Christ down from above or to descend that is to bring Christ from beneath c. but the word to wit Christ is nigh thee in the heart and in the mouth to be obeyed and done and this is the Word of Faith that Paul preached nigh in the heart Even Christ in them â—he living hope that was as an Anchor to their Souls sure and stedfast the hope of Glory And Paul exhorted the Corinthians to examine themselves and to prove themselves whether they were in the Faith whether they knew not Christ to be in 2 â—or 13. 5. them except they were Reprobates And John in his writing to the Saints reminds them of that within which they had heard from the beginning and says to them Let that remain in you to wit The word which was in the beginning which you have heard from the beginning and if it shall remain in you ye shall continue in the Son and in the Father and tells them That they should not need that any man should teach them but as the anoynting which they had received of God abiding in them should teach them which was the Truth to wit Christ the Truth in them the anoynted the anoâ—nting And as he had and did teach them so they were to abide in him so they knew Christ in them witnessed the Power of God within the Truth witâ—iâ— the Word nigh in their hearts the Spirit of God in their inward parts by which they were led guided taught anâ— instructed For so many as are the Sons of God saith Paul are led by the Spirit of God and he that hath not the Spirit of Christ is none of his and this gave them an understanding in the things of God even the Spirit of God For no man knows the things of God saith Paul but by the Spirit â—f God through which he was made anable Minister of the New 1 Cor. 2. 10 11 12 Testament not of the Letter but of the Spirit which giveth life And he Preached the everlasting Gospel Christ the Power of God the Word nigh in the heart and said If our Gospel be hid it is hid from them that are lost in whom Mark in whom the God of the world the Prince of the power of the Air that wicked spirit that worketh in the hearts of the children of disobedience hath blinded their minds lest the light of the glorious Gospel Christ Jesus should shine in and unto them But God who commandeth light to shine out of darkness hath shined Mark in our hearts to give us the knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus and we have this treasure in the Earthen vessel that the glory may be of God and not of us so the Saints Preached up Christ the Word of Life the Light the Truth within and Rom 1. 19. 1 Cor. 12. 7. Tit. 2. 11. said That which is is to be known of God is manifest in them and Paul says That the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withall and the free Grace of God saith he Mark that bringeth Salvation hath appeared to all men teaching us that we denying ungodliness and worldly lusts should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world And the Saints they witnessed their reconciliation and were born again they felt and knew that in themselves of which they were born again even Christ 1 Pet. 23 24 25. in them the Seed incorruptible the Word of God which lives and abides for ever by which they were begotten again unto God and quickened by the Word of life even they who were once as dead stones were raised up as living Children unto Abraham and so they came to taste that the Lord was good and gracious to taste and handle of the Word of Life and to seed upon the Bread 1 Cor. 12. 13. of Life and to drink of the Cup of Blessing and so by one Spirit were baptised into one body and were made to drink into one Spirit wherein they worshipped and served the Lord God and had Unity with the Lord in and through the Eternal Spirit and Unity one with another which united their Souls unto each other and unto the Lord God over all blessed for ever Ah dear people you in whose hearts there is true desires and secret thirstings after the living God where-ever ye are scattered among the many Sects and people towards you doth my soul yea my tender soul yearn and stream with love and good-will and for your sakes dear people doth my Soul travel in the womb of Supplication that you might come to enjoy that which you are seeking after and come to possess that you are thristing for and for your sakes mostly is this written in tender bowels of unfeigned love and pity to your souls And dear people you that have true desires in you after the Lord and hath been seeking of him where you cannot find him and hath been running from Mountain to Hill and from Hill to Mountain from one broken Cistern to another from one dead Form to another but still are unsatisfied and are sensible that you still notwithstanding your long profession and confession of God and Christ in words and notwithstanding your practicing some things that you read of which the Saints once performed in obedience of the Spirit of Truth which led them thereunto want the feeling enjoyment of the Love and sweet Peace of God and go groaning daily under the burden of the bondage of sin and corruption and desires to be set free therefrom Oh dear people retire retire with your minds inward you who have been seeking a God a far off and hunting after the Lord without retire to within and wait to know the Lord God near you to know his pure Truth in your inward parts his pure Spirit in you to lead and guide you to teach and instruct you for God is a Spirit and his teachings are spiritual he must be known in Spirit worshipped in Spirit and in Joh 4. 21 22 23 24. Truth not at the Mountain neither at Jerusalem not in this set Form nor in the other Form As lo here and lo there but in the Spirit is the Lord God known and worshipped aright by them who are born of the Spirit And so the spiritualized people who are born oâ— the Spirit and lives in the Spirit and are taught and led by the Spirit of Truth these are the peculiar people who Worship the God of Truth who is a Spirit in the Spirit and in the Truth and these are acceptable Worshippers with the Lord who own no Worship but his own which he teacheth his people by his Spirit and they that is ignorant of the Spirit of God they are ignorant of the true Worship of God which is in the Spirit and although such may seem to Worship God yet their Worship is not of God nor accepted with God It is the purified Sons of Levy who have passed through
be in the lest degree exalted above him but still keeping low in him dwelling beneath him at his footstool and whatever thou receivest from him when he calls for it return it back to him and be nothing without him but what thou art in him alone knowing that what thou art it is by him and what thou hast it cometh from him Therefore be nothing without him and return his own to him for he is worthy that his own should praise him And in the belly of a humble lowly broken contrite spirit dwell oh my soul where thou mayst serve God with thy tears dwelling in the sence of the freeness of his love and mercy in what he hath done for thee that the remembrance thereof may rend thy bowels before him passing thy pilgâ—image here in fear and trembling before the Lord thy God unto whom unto whom unto whom be glory glory glory praises praises praises thanksgiving honour and eternal renown be rendered unto his eternal name who is blessed blessed blessed for ever and ever Amen Amen Halelujah in the highest Amen glory glory ah glory Halelujah in the highest Amen Amen saith my soul Oh my soul where didst thou begin but in the sence of Gods dear tender precious most excellent love stirring in thy heart and there must thou end and rest satisfied and lay thee down quiet in peace with Gods most dear Babes and tender innocent Lambs unto whom thou cleavest as flesh to their bones towards whom thy bowels thy bowels thy tender bowels do unspeakably yearn with secret pantings in thy inward parts through the weight of love that abides in and upon thee oh my soul my soul my soul William Bennit To Gods Lambs in Prison Greeting DEar Friends and suffering Lambs shut up together in nasty holes oh you dear Suffering Tribulated Conscientious ones of the tender God of love life and power I whom am your dear and tender Friend and Companion in thâ— pure patience and long suffering of the Seed incorruptible do most dearly greet you and intirely salute you and sweetly imbrace you in the love of the Lord your God who hath not only counted you worthy to believe in him the mighty God but dear ones he hath also counted you worthy to suffer for his holy name sake because of your Faithfulness and for your Obedience unto his most sweet excellent everlasting Truth ah dear Lambs the witness hereof feel in your selves yea I believe my dear Friends that you know and feel the holy witness of the holy God of holiness in your own hearts bearing a true testimony to your own souls that your such confinment and sufferings is because of your obedience to the Lord your compassionate God of infinite bowels wherefore ye Lambs ye dear Lambs of the Lord God of power in him be ye comforted in the middest of your sufferings for him and be refreshed in the middest of your afflictions and consolated in the middest of your tribulations and be you made glad and rejoyce in the middest of your tryals even in the middest of all glorifying praising and honouring your tender God for his rich mercy towards you to be partakers of the sufferings of his seed oh my dear Friends my tender bowels is at this time opened unto you and my soul streams with streams of love of dear intire love towards you which fâ—oweth forth in the true sence and feeling and simplicity that my soul hath of your sufferings of which I partake in spirit and in the sence of your Faithfulness my soul is refreshed and bound thereby to praise your God and my God on your behalf Dear Lambs I believe that the sweet comfortable presence of the Lord God Almighty is with you and doth so accompany you as that your cup of sufferings is made sweet unto you so as that you can drink it off with gladness knowing and seeing that it is the will of the Lord to permit it to be given unto you whole will and not your own your innocent souls desire to do Ah dearly beloved Friends what shall I say unto you that ye might thereby be comforted that my soul in the sence there of might be made glad well dear Babes the fountain and fulness of everlasting joy and gladness is the bosom wherein you are to be wraped up and to repose together for evermore if you keep the faith to the end The streams whereof I know do often refresh your souls which overcomes you with its sweetness and lifts you up above all your sufferings and even make hard things become easie unto you â—lory glory and pure praises in spirit be shouted out unto the mighty God of worm Jacob the everlasting Jehovah of Israel unto whom dearly and beloved Friends I commit you all most intirely and fervently desiring that he the only Lord who is your tender God may for his own seeds sake minister to all your necessities and supply all your wants and cause your strength power wisdom and love with pure patience content and long suffering in him to abound daily more and more Amen saith my tender soul So dear ones read and savour my love in the Word which is more pretious then all words whatsoever wherein dear Lambs repose together and the milk thereof dear Babes suck and be refreshed thereby Farewell dear Lambs I am your dear Friend and Brother in the Lord. WILLIAM BENIT To Friends in the Love of Truth Greeting MY dear and tender beloved Friends in the love of God and in his pure pretious everlasting Truth whereof he hath in the freeness of his pure grace and endless love made us pertakers with the rest of his dear Babes and Children and whereof he hath made us witnesses in our measures in this his blessed day spring from on high which is come and coming which is brook and breaking forth in great glory so that its brightness shall reach unto the utmost dark corners of the Earth even to the exstinguishing of the Night and to the expelling the darkness which hath covered the Earth and the gross darkness which covered the People Ah dear hearts the blessed beams of the brightness of this blessed day spring from on high hath reached unto our souls which were once sealed up in the Darkness under the shadow of the Night and hath and doth shine in our hearts giving of us the true knowledg of the true and living God and thereby hath guided our feet out of the crooked slippery paths of darkness wherein we once walked stumbling as the blind into the paths of peace even into the path of the just which as a shining light shineth more and more until the perfect day for which the Lord our dear and tender God is worthy worthy to receive pure living praises from the breath of his own life in our souls who is worthy that his own should praise him for its sacrifice is acceptable and pleasant unto him who is God over all blessed for evermore Dear hearts in
dark place untill the Day had more and more dawned and until Christ the Day-Star had arisen in my Heart over all my Enemies but my mind was still gazing abroad and imagining a God afar off and he was very nigh me but I knew him not but was hunting abroad in my Imaginations for that which was within me the Pearl of great Price was hid in my Heart but I knew it not the Kingdom of God was at hand but I was gazing for it abroad whilst it in measure was working in my Heart like Leaven hid in three measures of Meal c. the Door into the Fold the Entrance into Rest was within but I was seeking it abroad my Saviour was nigh but I imagined him afar off and knew him not nigh neither did any man in those dayes direct my mind unto the Light and Gift of Christ in my own Heart And as for the Teachers of the People even they in the highest Profession of God in words were ready they being so ignorant and unsensible of the Gift of God in themselves to speak Blasphemy of the pure spiritual Light of Christ within as many Professors do at this day yet notwithstanding make a large Profession and Confession of Christ in Words though in Works deny him and to say that which troubles a man for his sins is a temptation of Sathan and thereby instead of directing the mind to the Light draw away the mind more from the Light and such are blind and are under the wo that call Light Darkness Good Evil and are in that Spirit they were who though great Professors said concerning Christ He is Mad and hath a Devil why hear ye him but as some then replyed and said Are these the works of him that hath a Devil Can the Devil open the Eyes of the Blind so I may say Is it the Devils work to discover Sin and judge condemn and trouble a man in the unconverted state for Sin or is it not his work to lull People a sleep in Sin and to cry peace to them in their Iniquities and to keep them satisfied with a profession of God without the possession of a holy undefiled Life Is it his work to destroy his own Kingdom which is Sin surely no that is only and alone the Work of Christ the Light of the World made manifest within to destroy the Devil and his works he brings Trouble upon the Transgressor and ministers Judgement against the Evil doer he kindles a Fire in the earthly Heart and raiseth Trouble Wars and great Tribulation within before he be known to be the Prince of Peace the Sabboth the everlasting Rest for the Soul And now I know infallibly that that which in those dayes did bring trouble upon me for my Sins and checked and judged for Evil and begat good desires in me after the Lord was the pure Witness of God the manifestation of his Spirit the Light of his Son Christ Jesus a measure of his free Grace and Truth in my own Heart and if ten Thousand should assert or affirm the contrary I know their Testimony will be a Lye But oh alas for me after all this long Visitation of the Love Goodness and Mercy of the Lord to my Soul and after all this trouble of Mind travel of Spirit desiring and seeking after the Lord I got oh I got into a false ease in the fleshly Nature and in a wrong liberty and false security as it is with many Professors at this day who once were low broken and tender in Heart mourning under the load and burden of of Sin having sincere desires to serve God in holiness of Life who are now gotten into the form and likeness of that they then hungred and thirsted after and are therewith satisfied and feeding themselves with others Words and without Knowledge without Life and so are gotten at ease in the Pride Fashions and Vanity of the World and are at liberty in the Flesh counting it their Freedom to do those things that once was their Burden and Bondage and I became careless and by disobedience I quenched the strivings of the Light of Christ in me insomuch as the Burden Trouble and Sorrow which once lay heavy upon my Mind I felt little of although the Original and real cause which occasioned the Burden Sorrow and Trouble which was my sins was not taken away but augmented and I through Rebellion had almost murdered the just and holy one in me and had so grieved and wounded the Spirit of the Lord that it had almost ceased striving with me though at sometimes it would bring former things to my remembrance and then some trouble and sorrow would seize upon me for a time but I soon got over it again and turned from the Grace into Wantonness and so forgot the Lord whom I had formerly desired and sought after and my Heart ran a whoreing after my old Lovers with my Face turned back again to Egypt the Land of Darkness Wickedness the Bondage-House of Sin and Corruption which before was partly turned towards Canaan the Land of Light Life and Rest and so ran into such Evils as I had formerly been kept out of by a secret Power which I then knew not and I grew wanton careless and wicked and my Mind and Heart taken off seeking the Lord and run into and after the Vanity Pleasures and Idleness of the World delighting much in Musick and Dancing Sporting and Gaming and so made merry over the pure Witness of God by sinning and rebelling against it and by rejecting its reproof and strivings Oh oh the patience and long-suffering of the Lord was large towards me in that day who long waited to be Gracious to my Soul Day after Day Year after Year who in his Justice might have cut me off in my Sins and Rebellion and even have made me an Example of his Wrath but oh his mercy his mercy and long-suffering was exceeding large to me which by my Soul is not to be forgotten but in and by the Spirit of Truth which brings former things to my remembrance and sheweth things to come am I to be kept in a living sence and remembrance of the great mercy long-patience long-forbearance and long-suffering of the Lord God of Compassion towards me and in the sense thereof he is worthy to be praised and honoured by my Soul who would not that I should perish from his presence forever For after all this the Lord the tender God of tender bowels of compassion was pleased to visit my poor Soul again even for his pure Seeds sake which he had not forgotten but he remembred the Poor and Needy the Captive exile to deliver him out of the hand of him that was too strong for him and to loose him that he might not wholly die in the Pit and perish in the miery Clay and Gods precious Truth pure Way of Righteousness and everlasting Gospel of Light Life and Peace I heard preached and declared by his