that faith saves not the soul from the pollution of the world through lust and so is but a conceit of salvation and not the power of salvation as saith the Scriptures Whosoever is born of God overcometh the world and this is the victory that overcometh the world even your faith and the faith which works not thus is like a body without a spirit which is dead but the living faith that stands in Christ Jesus that spirit purifies the heart and conscience and makes toward God in Christ the example in all good things overcoming whatever would lett the appearance of Christ in his temple or hinder the bringing forth his vertues which is believed to be in him to the utmost of whatever he hath received of the Father for such believers who believes not in a lye but in the truth and power of God as it is in Christ Jesus and hath been declared in Scriptures not for a discourse but for an inheritance of life of whose fulness we all â—eceive according to our Faith till his coming and we be compleat in him and he in us and so not come short of the glory of God the end of our Faith and Conversation that to the world he may be manifest in life and power to be the same that ever he hath been though he have appeared in several forms in the flesh yet one in Spirit to make a compleat body And therefore we finde those who were of this Faith witnessed Christ present which the worlds faith could never receive under any form or profession but counted it blasphemy and that spirit the spirit of the Devil And so Isaiah witnessed this Childe born to them that so believed in his time who was the mighty God the everlasting Father c. Whose Name they knew to be Immanuel and this was before he appeared in that Temple at Jerusalem and Ezekiel was called the Son of man before that time also and Paul said he was revealed in him and spoke in him and wrought in him and in his flesh that which was behinde of the afflictions of Christ was to be filled up for the bodies sake which is the Church and to whom he forgive any thing in his time he forgive it in the person of Christ and many more might be noted who confessed the same Christ in them present both before and after his time at Jâ—â—â—salem which testimony could never be received by the wisdom of the world in his Temples before nor then nor since to this day for the god of this world being king in the heart and having blinded the eye of the minde that should see his spiritual glory through the light of the Gospel he perswades the world that he is either past or to come but never present and as many as are brought to confess him before men finde it so at this day who are hated of all men for his Names sake that the Scriptures may be fulfilled and his testimony finished And this faith which confesseth him present is that which the world cannot bear nor receive who will preach him themselves at a distance what he was and will be but this faith cannot reach his coming at present in any measure to grow to his appearance now nor will this faith ever give an entrance into his kingdom upon earth nor the holy rest nor is this the Faith of Christ that puts him thus afar off which fills with all the fulness of God And by what I have learned this is clear to me for ever without any more Controversie That the faith that admits of sin is not Christs Frith nor hath any share or possession in him that faith which is not holy came not from God and so cannot build up to God that is not saving Faith that doth not save from sins but is deceiving faith which deceives the Soul and suffers lust to defile it and destroy it and so brings it under condemnation by believing lyes and so letting in sin upon the Soul by consent perswading that it cannot be otherwise and so gives the Devil victory and the world victory and the flesh victory and sin victory over the Soul which should give the Soul victory over all And what greater deceit can there be to the Soul then this is And therefore for ever that which I have seen and learned do I declare openly that this is the deceiving faith and indeed rather unbelief then the Faith of Christ which makes way for the god of this world to reign and act in things contrary to the life of Christ in the Creature and the life of the Soul and that faith which gives way to the least sin is not the Faith of Christ whose work and coming is to destroy the works of the Devil and redeem the Soul from sin and the least measure of that Faith that stands in his life overcomes the world and sin in that measure and he that commits sin goes out of that Faith and acts against it and a lying faith I have found that to be which perswades the soul of freedome from condemnation but gives it not freedom from sin which is the cause of Condemnation and all shall witness this with me now or hereafter that where sin hath power here death hath power and the Grave and Hell and Condemnation hath power also for these are the wages of sin then shall yon say you were deceived who believed the contrary And may not such truly be said to be past feeling indeed who can commit sinne and feel no Condemnation for it already And this is the effect of their false Faith to harden themselves against the faithful witness of God in their own Conscience and the seared Conscience hath made shipwrack of the Faith of Christ and the doctrine of devils preaches the faith of devils to give way to the works of the Devil which all sin is from the least to the greatest and he that pleads for it is a Father to it and he that commits it a servant and may look for the wages thereof if he repent not notwithstanding he believe the contrary And many may feel this truth at this day who have a long time believed with this faith deceiving their own souls day uâ—ter day believing they shall not be condemned when they are condemned already iâ— their own hearts and feel the weight of sinne daily pressing their Souls and burthening the pure Conscience and the fear of death and sinne keeps their Souls still in bondage and lies upon them all their lives and yet they will force themselves to believe contrary to Holy Faith and a good Conscience that they are saved and redeemed and thus make shipwrack of saving Faith and a good Conscience by believing a lye contrary to their own daily feeling no other thing to encourage them therein but this perswasion which suits well with such as take pleasure in unrighteousnesse which perswasion comes not of God but condemned by that of God in themselves and this
is their strength and here they take comfort to themselves against all Reproof witâ— in or from without though living openly in the greatest Whoredomes against the Spirit of Holiness Carnal or Spiritual that can be mentioned even at a distance from Christ in his whole life yet they believe Christ came to save sinners of which they are chief and they that are whole need not the Physician c. And so the greater their wickedness is the nearer to Christ they believe And by this Faith he that came to save People from sin and to lead out of sin both by Example and Spirit is made a cover for all filthiness of flesh and Spirit and to strengthen the heart of wickedness against the life of holiness some in one sin some in another but with this Faith do all sorts strengthen themselves and hardens their hearts against the light of Christ and that Spirit which reproves the World of sin and convinceth of it and would lead out of it and hence it is that the witness of God that is holy in all is trampled under foot in all and little regarded in any but by this Faith believed on in none to be the way to the Father though the world have no light but it nor is there a Promise of Life in any other And this to me appears to be that Faith of the Devil or dead Faith the Apostle speaks on James 2. Though more hardned in it against Gods fear for the Devils when they believe tremble at it So this Faith I leave being judged already by its fruits with the light of Christ in every honest heart that loves holiness And of that Faith I shall speak something in which I have found a measure of the Life of Christ made manifest in my mortal Body in which life alone is the True and Eternal union and atonement with the Holy God into whom no unclean thing can enter And this is not a notion of what was done in another generation past or to come hundreds or thousands of years distance but that which leads to the beginning of the work of a new Creature at this day and a new birth spiritually begotten and born and brought to light without which none can see the Kingdom of God nor enter therein And this Faith doth not work by the comprehensions of brain-knowledge that because I could here conceive or declare of Christ Jesus from the beginning to the age thereof in words or thoughts that therefore I have learned him or know him as I ought to do or am grown up in him to a perfect man and so to deceive others by declaring and boasting of what God hath not wrought in me as a man may easily do and deceive his own soul and bewitch others also by leading them out of their measures of Gods present work in them But of the living Father wâ—h now worketh powerfully in spirit by love thereto the mystery wherof is holden forth in a pure conscience working out the old leven purifying the heart making all things new judging and killing and crucifying with Christ in spirit the works of the flesh and casting out every thing in me that is not of God and renewing in me the things of God in their order by his mighty working in me in which the soul is raised out of the grave and the dead restored to life actually and not in conceit Of the Grounds and Workings of this Living Faith I shall speak something And though the foundation of this Faith or beginning of it was that I did really believe in that which Christ did and suffered at Jerusalem and that there in that vessel he bare the sins of the World and satisfied the wrath of God for sins past and overcame death hell and the grave and made way for the Seed to arise in all through the whole World who would believe in his light which then shined through him to all men wherein he might be seen to be the Way the Truth and the Life apparent openly triumphing over all that had passed above the Seed And much more might be said of him there finished all which I did believe according to â—cripture which was an opening of me to receive him from Heaven in the same spirit and power without which I could not have received the gift of that holy Spirit God having so purposed from the beginning that the Covenant of Eternall Life and power should be received no other way but by faith in him who in the fulness of â—ime was there manifest in flesh for the taking away sins past and making a way for the Resurrection of life over all to save from sins for time to come The effect of which Faith when in the 〈…〉 ight I first received it did turn my mind out of all my sins past and took my mind out of them and turned me towards God and holiness of life I then believed to attain in that faith and receive power therein to grow up in him to his fulness and stature which then I see no less faith could save me then the perfect Faith of the Son of God which before I had not received but then received with such gladness of heart that it set my face and delights out of all sin towards the perfection of Christ in which I then believed which was the Joy then set before me yet was not the work done and finished in me already though I having received the Faith and Hope of the Son of God and was turned from all my former sin and my own righteousness so that if I had departed this Body I had died in no less Faith then the Holy Faith of Christ Jesus and so being turned to his Spirit out of the works of the Flesh I was turned from my sin and so from condemnation yet was there a great work to do in me before I could witness freedom from the body of death and the root and ground of evil removed and the seed raised to reign and the soul brought into the holy City the resurrection of the dead and fellowship in the Father and the Son c. And that glorious liberty of the new Creature and all things to be of God in me as the Scriptures do witness so this faith did not work me into a conceit of my self glorying in knowledge and so to become a Teacher of others what I had conceived below the life but it led me down into the obedience of the Spirit of Light to wait therein for the Resurrection of Life and I came to see in that Light that the motions of sin did still work from the old ground and root and that must be removed by the power of Christ working in spirit and my obedience and watchfulâ—ess therein was required and that without obedience to this faith I could not come to perfect victory over the enmity nor the glorious liberty of the Sons of God for though this faith had turned my heart towards Christ
and given me hope to attain him yet I had not thâ—n learned him nor was he yet formed in me so was I led in the Light of Christ to see what I had of this treasure in the earthen vessel which I found to be in me very little and that Seed the least of all Seeds so I became little in that eye which told me the truth though I had been high in my own thoughts formerly And so to the Word of the beginning of Christ I was led or the first Principle of the Doctrine of Christ that with that which teacheth Christ I might learn Christ in every measure of him as I grew therein so was I brought to know him that was made under the Law and to the foundation of repentance from dead works and to doctrines of Baptisms and to Eternal Judgement then came I in Truth and Life to see what they were doing whom the Apostles exhorted to work out their own Salvation with fear and trembling after they had fully believed what Christ had done for them at Jerusalem in that Vessel and many other Scriptures did he open to me as I learned him which before to me was a Mystery while I learned them in meanings without the Life of Christ which then was opened by the Revelation of Jesus Christ as they came to be fulfilled in me being led by the same Spirit in that work of Faith then came I to see that I through the Law must be redeemed from the Law and that my redemption from it must not be by making it void but by fulfilling of it and till then it had power over me and sin took occasion by it to strengthen it self in me but as I came to grow in the Spirit and Power of Christ I was in him brought through it it in him fulfilled and I dead to it as it came to be fulfilled and the words of Christ I found true I came not to break the Law but to fulfil it and it is easier for Heaven and Earth to pass away then one jot of the Law to pasâ— away till it be fulfilled and I needed not a meaning to that Scripture but a fulfilling thereof in Christ Jesus and the Schoolmaster that brings to Christ I learned and Christ formed the heir under tutors before I knew the liberty of the Son of God or perfect freedom and then I saw the Scriptures could not be broken nor wrested but it must be learned in the life of it to Salvation which the unlearned wrest to their own destruction by meanings without life and that it was of no private interpretation but this one Spirit must open it all in the fulfilling thereof and this Faith in Christ Jesus onely was able to make wise unto Salvation of Eternall Life And then came I clearly to see Christ Jesus set before me in all things that I was to go through in that faith which I had first received and that the attaining of him was the hope of glory and no hope without him and this hope was as an Anchor in all hardships and temptations which was not a few I was led through but all was counted little while I stood in this Faith for the hope that was in me to win Christ and I clearly saw that notwithstanding my first faith in what he had done at Jerusalem yet if I did not continue therein to follow the same spirit in obedience thereto believing therein in all its leadings hoping to attain to Christ Jesus the end of that Faith in daily growing towards his Stature and fulness but had turned aside or set down short of the leadings of that Spirit in the way I had made void my hope of Glory the work of my redemption and that which Christ did at Jeruâ—alem as to me and had denyed my first Faith and could not have been saved from wrath to come That being the end of that Faith committed to me that therein I might faithfully without doubting follow him in Spirit through all Tryals and Temptations of which way he was a perfect example in his walking in that Flesh at Jerusalem that through the Scriptures I might have hope seeing he went the same way before me there in which he now leads and thaâ— therein I might see him to be the same to all generations as he was there and in his Saints that followed him And as they exhorted one another to look unto him in their Travel who was the Authour and Finisher of their Faith and to consider him as an example who endured such contradictions of sinners against himself least they should be weary of suffering and faint in their mindes and â—o their Faith and Hope was strengthened So also I looking to the same in him and also in them after him my Faith and Patience might be doubled and my obedience made without doubting and my hope firme unto the end which end was the winning Christ in me the Hope of Glory the great Mystery of Faith which is hid from all till the Revelation of Christ Jesus and so when the Saints and Apostles had Christ revealed in them they were able Ministers of him and had the mystery opened and preached it without doubt that mystery of godlinesse which was great yet hid from the world but to them without all controversie God manifest in flesh not God flesh but manifest in flesh which mystery of Faith they held in a pure conscience and so I knew my Faith to be the same Faith once delivered to the Saints and the good fight of that faith I came to know and that Faith which overcomes the world which hath the promise and inheritance of Eternal Life which all that go back from denyes the Faith of Christ and sets up a Faith without Christ which is not the faith of Christ and so in the learning of Christ I came to see the faith of Christ from faith to faith and the faith of Devils the living working faith and the dead faith without works and I finde that Christ never believed that he could never be perfect nor overcome the Devil nor overcome sin it was never the Faith of Christ to make void the Law of his Father unfulfilled in him it was never his faith to revenge evil but to overcome it with good it was never his faith to respect persons or that he could commit sin and not be the servant of sin it was never his faith to sue contend or fight or persecute any to judge for rewards or Preach for hire or any way to serve the Mammon of this world it was not his Faith to observe his own will his own times or the worlds customes but to observe his Father in all things and onely what he received from him that he did and could do nothing of himself he never believed them to be children of God who said and did not And much such like things as these were never by him believed but is the worlds faith to uphold them in sin
and great travels and many temptations and tryals within and without but the greatest enemies was yet within me which would upon every hardship be tempring with unbelief to destroy this Faith and hope which was all that I had set before me to encourage me to endure such hardships and to follow the light in a way I had not known and to walk in the Cloudâ— to meet the Lord and to leave my former knowledge and wisdom and glory and riches to go in a way I had not wâ—llâ—ed and to abide such assaults on every hand every foot the world which I was called out of ready to overtake me and compasse me about and to turn me back again into what I had seen and enjoyed behind me ever seeking to perswade me that I should never attain to him that was set before me in the Faith and hope Then come I clearly to see that though I had received the Faith of Christ as a shield in this War by which I was saved that the wrath of God took me not away in these temptings and murmurings and reasonings and doubting which did arise in the fleshly part yet the purchased possession was not yet redeemed for me to enjoy at present though I had heard and believed the Gospel of salvation and was sealed with the holy Spirit of promise till I came to be boilded up with Christ for an habitation of God through the Spirit And I found by daily experience that my salvation was not compleat so long as my soul was subjected under any earthly lust or passion nor the War over but as by the mighty working of God in me by that Spirit this came to be subdued under the feet of Christ and the Soul set above it with him to reign in the heavenly place so was my Salvation nearer then when I believed for the Soul is not safe while sin lives or the flesh lusts for that wars against the Soul and every sin wounds it and this shall all know who are not past feeling what ever their Faith be touching Christ Jesus or what was wrought in another whilst sin defiles the Soul it is not safe nor the honest heart hath peace and rest for the rest and peace is placed in the Holy City where comes no unclean thing into which the Soul enters not till that all righteouâ—ness be fulfilled upon earth the Soul singled from all corruption and have put on immortality death swallowed up in victory when the sting is taken away which is sin the strength of sin which is the Law which is not taken away but where it is fulfilled there onely grace reigns through righteousness and this I found to be truth as the truth is found in Jesus as I came to learn him and put him on by Faith which I had believed and I see the folly of such as would make void the Law by talking of Faith and Grace wherein sin is yet standing and the Soul taken captive therewith which I had often sought peace therein to my self but could not inherit liberty to my Soul any other way but as it came to be purified in obedience through the Spirit And this work was not wrought in me by the knowledge of Christ after the flesh but as I came to learn him in Spirit for spiritual wickedness had taken my Soul captive and by the Spirit it must be sanctified and set free And I came to see that if I had been in his company here on earth as long as his Disciples were in the flesh and seen as much as they did and heard from his own mouth I should have been short of this work as they were in whom the Child was unborn when he went away in the flesh and they knew not what Spirits they were of untill he came again to them in Spirit and was revealed in them then could they preach the Resurrection of the dead and the Souls Redemption and desired to know him no more after the flesh when once they had received him in Spirit but Preached Christ within the Hope of Glory who till then looked for an outward kingdom and glory untill they had received his promise He that dwelleth with you shall be in you I will not leave you comfortless I will come unto you the world seeth mâ— no more but ye see me and because I live ye shall live also at that day ye shall know that I am in my Father and yâ—u in me and I in you And this was his promise whom they received whom the world seeth no more whose expectations are carnal neither can any see the Kingdom of Heaven but who are born of this Spirit and Heirs of this Life and he that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life but the wrath of God abides upon him whatever he may say he believes and none hath the Son but as they receive this Spirit and are led by this Spirit and born thereof And this I found also that this Son of God doth not appear in any within or without but as he conforms them to his own Image which he hath alwayes born in this world as saith the Scripture when he shall appear we shall be like him who shall change our vile bodies and make them like his glorious body from glory to glory by the same Spirit And herein we have boldness in the day of Judgment because as he is so are we in this present world and this is not obtained with thoughts of believing without but by a lively working Power which works out the earthly image and nature and conforms to the heavenly in that spiritual birth which is not of flesh and blood nor could flesh and blood ever discern it in whom it was but ever hared it in whom it hath appeared in all Ages Which is of a shining nature where it is begotten of the Father and cannot be hid where it is formed but by his fruits gives light to the world contrary to the worlds wayes showing of his coming to Judgment against the deeds of darkness And this heavenly begetting of the Father is to be holden forth in that clear â—mage of the Father according to every several measure as he grows therein without mixture that all may see that he is not of this world who also takes them out of this world as he grows in any or they in him forth of the world they must go bearing his reproach that the Scriptures may be fulfilled they are not of this world even as I am not of this world and this is the worlds light and condemnation even his coming And so I find that Faith which joyns to the world where it is and doth not overcome the world is not the faith of Christ nor layes hold on the power of Christ though Faith may believe the History of the Scriptures concerning Christ which faith sets not up the Kingdom of God in the heart and casts out the world there
must needs have perished under them had he not spared And just I have found him also for as they were not committed all at once against the light of his Spirit so he hath at one time or other visited for them and laid them before me yet not all at once nor no way so heavy as those committed after I believed and gave up my self to follow the light and yet to an account he hath brought me for them and coming to feel the terrours of God I have learned to fear and love and have found the ground and rise and deceits of that Faith that believes Christ to have taken away the sins of believers past present and to come with which many at this day make merry over the witnesse of God and the just slain in them and that Scripture I have learned without a meaning if we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the Truth there remains no more sacrifice for sin but a certain fearful looking for of judgement and fiery indignation to devour the adversary though none know how but he that comes to it in the fulfilling and then shall be seen he that 's born of God sins not and he that believes is born of God but he that sins turns his back both on the Faith and Birth that 's towards Christ and becomes adverse thereunto in his work whatever he sayes he believes and this I have found an everlasting truth whatever men believe or imagine that no longer then a man keeps his face towards the light of God no longer is his sins cast behindâ— his back whether they be sins past present or to come but if he turn from Gods righteousness his own iniquities will rise and mee him both new and old and in vain doth such believe they are then blotted out of Gods fight whose eye shews him his way in which he then walks and condemns him for it in his own heart Now was the ground and root of sin removed so soon as my minde was turned by the light from sin towards God but the motions thereof I found and the lust seeking to go forth to its objects to bring in to conceive sinne again afresh that ground was but removed as I grew in Christ and he in me and as I came to learn him that was in the beginning before sin was who was learned in faithful following serving of his Spirit in watching in fastings in prayers and in all spiritual wrestlings as I came to be led into with the light in which warfare I came to see the hardship of him that will be a souldier of Christ Jesus and the baptisms into his death the slothful servant and the faithful and their reward and the parables and figures of the Kingdom opened as that â—pirit grew in me which interprets the Scriptures in the life and opens the sealed mysteries thereof in their season as they come to be fulfilled and so I came to the gift of the Scriptures by inspiration which onely profits to the perfecting of the man of God which the man of this world not having learned wrests to his own destruction getting the words of them in the earthly part before they be fulfilled in his heart through the Spirit and such receive them not by inspiration nor the gift of the Holy Ghost And in this journey I have seen the slothful servant overtake with a 〈◊〉 which he had once cast behinde him and never intended to joyn to again of which the diligent servant is kept free and I have seen the wages of each servant according to his diligence in that which he hath of God betrusted in him and not by his own strivings in the thoughts of himself his worth or wisdom and in diligent hearkening and obeying of the Spirit have I found the right fâ—rthfulness towards God though getting knowledge be highly esteemed with men and I have found that as I have the Spirit manifest in me to profit withal so the times of my profiting is onely in his hand and my waitings upon him when he moves not is my reasonable service and a profiting time to me as if he moved though I see it not and this I found a great crosse to my hasty will which indeed is the true worship in Spirit which when I knew not this Spirit to hearken and bow to and obey and observe in all things as his will leads I worshipped I knew not what and my fear towards God then was taught by the precepts of men and I was not taught of the Lord not being born of that Spirit and so all the children of the Lord are taught of the Lord and as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the Sons of God these Scriptures I then could read and understand without meanings not by that which my wisdom taught me but which the Holy Ghost taught me and the Scriptures thus learned and received was no more a notion to be lost but a possession and I came to have an inheritance therein amongst them that are sanctified in all ages and no subtle â—an could either steal them or change them or any way beguile me of the truth of them by wresting them nor take away my comfort I had in them my comfort and fellowship therein being in the same Spirit life that gave them forth and the word of God thus grew and endureth for ever and the Spirit of truth that leads into all truth endures for ever and the Seed of God is one therein to all generations and that is one which perfects the Spirits of all just men and God himself is Judge over all and leader of all by his own begettings in all that enter into this rest of the faithful which remains to all his Children out of which false Faiths and Disobedience shuts themselves And that which declares the righteousnesse of God for remission of sinnes past and for an inheritance against sin for time to come have I found to be Faith without falshood which righteousness though in the Faith and Hope beyond declaring yet inherited but as the vertues that are in Christ Jesus comes to be received in the life of them And that faith which hath not that righteousness for its ground and end and the vertues and several measures of the growth of Christ for its life and increase that I have found upon tryal to be a fained fancy after mans minde and not after Gods measures And he that saith he hath faith in God and is without the hope of this righteousness for his inheritance Or saith he hath Christ further then he hath his Vertues for his life and growth towards this inheritance when he comes to be weighed with Truth will be found too light to stand in judgement or abide the fire or to dwell with everlasting burnings the tryal of that Faith will leave him without faith then shall it be read as it is written When the Son of 〈◊〉 comes shall he finde
serving Christ with real actual obedience And so his birth is a meaning instead of the life of Christ and this he sets to oppose that life least it should be born into the world as for instance when Christ saith in Scriptures Him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer him the other and him that sues thee and takes thy coat forbid him not thy cloak also and him that takes away thy goods ask them not again resist not evil but overcome evil with good and love them that hate you and many such like Commands which Christ means really and indeed and led an example in himself and who ever receives the same Spirit it moves to the same things as it grows in any and being obeyed will bring forth the same fruits to glorifie the Father thereof to all Generations which Spirit waxeth not old nor in its fruits barren where it is really received in the Faith thereof and obeyed But saith this other faith in the earthly spirit Christ did not mean as he spoke you must not take him litterally those words must have a spiritual meaning and this spiritual meaning of his is to devour the life of this obedience both in Letter of Christ and Spirit of Christ and to set up a subtle meaning without the life of Christ and contrary to his example and this he will have to take place in all both against the plain words of Christ â—iâ— example in his walking and the working of his Spirit in others if he cannot destroy this faith and fruit before it be brought forth then his work is to render him a high Blasphemer in whom this Child is born and brought forth to light and counts it high presumption for any to witness the life of Christ in him by bringing it forth into the world yet himself will preach Christ in him and the Life of Christ in him and the Spirit of Christ in him and his body the Temple of God c. Because he finds these words in Scripture but if any worship in that Temple so as to believe and obey unto life openly that he cannot own without a meaning instead thereof and so he sets the form to deny the Power and Christs Words he wrests to deny his coming And how long this faith hath professed him to come and his Life and Glory at his coming in its own carnal Comprehensions many may witness but is never like to receive him in the same Life and Spirit and Power in which he ever appeared and so to that generation is he ever to come but never present further then to make a cover for sins past and present and an encouragement for sin to come and thus the devouâ—er 〈…〉 s the best of things into a lye in all that believes him that he may keep Christ and the Soul from their present union which he could not long do but by consent of the Creature there being that of God in every one which daily draws towards him where it is not quenched by believing lies whereby such as receive not the Truth in the love of it comes to be damned as it was in the dayes of old and a strait passage I have found into the way of Truth and life which misseth all his subtile pretences and I have seen his words true who saith Few there be that find it the enemy being every way ready to meet them that seek with a shadow meaning or some deceit to believe in stead of the substance handling the Words of God deceitfully using the gifts of God to withstand the life of the giver and turning grace into lacivious liberty And thus have I learned in the light of the world that in my turning towards him at his reproof when I knew him not and believing in his light whom I had not seen I found that Faith given which did declare the righteousnesse of God in him wherein he perfectly walked upon earth both in doing and suffering which being turned towards I found the propitiation that God had sent forth through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remitting of my sins past that God might be just who could not have past by my sins past had he not accepted his sufferings nor I have had liberty from sin past to have followed him nor could I have been accepted therein but in the faith and hope of the same righteousnesse so God was full in justifying and his forbearance magnified towards me therein and in turning to this righteousness of his declared in the light of faith and hope my face was set towards righteousnesse in Christ Jesus to be attained for life and salvation for time to come to walk in and so being turned towards God all my sins past was behind me and Gods righteousness before me and so from henceforth was I to be found in Gods righteousness walking in a measure of it and in the faith and hope of the fulnesse of Christ and attainment of God for mine inheritance And this great Redemption I found in Christ Jesus at that day was in such things as these following As first his calling of me with his light his holding forth to me his life and suffering which was so holy that I could not but confesse to them his turning me towards the same in hope thereof by believing his begetting a mind in me towards that same life and the increase of his light that way to lead me and the setting of me free from the wrath of God for all my sins of ignorance past which else had laid upon me as a weight or chain binding me that I could not have walked the way of his light c. But I do not say that if I turned to commit sinne again that that sin was cast behinde my back also I learned otherwise I found that sinne then before my face greater then the rest and stood in my way to God and stopt me from following his light or growing in his life that I could no way escape it but by repenting of it and receiving the just sentence of condemnation in my self and bearing his indignation till he that wounded me for it healed me again which I never found but as I turned from the evil with my whole heart and accepted the punishment till the advocate did arise to intercede whose blood I had trampled on and whose precious life I had pierced and his holy Spirit grieved by turning away from his leadings Nor do I say that all my sinnes which formerly I had committed of which I had been convinced by the light of the ☜ world when I was in the world before I believed it to be sufficient that they was wholly taken away as my sins of ignorance was for this I found that God in this was just and merciful merciful in that he did not lay them all at once before me lest they should have prest me down that I could not have followed the light nor gotten any strength but
and lusts who are enemies to the faith of Christ which presents perfect to God by working out such evils All which I came to see not by man but in the revelation of Christ as in his Faith I learned him growing into his Faith into him and his life therein made manifest in my body So I see what is his in truth as the truth is in Jesus and what is the worlds and but called his to oppose him And I see that which loves the things of this world to be none of his love nor that his joy that takes pleasure in visible things nor that his liberty which is in the works of the flesh nor that his peace that is in sin nor that his patience that seeks its own revenge nor that his glory that 's in pride nor that his worship which stands in carnal things nor that his honour that 's sought of men nor that his knowledge that 's after the flesh nor that his fear that is taught by his precepts of men these are in the world and not in him but have onely got the name to be his but are enemies to his life and were never begat of his Father nor learned in the Son all which and much like stuff I came to see the deceit of by that truth and simplicity I found in Christ contrary to the will of man And so in the life of Christ I have learned to know the growth of the Faith of Christ and the riches of it and the end of it which is Christ Jesus in all its working and I also know the worlds faith its uncleanness whose end is not to attain the holiness of Christ in life but would live in the worlds delights and have Christ for a cover and be saved by the righteousness of another which they have no minde to walk in themselves and so that faith works not by love which loves not the life of Christ but are enemies to his Crosse minding earthly things and this is the earthly faith but the living Faith works by love to holiness of life and therefore purifies the heart and the mystery of it stands in a pure conscience within themselves that have it and not in telling and comprehending what was in another for the Devils believes the holinesse that was in Christ and can preach it but cannot inherit it because they love not to live the life of it and by this I know them both for ever and all that prove them in the life of Christ shall witnesse with me the end of the one is the life of Christ in which himself walked and the same obedience of the same Spirit to the same Father by the same power according to the proportion of Faith received from God which Faith is from above and so layes hold on heavenly things for its strength and so brings forth heavenly fruits The other professeth and promiseth great things but ends in the world and mindes earthly things and doth not purifie the heart nor believes ever to attain the life of Christ his stature or fulness but counts it an error in such as presse after such attainments and so the end of the conversation of one is Christ Jesus to hold forth in Life and Power the same yesterday and to day and for ever The end of the other is a liberty to sin here while they can take any pleasure in it and sanctification and salvation when they are dead and according to the end of each faith so it works for its impossible for him that cannot believe holiness to work holiness but according to each mans faith so must he inherit in this world and that which is to come And in the workings and attainments of this living powerful faith I have found several measures according to my growth therein from the Word of the beginning of Christ or the first Principle of Christ and the fulness age and stature of Christ as betwixt a Babe a man grown in strength much working in spirit I found betwixt faith received of Christ Jesus and Christ learned in me for though I received the faith of his fulness in what he was at Jerusalem in his flesh there at once yet had not I so learned him in Spirit life in my mortal flesh nor put him on at once but in the light of Faith I saw I was so to run as to win him before I could put him on wherein I came to see and know my self begotten again in him by faith towards God who is the way to God in which way I came to see the begotten of the Father manifeâ—â— in measure in me in the pure image of a Holy Child separate from the fleshly sinful seed or Christ formed in me as the Scriptures witness and when I did behold his pure image and his pure mind and nature so far contrary to my own yet then was not he in his Kingdom nor all things put under his feet nor could I say that Jesus was then Lord in me but by the Spirits working by this Faith I had received and in hope thereof was I made to endure the loss of all things and to deny all things that ever this holy Spirit did War against in me which might any way oppresse this holy plant or hinder its growth owning his judgment in the light upon what ever was in my heart or affections but him alone though never so much gain in my account in the world which judgment being owned consented to against my self and all my self lovers therein was I parted from them in judgment and so then was they subdued by the powerful workings of that Spirit and put under his feet and I set free from them to arise with him above them being brought from under them and this was not done all at once but in order as he appeared in the light to manifest every particular evil And as that Faith I had received wrought by love to him a consent in my spirit to his just judgement upon them and I made willing to give them up to the fire and to come out of them and joyn to him in the execution least he should consume me with them as it must have been had I stayed in them and here I found the benefit of the light which goes before his face to prepare his way and the salvation of Faith which saved me through hope of him that I was not destroyed in my sins which Faith and hope gave me an entrance within the vail or a hiding place in him while the indignation was over which was to pass upon the man of sin And so a voice was heard in the wilderness calling out of sin into a way I knew not but as the light of his Covenant led me in the spirit of Elias turning my heart towards him that he might not smite the earth with a curse at his coming in which wâ—y ere I came into the Kingdom of Christ my pure rest I met with many hardships