their power oppose and persecute this is a Ministry of darkness There is a Ministry also that teacheth Christ onely as an Allegory or figure of things to be done in us the cross and bloud without onely typing and signifying the cross and bloud and spirit within us Moses John and Christ with their several Ministries being onely as transient forms figures and examples of another and more spiritual Ministry within that onely makes perfect this doctrine indeed has a glory with the natural man or him that is led by the principles of Law or heightened Reason but has no glory with afflicted ones who are under workings of wrath and spoiled of all let the Masters of such doctrines with all their disciples know the Law was an Allegory or shadow of good things in Christ had nothing in it self but signified all in another and referred us over to him this was but the weakness and emptiness of the Law it was but an Allegory So they that preach the Person of Christ and Redemption in him to be onely an Allegory of things in us such set not forth Christ in glory but weakness this is the emptiness of Christ that he was but a figure having done nothing for us in himself but onely pointing us to another the Spirit to work Redemption in us this is a Ministry of darkness but under a form of Light Which sets forth Christ in most light let it be judged he that sayes Christ has already by himself done away the ministration of condemnation and death which was as a cloud of darkness spread over us as a thick vail before us that we could not come unto God and in the place thereof hath brought forth a ministration of righteousness and life whereby a way is opened into the holiest into the light and glory of God that saith Sing oh heavens for the Lord hath done it shout ye lower parts of the earth break forth into singing ye mountains oh forrest and every tree therein for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob and glorified himself in Israel all things that were against us are overcome on his cross and descended into his deep grave for ever nothing remains but that you receive this Saviour as having done all things for you as working all things in you or he that saith Christ came once into the world a Teacher of Perfection and a living Example therein but is now come in us setting up a Law of condemnation and death wherein if we abide and bear the indignation of God and punishment of sins in his Spirit and after his example through these sufferings as by the bloud of the Cross shall the Attonement and redemption be made and perfected if we be perfect in obedience and that we are not to beleive any such thing that the bloud of Christ without takes away sins sin is not taken away nor redemption made till the same obedience and sufferings be fulfilled in us as in him this doctrine because pointing to the bloud the Cross the Redeemer within may by shaken and darkened hearts be called a doctrine of light but indeed it bringeth back the shadows and terrors of the Law again remembrance of sin suffering sacrifice wrath and so far from being a Light that it shuts up the light grace and glory of God that he cannot be seen any other wayes than through a vail far thicker than that of Moses Christ as appearing above all mountains as Head over all Principalities and Powers to his Church so he is a Light as by the brightness of his glory he has vanquished that darkness and death brought in by sin so he is a light as he has in himself the second Adam destroyed all that which came in by the first Adam so he is a light he that brings not this doctrine makes Christ no more a Light but either a figure and example without or at the best a Law-giver a Moses and an Exact or within Their Purity and Power examined what it is THere is a Purity that is so with men but not before God Reason saith Man's nature is defiled by sin and must be washed by our obedience disobedience to God was the defilement and by obedience and mortification we return to Purity but faith sayes Purity before God is the conscience purged by the dead body of Christ and the heart purified by the Spirit of faith beleiving the same who are most for spiritual Purity they that beleive sin already done away in him that came by bloud water and spirit and by union with him are therein washed and made clean every whit or they who contend sin not yet done away take away our righteousness in the Head so pure and perfect and affirm our righteousness to be but in part till perfection in obedience if bodily exercise or purifying the flesh may be called purity divers Monks and Jesuites especially of old may claim a name herein who yet knew little of Purity by the righteousness of God when almes bodily chastisements retirement into holy houses and going on pilgrimage was beleived as the way to be perfect no wonder if this Religion abounded so where this Principle is received in power that obedience to the light within and all the several acts of that obedience till come unto perfection are the onely Redemption and way to be perfect to see zeal and exactness labours and sufferings denying the pleasures fashions and customs of the world in such t is not to be wondered at to purifie the earthly members by the spirit is good while the inward Man abides as in a more excellent way purified in the Head but to purifie the members as reckoning it our redemption our righteousness all such Purity is sin blindness and Idolatry Lastly as to their Power the Law is mighty to kill because of sin weak to save because of the flesh he that takes out of our sight our righteousness as in heaven in the Lord already prepared brings us back into weakness and bondage again and leaves us without light or strength to withstand in the hour of temptation that may come either by spirits from without or our flesh from within that doctrine that declares our liberty victory triumph to be already in being in Christ the Head that shews us a life given unto us above all spiritual actings exercises and comforts felt in our selves a life liberty and perfection hid in Christ this doctrine brings power and a spirit of power Compleatness in the Head without Law or work being beleived and learned gives a spirit of judgement over all spirits and doctrines interest and kinds of life and a strength of righteousness which preserves from the evils of all whilst this Truth lay hid the Church was in bondage unto the elements of the world will-worship and monkish holiness having over-spread all instability and unfaithfulness to this Truth does at this day deliver up many unto principles and practises not according to Christ thus where righteousness in the Head
God for to that there is a more excellent price required which is neither the righteousness of man nor yet of the Law here we must have Christ how not by works but by faith therefore as there is a great difference between Christ blessing or redeeming and Christ working or giving example wherefore we must seperate the believing and the working Abraham as far asunder as there is distance betwixt heaven and earth Abraham believing in Christ is altogether a divine person the child of God inheritour of the world conqueror of sin death the world and the Divel therefore he cannot be praised and magnified enough let us not suffer this faithful Abraham to lye hid in his grave as he is hid from the Jews but let us highly extol and magnify him and let us fill both heaven and earth with his name so that in respect of the faithful Abraham we see nothing at all in the working Abraham for when we speak of this faithful Abraham we are in heaven but afterwards doing those things which the working Abraham did which were carnal and earthly and not divine and heavenly but as they were given unto him of God we are among men in earth the believing Abraham filleth both heaven and earth so every Christian through his faith filleth both heaven and earth so that besides it he ought to behold nothing Thus far his words Good works or the works of God in us are in comparison of the righteousness in Christ but carnal like as Abraham's good works a thing worthy of note are but accounted flesh in comparison of the righteousness of Christ Rom. 4.1 2. Concerning Election and Reprobation He saith that the light in every man which reproves of sin is Christ and is the election elect seed the mercy of God placed in all men that this light being believed and followed till by it a man be changed and purged from the oldness and lusts of flesh to the newness of the spirit then he comes to the election or to be selected Truth saith that in every man which reproves of sin is not Christ but the Law by the Law is the knowledge of sin that Christ the Elect and beloved of God is he in whom the purposes promises counsels and all the works of God were laid up and known unto God from before the world began Christ was from the beginning the common seed or Father in whose loines God in his foreknowledge beheld and in his love choose a seed or ofspring whom he would beget of his own will by his spirit God that separated the Jews from all other Nations only because he loved them that said of the children of Isaac being not yet born Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated that called them his beloved which were not beloved that separated Paul a persecuter from his mothers womb that hath mercy on whom he will have mercy the same God hath foreknown and chosen and loved a people in Christ the beloved who though for the present as concerning the Gospel they be enemies through wicked works yet as touching the election they are beloved for Christ's sake you have not chosen me but I have chosen you If I be lifted up from the earth I will draw all men unto me Christ drawed up all his own in his body into himself in love this love shed forth into our hearts draws us up in love into him again thus we love him because he loved us first the father gave a people to the Son from everlasting and saw and loved them in him before the world was the Son came forth to manifest and make way for this love through his righteousness down unto men the spirit reveals that love and by Christ leads us unto the father thus redemption and sanctification are both fruits of that love and election that was given us in Christ before the world began by receiving Christ the Image of the father I come indeed to know his love and election but he both loved elected and redeemed me in Christ the head before I was Wherefore they that deny election and redemption until the creatures obedience to the light within do measure the thoughts and waies of the unsearchable goodness of God with the low and narrow thoughts and waies of man being zealous indeed for the righteousness of God according to the Law but darkning and denying the glorious righteousnes of God as in Christ Jesus Concerning the New birth He saith that by abiding in the seed or light within every man thereby the old man is put off with his deeds that they who are guided by this light called by him the eternal spirit do follow God as he goes out of one form into another all others stay therein after God is gone as seeing but the outside or form only that they who joyned to the light within that reproves of sin to be led by it are and ever were hated and persecuted of all others His silence throughout of that more excellent and truly misterious way of crucifying the body of sin in the person of Christ whose body and blood is by him made as no more but figuers of the body and blood within that is the light within all men this doth sufficiently manifest his mind and principle and the end whether it leads unto mount Sinai to press through unto God by an attonement and mediation to be made in our bodies that is obedience to the light within The new creature is not a Jew one seeking righteousness by the Law either in the letter or conscience nor a Gentile one thinking to know comprehend and worship God by the light or wiâ—edom of the natural man but a man in Christ dead buried and risen with him into heavenly places above the world sin and death by faith alone without work that is before these things be manifest or wrought in his members also he is one in whom Christ dwels by faith so made partaker of the divine Nature that spirit which the world sees not hath not nor by any light they have can find it out the world's light is a candle from the Lord saying do this and live the spirit of the new creature is the Lord himself saying I have done it only believe and live According to the mysterie of faith the new man is in heart and spirit gone out of all the world and is in heaven perfectly justified redeemed and saved but in a way above sense and feelings yet seen by faith according to present manifestation he hath the spirit of Christ whereby he sees knows and enjoys in part those perfect things in Christ till they be fully revealed if any man boasts of the first that he is redeemed by Christ and hath not the other that he lives in some measure after the spirit that man's boasting is in vain likewise if any man glories of the spirit that he walks in the spirit in mortifyings of the flesh neglect of the body reproaches necessities
of the Fathers glory has already by himself without us and before any good wrought in us finished transgression made an end of sin abolished condemnation and death and that not by Spirit onely but by spirit water and bloud That though in the Kingdom of the Law of Reason and sense that is in the flesh sin condemnation and death are seen and felt yet in the Kingdom of Grace and Faith that is in Christ they are vanquished and appear no more That a beleiver while enclosed and shut up in a body of sin and death fightings and fears within and without as he is in flesh is at the same time raised up into the heavenly righteousness immortality and freedom above all sin or shadow of evil as he is in Christ the Head as redeemed in Spirit a Christian is in heaven in rest in victory and perfection as not yet redeemed in the body he is on earth in labours infirmities and imperfection These blessed sayings whosoever holds fast in faith and love will be in him as a lamp leading him through the thick vail of Legality the vain speculations of Philosophy the mysterious depths of Anti-christ and will be to him a Light to discern the Doctrine Spirit Ministry and Church of Christ from them that say they are so and seem to be so but are not but are of the Synagogue of Sathan Ye are compleat in him Upon this truth has the Church of Christ been built as upon a rock higher than all the flouds and storms that have gathered against her during the long Night of Anti-christian darkness as this Truth shined forth literal and mystical Idolatry in England France and Germany as shadows of the Night fled away On the other hand this Truth dying and decreasing out of the Churches of Galatia Colosse c. prepared the way of the Man of Sin into them and to this day hath exalted him over all Nations when the knowledge of Christ as Head shall more encrease and the Church grow up more into him who is Head Anti-christ in his highest forms his deepest speech his fairest shews worshipped and wondered at by the unbeleiving and unstable world of Professors shall be revealed and consumed Three cheifest Principles of this people called Quakers examined and weighed COncerning this people passing by their language postures and all other respects as to Person or Circumstance the tryal and knowledge of theirs or any other Spirit may more certainly be had from the substance and ground of their doctrine and faith the sum and scope whereof as to me it appears may be fully and faithfully gathered up in these three following principles 1. That the Light which enlightens every man accusing of sin is Christ and God the Pure and Perfect the Eternal and Just One and so the Redeemer and Saviour and the All to be known and beleived not as do others in word letter or person without but as within redeeming reconciling and making attonement not without in another but within in our selves out of which Light man departing was lost in darkness and the fall into which Light returning again he is restored and redeemed as at the beginning 2. That this Light as condemning of sin and death and restoring out of it into Righteousness and Life this is the bloud and death of the Cross the resurrection and second coming of the Son of God and that Obedience without mixture unto this Light working all our works in us this is our Redemption Justification Mortification and Sanctification so much obedience so much redeemed thus the Law and Gospel Faith and Obedience Death Resurrection Redemption Justification and Sanctification are not things distinct but one and the same within us 3. That the way to come to all this and to Christ and the Father is the Light in every man condemning of sin the sure word of prophesie wherein we must wait within and not as others go out unto a Christ without a letter without Christ and the Scriptures onely delivering their own experiences and conditions not as a Rule or word of faith to others and giving their Testimony onely to the Light within not to any Person Redemption or operation without also his and their Ministration in work words or letter without being onely the literal Covenant that makes nothing perfect This is the justest description and my truest understanding I can give of their faith and principles their other doctrine are but conclusions proceeding from these Three Principles of Truth are perverted and denied by these three principles of theirs the Person of Christ as the Object of Faith the Scriptures as the Rule of Faith and Faith it self as the evidence of things not seen of each of these a word whereby both Truth and Errour may appear Jesus Christ was in the beginning with God the Word the promise the Life yet fore ordained in the end of the world to be manifest in flesh to put away sin therein by the sacrifice of himself Unto him that is Christ as to come in the flesh the two great witnesses under the old Testament the Law and the Prophets did testifie and point as the true Promise and Sacrifice the Law having a shadow of things seen afarre of not then received of good things to come not present and done of Jesus the High-Priest to minister in flesh and therein to offer himself the one the perfect the eternal Sacrifice once and for ever no more to be offered from thenceforth in any age or generation In the fulness of time the Word was made flesh and being greater than Moses the Prophets or John he gathered up their several ministrations and finished them in himself the fulness of the Godhead in him as a Sea of righteousness life and blessing abolishing and overwhelming the sin condemnation and curse of the world as the less is overcome of the greater And hereunto when he ascended on high he gave gifts unto men whom he ordained as Apostles and Witnesses to the world that the Purpose and Grace which was given us in Christ before the world began which was shadowed by the Law and foretold by the Prophets was now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ who hath abolished sin and death in his crucified body and hath brought forth immortality and life in himself in spirit Thus the Mystery of Grace and truth lay hid in the divinity but came forth and was acted in the humanity neither is the divinity without the humanity nor the humanity without the divinity but both one in Christ thus the crucified and glorified Person of Christ is the express Image of God the alone object of faith the way whereby God came down in salvation unto men and by which we ascend and have access unto God thus Redemption and Righteousness is gloriously wrought without us in the person of Christ to point to any Person or Spirit within for the working Redemption over again other than to him that descended and ascended
again is to bring Christ down from above and up again from the dead to raise up Moses out of his Sepulcher which no man knows to this day with his ministration of death and to make the bloud of Christ a common thing or as the bloud of another Man consider this and fear ye people of whom I speak To conclude this first principle with one other note the Person of Christ and Redemption in him is vailed and denied by two sorts of men legal Teachers of the Gospel and mystical Teachers of the Law they differ herein the first set forth Christ in words of mans wisdom conditions of law and as onely in the flesh without not discerning him spiritually the other speak of him in more spiritual words and deep speculations but onely as redeeming within us in spirit not discerning nor beleiving the Glory of that Redemption without us in his Person they agree in this by both Christ is known onely after the flesh by the one onely as in the form of a Man or Person without by the other as a Redeemer onely within that is as not having finished already Redemption on earth nor as being Head over all things in the Father wherefore to know Christ as having aleady redeemed by his bloud without and as the incomprehensible fulness of Spirit and life above all through all and within all his people this is the true the safe the blessed knowledge of Christ and by this the first of their Principles above named is weighed and reproved of errour How Faith is the evidence of things not seen COncerning Faith it is the evidence of things not seen heavenly things were in God from everlasting by way of purpose yet unseen unsearchable by any eye in fulness of time they were manifested in the Person of Christ as by him perfected and wrought at once yet seen and discerned onely by faith according to the measures of Grace they are shed forth by the Spirit from him upon all the members and manifest to our sense all things of the first Creation were made by Christ all things pertaining to the second are ceased in him thus Redemption is first entire in him afterwards in measures revealed in his a work once perfected for ever in him not to be done by peices in us and so it is in being and finished already but hid with Christ in God Now upon these heavenly things there is a vail whereby they are hid the law in the conscience Reason and sense in the flesh and there is an evidence whereby they are seen that is Faith unto such as are under this vail nothing is seen nor heard but the Commandments to work and the sentences of death where work is not the Law in the letter and deeds in the flesh as the face of the covering spread upon the heart that Christ cannot be seen the highest divinity of men in this state is this Perfection by obedience to the letter without or at the best to the Spirit within Christ as a Law-giver in their Conscience and a worker of it in their Persons not as a Saviour having once fulfilled it for them in himself what of God is felt and wrought in themselves that they beleive and by that Rule they judge while the unspeakable righteousness operation and life hid in Christ and with him reserved in God with the faith liberty joy and peace thereof is hid from their eyes such is the vail and the people thereof But where Faith is come the vail is done away the earthly man with his deeds and death his hopes and fears and all things belonging to him are seen to be abolished and overcome by the everlasting righteousness and Spirit of Life that is in Christ even as the night is overcome by the day and this is to be understood to be true in him a Covenant in him ordered in all things and sure to us not alwayes perceived in feeling to our earthly members yet seen and fulfilled in the inward man through faith It is said 2 Corinth 5.7 We walk by faith not by sight Faith and sight are to be understood either as they are perfecting each other or as by men divided and made contrary one to the other sight of God has a glory and sweetness faith in him though not so seen has a certainty and evidence faith beholds things as true in Christ though hid to sense and feeling sight knows them onely as shining or flaming forth upon the heart visions and revelations bring joy and comfort but they are things that go and come and the breathings of the Spirit may blow when they list but when these streams are withheld and as passed away yet he ever lives and we also in him God spake in times past with the Fathers and Prophets by visions to sense he speaks in these last times in his Son to faith visions by figure as those were they were but given at times and passed away the face of Jesus Christ beheld by faith is the constant and standing vision now under the Gospel spiritual influences and actings do yeild some reflection and vision of God but as a Man sees his face in a troubled water broken and changeable but the face of Christ as the Christal and still waters presents God alwayes in his clear and blessed Image as full of Grace and Truth they who put spiritual workings for the Grace that is in Christ and a sense of the spirit for faith in him they do under a pretence of Spirit destroy Christ Jesus they take away that Gospel which presents us in him before any work done our perfection our Sabbath our Rest and leads us to work again for perfection by obedience to the Light within that is by the Law Concerning Faith and Sight FAith and sight the Gospel-Christian is for both in their season and place all other Religions have divided them and erred as it is very observable that sight being alone that is sight of the Godhead without faith in Christ has been is the foundation of all false fancied and Idolatrous worships that are named fight of the deity by the things that are made is the highest Religion of Philosophers and Pagans sight of God by the Golden Calfe by the Idols of gld and silver was the idolatry of Israel in the wilderness and Canaan Conceiving the things of the Spirit of God by the sight and judgement of natural Reason is the foundation of Arminians a Sect of Morality and of Socinians a Sect of subtilty a Kingdom with observation and fair shews in the flesh to the sight without was the Religion of Pharisees and legal Gospellers some are of a weaker spirit their Religion is about things of sight touch not taste not some are of stronger heads such are for divinations of the brain things seen to Reason babes in Christ are for enlightnings and tasts and gifts things of sight to the inward sense and they that would seem to be the highest are
him gave place to more evangelical manifestations of him as a Saviour of sinners the Covenant is heaven compleatness in the Head began to be more opened and the People came to Mount Sion as the children of the free-woman as saved already in the Lord and set up above all things in him This Grace and Liberty in Christ being by some turned into wantonness and liberty in the flesh by very many into dispute and contention about the letter and form has given occasion to the old Spirit to enter again into the house new swept and garnished that is the Law-working spirit denying the blessed Attonement and Righteousness as already in the Head the Person of Christ in zeal to another Attonement and Righteousness by obedience to the Light within which mystery of iniquity works more secretly in the Churches who too much press and praise a certain perfection by their rule and order but more manifestly in the people called Quakers of both whom it may be said whilst their first light and love liberty and perfection in Christ the Head was turned into strife about the letter and bitings of one another by the first they are in danger to be consumed and destroyed by the last a people indeed that have shew like a Lamb but speak like a Dragon devouring words to destroy both old and young not sparing the flock whom nothing sufficeth as to me yet appears but to tear out of our faith knowledge and profession the bloud of attonement redemption and reconciliation by that one Sacrifice offered once and for ever to blot out of our hearts the name remembrance the light and joy thereof till no other Redemption nor liberty be known but by a pretended divinity or light within working it in us through our perfect obedience thereunto which his true sense is to say the vail is yet spread the Law yet is standing the Lamb is to be slain all things continue as they were from the beginning ye are yet in your sins till by obedience to the light within you be redeemed The glorious Rest and Liberty in Christ the Head as it is the light of our eyes the girdle of our loyns to conduct and defend us from the mists and darts whether proceeding from the Law Philosophy or Satanical mystery so if once we suffer our selves to be spoiled of them our strength is departed and our eyes put out and we betraid unto every Fox out of the hole and Boar out of the wood unto every confusion distemper or deceit which may come amongst us therefore stand fast in the Liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free that Liberty in him which is in being as to the Spirit when in you are felt nothing but buffetings and streights as in the flesh thus these departures from the faith have been as a door set open the one to let in upon us the oâ—d spirit of tyranny upon our bodies the ther of legality upon our spirits and the darkness and rebuke that is upon us is very great The Christ that dyed at Jerusalem how far acknowledged and how far denied by this people to be the Redeemer THis leads me to two Questions of weightiest consideration as to this people 1. Whether they deny the Christ that dyed at Jerusalem to be the Redeemer 2. Whether they establish a Righteousness by the Law As to the first how far they affirm or deny I shall give that just judgement and therein do them that right I desire they may do unto me That Christ became flesh was made in the likeness of men therein humbled himself and became obedient to death that he might become a living example to all generations of perfection thus far they affirm and have a zeal for Christ that in that body of his flesh through that obedience to death he crucified our old man purged away sin made reconciliation for iniquity and perfected for ever all that are sanctified this they deny as to me it appears and the faith thereof The Gospel has in it morality and mystery the morality of it is this that Christ came forth from God a man holy and innocent obedient in all things to the light or will of God and left that obedience for an example unto others this sets forth Christ onely as a Law-giver as one who came to give a Law more divine and perfect than others before him had done and as thus he is known by this people and set forth by their words and writings The mystery is this that Christ the righteous the blessed and Lord of the Law was made for us sin a curse and under the Law that was we who beleive being the unjust the cursed and under the Law are made in him the righteousness of God the blessed and no more under the Law The Gospel as a Commandment and peice of morality may be read and beleived by every man and so was taught by the Popish School men and is at this day by such Ministers as are more zealous for duty than grace the Gospel as a mystery or free gift can onely be known to whom it is given and so is clearly known and sincerely and worthily preached not by many obedience to moral Principles is the divinity of Pagans to the Law of Moses the divinity of the Jews to the preceptive part of the Gospel of Jesuites and Papists to the Light within of the so called Quakers these indeed excel one another as to Notion and Rule but they agree all in one as to principle or bottom that is that work or obedience to some law or rule is the way to redemption perfection and God the sum of all is this a Jesus in flesh as a Preacher of perfection also as dying for an example to us they beleive and teach the Jesus that dyed and therein by bloud and spirit perfected us for ever in himself they deny they know not whosoever deny the bloud of attonement in the death of Christ know not the Son not the Father in him nor the grace in his bosom nor our glory in him and to all such in some bowels of compassion I say you may walk a while during your hour in the light of your fire and warm your selves in the sparks you have kindled conceits of approaching perfection and the glory of God by a righteousness and cross set up in your flesh but you shall not be able to stand before God and the Lamb in the day of his appearing whose bloud whose travels whose sacrifice on the Cross is of no more account with you Whether this people build up a righteousness by the Law THe other Question is resolved in this onely for fuller satisfaction it may be weighed by it self The Law and Prophets testifified of Christ and continued till he came who fulfilled all that was written therein even the righteousness of the Law whereby he was justified according to the Law and so it is said he was a Minister of the Curcumcision being made thus under
let him and them consider if it be not so and fear Concerning good Works His account is that by obedience to the light which reproves of sin following it out of the world and bringing forth the fruits of it the creature comes into the good work or obedience of Christ and so is by Christ redeemed that by being diligent in this light waiting and obedient therein the believer is led into the obedience sufferings tribulations and temptations of Christ that all the works and measures performed by the creature in obedience to this light do all compleat but this one work of the creatures redemption Where faith and unity with the head is lost no marvel if all the thoughts of that man run into confusion that the obedience or righteousness in Christ for justification and good works in us are one thing his own words at large may manifest if this short account of them may not and thereupon what foundation they build I need say no more only for the weaks sake I shal speak a word Christ was in the beginning with God that good Word whereby all things were made the same word in fulness of time became flesh in him that was the holy and just One who in his own person eternally vanquished all the evils of the world and to the utmost fulfilled the holy and perfect work of God for an everlasting and only righteousness upon all that believe of the greatness whereof might I speak it is higher then the Heavens deeper then the Sea and the utmost bounds and ends thereof can no more be known then can the heights and depths of him be known that is the holy one of Israel And this is the one obedience one righteousness one good work in one person one in spirit one in operation never to be renewed more in any other the same being not of a private nature nor for a private spirit but one for all he that hath made of one blood all Nations of men hath by one blood created anew out of all Nations a people for himself and if the natural heavens over us were spread forth at once in length and breadth large enough to comprehend preserve and nourish all Nations and all things therein how much more shall that One righteousness of Christ which is one with himself be as spiritual heavens large enough to take in to cover and preserve the second creation without any other to be added thereto how low and narrow yea how unbelieving and unworthy are their thoughts and esteem of the person and righteousness of Christ that think otherwise I leave to be weighed Through faith I come to read this most good and glorious work of God and therein to understand how that this world and my old man or flesh with all the evils of both by the operation of the blessed Divinity in his body were abolished in himselfe through death whilst yet darkness pollutions and fightings and thereby heaviness for a season is felt in my flesh wherein I also reckon my self to be as truly crucified and buried with him through the operation of the Godhead in the man Jesus for me as if the same had been done in me and this is the mystery of faith and the praise thereof is great but not before men who esteem of nothing but of what appears or is seen felt or handled and hence I think it necessary to give this warning that all approaches unto or converses with the majesty and glory of God by any redemption or operation of whatsoever spirit or light within and all mysteries of light and perfection so reputed whatsoever where that blessed and eternal redemption in the person of Christ for us is excluded I say through faith that all such are no other but some of the brighter sparks of Satans fires kindled on purpose to lead the creature to God by such a door as wherein he will be unto it a consuming fire can two walk together except they be agreed that man knows neither what God is nor himself that thinks to attain or to have attained the glorious presence of God by spirit within him who is not first reconciled through the propitiation of grace in the blood of Jesus If any man ask as they often do how can Redemption be where it is not witnessed where conscience chargeth of sin my answer is who shall lay any thing to my charge it is Christ that died my witnesses are the spirit water and blood the spirit of Revelation shining in my heart and the power of his death and redemption in part manifest in my body whilst heart and flesh that is reason and sense and law witness against me yet Christ and grace is greater then all let him alone speak let these be silent But if they ask to believe redemption whilst sin in me is not this the unreasonable hope No the father laid our sins upon Christ to take them away whilst we were yet enemies that he might commend his great love to us this was reasonable with God the Son rent our sins from off him in his own body on the tree because he could not be held of them this was reasonable with Christ the spirit bears witness that all things are finished sin death and the flesh in the body of Christ unto him that works not but believes on him that justifies the ungodly this witness is reasonable through faith I receive Christ into my self and am received into him and through this oneness am made righteousness life and light in the Lord whilst yet I am in many darknesses and deaths as to sense and feeling and this is reason as in the mind of God and according to the mystery of Christ that doctrine or spirit how mysterious soever in words or shâ—w that teacheth redemption to be by the operation of the spirit within us and not by that alone operation of God in the man Christ Jesus is indeed the excellency and height of man's reason and thoughts but a fearful contradiction to that higher reason or rather that blessed mystery of grace that appeared in Christ Whereas he saith that all the works and measures performed by the creature in obedience to the light within do all compleat the one work of the creatures redemption to this I shall only say how is the day of free grace set upon us and how are the thick clouds of Legality and misterious reason spread over us if this may be received for truth and let me only remember you of the words of Luther a man wiser and mightier in Christ then I which follows It was indeed a great glory that Abraham received circumcision at the commandment of God that he was endued with excellent vertues that he obeyed God in all things but all this availeth nothing to righteousness before God the excellent deeds and vertues of Abraham were not the cause that he was counted righteous before God so the following of the example of doth not make us righteous before
in one the Pagan seeks perfection by his Law natural Reason and Vertue the Turk by his Alchoran the Jew by Moses the Monke by the Rule of his Order the Spiritual Papist by mortification of the Spirit and this People by perfect obedience to the Light within that is the Law in this all are one all seeking righteousness by work in the flesh in obedience to Tradition or Letter or Spirit The Law is a great light manifesting all flesh and the deeds thereof a great Lord ruling over all flesh as long as it lives Christ came forth greater than the Law crucified the flesh and the body of death in himself and thereby put an end to the dominion of the Law unto all that believe thus in his Crosse I am dead to all things and they to me Whereas he saith they know not his Commands in Spirit who say Christ fulfilled the Law for us in his own person or that he makes what we do accepted with the Father I ask of him and of all in his perswasion Can yee pass through the depths of Sin Death and the Curse that he passed through yee neither know the Law nor what spirit yee are of Can yee bring forth the works of obedience an incorruptible righteousness in your corruptible bodies answering to that pure Law and most pure God before whom Moses did fear and quake and Abraham by works could not glory and no flesh can be justified were not all we like sheep gone astray and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all the chastisement of our peace was upon him and by his stripes we are healed where this is truly and purely believed Revelations of Christ are most desirable and glorious where this is excluded all pretended approaches to God Revelations of God or perfections of obedience will be but as hotter fires to consume first your faith and interest in Christ and after your precious souls with all your labour and pains and works To what he saies the bloud within makes perfect that without could not let it be said the bloud of the Man Christ through the eternal Spirit working therein became the death of the first Adam with all his deeds and all the evils that came in by him so with him am I already dead and freed from sin as in him the Head as this my death and freedome in him does reveale it self in me so I dye daily as in my earthly members If by the bloud within be intended this that as the bloud of Bulls and Goats was a figure of the bloud of Christ so his bloud was but a figure of bloud or Spirit within us then know assuredly that as the bloud offered in the first Tabernacle was offered without the Holiest though within the Tabernacle so the bloud within all purifyings by the light within will be found to be but the bloud without that is offered without the veyle without the Holiest though within your Persons But is not the Spirit sufficient in power to redeem from sin by his work within us let this be said as of use in most things that have been spoken the power of the Spirit is unsearchable and unlimited but the mystery of his Will is declared in Christ that not by Spirit alone but by Spirit and Bloud and that in one man he has redeemed and purged all the evils that came by the offence of one of old God filled Heaven and Earth yet he would be known and sought only in Jerusalem nothing could comprehend the God head yet the fulness of it dwelt in Christ bodily so the Spirit dwells in all his people yet through the bloud of the Man Christ alone did God chuse to go forth in his power to the abolishing of our death and manifesting eternal freedome for us so when it is said yee are justified redeemed and saved by God by Grace by the name of Christ by the Spirit of our God we are to understand that the Name and Grace and Spirit of God went forth against our sins and death in the bloud of Jesus and thereby did them away forever which by faith we behold and as we behold we are changed into the same Image from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord. Wherefore the proper use of the Law is first to bridle civil transgressions and then to reveale and encrease spiritual transgressions the Law is a Light which revealeth not the Grace of God not righteousness and life but sin and death wrath and judgement and as in Mount Sinai the thundring lightning the thick and dark cloud the hill smoaking and flaming and all that terrible shew did not rejoice nor quicken the children of Israel but terrified and astonished them and shewed how unable they were with all their purity and holiness to abide the Majesty of God so the Law in its true use doth nothing else but reveale sin work wrath and bring into desperation and here it hath an end and ought to go no further the use of the Gospel is to reveale the end of the Law of sin and wrath in the death of Christ and the righteousness peace and love of God brought forth for us in him I shall adde an observation of Luther of this difference between the Law and Gospel there is nothing to be found in the Books of Monks Cannonists and School men no nor in the Books of the ancient Writers there was a wonderful silence many years as touching this difference in all Schools and Churches and this brought mens consciences into great danger for unlâ—ss the Gospel be plainly discerned from the Law tru-doctrine cannot be kept sound and uncorrupt but if this difference be well known it is an easie matter to discern faith from works Christ from Moses and all politick works for all things without Christ are the Ministry of death for the punishing of the wicked Concerning Christ Jesus HIs Faith is that Christ humbled himself and became obedient unto death that he might become a living example to all Generations that the Light within every man unâ—ted and followed will lead unto Christ and will reveale the power and God-head and so the Light within is the sure word of Prophesie The word of Faith saies that Christ being the brightness of the invisible God came forth in flesh and being the eternal word wisdome and power of God and so having obtained a name and supremacy above all other Lords he put an end to the Law Sin and Death and the dominion thereof over us in his Crosse that he might bring forth Grace Righteousness and Life for us in himself that so we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without fear and is this no more than a living example to you and if so can ye after his example break through the gates of sin wrath and the grave and make your access unto God through all as he did is so great a mystery of Faith as this become no more with