action before life thereby to attain life and so we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them and this is ordained of God to be the fruit of our life and faith and in these good works we walk to his glory and depends upon him alone for the renewing of our strength to continue in them unto the end Q. But how do you manifest your good works which you say are ordained of God for you to walk in A. By our faith we manifest them and the manifestation doth clearly demonstrate the nature and root to be of God in which they are created and the nature and root in which they are created being of God they must needs be good and so they are good works as being of God and of God ordained that we should walk in them and that of God in every conscience bears witness to the same so that we know all our works to be wrought by him in us and for us and we do walk in them who are born of him and he alone hath the glory though the natural man perceiveth not from whence they are nor whither they goe Q. And is it your faith and love towards God that makes you such a willing people to serve God and to do his will A. Yes it is so for the day of his power hath overcome us and therein he hath begotten us unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and in him our faith and love is encreased and strengthened to run without weariness for in his life we have motion and action whereby we are willingly disposed to serve him and to do his will Q. But how do you know all these things you act and do are the commands of God and according to his will A. By the word of his power in us through which we are made sensible of all his commands unto us for as we are born of him so we know his voice and by his word we are instructed in his commands and thereby put upon motion to act and do them and in our duty he gives us his peace by which we know that all those things which we act and do are his commands unto us and according to his will Q. But are you so constrained through your faith and love towards God as to answer him in all things that he commands you A. Yes for if we should say we love him and do not keep his commands we should be lyars but we do so love him and our faith is so stedfast in him as that we are thereby constrained to keep his commands in all things for it is natural unto his own birth to delight to do his will and to do whatsoever he commandeth and hereby we know that his love is perfected in us and our faith and love is single unto him and as his good will is manifested unto ns even so is our hearts disposed in good will towards all men Q. What good will have you to such as you judge and condemn because they are not like-minded with you A. Much every way for that which we judge and condemn in any is only that spirit which wrongs them by which our good will is manifested unto that which suffers wrong and this is our judgment according to truth and knowing that the judgment of the Lord is according to truth and having felt it so in our selves through the condemnation of sin in the flesh we judg sin in the flesh in whomsoever it reigns that sin in the flesh may be condemned and they in the spirit may be justified and herein we manifest the universal love of God to be shed abroad in our hearts in which our good will extendeth unto all men Q. And is that the love with which you love your enemies A. Yes for as God had pity upon us in the day of our alienation from him and followed us with many tender visitations and also many righteous judgments even so we know that he would not have a sinner to perish and in this love we labour for the good of all people and it is the greatest manifestation of love to an enemy when his destruction is not sought but rather a condescending to recover him out of the state of his enmity into a state of reconciliation and peace and we know that there is none that are enemies unto us but they are enemies unto God and crucifies his life in themselves and therefore our love is in pity towards them though they be enemies unto us knowing that they cannot have peace with God whilst in that state they remain Q. And are you so disposed towards your enemies as that you cannot seek rerevenge when they do you wrong A. Yes that is the disposition of our nature not to seek revenge though we do suffer wrong for the revenging nature is in the fall in which people are enemies unto God and one to another but it is not so with us whom God hath redeemed for though we may have many enemies yet we are not enemies unto any though in the power of God by which we are redeemed we do bear testimony against the evil and the sin and that spirit in us doth not seek after revenge but in all long-suffering and patience we bear the enmity of our enemies and waits to see their conversion out of the enmity whereby our good will is manifested in love to their souls Q. But are you not the cause of the sufferings that comes upon you as being contrary minded unto all other people and so are enemies to your selves A. Nay the cause of our sufferings are not from our selves but from that spirit which cannot bear our testimony which God hath given us which testimony being contrary unto the actings and workings of the spirit of darkness it provokes the minds of such in whom it ruleth to enmity against us and that is the ground why sufferings comes upon us and we are clear for being enemies unto our selves in it as having our faith and love towards God in those things for which we suffer Q. But why can you not be conformable unto those things which other people observe and practice outwardly and yet keep your Faith and love towards God inwardly and so have your Faith to your selves A. Because we dare not deny or own that outwardly which God doth manifest to us inwardly either to be truth or out of the truth for so we should deny our Faith and love towards him every way and it is not possible that any should keep Faith and love to God inwardly and conforme to any practice outwardly which is contrary to their inward principle for as the body without the Spirit is dead so Faith without works is dead also and they that have Faith to themselves in the power of God they also have Faith in him to serve him in works of truth and righteousness and so we shew
we in it and so be put out of all doubts and questions in the reasonings concerning us and receive satisfaction in all things that pertaine unto us in life and godliness in which our Religion is pure holy and undefiled and was before unholiness or unrighteousness was and will remaine in iâ—s purity vvhen years shall pass avvay and be no more and this is the meaning of our doctrin to bring people to the everlasting word of God in themselves that they may come into rest and peace in the pure Religion where God is known in his loves grace and riches of mercy Q. If your Faith give you such assurance of your principle and Religion to be true and right then why cannot you defend it by force and so free your selves from that outward bondage which you suffer for your Religion A. Our Faith doth give us such an assurance but yet we cannot strive with our opposers and oppressours nor any way by force of carnal weapons seek to defend it for we know that it is sufficient to defend it self also to defend us that live in it and our weapons are Spiritual and not carnal we fight the good fight of Faith in the power of the Prince of peace and so we war against sin but followes peace with all men and can be ready in every office of love to doe good to our greatest enemies and herein we have been sufficiently proved to be a peacable people under every power by which we have or doe suffer and we have never resisted nor sought revenge upon any but in all things commits our cause unto God in whose sight we stand approved and he knows that as we are in words or appearance even so we are the same in heart and unto his judgement and tryall we appeale in our innocency and the principle of his life in every one doth bear witness for us and all that hearken unto it will receive a true evidence in themselves concerning our innocent and peaceable life Q. And doe you refer your tryal in all things to your own principle in others which you say is Christ the light and life and witness of God A. Yes We doe so for as we know that all judgement in heaven and earth is committed unto Christ so we know that there is not another that can truly try or judge of us besides him and therefore we have boldness to refer our tryal in all things unto him alone as knowing that his tryal and judgement is according to truth in every man and as our Faith is in him and our love unto him so we know that he will not condemne the works of his own hands but justifie the fruit of his own life power and virtue and his tryal and judgement will clearly evidence for us that we are his and not our own Confession It may now be perceived that you do not hold or maintain the things that you do to be from your selves or in your own wills but from Christ the foundation and principle A. Yes it is plainly so for of our selves we can do nothing but through Christ in whom vve have our strength vve are able to do all things so that our sufficiency is in him alone and by his power in us all our good works are wrought for us and unto him they all return that he in all things may have the preheminence and the glory for ever Resolved It being so there is no good ground why you should be called in question or any way suffer for your Faith and Religion seeing that what you do is from the power of Christ and his works are not to be denyed by any nor you to suffer in any case for the faith you have in him and the love you have to him and seeing that you deny your selves in what you do which many hitherto have thought you did not and that you are willing to be tryed and Judged according to the Judgment of truth in Christ you ought not in any wise to suffer by any other Tryal or Judgment whatsoever and all sober moderate people may be well satisfied with this Demonstration that your principle is of God and that your faith and love is unto God and your good will unto all men and none need not any farther stand in doubt of the truth of it but may be fully perswaded that you have Salvation and Eternal life by Jesus Christ which may overcome all that are yet contrary minded unto you to joyne with your principle that they may be of your Faith and Religion who are a people that loves God so singly and lives amongst men so peaceably which indeed doth clearly manifest your principle and Religion to be of God W. S. THE END A manifestation of Prayer in Formality and Prayer in the Spirit of God IT hath been a common Observation through Ages and Generations to perform something as a duty unto God by way of Prayer this common observation hath descended from one generation to another ever since the Apostacy entred in a customary and formal way still observing the practice in words and continuing the same as a duty unto God in the same manner and form not at all regarding or considering the present want or necessity of the present Age or Generation nor the present states and conditions of particular people but praying in the same Words and in the same Form from time to time and from generation to generation and so it flows as a natural stream in a common and customary practice from one generation to another and hence it is that people continue asking but do not receive because they ask amiss not feeling the Spirit that makes intercession And so the Pharisees made long prayers but received the greater damnation because they prayed not in the Spirit but in the customary formality which by the Spirit was condemned And it is very sad that people should all their life-time be complaining and asking and never come to receive satisfaction And this is the common way of Prayer in this present generation who have many prayers in formed words and with their mouths do often repeat them and in the formality make a practice of them and so at set-times and in set-prayers spend away their dayes but feel not the Lord nor his goodness And this common way of Prayer now used in the common Worship never brings people to obtain but keeps them alwayes asking where in answer to the Commandments they pray no this wise Lord have mercy upon us and encline our hearts to keep this Law and write all these thy Laws in our hearts we beseech thee Now if they would encline their hearts to the Spirit of God in themselves and obey it then the Spirit would encline their hearts to keep God's Law and the Spirit would write his Law in their hearts and put it into their inward parts and it would keep them that they should not depart from it and there they would feel
it is but the dispensation of it as it is the Law is not for the Law makes nothing perfect and there can be no true rest and peace but in that which is perfect and makes perfect Q. What then doth the administration of the Law serve unto if it make nothing perfect A. It serves as a Schoolemaster to bring unto Christ Q. How is it as a Schoolemaster in its administration A. In correcting and judging the transgressour and instructing and teaching in righteousness for the Law was added because of transgression Q. Is not Christ manifest through the dispensations of the Law and and the Prophets A. According to that dispensation unto which they serve he is so but it is but darkly as in a glass Q. How must the Law and the Prophets be passed thorow to come unto Christ who fulfills them A. By observing the Statutes and Ordinances that is therein contained whereby there is a going forward to the more full enjoyment of the perfection of Christ who fulfills the Law and the Prophets in the more glorious appearance of his own fulness and perfect life Q. Is the administration of the Law in force in this present age A. Yes it is in force to take hold upon all transgressours and it is Ministred in justice against the transgressour which erres from the Statutes and Ordinances that is therein contained Q. But are not people in this age under a Gospel administration and are they to be brought back again under the Law A. They that have not passed thorough the administration of the Law in themselves they are not under a Gospel administration and therefore they cannot be brought back again because they never went forward but they are to be brought into that which hitherto they have not known nor understood for a Gospel administration barely professed will not doe people any good and so it is that many in this age looks over the Law as an administration below their profession and that the Law was a more proper administration in ages past and more particularly to the Jews not understanding that it hath its proper administration in man whilest sin and transgression remaines in him and so it is in as full force in this age upon all transgressours as ever it hath been in ages past for whosoever in this age that doth offend in one point of it they will be found guilty of all and the judgement will take hold to the correcting of the guilty for God will by no means clear the guilty Q. And is the throne of judgement set up under the Law to judge and condemne the transgressors of the Law A. Yes it is so that every man might fear the Lord God who gives forth his Law in man to be kept and not to be broken Q. But is it possible that man can keep the Law in all things and not offend in any thing or that he can performe the requirings of God in that dispensation as it is a Covenant of works A. If there was not a possibility on mans part to keep it then it would seem hard that the Lord should command it and require it and for not keeping it to judge and condemne for it and there was some in ages past that walked before the Lord with perfect hearts and that under the administration of the Law but the shortness of observing or mans part is the weakness and unprofit ableness of the flesh so that he many times cannot doe the things that he would and therein the first Covenant is found faulty not in it selfe but in the sinfull flesh and if it had not been so concerning the observing of the first Covenant there could not be place for the second and therefore the works of the first Covenant doth not obtaine life and salvation but the free grace in the second Covenant that all people might dye to themselves according to the flesh and live unto God according to the spirit that so life and salvation may not be of works but by Grace in the rich mercy of God through Jesus Christ who in his full and glorious appearance in man is the end of the Law for righteousness and brings life and immortality to light by the Cospel and then there is no more servitude or bondage under the Law because of the weakness of the flesh but redemption wrought by the power of Christ from under it into a more perfect state of freedome and liberty in his own life Q What is signified by the Prophesies A. The nearer approaching or drawing nigh of Christ in his own fulness and and perfect life that whereas he hath been seen but darkly as in a glass under the Law he may be seen with open face in the compleat beauty of his own glory in the Cospel Q Of what service are the Scriptures as they are given forth and recorded without A. Much every way unto those that have received the same Spirit from which they were givenforth for unto such they are profitable and makes wise unto salvation and are unto them of service for instruction edification and comfort the same Spirit in them receiving the Testimony of the Spirit as it is declared in the Scripture and there is an agreement and union in the Spirit within and also in the words without and so there is instruction edification and comfort by the Scriptures unto all that are in the same Spirit as gave them forth Q. But are they of no further service then onely a Testimony of those things which was present in that time A. So much of them as was given forth by the holy men of God through the inspiration of the Almighty they testifie of Christ who was and is and is to come and that is onely their service in their place that through the Testimony therein declared unto Christ all people might come unto him and have life Q. By what doth Christ manifest his life so as that it may be known to be his life A. By his light he manifests it and as the light is received by which it is manifest so is life received in it Q. Is the light and the life distinct Principles A. Nay the light is Christ and the life is Christ and they are not distinct Principles but he is known to be light in manifesting and life in quickening Q. What is the administration of Christ in the appearance of his own fulness and perfect life A. An administration of love grace and mercy Q. And doth he appear to salvation in that administration of his love grace and mercy A. To as many as receives him in that appearance he becomes their salvation but such as reject him he is their condemnation Q. Is not that administration universal to salvation A. The manifestation of it is universal unto all but unbelievers have no part in it as an administration to salvation Q. What is his administration in that appearance of love grace and mercy unto such as reject him A. An administration
him when the darkness tempts him and when the lusts of the flesh are moving to any evil and thus doth the light within man manifest it selfe in order to Salvation Q. And is the light an universall manifestation unto all men A. Yes And that without respect of persons Q. And is the love of God universally tendred unto all in such a manifestation A. Yes For the light being manifest from the love it tendres it selfe in the manifestation Q. And is the love received by all unto whom it is so tendred A. Nay for many reject the light and will not become subject to the reproofe of it and they that doe so they doe not receive the love which in that manifestation is tendred unto them Q. But is there any thing that lyes on mans part in order to his salvation A. Yes he is to obey the light and follow it and then the light will teach him to deny himselfe and to take up the daily Cross Q. And doth the light work in order to salvation if man obey it and follow it A. Yes for he that obeyes the light and followes it he doth not abide in darkness but comes to the light of life Q. Hath man power in himselfe to turn to the light and to obey it and follow it A. Nay of himselfe he can doe nothing that is good nor turn from any thing that is evil but if he stand still when the light reproves him he there answers it in obedience as not joyning with that which the light reproves him for and so by giving diligence to the reproofe and standing still when reproofe comes he is there in obedience to it and then the love which is tendred in that manifestation it casts it selfe about him and with its strength it separates him from the sin and begets a dislike in him unto it so that he begins to abhor the appearance of it and then in the strength of the love he turns from the power of Satan unto the power of God where the light becomes his leader and teacher in the way of peace so that Salvation is in the light alone and not by any thing which is done by man of himselfe yet the light requires man to yeild himselfe unto it and yeilding himselfe unto it he answers the requirings of it in obedience and so becomes a servant to the light in all things Q. What doth the light work when man so yeilds himselfe to serve it A. It then rises in power and is felt to be powerfull to the pulling down the strong hold of sin and unthroaning the powers of darkness whereby the uncleane corrupted nature comes to be crucified and fleshly lusts condemned and so the burdens weights and loads are removed under which man hath travelled and groaned Q. But is the light sufficient to save man from all sin and to present him holy and blameless before God A. Yes it is so and they that love it knowes it to be so for the light is Christ and all power in heaven and earth is given unto him and there is nothing impossible with him nor too hard for him if man doe not reject him and rebell against him Q. And doth the power in its rising work contrary to mans own will wisdome and reason A. Yes for the power is the Cross unto the will wisdome and reason of man and in all things worketh as a cross unto that nature and stops it and chaines it and yoaks it down when it would be at liberty Q. And is that work of the power unto Salvation A. Yes if it be obeyed that the opposer doe not quench it it puts a difference between the precious and the vile and so rises as a hammer and knocks down the vile and takes hold on it as a fire and burnes it up and so man comes into the furnace where God is a consuming fire Q. But can any abide the day of his comming in such a dispensation A. Yes some there be that doe abide it who loves not their lives unto death but trusts in the Lord though he kills them Q. And is Salvation wrought through such a dispensation of Christ A. Yes for he is terrible whilest the wicked stand in his sight and reveales himselfe in flaming fire to execute vengeance upon the rebellious nature for his appearance unto Salvation is in judgment against all and upon all that would not that he should reigne Q. And doth Christ worke this worke in man A. Yes for sin is within man and there must Christ work to purge his conscience if ever he be made clean Q. But doe none know Christ to be Salvation but such as feeles his work within them A. No for it is to be understood that whilest man remaines in the fall he is under the power of darkness and therefore the power of Christ must work within him to subdue the power of darkness that ruleth over him and to save him from the temptations that the darkness entangles him in and so man is ever to stand in the pure fear of God and to waite for the appearance of his power to deliver him out of the snares in which he lyes entangled in the darkness and then he will feele the work of the power in him to cast out the strong man which hath kept the house and the power will keep man in the awe that he dare not sin for who have felt the judgment of the Lord for sin they stand in the pure fear least at any time their feet should slip into sin and this is true love to God when sin is denyed with which his Spirit is greived Q. And doth the power work effectually to Salvation as man yeilds himselfe unto it and denyes that which it doth reprove him for A. Yes it works effectually unto Salvation by destroying death and him that hath the power of it which is the Devil and so by the work of the power the old man is crucified the old works words and thoughts they all dye and sin is condemned in the flesh and the flesh is brought into subjection and silence through death and this man must know wrought in him by the power of God if ever he come to eternal life for no unclean thing that must enter into the Kingdome of God and therefore it must be denyed and put off before the Kingdome can be obtained Q. But must man pass through death and rise again whilest he is in the body A. Yes For except he be regenerated and born again he cannot enter into the kingdome of God and therefore he must dye to the first Adams flesh and be quickened and raised again in the second Adams spirit and so in the resurrection and life enter the Kingdome as a little child Q. And doth the work of the power bring death upon the first Adam through out A. Yes for no part or propertie of the first Adam that must live before God and as the second Adam rises in power