raiment shining and to hear a voyce from the glorious Majesty this was strength and confidence enough what never be moved but it was but the Lyons day yet and he was not brought to lye down with the Lamb but Moses and Elias was seen to be talking with the Lord of that glory that by the roaring of the Lyon made the Beasts of the field to tremble but see the thing being come to be effected that was foreseen talked of the Cock did but crow and the Lyon trembles this was self-denyal indeed for the way was making and preparing for the Lambs day and all the self-confidence proved but a Christ denyal that he might see himself that by the Cock-crow had that foretold of brought to remembrance and then he went forth and wept bitterly and after repentance aright came to conversion Peter when thou art converted strengthen thy Brethren but this might seem a strange saying after he had been his Follower and Disciple and then could he tell of the more sure word of prophesie whereunto they did well to take heed as unto a Light that shined in a dark place untill the day dawned and the day-star to arise in the heart here the Cock had crew and the day had dawned the Lambs day and the day-star had arisen in the heart and so no need of counsel from the wise men of the world concerning his birth for he is come to feed his Lambs his Sheep and such a Shepherd sees his star for God who commanded the light to shine out of darknesse hath shined in the dark heart to give the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Thus spake I comfortably to thee that hast a sence of these things for while Gods face was hid thou wert troubled but now his countenance is lifted up thou art more glad than when Corn and Wine and Oyl encreased mark thee more glad for there was gladnesse then and a face of the love of God his countenance seemed to shine and his favour to be on the dwelling place but this was but the aray of Solomâ—n in his glory and the life was yet subdued in hope that gloryed in an endlesse joy and rejoycing yet was shut up under the Law untill a faith afterward to be revealed and then all the care is cast on God and the more sure word heeded that is that faiths begetter that leads out of the world and to consider the Lillyes glory and for rayment and food is no care in the worlds mind and spirit and Solomon in all his glory was not thus arrayed where the life comes to be seen more than meat and the body than raiment and then seest thou all the things after which the Gentiles seek and here is the faith of the elect of God of Christ the Son of God and the life I now live is by the faith of the Son of God thou mayest truly say yet not thee but Christ that lives in thee and because he lives thou livest also and he being revealed in thee thou canst say Christ in me the hope of glory and so there is no glorying in the flesh and any fleshly appearance but in him in whom is hid all the treasures of wisdome and knowledge and then the fear in and of the worldly mind and all therein held and retained comes to dye to thee and in thee and thee to and in it as thou art found dead to the Law which when it came revived sin and thou dyed for by it thou wert slain and then death hath no more dominion but the Babe of salvation is lift up and thou canst say Now let thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation c. And here the child dyes a hundred years old and the sinner a hundred years old dyes accursed for the old man that hath been waiting for the salvation of God sees the end of its expectation and the servant in the House of God that hath been faithful in all his House as Moses was faithful therein as a servant delivers up all to the Son as the Builder of the House that is more worthy of honour than Moses and so the old man and his deeds that was and is the transgressor and is accursed under the Law of its works comes to be judged and condemned by Moses in whom he hath seemed to trust because he was got into Moses's Seat and Choice and thou comest to dye and be dead to him and he to thee and the dayly dying is known and witnessed and the dayly living to God felt and the cost and charge of the building is considered of and counted and all reckoned on to be given up and the life lost for its souls salvation sake and what is here to lose or be affraid of seeing thou art resolved to trust God with all both soul body and spirit and the work of thy souls salvation which thou canst not any longer reason and dispute or question and distrust but believe in the salvation and goodnesse and love and mercy and pity and free-grace of God thou dost and if thou perish thou concludest it shall be in the hands of God having nothing else to trust in nor no where else to fly but as one which is stript of all earthly and creaturely dependance art resolved there to lye and remain even at the foot of mercy and in it to rest and trust and confide untill help and deliverance come and spring up and arise over all beneath that which is eternal And then thou seest what-ever work is in thee and for thee wrought is by the Spirit of God through thy faith therein and not thine own work but is Gods own work in and by the Spirit of his Son that only doth praise God and so doth not at all praise and glorifie self and boast in the flesh as that thou art this and this and he is that alass no of this thou art ashamed and to meddle of and with controversies about different opinions and judgements or anoy and upbraid such with any sin and wickedness that thou mayest get the victory and mastery is not thy work in that Spirit of God thou art returned unto but readily sayest How can we boast in those things whereof we are now ashamed and God that knows my secrets knows how it hath been with me and what I have been so that I find no cause to insult and boast over any nor to upbraid the worst of men for that doth but provoke unto mischief and stir up strife and contention and at best can but bring the creature to look at himself and what he hath been and done that may cause a looking back again if the forgivenesse of God be not seen into and thus to bring off the mind from looking at God and his work again that in love and pity and mercy and salvation to the soul of the creature had let him see himself and a way to escape the snares and baits and
though thou see the Pharisee making his loud acclamations Lord I thank thee I am not thus and thus nor aâ— this Publican but pay tythe of all that I possesse and fast oft and the out-side of the Cup and Platter made very clean whereas thou art found daily smiting thy hand on thy breast and art crying Lord have mercy on me c. and though his cry be stand off I am holyer than thou so that as Joshua the High Priest hath been found standing before the Lord in his filthy vile raiment the Devil hath been ready to resist him untill a voyce came from the Angel take away his vile garment and give him change of raiment and thou in like manner seest nothing in in thy self but vileness that is in thy flesh and if thou hast ought to boast and rejoyce in as of thy self it must be in that only and thy glorying in thy infirmities which rather humbles thee and is a Thorn in the flesh Satan to buffer least thou should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the Revelations of the Spirit that makes thee cry out O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me and who shall change this vile body I say Is this thy state and are thy sins and transgressions brought alwayes before thee that something seems yet to be imputed and laid to thy charge and not all blotted out and carried into the Land of forgetfulness especially when thou look among men of upbraiding minds and corruptly bent that are gone from the Spirit of God that is liberal and upbraideth no man with things by-past as doth the world in the worldly nature and spirit of mischief in their tatlings tale-bearings whisperings backbitings and false accusations and reportings of evil in a mind delighted therein and therewith yet let not this any way trouble thee as that thou shouldest be led into despondancy and doubtings concerning the love and mercy and pity and forgiveness of God for Gods way is not like unto mans not his thoughts like unto his that is thus gone out of the life of God out of the life of forgiveness and mercy and pity and now would devoure and destroy at once but this is the voyce of his Spirit in the hearts of such let not wickednesse be so much as once more mentioned amongst you for these things are but the shame of thy youth and the reproach of thy widdow hood which no more shall be remembred nor charged against thee by God since thy return hath been indeed and in truth to him and he is returned to thee and will blot out thy iniquities by-past and thy sins will remember no more because these things were done in a state and time of ignorance in which God hath winked at thy faults or corrected thee lightly with Rods and they are transgressions against the first Covenant which the one offering hath made the attonement for and a way of reconciliation for thee therein in the flesh of his body that put an end to the many offerings under the Law and also blots out all the infirmities both of thy actings and offerings in that state unto whom thou coming as unto a stone indeed disallowed of by all the master builders of the earth he is precious in thy lively faith as the head of the Corner that was once offered up for all in the eternal spirit of the Fathers good pleasure and is offered up no more in that he hath for ever perfected them that are sanctified For in that spirit thou art come and returned to that thou seest sin a burden to thee in and of which thou art weary and heavy laden God will freely blot out and do all for thee that hast an offering brought before thee that is everlasting and so is the Covenant thereof in the eternal spirit of him that sanctifieth and not as was and is the offerings and Covenants under the Law that were confirmed by strength of words and declarations of a Testament in which a better good was shadowed out and the promises therein and thereof confirmed by an Oath and strong Protestations but this is finished to and for all that can believe therein whose Maker is their Husband the Lord of Hosts is his name and the betrothment here is in righteousnesse and in faithfulnesse and in loving kindnesse for ever and all that thou hast to do is to believe perfectly and fully and wholly in him and the goodnesse of his salvation and he will do all for thee and in thee without thy workings and actings and strivings and buslings in a mind cumbred with the cares and sorrow of a life below wherein thy soul hath been pierced through with many darts and it hath been and proved the worldly sorrow that works death yea and by it all thou couldest not adde a cubit to thy stature but by believing in him that hath wrought and done the work it is finished to thee in thy faith for the questionings and reasonings thereof with all the doubtings and fear and distrust of God are but the enemies work of darknesse and clouding thoughts that hath vailed the extent of Gods goodness and love and pity and mercy to the souls necessity that the largenesse thereof in the unspeakable and unalterable bounty of his liberallity hath not been apprehended and seen into and all this continues by reason of unbelief which the Son of God is come to destroy and to that end is he manifest and he thou must believe in that is already come to work all thy works in thee and for thee er'e it can be the work of the eternal spirit in God and all to continue and remain eternally with thee that of thy joy and rejoycing there be no end and the comfort everlasting that abides with thee that art comforted in the eternal Spirit of God and what it works Without thy help as a Creature in the old man and state but in the new man as new created after God in which thou art a meet help unto thy Maker and fellow-worker together with him to bring forth his works into manifestation and appearance and then thou canst say truly that to destroy the works of the Devil is Gods work and the end for which he was made manifest in thy mortal flesh and because of that part mortality in which he hath wrought and works thou hast felt the work of mortification to be also the work of God and so is sanctification and justification for it is God that must kill and make alive and to all the works of the enemy must make thee dead and then holy and just after himself which thou art on him waiting to do for thee knowing that of thy self thou art able to do nothing and when thou hast done all that thou canst as of thy self art but an unprofitable servant yet that little strength thou hast in God thou art ready and willing to put forth because thy faith in God works by the Love of
in the ear preached on the house top but until he appear to be my life I must suffer with him waiting for a further manifestation of his glory and the appearance of the Son of God therein And so for reports alass thou canst not but know more of thy self in the root and ground of things and that to the light and heart-searching spirit art come than men can have to accuse thee and now being come to know nothing by thy self yet thou art not thereby justified what therefore is in this more than to manifest the frame and temper of such spirits that yet have a root of the same hidden that in thee hath broken forth and thou art therefore like to come first to the day of healing for their covering and false healing is the same that was thine and thus have they been daubing and are daubed with untempered morter as thou wert in that the same that hath been upbraiding when it is displeased will flatter when it is pleased and is it that is flattered deceiving and being deceived Therefore whatever they threaten and wait to see concerning thee wish not the same to them no not in thy heart because of him that seeth its secrets but wait on the Lord for preservation and the end of that spirits woâ—k thou shalt see manifest before thee and shalt be made able to judge of it And then as to thy state thou wilt see there is no need of a second offering or attonement for the offering is through the eternal Spirit once for all and the atonement for ever perfecting in the sanctified life and in thy going from that Spirit and the sence therein and thereof begotten the life of God hath been brought into a suffering state and to be afresh crucified which thou being again returned to and with the Spirit that manifesteth the cause thereof come into unity feelest the atonement makeâ— and the atonement making to be for ever then what the many offerings under the Law of works where was the blood of Bulls Goats of a year old sprinklings of an Heifer could not do in that they make nothing perfect â—s pertaining to the Conscience thou being come to that which manifesteth the nature that the Bull was a figure of and also the Goat at left hand that being offered up and slain on the Crosse all sufferance to the Lamb that went before for a peace-offering and is the atonement maker ceaseth and so the offering is but one and once for all that being offered to God which his Spirit hath begotten and wrought and the kindling and inflaming being of that nature and so no false fire put into thy Sensure Object 2. All this I confesse very true to my condition concerning the cause and ground of the apostasie and back-sliding and falling away from the truth of God in the prodigality of that mind a part and nature in the creature that could not be content to trust the Father withall and to have the portion in his hands and now I plainly see that the Apostate and Backslider and Prodigal is not so much such a Sect or Opinion and Perswasion and People of such a different Judgement from me though I confesse in these different Perswasions some are more deeply tainted with this apostatizing spirit than other-some as the spirit and nature of a part in all that hath backsliden from the Law and Commandements of God and in the adulteration of that mind hath been caused the breach that is yet standing between God and his Creture untill the spirit of atonement and reconciliation be so received and adhered to that it make up all again And seeing thou art not in Pauls state of unconversion from the ignorance of a blind zeal that persecuted and spoke evil of that he knew not when concerning the Law he could say he was blamelesse yet was one at whose feet was laid the garments of the witnesses neither art crying Lo here or Lo there or I am of Paul or Apollo c. but art found comforting the Babe and partaking with the afflicted in their way and as one that hath passed through the state and condition I am in and that would not have sin and wickedness countenanced under any pretence whatever but the creature of God pityed in every state betrayed under the enemies power and yet the Axe of God layed to the root of the tree and the root of the matter relating to the cause and ground of the apostasie and backsliding from the truth of God seen into that it may be removed and taken out of the way of God utterly the conditions of many being concerned herein I further query how and when it came in and how it may be removed again perfectly seeing it is generally the voyce and cry of the world it came in but just now and that the deceiver entred but as in their dayes and yet excuse themselves of his entring of them that they may lay the burden heavy on others Answ The first Apostate was old Adam that went from the guidance and government of the Spirit of God and as all have taken a nature and part from him who was of the earth earthly and as was the earthly so are they that are earthly though he was made a living soul nevertheless the soul that sinned having dyed in the day he eat of the forbidden fruit and so death having past over all from Adam c. all are to wait again for and in the power of the second Adam a quickning spirit and yet as to the first man as he was and is a natural man he was betrayed under and into this state and is not properly reckoned for the sinner and offender and transgressâ—r as to the natural part further than creatures in it are so joyned and united to the cause thereof that they neglect the work of that and him who gives the sight of the misery of such state and so in the end comes to sleight and dis-regard the remedy out of it for the mistery of iniquity that hath wrought and yet works in the hearts of many oppâ—sers of the work of the Spirit of Truth there is spiritual wickednesse in high places so that though death came on the bodyes of all as by one man that sinned they have taken a nature and part from for the souls sake that is immortal whom the tribulation and anguish hath rested on as a death that came by reason and means of sin yet the feeling of a remedy to the one to wit the soul once relapsed and fallen under the power of a second death is through the begettings and working up of a faith in the spirit of him that endured the one for the conquering the dominion and power of both Thus is there a man of sin or man by whom came sin whom God will destroy by the breath of his lips and nostrils and brightnesse of his appearance with an everlasting destruction and yet not properly the first