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The
Opposition Which This Translated Spirit Met With
Upon the giving down and opening of these Paradisical Laws, I was beset with a seditious party that would have stirred up a mutiny in me to contradict this worthy and precious covenant, so as it might not take place or be of force with me. This party was saying these were intolerable impositions, that none could or ever did reach to the requirings of them. And what was I? Or where was my sufficiency more than others, that I should hope or expect the accomplishment of them in myself? This was to go into a legal dispensation and turn the Covenant of Grace into works again, so to yoke and fetter myself within the confines of these strict and severe laws. And then where was the liberty that was to come in by Jesus to set me free, He having satisfied the law for me that I might not be in obligation to it? "Come, come," cried the king-crowned Beast, "Away with these innovations and receive my laws , in the performance of which there will be ease and rest. Dost thou not see how peaceably all my subjects that bear my mark and name live under me? Who are like them, great in fame and mighty through honor and riches which they obtain by observing my orders and rules? These I will give to thee and would have thee great in my principle and not despicable as now thou art. "Whereas it is said thou must have no other God but One and that thou must own Him as thy Creator and none other before Him; this I will permit and thou art not prohibited herefrom. Nevertheless, thou art not so strictly tied up here, but thou mayest own subordinate powers under God and obey nature's laws for its self-preservation. This is only fair, and therefore do not slight these laws that are founded upon reason's bottom, but sail thou with its tide, as thou desirest blessing and prosperity in this world. "Is it not great folly in thee and in such as do join with thee, to be singular and to observe such laws as none are able to agree with you in, that wisely intend to maintain their interest(38) as to the friendship and the favors from the kingdom of the world, which, as thou hast a terrestrial life and a mortal body, thou dost stand in as much need of as any of the natural offspring whatever? "Now hath God said(39) indeed unto thee that thou must neither eye, nor have reference to any other, either in the heavens above or in the earth beneath, but must live upon Him for all, singly and undoubtingly by a spirit of faith alone? This is a law for angelics but not for creatures that bear mortal shapes, who are fallen under the line and dominion of the starry constellations.(40) It is unavoidable that thou must bow and be subject unto the starry heavens which govern and constitute and give forth right laws, being such as consist very well with refined reason, which you would exclude. "And then, what will become of you when you shall forsake the order of sense and reason, which your new laws call low and earthy? Must you not hereby needs bring all into desolation and ruin upon your external comely station and be a byword and a derision to all your fellow creatures that you will see before your eyes as fair and flourishing branches, thriving through obedience to the laws of my present and visible kingdom?(41) "For I do not defer my rewards but do give them as soon as their work is done. Neither do I keep my subjects and children in such suspense and waiting for what they do not see, so awing them in the meantime as they must not so much as look awry or be company for any other but seraphics. Oh, who can bear such a life as this while living in this mortal sphere? Oh, come out, and regard not this self-destroying covenant, which will infallibly make a breach and set all at variance against thee, if thou shouldest keep to it. "Then (once a breach is made) I must tell thee, wars from my principle shall forever annoy thee. Lo, this is my last summons to thee, and if thou shalt still renounce and disobey all my love-entreaties and rational laws, then expect that I will raise up the whole earth's monarchy against thee. For they will all concur with me against such as design to observe these singular laws, which are so opposite to our decrees, that if we should once allow any of these laws among our subjects, we would soon lose our sovereignty over them and be made to acknowledge a superior monarchy ourselves, by the utter loss of our own dominion. "Ah, but this will not be yielded to, I do assure thee. For verily we will call in all power and force to the utmost ends of the earth and will war with reason's mighty sword and spear, until we see garments rolled in blood everywhere. Thou shalt through blood get the conquest and seeing that thou hast refused terms of peace, war is proclaimed within thy Paradise.(42) Now, think not that state which Wisdom, thy mother, hath brought down with all its laws, shall secure thee from our mighty power, or deliver thee from our sharp and piercing hosts. "Therefore, in short, if thou wilt set thy seal to these articles that I do here present to thee, then thou mayest hereby purchase thy peace and content.(43)
2. I require to be feared, worshipped and confided in, the image of whom thou shalt make to thyself.(44) 3. Thou shalt not be ashamed to bear my name or to act forth in all my natural and sensual properties as baptized into the laver of common regeneration. 4. Thou shalt rest from thine ordinary calling and from the work of thine hands and shalt dedicate a day in special to bring in thy peace offerings and to pay thy vows as a tributary unto me, thy king. 5. Thou shalt love and honor me as a father that hath begotten thee and that doth also take care to provide worthily for thee, that thou mayest not disparage thy birthright to all these visible good things. 6. Thou art not to kill or wound the life of that judicious spirit of reason, which is the choicest plant in thy ground and my true prophet that giveth forth my mind expressly.(45) 7. Thou art not to adulterate from me, who is thy natural husband, being joined and knit together by that immutable bond of love's sensuality, from which if thou dost depart before death, thou highly transgressest against the law of me, thy first husband, who will never acquit thee nor hold thee guiltless in so great a disloyalty. 8. Thou art not to rob me of what is my right, as I am the chief and the great monarch in this outward world, who will not have any one title, prerogative or revenue belonging to my region taken from me or diminished. 9. Thou art not to witness against or be at enmity with thy fellow offspring, thine adjoining neighbor, but art to love him as thyself as being compacted together and growing up naturally with him as an inhabitant in and from the earthly source. 10. Thou art not to covet or to desire anything which I have not to give.
"Thus, thou seest my kingdom hath substantial, good and prudent laws, which now I expect thou shouldest subscribe to, as thou art under and in my dominion. So long as thou livest in a terrestrial body, thou art and will continue to be liable to all the penalties that shall be inflicted for the breach of these laws, although I cannot reach thy Paradisical man."
38. Is this not the crucial point wherein we are all tried? It means either a cutting away of the shorelines of self-preservation and a casting of all caution to the winds or a maintaining of nature's status quo. Half-measures, up-to-a-point and a so-long-as-it-is-convenient kind of service and worship to God will no longer suffice. Shall we really trust God with our lives, trusting Him to maintain our lot as Jesus did, or shall we maintain our own interests, holding to earth's lifesaver as we tentatively venture into the deep? To do so is to place one foot in the boat, as if to go someplace, with the other planted firmly and securely on the dock. It is quite easy to see that if Reason is allowed his say here, all is lost, for he makes a formidable case against the Lily-life that is so cast upon God that it is without toil or care. 39. The reasonings of the carnal mind have not changed over the years. The serpent is still asking the same questions, "Hath God said?", and is still insinuating the same injustice to God as in the Garden. In the Garden there had been no prohibition against the Tree of Life, only against the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. So it is for us, but the rational, reasoning mind would have us believe that eating of the Tree of Life is to miss the benefits of all that the other Tree would afford, without telling us what those benefits are: death, sin, sorrow, sickness and ultimately destruction, in the true Biblical sense. But as the Firstborn of every creature overcame that old (original) serpent, so shall they also who are begotten of Him. 40. These starry constellations and starry heavens spoken of so often by Jane are not, I believe, those natural stars in the natural heavens, but those spiritual things of which the natural is but the type. She refers to stars in other places as thoughts, imaginations. Of course, the imaginations must be cast down and every thought must be brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. The Scriptures give ample reason to believe that the Cherubim, which means imaginary or imagination, mentioned in various places, represent the imagination or thoughts, either God's or man's. The Lord placed Cherubim (Cherub is singular, Cherubim is plural) and a flaming sword at the gate of the Garden to keep or guard the way of the Tree of Life. We see the Cherubim of a cunning work upon the veil of Moses' Tabernacle, which separates the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. We see Cherubim of gold (Deity) of a beaten work behind the veil upon the Mercy Seat. We see God addressing the king of Tyrus (Ezekiel 28:13-15), saying, "Thou has been in Eden the Garden of God . . . thou art the anointed cherub that covereth . . . Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created until iniquity was found in thee . . . I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire." Wherein has man been alienated from the life of God? "Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart." --Ephesians 4:18 Man is alienated from the life (Tree of Life) of God by his own imaginations, his own thoughts. It is, as Jane Leade so often says, the sensitive rational life of Reason which acts as the great wall and impediment to the super-sensitive life in the Spirit. The cherubim on the veil of Moses' Tabernacle is of a cunning work and represents man's mind which bars the way to the realm of Life. The two golden cherubim upon the Mercy Seat behind the veil are of a beaten work and represent God's and reconciled, redeemed, man's mind having been made one in the unity of the reconciliation of Christ. These two golden Cherubim are of one beaten piece, showing oneness and unity in co-deification. There cannot be two minds in that realm. Adam fell from Paradise in his mind and inwardly. His fallen imaginations took him away from, rather than to, God. Man had begun to be ruled by a mind other than God's. He was a light unto himself. He was under the dominion of the starry constellations, the thoughts and imaginations of fallen man. But thank God, as the old heavens are rolled up and put away like a scroll, there is a New Heaven prepared to take its place. 41. What a beautiful and very typical description of that battle which must rage within the mind of every one who contemplates launching out into the deeps for trusting God for their all! Oh, the questions that are raised! "What will people think of you? Who else do you see doing something so silly? How will you keep from failing miserably? What will you say when you have come to rags and poverty and find yourself starving? Is this not for those who are much more spiritual and therefore much more worthy to receive of God's hand than yourself? If you must do this, why not wait until tomorrow, or until your financial situation can more afford it? Why not wait until your stocks have reached maturity? Why not wait until you have retired? Why not wait until you receive that inheritance your uncle has promised to leave you (no mind that the uncle is but 40 years old)? etc., etc., etc. ad infinitum." All manner of sacrifice is called for in order to become a doctor, a lawyer, a success in business, all of which temporary rewards are afforded the creature from the beast's so risky and tentative realm, but never do we hear a discouraging word concerning this. It is reserved only for those who despise the mammon of this world for a more enduring, though, as yet, unseen reward. And if you determine to go forward in trusting God completely, without relying on any externals, you will do so by faith. 42. War is the inevitable response from the Dragon whenever there is an incursion into Paradise. No sooner is the Manchild caught up to God and to His throne and there is war in heaven or Paradise. We need not look out our window to see this war, for it takes place within us, and we need not go to some location to enlist in it, for all that is necessary to be inducted into the Lamb's roll-call is a renouncing of the beast and his realm. You will, upon this, surely see an outbreak of war in your heavens. This is your Battle of Armageddon. And this is good news, for it is then that the great Prince, Michael, shall stand on the part of His people and shortly cast down the Dragon and his voices from your Paradise to your earth so that you may have a New Heaven wherein dwells not the Dragon and all his accusing voices, but righteousness. 43. This kind of peace, like everything the Serpent would offer, is spiked with wormwood. For it is not truly peace but merely an absence of war on the grounds of unconditional surrender. That is not peace but defeat. The Lamb's Holy warriors will not accept peace on such terms, but are committed, to the death, to that victory purchased by the Lamb's blood. They are not warring for the victory, they are warring from the place of victory already won by the Rider of the White Horse! It is a sad sight indeed when we see one who has laid down his sword and walks in the peace and contentedness of surrender, though it serves as a great warning to the rest of us. 44. Do these precepts not sound at all familiar to us? "If thou wilt fall down and worship me, I will give thee all these things" --Matthew 4:9. If the Captain of our salvation answered him, "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve," should not they also who are His faithful warriors? 45. Here we have from the mouth of the beast himself, confession that Reason is his prophet, false though he is. 46. This is the whole ground and basis upon which humanism is founded, instant gratification. Our present culture seems built around making man happy and seeing to it that it takes place as soon as possible, and so we now have fast-food eating places, drive-through fast-food, prepared foods quickly made ready by quickie micro-wave ovens, ATM machines, drive-through banking, express lane check-out, quickie marriages and quickie divorces. Even many preachers and sermons of the day imply that the great over-riding concern of God is that man should be happy all the time, and of course that happiness is arrived at by how much money and how many things man can get, and not by his relationship to God -- all a lie. It is possible to have joy even while mourning, even while passing through some terrible trial, even while the pressures of life seem intent upon squeezing it right out of you. Joy, not happiness, is what God means for us. The joy of the Lord is our strength! There is a deep, stable, underlying settledness about joy. 47. Certainly this has been the great lie of that part of Christendom which has made the word of God of no effect by preaching instead, the commandments of men. Sometimes it sounds even as though Death, and not Christ, were the Great Benefactor and Deliverer of mankind. As Jesus, the apostles and even Jane Leade all teach, it is quite possible to live a victorious, joyful life in which many of heaven's benefits and royalties may be enjoyed now, in the mortal flesh. We have fed so upon the traditions of man, thinking it to be the word of God, until we have in many cases become fools and slow of heart to believe all that God's Word holds out to us. One example is: "I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die" --John 11:25 & 26. Believest thou this?
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