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The FIFTEENTH CHAPTER

TAKEN OUT OF THE

THREE-FOLD LIFE of MAN.

CH

HRIST faid, O Jerufalem, Jerufalem, how often would I have gathered thy Children together, as a Hen gathereth her Chickens under her Wings, but ye would not? And, 07erufalem, thou that killeft the Prophets, and ftoneft them that are fent unto thee. We have piped unto you, but you have not danced. Gon alfo faith in other Places of Scripture, What should I do more to this ftubborn and perverfe Generation, which will not fuffer my Spirit to reprove them any longer? Their Mouth is full of Curfing and Bitterness, the Poifon of Afps is under their Lips, and their Hearts are never at Unity. O! how fain would I eat of the beft 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 cr Wifdom of GoD crying in the Streets, at that Bb 2 Time

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

3. It is a Time of higheft and greatest Calamity, which if it should not be shortened, none could be faved. It is a Time of which all the Prophets have prophefied, and yet thou supposest it to be a Golden Time.

But con

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fider thyself, thou blind Man, whither thou goeft; doft thou think that this Wickedness and Falfhood, which thou practiseft, is what GOD orders or approves? Wait but a-while, and thou fhalt foon fee, that it is the Time of the laft Seal, in which the Anger of GOD poureth forth its Vials, fo that the Wonders of Hell are come to Light and Manifeftation. Give Attention and Faith to this Declaration. For we have understood and known it in Ternario Santo, in the Heavenly Subftantiality, 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 fhall 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 fcorn, blafpheme, curfe, fwear, cheat, and lye, and fo become fitted to serve the Devil in all fhameless 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 Fefts. Cheating and Stealing is counted Art and Skill with them; Deceit and fly Tricks are their Boaft; they mock honeft People without any Regard to Truth or Juftice. 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 fee, and take Delight in. Their Hearts are fecretly tickled to find their Children fo 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,

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

6. They who can cozen, flander, and betray their Neighbour fuccessfully, who can overthrow or blemish his Reputation, or prevent or leffen his Profperity, are happy fo to do. Impudent Manners, wanton Mirth, and unfeemly Words and Geflures, are accounted Wit and Gaiety. He that can raise the Laugh against another, and put him out of Countenance, is Mafter 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 elfe. Haughty, Arrogance, Self-Conceit, and Difdain of others, is their firft Leffon; 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, Beftial Luft and Lafcivioufnefs begin to work in them, to which one Sex provoketh the other. Thus Youths in their firft Blossom yield

to

to the Devil their Hearts, wherein he maketh his Neft, and fo enfnareth 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 fomewhat that is good, whereby he may be ferviceable 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 falle deceitful Heart is his Servant. If fuch 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 fwell 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 Accomplifhment 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.

10. Yet

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