from all eternity to destruction but man comes to be destroyed and to suffer as he is found in the state of Reprobation the state of Destruction the state of which he is chief who is the Devil who as I have shewed is Reprobated from God for ever and ever and so shall be all those who are found in him when their day is over who shall partake of his plagues as they are found in him and he in them working as their Head and King And so I have finished what I have to say in this Particular Now in this state the Lord finding man whom he had made after his Image even in Righteousness and True Holiness thus lost thus degenerated thus formed into the Image of the Devil whom he had planted a Noble Vine wholy a Right Seed and Created in his Image the Lord finding man in this state of Reprobation in this state of Destruction in this state of Alienation from God without Christ and God in the World and having no hope The Bowels of his compassion yearned towards him whom he had so made and in a capacity to know him who is true and to be in him who is True this is true God and Eternal Life and to have fellowship with him and to live in him for ever and ever whom now another thing had taken up and possessed whom the Lord at first had taken up and possessed as he said Thou art he that took me out of the Womb thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mothers breasts by thee have I been holden up from the Womb Thou art he that took me out of my Mothers bowels Thou hast possessed my Reins Thou hast covered me in my Mothers Womb I am fearfully and Wonderfully made Marvelous are thy works and that my Soul knoweth right well My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lower part of the earth Thine eyes did see my substance yet being imperfect and in thy book all my Members were written which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there were none of them Psal 139. 13 14 15. I say the Lord finding man in this state and the bowels of his compassion yearning towards him whom be had made as aforesaid and seeing it impossible that ever he should he recovered again to the state in the which he was made without being delivered from the state in the which now he was and that he could not be delivered from the state in the which now he was unless he were delivered from the hands of him who had him in this state and that he could not be delivered from the hands of him who had him in this state and possessed him unless the eyes of man came to be opened to see the state in the which now he was and him who thus had man in possession and that he could never come to have his eyes opened to see the state in the which now he was and who it was that had him in possession but by a power which was greater then that which had now possessed man and taken him up which it was not in the power of that which had taken up man and possessed him to hinder that power which was greater from shewing unto man the state in the which now he was and who had possessed him he placed something of this power of himself in man to open the eyes of mans understanding and to shew him all this to the end that every man having something a measure of this power in him Christ Jesus the Wisdom of God and the Power of God which is greater then that which is of this World which had now possessed man and taken him up every man might have in himself though not of himself or of flesh and blood or of the will of man or this world a direction or something in him which might shew him in the Particular where he was and who it was that had him in possession and taken him up and so might be delivered And this Power is Christ Christ Jesus the Wisdom of God and the Power of God The Gospel of the Power of God unto Salvation The stronger â—â—en the strong man armed that held the Possession The Prince of Peace the Redeemer The Captain of our Salvation The Head of Principalities and Powers and of the body of the Church and of every man The Name then the which there is no other Name given under Heaven among men whereby we must be saved The Seed The Seed of the Kingdom The Son of God The Prince of Life who onely hath immortality and Eternal Life to whom be Honour and Power everlasting Amen And here 's the Election Christ the Seed the Seed which the Lord hath blessed but the Seed of evil doers shall never be renewed in whom or in the which as man is found Christ the Election the Seed and as it grows up in him and he in it so is he accounted of by the Lord and is acceptable in his sight Let the words of my Mouth and the Meditation of my Heart be acceptable in thy sight O Lord my strength and my Redeemer Psalm 19. 14. I say here is the acceptance here 's the welbeloved the wel beloved Son in whom he is wel pleased and with every one as they are found in him as they are found answering to that of him in them the measure of him that which shews thae which makes manifest that which reproves that which judges and abiding in it Abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of it self except it abide in the Vine no more can ye except ye abide in me John 15. 4. I am the Vine ye are the branches he that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit for without me ye can do nothing if a man abide not in me he is cast forth as a branch and is withered and men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned If ye abide in me and my word s abide in you ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you v. 5 6 7. As the Father hath loved me so have I loved you continue ye in my love if ye keep my Commandements ye shall abide in my love even as I have kept my Fathers Commandements and abide in his love v. 9 10. These things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full This is my Commandement that ye love one another as I have loved you greater love hath no man then this that a man lay down his life for his friends Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you Henceforth I call you not Servants for the Servant knoweth not what his Lord doth but I have called you Friends for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you You have not
Apostle as aforesaid and were it not that the Lord first touched man that of him in him which lies in death and by reason of the fall is buried in the Grave so that it cannot move to God man never would look after God nor know the state in the which he is for the enemy having him and holding him and compassing him about would never suffer him so to see nor so to understand Now herein is the love of God manifest and his great loving kindness that when man whom he made upright and in his Image and breathed into him the Breath of Life and he became a living Soul turned away from the Lord and from that in which he was made which kept and would have preserved him had he kept to it and let in the enemy and so death came over him in the Transgression over that in which he was made that it moved not but lay as dead Free among the dead like the slain that lie in the grave whom thou remembrest no more and they are cut off from thy hand Psal 88. 6. I say that the Lord should then visit man and reach to that of himself in man which lay in the grave free among the dead like the slain that lie in the grave and so give man to see the state in the which he is and his enemy and to cause a moving after God a Will to God this is the Lords great loving kindness and his free mercy and this the Apostle reckoned when he cast up the sum and minded the great love of God to man in this state In this saith he as hath been said was manifested the love of God towards us because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him Herein is the love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the Propitiation for our sins 1 John 4. 9 10. And when we were yet without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly Rom. 5. 6. So then man cannot move to God unless God reach him that of him in him that lies in death by reason of Transgression and quicken him then it moves to God again not that we loved God see in what state the will of man is in the fall where all men are found when God comes to them when God visits them when he speaks to them when his voice reacheth them that shaketh the Wilderness when that moves in them which shews them sin and evil and judges it not that we loved God saith he before whilst we were in this state the state in the fall we loved not God before God reached to that of himself in us that lay in death Free among the dead like the slain that lie in the grave whom thou remembrest no more saith he also as aforesaid but he loved us and sent his Son that of himself in us to be a propitiation an atonement for our sin and herein is love and in this was manifested the love of God towards us that God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him We who were dead in trespasses and sins who were without sence or feeling of God over whom death was gotten who had no mind nor will to God nor moving to him who could never have moved to him nor minded nor willed him in the state in which we were in the fall in the Transgression when we were from that of him which gives the sence and feeling of him and willing to and moving after him because of death which was got between us and that of him in which we were made from which we fell which came under by reason of Death by reason of the fall and so were at that time without Christ Aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel strangers from the covenants of Promise having no hope and without God in the World that we who were in this state might live through him through that which speaks in us which in us moves to God So that it is not in the will of man in the fall for so man as to this particular is to be considered for that which restores him brings him to God is another thing being brought to God is another state of which I speak not now but of the state in which man is before he is brought thither I say it is not in the Will of man considered in the fall to will to God or to move to him that which moves him to God and makes him will to God is another thing as I have shewed and there being no will in man as to God in this state wherein every man is found when God comes to him as hath been instanced where then is free will or the freedom of his will to God for where there is no such thing as a thing there cannot be said to be the freedom of such a thing because there is a non entity as I may so speak if so be it be proper so to speak and yet how shall I otherwise speak to give a demonstration of the thing of which I speak there is no such thing in being of which the freedom or the freedom of which is pretended there is no such thing in being therefore there cannot be said to be the freedom of such a thing For again of his own will begat he us with the Word of Truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his Creatures saith the Apostle Jam. 1. 18. Of his own will then it is not of man's will that man is begotten to God that he is delivered for two wills cannot consist in this Particular no more can it consist then two Fathers in the Generation of man or for a man to beget himself which is incongruous to Nature to say as it is to reason to think it and it being not of man's wil then man hath no freedom of will to be begotten to beget himself to God And this is manifest for it is by the Word or with the Word of Truth too that he is begotten to God So man hath nothing to do in the matter of his own will With the Word of Truth hath he begotten us the Word of Truth the Word nigh in the mouth and in the heart the Word of Faith which we preach said the Apostle The Word of the Lord which endures for ever and this is the Word which by the Gospel is Preached unto you saith Peter 1 Epist 1. 25. The Word which is quick and powerful and sharper then any two edged Sword piercing even to the dividing assunder of Soul and Spirit and of the Joynts and Marrow and is a discerner of the Thoughts and intents of the heart neither is there any Creature that is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do Heb. 4. 12 13. So it is by this Word the Word of Truth the
him in the wrong way and shewed him the right and with gladness of heart walks on with his Friend who so shew'd him who so judged him and his heart is now easie and his fears are over and he cares not at what pains he is or what it costs him or what he looses or parts with to walk along with his friend and to keep to his foot step by step with him because he will-bring him to his journeys end Friends and People all who are not yet come hither who yet are not turned at the voice of your friend at that which calls on you which reproves which judges the way you are in Resist no longer but be gathered unto it that so into the sence of your state you may come and be led along and keep company with that which followed after you and called upon you for many years as you were travelling to destruction that you might turn and live which now will go before you as you turn to it and keep with it and lead you to rest O who would not be here who is in any sence of the Eternal state which he must pass through to and which he must abide for ever who would reject the tender love of so dear a friend Who would not be at ease at hearts ease as we use to say when any ones burthen is taken off in a matter of this weight as to that which is Eternal that it is well with one as to that which is Eternal here the heart is at rest and all that is within a man is at peace and his thoughts of his going to his long home is secure when he is in the certainty of this and who would not be in the certainty of this that his heart might be at ease and his soul at rest at hearts ease at true rest which never is at true ease nor rest till it come hither till it be at this and that it may come hither is the end of the Lord in that which gathers which opens which seeks which would not the death of a sinner but rather that he should turn and live So people all the Bowels of the Lords love are to you in this in that which gathers in that which seeks in that which calls in that which witnesses in that which follows after you in that which judges you in that which reproves your goings astray in that which shews you are out of the way the Rod and the Staff this comforts this is a comfort Before I was afflicted I went astray but now have I kept thy Word Psal 119. 67. And blessed is the man whom thou chastnests O Lord and teachest him out of thy Law Psal 94. 12. And I know O Lord that thy Judgements are right and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me Psal 119. 75. And it is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes the law of thy mouth is better to me then thousands of Gold and Silver ver 71. 72. And if you are without chastisement of which all are partakers then are ye bastards and not sons Heb. 12. 12. If ye endure chasming God dealeth with you as with sons for what son is he whom the Father chastneth not ver 7. Furthermore we have had Fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of Spirits and live For they verily for a few dayes chastened us after their own pleasure but he for our profit that we might be partakers of his Holinesse vers 8 9. So that which chastens that which corrects that which reproves that which judges that which seeks that which gathers that which calls that which woes that which intreats that which follows the voice behind which saith This is the right way walk in it when you turn to the right hand or to the left the Promise which the Lord made of old in the time of the Law which was without to lead to that which was within which was blotted out by reason of Transgression for which cause the Law was added some thing that was not before by reason of Transgression to lead to that within which Transgression was got over the Word nigh even in thy mouth and in thy heart this Word of Faith which we preach said the Apostle the righteousness of Faith which saith on this wise saith he Rom. 10. 6. And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee saying this is the Way walk ye in it when ye turn to the right hand and when ye turn unto the left Isa 20. 21. This comforts this is of a comforting nature this shews the Lords regard this seeks to gather this seeks to save be ye gathered unto it to that which reproves to that which judges to that which calls to that which follows to that which speaks behind to that which witnesses the Word behind ye when ye are turned to the right hand or to the left which calls on you which judges your being out of the way which you are before when you are turned to the right hand or to the left which goes not before you to evil which shews you evil the evil which leads you out of the way which follows after you when you are led away to evil which saith this is the way that which shews ye are gone to the right hand or to the left walk ye in it this is the Promise this the Lord hath fulfiled this your ears have heard this you know walk ye in it be gathered to it There 's no cloak now left you know now it is so the times of this ignorance God winked at now he commands men every where to repent because they know this and that they should be guided by this and not go against this but turn at the voice of this the Word behind that when they turn to the right hand or the left saing This is the way walk in it because he hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the World in Righteousness by this by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given asurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead That that lives that shews men evil this shall judge the world in Righteousness by this he will judge the world in Righteousness This he hath raised from the dead to that it witnesses that he may judge the world in Righteousness and this is the asurance that he will so judge the World in Righteousness in that he hath raised this up from the dead in that this witnesses and as certainly as it witnesses shall it judge will he Judge the world in Righteousness So People all take heed what you do in running against this in opposing this in not being gathered unto this it is the way to God it is the way to Life and there is no other It is that which shall judge you it is that which must save you if ever ye