but the Lord God is feared and the Dragons arm withers and the head of his pollicy whereby he ensnared intangled from the life is crushing glory to the endlesse power of life for ever and for ever Be wise now therefore loose not your share in the immortal Crown Take heed how ye be found fighters against the Lamb in the wisdom power of Babilon which is to fall Painting will not passe now That bloud of the Lamb is felt which washes off the whores paint even all her painted notions of the blood of christ of sanctification and redemption c. the whorish nature being discovered underneath all these Ye have got the name of Church the name of Christians the name of ordinances c. by the whores help but the nature of life ye want and the living power is come to recover the name from you and we his living witnesses testifie to your faces that ye shall not enjoy it but the name and the thing shall go together and he that hath not the thing shall also loose the name Yea your eyes shall see that ye have been the sacrilegious ones who have stoln holy names and tirles which ye never received from the hand of God but the whorish spirit which out of the life and an enemy to the life hath handed them to you And this is told you in dear and tender love that ye might not perish but have eternall life abiding in your hearts and the new name written by the Spirit of life on your foreheads which all that know the writing of the life may be able to read and acknowledge There are severall touches of these things in diverse of of the Epistles of the Apostles but the full relation is given forth in that book of the Revelation which was penned by the Spirit of God to be read in the light of the Spirit and so to be a preservative against the overspreading contagion of Antichristianism Adn it is said at the entrance into it Blessed is he that readeth they that hear the words of this prophests keâ—p those things wch are written therein But men having lost the Spirit have not been able to read it and having lost the right ear they have not been able to heare the words it speaks and how then could they keepe the things written therein He that doth â—ot understand what he is warned against how is it likely he should be preserved by the warning The Spirit of God judged this warning necessary but the spirit of deceit cryes it is a deep thing not to be medled with Now this is a plain demonstration that men generally are overtaken with the whoredom and drink of the whores cup submit themselves to the beast and exalt his horns and receive his mark and some or other of his names because they have not the knowledge of that which discovers these things and was given by the Spirit of God to forewarn and so to preserve out of them He that knoweth not the mistery of iniquity working under a form of godlines may not he easily be deceived with the mistery of iniquity He that knoweth not what is become of the true Church ministry and where to look for them may not he easily own a fall Church and ministry He that knoweth not the Spirit of the Scriptures which the Church carried with her when she left the letter behind her may not he easily set up the letter for his rule He that knoweth not the living mark and name of a Christian with which the Spirit of life seals all the Lambs of Christ in the life may not he easily give this name to himself and to others who have not this mark but the beasts mark He that knoweth not the true faith the true love the true hope the true joy the true peace the true rest the true consolation in Christ the life the true meeknes and patience of the Sâ—ints c. may not he easily set up shadows or liknesses of these which he gathers from the letter of the Scriptures and the promises thereof receiving the knowledge of them into the wrong part applying them to the wrong thing instead of these Ah poor hearts The book of the Revelation is easie to that Spirit that wrote it and it was not given forth to be laid by as uselesse but to be serviceable in the hand of the Spirit for the ages after the dayes of the Apostles and in the true light it is easily read and they that can read it can see that in it which they that cannot read it cannot beleeve And this is plainly seen That theâ—e is but the Spirit of truth and the Spirit of deceit but the Lambs wife and the whore which hath whored from the Spirit which hath made use of the lotter to run a whoring from that Spirit that wrote it that there is but the true Church and the false Church but life and death but form and power but Christ the mistery of godlinesse and Antichrist the mistary of iniquity but God and the dragon God in the Church or Temple in the Wildernesse and the dragon in the worlds churches and temples appearing there as if he were God giving sorth lawes and ordinances like God and all the world falls down before him and worships him as if he were God and hopes by this worship which they perform to him and by their faith and hope which they receive from him to be saved at last I say there are but these two and he that is joyned to the one of these is not joyned to the other Let him that readeth understand which he may easily doe by the wisdome of the Spirit but never can by the wisdome of the letter For though we know how to join these two in the life yet there is a necessity of seperating them at present till the letter be gained out of the hands of the whorish spirit which hath built up severall forms of knowledge religion and worship in mistery-Babilon by the letter without the life all which must fall with Babilon AN Exhortation relating to the workings of the mistery of Iniquity and the mistery of godlinesse in this present age ALL people upon earth who love your souls and have any true secret pantings after God look to the nature of your Spirits and look to the nature of those things ye let into your minds least ye take in death for life error for truth and so sow to your selves corruption and rear up a fabricke in mistery Babilon which will be turned into desolation and utter ruins by the power of life from Sion Strong is the Spirit of deceit that is entred into the world and glorious and very taking are his images and likenesses of truth which will deceive all but the very elect who were chosen from the foundation of the world and whose eyes are opened to see the foundation of life which was before the foundation of the world It
truth aright in others Nay thou measurest by a false appearance of things in the fallen understanding and in the wisdome which thou hast gathered there since thou thy selfe fellest from the living principle and this must needs commend that most which is neerest to it and not that which is neerest to truth And this is the great error of this age men with a gathered knowledge from Scripture-words without the true faith and life go about to measure that life and knowledge which comes from the faith and because it suites not with the apprehensions which they have taken into their minds they condemn it And thus being in the stumbling wiâ—dome and way of observation to which truth was never revealed but was ever an offence they stumb'e at it and thus men generally dish and split themselves against the same rock now as the Pharisees did of old Now this understanding must perish and this wisdome in men be brought to nought before that can be raised up which can judge aright Hearken therefore to my exhortation as ye love your souls Come out of popery indeed and in truth come out of the spirit of popery burn the whore in her new forms as well as in her old Cast off all these new names of the Beast under which the old spirit has made a prey of the life in your own particulars and lies lurking to make a prey of the life in others and to force it into its own deceitfull forms of death and slay it Leave defending your faith and church by the Beasts horns and come to that faith and church which is received gathered and defended by Christ the one horn of salvation Leave your reasonings and disputings in that wisdome which has slain the life and come to that wisdome which comes from the life and springs up in the life and ye will find more certainty and satisfaction in one touch of true life then in all the reasonings and disputes of wise men to the worlds end The ground wherein mens religion grows even of the most zealous is bad even the same ground wherein the Pharisees religion stood and grew and it hath brought forth such kind of fruit namely such a kind of conformity to the letter as theirs was which stands in the understanding and will of man rearing up a pleasant building there but keeps from the life and from building in it But the true religion stands in receiving a principle of life which by its growth forms a vessell for it selfe s and all the former part wherein sin on the one hand or selfe righteousnesse on the other hand stood and grew passeth away These things following strike at the King of Babilon himselfe yea even at the very root of the Antichristian spirit in every man which he that can mild y receive the stroake of may feel the true Spirit of life which lies slain underneath spring up in him and give life to his soul which when it is delivered will be able truly to know and rejoyce in the Lord its Saviour And when the root of that spirit is cut downe which never brought forth sweet pleasant fruit unto life but only sowre fruit finely pâ—inted and dressed for the eye and palate of death its body branches leaves and fruit will wither and dye dayly and truth come to grow safely A Distinction between the faith which is of man and the faith which is of GOD One whereof is the Faith of Sion the other the Faith of Babilon the one laying hold on Christ as he is revealed the King of life in Sion the other layes hold on an Historicall relation of Christ the fame whereof hath sounded in Babilon THere is a faith which is of a mans selfe and a faith which is the gift of God or a power of beleeving which is found in the nature of fallen man and a power of believing which is given from above As there are two births the first and the second so they have each their faith and each beleeve with their faith and seem to lay hâ—ld on the same thing for life and the contention about the inheritance will not be ended till God determine it Cain will sacrifice with his faith and he beleeves he shall be accepted if he had not beleeved so he would not have been so angry when he found it otherwise And the Cainish spirit in man the vagabond from the life of God which hath not an habitation in God nor the eternall life of God abiding in him he is busie with the same faith at this day and hath the same expectation from it as Cain had This is the root of the false religion of the false hope of the false peace of the false joy of the false rest of the false comfort of the false assurance as the other is the root of the true In this faith which is of man and in the improvement of it stands all the knowledge zeal devotion and worship of the world in generall and of the worldly part in every man in particular but the true knowledge the true zeale the true devotion the true worship stands in the faith which is given of God to them which are born of the immortall seed which liâ—es in God and in which God lives for ever Now it deeply concerns every man to consider from which of these his knowledg religion and worship proceed and in which of them they stand for if they proceed from and stand in the faith which is of man they cannot please God nor conduce to the salvation of the soule but though they may tast very pleasantly to mans pallate now and administer much hope and satisfaction to him at present yet they will faile at the time of need For as Christ said concerning the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisees so may I say concerning this faith Except your faith with the works of it exceed that faith and all the works of it even to the utmost improvement thereof which is to be found in mans nature it will never lead you to the kingdom of God nor be able to give you any right to the inheritance of life For he that will inherit must be the right heir must have the faith of Abraham the faith of Isaacâ— which springs up from the root of life in the seed and this leads the seed into that spring of life out of which it shot forth as a branch which is the inheritance promised to the seed And here is Christ Alpha and Omega in every particular soul where life is begun and perfected â—unning its course through time back to that which was before the beginning Therefore observe and consider well what this faith which is of a mans selfe can doe and how far it may goe in the changing of man and in producing a conformity of him to the letter of the Scriptures And then consider where it is shut out what it cannot do what change it cannot make what it cannot conform to
leadings in the vast howling Wildernes til he bring them into the possession of the true rest What a work there was to quench that spirit wch stired in the Protestants against Popery to fix the in Episcopacy in the use of the Common prayer book When that was detected turned from then Presbittery endeavoured to take its place to bring it its directory but the pursuit of the Lord was so hot against that that it stunk presently his mighty hand would not suffer that so much as to arise Much about the same time Independency and Anabaptism appeared and contended and there was a more simple and honest thing stirring there then in the other and accordingly the blessing of the Lord which was not to the form but to the life that was stirring within did appear more among them But they fixing there lost the life and simplicity to which the blessing was and met with the death and the curse which is the proper reward of the form for any form out of the life kils the life and its reward is death to it selfe The form kils the life which stirred underneath and made it appear with some freshness and when the life from which it had its seeming beauty and lustre dyes then it soon withers and dyes also so that the living principle being once slain there remains nothing but the dead spirit feeding on the dead form There was one more pure appearance and neerer to the Kingdom then all these which was of seeking and waiting but death overcame this also making a form of it and stealing in some observations from the letter of the Scriptures concerning the Kingdom whereby their eyes were with held from beholdingthe inward principle and seed of life within to look for some great appearance of power without such as was among the Apostles to set things to rights and so they were held captive by the same spirit in their seeking and waiting whereby the others are held in their forms Thus have persons generally missed the following of that good Spirit which began to lead them out Aegypt the dark Land and loosing their guid have fixed somewhere or other by the way resting in some form or in some notion or expectation of things according as in their wisdome they have imagined from their skill in the letter short of the life it selfe Thus have their carkasses fallen in the Wildernesse Now this I have to say to you all All you who rest in any form whatsoever or rest in any notion or apprehension of things short of the life it selfe ye had een as good have stayed in Egypt as to fix by the way and to take up a rest in the Wildernesse short of Canaan In plain terms ye had as good have abided in Popery or in Episcopacy ye had been as acceptable to God there as here Not that I say your forms of Indepedency Anabaptism or seeking are as bad as Popery Episcopacy or Presbittery nay they are all somewhat neerer and the last of them very much neerer but your fixing there and the dead spirit feeding there on the dead thing is as remote from life as if it had gone quite backe again And this dead spirit is as hatefull to God here as it is among the Papists yes and in one sence more because it makes a pretence beyond them And the truth is ye have gone back againe though not in the direct form yet into that very spirit wherein Poperey's strength and kingdom lies so are becom one of the beasts names your strength defence lies in the beasts horns either in the outward powers of the earth or in that inward knowledge of things and wisdome from the letter which is out of the life and so are not yet come out of the City Babilon For mark The spiâ—it that fixeth in a form short of the life is the same that whored from the life and the same spirit is the whore still in what form soever she be The spirit that rose up in the life against the death and corruption whereof Popery wholly corsisted was a good spirit and this spirit would passe through all forms till it meet with the life it is the other spirit that sayes to thee thou host gone far enough and so tempts to stay by the way And he who hearkens to this spirit and staies anywhere by the way he is caught with the old whore in a new dresse and is drinking the cup of fornication afresh And then like the Papists he runs to the powers of the earth to defend his form against the witnesses of God and that 's his cover under which he persecutes and there he lyes hid or at least to his own wisdom and reason to strengthen himself with arguments for fixing here and against going any further And then he grows wise in the flesh and cryes out against them who are stil led by the same spirit to presse on further as weak silly giddy Unsetled seduced people that can never know when they are well Thus the wise Episcopalians revlied the simple-he-arted non-conformists who pursued further then they and the non conformists when they lost their simplicity and begun to stick reviled those that pursued beyond them and thus at this day those who are pressing on in the spirit are disdained by those who have took up their station in the flesh and with their two great horns of earthly power and earthly wisdome are they pushing at them Look about you look about you all sorts of devout professors see where ye are are you not dead in your forms is not the good old puritan principle wherein once was true life in its measure dead and buried there Consider with your selves hath that grown in your forms or hath it been slain there Speak the truth in your own hearts Can ye truly say from a sercible feeling in the life that that principle is still alive in you If it were so ye could never be drawn to persecute no nor to suffer persecution ye that have power to hinder it but if that seed be choked then ye may well connive at if not further the enemy and plead for him and joyn iâ—terests with him While Abel lived in you Cain could not rise up in his dominion but now the righteous seed is ' slain the murthering nature appears O hasten out of this spirit hasten out of Babilon cast off the spirit of popery return to the old puritan principle Do not cry it up in deceit to oppose the present appearance of truth which is grown up further in it but subject that dead formall earthly spirit to it which is fallen beneath it and when ye are come to a true touch f life there ye may be able to own the same truth in its growth to a further measure But while thou art in the dead undeâ—standing and from the power and life of truth in thine own particular dost thou think to be able to measure
hath not the Son hath not the true faith which immediately receives him and so is no Christian but hath stoln the name from the letter having never received the nature from the Spirit to which alone the name belongs X. He that hath Christ or the seed of eternall life which is Christ formed in him which seed the Spirit alwayes dwels in and utaer is absent from which is the same Spirit which gave forth the Scriptures he is a capacity of understanding those Scriptures which that Spirit gave forth as that spirit leads him into the understanding of them But he that hath not received that which is like the grain of mustard seed and so hath not Christ nor his Spirit what ever he may pretend to he by all his studies arts languages reading of expositors conferences nay experiences can never come to the true knowledge of the Scriptures for he wants the true key which alone can open He may have got a great many wrong keys none of which can open but wants the true key of the true knowledge and so is shut out of that and only let into such a kind of knowledge as the wrong key can open into And with this kind of knowledg the marchants of Babilon have long traded but their day is expiring apace and their night of lamentation and howling hasteneth XI Though he can understand the Scriptures as the Spirit leads him into the knowledge of them and can set his zeal to the truth of them yet he cannot call them his rule for having received the life for his rule and knowing it to be so he cannot call another thing it He that hath received the new covenant into his heart with the laws of the life thereof written there by the Spirit of life who doth write them there even in the least of all that beleeve as wel as in the greatest he knoweth that this living writing is his rule The Scriptures give relation where the covenant and law of life is writ and if I will read it thither must I go whither the Scriptures point me I must go to Christ the book of life and read there with that eye which Christ gives if I read the things of life And the Scriptures are willing to surrender up their glory to Christ who was before them and is above them and shall be after them but there is a false spirit which hath seated it selfe in a litterall knowledge of the Scriptures and hath formed images and likenesses of truth from it every one after the imaginations of his own heart and all these fall if Christ the life appear and so this Spirit cryes up the Scriptures now in a way of deceit just as the Jews cryed up Moses It was a good remove to withdraw the ear from the false Church and to listen to the true testimony which the Scriptures give of Christ but it is the seducing spirit which tempts to stick by the way and to rear up buildings and forms of knowledge from the letter of the Scriptures and not to come to feel after unity with and live in Christ the life And unlesse ye come to this your reading of the Scripture is vain and all your gathering rules of practise and comforts from promises will end in vanity for untill ye know and have received the thing it selfe ye are at a distance from that to which all belongs A lively and glorious testimony of truth hath God held forth in this age at which all that stick in the letter cannot but stumble and there is no possibillity of knowing or receiving it but by feeling the true touch of the inward life of it Wisdome is justified of her children but they that are not born of her cannot justifie her womb or birth To the Jews who were an outward people there was an outward rule given a law of commandements statutes judgements and ordinances proper to that state wherein they were and to that thing to which the ministry was But all this was to be done away and to end in that which all this represented So that to Christians Christ the substance being come which is the end of all these shadows the true Jew being raised in the immediate life now there is a necessity of the immediate life for the rule To them under the Gospel to them who are come to the substance to them who are begotten and born in the life there can be norule proportionable to their state but Christ the substance Christ the life here he alone is the light the way the truth the rule the Spirit is here the rule the new creature the rule the new covenant the rule all which are in unity together and he that hath one of them hath them all and he that hath not them all hath none of them So that directions taken out of the Scripture cannot be the rule to him who is the true Christian but the measure of grace the measure of light the measure of the Spirit the measure of the gift received into the living soule from the spring of life this is the alone rule of life But Christians in the degeneration have lost this and so have taken up words for a rule which were not given to that end and so with deductions by the earthly part they feed the earthly part What is fed by mens Scripture knowledge but the earthly understanding the earthly will heated the earthly affections warmed and of the fruits of this earth they bring sacrifices to God and they are angry that God hath raised up Abel their younger brother who offers up the Lamb of God to God and serves the living God in his own living spirit and with the faith that comes from him Abels religion stands not in that part wherein all other mens religion stands but in the death of that part and in the raising up of another part wherein life springs Can ye mildly receive these gentle leadings do not provoke the the tender heart of the Lamb against you who also hath the voice of a Lyon and can roar terribly out of his holy mountain against the enemies of his life and Spirit A Necessary warning and of very great importance to all that call themselves Christians and hope for a share in the book of life and the escaping the damnation of hell which is their portion whose names are written in the booke of death and blotted by God out of the book of life though they hope to find them written there Here and consider IT is recorded Rev. 22. 18 19. If any man shall adde unto these things God shall adde unto him the plagues that are written in this book And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy God shall take away his part out of the book of life and out of the holy City and from the things which are written in this book Great are the plagues that are written in this book even the powring out of eternall
and blasphemed those that lye still under any of the beasts forms they go for good Christians for members of the visible Church â—o called by them Now mark He that calls any thing the Church but what this book calls the Church he adds he that doth not know the wildernesse and own the Church in the wildernesse he diminishes The Church of Rome is not the Church in the wildernesse the Church of Scotland is not the Church is the wildernesse the Church of England is not the Church in the wildernesse the severall gathered Churches are none of them the Church in the wilderness all these have sprung up since the Churches flight and have appeared in her abâ—ence usurping her name appropriating it to themselves but God who gave it to the Church hath not given it them and so they must loose it again when God brings back the Church out of the wildernesse So he that calls those which formerly wâ—re the institutions and ordinances of Christ which the woman left behinde her and which the harlot hath got and attired her self with which she now appears in and wherewith the Dragon is now worshipped he adds to this book which sayes the outward court was given to the Gentiles and the true Church had nothing left her but the inward temple wherein alone the true worshippers worshipped and they that worship elsewhere are the fals worshippers worshipping in false Temples in Temples of the whorish spirits building take it either outwardly or inwardly for it holds true in both He that makes the beasts names fewer then they are or his marks fewer then they are or his hornes fewer then they are or his image lesse then it is be diminishes And the danger hereof is not small For if any man worship the beast and his image and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand the same shall drinke of the wine of the wrath of God which is powred out without mixture into the cup of his indignation and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy Angels and in the presence of the Lamb and the smoak of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever And they have no rest day nor night who worship the beast and his image and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name Rev. 14. 9. c. Now this I affirm whosoever has not the name of Sion the mark of Sion which he received of her in the wildernesse where the living God is with her and where he is taught by God the laws of the wildernesse-worship and in some measure to testifie against all the corrupted ordinances and institutions which have the beasts marks and go now abroad in the world under the beasts name I say whoever has not the true mark of Sion it is impossible for him to avoid the mark of Babilon and he who avoids not the mark cannot escape the plagues But he that hath the mark of Sion he by a secret inward instinct of true life is led from the marks of Babilon and if he faithfully follow the guidance from out of all the names and from under all the horns It is nor enough to rent from Popery and sit down under the power and government of the same spirit in another form or to rent from Episcopacy and the same spirit sit down in Presbitery or to rent from Presbitery and the same spirit sit down in a form of Independency or Anabaptisme or to rent from these and the same spirit sit down in a way of seeking and waiting and reading of words of Scripture and gathering things from thence without the life but the true religion consists in knowing and following a true guide to the Church in the wildernesse and there to receive the marke the living marke which will preserve out of all inventions and further progresse of the dead spirit Now therefore look about you know the spirit of whoredom and see how ye have been begotten in the adultery and born of the whore and have served the Dragon and worshipped his dead idols and not the living God And be not satisfied with changing of forms dresses which are but the several deceitful appearances of the whore but put off that spirit least when ye have hated the whore and burnt her flesh as she appeared in one form ye give your selves up to her again when she appears in another forme for the plagues are not so much to the form wherein the whore appears as to the whorish spirit and whosoever is found under her dominion in any of her territories under any of her formes with that mark of hers upon them which belongs to that particular form though never so curiously painted he shall drink of the unmixt cup of wrath Therefore tremble all sorts of people pluck off your false coverings see the shame of your nakednesse while it may be for your advantage so to doe The Angel is gone forth the corn is reaping and gathering into the garner many Lambs are brought into the fold of everlasting rest Sion is redeeming the true life is rising the whorish spirit is judging the dore of life is yet open doe not lye secure in the whores wisdome Do not lye slumbering and reasoning and disputing from the letter of the Scripture till the gathering be finished till the doore be shut till the eternall flames seize upon you and ye find your selves in the bosome of hell unawares and see the children of the Kingdom in Abrahams bosom but your selves shut out and left to weep and waile and gnash your teeth Quest But how may I avoid adding to the things and dimishing from the words of this prophecy and of other Scriptures that I may not meet with the weight of this curse or misse of the blessing Answ. Dost thou ask this question from thy heart in the simplicity out of the fleshly wisdome then hearken with that ear and thou shalt set thy seal to mine answer 1. Wait for the key of knowledge which is Gods free gift Do not go with a false key to the Scriptures of truth for it will not open them Man is too hasty to know the meaning of the Scriptures and to enter into the things of God and so he climbs up over the doore with his own understanding but he has not patience to wait to know the door and to receive the key which opens and shuts the doore and by this means he gathers death out of words which came from life And this I dare positively affirme that all that have gone this way to work have but a dead knowledge and it is death in them that feeds upon this knowledg and the life is not raised Consider now the weight of this councill in the true ballance There is no opening of the Scriptures but by the true key nor is there any coming at the key till the Lord please to give it What then is to be done but only to wait in the silence of that
answerable to that and where it speaks contrary he invents a way to make it comply and so wrests Scriptures forward backward to make them speak agreable to what he has already received and beleeved Thus every sort of persons papists and protestants bend the Scriptures to make them speak conformable to their opinions and practises not having the true learning which gives to read them in the true Originall where the knowledge of what they speak and meane is certaine and so they are also unstable and subject to be shaken by a wind of reason which is stronger then their own And this wresting of Scripture is to their own destruction for that part which is so much as desirous to bend a Scripture is to be destroyed and that part cannot receive the true knowledge but stumbles in its own wisdome and way of seeking at the wisdome of Cod and at the true way of finding But the foregoing councill faithfully hearkened unto will preserve out of this and also bring to the true means and to the true use of the means which all nations who have drunk of the whores cup have erred concerning and taken the false for the true The strength of this wine hath made all nations peoples tongues and languages to mistake who in the heat of their drinke have cryed up the means the means the ordinances the ordinances c. not perceiving how this heat came from the spirits of the whores wine and not from the sober meek calm gentle leadings of the Spirit of Christ and so in a fleshly zeale have set up the whores means instead of the lambs means and contend for them with the whores spirit and weapons Now it is impossible for any man so much as to know the true means till the whores wine be purged out of him for that will make him erre in judgment and take the false for the true And which way shall he ever come to the Kingdome which has lighted upon the wrong means or how shall he ever come to the true means who never yet saw the witchery of the whorish spirit from the life and how he himselfe has been bewitcht and cosened with the false instead of the true as for instance Prayer that is generally taken for a means Aske and it shall be given you seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened to you If Parents which are evill know how to give good gifts to their children how much more shall the heavenly Father give the holy Spirit to them that aske him This therefore is an undoubted thing that prayer is a means Answ. True there is a prayer which is a means and there is a prayer which is not a means There is a prayer which is an ordinance and there is a prayer which is an invention There is a prayer which is the breath of the true child and there is a prayer which is the breath of the fleshly part a breath of the whorish spirit There is a prayer of the first birth and there is a prayer of the second birth both which cry and weep to God for the same-thing Now the one of these is the true means the other not one of them is Christs ordinance the other is antichrists ordinance Now the question is which of these thy prayer is whether it be thine own breath or Gods breath whether it come from the renewings of the Spirit of life or from thine own naturall part painted for accordingly it is either the true means or the false means If it be the true means it shall have the thing the Spirit the life the kingdome it prayes for if it be the false means it can never obtain it Papists they pray Protestants they pray some in forms some without forms some meditating before hand some not meditating are all these the true means or are any of them the true means The breath of the true child is the only true prayer and he prayes only in the moving and in the leading of that Spirit that begat him and this is a prayer according to the will in the life and from the power But all mens prayers according to times they set the themselves or according to formings of desires in their own minds which they offer up to God with the nature and heart that sinneth against him these are false means and may satisfie the drunken spirit erred from the liâ—e but are no means to the truth Canst thou pray how camest thou to learn to pray wast thou taught from above or didst thou gain the skill and abillity by the exercise and improvement of thine own naturall part Didst thou begin with sighs and groans staying there till the same spirit that taught thee to groan taught thee also to speak Wast thou ever able to distinguish the sighs and groans of the Spirits begetting from the sighs and groans of thy own naturall and affectionate part and hath that part with all its sighingâ— groaning desires endeavours c been thrust aside and the seed immortall raised by the Spirit of eternall life which teacheth to cry and mourn and at length to speak to the Father for the preservation and nourishment of its life If it hath been thus with thee then thou hast known that prayer which is the true means But if otherwise though thou pray never so long and with never so great affections and strong desires this is all but the fals means with its fals warmth from the fall fire this is but the means which the whorish Spirit which is not in union with the life and power but keeps the seed in bandage has set up instead of the true means And this can never lead to truth but keeps alive Gods enemy under this pleasant covering neither is this the worship of the living God but as it is from another spirit so it is to another spirit O learn to be sober come out of this drunken fury and consider things mildly and seriously Do not make a great outcry of ordinances ordinances the means the means This is the voyce of the clamorous woman who with her loud noise would fain keep you from listning after the still voyce of true wisdome which cannot be heard in the midst of this great noise and hurry in your spirits but consider which are the true ordinances which are the true means which are the likenesses man has framed and which is the true thing it self And if ye could once be mild gentle and calm turn from your own wisdome and fleshly knowledge of things it might please God to remove your stumbling blocks and to open that eye in you which can see the antichristian nature and discern between the coverings which it hath formed to hide its deceitfull spirit under and the true garment and cloathing of life But the seed of the Kingdome is little and ye are great how can ye enter into it the pearl lies hid in the field and ye are gazing up to Heaven how
that so the true distinction may be let into the mind and not a foundation layed of so great a mistake in a matter of so great concernment 1. A man may beleeve the history of the Scriptures yea and all the doctrines of them so far as he can reach them with his understanding with this faith which is of man As by this faith a man can believe an history probably related to him so by this faith may he beleeve the historyes of the Scriptures which are more then probably related As by this faith a man can receive doctrines of instruction out of Philosophers books so by the same faith he may receive doctrins of instruction out of the Scriptures Reading a relation of the fall of man of the recovery by Christ that there is no other way to life c. This faith can beleeve the relation of these things as well as it can beleeve the relation of other things 2. This being believed from the relation of the history of these things this naturally sets all the powers of man on work kindling the understanding will and affections towards the avoiding of misery and the attaining of happinesse What would not a man doe to avoid perpetuall extremity of misery on soul and body for ever and to obtain a crowne of everlasting blessednesse This boils the affections to an height and sets the understanding on work to the utmost to gather all the rules of Scripture and to practise all the duties and ordinances therein mentioned What can the Scripture propose to be believed that he will not believe What can it propose to be done that he will not do Must he pray he will pray Must be heat he will hear Must he read he will read Must he meditate he will meditate Must he deny himselfe and all his own righteousnesse and duties and hope only for salvation in the merits of Christ he will seeme to do that to and say when he has done all he can he is but an unprofitable servant Does the Scripture say he can doe nothing without the Spirit he will acknowledge that too and he hopes he has the Spirit God hath promised the Spirit to them that aske it and he has asked long and asks still and therefore he hopes he has it Thus man by a naturall faith grows up and spreads into a great tree and is very confident and much pleased not perceiving the defect in his root and what all his growth here will come to 3. This being done with much seriousnes and industry there must needs follow a great change in man his understanding will be more and more enlightened his will more and more conformed to that to which he thus gives himselfe up and to which he thus bends himselfe with all his strength his affections more and more warmed he will find a kind of life and growth in this according to its kind Let a mans heart be in any kind of study or knowledg applying himselfe strictly to it he gathers understanding in his mind and warmth in his affections so it is also here Yea this being more excellent in it selfe must needs produce a more excellent understanding and a more excellent warmth and have a greater power and influence upon the will 4. Now how easie is it for a man to mistake here and call this the truth First he mistakes this for the true faith and then he mistakes in applying to this all that which belongs to the true faith and thus entring into the spirit of error at first he errs in the whole course of his religion from the beginning to the end He sees a change made by this in him and this he accounts the true conversion and regeneration This leads him to ask and seek and pray and this he counts the true praying the true seeking the true asking This cleanseth after its kind his understanding will and affections and this he takes for the true sanctification The justification which is to the true beleever he also aplyes to this faith so he has a peace â— satisfaction a rest here and an hope of happinesse hereafter Thus he receives what is already revealed he waits for what may be further revealed which he can embrace and conform to turning still upon this center and growing up from this root And he that does not come hither in religion falls short of the improvement of mans nature and of the faith that grows there which naturally leads all the powers of nature hither and fixes them here which is but dead And now this man is safe he is a beleever he is a worshipper of God he is a Christian he is an observer of the commands of Christ when the overflowing scourge comes it shall not touch him all the judgements plagues threatnings in the Scripture belong not to him but to the unbelievers to them that know not God to them that worship not God to them that observe not the commands of Christ thus by his untempered morter from his false faith he has built up a wall against the deluge of wrath which wall will tumble down upon him when the wrath comes The growth of this faith and great spreading of it into all this knowledg zeal and devotion hath not changed the nature of it all this while but it is the same that it was at the beginning even a power of nature in the first birth and all these fruits are but the fruits of the first nature which is still alive under all this All this can never kill the principle out of which it grows but feeds it more and fattens it for the slaughter Thus far this faith can go But then there is somewhat it is shut out of at the very first There is somewhat this faith cannot receive beleeve or enter into What is that It is the life the power the inward part of this Though it may seem to have unity with all the Scriptures in the letter yet it cannot have unity with one Scripture in the life for its nature is shut out of the nature of the things there witnessed As for instance it may have a litterall knowledge of Christ according as the Scripture relates of his birth preaching miracles death resurrection ascention intercession c. Yea but the thing spoken of it knoweth not The nature of Christ which is the Christ is hid from that eye So it may have a litterall knowledg of the blood of Christ and of justification but the life of the blood which livingly justifieth that birth cannot feele but can only talk of it according to the relation it reads in the Scripture So it may have a litterall knowledge of sanctification but the thing that sanctifieth it cannot receive into it selfe So for redemption peace joy hope love c. it may get into the outward part of all these but the inward part the life the spirit of them it is shut out of and cannot touch or come neer nor can it witnesse
that change which is felt and knowne here And here is the great contention in the world between these two births the one contending for their knowledge in the letter and the other contending for their knowledge in the life the one setting up their faith from the naturall part calling it spirituall and the other who have felt the stroake of God upon this and thereby come to know the difference setting up the faith of the true heir which faith hath a different beginning and a different growth from the other and will be welcomed into the Land and Kingdom of life when the other will be manifested to be but the birth of the bondwoman and be thrust forth with its mother to seek their bread abroad for the seed of the bondwoman is not to inherit with Isaac the seed of promise Quest What then is that faith which is the gift of God and which is distinct from this Answ. It is that power of beleeving which springs out of the seed of eternall life and leavens the heart not with notions of knowledge but with the powers of life The other faith is drawn out of mans nature by considerations which affect the naturall part and is kept alive by naturall exercises of reading hearing praying studying meditating in that part but this springs out of a seed of life given and grows up in the life of that seed and feeds on nothing but the flesh and blood of Christ in which is the living vertue and immortall nourishment of that which is immortall This faith at its first entrance strikes that part dead in which the other faith did grow and by its growth perfects that death and raiseth up a life which is of another nature then ever entred into the heart of man to conceive And by the death of this part in us we come to know and enjoy life and by the life we have received know and enjoy we come to see that which other men call life and which we our selves were apt to call life formerly to be but death And from this true knowledg we give a true testimony to the world of what we have seen and felt but no man receiveth our testimony It grieves us to the heart to see men set up a perishing thing as the way to life and our bowells are exceedingly kindled when we behold an honest zeal and simplicity betrayed and in tender love do we warn men of the piâ— into which they are generally running so fast though men reward us with hatred for our good will and become ouâ— bitter enemies because we tell them the truth and the most necessary truth for them to know which they can bear neither in plain words nor yet in parables Yet be not rough and angry but meekly wait to read this following parable aright and it will open into life The parable is briefly this That which sold the birth-right seeks the birth right with tears and great pains but shall never recover it but there is one which lies dead which hath the promise which stirs not which seeks not till he is raised by the power of the fathers life and then he wrestles with the father prevails and gets the blessing from him Therefore know that part which is up first and is so busie in the willing and in the running and makes such a noise about duties and ordinances and graces to keep down the life which it hath slain and know that seed of life which is the heir which lyes underneath all this and must remain slain while this lives but if ever ye hear the voice of the Son of God this will live and the other dye And happy for ever will he be who knows this but misery will be his portion who cannot witnesse a thorow change by the Almighty power of the living God but hath only painted the old nature and Sepulcher but never knew the old bottle broken and a new one formed which alone is able to receive and retain the new wine of the Kingdom whereas the other Pharisee like can only receive a relation of the letter concerning the Kingdom SOME Assertions concerning faith its nature rise c. with its receiving of Christ and what follows thereupon namely a growing in his living vertue with a knowledge of the true living unerring rule and an obedience to it in the life Assertion I. THat the true faith the faith of the Gospel the faith of the Elect the faith which saves the sinner from sin and makes him more then a conquerour over sin and the powers of darknes is a beliefe in the nature of God which belief giveth entrance into fixeth in and causeth an abiding in that nature Uâ—belief entreth into death and fixeth in the death faith giveth entrance into and fixeth in the life Faith is an ingrafting into the Vine a partaking of the nature of the Vine a sucking of the juice of life from the vine which nothing is able to do but the faith but the beliefe in the nature And nothing can beleeve in the nature but what is one with the nature So then faith is not a beleeving the history of the Scripture or a beleeving and applying the promises or a beleeving that Christ dyed for sinners in generall or for me in particular for all this may be done by the unbelieving nature like the Jew but an uniting to the nature of God in Christ which the unbeliever starts from in the midst of his believing of these Yet I do not deny that all these things are to be believed and are believed with the true faith But this I affirm that they also may be believed without the true faith and that such a belief of these doth not determin a man to be a believer in the sight of God but onely the union with the nature of that life from whence all these sprang and in which alone they have their true value II. That the true faith springs from the true knowledge or comes with the true knowledge of the true nature of God in Christ which it believes in He can never believe in the nature of God who hath not first the nature of God revealed to him If a man search the Scriptures all his dayes hear all that can be said by men concerning God Christ faith justification c. be able to dispute about them and think he can make his tenets good against all the world yet if he hath not received the true knowledge of the nature of these things all his professed faith in them cannot be true III. That the true knowledge is only to be had by the immediate revelation of Christ on the soul No man knows the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son reveals him The dead shall hear the voyce of the Son of God and they that hear shall live There is no raising of a dead soule to life but by the immediate voyce of Christ Outward preaching reading the Scriptures c may direct