to our darke eyes to be flesh which is not as the three Angells to Abraham and to Lot for we beleeve appearances to be that which they are not in deed and in truth which we finde by wofull experience the which makes such contention and cutting of throats about Religion the cause of this distraction is that we doe not see things with a righteous eye I desire all friends and readers who doe read this booke and all to whose hands it shall come that you will looke into it rightly and not construe it amisse but as it is really intended for the good of all and where I speak of the death of God and Christ in man I doe not meane that the Almighty and powerfull Godhead can dye or be lost but as he is dead and lost to the man that despises truth and treads it under foot and so I meane that God is dead and lost and the truth lyeth in the streets of his heart which is God who is that truth and the two witnesses lye dead in the street of his heart unregarded which is mercy and righteous judgement and is God which we should have shewed forth to all the world even mercy and righteous judgement but we have hid these witnesses So I desire that the most holy and righteous God may be your guide and director to lead you into all truth The true Articles of the Christian Faith 1. I Beleeve in God the Father Almighty maker of the holy Heaven and earth in the man I confesse and acknowledge that the same is a true holy living God or good and that he is a mighty Spirit and a perfect clear light that discovers to the man the reall truth of things and how all things are in their places and in or to the Man and he is the reall beeing the truth light life and love to the Man and this is his name light life and love for he is all this to the man for the love of God to the man was such that he brought him under the law of discipline and correction instructing him what to doe for his good and convincing his conscience for what hee hath done to himselfe and against God or goodnesse so he raiseth up all our sinnes as judges to condemne us for what we have done and they correct or punish us for God or goodnesse hath put it in them to doe it and God hath opened our eyes with his power to see it which makes us hate and condemne our selves for what we have done his holy power or light hath perswaded our hearts to have true sorrow and reall repentance for our sins with a broken and a contrite heart and sorrowfull spirit and so we begin to hate our selves and our sins and doe really forsake them and doe confesse that we doe deserve to bee for ever lost and damned and be deprived of God and goodnesse for ever because we have chosen hell death and devill and joyned our selves unto it but Gods mercy and goodnesse hath inlightned our hearts with his law and hath really corrected 〈◊〉 for our sin and hath brought us to the beleefe of Jesus Christ by his law or fatherly correction for he receiveth no sonne but whom he correcteth and none comes to Jesus Christ but whom the Father drawea to him and this drawing to Jesus Christ is by the law of discipline and this law is the river Jordan or judgement and Iohn the Baptist or the light of Gods grace that doth dip or dye us in the river Iordan or Iudgement of Gods glacious goodnesse and this his judgement doth cleanse us from all our sinnes that were as red as searled and we come out as white as snow and this is the first Baptisme in the Fathers Name 2. I beleeve in Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God or good and that he is the reall substance of God and that he is the goodnesse that proceedeth from God or good And I beleeve that all good things are made in the man by him and through him and that all goodnesse doth consist in him and proceedeth forth of him into the man for his goodnesse in us beareth in us our sinnes by his mighty power of patience and long sufferance with grievous sufferings and agonies which hee hath for our sinnes and there hee lyes or reignes in us till our sinnes bee vanquished or rooted out by this mighty power of patience and long sufferance and when all our evill is overcome by this power of his goodnesse then he delivers us which is the Kingdome of God to his Father that God may be all in all 3. I beleeve the Son of God or Righteousnesse is borne of the holy virgin Mary which virgine is the pure humanity and this pure humanity is overshadowed by the Angell Gabriell or the power of the most highest God and this Son or righteousnesse of God is begotten upon the humanity and is the promised seed to the man which is borne for a blessing to all generations of man as was promised 4. I beleeve that this holy seed of blessing the Sonne of God Jesus Christ the Saviour of us hath suffered death under Pontius Pilate the law of sinne in us and that he dyeth for and to sinne in us and is dead and buried and in hell under our earthly beeing and man of sin and he suffers for our sin in this hell for they be all upon him and he is nailed to the crosse of patience to endure all the reproaches and blasphemies contempts and false defamations or accusations for our sinnes cause on him and for the love of God and to us hath taken us upon him that we should suffer with him all our own reproaches contempts and sinnes to condemne us for doing them and that wee should condemne and forsake them and be dead to them and they to us by the power of Iesus Christ that saveth us in us and this is the baptisme of the Sonne and is the fiery tryalls or the baptisme of fire with which he saveth his owne body or us which is the humane nature that he hath taken on him to suffer for and with and that it might be saved through him and by his power in us and whosoever doth not suffer this death with Christ for their sinnes that is to suffer under the law of sinne death for sinne and to sinne the death of the crosse which is the patience and long sufferance of Christ to the killing of sinne in us he is no Christian let him brag how much he will of his Christianity till he hath tasted the death and life of Christ and that all this is come to passe in him for they must all taste of this cup or passion and be baptised with his baptisme for if we doe not suffer and dye with him we shall never rise and reigne with him 5. I beleeve that the holy God hath raised up his Sonne Jesus from the dead and that he was three dayes
Godhead that is one is of a more pure and excellent nature then these lower changeable elements of earth water ayre and fire of which this lower world is composed off for this lower world bringeth forth nothing but his owne nature as earth water aire and its spirit of fire from which all spirits have borrowed a body which they cannot keep for ever because its nature is changeable and runneth or whirling round never standing at one certaine stay for the Sunne which is soule fire or life of this world never standeth still but every yeare runneth his race round and in his running he melts hardens congeales withers and makes grow green so that there is a continuall death and resurrection every yeare of things under the Sunne for nothing stands at one stay but is in continuall motion and change and in this change is was and shall be one and the same for ever for no man can consume diminish or annihilate the least atom or dust or bring any thing that is to nothing neither can any man finde the beginning or end of things but thou hast borrowed a garment or body which did lye potentially in that matter and when thou makest it appeare it is said to be a beginning to thee and when thou leavest it as it was it is called an ending to thee As for the world whereof Moses speaketh that the most holy God made certaine it is some more excellent better or purer world for man to live in then this for hee hath no true content here in this world or body of clay for this world is the visible God or good that is in continuall change but in the invisible world or invisible God is no change nor shadow of turning but is one and the same for ever if thou borrow a body or garment of this internall and invisible world he never looketh for it again for he is the righteous that lendeth never looking for it againe O that all soules did keep this body or garment that was given them out of this internall world that they might see with those eyes the Sun Moon and all the glorious orders of Starres which glorious world is for thee O man therefore look for thy internall garment that is given thee for ever for the eyes or lights of this body shall never wax dimne but in those lights or eyes we shall see and behold the eternall eye or light from whence those our eyes or lights came which shall be our everlasting body that wee need not feare losing or changing for it continues one and the same for ever being the free gift of the internall God There is a time wherein it seemeth to us that we had a beginning to this internall and invisible body although indeed and in truth this body hath neither beginning nor ending because it lay potentially hid in God and in his essence for its beginning to us is its ending because the beginning reacheth unto eternity and we shall for ever have this body if we doe not lose and disregard it as I feare we all have done for wee have not remembred our Creator in these dayes of our youth before our evill dayes came wherein we have had no pleasure for our evill dayes is this when we disregrad this holy body and then those eyes begin to wax dim in us though in themselves they are one and the same for ever and those grinders cease from eating the internall life the food of our soules and the mourners shall carry this dead body about the streets and walks of our hearts mourning and grieving for us and for our great losse and this is the grieving of the holy Spirit by whom we are sealed made sonnes of God for we have quenched crucified and killed this holy body of the Lord which he gave us for a garment for ever to cover our nakednesse and so he returnes to that holy divine earth from whence he came and the soule spirit or life of that body returnes to him that gave it And now O man what shall we doe for our great losse for we see nothing but death on every side for this externall world is but a living death to us for wee are in continuall expectation to be called out of it and besides there is one that is worse then death that followes us to cloath us with his mortall garments or body of wickednesse for he prepareth a body which is a lie or delusion and shews us a body which is a lie or vanity to cloath us with so that this body is worse then death for it is a living death and dying life and we were better to bee dead and and if possible to be annihilated quite then to live in such a wicked body of sinne and death and it had beene better we had never beene borne or brought forth in it as Job saith cursing the houre of his birth and the day wherein he was borne and wisheth that he had dyed in the birth and that he had never been seen in this wicked world therefore we see many worlds yet cannot see what reason man hath to believe that this externall world was ever made as he imagineth seeing there will follow so many absurdities on it for what reason can be given that there was but one man and one woman at first seeing there is blackmores or men and white and it is contrary to nature and impossible for a man naturally black or blackmore to bring forth a white or a white to bring forth a blacke and we see it so by experience and when Cain killed Abel the Lord being angry with him said that he should be a vagabond and runnagate Cain answered that his punishment was greater then he could beare and if any man should meet him he should kill him when there was none to kill him for if there was but one man and woman created at first there was but his father and he in the world and afterward it is said that hee went into the land of Nod and tooke him a wife who did inhabit that land and what man was the father of his wife how can all these things bee made good by the letter of the Scripture or doe you thinke that there was a materiall garden or a tree whereon did grow the fruit of good and evill or that a Serpent did goe up in the same to speake to the woman sure it cannot stand with reason that it could be so for it is said that all the creatures did come to Adam and he gave them names according to their natures now it is contrary to the Serpents nature to speake after the manner of men unlesse you will alleadge that she understood the language of the beasts and thought them wiser then God and resolved to be ruled by them which to me seems altogether against reason that the woman should be so ignorant and irrationall who was created rationall after the image of God to be ruler of all creatures
all his riches that he hath gotten is lost and taken from him then hee mournes and grieves because this deceiveable god hath left him and is fled leaving him comfortlesse and the glutton and drunkard that lives in luxury and voluptuousnesse which is his heaven or god when penury want and grievous diseases commeth upon him then cries he out against himselfe and grieves at his folly which is a hell to him now when it is too late yet so soon as he recovers health and means againe he returnes as bad as he was before like the dog to his own vomit and the sowe that is washed to her wallowing in the mire and the murtherer that in his wrath and choller doth kill a man which murder in his passion is the heaven or god of lies that pleased him afterwards when the law of sin or justice of man comes to execute him then justice or the law of sin executing its office proves a hell unto him therefore if thou desirest no harme to be done to thee thou oughtest not to doe any to another but if thou dost this revenge or justice in him whom thou wrongest and does to him as thou wouldest not he should do to thee retortâ— backe upon thy selfe and thy owne conscience cannot deny but that it is just and good although it be death and hell to thee and that thou canst not abide to suffer it for thy justice and law of sin saith an eye for eye tooth for tooth and life for life the morall Law and ten Commandements is in thy selfe and it is thy own naturall desires to them for thou lovest God or good with all thy soule minde and strength to be done to thee and thou dost naturally love thy neighbour as thy selfe because he is thy Samaritane and doth good to thee for thou dost naturally love those that doe thee good and that is reasonable thou dost love the Sabbath day for naturally thou dost love rest and naturally thou dost love and honour the place from which thou camest which is thy father and mother thou dost not naturally desire to be killed therefore thou saiest I must not kill thou dost not desire any should take thy naturall propriety from thee nor falshood to be done to thee therefore thou sayest I must not wrong another man by enjoying his wife and propriety or rob or steale from him his right or what he hath laboured for for the labourer is worthy of his hire thou doest naturally hate to have a false accusation on thee therefore thou dost say I must not beare false witnesse against any one and so the rest is what thou wouldest not have done to thee that thou must not doe to another for S. Paul cryed out against himselfe and said that he did the thing he hated and did disallow and did not the thing that he did allow and love but sold himself under the law of sin which he hated for this law and curse is added because of the transgression which is just to reward every man according to his works for this law of workes saves no man but condemnes all because all men have sinned and as long as man lives in the fleshly lusts of sin and concupiscence he is under this law of sin and curse and cannot please God but the world is mistaken of Paul and thinks that he meant and said that as long as he lived in the flesh or in this organicall creature of the foure elements of clay hee should sin if this were the meaning of St. Paul sure he must kill himselfe and advise all men to doe the like or else they could not please God for that which hinders us from pleasing of God must be taken out of the way but Paul saith that Christ hath taken him away from the curse and law of sin by faith which faith is the power of perswasion and convincing the heart of sin and unrighteousnesse and the workes of faith is to crucifie the sinfull flesh and lusts and to be obedient to God and goodnesse and that faith of Christ saves thee and Paul saith that he thanks God he is dead and that Christ is now his life and that he lives now by the faith of the Son of God which is by his loving perswasions and that confidence and reality of truth which he found by the obedience of Christ in him to God and goodnesse and so that flesh of Paul is dead and crucified to him so that it is evident by the sense of Scripture that Paul meant that flesh of sin and not the organicall creature that he then lived in for we know nothing of God nor of the divell but what we see in our selves for St. John saith what we have heard and seen and tasted that declare we unto you for we must not imagine the powerfull and mighty Godhead to be any Idea Image or likenesse of any thing but what he hath declared himselfe to be to us for it is said that Christ is in us and God is in Christ so that the Godhead lives bodily in us that hath ceased from sin for of that omnipotent and mighty power that upholdeth and discovereth all things wee know nothing neither of our selves or any thing else but what he pleaseth to discover unto us therefore in thy first creation or first birth God discovers thy selfe to thee which is Esau or Adam and thou hast all things in thy possession and thou art the God and Lord of all for thou art the God of this first world that hath blinded thine owne eyes with thy serpent subtilty and wisdome of the flesh and thou art ashamed of the naked truth that is the light of Gods grace to discover and lay all things naked and bare before thee but thou coverest and hides the truth with the leaves of thy owne fruits for thou art ashamed of the truth and when God calls thee in the coole of his day and that his light and fire begins to wax cold in thee thou hidest thy selfe from him and art ashamed of him as thy nakednesse for thy wisdome hath opened thine eyes to thy selfe will and hath shut them up to the naked truth and so thou art lost and damned from God and goodnesse for thou hast deprived thy selfe of him and hath hid God in thy selfe as thy shame for thou art ashamed to come before him and therefore thou hidest him with thy partition walls of sinne and now thou art cloathed with thy owne death that is the law of sin and thy owne justice in thee for the skinnes of thy innocency that thou hast lulled within thee which is the death of God and Christ is thy cloathing and so thou art cloathed with the death of God in thee and God now never appeares to thee but in this death with terror and feare which terrifies thee and this justice of terror and feare lyeth in the death of God which thou hast slaine and dis-regarded and is that slickering sword that keeps this
and beggarly minde as he thought it to be so he covered this meek and lowly spirit with his lofty high mindednesse and so the divine gentle and holy nature is in hell under this filthy covering and this is the covering upon God and Man and is the partition wall betwixt them and so man hath made the Devill god and lord of all and hath given all that was given him into his hands so God in man is in the Devils power and he reigns as King and Lord of all in this first world or creation that is fallen into the Devills hards by mans will that gave it him for God gave man himself and all and man delivered and gave or sold him to the Devill for nature in the first creation is a Judas that is raised up to destruction and is the son of perdition that sells the innocent life in him and afterward he hangs and destroyes himselfe and puts himselfe wholly into the Devils hands and in the end of time when the man is weary of this wicked world with all his soule and minde and will wholly returne all into the hands of God againe hee takes all upon him with his mighty power and sword that stands in justice hands and redeems himselfe and the man out of the Devils hands for he comes to redeem himselfe the lost sheep of the house of Israel which was lost and hid in man and covered with mans sinnes Now this holy and mighty power taketh all upon him for he becomes our first borne Esau Adam or Edome and will bee our first world that is fallen and will suffer with us and for us as if he had dore all out sinnes for when be hath our man of sinne on him he gives the humanity power to indure this justice of the death of God for his sinnes and this sword of justice and Gods death doth destroy death and this death or sword of God that frights and feares the man is the beginning of the wisdome of God in him to destroy sinne for the man in his first appearance destroyed the Lambe of God or good and then he and the Devill the wisdome of the flesh rule all in all in him till the man is weary of himselfe and desires this death of God to helpe him and this death of God is his backe parts that made Moses face to shine for the wrath anger and frownes of God which is his backe parts is better for the man then the Devills face or smiles and Gods death is better for the man then the Devills life and his hell better then his heaven for it is better to be in the house of mourning then to heare the song of fools though man in his off fallen estate thinks it not so but this death and mortality of God which is his backe parts doth make our face shine for no man shall see his face live nor shall or can we see his face glorious countenance and cheerfull smiles till our man of sinne is destroyed and rooted out and we returne to our dust as we were before and in silence with God againe and so this death and mortality of God which iâ— his angry frowns and the wrath of the Lambe that takes away the sinnes of our wicked world is entered into our Esau or Adam which is the vessells of wrath prepared for destruction and is become our flesh which is dead in sinnes and trespasses and this death of God doth destroy us which is death for this Esau with the death and wrath of God is a hunter and doth kill meat or venison for his fathers supper which venison is the wilde and heathenish brutiall man whose death shall reconcile us to God againe for in the fifth of the Rom. he saith that we are reconciled to God by the death of Christ which death hath mortified us and killed our man of sinne so this death hath given us power by his death to destroy kill and mortifie ourselves for this Christ after the flesh or death was it that lay under our earthly beeing and said that he was a worme and no man and that the great Bulls of Bashan gaped upon him to devoure him which was our sinnes and that the great water floods and seas of our sinnes run over him and he lay still and the man of sin thought that he had been asleepe or dead and did not see their evill workes but he made this darknesse or darke man his hiding place and so he saw and heard all his evill workes for he saith I create light and I create darknesse that is that I set forth my selfe which is light and I set forth man which is darknesse and he regards not me nor my light because his deeds are evill and so I am hid in his darknesse but when the man is weary of himselfe then he seeketh for mee and hath need of mee though he thought I did not heare nor see him before then he runs to me and cryeth and saith arise O Lord in mee and thy enemies which is my sinnes shall be scattered and rooted out in me so this death or flesh of God which is death destroyesman which is death in God in becomming his death or his flesh for in becomming the man of sinne he destroyes man which is sinne and evill of himselfe without this power of the holy Godhead which holy power he hath given to the man to arraigne himselfe before himselfe and to condemne himselfe in himselfe and to execute himselfe and so make an end of the whole man of sinne and so he becomes dead and buried with this power of the holy Godhead for it is better be dead with God and to be at rest with him then to be alive with the Devill and to be in torment in his hell for this death of God is death to the sinne which sinne is death and shall raise us up into everlasting immortality and ravishing joyes of minde for hee saith that that which never eye saw nor care heard nor ever entred into the heart of wicked man in his first creation is now revealed to them that love him and those that are of the new borne creature and the second creation that love him and are the men of God who are ruled and governed by him for he saith that the troubles and sufferings which wee endure in the crucifying the man of sin in the former world is not worthy of that joy and sweet consolation that we shall receive and shall be given to us that hath tasted of the death of Christ and hath gone through his sufferings with him into the second world that is full of joy for this end of Esau or Edom is the end of the first creation and the vessell of wrath that hath ordained himselfe to destruction and God foreknew that he would doe all these things to himselfe and gave him all in his hand that hee should not complaine and say he was tyed from any thing so that he was
and three nights in hell under the earthly man of sinne and in the heart of his earthly being and the first day he sheweth and discovereth unto man his sins and the night of the day doth terrifie and wound the conscience and doth feare the man which is the law of sin or the wrath of God upon the man that sinneth And the second day is the grace and power of God which giveth the true sorrow and repentance for thy sins and the night of that day is that bloudy fight in which is the sweat and agony of death in thee that crucifies and kills thee for thy sins And the third day is the power of Christ that gives thee victory over death devill hell and sins so that thou art dead unto sin and the night of this day is the patience and long sufferance of Christ in thee till thou hast overcome the evill one for in this day and night is the whole mystery of Christ finished and the Son of God is darkned in thee and thou becommest dead and buried in him and he in thee so the last day is comming on to thee which is the resurrection of Christ in thee and with thee which is the new creature or man of God Jesus Christ which was dead in thee and with thee and when you have suffered together you shall reigne together in perpetuall joyes with him in God for ever and for ever I beleeve that this Jesus or our Saviour is ascended up to his Father and doth carry them up that have suffered with him and hath cleansed them and prepared them a Kingdome for his Father that God may be all in all in us for he Christ after the flesh which is death and mortification must reigne in us till all sin be subdued and then he delivers us up to his Father for he saith except we eat his flesh and drinke his bloud there is no life in us therefore let us eat this flesh and drinke this blood of mortification and killing and crucifying our sins This was the flesh of Christ that St. Paul spake of saying though he knew Christ after the flesh yet now he knew him so no more O that we had all eaten this supper of Christ then were we happy but till then most unhappy for we must drinke this cup or passion and shew the Lords death till he come in his life and glory 7. I beleeve that Iesus shall come from the strength or right hand of God with all his Saints or Angels or the good motions which are thousands of them and they with Christ shall judge the quick and dead in us which quick is himselfe and all his Saints and holy Angells to live reigne and dwell in us and judge the dead sins never to live any more in us but be damned and lost for ever out of us so this is the last day or light or day of righteous judgement that shall last for ever in us O that it were so come to passe in all and that they might see this last and everlasting day or new day which shall last for ever and for ever 8. I beleeve in the Holy Ghost and that he is the ancient of dayes and is the love of the Father and of the Son which is the reciprocall love of singing one to one and this holy love or Holy Ghost hath joyned God and man together and hath pulled downe all partition walls that hindered their comming together and hath baptized or dipt or dyed the man in this his most holy life or holy spirit and hath made him a holy house Church or Temple for God to live and dwell in and Christ is the head stone or foundation of this most holy house O that all men were become this Temple or house of God to dwell in 9. I beleeve that there is one holy Church and this Church are all holy men that are without sinne spot or wrinckle for all holy men are the body of our Lord Iesus Christ that is cleansed by him and made pure for hee is the head of a pure body and there is no sin in his body or Church nor is he head of a sinfull body therefore looke to it you that are sinfull men for you are not the members of Christs body or Church of Christ as you may see in the fifth of the Ephesians where it is evident that he saith that his body or Church is without sin 10. I beleeve that all sinnes are forgiven in this Church for Christ hath forgiven them the sinnes that are past and hath covered them with his holy life so that those evills shall never rise against us more but wee shall live and reigne over devill death and hell with Christ for evermore and sit with him at Gods right hand for ever and for ever 11. I beleeve the resurrection of the flesh of Christ that is joyned to the humanity and this flesh or death of Christ with the humane nature shall arise into immortality and for this mortality of theirs shall put on immortality and all death shall be swallowed in victoriousnesse so happy art thou O man that hast put on the flesh or mortality of Christ for this flesh or mortality shall carry thee into everlasting immortality and into everlasting life and joy of holy minds 12. I beleeve that there is but this one holy and everlasting life and this life is the holy life of God and he hath chosen the man to live in it and to her one with him for ever Take it to heart for this is the reall truth and surely thou shalt finde it so if thou seekest for it thou shalt finde it and it shall bee so unto thee CHAP. II. A description of one spirit acting in all which some affirme is God NOw what a spirit is is to be considered for all things appearing to the man he gave them severall names according to their natures and as they appeared unto him for in Gen. it is said that Adam the man gave every thing and creature his name according as his nature was to the man and it was so and could bee no otherwayes for the genius and wisdome of God in man gave these severall names by his inspirations and lights which hee discovered to the man how the natures and qualities of things were and they are really so for they be named by the Spirit of God in man but there are many cavellers that dispute about it and would destroy all order and bring all into confusion for they say they cannot tell what a spirit is nor what man or beast is nor what fire water earth or aire is yet they themselves see all these severall things and their severall natures and operations in them and to them so that if these things had no name they must of necessity give them some name or else all the world would be dumbe and have no discourse for they could not discourse of these severall things and their natures unlesse they
and consuming of things that they starve and dye for hunger and are forced many times to eat one another as may be seen and heard of where these practises are If this be God or good that acteth those things and tells me that it is pleasure I will abandon such a god as the most abominable and hatefull thing that is and desire to have nothing to doe with such and abominable and wicked god that blindes my eye and makes me thinke good to be evill and evill good for the Scripture faith Woe to him that calleth evill good and good evill and light darknesse and darknesse light for wee are all ready to mistake but our nature and quallities cannot be altered for we use our quallities and natures upon what object we light on whether good or evill For the cholericke man whieh is most composed of fire if he light upon the evill instrument he hath so many severall temptations to wrath and anger that his soule or himselfe is never at quiet for one disturbance or other and many times in his wrath the Devill tempts him to kill a man and he is in continuall vexations so that he is in a living death and dying life although he see it not but loves this living death more then the everlasting life which hath no bitternesse therein but is full of all sweet content and all the workes that this life or spirit animates thee to doe breeds thee no sting discontent or any thing to be repented off but this evill instrument animates thee unto horrid and cruell things full of mischiefe which cruelties riseth up in thy conscience and flyeth in thy face making thee condemne thy selfe saying what a wicked man and beastlike wretched creature am I that doth such wicked actions I would not have such things done to me why would I doe thus to another sure there shall some heavy judgement fall upon mee and I shall have the same measure met to me againe and so still the law of sinne flyeth in the wicked mans face and is called the law of God or the wrath of God that moveth man to repent for the wickednesse he hath committed and to condemne and arraigne himself at this barre of Gods judgement within himselfe which shews him all his sins and wicked life and so hee kills and crucifies himselfe with these horrible wounds of conscience in him and is never at quiet nor never shall till the cause is taken out of the way which cause is the Devill and sinne and there must a greater power take away this death with another death that is by the death of Christ being a death unto Devill and sinne which death is called the death of Christ in us that sighteth against our sinnes and all our lusts and affections and crucifieth all our sin and sinfull life so that there is no more sin death and devill in us for it is this death of Christ that destroyes the death for sin and the cause of sin which death of sin was done by the law for sin executed upon sinne so taking away the cause and the effect which cause was the devill and sin and the effect was the law of sinne so that when the cause is taken away of necessity the effect must cease and this death or mortality of Christ shall raise us up into immortality so that we may say O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory for the strength of our sins was the law of sinne which law or wounds of conscience was our grave wherein we were dead and buried so this death of Christ hath freed us from all deaths and mortallities and his death and mortallity will bring us into the true sweet and everlasting life which I desire all soules may come into and injoy Now he whose spirit is most composed of spirituall fire as was said before when he was ruled by the evill instrument doing such wrathfull and cruell things when he is turned to God and goodnesse his quallity and nature of fire is turned into burning zeale so that he is on fire of love to doe all goodnesse and is never well but when he can doe some deeds of charity and love to others so that his minde is swallowed up in God and this his nature and quallity of fire is turned to all God or goodnesse for the Divine Nature is wholly incorporated in him the which I desire all fiery and choloricke men may attain unto As for the spirituall ayreall or sanguine man if he sets his nature or quallity upon the evill instrument hee is very lascivious and given to leachery gluttony and drunkennesse and to all vaine pleasure which doth besot the minde for nothing doth besot the minde so much as leachery and drunkennesse and all these his follies doe flye in his face calling him foole and sot and it doth so besot them to all good that it makes them careles of wife children and all other friends and makes them apt only to devise a thousand plots and mischiefes to maintaine their beastly brutiall and sensuall life so that they spend all their owne estates and other mens and in the end goe a begging or live upon others and they defile and spoyle their owne bodies with the pox and other diseases so spoyling both body and minde with their sensuall living for they are in an extasio below themselves and ravished with a brutiall and sensuall life and this their evill instrument the Devill or unreasonablenesse hath brought them to and when they have lost their organicall man then commeth in their greater griefe or hell because they cannot execute their beastly and sensuall life so they are tormented in that they cannot doe as they formerly did when they had a body here for their minoe is upon nothing else but on their beastly brutiall and sensuall life which perisheth with the using leaving them in great discontents and the Devill sets alwaies this joy and pleasure before their eyes and the want of their bodies to execute their former fooleries which want torments them to the death so that they are in a living death and dying life and the law of sinne still rising out of their conscience condemneth them for what they have done and for what they desire and so they are with death and hell except they could returne but the Scripture speaketh of time and of a day and whilst time doth last and he saith there is an appointed time and after that time there is no time more for in that time the death of Christ should have taken away death and the cause of death which is the Devill and sinne who hath brought them into this miserable condition under the law of sinne and condemnation which is the second death for he saith in dying thou shalt dye the death so then all men of all quallities and complexions shall be in this condition for ever except they bee amended by the death of Christ for he is that innocent Lambe
hell death and Devill But the hinder part of the ship which is the humanity must be broken because of our sinnes and transgressions and must taste of death for sinnes cause but nothing in the ship that stayes in it to indure this storme of death shall perish and all the prisoners that are bound in it shall be saved and swimme to shoare on the broken peeces of this ship the true sence and consummation of all is that when we have indured the battle till sin be destroyed then do we enter into the most holy life and are saved Now to read the history of Christs last supper how that the same was kept in an upper Chamber and that he did eat bread and drinke wine and give of the same unto his disciples and that he was whipt scourged and crowned with thornes and how Judas sold him and how that he was afraid to die insomuch that hee did sweate drops of blood and that hee was nailed upon a Crosse and was pierced through with a Spearel so that there came forth of his side blood and water and that at his death the sunne was darkened and the moone was put out and that hee had gall and vinegar to drinke and that he was crucified betweene two theeves This is the most holy and sacred mystery which is acted in the soule of every man that is saved and this upper chamber is thy inmost selfe and this bread and wine is the bitter cup of Gods wrath and indignation whereof thy soul must drinke for the sinnes cause and thou art not able of thy selfe to beare or drink this cup without some mighty power come to assist thee to doe it now thy Judas or man of sinne that is raised up to destruction hath sold the most innocent life into the hands of the wicked to suffer for thy sinnes for the most innocent life commeth to thee in fearfulnesse and trembling and thou being in him in this feare and trembling preparest thy selfe to suffer with him and thy Judas Devill or wicked nature commeth to thee as if he were thy friend and now seeing that thou wilt leave him hee fawneth on thee as if hee loved thee and were thy friend saluting thee as if it were with a kisse of love but he selleth thee to the blinde Jewes to be killed and crucified of them which Jewes are thy blinde selfe will that now crucifies thy selfe and Saviour within thee and thy selfe will carries thy selfe and Saviour into condemnation with thy condemning conscience into the judgement hall of condemnation where all thy sinnes riseth up against thee taunting mocking and scourging thee and crowning thee with the thornes of thy sinfull life which pricketh and woundeth thee and thy Saviour with griefe for what thou hast done so that thou and he art in a bitter agony and sweat of death insomuch that thou desirest and wouldst faine have this bitter cup to passe from thee but thou must indure it if thou wilt be saved for Gods will must be done and not thine for it is he that raiseth up all thy sinnes against thee to condemne thee crowning whipping and scourging thee with what thou hast done so that thou must now taste of the death of thy sinnes or otherwise thou shalt never taste of the life of God for the life of thy sinnes is the death of God in thee and the life of God is the death to sinne and thou and thy sinnes must be nailed to this crosse which crosse is the patience and long suffering of Jesus Christ in thee unto which thou and thy sinnes art nailed till thou art dead to thy sinnes and thy sinnes to thee for thy sinnes hath nailed thee and thy Saviour together and hath pricked him and thee to the very heart so that he and thou dost dye of those wounds and he and thou cryest out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me and in the time of thy sufferings or Iesus that makes thee indure this curse or shamefull reproach of thy sinnes according to thy due desert the Son of glory the life and brightnesse of the Godhead is darkened or put out so that there is all darknesse death and hell over the internall divine and most holy world till thy sinnes and thou art dead one unto another so thou seest that the divine and most holy world is in hell under thy earthly being till thy sinnes be destroyed and being in hell under thy body of sinne and death he raiseth up all thy sins against thee to condemne and shame thee and shews thee what a partition wall is betwixt thee and him which is the law of sinne and death that condemneth thee alwaies rising against thee till sinne be destroyed so the love of God to thee offers thee his power which is Iesus Christ that enters into thee to destroy the body of sinne in thee which body of sinne is the workes of the Devill that hath destroyed the body or works of God in thee It is not the divine and holy God that is against thee but it is thy sinnes that standeth in judgement against thee to condemne and arraigne thee so that thou must goe under their judgement condemnation and execution for what thou hast done against God and goodnesse for he it is not that is angry with thee nor condemneth thee for he is that righteous and holy one that can indure all and is one and the same for ever nor can he be any other for he cannot be moved to wrath or fury for then were he changeable but he is the unchangeable and one and the same for ever but the deeds that thou hast done against that holy One that is so good to thee slyeth in thy face crying vengeance against thee and telling thee that thou must dye for what thou hast killed and cast away from thee so till the law of sinne hath done his office and killed thee for killing and laid thee under the earth in hell where thou hast laid the holy One thou shalt never be at rest for thou hast killed but art loath to be killed but thou must cast off this death or â—â—p otherwise thou shalt be ignorant of justice for justice is to reward every one according to his workes and as he hath done to another whether good or evill so the most holy One by his mighty power inlightens thee and shews thee all thy sinnes how they slye in thy face against thee and shews the justice of the law of sinne and that thou must dye for thy evill deeds the which worketh feare and trembling in thy heart and then doest thou cry and morne for helpe and can finde none till the goodnesse of God commeth to thee taking pity and compassion on thee and helpeth thee to indure the death of sinne for sinne in thee so that now thou lyest on the patience of God till thou art freed from sinne and the Devill lyeth upon the other side of the patience or crosse and is that
death which was the tree of life till thou be killed by it as thou hast killed as it is said I have been dead but now am alive for evermore for this tree of life is the Lambe of God that is slaine in the beginning of our first world and so hee lyeth dead to us till our wicked world is at an end and this our wicked world shall bring forth nothing but thornes and thistles which is sins that shall prick thee to the heart and thou shalt eat of thy owne fruits with the sweat of thy browes that is the labour of thy sinnes that toyleth thee with their laboriousnesse and this toyle shalt thou have with thy sinnes till thou returnest to thy dust againe or to thy old silence wherein thou wert before and thy serpent or sleshly wisdome shall goe creeping on thy earthly beeing of sin and shall live on their dust or first originall which is lies and is thy subtle serpents food and thy husband which is thy lie or unreasonablenesse that thou hast united thy self to shall rule and domineere over thee and thou shalt be subject to his will and all thy children or sinnes that he begetteth of thee thou shalt bring forth in sorrow and they shall be a pain unto thee for what is said to Adam is said to both for she or he is one and is the female of God for man or woman signifies both and this sword of justice which standeth in the death of Christ is the enmity the seed of the woman or humaine nature that shall breake the serpents head and destroy his seed and this enmity shall bruise the humanities heele or foot that he shall never walke any more in false wayes so this enmity or sword standeth in the death of Christ crying vengeance and saith that this world or Adam Edom or Esau is the childe of wrath and he hath prepared or ordained himself to destruction and so this whole world of Man is destroyed damned and utterly lost and Man shall never bee happy in his first birth because of his fall for he must be dead buried and borne againe or else hee shall never enter into the Kingdome of heaven for his owne nature is wrath but God did not make him so but his nature was so for ever for according to Scripture we are the children of wrath by nature and at the first wee appeare so and God did make him appeare to himselfe what he was and gave himselfe and all things into his power that he might not complaine and that the Man might see how he would use God himselfe and all things in him and so he destroyes himselfe God and all things within him and hath ordained himselfe and all to be lost so the first creation in Man is lost and God shewes Man his miserable condition in this death and losse of God and goodnesse and the power of God that lyeth in this death is called the death of Christ or the two edged sword that standeth to divide the soule asunder or that flesh of Christ that is the curtaine that stands before the most holy place or Sanctum Sanctorum and this power of Christ is in hell under our earthly beeing and Man of sinne till we and all ours is turned to dust againe and this power or death stayes with patience and long sufferance under us in hell till we are weary of our selves and sins for we grieve the Spirit of God by whom we are sealed and he daily shews us our owne misery and toyle and sorrow sinne doth make in us and this toyl we shall have for ever till we are weary of our selves and desire to be ended with all our hearts and to forsake our selves and our owne wicked world and all that is within us that is wicked then doth this holy power Man himselfe in us and destroyes us and all within us and turns us to our dust againe and when we are in silence with God againe then doth he create us anew and make us a new world and prepares us a bride for himselfe a heavenly Jerusalem a City and house for God and he is our Lord and husband and he is a holy and righteous ruler and doth governe all the faculties of our soule in peace and love with all orderlinesse and union for then the Lion our strongest passions is in peace with the lambe or innocencie and all our other beasts birds and fishes which is our phantasies is orderly and in peace then shall the childe or innocencie lay his hand on the Cockatrice hole and the Wolves Beares and Lions shall be together and one shall not sting or hurt the other for God is King and ruler in man which orders all things well and in peace in him and the Son of glory or God shines seven times more brighter then hee did in the former world and this glorious world or Man of God shall last for ever and ever in his glorious transcendent brightnesse and there is no sorrow or paine in this world but everlasting ravishing joyes and sweet content of minde for this holy God doth ravish the soule continually with his delectable pleasures so the soule is ever satisfied for God when he is our Lord and we have given our selves to him hee uses us thus sweetly and doth give us all pleasure and content but when he gave himselfe to us in our first creation and first world we were ashamed of him and hid and destroyed him from us but he is not ashamed of us but uses us with all love for nature appeared first and in that Adam all dyed for God and Christ was Sonne and borne there and he became mortall in this nature for God appeared there in weaknesse which weaknesse is humility and lowlines of spirit with all gentlenesse and love and when the wisdome of the flesh the serpents subtilty had opened natures eyes to pride and high mindednesse and to wrath covetousnesse and envie which eyes is the serpents eyes which is the evill eyes or the Devils which the nature or man lookt through which made him thinke that this high mindednesse and pride with selfe-will was a glorious tree and that there was glorious fruit on it and that it would elevate him highly and that he should be his owne God and ruler and that he should know good and evill which he did by wofull experience taste of its good which had the evill in it for it was full of confusion as was said before and was the mans toyle but he thought it was a glorious fruit and much to be desired and so doe all men that are in the first creation and first world so when Man had tasted of pride high mindednesse and selfe-will the forbidden fruit he despised God which is humility and lowlinesse of spirit and meeknesse and was a shamed of this and thought it foolishnesse to bee humble meeke and lowly for hee thought this to bee poore beggarly nakednesse and was ashamed of such a lowly
free and might have stood or fell but he fell and all Adams knows this their owne conscience accusing them for hee made man upright and shewed himselfe to bee good but he sought out many inventions to destroy himselfe yet God hath mercy on him and hath brought forth his elected seed to save him which was Isaac or Jacob that wrastled with God in this darke night of man to save and blesse him for this Esau was faine to sell his birthright and was so hungry with hunting and killing the man of sinne that he had almost lost himselfe but his brothers pottage which is love and mercy and power was given him to strengthen him to overcome the man of sinne in himselfe yet he thought this pottage should not have taken away his birthright and destroyed his first creation which he wept for although it was too late for it was for his further good which is hid from his eyes for a time and whilst he is a hunting for Jacob puts on Esaus rough garment or flesh which is the law of sin which made the man of sin mad and hee thought to destroy this Jacob or this second creation which appeared in the man but in the end when sinne is destroyed they will be loving brothers and one man of God for this Jesus Christ or seed of promise the destroyer of sin will make all peace and quietnesse for this holy God is in Christ reconciling the world to himselfe in mortifying and cleansing this man and burnning up all the chaffe of sin with unquenshable fire that there might bee great love betwixt God and man againe for this Jesus was three dayes and three nights in the man of sinne and in the heart of the earth and was carried into his wildernessed land and was tempted of him the manner whereof shall afterwards be expressed for he shewed Man all his filthinesse and how wicked he was and regardlesse of God and goodnesse and this was the first day in him and the night of that day was the death and wrath of God that appeared in the Man which did teâ—rifie and feare him and was the wounds of conscience that told him what he deserved and he threw downe himselfe at Gods mercy and the second day or light God gave him true grace and sorrow for his sinnes and the night of that day is that bloody fight in heaven betweene the Man of sinne and God and that terrible agony and sweat of death was on the humanity and the third day or reigne of Christ is that day that Christ shall reigne a thousand yeares in Man with death which day is that power of patience and long sufferance that lasts till the Man of sinne is rooted out for a thousand yeares is but as one day with the Lord and one day in this suffering and reigne of Christ is as a thousand years to the man for he must reigne till all sinne is subdued and the night of that day all hell is broke loose to torment the Man for a short time but this Almighty power gives the Man a strong and victorious power that he fights with himselfe and overcomes himselfe and all his devillish crew and so the wicked world is ended and Man shall come into a happy condition There are many that think that Christ will come and reigne a thousand yeares here on earth personally but they will be deceived for they look and judge of the Scripture after the outward appearance which is not righteous judgement for we are to looke on it with a spirituall eye and then shall we see it as it is for the looking on it as a history and not as it is a sacred and holy mystery makes so many false Religions for the birth of Christ in this elementary world was after a extraordinary manner and not after the ordinary manner of men for he was not as the seed of man nor did the Virgin Mary feele any manner of paine in bringing him forth as the wise and learned hold nor doth the Scripture make mention of her paine as they doe of others as Rebeckah Isaacs wife and Rachel Jacobs wife for the Divinity is a spirit and the humanity is a spirit and the Divinity and the humanity joyned together in conjunction as man and wife is but one spirit and spirits bring forth a spirit and can doe no otherwise for this Jesus Christ is a Spirit and is the Spirit and life of God that is sowne in our hearts and spirits which makes us cry Abba Father for he was and is a Spirit comming forth of God and man that were and is spirits and that organicall body or figure that he seemed to be in and to eat and drinke and that he was like flesh and blood was as three Angells that appeared to Abraham which he did dresse a kid for who seemed to be men and did eat and drinke with them as they thought â— so Christ seemed to be in that figure and flesh of the man but he was a reall spirit for with that body he walked on the sea the which Peter could not doe with his heavy body but did sinke and Christ did hide himselfe many times and could not be found for he did walke in visibly and when they did leek him to destroy him they could not finde him till he pleased to give himself into their hands and he could come with his body into any roome the doores being shut as he did after the resurrection come to his Disciples saying Peace be unto you and he did eat a broyled fish and they knew him by eating and breaking of bread and there is surely some secret mystery in that for when hee walked like a gardener they knew him not but by breaking of bread and Thomas would not beleeve that it was the body that was crucified because he could come through a chinke of the doore as he thought till Christ shewed him the print of his nailes after which he said he beleeved because hee saw those things but Christ said to him they were more blessed that beleeved and saw not but beleeved and trusted in God without the death of Christ for if we had beleeved and trusted in God wee should not have fallen and sinned but have been more blessed for the whole had not had need of the Physitian but we all have fallen and need the death of Christ to make us whole againe and we cannot beleeve till wee see the print of his death and nailes in our hearts and spirits which he hath taken on him and is now his humane nature for his Godhead and humanity is in us if Christ be in us for he is whole Christ in us God and man nor can he be divided and be in part in us and if he had a corporall body of clay consisting of foure clements made up of flesh and blood as ours is it were impossible and against reason that he could be in us therefore looke into the Scripture with spirituall
had names to call them by that the one might understand the other and know what subject they speak of and what each would have another to do but these mad people love to confound themselves A spirit is that internall fire life and motion of all things as the spirit or fire and life of herbes and trees which is named the negative spirit that manifesteth it selfe to the world and all other spirits Now there is another spirit or sure that groweth and bloweth it selfe up into one organ and feeleth any thing that toucheth it and its name is the sensitative spirit There is another spirit eye light or fire that groweth and bloweth it selfe up into an organ whose name is called the rationall spirit or eye of capability and judgement which discerneth all things in their order and place and this is the man And there is another spirit eye light or fire that is a motion joyned to the man that discovers the reall truth of all things to him for his good or hurt and his name is called the spirit of wisdome or God and this is the light or right eye to the man that foreseeth all things for his good if he will regard his instructions And there is another spirit eye light or fire that is a motion that moves to the man that he feeleth in his intellectuall which is the spirit and eye of darknesse that looketh into all things for the mans harme the which if hee looke through leads him into all folly and blindnesse and worketh him into all mischiefe and this spirit is the destruction of the man and bringeth him to all misery and calamity and this spirits name is called the Devill the worker of mischiefe for these two spirits move to the man in his intellectuall and he feedeth seeth and heareth them internally and discourseth with them as two men discourse and talke one with another and these spirits are instrumentall to the man to perswade him to what he shall doe for he can do nothing but by these instruments the one for his good the other for his harm and he tasting of both he knowes the difference and how opposite the onces to the other and how they change him and make him good or evill for if any man doth good by the good instrument hee that is ruled by the evill instrument contradicts the good works of the good and the good instrument contradicts the man that is ruled by the evill instrument but there bee some that say the evill is good and the good evill which cannot be so for the good is good still to the man and is one and the same for ever and the evill is evill still to the man and is one and the same for ever for if thou dost evill to any man that evill is evill to thy selfe and if that man that thou doest evill to should retort the like backe on thy self then thou wouldst quickly be sensible that it is evill and not call that evill good falling upon thy selfe which falling upon another thou didst call good for if thou shouldst vassallize any man abuse or starve him or cut off his limbs and doe him all the harme thou couldst what good is this to thee surely thy conscience tells thee it is evill and not good to thee for thou dost not like to have those things done to thy selfe for retorting and falling backe upon thy selfe thou findest it evill So thou art evill and wicked O man whosonver thou art that dost those things and teachest another so to doe for thou teachest him lies that the evill is good and the good evill and thy owne conscience condemnes thee in doing the evill and so doth the conscience of the others whom thou teachest so to doe also defnding him with thy lies to deceive himselfe with for thou oughtest not to doe any thing to any man that thou dost not like to be done to thee nor must thou doe that which thou wouldest not have done backe againe for thou seest it is evill say what thou wilt to deceive thy selfe for thou dost cosen thy selfe with these vaine delusions Surely those that are of the minde that one spirit acts in all would if it were not for seare of the laws of men fall a cutting one anothers throats and doâ— all mischiefe being devills one to the other in their passion for they will admit of no law of goodnesse for their restraint If but one man had this evill power to execute his will upon all the world for pleasure then might it be thought to be good but you see in all men a desige to have their will therefore thou must expect and it is just and fight according to thy desert that thou shouldest be killed for killing and for stealing to restore double or be his servant to worke it out and make double satisfaction for his losse and troubling him for this is the law of sin and death for sin and this is in man and can be no other wife for the evill that hee doth to another man riseth up in judgement against him by the other whom he bath wronged to retort the like backe upon him for this law of sin in the man saith an eye for an eye tooth for tooth arme for arme c. and so with the froward to be froward and evill for evill saith the law of sinne in man which is just to reward every man according to his owne evill workes but thou caust not abide this law of sinne for thou wouldst doe a great deale of mischiefe and injury to other men and take pleasure in it but that this pleasure brings this sting of death and paine backe againe to thee which thou canst not abide so this thy God or pleasure perisheth with the using and change thy pleasure into pain by falling backe upon thee But thou wilt say that if thou murtherest a man in secret so that none be private thereto but thy selfe how can that murther be discovered or the law of sin be executed upon thee I answer that the law of sin is in thy self and riseth up in judgement against thee in condemning and wounding thy conscience so that thou art weary of thy life and in the and discovers thy selfe never being at quiet till the law of sinne be executed upon thee for we see few murthers that are long concealed another question may be demanded if this law of sinne which seemeth to be good or God and is executed upon thee is not murther and cruelty likewise I answer it is and is thy God and ruler in thy off-fallen estate that is a furious God and a consuming fire who will consume thee in his wrath and in his sore displeasure forthy sinnes have raised up this furious God that holdeth thee in with a rough bit and bridle whilst thou art a wilde asse colt that striveth to overthrow thy rider and this cruell God shall be thy Lord King and husband and will torment thee so long as thou
which taketh away the sinnes of the world and so maketh amends for all Now when this ayreall or sanguine man returneth and is moved by the good instrument which is God and doth wholly follow him then doth God ravish his minde with his sweet contents and ravishing joyes so that his soule is taken off from all things below and is never at quiet but in this sweet contemplation for he sings in minde rejoycing in the spirit so that his soule is wrapt up in God and goodnesse and hee sheweth forth to all the world all love and goodnesse so that happy is that man that can injoy his company I doe earnestly wish that all ayreall or languine men or women may set their minde upon the holy God that they may injoy this good for their minde in this estate is carried up in such raptures in the holy God that they live here below in this world as if they lived not As for the phlegmaticke or spirituall watry man which hath a dull and grosse capacitie if he suffer his minde to be moved by the evill instrument hee is so strongly set on him that he will very difficultly leave him and he maketh him live so lazily that he is good for nothing and setteth his minde on all lasciviousnesse on evill surmisings and suspitions constrning all things in the worst sense so that he is never at quiet for one suspition or another being in continuall mistrust of every one because his capacity is shallow and the Devill hath blinded his eyes with these fallacies so that he thinketh every one to be his enemy and he doth a great deale of mischiefe in these his evill suspitions thinking to begin with others first and in his blindnesse of minde doth undoe himselfe and others and then riseth up the law of sinne in his minde tormenting him accusing him of what mischiefe he hath done to others without any other cause save only his owne wrong apprehensions and so this law of sinne condemnes and wounds him to the death till the death of Christ takes away this death and the cause of this death which is the devillish delusions and the evill surmisings which makes him do all this mischiefe to others without a cause And if this spirituall watry or phlegmatick man forsake the evill instrument with all his soule and minde and returne to the holy God or good instrument with his whole strength and minde to bee joyned to and ruled thereby then all his thoughts are set upon goodnesse and then doth hee construct all things in the best sense which is done to him and he seeth all things that fall crosse in this world to be good for him to wean and draw his love from earthly things which perish with the using and his minde is wholly swallowed up in God and goodnesse and all his thoughts and contemplations are upon God and hee she weth forth nothing in all his life but God and goodnesse to the whole world and to the sonnes of men for his life is swallowed up in the most holy Godhead if all the phlegmatick men and women were come to this estate then were they happy but till then most unhappy And for the spirituall earthly or melancholly man if hee joyne himselfe to the evill instrument the Devill to be ruled thereby he is wisest of all in doing mischiefe for he hatha vast capacity and can receive all suggestions and as was said formerly by him is acted the greatest cruelties and therefore hee hath the greater wounds of conscience for the law of sinne raiseth up all his cruell deeds against him so that his soule is heavily vexed unto the death and he hath such feare and dread in him that he wisheth that he had never been for he hath such fearfull and melancholy thoughts that every houre he feareth to be torne in peeces and this is in him till the death of Christ takes away the cause and then this wounding law of sin will cease but many love their sins too well to part with them to let Christ take them away and so they live and dye with them so that the Devill and they are together for ever and for ever in his world which is without end for the beginning of his world is the ending with the man for the beginning and ending is with the man one and the same for ever for as he was at first to him so hee is the last and the same for ever for he changeth not but continueth still evill therefore O man looke to it in time and whilst time doth last for after one time there is no time more and looke to it before the decree where of the Prophet speaketh come forth for after that decree is past there is no hope therefore looke to it whilst it is called to day and whilst this day doth last in thee which day is Jesus Christ that commeth to help and save thee but if thou dost not regard this day or Jesus Christ then the decree commeth forth to thee which is the eternall black night of death and darknesse which darknesse or night is the depriving thee of Gods grace and comfort for thou regardest it not when it was offered to thee and so in despising it thou shalt bee for ever without it thinke as much as thou wilt to the contrary for as sure as there is a God and as thou livest this will come to passe upon thee if thou dost not looke to it before all these things come to passe in thee so if this melancholy and earthly man forsake the Devill and evill one and turne to God and goodnesse to bee joyned to and guided by him he conceiveth more of the secret mysteries of God then all the rest for hee findeth out all the deepest mysteries and all things are opened unto him for as he hath suffered more so more is revealed to him and so God and he are joyned for ever in all love and he is in everlasting joy and comfort in God for ever and for ever I wish that all spirituall earthly and melancholy men and women may bee joyned to this everlasting joy and comfort Where as I have spoken of the delusive God in this Chapter I desire I may not be mistaken for the Scripture speaketh of two Gods the most holy God and the wicked God of this world that blindeth the eyes of mankinde one is the reall good and the other is the reall evill And the Scripture maketh mention of two Sathans Devills or evills and of two guiles or two delusions the one Sathan guile evill or delusion is for the good of the man and the other Sathan guile or delusion is for his utter destruction for the incestuous person was delivered to the good Sathan or evill for the destruction of his sin full flesh that his spirit or soule might be saved in the day of the Lord and St. Paul tooke his disciples with a good guile and made them grieve and mourne deceiving them by
that godly sorrow for their good And in the Thessa it is said that God did send them strong delusions that they should beleeve a lie because they would not receive the love of the truth Now all the delusions that God sends to the man is for his good and the delusion is that he worketh such a beliefe and perswasion in the mans heart for the sinnes cause that he seemeth to the man to bee nothing else to him but wrath fury and destruction and thus hee terrifieth man to make him forsake sinne for his good and to make him returne from his evill life for whatsoever God doth too or for the man it is for his reall good whatsoever the man thinketh to the contrary and it is just so as if a father should correct his childe for his good and future profit although for the present it seem contrary to him even so is man deluded by Gods fatherly discipline and law till sinne cease in him and then this rod discipline or delusion which kept him in a we or fear to offend God shall be taken away that is to say when sinne wholly ceaseth in him and when he ceaseth to offend God his Father any more and this is the evill which is spoken of by the Prophet saying Is there any evill in the city and I the Lord have not done it that is the evill of punishment And that lying spirit spoken of in the Kings that the Lord did send to be a deluder in the mouth of the false Prophess was sent for a punishment to them because they would not believe the truth and this is done to reclaime the man and to let him see his errors and that he may returne home againe to the reall truth And againe it is said hee created the destroyer to destroy and hath sent forth the evill Angells with flaming fire rendring vengeance to those that will not know God And it is said in the Psalmes by Davld and in Job That the arrows of the Almighty stucke fast in him all which evills wraths furies or delusions is the law of sinne which was added because of the mans transgression and they shall continue with him as I have formerly said till sin cease in him but God in himselfe is none of all these for he is a most pure and holy Spirit and is subject to no passions but is a reall essence full of goodnesse neither is there any thing can change or disturbe him but the evill one transformeth himselfe into an Angell of light to delude and deceive the man with his seeming goodnesse for his hurt losse and damnation So the most holy God by his ministering spirits assumes an Angell of darknesse or taketh upon him the body of sinne to destroy sinne and in the Scripture the Divinity is sometimes said to be Sathan in the destroying of sinne being evill with the evill and he is said to be Lucifer the sonne of the morning or that morning starre that is fallen in our hearts for hee could fall no where else and it must be hee that is that day or morning starre that shall arise in our hearts againe so wee must looke into the Scripture with a righteous eye and consider it rightly in its order and place how all things hang and depend one upon another or else we shall lose our selves and confound the Scriptures or forsake and neglost them as many doe because they see many seeming contradictions not having the spirit of unity to reconcile or unite them together for it speaketh sometimes and in some cases that man is passive and God active and that God is passive in some case and man the active and in some case it is said that the Divinity suffers for sinne and doth all in all and sometimes it is understood that the humanity suffers for sinne therefore if wee have not the spirit of the most holy Godhead we cannot finde out the intricacies and secret mysteries of the spirit and minde of the holy written word and how all things stand in their orders and places for some things seeme strange as that God which is all goodnes should destroy so many for Davids numbring the peoples and in one place of the Scripture it is said that God moved him to number the people and in another place it is said that Sathan moved him to number them and in the fifteenth of Jeremy it is said that he would destroy so many with severall deaths for the sinnes of Manasses so that the Prophet Jer. was troubled and said that the Lord seemed to him to be a liar because hee thought these things seemed strange to him to come forth of goodnesse but all these things are secret mysteries bidden from all sinfull flesh and bloud and none shall see them aright but those which have ceased from sinne for God and man have been for ever together and they both have appeared in time to each other and in this time there hath beene a partition wall let in by the man which hath parted their union of love so that the man seemeth to fight against God and goodnesse and God fighteth against man and his evilnesse and nothing can be discerned rightly by the man till the partition wall of sin be pulled downe so in the end of time that holy Jesus the Sonne of God pulleth down all partition walls that have made the divisions betwixt God and man and he uniteth them againe in all lovely unity CHAP. III. A description of the Scripture according to the history and mystery thereof MOSES hath spoken of the Creation of the World and certainly it cannot bee that he meaneth this externall world for I could never heare any true reasons that can bee given to prove the same for it stands at one stay and the Sunne Moone and Starres keepe one course and the Sea runs her race up and down and they still are one and the same in their orders and places neither doe they increase or decrease to or from what they first seemed to be unto man nor doe they wax old as a garment nor as the creatures which we see appeare that have a beginning and ending for we see every spirit that appeares here hath a created body which increaseth and is diminished and is gone againe and is seene no more but this externall world is one and the same for ever for any thing I could see or heare to the contrary The greatest multitude of men beleeve it to bee created of nothing but I cannot see nor heare any reason for the same because that of nothing can come nothing then what must it be made off for sure it cannot be made of the most holy God as some do imagine and say that there was nothing before but God and therefore of necessity if it be as they alleadge he must make all things of himselfe but it cannot stand with reason that out of one should come so many antipathies therefore without all question the most holy
perfection with the crowne of glory which is holinesse to God and be cloathed in white linnen which is a most pure and innocent life and now you see that Priest people and sacrifice must be pure and unspotted without sinne having all perfection As for the holy Arke which was builded by the free will offering of the people and Moses going up into the mountaine to the Lord for a paterne to shew the people that it might be builded with all their pretious stones and fine silks for curtaines and the drinking pots of gold with the candlesticks snuffers and snuffing dishes and the mercy seat with the Cherubins that holdeth up the mercy seat and the holy and most holy place with the curtaine betwixt the holy and most holy and the Altar and hookes the table and shew-bread with Arons rod that budded and the pot of manna which to understand as a history that such a glorious building was made to look upon is nothing to me for to looke or judge of it so is to looke according to the outward appearance which is not righteous judgement for in this is to be seene the whole mystery of the Godhead and the humanity for in the holy place is the whole worke of the law with the death and sacrifices for sinne for a reconciliation which death and sacrifices is the Godhead and manhoed which lyeth upon the holy Alter fire wrath crosse or patience till the man of sinne be destroyed and rooted out of us And the golden candlesticks with the lights in the holy place is the law or grace that shineth from the morning till the evening or till sinne is extinguished and done away in us and is the lights of Gods grace which is true repentance for sinne with a broken and contrite heart and sorrowfull spirit which shineth till all things are finished and then giveth up the ghost unto the Father from whence he came and then the vaile or curtaine which standeth in the most holy place is rent in twaine from the top to the bottome which vaile is the flesh and death of Christ and is the new and living way through which all must enter or else they cannot be saved nor enter into the most holy or Sanctum Sanctorum where the mercy seat is held up by the Angells and Cherubins Now when the Priesthood which is the holy humanity hath fulfilled the whole worke of the Law the sacrifice for sinne in the holy place then they put on all their holy garments and attires and so enter into the most holy place with their bells or hymns that soundeth forth the praise of God internally to God and externally all good to men for in this holy attire must he enter in the most holy place with odours and sweet perfumes of a holy life and the smoke of these odours and perfumes of a holy life ascendeth to the mercies seat and ravisheth the most holy Godhead and then he imbraceth him in his armes saying Thou art my beloved Sonne in whom I am well pleased and this is he that maketh us Kings and Priests to God and giveth us himselfe to be offered up for a sacrifice to God his Father for us O man how great is the love of God to thee that hee becommeth thee to save thee and makes thee himselfe for the great love he hath to thee for in thy first appearance he created himselfe in thee and then there appeared unto thee foure worlds first this externall world whereof thou hast borrowed a body or garment and knowest not how foone it shall be called for againe for the world whitleth about and calleth for her owne againe and there can be no certainty of any thing here because here is nothing but change and mortality for this world of it selfe is death but that the spirits that are in it is its life so that this world is not worthy so much as to bee thought off for it perisheth with the using as doth a garment only it is good in this respect because wee could not know light but by darknesse nor life but by death nor immortallity but by mortallity and the reason we were in obscurity or in silence before wee could come here is this that there is one eternall increase of the seed of man and they can but appeare in time here for this externall world is time and time is a running round and there is no new thing here but as it is to me for this materiall world doth neither increase nor decrease but is one and the same for ever in its turning round only it seemeth to me to increase and diminish and so it is finite and because the seed of man is an eternall increase and this world being one and the same may be called finite in this respect because there is not matter enough for all spirits to have bodies or garments of at one time and therefore some must goe before others can come for the spirits to come are infinite and this world is finite because of its materiall confine not increasing but running round so that which is called the body of one to day may be called the body of another to morrow for there is no certainty here and all soules must stay their time till they can come here and in their comming and being here is the time to see distinctions and all worlds and if thou doe not looke about thee and see them here in this world of time but be neglective of the time thou hadst better never have been born or brought forth in time for this time vanisheth away to thee and thou shalt bee seen no more for when man is in honour and knows it not he is like the brute beast that perisheth being without God in the world therefore whilst time doth last to us let us looke about us and redeeme our mispent time and seek the everlasting good or reall true world that is beyond all time or change and this is the divine world which God hath placed in thy heart as is said in Ecclesiastes the 3. and the world whereof Moses speaketh Gen. 1. and is the Angelicall world or paradise out of which the man had an Angelicall body which is but a part of Gods house for God shewed himselfe but in part and this part he lost and in that part he was that great Lucifer or Angell that was the Sunne of the morning or starre that fell and in falling fought against his Maker or him that gave him that Angelicall body or world in which the most holy world stood as a tree of life unseen or untouched by the man for he had more minde of the diabolicall world for all worlds being opened to the man he desires the evill and worst of worlds desiring to be free before his time because he could not abide the servanthood to till and dresse the garden of the Lord which servanthood is the angelicall body or world which is the servant of the Lord but desired to
be as great as God himselfe before his time and so his pride threw him downe into the most lowest world which is the diabolicall so that his body is now the body of sinne death and all wickednesse and besides he hath pulled downe the divine and most holy world upon him as a judge with wrath and violent fire and so hee standeth still over him till the man desire to come forth againe out of the diabolicall world and returne with humility true repentance and reall sorrow for his sin and then the divine and most holy world doth worke this true reall death in mans heart and descendeth into the hell of his heart that is into the lowest parts of his earth where the wrath of God is and there pacifieth this wrathfull Iudge or God with his humility and true sorrow for sinne by which sorrow and humility he crucifies and destroyes all sinne out of the man and then he raiseth him out of the lowest world into the divinest and most holy world and this world is the second creation that God maketh in man and is himselfe which he createth in him for in his comming he first humbleth and then exalteth the man for the divine and most holy world in his comming downe into hell or the most lowest world to the man to save him doth appeare in humility and lowlinesse of spirit very meeke and gentle enduring patiently all that the law would have him suffer and so teacheth and incorporateth this humility and lowlinesse of spirit into the man that hath learned God so that they twain are made one spirit and this is the new creation of which David speaketh saying Create in me a cleane heart O God and renue a right spirit in mee this is that poore humble meek soule that lyeth in the dust and seeth no help which shall be â—â—ised up from thence to dignity and shall sit with Princes which is to sit with the most highest God and he is the barren that shall beare and bring forth the holy Godhead or divine life out of him Now O man mayest thou see how great the love of God is to thee therefore forsake all worlds for his sake because he loveth thee so deerly and look upon all things through his spirituall and holy eyes and then shalt thou see things cleerly and as they are and not esteem of any thing above it selfe nor above its owne deserving Wherefore wee must looke into the Scripture with those holy eyes or else we shall see nothing aright or as it is Now to looke upon all the histories of the Prophets Judges and Kings without those divine and holy eyes where through we see the holy mystery of the same it will appeare very strange to us and contrary to nature and reason as for example that of Bilaams Asse speaking to him and Nebuchadnezzar being turned to a Beast to eat grasse with the Oxen till the dew of heaven had wet him seven times and the fiery furnace spoken of in Daniell in which the three children were cast wherein they had no hurt nor so much as their cloaths burned and the great Image of brasse iron and clay which is also spoken of in Daniell with many other mysteries which setteth forth the creation fall and restauration of man by the whole worke of the law together with his new creation so that the whole history of the Scripture rightly understood tendeth to those things but are illustrated and set forth many and divers wayes therefore this worke of man is wonderfull and would make an eternall discourse in the minde of man to expresse himselfe And the history of David that he did kill a Lion and a Beare and did kill Goliah is the whole worke of the law to destroy the Devill and sin out of the man also he complaineth sometimes that he is in the lowest hell and in a deepe pit and that he is a worme and no man and that he is in the deep waters and the raging seas run over him so that in all this he carries a double death which is to kill and be killed for the whole worke of the law is to kill and bee killed therefore the law or David cannot build a house for God to dwell in for he saith that David or the law is a man of blood and that he should pull down all buildings of sin and destroy the enemies of the Lord and prepare timber and stones hewed and cut for the house of the Lord that there might bee no noise of the hammer or of the worke mans tools for the law of the Lord hews cuts and prepares us for the house of the Lord before we are or can be set in that there should be no noise of hammer or worke mans tooles hewing or cutting which hewing or cutting is the wounds of conscience making a true sorrow and mourning for sinne and when we are prepared and made living stones and a spirituall house Christ being the head and corner stone that upholdeth this house and holy building and this whole house is covered within and without with pure gold that is with a most pure holy and glorious life then the most holy and wise Solomon the wisdome of the Godhead the sonne of David or the law enters in this most glorious house that shineth with his most bright and glorious rayes and there he worships and adores this great and most holy Godhead and there was and is continuall songs of Hallelujah praise and thanksgiving to him that liveth for evermore and without this house is the middle court where the peace offerings that was and is offered up to this most holy God and was and is the fulfilling of the law by obedience in killing the man of sinne the which doth pacifie and reconcile us to God againe that we may enter the Temple with this holy and wise Solomon to worship and sing praises to the most glorious and most holy God O that it were so well with all the soules of men and that it were so come to passe in them then were they happy but till then most unhappy Now to understand these buildings of the Temple and house of the Lord as a history with all these glorious externall things how that there were galleries and chambers and in those roomes pictures of Angels and Cherubins and that they did uphold the Arke and Alter and that the same should bee covered within and without with pure gold and that the stones must be hewed and prepared before they were set in that there should be no noise of the hammer or workmans toole what is that to thee O man to read the history of these things for all externall buildings must perish with the using and thou never the better for it but looke thou into the mystery thereof because it concernes thy selfe for this building is thee and God joyned together and is the rocke Christ Jesus that living stone disallowed of men but chosen of God and yee as living
put thee to paine with the power of his working salves thou shalt never bee well thinke or believe what thou wilt of Christ without thee and of his great works he nor they shall profit thee nothing unlesse thou hast the power of Christ working within thee and that thou sensibly feele the power of his working against sinne in thee which is a grievous hell and torment to thee for the present to indure but thou hadst better indure this hell against thy sin for a moment then be for ever lost and damned and be deprived of God and goodnesse for ever having the sting of conscience stinging thee for what thou hast done and for what thou hast lost and deprived thy selfe off for ever therefore O man looke to it in time whilst time doth last for this world is time the which if thou mispendest there is no time more and in this time is all worlds opened to thee and if thou dost not chuse the divine and most holy world in this time it is for ever shut up against thee and so thou art deprived of God and goodnesse and art in a most miserable condition wherefore O man doe not dally with thy selfe nor deferre the time putting it off from one time to another for time is a thiefe and steales away from thee therefore do not cheat or cosen thy selfe with false beliefes and faiths of Iesus Christ and what he hath done for thee the which he never hath done till thou feele the power of his working in thee with many agonies and bloody sweats and till thou feele the nailes of his crucifying pricke thee to the very heart and that thou feelest the stings of death for sinne in thee therefore O man put no confidence in Christ till thou findest the mighty power and worke of Christ in thee for if thou doest thou deceivest thy selfe and thy beliefe is in vaine and a dead faith without this worke of Christ working mightily in thee pulling downe all thy strong holds of sinne and vaine imaginations and offering thee up a pure soule to his Father that God may be all in all in thee O that it were so come to passe in all soules then were they happy but till then most unhappy And for that man that was said to be borne blinde is Christ after the flesh in thee which became thy selfe who is conceived and borne in iniquity in thee to save thee for thy father which is the devill is become his father and thy mother which is lust is become his mother and Iesus Christ is that true Physitian that maketh himselfe see in thee and Christ saying to his Disciples that the father of this blind man sinned not nor the son is meant that as he is Christ the holy unction or anointing he commeth of God and is the Sonne of God and God is his Father and they be no sinners neither he nor his Son but Christ to shew the glory of God became this blinde man in us and opened his owne eyes in us which see not in man any good thing till sinne is destroyed out of the man so these holy eyes are blinde in us till that time that Christ have destroyed sinne out of us and then he openeth his owne eyes in us which eyes then are ours which sinne had blinded in us before so that we could not see with those righteous eyes but made those eyes to us to bee the eyes of the wicked nature through which we looked not as they were in deed and in truth righteous and holy eyes but as they seemed to us in so much that we have taken the holy God to be that to us which he is not in himselfe for our sinnes hath made us thinke him our enemy when as hee is our dearest friend that till our sinnes are destroyed he doth and will seeme so to us that which he is not in himselfe for his eyes shall be blinde to us and his ears deaf to us so that he will neither see nor heare when we call and cry to him because there is a darke cloud of sinne that separateth him and us and hee will not heare us till this cloud is taken out of the way and that we become a true father and mother to him for we have been wicked parents to him heretofore and have brought him into all wickednesse and misery and have killed him in suffering for us as if he had done all wickednesse when as there was no guile found in his mouth but is that innocent Lambe that was slaine in the beginning of thy world of sin Also thou art that woman that is bound with Sathan eighteen yeares and art become double with his bonds untill thou goest to Christ that he may loose thee from the bonds of Sathan and make thee whole and streight again And thou art shee that hast that bloody issue of sinne for twelve yeares O touch therefore his garment his flesh or mortification and thou shalt be made whole and this garment is the law of sinne which cleanseth thee from sinne And thou art he that is possessed with legions of Devills or sinnes O then let Christ by his mighty power cast him out of thee that thou mayest be in thy right minde againe And thou art the man possessed with a deafe and dumbe Devill so that thou canst not speake to God nor heare him when he speaketh to thee O fast thou the true reall fast which is from all thy sinnes and pray to God continually with a broken and contrite heart and true sorrowfull spirit then mayest thou speake to God and heare him when he speaks to thee And thou art or mayest be in that ship on that stormy sea that is ready to sinck thy ship with its boisterous waves for God and the Devill are at strife for thee when thou hast once joyned thy selfe to God and then beginneth the bloody warrs betwixt these two Kingdomes in thee for when thy wicked world of sinne begins to be at an end then is there Kingdom against Kingdome and nation against nation in thee and stormy rageing seas roaring so that the heart of thy man of sin begins to faile in thee and Christ is asleepe in the cabbin that is in thy inmost selfe and is that still and soft voice therefore seeke for him and awake him that he may save thee and calme these raging stormy seas within thee with his most still and soft voyce and these are the seas that St. Paul did saile through God and the Devill the truth and thely which clasheth one against the other and the humanitie is the ship that saileth betwixt those two seas and tasts of both and is broken and the forepart of that ship that stuck fast and was not hurt nor moved by the clashing waves of those seas is the most holy and divine Godhead Jesus Christ within thee which can indure and is able to make thee indure if thou stay in the ship with him all the stormy seas of
theefe that cannot repent and thou art the other theefe that art repentant for what thou hast done and so findest mercy and in that day or light of mercy thou shalt enter into Paradise thy Masters joy for now you have suffered together you shall also rise and relgne together and enter into the joy together which joy lyes into thy inmost self in the cave of thy earth even there lyeth the most still and soft voice which was not in the great windes that did blow downe the rocks of sinne nor in that carthquake for sinne nor in that fire that consumeth sinne in which God is lost to the man for in that the man casteth the holy God from him is the very thing that doth condemne him and rise against him so that he can never be at rest nor quiet till he hath found God againe and even thus doth God appeare to the man that which he is not in himselfe even a consuming fire as he saith in Thessalon God sendeth them strong delusions that they should believe lies because they will not receive the love of the truth for man thinketh that God is angry with him and he neither can nor shall believe otherwise untill sinne be destroyed out of him for God doth seem to appeare in thy sinnes as an angry judge condemning thee till thou hast suffered under them and for them and so worketh feare in thy heart and all these angers that he seemeth to have against thee and those feares that he worketh in thy heart is for thy future good and for the great love he hath to thee recalling thee from thy sinfull life and when thou hast forsaken sinne then he doth appeare to thee in his glorious amiable and bright rayes full of sweet ravishing contents and then thy Judas Devill or sinnes hath condemned themselves in thee and with thee and hath arraigned themselves at the barre of Gods justice and then they hang themselves in thee and breake their owne necks and brust their bowells asunder and so there is an end of them to thee and an end of thee to them and then thou cryest to thy Father or God It is finished and so yeeldest up thy ghost or spirit into him and the vaile that is the flesh of Christ that divided betwixt the holy and most holy place is rent in twaine from the top to the bottome which vaile death or flesh is the long-sufferance and patience of Christ that rasteth in us till our sinnes are extinguished and blotted out and this standeth betwixt the holy place and the Sanctum Sanctorum and all that will be saved must taste of this flesh death patience long-sufferance bitter cup agony or bloudy sweat which stands before the holy of holies and when wee have tasted this bitter death or cup wee enter through this vaile flesh or death of Christ which is the new and living way into the holy of holies or Sanctum Sanctorum which is the Kingdome of Heaven that is within you and is peace righteousnesse and joy in the Holy Ghost Now when the flesh of Christ hath finished his course then is he taken out of the way and then cometh hee againe to thee the second time and is thy holy Ghost or Spirit which leadeth thee into all truth which truth is meekenesse lowsinesse of Spirit gentlenesse lovingnesse rejoycing in mind ravishing thoughts sweet contemplations singing Hymnes and Halelujahs praise and thanksgiving to the Holy Ghost for their victoriousnesse and this is thy ravishing joy and comfort eternally so that all the externall losses in this present world doth not trouble thee for thy mind is not below on these perishable things for thou art dead to them and livest here as if thou livedst not and useth all things here as if thou used them not and if thou had all the honours and riches of this world thou wouldest dispise them and think them but dung and drosse for thou hast farre more excellent honour and riches then this world can affoorde but if by chance the Godly have the riches of this world as it is but a chance seeing the Godly and ungodly oftentimes injoy them alike here he accounteth not the same his but distributeth as he seeth need or necessity as a faithfull steward but the ungodly thinketh all that hee getteth here is his and will suffer another to starve and perish by him and in this thou may perceive a difference betwixt the Godly and ungodly let them brag of their Christianity as much as they will their workes show what they bee but wee see what a Christian is and what a difficult thing it is to be one and how many difficulties he must runne through before he attain to the perfection to be a Christian Now to understand and read the history of the crucifying of Christ of his condemnation death and buriall what is this to thee or me if we feele not the mystery of his condemnation death and buriall his resurrection ascention and comming to judgement in me and with me for if we doe not suffer with him we shall not reigne with him therefore let us dye and bee buried with him that we may arise and ascend into the heaven with him and from thence come to judge the quick and the dead which dead is the sinnes that is dead and lost for ever out of us and the quicke is the living righteousnesse to raign in us for ever therefore unlesse I see the mystery of these things wrought in me the history thereof can do me no good for in the history of the death of Christ is shewed a great deale of weakenesse for it is said that hee was so mightily afraid of death that he did sweat drops of blood and all the wrath of his Father did but extend to the death of the externall manhood upon the Crosse but it seemeth strange to me that hee that had the power of heaven and earth should be so much afraid of an externall and bodily death when there hath beene many since that have dyed for their religion and for his sake more terrible deaths being drawn to peeces with wild horses fleyed burned alive broyled roasted boyled in lead and all the terrible deaths that could be devised by wicked and devillish men to put them to as is made mention of in the booke of Martyrs yet there was seene no such weaknesse in them but they went to their deaths cheerfully thinking themselves happy to suffer for his sake Wherefore you may easily perceive that there is a greater mystery in the same which few doe see or discerne For my part I do not deny the history of the Scripture but doe beleeve that those things were acted upon the Theater of this externall world to shew to us what is acted upon the Theater of our internall world but if we looke upon the hystory of Scripture as things acted by other men and take no more notice of it we deceive our selves for all the hystories points upon
us and we are the man intended for when Nathan the Prophet came to David he seemed to speake to him of another when as hee meant himselfe and David did conclude what the action represented to him in the person of another by Nathan was unjust not thinking that the Prophet intended himself but another and so judged him to death but when the Prophet said it was himself and that he was the man hee was sorry and loth to dye himselfe although he did judge the other to death and thought he deserved death justly but in condemning the other he judged himselfe Therefore wee are the men that are to be condemned or saved according as our deservings are and the Scripture is the reall truth and is our true Nathan the Prophet that tells us what we have done but he tells us our selves in histories and in the person of others to try how farre we condemne others and justifie our selves but when wee condemne others we condemne our selves for wee are the guiltie and that wicked man therefore looke into the scripture as if it were thy owne soule for all that is written there is written in thy selfe and there is the two tables the table of stone thy stony heart that is ingraven with a rough penne and with a thundering voice which is the whole worke and curse of the law for thy sinnes and the other table is the heart of flesh which is soft and melteth at the word that is written in thee and is ready to obey all the words of the commandements that speaketh in thee but the table of stone thy disobedient and stony heart must be broken for thy sinne and disobedience cause and for thy Idolatries and all thy sinnes riseing up against thee crying vengeance so that thy God or goodnesse in his great zeale throweth downe thy stony heart breaking it to peeces and burneth up all thy Idoll Gods to powder makeing thee drinke up their ashes which is to make thee taste of the death and losse of them and still his zeale is so great towards thee that hee maketh thee sheath thy sword into thy brothers belly which brother is thy nearest selfe will or thy darling sinnes so when thou hast fulfilled the will of thy Jelous God he returneth to his place where hee was before and the tables of stone or stony heart is turned to flesh and is obedient to the will of God and keepeth his commandements the which I wish all Soules may do for their soules health and safety There be many at this time that looke externally for an infallible spirit when as the infallible spirit is internall in the soule of every man for the same spirit is Jesus Christ the word of life that is neare thee even in thy heart and mouth to do it and to be obedient unto the same and he is that pearle hid in the field of thy heart for which thou must sell all that thou hast to purchase this field that thou mayest injoy that pearle And there are others that thinke that the externall body is the soule and that it must dye and must answer for sinne by that death and that it must rise againe at the last day by Christ therefore God cannot be their God whilst their body is dead for he is not the God of the dead but of the living then whilst they live here they may live as they list and commit what sinnes they will for their body dying which they take for the soul doth make satisfaction for their sinne which of necessity must draw this consequence that if one man kill another he doth but the will of God for he saith the soul that sinneth must dye I wonder much what those people that hold such opinions can say or think of little children that dye in the wombe or as soon as they are borne certainly no man in reason can say that their soule hath sinned but you will alleadge their parents have sinned for them as others have said if it be so the sinne of one condemneth a great many that of themselves hath not sinned the which to me appeareth to be altogether against reason and justice and is against the nature of God to condemne the children for the sinne of the parents for Ezkiel saith 18. that this proverb should be no more in israel that the fathers had eaten four grapes and the childrens teeth are set on edge at he saith that every soule standeth upon his owne bottome or its owne selfe and the fourâ— that sinneth shall dye also there are many creatures or bodies which they call soules that are drowned in the sea and divers fishes have fed upon that body or that which they call the soul and these fishes have concocted or digested the soule of this man and it is turned into the flesh of a fish and afterwards this fish is taken and another man or soule eats this fish which is the concocted soule of the other man so that his soule is made fat and increased thereby the one soule by eating the other and Caniballs which are men eat other men and are fed thereby now when the soules of all these men are dead and concocted in those that have eat them how shall every one have his own proper soule at the last day when all the soules shall arise I would willingly hear it proved by good reason how every one can have his owne soule againe seeing they are all concocted and digested one in another but perhaps you will say we must believe against reason which is consequently that we must believe an absurdity and the Apostle St. Paul desireth to be delivered from unreasonable men which were absurd and did believe against reason for all men have not faith whose foundation is grounded upon reason this body which they call the soule is dead without the spirit as St. James witnesseth in the second Chap. where he saith that as the body without the spirit is dead even so is faith without workes by which Scripture it is manifest that the body without the soul or spirit is dead and as is said before God cannot be their God because their body which they tearm the soul is dead so as he ceaseth to be their God while they are dead all which is contrary to sense reason and Scripture where it is said that he is the living God and the God of the living and not of the dead also it is contrary to sense and reason in this that that which is the God good felicity or chiefe happinesse of those that live and are rationall and sensible of the same cannot in sense reason or Scripture be said to be the joy happinesse or God of the dead because he is not sensible or capable of any joy felicity or happinesse at all THe summe of all and the whole discourse of this Book is that we should feare to disobey the holy God but keep all his Commandements which is the whole duty of man and to live a pure exact just and holy life not doing to any man what we would not have done to us but doing all the good to another that we would have done to us and this is the infallible Spirit Jesus Christ the power of God in us which directs corrects instructs perswades and makes us wise unto salvation for he is the holy word of life unto us and he is the Father Elder true Bishop and high Priest of our soules so that we need no other Father Elder Bishop nor high Priest but this holy Iesus Christ in us for he is the holy unction that we have from above and the holy One that teacheth us all things and discovers all mysteries unto us leading us into all truth if so be that we are obedient unto him but if we are not obedient unto this infallible Spirit Iesus Christ in us then wee shall know nothing of God or of the Scripture but it shall be a sealed book a dead letter and seeming contradiction unto us but I hope we shall all learne and bee taught of him and declare every one to his friend and neighbour what the Lord the infallible Spirit hath done for his poore soule saying What we have learned heard felt and tasted of the good word of life that will we declare unto you FINIS