them do continue so nearly joyned together at this day that would man be true to himself and the Light of God in him he might see them to be both in him and how nearly they are joyned together in him While man was thus in Gods garden and these two Trees in him and he kept by Jesus the Light of God in him in obeying of God according to that knowledge that God had given him of his revealed will in doing what God had commanded him to do and in leaving undone what God had forbidden him to do In his thus obeying God man eat of the Tree of life and lived he lived in God in obedience to God knowing nothing but the will of God and doing nothing but the will of God Mans knowledge of evil as it became a sin in man was man 's not continuing in obeying God in doing the things that he knew God had commanded him to do This was the actual knowing of evil the knowing of evil by the doing of evil and that was sin The Tree was knowledge and while obedience was joyned to knowledge it was a good Tree as God had placed it in the heart or inward part of man but when disobedience was joyned to knowledge then it became an evil Tree then man eat of the Tree whereof God had commanded him that he should not eat of And mans disobedience came from self-ends a will and desire that was in them to be wiser than God had made them and to have another likeness of God than that Image that God had created them in their desire was not to be in Gods Image as he had made them but to be as Gods in knowledge The Serpent in the mystery is mans self or mans will as separated from God and this is that which was more subtile than any Beast of the Field that God had made God made all the Beasts of the Field and they were good From whence then came this more subtile Beast it may bare the name of Beast that mans will as it is revealed from Gods will because of the foul unclean and evil beastly nature that was in it it was not of Gods creating because it was not good if it had been good it could not have tempted to the knowledge of evil in the doing of evil that is it could not have tempted man to disobey God self in man or a mans own will separated from God is more subtile to tempt man than all the Beasts of the Field that God hath made that is self in man or a mans own will is more subtile to prevail with man to disobey God than all without him can prevail with him to disobey God James 1. 13 14 15. 13 verse Let no man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God for God cannot be tempted with evil neither tempteth he any man that is God tempts no man to evil and as God is good so are all the Creatures that he hath made and as they are good and the creation of God so the Creatures they cannot tempt man to evil 14 verse But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed Mark that which tempts man to sin and entice him to sin it is something of his own the Apostle calls it lust that is the height of desire in Genesis it is called desire a Tree to be desired to make wise And does not lust the height of desire to be made wise in what God hath forbidden come from self in man 15 verse Then when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished it bringeth forth death The comparison is taken from natural conceptions and bringings forth That which conceives is of its own it is something within that conceives it is an inward act and not an act without them and conception is before bringing forth and what is brought forth is of the same kind with that which conceived what then can be more plainer than that that the Serpent that tempts to sin is self or a mans own will in separation from God or something of mans self that draweth him forth into disobedience to what he knew to be the mind and will of God for him to do and the gain that he expects by his disobedience is to be wise to please himself There is nothing Gods opposite or enemy but what God hath forbidden all that God created he made very good Gen. 1. 31. God did not make the Devil a Devil if the Devil be a fallen Angel as many believe him to be and so before he fell he was an Angel as other Angels are ministring Spirits so was mans will and all that was in man in the creation was an Angel a ministring Spirit and ministred that is waited or attended upon Gods will as the Angels do but when the temptation entred into man and then when man by the temptation was overcome and desired to be as Gods Then the ministration of the will of man fell from the ministration that it had before in the creation to wait or attend upon the will of God and so the will of man it became a fallen Angel a fallen Ministration a fallen Spirit The Angels they are ministring Spirits attending upon the will of God so was the will of man and all that was in man in his creation was a ministring Spirit attending upon the will of God But when that which was more subtile than any Beast of the Field that God had made entred into Gods garden that is into mans heart or the inward part of man and man yielding to the temptation desiring to be as Gods that is to do his own will and not to do Gods will then entred into mans heart the Devil See the truth of it John 8. 44. Ye are of your father the devil and the lust of your father ye will do he was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him When he speaketh a lye he speaketh of his own for he is a lyar and the father of it Christ here tells the Jews they were of their Father the Devil and the lust of your Father ye will do lust is the great desire of the heart after the forbidden Fruit which is of the Devil he is the Father of it he is the begetter of it the Devil called the Serpent was the Father that begot the desire after the forbidden Fruit. And Christ also told the Jews that he was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth If the Devil were not once in the truth then how can it be said he did not abide in it Mans self or will all that was in man was once in the truth as God is the truth in God in Gods will as God created man and made him good but mans will it abode not in the truth that is in God for God is the truth it abode not in the doing Gods will
God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things that are not convenient Even that is just equal alike then things are said to be even when they are just equal alike Here is the reason why God gives men over to a reprobate mind to do those things that are evil It is because they do not like to retain to keep that knowledge that God hath given to them of himself and to keep it so as to glorifie him in that knowledge and so to glorifie him in that knowledge as thereby to manifest their thankfulness to him and to manifest their thankfulness by their obedience in obeying God according to what they know of him And the want of this their obeying God according to what God hath made known of himself unto them is the cause why even just alike God gives men over to a reprobate mind to do those things that are not convenient and as they are Reprobates so they are condemned Others that do the truth they obey God in Jesus the truth and their hearts desire is that Jesus the true Light may make known the truth in them and to them that their deeds are wrought in God and they are lovers of the Light and from that love that they have to the Light and to the doing the truth that is the doing of the will of God in sincerity and integrity of their hearts according as Jesus the true Light in them hath made known in them what is Gods will that they should do and what is Gods will that they should not do These they bring their deeds to the Light that they may be made manifest that is made known in them and to them that they are wrought by God in them Gods love is such to man in general to all men as that he is willing to keep man from perishing and is willing to save them and give them eternal life But some men are not willing to come to Jesus the true Light in them although God so loved the world Man as to send him to that end that whosoever believed on him should not perish but have eternal life yet Jesus the true Light said to some that thought to have eternal life in the Scriptures and it was to those that were in the highest outward form of worshipping God and said God was their Father to these Jesus said Ye will not come to me that ye might have life John 5. 39 40. Mans will is that which hinders man from coming to Jesus the true Light that they may have life that they may be saved by him God does his part in sending his Son into the World to save them and so the Father draws them by the Son and he is the true Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the World he makes known Gods love in them and to them and so the Father draws them by making known his love in them Can any one say that they have known the Father to draw them to come to the Son to believe on him any other way but as Jesus the Son the true Light in them hath made known the Fathers love to them And this God hath done to all because that which may be known of God is manifest in them God hath shewed it unto them The invisible things of him from the Creation of the World are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and Godhead Mark that Even his eternal power and Godhead And what is there more to be known of God than his eternal power and Godhead Dare any one say that they know any thing more of God than what is contained in his eternal power and Godhead And although God hath so manifested himself in them and shewed himself to them yet they will not come to his beloved Son Jesus the true Light that they may have life Jesus did not say to them the subtle Serpent Satan the Tempter or the Devil that they would not have them come to him that they might have life but it was their will that hindered or kept them back from coming to Jesus that they might have life Ye will not come to me that ye might have life Oh Will Will that which brought man into sin and so brought death that keeps man from coming to Jesus the true Light that they may again have life To speak something of what I know of taking up the Cross and to follow JESUS TO have the will brought to be resigned up into Gods will to be given up into the will of God to be what God will this is the taking up of the Cross and following of Jesus this is to be a Disciple of Jesus this is to learn of Jesus and without this whatsoever outward profession any may be of how zealous soever they may be in that outward profession how outwardly blameless soever they may live how much soever they may be esteemed of by others how high esteem soever they may have of themselves as to be the Disciples the Scholars or Learners of Jesus yet if they have not learned some part of this Lesson to deny themselves to deny all that is of self in them which the will is a great part of and take up his Cross and follow Jesus The Cross that Jesus took up was the Cross to that will in him that as he was man would have had the Cup taken from him but he took up the Cross to that will in praying Father not my will but thy will be done and this Cross must all take up that will be his Disciples that will learn of him and follow him in the spirit and not be knowers of him in the flesh and followers of him onely in the flesh Jesus said to his Disciples that if any man will come after him and whosoever will come after him must deny himself and take up his Cross daily and follow him Matth. 16. 24. Mark 8. 24. Luke 9. 23. I pray mark the words of the Scripture if any man will or whosoever will which is as much as to say there is none whosoever that can come after Jesus there is none whosoever that can follow Jesus there is none whosoever that can learn of Jesus but they must first deny themselves deny all that is of self in them which will is a great part of All that is of self is first to be denyed before man can take up his Cross and follow Jesus before man can take up a Cross to his own will his own will must first be denyed be said Nay to be resisted as being of the Devil Resist the Devil and he will flee from you Jam. 4. 7. Resist the Temptations of the will and stand in obedience to Jesus the true Light and that will which opposeth Gods will that will flee from you it will not abide the battel with you but it will flee from you it will vanquish will be overcome and cease to be in you as it ceased to
he now tempts in man and therefore they cannot believe how the Tempter first tempted in man and cause him to fall it is as hard for such to believe it as it is for a Camel to go through the eye of a Needle They are of the number of those rich men that have not sold all that hath not parted with all and are become so poor as to have nothing to be nothing to will nothing that so they may enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but they are of the number that do still see themselves to be as Gods that is to have of their own to be of their own to do of their own to will of their own and are not yet come into that state of being become new Creatures they are not come into that state that God at first made all things of nothing nothing was before the Creation and nothing man must be of himself before God doth his great work of creating man his new Creature And when the woman saw the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eye and a tree to be desired to make one wise she took of the fruit thereof and did eat and gave also unto her husband with her and he did eat I pray observe the words of the Scripture And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food at that very instant of time that she saw the Tree was good for food at that very instant of time it was pleasant to the eye and at that very time it was a tree to be desired to make one wise at that very instant of time she took of the fruit thereof and did eat and gave also unto her husband with her and he did eat Here was not a seeing of the Tree to be good for food at one time and then at a time after that it was pleasant to the eye and then at a time after that it was a Tree to be desired to make one wise and then at a time after that she took of the Fruit thereof and did eat and gave also to her Husband with her and he did eat No the Scripture doth not speak after that manner but the Scripture saith And when the woman saw the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eye and a tree to be desired to make one wise All these are joyned and linked together as to the matter of time to be at once in the woman when was the one then was the other of them they are not separated and as they are not separated the one from the other as to the matter of time wherein they were done but all joyned and linked together so is not her taking of the Fruit thereof and eating of it and giving of it to her Husband with her and he did eat These are all joyned and linked together as to the matter of time wherein they were done when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasant to the eye and to be desired to make one wise at the very same instant of time she took of the fruit thereof and did eat and gave also to her husband with her and he did eat The time when joyns them altogether to be done when the one was done then at that instant of time the other was done so joyned and linked together as to the matter of time when they were done as not separated the one from the other When the woman in the understanding and knowledge that she had saw a good in the Tree and such a good as that it was good for food for to that the Serpent in his temptation in time had brought her unto whereas in the beginning of the temptation in the understanding and knowledge that she had she saw the Tree not to be good for food nor yet the Fruit of it to be eaten but instead of being good for food she saw the eating of the Fruit thereof if I may so call it of a poysonous nature bringing death because God had said that in the day they eat thereof they should surely die But the Serpents temptation continuing in her at length it prevailed so far in her to bring her to make a wrong use of that understanding and knowledge that God had given to her For the end of Gods giving man that portion of understanding and knowledge it was that man should improve this his portion of knowledge in doing Gods will in yielding obedience to God But man mis-spent his portion and made use of it in disobeying God and goes out of the doing Gods will into the doing his own will the temptation having first prevailed in man to question the truth of what God had said that they should surely die in the day they eat of the forbidden fruit And then when the temptation had prevailed in man so far as to give credit to the lye that the subtile Serpent said Ye shall not surely die For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof then your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evil The temptation having thus prevailed in the woman this caused her in that understanding and knowledge that she then had after the temptation had so far prevailed in her and over her to look upon the Tree to be good and not onely to be good but to be good for food that which before when the temptation first entred into her by the understanding and knowledge that she then had she saw to be evil for food and of if I may so say a dangerous and poysonous nature bringing Death along with the eating of it and so she did not then yield to the Temptation but when the Temptation had prevailed in her and over her then it was that in that understanding and knowledge that she then had she saw the tree that once she saw to be evil to eat of to be good and not onely good but good for food the good she then saw in it was in doing what God had forbidden God had not forbidden the being of the Tree The tree of Life was in the midst of the garden and the tree of knowledge of good and evil so that the tree in it self was not evil the evil was in the eating of it the eating of it was that which God had forbidden and the temptation having prevailed in the woman to question the truth of what God had said and to give credit to the lye that the Serpent had said and when the Serpent by his temptation had prevailed thus far in the woman then he caused her in that understanding and knowledge that she then had to see a good in what God had forbidden which in it self was evil and the good that she saw was a good for food and therefore to be eaten Good food eaten by the outward body as instrumental it hath this in it that is it contents and satisfies the hunger or desire of the body it
feel these words thus spoken to reach the witness of God the seed of God in them And it appeareth that it did not reach the witness of God the seed of God in them by that they understood not the saying and it was hid from them and they perceived it not which if they by these words spoken by Jesus had felt that it had reached the witness of God in them the seed of God in them they would have understood seen and perceived something of the meaning of what Christ had said What think ye who dare say that they think or believe that the Disciples the followers of Jesus to whom these words were spoken had done well if they had gone to Jesus and told him although they could not deny but that those words that he had spoken were true yet they questioned whether or no he spake them by the true and right spirit and the reason why they questioned and did not believe he spake them by the right and true spirit is this Because when they heard him speak those words they did not feel that those words spoken by him did reach the witness of God the seed of God in them Who dare so say that they think or believe the Disciples had done well if they should have gone to Jesus and used such an Argument to have perswaded Jesus that the words he spake were not spoken by the true spirit because they 〈◊〉 they heard them did not fell the witness of God the seed of God reached in them by Jesus true words when he spake them If such a light Argument as this had been sufficient to have proved that Jesus true words had not been spoken by a true and right spirit because his words when spoken did not reach to the witness of God the seed of God in those that heard him how much then of his words would then have been proved to have been spoken by the wrong spirit How little and how seldom do we read in the Scripture that those that heard Christ speak true words and that by the true spirit that the hearers of Jesus did feel the witness of God the seed of God reached in them by Jesus true words when he spake them And yet yow many times have I heard that used as an Argument and the onely Argument to prove that the true words spoken have not been spoken by the true spirit but spoken by the wrong spirit And why because those when they heard them they did not feel the witness of God the seed of God in them reached by those true words spoken but they have found something in them troubled and burdened when they heard those words spoken Jesus Disciples they did not understand the words spoken by him they being hid from them and they perceived them not and they feared to ask him of that saying that is they feared to ask him the meaning of that saying I shall not say they were afraid to ask the meaning of those true words that they judged to be spoken by a wrong spirit but this I can say they did not ask the meaning of them And the Disciples when they feared to ask him of that saying then there arose a reasoning among them which of them should be greatest they were more minding to be great and which of them should be greatest amongst them than to ask and enquire into the meaning of what Christ had said when he spake something of his Death and yet these were the Disciples and followers of Jesus Would it not be well it were not so now in this knowing Age that we live in That there were not more reasoning and a greater care taken to know which shall be greatest than there is a care taken and an enquiry made to understand the words of Jesus spoken concerning his Death Balaam who used Inchantments and loved the wages of Unrighteousness I do not find in all the Scripture that ever he was reproved for the true words that he spake that God put into him to speak Nor do I find that they were a burden or a trouble to any that heard him speak them unless it were to Balak and those with him that would have had Israel cursed and to them indeed Balaam's words were a burden and a trouble unto The hearing of the prosperity of the outward Israel the outward seed of God which was a Type of the inward seed of God this was a trouble and a burden to Balak and those with him that would have had the seed of God cursed And for persons in this knowing Age to be troubled and burdened with the hearing words spoken by one that did declare his knowledge of the inward seed of God to prosper in him and how he had known it set at liberty from the bondage of the subtile Serpent who had deceived him in an outward form of Godliness perswading him that in his eating of the forbidden tree he should be as Gods in knowledge that this his declaring of his experience of the prosperity of the inward seed of God in him and perswading others to have a care that they were not deceived by the subtilty of the Serpent as he had been that these words or words spoken to this purpose or effect should be a trouble or a burden to any Must not that which was burdened and troubled in them be the same spirit that was burdened and troubled in Balak and those with him when he and they instead of hearing Balaam to curse the outward seed of God that he blessed them altogether As God the true spirit changeth not but his Works Actions and Doings do agree and do not contradict one another in all Ages and Generations so the Serpent the lying and deceitful spirit changeth not but his works actions and doings do agree and do not contradict one another in all Ages and Generations and therefore it was the same spirit in those that were offended at the hearing of the true words spoken in making known the prosperity of the inward seed being set at liberty from the bondage of the subtile Serpent and warning of others to have a care of being deceived by the subtile Serpent I say it was the same spirit that was offended in them that was offended in Balak and those with him that he heard the Words spoken by Balaam when he declared the prosperity of the outward seed of God But I know an Objection or Argument may be made or raised although I never heard it made or raised yet I know it may be made or raised and that to this purpose That true words may be spoken by a wrong or evil spirit and such true words as the Scripture speak yea the very words of the Scripture and brought in for Scripture and brought in as a proof for what this wrong or evil spirit have been spoken to before And ought this wrong spirit or evil spirit be suffered in going on to speak these true words although words of Scripture or ought