by the Spirit of the Father which is the knowledge and confession of all the Children of the true and heavenly Mother which is the Mother of all that are born of the Spirit He repeateth â—hose words of mine That we do not make any finite thing our Righteousness but Christ of God is made into us Righteousness This he saith Is well spoken aâ—d wisheth we may alwayes abide on this confession Answ These words arose in me from an inward feeling of him who giveth Righteousness and of the Righteousness given and the Lord preserving me in that Life I shall feel so for ever and confess so for ever And truly I can testifie of no other Righteousness For blessed be the name of my God I feel the Righteousness of his Son revealed in me dayly from Faith to Faith In his name I have been gathered in his name I live and in him I feel Righteousness and indeed there is nothing but Righteousness Holyness Truth Life and Salvation and the like in him And he that is truly in him is Righteous and Holy in him there being in him a new creating of all that are there and a renewing into the holy and heavenly Image which consists in the Righteousness and Holyness of Truth He desireth me to give a plain answer to this Question Is Christ of God made our Righteousness by faith in his blood or in his Spirit Answ A pretended Faith in Christs blood without Faith in his Spirit is but dead and notional Except ye eat my flesh and drink my blood saith Christ ye have no Life in you It is the Spirit that quickeneth the Flesh saith he profiteth nothing Now the Faith must be in that which quickeneth And the Faith in that which quickeneth is Holy and Righteous and the man who is found in it is Justified through that Faith in the quickening Power in the sight of God Thus Abraham was Justified in the sight of God and thus are the Children of Abraham to be Justified even through believing in that holy Power and Spirit which requireth obedience and Justifieth the obedient and condemneth the disobedient for ever Rom. 4.24 He saith He fears a Snake in this green grass when I say from his Life Virtue and Power revealed in us is our conformity to him Answ It were better and safer for him to fear at home For the Snake is in his own grass and many notional high soaring expressions without true knowledge But can there be any conformity to Christ without his Life Vitrtue and Power inwardly revealed what else can conform unto and bring forth in the Image and likeness of Christ He saith He feareth lest I make this Life and Virtue our Righteousness which is indeed the fruits of it .. Answ Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge and runneth out from the Truth into his own imaginations What was Christs Righteousness Was it not the Life the Virtue the Spirit of the Father in him he being one with it in the Faith of it and in the obedience to it And is not the Righteousness of the head and the body the same communicated from the head to the body Are they not all of one and the Righteousness one and the same in both So much of Christs Spirit so much of his Righteousness And out of his Spirit out of his Righteousness for evermore For the Righteousness of the Son is revealed and communicated from Faith to Faith in his Spirit And so Christ is indeed made Righteousness to them that are found in his Spirit and they are covered with the garment of Righteousness and Salvation who are covered with his Spirit He saith Our Righteousness is before this Answ What is our Righteousness before any of the Life Virtue and Power of Christ revealed in us Is God a respecter of Persons Doth he Justifie any out of the holy Covenant before he hath made a change in him How doth this man with his vain imaginations turn the whole way and councel of God upside down He brings a Scripture to prove this The Spirit is life for righteousness sake Answ That Scripture which is Rom. 8.10 speaks of those in whom Christ is and dwels And there indeed The Body is dead because of sin and the Spiritis Life because of Righteousness This is plainly spoken and plainly felt and known as it is spoken O that he had the true sence and understanding of it as it is in Jesus He saith Righteousness is in order of nature before Sanctification Answ That which is holy is Righteous There is nothing Righteous in the eyes of the pure God but that which is holy The Head was really holy and Righteous and they that are in him pâ—rtakes of his Holyness and Righteousness and are really Holy and Righteous in him And Faith which purifies the heart and through which Sanctification is must needs be in order of nature before the Justification which is by it for God Justifieth no unbelievers but believers only Yea the wicked must forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and turn unto the Lord which cannot possibly be without some degree of Sanctification before the Lord will have mercy and pardon the Soul its sins Isa 55.7 and chap. 1.16 17 18. He saith Justification is an act of Grace passed upon us by God freely without respect to us as Godly nay properly reflecting on us in that moment as ungodly Answ I charge this in the sight of God for absolutely false Doctrine and contrary to the Gospel For God Justifieth no man as ungodly but calleth upon men to repent and turn from their ungodlyness and he will have mercy upon them Justifie and save them Now mâ—n are not ungodly in turning from their ungodlyness but changed And so their state is in some measure changed before Justified If Abraham was ungodly when God called him Yet in forsaking his own Country and following the Lord and offering up his Son he was obedient and not ungodly and in that obedience he was Justified A man may have notions of Justification in his mind and accordingly take himself to be Justified when he is not But there is no man Justified by the Lord till he be changed translated into him in whom God Justifieth out of the place of condemnation into the place of Justification For till men are changed by the Spirit and Power of the Lord they are but darkness and in the darkness where no Justification is It is the Believing the Obedient the Children of Light that are Justified by the Lord. He saith Were we godly before or at that time it were no act of Grace to pronounce us Righteous Answ He that witnesseth Salvation in Christ Jesus witnesseth it to be a continued act of Grace Grace appears to the Soul Grace teacheth Grace enableth Grace maketh a change from the ungratiousness of the heart and state and then Grace or God by his Grace in and through Christ Jesus forgiveth the sins that were
Land He addeth I firmly believe and so have all the Saints that have gone before that Christ is a Person and his Spirit is a living Principle in the hearts of all the faithful but it is not the Spirit or Principle in us that did redeem us but the man Christ Jesus Ans If he mean by the man Christ Jesus The second Adam the quickening Spirit the heavenly Man the Lord from heaven he who is one with the Father the Word which was in the beginning which created all things I grant him to be the Redeemer for it was he who laid down his glory wherewith he was glorified before the World was and made himselfe of no reputation but took upon him the form of a servant and came as a servant in the fashion of a man to do the will But if he distinguish Christ from this Word and Spirit and make the Mans Nature the Saviour and the God-head only assistant to him as he seemed to word it before and as these his words seems to imply that I utterly deny For so testifieth the Scripture I am the Lord and besides me there is no Saviour I am a just God and a Saviour c. So that Christ is the Saviour as he is one with God It was Gods Arm and Power revealed in him that effects Salvation Yea if I may so speak his obedience was of vallue as it came from the Spirit and it was the offering it up through the Eternal Spirit that made it so acceptable to God So that we must not attribute Redemption originally to him as a man but as he came from God and brings the honor all back to the Spring and Fountain from whence he had all that God may be all in all and the very Kingdom of Christ may endure and abide for ever in the Root of Life from whence it came And so he is not a Foundation or the Corner-stone distinct from God He as the Foundation was and is the Rock of Ages the Spiritual Rock both before and since he took upon him the body prepared for him It is the Spirit the Life which was revealed in that Man by which he did his Fathers will which was and is the Foundation whereupon all the living Stones are built There is a Foundation of Death and that 's the wicked Spirit There is a Foundation of Life and that 's the holy Spirit by which Christ himselfe was led and guided in that his appearance in the flesh which descended upon him and he was annoynted with and all his are to be annoynted with and live in the same Spirit And he that knows Christ in this Spirit he hath the true and abiding knowledg of him and no otherwise And though the names Messiah Jesus Christ Saviour Annoynted c. were given to him as in the flesh or as man they most properly and originally belong to him with respect to the Divine Life and Birth in him as the sent one And only Begotten Proceeding from the Father the Brightness of his Glory c. for he as the Eternal Son of God was the Spiritual Rock before he took upon him that Body which was prepared for him which expresly was called the Body of Jesus and which he called This Temple and distinctly he being called Jesus Christ come in the flesh which every Spirit that confesseth not is not of God but is that Spirit of Antichrist 1. Joh. 4.3 He speaketh of sitting on the Throne of David Ans It is a great matter to know that Throne which Davids Throne signified and Christ sitting thereon His Kingdom his Throne are not of this outward worldly nature but inward and spiritual and his Throne is in his Kingdom and Temple where he reigns and is worshiped He that knoweth Sathan disthroned and cast out knoweth also Christ come in and sitting on his Throne O that men did give over their dreaming about the heavenly Glory and come thither in the leadings of Gods Spirit where it is revealed Was that Scripture written in vain concerning the glorious state of the Gospel But we all with open face beholding as in a Glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.18 He putteth up a prayer for us That the Lord would awaken us and make us do our first works and return to our first Love Answ Ah poor man how is he blinded not discerning how the Lord hath don this for us and much more but it is he himselfe that hath lost his first love and doth not do his first works but is found short of that tenderness quickness and savour that once was in him O that he might see it and return to him whose quickening virtue restores and heales He concludeth with the words of the Prophet Jer. Chap. 13. ver 15 16 17. Hear ye and give ear be not proud for the Lord hath spoken Give glory to the Lord your God before he cause darkness and before your feet stumble upon the dark Mountains and while ye look for Light he turn it into the shaddow of death and make it gross darkness But if ye will not hear it my Soul shall weep in secret places for your pride and mine Eyes shall weep sore and run down with Tears because the Lords Flock is carried away Captive Answ How doth this man mistake in his sight and applycation of Scriptures Seeing and applying in a wrong Spirit It is true the Lord hath spoken but he himselfe and many such as he is have not given eare And what is the reason but because they are exalted above the pure Principle of Life in their own hearts And are not such proud Hath not he brought forth these weapons the e false charges and reasonings in this paper against the heritage of God in the pride of his heart As for us the Lord God hath humbled us and taught us who have learned and dayly learn of him in the humility and in humility and fear do we give forth our testimony though also in the Authority and Majesty of our Masters Name whose Name stands over and is exalted above every Name and his Mountain and gathering is in the pure Authority and Power of his Spirit above all other Mountains and gatherings whatsoever And as for Gods causing darkness let him and such as he is look to it for God doth not nor will cause darkness to them whom he hath gathered into the Light of his Spirit but saith to them Arise shine for thy Light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee O City and dwelling place of the living God But those that know not or turn against his appearance and cry up former dispensations of the same Life and Power but reproacheth and blasphemeth the present on them doth he cause the gross darkness to fall and cover them And this which he thretneth us with is already fallen upon himselfe for his feet are
fallen upon the dark mountains and whilst he looks for Light he ha h lost that which once he had and his very Light as he esteems it is become obscurity and gross darkness as this dark paper of his from the dark Spirit and Principle makes manifest to all that shall read it in any measure of true sence or discerning And truly my oul doth weep in secret for his pride and height of Spirit in opposing the Lord his Truth and People And for this cause shall those who have looked upon themselves as the Children of the Kingdom and flock of God be laid wast and know that as it was a dreadful thing to oppose Christ Jesus the Lord in his appearance in flesh so it is also dreadful to oppose his appearance in his Spirit and Power wherein he is arisen to set up his Kingdom and to throw down Babilon which is built in the likness of Sion but by and in another Spirit Those in whom there is any tenderness towards God and true breathings after him left the Lord give them the sence and true understanding of this inward spiritual appearance of his Son and of what they have been doing and are doing against it that they may not continue to fight against the the Lord and kick against that which is able to wound and prick to their own hurt and eternal ruine For there is not Salvation in any other name then in that which is now revealed Blessed are all they that trust therein it being not another but the same that ever was To His POST-SCRIPT HE beginneth it with the justification of that passage of his in a foregoing letter of his to me wherein he said Christ is Heaven and I am Hell Answ When God visiteth man he finds him in union with Hell Death and darkness and the man is Dead is Dark is of an hellish Nature and Spirit in that state But when the Lord hath converted him cut him off from that root leavened him with the Spirit and Nature of his Son is he Hell still Ye were Darkness saith the Apostle but now are ye Light in the Lord. And such were some of you but ye are Washed but ye are Sanctified but ye are Justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God A man can be but Hell before he is washed before his filth be purged away by the Spirit of Judgment and Burning before the old leaven is purged out and he sanctified and made a new lump but after the Lord hath thus changed him and new created him in Christ Is he still Hell He saith He doth not call the new Creature Hell but there is an Old Man an Outward Man as well as the New Man the Inward Man Flesh as well as spirit in the Regenerate Answ What doth he mean by the Outward Man the Sinful Body The Body of Flesh is within The outward Body that 's not Hell that 's the Temple of God where the heart is Sanctified And the pure Word of Life Sanctifies throughout even in Soul in Body in Spirit those that are subject to it Know ye not that your Bodies are the Temples of the living God and your Spirits much more for God is a Spirit and he dwels in a Spiritual Temple and his Temple is holy He addeth And unless your attainment be beyond Pauls he found that in him that is in his flesh dwelt no good thing and the Flesh lusting against the Spirit so that he could not do the thing that he would Answ Paul did once experience such a state that he felt himselfe Carnal Sould under Sin when he did not find how to perform that which was good but did what he hated the Law of Sin being strong in his members against the Law of Life in his mind which state he calleth A state of captivity to the Law of Sin in his members and calleth it a wretched state Rom. 7.23 24. But did Paul never experience another state Did he never witness the virtue and power of the new Covenant even the Law of the Spirit of Life and the Power thereof freeing him from the strength and captivity of the Law of Sin in his members There were young men John speaks of who were strong and had overcome the wicked one Did Paul himselfe never attain to that state He bid others be strong in the Lord and in the Power of his might and shewed them how to resist in it so as to overcome Did he never experience and witness it himselfe He said He had fought a good fight and was more then a Conqueror What was he then a captive to the Law of Sin in his members and did he then cry out Who shall deliver me from the body of this Death He said He could do all things through Christ that strengthened him was not that a state different from that other wherein he found only to will And could not do the good he desired but did the evil he allowed not but hated And blessed be the Lord there are many at this day who witness a farther state of redemption and deliverance from Sin and the Law thereof in the members then that state of captivity was which Paul there expresseth his former groanings and complainings under For he was not in that state of captivity when he writ that Epistle but knew the Dominion of Grace over sin and bid that Church be subject to the Grace and not give way to sin but yeeld their members servants to Righteousness unto Holiness Ch. 6. For that other place Of the Flesh lusting against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh Gal. 5.17 He doth not there speak of himselfe but of the Galatians who were in a weak low and indeed fallen state from the Spirit and Power of the Gospel having let in that which was contrary thereunto And so he strives to gather them into the Spirit again and bids them Live in the Spirit and walk in the Spirit and so they should not fulfil the lusts of the flesh For in the new Covenant man is taught of God the holy lesson of ceasing from evil and doing good and taught in the virtue and power of the Covenant so that he learns daily and grows daily out of Deceit into Truth until he come to be a true Israelite in whom there is no Guile And so in the spiritual War The house of Saul grows weaker and weaker and the house of David stronger and stronger until Sauls Kingdom be at length overturned and wholly destroyed and the Kingdom of David established in Righteousness for ever and ever Then Jerusalem the holy building the City of the living People the City of Righteousness the Habitation of Righteousness and Mountain of Holiness is known and Jerusalem is witnessed a quiet habitation there being peace in all her borders Then the mind is fully stayed upon the Lord in all conditions and he keeps it in perfect pâ—ace Then the Soul is careful for nothing
inwardly revealed yours but as outwardly conceived of We believe with the Faith which is of the natrue of him whom we bâ—lieve in which Faith is mighty through God and works through all the Powers of Darkness giving victory over them all in Gods way and time ye believe with a Faith which esteems victory and a perfect and entire State wanting nothing as impossible while in this world And as our Root differs so all that grows up in us differs from yours So that indeed all is singular that is in us and all also is singular that is brought forth by us as the Spirit of the Lord who knoweth the difference of things witnesseth Have we so long walked in the Name and Spirit of our God amongst you shewing the singular virtues of his Spirit daily in our faithful Testimony Sufferings Patience and Conversation and do ye still cry What singular thing do ye Just like the Jews who after all Christs mighty Works and demonstrations of his Fathers Virtue and Power outwardly asked for a sign O that your eyes and hearts were opened by the Spirit and power of the Lord for then ye would soon see otherwise in this respect than now ye do And then as for that expression Of audatiously lifting up a Standard against the sealed and experienced Truths of the Gospel that is but an over confident expression through prejudice and mistake of judgment at least for I can truly testify I have never learned since the pure heavenly Light of the Lord Jesus Christ hath shined on my Spirit to deny any one Truth that ever was sealed to me or experienced by me in the dayes of my former profession For whatsoever was then of God hath been restored to me and that onely which was of the flesh pared off And I have ground also to believe that it is so wiâ—h others in this respect as it hath been with me He speaks As if our difference or talk were about words Nay it is about things For though we own the same Lord Jesus Christ to be the foundation of Life yet after a different manner ye as ye notionally apprehend concerning him we as we experience him to be the precious stone and foundation of Life in us And we testify of Justification and Sanctification as we witness him bestowing it upon us and working it in us But for boasting of Perfection I wonder how he dares speak thus What is their no fear of God before his eyes or in his heart that he dares charge us with that which is so utterly false Where is any of us that did ever boast of Perfection But that Gods Power and Covenant is able to make Perfect and that Gods will is our perfect Sanctification in Soul Body and Spirit Even that we be wholly leavened with the Salt of the Kingdome and become a fit Temple for him this we humbly and reverenâ—ly testify of and press towards in his holy name and fear And as for that humble sence Of a mans own nothingness dâ—iveing him out of himself to live and glory in Christ alone This we meet with and witness in that Light which this generation of Professors dispiseth But others though they may talk of it can never come truly to witness it but in that Light wherein God bestoweth and preserveth it Well the Professors of this Age who despise the Light shall one day find that what they take themselves to be they are not in Gods sight nor are we before him what we are reproachfully represented by them But we are his workmanship in Christ Jesus created by him unto good works and that it is natural to us to bring forth the fruits of Righteousness and Holyness to our God however men reproach us As for his zeal for my Soul Which he desired me to except It is strange zeal and would tend to my utâ—er destruction had it power over me But blessed be my God who hath called me into the Light of his Son and I am satisfied that he will preserve me therin even in that holy Spirit of Life which he hath gathered me into from all deceiveable Spirits of darkness whatsoever in that holy Covenant wherein his strength appeares to me and is revealed in me And O! That he might know what that Spirit is wherin he hath thus appeard against the Lord though under a pretence as if it were for him and bring forth no more the fruits of it For a close I shall add a few words on that Scripture Phil. 3.3 For we are the circumcission which worship God in the Spirit and rejoyce in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh It is a precious thing to witness this Scripture fulllefid in the heart To experience that there which inwardly circumciseth which cutteth off the foreskin of the heart which lieth over it and vaileth till it be cut off by the inward appearance of the Life and Power of the Lord Jesus Christ inwardly revealed Then when this is done I can truly and sensibly say I am a Jew inward How so How can that be proved Why I am inwardly Circumcised I have felt that within which Circumciseth the heart and have born the inward pain and cutting thereof and am Circumcised by it That which stood between me and the Lord is cut off the vail is taken away the stiffeneckedness and unsubjection to God removed the Wall of seperation is inwardly broken down and now I am in true unity of Spirit and comunion with my God even with the Father and the Son in that one holy Spirit wherein they are one Now I can bow before the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and worship him in his own Spirit even in the new and fresh Life thereof day by day Now my rejoycing is in Christ Jesus whom the Father hath sent both outwardly in a body of flesh to fullfil the holy will and do what therein the Father had for him to do and also inwardly in his Spirit and Power into my heart to destroy the works of the Devil there and so to work me out of the enmity and unreconciled state into the love and reconciliation And I cannot but rejoyce both in what he did in his body of flesh for me and in what he doth by his Spirit and Power in me And blessed be the Lord I feel him near his Spirit near his Life near his Power near his pure Vertue nâ—ar his holy Wisdome near his Righteousness near his Redemption near For he is my Rock and my Strength and my Salvation day by day And I have no confidence in the flesh in what I am in what I can do after the flesh but my confidence is in him who hath weakened me who hath stripped me who hath impoverished me who hath brought me to nothing in my self that I might be all in him and that I might find him all unto me He is my Peace he is my Life he is my Righteousness he is my Holiness he is the Image
THE HOLY Truth Peoâ—â—â— DEFENDED AND Some of the Weapons and Strength of thoâ—◠〈◊〉 of Darkness Broken and Scattered by 〈◊〉 Light and Power of TRUTH In an ANSWER to the Chief Passages 〈◊〉 LETTER Written to me and Replyed to by me 〈◊〉 Imprisonment in this Place where I have been a Prisoner a Year and a half without any Law broken or Cause 〈…〉 part who only came Innocently and Peaceably to visi◠〈…〉 in Prison By me ISAAC PENNINGTON Priâ—â—â—er for the Testimony of Truth For could I have denyed 〈…〉 might have avoided the Snare at Reading Goal The Bowes of the mighty men are broken and they that 〈…〉 with Strength 1 Sam. 2.4 Printed in the Year 16â—â— The Preface A Letter was sent me from a Dear Freind of mine bearing date the fifth of the eleventh Moneth 71. who had long been greatly distressed and could not find relief in the way of her former profession and Church fellowship For whom I greatly travelled with the Lord and towards whom my spirit was made very tender by him I still felt the Seal of Gods Love and Mercy towards her even in her lowest condition deepest despaire and sorest captivity through her great and manifold Temptations And my Testimony to her at times from the Lord on this behalf was sometimes of use to her to bear up her spirit till the day of Gods visiting and Redeeming her with the virtue and healing power of his Salvation which blessed be his name she hath since had sweet experience of and true Peace and Joy in knowing the true Head holding him in the Faith and being held by him Now this Letter of an antient acquaintance of mine which I had answered long agoe one that belongeth to Sr. Henry Vane as she signified in her Letter to me desired she should see which is said to be an answer to a Letter of mine If my answer had gone along with it I should have took no further notice of it But it going without my answer least it should do hurt to those to whom the Lord hath done or is doing good I am ingaged in spirit to reply somwhat to it and to give forth to others what the Lord giveth in to me upon this new occasion How greatly truly and purely I have loved the man I will not boast the Lord knoweth with whose knowledge herein I am content but O that this his paper might not be laid to his charge at the great day which I am afraid it will unless he repent of it For indeed it is not a fruit of Life from Gods holy Spirit but of the growth of Egypt and Babylon It was sent me in the form of a Book as if it had been sent abroad for special service There was no name at it as if it were an arrow to fly in the dark and wound secretly But no weapon formed against the Israel of God shall prosper either from this hand or any other and every tongue that riseth up against them in judgment will God condemn This is the heritage of the despised People and servants of the living God in this our day whose Righteousness is the Righteousness of his Son bestowed upon them wherewith he himself hath cloathed them as the Annointed eye now seeth and all eyes shall one day see and tongues confess to the glory of God the Father THE Holy TRUTH and PEOPLE DEFENDED c. In an ANSWER c. HE excepteth against those words of mine to him in a former Letter of Jun. 24. which I have not here by me that when his eyes are opened by the Lord he shall then acknowledge that we oppose no Truths of the Lord but hold forth what we have received from him To which he thus replyeth Is Redemption by Christs blood no Truth of the Lords Which he chargeth one of us in particular and many others in general with denying Answ We are gathered into that and abide in that in which no Truth can be denyed And are in him that leadeth into all Truth and teacheth to deny no Truth that ever was held forth by the Spirit of the Lord. Some of us may not yet be grown up in understanding into the mysteries of the Kingdom which God hath revealed and made manifest to others But yet we do not deny but own one another in our several measures of knowledg and sence of things and in our several growths And we own and acknowledge in Gods sight the several Dispensations he hath brought forth both before the Law and under the Law and Prophets and in the time of Châ—ists appearance in the flesh and after when he sent his Spirit and all the time the Church was in the Wilderness and now she is coming forth again in the brightness and glory of the Father looking forth as the Morning fair as the Morning clear as the Sun terrible as an Army with Banners Nor do we disowne any thing that is of God in the Professors of this Age But onely that which we know and are required by him to testifie against as being not of him O that they could weigh our words and Testimony in a right Spirit For they would not then be so offended at and speak so against us as now they do And the Lord knoweth we would do any thing that lieth in us to remove the stumbling blocks that lie before them But it cannot be done to that Spirit in them before which God Almighty hath laid the stumbling block that it might stumble and fall and be snared and broken and taken But if they could come into another Spirit and feel unity with and the birth of another Spirit the birth of that pure Wisdom should find no stumbling block or offence in this pretious dispensation of Truth wherewith God from on high hath visited us And as for denying Redemption by the blood of Christ O how will he answer this charge to God when none upon the earth as the Lord God knoweth are so taught and do so truly rightly and fully owne Redemption by the blood of Christ as the Lord hath taught us to do For we owne the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ both outwardly and inwardly both as it was shed on the Cross and as it is sprinkled in our Consciences and know the cleansing virtue thereof in the everlasting Covenant and in the Light which is eternal Out of which Light men have but a notion thereof but do not truly know nor own it And let him consider b fore the time of Antichr st it was a great matter to know and own Christ outwardly as he appeared in that body But since the Antichristian Spirit hath got that the distinguishing knowledge and owning of Christ is to know and own him inwardly The outward knowledge and confession now as it is generally seperated from and held forth in way of distinction from the inward is but the knowledge and confession of Babylon and not the true living knowledge and confession of Christ in and
Seed of Life raised and the Soul subject to the pure heavenly power whose right it is to Reign in the heart in and by the Seed this is a blessed state indeed For here the work is done c. these were my words Now mind God is the Teacher in the new Covenant Now he that hath learned this of him hath he not learned the true Religion And is not this a full sum and substance of Religion Whâ—n the Apostle saith Pure Religion and undefiled before God is to visit the fatherless c. Alass might this Spirit have said against the blessed Apostle that is not the pure Religion not the sum or substance of pure and undefiled Religion that is but a fruit or superstructure O that men had true sence and understanding That they might favour the words that come from Gods Spirit and the words that come from their own Spirit and might not be offended at that which is true pure and living of him But having disliked this sum he giveth one of his own in these words following I say the sum and that which first and mainly imports us to know as the Lord hath taught me is that the old man is crucified with Christ and brought down into his grave and that we are risen together with him by the faith of the opperation of God and from this faith to be work ng with God to mortifie our members that are on the earth Answ Doth not Christ send his Apostles to preach the Gospel and give them this mâ—ssage that God is Light and to turn their minds to the true Light that they might be enlightened by it Doth it not import men first to know that whereby they might be Crucified before they can know themselves Crucified thâ—reby So that Christ did judge this as the first thing necessary to be known in the preaching of the Gospel and bid men p each the Light and turn men to the Light and to the inward appearance and voice of Gods Word in their hearts And what are men risen together with him by the faith of the opperation of God while they are yet in their sins in their ungodly state And how can any witnâ—ss the faith of the opperation of God in this state Now it had been better he had forborn affirming that the Lord taught him thus For truly the Lord never taught any thus This is not truth from God nor will it be owned by the Lord as his Truth when he comes to appear before him And he should have took it to himself and not have put the Name of the Lord to it But against this his own Doctrin he raiseth an objection in these words Shall we mortifie that which is mortified already His Answer is The old man which is crucified together with Christ is the state of the flesh and of enmity This is past away and in this is the Concern of our Righteousness and Justification properly That which remains to be mortified are our members upon earth which are the fruits of that evil state and in the mortifying of these is the concern of our Sanctification The will of God is done in heaven c. Answ Paul speaks of the Law of sin in his members and he also speaks of the body of death and cries out against that O wretched man that I am saith he who shall deliver me from the body of this death He felt somewhat that nuorished and gave strength to the Law of sin in his members and looked upon himself as wretched tiâ—l he could meet with deliverance there-from Now some are of opinion that there is no being delivered from the body of sin while in this Life Dost thou look upon it to be done in Christ for us without us but never to be don by Christ in us Let me tell thee if ever thou come to witness the pure eternal Light of the Lord Jesus Christ revealed in thee that will not find out some members on earth onely but the very body thereof and shew thee the necessity of the puting off that body from thee and that circumcision whereby it is to be done which is the circumcision of Christ Mark the promise of the new Covenant I will circumcise thine heart and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart that thou mayest live Is not this the circumciosin of Christ Doth not this cut off the body of the sins of the flesh in the particular where this is witnessed This is the Truth as it is in Jesus even To put off the old man with his deeds It doth not say the body is put off in Christ without us and men must onely put off the members or deeds but they must put off the body and come to witness in themselves the very Nature Spirit Root and Principle from whence they proceed cut down and destroyed in them They must feel the Axe laid to the root of the corrupt Tree and it cut down in them not think it enough to say it is done in Christ for them yea they must also witness the Lord arising to shake teribly the earth in which the Tree grew that so the place of Dragons and Serpents where each lay in times past may hence forward become the place of holyness where grass may grow and the new plants and flowers of the Paradise of God And how is the will of God done in heaven Is it done in heaven after this manner Have Mercy and Righteousness the Preheminence the leading of the Van they are his own words and said to go before and look down from heaven after this manner the body of sin being put off in Christ there are there not those here on earth who dwel in heaven Whose conversation is in heaven even the Witnesses to Gods holy Truth who are ascended up above the Spirit of this world and dwell in Gods holy Spirit and who walk in the Light as God is in the Light Hell is not far from the wicked nor is Heaven far from them who are renewed in the Spirits of their minds and who witness the passing away of the old things and the new Creation in Christ O that he could look back in a true sence and see how he hath wrested those Scriptures Psal 85.9 10 11. Isa 4.2 and Ephes 2.6 afer his own imaginations And indeed in this Spirit men cannot but turn the pretious Truth of God into a lye that is as to themselves as to their own knowledge of it It is known how the Branch of the Lord is beautiful and glorious and the fruit of the earth excellent and comely and in what day it is so which day is When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Sion and shall have purged the blood c. by the Spirit of judgment and by the Spirit of burning Isa 4.4 Then every one that is left shall be called holy and the Branch of the Lord shall be glorious in the
but in every thing makes its requests known to God by prayer and supplycation with thanksgiving and the Peace of God which passeth all understanding keeps the heart and mind through Christ Jesus Surely the Apostle had learned himselfe when he taught others this in every state to be content He knew how to be abased and how to abound c. O glorious state O pure state of pure Life in the heart And what if I should add O perfect state The Apostle James saith Let patience have its perfect work that ye may be Perfect and Intire wanting nothing or in nothing Jam. 1.3 When Paul had so learned Christ that abundance could not lift him up nor want deject him or cause him to repine or distrust what did he want of this perfect state His next words are If you have no sence of this your state is never the better to be liked Answ Christ led Captivity Captive and the same Power is revealed to lead Captivity Captive in us And truly when God leads our Souls out of Captivity putting his fear within us writing his living powerful Law of Life in our hearts and putting his Spirit into us leading us in the way of holiness and causing us to walk therein we find this a better state then when we were groaning under deep Captivity Further he saith If your Peace and Joy stand in seeing no sin your selfe in your selfe I suppose it should be I shall more then suspect it not to be the Peace and Joy of Paul and all the Saints but a delusion Answ Our Peace and Joy is in him who is without sin and it abounds in us in his cleansing and delivering us from sin and we have found hâ—m remove sin as far from us as the East is from the West and as he removeth transgression from us and bringeth sin and the power of Sathan to an end in us he giveth us of his Peace and Joy And truly we do not only witness him destroying sin and the works of the Devil but breaking the very head of the Serpent casting him out And peirceing Leviathan that crooked Serpent and slaying the Dragon that is in the Sea And though such as he may suspect our peace and joy yet while Christ gives it us and maintains it in us it is very sweet and pleasant to us and the time may come that he may wish from his heart that he might pertake with us therein He concludes the matter thus We are without sin in him but in our selves nothing but sin Answ He spake of delusion just before a greater thâ—n this I do not know For Christ doth make a real change if any man be in Christ there 's a new Creation there 's a real Change The man is not what he was before but he puts off that which is old and puts on that which is nâ—w and so is really changed in his state and in the sight of God and is not what he was before The heart when it is really renewed and washed by the Water Blood and Spirit it is not the old abominable wicked deceitful heart that it was before If this be his knowledg and experience let him keep it to himselfe for my part I desire not to pertake with him therein but to be like Christ my Lord and Master even sanctified throughout in Soul Body and Spirit that I may become wholly his and the Enemy of my Soul have no part in me He saith Christ shall appeare without sin to Salvation Answ I grant it But when and how Doth he not inwardly appear without sin to salvation to those who have waited for hastened and come to the inward day Doth not Christ appear without sin to Salvation inwardly in the day of his own Spirit Is not Salvation then witnessed for Walls and Bulworks Is not the glorious Salvation of the Gospel brought forth in the Gospel-Day And is there not in the Life and Dominion of Grace a pure Defence about all the Glory Is there any sin in the Grace and Spirit of the Gospel which appears and shines in the Day of the Lord And doth not this Grace bring Salvation to them that wait for the revealing of it He seemeth to clear himself of watching for our haltings Answ Had he not watched for our haltings and received things into and considered them in the prejudiced part he could not have writ such a Paper against Truth and Us so far from true Understanding and Judgement as this is But he saith He hath watched for our Repentings Answ If we should repent of having our eyes opened by the Lord and turning to his Truth and receiving his holy Spirit and of having the precious Promises of the Scripture made good to us and fulfilled in us we might justly loose our Portion and Inheritance of Life for ever We have repented from dead Works but we cannot repent of Gods pure Truth and the living Way Spirit and Power thereof But this I can tell him and that from the Lord whose Name I reverence and worship in That the Lord watchâ—th for his Repentings and turnings from that spirit in him which darkneth him concerning and prejudiceth him against the Truth He beseecheth me in Love c. and requireth me to clear my self of Free-Will Falling from Grace denying Election of Persons and Imputed Righteousness Answ What the Lord requireth of me that I must mind and I have divers times exprâ—ssed my heart nakedly in these things The Principle of Life which the Lord hath raised in me in that is the freedom to good and in that am I made free by Jesus Christ my Lord. And I had rather witness him upholding me by his Power than contend about a Notion of Falling or not Falling away And my care hath been about making my Calling and Election sure in him who is sure to those that are of him for ever And I have witnessed the righteoâ—sness of the Lord Jesus Christ revealed in me and imputed to me and my soul cloathed therewith in his sight blessed be his Name O that the Professors of this Age might come to the annointing and see those things in the annointing Then would they know the Truth and harmony of the Scriptures therein But men by the Letter without the Spirit can never discern or find out the mystery of Life but only gather into their mindes and retain a litteral knowledge that killeth He bids me Love the Truth better than a Party Answ The Lord knoweth he hath taught me so to do For had it not been for the evidence and demonstration of Gods Spirit in this People I could never have owned them For O how low was the knowledge they held forth in my eye before the power of the Lord reached to my heart raising up his own Seed in me wherein I knew them And the Lord also knoweth that 't is in him that I love and discern and honour them to this very day Yea I see his Name written on their
Fore-heads and them brought forth in the glorious Image and heavenly Life of his Son though it be hid from the wise Eye of the Professors of this Age and in the true Light with the true Eye which God hath opened in me have I seen it He speaks of Clinging together and keeping up a Party against all right Answ Nay nay This is the gathering of the Lord Jesus Christ by his Spirit and Power after the long night of darkness and we are kept up by the same Spirit and Power and Life of Truth which gathered us He saith It is not a calling for a Work within which will give you Authority to lay wast Christ and the Gospel in the most Fundamental and concerning Truths thereof and those above mentioned c. And above all the rest denying the person of our Lord Jesus Christ and making him but a Light or Notion or Principle in the heart of Man Answ This is but his own mistake not a true and just Charge against us as he will one day see The Lord hath not taught us to lay wast nor do we lay wast any Truth of the Gospel but own every thing in its place And though our Religion do not lie in Notions concerning him but in the Principle of Life it self evâ—n in the Grace and Truth which is by Jesus Châ—ist which is a measure of Light from him the full Light yet we do not learn thereby to deny the full Light but the more to acknowledge it And we own him to be the true and full Light and his outward appearance in that Body in the fulness of time to fulfill the Fathers will therein and his appearance in Spirit and Power in the hearts of his People in the Day of the Gospel and his setting up his Spiritual and glorious Kingdom there where he reigns as King on the Throne of David over the Spiritual Israel of God Come consider seriously do not ye your selves fall short of not only the Principle and Power of Life but also the true knowledge of things according to the Letter He confesseth There is too little Power and without it profession is little worth Answ O that the Professors of this age knew the Scriptures and the Power of God and had that knowledg which comes from and stands in the Power For then that evidence and demonstration of Truth would be witnessed which puts an end to the disputes and reasonings of the mind And then the great care would be to live the life of that which God makes manifest and requires in the New Covenant He saith To pull down the Pillars and Principles of the Gospel is the work the Divel imploys his Power in Answ I grant what he saith is true and wish he knew how rightly to apply it but there is a great error and mistake in his judgment about it For the Lord is pulling down that which men have built up which they may in their mistaken judgments call Principles and Fundamentals and is building up that which men have trampled on even the Tabernacle of David which hath long been fallen down and the City of the living God which hath long been trodden under foot of the false Christians and the Power of the Devil is greatly at work to oppose this appearance and mighty work of the Lord in this day Let him take heed of blaspheming the Lords Power calling it the Devils and owning the Devils Power for Gods He concludeth thus Come to the poynt what singular thing do you more then Moding and Wording it save only that out of you have risen men that have more audatiously lifted up a Standard against the Sealed and Experienced Truths of the Gospel then ever I have heard or read of any before you You talk of words and boast of perfection I tell you an humble sence of a mans nothingness driving him out of himself to live and glory in Christ alone is more then all such boasted perfections a thousand times Sir accept my zeal for your Soul Ans We are a People many of us who have gon through great distress for want of the Lord our God and exceedingly waited and long'd for his Living and Powerful appearance And for my own part this I can say that had not this appearance been in Power and in the evidence and demonstration of his Spirit to my Soul reaching to and answering that which was of him in me I could nâ—ver have ownâ—d it so deeply was I jealous of it and prejudâ—ced against it And since my mind hath been turned to the pure Word of Life even the Word which was in the begining I speak as in the Lords presence it hath had singular effects on my heart The Light hath so searched me as I never was searched before under all my former professions and the Lord hath given me a true and pure discerning of the things of his Kingdom in the Light which is true and pure and singular quickenings have I met with from his Spirit and the faith which stands in his heavenly Power and giveth victory and dominion in him blessed be his name And the love which he hath given me is not notional but ariseth from his circumcising my heart and answereth his Nature springing forth purely and naturally towards him and those of his Image and all his Creatures yea towards those who are enemies to me for his Names sake I might mention the patience also and faithfulness to his Truth with the longsuffering Spirit which cannot be worn out which his Spirit testifieth in me to be of a singular nature with many other things Nor am I alone or the chiefest but have many equals yea there are such as far exceed me in the Heavenly and Divine Image of my Father And the fruits are according to the Root of Life in us and so acknowledged by all who look upon us with the true Eye with the Eye of Gods giving and opening Now the same that hath wrought thus inwardly in us the same hath required some outward behaviour and expressions from us which are foolish and weak to the eye of mans wisdom but chosen of God to hide the Glory of his Life from that eye which diâ—cerns it not but dispiseth thâ— day of small things And though this be the least part of our Religeon yet subjected to because it is of God who we dare not disobey in the least yet the Spirit which is contrary to God casteth this upon us as if this were all or at the least the main wherein we differ from others Some call the living words of Truth from us when God according to his good promise giveth them us but Canting and thou callest all that is singular in us but Moding and Wording of it Alass it is in the main we differ from you we holding our Religion as we receive it from God in the Light and Life of his Spirit you as you apprehend it from the Letter Christ is our Rock and Foundation as
wherein I am renewed in him is my Acceptance with the Father he is my Advocate he is my Hope and Joy for ever He hath destroyed that in me which was contrary to God and keepeth it down for ever He is my Shepherd his Arm hath gathered me and his Arm encompasseth me day by day I rest under the shadow of his Wings from whence the healing virtue of his saving health droppeth upon my Spirit day by day Oh I cannot tell any man what he is unto me But blessed be the Lord I feel him near his Righteousness near his Salvation daily revealed before that eye which he hath opened in me in that true living sense wherewith he hath quickened me And now ye that have high Notions and rich comprehensive Knowledge concerning these things but not the thing it self the Life it self the Spirit it self the new and living Covenant and Law of Life it self wherein alone Christ is livingly revealed Ah how poor miserable blind and naked are you in the middest of all your Traditional Knowledge and pretended Experiences concerning these things Come be quiet a while and cease from bitterness of Spirit and reviling the Work and People of the Lord For the Lord knoweth and will make manifest both who are his and who are not his All the living Stones are his but the great Professors of the Words of Scripture without the Spirit and Life of the Scriptures are not his nor never were nor never will be owned by him Come learn to distinguish from God by his Life by the Anointing by the everlasting infallible Rule and not by words without Life where the great error and mistake hath been in all Ages and Generations The great Way of Deceit hath long been and still is a by Form of Godliness without Power Be sure ye be not thus deceived for if ye miss of the Power which saves ye cannot but pâ—rish for ever And what if the Appearance of the Spirit and Power of our Lord Jesus Christ Inwardly which is that which saves be as strange to your Sence Understanding and Judgement as his Outward appearance was unto the People of the Jews Take heed of their Spirit take heed of their Judgement who judged according to the appearance of things to them which they imagine and conceive from the Scriptures but judged not the true and righteous Judgement which only the Children of the true Wisdom can A Post-script THERE are four or five things very pretious which were generally witnessed in the dayes of the Apostles among the true Christians which are all mentioned together Heb. 6.4 5. First They were truly enlightned The Ministers of the Gospel were sent by Christ to turn men from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God Act. 26.18 1 Joh. 1.5 and they were faithful in their Ministry and did turn men from the darkness and power of Satan to the Light of Gods holy Spirit and they were enlightned by it and received power through it and so came to be Children of the Light and to walk in the Light as God is in the Light Secondly They tasted of the heavenly gift What is the heavenly gift which Christ gives to those who come unto him and become his sheep He gives them Life Eternal Life Joh. 10.27 28. He brings them out of death and gives them a savour and tast of the Life which is Eternal This was it which the Apostles testifyed of even of the Life which was manifested in that body of flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Joh. 1.2 and they that turn from the darkness to his Light he gives them a tast of the same Light Thirdly They were made pertakers of the holy ghost The Gospel is a day of bringing forth the Spiritual Seed and of pouring out the holy Spirit upon them The Law State is a State of Servants the Gospel of Sons And because true believers in Christ are Sons God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into their hearts to cry Abba father And God cannot deny his own Spirit to his Children that ask it of him he knoweth how absolutly necessary it is to the state of a Son And whosoever truly receiveth Christ Christ doth give him power to become a Son which power is in and with and cannot be separated from his Spirit Yea the Spirit of Christ is so necessary and inseparable from him that is Christs that the Apostle expresly affirms That if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Rom. 8.9 Fourthly They tasted of the good word of God Of that Word from which the gift comes of that Word which was in the begining of the Word which is ingrafted into the hearts of those that truly believe Which Word is able to save the Soul Fifthly They tasted of the powers of the world to come Of the power of the endless Life whereof Christ is the Minister and according to which he ministers Life in that Holy True Living Inward Spiritual Temple which he pitcheth and reareth up for an habitation to God in his own Spirit Now in the Apostacy and night of darkness which hath come over the Christian state these things have been greatly lost For there hath bin none that have bin found able to turn people to that Light which the Apostles directed to None could tell men where the Light is to shine and where men were to expect it and wait for it None were able to direct men to the Seed of the Kingdom within to the Word of Faith the Word of the Kingdom nigh in the heart and mouth Much less were they able to instruct men how they might know and distinguish it from all other Seeds and the voice of the Sheepherd from all other voices Here it came to pass that though at times God visited and opened mens hearts a little warming them by the breath which came from himself yet they not knowing how to turn to the Lord and wait upon him for preservation in the gift and measure of his own Grace the good hath soon been stolen away from them and the building which hath been raised up in them hath not been a building of Life according to the Spirit but a building of Wisdome or Knowledge concerning the things of God according to the flesh and so the building that hath been raised up in mens Spirits hath been Babylon in stead of Sion But the Lord hath had a remnant all along the Apostacy who felt some begettings of Life and had in measure some sence and tast of the heavenly things These mourned after that state which was once enjoyed and felt their want of it travelling from Mountain to Hill seeking their resting place which none could rightly inform them of Now for the sakes of these God hath at length appeared How appeared may some say Why thus He who is Light hath appeared inwardly causing his Light to shine inwardly causing his Life to spring inwardly So that he who is Light who is Life who is Truth is felt and known in his own inward visits breakings forth and appearances For God who is a Spirit his appearance is Spiritual his day is Spiritual his kingdom is Spiritual his Light is Spiritual his Life is Spiritual his day-star is Spiritual and his day dawneth and his day-star ariseth in the heart Thus The Day-spring from on high did visit us who satt in darkness and in the region of the shadow of death And here we have met with what the Apostles met with the very same Light of Life the very same enlightning Spirit and Power and have been enlightned by it and tasted of the same gift The very same grace that appeared to them and taught them hath appeared to us and taught us and of it have we learned the same lessons in the same Covenant of Life wherein they learned and now can we seal to their Testimony in the same Spirit wherin they gave it forth and witness to the same eternal Life and the same holy oyl and anointing our eyes having been opened and being kept open by it And though their be great disputes about our Testimony in this our day and the present Professors rise up against us as the former Professors did against them yet let but any man come rightly to distinguish in himself between that which God begets in the heart and all other births and let that speak and judge in them that will soon confess that our Testimony is of God and given forth in the authority and by the commission of his own Spirit True wisdome is justified by the Children that are born of her It is the other birth that doth not nor can own her The other birth can own former dispensations according to the Letter of them but not the Life and Power of the present I have known the breaking down of much in me by the powerful hand of the Lord and a parting with much though not too much for Christs sake The Lord hath brought the day of distress and inward judgment over my heart He hath arisen to shake terribly the earthly part in me yea what if I should say that the powers of heaven have been shaken also That he might make me capable to receive and bring me into that Kingdom which cannot be shaken And now that which God hath shaken and removed in me I see others build upon and they think it shall never be shaken in them But such know not the day of the Lord nor the terrible searching of his pure Light nor the opperation of his Power which will not spare in one what he hath reproved condemned shaken and overturned in another He that knows the Living Stone within and comes to him as to a Living Stone and as built upon the revelation of his Spirit Life and Power revealed inwardly against the power of darkness is not deceived all that otherwise build I mean upon an outward knowledge concerning Christ and not upon his inward Life their building will not be able to stand in the day of the Lord. I wish they might have a sence of it in time that they might not perish for ever but experience that Life and Power of our Lord Jesus Christ which redeemeth and preserveth out of the perishing state for ever and ever Amen THE END