in themselves and would secretly be oblieging him to it and Moses gave them a caveat of the same when he bad them take heed to themselves least they should say in their hearts for my righteousness c. Hath the Lord done these things for me Deut. 15.9 And for this very thing the Sabbath was to be a sign of his sanctifying them and that sanctification was not of themselves but that they were as clean stript of all righteousness to sanctifie themselves as he gave out strict command to cease from all labor whatsoever and that they should always be looking out of themselves unto the Lord their God who sanctified them and that they should know that sanctification was of him he did very oft rehearse the same to them as may be seen Levit. 20.8 21.8 22.9 16. and Ezek. 37.28 and many other places And as it was given them for a sign of the sanctification of God so it signified a spiritual rest unto them which rest should be in God that as their bodies was refreshed in and by that rest so should their spirits be refreshed in him and be at rest when they had laid aside and cast off all toyl and labor of spirit viz. Caring fearing loving and desiring to be satisfied with created things and that they were brought out of and beyond all their secret dependancy of what they acted or observed which while they lived in they were the cause why all toyl and labor hapned to their spirits in which they were deprived of the sweet rest in God For when the heart of man is carried out from the rest in God then is it in toyl about some created thing and whatsoever it be it affordeth nothing but restlessness and this made Solomon say who had tryed all things and found that those who would seek rest in any thing created should be deceived and that he should finde nothing but sorrow and grief yea his heart taketh not rest in the night Eccles 2.23 And because the Lord knew the people would be seeking rest in other things therefore he gave them this sign of the Sabbath wherein they should know from whom the rest of their spirits should come And when they were gone out from him and had not kept the Sabbath which held out to them the rest of their souls but were turned from him yet he would have them to return again to him and ask and enquire for the way that they had left and in walking therein they should finde rest for their souls Jer. 6.16 And David knew full well what was the rest of spirit and said to himself O my soul return to thy rest c. Psal 116.7 And thirdly This Sabbath was a sign of the eternal rest that souls should have in him after the end of so many several orders and dispensations both inwardly and outwardly these being darkly held out to them by the number of six days and the seventh to be the day of rest and kept holy to the Lord And that order of numbering six days was by the Lords own example held out to them in the first Creation where it is said the Lord was six days in working and creating all things though God himself wrought not in that manner but to stoop to our weak understanding of him that in our weak knowledge could apprehend nothing at all of him if he were not pleased to let out himself in ways whereby we might darkly grope after him And so in these several out-lettings of himself in these weak ways we might be brought by little and little passing through these dispensations that we thereby might be made fit and able to come to a condition of persecution wherein we should be in a capability to behold and stand in the presence and right knowledge of God himselfe And because to speake of these seven fold dispensations is not suitable for you at present and because of the ignorance of the times as yet else it may bee you should have heard them more clearly defined to you for I assure you there is a Mystery in these numbers which as yet the most of the Sons of men be ignorant of and the Mystery in them was wrapt in them in the beginning and was mystically holden out to the Sons of men by Iohn in the Revelation by the seven Seales the seven Angels who sounded the seven Trumpets and the pouring out of the seven Viols which no man can or ever shall understand untill he be brought to live in the heart of God and God to live in his heart for none else is fit to know his secrets And under these three considerations it was that God gave out so strict command for the observation of the seventh day or Sabbath and under these considerations was Christ held out to them in his properties of Sanctification and spiritual rest and eternal rest of Souls and in this respect he was Lord over the Sabbath as himself testifieth in Mark 2.28 And as the Leviticall or Ceremoniall Law held out or were the shadows of the Office of Christ both of suffering and sacrifice which all of them was to be excluded after his death so was the Sabbath to be excluded when the thing signified by it was come and till that time that commandement was in force but when Christ was come you may observe how oft himself did crosse the Scribes and Pharisees in not observing the Sabbath according to their order Mar. 2.23 And when our Saviour upon divers occasions was to speake of the Lawes of Commandement which was to stand in force and should not in any wise passe away till they were fulfilled as may be seen in Mat. 5. c. yet never did he so much as touch or give command to keep the Sabbath because hee knew the same was fulfilled in his appearing of which he was Lord and whosoever doth observe the seventh day upon the obedience of the Commands before the appearance of Christ in the Flesh they erre not knowing the minde of God in his Commands and so they are blinded from beholding Christ in his properties therein contained and so by and in the observation of that day they become that to themselves which of right doth belong to Christ But I know you will say you doe not observe that day upon the same account as the Jewes did but under a Gospel consideration having the same day changed unto another day viz. the first day in which Christ rose from the dead and in that respect we call it not a Sabbath but the Lords Day It is true you call it the Lords Day but for that you have neither command nor example in all the New Testament but only as you may infer from that saying of St. John in Revel 1. the which you cannot justly affirme that it was the first day of the week in which Christ rose from the Dead but I would have you to know what the Lords Day is and how John called that
they could not know nor to this day can know how you do beguile them O that I and all Gods people who know the truth had heads full of water that our tears might run down day and night for the slain of our own flesh and blood and yet poor hearts their bodies liveth in the world and their hearts liveth in the Creature and their God liveth in their head and they worship him according to your blinde precepts and they love to have it so and yet is their poor spirits under the chains of sin death devil and hell and yet you nor they can be made beleeve that this is so And this is the effects and fruits of your wise preaching by way of Use and Doctrine which you have learned at the Holy Universitie you so much boast of But I tell you plainlie that since your wise preaching had its beginning the truth of God hath been hid by it and so the souls of men have been deprived of the sweet enjoyments thereof O wo be to you for your work yea wo and sorrow shall be your portion in a far greater measure then any of the sons of men yea you shall one day curse the time that your fathers put you to the Holy Universitie to make you Preachers nay you shall wish that they had put you to learn the trade of Tinklers when they put you to learn the trade of Preaching though at present you glory in your trade and think you are the Minister of the Gospel I know your pride is so great that when you see these lines you will be ready to burn them and make a scoff of me for writing them but that is no new thing for I know your spirits well enough neither do I care for your displeasure for I know in whom I have believed and who caused me to write these lines and him I desire to obey It s possible some of you may Petition to Authority to get me punished for my plainness with you as some of your Brethren have done in these daies against some poor people unto whom God hath more clearly manifested both his Justice and Mercy to their souls without your Ministry then ever he did to any soul under your Ministry And this maketh you all stark mad that God should do any thing in any soul but by you and so you both in Preaching and Petitions go about both to scandalize and persecute the truth of God and those souls in whom the truth is But this shall return upon you with shame and your own preaching and acting against the truth shall be your overthrow But friends I would not have you in the least to mistake me in what I write in general to you for no truth is so general but there may be some particular exception admitted in it so in this that I have written to you for though I express you all in general yet my charitie causeth me to admit of some particular exception of some amongst you in some respect for far be it from me to condemn the truth in any man or in any order if I can but perceive the least appearance thereof in any soul But that which I judge and condemn amongst you all is the illegal and unjust calling and coming into the Ministrie and your pride and covetousness in the Ministrie and the ignorance of the truth of God in the Ministrie and the great unknowing of God in the people as he ought to be known the which hath been the evil fruits and effects of your Ministrie I confess that many of you have wit and schollarship enough to maintain Argument with Papists and any other Formalists that differ in judgement with you and that many of you be able enough to take a sentence of Scripture and divide it into so many parts as the sence of speech will carry and so out of every part to raise out Doctrines and Uses Applications and Conclusions c. and so may beget a form of truth in some of your hearers and when this is done yet the power of truth is hid from you in your wise speaking and from them in their wise hearing For the power of the truth is one thing and the form of truth is another thing and the form of truth I know you hold out and may hold out by your wit and schollarship taught you in your Universities And this I know one man may teach another and as he is taught so may he speak yea and by the work of the brain may adde much to what hath been taught and yet for all this the heart is far enough from the enjoyment or partaking of the power of truth And where the power of truth is wanting in any of you though you have the form of truth yet are you none of those whom God calleth into the Ministrie but you shall one day be judged and condemned as theeves who came not in at the door but by some other way Though you put this off your selves and apply it to others whom the Lord hath raised of his own accord to speak what they know of God and have in some measure received the truth and can bear witness to the truth and by these your falshood becometh to be somewhat discovered And therefore great is your malice and envy against them but yet they shall increase and you shall decrease for the Lord will turn your skirts about your head and your nakedness and shame shall be discovered to all men I know that many amongst you who are envious fools and haters of the truth do jear and scoff at experienced men and speak evil of them behinde their back yet will fawn upon them to their face because they know these are too hard for them in matter of speaking of the truth as it is in Jesus and like beaten Cocks will hide their heads under the others wings and will assent to what they say because they cannot gain-say it but when their backs is turned then they will scandalize and speak evil of these persons and wrest their words to that which was never intended And when a pack of these fools is met together in their pots then do they strengthen the hands one of another and make their malicious scandals compleat and then goeth about to make the simple people beleeve that such and such men is perillous and erroneous persons and perswadeth them to take heed of them least they be seduced by them And thus do some of you seek to undermine the truth and the reason is because the truth will be their undoing But other amongst you I know is more witty and will not be so much against experienced men but perceiving that God owneth them they will not altogether speak against these as do the other but rather make use of their theevish art and steal some experiences from the mouth of others and can lay them up in their memories and make as much use of them as their own and speak of
our power is terrible as an Army with Banners against all who will not worship God in our way For our way of worship is the onely way of worship in all the world and all other are but erring Sects We helped both with our Prayers Blood and Purses to overthrow the whore of Rome and the King and his wicked rabble but now far worse is risen up in their place and by those we be more perplexed then ever for they have taken away our power by which we upheld the Faith and so are become into a very ill condition for we are no more but a mock amongst the people and we stand but as cyphers nay which is worst of all many of our own Faith declineth from us and adhereth to these new-come Sects And thus the pure Church becometh rent in peeces and all is because we want our power to compel and to execute justice upon the opposers but seeing it is so we will wait with patience for this is but the tryal of the Church for we know that hereafter our God will deliver us for although these things be faln upon us yet have we not departed from the way of our God nor dealt unfaithfully in his Covenant nay we appeal to our God for witness who knoweth our hearts that we keep close to our Religious worshipping of him for neither do we allow of any to be our Pastors but such as have come in by the right door men chosen of God made fit by the godly Universities confirmed by the approbation and laying on of the hands of our holy Presbytery and such we receive according to their worth and these and none other can speak the Language of Christ to us and with them we joyn in hearing them both Preach and Pray and in the holy Sacraments in which we have our Faith confirmed to our souls finding them very much comforted thereby so that we are made able to walk in holiness of life and perform all holy duties to our God and he in his loving kindness answers us again in giving us his holy Spirit to inspire us and by that Spirit we are made sure of our Salvation and know that we are elected from eternity and by that Spirit we call God Father and Christ our Brother and Mediator and in this we rejoyce continually walking in the ways of our God in holy life and Christian conversation making our calling and election sure by well-doing Hearing this voice I mused a little and thought in my self there is an appearance of some godliness here I will hold my hand and not shoot at such a holy object as this before I very well understand the truth of the matter for said I it is not for me to shoot out this Arrow but against them that God aimeth it for and those be such as are his enemies therefore I will consider a little and see what the minde of the Lord is before I let out this Arrow But not long had I considered hereupon till there was brought before my sight the object that had thus spoken and it seemed in appearance no less then what was expressed by the voice and me-thought there was much of God in it For it had a godly garb upon it a fair covering it was to look upon wrought with divers works and variety of colours all of them seeming to be dyed in grain and well-grounded So drawing somewhat nearer to behold this comly Garment the nearer I came to it the worse it seemed and in the skirts of it I espied much blood And I likewise saw that all the various work was but a gloss set on by the cunning of some witty Painter who had been very cunning in that art But while I was looking there was a voice said Look what thou seest under and within that garb and so the garb was somewhat drawn aside and under it I saw a monstrous Creature which is called Self and this Monster had as many heads and horns as the Beast which John saw in the Revelation And this Monster was closed fast to the heart and kept it under its power and captivity I saw also other Beasts with divers heads and horns and I saw several Epithites engraven upon these heads as namely Cruelty Blood-shedding Persecution Pride Love of the World Love of praise Love of honor Envy Anger Impatience Murmuration Hatred toward God and his people Hard-heartedness Carnal-mindedness Ignorance of God Self-conceitedness Good thinking c. And out of and from amongst these I saw a chain come from the Monster called Self and it reached out to the fair seeming Garment and kept the garment fast about these other Beasts so that they could not be discovered and this chain consisted of five links viz. False Faith false Love and false Hope and false fear of God and false-feeling of inward Joy and the name of that chain was called Hypocrisie And I saw one of the Beasts before said and he was like a Leopard and his name was Self-wisdom and I saw another of these Beasts and he was like a Dragon and his name was Self-power And I saw another of these Beasts and he was somewhat seemlier then the rest having two horns like a Lamb and his name was called Self-righteousness And these three I saw in Unity consulting together and I heard their consultation and it was against the most high God and against his own people And I saw the work they wrought and all their work was to make Robes and Garbs to hide themselves under them and so I saw how they had wrought this Garment aforesaid and the stuff they used in making it for it was made of ten several mixtures viz. Sanctifying the Sabbath hearing of their Minister Praying two times each day refraining from gross acting keeping from the company of the wicked assembling together to repetitions receiving the thing they call a Sacrament otherwise called Bread and Wine Lords Supper or the some small charity to those they call godly turning up their outward eyes towards the Element in their devotion reproving of other who worship not God in these things And all these are mixt together and made up very handsomly by and with a work-tool viz. Seeming zeal for the glory of God And I saw who helped to put this Garment on and he had a look as though he had been sore frighted and seemed as one who was not a very wise one and his name was called Conscience And I saw a Girdle that kept that Garment close to them that wore it and that was called Fear of Hell And on this Garment I saw a badge or mark as though it had been the Livery of some great man and his arms engraven therein and in that badge there was this Epithite engraven viz. The Saints sign and this was called Baptism And I saw an hollow Pipe that was fastned to this Garment and that went inward and the end that went inward and reached to the mouth of the frighted
day the Lords Day though every day be the Lords yet he hath two dayes which he more usually claimeth for his owne as we may see in Scripture viz. a day of his executing his anger against sin and man for sin and this is called the Day of the Lord as you may see in Isa 2.12 13.6.9 34 8. Ier. 46.10 Lam. 2.22 c. and another day he hath wherein he will shew to man the Mysteries of his Kingdom and the favour of his loving kindnesse in which day the Souls of his people shal be glad and rejoyce and this is the Lords Day wherein he will be glorified and magnified in the souls of his people when they are made to see and know his wonderfull loving kindness manifested in their soules and that his Sonne Jesus only ruleth and reigneth above all Power and Principalities and this day you may see set out in many places of Scripture also as in Isa 25.9 26.1 28.5 29.18 c. and 2 Cor. 1.14 and in this Day of the Lord was Iohn in the Spirit where was made knowne to him these great Mysteries And well might he call it the Lords Day for so it was but from thence none can justly gather that this day you observe can be called the Lords Day more then any other and in so doing you follow but traditions of men having no command for it in all the Scripture therefore take heed you make not the Commandements of God of none effect by your tradition for this was the doing of the Scribes and Pharisees by which they were blinded and could not know Christ to be the Son of God when he was amongst them in the flesh But in calling it the first day it may be said that is the most proper name of it because of some grounds in Scripture for so doing but yet you have no evidence nor command in all the New Testament for observing the first day after the manner of the Sabbath only you have some examples in the Primitive time for some things occasionally which were done upon it as one time the Disciples were gathered together to breake Bread Acts 20.7 and all that the Apostle gave command to them to observe upon that day was to make a collection amongst them for the poore Saints 1 Cor. 16.2 for no other thing to be observed upon that day have you any command and this command I doubt you doe not obey upon that day for your foolish holinesse hath eaten out your charity which you should have shewed upon that day And this was an invention of your wise preaching Ministers who changed the worke of that day into a submissive hearing of them speake so long upon that day and for this they have neither command nor example from or in the Primitive institutions but from the time of Superstition in which time their forefathers tooke away the worke of that day and erected a greater holinesse upon that day then to make collections for the poor and thus you have observed what they invented and yet you cannot see wherein you are blinded But you may object that in what I have said I seem to make voyd the Sabbath or Lords day or first day It is true I make the Iewish Sabbath voyd and likewise the name of this day to be the Lords Day more then any other because I have no command for them in the time of the Gospel but as for the first day I allow of it in ease it be observed according to example and command in the time of the Gospel and Primitive institutions but no further may any man allow of it in making the observation of it like to the Sabbath of the Iewes and so place it as a principle in their religion this I deny and that upon better grounds then you have for making it what it is not but if you will observe this day I would have you to set it in its right place least in your good thinking you give that to the day and your duties observed upon that day which doth of right belong to Christ and in so doing that day becometh Lord over you whereas those who are in Christ are Lords over that day And in observing of that day I would have you to observe it as by tradition and not by command and likewise in respect of the obedience to the higher Powers who would have such a day observed for some pious end and in these respects I could wish that not only the first day of every weeke but the fourth also were set apart for pious ends but not to make them principles in Religion But herein is the weaknesse and ignorance of men made manifest for whatsoever hath been instituted by men in the time of their purity and for pious ends and was good so long as they were used and observed for no other end then they were aimed for but not long could any institution stand untill the ignorance of men through their good thinking made more of these things then ever they were intended for and so the same became to be made either a god or a principle in mens religion and then the same did more hurt then good to those who were the observers of such things because of their too much Idolizing of these institutions Likewise I know it to be good to rest one day in seven if it were but to crosse the cruelty and oppression of Mankind whose Lust is so great that he would too much wrong his fellow Creatures by keeping them at too hard and too long labour as many Masters would their Servants yea their poore Horse and Ox yea and their owne bodies too And whoso goeth about to observe that day upon any other consideration then what is before said doth erre in so doing and is nothing else but being beguiled by the precepts of the Priests in which they erre themselves and cause all other to goe astray who are led by them and so the blinde leadeth the blinde till both fall into the ditch Matth. 15.14 I might have said much more upon this subject but what is said may serve to make appeare that the observation of a day without any command for it cannot be a principle in Religion as blinde ignorance hath stated it but letting it passe I come to a second principle in your Religion viz. The Sacrament of the Lords Supper but that Sacrament is not a proper name for it for it is but a superstitious epithite and there is no such name for it in all the Scripture Indeed for this you have a command by our Saviour it being his owne institution and some examples also in the Primitive time for what you doe herein but yet I would have you to know that you have neither command nor example for what you affirme of the breaking of Bread or otherwise called the Lords Supper for you affirm that in the receiving of Bread and Wine that in that act you have your faith
THE ARROVV Of the Almighty shot out of the Creatures Bowe AGAINST The uncalled Ministers in England OR A Message sent to them to forewarn them of their determined destruction before it fall upon them Likewise here is shewed from whence they had their Calling into the Ministery and how all People have been deceived by them Here is also a Glass wherein all Formalists may see their own deformity and so seek after that which is the Substance wherein all their deformity shall be done away Likewise here is opened the Mystery of the Lords Supper and the Mystery in Baptism and how there is a threefold Baptism having relation to the threefold Name of Father Son and Holy Ghost with other Truths very needful to be known All of them being laid down in as brief a manner as possible may be for the use and instruction of the Presbyterians Independants and Anabaptists so called or for the good of all others who have a minde to seek God in a right way and in the conclusion a word to the Free-Gracians By GEO. BAITMAN And the Lord shall be seen over them and his Arrow shall go forth as the Lightning and the Lord shall blow the Trumpet and shall go with the whirl-wind of the South Zach. 9.14 London Printed by R. I. for William Hutcheson and are to be sold at his Shop in the City of Durham 1653. A PROSCRIPT TO THE Unsent Priests in England FRiends you who pretend to be or call your selves the Ministers of the Gospel sent by God to declare his will and minde to the people c. and who have these many hundred years reigned and ruled by means of Authority and Devillish Popish and Kingly power by which your heads have been born up and your hands made strong and your hearts made haughty so that you are become great in your own eyes yea and wise in your own conceits and who but you for wisdom but I should have said who but you for wit for wit and wisdom differeth both in the ground and in the operation and in the effect but no more of that for my intention is not to argue cases or stand upon distinction of words but to speak the simple and substantial truth and to lay open both to your selves and all the world what hath been kept hid from you and by your means the knowledge thereof hath been kept from others whereby most of the sons of men is become blinded of that which is the cheif good And to this day the mystery of the knowledge of the cheif good hath been kept under by you so that even those souls who cry you up and bless God for having you to be their Teachers shall one day as fast cry you down and shall curse the time that they so much adhered to you but this shall not be until the day of the revelation of truth and in that day you shall be all of you accounted as an abomination amongst men in so much that shame shall cover all your faces and that you shall be had in as great dis-esteem as ever you have been had in honor yea and that man that lendeth a hand to pull you down shall be accounted happy yea and shall receive a reward of God for his work But this will not come upon you so soon as some imagine neither shall this day be deferred so long as others think but this day shall overtake you and as you have kept the truth in obscurity so shall you be kept in obscurity by the truth This day is in dawning but the full noon-tide shall be your obscurity and as yet you have some seeming splendor among men therefore your deceit is not as yet truly manifested and as yet authority stands for you But let me tell you in plain English Authoritie shall not be able to defend you though the Parliament should do nothing else but act for your upholding yea though all the Armies in the Land should fight for you and though you both preach and pray for your selves and against all others yet all shall be to little purpose for the truth shall be your overthrow For why you have in your generation been the chief opposers of the truth and so the truth shall be your ruine and be as envious as you can and be as cunning as you can yet truth will finde you out wherever you have hid your selves I know you may beguile men by changing your coats from black to gray and by turning from Popery to Prelacy and from Prelacy to Presbyterie from Presbytery to Independency and from Independency to Rebaptizing c. I know you may do this yea and will do this if you can but perceive more safetie in one thing then in another but yet for all your subtil changing you carry your old selfish hearts with you and in your subtil dealing you shall not be secure for though thereby you oft-times beguile the eyes of blinded-men and make them conceive that you are new converts because your Coat and your Form is changed yet the eie of jealousie seeth you and will finde you out and neither shall your changed Coats nor your changed Forms be able to shelter you from the hand of Justice for turn you what way you will so long as your pride and covetousness is in your hearts you are but the enemies of God and his truth though the fame be hid from your own beholding And I much marvel that men should be so far from the knowledge of truth and yet so fair to pretend truth But this is a mysterie bound up in and among Gods treasures and the most in your generation is bound up fast under lock and key from the knowledge of this mysterie And this hath faln upon you in your generation and when God shall begin to make his truth appear among men he will not own you to be his instruments in that work but shake you off for you shall have neither lot nor portion in that matter for you think yea and are not ashamed to say That you are Gods Ministers and so think that you have God obliged to your Ministrie and so have and would have all other people tied under you by the bonds of captivitie but you shall see it otherwise when God beginneth to bestir himself for you shall then see that he is not tied to Universities nor any of those Ministers that have learned the art of preaching there No no the truth shall dash you and your art to peeces and the people shall be delivered from your cruel bonds But this shall not be in this old poisoned generation who delight to live on the empty husks you give them who delight in nothing but that which pleaseth their curious wit and foolish fancy which always delighteth to have things framed according to its own conceiting And you have been the cause of the destruction of many a poor soul who have been bewitched by your smooth charms and yet poor hearts
other I am not the man But shall I tell you Friends if you fall to reason as Christs Disciples did I wish there were no more of you the men I mean of then one of every twelve but I rather fear that the men I mean of be in number twelve for one and I will put all men out of the number but onely those who profess Religion for those are the men I cheifly aim at in this my ensuing Discourse for I see them mishapen and deformed in their Forms and fashion of Religion and so are become Monsters in the same Forms and so are like to degenerated Plants who bring out fruit fit for no use at all but onely to beguile the fight of the Passengers but when they come to be tasted they dazzle the head with madness and fill the stomach full of rhume that it cannot digest the heavenly food but in what is said do not think that I am the enemy of Religion no I am not but approve of it so far as God is in it and as far as thy self is out of it But when I finde thou hast chosen thy Religion and yet left God out of it and hast thy self in thy Religion there I let flie at thee this my Arrow what ever thou art or whatsoever thy Religion Form or Profession be But this I am sure of that I may hit thy head oft enough before I hurt thee for thou hast armor of proof upon it which thou hast forged out of such Scriptures as thou thoughtst most meet for thy use beside thou hast hatched and brought out some acting in thy chosen Form and these hast thou covered thy self withal so thou maist think thy self sure enough yet though thou be thus well harnished all about yet I know where thou art naked and empty and that is within thee even thy heart and that would I aim at for though thou be never so well armed on thy outside yet happily there may be an Arrow drawn at a venture which may peirce between the coupling of the same but all my fear is that if a shot chance to pierce thorow that there is something in thee that will not let it pierce thy heart But I will speak no more in parables but show my meaning openly to thee viz. Thou art about a work in thy Religion which thou shalt never bring to pass with all the wit or knowledge reading praying acting in any performance without thee which all of them are but things within the compass of thine own power to act or do as thou art a reasonable Creature But wouldst thou know what this work is thou art about in this thy Religion I will tell thee what it is but I question thou wilt not believe me when thou hearest it though it be truth It is that thou art about to make God and the World dwell together in thy heart or to say God and thy self to love and live together within thee and thou hast so ordered the business that thou canst serve them both but thou art deceived in the matter for Christ himself said thou couldst not do it and I know thou knowest that Christ said so But yet thou knowest not that thou art of that company that is contained within the compass of Christs words but thou puttest it off thy self and judgest some other to be guilty herein for amongst you all who are different and one against another in your formality every one of you judgeth and condemneth them who be not of the same minde and judgement with you in your chosen tenet And who so worship not God in your own way you judge him to be inferior to you for every one of you judge your own opinion chief and according to what you have chosen so you worship God and by and through the same you can judge and condemn all others Are these things of God or man be judge your selves do you think that God can be divided or his worship parted into peeces or can Christ and his way be severed no in no case But the thing is not strange though some in our days do marvel to see so many several and different judgements in and about Religion for those in the Primitive time was carried about in and by such foolish Chimeraes which did not a little trouble the Apostle Paul as you may see 1 Cor. 1.13 1.34 But the Apostle knew from whence this sprang and tells them plainly they were carnal and herein he judged rightly for it is nothing but carnality and earthly-mindedness that causeth differences amongst those who profess Religion and yet all pretend the true worship of God in the same O fools and unwise when will you learn to be wise and know what is the worship of God you all have heard what Christ said to the woman of Samaria John 4. and can rehearse the same but to this day you have been ignorant of the mystery in these words And from hence it is that you have parted the way of God into so many several kindes of formal worships and are so set in Argument one against another and hereby your speech and language is become changed whereby you cannot understand one another neither can you help one another but much hinder one another and the reason is because you are all of you in ignorance in the work you be a doing viz. No other thing but building Babels Tower whereby you think to save your selves from the flood of justice the which shall undoubtedly run ove rall flesh Nah. 1.8 By this your worship every one of you think in your hearts to climb into Heaven and to get a name one above another and who can make you believe That all your seemly buildings is nothing else but that Babel which one day shall fall and come thundering down about your ears But though you will not believe me at present yet hereafter I am sure you shall know the same to be true when you either come to be delivered from the danger you are in or else when the danger hath destroyed you but if you chance to be delivered from the danger as some have been then shall you have the promise fulfilled in you viz. I will return to the people a pure language that they may all call upon the name of the Lord to serve him with one consent Zeph. 3.9 But I make no doubt but every one of you in your own chosen Form will quickly conceit that this promise is fulfilled on you and among you because every one of the same self-chosen Form agree in the same and all bear witness with one voice That the same is the onely truth you hold out and in the same Form you have found God and in the same you will own God and in the same you call upon his Name I know you will all in your several Forms conclude the same fulfilled O friends stay a little and let it be known if your conclusions be true yea or
nay for I something doubt you have but a false interpretation of the words But canst thou tell what the work of the Lord is before he return the pure Language to any people canst thou tell what is the voice of this pure Language I doubt you cannot But here I will give you a glimpse what they both are if thou have but an eye to see and a heart to understand when the same is somwhat held out to thee First for the work of the Lord before he return to any this pure Language is partly expressed in the foregoing verse of the same Chapter where the Lord saith Therefore wait ye upon me until the day Iarise to the prey for my determination is to gather the Nations that I may assemble the Kingdoms to pour upon them mine indignation even all my fierce anger for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousie Zeph. 3.8 Hast thou known thy soul brought into such a sad sorrowful condition being voide of all help or comfort from all created and things acted and hast thou known thy soul so set and compassed about with sin and selfness pleasure praise and profit anger envy discontent both with God and man roving of thine imagination thy thoughts inclinations and desires bended down to created things hath the want of the lovely presence of God pressed thy Spirit so sore night and day that both thy sleep in the night departed from thee and thy appointed food by day refused hath thy soul known it self in captivity thus in and with these things and hast thou known thy soul in the lowest Hell under the chains of ghostly death and hast thou here born the indignation of the Lord for thy transgressions and hast thou here waited upon the Lord till he arose to the prey viz. To pluck thy soul out of the foresaid captivity and hast thou seen all these thy ghostly captivers assembled together and the fierce anger of the Lord poured upon them and devoured them all and hast thou known the fire of his jealousie viz. Anger and love mixed together that thereby all created and earthly things was devoured in thee so that all thy adversaries and captivers was captived so that Death and Hell is swallowed in victory and that now thy soul is carried upon the flying Cherubims so that now thou hast not a thought inclination or desire to either profit of the world praise of men pleasing of thy sences or affections with any delight but that as a brand pluckt out of the fire or as gold seven times refined thy soul doth so appear before thy God and then in the clear manifestation of the presence of God thou shalt have this pure language restored to thee viz. Then shall thy soul know how to pronounce Hallelujah rightly then shall thy soul know how to sing the new song expressed in Rev. 13.3 then shalt thou know how to call upon the name of the Lord for then thou shalt know what is his name because the same shall be written in thy forehead viz. In the noble faculty of thy soul even thy pure understanding for then thou shalt know truly that his Name is Wonderful Mighty and Merciful c. and so shalt praise him according to the knowledge of his Name But I will proceed no further in showing the nature of the pure Language nor what is to be done in every soul before it shall have that Language returned for by this glimpse those that have it can testifie the truth hereof and so can express what I mean because they understand my minde by what is already said and then there is enough and to those who know it not nor believe it because they have not known the same I suppose if more had been said it had but been lost labor and so to them this is enough also Neither indeed dare I explain any further for now in these days the cunning comprehending devil is let loose and he hath got into the wit of men and there he sitteth like a God and teacheth men how they shall learn this pure Language and new Song when they hear the same spoken or sung by those who have the same returned to them But yet this cunning devil in the wit of men doth not teach any thing but onely a sound of words for all the Devils in Hell nor all the wit and learning of men nor all the Angels in Heaven can return to man this pure Language nor teach this new Song unto any soul until it be redeemed from the earth and earthly things and till it be cloathed in the white robe and follow the Lamb whether soever he goeth and that have the white stone with the new Name which no man knoweth but he that hath it and none can teach this Language but the Lamb slain from the beginning c. But I have digressed too far from the thing intended but yet in my digressing I have a secret aim viz. To pitch something before the eyes of those whom I aim to shoot at afterward that while they be looking at what is set before them I may come the better to hit my mark for my Bow is ready bent and the Arrow of the Almighty is set in it and who cometh first in view I will let it flie at them whether I hit or miss A Spiritual Vision of the Presbytery and all other Forms without God included in it BUt methink I hear a voice speaking as though it were spoken by those who are of the Presbytery order and thus I hear them speak Indeed it is true The Lord had need to shoot out his Arrows at the wicked for they are mightily increased at this time for the poor Church and pure Church of Christ is like to be swallowed up by the power of strange wicked Sectaries who are risen up in these days and the reason is because of an unfaithful Parliament whom we too much trusted to for they have swarved from the trust we committed to them but if we had known how they would have proved we would never have acted so against the King for we little knew then what priviledge we had though our power was not so great as we should have had and which did wholly belong to us we being the onely people of God and had knowledge to govern both Church and State but the Parliament being metamorphised from the shape of Holiness they have given Liberty of Conscience to every one in their Religion and will not execute Justice upon men when they erre from the Faith which we have And this was their blindness and ignorance in adhering too much to that beast set out in the Revelation 13. viz. to Cromwel and a sort of wicked Sectaries under him who by their power have brought the Saints into bondage but if the Parliament had but stood to their first principles of Faith which we profess all these had been surprised for then had our power been strong and
Israel go And this Passover was kept of the Jews for a memorial of what was done and at the very time of the Jews keeping this Passover it was that Jesus instituted this Type which Type holdeth out a more clear beholding of himself to the world then the other Type of the Passover did for that Type of the Jews Passover was but as a shadow whereby to know the substance and a shadow is but a dark representation of a thing and so this dark shadow was to be done away that the Image is a clearer representation of the substance then the shadow and yet both the shadow and the image are but representations of the substance the one more clearer then the other the darker done away and the clearer established And this was one reason why Christ instituted this Type or Image at that time that after he was departed the sons of men might have a more clear sight of him after his appearing in the flesh then they had before for then they lived under the shadow or dark representation but now under the Gospel we have the Image or clearer representation as you may see Heb. 11.1 Likewise at the time of the institution of this Passover God had a marvellous work to do viz. To bring the Israelites out of Egypt from under the bondage of Pharaoh and the Egyptians so at this very time of Christs instituting of this Type God had a wondrous work to do viz. To bring the souls of believers out of the captivity of the Devil Sin Death and Hell for after the death of the Paschal Lamb the first-born of Pharaoh and all Egypt were slain and so their proud hearts were made to stoop So by the death of Christ the first-born of the Devil viz. Sin was destroyed and Death and Hell conquered and so a way was made for all souls to come out of their captivity for sin is the first-born childe of the devil his beloved and his power and strength For this is a truth in nature that the first-born is the strength and power and dignity of the Parents as Jacob saith to Reuben his first-born Gen. 49.3 So sin being the first-born childe of the devil therein consisteth his power and strength and when this is slain then is he overcome and so death being the childe of sin loseth his power for as sin is the first-born of the devil so death is the first-born of sin for death is brought out by sin Jam. 1.15 And as death is the first born of sin so Hell is the first-born of death and alway follows its father Revel So all these first-born were to be destroyed by another first born and that was Jesus the first-born of God a Type of whom we have in the Levitical Law by the first-born of all things which should be called holy to the Lord Numb 3.13 And as this first born Son or Lamb of God overcame the Devil Sin Death and Hell by himself so that they had no power over him so by the same power he overcometh all these for those who are the true followers of him in his life and example obeying his commands and taking up his cross and bearing it to the very death those shall know the power and vertue of his life death and resurrection and shall live with him in the union of the Father and when he instituted this Type he would have them to remember this whensoever they would do the like Likewise as the first-born of Pharaoh and Egypt were slain so on the contrary the poeple of Israel was saved from the power of the destroyer by the efficacy of the blood of the Paschal Lamb where it was sprinkled upon the two side posts and the lintel of the gate viz. The Will the Understanding and the Conscience the Noble Faculties of the soul for as the two posts and the lintel do differ in their property yet in close joyning together they make but one so in their properties they may be distinguished but in unity they are not distinguishable And these three in their distinct properties being sprinkled by the blood of the Lamb the destroyer viz. the justice of God can have no power to enter to destroy any of the Inhabitants contained within the habitation of that minde viz. Faith Hope and Love c. In case that none of the Inhabitants went out of door beyond the sprinkled post and to the very same purpose our Saviour gave command to abide in him Joh. 15 4. for herein is the safety of the soul with all its affections c. And this blood of the Lamb being sprinkled upon the posts as before said is the mark or sign of Gods sanctification or setting that soul apart in the more noble parts until he have executed justice of and upon the world flesh and devil death sin and hell who have their habitation in the inferior parts of the soul viz. the sensuality and the reason and imagination which by their great power have kept the inhabitants of the noble part in bondage But to illustrate a little more the sprinkling of the two side posts and the lintel in their threefold property I will shew you how the Scripture in other places pointeth at them and first for the property of the one post and its sprinkling viz. the Conscience First for its property As the one post of the gate having hinges whereupon the one leaf of the gate is hung so that thereby it hath the glibness to open and shut so the Conscience hath two hinges viz. the outward teachings and the inward dictates of God upon which the one leaf of the gate hangeth viz. the fear of God And the understanding as the other post hath other two hinges on which the other leaf hangeth and these two hinges is true wisdom and right knowledge upon which the other leaf hangeth viz. the pure desire of God and these two leaves being close shut and safely kept together the adversary hath less power to enter But these two posts are not fit for the bearing of the two leaves of the gate until the lintel couple them together So neither the Conscience nor the Understanding can be suitable for carrying the fear and desire of God in their right order until the will with its property yeilding obedience in its ghostly acting bee conjoyned to both and so when all their threefold properties meet in union then are the two leaves of the gate hung in right order Now to come to the sprinkling of the first side post viz. the Conscience As for Conscience before it be sprinkled with the blood of the Lamb it is but the leader of men into error as well as into truth as may be seen in the Apostle who by and through the leading thereof persecuted the Saints And likewise the Scribes and Pharisees that put Christ to death and though man have never so much zeal for God yet his conscience not struck or sprinkled all his works is but sin and dead
upon the heart and thus your prayers is turned into sinne and this you have by asking and receiving counsell of your blinde Priest and hereby you make a cover for your selves that you may adde sin to sin this you may plainly see in Isa 30.1 but those who knew or doe know the true ground of Prayer were never tied to set times but to occasions and the occasions being so many made our Saviour give out this caveat so oft Watch and pray Mar. 13.33 and the Apostle who knew the ground of prayer and the many occasions to pray made him bid the Thessalonians pray without ceasing 1 Thes 5.17 and those who know the evill of themselves shall not need to have one to teach them when to pray or how to pray neither can they be tyed to set times for they shall finde that sin in themselves that cannot bee limited to times and therefore they cannot limit themselves to pray against it at times for to those both sin and prayer is unlimitable and this made the Apostle utter his desire in the well-wishing of those whom hee taught in the truth and right knowledge of God and themselves and willed them to pray every where 1 Tim. 2.8 Secondly for the forme you use in your prayer it is but your owne human invention which causeth you to straine your braine drawing out from thence so many words and multiplication of speech and to fill up your houre is oft put to use the same words over and over and so contrary to the command of our Saviour you use vaine repetitions Mat. 6.7 And herein you differ not from the Heathens for they think to be heard for their much speaking and this your beat-braine Duty is but the sacrifice of fooles and yet you know not that you doe evill but this your doing pleaseth your selfe and pacifieth your blinde Conscience and from hence you draw conclusions that God is pleased also making him such a one as your selves Psa 50.21 but those who know the right ground of prayer they are not tyed to times neither are they tyed to a forme in prayer for the true ground of prayer turneeth set times into occasions and it turneth selfe formes and repetitions into short and feeling expressions yea oft times such expressions as you could not heare if you were besides the Persons who uttereth these expressions and those are the cryes that ring and eccho in the eares of the Lord of Hosts and these are the prayers that prevaileth with the Lord in answering and filling the desires of such soules and these prayers and cryes are the very vigorous out-pourings of the Spirit which maketh intercession for the Saints and he who is a Spirit knoweth the minde of the Spirit Rom. 8.26 and in this manner Moses who knew the right ground of prayer called upon the Lord in his greatest distresse not so much as speaking one word that any of the people heard and yet his spirit cryed out so vehemently to the Lord that the Lord said unto him Wherefore cryest thou unto me and all that while his spirit was calling upon the Lord with his tongue he was admonishing the people to beleeve in the Lord as you may see Exod. 14.13 14 15 c. And in this manner Hannah poured out her prayer to God and prevailed with him in the thing she desired though Eli before he knew the truth accounted her a drunkard 1 Sam. 1.13 14. but the truth is that you know not the right ground of prayer and therefore you cannot depart from your set times and set formes and therefore you aske and receive not because you aske amisse Jam. 4.3 And the reason why you have not the right ground of prayer is because you know not God but as a Person and not as he is a Spirit and you know not the wisdome righteousnesse and power of God viz. his Christ but according to the flesh and therefore all your worship and holy duties as you call them is framed according to the knowledge that you have of God and Christ and this knowledge you have is no more but by relation of others as you have heard and seen in the Scriptures and the speaking thereof by your relative Priests and from hence it is that you have formed in your heads an Historicall faith and fantastick beleeving for as yet you have not been in the City of God and what you have heard and seen therein you cannot speake of and no further then you have knowledge of God you can beleeve God and no further then you can beleeve God can you call upon him and what God is in his Spirituall being you have not yet beleeved then how can you call on him in whom you have not beleeved Rom. 10.12 and why is it that you have not rightly beleeved even because you have not rightly heard of God and why is it that you have not rightly heard of God even because you have not had him rightly preached to you by your Priests and the reason why they could not rightly declare and preach God as he is a Spirit and Christ as he was and is in the Divine nature is because they were never sent Rom. 10.14 15. But I know that you may object against me and say that you you have some examples in Scripture both for your set times and set forms of prayer for you will say that David praised at even morning and at noon c. and that our Saviour himself prayed at sundry times and the Apostles themselves used prayer in this manner very oft with others c. It is true I do not deny vocal prayer and times for vocal prayer in case the right ground of prayer be in the person or persons praying for I would have you to understand what I have formerly said for I do not deny but confess occasional praying but that which I deny is the set-times and set-forms of prayer which is but good thinkings rules and blinde Priests precepts without any command or example in Scripture but vocal prayer occasionally the persons rightly grounded this is all that you or any can gather out of any example in Scripture And in this wise David oftentimes both prayed and praised and occasionally Christ in the flesh both prayed and praised and occasionally did the Apostles and the believing people in the primitive time both prayer and praise And according to this same rule the Apostle bad those that were afflicted pray and those that were merry he would have them to praise in singing of Psalms Jam. 5.13 And so I would have all men while they be in the body and the body of sin in them to use vocal prayer occasionally and that their expressions may arise from the very sence of the occasion and such prayers or expressions of desires accompanied with the right ground God will hear and answer the desires of such and will deliver them from fear and trouble and then shall such have cause to praise and glorifie
dwelleth the love of God in such and in the having of these things doe they not puffe up the Persons that have them above their fellow creatures and so respecteth persons and accounteth much of such as themselves and despise those who be inferiour to them Jam. 2.3 is not this a shame and yet how many doth glory herein Nay how many various pleasures and delights is there that men glory in and yet a shame to be taken up with them How many shamefull gloryings belongeth to those who are the enemies of the Crosse who have their belly for their God but I let them passe and come to the third character viz. Who minde earthly things Its love to that which is the god hath the minde and no marvell if the Belly be the god if the minde be set on earthly things and this is that which will try all soules whether they have God or their belly for their god for though the belly cannot devour all in the worshipping of it yet that which is not offered in sacrifice to it that becomes to be gloried in and for upholding that worship and that glory the minde must of necessity be carried out to meddle about earthly things for it is these that must uphold all the glory and the worship of that god and though the glory and the worship of that god be the best performed by and of those who are rich yet those who are not so great and rich in the things of the world I make no doubt but their wills is as bent to worship that god and to glory after that manner and its possible the will may be acceptable for the deed and where the will is led out in defiring of those things I am sure the minde is set about earthly things for where there is any god but the true God either in possession or in desire the minde will be constantly carried out about that which will please their god and two Gods no man can serve for he will love the one and hate the other Mat. 6.24 and those who would owne the true God for their God was not to have their minds set or carried out to seek any thing below him no not so much as to have a thought of what should be the next day and all that any should look for in this world is no more then needfull food and raiment and this must not be had with either fearing caring or desiring but by way of beleeving and the minde wholly carried out in seeking the Kingdome of God and the righteousnesse thereof these are old worne-out sayings of Christ and they being worne out of date with oldnesse they are but little heeded for we have got a new way to the Kingdome of God by which we can carry the world and the body of sin and Selfness and duty and all together and this way is by the false faith framed by the braine knowledge of the learned Priests and seeing they have invented such a fine way how can fooles but love them and thinke themselves happy if they can but get incorporated into their congregations but weigh what is hinted at before and see who are the enemies of the Crosse and I beleeve you shall finde no want of such in your congregations and indeed I doe not marvell that the Crosse hath so many enemies seeing the vertue of it would take away sin and destroy Selfe and men loving Selfe so well they cannot abide to goe to heaven without it and this new-found way leadeth to heaven another way in which Selfe and all goeth together My friends who are of the Independant congregations consider with your selves whether or no you be the enemies of the Crosse or not do not so much pretend Christ and talk of Christ with your tongues and yet be enemies to his Crosse in your hearts I know what I speake and have some grounds for what I say I know where you stand and what is your worship well enough and I have just cause to feare that many in your congregations be more enemies then friends to the Crosse but I am partly perswaded that your ignorance is some cause thereof and the cause of your ignorance is by reason of many of your Ministers for I know you have abundance of them who are of the false-hearted crue who through cunning of their wit have played the Juglers and seeing your order come into request and like to carry the sway in these times and fearing to be losers by such alterations through their cunning have transformed themselves into another shape and so have crept in amongst you and though they seeme to be something yet they are but the same they were before in their heart and I know they have power by the great hand of their God who first made them Ministers to Metamorphize themselves into any likenesse but beware of them for they will keep you still in ignorance and by dissembling deceive you for they are many of them the enemies of the Cross of Christ yea and have wrested the minde of God in the Scriptures contrary to what he aimed it for and have made use of it for their own back ends and have taught the people contrary to the truth and so have kept them in ignorance until this day and by their means the knowledge of the Cross hath ceased these many years and so there hath been the falling away from the knowledge of the truth And this the Apostle Paul saw clearly in his time and told the people that the day of Christ should not come before such a fall 2 Thes 2.3 I would have given you a full description of the ensuing mystery in this Chapter but that I would not be too tedious to you nor too much offensive to the order of Priests for I assure them they are mightily included in it and the true opening of it would vex them all to the very heart and what I have already written to them shall suffice at present but in case I be called to write again I profess whatsoever the Lord shall make known to me on their behalf shall undoubtedly be uttered though at present I have prevailed to forbear And you my Friends who are of the congregated order of what parts soever whether more in knowledge or less in knowledge this I desire of you To aim to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified and presse hard after him who is gone before who left us all an example of suffering and be not beguiled with a pretence of love of Christ and union with Christ before you have born his Cross by which the body of sin in you becometh crucified and that the things created and things acted have lost their power so that your spirits is not in bondage to any of them for I assure you so long as the body of sin and selfness is uncrucified in you you shall not enjoy much of the fellowship of the Father and the Son pretend what you
requirings of the same And in all the time of the dispensation under the Law the whole Deity was named by the name of God or Father but when the fulnesse of time was come that God would appeare in a dispensation more cleare by which the Sonnes of men might the better know him then it was that the God-head in its properties divided it selfe and united it selfe to Flesh and so became the distinction in the God-head but yet the Godhead was the same it was before in the unity and in this new dispensation John Baptist begun the second Baptism in which he bare witnesse to the truth of the distinct property of God the Father viz. Christ or the Son of God and that hee was the Lamb of God which tooke away the sins of the world Jo. 1.29 And as Moses was the Messenger of God sent by him to declare his whole name or the whole God-head in his name unto the people when he would deliver them out of the Aegyptians bondage in the time of the first Baptisme so John the Baptist was his second Messenger sent by him to declare and beare witnesse of the distinct property of God and to shew to the people the name and worke of God in that distinct property viz. Christ the Son of God And as God did appeare more neare to manifest himselfe to men in his Son so the office of Iohn was to bring men out of and from under that darke dispensation under the Mosaicall observations into a more neare conformity and cleare beholding of God in that present dispensation under the Sonne and for this very purpose both the preaching and acting of Iohn tended to which God himselfe gave testimony also in the act of Iohns Baptisme by the appearance of another of his distinct properties viz. the Holy Ghost Mat. 3. and from hence it was that the name of the Sonne was added to the name of the Father and as the whole God-head stood in one name in the former dispensation and in making that name knowne and in giving out Lawes and Ordinances to be observed in that name in which the Covenant of workes was in force that name was terrible insomuch that the people could not abide to heare God speake to them yea Moses himselfe feared that great Majesty and quaked exceedingly Heb. 12.21 But when the God-head had in its property divided it self into the second dispensation into the property of Christ and so the second name of the Sonne being to be declared that name was Love and Peace and God with us Mat. 1.23 or God well pleased and reconciled to us And the Baptisme of Iohn it was called the Baptisme of repentance Acts 13.24 in which is included sorrow and departing or forsaking of something or a dying to something and to close with or to live in another thing and that was a forsaking or dying or departing from the former observations wherein they lived under the first Covenant of workes and to close with and live to the second appearance of God in that present dispensation wherein he would shew himselfe in a more quiet and peaceable manner then he had shewed himselfe in the former And John who made the way for and pointed at Christ as he was in the flesh he likewise bare witnesse of and fore-told what Christ would doe in the spirit viz. Baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire c. Mat. 3.11 and the beginning of this Baptisme was after the death resurrection and ascension of Christ as may be seen in Acts 2.2 3 c. now this third Baptisme was more excellent then the two former and this was the Baptisme of Christ by the out-pouring of the Holy Ghost and the worke and operation of this Baptisme is to burne up consume or destroy all the remainder of what was left by the other two former Baptismes and likewise to comfort and establish and make to live in a more safe and sure union of the thing closed with and from hence the third name is added to the two former and thus the whole God-head in its properties divided it selfe into the three names viz. Father Son and Holy Ghost and in these three names or into these three names was all persons to be Baptised and Christ gave out his command to the very same purpose Mat. 28.19 And as these three-fold Baptismes did accord with the three-fold names in time operation and effect in the outward manifestation in order one following or succeeding another so they held out or typified the inward and spiritual succeeding one another and this inward worke and effect of these three names and Baptismes is that whereby and wherein the life and happinesse of all soules consist in having the same compleatly fulfilled in them And as I have given a little hint of the outward names and Baptisms in their times and dispensations succeeding one another so I proceed to speake a word of that which is the chiefe worke effect and end of all these in their inward or spirituall order of succeeding Therefore observe the Mystery of the first Baptisme or the Baptizing into the first name Father in the first dispensation under the Law as God in his orderly proceeding calleth and manifesteth himselfe to us Now when the Lord God would deliver the children of Israel out of Aegypt from under the bondage of Pharaoh and the Aegyptians and to make his name knowne to the people as the whole Deity stood in the one name so his name was made known to them in a wonderful and terrible manner as is before said So it is with us when God beginneth to draw our soules out of Aegypt and Pharoah and the Aegyptians bondage viz. the outward or grosse actings in which the Devill and our Lusts have kept us in bondage amongst the sonnes of men in their common condition living in the world and this God doth by the manifesting of his great and terrible name in the first worke of the soule whereby the soule becometh roused up and made to stirre and look about it selfe and to consider in what bondage it is by being so grosly carried out into the disobedience of the requirings of the commands of God and from hence it is that God appeareth in the terriblenesse of the condemning property of the soule viz. Conscience and maketh his wonderfull workes aad wrathfull displeasure knowne in the corruptible parts of man which keepeth the spirit in under its captivity and this God doth by the hand of his servant Moses viz. by sending the Law of Commandment out and setting it home to the heart and yet how loath is the Devill who hath his Kingdome in the inferiour parts of the soule to let the spirit of man goe out of his captivity from serving him and his people viz. grosse sins and outward transgressions and from eating of his Onions and Garlick viz. in having complacence in those sins and the love of the fellowship of the men of the world and eating of their
confirm him in his present condition likewise he shall be made to know how secretly he limitted God to those his Gospel Forms and how he secretly hated and envied all other who had Christ truly manifested in their souls and how he could have persecuted them if occasion had served because such went about to overthrow this foundation And then shall he see how his heart is in love with created things and how farre short his soule is from the true partaking of the love of God though he conceited he had knowne the same formerly and then shall he see the great vaile spread over his heart which keepeth the heart from God and God from the heart and then shall he see sin out of measure sinful and shall have cause to say O Wretched man that I am c. Rom. 7. And so it is that the soule becometh to enter into the operation of the second Baptisme whereunder it suffereth much woe and want in respect of the body of sin it feeleth alive in the inferiour parts of the soule and likewise knowing how the Son of God viz Jesus Christ as yet hath never been truly manifested to the more noble parts thereof and so as yet the soule is but in the Wildernesse in which the voyce of the Cryer is continually crying and calling Prepare prepare the way of the Lord c. and the soule in obedience to that cry doth turne it selfe wholly to seek the love of God to be made knowne to it in the second distinct property viz. the powerfull and lovely and peaceable appearing of Jesus the Son of God and to make his name knowne in the powerfull and mercifull delivering of the soule from under that present evill of it selfe by which it is so carried captive oft times into the prisons of Hell and Death And when the soul is thus brought to understand the Baptism of Iohn then it is that faith beginneth to be purely operative and not before for now faith hath its ground-work laid in the heart and before it was but in the head and from what part it hath its ground so doth it worke and this faith grounded in the heart doth carry out the soule into seeking of the vertue of the Blood of Christ in the Divine nature and so is made willing thereby to wait for the out-pouring or shedding abroad of the same to cleanse and wash away that sin and Self that doth so defile it and likewise this faith doth so clearly carry out the soule from the desire of things created that it standeth in opposition against them when they peirce or present themselves into the soule likewise by the power of this faith man is made to see the emptinesse of all formes and duties the which it hath so much doted on before and likewise it maketh the soule truly know wherein its true life consisteth and nothing is desired in comparison of that which is the true life thereof from whence it cometh to passe that this soul stands at variance with every thing which keepeth it back from the enjoyment of its life And in this manner the Ax is laid to the root of the tree viz. The sharp cutting part or the Law in its inward and spiritual requirings whereby the bole of sin becometh cut down viz. The strength of desire love care or fear of or to any thing below the love and life of the Son of God becometh cut down and cast into the fire viz. into the anger of God by which they become burned and consumed But yet it cannot be truly said that anger is in God whereby he can be made to change or to suffer for anger and love is both the same in the essence of God and that which is love in God the same is anger in us and it is the love of God that maketh us feel his anger by reason of the sin that the love meeteth with in us and so by reason of that love of God in us and that sin it meeteth with in us the suffering is produced which we feel and that suffering is called the anger of God And thus we are rightly to judge of the anger of God But now the soul being brought into this suffering way or plunging condition under the baptism of John or spiritual cutting of the Law wherein the abomination that maketh desolate beginneth to appear then groweth such a soul to sink down into great humility and in patience waiteth for the appearing of the Son of God who must in the manifesting of his Name restore peace and give comfort and deliver the soul out of that great desolation made in it by reason of the great abomination And so it is that when the soul is rightly prepared by the second baptism of John then in his own time and place the name of the Son becometh manifested in that soul and the Lord whom it hath sought doth come into his temple Mal. 3.2 And then it is that the vertue of the name of the Son of God becometh powerful in delivering the soul out of that desolate wilderness from amongst the enemies that it found there and those lusts that led it captive is become captived and the shadow of death is dissipated and the garment of mourning is cast off and the soul cloathed in the garment of praise and then the soul can rejoyce and rightly sing Hallelujah to him that hath done these things for it And thus it is that God in the second appearance in the distinct property becometh to be known in a more sweet and loving and peaceable manner then he was known in the first Name before the Godhead had divided it self as is before said And thus Moses in the first dispensation under the Covenant of works by his baptism reached out the soul to John and John in the second dispensation led out the soul to Christ and so the soul can truly witness the Name of the Father and the Son I would have enlarged more upon the baptism of John but that I have already spoken something thereof in a little Treatise called The Anti-god with his threefold attributes discovered in the out-side religious man and in that you may see something which is needful to be known the which I have omitted here But now I proceed and speak a word of the third Baptism viz. The Baptism of the Holy Ghost and this is that which is more excellent then the other two former because of its time operation and effect of which I shall speak hereafter And this baptism was witnessed by John Baptist himself when he gave testimony of Christ who was to be the Minister of this Baptism and told the people that he that was to come after him c. should baptize them with the Holy Ghost and with fire whose fan is in his hand c. Matth. 3. And what John Baptist did witness herein the same had he received of the Father who sent him both to baptise and bear witness of Christ that