Spirit and of Isaac after the Flesh came the Seed of Promise after the Flesh Sarah after the Flesh bare one of these the Sarah represented by her or the Free Woman which is from above bare the other And of Isaac comes Jacob Worm Jacob who serves for his Wife who flies from the face of Esau yet afterwards finds favour in his Eyes from this Worm do the Twelve Patriarks branch forth who were the Heads of the Tribes of Israel Thus hath it been with that Nation according to the letter thus it hath also been and is still inwardly in Spirit as the Israel of God the Jews in Spirit who are Learned in the Law of the Spirit of Life can very well read Thus outwardly Israel was God's Child Ephraim his Dear his Beloved his pleasant Son Judah his Praise whom his heart was towards and to whom he stretched forth his Arm of Salvation all the day long In all their Affliction he was afflicted and the Angel of his presence saved them and he said Surely they are my People Children that will not lie so he became their Saviour Thus it was with them till the day of Israel after the Flesh expired and the day of Israel in Spirit was to succeed in the sight of the World Quest What was the end for which God chose that People Answ It was to be a Vessel for him to form to try and experiment what his Love could bring them to and bring forth in them in that way of Manifestation and Operation This God opens to Jeremiah concerning them bidding him go down to the house of the Potter where in a Parable they might read their own State and what they were to expect from God even to be formed by God unto the utmost untill he had made a perfect tryal of them and then to be broken and laid aside as a Vessel that could never be fitted for the Master's use in this way of Dispensation Jer. 18.4 On the Lord's part there was no defect towards his Child his Spouse his Vineyard his Garden of pleasant Plants as this People was in that Dispensation for he was still a Father to them Faithful in Covenant Tender in Bowels abundant in Loving Kindness and Mercies Yea what could be expected from the Lord towards a People according to that Dispensation which the Lord failed in But they were still faithless continually breaking Covenant Erring from his Dear and tender Love and drawing down the strokes of his Wrath upon them forsaking the guide of their youth forgetting the Love of their Espoâ—sals continually starting aside from the right State wherein God pleased at first to set them or at any time afterwards in any measure to reduce them Q. How did God exercise and try them to the utmost even till at length it was plainly manifest that there was no firm keeping a People to him by Vertue of that Dispensation but he must necessarily cut them off chuse another People and take another course if he would have a People for his Heart to love and delight in and for them to injoy and possess him Answ He tryed them several ways and in several States and Conditions as First in a State of Captivity in the Land of Egypt Secondly in a State of Straits and continual Dependance upon God even for Necessaries in the Wilderness Thirdly in a state of Enlargedness in the Land of Canaan which flowed with plentiful provisions for the outward man which were also shadows and instructions concerning the inward Blessedness Fourthly in often Captivities Fifthly in Returns to their Land again with Settlement and Peace and many Blessings therein Quest How did God try them in Egypt Answ First with sore Bondage and Oppression from Pharaoh and the Egyptians Secondly with giving them the feeling of their state the sence of their bondage and causing them to cry unto the Lord for Deliverance Thirdly in raising up a Deliverer and giving them a Sign of the Deliverance by the hand of the Deliverer in his smiting of an Egyptian and saving an Hebrew Fourthly in sending the Deliverer to them with Promises of Deliverance and with Signs and Symptoms of the Delivering Power Fifthly in Pardoning their Unbelief and Rebellions against him in Egypt and shewing many Signs and Wonders for them in that Land till at length he had brought them forth by his Mighty outstretched Arm even against the will and mind of Pharaoh and their Task-masters Quest How did God find them in Egypt upon this Tryal Ans Very unbelieving very stubborn mis-interpreting his Sign of Deliverance reasoning against his Promise because it came not so soon and after the manner they expected When he lift up his hand to them to redeem them from under Pharaoh to bring them forth of the Land of Bondage to the good Land he had espied for them and bid them forsake the Idolatrous worships of Egypt and not defile themselves any longer therewith because he was now to become the Lord their God to appear in his Power for them yet they would not Ezek. 20.5 c. When Moses would have reconciled and Hebrew to his Brother he would not hear him but upbraided him for slaying the Egyptian not waiting on God to understand the Figure but mis-interpreting and abusing it in the Fleshly Mind When the Deliverance succeeded not according to their expectations they Murmured against Moses and Aaron and when God sent them again with a fresh Promise they would not mind it Yet God bare with all this in them and did not cast them off but asswaged his Wrath and stirred up his Love to make a further Tryal of them Quest How did God Try them in the Wilderness Ans By many Temptations Signs and Wonders by Powerful Appearances for them against their Enemies by bringing them into many straits by unexpected and impossible supplies I mean impossible to the sight or expectation of the outward Eye as with Bread from Heaven Multitudes of Quails Water from the Rock keeping their Cloaths and Shoes from wearing out and decaying Likewise he gave them an Holy and Righteous Law to Inform their Minds in Equity and Righteousness directing them in an holy way walking with God and one towards another and chalking out unto them an acceptable path of Worship and this Law was delivered in great Majesty dread and terrour to cause a deep impression thereof upon their minds Quest How did God find them in the Wildernesse Answ Full of discontent full of murmuring full of self-will full of doubts and questionings concerning God's Power They did not wait on him who had delivered them out of the hand of Pharaoh and from under the Egyptian Task-masters but they murmured against him They did not wait for food or water when they wanted but distrusted and complained repining at Moses and Aaron and sometimes talking of making a Captain to lead them backward Neither were they content with the Provision which God allotted them that was mean in their eyes but
they would have flesh Though the Manna the light Bread as they esteemed it of God's choice and with God's Blessing had been far better for them then the flesh with his curse upon that lust which asked it and would not be content without it Again They would not go on towards Canaan or Fight when God would have them and when his strength would have gone along with them but when he forbad them of their own will and trusting to their own strength they would go on and Fight It is a sad record which Moses their tender Shepherd who with the Eye of true Light had faithfully observed them left concerning them Deut. 9.24 You have been Rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you Quest How did God deal with them in reference to the Land of Canaan Answ First he prepared them for it Secondly he dispossessed their Enemies and placed them in it giving them an Inheritance according to his will Thirdly he poured down Blessings upon them therein Quest How did God prepare them for the good Land Answ Eirst By many Afflictions and Exercises in the Wilderness wherein he judged and wore out the Rebellious Generation who were consumed with dying and raised up their Children in the awe and dread of his Mighty Power Secondly by giving them a Righteous Law to walk by in every respect that they might not be to seek how to please God or how to walk one towards another or towards the Heathen among them or round about them but in every thing might be rightly instructed Thirdly by warning them of their own proneness to err from God and of the Danger thereof both in Relation to the loss of Mercies and drawing down of Judgements that they might watch against the Erring Nature and Transgressing Spirit in their hearts Fourthly by appointing a way of Sacrifice and Mediation whereby God might be atoned either for Particular Persons or for the Land in General Fifthly by directing them to a Principle as near to them and more strong than the unrighteous Principle whereby they might be preserved in the Obedience of the Law and from out of the reach of the Curse Quest How did God find them in their own Land Ans That Generation which was thus Prepared thus Taught thus Directed walked sweetly with the Lord and was a precious savour in his Nostrils but soon after the evil thing sprang up again in the Generations following and they did quickly corrupt themselves departing from the Lord and running a whoreing after their own hearts lusts Judg. 2.7 c. Quest How did God deal with them then Answ He brought Judgment upon Judgement still Weightier and Weightier upon them according as their need required exercising loving kindness and Mercy towards them as much as possibly their Estate could bear He sent his Prophets to forewarn them of the Wrath that they might be spared if possible and when his Judgments and Severity came he mingled Mercy therewith that by both he might try to the utmost what they might be wrought to He tryed them a long while under the Judges and a long while under the Kings often recovering them and setting them to rights expecting the Fruit of his Rod and of his Love towards them Quest What was the result of God's trying them under the Judges and Kings Answ They wearied out God's Prophets yea they wearied out the Lord also in that way of his Dispensation They chose the false Prophets before the true lying Divinations before the openings of Life and dead Idols before the living God The Kindnesses and Mercies of God were wasted upon them for with his Love they were not drawn the Bellowes also were burnt the Lead consumed the heat of the Furnace spent upon them and yet their Tin and Dross not purged away Under the Judges they tired out the Lord 's Patient Expectation of Good from his Delivering hand insomuch as he resolved to deliver them no more Judg. 10.13 Under the Kings they were as unruly whether good Kings or bad Kings given in love or wrath insomuch as the Lord said Why should ye be stricken any more ye will revolt more and more Isai 1.5 There was indeed no bending of Israel after the Flesh keeping him Strait to God in that way of Dispensation therefore must he be cast off even becoming Reprobate Silver in the sight of the whole Earth because the Lord would reject him Quest How came Israel after the Flesh to be rejected Answ His day of Flesh was out and the day of Spirit was come wherein the Spiritual Glory which was to succeed the Shadows of the Fleshly was to be set up and so he not seeing that nor entring into that his own Sun set and he hath abode in the Darkness unto this day Quest How came he not to see the Spiritual Glory Ans Because the Eye of the Flesh was open in him which Eye cannot see it He Read the Law in a gathered Light in the Light of the earthly Wisdom and not in the Light of the Spring from whence it came and then how could he possibly understand the Law aright Could he then chuse but set up the Shadows of the Law in the stead of the Substance which was vailed therein He read Moses with the Eye which can see but to the vail and not to the Glory which was revealed to Moses which Moses hid under the Vail And thus likewise he beheld the Prophets in the dayes of their Appearance not in the Light in which they appeared but in the Light of his own Reason and Imaginations and upon this ground the Jews still chose and cryed up the false Prophets but Persecuted the True Now not seeing Moses in Spirit nor the Prophets in Spirit how could they see Him who was greater then the Prophets he looking so Contemptibly to the Sight of that Eye wherewith they expected to see him It is the Jew in Spirit who alone can see and own the Messiah in Spirit yea no fleshly Jew could possibly discern him then whose Eternal Life Light and Power was hid under so mean a Vail He must be more than a Jew after the flesh who can own so much as the Law or any of the Prophets in Spirit and then surely it can require no less than Inward Jewship to discern the Messiah himself They knew by the Letter that then he was to come and to appear but they could not know by their Observations from the Letter which was he but alone by the pointing of the Finger of the Spirit which they were unacquainted with Quest What did they do to him not seeing his Glory An. They dealt with him as they had dealt with the Prophets before him disdained him that he should Claim to be the Son of God Slighted him Reviled him Reproached him preferred Moses and the Prophets above him who all did but declare of him yea at last they preferred a Thief and Murderer before him and put him
the Heart Object Then the Work of Redemption is not carryed on by an absolute free-creating Power Answ The Creating Power and preserving Power is the same but the work is somewhat different both in the outward visible Creation and in the inward New-Creation The preservation of that which is Created and Planted unto its growth and Perfection is by the same Power which Created and Planted but rather in a way of Care Industry Art and Skill than of such Immediate Force and Power though by the exercise and putting forth of the same Vertue and Power There are Three things in Redemption First There is the issuing out of the Free Grace Love Vertue and Divine Power towards the Creature Secondly There is the opening of the Estate of the Creature thereby convincing and drawing it out of the Alienation from the Life towards Unity with the Life Thirdly There is the following of the creature after the Life in the quickening Vertue of the drawings through all the Snares Temptations Diversions and Oppositions of the Enemy Now there is no hindring of the issuing forth of the Free Grace towards the creature or of those convictions and inclinations of the creature to follow which necessarily ensue thereupon But the Pursuit and Progress of the creature or its abiding with the quickening Vertue and Power may many wayes be interrupted and diverted and so the creature drawn from under the influence of the free Covenant for though the Covenant be free yet the creature onely partakes of it as it is drawn into it and preserved in it Therefore let those Fear who feel the Power and Redeeming Vertue and know that notwithstanding the free and certain Promise to the Seed yet the creature is as Clay in the hands of the Potter which may be made a Vessel of Honour or Dishonour as he pleaseth to favour it or take occasion against it And who ever would pass through the Work of Salvation and Redemption unto the Salvation and Redemption it self in the living Vertue received from the Life let him keep fast hold on the good Pleasure and in it give all diligence to make his Calling and Election sure working out his Salvation with Fear and Trembling because God worketh in him both to will and to do of his good Will And walking diligently and industriously in this Path he may attain the Seal of the Redemption even that Mark which can never be worn out and to full Assurance of Faith in the Redeeming Power though it is also possible for him afterwards through much negligence grieving the Spirit whereby he was sealed to lose the sight of the Mark and the comfort of the Assurance which was once fresh and clear in his Spirit For a close at this time I shall add a few words concerning the Unity of God's Grace or free Light of his Spirit notwithstanding the various Estates and Conditions of man whom it visits and the variety of its Operations There is a threefold state of Man wherein the Grace of God visits him First The Gentile-state or state of Nature Secondly The Jew-state or Administration of the Law wherein God takes him under his own Tuition making known his will to him and requiring Obedience of him and not only so but also directs him to the inward Teacher and to the Principle of the pure Fear which is the place of Wisdom's teaching and instructions Thirdly The Gospel-state or state of Faith where the Principle is raised the Seed lives and that is felt springing up known and enjoyed which does the Will and receives the Promise Now in all these the Law the Light the Life the Wisdom the Power is one and the same but the Administrations are different In the Gentile-state or state of Nature the â—ight which man receives there to discover Evil and work him into Good is of the Spirit and by vertue of the Promise For he had been everlastingly shut up in the Darkness had it not been for the Promise and it is for the Promise sake and from the free Grace that he hath any Visitation in the state of Nature and any desires after or leadings towards the good and from the evil which spring not nor can spring from corrupted Nature but from the free Fountain of the new Life In the Law-state the Light grows more clear the Teacher is there discerned and acknowledged his drawings warnings instructions and reproofs felt more distinctly and the Soul that is watchful continually exercised therein In the Gospel-state the Principle of Life is raised the promised Seed come the Power which doth the Will received and the Light of Life entring into and possessing the Vessel Now this is the whole of Man to wait on the Ministration of the Life to him in his present-estate whether he be yet in the estate of Nature or under the Law or under Grace To know whence his Redemption springs and to wait on the Redeeming Arm for the beginnings progress and perfecting of it And if he be in the feeling of that Vertue it is enough or if he be but kept longing and panting after it it is well yea if there be but a desire in him after a thirst there is hope nay if there be but the least feeling of his dead barren and sensless Estate there is some Life in him which the Lord loves and will find a time to express his bowels towards yea that which is wholly in the Darkness and shut up in the Pit the Lord hath bowels in him towards and after many dayes may please to visit Oh the height the depth the length the breadth of the Riches of the Mercy and Love of God! who knows his yearning towards Souls and his wayes of visiting and redeeming O my Soul hope thou in the Lord for evermore and leave not breathing towards him till thou and his whole Creation be filled and satisfied with him and then fetch the full breath of Life in him for ever THE END A Post-script I Have been Treating of the Inward Work as it is wrought in the heart by the Power and brought to the sensible Experimental Knowledge of the Creature yet would not be so understood as if I made void what was done without by Christ in his own Person or any of those ends and purposes for which it was wrought and appointed so to be done by the Father though this I know that the knowledge of those things with the belief therein or any Practices and observations therefrom without the Life can no more profit now than the Jews literal knowledge of the Law could profit them when they were rejected therewith And since the Apostacy of this latter Age especially I have clearly seen in the Spirit of the Lord that the Professors Knowledge of the Letter of the Gospel and cleaving to their apprehensions which they gather therefrom is become a Snare and Trap to them to keep them from feeling the Power and living in the sensibility of the Vertue of the
and wel-pleasing to God and brought it into bitter misery and Death O that ye knew being begotten of the Will of the Father and keeping the Will of the Father receiving the Bread dayly from his hand That which man conceiveth concerning the Scriptures is not the pure Milk of the Word but that which the Breasts gives out that is it which hath the Immediate Life Vertue and true Nourishment in it And this must be returned back into the Treasury and not held in the earthly part in the earthly will and understanding but received from the Life again when it is again needed yea this have I often known that when I have been in great distress I have received fresh comfort from the Lord but running to that afterwards it never was able to comfort me but more deeply wounded me And thus hath the Lord been Teaching me to live upon himself and not upon any thing received from him but upon the Life it self the Mercy the good Pleasure which Proportions out the living Bread dayly to the living Birth Fourthly It is easie receiving of Knowledge in the earthly part in the earthly Wisdom out of the Spirit and living Vertue When one readeth a Scripture it is easie conceiving and apprehending a meaning ones self or taking in another man's meaning but it is hard abstaining from all conceivings and reasonings of the mind and waiting for the pure Will and Opening of the Spirit therein Also it is easie retaining of Knowledge and making use of it in the will and wisdom of the earthly mind for both these are natural but it is hard denying the reason the thoughts and imaginations and watching to the Spirit O Professors wait for the living Appearance of God even for the freshness of his Spirit in your spirits that in that which cometh from the Spirit ye may know the Spirit and may also know how to turn to him and abide with him having the watch set against that wisdom in your selves which in all Ages and Generations is eternally shut out of the things of the Kingdom although it may gather get and hold a vast Knowledge of the things of the Kingdom in the earthly Treasury Thus Fleshly Israel hath the Wisdom of the Letter but Spiritual Israel the Wisdom Vertue and Life of the Spirit in all Ages and Generations And though he that is born after the Flesh despiseth him who is born after the Spirit yet this is God's Heir and the bond-woman the earthly wisdom with all her Children even the greatest Giants in Knowledge Profeâ—â—â—â—n of Religion and Scripture o◠〈◊〉 must be cast out and 〈◊〉 Inherit the Land of Life This is written that that might be raised in you by the Power which is to Inherit the Life Eternal and ye not find your Souls deceived when the Light of that Day fully opens which hath already dawned I was in a poor low Condition when the Lord formerly visited me as lost as undone as miserable as any What Knowledge what Life what precious Vertue I then received was from God's Grace which was still his own and he might call for it at his pleasure And surely he which hath received from the Fountain ought to trust and to give back again to the Fountain when he calleth for it and then to remain Empty Naked and Desolate until he be 〈◊〉 freely visited This is an hard â—â—ssâ—n who can learn it Who can trust his Life with the Fountain and lie open to what follows Yet this did the Lord require of me and my heart being not willing to part with my Life but striving to retain it and grow in the first way of the Dispensation of the Grace unto Perfection he brake it after an unutterable manner and brought such a Misery Desolation upon me as I could not possibly have suspected having been sealed by him And now he is Teaching me to live more fully upon his Grace or rather upon the Spring where I am nothing where I can be nothing for ever but he is and will be what he will be and when he will be and nothing in me can be satisfied with him but what is of him and lives in him And here all that I have known or formerly tasted of him springs up again at his pleasure and I drink of the old Wine and also of the new but have nothing at my own dispose And when I catch at any thing or would be any thing I lose the Spring and am Corrected for my Backsliding and Adultery of spirit but am still again visited with fresh Love and the springings up of the fresh Power and Life and fresh Visitations of the rich Mercy and Grace which the everlasting Fountain naturally openeth in its own The Pearl is exceeding Rich the Treasure of Life unutterable and he that will possesse it must sell all for it even all his Lusts and Corruptions yea all the Riches of his Nature the best of his Will the best of his Wisdom most refined nay not onely so but all the Riches of his Spirit all that he hath held or can hold out of the Life Then when he is poor in Spirit and hath nothing in himself but emptiness nothing so much as to receive or retain the Life but what is formed groweth up in and is preserved in the Life according to its own meer will and good pleasure then alone is hâ— fit to be comprehended and brought forth in the Eternal Spring Perfectly happy is he who is perfectly possessed thereof yet he is not without a Proportion of blessedness also who is mourning after it and Travelling towards it which can never be attained by the Natural Part 's retaining the Letter of any Spiritual Revelation or Knowledge but onely by beginning in the Eternal Vertue abiding in it and Travelling from Death to Death and from Life to Life till all be slain which is to die and perish in the way and all be raised and perfected which is to receive and live in the Kingdom and Crown of Life for ever which the Lord layes before all to run after but none but the Spiritual Seed begotten of and abiding in the Spirit can obtain Mind then this brief Summ. The lost Creature the undone Creature is graciously sought after and visited by the Fountain of its Life and being Being visited with the Mercy and Grace and impressed it receiveth somewhat of the Grace and Living Vertue from the Fountain Having received somewhat the Creature is apt to retain it in the Creaturely Vessel even in the own will and to inlarge the own Wisdom thereby and so to become somewhat again in it self forgetting the Spring As the Creature retaineth any thing in the Natural part out of the Immediate feeling of the Living Vertue it corrupts it Adulterates 〈…〉 the living Spring And that which any one hath thus Adulterated with must be taken from him and he be made dead to it and it to him before he can be recovered into a Living State fit to enjoy what he formerly received or further to receive of and grow up in the fresh Living Vertue THE END