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A33370 A paradisical dialogue betwixt faith and reason disputing the high mysterious secrets of eternity, the like never extant in our revelation. As touching God in eternity, how he became time in flesh, and how he dyed in the grave, and ascended to his glory again. Also what the angels are in form and nature, and how the angel became a devil, and that devil man; and that this world was prepared for the devil, so this the devils kingdom; and what the soul is, with the place of its glory and torment. With a brief narration what a commission is, and how many commissions there are; what the difference of their worships, and how that the law was given to the devil; with a brief discourse on the catechism, the Lords Prayer, and the creeds; as also, a divine prospect to the elect of the Lord. Written by Law. Claxton, the onely true bishop and faithful messenger of Christ Jesus, creator of heaven and earth. Claxton, Laurence, 1615-1667. 1660 (1660) Wing C4581; ESTC R215220 88,691 122

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almost the whole world believes the Soul was never generated but the breathings of the Spirit of God which are immortal and cannot dye Faith From the Revelation of Faith I say those conceited wise men which through the ambition of Tongues and Languages have studied beyond all sober sense or reason to make all the world senseless sots as to think when the Seed is conceived in the womb that then God must come and give it a Soul be it a Bastard or Free-born the child can have no Soul till God give it so that thou makest God not onely a partner but a perfecter of mans bas● lust in that filthy act But however thy thoughts are unseal'd concerning God yet this I know that all Souls since the fall of Adam are but mortal natural and must dye in the body being generated to live together must dye together in that they are both guilty of sin cannot ascend but rot in the grave together as it is written The Soul of man shall be cut off from the Land of the Living and the Soul that sins shall dye and that the pure Soul of Christ was poured forth unto death and the Lord hath said that Adam and Eve were but dust and to dust they should return again also it is written That David is both dead and buried and his Sepulchre is with us this day for David is not ascended into the Heavens Acts 2. c. Now what should ascend if not Davids Soul For it is written Not this body but such a body as pleaseth God to give it So not the body but the Soul thou sayest must ascend then know this Soul was in the dust and not ascended for David is not ascended as much as if it had been said Davids Soul is not ascended nor no Soul without a body can ascend and there can be no ascension till the Soul hath past through death it can never ascend to Eternal life Reason If the Soul at the hour of death did not ascend to glory or descend to misery how comes it then that John writes I s●w under the Altar the Souls of them that were slain for the Rev. 6. 10. Word of God and for the Testimony which they held and they cryed with a loud voice saying How l●ng O Lord holy and true dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth So that surely John saw many Souls in Heaven cying unto the Lord to avenge their blood on their enemies otherwise he had not declared it Faith Thy ignorance hath been great as now it is in this as for thee to imagine that John saw Souls in Heaven without bodies and their spirits without face mouth and tongue should cry How long holy and true c. When a Soul without a face and tongue cannot be seen nor speak therefore I tell thee there is a greater Mystery in those words then thou art aware of for from my Seed spring I say it is no more then the blood of Abels which cryed unto the Lord from the ground and so doth all the blood of the Saints From the blood ●f Righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias and so to the end of our Commission Do cry O Lord holy and true why dost thou not avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth This John saw by Revelation as Steven and Paul in another case did see the Heavens opened And so John saw a wonder in Heaven a Woman cloathed Rev. 12. ● with the Sun and the Moon under her feet and the 12 Stars upon her head Now when John saw this great wonder he was not in Heaven neither was this wonder done in Heaven but upon the earth so it was the blood of the Righteous Souls that were murthered in their bodies that John saw not in glory but upon this earth Now whereas thou art almost confident that at the hour of death the Souls go out of the body if so deal plainly with thy self and tell me wh●●●t is like for surely the Soul must have some form ●● s●ape and so cannot get out but it would be seen by some th●● st●●ds by for if a ●oul were of that form and fashion as White in his Chamber at Whithall shewed me the picture of a soul ●● a Book a dark soul and a light soul in ●●rm like a ●cope●il● I say if the soul were as such wis● Head-pieces reports how comes it that it cannot be seen to g● out of the diseased For my part I have been at the death of some and yet could not discern any thing come fr●m them but groans and flegm so that if thou with all th● seed were no● stone blinde thou wouldst clearly see the soul dyeth within the body for want of evaquation with the body Reason If i● be as thou sayest that all souls are dead in the dust and so become dust How or which way shall these souls be found out or raised at the last day Faith From the Lord of glory I speak it there is not any of thy seed that doth in the least understand how to answer this Argument therefore that Faith may be known to be Lord over thee and thy seed I declare that Christ Jesus being a quic●ning Spirit not onely as in relation to himself but all man kind as it is written The first man Adam was made a living Soul and the second man Adam was made a quickning Spirit I say his Soul being perfectly dead and buried in the grave yet in death he quickned himself to life without the help of any as in the second Chapter is clear so as it is written Your l●fe is hid in Christ with God so that when Christ who is our life shall appear then shall we also appear Col. 3. 3. 4. with him in glory therefore as he was able to q●icken his own Soul so at the general account he is far more able by the word of his mouth to quicken the Seed of Faith that now are dust to eternal glory also to quicken the seed of Reason to eternal misery yea and that from the first soul called Adam to the last soul dying he can and will in the twinkling of an eye raise all the Seed of Faith that hath layn so long in the dust to meet him in the Air with bodies sutable to their natures yea the very appearance of Christ who is all life will quicken that which is dead in the grave to hear his voice and immediately to come forth and meet him in the Air as it is written The hour is coming John 5. 28 in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice Reason That I understand is the raising of another body and not the soul for it is written it is sown a natural body and is raised a spiritual body so that I conceive it is not the soul but that body raised another that will be the work of the Lord at the day of Judgement
Faith Oh! senseless sot that I should thus spend my time with thee when thou neither believes Scripture nor can rightly interpret any Scripture when thou mayest read in the 36th and 37th verses these words Thou fool that which 1 Cor. 15. 36. thou sowest is not quickned except it dye and that which thou sowest not that body that shall be but bare grain it may chance of wheat or of some other grain Now consider is not the life of the wheat grain in the body of the wheat corn when it is sowed and doth it not in its season dissolve its body with its life into dust and there dye yea perfectly dead till such time as refreshing showres and the heat of the Sun beams which is the life of the earth quicken that life which then lay dead to a new life by which vertue it cloaths it self no● with that old body but a new body and so abides not alone but brings forth a new encrease of sixty seventy or an hundred fold Now let me speak freely to thee as it is with the grain of wheat so it is with the soul of man for that is buried with the body in the earth were both soul and body is corrupted to dust and there lyeth as the wheat grain perfectly dead till such time that quickning Spirit the Lord of all life do appear and quicken that mortal soul which then was become dust to an immortal soul which after shall become an immortal life by which quickning it is clothed with a spiritual immortal body all glorious like God himself so now having a body sutable to its nature a spiritual powerful swift body like unto its Soul is now able to ascend to meet his Redeemer in the Air and so return with him into glory so that from the Lord of all power I say if the soul were immortal in a mortal body and could not dye but ascend to glory then I say there would be no need of Resurrection in that this body shall not rise though the Grave and the Sea at that day shall give up their dead is not intended their dead bodies but their dead souls that hath been many years drowned or buried that shall arise whether out of water or earth their souls shall arise every seed his own body but this I say if the soul were in glory already without a body as it cannot be then it were in vain to raise a body out of the earth to meet a spiritual Soul in Heaven in that no body can be raised without its soul nor a soul be any thing without its body so that if thou wert not stone blind thou wouldst say with me that to believe thy soul should go to Heaven without its body neither God nor Angels could see it or take notice of it nor the soul it self know what or where it is and so in conclusion never be capable of glory at all CHAP. 10. Shewing what Heaven is and how many there are with the nature and form thereof Reason WHat Heaven is that or where is it that these believing souls shall go to at the last day of Resurrection Faith First I shall tell thee from an unerring Spirit how many Heavens there are and which of those three this Heaven is that all believing souls shall inherit eternal glory in the personal enjoyment of their God face to face I find but a threefold Heaven spoken of in Seripture whatever thy seed vainly imagine to the contrary The first that I shall infallibly speak of is the visible Firmamental I. Heaven which is adorned with maty majestical lights above us and a fixed earth beneath us beautiful in its season with variety of delights which is natures onely desired Heaven through the secret Decree of the most wise God to manifest the variety of his most infinite wisdom unto Elect men and Angels in creating such natural glory to perish with the Angelical merciless Rulers thereof after they have enjoyed their momentary glory as it is written Thou Lord in the beginning hast established the earth the Heavens are the works of thy hands they shall perish but thou dost remain they shall wax old as doth a garment this is that visible Heaven with the glory thereof Reason Which is then the next Heaven by Scripture proved that so if possible I may come to know that Heaven which is Eternal and shall never perish Faith As I do not set forth these Heavens in order so I say thou canst no● nor none of thy sed have any Faith in what I have or shall say but however the next Heaven I shall treat upon is that within the bodies of men or the first man Adam as it is written The Kingdom of Heaven is within you and Christ in you the hope of glory and know you not that Christ is in you except y●u be Reprobates Now this Heaven is that spiritual creation in natural bodies and within this perishing Globe that through its union with changable nature it might enter into mortality that so after a moments tasting of silent death as God himself did it might quicken again through death it self spiritual bodies full of Divine glories by which all the Elect as swift as thought ascend to meet their Lord in the Air and with his Divine person of bright burning glory enter into that prepared Throne of Eternal pleasures by which such a soul hath perfect peace with assurance here that it shall enjoy what it in this world believed Reason How is it possible any creature should give a description of the Kingdom of glory Which I perceive thou wilt say is the third and highest Heaven seeing it is a place that can by mortals cannot be seen therefore not known I conceive no mortal flesh is able to speak of it according to its form and nature Faith From the Lord of glory I say what is impossible to Reason is possible to Faith for by the Revelation of this Faith I can see and do know that the third Heaven is invisible yet visible ravishing glories which are Eternal this is that vast Kingdom where the persons of the mighty Angels and glorified bodies of Moses and Elias do now inhabit beholding the Face of that most Excellent Majesty whose Divine nature is Crowns of unutt●rable excellencies this is that habitation third Heaven Throne or Kingdom that the Pen of man is not able to write or his Tongue to speak However what by Revelation I have seen I shall here declare that the form of it is non-Globical insomuch that there is no end of the height of it nor circumference thereof insomuch that God his Saints and Angels may ascend ten thousand times ten thousand and yet no Globe to hinder so excellent glorious swift personal Majesty as God is and as for the nature of this Heaven it is so infinite that there is all manner of creatures for the contemplation of God his elected Saints and Angels Reason What dost thou believe
substance he was created of in those words The Lord God also made the man of the dust of the earth after his own likeness yea in the Image of God created he him so that I say he made Adam of this dust below and therefore it is the body of man is natural so of a heavy gross substance viz. flesh blood and bone Reason How or which way was man framed in the image of God and so compleatly made in the similitude of the Creator seeing mans body is of such gross mortal substance and Gods body thou sayest is of a bright fiery glorious chrystall immortal substance what likeness or image can mans be like unto God then tell me Faith In the creating of man the Lord God onely spake the word onely unto the dust of the earth and immediately the vertue thereof brought forth a living man of pure flesh blood and bone like unto God himself as near as could be so that I say it was not the visiblility of their persons that differed in the least but the glory of them onely for this by Faith I know God was an infinite spiritual body in all parts perfectly holy and Adam was a finite natural body of perfect innocency resembling that Divine form of God that created him Reason What then was the nature or spirit of Adam Angelical or was it Divine Faith I say though Adams body was made of the dust and appointed for generation so natural yet this from an unerring spirit I know that his Soul was not natural but supernatural or Divine and that because it was formed according to the invisible glory of the Eternal Spirit Reason What then was not Adams nature Reason so a reasonable creature if not then Ad●m was unreasonable so not like unto God Faith From the Lord of Glory I say that if the nature of Adam had been rational in his creation then it could not have been Divine but of Angelical desiring nature of unsatisfaction in its self but that Divine Soul of Adam which was created after the likeness of the Eternal God did consist of several Heavenly properties in its measure answerable unto those Divine qualifications in the glorious Creator above all measure for the Soul of man is not without its several properties and yet they are all in a Heavenly Harmony in that the joy of Soul that Adam did possess arose in him from one Divine Heavenly voice called the Spirit of Faith which was all satisfaction in himself with his present condition not having the least thought of further happiness then what he enjoyed already thus as the Divine nature of the Eternal Spirit was variety of infinite satisfaction in it self So likewise the Soul of Adam being composed of the same qualifications was variety of satisfaction in it self also according to its measure Now if the nature of Adams Soul had been as thou sayest rational in his creation then through want of the Divine nature of Faith Adam would alwayes have been desiring after something that he wanted like unto the Elect Angels for this I know the nature of Adams Soul could not possible have any reason in it and that because the very nature of reason is not onely as aforesaid but it is too serious in its consideration whether things be good or right that are propounded to its understanding when on the contrary that nature or breath of Faith which singly was intirely given to Adam without the least consideration perfectly knowing the excellency of a thing as soon as ever it is presented unto it and therefore Adams nature must needs be Divine as Gods is and supernatural though cloathed with pure nature onely Reason If it be as thou sayest that Gods nature is all Divine Heavenly Faith without pure reason at all and Adam was onely partaker of that nature which thou sayest is so immortal pure that it is all Divine Heavenly satisfaction in its self How came it then that Adam having that nature of Divine satisfaction in his own Soul did fall from that happy and innocent condition wherein he was created Faith From the revelation of faith in my soul I declare that in the nature of God there is not the least motion of the purest reason at all that being onely the angels nature as aforesaid neither is it possible there should be in that thou hast heard in that chapter treating of the angels creation that reason in the purest sense is but a meer desire of the enjoyment of something that is above it so no real satisfaction in its self therefore if the nature of God were pure reason as Papists Episcopal Presbyter Independent Anabaptist Ranter Quaker and all Atheistical opinions of thy seed affirm then I say the Creator that gave satisfaction to another is not satisfied in its self and so in thy reason would follow there is something above God that must give satisfaction to God which from an unerring spirit is cursed blasphemy when it is written In him all fulness dwells and Col 2. 9. he it is that filleth all in all And again it is written There is Isai●h 43. 10. none like him above him or before him or that shall be after him for a spiritual body of all divine heavenly faith and therefore it is written the wonderful transendent vertues of faith in so much that there is not the least let or doubt but whatever it believeth shall come to pass and to faith there is nothing unpossible that its revelation moves it to do when on the contrary reason is such antiphathy that it is a body of meer imaginary desires and no reality cloathed with fear let and doubts of faiths eternal power Now though the soul of Adam through the divine purity of its nature was immortal and uncapable of any rebellion against the glorious spirit of its Creator yet because its body was natural and had its beginning of this dust below his immortal soul having its being in a piece of clay was become subject through temptation to be transmuted from its present condition of his created innocency for this faith knows though the soul of Adam was of a divine nature yet because it was a created nature distinct to it self it was become a Son or Servant yea subject to its divine God and that through deep temptation he was subject to be transmuted into a sinful condition through which both soul and body might not onely be subject to natural death but also full of fear of eternal death or casting out of the spiritual presence of a divine Majesty to bring forth his heavenly disign of a more transcendent eternal glory that he had prepared through suffering to be enjoyed by his divine image at the last day with himself face to face Reason I conceive if Adam had such divine immortal heaven life breathed into him which thou calls his soul that was of the same property and nature of the divine God he might by that life have withstood all
wisdom and Angelical person that bewitched Eves innocent Soul to hearken to him and her eyes to dote upon him for let but moderate Reason guide thee and thou maist see it must be a person more wise and comely than Adam to deceive her and therefore it is written When the Woman Gen 3 6. saw the Tree it was good for food pleasant to the eyes and a Tree to be desired to make one wise she took of the fruit thereof and she did eat and also gave to her Husband and he did eat Reason Well then suppose it be granted it was the Angel that deceived her by words What is then supposed by eating And she saw it was good food and did eat So that the words of the Angel might entice her But what was that she did eat Faith That is when the innocent Soul of Eve was over-poured by the Serpents subtile Language her spirit did consent unto him to come in to her and take full possession of her to be her God and guide instead of her Creator Now by the word eating of the Tree of knowledge of good and evil from the Lord of ever-living Faith I say that the Creator called it eating First Because none of thy seed should know the Lords secrets until it was his pleasure he would receive honour by it Secondly The Spirit of God called it eating because of the civility of the Speech for the Scripture Language is much like a modest pure Virgin which is loath to have her secret parts mentioned in the least Thirdly That she might beware how she hearkned to any voice that was contrary to the voice of the Seed of God in her so that if she should hear the voice of a stranger she should not give away as many a Virgin since hath been deluded So that I say this Angelical person entered into her womb through her secret parts and being united to her Soul and body his Serpentine nature dissolved it self into her pure Seed and defiled her throughout and so became essentially one with her through which she naturally conceived a Serpent Dragon Devil into a man-child of flesh blood and bone and brought forth her first begotten son of the Devil yea the Dragon Devil himself and called his Name according to his nature Cain or cursed though ignorantly she said that she had received a man from the Lord just so on the contrary the womb of the Virgin wife Mary was honoured with the Angelical God himself through which her polluted nature was not onely cleansed while he was in her womb but also by the vertue of the Divine power she was inhabited to conceive his glorious Majesty of her Seed into a holy Babe of unspotted flesh blood and bone and in his season to bring forth her first begotten Son of God yea the true God and everlasting Father himself and called his Name according to his Nature Emanuel Jesus or Blessed as at large is disputed in the second Chapter Reason Thou sayest eating was admitting the Angels person into her body if the Angel was of as large a compass as I am how was it possible and where do we read that God cursed the Angel and how can it be proved that Angel was the first Devil Faith As Christ said unto Nicodemus so say I unto thee though the body of the Angelical Serpent in its length or breadth was as a man is yet I know it was not of so gross a substance as mans is for it was a spiritual body created in another World for though the bodies of the mighty Angels are in forms like men yet I know they shine like unto the Sun or a flame of fire being formed in a Region of a more higher nature than this therefore they are of motion as as swift as thought and of a pure thin or bright fiery nature so that with great ease they pierce through a narrow passage at the Divine pleasure of the Creator Reason Were it so as thou savest What harm or defilement could this be to her Soul or body he being a person so glorious I conceive it should rather endue her with more knowledge than before Faith Though the Angel was glorious in person yet his nature was corrupt in comparison of hers even as that blood which is defiled vvith the Pox or Gangreen Novv this man to enter the body of a vvoman vvhose blood is pure and free from any corrupt distemper Is it not a defilement to her body Even so his Serpent●ne Reason dissolved it self into her pure Seed of Faith and became essentially one vvith her through vvhich she vvas Soul and body de●●ed throughout by vvhich she lost her Divine satisfaction and Heavenly Peace that formerly she enjoyed in her ovvn Soul Reason Hovv vvill this stand agreeable to Scripture vvhen thou sayest it vvas an Angel that deceived Eve and the Letter saith it was a Serpent And besides it is written God cursed not the Angel but the Serpent What then dost thou say the Angel was the Serpent And if so what glory was there in a Serpent And where was the Angel or Serpent when cursed Faith Though I have told thee of this before yet now I tell thee again he was called a Serpent as unto the subtility of his nature or seed and that Serpentine Angelical form that by enticing words did deceive her was wholly dissolved into seed in her womb when the Eternal curse was passed upon him Reason If the Angelical person was in the body of Eve when he received his curse How then could he be capable of understanding a Sentence denounced against him being in the womb and changed from his former condition as thou hast revealed Faith The curse denounced by the Creator upon the Serpent in the womb of Eve was not for his satisfaction in the least but to convince Eve of her deceived thoughts of possessing such God-like happiness promised to her by the Angel also it was to convince her of doting of her first born but instead of rejoicing in him at his birth her Soul would not only loath his company but would also cast him out of her presence least he should murther her as he did his Brother Abel for her tender compassion towards him Furthermore it was spoken for her Divine satisfaction when the light of Redemption should shine in her deceived Soul and shew her that her first-born son was not from the Lord but the Angelical Serpent cursed in her womb by the Creator Reason Why should the Serpent and his generation undergo an eternal curse and Eve and her generation suffer but an external curse seeing she rebelled against a greater light than the Angel Faith I know she was utterly uncapable of eternal curse for these considerations First Because her Soul proceeded from a Heavenly Nature of Eternal Majesty himself Secondly Because that consent in her to evil proceeded not from her own nature but the unclean spirit of the Serpent speaking into her innocent Soul
examples more onely one more I shall quote which is more remarkable then those before and then let me heat thy answer and that is touching the man that lived in the land of the Gadarenes which man had Devils Luk. 8. 27 a long time and wore no cloaths neither abode in any house but in the tombes and no man could bind him no not with chains Mark 5. 4. neither could any man tame him and alwayes night and day he was in the m●untains and in the tombes crying and cutting himself with stones and all the Devils in him besought Christ that they might go into the Herd of Swine which they had no sooner entered but the man was well in his right minde and the whole Herd of Swine ran violently down a s●eep place into the Sea Now if thou canst make it apparent that these were no Devils besides Cain and his Seed then I shall with thee believe that there is no other Devil but man and woman Faith From Christ the onely Lord of Glory in the Revelation of his Eternal Spirit I affirm that those Devils so tituled from the first of Matthew to the last of the Revelation were onely the Seed of Reason and the violent distempers of the imagination thereof as first mind that the Devil that tempted Christ was one of the ablest Disputants whether a Pharisee or Sadducee I cannot by Faith finde yet by permissions I judge him rather a Sadducee they being the wisest and subtilest Devil of the two I say the Pharisees and Sadducees commissionate this man which by experience they found were best versed in Scripture to see if he could tempt the Lord Jesus to Baptize them with the holy Ghost and fire so that I say this Devil was a man of the same seed of those where it is written Ye shall not tempt the Lord Deut. 6. 6. your God as ye tempted him in Massah again it is written When your Fathers tempted me proved me and saw my Heb. 3. 9. works 40 years as at large thou may read in a Book of mine entituled Look about you for the Devil that you fear is in you so that I say these tempters of the Lord were the people of Israel men and women and no other form or Spirit whatsoever and again it is written That Jam. 1. 14. man is tempted when he ●s drawn away of his own lusts and enticed so that I affirm there is no other Devil but thy lustful Soul within thee that doth tempt thee to commit any wickedness acted by thee so that I say the meaning of that Satan entered Judas was onely this being by Christ Jesus discovered that he was the man that should betray him then forthwith nature in him entered into a resolution to betray the Lord of Life being then sealed up to a reprobate minde went out to his Brethren the Pharasaical Devils and sold him for thirty pieces so that I say there was no other Devil entered him but what was in him no more then would enter thee if thou wert now damned by me onely a spirit of tormenting envy would as it did in Judas so flame and burn that if possible thou wouldst destroy me as Judas did Christ Reason Notwithstanding what thou hast said as touching a Devil tempting or entering seems to have some colour of truth in it But then what wilt thou say of those Devils that were cast out of Mary and many others but especially of those legion that was cast out into the Herd of Swine For it is expressed when the Devils were cast out of the man they went into the Herd of Swine so that surely this was something more than Reason otherwise if Reason be the Devil and Reason cast out then the man had not been cloathed in his right minde but been altogether unreasonable Faith Let me speak never so plainly thou canst not understand me yet however this I shall tell thee that those Devils which by the powerful Word of Christ Jesus were cast out of Mary Magdalen or out of that man or any other creature spoke of in holy writ were onely all manner of filthy diseases or violent fiery distempers that hurried that man about such desperate wickedness oftentimes encreasing so powerfully that it did not onely occasion to rend his own body and break Iron chains but also ready to tear any one in pieces as many of thy seed at this day are possessed with Devils by such as thou are believed to be Devils and therefore it is that learned of thy seed have attempted by Conjuring Physical Medicaments to chain up that distemper or cast out by Vomit or Purgation and such like deceitful means which if thou wert not stone blind mightest see that these supposed Devils yet real distempers were no other but such as thou calls Lunatick frenzy Madness Convulsions or falling-sickness such like proceeding from melancholy is Colerick corrupt humors of the blood that by these Devilish distempers many of thy seed are chained up Prisoners in Bedlum all the dayes of their life which if they could be cast out by Faith being Lord over those Colerick and Melancholy distempers of the minde then they vvould by the Divine knovvledge of the true God be cloathed in their right mindes Reason If this vvere as thou sayest onely violent distempers in that man and so in M●ry vvhat then vvas that vvhich came out of the man and entered into the H●rd of ●vvine and if they vvere onely that vve call diseases vvhy then are they called Devils Faith From life of that Divine light in my Soul I declare they vvere no other but violent di●●empers aforesaid vvhich said diseases by the povverful Godhead in Christ vvas commanded at the request of the man to enter the Herd of the Svvine vvhich vvhen the Svvine vvere p●ssessed vvith the same distemper they vvere as mad as the man tearing and tumbling themselves into the Sea by reason of that violent distemper or affliction that the svvine became giddy in their heads not able to preserve themselves through the violence of the said distraction Now why the said distempers are called Devils are because none should know the true Devil but the Heirs of glory for thou mayest read the whole transaction of Christ were revealed in Parables and the mystery of Truth only revealed to the true Believers of the Lord of Glory And if thou supposest they were Devils what then dost thou apprehend them to be and how got they into the Herd of Swine and not seen Reason I conceive the Devils are invisible spirits that tormented the man and so could convey themselves into the Swine without the sight of any even as the Soul or Spirit of man at the hour of death do go forth of his body to Heaven or Hell Faith Oh! thou senseless sottish Reason now thou discovers thy ignorance in his as hath been in the rest as though the Devil were an invisible spirit and so cannot be seen
that there is all manner of other creatures in Heaven besides Angels and Saints as there is here below in the same forms and shapes as they are here in this world If so How are they supported and by what means do they live Faith From my Seed-spring within me I affirm that in the third and highest Heavens the Kingdom of glory there is a perfect earth and that is the Lords foot-stool which earth is immortal glorious upon which there is all manner of Trees Herbs Plants and all manner of four-footed beasts all manner of Fowls also I say there is chrystall Sea in which are all manner of Fishes nay to be short there is nothing here but what is there though this is to be understood as these are mortal those are immortal fiery glorious of a bright shining nature sutable for such a Majesty to solace himself withall as also his Saints and Angels also there is Thrones varieties of Glory with such Heavenly glorious Trumpetting voices from the Divine mouth of Saints and Angels that the Glory of Eternity doth ring again with such a sweet Divine Harmony that the enjoyment thereof is unutterable and the more they daily encrease with new joyes of ravishing praises and delights after all their tedious sufferings and that without end Oh! the Eternity the Eternity is that which makes it incomparable delightful otherwise the Kingdom of Glory above would little transcend the glory here were it not Eternal and full of variety of Divine pleasures but in that it is so as I know and believe therefore I cannot but say as touching the third and highest Heavens Oh! the Glory the top of Glory yea ravishing glories without end Reason How dost thou know this and where by Scripture canst thou prove this that there is such variety of immortal creatures there as there are mortal creatures here Faith Although this by Scripture could not be proved yet by Faith it ought to be believed for it is written Faith is the Heb. 11. 1 2. substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen for through Faith we understand the worlds were framed by the Word of God so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear Now if thou couldst understand the truth herein contained then thou wouldst with me conclude that all things that are here seen with thy natural eye were brought forth after the same plat-form of things above which do not here appear so that from my Seed-spring I affirm there is not the variety of things here but there is the same above in the same likeness there in glory as here in shame so that there is all day and no night and that because the fiery glorious person of God being the light thereof in which Kingdom the glorified of the Lord may stand walk talk sit lye flye yea recreate themselve● in whatsoever their Divine Souls moves them to and that without the least motion of either pain sorrow or weariness in whatever it is intended to do and that because there is no end of new springing delights and that no● fancies of the eye but substantial realities that may be felt and embraced so that I esteem the hardship of this present world not once to be compared to that glory that shall be revealed in my soul and that Eternal without end so as it is written We look not at things which are seen here by the eye of Reason 2 Cor. 4. 17. but at things which cannot be seen but by the eye of Faith In that things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are Eternal therefore Our affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding weight of Eternal Glory CHAP. 11. Shewing what Hell is where it is with the Form and Nature of its torment Reason VVHat is that place called Hell and where is it that the unbelieving souls shall go to at the day of Resurrection Faith Having at large treated about this Particular in a Book of mine entituled Look about you for the Devil that you fear is in you as touching the place of torment as also what Hell is and where it is yet now I shall give thee a discovery of it upon a clearer and higher account that Hell is the body of man and the life spirit or soul therein is the Devil Reason How can Hell be in man When it is written after both Dives and Lazarus was dead and buried the which man being in Hell he lift up his eyes in his torment and seeth Luk. 16. 20. Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom and he cryed and said Father Abraham have mercy on me and send Lazarus that may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame so ●hat from hence I judge no man is in Hell till after death Faith In the first place thou must know this was a parabolical speech of the Lord of Glory in which the nature of two Seeds viz. Faith and Reason are discovered that is to say Faith representing the poor man Lazarus and Reason representing the person of the rich man Dives not that the rich man was in any Hell without him no more then thou art at this time yet this I know it is a true description of the state and condition of Reason being tormented in a burning flame with the sting of their own Conscience and that not onely as in relation to the various doubts and fears that attends themselves but on the contrary the assurance that believers enjoyes in this his present being for this I know that those who are true heirs of Abraham according to Faith are in his bosom that is in the same peace and perfect assurance as Abraham was for this I know that Abrahams Soul is rotted with his body in the grave and can neither see hear speak move or go no more the rich Devils of this world can till the day of Resurrection from my Seed-spring I declare that the Souls of Righteous or Wicked goes neither to Heaven nor Hell but both lyes uncapable of either joy or sorrow in silent dust as at large is handled in the ninth Chapter And whereas thou sayest there is none in hell till after death I say thou believes thou knows not what for there is not onely thou but many of thy Seed are now in Hell tormented that they cry unto the Seed of Abraham to know what shall become of them in this their flame crying out they are damned they are damned wishing Oh! that I had but one drop of that ever-living water to quench my flame that runs as a Well-spring in the Souls of the Seed of Faith by which they are freed from this unspeakable torment that notwithstanding all thy riches and wisdom thy seed or generation are plu●ged in Reason However thou would perswade me that there is no hell without man what then dost thou
say to that place where it is written Tophet is ordained of old yea for the king it is prepared Isaiah 30. 33. he hath made it deep and large the pile thereof is fire and much wood the breath of the Lord like a flame of brimstone doth kindle it So that I believe there is a hill either in the air or under the earth reserved for the souls of all the wicked at their death as it is written The wicked shall be turned into Psal 9. 17. hell and all the nations that forget God Faith Whatever thou hast in this conference thought of me yet I have not in the least gone about to perswade thee or any of thy seed to credit what I have revealed in that the benifit of this discourse will onely redound to the seed of faith and as for this scripture that thou hast quoted here is neither thou nor any of thy seed can tell what to make of it yet for thy conviction and confirmation of the blessed of the Lord I shall give thee the true interpretation thereof which is as followeth Tophet is ordained of old yea for the king it is prepared Now I know this king is reason which is the God of this world as indeed there hath been since king Saul but few Kings that were of the seed of Abraham according to faith but onely reason yet however the king here intended is the seed of reason whether moderate or immoderate it is Esau the elder brother as unto the Government of this world it is the onely king and the situation of it is deep and large in that there is no end of reasons imagination it is so deep in cogitation that it is compared to a bottomless pit and therefore the prophet crieth Hell hath enlarged her self and Isaiah opened her mouth without measure as all along it hath appeared by thee so deep and so large that faith can neither fathom thy God or thy devil thy heaven or thy hell they are so infinite and boundless that there is no true account of any thing thou sayest for a true believer to build his salvation upon Now whereas it is said the pile thereof is fire and much wood that is the evil motions and wicked actions which thy deep and large seed of reason hath imagined things to be that are not and things that are real in their being cannot be comprehended by thee Therefore the breath of the Lord like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it which breath is no other but the Law held forth by his Messengers which will kindle thy motions and actions in a never-dying fire for as the pile and the wood is fuel for the external fire so are the wicked actions of Reason fuel for the eternal fire of the Law that shall burn throughout thy Soul and body with an unquenchable flame so that this soul of thine is that Hell surrounded with the wicked imagination of Reason Reason What then is there no place of torment to be prepared for the wicked as there is a place of glory prepared for the Godly And if there be a place let me hear thy judgement where it is to be and the nature of it Faith This in a few words I shall give thee a true description thereof that the place where all the seed of Reason shall possess their eternal tormenting misery shall be on this earth for as it is in your Law where a man commits his fact there he must receive his penalty so where a man commits his sin there he must receive his torment then know that as on this earth thy Soul hath been polluted with sin so on this earth it shall receive its torment which when the Lord cometh to put an end to this thy kingdom the Sun Moon and Stars shall be put forth as the snuff of a Candle and then this light glorious world shall return to a confused darkness yea a darkness that may be felt and the waters for want of the Moon will become a standing stinking Pool and the earth for want of the Sun will be dust or dry sand where there the seed of Reason shall be raised spiritual bodies sutable to their souls where therein shall flame yea burn and that for ever yea for ever for ever without end Reason If these that thou hast here related be truth then I say there can no flesh scarcely be saved and for my part I am no wiser in what I have heard then what I was before neither do I know what to make of them nor hereafter shall much trouble my minde with them but do really believe that there is more blasphemous lies then real truths in them for all the moderate wise men of the world do judge God a Spirit and the Devil not man but a spirit and as for the Soul is believed to be immortal and so either to ascend to Heaven or descend to Hell and I verily believe there is not one of 20 thousand that will believe any thing contained in thy discourse so that it causeth admiration in me that all should be deceived but those that believeth in these ●hings which if I be deceived I must be for I can neither believe in thee nor thy Doctrine Faith What thou hast now said is not in the least strange to my Soul that thou shouldst declare thy self as ●ow t●ou hast done for I have told thee all along that thou nor thy seed was not to understand this Doctrine no more then the Jews were to understand Christ as it is written Why do ye not understand my speech because ye cannot hear my Word for John 8. 43 44. ye are of your Father the Devil and the lust of your Father ye will do c. Even so I say unto thee thou being according to birth the seed of Reason so of the natu●e of the Devil thou judgest the truth a lye and a lye the truth because it is not given to thy seed to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Glory therefore I say as John said We are 1 John 5. 19. of God and the whole world lyeth in wickedness so I infallibly know that almost the whole world will perish save those few that believed in the last spiritual Commission and because thou hast called this a blasphemous lye by Christ Jesus Creator of Heaven and earth whose Revelation of Faith the Seed of his own body thou hast judged false and called a blasphemous lye I say in the vertue of our Commission that was given by a audable voice of words as it was given to Moses and Paul in theirs I infallibly pronounce thy soul and body damned to all Eternity CHAP. 12. Shewing what Authority a Commissioner hath in the vertue of his Commission what the effects and operation thereof Reason WHat art thou more then I that thou dost thus assume Authority to thy self that onely belongs to God however thy curse I matter not onely I tremble to behold thy
presumption for I know it is the curse of God and not of man that must bring a soul under condemnation Faith Whatever thy thoughts are of me I matter not but this thou shalt ●●nde that I have power in the Revelation of my Commission to curse not onely thee but any of thy seed that shall do as thou hast done to call it a lye And in the Revelation of my faith I say That the Sentence of Blessing and Cursing belongs onely to the Prophets and Messengers of that Commission for I testifie unto thee That God the giver of Commissions never damned any but the Angelical seed in the Womb of Eve who is the Father of thee and all the damned as all along it is recorded That in the name of the Lord the Prophets and Apostles pronounced Plagues Woes and Judgements against all the despisers of their Commission in that they were Ambassadors and Stewards in Christs stead so we the Prophets and Messengers of God represent the Authority of our Commission as the Prophets and Apostles did in theirs Reason If thou please let me hear what thou intends by a Commission and why this is a Commission more then any other Dispensation now in being for I conceive were it not ambition in them that Quakers and all others may assume the Authority to bless and curse as now thou dost Faith Notwithstanding I have sufficiently unfolded our Commission in the Quakers Downfal yet that thou mayest be left excuseless I shall in another way infallibly lay down the truth thereof in these particulars 1. How many Commissions there was to be in this perishing world 2. The nature and tenor of a Commission 3. The powerful operation of a Commission 1. As unto the first it is writ There are three that bear record in heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one and there are three that bear witness 1 Joh. 5. 7 8. on earth the Spirit the Water and the Blood and these three agree in one Now as God did consist of three titles and not three persons as thou and thy seed vainly immagine that is to say Father Son and Holy Ghost So from each of these issued forth a Commission upon this earth for in the time that he bore the title of Father Moses and the Prophets was in Commission Now when that Father became Word Flesh so called Son or Christ then the Apostles were in Commission after that both Father and Son became Holy Ghost or one entire Spiritual Body now in Heaven glorified the next after came forth our Commission so that according to the titles above there was to be three Commissions in this world suitable to the three titles in Heaven 2. As unto the nature of a Commission it is not given in silence but upon record under hand and seal to the Messenger or Messengers therein included with an exact charge to observe the Kings pleasure according to the tenor and form thereof Now this Commission being given to thee doth not concern another for the names included for that Embassage doth this Commission belong Now for any other to counterfeit thy Commission thou hast power by vertue thereof to apprehend him for a Traytor against the King thy Master Even so it is with a Commission from God which is not given by private whisperings in the soul as all counterfeits imagine every motion whimsey or fancy in the minde more then ordinary is a call from God not knowing yet daily reading that all Commissions were given by laudable voyce of words to the hearing of the ear as to Moses Paul and now in this last to John Reeve Now then what are all these seven Dispensations but by Moses the Apostles and this Commission impeached for Traytors against Christ the Lord of Glory 3. And thirdly the power of a Commission is so great that it commands yea subjects the spirits of all that it hath to deal with A man in Commission represents the Authority of the great God of Heaven and Earth that whatever he bindes imprisons or condemns on earth is so in Heaven and whosoever he declares blessed or happy here are so in Heaven so that if thou wert not stone blinde thou wouldst then see that there is no Teacher publique nor private now living that hath a Commission but we and therefore it is we have power overall mens spirits yea the judge of all spiritual things of what sect or opinion soever Reason O what a boasting dost thou make that none but your Commission hath power over mens spirits and that onely to you belongs blessing and cursing when I conceive there is many able wise Teachers that are as true Commissioners as you and yet dare not assume that power to themselves as you do Faith O thou man of pretended light yet gross darkness bring any man now living except this Commission that dares say he had a Commission by voyce of words from God as we have thou shalt hear that I will curse them as I have cursed thee And where is any of your Teachers that hath a Commission of his own but Moses and the Apostles whom they have counterfeited and made merchandize for their own gain From the Lord of Glory I say not any of them no not the wisest or moderatest head-peice dare or can in peace of conscience say that thou art damned and another is saved Alas poor blinde leaders of the blinde they know not what will become of their own souls how then can they judge anothers but they will be condemned for so doing for were I not certain of the knowledge of the true God and the right Devil and all others that are ignorant thereof are culpable of judgement instead of being justified I should be condemned and yet what a flutter Caesars Ministers make in praying to a God that is no God and preaching delusions of their own inventions pretending thus and thus saith the Lord when Christ the onely God knows them not neither did he send them therefore from my Seedspring I say they are all Thieves and Robbers yea Traytors against the God of Heaven for do but bring any of them before me and thou mayest take notice I have power over their blinde zeal that if they do not for future desist in bewitching the people to believe lies thou shalt then hear the same sentence pass upon them as hath already passed upon thee Reason Which of them will believe the sentence of thy Commission unless thou couldst shew some present example either without or within as the Prophet Elias did to cause fire from Heaven and stop the rain that it rain not Now if thy curse be true how comes it that I do not finde it immediately within or without Faith Thou art worse then the inhabitants of Jerusalem a●d Judea Mat. 11. 11. that believed in John that did no miracle and yet was a Prophet yea I say more then a Prophet for as Christ said among them that
are born of women there hath not risen a greater then John the Baptist and yet thou and thy ●eachers will not believe unless present vengeance fall upon thee But know this though the Pharisees desired a sign from Christ and Mat. 12. 38. none would be given them but the sign of the Prophet Jonas yet know this he was Christ the Eternal God for all that and though Christ rebuked James and John in the saying Luke 9. ●4 Lord wilt thou that we command fire from Heaven and consume them even as Elias did yet they were not for the future freed from the Eternal fire in their souls So let me tell thee and yet not I but the Revelation of the Holy Spirit within me though not presently yet it shall flame within thee as fire from Heaven and that without end till it consume all thy hopes of salvation and thou shalt know and finde that this sentence of thine shall shut the Heavens and it shall rain no more showers of mercy or comfort in thy soul so that I say though thou finde it not presently thou shalt as surely feel it after death as Christ is God the Eternal Father And what if miracles did belong to our Commission as they do not in that ours is the Commission of the Spirit so our sentence spiritual thou wouldst no more believe then thou dost now but rather call us Conjure●s unless the tenor of our Commission was as the two former to execute present vengeance and if it were executed once or twice and not upon every occasion thou wouldst be as much seared up in unbelief as thou art now Reason If thy Commission were as real truth as Moses and the Apostles and such a power did attend thine as was in theirs then I should as truly believe in yours as now I do in them Faith Ah blinde Soul thou dost not know what is truth and what not for if thou didst thou wouldst as really believe in me as in them But from my Seedspring I tell thee That thou nor none of thy Seed do really believe that the Scripture is a true Record of the Transactions of Christ thou mayest talk of it and preach from it but if thou wert really perswaded in thy own soul of the truth therein contained then thou wouldst believe in us for the Apostles writ of us as Moses and the Prophets writ of Christ to come and therefore if thou didst believe in them that have nothing but a dead letter to prove them Commissioners surely then thou wouldst believe in us that are living and know this if the Roman Authority had not established Moses and the Apostles Writings for Scripture then it had been believed no more then ours for thy Fathers in the days of their lives notwithstanding their miracles did no more believe in them then thou dost in us and know this the same power that attended them upon externals doth belong to our Commission in spirituals and therefore as the Apostle had power in his Commission to curse either Angel or man that did preach any other Doctrine so we have the same power in ours Reason What then doth not their Commission belong to us in these days successively as it did to them what then is the meaning of those Scriptures where it is writ The Scriptures aforetime are written for our learning and again it is writ Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded Mat. 28. 20. you and loe I am with you always unto the end of the world Faith From the Lord of Glory I tell thee That neither of those Commissions do belong to thee or any of thy Seed either by succession or otherwise for from my Seed of Faith I declare That the Scripture was never written for the learning of any of thy Seed though none living now present do make it a more Idol for their own gain then thy Seed doth Though I have sufficiently proved this point in the Quakers Downfal yet from my well-spring within me I tell thee That as the Scripture was written by the revelation or inspiration of Faith so I know it was writ for the use of none but the Believers of that Faith which neither thou nor none of thy Seed are partakers of For as Paul the great Commissioner was the Penman of those sayings so that Scripture that he spake of was the writings of the first Commission viz. Moses and the Prophets which were written before his time and so for the learning of him and all that believed in his Doctrine for our learning that are of the Seed of Faith and for none of the Seed of Reason whatsoever but for our learning The word Plural includes all the Seed of Faith with him were the Scriptures written so the Commissions of Moses and the Apostles were not written for the use of any of the seven Churches but our Commission alone for as none understood the Commission of Moses and the Prophets but the Apostles so none now living understand either of the two former Commissions but this our spiritual Commission now in being and therefore from my Seedspring I tell thee We onely are the Judges of the Scripture whatsoever Reason thy cursed Seed pretend to the contrary as now thou shalt hear an infallible Exposition of the other Scripture which thou hast quoted which all besides our Commission gives a false definition thereof Go ye therefore and teach all M●t 23. ●0 Nations baptizing them in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and loe I am with you always even unto the end of the world Now from hence all the seven Churches of thy Seed viz. Papist Episcopal Presbyterian Independent Baptist Ranter and Quaker do suppose that the extent of these words are in force to the end of this world and therefore the Baptists have assumed the Apostles Commission as their own when as if ye were not stone blinde you may read as ye run that this Commission was given to the twelve then living and not to Kiffin and Patience or any other Teacher of the Baptists whatsoever for ye were not born many hundred years after when this command was expressed And loe I am with you always even unto the end of the world with you my beloved Disciples and none other Reason I cannot conceive from this Scripture but there was to be a continuance of the Apostles Commission to the end of this World and though there was none of the Commissioners left to give or invest the same power by imposition of hands yet we having the same Spirit of God in us although not in the same measure yet may we not lawfully follow them as our patern and as the Apostle exhorts Brethren be followers Phil. 3. 17. together of me and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample othervvise vvhat should all the World have done to have knovvn God or
it is finished bringeth forth death Novv Jam. 1. 15. vvhile thy lust is a tempting there comes a good motion and frustrates that temptation by vvhich means that thou hadst intended is not conceived so no sin indeed lust vvas burning in thy heart but in that it came not to perfection the lavv hath quenched the flame for vvhat hath the Lavv to do vvith a heart-adultery no no it is no thought but an act that breaks the Law and what comes not within the bounds of the Lavv be it adultery nay be it murther if it lie onely in the heart and be not acted there can no Lavv condemn thee Reason What is thy thoughts as touching the fourth Commandment as being changed from Saturday to Sunday and vvhat is the reason why this Command vvas changed above all the rest and vvhethe● this Sabbath called The first day of the week is not according to the judgement of the Assembly of Divines to continue to the end of the World vvithout any alteration thereof Faith It matters not me vvhat grounds or principles of Religion your Assembly of Divines holds forth as a Catechi●m to thy Seed for this by Faith I knovv and against men and Angels affirm That as the Commission of Moses ended in the Commission of the Apostles so the Jevvish Sabbath vvith the rites thereof ended in the Sabbath or first day of the vveek of the Apostles then knovv as the Commission of the Apostles ends in ours so vve have povver as the Apostles to erect you a Sabbath suitable to our Commission for knovv this that one Commission is not tied in point of Revelation to observe the former but each Commission according to its title and place hath power in it self to direct you what manner of Sabbath you are to keep therefore observe the Sabbath of Moses Commission was in this nature as followeth viz. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God in it thou shalt not do any work thou nor thy son nor thy daughter thy man servant nor thy maid servant nor thy cattel nor thy stranger that is within thy gate for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth the sea and all that in them is and rested the seventh day wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it Now this Sabbath thou wilt not own but the First day or Sabbath of the Apostles which hath no such form in it as the Sabbath of the Jews hath And why the Sabbath of the Jews was altered I tell thee in that Christ the onely God by his own power that day had quickned death into life as it is written In the end of the Sabbath as it began to dawn towards Mat. 28. 1 2. the first day of the week came Mary Magdalen and the other Mary to see the Sepulchre and behold there was an earthquake for the Angel of the Lord descended from Heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sate upon it So this being the first day of Christs Resurrection was a day of joy and gladness to the Apostles in that it brought peace and rest to their souls confirmed in their faith that he was Christ the Son of God Whereupon the Revelation of their faith led them forth to keep the first day of their Saviours Triumph over sin hell and death to be a day set apart to assemble together and contribute their benevolence for the refreshment of the poor members of that faith as it is written And upon the first day of the week when the Disciples Act. 20. 7. came together to break bread Paul preached unto them ready to depart on the morrow and continued his speech until midnight also Vpon the first day of the week let every one of you 1 Cor. 16. 2. lay by him in store as God hath prospered him that there be no gathering when I come Now this Command being a day set apart in point of Worship therefore as the Commission changed so the Worship changed and so of necessity it will follow that the day must be changed Therefore take notice as this Commission was not to hold to the end of the World no more ought that First day for as I said before every Commission hath power in it self in the vertue of its Revelation to change its Worship suitable to its Commission so a Commission hath power to change a day for that Worship Now our Commission being spiritual doth hold forth no manner or forms of Worship but the worshipping of God in Spirit and truth Therefore I say not onely the Jews Sabbath but also the Apostles First day in our Commission are void and of no effect as it is written He spake on a c●rtain place of Heb. 4. 4. the seventh day on this wise and God did rest the seventh day from all his works So the blessed of the Lord believing Christ to be God the Father Creator of Heaven and earth are entered into the perfect liberty of faith which frees them from the lusts of the flesh and so entered into peace and rest by which not onely the Jews Sabbath nor the Apostles First day but every day is a Sabbath to the Elect of the Lord Now Mat. 12. 1 10. in that the Priests of this World do know that if the first should be as another day then they would lose their hearers and so in conclusion lose their tythes therefore as Christ and the Apostles by the Jews were accused for breaking their Sabbath so the Pharisaical Teachers of thy Seed will condemn us for repealing the First day of the Week But however in the Authority of our Commission I declare That every soul which knoweth Christ in his Form and Nature the Devil in his Form and Nature hath entered unto his eternal Sabbath of perfect rest without end Reason Let me but hear thy judgement as touching that saying of the Lawyer to Christ Master which is the great Commandment in the Law Now Christs answer was That thou shouldst Mat. 22. 36 37 38. love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy minde this is the first and great Commandment Faith And the second is like unto it Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self on these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets Now what manner of love is this with which if we love the Lord and our Neighbour as our self we keep the whole Law but for my part I know not the man that can love his neighbour as himself and so none can truly love God My judgement is That all the ten Commandments are according to the sequel of these words reduced into two heads and these two are comprehended yea fulfilled in this word Love as it is written Owe no man any thing but to Rom. 13. 8 love one another
occasion is offered and as we are moved in our hearts so we ought to pray To that end the Scripture holds forth a thousand examples of which I shall but instance one or two viz. Call upon me in Psa 50. 15 the day of trouble and I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are and Jam. 5. 17 he prayed earnestly that it might not rain and it rained not on the earth for the space of three years and six moneths Faith Ah blinde soul What a hodge podge thou makest of Scripture as to think that the sayings of David and the prophesie of El●as and the Apostles belongs to thee when I know thee the son of B●lial the Seed of the Serpent and they the true Prophets and Messengers of the Lord so had a command for what they did do but thou hast no command to declare the Statutes of the Lord or take his Covenant in thy mouth for all thy prayers are abomination and such as thee God will not hear and yet you cry that you are sent of the Lord and thus and thus saith the Lord when ye know not the Lord in his form and nature and yet you would have his Kingdom come when you neither know the nature of it nor where it is supposing his Kingdom is in this World and yet he saith My Kingdom is not of this World then you pray that his will may be done on earth as it is in heaven and yet what in you lieth you pray that his will may not be done for the will of God is that all the Seed of Reason shall be damned and none but the Seed of Faith saved and yet you pray that all may be saved when it is written He will Rom. 8. 13. have mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he will damn So that you pray you know not for what and then you desire God to forgive you your trespasses as you do forgive them that trespass against you Oh friend were God as thou sayest and that he should hear thee then this I tell thee instead of forgiving thee he must of necessitie consume the best of you in a moment As do but observe the transactions of thy Seed in these daies you pray fast and weep that God would forgive you as you forgive another well according to your prayer so it shall be for instead of forgiving you backbite persecute imprison and put to death even so shall ye be dealt withal nay you are of such a cursed Seed that you will not shew mercie to them that have shewn mercie to you you will not give them libertie that when others had the day over you they gave you your libertie I speak this to the shame of thee and all thy Seed and then you pray and cheat you pray and tyrannize you pray with your tongues and murther with your hands and yet such Hypocrites as thy Seed are most professors and supposed most believers and most pretended Saints and most of you hopes to be saved and yet as I have said ye are all of the Seed of the damned and have no knowledge of the true God at all So that from my Seed-spring I speak it There is neither thou nor the wisest Gifted head-piece of thy Seed that can experimentallie say that God ever heard any of your prayers Isa 1. 15. recollect your thoughts either in publique or private that ever God gave thee an answer to any petition thou requested of him It may be thou hast found in thy soul more satisfaction one time then another insomuch that thou hast wept for joy but deal plainly didst thou ever hear God verbally speak with thee as he did to the two former Commissions and now in this our last sure I am thou never didst and therefore minde what I say all whisperings or inward movings of the Spirit as thou callest it are nothing else but Reasons imagination that God hears thee and answers thee for alas poor soul though I know it is the Seed of Faith at certain times springing up ravishing joys in believing the true God not within me but without me yet this I know God hears me not and sure I am if God ever heard any he would hear me but when I consider how vainly you are acted forth to make use of an In●●nite nothing to do all things for you it discovers what you are even blinde leaders of the blinde just as a horse in a mill goes round even so do ye bearing the aire as though ye had done something when indeed ye have done nothing at all as at the hour of death doth manifest What praying and crying out Lord save me when in your health ye pretended assurance of salvation and now at the point of death ye know not what shall become of your souls so that in truth I speak it you are ever praying and yet have never perfect assurance of what you pray for as it is written ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth Now though I never pray yet my faith being in continual prayer I have nothing to do at death but yield up my Soul to the power thereof for a moment knowing that when he appears I shall appear with him in endless Glory without the least let or doubt whatsoever at which time thou being in doubts and fears calls upon a God that is no God neither hast thou faith in what thou sayest but a meer tradition that moves thee when thou neither knowest what thou sayest nor to whom thou speakest but at the very time of prayer thy heart is either plotting mischief or coveting the riches honour and glory of this world and so contents thy self with vain lip-labour as it is written These people honour Isa 29. 13. me with their lips but their hearts is far from me CHAP. 16. Shewing whether there be any truth in the Faith of the Church of England expressed in the Creeds or Articles recorded Reason WHat dost thou conceive or what is thy thoughts concerning the Faith of the Church of England expressed in their Creeds but especially that of Athenasius Faith I shall in brief tell thee That they are a rapsido of non-sense yea that which thy Seed calls blasphemy as shall in these ensuing words appear And that I may not be over tedious I shall reduce them into three heads verbatim as they lie provided thou wilt from the first of them shew what is thy faith in them Reason My Faith is this That we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Vnity neither confounding the Persons nor dividing the Substance for there is one Person of the Father another of the Son another of the Holy Ghost yet the Godhead of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost is all one the glory equal the majestie co-eternal such as the Father is such is the Son and such
there is no creature believing God a reasonable soul that shall have true peace here or glory hereafter as is confirmed in these Scriptures Being justified by faith we have Rom. 5 1. Hebr. 10 22. Heb. 11. 6. peace in God and again Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith and without faith it is unpossible to please God I say if God had but a reasonable soul vvhat matter for faith for by reason vve may have peace in God and in reasons belief thou mayest please God But alas poor blinde souls for vvant of this precious seed of faith thou canst not knovv God in form and nature so not believe him as he is 2. Secondly as there is no satisfaction so there is no povver in reason as there is in faith as it is vvritten I say unto you Ma● 17. 20. if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed ye shall say unto this Mounta●n Remove hence to yonder place and it shall remove and nothing shall be unpossible to you By faith God framed the Worlds by faith Abels sacrifice was accep●ed with God by faith Noah was warned of God by faith Sarah bel●eved by faith Abr●ham H●b 11. offered up his son Isaac by faith Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh by faith fire was quench●d the Lyons mouthes stopped the prison doors opened So by faith I kno● that Christ is the Everlasting Father by faith I knovv the soul of Christ is all faith and no reason by faith I knovv it vvas his pure Soul or Godhead Father in Christ that dyed and by his own power quickned himself again by faith I know that God in this our last Commission spake to John ●eeve as he spake to Moses and Paul O what a powerful Seed is faith that kills sin kills the Devil yea kills death nay what a high gloss doth the Lord of glory stamp upon faith and not so much as taking notice of reason at all and yet blinde reason the Devil will have God a reasonable soul O if not for fear yet for shame desist thy damned belief and from me observe the Soul of Christ is all Divine Heavenly faith which none shall know what God in his Form and Nature is but he whose faith is Lord over reason in this life Reason If the Soul or Nature of God be not pure reason how comes it then that God saith Come now let us reason together Isa 1. 18. saith the Lord c. which if his Nature as thou saith were all Divine Heavenly faith and not reason I conceive God could not have reasoned the case with them Faith O the gross darkness of reason that cannot understand that it was not the Lord from his own mouth that reasoned the case with them but the Prophet Isaiah for this by faith I know that God never reasoned with any but the Commissionate Prophets whose Seed is of his own Nature and in the vertue of that Commission are Ambassadors in Gods stead to reason the case with them for this I know that faith can take up the words of faith though faith speaks powerfully and infallibly when as reason speaks but dubiously and doubtfully Reason Is it not strange that reason should be the Governour of this World as thou hast formerly expressed and hath by its wisdom erected things in such a glorious form and order as now they are and yet should not be a Seed satisfactory in it self How comes it then that the Governours thereof taketh so much delight and pleasure in this World if man were not satisfied in the affairs of his life surely I cannot see but there is as much satisfaction in reason as in faith for I conceive men endued with reason have more content then men endued with faith Faith Now thou hast raised an Objection that thy experience may silence thee in the various transactions of this bloody World that the mutability thereof floweth from the nature of that Seed reason as instance the grand mutations of thy Kingdom When you had a King before you were not therewith satisfied but cryed out no Bishop no King and through much bloodshed you attained reasons desire for know this faith will shed no blood and therefore observe it is the Seed of reason divided against it self and then reason hunted the King like a Patridge till you had your desire accomplished and when you got victory over the Kings Army then the Bells rung and Bonfires made yea days of thanksgiving kept for joy and now you are unsatisfied for a King again and reason improved all its subtilty to attain its desire and then for joy of that which formerly it killed the bells rung the fire flamed oathes were sworn and healths were drunk till you could not stand to the destruction of your own souls and therefore I say there is no satisfaction in reason let it be never so rich or great in this its Kingdom that it is cloathed with crowns of Gold and deckt with Pearls and Diamonds and attendee with variety of Servants yet in all this reason is not satisfied but sometimes it would enjoy more honour and joys of this World and then it is afraid it shall lose all its honour pleasure and delight that it formerly enjoyed So that I say there is not from the King upon his Throne to the Beggar in the straw whose reason is Lord over faith that hath any true satisfaction at all For alas Solomon t●e greatest of all found no real content but cryed out all that he had enjoyed was vanity So that reason in the purest sense is compared to the bottomless pit that hath no end of its imagination and yet such Devils as thee will have God a reasonable Soul when in my Revel●tion thou hast heard there is no durable satisfaction at all in reason but faith alone for faith hath a foundation and can limit it self to a small compass yet be really contented without the glory of this World at all knowing this is but mortal and must perish in the desire thereof and therefore faith is satisfied in that it lays holds on that which is Immortal Eternal and shal never perish no more then God himself so that for all thy Kingdom with the glory here below my faith will have nothing to do with thy powers thy trading thy great joy and delight in that they must all vanish as the smoak in the ayre for the delight of my soul is in that glory and riches on the other side of death which is eternal and shall never perish world without end which neither thou nor none of thy Seed shall never see nor in the least measure enjoy But then 3. Thirdly Thou believest in the Holy Ghost the Lord and giver of life which proceedeth from the Father and the Son who with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified c. As unto this I know thou hast no ground in Scripture to Answ prove the
was surrendred into the Person of Christ alone so that after that all the gifts or influence of the Holy Ghost came from Christ as it is written when Christ was ascended to glory then he fills the Apostles full of the Hol● Ghost which then appeared in the form of a Cloven Tongue and not in the form of a Dove So that it is clear though the Holy Ghost be one intire Divine invisible life in Christ yet take notice the gifts thereof are divers so that the gifts of the Holy Ghost hah various forms though the Holy ●host hath no form but man and that Christ alon● And therefore minde the gross darkness of all thy Seed in their Creeds as though the Holy ●host had a Person of its own so the Lord and giver of life when it is written in divers places That Christ is the way the truth and the life I am that bread of life he that believeth on me hath everlasting John 4. life and in his saying to the woman of Samaria But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up to everlasting life So that the Holy Ghost must needs be in Christ in that Christ is the giver of life and yet such blinde reason as thee will have the Holy Ghost in a Person distinct from Christ the Lord and giver of life when to thy shame thou heare●t that Christ alone John 11. 25. is the Resurrection and the Life insomuch that he that believeth in Christ though he were dead yet shall he live So thus much in confutation to the authors and believers of of those Creeds Yea from the Revelation of my Faith I infallibly against Angels and all thy Seed of Reason conclude ●hat so many of them so living and so dying in the belief thereof shall with thee perish eternally Yea in the Vertue of our Commission I say there is no God that can or will deliver thee or them to all Eternity A DIVINE PROSPECT FOr the Elect of the Lord that after our departure shall come to the belief of this our last Commission though ye knew us not in our life time yet you have the Revelation of faith left upon record by which you will be supported in believing John Reeve and Lodowick Mugglton the last Commissioners that ever shall appear in Reasons Kingdom as also that I am the onely Bishop or Messenger in Revelation bearing witness against all Gain sayers to the truth of this Spiritual Commission now in being and so to remain till time be no more on this side of death then and at which day it shall be made manifest that we and onely we were the last Messengers of Jesus Christ who at the day of Resurrection shall ascend to glory in the publique view of our Enemies as also all other believers who credited our report not weighing their lives unto death Which when we and all that knew us are in silent dust then I say our Revelation will be in great esteem b● the next generation of faith succeeding And therefore that there may be no division among you from the Lord of Glory I reminde you of these en●uing Propositions they being a breviate of all the chief heads that my Revelation hath reduced from the Commission 1. You are to believe There was to be three Commissions before the end of this world thus recorded The Spirit Water and Blood and these are the three that beareth witness upon earth 1 John 5. 8. 2. It is to be believed That a Commission is given forth by laudible voyce of words to the hearing of the ear from the mouth of the Lord Jesus in the highest Heavens 3. It is to be believed That who ever pretends a Commission not being one of these are real whimsies notions yea lies and no truth 4. It is to be believed That though a Commission consist of few words without encrease yet their Revelations are various and encreaseth daily 5. It is to be observed That the two last Commissions are not to offend or defend in point of Externals but either active or passive to yield due obedience to King Governor or any other Magistrate whatsoever 6. It is to be believed That no Commission ought to be obedient to any formal Dispensation but in their time or place hath power to curse either Angel or man that in opposition thereof shall hold forth other Doctrine 7. It is to be believed That neither of the two former Commissions was to understand what God in his Form and Nature was in the Creation as this our Commission doth 8. It is to be believed That our Commission alone doth understand how this God and Father after intelligence given to Mary by the Angel descended from heaven as swift as thought into the womb of Mary and there dissolved his immortal body into seed and from thence quickned himself into a mortal body of flesh blood and bone so called a Son 9. It is to be believed That the Eternal Father now become a Son had the Supreme power within him that quickned his Godhead being perfectly dead in the grave to life again without the help of either Father God or Spirit without him whatsoever 10. It is to be believed That the Prophet Elias in his transmutation that nature of faith in him became a chariot of fire so struck out the gross Elements viz. Water Earth and Aire and in that fiery faith of his own ascended to glory to represent the Person of God while he took his journey in the flesh 11. Also it is to be believed That our Commission alone in the Revelation thereof hath the true knowledge of these things as also what the form and nature of the Angels are of what they were created and wherefore created and what was the cause of the Angelical fall above the rest and why and wherefore he was cast into this world in the presence of Adam and Eve 12. It is to be believed that never any but our Commission knew that it was that said Angel that in his whole form entred the womb of Eve and there dissolved into Seed and conceived into flesh blood and bone by which Eve was deceived so called a Beast Serpent Tree of Knowledge of good and evil that so none of that Seed might understand what it was and how it was Eve was deceived 13. It is to be understood That none but our Commission knows that this dissolution of the Angel in the womb of Eve became Cain the first Devil and Father of all the damned 14. It is to be believed That there never was is or shall be any other Devil but men and women and that for the most part he is the comeliest of all other of that form 15. It is to be believed That none but our Commission knows that the souls of both Faith and Reason are mortal ever since the fall of Adam and shall dye and rot in the grave till the day of Resurrection and that
King without a person whose person being enthroned in his Crown and Dignity with all things suitable to his Majestie is that which fills his Court and Kingdom with renowned glory not that the Kings person is in every place but onely in his Court yet the hearts of his subjects over all his Dominions is filled with the report of his great power and glory so that the sound thereof as Solomons doth ring of the glory and greatness of his person so it is not the person of God but his powerful nature flowing in the hearts of his people that supports all things created by him neither is his person in any other place but his Kingdom of glory onely Reason If God admit of a form then God is not infinite but finite and so is not in every creature he hath made And if so how will this stand with those sayings In him we live move Acts 17. 28. and have our being Now from hence I conceive God is in every creature by his Spirit and hath no form of his own but lives in all forms that he hath made Faith Did I not know thee I should admire at thy ignorance but however I shall exactly answer thy Question that God was in the form of man before he became flesh in the same image and likness as now he is though then he was not flesh and bone as now he is yet as he is now so he was then a flame of bright burning glory that no Chrystal or Sun can stand before him yea his body is softer then down and swifter then thought and with that body so glorious can ascend or descend in his Kingdom of glory that he can be infinite as he pleaseth and yet when he vvill can consine his Godhead glorious Majestical Person to as narrovv a compass as any man vvhich if as thou saith God had no body but a Spirit and that Spirit in every creature then God vvere finite and limitted indeed that the Creator of Heaven and earth should be imprisoned in thy mortal corrupt sinful body nay not onely so but God vvas in Horses Hoggs Dogs Toads Snakes Spiders and all other creatures vvhich if it vvere as thou saith God vvere the vvorst of all creatures that he made Nay if it vvere so then frommy Seed-Spring I This is no Scripture of faith Acts 17. 28. But a Poets judgement in reason 2 Cor. 13. 5. say God is no Creator but a deformrd sick vveary sinful creature like thy self And as for those sayings In him we live move and have our being is thus to be understood that a true believer as Paul vvas that spake it doth by faith live move and have their being from the first vvord of faith that created Adam and not from any in-dvvelling of God in him as it is vvritten Christ in you the hope of glory and Know ye not that Christ is in you except ye be Reprobates is not thereby intended that God or Christ as he is a person is in you but as Paul saith Christ dwells in our hearts by faith It is faith vvhich is the nature of God of vvhich I am partaker of and by vvhich it evidenceth in my soul vvhere God is and vvhat God is both in form and nature Reason Thou saith God hath both form and nature if so his form and nature must be one and if one cannot be divided so he that hath one must have both therefore it vvill follovv vvhere the nature of God is there God must be himself for I conceive they cannot be separated in that it is vvritten That they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee John 17. 21. Gen. 28. 16. that they also may be one in us c. and again it is vvritten Jacob said Surely the Lord is in this place and I knew it not so that I conclude God is in all creatutes Faith Though the nature be in the form yet it is not the form and therefore it is vvritten That by these you might be pertakers 2 Pet. 1. 4. of the Divine Nature though not the form As instance the Sun shines upon the just and unjust yet the body is in the firmament vve feel the vertue or nature of the body of the Sun by its heat and light yet vve have not the Sun so in my Soul I have the nature of God but not the form or body of God and therefore it is vvritten I am John 15. the vine and ye are the branches that is I am the vine and body of faith and ye have the branch or nature of faith so by my nature ye abide stedfast in me and I in you As the branch cannot bear fruit of it self except it abide in the Vine no more can ye except ye abide in me by that nature flowing from me and therefore it is written Christ dwelleth verse 4. in my heart by faith by which Christ is in me the hope of glory and if I know not that Christ is thus in me I were a repr●bate not in me by his body but by his fai●h God or Christ is in me Reason What then is God in his person in heaven above the stars and his nature in thee here below then to me it is clear God and his nature is parted and so God looseth part of himself which to me is contrary to reason so not to be believed Faith However it is so to thee yet I know that God is in his glory and nature here below in mortals so really parted and yet no damage to God at all no more then a Fountain to cast out a Flood-gate of streams and yet retain its fulness in its self so the eternal Godhead fountain of all endless glory can stream yea hath streamed into all the seed of his own body such a Well-spring of eternal Assurance that all that are partakers thereof have perfect peace and belief in God the fountain of endless Glory and yet God all fulness in himself as David saith With thee is the Fountain of Life and Col. 2. 9. Christ said to the woman of Samaria Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be a Well of water springing up to everlasting life For in him dwelleth all the fulness of John 4. the Godhead bodily yea Christ is all in all So that I affirm it is no more loss to God to distribute his eternal Light into his creature then for the Sun to give light to the face of the earth and yet retain its essential light in its own body for as Jacob in his Vision saw a Ladder upon the earth and the top of it reached to heaven and behold the Angels of God ascending and descending and behold the Lord stood above it and said I am the Lord it is no more but what Stephen and Paul saw by reve 〈…〉 on of their Faith as several times I
have seen in my own Soul as the Tide doth ebbe and flow into the Ocean so doth the Revelation of Faith ascend and descend beholding the glorious throne of Eternity with unspeakable raptures not utterable by pen or tongue Reason I cannot understand how God being a person and yet a Fountain of endless Glory should fill heaven and earth in that a person is finite in one place and heaven and earth is large so that if Gods glory be in every place then there his person must be also Faith Dost thou not see in nature that one fountain doth supply many families how much more then can the Etetnal Fountain supply many Souls with that heavenly divine water and yet from his single person in heaven glorified and as that fountain from Ware is directed to supply the necessity of London and yet the head spring keeps its place so doth the fountain of Eternal glory retain it self in its being and yet fills heaven and earth with its streams of glory Reason Thou sayest God is onely in heaven and yet it is written the heaven of heavens cannot contain God he is of such a large infinite vastness and spiritual bulk or bigness that not onely heaven but earth also must be his habitation and therefore it is written that with a humble and contrite spirit God will dwell And again it is written Heaven is his throne and the earth his footstool And the earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof So that I believe God is not onely in heaven but earth also so that from these and many other places I judge thou limitest the unlimited God and so makest him that is infinite in heaven and earth to be finite onely in heaven and that in one single person of his own Faith Thou takest upon thee to prove thy reason by Scripture when Scripture were never written for thee neither doth it belong to thee as in its place thou shalt hear and therefore have patience and I shall interpret the meaning of those Scriptures First thou sayest the heaven of heavens cannot contain 1 Kings 8. 27. God and yet it is written whom the heavens must receive till the restitution of all things Now when Faith comcompares Acts 3. 2● these two together it knows the truth of one from the other for when I consider Solomon endued with thy wisdom that he spake those words not experimentally but dubiously as minde the 27 verse and then peruse that chapter and thou shalt finde it in three several places recorded thus And hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place how should heaven be Gods dwelling-place if the heaven of heavens cannot contain him So that in truth those words of the Apostles who were endued with the spirit of revelation is to be believed when Solomons cannot in that he spake not by revelation but from the intricate promise of God to his father David And in the same chapter he acknowledgeth Gods dwelling-place to be in heaven and not in the temple and where it is written with an humble and contrite heart God will dwell is not there intended God will dwell in my heart by his person but by faith as it is written that Christ Eph. 3 1● may dwell in your hearts by faith c. as minde the words of the Prophet Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth Eternity whose name is Holy I dwell in the high and holy place by my person there I dwell and by my faith in an humble heart and where it is written Heaven is my throne and Psal 24. 1. the earth is my footstool do still confirm that God hath a body otherwise what should he do with a throne or a footstool But now to convince thee that it is not to be understood this earth but that glorious earth above the stars where God when he pleaseth doth stand as firm in as narrow a compass as I do upon this earth And that the earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof is not by me denied but that it is the Lords by creation and not by his personal habitation For God by his person is not in this world but by his Law or powerful word of creation therefore saith David Whom have I in heaven but thee So that it is no limitation but his infiniteness to be in heaven and not in this earth at all Reason Notwithstanding all this I cannot understand how God should be in the person or form of a man but there must be some other above him that must create God in that form Faith Though thou canst not understand yet to me it is revealed that God without beginning had a form and none but Divine Nature did create himself Creator and yet he knew not how he came to have his being Reason O admiration what shall I say of thee that God should not know how he came to be God by this thou makest God finite yea ignorant of things past and to come Faith Say what thou pleasest yet this I will tell thee that it is the nature of in●●niteness not to know it self for that which knows things past present and to come is not infinite but finite in that there is an end of any further knowledge but the infiniteness is to know no beginning nor no ending for if he had known how he came in being then he would know his ending and so in process of time cease to be God Eternal Reason I have read in Revelation 1. that it is written I am Alpha Rev. 1. 8. and Omega the beginning and the ending wh●ch is which was and which is to come the Almighty so that from hence I understand that God had a beginning and knew how he came to have his being Faith Thou hast read but dost not understand what thou readest as observe it is not there intended I am the beginning and ending of my self but this is the meaning I am the beginning and end of the Creation so that without me the world with all creatures therein had no beginning nor no ending without me as unto this I am Alpha and Omega and neither the beginning or ending of this world is hid from me for by my knowledge it came in being and so must have its ending but as unto infiniteness or eternity It is without beginning or ending of dayes and the not knowing either its beginning or ending is that which makes it eternal and yet there is nothing done but what flowes in the glorious body of God Reason Notwithstanding this I am not satisfied that God admits of a Form but a Spirit onely for it is written God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and John 4. Truth and then it is written Feel me a spirit hath not flesh and bone as ye see me have So that it is clear God is a Spirit without flesh and bone so an infinite Spirit onely Faith As God is a Spirit so man is a