which would not that I should reign over them bring hither and slay them before me For of a truth the great Prophet is arisen and speaks in the heart and his sheep hear his voice there are many faithful witnesses thereof and he that will not hear his voice must be cut off there is no avoiding of it for the two-edged sword is in his hand and he will cut down the transgressor 8. The Church the true Church was lost The true Church was a company gathered out of the world into God begotten of and gathered into his life by the living word and so had a true place and habitation in God The Apostle Paul writing to the Thessalonians stiles them a Church in God A Church under the Gospel is made up of true Israelites gathered out of their own spirits and natures into the measure of the spirit of God in them as Christ was into the fulnesse They are such as are begotten of God born of his spirit led by him out of Egypt through the wildernesse to Sion the holy mount there they meet with the elect precious corner stone which is laid in Sion and they being living stones are built upon it into Jerusalem the holy City 1 Pet 2. 5 6. Ebr. 12. 22. This is the true Church Every one that believes in Christ is a living stone and being a living stone he is laid upon the living foundation and so is a part of the building in the Temple of the living God Yea his body and and spirit being clensed he himself is a Temple wherein God dwels appears and is worshipped And the gathering of any of these together at any time in the life in the name of Christ is a larger Temple and such a Temple as Christ never fails to be in the midst of But the great Temple the ful Church is the general assembly of the first-born This is the unerring pillar and ground of truth This alwaies bare up truth truth never failed here but when it was at any time lost in the world it might from hence be recovered again when God pleased and as far as he pleased Indeed the Law of the Lord hath alwaies gone forth from this Sion and the living word from this Jerusalem But what hath the Church been in the Apostacy a building of stone say some and that not onely among Papists but here in England also many have called the old Mass-house a Church a Temple the house of God pleading for it to be a holy place and have showed it by their practises keeping off their hats while they were in it Others say not the stone building but the people that meet there is the Church whereof many are openly prophane yea so far from being gathered into the spirit and so ignorant of his motions that they are ready to scoffe if they hear a man speak of being moved by the spirit What are these are these living stones whereupon the true Church alone can be built are these children of the day Nay these are children of the night children brought up in the Apostacy from the true light the true life the true rule of Christianity the true worship the true faith the true love c. and so are dead stones in that building but not true living stones in Gods building Other sorts separate from these and gather Congregations out of these but still in the same spirit in the same nature being not themselves gathered out of the Apostacy from the spirit into the spirit again and so they build but with the same stones as were in the old building and not with the new and living stones and so are but a more refined appearance of a Church but not a true Church Not a Church in God and by the gathering of his spirit but of their own gathering after a form according as they have imagined from their reading and studying of the Scriptures 9. Which may be the last instance The Ministry the true Ministry hath been lost The true Ministry was a ministry made and appointed by the spirit by the gift of the Spirit bestowed on them and by the spirit sending of them and appointing them to their work Christ bid his Apostles and Disciples wait at Jerusalem for the promise of the spirit and when he had given them the spirit he gave them to the Church for the work of the Ministry Ephes 4. 11. 12. Act. 20. 28. And if none can be a member of the true Church but by being begotten out of death into life by the spirit surely none can be able to minister to him who is so begotten but by the same spirit So these receiving their Ministry of the Lord Jesus Act. 20. 24. and the gift of the spirit from him they were made able Ministers of the new Testament not of the letter but of the spirit 2 Cor. 3. 6. They were able in God to minister from his spirit to the spirits of his people And they did not minister a literal knowledg of things to the understanding of man but they led men to the spirit of God and ministred spiritual things to that spiritual understanding which was given them of God Neither did they make use of their own wisdom and art to tickle the natural ear but spake to the conscience with the demonstration of the spirit in the sight of God as it pleased the spirit to give them utterance But how have Ministers been made in the Apostacy By orders from men set up in their own wils after their own inventions And how have they been qualified but by humane arts and languages which have been of high esteem in that which men call the Church since the language and skill of the spirit of God hath been lost God who chose in his own Church doth not chuse here who shall be his Ministers but any man can appoint his Son to be a Minister if he will but educate him in learning and send him to the University and so bring him into that way of order wherein men make Ministers and then he is able to minister unto man the things of man according to human skil And this in the dark night of apostacy must go for a true call to the ministery of God Indeed they are as true Ministers as the Church is to which they minister but they never were nor never can be thus made Ministers of the Church of God but as God alone can form and build his Church so he alone can fit and appoint the Ministers thereof And though others having seen the grossenes of this make their ministers by a call in their Church yet neither is that out of the apostacy but onely a striving of man to get out of it which man cannot possibly do till he meet with the spirit of God to lead out of it So that that Ministry also is but an invention of man made by man and comes not from the spirit nor is able to minister spirit to the spirit
had been kind to me in breaking of me in my religion and in visiting me with sweet and precious light from his own spirit but I knew it not I felt and could not but acknowledge a power upon me and might have known what it was by its purifying of my heart and begetting me into the image of God but I confind it to appear â—â— a way of demonstration to my reason and earthly wisedom and for want of satisfaction therein denyed it and rebelled against it and so after all my former misery lost my entrance and sowed seeds of new misery and sorrow to my own soul which since I have reaped So that I have no cause to boast over others but to lie low in abasement of spirit And what I write is not in any dominion or authority of my own but to bring others unto that dominion and authority which it is good for me and for every one else to be subject to The Lord strip us of our own understanding and of that righteousness which is but ours though we have called it his that so we may be gathered into and receive his understanding and be cloathed with his righeousness and feel his rest and peace And happy is he that loseth all to gain this but he that keepeth what he hath too long shall in the end lose all and yet not gain this neither Therefore be no longer wise in the eye of flesh or according to what man calleth wisdom but be truly wise If the Reader before he peruse this Book would be perswaded to amend with his Pen these Errors and mistakes of the Press some whereof make the sense difficult some wholly pervert it it may prove for his own ease and benefit Smaller errors as of adding or substracting letters or mistaking the stops the sence may somewhat help him in PAge 13 l. 7. r. And l. 31. r. It p. 16. l. 2. r. when l. 11. r. man p. 17. l. 3â— r. light p 18 l 15. r. is profitable p. 19. l 33. r. moving p. 21. l. 13. r. known p. 24. l. 11. r. enjoyed l. 36. r. cherished p. 27. l. 31. r. found p. 28. l. 19. for this r. the. p. 24. l. 15. r. of help p. 36. l. 8. r. to light p. 38. l. 27. r. pant p. 39. l. 1. 2. r. in simplicity l. 38. r. And then p. 40. l. 28. is dele p. 41. l. 2. got p. 44. l. 29. if ye p. 45. l. 1. thou that l. 23. were formed p. 51. l. 38. 39. would reach p. 53. l. 4. knew l. 20. he p. 54. slighted p. 60. l. 1. and witnesses p. 61. l. last Answ p. 66. l. 2. one of p. 67. 68. for the r. thee where the sence requires p. 68. l. 17. these l. 24. the delc p. 70. l. 7. as he doth p. 73. l. 14. as l. 24. betrayers of the life And so p. 75. l. 9. bringing forth p. 76. l. 16. world p. 77. l. last r. this p. 81. l. 6. seat p. 96. l. 19. this day l. 20. that Scripture l. 27. then they Some POSITIONS concerning the Apostacy from the Christian Spirit and Life Position I. THat ther hath been a great Apostacy from the spirit of Christ and from the true light and life of Christianity which Apostacy began in the Apostles dayes and ripened apace afterwards That the Apostles and Christians in their days had the true Spirit the true Light the true Life I think will not be denyed We know that we are of God and that the Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is true and we are in him that is true in his Son Jesus Christ This is the true God and eternall life 1 Joh. 5. 19. 20. They wer truly born of God and knew the Son of God come receiving from him a true understanding and the true light and knowledge in that understanding and both the understanding and knowledge was rooted and seated in him that is true wher their scituation abiding was we are in him that is true wher they met with the true Spirit the true God the true Life even life eternal That they had the true spirit from God because ye are Sons God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts Gal. 4. 6. that they had the true light from God God who commanded the light to shine out of darknesse hath shined in our hearts c. 2 Cor. 4. 6. that they had the true life from and in the spirit if we live in the spirit let us also walk in the spirit Gal. 5. 25. is generally acknowledged concerning them Now of an Apostacy from this beginning even in their dayes and to be compleated not long after the Scriptures also make mention The Apostle Paul speaks expresly of the thing that ther must come a falling away and a revealing of the man of sinne the son of perdition 2 Thes 2. 3. Christ the man of salvation had shewed and declared the path of life had discovered the true Church which was the pillar and ground of truth against which the gates of he I could not prevail had sent the true spirit which could lead into all truth and preserve in the truth but ther must spring up a man of sinne a son of perdition who in a mystery should work against this and cause a falling from this to another thing And this the Apostle did not onely give a touch of here in writing but he had likewise told them of these things by word of mouth to which he refers them vers 5. This wer enough to an ey opened but for further illustration to the thick understanding of man which is surrounded with fogs and mists of darknesse some more evidences from Scriptures may be given Christ foretold of false Prophets Mat. 7. 15. Beware of false Prophets which come to you in sheeps clothing but inwardly they are ravening wolves The Lord sent true Prophets under the Law and gave them true visions to declare Christ sent true Apostles and Ministers under the Gospel and gave them the truth which they should preach and propagate But then ther wer false Prophets false Apostles and Ministers to come after who never wer sent by Christ nor never received the truth from his spirit Now these do not come to gather into the life and truth of Christ but to scatter from it and so either to begin or uphold an Apostacy And saith Christ beware of them for they come very subtilly they come in the sheeps clothing They get the garment of the sheep upon their backs even that very garment which the sheep did wear but they have not the nature of the sheep but the nature of the wolfe which is ravenous after the life of the sheep Mark wher ther is the Garment without but not the nature within wher ther is the form of Godlinesse but not the power wher ther are Scripture-words and practises but not the spirit of
life from which they came ther 's the false Prophet ther 's the Wolf ther 's the Apostate ther 's the Seducer from Christ Aagin Christ fore-tells of many false Prophets Mat. 24. 11. And many false Prophets shal rise and shal deceive many and vers 24. For ther shal arise false Christs and false Prophets and shall shew great signs and wonders insomuch that if it were possible they shal deceive the very Elect. And as Christ himself so his Apostles also after him by the same spirit foretel of the same thing The Apostle Paul speaks of seducing spirits in the latter times and of Doctrines of Devils which should prevail to cause a departure in some from the faith 1 Tim. 4. 2. And if in those days the power of Seducers was so great as to draw from the truth which was then so manifest and living how easie would it be to keep from the truth afterward when it had been long lost and out of remembrance and thereby deceit got into the place and name of it The Apostle Peter also foretold of false Teachers who should privily bring in damnable heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and that they should so prevail that their pernitious wayes should be followed by many and the way of truth evil spoken of 2 Pet. 2. 1 2. Again Paul in his 2 d Epist to Tim. speaks of the last days that the times therin should be perillous Chap 3. Christ had said The love of many should wax cold and iniquity abound Mat. 24. 12. And Paul showes how the times would prove very perillous by the abounding of iniquity In the last dayes perillous times shall come for men shall be lovers of their owne selves covetous boasters proud blasphemers disobedient to Parents unthankeful unholy without natural affection truce-breakers false accusers incontinent fierce despisers of those that are good traytors heady high-minded lovers of pleasure more then lovers of God 2. Tim. 2. vers 1. 2 3 4. Behold what kind of fruit sprung up from the false doctrine of the false Teachers in the Apostacy from the truth And yet al this under a form of godlinesse Having a form of Godlinesse but denying the power therof vers 5. Christ sent the power of Godlinesse into the world to subdue the root from whence al this springs to kil the evil nature inwardly but in the Agostacy the evill nature is not killed but the power denyed which should kil it and the form kept up to cover the evil nature with The inwardly ravening nature which devours and destroyes the stirrings and shootings forth of the just one in the heart that gets the sheeps clothing the form of Godlinesse to cover it selfe with Look any wher among the Apostates from the Apostles spirit and doctrine and see Is selfe-love killed is covetousnesse killed is boasting and pride killed is the love of pleasures killed are Persecutors and oppressors killed and is your honour and glory laid in the dust Nay they are but covered with the form there life is stil in them the power wherewith they should be killed was at first denyed and now is lost and not known wher there is the life ther is the power and wher ther is the power the evil nature is killed but wher the evil nature is not killed ther is onely a form of godlinesse a covering a painted Sepulchre but rottennesse within Now those last dayes and last times were not far off but begun then For the Apostle exhorts Timothy to turn away from such vers 5. From such turn away intimating that even then there wer such to be turnedaway from And he saith vers 8. that they did then resist the truth like Jannes and Jambres who with a likenesse of what Moses wrought but without life did strive to resist the life and power that was in Moses And this is the work of all deceivers to get their own spirit into the likeness and then to make use of the likenesse to oppose and suppresse the true life and power So that they were come even then when the Apostle wrote this Epistle to Timothy And Jude saith that ungodly men turning the grace of God into lasciviousnesse and denying the onely Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ were crept in already vers 4. of his Epistle And the Apostle John speaks very expresly 1. Joh. 2. 18 19. Little Children it is the last time and as ye have heard that Antichrist shal come even now are ther many Antichists wherby we know that it is the last time They went out from us c. Christ instructing his Disciples concerning the last times tells them ther shall arise false Christs with great power of deceit Mat. 24. v. 24. Now saith John here ther are come many Antichrists wherby we know it is the last time Mark Ther wer many Antichrists to begin and lay the foundation of the apostacy and make way for the great Antichrist who was to be their successor in the apostacy and not the successor of the Apostles in the truth And these did not abide in the doctrine of the Apostles who preached the everlasting Gospel nor in the spirit and principle which they were in but went out from them from theit spirit from the anointing to which they kept and by which they were kept into another spirit and preached another Gospel a Gospel which was not the power of God to kil the earthly but consisted in such a dead literal knowledge of things as the earthly might be fed and kept alive by And as the great Antichrist was to come so there Antichrists who were to make way for him were already come and were already laying the foundation of and beginning the apostacy So that the Spirit of Antichrist that very spirit wherein Antichrist succeeded and in which he grew up and perfected the apostacy was then in the world as this Apostle saith yet more manifestly 1 Joh. 4. 3. This is that spirit of Antichrist wherof ye have heard that it should come à nd even now already is it in the world Nor was it idle but it was at work working it selfe into the form of godlinesse that it might eat out the power drive out the true spirit and make a prey of the life The mystery of iniquity saith the Apostle Paul doth already work 2 Thes 2. 7. This spirit did work in a mystery of iniquity to eat out the mystery of godlinesse and to set up this mystery of iniquity in the world instead of the mystery of godliness And it did prevail to wind it self into the form get possession of the form and also to trample upon keep under the life It gained the outward Court for when that spirit had corrupted it the Lord did not regard it but gave it up to it and it trod down the holy City Rev. 11. 2. And this mystery of iniquity did not begin to work many ages after the Apostles but even then in their dayes already The mystery
of iniquity doth already work And look now into the estate of the Churches then according to what the Scripture records of them and the symptoms of its working will plainly appear The Church of Ephesus among whom some of the grievous wolves had encred Act. 20. 29. had left their first love Rev. 2. 4. The Churches of Galatia wer bewitched from the Gospel Gal 3. 1. The Church at Coloss was entangled and made subject to the rudiments of the world and ordinances which perish with the using after the commandements and doctrines of men Col 2. v. 20 22. Mark When once one comes to be subject to the commandments and doctrines of men to perishing ordinances and worldly rudiments which men teach and command the true state is lost and the apostacy is entred into Here the wrong Teacher is teaching and he teacheth the wrong thing the wrong doctrines the wrong Commandments and the wrong ear is hearing which hears the wrong voice and knoweth not the true and so the more it heareth and practiseth and the hotter its zeal groweth the deeper it stil runs into the apostacy The Church at Corinth also was haunted with false Apostles 2 Cor. 11. v. 12 13. insomuch as the Apostle was afraid lest that Church should be corrupted by them vers 3. The Church in Pergamus had them that held the doctrine of Balaam Rev. 2. 14. The Church in Thyatira suffered the woman Jezebel which called her selfe a Prophetess to seduce and bring forth children in the apostacy Rev. 2. v. 20. and 23. The Church in Sardis had a name to live but was dead Rev. 3. 1. having defiled her Garments vers 4. The Church in Laodicea looked upon her self as rich and increased with goods as having need of nothing but was wretched miserable poor blind so then the ey was put out and naked wanting the gold wanting the rayment wanting the eye-salve Rev. 3. 17. 18. And lastly all the Gentiles were warned by Paul in his Epistle to the Church at Rome whereby that Church might look upon her selfe as more particularly concerned therein to look to their standing lest they falling from the faith from the truth from the life into the apostacy as the Jewes had done might also feel the severity of God as the Jewes had Chap. 11. ver 20 21 22. Thus it is evident that the apostacy had got footing and began to spread in the Apostles dayes and the Apostle John in the spirit beholding the future state of things sees it overspread and over-run al al Nations drunk with the cup of fornication Rev. 18. 3. The way of truth had been evil spoken of long before 2 Pet. 2. 2 and the rock of ages which alone can establish in the truth had been forsaken and al became as a Sea and up gets the beast which could not rise while the power of truth stood and the woman upon the beast with the cup of deceit and of errour from the life in her hand and this she gives all the Nations to drink and they drink and are drunk with it so that al Nations have been intoxicated with the doctrines and practises of apostacy They have took that for truth which the Whore told them was truth and they have observed those things as the commands of God which the Whore told them were the commands of God And by this means they have never come to be married to Christ to be in union with him to receive the law of life from his spirit and to know the liberty from the bondage of corruption but have been in the bed of fornication with the Whore and have pleased glutted and satisfied the whorish principle in themselves with this fornication And thus corruption did over-spread al the earth for taking in a corrupt thing in stead of the truth it cannot purifie the heart but corrupt it more A corrupt profession corrupt doctrines may paint and make a man to himselfe seem changed but the corruption still lodges within which a spiritual ey can easily discern though he that is in the corruption cannot The Pharisees did seem glorious to themselves but Christ saw through them And every sort of people now in their several strains and forms of apostacy seem glorious to themselves but the spirit of Christ sees through them al to that which lies underneath in whom it raigns and ther it finds corruption increased and strengthned in its nature by the form though outwardly painted with it Doth not fornication defile corrupt so doth the fornication of the Whorish spirit the earth was corrupted with it Rev. 19. 2. So that this hath been the universal state of Christendom since the apostacy the errour the deceit the fornication of the Whore hath corrupted them and withheld their eys from the sight of that life and truth which hath power in it to purifie them Peoples Multitudes Nations Tongues have been al waters weak unstable without any foundation in religion but fit to be swayed and tossed up and down with every wind or breath of the Whore of whose cup they had al drunk and by whose spirit they were all guided for the whore sate upon them Rev. 17. 15. The whore which had whored from God and so was not the true Church sate upon Peoples Multitudes Nations and Tongues She sate upon them she had them under her she ruled and guided them by her cup of fornication and with her spirit of fornication as a man would guide the beast whereupon he rides So that al that the Nations do from henceforth in religion is under the Whore according to her guidance by virtue of the wine that they have drunk out of her cup. And though God reserved to himselfe a remnant to worship him and give so ne testimony to his truth al this time yet the beast which was managed by the Whore had power over them power to make war with them power to overcome them Rev. 13. 7. The beast had power over all kindreds tongues and nations every wher to overcome the Saints and suppresse the truth they at any time were moved to give testimony to and to set up the worship of the beast and make al the earth fal down before that Rev. 13. 7. 8. And the second beast had and exercised al the power of the first beast and set up his image and gave it life and caused men generally to worship it Rev. 13. 12. And he caused al both smal and great rich and poor free and bond to receive his mark some way or other either in their right hand or in their forehead vers 16. And such as would not receive his mark nor worship him he had power to persecute and kil and he did kil them vers 15. and the Whore drunk their blood Chap. 17. 6. and God required it at her hand Chap. 19. 2. though she made the hand of the beast execute it and would seem to wash her own hands of it So that now since the dayes of the
Apostles even al this time of the Apostacy since the man child hath been caught up to God and was not to be found in the earth which makes it seem such a strange thing for people to say Christ is in them and the woman hath been in the wilderness and not in the habitable part of the world Rev. 12. 5. 6. if al this time any one wil look for the true religon for the true Church for the true knowledg and worship of God he must not look on any Nation or any People or among the Tongues which are cried up in Nations and people for the original and as the chief interpreters of the original for they are al drunk with the whores cup they are under the power dominion authority and service of the whore who rides upon the beast to whom power was given over al kindreds tongues and nations But look among the Nations who was persecuted whose blood was drunk whom the powers of the Nations made war against ther alone the testimony of Jesus is to be found Rev. 12. 17. ther alone are the witnesses against the present idolatry and corruption and to some truths or other of Christs which God enlightned them with and wherto he stirred them up to give their testimony though with the loss of their estates liberties or lives Now by what hath been expressed is it not manifest to every ey that hath room but to let in the letter of the Scripture in simplicity and plainness that there hath been a great apostacy from the true knowledge of Christ and an universal corruption power of death sprung up instead of the power of his life and grace The grace of God which bringeth salvation hath disappeared and the abomination of desolation hath took up its place and filled it with deadly venome against the truth and against the life so that enmity against God under a pretense of love and zeal to him hath reigned generally in the hearts of men from the times of the Apostles to this present day And as the light breaks forth and their eys come to be opened they wil see that they have been and are haters of God and of his life and spirit but lovers of the world and of such a religion as suits the worldly Spirit Position II. THat in this great Apostacy the true state of Christianity hath been lost This must needs be for if ther was an Apostacy from the thing ther could not be a retaining of the thing about which the Apostacy was If they apostatised from the spirit from the light from the life then they wer gone from it they lost it Now it may be instanced in every particular how the state of Christianity was lost but that would be too vast and tedious it may suffice therfore to instance in some considerables ones which may lead into the discovery of the rest 1. The true rule of Christianity or the rule of a Christian which is to direct guid and order him in his whole course was apostatized from and lost What is a Christians rule whereby he is to steer and order his course A Christian is to be a follower of Christ and consequently must have the same rule to walk by as Christ had A Christian proceeds from Christ hath the same life in him and needs the same rule Christ had the fulnesse of life and of his fulnesse we al receive a measure of the same life We are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones Ephes 5. 30. yea we came out of the same spring of life from whence he came for both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are al of one for which cause he is not ashamed to cal them brethren Ebr. 2. 11. Now what was his rule was it not the fulness of life which he received And what is their rule is it not the measure of life which they receive Was not Christs rule the law of the spirit the law which the spirit wrote in his heart And is not their rule the law of the spirit the law which the spirit writes in their hearts How was Christ made a King and a Priest was it by the law of a carnal commandment or by the power of an endles life And how are they made Kings and Priests to God Rev. 1. 6. Is it by the law of a carnal commandment or is it by the power of the same endles life Lo I come to do thy will O God saith Christ when he cometh into the world Ebr. 10. ver 5. 7. but by what rule by what law thy law is within my heart Psal 40. 8. And the same spirit who wrote it ther is also to write the new Covenant with al the laws of it in the heart of every Christian from the least to the greatest Ebr. 8. 9. 10. yea the same spirit that dwelt in Christs heart is to dwel in their hearts according to the promise of the Covenant Ezek. 36. 27. This was Pauls rule after which he walked the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus Rom. 8. 1 2. This made him free from the law of sinne and death Wher is the law of sin writ wher is the law of death writ is it not writ in the heart And must not the law of righteousness and life be writ ther also if it be able to deal with sin and death The spirit forms the heart anew forms Christ in the heart begets a new creature ther which cannot sin He that is born of God sins not and this is the rule unto righteousnes the new creature or the spirit of life in the new creature Gal 6. 15. 16. In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but a new creature And as many as walk according to this rule peace be on them Mark ther 's the rule the new creature which is begotten in every one that 's born of God If any man be in Christ he is a new creature and this new creature is to be his rule And as any man walks according to this rule according to the new creature according to the law of light and life that the spirit continually breathes into the new creature he hath peace but as he transgresses that and walks not after the spirit but after the flesh he walks out of the light out of the life out of the peace into the sea into the death into the trouble into the condemnation Here then is the law of the converted man the new creature and the law of the new creature is the spirit of life which begat him which lives and breathes gives forth his law continually in him Here 's a Christian here 's his rule He that hath not the new creature formed in him is no Christian and he that hath the new creature hath the rule in himselfe Ye have an unction from the holy one and ye know al things 1 Joh. 2. 20. How came they to know al things
doth not John say it was by the unction the anointing was in them a foundation or wel-spring of light and life issuing forth continually such Rivers and streams of life within as they needed no other Teacher in the truth and way of life ver 27. The Comforter did refresh their hearts sufficiently and lead them into all truth Search the Apostles Epistles and ye shall find them testifying of the Lords sending his spirit into the hearts of Christians and exhortations to them not to grieve or quench the spirit but to follow as they were lead They were to live in the spirit and to walke in the spirit Gal. 5. 25. and the spirit was to walk and live and bring forth his own life and power in them 2 Cor. 6. 16. And what can be the proper and full rule of Gods Sons and Daughters but the light of the spirit of life which they receive from their father Thus God did advance the state of a believer above the state of the Jews under the law for they had the law though written with the singer of God yet but in tables of stone but these have the law writ by the finger of God in the tables of their hearts Their's was a law without at a distance from them and the Priests lips were to preserve the knowledg of it and to instruct them in it but here is a law within nigh at hand the immediate light of the spirit of life shining so immediatly in the heart that they need no man to teach them but have the spirit of prophesy in themselves and quick living teachings from him continually and are made such Kings and Priests to God as the state of the law did but represent The Gospel is the substance of al the shadowes contained in the law A Christian is he that comes into this substance and lives in this substance and in whom this substance lives and his rule is the substance it self in which he lives which lives in him Christ is the substance who lives in the Christian and he in Crhist Christ lives in him by his spirit and he in Christ by the same spirit ther he lives and hath fellowship with the Father and the Son in the light wherin they live and not by any outward rule 1 Joh. 1. 6. 7. But what is the rule now in the Apostacy Among the Papists the rule is the Scripture interpreted by the Church as they cal themselves with a mixture of their own precepts and traditions Among the Protestants the rule is the Scriptures according as they can understand them by their own study or according as they can receive the understanding of them from such men as they account Orthodox And hence arise continual differences and heaps and sects one following this interpretation another that An this is a grievous apostacy and the root spring and foundation of al the rest for he that misseth in his beginning he that begins his Religion without the true rule how can he proceed aright in any thing afterwards Object But are not the Scriptures the word of God and is not the word of God to be a Christians rule If every one should be left to his own spirit what confusion and uncertainty would this produce Answ The Scriptures are not that living word which is appointed by God to be the rule of a Christian but they contain words spoken by the spirit of God testifying of that word and pointing to that word which is to be the rule Search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal life and they are they which testifie of me and ye will not come to me that ye might have life Joh. 5. 39. 40. The Scriptures are to be searched for the testimony which they give of Christ and when that testimony is received Christ is to be come to and life received from him But the Pharisees formerly and Christians since I mean Christians in name search the Scriptures but do not come to Christ for the life but stick in the letter of the Scriptures and oppose the life with the letter keeping themselves from the life by their wisdome and knowledg in the letter Thus they put the Scriptures into the place of Christ so honor neither Christ nor the Scriptures I had been no honour to John to have been taken for the light his honour was to point to it nor is it any honour to the Scriptures to be called the word of God but their honour is to discover and testifie of the word Now hear what the Scriptures cal the word In the beginning was the Word and the word was with God and the word was God Jho 1. 1. and the word was made flesh vers 14. This was the name of Christ when he came into the world in the flesh to sow his life in the world And when he comes again into the world out of a far Country to fight with the beast and false Prophets and to clense the earth of the Whores fornication and idols wherewith she had corrupted it he shal have the same name again his name is called The word of God Rev. 19. 13. So Peter calleth that the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever 1 Pet. 1. 23. And this word that liveth and abideth for ever was the word that they preached ver 25. And they that believed did not cry up the words that the Apostles spake for the word but received the thing they spake of the ingrafted word which being received with a meek quiet and submissive spirit is able to save the soul Jam. 1. 21. This is the word of faith that is nigh in the heart and in the mouth Rom. 10. 8. This is the word that stands at the door of the heart and speaks to be let in Behold I stand at the door and knock and when it is let in it speaks in the heart what is to be heard and done It is nigh it is in the heart and in the mouth to what end that thou mightest hear it and do it The living word which is quick and powerful and sharper then any two edged sword divides in the mouth and divides in the heart the vile from the precious yea it reacheth to the very inmost of the heart and cuts between the roots Ebr. 4. 11. and this thou art to hear and do Thou art to part with al the vile words the vile conversation the vile course and worship of the world outwardly and the vile thoughts and course of sin inwardly as fast as the word discovers them to thee and to exercise thy selfe in that which is folly and madnesse to the ey of the world and a grievous cross to thine own worldly nature yea when the word reaches to the very nature life and spirit within from whence al that comes that strong wise root of the fleshly life in the heart must not he spared nor that foolish weak thing to mans wise ey which is brought in stead
thereof be rejected which when it it received is but like a little seed even the least of all seeds and when it growes up it is a long while but like a child and yet keeping in that childishness out of the wisdom it enters into that Kingdom which the greatest wisdom of man in al his zealous waies and forms of religion fels short and is shut out of This is the word of life this is the true living rule and way to eternal life and this is the obedience this is the hearing and doing of the word He that hath an ear let him hear Examine your selves whether ye be in the faith prove your own selves Know ye not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be reprobates 2 Cor. 13. 5. Are ye in the faith then Christ is in you Is not Christ in you then ye are in the reprobate state out of the faith Is Christ in you and shal he not hold the reins and rule shal the living word be in the heart and not the rule of the heart shal he speak in the heart and the man or woman in whom he speaks run to words of Scripture formerly spoken to know whether these be his words or no Nay nay his sheep know his voice better then so Did the Apostle John who had seen and tasted and handled and preached the word of life send Christians to his Epistles or any other part of Scriptures to be their rule Nay he directed them to the anointing as a sufficient Teacher 1 Joh. 2. 17. He that believeth on me as the scriptuce hath said out of his belly shal flow rivers of living water Joh. 7. 38. He that hath the fountain of life in him issuing up rivers of living water continually hath he need to go forth to fetch in water The Kingdom of heaven is within you saith Christ and he bids seek the kingdom Light the candle sweep thine own house seek diligently for the kingdom there it is if thou canst find it Now he that hath found the kingdom within shal he look without into words spoken concerning the kingdom to find the lawes of the kingdom Are not the lawes of the kingdom to be found within the kingdom Shal the kingdom be in the heart and the laws of the kingdom written without in a book Is not the Gospel the ministration of the spirit and shal he who hath received the spirit run back to the letter to be his guid shal the living spirit that gave forth Scriptures be present and not have preheminence above his own words What is the proper intent of the letter is it not to testifie of the spirit and to end in the spirit The Law the Prophets John led to Christ in the flesh and he was to be the increasing light when they should decrease Christ words in the flesh the Apostles words afterwards and al words since are but to lead to Christ in the spirit to the eternal living substance and then the words of Christ of the Apostles or any words spoken from the same spirit in these dayes have brought to the spirit to the feeling and setling of the soul in the living foundation and to the building and perfecting of the man of God therein they have attained their end and glory But to cry up these not understanding their voice but keeping at a distance from the thing that they invite to the words hereby are put out oftheir place out of their proper use and service and so attain neither their end nor their glory And though men put that upon them which seems to be a greater glory namely to make them his rule and guid yet it being not a true glory it is no glory but a dishonour both to them and to the spirit who gave them to another end Now for the other part of the Objection that if men should be lest to their own spirits and should follow the guidance of their own spirits it would produce confusion and uncertainty I do acknowledge it it would do so But here is no leaving of a man to his own spirit spoken of or intended but the directing and guiding of a man to the word and spirit of life to know and hear the voice of Christ which gathers and translates man out of his own spirit into his spirit and here is no confusion or uncertainty but order certainty and stability The light of Gods spirit is a certain and infallible rule and the ey that sees that is a certain ey whereas mans understanding of the Scriptures is uncertain and fallible he having not the true ear receiveth such a literal uncertain knowledg of things into his uncertain understanding as deceives his soul And here man in the midst of his wisdom and knowledg of the Scriptures is lost in his own erring and uncertain mind and his soul deceived for want of a true root and foundation of certainty in himself But he that is come to the true shepherd and knows his voice he cannot be deceived Yea he can read the Scriptures safely and taste the true sweetnesse of them for he being in the life can taste the sweetnesse of the words that came from the life but man who is out of the life feeds on the husks and can receive no more He hath gathered a dead dry literal husky knowledg out of the Scripture and that he can relish but should the life of the words and things there spoken of be opened to him he could not receive them he himself being out of that wherewith they were wrote and wherein alone they can be understood But poor man having lost the life what should he do he can do no other but cry up the letter and make as good shift with it as he can though his soul the mean while is starved and lies in famine and death for want of the bread of life and a wrong thing is fed The Scribes and Pharisees made a great noise about the law and ordinances of Moses exclaiming against Christ and his disciples as breakers and profaners of them yet they themselves did not truly honor the law and ordinances of Moses but their own doctrines commandements and traditions So these now who make a great noise about the Scriptures and about the institutions of the Apostles do not honor the Scriptures or the institutions of the Apostles but their own meanings their own conceivings their own inventions and imaginations thereupon They run to the Scriptures with that understanding which is out of the truth and which never shall be let into the truth and so being not able to reach and comprehend the truth as it is they study they invent they imagine a meaning they form a likeness a similitude of the truth as neer as they can and this must go for the truth and this they honor and bow before as the will of God which being not the will of God but a likeness of their own inventing and forming they
stirrings of the spirit of God And this is the best way for man in this state to know them by That which discovers that which is evill that is good that which discovers that which is spiritually evill that must needs be spiritually good for evll is darkness and cannot make it self manifest That which discovers that which is undoubtedly pure and inclines to it that must needs be of God Now to know this and be joyned unto it is a joyning of the creature unto God by some what of him that comes from his spirit and so is a true beginning of life eternal 7. That whereby the spirit of God convinceth of sin is his light shining in the conscience Fallen man is darkness The light shines in the darkness and shews man the evill which otherwise would ly covered in him Man fel from God lost the image of God and became wholly darkness but the spirit of God is light and shines in the darkness and strives with man to reduce him back again to that light from which he fel. God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God c. 2. Cor. 4. 6. Where did the Apostles and Christians in those dayes meet with the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in Christ God shined it in their hearts He that made the light to shine out of the dark deep Genes 1. 2. by his spirit he by the same spirit made the light of the knowledge of life shine in their dark hearts and there it is also that the work of conviction is wrought by the same spirit He that perfects the good work in the heart the same is he that begins it there and his beginning is by reproving and convincing of sin and so turning the heart from it unto God and unto the obedience of that righteousness which he makes manifest And he that meeteth not with the spirit in the beginning of his work or slinketh back and goeth not on with him but smothereth his reproofes not forbearing that or parting with that for which he is reproved is never like to meet with him in the end And then it will be too late for him to blame that Religion wherein there was only a dead form but not the living power of God He that will come to life eternal must be translated out of his dead understanding and all his dead wayes and worships which please that understanding into a living principle and keep in that principle and then he shall know life indeed and the true food of that life and the true worship and service from that life and the reward belonging to all 8. That this light convincing of sin shineth in every conscience He hath shewed thee O man what is good Micah 6. 8. The life which was in Christ was the light of men Joh. 1. 4. Christ is the light of the World Joh. 8. 12. God as he loved the World so he manifested his love to the World by sending his light into it to enlighten every man that cometh into the World that with the light they might see his Son and as many as receive him to them he gives power to become the Sons of God As God would have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth So he hath given that light to all which may bring to the knowledge of the truth which saveth He is the true light which enlighteneth every man that cometh into the World Joh. 1. 9. The grace of God which bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men c. As the enemy got possession of every mans heart by filling it with darkness so Christ pursueth and seeketh to dispossess the enemy by the light which he sendeth after him into every man And this is the condemnation of man not that he wants a light to witness against and draw him from the enemy but that he loves the enemy and chuseth to be one with the enemy but hates the light and turns from it Joh. 3. 10. 20. He hearkens to the reasonings of his minde against the light and so smothers and choaks it but does not turn to the light to have all the reasonings and strength of his minde subdued by it and subjected to it 9. The true way to life eternal is by believing in the light of the spirit which shineth in the conscience Man is in darkness which keeps him in death and there is no way to come out of the death but by coming out of the darkness and there is no way to come out of the darkness but by following that light which discovers it and cals forth from it And he that doth follow that cannot remain in the darkness but must needs come out There is an evil principle in man calling for evil and there is a good principle calling from the evil to the good Now he that follows the good cannot follow the evil but departs from it I am the light of the World saith Christ he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life Joh. 8. 12. But this is that which undoes man he loves the darkness he loves the world the course of the world the worships of the world He loves his own understanding and his own will and so hates that light which crosseth these which teach would him by the denial of them to crucify that nature from whence they spring and to which they are sutable And from hence it comes to pass the love to sin within being strong and Satan the strong man keeping the house that the motions of Gods spirit are easily overborn either by reasonings of the understanding or by perversnes of the will But if man durst trust himself to them he would quickly finde of what nature they were by the strong opposition of the strong man against them It is indeed a strait and narrow way into which no flesh can enter and walk And yet it is the only way for there is no life in God no peace with God while the enemy lives in the heart But when the light is received and turned to then the power begins to work which slayes the enemy in the heart and that being done there is no more war but peace Then the true peace which passeth understanding fills and refreshes the heart where as the peace which was in the soul before was but the peace of the enemy and will abide no longer then the enemy is suffered to keep possession quietly 10. That believing in the light of the Spirit which shines in the conscience unites the soul to God and opens the springs of life to it Belief in darkness which is unbelief towards God disunited the soul and closed up the springs of life from it belief in the light which is sent to lead from the darkness unites again and opens the springs again God is light he dwels in the
Serpent that truth cannot come any where but it finds the enmity already stirred up and prepared to withstand it This is a new way a new light saies one we know a Religion before this came up and we wil keep to that let who wil run after these new sects and ways A natural light the old light of nature saith another or the corrupted light of Adam which hath run along through all his posterity Another out-cry is that it makes the Scriptures void and useless Others cry out that it teacheth things contrary to the Scriptures that it sets up free-wil that it leads to a covenant of works that it breaks down Relations Laws Governments takes away due respect from Magistracy and Superiours and turns the world upside down Thus the worldly spirit is every where up in arms and a zeal kindled every where to keep it out of every heart and out of every place and country Now these are not real things but such kind of slanders and reproaches as alwaies have attended truth The Prophets of God Christ and his Apostles though they have been spoken wel of afterwards yet they have ever been hated spoken il of and persecuted by the generation of professors of their age The Scribes and Pharisees could not with so great advantage have persecuted Christ and his Apostles without a seeming zeal for the Law and Prophets and yet it was the same spirit that so vehemently cryed up the Law the Prophets the Ordinances of Moses that persecuted the spirit and life in Christ and his Apostles from whence the Law the Prophets and Ordinances came And thus it is at this day though that Spirit is as blind now as it was then and cannot see through its own cover though it be as weak and narrow as theirs was The guilty chargeth the innocent that it might hide its own guilt and keep its covering The guilty Jewes and the guilty Scribes and Pharisees charged the Prophets Christ and his Apostles that they might not be found guilty by them and their formal covering rent from them And thus it is at this day Truth is risen to make manifest mens false coverings and the guilt and hypocrisy that lies hid underneath now to save themselves they are prepared before hand to lay that charge against truth which truth hath against them Search thine heart resist not the light thou that haste charged the truth with any of these things and thou wilt find it thine own condition The truth is no new light or new way and they that hold it forth do not hold forth any new way or new light but it is thou that hast left the good old light the good old way which was before the apostacy and hast fallen in with some new light some new way invented and set up since the Apostacy It is thou again that settest up the natural light the fallen wisdom the wisdom which is out of the life and in enmity with the life with this thou feedest that understanding which is to be brought to naught and when thou hast done this thy selfe then thou callest the spiritual light wherewith God hath pursued it in all ages a natural light It is thou that with this wisdom searching into the Scriptures and gathering the oldness of the letter into the old understanding makest the Scriptures void and useless to thy soul and canst not meet with that life and power which they speak of but stil art alive in thy sins and dead unto God and then thou cryest out against that which comes to discover this to thee and to bring thee out of this dead knowledg into the life of the Scriptures thou cryest out against this as if this made the Scriptures useless And when thou hast set up an whole body of knowledge religion and worship quite contrary to the Scriptures which the truth comes to make manifest then Cains nature riseth up in thee and thou takest up Cains weapons and fain wouldest thou kill thy brother because his sacrifice in the faith testifies against thine which is out of the faith and contrary to the true testimony of the Scriptures Again for free-wil and a Covenant of works Thou hast set up a religion in the old will and works not according to the new Covenant of life but according to the old Covenant of death and by this thou preachest that wil to be free which is in bonds and settest up the works of mans righteousness and conformity to the letter for the works of the new Covenant And for Governments and Laws That which is according to God which is a terror to the evil and a praise to them that do wel that which is liberty to the just and a curb to the unjust this thou art against and cryest out daily for the turning of the Magistrates Sword against the innocent because they are a light to discover thy deeds of darkness which be out of the light and disturb thy peace and thy settlement in that which is fleshly and of man and not of God So for relations and honour to Magistrates The transgressing nature hath brought up a wrong thing a fleshly thing an honour a duty which is of the flesh and pleaseth the flesh and is not according to God And this is not honour indeed not an honour that wil stand not an honour that will be justified in the sight of God but is a shame to them that give it and a shame to them that receive it discovering that they are servants to the flesh giving to and receiving from the fleshly part that which the fleshly part which crucifies the life cals for and is pleased with All that the light doth to these things is to discover and condemn them and the end of its discovery is that they might be removed and truth and righteousness brought in the stead of them But mans evil heart which is the cause of them cries out against the light as if the light brought them whereas if man could but be quiet and stil and suffer the work of the light upon him he would find that the same light which discovereth them would also purge them away and leave neither root nor branch of iniquity either in mens hearts or in relations or families or towns or cities or laws or governments and there would be no want of honour Now though the Serpents wisdom is irreconcilable that understanding which stands there cannot be satisfied but must be confounded and brought to nought 1 Cor. 1. 19. yet because underneath all this there is a simplicity in some which is betrayed for the relief of that somewhat further may be spoken in answer to these things Object 1. To the first Objection that this is a new way or new light I answer Answ It is new indeed to them who have lain long in the Apostacy and set up another light but it is not new in it self but the same that was in the beginning yea and before the beginning also
by this woman and her seed and this hath been the state of the Church for many ages since the dayes of the Apostles she hass been fled and her seed made war against and killed and her heir caught up to God and the Nations which should have been ruled by her heir the whore hass set upon them and the peoples and the multitudes which he should have governed hath been the seat of the Harlot the mother of all abominations and was it not like to be so and how should it be otherwise when the manchild the womans heir hass been caught up to God and he hass been as prevailed against and the remnant of the womans seed made war against and killed and this hath been since the dayes of the Apostles and so all you Churches and sects by what name soever you are known in the World you are the seed of the great whore and she hath brought you forth while the other woman hass lodged in the Wilderness and remains childless if any man have an ear to hear let him hear Now it may be objected to me and thus may it be said by this accompt the Church the Lambs wife hass been prevailed against by the whore because it is said she hath killed the Saints the members of Jesus and of the Church this seems to shew as if the Church of Christ had been prevailed against but Christ sayes the gates of hel shall not prevail against them but she should remain for ever and the gates of hel should not prevail against her and how doth these two things agree it seems doubtful to us may some say Answ To all this I do answer the true Church the spouse of Christ in her self was never prevailed against so as not to be in being or that she was not but in her self hass remained in being and not prevailed against so as not to have a place or being and Christs words are true she hass had a place and being to wit in the desert Wilderness which place was prepared her of God there to be fed for such a time So she hass a place and has a being though in the Wilderness a place desolate and of mourning So she hass not been prevailed against as that she hass not had a being but the Lambs wife the mother of the heir that which is perfectly so which was and is to be joyned to Christ which is of his flesh and bones taken out of him that cannot be prevailed against never was nor never shall be for the divel nor Satan hath nothing in him of whose flesh and bones she is which is taken out of him and it is as possible for to prevail against him as to prevail against her for she is of him as Eve was of Adam if any have an ear to hear they may hear But her off-spring hass been overcome her seed made war against and her heir taken away and caught up from her so she not prevailed against nor overcome though banished into the Wilderness fled thither and there hass she fed and had a place and hass been left childless as I have said So the mother and the Lambs wife hath had a being and in her selfe never prevailed against nor overcome and Christ's words are true yet hath her seed been killed and made war against and overcome as John said and both these are true and this is my answer and if any have an ear to hear they may hear though a parable to the world yet plain to the seed which now God hath raised and is raising for the woman again is returning and her seed again is springing and she is becoming as fruitful as ever and her glory shal be as great the light of heaven shal cloath her and the light of the night shal be under her feet as perfectly when she is restored as it was before the apostacy though people cannot believe this in the apostacy No revevelation nor immediate teaching nor miracles now to be expected cry the professors and these false sects and Churches it was extraordinary times and extraordinary manifestations were amongst the Apostles and Churches of old say they but the same now is not to be expected nor never to be looked for but thus they are in blindness and ignorance and unbelief But we believe the glory of this woman that hath been long fled into the wilderness and hath been long without issue while she hath been fled shal have the same fruit and issue and the same clothing that she had before she fled When the whore and her seed is removed from the face of the earth the glory of the Lambs wife shal be as great her beauty as fair her fruit as plenteous as before the whore was and they that believe it not believes not the Scriptures for that testifies of the glory of the Church to be the greatest in the last dayes as we are sure and certainly know it shal come to pass when the waters are dried up which hath been the seat of the great whore Now though all those Churches and sects of people are said to be and known to be the seed of the whore and not of the Virgin as I have declared and though Nations and Peoples and multitudes have been all running to sornication and been deceived and made drunk yet this I have to say in all sorts of people and amongst all those sects amongst Papists and Protestants and all sects risen out of them in thousands of people notwithstanding the darkness and all the Apostacy that has ruled in the general yet in some of all sorts and sects there hath been a sincerity and simplicity and a desire and zeal for God and of God in them and amongst them yet the sincerity simplicity and desire which hath stirred in some of all sects it hath no soonet appeared but it hath been smitten and betrayed by the wicked without and so by the error of judgement within for even amongst the worst of sects we know there is some in whom there is simplicity and sincerity and zeal and yet erre in judgment for this is possible and we know it is so with thousands and ten thousands at this day there may be a simplicity and zeal and sincerity of heart and yet err in judgement the judgment not truly guided by the Spirit of the Lord but a false spirit and a false thing even the spirit of whoredom it self ruling the judgment and be chief there and this destroyes murders and betrayes the zeal and simplicity and this is and hath been ever since the dayes of the Apostles great error in judgment and the judgement of all those sects have been mis-guided and misted and a false thing and not the spirit of the Lord has guided the judgment and thereby the true sincerity zeal and simplicity hath been enslaved and held under by reason of the erring in judgment and the state of such are truly to be lamented where simplicity is devoured and sincerity
he that believes hath the witness in himself and he that believes sets to his seale that God is true who hath sent his Son to inlighten him him by whom the World was made in whom was life and his life was the light of men and this is it which shines in darkness and the darkness cannot comprehend it And there is the state of all confusion and Sects and opinions upon the earth the darkness professing Christs the Prophets the Apostles Davids Abrahams and the Saints words and yet the darkness cannot comprehend the light which Christ hath inlightned them withall so the darkness is not in unity with Abrahams Davids Christs and the Apostles words but be all on heaps about them Therefore as light shines out of darkness shining in the heart giving the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ the end of the Prophets Abrahams Moses Davids and the Apostles words Christ Jesus is known in whom is the unity and reconciliation and no darkness at all but unity with God and with his Prophets words and his Apostles and servants before Abraham was in this unity all come into life and light to the spirits of just men made perfect And to you this is the word of the Lord God and to your age and generation the cause of all deceit and strife upon the earth is because men have been in transgression Heathens Jews and Gentiles from Christ the light under the devils power out of truth the cause of all Christians being on heaps one with another and their bad conversation that the heathen cries shame of them hath been because they have been out of the light which they have professed in which they should have served God and had unity with Scriptures and one with another and with God and with that answer the principle of God in all upon the the earth and not by serving Jdols because of the vanities of their minds and unconverted state so all upon the earth that sets up likenesses and Jmages are under vanities because of the corruption of their own minds and the vanity of them But the day of restauration is come into Christ the light and covenant of God and all upon the earth that sets up Jmages and Jdols liknesses and serves dead works and hath a dead faith and not the faith of Abraham the faith of the elect that gives every one to see Christ and have accesse to God and such need not to have any dead thing to put them in minde of him so all that set up such things whatsoever likenesses and Jmages doth the light which Christ hath inlightned them withall bring them off from into light and covenant with God loving it unto salvation and to see it and to covenant with God there is every ones teacher loving it there is every ones condemnation hating it and they there with the light that every one is inlightned withall shall come to see the Prophet raised up and there none shall be cut of that do hear this Prophet and there every one shall have his reward according to his works from the Son who hath inlightned them who is come to judge the World in righteousness who is now set down upon his Throne So all Nations are called are commanded to come in and to hear the Son of God and learn of the Son of God hear the beloved Son of God and cease from all them that are made of men and by men that they may come to hear the Son of God themselves and receive the Son of God and receiving him they receive life by whom the World was made coming into the light that he is enlightned withall then every one may freely declare what he sees and hears and handels and every one sees him by whom the World was made who is the light and life and resurrection and wisdom and sanctification and justification from all things in which light the covenant of God you have peace with God that you may see him to the beginning G. F. An addition concerning the doctrine of Justification BEcause the doctrine of Justification is of great concernment and the enemy of mankind hath exceedingly endeavoured to corrupt it and in the Apostacy hath greatly prevailed and the darkness which springs up in the fleshly wisdom is exceeding thick at the day concerning this thing therefore in true love to souls it is laid upon me to search into the Scriptures which chiefly speaks thereof and from thence to clear it up to such who are not yet come to the life that gave forth the Scriptures The Apostle Paul doth largely and fully treat of it in his Epistle to the Romans and lays down several things concerning it which if wel heeded may dash mens present apprehensions about it and bring them to wait for the opening of those Scriptures to them in another light then you have yet known 1. He affirms that Justification is not by the deeds of the Law Ro. 3. 20. If a man could say with the young man All these things have I done from my youth or as Paul that he was as touching the Law blameless yet could he not be justified thereby And the Apostle gives a mighty reason for by the law is the knowledg of sin Now Justification is not by the making of sinne known but by that which saves and delivers from it The knowledg of sin may put a man upon seeking out for justification but it cannot justifie him but rather condemn him but that which delivers him from the sin which the law makes known that justifies him 2. He affirms that the righteousness of God which is the justification is manifested without the law v. 21. The Law makes sin known and shews the sinner the need of justification but the justification it self is not thereby but is manifested without it The Law commands the nature to act that pertains to similitudes figures and types and shadows to the obedience of them but the seed takes away the nature that pertains to similitudes and shadows and the works of the law so to the obedience of those things the law commands there is justification by the law in the obedience to the works it commands but the justification Christ removes the nature that pertains to those things the law commands so that justification the law ends in Christ 3. That this righteousness or justification is witnessed by the law and the Prophets v. 21. The law though it is not the justification nor can the justification be by obedience to it or by the deeds of it yet it gives testimony to the justification for the substance of what the law and all the Prophets witness is that nothing can justifie but the righteousness of God 4. That this righteousness or justification is by the faith of Christ v. 22. by believing or entring into that which justifies As condemnation was by unbelier by joyning unto and entring into the spirit of enmity so justification is by joyning