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
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
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
confirm him in his present condition likewise he shall be made to know how secretly he limitted God to those his Gospel Forms and how he secretly hated and envied all other who had Christ truly manifested in their souls and how he could have persecuted them if occasion had served because such went about to overthrow this foundation And then shall he see how his heart is in love with created things and how farre short his soule is from the true partaking of the love of God though he conceited he had knowne the same formerly and then shall he see the great vaile spread over his heart which keepeth the heart from God and God from the heart and then shall he see sin out of measure sinful and shall have cause to say O Wretched man that I am c. Rom. 7. And so it is that the soule becometh to enter into the operation of the second Baptisme whereunder it suffereth much woe and want in respect of the body of sin it feeleth alive in the inferiour parts of the soule and likewise knowing how the Son of God viz Jesus Christ as yet hath never been truly manifested to the more noble parts thereof and so as yet the soule is but in the Wildernesse in which the voyce of the Cryer is continually crying and calling Prepare prepare the way of the Lord c. and the soule in obedience to that cry doth turne it selfe wholly to seek the love of God to be made knowne to it in the second distinct property viz. the powerfull and lovely and peaceable appearing of Jesus the Son of God and to make his name knowne in the powerfull and mercifull delivering of the soule from under that present evill of it selfe by which it is so carried captive oft times into the prisons of Hell and Death And when the soul is thus brought to understand the Baptism of Iohn then it is that faith beginneth to be purely operative and not before for now faith hath its ground-work laid in the heart and before it was but in the head and from what part it hath its ground so doth it worke and this faith grounded in the heart doth carry out the soule into seeking of the vertue of the Blood of Christ in the Divine nature and so is made willing thereby to wait for the out-pouring or shedding abroad of the same to cleanse and wash away that sin and Self that doth so defile it and likewise this faith doth so clearly carry out the soule from the desire of things created that it standeth in opposition against them when they peirce or present themselves into the soule likewise by the power of this faith man is made to see the emptinesse of all formes and duties the which it hath so much doted on before and likewise it maketh the soule truly know wherein its true life consisteth and nothing is desired in comparison of that which is the true life thereof from whence it cometh to passe that this soul stands at variance with every thing which keepeth it back from the enjoyment of its life And in this manner the Ax is laid to the root of the tree viz. The sharp cutting part or the Law in its inward and spiritual requirings whereby the bole of sin becometh cut down viz. The strength of desire love care or fear of or to any thing below the love and life of the Son of God becometh cut down and cast into the fire viz. into the anger of God by which they become burned and consumed But yet it cannot be truly said that anger is in God whereby he can be made to change or to suffer for anger and love is both the same in the essence of God and that which is love in God the same is anger in us and it is the love of God that maketh us feel his anger by reason of the sin that the love meeteth with in us and so by reason of that love of God in us and that sin it meeteth with in us the suffering is produced which we feel and that suffering is called the anger of God And thus we are rightly to judge of the anger of God But now the soul being brought into this suffering way or plunging condition under the baptism of John or spiritual cutting of the Law wherein the abomination that maketh desolate beginneth to appear then groweth such a soul to sink down into great humility and in patience waiteth for the appearing of the Son of God who must in the manifesting of his Name restore peace and give comfort and deliver the soul out of that great desolation made in it by reason of the great abomination And so it is that when the soul is rightly prepared by the second baptism of John then in his own time and place the name of the Son becometh manifested in that soul and the Lord whom it hath sought doth come into his temple Mal. 3.2 And then it is that the vertue of the name of the Son of God becometh powerful in delivering the soul out of that desolate wilderness from amongst the enemies that it found there and those lusts that led it captive is become captived and the shadow of death is dissipated and the garment of mourning is cast off and the soul cloathed in the garment of praise and then the soul can rejoyce and rightly sing Hallelujah to him that hath done these things for it And thus it is that God in the second appearance in the distinct property becometh to be known in a more sweet and loving and peaceable manner then he was known in the first Name before the Godhead had divided it self as is before said And thus Moses in the first dispensation under the Covenant of works by his baptism reached out the soul to John and John in the second dispensation led out the soul to Christ and so the soul can truly witness the Name of the Father and the Son I would have enlarged more upon the baptism of John but that I have already spoken something thereof in a little Treatise called The Anti-god with his threefold attributes discovered in the out-side religious man and in that you may see something which is needful to be known the which I have omitted here But now I proceed and speak a word of the third Baptism viz. The Baptism of the Holy Ghost and this is that which is more excellent then the other two former because of its time operation and effect of which I shall speak hereafter And this baptism was witnessed by John Baptist himself when he gave testimony of Christ who was to be the Minister of this Baptism and told the people that he that was to come after him c. should baptize them with the Holy Ghost and with fire whose fan is in his hand c. Matth. 3. And what John Baptist did witness herein the same had he received of the Father who sent him both to baptise and bear witness of Christ that
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