A WREN IN THE Burning-Bush, Waving the Wings of CONTRACTION,  
To the Congregated clean Fowls of the Heavens, in the Ark of God, holy Host of the Eternal Power, SALUTATION.  
THE Bird which sat mute under the shadows in the Desert, most melodiously is become a chirping, chanting Song of Harmony in the Woods of the Pomgranate-Trees, whose Boughs hang sevenfold laden with increase in the seventh year, wherein there is neither reaping nor gathering, but all is offered in fullness to the Lord God of the whole earth.  
She makes the Woods to ring with her harmonious sound,  
She doth in Valleys sing, and Echoes sweet rebound.  
Her Wings are as Orion's beams, and her golden Feathers as the Rays of the Pleyades; her Hight is as the course of the Sun, which from the Heavens giveth light to the whole earth; she lifts up her head at the Horizon of the East, and her breathe have reached the shutting deeps of the West; Shiloes Brooks run equal with her footsteps, her path is in the green Valleys. Who hath born up her Train in the way, and is not an Angel of God? Her young are the Snowwhite Turtle-doves, perfect, without party-colour, they yoke but to one peculiar Mate, and in the life of love do lie down in his Breast, buried at the last gasp.  
Ah my Soul! Where dost thou dwell? Yea, Where is the Bed of thy reposes? Kindled spices are a fervour about me, environed with their Fames and Flames; Wherefore I step and bow the head, and proceeding do bend the knee, and in the nigh approach am fallen flat on the ground before the Altar of the Holiest of Holiest; for the glory of God is too wonderful for my view, who rideth upon the wings of Cherubims.  
Oh! Eternal, touch my tongue, that my voice may sound thy praise, that the Feast of thy Sons, and the Banquets of thy Daughters may be mingled with the melody of my mouth; thou hast strained my Strings with the twists of Trial, and wound up my Keys to the Highest; Wherefore instruct my hand to quaver upon the Vial, that thy Virgins may dance at the Tune; thy strength hath squeezed my Vine-press, let thy strong men taste of my Cup, for the Wine is as liquor of Life; Ah! my God, Thou hast filled me with the heavenly good, I will ponder thy Power and praise thy Name, for thou hast covered mine innocency with the immensity of the deeps of mercy; it is thou, Oh Lord God, who art my only sure hope and strength of Salvation.  
Remembering the Host, remembering the Angels, having thoughts of the Saints of God, and calling to mind the Lambs of the Flock, my life is as the fume of burning incense, ascending from the glowing Coals; for the voice of the Turtle hath exasperated my Spirit, whereby my life is as an Hymn in the amiableness of my Love's Breast; How shall I break open deeps to Remonstrate my Love? The profundity of that Love which floweth in the Sea of simplicity, and ascendeth in flight with the Wings of enamouredness, to the heavenly Host of the Most Pure God, whom his own right hand hath planted in the Power of the Celestial Grace of Election, and therein are to him Priests, Prophets and Kings, inhabiting the holy Mountain, which hath its situation on the top of all Mountains, and in the same do sit on Thrones in the regal and imperious Power over all the twelve Provinces of the old Earth and old Heavens, which you have found as dissolving Snow, under the trampling of your burning and flaming feet, which God hath made (to his own Glory) the foundation of the Pillars of the new Heavens, and firm support of the new Earth also. Oh! how gloriously beautiful are your feet which bring the glad Tidings of the everlasting Gospel of perpetual Peace.  
Oh! oh! my Beloved, my Beloved, to explicate a little, I may make entrance with the Wisdom of Solomon, yea, and after, having exceeded his Phrases, yet the vastness of my Love to remain the same, which I never found Arts most excelling Stage of Narration, sufficient to fathom out unto you.  
That wise man wrote of the three earthly powers, Armies, Wine and Women, and concluded Women to be the forceablest; Have not all these in my Pilgrimage battled with me? Yea, although the least indeed within me, yet even as face to face with me in such measure as to Remonstrate would fill up many long lines, with the like Characters as these of Ink; Nevertheless, All, yea and seven times more than all these in full force coming as floods of impress upon my little City Walls, never did equal nor parallel the strength, vigour and virtue which is in the least Lamb of the Sheep-fold.  
Moreover I declare, though the said three might yet attempt my Tower (to wit) an Army, as the force of seven Armies; and Wine with seventy times seven, the strength of the strongest Wine; and Women, with seventy times seven hundred times their strength in the excellency of beauty, lustre and love, yet I am persuaded in the pure fear, dread and power of God Almighty, that they all would not touch my life, or make me defile the bed of my Marriage; But I testify, the thoughts of the countenance of one Lamb overcome me in the Ocean of Eternal Love, which of a truth I feel and find in me, granted by the good hand of God, stronger than the first and last Enemy which is Death, or Lord and power of darkness, upon the which my Love, which is very life, trampleth as Cells in the infernal places in the utmost obscurity, in which Love (through perfect fear) I find my Soul established and life completed.  
Furthermore, my dearly beloved Sisters and Brethren, You know the natural influences of the old Courses, (viz.) the love of the Child to the Parents, and the Mother's bowels to the fruit of her Womb; yea, and the love of her who forsaketh Father and Mother and cleaves to her Husband, whose desire is after her own flesh, concerning and super-ascending which, I testify (as one who hath ample knowledge of the Principal & Rarest part of the first affection) unto you my infinitely beloved in the Eternal virtue; that, as the bright Heavens in height are exceedingly above the dark face of the low earth, so is my Love to you, (Oh! my Love, my Love, oh! to you Gods own everlasting inheritance and treasure exceeding all which is of, or hath relation to the first birth of the flesh, fleshly in its most endeared natural streams and floods of the fullness of that love and affection. And although I have thus far made an entrance of oration, yet am still as far from emptying myself of the incomprehensibility of his treasure, as is the entrance of the East-wind, (which no man knows from whence it comes) to the utmost passage of the West, whither it flieth, the which no man knoweth whither it goeth.  
Casually therefore in righteousness, (forasmuch as this Love shall prosper, the other pine and whither; This shall live, the other die; This in God is infinite and endless, the other with the Fabrics fall fully finished) I recommend your living Spirits in one word, which is your drink, food, raiment and life to feel me, and reach the pure openings of my innocent bosom to you all, without respect to any man's person, from him who sits on the throne, even to him who is a doorkeeper of the house of the Lord, or a Sweeper of the entrance of his holy habitation, whereof this is the sum; Lambs, your life is my love, and my life to the uttermost hour of the Cisterns death; and thenceforth a Crown of life for ever, Amen. Of which, this is the sure earnest, The Cross on my back, and Crown of Thorns on my head.  
And whereas I have a continual Cloud of witnesses in my view; and an  Pillar of Testimony, solidly pitched in my most internal habitation and dwelling; that you the Quakers and Tremblers, (who do purely dread and tremble at the Word of the Lord God) are his chosen Generation, his Royal Priesthood, and most peculiar and everlasting inheritance. Furthermore, having the ample assurance (in the glorious light of the Supreme Council) that the holiest preceding ages never saw days exceeding the glory of your blessed day, which wonderfully in one hath sprung up from on high, and visited you with such a portion of the virtue of God, which although signs and miracles are plentifully written of and believed, and the gift of Tongues and languages given to divers in the primitive days; Nevertheless, I John, do bear herein a true record and witness of God, testifying, That Abraham who talked with God in the Tent door, And Lot who entertained the Angels in Sodom. Noah who built the Ark with Gopher wood, And Moses, who through the Red Sea, led Israel out of Egypt, they saw not such a glory as now is revealed among you.  
There were also among the Holy Apostles, who prophesied of you and of your time; They at a distance saw your day and rejoiced, who witnessed to the Brethren, saying, He that shall come will come, and will not tarry: and again, He shall come the second time without sin unto Salvation. And thus, unto you he is come, in whom the promise (by his coming) is completely perfected.  
If you therefore I should forget, and bury the thoughts of the Sanctity and celestial excellency of your life and virtue, in the dark grave of the black belly of Oblivion; Then would my fresh green laurel leaf become as a fire-scorched-skin of a wild beast, and the scent thereof as the smoke of Sulphur unto me: my Palm branch would be as a burning Torch consuming my Reins within me, and my Psalm and Song of Hosanna be as the girdings of howl about me. Alas! should I defile the bed of my Spouses Virginity, with the Daughters of Jesabels' attire and beauty, then would the curtains of my Love be as the flame of the Lake, and her bed fall as vengeance upon me. Wherefore, Oh! my wholly Beloved, my Love shall run in the Cannel of fear, and her courses as the streams of carefulness towards thee; of which current and conduit I wait under seal of Salvation, that the perfection of all virtue is only and alone retained in the life of the perfect fear of the Lord God, in which there is no unbelief or Spirit of doubt; for the perfect Love, held in the perfect fear, casteth all that fear out which ariseth of the spirit of distrust.  God's chosen and peculiar Number, of all Statures, Conditions, and Qualifications, The greeting of his Simple Servant, your beloved Brother. 
YOung begotten by the Immortal seed, wait for the day of your Travail, and in the pangs thereof, look to your Deliverer, doubt not, that you die not, for the Salvation of the Woman is in Childbirth. Be patiented, and of a pure contented Spirit, and lo, the sudden moment will show thee the Travail of thy soul, and thy pain shall pass swiftly from thee; beholding a Manchild, thou shalt remember thy sorrows no more.  Trial to every hearer and sayer, to know the hearer from the Bearer, The Sayer from the Doer. 
DOst thou speak of Canaan, & dwellest joined to Egypt's fleshpots? there is a Sea and a Wilderness separates thee. Dost thou speak of Jerusalem in the City of Sodom? the walls of her Lusts do bind thee. Dost thou speak of Zion in Mystery-Babylon? her excelling magnanimity, merchandise, music and sorceries have enchanted thee: Thou art the invassaled work of her witchcraft. Why preachest thou the pleasures of Paradise, dwelling in the Dungeon of darkness? Read thy nature, and read thy Father, of the Liar, the old Serpent; of the envious Cain, of the proud Lucifer, of the earthly Esau, of the mocker Ishmael, of the treacherous Judas, of the persecuter Pilate, of the Glutton Dives, of the false Prophet Baal, of the hireling Balaam, besides more than are now utterable. Each actor read thy descent from thy own Father's Loins. Oh! Professor, hast thou seen the slaughter of thy fleshly desires? remains there nothing which would be something? If thou hast but forsaken all things, to be reckoned something, what is thy advance otherwise but a vain Vapour? Know thy seat in the secret paths, for the Lord searcheth the heart Answer the Light, and thou answerest God, and the questions of his sincere Servants. No Zoar, but by forsaking Sodom; No Canaan, but through coming out of Egypt; No Zion, but by burning of Babylon; No Paradise, but through the flaming sword; No Crown but through the Cross; No Heir, but through travel and pangs. The Consecration of Bread is not for Dog's food, nor Manna for swine's meat. Balaam hath his hire to day, and the morrow gives his full wage; Woe, Woe to all his mercenary Members.  
BABES, Feel your hunger, and moderately suck the Breasts of your Mother, not bruising the Paps with the young sharp teeth of the mouth of greedy desire; Repose in her Bosom all the night long, and she will arise and deck thee at the dawning of the day; she will hold thee in the arms of her Love, and hug thee in the bosom of her joy.  
WEANED CHILDREN, Eat your Pap and glut not; Fear, lest you loathe the nourishment of your life; hate not the Breast because of the wormwood, for the bitter herb was put to wean you; still the breast is unchangeably the same.  
And you of the Number that learn to Tattle with the Tongue, harken to the Instruction of your Teacher within, that you may quickly attain to the distinct and perfect sound of Syllables; and by his Doctrinal precepts in short progress, become as Orators of the Council of God: then will thy voice be a delight to thy Mother; thou wilt hang as a Jewel on her neck.  
YOUNG MEN, Drink Wine & refresh you, but be not drunk; Fear lest your nakedness be seen in a dead sleep, where there is none to cast a Garment over you; grow in prudence, and a double portion shall endow thee in the Marriage: Thy youth not being prodigal, but provident, will acquire the mantle of Praise spread on the shoulders of Wisdoms beloved-Son, and in his house of antiquity, shall have the seat of a hoary head.  
DAMOSELS and VIRGINS, watch in the Chastity to keep it; Fear lest the product of a moment reduce you to that which is the grief of an old age; For then feebleness joins to Joints, and weakness seizes on Sinews, and well-set hair drops down on the ground, and baldness shows the shame of thy youth: but Garlands shall be the glory of thy virginity; thy blood shall be as the blush of a Rose, and thy face as the white Lily; thy Mother will deck thee as a Damosel Bride, for the Prince of the Sceptre of Judah; he will make thy breasts the bed of his pleasure, and will give thee the strength of his might; thou shalt conceive the seed of his Loins, and bear Children like Angels of God; thou shalt see thy Travel and live, thy countenance shall be the compass of life; thou shalt see the issue of the day which shall never waste nor decay.  
LABOURERS, Labour, not straining your strength beyond the measure of fear, lest you should return from the stage as maimed members; Labouring in the equal proportion, thy work shall proceed as prosperous, and waiting for the early and later rain, through the passages of winter and summer seasons, thou shalt reap a full harvest, and gather thy Corn into thy Barn; Thou shalt eat the bread of thy Labours, and thy Soul shall be satisfied with the good; The Virtue shall cover thy Kidneys with fatness, and make thy Belly as an Oyl-brook.  
And oh! ye MINISTERS at the Altar, in the Temple of the holy God, who are as continual fuel to the fire, and as a Sacrifice in the midst of the flames; my living eternally beloved Brethren and Sisters in the Almighty power of the most high, I JOHN a low & tender Disciple of the Spirit of life, in Commission of the Supreme; to you all, do transmit the fruit of the seed of the holy word of acceptation, praying God and exhorting, Persevere in the race; Let every thorn which pricketh in the side be as a heavenly Spur, provoking you to a swift course. Though I am as the least of Gods thousands, yet surely the virtue of life is ready at my hand. I am full, I am full, even as the laden-ship, even full to the upper deck; but the hand of wisdom doth lock up my hatches; the substance is yours in the safe hold. Oh! ye deep Wells, filled with the waters of the fountain, disperse ye as showers, and spread as the rainy clouds. Oh! water, water the plants, be ye as overflowing streams to the tender Vines in the smooth Valleys. Let the voice of resurrection descend from your Sphere in the unchangeable Courses of life; Let the breath of your Nostrils be as the Winds of the Heavens, dispersing the night clouds; and let the virtue of Restoration, as naturally drop from your mouths, as the descension of the early dew, and as the salt Seas do flow with their constant savour, that the weak may be strong with the vigour of your virtue, and the strong as him that hath received a sevenfold measure of valour. God Almighty cloth you with the robe of honour, and lead you as Lambs in the life of Jesus, in the power of his Ministry, to the end of your race, and Angels shall follow your footsteps, and bear up your train after you; Diadems, Garlands, and Crowns shall settle on your heads for ever.  
TRIBULATED, The beloved Brethren in Prisons and Dens for your pure consciences towards God, Dwell in the patience under the sweet chastizements of your Peace; Pure Lambs and persecuted one's for God's Truth and seeds sake, rest in your innocency, yielded to the slaughter according to the example of your forerunner, always loving your Enemies, praying for your persecutors, let content be your Crown for ever, so live, and so die, and your blood of life will lastly give you the Dominion over all, and the innocency thereof speak to the face of God in Judgement, of the earth which drank it; your souls shall not miss of their expectation in the bosom of God, for his Breast shall be your Bed of repose, for whose righteousness sake, you love not your liberties, nay nor lives unto the death.  
Most dear ones, I am your Brother in the same blessed Kingdom of the Tribulation, Patience, and Content, instantly ministering my Spirits everlasting love to you. Oh! ye made worthy in the heavenly Calling of the acceptance of so blessed a Service; Peace be unto you, and all God's flock, Amen.  
Written in prison, by J. P. 9th. 4th. month, 1660. Let this be read with the Spirit of life, in all your holy assemblies.   

To the Seed of the Kingdom, Plants of the Paradise of God; most purely and everlastingly beloved Brethren and Sisters, in the immortal life, Congratulation.  
Can I forget that womb whose Travails were  
For me more grievous, than which flesh could bear?  
Or bury in Oblivion's Grave, that Breast  
Which suckled me? or Cradle of my rest?  
Can I forget my friends as deadly foes?  
Or scorn the bed of heavenly joys repose?  
Or loathe the waters sweet, of jacob's well,  
Like Sulphury streams of the infernal Cell?  
Can I forget that hand and living bread?  
Which in sore famine, freely hath me fed;  
Or drown in deeps the thoughts of Gods own breath  
To burst like Judas, strangled unto death?  
Nay, for in God, most merciful and just,  
Abides my confidence, faith, hope, and trust.  
Ah Zion, Zion, thy most glorious life,  
Is all to me, my joy, I am thy wife:  
And therefore if I should make sleight of thee,  
Then all thy good would be a sting to me;  
Then would my Bow against me surely bend,  
And all my darts into my body send,  
And all the pointed Arrows of my Quiver,  
Would sorely stick fast in my heart and Liver.  
Then would my sword which on my Loins is bound,  
Fall sharp on me, and leave a mortal wound:  
Yea, than the Teeth of this my Instrument,  
Would flesh from bones, and all my entrails rend.  
My honey would become as Rue and Gall,  
And heavenly showers like snares of fire would fall  
Upon my head, yea then my pleasant Wine,  
Would be as molten lead; And this straight Line,  
Would mark out all, even as an equal due,  
Which gives clear sight that God's most just and true.  
The oil which burns within this Lamp of Gold,  
Would also me in flames of fire fold:  
For than would Shilo all his currents make  
To me, like as the fiery burning lake;  
Should I become like as a turning vane,  
Then this my bread would be my deadly bane.  
My marrow would become like pitch and tar  
In dreadful flames; yea then the morning star,  
Which hath revealed his glorious shining light,  
Would gird me in the hideous howling night;  
But surely I to Gods own mercy have  
Committed all, whose grace doth freely save;  
Weakness is mine, but strength's in Gods own hand,  
By which alone, in fear, I live and stand:  
In baptisms fire, exceed John's, who lead  
To Jordan's deeps, whom Herod did behead.  
Ah! Babes most dear, with you in that I am,  
Which gives to see me as a patiented Lamb,  
In pure content, bearing the yoke and Cross,  
Esteeming mortal, but as dung and dross;  
In taste of virtue, of the heavenly seed,  
At Gods own Table with you all I feed;  
With each low worm in his own proper measure,  
I drink a dram of the sweet wine of pleasure,  
My soul in ardency of life doth say,  
I am as near you as the light the day.  
As firmly fixed like flesh unto your bones,  
As in the mountains solid rocks and stones:  
As real in you though no flesh can see,  
As is the Sap in the green Olive Tree:  
I've chosen you like as the Turtle Dove,  
To be dissolved in this most constant Love.  
I want the words of wisdoms deep profound,  
To show how deep y'are planted in this ground:  
What shall I say unto my heart within?  
Where canst thou end, but where thou didst begin;  
And there the Rivers run, exceeding measure,  
What shall I say of this my Love's vast treasure;  
You have much more than this weak hand can write,  
For all is yours which Spirit doth indite;  
My Spirits also with and in you all,  
Who by the same are saved from the fall.  
Can I within me less affection find,  
Then worms or beasts who love their proper kind?  
Nay Lambs, ye know in living substance well,  
That my Brooks current, mortal doth excel.  
For this my stream towards the deep doth run,  
As doth my flame ascend towards the Sun.  
No wise Philosopher did ever know  
The moving Cause, why Seas do ebb and flow;  
Nor of them all within their Tombs do lie,  
 saw the Love, which moves the Sun to fly,  
In Course most swift round heavens widest wheel,  
But God's Host now, the cause and life doth feel.  
The lesser to the greater is well known,  
And each true nature moves towards its own.  
Here's fire below, the greater flames above,  
Till twain are joined, they do yearn both in Love.  
Th'ore whelming floods which on the earth were sent  
In Noah's day, dropped from the firmament;  
Besides, you see how raining clouds do bring,  
Refreshing showers in pleasant time of spring;  
And fills the fountains which are here below,  
And still the streams unto the Seas do flow,  
And all their Tides, wherein they always move,  
Show their affection, to the Seas above.  
Now read me and my Love, which tongue can't speak,  
To you my life, which death, nor hell can break;  
Yet still I pray, in fear, that God defend  
Me, from the ill, and save me to the end.  
Amen. J. P.   

BRETHREN and SISTERS, Look purely to your proper life, to be able to stand the Trial of the day: Happily you may know what you are to day, but who can say what he shall be to morrow? Let none look out at me, but within to feel me, for I look up to God, and the cup which I patiently swallow is honey-sweet in my belly; God hath heard my prayers, and answered me, wherein my soul is refreshed, whose favour I besought with watches and careful tears, that you might know, and now it is enough that you do know, that I have lived, and in the life do live as an offered Sacrifice to die in God: And therefore now for the fabric quickly to stretch on its last bed, and there to sleep the long sleep, it is but one to me, as to walk, or rather, it is better to me for it to repose in her mother's womb, for lo I shall live and not die.  
All dear sucking Lambs and Sheep of the fold, pray for me every where, Pray in the Spirit and cease not, for the lowest groan God heareth.  
HOLY SEED, Be pure unto the end, and the Crown and Kingdom is yours. So the Father in his Love, keep you in the Love and Unity, and make your day as the spring which covereth the earth with green.  
J. P.   

ABRAHAM believed, and his faith was imputed to him for Righteousness; And Moses in the same steps marched through the Red Sea, and the Children of Israel followed him and were saved; but the presumption of the enemy God drowned in the deeps thereof; Ah! how many were his works of power to a murmuring people in the wilderness? and how wonderfully also did he always save Israel, in the extreme deep times of trial?  
Oh seed of the holy one, all most dear and precious plants of the heavenly King's renown, I have always in Spirit been among you, and frequently have transmitted my exhortations in the fullness of the bowels of Love and life unto you, saying, wait for the Trial to stand it, and bear it, for the Lord God will have Gold and no Tin. He will have Turtle-Doves perfect white, and no particoloured birds. And therefore again I say, O ye bones, be joined with the Sinews; O ye veins, lose not your blood, for that is the life of all Creatures; But Lambs, be ye patiented and content, and look up and wait a while and you shall see, and stand in the power, and the power will stand in you, and in it pray the Father, and the Father will hear you.  
And grieve not if a Thistle or Thorn should blossom, for lo the North wind can blast it, and then it will fall to the Grave of forgetfulness: Consider my Brethren, who made the Rose, a Rose? and cannot he also make the Briar a Lily? and hath not our God made that of good, which the Son of man thought would never be for a service of good? however trials shall be for your everlasting good, as you abide to the day.  
I testify to you, that all Nations is but as one man, and him as the dust of the ground before the Lord God; And who can say, of what God Almighty made the dust? yea, or the Globe of the whole earth: Ah Lambs, am not I your Brother in the heat of a hot day? The Lord our Righteousness keep you, as his mercy preserveth me an object for your pure eye to look on; but look ye not out, but dwell within, for, from the presence of the Eternal power, I speak, The earth shall roll as a smooth iron ball cast down a steep hill, which finds no  until it's fallen to the bottom thereof; until that the King reign whose right of due it is; and therefore, under the Sceptre of his Government, dwell ye in the peace, and in the pure content, and his favour will countenance you beyond your heart's expectation; And this is the Word of the Lord God, which changeth times, unto all God's people upon the face of the earth, to whom my whole Soul and Spirit is knit, and united in the perfect life of the living body.  
John the prisoner of Christ 9th. 4th. Month, 1660.   
THE END.  

London, Printed for Thomas Simmons, at the Bull and Mouth near Aldersgate, 1660.