A Glimpse of some Truths to be made known in these LAST TIMES In Three PARTICULARS SHEWING I. The End and Vse of all External Ordinances II. The Nature of the Spiritual Death and Resurrection III. The Day of Judgment what it is and when it is By THOMAS ROYLE a member of the Army ISAIAH 60.1 Arise shine for thy Light is come and the Glory of the Lord is risen upon thee LONDON Printed for Giles Calvert at the sign of the black Spread-Eagle at the West end of Pauls neer Ludgate 1648. The EPISTLE to the READER Christian Reader ALL those Disciples that stooped down and looked into the Sepulchre where the body of Jesus had layen they clearly figured out this truth That many Christians in this age should be so taken with shadows and outward things that they should continue in them when God had withdrawn his presence and gone into a higher Dispensation When Mary would not beleeve the Angel but that the body of Christ was in the place where it was buried why saith the Angel He is not here for he is risen Mind the words for there is a mystery in them Let me discover my thoughts to those my Friends who contend for a Natural Day and Sabbath is if there were more holiness in one day then another truly I must tell you thus much that you have not finished your six days work and so are not come to see your rest in the seventh This seventh Day and Lords Day which John speaks of is Christ that high mystery in us who is perfect Rest and Beauty therefore saith the Text there remains a Rest to the people of God and he that is entered into his Rest he also hath ceased from his own works as God did from his A word to those who look upon God and Heaven to be a far off above the Firmament in some place distant from the Creature I must tell such their apprehensions are dark and low and fleshly for God is in every Creature and appears in all things that we behold his workings are in a mystery and those that speak much of Heaven that it is a place of Glory it is so but it is not any local glory without absent from the Creature Heaven is this a clear Discovery of God he appearing spiritually in us to be our fulness and rest that so the Creature acts not nor lives any more to it self but God in Christ is all in all both in him and for him and this is it that Paul minds us of Eph. 1.3 who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ As I have spoken a word of Light in the beginning and first part of my book to those who contend for outward things and shadows so let me speak a word of love to you who profess your selves to be come out of Egypt and brought through the wilderness to the brink of Canaan I mean you my dear friends who live above Ordinances which type is fulfilled in you that so now your fellowship and union is with that mystery of God being made one with it why then contend not about doubtful Disputations but let us labor after those things which concern our peace For it is a good thing saith the Apostle that the heart be established with grace following peace and holiness with all men therefore let us commisserate the condition of such Christians as stand in that night of Darkness I mean whose practice it is to carry on shadows and outward things cracking the nut when the kernel is gone It may be in this Dispensation there appears a great Light to them that they see much of God in it therefore this Light cannot be put out till there appears a greater as to instance in Naturals in that season of the year which we call Winter many people labor at their Callings in the night being up and abroad before the day appears they now make use of Candle-light to walk by but when the Day appears and the Sun shines then the light of the Candle is darkned by reason of the greater light and so is put out for it is not of any use so it is in Spirituals it may be many a poor Christian walks by Candle-light and Star-light which are the speakings and teachings of men carrying on outward things but when that Spiritual Day Christ dawns and appears in them to be their fulness then their former Light is made Darkness so that now all shadows are vanished away and are not of any more worth in their eyes I have with all tenderness in my following Discourse layd open something of the mystery of God but so far as I have deviated from the word of truth I shall not own When the Christian comes to moderate my Discovery of Scripture let him not be rash to utter himself but let him wait till the flowers of Experience smell sweetly in him The first part of my book discovers what is the end of all Shadows The second part declares the Resurrection of Christians And the third and last lays open the Day of Judgment what it is and when it shall be T. R. I. PART A WORD OF Light and Truth discovered for all Christians to mind But first especially to those who contend for outward Excellencies as Form and external Order and Ordinances which are the Sepulchre where the body of Christ hath layen My Friends J Shall make manifest and lay open the truth according to that mystery of God that leads me forth I mind all along by the mystery of Truth which speaks in me that all those Offices Gifts and Ordinances were typical which the Apostles practised in their time therefore they clearly figured out that Glory and Beauty which should be revealed in us Rom. 8.18 I mind further that those Ordinances which the history of Scripture speaks of as Breaking of Bread and Water-Baptism were a Dispensation according to the weakness of the Disciples and they were to carry them on for such a time but not for ever as some say for as the coming of Christ in the flesh did put an end to all the Ceremonies of the Law even so do the appearances of Christ in us swallow up and put an end to all shadows I mean both Breaking of Bread and Water-Baptism these Administrations were truth according to that low Dispensation that the poor Disciples were under therefore the Apostle tells them in 1 Cor. 11.26 saith he in that history of truth For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup ye do shew the Lords Death But mind the Apostle a little they were to carry on for a season that shadow but if you ask me how long why the Text tells you till he come that is the coming of the spirit of Truth in them for truly so long as Christ was with them in the body they had very few discoveries of that Doctrine of Truth that should appear in them You may see by the history of
the Scriptures that they were mightily taken with the person of Christ and with those fleshly priviledges that he carryed about while he was in the body Therefore the Scripture tells you that when he was to depart and be gone from the Disciples they were in great sorrow but saith Christ I will see you again and your heart shall rejoyce that is my next appearance shall be to you in Spirit and I will be your fulness and you shall have spiritual fellowship with me before it was external in the body but now you shall be made partakers of the divine Nature for I am the mystery of God in you A word or two concerning Water-Baptism I mind that the Apostles had never any Commission from Christ to baptize with water for John was the Minister of water and what the Apostles did they did upon his account which was for the finishing of such a time and then an end was to be made of it for it was legal and ceremonial this Baptism of water was to be eaten up and put out by the Baptism of Christ mind one Scripture for to confirm this Mat. 3.11 I indeed saith John baptize you with water unto repentance but he that cometh after me is mightier then I whose shoes I am not worthy to bear he shal baptize you with the holy Ghost and with fire that is I John have material water to baptize you with which is a sign and legal and to continue no longer but till you be baptized with the holy Ghost as much as if John had said when the Baptism of Christ appears then I give up my Office the Scripture that proves this is John 3.30 One word more for the clearing of this You must mind that God hath his movings to all the children of truth for he dispenseth his own fulness by times and degrees and so makes the Soul to lie down in green pastures and leads it by the still waters See how God did move to Paul from one Dispensation to another that so Paul did forget all those things that he esteemed of formerly He now desires to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable to his Death if by any means he might attain to the resurrection of the dead Oh the weight of these expressions At this time Paul was come to know his union and oneness with the mystery of Truth by being made one with it now you find Paul but preaching one Baptism not Water-Baptism but the Baptism of Christ for saith he one Lord one Faith one Baptism and that is the Baptism which the history of truth holds forth 1 Cor. 12.13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body the same Baptism you may see Rom. 6.3 4. Know you not saith the Text that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his Death Mind that word into which was the Baptism of the Spirit which gives us fellowship with him Here I have labored with that light that draws me forth to make clear and to shew what is the end of all shadows If you grant me this to be truth which I have discovered with abundance of tenderness and love then there will spring this truth That all Dispensations of external Ordinances I mean Breaking of Bread and Water-Baptism and outward Order if God hath removed out of these and withdrawn his presence from them then they must needs be a waste and barren wilderness where no water is and a place for the Owl and the Raven to dwell in and he shall stretch out upon them the line of confusion and the stones of emptiness thorns shall come up in those places nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof and there shall be a habitation for Dragons and a court for Owls the wilde beasts of the Desert shall also meet with the wilde beasts of the Island and the Satyre shall cry to his fellow the scritch owl also shall rest there and find for her self a place of rest there shall the great owl make her nest and lay and hatch and gather under her shadow there shall vultures also be gathered every one with her mate If you enquire the mystery of this history I answer That all Dispensations that God hath appeared in formerly but now is gone out of them into a higher discovery of his own fulness and beauty they are places for the mystery of iniquity and the son of perdition and for the spirit of Antichrist to possess and act in It is the wisdom of the Reader not to be high-minded but fear sitting at the feet of Christ with Mary but be silent then shall there appear a light in obscurity and all your darkness shall be as the noon day I my self have been a stranger in the Land of Egypt but the mystery of Life hath brought me forth and made me free Therefore sing O Daughter of Sion be glad and rejoyce for the Lord is in the midst of thee thou shalt not see evil any more II. PART A Mystery revealed to many Saints CONCERNING A Christians spiritual death resurrection Dear Friends J Shall labor to put an end to such Disputes as we have had formerly The thing and principle that I intend to treat upon is concerning the Resurrection of Christians which I shall discover clearly according to that light that breaks forth in me First let us weigh the history and then let us come to the mystery I find in the 11. of John that Christ and Martha were in serious discourse about the body of Lazarus upon this Jesus saith unto her thy brother shall rise again Martha said unto him I know he shall rise again in the Resurrection at the last Day to that question Jesus did not answer her for the thing that she drove at was the resurrection of the body but Jesus discerning her low and fleshly apprehensions he comes to take her off with these words I am the Resurrection and the Life he that beleeveth in me though he were dead yet shall he live The Mystery of this Scripture in me is this That Christ is the spiritual Resurrection of Christians a Resurrection out of Darkness into Light out of Nature into Grace that so he bears not any longer the Image of the first Adam which was a figure of all fleshly wisdom but now he is risen in the likeness of the second Adam that so now that mystery of iniquity wicked one and son of perdition is crucified in him as the flesh of Christ was crucified the Christian having some glimmerings of this that the man of sin is subdued in him then comes he to have his union and oneness with that mystery of God in him then is he entered into his rest as Christ did into his And this is that resurrection and spiritual gain which both Christ and the Apostles mind in the Scriptures Friends let us dwell a little upon that history in 1 Cor.
15.35 saith the Apostle there But some man will say How are the dead raised up and with what bodies do they come Weigh the discourse of these Scriptures following the Apostle to take off the first objection saith Thou fool that which thou sowest is not quickned except it dye And that which thou sowest thou sowest not that body that shall be but bare grain it may chance of wheat or some other grain But saith the Text God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him and to every seed his own body and so the Apostle goes to illustrate and set forth a spiritual Resurrection and not the Resurrection of the natural body But you may object and say Phil. 3.21 Who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body To this I reply with Scripture and then the mystery of it saith the Apostle There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body The meaning of the Apostle is not in that in the Philippians as if Christ were in one single person or figure of a man glorified in flesh or the body without in a local glory therefore if you contend for this your apprehensions are but fleshly and low for truly friends to deal freely with you Christ is not of any other substance or form but the Divine Nature and so is no more till he is in Spirit in his creatures and when he appears in them then is their Resurrection It may be you will say this is truth But is there not a Resurrection of the Natural body again in that form which it bears now for the Scripture saith And this is the Fathers wil which hath sent me that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing but should raise it up again at the last Day The meaning of Christ in these words is not That those earthly bodies of the Disciples should be raised again in the same form that they were in but the mystery of this history is this as much as if Christ had said When I appear in you then I am that last Day then shall you be raised up for my second coming is in the Spirit Then I will lose nothing of that mystery of God in you for I am one with it But you may object further in those words of the Apostle Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead how say some amongst you that there is no resurrection of the dead but if there be no resurrection of the Dead then is Christ not risen and if Christ be not risen your faith is in vain you are yet in your sins It may be the discourse of these Scriptures in the outward sence of them may appear to many to have such a truth in them as that the natural body shall be raised but I deny that to be a truth according to such results and conclusions for the mind of the Apostle drives at a further mystery for when he saith If there be no resurrection of the dead then is Christ not risen That is as much as if the Apostle had said if you be not made free from that law of bondage which hath taken you captive being dead in sins and trespasses then Christ which is your Resurrection in you is not risen but the Apostle knowing that he was made light by the mystery of truth in him he concludes in these words But now is Christ risen from the dead that is Christ was so risen spiritually in Paul that he had a clear discovery of it I have made manifest here in these lines of love for all those that are truly wise and prudent to weigh let me have a charitable censure of all my friends who feuâ— the stammerings of my tongue Awake and sing ye that dwell in the dust for thy dew is as the dew of herbs and the earth shall cast out the dead III. PART The Day of Judgment what it is and when it shall be TEnder Friends I shall labor to lay open such a mystery as hath bin hid from many ages but hath shewed it self to me within these few days the principle is this concerning the day of Judgment It may be my discourse will seem strange to many I shall explain my self what the last day is and when it shall be We shall begin with such Scriptures as seem according to the outward sound of them to contend for such a natural day as if Christ would come again in the flesh being darkness to all the world and to confound all such people as have not any knowledg of him but this is fleshly notional and Jewish yet this is the doctrine of England I shall cite some Scriptures and then open the mind of them Mal. 4.5 Behold I will send you Elijah the Prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. Some understand his coming to be in the body to destroy all persons that are not found in him and will dissolve and break in pieces this earthly tabernacle as the material earth and all things that we behold shall pass away these apprehensions are low and dark Friends the day of Christ is spiritual and where he saith I will send you Elijah the Prophet before the coming of the great dreadful day of the Lord This Elijah is those spiritual appearances of Christ in us this is he who shall suddenly come to his temple even the messenger of the Covenant Mal. 3.1 Now shall the day of the Lord be dreadful consuming and burning up all fleshly excellency in us destroying the son of the bond-woman which is creature wisdom and darkness in us The second Scripture is this But who may abide the day of his coming and who shall stand when he appeareth for he is like a refiners fire The mind of this Scripture in me is this That the coming and appearance of that day and mystery of God in us is like a refiners fire judging all the fleshly pomp and burning up all carnal glory which may be was a principle in us Oh friends when this day Christ dawns in the soul no flesh is able to stand or abide his coming for he appearing spiritually in his creatures kills the very life strength and power of all that fleshliness in them then is the day of Judgment which will not be terrible to the soul but sweet and refreshing The next Scripture is this Tremble thou earth at the presence of the Lord The mystery is this When God comes and appears spiritually in Christians to be their fulness and perfect rest then doth that earthliness and darkness in them tremble and melt at his presence The next Scripture to clear may be 2 Cor. 5.10 For we must all appear before the Iudgment seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad This Scripture seems according to the outward sence difficult to clear but truly there is a mystery in it and I would have all Christians to mind that the Judgment seat of Christ is not in any form or shape of the body without for he is not of any other substance in his appearance but what he is in Christians spiritually and where that principle appears so as the Christian hath a clear discovery of it he sees now that the son of the bond-woman which is the flesh and creature-wisdom which are notions of the first Adam must give an account to the son of the free-woman for persecuting him that is when Christ comes to raign in Spirit in us then shall all his enemies be made his footstool and this shall be perfected before this earthly tabernacle be put off that we bear about with us and the flesh shall be so judg'd and kil'd that it shall be subject to the Testimony of Jesus I mean the Spirit of Prophesie which is in us Let not any despise my labor of love in this short discourse I have layd open how the day of God appears and what the workings 〈◊〉 it and that it is spiritual and not natural burning up and judging that earthly Creation in us Therefore now sing rejoyce oh daughter of Sion for 〈◊〉 I come I wil dwel in the midst of thee then shal the wilder 〈…〉 and solitary places be glad and the Desart shall rejoyce and blossom 〈◊〉 the rose it shall blossom abundantly and rejoyce even with joy and singing the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it the excellency of Carmel and Sharon they shall see the glory and beauty of it then shall the lame man leap as an hart and the tongue of the dumb sing 〈◊〉 in the wilderness shall waters break out and streams in the Desart and an high way shall be there and a way and it shall be called the way â—f holiness My friends all this works in a mystery in you you are that wilderness and solitary place that shall be glad and the the time when this shall be 〈◊〉 when that day Christ who is the mystery of God breaks forth and appears in you to be your fulness and perfect rest then is that Scripture fulfilled in you That the envy of Ephraim is departed and the Aâ—verâ—â—ries of Judah are cut off so as Ephraim shall not envy Iudah and â—udah shall not vex Ephraim All those that have a beam of love made manifest in them will clearly understand and discern my discourse but thâ—se that cannot discern it and grant it me to be truth my councel to them is this to be silent for their strength is to sit still till that mystery of life speak in them then there appears a way in the wilderness and springs in the desart Out of Sion the perfection of beauty God hath shined Your Friend in the nearest tie and bond of love Thomas Royle a Member of the Army