of the same bowels over other sinners waiting for the season of their visitation and gathering into the same love and by the same powerful hand if it may be O my God bring up the power and sweetness of thy life in Israel and shew mercy to all Nations Purge the Earth with thy fan scatter the corruption there of from the hearts of the sons of men and make them the Paradice of thy pleasure that thou O living God mayst dwel in and shine forth from thy Temple and it may no longer lye wast nor the abomination of desolation defile it to the dishoner of thy name and to the ruine and misery of thy Creation Postscript SOme things are exceeding necessary for lost man to be acquainted with in his travels from his lost estate into the life and peace of God As 1. To his lost estate and misery for ever unless the Lord pitty and help him 2. To know the light wherewith the Lord visits the souls that sit in darkness that he may wait for the shinings therof and in them travel with the leading spirit of life from the darkness and death of sin tovvards the land of the living 3. To breath unto the Lord and wait to have his heart joyned to the light and power of life dayly and separated from the powers of death and darkness under which he was and still is a captive but as thâ— Lord appears for him and delivers him 4. To put forth all the strength of his soul and mind and all the members of his body in the service of the Lord. For as he is in any measure set free by the Lord from the service of sin So is he to serve and obey the Lord in righteousness 5. To wait dayly to receive the strength from the Lord wherewith he serueth the Lord. For though by the Redemption of the Lord he feels the creaturely part in some measure renewed and restored and an ability received to serve righteousness which before he had not yet this is not so given to him as that the Lord hath it not still in his hand who can stop or let it out at his pleasure And happy is that man who looketh not upon himself as somewhat because of what in any kind he hath received but feeleth his dependance upon the Lord. 6. To feel the grace and mercy of the Lord in whatever he receiveth from the Lord or whatever he doth for the Lord. It is all of the Lord happy is the man that sees it It is the mercy of the Lord that man is not consumed It is the mercy of the Lord that any man in any state or degree of life and redemption is preserved The mercy of the Lord endureth for ever therefore is Israel safe This will be the song of praise in the house of the Lord for ever 7. To wait for the wasting of the man and the raising up of the seed day by day that that to which the Covenant of works is na-natural and which cannot but desire it and seek to live by it may be worn out and that to which the Covenant of grace is as natural if not more and which alone lives by the promise and through the faith and in the grace which freely flows from the eternal fountain may be raised up and succeed in the place and stead thereof Here is safety indeed Here is everlasting righteousness so brought in as that it can never be removed out of the heart more Here everlasting life and the Soul are one for ever Here is no more going into captivity which Israel setled in Canaan and enjoying the sweetness and rest thereof under the first Covenant may Here are no tears nor sighing nor departing from the â—â—fe nor grieving the holy Spirt of the Lord nor being grieved by it any more but what the heart desires of God and what God desires of the heart mutually received and the going forth and the coming in and the abiding one and the same for ever the same life and power and love and eternal sweetness being all and in all for ever This is the mark of Israel and the haven of its eternal rest to which the Lord is leading the poor hungary empty mourning afflicted lossed Souls to whom it is as sure in the love and good-will of God and in the councel of his heart determined thereupon as if they were already in it THE END
they not lost the very seed of life which the good husbandman did sow in them And do not evil seeds shoot up in the stead thereof to the poisoning of their hearts and blemishing of their conversations And are not some of them insencible of their lose and lie still drowned in their forms thinking to confine the appearance of the freelife and unlimited spirit there others of them sick and deeply wounded and languishing not knowing where to meet with the good shepherd nor how to make shift without him O the cryes of the desolate and mourning souls which love God at theit hearts and have the relicks of his Nature left in them in a seed still which he once begot and brought forth in some freshness Oh their deep anguish their miserable lost condition for want of meeting with the Phisitian their pantings their teares their distresses their roarings out their over-whelmings their several kinds of Captivities and the cruelties exercised upon their spirits by the Captiver even break my heart that I am almost overwhelmed in the sence of their misery But my heart is somewhat comforted with the freshness of this testimony which hath often risen up in the immediate life of God in my heart and I have heard his voice speaking it even that he will seek them out And I know he hath the skill to finde them in their several mourning holes wherein they lye hid and the pits where into they are tumbled and the Bryars and Thorns of the wilderness wherewith they are torn and wherein they are twisted and entangled and held pining to death and in the prisons and Chains and Fetters of their Spirits wherein they are closed up and bound down by the Enemy of their Souls Quest 2. How will he seek them and how will he find them out Answ By the light of his spirit shining in their hearts by which he will touch and quicken the Sheep's life and open the Sheeps care and perswade the heart to know and believe that it is he that visiteth in his tender mercy and that he will have mercy on and shew compassion to that which hath long been cast off and forsaken and that he will be their God and they shall be his people even the House of Israel that had departed from him and that he had not forgotten them but waited for the hour of mercy and for the season of the bringing forth of that life and power whose searching and healing vertue will reach to the utmost extreamity of their conditions Quest 3. What will he do with them when he hath sought after and found them out Answ He will gather them into the fold of life and lead them into the pastures of life and feed them with the food of life as their conditions are able to bear he will be fitting them by the exercises of his spirit for their passages from death to life and as they are capable so he will be still translating them from the one into the other He will bring them from their several fals-built states in the Land of Egypt or Babylon into a true wilderness state and there as he wears out the old nature in them so will he speake comfortably to them and build up the new and nourish the true Israelitish Babe there with Manna from Heaven and after he is grown up to a mans Estate and hath received the inward Circumcision lead him into the pleasant land where there are the rich pastures the sweet still Waters and the precious Milk and Hony of the living with which the land flows naturally and which yeilds pure nourishment to all the living Off-spring O my heart is not able to contain the sence of all that God will do for Israel or of what he will be to them or of what they shall be to him when he hath finished his work upon them and brought them forth through the strength of his Covenant in the Nature and into the possession of his life But sure I am he hath begun his work the light of the day even of the everlasting day hath sprung and visited many the Principle of Life hath been revealed in the hearts of many and many are gathering into it and finde the man sinking and dying and the life rising and living in them day by day And though the passage be bitter and the Passover still eaten with bitter hearbs and the devourer often let loose and suffered to nip and destroy yet out of the Eater at last comes forth meat and out of the strong one in the issue comes forth sweetness Yea though there be no faith found to close in with the light nor any strength left to obey or follow because of the deep foregoing breakin gs wherein both nature and spirit were all dashed in peices and swallowed up in confusion yet the breath of life and the power of the light in process of excercises and after much deep misery and impossibilities to the sight and judgment of sense at length raiseth up a little seed in the longing Soul which receiveth and bringeth forth after an hidden way that which it could not And here life is indeed of Grace and wholly of the Seed in this state Only waite to learn and know in Spirit and then take heed of dispising the weak beginnings and dawnings of light in the secret stirrings and movings of the principle of life and waite also for a watch to be set up in thee against that fleshly wisdome and understanding which will be apt to be judging about the work of God in thy heart for if it prevaile so far it will then also be begetting in thee dispisings of and turnings from the low beginnings thereof and so divert thy feet from the path of life For the prevention whereof and for the furtherance of thy Soul in its closing with and travelling on in the light and guidance of the Spirit of the Lord this following Paper is added Concerning the Seed or inward Principle whereby life is begotten and maintained in the heart THe Lord God who is full of everlasting Bowels of compassion towards mankind in general but more especially towards those in whom he hath begotten a sence of the want of him with breathings and desires after him hath chosen a Seed or inward Principle of Life to appear in towards the breaking the bonds of their Captivity and the bringing them from under the power and misery of death This many who have been overwhelmed with misery and whose spirits have melted and failed with the want of the sence of their God and have felt that life which was formerly built up in them broken down and laid wast and their communion with God swallowed up in the ruines thereof and their Souls ready utterly to perish and be devoured by the Enemy every moment after the cutting off of their hopes and the shutting up of their eyes towards all ways of releif I say after all this and much more than can be
expressed in the tender mercy of the Lord have they felt this principle revealed in their hearts and their hearts by degrees through the skill and same mercy of the Lord which revealed the principle and not from any worthiness or faith and obedience of theirs for that was as freely given and preserved as the principle it self was revealed gathered into the principle where the Life reigns and where the strength and Dominion of death is broken in all those who by the allurings and guidings of the Spirit of the Lord are led thither Now the main thing necessary towards the Redemption of the Soul is after the revealing of this principle and some sence and feeling of it and the turning of the minde towards it to wait to be made more and more acquainted with it that in the stirrings movings and leadings thereof there be a ready giving up to be gathered into it and to be guided by it For though this principle be all life yet it is at first but as a seed and the appearance of the Lord in it is but as in a Seed very little low weak hard to be discerned easie to be over-looked and despised and some greater and mâ—re undeniable appearance expected Yet that is not the way but the Soul must become subject unto and â—owed under this little appearance and so as the Seed gets advantage and grows bigger and larger in thy heart the appearance of the Lord will be greater and fuller there But to look for the greater appearance before the Seed be owned and received in its lesser appearance and the Vessel thereby fitted for the greater appearance is not the way of God but the deceit of the Enemy whereby he would destroy the Soul and cut it off from the Lord for ever which he certainly will do if he can keep the seed from growing there and the Soul from joyning with and growing into it Therefore watch to feel the savour of life in thy heart day by day and therein to feel leadings and drawings from the life suitable to thy state for in this savour and in these drawings rises the true light vvhich leads into the way of life And then watch against the reasonings and disputations which the Enemy will raise in thy minde who will strive to make thee a Judge over these drawings whereas the Light which ariseth in the savour and in the drawings is thy King though in this low appearance and not to be judged by thy minde thoughts and reasonings but to judge them all down and be bowed unto and obeyed by thee And consider in the weight of thy spirit art thou in thy darkness and with thy earthly minde fit to be a Judge concerning the Light which ariseth in thee or rather is not the Light in its lowest and weakest appearance appointed and fitted by the Lord to judge thee and make thee bow down in fear and trembling before it and thy crown thou in thy highest exaltation is to be cast at the lowest footstept thereof And then it will in some measure thou lying at the foot thereof and bowing in Spirit before it enter into thee and enlighten and quicken thee But in thy being wise about it or taking upon thee to judge concerning it it will stand at a distance from thee and leave thee in thy darkness and Captivity Therefore consider where thou art and breath unto the Lord to reveal that unto thee which is proper for thee at present and to bow thy spirit under his present will and manifestation to thee And be content to be little and low and to receive little and low instructions from God and to walk in the path of brokenness and humility before the Lord for this is his way of fitting for and advancing into the high and glorious power of his life And this my Soul is assured of that none shall enter into or abide in his Kingdome but as they become little poor and naked and as they are led by the little child of God's begetting who not at all answers the wisdome of man and his expectations but still confounds them and leads on in such a path as if the eye of man's wisdome be open it will still be crying out it can never bring to life Yet that which disputeth not but beleiveth at seasons feels a progress and that the growth of life had advantage in the heart by those very things which at present seemed to give death the advantage Therefore watch against thy understanding and all the workings thereof as ever thou desirest life for it will still betray thee and either keep thee from the way or turn thee out of the way when ever thou hearkenest to it And mark this That which God sowes and brings up in thee is a sensible plant not a knowing mind and thy right judgement is only in the sensibleness of that Plant and not in the understanding or comprehension of thy minde yea that sensible Plant which thy wisdome will be very apt to despise and perk over must batter down and bring to nothing thy understanding and grow up in the stead of it if ever thy Soul be made an habitation for the Life Therefore sink into the feeling and dwell in the feeling and wait for the savour of the Principle of Life and the touches and drawings of the savour and walk along in it towards the land of Life parting with all and leaving behind thee whatever the savoury of life disrelisheth and entring into and taking up whatever the savour of the Life relisheth that thou mayest be prepared for the Lord and for the glorious appearances of his spirit in thee And as thou art led into this and becomest subject to this so thou wilt taste the Lord and feel the sweetness of his Ointment and the peace of his nature and the joy of the beginnings of his Kingdom in thy heart and the blotting out of thy iniquities for his own names sake For though the Enemy may lay load upon thee and fill thee as much as he can with his filth and lay it close to thy charge insomuch as thou art not able to acquit thy self at all but art as ready to charge thy self therewith as the Enemy is to charge thee yet the Lord considereth the Seed he hath sown in thee and the desire which he hath wrought in thy heart to be joyned thereunto and he knoweth whence the stirring of this mind is and how weak thou art in this hour of thy darkness and Captivity and the intent of his heart is to deliver thee from all this and not to condemn thee for it But oh take heed of limmitting the Lord to give forth so clear a Light as the natural understanding will be judging necessary but be content with the Light which ariseth in the savour and shineth inwardly to thy spirit in the drawing and be subject and bowed under the Light of the drawing though never so much against the Light of the creaturely