the eyes of the Church being annoynted doe see him and all things that cōcerne him Spirituall things are spiritually to bee discerned and Christ and his spouse are one spirit and by that spirit wherby she is one with Christ doth shee discerne spiritual things The husband of the Church is the wisedome of his Father and when wisdome goes into a soule he giveth wisedome to the soule The Spirit by which he enters into us taketh of his and giveth it to us Therefore as he is wisdome in himselfe so is he also made wisedome to us Christ is light and when light and the soule are knit together by that vnion with light there is a Communion of light The wine of the Spirit is herein quite contrary to the bodily wine The bodily wine whē it inebriates darkens the understanding and being grosser than the soule casts a mist upon the soule But the spirituall wine being purer than the soule enlightens and clarifies her and even then when it brings her to an extacie it doth it not by the diminution but by the excesse of light Wherefore let the soule make speciall use of this precious light which shineth within her in the accesses of her husband let her marke and learne and record the discoveries of that light for a spirit so enlightened will discover more than seven men upon a watch-tower There are some mysteries and secrets which thy husband wil whisper unto thee by his spirit in the bed of love and then let him that hath an eare heare what his spirit saith But if he doe not speake to thee doe thou speak to him know of him those things that are needfull for thee to know and bring to his light those things that thou wouldest have truly seene and discerned Goe into this Sanctuary and there receive Oracles and Answeres for there shalt thou finde resolutions of those things that were before too high and too hard for thee and when thou hast truly seene them beleeve them to be that which by this light thou seest them to be and resolve never to beleeve the flesh hereafter when it shall put any other shapes upon them For darknesse puts false and imaginary shapes upon things but it is light that makes all things truly manifest For example when this light shines in upon the soule looke out for thy happinesse and that thou maist finde it set all things before this light which are briefly these The Creatour and the creature God and the world and having done this thou maist plainly see where is true solid and permanent felicity and where is vanity transitorinesse and misery And when thou hast seene it know it to be the very truth which thou hast seene and that which is once truth is truth for ever If thou wantest the skil of truly measuring time and eternity so that a short life seemes to thee like eternity and eternity lesse than a short life when this light shines in thy soule bring the life of man and eternity together in one view before it and thou shalt quickly learne the art of numbring the few dayes of thy life and withall thou shalt learne that the dayes of eternity cannot bee numbred There is not so much proportion or likenesse between them as there is betweene the very lowest and least point of the earth and the circle of the uppermost sphere And what thou hast now seene to be true beleeve to be true ever even when this light is so obscured that thou seest not the truth of it If thou doubt which is better the prosperity of the wicked or the adversity of the godly bring them before this light even into the Sanctuary and Temple of thy soule wherein the holy Ghost dwelleth and shineth and there shalt thou see that prosperitie ending in a never-ending misery and that adversity ending in a never-ending felicity Besides thou shalt see the prosperity to bee but a light vanity yet followed with a weghty misery and thou shalt see adversity to be but a light affliction yet followed with a weighty glory And having seene this thou maist easily judg which is the better and as they appeare now to thy judgement such let thy memory present them to thee for ever If thou art doubtfull of thy way and thy path seeemes to be covered with darknesse search thy way by this light for it shall be to thee instead of a voice saying This is the way walke in it VVhen after some darke nights the soule is visited through the loving kindnesse of her beloved with these day-springs and mornings of grace then let her say Cause mee to see and know the way wherein I shall walke and then The good Spirit will leade thee into the land of uprightnesse If the word written be darke to thee bring it to this light and if it be fit for thy measure and the glory of thy Lord this light shall reveale it For the Spirit doth reveale the hid things of God If the infidelity of men without thee or of thine owne flesh within thee cast a mist of doubts on the Gospel of Christ Iesus with this light beholde this Gospell and thou shalt see in it a plot of divine wisedome and a mysterie of high and supernaturall truth Yea thou shalt see the face of him who is the summe of the Gospell as the face of the onely begotten Sonne of God full of grace and glory For God who commanded light to shine out of darknesse hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Iesus Christ. It is an ancient promise They shall be all taught of God And when will God sooner teach than when he visiteth a soule with his spirit which communicates both his light and his love unto her For both light and love are discoverers of secrets light makes manifest things hidde in darknesse and love tels counsels unto the beloved It is our Saviours owne inference I have called you friends therefore I tell you my counsels But remember that the knowledge which thou learnest from this teacher of hearts be laid up by thee safe as a precious stocke or treasure and account it thy best learning which thou hast learned of the best Teacher Having bought this truth sell it not keepe it and it shall keepe thee When thou goest thy steps shall not be straitned and when thou runnest thou shalt not stumble Therefore take fast holde on this instruction let her not goe keepe her for shee is thy life Secondly these seasons of love are seasons of prayer If thou want any thing now aske it for in these heates of love thy husband will deny thee nothing These be the times when the spirit moveth the waters therefore now cast in thy petition and what soever griefe it hath in it thou shalt be cured of it Now the King holds out his golden Scepter therefore let
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
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
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
buffeting it and so when thou lookest for a good spirit to exalt thee an evill spirit be sent to beate humble thee Christ comes into thee not to feede but to kill the flesh wherefore thy end and his are contrary if thou desire his cōing to feede that which he comes to kill If then thou wouldest have him come indeede into thee joyne with him in the proposall of one the same end even the exaltation of the Spirit and the death of the flesh allowe not fleshly swelling to bee an end no not a subsequent of thy meeting with Christ but kill it if after this meeting it arise in thee The flesh hath no part nor portion in this service but to bee slaine by it therefore let not this left hand of the flesh know what the right hand of the spirit doth in thee but be thou wholly spirituall in a spirituall in a spirituall busines and by it growe more spirituall and not more but lesse carnall Againe desire not these sweetnesses of spirituall vnion onely because they are sweete for in this the flesh also may have his part both in desire and fruition Be not like the children of Israell in the wildernes who desired meate for their lusts for of such a desire there is an il beginning an il end may be expected since lust is both the beginning and end of it But blessed is the land when her Princes eate for strength and not for riot blessed is the Church when her Nobles eate this spirituall foode for spirituall strength and not for lust and luxury It is a kinde of luxury to make taste and not strength the maine end of eating but let the sweetnesse of the taste bee used as an encouragement unto eating for strength Out of the strong one comes this sweetnesse that by this sweetnesse thou maist be made partaker of his strength Wherfore having foūd this honey eate with Ionathan that thou maist be strengthened in services to be done and against enemies to be resisted Eate that thou maist strengthen thy faith and that the eyes of the inner man being enlightened thou maist the more clearely discerne the riches of glory given to thee in Christ Iesus Strengthen thy faith also that thou maist more fully and closely cleave unto him with thy will whom thou hast seene with thy understanding to bee the treasure of perfect felicity Yea let not thy faith leave growing from strength to strength untill it bring thee beyond faith unto vision Eate that thou maist strengthen thy hope and that thou maist hope the more perfectly to receive the full fruition of that sweetnesse and blessednesse whereof here by this eating thou hast received the foretastes and pledges Eate that thou maist strengthen thy love and that thou maist love him with a love above all loves whom thou hast seene and tasted to be fairer and sweeter than all that can be loved And by strengthening thy love to him strengthen also thy love to his will and to his law the copie of his will The sweetnesse which thou tastest must needes love the law for they are twinnes this sweetnes being shed into our soules and the law written in our hearts by one and the same spirit And as the sweetnesse brings with it a love of the law making it sweete to us even sweeter than hony and the hony combe so doth the law leade us to the fulnes and fountain of this sweetnesse Be thou also strengthened by this sweetnes more strongly to resist the enemies of thy soule and of thy Lord and Saviour Let the sweetnesse of the spirit turne the sweetnesse of the flesh into bitternesse and the sweetnesse of the world into contempt and let it make thee to spit out against the taste of all tentations which the evill spirit shall offer thee for how sweete soever the same tentations may now seeme in thy mouth they shall at last be turned into an everlasting bitternesse and gnashing of teeth But the sweetnesse of thy husband groweth like a river untill it come and bring thee to a boundlesse Ocean of perpetuall sweetnesse Briefly let this sweetnesse now tasted by thee fill thy heart and soule and life with sweetnes Let thy garments smell of myrrhe cassia and frankincense let thy conversation yeeld forth the sweete fruites of righteousnes sweet figges and sweet grapes that cheare God and man Having received sweetnesse from Christ sweeten others also and being strengthened by this sweetnesse strengthen thy brethren Be not discouraged if he come not so often to thee nor stay so long with thee as thou desirest The baites of a traveller are short and his journey long The meales of Elijah were but two but his journey was forty dayes This kinde of foode hath in it an eternall nourishment and therfore it may strengthen long though but shortly taken Besides if thou hadst this meate so long and so fully as thou desirest it may be thou wouldest not so long and so fully desire and love it as now thou doest There is a loathing upon fulnesse and a restivenesse upon spirituall fatnesse as upon the bodily Therfore Iesburun being fat kicketh against him that made her fat and Israel being fully and daily fed with Manna falls to loathing it But thy husband who is wisedome in perfection and knowes thee better than thou knowest thy selfe prevents this dangerous fulnesse and fatnesse and carries his kindnesse in so temperate a moderation betweene glutting and starving that the soule be neither too fat nor too leane And indeede as shee is then most comely in the eye of her husband so is she then most healthy active and fit for the services of her husband Wherefore let her bee content with these turnes of comming and going with short meales and long journeyes If the meales be sufficient to bring us to our journeyes end even to Gods holy Mountaine we may well be contented For these journeyes and labours that here seeme to be long in regard of the rests that come betweene them shall bring us at last to an eternall rest which hath no interposition of labours And then it shall be no sorrow of heart to us that through short rests and long labours we have arrived to that state of happines which hath in it no labour but is all rest Againe bee not discouraged if hee come not still when thou thinkest that thou hast prepared thy soule and made the bed of loue for him Thou mayest perchance bee short of that fitnes which thou thinkest for he is a God of pure eyes and thou euen when thou knowest nothing by thy selfe art not free from Impurity Hee will haue thee yet more fitted for his comming by a narrower search of thy owne blemishes and vnfitnes yea hee will haue thee fitter for his comming by being composed and decent without his comming He will haue thee fitted and trimmed by faith as wel as by love and teach thee to
let her ever be tasting of thy loves and ever love thee by tasting them Let the savour of thy oyntments whose very breath is love be ever in her nostrills that she may ever love thee for that savour and by it Give me the flagons of the new wine of the kingdome which may lift up my soule above her selfe in her loves and give her better loves than her owne where with to love him that is farre better than her selfe Yea let her drinke plentifully that she may be mounted up in a divine extasie above her carnall and earthy station that she may forget the low and base griefes and cares and distractions of carnall and worldly love and by an heavenly excesse be transported into an heavenly love to embrace her beloved who is the Lord from heaven with a love that is like him O my beloved thou art most lovely even when I love thee not yet then art thou most lovely and when my soule covered with flesh sees not thy beauty yet then art thou most beautifull and most worthy to be beloved But then thy lovelinesse is lost to me because love loves not what it sees not Therefore ever anoynt mine eyes with thine eye-salve that my soule may ever see thy lovelinesse and seeing it to be most lovely love it with her best loves and despise a world of beauties in comparison of thine and a world of loves in comparison of those loves wherewith shee loveth thee Let my love rest in nothing short of thee neither let it be content meerely to rest in thee but kindle it enflame it enlarge it that it may rest largely in thee Enlarge the crany which thy spirit hath bored through the flesh into my spirit that I may largely see thee and so largely love thee Enlarge the arteries and conduit pipes by which thou the head and fountaine of loves flowest into thy members that being abundantly quickened and watered with the spirit of love I may abundantly love thee And doe not onely come much but often into me and let my spirit often be one spirit with thee in communicative and fruitive unions For such often unions with thy spirit will make my spirit more spirituall and the more spirituall shee is the more will she love him who is a spirit Againe the more spirituall she is the more will he who is a spirit love her and the more he loves her the more will he visit her with his spirit and the more he visits her the more lovely and beloved shall she be Wherefore by often visitations put thy owne image and beauty more and more on my soule and then love thy owne beauty in my soule and my soule for thy owne beauty which thou hast put on her and let my soule love thee infinitely for being infinitely more beautifull than that beauty which thou hast put on my soule and therefore infinitely more lovely than that which thou lovest in my soule Wilt thou my Lord love the image and shall not the image much more love the patterne O thou most lovely my love to thee should be farre greater than thy love to me because my object of love in thee is infinitely greater than thine in me But I being a poore and narrow creature have not love enough to love thee sufficiently an infinite Creatour and indeed there is no love but thy owne sufficient to love thee whose love onely is equall to thy lovelinesse Thy being is lovelinesse it selfe and thy being is love it selfe for God is love Come therefore into me O thou that art love and love thy selfe in me Come into me and by thy owne most excellent love fitly love thy owne most excellent lovelinesse And while thou lovest thy selfe in my soule let my soule according to her measure taste and see and love that love Let her with all her might though that might be far too weake for this worke consent and approve that love of thine and on the torrent of thy love let her most active strongest and largest affections swimme to thee O thou Ocean and unbounded fulnesse both of lovelines and love And thus though shee cannot make her owne love sufficient to love thee yet let her make thy all-sufficient love her owne by receiving some of it into her according to her capacity by assenting to it by approving magnifying it and by a desire to resemble it as much as a poore measured creature may resemble that which is unmeasurable It is thy owne word O thou lover of soules that where there is a willing minde thou acceptest that which a soule hath and not that which she hath not But Lord though that love which I have attaine not to that measure which is unmeasurable yet Lord let it be a full measure which thou pourest into me and let there bee nothing void in my heart and unfilled with thy love Yea let thy spirit of love come so fully into my soule that it stretch and enlarge her measure and make her to grow from the measure in which she is unto the measure in which shee should be even to that stature which is appointed her in thy body And thus by fulnesse in a lesse measure let her grow to a fulnesse in a greater measure growing still in measure and growing still in that which filleth her measure Yea let the measure sometimes be not onely full but running over even running over to a spirituall drunkennesse but not unto drowning for these extasies and excesses of love shall somewhat advance my ability of loving thee For when my understanding will and affections are all overflowne overcome and amazed then shall my wonder gaze on thee and my very faintings shall be enflamed toward thee and melt me into thee Neyther doth my soule desire the pleasure of this loue and Ioyes of thy vnion meerly for pleasure But I desire that the ioy and sap of thy spirit powred into mine when they two are one spirit may be generatiue and fruitfull Far be it from my soule to loue thee like an harlot and not like a wife let mee desire vnion with thee because I love thee and because I love thee let mee desire to bring forth fruite vnto thee Yea I will not cease to cry vnto thee Give mee children or else I die For thou canst not reply vnto mee Am I in Gods stead to give the fruit of the wombe For verily thou art that God who giveth the fruite of the wombe both spirituall and corporall Give me therefore children by this vnion with thee euen fruites of thy spirit which may resemble thee and be pledges to me of thy vnion with me And when I have brought them forth let me give the praise vnto thee For thou onely makest the barren to beare and to be a fruitfull mother of children And when thou hast made mee fruitfull by coming to mee come more often to mee be cause thou hast made mee fruitfull It was the voice of a naturall
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
comforters that wound and smite her and if shee meete with that one of a thousand that speakes right words and tells her true comforts yet while the inward Comforter is wanting that should turne the words into deedes they remaine bare words and are like the white of an egge that hath no taste in it For the soule sayes still Call mee not Naomi but Marah for my Lord hath dealt bitterly with me Yet still she lookes out for her husband but sees him not shee calls to remembrance his former loves that so shee may enjoy him in the representations of her former enjoyings But then a world of fleshly and fearefull thoughts rush in upon her and with a cloud cover that sight of him which memorie would give her and if she yeeld not to them she is vexed with importunity and if she yeeld to thē she is vex't with guilt self-accusation the Tempter buffets her with sharp and thornie temptations to drive her to yeeld and when shee yeelds hee buffets her with fearful accusations Now what can bee added to her misery Her best friend is gone from her and her worst enemies are round about her yea her best friends seemes to have surrendred her into the hands of her worst enemies for shee feeles a mighty force of her enemies but no strength of her beloved Therefore her heart failes her and shee thinkes that shee hath wholly lost both her selfe and him I opened saith she to my beloved but my beloved had withdrawne himselfe and was gone I sought but I could not finde him I called him but hee gave no answer The watchmen that went about the City found me they smote me they wounded me But yet be of good comfort thou wearie wounded and distressed soule thy husband is a God that comforteth the abject that makes light to shine out of darknesse that gives refreshing to the weary and heavie-laden that brings life out of death Thy Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit and as a wife of youth when thou wast refused saith thy God For a small moment hath he forsaken thee but with great mercies will hee gather thee The mercies of God even when they seeme to faile thee then doe they gather thee yea they gather thee by their seeming to faile thee Thy husband is God and God is love and love doth ever good to the beloved Yea thou lovest him and he hath told thee that all things shall turne to good to them that love him therefore even these desertions though never so dreadfull and discomfortable the almightinesse of Gods love shall make usefull and advantageable This is so true that many of these uses and advantages may particularly be named and I doubt not but thy husband himselfe will teach them to thee experimentally yet because while the cloud of desertion is upon thy soule she can hardly see by her owne light another that hath light for the time though perchance clouded himselfe as much or more another time may tell her what hee sees by his light And indeede when the soule is in the darke and her owne light shines not she may doe well to get a guide and to take heede to borrowed light untill the day dawne and the day-starre arise in her owne heart A first advantage then that may come to the soule by the desertions of her husband is by desertions to prevent desertions for by loosing him shee may learne not to loose him and by the miseries of her former ill keeping him learne hereafter to keepe him better Perchance thou wast too careles in holding him when thou hadst him or in admitting him when he came to visite thee and to bring these thy faults to remembrance that by remembring them thou maist amend them he is now gone from thee Remember whether thou didst not heare such a voice as this Open to me my sister my love my dove my undefiled for my head is filled with deaw and my lockes with the drops of the night Remember also whether this was not thy answer I have put off my coate how shall I put it on I have washed my feete how shall I defile them Thou hadst taken up some rest in the flesh and hadst put thy selfe into a method of ease and then it was a marring of thy method and a fowling of thy feete to step into any action or passion for thy beloved Hee that was thy true happinesse was growne very cheape to thee and thou wast content to part from him rather than to give the price of a little paines for him And art thou not well worthy to lose him whom thou thoughtest so little worth the keeping But now thou art put to learne the value of him by absence whom thou didst so much undervalue being present And when by absence thou hast learned this lesson thou hast gained more by absence than thou wouldest have done by presence for thou hast gained the true valuation of thy Lord by absence which through thy fault and frailty thou forgatest in his presence so by this first gaine thou shalt come to a second for by absence thou shalt gaine his presence For absence having taught thee truly to value him and accordingly to desire and thirst after him and to give him due entertainment when he comes hereafter and offers his love unto thee then shalt thou by this benefit of absence come to enjoy his presence Thy fulnesse brought thee to hunger and thy hunger now brings thee to fulnesse for he filleth the hungry with good things and the full he sends empty away He will fill thee not onely with good things but with goodnesse it selfe for he wil fill thee with himselfe and hee is goodnes yea thou shalt yet have a farther gaine by this absence for when he comes againe thou wilt holde him faster and keepe him surer and so enjoy him nearer longer Now thou wilt embrace him and cleave to him and winde thy selfe about him and when thine eye sleepeth thy heart shall wake that thou maist still keepe his presence whose absence was so bitter unto thee Thou wilt bring him into the chamber of the soule and binde him with the cords of love thou wilt claspe thy affections about him and hold him fast that hee may no more escape from thee And being thus bound by the cords of love and love loving to be bound by love hee willingly abides in the bands which hee loveth for both love and faith are mighty with the Almighty and make the spouse an Israel even a prevailer with God Shee that loveth Christ much may embrace him much and kisse him much and holde him much and if any man doe trouble her hee himselfe will say Why trouble yee the woman And thus thrives the Spouse by her losses while by losing her husband for a time shee loves him better and being returned enjoyes him the more and holdes him stronger and longer But
encourageth us the greater shall those joyes be which follow these labours for hee that soweth plentifully to the spirit in labours shall reape plentifully of the spirit in the joyes life everlasting Though no life everlasting can be longer than another yet one life everlasting may bee more joyfull than another and this greater joy shall follow those that dying in the Lord doe rest from greater labours And as the joy precedent and the joy subsequent doe encourage us to the labours of holinesse so doth also the joy concomitant The spirit thriveth growes fat prospereth and rejoyceth in the doing of good workes even like the mighty man in the running of his race As the naturall man pleaseth himselfe in eating and drinking so doth the spirituall man delight himselfe in well-doing and it is meate and drinke to an heavenly Sonne to doe the will of his heavenly Father VVhen a thing worketh naturally it worketh pleasantly and it is naturall to the godly nature to work godlinesse Therefore by all these wayes Blessed is the people that knowes the joyfull sound they shall walke in the light of thy countenance O Lord. They that know the joyfull sound are blessed and they are walkers The joyfull sound is a precedent blessednesse and a present blessednesse it is to walke in the light of Gods countenance and the future is to walke by that light unto the countenance it selfe which is perfect blessednesse The joyfull sound and the light of Gods countenance doe not allow any to take up their rest here but they call on them to walke even to walk cheerfully in good duties by these streames of blessednesse unto the ocean and fulnesse of blessednesse VVherfore let us make this use of the precedent present and following joyes even to walke and runne that race of piety which is here prevented with that sound accompanied with gladnesse and the light of Gods countenance and shall be followed with the never-ending sight of that countenance which is the fountaine of that light and which to behold is true felicity Fourthly in these times of plenty lay up a stocke of confidence and comfort for times of scarsity It hath bin tolde thee before and thou shalt finde it true that the Bridegroome sometimes hideth his face and holdes backe his oyntments and the spirit which bloweth when he listeth bloweth not when he listeth not Therefore goe unto the Pismire and learne of him in the summer of consolation to provide for the winter of desertion If with Thomas thou hast seene and felt Iesus to bee Iesus in his neare and palpable approaches and visitations and hast then truly called him My Lord and my God lay up this truth for the times of desertion and beleeve that truth to bee then true when thou feelest not the truth of it and that though thou art changed yet Iesus Christ is yesterday to day and the same for ever And for the better helpe of thy memory and assurance of thy soule set downe upon record these testimonies and tokens of love and seales of union which Iesus gave to thy soule when hee visited her in the bed of love In an ill matter Tamar kept a seale and a staffe for the safeguard of her life in a good matter doe thou much rather keepe these seales for the safety of thy soule And if thine enemy who is both a Tempter and an Accuser and in these times of desertion doth commonly tempt by accusing doe call thy soule into question for her life accusing her to be an adulteresse of the flesh and not a spouse of Christ Iesus bring forth thy seales tokens which lye by thee and tell him that whose these are his thou art thy well-beloved is thine and thou art thy well-beloveds Tell him That thou hast not followed cunningly devised fables but hast beene an eye-witnesse of Christ Iesus and his love And what thou hast seene and heard and felt that declare and shew to the face of thy accuser tell him The spirit of Iesus hath left a testimony with thy spirit that thou hast beene one spirit with Iesus in an heavenly marriage and then say also Wherefore wee are no more two but one spirit let no tempter nor temptation put asunder what God hath put together Thus in laying up the seales of union thou layest up a stocke of confidence and thou maist see Saint Paul making the same provision and the same use of it God hath given us the earnest of the spirit therefore are wee alwayes confident Neither do thou only from these Memorialls gather confidence but comfort True it is that confidence it selfe will bring comfort for hope is the juice of confidence and this juice is an especiall cōfort and cordiall to the soule But besides this comfort which ariseth from the apprehension of the things to come thou mayst take comfort in that which is past and therewith refresh thy soule in times of drought and wearinesse By these memorials pledges call to remembrance his loves his sweetnes his kisses his oyntments Renew the Images and keepe them fresh in thy soule and these shall comfort thee when the things themselves are absent It will be a pleasure to thee to tast over his loves againe againet by renewed remembrances of them It will be a pleasure to thee to repeate the pleasure thy soule hath enioyed and to say His love was pleasanter then wine and I eate vnder his shadow with great delight and his fruite was sweete to my tast Thou hast tasted by tasting seene that thy Lord was gracious and now see and by seeing tast how gracious thy Lord was For as tasting brought forth seeing at the first so now a revived seeing wil also bring forth a revived tasting ech mutually begetting other Yea many times when thou doest this only by remembrance and representation of that which is past thou shalt bring into thee the substance of that whose shadow thou recallest And so while Iesus and his sweetnes are represented to thee as they have beene heretofore seene and tasted they will even now present themselves afresh to be tasted and seene by thee While the Disciples going to Emaus talked of Iesus as of one that was absent Iesus became present unto thē and then their hearts burned with an heavenly fire And so while thou talkest with thy soule of Iesus of his beauty of his graces of his sweetnesse he wil present himselfe to thee and thou who wouldest have accounted it a great comfort to sit under the shadowes of his remembrance shalt now enjoy his reall presence and eate of his most pleasant fruites for when hee comes hee comes with abundance of consolations Thy remembrance of him brings him into thee whom thou doest remember and then thou needest not to borrow comforts out of the stocke of thy former remembrances for thou hast the Comforter himselfe to give thee new comforts and so maist adde them to
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