall fruition of the Creatour Thus looking to the creature by looking to it shee lookes from it she rests not in it but passeth by it to her only true rest And indeed by these and the like removals the soule should ever bee kept loose from the world For as when we would not have things to glue and fasten we doe often touch and turne and moove them so the soule being apt to glue and fasten to the world wee must by these and the like meditations often touch and remove her that so she may be kept continually loose from it But because the cyment which joynes the soule to the world is the flesh and she must adulterate first with this old husband before she can prostitute her selfe to the world let the soule take especiall care to watch and resist the approaches of this fly but deadly enemy that commeth in the shape of a lover This is he whom the true husband whose name is jealous doth perfectly hate for there is a perfect contrariety betweene them Therefore so much as thou admittest the flesh so much thou expellest thy Lord and Saviour But so much as thou banishest the flesh so much roome doest thou make for Christ to come into thee by his spirit Therefore bee thou so farre from loosing thy husband for this old adulterer that thou gaine him the more by expelling and killing the other The flesh is good for nothing but to be slaine and therein there is this gaine that the more he dyeth the more thy love and life loveth thee and liveth in thee Therefore whereas the flesh would make it thy pleasure to live after the flesh doe thou make it thy pleasure to kill the flesh let the hunting pursuing and killing of the lusts of the flesh be thy pastime and pleasure even the hunting and destroying of these foxes that would destroy thy vineyard And then will the Lord of the vineyard get up early to his vineyard the vine shall flourish and the tender grape appeare and there shall he give thee his loves But if through thy owne remisnesse or the fleshes importunity the soule by concupiscence hath conceived sinne make haste to the fountaines set open for Iudah and Ierusalem to wash and to be cleane Wash thy selfe in teares and bloud the spirit of penitence contrition and conversion washeth white the bloud of the Lambe washeth whiter than snow And by the cleansing spirit is given to thee the cleansing bloud That false husband whom thou hast pleased hee hath defiled thee and thy true husband whō thou hast offended he it is that must wash thee therefore hee came by water and bloud to wash thy guilt with his bloud and thy filth by his spirit that thus being washed thou maist be without spot and blemish and againe lovely in his eyes and acceptable in the eyes of his Father And being thus made faire by his washing he will yet againe embrace thee and put thy evill out of his remembrance by his owne overcomming goodnesse But then let his goodnesse overcomming thy evill teach thee to overcome thy owne evill with goodnesse Hate and resist all sinne and especially that sinne by which thou hast most offended so loving a husband and hate and resist that false husband who tempted thee to this sin Love thy true husband the more the more thou hast offended him and the more he hath forgiven thee And the more thou lovest him the more strive not to offend him And if thus after thy sinne thou art the farther from sinne more faire in holinesse and fuller of love to thy heavenly husband thou shalt heare from his mouth the voice of ioy and gladnesse and shalt feele from his mouth a kisse of peace in thy soule And this spirituall kisse shall drop a spirituall oyntment the very pledge and seale of pardon and peace even a testimony of his spirit speaking to thy spirit Thy sinnes are forgiven thee And having regained him make thy selfe more one with him and increase thy communion with him Touch him hard with thy faith sucke him strongly with thy love that more vertue may come out of him to cure that issue of sinne yet abiding in the remnant of the flesh and to make thee more one and uniforme with him For as a bough the more hee suckes from the tree the larger is his union with the tree and the more is his likenesse to the tree so the more a soule draws from Christ the more is she one with him and the more is shee like him And againe the more shee is like him the more will hee delight to bee one with her and thus shall she goe on in an endlesse circle of happines The highest and happiest and sweetest harmony is when the soule is in an unizon with her Saviour and husband every touch and sound of the soule thus tuned to Christ Iesus resoundeth in him toucheth and moveth him And as with the sound of outward musicke the spirit of God came upon the Prophet so with the sound of this inward musicke be it in holy contemplations ardencies desires invocations resolutions the spirit of Christ Iesus commeth more powerfully and plentifully into the soule And when hee comes doe thou draw from him that spirituall sappe and nourishment by which thou maist grow up to the stature appointed thee By the supply of this head grow up to this head in a due proportion even to the fulnesse of that part which thou holdest in his body And let not the head be the head of a man yea of the fairest and goodliest of men and thou a starved dwarfish crooked or mishapen hand or foote but both in measure and shape strive to be a member proportionable to so comely an Head And that thou maist thus grow let not swelling but growth be the end of thy sucking Desire the sincere milke and hony and wine of the Deity that thou mayst growe thereby in solide substance not in frothy and puffy imaginations Growe thou in the reall excellence of a divine Nature and not in the empty swellings of a fleshly pride For the flesh hath sometimes a desire of spirituall excellencyes but it is for a fleshly end even to puffe it selfe up by thē But seeke not these pearls to cast it to these Swine nor this Bread of heaven to give it to such dogs Rather buffet this flesh and beate it downe lest a messenger of Satan be sent to buffet thee for not
beleeve his love when thou feelest it not as well as when thou feelest it And indeed that is most like faith which beleeves what it feeles not but how canst thou shew this vertue if still thou hast feeling Hee expects perchance that the old stocke of assurances in visitations and sensible aproches shold have lasted longer with thee and thou shouldst not so soone have neede of new tokens of love on his part and new feelings on thine owne The former tastes and tokens of his love shold have longer told thee that he still loves thee though thou doe not still receive tokens from him and tastes of his love True it is that he seldome failes to meete a soule duely trimmed and prepared for him Neverthelesse he is still free and perchance will have it somtimes to appeare so And if he doe thus at somtimes when we are prepared then at other times hee comes being unexpected and so by a compensation gives us that which we asked though onely with a difference of time And indeede his dispensations are wiser then our desires and it is fittest that times and seasons should be in his hands and not ours especially for his owne gifts For we indeed do not all waies open our mouthes in due season but hee alwaies openeth his hand and filleth vs with his blessings in due season and accordingly though the spouse somtimes seeke him find him not yet another time hee is found of her that seekes him not for when she is sleeping he comes knocking and saith Open to me my sister my loue my doue my vndefiled Wherefore let vs looke mainely to our owne part to haue our lampes trimmed with faith and loue and let vs trust him with his owne part the choise of the times and seasons of his comming Yea againe and againe be not discouraged though hitherto thou hast not felt the spiritual kisses of Christ Iesus the extasyes of his wine nor the rauishments of his vnion It may be the houre of thy Lord Sauiour is not yet come nor the day wherein hee shall say This day shalt thou bee with me in Paradise This day was the last day to him to whom it was first said and it may be one of thy latter dayes wherin it shall bee said to thee this day will I be with thee and make a Paradise within thee Yet let not these dayes be late dayes much lesse last dayes by thy delayes howsoever late they may be his dispensations Remember him in thy youth and first dayes and be thou as a servant ever ready and hearkening when his Lord will come and knocke that when he knockes thou maist open and he may come in and dwell with thee for ever It is just that the giver should chuse his owne time for his owne gifts and it is just that if thou refuse his time he should refuse thine and then will he be like one that turnes aside to the flockes of thy companions And yet lesse let those be discouraged who have small and but small tastes of these spirituall joyes Hee that made us knowes our frame and what is the fittest proportion both for our age and measure There are babes in Christ and we seldome give wine to children because it is too high for them Christ gave his doctrine so as they were able to heare it and so gives he the joy of his spirit as we are able to beare it As by the strength of the same spirit the joy may be converted into into spituall advantage and not perverted by the flesh into carnall voluptousnesse security or swelling the soule must be faithfull in little before shee bee an owner of much and therefore there is commonly some time of tryall and acquaintance between Christ and the soule before he will trust her with great familiarity and give her the great and high degrees of his hidden joyes Besides it must be knowne and considered that Christ Iesus hath some parts whose measure even at their full growth is so small as the infancy of other parts A finger in his full growth is not so bigge as the legge of an infant And such little parts may have lesse feeling of these joyes because of their littlenesse and yet they may be as lively as the greater for a finger liveth as well as an arme And indeed let such especially look that their life be sound in them that shall they know by the actions of life If faith and love bee active in them then are they lively and living For it is no other but the life of Christ in them which makes faith and love to bee lively and operative in them and then let them not feare for they are passed from death to life On these fruites therefore let them especially looke for though they have not here many sweetnesses and joyes yet if they have many fruites of faith and love they shall hereafter have a greater measure of joys in heaven than those who have had here greater joies than they and have not improved them as they should have done to a fruitfulnesse greater than theirs whose joyes were lesser Yet farther if this matter be duely weighed we shall see in Gods dispensations a greate wisdome and equity for commonly those that haue the greatest consolations haue also the greatest tribulations And the one are so ballanced with the other that the soule is kept in an evennesse the tribulations not making her to sinke by reason of the counterpoising consolations nor the consolations over much weighing her downe into pride for pride though seeming to look upward is an infernall thing because of the counterballancing tribulations Wherefore if thou envie another mans consolations why doest thou not also envie his tribulations If thou wish to be rapt with Paul into the third heaven wish also to be in labours often in watchings often in perills by sea in perills by land and under that loade of sufferings which he fulfilled for Christ. But withall take heede what thou wishest lest thy owne wishes being granted doe sinke thee If thou know not thine owne strength God knowes it and what thy vessell is able to beare both of the one and other And be thou contented if with lesse tribulations he give thee lesse consolations this lesser measure of both being fitted for a lesser vessell and yet the same proportion betweene both in the lesser that is in the greater CAP. IX A Song of Loves THou hast touched my soule with thy spirit O most beloved and vertue is gone out of thee into me and draweth me to thee Thy spirit is a loadstone of love and where it toucheth spirits it leaveth love and this love makes a soule to move to her beloved that touched her So by thee doth she run after thee O thou fountaine and rest of loves thy oyntments draw her to the anoynter her loves begin and end in thee O let my soule ever runne this circle of love