Here 's no judging murmuring complaining dividing persecuting murdering These are the wayes of Egypt and Babell In Canaan there is rest from all the works of Egypt and darknesse Here 's unity in the midst of variety Here all are looking into the onenesse into the pure image and nature of the Father and this light keeps harmony and agreement between all the sons of Canaan And so in Canaan there 's joy melody singing Halleluja's Here the world is not mentioned flesh and bloud is not at all remembred with delight the former things are passed away and all is become new God alone is made mention of to be Lord and King and set up upon the Throne for ever Quest What is the vail which divides between the holy and most holy Answ It 's the flesh of Christ and all outward dispensations which divide and keep Saints whilest in weaknesse and bondage though holy in some measure from entring into the most holy into the substance truth it self or into the choisest glory of the father This vail of flesh in Christ was rent when he suffered death or was crucified in the flesh Through which death or rending of the vail of flesh he entred himself and made way also for us to enter into glory Hebâ— 10. 19. 20. Having therefore boldnesse to enter into the holiest by the bloud of Jesus by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the vail that is to say his flesh And when this vail of flesh of letter and shadows and outward dispensations is rent and crucified by the eternall spirit in the true Christian then he the Christian enters into the holiest into the glory and joy of his Father Quest What is the death which over all men is passed and how camest thou to live Answ It 's first the breaking of the body or this earthly Tabernacle which comes upon all without exception for sin Rom. 5. 12. Secondly it's the dying unto Paradise and the Kingdom of God which man hath drawn upon himself by his lusting after and eating of the fruit of the four elements By this lusting and eating he becomes infected poysoned in his minde and will with the fruit of the Sun and Stars And this is the taking and eating of the Tree of temptation and his leaving the Tree of life and the heavenly fruit And thus he becomes an earthly man and dead Death stickes in his minde and soul and man is dead to all feeding upon God and the Son of God who is the Tree of life Man can no more feed upon the fruit which grows upon this Tree of life which is Christ till Christ awake and arise in the center of his soul and carry him through all the Trees of temptation or the pleasures pompe and glory of the outward world into the inward or holy pure element of this spirituall body and pure nature and there awaken him to eat of the Tree of life and live for ever And this is the way whereby I and all the Sons of God come to passe from the spirituall death into the spirituall life in the pure nature of Jesus Christ Quest What is deaths reign from Adam to Moses And to Moses how didst thou come Answ From Adam to Moses there was no law written without all the law was within upon the conscience here was the rule or law which God gave the worlds to walk by Now the world acting against this light and law within kept sin in the world from Adam to Moses for till the law viz. given out by Moses sin was in the world Rom. 5. 13. Now sin alwayes brings men under the reign of death and so death reigned over all from Adam to Moses All had a law given within otherwise they could have had no sin for where there is no law there is no transgression Now mens breaking of this inward law was their sin and this their sin brought them all under the power and reign of death And thus it is still though there had been no Moses to write Gods commands in outward tables or Scripture yet the law being written within upon the conscience by the finger of God we sinning against this law do plunge our selves into the reign of death wrath and condemnation we kindle the Root of the fire and that being awakened makes our Hell or self-comdemnation within because we have sinned against our light Now by this light and law within we come to know Moses and that all the law she hath written are holy just and good because we finde the same within that he hath written without and nothing without but what is in spirit and power within Quest. Who are they which sin not after the similitude of Adams transgression which till Moses death reigned over Answ They are infants in years according to some who although they sin not actually after the manner of Adam yet they have sin and death written in their nature according to the weaknesse of this creation Or they are infants in knowledge who although they have not such full discoveries of the minde of God and such strength to stand as Adam had and so their sin be not so great as Adam which is to sin after his similitude yet they have a plain law within as before which bids them not act or eat that which the Lord forbids They living contrary unto this law fall into sin and death And in this childish condition are we all sound till the Lord quicken and save us Quest Art thou called immediately by the great God of Heaven and earth into the Ministery yea or nay Answ That Ministery I act in I have the anointing of the Spirit which doth sufficiently warrant my call But as for those who are called through Arts and Sciences and mens ordinations without this anointing I know they are the Pillars of Antichrist which I cannot own for the Apostles of Christ My calling teacheth me to renounce my fleshly wisdom and to live upon the grace and love of God commending that manifestation of the truth that is in me to every mans conscience in the sight of Christ Quest Hast thou seen Gods face yea or nay Answ To see the invisible God with carnal eyes I never did nor shall for no man hath heard his voice nor seen his shape but with the enlightned minde I have in some measure seen his face nay his heart in the precious revelations and discoveries of his Son towards me in love which Son is the face and heart and brightnesse of God opened in love wherein he shews and speaks forth plainly his exceeding kindnesse and goodnesse to all his Children This face of God I have thus seen which is more to me than a thousand vvorlds Quest Hast thou heard Gods voice immediately from Heaven and earth yea or nay Answ I have heard his voice as I have seen his face viz. inwardly spiritually which voice of his hath fetched me out of the grave of darknesse sin
to set thee up upon the Throne to be the onely judge of the world otherwise be all Anathema and thus instead of putting thy neck under the yoke of Christ and learning meeknesse and sweetnesse out of his nature thou puttest thy neck under the work and will of the evil one and so makest good thine own words in thy self that the yoke of Christ is there where the work and will of the Devil is lived in Repl. Further thou sayest I love darknesse mine own wayes more then the light and Heifer-like I wrest my neck from the yoke which limits the carnal and puts a stop to the earthly minde Answ Thou that judgest another and doest the same doest thou think to escape the judgement of God I know I have no good thing in my flesh no more hast thou therefore let us bewail it together Rom 7. 18. to 24. But though there be nothing good in the first man yet in the second all is good and through him the first is limited stopped and stayed in my spirit though thou see it not and he teaches me to tremble indeed and to abhorre my self and mine own wayes and yet to delight in the Law of God in the inner man and this is the yoke I desire continually may be about my neck Repl. Further thou sayest I am telling of that faith which gives victory over the world and yet am found in the pollutions wayes customes and pleasure thereof and am a covetous hireling Answ I know the light within which is much in thy mouth but never in thy heart tells thee no such news neither do I care much to answer such accusations knowing full well from whence they come and whither they go and these I shall never be without whole volumes of whilest I meddle with this unreasonable generation But know to thy sorrow all thy railing and accusing torments me not hurts me not nay it does me much good This I see through faith and this faith of mine remains as a Bulwork against all thy rage and the rest of the world Repl. Thou sayest I scoffe at such who come into the Doctrine of Christ Answ Thou blinde Pharisee how dar'st thou talk of the Doctrine of Christ who deniest his person and sufferings in the flesh and sayest Christ suffered not no it was that onely which was born of the Virgin which suffered and yet thou mayest hear even this also called Christ the Lord Luke 2. 11. Wilt thou talk of yea and nay and thou and thee and yet deny the great Declarations of the Gospel as no true Doctrine Thou blinde guide know that thou art ever out of the Doctrine of Christ and when thou criest out lo here lo there I am Christ come buy all of me this is a Doctrine I cannot but slight nay abhorre and that because it is not according to the Doctrine of Christ and thy proud spirit the Lord abhors which must pick and chuse and observe here and there a letter or phrase of the Gospel in the outward man when as in thine heart thou deniest the high great things of the Gospel and so art straining at a Gnat and swallowing down a Camel Repl. But I live in pride and devour the creation upon my lusts and think it strange that others run not into the same excesse of riot Answ My rejoycing is this the Testimony of a good conscience that from the day of my beginning to taste of the love of the Son of God I could never slight his poorest Members under any form but if many have slighted abused and disowned me because I have seen their nakednesse this their weaknesse I cannot help all that I wish to them all is health and salvation in the Lord. As for my devouring the creation and thinking much of others because they run not with me into the same excesse of riot All this proceeds from thy darknesse which is the strongest power that rules thee and when thou hast little to say thou sayest the old lesson over again and confutest me passing well with railings and slanders this darknesse in thee can see no faults at home nor cover any fault abroad Neither do I desire thee to spare me for I see thou hast no love or light that overcomes in thee therefore go on when thine envy dies thy form will wither for envy is the support of thy form If thou hadst the faith of Gods elect which thou sayest I am a Reprobate unto that would work in thee by love and this love would be universal to all the seed of God in any form or way of God and so thou wouldest with the Apostle become all things to all men that thou mightest gain some But in this there is a great mystery which thou canst not see through the scantinesse of thy love which must have all look with one face or form otherwise it cannot love Repl. Thou tellest me I say the Crosse of Christ is the crucifying suffering and dying in the flesh c. and in thine answer thou sayest Behold my ignorance again appears this he scoffs at three or four times that the Crosse of Christ should be his sufferings and so to be alive in the flesh am I made manifest and dead to the life of God Answ The Crosse of Christ comprehends three things in it 1. His sufferings for us in the dayes of his flesh from the beginning of his appearance to his Crucifying at Jerusalem 2. His sufferings in us during the time of our stay in Sodom and Egypt all which is the time of our ignorance and darknesse wherein we crucifie the Lord of glory now we live flesh and sin flourishes and Christ is as one crucified dead and buried unto us 3. It comprehends our sufferings in the flesh after his example which is our witnessing his Crosse and this begins when Christ arises from death to life in us and appears reigning Now we suffer and die with him and are contented to be emptied of all our glorying in the flesh as Christ was this is the time of our suffering and of Christs living And this suffering in our sinfull flesh and nature is the happiest day with us that ever began For this suffering goes before our glory and alwayes ends in the Crown For if we suffer with him not onely in reproaches revilings and persecutions without from the world but likewise inwardly in having all our glory â—tained and our lusts and sins ruined if we thus suffer we shall likewise be glorified together with him And now to apply this to what thou sayest The sufferings of Christ in the first of these senses I know is made as a thing of nought with many a carnal heart who looks upon this onely as a figure type and shadow as if Christ came into the world to suffer so much at the hands of sinners onely to act his part upon a stage and so after a flourish to go out and to purchase thereby no redemption for the poor sons
of men But friend look into the Scriptures and be ashamed of thine ignorance in this matter was all this no suffering of Christ no part of his Crosse Doth not Peter tell us Christ suffered for us in the flesh 1 Pet. 4. 1. and was there not a real thing done by it And therefore the Scriptures say once he appeared in the end of the world to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself once he appeared And in another place the way into the holiest is by the bloud of Jesus not by our bloud as if we were our own Saviours but by the bloud of Jesus And Christ laid down his life a ransome for many And we are redeemed not with Gold and Silver but with the precious bloud of the Son of God Why cannot all this Doctrine be remembred as well as thou and thee Is not this that Crosse of Christ which is foolishnesse to them that perish and a stumbling block to the wise Jews And did not the Apostle preach through this Crosse reconciliation to the world and forgivenesse of sins to all that believe Rom. 3. 24 25. Eph. 1. 7. 1 Joh. 10 7. Heb. 9. 22. to the end 10. 10. Do not all these places speak of Christs crucifying and sufferings in which crosse lies the foundation of our comfort and salvation And must all this stand onely for a figure and cypher Is thine heart so lifted up to despise what Christ hath done and suffered for thee Surely then thou hast no lot nor portion in this matter But all this is historie and hath wrought in me thou sayest we dying and suffering in the flesh and so I am still a stranger to the crosse of Christ But friend before thou judge another judge thy self and lay thy foundation low otherwise thy building will fall Lay it in the bloud of Christ otherwise there 's no remission no salvation Then descend into thine own heart and see how Christ hath layen bleeding under his crosse how thou hast made him to serve with thine iniquities and whether this have touched thine heart to bleed with him to suffer and die with him in thy flesh 1 Pet. 4. 1. And consider now if thy pride live thou thy self and thy will live then Christ is still under his crosse to thee and thou canst not bear witnesse unto his crosse but if thou even thou thy self art dead and crucified with Christ then thou knowest his crosse and art conformable to him in death and then thy sin and flesh will die and thy painted holinesse thy blameless life thy strictnesse righteousnesse and all thine observations will die and wither too in justification as it was with Paul Phil. 3 7 8. And so thou wilt glory in nothing but Christ and what he acts for thee and works in thee who was dead but now is alive for evermore and so thou wilt empty thy self of thy self thou wilt be nothing base and vile in thine own eyes humble meek and lowly But this thou art a stranger unto and see the root of thy sins remaines within in the pride of thine heart and this makes thee binde heavy burdens upon others but if they want thine helpe thou wilt not touch it with one of thy fingers they must look for nothing but Pharaohs cruelty and chiding As for mine own part I look for nothing from man my help is in the name of the Lord and my share in the crosse and death of Christ and in his resurrection I look for no help from man who is a lyar And this lyar in thee tels thee I am an enemy unto the crosse of Christ live in the flesh dead to the life of God But to thee I say so long as mine own heart condemnes me not I can see mine enemy is slain my will crucified and I am quickened to passe more and more into the life of God A sense of this within upon my spirit makes void all the accusations and condemnations of the world Repl. But thou tellest me I minde earthly things my God is my belly I have got the Tythes of two Parishes to maintain me in pride fulnesse Answ Though the old man minde the earthly with thee yet Christ in me minds the heavenly and he teacheth me to make the Father of all my comforts not my belly my God Further know my Tythe of two Parishes is not so much of mine own getting as thy Pigge and Duck and maintenance thou gettest from silly women in their husbands absence for saying an old tale â—ver that thou hadst said fourty times over before If thou wilt know where this was ask thy conscience and that will tell thee As for that providence that feeds me and thee thou knowest it not and so art angry at all which God gives unto thy fellow-servant Repl. Further thou sayest I reproach such who run not into the same excesse of riot with me Answ As for excesse in evil the grace of my God teacheth me to abhorre it and so I cannot chuse but reproach such with it who run into it but if I see men modest sober and scrupleing outward things as Tythes or the like out of meer conscience such I cannot but own and love especially if I see them free from pride and glorying in what they do which is the spoil of all Repl. But thou seest destruction to be mine end thou sayest and an Antichrist I am and all Tythe-mongers Answ Yet surely with God there is mercy and I shall look to him not man to be saved Further thou knowest he is an Antichrist who exalts himself and denies the Father and the Son this is Scripture not he who takes Tythes or denies Tythes that 's not Scripture And so though thou denie Tythes yet thou art still an Antichrist who exaltest thy self not the Father and the Son Therefore look to it that destruction and condemnation be not thy portion for ever Repl. Further thou sayest though I have glorious words of Christ yet I know not the Crosse of Christ being alive in the flesh not crucified not dead to sin for where the dying is that nature is limited c. Answ Here thou makest a vain repetition of Words and like the Pharisee thou canst acknowledge no truth in another for this would spoil the sale of thy perfect form Hadst thou read mine answer with understanding thou mightest have learned in it that the Crosse of Christ must be passed under by every truely anointed Christian as well as by Christ the head And so we must suffer in our flesh as he did in his flesh and when we thus suffer the man of sin is crucified and limitted This thou mightest have seen in mine answer hadst thou eyes to see but the pride and fulnesse of thy fleshly heart hath closed them up As for my dying and suffering in flesh and sin I desire the just God not unjust man to be the Judge he knows what sin is and the dying is but the heart of man is
trick thou mayest still be an Egyptian For the Egyptian is one who wars in his heart against all the Church of God that grows not up out of his form And the Egyptian is one who for uniformities sake can endure to hear of no variety of gifts dispensations or administrations of God And thus thou and thy sect are in the proud Egyptian spirit I know other forms have too much of the Egyptian too and this makes them have bitter envyings and strivings one against another but the Egyptian in thee exceeds them all for thou Diotrephes-like lovest the preheminence thou must be the top and head of all and so art breathing out fury and madnesse against all others under what form or way soever as if God must needs forget all to honour thee Repl. As for any thing arising which strikes at my images idols groves and makes me angry as thou sayest Answ Let the Lord arise and sweep them all clean away I shall not murmure but be glad to see the Lord exalted within and without and to see all the Sons of God learn to know one another more in spirit and in the Lord lesse in flesh and form Neither is there in me any war at all against any appearance of God in thee or any other but onely against the Egyptian that exalts himself in any But thou tellest me Repl. I preach and pray for greatnesse Answ And yet I tell thee if that had been mine aim I might have been as great in esteem as other men But on the contrary I am content to be despised hated and evil spoken of by all the Egyptians in the world But Repl. I give flattering titles and use heathenish words of salutation which I have no example for in Scripture Answ Something thou must say because thou art an Egygtian If thou say thou to me or you to me the Greek hath but one word for both and both is all one to me who knows the Kingdom of God stands not in observation If thou say yea or yes nay or no all is one to me for Christ aims at nothing but this that men should be faithfull and plain in all their words and carriage one towards another And if thou pluck off thine hat or not all is one to me though another it may be cannot bear it If thou wilt be like the Horse or Mule without wagging moving speaking for fear of offending thy dark fancie in being guilty of saluting then be so It becomes thy religion well to be like the beasts unreasonable There is example enough in Scripture for all the salutations I desire or use but thine eye is Divine and thou takest so much onely as will serve thy turn and no more but a little to help thee though I cannot flatter thee read Gen. 32 4. and 33. 4. to 16. when thou hast made good use of these two Scriptures to do thee good I shall shew thee more Repl. Further about mine answer to what the language of the wildernesse is thou pretendest how that I conform my self to the fashions and practices of the world contrary unto mine answer and whether that be so or no then biddest my conscience and all that know me judge Answ Friend thou keepest much ado about my conscince faine thou wouldest be Judge and Master there But my conscience watches to hear the Lord not man speak unto him it boweth not to thy broken idol And that within me and all thy friends that know me cannot but bear me witnesse that through the grace of God I am made to walk much contrary unto the world I do not say I have gotten a full conquest over all the Relicks of the world in me and yet through the grace of God I can see the world under my feet and I can see the Lord at this work of crucifying me unto the world and the world unto me more and more And this is the ground of all my glorying in that wherein I appear contrary unto the world Further thou sayest I told thee Repl. There was a time when I was much troubled about taking of Tythes oppressing of people and about fashions and wayes that were lived in so that I could not sleep in the night and that I was minded to take my self to some honest calling to provide for my family Answ Here thou hast served me as thou doest the Scriptures somethings thou hast added and somethings thou hast left out The truth is I heard a great clamour as I still do about Tythes what an oppression and grievous thing it was as men pretended this made me wait to hear what the Lord would speak touching this matter and through waiting I found this great out-cry against Tythes to be a wile of Satan to dishearten and destroy the best of the Ministery that in their ruine every carnal form might advance it self till all were confounded and further I learned that few scrupled Tythes out of pure conscience and tendernesse but out of meer covetousnesse and envy And in this manifestation I have freedom to take it and yet I oppresse none thou who criest out so much upon Tythes as if all the world were reformed if Tythes were taken away Oh this unclean filthy thing called Tythes Friend look a little into the Gospel and thee thou shall see it manifest that there is no Person place or thing without can defile a man onely that which defiles is within and comes from within Mat. 13. 11 20. and Act. 10 12. to 29. There thou mayest read of Peters scruple of going unto the Gentiles that were legally unclean and how the Jewes in the next chapter scrupled the same Act. 11. 2 3. And yet afterwards God makes it clear to them by his spirit in a vision that what they scrupled as unclean he had made clean therefore friend be not too hasty and angry that the unclean thing of Tythes as thou sayest is not yet taken away cry not out so greedily 't is swines flesh 't is an abomination for thou knowest not the freedom of the Gospel in outward things where the conscience is made clean neither doest thou know but that which thou criest out so much against even Tythes is made clean in thy brothers conscience Repl. But thy heart is hardened tendernesse lost thy conscience seared and now in the streets of the great City hast thou slain the witnesse Answ Whilst I was in the great City I know the witnes was slain Christ lay as one dead and put in his grave to me but since the Fathet was pleased with a strong hand to bring me out of Egypt and to lead me unto Canaan I finde the witnesse raised from death to life in me and he followeth me with goodness and mercy though Satan and the world with violence and fury This witnesse within Christ in me keeps my heart soft my conscience tender and he is mine and I am his and with him there is mercy that he may be feared and he keeps
though all the Members be living in him and Elected in him yet he without them is no compleat body and so no full Election and therefore as the Election takes in Christ so all the Saints of God and whereas thou sayest all that receive him wherein the Election is in him are Elected this is true if thou understand it of the manifestation of Election to us so our receiving of Christ declares to us that we are Elected and adopted of God but if thou understand it à priori of the cause and ground in God of our Election as if he had therefore Elected us because he foresaw such and such would receive Christ then thy speech savours of an old errour for this builds Election upon the foresight of merits faith and power in man to receive Christ and so it destroyes the grace of God for if Election be by grace meere grace then it is not at all upon forseen faith and works otherwise grace is no more grace read Rom. 11. 5 6 7. And so though we receive Christ because we are Elected in him Eph. 1. 4. Yet we are not therefore Elected because we do receive him all being according to the Lords good pleasure to the praise of the glory of his grace and so as 't is in the outward world there was the image or idea of every thing first mente divina in the divine minde before it came forth in the creature not first in the creature and then in the minde of God that could not be seeing the creature was not so in the spiritual world the Church things were first in God as in their ground not first in the creature and then in God and so the idea of our Election was first laid up in the Lords minde counsell grace and good pleasure not in our acting believing and receiving Christ his beloved for this no man can do till it be given and so this building Election upon our receiving Christ is a building upon the sand upon something no man where it is not not upon the Rock which is the grace and good pleasure of God and so it makes voide the nature of grace and our Election though vain man that would be wise and something cannot receive this Quest 7. What is the Covenant of works and the Covenant of grace and how ye were led out of the first and established in the second Answ The Covenant of works is that which man doth from the letter thereby to get life and the Covenant of grace is that written in the heart where Christ is the Light Life and Law-giver and by him the Law is fullfilled in us who walk no more after the flesh but after the spirit and by his light were we led out of the first and by his life were we established in the second Repl. This being a sober answer I could wish it were written in thine heart and proceeded from the life and power of that Covenant where all is written and sealed within And friend if it did so though the Letter would not be unto thee as the life yet it would never be slighted by thee being a witnesse unto the life Joh. 5. 39. much lesse would so much of the Kingdom be placed in some of the lesser observations of it when the weightier are neglected though none that live in the Kingdom will account any command of God small and much lesse yet wouldest thou make the commands of God of none effect by thy traditions neglecting the Law of faith of meeknesse of love and peace because thy ceremonies and traditions are neglected by others if you ask wherein ask thine own conscience and let that be thy witnesse and testimony in all which thou art found still walking more after the flesh then after the spirit Quest 8. What is the state of sin and wrath which all men are in and under by nature and how ye were led out of this estate Answ The state of sin is a state of condemnation and wrath from God separated in which all are by nature but by that light which is contrary to nature are we led out of this estate for he 's given to be a leader Isai 55. 4. Rep. What can poor fallen Adam or man do till God comes quickens him by a word of promise given in a spirit of power for I find the state of nature is a state of sin deadness darkness as to the things of God and the life of God wherein there 's no power to believe nor light to turn us towards God and in this estate there 's a departing from God still through unbelief and a wandring in the dark after the desires of the flesh and minde and so a separation from God and a coveting to hide our selves from his presence amongst the things that are made because we finde nothing due unto us by reason of sin and nakednesse but condemnation and wrath and so we are by nature children of wrath till the Lord in mercy and great love quicken us and raise us up through the second Adam revealed in us to live in him who is our light and life and so the onely leader of lost man out of the former state of sin and wrath and so he 's given to be a Leader and Commander by being an inward witnesse of love to us and all to free us from the Law of sin death and condemnation Quest 9. Whether any in this life are totally freed from the remnants of sin and darknesse seeing Paul saith now we know but in part and he prayed for an increase of knowledge in the Saints and Peter exhorts to grow in knowledge and Paul complains of a body of sin of a Thorn in the flesh of the lusting of the flesh against the spirit and James said in many things we offend all and John if we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us Answ In the life wherein thou livest is no redemption from sin for that is it which cannot bear good fruit Repl. To which I say I know that in me that is in my flesh dwells no good thing for the flesh is flesh still and sinfull still and cannot bring forth the fruit of God which springs from a new birth but in the life of Christ in me or that life which springs from the new birth there is redemption from sin and this is that which brings forth in me fruit to God Answ Further to the death of the Crosse must thou subject and obedient be else not know that life and birth which is free from sin Repl. What I am I am through the grace of God and this grace abounding towards me has brought over my flesh that Crosse whereby I am in measure Crucified and so have tasted and known that birth which is free from sin Answ The life of the new man who witnesses is free from sin Rom. 6. 6 7. and 18. 22. Repl. All the freedom from sin which this
given of God hence Peter honours the King Servants be subject to your Masters with all fear not onely to the good and gentle but also to the froward Let not a Christian therefore think it greivous that because he 's a Childe of God and a son of the Kingdom he ought not to be subject to the Princes of this world the Jews because they were the people of God took it grievously that sometimes the Babylonians reigned over them sometimes the Persians Grecians Romans and other Nations strangers unto God and many now adayes think it unworthy of a Christian to suffer a Magistrate over them and yet the Saints of old Christ and the Apostles you see yielded obedience unto the civil power if any thing indeed be commanded against the will of God then we are to obey God rather than men as the three Children Thine image O King we will not fall down and vvorship yet still the power must be acknowledged and honour and due respect given unto it when the Magistrates Soul indeed is subject to the power of God and so a terrour to evil doers and a praise to them that do well then the obedience from the Saints is usually most free yet remembring his sword is the sword of God still we ought not for conscience towards man yet for conscience towards God to be subject to the Magistrates because cloathed with Gods power and so to pay tribute custom fear honour to all the higher powers whether ye do this or not let all that know ye judge Answ Further our carriage to the present Magistrates is not unmannerly nor uncivil Repl. But why then do ye shew no more respect to them than to other men though cloathed with the power of God Answ But thou sayest our carriage was the carriage of the Saints formerly to Magistrates which the Heathen could bear Repl. The Saints formerly have bowed to the higher powers but ye no more than to a beast or post and the Saints have owned their names given them their Titles acknowledged their Authority by their appeals to them given them all due respect and reverence though not Divine vvorship for that must not be given no not to an Angel Rev. 19. 10. I fell at his feet to vvorship him sayes John but see thou do it not sayes the Angel I am thy fellow servant worship Jesus but none of all these things are witnessed by ye ye bow not ye neither give them their names nor their Titles as Lawcock said by the Lord Protector some say he calls himself Protector he owned him not ye scorn to appeal to them or give them any respect at all and so your carriage is still unmannerly and uncivil contrary to the carriage of the Saints of old Answ Further some would have that given unto them which belongs unto God and persecute if they have it not this I own not neither an having of mens persons in admiration because of advantage neither a bowing of the seed of God to mens persons no friends worship God set him up in the top yet despise not his image in the power of Magistrates lest you sin against your own consciences and draw down this wrath dreaming of a dispensation by being the seed of God for all your railing accusations Michael durst not thus use the Devil but said the Lord rebuke thee but ye can call them at your pleasure corrupt Magistrates men that have lost the fear of God and all that own them must needs be Balaam-like runners after him for rewards in all this ye murmur and complain of God himself and so every way despise dominion and speak evil of Dignities feeding your selves with fancies without fear drawing down the sword of those upon your own heads who under God have given ye liberty to serve in your own land and so are the dreamers Jude speaks of Quest 14. Whether your railing and evil speaking be the way of God and the Gospel who seeks to win and overcome by love and what this your light is Answ Our light is the light of Christ who is the way of God and the Gospel who seeks to win and overcome by love which love whosoever receives not with the light are condemned and from him are cursed though mans cursing we deny Repl. Yet how contrary was he who was the light of the world unto all your carriage he did not break a bruised reed nor quench the smoaking flax he did not lift up his voice nor cry in the streets he did not presently cry out to Publicans and sinners thou art a Publican thou art a sinner but he did eat and drink with them he did not tell the Master of the feast in Canaan of Galilee thou art a Dog a Devil shall I eat with Dogs and Devils he went about seeking and saving that which was lost and alwayes doing good and so prevailed by love and though he called the Pharisees Serpents Vipers the Devils children because of their railing envying murmuring and continuall blaspheming of him and his doctrine yet this is no warrant for thee to apply these names to the Saints and Disciples of Christ Christ called Judas a Devil did he therefore call the other eleven so surely not and so your way in this is still contrary unto the way of the Lord and his Gospel Quest 15. What is the Soul of man and the preciousnesse of it seeing Christ sayes it's more worth than all the world Answ The Ministers of Jesus who come by the will of God such know the Soul and watch for the Soul Heb. 13. 17. But thy watching is for the fliece and art querying what the Soul is which lies in death and state of condemnation so long as it lives and the false accuser lives and it the first born knows not nor the preciousnesse of it who prefers the world obeyes it before the light of Christ so sels the Soul for the world as thou doest who professest him in thy lip-talk but denies him in practise wayes conversation thou Christ saith the Soul is more worth than all the world Repl. In all this answer there 's not a tittle unto the question here it appears thy perfect knowledge failes thee and thou hast no eye open to see that which is most near thee and so art able to make no answer at all unto the Soul saving a little to discover thine ignorance in calling the Soul the first born here thou guessest that the soul is Christ for he 's the first-born the Scripture mentions and so according to thy blasphemy Christ it seemes may be damned and cast into Hell for so it 's said of the Soul fear him who is able to cast body and Soul into Hell and the Glutton in Hell lift up his eyes in torment this must be in Soul for it 's said he was dead to wit in body See how dark thou art in making no difference between the Soul and Christ the Soul indeed is a precious high thing
truths of God 8. There 's the appetite and that 's the seat of desires lustings and longings after things whether good or evil Lastly there 's likewise the affections which are the movings of the Soul out into love joy gladnesse pleasure and the like all these lower parts of the Soul as more common and easily seen and perceived are usually called the Soul and the higher and more noble powers are usually taken for the spirit of the Soul now when the Lord comes all these are healed cured and made well according as the Lord is more or lesse manifested and this is the sanctifying of these which the Apostle speaks of the bringing of them all into the will and life of God and as the Lord is received into the Souls of men so all these scatterings and movings and workings of the Soul are all gathered up to give their attendance upon the presence of the great King Quest 18. What is the Heaven and Hell the salvation and damnation of believers and unbelievers which the Scriptures intimate Answ Heaven and Hell are what the Scriptures declare them to be which none can understand but who are in the light where the entrance is made Repl. Still thou art seen not to be in a state of perfection and so what Childish answers have we no account cnast thou give of Heaven and Hell they are what the Scripture declares them to be surely friend if thou hast been in Hell and gone from thence to Heaven thou might'st have said something more I know it 's sufficient what the Scriptures intimate but I know thou ownest no Heaven nor Hell but what is here within in thy wandring spirit no resurrection judgment or Hell afterwards but what we have here by the light and from the light within this is thy dream onely thou art loth to discover thy self and so hidest the thoughts of thine heart and sayest Heaven and Hell are what the Scripture makes them to be and so I leave thee in this thine imaginations to give an account unto God in that day when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed and Hell and Heaven begun here shall be perfected upon believers and unbelievers for evermore and what this Heaven and Hell is take my thoughts and use them at thy pleasure Heaven stands in a pure union and fellowship with the Father in love and Hell in a reall separation from this love of the Father in the Son and the enduring of the wrathfull vengeance of an angry God both these are begun here in grace or sin as in the root and both shall be perfected hereafter in the joy or misery which shall be everlasting as the Scripture speaks come yee blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world and go yee cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Matt. 25. 34 41. Quest 19. What is the first resurrection and the reigning with Christ a thousand years of that resurrection and the binding of Satan all that thousand years Answ The first resurrection is the resurrection of Christ wherewith he hath raised us from the death of sin to live with him to God in newnesse of life reigning over the lust of the world the flesh and the Devil Repl. All this I own as the comfort and joy of Saints in all generations for when the man-child is born who is called the new man the Lord from heaven then the first resurrection begins and that Soul reigns lives according to the measure of Christ in him with Christ a thousand years this Christ in us is the real substantial image of God that has the perfect nature of a man the first day he is born in the Soul as a Child has the nature of a man though not the wisdom and growth and strength of a man so it is in the Soul where Christ is risen and born that 's the true man-child and his growing up in the new holy life is the ground of the first resurrection and as he encreases in the Soul so the life is manifested and the resurrection more and more and so the Soul can say now I know that the life and the resurrection is come because the Son of God is come the precious seed of the promise he who breaks the head of the Serpent though the Serpent be still knibling and bruising his he'lâ— and if this were truely witnessed by yee surely I should not see so much darknesse and bitternesse still growing up and flourishing in yee neither could yee thus give your selves to revile mock vilifie and send others of the Children of God in your giddinesse unto the Devil and seek to deprive them of their credit and reputation in the world this is but the fruit of Thorns and Briars not of the vine and good Olive Tree this is but the Thistle that pricks but bears not the fruit of the first resurrection Further thou sayest Christ by his resurrection has bound Satan so say I for to this purpose was he manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil and when he appeares then the evill one is put in prison and chaines Further thou sayest such unruly persons as I talke of Satans being bound a thousand years but resist and own not that Crosse and power which should bind him for a day Repl. The Crosse I own and the power I owne as that onely which has bound Satan in me though I must not tell thee so neither is Satan at liberty as in mine ignorance and unbeleef neither do's he prevail neither am I without a stronger than he to divide his spoils and yet I am to take heed and not be so bold as some who are without fear of any stirrings and temptations from him though Paul set him as a Thorn in the flesh yet they are secure and neglect their Armour and so are many times again entangled and overcome Further thou sayest the Angel and the key of the bottomlesse pit and the great chain in his hand I know not Rev. 20. 1. neither do I and him I serve love that chain Repl. The spirit of the Lord surely wrote all this to thy generation and none must peep into these mysteries without thy key for thou art he who opens and no man shuts and shuts and no man opens as Christ gave his keyes to Peter in his absence and Peter unto the Pope or the Pope to thee and now thy fathers the false Prophets may go to seek heaven for thee for thou hast the keyes and none must enter in without thy mark and so the kingdom of Heaven is shut up and the Angel and the key of the bottomlesse pit and the great chain in his hand none must know but thee and thy generation and yet what if I should tell thee I have seen the Angel and he by the light within has opened the bottomlesse pit and there I have seen the Quaker and the Pope and all
the false Prophets shut out of the Kingdom of God because they love not the great chain in the hand of the Angel but to leave thee where I finde thee the chain I love and own as that which keeps me from the paths of the destroyer neither am I telling as thou sayest of Satans binding without me for this is not mine interest but the inward binding and yet when I see Satan bound in any measure without me that I can look upon with joy too well knowing that there is joy in heaven at the conversion of one sinner but I must not cast pearl before Swine lest thou turn again and rent me for the angry brood love not the Pearle Answ Further Satans binding is in the life onely learned not in the imagination Repl. And yet it may be too but in the imagination though it seemingly appear in the life as we see in a Nun Monk Hermit Pharisee and the like here 's a seeming binding of Satan in the life and yet but an imagination therefore take heed God looks most upon the heart yet upon the tongue too and when Satans binding is better manifested in thy carriage tongue then I may have better hope to say thou believest with the heart Answ Further John saw Satan bound a thousand years since which thou art still querying about Repl. John I know had a Vision of Satans binding in himself and a Vision of all the binding and loosing that was to be in ages to come and therefore the Revelation of Jesus in him was to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to passe now I know about this binding and loosing of Satan and the living and reigning with Christ a thousand years called the first resurrection there is a great variety of opinions and judgements amongst the Saints and in the world and all the opinions almost look unto things without unto some intable observation to the outward eye abroad making this and that the beginning of the thousand years and the first resurrection so making the spiritual Kingdom to spring up with some great outward glory and to begin with some observation visible to the outward man all which methinks suits not with the nature of a spirituall King and Kingdom and so seeing men feel after that without which was to be fulfilled within and hearing of the great talk of the Quakers knowledge therefore I sent to thee to know and see thine experience of this resurrection and of this binding Satan and reigning with Christ and behold I see nothing in all thine answers but vanity pride and deep darknesse so much to that answer to which I 'le adde Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection that hath Christ to be his resurrection and life by whom he 's fetched out of the grave and passed from death into life by a strong hand this man as he has bowed and given himself to Christ so Christ is come down as it were to him to set him upon the Throne of his glory and here he sees judgement executed upon the beast and Dragon and Satan bound in him all the dayes of his life and Christ living and reigning in him for evermore this is the first resurrection over which the second death hath no power and this is that I commend to all as the better part which the Saints in their measure all injoy and without which the last resurrection will be but a sad hour of sorrow and woe unto the world and so though the last resurrection I own and the day of judgement yet the first resurrection of Christ raising us up from the death of sin and darknesse to live with him to God in newnesse of life is that which every man and woman ought to look earnestly after in this world And now some may imagine that this spiritual resurrection is not the thing meant in this 20 Chap. of the Revelations because 't is said to be a thousand years and then to be finished and Satan to be loosed out of his prison again to whom I answer that the thousand years has respect to the reign of Christ in the Saints in all ages during the time of every dispensation of God towards his people in the world and so the first resurrection has still been passed through and is to be passed through by all the people of God here and finished at their departure hence in the Lord and as this resurrection was more glorious in John's time and the first ages of the Church after Christ than before under the Law so it shall be more glorious yet than ever before called therefore the new Jerusalem wherein God shall come down and dwell with men to wit more in the fulnesse and glory of his spirit than in all the dispensations that have gone before and the more glorious the resurrection is the more the evil shall be bound and the appearing of this in all ages has been the binding of Satan and is that which limits and puts a stop to this Kingdom and so a torment to him before his time and the more this grows the more he shall bound so the great binding of Satan shall be not by a personal reign of Christ in a body but by the personal or more eminent reign of Christ yet in the fulnesse of the spirit this is that which every Saint is to look at in himself and not to put off the resurrection from himself to some other men or some other time but to look at his own resurrection and the binding of Satan in his own soul as well as without in others that he may reign with Christ here and hereafter in the 12. of the Rev. 8. 9. we read of a war in Heaven and of a great fight between the Dragon and Michael but the Dragon and his Angels prevail'd not but are cast out and their place is found no more in Heaven this is that we are to look at in our selves for the Church of God is the Kingdom of God on earth and where this Kingdom is set up there Satans Kingdom is pulled down and his time finished I say where Christ is set up in power 't is so not where he 's onely set up in shew for where things are but in shew there the unclean spirit is said to go out not to be driven away by the sun of God but to feign a going away and so to return again and bring 7 other spirits that is more power along with him and finding the house swept and garnished to enter in again and dwell there and so to make the last state worse than the first but when he 's castout by the finger of God then we have the true Champion on our side and now the evil one must leave the house for ever and further though the Scriptures speak of a finishing the thousand years yet that is meant in reference unto every dispensation of God to his people here and their abode
with Christ during this spirituall reign with them in this body when Christ reigns with us here this is the first resurrection and when Christ takes us unto himself out of the body then this is finished and this is said to be a thousand years in reference to the Saints in all generations But where 's Satan when he 's cast out of the Saints or out of a particular soul what is he idle or lies still no he goes down to the earth and therefore woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the Sea for the Devil is come down unto you having great wrath because he has but a short time Rev. 12. 12. when Satan is cast out of one he reigns in another and the more he 's imprisoned in the Church and kept from hurting and tempting them by the strong power of God the more he 's tormented and the more he rages in the world and the more subtile and cunning and powerfull he is in the vessels of wrath and so shall gather them together with more subtilty and violence against the holy beloved City because of the great glory that shall be poured out on her that so he and all his followers may reap their deserved ruine and woe at the coming of Christ at the great day of wrath And so to summe up this as the reign of Christ draws nigh finishing so the reign of Satan and as the reign of Christ towards the finishing shall be most glorious so Satan most furious and crafty in the world working more in a mystery transforming himself into an Angel of light by his goodly outward shews and observations getting into the hearts of men saying he 's God and he 's Christ and by this means he shall be more fitted to deceive and prevail with Gog and Magog to gather them together against the Saints and people of God every where being given up as a just punishment from God for following their own vain imaginations I say the Nations shall be deceived as a just judgement of God upon them and vvorship the Dragon and the beast and the false Prophet and in their pride shall think to swallow up all and then receive their final overthrow ruine and woe when a fire shall be kindled in the whole frame of nature to dissolve the world and the works therein and all the wicked of the earth high and low shall say hide us from the face of him who sits upon the Throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. Quest 20. What is the last resurrection and the day of judgement which the Scripture speaks of Ans Thou who art ignorant of the first resurrection art inquiring in thy busie minde after the last resurrection which none can know where death reigns though the Scriptures declare of it and so such as you live in your lusts and scoffe at the Doctrine of Christ who is the resurrection and the life the first and last Joh 11. 25. Rev. 1. 17. yet know this that to judgement thou shalt come for the Lord has appointed a day to judge the world by the man Jesus Christ who is the first and the last Repl. Here thou shewest thy self and in thine heart givest no testimony to the last resurrection and day of judgement making as if all were spiritual and onely in this life and so thou errest as they of old who said there was no resurrection nor Angel nor spirit not believing the Scriptures in this nor the power of God to which I adde as the execution of the first so the execution of the last is by one Jesus Christ onely the first resurrection is of the just onely the last of the just and unjust the first of the Saints of God this general of all men and as my faith in the first so of the last is grounded upon Scripture Joh. 5. 24. to 30. verily I say unto you the hour is coming and now it is when they that are in the grave shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live here 's the spiritual resurrection but it follows Marvail not at this for the hour is coming wherein all that are in their graves shall hear the voice of Christ and shall come forth they that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of examination here 's the last resurrection wherein all shall arise either to salvation or damnation what more plain see Acts 24. 15. there shall be a resurrection sayes Paul both of the just and unjust this was Pauls faith and hope and such as deny this Paul disputes against at large 1 Cor. 13. and tells us if the Saints should deny it they are of all men most miserable 2 Tim. 2. 17 18. there Hymenius and Phyletus who said that the resurrection was passed already are compared to a Canker and said to subvert the faith of some hence Christ speaks of a last day and a resurrection at the last day so Math. 25. 31. to the end he describes the manner of it so Rev. 6. 11 12. and 20. at the latter end if these and the like Scriptures will not perswade men to believe a truth from God neither will they be perswaded though one should be raised from the dead Quest 21. What is the new Jerusalem which comes down from God out of Heaven which is as a Bride adorned for her husband Answ The new Jerusalem is the Citie of God the Church of God which Babylon and Egypt would devour now when it appears upon the earth so all that have Ships and Treasure in the Sea are gathered against her who is a Lambe among the beasts of the field under the defence of the shepheard who rejoyces over her as the Bridegroom over the Bride and the day of marriage is coming and come and the Bride is adorned and adorning for her husband who must commit no adultery with Babylons Merchants nor lye down to the great men of the earth therefore their rage is come up and Gog and Mdgog is gathered yet the spirit of the Lord our husband lifts up a standard against them and out of this Citie are all Harlots shut all covetous persons all that conform to the world all that in its customes and abominations live all that wastfully devour the Creatures on their backs and bellies all oppressors all that live by dishonest gain all that make a mock at the Doctrine of Christ c. read where thou art these are Harlots not Citizens Repl. This new Jerusalem comes down from heaven is not in the earth or man before the Lord pitch up his Tabernacle in man 't is not merited or gained by mans light or power 't is wholly out of grace and by Revelation as we see in the case of Paul 't is grace and purâ— love makes man the Citie of the great King not any thing in the first birth Ioh. 3. 3 5. There must be a second birth