God and these two Trees are as God and Satan so contrary one to another that the one brings Life unto us and the other death Therefore he that eates of the one its impossible he should eate of the other because they are divided by a flying Cherub and a flaming sword which I interpret sinne and disobedience which sometimes in the Scriptures is called a partition wall For hee that eates of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evill that is hee that is possessed with a Diabolicall wisdome of the Flesh he cannot eate the Tree of Life that is he is departed from divine knowledge and wisdome that proceeds from God For these two wisdomes are incompitable they cannot bee in one and the selfe-same heart being as contrary one to the other as heaven to hell He that eateth of the Tree of Life and is pertaker of divine knowledge hee cannot dye neither sinne For this Fruit eates the eater of it and changeth him into its owne nature into Life as the Scriptures doe testify of those that doe eate the flesh of Christ For it is one and the same thing to eate Christ to live in his word to eate of the Tree of Life to beleeve in God c. as it is also the same thing to be in Adam to live in Adam to eate of the Tree of Knowledge of Good Evill to obey the word of Satan and be God Therfore those that eate of this deadly Tree and adhere to the word and wisdome of the Serpent and are borne of Satan these cannot doe any thing that is pleasing unto God As on the contrary the other doth not any thing that is displeasing unto him Therefore he that would be the one must bidd adew to the other He must putt off the wisdome of the Serpent and vomitt up the Fruit of the Forbidden Tree who would eate of the Tree of Life Adam must dye in us and the witt of the Flesh must be unlearned of us if we would have Iesus Christ to live in us and obtaine the direction of the holy spirit For the death of the one is the life of the other the infirmity of the one is the strength of the other No man can serve two Masters neither is it possible to unite Adam God the Devill together CHAP. XII The praise of the Word of God on which alone man ought to build rest reside and it onely know if he will remain unshaken in adversity have his Faith manifest and approved and finde quietnesse to his Soule INdeed there be many arts profitable to the body which God the belly hath created and yet doth dayly finde out which truely bring much profit to the kitchin and onely serve worship obey their God the belly most zealously as it is expedient they should But as the cōmon proverbe is that which is profitable to the body doth often hurt the soule and that which is the bellies and flesh as life foode and plentie is often times the death of the soule and a meere poyson unto it because the spirit is contrary to the flesh Hence it comes to passe that table or belly arts because they be the Fruit off-spring and witt of the flesh are altogether vaine famine and death unto the soule And on the contrary that onely art the end whereof was not for God bellies advantage which the whole world doth so much sleight and litle regard that onely true wisdome and Theologie to witt God and the knowledge of his Word in him together with the knowledge of him divinely infused into our soules is the sole art onely necessary to mans salvation Therfore the true heavenly divine art the true tree of Life of which whosoever eateth hath everlasting life Furthermore I say this art is the Foode Wine Milke excellencie defence and all whether the profitt pleasure or advancement of Soules All other arts being vaine doubtfull and the poyson of the Soule hurtfull and deadly to the Spirit of Man if hee leane upon them rest in them glory in them or build his happinesse upon their sandy foundation In a word they are the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good evill of which whosoever eates as J have amply proved hee shall dye the death Therefore I desire that wee would not be to righteous nor wise in our owne eyes As Solomon Eccles. 8. as also Proverbs 3. doth faithfully instruct us that we should esteeme nothing to be our wisdome righteousnesse or any other vertue in us but onely to know God in and with himselfe and love praise worshipp feare honour and understand him as wee ought Which thing must necessarily proceede from God himselfe beeing the worke of his eternall and in it selfe everlasting and immutable word which without spokesman from him proceeds out of his mouth that hee speakes in our hearts teacheth himselfe in our soules imprinting and engraving his Image in us thereby enlightning so our understanding that to speake in a word he so teach love know understand pray unto heare guide governe and worshipp himselfe in us All other things whatsoever are to dull and all the vertue of things are to base that they should be able to teach us God and give us everlasting felicity or that God by them should give it unto us God will be himselfe teach himselfe give and convay himselfe into our hearts Neither will hee suffer his honour to bee given to any Creature that by it wee should be saved or sanctified but hee that heareth and learneth it of the Father commeth unto him He will himselfe be the Master of spirits and so a spirit shall be taught of a spirit And all those that are divinely instructed of the all-knowing and understanding God shall be said truely to be learned and wise The flesh hath teachers who belonging to the ould covenant have commerce with the flesh The new covenant because it is spirit and Life and in like manner hath a spirituall and new birth of God to be instructed hath also a spiritual word and Master to instruct it which is the word and spirit of Life Therefore if any man would know himselfe submitt himselfe quietly to the direction and permitt himselfe to bee spoken too sought and found in him He surely should be elevated to a wonderfull Light if any man I say doth follow the instruction and Doctrine of the Father in himselfe he verily should finde God in God and with God But the world busied and accupied in the Creatures passeth away in a confusion and not considering the hidden and secret treasure that is closed in his heart Neither seekes for this precious Pearle but covered all over with the earth of the Creatures remaineth in darknesse with the multitude of his arts and sciences weary ignorant and void of all true arts and sciences yet doth he in the meane space learne art after art further and further searcheth into the my fierie of knowledge And to use the words of Saint Paul is
old word beeing growen out of use And againe the old words are received the new being thrust out so farre forth that nothing is durable or constant in this life And if any man would observe he shall finde that our mother Tongue in England is dayly changed that at this day they speake otherwise then they did a few yeares since yea and such a curiositie nicenesses there is in the word and tongues that what men have a while made use off suddenly they cast away as disdaining the same Every man endevouring to bring out some new and rare thing that he seeme not to imitate the words of any other insomuch that the cheife inventour of words doe now obtaine the chief praise and estimation of Art And by this meanes all things are confounded in the earth and what now is new is presently growen old and anone become new againe and the hearts of men the Kingdomes peoples and Languages of the World like to the course of the yeare In times past France spoke the Dutch language as Beatus Rhenamis writing of the Germaine affaires most elegantly proves but now it hath gathered a proper speech to it selfe out of Italie Germaine Spaine but most specially from Italie which thing of the tongue was caused perhaps by their warre because divers people being mixed together they made and used a mixed kind of Speech Hence it came to passe that as yet they retaine some of the Germain words as Suppen Sacken kushen which they almost according to the Nether Germains pronounce after the bastard Germaine Souper Sacen Cuysten This I speake that we may see that nothing is constant or new in the earth and that is true which Terence writt Nothing is spoke now which was not spoke before So nothing is done which was not done before So that Cornelius Agrippa thinkes the invention of Gunpowder and â—uns was no new invention of which opinion in the Historian Volatiramis and this may be gathered out of the sixt of Virgils Eneads where thus he writes of Salmon I Salmon saw with paine torment late Who would loues flame thunder imitate For caried by foure steeds with torch in hand Through Elis Cittie all Grecian Land Did ride in triumph and command that all Shâ—uld give him honour and a dietie call O mad man he who with his Chariots noyce Would imitate the mightie thunders voyce And Solomon shewes the same all along in the 3. chapt. of Eccles. as also to the first that what hath beene that shall bee what hath beene done the same shall be done neither is there any thing new under the Sunne There is something which is as if it were new yet was that in auncient times which hath beene before us There is no memory of former ages neither shall there be of those that are to come amongst who are to be and a little after things past and things to come are all forgotten and the wise together with the fool doe dye In which words what other thing would the preacher show then that all arts are subiect to oblivion and death Neither can they alwayes remaine in the soule but together with the body departs or perisheth by death For nothing I say can adhere unto the Image of God I meane the Soule which is like unto God and consist in death and fire but what is onely God and his word this is the onely endure able creature and the meate of Eternall Life Not that opinion and Art of Philosophers but the true good of the minde and Soule which can happen to no other thing but the word although I doe not denye but that word appeared to some of the Gentils and taught them because God is no respector of Persons but as a common Light of soules as the Sunne is the Light of the whole world neither is the hand of God shortned nor his eye envyous that he should not looke upon the whole VVorld With the same love eye and grace since we are all alike the same workmanshipp of God all of the same love estimation and authoritie with him Hence thou mayst collect that all arts invented by men are death and fruits of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evill For assoone as Adam had eaten of that Tree the same day he dyed in the eyes of God as the historie declares although afterwards according to the flesh hee lived many yeares as from heavenly matters the same day was his eyes shutt up and he eat death although in his owne judgement his eyes were opened and he seemed to himselfe to be a living God knowing Good and Evill Then began he to exercise his art his cunning to expound dispute and seeke out a malitious sutle and captious meaning in all things and also to deale deceitfully with God and in all things to hide himselfe to cover himselfe with Figge leaves to kisse his owne hand in a word to worship himselfe by inventing many arts amongst his posterity And out of this Roote spring up all the precepts of men their expositions their arts and so excellent a foundation have they as both the inventour and the authour of them was the Devill and the first Scoller that learned them did eate death therefrom And this Science and Art is utterly to be abhorred being no other then a Diabolicall perswasion conceived in Adam formed and hid in the Seede of the Serpent And yet all the World as Adam did thinkes that Life is placed in it neither doth it receive any instruction from Adam neither indeed understand the historie of Adams fall or his rising againe and that whole matter at this day doth live yet accounting it but a Historie long since acted done and afterwards dare say the word of God endureth for ever Therefore wee must needs confesse that nothing is past which in its kinde is not yet extant Whole Moyses is urged upon Christians neither is one jott of the word of God lost which shall not be fulfilled in every moment in spirit truth Therefore the fall of Adam happeneth dayly dayly doth Adam in his posterity eate of the forbidden fruit And therfore his Sonnes in Adam as in the roote are damned dead Now this our fall as Adams is amended and repaired if we spirt out and vomitt up this knowledge of good and Evill as poyson and become as Adam was before his fall Children Fooles and innocent Turttles that wee may eate of the Tree of Life and suffer the Seed of the woman to be ingrafted in us This is not the Seede the art witt and counsell of the Serpent but the Seede word will the minde of God the Tree of Life which whosoever eateth and suffreth himselfe to be fedd therewith is indowed with Eternall Life Now in us there is a Medicine with poyson For as by sinne the Tree of knowledge of good and Evill was planted into the heart of Adam so by his conversion rising againe and Seede of the Woman the
and is so farre from bringing Life with it that it mortifies kills the Reader as Paul implies where he sayth the spirit quickens and not the Letter The Iewes in auncient times and so men in these dayes doe boast themselves of the word of God are strongly perswaded that out of it they are able to gather Life to their soules but they are farre deceived Wherefore Christ sayes In whom thinke ye to have Life As for the Scriptures his testimony of them is this that they are them which testify of him Therefore all arts and knowledges are no wayes the cause of Life but the knowledge of Life to know him in and with God wicked nature hath alwayes a perverse end proposed to it selfe and therefore it desires to know all things not for God but for its owne sake therefore all things are to the flesh as it is its self vaine and perverse if the learning of so many arts had beene necessary to salvation God had created and taught them in the beginning Neither would bee have suffered that men should so long have wanted that without which they were not able to attaine to Life but because they were formed out by men and still are found out by them though no man be any whitt the more unhappie if so be he never know any thing of them Yea hee were more happie if he could unlearne them though with greater difficulty then he learned them you may by the Tree conjecture what the Fruit is what humane arts and sciences are to witt the Fruit of the forbidden Tree How then can they conduce any thing unto Life being the only precepts in ventions of men Therefore very well in praise of that word of God doth Cornelius Agrippa call all arts and actions of men meere ignorant fables and foolishnes in his Booke de vanitate Scientiarum The beginning and end whereof wee have putt in this Booke that wee may not seeme alone with Ernestinus to contemne arts and praise folly Wherefore if thou leane unto arts please and boast thy selfe in them having any hope or accounting thy selfe any thing better for them they will prove death unto thee for they doe no more conduce to thy happines then garments time place or such like circumstances But as they are the inventions of the flesh so doe they produce no other thing in thee then the workes and Fruits of the flesh to witt selfe-love pride of spirit contempt disdaine security such like And this is verified by experience for no men are more perverse craftie covetous then these wordly wise and learned men bee being men drowned in their owne selfe-love esteemed of themselves worthy to be beloved and reverenced of all full of rash judgement lovers of all pleasures and so full of all vices that the whole world gives creditt to no men lesse speakes worse of no men more being full of taunting reproaching proverbs against them such as these the better learned the worser mannered the better Scoller the worser Christian No man scapes scotfree out of the clawes of a preist He that wil have an honest house must keepe it free from Preists Apes Doves A monk dare doe as much as he dare thinke These such like proverbs are common in every mans mouth which arise from this that they are so swollen with the poyson of the fruit of the forbidden tree so puft up with the false opinion of their owne wisdome and righteousnesse that no rich man is more insolent by reason of his riches then these perverse wise men are by reason of their arts knowledge So that it is as easie to remove Cyrus out of his Kingdome as one of these wise men out of his opinion and tenent And truely it cannot be but by how much a man is more wise in the art of the forbidden tree by so much hee is more miserable as Christ witnesseth in the gospell that the multitude of their arts and knowledge is an impediment why they come not into the Kingdome of God and publicans and harlots enter in before them Therfore these men are to perish with their arts to depart empty and so farr is any of them from leaving his art wisdome knowledge righteousnesse that he esteemeth these to be the good and riches of the soule which neither theevs can steale nor moathes corrupt when in very deed they are nothing but the inventions of Satan fruits of the forbidden tree and the death of the soule For the life of the soule is the true knowledge of God which himselfe doth work teach in us to wit the fruit of the Tree of life whose fruit is that it makes a man gentle loving humble lowly meeke c. By this let a man examine himselfe with what witt and righteouseesse hee is endued For if day by day he be lesse in his own eyes and in the judgement of the world if he seeme still more foolish in himselfe and a Child in his owne thoughts his knowledge is divine the Seede of the VVoman a Fruit of the Tree of Life but if hee finde contrary effects in himselfe then is all his wisdome Devilish the Seede of the Serpent and Fruit of the Forbidden Tree and so the death of the soule CHAP. XI Of the Tree of Life vvhat it is why Adam was excluded from it and not permitted to eate thereof I also grant thus much that this Tree was visible in Paradise and had this divine vertue bestowed upon it that whosoever eate thereof should live for ever But whereas Adam before had eaten of the Forbidden Tree and had incurred death therefore he should not eate of this Tree of Life least otherwise he should have lived for ever and in a word God should have beene false in his word which was that he should dye the death but God who is Life it selfe would not for ever be angrie with his Creature but was unwilling that man should for ever live in that misery into which he had cast himselfe and therefore drove him out of Paradise and afterwards shewed him the way by which he should returne into Paradise againe and eating of this Tree live for ever and then gaurded the Tree of Life with a Cherub and a flamming sword least man in his exile should have presumed to have come to this Tree and have eaten thereof The will and counsell of God was that it was better that man should dye in the flesh and so putt of this miserable life and change it for a better then live in it for ever Therefore God who cannot nor will not hate us delt every way most mercifull with us if so bee we would truely consider of it Now doe J think that the same also happened in the true Paradise of Adās heart the Tree of the Knowledge of Good Evill is the Seed Knowledge and wisdome of the Serpent And the tree of Life is the Seed of the Woman and the wisdome of
the same and confirmes the truth thereof with all assurance not so craftie subtiltie can be objected against the truth but that may be battered weakened and refuted with one word neither can any thing so accute be produced which weakened with the like accute may not be overthrowne onely the word of God overcommeth with such force that even the minde of the enemy is overcome and taken with it the outward man alone and the face of the flesh which would not be bridled seekes out all kinde of ambushes trickes and turnings to escape this thunderclapp And falshood for shame covers its face with its hands and thereby thinks that the whole body is covered that it cannot be seene Moreover it is behovefull that all other traditions of arts words and spirits bee examined by the word of God as by an index golden rule and touch-stone I call that the word of God which is the Spirit and Life not the Letter written without Inke and paper in the hearts of beleevers which speakes unto the soules of all those that are obedient unto it This J call the Word of God Not the Scriptures For if we speake properly the Scriptures or Letters are not the word of God but the minde spirit and that true divine meaning which Paul calleth the sence of Christ and mind of the Spirit and Christ the Word of God This I say is the word of God as saint Paul doth testify The Letter sayth he doth kill but the Spirit that is the true and spirituall meaning thereof which onely spirituall men are indued with which doth quicken These alone have the Key of David for the opening of all the Seales of this closed booke to all other the booke is Sealed with seven Seales Of which mention is made in Dan. 7. Apoc. 5. and Mat. 13. by way of parable and the vaile of the Letter doth hang before their eyes untill they turne unto God and seriously will obey his will The spirit of understanding entreth into no froward scorner who in the letter only desireth to shew his nicitie and Clarkeship For the truth is that word of God and his secrets are made manifest to them that feare him Therefore many in our times are snared who betwixt the writings and the word of God doe know no difference and so doe they esteeme the Scriptures for the word of God so as beside it they knovv no other But it appeares by the Testimony of many divinely taught that the scriptures are nothing but the huskes the shell the sheath the Lanthorne the shrine the letter the cave the vaile of the word of God From whence it ariseth that they appeare so sinister and in shew often repugnant and are hidden from wicked men But the Word of God placed in and under them is the kernell the life fulnes and thing it selfe or substance For otherwise those learned men the Scribes and Pharisees had been blessed and happy if the Letter had beene the word of God viz. the light c. because they had so well conned the Scriptures that most part of them they could say by heart yet were they for all that most miserably to perish with this Art and so death is eaten by the Tree of good and evill while yet men thinke thereby to have Life But Christ doth more ingenuously testify that they know not the Scriptures that is what in the Scriptures is the word of God for what otherwise belonged to the Letter and grammaticall sence they writt but knew not the mind of Christ which was the force and meaning of the Letters and the Letters in my judgment are of sett purpose so sinister and darkly dictated by the Holy Ghost comprehended and declared that those impious Swine and Dogges may not understand them according as Christ out of Esay doth alleadge them and giveth this reason why he speaketh so obscurely by similitudes and demonstrateth the same thing more significantly in Iohn least we should make an idoll of the Letter And that wee should thinke some other thing more necessarie to salvation then Bibles to weet that of God we should desire the Light of his word which is hidden in this Lanthorn and also that true teacher the Holy Spirit which may direct lead and instruct us in the holy Scriptures and may open the Seales thereof declaring unto us the mysterie of this shrine that is his divine word Law pleasure will and meaning hidden under the dead Letter Many thinke it enough that they have Bibles and know how to reade Here forsooth they find the Holy Ghost the word of God that double Sword of the Spirit yet wrapped up and closed in the sheath But who can understand gaine finde and brandish the same He answers by the Prophet Esay Yong Children who will be affrayd at this killing Letter they are sore out of heart tremble and dye for feare Therefore it is not enough although it is good to have Bibles What to have Bibles All the Pharises had the same could say them by heart and yet they lived no lesse blinde and dead These very Bibles are the Tree of Good and Evill of which they did eate death although to the godly who consult with God about the meaning of them and renouncing themselves pray unto him for the obtaining of his Spirit they be the Tree of Life God will give his glory to none other no not to the Scriptures but hath made them darke unto us and hath reserved the interpretation to himselfe that he may teach enlighten rule and guide how when and as hee will and his will is that we alwayes wax stronger and by degrees come nearer to the knowledge of the truth if so be we would doe the same by his helpe but hee hath not sowen his word by the way side for dogges and swines but hath covered it the same beeing hiding in the Letter that we may not rest our selves contented in the Letter but digg up the hidden treasure and with all Religion pray for grace and understanding and consult with his Holy Spirit that he may take us into his tuition guide us teach us leade us unto the Tree of Life the Fruit whereof may feed us up unto eternall Life And this is the tryall of all Arts Doctrines and Spirits that they be compared and agree with the word of God that that which is divinely unto us we finde to be true by his word in our hearts In a word that our spirits may confirme the same so to be by its testimony as wee have divinely learned the same and that we sustaine for the defence thereof to dye Therefore it is likely and so it shal be indeed what Doctrine soever commeth frō god the same is not repugnant to the word which divinely taught we have in our hearts but agreeable thereunto giveth testimony that wee know his word as we are knowne of God and comprehended as we are comprehended of him otherwise how could we say Amen and assent if
word of God which in it selfe is perpetuall and semperternall can neither be written in Letters nor expressed in word endureth for ever Hence it comes to passe that whatsoever is spoken or written of it as that which is not of God himselfe remaines but as a shadow a figure and testimony thereof and is not properly God and his word Now no man can speake or utter this word therefore it is necessary that it speake it selfe in an obedient and willing heart and for this cause it is required of every man that hee submitt himselfe under the potent hand of God void of his owne will free and cleare from his owne heart and subordinate to the will of God that God or his word may speake teach seeke love finde acknowledge beseech hear praise honour feare and adore it selfe This alone is the art of God which he himselfe doth teach in us without this all other arts are nothing For besides this to know all things is to be ignorant of all things All arts without this art is vanity which yet is better conceived in heart then it can be uttered in word yea it cannot be expressed or declared in worde therefore no man can teach the same to an other but it is to be taught and manifested by God to the teaching of which whosoever are sent they are not Doctors or Masters but onely witnesses of that word which by the vertue of God is before in our hearts Therefore it hath many names which oftentimes are used one for an other so that as sometimes the Father sometime the Sonne and sometimes the Holy Ghost is called the Fountaine of Life or Truth So the word of God is sometimes called the Seed of God sometimes his soule sometimes his soonn sometime his arme sometimes his hand sometime his right hand sometime his Law sometime his will sometime his image sometime his inspiration And hither may be referred all the names which the Scriptures give to the Father Sonne and Holie Ghost and the word of God which are all one and referred unto one serve to the signification of the same thing And this Word which in the New Covenant is called Christ is the essence of all things which are and all things are created by it and also are preserved nourished and sustained by it and in it So that all things have their beeing rather in the Word then in themselves And if God should withdraw this word to himselfe as was the estate of them before the beginning of the world while yet the world was not made of him so should all things necessarily in the same moment be turned to nothing againe Therefore doth God even to this day preach this word unto us and yet it is ineffable as Taulerus saith though in him all things have their essence and being in from God Wherefore to committ and consecrate a mans selfe to this living word of God is the onely life eternall and that true one art and part of Mary which cannot be taken from her all other arts are vaine and must perish with the inventors and professors only to know God obey his word which the Scriptures calls to eate Christ to beleeve in him to putt on the new man to adhere unto God to be born a new to live to the spirit to heare and receive the word of God to be baptized to be ingrafted into Christ to receive Christ and many other tearmes is not onely of it selfe immortal but preserveth all from death who are indued with the same No man can consume this bread but it preserves him the eater thereof from eternall death and hunger unto eternall life This treasure can no theefe take away no rust or moath corrupt In a word this eternall word is to a Christian all things in adversitie a Sword Weapon against all dangers meate to him that starves cloathing to the cold for want of divine grace and a sure sanctuary to every fugitive But he that knoweth all things and is ignorant of this knoweth nothing even as hee who knoweth and hath all things and wanteth God possesseth nothing and if it could be that any man could know all arts which all men at any time have knowne and understood if he were a Pandora or a Hippias knowing all things yet were he not therefore any whitt better in the sight of God yea J dare say he should be so much the worse by how much he had glutted himselfe of the tree of knowledge eaten death for the more poyson is received the speedier will the destruction be And even as this was the fall death of Adā viz. to become a god to arrogate to be something in himselfe to know J will not say to be ignorant of nothing That fal cannot be forgiven or repaired unlesse thou vomitt up all that Diabolicall art and curious knowledge and besides eate of the Tree of Life which shall worke in thee an utter forgetfulnesse of all those arts and make thee a Childe a Foole and reduce thee to innocencie under God that at length thou mayst know that which God would know in thee so he himselfe should teach and suggest in thee by his word according as it is said otherwise all things are unprofitable yea though a man know all things they are not onely unprofitable but also a hinderance to this art of God He that is ignorant of this in vaine hath he learned knowne all things else besides In the word of God alone which proceedeth out of the mouth of god is seated the rule of all things the Scope Doctrine art life and truth teaching what is to be done what not to be done what to bee spoken what not to be spoken whether to enter from whence to depart and come out All other arts they be variable whatsoever they be to time fortune vanitie death and oblivion and not onely these arts but also the Letters bookes formes masters tongues which we use doe perish and others after them which succeed in their places so that nothing is cōstant of long continuance in the earth but all things according to their visible nature are frayle mutable and momentary How often are the tongues themselves changed how often the formes being removed doe new succeed in their place as I have said before Orthography is not ever like it selfe and the same with all people in all times yea the true pronounciation of the Latin tongue as Cornelius Agrippa in his booke called De vanitate scientiarum formerly alleadged by us is perished and no where extant Moreover the auncient Letters of the Hebrews are gone so that there is no memorie left thereof but onely those which Esdras in their place invented Adde moreover that the tongue is made verie lame by the Caldeans which also hath been incident to perish of other tongues So that no man there is who can finde out their auncient forme and dialects Besides this new words doe allwayes creepe in the
the word For the word hath not onely a knowledge but also a certaine action it is not onely a Light and splendor in us given from above but also Life The interior word containeth both of these which sometimes is called the Kingdome of God sometimes the Spirit sometimes Christ dwelling in us For it is not onely a Light way and guide but also Spirit truth and Life that is which not onely teacheth man that he may understand but also moves him that hee workes But the exterior word is farre from this priviledge and hath farr a different nature For it is nothing else but a certaine forme figure of the interior J will not say a shadow Therefore the interior words as it is the onely lively so it is the onely true word as being the truth and life But on the contrary the exterior is nothing but a killing Letter and a deceitfull figure of the word Hence it ariseth the Letter as Christ becomes a certaine snare to wicked men a stone of offence darkenesse not Light death and not Life Therefore it is necessarie that beside the exterior word the interior be sought after and knowne Since the exterior deceiveth a man with its shape is death and darknesse unlesse the Light Life of the spirit bee together present with it Moreover the exterior suffereth a man to be sluggously and idle except the power of the interiour bee present with it Therefore the interiour word may be without the exterior as the exteriour without the interior Therfore it doth not necessarily follow that a man hath the word of God because he pretends and hath the letter as on the other side it followeth not that he who wāteth the exterior word or letter wāteth also the interior true and heavenly word which is God himselfe For he doth not alwayes want the word who hath not the Letter For the Letters doth onely give a testimony of the word so farre are they from being the word it selfe yea they are scarce the Image of the living word Much lesse are they it which neither can be written nor expressed by words both which is incident to the Letters Therefore the Letters are farre from being the word of God yea all the word though sometimes they bee called the word of God as the image and picture of a man is called sometimes by his name even as God is sometimes called man the word flesh not that God is man or the word or spirit is made flesh by imitation appellattion and permixion So as what is said of one may be verified of the other or so as God cease to be God and to be truely changed into man as that water in Cana Galilee was changed into wine Or so as the word is so flesh as not now it is not the spirit or the word but flesh in no wise The word is not so in the Letter that they be one and the selfe same thing or so as the word should have changed it selfe into the Letter and yet well and rightly the Letters are called the Word of God so as God is called Man and the Word flesh although to speake properly neither is the word of God chāged into Letters nor God into Man nor the word into flesh Therefore both these may be true the Letters are the word of God and the Letters are not the word of God Now although the Letters are sometimes in some respect the word of God yet truely are they not the sole nor altogether nor all the Word of God yea if we speak properly they are not the word of God which either can be spoken or written and that the Letters are not the sole word of God may be made knowne by this That many things besides the Scriptures are revealed inspired unto many and many things are spoken and written by them which are not contained openly in the letters yea which somtimes are contrarie to the dead Letters The Prophets Moyses Christ and his Appostles whose words seeme to be contrary to the Prophets what they have written of the Temple the Sacrifice Circumcision and of the vision of God Moreover the true word of God hath beene from all eternitie yea even before any scripture was as I have said before it will be hereafter whē the scriptures are perished Therefore the word is improperly in the Letter and flesh and therefore it is improperly called flesh or the Letter For my word saith Christ is Spirit and Life Therefore the word cannot be that word which is flesh or dead letter wherfore though the word truely and indeed is onely in spirit as in which it onely liveth yet it is also in the flesh but yet weake if there it bee alone without the Spirit and Life It is also in the Letter but altogether dead unlesse the Spirit doe quicken it as the soule doth the bodie and it is in both and yet not truely and if truely yet not all and onely and lively Now although the word is in the Spirit lively and true yet after a more peculiar excellent manner it is in the flesh then in the Letter although the Spirit be present with the Letter and lend a hand it teacheth nothing but when the spirit dwelleth with the flesh it not onely teacheth but also maketh alive and bursteth out into workes So the letter of the Law brings men to no perfection although it be the word of God as also the Scriptures spoken by the mouth of God and written by his finger For the word of the Law did teach the knowledge of the precept but did not give man a will and strength to fulfill the same but the word which is made flesh giveth life to beleevers Hence it commeth to passe that the flesh inspired with the word and spirit of God wills and doth keepe the Commandement of God Therefore the word in the flesh doth onely give an Example of life when on the contrarie it leaveth in the letter all things idle and sleepie But in the Spirit it truely stirrs up the heart and affections towards the Law for the Spirit is the life and soule of the word and therefore the word it selfe but the flesh is a certaine imitation of the word the letters a certaine printed picture and Copie of the word Wherefore the written word is not the true word but a certaine image thereof yea the Scriptures pronounced in words are not the true word of God but onely a testimony thereof For the Scriptures had beginning in time by occasion but the word was from all eternitie Adde to which the Scriptures doe lead men into errour except the interpreter viz. the Spirit be present And they are a sealed booke and a perplexed Laborinth unlesse the Spirit be present as the Treede of Thesius to guide us and as the Key of David to open unto us Hence it comes to passe that many men seeing see not and hearing heare not and as who know the Scriptures
and yet neither know nor understand Therefore we confesse that the letters are a certaine image and figure of the word yet they are not truely the very word because they are but onely an image figure thereof This is the reason wherefore we admitt no other word but what is answerable to this Image or Example of the Scriptures and to the true and spirituall sence Therefore the Scriptures are as the Index or golden Scales of the word so they be understood not according to the dead letter but according to the minde of Christ and will of the Spirit Therefore we reject not what is agreable to the true meaning of the Scriptures so we doe not deny what is not contrary unto them For whosoever is not against us is of us Therefore we deny not the exterior word written or spoken so doe we confirme the interior or living so it is wee grant the maistery and unction of the Spirit and doe not deny the guift of Prophecye and interpretation of the Scriptures For the word hath something to come and something obscure difficult to the flesh That which is to come the Spirit taketh it of the word and declareth it unto us that which is obscure hard to be understood it dayly teacheth unto us and leadeth us into all truth Therefore under the name of the word of God the Letters are not onely understood but all prophecies visions dreames unctions inward speakings Doctrins of the Spirit revelations if they be frō God also whatsoever holie men by the instinct of the spirit have either spoken or done Therefore no man must adhere peremptorily to the onely letter where the Holy Ghost is there is libertie and the free word is bound to none Moreover the Holy Ghost suffereth no rule or limit to be prefixed to it in its owne therefore to nothing it is tyed but to it selfe that is be not contrarie and disagreeing to it selfe as therefore many things come and are spoken frō God al which nay not the thousand part are writtē in the scripturs So many things at this day happen are spoken by God which are not written And yet neverthelesse they are the word of God and wrought by him Add to which that many things there are not written nor expressed in words which wee yet receive for the word of God and onely by hand as it were have received them from our Forefathers of which kinde are the abrogation of the precepts of the first counsell renewed after by the Holy Ghost to the Church So as the Church was freed from the same Of which things wee notwithstanding have no written or expresse word Christ himselfe taught all in word and writt nothing and commanded his Apostles to preach not to write And the Church is begotten rather by word then by writing Moreover the Doctors preachers of the new Covenant were called and indeed are the Ministers of the Spirit not of the Letter By all these it is manifest that the free and swift Spirit is not tyed unto letters nor the Doctrine of the Spirit can bee included into the Jayle prison and corner of the Scriptures Therefore although there bee many bookes of the Law something sometimes may change to come in handling of which there is no expresse Canon or Law to be found but it is to be excogitated and ruled by reason So oftentimes such a rare thing happeneth the letters doe universall forsake a man that they cannot teach comfort guide or appease him but a man must necessarily repaire unto God and consult with the peculiar word of the Spirit by prayer to comfort and strengthen his weakned conscience For it is not sufficient to have the common call and word except a man have speciall proper and inward call which yet is not contrary unto the common And although the word of God is altogether one and undivided yet how much thereof a man hath received by faith so much of it is his and this is his word His issue the Word of God is as God himselfe must be made every ones by faith No otherwise then whereas the Light of the Sunne is common yet as much as every one is enlightned thereby so much is the Sunne his and no more So as much as every one hath of God and his word so farre is he his God and so farre hath he God and his word which are common to all peculiar to himselfe Therfore the letters are farre weaker then to satisfie a troubled conscience in the offences thereof and to make quiet againe the lively word of God must doe this and this honour hath God reserved onely to himselfe neither will he permitt it to the letters or any Creatures whatsoever Moreover the Holy Ghost will not be bound or captivated in those that are his nor be subject to the masterie of any one nor suffer that it should be taught by any writing or mouth of man but will it selfe be the light the Doctor master captaine and in a word all in all things Moreover he who useth the Scriptures for a testimony of that worke spirit so hee doe it according to the minde of Christ not interpreting them according to the interpretation of the Scribes and Puarisees doth onely use the Scriptures aright according to the will of God according as he ought all others are meere abuses and the worship of images as the whole world busies it selfe in the Scriptures and esteeme them to be their Apollo as if the Holy Ghost God were no longer to be consulted with concerning any affaires but onely the letters In a word here they enquire and have all things here with the Pharisees they think to have life neither will they grow by an others mans harme nor will they see how blinde impious ignorant and dead they ever have beene in all ages in divine things and in the word of God who have beene the most Learned and could all the Bible at their fingers ends having for all that neede to heare and learne the truth from Christ So darke and deadly are the Letters which they make their Idols Paul calleth the Letters death but they life but indeed they are eternall darknesse death aenigma allegorie and a sealed booke Unlesse thou have the living word of God unto the Light and in them relie upon the Holy Ghost For thy teacher inspirer interpreter guide and master and yet many of them dare make the booke to be open when as yet they cannot agree in the exposition of it And from thence doe as many Sects and Heresies arise as Readers and Heads doe attempt to reade it But know thou and have it as a thing most true that they are cleane onely to the cleane Spirituall to the Spirituall the Word of God to them who are of God and Religiously studie them by the direction and guidance of the Holy Ghost whom they carie alwayes with them and put as a Light into this otherwise darke Lanthorne so as by the the doctrine of the Spirit direction of it they bring more light unto them then they receive therfrom what they receive therefrom is nothing else or no other but a certaine Testimonie of the Spirit of them and all Doctrine The Bereans used the Scriptures as Christ would have them to bee used Acts 17. Search the Scriptures saith he in which yee thinke yee have Eternall life Ioh. 5. But he thinkes otherwise For it followes they are they which testifie of me that I am the Life and Word which speaketh unto you John 8. As therefore we graunt that the Scriptures are the rule of the word judge of spirituall things So in no wise will we remove out of the Church the word of God and unction of the Spirit For even as wee defend the Majestie and authoritie of the word of God against the dead Letter so will we maintaine the masterie of the Spirit against the executioner of the Letter And so doe we grant the fulfilling of the swift and short word as in the onely precept of loue all is contayned both the Law and Prophets be comprehended therein we ingenuously confesse Wherefore as wee doe not take away the word of the Law but confirm it So we doe think that something is yet dayly to be opened in the Church by the unction of the Doctors thereof the signe and earnest not of that which is necessary to salvation but to the guift of Prophecying and the hidden interpretation of the Scriptures Since Christ never forsaketh his Spouse but is alwayes present with her unto the end Math. 28. and being ever in the midst of her doth guide direct her 2 Cor. 9. This is the reason wherfore we doe not force or include the Majestie of the word of God within the narrow prison of the Letters FINIS Luke 10. Deut. 11.
THE FORBIDDEN FRVIT OR A TREATISE Of the Tree of Knovvledge of Good Evill of which Adam at the first as yet all Mankind doe eate death Moreover How at this day it is forbidden to every one as well as to Adam And how this Tree that is the wisedome of the Serpent planted in Ada is that great Image and that many headed Beast mentioned in Daniel and the Apocalyps whom the whole world doth worship LASTLY Here is shewed what is the Tree of Life contrary to the wisdome righteousnesse and knowledge of all mankind With a description of the Majestie and nature of Gods Word By AUGUST ELUTHENIUS Translated out of Latine into English Printed in the yeare 1640. CHAPTER I. What is the Tree of Knovvledge of Good and Evill I Will not much contend with them that would have the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evill accoâ—ding as it is in the Scriptures to be a Naturall Tree which being planted in Paradise had that nature devinely given unto it that who should eate thereof their eyes should be opened to view themselves and they be made Gods and so know both Good and Evill perhaps God would teach Adam both inwardly and outwardly and what hee forbad or taught him inwardly in his heart that he would propose outwardly to his eyes for greater testimony but yet I desiâ—e of them that they would grant this unto me that as the thing was done outwardly so the same to have happened inwardly in the heart of Adam that there hee was tempted by the seed of the Serpent to have the guiding of his owne will and nature not to be so void of knowledge and action as to be subordinate unto God That I should so thinke two reasons or causes doe especially move mee The 1. is that the Seed of the Woman was to breake the head of the seed of the Serpent but as a naturall and living Serpent whose head was broken of that Seed we doe not reade of any but as even then the Seed of the woman was spiritually in the heart of Adam so in the same manner was the seed of the Serpent for man at the first was created good not of God but of nothing and for that cause doth he turne himselfe alwayes from God and bend downewards to his owne nothing and vanity againe which nothing I with the auncient Fathers but especially Taulerus doe judge to be sinne Satan death hell and this perhaps was that devill inhabiting in Adam as also in Lucifer The other reason is this which the scripture doth testifie of the Citie of God and the Heavenly Ierusalem that Paradise to be in us but God alone and his omnipotent Word is our Paradise the Tree of Life and the Temple wherein we inhabit walk serve pray c. as wee are on the other part the Temple of God and his Paradise In like manÌ„er the Beast which even now the whole world both great and small doe worshipp in their hearts of which the scriptures make mention in the Apocalips as also the Tree of knowledge of Good and Evil is in us for the exterior world whatsoever outwardly is to be seene or is done is onely an accident and a certaine signifying figure of the true and interior nature and there is nothing true in all those things which are seen with the eye that is substantiall for it behoveth that the forme of this World perish because it is nothing else but an imaginary world and a figure of the right true eternal and by it selfe the constant world therfore it is expedient that all these things in their course be done over againe which throughout all the Bible are related outwardly and significantly to have beene done and yet to this day after their manner the Historie of the Bible Moyses and the Prophets are spiritually and truely of force but all things are brought into the truth by Christ and it it is expedient that all the prophecies which have been from the beginning of the world which God hath spoken by the mouth of his Saints be againe reiterated Therefore that Tree was nothing else then the nature will knowledge and life of Adam whereof he ought not to eat That is not to attribute any part of it to himselfe But freely and willingly submitt himselfe to God and know nothing but what God would know in him doe nothing but what God would doe in him speake nothing but what God would speake in him c. Whereby without any impediment God might exercise his Kingdome will nature and power in him that being void of will wisdome and knowledge he might have nothing of his owne or arrogate any thing to himself this God would this was pleasing to him and thus he commaunded To this opinion the German Divinity ascents Theologia Germanica 3470. cap. Which saith that this tree is nothing else but our owne will knowledge of which alone in the Earthly Paradise of the world of our hearts we are not to eate but acount it is forbidden unlesse we desire to dye or eate death from it And now when Adam was fallen and had eaten of this tree then was it planted in his heart the same was derived into all his boughts and fruit so that the same case word precept and interdict is common to all his posterity we all have eaten death vvhosoever are in Adam and this uncorrected poyson have vve received from the Serpent being evill Egges of an evill Bird Hence may every man easily perceive hovv each man is the greatest enemy to himselfe and vvhat hee ought to esteeme of himselfe his vvill and understanding vvisdome and knowledge since it is the Counsell seede wisdome knowledge and head of the Serpent which by Christ is to bee broken in our hearts it behoveth that all things which Circumcision in the old and Baptisme in the new Covenant doth signify which are hereditary and naturall from Adam should dye in us that we should labour to unlearne and put of all things as if they were death and the devill that is our will wisdome and righteousnesse c. with which as with figleaves Adam strove to cover himselfe for this is sinne and the stinge of sinne and death that is to eate of this forbidden Tree and to arrogate any thing to a mans selfe as his will nature and understanding or himselfe But alas alas who knowes this or beleeves this who abandons or is weary of his owne will understanding or knowledge when will men give a farewell to them Give a Farewll say J why every one delights himselfe in his own imaginations sweetly slumbring recreats his soule in his own wisdom knowledge workes c. the Tree is fayre to the eye and pleasant to the tast Here all mankinde as Adam himselfe doe taste death But yet no man knowes no man thinkes of this but every man judgeth it to be right and the flesh esteemeth it to be the Tree of Life That is to follow
this it doth not begett in man any new nature it but shewes unto him what a one he ought to be and what he ought to doe But yet he is not such neither can they make him such but rather kill him and slay him by shewing unto him his want and misery Therefore is the position true that faith love cannot be conceived in the heart of man by the Letter of the word Otherwise it would be that none should be more faithfull then the Learned and yet for the most part none are more perverse The letter of the word indeed proposeth faith unto us but cannot write it in our hearts that being the worke of the holy Ghost Therefore that of Saint Iohn is alwayes true as the anoynting teacheth you As also this he that hath heard and learned of the Father commeth unto me For faith and love commeth into no mans heart but his who is indued with the Holy Ghost From whose inhabiting in our hearts the light of faith and the knowledge of God deduce their originall yea love it selfe is not begott or infused in us but by the holy Ghost and an affect of the love of God towards us Wherefore the conclusion is this that whom the Holy Ghost doth not comfort teach and direct he cannot be comforted taught and directed to the obtaining of Life Now all men will say and confesse that the world is darknesse mans wisdome is foolishnes yet if so be you will indulge nothing unto him but will tax his will witt and designes and say they are all foolishnes and darknesse there is no man will confesse it of himselfe or that it is earthly but every man wil egerly and earnestly contend that his witt is heavenly and divine especially if it be any way exercised about Religion when in very deed it is nothing else but the wisdome of the flesh Yea even that use of the holy Scriptures which is in the world which are wrested and turned as every man likes to either hand neither can these bare words these words of God containing in them the knowledge of God which are common in every mans mouth profitt him any whitt these must be tryed according to the will of God and accordingly used Otherwise these very words will become a very snare of Satan and in stead of the word of God the word of Satan to him It is not to say how well the wisdome of the flesh knowes how to change it selfe into each shape and to flatter it selfe with a forme of the word of God what cannot men pretend and undertake to say in the name of God pretending indeed nothing lesse then the meere honour praise and righteousnesse of God CHAP. VII The Testimony of the Scripture how we ought to evacuate the Seed of the Serpent his counsell word and so vomitt up the Fruit of the forbidden Tree and purge the same away as deadly poyson by the Fruit of the Tree of Life THis we oftentimes reade that our wisdome is foolishnes with God Which forme of speech we steale from Paul bable of it when indeed we neither know our own nor Pauls meaning touching it No man remembers to renounce give a farewel to his own wisdome This forsooth every man thinks is spoken of the wisdome of Turkes and infidels As for his own wisdome his reason being corrupted and houlding some tenents gathered from the holy Scriptures though he miserably wrest them to his own turn yet he thinks his wisdom to be the wisdome of God and divine This every man witnesseth in his own writings in which for the most part hee goes on securely without any doubting upon the seeming approbation of the Scriptures to his tenents and opinions Not considering that this is the very presumption of the Turkes and infidels with all Sects of false Christians whom I have knowne every one hath or would seeme to have the Word of God to be the foundation of their tenets as the Turkes and Jewes thinke at this day their faith is grounded upon the Word of God Hence it comes to passe that every man is deceived in himselfe and shutt up to himselfe from the knowledge of himselfe This being it which God foresaw when he said that the serpent should bite the heele of the woman that is secretly and craftily lay snares and deceitfull ginns in the hearts of men Therefore know whatsoever naturall man though wise man in the judgement of the World yea Adam with all his ofspring the whole nature of men unregenerate knowes speakes doth thinkes lives c. all this is human the wisdome of reason and the counsell of the flesh the knowledge of that deadly and forbidden Tree only that rare Phenix which the Scriptures call the new man or the regenerate that hath the knowledge and wisdome of God being taught it from above All other things are the inventions of men the wisdome of the Serpent and Fruit of the forbidden Tree Now we have said before that the wisdome of man must be forgotten and we must learne to unlearne it For as the flesh even so the wit of the flesh and the righteousnesse thereof is nothing but foolishnes and wickednesse in the sight of God And on the contrarie the wisdom of God and his righteousnesse is foolishnes and wickednesse in the sight of the world and to the flesh So that all arts and sciences being only fleshly are altogether vanity filthines and a Fruit of the forbidden Tree from the which all men eate death It is no purpose for a man in word to deny his owne witt and yet in his heart to extoll the same as the wisdome of God Or secretly to be elevated therefrom these are but the findings out of the deceived heart of man outwardly sugred over by Satan with faire words And whosoever rests and depends upon these faire pretences hee builds upon hell which will all damne For as meate cloathes time place person and such like doe make men neither lesse or more acceptable to God So all humane arts and sciences doe not make the possessour thereof one jot the better in the sight of God if he looke at them and as Adam did arrogate them to himselfe Therefore the most learned and wise of this world are in this respect in no better a condition then the foolish Idiot that is It is necessary therefore that those wise men goe out of themselves and learne to become fooles by going out of their witt will knowledge c. if they desire to be indued with divine knowledg from above Therefore even as the naturall man voluntarily for his owne bellies sake doth torture himselfe day and night in the finding out of so many covetous curious and with God unprofitable arts Even so it is necessary that with the same paine and labour he learne to forgett and forgoe the same and become a Childe and Foole againe For it is a greater difficulty and more labour by many degrees to unlearne
his fleshly wisdome and forsake that good he hath gott already then from the beginning to learne it for his profitt In so much that this is true who once hath played the Asse will scarcely learne to leave those doultish tricks O how difficult is it for them to become Fooles who have grounded themselves in a presumption of their owne witt And yet it is necessary that this they must bee or otherwise they shall bee nothing lesse then that which they desire to bee Therefore so requisite is this denyall hatred forgetfulnesse of himselfe that without it no man can be the disciple of Christ that is no man can be indued with divine wisdome unlesse in his affections he hath excluded and given a farewell adewe to his owne Wherefore what wonder is it if the worldly Man who is busied about the things of this life be altogether ignorant of the knowledge of God For since he is not obedient to that wisdome that is spâ—rituall neither can perceive any divine thing nor receive the spirit of truth nor for the wisdome of God exchange his owne For he neither cares to nourish that wisdome in his heart neither desires to learne it and because hee desires it not he cannot learne it And now it is requisite that as Sainct Paul sayes if any man will be wise with God he must be a foole in the World that thereby he may become truely wise That is he must cease to thinke as the world doth labour to gett a new minde and deliver over his sences thoughts to be renewd by God The cause of which Paul immediately annexeth to the same For the wisdome of the World saith he is foolishnes to God And in his Epistle to the Romans hee calleth it death and enmity to God And the same Paul bids adew to all his owne witt which he had learned at the feete of Gamaliell above all his equals and accounts all his owne righteousnes and knowledge as dung and drosse in respect of the excellencie of the knowledge of Christ And elsewhere he glories in this that he had learned to unlearne and forget all things and now desired to know nothing but Christ him crucified In the same manner all the Apostles become little Children again Besides Nichodemus and all other whosoever as Christ had said unto them unlesse they be changed and become as little Children they cannot see the Kingdome of God And a little after Christ saith that the Kingdome of God is of such little Children This is the reason why the Scriptures admonish us so often to beware of our owne witt least we doe any thing that seemes good in our owne eyes As also that we resist our owne wils neither that we suffer our selvs to be led and guided by our owne affections and desires and also those that trust in their owne hearts obey their own cogitations are foolish and wicked also that we seeme not wise in our owne conceits nor magnify our selves but feare and in feare and trembling worke out our owne salvation And lastly that we trust not nor leane not to our owne witt For what is or can be more wicked then what flesh and blood hath found out Truely the flesh cannot of its owne nature seeke God and have him in estimation unlesse it renounce it selfe and hate its owne life and soule that is all its owne workes though it gloze them over with a pretence of the word honour and glory of God for he cannot be beleeved loved prayed unto or found but only in God Therefore all the endeavour study art diligence of is altogether void of God and want his grace and spirit For the word of God requires an humble submissive trembling and abiected mind and a soule poore in spirit free from the bondag of the creatures like to tender wax or clay plyable in the finger of God to receive the figure and stamp of his image imprinted upon it To these Fooles and Children such as feare God and are seperated from the Dugges of the World doth he open his secrets and teach his divine wisdome knowledg if there be any man that fears God to him the Lord will shew the way that he may choose and he walke in the truth and his posterity shall inhabit the Land He sayes not to the Learned and to the wise of the World as also in an other place the Lord reveales his secrets to the righteous For this cause Christ the Sonne of God gives thankes to his Father that he had hidden his secrets from the prudent and wise of the World and had revealed unto Children and Babes That as wee have already spoken out of the mouths of sucking Babes Such as were Moyses Ieremias Amos and the Apostles c. hee might speake his praise and extoll his Kingdome and Glory Againe the rich proud he sends away emptie and filleth only the hungrie with good things Now no Money-master nor rich covetous Churle is more swollen up with the vaine confidence of his riches nor any woman more proud of her bewtie then these wise men pride and boast themselvs of their wisdome and knowledge perswading themselvs that this is the divine wisdome and riches of the soule which neither theevs can steale nor rust canker it nor moath corrupt it when notwithstanding it is nothing but meere death foolishnes and enmity against God and in a word the knowledg of the forbidden Tree Therefore the holy Scriptures speake expresly of the wise of the world these righteous men famous for their arts priding themselves in their owne hearts who are arrogant and proud and are indued with nothing lesse then the spirit of God who abides onely in simple Doves By this it appeares that no kinde of men are farther from the Kingdome of God and doe lesse square and agree with his word and more disagree from his will then those who leane and trust to their owne wisdome knowledge reason and will Christ in the holy Scriptures speaketh not so much against Publicans and common sinners as these who being puft up with a conceit of their owne righteousnes reflect upon themselves with a selfe pleasingnes with these can Christ least accord unto them doth so often threaten woes in the Scripture and sayes that adulterers and Publicans shall enter before them into the Kingdome of Heaven These are those wicked men against whom David so fervently and often prayes and of whom Christ hath so little hope and unto whom he with his Apostles and Steuen give so cutting language who being men of a wicked mind would seeme nothing lesse But those things which are written concerning wicked men they ignorantly interpret of others these are such whom the whole world esteeme and accounts to be the shining lights thereof Such were Nichodemus and Paul before his conversion these are those who in David Moyses Christs and all other times of the church have beene the righteous Scribes Pharises
thereof the more righteous he is and wise before God For we must altogether forget and unlearne this fleshly art this curious sagacitie this Devilish righteousnesse And in steed thereof must learne the onely new contrarie and divine art wisdome and righteousnesse by the eternall word by the Seed of the woman of the Tree of Life of which whosoever eateth shall have eternall Life For this cause the Scriptures doe so vehemently urge new birth Childishnes Foolishnes hate of a mans Life deny all of himselfe which would not be if there were any thing that is good or acceptable to God in man before No man thinkes of this but all men being puffed up with their owne arts witt righteousnesse goodnesse c. beeing secure and without conscience or Religion and yet doe eate death of this forbidden tree that is of their owne will witt reason knowledge goodnesse and art by that Seed of the Serpēt implanted in them But God doth exact nothing but the knowledge of himselfe and that we would be obedient to his word and submitt our selves to be taught by him which the Scriptures doe sometimes call faith which bringeth us unto God begets us anew and regenerates us that thence doe flow the waters of Life the fruits of the spirit love peace joy a guiltlesse minde and all other good things which the Scriptures doe sometimes call faith which bringeth us unto God begets us a new and regenerates us that then doe flow the waters of Life the Fruits of the Spirit love peace joy a guiltlesse minde and all other good things which the Spirit of God effecteth and powreth into us Therfore Theologie is the true Magick the worship sciēce of God which God doth equally exact from us all And this is the same which God doth exact teach and effect by his Word in them who offer and submitt themselves to that his word and clemency to be taught Therefore doth he so frequently and oftē admonish us that he might make it knowne that in him alone is Life and all other things to be found and that hee threatneth and inflicteth great punishment on them that despise him as many places of the Scriptures doe witnesse though the word of God is not tyed or bound unto them as wee will prove anone yet they give good direction and testimony to the mind if any man can have the same use it aright and yet doe much more abuse the Scriptures then rightly use them Neverthelesse they are not to be forsaken any more then a mans wife Children meate drinke c. all which may be abused but yet wee must learne to use them rightly CHAP. XIII Of the Maiestie of the free constant and eternall Word of God how it can be bound to nothing included in nothing nor buried in the Letter and also the difference betwixt the internall and the externall Word THE word of God is as God infinite invisible ineffiable a Spirit and Life which no mortall man can speake see or heare but as farre as is Lawfull to speake of it after the manner of men and by similitude The word of God is nothing else then the glistering the essence the Image the forme and splendor as well imprinted like a Seale into all Creatures as more specially into the hearts of the faithfull which in all things is the cause of their being in all beleevers teacheth in al wicked men reproveth exhorteth and contendeth and reprehendeth the world of sinne and which in the beginning did enlightē informe the hearts of Adam Abell Noah Loth Abraham Iob Mercurie Termigestus Plotimus Cornelius and all other upright-hearted Gentils For though God giveth beeing in above below without and beyond all Creatures and is the essence of all things that bee yet in nothing is hee so clearly to be seene as in Man whom therefore he created after his owne image and perfected in Christ Therefore as brightnesse doth so proceed from the Light of the Sunne as yet it is not seperated from the Sunne but for all that remaines in the Sunne though it fill the whole world and enlighten the same So is the Sonne in like manner whole in the Father and in all the Creatures as the Light is in the Sunne and in the whole World Therefore it is called the brightnesse of his Majestie and the image or figure of his divine essence Of the same nature substance and essence with God So as nothing can bee spoken of the Father which may not also be verified of the word God is no where and every where in all places in all things and yet incomprehensible above and beyond all things Limited to nothing so farre forth that the heavens and earth are not able to containe him nor all the Creatures So is the word Even as the Light of the Sunne hath an originall from whence it proceedeth and a force action into which it tendeth which originall is the Sunne it selfe and which externall active force is the heating or enlightning of the whole world or as the word of every man hath originall force and spirit which originall is man whose expression and image the word is and of the same essence with him And thirdly it hath an active force or spirit which qualifieth this word and makes it either cheerefull or angrie or sorrowfull or displeased So the originall of this divine word is the Father or the action or active force or vertue of it is called the Holy Ghost As therefore the Sunne is light and that active force of that Light is the same and as man his word and the active force of that word is the same So the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost are one God Wherefore nothing that appertaines to their essence can be spoken of one which cannot also be verified of all that is all three and as they are of the same essence so of the same condition disposition and nature As therefore God is in nothing and yet in all things so also is his almightie word which is the same as God is so in all things yet that he can be included in nothing and so above all Creatures as the Earth Heaven or any other Creature is not able to conceive or circumscribe him And so in all Creatures as nothing is without him or rather nothing there is that is not full of him So is also his Word As God can neither be spoken or written nor any man is able to declare what God is but all things which are said of him are but Images shadows J will not say as Taulerus and Dr. Eickarius say seeing if we speake truely and properly the whole nature of God is farre otherwise then man doth or is able to speake of him Lastly as God is a thing opposite and contrary to humane cogitation and farre otherwise then he is conceived to bee in the thoughts of man So also is the divine word of God As there is nothing so little in which there is not God and
againe nothing so great that can receive or circumscribe God As nothing is so little but God is lesse and nothing so great but God is greater beyond without below above all Creatures So also is his divine word As the free almightie eternall immutable omniscient incomprehensible invisible and unconceivable God is the beeing of all things So as as all things consist rather in him then in and by themselves as Taulerus and the Germain Theologie in a 1000 places doe avouch and is none of these things which can be seene or comprehended by sence or expressed by word So his divine word is free in all and beyond all bound unto nothing neither tyed to the prison or letters or cover of the Letter concluded included and so tyed unto it that otherwise it is no where even as the following Position and Sentence of a Learned man divinely instructed doe show As the word is covered and hidden by the Letter so it is opened and revealed by the spirit Hence it commeth to passe that the Letters be as a closed or sealed Booke so as the dark Letter except it be opened doth slay but the Spirit doth quicken and the Letters are as a certaine Image void of Life and Spirit that is a printed and dead expression of the Spirit therefore they want Life except the soule of the spirit be present and doe erre Therefore the Letters cannot be the word of God Since the word is farre otherwise an other thing then the letters For it is a spirit truth life but the letters are cōtrary flesh the letter death yea the letters if they want the Light of the word are an offence if they want the soule of the spirit are a stumbling block Therfore the Letters are an otherwise thing then the word that is they are not the Sword of the Spirit but a sheath For as the womb of the virgin conceived the word so the Letters For the word is clothed both with flesh with the Letters that Seede of Abrahem layeth hould of the Scriptures or Letters for they are both one and againe is apprehended by them but the spirit is not apprehended in the flesh or Letter of the Scriptures The cause thereof is this the flesh or Letter cannot containe conceive or comprehend the Majestie of the word yet even as it was so in the flesh that the Majestie thereof did not appeare so it is in the Letter that true neither to all or to any one that reads is it obvious and apparent This is witnessed by all Learned men in the meere Letter since the world began who neither could know finde or comprehend Christ in the flesh nor the word in the Letter which they should have done if Christ in the flesh or under the miserie of the flesh had beene known unto all not hidden but manifested and the Letter had beene not the covering mysterie but the true living and enlightning word of God it selfe As therefore the flesh was not the word but the cover thereof and a certaine great mysterie So the Letters are not the word properly but the shell the barke and cover thereof The word was made fleshly assumption not mixture and so the same word is made Letters yet not so as the same can be said of the Letters as of the word but as in a certaine Seale Therfore so farre are the Letters from being the word of God that they onely be the figure and barke thereof For the word is not that which is spoken by the Letter but that which is expounded by the Holy Ghost and understood onely of the Faithfull Therefore the Letters doe paint out shadow out and after a certaine manner set forth unto us the word and expresse something but are not the word although they be spoken and expressed For the word did not assume the flesh that it is not out of the flesh So it did not so fall into the Letter that it is not out of the Letter For there was the word when there was no Letters and the same will remaine after the Letters are perished Therefore as the word was never included and circumscribed in the flesh neither is it in the Letters For so it was in the bodie as it never yet left heaven and in the same manner it is so in the Letter as yet it is every where Therefore the word is in the Letter altogether but not all Hereupon we see that the letters have been exercised with a continuall encrease and addition Therefore the Letters are the Image of the word and not the word it selfe And if they be they are altogether a written and a dead not a living word For there is a twofould word one that quickneth viz. the Spirit another the Letter which is said to kill and slay The living word is that which inwardly teacheth and maketh us to fructifie the dead word is that which in the Flesh and Letter is proposed unto us The living word is a true Light which enlightneth all men and therefore a regenerating spirit because it reneweth all things In a word it is the power and might of God which giveth unto us that knowledge sence soule and Life which is from God A certaine brightnesse of the face of God which enlightneth us from above imprints in us the unction of the Holy Ghost by which it teacheth and instructeth us in all things But the dead word are the Letters that sealed booke and dead Letter sence and will which is the word of the flesh not of the Spirit of God The true and living word is that which God begetteth in us and the spirit of God effecteth in us But the dead and Litterall word is that which the Letters show unto us and men propound Therefore he doth not alwayes want the word who hath not the Letters For he may have the interior who wants the exterior word to witt the Law of God written in our hearts Hence it comes to passe that no man hath absolute neede to be taught of an other or to admonish his brother concerning the knowledge of God For al these shall know from the least to the greatest and are all the Disciples of Christ divinely taught This writing is not printed with inke and paper but written with the finger of God in the tables of our hearts This is the Doctrine of the truth and the inspiration of the Spirit to wit the propheticall breathing the inspiration of the Spirit and the true art of God Moreover hee may have the living word of God who wants the dead of the Letter and the thing it selfe who wants the signe that is the Life of the word though he wants the dead Letter For two things are cheifly to be considered in the word The first is the disposition and nature of the word which is a certaine Light intended for the enlightning of men The other is the action of it that is the spirit which giveth action and operation to