conscience and not in a book without which mystery thou that denies all in the conscience art void on who falsly sayes The light in the conscience is the same with the Law in the letter Concerning Baptism c. ANd thou sayes my profession herein is That the baptism of Christ thou understands the light within all men But from what dost thou understand it for by me it was never spoken nor thought so that its from thy dark spirit that cannot understand to speak true and so given to lies was there ever such a pack of lies heaped together as though thou hadst resolved not to speak a true sentence in whatever thou speaks of me for this shall appear that not one of thy Charges hitherto are truth or what I spoke but thou hast made lies and then disproves them shewing thy art and trading to be onely there for the truth I write stands still untouched And notwithstanding all this filth thou tels us of a mystery we know not that is That you were washed sanctified and justified before you were Which indeed is non sense and a lie to say that which is not can be washed or sanctified or justified and in that sense it is a mystery indeed But whatever was before thou were thou art now a servant of Satan and his work thou dost and art not washed from thy wickedness And if the washing and justifying of a thing that is not can justifie thee in thy wickedness this is a large faith it s no wonder though thou be so bold in thy wickedness Yet this I say it s a late invented faith to wit that washing nothing will make thee clean For the Saints washing sanctifying and justifying was when they had forsaken their sins and without washing from their sins which they had committed they could not enter into the Kingdom of God read 1 Cor. 6. 9 10 11. And their way to washing was to walk in the light 1 John 1. 7. a thing the devil and his dark born brood loves not above all that can be named any other conjurations or imaginations they will own but away with the light that 's an error that deserves not to live But the beleiving of this thou sayes sprinkles from your hearts an evil conscience that is indeed though you sin it troubles not your hearts you beleive that you was washed and justified before you was begotten or born and once justified alwayes justified and so you make no conscience what you do that is the evil that troubles your conscience when you sin but your faith hath sprinkled you from that evil conscience and now you have no more conscience of sin for that in the conscience that is pure and testifies against sin is but legal and you are not under the Law but under Grace and this is a mystery that tender consciences knows not and so are but weak and foolish and under bondage but you are grown Christians grown in the faith above such folly when indeed it is but the Ranter that is got up and joyned with the Devil in a design to cast off the yoak and get liberty for the beast that cannot endure the cross and so hath devised away with the old Murtherer to slay the Witnesses and then make merry over them You have a mystery none know but your selves other fools that knows not your faith stands to repent of their sins if they sin and cannot be at peace till God speak peace in their conscience but your sin was pardoned before you was born and you are not so foolish to make conscience of it now you will have no more of that conscience for sin you was once purged from sin when you were not and can sin now under that which God once did in Christ to think so was to deny the person of the man Christ Jesus who hath done all that belongs to you one thousand six hundred years since And now to fear that any thing you can do in your persons can make that ineffectual were great unbelief and legal and bondage of spirit and if this be not your faith and the effects of it let both thy judgment in thy book and thy practise witness Concerning the Lords Supper ANd in this I must not escape thy tongue charging me to say that I have not spoken yet not so quite contrary to my intent as in the others yet things that are utterly false hast thou cast on the truth As that we esteem the eating the flesh of Christ but a moral thing And that the Gospel-mystery is with us become a doctrine of bare morality c. Things devised in thy own heart And thou sayes To see God in all things to discern him as the body and vertue of all Creatures and to use all things in moderation is no more than Pagan divinity Is this all the effect and end of the bloud of Christ I say that is not all the end and effect of his bloud but it is one good effect and a great deal more than yet it hath wrought in thee thou doest not yet see God in all things unless thou wilt say thou sees him in lying slandering and cursed speaking And that thou and thy Prosclites are not come to use all things in moderation let your pride covetousness and excess be witness against you he thou a vitness against thy self and the rest of thy Ranting crew who use the bloud of Christ for an occasion to the flesh and a cloak for your liberty therein that Pagan divintiy is better than yours and if the Pagan divinity bring forth these fruits which your divinity doth not I shall say as Paul said concerning the Gentiles They are the beleivers who bring forth the fruits of faith and you are the â—fidels who justifie your selves before either faith or works and without them But did the Apostle teach Pagan divinity when he said Let your moderation be known to all men the Lord is at hand Phil. 4. 5 And did Christ teach Pagan divinity when he said Take heed least at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life and so that day come upon you unawares Luke 21. 34 Was these Pagans that taught this or are they Pagans who see God in all things I shall rather chuse to be numbred amongst those Pagans than to be one of thy Beleivers self-justified without either faith or works Thou sayest Whoeuer looks into the mystery of Christs death may see the first Adam with all his deeds and the world with all its works all old things done away I say be witness against thy self that thou never saw that mystery in whom the first Adam with the worlds works and old things are yet alive Thou sayest The Lord ordained the Supper for a rudiment to all that should have need thereof It seems thou judges some to have no need of it but was not thou condemning me even now for saying discerning him to be the body
confusion and contradictions gathered together Are these thy ballance with which thou art weighing us which thou tels of Or is this a standing measure which staggereth to and fro like a drunken man contradicting and confounding thy self till there be not a word thou sayes will stand which is unconfounded from thy own mouth Is not here Babels foundation discovered to the weakest eye opened in any heart But this is brought to pass by the Lord for the Nations must not long be deceived with your witchcrafts whoredoms he is laying open to the people with what you have fed them and where with all you have covered them and how you have made them to trust in confusion and brought forth a lie for their salvation wherein you have made them to rejoyce over the slain and to trust in emptiness putting the Lord afar off and casting the Law of his Covenant behind your backs but now your skirts is laying open and your filthiness appears your hearts void of righteousness your tongues must needs utter confusion One thing more of thy false doctrine before I pass from this particular and that is That men are justified and sin washed away before either faith or works and this thou affirms in plain words which is a strange doctrine and indeed a doctrine of devils which denies the faith and sets up an imagination in its stead for if we be justified and sin washed away before either faith or works then are we not justified by faith for we cannot be justified by that which is not And if this doctrine be true that men are justified before either faith or work then is not faith of absolute necessity a man may be saved without it for he that is justified and his sin washed away cannot be damned he that will beleive this doctrine of thine need not matter much what he do this faith is that with which you lead people without faith of God to make no conscience of sin but beleive that they are purged though they feel themselves servants of sin and in bondage thereto Concerning Hope ANd the thing thou charges me with in this is That I say to hope that that of God in every man or a Christ may be revealed to take away sin to give freedom from sin in this life is the pure the reasonable hope that makes not ashamed In this thou hast mixed a truth and a lie together and they must be severed that the truth may be owned and the lie returned to the founder That of God in every man can take away sin that is thine own take it again but that Christ may be revealed in this to take away sin that hope I own and am not ashamed thereof which thou seems to oppose Another charge thou layes upon me is that I say To hope salvation while the Witness in the conscience condemns of sin is the Devils hope Which accusation is utterly false and the words not so spoken by me for I own a hope before the Conscience be wholly purified which hope leads to the purifying and that is holden forth by me several times and therefore am far off from calling that the devils hope But my words are these But the Devil hath begot another hope as like this as may be in his servants which stands in another ground and brings forth another fruit and that is though they be servants of sin yet there is hopes of salvation and such hopes as may not be judged nor questioned although the witnese of God in the Conscience doth testifie the contrary yet it must not be heeded least they be deluded so where the Devil is become a teacher a tender Conscience must be resisted and such a hope set up as holds that to hope in Christ within is to deny the presence of Christ c. and many such expressions there is which clearly shews how thou hast perverted my words contrary to all reason and honesty to slander withal that because I condemn that hope to be of the Devil which hopes not freedom from sin as well as freedom from hell that therefore I condemn him that hopes for salvation while yet the Conscience is not wholly purged But to come to thy doctrine thou sayest To rest in hope that thou art saved already from sin and wrath in Christ the Head whilest Conscience condemns thee of sin this is the hope of faith against the hope of the Law and Conscience I say to hope for freedom from sin whilest yet the Conscience condemns for sin this hope I own which is not against the Conscience but leads to a pure Conscience But thou that hopes that thou art already saved from sin and wrath whilest thou art a servant of sin and the wrath of God appears to condemn thee for sin in thy Conscience thou art he that hopes in a lie for he that is the servant of sin is not already freed from sin thou may well say this hope is against the Conscience and against the Law of God also such a hope as none of the Children of God never hoped in whose rejoycing was the testimony of their Conscience and their hope was according to a good Conscience but never hoped against their Conscience 2 Cor. 1. 12. Diddest thou not in thy last say That men must be justified by the law of the Spirit according to conscience and saved by the answer of a good Conscience And doest thou now tell them That the hope of grace and faith is against Law and Conscience or sense and feeling Is not this to make the law void by that which thou cals grace and to makesh pwrack of a pure Conscience and so become past feeling like those thou may read on Ephes 4. 18 19. Further thou goes on and sayes That hope that is begotten not by the letter but by the inhabiting or abiding Spirit there it is a hope beholding the glory of the Lord and changing the creature into his Image that hope sees the love of the Father shed forth upon us in the bloud of Atonement c. But how apt art thou to forget thy self Diddest thou not in thy last forewarn all for looking to any thing whether good or evil in the heart and conscience within And is it now by that inhabiting and abiding Spirit that reveals the blood of Atonement and finishes all sin So by thy doctrine it is within in the inhabiting and abiding Spirit that sees the bloud of Attonement but thou hast fore warned all not to look at it nor at any thing within good or evil And yet sayes We are saved through faith according to the inward man and much such like confused stuffe which is weariness to repeat after thee were it not for the seeds sake that they may be led out of thy deceit Is not this a strange doctrine to say that we are saved through faith according to the inward man and yet must not look to any thing in the heart or conscience be it good or bad
spirit to seek Christ the Lord who is that Spirit 2 Cor. 3. 17 18. and would lead without to seek him whom none of you can find but within Concerning Light and Life ANd this also thou dare not enter on as it stands but that thou may be seen to say somewhat as though thou opposed me Thou makes a lie of thy own saying that I say that the light shining in every man is Christ a thing never written nor intended by me And when thou hast set up this lie thou fals in hand to confute it to make people believe thou was confuting my words when thou art but declaring in print what deceit hath long been hid in thy own bosome and that the lyar and deceiver is one in thee so having laid thee open I have no more to do in that quarrel having denied the lie and its founder what I have writ stands as it was Onely another error I shall reprove thee of that is thou sayes That all false Religions and errors are bottomed upon the law in the Conscience And this is false and contrary to Scripture for the great mystery of faith that discovers all errors and false Religions is held in the Conscience 1 Tim. 3. 9. And the Apostles rejoycing was the testimony of their Conscience and they did not rejoyce in the ground of errors and by the answer of a good Conscience the Saints are saved by the resurrection of Jesus 1 Pet. 3. 21. and they are not saved by the ground of errors And the law that is written in the Conscience is that which God hath written and the law of the new Covenant of life and light which discovers all errors and which leads to know God as is plain Heb. 8. 10 11. And thou that teaches people that the Law which God hath written within man is the ground of errors teachest blasphemy And this law in spirit is that perfect law of liberty that whosoever looks unto and continueth therein he being a doer of the work that man shall be blessed in his deed Jam. 1. 25. And by this spiritual law of life was the Saints made free from the law of sin and death and the righteousness of this law it was that Christ fulfilled in the Saints who walked after the law of the Spirit and not after the letter of the Law Rom. 8. 1 2 3 4. And this Righteousness which the Saints beleived and waited for to be fulfilled in them is that which thou art preaching against and would have all to shut it out and then the devil might dwell safe within and they that did wait for this righteousness of the law fulfilling in them did not deny the bloud of Christ as thou falsly would accuse us who witness the same Righteousness of saith within and not of the letter without for we know and so did they that none can have this righteousness of faith fulfilled in them but who beleives that one offering once for all and by his blood we have access to that faith by which is declared that everlasting Righteousness of God for Justification to which till then we was strangers and could not come but now have an inheritance therein And as we know that none can come to have this Righteousness wrought in them unless they beleive in his bloud and sacrisice once offered so also we know That none by taking of what was done at Jerusalem and say they beleive in it without this work can be saved as the Scripture saith in plain words James 2. 14. to the end of the chapter which Scriptures may serve to shew thy spirit and what nature thy work is of and thy faith that denies Gods righteousness within to be meer imagination and such a faith none of Gods people ever preached or professed Another peice of confusion I shall mind thee on here in this thou confesseth Christ to be the same word as the Spirit of revelation in us and that so he is the light within us And in thy last thou denyed any to look to the glory of the Godhead shinng forth on man but they must look off from every thing in man so by thy own doctrine we must not look to the glory of the God head shining forth on us nor to the Spirit of revelation nor to Christ the light within us these thou hast forbidden and yet thou would make people beleive thou was a Minister for God and Christ A blind way hast thou made for such as will follow thee who must neither look to glory of the Godhead shining on them nor to Christ in them but they that are wise may compare thy doctrine with Christs and his Apostles in these Scriptures Luke 17. 21. 2 Cor. 4. 6 7. Rom. 8. 9 10 11 12 14. where you may see to what the Saints looked and when it was and where their hope and faith was and whether without or within Col. 1. 27. and where their faith and hope was there was their righteousness wherein they walked and to which they became servants and whereby they became free from sin Rom. 4 but Gods righteousness in man the devil likes not but to talk on and let him keep possession that likes him well and his servants for he that serves Gods Righteousness in his heart can be no servant of sin for his servants you are to whom you obey whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness Rom 6. 16. And as out of the heart of the wicked proceeds that which defiles because of the blindess of their hearts Ephes 4. So he that keeps his heart with all diligence from thence are the issues of life Prov. 4. 23. and he that hath not righteousness in his heart hath none at all but where the word of faith is known in the heart that mans righteousness is not at a distance nor his salvation to seek for with the heart man beleives unto righteousness but is not that a blind doctrine which preaches God and Christ within but that Righteousness that justifies not in them It seems thou imagines that God when he comes to dwell in man leaves his Righteousness behind him or that righteousness that then is in him is not able to justifie him but the Saints that knew justification knew the gift of righteousness for it Rom. 5. And justification by the Spirit 1 Cor. 6. 11. And everlasting Righteousness brought in whereby transgression is finished Dan. 9. 24. but a generation there is who turn judgement into gall and the fruit of righteousness into bemlock Amos 6. 12. Hearken you stout hearted who are far from righteousness I will bring neer my righteousness and it shall not be far off Isai 46. 12 13. And what I have said may answer to the next also Concerning Righteousness ANd in this like the rest thou first makes a lie of thy own to confute but my words thou canst not enter Thou sayes the sum of our faith is that the imputed Righteousness that justifies is the
I ght within a thing by me never spoken or written Secondly thou sayes That nothing is said by me of Christ manifest in flesh or his crucified body or righteousness that way Poor man how hath wickedness over-run thee to add lie to lie Are not these my words That Righteousness that God accepteth is but one which is his own perfectly fulsilled and manifest in the world in Jesus Christ the Light and Savi ur thereof and that none inherits it surther than they receive the Son of righteousness And is this nothing of Christ but it is no new thing to me to see the refuge of lies with that spirit which now opposeth nor for me to be called a Railer because I will not either say they are truths or find out some finer name to call them than lies But to leave them and go on to thy doctrine thou sayes We are justified without works onely through faith which is as false as the Scripture is true for faith the Apostle Ye see then how that by works a man is justified and not by faith onely James 2. 24. And Christ faith By thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned Math. 12. 37. And not the hearers of the Law but the doers are just before God Rom. 2. 13. Now if these Scriptures be true then thine is false but such is thy blindness that because the Scriptures doth exclude the works of the Law for justification therefore thou wilt exclude the works of faith which are wrought in God also A fine easie way to salvation and well pleasing to you that love your lusts but that neither God nor Scripture knows it nor the Saints practise Further thou sayes He that can but beleive this is perfectly purged and there is no more conscience of sin though yet the feeling of sin I say what is thou now intends feeling of sin but make no conscience Is not this plain Ranting to commit sin and feel it and make no conscience of it this indeed is the ready way to murther the Witness to stop the ear at his reproof and to make shipwrack of a tender conscience and so in time to get it seared and so no more conscience of sin do what you will do but imagine all is pardoned past present and to come let the light in the conscience say what it can hope against hope sayest thou The Righteousness of Christ is a covering upon sin c. I say I know who repents and turns to him he doth But doth Christs Righteousness cover sin to come and whilst men are committing it one day thou wilt find that it is not covered but thou that hast seared thy conscience it will appear when thou shalt cease to deal treacherously with the witness that would have dealt truly with thee but how is Christs Righteousness a covering on thy sin when thy sin is in thy heart and thy cover no nearer than above the Stars If ever God look down upon the earth thou wilt be found naked and the day is upon thee look to it thy Ranting faith hath not long to last and thy cover will be but deceit wo to thee that art covered and not with the Spirit Concerning the word IN this like the rest thou enters with a lie saying That we say the light within all men is the word not minding at all to speak truth thou tels of sin being covered but the liar is openly seen and shames not And when thou hast made one lie thou infers another from it If the Light within every man be the Word then all ages have had the Gospel in equality c. Then thou adds another as false as the rest saying That Truth sayes the Light is the remaining sparkles of the Law and represents God onely under a vail When Truth saith the Life is the Light of men and this is that true Light that lighteth every man that comes into the world John 1. And Christ saith I am the Light of the world he that follows me shall not abide in darkness but shall have the light of life John 8. 12. And the Saints came to the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus by the light within and this was not onely under the vail which was in the face of Jesus 2 Cor. 4. 6. though vailed to thee who denies the light of the Spirit and sayeth truth sayes it when truth denies thee therein nor hast thou one Scripture that saith so And when thou hast shewed thy Spirit by thy works then thou art forced to confess him to be within his in spirit the word of revelation yet would make two words a word of Reconciliation and a word of Revelation and in dividing this word in to two thou confounds thy self First thou sayes these two are not one without the other then thou sayes the one must finish his work before the other could come and such blind muddy stuffe thou art bewing in but what I write in my book stands as it was Yet thou adds two lies more the first is That we beleive not the word of Reconciliation which thou cals thy first word which is false for though we beleive not two words yet we beleive that one word which is the word of Reconciliation and Revelation and there is not another Thy second lie is of the Light in saying it knows Christ in neither Concerning worship IN this thou sayes that I affirm that the Spirit of Life from God wherein is the mind will and love of God the name power and wisdom of Christ wherewith alone God can be acceptably worshipped is in every man A thing that never entred into my heart but surely friend thou matters not what thou sayes thus to add thy wickedness and false accusations because I say none must follow the traditions of others but as every creature is moved by the presence of the living God do I therefore say that the spirit of God is in every man this conclusion is more wickedness than weakness But to thy doctrine Thou sayes The word of faith sayes that the Law without or Spirit in every man that sayes do this and live are the vail c. I say where doth the word of faith say that the Spirit within is a vail or where doth it call the Spirit within the Law without thou must find a new word for this for the true everlasting Word saith not so but faith There is a spirit in man and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding Job 32. 8. but doth not say that that Spirit of God is the vail of which Spirit I am speaking whatever thou pervert it to but is all thy spiritual teaching come to this that the Spirit in which God will be worshipped becomes a vail and that to abide in any law or light whatsoever either from within or without and to be exercised therein as to be redeemed or perfected thereby this they say is to worship God as in
the flesh hast thou not here wholly excluded the light of Christ as to be exercised therein for freedom and perfection before thou did but deny it Within but now thou hast denied all light whatsoever both from within and without for bringing to freedom or perfection so that henceforth all that will own thy doctrine must beleive to be perfected in the dark for all light whatsoever thou hast excluded so that a Christ without light must now be beleived by all that own thy faith or doctrine and indeed it suits well with thy practise witness thy many lie in thy book which are not works of the day Further thou sayes That the light within every man is not the way to the Spirit of Christ which I need not think strange seeing thou hast denied all light Also thou sayest That the works of the Law and the waiting of the Light within are all one if any man will beleive thy blind testimony Thou sayest That principle may lead to a spirit of activity for God in the contemplations of him as a pure and holy God but it is a far other principle that is Christ crucified for us and the faith of him that leads unto that Spirit of peace And so by thy doctrine there are two principles that leads to God the one far off the other But must we beleive this because thou sayest it when not one of the holy men of God thou canst instance who ever said that that Spirit that led to contemplations of the pure God was a far other principle than that of Christ that leads to peace Christ saith No man knoweth the Father but he to whom the Son reveals him Math. 11. 27. But thou sayes It s a far other principle that brings to contemplations of a pure God That blind spirit of thine clearly showes what thou knows of contemplations with God who denies the principle of Christ to lead thereto but it is like the rest of thy blind stuffe who would make people beleive that the light of Christ leads to blot out the the healing in the person of Christ surely a blinder peice of work hath not been seen but it must needs be so with thee who hath denied all light and art fighting against it Concerning error heresie c. HEre thou tels us thy former lie over again saying that I say That the light within every man is the spirit of truth and then thou tels how thou hast disproved it before and so flaidly fals into another discourse not at all to the purpose as to my words yet adds another lie saying That we beleive in God as by the light in men redeeming from sin but not as in the man Jesus having done it already and that we deny the witness of the Son and that we have neither Son nor Father which is but thy threefold cord of wickedness Thou adds another in thy conclusion and sayes It is not an errour to divide from the light within so by thy doctrine we may divide from the spiritual light of Christ and not erre but how shouldest thou count it an error to divide from the light within who hast excluded all manner of light within and without also whatever to be exercised in as the way to perfection If it be not an error to divide from the light then it must be an error to divide from the darkness for there is but these two and the one must needs be an error But it is easily seen whose word thou drives who art set to oppose the light such a work as none of Gods was ever found in wert thou not blind thou might suspect thy self who cannot produce one of thy faith in the Scripture Concerning Faith IN this accusation also is two lies first that I say that the light in every man is Gods righteousness perfection Secondly thou sayes I say not a word of the faith in the person of Christ or the operation of God in him for us The first never spoken of by me To the second my words are these That the living faith is in Christ Jesus and that true faith layes hold on Gods Righteousness and by it comes to be created in Christ Jesus unto good works Gods workmanship Is this not a word of the person of Christ nor the operation of God in him Can one own Christ Jesus and deny faith in the person of Christ Or can one witness Gods workmanship in him and not one word of the operation of God in him Oh shameless man how doest thou bend thy tongue for lies and slanders Further thou sayest that the scope of our doctrine in the height and depth of it seems plainly this that a measure of the eternal divinity is in every man by turning where unto out of all sayings operations Scriptures or Christ without the same doth purge away sin and redeems unto God All which is no more but thine own wickedness heaped up from thy foregoing lies Then thou comest to thy doctrine And that is to look away from all voice of conscience within and from all things in the heart whether good or evil and to look to Jesus with out though we be in bondage and this thou sayes is to receive the righteousness of Christ by faith But where doest thou receive this righteousness or with what is it seen or what effect hath it seeing thou hast denied all voices in the conscience all things in the heart and conclude the creature in bondage they are blind indeed who cannot see this righteousness of thine thou lookest too without any thing in the heart or conscience to be but meer imagination a talk of righteousness which thou hast not in thee And in thy next having forgot thy doctrine sayes That by him all that beleive are justified from all things by the Law of the Spirit according to the Conscience from which they could not be justified by the Law of Moses And also saves That the answer of a good Conscience in the resurrection of Jesus will be found to be that which saves before God and brings forth the true glory within What confusion is here Must all voices of the conscience be denied and yet justified by the Law of the Spirit according to the Conscience and saved by the answer of a good Conscience and must we be justified by the law of the Spirit and the works of the Law written within be denied and called the flesh and must we be set free and justified from all these things by the Law of the Spirit and the answer of a good Conscience and yet in bondage And after thou hast said We must be justified by the Law of the Spirit according to the Conscience and saved by a good Conscience then thou confutes that again and saith The Law in the Conscience which is holy just and pure is the same with the Covenant of works and sayes how holy and pure soever it be it shall not preserve blameless Was there ever such a heap of
Christ are one thing from the beginning of the world in Christ in whom ever he is according to its several measure and ends but if thou intend Creature works though the most refined that ever was I utterly deny them and thy accusation as false like the rest and so having cleared the truth from thy slanders and set it where it was I shall come to thy doctrine And thou speaks of the everlasting onely righteousness upon all that beleive and that it is as a spiritual heaven large enough to take in and cover the second creation I say that is true But what is that to thee that art in the first creation It doth not cover thee thy wickedness is seen thy lies are laying open thy nakedness appears and thy folly to all men Onely thou sayest thou reckonest thy self to be so though it be not so felt I say I know it there were ever a generation that justified themselves but were not just before God and thine will be found no other who reckons thy self justified by that which thou hast neither seen felt nor handled And thou sayes Thou thinks it necessary to give warning that all approaches unto or converses with the Majesty and glory of God by any redemption or operation of whatsoever spirit or light within where the redemption in the person of Christ is excluded To which I say Thou shews thy dark busie mind and what thou knows of approaches to God or converses with his majesty and glory who imagines that that can be where the redemption of Christ is excluded Thou sayes But if any ask how thou art redeemed while sin is in thee thou sayest the Father he laid your sins upon Christ to take them away and the Spirit bears witness that all things are finished I say that is true where repentance and faith is where by the creature denies himself and comes to Christ there Christ takes the sins away But thy sins are there yet and thou a servant thereof and the Spirit bears witness in the conscience against thee for it and the best way thou hast to peace is to stifle the witness of the Spirit in thy conscience and exhort others not to heed it Thou sayes Through faith thou receives Christ into thy self and thou art received into him and through this oneness art made righteousness life and light But how oft hast thou denied this or any thing within to be looked unto Art thou now become righteousness life and light thy self and was condemning it as great error in me in thy last to witness good works in Christ Art thou become righteousness thy self light and life and wilt thou not allow another to testifie the works of Christ in him Thy charity is either selfish or thou knows not what thou sayes and ere thou go out of that page thou contradicts it thy self again denies redemption by the operation of that Spirit that is within us so that which makes thee righteousness life and light by thy doctrine cannot work redemption and thus thou tottereth to and fro having undertaken a business and would seem to say something and so being out of the light makes up a heap of confusion And as thou begins with a lie so thou ends saying That I say that all the works and measures performed by the Creature in obedience to the light within do but all compleat the one work of the Creature redemption And when thou hast told this falshood thou sets down a story of Luther wherein he divides Abraham and his righteousness as far a sunder as between heaven and earth So to answer thee and thy story I shall produce one plain Scripture from James 2. from the 14. to the end of the Chapter Was not thou even now telling of being made righteousness into thy self and now brings a story to divide Abrahams righteousness as far from him as heaven from earth and much such staggering thou makest but the end of all is to keep righteousness out of the door that thy master may have liberty within Concerning Election and Reprobation ANd this thou begins to lay a foundation with a lie and what thy building is like to be may be easily judged Thou sayeth I say That the light in every man which reproves of sin is Christ And when thou hast told that lie and denied it again then thou confessest what I say that Christ is the elect seed but dare not say that any one is elected who is not in that seed onely thou tels a blind story that thou was redeemed before thou was born but art yet a servant of the devil who was a liar from the beginning and his works thou art doing onely thou conceits thou art redeemed and such a redemption the prophanest I know in the Nation claims it with thee upon the same ground and hath as good right as thou hast for any thing yet thou hast made manifest Concerning the new Birth HEre thou sets on work in thy old manner as one that cannot cease from sin First Thou chargeth me to say That by abiding in the seed or light within every man thereby the old man is put off with his deeds Secondly That I call the light the eternal Spirit Thirdly That I make the body and bloud of Christ no more but a figure of the body and bloud within that is the light within all men Fourthly And that my end is to press through unto God by an Atonement and mediation to be made in our bodies that is obedience to the light within And when thou hast told these four horrible lies on me then thou goes on in thy doctrine but dare not gain say one word of what I have written but runs into thy old confusion and sayes The new Creature is not a Jew seeking salvation in the letter or Conscience nor a Gentile worshipping God by the light and sayes the worlds light is a candle from the Lord saying do this and live And divers more such confusions which hath no truth in them neither hast thou any proof for them with sundry accusations and slanders thou goes on which are nothing to the purpose as to the thing in hand and having forme ly denied them I shall not here rake in them but let them not with thee Then thou speaks of persecution thou sayest They that followed after the Spirit and teachings thereof were alwayes persecuted by the children of the letter Where thou might read thy self were not thou blind who art breathing out all these lies against us for owning Christ his light within us for our teacher guide for which thy mischeivous mind would make people believe we deny the person of Christ because we own him in spirit when in truth none can own his person but who sees him in the light the rest are the children of the letter and hath no ministration else to know Christ by who can imagine from the History but are void of the Mystery which is held in a pure
9 10. 1 Thes 4. 3. 1 Tim. 2. 4. These with many other Scriptures will prove what I have said prove thy consequence as thou canst Thou sayes also If the second be so then the Law and free grace is the same So by thy doctrine and consequence if that Comforter Christ speaks on which reproves the world of sin and the light of Christ be free grace then the law and free Grace are the same a strange consequence like the former Is not the light of the world free grace John 8. 12. John 16. 8. and the Spirit of God free grace If that be not then what is seeing Christ and the Spirit is denied Further sayest thou If the light God hath put into all men be the gift of grace the gift of heavenly righteousness by Christ wherein is the end of the law and sin heeded I say what thou intends by thy consequence by sin heeded let the Reader judge if he can but that the light is the gift of grace that I own and wert not thou blind thou would not imagine any light of God given to man which is not the gift of grace it must either be of grace or of works and what work hast thou done to obtain the gift of Christ light Thou sayes If the third be so then there is that in the natural man whereby he is able to know and receive the things of the Spirit I say Thy Charge in this is a lie not my words and thy consequence is of the same vote and so to thee I leave them being thy own work to say and gainesay but that the light of Christ who ever minds it and follow it is able to lead to receive the things of the Spirit that I have proved John 8. 12. and divers other places Another deceit to cast a mist over the light is thou sayes The deep things of God his grace in Christ sparkling in the old time now in one promise now in another and foretold by the Prophets whereof the Righteousness of the Fews Philosophers and Grecks knew nothing this cannot be discovered by the clearest light in the natural man I say Here are two deceits covered in this first as though none of the Jews or Saints did discern this before Christ came at Jerusalem the second as though the clearest light with which Christ enlightneth men within could not lead to the discerning of him which are both contrary to Christs words who saith Abraham saw my day and to the Prophets he was born Isaiah 9. 6. And saith Christ I am the light of the world he that follows me shall have the light of life John 8. 12. And so with the words of truth thy mist is driven away and the truth cleared from thy deceits And then as thou begun thy work with lies so thou ends with two lies more thou casts upon us That we level the mystery of the second Adam and the restoring of all things in him to be no other thing but Law and Reason Secondly That we make the death of Christ of none effect and the whole mystery of grace in him But seeing thou dost falsly slander us herein I shall state the case truly as it is in this Question Whether they that believe Christ died at Jerusalem and witness his bloud in them whereby their hearts are sprinkled and washed from lying deceit and pride and uncleanness by the in-dweiling of Christ in them so kept according to the measure of Christ revealed in Spirit Or they who say that Christ died at Jerusalem but deny him in them to redeem and save them from the power of sin or his bloud in them to sprinkle and wash them daily from dead works Or any light of his whatsoever either within or without to be exercised in to freedom and perfection but say they were washed sanctified and justified before they came into the world but in the world are found liars and false accusers and deceitful teachers this being the true case between thee and us I leave it to the wise to judge who it is that denies Christ Jesus the everlasting Priest which abideth for evermore to every generation and who it is that makes his bloud of none effect as to wash away sin and to restore all things to God and whether the effect of the bloud of Christ be to take away sin or to talk on whereby to plead for sin against the present being and effect thereof to wit to keep out of the Devils works Now who owns the bloud of Christ let the effect manifest to all men And know thou that the bloud of Christ is not words not imaginations of what thou never see before thou was born but a living substance which is to be known with its effect to every particular Saint in every generation and such who say they are saved by the bloud of Christ before they were but now are found in their sins are such as deny the bloud of Christ and to them they make it of none effect who are not washed and they who say they was purged sanctified and justified before they were and now when they are are unclean boasts of that they never saw and trusts in a lie for talking what Christ was by the history is one thing which all have and believe and yet abide in condemnation and without further may perish but to learn Christ in the mystery of faith which is held in a pure Conscience is another and onely such know him aright both what he did at Jerusalem and the end of it who follow him now in spirit and have fellowship in his death and sufferings and so attains to his resurrection in the spirit and life and so follow in his life and righteousness such onely confess him and shall not therein be condemned Much more might be said to lay open thy deceits in thy other part of thy book but my life is not to rifle in such heaps of confusion were it not that I am forced to it for clearing the truth from false Teachers who are wholly ignorant of the mystery of faith which is held in a pure Conscience and so know nought but in the natural comprehensions as brute beasts judging of the great mystery of God and his redemption to stand in visibles and carnal things times and places which things in their carnal wisdom they make use on to fight against the spiritual appearance of Christ in the Creature without which there can be neither life nor redemption No Christ himself onely known after the flesh brings no man to God but Christ revealed in spirit from heaven that everlasting Light and Glory of the Father the eternal Spirit and Comforter that could not come till he went away in the flesh And if his presence was not the full accomplishment of the great promise of the Father and the Son but he must go away in the flesh out of their carnal sight no more to be in the world carnally but in
Is not that like to be a blind salvation which is within and must not be looked at But it seems thou hast followed thy doctrine in thy practise for hadest thou looked to any thing of God in thy heart or to the answer of a good Conscience it would have put a stop to the numberless number of thy lies and confusion in thy book but a large liberty the Devil hath when nothing must be looked too in the heart or conscience either good or bad to beleive in or follow for salvation out of sin and yet thou sayes We must be saved according to the inward man which inward man must onely be for you to talk on but must not be looked at Thou further sayes That to know Christ onely as within is an error Yet doth not shew how a man might know him otherwise than he is revealed within nor is he known as he ought to be since his Ascention any other way but onely as he revealeth himself in Spirit within onely you imagine you know him who never saw him heard him felt him or understood him otherwise than by his Spirit within and what a knowledge that is which is void of all these is easily seen to them where he is revealed though hear-say Teachers with their litteral knowledge was ever blind But seeing thou sayest It is an error to know him onely within What sayest thou of the A postle doctrine who exhorts to know Christ no more after the flesh 2 Cor. 5. 16 Must not their knowledge then be onely after the Spirit which must be no more after the flesh But however he be known thou hast denied him if he be light either within or without who sayes To abide in any light what soever either from within or without and to be exercised therein as to be perfected thereby or redeemed from sin is to worship God in the flesh Concerning Love ANd thy Charge in this is that I say It is the love of God to the world whereby he hath given every man a light to condemn sin in the flesh and take it away through walking after the Spirit and that this love of God in the creature doth not flatter sin in others c. This Charge is not altogether so false as the rest though not wholly true For I do not say That the light in every man is Gods Son though I own it to be the light of the Son that lighteth every man that comes into the world therefore my words are That God so loved the world that he gave his Son into the world a light to condemn sin in the flesh that the righteousness of God might be fulfilled in the creature and my witness for this is Christ and his Apostles John 3 16. to the 22. Rom. 8. 1 2 3 4 and this thou seems to oppose but dare not plainly deny it onely thou hast power over that of the Charge as far as thy own lie reacheth and no further And to that thou sayes was this great and abounding love in sending his Son no more but God giving a light in all men as though I had said so which is but thine own deceit to set up a lie of thy own to fight with But I say Gods great love is more than the light for he hath given his Son who is not onely that light but to all that beleive therein and follow it he leads them out of darkness thereby and gives them the light of life John 8. 12. who doth not onely condemn sin in the flesh but fulfils the righteousness of the Law in them who walk after the Spirit and this is my restimony of the love of God which was Christs testimony and his A postles and so thy lie be upon thy own head and what I have written stands still unshaken onely thou mutters that any body should be told of their sin and would have us tell people their sins are forgiven and that they are justified and saved and that Christ is come down in your flesh and therein hath quenched anger enmity sin and death with all things that may separate from God And this we may tell to such as thee who openly denies Christ in thy flesh yea and in all other row to do any such thing for salvation from sin so how can we say that Christ is come in your flesh and therein through death hath done all this and not lie especially seeing that you do not onely deny him within you in words but also see the anger enmity sin and death unquenched which hath so far separated thee from God that thou denies God Christ and his Righteousness and all that may be called light in thee for salvation should not we be abominable liars like thee if we should say Christ had done all this in thy flesh thou thy self would prove us liars who denies it both in word and practise And when thou hast thus been teaching us to cry peace even whilest sin is in them to confound thy self in this as in the rest thou sayest There is a generation that flatters and spares in sin them whom the Lord condemns this thou sayes is to justifie the wicked To which I say were thou not heart blind and so knows not what thou speaks thou would never set us on crying peace where God cries wo in the Conscience for living in sin least we justifie the wicked and be guilty of that abomination thoutels of Concerning Judgement THy Charge in this is That my words summoned up are that the light in every man condemning sin is the ministration of judgement and condemnation and as it is received is salvation and redemption from all uncleanness c. To which I answer Deceit hath summed them up and hath thrust in it self amongst them as in the rest Have I said That the light in every man is salvation and redemption Let them that reads what I have said judge of thy dealing herein for my words are That true judgement as it is known to men is a gift from the Spirit of God set in the heart of every one that dwels in the light of Christ and this is far from thy sayings who would make people beleive that I say That the light as it is in every man is salvation and redemption for there be many that will not be led to the Redeemer therewith nor to the Spirit of judgment but deny all light within and without as thou doest and to these it is condemnation and not salvation but to all that own the Spirit of judgment which passeth upon that which is contrary to the Life of God such come to be redeemed with judgment and to such as abide therein doth light and salvation spring up to the redeeming the heart from all uncleanness as I have writ in my Book which thou canst not contradict And in thy doctrine thou sayest That as Christ in every age hath come forth more or less so in this age he will come forth in righteousness