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 delves into the Twofold State of the Spirit, expressing a longing for the Heavenly over the Earthly, which is burdensome and temporary. She grapples with the struggle of how to navigate this earthly existence while desiring to be free from its corruptible nature to fully live with God. Drawing inspiration from Paul, she seeks deliverance from the sinful mortal life, anticipating victory through Christ to overcome barriers hindering communion with God. Lead encourages resistance to the temptations of the world, assuring that those who endure the trials of terrestrial life with a focus on the divine will ultimately transcend the limitations of this world and find true freedom in Jesus.
February 15. 1678. the Mixt, or Twofold State.
Being upon a deep examination of the Twofold State, in which I found my Spirit, a Passenger far more agreeable to the Heavenly, than to the Earthly, which is now tiresome and burthensome in all its necessary consequences, relating to corporeity, But how to avoid and get off herefrom was my great concern. The rational Mind and Senses being suited in all things, for this mean degree of Life, having to sustain a Body Elementary, for which is required such exercises of the Mind therein, that else would rise more sublimely, than to be careful for a gross corruptible Being, as knowing it must be put off or changed, before the Soul can live with God joyfully or without interruption. Now what to do, but like Paul I cried out for riddance from a Sin Mortal Life, as the only present redress, in hope Christ our Life, would yet have Victory over that in us, which hath been such a bar to all our Fruitions and enjoyments with God. But while I was in these complaints, this Word came, saying, Those who find themselves grieved and molested by a Terrestrial Life, as made Subject unwillingly hereunto, shall not be chargeable with any of those evil consequences, that the corporeal State hath produced. But if they still resist, and give no countenance, to any thing which doth spring from that Root, then in time your Spirits through contaction with the divine Body, shall out-wear all of the corruptible property, and so be altogether found in the free powerful Nature of Jesus, for Victory and Dominion over all of this evil World.
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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.