of sin by the new and pure Law of the new Covenant and the Advocate known and Repentance given by him upon all occasions to those that wait upon him and the Sprinkling of the Blood and Remission upon Repentance This is the new and Living Way of the Lord Jesus Christ which he hath consecrated for all his made known in the dâ—monstration of his Spirit which will stand for ever Whereas mens aprehensions about those things which they have gathered and comprehended of themselves out of the Scriptures in the supposed Light of their natural Reason and Understanding are but Dreams and will vanish even in their own hearts if ever the true Light arise the e. He saith This state can never fall nor be finally fallen from Answ There is a way of coming to Christ and there is a way of preservation in Christ For there is a Power that Redeems and men are preserved by that Power in subjection to it And so every one That thinketh he standeth is to fear and take heed lest he fall And not to boast and say I am in a state of Justifycation which is firme and cannot be moved and it cannot fall nor be finally fallen from For ye are kept by the power of God through Faith unto Salvation Keep to the Power which preserves Hold that fast which thou hast let no man take thy Crown Keep the faith make not shipwrack of it and of a good Conscience O that men knew the right Doctrine and way of coming to Christ which they cannot do till they are taught of the Father Joh. 6.45 and the right Doctrine and Way of standing and abiding in him For truly mens professed coming to Christ believing and standing at this day is generally notional outward without but not in the inward Life and Power it self without which no man can come to him nor stand and abide in him He chargeth us With setting up a Covenant of Works alwayes doing and never done a Covenant to be performed by us for our selves not by Christ for us Answ I would he saw in the true Light how unjust and untrue this charge is For the Lord God of Life knoweth that he himself hath taught us the new Covenant and thereby taught us to wait upon himself in his Son to work all our works in us and for us And this we dayly experience that we can work nothing but as he works in us Therefore our whole course is a waiting on him in stilness to witness him appearing and doing all in us And blessed be his Name we do not wait in vain But if he think all works are excluded out of the new Covenant he greatly erreth For the Works of Gods Spirit are required and have a place therein And God and Christ the King and Shepherd is the Judge of his People in the new Covenant and justifieth or condemneth according to the Law thereof In the faith and obedience he justifieth In the unbeliefe and disobedience he condemns without respect of Persons And it is a pretious thing in the Gosple Ministration to come to God the Judge of all and to witness true judgment set up by God in a mans own heart that by the ministration of the pure judgment there the Soul may come to learn Righteousness of the holy Teacher and Shepheard even the Lord Jesus Christ who is just and faithful under his Fathâ—r in the impartial Ministration of the new Covenant Hereupon several charges he brings against us through his own mistakes and misapprehensions of us As First That our Doctrine imployes Free Will and power in the creature Answ We have never experienced Free Will nor Power as of our selves but as we have bin turned to Gods Power and received it from him nor did we ever testifie to others that they could receive and embrace Truth in their own will by their own power O that this Person had true discerning of and were severed from that Spirit which thus chargeth us For whoever receives this Testimony concerning the inward Light of our Lord Jesus Christ shall never find himself able to do any thing therein by his own will and power But there witnesseth Gods begetting him out of his own will by the Life and Power of Truth Secondly He chargeth it That it maketh the Election of God altogeâ—her frustranious Answ Election of the Seed in the Seed it doth not at all make frustranious But mens wrong apprehensions concerning Election out of the Seed the true Doctrine of Election doth not conâ—â—â—â— with He hath chosen us in him so that in him to wit in Christ the choice is and he that will make his Election sure must make the Seed sure to him growing in the nature thereof wherein the Election is to the truely obedient He saith Our Righteousness with God is the Foundation Answ But is there not somewhat which is the Foundation of our Righteousness with God And can we be Righteous with God til we come to that Foundation and be made Righteous by it Must we not first believe in him And is not faith a gift which comes from the holy Root and maketh a change in them in whom this gift is found Doth not Faith make a difference between them that believe and them that believe not So that so soon as ever there is true faith and it thus works the State is changed And there is no Justification before faith For in the unbelief is the condemnation for ever He that believeth not is condemned already And what is he justified there too at the same time Was Abraham our Father justified in the unbelief and disobedience Or in believing and obeying God for what saith the Scripture Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for Righteousness That which I spoke of he saith Is but the fruit and superstructure Answ When Christ directs men to the Seed of the Kingdome doth he direct unto the fruit and superstructure I spoke there of the Seed of the Light of the holy Spirit of the quickening Virtue Is that the superstructure Or is that the fruit of mens being made Righteous Nay must they not turn to that receive that believe in that even in the Light of Gods Spirit for they are the true and right believers before a man can come to be made Righteous or accounted Righteous in the eyes of the Lord For none are Righteous but in him And all are out of him till they be gathered into him He instanceth in one passage of mine in a Book entituled The Sum or substance of our Religion who are called Quakers the words are these This is the sume of all even to know and experience what is to be brought down into death and kept in death what to be brought up out of the grave to live to God and Reign in his Dominion and what to be kept in subjection and obedience to him who is to Reign Now to experience it thus done in the heart the flesh brought down the
the Lands whereinto we have been scattered in the cloudy and daâ—k day And that this is Amalecks spirit in you several sorts of Professors through your dark imaginaâ—ions and conceivings about the Letter which riseth up against us and this Spirit in you feareth not that God who hath appeared and by his own holy Arm of Power hath led and is leading us So that we may take up the complaint of the Prophet in this day Who hath believed our Report and to whom is the Arm of the Lord Revealed For though we speak what we have heard seen and felt of the Life which is Eternal and of the Word which was in the beginning yet ye are so far from the Witness of God in your own hearts that ye cannot receive our Testimony but oppose it with your dead dry notional conceited imaginary knowledge which will stand you in no stead at all when ye come to appear before God Then he proceedeth complaining against us thus Ah Sir In stead of clapping us on the back and ministring to us in our journey you clog our March and fall upon our Rear In stead of serving the Kingdom of Christ which the Church is now in Travel of you deny the first Principles of the Gospel and wholly dâ—â—own the hope of Christs second Appearing and Kingdom knowing or acknowledging as no other Saviour so no othâ—r Kingdom but a Principle or a Light in your selves Answ God is Light and in him is no darkness at all And this is the message of the Gospel 1 John 1.5 And Christ who is one with the Father he is one and the same Light with him and we confess we look not for another besides him nor for another Kingdom besides the Kingdom which is revealed in him for the Kingdom which is revealed and manifested in and by him is the Spiritual Eternal Everlasting Kingdom and there is not another We do not say the Fulness or that the full Glory of the Kingdom is now revealed or enjoyed nay we confess we have but the earnest in comparison but a mea ure a proportion but this is the same in nature and kind with the Fulness it self And all that is of Christ of his Spirit of his Nature is saving the least measure of his Grace that appeareth in any heart bringeth Salvation with it the least touch of his Finger hath pure Life and saving Virtue in it Yet this is not distinct nor sâ—parate from the Fulness and so it is not another though it be not the Fulness But whereas thou complainest of our not ministering to you in your Journey but clogging it Oh that ye knew what your Journey is and whither ye are marching and traveling in that present spirit wherein ye act We acknowledge it Gods great Love and Mercy to us to deliver us from that spirit and from that way of Knowledge Religion and Worship wherein ye still abide And what we have seen and known from the Lord that are we required of him to testifie to you and if your eyes were opened by the Principle of Light from him in the holy Anointing ye would bow to the Testimony But judging of it in a contrary wisdom and spirit ye not only turn from it but fight against it and reproach and slander us for our faithfulness to the Lord and good will to you which the Lord make you sensible of and forgive you that at length ye may know and receive him who is the desire of all Nations in his pure living inward and spiritual appearance And as for denying the first Principles that belongs to your selves for do ye not deny that Light which is the foundation of all and wherein and whereby all the misteries of Gods Kingdome are seen and instead thereof set up a notional comprehensive knowledge of your own conceiving comprehending and gathering from the letter whereas no man can understand the letter but as he comes into the abidâ—s in the Light This we have experienced in our selves formerly for we were but guessing at and imagining concerning the Letter until and further then we were turned to and our minds gathered into and comprehended in the Light of Gods Spirit And as for disowning the hopes of Christs Kingdom the Lord knoweth that is far from us for we our selves bless him for what of his Kingdom is already appeared and wait and hope for the further and fuller appearance thereof But this we confess another Spirit another Christ another Light another Life another Power another Kingdom besides him who hath already appeared we do not expect For he is our King and Kingdom both and the least proportion of his Life and Spirit received bought with the loss of all and so purchased and possessed is no less then a Pearl of great price and an heavenly Kingdom to him that enjoyeth it He addeth further If Christ be but a Principle then we are no other and onely Principles shall be saved and no Persons Is this your Gospel Answ Christ is the promised Seed to which all the promises are in which Seed all the families of the Earth are Blessed as they are gathered unto and grafted into Him But he is not only the Seed but the seeds-man also who soweth of his Life of his Nature of his Spirit of his heavenly Image in the hearts of the Children of men He giveth a measure of the Grace and Truth unto them the fulness whereof he hath received of his Father Now this measure of the Light Eternal is very pretious and is that wherein he appears and manifests himselfe Yea indeed glorious things are both spoken and witnessed of the Seed of Life of the Seed of the Kingdom of the Grace and Truth which comes by Jesus Christ But we never said that this Seed or Measure of Life is the Fulness it selfe but that which the Fulness imparts to us and brings Salvation home to our doors by And if any man will receive Châ—ist he must receive that from Christ wherein he manifests himselfe There is a difference between the Light which enlighteneth the fulness of Light which giveth the measure of Light the measure of annoynting to us and the measure or proportion which is given the one is Christ himselfe the other is his gift yet his gift is of the same Nature with himselfe and leavens those that receive it and abide in it into the same Nature so that not onely the gift is one with him but we also are one with him in the gift Come be not thus wise after the flesh nor do not strive so in thy wisdome and knowledge out of the Truth to Triumph over the Truth and Truths Testimony in this the day of Gods great Love and glorious Arm of Salvation revealed in the midst of his People which he hath gathered out of Babylon and the dark knowledg thereof into the Light and Kingdom of his own dear Son where he giveth them Eternal Life and of the fruits of the Good and Heavenly
THE HOLY Truth Peoâ—â—â— DEFENDED AND Some of the Weapons and Strength of thoâ—◠〈◊〉 of Darkness Broken and Scattered by 〈◊〉 Light and Power of TRUTH In an ANSWER to the Chief Passages 〈◊〉 LETTER Written to me and Replyed to by me 〈◊〉 Imprisonment in this Place where I have been a Prisoner a Year and a half without any Law broken or Cause 〈…〉 part who only came Innocently and Peaceably to visi◠〈…〉 in Prison By me ISAAC PENNINGTON Priâ—â—â—er for the Testimony of Truth For could I have denyed 〈…〉 might have avoided the Snare at Reading Goal The Bowes of the mighty men are broken and they that 〈…〉 with Strength 1 Sam. 2.4 Printed in the Year 16â—â— The Preface A Letter was sent me from a Dear Freind of mine bearing date the fifth of the eleventh Moneth 71. who had long been greatly distressed and could not find relief in the way of her former profession and Church fellowship For whom I greatly travelled with the Lord and towards whom my spirit was made very tender by him I still felt the Seal of Gods Love and Mercy towards her even in her lowest condition deepest despaire and sorest captivity through her great and manifold Temptations And my Testimony to her at times from the Lord on this behalf was sometimes of use to her to bear up her spirit till the day of Gods visiting and Redeeming her with the virtue and healing power of his Salvation which blessed be his name she hath since had sweet experience of and true Peace and Joy in knowing the true Head holding him in the Faith and being held by him Now this Letter of an antient acquaintance of mine which I had answered long agoe one that belongeth to Sr. Henry Vane as she signified in her Letter to me desired she should see which is said to be an answer to a Letter of mine If my answer had gone along with it I should have took no further notice of it But it going without my answer least it should do hurt to those to whom the Lord hath done or is doing good I am ingaged in spirit to reply somwhat to it and to give forth to others what the Lord giveth in to me upon this new occasion How greatly truly and purely I have loved the man I will not boast the Lord knoweth with whose knowledge herein I am content but O that this his paper might not be laid to his charge at the great day which I am afraid it will unless he repent of it For indeed it is not a fruit of Life from Gods holy Spirit but of the growth of Egypt and Babylon It was sent me in the form of a Book as if it had been sent abroad for special service There was no name at it as if it were an arrow to fly in the dark and wound secretly But no weapon formed against the Israel of God shall prosper either from this hand or any other and every tongue that riseth up against them in judgment will God condemn This is the heritage of the despised People and servants of the living God in this our day whose Righteousness is the Righteousness of his Son bestowed upon them wherewith he himself hath cloathed them as the Annointed eye now seeth and all eyes shall one day see and tongues confess to the glory of God the Father THE Holy TRUTH and PEOPLE DEFENDED c. In an ANSWER c. HE excepteth against those words of mine to him in a former Letter of Jun. 24. which I have not here by me that when his eyes are opened by the Lord he shall then acknowledge that we oppose no Truths of the Lord but hold forth what we have received from him To which he thus replyeth Is Redemption by Christs blood no Truth of the Lords Which he chargeth one of us in particular and many others in general with denying Answ We are gathered into that and abide in that in which no Truth can be denyed And are in him that leadeth into all Truth and teacheth to deny no Truth that ever was held forth by the Spirit of the Lord. Some of us may not yet be grown up in understanding into the mysteries of the Kingdom which God hath revealed and made manifest to others But yet we do not deny but own one another in our several measures of knowledg and sence of things and in our several growths And we own and acknowledge in Gods sight the several Dispensations he hath brought forth both before the Law and under the Law and Prophets and in the time of Châ—ists appearance in the flesh and after when he sent his Spirit and all the time the Church was in the Wilderness and now she is coming forth again in the brightness and glory of the Father looking forth as the Morning fair as the Morning clear as the Sun terrible as an Army with Banners Nor do we disowne any thing that is of God in the Professors of this Age But onely that which we know and are required by him to testifie against as being not of him O that they could weigh our words and Testimony in a right Spirit For they would not then be so offended at and speak so against us as now they do And the Lord knoweth we would do any thing that lieth in us to remove the stumbling blocks that lie before them But it cannot be done to that Spirit in them before which God Almighty hath laid the stumbling block that it might stumble and fall and be snared and broken and taken But if they could come into another Spirit and feel unity with and the birth of another Spirit the birth of that pure Wisdom should find no stumbling block or offence in this pretious dispensation of Truth wherewith God from on high hath visited us And as for denying Redemption by the blood of Christ O how will he answer this charge to God when none upon the earth as the Lord God knoweth are so taught and do so truly rightly and fully owne Redemption by the blood of Christ as the Lord hath taught us to do For we owne the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ both outwardly and inwardly both as it was shed on the Cross and as it is sprinkled in our Consciences and know the cleansing virtue thereof in the everlasting Covenant and in the Light which is eternal Out of which Light men have but a notion thereof but do not truly know nor own it And let him consider b fore the time of Antichr st it was a great matter to know and own Christ outwardly as he appeared in that body But since the Antichristian Spirit hath got that the distinguishing knowledge and owning of Christ is to know and own him inwardly The outward knowledge and confession now as it is generally seperated from and held forth in way of distinction from the inward is but the knowledge and confession of Babylon and not the true living knowledge and confession of Christ in and
by the Spirit of the Father which is the knowledge and confession of all the Children of the true and heavenly Mother which is the Mother of all that are born of the Spirit He repeateth â—hose words of mine That we do not make any finite thing our Righteousness but Christ of God is made into us Righteousness This he saith Is well spoken aâ—d wisheth we may alwayes abide on this confession Answ These words arose in me from an inward feeling of him who giveth Righteousness and of the Righteousness given and the Lord preserving me in that Life I shall feel so for ever and confess so for ever And truly I can testifie of no other Righteousness For blessed be the name of my God I feel the Righteousness of his Son revealed in me dayly from Faith to Faith In his name I have been gathered in his name I live and in him I feel Righteousness and indeed there is nothing but Righteousness Holyness Truth Life and Salvation and the like in him And he that is truly in him is Righteous and Holy in him there being in him a new creating of all that are there and a renewing into the holy and heavenly Image which consists in the Righteousness and Holyness of Truth He desireth me to give a plain answer to this Question Is Christ of God made our Righteousness by faith in his blood or in his Spirit Answ A pretended Faith in Christs blood without Faith in his Spirit is but dead and notional Except ye eat my flesh and drink my blood saith Christ ye have no Life in you It is the Spirit that quickeneth the Flesh saith he profiteth nothing Now the Faith must be in that which quickeneth And the Faith in that which quickeneth is Holy and Righteous and the man who is found in it is Justified through that Faith in the quickening Power in the sight of God Thus Abraham was Justified in the sight of God and thus are the Children of Abraham to be Justified even through believing in that holy Power and Spirit which requireth obedience and Justifieth the obedient and condemneth the disobedient for ever Rom. 4.24 He saith He fears a Snake in this green grass when I say from his Life Virtue and Power revealed in us is our conformity to him Answ It were better and safer for him to fear at home For the Snake is in his own grass and many notional high soaring expressions without true knowledge But can there be any conformity to Christ without his Life Vitrtue and Power inwardly revealed what else can conform unto and bring forth in the Image and likeness of Christ He saith He feareth lest I make this Life and Virtue our Righteousness which is indeed the fruits of it .. Answ Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge and runneth out from the Truth into his own imaginations What was Christs Righteousness Was it not the Life the Virtue the Spirit of the Father in him he being one with it in the Faith of it and in the obedience to it And is not the Righteousness of the head and the body the same communicated from the head to the body Are they not all of one and the Righteousness one and the same in both So much of Christs Spirit so much of his Righteousness And out of his Spirit out of his Righteousness for evermore For the Righteousness of the Son is revealed and communicated from Faith to Faith in his Spirit And so Christ is indeed made Righteousness to them that are found in his Spirit and they are covered with the garment of Righteousness and Salvation who are covered with his Spirit He saith Our Righteousness is before this Answ What is our Righteousness before any of the Life Virtue and Power of Christ revealed in us Is God a respecter of Persons Doth he Justifie any out of the holy Covenant before he hath made a change in him How doth this man with his vain imaginations turn the whole way and councel of God upside down He brings a Scripture to prove this The Spirit is life for righteousness sake Answ That Scripture which is Rom. 8.10 speaks of those in whom Christ is and dwels And there indeed The Body is dead because of sin and the Spiritis Life because of Righteousness This is plainly spoken and plainly felt and known as it is spoken O that he had the true sence and understanding of it as it is in Jesus He saith Righteousness is in order of nature before Sanctification Answ That which is holy is Righteous There is nothing Righteous in the eyes of the pure God but that which is holy The Head was really holy and Righteous and they that are in him pâ—rtakes of his Holyness and Righteousness and are really Holy and Righteous in him And Faith which purifies the heart and through which Sanctification is must needs be in order of nature before the Justification which is by it for God Justifieth no unbelievers but believers only Yea the wicked must forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and turn unto the Lord which cannot possibly be without some degree of Sanctification before the Lord will have mercy and pardon the Soul its sins Isa 55.7 and chap. 1.16 17 18. He saith Justification is an act of Grace passed upon us by God freely without respect to us as Godly nay properly reflecting on us in that moment as ungodly Answ I charge this in the sight of God for absolutely false Doctrine and contrary to the Gospel For God Justifieth no man as ungodly but calleth upon men to repent and turn from their ungodlyness and he will have mercy upon them Justifie and save them Now mâ—n are not ungodly in turning from their ungodlyness but changed And so their state is in some measure changed before Justified If Abraham was ungodly when God called him Yet in forsaking his own Country and following the Lord and offering up his Son he was obedient and not ungodly and in that obedience he was Justified A man may have notions of Justification in his mind and accordingly take himself to be Justified when he is not But there is no man Justified by the Lord till he be changed translated into him in whom God Justifieth out of the place of condemnation into the place of Justification For till men are changed by the Spirit and Power of the Lord they are but darkness and in the darkness where no Justification is It is the Believing the Obedient the Children of Light that are Justified by the Lord. He saith Were we godly before or at that time it were no act of Grace to pronounce us Righteous Answ He that witnesseth Salvation in Christ Jesus witnesseth it to be a continued act of Grace Grace appears to the Soul Grace teacheth Grace enableth Grace maketh a change from the ungratiousness of the heart and state and then Grace or God by his Grace in and through Christ Jesus forgiveth the sins that were
Seed of Life raised and the Soul subject to the pure heavenly power whose right it is to Reign in the heart in and by the Seed this is a blessed state indeed For here the work is done c. these were my words Now mind God is the Teacher in the new Covenant Now he that hath learned this of him hath he not learned the true Religion And is not this a full sum and substance of Religion Whâ—n the Apostle saith Pure Religion and undefiled before God is to visit the fatherless c. Alass might this Spirit have said against the blessed Apostle that is not the pure Religion not the sum or substance of pure and undefiled Religion that is but a fruit or superstructure O that men had true sence and understanding That they might favour the words that come from Gods Spirit and the words that come from their own Spirit and might not be offended at that which is true pure and living of him But having disliked this sum he giveth one of his own in these words following I say the sum and that which first and mainly imports us to know as the Lord hath taught me is that the old man is crucified with Christ and brought down into his grave and that we are risen together with him by the faith of the opperation of God and from this faith to be work ng with God to mortifie our members that are on the earth Answ Doth not Christ send his Apostles to preach the Gospel and give them this mâ—ssage that God is Light and to turn their minds to the true Light that they might be enlightened by it Doth it not import men first to know that whereby they might be Crucified before they can know themselves Crucified thâ—reby So that Christ did judge this as the first thing necessary to be known in the preaching of the Gospel and bid men p each the Light and turn men to the Light and to the inward appearance and voice of Gods Word in their hearts And what are men risen together with him by the faith of the opperation of God while they are yet in their sins in their ungodly state And how can any witnâ—ss the faith of the opperation of God in this state Now it had been better he had forborn affirming that the Lord taught him thus For truly the Lord never taught any thus This is not truth from God nor will it be owned by the Lord as his Truth when he comes to appear before him And he should have took it to himself and not have put the Name of the Lord to it But against this his own Doctrin he raiseth an objection in these words Shall we mortifie that which is mortified already His Answer is The old man which is crucified together with Christ is the state of the flesh and of enmity This is past away and in this is the Concern of our Righteousness and Justification properly That which remains to be mortified are our members upon earth which are the fruits of that evil state and in the mortifying of these is the concern of our Sanctification The will of God is done in heaven c. Answ Paul speaks of the Law of sin in his members and he also speaks of the body of death and cries out against that O wretched man that I am saith he who shall deliver me from the body of this death He felt somewhat that nuorished and gave strength to the Law of sin in his members and looked upon himself as wretched tiâ—l he could meet with deliverance there-from Now some are of opinion that there is no being delivered from the body of sin while in this Life Dost thou look upon it to be done in Christ for us without us but never to be don by Christ in us Let me tell thee if ever thou come to witness the pure eternal Light of the Lord Jesus Christ revealed in thee that will not find out some members on earth onely but the very body thereof and shew thee the necessity of the puting off that body from thee and that circumcision whereby it is to be done which is the circumcision of Christ Mark the promise of the new Covenant I will circumcise thine heart and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart that thou mayest live Is not this the circumciosin of Christ Doth not this cut off the body of the sins of the flesh in the particular where this is witnessed This is the Truth as it is in Jesus even To put off the old man with his deeds It doth not say the body is put off in Christ without us and men must onely put off the members or deeds but they must put off the body and come to witness in themselves the very Nature Spirit Root and Principle from whence they proceed cut down and destroyed in them They must feel the Axe laid to the root of the corrupt Tree and it cut down in them not think it enough to say it is done in Christ for them yea they must also witness the Lord arising to shake teribly the earth in which the Tree grew that so the place of Dragons and Serpents where each lay in times past may hence forward become the place of holyness where grass may grow and the new plants and flowers of the Paradise of God And how is the will of God done in heaven Is it done in heaven after this manner Have Mercy and Righteousness the Preheminence the leading of the Van they are his own words and said to go before and look down from heaven after this manner the body of sin being put off in Christ there are there not those here on earth who dwel in heaven Whose conversation is in heaven even the Witnesses to Gods holy Truth who are ascended up above the Spirit of this world and dwell in Gods holy Spirit and who walk in the Light as God is in the Light Hell is not far from the wicked nor is Heaven far from them who are renewed in the Spirits of their minds and who witness the passing away of the old things and the new Creation in Christ O that he could look back in a true sence and see how he hath wrested those Scriptures Psal 85.9 10 11. Isa 4.2 and Ephes 2.6 afer his own imaginations And indeed in this Spirit men cannot but turn the pretious Truth of God into a lye that is as to themselves as to their own knowledge of it It is known how the Branch of the Lord is beautiful and glorious and the fruit of the earth excellent and comely and in what day it is so which day is When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Sion and shall have purged the blood c. by the Spirit of judgment and by the Spirit of burning Isa 4.4 Then every one that is left shall be called holy and the Branch of the Lord shall be glorious in the
fallen upon the dark mountains and whilst he looks for Light he ha h lost that which once he had and his very Light as he esteems it is become obscurity and gross darkness as this dark paper of his from the dark Spirit and Principle makes manifest to all that shall read it in any measure of true sence or discerning And truly my oul doth weep in secret for his pride and height of Spirit in opposing the Lord his Truth and People And for this cause shall those who have looked upon themselves as the Children of the Kingdom and flock of God be laid wast and know that as it was a dreadful thing to oppose Christ Jesus the Lord in his appearance in flesh so it is also dreadful to oppose his appearance in his Spirit and Power wherein he is arisen to set up his Kingdom and to throw down Babilon which is built in the likness of Sion but by and in another Spirit Those in whom there is any tenderness towards God and true breathings after him left the Lord give them the sence and true understanding of this inward spiritual appearance of his Son and of what they have been doing and are doing against it that they may not continue to fight against the the Lord and kick against that which is able to wound and prick to their own hurt and eternal ruine For there is not Salvation in any other name then in that which is now revealed Blessed are all they that trust therein it being not another but the same that ever was To His POST-SCRIPT HE beginneth it with the justification of that passage of his in a foregoing letter of his to me wherein he said Christ is Heaven and I am Hell Answ When God visiteth man he finds him in union with Hell Death and darkness and the man is Dead is Dark is of an hellish Nature and Spirit in that state But when the Lord hath converted him cut him off from that root leavened him with the Spirit and Nature of his Son is he Hell still Ye were Darkness saith the Apostle but now are ye Light in the Lord. And such were some of you but ye are Washed but ye are Sanctified but ye are Justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God A man can be but Hell before he is washed before his filth be purged away by the Spirit of Judgment and Burning before the old leaven is purged out and he sanctified and made a new lump but after the Lord hath thus changed him and new created him in Christ Is he still Hell He saith He doth not call the new Creature Hell but there is an Old Man an Outward Man as well as the New Man the Inward Man Flesh as well as spirit in the Regenerate Answ What doth he mean by the Outward Man the Sinful Body The Body of Flesh is within The outward Body that 's not Hell that 's the Temple of God where the heart is Sanctified And the pure Word of Life Sanctifies throughout even in Soul in Body in Spirit those that are subject to it Know ye not that your Bodies are the Temples of the living God and your Spirits much more for God is a Spirit and he dwels in a Spiritual Temple and his Temple is holy He addeth And unless your attainment be beyond Pauls he found that in him that is in his flesh dwelt no good thing and the Flesh lusting against the Spirit so that he could not do the thing that he would Answ Paul did once experience such a state that he felt himselfe Carnal Sould under Sin when he did not find how to perform that which was good but did what he hated the Law of Sin being strong in his members against the Law of Life in his mind which state he calleth A state of captivity to the Law of Sin in his members and calleth it a wretched state Rom. 7.23 24. But did Paul never experience another state Did he never witness the virtue and power of the new Covenant even the Law of the Spirit of Life and the Power thereof freeing him from the strength and captivity of the Law of Sin in his members There were young men John speaks of who were strong and had overcome the wicked one Did Paul himselfe never attain to that state He bid others be strong in the Lord and in the Power of his might and shewed them how to resist in it so as to overcome Did he never experience and witness it himselfe He said He had fought a good fight and was more then a Conqueror What was he then a captive to the Law of Sin in his members and did he then cry out Who shall deliver me from the body of this Death He said He could do all things through Christ that strengthened him was not that a state different from that other wherein he found only to will And could not do the good he desired but did the evil he allowed not but hated And blessed be the Lord there are many at this day who witness a farther state of redemption and deliverance from Sin and the Law thereof in the members then that state of captivity was which Paul there expresseth his former groanings and complainings under For he was not in that state of captivity when he writ that Epistle but knew the Dominion of Grace over sin and bid that Church be subject to the Grace and not give way to sin but yeeld their members servants to Righteousness unto Holiness Ch. 6. For that other place Of the Flesh lusting against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh Gal. 5.17 He doth not there speak of himselfe but of the Galatians who were in a weak low and indeed fallen state from the Spirit and Power of the Gospel having let in that which was contrary thereunto And so he strives to gather them into the Spirit again and bids them Live in the Spirit and walk in the Spirit and so they should not fulfil the lusts of the flesh For in the new Covenant man is taught of God the holy lesson of ceasing from evil and doing good and taught in the virtue and power of the Covenant so that he learns daily and grows daily out of Deceit into Truth until he come to be a true Israelite in whom there is no Guile And so in the spiritual War The house of Saul grows weaker and weaker and the house of David stronger and stronger until Sauls Kingdom be at length overturned and wholly destroyed and the Kingdom of David established in Righteousness for ever and ever Then Jerusalem the holy building the City of the living People the City of Righteousness the Habitation of Righteousness and Mountain of Holiness is known and Jerusalem is witnessed a quiet habitation there being peace in all her borders Then the mind is fully stayed upon the Lord in all conditions and he keeps it in perfect pâ—ace Then the Soul is careful for nothing