truth aright in others Nay thou measurest by a false appearance of things in the fallen understanding and in the wisdome which thou hast gathered there since thou thy selfe fellest from the living principle and this must needs commend that most which is neerest to it and not that which is neerest to truth And this is the great error of this age men with a gathered knowledge from Scripture-words without the true faith and life go about to measure that life and knowledge which comes from the faith and because it suites not with the apprehensions which they have taken into their minds they condemn it And thus being in the stumbling wiâ—dome and way of observation to which truth was never revealed but was ever an offence they stumb'e at it and thus men generally dish and split themselves against the same rock now as the Pharisees did of old Now this understanding must perish and this wisdome in men be brought to nought before that can be raised up which can judge aright Hearken therefore to my exhortation as ye love your souls Come out of popery indeed and in truth come out of the spirit of popery burn the whore in her new forms as well as in her old Cast off all these new names of the Beast under which the old spirit has made a prey of the life in your own particulars and lies lurking to make a prey of the life in others and to force it into its own deceitfull forms of death and slay it Leave defending your faith and church by the Beasts horns and come to that faith and church which is received gathered and defended by Christ the one horn of salvation Leave your reasonings and disputings in that wisdome which has slain the life and come to that wisdome which comes from the life and springs up in the life and ye will find more certainty and satisfaction in one touch of true life then in all the reasonings and disputes of wise men to the worlds end The ground wherein mens religion grows even of the most zealous is bad even the same ground wherein the Pharisees religion stood and grew and it hath brought forth such kind of fruit namely such a kind of conformity to the letter as theirs was which stands in the understanding and will of man rearing up a pleasant building there but keeps from the life and from building in it But the true religion stands in receiving a principle of life which by its growth forms a vessell for it selfe s and all the former part wherein sin on the one hand or selfe righteousnesse on the other hand stood and grew passeth away These things following strike at the King of Babilon himselfe yea even at the very root of the Antichristian spirit in every man which he that can mild y receive the stroake of may feel the true Spirit of life which lies slain underneath spring up in him and give life to his soul which when it is delivered will be able truly to know and rejoyce in the Lord its Saviour And when the root of that spirit is cut downe which never brought forth sweet pleasant fruit unto life but only sowre fruit finely pâ—inted and dressed for the eye and palate of death its body branches leaves and fruit will wither and dye dayly and truth come to grow safely A Distinction between the faith which is of man and the faith which is of GOD One whereof is the Faith of Sion the other the Faith of Babilon the one laying hold on Christ as he is revealed the King of life in Sion the other layes hold on an Historicall relation of Christ the fame whereof hath sounded in Babilon THere is a faith which is of a mans selfe and a faith which is the gift of God or a power of beleeving which is found in the nature of fallen man and a power of believing which is given from above As there are two births the first and the second so they have each their faith and each beleeve with their faith and seem to lay hâ—ld on the same thing for life and the contention about the inheritance will not be ended till God determine it Cain will sacrifice with his faith and he beleeves he shall be accepted if he had not beleeved so he would not have been so angry when he found it otherwise And the Cainish spirit in man the vagabond from the life of God which hath not an habitation in God nor the eternall life of God abiding in him he is busie with the same faith at this day and hath the same expectation from it as Cain had This is the root of the false religion of the false hope of the false peace of the false joy of the false rest of the false comfort of the false assurance as the other is the root of the true In this faith which is of man and in the improvement of it stands all the knowledge zeal devotion and worship of the world in generall and of the worldly part in every man in particular but the true knowledge the true zeale the true devotion the true worship stands in the faith which is given of God to them which are born of the immortall seed which liâ—es in God and in which God lives for ever Now it deeply concerns every man to consider from which of these his knowledg religion and worship proceed and in which of them they stand for if they proceed from and stand in the faith which is of man they cannot please God nor conduce to the salvation of the soule but though they may tast very pleasantly to mans pallate now and administer much hope and satisfaction to him at present yet they will faile at the time of need For as Christ said concerning the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisees so may I say concerning this faith Except your faith with the works of it exceed that faith and all the works of it even to the utmost improvement thereof which is to be found in mans nature it will never lead you to the kingdom of God nor be able to give you any right to the inheritance of life For he that will inherit must be the right heir must have the faith of Abraham the faith of Isaacâ— which springs up from the root of life in the seed and this leads the seed into that spring of life out of which it shot forth as a branch which is the inheritance promised to the seed And here is Christ Alpha and Omega in every particular soul where life is begun and perfected â—unning its course through time back to that which was before the beginning Therefore observe and consider well what this faith which is of a mans selfe can doe and how far it may goe in the changing of man and in producing a conformity of him to the letter of the Scriptures And then consider where it is shut out what it cannot do what change it cannot make what it cannot conform to
men or from what it readeth related in the Scripture concerning him but refuseth the nature of the thing and it cannot be otherwise for mans faith not being of the nature of it cannot but refuse it But this faith which is given of God which is from above being of the same life and nature with Christ cannot refuse the spring of its own life but receiveth him immediately There is no distance of time but so soon as faith is received Christ is received and the soul united to him in the faith As unbeliefe immediately shuts him out so faith lets him in immediately and centers the soul in him and the immortall soule feeles the immortall vertue and rejoyces in the proper spring of its own immortall nature But the faith of man never reaches this never receives Christ but only a relation of things concerning him and with that faith which stands in the letter opposes that faith which stands in the life And here 's the spirit of Antichrist here 's the mistery of iniquity working out of one forme into another for Antichrist does not directly deny Christ or deny the letter but cryes up Christ cryes up the letter cryes up ordinances but so as they may feed the faith of his own nature and maintain an hope there And thus the spirit of man is at unity with what will feed his own with what interpretations his own understanding can gather out of the Scriptures And thus can he cry up Christ and say he hopes to be saved by him while the spirit of enmity against the nature of Christ lodgeth in his heart This is Antichrist where ever he is found and this is his faith and great is his knowledg and many are his coverings but the Lord is searching him out who will strip him and make his nakednesse appear VII That Christ is received as a grain of mustard seed Christ is such a thing as every eye but the eye of this faith despiseth He is the stone which the wisdome of the builders in all ages hath rejected They look for a glorious Messiah but they know him not in his humiliation in the little seed out of which he is to grow up into his glory and so they missing of the thing build up only with high imaginations in the airy mind concerning the thing As when God sent Christ in the flesh there was no form nor beauty in him The Jews whose hope and expectation lay there yet saw no manner of comelinesse no desireablenesse in him Even so is it now When God comes to offer him to those that think they place all their hopes in him they see no lovelinesse in him but refuse him daily What this little thing small like a grain of mustard-seed can this be the glorious Christ which the Scriptures have spoke so much of why we know the descent of this its father mother and kindred are with us we find this in our own nature Thus like the Jews of old they make a great noise about Christ but refuse the thing it selfe And this is for want of the true eye of faith for if they had that eye they would see the vertue in the little seed and receive him in his humiliation in their hearts where he knocks daily for entrance and be content to wait till this grain of mustard-seed grow up into a great and glorious tree But for want of this eye they keep him out and let in the painted murtherer who dwells in them and covers himselfe with a knowledg a zeal a faith an hope c. in the old nature in the old vessel in the old understanding thus they give God and Christ good words while the evill spirit has their hearts and dwells there bringing forth his own old evill fruit under an appearance of devotion and holinesse Hear now ye wise in the letter but strangers to the life There is a twofold appearance of Christ in the heart There is an appearance of him as a servant to obey the law to fulfill the will of the Father in that body which the father prepares there for him and there is an appearance of him in glory to reign in the life and power of the Father And he that knows not the first of these in his heart shall never know the second there And he that knows not these inwardly shall never know any outward visible coming to their comfort For if Christ should come outwardly to reign as many expect yet to be sure he would not reign in thee whose heart he hath not first entred into and subdued to himself which is only to be done by his appearance there first as a servant and then as a King But what estate are Christians so called now in who know not him in them who is able to serve the Lord but are striving and fighting in that nature where sin hath the power and which can never overcome being not in union with but strangers to that life and power which is the conquerour Therefore let all consider in the depth of their heart for this is infallibly true They that never received the seed of life in their hearts never received Christ and such shall never and such shall never be free from sin while they live for having not received the son who makes free how can they be free indeed nor be free from wrath when they are dead For that faith concerning Christ will not save them hereafter which did not bring them to receive Christ here VIII That this seed being received groweth up into its own form or is formed in that creature into which it is received It there groweth up into the body in which it is to serve the Lord and which body is to be glorified when it hath finished its service As a seed cast into fitted earth or the seed of man or beast sowed in a fitting womb receiveth form and growth into a plant or living creature so is it with this seed in its earth Open the true eye O ye Christians and begin to read the mistery of godlinesse IX That this creature or the spirit of life this creature which it is in union with and which is never seperated from it is the Christians rule Gal. 6. 15 16. 1 John 2. 27. Heb. 8. 10 11. The Son is never without the Spirit of the Father no not in the seed and the Spirit of the Father is the sons rule Outward rules were given to a state without to men who were not brought to the life but were exercised under shadows and representations of the life but the Son who is within who is the substance of all who is the life who is one with the Father whose proper right the Spirit is he is not tyed to any outward rule but is to live and walk in the immediate light of the Spirit of his own life And he that hath the Son hath this rule and he that hath not this rule hath not the Son And he that
shall have what they will if they will but be faithsull to him in the main Call for what likenesse what invention what appearance of truth they will they shall have it so they will but be content without life No notion about the Spirit wil be deny them so they will be content with the notion without the presence of the living Spirit They shall have light in their understandings warmth in their affections joy peace hope comfort out of the Scriptures They shall apply as many promises to themselves as they will have what they will do what they will so they keep out of the feeling of the living principle but if once that stir and there be any hearkning after that then he begins to shew his tyranny on the one hand to force them back and his stratagems on the other hand to tempt them aside from it The devil having thus gained the form and enriched himself with the Churches spoils and slain them which had the living testimony then he falls to corrupting the form For that filthy spirit though he can cloath himself with the form to deceive from the life abid there to keep down the life yet he does not much love it he loves his own form better and when he is out of feare of assaults from the life then he returns to his own form againe or patches up a garment more suitable to his own nature taking iâ— somewhat of the other with it to make his own passe the better for if he should have returned to the direct heathenish forms of idolatry and false worship he could not so well have â—ayn hid therefore he makes a mix uâ—e of somewhat which was prescribed the Jews with some things sound practised among the Christians Thus he brought in inventions of crosses and images and beads and pictures and reliques and ceremonies beyond number insomuch as not only the life and power was lost but the true likeness also even so lost that it is impossible for all the wisdome of man to recover the knowledge of the likenesse againe Men have striven much but they never could form a true likenesse of the Primitive Church and the way thereof Now though it is the desire of the Devill to keep men in the grossnesse of darkness yet rather then loose them he will let them have some part of the form again nay he will tempt them with a gaudy appearance of the form to keep them from meeting with the power and life when he perceives true secret inward stirrings in them which will not be quieted without somwhat Thus when there was a stirring against Popery he tempted aâ—iâ—e into Episcopacy when that would hold no longer then to Presbitery when that will not serve into Independancy when that will not keep quiet but still there are searchings further into Anabaptism if that will not doe into a way of seeking and waiting if this will not satisfie they shall have high notions yea most pleasant notions concerning the Spirit and concerning the life if they will be but satisfied without the life yea they shall have all the liberty in the creatures they can desire the best painted liberty if they will but be satisfied without that liberty which stands not in the creatures out of the life but over the creatures in the life And he that turns aside to any of these he is still under the dominion of that spirit and there he holds his knowledge and there he performes his worship and there he has his unity his liberty his life his rest his peace his joy his hope Now no man can worship God till he comes out of every part of this Babilon and his feet touch Sion though there may be a secret panting and an unknown safety and an acceptation of the poor mourning soul in the passage Yea all sorts of people here ye were accepted in your stirrings after life in hearkning to the leadings of life from out of the Babilonish Spirit but your turning aside to the Babilonish wisdome in a new dresse and sitting down in a new form of her inventing hath brought you to a losse of life and hath made you hatefull to the living God who hath drawn his sword against you and hath prepared his vialls his thunders his plagues his woes and ye must drink of his cup with sorrow as ye have drunk of the whores cup with pleasure Ye that have found a bed of pleasure in any of your forms or in any of your notions and so have found ease in the Sion of the whores painting ye must be cast into the bed of sorrow and know the fire the Gods Sion and the furnace in his Jerusalem if ever ye become an habitation for God or expect to feed on his holy mountaine The condition of the Church all this while all this time of Satans reigne in forms of knowledg and worship hath been very lamentable and is expressed in Scripture by parables and resemblances of a sad state She hath been as a City pulled down like a ruined City which needs rebuilding before she can come to be a City again when the Lord shall build up Sion She hath been like a wildernesse barren undressed unregarded She hath been like a mournfull widow whose husband hath been rent from her and her children slain She hath lost all her ornaments all her garments all her ordinances all her appearances and wayes of life in somuch as the wayes of Sion mourn But Babilon the mother of harlots she has got all the beauty all the glory all the Churches attire all the Churches ordinances and all the trade and traffiqe runs thither and she is cryed up for the true Church and if any dare speak a word against her for the true Church indeed they are exclaimed against for schismaticks and hereticks and war prepared against them and some or other of the beasts horns presently pushing at them Thus it has gone all the time of the Apostacy the whore has flourished with the name of the Church making great merchandize of souls selling their formall stuff for mony and abundance of children hath the whore brought forth and nourished with her milk of deceit but the true woman the Lambs wife with her seed and the living food from her living breasts have had no place on the earth But this state of things is ended in part and ending apace The Lord God of life is arisen out of his holy habitation to assault the Dragon to discover and strip the whore to recover a possession for his life in the earth to make roome in the world for his Church which he is bringing out of the wildernesse The battel is begun the territories of Antichrist are assaulted the Lamb hath appeared on his white horse and hath gathered many of his called faithfull and chosen about him the Ensign is liâ—ted up the light which searcheth the inwards of the enemies dominions hath appeared and his inmost power and wisdome is not feared
hath been an heavy dull time for many ages There have only been witnesses hitherto raised against Antichrist and he hath sound it an easie matter to knock them down and keepe up his wayes of prophanenesse and of formall superstitious kinds of devotion up and down all the nations But now it is a quick time the Spirit of the Lord God hath arisen the searching eye is opened the pursuit after the very Spirit of Antichrist is begun yea very quick and fresh is the scent of that Spirit which hunteth the whore and now she goes forward and backward traverses her ground changes her paint and colours often shifts her garments continually and uses all the art she can to save her life Now the king of Babilon opens his treasury brings forth all his likenesses all his images all his appearances with some or other of them if it be possible to tempt the simple soul and keep it satisfied therewith in some of his chambers of darknesse and imagery out of the life and power Therefore now be warned and look about you and be not cosened with any of the wares of Babilon where the marchandize and traffique is for souls and where all the wares of deceit are which are proper to cosen souls but seeke for the nature of that thing which the inward pantings of your heart at any time have been after and waif for the opening of that eye which can see through all manner of paint to that nature and keep low in the life simple and honest-hearted and then gawdy appearances will not take with you for they are only temptations to the aspiring part which is lifted up above the pure low humble principle and if that part were brought down ye would be safe but while that stands ye will not be out of the danger of temptations Now this know There is nothing whereof Sion is built but the likenesse of it is in Babilon and the likenesse is very taking even more taking to that eye which is open in men then the truth it selfe The truth is a plain simple thing it is not gawdy in appearance its excellency lies in its nature but the appearances of truth which Satan paints are very gawdy very glorious seemingly very spirituall very pure very precious very sweet they many times even ravish that understainding and those affections that are out of the life Oh what shall I say shall I speake a little of the wares of Babilon where is there an ear which can hear me yet he that opens my mouth can open thine ear Therefore set me speak a little plainly 1. There are many glorious fals births in Babilon There is no inheriting the Kingdome but by being born againe This doctrine the king of Babilon preacheth he is fain to do so else the letter of the Scripture would overthrow his kingdome Now therefore to keep from the true new birth he hath his images of the new birth his severall false births A great while outward baptisme and a formall knowledge was enough to make a man a christian but now since that is discovered and will not do he brings forth better births he hath inward changes of the minde multitudes of them fit for every one who is seeking after the life to be tempted from the life with and he tempts every one with a proper bait with that which is taking to him in his present estate What changes any kind of knowledge by vertue of the notion with the devills quickning power added to it can produce in any man the Devill can transform man into Yea many are these changes and he that doth not know the nature of the true birth may easily be deceived with that which is just like the thing he looks for A man looks for a new birth for an inward change he looks for a knowledge to change him he shall have just the very likenesse of that which his heart desires the lively likenese the devill is ready at hand to furnish him with it which way can the man who never saw the true thing espy the cheat 2. There are many glorious desires in Babilon many pantings many breathings after that which this birth of Babilon takes to be life The devil hath these wares these images in his shop too As he hath a false birth in imitation of the true so he hath false breathings for his false birth If his child could not seemingly breath towards God as if he were a naturall child of God he would soon be detected therefore he inflames him with desires of growth with desires of enjoyment of that which he calls life with seeming desires of serving and glorifying God and here come in the prayers of the fleshly birth which are many times carryed on with exceeding great earnestnesse of the flâ—shly part to which also the father of this birth given answers And now which way can deceit be so much as suspected here And yet here also the deceiver lodgeth and herein he worketh raising strong desires in that part wherein he dwels that he may allaâ— those pure desires which otherwise would be arising from the life underneath and which notwithstanding all this sometimes doe arise especially when the soul is in anguish 3. There 's false food in Babilon false knowledge to feed this wrong nature with There 's knowledge falsely so called There 's severall appearances of all the truths in Sion There 's outward knowledge of the letter and there 's inward misticall knowledges and each of these have their warmth and their freshnesse and do nourish up this child and cause it to grow Yea what knowledge and experience which at first sprang from the true life this spirit makes a prey of and daily brings into his Babilon therewith to feed and fatten that which is born of him and to cover the old deceitfull nature under which is not slain thereby but daily lives and moves and puts forth it selfe this is certainly felt by that which is made sensible in the life but hard to be spoken because the deceived heart is so grosse and the ear so heavy Now here the painted whore which hath dealt treacherously with the life fits as a Queen and saves she shall see no sorrow This knowledge is certain to her these experiences she hath had the feeling of and knows they can never be shaken But O thou Princesse of Babilon the Lord will strip the the Lord will unbare thy inwards thine own eyes shall see they nakednesse which shall be for a perpetuall reproach among all the inhabitants of Sion and then thy dark deceitfull spirit shall have no more to say against those who now see through thy covering to thy nature in the light and judge thee not of themselves nor in their own wills and understandings but from the true power and in the true guidance of the life whose work it is to pursue overtake and judge deaâ—h even to death For all this knowledge and all these experiences in thee