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
as a thiefe and adulterer A theefe he is for he hath stollen the foule from her first Lord and husband even the Lord that made her and an adulterer he is for he lives with her that belongs to another and while hee lives with her he keeps her not for love but lust wherefore let the soule give her consent to his death that thereby her true husband may recover his right in her and that she may receive her true husband and in him life liberty and felicity And indeed she may well be weary of the old for her living with him is most unreasonable most slavish and most miserable It is most unreasonable for there is no sense in the mariage of a soule with lust What good can lust do to a soule there being no likenesse but a meere contrariety betweene them and wee know that things are cherished and augmented by their like but they are destroyed by their contraries The soule is light and lust is darknesse and can darknesse give any increase of being or wellbeing to light Yea doth not darknesse goe about to lessen to quench and kill light Againe lust hath in it a venome contrary to goodnesse and can evill give any accesse or addition of goodnesse to the soule Yea this venome hath in it a force and power to draw the wil and affections from that soveraigne good which is the true and onely beatificall object of the soule and to glue and fasten her to objects of vanity yea of death and misery Againe the soule in her substance is a spirit and what kindly or naturall pleasure or profit can a spiritual essence receive from grosse and fleshly lust The soule hath no savour in the ranke and grosse pleasures of the flesh but they are to her as the onions and garlike of Egypt to a dainty delicate taste Surely so well may the earth lighten the Sunne and a tempest give rest to the sea as lust can give light or life or rest or happinesse to the soule but darknesse and death and misery it can and doth give and so under the shape of an husband it is a cruell enemy and a very murtherer of the soule And surely hee could be no other but a mortall enemy of the soule that made such a marriage betweene the soule and her mortall enemy And hee had neede to be as cunning as malicious to put a shew of reason upon a match so absurd and unreasonable And if in a second place wee beholde the slavery of the soule in this marriage with lust the teares that bewailed the virginity of Iephthahs daughter are not sufficient to bewaile this slavish marriage The body commands the soule earth heaven and dust that noble and divine essence which was breathed into man even from Gods owne mouth and had his owne image imprinted on it Neither is it the body of dust onely that commands the heavenly soule but the body it selfe being commanded by lust doth command the soule so is lust the chiefe lord both of body and soule even a certaine venome itch and fury dwelling in this earth of man There may be some proportion betweene the dust which God turned into a body and that soule which God made with his breath though in a large and remote distance and difference But betweene the soule which God made according to his owne image and this blinde and wilde lust which God made not in man there is no portion or part of proportion whereupon any right or power of command may be grounded Yet in this base and wretched marriage vile and odious lust spurs up the soule with his commands and makes her to trudge up and down in businesses of darknesse filthinesse and wretchednes The soule is set on work in things that are no kin to her no good to her yea that are contrary to her being and well-being For contrary they are to that image of God which is in her and consequently contrary to that God whose image this is and to whō this image points and leades her as to her soveraigne good And thus have wee a third mischiefe of this marriage even misery annexed to slavery For as the image of God in the soule turnes the eye and heart of the soule to looke unto God her chiefe happinesse so lust turnes about the eye and heart of the soule from her happinesse and what can her prospect and object be then but misery And if the eye of the soule happen to cast up some glances to heaven and happinesse yet the heart even the will and affections are hurried away by this lust to objects and workes of vanity and misery so that the soule can onely say I see the better things and follow the worse I see happines and runne after misery Thus by slavery shee buyeth misery and slavery it selfe being misery by misery she earneth misery And indeed is it not the true misery of an Egyptian bondage that the soule should bee still set on worke by lust in a fiery fornace yea be beaten and tormented when shee doth not worke though her worke concerne her selfe nothing but onely to strengthen her owne bondage and to increase her owne misery And indeede therefore is she kept so hard at this worke that she may haue no leisure to thinke beyond bondage and misery Accordingly if the soule at any time doe but lift up her eyes above her present bondage to that Lord of life liberty and happinesse which would once have married her and still makes new offers unto her this tyrannous husband like a Taske-master strikes in deepe lashes into her side and tells her she is idle though she thinkes on her nearest businesse and dearest happinesse If it be in the morning there is a bargaine of profit imposed on her and this lot of bricke must be made that day and about it must the soule goe being pierced throgh with the thorns of covetousnesse by the violent hand of her false husband that she may have no leisure respiration or rest And if at night the soule be weary of this dayes worke and would faine goe to bed with the body the night is lusts day as it is the Owles for both are blinde and then there is a wife whose husband is from home and the poore soule being a spirit must crafficke in this errand for the flesh to make a wary but a wicked meeting betweene her owne lewd husband and another mans wife and while she plots it she doth a worke of slavery and when she hath done it she shall have no other but the wages of misery But endlesse were it to set forth the whole story of this Aegyptian bondage Let the carnall man reade over the story of his owne life and he may see the one in the other And all being summed together amounts to this that the marriage betweene the soule and lust is monstrous as betweene a woman and a beast slavish as betweene a woman and a tyrant mischievous and mortall
the heavenly Bridegroome IT is necessary to shew what these visitations are to convince that they are and so to undeceive those that thinke they are not It is also necessary to free those from errour who beleeving that they are yet doe mistake those that are not for those that are Such visitations there are for they are seene and felt by men seeing and waking and seeing and waking not onely with the bodily eyes but with two better eyes the one of humane reason and the other farre excelling that divine and heavenly light Spirituall light beholds these spirituall sights and shews them to the understanding which being convinced by that which it sees beleeves them it selfe and would also deliver over the sight and the beleefe of them to others But the thoughts of man are narrower than these joyes and words are narrower thā thoghts But which is worst of al the heart of an earthly man is narrower than the narrow words of a spirituall man for the carnall man perceiveth not spirituall things though they be held up before his fleshly eyes yet in the mouth of two or three eye-witnesses a word should stand and stand it doth though blinde men see it not standing before them and therfore stumble at it But who knowes whether an Ephatah may come downe from heaven that while a spirituall object is proposed a spirituall sight may be infused Howsoever the words of heavenly wisedome are not spoken in vaine to the children of wisedome and especially those who are yet but children and not perfect in tae art of discerning good and evill must not be left to the dangers of errour and mistaking The black Angel sometimes changeth himselfe into an Angel of light and then may he also make some shewes of lightsome visitations There is also a sanguine and naturall lightsomnesse and a bright beame of adustion that sometimes shine in the mind and these also may be mistaken to be divine But the spirit is not flesh much lesse is hee that evill spirit which is contrary to him And because the spirit is that which these are not the visitations are such as those imaginations are not which come from these And that this difference may the better be discerned let let us beholde the true characters of a spirituall visitation which the soule seeth when the husband of soules doth visit her A first marke and signe of his presence is light a light not fitted for the eye but the soule even a light spirituall and shining spirit and truth into the soule and spirit For the Lord is a spirit and when hee comes into the soule hee comes with abundance of that spirit which leadeth into all truth Hee is the light of the world even of the great world of mankinde and therefore when he comes into the little world of one man how great is his light And when this light shineth brightly then the soule by it doth see spirituall things as truly and assuredly as the corporall eye doth corporall things For there is an agreement betweene a spirituall eye and spirituall objects as there is betweene the bodily eye and bodily object By this light things formerly not knowne are seene and discovered and spirituall things knowne before onely by a carnall which is a false knowledge are spiritually and so truly discerned for the light is that which maketh manifest and this light being spirituall maketh spirituall things so manifest that it gives a full assurance of understanding and makes us know that wee know thē Even those things which before seemed fables and foolishnesse to the carnall eye to this spirituall sight and light appeare plainly to be deepe mysteries and most wise truthes Especially the great Bridegroom of soules who to the Iewes is a stumbling blocke and to the Grecians foolishnesse to this light appeares clearely to be the wisedome of God and the power of God For the light begotten acknowledgeth the light begetting and Christ is seene in the soule by his owne beames Hee is seene there as a Head and Husbād to the Church as a roote of life as an All-sufficient Saviour fit and able to restore a decayed and lost creation to disperse and treade downe a combined association of adversary and mighty spirits and to unite and recapitulate the scattered members of a mysticall body both in heaven and earth each to other and all to the Deity Hee is beheld as the fairest of men the soules well-beloved an infuser of that blessed sap of spirituall life by which the soule is purified here and made capable of the beatificall vision in an eternall life hereafter And as this derived light sheweth us the primitive light which begate it and being spirituall shewes us that Lord who is the spirit from whom it proceeded so doth it also discover to us divers other spirituall truthes and is a kinde of Oracle that gives divine answeres and resolutions Now that wee may certainely know this light to be a truth and not an imagination and withall to be truly spirituall and heavenly and not carnall earthly much lesse infused by a counterfeit Angel of light let us first observe that this light of the spirit doth agree with the light of the word The same spirit of God which shineth now in our soules in these heavenly visitations did first shine in the word so that the light of the word and the light in our soules are twinnes and resemble each other and agree like brethren If therefore there be this agreement then there is this brotherhood and if no agreement then there is no brotherhood Therefore to the law to the testimony if thy thoughts speake not according to this word it is because there is no light in them for indeed if our thoughts be truly enlightened wee shall finde some words in the word of God confirming them yea many times this light within will call up some place of the word without for a witnesse to it to confirm a truth which in that place was not formerly perceived Such is the harmony and power of harmony betweene the spirit and the word that when you hit a spirituall truth in your soule there will often come a sound answer and eccho from some place in the word agreeable to it And as the word doth approve this light so doth this light approve the word It loves to looke on it it seeth a heavenly wisdome in it yea it seeth secrets in it yea many times it will in some short sentence yea in some single word find out a Mine of heavenly doctrine and as at a little crany discover a world of divine truths And so the light of the spirit doth approve it selfe not onely by being approved of the word but by approving and improving it This is a sufficient tryall and touchstone of this heavenly light though if neede were I might adde the willing resignation of reason even of the naturall light of the soule to the soveraignty of this divine and heavenly
wife long agoe Now will my husband dwell with me because I have borne him six sons Let it be said now also by a spiritual wife Now will my husband dwell with me because his dwelling with mee hath made me fruitfull Make my soule a fruitfull paradise bearing every good fruit of love divine and humane and then come often into thy garden to behold gather the fruits of it And that I may bring forth fruites wholly thine and not anothers beside thee burne and consume whatsoeuer would grow one with my soule besides thee Thou art a burning and consuming fire and the spirit by which thou art one with my spirit baptizeth with fire O let the fire of thy spirit so wholly turne my soule into spirituall fire that the drosse of the flesh the world being wholly consumed shee may be onely spirituall and so bring forth fruites onely to thy spirit Thus and thus saith my soule to her beloved but when she saith thus her beloved is not farre from her for by him she speakes to him when he is neare his oyntments yeeld their savour and the savour of his ointments draweth soules to run after him There hath beene of late a fruitive union and such fruitive unions doe individuate and enflame the love of the soule to him whom she hath enjoied in that union But alas the husband of the soule is sometimes like that husband which is not at home but is gone a long journey He is gone so farre from me as if hee were not mine yea so far sometimes as if he were not at all The summer is gone from my soule and the winter is come and the true olive so draweth in his fatnesse that my soule though a branch yet doubteth whether there bee a root that beareth her The ointments of light and love are not seene or felt and how can she love the lovelinesse that she sees not and if she saw it how can she love it without love In such a darknesse the greatest lovelinesse affects not the eye and in such a deadnesse there is no love wherewith to love the greatest lovelinesse The soule doth not now taste how sweete her Lord is and therefore his sweetnesse is to her as a thing forgotten or a thing mistaken or at best as a thing which was and is not and will be no more The often unions that are passed are wholly past and the very images and representations of them are neare wholly vanished And now my soule that will ever bee a lover of something and a seeker of good in one object or other being left to the flesh by the enchantment of the flesh runneth to the creature to seeke good in it For as the spirit runneth to Christ so doth the flesh to the creature But alas the dove of Christ thus flowne from the Arke in her thoughts and affections findeth no rest for shee is gone from her rest and how can she finde rest by going from rest Put forth thy hand O thou lover of soules and take her in unto thee yea first make her to returne to thee by finding her when she seeks thee Seeke her O Saviour when she goes astray from thee like a lost sheepe for even when shee thus goes astray she hath not utterly forgotten thee thy loves nor thy lawes One looke of thine will awake her love and make her weepe bitterly that she loved thee so little whom to love sufficiently her best and mightiest loves are most insufficient Prevent her seeking with thy seeking and be thou present with her in thy providence and preserving power even when thou seemest to be farre off in the tasts of thy sweetnesse and fruition of thy loves Love her even when thou doest not give her thy loves yea love her by not-giving them Doe her good even by the subtraction of thy goodnesse shew her that her safety is not in her owne hands shew her that her goodnesse is not her owne shew her that she is nothing in her selfe but that which is worse than nothing and that thou and thy grace make her wholly to be that which she is Then shall she be more humble by seeing her owne vilenes in thy absence and thou shalt bee more lovely and precious to her whose presence gives her all her worth and excellence VVhen she hath regained thee she will hold thee more hardly and keepe thee more fastly and love thee more vehemently Shee will value thy loves above treasures yet she will love thee more than thy loves and she will provide a stocke of loves in the summer against the winters if they perchāce shal return again For in these loves shee will behold the pledges of a love eternall in these joyes of thy presence she will behold the earnests of eternall joyes in an eternall presence and for the sure hope of these eternall joyes she will patiently endure the sorrowes of these temporall absences Yet let these temporall absences be as thornes in the sides of my soule to stirre her up to the desire of that eternall presence And be not lacking overlong O thou life and love and guide of my soule but ever and anon visit her with thy presence stay her with thy flagons comfort her with apples for she is sicke of love when shee wanteth her beloved Whē thou wast here on earth thou hadst compassion on the multitude that had nothing to eate and wouldest not send them away fasting lest they should faint by the way O sweete Saviour thou art no lesse mercifull in heaven than thou wert on earth and an hungry soule is a fitter object of mercy than an hungry body and my hungry soule hath a farther way to goe than their bodies for shee must goe from earth unto heaven O refresh her and that right soone with thy mercies with the joyes of thy presence with the bread of heaven and water of life which thy spirit plentifully giveth to my spirit when thou commest unto her Be thou her guide even to the life which is beyond death and grant that through these changes of temporall presences and absences she may runne in one even and unchanged path of love and holinesse untill she come unto that eternall presence where is the fulnesse of joy without ebbes and perpetuity of joy without interruptions There shall shee see her beloved clearely and plainely even face to face and there shall shee enjoy her beloved so fully as she seeth him clearely yea she shall enjoy him with all her might of enjoying Her being shall be the measure of her enjoying for as much as she is so much shall shee enjoy shee shall be in a perpetuall union with her beloved and in a perpetuall fruition by union and so in a perpetuall rack extent and vttermost of joy The fountaine of joy shall flow continually into the mouth of the soule the new wine of the kingdome shall still overcome her and set her up
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
he finde thee watching that so when he knocks thou maist readily open and he may readily enter and that by thy slacknesse hee doe not turne away to the flockes of thy companions And in the second place take heede that thou give not thy selfe over to a desperate idlenesse to doing nothing because thou canst not doe as thou wouldest This were a double offence both because it is impatience and because it is idlenesse This is to cut off the hands because they are feeble and because the feete halt to turne them out of the way But it were farre better to strengthen thy weake hands and that thou maist doe by exercise though it be but weake exercise and it were better for thee to halt in the right way than to runne or rest in a false way Wherefore if thou canst not doe the higher workes doe the lower for doing is thy way though thou goe but softly in it but idlenes is a false way And when thy Master Lord and Husband commeth and findeth thee doing according to that which thou hast thou shalt be blessed in thy deede by him who accepteth our worke if it come from a willing minde according to that which wee have and not according to that which wee have not If thou art faithfull in little hee will make thee ruler over much thy Masters joy shall shortly enter into thee and thou shalt shortly enter into thy Masters joy But contrarily looke for no gaine from idlenesse but the gaine of losse and punishment Thou maist lose him the longer the lesse thou doest to please him yea hee may come unto thee with a rod when thou expectest him to come with the spirit of meeknesse and consolation To the workers hee comes with a penny even with a reward favour and a good eye but to the idlers he comes with a frowne and a checke Why stand yee all the day idle Rather doe that which may winne him to come may please him being come than by doing nothing keep him from comming or make him angry when hee commeth And if thou aske what thou shalt doe Thy most ordinary worke is the worke of thy ordinary calling yet maist thou give times and turnes to those workes that more immediatly concerne thy heavenly calling even such as immediatly call for thy heavenly Lord to come into thy soule sigh and pray and reade and heare and by heavenly meditations let thy soule be trimmed as a bride that lookes for her husband yea with thy earthly labours maist thou mixe these heavenly thoughts thou maist worke and sigh worke and wish worke and pray in short ejaculations and thus working and thus waiting working in profitable duties and waiting with submissive patience he that loveth both thy workes and thy patience will come unto thee and say I know thy patience and thy workes yea hee will come with such an increase of grace that he will also say Thy last shall bee more than thy first Finally these desertions are advantageable to the soule while they draw her eye and affection from this place of interrupted joyes to the place of incessant and everlasting joyes The Bridegroome here doth but looke in upon the soule at a crany and the soule seeth him but by glimpses but there shall she behold him face to face and this beholding as it is full so it shall also be perpetuall The soule is here walled up in an house of clay and the trafficke betweene her and her husband is but by some chinke which the spirit hath bored But this clay which is now in it selfe nothing but darknesse and keepes out light shall hereafter be made all glorious and lightsome yea whereas the soule is now much carnall then the body shall be made spirituall and if the body be spirituall and lightsome how pure and spirituall shall the soule be which is now a spirit Surely then shall wee be as it were all eye even all clarity and purity and so most capable of light and glory and according to the capacity of our receiving shall the light and glory and joy of our husband enter into us and fill us And of this fulnesse of joy and glory there is no end no interruption Wherefore our husband wisely and profitably drawes us by these desertions from earnests unto full fruition from broken peeces to whole and entire joyes If the soule might still have these glimpses shee would perchance be contented with them and this were no other than to be contented with perpetuall star-light even a light fitted for this life of vanity which is but a night being compared to the bright day of eternity Yet lying in the bed of love she would be content to looke on her beloved by this lesser light and would not desire the perfect day wherein the Sun of glory might arise unto her and by a large and glorious light make her largely and gloriously to see him who is the fountaine of that large and light by which she seeeth him VVherefore this lesser light is profitably taken from her to stirre her up to the seeking of the greater and her beloved doth chastise her by desertions to beate her away from resting in lesser and interrupted joyes and to beate her unto the seeking of fuller loves mightier joyes and everlasting fruitions And indeede the earnests should have taught her this lesson but because they did not these interruptions are sometimes sent to teach it her The earnests shold have taught her to look out for the full exhibition of that whereof they are earnests but because the soule in stead of looking by them beyond them fastens and stayes her eye on them they are taken from that eye which was unduely stayed on them that so by wanting them it may looke beyond them which it should have done but did not by them And now the soule seeing that these earnests are not onely but drops and parcells of an infinite fulnesse but withall drops and red forth and his actions are answerable to his name As he was annoynted with the oyle of gladnesse above his fellows so doth he give of his oyntmentes to the Bride which is joyned in communion and fellowshipp with him For of his fulnesse doth shee receive even grace for grace The pretious Oyntment drops from this head unto his body the Church and thereby she is made all glorious within glorious shee is now within by grace and shee shall hereafter be glorious both within and without with perfect glorie Among the benefites of this glorious Grace wherewith the Church is inwardly beautified when the Bridegrome visits her with his spiritual ointments this is a great one that the heavenly oyle giveth light to the soule the soule is a lamp with this oile is the Lampe of the wise Virgins trim'd and becomes a burnning a shining light They have that light from the bridegroom by which they looke out for the Bridegroome The eye salve is gotten from Christ by which
the stocke of thy memorialls and remembrances for future encouragements and consolations Lastly let the peeces and earnests of heavenly joyes stirre up thy desires and affections to the fruition of the fulnesse of joyes let these drops of Gods sweetnesse enflame thy soule with a thirst and longing to enjoy God the fountaine of this sweetnesse Let these kisses of Christ Iesus kindle in thee such a fervent love of Christ that thy soule may pant to bee united to him in a perfect and consummate marriage And out of the heate of these longings and enflamed desires send up the aspirations and breathings of thy burning soule in vehement wishes and groaning complaints My soule thirsteth for God when shall I come and appeare before God My teares have beene my meate day and night while the flesh saith to the spirit VVhere is thy God I desire to bee dissolved and to bee with Christ which is best of all Surely Christ is best of all and therefore is it best of all to bee with Christ. Thou hast tryed in the drops of his sweetnesse which thou hast tasted that hee is best of all for the taste of Christ in them hath distasted all the taste of the creatures Thou hast tasted and seene that the goodnesse creating is better than the goodnesse created and therfore Christ is best of all These droppes of the Creatour are better than all the visible creature and he that is the fountaine is better than the drops that distill from the fountaine and so is he better than that which is better than the creature and therefore is best of all and if he be best surely it is best for thee to bee with him the enjoying of the best is the best enjoying Therefore call unto him O send out thy light and thy truth let them leade mee let them bring mee unto thy holy hill let thy good spirit leade mee and bring mee to thy blessed presence that as I have seene thee in these modells and mirrours and earnests so I may beholde thee face to face And though thy pilgrimage be prolonged and being present in the body thou art absent from the Lord yet desire rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord. Accordingly let thy affections bee ever rowing in these streams of the Deity to the Deity it selfe by these patternes of rich oare having discovered a farre richer mine doe not stand gazing on the patternes nor thinke thy selfe rich enough in them but by them be stirred up to get and possesse the full riches of the Mine Indeede the patterne shewes thee the richnesse of the Mine it being a part of that riches which the Mine will give thee But remember it is but a peece and a peece cannot be equalled to the whole for the whole hath an infinite fulnesse of such peeces in it And hereby there is such oddes betweene a peece and the whole that a peece is more valuable for being an earnest of the whole than for his owne value It is more to be prized for that which it promiseth than for that which it exhibiteth Therefore value it highly for the worth which it hath in it self but value it infinitely more highly for that excessively exceeding weight of glory which it promiseth Looke upon it for the goodnesse that is in it but much more on the goodnesse without it which the goodnesse within it promiseth So by looking on it looke from it even beyond and above it for though these earnests first doe call thy affections to them yet being considered as earnests then doe they remove thy affections to that whereof they are earnests our rest is not in them but in him that gave these earnests who gave them for this end that they might direct our faith and hope to him who is our rest Wherefore as God spake to Israel by Moses so speaketh he to the true Israel by these earnests Goe forward Why stand yee still gazing and resting on these earnests when even the earnests themselves call on you to goe forward The earnests call on you to goe forward from earnests to full performances from grace to glory from faith to vision from the drops of the Deity to the Deity it selfe the onely true rest and Sabbath of the soule And when God saith Goe forward If any man draw backe his soule shall have no pleasure in him But of all drawing backe let us most of all beware of drawing backe from God to the world This were yet a farther degree of going back from God for whereas the drawing backe from God to the earnests is one degree this going back from the earnests to the world is a second and a most fearefull degree This is a true returning from Canaan to Egypt but let us remember what the Apostle saith of the right possessours of these earnests Wee are not of them who draw backe unto perdition but of them that beleeve to the saving of the soule If we beleeve we doe looke forward and goe forward for faith lookes not on things seene but on things not seene and such are the things before us yet because the strong taste of the onions of Egypt even of fleshly lust doth sticke still in our teeth and often would make Manna to seeme but a dry meate it is not amisse that this word Goe forward be often sounded in the eares of the heavenly pilgrims These earnests are Manna and this Manna is not such a dry meate as the flesh would make it for it serves to carry us unto the land of eternall felicity it both calls upon us to goe to our husband who is our happinesse and it enables us to goe that journey whereunto it calleth us Therefore let us hearken to the voice of it when it calleth because the same that calleth us doth also enable us We have received the earnest of the Spirit therefore are we alwayes bold and willing to be with the Lord whose earnest we have received We would put off these bodies of dust and lust that our soules may put on Christ in a full and fruitive union Yet neither would we wholly be uncloathed of our bodies but put them off to put off their basenesse and sinfulnesse and to put them on againe glorious and holy And then shall it be a fit garment for the soule in the day of her gladnesse and capable with her of the consummate marriage with the King of glory And for this marriage doth the spirit and the bride say Come the bride saith it by the spirit and the spirit saith it in the bride This is the voice of the bride and not of her tongue onely but of her spirit and not of her spirit onely but of the spirit in her spirit If then thou have the same spirit of love because thou lovest doe thou also speake and say Come Lord Iesus come quickly CAP. VII The signes and markes of the true and right visitations of
light The understanding is not fettered and bound by a violent hand but it yeelds it selfe up freely to bee subdued and captivated by a light that surpasseth the light which it selfe hath The reasonable light of man continueth in man even when this supernaturall light shineth it knowes what other men know and knowes what it selfe knew and thought before this light came to it but this light being come it yeelds willingly to it and surrenders both it selfe and the man whom it formerly guided This homage of reason shewes a soveraignty in that spirituall light to which reason doth this homage The going out of the light of a candle not by quenching but not-shining acknowledgeth a greater and more excellent light to be present And indeede reason even with reason gives way that a greater light should rather guide than a lesser yea with reason it gives way that it selfe being a lesser light should be increased and enlarged by a higher and greater that so it may discerne higher and greater things And this increase it experimentally findes for by this new and greater light the soule sees the supreme light which begate it she sees him to be her soveraign good shee sees the way to him and is directed to union with him and to the full fruition of him And because shee sees these excellent things now which shee saw not before shee justly and wisely resignes her selfe to that light by which shee sees those excellent things which she saw not before and to that sight by which she seeth in a more excellent manner of seeing A second Character and marke of a divine visitation is ioy even a ioy of a different kind and character from other ioyes For this ioy ariseth not originally from naturall principles neither fastneth it selfe on naturall obiectes but is supernaturall in the roote of it and fixeth it selfe on supernaturall objects It is no sanguine joy neither made of humor and complection for it ariseth often in the midst of sadnes within and crosses without The spiritual man therfore thus truely describeth the manner of thē In the midst of the sorrowes of my heart thy comforts have refreshed me Even when the outward man decayeth dyeth away the inward man reneweth and rejoyceth When the disciples are talking doubtfully and are sorrowfull then Iesus appeares to them and warmes their hearts with an heavenly fire When the wine of naturall joy is spent and there is nothing left but the waters of affliction thē doth Christ turne this water into wine Thou hast turned saith David my mourning into dancing thou hast put off my sackcloth and girded me with gladnes There is a river that maketh glad the City of God there is the new wine of the kingdome that makes the heart merry there is a heavenly oyle that maketh that face pleasant and joyfull which is the image of God these flow forth from the throne in heaven from the true vine frō the right olive and that it may appeare that they doe so they are commonly sent into thirsty weary mourning almost despayring soules that the excellency of them may appeare to be of God and not of man when the soule is parched with drynes the sap of joy cannot naturally come out of drines even Moses himselfe saith Shall I fetch you water out of this rock when there is no wine and there appeares nothing but water even teares and sorrowes it must bee a divine hand that turnes this water into wine When the soule is oppressed with spirituall wants and sees nothing but griefe within and terrours without it must be the worke of God to make this oyle to runne untill the vessels bee full Therefore Saint Paul rightly infers that it is the right hand of the most High even in an high degree which maketh this chang Yea there is in it more then a change even a harmony and agreement betweene contraries Much affliction and joy in the Holy Ghost And so Saint Peter Yee greatly rejoyce though ye are in heavinesse Wherefore since to the Saints there ariseth a light in the middest of darknesse could not make this light but he only who is the light of the world and by whom first the light came to shine out of darknesse And as this joy is divine and heavenly flowing from a divine and heavenly fountain so is it also divine and heavenly because it fasteneth on divine and heavenly objects Things that love are like the naturall joy delights in naturall objects and a spirituall joy in spiritual objects Accordingly while the naturall joy lookes out for corne and wine the spirituall joy lookes out for the countenance of God God is a spirit and he delights in spirit because it is like him and the joy of the spirit delights in God yea delights in him most because he is the supremest spirit and consequently highest in this likenes And because the union of our spirits with this spirit is onely in Christ with whom the soule becomming one spirit hath union with the highest spirit therefore the soule having found Christ rejoyceth in him above all things with a joy unspeakable and glorious She rejoyceth so in him that she will sell all naturall things to buy the spirituall happinesse that is to be found in him And thus both by the absence and by the contempt of naturall things this joy may be knowne to be supernaturall For as it doth not faint nor faile when naturall things are absent if Iesus be present so doth it not fixe or feede on them being present if Iesus also be present with them Yea if the soule may feele Iesus to be more present because they are more absent she enjoyeth that absence by which the presence of her beloved is more enjoyed She delights in the tribulations whose abundance hath caused an abundance of consolations shee so much loves Christ that for his sake shee loves things that are to nature most hatefull and rejoyceth in them And thus while the soule rejoyceth in things contrary to nature for the love of things supernaturall this joy cannot be naturall and of the same kinde that those things are which it despiseth but must needes be supernaturall and of the same kinde that those things are in which it especially delighteth Another property of these joyes by which they prove themselves to be spirituall is this that they are nutrimentall to the very soule spirit of man They feede they satisfie and in their measure fill the soule and give her an inward thriving and increase Bodily joyes are thicke and grosse and by their grossenesse sticke behind in the body and pierce not to the soule and if any thing come to the soule from them it is commonly but filth dregs guilt vexation or shame Shee may bee more clouded by them made more dull earthy and foule by materiality or filth cast upon her but they enter not into the inward
parts of the soule to water the roote of her and to give her true kindly and reall increase As mudde is to the thirsty bodies so are these to thirsty soules they cannot drinke them in nor quench their thirst with them But the spirituall joyes enter in and enlarge the very soule of man they make her who is a spirit more spirituall for shee opens her mouth wide to them and then shee is filled with that spirituall and divine sappe which accompanieth them and wherein they are founded And then as shee hath heard so she hath seene and tasted that an heavenly joy is to the soule a restaurative medicine and that when she enjoyeth her Saviour in the contemplations and tastes of his love then is she filled with marrow and fatnesse But I hasten to a third Marke of spirituall visitations and that is holinesse For when Christ visiteth the soul as he doth clarifie her with light and ravish her with joy so he doth beautifie her with holinesse Externall joyes and joyes of the body have not this vertue neither can they give it to the soule but when Christ commeth into the soule by his spirit the same spirit that doth enlighten and glad her doth also hallow her yea as by the light she is directed to holinesse so by the gladnesse shee is lifted up encouraged and actuated unto holines In these accesses of Christ there are heights of union and the increases of union bring with them increases of uniformity The spirit of union is fire and fire turnes that into it selfe to which it is united and the fuller and closer this union is the more is this turning So Christ Iesus the more hee comes into a soule by his spirit the more spirituall doth he make her yea the more doth hee melt a soule into himselfe the more doth hee turne her will into his will and the more doth hee increase his owne image in her and wee know that his image is righteousnesse and true holinesse He brings with him those oyntments for which the Virgins love him and those oyntments also make them more lovely Hence are they inwardly more glorious and hence outwardly they smel more sweetly in their conversations The Kings daughter is all glorious within and her garments smell of myrrhe aloes and cassia In these touches of Christ if in any other there comes forth vertue frō him The spirit of the lover passeth into his beloved and makes her of one heart and will with him and this conformity of the will with Christ is true holinesse The spirit by which Christ visiteth his spouse is an holy spirit and a spirit of power and accordingly when this spirit is shed into the soule there is power holynes infused with him and by him And hēce it is that they who receaue the true oyntments of the spirit in true visitacions they passe beyond a speculatiue discoursing holynes even beyond a forme of godlines and advance to the power of it to a fruitful expression of this power Yea I may say that hereunto the very loue of Christ constrayneth vs. For in these visitacions and by them the loue of Christ is shed into our harts The spirit of power holines is the spirit of loue and this loue giuen by the spirit may be called holinesse for it is the fulfilling of the law They that love Christ are certainely willing to please him and to keep his commandements and they that have the spirit of love cannot but love him Yea they cannot but love him for the union they have with him and the joyes of this union And loving him they wil desire to bring forth fruite unto him and by him even fruite that may be like him The pleasure of love and union in outward marriage is a kinde of hire of fruitfulnes and in the spirituall marriage the joy of love and union is the hire of a fruitfull holinesse Wherefore those that truly enjoy Christ in these spiritual accesses both desire and obtaine this spirituall fruitfulnesse for the spouse of Christ is most truly that vine which is fruitfull by the sides of the house and whose children stand like olive plants yea in olde age is shee full of fruite Wherefore if with light and joy the soule doe feele that the spirit of Christ by spirituall heate power and love have wrought a powerfull and fruitfull holinesse in her let her know that Christ Iesus himselfe hath beene with her Carnall and corporall things cannot doe this evill Angels neither can nor will doe it good Angels though they rejoyce to see it done yet they doe it not but that spirit alone both can doe it doth it which is the power and right hand of God which onely writeth the lawes of God in the hearts and soules of men He it is alone that giveth the soule the new wine of the kingdome wherewith the soule being once refreshed shee rejoyceth as a gyant to runne the race of holinesse It is the spirit of Christ alone that so anoynteth the soule that shee runneth after Christ in the wayes of righteousnesse And as it was said to this Head and Husband of the Church Thou hast loved righteousnesse and hated iniquity therefore God even thy God hath anoynted thee with the oyle of gladnesse above thy fellowes So it may bee also said to the Spouse Thou hast loved righteousnesse and hated iniquity therefore God even thy God hath anoynted thee with the oyle of gladnes above all those that were thy fellowes by carnall generation For there is no oyle of gladnesse that hath with it the love of righteousnesse but that wherewith Christ Iesus the Head was principally anoynted and which dropping from Christ the Head to the Members and Spouse of Christ makes her to excell the rest in vertue and holinesse And as there was not any such spice as the Queen of Sheba brought unto Salomon so there are no such oyntments of grace and gladnesse as a greater than Salomon doth give to his Queen when hee and shee are met in the heates of a spirituall conjunction and the excesses of a fruitive union CAP. VIII A Corollary of counsailes and directions to those that are entred into the estate of this blessed Marriage LEt it be the maine endeavor of a soule married to Christ to keepe her selfe still in that point wherein she may keepe him and so keepe him that she may still say and feele what she sayes My well-beloved is mine and I am my well-beloveds To this end let her still cast and consider with her selfe what those things are which hee most loves and make her most lovely in his eyes for the spirit of this lover loves to be there where his love is Therefore if there be any praise any vertue thinke on those things and set them as pearles and jewells about thy soule to make her glorious and amiable in his sight Let the face
in a continuall trance and extasie of joy Her life shall be rejoycing and her life shall be eternall and so shall be her rejoycing Her life shall be love and this love shall give an overcōming sweetnesse to the enjoying of him whom she loveth and the sweetnesse of her enjoying shall enflame her love to him by whom she enjoyes this sweetnes and thus shal she run an everlasting course between the pleasure of love the sweetnesse of enjoying Therefore thus saith my soule to her beloved Come away my beloved and be as a Roe on the tops of the mountaines My life is hid with thee my love Appeare quickly thou which art my life that I may quickly appeare with thee in the glorie and happines of a consummate mariage Make mee faire with thy spirit and put the golden vesture and the needle-worke of thy manifold graces vpon mee and bring me speedily into the presence of the great King Let the day of gladnes quickly come wherein both soule and body even my whole selfe may eternally enioy thee For thy spirit being now in both makes both to thirst for thee and my flesh fainteth as well as my soule and ech panteth after thee Neither will they stil be put off with these tasts and earnests but their love and longing is rather enflamed by them to the fruition of thee The very voice of these earnests is come yea they scarse know any other language but Come therefore again again they say come Yea after they have said come as if that were not enough they say Come quickly Now thou who knowest the meaning of the spirit give an answere to the speaking sighes and grones of the spirit Thou who hast enflamed the heart of thy spouse to speake vnto thee in this silent yet lowde language of ardent desires speake againe to the hart of thy spouse and answer the desires which thou hast made to speak vnto thee But harken for hee speaketh Those lips speake which are full of grace and such lips cannot but speake grace peace to his spouse to his beloved Hearken therefore and heare what he saith Beholde I come quickly O hony and sweetnesse it selfe to the soule that loveth her beloved comes quickly her consummate marriage comes quickly her full joy and perfect happinesse comes quickly And now what can the soule say more to her Lord Onely as before shee still said Come so now will she still say Amen and Even so come Lord Iesus Amen and Amen FINIS 1 Ioh. 1. Esay 54. Gal. 5.17 Cant. 3.4 Ioh. 14.21 2 Cor. 12.2 Eph. 4. Rom. 8.13 1 Pet. 2.11 1 Pet. 1.8 Cant. 8.7 Rom. 8.32 Heb. 1. 1 Cor. 3.22 Cap. 4 5 6. Eccles 3. Mat. 11.29 Heb. 12. Phil. 4.13 Col. 1.11 Psal. 19.10 Psal. 19.5 Ier. 31 33 35 36. Cant. 8.6 Rev. 12.11 Acts 5.41 Dan. 3. Acts 4.17 18. Acts 21.13 Mark 10.30 2 Cor. 1.5 2 Cor. 4.17 1 Pet 1. phil 2.17 1 Thes 1.6 c. Rev 14.13 2 Cor. 9.6 Nehem. 8.10 Luke 9.33 Heb. 4.9 Vers. 6.11 Acts 1. Eccles 4.10 Iob 6.6 Ruth 1.20 Cant. 5 Esay 54.6 7. Rom 8.28 Cant 5.2 Gen. 32.28 Luke 7.37 Matth. 26.10 Prov. 6.34 Hab 1,32 2 Cor. 3.5 Rev. 17. Rev. 3. Esay 66.1 2. Ioh. 15.13 Mat. 15.27 Col. 3.3 Iohn 3.8 Iohn 2.4 Iudg. 13.25 Iohn 5.4 Psal. 123.2 Psa. 37.34 1 Sam. 2.30 Psal. 37. Psal. 4.6 7 Psal. 42.2 102.2 130.6 Heb. 12.12 2 Cor. 8.12 Mat 10. Rev. 2.19 1 Cor 15.44 Ioh 17.14 1 Cor 1.30 Psal 73.17 Psa 90.12 Psal. 73. 2 Cor 4.17 Esay 30.21 Psal 143 8-10 1 Cor 2.10 Iohn 1.14 2 Cor 4.6 Esa 54.13 Ioh. 15.15 Pro 23.23 4.12 Mat. 6 33. 1 Kings 8 38 2 Chron 7 14 15 Zach 12.10 Rom. 8.26 2 Tim 1.7 Ioh 13.36 Acts 4.8 Iudg 15. 16. Acts 13.6 1 Sam. 14.29 30. Eph 5.9 Phil. 4.13 Neh 8.10 Heb. 12 Psal. 19. Ioh. 4.34 2 Pet. 1. Psa. 89.15 Iohn 20.27 28 Heb. 13 8. Gen. 38.25 2 Pet. 1.16 1 Iohn 1. Rom. 8.16 Gal 4.6 7 2 Cor 5.5 6 Cant. 1. 2. Luke 24 15 19. Psa 42.2 Phil 1.23 Psal. 43.3 2 Cor 5.8 Exod 14.15 Heb. 10.38 Heb. 10.39 Num 11 6 Iosh. 5 12. 2 Cor. 5. 1 Cor. 1.23 24. Esay 8.20 Psal. 94.19 2 Cor. 4.16 Luk. 24.15.17 Psal. 30.11 Matth. 5.3 4 6. Numb 20 10. 2. King 4. 2 Cor. 8.12 1. Thes. 1.6 1. pet 1.6 Psal. 112.4 2 Cor. 4.6 Psal. 4. Phil. 3.8 2 Cor. 12.9 10. Rom. 5.3 Rom. 8.5 Prov. 17.22 Psal. 63.5 Eph. 4.24 Psal. 45. Mark 5.30 Luke 1.35 2 Tim. 1.7 Rom. 13.10 Ioh 14.21 Rom. 7.4 Psal. 128. Psal 92.14 Ezek. 11.19 20. 2 Cor. 3.3 Psal. 45. Numb 24 Cant. 4.9 Psal. 27.8 2 Cor. 3.18 Psal. 25.15 Luke 24.28 c. Luk. 11.13 Ioh. 14.21 Iohn 1.3 Exod. 34.14 Gal 5.17 Gant 2.18 Cant. 7.12 Zach. 13.1 Psal. 51.7 Rev. 7.14 Esay 1.16 1. Luke 7.47 Psal. 51.8 Rom. 5.1 5.11 Hebr. 10. 19,22 2 King 3.15 Eph. 4.15 16. 1 Pet. 2. Num. 11.4 Eccl. 10 17 Psal. 19.10 Gal. 6.16 Rev. 22.14 Psal. 45. Iudg. 9.11 1 King 19 Deu. 32.25 1 Cor. 4.4 Psal. 145. 15. Cant. 5.2 Luk. 23.43 Eccl. 12.1 Rev. 3.20 Mark 4.33 Gal. 2.20 5.6 1 Ioh. 3.14 1 Cor 4.11 2 Cor. 11.23 Gen. 30. Rom. 7.4 Ioh. 15.5 psal 113.9 Gen 30.20 Ioh 14.23 Cant 4.16 Prov. 7.19 Psal. 119. 176 Luke 22.61,62 1 Cor. 10. 13. 1 Pet. 1.5 6. Gant 2.5 Mat. 15.32 Heb. 4.15 16. Psal 63.1 Rom. 8.23 Rev. 22.20