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
the most holy life is given thee to sound sweet harmony to thy harmonious soule for if thou sound on the evill instrument of ten strings which instrument is that which was founded in Daniel before the Image and made him be cast into the Lions den it raised up the most horrible sound of thunder lightning and violent fire so that if thy brutiall passions touch the mount where this sound comes forth he shall be shot through with a dart for thy touching of this evill ten stringed instrument hath raised up the most furious God that is a consuming fire who turnes thy joyes into sorrow and pain so that thy life is now a living death and a dying life which thou shalt finde by wofull experience for thou thinkest thou knowest not what of thy selfe that thou art something and that thou camest from nothing then by consequence thou art nothing and to nothing must returne so that thou art like a mad man that can give no reason of thy selfe from whence thou camest and whither thou goest and so doest what thou list and what seemeth best in thy owne eyes although it bee never so much hurt to another man O dost not thou thinke that he that is the cause of thy appearance will take account of thy life and of thy stewardship and what thou hast done here whether good or bad thy owne conscience tells thee he will therefore doe not deceive thy selfe with thy fallacies and deceits Thou art that one spirit that is or may be acted in all and thy spirit or eye is the great Abyss of eternity and thy eye doth or may looke in or through all eyes or worlds whether good or evill and if thou be joyned or looke through the evill eye and art guided by that evill instrument thou art most unhappy and all that evill that is said before falleth upon thee and thou shalt or mayest for ever be with that evill eye or world unlesse thou desire with all thy heart soule and minde to be changed and delivered out of this evill and wicked world for it is thy will that hath damned thee by the evill instrument and thy will saves thee by the good instrument for thou art passive and mayest be carried by thy will to give thy selfe to what thou pleasest to bee carried or ruled by the good or by the evill and thou canst not be joyned to both at once therefore thou must be dead to the evill and the evill to thee before thou canst be joyned to the good to bee moved thereby Now when thou art acted by the evill instrument thou callest evill good and good evill so that when thou thinkest it good and takest pleasure in doing wrong or mischiefe to another thou takest pleasure in a lie and thinkest that evill to be good because thou art not sensible nor feelest the truth of the thing acted but the fallacie lie and deceit which deceiveth all mankinde therefore all things are not to man as hee imagineth for many imagine themselves to be better then other men as Kings Lords and all others who thinke themselves great taking pleasure in the same although indeed and truth there is no such matter for all men are alike and made of one mould so that it may evidently appeare that they who doth thinke so take pleasure in a lie and this seemeth to them to be good this lie transformeth himselfe into an Angell of light to be like the reall God or good when indeed and truth it is but a delusion and a joy or pleasure which perisheth with the using for the reall God or good is one and the same for ever and no man or thing can take away that joy for it continueth still the same being no change but thou takest pleasure in that which is nothing to thee and grievest at that which is nothing to thee so thy griefe and joy is lies for when thou thinkest that to be to thee which is not reall indeed and in truth thou deceivest thy owne soule and none shall suffer for it but thy owne selfe when thou a busest any man the action falleth upon him and he it is that feeleth it and if the like action falleth upon thee thou feelest it in the same manner for all actions of one kinde falleth alike to all that are passive or suffers therefore deceive not thy selfe for thou that actest is one and he that suffers is another and thou that acteth is not the other that suffereth for that which is felt by the one is nothing to the other that feeleth not for the passive and active are two therefore doe not thou deceive thy selfe and take pleasure in that which is paine to another for in doing so thou joyest whereas thou wouldest grieve if it did fall upon thy selfe and if harme fall to any man we should participate of his griefe as if it did befall us and not rejoyce at anothers harme for this is the delusion of the Devill to rejoyce where is no cause of joy but is his own imagined joy which is a lie and perisheth with the using and to grieve where is no cause of griefe is a delusion and lie to torment our selves withall as some doe torment themselves that they have not so much means and riches as they would have and such honour and estimation as they would have or to be so well or better thought of then others and they grieve that they cannot doe as much mischiefe as they intended to doe and they grieve when any shews mercy or charity to another whom they hate although they see that other stand in need of his charity and doth say that this action of charity is a Devill to that man that hated him and God to him that received it so making an action to be God or the Devill canst not thou discerne the fallacie and the lie here is this charity any thing to thee seeing thou didst not receive it if it had been to thee and thou hadst received the same it had beene as good to thee as to him for all things fall alike to all as was said before therefore thou rejoycest at thou knowest not what till thou feelest the same and seest where the fallacie lyes wherefore when thou discernest the fallacie thou mayest see that thou oughtest to be glad when any good commeth to another as if it had come to thy selfe for nature tells us that we should make every mans case our owne and the Scripture speaketh without exception saying Rejoyce with them that rejoyce and receive good and grieve with them that grieve or receive hurt or harme but to grieve at another mans joy or good is the Devill that grieveth where no cause of griefe is for in grieving at the other mans joy hee imagineth a lie which is not the truth of that joy in the other man so tormenting himselfe with that which is not for if that joy of the other were in thee it could not be griefe but thou
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