given as Help-meets for the life of Jesus in man When I speak of the Life of Jesus in man I do not mean that eternal Life and Being that gave life and being to all things for that Life and Being the works or actions of man cannot reach unto to do it either good or harm but I mean the Life of Jesus as a Saviour in man as he is sent of the Father and is come into fallen man and is of that eternal Life and being that gave being to all that life of his that was slain in man by sin and is come again into man to be raised up to life and thereby to save man from sin and to bring man to God and into God again from whence man fell by his sin And so as man keeps in obedience to his being drawn or led forth by the Spirit of Jesus in him so he in his obedience being thereunto led or drawn forth by the Spirit of Jesus Christ in him is as an Help-meet for that life of Jesus in him to save him from sin which the woman given to Adam as an Help-meet I believe was a figure of And mans going out of his obedience in the time of the drawings or strivings of the Spirit of Jesus in him is a hurt or hindrance to that Life of Jesus in him that is to that Life that is a saving him from sin And so that which was as an Help-meet is deceived by the subtilty of the Serpents self that in man that yielded obedience to God is deceived in and by its disobedience God's Spirit striving in man to keep him from sin that is God's drawing of man and as man keeps in obedience to those strivings and drawings of the Spirit of God in him so he becomes an Help-meet to the Life of Jesus in him that is to that Life that saves from sin The end of Paul's preaching was to bring men to repent and turn to God and do works meet for repentance Acts 26. 20. And it was Gods Command by the Apostle to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling For it is God that worketh in us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure Philip. 2. 12 13. Every one is to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling But how are they to work out their own salvation It must be according to the strivings or drawings of the Spirit of God in them to do it For it is God that worketh in us to will and to do of his good pleasure The work is God's but he doth not do it without man working with him and as God chose man to work with him so he makes man as an Help-meet for the Life of Jesus in man to save man from sin as man yields an obedience to the working of God in him but when man goes out of his obedience and yields not obedience to the working of God's Spirit in him then the woman is deceived and found in the transgression While the woman stood in obedience to the strivings or drawings of the Spirit of God in her which strove in her to keep her from yielding to the temptations of the Serpent and caused her to resist the temptations of the Serpent telling him that they might eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden But of the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden God had said they should not eat of it nor touch it lest ye die While the woman stood thus in obedience to the working of the Spirit of God in her that strove in her to keep her from sinning she was as God wrought it in her an Help-meet for the preserving of the Life of Jesus in her that kept her from sin But while the Spirit of God thus wrought and strove in her she hearkened to the Serpents temptation and went out of her obedience into disobedience then she was deceived and found in the transgression as all men in the state of disobedience are How doth experience teach the truth of this at this very day the subtile Serpent presents to man his temptation The Light the Spirit which is Jesus although in several names yet but one Being God makes known to man that what the Serpent tempts to is a breaking of his Commands and the penalty that follows the breaking of the Command is death This is the striving or drawing of God by his Spirit in man to keep man from sin this was in the woman While man stands in obedience to these strivings or drawings of God in him he is kept from sin and so was the woman And as man is thus an Instrument in Gods hand for God doth not save man from sin without mans joyning condescending or being willing thereunto and although the work be wholly Gods who worketh both to will and to do yet God doth not do this his great work without his Instrument man And as man is an Instrument in Gods hand so God makes him a fit Instrument to do his work withal And so man may be said to be an Help-meet for the work of God in man as a man that hath a work to do makes an Instrument fit to do his work with and so his Instrument is an Help-meet or fit for him to do his work withal God strives or draws in man by his Light his Spirit his Son Jesus to keep man from yielding to the temptation of the Serpent The Serpent also then strives in man and draws in man to yield to his temptation this was the cause of the woman The Serpent in his temptation causeth man to behold a good and pleasantness to be had in the sin in the forbidden Fruit the woman saw that the Tree was good for food and pleasant to the eye When the understanding part in man the knowing part in man beheld a good for food and pleasantness to the eye in what was contrary to the Command of God and that there was so much good and pleasantness in it that he shall thereby have content and full satisfaction as being wise as Gods Then there is a desire in the mind stirred up after the enjoying of it this was the case of the woman when she saw the Tree to be good for food and pleasant to the eye then there was a desire stirred up in her to take thereof to be made wise thereby So when the understanding and knowing part in man looketh out and sees that there is a good a pleasantness a satisfaction and full content in what God hath forbidden man to do and that thereby he shall be made as Gods then a desire gets up in the mind to get the enjoyment thereof that he may be wise as Gods that is that he may know what good what pleasure what satisfaction what content there is to be had in the doing the thing that God hath forbidden to be done And so mans desire is to be wise in that God hath forbidden him to do and to know what
A FREE GIFT FREELY Given of God TO HENRY ABBUT And by him freely Given to The Reader Without MONEY or PRICE It was the Complaint of God by the Prophet Jeremiah Jer. 6 13 14. and ch 8. 10 11. That the Prophets and Priests had dealt falsly In that they had healed the hurt of the daughters of his people slightly saying Peace peace where there is no peace Printed in the Year 1684. THE EPISTLE TO The Reader READER I Was never learned in the Schools of men any other Language but the English nor do I well understand many words that is spoken in that Language that come from other Tongues and therefore it cannot be expected that I should place my words in what I write in such an outward Scholar like-way as perhaps I might have done had I been brought up in the outward Schools of Learning To shew outward Wisdom is not the thing I aim at in what I write nor ought it to be my aim if I had it because the things of God that is in the way that God makes use of to restore fallen man again unto himself he will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent 1 Cor. 1. 19. And therefore if I had been learned in that Wisdom I could not in and by that Wisdom experimentally and knowingly have set forth to others the way that God makes use of to restore lost man again unto himself because God hath hid it from the wise and prudent and hath revealed it unto babes for so it seemeth good in the Fathers sight Luke 10. 21. The thing that I aim at in what I write is that the Tallent given to me might not be hid but improved for him that gave it me in my discovering what I by experience know of Mans being made in the Image of God And how Man made a wrong use of that Vnderstanding and Knowledge that God gave to Man in his Creation as made in his Image And how the Serpent self in man at first was and now is tempting Man in that Vnderstanding and Knowledge that God hath given to Man to perswade man to please satisfie and content himself more in what he understands and knows of God than to yield obedience to God according to what he knew of God that he should obey God in God commanded man that he should not eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil that is he should not please satisfie and content himself in that he knew God and knew what was God's declared Will that he should do which was good and knew what was God's declared Will that he should not do that was evil he was not to do evil of this Tree man was commanded not to eat of nor to touch the Fruit of it And God commanded man to eat of the Tree of Life which was in the midst of the Garden which was Jesus that in man that saved man from sin that brought forth the Fruit of Obedience unto God according to that understanding and knowledge that God had given to man to obey him in this man was to eat freely of And to declare what I know of Gods love to all fallen men and how he will bring lost man again to himself by chusing them to take up the Cross and follow Jesus When I at first began to write some part hereof I began upon half a sheet of Paper and had no thoughts to write more than what might have been writ upon half a sheet of Paper and that onely concerning what Adam the Woman the Garden the Serpetn the forbidden Fruit the eating of the forbidden Tree and the death that Man died in the day that he eat thereof what these were in the mystery as knowing that no Scripture is of any private interpretation nor had I at first any thoughts of printing But God of whom I earnestly begged to assist me in what I then was moved to write resigning my will wholly up into his will in what I did he hath caused me to exceed that bounds which then I thought to have left onely in writing and what I have writ is according as he was pleased to put into me and move in me to write without observing any outward forms rules or methods in writing as is used by men so to do Are not the Scriptures so written without the observing of outward rules and methods God having herein in what measure he pleased lighted his Candle in me he made known to me that it was not to be put under a Bushel but on a Candlestick that so as an Instrument it may be a light to others And in obedience to God I knowing no other way to do it in to avoid offence but by being at the charge of putting it in print and so thereby to communicate it to my Children Friends and Acquaintance and thereby it may remain as an Instrument in Gods hand to be as an help to shew to others how subtile the Serpents self is in man to draw man into disobedience to God and that under a pretence of profit or gain that man shall get by his disobedience in that thereby he shall become the more like unto God to be as Gods Which subtilty of the Serpent man cannot see but as he comes into the obedience of Jesus the true Light in him and so come to know how God saves man again out of his disobedience and bring man again into himself Which being outwardly printed may outwardly remain when outwardly shall not be Henry Abbut A FREE GIFT Freely given of GOD TO Henry Abbut c. I Do believe there was an Adam a man made by God and out of that man God took a woman and gave her to that man that he had made of whom came all mankind and they lived together as Gods Creatures and for a time obeyed God in all things that he required of them to obey him in but they did not continue in their Obedience but sinned against God and so do all men and women If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us 1 John 1. 8. But for their sin they did not die a natural death of the body in that natural day of the week that they first sinned in And had they not sinned I believe they had never died the natural death of the body And I do believe the outward Adam and woman and the outward death are Figures and in a mystery they represent an inward Adam woman and death Adam in the mystery is Jesus the woman in the mystery is mans being drawn by the Spirit or the leadings or goings forth of man by the Spirit of Jesus in man As the woman was taken out of man and given to man to be an Help-meet for him so is man by the drawings of the Spirit or the goings or leadings forth of man by the Spirit of Jesus in man they are taken out of Jesus and
28. Ye have heard it hath been said by them of old time Thou shalt not commit adultery But I say unto you That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart Mark here the eye first looks upon her which must imply that it so looks upon her as to be good to satisfie and please him and then lust the desire is stirred up after her and the will that condescends and then the adultery is already committed in the heart although no outward action ever be manifested tending thereunto And what Christ spake of an outward woman may be said of all outward Creatures When the eye of the understanding and knowing part in man doth look upon any Creature otherwise than it is Gods will that man should look upon them and the desire of the mind be let out after them contrary to the â—â—clared will of God which was given to man before his fall and the will joyns therewith that it will have its desire satisfied in the enjoyment of them although contrary to Gods command to man Here the inward adultery is committed with the Creatures although there come none of it forth into outward action And this is a kind of inward and spiritual whoredom committed in the heart or inward part in man And this understanding and knowing part in man which looks upon what God hath forbidden to be good food for it to be thereby made wise as Gods and so pleasing to it and the desire of the mind to be let out after it and the will condescending and takes it in and eats of it that is doth the things that God hath forbidden to be done These three thus joyned together in one as they are but one this is that which is the Antichrist in man it is that which opposeth God in his workings by his Son Jesus in man for the bringing man again to God And it is that man of sin in man the Son of Perdition that is to be revealed who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped sitteth in the Temple of God shewing himself that he is God and is the mystery of iniquity And this is he that letteth and will let until he be taken away and when he is taken away then his wickedness is revealed then is he made manifest what he was that is when Jesus is a consuming of him with the Spirit of his mouth and the brightness of his coming in the heart of man And then whereas before the coming of Jesus in man and is in man thus a consuming of this man of sin he that is the man of sin until Jesus is a consuming of him lieth hid in the heart or inward part of man and is not known to man what he is but sitteth in Gods Temple in man as God and man boweth down to him and worshippeth him as his God whom the Lord Jesus shall yea he does as experience teacheth us consume him with the Spirit of his mouth and destroy him with the brightness of his coming Men have a long time been looking without them and enquiring without them who that man of sin should be and what he is that is to be revealed and so to be revealed whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signes and lying wonders and with all deceiveableness and unrighteousness in them that perish because they receive not the love of the Truth that they might be â—aved And for this cause God shall send them strong delusions that they should believe a lye that they all may be damned who believe not the truth but had pleasure in unrightness I say their so-much-looked-out for the man of sin to be revealed without them that is it that hath hindered that they have not seen the revelation of him within them For what is there spoken of the man of sin but the same may be found in that understanding and knowing part in man that saw and beheld a good for food and thereby to be made wise as Gods and a pleasantness to the eye in the Tree that God had forbidden to be eaten thereof and the desire of the mind after it and the will to take and eat of it Joyn these three together in one as indeed they are but one and make but one man sin for they all were joyned and united together in the sin and eating of the forbidden Fruit and so may properly be called the man of sin because they begot the first sin in man And see if you do not find in these as they are joyned and united together all that is spoken of the man of sin in 2 Thess 2. No prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation 2 Pet. 1. 20. The Garden in the mystery is the heart of man or the inward part of man that was Gods garden While Adam stood in his obedience to God the heart or inward part of Adam was pleasant and delightful to God and Adam's hearts delight was in God and his obedience to God was pleasant unto him and so the heart or inward part of man doth very fitly resemble a Garden which is a pleasant and delightful place In this Garden in the heart or inward part of man Adam after he had fallen in the cool of the day heard God's voice walking in the heart or inward part as man in the fallen state doth at this day and calling to Adam saying Where art thou And his eyes being opened he knew that he was naked which cannot be meant the outward eyes of his body for they were open before and he saw his outward body before but the eyes of his understanding were opened and he saw himself naked for want of that righteous Garment of obedience that God had clothed him with in the Creation which Garment remained upon him and he was clothed with it until he eat of the forbidden Fruit and when he had eaten of the forbidden Fruit then he saw himself naked stripped out of that righteous Garment of obedience that God had created him in And then when he heard God's voice walking in his heart or inward part which before he eat of the forbidden Fruit was pleasing to him but after he had eaten of the forbidden Fruit he was afraid of God's voice and hid himself from God fearing Gods justice that he saw he justly deserved for his sin as experience teacheth us in the fallen state and condition of man at this very day as man remains in that fallen state And thus when man had sinned the heart or inward part of man that which was before life a garden for delight and pleasantness is become like a Hell a place of fear dread and torment And indeed that fear that was then in mans heart or inward part when he heard God's voice walking in the garden was the beginning of Hell in man And here God may be said to send man or drive man out of
tree of knowledge of good and evil or the fruit of it or to touch the fruit of it this was what was forbidden Jesus was tempted but he did not yield to the temptation and so did not sin Jesus was led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil Mat. 4. 1. mark that led of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil read it within who can in the mystery there is so much in it and so much do I see in it that if I should declare it few at this day could bear it Jesus told his Disciples I have many things to say unto you but ye cannot bear them now John 16. 12. I hope I may without offence to any write what is in the Scripture And first as to the time when Jesus was led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil Matth. 4. 1. which is not by every one that reads it minded or any notice taken of it although there is very much in it The time it was then when at that very time that Jesus had by his Fore-runner John fulfilled all Righteousness and had the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighted upon him and lo a voice from Heaven saying This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Matth. 3. 15 16 17. then was the time Mark 1. 12. immediately it was that then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil Secondly it was Jesus it was the beloved Son of God in whom he was well pleased that had fulfilled all Righteousness it was he that came to save his people from their sins that was led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil the Scripture does not say that he went of himself into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil Mark saith of it Mark 1. 12. the spirit driveth him into the wilderness Thirdly it was the spirit that led up the beloved Son of God in whom he was well pleased that had fulfilled all Righteousness that came to save his people from their sins into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil it was no man nor any outward earthy Creature that led up Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil but Jesus was led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil there is much in that I pray mark the words of the Scripture it is not said that Jesus was led down of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil but Jesus was led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil Fourthly this beloved Son of God in whom God was well pleased that had fulfilled all Righteousness that came to save his people from their sins whither was he led up of the spirit to be tempted of the Devil it was into the wilderness not onely led up to a wilderness which might be to the outside of a wilderness but led up into the wilderness he was led up into the wilderness he was in the wilderness what wilderdess the wilderness is all the name that is given to it in the Scriptures outward wilderness have outward names There is a wilderness that is not without nor hath an outward name and yet it is a wilderness and may truly be said to be the wilderness Fifthly and this beloved Son of God in whom he was well pleased that had fulfilled all Righteousness that came to save his people from their sins was lâ—d up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil as first being there in the wilderness and in want he was then tempted by the Devil to do that which God had not commanded him to do to supply his want being an hungred he was tempted to command those stones to be made bread Secondly he being taken up mark that taken up of the Devil into the holy City and set upon a pinacle of the Temple he was tempted of the Devil to presume upon God the Fathers love and care because God had given his Angels charge concerning him to preserve him from harm therefore he was tempted to cast himself down from a pinacle of the Temple Thirdly he was taken up mark that taken up by the Devil into an exceeding high mountain and shewed all the Kingdoms of the World and the glory of them and tempted by the Devil to do that which was altogether unlawful to have given to him the things of the World the Kingdoms of the World and the glory of them and that was to fall down and worship the Devil And in these temptations in the wilderness that he was of the spirit led up into he did make it appear that he was the Son of God by his obedience to God as is plain by his not yielding in the least to any of the Temptations Sixthly this beloved Son of God in whom God was well pleased that had fulfilled all Righteousness that came to save his people from their sins he was led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil to be tempted of him that was a murderer from the beginning to be tempted of him that abode not in the truth to be tempted of him that there is no truth in him to be tempted of him that is a lyar and the father of lyes John 8. 44. I pray take notice of this that the Scripture doth not say that Jesus was led up of the spirit to be tempted of the Devil any where but onely in the wilderness and when he had fasted forty days and forty nights he was afterwards an hungred mark that an hungred he wanted bread there is much in that of Jesus being an hungred and when the Tempter came to him he said the Tempter said that which tempted him it was that which said which being taken notice of it may as an instrument in Gods hand be as an help to understand what the wilderness was and what the Devil was and what Jesus temptations were that he was tempted in the holy City and the Temple they were not in an outward wilderness and where is there an outward mountain in the outward world so exceedingly high that upon it may be seen all the outward Kingdoms of the outward World and the outward glory of them and Jesus in the temptation was taken up into an exceeding high mountain and shewed all the Kingdoms of the World and the glory of them if the Reader who understandeth little or nothing of the mystery of Jesus being led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil did but in true silence of all the earthy part in him of all that is of the flesh in him wait upon God and be like the poor Widow to the unjust Judge who would not give over going to him until he had done her justice so not to give over waiting upon
God in true self-denial in being as a nothing in thy self until God send his spirit that quiet into all truth to guide to search to let thee understand something of the great mystery that is in these few words Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil thou wouldst then find that those few words have been much read without and very little understood by the outward Readers within they have read little of them within themselves The forbidden fruit as it was presented in the temptation it was pleasant to the eye and to be desired to make wise the knowing of Gods will and not to do Gods will is the forbidden fruit What God requires of man to obey him in and what man knows to be Gods will that he should obey him in is good but to know Gods will and not to do it is evil that is the knowing of good and evil in the action which is sin To know is very pleasant to the eye because it makes wise and how much is there a desire in man going forth after knowledge that they may be wise because Wisdom is one part of the Essence or Being of God and it is to be like God and so man in the temptation had a desire to be like God as being wise And thus man desired to know more of God than he desired in that knowledge to yield obedience to God in what he knew of God And this is the forbidden fruit to have a desire to be wise like God to know God or the mind and will of God and not to obey God according to what he knew to be Gods will this was Adams fall this was the forbidden fruit which man was not to eat of nor yet to touch it And now man is fallen who can say upon a true examination of himself in the inward parts that he is now judged or condemned for the doing of any thing but for the doing of those things that God hath made known to him that he ought not to do or else he is judged and condemned for the not doing of those things that God hath made known to him to be his will that he ought to do and should do the condemnation is either for doing what we know we ought not to do or for leaving undone what we know that we should do The woman mystically being the figure of mans being drawn by the spirit or the goings or leadings forth of man by the spirit of Jesus in man for as the Lord God took the woman out of Adam so is mans being drawn by the spirit or the goings or leadings forth of man by the spirit of Jesus in man is the work of the Lord God and they are given as Help-meets for the life of Jesus in man that is as Help-meets for that life of Jesus in man that is in him saving of him from sin And as the woman as she was taken out of Adam although she was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh yet she had a distinct and separated body from Adam so in the mystery is to be understood mans being drawn by the spirit of Jesus or the goings or leadings forth of the spirit of Jesus in man although taken out of Jesus in man as the woman was taken out of man to be distinct and separated from Jesus in man and serve for the end the woman was created for to be as an Help-meet for man so man by these drawings of the spirit or the goings or leadings forth of man by the spirit of Jesus in man are as Help-meets for the life of Jesus in man How is the life of Jesus in man refreshed and comforted when there is in man a drawing going or leading forth of the spirit to meditate of Gods goodness or to meditate of some mystery that God is making known to the Soul either what God is or what he hath made man to be or what man was before the fall or what man made himself by the fall or what God hath made man by his redeeming of him or what man shall be in the resurrection or sometimes in praying or speaking or some sudden Vision or breakings out of the manifestations of Gods love in these or other of the drawings leadings or goings forth of man by the Spirit of Jesus in man How is the Life of Jesus in man helped and refreshed that is that Life of Jesus in man that is in him saving of him from sin So as the woman was created to be an Help-meet for Adam so hath God made man by these drawings leadings or goings forth of man by the Spirit of Jesus in man as Help-meets for the Life of Jesus in man as he is in man a saving him from sin Now as I said before as the woman although taken out of Adam and was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh yet she had a distinct and separate body of her self So in the mystery although man by these drawings of the Spirit or goings or leadings forth of man by the Spirit they come from Jesus and are taken out of Jesus in man yet in the mystery they are to be looked upon as a distinct and separate body from Jesus in man as the woman was a distinct and separate body from man Now the Serpents self or a mans own will as separated from God as it is in the fall and so is become a fallen Angel or Spirit and being in the garden of God that is in the heart or inward part of man this presents to the woman that is to man as being drawn of the Spirit or his goings or being led forth by the Spirit of Jesus in man a desire more to know the things of God than to come into the obedience of what God hath by those drawings leadings or goings forth of the Spirit made known to them to obey him in and this is the forbidden Fruit for man to desire to know more of God in those manifestations or enjoyments that he hath received from God by the drawings leadings or goings forth of his Spirit in them than to obey God in what he knew of God or that God doth make known to him of himself in those manifestations or enjoyments that he gives of himself unto man And this desire after knowledge this Serpents self or a mans own will in the fall presents to be very pleasant to the eye of the woman and to be desired to be made wise and by it to be as Gods But these presentations to the woman is to be taken as if man in these drawings goings or leadings forth of the Spirit were distinct and separate from Jesus as the woman was from the man And that is onely to be taken as to that sense or knowledge that the Soul wherein these drawings or goings forth of the Spirit are acted hath of them that is as the Soul or inward part of man does look upon the drawings
And he was first formed the Apostle does not here say made as a Creature but formed he was in the form and likeness of God before the World was and the World was made by him This Adam in man that is Jesus in man was not deceived neither doth this Jesus in man enter into the transgression But Eve so called because she was the Mother of all living she that had her beginning after Adam and was taken out of Adam mark that she was the woman that was deceived and found in the transgression that which was taken out of Adam and was bone of Adam's bone and flesh of Adam's flesh and given to Adam of God to be an Help-meet for Adam this was deceived and was in the transgression Read it within who can in the mystery Christ is compared to the man and the Church to the woman Ephesians the fifth Chapter and the Saints are compared to a woman bringing forth a man child Revelations the 12th Chapter All they that can read it in the mystery in some measure degree or other who knows what it is to have the woman in them saved in Child-bearing that is to know that in man which was deceived and found in the transgression to be again saved in bearing the Child Jesus in bearing and bringing forth in them that which saves from sin and that which saves from sin is that Adam in them that was not deceived that of God in man that never changed but was and is and ever shall be the same and is the quickning Spirit the Lord from Heaven and the heavenly Image that we shall in time bear if we continue in Faith and Charity and Holiness with Sobriety It was Gods promise that the seed of the woman should bruise the Serpents head it was not the woman that was to bruise the Serpents head mark that but the seed of the woman Not mans being drawn forth by the Spirit or the goings or the leadings forth of man by the Spirit of Jesus in man that was in man before the fall that was not to bruise the Serpents head but the seed of the woman was to bruise the Serpents head A Virgin shall conceive and bear a son his name is Emmanuel God in us Mat. 1. 23. The Virgin that knew no man brought forth Jesus the Son of God Luke 1. 34 35. That is the seed that bruises the Serpents head that is that in man that knoweth nothing of man that wherein there is nothing of man joyned to it as is in mans being drawn lead or going out to act by the Spirit of Jesus in him there the Serpents self or a mans own will is ready to bruise the heel of it The feet is the walking or going part of man or upon that which man walks and the heel is the hindermost part of the foot and so it represents the walkings goings or drawings forth of man by the Spirit of Jesus in him which self or a mans own will is ready to bruise the heel of it that is to hurt or hinder the pure operations of the work of the Spirit of Jesus in man but the seed of the woman God in us the Son of God Jesus that saves from sin this bruises the head of the Serpent The head is that part of the body wherein the life and understanding is placed it is the seat of that which makes wise and it is the uppermost part of the Creature And this seed of the woman God in us the Son of God Jesus that saves from sin is that seed which bruises the head of the Serpent in us bruises the head of self or a mans own will in us bruises the life of self or a mans will bruises its wisdom or understanding bruises whatever is uppermost in man God did not promise that the seed of the woman should slay or kill the Serpent so as that there should be no life or motion in the Serpent mark that no there was to be an enmity between them between the woman and the Serpent and between the womans seed and the Serpents seed And although the Serpent had his head bruised by the seed of the woman yet the Serpent should bruise the heel of the womans seed mark that The Serpent was not to bruise the heel of the woman although God put enmity between the Serpent and the woman and between the womans seed and the Serpents seed and so great an enmity that the Serpent was to bruise the heel of the womans seed and the seed of that woman not the woman but the womans seed was to bruise the head of the Serpent Man in his goings forth by the leadings or drawings of the spirit of Jesus in him is not to bruise the Serpents head but it is Jesus in him by whom man is drawn forth to do what he doth in obedience to God it is he it is that seed of the woman that is to bruise the Serpents head so that man must be nothing in bruising the Serpents head but God must be all in the doing thereof And doth not experience teach us the truth thereof do we not find that although God in us Jesus that saves from sin doth bruise the head of the Serpent in us self or mans will wherein the life of the Serpent and its wisdom is placed and what is uppermost in Man is bruised by the seed of the Woman in us yet there remains a life or motion in this Serpents self or mans will that doth bruise the heel of the Womans seed in us that is it hurts or hinders the hindermost part of the pure operations or workings of the seed of the woman in us that is of Jesus in us and it must be this Jesus in us and he alone in us that can bruise the head of the Serpent in us and man must be but an instrument in his hand and not to move therein but as moved by Jesus in him that so God may be all in all to work both to will and to do of his own good pleasure And yet this woman that was deceived and in the transgression shall be saved in Child-bearing in bearing the Child whose name is God in us the Son of God Jesus that saves from sin which is conceived in the pure Virgins seed in man in that in man that knew no man that is that knew nothing of self or the will of man but knew onely the will of God it is that in man that knew nothing of man that is of mans self or will by joyning with it or condescending to it that is the Virgins seed in man which conceived God in us the Son of God Jesus that saves from sin and this Conception of the Virgins seed in us is wrought and brought to pass by the Holy Ghost the power of the highest coming upon us and over-shadowing of us it is the great power of God by the holy Spirit joyning with that seed of God in man that never condescended or
yielded to self in man or to mans will in the temptation but did oppose it and discovered the temptation in man to be contrary to Gods will that is that they should not eat of the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden and told man the danger if he yielded to the temptation that he should die and after man had yielded to the temptation shewed him his nakedness his being stripped or made naked as to that holiness and righteousness that God had made them in and made them serviceable of the justice of God towards them for their transgression which made them afraid of God To this Virgins seed in man that was thus in man before the fall and continued in man after the fall the great power of God by the Holy Ghost joyns with and by this conjunction or joyning together of these two seeds if they may be so call'd that is the seed of God in us the seed of God without us that is the power of God within us and the power of God without us which is all of one kind and nature as is the seed of the man and the seed of the woman here cometh the conception of the Son of God in us Jesus that saves from sin which being born and brought forth in the life cannot sin 1 John 3. 9. Whosoever is horn of God cannot sin because he is born of God it is the birth and bringing forth of the seed of God in us it is that in us cannot sin because it is born of God 1 John 3. 8. He that committeth sin is of the Devil for the devil sinneth from the beginning he that sins or that which is sin is of the Devil for the Devil sinneth from the beginning this beginning is not to be understood from the beginning of time in which God created all things for then all things were very good Gen. 1. 31. They were like God as God is good but from the beginning of the Devil the Devil sinned sin was the first beginning of the Devil and so he or that which commits sin is of the Devil and when sin began to have a being the Devil began to have a being There is but two seeds in man the seed of the Woman and the seed of the Serpent and what is not of the seed of the woman in man which bringeth forth that which is born of God and cannot sin is of the seed of the Serpent in man the Devil that which bringeth forth sin in his own likeness The spirit of Jesus that draweth man forth into obedience to God that cannot sin nor doth it sin but it is that in man that was in the obedience to God that sins as once mans will was in obedience to God but mans will going out of the obedience to God was that which brought forth sin in man The Apostle said 1 Tim. 2. 14 15. that the woman being deceived was in the transgression Notwithstanding that is there is nothing to hinder it but she shall be saved in child-bearing if she continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety If she continued in faith c. which is as much as to say that she was in faith wherein the child Jesus was born John 1. 12. as many as received him to them he gave power to be the sons of God even to them that believed in his Name Ephes 2. 8. By grace we are saved through faith and that not of our selves it is the gift of God By these Scriptures it is plain that Faith is that in man that God as I may so say makes use of for the bringing forth this child Jesus to save us from sin In the bearing of this Child the woman that was deceived and in the transgression is saved if she continue in faith that is in that faith that God purifies the heart with the woman in the transgression she went out of faith out of the believing God into the believing of the Serpent and so her heart was defiled and to save her she must be brought into that faith that purifies her heart and there must not onely be faith which God makes use of for the bringing forth this child Jesus that saves from sin but there must be a continuing in it it must continue to the end And Charity which is the height of Love that must continue in Faith which the Apostle in the first of the Corinthians 13. saith that although they had all Faith and thereby did great things as to remove mountains and other great works as he there mentions yet all was nothing without Charity and Charity he saith is greater than Faith And Holiness must continue with Faith and Charity to be holy that is to be like God 1 Pet. 1. 15 16. As he that hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation because it is written Be ye holy for I am holy and to all these Sobriety is to be joyned To be sober Rom. 12. 3. that is to have a low and mean essence of our selves Tit. 2. 11 12. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation teacheth them that are saved to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to lively soberly righteously and godlily in this present world These all must and do attend to and with the Child-bearing of the Woman that saves her out of the transgression and where these are wanting or any of them what true marks signs manifestations or knowledge is there that any one can say they have that the child Jesus is born in them and that the woman in them is saved out of the transgression But if it be objected if the woman in the figure or mystery that was deceived and in the transgression be mans being drawn by the spirit or the goings or leadings forth of man by the spirit of Jesus in man then how is God in us or the Son of God or Jesus that saves from sin the seed of this woman that was deceived and in the transgression To that I answer That the Woman was deceived and in the transgression knew man she knew the will of man and condescended and joyned to and with the will of man in the transgression and in so doing the Serpents seed was brought forth disobedience was brought forth which is the seed of the Serpent When God in the Creation made the Creatures on the Earth the seed of what he made was in them and so it may be said of the Serpent when he took his first being in man his seed was in him disobedience was in him and between that seed of disobedience and the seed of the Woman that is that seed of God in man that never condescended to the will of man in his disobedience but stood in obedience to God There is by God put an everlasting enmity between those two seeds and the seed of the Woman that is God in us or the Son of God or Jesus that saves from sin that is
but Christ was so far from yielding to the temptation that he called the Devil Satan and bad him get him hence for it is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serve Mat. 3. 19. Mark that which tempted Jesus ought to have done him worship and served him onely as being his Lord and God And if the Devil thus set upon him that was God in man is it to be questioned that the Serpent would not nor did not set upon man that was but the Image of God and that in the time when he did what he did by the leadings drawings or going forth of the spirit of God or Jesus in him Jesus the Son of God was tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin Heb. 4. 15. If it be objected thou call'st the Serpent subtile self or mans will was there any such thing in Christ to tempt him I desire the Objecter to read and well consider Christs Prayer the night in which he was betrayed and the place where he prayed in it was in a garden John 18. 1. Adam was in a garden when the Serpent tempted him His Prayer was O my Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt Matth. 26. 39. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly and his sweat was as it were great drops of bloud falling down to the ground Luke 22. 44. Is it not plain by these Scriptures that there was in Christ a will and desire that the Cup might pass from him but he yielded not to that will and desire but resigned and gave up all to the will of the Father and so he did not sin Is it not plain by these Scriptures that although Christ as man had never sinned never did any thing contrary to the will of the Father and all the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in that body Col. 2. 9. yet what a conflict or striving was their between the will and desire as man and the will and desire as God as he was the son of God the onely begotten son of God What was it else but the strife or conflict between the desire if it were possible to have that Cup pass from him and a will that it might pass from him and a desire and will that was in him that that desire and will that would have the Cup to pass from him should not be satisfied but that the will of the Father should be done whose will it was that he should drink of that Cup Was not this the case of the agony that caused such a sweat that the drops thereof were as great drops of bloud If Christ as man who always had done the will of the Father found it so hard to bring the will to be resigned and given up to the will of the Father Can it be believed by any of those who have known the resurrection of Jesus in them and have known a time when their will and desire have been after what God hath forbidden that it is an easie work in them to have their wills resigned and given up to the will of God in all things They know that it is God that must work in them both to will and to do of his own good pleasure Phil. 2. 13. Jesus as he was the onely begotten son of God so he could not be prevailed with or overcome by the temptation It was the onely begotten son of God in that body born of the Virgin Mary that kept that body from yielding to the temptation mark that and it is the begotten son of God in us and that onely that must and doth keep us from yielding to the temptation Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God 1 John 3. 9. God may be said to have two sons one a created son as was Adam Luke 3. 38. and that son although made in Gods Image yet he yielded to the temptation and so sinned The other was a begotten son which is Jesus which is the same with the Divine Nature and was and is God by whom the created son was made and this begotten son cannot sin because the seed of God remaineth in him And the want of a true understanding of these two sons makes that great difference that is amongst those that call themselves the sons of God the one believing they cannot live in this body without sinning the other believes a state of perfection and that such a life is attainable while the outward body hath an outward life That there may be a life or living without sin which is true indeed and it were well if all those that make profession understood what it is to live and not sin and what it is in them that live and do not sin if they did the Controversie between them that believe they shall sin and that they cannot live while the life of this body continues without sin would not be so great as it is Adam the created son of God made in Gods Image and had Faith Charity Holiness and Sobriety he yielded to the temptation and sinned And does not men and women do so now although restored to Adam's created Estate Do they not find the Serpent bruising the heel of the seed of the woman If they do not then how do they find what God said to be true God said that the Serpent should bruise the heel of the seed of the woman but the begotten son of God in man that cannot sin the seed of God in man that cannot sin neither did it condescend to sin in Adam nor doth it now condescend to sin in any that are restored to that state that Adam was in before the fall And this is that that lives without sin that lives and cannot sin it is Jesus in us the onely begotten son of God And this is that life that Paul speaks of Gal. 2. 20. I am crucified with Christ that is dead with Christ Nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me Doth not most of them that profess themselves the sons of God and know any thing of the work of God in their hearts but will own Jesus Christ to be raised from death to life in them and to be alive in them And ask them if they believe that this Jesus Christ that lives in them sins they will answer No he lives in them without sin Then ask them that believe a state of Perfection and living without sin while this body lives what is it in them that does not sin whether it be the first Adam that was deceived and in the transgression that lives without sin in them or whether it be Jesus the second Adam that lives without sin in them They will answer The
to worship him they and they onely are the acceptable Worshippers of God and God seeketh for those and onely those to worship him that worship him in spirit and truth It is not the outward places nor the outward form no not at Jerusalem nor the outward Worship commanded to be used there that God seeketh for it is the spiritual Worship done in the truth and in the sincerity of the heart that God seeketh for it is that and that onely that is well-pleasing to him which the outward forms of worshipping is not although never so exactly performed according to the Command of God yet if the Spirit of God which leads and guides into all truth be wanting the outward form is not acceptable to God nor sought for of God nor desired of God And where the Spirit of God is and is the Guide and Leader of them in his Worship although the outward form be wanting yet these are the true Worshippers of God and these are those that God seeketh for to worship him that is those that worship him in his Spirit and in his Truth that is in Jesus and all those that so worship him in the use of outward forms or without the use of outward forms Of all Nations and Kinreds and People and Tongues that worship him in his Spirit and in his Truth in Jesus which saves from sin by which Spirit they are guided and led thereunto to do it in the truth and sincerity of their hearts these are such as God seeketh for to worship him and are acceptable to God And of these John beheld the great multitude that no man could number standing before the Throne and before the Lamb clothed with white Robes and Palms in their hands crying with a loud voice saying Salvation to our God which came out of great tribulations having washed their robes and made them white in the bloud of the Lamb. And John did but hear of a hundred forty and four thousand of all the Tribes of Israel to be sealed for the servants of God And those were they that were in the outward form of Worship which had the Commandments writ in Tables of stone and had the Law and the Prophets written in Books without them and read among them without them every Sabbath-day And had the Oracles of God committed to them and to whom pertain the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law and the service of God and the promises Whose are the Fathers and of whom concerning the flesh Christ came And yet of all the Tribes of the outward Israel there was but a hundred forty four thousand sealed for the servants of God I take notice and so I desire the Reader to take notice that the Tribe of Dan was left out there was none sealed of that Tribe that was a Serpent by the way to be the servants of God none of the subtile Serpents Tribe are sealed to be the servants of God And that was the reason why there was no more sealed of all the outward Tribes of outward Israel the Serpents Tribe was not sealed and the Serpents Tribe is those wherein the Serpent and his seed rule in the heart These being left out and not sealed for the servants of God of the Tribes of Israel was the reason there was no more sealed and it is the reason that there is no more sealed of all the Tribes that are in the several outward forms of outward Worship and that is that which makes their number so small that a man may easily number a hundred forty and four thousand And of the Gentiles all Nations and Kinreds and People and Tongues that have not known the subtilty of the Serpent tempting man in the outward forms of worshipping of God and also of those that have known the subtilty of the Serpent tempting them in outward forms of worshipping of God and have known a saving and being delivered out of those temptations of the Serpent by the life of Jesus in them and so are none of the Serpents by the life of Jesus in them and so are none of the Serpents Tribe nor are sufficing themselves nor can suffice themselves in that they are worshipping God in outward forms but are worshipping him in his Spirit and in his Truth that is in Jesus that saves them from sin Of all these that is of those that have not known the subtilty of the Serpent tempting them in outward forms and those that have known the subtilty of the Serpent tempting them in outward forms and have known a being saved and delivered out of his temptations There are a great multitude that no man can number standing before the Throne and before the Lamb clothed with white robes and palms in their hands crying with a loud voice saying Salvation to our God having come out of great tribulations and washed their robes and made them white in the bloud of the Lamb. Thus Jesus is a Light and a Saviour to those that never hear of that Jesus born of the Virgin Mary And now to return again to those that have heard of that Jesus born of the Virgin Mary and profess themselves Christians and have known something of the working of Gods Spirit in them and have known something what it hath been to be drawn or led forth by the Spirit of Jesus in them how far they may go and yet not know the birth of the Child Jesus in them that saves from sin nor the woman that was deceived and in the transgression to be saved out of the transgression by bearing the Child Jesus Man may by Jesus the Light in him be convinced of sin that it is the breaking of Gods Command and of the Judgment of God that is due to man for sin and he may be so far convinced in himself of sin and of Gods judgment for sin as that he may be brought to a repentance and sorrow for his sins and a desire to be kept from sinning and he may pray earnestly that he may be kept from sin and may set upon a reformation and do many things in obedience to God that he knew to be the will of God And this may be done from some stirrings or movings of the Spirit of Jesus in him and yet the Serpent self his own will deceive him in all this as I have experienced And that thus man may from the knowledge that he hath of this or that thing that he does know that in the doing thereof he doth that which is a breaking of the Command of God and for his so breaking of the Command of God Jesus the Light in him that makes known to him the breaking of Gods Command doth likewise make known to him what is due to him for his transgressions that is Death Hell or Damnation which man being afraid of and willing to escape and to escape the punishment that he apprehends to be due to him for his sins this makes him to repent of his sins and
blameless as most had done for now I do know that it was the true Light Christ Jesus that was in me judging and condemning me for such outward sins from my being a very Child and I was kept from such sins as being afraid of Gods Justice that was made known to me to be due for such sins and yet not so kept but that the subtile Serpent sometimes prevailed over me And then when I had sinned how did I repent and mourn and humble my self and pray to God for forgiveness and set upon religious duties as I was then taught to gain the love and favour of God! until at last these Prayers these Mournings these Repentings these Fastings these Religious Perfâ—â—mances became the greatest sins in me and I apprehended Gods Justice and Judgments to be most due to me for these religious sins as I may so call them more than I did for any outward profane sins for God had made it known to me that it was the Serpent self in me that put me upon the gaining of understanding and knowledge to know what was Gods will that man should do thereby to be able to discourse of it amongst men and to be counted some body and also by that knowledge I thought to have eternal life And God made it known to me that my love was more to my self in those things that I did in obedience to him than it was from any true love that I had to God for if I could have escaped Gods Justice for sin I should have loved and delighted more in sinning than in obeying God And God made it known to me that it was my own will and that for ends that I had of my own that I did all that I did in gaining and desiring to gain knowledge of him and of his will And so much was I then grownd in pieces by the stone of the manifestations and making known of Gods Justice and Judgment dâ—e to me for my religious sins as I may so call them as that I was afraid to read and I dare not pray to God but sometimes would fall down upon my knees and sigh and grown but dare not speak a word nor dare not speak and discourse of things concerning God as formerly I had done nor keep no company with those that were thought to be godly persons as before I had done nor went to no outward form of Worship but sighed and mourned to my self but made no outward shew of it for fear I should play the Hypocrite And while I was in this state and condition what was it that I would not have given for one glympse or little beam of the making known of Gods love to me which when I was worshipping and serving God as I thought I was when in the Serpents subtilty in the understanding and knowledge that he had put me upon to gain and in the obedience that he had put me upon to do after my Prayers Mournings and Repentings and humbling of my self for my sins and my Promises and Vows made to God to do so no more then could I easily apprehend God to be a merciful God forgiving sins and trespasses and that God had a love to me But now when I saw that in all these religious duties as I then called them I found that to be true which often in words I had spoken That all our Righteousness was but as filthy ragâ— and as a monstruous Garment and that we sinned in the best of our duties and performances When I found this to be true indeed which I had so often in formality spoken then there remained in me nothing but a fear of Gods Justice and Judgments to follow me for my sin and especially for my religious sins for my mocking God in a seeming outward obedience to him in doing the outward things that I knew was his will for me to do but my heart was not upright to God my love was to my sin but for fear of his Justice I dare not commit the sin and so it was self-will self-love in me that carried me out in the doing all that I did in obedience to God And for these self-actions in me I most feared Gods Justice to fall upon me and that made me afraid to do or perform any of those religious duties and performances as I then called them And thus by the grinding-stone of Gods Justice was self in me in its three parts or properties that is in the understanding and knowing part in the desire love and affection and in the will which I in the Parable compare to the three measures of Meal being thus grownd and made fit for the Leaven of Gods love to be taken in by the woman in me The drawings or goings forth of the spirit of Jesus in me to save me from sin which now I know was all of his working and preparing although I did not then understand it to be the work of Jesus in me but now I know that it was the work of Jesus in me to cause me to deny my self to deny my self in that understanding and wisdom that the Serpent put me upon to learn to deny my self in my love and desire to the Creation and especially to that of self in me and to deny my self in my own will and especially in the doing of what then I called religious works or Worship done to God And while I lay thus grownd apieces I saw nothing in my self to recommend me to God nor saw nothing in my self why God should bestow any love upon me nor could I apprehend that there was any love in me to God as once I could and did apprehend that there was love in me to God when I was worshipping him in the Serpents wisdom in my own will Then I thought there was a love in me to God and would say so too and would have taken it very ill if any one should have told me that I did not love God And while I was in this sad and deplorable estate without apprehending any love in me to God or any love in God to me Now I do know that this was the work of Jesus the true Light in me working in me by his spirit to save me from sin and that not onely from the outward actions of sin but to save me from the love of sin And when he had thus prepared in me if I may so call them his three measures of Meal the Understanding and Knowing part in me the Desire and Love in me and the Will in me and made them fit for the woman the drawings the leadings and goings forth of the spirit of Jesus in me to take the Leaven to take the makings known of the Fathers love to me then he caused it to be so to me then he made known the Fathers love to me And the manner of it was thus It pleased him to bring into my mind the words of Manoah Sampson's Father and his Mother when they saw the Angel of the Lord to
the obedience done in man to God by that love of God which worketh the love in man by the making known of Gods love to man which begets a love in man to God by which love to God it is that man denies himself all self all that is of self in all the parts or properties of it And so in that denial of self he takes up the Cross to his own will And so as he is in the denying of himself and taking up of the Cross to his will to that will in him that is contrary to Gods will and would not that Gods will should be done in him And so as this Cross is taken up so are the manifestations or makings known of Gods Justice or Judgments in man and to man for his sins they are taken away from man There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Rom. 8. 1. Mark there is no condemnation there is no manifestation or making known of Gods Justice or Judgments for sin to those that are in Christ Jesus to those who walk not after the flesh to those who walk not after the self-will that is in man but walk after the spirit of Jesus in man walk after that which saves man from sin from all sin and that not onely from the outward actions of sin but also the inward love and desire to sin I am by the assistance of the Light the spirit of Jesus in me endeavouring to be of Paul's mind Philip. 3. But what things were gain to me those things I count loss for Christ Yea and doubtless I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ And be found in him not having my own righteousness 〈◊〉 is of the Law but that which is through the faith of Christ Thâ—â— I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable to his death If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead Not as though I had already attained either were already perfect but I follow after if I may apprehend that for which I am also apprehended of Christ Jesus Brethren I count not my self to have apprehended but this one thing I do forgetting those things that are behind and reaching forth unto those things that are before I press forward towards the mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus Let us therefore as many as be perfect be thus minded and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded God shall reveal it even this unto you And thus have I as briefly as well as I could let you know my experience how man may deny himself and take up a Cross to self-will or mans own will and follow Jesus And I hope the reading of it will not burden the Witness or Seed of God in any although some have pretended that the hearing of me speak to this purpose hath burdened the Witness or Seed of God in them I shall speak something of the benefit that I know by experience that comes to man by yielding to Gods Will by having of our Wills resigned and given up into Gods Will as the Will of man was when God made him in his own Image by our having our Wills resigned and given up into Gods Will we do thereby make it appear that we be like Jesus which was conceived in the Womb of the Virgin Mary and so took the outward nature of man as God created man without sin in that nature of man or outward body of man the man Jesus the Divine Nature dwelt that is it took up its abode or being there it stayed it remained there and the dwelling or abiding of the Divine Nature in that outward body of the man Jesus was that which caused that outward body to do nothing but what was the Will of God for that body that it should do as in that body of Jesus he did declare and make known saying I do nothing of my self but as the Father hath taught me I speak these things Joh. 8. 28. He spake not of himself but the Father that sent him he gave him a Commandment what he should say and what he should speak and he knew his Commandment is life everlasting therefore whatsoever he spake it was even as the Father had said to him so he spake John 12. 49 50. And that the world may know that he loved the Father and as the Father gave him commandment even so he did John 14. 31. And when there was something that did rise or get up in that outward body of Jesus as the nature of man was in it that would not have had Gods will to have been done to that body which that body came to do which he called his Will Yet how did he pray to the Father that that will of his that was not willing to have that done to that body which that body came to do that that Will that he called his Will should not be done but that the Will that he called the Fathers Will should be done as you may read in Matthew Mark and Luke Now as we come to have our wills resigned and given up into Gods will so we make it appear that we be like Jesus that as he in that body that was of the nature of man had the Divine Nature to dwell in that body so we in the outward body that is in the Nature of man have the Divine Nature to dwell in us I do not say in that measure and fulness that the Divine Nature dwelt in that body for the fulness of the Divine Nature dwelt in that body and to say that the seme fulness dwells in our bodies I think to be Blasphemy But this I do say that as our wills come to be resigned and given up to the will of God so we make it appear that we be like Jesus that is as he was in that outward body in the nature of man and so had the Divine Nature to dwell in him so in these bodies of ours the Divine Nature dwells in us that is a measure of the Divine Nature to dwell in us as Christ is the Head and we the Members of that Body and so as every member of the outward body partakes in its measure of the same life that is in the head so it is in the spiritual or mistical Body of Jesus As we come to haue our wills resigned and given up into the will of God so we make it appear that we are members of that Body and that there is a measure of the same Divine Nature to dwell in us in these bodies of ours that dwelt in that outward Body of that outward Jesus and that according to the measure of the same Divine Nature dwelling in these bodies
to be spiritually worshipped and he accepts of no other Worship but what is the Worship of his own Spirit in man done from a principle of love to God And whatsoever Worship man in his will sets up because he would escape the Justice and Judgments of God for his sins is no Worship acceptable to God And this I do know that when men are in this Worship set up in their own wills to escape the punishment of God for their sins they say in their hearts as Jeroboam said outwardly of his Calves Behold thy gods that brought thee out of Egypt Behold this Worship that I in my will have set up or taken up to keep me from the apprehensions of Gods Justice and Judgments to me it hath delivered me it hath brought me out from that slavery and bondage that I was in under the apprehensions of the making known of Gods wrath Gods Justice and Judgments to me for my sins And now they set up an Altar to these the Calves that they have made that is their own outward obedience done in their own wills for their own ends and upon this Altar they offer their Sacrifices they offer their outward performances of their outward religious duties or their outward service in the worship of their Calves in worshipping and bowing down to that outward form of Worship that in their wills they have set up thereby to escape Gods Justice and Judgments that they apprehend to be due to them for their sins And although for a time they may hereby patch up a peace to themselves yet it is no more lasting to them than Adam's Aprons made of Fig-leaves were lasting to him for as soon as he heard Gods voice walking in the garden although in the cool of the day he was afraid and hid himself And so it will be with them as soon as they hear the voice of God speaking in the garden in their hearts saying Adam where art thou Man where art thou Art thou worshipping me in my Spirit in my Truth in my Jesus that saves thee from sin and that not onely from the outward actions of sin but from the love and desire to sin Man where art thou art thou in this Worship or art thou in a Worship set up in thy own will to escape the punishment that is due to thee for thy sins and yet in thy heart thou love and delight in sin as much as ever thou didst Man where art thou And when this day comes as that it will certainly come then their outward form of Worship set up in their own wills for their own ends to escape the apprehensions of Gods Justice and Judgments to them for their sins will do them no more good than Adam's Aprons of Fig-leaves covered his nakedness and hid him from Gods Justice for his sin but they will be as open and lie as naked to the manifestations of Gods Justice and Judgments to them for their sins as if they had never had any outward form of Worship I having had experience how subtilly the Serpent works twisting and turning himself about in the heart of man the garden of God in man upon the Tree of knowledge and when he sees he cannot keep man from being in some outward form of Worship and thereby be kept from running into outward sins and evils as once he had done whereby the manifestations and making known of Gods Justice and Judgments seize so upon man for his sins as that man knew not how to bear it then the Serpent willingly let man in his will to set upon an outward form of Worship thereby to take off the fierceness of the manifestation and making known of Gods Justice and Judgments that he once lay under for sin And the subtile Serpent cares not what outward form of Worship it is that man in his will will set up to worship in so that he can but keep alive in him the love to those sins that he outwardly leaves and forsakes And because he is afraid of Gods Justice for the committing of those sins man may make the outside as clear as he will as did the Pharisees if the inside be but foul if the love do but still remain to the sins or to any one sin the Serpent rather than he will wholly lose his Kingdom he will content himself if he can but rule and raign in the inward love to sin although it be but to one dearly beloved sin I also knowing the readiness and the proneness that is in man to yield to the subtilty of the Serpent and for his own ends for his own preservation to be kept from being killed or slain by the Justice of God as it was with Jeroboam when he set up his Calves which he did for his own preservation to be kept from being killed 1 Kings 12. 27. Man to be preserved and kept from the Justice and Judgments of God for sin he sets up and sets upon an outward form of Worship and such an outward form of Worship as that he thinks that God will be best pleased in And in this Worship he sets up his Altar of outward self-obedience to God and upon this Altar he offers his Sacrifice of an outward observance and that very strictly too of all and every of those things that are outwardly required or desired in that outward form of Worship that in his will he sets or takes up And in this his offering of his Sacrifice of a strict and devout observing and fulfilling of all and every of those things that are outwardly required and desired in that outward form of Worship which in his will he sets up and upon the Altar set up by him of his outward self-obedience to God In this man satisfies pleases and contents himself as Jeroboam did with his Calves instead of the true Worship of God which is to worship him in his Spirit and in his Truth in his Jesus in that which saves from sin and that not onely from the outward actions of sin for fear of the punishment but this Worship of God that is done in Spirit and in his Truth in his Jesus in that which saves from sin there is in this Worship a knowing of a being saved from the love to sin as well as a being saved from the outward actions of sin I say I knowing and having experienced how man thus by the subtilty of the Serpent is ready to set up a Worship to himself as Jeroboam did instead of the true Worship of God and upon the Altar set up by himself of self-obedience to God and there upon that Altar to offer his Sacrifices of a strict and devout doing and performing of all and every the outward things that is required or desired in that outward form of Worship and thereby and therein to please satisfie and content themselves as if they were worshipping God in his Spirit and in his Truth in his Jesus that does not onely save from the outward acts of sin but saves
from the root of sin from the love to sin God caused me to cry out against this Altar of self-obedience to God and against the Sacrifices offered upon it to please satisfie and content themselves in a strict observing doing and performing of all and every the outward things required in the outward Worship that they did set up as Jeroboam did and neglected the true Worship of God and neglected the Worship of God in his Spirit and in his Truth and in that which doth not onely save from sin in the act but from sin in the love of it And in telling them the danger that would follow and befal such a Worship as I had experienced and if any of them had set up such a Worship not charging any particular person with so doing but declaring what I knew of the subtilty of the Serpent putting man upon so doing and the danger that they were in who were in such a Worship And where is there a Meeting that there is no such Worshippers in But that all and every person that belongs to the Meeting are such and onely such as are worshipping God in his Spirit and in his Truth in his Jesus that does not onely save them from the outward actions of sin but from the love and desire to sin And those that are not thus worshpping God in his Spirit and in his Truth in his Jesus in that which saves from sin and not onely saves from outward sins taken notice of by men to be sins but saves from the root of sin from the love to sin Let them be what they will be and think of themselves as highly as they will and be never so highly esteemed of by others yet I must once more tell them whatsoever outward Worship it is that they profess it is but a Worship that the subtile Serpent puts them upon and they are with Jeroboam making of Calves and saying in their hearts these be the gods that have saved thee from that bondage and slavery that once they were under by and for their outward sins and all that they are doing in that Worship is but an offering Sacrifice upon that Altar that they have set up of self-obedience to God I shall not say that upon my thus crying out against this Altar of self obedience to God and the Sacrifices offered thereon that King Jeroboam put out his hand and said Lay hold on him but this I can say that he that looked upon himself as the chief man in the Meeting and was so esteemed of by others he often when I was speaking to the purposes aforesaid would rise up and go out of the Meeting and the rest of the Meeting would follow him I shall not say that he had done as Jeroboam did make Calves for his own safety to preserve his life and was offering Sacrifice upon the Altar of Self-obedience and therefore with Jeroboam could not indure to hear his Altar to be cry'd out against but the Tree is known by its fruit Some others although they followed his example of going out of the Meeting yet they shew something more of the following of Christs Command than he did and they would come sometimes and speak to me about my speaking which I always gave them mild and very gentle answers as I know none of them dare say to the contrary and although they had nothing to say against what I spoke but that my words were true nor had they any thing against my Life and Conversation they could not deny but that I lived as blameless as any of them But the great thing they had to say against my speaking was because my words did not reach the witness of God in them or the seed of God in them as they called it but when I spake there was something in them that was troubled and burdened and therefore they put out their hands to lay hold on me dâ—siring me to speak no more And by what spirit it was that they spake thus to me I have here already declared in declaring in what spirit it was that Peter rebuked Jesus in for speaking what was true and how Jesus words were a trouble and a burden to a will that opposed Gods will in Peter and the rest of the Twelve and so shall say no more of it now From this great disturbance my speaking to the aforesaid purposes had made to that will in them that could not endure to hear true words spoken in declaring and making known the subtilty of the Serpent how he kept up his Kingdom in man in and under an outward form of godliness of being like God when he disobeys God in that he does not worship him in his spirit and in his truth in his Jesus as he perswaded man at first and thereby caused him to fall telling him by disobeying God he should be as Gods This did so disturb burden and trouble that will in them that when there came any to the Meeting that day that they were willing to hear them speak words that many times if I did while such were there when none was either speaking or praying yet if I began to speak a few words then one or other of them would either stand up and fall a speaking or fall down upon their knees and pray or else go out of the Meeting and so break up the Meeting and so they put out their hands against me saying Lay hold on him Yet amongst all these that did put forth their hands against me there was never any one of them that would begin a discourse with me concerning my speaking no not one of them and yet I constantly when the Meeting was ended followed them to the aforesaid chief mans house whither they constantly went and there stayed till they went from thence if they went from thence that night I saw their going away and if they stayed there all night then I stayed there until they were about going to supper And sometimes I would begin the discourse with them to know why they dealt so by me but I received very pitiful answers from them sometimes they would say they thought I had done speaking because I did not follow on to speak so fast as some do and sometimes I had this answer that if any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by the first was to hold his peace and therefore when they began to speak I was to hold my peace indeed I did so because I would beget no disturbance but that is not the meaning of the Scripture but the meaning of the Scripture is quite contrary for if any thing be revealed to one that sitteth by the first is to hold his peace before he that had any thing revealed to him was to begin to speak or else how could they all Prophecy one by one and it was the practice of the Apostles as you may read Acts 15. And it is the constant practice amongst them that the one leaves speaking before the other begins but so
in their Wills set by them and thereby and therein to please satisfie and content themselves as if they were worshipping God in his spirit and in his truth in his Jesus that saves from sin and also telling of them what would follow and fall upon them for such Worship and Service But at length it happened to me as it did to the man of God sent to cry against the Altar at Bethel who King Jeroboam by his threatning nor by his friendship could prevail with to disobey any part of the Command of God but he was prevailed with and brought into disobedience by an old Prophet that told him that an Angel spake to him by the Word of the Lord but he lyed unto him he had no Angel spake to him nor no Word from the Lord to say what he did to the man sent of God It was the old lying Serpents self in him that spake these words to him whereby he deceived the man sent of God and so it happened to me All the bad dealings that I had received did not in the least hinder me in my obedience to any part of the Command of God in speaking what I had in Command to speak but it so happened that I was in Company with three Women called Old Quakers of great esteem amongst them and although in plain words they did not give themselves the Name of Prophetess as the old Prophet did or say as he did that an Angel spake to him by the word of the Lord yet they spake words to the same purpose That they were moved by the spirit of God to speak to me and that it was in the Name of God and for Gods sake and many words to these purposes that they used to me and that although as they said they did not know one anothers minds nor had said nothing of it before yet they did speak to that purpose as if they all of them severally one by another had a Command from God and that they were all moved by the spirit of God in them at that time to speak to me and let me know from God that what I spake in the Meeting I did not speak by a true moving of the spirit of God in me but it was the wrong spirits self in me that put me forward to speak and very many words they spake to me to these purposes And I having had a large experience of the subtilty of the Serpents self in me and how he had in former times deceived me in a shew of godliness and then they all as the old Prophet did did affirm that they had a several Angel or as they called it a several moving of the spirit of God severally did move in each of them and put them upon it to speak to me by the word of the Lord in them although I now know they all lyed to me as the old Prophet did yet these their lying words then spoken in the Name of the Lord deceived me as the lying words of the old Prophet deceived the man sent of God and they caused me as the Serpent did Eve who at first resisted the Temptation but afterwards she yielded to question or doubt of the Command of God whether God had said Ye shall not eat of every tree of the Garden and so at first I resisted them very strongly yet at length through their many words I question'd or doubted whether God had commanded me to speak as I had spoken although I did before know that God had Commanded me to speak as Eve knew that God had said they should not eat of every tree of the Garden there was one Tree that God had Commanded that they should not eat thereof And in this knowledge of what was Gods Command Eve had obeyed God in as I in that knowledge that it was the Command of God for me to speak had obeyed God in but it was with me as it was with Eve and the man sent of God who at first resisted and said Nay to the old Prophet after the Serpent by his deceit and lye had caused Eve to question or doubt whether God had Commanded what she in her self before knew to be the Command of God and from that knowledge that she had in her self that it was the Command of God she had yielded obedience unto it but soon after the Serpent had wrought in her to question or doubt whether it was the Command of God or no he soon by his lying brought her to disobey God in his Command and it cost her her life and so the man sent of God he knew that it was the Command of God in him that he should not eat bread or drink water in that place and he for a time obeyed the Command of God in him and did not yield to the desire of the old Prophet but when by the lying of the old Prophet and that in the word of the Lord as the old Serpent in him caused him to say he questioned the truth of the Command of God in him which before he had obeyed and would not for the fear or friendship of a King be prevailed with into the disobedience of any part of it yet by the lye of one that called himself a Prophet and sent of God as he was he went from obeying what he had known to be the true Command of God in him and believed the lye that the lying old Prophet had told him was the Command of God for him to obey God in and that cost him his life and so it was with me although at first I resisted them strongly and would give no way to them yet afterwards by the lyes that they told me in the word of the Lord as they pretended to me that it was by the motion of the spirit of God in them that they spake to me I giving some credit to them as Eve did to the Serpent and the man sent of God to the old lying Prophet I began to question the truth of the Command of God in me which before I knew to be the Command of God in me and had obeyed God therein and I did with Eve and the man of God who gave more credit to the lye the Serpent told and the old Prophet told than to the truth spoken in them and to them by the spirit of God and so did I give more credit to the lye that they spake to me in that they told me it was by the moving of self in me that I spake and not by the Command of God and by believing them in their lye I went out of the obedience to what I knew was the Command of God in me and to me and for a time I had obeyed God in which all the hard or bad dealings that I had met withal could not in the least prevail with me to disobey the Command of God in me and to me to speak what God had given me in Command to speak but I was prevailed with and prevailed over
understood none of these things and the saying was hid from them neither understood they the things that were spoken Does any one believe that Jesus spake these true words and that he did not speak them by a true spirit but that it was a wrong spirit in Jesus that spake these words I say that if any one does believe that these true words spoken by Jesus were not spoken by the true spirit and if not spoken by the true spirit then they must be spoken by the false spirit They that do so believe I believe they will be ashamed to say that they believe that Jesus did not speak these true words by the true spirit and that he spake them by the wrong spirit And if Jesus did speak these words by the true spirit as that Jesus did speak them by the true spirit then see the falsity and deceit that is in the Argument that I have heard often and that by many used that because by the true words spoken they did not feel them to reach the witness of God the seed of God in them when they heard them spoken therefore it was that they believed the true words spoken were not spoken by the true spirit but by a wrong spirit By the same rule the Twelve might have judged that Jesus did not speak those true words and why because they understood none of these things and the saying of his was hid from them neither knew they the things that were spoken If they had felt these words of Jesus to have reached the witness of God the seed of God in them how then could it have been that they understood none of those things and his saying was hid from them neither knew they the things that were spoken if they had felt those true words spoken by Jesus by the true light and by him proved by Scriptures not onely by one Scripture but by many Scriptures by all things that are written by the Prophets concerning him if they had felt these words to have reached the seed of God the witness of God in them they would have understood something of those sayings they would not all have been hid from them they would have known something of what had been spoken but by this Scripture it is plainly proved that true words may be spoken by the true spirit and proved by many Scriptures and that too concerning Christs being put to death and by whom and the place where and of his rising again and when he rise And all these may be spoken of the inward work of God in the heart of men as the like I have known and yet the Witness of God the seed of God in the hearers have not been by them felt to be reached unto by the words so spoken none of the Twelve understood any of the things Jesus spake of I pray observe none of his hearers understood any of the saying he spake And so although they have understood the outward sound of the Words spoken as the Twelve did the outward Words spoken by Jesus yet the inward meaning of them the spiritual meaning of them as they are wrought asked and done in man may be hid from them and they may know nothing of those things spoken as to the Work of God in the heart and yet they may be spoken to such as the Twelve were or at least would be counted such as the Twelve were that is those that had the most familiar acquaintance with Christ who Jesus had sent forth to preach that the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand and had cast out Devils in his Name And yet these did not know what Christs Death and Resurrection was neither understood they any thing of it when he spake of it to them And may there not be such in this knowing Age we live in that may for some years have been Disciples and followers of Christ in the flesh and have had a familiar acquaintance with him and have been sent to preach the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand and have cast out Devils in his Name and yet have not known Christs Death and Resurrection nor have understood any thing of it when it hath been spoken of to them by those that have known the inward work of it wrought within them Luke 9. 44 45 46. Jesus said to his Disciples Let these sayings sink down into your ears for the son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men But they understood not the saying and it was hid from them and they perceived it not and they feared to ask him of that saying Then there arose a â—easoning among them which should be the greatest Mark the Scripture were not these true words spoken by Jesus and were they not spoken by the true spirit in him and were they not spoken to his Disciples his followers And yet these true words were spoken by Jesus and spoken by the true spirit in that person that never had sinned and they by the true spirit were called upon that those sayings should sink down into their ears and yet true words thus spoken by the true spirit in him that they had no just cause to speak evil of although some when they could not deny the truth of what he had said were so bold as to say to him Say we not well that thou art a Samaritane and hast a devil John 8. There is that have met with words to the like purpose when they could not deny the truth of what hath been spoken and yet these true words spoken by one whom there hath not been the like man upon Earth And yet they that heard him speak them and to whom they were directly spoken unto and called upon that 〈◊〉 words should sink down into their ears and yet they did not feel in them that these true words spoken by a man in whom the fulness of the true spirit dwelt bodily these words they did not feel that they reached the witness of God the seed of God in them because they understood not thaâ— saying it was hid from them they perceived it not How fully how plainly does the Scripture make out the deceivableness of that Argument That because when they hear true words spoken and they do not feel the witness of God the seed of God in them to be reached by these words therefore they that speak them must speak them by a wrong spirit Oh! the subtilty that the subtile Serpents self useth to deceive people in a form of Godliness perswading them that in the disobeying God in the looking upon the tree of Knowledge they shall be as Gods and so have a liberty to judge according to the putting forward of their own wills in them These true words were spoken by Jesus a man in whom the fulness of the true spirit dwelt bodily and by him called upon that those sayings should sink down into their ears which is more than onely to give them the hearing of them and yet for all this they did not
a power in Christ Jesus the true light to save us and in that belief to yield an obedience to God in what God hath made known to us to be his will to obey him in In this faith manifested by obedience the Scriptures are able to make wise unto salvation and then as they are given by inspiration of God they are profitable for Doctrine whatever is taught ought to be agreeable to the Scripture and the Scriptures are profitable for reproof all reproof ought to be agreeable to â—â—e Scriptures and they are profitable for correction all correction ought to be agreeable to the Scriptures and they are profitable for instruction in righteousness all instruction in righteousness is agreeable to the Scripture that by this means the man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto good works How is the man of God to be made perfect throughly furnished unto good works that is how is the man of God to know perfectly and throughly what are those good works that God requires of him to do Is it not by the knowing of them as God hath been pleased to make known what is his revealed will for man to obey him in as they are written in the Scriptures I speak this as Paul did of those that have the Scriptures as Timothy had and not of those that have not the Scriptures who by the true Light the power of them Divine Nature in them do those things that God hath written in his Law within them by which Law written in them as they yield an obedience to it God perfectly and throughly furnishes the unto good works according to his revealed will written within them This is to make the right use of the Scriptures and not to Idolize them on the one hand as if eternal life was to be had in them as did the Jews and as once I did nor to undervalue them on the other hand as some do who because the true Light is in them and the same true light is in all men and therefore they undervalue the Scriptures because that is in them that gave forth the Scriptures And they are all undervaluers of the Scriptures who refuse to bring their works actions or doings to the Scriptures to try them by the Scriptures whether those works actions or doings of them be the works actions or doings of Jesus the true Light in them Jesus and the Apostles proved their works actions or doings by the Scriptures that they were done by the true Light in them that is that they were done as God had declared to be his will that they should do as it is written in the Scriptures which the holy men spake as they were moved by the true light in them And if any ones works actions or doings be the work of the true Light Jesus in them then they are agreeable and like the works actions of the holy men who gave forth the Scripture as those holy men wrought acted or did by the working acting or doing by the same spirit in them that gave forth the Scripture or agreeable and like the works actions or doings that the holy men by the spirit the true Light in them declared to be Gods mind and will for man to do And those works actions or doings let them be done by whom they will although by such as think themselves equal with the Apostles whose works actions and doings are not answerable and agreeing to what the holy men of old was moved to write to be Gods will that man should obey him in written in the Scriptures I say that if their works actions and doings be not answerable and agreeing to what is written in the Scriptures that is Gods declared mind and will for them to do they may talk of what light they please that light in them if they will have it so called that leads them forth in the doing of any thing that is contrary and not answerable and agreeing to Gods declared will written in the Scriptures it is not the true light but if it may be called a light it is that knowing light or the light of knowledge that Satan himself is transform'd into and it is no great thing if his Ministers or servants work act or do by that light as I my self have done and have therein been deceived by the subtile Serpents self in me I have known much of the subtile Serpents selfs Temptations how he hath tempted me in the doing of what God hath forbidden me to do that thereby I should be in knowledge as Gods knowing good and evil It was Gods Command to Isaiah chap. 8. to bind up the Testimony and seal the Law among his Disciples and that people should seek to their God to the Law and to the Testimony If they speak not according to this Word it is because there is no light in them In Isaiah's days when the Scriptures were less than they are now yet they were then to be bound up and sealed amongst Gods Disciples and people were then to seek to their God to the Law and to the Testimony and if they did not then speak according to this Word of the Law and Testimony then written in the Scriptures it was because there was no light in them that is to say they did not speak according to the movings of the true light in them for man cannot shut or keep out the true light from being in him The true light Jesus is and will be in man teaching him what is Gods will for him to do and so enabling of him to do Gods will if he will believe in the Name in the Power of this Jesus the true Light that there is a power in this light to save from sin if he will yield an obedience to it in leaving and forsaking the doing of that which this light in him tells him God hath forbidden him to do and if man will not yield obedience to this true light the spirit of God in him and thereby come to be saved from sin then this true light the Spirit of God will remain and abide in him judging and condemning of him for his disobedience to the Command of God and they cannot keep it out of them but it will be in them judging and condemning of them for their disobedience And so the true light may be said to be in those that speak not according to the Law and the Testimony of the Scriptures But the true light is not in them so as that they are brought into the obedience of the light and so it may be said not to be in them The light of the body is the eye if therefore thine eye be single the whole body is full of light but if thine eye be evil thy whole body shall be full of darkness If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness how great is that darkness Mat. 6. 22 23. While the eye of the understanding and knowing part in man is single that is alone and onely for God and
me But so it hath pleased the infinite wise God to leave their failings weaknesses infirmities or miscarriages and not onely theirs but others of his faithful Servants in writing and now in print not to the end to be as Examples for us to follow but to be as Warnings for us to have a care that we by the subtilty of the Serpent do not fall as they did for they and we stand and are saved by all one and the same Faith in the same Jesus and what is written is written for our Instruction and Learning And I know that the same Spirit that will blame me for making so publick the dealings of Friends by me will also blame me for medling with the failings weaknesses infirmities or miscarriages of the Twelve as it did in some Friends for speaking of the failings of Job who although perfect and upright and how patiently he bore what God suffered Satan to afflict him with yet his patience did not always continue the same for if it had he would never have cursed the day of his birth c. I made but use of this in my speaking in the Meeting to shew what great need we all had to stand upon our watch lest at any time we be overcome by the subtilty of the Adversary and this gave such an offence that I was by two counted no small Friends at two several times rebuked for mentioning Job's failings And therefore I expect no other but by the same Spirit I shall be sentenced and judged for my making so publick the dealings of those called Friends or Quakers to me or rather to that which was of Jesus in me but if they do I know by what Spirit it is that they so judge and censure me That it is not by the spirit of God for the example of the spirit of God I follow it is the example of God by his spirit in Matthew and Luke to make publick in writing the dealings of the Twelve by Jesus It is the example of God by his spirit in Paul to make publick in writing Peter's not walking uprightly according to the truth of the Gospel but dissembled It is the example of God by his spirit in the holy men of old that gave forth the Scriptures to make publick in writing the failings of the best of his Servants as of Noah Abraham Lot Moses David Job and others And therefore I shall conclude with the words of Jesus Mat. 10. 24 25. The disciple is not above his master nor the servant above his lord It is enough for the disciple that he is as his master and the servant as his lord if they have called the master of the house Beelzebub how much more shall they call them of the houshold I have forborn the mentioning of any Name or Names and so I shall unless I hear what I have written be contradicted or the truth of it questioned and then I may not onely name the Names of the Persons but the Places where they either spake or did what I have herein mentioned READER WHosoever thou art that shall read what I have writ if upon the reading of what I have writ of the dealings of some of those called Quakers to me thou shalt therefore judge or think the worse of the Truth those called Quakers own and believe in that is of the true Light in them which Light is Jesus that came to save his People from their sins and that Jesus who is the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the World it is onely he and there is none other that can save any one from their sins and the way that they own that God is to be worshipped in by this Jesus the true Light in them is to worship him in his Spirit and Truth That evil Spirit that would lead thee or cause thee upon the reading of what I have writ to judge or think the worse of the Truth owned and believed by those called Quakers and of the way owned and believed by them that God is to be worshipped in because of the dealings of some of them to me the same evil Spirit upon the same ground may lead thee or cause thee to judge or think the worse of Jesus and of the way that he declared that God the Father was to be worshipped in and that because of the dealings of the Twelve by him as I have in what I have writ mentioned of their dealings by Jesus as that they did not believe all that he said to be true nor did they always understand the truth spoken by him but by Peter he was rebuked for speaking the truth and all of them did contradict him in his speaking the truth saying to him That should not be done to him and that by them that he had said should be done to him and that by them as when he told them they should be all offended because of him that night and so offended as to be scattered and forsake him and as he said they should therein deal by him so they did deal by him although they had all said they would not deal so by him And moreover there was one of the Twelve that for the love he had to money betrayed him and sold him to them that he knew sought for him to take away his life Thus much you may read in the Scriptures of the dealings of the Twelve by Jesus And therefore I do say that the same evil Spirit that would have thee to judge or think the worse of the Truth that is owned and believed by those called Quakers of their worshipping God in Spirit and Truth because of what I have writ that some of them have done to me The same evil Spirit upon the same ground may cause thee to judge and think the worse of Jesus and of the truth that Jesus preached because of what the Twelve did to him that thou mayest read written in the Scriptures God knows and bears me witness that why I make mention of their dealings to me is to do what I believed I ought to do thereby to make known what knowledge and acquaintance man may have of Jesus in the flesh and yet not know Jesus in his Death and Resurrection as the Twelve who had the most knowledge of him and acquaintance with him in the flesh and were sent by him to preach and cast out Devils and yet knew him not in his Death and Resurrection And therefore man may go a great way in an outward form of Worship and in an outward following of Jesus and yet not come fully to know what it is to deny himself daily and take up his Cross to all self and be a Follower of Jesus in the Spirit As the Twelve although they followed him in the flesh and so had the most acquaintance with him yet they had not in that time of their knowing of him and following of him in the flesh so fully learned that Lesson of self-denial and taking up of the daily Cross to their own wills as they learned it when they knew his Death and Resurrection in themselves and followed him in the Spirit And as Paul said They knew no man after the flesh yea though we have known Christ after the flesh yet now henceforth know we him no more Oh how subtilly the Serpent self in man can and does act in an outward form of worshipping God tempting man in that knowledge and understanding that he hath of God to eat of the forbidden Tree that he might thereby be as Gods I do therefore beseech the Readers to have a great care that they be not deceived by the Serpents subtilty therein as I do know he hath formerly deceived me And also I do beseech them not to answer the desires of the subtile Serpent or Tempter in them as to judge or think the worse of the Truth the true Light in man or of those called Quakers because of some ill dealings done by some of them to Henry Abbut FINIS
own which he had not taken up the Cross to that would not that Jesus should do what was Gods will in him that he should do And it was this will of Peter's that was contrary to the will of God that was troubled and and burdened at Jesus's words when Jesus spake the truth and it was in that will of his own that did believe that Jesus spake those words by a wrong Spirit for he made Jesus a lyar saying that it should not be as Jesus had said And in this will in this wrong Spirit in this Satan in this Devil Peter undertook to rebuke Jesus for speaking the truth that he had received of the Father as to my knowledge others have done the like And further to make it more manifest that it is a lying and deceitful Spirit which worketh in the Will that perswades to believe that those things that are true which be spoken are spoken by a wrong Spirit and all the reason that is given why it must be so that it is spoken by a wrong Spirit is because it does not reach the seed of God in them but they find a burden a load oppressing them and it is a great trouble to them to hear those words spoken And if this were true then Jesus in the time that he had lived upon the Earth spake many times by a wrong Spirit in that it did not reach the seed of God in his Disciples Mark 14. 27 vers to 31 vers Jesus saith to his Disciples All ye shall be offended because of me this night for it is written I will smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered But Peter said Although all shall be offended yet will not I. Jesus saith unto him This night before the cock crow twice thou shalt deny me thrice But he spake the more vehemently If I should die with thee I will not deny thee in any wise Likewise also said they all I pray observe the words of the Scripture Jesus had told them that that night they should be all offended because of him and he proves the truth of it by Scripture for it was written I will smite the shepherd and the sheâ—p shall be scattered What Jesus spake was the truth he had received from the Father And did he not spake these words by the true Spirit And yet this did not reach the seed of God in them so as to believe he spake true And therefore how could they believe that Jesus spake these words by the true Spirit yea by their own answers it did appear that they all believed that he spake them by a wrong Spirit because they all said that should not be true that Jesus had spoken Jesus had said that they should be all offended because of him that night and the truth of that Scripture should be fulfilled that night that the Shepherd should be smitten and the Sheep scattered Peter who had at another time some distance of time between before that time began to rebuke him for speaking something to that purpose he does not now reprove Jesus for speaking the truth but he again contradicts him for speaking the truth and tells him that what he had spoken should not be done for although all should be offended because of him yet would not he And when Jesus told him that that night before the Cock crew twice he should deny him thrice he spake the more vehemently If I die with thee I will not in any wise deny thee Likewise also said they all That is all of them said as Peter had said that they would not be offended because of him that night and before they would deny him they would die with him As Peter in his own Will had resolved to do so had they resolved in their Wills to do I pray what hindred the true words spoken by Jesus that it did not reach the seed of God in them Was it because they were spoken by a wrong Spirit Or was it not because their own Wills lay uppermost in them above the seed of God in them and so made such a separation as that the words spoken by Jesus could not reach the seed of God in them Was it not their own Wills in them that would not have them to be offended because of him that night being it was Gods will that it should be so and God had caused the Prophets to foretel the same But there was in them all a Will opposing the Will of God and that Will of theirs was that which hindred that Jesus's true words spoken by the true Spirit that they did not reach the seed of God in them and this Will of theirs was troubled and burdened by the words spoken by Jesus What might not this Will say in them or they say in this Will What shall I that have been a Disciple a Follower of Jesus that have been sent by him to preach the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand have had power to heal all manner of Diseases and to cast out Devils and have had my outward feet lately washed by him and that night received of him that which is commonly called the Sacrament of his Body and Bloud and what shall I now be offended because of this Jesus that hath done so much for me No I will not be offended no rather than I will be offended because of him I will first die with him This Will of theirs that was not willing that Gods Will should be done in them this Will of theirs was burdened and troubled in hearing Jesus speak those true words That that night they should be all offended because of him And from this strong fleshly love and affection that they had to the fleshly Body of Jesus might they not think as others have done that it was something in them that was good something in them that was of God that was troubled and burdened at Jesus speaking of the true words by the true Spirit When indeed and in truth that which was burdened and troubled at Jesus's true words spoken by the true Spirit it was nothing but the fleshly will of theirs in which will they opposed the will of God as others have done in this knowing Age. How were these deceived by the subtile Serpents self their own wills in them who hod been so much with Jesus and had received so much from Jesus and yet had not taken up the Cross to their own wills but were in the knowing of Jesus after the flesh and followers of Jesus after the flesh and were ignorant of his Death and Resurrection in them Luke 18. 31 32 33 34. Then took he unto him the Twelve and said unto them Behold me go unto Jerusalem and all things that are written by the Prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished for he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles and shall be mocked and spitefully entreated and spit on and they shall scourge him and put him to death and the third day he shall rise again and they