that godly sorrow for their good And in the Thessa it is said that God did send them strong delusions that they should beleeve a lie because they would not receive the love of the truth Now all the delusions that God sends to the man is for his good and the delusion is that he worketh such a beliefe and perswasion in the mans heart for the sinnes cause that he seemeth to the man to bee nothing else to him but wrath fury and destruction and thus hee terrifieth man to make him forsake sinne for his good and to make him returne from his evill life for whatsoever God doth too or for the man it is for his reall good whatsoever the man thinketh to the contrary and it is just so as if a father should correct his childe for his good and future profit although for the present it seem contrary to him even so is man deluded by Gods fatherly discipline and law till sinne cease in him and then this rod discipline or delusion which kept him in a we or fear to offend God shall be taken away that is to say when sinne wholly ceaseth in him and when he ceaseth to offend God his Father any more and this is the evill which is spoken of by the Prophet saying Is there any evill in the city and I the Lord have not done it that is the evill of punishment And that lying spirit spoken of in the Kings that the Lord did send to be a deluder in the mouth of the false Prophess was sent for a punishment to them because they would not believe the truth and this is done to reclaime the man and to let him see his errors and that he may returne home againe to the reall truth And againe it is said hee created the destroyer to destroy and hath sent forth the evill Angells with flaming fire rendring vengeance to those that will not know God And it is said in the Psalmes by Davld and in Job That the arrows of the Almighty stucke fast in him all which evills wraths furies or delusions is the law of sinne which was added because of the mans transgression and they shall continue with him as I have formerly said till sin cease in him but God in himselfe is none of all these for he is a most pure and holy Spirit and is subject to no passions but is a reall essence full of goodnesse neither is there any thing can change or disturbe him but the evill one transformeth himselfe into an Angell of light to delude and deceive the man with his seeming goodnesse for his hurt losse and damnation So the most holy God by his ministering spirits assumes an Angell of darknesse or taketh upon him the body of sinne to destroy sinne and in the Scripture the Divinity is sometimes said to be Sathan in the destroying of sinne being evill with the evill and he is said to be Lucifer the sonne of the morning or that morning starre that is fallen in our hearts for hee could fall no where else and it must be hee that is that day or morning starre that shall arise in our hearts againe so wee must looke into the Scripture with a righteous eye and consider it rightly in its order and place how all things hang and depend one upon another or else we shall lose our selves and confound the Scriptures or forsake and neglost them as many doe because they see many seeming contradictions not having the spirit of unity to reconcile or unite them together for it speaketh sometimes and in some cases that man is passive and God active and that God is passive in some case and man the active and in some case it is said that the Divinity suffers for sinne and doth all in all and sometimes it is understood that the humanity suffers for sinne therefore if wee have not the spirit of the most holy Godhead we cannot finde out the intricacies and secret mysteries of the spirit and minde of the holy written word and how all things stand in their orders and places for some things seeme strange as that God which is all goodnes should destroy so many for Davids numbring the peoples and in one place of the Scripture it is said that God moved him to number the people and in another place it is said that Sathan moved him to number them and in the fifteenth of Jeremy it is said that he would destroy so many with severall deaths for the sinnes of Manasses so that the Prophet Jer. was troubled and said that the Lord seemed to him to be a liar because hee thought these things seemed strange to him to come forth of goodnesse but all these things are secret mysteries bidden from all sinfull flesh and bloud and none shall see them aright but those which have ceased from sinne for God and man have been for ever together and they both have appeared in time to each other and in this time there hath beene a partition wall let in by the man which hath parted their union of love so that the man seemeth to fight against God and goodnesse and God fighteth against man and his evilnesse and nothing can be discerned rightly by the man till the partition wall of sin be pulled downe so in the end of time that holy Jesus the Sonne of God pulleth down all partition walls that have made the divisions betwixt God and man and he uniteth them againe in all lovely unity CHAP. III. A description of the Scripture according to the history and mystery thereof MOSES hath spoken of the Creation of the World and certainly it cannot bee that he meaneth this externall world for I could never heare any true reasons that can bee given to prove the same for it stands at one stay and the Sunne Moone and Starres keepe one course and the Sea runs her race up and down and they still are one and the same in their orders and places neither doe they increase or decrease to or from what they first seemed to be unto man nor doe they wax old as a garment nor as the creatures which we see appeare that have a beginning and ending for we see every spirit that appeares here hath a created body which increaseth and is diminished and is gone againe and is seene no more but this externall world is one and the same for ever for any thing I could see or heare to the contrary The greatest multitude of men beleeve it to bee created of nothing but I cannot see nor heare any reason for the same because that of nothing can come nothing then what must it be made off for sure it cannot be made of the most holy God as some do imagine and say that there was nothing before but God and therefore of necessity if it be as they alleadge he must make all things of himselfe but it cannot stand with reason that out of one should come so many antipathies therefore without all question the most holy
to our darke eyes to be flesh which is not as the three Angells to Abraham and to Lot for we beleeve appearances to be that which they are not in deed and in truth which we finde by wofull experience the which makes such contention and cutting of throats about Religion the cause of this distraction is that we doe not see things with a righteous eye I desire all friends and readers who doe read this booke and all to whose hands it shall come that you will looke into it rightly and not construe it amisse but as it is really intended for the good of all and where I speak of the death of God and Christ in man I doe not meane that the Almighty and powerfull Godhead can dye or be lost but as he is dead and lost to the man that despises truth and treads it under foot and so I meane that God is dead and lost and the truth lyeth in the streets of his heart which is God who is that truth and the two witnesses lye dead in the street of his heart unregarded which is mercy and righteous judgement and is God which we should have shewed forth to all the world even mercy and righteous judgement but we have hid these witnesses So I desire that the most holy and righteous God may be your guide and director to lead you into all truth The true Articles of the Christian Faith 1. I Beleeve in God the Father Almighty maker of the holy Heaven and earth in the man I confesse and acknowledge that the same is a true holy living God or good and that he is a mighty Spirit and a perfect clear light that discovers to the man the reall truth of things and how all things are in their places and in or to the Man and he is the reall beeing the truth light life and love to the Man and this is his name light life and love for he is all this to the man for the love of God to the man was such that he brought him under the law of discipline and correction instructing him what to doe for his good and convincing his conscience for what hee hath done to himselfe and against God or goodnesse so he raiseth up all our sinnes as judges to condemne us for what we have done and they correct or punish us for God or goodnesse hath put it in them to doe it and God hath opened our eyes with his power to see it which makes us hate and condemne our selves for what we have done his holy power or light hath perswaded our hearts to have true sorrow and reall repentance for our sins with a broken and a contrite heart and sorrowfull spirit and so we begin to hate our selves and our sins and doe really forsake them and doe confesse that we doe deserve to bee for ever lost and damned and be deprived of God and goodnesse for ever because we have chosen hell death and devill and joyned our selves unto it but Gods mercy and goodnesse hath inlightned our hearts with his law and hath really corrected 〈◊〉 for our sin and hath brought us to the beleefe of Jesus Christ by his law or fatherly correction for he receiveth no sonne but whom he correcteth and none comes to Jesus Christ but whom the Father drawea to him and this drawing to Jesus Christ is by the law of discipline and this law is the river Jordan or judgement and Iohn the Baptist or the light of Gods grace that doth dip or dye us in the river Iordan or Iudgement of Gods glacious goodnesse and this his judgement doth cleanse us from all our sinnes that were as red as searled and we come out as white as snow and this is the first Baptisme in the Fathers Name 2. I beleeve in Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God or good and that he is the reall substance of God and that he is the goodnesse that proceedeth from God or good And I beleeve that all good things are made in the man by him and through him and that all goodnesse doth consist in him and proceedeth forth of him into the man for his goodnesse in us beareth in us our sinnes by his mighty power of patience and long sufferance with grievous sufferings and agonies which hee hath for our sinnes and there hee lyes or reignes in us till our sinnes bee vanquished or rooted out by this mighty power of patience and long sufferance and when all our evill is overcome by this power of his goodnesse then he delivers us which is the Kingdome of God to his Father that God may be all in all 3. I beleeve the Son of God or Righteousnesse is borne of the holy virgin Mary which virgine is the pure humanity and this pure humanity is overshadowed by the Angell Gabriell or the power of the most highest God and this Son or righteousnesse of God is begotten upon the humanity and is the promised seed to the man which is borne for a blessing to all generations of man as was promised 4. I beleeve that this holy seed of blessing the Sonne of God Jesus Christ the Saviour of us hath suffered death under Pontius Pilate the law of sinne in us and that he dyeth for and to sinne in us and is dead and buried and in hell under our earthly beeing and man of sin and he suffers for our sin in this hell for they be all upon him and he is nailed to the crosse of patience to endure all the reproaches and blasphemies contempts and false defamations or accusations for our sinnes cause on him and for the love of God and to us hath taken us upon him that we should suffer with him all our own reproaches contempts and sinnes to condemne us for doing them and that wee should condemne and forsake them and be dead to them and they to us by the power of Iesus Christ that saveth us in us and this is the baptisme of the Sonne and is the fiery tryalls or the baptisme of fire with which he saveth his owne body or us which is the humane nature that he hath taken on him to suffer for and with and that it might be saved through him and by his power in us and whosoever doth not suffer this death with Christ for their sinnes that is to suffer under the law of sinne death for sinne and to sinne the death of the crosse which is the patience and long sufferance of Christ to the killing of sinne in us he is no Christian let him brag how much he will of his Christianity till he hath tasted the death and life of Christ and that all this is come to passe in him for they must all taste of this cup or passion and be baptised with his baptisme for if we doe not suffer and dye with him we shall never rise and reigne with him 5. I beleeve that the holy God hath raised up his Sonne Jesus from the dead and that he was three dayes
livest in thy sinnes and in thy heathenish nature for thy sinnes have sold thee into his hands as it is said in the Thessalonians that thou hast thrust the holy God out of his roome or Temple and wouldst not receive the love of the truth that is the reall good or God and is true life and joy to the man who is one and the same for ever and is no change to the man as the delusive God is for he seemeth to be good or is not the God nor reall good to the man for ever as the most holy God is for if we breake the Law or Commandements of this angry God he is very cruell and jealous and will make us drinke the cursed and bitter waters that shall make our belly swell and our thigh to rot if we breake his Commandement commit adultery or Idolatry against him for hee it is that worketh this evill of punishment in our City and is that cruell thundering voice that terrifieth us and makes our hearts to tremble we would faine be at quiet with our sinnes and delight our selves with our wicked abominations but this God doth so trouble us that we cannot injoy our wicked selves hee doth so torment us and shall doe so still till we are weary of our selves and sinnes and desire to be freed from all or to seek some way to please this furious God which wee by our sinnes have raised up for this law is added because of the transgressions and doth continue till sinne endeth in us but wee are not able of our selves alone to satisfie this severe God that is the strong delusion and consuming fire and is not the reall God or good to us which we shall find in the second world or creation which now sitteth in the Temple of God as God and hath thrust the reall holy God out of his roome and is the just God that roigneth in the man of sinne being froward with the froward rendering evill for evill and is righteous with the righteous for he is just in rewarding every one according to his workes and although the man is so wicked that he cannot abide this judge yet he shall be with this seeming God or good for ever if he doe not hate and forsake himselfe and send for the mourning woman and call and proclaime a fast and rent his heart and not his garments which is an acceptable day to him and seeke for the innocent Lamb to make satisfaction to this angry God that he may overcome him with his innocent life for when this innocent Lambe is borne in thee he doth strive and wrestle with this severe God for thee and doth overcome his wrath and evill with his goodnesse and if any do wrong him he doth not revenge but doth good for evill and so overcommeth this revenging God he doth no wrong to offend this God and when he hath wrong done him he will not become the evill God or judge to revenge evill for evill thus and in this manner doth he take away the linnes of the world and the law or punisher of sinne and in taking away the cause the effect ceasoth but whilst the crucifying the man of sinne is a doing it makes the humanity in a great agony and bloudy sweat in overcomming the sinne and the wrathfull judge and this is that most innocent Lambe which worketh all in all in us and for us and he is that still and soft voice that lyeth in thy inmost selfe and in the cave of thy earth till thou seek cry and call for him to save thee therefore looke to it in time and whilst time doth last What time is and concerning man I shall speake more at large hereafter in this book The spirit of man and the two instrumentall spirits is to bee seene and felt in the man and by the man and is discerned by their severall natures the good instrument is justice with which the just doth justly and prudence with which the prudent doth use prudence and fortitude with which the strong doth valiantly the good in heart and temperance with which the temperate walketh temperately and faith with which one beleeveth that to be true that they doe not understand if they see reason for it and hope with which one hopeth and confideth in that that is good and charity with which having proper goods he maketh them common to the good of another that needeth them and patience with which the patient overcommeth and is not overcome and piety with which the pious condoleth the miseries of another that is in misery so if thou art guided by these good vertues thou needst not be afraid of the law ofsin nor any thing else for thy conscience justifieth thee that thou dost what thou wouldest have done to thee and if any one is angry with thee for thy charity that thou useth to another this evill flyeth in his own face and doth thee no hurt for he condemneth the good hee would have done to him if he stood in need and so he is a devill to himselfe for condemning the good that thou dost for all evill flyeth in the faces of them that use it so that none is so great an enemy to a man as himself therefore thou art happy ô man whosoever thou art that is guided by the good spirit for he is all good to thee and the other is all evill let it seem never so good to thee yet thou shalt finde it so in the end for his qualities are these the first is avarice with which the rich is poore and a begger because he knoweth not how to use his riches and gluttony with which the glutton is imprisoned and is never free to injoy himselfe in regard of his slavery to it and leachery with which the man useth the powers of his body unlawfully to his destruction and pride with which the proud man endeavours to be above all others which is a lie and deceiveth him and sloth or negligence with which the idle grieves at the good of another man and rejoyceth at their harme and envy with which the envious desires unjustly the goods of another which covetousnesse is Idolatry and wrath or anger with which the angry man bindes his owne liberty so that he is not free but is a slave to wrath or passion and lying or a lie with which the liar speaks against the truth doing great mischiefe in the world and unconstancie with which the man is manifestly changeable so that no good man dare trust him so thou mayest plainly see and discerne if thou wilt for thy owne conscience tells thee which is the best of these two thinke what thou wilt to deceive thy selfe for none shall suffer for it but thy self This good instrument is the ten stringed instrument or harpe of David on which he praised the Lord and chased a way the envious evill spirit of Saul and thy soule being an eye or light that is composed of harmony and joy this instrument which is
and consuming of things that they starve and dye for hunger and are forced many times to eat one another as may be seen and heard of where these practises are If this be God or good that acteth those things and tells me that it is pleasure I will abandon such a god as the most abominable and hatefull thing that is and desire to have nothing to doe with such and abominable and wicked god that blindes my eye and makes me thinke good to be evill and evill good for the Scripture faith Woe to him that calleth evill good and good evill and light darknesse and darknesse light for wee are all ready to mistake but our nature and quallities cannot be altered for we use our quallities and natures upon what object we light on whether good or evill For the cholericke man whieh is most composed of fire if he light upon the evill instrument he hath so many severall temptations to wrath and anger that his soule or himselfe is never at quiet for one disturbance or other and many times in his wrath the Devill tempts him to kill a man and he is in continuall vexations so that he is in a living death and dying life although he see it not but loves this living death more then the everlasting life which hath no bitternesse therein but is full of all sweet content and all the workes that this life or spirit animates thee to doe breeds thee no sting discontent or any thing to be repented off but this evill instrument animates thee unto horrid and cruell things full of mischiefe which cruelties riseth up in thy conscience and flyeth in thy face making thee condemne thy selfe saying what a wicked man and beastlike wretched creature am I that doth such wicked actions I would not have such things done to me why would I doe thus to another sure there shall some heavy judgement fall upon mee and I shall have the same measure met to me againe and so still the law of sinne flyeth in the wicked mans face and is called the law of God or the wrath of God that moveth man to repent for the wickednesse he hath committed and to condemne and arraigne himself at this barre of Gods judgement within himselfe which shews him all his sins and wicked life and so hee kills and crucifies himselfe with these horrible wounds of conscience in him and is never at quiet nor never shall till the cause is taken out of the way which cause is the Devill and sinne and there must a greater power take away this death with another death that is by the death of Christ being a death unto Devill and sinne which death is called the death of Christ in us that sighteth against our sinnes and all our lusts and affections and crucifieth all our sin and sinfull life so that there is no more sin death and devill in us for it is this death of Christ that destroyes the death for sin and the cause of sin which death of sin was done by the law for sin executed upon sinne so taking away the cause and the effect which cause was the devill and sin and the effect was the law of sinne so that when the cause is taken away of necessity the effect must cease and this death or mortality of Christ shall raise us up into immortality so that we may say O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory for the strength of our sins was the law of sinne which law or wounds of conscience was our grave wherein we were dead and buried so this death of Christ hath freed us from all deaths and mortallities and his death and mortallity will bring us into the true sweet and everlasting life which I desire all soules may come into and injoy Now he whose spirit is most composed of spirituall fire as was said before when he was ruled by the evill instrument doing such wrathfull and cruell things when he is turned to God and goodnesse his quallity and nature of fire is turned into burning zeale so that he is on fire of love to doe all goodnesse and is never well but when he can doe some deeds of charity and love to others so that his minde is swallowed up in God and this his nature and quallity of fire is turned to all God or goodnesse for the Divine Nature is wholly incorporated in him the which I desire all fiery and choloricke men may attain unto As for the spirituall ayreall or sanguine man if he sets his nature or quallity upon the evill instrument hee is very lascivious and given to leachery gluttony and drunkennesse and to all vaine pleasure which doth besot the minde for nothing doth besot the minde so much as leachery and drunkennesse and all these his follies doe flye in his face calling him foole and sot and it doth so besot them to all good that it makes them careles of wife children and all other friends and makes them apt only to devise a thousand plots and mischiefes to maintaine their beastly brutiall and sensuall life so that they spend all their owne estates and other mens and in the end goe a begging or live upon others and they defile and spoyle their owne bodies with the pox and other diseases so spoyling both body and minde with their sensuall living for they are in an extasio below themselves and ravished with a brutiall and sensuall life and this their evill instrument the Devill or unreasonablenesse hath brought them to and when they have lost their organicall man then commeth in their greater griefe or hell because they cannot execute their beastly and sensuall life so they are tormented in that they cannot doe as they formerly did when they had a body here for their minoe is upon nothing else but on their beastly brutiall and sensuall life which perisheth with the using leaving them in great discontents and the Devill sets alwaies this joy and pleasure before their eyes and the want of their bodies to execute their former fooleries which want torments them to the death so that they are in a living death and dying life and the law of sinne still rising out of their conscience condemneth them for what they have done and for what they desire and so they are with death and hell except they could returne but the Scripture speaketh of time and of a day and whilst time doth last and he saith there is an appointed time and after that time there is no time more for in that time the death of Christ should have taken away death and the cause of death which is the Devill and sinne who hath brought them into this miserable condition under the law of sinne and condemnation which is the second death for he saith in dying thou shalt dye the death so then all men of all quallities and complexions shall be in this condition for ever except they bee amended by the death of Christ for he is that innocent Lambe
us and we are the man intended for when Nathan the Prophet came to David he seemed to speake to him of another when as hee meant himselfe and David did conclude what the action represented to him in the person of another by Nathan was unjust not thinking that the Prophet intended himself but another and so judged him to death but when the Prophet said it was himself and that he was the man hee was sorry and loth to dye himselfe although he did judge the other to death and thought he deserved death justly but in condemning the other he judged himselfe Therefore wee are the men that are to be condemned or saved according as our deservings are and the Scripture is the reall truth and is our true Nathan the Prophet that tells us what we have done but he tells us our selves in histories and in the person of others to try how farre we condemne others and justifie our selves but when wee condemne others we condemne our selves for wee are the guiltie and that wicked man therefore looke into the scripture as if it were thy owne soule for all that is written there is written in thy selfe and there is the two tables the table of stone thy stony heart that is ingraven with a rough penne and with a thundering voice which is the whole worke and curse of the law for thy sinnes and the other table is the heart of flesh which is soft and melteth at the word that is written in thee and is ready to obey all the words of the commandements that speaketh in thee but the table of stone thy disobedient and stony heart must be broken for thy sinne and disobedience cause and for thy Idolatries and all thy sinnes riseing up against thee crying vengeance so that thy God or goodnesse in his great zeale throweth downe thy stony heart breaking it to peeces and burneth up all thy Idoll Gods to powder makeing thee drinke up their ashes which is to make thee taste of the death and losse of them and still his zeale is so great towards thee that hee maketh thee sheath thy sword into thy brothers belly which brother is thy nearest selfe will or thy darling sinnes so when thou hast fulfilled the will of thy Jelous God he returneth to his place where hee was before and the tables of stone or stony heart is turned to flesh and is obedient to the will of God and keepeth his commandements the which I wish all Soules may do for their soules health and safety There be many at this time that looke externally for an infallible spirit when as the infallible spirit is internall in the soule of every man for the same spirit is Jesus Christ the word of life that is neare thee even in thy heart and mouth to do it and to be obedient unto the same and he is that pearle hid in the field of thy heart for which thou must sell all that thou hast to purchase this field that thou mayest injoy that pearle And there are others that thinke that the externall body is the soule and that it must dye and must answer for sinne by that death and that it must rise againe at the last day by Christ therefore God cannot be their God whilst their body is dead for he is not the God of the dead but of the living then whilst they live here they may live as they list and commit what sinnes they will for their body dying which they take for the soul doth make satisfaction for their sinne which of necessity must draw this consequence that if one man kill another he doth but the will of God for he saith the soul that sinneth must dye I wonder much what those people that hold such opinions can say or think of little children that dye in the wombe or as soon as they are borne certainly no man in reason can say that their soule hath sinned but you will alleadge their parents have sinned for them as others have said if it be so the sinne of one condemneth a great many that of themselves hath not sinned the which to me appeareth to be altogether against reason and justice and is against the nature of God to condemne the children for the sinne of the parents for Ezkiel saith 18. that this proverb should be no more in israel that the fathers had eaten four grapes and the childrens teeth are set on edge at he saith that every soule standeth upon his owne bottome or its owne selfe and the fourâ— that sinneth shall dye also there are many creatures or bodies which they call soules that are drowned in the sea and divers fishes have fed upon that body or that which they call the soul and these fishes have concocted or digested the soule of this man and it is turned into the flesh of a fish and afterwards this fish is taken and another man or soule eats this fish which is the concocted soule of the other man so that his soule is made fat and increased thereby the one soule by eating the other and Caniballs which are men eat other men and are fed thereby now when the soules of all these men are dead and concocted in those that have eat them how shall every one have his own proper soule at the last day when all the soules shall arise I would willingly hear it proved by good reason how every one can have his owne soule againe seeing they are all concocted and digested one in another but perhaps you will say we must believe against reason which is consequently that we must believe an absurdity and the Apostle St. Paul desireth to be delivered from unreasonable men which were absurd and did believe against reason for all men have not faith whose foundation is grounded upon reason this body which they call the soule is dead without the spirit as St. James witnesseth in the second Chap. where he saith that as the body without the spirit is dead even so is faith without workes by which Scripture it is manifest that the body without the soul or spirit is dead and as is said before God cannot be their God because their body which they tearm the soul is dead so as he ceaseth to be their God while they are dead all which is contrary to sense reason and Scripture where it is said that he is the living God and the God of the living and not of the dead also it is contrary to sense and reason in this that that which is the God good felicity or chiefe happinesse of those that live and are rationall and sensible of the same cannot in sense reason or Scripture be said to be the joy happinesse or God of the dead because he is not sensible or capable of any joy felicity or happinesse at all THe summe of all and the whole discourse of this Book is that we should feare to disobey the holy God but keep all his Commandements which is the whole duty of man and to live a pure exact just and holy life not doing to any man what we would not have done to us but doing all the good to another that we would have done to us and this is the infallible Spirit Jesus Christ the power of God in us which directs corrects instructs perswades and makes us wise unto salvation for he is the holy word of life unto us and he is the Father Elder true Bishop and high Priest of our soules so that we need no other Father Elder Bishop nor high Priest but this holy Iesus Christ in us for he is the holy unction that we have from above and the holy One that teacheth us all things and discovers all mysteries unto us leading us into all truth if so be that we are obedient unto him but if we are not obedient unto this infallible Spirit Iesus Christ in us then wee shall know nothing of God or of the Scripture but it shall be a sealed book a dead letter and seeming contradiction unto us but I hope we shall all learne and bee taught of him and declare every one to his friend and neighbour what the Lord the infallible Spirit hath done for his poore soule saying What we have learned heard felt and tasted of the good word of life that will we declare unto you FINIS