A FREE GIFT FREELY Given of God TO HENRY ABBUT And by him freely Given to The Reader Without MONEY or PRICE It was the Complaint of God by the Prophet Jeremiah Jer. 6 13 14. and ch 8. 10 11. That the Prophets and Priests had dealt falsly In that they had healed the hurt of the daughters of his people slightly saying Peace peace where there is no peace Printed in the Year 1684. THE EPISTLE TO The Reader READER I Was never learned in the Schools of men any other Language but the English nor do I well understand many words that is spoken in that Language that come from other Tongues and therefore it cannot be expected that I should place my words in what I write in such an outward Scholar like-way as perhaps I might have done had I been brought up in the outward Schools of Learning To shew outward Wisdom is not the thing I aim at in what I write nor ought it to be my aim if I had it because the things of God that is in the way that God makes use of to restore fallen man again unto himself he will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent 1 Cor. 1. 19. And therefore if I had been learned in that Wisdom I could not in and by that Wisdom experimentally and knowingly have set forth to others the way that God makes use of to restore lost man again unto himself because God hath hid it from the wise and prudent and hath revealed it unto babes for so it seemeth good in the Fathers sight Luke 10. 21. The thing that I aim at in what I write is that the Tallent given to me might not be hid but improved for him that gave it me in my discovering what I by experience know of Mans being made in the Image of God And how Man made a wrong use of that Vnderstanding and Knowledge that God gave to Man in his Creation as made in his Image And how the Serpent self in man at first was and now is tempting Man in that Vnderstanding and Knowledge that God hath given to Man to perswade man to please satisfie and content himself more in what he understands and knows of God than to yield obedience to God according to what he knew of God that he should obey God in God commanded man that he should not eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil that is he should not please satisfie and content himself in that he knew God and knew what was God's declared Will that he should do which was good and knew what was God's declared Will that he should not do that was evil he was not to do evil of this Tree man was commanded not to eat of nor to touch the Fruit of it And God commanded man to eat of the Tree of Life which was in the midst of the Garden which was Jesus that in man that saved man from sin that brought forth the Fruit of Obedience unto God according to that understanding and knowledge that God had given to man to obey him in this man was to eat freely of And to declare what I know of Gods love to all fallen men and how he will bring lost man again to himself by chusing them to take up the Cross and follow Jesus When I at first began to write some part hereof I began upon half a sheet of Paper and had no thoughts to write more than what might have been writ upon half a sheet of Paper and that onely concerning what Adam the Woman the Garden the Serpetn the forbidden Fruit the eating of the forbidden Tree and the death that Man died in the day that he eat thereof what these were in the mystery as knowing that no Scripture is of any private interpretation nor had I at first any thoughts of printing But God of whom I earnestly begged to assist me in what I then was moved to write resigning my will wholly up into his will in what I did he hath caused me to exceed that bounds which then I thought to have left onely in writing and what I have writ is according as he was pleased to put into me and move in me to write without observing any outward forms rules or methods in writing as is used by men so to do Are not the Scriptures so written without the observing of outward rules and methods God having herein in what measure he pleased lighted his Candle in me he made known to me that it was not to be put under a Bushel but on a Candlestick that so as an Instrument it may be a light to others And in obedience to God I knowing no other way to do it in to avoid offence but by being at the charge of putting it in print and so thereby to communicate it to my Children Friends and Acquaintance and thereby it may remain as an Instrument in Gods hand to be as an help to shew to others how subtile the Serpents self is in man to draw man into disobedience to God and that under a pretence of profit or gain that man shall get by his disobedience in that thereby he shall become the more like unto God to be as Gods Which subtilty of the Serpent man cannot see but as he comes into the obedience of Jesus the true Light in him and so come to know how God saves man again out of his disobedience and bring man again into himself Which being outwardly printed may outwardly remain when outwardly shall not be Henry Abbut A FREE GIFT Freely given of GOD TO Henry Abbut c. I Do believe there was an Adam a man made by God and out of that man God took a woman and gave her to that man that he had made of whom came all mankind and they lived together as Gods Creatures and for a time obeyed God in all things that he required of them to obey him in but they did not continue in their Obedience but sinned against God and so do all men and women If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us 1 John 1. 8. But for their sin they did not die a natural death of the body in that natural day of the week that they first sinned in And had they not sinned I believe they had never died the natural death of the body And I do believe the outward Adam and woman and the outward death are Figures and in a mystery they represent an inward Adam woman and death Adam in the mystery is Jesus the woman in the mystery is mans being drawn by the Spirit or the leadings or goings forth of man by the Spirit of Jesus in man As the woman was taken out of man and given to man to be an Help-meet for him so is man by the drawings of the Spirit or the goings or leadings forth of man by the Spirit of Jesus in man they are taken out of Jesus and
the garden that is as man in his own apprehensions looked upon God to be like himself that is as he had changed himself in his obedience to God so man in that false sight that he then had of God looked upon God that he had changed his love to him and so man beheld himself as sent or drove from the presence of God and turned out of the garden out of Gods love and delight that he had in man And the reason why man so looked upon God to have no love nor delight in him in his fallen state was because man in his disobedience he found no love nor delight that he had in himself towards God and so he judged God to be changed towards him as he had changed himself towards God when in truth the change was onely in man And so man may be said to send drive or turn himself out of the Garden where man in the fallen state is and so do continue out of the Garden until there is a change wrought in the heart of man by being brought to a knowledge of God's unchangeableness that although man by his disobedience turned enemy to God yet love continued in God towards man God so loved the world God's love was so great to man too great for the tongue of man to express or the heart of man to conceive of that he gave his onely begotten son that whosoever believed in him should not perish but have everlasting life Joh. 3. 16. And God commended his love towards us that while we were sinners Christ died for us When we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his son Rom. 5. 8. 10. These Scriptures shew the unchangeableness of God's love to man which until man comes in some measure or degree to be made sensible of the unchangeableness of God's love the fear of God's justice for sin continues in the heart of man and man continues out of the Garden and a true love to God is wanting in the heart of man But when that Change is wrought in the heart that we love God because he first loved us then man cometh again into the Garden and man obeys God because God hath made known his love to him and therefore he loves God again and then the heart or inward part in man is pleasing and delightful to God man's delight is to obey God 1 John 4. 18 19. There is no fear in love but perfect love casteth out fear because fear hath torment he that feareth is not made perfect in love We love him because he first loved us Here is the true state of man in the Fall and of his being restored again When man by his transgression had lost his love to God then the fear of God entered into his heart and that caused or brought forth torment and as long as fear continued in mans heart mans love is not made perfect to God and mans love is made perfect to God by our loving of him because he first loved us and then mans heart or the inward part in man cometh again to be as a pleasant and delightful Garden The Tree of knowledge of good and evil as in the mystery God made man and as a gift God gave to man the knowledge of himself that he was his God And God also gave to man the knowledge of his revealed will that what God had commanded man to do was God's will that he should do and what God had made known of himself in man and what was God's revealed will in man that he should do in obedience to him was good and so God gave to man the knowledge of what was good And God gave also to man the knowledge of his revealed will of what God had commanded him not to do and what was Gods revealed will in man that God had commanded man not to do that was evil and so God gave to man the knowledge of what was evil And this was in mans heart or the inward part of man which in the mystery was God's Garden And this knowledge of good and evil in the mystery is a Tree remaining in the Garden in the heart or inward part of man and in this knowledge of what was good and what was evil man for a time stood in his obedience to God obeying God in the doing all that he had commanded him to do and obeying God in the leaving undone all that he had forbidden him to do And while man in this his knowledge stood thus in obedience to God in doing all that God had commanded him to do and in leaving undone all that God had commanded him not to do man knew no will in him of his own but mans will was wholly resigned up into Gods will man willed nothing but what God willed in him and what God willed in man that man willed in God and man knew no other will but the will of God and so God was all and in all man And man was the Paradise the delight of God and God was the Paradise the delight of man And out of the ground that the Lord God had made man of the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food the tree of life also in the midst of the garden and the tree of knowledge of good and evil Gen. 2. 7. 9. The Tree of Life is Jesus the Light of God in man and this Tree was also in the midst of the garden the garden is the heart or inward part of man which the Lord God planted Eastward which is the place of the rising of the Sun which is as much as to say God so placed the heart or inward part in man his garden that it should be in the place wherein the rising of his Son Jesus the true Light in man did rise and as a Tree there to grow and be in the midst of his garden and the Tree of knowledge of good and evil I pray observe the words of the Scripture The tree of life also in the midst of the garden and the tree of knowledge of good and evil See how near the Tree of knowledge of good and evil is placed to the Tree of life there is but and between them and that and makes them two Trees and so indeed they are The Tree of Life is one which is Jesus the true Light of God in man and the Tree of knowledge of good and evil is another and they are so near joyned together that there is but an and that parts them Jesus the Word of God the true Light in man gave man the knowledge of what was Gods will that he should do and that was good man was to do good and the same Jesus the Word of God in man gave man the knowledge of what he should not do and that was evil man was not to do evil And these two Trees were very nearly joyned together in Gods garden in the heart of man and so a measure of
to have believed this notorious lye of his if he had not continued in his temptation twisting winding and turning himself about the Tree of knowledge in man and in that causing him in the woman first to question the truth of what God had said that he should not eat of every Tree of the garden Before the Serpent could perswade him into a belief by the woman that they should not surely die if they did eat of the fruit that God had forbidden them to eat of and not onely so but perswaded him to a belief that God knew that in the day they eat thereof their eyes should be opened and they should be as gods knowing good and evil I say can any one believe that the Serpent could perswade man that he should not surely die in the day that he eat of the fruit of the Tree of knowledge of good and evil if he had not first prevailed with man in the first part of the temptation to question or doubt whether or no it were true that God had said that they should not eat of every Tree of the garden And thus when the Serpent had prevailed with man to bring him to doubt or question the truth of what God had said and to believe the lye that the Serpent had said when the temptation had prevailed to this then man in the woman saw that the Tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eye and to be desired to make wise then by the woman man took of the fruit thereof and did eat And thus the desire of the will got to be uppermost in man after the forbidden fruit Man then did not obey God according to that knowledge that he had of God but had a greater desire after the fruit of the Tree of knowledge than he had after the fruit of the Tree of life which fruit was obedience which for a time he had eaten and lived in but when the desire was carried out after knowledge to eat of that fruit and live of that then man died in his life of obedience then man died in that very day of the week that he eat of the forbidden fruit he then died so as he ceased to obey God in what he knew of God And then he eat he filled and satisfied himself with knowledge and desired knowledge more than obedience to God in what he knew of God And although knowledge while obedience was joyned with it was a good Tree yet when man did not continue yielding obedience to God in what he knew of God then knowledge it became an evil Tree and brought forth the evil fruit of disobedience which was forbidden which man was not to eat of nor to touch it for in the day he eat of it he was surely to die and did die in the day of the week that he eat of the fruit of the Tree of knowledge of good and evil but not a death of the body that lived hundreds of years after his eating of the forbidden fruit Jesus was the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world John 1. 8. and so he was in man as made in the Image of God he was the true Light that gave him the true knowledge of God what was Gods will that he should do and what was Gods will that he should not do And so knowledge as a Tree was in man when man was in the Image of God and while man yielded obedience to God according to the knowledge that he had of God it was a Tree of knowledge of good but when man had the knowledge of what was the will of God and did not obey God in that knowledge then that knowledge that was good in man became evil And so the Tree of knowledge of good became a Tree of the knowledge of actual evil and brought forth the fruit of disobedience which was sin which man was not to eat of nor touch man then knew evil by doing of evil which before he onely knew evil as it was what God had forbidden to be done and in that knowledge of evil was no sin committed no Command of God broken in the knowledge of that to be evil that God had forbidden to be eaten of And if any should think it not to be true that the Serpent should set upon man to tempt him when he was in that glorious state of his heart being filled with Gods love and his love to God and upon God onely and he in that state of love to do all that he did by the Spirit of God drawing leading or carrying him forth to do what he did and then in that time when he was eating of the fruit of the Tree of life in him for the Serpent to set upon him as he did to tempt him not to be contented with that state that God had made him in his Image but have a desire to be as gods I desire them that question the truth of it to consider Christs temptations and when the Devil set upon him to tempt him and read it in Matthew Mark and Luke and you shall find it to be at that time when he had fulfilled all righteousness and was full of the Holy Ghost and had that manifestation by a voice from Heaven that he was Gods beloved Son in whom he was well pleased And then immediately the Devil set upon him to tempt him and what was he tempted to He was tempted not to be contented with that condition that he was then in as being an hungry he was tempted not to be contented with it but to make use of a means that God had not appointed to satisfie his hunger And the like may be observed in the other temptations And although there was a declaration from Heaven that he was Gods beloved son and that God was well pleased with him yet the Devil tempts him twice with a doubt or question whether he were the son of God in these words If thou be the son of God command these stones to be made bread And if thou be the son of God cast thy self down And the Devil brings Scripture if I may so say to prove that he might yield to him in his temptation in casting himself down For it is written he shall give his angels charge concerning thee and in their hands they shall bear thee up lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone Both these temptations were that by his yielding to them he might have or manifest a further or another manifestation or making known of himself to be the son of God than that manifestation or making known of him to be the son of God that the Father had given of him from Heaven But Christ did not yield to any of the temptations man at first resisted the temptation of the Serpent and did not yield to it yet man did not as Christ did continue resisting the temptation and so he was prevailed with and overcome and eat of the forbidden fruit
to worship him they and they onely are the acceptable Worshippers of God and God seeketh for those and onely those to worship him that worship him in spirit and truth It is not the outward places nor the outward form no not at Jerusalem nor the outward Worship commanded to be used there that God seeketh for it is the spiritual Worship done in the truth and in the sincerity of the heart that God seeketh for it is that and that onely that is well-pleasing to him which the outward forms of worshipping is not although never so exactly performed according to the Command of God yet if the Spirit of God which leads and guides into all truth be wanting the outward form is not acceptable to God nor sought for of God nor desired of God And where the Spirit of God is and is the Guide and Leader of them in his Worship although the outward form be wanting yet these are the true Worshippers of God and these are those that God seeketh for to worship him that is those that worship him in his Spirit and in his Truth that is in Jesus and all those that so worship him in the use of outward forms or without the use of outward forms Of all Nations and Kinreds and People and Tongues that worship him in his Spirit and in his Truth in Jesus which saves from sin by which Spirit they are guided and led thereunto to do it in the truth and sincerity of their hearts these are such as God seeketh for to worship him and are acceptable to God And of these John beheld the great multitude that no man could number standing before the Throne and before the Lamb clothed with white Robes and Palms in their hands crying with a loud voice saying Salvation to our God which came out of great tribulations having washed their robes and made them white in the bloud of the Lamb. And John did but hear of a hundred forty and four thousand of all the Tribes of Israel to be sealed for the servants of God And those were they that were in the outward form of Worship which had the Commandments writ in Tables of stone and had the Law and the Prophets written in Books without them and read among them without them every Sabbath-day And had the Oracles of God committed to them and to whom pertain the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law and the service of God and the promises Whose are the Fathers and of whom concerning the flesh Christ came And yet of all the Tribes of the outward Israel there was but a hundred forty four thousand sealed for the servants of God I take notice and so I desire the Reader to take notice that the Tribe of Dan was left out there was none sealed of that Tribe that was a Serpent by the way to be the servants of God none of the subtile Serpents Tribe are sealed to be the servants of God And that was the reason why there was no more sealed of all the outward Tribes of outward Israel the Serpents Tribe was not sealed and the Serpents Tribe is those wherein the Serpent and his seed rule in the heart These being left out and not sealed for the servants of God of the Tribes of Israel was the reason there was no more sealed and it is the reason that there is no more sealed of all the Tribes that are in the several outward forms of outward Worship and that is that which makes their number so small that a man may easily number a hundred forty and four thousand And of the Gentiles all Nations and Kinreds and People and Tongues that have not known the subtilty of the Serpent tempting man in the outward forms of worshipping of God and also of those that have known the subtilty of the Serpent tempting them in outward forms of worshipping of God and have known a saving and being delivered out of those temptations of the Serpent by the life of Jesus in them and so are none of the Serpents by the life of Jesus in them and so are none of the Serpents Tribe nor are sufficing themselves nor can suffice themselves in that they are worshipping God in outward forms but are worshipping him in his Spirit and in his Truth that is in Jesus that saves them from sin Of all these that is of those that have not known the subtilty of the Serpent tempting them in outward forms and those that have known the subtilty of the Serpent tempting them in outward forms and have known a being saved and delivered out of his temptations There are a great multitude that no man can number standing before the Throne and before the Lamb clothed with white robes and palms in their hands crying with a loud voice saying Salvation to our God having come out of great tribulations and washed their robes and made them white in the bloud of the Lamb. Thus Jesus is a Light and a Saviour to those that never hear of that Jesus born of the Virgin Mary And now to return again to those that have heard of that Jesus born of the Virgin Mary and profess themselves Christians and have known something of the working of Gods Spirit in them and have known something what it hath been to be drawn or led forth by the Spirit of Jesus in them how far they may go and yet not know the birth of the Child Jesus in them that saves from sin nor the woman that was deceived and in the transgression to be saved out of the transgression by bearing the Child Jesus Man may by Jesus the Light in him be convinced of sin that it is the breaking of Gods Command and of the Judgment of God that is due to man for sin and he may be so far convinced in himself of sin and of Gods judgment for sin as that he may be brought to a repentance and sorrow for his sins and a desire to be kept from sinning and he may pray earnestly that he may be kept from sin and may set upon a reformation and do many things in obedience to God that he knew to be the will of God And this may be done from some stirrings or movings of the Spirit of Jesus in him and yet the Serpent self his own will deceive him in all this as I have experienced And that thus man may from the knowledge that he hath of this or that thing that he does know that in the doing thereof he doth that which is a breaking of the Command of God and for his so breaking of the Command of God Jesus the Light in him that makes known to him the breaking of Gods Command doth likewise make known to him what is due to him for his transgressions that is Death Hell or Damnation which man being afraid of and willing to escape and to escape the punishment that he apprehends to be due to him for his sins this makes him to repent of his sins and
not onely to say lightly and carelesly as many do I would I had not sinned and broken Gods Commands and God forgive me for it but there is in them an inward repentance an inward sorrow and grief which goes so far as that there is a desire in them that they may not commit sin again and an earnest praying to God that they may not commit sin again and a doing of many things to prevent or to be kept from the doing or the committing the sin again which they have before committed And yet in all this the subtile Serpents self or mans will prevails much as I have experienced That man may repent that he hath sinned in doing what he knew to be a breaking of Gods Command and may be sorrowful for it and mourn for it and earnestly pray that he may do so no more and use much means to be kept from sinning and yet all this time hath a love to the sin but for fear that he hath of the punishment and the willingness that he hath to escape the punishment causeth the repentance and sorrow and mourning that he hath for sinning and to escape the punishment that sets him upon doings as praying fasting and other religious Duties that he thinks may be a means to keep him from being overcome by the Devils temptations and to do such things as he thinks God will be pleased with and for this his so doing of these things he thinks to find acceptance with God And all this may be done for a self-end and in their own will and is onely to escape the punishment which if they could escape the punishment the doing the things that God hath forbidden would be no trouble to them but very pleasing and to be desired And in this state many are deceived and think themselves in a good condition because they cannot now sin as once they could when they had little trouble in their Consciences for their sins but now if they sin trouble sorrow and grief does attend them for their sins and there is praying to God for forgiveness and it may be private days of fasting to be kept that they may be kept from sinning and it may be for private sins such sins as none but God and their Conscience can accuse them of and the best that they know of outward forms of Religion is set up and strictly practised by them and an outward blameless life is got up in them to what they once lived in and they are counted of others to be one of those that are the Children of God and Heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven and they look upon themselves to be one of that number And yet all this time the root of sin that is the love of sin remains in them as live as ever it was and so long as the love of any sin remains alive in them what they do in obedience to God is done because they are afraid of Gods Justice for their sin and while there remains in them a fear of Gods Justice for sin they have no true love to God while they are afraid of God There is no fear in love perfect love casteth out fear 1 John 4. 18. Their repentings sorrows griefs mournings prayings fastings and all other their religious performances while done for the escaping or for the preventing Gods Justice to fall upon them because of their sins that they have committed That which carries them forth to the doing and performing of those repentings sorrows griefs mournings prayings fastings and all other their religious performances it is self it is for a self-end to escape or prevent Gods Justice falling on them for their sins and therefore it is that they will do them And so they are deceived in all their doings by the subtilty of self in them doing their own wills in them and are of the Serpâ—nts Tribe of whom none are sealed for the servants of God These they have known the beginning of John preaching in the Wilderness in them that is when their hearts were as a Wilderness wherein every unclean Beast fed and found an abiding-place every unclean Lust found wherewithal to feed upon and to abide in Before man disobeyed God in eating of the Tree that God had forbidden him to eat of mans heart was like a garden a place of Gods delight and brought forth pleasing Fruit unto God the Plants therein were of Gods planting no Thorns nor Thistles were therein nor no wild nor unclean Beast was found there but after man had disobeyed God in eating of the Tree that God had forbidden him to eat of then mans heart instead of being like a garden wherein God was pleased it became like a Wilderness a place displeasing to God a place wherein God was offended a place bringing forth Thorns and Thistles such Plants of disobedience sprung up in the heart of man as was not of Gods planting nor pleasing to God And then mans heart became like a Wilderness a place of every unclean and beastly Lust to harbour feed and abide in And here in this wilderness of the heart many have heard the voice of John the Forerunner of Jesus preaching Repentance and they having heard his voice and have repented and have come to John's Baptism that is an outward washing of water a making clean of the outside and so they have been John's Disciples they have known a cutting of the Branches of sin that is a repenting and forsaking such sins and evils as are generally accounted as sin and evil Yea they may have gone further and have cut down the body of sin that is they have not onely repented â—nd forsaken such sins and evils as are done outwardly that man can accuse them of but have repented and forsaken such sins done within them that none can accuse them of but God and their Consciences and yet they have not come so far as to hear and obey the end of John's preaching in them that is that the Ax is laid to the root of the Tree of sin and the root from whence sin sprung is love that is the love that is in mans heart to sin the love to the sin that is first in mans heart before it cometh forth into action There was first in the woman a seeing of the Tree to be good for food and pleasing to the eye and a desire to it this was first in her before she took of the fruit thereof and eat of it There is first in the heart of man a love to sin before there is a going forth to the committing of it and this love is the root from whence sin in the action sprung And the end of John's preaching was to lay the Ax to the root of the Tree sin which bringeth not forth good fruit to hew it down and cast it into the fire to be consumed that is to cast the love and desire to sin that is in the heart of man to cast that into the fire to be consumed that gave