16.17 This little while cannot be at the end of the world after so many hundreds of yeers to be seen in a fleshly appearence but not many days hence that 's a little while Acts 1.5 Yea but how was this in the like manner for they saw him go up in the flesh true but they saw not the fulness of the Spirit dwelling in that flesh after 't was raised but when he should ascend and give gifts unto men then God who received gifts in the man as the Hebrew reads Psal 68.18 appearing in the Saints and in their flesh with that Spirit and power that was in Christ is said to come and thus in the same sense or in the like manner Jesus came as they saw him go up to heaven Indeed he was taken up in the Cloud but the Cloud was to take him out of their sight Act. 1.9 to take his fleshly presence out of their sight this they would fain see still but should not verse 10. and he will come again in a Cloud that is in our flesh when most confused and darke for so the Disciples were before the Spirit came at first The comfort is at his second coming when in our flesh we are most cloudy dark confused Christ will come or appear in us with more majesty power and glory in the glory of the Father in us Yea the Apostles themselves dream'd of a personal raigne of Christ or restoring the Kingdome to Israel Act. 1.6 But 't is not for you to know the times and seasons which the Father hath put in his owne power but ye shall receive power after that the holy Spirit is come upon you verse 7. Mark I pray you how the times and seasons of the Kingdom of Christ and of Israel with him was in the Fathers power this they were not to know nor could they while carnal but when the power of the holy Spirit came upon them they should then know the Kingdome restored to Israel when they had received power from on high for the Kingdome of God is within us This my dear Brother shall be made know to you and me that the Kingdome of God comes not by outward observation but seeing the Spirit shall againe be poured forth from on high Isa 32.15 let us wait for this together though our Palaces be forsaken verse 14. though our Church-fellowships and flesh fall for so 't will be before the Spirit come verse 9. to 13. for Christs pure flesh was crucified through weakness before he was raised in power or received the Spirits fulness Then shall we know the reign of Christ and of the Saints with him for a thousand years Rev. 20.4 6. but as yet what fleshly thoughts and interpretations have passed over these words by the Millenaries of old and by many gratious Saints of late what is all the book of the Revelation a Mystery and must these one thousand years onely be literally understood just for ten hundred of years and will not the Saints be more spiritual but still to think of a fleshly reigne a reigne of Christ after the flesh and of Saints after the flesh whereas no man nor Christ is to be known so any more And may not the one thousand years be but one day and that one day the day of God when God shall appear for that day is called one day Zach. 14.7 known to the Lord to the Lord alone in us Dear Sir I shall leave but two things and it may be a third to your serious considerations First you know the appearances of God from the beginning have been more and more spiritual and will be so to the end how fleshly and outward did he appear before and under the Law in visible forms In the Gospel the presence of the Lord and his power was more spiritual in inward and eternal things that is in things not seen 2 Cor. 4.18 Therefore the third dispensation which Mr. Mostons Letter tells you will be more spiritual yet Heb. 5.7 who in the days of his flesh c. that was when be was on earth therefore his being now in the Heaven is all in the Spirit for he is far above all heavens Eph. 4.10 for though Christ was in the days of his flesh yet he was not fully come till the Spirit was sent therefore this second coming will be more in the Spirit yet for the Apostles themselves had but the first fruits of the Spirit there will be a harvest a fuller measure of the Spirit then was in the Apostles times as the Prophets testifie Zach. 14.8.9.10 Secondly doth not the reigne of Christ which you hold forth in a fleshly presence hinder the Saints from looking for the Spirit that fulness of the Spirit promised by all the Prophets to be poured forth in the last dayes when he comes the second time without sin to salvation with fulness of the Spirit in us Lastly doth not that preaching of yours cause many Saints to be more carnal earthly looking for a Kingdome here below for they begin to reigne already as Kings but not with Christ nor in righteousness which is that alone and not in forms of Religion that shall dwell in the new Heaven and new Earth now waited for My dearest salutes and service present to all the Saints with you If I have not tyred your Spirit with these tedious lines and if you shall please to interpret my love and enlarged affections therein with acceptance thereof you will much more oblige Brecknock the 23 of Aug. 26. 1652. Your William Erbery For Mr. Walter Cradock Loving friend WHat was at first intended to all the Pastors in Wales that is now presented to you last who are first but as the first shall be last so He who is the last and the first is now beginning to appear not onely in the scattered Saints and against the gathered Churches but to gather up all into himself This is the hope and joy of Your William Erbery Dear Brethren IErusalem is ruined and Judah is fallen c. not onely Judah the National-Church but the gathered Churches of Saints that 's Jerusalem yet the old Jerusalem was the holy City a City in unity or compact together not onely in Spirit as Saints but in Forms as Churches but the Churches of Saints being this day divided in both and de filed also in their worships and walkings shew that they are fallen from their first love and from that Gospel-faith which wrought by love unfained to all Saints and to all men besides that pure conscience peaceable converse with holiness and heavenly mindedness self-denial and zeal once appearing among the Saints in Wales being so far from their present profession I could not but write and print because not admitted or not invited to confer in your Congregations What I have said and done in publique I am not sorry for though sorrow and sufferings are in my flesh being forced in Spirit to make my self bare first and then my brethrens nakedness
Salvation of Life and Love in that Letter though few finde it or the way to it as Christ tells them Again said the good Man this is another part of the Gospel As many as received him John 1.12 to them he gave power to become the sons of God even to those that believed in his name For so 't is written in the Gospel of Saint John saith he as if all were Gosple which is written in the Evangelists whereas Christ was a Minister of the Circumcision Rom. 15.8 or legal Teacher Secondly the Gosple that he taught was but in part that which was proper onely to the Jewish Church Mat. 15.24 not that to be preached to the world Thirdly what Gospel or glad tydings is it to tell the world that none should be saved but the Elect and Believers whereas Christ came to save onely the lost giving a word of life to all men Act. 13.48 47 that they might believe or shutting up all in unbeliefe that he might have mercy upon all Rom. 11.32 But the Man thought there was no Gospel but what is written in the Gospel of Matthew Mark Luke and John These men you must know are Ministers of the Gospel these are the Itinerants in Wales who know no further of the Gospel then that or what is written in the Epistles whereas these were not that Gospel which the Apostles preached to the world but proper to the Churches onely to whom those Letters were written Again Christ as I said before being a Minister of the Circumcised or legal Teacher taught the Gospel as 't was also under the Law darkly in types and figures in parables and precepts Mat. 13.35 John 16.25 Again 't was his design then to do so to the Jewish Church to confound them the more Mat. 13.13 14 15. to blind them and harden them that they might not hear any thing but for their owne destruction as I am perswaded the mystery of Christ and of the Gospel is for this cause a sealed book this day to all the Preachers and Pastors of Churches that they might be blinded and stumble and fall together Thirdly as the rejecting of the Jewish Church was a way for the receiving and call of the Nations so the fall of the Churches this day is for the rising of the world Isa 2.3 â— Rev. 14.6 8. to the knowledge of the everlasting Gospel which God alone and not man shall teach that is the Ministry of the Spirit which shortly shall come forth with power and glory in the weakest Saints to raise up the former desolations made by the abomination or Apostacy and to restore the waste Cities or Apostate Churches yea the desolations of many generations Isa 61.3 Rev. 22.17 4. But to turn to our Welsh Teacher before mentioned the man it seems afterward bethought himself and was ashamed of what he said and therefore followed me to my Inn desiring to be friends with me which I ever was and am stil to him and to all men also But see how unconstant and unquiet the poor creature was for because he had then with his Clamors confounded the Auditory and to his power made that which I had spoken in publick to be of no effect or forgoten I promised to speak once more to my honest Country-men there in that place a fortnight after when he coming there again stept up before me to preach in Welsh whom yet I quietly heard all the time till he had ended his Sermon not contradicting him at all though I could in many things and in most Afterward I began to speak to the English for many of the Welsh understood declaring something concerning the glorious appearance of the great God in the last dayes that he would so appear in man that men should be made like him that God would be both a Heaven and a Hell to men that most men should be in a Hell upon earth as that some should have a Heaven here I mean the inhabitants of the new Jerusalem the onely thing I was alwaies upon to my dear Country I also spake of Gods coming forth as Fire in the last times c. but had no sooner finished my discourse but the Gentleman starts up again and begins to contradict and withstand my words the second time to the trouble and tumult of the company who being strange to such open affronts and publique contests in the Church began to forget what they heard before and to rise up on their seats as if they were to see a shew Upon this without answering a word I went out of the place in silence leaving the man to speak what he pleas'd to the people but as I was going out of the Church he turning about and crying after me I answered no more but this word unto him Mr. Davys you will be shortly in the Fire for the fire was that I then had spoken of and so I departed in peace But as I said before let all men judge from that aforesaid whether such men are fit to be Ministers of the Gospel who think the Gospel to be that which is written in the four Evangelists or in the Apostles Epistles whereas the one is but an Historical relation or report of Christ in his life and death c. The Epistles are only particular Letters of some special concernment to the Churches not that which the Apostles preached to the world and as Christ was a Minister of the Circumcision in the days of his flesh while he was alive on earth so Christ never preached the Gospel indeed Eph. 2.17 till after he was dead then he came forth in the Spirit preaching peace c. in the Apostles And the Gospel which the Apostles preached to the world 't was not that which they wrote to the Churches nor yet what they read in the Scriptures of the Prophets for to what purpose was this to the Heathens to tell them of Moses and the Psalmes But the Gospel was a Mystery which in the light of God they could manifest to men and make all men see themselves in God that 's in Christ Yet most of the Independent and Baptized preachers of the Gospel know no farther of the Mystery then what is written in the letter of Scripture especially in the Evangelists or Epistles whence they can onely take their Gospel-texts Indeed Christ being a Minister of the Circumcision and preaching the Gospel in part as I said in a legal manner took a text of Scripture out of the Prophets as the Apostles also preaching to the Jewes made use of the Scripture to them Luk. 4.16 Act. 13.27 Act. 15.21 compare But preaching the Gospel to the world they neither mentioned Scripture nor spake from a text Act. 14.17 Act. 17.27 21. for what was Moses and David and the Prophets to those who never heard of such men nor owned their writings though indeed indited by the Spirit of God 2 Pet. 1.21 which Spirit moved those who spake
all the Saints with you to look for this Col. 3.1 that is next and nearest to you to rise not onely from sin as those under the second dispensation were risen but to rise from self as we shall in the third when God shall be all in all that we may all hear him in us speaking with power Arise shake thy self from the dust Isa 52.2 arise and sit down O Jerusalem loose thy self from the bands of thy neck O captive Daughter of Sion Farewell Your William Erbery For Mr. Ambrose Moston Beloved Sir I Wrote unto you once before I received yours last but mine miscarried and 't is no matter for the whole contents thereof concerned outward things as Church-Order Ordinances and Officers which I proved then not to be of the primitive institution with power from on high and appearance of the Spirits presence in gifts Luk. 24.49 Act. 1.4 5. Act. 21.4 33. which was the ordinary constitution of a Gospel-Church First in order that is the manifestation of the Spirit in manifold gifts called the Baptisme of the Spirit this being the pouring forth of all the gifts of the Spirit 1 Cor. 12.7 12. 1 Cor. 14.1 12. for some the Church under the Law had as gifts of prophesying signes miracles raising the dead c. which the present professing Gospel-Churches are far below even that legal dispensation Secondly The Officers of Christ Act. 14.23 1 Tim. 4.14 2 Tim. 1.6 James 5.14 Act. 20.23 were as for number five Eph. 4.11 so the lowest Elder Pastor and Teacher was ordained with a gift of the Spirit given by the laying on of hands by which as they were enabled for their ministerial work so were they to abide and to sit down with their particular flocks for the Apostles onely were to go forth to the world Col. 1.23 25. as the Evangelists were appointed to ordain Eiders in every City Tit. 1.5 Act. 13.1 2 3. and the Prophets to minister unto the Lord in the Churches laying on their hand on such Apostles who were successively sent abroad out of those Churches to preach the Gospel with the holy Spirit sent downe from heaven 1 Pet. 1.12 Eph. 3.4 5. Col. 1.27 28 29. without which the Mystery of Christ could not be manifest to men This was the full ministery of Christ in those five which the world could not want nor the Church be without the want of which leaves both in Babylon or confusion as it has been all along the Apostacie and is now more visible this day to many scattered Saints Thirdly The Ordinances which are in the gathered Churches are far from the primitive institution in matter and form For first a Psalm a Doctrine a Tongue Interpretation Revelation were ordinary 1 Cor. 14.26 because for edifying and therefore Ordinances of the Church of Christ these are not now at all go the edifice is fallen into confusion that 's Babel Secondly the Ordinances which are as the Childish tradition of Childrens Baptisme the breaking of bread which should be the Communion of Christs body cannot be administred because the body is not onely dead Ezek 37.3 16. as the dry bones of Babylon but divided as the two sticks there and how then can there be a communion when there is no union of the body for as there was before in the Gospel-state but one Spirit one baptisme so but one body all believers and Gospel-Saints walked in one Church-way one way of worship doctrine and discipline c. and though there was particular divisions between brother and brother yet not between Church and Church for the body was but one as I said Now the Saints by calling have diverse baptismes and are divided bodies how can there be then breaking of bread or communion of the body 't is but the bread of Mourners Hosea 9.4 read it in the Spirit I will not speak of our Common-prayers and customary carnal singing of Psalmes for though Prayers were publiquely performed in the Jewish Church that Church being national Act. 2.42 yet in the Gospel-Churches being a company of Saints Prayers were proper onely in the Church as fellowship and breaking of bread was only there not with the world or multitude therefore Christ and his Apostles did never pray with their preaching Act. 3.1 12. Act. 4.24 compared These were the things I then enlarged to you in the Letter that was lost and truely I intended not now to speak a word of this when I first put pen to paper there is a providence and the hand of God in it which led mine thus far that you might lay it to heart Indeed Sir these are but outward things there are more inward spiritual and eternal truths I purposed to present to your serious thoughts that is the new Jerusalem coming down from God out of Heaven what the Lord has taught me therein I cannot now express only to tell you that I teach nothing now to man but the new Ierusalem in which when the Saints shall be gathered as they shall all be one for there 's but one street in that City so there being no Temple there but the Lord God and the Lamb the divided forms of Church-worship being fallen with Babylon shall appear no more but God will be seen to dwell in his people with that light and love that many Nations shall be joyned to the Lord in them 't is not said joyned to them now for God shall be all in all This I call the third Dispensation differing from Law and Gospel-order yet comprehending both above both for Ierusalem is above and that was above to the highest Apostle will come downe and appear to the least and lowest of Gods people Gal. 4.26 for 't is the mother of us all yea the child shall dye a hundred years old Isa 65.20 Eph. 4.13 for the least child of God shall come to a perfect man to the fulness of the stature of Christ that is shall see himself filled with all the fulness of God as the most perfect man on earth Eph. 4.13 This third dispensation or third discovery of God all the Prophets did write of Rom. 8.18 23. and all the Apostles waited for the glory to be revealed in us the glorious liberty of the sons of God saith Paul 1 John 3.2 the appearing of God even the glorious appearing of the great God in us when we shall be like him and see him as he is saith Iohn the new heaven and the new earth saith Peter 2 Pet. 3.13 all this we wait for say they and Iohn saw it coming down even the new Ierusalem after Babylons fall The fall of Babylon will be by confusion when this comes to the Churches and in the Spirits of the Saints they shall then begin to see what before they were blind unto yea the blind alone shall see for they that see shall be made blind Iohn 3.39 Isa 29.18 But this is the comfort to me
Amos 6.1 4 7 8. compared Zach. 2.7 Deliver thy self O Sion that dwellest the daughter of Babylon so the Hebrew reads as if Sion were become the daughter of Bahylon Ezek. 37.12 which fact of mine many and my self also sometimes have judged as that of Cham who uncovered his Father or like Edom who looked on the day of his brother c. but finding you at ease in Sion and the daughter of Sion in Babyloâ— â—artaker of her sins ye thus partake of her plagues having a Vial of wrath poured on you all being made naked by God that men see your shame For my part I am willing to bear my shame and his wrath with you and thus to suffer with all the Saints yea to dye and lye down in the open valley with the dry bones till God raise us up together from Babylon and bring us out of our graves of Forms and Flesh which do even bury and hide from the sight of men the glorious appearance of the great God in us now ready to be revealed in these last times when God shall appear when he shall rise and his glory be revealed in us the Saints in Wales will not onely walk in the same light they formerly did but in higher discoveries of God and of Christ yea in more holy and righteous ways with men This is the new Jerusalem and new Earth wherein dwells righteousness and because I hear a sound of the new Jerusalem coming down from God out of Heaven among you and one of you saying that one Form should knock out another till that come c. I am come in the Spitit of love with meekness and fear to give an account of the hope that is in me to my owne Country first where I hold forth nothing but the new Ierusalem in which God shall gather all the Saints first even those who look for his coming in whom he will so appear in power and glory dwelling in the midst of them that many Nations shall joyne to the Lord in that day and these Northern Nations I believe will be the first fruits of the world for the Nations of them that are saved shall walk in the light of the new Ierusalem and men shall dwell it and there shall be no more utter destruction but Ierusalem shall be safely inhabited Zach. 14 11. Rev. 21.24 What multitudes of men shall inhabit that City the Prophets shew not onely that Ierusalem shall be without Walls and that a Nation shall be born in one day but many shall flow in like the Sea that our hearts shall fear and be enlarged for the abundance of Savage people that shall come in and cover us c. Isa 60 5 6 8 9. I say we shall fear at fiâ—st whether such may be received by us but again our hearts shall be enlarged to accept those whom God dothâ— causing them to come up to his Altar Zach. 2.5 Isa 55.5 Psa 66.8 and to beautifie the house of his glory verse 7.13 and though but little of this appear at present and it appears but to a few yet a little one shall become a thousand and a smal one a strong Nation I the Lord will hasten it in his time verse 22. This was not fulfilled in the Gospel-dispensation though it was in part performed then yet that the full accomplishment thereof is referred to a third dispensation in these last daies appears by the parallel of Isai 60.19 20 21. with Rev. 21.22 23 24 25. this new Ierusalem being that third dispensation differing from Law and Gospel-Churches yet comprehending both and above both as the glory of the Gospel was above that of the Law and darkned the light thereof even as the rising Sun doth the Moon when it shines at full but the light of the Moon shall be as the light of the Sun and the light of the Sun sevenfold as the light of seven days in that day that the Lord shall hind up the breach of his people and heal the stroke of their wound Isa 30.20 The breach will never be made up among the Saints nor their wounds healed till they come to the new Jerusalem where there is a Tree of life the living God in the midst of them the fruit whereof is fresh and new to feed them every month who are now cut off in one and the leaves thereof the very appearance of God in the Saints shall be a healing to the Nations much more to themselves Rev. 22.2 This health and happiness and a heaven upon earth as well as hereafter I wish unto you and wait for in my flesh with all the Apostles and Prophets that the throne of God and the Lamb may be in you that you may not onely serve him waiting on him and for him but see his face and his name on your foreheads verse 4. that your selves may not only see the Lord fully in you but that all who see you may say Surely the Lord is in you of a truth and so joyn to the Lord with you then ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord men shall call you the Ministers of our God that 's the glory of the Law and Gospel in you Isa 61.6 yea all that see you shall acknowledge that you are the seed which the Lord hath blessed verse 2. That 's more then many will yet say of you but I can knowing not onely the grace but the glory that is in you and when that glory shall be seen on you as it shall Isa 60.1 then men shall see and you will say that I am in the truth Cardiff the 31 of Aug. 1652. Your faithful friend and servant in the Lord William Erbery A DISPUTE at Cowbridge Glamorganshire WITH Mr. Henry Nichols Pastor of an Independent Church and Parson of a Parish-Church Ergo None of the best though a new-modeled Minister Nor one of the old Welsh Saints who minded Godliness more then Gain 1 Tim. 6.6 Perverse disputings of men of corrupt mindes and destitute of the truth supposing that gain is godliness From such withdraw thy self 1 Tim. 6.5 For Mr. Davy Walter Worthy Sir I Wrote unto you in Wales a few lines in answer to yours Your judging of what I publikely spake because the weakest and worst of men would hear me was no argument with Christ whom Publicanes and harlots willingly heard and whom he friendly received yea feasted with when Pharisees and Hypocrites were offended Truly Sir I know your sincerity and singleness of heart yea your unsetledness and loosness of spirit from all Church-forms and empty forms of godliness waiting for a higher Power and Spirit to appear in the Saints which will gather up not themselves onely but many Nations with them into God This is all I have taught my dear Country-men in Wales yet indeed Sir I should never have published this wilde Dispute but that I promised it on the place for it was so confused and full of Soloecisms and illogical proceeds that if
all particulars were written it would nauseate any Scholar or spiritual man Such a one I wisht my Antagonist had been for then he should have understood me or I him therefore I desired Mr. Nichols in a Letter the week before that we should reason together in private among Rational and Religious friends both his and mine But he was resolved to have it in publike either that the simple Welsh people might wonder at his wisdom or that his folly and mine might appear to all And truely I was a fool to accept of a dispute before an illiterate multitude and without a Moderator for many sometimes would be speaking at once But it was agreed upon at last that M. Nichols should be Respondent because I was by Argument to maintain the Truth that I taught which he had rumoured abroad to be Errour and Heresie The things were these First That the new Jerusalem is a state of the Saints in this life This he denied Secondly That the Saints this day have not a Gospel-faith This he affirmed Thirdly That God is in union with mankinde This he was negative too But I was to maintain all three in these following Arguments For the first I had many grounds to build upon and to prove that the new Jerusalem is a state of Saints in this life First because it must be immediately after Babylons fall which is in this lise where Babylon must fall and rise no more Rev. 18.21 Rev. 19. throughout Rev. 20.1 7. Rev. 21.2 3. Secondly New Jerusalem comes down from God out of heaven not goes up to heaven from earth Thirdly there God dwells with men not men with God for 't is a new earth as well as a new heaven Fourthly whole Nations are here to be saved and the Nations saved with their Kings bring their glory and honour to it which cannot be in heaven above as men conceive but 't is a third dispensation differing from Law and Gospel-Order For the first was a nation saved by the Lord. Deut. 33.29 Act. 2.47 Zach. 2.11 In the second believers of all Nations were saved or joyned to the Lord not to a Church but to the Lord not in any particular form of Religion Isa 60.21 but in the power of righteousness The first Argument was thus The Nations of them that are saved walk in the light of the new Jerusalem Rev. 21.24 and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honour to it Ergo the new Jerusalem is a state of the Saints in this life Secondly Jerusalem shall be inhabited Zach. 2.4 as a city without walls for the multitude of men and cattel therein Ergo 'T is in this life M. Nichols Answers to both truely I remember not nor his to most of my Arguments onely to this second his answer was in laughter like Solomon's wise man Eccles 7.6 crying aloud to the people Hawer here 's cattel in heaven whereas my proof was that New Jerusalem in Zechariah was not heaven because cattel are there Yet contrary to Order Mr. Nichols would needs object and what That the new Jerusalem is not this life why Because saith he none shall enter in that defileth or telleth a lye Rev. 21.27 I caught him presently in three before witnesses One was a great untruth for whereas I was saying upon occasion that Zechariah's prophecie was after the Captivity M. Nichols would face me down before the people that his Prophecie was before and Adeodate saith he is of the same judgement with me The next day that I spake Adeodate was brought and read in publike Adeodate in Zach. 1. whose words were quite contrary to that M. Nichols said of him yea the Scripture is clear that Zachary prophesied in the second and fourth yeers of Darius that 's after the Captivity Zech. 1.1 7.1 Ergo said I Mr. Nichols must not enter into the new Jerusalem 'T was his own Argument Isa 65.22 But my third was this In the new Jerusalem men shall build houses plant vineyards labour and live long Ergo New Jerusalem is a state in this life The second thing that I held forth as truth to me was this That none of the people of God this day have a Gospel-faith Which I proved first by an Argument ex enumerat is or ex particularibus c. Neither M. Nichols nor any of the godly Preachers with him nor the people of God this day have a Gospel-Church Ergo None have c. 'T was proved thus Those who live not of the Gospel Isa 2.4 have not a Gospel-faith For the just live by faith But neither M. Nichols nor any of the godly Preachers with him live of the Gospel Ergo. The minor or second Proposition I proved thus Those who live upon Tythes 1 Cor. 9.14 live not of the Gospel But M. Nichols and the rest of the godly Preachers in Wales live upon Tythes Ergo. This was unanswerable therefore to the people of God I proposed a second Argument thus Those that have not received the Spirit which Jesus gave after he was glorified have not a Gospel faith John 7.39 But the Saints this day have not received that Spirit c. Ergo. This I proved First because that Spirit was not before given or as the Greek there reads The Spirit was not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Secondly the Spirit which the Apostles had before and afterward breathed on them by Christ risen John 14.17 John 20.22 was not that Spirit which Jesus gave when he was glorified or ascended but the Saints this day have not that Spirit as the Apostles had before much less the Spirit which Jesus gave after he was glorified Ergo. Thirdly the Spirit which Jesus gave after he was glorified was the Baptism of the Spirit which the Apostles themselves had not received before Act. 1.5 till not many days after the Resurrection that is the pouring forth of all the gifts of the Spirit on the Church Act. 2.33 38. which present Churches and purest Christians are far from Ergo Nâ—ne have a Gospel-faith The third Argument was from Joh. 14.12 Those who do not the works which Christ did and greater also then those have not a Gospel-faith But none of the Saints this day by all their faith can do those works and greater also Ergo. The Argument is stronger in Christ who gives a double asseveration to it Verily verily that is not onely assevers but swears as Calvin interprets Joh. 14.12 Secondly those who believed on Christ did greater works then he did in the days of his flesh Act. 9.18 Act. 2.8 41. Act. 4.4 for some gave the Spirit by the laying on of hands 2. Others could speak to every one in his own tongue 3. They converted many thousands at once 4. Could preach the Gospel to every creature under heaven whereas Christ did onely to one Nation Col. 1.23 Mat. 15.24 Mark 6.4 Mark 16.17.18 for his commission was no farther 2. Converted but
and he are perfect in one with the Father and as the Beast is the Wisdome of man and the Power of man in the Church that 's the seven Heads and ten Hornes c. so Christ is the Wisdome of God and Power of God which was in the Church and is though not known and is to come for that 's his name God with us Rev. 1.4 8 9 10 13 verses Christ in us the hope of glory which is to come when the mystery of God shall be finished or fully known to men at the sounding of the seventh Trump which is the last Trump the Trump of God when the great Trump shall be blown c. which is the last discovery of God When this great Trump is blown those who were ready to perish in the land of Assyria and the out-cast in the land of Aegypt shall come and worship the Lord in the holy Mount at Jerusalem Isa 27.13 That 's the new Jerusalem which shall come down from God out of Heaven after Babylons fall and freedome of all the Saints from that double bondage now upon their spirits not onely of gathered Churches but of scattered Saints 't is spoken of the one as ready to perish and the other as outcasts in Assyria and Egypt too as I said that 's the twofold captivity we are all carryed away in till the great Trumpet be blown Then the dead bones shall rise out of Babylon Ezek. 37.12 and God will open the graves of his people who shall all come forth out of their forms and flesh when the glory of the Lord shall cover them V. 19. and they live in the Eternal Spirit together then the two sticks also the divided societies of Saints shall become one c. for that 's the third dispensation called the dispensation of the fulness of time when all things both in heaven and earth shall be gathered up into one Ephes 1.10 11. all the Saints of highest appearances and of lowest performances both those of Legal tempers and Gospel attainments shall be gathered up into one into that glory into God himself This Resurrection of the dead Phil. 3.11 12 13.14 2 Pet. 3.13 the Apostle had not attained to though pressing toward it and Peter was waiting for it in the new Heaven and new earth for the old heaven and old earth both Legal and Gospel-dispensation vanish away in God Rom. 21.1 yea there 's no more Sea saith Iohn no more of that dividing and destroying Principle in man for that 's the Sea which has made the Saints not onely to dash one against another but every one to be as an Isle by himself and so indeed it must be in Babylons fall not a man to be found Isai 13.12 but every man flies to his own Land v. 14. to live solitary and alone in his own light Mich. 4.5.10 compared that light which shines in every man and every man in his God but every one that is found shall be thrust through and every one that is joyned with them that 's not in the Hebrew but every one that is joyned in Babylon shall fall by the sword v. 15. There 's no building of Temples in Babylon nor joyning there in Church-fellowship for that will fall and we with it till we retire alone into our selves or the Spirit rather in us and this we must be Zach. 12.12 every man apart by himself every Famlily apart and their wives apart man and his wife though nearest and dearest flesh Jer. 31.9 So the Margent there must be separated when the Spirit of Grace and Supplication or favours begins to appear to take us up into glory Then the multitude of the Isles shall rejoyce when the Lord comes to Raign Psal 97.1 the Raign of God and of Christ or the Saints with him being the same with their Resurrection the first Resurrection Isai 60.1 Ezek. 37.25 26. Zach. 14.5 9. For as by the great Trumpet they are gathered one by one Isai 27.12 so this shewes that all the Saints shall be found as so many Isles every one alone by himself made so by the Sea but the Sea shall be no more when the new Heaven and the new Earth comes Rev. 21. then all the people of God shall become one Land one Continent wherein the Lord alone shall live Ezek. 37.21 this is the Land so much spoken of by the Prophets the Land of the living the land of Israel who are promised to be brought to their own Land being now in a strange Land in Babylon but he that scattered Israel will gather him Jer. 31.10 and the Saints who are now scattered in and by their gathered Churches yea all the scattered Saints with them shall be gathered up into God who indeed is he who scatters as well as gathers we do nothing we can do nothing but in him who is All in all In this mystery of the Resurrection all your Questions in the Letter will be answered your doubts satisfied your darkness cleared your Captivity ended for 't is the glorious liberty of the children of God the manifestation of the sons of God Isai 52.8 the appearing of the great God in us when we shall be like him see him as he is know him as we are known see him eye to eye Isai 61.9 10. as he sees us we shall see him see his Face and his Name on our foreheads that is we shall not onely see God Rev. 21.3 Rev. 22.4.18 19. Rom. 8. but men shall see God in us for all that see us shall acknowledge that we are the seed which the Lord hath blessed the blessed seed is Christ the Son of God so all the Saints shall be in the glory of the Father when the Sonne shall be subject 1 Cor. 15.44 and God All in all This is the Adoption and Redemption of the body the Resurrection of the body when the body Rom. 8.23 now natural or soully as the Greek reads it shall be raised spiritual 2 Cor. 15.45 the Eternal Spirit appearing to be all in all This will be in every one of us in particular for we must be gathered one by one and this will be in all the Saints in general who are the body the dead in Babylon the dead body of Christ there But thy dead men shall live together with my body they shall arise c. Isa 26.19 together with is not in the Hebrew which reads Thy dead men shall live my dead body they shall arise c. that is when the Lord God in us all shall slâ—y us all and all flesh to himself our gifts our graces and all shall be slain to God and by him His sword his spirit the fire shall do it we must all dye come downe to the dust lye there as the dry bones not so much as flesh or skin upon us much less strength spirit and life yet we shall live though now dead yea the dead
shall live that is as none see God but the blind none hear him but the deaf deaf to man and to self so the dead alone can live Isa 29.18 and they live in death who finde themselves the dead body of the Lord my dead body they shall arise awake and sing ye that dwell in the dust c. in the lowest estate of flesh when the first man Adam is turned to dust when we are nothing we are all in God and God is all in all and in this we may sing together For the third man bears the Image of the heavenly which is the second dispensation typified in the third daies Resurrection of Christ as I shall tell you another time with God I 'll say no more 't is love 't is the Lord that makes the dumb to sing and the tongue of the Stammerer to speak plainly or elegantly as the margine reads it Isa 32.4 Your lines were so to me full of divine elegance of love and delight Eph. 3.17.18.19 truely 't is my love to you likewise and the Lord in me has made me in much haste to stammer this much unto you I am now silent yea dumb the Lord God who rejoyceth over you with singing will sing and speak himself with delight in you There I leave you and all the Saints with you your beloved wife whose I am as I am Yours William Erbery For Mr. Henry Walter Dear Brother I Am bold thus to salute you John 14.20 Gal. 4.26 Joh. 17.21 22. Rom. 8.18 Rev. 21.2 Col. 3.1 2. because we are both in the Father and in Jerusalem that is above which is free and the mother of us all though all the Saints see not nor the glory in which they are already but when the glory shall be revealed in them they shall then see the new Jerusalem coming downe from God out of heaven and him alone dwelling in them that is the state of all the Saints that ever were or shall be their being was and is in God and there they were from the beginning and before the worlds 2 Pet. 3.13 Rev. 10.7 Rev. 21.3 and this we wait for to appear in us all in these last times when the mystery of God shall be finished and fully known when that life and glory which we have with Christ in God though now hid from us shall be revealed in us and upon us also so that not onely we shall see God in us but men shall see and say that surely God is in you of a truth as my letter to Mr. Cradock will tell you at large this is the new Jerusalem and then we see that holy City coming down from God out of Heaven when that which was hid with God as 't were in Heaven shall be manifested to us and in us on earth and our life as I said which was hid with Christ in God shall so visibly or clearly appear in us and to men that it shall be seen a tree of life in the midst of us not onely yeilding fruit every month to our selves to strengthen us but holding forth leaves such an outward appearance of glory in us to men that it shall heal and satisfie them Rev. 22.2 this is that pure river of life clear as crystal proceeding out of the throne of God and out of the Lamb that is in us when all that glory of God in Christ shall be so clearly manifest on us that this river of life which is in us shall run forth and stream abundantly among the sons of men who are as the sea spoken of Ezek. 47.8 all whose Fish shall be healed by the living waters coming to it verse 9 10. as the fruit of the tree of life before and here mentioned verse 12. is for meat and the leaves thereof for medicine for healing or bruises as the margin reads and Rev. 22.2 for the healing of the Nations T is not the Nations onely or National-Churches but the gathered Churches and scattered Saints also want this healing such breaches and bruises are upon Societies and Spirits that God alone can heal us all and will in that day wherein he shall reveal himself with glory in us Isa 30.26 When that day comes called the day of God when God shall come that is appear in us all then all the Saints shall come with him yea with thee as Zach. 14.5 How can this be that all the Saints shall come with thee surely thus when God shall come or appear in thee all the Saints shall come or appear with thee in God Therefore as Jerusalem of old was a City in unity Psa 132.3 Eph. 4.4 Act. 4.32 or compact in it self and as the Apostolique Churches or spiritual Jerusalem had the unity of the Spirit and bond of peace being one body and so having all one heart and one soul so in the new Jerusalem much more unity peace and love will appear in all the Saints one to another and toward all men Therefore though the City had twelve Gates yet but one street that 's strange Rev. 21.21 yea the Gates of the City were never shut day nor night but always open to receive all that 's stranger yet vers 25. yet so it is Isa 60.11 compared with verse 5. to 10. and as but one street in that City Rev. 22.2 so but one Tree on either side of the River verse 2. that 's as strange how on both sides the River should grow but one Tree True Ezekiel being under the legal dispensation saw many trees but John in the second dispensation seeing the third approaching saw but one Tree on each side the River one River in the street and but one street in the City so all the Saints though many in forms and flesh shall be seen in Spirit one in the Lord yea one Spirit with the Lord himself Oh how many streets are in the great City Babylon how many streets in our Cities below how many Societies how many Churches divided in Spirit and in Form also one from another and in themselves Surely the Saints are in Babylon when their Societies and gathered Churches are become not onely the scattered bones dead but as the two sticks Ezek. 37.2 verse 13. divided and dry too for 't is but sticks not living branches I call the Churches so not the Saints therein for the life of grace is in them though truly it be much hid from others and hid to themselves this day yea dead in many and in most buried with earth and earthly mindedness I 'll say no more My dear Brother let us wait together for the first Resurrection if by any meanes we may attain unto it Rev. 20.6 that the dead in Christ may rise first that the dead and divided Saints may rise out of Babylon Ezek. 37.12 23. that God may bring us out of our Graves of forms and flesh being defiled in both I do not by this deny the general Resurrection that shall be but desire you and