When the Noble Sophia (or Eternal Wisdom) kisseth the Soul with Her Love, and offereth Her Love to it

O Most Gracious and Deep Love of God in Christ Jesus! I beseech Thee grant me Thy Pearl, impress It into my Soul, and take my Soul into Thy Arms.

O Thou Sweet Love! I confess I am unclean before Thee. Take away my Uncleanness through Thy Death, and carry the Hunger and Thirst of my Soul through Thy Death in Thy Resurrection, in Thy Triumph! Cast my whole SELF-hood down to the Ground in Thy Death; take it captive, and carry my Hunger through in Thy Hunger.

O Highest Love! Hast Thou not appeared in me? Stay in me, and inclose me in Thee. Keep me in Thee, so that I may not be able to depart from Thee. Fill my Hunger with Thy Love; feed my Soul with Thy Heavenly Substance; give it Thy Blood to drink, and water it with Thy Fountain.

O Great Love! Awaken my disappeared Image in me, which, as to the Kingdom of Heaven disappeared in my Father Adam. By the Word, which awakened the same Image in the Seed of the Woman in Mary; quicken It, I beseech Thee.

O Thou Life and Power of the Deity, Who hast promised us, saying, We will come to you, and make Our Abode in you. O Sweet Love! I bring my Desire into this Word of Thy Promise. Thou hast promised also, that Thy Father will give the Holy Spirit to those that ask Him for It; therefore I now bring the Desire of my Soul into that Thy Promise, and I receive Thy Word into my Hunger. Increase Thou in me my Hunger after Thee. Strengthen me, O sweet Love, in Thy Strength: Quicken me in Thee, that my Spirit may taste Thy Sweetness. O do thou believe by Thy Power in me, for without Thee I can do nothing.

O Sweet Love! I beseech Thee through that Love wherewith Thou didst overcome the Anger of God, and didst change it into Love and Divine Joy; I pray Thee also change the Anger in my Soul by that same great Love, that I may become obedient unto Thee, and that my Soul may love Thee therein forever. O change my Will into Thy Will; bring Thy Obedience into my Disobedience, that I may become obedient unto Thee.

O Great Love of Jesus Christ, I humbly fly to Thee; bring the Hunger of my Soul into Thy Wounds, from whence Thou didst shed Thy Holy Blood, and didst quench the Anger with Love. I bring my Hunger into Thy open Side, from whence came forth Water and Blood, and throw myself wholly into It; be Thou mine, and quicken me in Thy Life, and let me not depart from Thee.

O my Noble Vine, I beseech Thee give Sap to me Thy Branch; that I may bud and grow in Thy Strength and Sap, in Thy Essence; beget in me true Strength by Thy Strength.

O Sweet Love, art Thou not my Light? Enlighten Thou my poor Soul in its close Prison in Flesh and Blood. Bring it into the Right WAY. Destroy the Will of the Devil, and bring my Body through the whole Course of this World, through the Chamber of Death into Thy Death and Rest; that at the Last Day it may arise in Thee from Thy Death, and live in Thee forever. O teach me what I must do in Thee; I beseech Thee be Thou my Willing, Knowing, and Doing; and let me go no whither without Thee. I yield myself wholly up to Thee. Amen.

A PRAYER— For obtaining the Divine Working, Protection, and Government; showing also how the Mind should work with and in God, in Christ the Tree of Life

O Thou living Fountain, in Thee I lift up the Desire of my Soul, and cry with my Desire to enter through the Life of my Saviour Jesus Christ into Thee.

O Thou Life and Power of God, awaken Thyself in the Hunger of my Soul with Thy Desire of Love, through the Thirst which Jesus Christ had upon the Cross after us Men, and carry my weak Strength through by Thy mighty Hand in Thy Spirit; be Thou the Working and Will in me with Thine own Strength. Blossom in the Strength of Jesus Christ in me, that I may bring forth Praise unto Thee, the true Fruit of Thy Kingdom. O let my Heart and Desire never depart from Thee more.

But I swim in Vanity in this Valley of Misery, in this outward earthly Flesh and Blood; and my Soul and Noble Image, which is according to Thy Similitude, is encompassed with Enemies on every Side; with the Desire of the Devil against me, with the Desire of Vanity in Flesh and Blood; also with all the Opposition of wicked Men who know not Thy Name. And I swim with my outward Life in the Properties of the Stars and Elements, having my Enemies lying in wait for me everywhere, inwardly and outwardly, together with Death the Destroyer of this vain Life. I fly therefore to Thee, O Holy Strength of God, seeing Thou hast manifested Thyself with Thy loving Mercy in our Humanity, through Thy Holy Name JESUS, and hast also given It to be a Companion and Guide in us. I beseech Thee let His Angels that minister to Him, attend upon the Souls of me and mine, and encamp themselves about us, and defend us from the fiery Darts of the Desire of that wicked One, which he shooteth into us daily by the Curse of the Anger of God which is awakened in our earthly Flesh. Keep back by Thy Divine Strength the malignant Influence of the Stars in their Opposition, wherein the wicked Enemy of Mankind mingleth himself with his Desire and Imagination, in order to poison us in Soul and Flesh, and to bring us into false and evil Desires, as also into Infirmity and Misery. Turn away these evil Influences by Thy Holy Power Jesus, from our Souls and Spirits, that they may not touch us; and let Thy Good and Holy Angels stand by us to turn away their noxious Effects from our Bodies.

O Great Love and Sweet Strength JESU, Thou Fountain of Divine Sweetness, flowing out of the great Eternal Name JEHOVAH, I cry with the Desire of my Soul to come into Thee. My Soul cryeth to come into that Spirit, from Which it was breathed into the Body, and Which hath formed it in the Likeness of God. It desireth in its Thirst to get the Sweet Fountain which springeth from JEHOVAH into itself, to refresh God's Breath of Fire, which itself is, that so the Sweet Love of JESUS may rise in its Breath of Fire, through the Fountain JESUS springing out of JEHOVAH; that CHRIST the Holy One may be manifested, and become Man in my disappeared Image of Heavenly Spiritual Corporality, and that my poor Soul may receive its beloved Bride again into its Arms, with whom it may rejoice forever.

O IMMANUEL! thou Wedding-Chamber, God and Man, I yield myself up into the Arms of Thy Desire towards us, in us; it is Thyself whom I desire. O blot out the Anger of Thy Father with Thy Love in me, and manifest Thy Strength in my Weakness, that I may overcome and tame the Evil of Flesh and Blood, and serve Thee in Holiness and Righteousness.

O Thou Great and Most Holy Name and Majesty of God, JEHOVAH, Which hast stirred Thyself with Thy Most Sweet Power JESUS, in the Limit of the covenanted Promise to our Father Adam, in the Woman's Seed; in the Virgin Mary, in our disappeared Heavenly Humanity, and brought the living Essentiality of Thy Holy Power in the Virgin Wisdom of God into our Humanity, which was extinguished as to Thee; and hast given It to us, to be our Life, Regeneration, and Victory; I entreat Thee with all my Strength, beget a new Holy Life in me, by Thy Sweet Power JESUS, that I may be in Thee and Thou in me; that so Thy Kingdom may be made manifest in me, and the Will and Conversation of my Soul may be in Heaven.

O Great and Incomprehensible God, thou who fillest all Things, be Thou my Heaven in which my new Birth of Christ Jesus may dwell: Let my Spirit be the stringed Instrument, Harmony, Sound and Joy of Thy Holy Spirit. Strike the Strings in me in Thy Regenerate Image, and carry through my Harmony into Thy Divine Kingdom of Joy, in the Great Love of God, in the Wonders of Thy Glory and Majesty, in the Communion of the Holy Angelical Harmony. Build up the Holy City Zion in me, in which as Children of Christ we all live together in one City, which is Christ in us. Into Thee I wholly plunge myself; do with me what Thou pleasest. Amen.

A PRAYER — To be used by a Soul in Tribulation under the Cross of Christ, when it is assaulted by its outward Enemies, who persecute and hate it for being in the Spirit of Christ, and slander and reproach it as an Evil-Doer.

Poor Man that I am! I walk full of Anguish and Trouble in my Return towards my Native Country, from whence I wandered in Adam, and am going back again through the Thistles and Thorns of this troublesome World. O God my Father, the Briars tear me on every Side, and I am afflicted and despised by my Enemies. They scorn my Soul, and revile it as an Evil-Doer, who hath broken Faith with them; they deride my walking towards Thee, and account it foolish. They think I am senseless, because I walk in this straight and thorny Path, and go not along with them in their hypocritical broad Way.

O Lord JESUS CHRIST, I fly to Thee under the Cross; O dear Immanuel receive me, and carry me into Thyself through the Path of Thy Pilgrimage, in which Thou didst walk in this World, namely through Thy Incarnation, Poverty, Reproach, and Scorn; also through Thy Anguish, Passion, and Death. Make me conformable unto Thy Example; send Thy good Angel along with me, to show me the WAY through the horrible thorny Wilderness of this World. Assist me in my Misery; comfort me with that Comfort wherewith the Angel comforted Thee in the Garden, when Thou didst pray to Thy Father, and didst sweat great Drops of Blood. Support me in my Anguish and Persecution, under the Reproach of the Devils, and all wicked Men, who know not Thee, and refuse to walk in Thy Paths. O great Love of God, they know not Thy Way, and do this in Blindness, through the Deceit of the Devil. Have Pity on them, and bring them out of their Darkness into Thy Light, that they may learn to know themselves, and how they lie Captive in the Filth and Mire of the Devil, in a dark Dungeon fast bound with three Chains. O Great God have Mercy upon Adam and his Children, redeem them in Christ, the new Adam.

I fly to Thee, O Christ, God and Man, in this Pilgrimage and Journey which I must take through this dark Valley, despised and troubled on all Sides, and accounted an ungodly wicked Man. O Lord, it is Thy Judgement upon me, that my Sins and inbred Corruption may be judged in this earthly Pilgrimage before Thee; and I, as a Curse, be made an open Spectacle on which Thy Anger may satiate itself, and thereby may take the eternal Reproach away from me. It is the Token of Thy Love, by which Thou bringest me into the Reproach, Anguish, Suffering, and Death of my Saviour Jesus Christ, that so I may die from Vanity and spring up in His Spirit with a new Life, through His Reproach, Ignominy, and Death.

I beseech Thee, O Christ, Thou patient Lamb of God, grant me Patience in this my WAY of the Cross, through all Thy Anguish and Reproach, thy Death and Passion, Thy Scorn and Contempt upon the Cross, where Thou was despised in my Stead; and bring me therein as a patient Lamb to Thee, into Thy Victory. Let me live with Thee in Thee; and do Thou convert my Persecutors, who (unknown to themselves) by their Reproaching sacrifice my Vanity and inbred Sins before Thy Anger. They know not what they do; they think they do me Harm, but they do me Good! They do that for me which I should do myself before Thee; for I should daily lay open and acknowledge my Shame and Vileness before Thee; and thereby sink myself down into the Death of Thy beloved Son, that my Shame might die in His Death; but I being too negligent, weary, faint, and feeble, therefore Thou usest these mine Enemies in Thine Anger, to open and discover my Vileness before Thee, which Thy Wrath taketh hold of, and sinketh it down into the Death of my Saviour.

O merciful God, my vain Flesh cannot know how well Thou intendest towards me, when Thou sufferest mine Enemies to take my Vileness from me, and sacrifice it before Thee. My earthly Mind supposeth that Thou afflictest me for my Sins, and I am extremely perplexed at it; but Thy Spirit, in my inward new Man, telleth me that it is of Thy Love towards me, and that Thou intendest Good to me by it. When Thou sufferest my Enemies to persecute me, it is best for me that they perform the Work in my Stead, and unfold my Sins before Thee in Thy Anger, that it may swallow up the Guilt of them, so that they may not follow me into my Native Country; for mine Enemies are strong and mighty still in Thy Anger, and therefore can do it better than I that am feeble and fainting already in the Will of Vanity. This Thou knowest full well, O Thou Righteous God.

I beseech Thee therefore, O Righteous God, since Thou usest them as Friends to me, to do so good an Office for me, though my earthly Reason knoweth it not, that Thou wouldst make them also to understand and follow my Course, and send them such Friends in turn; but first bring them to the Light, that they may know Thee, and give Thee Thanks.

O Merciful God in Christ Jesus, I beseech Thee out of Thy deep Love towards us poor Men, which Thou hast manifested in me in the hidden Man, call us all in Thee, to Thee. O stir Thyself in us yet once again in this last Trouble; Thy Anger being kindled in us, do Thou resist it, lest it swallow us up wholly both Soul and Body.

O thou Dawning of the Day-Spring of God, break forth to the Full! Art Thou not already risen? Manifest Thy Holy City Zion, Thy Holy Jerusalem, in us.

O Great God! I see Thee in the Depth of Thy Power and Strength. Awaken me wholly in Thee, that I may be quickened in Thee. Break off the Tree of Thy Anger in us, and let Thy Love spring forth and bud in us.

O Lord, I lie down in Thy Sight, and beseech Thee not to rebuke us in Thine Anger. Are we not Thy Possession which thou hast purchased? Forgive all of us our Sins, and deliver us from the Evil of Thy Wrath, and from the Malice and Envy of the Devil; and bring us under Thy Cross in Patience into Paradise again. Amen.

Here followeth a Prayer or Dialogue between the poor Soul and the Noble Virgin Sophia, in the inward Ground of Man, viz. between the Soul and the Spirit of Christ in the New Birth, out of His Humanity in us; showing how great a Joy there is in the Heaven of the New regenerate Man; and how lovingly and graciously the Noble Sophia presenteth Herself to Her Bridegroom, the Soul, when it entereth into Repentance, and how the Soul behaveth itself towards Her, when She appeareth to it.