feel that power arising which will make thee able to answer a good conscience and give lasting peace and so by his resurrection shall be saved from condemnation from which thy own works will not save thee and this work will go on with joy if thy heart be honest for seeing him that is holy set before thee condemning sin and his holiness and beauty in all his motions doth so delight the honest heart to see such a glory and beauty near thee that it makes the way easie after him for the joy that is set before thee for in all thy tribulations trials and temptations this Faith will present him before thee and this made the Saints of old indure the Cross and despise the shame and bear the reproach after him joy fully following the Lamb in all his leadings So thou that lovest holiness it is near thee power over sin and Satan is near thee Salvation is at hand go not forth to seek that abroad which thou hast lost in thy own House he is thy salvation that condemn sin in thy bosom he that reproves the wicked is with thee he that is pure is thy peace he that never consented to sin but stands a witness against it if thou have such a spirit in thee thou hast the Spirit of Christ the Saviour So take heed unto him to believe him and to mind his leading and to follow him if thou part not from him he will be thy everlasting peace and over-ruling power to subdue thy sins and by him shalt thou tread down strength with ease and delight and shalt be able to say with such as was come to the same spirit Greater is he that is in thee then he that is in the World and only that Faith that sees him hath power to overcome the World for he that beholds his glory treads the Worlds glory under his feet for whatsoever is seen in him doth so far exceed all other things that it takes the mind out of all other delight and leaves them empty so that things in Heaven and things in Earth Principalities nor Powers are able to separate from the love of him how much more wilt thou leave thy delight in sin when thou comest to delight in him his love will constrain thee who loves purity and hath found it for this is joy indeed and love unspeakable when the soul finds that treasure in his own House freely given which he hath long been seeking abroad and could never purchase neither with life nor estate And the more thou beholdest him the more will his Glory and Love appear for as thou in the Light beholdest the pure motions of the Holy One thou wilt come to see what thou art without him and what thy wants is without which thou canst not be happy and that thou canst not have a lasting peace till with his vertue thou be filled and with his glory covered and with his power armed against every temptation all which he will make thee heir of with him as thou mindest to be faithfull and hearkens to his movings to obey them in all things who thereby will lead thee his Way by which he obtained all this Glory and Power and this Inheritance from the Father in which way thou wilt find a cross to all thy own wayes and to the worlds spirit in all things which will be easie if thou keep thy eye single to him who is set before thee therein his glory and the gaining thereof but if thou look back into the World thou lookest into temptation without him and there the spirit of the World presents thee with loss and not with gain setting before thee what thou must forgo with all the hardships and impossibilities that may be but no power to bear it but keeping the eye to him thou hast alwayes power and peace before thee in thy Way the Hope thereof will be as an Anchor and the Faith a Shield and the Love will give thee Life to undergo all the trials for his sake bearing his Cross daily which must part thee and thy sins and crucifie the worldly spirit with the lust thereof and kill all that wars against thy Soul and keeps thee from thy inheritance wherefore it is called The great Power of God unto Salvation And as thou becomes faithfull thereto thou wilt feel the fruit of that holy One springing in thee moving to be brought forth in thee towards God and man thy Faith will grow and prayers with strong cries to the Father as the Spirit sees thy wants thy love will spring and move in thee and bring forth towards God and man upon all occasions which if thou willingly serve in its smallest motion it will increase but if thou quench it in its movings and refuse to bring it forth iâ— will wither and dry in the not being exercised And it is the like of gentleness meekness patience and all other vertues which are of a springing and spreading nature where they are not quenched but suffered to come forth to his praise in his will and time who is the Begetter thereof and to the comfort of his own Seed and cross to the World And if thou be faithfull daily to offer up the body as a Sacrifice to bring forth his Image Name and Power before his Enemies then what he moves thee to bring forth shall be thy inheritance and will daily encrease with using but if thou wilt not give up for his Name same but would hold the treasure and escape the reproach then will it be taken from thee and given to him who will yield the Lord of the Vineyard his Fruit in due season for that which the Father freely begets he will have freely brought forth that the shining thereof in the dark World may praise him what a glory it is to see peace shine in the midst of war love in the midst of hatred meekness in the midst of strife righteous judgement in the midst of wickedness innocency in the midst of violence and oppression as a Lilly amongst thorns so is that of God amongst the men of the world and therein doth his nature and beauty appear in his Temple to which all must confess and praise him therein This is the glorious day which many have talked on and those onely are the children of it in whom the brightness shines forth that which God begets in thee is his Son confess him in the midst of his Enemies and thereby is the Father glorified and his Son crowned but if thou deniest him the body to testifie against the World he will deny thee his Life to Redeem thee from the evil of it the breaking forth of the Son is the beginning of the good day when that which so long hath condemned thee for sin comes to shine forth freely in acts of righteousness then shall thy darkness be turned into light thy condemnation into Peace thy sorrow for sin to rejoyce in holiness and this will be a good day to thee even the day
workings motions and ends their ground and off-spring whence they coâ—e and whither they return that thereby the Creature may know who it is that exercises his mind and members and to what spirit he yeilds himself in his obedience and service and so may come to know the use and end of all his works what to chuse and what to refuse what to justifie and what to condemn in its first motion before it be brought forth or formed in the womb that judgment may be kept on the head of transgression and liberty proclaimed to the just And for want of faith and feeling of this Way of Christ it is that so many perish in sin and yet seem to strive against sin even because they cannot believe that to be sufficient to save from sin which manifests sin in the ground and condemns it in its first motion which if they did but in faith joyn with him to condemn sin in the ground temptation and motion it would die and wither and not be able long to live or prevail and if it for a time should prevail in the members yet not to comdemnation for I have found a great difference between sin condemned in the Creature though not yet wholly dead and sin lived in and pleaded for for if thy life and judgment be in that alone which condemns sin then art thou dead to sin and alive to Christ and it is no more thou that sins but sin that yet remains in thee to which thou art dead to which thou dost not consent like nor approve of nor any way add any strength thereto but thy faith and love delight and strength is in him which condemns it he that truly is in this faith and love by the working thereof shall all his Enemies perish and by that Faith and Love shall the just live in that Creature and he in him condemning and killing sin till it all be done away and the Creature of God found alive in him alone who without spot will present him to the Father for this I have found that that which manifests sin in its first motion judges it there and condemns it there hath the only power to kill sin ere it be committed and so hath only power to save from condemnation for this you shall find that as Christ doth not live to Justification where he is not believed and justified loved followed and confessed so sin doth not live to condemnation where it is hated condemned and denyed for where that spirit of wickedness is seen in the light and separated from and judged apart from the creature the creature joyning in judgment with the just there sin will wither and Satan flee for there he hath no kingdom nor a hiding Habitation for the light being minded and judgment having free passage and consent it searcheth out his hidden things and judgment passeth upon all his deceit root and ground with his fruits so is the strong man spoiled and his stuff by faith in Christ and not by strength of the creature by believing the just and denying the unjust For according to every mans faith so shall he receive from God now he that believes salvation and that cleaves to and lives in some sin and pleads for it and believes he must do so his faith stands in an unclean thing and an unclean thing will live by that faith and be justified by that creature and in his justifying any thing that is unclean therein is the just condemned and the just being condemned which should give dominion over the unlean the wild Plant hath itâ— liberty to grow until it overspread the Plant of God and cover the man wholly stop the ear and blind the eye and hardens the heart against every motion to good or check for evil and let not this man look for good fruit but after his faith who so believes Also on the contrary He that feels a strife in himself between the clean and the unclean and seas the one reprove for sin and the other plead for sin and believes in that which is pure clean and just which condemns the unjust and unclean that faith stands in that which is pure and the mystery of it is held in a pure conscience and that pure faith being followed will purifie the heart and cleanse the hands from unjust actions and by that faith the just lives and grows and springs and brings forth and the pure Plant spreads and covers the Earth with the Knowledge of God his holiness and purity and all grace in the heart which becomes as a working leaven till it hath a wrought out the unclean nature and conformed the whole man to himself and this is a work of the holy Faith which none can receive but who believes in holiness for none can bring clean fruit out of an unclean Faith And this further for the incouragement of such as honestly indeed would be rid of their sin and set free to serve God in holiness without deceit thou feeling in thee the moving of that which is holy bearing witness against that which is contrary to holiness and condemning it and thee for joyning with it in all thy conversation I say in that believe for that is all thou knows of Christ in thee and believing and following it thou wilt feel it making a separation in thy inward man betwixt that which Christ comes to save and that which he comes to destroy for this is he that comes from above to set before thee Life and Death divided that thou joyning to the Life and believing may be saved from Death and as thou art faithfull to this Spirit which condemns sin in the flesh so thou wilt feel warring against and working out sin daily to which if thou clearly joyn denying that which it condemns then art thou one spirit with him in his work and art no longer in the flesh nor to be condemned with that sin remaining in the flesh but art one in him that condemns sin and self in sinning till sin become exceeding sinfull in thy eyes as it is in the eyes of God and as thou growst in love and liking with that pure Spirit its Law and Leadings so thou wilt become dead to the Law of Sin and it will lose its power in thee not being minded loved and served thy mind love and fear being exercised in that which condemns it and here that Faith that works by love takes the victory and not thy striving in thy own strength only from a sight of sin by the Law for by the works of the Law thou canst not be justified but by the working of Faith in Christ Jesus that Spirit and as thou feelest his working in thee and thou one with him therein in his work thou art justified and by beholding of him in this Faith thou wilt be changed into his likeness and power by his mighty working in thee even by that Spirit to which thou art turned and as he grows in thee and thou in him thou wilt
of the Lords Righteousness and Redeemption to thy Soul and a witness to all men of the appearance of the just one which testimony whosoever refuseth to bear all his Religion will prove in vain and consists in words without power There is a way in which the barren becomes fruitful and a little is more serviceable to God then he that hath great Riches for himself you that sees your wants are nigh it and the lowly mind will soonest follow it and for the honest hearted it is prepared who seeks to serve God and not your selves If you takes heed to your own wayes and make nothing in your minds you must not create that which must stand before God for he will be served with his own begettings in you Take heed therefore you make nothing to your selves nor murther that which he freely begets but let your minds be always heavenly waiting with patience in that which lets you see your wants therewith that your hearts may be open alwayes upward towards God the Father of every good gift and you being hid in the heavenly mind from that nature which compasseth the Earth in its comprebensions and would compass Heaven also and waiting in a cross to that mind as you come into the patient stilness you will feel the begettings of the Father moving in you to be brought forth to which you must become Servants setting aside all subtilty and that which is hasty and whatever is your own or hath an end to your selves and in the pure mind behold what way this moves its appearance against the worldly spirit that with your whole hearts and might you may bring it forth in its own image without reasoning or consulting with any thing of your own or any thing of this world for this ariseth in a contrary nature to that which is one with the world bears another image and fruit and hath another glory in its appearance in which the Father alone is glorified even in this his Son of his own free begetting and herein is the Father glorified that he be brougt forth with his fruits into the world who thereby is known how far he is above and contrary to the wordly spirit both in the ground root and off-spring And whosoever will give up themselves to serve him herein by his increase shall become rich towards God and increase in strength daily against the World and by bringing forth and by his beauty in holiness shall become glorious and beloved in the sight of the Father whose image and begetting they bear wherein they shall become Heirs of the eternal glory But if you look into the earthly mind there the worldly spirit meets you with his counsel and consulting and reasoning therewith you take counsel in the night from which the Counsel of God is hid his work the end and glory thereof and instead of that you will be presented with the pleasure and glory of this world which stands in visible things and is pleasing to the visible eye and senses which glory the god of this world sees into and leads into in which his wisdom and knowledge stands which cannot enter into the invisible glory and treasure And in this spirit that knows not God nor his works nor seeks his own glory will you meet with the thief and murtherer sons of dankness who will perswads you strongly to murther the pure motion and not to bring it forth or else so to bring it forth as that the image thereof may be so marr'd as not to bear its clear and perfect testimony against the worlds kingdom power and glory and this you cannot avoid if you look back into his counsel and consult with your own reasonings wherein arises thoughts cares and pleasures out of the World which sumbers the mind choaks the seed and kills the holy child and covers the Pearl with earthly affections and lusts which continually hardens the heart and strengthens the will against the Innocent and so puts the just to death in the womb for want of bringing forth in its time and according to its motion which when you have rejected you cannot beget again of your selves nor in your own wils though you may procure the likeness from another spirit in that nature which resists the truth and corrups the mind and brings forth in its own will as some have done who having disobeyed the still motion of the meek spirit and looking for high things God hath given them up to a lofty spirit and strong workings in a contrary nature who now have a power wherewith to resist that which first begot them out of the World and a moving spirit which draws towards the World again which being got into the place of God as God makes them believe that their return is of the same spirit that called them out to which they yielding the same obedience thenceforth without fear becomes the same they were if not seven fold worse without all hope of recovery and this disobedience becomes as witchcrafts Wherefore in the fear of God watch with all diligence hearken in the simplicity of your hearts and take heed that you slip not any time of hearings nor prove false in your conception or bringing forth but that both calling and election may be made sure to you not only by being in the knowledge of it but also by bringing it forth that it may be your own for ever for that which you bring forth is your inheritance and none can take it from you but you have power therein against all contrary spirits which whilest it is but in the motion will strongly tempt and seek the life thereof to stifle but being brought forth it is before you and only so it is put on as a Brest-plate and becomes a defence which being begot and not brought forth it withers and becomes as dry bones in the womb Therefore as you must give your minds wholly to hearken so must you give your strength wholly to obey and when you feel the pure to move in you with your whole strength serve it and bring it forth give up your bodies a Sacrifice for his sake whom you have not seen that his Life may be made manifest in your mortal flesh and through you to the World that he may be seen in his brigheness to you that love him and before his Enemies then is the body for the Lord and not for Fornication But if you rest in the knowledge of this mystery and bring not forth to Life with that knowledge you commit Fornication and teach others to commit Fornication also this knowledge in the disobedient mind becomes the mother of Harlots and Fornications of the Earth with which the Kings of the Earth are deceived but none ever joyned to God For it is not the hearing of the Truth that purifies the Soul but the obedience of Truth which makes the vessel fit for the Masters use who in his using and its obedience makes it a vessel of honour and glorifies his Son therein in a body prepared to do the Fathers Will in the World whereby the Father is glorified in the Son in whom he shines forth in the clear Image as the Father begets him again in you and you in him which was in him before the World was of his own nature and good will which as you receive again by Faith and Obedience you will be changed into the same Image and Nature and to delight only therein being born of the same Spirit as he that is born of the Flesh-delights in the things of the Flesh THE END