ought But who is it that will believe the truth hereof for the sons of men is blinded of the right sight and knowledge of the truth and by reason of the love they have to lust sin and selfness they are become enemies of the Cross of Christ and if any have attained to the first dispensation beforesaid they think themselves to have attained all that is necessary and that they need no more and so becometh to settle upon the lees of their own performances and so becometh the resisters of the Holy Ghost Acts 7.51 And if any be brought out of the first Baptism under the first dispensation which containeth in it the Covenant of works and so be made partakers of the second Baptism by which they are brought into and prepared to meet Christ in his first appearance and when they have known the Son of God or God in his distinct property of the Son manifesting himself to their soul by which the soul hath comfort and content and refreshment and deliverance from its former troubles and now it finding the effects of the propitiation of the Son in covering and hiding its sin and in justifying the soul and taking of the power of condemnation from it then doth that soul conclude That all is done and can be pleased with that present condition supposing they have that which never will fail and say in their heart They shall not be removed because the Lord of his goodness hath made their mountain so strong Psal 30. And from these false conclusions many a soul becometh to lose it self and turn back again into the world and into the captivity of the Creature from which it was delivered and so man foolishly concluding That being in the Land of Canaan he shall see the bondage of Egypt no more but while man is but in the enjoyment of the first manifestation of God in the first appearance of his Son he is but a babe and but ignorant of what the minde of God is in that present condition and therefore they are very subject to be content with that present station because it pleaseth them so well supposing that there is none that have attained any further then what they have already attained too when as alas they know not as yet what it is to die with Christ on the Cross nor what the fellowship of his sufferings is nor what the vertual power of his resurrection meaneth And so it is that from the idolizing of that present enjoyment they in a very short time become to be cast out of that enjoyment and yet do they not know that they are so cast out because of the false fiend who hath got again into the house from whence he was gone out and counterfeiteth God through the help of the imagination and so maketh these souls believe That God is their present portion and that they have such a fast hank of him that nothing can be able to separate them when at that very instant of time the heart is in captivity with the Creature I fear that this is the very condition of many now adays who having known God after this manner beforesaid and yet have forsaken him again and turned to the Creature and yet do but little know that they be so far carried away from God as they are But when God in his orderly proceeding goeth on in bringing the soule through all the dangers and difficulties of the creature and Selfe then doth he not suffer the soule to have what it would have nor injoy what it would injoy in that first manifestation of himself in the name of his Son but as the bodily presence of Jesus was to be taken away in his appearing in the second dispensation in the flesh that so he might come againe in the Spirit or ghostly Baptisme by which they should still be led on till they were in the nearest and safest union of the Father and the Son that could be attained to in the body so it is that the ghostly presence in the first manifestation in the Spirit must be taken away that so the spirit may come to a further and more sure partaking of the Divine nature then it could in the first manifestation For as Christs followers could have been pleased to have still injoyed the bodily presence of Christ in the first appearing in the flesh so would a soul be pleased with the first manifestation of Gods appearing in the name of his Son to the spirit But as Christs bodily presence must be taken away that thereby the life of Selfe which lived in the sence and reason of his Disciples under that present injoyment might become destroyed and over-throwne by the coming againe in the power of the Spirit or ghostly Baptism So it is that the first appearance of God in Christ in the first appearance of the soule must be hidden and taken away because of so much life of selfe in the sence and reason and that by a further and more cleare and safe way to manifest himselfe in the soule and that is by the pouring out of the Holy Ghost into it by the vertue of which the soule becometh Baptised into the suffering and death of Christ whereby the life of sence and reason becometh to dye and the spirit brought out of the clawes of Sinne Death Devill and Hell and the power of the Resurrection of Christ becometh to be known and the body of Sin becometh to bee destroyed by the powerfull working and burning of this ghostly Baptisme and this was the very Baptisme the Apostle Paul spake of when he said Know you not so many of us as were Baptised into Christ were Baptised into his death therefore we are buried with him by Baptisme into his death c. For if we have been planted together into the likenesse of his death we shall also be in the likenesse of his resurrection knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin may be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin c. Rom. 6.2 3 4 5 c. And those soules who know God in this worke can witnesse to the truth of the three-fold name of Father Son and Holy Ghost because they know the power and working of God in these three Baptismes under these three names and none else can speak rightly of them because they have but the knowledg thereof by relation though God let out himselfe in this three-fold manner as is before said yet God is but one and the same God and though there bee these three Baptismes yet they all make up but one perfect Baptisme by which the soule is perfectly compleated in one faith Ephes 4.5 whereby the soule becometh led out of all things acted or created and all sufferings or injoyments in any condition below the injoyment of the fellowship of Christ in his Suffering Death and Resurrection and this is the very end and effect of all former out-lettings of God in any of the
he was the Son of God and what his coming was for and what his office should be John 1.33 Now when Jesus Christ was in the flesh he baptised none for this his baptism was to be in its time and place suitable for its operation and that was to be after his Ascension though he had promised the same before his death yet that promise was not to be fulfilled till after his death and at the first administration thereof the Holy Ghost fell upon the persons baptized in a visible form of cloven tongues of fire Acts 2. By which visible appearance was held out the nature of the operation of that Ghostly Baptism viz. A twofold speech or speaking rising out of a twofold ground viz. The sensible feeling of love joy and life c. And likewise the sensible feeling of sorrow suffering and death And from these two grounds was to arise all their speaking who was baptized with the Holy Ghost and this was the pure language that God had promised to return to the people Zeph. 3. And those who had this pure language returned to them in this Ghostly Baptism was able to speak of the wondrous works of God Acts 2.11 Now this third distinct property of God viz. The Holy Ghost or the third out-letting of the Godhead in the third distinct property is the most clearest way of manifestation that man attaineth to in the flesh for this is that which giveth man the true knowledge of the mystery of God and the mystery of sin and selfness and the operation of this distinct property worketh the spirit of man out of the mystery of Self into the mystery of God and this work it worketh by bringing man into the fellowship of the suffering with Christ whereby the body of that sin and self becometh to be crucified and likewise it comforteth man and maketh him able to bear the Cross with Christ until the death of sin and self be accomplished and so the spirit be made partaker of the life and vertue of the Resurrection of Christ and with him become ascended above all powers and principalities and so to reign with him And therefore it was necessary that Christ should both suffer and rise again and ascend before he gave out the Holy Ghost because as he suffered so he left the same example of his suffering to be undergone by those who should be his followers And while he was with them in the flesh they could not suffer as they should do afterward for then he was the Bridegroom and they were the children of the Bride-chamber Luke 5.34 And so long as he was with them in the flesh they could not grow up to be perfect men nor to the stature and fulness of Christ Eph. 4.13 For while Christ was in the flesh his followers looked too much at his bodily presence and therefore it was meet that his bodily presence should be taken away that so his ghostly presence might be manifested to them and therefore he told them except he went away from them the Comforter would not come John 16.7 But his Disciples being but as yet the children of the Bride-chamber was but yong in the holy understanding neither being acquainted with great joy or great suffering because as yet they were not in a condition so sutable for either as they should be thereafter but this they could not believe but sorrow filled their hearts when Christ told them of going away from them John 16.6 But herein is the great wisdom of God made known in the orderly and successive out-lettings of himself to the sons of men stooping to his capacity in every condition that so by little and little man may be wrought and drawn up into himself and to live and abide in that center from whence he had his Being And therefore as he had made his Name known in the first dark dispensation by appearing in our flesh but most clear of all by taking the two former away that the third might appear wherein we might see him and live in him in the spiritual Life and worship him as he is a Spirit the which we cannot do while we are so much in our selves both in reason and sence while we are under the first and second dispensation and therefore it was that Christs bodily presence in the second dispensation was to be taken away that made his followers look too much upon him as he was in that appearance whereby their Reason and Sence got too much life and therefore that both Reason and Sence might lose their lives his first bodily presence must be out of the way that his ghostly presence might appear in the Divine Nature in which and by which he would become the baptiser of Souls with the Holy Ghost and with fire by which baptism he would burn up and consume all the old rubbish and reliques of sin and self both in Sence and Reason and bring the Spirit out of and from the captivity of the same And while Christ was in the flesh he shewed them an example of life which he would have those that would be his Disciples to follow and likewise he told them how great things his followers was to suffer under the Ghostly Baptism and so he left them the example of his own suffering and death also the which they should have as a rule to walk by until the body of sin should be crucified and destroyed Phil. 3.17 And so it was that after Christ in the Divine Nature began to administer the Baptism of the Holy Ghost the person who was baptised therewith by the vertue thereof became so carried out after the example both of the life and death of Christ that they thought nothing too dear to forsake so that they might but attain to the fellowship of Christ both in his life death and resurrection And this was the whole delight of these souls who had been baptised of Christ by the proceeding or coming of the Holy Ghost out of the Divine Nature into their souls by which they were led out of all things acted or created or enjoyed wherein self had gotten life or might get life And this the Apostle Paul witnesseth when he said he counted all things but dross and dung in comparison of Christ c. And that he might be lost in all things and found in Christ by way of conformity to his suffering and death that thereby he might attain to the resurrection of the dead Phil. 3.7 8 9 c. And so it is to this present day that those souls whom God draweth into a near union of himself he draweth them out of the first and second out-letting of himself in the first and second dispensation and so bringeth them into the third dispensation or Ghostly Baptism in which the body of sin and selfness becometh found out and forsaken for whilest the first and second dispensation is in force the body of sin is not so clearly found out nor can be so forsaken as it
they could not know nor to this day can know how you do beguile them O that I and all Gods people who know the truth had heads full of water that our tears might run down day and night for the slain of our own flesh and blood and yet poor hearts their bodies liveth in the world and their hearts liveth in the Creature and their God liveth in their head and they worship him according to your blinde precepts and they love to have it so and yet is their poor spirits under the chains of sin death devil and hell and yet you nor they can be made beleeve that this is so And this is the effects and fruits of your wise preaching by way of Use and Doctrine which you have learned at the Holy Universitie you so much boast of But I tell you plainlie that since your wise preaching had its beginning the truth of God hath been hid by it and so the souls of men have been deprived of the sweet enjoyments thereof O wo be to you for your work yea wo and sorrow shall be your portion in a far greater measure then any of the sons of men yea you shall one day curse the time that your fathers put you to the Holy Universitie to make you Preachers nay you shall wish that they had put you to learn the trade of Tinklers when they put you to learn the trade of Preaching though at present you glory in your trade and think you are the Minister of the Gospel I know your pride is so great that when you see these lines you will be ready to burn them and make a scoff of me for writing them but that is no new thing for I know your spirits well enough neither do I care for your displeasure for I know in whom I have believed and who caused me to write these lines and him I desire to obey It s possible some of you may Petition to Authority to get me punished for my plainness with you as some of your Brethren have done in these daies against some poor people unto whom God hath more clearly manifested both his Justice and Mercy to their souls without your Ministry then ever he did to any soul under your Ministry And this maketh you all stark mad that God should do any thing in any soul but by you and so you both in Preaching and Petitions go about both to scandalize and persecute the truth of God and those souls in whom the truth is But this shall return upon you with shame and your own preaching and acting against the truth shall be your overthrow But friends I would not have you in the least to mistake me in what I write in general to you for no truth is so general but there may be some particular exception admitted in it so in this that I have written to you for though I express you all in general yet my charitie causeth me to admit of some particular exception of some amongst you in some respect for far be it from me to condemn the truth in any man or in any order if I can but perceive the least appearance thereof in any soul But that which I judge and condemn amongst you all is the illegal and unjust calling and coming into the Ministrie and your pride and covetousness in the Ministrie and the ignorance of the truth of God in the Ministrie and the great unknowing of God in the people as he ought to be known the which hath been the evil fruits and effects of your Ministrie I confess that many of you have wit and schollarship enough to maintain Argument with Papists and any other Formalists that differ in judgement with you and that many of you be able enough to take a sentence of Scripture and divide it into so many parts as the sence of speech will carry and so out of every part to raise out Doctrines and Uses Applications and Conclusions c. and so may beget a form of truth in some of your hearers and when this is done yet the power of truth is hid from you in your wise speaking and from them in their wise hearing For the power of the truth is one thing and the form of truth is another thing and the form of truth I know you hold out and may hold out by your wit and schollarship taught you in your Universities And this I know one man may teach another and as he is taught so may he speak yea and by the work of the brain may adde much to what hath been taught and yet for all this the heart is far enough from the enjoyment or partaking of the power of truth And where the power of truth is wanting in any of you though you have the form of truth yet are you none of those whom God calleth into the Ministrie but you shall one day be judged and condemned as theeves who came not in at the door but by some other way Though you put this off your selves and apply it to others whom the Lord hath raised of his own accord to speak what they know of God and have in some measure received the truth and can bear witness to the truth and by these your falshood becometh to be somewhat discovered And therefore great is your malice and envy against them but yet they shall increase and you shall decrease for the Lord will turn your skirts about your head and your nakedness and shame shall be discovered to all men I know that many amongst you who are envious fools and haters of the truth do jear and scoff at experienced men and speak evil of them behinde their back yet will fawn upon them to their face because they know these are too hard for them in matter of speaking of the truth as it is in Jesus and like beaten Cocks will hide their heads under the others wings and will assent to what they say because they cannot gain-say it but when their backs is turned then they will scandalize and speak evil of these persons and wrest their words to that which was never intended And when a pack of these fools is met together in their pots then do they strengthen the hands one of another and make their malicious scandals compleat and then goeth about to make the simple people beleeve that such and such men is perillous and erroneous persons and perswadeth them to take heed of them least they be seduced by them And thus do some of you seek to undermine the truth and the reason is because the truth will be their undoing But other amongst you I know is more witty and will not be so much against experienced men but perceiving that God owneth them they will not altogether speak against these as do the other but rather make use of their theevish art and steal some experiences from the mouth of others and can lay them up in their memories and make as much use of them as their own and speak of
confirmed and strengthened thus you have wrested the command of Christ herein to the end he never aymed it for for in this your doing you differ not from the Papists themselves in the substance of this thing only you differ in the circumstances and that is all for they pretend they eate the Body and Bloud of Christ substantially and by so doing they say they live in Christ and he liveth in them thereby and you say in this you eate him Spiritually and by so doing you live in him and he in you and that you have your faith much confirmed to you in this your act O poore blinded fooles you are herein misled by your blinde Priests for this is but one of their owne precepts by which they have undone you for they have played the Mountebankes with you herein and have made you beleeve lyes for truth for this your act doth not at all confirme your faith in case you have faith but I will tell you true what you have confirmed viz. conceit or fancy and no more I shall prove it true whether you will beleeve me or no for there is nothing that doth confirme faith but that same that giveth faith but no act of the Creature giveth or createth faith or maketh faith to grow in the heart of any man and the giving and receiving of Bread and Wine is but an act of the Creature which is within the compasse of its owne power to doe or not to doe this I thinke you will confesse and if this act had that vertue in it to give faith who would want faith but I thinke you are not yet so farre blinde as to say plainly that faith is given to any by vertue of this act but yet you may as well say that faith is given thereby as say that faith is confirmed thereby for the giving faith and confirming of faith is both from one and the same fountaine and God himselfe is the Giver of faith as you may see Eph. 2.8 then if God be the Giver of faith he is also the confirmer of it without the acts of the Creature and this truth the Apostle affirmeth to the Corinthians and thanketh God on their behalfe for the graces given them of him whereby the testimony of Jesus Christ was confirmed in them and that they waited for a further manifestation of Christ who should confirme them to the end that they might be kept blamelesse 1 Cor. 1.5 6 7 8 9. and as God in and by his Son Jesus is both the giver and confirmer of faith so by him he alwayes upholdeth the soule in faith whensoever it hath need of the operation of the same for he is both the beginning and the ending of faith yea the author and finisher of faith Heb. 12.2 And this the Disciples knew when they said Lord increase our faith Luke 17.5 And it was Christ himself that strengthned Peters faith Luke 22.32 By all which you may see plainly that the receiving of Bread and Wine is not faith confirmed strengthned or compleated for you are but in blindness in this your affirmation But I would have you to know wherein you are blinded if perhaps you might hereafter grope after the truth For though this your act be a command of Christ himself yet I would have you to know the minde of the Commander in the putting out of the command for he put not out this command thereby to detract from him what did belong to himself and in this you affirm you detract from him and give that to the acting in the command and herein you transgress But to tell you the minde of Christ in this command I would have you to take notice of his own words and let them not be wrested by your wit and you shall know that he gave out this command for no other thing but for a help of the weak memory of men who are very subject to forget the love of their dearest friends in a little time after they be departed from them yea your own experience will tell you the truth of this that after the death and departure of your dearest friends how that a very short time will wear the thoughts of them out of your memory And so some dear loving friend at his death will leave a Ring or some other token of love to his beloved friend or friends and bid him remember him when he looketh upon the same the which beholding doth raise or renew fresh thoughts of his deceased friend and so becometh the weak forgetful memory to be strengthned Even for this very end did Christ leave his Disciples that command that in the observing of the same they should keep him their dear loving Master still in their memory and think of him when his bodily presence was taken from them and that they in the remembring of him should think of his example of life and walk accordingly in all his other commands the which he had enjoyned them and in the keeping of these his commands they should be known to be his Disciples and should live in him and he in them and that they should have communion with him and the Father and likewise he tells them how the world would hate and persecute them and kill them with many other exhortations to them and commands given them before his departure after he had left them this love-token of remembrance as you may see in Luke 22.19 For Jesus knew after he was gone from them that they should have many temptations and tryals whereby they should be much troubled and therefore he would have them to keep him still in memory for if such things were done to the green Tree what would be done to the dry Trees Luke 23.31 But yet I know you may object and say that there is something more included in this command because of the act and the other words spoken by Christ when he gave out this command It is true for as in the time of the Law there was in their sacrifices things killed and offered which was Types of the first appearance of Christ in the Humane nature and the life of Christ in the Humane nature and the death of Christ in the Humane nature and the Resurrection of Christ c. So in this act of Christ there is a Type also in which there is something typified In which Type there is these things to be observed First The time Secondly The matter Thirdly The manner And fourthly The end First for the time It was at the very same time of the Jews Passoever which was to be kept in their generation until the death of Christ which Passoever was instituted before the death of the first-born in Egypt and this was the preservation of the children of Israel from that death so that where the blood of the Pascal Lamb was on the posts of the door there the destroyer had no power and by the slaying of the first-born in Egypt Pharaoh and his people was constrained to let
Israel go And this Passover was kept of the Jews for a memorial of what was done and at the very time of the Jews keeping this Passover it was that Jesus instituted this Type which Type holdeth out a more clear beholding of himself to the world then the other Type of the Passover did for that Type of the Jews Passover was but as a shadow whereby to know the substance and a shadow is but a dark representation of a thing and so this dark shadow was to be done away that the Image is a clearer representation of the substance then the shadow and yet both the shadow and the image are but representations of the substance the one more clearer then the other the darker done away and the clearer established And this was one reason why Christ instituted this Type or Image at that time that after he was departed the sons of men might have a more clear sight of him after his appearing in the flesh then they had before for then they lived under the shadow or dark representation but now under the Gospel we have the Image or clearer representation as you may see Heb. 11.1 Likewise at the time of the institution of this Passover God had a marvellous work to do viz. To bring the Israelites out of Egypt from under the bondage of Pharaoh and the Egyptians so at this very time of Christs instituting of this Type God had a wondrous work to do viz. To bring the souls of believers out of the captivity of the Devil Sin Death and Hell for after the death of the Paschal Lamb the first-born of Pharaoh and all Egypt were slain and so their proud hearts were made to stoop So by the death of Christ the first-born of the Devil viz. Sin was destroyed and Death and Hell conquered and so a way was made for all souls to come out of their captivity for sin is the first-born childe of the devil his beloved and his power and strength For this is a truth in nature that the first-born is the strength and power and dignity of the Parents as Jacob saith to Reuben his first-born Gen. 49.3 So sin being the first-born childe of the devil therein consisteth his power and strength and when this is slain then is he overcome and so death being the childe of sin loseth his power for as sin is the first-born of the devil so death is the first-born of sin for death is brought out by sin Jam. 1.15 And as death is the first born of sin so Hell is the first-born of death and alway follows its father Revel So all these first-born were to be destroyed by another first born and that was Jesus the first-born of God a Type of whom we have in the Levitical Law by the first-born of all things which should be called holy to the Lord Numb 3.13 And as this first born Son or Lamb of God overcame the Devil Sin Death and Hell by himself so that they had no power over him so by the same power he overcometh all these for those who are the true followers of him in his life and example obeying his commands and taking up his cross and bearing it to the very death those shall know the power and vertue of his life death and resurrection and shall live with him in the union of the Father and when he instituted this Type he would have them to remember this whensoever they would do the like Likewise as the first-born of Pharaoh and Egypt were slain so on the contrary the poeple of Israel was saved from the power of the destroyer by the efficacy of the blood of the Paschal Lamb where it was sprinkled upon the two side posts and the lintel of the gate viz. The Will the Understanding and the Conscience the Noble Faculties of the soul for as the two posts and the lintel do differ in their property yet in close joyning together they make but one so in their properties they may be distinguished but in unity they are not distinguishable And these three in their distinct properties being sprinkled by the blood of the Lamb the destroyer viz. the justice of God can have no power to enter to destroy any of the Inhabitants contained within the habitation of that minde viz. Faith Hope and Love c. In case that none of the Inhabitants went out of door beyond the sprinkled post and to the very same purpose our Saviour gave command to abide in him Joh. 15 4. for herein is the safety of the soul with all its affections c. And this blood of the Lamb being sprinkled upon the posts as before said is the mark or sign of Gods sanctification or setting that soul apart in the more noble parts until he have executed justice of and upon the world flesh and devil death sin and hell who have their habitation in the inferior parts of the soul viz. the sensuality and the reason and imagination which by their great power have kept the inhabitants of the noble part in bondage But to illustrate a little more the sprinkling of the two side posts and the lintel in their threefold property I will shew you how the Scripture in other places pointeth at them and first for the property of the one post and its sprinkling viz. the Conscience First for its property As the one post of the gate having hinges whereupon the one leaf of the gate is hung so that thereby it hath the glibness to open and shut so the Conscience hath two hinges viz. the outward teachings and the inward dictates of God upon which the one leaf of the gate hangeth viz. the fear of God And the understanding as the other post hath other two hinges on which the other leaf hangeth and these two hinges is true wisdom and right knowledge upon which the other leaf hangeth viz. the pure desire of God and these two leaves being close shut and safely kept together the adversary hath less power to enter But these two posts are not fit for the bearing of the two leaves of the gate until the lintel couple them together So neither the Conscience nor the Understanding can be suitable for carrying the fear and desire of God in their right order until the will with its property yeilding obedience in its ghostly acting bee conjoyned to both and so when all their threefold properties meet in union then are the two leaves of the gate hung in right order Now to come to the sprinkling of the first side post viz. the Conscience As for Conscience before it be sprinkled with the blood of the Lamb it is but the leader of men into error as well as into truth as may be seen in the Apostle who by and through the leading thereof persecuted the Saints And likewise the Scribes and Pharisees that put Christ to death and though man have never so much zeal for God yet his conscience not struck or sprinkled all his works is but sin and dead
speaking only of the time when Christ instituted this Type so I will goe on a little and speake a word of the matter in this Type As for the matter you know it was the elementary things viz. Bread and Wine and the Bread was such as the Passeover was kept with viz. unleavened Bread which was not made by Art or had any mixture of bitternesse or sournesse in it but had all the sweetnesse that the nature of the graine afforded as for Bread it is to be understood in its originall community and properties First for the Originall it is of the vigour and vertuall strength of the earth which doth give and communicate it self into the Grain cast into it whereby the same receiveth life and so is brought out and brought on still to its maturity and fitnesse for the use of man Secondly for its community as the Grain by being cast into the earth and lying in the wombe thereof the earth communicateth its vigour and strength into it so the Bread being cast into the stomack it doth communicate the same vigour received from the earth into the corporality of the fleshly substance of man and so by way of communication the body hath its support from its originall viz. the earth And Thirdly the properties of Bread is to give life and strength and keep away weaknesse and death from the body and this Bread Christ made choyse of to typifie what was the vertue of himselfe and therefore he said by way of Metaphor This is my Body c. Now the Body of Christ typified by Bread was not that corporall Body which was then visible amongst them neither was it that Body that he bad them eate for that corporall Body of Christ it selfe was but a Type and whatsoever he acted or suffered in that Body were al typical having them a in spirituall signification and Christ himselfe witnesseth the truth when he said he would give the Disciples his Flesh to eate which saying was a stumbling block to many that heard him which when he perceived he told them plainly That his Flesh viz. his corporall Body did not profit but it was the Spirit that quickeneth and that the words he spake they were spirit and life Ioh. 6.63 So here is to be understood Christ in the Spirituall substance and not in the Corporal and this Spirituall substance is the Divine Nature which hath in it selfe these things typified by the Bread viz. it s originall from the Father and of the same nature and substance with him oned with him in unity as the Graine is one with the earth and of the same nature and substance not differing in community but they differ in matter and likenesse in the coporality so Christ and the Father are distinct in respect of the matter and likenesse in the corporality viz. the Flesh while he lives in it but did not differ from the Father in union as himselfe faith Ioh. 14.11 which unity consisteth of the originall communion in the eternal substantiality of the being of God and from the eternall substantiall and essentiall being or Divine nature proceedeth these properties held out to us by the Bread viz. to strengthen and give life and to keep weaknesse and death from the soules of those who have the Divine nature in them and such soules by the community and vertue of the same nature become incorporated into the union of the Father and these Souls by the properties of the Divine nature or Spirit brought into the same substance of its originall and receiveth all its vertue and nutriment from the same as the branch doth from the Vine Ioh. 15.1 2 3. and as that Bread had no Leaven mixed in it so the Divine nature hath no mixture in it but what is in it selfe and will not admit of any Leaven viz. any of the Creatures Art Wisdome Righteousnesse c. and this was the Leaven Christ bad his Disciples beware of Matth. 16 6. and the Soules of men becometh to be made partakers of the Divine nature by way of pure beleeving which ariseth out of the operation of Divine nature it selfe and not out of the observation of the Type for that is but Historicall and looketh upon Christ in the Human Nature and this is but the faith of Hypocrites and that will perish Iob 8.13 but the faith which is of the operation of the Divine nature is that which overcometh the world 1 Ioh. and by it the soule liveth and abideth in the Divine nature it selfe and thereof is made partaker and in this respect the Divine nature typified by Christs flesh becometh to be meat indeed Io. 6. and this would Christ have his followers to know and live in and thus would he have them to discerne him and understand his saying and what he meant when he said This is my Body c. and because the Corinthians were blinde in the mysterie therefore the Apostle Paul blamed them much and giveth them a caveat of the unworthy and not right eating of that Bread c. and how that not right eating did indanger them much because they in their eating did not discerne the Lords Body 1 Cor. 11.29 Likewise for the other Elementary matter viz. Wine its originall is from the earth which giveth life and nutriment to the Vine whereby the fruit is brought out to maturity out of which the Wine is produced and the properties of the Wine is Paysicall purifying and refreshing being seasonably taken but on the contrary it is damageable and hurtfull and this fruit of the Vine Christ used in this Type because of the sympathizing properties thereof with the properties of his owne Blood now the Blood of Christ is to be understood in a twofold sence viz. Typicall and Spirituall typicall in the blood of the corporall flesh which was shed or let out upon the Crosse but in this his corporall Blood was no more vertue then was in the corporall flesh and that profiteth nothing being but a Type but that Blood which is saving is spirituall issuing out of the Divine nature of Christ and that is his love and this love is the life of Christ and blood signifieth life as you may see Gen. 9.4 5. and this blood or love of Christ which proceedeth or is shed out of the Divine nature of his spirituall substance hath these properties in it viz. Physicall purifying and refreshing first Physicall for those soules who have had the same issuing out of the Divine nature into them knoweth that they have been recovered of divers Diseases by the same which diseases is the bitter tormentings of the guilty Conscience who keepeth the Soule in great paine under the lashes of Justice and under the shadow of death and under the bondage of the Devill and under the paine of Hell all these being of power to torment while the hand writing of Ordinances is unblotted by the same blood or love of Christ and those soules who are Soule-sick under these stands in need of
out or darting it self into each several soul typified to them by that form of breaking the bread Then he gave the same to them that they might eat it and told them in a mystical sence that it was his body that was broken for them as is partly shewed before And this form in the Type instituted had a sympathizing with and to that Type of his corporal body ready to be sacrificed and rent in peeces upon the cross till its coporal life was taken from it which holdeth out the renting to peeces the body of sin in us and the death of the same upon the cross of self-denial which is holden out by the form and manner of eating eating signifieth brusing or suffering being typified by the bitter herbs in eating the Paschal Lamb For as eating bruiseth and maketh the thing eaten to be fit for digestion whereby the same is turned into the same substance of flesh So afflictions and sufferings maketh us partakers with Christ and of Christ and to drink of the same Cup and to be baptized with him into his death and by the vertue thereof the body of sin becometh destroyed Rom. 6.2 3 4. And this Christ would have them to know when he commanded them to eat that bread that as in eating it they bruised it in peeces so it was that body of sin in them that was the cause why the justice of his Father bruised and brake his corporal Body and to be avenged of that body of sin in them he would make them partakers of the Divine Nature and that was by way of suffering whereby that body of sin should be destroyed And that in these afflictions the pure believing might be raised in the soul that thereby the Divine Nature might be made suitable for digestion and so turned into the nature of the soul and the soul into its nature by vertue of the blood or love of the same nature that so he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified may be one Heb. 2.11 Likewise the manner or form in this Type was further viz. in taking the Cup and giving of thanks and bidding them drink it c. As for giving thanks it is a well-pleasingness in the soul with what God doth or will do with it and a free submitting to the Fathers will wherein his goodness is made manifested whereat and wherein the soul rejoyceth under any affliction and so it was that Christ rejoyced in what was the will of his Father and in obedience to his will he was willing to lay down his life and by this he shewed to his Disciples what he would have them to do when like afflictions should betide them and those who were his followers in whom the Divine Nature was livingly felt and by its vertue had dashed in peeces the body of sin and by the blood of that nature viz Love these souls was incorporated into the same nature these followed the same example and in suffering could be well pleased witness hereof is the Apostle Paul where he saith Who shall separate us from the love of Christ shall tribulation or distress c. Now in all these things we are more then conquerors c. Rom. 8.34 35 36 c. And further Christ told his Disciples that that Cup was the Blood of the New Testament which was shed for many c. in which typical saying was signified the establishing of the second Covenant promised before of his Father by the Prophet Jeremiah where he saith Behold the day cometh saith the Lord that I will make a new Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Jacob c. And I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people c. Iere. 31.31 32 33 c. Which promise our Saviour came to fulfil and at this time instituted this Type giving out the truth thereof in this his mystical saying and the compleat fulfilling hereof is in the souls of those who be incorporated into the Divine Nature whereby they become to have that law of God viz. The righteousness of God which righteousness is Christ or the Divine Nature stamped upon their hearts by which they know the truth of God in that Covenant and doth set to their seal that God is true Ioh. 3.33 And by the power and vertue of the same they are taught to know the truth and needeth not that any teach them because the same anointing in them teacheth them all things 1 Ioh. 2.27 And thus are these souls made to own God for their God and live in the love and life of him united to him by the vertue of this Covenant and so becoming his people owned by him and wholly set apart for himself in and through the sanctification of himself by his own Spirit But what might be said more upon this particular in the manner of this Type I let pass because somewhat that might be said is somewhat touched before in speaking of the material things in this Type and I would not too much over-load weak understandings with too much speaking of things that be too hard and heavy for them So I proceed to speak a word of the end in this Type for which Christ instituted it which was for this very purpose viz. That now when the time of his departure was at hand and that his bodily presence was to be taken away from the world therefore he would not leave the sons of men without some rememberance of himself and what he had said unto them the which he would have them to take notice of when he was gone and that his suffering should be kept still in minde and though the Type of his own Body should not abide amongst them yet he would leave them another Type instead of that whereby they should still be put in minde of him And this was to be to them as a glimpse of light shining in a dark place until the Sun it self arose and became as a light that shineth more and more until the perfect day and that while the sons of men were in their weakness before they were brought into the pure and perfect knowledge and full enjoyment of himself in the Divine Nature this was left to be as a mark in the way least by forgetfulness men might happily step out of their way in following him to the death of the Crosse and that was the chiesest thing which hee commanded and would have them to remember and Christ left not this Type only but he made to them who were his followers a promise of sending the Spirit to them who when he came should bring all that he had said into their remembrance Jo. 14.26 and this death of Christ in the corporall Flesh was still set before the eyes of those who were his dearest friends and truest followers and it was the thing they still pressed after to see how neare they could come to follow Christ
and contained within the New Covenant of Grace And thus in your deceit do you live being deceived and deceiving one another And you are as blinde in what you observe as those that never had eyes to see the Sun and yet by relation of others can believe there is a Sun So you hear by Scripture and Relation there is a God and so beleeves there is a God but yet the Son of God you never saw for as yet your eyes is fast-closed or if some amongst you have a little sight it is but a dark glimpse of the Son of God in these Ordinances and that dark glimpse you have is but of Christ as he was in the flesh and not as he is in the Divine Nature but as the mystery is that you think you see Christ or the Truth of God clearly in these Ordinances and because you say you see therefore your sin remaineth John 9.41 But I know you may object and say That Saint Peter in his first Epistle Chap. 3.2 saith that Baptism saves now under the Gospel It is true he saith so in a figurative speech resembling Baptism to the Water of the Flood which saved some when all the rest was drowned in the same but how did the water save some and drowned others it was not the water it selfe that saved but the Arke and it was not the Arke could save but the living and abiding in the Arke and the water and the Arke together did save the persons in the Arke for though the Apostle say that these persons were saved by water how was it that they were saved by water seeing it was water that would have destroyed them as well as the rest and yet the same water saved from the destruction of it selfe I will tell you how the water saved the Persons from its owne destruction even by its weaknesse it had to save and the nature of it being knowne to be destroying to them that should be overtaken with it from whence the knowledge of the Persons directed them into the Arke and thus was the water an instrument by causing feare to arise in the Persons by which feare they pressed into the Arke wherein they were saved for the water saved as it was an instrument to drive the Persons into the Arke but the Arke it selfe was the chief cause of their saving by their abiding in it and so the Apostle resembleth Baptisme to it with the thing signified viz. the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Dead for as the water saved as beforesaid from the destruction of it selfe so doth Baptisme as an instrument save all those who know the weaknesse of that type and from the knowledge of the weaknesse of it fearing to be destroyed by abiding in it thereby the soule is led from depending on it and so runneth into the Arke viz. into the death of Christ by the crosse of self-deniall and so into the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead viz. not to looke at Christ in the flesh but in the Divine nature by the power of which the soule is compassed about and saved from the danger of all things acted or created and thus farre Baptisme saveth so farre as the weaknesse of it is knowne and the danger in it manifested and so becometh instrumentall to direct and drive the soule out of it selfe into the thing signified but as the water destroyed all that abode in it without the Arke even so doth Baptisme destroy all soules who live in the forme or type thereof and yet is not inclosed about or incorporated into the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ and abideth in him according as he is in the Divine nature and as the persons could not be saved if they kept not in the Arke no more can any foule be safe but as it abideth in the Divine nature as the branch in the Vine Jo. 15.1 2. But I say no more at present of this type of Baptisme because it may be you shall heare somewhat more of it afterwards and I hope by what is said you may partly understand your errour in your foolish conclusions upon it and not to be deceived by the false lying spirit of your blinde Priests so I proceed to speake a word of another principle in your Religion viz. Prayer Now as for Prayer I know there be many commands in Scripture for it and many examples also but for set times and set formes and in prayer you have none according as you use it As for the times of prayer which you use viz. usually evening and morning you have neither command nor example in Scripture but only this you follow by tradition and being led to observe the same by your good thinking and the obligation of your blinded Conscience being wrong informed by the Doctors of errour who limit the holy one of Israel and circumscribe him in a place and draweth formes and Images of him according to their fancy and imagination and so have framed a fantasticall or imaginary worship to him and in that fantastick way have learned to call upon him and so have set out to your selves these set times at which times you can call upon your imaginary God that he will heare your fained prayers and forgive you your conceited sin and supply the imaginary want of your soules and likewise you can praise him for his imaginary mercies bestowed upon your soules and adding to these a great deale of other hypocriticall repetitions to fill up your houre and when that is done then all is well with you and then heart goe whether thou wilt with thy affections for holy duty it is performed and so by this meanes your hearts is let out to goe a whoring all the day long and seeketh fellowship and communion with and in created things and so your thoughts fears cares lover and desires is carried after your chiefe God viz. the world or something contained in it for it being your treasure it hath your heart for where the treasure is there is your heart Mat. 6.21 and looke what hath most of your thoughts that is your god and if you look into your selves you shall finde that the Creature hath more of your thoughts then that God you prayed to in the morning but it mattereth not what your hearts be about all the day long for you have that at command which will cure all and that is your evening sacrifice and duty of prayer and from hence it is that you by your chosen times for prayer have become ignorant of the ground of prayer and having forsaken the ground of prayer and chusing to your selves a set time for prayer the contrary effects is produced viz. prayer proceeding from the right ground is a meane whereby sin is kept from the heart and affections and the heart with the affections is kept from sin but when the ground is changed into set times thereby the heart with the affections getteth liberty to sinne and the creature hath freedome to enter
seat viz. to read the Law to the people and to offer the gifts and sacrifices and had the worke of ministring in the Temple they were all of the Tribe of Levi and were they good men or bad men that were of that Line they were to have that office by succession and none other as you may see Numb 8.14 And so long as the Law of Ordinances was in force Christ would have them observed because they all were shadowes of and pointed at himselfe and the reading of the Law could not be heard but by the Scribes who were of the Tribe of Levi and as Christ was in the flesh the Law was not ended neither the succession of the Ministers and as the ceremoniall Law did hold out Christ mystically so Christ bare witnesse to the truth of the Law ceremonially and what was an Ordinance of God and that Ordinance being in force that would Christ have observed and in this case he bad the Lepers goe and shew themselves to the Priests and offer to them what the Law required for their being clensed Luke 17.14 and in this case he caused Peter to pay tribute to Caesar and he came not to destroy the Law but to fulfill it Mat. 5.7 and as yet he had not fulfilled the ceremoniall for that was fulfilled by his death but the Ordinance of Circumcision he had fulfilled in being circumcised himselfe and the Law of the Commandement he had fulfilled in that he had not sinned and all those things contained in the Ordinances he would have all the people to observe to the utmost untill the time that all should be fulfilled by his Death and Resurrection and the Priests of the Law was still to be heard in reading and giving out admonitions according to its requiring as Moses oft times did unto the people in his dayes But now the Ministers of the Gospel hath not the same calling into the Ministery as we may see by Christ himselfe for he chused not any of the Tribe of Levi to be promulgaters of the Gospel neither any great learned men but a few weake silly unlettered men and from that time forward those who were to be Ministers of the Gospel had not their calling either by succession or by greatnesse of Schollership but those was to be the Ministers who was called of God and who had received the gift of the Holy Ghost and who had partaken of the Divine nature by which they had fellowship with the Father and the Sonne and had the Mysteries of God made knowne to them and manifested in them And what they had heard and seene that they declared to others 1 Jo. 1.1 2. and these have learned the voyce of Christ and these can speake with the voyce of Christ and none other knoweth his voyce and whosoever cometh to the Ministery otherwise they are but Theeves and there is no ingagement upon any to heare them but rather to refraine from them For as for the Scribes it is evident in Scripture they had their calling into the Priesthood by Gods owne appointment and so by his appointment they were to have it by succession whether they were upright men or not as is aforesaid but for your Priests they cannot plead succession neither can they shew any calling they have at all but what was ordained by men and so they are no more but Ministers made and sent out by men and therefore as they are but the Ministers of men you have no command to heare them And as they want the calling of and by God the which the Scribes and Pharisees had that saying of Christs doth nothing belong to you either by command or example whereby you are at all ingaged to heare those your unsent Priests But if any of them can prove it that God commanded to make Universities and that those whom hee would chuse to speake in his name and declare his will and minde unto others should be put so many yeares to that University and then to be confirmed by a Bishop or a Presbytery and then should they be fit men for his worke I say if any of them can prove this though they be never so wicked I would have you to heare them if they speake any thing that were but like truth but this I know they cannot prove and therefore as they have no calling of God you ought not to heare them for in hearing them you countenance them and uphold them contrary to the minde and will of God and for your rebelling against God in this very thing God bringeth the curses of these your Priests upon your selves viz. the erring from the truth of God and hereby you are in danger to fall into the ditch with them and this is like to be all that you shall receive of God for this your pretended zeale and Ignorant performing of this your holy duty of hearing Gods Ministers as you call them I could have run thorow all your holy duties and performances which you observe upon which you have stated your religion and could have proved them of like nature as these I have already touched but I let them passe at present and wish you to judge the rest by those that have been spoken of and I make no doubt but you shall finde them all but Priests precepts and you may assure your selves if the fountaine be corrupt all the streames will prove uncleane And this my Message received from the Lord I here declare and deliver unto you and whether you will heare it or not it is nothing to me since I have done what I ought to doe and in case they have had the persecuting hand but you for want of that case that any amongst you doe beleeve what here is said and so desireth further knowledge of the way of God I know you shall not want what you desire but if any amongst you shall slight or neglect what here is presented to you I know the same will be as a witnesse against you and that you shall have nothing to plead against God for matter of ignorance seeing you had a warning from him of your folly and blindnesse A word to those who are called Independents I Know if any of you who are of the Church-fellowship of the Independant order shall happen to see these former lines presented to the order of the Presbyterians you will conclude that I have not spoken amisse in what I have declared to them both in speaking to their Priests and to the People for I know many of you have the same both in your thoughts and oft times in your words and knowing how they are blinded in some of their formes that hath caused you to differ and dissent from them in some things and so in those things you differ from them you judge them in feriour to you and so ariseth so many jarres betwixt them and you about your formes and yet if you knew but the truth as it is in Jesus and from the knowledge of the truth
is in the Divine nature and the reason is because that the faith according to Christ in the flesh doth not take away lust out of the heart but rather conformeth the heart to lust and lust to the heart and lust is lovely to the heart and the operation of the Divine nature or faith issuing out of and from the Divine nature it killeth lust in the heart and draweth the heart with all its affections into the right center and from hence it is that many in their forms fal short of that which is the true center and becometh enemies of Christ and yet none preach Christ nor pretend Christ more then those but can you who are so compleatly congregated people thinke that you be any such as be the enemies of Christ I doubt you will hardly beleeve it but let me tell you in plaine termes you had best beware lest you be found in the number of such for whosoever are enemies to the Crosse of Christ shall be found enemies to Christ but I feare you doe not rightly understand what the Crosse of Christ is and then how should you be friends to it for I assure you none knoweth the Crosse of Christ but those who be rightly incorporated into the Divine nature and that is not an incorporating in Kirk-fellowship as you call it and while you are bound up in that incorporating I may upon safe grounds conclude that you as yet know not what the Crosse signifieth But it may be that some amongst you would know what I meane by the Crosse of Christ and would heare my opinion of the same for I know this is a time wherein man is addicted to heare new things but yet I have not any new thing to tell you for what I have to say to you is no more but such old tales as hath formerly been told both by Christ and his true follower but when the following of Christ ceased then the old sayings and tales which was formerly told grew out of fashion and new sayings and wise sayings and learned sayings and studied fictions being new became to be in request But to answer what some of you may desire I will bring old sayings to explaine the truth hereof to you and these shall be the saying of the Apostle Paul who oft insisted upon this very subject viz. the Crosse of Christ but this was not the wooden Crosse upon the which the Body of Christ was crucified that was a type indeed of the other Crosse spoken of by the Apostle and in respect of the reference the one had to the other made the Apostle use that Metaphorical speech in sufferings for suffering is this Crosse and by suffering we have fellowship with Christ and beare him company but what suffering is it that maketh man have fellowship with Christ and rightly may bee called the Crosse it is the daily selfe-deniall of our owne hearts with the inclinations thoughts loves and desires which is daily tending and bending downe to the creature in one kinde or other and the creature with its objects arising to meet the affections to carry them after them from the living and abiding in God as he is a Spirit and in Christ as he is in the Divine nature or the union of the Father and in that union of the Father and the Son to keep the heart with its affections that so the fellowship of the Father and the Son may daily be the fellowship of our hearts and this is that which ought to be the center of all hearts without which there can be no happinesse in any forme yea this leadeth the heart out of centering in formes and this was that which the Apostle would have those whom he wrote to to injoy and for that end he declared the truth as it was in Jesus that so they might have fellowship with them who were partakers of the truth and hee affirmeth that their fellowship was with the Father and the Sonne 1 Jo. 1.2 3. And where the heart is rightly called and rightly carried on in the way of Christ and those who were his followers they rest not in Formes and Kirk-fellowships for they finde in themselves other matters to goe about and that is to presse after the fellowship of the Father and the Sonne and their longing empty mourning spirit is not nor cannot be content with any thing below that fellowship and out of the great desire hereof the soule is set at varience with all created things or whatsoever may interpose or keep back the Spirit from that which is the object of its desire and when by pure inlightening the pure beleeving is fixed in the will or heart then I beleeve there will be suffering in the daily striving to keep the created object from the heart and the heart from the creature by objects and then shall appeare and be made manifest that which never did appeare before even the great body of sin and selfnesse which of necessity must be destroyed and crucified and made as dead as the Body of Jesus when it hung dead upon the Crosse of wood and this daily withstanding the body of sin in the heart and affections is the Crosse upon which the body of sin must be crucified for this body of sin or this selfnesse in the heart must dye or the soule must dye instead of it and it is not a few daily duties or being incorporated into a congregated way that will destroy it no no for this body of sin and selfnesse is of another nature then so for it will cost man the best blood in him before it be subdued and the Apostle who knew the evill of it and the necessity of having it crucified could not rejoyce in any thing more then in the Crosse of Christ by which hee was crucified to the world and the world to him Gal. 6.14 and by this daily denying of the out-goings of the heart into the creature and the incoming of the creature into the heart man becometh planted into the likenesse of Christs death without which none can be partaker of his resurrection Rom. 4.5 and being baptised into the death of Christ by way of suffering in the selfe deniall the body of sin is destroyed or the old man crucified Rom. 6.6 and the Apostle counted but all things dung and drosse in comparison of knowing Christ in this manner and to be found in him and to know the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering and a conformity to his death if by any meanes he might attaine to the resurrection of the dead Phil. 3.10 11 c. this was the marke he aymed at to which he walked by the rule of the suffering and example of Christ and in obedience to his commande which most was for selfe deniall he pressed hard after him in the way of his suffering that so nothing that was of selfe might live in him yea when he found that selfe got life and food by way of consolation then was
requirings of the same And in all the time of the dispensation under the Law the whole Deity was named by the name of God or Father but when the fulnesse of time was come that God would appeare in a dispensation more cleare by which the Sonnes of men might the better know him then it was that the God-head in its properties divided it selfe and united it selfe to Flesh and so became the distinction in the God-head but yet the Godhead was the same it was before in the unity and in this new dispensation John Baptist begun the second Baptism in which he bare witnesse to the truth of the distinct property of God the Father viz. Christ or the Son of God and that hee was the Lamb of God which tooke away the sins of the world Jo. 1.29 And as Moses was the Messenger of God sent by him to declare his whole name or the whole God-head in his name unto the people when he would deliver them out of the Aegyptians bondage in the time of the first Baptisme so John the Baptist was his second Messenger sent by him to declare and beare witnesse of the distinct property of God and to shew to the people the name and worke of God in that distinct property viz. Christ the Son of God And as God did appeare more neare to manifest himselfe to men in his Son so the office of Iohn was to bring men out of and from under that darke dispensation under the Mosaicall observations into a more neare conformity and cleare beholding of God in that present dispensation under the Sonne and for this very purpose both the preaching and acting of Iohn tended to which God himselfe gave testimony also in the act of Iohns Baptisme by the appearance of another of his distinct properties viz. the Holy Ghost Mat. 3. and from hence it was that the name of the Sonne was added to the name of the Father and as the whole God-head stood in one name in the former dispensation and in making that name knowne and in giving out Lawes and Ordinances to be observed in that name in which the Covenant of workes was in force that name was terrible insomuch that the people could not abide to heare God speake to them yea Moses himselfe feared that great Majesty and quaked exceedingly Heb. 12.21 But when the God-head had in its property divided it self into the second dispensation into the property of Christ and so the second name of the Sonne being to be declared that name was Love and Peace and God with us Mat. 1.23 or God well pleased and reconciled to us And the Baptisme of Iohn it was called the Baptisme of repentance Acts 13.24 in which is included sorrow and departing or forsaking of something or a dying to something and to close with or to live in another thing and that was a forsaking or dying or departing from the former observations wherein they lived under the first Covenant of workes and to close with and live to the second appearance of God in that present dispensation wherein he would shew himselfe in a more quiet and peaceable manner then he had shewed himselfe in the former And John who made the way for and pointed at Christ as he was in the flesh he likewise bare witnesse of and fore-told what Christ would doe in the spirit viz. Baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire c. Mat. 3.11 and the beginning of this Baptisme was after the death resurrection and ascension of Christ as may be seen in Acts 2.2 3 c. now this third Baptisme was more excellent then the two former and this was the Baptisme of Christ by the out-pouring of the Holy Ghost and the worke and operation of this Baptisme is to burne up consume or destroy all the remainder of what was left by the other two former Baptismes and likewise to comfort and establish and make to live in a more safe and sure union of the thing closed with and from hence the third name is added to the two former and thus the whole God-head in its properties divided it selfe into the three names viz. Father Son and Holy Ghost and in these three names or into these three names was all persons to be Baptised and Christ gave out his command to the very same purpose Mat. 28.19 And as these three-fold Baptismes did accord with the three-fold names in time operation and effect in the outward manifestation in order one following or succeeding another so they held out or typified the inward and spiritual succeeding one another and this inward worke and effect of these three names and Baptismes is that whereby and wherein the life and happinesse of all soules consist in having the same compleatly fulfilled in them And as I have given a little hint of the outward names and Baptisms in their times and dispensations succeeding one another so I proceed to speake a word of that which is the chiefe worke effect and end of all these in their inward or spirituall order of succeeding Therefore observe the Mystery of the first Baptisme or the Baptizing into the first name Father in the first dispensation under the Law as God in his orderly proceeding calleth and manifesteth himselfe to us Now when the Lord God would deliver the children of Israel out of Aegypt from under the bondage of Pharaoh and the Aegyptians and to make his name knowne to the people as the whole Deity stood in the one name so his name was made known to them in a wonderful and terrible manner as is before said So it is with us when God beginneth to draw our soules out of Aegypt and Pharoah and the Aegyptians bondage viz. the outward or grosse actings in which the Devill and our Lusts have kept us in bondage amongst the sonnes of men in their common condition living in the world and this God doth by the manifesting of his great and terrible name in the first worke of the soule whereby the soule becometh roused up and made to stirre and look about it selfe and to consider in what bondage it is by being so grosly carried out into the disobedience of the requirings of the commands of God and from hence it is that God appeareth in the terriblenesse of the condemning property of the soule viz. Conscience and maketh his wonderfull workes aad wrathfull displeasure knowne in the corruptible parts of man which keepeth the spirit in under its captivity and this God doth by the hand of his servant Moses viz. by sending the Law of Commandment out and setting it home to the heart and yet how loath is the Devill who hath his Kingdome in the inferiour parts of the soule to let the spirit of man goe out of his captivity from serving him and his people viz. grosse sins and outward transgressions and from eating of his Onions and Garlick viz. in having complacence in those sins and the love of the fellowship of the men of the world and eating of their