the spirits of all the remnant of the People for they were in the unbelief before as ye are concerning the time saying Hag. 2. ver 2. the time is not come the time that the Lords house should be built then the Lords Word in Haggai was this to convince them of the contrary Is it time for you oh ye to dwell in your sieled houses and this house lay wast now therefore thus saith the Lord consider your wayes c. And afterwards when the second Temple was built they were apt to have low thoughts of it who is left among you saith the same Prophet that saw this house in the first glory and how do ye see it now is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing mark as nothing yet saith he now be strong oh Zerubbabel saith the Lord and be strong oh Joshuah the high Priest and be strong all ye people of the Land saith the Lord and work for I am with you saith the Lord of hosts according to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt so my spirit remaineth among you fear ye not for thus saith the Lord of hosts yet once it is a little while and I will shake the Heavens and the Earth and the Sea and the dry Land and I will shake all Nations and the desire of all Nations shall come and I will fill this house with Glory saith the Lord of hosts the silver is mine and the gold is mine saith the Lord of hosts the Glory of this latter house shall be greater then of the former saith the Lord of hosts and I will give peace in this place saith the Lord of hosts are not these plain words to him that desires to understand the people were discouraged because their second Temple was not so Stately and pompous outwardly as the first built by Solomon yet were they bid to be strong or of a good courage for the Lord of hosts strong and mighty was with them and the same spirit remained among them according to his Covenant with them when they came out of Egypt though there were not miracles and such visible signes shewed amongst them now as then for the right of building the second Temple stood in the Covenant which was still the same to the Seed of Israel outward he to be their God and they to be to him a People whereof Circumcision in the flesh was a sign as the Circumcision of the heart is a signe of the spiritual and everlasting Covenant to the spiritual Seed saying they should not fear for he would shortly shake all and all Nations by his powerful witness which should make way for Christ to come and fill his second house with his Glory for all spiritual riches and treasures are His and in Him so that the Glory of the latter house should be greater then of the former to wit in the invisible Glory yet visible by fruits of all righteousness which to bring forth was the sum and end of all figures shadowes miracles tongues and prophesies So that they should have peace in God which passeth all Humane understanding and outward rest also when their sufferings were fulfilled Now consider whether it were not just so in the first raising up of the Gospel Church in the Apostles dayes they had the gift of tongues they did many miracles c. for it was meet and needful at the first bringing in of the first born into an unbelieving and Heathenish world that it should be so as it was at the Jews coming out of Egypt to be a visible Nation and People unto God but at the coming out of mystical Babylon the Spirit of Life from God entred saith John into the witnesses and they stood upon their feet and they prophesied no miracle or in what Language it was being mentioned and the way that the Saints overcame was by the blood of the Covenant mark the same Life of Christ which is the blood of the everlasting Covenant which the Apostles and Saints formerly stood in was in them whereby they got victory every way also they overcame by the Word of their Testimony declaring what they had seen and handled of the Word of Life and by suffering for the same even unto death as the Jew outward adventured their lives in the going on with their work against Sanballat Tobiah and the other their cruel enemies neither is this second work of God to be sleighted or little esteemed for it is done by the pure power of the Almighty in the Spirit as the Prophet Zacharie testified saying not by might nor by power that is so visibly appearing in strange gifts but by my Spirit saith the Lord of hosts even that by whom all things were made and so is very great and shall bring forth the pâ—rest State of the Church that ever was as in the description of the new Jerusalem the Holy City doth most evidently appear wherein shall be a new Heaven and new Earth wherein dwelleth righteousness which Peter and the Saints in his dayes waited for and desired to see where shall be no more sorrow nor crying nor pain nor night and this is the State after the captivity not wrought out by outward signes and wonders but by the Internal light leading out of all that is unclean into that wherein there is no defilement which is a glorious and all powerful work so that the Saints feeling of it shall yea and do already say now is come Salvation and strength and the Kingdom of our God and the Power of his Christ for the accuser of our brethren is cast down which accused them before our God day and night and this purely spiritual way of proceeding is most suitable to destroy the mystery of iniquity for hereby spiritual Wisdom is set in opposition and doth discover spiritual deceit by which the Nations have been made drunk yet we deny not or limit the Power of the Holy One in this his day to come forth in what gifts he pleaseth as sometimes he hath done by healing and extraordinary fastings amongst us but this we say it is not so much a seal to the Ministry as the Lords free working how he pleaseth and how he will please to come forth hereafter when the Truth shall actually prevail over other Nations that do not professe Christianity we are not much careful as knowing that whatsoever is needful for the managing of the Lords own Work himself will freely bestow whether it be the gift of tongues miracles or any other Neither is it necessary that the true Ministry should be the Administratours of baptism with water laying on of hands or breaking of bread at their rising so constituting a Church called visible by those outward signs and shadows nay it is not convenient that they should do so for the reasons forementioned to the Baptists also for as much as Antichrist under pretence of setting up of outward false Administrations called by him Ordinances and crying
believed being also I deny not then baptized with water they prayed and laid their hands on them which was an outward sign of the blessing and they received the holy Spirit now if any one shall say how could the Apostles who were but men baptize with the Spirit I answer no otherwise then they could at first beget faith and repentance in those so baptized it was the Lords work but they ministerially did it that is they having felt the power in themselves the raised life in them Ministred to the life that lay low in others and so brought it up therefore that the Lord might shew he was not tied up to time or manner in the bestowing of his gift while Peter spake those words to Cornelius and the rest the holy Spirit fell on them that heard the word so that this was the Baptism here meant by Christ which was so Essential to the conversion of the world and building up of the Saints in so much that Paul joyns it with faith as a necessary companion saying there is One Lord one Faith and one Baptisme for by one Spirit are the Saints baptized into one body Christ the baptizer being the head who moreover told the Apostles that he would be with them all the dayes that is of their Ministry even to the finishing of the age mark there was an age or certain space of time wherein the truth of the Gospel should grow and the Baptism of the Spirit or the comforters presence be witnessed through Christs Power accompanying their Ministry and then should the Mystery of iniquity in false Apostles get such a head by stealing and bringing in false Doctrines Traditions and inventions that it should God so permitting it overtop the life and so the true Ministry should cease and his living presence not be felt and enjoyed as before which most certainly came to passe as we see whose eyes the Lord hath opened in the many hundred years Apostacy and reign of Antichrist now if Christ meant that He would be alway with them to the end of the world as it s falsely rendred in English Bibles how could his words be true since we see by experience that the Glory of God which shined in his Temple in the Apostles dayes departed over the threshold the Church went into the wilderness the Seed of God was captivated by the Whore of Babylon and the man-Child Christ in his strength taken up to God and his Throne wherefore in the second restauration of the spiritual Temple and re-edifying of the holy City new Jerusalem people must first come to the true faith by believing in Christ the true light and witness repentance from all false worships and and dead works of the world as those that are wearie of Babylons captivity and that set their faces towards Sion in truth and so must wait with the Lords people in silence and humility for the Fathers promise which is the Comforter even the Spirit of truth which in his due time baptizeth such with fire and so by degrees leads them into all truth and out of all sins and errour and so the Church cometh out of the wilderness leaning upon her beloved that is staying her mind upon the light within and being content with her portion be it much or little be it judgement or mercy be it in a day of blackness or gloominess or in a day wherein it is neither dark nor light or in the evening time wherein it shall be light as saith the Prophet or in the sun-shine of the day it self so not despising the day of small things or overlifted up with great things neither must they all this while set upon or practice any outward thing in the worship of God in their own wils or by imitation of others or meerly from a precept without but onely as Christ the light shall lay that precept upon them for if they do they are will-worshippers and so Idolaters for as the Son of God was once personally present in a body of flesh commanding the Apostles to teach the People at the first raising of the Gospel Church to observe all things whatsover he had before commanded them and said unto them while so present with them which the Comforter afterwards brought to their remembrance so in the reâ—toring thereof the second time none are to observe any thing or teach any thing to be observed but what Christ manifested in their bodies of flesh doth command them for saith he I go away to wit as to his Personal body and the world shall see me no more but ye shall see me that is in their own bodies manifested Now by this oh all ye Baptists may ye try your selves and present practice of water Baptism and all other Administrations and performances in your Congregations have ye witnessed this true faith or are ye yet disputing against it have ye repented of all dead works or are ye still wallowing in the pollutions of the world have ye waited or do ye wait in silence for the Fathers Promise or do ye set your selves on work in a formal Preaching and dead praying and hanging on the lips of such Preachers and Pray-ers Do ye or others keep an outward Sabbath whether on the seventh or first day from mens Precepts or a Mosaical Rule or from a Command of life within Do ye Baptize and are Baptized and break Bread from a particular Command in your selves or because the Saints formerly so practised Do ye exercise the power of the Keyes from the true spiritual discerning judgement and power or because the Churches before the Apostacy did so bind and loose Ye must know that there hath been a wide step between the Apostles and our dayes and that the gathering of the Church at first out of Egypt and the bringing it out of Babylon are two several things and are not brought to pass after one and the self-same manner as to the outward administration of things Also consider that Johns Revelation was a Prophesie of what things came and must come to pass after the Apostles and not a Relation of what was done in their dayes so that in the coming out of mystical Babylon the Lambs followers wait on him for the opening of that mystical Book as that which concerns their present condition Now when the Angel came down from Heaven and lightned the earth with his Glory whereby the everlasting Gospel came to be Preachâ—d saying Fear God and give G ory to him for the hour of his Judgement is come and come out oâ— Babylon my pâ—ople and partake not of her sins lest ye receive of her plagues Then as people came out of her by the guidance of the light the Temple of God or his holy Habitation in the Spirit was opened in Heaven they had a sight in themselves into what state they should be brought even to have a habitation in God and he in them but then was this Temple filled with smoak from the Glory of God and from
holdeth forth so ye may if ye are not wilful see your mistake in separating Nature from the God of Nature and that that which naturally sheweth man what is good and what is evil is the pure principle of God or the word by which all things were made which is Christ the light for saith the Apostle whatsoever may be known of God is made manifest in them to wit by nature or from their birth for God hath shewen it unto them which he hath not shewen unto a beast because of the lower Region he was created in so that men are not in this sence by nature Children of Wrath but Children of the Day to wit as man was at first brought forth into that which shewed him what was good and what was evil for so he was in the Image of God but as going from the good and chusing the evil so acting in self in distinction from the power or pure Principle of God which inclination is since become natural or is in him from his birth and so by nature is a Child of Wrath as the inclination to evil acts it self forth and whereas Jude speaketh of some who in whatsoever things they know naturally as living Creatures void of reason for so it is in the Greek in those things they corrupt themselves that is not in those things which they know onely from the Eternal light manifested in them which is Gods faithful Witnesse which none but a Creature that hath reason is capable of but in things pertaining to the five Senses of Seeing Feeling Tasteing Smelling and Hearing for the Sensitive Beast knows by the instinct of Nature or from his birth which is also the Principle of his Creator in him in his kind that he is to eat and drink to satisfie himself as feeling when he hath enough meat and drink to give off and chew the cud or lie down to sleep c. whereas these men as many do now feasted and fed without fear inordinately or drunk inordinately and so corrupted themselves in such things wherein the Beast was more moderate and this is the Natural man that perceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God the light being obstructed by sense and sensuality in him and in this sense whatsoever a man doth by nature or in his own sensual will distinct from the feeling of the Life and Power of God all that he doth is rejected and accursed though the works may be good in themselves and shewen by the Eternal Light yet he that is charitable to the poor which the light sheweth to be good if he give his Alms from a wrong ground or to a wrong end though he cannot witnesse acceptation in his Work with the Lord yet he shall judge another who is Rich and yet so covetous that he shutteth up his bowels from the Poor and Needy and so might the Gentiles also condemn the Jews though themselves sensually performing some good actions were not accepted because not reconciled to the light in themselves which shewed the action to be good But notwithstanding this is a real and infalible Truth that it is no other than the pure Principle of God or his Word in the heart which is the true light that sheweth man by nature or from his birth what what is good and evil which Principle it self was never born or had a beginning any other-wise than was in manifestation in man whose Soul came out from the breath of the Almighty who is out of time in time But some may say what great hurt or inconvenience can come unto us though we do not own or believe that which is nigh every man to shew him sin and evil and which convinceth in his Conscience to be Christ the true light since we believe Christ to be the true light in himself and to be tbe Judge Saviour Teacher and Comforter of his People according to the Scriptures I Answer as Paul in another case much every way for first thou shalt never come aright to know what is good and what is evil what is sin and what is righteousness but wilt be ready to call good evil and evil good and wilt be still in an uncertainty concerning what the good and perfect will of God is and how then shouldest thou do it for thy mind being abroad thou art in the wandring state and although thou searchest the Scriptures never so narrowly and diligently yet therein will appear thwarting 's and contradictions scruples not through default of the scriptures but by reason that thou art not staid in that which should reconcile them Hence have arose for many years past those which they call Casuites who have under-took to Answer Cases of Conscience for people from the Scriptures when as those very Resolvers being themselves from that which should Resolve all doubts and difficulties have like unskilâ—â—d Physitians left tender Consciences half quieted yea and oftentimes made the scruple and trouble greater than before and so the leaders of the people have this way caused them to err Neither wilt thou so see the odiousnesse of sin as it is in it self and as thou oughtest to see it for that which searcheth and pricketh to the heart makes men cry out What shall they do they seeing sin staring them in the face with a dismal Countenance and how it hath separated them from God the fountain of all good they are even at their wits end and so their stony and stubborn heart comes to be broken and they are willing to deny their wills lusts and pleasures for the enjoyment of his favour whom they have transgressed against but men may and do hear the plagues and judgements of God declared against sin and sinners in the Scriptures a long time as God shall wound the hairie scalp of him that goes on in his wickedness the wicked shall be turned into hell and all that forget God how that their worm shall never die nor fire never be quenched that they shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone which is the second death and such like and yet they never be moved at it but either are apt not to believe it or to put the day of evil far from them for all outward Declarations or threatnings without that which rips man open and set him naked and bare before the Lord are but as shot that flies over the head but never toucheth the body and so do no execution upon the transgressour So neither can man if at any time he be wounded for sin be truely healed and comforted because that which smites must heal and that onely Now if any one see his sickness as Ephraim did and go not to the true Physitian but go to Egypt how should he have a true and thorow cure Now at such a time one may fetch and gather in all the promises in the Scriptures and endeavour to apply them or have them applied to himself and strive to believe that they do belong to
them up hath betrayed the pure life in Spirit and seeing others also as the Baptists themselves who have professed to Minister those Ordinances in a right manner and to true Subjects thereof have idolized the same and become dead dry and barren therein ministring out of the life and Power and in a formality therefore the Lord as he hath done in such cases leaveth them to such Traytors Idolaters and formalists as going out of them and leading his People in this his day in a different manner even in a pure path of righteousness in the Spirit manifested by its own immediate fruits and bringing them into that wherein they see no Temple besides the Lord God and the Lamb to dwell in so that ye called Seekers waiting as ye say for a right Administrator of Baptisme c. do but from the desart look for the Kingdom to come with an outward observation when as the Kingdom of God is within you as it was in the Pharisees if ye could so see it for the light is that in which God dwelleth and by which he dwelleth in man either as a reprover and condemner or justifier and comforter and that by which he Reigneth in him as a Judge or Saviour which is Christ his Son given by him for a Covenant of light to the Gentiles which Covenant any one taking hold of is brought into it and so hath a right to come out of Babylon to Sion yea must come out thence least he be found a transgressour against it for that which sheweth him where he hath been and whither he is to go will give him strength he waiting therein to passe on till he come to appear before God in Sion which is the beautie of Holiness But to what hath been said ye will object and say Christ Mark 16 bidding his Disciples that going forth into all the world they should Preach the Gospel to every Creature and he that believed and was baptized should be saved but he that believed not should be damned said and these signs shall follow them that believe in my Name they shall cast out Devils they shall speak with new tongues they shall take up Serpents and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall be well or recover So that these are the notes or marks of a true Gospel Ministry and therefore none may call himself an Apostle or Minister of Christ except he can confirm his Ministry by some of these or any call themselves the true Church unless such signs follow them or are found amongst them T is true these things mentioned were signs whereby their Ministry was propagated and confirmed for without the gift of tongues the Gospel could not have been so readily declared throughout the Nations into which they were to go nor without the other signs would they so readily have believed that which they had never heard of before but it doth not therefore follow that every one who went forth in the Ministry had tongues or did cast out Devils heal the sick c. For if any one were then moved by the Spirit of the Lord to Preach but in one Language even in his Mother tongue he was as truely a Minister of Christ to those to whom he spake as those were that spake to divers Nations As Apollo who we read not to have either spake with any new tongue or ever to do a miracle yet having received Wisdom and Power from on high he was an eminent Minister of the Gospel and an instrument by whom the Corinthians believed as Paul witnessed neither was alway a miracle wrought by those who might sometimes work such a thing when People were converted nay rather oftner by Preaching alone without it So the three thousand were converted by the Preaching of Peter without a miracle done at the time of their being pricked in heart and gladly receiving his Word so while Peter another time spake to Cornelius and his Family the Holy Spirit fell on them no miracle being wrought so Paul Preached two whole years in his own hired house having first declared the Truth to the Jews some of whom believed the things that were spoken and others believing not and this without a miracle So Lydia's heart was opened by Paul and Timotheus their speaking without a miracle for ye must know that although such things were signs when the Power was pleased so to operate yet the living Word being declared by the living Power was sufficient enough without any other sign to prevail and approve those so speaking to be the Ministers of Christ to whom they spake so the Corinthians were the seal of Pauls Apostleship his Gospel coming to them in the Power and demonstration of the Spirit so were they his Epistle that commended his Ministry known and read of all men Know also that though God did then freely come forth in such a way yet those who sought a sign were an Adulterous generation for if a man would but believe and keep to the Word nigh in his mouth and heart when declared in him or unto him he need not look out for any such thing And as for those signs following those who believed it could not be all those who believed for most of the believers or members of the true Church spake neither with tongues or shewed any miracles as is undeniably evident neither could those be Essential signs of Faith for nothing is the proper token of that but works of righteousness alone as James witnesseth and none ever denyed so then these signs following those that believed were indeed further confirmations that such did believe wherein they appeared while the Essential tokens thereof remained with them but if they should be absent as love which is the fulfilling of the Law though any one should speak with the tongue of men and Angels and have Faith so as to remove mountains it would profit nothing and so be no sign of his being a believer And so the false Prophets miracles which John saith he wrought before the Beast can be no sign of his Faith or of a true Ministry because he is an enemy of all righteousness But to come more home to this point I say that as the Commission was given to the Apostles and Saints to Minister in that age till the Apostacie according to the several gifts and operations of the Spirit and the work they had then to do which was a great deal in a little time as going far and near and as this Commission was declared by Christs personal mouth before his departure which was terminated in them and fulfilled in that age so in the second restauration Christ the light gives a second Commission by his Spirit to those who have waited in his light what to Minister with and how to Minister according to their work in this his last day which is first of all to unfold the skirts of the great and mystical Whore who will
the true light must needs be in every one for the life is the light of men and so whatever good thing is wrought in mans heart doth not come from without him or from far but from the word within the mouth and heart and so ariseth from within himself for saith wisdom a good man shall be satisfied from himself and so did Christ promise Whosoever saith he drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst but it shall be a Well of waters springing up in him to Eternal Life and so did Isaiah Prophesie As the Earth bringeth forth her bud and as the Garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the Nations Oh! the sweet springings and buddings of the pure Life of God in mans heart after a night and winter of sorrow and darkness and silent waiting upon that of God in him surely by this means and no other shall Righteousness towards man and praise and glory to the Lord God who is worthy and alone worthy spring up in the sight of others And oh ye Separatists so called how can it be expected that ye should Minister to each other in your Assemblies by the living Power of the Spirit of truth which is the Holy Annointing and the onely Exerciser of the Saints in all their administrations any more than others do but that ye should be as dead dry and formal as they in such exercises when as ye will not turn to the light which is the true Teacher and in the humility and penitency of your spirits wait in silence for the Comforters presence are ye not now comprehended and discerned by those who walk in the light as he is in the light to be dry dead and unsavoury and hating reproof and your Reprover who now calls for more living fruit in this his day of light and truth than in the times of more ignorance And are ye not proud and covetous and set down at ease in the wayes and customs of men as respecting persons c. as if there were no more cross to be taken up when the greatest is yet behind For the light shining in your dark hearts as it ariseth will cross your own wills and wisdom exceedingly and reject your vain confidence of your being the onely true Church and so ye will appear naked and bare as those that have been but in a dream that ye were come out of Babylon when as the Whore and Beasts mark is discerned in your foreheads other of her trumpery among you Wherefore I exhort you in Gods love and fear to come unto the light within which brings out of death and deadness and all transgression and out of all the wayes of confusion and that abominable practise of Infant Baptism which is a chief ground thereof and be not deceived God is not mocked for such as ye sow ye shall reap and if ye will still sow to the flesh as ye have a long time done ye shall reap corâ—uption vanity and sorrow but if ye will sow to the Spirit and lay your ground work there ye shall from thence certainly reap life Everlasting But what hath he against us and our Profession may the Bâ—ptists say who have not onely renounced ouâ— Infant Baptisme as a gross deceit but have practised in direct oppoâ—ition thereto by being dipped or baptized in water and so profess Faith and Baptism as the Apostles Saints did before the Apostacy The Spirit of the Lord hath enough against your Faith for some of you are for Free Will which ye say is a power placed in you whereby ye are able to stand or fall to your own Master of your own accord by taking heed to what the Scriptures outwardly declare some part whereof you call the Gospel and own no other so that one of ye once declared He knew no other Spirit now than the Scriptures as if the Spirit that moved the holy men of God to speak forth the Scriptures when it had so moved them had done its work and so quite forsaken the Earth when as the greatest glory of the Church and purest life of the Saints is to be brought forth in these last times as the Prophesies of the Scriptures do plentifully fore-shew which cannot be brought to pass but by the Spirit of the living God which Spirit or Life is but one in all and in all ages which is a spirit of Judgment and burning whose pure Judgements and Holy burnings are felt in this day of the Lords winnowing by those who every one in their own measure and order do silently sincerely and humbly wait for the same for although we say that every ones condemnation is just for loving his evil deeds and hating the light that shines in his heart yet no man is able in his own will distinct from this light to adde one cubit unto his stature that is to make one step in saving knowledge or obedience but is to believe in the light and wait therein so tarrying the Lords leasure till he arise in him up to the prey leading captivity câ—ptive and briâ—ging forth Judgement unto victory and if this seems a strange or foolish Language unto you know that it is because ye are in your own wills in distinction from the light which is Gods faithful witness within you which faithful witness is Christ the Power of God unto Salvation unto every one that believeth this is the Gospel or glad tidings indeed that man is not left to himself to work out his own Salvation but that the God of all grace hath left in him a seed which as a confirmation thereof was plentifully manifested in his Son made of a woman in due time in which he believing that it should break the serpents head and do all his works in him and for him so that ye Free-willers so called stumbling at this stumbling-stone and setting up the Scriptures which are but a wholsom Declaration of this seed and corner-stone in its place I do Declare against you and all such that ye are Idolaters and so out of the true Faith of Gods Elect and therefore not the true Church of Christ but the synagogue of Satan Wherefore I exhort you to come out of your own wills and carnal wisdom which begets you in your Congregations into many vain janglings rents and disputings and to wait in silence upon the Reprover in you for sin which alone is able to give you victory over sin that your mouths may be for ever stopped for pleading against the true light which is the true Prophet that ye perish not in the gain-saying of Kore who also stood up against the Lords Prophet Others deny indeed mans power will and ability to do good and so deny you as out of the Faith but how since they are become such disputers against and denyers of the true light that lightneth every man they should
themselves be in the true Faith or find power and ability to bring forth any good and acceptable fruit unto God I cannot behold for which way should ye feel his living Power to enable you thereunto or which way should the Spirit of the Lord come Do you look for him by way of local motion and so to enter from without to within you can such a thought be without setting the phansie on work and so making an Image of the Godhead within your selves but if ye will not be accounted Idolaters then must you needs come to the light within which must reveal unto you the Image of the Invisible God in the still silence and that which can reveal the Fathers Glory must most certainly discover sin and evil which vails the same while undiscovered and unjudged down and destroyed from the mind of man but this also ye Baptized Persons that say ye deny mans Free Will cannot believe for ye think and say though sin do remain in you as it must as long as ye live here yet ye have an Advocate with the Father and so are justified by Christs Merits and Righteousness the which for any one to deny ye account a denial of Free Grace yea and of Christ himself So ye think ye may behold the Fathers Presence even while sin is standing Alas alas Friends ye are much deceived as are the common multitude herein for in this day of Christ the true light another kind of Free Grace and another manner of Saviour is discovered and revealed than hath been formerly imagined for know ye that Gods Free Grace is his Free Gift in giving his Son a light into the world whereby as men come to see confess and forsake all evil in thought word and deed Justification Reconciliation and Peace with the Lord God they may come to witnesse and no otherwise for whosoever hath at any time seen his pure shape with a spiritual eye cannot imâ—gine or desire to have these any other way his pure eyes beholding no Iniquity in any one without reproof where ever he finds it neither can his all-seeing eye but see it where ever it is and this is also the Saviour that we believe in and Preach and no other to wit a Christ to be known within manifested in our â—â—esh to destroy the works of the Devil so saving us from the wrath to come for he was not at all sent to justifie or save his People in their sins but from their sins so is judgement laid to the line and equity to the plummet look how far judgement hath passed upon the transgressour in any one so far is mercy witnessed by the transgressour and no farther and it is equity that it should be so yet is it most free grace in that the Lord God Almighty freely saves in this righteous way by his own Almighty Arm but so as that the creature may remember and take notice that if the righteous scarcely be saved where shall the wicked and ungodly appear neither would this Doctrine oh ye Baptists seem a hard saying unto you if ye were not double-minded loving the Lords Salvation and your sins also to wit pride covetousness deceit self-seeking respecting of Persons having mens Persons in admiration for advantage sake and such like for if your eye were single to the Lord alone ye would desire no peace at his hands but in the way of all righteousness fulfilled in your selves yea even to the silencing every idle and needless word and the removing of every vain Aiery thought in you as knowing that holiness becomes his house for ever but while ye cannot bear these true and faithful sayings know ye that ye are alinated in your minds by wicked works which ye are in love with what ever ye shall professe to the contrary and so are also out of the faith which gives victory over the world and all sin And as for your being baptized with water which is but an outward sign at the most of your being dead and buried and risen with Christ know ye that the thing signified must be witnessed before the sign can be truely applyed which cannot be till ye come to the true faith and so out of the pollutions of the world for otherwise ye set a seal to a blank as well as those who sprinkle infants neither is Baptism with water Christs proper Baptism but was begun by John who came but to prepare the way of the Lord Christ who was to baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire who was to increase in this his proper work and John to decrease in his work Now I grant that Johns Baptism was not suddenly left off but decreased by degrees as the Saints came to eye and witness perfection so as to behold and hold forth Gods purity and righteousness without a sign so that it was practiced by the Apostles and Saints after Christs departure and that sometimes by way of command there being for the present a good use â—hereof yet Paul expresly declareth who was a Minister to the Gâ—ntilâ—s that he was not sent to baptize but to Prâ—ach glad tidâ—â—gs neither was that Commission of Christ to the Apostles in Mat. 28. a Commission to baptize with water as I shall evidenâ—ly demonstrate for thus are the words truely to be read ouâ— of the Greek Therefore ys going forth or forward Disciple all Nations dipping or baptizing them into the Name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit teaching them to keep all things whaâ—soever I have commanded you and behold I am with you alâ— the dayes even to the finishing of the age Hear we see they were to proceed in their work having first waited for power to do it which was to enter people into the School of Châ—ist and then to baptize them into the Name of the God-head Now the Name of the Lord is his strength and power whereby he is known wonderful in the hearts of his people so is the Name of the Lord a strong Tower Now into this name nothing could bring them but the same power from on high which the Apostles and Saints that had first waited for the same in themselves received which power was the Baptism of the Spirit whose effect was like unto fire filling them with a holy jealousie and burning up the drosse and bringing them into unitie with the Father and the Son in the Spirit soÌ„ filling their hearts with joy and gladness and putting words into their mouths and utterance to declare the wondrous Works of God several wayes according to its various workings in them and sometimes even shaking the earthly Tabernacle makiâ—g them to appear unto the blinde world like drunken men this Baptism which was truely Christs own was and is altogether necessary in the Church of Christ without whâ—ch the work of the Lord in his day could not nor cannot go on and therefore was it an Essential part of their Commission which they most carefully and faithfully regarded so that when Persons
his power that none was able to enter thereinto till the seven Plagues of the seven Angels were fulfilled none could fully behold and enjoy the Glory of the Lord till all his Plagues and Judgements were executed upon the Transgressor and transgression within which being finished an enterance was ministred into the New Jerusalem that came down from God whose light was clear as Chrystal and wherein John saw no Temple that is he saw no outward Constitution of a Church visible by those two signs of Water-baptism and Laying on of Hands which were called the first Beginnings or Principles in the Hebrews or breaking of Corporal Bread but the Lord God Almighty the Lamb were the Temple of it that is whosoever hath a dwelling place in God who is perfectly pure holy is in this day to be accounted a Member of this holy City which also had no need of the Sun to shine by day nor the Moon by night nor the light of a Candle all created helps and shadows were uselesse there for the Lord God alone and the Lamb are the light thereof so that by this Scripture alone are all you Baptists for ever silenced for pleading for a necessity of Baptism or laying on of Hands or breaking of Bread or Mens Teachings or Scripture-light without the true light opening them because after the coming out of Babylon there is to be no visible Temple so as to say lo here or loe there which is by a shadow or sign nor no need of any such thing to distinguish the Saints from the World or lead them up to God for they shall see his face even by his immediate light and his Name shall be in their Foreheads even by his pure Image of Innocency and Righteousnesse which shall most plainly appear to the view of the World and so by these two things shall the Glory of the second Temple be greater than the Glory of the former And if any of you shall say This state and time is not yet come and therefore the sâ—gns visible Administrations must be practised I Answer Those that can truly say they do believe in Christ the Light and have forsaken sin as aforesaid and are purely moved to be Dipped in Water c. to help their weakness or in obedience to the inward Command let them do it and prosper but let them not sit down there alwaies or strive to bring back others thereto that see no need thereof yea rather that it would be but a hurt and cloud unto them for although many of the Saints the Lambs followers yea perhaps most do not yet witnesse a full entrance into the aforesaid Condition yet in all of them the Temple of God is opened by the light of the Lamb and the Vials are pouring out daily to destroy sin in them that vails the perfect sight of God and so now their work is to look stedfastly forward till all impediments that hinder their perfect and continual Peace be removed and not to take up their time by the way about the Exercise of those things which must not shortly appear or be of any use Thus are your skirts also discovered and your House left unto you desolate for ye have not been faithful to that pure Principle of God which at first stirred in some of you and might then move you to be Baptized with Water but are set down in a fleshly rest not waiting for the spiritual Baptism that should have made you dead to the World and Crucified you with Christ and also have Exercised you by its pure Gift in all your worshippings and goings forth so that ye hereby not growing up in that which is living and eternal are grown more earthly sensual dead carnal and formal than divers years ago when I walked among you yea even as dead and dry as the Priests themselves preaching in such a method as they setting up your Desks and Pulpits and Clocks and Hour-glasses to see how the time goes away and your Members sitting some of them in their Pride and all of them gazing upon an Image in a Desk or Pulpit yea and some of you so degenerate from your first Principles that ye as do the Independants so called mingle your selves with the Nation about sending out a Ministry yea and some of your Chief Leaders have lately not blushed openly to declare That you hold it your Duty to stand by and preserve so much as in you lies the publick Ministry of the Nation whom ye judge ought to have their Liberty So it seems ye are ready to defend them in offending and afflicting those who in the tenderness of their Consciences and holy Zeal for the dreadful pure Name of their God cannot maintain or feed but openly oppose the false Prophets the Ministers of Antichrist the Emissaries of Satan and deceivers of thousands of Souls of which sort these publick National Ministers are as denying Christ Jesus the Son of God to be both a King a Priest and a Prophet which thing you Baptists some years ago did earnestly affirm and declare For take away the Law of man from maintaining them to Usurp upon Constrain or Punish others and they are no more than other men But t is no wonder that ye so declare your selves who are so far degenerated and leavened with the Principles and Interests of these Pharisees who say and do not that ye shew the greatest Opposition to the Saints holy and zealous Practises as irrigular or out of Rule But ye have not declared what those Practises particularly are nor what rule they are out of whether that of the Old man or of the New Lord what a Church or Spouse of Christ are these pretended Believers Baptized become who have not a word to plead for him whom they own to be their Husband against the Beast but would submit in silence to any humane Government nor against the false Prophet but have a hand to preserve him accounting those that do in this day of the Lord oppose them both to be irregular as though they thereby would cast the whole bulk of persecution and rage and malice of the multitude upon the Lambs followers who are called and chosen and faithful in their measures of life and as being themselves afraid what man could and can do unto them Neither would your Independant Brethren have us to be Countenanced or Intrusted by the Nation when as none know aright how to Govern others but those that are themselves governed by the Lord Jesus who are anointed to Govern as well as to Preach for the spirit of true Government is a pure and majestical Gift of God not consisting in whorish and pompous state but in the beauty and Glory of simple Truth and naked Justice which layes the Rod upon the back of the Transgressor and smileth upon the wel-doer impartially And O Nation because thou considerest not this therefore are not thy breaches healed but rather increased unto this day Oh be ye ashamed to