Jane Lead
Jane Lead (March 1624 – August 19, 1704) was an Christian mystic whose calling from God inspired a visionary ministry that shaped the Philadelphian Society, proclaiming divine wisdom and spiritual renewal across the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Born Jane Ward in Letheringsett, Norfolk, England, to Hamond Ward, a prosperous gentleman, and Mary Calthorpe, she was the youngest of twelve children in a well-off family, baptized on March 9, 1624. Her education was informal, shaped by a comfortable upbringing and personal spiritual experiences rather than formal theological training, culminating in a transformative moment at age 15 during a 1639 Christmas dance when a heavenly voice declared, “Cease from this, I have another dance to lead thee in.” Lead’s calling from God unfolded after marrying William Lead, a merchant, in 1644, living happily with him and their four daughters in King’s Lynn until his death in 1671 left her penniless in London. That year, a vision of the Virgin Sophia—divine wisdom personified—called her a “Bride of Christ,” igniting her ministry of recording divine revelations. Ordained informally by her mystical experiences, she preached through writings and leadership, joining John Pordage’s Behmenist group in 1668 and assuming its helm after his 1681 death, renaming it the Philadelphian Society in 1694. Her sermons, preserved in works like A Fountain of Gardens (1696–1701) and The Revelation of Revelations (1683), called for a universal restoration through the Inner Light, influencing Quakers and Pietists despite opposition from Anglican authorities. Widowed, with no further marriages, she passed away at age 80 in London, leaving a legacy of mystical preaching that echoed beyond her time.
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Jane Lead preaches about a vision she had on New Year's Day, where she saw a new creating power symbolized by a figure in transparent glass descending from the Sea of Glass. This figure transformed into a plain, from which water flowed and covered the land, symbolizing the Holy Spirit's work of renewal and transformation. The vision emphasized the sowing of the Holy Ghost in receptive hearts, bringing forth a new creation in spirit and body, pointing to the beginning of a new creation succeeding the old.
January 1. 1678. a Crystalline Figure Descends From the Sea of Glass.
On New Years-Day, upon the break thereof, this Figure was presented to me, as the Model of a new Creating power, and opened by an Image of transparent Glass, which descended from the Sea of Glass, and stood as upon a Mountain of Earth, which after a very little season mouldered all away, and became a plain. And then it was said, Now observe, and see what will follow. And out of the Belly of this Clarified Body did flow Water, that became as a great River, that covered all the plain, which soon drunk these Waters in. And then the Word, said, Spring O Ground, and bring forth another Creation; Then did there rise from the same figurative Body, a pure Light, which sprung within the case of Glass, from the Loyns upwards to the Head, and out of the Mouth a fiery Stream did proceed, which descended where the Waters were drunk in. And it was given immediately by the soft whisper of the Spirit, that this would be the sowing of the Holy Ghost, in a plain and leavened Ground, which would bring forth, after its own kind, as to Spirit and Body; The Lord my God hereby did also signify much to me, which draws the mind to wait attentively, to be made the Subject matter, that may be formed into the like transparency which doth so naturally flow from the fullness of a Glorified Humanity. Now he is said to be the beginning of that new Creation, which is to succeed the old. Ah my Lord, who shall enjoy the first Fruits of this pure mingling of the Glassy Sea, from whence the Birth of the Holy Ghost does flow so freely?
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Jane Lead (March 1624 – August 19, 1704) was an Christian mystic whose calling from God inspired a visionary ministry that shaped the Philadelphian Society, proclaiming divine wisdom and spiritual renewal across the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Born Jane Ward in Letheringsett, Norfolk, England, to Hamond Ward, a prosperous gentleman, and Mary Calthorpe, she was the youngest of twelve children in a well-off family, baptized on March 9, 1624. Her education was informal, shaped by a comfortable upbringing and personal spiritual experiences rather than formal theological training, culminating in a transformative moment at age 15 during a 1639 Christmas dance when a heavenly voice declared, “Cease from this, I have another dance to lead thee in.” Lead’s calling from God unfolded after marrying William Lead, a merchant, in 1644, living happily with him and their four daughters in King’s Lynn until his death in 1671 left her penniless in London. That year, a vision of the Virgin Sophia—divine wisdom personified—called her a “Bride of Christ,” igniting her ministry of recording divine revelations. Ordained informally by her mystical experiences, she preached through writings and leadership, joining John Pordage’s Behmenist group in 1668 and assuming its helm after his 1681 death, renaming it the Philadelphian Society in 1694. Her sermons, preserved in works like A Fountain of Gardens (1696–1701) and The Revelation of Revelations (1683), called for a universal restoration through the Inner Light, influencing Quakers and Pietists despite opposition from Anglican authorities. Widowed, with no further marriages, she passed away at age 80 in London, leaving a legacy of mystical preaching that echoed beyond her time.