confirm him in his present condition likewise he shall be made to know how secretly he limitted God to those his Gospel Forms and how he secretly hated and envied all other who had Christ truly manifested in their souls and how he could have persecuted them if occasion had served because such went about to overthrow this foundation And then shall he see how his heart is in love with created things and how farre short his soule is from the true partaking of the love of God though he conceited he had knowne the same formerly and then shall he see the great vaile spread over his heart which keepeth the heart from God and God from the heart and then shall he see sin out of measure sinful and shall have cause to say O Wretched man that I am c. Rom. 7. And so it is that the soule becometh to enter into the operation of the second Baptisme whereunder it suffereth much woe and want in respect of the body of sin it feeleth alive in the inferiour parts of the soule and likewise knowing how the Son of God viz Jesus Christ as yet hath never been truly manifested to the more noble parts thereof and so as yet the soule is but in the Wildernesse in which the voyce of the Cryer is continually crying and calling Prepare prepare the way of the Lord c. and the soule in obedience to that cry doth turne it selfe wholly to seek the love of God to be made knowne to it in the second distinct property viz. the powerfull and lovely and peaceable appearing of Jesus the Son of God and to make his name knowne in the powerfull and mercifull delivering of the soule from under that present evill of it selfe by which it is so carried captive oft times into the prisons of Hell and Death And when the soul is thus brought to understand the Baptism of Iohn then it is that faith beginneth to be purely operative and not before for now faith hath its ground-work laid in the heart and before it was but in the head and from what part it hath its ground so doth it worke and this faith grounded in the heart doth carry out the soule into seeking of the vertue of the Blood of Christ in the Divine nature and so is made willing thereby to wait for the out-pouring or shedding abroad of the same to cleanse and wash away that sin and Self that doth so defile it and likewise this faith doth so clearly carry out the soule from the desire of things created that it standeth in opposition against them when they peirce or present themselves into the soule likewise by the power of this faith man is made to see the emptinesse of all formes and duties the which it hath so much doted on before and likewise it maketh the soule truly know wherein its true life consisteth and nothing is desired in comparison of that which is the true life thereof from whence it cometh to passe that this soul stands at variance with every thing which keepeth it back from the enjoyment of its life And in this manner the Ax is laid to the root of the tree viz. The sharp cutting part or the Law in its inward and spiritual requirings whereby the bole of sin becometh cut down viz. The strength of desire love care or fear of or to any thing below the love and life of the Son of God becometh cut down and cast into the fire viz. into the anger of God by which they become burned and consumed But yet it cannot be truly said that anger is in God whereby he can be made to change or to suffer for anger and love is both the same in the essence of God and that which is love in God the same is anger in us and it is the love of God that maketh us feel his anger by reason of the sin that the love meeteth with in us and so by reason of that love of God in us and that sin it meeteth with in us the suffering is produced which we feel and that suffering is called the anger of God And thus we are rightly to judge of the anger of God But now the soul being brought into this suffering way or plunging condition under the baptism of John or spiritual cutting of the Law wherein the abomination that maketh desolate beginneth to appear then groweth such a soul to sink down into great humility and in patience waiteth for the appearing of the Son of God who must in the manifesting of his Name restore peace and give comfort and deliver the soul out of that great desolation made in it by reason of the great abomination And so it is that when the soul is rightly prepared by the second baptism of John then in his own time and place the name of the Son becometh manifested in that soul and the Lord whom it hath sought doth come into his temple Mal. 3.2 And then it is that the vertue of the name of the Son of God becometh powerful in delivering the soul out of that desolate wilderness from amongst the enemies that it found there and those lusts that led it captive is become captived and the shadow of death is dissipated and the garment of mourning is cast off and the soul cloathed in the garment of praise and then the soul can rejoyce and rightly sing Hallelujah to him that hath done these things for it And thus it is that God in the second appearance in the distinct property becometh to be known in a more sweet and loving and peaceable manner then he was known in the first Name before the Godhead had divided it self as is before said And thus Moses in the first dispensation under the Covenant of works by his baptism reached out the soul to John and John in the second dispensation led out the soul to Christ and so the soul can truly witness the Name of the Father and the Son I would have enlarged more upon the baptism of John but that I have already spoken something thereof in a little Treatise called The Anti-god with his threefold attributes discovered in the out-side religious man and in that you may see something which is needful to be known the which I have omitted here But now I proceed and speak a word of the third Baptism viz. The Baptism of the Holy Ghost and this is that which is more excellent then the other two former because of its time operation and effect of which I shall speak hereafter And this baptism was witnessed by John Baptist himself when he gave testimony of Christ who was to be the Minister of this Baptism and told the people that he that was to come after him c. should baptize them with the Holy Ghost and with fire whose fan is in his hand c. Matth. 3. And what John Baptist did witness herein the same had he received of the Father who sent him both to baptise and bear witness of Christ that
Physick and to them Christ becometh a Physician Luke 5.31 by the shedding of his blood or love out of the Divine nature into these Soules by vertue of which they come to be restored to health Secondly His blood issuing out of the Divine Nature becometh purifying and purgeth the soul from that which is the cause of all its diseases and pain viz. sin and selfness for that is the cause of all sorrow and where this love of God or blood of the Divine Nature is shed in the hearts there sin becometh purged out by the power of faith which worketh by love And this faith God useth as an instrument in the purging by love which made the Apostle say that God put no difference between the Gentile and the Jew purifying their hearts by faith Acts 15.9 Now this faith is always accompanied with suffering as in nature purging is some cause of pain but this faith which is grounded in love overcometh the World with all the glory thereof 1 Joh. 5.4 And it beareth up the heart in all afflictions and tribulations making one vertue to arise out of another as tribulation begetteth patience and patience experience and experience hope and hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in your hearts Rom. 5.4 5. So as the soul is purged from sin both in affection and action so is the conscience purged from its blindness by which it kept the soul in bondage to outward actings and the captivity of weak ordinances which cause the soul to look at Christ in a fleshly way and in its blindness tormented the soul when it would not know Christ so and the truth of this purging the Apostle witnesseth as you may see in Heb 9.14 And whosoever hath this love of God or blood of the Divine Nature shed in their hearts the vertue thereof doth ingraft that soul into Christ in his Divine Nature by the way of pure loving and pure beleeving as the Branch into the Vine and every branch so ingrafted into him and bearing fruit in him he purgeth and maketh it bring out more fruit Joh. 15.2 Thirdly The property of this blood of the Divine Nature is to comfort and revive the soul for whom and in whom it is shed for when the soul hath undergone the bitterness of purging out of sin by way of affliction and have passed through all the sorrows and sufferings of death devil and hell whereby the powers of the soul became much weakned and the heart broken to peeces c. then by the vertual property of this blood the spirit is revived and comforted as may be seen Isai 61.1 2 3 c. And this was that water that Christ spake of to the woman of Samaria John 4.10 And thus his blood becometh drink indeed John 6.55 And who so eateth his flesh and drinketh his blood in this manner live in the Divine Nature of Christ and Christ by the Divine Nature dwelleth in that soul and such a soul shall not see death Iohn 8.51 But whoso eateth or drinketh the Body and Blood of Jesus any other way the same becometh a stumbling block to them and as the effect of Wine is to hurt and breed ill humor and dazel the brain when it is not taken in moderation with wisdom in its vertual properties but when mens lust causeth them to drink the same then do they befool themselves in it for want of wisdom and so thereby they oft become to be made weak and sickly yea and many are brought to death thereby Even so the Blood of Christ being drunk in a wrong sence viz. by way of the Historical faith which looketh upon Christ in the flesh and making applications of what he suffered in the flesh and so taketh the efficacy from the Divine Nature and giveth the same to the humane or corporal nature This Faith or looking upon or eating or drinking of his flesh and blood becometh to work no other work in these souls but onely keepeth lust sin or selfness alive and so by this false faith Christ is made the cloak of sin and the Minister thereof Gal. 2.14 And because the sons of men have neither wills nor wisdom to examine themselves in this very thing therefore much weakness is in their understanding that they cannot know the truth as it is in Jesus and much weakness is in their wills in fighting against sin and therefore that sin being unpurged out it becometh cause of much sickness viz. the soul having an issue of blood because the veins thereof is loosened and so it is carried out to love seek and live in created or things acted and by this means such sickness if not cured bringeth death And this was the very thing that the Apostle Paul would have the people to take heed of when they were to observe this Type 1 Cor. 9.28 c. But for the matters in this Type I will let them pass with these small hints and will proceed and speak a word of the manner of this Type or the Form Christ used therein viz. He took bread and blessed it and brake it c. By which blessing is to be understood sanctifying which holds out the power and vertue of the God-head in it self which vertue and power was in himself and by the same he sanctified himself Ioh. 19.17 by which he blesseth and sanctifieth all who live in him and he in them and in this case he is our sanctification 1 Cor. And likewise he brake the bread breaking being the parting of a thing into peeces whereby many may be partakers of the same which holdeth out the fulness and wholeness of the Divine Nature which doth freely and liberally disperse it self into several particulars that many may be made partakers thereof not that the Divine Nature is or can be parted or divided in itself no more then the Sun in the Firmament which remaineth whole in it self yet all are partakers of the light and heat thereof So the Divine Nature is whole and undividable in it self but by its fulness doth fill so many particular Creatures and herein standeth the division in respect of the corporallity of the Creature and the fulness of the Divine Nature is whole in it self and by its fulness and freeness doth fill all particular souls And this truth Iohn Baptist verifieth where he saith Of his fulness have we all received c. Iohn 1.16 And the fulness of the Divine Nature issuing out of it self into any soul doth draw the same into its own nature whereby the same is made fit to live in the same nature and by the living in it that soul becometh rooted and grounded in the same whereby it is made able to comprehend with all Saints what is the bredth and length height and depth c. And so becometh to be filled with all the fulness of God Eph. 3.17 18 c. And when he had shewed the Disciples the freeness of the fulness of the Divine Nature breaking
dwelleth the love of God in such and in the having of these things doe they not puffe up the Persons that have them above their fellow creatures and so respecteth persons and accounteth much of such as themselves and despise those who be inferiour to them Jam. 2.3 is not this a shame and yet how many doth glory herein Nay how many various pleasures and delights is there that men glory in and yet a shame to be taken up with them How many shamefull gloryings belongeth to those who are the enemies of the Crosse who have their belly for their God but I let them passe and come to the third character viz. Who minde earthly things Its love to that which is the god hath the minde and no marvell if the Belly be the god if the minde be set on earthly things and this is that which will try all soules whether they have God or their belly for their god for though the belly cannot devour all in the worshipping of it yet that which is not offered in sacrifice to it that becomes to be gloried in and for upholding that worship and that glory the minde must of necessity be carried out to meddle about earthly things for it is these that must uphold all the glory and the worship of that god and though the glory and the worship of that god be the best performed by and of those who are rich yet those who are not so great and rich in the things of the world I make no doubt but their wills is as bent to worship that god and to glory after that manner and its possible the will may be acceptable for the deed and where the will is led out in defiring of those things I am sure the minde is set about earthly things for where there is any god but the true God either in possession or in desire the minde will be constantly carried out about that which will please their god and two Gods no man can serve for he will love the one and hate the other Mat. 6.24 and those who would owne the true God for their God was not to have their minds set or carried out to seek any thing below him no not so much as to have a thought of what should be the next day and all that any should look for in this world is no more then needfull food and raiment and this must not be had with either fearing caring or desiring but by way of beleeving and the minde wholly carried out in seeking the Kingdome of God and the righteousnesse thereof these are old worne-out sayings of Christ and they being worne out of date with oldnesse they are but little heeded for we have got a new way to the Kingdome of God by which we can carry the world and the body of sin and Selfness and duty and all together and this way is by the false faith framed by the braine knowledge of the learned Priests and seeing they have invented such a fine way how can fooles but love them and thinke themselves happy if they can but get incorporated into their congregations but weigh what is hinted at before and see who are the enemies of the Crosse and I beleeve you shall finde no want of such in your congregations and indeed I doe not marvell that the Crosse hath so many enemies seeing the vertue of it would take away sin and destroy Selfe and men loving Selfe so well they cannot abide to goe to heaven without it and this new-found way leadeth to heaven another way in which Selfe and all goeth together My friends who are of the Independant congregations consider with your selves whether or no you be the enemies of the Crosse or not do not so much pretend Christ and talk of Christ with your tongues and yet be enemies to his Crosse in your hearts I know what I speake and have some grounds for what I say I know where you stand and what is your worship well enough and I have just cause to feare that many in your congregations be more enemies then friends to the Crosse but I am partly perswaded that your ignorance is some cause thereof and the cause of your ignorance is by reason of many of your Ministers for I know you have abundance of them who are of the false-hearted crue who through cunning of their wit have played the Juglers and seeing your order come into request and like to carry the sway in these times and fearing to be losers by such alterations through their cunning have transformed themselves into another shape and so have crept in amongst you and though they seeme to be something yet they are but the same they were before in their heart and I know they have power by the great hand of their God who first made them Ministers to Metamorphize themselves into any likenesse but beware of them for they will keep you still in ignorance and by dissembling deceive you for they are many of them the enemies of the Cross of Christ yea and have wrested the minde of God in the Scriptures contrary to what he aimed it for and have made use of it for their own back ends and have taught the people contrary to the truth and so have kept them in ignorance until this day and by their means the knowledge of the Cross hath ceased these many years and so there hath been the falling away from the knowledge of the truth And this the Apostle Paul saw clearly in his time and told the people that the day of Christ should not come before such a fall 2 Thes 2.3 I would have given you a full description of the ensuing mystery in this Chapter but that I would not be too tedious to you nor too much offensive to the order of Priests for I assure them they are mightily included in it and the true opening of it would vex them all to the very heart and what I have already written to them shall suffice at present but in case I be called to write again I profess whatsoever the Lord shall make known to me on their behalf shall undoubtedly be uttered though at present I have prevailed to forbear And you my Friends who are of the congregated order of what parts soever whether more in knowledge or less in knowledge this I desire of you To aim to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified and presse hard after him who is gone before who left us all an example of suffering and be not beguiled with a pretence of love of Christ and union with Christ before you have born his Cross by which the body of sin in you becometh crucified and that the things created and things acted have lost their power so that your spirits is not in bondage to any of them for I assure you so long as the body of sin and selfness is uncrucified in you you shall not enjoy much of the fellowship of the Father and the Son pretend what you
dainties viz. pleasures of all sorts which concernes the satisfying the corruptible part in man but when God goeth on in his wondrous workes and shewed upon Pharoah viz. The Devill and his people then the Israelites is made willing to depart viz. the noble faculties of the soule and affections from thence proceeding and when the first borne becometh slaine viz. the strength of the will begotten in it by the Devill then the Devill is forced to let the noble faculty depart from the bondage of the Lusts beforesaid then out they goe to the red Sea whereat the people was in greater strait then ever viz. though the noble properties and the will be going and departing out of the bondage beforesaid yet the Devill raiseth up all his forces and pursueth the noble faculties of the soule thinking to take them againe into bondage in that strait at the red Sea viz. when the noble faculties is in departing out of sin then it is that temptation is more raised up then ever and doth so heap up and flow before the understanding that to passe over them there is no hope or likelihood to reason in which strait the Devill with his army driveth on apace in the Irascible faculties and cometh on the back side of the noble faculties of the soule and so raiseth despaire and secret feare out of which anger and passion is produced and in the operation of which in that great distresse of the soul wisheth it selfe that it had never stirred out of its former condition rather then to have moved thus farre and to be swallowed up in that present sad condition But when God will have his name more clearly manifested then doth he divide the Sea viz. all these great over-flowings of temptations and so the noble faculties and the spirit passeth through them all and the Devill and sin and despaire is all over-whelmed in those temptations and this is the great work of God in the defeating of the Devill and destroying him and sin in the same way wherein he thinketh to destroy the noble faculties of the soule and when the noble faculties becometh thus delivered having undergone this first Baptisme or suffering or plunging as before said then doth man begin to feare the name of that great God who hath done these great things for his soule and so becometh to be obedient to Moses viz. to the outward requiring of the Commandment and knowing God to be so great and terrible the feare of his name doth cause man to yeeld obedience to his Law and in the transgressing or going astray from its requirings the same appearance of God is manifested as was at the giving out thereof and this terriblenesse of God is knowne in the condemning part of the soule viz. the Conscience and so in the obedience to God in his terrible manifestation in the first Baptisme under the first dispensation man acteth in that feare to all the outward requirings of the letter and seeketh thereby to asswage and allay the appearance of that anger and goeth about to please God and satissie Justice by outward sacrifices and so it is that man living under this dispensation and acting zealously therein the condemning part or conscience becometh somewhat pacified and quietnesse beginneth to appeare and from hence it is that men draw conclusions that God is well pleased with their Sacrifices and as under this first Baptisme in the first dispensation wherein is contained the first Covenant of workes men apprehend God in terror in the manifesting the whole Deity in the one Name they become to yeeld obedience accordingly viz. in a fearful servile manner like flint stone and the steel who being forcibly beat together from which fire is produced even so the heart of man in the first dispensation is hard as the nether milstone and will not yeeld any obedience except the hand of God by the Hammer of the Law smite upon the same and thereby force out obedience to what God requireth in the first dispensation So in time when the heart is made more willing and answerable to the requirings under the first dispensation then by the obedience there-under man hath peace as is before said from whence he concludeth that God is well pleased with him and so from these two grounds viz. The terror or anger of God out of which ariseth the fear of Hell and out of the life and peace of conscience out of which ariseth the hope of Heaven man worketh all his works and so is under the condition of the first Covenant of works in which the Deity standeth in one Name though we in our days know not the mystery hereof for when any soul is but under the first Covenant of works he can talk of the Deity as it is divided in its properties but that is because of the living in this present dispensation under the Gospel wherein we have received a Historical relation of Christ and the Holy Ghost by which men have got the relative knowledge of the threefold name of the Deity and yet know not the power and proper working of the Deity in the threefold names but blindly looking upon them as they were put out in the outward Types and so make a humble jumble of them according to the history or relation of the same and from hence it is that men talk and Preach and confer of the Father Son and Holy Ghost and yet live not in the power of what they preach or speak for they have not known the operation and proper work in their souls of the Deity in the threefold names or three distinct properties of the Deity in the orderly manifestation of it self in the conditions suitable for the same But those who lived in the time of the first dispensation under the Covenant of works where they had the Law of Commandment and the Ceremonial Law also and the Ordinances therein contained they were not in the dispensations of the Deity in its distinct properties as we be but the distinct properties was all included in the whole essence of the Deity viz. Christ and the Holy Ghost was both one in the Father and the Father in them and all but one God and though the Godhead was thus whole in it self yet God let out himself in distinct properties into the souls of the upright people under the first dispensation and by the very same way they were saved as we be and did enjoy God in the same way that we do though not in the same dispensation for though they lived under the Covenant of works and Ceremonial observations yet those souls whom God had let out himself to in his distinct properties of mercy and loving kindness and wisdom by which they knew God and felt God as he was in those properties though they did observe these things in that time yet they knew that salvation was not in these things but in the observing of them their hearts was led and drawn out of and beyond the things they
all your Art and Schollarship is not worth a straw and that all your Uses and Doctrines from thence proceeding is but a meer foolish and fantastick invention whereby the form of truth hath been upholden by you and the power of truth kept down by that invention From whence it is That the hearts of the people hath been so glewed to sin and selfness and covereth themselves from the knowledge thereof by a fair seeming form taught them by your art through the help of your good thinking Friends fare you well I have no more to say at present and what you finde in these ensuing lines make good use of them for there is more in them then fools can know or beleeve but the wise shall reap the benefit thereof Yours as you love and know the truth as it is in Jesus Geo. Baitman THe rising of the Sun destroyes the darksome night The Foolmerts and the Owls therby is put to flight The ravening Wolves afraid their prey they shall not get The Fox with all his wiles is putten to his wit All Creatures who do use to raven in the night Begins to grieve full sore at splendor of this light For Nature teacheth them their working time is done When night is swallowed up by rising of the Sun Then do they hide themselves for fear they shall be found By him who seeks them out with his well-sented Hound Who wisely searcheth out each foot-step as they went For why they left behinde a very stinking sent Which doth direct unto the holes wherein they lurk And taken is also and plagued for their work When this is brought to pass then may the sucking Lamb Without being destroyed lie safely by its Dam. So may the old Sheep too feed safely without fear For why the Beasts are slain that off their Wool did tear The Epistle to the Reader CHristian Reader if thou have any desire to seek after the chiefe good for the everlasting well being of thy Spirit for thy better understanding and true information I have drawn these ensuing lines but I would not have thee to thinke that I expect any praise of thee if there be any thing in them praise worthy for I confesse these lines had never come to thy view with any consent of mine as I am a weake and worthlesse creature had it not been that he who hath the commanding power over all Creatures by the command he hath over me did over-master me and as it were forced this insuing Treatise to be written by me for I confesse I did as much resist the Word of the Lord in commanding me to write these lines as ever did any of his Prophets when hee sent them to pronounce any Judgement upon any people for their transgressions but while I gain-said the Lord in what he would have me to speake I had but little rest day or night untill I set on worke and put my Pen to paper to draw these insuing lines and as farre as I have declared to you the minde of these motions that wrought so strongly in me so farre I have found rest yet I know I have not here declared at large what I ought to have declared and therefore as yet my spirit is not at that peace the which it desires yet I have prevailed that what I have here written may be acceptable untill further opportunity But what is here presented to thy view I wish thee to weigh seriously and though it may seem to crosse thee in that which thou dost beleeve to be truth yet in questioning it I wish thee to question thy selfe also and if the same spirit be in thee which was in the Author when he wrote it thou shalt be made to see that there is a truth in it the which as yet hath been hid from thee especially if thou be one that hath had no other sight of truth but what thou receivest through the spectacles of the false Priests and hast knowne nothing of God but what thou hast been taught by their precepts and so hath blinded thee of the true knowledge both of God and of thy selfe and have closed thee up within the Prison walls of weake formes wherein thy poore soule hath been kept prisoner and fed with Pulse and Huskes and as for that which is the chiefe food of thy soule thou hast not as yet had a taste thereof But if thou have but any of the pure operations of the truth of God in thy soule by which thy desire is led out in seeking that which is the chiefe good I hope this will be of some use for thee for herein thou shalt in some measure see how thou hast been blindly led by the blinde Priests and their precepts and thou shalt see how they had their calling into the Ministery and from whence their originall beginning was and how they have continued to this day and wherein they have been the cause how the true knowledge of God is kept from appearing amongst the sons of men and likewise here thou shalt see discovered the emptinesse of all formes and the ground of formes and how the most part of things contained in formes is but only traditionall and therefore but superstitions and how the purest things in formes are but Idolatry when the minde of him that ordained them is unknown And here is set out before thine eyes that which is the mysterie and the minde of him who left the some in darke types and gave command for the observing of the same that so his minde might be found out in the mysterie of these types whereby the soule might be drawne out of that which is the type into that which is the mysterie of the type And if thou be either in the forme of the Presbyterian order or Independent Congregation or of the Brother-hood of the Anabaptists if thou be not setled on the lees in thy forme I know thou wilt be made to see that there is not that happinesse in thy form the which thou thoughtest there had been in it and then I hope this will partly shew thee what the substance of truth is and where it is to be found and how it ought to bee sought and as thy desire is upright in the seeking of that which is the life and substance of all things thou wilt be made to accept this weake discovery of truth but if thou be one who is setled on the lees in thy forme I know thou will but finde little herein to please thee for I know it will bee in appearance to thee as a thief who would take from thee thy treasure thou livest of and delightest in and wilt rather snarle and fight with it in thy wit then to yeeld thy selfe to be robbed by it But whatever thou art or in what forme soever thou livest I would have thee to understand my minde truly in what is here offered to thee for I would have thee to know that I am not such an enemy to formes as that I would
kept longest in that purity and in the institutions but in time the beast Selfenesse begun to stirre being moved by the Devill and so the power of God began to with-draw it selfe and then the purity censed and only the forme of the Primitive Ordinations was left amongst and so in time as Selfe got head and grew strong the selfe wisdome began to creep in and added abundance more of new institutions which remaine amongst them to this day In which time when the power and purity had drawn themselves the wisdome of the flesh got up and invented a new way of preaching Christ for the foolish way viz. the living powerfull experimentall speaking was with-drawn and then the wisdome of the flesh invented another way and that was the wise way of preaching Christ viz. by learning and study and those that was to be the Ministers was to be trained up in their greatest Schooles untill such time as they were able to speake and understand Languages and able to make Speeches and Orations out of small grounds and able to derive words and divide words and sentences into so many severall parts and to raise a large speech out of every part and to confirme the truth of each severall speech by Authors whom they had and have still for that very purpose and when any was become thus learned and wise then might he be admitted to preach Christ to the people but not else and when they were thus fitted and admitted into the Ministery they were assigned to some place to officiate in their Function and established in good Benefices and thus became Christ to bee taught in the wise way and the Preachers well paid for their labour And though you at this day degenerate so farre from the Church of Rome yet your Ancestors sprung from amongst them being somewhat refined from the grosse superstition about which you and they make so much difference but if you knew your selves you need not to differ so much with them for you are both one in your hearts and you differ not but in your heads and thus when you were a little refined in some of your formes yet did your fore-fathers chuse to themselves that which might make them great in the world viz. power praise and profit and the wise way of preaching Christ for that was and is the thing that brought both praise and profit in amongst you and though your fathers differed with the Church of Rome about those things which cause these jarres yet your Fathers could follow their example in things that made for their power praise and profit and to these dayes in which we live you follow the steps of your fore-fathers And thus have you preached Christ by Schollership and Art and so God is unknowne amongst his people because the foolish preaching of Christ hath been kept downe by the wise preaching of the Flesh and thus are you become the blinders of the people and lead them from the knowledge of both God and themselves and all under a pretence of preaching Christ unto them and poore soules all this while you have but made them beleeve lyes and have filled their mouthes with gravell stones instead of bread and you have so inchanted them with your Charmes that they are pleased with what you offer to them and are content to be fed and live upon those husks you provide them and you have so brought their pallats out of taste that they cannot well taste any other food but it is but now as it was some times before for the Prophet Jeremiah lived in such a time as his owne words testifie where he saith The Prophets prophecy falsly and the Priests beare rule by their meanes and my people love to have it so Jerem. 3.31 but I will not expound these words but leave them to your selves and if you please you may carry them to your Universities to expound if you cannot expound them your selves but I am sure neither you nor your Universities will say that the Prophet meant of either of you or the people in your dayes that love your Doctrine so well but though I will not expound these words of the Prophet yet I will give an answer to the question he asketh After these words were spoken he asking what the end of these things would be to which I say destruction shall surely come upon People Priest and Prophet c. But I desire you to heare a little more of your calling into your Office for now I will speake to your owne experience and you cannot deny that yea and I will prove good what I say by witnesses who knoweth that what I say is no lye and my witnesses shall not be any that you will take to bee your enemies for they shall be your owne naturall Parents if they be alive and will but speake truth but what must they witnesse nothing else but what they intended when first they put you to the holy University to learne how you should become preachers of Christ and to understand the minde of God that thereby you might teach others Gods wayes I know if they wil but speake and beare true witnesse upon this examination they will say they knew it was the best trade in the Land to put their Sons to for after you had learned your trade they knew you might have good trading for the Art for they knew there was good wages for the worke for they saw good fat Benefices enow in the Land and they made no doubt but some of them would fall to your share beside you should be honoured of the people too and be called Rabby so if your Fathers would but speake truth they would witnesse it was their pride and covetous intent that first moved them to put you to the University and this I thinke you will beleeve and so your Fathers having eaten soure Grapes your teeth also is set on edge and your actings shew what was in your Fathers hearts when they first put you to the trade and I assure you that you are good thriving children and be loath that your Fathers should misse of what they intended for you will not let it fall on your side for if you have not a Benefice that is great enough when you have opportunity and see way for a better you will leave the lesse for the greater for if at present you have a place that yeeldeth fifty or threescore pound per annum in case one fall in your way worth an hundred or six score pound per annum then will you leave the lesse and take the greater and so a hundred you will change for a hundred and fifty and the hundred and fifty you will change for two hundred and in so doing you will pretend you are called of God from one place to another and herein you lye not for that God that called you to the Office calleth you from one place to another and that is the god Mammon who first with his inspirations inspired your
viz. holy Scribes and Pharisees but you disclaime from their righteousnesse and their actings against Christ in their dayes when he was in the flesh amongst them and your hearts tell you if Christ were now amongst you you would not doe so to him was not the same thoughts in the Scribes and Pharisees yea and it seemes they said if they had lived in the dayes of their fore-fathers they would not have killed the holy Prophets as they did and yet they were never satisfied untill they had put Christ to death Ah friends take heed to your selves for to this day that Generation is alive and shall be still untill the time of their destruction and this portion and lot hath light upon you in your Generation and in this blindnesse you are and can no more see your selves then they did for as Christ in his appearing in the Flesh was hid from them so when he cometh in spirit he shall be as farre hid from you for he shall so appeare in spirit that hee cannot be knowne of you nor shall you see any thing in those whom he is that shall be acceptable to you for you are too wise to know his way and by your wisdome you have taught him to others and others by the curiosity of their eares have received him from you and in this your doing you thinke you have him but you are beguiled for the way he manifesteth himselfe to his people you cannot know neither the way to him can you know and yet you say you see and feele and know him therefore your sinne remaineth Joh. 9.41 And if you desire to know any further of your selves and of your peoples best conversion turne back to your embleme before and weigh it well and ponder it seriously for I assure you that is your true picture both inward and outward and this is all the worke you worke to convert men from evill bringing them to be worse and so by your meanes they are two-fold more the children of Satan then they were before And you can no otherwise doe for your calling into your Office was of Satan and the perfecting of the worke endeth in him for if you had been sent of God you should have turned his people from their sin But this you have not done but kept them in their sin for even your best Converts of whom you make your boast are but men in their sinne and that which you call sinne which you say you have turned them from is but that which a civill nature it selfe doth loath and is gotten by custome and may bee left off by custome and this may every Creature forsake by vertue of the power in them by Creation having no more but the common grace in them and these things the Creature may forsake without your helpe and these are not the greatest sinnes in men though they seeme so to you because you never saw greater in your owne hearts and the great mystery of sin and the abomination that maketh desolation and the Man of sinne that exalteth himselfe above God or any that is called by the name of God and the great Antichrist or great Opposer of Christ these you never found out in your owne heart much lesse in other nay you know not what they meane nor where they have their being but you beat your braines to finde them without you and will draw conclusions that the Turk and Pope and Bishops and Independants and Anabaptists and other Sects are the things the Scripture meaneth of O fooles and unwise though you can steale into the Ministery by unlawfull wayes yet can you not steale into Gods minde and secrets nor once so much as have a looke into the mysterie of godlinesse and then be sure you shall but little be acquainted what is the mysterie of sinne but you shall have no other knowledge hereof then cometh from the teaching of the God that brought you into the places where you are and I am sure hee will keep you farre enough from the knowledge of that mysterie for to this very day amongst you all I have not heard either by preaching writing or speaking that any of you ever could distinctly finde out the great mysterie of sinne in the heart of man but this hath God laid upon you as one of his greatest Curses and the largenesse hereof covereth all your Generations And if you had been sent of God you should have known this and should have made the people know it also and by knowing it they should have had power to have overcome it and then should they have had the pure Language returned to them Zep. 3.9 And they should have spoken with new tongues Act. 10.46 And they should have reigned with the Lambe and sung out his praise Revel 14.3 but you have kept the people in great darknesse and you have made dull their eares and you have been the cause of the hardnesse of their heart and they to this day are partakers of the Curse with you for many of them cannot understand the voyce of Christ when he speaketh because they be so taught in your Language O fooles when will you forsake your foolishnesse O forsake it and give over your deceiving of the people before your determined destruction fall upon you for I assure you it is in coming and woe wil be to you if it come upon you and you be found in the places where you are But I know you have waies enough to evade and put off from you what I have said and to pluck my Arrow out of your hearts and throw it from you but I would not have you to doe so but let it enter into you for it will not destroy you but be a meanes to purge you from your filthinesse and if you doe but make right use of it you shall in time know that I shot at a right marke for I would have you no longer deceived in your selves but seeke to finde out your deceit and when you have found it out be not ashamed to confesse what you have done and in the very places where you have deceived the people there would I have you to declare how you have deceived them think of what I have here said unto you when you goe into your Pulpits and thinke no shame to confess before all men what wickednesse you have committed But I am afraid your pride and covetousnesse is so great that they will not let you do so but it is no matter for whether you wil or no your sins shall be laid open before the face of men and Angels For I know that the God that brought you into your places will go about to hold you in your places let me and an Angel from Heaven perswade you to the contrary for I know that you will rather go about to persecute me then to be warned by me but for that I care not for necessitie is upon me and wo would it be to me if I should keep silence I know