and his mouth must be stopt and he must make supplication to his Judge whom though I were righteous saith Job yet would I not answer but I would make supplication to my Judge Job 9. 15. And this becomes man and not to argue it with the Lord and to wrangle with him as if God were unrighteous as if his Ways were not equal Who measures the Lord by his shallow understanding who cannot be searched out O the depth of the Riches both of the Wisdom and the Knowledge of God how unsearchable are his Judgements and his Wayes past finding out for who hath known the mind of the Lord Or who hath been his Counsellor Or who hath first given unto him and it shall be given unto him again For of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be Glory for ever Amen Rom. 9. 33 34 35. 36. So every man's mouth here must be stopt and before his Judge he must be silent as I have said and not lay unrighteousness on God or charge him that his Wayes are not equal For man himself shall conclude it otherwise in the day wherein the Lord will render unto him according to his deeds and therefore it is in vain to stand it out with the Lord. It is but the artifice of the Enemy that works this in you he knows you will otherwise say when it is too late therefore be not deceived by him least when 't is too late you blame your folly Moved of the Lord I am to write this to you in bowels of love that you may see your state and how this matter stands and that ye may be delivered And if ye yet say The Children being not yet born neither having yet done any good or evil that the Purpose of God according to Election might stand not of Works but of him that calleth It was said unto her the Elder shall serve the Younger as it is written Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated I answer as I did before this is spoken of the two Seeds the Seed of the Woman and the Seed of the Serpent of which these two were Figures in which as the Knowledge of the Lord foresaw they would be so he loved so he hated For he loveth and hateth no man but as they are in these and it was after the fall that this was spoken both the promise that the Seed of the Woman should bruise the Serpents head and the Elder shall serve the Younger Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated For before there is nothing spoken of this for all stood well and as the same in the first Adam whilst he stood and there was no need of the Promise nor was there two as to man the one whereof was the Object of Love and the other of Hatred the Elder serving the Younger but man was one spirit from the Root Eternal and in the Root Eternal which God hath blessed And the two or that which made two the seed of the Serpent which entered into man came out afterwards For man receiving the Serpent and obeying his voice after he was made against the Command of God there came to be two things in man two Roots two which strugled the Seed of the Woman the seed of Promise and the seed of the Serpent the seed of the Curse as the Promise came to take place and that seed came to move in man to bring him back to God which the Lord hath promised as the Children strove in Rebecca's womb when she came to be delivered so do these as the time cometh wherein as I have said the promise of God cometh to be fulfilled The Flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh and these are contrary the one unto the other So that ye cannot do the things that ye would As the Apostle speaks Gal. 5. 17. And which the Apostle found in himself when the Promise came to be fulfilled in him I see saith he another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into Captivity â—o the law of sin which is in my members And he cries out there as Rebecca did concerning the Children If it be so why am I thus And she went to enquire of the Lord Gen. 25. 22. O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this Death Rom. 7. 23 24. So the Children strugled in the Womb of Rebecca which was the Figure Two Nations are in thy Womb and two manner of People shall be separated from thy bowels and theone people shall be stronger then the other people and the Elder shall serve the Younger said the Lord unto her of whom she went to enquire when it was so with her as aforesaid And when her dayes to be delivered were to be fulfilled behold there were Twins in her womb and the first came out Red all over like an hary Garment and they called his Name Esau and after that came his brother out and his hand took hold on Esau's heel and his Name was called Jacob â— 24 25 26. So the Law of the Spirit of Life which was in Christ Jesus strugled with the law of Sin and of Death In Paul which though the law of sin and of death the law in his members strugled with and came out first When I would do good the law of his mind evil is present with me the law in his members the good that I would I do not the evil which I would not that do I Yet it took hold of its heel and supplanted it as the Name of Jacob the true Seed siignifies Is he not said Esau rightly named Jacob For he hath supplanted me these two times he took away my birth-right and behold now he hath taken away my blessing and Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his Father blessed him And Esau said in his heart the days of mourn-for my Father are at hand then will I slay my brother Jacob Gen. 27. 36 37. 41. It came after and supplanted overthrew the other I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord the Law of the Spirit of Life which is in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of Sin and Death For what the Law could not do for that it is weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh that the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit for they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit for to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace vers 21. chap. 8. 2 3 4 5 6. So there is the first and the second the first man Adam and the second the Law of Sin and Death and the Law of the Spirit of Life the Law of the
to ly We might have strong Consolation who have fled for refuge to the hope set before us which hope we have as an Anchor of the soul both sure and stedfast and which entereth into that within the Vail Whither the forerunner is for us entered even Jesus made an high Priest for ever after the Order of Melchesidec Heb. 6. 16 17 18 19 20. Now he hath sworn that he hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live as hath been said and he having sworn it Impossible it is for him to lie it is Immutable but possible it is for him to lie and he must be Mutable and Vary With whom there is no Variableness nor shaddow of turning Jam. 1. 17. For I am the Lord I change not therefore ye Sons of Jacob are not consumed Mal. 3. 6. If he hath concluded man to destruction from all Eternity and then saith unto them turn and live If he hath determined some to Reprobation and yet swears he hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live Turn ye turn ye from your evil wayes for why will ye die O house of Israel and O Israel thy destruction is of thy self but thy help is in me with whom is no Variableness nor Shaddow of turning For I am the Lord I change not therefore ye Sons of Jaeob are not consumed as aforesaid So Friends all you who are here take heed how ye impose upon the Lord in things of this Nature Or take upon ye to meddle with his Decrees who understand not the Lord nor the Counsel of his Decree whose way is in the Deep and his Foot-steps in the Mighty waters least he dash you to pieces For who are you that you should place such a thing upon the Lord which among men is the most horrid and Abominable much more as to the Lord if one can say more who is far above man as the Heavens are above the Earth whom man cannot reach He hath given something of himself to you and placed it within you by which you may know him and understand his counsel to you-wards and his thoughts of old even from the beginning which have been good to you which is that which Invites you that which draws you that which inclines you to God which shews you evil and is with you to resist it which watches evil and shews you the very approach of it and the appearance of evil and is near to deliver you which judges evil and reproves it in you and you for evil when you have joyned to it This testifies for the Lord that he hath no pleasure in your death This is a living witness that he hath not concluded you to destruction from all Eternity but that he seeks you that he desires your welfare that he would not have you die but live and is a living testimony even in you against this Opinion which you hold and such your conclusion as aforesaid who know not the Lord nor the way of his working who impose upon him and place that on the Lord which never was in his heart and this of him in you as I have said that seeks to gather you that makes your heart tender to God and to fear before him is in and to you and all men a living witness Therefore lay down such your Opinions and come to that of himself in you and believe in that which shews you which makes manifest which reproves that you may find his counsels of good to you that have been of old even from the beginning which seeks to gather you And if you say He hath mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardneth Rom. 9. 18. And who hath resisted his Will v. 19. And so Why doth he yet find fault And even for this same purpose have I raised thee up speaking of Pharaoh that I might shew my Power in thee and that my Name might be declared throughout all the Earth and so he sheweth mercy on whom he will shew mercy and whom he will he hardneth And Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated and the children being not yet born neither having done any good or evil that the purpose of God according to Election might stand not of works but of him that calleth It was said unto her unto Rebecca the Elder shall serve the Younger as it is written Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated v. 11 12. 13 17 18. And so it is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth mercy v. 16. and so I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion As he said to Moses v. 15. and as the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up that I might shew my Power in thee c. as aforesaid I answer The Lord hath shut up no man in Vnbelief that he might have mercy on no man but he hath concluded all in Vnbelief that he might have mercy on all as the Apostle speaketh Rom. 11. 32. that is to say he hath concluded no man to Damnation that he should be Damned irreversible but he finding all men in the fall in the state of Vnbelief in the state of Damnation in the state of Reprobation he concluded all men in Vnbelief in that state What that he might Damn them that they might be Reprobated for ever that they might be destroyed that they might be damned No but that he might have mercy on all that is to say that they might come to life whom death was over How is that you may say Why thus the state of all men in the fall is the state of Reprobation in this state there is no being no believing in God the state is concluded in Vnbelief and all that are in it their eyes are darkned that they cannot see their ears are stopt that they cannot hear God hath given them the Spirit of slumber Eyes that they should not see Ears that they should not hear unto this day saith the Apostle of Israel that abided not in the Election Israel saith he hath not obtained that which he seeketh for but the Election hath obtained it and the rest were blinded according saith he as it is written God hath given them the Spirit of slumber Eyes that they should not see and Ears that they should not hear unto this day and David saith Let their Table be made a snare and a trap and a stumbling-block and a recompence unto them Let their eyes be darkned that they may not see and bow down their back always Rom. 11. 7 8 9 10. So then the state of Reprobation being a state of Vnbelief and the state of Vnbelief being a state of Reprobation the Lord hath concluded all in the state of Vnbelief in the state of Reprobation that he might
Mind and the Law in the Members the Flesh and the Spirit the Son of God in the likeness of sinful flesh condemning sin in the flesh and the body of sin and death Two Nations two manner of People the one stronger then the other the strong man armed the stronger then he The Elder as to man in the state of the fall that came out first the Younger which was before the Elder though it came out in the World after This is he said John of whom I said after me cometh a Man which is preferred before me for he was before me John 1. 30. The Younger who comes after the fall the seed of the Woman to redeem out of the fall to bruise the Serpents head which the Elder must serve which taketh hold of the heel of the Elder and supplants it and makes it to serve the Elder shall serve the Younger And so the Apostle speaketh They are not all Israel who are of Israel Neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all Children but in Isaac shall thy seed be called That is they that are the children of the flesh these are not the children of God but the children of the Promise are counted for the seed For this is the word of Promise at this time will I come and Sara shall have a son And not only this but when Rebecca also had conceived by one even by our Father Isaac for the children being not yet born neither having done any good or evil that the purpose of God according to Election might stand not of works but of him that calleth It was said unto her the Elder shall serve the Younger as it is written Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated as aforesaid Rom. 9. 7 8 9 10 11 12 13. And here is the whole matter as it lies together and as the Scriptures testifie and are the Explanation of one another in the Spirit of the Lord from whom I have written and who hath shewn me these things that I might write them unto you that your understandings might be opened and that ye might come to see the Truth as it is in Jesus and be brought to the Knowledge of the Truth And so I have finished this particular The Lord God Eternal open your eyes that in this your day you may know the things that belong unto your Peace And so I shall proceed As the Lord made not man to destroy him and as he hath not concluded any man from all Eternity to destruction So neither hath he so made man as that it is impossible for him to fall from the state in the which he was made or to miscarry so as to fall from life for ever and ever That were to put man in another state then that in the which he was made who was made in a Dependance on God for his being and Subsistance in the state in the which he was made and to render him as God knowing both good and evil that is to set him as do he good or do he evil he shall never be finally removed from the state in the which he was made that is from Life but shall remain as God The Judgement of the Ranters whom the Serpent hath taken with that which was his first bait with which he took Eve at first and with which they are taken at this day who hold That do they what they will they shall never be finally â—emoved from the state in the which they were made that is from Life Ye shall not surely die for God knoweth that in the day that ye eat thereof then your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evil Gen. 3. 4 5. This the Serpent laid before Evè viz. a state beyond that in the which she was made Ye shall not surely die a state at the pleasure of him that made you and at his Commandmen who gave you your being Yea hath God said ye shall not eat of every Tree in the garden v. 1. hath he put you are ye under such a dependency on him and at his command Nay ye shall not surely die it is not so ye shall be as Gods a state beyond that in which ye were made ye shall not need to stand in such awe and dread Ye are not necessitated to such a dependency upon God as that doing contrary to his Command ye shall die your state shall be changed nay your state shall not be so changed but eating of the Tree doing of that which he hath said ye shall not doe which signifies a Subjection and Subordination a Creature state of Variation and Change at the Will of Him that made you Nay the doing of this will enter you into another state that 's more high more fixed more certain a state wherein God is who changeth not nor is moved nor doth alter or varie from that wherein he is and this God knoweth for God doth known this is the Reason that God hath set you under such a command in such dread in such awe as of death a loosing of the state in the which ye are and a coming into a quite contrary or another this he knows and therefore hath laid this Command upon ye to keep ye from this to prevent your attaining unto this to be as he is setled and unchangeable do ye what ye will ye shall not surely die Nay it shall enter you into that state wherein there is no such thing as death but only a death unto that in which ye are as you are passing to it as through death to life ye shall not need thus to be put to it ye shall be as Gods without change without alteration without fear or dread or a necessary dependance upon another to keep you in the state in the which ye are Ye shall not need thus to be put to it at every turn to be under this Rod under this reproof under this check under such a manifestation as this and who would be so when he may be otherwise This God knoweth therefore hath he laid this Bar upon you this Precept this Bond to keep ye under that in the day that ye eat thereof ye do otherwise then he hath ordained you and so put your selves out of a state of dependance upon him or of being Creatures so to be disposed of and ordered by him so taking your selves into your own Power your own disposal as he doth himself and you whilst it is thus with you that you dare do nothing but what he requires you and that ye dare not do that which he forbids you which is a Creature state of alteration and change of Subjection and Subordination you will be as he is you will be as Gods unalterable unchangeable insubjectible insubordinate and this God knoweth that in the day that ye eat thereof that ye so put your selves that ye so take your selves into your own order and not stand under his Order and Rule who hath so
hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the World in Righteousness by that man whom he hath Ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead Acts 17. 31. And who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdom 2 Tim. 4. 1. And who shall give an account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead who only hath Immortality dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto whom no man hath seen or can see to whom be Honour and Power everlasting Amen 2 Pet. 3. 5. 1 Tim. 6. 17. Who is The Judge of all Heb. 12. 23. The Mediator of the New Covenant v. 24. of a better Covenant Heb. 6. which was established on better promises for if that first Covenant had been faultless then should no place have been sought for the second but finding fault with the first he saith Behold the day is come saith the Lord when I will make a New Covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah not according to the Covenant that I made with their father in the day that I took them by the Hand to lead them out of the land of Aegypt c. But this is the Covenant c. that I will put my Laws into their minds and write them in their hearts c. He that speaketh from Heaven v. 29. The Lord from Heaven 1 Cor. 15. 26. The blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things then that of Abel whose voice then shook the earth but now he hath promised saying yet once more I shake not the earth only but also Heaven and this Word yet once more signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken as of things that are made that those things that cannot be shaken may remain wherefore we receiving a Kingdom that cannot be moved let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and Godly fear For our God is a consuming fire vers 26 27 28 29. So then the Way that leads to Life being strait narrow and few there being that find it or walk therein and his Flock being a little flock to whom it is the Fathers pleasure to give the Kingdom And those of Israel that shall return being but a Remnant and seeing that without are the Doggs and Sorcerers and Whoremongers and Murderers and Idolaters and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie and these shall go into everlasting punishment but the Righteous into Life eternal it follows that all are not redeemed for though his life be given a ransom for all that whosoever cometh unto him may have Life and ye will not come unto me that ye may have Life yet all are not redeemed all are not Ransomed all enter not into Life all are not saved and the Reason is plain because all come not to him who is the Ordinance of God to Salvatiâ—n which is Christ in them the Hope of glory the Mistery hid from ages and generations but now made manifest to his Saints the Wisdom of God and the Power of God that which witnesses that which reproves that which makes manifest in them and so they are not saved they are not redeemed they are not ransomed they are not delivered for how can it be that they should be delivered ransomed redeemed saved who come not to him though he be in them a measure of him in every one that which reproves that whick makes manifest that which shews a man all that ever he hath done that searcheth the heart that trieth the reins is not this the Christ nor believe in him and so lay not hold of him to deliver them from death to ransom them from the Power of the grave to redeem them from destruction to save them from wrath to come Nor obey him who shews them wrath and destruction and the grave and death For he became the Author of Eternal Salvation to all them that obeyed him Heb. 5. 9. And as many as received him to them gave he Power to become the Sons of God even to them that believe in his Name John 1. 12. And Fight the good fight of Faith lay hold on Eeernal Life 1 Tim. 6. 12. And ye will not come to me that ye might have Life said he to the Pharisees as aforesaid John 5. 40. Now if people believe not on him that of him in them that witness to God if they obey him not if they do not receive him who stands at the door and knocks that which witnesses that which moves to God the Voice of Wisdom which cryeth without which uttereth her voice in the streets which cryeth in the chief places of concourse in the opening of the gates which uttereth her words in the City saying How long ye simple Ones will ye love simplicity and the scorners delight in their scorning and fools hate knowledge Turn ye at my reproof behold I will pour out my Spirit upon you I will make known my words unto you because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded but ye have set at nought all my counsel and would none of my reproof I also will laugh at your calamity I will mock when your fear cometh when your fear cometh as desolation and your destruction as cometh a whirl wind when distress and anguish cometh upon you then shall they call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me for that they hated knowledge and did not chose the fear of the Lord they would none of my counsel they despised all my reproof therefore shall they eat of the Fruit of their way and be filled with their own devices for the turning away of the simple shall slay them and the properity of Fools shall destroy them but who so hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from the fear of evil Prov. 1. 20. to the end If they lay not hold on him if they come not to him how can they know his power how can he be to them the Author of eternal Salvation and this is manifest Now if any man say in the words of the Apostle as in Adam all die even so in Christ shall all be made alive 1 Cor. 15. 22. And who gave himself a ranson for all to be testified in due season 1 Tim. 2. 6. And God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life for God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved John 3. 16 17. I Answer that was not the end of the Lord in sending of his Son into the world to condemn the world as I have shewed at large before but that the world through him might be saved as are the words of Christ as aforesaid but it is through him so that
Apostle as aforesaid and were it not that the Lord first touched man that of him in him which lies in death and by reason of the fall is buried in the Grave so that it cannot move to God man never would look after God nor know the state in the which he is for the enemy having him and holding him and compassing him about would never suffer him so to see nor so to understand Now herein is the love of God manifest and his great loving kindness that when man whom he made upright and in his Image and breathed into him the Breath of Life and he became a living Soul turned away from the Lord and from that in which he was made which kept and would have preserved him had he kept to it and let in the enemy and so death came over him in the Transgression over that in which he was made that it moved not but lay as dead Free among the dead like the slain that lie in the grave whom thou remembrest no more and they are cut off from thy hand Psal 88. 6. I say that the Lord should then visit man and reach to that of himself in man which lay in the grave free among the dead like the slain that lie in the grave and so give man to see the state in the which he is and his enemy and to cause a moving after God a Will to God this is the Lords great loving kindness and his free mercy and this the Apostle reckoned when he cast up the sum and minded the great love of God to man in this state In this saith he as hath been said was manifested the love of God towards us because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him Herein is the love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the Propitiation for our sins 1 John 4. 9 10. And when we were yet without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly Rom. 5. 6. So then man cannot move to God unless God reach him that of him in him that lies in death by reason of Transgression and quicken him then it moves to God again not that we loved God see in what state the will of man is in the fall where all men are found when God comes to them when God visits them when he speaks to them when his voice reacheth them that shaketh the Wilderness when that moves in them which shews them sin and evil and judges it not that we loved God saith he before whilst we were in this state the state in the fall we loved not God before God reached to that of himself in us that lay in death Free among the dead like the slain that lie in the grave whom thou remembrest no more saith he also as aforesaid but he loved us and sent his Son that of himself in us to be a propitiation an atonement for our sin and herein is love and in this was manifested the love of God towards us that God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him We who were dead in trespasses and sins who were without sence or feeling of God over whom death was gotten who had no mind nor will to God nor moving to him who could never have moved to him nor minded nor willed him in the state in which we were in the fall in the Transgression when we were from that of him which gives the sence and feeling of him and willing to and moving after him because of death which was got between us and that of him in which we were made from which we fell which came under by reason of Death by reason of the fall and so were at that time without Christ Aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel strangers from the covenants of Promise having no hope and without God in the World that we who were in this state might live through him through that which speaks in us which in us moves to God So that it is not in the will of man in the fall for so man as to this particular is to be considered for that which restores him brings him to God is another thing being brought to God is another state of which I speak not now but of the state in which man is before he is brought thither I say it is not in the Will of man considered in the fall to will to God or to move to him that which moves him to God and makes him will to God is another thing as I have shewed and there being no will in man as to God in this state wherein every man is found when God comes to him as hath been instanced where then is free will or the freedom of his will to God for where there is no such thing as a thing there cannot be said to be the freedom of such a thing because there is a non entity as I may so speak if so be it be proper so to speak and yet how shall I otherwise speak to give a demonstration of the thing of which I speak there is no such thing in being of which the freedom or the freedom of which is pretended there is no such thing in being therefore there cannot be said to be the freedom of such a thing For again of his own will begat he us with the Word of Truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his Creatures saith the Apostle Jam. 1. 18. Of his own will then it is not of man's will that man is begotten to God that he is delivered for two wills cannot consist in this Particular no more can it consist then two Fathers in the Generation of man or for a man to beget himself which is incongruous to Nature to say as it is to reason to think it and it being not of man's wil then man hath no freedom of will to be begotten to beget himself to God And this is manifest for it is by the Word or with the Word of Truth too that he is begotten to God So man hath nothing to do in the matter of his own will With the Word of Truth hath he begotten us the Word of Truth the Word nigh in the mouth and in the heart the Word of Faith which we preach said the Apostle The Word of the Lord which endures for ever and this is the Word which by the Gospel is Preached unto you saith Peter 1 Epist 1. 25. The Word which is quick and powerful and sharper then any two edged Sword piercing even to the dividing assunder of Soul and Spirit and of the Joynts and Marrow and is a discerner of the Thoughts and intents of the heart neither is there any Creature that is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do Heb. 4. 12 13. So it is by this Word the Word of Truth the
not alwayes strive with you nor will he alwayes have mercy for if he still call and you refuse and the day of your visitation pass over you will also be concluded with the God whom you serve Then shall I be a good savour unto the Lord and my reward shall be with him when he shall render unto you according to your deeds And so I shall proceed to what I have further to say in this weighty matter as I am moved of the Lord. I say as before God made not man to destroy him neither hath he concluded any man from all eternity to destruction neither hath he so made man as that it is impossible for him to fall from the state in the which he was made neither hath he so chosen man since the fall as that he can never be removed from the state unto which he was chosen Neither doth he so will the Salvation of all as that all are saved neither hath he redeemed all since the fall neither is it so in the will of man that if he will he shall be saved and if he will he shall be damned that were to do as hath been said and proved at large as to the Particular of each in their Place and Order but this the Lord hath done He made man upright as hath been said after the Image of God made he man in Righteousness and true Holiness but man hath found out many Inventions and hath let in the enemy and is wrought into his Image who hath sought to destroy him and is gone astray from him who made him who made him not to destroy him as hath been again and again said and hath not been guided by his Counsel and would have none of his reproof who found him out after he had sinned and shewed him what he had done neither would he turn and live but turned to his own way and followed the direction of his own Path's and his way turned unto Hell and his Path's unto destruction so that there is none in this state that doth good no not one They all are gone aside they are altogether become filthy their foolish heart was darkned destruction and misery is in their wayes and the Way of Peace they have not known and according to the Prince of this world have they walked after the course of this World according to the power of the Prince of the Air the Spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedince which is the Spirit of Reprobation which hath no sence or feeling of God which God hath shut out or Reprobated from his Presence to all eternity which hath neither seen him nor known him nor shall ever come to feel his Life nor shall any that are joyned to him whilst they are in that state and witness not Redemption from the Lord. For whilst men are upon this Root which God hath cursed and are found in him whom he hath reprobated who is without any true sence of God or his life those who are so found and do so stand are as he is and as it is said of the other Seed the Seed of God they that are in it and are born of it viz. As he is so are we in this world that is in the true Sence of God and his life as the Seed is which God hath blessed so is it with them and so may it be said of them that are found on this Root which God hath cursed As he is so are they in this world that is to say without any true sence of God whilst they grow on that Root or of his life And therefore is it said That at that time ye speaking to the Saints who once were in but were then delivered from that state and this was the state which at that time of which he speaketh they were in out of which they then were delivered viz. the state of Reprobation at that time saith the Apostle ye were without Christ being Aliens from the Common Wealth of Israel and strangers from the Covenants of Promise having no hope and without God in the World without the true sence and feeling of God which quickens and refreshes them that feel him and are in him and he in them and are made partakers of his life which quickens and refreshes and makes alive to God and delivers from trespâ—sses and sins where is death and the alienation and the estrangement and the being without God in the World without the sence and quickening presence God for he otheâ—â—ise 〈◊〉 all things Whether shall I go from thy Presence c. and so may be said to be in them He that descended is the same also that ascâ—nded up far above all Heavens that he might fill all things Ephes 4. 10. And hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be the Head over all things to the Church which is his body the fulness of him that filleth all in all far above all Principallities Powers and Might and Dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but in that which is to come Ephes 1. 21 22 23. And saith the same Apostle of them whose day is over and who are found in this state of Reprobation in that day Who shall be punished saith he with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his Power when he shall be glorified in his Saints and admired in them that believe 2 Thes 1. 9 10. And Reprobate silver saith the Prophet silver that is without a true touch the vertue is gone shall men call them because the Lord hath rejected them Jer. 6. 30. And to every good work Reprobate Tit. 1. 16. And Reprobate concerning the Faith 2 Tim. 3. 8. And even as they liked not to retain God in their knowledge God gave them over to a Reprobate mind Rom. 1. 28. A mind without a proof as the Latine word Reprobate compounded of re and probo is to prove backwards or to be without a proof without a sence a feeling of God of that which witnesses which gives the feeling of God signifies And saith the Apostle Examine your selves whether ye be in the Faith this he spake to the Corinthians the Church that was in God which were washed which were sanctified which were justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God Who had a Proof a Sence a Feeling of him in them Examine your selves saith he to them whether ye be in the Faith prove your own selves know ye not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be Reprobates 2 Cor. 13. 5. But I trust saith he in the next vers that we are not Reprobates And saith he further Now I pray to God that ye do no evil not that we should appear approved but that ye should do that which is honest though we be as Reprobates vers 7. And he that believeth on the Son on him who witnesses the faithful and true