19. I know my Redeemer lives and that I shall see him with these eyes I do wonder what a God men fancy to be seen with a fleshly eye I alwayes took God to be a Spirit invisible and that no created fleshly things was able to see him I cannot imagine then how Jobs eyes which were and should be in a visible form and shape should be capable of such a Divine invisible vision But yet if Job was so carnall to conceive that his fleshly eyes should see a spirituall God yet I am not And if any man shall say that Christ hath a Body in heaven which he lived in when he was upon the earth and that may be seen being visible and corporall for that when any man shall prove heaven a locall place and that God the Fathour sits there and receives petitions from his Son Christ as men do visibly here on earth then I shall give him an answer neither have I so learned Christ to make him to consist of flesh and bloud or bodily shape in heaven as men call it for though it be said that Steven saw the heaven opened and Christ sitting at the right hand of God yet am I not so carnall to believe That Stevens fleshly eyes might see up above the stars and skies and that the house top might be open where he was and so he bodily saw Christ sitting in a bodily shape at the right hand of God in heaven As a Diuine of Leicestershire did affirm to me in a private conference that he thought it might be so But his divinity being as little as his person I leave him as knowing that the man Christ left his fleshly being to live in the divine which is void of all forme and shape or to be seen visibly by any outward or corporeall substance and that no light can see him but his own and when men live in this light then they will agree with me till then I must leave men to their dark and carnall apprehensions In the meane time I am content to be nothing that God may be all and to let fall my thoughts of any glory or excellency hereafter as a creature as knowing that the fleshly man dies that the spirituall may be raised and that all creature or sensible enjoyment of God shall cease in eternall silence and it is fruit and joy enough in my spirit that God hath so discovered himself in me that I can willingly resolve all my comforts joy and peace into God who is that endlesse and infinite Ocean and rather desire to be comprehended of it then to comprehend it so that by all that hath bin alleadged I cannot see that there is any thing in that called Scripture to prove any fleshly living of the body after this life but that all things and Creatures below God perish and die and God onely lives and rises in more power and glorious appearance then ever be was in when he lived in the flesh which is that resurrection which is spirituall and which we have endeavoured to make out and so I leave it and come to the last Subject of my discourse which is that we call Scriptures and because men are as carnall about that as any of the former and because the ground of all the mistakes in the former is onely the mis-apprehension of the Scripture we shal insist upon that a little the more larger and so conclude Concerning the Scripture IF you take Scripture as it was written by the Prophets and Apostles It is a forme of wholesome words a perfect rule for all outward actions a true Guide for a mans outward conversatition among men The liveliest expression of the mind of God of all other books setting forth all conditions estates and enjoyments of all men in the world it is the word in flesh The word was made flesh it is the highest discovery of God in flesh the truest testimony of God in the world I do verily believe that what pitch soever any man hath or can attain unto but it is able to speak to him in it thus it is in the letter and the out-side of it But if you ask me what I make Scripture I look upon it to be spiritual and so it is the Law written in the heart and so it is spirit and life as Christ saith The words that I speak are spirit and life so that what Christ speaks spiritually that is Scripture and so it is the power of God for take Scripture as it is in the History it hath no more power in the inward man then any other writings of good men nor is it in that sense a discerner of the secrets as it is in the History so it is to be believed above all other writings in the world but as it is a mystery and God being the substance of it so I must believe it as God makes it out in me I must not build my Faith upon it or any saying of it because such and such men writ or speak so and so But from that divine manifestation in my own spirit for the Scripture as it is written outwardly is but an outward witnesse of that which is within and the spirituality of it wherein the life and being of it doth consist is made out by a spiritual discovery I do not go to the letter of Scripture to know the mind of God but I having the mind of God within I am able to see it witnessed and made out in the Letter for if I do a thing lawfull from the Letter yet if I be perswaded in my own spirit I should not do it I sinne Yea further that power and authority which the Scripture hatâ—â— is not because such and such men writ it but from that divine manifestation in them And so indeed if I have the same discovery that they had then I can say it is the word of God otherwise I lie for it is one thing to believe the Scripture because such and such write it as most men do and it is another thing to believe it because God saith so in me and so it is the spirituall speaking of God that is the Scripture and so that is true They that are of God hear Gods Word Now no man can hear God but as God speaks And it is as true that as God speaks spiritually so no man hears him but in a spirituall manner and so we hear Gods word And therefore it is said often in the 1. Rev. He that hath an eare let him hear what the spirit saith to the Churches Which cannot be understood of a carnall eare because every man hath that but as the Spirit speaks spiritually so it is the spirituall eare that hears the Spirit For all the outward speaking or hearing of men or Scripture cannot reach the Spirit Further the Scripture I do apprehend as it is written outwardly is God clothed in fleshly tearmes and expressions and speaks in the language of men as when he speaks of
so long as I lived and looked upon the outward scripture outward commands and duties set times of humiliation prayer I know not what I was always tost to and fro like the waves of the sea But when God appeared and shewed me that there was no scripure God commands worships but what were spirituall like himselfe and within men and what he was the authour and end of and that all things else were but shadowes what sweer peace and comfort I then did and do now enjoy I might tell you if I could for the truth is they are unspeakable and so it is the spirituall discovery of God that is the Scripture I look upon and if so then I must needs inferre that those in whom Christ is spiritually discovered and that live in a spirituall enjoyment of him they must needs be best able to speak the language of the Scripture and to give the sense and meaning of it and are best acquainted with the originall for God being the Authour of it they in whom he is most spiritually discovered must needs know the mind of it and what Scripture is which may exclude all outward parts of learning arts and other qualifications which men boast of for though they may serve to speak scripture outwardly and help to expresse men to one another and to read it in the severall translations of it from one Nation to another yet they all come short of the spirituall discovery of God and so are not essential to the knowledge of him he being onely known and seen in his own light And which may likewise condemne the Romane Clergy I think the English Divines may take their part herein That having attain'd a little skil in the several languages of several countrys and received ordination as they call it they think themselves so invested with power above their brethren that none must be infallible or authentick in the interpretation of Scripture but themselves and men of their order and unlesse they will say themselves that private men as they call them cannot have the same or more spirituall discovery of God then themselves I do wonder that they should so advance themselves and undervalue or despise others But we shall let them passe and return to what we have in hand and we shall see both the Authority and end of Scripture laid down by the Apostle in the 2 of Tim. 3.16 where he saith all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and iâ— profitable to teach c. that the man of God may be made perfect where we see plainly what I have spoken all along That the inspiration which is spiritual and of God is the true proper ground why men are taught and no man can be taught but it must be by a spiritual inspiration or else it is not of God and so the Scripture is not of any private interpretation but holy men speak as they were inspired so that that which gives the rise ground of Scripture is Gods speaking in men or inspiring men and they best know what is Scripture in whom God most powerfully speaks And it is as true that God speaks spiritually in man and not in any audible voice or forme of words for I do not conceive he ever spoke so to any he being void of all shape and form or bodily Organs And when God so speakes that from naturall they are made spiritual then is it indeed they are spiritually taught And to this sweetly falls in that of David thou hast taught me truth in the secret parts then indeed men come to be convinced of their former weak and carnall condition when God spiritually discovers himself in them So that it is not the reading or perusing of the Scripture in the letter of it for so a man may read all his life-time and be never the better that teaches men spiritually But when the Scripture is spiritually made out and interpreted in them then they are taught And then it is that the man of God is made perfect then doth the inward fleshly Being or carnall man appeare dark and carnall and the spirituall or the man of God comes to be perfect and this spirituall man is able to judge all things as the Apostle saith then can he spiritually discern the Scripture in him and so can read it true in the outward letter For I really see that all the knowledge of the Scripture in the letter of it reaches no further but to a historicall and fleshly knowledge of God and indeed to this kind of knowledge which many do boast of the Scripture is very helpfull But he that knows no further then the outward letter knowes but Christ after the flesh And though so I have known Christ Scripture and God yet henceforth know I them so no more they being spirituall Again this I conceive that all the whole story and letter of the Scripture doth but set out and speak but of two estates and conditions of men or in men that is the fleshly Being and the Divine the naturall and the spirituall man And all these are presented to us in their several degrees and actings in each state and personated in severall persons from the beginning to the end of the Bible And so Gain and Abel Isaac and Ishmael Jacob and Esau David and Saul and so the good Kings and the bad the good Prophets and the wicked the true Apostles and the false they do but all expresse both Estates and are not so much to be lookt upon in their severall persons but are really fulfilled and appliable to every man in each Estate Degree and Condition whatsoever As to instance it tels us of the Man Christ who lived and died at Jerusalem and that he rose from the dead and ascended and past through all conditions But alas how farre is this from reaching the spirit a man may read it and believe it and yet be never the better do him no more good then any other History which we call prophane But the spirituality and Comfort and that which is spirit and life lies in this to see him found in the spirit to die in him and to rise with him to ascend and sit down with him in the heavenly places being made conformable to him in the spirit to have the everlasting Gospel preacht in the spirit All which the History and Person of Christ and the outward Gospel are but shadows the other is the sealed Book which none can read till God open himself to be the Scripture Then indeed can we understand what Scripture is and then are we guided by that inward life and spirit of truth more then by the outward letter and teachings in the World So that it is not the History of Scripture that is the Scripture or that is the word of God but it is the spiritual speaking of God which is the word of God and is spirit life But some may say doth not the word say Hear and your souls shall live and
his seale unto And yet I dare affirme to the most rigid spirit that workes in any man at this day against the things asserted That there is not any thing positively affirmed but I could with more ease prove the truth of them by divers Testimonies of Scripture and reason then he could with any truth or Scripture oppose them and any man that shall impartially weigh things may see that there is nothing in the Treatise then the very Language and correspondency of Scripture in the Letter of it will easily speake and sweetly comply with in a spirituall sence So much I thought good to premise by way of Preface to the Discourse All that GOD aimes at in such things as are of this nature is but to make out his owne Honour and Glory before men and to gaine esteeme from them And all I aime at is that we might resolve all the Comforts Glory and future felicity into GOD againe and so to make GOD All and the Creature nothing and if in the Discourse I shall detract or prevaricate from either of the Ends I am much mistaken and shall willingly confesse with that Prophet O Lord thou hast deceived me and I was deceived And so I leave the Discourse and thee together and if you happyly agree it is all the fruire of my labour that I expect to Reape If not I shall willingly waite an opportunity to make you both Friends As I am to every man J. B. THE Light and dark sides OF GOD. Concerning God O God what shall I say thou art when thou canst not be named what shall I speak of thee when in speaking of thee I speak nothing but contradiction For if I say I see thee it is nothing but thy seeing of thy selfe for there is nothing in me capable of seeing thee but thy self If I say I know thee that is no other but the know 〈…〉 thy self for I am rather known of thee then know thee If I say I love thee it is nothing so for there is nothing in me can love thee but thy self and therefore thou dost but love thy self My seeking of thee is no other but thy seeking of thy selfe My delighting enjoying thee is no other but thy delighting in thy selfe and enjoying of thy selfe after a most unconceivable manner If I say I prayse thee blesse or magnifie thee it is no other but thy praysing blessing and magnifying of thy self I say thou art infinite but what that is I cannot tell because I am finite And therefore I am led to believe that whatsoever thy Scripture or any man else speaks of thee it is but thy meer condescention to speak to us in the language of men and so we speak of thee to one another For this I know that whatsoever the Scripture or any man else speakes what thou art I know thou art not that because no man can say what thou art And therefore when the Scripture saith thou art a spirit It is because a spirit is the highest thing or tearme that men can give or apprehend For thou art beyond any expression and therefore thou art pleased to cloathe thy self with such Titles and Expressions of spirit love mercy power strength or whatsoever is amiable or high in esteeme among men to honour thy self and beget an high esteeme and lawfull respect of thy self from men And therefore whatsoever I speak or write of thee it is from thy writing and speaking in me for I really see that thou dost not speek to men but in men because there is nothing in man capable of thy speaking or hearing but thy self onely this man declares outwardly what he hath heard and seen inwardly and yet that outward Declaration is of God also for thou being the life and substance of all Creatures they speak and move yea live in thee and whatever any Creature is it is that as it is in thee And therefore thou art pleased to give thy self that Title I Am. This therefore I can say of thee That thou onely art and there is none beside thee But what thou art I cannot tell Onely this I see that there is nothing hath a Being but thy Being is in it and it is thy Being in it that gives it a Being and so I am ready to say with thy Servant Lord whither shall I go from thy presence for it is thy presence and Being that is the subsistance and Being of all Creatures and things and fills Heaven and Earth and all other places And therefore I cannot as I have carnally conceived and as men generally do that God hath his personall being and presence in one place more then another or that he hath a simple pure glorious and intire being circumscribed or confined in a place above the Starres and Firmament which the men of the World call Heaven And that all Creatures here below are the products of that Being and had their Being of him and yet distinct from him But the spirit in me speakes otherwise and saith I must not ascend up to Heaven to fetch Christ thence nor descend into the depth to fetch him from thence for the Word is even in you which Word is God and God is the Word Nay I see that God is in all Creatures Man and Beast Fish and Fowle and every green thing from the highest Cedar to the Ivey on the wall and that God is the life and being of them all and that God doth really dwell and if you will personally if he may admit so low an expression in them all and hath his Being no where else out of the Creatures Further I see that all the Beings in the World are but that our Being and so he may well be said to be every where as he is and so I cannot exclude him from Man or Beast or any other Creature Every Creature and thing having that Being living in it and there is no difference betwixt Man and Beast but as Man carries a more lively Image of the divine Being then any other Creature For I see the Power Wisdom and Glory of God in one as well as another onely in that Creature called Man God appeares more gloriously in then the rest And truly I find by experience the grand reason why I have and many others do now use set times of prayer and run to formall duties and other outward and low services of God the reason hath been and is because men look upon a God as being without them and remote from them at a great distance as if he were locally in Heaven and sitting there onely and would not let down any blessing or good things but by such and such a way and meanes But Lord how carnall was I thus to fancie thee Nay I am confident that there is never a man under the Sun that lookes upon God in such a forme but must be a grosse Idolator and fancie some corporall shape of him though they may call it spiritual Did men see that that God was in
do wonder how any man can make it to be capable of any torment when as it is well known it came immediately from God and is no other but of God and if I may say further without offence it is God for that which is of God is God because God cannot be divided All men grant it is immortall and came from God pure and undefiled And how then it should be impure I know not for this I really see that though it was infused into the body yet I am sure it was not of the body nor could the flesh be capable of such a thing as we call union with the spirit and so the soule is in the body but is not of the body or the body but really distinct and so it is in flesh but not flesh and so it is God manifest in flesh But not in union or conjunction with flesh but hath a distinct and formall difference both here and hereafter the one returning to nothing the other living to all Eternity And further how this soule as men speak of should be impure and sinfull I know not for how flesh should defile a spirit I cannot Imagine being that I am sure and as every man will grant That no effect can be produced beyond its cause but every effect hath its rise and originall from its proper cause And so hath God laid in nature the body proper to the seed and to every seed it s own body And a man may as well gather Grapes of Thornes and Figs of Thistles as to conceive it can be that a visible or fleshly substance can corrupt a spirituall and invisible substance But then you will say where is the sin all this while you will say then sin is nothing or that there is no sin To which I have partly answered in the foregoing Subject spoken of which because it is so faln in my way I shall speak a little further in answer to you First I shall grant and I think it is no lesse then blasphemy to affirm otherwise that God is not the Authour of sin or that any sin can be in him he being light and in him is no darkness at all and so the soule being of him it must needes be pure and holy not admitting any mixture of flesh or that which we call corrupted nature And yet againe Secondly I cannot conceive there should be sin untill God was pleased to let out himself in flesh But for before he lived in himself and so there could be no sin there being nothing but God Thirdly Inasmuch as this flesh is a vaile or covering wherein this soule or divine Being lives this God soule or divine nature call it what you will the glory and beauty the purity and excellency thereof being darkened and obscured there is the sin For whatever men conceive of things this I really apprehend That that which we call the soule that is as men generally make it The understanding reason judgement will and affections are not positively or actually infected with sin but onely are obscured and cannot be so gloriously manifested by reason of the flesh or fleshly Being and so God tooke flesh upon him and through the vaile that is the flesh did destroy and doth condemn sin in the flesh So that whosoever prays or prophesies with a vaile or covering upon his head Christ which is God in the Spirit such a one dishonoureth his head which is Christ because he suffers something to come betwixt God and him So that by this time I suppose you see what I conceive of sin and where it lies and what I conceive of that we call soul and of the body or fleshly part of man wherein I have been forced to make a little digression because things are mysterious And to come to the point in hand concerning a Hell hereafter what it should be or what should be tormented in it I do not as yet apprehend for the soul came pure and is of the essence of God could not be corrupted and the body not capable of any impressions of God and returns to its first principle of earth so that unlesse you will imagine a Hell in God which you would account Blasphemy to speak I cannot fancy or imagine any such Hell hereafter as men dreame off The truth is there is nothing lives to all eternity but God every thing below God perisheth and comes to nothing and as all things had their subsistance and Being in God before they were ever manifested in the world or Creatures so in the end whatsoever is of God or God in the world at the end of it they shall all be rapt up into God againe And so as God from all eternity lived in himself and all things in him so when he shall cease to live in flesh and creatures he will then live in himself unto all eternity and will gloriously triumph over Sin Hell and death and all Creatures shall give up their Power and Glory unto God backe againe from whence it Originally came and so God shall be All. However if any man can imagine that there will be any dark appearance of God hereafter or unto all eternity then may he conclude a Hell for as sin is the dark appearance of God so is Hell an inseperable companion of it but to imagine the one or the other hereafter or to all eternity would render me in my owne apprehension one of those whose property it is to believe every thing but I know whom I have believed Thus have I done with that part of my discourse which I call the dark side of God which I divide into three parts which we call Devill Sin and Hell In all which I have indeavoured to clear God and to make the Devill and sin as vile as I can but am far short of the one or the other wanting words to express my self in either onely what was upon my spirit thou hast in the Letter Concerning the Resurrection NOw let us come to deliver our selves about that which we call Resurrection and to express it as it is in me I see it also to be spirituall and inward and is also of that which is the inward man For though I know the inward man which is God or the divine Being admits of no degrees either is more or lesse but yet in as much as this God is more gloriously manifested at one time more then another in man Hence it is that we give this Title of resurrection of the Creature after this life is ended But truly for my part I am fully satisfied in my own spirit with those words of Christ where he saith I am the Resurrection and the life and I see it fully made out in me that Christ spiritually is that resurrection which I thought should be of the creature And I cannot tell what in the creature should rise or be capable of such glory and happinesse beside God and so I see that which I did expect to enjoy hereafter onely
himself and he uses such expressions as are highest in mens esteem and his commands threatnings and promises admonitions exhortations they are all as men speak to one another for I dare not believe God is this or that or can be named by any title or that he ever threatned any people or Nation or promised any that upon such and such terms they should have this or that or upon neglect of him they should suffer this or that for to me it plainly appears that there is neither wrath or anger love or hatred in God or that God was any thing more or lesse to a people upon their sinning or doing any good For then a thousand absurdities would follow But the truth is because men apprehend anger when they sin and God pleased when they do well therefore men speak as one to another and God so far condescends as to speak to men in their own language But that he is so in himselfe I should think blasphemy to affirme for I am confident there is never an error or tenent in the world as men maintaine but if men take that for Scripture which they call the Bible it doth fully and literally countenance and uphold and I know no other way in the world to uphold the authority of Scripture than to make it spirituall And whereas men speak that we deny Scripture I must confesse for my part tha◠I know no greater door opened to the denying it then for men to presse and urge men to do such and such things because the outward word saith so and so indeed so far I shall deny it as the Letter is inferiour to the Spirit so far I conceive the letter doth vaile and shadow the spirituality of it And if men have the Law in their hearts and be taught of God they need not run so often to a great Bible to relieve themselves in straights and doubts as men generally do never reflecting upon their spirits to see what God speaks there I do not speak it to condemn the practise neither is the fault in the Book but in mens carnall conceits of it and seeing men make an Idoll of it and think the reading and perusing the outward word is enough to cure all their wounds and to resolve their doubts so that as men look upon God outwardly and carnally so do they have recourse to an outward word to strengthen their carnall apprehensions Truly I must confesse ingeniously that as to my own spiritual enjoyment I see nothing of any concernment in it or in looking upon it but onely this I see and so it is some comfort to me to read that God hath discovered himself in others as well as in me and that the spirit speaks the same in me as it did in them But for any thing of God that I look to attaine unto by reading or looking upon it I do not care whether ever I look upon one again or no And yet this is no detracting from the glory or authority of Scripture because the Scripture is within and spirituall and the Law being writ in my spirit I care not much for beholding it in the Letter but as to the ends aforesaid And the truth is it is the Law in the spirit that is the true Bible the other is but a shadow or counterpart of it and therefore I do not expect to be taught by Bibles or Books but by God nay further I do not do any thing or abstain from any thing because the outward letter commands or forbids it but by reason of that commanding power which is God in me and his speaking is the power of God to salvation and it is in that by which I live and by which I act and so the Apostle speaks of the law outward that it was not made for the righteous but for whoremongers and such and such And so I see that if men were acted guided by that inward law of righteousnesse within there need be no laws of men to compel or restrain men and I could wish that such a spirit of righteousnesse would appear that men did not act or do things from externall rules but from an internall law within Again to speak a little further concerning the Scripture men generally speak that we must do nothing but what we have a rule for and are asking what warrant have you to do such a thing shew a rule from Scripture and then we will believe you or else it is but a whimsey and I know not what Truly it is true and I would those that talk most of a rule did see that rule for the safest and prime rule that I know for any man is that pure spirituall law and rule of righteousnesse which is within and so far as any man doth any thing beneath or beyond that so far he doth that which he hath no warrant for but who must judge of this rule whether this or that be according to the mind of God or no To this I answer in the words of Scripture because men will soonest believe me That it is the spirit which searches all things even the deep things of God and there is no knowing the spirit but in its own light which is spiritual therefore I think it not so safe to go to the Bible to see what others 〈◊〉 spoken and writ of the mind of God as to see what God speaks within me and to follow the ducture and leading of it in me I shall sooner and so others shall sooner mis-apprehend the mind of God in other men then in my self and the same law and rule being in me which was in those that writ the Bible and to which internall and spiritual rule within I must take a measure and scantling of all my actions I had rather measure them from or by a rule within then by any outward rule or word whatsoever for the one that is to say the Bible without is but a shadow of that Bible which is within which is the Law spiritual the safest and onely rule If any man shall say that I may be deceived and take that for a discovery of God which is but a fancie of my own Brain I answer I may mis-interpret the outward Scripture and so run as great a hazard that way and as soon fall into errour because it speakes of and to men in variety of Estates and conditions and so if I take that part of it which doth not speak to my condition I shall then make a false construction of it so that I conceive the farest and surest rule to walk by is that law of the spirit and as many as walk according to that spirituall rule peace shall be upon them and on the Israel which is of God but as many as walk according to a rule without them and so look for a God and Scripture without they shall be but at a losse and live in continuall trouble and disquietment and if I may speak my own experience without offence
faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God Is not the Scripture and outward letter a meanes to convey the knowledge of God and meanes to ger Faith To which I answer it is true but what living is it to which hearing is annexed If an outward and carnall living and knowing of God then the outward Scripture contributes to it but if it be a spiritual living which is a living in God then that life must be enjoyed by a spirituall hearing for all the outward hearing in the world cannot reach to that so that to me it is plain that then men spiritually live when God spiritually speakes and so this spiritual life is attained by a spirituall speaking of God and when men heare that spiritual speaking then their soules live spiritually in that and so the word of Christ is verefied That 〈◊〉 an lives not by bread onely but by every word which proceedes out of the mouth of God that is it is not any outward or external way or meanes that supports the Spirit but 〈◊〉 is the divine and spiritual food that the divine and spiritual man lives upon and on that he feedes spiritually with 〈…〉 and satisfaction it being sutable to him and 〈…〉 onely blessed that eat bread in the Kingdom of 〈◊〉 for they never hunger or thirst after any externall or outward teaching or speaking of men and so it is true that faith comes by hearing But what do you make of Faith If it be a spiritual thing as it is then it must needes come by a spiritual meanes which is a spiritual hearing and so the following words explain it That hearing comes 〈◊〉 the word of God Now it is apparent that God speakes spiritually and so he is heard and believed spiritually and men cannot heare God speak but it must be by a spiritual hearing sutable to the speaking But men are still objecting and say did not Christ and the Apostles convince men of the truth of things by the Scripture shewing things must needs be so I answer it is true but the reasons plain which was that because men were not able to bear Christs spiritual speaking it being mysticall therefore he speaks to them in parables and in such a way as they could apprehend and so did condescend to their weaknesse and so Christ speakes of himself that he needed not Iohns Testimony he had 〈◊〉 sufficient proofe with himself and needed not any mans Testimony of him And besides as men did hasten their lief of things upon an outward letter therefore Christ the Apostle brought Scripture to prove things that he miâ—â— bear them with their own weapons And so alleadged Scâ—â—ture to the Devill to answer him in his own way Anâ—â— the Apostles brought Scripture to prove a Christ in the fâ—â— which some went about to deny And whereas sâ—â— alleadge that to the Law and the Testimony if any 〈◊〉 speak not according to that it is because there is no 〈◊〉 in him It is also true if any man speak not from that 〈◊〉 tuall Law in himself and hath not the inward Testimonâ—â— the spirit within in such a man there is no truth let speak what he will and this is the grand cause why meâ—â— dispute and jangle about things because men speak not 〈◊〉 the inward experience and spiritual teaching but from 〈◊〉 dition and the outward letter Nay I verily believe moâ—â— the Religion in the world is borne up because others 〈◊〉 held and done so before them and they think it â—â—ffâ—â—â— to walk in an outward conformity in duties and Ordâ—â—ces and never eye the goings of God in their own Spiâ—â—â— But this by the way and all I drive at in this and Iâ—â—â— no body will be offended that I would make Scripture 〈◊〉 is to be spiritual and not subject to the gross and carnaâ—â—â— prehensions and interpretations of any sort of men 〈◊〉 ever neither dô I lessen the Authority of it in so doing 〈◊〉 the reason of all the mistakes in and about the Scripture 〈◊〉 not in the Scripture but in mens carnall apprehensions 〈◊〉 For if men were spiritual they might judge it also 〈◊〉 spiritual as God himself iâ— And I would have men set 〈◊〉 upon a sure foundation which is God and that Divine 〈◊〉 within us which is pure and Divine Scripture FINIS