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A52687 A door opened to the imprisoned seed in the vvorld, and the way of freedom by the spirit of truth, sent out into the world in love to the sheep that have long been lost, which may serve any who simply seek the life of what they possess, and may shew the feigned & false in heart, the cause why they are shut out of truths power : wherein the elect way is opened to the blind, with encouragements to enter and walk therein : also the fruits of the free-born cleared from legal performances, and the children of bondage shewed the nature of their own works : Christ Jesus known to be king in his temples, through the power of the Holy Ghost, and sword of the spirit lifted up against the man of sin in true judgment / by J.N. Naylor, James, 1617?-1660. 1667 (1667) Wing N277; ESTC R23128 41,513 48

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being blinded by the god of this world which should give the sight thereof and that seed in bondage under the prince of darkness which should give to inherit that immortal Treasure and this must be till there be a denying and coming out of the World to receive that inheritance of divine Light and understanding which none can receive nor be one withal but as they come out of the world from under that seed of enmity which seeks to pervert all the right wayes of God and wrest all his gifts to mans destruction as far as he can prevail Now this destroyer or seed of enmity against the Life of man and his Salvation is kept from that sudden effecting his purpose upon the creature in whom he is head by no other thing but the patience and long-sufferings of God who willing that none of his Creatures should perish but that if by any means all might hearken to the Truth and so recover themselves out of the snares of this subtile deceiver and be saved wherefore he doth many times long bear and forbear with much patience and diligence striving by the Spirit of Truth upon all occasions when ever the Creature doth but mind it checking and reproving and warning even many times at that very instant when the act of sin is committing and if the evil one have got such power in the creature that he will not suffer him to mind reproof before nor in the act of sin then afterwards when the heat of temptation is cooled then he shews the evil and danger of such wickedness that so he might preserve fear in him against the next temptation And thus in many he keeps back destruction a long time so that some are long ere the wicked one get them to fill up their measure and some in that time of Gods patient forbearing and suffering come to repentance and turn to that which reproves and are saved and others go on to destruction which swiftly they draw upon themselves after once the Spirit hath ceased striving and reproving for then the fear is lost and the evil one hath his liberty at his own will the Creature being given up of the Lord and the Spirit of Truth being wholly departed nought but deceit is left to guide him who hath dealt deceitfully with the Spirit of Truth which at the best hath but a form of godliness without the Power for the Power of God is in that Spirit and in that Life which is known by withstanding the evil one which is fallen and covered in such in whom death reigns only such who are born of the Spirit have the Life and Power and know its strength and virtue unto eternal Salvation the rest are left to their thoughts and notions And here is the cause of that strong contention that hath ever been betwixt the Children of Light who are born of that Spirit of Truth and have their light and strength in the inward man and the worlds professors whose expectation stands in something without them which others have spoken of who had it in them and so not knowing the Power and Mystery of the living Faith which is holden in a pure Conscience which only hath the Call and Power to bring out of the worlds darkness they are kept captive therein contending against the Spiritual Light and so while they are in the world go about to comprehend and measure that Spirit of Truth which the world cannot receive neither knoweth thinking that Spirit of Light and Life to have no other op●●●●ion in such who are led out of the world and born thereof and in whom Christ lives than they find it to have in themselves who stumble at it and are disobedient and unbelieving in heart when as indeed to us that believe it is Elect and Precious who come to it for all supplies but to the wisdom and profession of the world it is a Rock of offence and stumbling-stone yet is it the Head of the Corner and in them who revile it and reject it it is become all they have in them that is good true and faithful towards God or their Souls as their hearts in secret do witness to them and leaves them without excuse many times For even they that reject this Light and Spirit have nothing else that can shew them so much as one of their thoughts or divide to their understanding the evil from the good either in Thought Word or Action or that can really shew them what is of God really and what is of him who doth but shew himself to be God to deceive withal and is not nor without it can they perceive the several motions of every several spirit that is in them to receive the good and deny the bad nor can they know the several roots of Life and Death which plant to pluck up and which to feed on and how can such labour in Gods Vineyard And indeed without this Light the Body is a house of darkness and a habitation of every deceitful spirit and the heart desperately wicked and no man knows it but he in whom the Light of Truth shineth and he that declares to man his thoughts his Name is the Lord of Hosts Thus is he the Head of the Corner which the stumbler cannot comprehend in his wit and so rejects him without whom there is no building nor working the Work of God And therefore you sons of the darkness of this World mind in your selves what it is you set your selves against is it not that Light which would limit and chain the evil one in you that which condemns you for every evil work secret and open which will not let you be proud and wanton and lustful that which in your own hearts testifies against you for deceit and falshood towards God and towards men deceit in Religion hypocrisie and falshood making a form of what you are not deceit in your dealing with men in your tradings and speakings and severall actings both as Rulers Priests and People without respect of persons nor any other thing but hath respect onely to that of God in you which is of his Nature given to you to guide man in the Light of God out of all the wayes of this deceiving spirit And now he that comes to you with this Doctrine comes near you being manifest in Spirit to that of God in your own hearts you are pricked therewith and then the evil one is stirred up in you to fight against that which is Truth in your selves and answers to the Truth which is spoken to you by another without you from the same Spirit of Truth which by you is rejected And thus you joyning with him that rises up in wrath against the Truth in your selves and denying that which should chain and bind the evil one you deny the Lord of Life and give strength to the evil one to murther the Just in you and quench the Spirit of Truth and weary the Lord with striving till you be given up
with hope and faith and keep therein and be not discouraged because of the littleness of it in your present sight neither do you judge and measure it thereby for you know not what power it hath with God and how precious it is in his sight and what it will obtain for you at his hands in the time of need you have not yet proved nor can you while you have things greater in your thoughts than it to run to the power of Holiness and Truth in the inward parts is not known but in the depth when the fire of wrath comes upon all vain hopes and hypocritical confidence when all that is without a man is removed far away when all relations friends and acquaintance are become farther off than strangers and what-ever thing the creature seeks to for comfort turns against him and adds to his grief then is known the power of Holiness and Truth in heart with God and a clean Conscience will speak peace and none can take it away from you if you abide but in it He that hath proved it commends it to you who have been stript of all that ye might learn and know the treasure of life and holiness with God wherefore judge not that which is holier and lower then your selves but let that which is just and holy judge that which is above it in you which is not of that nature The cause why it is so little esteemed in you is because you are so great in the contrary nature and the proud despises the poor and the rich undervalues him that is better then himself And this you will find in you if you measure with that which God esteems and weighs all flesh by to wit by that which is his own and as he is in every creature so do not you judge the most Holy but believe and obey for the time for you to judge is not yet come till the most Holy and Just be King in you and you in him so keep in that which is holy and just and grow in him that he may grow in you and arise through death of his enemies to be greater then the greatest greater then the World and the Prince of it which is the Devil wherein is all unbelief false fears and doubting and exaltation against the Holy One and as these Towers fall which are lifted up against the Lord so his way will become a plain and Truth will take his place in you as King and Lord which God loves which the unbelief is out of and against and as the Pure arises you will find a change in your mind in your nature in your judgment and in your government and you will come to know that your kingdom and power with the highest stands in the anointing of the most Holy and the Kingdom of God is within you and the poor takes it So you must not fix your faith upon that which is great and strong in you because it is so nor because it is likely nor because it promiseth great things but believe in that which is most holy true and just in you that to the Anointing of the most Holy you may come in your particular and he will bring you into the Assembly of the Sanctified where the Holy One reigneth over all for it 's he that 's sent out into the world that lies in wickedness to gather them one by one into Sanctification therein to present unto God as many as receive him who is without spot or blemish And all the world take notice of this where ever it comes this is He whom the Father of Lights hath now sent into you that are in the world the Holy One of God sent to call you and give you light who saith I am the Light of the World Hear him and believe that you may become Children of Light and Truth this is the glad-tydings and Gospel of Jesus Christ who is preached to you in the world Professions and forms would limit the Holy One to themselves and exclude others but Gods gift is free in Christ Jesus and his tender is to all men who would have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth none he excludes none but who will not receive his gift his Son the most Holy which calls you who through the preaching of the Gospel is come near you yea he is in you with his Light giving you to see the way out of darkness which no other thing could do for you and without money or price you have him If you receive him and keep his sayings and obey his movings He will dwell in you and take up his aboad and you shall know that the Father hath sent him to call you out of the world into the Light of Life if you deny Him he will deny you If you receive Him the Father will love you and power from above will be given to become the Sons of God Wherefore mind that Spirit which calls you out of sin out of the world and gives you light to see what is sin and deceit in your own hearts hearken to that which is Holy and would not have you do evil that 's of the Holy One and the most Holy in you believe in Him and follow Him believe not them who would make you believe you have him not in you who are past feeling in themselves and have already rejected him but you who feel him abide in him who is holy in you against all unholiness a witness cut not your selves off through disobedience and unbelief and he will in no wise cast you out but will encrease your light through obedience and purifie your souls and cleanse your bodies and work in you mightily in Truth to Salvation and you shall see that his working is pure and good and that which none else can do for you and this is the Lord your Righteousnesse though yet you know him not as he is And if you will receive the most Holy this is your time and the day of your visitation by him whose Light is now rejected of the builders of this world and the wisdom of the wise will not know him nor suffer him to rule above their carnal rudiments nor to be all in their hearts to guide with his Light to Salvation so to the out-casts he is preached who are afar off and have not sought him You is he seeking with his Light if you reject him not he will make you to see Light who have sat in the region of death and gross darkness hath covered you wherefore hearken to him that saith Come and feel that Spirit that draws that you may answer his love freely as it is freely tendred and know him by his holiness that it is he and let his uuchangeable witness in you in the night and in the day perswade your hearts that he is the Lord who changeth not and he that declares unto man his thoughts his name is the Lord of Hosts And you that withstand
whose life you speak evil of but know it not by birth and virtue which is naturally good as the first man is naturally evil And the bondage is in that which is against the pure nature and not in that which is free-born and the law is upon the transgressor and him that is degenerated into that nature which is carnal and sensual and if this man do any thing as to God it is from something that is laid upon him not in spirit but from without and this is legal and in bondage which is not in the free Spirit which doth by nature the things contained in the Law And little it is that such would either do or know were there not a Law or a Letter a Heaven or a Hell to put them upon works and here is the bondage and fear that hath torment but with the Spiritual Seed it is not so who are begotten and born of God in Christ Jesus in whom they receive freely as the branch of the root and what he sends forth through them is fruits of the Spirit against which there is no Law and this is not legal but spiritual and free who are a Law unto themselves and there is no Law against the Seed but is added upon the transgressor because of sin till the Seed be come and where the Seed is born and rules that creature is not under the law letter nor tradition nor bondage but led by the Spirit and born of that Nature which was before transgression was by which the fruits of Righteousness are brought to light by the working of the Holy Ghost who worketh the will and deed of his good pleasure and with the same good will and pleasure it is brought forth without bondage or constraint And in whom the bonds of iniquity are broken the world ended and all things become new and all things of God there dwells not self-righteousness nor spirit of bondage but that is the new creature which is in Christ Jesus created unto good works and not in self and the Heavens new and the Earth new wherein dwells Righteousness as it is in Christ Jesus revealed from God in Spirit and Power without the Law manifest to which the Law and the Prophets bear witness having foretold what glory and freedom should be revealed in the latter dayes at the Seeds appearing and the Letter testifies of this life and power but is not this life but the Spirit gives this life and freedom that it may be of grace freely and the glory of the Lord who is that Spirit and here is the boaster and self excluded and all fruitless trees condemned and seen to come short of the glory of God of whose works he is not either root or off-spring And before you can judge of this Freedom or the nature of the works that spring thereof or inherit the power that brings forth this Righteousness you must own the Judgment of Him that condemns the man of sin in you and receive him for your Law-giver which will break you off from the world and would have you to deny the forms and images and bring you from under its power that 's he that breaks the house of bondage and sets the righteous Seed at liberty to bear the fruits which are of God And thus hath Christ sent his servants to seek the lost and to gather them from among bryers and thorns and bring them to Zion one by one and as they were gained out of sin so the Devils kingdom fell and grew weaker by every servant he lost and Christs Kingdom increased until the Kingdoms of this world become the Kingdom of Righteousnesse wherein the righteous King reigns And out of cruel mockings scorning and bloody persecutions they gathered the lost and gained them to God yea sometimes pulled them out of the fire such hath been their faith and zeal for Christ and his holy Kingdom and their stedfastness to that work to which they were called and hired and the furie of the adversary and his opposite power against him in his servants hath often reached unto blood rendering evil for love to their souls Wherefore take heed to your selves you that name the Lord and call him Master depart from iniquity and obey the good This is his work if you be his servants he hath called you to holinesse as he is holy And that you turn from the world and repent of his works who is the prince of it and deny him and them openly and in secret if you will serve the holy One you must bear his mark and open your heart to him and your mouth for him as confidently as the servants of sin do for it that your Light might shine against the darknesse of this world in the face of the perverse and crooked generation that it may appear to all men that the wayes of the Lord and the world are not one nor their servants one nor their words one nor their garments one nor their table one in all things bearing his Image and Glory above his Adversary that it may appear whose Family you belong to and what is his Glory who hath hired you and what is the Work of your Lord in the World And herein may all people as in a glass see your selves and what you are to God in this his day and what against him these are the two masters which Christ tells of which none can serve but the one he hates who serves the other so now who hath hired you whom do you serve and whom do you hate Is it the World you serve then you hate Christ Is it Christ then you deny the World And these are plain things and you may read as you go if you will whose business you go about and whose hand you strengthen If you commit sin and plead for it then you war against him that is manifest to destroy sin And if you say sin must live in you while you live then while you live the Devil must have a place and power in you and a kingdom as long as you live and if you believe to overcome sin then you wait for the Kingdom of God which consists in Righteousness and believe to see it and seek it daily with your whole heart for it is not words which take the Kingdom but power of Faith against the evil one Neither is it forms and professions or any outward thing that can vanquish the Devil for he is a spirit and by a spiritual power must he be resisted and the weapons must be spiritual and mighty through God which casts down his seat in man though many are led out from form to form and deny that power of God in them and obey the power of sin in them not knowing that power which layes the Ax to the root of the evil tree out of which all the evil springs and these are manifest to be such as are not hired what ever your forms may be which you chuse and change you are but in the
market-place at the best not yet come into the Vineyard of God till you be set on work against sin to pluck up and cut down every evil thing that offends in the Kingdom of God with his spiritual Light and Power which Kingdom is within you and that which offends is within you and that which is offended is within and that which is lost and fallen is within and there to be sought and the Pearl and the Seed and the Word and the Law of the Spirit of Life and the Covenant is within and this is not seen nor believed nor can it shine till the House of God be swept and the fruit of darkness denyed and the Light of Christ turned to and the Just obeyed which gives to see the unjust and power against him when the ground of darkness is removed by the working of Faith And as many as be called to this work and entred into it in truth and faith must not be idle but obey the Spirit of Life till the house be cleansed and the unclean wrought out and the pure exalted and then is the rest holy and then you will find your rest within you and your God near you and your souls to dwell at ease with God in your own habitation whose Temples you are if this you obtain by faith in him that calleth and quickeneth you to Holiness and the fruit is the Lords and so is the Seed and the safety for ever to all and in all that abide therein And this is not self-works nor self-will but pure faith and obedience to the Seed of God which in you wars against the world and every selfish fleshly lust and delight which is the Seed of the holy Covenant which Seed is Christ the holy and just One if you can receive it This is he that makes clean and keeps you so as many as obey and walk in him and from his Spirit receives your Law which Spirit giveth you his life to inherit here on earth if you walk in the Spirit you shall not live to the flesh And in this life and knowledge truly learned is answered that common objection which the spirit of the world makes against the holy Life and Kingdom saying If it were possible that we could live without sin then we need no Saviour yea the same that cleanses the house must keep it so and he that 's the death of sin is the life of righteousness and the same light and fear of God which leads to the putting off the old man with his affections and evil works leads to put on the new man which is Christ and so to walk in him which is renewed after the image of him that created him where Christ is all in life and guiding and the good man keeps the house not the strong man and how can that man say he needs no Saviour who can do nought without him whose righteous life is both food and rayment and his light their armor daily against the evil in this world in every thought word and work and in whom this is not so Christ is not all and in whom it is so they are compleat in him and do not say they have no need of him but consess him in them their head and glory and this is the Kingdom of God upon earth and the King in his Kingdom which you that resist in your faith and practice deny the Lord and his Power and his Faith and his Prayer which is Thy Kingdom come thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven where no sin is And this further to all you that in words professe Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Master let it be in Truth and Righteousnesse that you may have his witnesse thereto who is pure and clean and cannot join to evil but is an open witnesse against every appearance of it and so are all his Servants whom he hath hired and sent into the world in what place or imployment so ever you are in if you be his servants you are chiefly about his work and not your own Now his work is manifest in every appearance of his in this world it is against sin and to destroy the works of the Devil out of this world mind this To destroy the works of the Devil out of this world that so the Kingdoms of this world may become the Kingdoms of Christ Jesus and the most Holy One may rule and bring forth fruits therein Now his Servants are known by this that they stand for the Kingdom of Christ in this world and his works and against all the works of the Devil in this world to destroy and bring down and make an end of sin in this world and the servants of the Devil are known in the contrary by being in his work which is to keep sin in this world while people live and this is the strength of his kingdom take away sin and take away his kingdom here and his power here and his place here for where he is resisted he flies but where he is received he sets up his throne and takes pleasure in his servants and they in his works which is to encrease deceit and vanity in them and to fill their hearts with every lust and so strongly carrying out their hearts thereunto that they have no delight in that which is contrary nor can believe that ever any can receive power in the Spirit of Christ against him or such redemption as to overcome him and be freed from him in all his works in this world And here is an agreement with death in your faith and a covenant confessed with unrighteousness And you that are in this mind and belief you are not hired of Christ Jesus the Righteous nor have you received his Faith which is pure as he is pure and believes unto Righteousness and unto Victory and not unto sin and that 's his faith which overcomes the world and the prince of it and resists him stedfast in the faith in hope of victory in the end and this faith his servants confess openly which faith the world cannot receive but confess the contrary openly and so you are kept captive at his will and you believe you must be his servants while you live here in this world And this faith you confess openly against the victory of Christ and herein you are faithful to your own Master whose works you do and plead for and confess his faith which none of the Servants of Christ ever confessed such a faith that they must needs serve sin as long as they live for the youngest and the weakest servant of Jesus Christ that know themselves hired of him they know his work is to destroy sin out of the world and to subdue the Devil and to this work they are set in themselves by faith and power which is in Christ Jesus the Lord and they labour in hope having their hearts turned in them and their faces set towards holiness and from the world and are set
on their way out of the world which is Christ the life that 's holy and light that 's pure and to this the mind is kept in all their travels and tribulations and temptions which worketh in them by faith in Christ more hope and more strength daily and every thing that happens them in the way gives experience and renewed strength against their adversarie the Devil while they keep close to Christ in faith and love and though they feel the Devil in the sensual part to be strong and powerful and past their strength at present yet they yeeld him not the Kingdom for that but into the faith and hope and patience of Christ Jesus they sink down waiting for the resurrection of that Life which never sinned but died when sin took his kingdome and there wait for the appearance of Christ without sin to save them from that power of death which wars in their own members to bring forth sin in this world and this is to be true in their service and faithful who wait for the Kingdom of God within them and Righteousnesse thereof and the comming of their Lord with their minds girt up with holinesse and hearts stedfast not to consent to the least work of the Devil if it would gain the whole world in the aperition of the sensual reason and wisdom And if these be overtaken with a fault it is not willingly but as Servants of Christ they stand against it to the utmost they then see and sin being a work of the wrong master they abhor it and themselves for it and deny it and will not plead for it or seek to hide it in them but confesse it and cannot have peace till it be cleansed out and these are the little children who have an Advocate with the Father to whom sin is as death and dare not speak a word for it but against it in themselves and in others and these appear against sin openly and confess to him that is holy with all their hearts and words But what a difference is there betwixt one of these who when they either see it or are told of their offence against the Lord are broken before the least reproof into tears or sorrow condemning themselves for it and it in themselves openly and you who when you are reproved for sin which is both open and known you set your selves with all your strength and wisdom to plead for it and like the Devil bring the letter to strengthen your selves against just reproof and with hearts full of envie and mouths full of reproach you stand up seeking to ensuare them that reprove you in love to Christs Kingdom and your souls and to recover you out of the works of Satan that his kingdom might fall in you and so he have fewer subjects left in his power and you be added unto the Kingdom of Christ by being brought under his Commands through denying your old matter and confessing and condemning his evil works for a denying of the Devil and his works there must be ere Christ will receive you And thus it is that Christ hath ever taken his Kingdom out of the hand of his adversary in the world by sending his Servants into the high-wayes and hedges to gather his creatures out of the Devils works by true reproof and testifying against them where ever he led them for which they were torn and scratched and evil entreated by that evil spirit in whom it had power as you now do who rise up against reproof Christ Jesus known to be King in his Temples through the power of the Holy Ghost and sword of the Spirit lifted up against the man of sin in true Judgement You who look for the Kingdom of Christ Jesus it stands not in observations words and forms but in the power of the holy Ghost in judgment in truth and righteousness If you would know his appearance to salvation wait for it without sin in that Spirit and Power which is holy to judge and condemn sin this is his Kingdom with men if you can receive it that he be known in his spiritual power in the bodies of holy men and women to dwell and walk in a holy life a witness against all sin by the breath of his mouth and Sword of his Spirit and therein that he hath power and consent to judge all contrary spirits within and without and all contrary actions And what ever opposes him in this his Kingdom is Antichrist which denies Christ in his Temples and House whose House and Temple is the new Creation of holy men and women and in whom he speaks dwells and walks as saith the Scriptures in whom he judges the Prince of this world and all his out-goings in the children of darkness and in his own Temples shews forth his nature and virtue a witness against him and all his works and he that would let this is Antichrist who sits in the Temple of Christ to resist the Holy One and cannot receive the Judgements of Christ against sin in his Temples nor his witness against sin to Salvation but cries do not judge when Truth speaks and the Spirit of Christ testifies against sin in true Judgement and this is he that lets and withstands the coming of Christ without sin who withstands him in his Temple and denies his righteous Judgement against sin and blasphemes and sayes it is not he nor is he now on earth nor speaks in any body now against sin but saith Thou must not judge lest thou be judged and so through deceit would turn Christs words against his work who saith I will redeem Zion with Judgement and Christ did not speak those words to save sin from Judgement when he saith Judge not that ye be not judged not to stop the mouth of Truth and Righteousness for then had he contradicted himself who in another place commands them to judge righteous Judgement And he is manifest to destroy sin and not to save sin in whomsoever he is manifest and for this end he liveth in his people which Antichrist would make as though he lived not nor heard or spoke but as a dumb Idol would he make the living God for people to talk on or set up a form of him to make void his present life and spiritual power in his people that he should not shew forth his vertue and give forth his Laws and Judgements by the mouth of his Servants against the works of his adversary where ever they appear in his eye Therefore you professors of Christ in words and forms seek his Kingdom in you and take heed that your forms withstand not his powerful appearance in spirit His Kingly Authority stands in his heavenly holy Nature and Vertue in Spirit and not in perishing rudiments and shadows without Read in Scriptures how often Antichrist hath deceived people by turning these outward forms to let the spiritual power and so have kept people in words without life opposing Christ in his Kingdom So in the first
stedfast in the Faith he flees and the Glory returns to God who dwells in the Light And if at any time the evil-one prevail the creature comes to see the cause to be in himself and not in God and for it is humbled and warned and this he comes to see when the temptation is over and the enemy fled and he is come again into coolness with God in the Light which while the darkness was up and the enemy in the house he saw not And thus is experience gained through tribulations and tryals which they who endure not the temptations never come to learn of God but fall under the temptation through unfaithfulness to the Light and so are ever captives at his will who tempts to evil and the enemy of all Righteousness ever reigns over all the Members leading out the Eyes Ears Hands and Heart to iniquity and vanity and the Tongue to plead for it against every reproof having denyed the reproof of the Spirit of Truth within your selves it cannot be received from others for in that house the contrary spirit wholly reigns which turns away the ear from hearing of Knowledge and the heart from good understanding in Spirit And this is the cause why you are kept alwayes without the feeling of God and his Power and knowledge of his Word and the mysteries of his powerful Counsel are hidden from you which he reveals to the faithful who have overcome through Faith and Patience in whom Satan is subdued and trodden under foot for in whom this devourer is above what ever God gives or reveals to the Creature the Deceiver is ready to pervert it quite to a contrary end that God never intended in the giving thereof and to lift up a wrong nature and exalt a contrary spirit which God hates and this is evident in the Light of Truth throughout the World What is the Gift of God which the spirit of the World abuses not If God give Wealth where that spirit is above how is the creature puft up therewith above the rest of his brethren as though he were no more of the same mould and blood but as God would he be worshipped If he give beauty it s turned into lust pride and wantonness begetting and deceiving adulterous eyes Wisdom is turned into folly and wickedness scorning the simple and over-reaching the plain-hearted and such as have most of it are but most able to compass their corrupt ends If God give Grace it s turned into lasciviousness and Gods long for bearance into hardness of heart Religion and Profession into a cloak for sin and hypocrisie Fasting and Praying to accomplish mens self-ends against such as they would swallow up c. And not one thing that God can give which this evil one will not subvert and turn against the giver so that though God be free in himself and good and plentiful by Nature yet he cannot so shew himself to such in whom the strong man keeps the house who makes the creature thereby but more wanton to kick against his Creator and puffs him up to forget his Maker and Feeder and so a fruitful Land maketh he barren for the wickedness of him that dwells therein which from the beginning was not so Neither is it so with the Children of Light and Counsel who have the Giver in their hearts above the gift where the pure Counsel sits to order the pure Gifts where every good and perfect gift is brought forth in its own nature form and manner undefiled or disfigured with the spirit of the World but the springs run forth from the clean Fountain and the Plant and Fruit is Holy like the Root where the spirit is clean and the flesh undefiled and every thing as it comes from God as in the beginning where the world is ended and the old man put off and all things of God there every gift of God is known by its fruits and nature and ends in such Vessels The Gifts of God return to God by glorifying him here on earth where Riches bring forth good and merciful Works and not pride and vain glory Wisdom stands up against Oppression and not to deceive and through Grace doth Righteousness reign unto Life eternal their Religion is pure and unmixt with the World but separated from it whereby the Sons and Daughters of God are known in the streets by his virtue and comeliness put upon them by him with which they are covered over as a Garment even with all the Fruits of the Holy Spirit of Faith and Truth which is in Christ Jesus who is Lord over all in such Vessels and these are the Vessels of Honour sit for the Lord to shine through against his adversary the worlds spirit in Fruits that cannot be condemned being not defiled in the Vessel but manifest as they come from above answering to that of God in every heart in which the evil one hath neither part nor power these are Sons of God without rebuke in the midst of an unclean generation shining as lights and this alone honours God which is of God and this answers the end of mans Creation and Gods bounty who is rich in such till they come to be filled with all the fulness of God which he withholds not from such but from the unclean and slothful such who defile the flesh with lusts from such he withholds his riches and fulness therefore the World knows not the Sons of God nor whence they are nor whither they return who follows Christ out of the World never returning thither again but to testifie against it whose Vessels are no more filled with lust and the spirit of this World to bring forth thereto but are filled with the holy Ghost who hath made them new Creatures for himself to walk in and shine forth in Fruits of the Spirit And now you wild Colts and barren earthly minded Professors who have filled your Vessels with wantonness and deceit and all sorts of fleshly minds in vain do you hunt about with your old Bottles and think to retain the Heavenly Treasure you gad about but to no purpose in the sight and esteem of God for you are in the wrong work while you are in the worlds nature and in the old creation your words and ordinances are empty of the Life of God and his Fruits you cannot bring forth nor receive till you be renewed nothing you can do will avail you but a new creature your old vessels are full of the old wine from the wild grape and that 's above in you which defiles the pure so God withholds his Gifts from you which abound in his new Creation and you know nought of it but what condemns you so you fight against it and say there is nothing now perfect and so would condemn the new with the old and judge them alike and thus you err not knowing the Gift of God nor the Works of his Hands which are all perfect as he is perfect who walks not in the defiled