with and joyn into the love which God makes manifest in the Light and so mans destruction is of himself because he loves not the Light but loves his evil deeds better and follows the devices of his own heart which with the Light is reproved and such obeys not the Gospel in which the love of God is tendered but sollows the God of this World and cherishes their own hearts lusts and this is mans own way in which the god of this World blindes him and keeps him in the apostacy where he is alienated from the life of God therefore let all people consider whilst they have a day for with whom was the Lord grieved was it not with those that had sinned whose carcasses fell in the wilderness and unto whom did he swear that they should not enter into his rest was it not those that believed not therefore all people take heed least you out-stand the Lord in the hardness of your hearts and let the day of your visitation slip over your heads without regarding for unto which of you hath he not manifested his love and who amongst you can truly say the Lord hath not visited have you not had many convictions in your Consciences and many convincements for your sins have you not been reproved for the Evil of your doings and have you not been secretly judged for secret faults have you done any thing so privately that hath not been manifest or could you ever hide any thing so closely that hath not been made known who amongst you can excuse your selves before the most High or which of you can say in truth the Lord hath not shewed me evil or that I am ignorant of my sin who amongst you can stand to plead with God in these things Oh surely the day of account is very great and unto it you must all come and the Lord will be clear when he judges for all his Judgments are true and do you not draw his judgments upon your selves because you regard not his law how will you stand to account for all your idle words and ungodly deeds in which you run at liberty as if all should end without account look over your lives and with the Light of Christ in your Consciences view your selves and behold the fruit of your doings and consider whether you can stand approved unto God in secret for your lives demonstrate your nature and the fruit of your doings declares your root the old man is yet alive in you and the god of this World hath dominion over you and with his deceivable working he blindes you and in the apostacy you are lost when the Gospel is hid from you and so you remain in your fins which the Gospel casteth out and expelleth where it is believed and received and if you will but view your selves with the Light of Christ which is in you though you be not in it you will see that you are under the Law and approved by it and not under the Gospel and the Law saith Thou shalt not Covet now view your selves and behold whether you keep this one commandment and if you do not then you are yet under the Law and the Law condemnes you for it is Spiritual holy just and good and was added because of transgression and whilst you are in transgression and doth not keep the Law you are under the curse and not in the blessing which is a Gospel state Now if you will view your hearts with the Light it will shew you that you are coveting an evil covetousness and both the riches of this World and the riches of Knowledg your hearts are set upon and these are two great evils which the holy Law condemneth and though you may talk of the Gospel and a Gospel-administration and apprehend your selves to be Gospel-worshippers yet you are under the first Covenant with its curse and condemnation being yet in the transgression and you have not received the love in the Light in which the Law and Prophets is fulfilled so it is not what you profess that makes you to be the same you profess neither is it what you apprehend your souls to be that makes you so to be for the new man doth not live the life of the old therefore let this consideration enter into all your hearts and ponder it in secret that it is not such as onely profess the Gospel that are approved but such as obey the Gospel and therefore you that talk so much of a Gospel dispensation and the free grace of God in it and thereby would exclude perfect obedience as a duty onely belonging to the first Covenant and say it is not now of works but of grace and run from good works and so are reproved by St. James you are in the apostacy covered with imaginations for all the children of Light are children of obedience and you that are not so are foolish and disobedient and whilst you talke of salvation by the free grace of God without works your selves are found in the works of sin and yeilding your selves to obey the God of this world and so you would hold two Kingdomes at once but do you not know that unto whom you yeild your selves servants to obey his servants you are to whom you obey and is not here obedience to somthing and doth the free grace of God save the disobedient who yeild themselves to obey the God of this world and denies the teachings of the grace when it appeareth for the grace of God appeareth unto all men and the appearance of it doth discover ungodliness and worldly lusts in all but who are they that are taught to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts are not they such as obey the grace in its appearance or can any be taught by the grace and not obey it you may as truly say that all men shall be saved because the grace unto all men appeareth but this is known and witnessed by the children of Light who are the children of obedience that as the grace appeareth against ungodliness and worldly lusts so the grace is to be obeyed in its appearance and being obeyed it then teaches to deny that which it appears against and not onely so but it also teaches to live the life of godliness and so the grace being obeyed it brings salvation for it overcomes sin and gives victory over the God of this World who leadeth in sin such servants as obeys him and hereby it may be understood that salvation is by grace and not by works and so it is believed and vvitnessed by all the children of Light vvho knovves that obedience to the grace doth not set up the first Covenant but establishes the second in vvhich the Gospel is ministred according to the riches of his grace vvho is the fulness of all things therefore it is manifest that you are yet under Moses though you have Christ to talk of and the vail is yet over your hearts not being redeemed from under the Lavv and its
we have received not the Spirit of the World but the Spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God which things also we speak not in the words which mans wisdome teacheth but which the holy Ghost teacheth comparing Spiritual things with Spiritual 1. Cor 2. mark they had not received the Spirit of the world but the Spirit which is of God that was their principle in the Spirit of God they knew the things that was freely given of God in the same principle in which they freely received they freely ministred this was the preaching of the Gospel then not according to mans wisdom but in Christ Jesus the power wisdom of God in which gospel many believed and were saved and the Apostle said Moreover brethren I declare unto you the Gospel which I preached unto you which also you have received and wherein ye stand by which also ye are saved if ye keep in memorie what preached unto you unless ye have believed in vain 1. Cor. 15 mark the Gospel which then was preached they that received it stood in it and were saved by it and they were not to let it slip out of their mindes but to keep it in memorie that they might not believe in vain and many did so receive it in the love of it as they did retain it and the salvation in it and was preserved by the power of it to hold fast that which they had received and such continued in their well doing and persevered unto the end and died in the faith having obtained eternall redemption and Salvation by the power of the Gospel and unto whom this Gospel was hid it was hid unto them that was lost in whom the God of this World had blinded the mindes of them which believed not least the Light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them 2. Cor. 4. And such perished in their gain saying not receiving the truth in the love of it but gave up themselves to believe lyes which the God of this World led them into and blinded their mindes with and such could not see though they had Eyes nor hear though they had Eares nor understand though they had hearts and so was not converted nor healed by the power of the Gospel though in the same power it was preached unto them as unto those that did believe in it and receive it and so it became the savour of life unto life in those that believed and the savour of death unto death in those that perished and as there were many which could neither see nor hear nor understand the glorious dispensation of the Gospel but were blinded by the God of this World unto whom they yeilded themselves to obey and so were never converted not healed but perished in their gainsaying even so there were many whole Eyes were opened and Ears unstopped and hearts broken who did both see and hear and understand the true and living message of the Gospel and yet did not abide in that which they had seen and heard and understood not likeing to retein God in their knowledge but yeilded themselves again unto the God of this World and so became vailed from the Light of the glorious Gospel that they lost the sight of that which they had seen and the hearing of that which they had heard and the understanding of that which they had in some measure understood and by the God of this World unto whom they yeilded themselves again their hearts were darkned and their mindes blinded and though professing themselves to be wise they became fooles having put away faith and a good Conscience and made shipwrack of it though they were gone from the Gospel and the power of it in themselves yet they reteined the form and became more in love with the form then the power and so did not onely err from the power but turned against it and denied it and of this sort they were that crept into houses and led silly women captive loaden with sins and led away with divers lusts 2 Tim 3. For they being erred from the power of God and having made shipwrack of saith and a good Conscience they were gone into Captivity themseves and so led others to follow them and captivated them in the forme in which they were always learning but never came to the knowledge of the truth and so many apostatized from the Light of the glorious Gospel and denied the power of it after that they had seen and heard and understood somthing of it and such became false brethren who turned the grace of God into Lasciviousness and denied the onely Lord God and the Lord Jesus Christ as in Jude So that after the Saints deceased who by the power of the Gospel was cleansed and with its vertue washed from all filthiness of flesh and spirit and did retain it and hold it fast in the pure principle of life then did the Apostacy overspread and the darkness of it covered the Earth and the God of this World came into dominion and ruled in the hearts of people and in darkness they conceived what was in the power practised and thereby people came to be deceived being erred from the principle of God and so that hath been taken for a Gospel dispensation whcih in the unclean part hath been conceived and practised and in that unrighteous nature the truth hath been held for by the God of this World peoples minds have been corrupted their Eyes blinded hereby it may be understood how the apostacy entered and how the Gospel dispensation came to be lost and how the many invented forms came to be set up and observed with which people now seemes to be well pleased and satisfied and every one according to their own perswasion observes their own for me as a Gospel dispensation yet in all ages since the apostacy entered there hath been something of God stirring in some particular that hath breathed after the enjoyment of that life which in pure Gospel times was witnessed amongst the Saints and Gospel worshippers but the God of this World being in dominion it hath been Crushed and quenched in its rising and hath been beaten down again by a strong hand which the God of this World hath stretched forth against it so that it could not come to spread abroad in the liberty of the life but hath alway been suppressed in its rising by the force of Laws which the God of this World hath invented but now it hath pleased God in the fulness of time to reveale his Son in power and great glory who hath brought life and Immortallity to Light by his appearance in whoselife and power the Gospel is preached again and many have believed and received the glad tydings of it who some times were wandering in the apostacy and seeking peace in their own way but could not finde it for which cause they many
times mourned and lamented and their Souls endured griefe and trouble for want of Christ whom they earnestly breathed after and though they had gone through many invented forms and tried the depths of mans wisdom in his own way yet they could not finde him whom their Souls longed after but when the glorious Gospel brake forth in its own power and came to be preached in the life then by its strength their Ears were pierced and the joyful sound did enter into their hearts and the living witness of God was raised and life from death was witnessed and then they found him whom their souls loved and such knows the Scripture to be fulfilled and can truly say How beatutiful is the feet of him that brought glad tidings of Salvation and published peace who is risen in life to proclaim the Gospel and such do witness that the night is over and gone and the day is come and the light of the knowledge of the glory of God shines in their hearts in the face of Jesus Christ who is the first born of God that brought many Son to glory who are now made living witnesses of his Resurrection and his life and are allowed of God to be put in trust with the Gospel whose labour and traveail is in the strength and power of God and in the same they publish his message that people may be turned from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive remission of sins and come to an inheritance amongst all that are sanctified by faith in Christ Jesus and whosoever doth not bring this message is not to be received for it is the same Gospel that was preached unto Abraham and in which he believed it is the same Gospel that was preached by the Apostles and in which many then believed and what they had heard and seen and tasted and handled of the word of life that they declared in the life and so they preached Christ Jesus the power of God to Salvation and there was not another Gospel to be brought either by Angel or man but they that brought it was to be accursed for the Apostle said though we or an Angel from heaven preach any other Gospel unto you then that which we have preached unto you let him be accursed as we said before so say I now again if any man preach any other Gospel unto you then that ye have received let him be accursed but I certifie you brethren that the Gospel which was preached of me is not after man for I neither received it of man neither was I taught it but by the Revelation of Jesus Christ Gal. 1. Oh that they which speak of themselves would consider this who knowes no more of the Gospel then what they receive of man and are taught by man which is not the way by which the Apostle came to the Gospel and therefore it is evident that such have not the Gospel to preach who denies revelation and so they preach another Gospel then that which the Apostle preached But now the same Gospel is known again by many in whom Jesus Christ is revealed who hath brought life and Immortallity to light by the Gospel and in his power it is preached again even the same Gospel which is neither of man nor by man but in the same power received as they received it and in the same power preached as they preached it and it is committed unto faithful men whom God hath intrusted with it who are able to teach others also and this is the Light which shines out of darkness and goes over the night of apostacy with all the Apostates Inventions and in power redeemes people up to God again from whom they are alienated in the apostacy and such whose Eys are shut and Ears stopped and hearts hardened against this glorious administration of the Gospel they are of all men most miserable for it is the mighty power of God unto Salvation unto all that believe in it and receives it but they that reject it and are rebellious against it they reject the loving kindness of God and with the Gospel are condemned and not saved for they that believe not they are condemned because they believe not in the name of the onely begotten Son of God but unto all that do believe his appearance brings life and immortallity to light by the Gospel and it is evident that it is the same Gospel that is now preached and not another for it hath wrought effectually in the hearts of many and hath purged and expelled the uncleanness and filthiness both of flesh and spirit and hath pulled down felf-righteousness and revealed the Righteousness of God in which many are established so that the life of such now who have received the Gospel doth fully answer to the life of such then by which it is manifest that it is the same Gospel and not another having wrought the same work in the hearts of all that have received it as in times past and they answer to the same in life and practice as face answers face in a glass so that the demonstration of the Gospels power may be clearly distinguished from all Inventions for though there may be fair shews of Godliness in some particular forms yet they are not translated into the power and life of Christ in which the Gospel administration standeth therefore unto all such who yet abide in darkness and are seeking peace in their own way is this message sent in love that they unto the Light may be turned by which the danger of their way will be opened and discovered for the Light will open that eye which hath been closed and unstop that Eare which hath been stopped and break that heart which hath been hardned by the God of this World and so they will come to see and hear and understand what is with the Light made manifest without which the things of God can never be perceived for as the Light is in it self a most holy pure and Righteous principle so it doth discover in mans Conscience all unrighteousness which is sin and lets him see what lovers he hath entertained into his heart which defiles him and makes him unclean in the sight of the pure God and in the Light waiting that voyce which speaks from heaven will be heard and the Gospel will sound into that Ear which is unstopped pierce into the heart prick it and with the precious savour of its virtue it will soften it and so the Light of the glorious Gospel will shine out of the night of apostacy and bring glad tidings into the Soul which in the night of apostacy hath been captivated and there man will come to feele the love which God hath unto him who would not that any should perish but that all should come to the knowledg of the truth and be saved and there is no want of love from God to save men but there is want of love from men to close