though all the Members be living in him and Elected in him yet he without them is no compleat body and so no full Election and therefore as the Election takes in Christ so all the Saints of God and whereas thou sayest all that receive him wherein the Election is in him are Elected this is true if thou understand it of the manifestation of Election to us so our receiving of Christ declares to us that we are Elected and adopted of God but if thou understand it à priori of the cause and ground in God of our Election as if he had therefore Elected us because he foresaw such and such would receive Christ then thy speech savours of an old errour for this builds Election upon the foresight of merits faith and power in man to receive Christ and so it destroyes the grace of God for if Election be by grace meere grace then it is not at all upon forseen faith and works otherwise grace is no more grace read Rom. 11. 5 6 7. And so though we receive Christ because we are Elected in him Eph. 1. 4. Yet we are not therefore Elected because we do receive him all being according to the Lords good pleasure to the praise of the glory of his grace and so as 't is in the outward world there was the image or idea of every thing first mente divina in the divine minde before it came forth in the creature not first in the creature and then in the minde of God that could not be seeing the creature was not so in the spiritual world the Church things were first in God as in their ground not first in the creature and then in God and so the idea of our Election was first laid up in the Lords minde counsell grace and good pleasure not in our acting believing and receiving Christ his beloved for this no man can do till it be given and so this building Election upon our receiving Christ is a building upon the sand upon something no man where it is not not upon the Rock which is the grace and good pleasure of God and so it makes voide the nature of grace and our Election though vain man that would be wise and something cannot receive this Quest 7. What is the Covenant of works and the Covenant of grace and how ye were led out of the first and established in the second Answ The Covenant of works is that which man doth from the letter thereby to get life and the Covenant of grace is that written in the heart where Christ is the Light Life and Law-giver and by him the Law is fullfilled in us who walk no more after the flesh but after the spirit and by his light were we led out of the first and by his life were we established in the second Repl. This being a sober answer I could wish it were written in thine heart and proceeded from the life and power of that Covenant where all is written and sealed within And friend if it did so though the Letter would not be unto thee as the life yet it would never be slighted by thee being a witnesse unto the life Joh. 5. 39. much lesse would so much of the Kingdom be placed in some of the lesser observations of it when the weightier are neglected though none that live in the Kingdom will account any command of God small and much lesse yet wouldest thou make the commands of God of none effect by thy traditions neglecting the Law of faith of meeknesse of love and peace because thy ceremonies and traditions are neglected by others if you ask wherein ask thine own conscience and let that be thy witnesse and testimony in all which thou art found still walking more after the flesh then after the spirit Quest 8. What is the state of sin and wrath which all men are in and under by nature and how ye were led out of this estate Answ The state of sin is a state of condemnation and wrath from God separated in which all are by nature but by that light which is contrary to nature are we led out of this estate for he 's given to be a leader Isai 55. 4. Rep. What can poor fallen Adam or man do till God comes quickens him by a word of promise given in a spirit of power for I find the state of nature is a state of sin deadness darkness as to the things of God and the life of God wherein there 's no power to believe nor light to turn us towards God and in this estate there 's a departing from God still through unbelief and a wandring in the dark after the desires of the flesh and minde and so a separation from God and a coveting to hide our selves from his presence amongst the things that are made because we finde nothing due unto us by reason of sin and nakednesse but condemnation and wrath and so we are by nature children of wrath till the Lord in mercy and great love quicken us and raise us up through the second Adam revealed in us to live in him who is our light and life and so the onely leader of lost man out of the former state of sin and wrath and so he 's given to be a Leader and Commander by being an inward witnesse of love to us and all to free us from the Law of sin death and condemnation Quest 9. Whether any in this life are totally freed from the remnants of sin and darknesse seeing Paul saith now we know but in part and he prayed for an increase of knowledge in the Saints and Peter exhorts to grow in knowledge and Paul complains of a body of sin of a Thorn in the flesh of the lusting of the flesh against the spirit and James said in many things we offend all and John if we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us Answ In the life wherein thou livest is no redemption from sin for that is it which cannot bear good fruit Repl. To which I say I know that in me that is in my flesh dwells no good thing for the flesh is flesh still and sinfull still and cannot bring forth the fruit of God which springs from a new birth but in the life of Christ in me or that life which springs from the new birth there is redemption from sin and this is that which brings forth in me fruit to God Answ Further to the death of the Crosse must thou subject and obedient be else not know that life and birth which is free from sin Repl. What I am I am through the grace of God and this grace abounding towards me has brought over my flesh that Crosse whereby I am in measure Crucified and so have tasted and known that birth which is free from sin Answ The life of the new man who witnesses is free from sin Rom. 6. 6 7. and 18. 22. Repl. All the freedom from sin which this
Here 's no judging murmuring complaining dividing persecuting murdering These are the wayes of Egypt and Babell In Canaan there is rest from all the works of Egypt and darknesse Here 's unity in the midst of variety Here all are looking into the onenesse into the pure image and nature of the Father and this light keeps harmony and agreement between all the sons of Canaan And so in Canaan there 's joy melody singing Halleluja's Here the world is not mentioned flesh and bloud is not at all remembred with delight the former things are passed away and all is become new God alone is made mention of to be Lord and King and set up upon the Throne for ever Quest What is the vail which divides between the holy and most holy Answ It 's the flesh of Christ and all outward dispensations which divide and keep Saints whilest in weaknesse and bondage though holy in some measure from entring into the most holy into the substance truth it self or into the choisest glory of the father This vail of flesh in Christ was rent when he suffered death or was crucified in the flesh Through which death or rending of the vail of flesh he entred himself and made way also for us to enter into glory Hebâ— 10. 19. 20. Having therefore boldnesse to enter into the holiest by the bloud of Jesus by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the vail that is to say his flesh And when this vail of flesh of letter and shadows and outward dispensations is rent and crucified by the eternall spirit in the true Christian then he the Christian enters into the holiest into the glory and joy of his Father Quest What is the death which over all men is passed and how camest thou to live Answ It 's first the breaking of the body or this earthly Tabernacle which comes upon all without exception for sin Rom. 5. 12. Secondly it's the dying unto Paradise and the Kingdom of God which man hath drawn upon himself by his lusting after and eating of the fruit of the four elements By this lusting and eating he becomes infected poysoned in his minde and will with the fruit of the Sun and Stars And this is the taking and eating of the Tree of temptation and his leaving the Tree of life and the heavenly fruit And thus he becomes an earthly man and dead Death stickes in his minde and soul and man is dead to all feeding upon God and the Son of God who is the Tree of life Man can no more feed upon the fruit which grows upon this Tree of life which is Christ till Christ awake and arise in the center of his soul and carry him through all the Trees of temptation or the pleasures pompe and glory of the outward world into the inward or holy pure element of this spirituall body and pure nature and there awaken him to eat of the Tree of life and live for ever And this is the way whereby I and all the Sons of God come to passe from the spirituall death into the spirituall life in the pure nature of Jesus Christ Quest What is deaths reign from Adam to Moses And to Moses how didst thou come Answ From Adam to Moses there was no law written without all the law was within upon the conscience here was the rule or law which God gave the worlds to walk by Now the world acting against this light and law within kept sin in the world from Adam to Moses for till the law viz. given out by Moses sin was in the world Rom. 5. 13. Now sin alwayes brings men under the reign of death and so death reigned over all from Adam to Moses All had a law given within otherwise they could have had no sin for where there is no law there is no transgression Now mens breaking of this inward law was their sin and this their sin brought them all under the power and reign of death And thus it is still though there had been no Moses to write Gods commands in outward tables or Scripture yet the law being written within upon the conscience by the finger of God we sinning against this law do plunge our selves into the reign of death wrath and condemnation we kindle the Root of the fire and that being awakened makes our Hell or self-comdemnation within because we have sinned against our light Now by this light and law within we come to know Moses and that all the law she hath written are holy just and good because we finde the same within that he hath written without and nothing without but what is in spirit and power within Quest. Who are they which sin not after the similitude of Adams transgression which till Moses death reigned over Answ They are infants in years according to some who although they sin not actually after the manner of Adam yet they have sin and death written in their nature according to the weaknesse of this creation Or they are infants in knowledge who although they have not such full discoveries of the minde of God and such strength to stand as Adam had and so their sin be not so great as Adam which is to sin after his similitude yet they have a plain law within as before which bids them not act or eat that which the Lord forbids They living contrary unto this law fall into sin and death And in this childish condition are we all sound till the Lord quicken and save us Quest Art thou called immediately by the great God of Heaven and earth into the Ministery yea or nay Answ That Ministery I act in I have the anointing of the Spirit which doth sufficiently warrant my call But as for those who are called through Arts and Sciences and mens ordinations without this anointing I know they are the Pillars of Antichrist which I cannot own for the Apostles of Christ My calling teacheth me to renounce my fleshly wisdom and to live upon the grace and love of God commending that manifestation of the truth that is in me to every mans conscience in the sight of Christ Quest Hast thou seen Gods face yea or nay Answ To see the invisible God with carnal eyes I never did nor shall for no man hath heard his voice nor seen his shape but with the enlightned minde I have in some measure seen his face nay his heart in the precious revelations and discoveries of his Son towards me in love which Son is the face and heart and brightnesse of God opened in love wherein he shews and speaks forth plainly his exceeding kindnesse and goodnesse to all his Children This face of God I have thus seen which is more to me than a thousand vvorlds Quest Hast thou heard Gods voice immediately from Heaven and earth yea or nay Answ I have heard his voice as I have seen his face viz. inwardly spiritually which voice of his hath fetched me out of the grave of darknesse sin
of men But friend look into the Scriptures and be ashamed of thine ignorance in this matter was all this no suffering of Christ no part of his Crosse Doth not Peter tell us Christ suffered for us in the flesh 1 Pet. 4. 1. and was there not a real thing done by it And therefore the Scriptures say once he appeared in the end of the world to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself once he appeared And in another place the way into the holiest is by the bloud of Jesus not by our bloud as if we were our own Saviours but by the bloud of Jesus And Christ laid down his life a ransome for many And we are redeemed not with Gold and Silver but with the precious bloud of the Son of God Why cannot all this Doctrine be remembred as well as thou and thee Is not this that Crosse of Christ which is foolishnesse to them that perish and a stumbling block to the wise Jews And did not the Apostle preach through this Crosse reconciliation to the world and forgivenesse of sins to all that believe Rom. 3. 24 25. Eph. 1. 7. 1 Joh. 10 7. Heb. 9. 22. to the end 10. 10. Do not all these places speak of Christs crucifying and sufferings in which crosse lies the foundation of our comfort and salvation And must all this stand onely for a figure and cypher Is thine heart so lifted up to despise what Christ hath done and suffered for thee Surely then thou hast no lot nor portion in this matter But all this is historie and hath wrought in me thou sayest we dying and suffering in the flesh and so I am still a stranger to the crosse of Christ But friend before thou judge another judge thy self and lay thy foundation low otherwise thy building will fall Lay it in the bloud of Christ otherwise there 's no remission no salvation Then descend into thine own heart and see how Christ hath layen bleeding under his crosse how thou hast made him to serve with thine iniquities and whether this have touched thine heart to bleed with him to suffer and die with him in thy flesh 1 Pet. 4. 1. And consider now if thy pride live thou thy self and thy will live then Christ is still under his crosse to thee and thou canst not bear witnesse unto his crosse but if thou even thou thy self art dead and crucified with Christ then thou knowest his crosse and art conformable to him in death and then thy sin and flesh will die and thy painted holinesse thy blameless life thy strictnesse righteousnesse and all thine observations will die and wither too in justification as it was with Paul Phil. 3 7 8. And so thou wilt glory in nothing but Christ and what he acts for thee and works in thee who was dead but now is alive for evermore and so thou wilt empty thy self of thy self thou wilt be nothing base and vile in thine own eyes humble meek and lowly But this thou art a stranger unto and see the root of thy sins remaines within in the pride of thine heart and this makes thee binde heavy burdens upon others but if they want thine helpe thou wilt not touch it with one of thy fingers they must look for nothing but Pharaohs cruelty and chiding As for mine own part I look for nothing from man my help is in the name of the Lord and my share in the crosse and death of Christ and in his resurrection I look for no help from man who is a lyar And this lyar in thee tels thee I am an enemy unto the crosse of Christ live in the flesh dead to the life of God But to thee I say so long as mine own heart condemnes me not I can see mine enemy is slain my will crucified and I am quickened to passe more and more into the life of God A sense of this within upon my spirit makes void all the accusations and condemnations of the world Repl. But thou tellest me I minde earthly things my God is my belly I have got the Tythes of two Parishes to maintain me in pride fulnesse Answ Though the old man minde the earthly with thee yet Christ in me minds the heavenly and he teacheth me to make the Father of all my comforts not my belly my God Further know my Tythe of two Parishes is not so much of mine own getting as thy Pigge and Duck and maintenance thou gettest from silly women in their husbands absence for saying an old tale â—ver that thou hadst said fourty times over before If thou wilt know where this was ask thy conscience and that will tell thee As for that providence that feeds me and thee thou knowest it not and so art angry at all which God gives unto thy fellow-servant Repl. Further thou sayest I reproach such who run not into the same excesse of riot with me Answ As for excesse in evil the grace of my God teacheth me to abhorre it and so I cannot chuse but reproach such with it who run into it but if I see men modest sober and scrupleing outward things as Tythes or the like out of meer conscience such I cannot but own and love especially if I see them free from pride and glorying in what they do which is the spoil of all Repl. But thou seest destruction to be mine end thou sayest and an Antichrist I am and all Tythe-mongers Answ Yet surely with God there is mercy and I shall look to him not man to be saved Further thou knowest he is an Antichrist who exalts himself and denies the Father and the Son this is Scripture not he who takes Tythes or denies Tythes that 's not Scripture And so though thou denie Tythes yet thou art still an Antichrist who exaltest thy self not the Father and the Son Therefore look to it that destruction and condemnation be not thy portion for ever Repl. Further thou sayest though I have glorious words of Christ yet I know not the Crosse of Christ being alive in the flesh not crucified not dead to sin for where the dying is that nature is limited c. Answ Here thou makest a vain repetition of Words and like the Pharisee thou canst acknowledge no truth in another for this would spoil the sale of thy perfect form Hadst thou read mine answer with understanding thou mightest have learned in it that the Crosse of Christ must be passed under by every truely anointed Christian as well as by Christ the head And so we must suffer in our flesh as he did in his flesh and when we thus suffer the man of sin is crucified and limitted This thou mightest have seen in mine answer hadst thou eyes to see but the pride and fulnesse of thy fleshly heart hath closed them up As for my dying and suffering in flesh and sin I desire the just God not unjust man to be the Judge he knows what sin is and the dying is but the heart of man is
of the flesh I live and so my latter end is worse than my beginning Answ Though thou say so yet know that I have found out sin by sin and it was well that God did awaken me though by sin It may be thine eyes see not what this means though thou art the seer Further know though I am vile in one sense yet not guilty in the sense of the world neither acquainted with many of those things which they falsly lay unto my charge where I am guilty I have grace in me to trouble me to humble me to groan in me for deliverance to make me more vile then thou canst make me and yet to keep me from returning into Egypt again but to wait for a full power to sin no more which if it might be in thy sense I should be glad but in the sense of the Scriptures I know it shall be made good and what that is thou canst not learn but by enjoyment Repl. And the baptisme in the death of Christ thou tellest me I do not witnesse neither a planting into the likenesse of death for the Crosse of Christ thou knowest not neither doest in it live by which thing this baptisme into his death is witnessed Answ 1. I finde thee still full of condemnation and yet Christ saith he was not sent to condemne the world Joh. 3. 17. but that the world through him might be saved 2. With me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of thee or of mans judgement yea I judge not my self but he that judgeth me is the Lord. 3. Thou Hypocrite first cast out the beam out of thine own eye and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the moat out of thy brothers eye 4. Remember the death of Christ the Crosse of Christ when thou passest under thou wilt finde work enough at home but thou hast spared thy self pitied thy self slain the just one that thou mightest live and reign thou hast cried out let him be crucified that I may live in his stead and say I am he Where the Crosse of Christ hath had its power there the first man is condemned flesh withers the poor Soul is ashamed of his works and sins But thou art full and rich and high and sayest I am not the man I never Crucified the Lord of glory Judas thou knowest suspected not himself and in this Traitor see thy self and know thy own spirit 5. If I am not as I long to be yet I see the bloud of Christ cleanseth me from all my sin the Crosse of Christ makes me not to spare my self or sin I have Jesus who was dead but is alive in me making void all my glorying in flesh and bloud and he is bearing witnesse to my Crucifying and to his resurrection which is my glory And though thou a man charge me with folly yet he the true God declares me just in himself and he goes on Conquering and to Conquer and what he sees amisse in me he will tame subdue and bring under and tell thee to thy face thou art a Satan is not this a brand plucked out of the fire Therefore friend do not thou fansie a perfect knowledge of the Crosse and yet remain a stranger to the Crosse by living out of the vertue and power of it which makes all flesh as grasse and to wither as the flower of the field It is Christ in me that is my glory and his life in me springs out of his death and mine and makes void all my glory and he by his bloud and power sets me free from the condemnation of sin and the Law and he keeps me alwayes in his eye and he searches my errours and failings out to nail them to his Crosse As for that place thou quotest 1 Joh. 1. 5 6 7 8 9. look upon it better and take the tenth verse too in thy minde and see how thou canst have sin and no sin for so the Apostle saith plainly in all the Saints there 's no sin and yet there 's sin in all otherwise we make God a lyar and his word is not in us Neither is this to plead for sin as thou sayest for there 's a vast difference between saying such a thing is and such a thing out to be That the Saints have sin is a truth written in Scripture and in every mans conscience for there is not a just man upon earth that doth good and sins not But that the Saints ought to have sin this the Scripture cries ought against and calls upon us to purge out more and more therefore be not alwayes catching and snarling this is not a Christian practice but let thy sin go thy exalting of thy self go and it may be thou mayest finde out the Crosse of Christ a little more exactly yet and learn better what it is to be Crucified with him and so mayest eat of his flesh and drink of his bloud Thou tellest me Repl. I know not the one baptisme which by the Spirit is witnessed which baptizeth into one body 1 Cor. 12. 13. in this body is no sin into it no deceit enters every sin that is committed is without the body Answ Thy prating words cannot make void my glorying in the Lord to thee I say the one spirit I have which witnesseth the one baptisme which is one in all the Sons of God bond or free The spirit is one the baptisme one the body one but the Members are different and have all need of one another and therefore ought not to murmure or make a rent because every one is not an eye an hand a tongue as thou doest and so sinnest within the body and committest fornication with thy self but a Member against the rest of the body making the body a Monster even all one Member not all the Members one body that thou thy self mightest be head and Members and all and so thou who makest a rent from Christ and a rent from his Members what doest thou but make a division in the body and commit sin within the body crying out of one Member he 's a Baptist of another he 's a Presbyter of another he 's a Prieâ—t And so thou ownest not every Member in its place and lookest not upon that baptisme which is one in all the Sons of God But when thine eye is open to see this thou wilt own a Member though low and weak and love a Member whoever he be and thou wilt seek to draw him indeed more into the Unity to rejoyce more in the Lords works than his own and yet thou wilt leave him in the variety to be usefull in his place to other Members of the body But all this thy great wisdom comprehends not And whereas thou makest as though every Member of Christ were free from all spot and sin because every sin that is committed is without the body 1 Cor. 6. 10. By body in that place is meant the outward Fabrick of every man in particular which ought
persecuted outwardly knowing that it is judgement and misery enough for God to send such strong delusions as that men should believe a lye Repl. But my heart is in the earth thou sayest Answ In the earth is not my treasure I finde all here vanity and vexation of spirit But in the Lord have I righteousnesse and strength and so my treasure being above mine heart and affections are also above Repl. But my compleatnesse is in darknesse Answ Here indeed is the compleatnesse of the world but the Lord is arising to discover this delusion and in him his light and grace is my compleatnesse fulnesse and glory Repl. But to the light which comes from the corner-stone I act contrary and fall not upon it so upon me shall it fall and grinde me to powder Answ Had thy building been upon the corner-stone thou wouldst not in disobedience have denied him to be thy foundation but wouldst by this falling upon him have been broken all to pieces and never thus weakly been sodered up again to act and work for life in thine own power and merits and so to be a Christ a Saviour unto thy self making thy self whole without the bloud of the Lamb which takes away the sins of the world But be sure for this thy disallowing of the stone which is elect and precious thou shalt stumble and fall and be ground to powder for thy disobedience whereunto also thou art appointed As for me let me alone to live and walk in the light of the Lord to be all I am in the grace and righteousnesse of Christ Jesus In my self I am broken indeed my glory is gone and I am nothing But in Christ I am whole and well and need none of mine own power and merits to save me In him I feed upon that which is good upon substance upon the best upon fatnesse and he being my foundation without and within I have an everlasting covenant of grace even the sure mercies of David This I know because he is faithfull Repl. But thou tellest me I am out of the Vnity in the one spirit in the number of the beast the number of a man who professe the Letter declared from the life which life knits the Saints in one peace and thee shall eternally torment who livest in vanity and deniest the way of peace Answ Once more look home to thy self that thou even thou be not found in this number of a beast of a man that art compleat in thy form in thy observations drawn sometimes from the Letter and sometimes from thy fancie in the mystery and yet neither Letter or meaning is any more direction to thee than will stand with thy dark minde and form Therefore see and know that the life the Scripture the Christ the peace which thou art in is not the life out of the original in the one spirit but the life and Christ and peace of form of fansie of man and so notwithstanding all thy pretended Unity and holinesse thou regardest lying vanity and art in a weary land without water As for me my endeavour is to keep the Unity of the spirit in the bond of peace with all lowlinesse and meeknesse and long-suffering forbearing all my brethren in love I know the body the spirit the calling is one the Lord the faith the baptisme is one and that there is one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in us all A sense of all these constrains me to love the Saints in all this onenesse though in their wayes and walkings without they are divers yet in the substances of things they are all one and of one And upon this account could I freely and faithfully have communion with them preach and pray and enter into fellowship with them though by reason of their too much indulgence to their bodily exercise and outward wayes of walking they are for the most part against communion with any out of their own modell and way and so too much spirit of God I own it as a witnesse and Declaration of the Lords will and mind to man This I professe not out of the life and light of the spirit knowing that that is the living word the kernel the substance which quickens all the body and knits the Saints altogether in that one peace of God And this spirit declared in the Letter is that which keeps me from vanity and frees me from the Law of sin death and condemnation And now to the businesse of Tythes Thou sayes Repl. In my corrupt reason I am scraping up reasons to maintain Tythes but shew no Scripture Answ Here thou art at thine old trade prating and slighting but shewing little reason and yet thou goest on to teach and say Repl. To the Sons of Levi was Tyth paid for their service and the relieving the fatherlesse widdows and strangers Ans And why must not the Ministers of the Gospel have maintenance too for their service Doth the Gospel afford lesse than the Law But to let that passe Thou hast spoken a piece of truth to which I add Thou mayest finde even Levi himself paid Tythes in Abraham Heb. 7. 9. and so Tythes were paid before the Law and Levi were in being as to the Letter so that the payment of Tythes extended further than to the litteral Tribe of Levi And if Abraham and Jacob payed Tythes as it appears they did before the Law Gen. 14. 18 19 20. and Gen. 18. 22. surely they did it by a light within and this light was their Law and this is thine too sometimes though very seldom especially when to part with something from thy self and therefore art thou covetous to rob others of all their glory in inward things to advance thy self and of their property too in outward things and so thou art greedy to keep the tenth of all But to proceed Repl. Thou sayest When Christ came he put an end to that service and to the wages due to that service and that he continued Tythes to the Ministers of the Gospel by a Law that thou bid'st me prove by Scripture command or example Answ That Christ put an end to the Levitical priest-hood that I deny not But that Christ put an end to the priest-hood so as to set up no teaching in the room thereof that I deny But what or who hath he set up Answer Ministers not of the Letter but of the spirit But are your Ministers such Answer those whom Christ anoints and ordains are such for the rest I plead not But where have you Ministers that are such if the thing should be granted any command example or practice for Tythes Answer we have the light within written in the hearts of all Nations which teacheth them to pay Tythes or maintenance unto their Priests at this day this is the light of our Nation to pay Tythe unto their Ministers And this is of as much force still where it guides and rules to teach men what to do as it
God in the shining brightnesse and terrours of the Law to us so Israel trembled feared and stood afar off at the giving of the Law Exod. 20. 18 19 20 21. thus the Law revealed in the conscience works fear at first arising out of a spirit of bondage with all that are born of the bond-woman Agar or after the flesh as soon as they come to Mount Sinai are possessed with Rom. 8. 15. Gal. 4. 23. 24 25. and so Paul when the Law came with power was strucken with death Rom. 7. 9 10. and at the coming of Christ to declare his sin he 's found trembling Act. 9. 6. this trembling of Paul was a trembling of the immer man the old man which Christ was now come to destroy this old man was he in Paul who kept Christ under who persecuted Jesus this old man which was Pauls own will reason minde lust and made him injurious blasphemous and a persecuter of Christ this was he whom Christ came to break to pieces and upon him falls the trembling and so Pauls trembling was his striking with inward horrour at the kindling of the Law in him and the shining of the Majesty thereof upon him this made him cry out who art thou Lord What wilt thou have me to do as for the flesh and outward body of Paul that was acted by his minde and inner man and therefore Christ did not come so much to make this tremble as the root whence this did spring the fleshly minde the body of sin this must now tremble and come under the Crosse so that this trembling of Paul and his being stricken to the ground and his falling to the earth can be no sufficient ground to justifie the fleshly trembling and quaking of these men For 1. As Paul was stricken with trembling so with bliudnesse but those who have this trembling have not likewise the blindnesse 2. Paul was sensible both of trembling and blindnesse these are onely sensible of quaking not of blindnesse 3. Paul was strucken to the earth and all that were with him Act. 26. 14. but here is one quakes and the rest are free and some have no experience of the thing at all 4. When Paul trembled the people that were with him are said to hear a voice and to see a light but at your tremblings there 's no such light or voice Lastly Pauls trembling let in so much of Christ that ever afterwards he was full of love meeknesse patience moderation towards all as one sensible what man was and this trembling brought such a piercing sight along with it that Paul ever afterwards saw a body of corruption a fleshly part in him fighting and carrying him forth many times to the Law of sin but these mens trembling lets in no such light nor life but rather madnesse fury murmuring condemning all to Hell that come not under the power of their form as likewise pride conceit and a foolish imagining a freedom from all remnants of sin and darknesse a state of fulnesse and perfection in the midst of all their palpable follies and abominations There surely Pauls trembling at the beginning of his conversion agreeing with these mens trembling in no circumstance can be no Warrant or vvitnesse for their fleshly trembling I call it a fleshly trembling because it 's a trembling of the outward flesh when the inward remains in its full force and power and rather stronger then weaker after the trembling is passed over 3. And lastly the Scriptures mention a trembling or fear which flowes from a sense and taste of what God is and what we are and this is a trembling that is alwayes joyned with faith and love and joy and this trembling and fear belongs unto the adoption or the true seed of the free-woman the Sons and Heir of God they seeing as Job speaks what an infinite incomprehensible being the Lord is and that he 's love it self and life and power and goodnesse it self unto all his Saints having a true touch of this upon their spirits and likewise of their own low weak poor empty condition in themselves that all they have they have it in the Lord and from the Lords rich grace and love without the least merit of theirs hence they learn to abhorre themselves and to tremble before the Lords Majesty and yet upon another consideration to wit of being taken into Union and fellowship with him through his son and grace they can go unto him in faith as unto their exceeding joy this is to rejoyce with trembling to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling to be afraid of God because of his power and greatnesse and so to stand in awe and sin not and yet likewise to rejoyce in the Lord and in his grace to be afraid of God because of our own pronenesse unto sin and yet to go unto him as to a father with great affection delight and joy as those who are kept by him from the power of sin and evil This is a trembling which is not for a fit and time onely but kept alive in the Soul during our abode in this house of clay whether yours be such a trembling as this let your own light be judge this is the trembling that Job and David and the holy men of God witnessed of old and do still witnesse to this very day but away with thy fleshly bodily litteral trembling and quivering this is rather like Belshazzars trembling or like a fit of Mahomet when the falling evil fell upon him which he feigned to be the holy Ghost or like a man possessed with the Devil than like the trembling of the Saints of old I know when God arises to save a Soul from death he shakes the earth and the heavens that men have made but this is inward spiritual and invisible to the bodily eye like that of Job when he said he hath broken me asunder he hath taken me by the neck and shaken me to pieces and set me up for his mark he cleaveth my reins asunder he poureth out my gall upon the ground he breaketh me with breach upon breach What was all this literal outward carnal Surely no it was rather the breaking in pieces of all Jobs somethingnesse and the grinding of him in spirit to nothing before the Lord and thus it is in measure with all his dearest Saints This is a trembling I own have not a word against and when ye can witnesse this your other trembling will no more be mentioned or gloried in at all Quest 2. Whether or no God have not a precious people found in various forms and wayes of vvorship where they are waiting on him according to their light and several attainments Answ The way of God is one his vvorship one his light one and all that are in this light are in the one way one vvorship according to their measure and by this light are all forms wayes vvorships and attainments which vary from it condemned Repl. Where the word is
truths of God 8. There 's the appetite and that 's the seat of desires lustings and longings after things whether good or evil Lastly there 's likewise the affections which are the movings of the Soul out into love joy gladnesse pleasure and the like all these lower parts of the Soul as more common and easily seen and perceived are usually called the Soul and the higher and more noble powers are usually taken for the spirit of the Soul now when the Lord comes all these are healed cured and made well according as the Lord is more or lesse manifested and this is the sanctifying of these which the Apostle speaks of the bringing of them all into the will and life of God and as the Lord is received into the Souls of men so all these scatterings and movings and workings of the Soul are all gathered up to give their attendance upon the presence of the great King Quest 18. What is the Heaven and Hell the salvation and damnation of believers and unbelievers which the Scriptures intimate Answ Heaven and Hell are what the Scriptures declare them to be which none can understand but who are in the light where the entrance is made Repl. Still thou art seen not to be in a state of perfection and so what Childish answers have we no account cnast thou give of Heaven and Hell they are what the Scripture declares them to be surely friend if thou hast been in Hell and gone from thence to Heaven thou might'st have said something more I know it 's sufficient what the Scriptures intimate but I know thou ownest no Heaven nor Hell but what is here within in thy wandring spirit no resurrection judgment or Hell afterwards but what we have here by the light and from the light within this is thy dream onely thou art loth to discover thy self and so hidest the thoughts of thine heart and sayest Heaven and Hell are what the Scripture makes them to be and so I leave thee in this thine imaginations to give an account unto God in that day when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed and Hell and Heaven begun here shall be perfected upon believers and unbelievers for evermore and what this Heaven and Hell is take my thoughts and use them at thy pleasure Heaven stands in a pure union and fellowship with the Father in love and Hell in a reall separation from this love of the Father in the Son and the enduring of the wrathfull vengeance of an angry God both these are begun here in grace or sin as in the root and both shall be perfected hereafter in the joy or misery which shall be everlasting as the Scripture speaks come yee blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world and go yee cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Matt. 25. 34 41. Quest 19. What is the first resurrection and the reigning with Christ a thousand years of that resurrection and the binding of Satan all that thousand years Answ The first resurrection is the resurrection of Christ wherewith he hath raised us from the death of sin to live with him to God in newnesse of life reigning over the lust of the world the flesh and the Devil Repl. All this I own as the comfort and joy of Saints in all generations for when the man-child is born who is called the new man the Lord from heaven then the first resurrection begins and that Soul reigns lives according to the measure of Christ in him with Christ a thousand years this Christ in us is the real substantial image of God that has the perfect nature of a man the first day he is born in the Soul as a Child has the nature of a man though not the wisdom and growth and strength of a man so it is in the Soul where Christ is risen and born that 's the true man-child and his growing up in the new holy life is the ground of the first resurrection and as he encreases in the Soul so the life is manifested and the resurrection more and more and so the Soul can say now I know that the life and the resurrection is come because the Son of God is come the precious seed of the promise he who breaks the head of the Serpent though the Serpent be still knibling and bruising his he'lâ— and if this were truely witnessed by yee surely I should not see so much darknesse and bitternesse still growing up and flourishing in yee neither could yee thus give your selves to revile mock vilifie and send others of the Children of God in your giddinesse unto the Devil and seek to deprive them of their credit and reputation in the world this is but the fruit of Thorns and Briars not of the vine and good Olive Tree this is but the Thistle that pricks but bears not the fruit of the first resurrection Further thou sayest Christ by his resurrection has bound Satan so say I for to this purpose was he manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil and when he appeares then the evill one is put in prison and chaines Further thou sayest such unruly persons as I talke of Satans being bound a thousand years but resist and own not that Crosse and power which should bind him for a day Repl. The Crosse I own and the power I owne as that onely which has bound Satan in me though I must not tell thee so neither is Satan at liberty as in mine ignorance and unbeleef neither do's he prevail neither am I without a stronger than he to divide his spoils and yet I am to take heed and not be so bold as some who are without fear of any stirrings and temptations from him though Paul set him as a Thorn in the flesh yet they are secure and neglect their Armour and so are many times again entangled and overcome Further thou sayest the Angel and the key of the bottomlesse pit and the great chain in his hand I know not Rev. 20. 1. neither do I and him I serve love that chain Repl. The spirit of the Lord surely wrote all this to thy generation and none must peep into these mysteries without thy key for thou art he who opens and no man shuts and shuts and no man opens as Christ gave his keyes to Peter in his absence and Peter unto the Pope or the Pope to thee and now thy fathers the false Prophets may go to seek heaven for thee for thou hast the keyes and none must enter in without thy mark and so the kingdom of Heaven is shut up and the Angel and the key of the bottomlesse pit and the great chain in his hand none must know but thee and thy generation and yet what if I should tell thee I have seen the Angel and he by the light within has opened the bottomlesse pit and there I have seen the Quaker and the Pope and all
the false Prophets shut out of the Kingdom of God because they love not the great chain in the hand of the Angel but to leave thee where I finde thee the chain I love and own as that which keeps me from the paths of the destroyer neither am I telling as thou sayest of Satans binding without me for this is not mine interest but the inward binding and yet when I see Satan bound in any measure without me that I can look upon with joy too well knowing that there is joy in heaven at the conversion of one sinner but I must not cast pearl before Swine lest thou turn again and rent me for the angry brood love not the Pearle Answ Further Satans binding is in the life onely learned not in the imagination Repl. And yet it may be too but in the imagination though it seemingly appear in the life as we see in a Nun Monk Hermit Pharisee and the like here 's a seeming binding of Satan in the life and yet but an imagination therefore take heed God looks most upon the heart yet upon the tongue too and when Satans binding is better manifested in thy carriage tongue then I may have better hope to say thou believest with the heart Answ Further John saw Satan bound a thousand years since which thou art still querying about Repl. John I know had a Vision of Satans binding in himself and a Vision of all the binding and loosing that was to be in ages to come and therefore the Revelation of Jesus in him was to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to passe now I know about this binding and loosing of Satan and the living and reigning with Christ a thousand years called the first resurrection there is a great variety of opinions and judgements amongst the Saints and in the world and all the opinions almost look unto things without unto some intable observation to the outward eye abroad making this and that the beginning of the thousand years and the first resurrection so making the spiritual Kingdom to spring up with some great outward glory and to begin with some observation visible to the outward man all which methinks suits not with the nature of a spirituall King and Kingdom and so seeing men feel after that without which was to be fulfilled within and hearing of the great talk of the Quakers knowledge therefore I sent to thee to know and see thine experience of this resurrection and of this binding Satan and reigning with Christ and behold I see nothing in all thine answers but vanity pride and deep darknesse so much to that answer to which I 'le adde Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection that hath Christ to be his resurrection and life by whom he 's fetched out of the grave and passed from death into life by a strong hand this man as he has bowed and given himself to Christ so Christ is come down as it were to him to set him upon the Throne of his glory and here he sees judgement executed upon the beast and Dragon and Satan bound in him all the dayes of his life and Christ living and reigning in him for evermore this is the first resurrection over which the second death hath no power and this is that I commend to all as the better part which the Saints in their measure all injoy and without which the last resurrection will be but a sad hour of sorrow and woe unto the world and so though the last resurrection I own and the day of judgement yet the first resurrection of Christ raising us up from the death of sin and darknesse to live with him to God in newnesse of life is that which every man and woman ought to look earnestly after in this world And now some may imagine that this spiritual resurrection is not the thing meant in this 20 Chap. of the Revelations because 't is said to be a thousand years and then to be finished and Satan to be loosed out of his prison again to whom I answer that the thousand years has respect to the reign of Christ in the Saints in all ages during the time of every dispensation of God towards his people in the world and so the first resurrection has still been passed through and is to be passed through by all the people of God here and finished at their departure hence in the Lord and as this resurrection was more glorious in John's time and the first ages of the Church after Christ than before under the Law so it shall be more glorious yet than ever before called therefore the new Jerusalem wherein God shall come down and dwell with men to wit more in the fulnesse and glory of his spirit than in all the dispensations that have gone before and the more glorious the resurrection is the more the evil shall be bound and the appearing of this in all ages has been the binding of Satan and is that which limits and puts a stop to this Kingdom and so a torment to him before his time and the more this grows the more he shall bound so the great binding of Satan shall be not by a personal reign of Christ in a body but by the personal or more eminent reign of Christ yet in the fulnesse of the spirit this is that which every Saint is to look at in himself and not to put off the resurrection from himself to some other men or some other time but to look at his own resurrection and the binding of Satan in his own soul as well as without in others that he may reign with Christ here and hereafter in the 12. of the Rev. 8. 9. we read of a war in Heaven and of a great fight between the Dragon and Michael but the Dragon and his Angels prevail'd not but are cast out and their place is found no more in Heaven this is that we are to look at in our selves for the Church of God is the Kingdom of God on earth and where this Kingdom is set up there Satans Kingdom is pulled down and his time finished I say where Christ is set up in power 't is so not where he 's onely set up in shew for where things are but in shew there the unclean spirit is said to go out not to be driven away by the sun of God but to feign a going away and so to return again and bring 7 other spirits that is more power along with him and finding the house swept and garnished to enter in again and dwell there and so to make the last state worse than the first but when he 's castout by the finger of God then we have the true Champion on our side and now the evil one must leave the house for ever and further though the Scriptures speak of a finishing the thousand years yet that is meant in reference unto every dispensation of God to his people here and their abode