The FIFTEENTH CHAPTER

TAKEN OUT OF THE

THREE-FOLD LIFE of MAN.

C HRIST faid, 0 Ferufalem, Ferufalem, how often would I have gathered thy Children together, as a Hen gathereth her Chickens under her Wings, but ye would not ? And, O Jerufalem, thou that killest the Prophets, and stoneft them that are fent unto thee. We have piped unto you, but you have not danced. Gon also faith in other Places of Scripture, What should I do more to this stubborn and perverse Generation, which will not fuffer my Spirit to reprove them any longer? Their Mouth is full of Curfing and Bitterness, the Poison of Afps is under their Lips, and their Hearts are never at Unity. O! how fain would I eat of the best Grapes! But I am as a Vine-dreffer that gleaneth; I had planted a Vineyard, but it bringeth forth nothing but four Grapes. I am altogether a Stranger to my Mother's Children: They that eat of my Bread tread me under Foot.

2. Thus did the Mother, or the Word or Wisdom of GOD crying in the Streets, at that Time

Bb2

Time lament and complain of the wicked Children of Men; but what shall she do in thefe Days? She is now in great Sorrow and Lamentation, and hath turned her Face away from these wicked Children, and will not any longer endure them in their prefent Garment. She cryeth, and there is none that heareth her ; she is in great Sorrow, weeping and wailing over the Wickedness of these evil and unruly Children; yet every one runneth after that Whore Covetousness, which is full of all Vice, Wickedness, and Abomination. This doth the Shepherd, as well as the Sheep.

3. It is a Time of highest and greatest Calamity, which if it should not be shortened, none could be faved. It is a Time of which all the Prophets have prophesied, and yet thou supposest it to be a Golden Time. But consider thyself, thou blind Man, whither thou goeft; dost thou think that this Wickedness and Falfhood, which thou practisest, is what God orders or approves? Wait but a-while, and thou shalt foon see, that it is the Time of the last Seal, in which the Anger of God poureth forth its Vials, so that the Wonders of Hell are come to Light and Manifestation. Give Attention and Faith to this Declaration. For we have understood and known it in

Ternario Sancto, in the Heavenly Substantiality, or Angelical World.

4. For the Mother hath rejected the wicked Child of this Time, and will endure the Abominations thereof no more. She is with Child, and bringeth forth a Son in her old Age, who shall shorten the Days of Iniquity. Believe it, whosoever goeth on in his Sins shall find the End thereof to be great Shame.

5. Are not the little Boys and Children that run up and down playing together, now adays, full of Venom and Devilish Wickedness, and do not all Vices and Abominations appear in them? Do they not mock and scorn, blafpheme, curfe, fwear, cheat, and lye, and so become fitted to serve the Devil in all shameless Vices? Lafcivious Impudence is their Eloquence and fine Language; they know well enough how to jeer the fimple with all Manner of fcornful and feoffing Fests. Cheating and Stealing is counted Art and Skill with them; Deceit and fly Tricks are their Boast; they mock honest People without any Regard to Truth or Justice. One that feareth God they deride and hoot at, as if it was an Owl, and look upon him but as a Fool. This the old Ones and their Parents see, and take Delight in. Their Hearts are fecretly tickled to find their Children so expert in Infolence and Vanity, and fo ready to flout and revile the Humble and Simple. What they dare not do themfelves for Shame, they teach their Children to

do, that they may have their own Hearts Luft gratified thereby. All this the Devil teacheth them, and so rideth without Con. troul in their Hearts, as Lord of both Soul and Body.

6. They who can cozen, flander, and betray their Neighbour successfully, who can overthrow or blemish his Reputation, or prevent or lessen his Profperity, are happy so to do. Impudent Manners, wanton Mirth, and unfeemly Words and Gestures, are accounted Wit and Gaiety. He that can raise the Laugh against another, and put him out of Countenance, is Master of the Place. Now all these are but the Devil's Tricks and Feats, whereby he leadeth the poor Soul blindfold as in a String, and it knoweth not whither it goeth.

7. Youths, both Male and Female, learn the Devil's Trade before they learn any Thing else. Haughty, Arrogance, Self-Conceit, and Difdain of others, is their first Lesson; which their Elders encourage and help them forward in, as esteeming it a proper Pride or Emulation, and Behaviour becoming their Condition.

8. When they grow to be a little Older, Bestial Lust and Lasciviousness begin to work in them, to which one Sex provoketh the other. Thus Youths in their first Bloffom yield

to

to the Devil their Hearts, wherein he maketh his Nest, and so ensnareth one by the Abominations of the other; the Male by the Female, and the Female by the Male.

9. If a Man fend his Son to the University, for him to learn somewhat that is good, whereby he may be serviceable to God and his Country, there he learneth Pride, Oftentation, and crafty Subtilty; how to deprive the Simple of what they have gotten by their Sweat and Labour, and to cloak his Oppreffions by calling it his Right by Law. But that Cloak is the Devils, and the false deceitful Heart is his Servant. If such a one can fmatter a little of any learned Language, then no plain Man is good enough for his Company, fo Abundantly do his Haughtiness and Arrogance swell and overflow. His filthy Carcafe too, which is but Worm's Meat, must be trimmed and decked with Trappings and Fooleries to dazzle and catch the unwary, and thereby gratify his own Pride and Luft. For Whoredom and Seducing of Virgins is a high Accomplishment with fuch Gallants. Who with their false Compliments and flattering Behaviour, often procure the Worm that gnaweth to awake in the Heart and Confcience of many a Mother's Daughter.