when Christ rises we shall be sure to rise with him so that there is a sweet truth in that Scripture where it is said That the day of a mans death is better then the day that a man is borne For better it is for a man to die spiritually then to live naturally And so none of us liveth to himself or dyes to himself but whether we live or dye all is in the Lord and he is glorified in the death as well as in the life for our life is hid with God in Christ as the Apostle saith to the Collossians though we be dead as he saith and nothing appeares of life to our selves or others yet we need not fear for the life is hid with God in Christ And when Christ our life shall appear and so appear as to be our life and happinesse then shall we appear glorious but it is in him when Christ rises so spiritually and gloriously to subdue and destroy the fleshly being which is the death and causes death for no sooner did sin enter but death entered with it then doth Christ the spirituall being and life triumph And then is death swallowed up of life and mortality of immortality That is flesh is swallowed up of spirit and death the fleshly being is swallowed up of life the spirituall being And then shall be brought to passe that saying O Death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory But thanks to God for it is he that gets the victory again as it is in the naturall so it is in the spirituall This Resurrection is set forth by the resemblance of the graine of Corne and it holds out a lively resemblance of the spirituall life and death and of the spirituall Resurrection of the naturall for as the graine of Corn dyes before it lives and in this death there is life hid so in this spirituall death there is spirituall life though it be hid and lye buried in the grave of earthly and carnall apprehensions as God gives the one a Body and is himself the substance and Body and the life so doth the spirituall Body the inward and spirituall life which is God rise to more glory then ever he did appear in in the earthly and outward forme and as the fleshly appearance dyes and ceases and as in the death there is life so God when he ceases to live in flesh he lives and rises with much more glory in the Spirit And yet it is true till the fleshly and outward form or formall Being suffers the Divine cannot reigne and therefore in the midst of death there is life and God doth but dye in weaknesse to rise in power Not that God is weak but he is buried and hid in the carnall sense and life to rise with more strong and glorious appearances of himself which is the spirituall Resurrection which is further illustrated by the terrestriall Bodies and the heavenly Bodies which doth but further confirm the spirituall rising of Christ For though there be a glory in the terestriall and outward dispensations and manifestations of God in them so when God is pleased to uncloath himself and to let out himself in pure and heavenly dispensations when these come and appear and that God puts on the heavenly clothing then is the corruptible swalled up of the incorruptible For it is true that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God nor corruption put on incorruption but when there shall be a change and of naturall we become spirituall and when the last Trump shall blow that is when God shall gloriously sound forth his one praise nothing but spirituall power appears Then shall the dead hear the voice of the Sonne of God and live and the dark and carnall appearances of God shall give way to the more pure and spirituall and then shall God gloriously triumph over Sin Death and Hell and live without any vaile in his own pure and divine glory The consideration of which is sufficient to perswade me to be stedfast and to abound in the work of the Lord knowing that though my labour be in vaine as to self or flesh yet it is not in vaine in the Lord he being the end and summe of all Thus have I as briefly and plainly as I could gone over the substance of the whole Chapter though much more might be spoken being conscious to my own spirit that I have not hid or concealed any clause which might serve to speak for a carnall Resurrection or for a rising of the body after its dissolution here in any visible form or shape But that as the light is in me so have I manifested it out to others and do onely referre my self for tryall to that light which manifests all things leaving other men to their own darke and carnall apprehensions of a carnall Resurrection and conclude that the Resurrection is from the carnall to the fleshly Christ from Christ living in the flesh to his living in the Spirit which is that I call the Resurrection and if time and mens patience would suffer I could easily prove that whatsoever Christ as man was or did from his Birth to his ascension in his life and death in the flesh they were but all Types and shadowes of what he would be and work in his glorious coming in the Spirit and so they are applyed all along if men wil let the Scripture speak in the very Letter but I let it passe at present And further to gratifie mens weakness I shall proceed to another Scripture which is as carnally urged as the former to prove a carnall Resurrection and that is in Matthew concerning Christs reasoning with the Sadduces they denying the Resurrection And Christ proving it to them by saying That he was the God of the living and not of the dead and so that though Abraham Isaack and Jacob were dead long agoe yet they lived But to open this Scripture we must know what Resurrection the Sadduces denyed and what Resurrection Christ proved I affirm that it was the spiritual Resurrection which they denyed and that appeares plainly by that in the 23 of Acts 8. where it is said that the Sadduces deny the Resurrection or Angell or Spirit but there is no mention of the Resurrection of the Body And so it is clear that Christs argument to them was to prove a spirituall Resurrection and so it holds a full proof of what we affirme and a fâ—ll answer to the Sadduces For God is not the God of the dead but of the living not of flesh but of Spirit And so Abraham Isaack and Jacob. they did really and spiritually live in God though they were dead in the flesh So that I conceive and it is clear to me that a spirituall and Angelical appearance of God is that Resurrection which is held forth and which should be and they are the Sadduces that deny this spirituall Resurrection Another Scripture which is alledged to as little purpose is that in Iob
19. I know my Redeemer lives and that I shall see him with these eyes I do wonder what a God men fancy to be seen with a fleshly eye I alwayes took God to be a Spirit invisible and that no created fleshly things was able to see him I cannot imagine then how Jobs eyes which were and should be in a visible form and shape should be capable of such a Divine invisible vision But yet if Job was so carnall to conceive that his fleshly eyes should see a spirituall God yet I am not And if any man shall say that Christ hath a Body in heaven which he lived in when he was upon the earth and that may be seen being visible and corporall for that when any man shall prove heaven a locall place and that God the Fathour sits there and receives petitions from his Son Christ as men do visibly here on earth then I shall give him an answer neither have I so learned Christ to make him to consist of flesh and bloud or bodily shape in heaven as men call it for though it be said that Steven saw the heaven opened and Christ sitting at the right hand of God yet am I not so carnall to believe That Stevens fleshly eyes might see up above the stars and skies and that the house top might be open where he was and so he bodily saw Christ sitting in a bodily shape at the right hand of God in heaven As a Diuine of Leicestershire did affirm to me in a private conference that he thought it might be so But his divinity being as little as his person I leave him as knowing that the man Christ left his fleshly being to live in the divine which is void of all forme and shape or to be seen visibly by any outward or corporeall substance and that no light can see him but his own and when men live in this light then they will agree with me till then I must leave men to their dark and carnall apprehensions In the meane time I am content to be nothing that God may be all and to let fall my thoughts of any glory or excellency hereafter as a creature as knowing that the fleshly man dies that the spirituall may be raised and that all creature or sensible enjoyment of God shall cease in eternall silence and it is fruit and joy enough in my spirit that God hath so discovered himself in me that I can willingly resolve all my comforts joy and peace into God who is that endlesse and infinite Ocean and rather desire to be comprehended of it then to comprehend it so that by all that hath bin alleadged I cannot see that there is any thing in that called Scripture to prove any fleshly living of the body after this life but that all things and Creatures below God perish and die and God onely lives and rises in more power and glorious appearance then ever be was in when he lived in the flesh which is that resurrection which is spirituall and which we have endeavoured to make out and so I leave it and come to the last Subject of my discourse which is that we call Scriptures and because men are as carnall about that as any of the former and because the ground of all the mistakes in the former is onely the mis-apprehension of the Scripture we shal insist upon that a little the more larger and so conclude Concerning the Scripture IF you take Scripture as it was written by the Prophets and Apostles It is a forme of wholesome words a perfect rule for all outward actions a true Guide for a mans outward conversatition among men The liveliest expression of the mind of God of all other books setting forth all conditions estates and enjoyments of all men in the world it is the word in flesh The word was made flesh it is the highest discovery of God in flesh the truest testimony of God in the world I do verily believe that what pitch soever any man hath or can attain unto but it is able to speak to him in it thus it is in the letter and the out-side of it But if you ask me what I make Scripture I look upon it to be spiritual and so it is the Law written in the heart and so it is spirit and life as Christ saith The words that I speak are spirit and life so that what Christ speaks spiritually that is Scripture and so it is the power of God for take Scripture as it is in the History it hath no more power in the inward man then any other writings of good men nor is it in that sense a discerner of the secrets as it is in the History so it is to be believed above all other writings in the world but as it is a mystery and God being the substance of it so I must believe it as God makes it out in me I must not build my Faith upon it or any saying of it because such and such men writ or speak so and so But from that divine manifestation in my own spirit for the Scripture as it is written outwardly is but an outward witnesse of that which is within and the spirituality of it wherein the life and being of it doth consist is made out by a spiritual discovery I do not go to the letter of Scripture to know the mind of God but I having the mind of God within I am able to see it witnessed and made out in the Letter for if I do a thing lawfull from the Letter yet if I be perswaded in my own spirit I should not do it I sinne Yea further that power and authority which the Scripture hatâ—â— is not because such and such men writ it but from that divine manifestation in them And so indeed if I have the same discovery that they had then I can say it is the word of God otherwise I lie for it is one thing to believe the Scripture because such and such write it as most men do and it is another thing to believe it because God saith so in me and so it is the spirituall speaking of God that is the Scripture and so that is true They that are of God hear Gods Word Now no man can hear God but as God speaks And it is as true that as God speaks spiritually so no man hears him but in a spirituall manner and so we hear Gods word And therefore it is said often in the 1. Rev. He that hath an eare let him hear what the spirit saith to the Churches Which cannot be understood of a carnall eare because every man hath that but as the Spirit speaks spiritually so it is the spirituall eare that hears the Spirit For all the outward speaking or hearing of men or Scripture cannot reach the Spirit Further the Scripture I do apprehend as it is written outwardly is God clothed in fleshly tearmes and expressions and speaks in the language of men as when he speaks of
his seale unto And yet I dare affirme to the most rigid spirit that workes in any man at this day against the things asserted That there is not any thing positively affirmed but I could with more ease prove the truth of them by divers Testimonies of Scripture and reason then he could with any truth or Scripture oppose them and any man that shall impartially weigh things may see that there is nothing in the Treatise then the very Language and correspondency of Scripture in the Letter of it will easily speake and sweetly comply with in a spirituall sence So much I thought good to premise by way of Preface to the Discourse All that GOD aimes at in such things as are of this nature is but to make out his owne Honour and Glory before men and to gaine esteeme from them And all I aime at is that we might resolve all the Comforts Glory and future felicity into GOD againe and so to make GOD All and the Creature nothing and if in the Discourse I shall detract or prevaricate from either of the Ends I am much mistaken and shall willingly confesse with that Prophet O Lord thou hast deceived me and I was deceived And so I leave the Discourse and thee together and if you happyly agree it is all the fruire of my labour that I expect to Reape If not I shall willingly waite an opportunity to make you both Friends As I am to every man J. B. THE Light and dark sides OF GOD. Concerning God O God what shall I say thou art when thou canst not be named what shall I speak of thee when in speaking of thee I speak nothing but contradiction For if I say I see thee it is nothing but thy seeing of thy selfe for there is nothing in me capable of seeing thee but thy self If I say I know thee that is no other but the know 〈…〉 thy self for I am rather known of thee then know thee If I say I love thee it is nothing so for there is nothing in me can love thee but thy self and therefore thou dost but love thy self My seeking of thee is no other but thy seeking of thy selfe My delighting enjoying thee is no other but thy delighting in thy selfe and enjoying of thy selfe after a most unconceivable manner If I say I prayse thee blesse or magnifie thee it is no other but thy praysing blessing and magnifying of thy self I say thou art infinite but what that is I cannot tell because I am finite And therefore I am led to believe that whatsoever thy Scripture or any man else speaks of thee it is but thy meer condescention to speak to us in the language of men and so we speak of thee to one another For this I know that whatsoever the Scripture or any man else speakes what thou art I know thou art not that because no man can say what thou art And therefore when the Scripture saith thou art a spirit It is because a spirit is the highest thing or tearme that men can give or apprehend For thou art beyond any expression and therefore thou art pleased to cloathe thy self with such Titles and Expressions of spirit love mercy power strength or whatsoever is amiable or high in esteeme among men to honour thy self and beget an high esteeme and lawfull respect of thy self from men And therefore whatsoever I speak or write of thee it is from thy writing and speaking in me for I really see that thou dost not speek to men but in men because there is nothing in man capable of thy speaking or hearing but thy self onely this man declares outwardly what he hath heard and seen inwardly and yet that outward Declaration is of God also for thou being the life and substance of all Creatures they speak and move yea live in thee and whatever any Creature is it is that as it is in thee And therefore thou art pleased to give thy self that Title I Am. This therefore I can say of thee That thou onely art and there is none beside thee But what thou art I cannot tell Onely this I see that there is nothing hath a Being but thy Being is in it and it is thy Being in it that gives it a Being and so I am ready to say with thy Servant Lord whither shall I go from thy presence for it is thy presence and Being that is the subsistance and Being of all Creatures and things and fills Heaven and Earth and all other places And therefore I cannot as I have carnally conceived and as men generally do that God hath his personall being and presence in one place more then another or that he hath a simple pure glorious and intire being circumscribed or confined in a place above the Starres and Firmament which the men of the World call Heaven And that all Creatures here below are the products of that Being and had their Being of him and yet distinct from him But the spirit in me speakes otherwise and saith I must not ascend up to Heaven to fetch Christ thence nor descend into the depth to fetch him from thence for the Word is even in you which Word is God and God is the Word Nay I see that God is in all Creatures Man and Beast Fish and Fowle and every green thing from the highest Cedar to the Ivey on the wall and that God is the life and being of them all and that God doth really dwell and if you will personally if he may admit so low an expression in them all and hath his Being no where else out of the Creatures Further I see that all the Beings in the World are but that our Being and so he may well be said to be every where as he is and so I cannot exclude him from Man or Beast or any other Creature Every Creature and thing having that Being living in it and there is no difference betwixt Man and Beast but as Man carries a more lively Image of the divine Being then any other Creature For I see the Power Wisdom and Glory of God in one as well as another onely in that Creature called Man God appeares more gloriously in then the rest And truly I find by experience the grand reason why I have and many others do now use set times of prayer and run to formall duties and other outward and low services of God the reason hath been and is because men look upon a God as being without them and remote from them at a great distance as if he were locally in Heaven and sitting there onely and would not let down any blessing or good things but by such and such a way and meanes But Lord how carnall was I thus to fancie thee Nay I am confident that there is never a man under the Sun that lookes upon God in such a forme but must be a grosse Idolator and fancie some corporall shape of him though they may call it spiritual Did men see that that God was in
was no Temple nor needed any Sun or Moon which as I apprehend was but that there should be such glorious and spiritual dispensations and discoveries of God in the Saints and that they should enjoy such a life as that they should not worship in any outward external way or forme And should not need to be taught by men or meanes or of any outward Administrations or Ordinances But that the Lord God and the Lamb should be their light and they should be immediatly taught by him and therefore it is said there was no Temple in it the Lord and the Lamb being the light glory Temple and all which condition is glorious and cannot but be Heaven to him that doth enjoy it and into which I know some are brought and have received the accomplishment of all those promises and Prophesies which are spoken of in Scripture and have received that new name which none know but they that have it And thus have I shewed you Heaven as it appeares in my spirit and for my part I see no otherwise of it however men judge I am willing to let fall any carnall apprehension of a visible or corporeal enjoyment of God or any expectation of a happy condition out of God after this life and dayes are ended being willing to resigne and give up to God what he is in me in flesh that so God may be all and advanced above all in the spirit And for my part I see the Lord so framing my spirit that I am content to be nothing that he may be all though I must confess when I think seriously of it there is nothing so grievous to flesh and blood in me as to think that all the glory and happiness that I expected to have had in a corporal and sensible enjoyment must be terminated in God onely This I am sure of that if there be any such thing I shall have my share among the rest which for the present I think ridiculous to looke for onely this I wait what the Lord will do in my spirit for the present And being sweetly refreshed in the spirituall Disovery of himself in me which is to me Heaven Concerning the Angels FOr the Angels I see the world as much mistaken in them as in the former for I really see that man lives in the Angelicall nature and that the Angels are also Spirituall and in man and herein man is honoured in that God tooke humane nature and not the Angelicall For had he confined his own glory in himself he had missed one of his opportunities of magnifying himself and therefore he took the humane nature and so was God manifest in flesh as well as seen of Angels and as the divine nature is in man so is the Angelicall and as the one acts so doth the other for may we not see the Angels of God ascending and discending in man Are not the motions of mans spirit here and there in a moment cannot man ascend into the hights and discend into the depths Are not the motions of a mans spirit at one end of the World at one time and at another end of it instantly again Doth not God make his Angels spirits and his Ministers a flame of fire Is not every spirit of illumination and spirituall discovery of God an Angell of God to convey some light and influence to the Creature whence is it that all those sweet and spiritual assistances and consolations are flowing in the spirit but by the power and presence of these Angels It is said the Devill left Christ and Angels came and ministred to him and comforted him In which I really see every spirituall support and comfortable appearance of God is an Angel of God How do the Angels pitch their Tents about them that fear the Lord which is no other but that all providences and passages watch about them and administer comfort unto them I do not as I have conceived that they are created spirituall substances distinct from God and waiting upon God as serving men about their Lord to see what his pleasure is and yet this I know all accidents that are good or evill crosse or pleasing are of God and are his Angels and do his will These are the Angels on which God rides in triumph by which he plagues the World and doth great things in Heaven and Earth and therefore I looke upon every glorious manifestation of the power and wisdom of God to be an Angell when I read of Gods coming with thousands of his Angels It refreshes my spirit to think that there will be times of more pure and spirituall glory manifested Now there is here and there an Angel or spiritual discovery of God then will the world be full of his glory and all flesh shall see the salvation of God I cannot conceive they have any fleshly forme or shape though it is said Lot received two Angels which is spiritually true for there was something more then ordinary of Gods mind discovered to him And when I read of the Angel of the Lord smiting the Campe of the Assyrians that there fell so many thousands in one night I do not believe there was any visible appearance but that there was an extraordinary appearance of Gods power which is called an Angell And so whereever we read of Angels appearing to this or that Servant of God I cannot look upon them otherwise then some more glorious appearance or manifestation of God and his will and pleasure concerning things or persons And whereas the Scripture speaks of good and bad Angels I see onely this in them that the one is pure discovery of God the other the more impure dark for where as man had a glorious enjoyment of God and lived in Gods light when he left that went to live in a self-being out of God There were Angels Hell and his discoveries of God became dark and confused and so brought him into bondage so that the dark and carnall knowing of God is the evill Angel and the glorious and pure manifestation of God is the good Angel So likewise the providences that fall out in the world that tend to the comfort or well-being of Creatures they are the good Angels the crosse providences occurrences that do afflict and grieve a people or person they are the evill Angells or Angels of wrath and displeasure not that they are so indeed but because the Creature doth misapprehend the mind of God in them for all things whether Angels good or evill principalities powers life or death things present or to come are for good to them that are called of God When I read of Michael and his Angels and the Dragon and his Angels fighting against one another I see nothing there but the fleshly and dark apprehensions of God against the pure and spirituall and as Michael overcame the Dragon so the more pure and spiritual dispensations of God shall over-power the dark and carnall and so those Angels of darkness shall
proper and peculiar to God for I really see that after God is manifest in flesh and seen of Angels preached in the world and believed in that then he shall after all this be received up into glory and that flesh and bloud cannot inherit the Kingdome of God and that nothing lives to all eternity but pure Divine glory I cannot conceive any other resurrection then of carnall to be made spirituall and that is no other then the spirituall appearance of God so that when I would find out what the resurrection is I reflect upon my own spirit and trace the goings of God there and there I can find God rising from one degree of glory to another and changing me into his image by his spirit and so I see how he hath led me from one dispensation to another and from one ordinance to another till at last he appears so spiritually that he over-over-powers all flesh and formes which I admired in my carnall condition and appears to be that temple glory and light himselfe which I had thought to have had in a sensible and carnall enjoyment hereafter so that I am led to believe that there is no such outward felicity to be enjoyed in this resurrection but that it is God arising in the spirit and shining brighter and brighter till the perfect day making all the creature-apprehensions and knowledge of God to cease and this resurrection I clearly finde in my owne spirit that the most glorious and inlarged parts and abilities in prayer speaking or otherwise in which I have delighted and no question but I did enjoy God in them though in a darke and low estate these I say the glory and beauty of them are all withered and vanished before the bright and glorious appearances of God in the spirit for the Son in me having delivered up his Kingdome and those fleshly and formall manifestations and outward bodily worships ceasing God is all in all so that I can neither in Jerusalem or in the Mount or in any outward form or duty worship God knowing that he is only to be worshipped in spirit truth and that though God was with me in my former carnall and dark condition and did lead me in it gently yet all was but to raise up himselfe and to be that spiritually in me in another way then that which I expected and so of naturall he hath made me spirituall which is the spirituall resurrection that we are speaking of And further I really see that the flesh of man and of all other creatures differ not any thing in the nature of them indeed in respect of the kind and manner some flesh is of men some of Beasts and some of fishes but as flesh none of them are capable of any more glory then one another all being of the same mould and comming to the same end and though the spirit in them or whatsoever is God in them return to their originall which is God and so lives in him again yet the fleshly part returns to dust from whence it came and as the man dies so dies the beast as dies the wise man so dies the foole one end is to them all as Solomon speaks and whereas men imagine that there is a fleshly resurrection and that the same body flesh and bones shall rise and remain a corporall and visible substance how this should be I am sure they do not know themselves for however men speak that the corporall body shall be made a spirituall to me it is ridiculous because the Scripture saith That which is borne of flesh is flesh and can remaine in no other capacity And besides I hope no man will deny that a spirituall thing can be seen of a fleshly or that an externall organ of the body can see an internall and invisible thing the Apostle makes it plaine that the things which are seen are temporall and the things that are not seen are eternall Now how it can stand or consist with reason or Scripture Logick or Rhetorick that men should hold and maintaine that men should visibly see one another in heaven as they call it and know one another and see their visible shape as they lived in on the earth yet they maintaine on the other side this is a spirituall body I cannot see if this be divinity then I am not in the humanity but indeed I am willing to give way to their weaknesse because I have been as childish my selfe only I cannot but take notice of the Babell and confusion that men are in and yet thinke themselves the only Embassadours of peace and as if all knowledge and spirituall learning were confined to them but laying my hand gently on their sore I let them passe and go on to that in hand And whereas the Scripture speaks of a spirituall body I conceived that there is a spirituall body and that this body must be raised which spirituall body I apprehend to be nothing but the divine Being or God in spirit termed a Body for these two reasons as I conceive First because God is the body and substance of all things and so it is said that this God dwelt bodily or substantially in the man Christ he being that person in whose flesh God did more gloriously appear then in any other so he was the most expresse Image oâ— his Fathers person and in this respect God may be termed a spirituall Body though for my part I dare not imagine him to have either person or body Secondly God may be stiled a spirituall body because this body or divine Being is and hath its Being in many Members And so God is stiled the head of the body and Christ is the head of the Church which is his body wherein Ireally apprehend that all the apperances of God in the Saints as they are called all the manifestation of God in flesh or in any fleshly or outward dispensation or form they are but the Carkes and shadow of God who is the body or substance of them all and all these dying and vanishing as they shall God shall onely live and raise himself a spiritual body and therein live to all eternity so that it is spiritually true that the body which is fleshly shall perish and the spirituall body shall be raised as we shall have occasion in the sequel of the discourse to make out but because men are still poring upon a Scripture without them to prove a carnall Resurrection and will believe nothing but what they think the Scripture speaks in the letter though indeed they erre not knowing it or the power of God I shall a little condescend to their weakness in this kind though for my part if there were not a letter in all the Bible to strengthen me in my opinion of the Resurrection I should not much care nor need I the testimony of it as to my self for I have a surer word within to which I take heed yet I say for other mens sakes I shall