A TESTIMONY TO THE TRUE JESUS And the Faith of him Wherein the Way of the People called QUAKERS is in Meekness and righteousness summed and weighed First in a General Examen of their spirit and chief Principles after in a particular reveiw of the same as it is distinctly set forth in a book of theirs called Love to the Lost Wherein are many things useful for the discerning of Spirits in this hour of darkness and temptation By T. HIGGENSON LONDON Printed for Thomas Brewster at the three Bibles near the West end of Pauls 1656. A Testimony to the True JESUS and the Faith of Him COncerning the People called Quakers and that way a sum of their faith profession is come forth signed by James Naylor who seems to be cheif whereby having obtained through Grace a more perfect understanding of them then I had before his Trumpet giving a more certain sound than others had done and having observed that Spirit to shew it self therein with more nakedness and less covering at least to me than at other times I shall in righteousness and love to them and others present a veiw thereof according to the same form and visage it there presents it self under The ground of my appearing herein is not any interest I have in Court or Clergy from both whom I stand at a distance so farre as they appear at a distance from Christ and his work not any zeal I have to any form or way of worship cryed down by this people my heart is knit to all the Lords people from the Priest to the darkest forms though I am not joyned to them outwardly in the letter nor that I am ignorant or a stranger to spiritual mysteries or inward truths at least in part touching which I may say that my thoughts and zeal for Christ within have abounded so above the thoughts I had of his bloud without that I account it infinite mercy I am not at this day in unity with that Spirit that makes the death of Christ of none effect instead of this my appearing against it but my ground is this that I might bear some testimony to the blessed Mystery of Christ crucified and against this or any people so farre as they appear against it and that according to my measure I might set forth and justifie the harmony that is between the perfect Redemption in Christ for 〈◊〉 and the Revelation of him in us which two have been 〈◊〉 the Mystery of Iniquity divided and set up one against the other the first against the last by men zealous for the dead faith of Christ without against his Spirit and the last against the first by men pretending to the Mystery of Christ in them against the Redemption in Christ for them The Law was given by Moses in darkness blackness and tempests and with loud noises but Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ in a still and meek way no cry nor voyce to be heard in the streets like as it was then so will it be now if the loud noises of the Commandment and Condemnation by Moses be brought in again the still voyce of Reconciliation and Peace by Christ may not be heard as to many The Law was given by him that spake on Earth commanding things to be done by men in the flesh the Gospel by him that spake from Heaven revealing our Righteousness already wrought in the Lord himself as many as are not ignorant of Sathans devices doe know how easily having begun in the Spirit we return back to the bondage of the first but how hardly we stand fast in the Loyalty of the second if such a spirit or faith shall cover this Land that saith we are not perfected for ever in Christ the Head before any good be done in us what remaines then but that sacrifices for sin be offered again though not in the Temple at Jerusalem yet in the Temples of our bodies and so build up again the old worldly Sanctuary onely changing the manner and form of administration Concerning the Righteousness of the Letter of Angels and of God VVHat may be useful for us to know as to the general Consideration of this and many other Spirits the things following may in part acquaint you in whose hearts the faith and love of Truth does yet remain There is a Righteousness according to the Letter consisting of bodily exercises in the earthly members after the outward Commandement which is but the purifying of the flesh Hebr. 9.13 herein stood the Religion of the carnal Jews under the first Testament this became a covering upon their eyes a vail upon their hearts that they could not see nor receive him who was the righteousness of God There is a Righteousness of Angels or a worshipping of Angels Col. 2. which is the Spirit of Man retired into things within passing beyond the things of the letter or of the body into speculations of the Godhead understanding of Mysteries to a certain perfection of knowledge and holiness all which is but the Glory of Man herein stands the Religion of the Anti-christian Gentiles now under the new Testament this was the sum of all the divinity the School-Doctors did know or deliver this Angelical Perfection falsly so called laid the foundation of the Eremites living by roots in the wilderness of Anchorites shutting up themselves from Communion with men of Monasteries and holy Houses for mortifying the flesh and perfecting in holiness these things while they bear a shew of wisdom in humility and neglecting the body have been in every age and still are set at enmity against him who is the Righteousness of God in the several approachings and manifestations of himself so what Sathan cannot do in a weaker way by the Righteousness of the letter he will endeavour to effect by a Ministery of Light and Righteousnes that appearing as in the glory and purity of an Angel of God he may darken or diminish the righteousness and glory of the Son of God There is the Righteousness of God Jesus Christ who by that fulness of Spirit and Life dwelling in him did at once and for ever not in ours but his own body triumph over and put an end to the Law Sin and Death on his Cross and rising from the Grave raised up and set up together with himself his Church in the heavenly Righteousness in him this Righteousness is as farre above either of the former as Christ is exalted above all Principality and Power therefore can they not add nor extend any righteousness to this no more than the Glory of Man or Angels can add glory 〈◊〉 Jesus Christ This Righteousness is the Word made flesh not the Wâ—… alone nor the flesh alone but the Union of these God and the â—…n Christ in One and the operation proceeding from this Union wrought and remaining in the Person of Jesus Christ this Righteousness being broad and perfect according to the Person in whom it is extends it self unto all and upon all
Apostles calling them to the fulfilling of the Law that were at liberty in Christ who indeed zealously affected but not well that is that they might glory in their flesh God's love to his people speaks woe and wrath indeed but to the wise and strong who will not bow to the weakness and foolishness of a crucified Christ to be saved in him but to the hungry and weary to the least of the little children that are in Christ it speaks peace fear not your sins are forgiven you for his names sake wherefore to bring forth a full Christ a fulness of righteousness life and liberty in Christ to a creature empty and destitute of any such thing this is that love that feeds the hungry cloathes the naked and gives water in the wilderness there is a generation that flatters and spares in sin them whom the Lord condemns this is to justifie the wicked there is another generation that charges and reproves of sin whom the Lord hath justified let this people fear that this is their error both are alike abomination to the Lord. Concerning Judgement His words summed up are That the light in every man condemning of sin is the ministration of judgement and condemnation and as it is received is light and salvation redeeming from all uncleaness that the spirit of judgement that went forth in the Prophets against all unrighteousness is come forth in a people now I understand in him and in them The faith of the Gospel saith that Christ having all judgement committed to him in the body of his flesh judged and gave up to condemnation and death the prince of this world the flesh the glory of man his sin and righteousness and having done all he went to the father and was seen no more he being the brightness of Gods own righteousness and being to be made righteousness to men he judged and put an end to all other righteousness even to that which had a glory as having no glory so that it may be said by him that is in his Cross fell all the mighty Lords and Tyrants of the world Law sin and death all which are judged and overcome by that righteousness and spirit of life in him by this judgement are sinners redeemed already as in him the head That as Christ hath in every Age come forth more or less so in this last time he will come forth the righteousness and salvation of his people whose appearance doth and will judge the works of the Law as well as the lusts of the flesh with all things that shall not be found in him and of him God will judge the world by Christ not by Moses nor by Angel nor by any other spirit the Gospel and spirit of Christ in his people shall judge both Angels and men spiritual and fleshly wickedness The spirit of judgement is found either in the natural or spiritual man the natural man being under the Law hath a light within him to discern the things of the Law his judgement reacheth only to the righteousness of the Law and to sins against the Law the spiritual man being freed from the Law in the glorious righteousness of Christ is able to judge of all things all Religions spirits kinds and conditions of life whatsoever judgings do abound amongst all men in this Age but few have the true spirit or rule of judgement Law or form or light within are the principles of judgement with most with the spiritual man so far as he abides free in Christ it is a small thing to be judged by any of these yea he judgeth not himself therefore let all take heed with what spirit you judge lest you judge and not by the Gospel nor in the Lord. The Prophets and John had a spirit of judgement but they testified also of righteousness only by him that was to come they called not the people to a redemption present or to be done in that Age or by the light within every man let this people bear testimony to that alone righteousness as already fulfilled for us in him and not call away from that unto another redemption to be done over again of which no Prophets spake that is by the light within all men and then shall true judgement be given unto them till then they will but erre in judgement and stumble in vision Concerning Perfection His Principle matter is That Perfection is that gift or light in every man by joyning to which he is made perfect that God sent his son into the world to preach perfection a perfect example which whoso believe and follow him in it are made perfect that nothing but perfection that is freedom from sin in the body before death can give rest and Redemption that imperfection of righteousness and gifts came in by the ministry of Antichrist and is of the Divel The Gospel mystery saith that Christ being the perfection of grace and truth of life and righteousness came forth in flesh and therein on the Cross put an end to the imperfect Ministry of the Law and Prophets to the pollutions and imperfections of flesh and by one offering in his own person perfected for ever all that were sanctified he being the perfection of love life light and righteousness slew in himself the enmity the power of death and all that darkness and sin that was by the Law the Law could not give life men could not obey all creatures could not find out an Intercessor at this time Christ came forth in the glory of the Godhead in the weakness of our manhood that in the one he might bear all that was against us by the other he might spoil and triumph over all for us he was love and bowels to perfection a Saviour to perfection so that not by the Law without nor light within nor any other imagined or pretended perfection but in him ye are compleat who is the fulness of the God-head in whose death you are dead and buried and in him raised up into the heavenly liberty and perfection if you do believe though darkness imperfections fightings may yet remain in your flesh Christ first descended into the lower parts of the earth our weakness and death that he might finish them in himself after he ascended far above all heavens that he might fill all things that he might make the Angels life and death to minister to be for his own as it is said all are yours this is perfection yet hid not in every man but with Christ in God and in the hearts of the children of faith And if so then was Christ in flesh no more then a Preacher or example of perfection was that fulness of the Godhead that brightness of the fathers glory in him no other then such a light as God hath set up in every man or was his bearing our sins and the wounds for iniquities no more but to shew unto us how we should bear them in our selves then what preheminence had his person above Moses
let him and them consider if it be not so and fear Concerning good Works His account is that by obedience to the light which reproves of sin following it out of the world and bringing forth the fruits of it the creature comes into the good work or obedience of Christ and so is by Christ redeemed that by being diligent in this light waiting and obedient therein the believer is led into the obedience sufferings tribulations and temptations of Christ that all the works and measures performed by the creature in obedience to this light do all compleat but this one work of the creatures redemption Where faith and unity with the head is lost no marvel if all the thoughts of that man run into confusion that the obedience or righteousness in Christ for justification and good works in us are one thing his own words at large may manifest if this short account of them may not and thereupon what foundation they build I need say no more only for the weaks sake I shal speak a word Christ was in the beginning with God that good Word whereby all things were made the same word in fulness of time became flesh in him that was the holy and just One who in his own person eternally vanquished all the evils of the world and to the utmost fulfilled the holy and perfect work of God for an everlasting and only righteousness upon all that believe of the greatness whereof might I speak it is higher then the Heavens deeper then the Sea and the utmost bounds and ends thereof can no more be known then can the heights and depths of him be known that is the holy one of Israel And this is the one obedience one righteousness one good work in one person one in spirit one in operation never to be renewed more in any other the same being not of a private nature nor for a private spirit but one for all he that hath made of one blood all Nations of men hath by one blood created anew out of all Nations a people for himself and if the natural heavens over us were spread forth at once in length and breadth large enough to comprehend preserve and nourish all Nations and all things therein how much more shall that One righteousness of Christ which is one with himself be as spiritual heavens large enough to take in to cover and preserve the second creation without any other to be added thereto how low and narrow yea how unbelieving and unworthy are their thoughts and esteem of the person and righteousness of Christ that think otherwise I leave to be weighed Through faith I come to read this most good and glorious work of God and therein to understand how that this world and my old man or flesh with all the evils of both by the operation of the blessed Divinity in his body were abolished in himselfe through death whilst yet darkness pollutions and fightings and thereby heaviness for a season is felt in my flesh wherein I also reckon my self to be as truly crucified and buried with him through the operation of the Godhead in the man Jesus for me as if the same had been done in me and this is the mystery of faith and the praise thereof is great but not before men who esteem of nothing but of what appears or is seen felt or handled and hence I think it necessary to give this warning that all approaches unto or converses with the majesty and glory of God by any redemption or operation of whatsoever spirit or light within and all mysteries of light and perfection so reputed whatsoever where that blessed and eternal redemption in the person of Christ for us is excluded I say through faith that all such are no other but some of the brighter sparks of Satans fires kindled on purpose to lead the creature to God by such a door as wherein he will be unto it a consuming fire can two walk together except they be agreed that man knows neither what God is nor himself that thinks to attain or to have attained the glorious presence of God by spirit within him who is not first reconciled through the propitiation of grace in the blood of Jesus If any man ask as they often do how can Redemption be where it is not witnessed where conscience chargeth of sin my answer is who shall lay any thing to my charge it is Christ that died my witnesses are the spirit water and blood the spirit of Revelation shining in my heart and the power of his death and redemption in part manifest in my body whilst heart and flesh that is reason and sense and law witness against me yet Christ and grace is greater then all let him alone speak let these be silent But if they ask to believe redemption whilst sin in me is not this the unreasonable hope No the father laid our sins upon Christ to take them away whilst we were yet enemies that he might commend his great love to us this was reasonable with God the Son rent our sins from off him in his own body on the tree because he could not be held of them this was reasonable with Christ the spirit bears witness that all things are finished sin death and the flesh in the body of Christ unto him that works not but believes on him that justifies the ungodly this witness is reasonable through faith I receive Christ into my self and am received into him and through this oneness am made righteousness life and light in the Lord whilst yet I am in many darknesses and deaths as to sense and feeling and this is reason as in the mind of God and according to the mystery of Christ that doctrine or spirit how mysterious soever in words or shâ—w that teacheth redemption to be by the operation of the spirit within us and not by that alone operation of God in the man Christ Jesus is indeed the excellency and height of man's reason and thoughts but a fearful contradiction to that higher reason or rather that blessed mystery of grace that appeared in Christ Whereas he saith that all the works and measures performed by the creature in obedience to the light within do all compleat the one work of the creatures redemption to this I shall only say how is the day of free grace set upon us and how are the thick clouds of Legality and misterious reason spread over us if this may be received for truth and let me only remember you of the words of Luther a man wiser and mightier in Christ then I which follows It was indeed a great glory that Abraham received circumcision at the commandment of God that he was endued with excellent vertues that he obeyed God in all things but all this availeth nothing to righteousness before God the excellent deeds and vertues of Abraham were not the cause that he was counted righteous before God so the following of the example of doth not make us righteous before
labours stripes prisons in weariness painfulness watchings often in hunger thirst cold and nakedness and yet hath not that which is above all these the heavenly and glorious righteousness in Christ by faith let such know their glorying is but in the flesh and shall not profit before the Lord. Concerning ministrations and following God out of one into another it may be said that the Law Prophets and John were ministrations typing and testifying of things in the heavens to come and so were done away Christ was the substance of heavenly things themselves and so his ministration remains to this day as that of the letter was perfected and given at once by one man at mount Sinai yet to be continued till he came who was the end thereof so this ministration of righteousness and spirit was perfected and given at once by one man Christ on the Cross yet to stand in force by divers measures and manifestations of spirit and truth to be revealed and brought to light till he comes again and takes his people unto himself now of the diverse manifestations of spirit some are true some deceiveable for discerning of which we have a good rule 1 Cor. 12.4.5 now there are diversities of gifts but the same spirit and differences of administration but the same Lord administrations of light truth though diverse as to the measure and manner of the gifts yet if agreeing in one Christ are all good and useful in their seasons to follow God into the purest and best is a glory upon them that do it to be left behind may be weakness in them that are Christ's but is wickedness in the world On the other hand those pretended Ministries or Angels of light whatsoever that do teach another Jesus another spirit another faith that is redemption by obedience to the light in every man such are not of God and to call that a ministration of spirit and life is no more true then to call the Law so the light in every man and the Law in the letter being the same if any shall leave Christ crucified as but a figure of redemption and shall follow the light in the conscience as the substance thereof let him know out of Christ crucified is no more sacrifice for sin nor will God be found but as consuming fire If any shall think that redemption without by the blood of Christ is done away when that by the light within is perfected to such I say till mortality be swallowed up of life and the body now dead because of sin be thereby freed from all corruption until then I judge both Christ crucified for us and the faith therein will be of necessary and blessed use To what he saith of persecution this may be said they that followed after the spirit and teachings thereof were indeed alwaies persecuted by the children of the flesh and letter but they that sought righteousness by the Law and the principles thereof in the conscience were those children of the flesh by whom the blood of them that were after the spirit hath been shed in every Age was not the blood of Saints formerly in England France and Germany shed for bearing testimony to the righteousness of faith alone without works Concerning the Baptism of Christ from that the world so calls His profession herein is that the Baptism of Christ is I understand the light within all men by which a man being baptised into his death buried with him unto the world its waies and worships loves and friendships so he is baptised with the Batism of Christ That Baptisms of water as now are carnal in the world about which all are divided and contending that are in them being gone out into the world The Baptism of Christ is that in Christ wherewith he was baptised in his own person not for himself but for us and we in him as in our head that is when together with his own body through death he put off our old man and all the sins of our flesh at once in himself by whose baptism our sins death our flesh and all this world were really yet in a mystery dead and buried with him and as by an overflowing River washed clean away by himself before either the faith or power thereof was known or wrought in us this baptism is a mystery unknown to all Law-workers whatsoever whither the more mystical or literal sort of them who know no higher baptism then by deeds of holiness in obedience to a light within or letter without also to the masters of reason who know no other baptism then by refined principles and exercises of morality this is the baptism of justification and sanctification in the head wherewith we were washed sanctified and justified in him even before we were the same being revealed in us by faith sprinkles from our hearts an evil conscience and then the spirit of him dwelling in our mortall flesh washeth our bodies with pure water thus the baptism of Christ is one first in him perfected for us afterwards in measures revealed in us Whereas he concludes only baptisms of water to be carnal washings I say both baptisms of water in what form soever without the spirit are carnal and also all baptisms by what name soever particularly that of retirement out of all things into the light in every man where that Baptism in the head by the offering up of his body once for all is denied will be found to be but carnal that is serving to the washing off the filth of the flesh only take away that baptism in the head wherein the first Adam with his disobedience and death was crucified and purged away and all other baptisms whither by reformations within or fair shews without whither by the Law letter water or whatsoever will be found equally carnal equally insufficient to present the sinner holy and without spot to God His judgement against all indifferent baptisms that they are gone out into the world savours of a spirit as divided and carnal as they can be whom he judgeth so are they carnal that judge and contend for one form against another and are not they as carnal that judge and contend against all forms because not in their form of doctrine and posture and way when Christ shall sit as Judge as there shall be no advantage to them that are in one form more then another so neither to them that are gone out of all professed forms but to be found in him who is the head is more then all Concerning the Lords Supper These things are said the true end of the Supper is moderation to keep men from excess and lust in eating aad drinking that to do it in remembrance of his death till he comes is to eat in fear without lust till he comes to govern in the the creature himself to keep out of lust in all and this is the restoring and reconciling to God the creation by Christ That Christ's Disciples were not changed nor he born
in them when he gave them this commandement nor was Christ yet appeared to those believers among whom the Apostles continued it That to eat of his body is to discern his body to be the body of all creatures and to fill all htings How is the Gospel-mystery become a doctrine of bare morality with this people to see God in all things to discern him as the body and vertue of every creature and to use all things in moderation what is this more then the purer principles and practises of Pagan divinity is this all the effect all the end of the blood of Christ He that appointed this Supper said drink ye all of it for this is my blood of the new Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins Christ as he gave his flesh for the life of the world that is as he abolished death and brought forth life to light therein for us so he is the true spiritual passeover which was sacrificed for us so his death is a mystery whosoever can look therein may see the first Adam with all his deeds the world with all its works all old things done away therein traditions of men and rudiments of the world shews of wisedom wil-worship and humility were tares the Lord foresaw would spring up in the Churches from the root of reason and the Law that they might avoid the same he ordained the Supper for a rudiment to all that should have need thereof to be as a figure of his death and therein of the crucifying of flesh with all the glory and workes thereof Wherefore eating the flesh of Christ is to be esteemed neither as any naturall thing as the Jews did nor as any moral thing as this deluded people doe but a divine and heavenly mysterie that is to believe and rejoyce in Christ crucified as made the remission of sinnes the destruction of death the grace and the end of this world and all evils therein unto us likewise the discerning the Lord's body therein is not a bare speculation of Christ or the divinity as filling all things for the natural man by that of God in him may know so much to discerne together with his dead body our sins our old man the Law and all perfection whither by nature morality or the Law to be already dead buried and abolished in his grave and our selves raised up into the life liberty and righteousness of Christ in him this is the use of eating the Lord's body if any be become so vain in imagination as to think it is no more then the exercise of temperance and moderation to be performed by us let us know that it is the blood of the New Testament for remission of sins That Christ comming in the creature governing it himselfe so reconciles it to God is true indeed according to reason the Law and this people but in the person of Christ through death did God reconcile the World to himself Christ revealed in a man is not that he may reconcile but being reconciled that he may bring him to himself But canst thou poore sorry sinfull man beare in thy body the justice of the Law the punishment of thy sinnes the shedding of thy blood and raise up thy self again and through thy obedience come forth out of all thy sins before the majesty of God in that perfect and spotless righteousness that he shall see no sin in thee and if thou sayest Christ in thee can do all this I answer if thou believest not God hath already reconciled thee to himselfe by the death of his Sonne that spirit that thou thinkest doth reconcile in thee will be found most wicked and provoking delusion except Christ died in vain That Christ's Disciples were not changed nor he born in them when he appointed this Supper and that Christ had not appeared to the Believers with whom the Apostles continued it are both contrary to truth they were clean every whit through the word he had spoken or as in him and their bodies the Temple of the holy Ghost though they were as yet carnall and ignorant of the more spirituall truths so the Church of Christ is pure and beautifull as in him whilst fleshly and weake in many things as in themselves rejoyce in Christ as your liberty in whom you are made free let him dwell in you crucifying your flesh and manifesting his life wait for his great and last appearance to reign over all of which day it shall not need to be said lo here lo there but as lightning from East to West it shall beare witness of it self in and over the whole creation Concerning Redemption He saith that redemption is not of sinners that take delight in sin but of the light within that is it which wants redemption and of thâ—… it is said he took not on him the nature of Angels but the seed of Abraham That this light or seed as it is raised to reign in us above all so it is redeemed and so is the creature made free from the law of sin and no redemption while this is in prison and not brought above all our lusts How hath the blackness and darknesse of mount Sinai covered the heart of this man how are the abounding riches of grace the fulnesse of the Mediator and the power of his Crosse resolved at once into the light or Law written in the heart of every man but the spirit of faith saith otherwise Man formed to be a living Image of the glory of God but fallen short of his glory separate from the life of God in spirit soul and body fallen into darknesse death and the curse this was it that wanted redemption that was redeemed in Christ scarcely for a righteous man would one die yet paradventure for a good man some would dare to die Rom. 5. to give ones life to save a righteous man the heart and love of man may be enlarged to that but herein divine love appeared beyond all number measure or the heart of man in that whilst yet sinners we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son and raised up together into heavenly places before we either knew desired or sought after the same but is the light or seed or Christ under the Law sin or curse or needs he to be redeemed or saved from these the children are pertakers of flesh and blood therefore Christ pertook of flesh and bringing his divine nature thereinto he crucified and abolished our sins and death out of it and so presented us to God a sanctified cleansed and perfected people in himself before we did obey or believe or were therefore let us say with joy in the Lord we have righteousness and strength in the Lord are we justified and do glory To what he saith as the light within is raised and reigns so is both it and the creature redeemed and no more the Law of commandments hath dominion over the flesh as long as it lives a greater Law came forth
in one the Pagan seeks perfection by his Law natural Reason and Vertue the Turk by his Alchoran the Jew by Moses the Monke by the Rule of his Order the Spiritual Papist by mortification of the Spirit and this People by perfect obedience to the Light within that is the Law in this all are one all seeking righteousness by work in the flesh in obedience to Tradition or Letter or Spirit The Law is a great light manifesting all flesh and the deeds thereof a great Lord ruling over all flesh as long as it lives Christ came forth greater than the Law crucified the flesh and the body of death in himself and thereby put an end to the dominion of the Law unto all that believe thus in his Crosse I am dead to all things and they to me Whereas he saith they know not his Commands in Spirit who say Christ fulfilled the Law for us in his own person or that he makes what we do accepted with the Father I ask of him and of all in his perswasion Can yee pass through the depths of Sin Death and the Curse that he passed through yee neither know the Law nor what spirit yee are of Can yee bring forth the works of obedience an incorruptible righteousness in your corruptible bodies answering to that pure Law and most pure God before whom Moses did fear and quake and Abraham by works could not glory and no flesh can be justified were not all we like sheep gone astray and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all the chastisement of our peace was upon him and by his stripes we are healed where this is truly and purely believed Revelations of Christ are most desirable and glorious where this is excluded all pretended approaches to God Revelations of God or perfections of obedience will be but as hotter fires to consume first your faith and interest in Christ and after your precious souls with all your labour and pains and works To what he saies the bloud within makes perfect that without could not let it be said the bloud of the Man Christ through the eternal Spirit working therein became the death of the first Adam with all his deeds and all the evils that came in by him so with him am I already dead and freed from sin as in him the Head as this my death and freedome in him does reveale it self in me so I dye daily as in my earthly members If by the bloud within be intended this that as the bloud of Bulls and Goats was a figure of the bloud of Christ so his bloud was but a figure of bloud or Spirit within us then know assuredly that as the bloud offered in the first Tabernacle was offered without the Holiest though within the Tabernacle so the bloud within all purifyings by the light within will be found to be but the bloud without that is offered without the veyle without the Holiest though within your Persons But is not the Spirit sufficient in power to redeem from sin by his work within us let this be said as of use in most things that have been spoken the power of the Spirit is unsearchable and unlimited but the mystery of his Will is declared in Christ that not by Spirit alone but by Spirit and Bloud and that in one man he has redeemed and purged all the evils that came by the offence of one of old God filled Heaven and Earth yet he would be known and sought only in Jerusalem nothing could comprehend the God head yet the fulness of it dwelt in Christ bodily so the Spirit dwells in all his people yet through the bloud of the Man Christ alone did God chuse to go forth in his power to the abolishing of our death and manifesting eternal freedome for us so when it is said yee are justified redeemed and saved by God by Grace by the name of Christ by the Spirit of our God we are to understand that the Name and Grace and Spirit of God went forth against our sins and death in the bloud of Jesus and thereby did them away forever which by faith we behold and as we behold we are changed into the same Image from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord. Wherefore the proper use of the Law is first to bridle civil transgressions and then to reveale and encrease spiritual transgressions the Law is a Light which revealeth not the Grace of God not righteousness and life but sin and death wrath and judgement and as in Mount Sinai the thundring lightning the thick and dark cloud the hill smoaking and flaming and all that terrible shew did not rejoice nor quicken the children of Israel but terrified and astonished them and shewed how unable they were with all their purity and holiness to abide the Majesty of God so the Law in its true use doth nothing else but reveale sin work wrath and bring into desperation and here it hath an end and ought to go no further the use of the Gospel is to reveale the end of the Law of sin and wrath in the death of Christ and the righteousness peace and love of God brought forth for us in him I shall adde an observation of Luther of this difference between the Law and Gospel there is nothing to be found in the Books of Monks Cannonists and School men no nor in the Books of the ancient Writers there was a wonderful silence many years as touching this difference in all Schools and Churches and this brought mens consciences into great danger for unlâ—ss the Gospel be plainly discerned from the Law tru-doctrine cannot be kept sound and uncorrupt but if this difference be well known it is an easie matter to discern faith from works Christ from Moses and all politick works for all things without Christ are the Ministry of death for the punishing of the wicked Concerning Christ Jesus HIs Faith is that Christ humbled himself and became obedient unto death that he might become a living example to all Generations that the Light within every man unâ—ted and followed will lead unto Christ and will reveale the power and God-head and so the Light within is the sure word of Prophesie The word of Faith saies that Christ being the brightness of the invisible God came forth in flesh and being the eternal word wisdome and power of God and so having obtained a name and supremacy above all other Lords he put an end to the Law Sin and Death and the dominion thereof over us in his Crosse that he might bring forth Grace Righteousness and Life for us in himself that so we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without fear and is this no more than a living example to you and if so can ye after his example break through the gates of sin wrath and the grave and make your access unto God through all as he did is so great a mystery of Faith as this become no more with
that beleive and 〈◊〉 them perfect and without spot to God in it self without and before any work or good done whatsoever let this righteousness shine forth â—…ongst us and our eyes shall be kept seeing our judgement sound 〈◊〉 either philosophy of men nor perfection of Angell shall spoil us neither iniquity in the Letter not in the Mystery shall beguile us but where this Righteousness is denied or out of sight there darkness had covered the mind there spiritual wickedness will be taken for Gospel-mysteries What is Idolatry God may be known three manner of wayes AMong the works of the flesh Gal. 5.20 Idolatry is one the knowledge and worship of God according to the Law according to Philosophy and not after Christ this is Idolatry until Christ be formed in thee not as a Law-giver but as a meer Saviour not onely as putting away sin and perfecting righteousness in thee but as having already put it away and perfected thee in himself thou art in Idolatry Hebr. 9 26. and 10.14 That of God which is manifest in all men presents God according to one form in his eternal Power and Godhead Moses presents God in another form in his back parts as a Law-giver and a Judge Christ presents his face to us Glory in the Highest Peace on Earth good will towards men all these prepared already Hence may be observed That God may be Known three wayes first to that in every man by the things that are made this may discover to men the invisible things of him his eternal Power and Glory but not his good pleasure or purpose of Grace this may raise up to high imaginations of the divinity as over all through all and in all to a glorious shew and height of seeming holiness and perfection but knows nothing of the Mystery hid in God redemption by Christ nor can lead any into it unto these Christ crucified is foolishness 2. God may be known by the Law from Mount Sinai but this fight is so terrible that Moses said I exceedingly fear and quake this knowledge exerciseth the body purifies the flesh compels unto works but opens not the way into the Holiest the heavenly righteousness hid with Christ in God unto these Christ crucified is a stumbling block 3. God is seen in the face of Jesus Christ without a vail as in a glass there is one God and one Mediatour between God and men the Man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2. the invisible inaccessible God comes down in the Man Jesus and appears in him as upon a Mercy-seat unto him let all men look that would see the Father the crucifying of his flesh was the renting of the vail that Grace and Glory before hid in God might now shine forth in him so Jesus Christ alone in his Person is the face and Image of God wherein he may and will be seen If any man though an Angel from Heaven shall not point you unto a crucified and glorified Jesus for fight and access to God know this that he leads you out from the New and Living way unto the old and deadly Gate where the flaming Sword turns every way that no flesh can enter in and live Gen. 3.24 Curious speculations of the divine Majesty without Christ Jesus are the proper work of Reason and the highest divinity of Philosophers Jesuites and Justitiaries if thou thinkest to approach the divinity hâ—s Light and holiness excluding the Mediator thou shalt be confounded of his Glory Let J. Naylor and his followers with fear and trembling hear and consider Who hold not the Head and how Christ is Head DOctrines and Spirits are spoken of fair in shew high and perfect which yet hold not the Head Col. 2. what are the doctrines and what is the Head the Doctrines are first of men such are they who come in the words and wisdom of Man their Doctrine a leaven of the Pharisees that is a compound of humane wit and learning Law and Gospel letter Jesus Christ having onely a Name among them himself being not beleived nor known by them neither in his crucified body nor quickening Spirit these being of a lower and common nature are received by the greater part of men Secondly there is a doctrine of Devils of Sathan transformed into Angels of light such preach a Jesus Gospel and Spirit but not the true speak great things abstaining from meats from marriages neglecting of the body as things base sensual imagine intrude into things in shew more excellent things not seen purity perfection life of Angels but the true perfection and life which is in Christ alone they deny and set up another in work that which is prepared and finished already in one the body of the Man Christ they destroy and teach another to be wrought or done again in many by Angel or Spirit in the bodies of all the Saints these are they who worship Angels who hold not the Head their doctrine by how much in shew more spiritual by so much does it spoil and bewitch the minds of men above all other What then is the Head The Head over all things the Head of the Church is Christ of this 〈…〉 understanding First according to his Godhead onely that God is Head over all things to be feared and worshipped of all men thus Jews Turks Pagans and all men do know and profess this is that which may be known of God by all men and is manifest in them the enlightening upon every one that comes into the world Secondly according to the whole Person God and Man in one as such he received power to become Head over all things to his Church against him drove two great and dreadful enemies the hand-writing of Ordinances charging our sins and Curse upon him and Principalities and Powers with their spiritual wickednesses to have swallowed him up against both these he prevailed blotting out the one having nailed it to his Cross and spoiled the other making a shew of them openly and triumphing over them in it and thus he was declared Head over all things which is to be rightly understood not onely as he is in the form of God equal with God able to subdue all things in us to himself for this is true of him had he never been manifest in flesh at all and is known and professed by all Nations though they beleive not or know nothing of Christ come in the flesh as Jews and Pagan but he is Head according to his whole Person Emmanuel God and Man in Union in that not often and in every generation and in many bodies but in one body by one offering once and for ever he hath not in our Persons but in himself already subdued for us all things whatsoever are named in heaven on earth or in the deeps the Law sin and death with all their might dominion and power Hence are these sayings faithful and true and if any Man or Angel preach another Doctrine beleive him not That Jesus Christ the brightness
of the Fathers glory has already by himself without us and before any good wrought in us finished transgression made an end of sin abolished condemnation and death and that not by Spirit onely but by spirit water and bloud That though in the Kingdom of the Law of Reason and sense that is in the flesh sin condemnation and death are seen and felt yet in the Kingdom of Grace and Faith that is in Christ they are vanquished and appear no more That a beleiver while enclosed and shut up in a body of sin and death fightings and fears within and without as he is in flesh is at the same time raised up into the heavenly righteousness immortality and freedom above all sin or shadow of evil as he is in Christ the Head as redeemed in Spirit a Christian is in heaven in rest in victory and perfection as not yet redeemed in the body he is on earth in labours infirmities and imperfection These blessed sayings whosoever holds fast in faith and love will be in him as a lamp leading him through the thick vail of Legality the vain speculations of Philosophy the mysterious depths of Anti-christ and will be to him a Light to discern the Doctrine Spirit Ministry and Church of Christ from them that say they are so and seem to be so but are not but are of the Synagogue of Sathan Ye are compleat in him Upon this truth has the Church of Christ been built as upon a rock higher than all the flouds and storms that have gathered against her during the long Night of Anti-christian darkness as this Truth shined forth literal and mystical Idolatry in England France and Germany as shadows of the Night fled away On the other hand this Truth dying and decreasing out of the Churches of Galatia Colosse c. prepared the way of the Man of Sin into them and to this day hath exalted him over all Nations when the knowledge of Christ as Head shall more encrease and the Church grow up more into him who is Head Anti-christ in his highest forms his deepest speech his fairest shews worshipped and wondered at by the unbeleiving and unstable world of Professors shall be revealed and consumed Three cheifest Principles of this people called Quakers examined and weighed COncerning this people passing by their language postures and all other respects as to Person or Circumstance the tryal and knowledge of theirs or any other Spirit may more certainly be had from the substance and ground of their doctrine and faith the sum and scope whereof as to me it appears may be fully and faithfully gathered up in these three following principles 1. That the Light which enlightens every man accusing of sin is Christ and God the Pure and Perfect the Eternal and Just One and so the Redeemer and Saviour and the All to be known and beleived not as do others in word letter or person without but as within redeeming reconciling and making attonement not without in another but within in our selves out of which Light man departing was lost in darkness and the fall into which Light returning again he is restored and redeemed as at the beginning 2. That this Light as condemning of sin and death and restoring out of it into Righteousness and Life this is the bloud and death of the Cross the resurrection and second coming of the Son of God and that Obedience without mixture unto this Light working all our works in us this is our Redemption Justification Mortification and Sanctification so much obedience so much redeemed thus the Law and Gospel Faith and Obedience Death Resurrection Redemption Justification and Sanctification are not things distinct but one and the same within us 3. That the way to come to all this and to Christ and the Father is the Light in every man condemning of sin the sure word of prophesie wherein we must wait within and not as others go out unto a Christ without a letter without Christ and the Scriptures onely delivering their own experiences and conditions not as a Rule or word of faith to others and giving their Testimony onely to the Light within not to any Person Redemption or operation without also his and their Ministration in work words or letter without being onely the literal Covenant that makes nothing perfect This is the justest description and my truest understanding I can give of their faith and principles their other doctrine are but conclusions proceeding from these Three Principles of Truth are perverted and denied by these three principles of theirs the Person of Christ as the Object of Faith the Scriptures as the Rule of Faith and Faith it self as the evidence of things not seen of each of these a word whereby both Truth and Errour may appear Jesus Christ was in the beginning with God the Word the promise the Life yet fore ordained in the end of the world to be manifest in flesh to put away sin therein by the sacrifice of himself Unto him that is Christ as to come in the flesh the two great witnesses under the old Testament the Law and the Prophets did testifie and point as the true Promise and Sacrifice the Law having a shadow of things seen afarre of not then received of good things to come not present and done of Jesus the High-Priest to minister in flesh and therein to offer himself the one the perfect the eternal Sacrifice once and for ever no more to be offered from thenceforth in any age or generation In the fulness of time the Word was made flesh and being greater than Moses the Prophets or John he gathered up their several ministrations and finished them in himself the fulness of the Godhead in him as a Sea of righteousness life and blessing abolishing and overwhelming the sin condemnation and curse of the world as the less is overcome of the greater And hereunto when he ascended on high he gave gifts unto men whom he ordained as Apostles and Witnesses to the world that the Purpose and Grace which was given us in Christ before the world began which was shadowed by the Law and foretold by the Prophets was now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ who hath abolished sin and death in his crucified body and hath brought forth immortality and life in himself in spirit Thus the Mystery of Grace and truth lay hid in the divinity but came forth and was acted in the humanity neither is the divinity without the humanity nor the humanity without the divinity but both one in Christ thus the crucified and glorified Person of Christ is the express Image of God the alone object of faith the way whereby God came down in salvation unto men and by which we ascend and have access unto God thus Redemption and Righteousness is gloriously wrought without us in the person of Christ to point to any Person or Spirit within for the working Redemption over again other than to him that descended and ascended
him gave place to more evangelical manifestations of him as a Saviour of sinners the Covenant is heaven compleatness in the Head began to be more opened and the People came to Mount Sion as the children of the free-woman as saved already in the Lord and set up above all things in him This Grace and Liberty in Christ being by some turned into wantonness and liberty in the flesh by very many into dispute and contention about the letter and form has given occasion to the old Spirit to enter again into the house new swept and garnished that is the Law-working spirit denying the blessed Attonement and Righteousness as already in the Head the Person of Christ in zeal to another Attonement and Righteousness by obedience to the Light within which mystery of iniquity works more secretly in the Churches who too much press and praise a certain perfection by their rule and order but more manifestly in the people called Quakers of both whom it may be said whilst their first light and love liberty and perfection in Christ the Head was turned into strife about the letter and bitings of one another by the first they are in danger to be consumed and destroyed by the last a people indeed that have shew like a Lamb but speak like a Dragon devouring words to destroy both old and young not sparing the flock whom nothing sufficeth as to me yet appears but to tear out of our faith knowledge and profession the bloud of attonement redemption and reconciliation by that one Sacrifice offered once and for ever to blot out of our hearts the name remembrance the light and joy thereof till no other Redemption nor liberty be known but by a pretended divinity or light within working it in us through our perfect obedience thereunto which his true sense is to say the vail is yet spread the Law yet is standing the Lamb is to be slain all things continue as they were from the beginning ye are yet in your sins till by obedience to the light within you be redeemed The glorious Rest and Liberty in Christ the Head as it is the light of our eyes the girdle of our loyns to conduct and defend us from the mists and darts whether proceeding from the Law Philosophy or Satanical mystery so if once we suffer our selves to be spoiled of them our strength is departed and our eyes put out and we betraid unto every Fox out of the hole and Boar out of the wood unto every confusion distemper or deceit which may come amongst us therefore stand fast in the Liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free that Liberty in him which is in being as to the Spirit when in you are felt nothing but buffetings and streights as in the flesh thus these departures from the faith have been as a door set open the one to let in upon us the oâ—d spirit of tyranny upon our bodies the ther of legality upon our spirits and the darkness and rebuke that is upon us is very great The Christ that dyed at Jerusalem how far acknowledged and how far denied by this people to be the Redeemer THis leads me to two Questions of weightiest consideration as to this people 1. Whether they deny the Christ that dyed at Jerusalem to be the Redeemer 2. Whether they establish a Righteousness by the Law As to the first how far they affirm or deny I shall give that just judgement and therein do them that right I desire they may do unto me That Christ became flesh was made in the likeness of men therein humbled himself and became obedient to death that he might become a living example to all generations of perfection thus far they affirm and have a zeal for Christ that in that body of his flesh through that obedience to death he crucified our old man purged away sin made reconciliation for iniquity and perfected for ever all that are sanctified this they deny as to me it appears and the faith thereof The Gospel has in it morality and mystery the morality of it is this that Christ came forth from God a man holy and innocent obedient in all things to the light or will of God and left that obedience for an example unto others this sets forth Christ onely as a Law-giver as one who came to give a Law more divine and perfect than others before him had done and as thus he is known by this people and set forth by their words and writings The mystery is this that Christ the righteous the blessed and Lord of the Law was made for us sin a curse and under the Law that was we who beleive being the unjust the cursed and under the Law are made in him the righteousness of God the blessed and no more under the Law The Gospel as a Commandment and peice of morality may be read and beleived by every man and so was taught by the Popish School men and is at this day by such Ministers as are more zealous for duty than grace the Gospel as a mystery or free gift can onely be known to whom it is given and so is clearly known and sincerely and worthily preached not by many obedience to moral Principles is the divinity of Pagans to the Law of Moses the divinity of the Jews to the preceptive part of the Gospel of Jesuites and Papists to the Light within of the so called Quakers these indeed excel one another as to Notion and Rule but they agree all in one as to principle or bottom that is that work or obedience to some law or rule is the way to redemption perfection and God the sum of all is this a Jesus in flesh as a Preacher of perfection also as dying for an example to us they beleive and teach the Jesus that dyed and therein by bloud and spirit perfected us for ever in himself they deny they know not whosoever deny the bloud of attonement in the death of Christ know not the Son not the Father in him nor the grace in his bosom nor our glory in him and to all such in some bowels of compassion I say you may walk a while during your hour in the light of your fire and warm your selves in the sparks you have kindled conceits of approaching perfection and the glory of God by a righteousness and cross set up in your flesh but you shall not be able to stand before God and the Lamb in the day of his appearing whose bloud whose travels whose sacrifice on the Cross is of no more account with you Whether this people build up a righteousness by the Law THe other Question is resolved in this onely for fuller satisfaction it may be weighed by it self The Law and Prophets testifified of Christ and continued till he came who fulfilled all that was written therein even the righteousness of the Law whereby he was justified according to the Law and so it is said he was a Minister of the Curcumcision being made thus under
the Law or first Testament he was to stand or fall to live or dye upon account of works according to the nature and terms of that Testament he was under as it is written he that doth these things shall live by them and therefore the reward unto Christ that worked was not reckoned of grace but of debt and so he was made under the Law fulfilled the Law and was justified according to the Law That God requires the same obedience of us as of him and that through offering up our selves in the same obedience he did we become justified in measure and degree according to the measure of obedience being perfectly justified when come up to the same measure of obedience that Christ did not before this they affirm The conclusion is this that even as Christ by doing the works of the Law was justified according to the Law after the same manner by the same works done by us in the same spirit unto the same measure we become justified and accepted with God that is by the works of the Law the righteousness of the Law saith thus he that doth the will of God commanded in the Law is sanctified thereby and shall live therein the righteousness of faith sayes he that works not but beleives the will of God is already done by the offering of the body of Christ by this will is he sanctified and perfected for ever of these they take away the second and establish the first that is the righteousness of the Law God having wrought all things for us in the Person of Christ this is our righteousness and that Truth which is first God working all things in us by Christ is the fruit or manifestation of our righteousness and that truth which comes after these when together are both Gospel-truths yet in their own order when the first is alone without the other it is turned into a principle of carnal Libertinisme where this last is alone without the first it is made a principle of mystical Legality both these Truths have their glory but in a different respect the first as in Christ the Head onely visible to faith therefore to the Children of Reason the law and the letter not known nor discerned nor by them desired nor praised the other has its glory in the members upon the flesh as therein seen and felt therefore more eyes are upon it more admirers of it and a greater name and shew thereof in the world than of the other The Mystery of God manifest in flesh was a ministration of infinite necessity as to us that thereby all sin might first be taken away and the reconciliation made this being done in him for all made way most blessedly for the other mystery of God Christ in us to be brought forth I cannot I did not know Christ Jesus a fountain of living waters in me until I first knew and beleived that I was washed sanctified and justified in him before any good done in me or by me we love not him by bringing forth the fruits of love to him in our members till we knew that he loved us first by the fruits of love manifested for us in our Head God as having perfected me for ever in the body of Christ through the Spirit appears to me with open face as love as light a father and freind as nigh me I in him and he in me God as having not saved me in himself already so he appears with a vail upon his face the sight of him terrible and to come near him is consuming fire can two walk together except they be agreed It is a faithful saying and a sure rule of judgement and will stand for ever that as the greatest zeal for the sacrifice in the body of Christ excluding his spiritual appearance in us is a professing him as afarre off but not a joyning or bringing us together into one so the most spiritual pretences to Christ in us excluding the sacrifice for us in the body of his flesh is to bring God and us together before we be agreed that is before the propitiation for sins or attonement be performed or done woe unto them that profess they are brought nigh unto God in the death of the Mediatour but come not unto God by him in the spirit of him these have onely the form but not the power of faith woe unto them that would enter in or come nigh unto God excluding the death of the Mediator the Man Christ Jesus as the onely way unto him such have lost both the form and power of faith Darkness and delusion works upon men by these two mistakes some preach Christ as the Head but bring not men into union with him others preach Christ as doing all things in union with us but hold not the Head as having done all for us in himself these condemn each other both are condemned by the children of faith who rejoyce in Christ Jesus as having overcome all things for us as the Head over all things to us and who wait till the same victory be declared in us by his appearance in us Christ's first and last Comings what and a Question answered FOr further satisfaction another great Question concerning this people may be taken into serious and humble consideration whether may not they be that Angel of God that should fly through the midst of Heaven preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom unto all Nations a little before the end should come Two things searched out may give light and resolution herein the Comings of Christ first and second and the last coming of Anti-christ the Comings of Christ and his work in both are expressed Hebr. 9.26 28. once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many and unto them that look for him the second time shall he appear without sin unto salvation the flesh sin and death with all the evils of mankind were laid upon Christ together who being the righteousness wisdom and power of God could not be held of them but as Sampson the new ropes so he rent them from off him on the Cross and together with his body buried them in his grave wherein a mystery unknown to sense and reason but known to faith they lie to this day hid and covered taken out of the sight of God and the conscience of the beleiver as perfectly as if they had never been so that as the floud of Noah overwhelmed the old world that it was not or as the Sun shining at noon-day vanquisheth the least shadow of darkness that it is no more so he that was the brightness of the Fathers glory and the deep fountain of David abolished and purged away sin by himself that it is no more if sense or reason or the natural conscience may be judge in things of God these things are not so but let all such know that this Gospel of Christ is a mystery
call of the Virgins one to another saying let us go trim our lamps and go forth to meet him this will be the work of the Spirit and Saints at that time Anti-christ will come forth in the same form and language as suiting with that season speaking words not of mean and low strain but of high and spiritual things I am Christ or he is come his doctrine will be of things of note and wonder deceiving and drawing many behold he is in the desart among us the lovely despised afflicted and cast out not among the wise mighty and noble behold he is in the secret chambers not in the multitude the assemblies the common wayes of Religion but among us a people separate and gathered and called out of the world into the more inward and spiritual way moreover he will come forth with power all men all things of the earth the faith religion souls and bodies of them which professed the Truth but were not of the Truth shall be given into his hand and be at his devotion the true Christ with his Church shall be as poor weak and inconsiderable in comparison of him lastly he will come with signes the world looks for a sign and he will come with signs of light zeal and holiness signs tokens and wonders to sight sense and judgement of all that are not in Christ such as if they were the very truths workings and comings of the Son of Man himself onely the Elect such as chose not God but were chosen of him such as have not their life in gifts and workings in the spiritual vigour and activity exercised in themselves but in the root of all this that is hid with Christ in God who have their redemption their life their religion in something that is perfect without and beyond all work in themselves that is in Christ himself these are those Elect that have that in them which shall keep them that they cannot be deceived he that in that day shall have a name written in Heaven that is a life compleat in Christ shall be greater than he that shall say Lord in thy Name have we cast out Devils that is we have prophesied and gone forth in the gifts activity and power of thy Spirit Wherefore it may be concluded concerning this people and all other whatsoever spirit or doctrine in them or any other shall teach the coming of Christ to make redemption or reconciliation in us as having not fulfilled the same for us already in himself I testifie against it as no other but the old Law-working Spirit under a new name and form and therein the power of Anti-christ coming forth in one of his highest and last counterfeits of truth thereby to pervert the faith and draw away the eyes and expectations of men from the true Saviour and his true appearance which also draws near An account of the hope that is in me concerning the first and last appearances of Christ COncerning both whose appearances that which is past and that which is to come I shall give a short account of that faith wherein I stand from which I trust neither Word nor Spirit shall ever remove me That Jesus Christ first manifest in flesh came forth not onely as an example of Perfection as some say nor onely as a type or figure without of things to be fulfilled in us nor onely as a Law-giver as others but that in his own body on the tree through union with the eternal Spirit he bore away and abolished our sin and death and fulfilled the Law and Prophets wherein God so rested and therewith was so well pleased that he signified the same by causing the blackness darkness thunderings and lightenings of Sinai in the midst whereof he dwelt before to pass away and the vail of partition between him and us to rent asunder besides which redemption there is none other either before or after by Angels without or by Spirit within that is or shall be wrought as to the thing but onely as to the manifestation thereof That not by following his example or by any work but by faith I come to know and partake of this Redemption which was in being before in him but with other the heavenly things hid in God and in time manifested to my faith and feeling so that I began not to be redeemed or loved when I first beleived but I began by faith to behold and enjoy that love and redemption which was prepared and entire for me in him before I had done either good or evil sin and death being finished and my old man crucified before in him as to God with whom all things are present by faith I come to know it and do reckon with him I am as truly crucified buried and raised up according to the comprehensiveness of his death and crucified Person much more than if the same had been acted in and upon my own Person That while according to my inward man or in a mystery I am in heavenly places above Law sin and death yet for the exercise and tryal of faith according to sight or my earthly man I often walk in the valley of the shadow of death in the feeling of infirmities buffetings and fightings in the flesh thus I am at once both weak and strong on earth and in heaven a sinner and righteous thus I know my redemption and victory as in him compleat while I feel the same redemption and victory as in me but in part and encreasing if my redemption were not more than what I feel the Gospel were not a mystery nor faith would be any more than sight nor grace have any glory That I look for Jesus Christ to come in me more in Spirit manifesting his death his cross and life in me not thereby to make attonement for sin but to gather me up through daily dyings and quickenings into the full sight union and profession of that redemption and grace and glory already given me freely in him also I look for the appearance of the Lord Jesus as God and man who shall enlighten the Saints with his brightness and shall cover the earth with his righteousness before whom all that which is against him shall be consumed by him and that which is of him shall yeild up it self to be perfected in him as the lesser in the greater this is my Testimony and my hope Light Purity and Power of this people examined what it is AFter all that hath been said some may retain this perswasion of this people that they are a people of light purity and power above all others As to their Light I would say That there is a Ministry that knows Christ onely as in an History and teach him so that presseth onely the outward letter according to principles of Law and natural Reason but know not the mystery and Spirit therein what they can comprehend by the letter and reason that they teach and what is more they do judge errour heresie and to
he had power to be the Sonne of God and Ruler over all the creatures this was the state of the first man that mans departing out of Gods own wisdom and power or spirit put into him and joyning to another the disobedience entred in Gods own wisdom and spirit remaining yet in him but as a Captive this was his fall that by looking and turning not to any thing without but to that of God lying under and covered within him the same makes attonement in him and reconciles unto God through his yielding up himselfe thereunto which is the blood of the Crosse this is his Redemption The account of truth is that the first man Adam was made a living soul 1 Cor. 15. had a beam of light power glory of God as to that appearance of him to the first creation yet still but a living soul not a quickning spirit as to his outward part earthly not heavenly created of earth and feeding upon things created as to his inward naturall not spirituall that is having in him the perfection and beauty of a created wisdom and power not the eternall wisdom and power a candle of light not the Sunne or fountain of light it self by that in him he saw the Godhead as Light righteousness and power but as giving a law and a sentence of death thus God appeared and appeares to the first creation he saw him not as his light righteousness and power by himself fulfilling the law and abolishing death this appearance as then lay hid in God reserved to be brought forth in the second creation thus was man in his first estate That by one mans disobedience many were made sinners Adam was so one that he was many in one as the root before the branches is one yet many as a root departing from the commandement and therein from God he disobeyed and died yet not as alone but we all in his loynes the root being unholy so were the branches all flesh was defiled in him that was the father of all flesh his sinne and death like a flood having overflown himself and all the earth with a curse This was his fall and all ours in him That by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous Christ was One as to person yet many in One in a mysterie so his obedience was not the righteousnesse of one but of all in him not by looking back and returning to the first Adam made a living soule or the glory of the Godhead shining forth upon him but by looking out of every thing in man to the second Adam made a quickning spirit and the grace of God shining forth in him through the blood of his crosse we are redeemed and that not unto the righteousness of the first but of the second Adam thus Christ crucified was that wisdom hid in God before the world unto our glory not known by the naturall or first man neither before nor after his fall if there be that in the naturall man which being turned into and followed can redeem and make atonement for him as this man sayes then the blood of Christ is of no more effect but do this and live Concerning Light and Life He saith that the light shining in every man is Christ the true light and life of men That the going out of this Light is the cause of all false Religions Sects and errors that redemption out of all these out of sinne and death is by the Light within all men as minded and obeyed that a righteousnesse done as far as India and preached as far as Corinth where the same is not done in us is the profession of Pharisees hypocrites Faith saies that God manifest in the flesh and his glory shining forth in the man Jesus vanquishing and doing away the ministration of the law sin and death for us by his own righteousness and life as excelling in glory this is the Christ and light of men the word made flesh as the Mediatour having purged away our sins by himself so he is light unto us the same word as the spirit of revelation in us so he is light within us so he is not light in every man That where faith in the blood of the Mediator is not there is darkness the mother of Errors and all false Religions every of which are more or less bottomed upon the Law in the Conscience that is the light within righteousness by obedience or work being the Root of all they only differ in the Rule some are for Moses others for the Alchoran others for Holy Church these for the Light within That the righteousness done in India and Preached at Corinth is the light that scatters the Redemption that leads out of all erring Religions from sin and death and that the Righteousness as far as India a term of dishonour by them put upon it is to the true spiritual believer not confined in the Land of India but according to the Divine Person in whom it is is extended unto and upon all that believe as a garment spread upon them for the covering of sins a fountain of life within them for the washing away sin Concerning Righteousness The sum of their faith is that the imputed righteousness that justifies is the Light within or that of God in every man which is the free gift that Saints are justified with this righteousness by obedience to it so much we work or obey so much justified and no further That the righteousness that is made a covering for sin is an invention of men and will not stand in the last day Nothing said of Christ manifest in flesh or his crucified body and righteousness that way The Gospel-faith said that the Righteousness that justifies is Christ not as God alone nor as Man alone but as God-man in one who being made sin for us did most graciously and gloriously upon the Cross abolish and overwhelm sin condemnation and the Curse laid upon his flesh by that Omnipotent righteousness life and blessing that was in his God head That not by the works of God in us but by the work of God in Christ with the brightness of his glory purging away our sin in himself are we justified without works only through faith Redemption is a work wholly and entirely in the Person of Christ as Head revealed and given unto us through faith and confessed and manifested by works by once offering of his body he hath perfected for ever all that are his he that truly believes this is perfectly purged and there is no more Conscience of sin though yet the feeling of sin by this faith is the creature made perfect in righteousness at once as in Christ by the Light within he is not made perfect till obedience be perfected judge whither Doctrine leads to perfection That the righteousness of Christ as a covering upon sin presenting the believer in him as righteous to God while ungodly and in sins as to his own sense is a mystery of God that
Christ in flesh and there in put an end both to the Law and the flesh thus we are delivered from the Law by the body of Christ and are joyned to one husband not to the Law and Christ but to Christ alone according to the inward man we dwell in the curtains of Solomon in the liberty and rest of Christ as in him while according to the flesh we are in the tents of Kedar tempted and dark and weak as in our selves thus in the dead body of Christ I am dead and buried unto the Law sin death and the whole world and raised in Christ and this is my redemption which neither the principles of reason nor morality nor Law nor light of conscience can discern and teach but the alone light of the glorious Gospel of Christ shining into the heart Wherefore there is a redemption that is according to reason and a redemption that is in a mystery to return to that light and purity by obedience from which we are fallen by disobedience this is redemption according to reason the Law the light within and the judgement of this people herein is no mystery for the wise men of the heathen wrote of it and pressed after it all Nations imagine such a redemption but that the fall should be amended and the creature restored not into the state of the first Adam but a greater and better the righteousnesse of God and all this without any vertue or work or service on our parts but by the alone operation of the blessed God-head in the man Jesus this is that mystery hid in God whereof the highest speculations the clearest light of that candle in the naturall man is utterly ignorant and unlearned otherwise it were not a mystery if any light whatsoever set up in man by his first creation could have found it out wherefore to live to the Law that thou mayst live to God is the redemption that reason and this people teach I through the Law am dead to the Law that I may live unto God is the Redemption that brings glory the other will end in death Concerning Justification Sanctification and Mortification He affirms that to walk in the spirit and not fulfil the lusts of the flesh or Christ fulfilling the Law in us or the spirit mortifying and sanctifying and so fulfilling the Law in us this is justification sanctification and mortification and these are one and so a man is justified as he is sanctified and mortified and no further Will you adventure your souls upon such a justification as this therein to appeare before God if it be not too late to tell you know that justification is a free gift already prepared and wrought for sinners in the person of him who is greater then Angels or men who being the fulnesse of all divine vertue and perfection did thereby as by an overflowing flood upon his Cross beare away our sinnes and death all the evils of this world and buried them in his grave for ever Angels though great and mighty in power could not save the Law being greater then they could not give life Christ came forth mightier then all gathered together in himself the enmity death and Law and all things that were against us nailed them to his Cross and took all out of the way gloriously in himself and so was that saying fulfilled his voice then shoak the earth He that believes this truly according to his faith so is it done unto him the Christian as believing is a man in Heaven in Christ sit down in rest liberty and perfection in Christ as working righteousness he is on earth groaning after rest liberty and perfection But can there be Rest and liberty where there is a groaning for it yea oh man as well as Paul could be present in spirit where he was absent in body whilst at home in the body we are absent from the Lord yet by faith we are present in the Lord things of nature are taken in by reason or sense reason hath knowledge and communion with things before the sense feeles or tastes them so the things of the spirit are taken in by faith or spiritual sense through faith the believer hath communion with spiritual things before they be in their power and fulnesse attained by sense and feeling the mystery of grace in Christ is not limited yet love of God and righteousnesse of Christ are not more or lesse for the Believer because the manifestations thereof in him are so the vail is rent sin finished all old things are passed away but by faith I understand it to be so as in Christ my head and therein am justified the manifestation thereof in my self I wait for and therein is my sanctification as in my members take away that justification in Christ for you and all sanctifications by obedience to the light within will profit you nothing Concerning the Law The things of note said by him are Law is the ministration of the letter without the Gospel or ministration of the spirit is the same Law but written in the heart of all men they that believe Christ fulfilled the Law for us in his own person and what we do he makes it accepted with the father as though we did performe all that is required none such know his commands in spirit that righteousnesse by faith is when the Law is performed in us by workes in spirit righteousnesse by workes is when the Law is done by us without life and spirit that the offering and blood without could make nothing perfect that within being more pure and perfect and that the Law in the conscience is answered by the resurrection of Christ within Are the Law and Gospel the same aske the wounded spirit beset with the terrours of the Law of God who lie under the sharpest sense of the Law and can give the best account thereof whither redemption was finished in One the person of Christ alone or yet to be done in many the persons of all the redeemed let the Scripture with the spirit be your light and rule until the day declare The holy just and perfect will of God revealed to the world first by that in the conscience after upon Tables of stone reproving for sin and requiring righteousness by obedience whether to the Letter without or Light within this is the ministration of death mighty to kill because it was the working Covenant weak to give life because it was not the Mediatour Christ the fulness of all heavenly things came forth in flesh and being in lengths and breadths sufficient for that purpose did in himself fulfill what the Law required and sustaine all the Law had to charge upon us and so in himself put an end to the Law for all that should believe that which requires works to be wrought in us as the way to attaine righteousness whether it be Letter without or Light within it is the Law and herein do all the false and fleshly Religions of the world agree
you than a lofty imagination of Reason onely enlivened with an active spirit of bondage That not the Light within every man but the word of the Apostles and Prophets and the spirit of Revelation shining according to their Testimony is that which leads to the Lord Jesus the incomprehensible divinity cannot be seen nor approached unto but in the Mediatour the Man Christ so Christ is the image of the invisible God the unsearchable Mystery of Christ is brought to light by the Gospel and to be learned by the Spirit so the Scriptures are the Image of Christ he that shall seek for God out of the Humanity of Christ he shall loose both God and himself so he that to find out Christ shall go to the Light within every man and not to the Testimony of them who spake of him what they had seen and heard he may come to behold him as the Law-giver and Judge but as a Justifier and Saviour he cannot know him The Light within all men may find out the God-head but the Mystery of Grace and Love cannot be known but by that Spirit that blowes where and when he lists Would the light within have shewed you the Attonement Redemption the bloud and sacrifice or have put these words in your mouth Concerning the Ministry of Christ HE saies the Ministers of Christ have the Word in them and so declare it to others that they Preach not for hire or gain that they are persecuted of the world He saies rightly that is a Ministry of Christ but Ministers of Righteousness are of Satan or of Christ zealously to affect to compass Sea and Land to make fair shewes in the flesh to be as touching the Law blameless to preach freely suffer labour stripes imprisonments Satans Ministers may be herein transformed as the Ministers of Christ wherefore Ministryes are to be judged by their Spirit and Spirits by Doctrines If an Angel from Heaven if any Persons coming forth in the wisdome holiness power and glory of an Angel shall not confess that Christ was made Sin and a Curse and the end of both through his death unto us let them be accursed their Doctrine takes away the blessing of Abraham which is in Christ and brings men again under the Curse of the Law which by Christ is abolished to all that truly believe I am jealous that the Teachers of the People for the greatest part are carnal formal and but in the Letter and walking as men yet the Lord has his chosen ones among them I am as jealous that the Teachers of this People are the Ministers of that darkness and wroth by which God will punish this faithless perverse and back-sliding Generation Let thy Spirit of Grace be poured forth upon thy Sons and Daughters and the Spirit of errour and uncleanness shall be revealed and cast out Concerning Free-Will HE saies the Light within men which reproves the evil deeds is that Will of God by which we are sanctified and saved that in every man which shewes him his sin and reproves for it is Free-Grace This Light in every man is the Free-will which is free to God and free from sin If the first be so then is the death of Christ of no effect wherein the whole blessed Will of God was done by which Will we are sanctified through his Body how is Christ crucified become foolishness to you who whilst to your selves and others you have a shew of humility are vainly puft up with your fleshly mind not holding the Head If the second be so then the Law and Free-grace are the same if the Light God has put into all men accusing of sin be the gift of Grace the gift of heavenly Righteousness by Christ wherein is the end of the Law and Sin heeded not that we are delivered from that Law in the Letter or Conscience that reveales sin and wrath and while enemies in our minds were reconciled to God by the death of another this is Grace that we are saved in him raised up into heaven in him whilst compassed about with a body of death in our selves this is a mystery to all the Children of Reason the Law and the Letter the darkness that is upon it is that which keeps the Saints in weakness and unstability the world in blindness and Idolatry and Anti-christ with all his righteousness wisdome and works after the Law Reason and Flesh in his power and greatness If the third be so then there is that in the natural man whereby he is able to know and receave the things of the Spirit there is a candle in all men upon which some beames of the God-head do descend and may be known thereby also the righteousness and transgressions of the Law but the deep things of God his Grace in Christ sparkling in old time now in one promise now in another figured by the Law and foretold by the Prophets whereof the righteousness of the Jewes the Philosophy of the Greeks knew nothing this cannot be discerned by the clearest Light in the natural man Thus the Mystery of the second Adam and the restoring of all things in him is levelled and brought down by the Divinity of these People to be no other thing than that Light of the Law and Reason which all Nations have and so whilst they are condemning all other Religions may be concluded in one common Faith and Principle with all those Religions whom they condemne herein onely excelling them that those are Iniquity more manifested these are Iniquity in a Mystery When they shall cease to make the death of Christ and the whole Mystery of Grace in him of none effect I shall cease any longer to account them so The End A TABLE of the several particulars spoken to in this Book 1. COncerning the Righteousness of the Letter of Angels and of God 2. What is Idolatry God may be known three manner of waies 3. Who hold not the Head and how Christ is Head 4. Three chiefest Principles of this People called Quakers examined and weighed 5. How Faith is the Evidence of things not seen 6. Concerning Faith and Sight 7. Concerning the Spirit and Scriptures as together making up a perfect witness or rule of Faith 8. The Light in all men what it is and of what use 9. Two things charged upon us by this People first that we deny the Light within and set it against Christ secondly that we believe in a Christ without these weighed and resolved 10. What is the inward Life and who is the retired Christian 11. A two fold departure from the Faith in the last daies what they are 12. The Christ that dyed at Jerusalem how farre acknowledged and how far denied by this People to be thâ— Redeemer 13. Whether this People build up a Righteousness of the Law 14. Christ first and last Coming what and a Question answered 15. Anti christs last Coming what and how 16. The Authors Testimony concerning the first and last Appearances of Christ 17. Light Purity and Power of this People examined what it is 18. Opposition and persecution that is raised against this People what to be thought of it At Page 47. begins the Review of there Principles as laid down by J. Naylor in his Book called Love to the Lost under these several Heads 1. Concerning the fall of Man 2. Light and Life 3. Righteousness 4. The Word 5 Worship 6. Error and Heresie c. 7. Faith 8 Hope 9. Judgement 10. Perfection 11. Obedience 12. Good Works 13. Election and Reprobation 14 New Birth 15. Baptisme of Christ and that the world so calls 16 the Lords Supper 17. Redemption 18. Justification 19. Sanctification and Mortification 20. The Law 21. Christ Jesus 22. The Ministers of Christ 23. Free-Will