more Aâ—ust I alwayes be tormented among shadows longing and wandring after the substance and never meet with it All this while it is pretty well in comparison of what it is when fury 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my spirit boils within me and rages 〈◊〉 is that maketh my spirit so violent and 〈◊〉 ous I can in no wise imagine nor vent 〈◊〉 cannot it is too big to come forth therâ— no object without capacious enough to râ—ceive it but within it lyes and feeds and 〈◊〉 presses so vehemently that my spirit is 〈◊〉 forced to cry out day and night there is 〈◊〉 subsisting no there is no subsisting undâ—â— it June 10. NOw to return if it may be to the thoughts and workings of my minde concerning your letter To what end should he write to me in this manner unless he could withall have sent me light to read by I understand not one line not one tittle of all his letter This day whilest my father and I was together this letter became yours What 〈◊〉 the meaning of this which way shall I go 〈◊〉 bout to finde out the meaning of this 〈◊〉 he present how many questions might I 〈◊〉 him before I could receive in any imagination 〈◊〉 concerning the sense of these words 〈◊〉 I must ask him who is his father what 〈◊〉 father I cannot so much as fancy what 〈◊〉 should be A father is he that begets his 〈◊〉 is he that begat him But who is that 〈◊〉 begat him what is he I am at a losse at 〈◊〉 dash But what meanes this Whilest my 〈◊〉 and I was together what is it to bee 〈◊〉 the father to have the father with one here is a puzling phrase indeed here my fancy is quite puzled I know not how to frame any imagination about this what it is to be with the father And whilest I was with the father what is the meaning of this whilest is hee sometimes with the father and sometimes not with the father Whilest I know not what to make of this whilest Whilest I was with the father this letter became yours how mine I know not how it is mine how became it mine Did his father while he was with him bid him write this to me Here may be more in this then I am aware of I remember my mind did much muse on this and my desire was great to have satisfied my spirit concerning the sence of it but it was and still is too hard for mee Then I thought on the next passage That there is but one to remain on the earth that is the Lord. But one What is one For my paâ—â— I know neither unity nor distinction and thaâ— is the Lord. The Lord Oh what is the Lord â— who is the Lord I am forced to speake likâ— Pharaoh I know not the Lord. I cannot say know any thing nay certainly if any thing bâ— certaine to mee I doe not know any thing But of all things I have no knowledge at all oâ— the Lord that is the thing indeed that is hiâ— from mee with perfect darknesse The vaile â— so thicke and my eye so weake if I have anâ— eye that I have no manner of discerning â—â— him But one to remaine on the earth Whâ—â— is this remaining when all things passe awaâ— shall the earth it selfe abide any otherwiâ—â— then other things abide also how shall thâ—â— Lord remaine on the earth Then I thought on that passage Be not troâ—bled What voyce is this whence came this Did his father bid him wâ—ite thus to mee Who is it troubles me To this let me sâ— two things I cannot resist alas what a vaiâ— thing is it for a poore weake creature to thiâ— to withstand such mighty powerfull troublâ— as comes rushing in upon mee I have â— strength to resist any thing there is nothiâ—â— so weake as I the strongest Engine is weaâ— in my hand but trouble hath growne strength as fast as I have decayed How should I now resist it how should I now avoid beâ—ng troubled Besides when at at any time â— thinke to keepe trouble of it presently over-beares me I never finde any mitigation of â—rouble so farre as I have observed but when â— lye downe at its feet opening my bosome â—nd letting it enter as deepe as it will What means this phrase whence came this speech Be not troubled Then that passage came into my minde If â—ou will but stand still you shall see the salvaâ—ion of the Lord breaking forth upon the whole earth I did not finde my spirit so enquiring into the particular sence of this Phrase â—s working thus How spake hee this Upon â— generall notion that the Lord will appeare â—re long and so I among others shall see him â—ea perhaps he may meane though the body be laid in the dust first yet I shall see him or by a particular present light from the father concerning me whom he said was now with him and that while he was with him this Letâ—er became mine Afterwards I remembred another passage Shall I come to you or will you come to mee What was his intent in this that the body â—hould move to him to Westminster or send to him to move to the place where my body then was Alas that were a poore comming on either hand or to what end were any such comming and for any other comming either of mee to any or of any to mee I am not acquainted with it At last I remembred that When he appeared unto mee my flesh died and was crucified Oh then I felt my spirit burne within mee to know this appearing of him and the rather that it might kill me that I might once enteâ— into this crucified state oh this is a sweet way of dying to dye by the appearing of the Lord this is the very way I have desired to dye alâ— this while My torments have been partly welcome through hope of death from them and I reasoned within my selfe though thâ— Lord might slay me by his appearing yet if â—â— were his pleasure to kill me by his absence anâ— severall kindes of tormenting fires which hâ— should pick out to that purpose yet at lengâ—â— death would bee sweet and an entrance intâ— my desired life But this was it still perplexâ—â— me I could not dye the flames wereliving fed mee with life as well as with tormenâ— Then my Spirit would Sigh Surely this wiâ— never do it after this rate may I be tormentâ— for ever and yet still live unto that to whiâ—â— I have still desired to dye But to be killed by the appearing of the Lord oh how sweet would this way be and this would be a certaine way too mee thinkes I could easily bee perswaded to beleeve that the creature cannot live any longer when God once appeares To these let me add one more which came into my minde this morning Come let us be gone why stay we here our bed is greene Oh how faine would I be gone How doe I loath staying here
and that not onely repeating the letter but in truth that those things which I have received have not beene from man nor woman nor any other thing but by the meere revelation of Jesus Christ in mee God manifesting himselfe in my owne flesh and therefore they much wrong both her and me that affirme it but especially they wrong or speake a lye of that God that did it for me and because I heare it so reported amongst you I thought good to write one word to cleare it that so whether you will heare or whether you will forbeare the word of truth might judge you give not eare therefore to all you heare though from brethren least you be brought into a snare for since the defection of the Churches men yea good men have been such lovers of themselves and their own opinions that they will speake largely upon little ground to keepe up their owne glory God having not yet undone them for were they once undone men they would willingly be what God would have them however the world accounts of them There is another thing which came to my care that it should be given into the Counsell by your two witnesses that the said Mrs P. should say that you cast her out for difference in judgement and when Collonell Rich and Collonell Harison asked to whom shee spake it they said to some of Abington Now indeed my husband said to you that he thought such a thing but when hee came home and saw so little ground for his thoughts I thinke he had but little comfort in telling you so and then brethren if you upon such slender grounds should act in this strange manner against her affirming this thing so publikely I thinke you have cause to bee humbled for it and justly to repent of your evill I desire you to beare a little with mee for truly it appeares to mee rather to bee your rage of spirit then your true love either to her or truth for mee thinkes it would savour more of a true Christian spirit if you had first spoken with her and have seene what change the Lord hath wrought in her as knowing that Mary out of whom seuen Divels had beene formerly cast was made the first messenger of Christs Resurrection yea and she must bring it to the Apostles and not the Apostles to her You say in your letter that you left her to the judgement of the great day and I beseech you brethren doe you not againe take her into your owne daie for truly I beleeve that daie in a measure hath come upon her and the Lord himselfe is at worke with her therefore doe not feare but the worke will be well done onely we as well as shee must have patience in it and surely this is the confidence that I have concerning her that she hath seen evill in that estate she walked in with you and certainly God is good to her in this shewing her what an abominable spirit of wickednesse may bee hid under the greatest practises and professions of externals not that these are the cause of it no the gold and the silver is mine saith the Lord but wee bestowing it upon our lovers and making our selves great with his ornaments he is fain in love to us to take us from them or they from us and so finde out a more sprirituall administration to perfect us in Oh the infinite riches of our God! where doth his bounty â—nd sure his waies of love are unsearchable eâ—d his paths of mercy in which he followes anore fallen man and poor backsliding soules are past finding out how narrow are our capacities we judge as men We may think as some did of David that there is no help for such things in God but all things in truth will be found possible with him even where they are altogether past our thoughts and conceptions and become to us impossible I beseech you therefore be perswaded to bow down to him I know you are conscious that all judgement is not committed unto you and therefore it is possible you may not judge right in this thing for truly brethren we may conceive many things even by the letter it self yet not living in that spirit that writ the letter we may erre I pray do not mistake me as if I would any way speak slightly of the letter farther than it speaks of it self no I blesse the Father for it and by sweet experience can say that I was never so confirmed in it now the Lord hath drawn me to him out of it even in that spirit that wrote it I am for the conscionable use of it but I would not abuse it I am sure those men that would set it above the spirit can hardly free themselves from that thing I hope therefore you will not count it your excellency to walk in the letter but rather desire the Lord to perfect you in that spirit that writes the letter for then and never till then shall we be able to walk by it aright and speak of the letter truly I have not yet acquainted my husband with your letter I shall wait upon God what answer to receive from you for truly dear brethren upon serious deliberation I know not how to approve my self faithfull in the eyes of God to my brethren here if I should deliver it for God having put it into my hand I must also see clearnes from him before I part with it for though blessed be the father we have a sweet hopefull people amongst us that wait upon God and have fellowship one with another yet whether they may digest such things as you write of I really question therefore it would be unfaithfulnes in me if I apprehending an evill to them or any other should not as much as in me lies prevent it and this I shall doe by detaining the Letter till further manifestation from God what to do with it Doe not judge me in this thing I beseech you I have one Judge even the Lord and he that put it into my hand will aâ— length clear my integrity in it I have nothing to doe for my self in it the Lord knows only to find out if it may be how I may approve my self â—aithfull to men in the Lord and for the Lords â—ake Your desire I exceedingly like that we may be kept from errours and the Lord keep us all from errours but who must shew us what errour is but the God of truth himself we have lived in errour and have suckt them in from our cradles and yet who will speak so much against error as we stating our selves still in the truth My sweet friends the day of truth is but now dawning upon us and how is it opposed even by those that are children of truth in their measure yet wee have all looked for it and prayed together for it a long time but truly now we will not own our prayers but turn away our face from our Saviour because he comes
therewith Mrs. M. kind token which before my opening I had thought had beene some Book Her remembrance of me doth much refresh me and she is made therein an instrument of making me partaker of much of the love and goodnesse of God I had beene in some sad but yet withall sweet thoughts but just before they came o me when they came I said these are to wipe away teares from mine eyes and that love that sent them assuredly will Sir I pray you remember me to her and thanke her and if I may come with good company to her I shall be glad to give her a visit when I come to London that is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ for there is our fellowship without whom 't is a dry feast and a fruitlesse visit neverthelesse I shall I trust be willing to be seen of her barren or as I am bee it however for wee neither stand nor fall to our present abillities or actings Sir For your desire of something to bee written touching the first and second appearance of Christ I wish I were but fresh to give you my thoughts I had thereof this morning but after twice preaching this day and now after supper I am more disposed to sleep then write Your inquiry is after two things the difference between them and the trasition or passing over of Christians from the one to the other For the first It shall only acquaint you with some places of scripture which to me doe seeme to hold forth the difference between these two and they are 1 Pet. 1. 5 11 13. Rom. 6. 5. Heb. 9. 28. by which scriptures it may appeare that the first appearance of Christ is unto Faith The second is unto Salvation In the first he is made our sinne his second is without sin our fellowship with him in the first is called Planting in the likenesse of his death our fellowship with him in the latter is called Planting in the likenesse of his resurrection The first is called sufferings the sufferings of Christ ver 11. of that place in Peter as if it conteined and were made up of nothing else The other is called the glory that should follow And in that chapter it may appeare at least it doth so to me at present that the Christians then were cheifly acquainted with the promise and expectation of it to come when Peter wrote this and indeed the glory of the first appearance of Christ was yet very bright for it was to have its time and season as it hath through all ages since and in this present age even with those on whom his second appearance is dawned But if you say All these are but externall carracters and distinctions of those two appearrnces but what is the formall and intrinsecall difference between them I shall give you my apprehension thereof in brief thus The first appearance of Christ is his appearance in flesh without us bearing our sinne and fulfilling all legall righteousnesse and thereby becomming the object and meanes of faith to us whereby to draw neere to God unto reconciliation And faith acting upon this discovery of God in Christ apprehending his love through that ministration was I conceive that that brought in the supplies of all our hope and comfort from time to time and nourished all grace and holinesse in our hearts till the arising of this day Starre in us becomming our spirituall righteousnesse and sufficiencie for all things the end of our faith and our salvation it selfe in the spirit That which makes this the lesse knowne and the more hard to be knowne is because there are degrees in it and that which is affirmed of one degree of it suppose a higher degree is not found in a lower degree and so we know it not when it is in us and among us because we find it not in such an eminent degree As for example we see not yet all enemies put under us and that glorious redemption of the body we yet understand not c. for all these things are but parts and appendices to the second appearance of Christ but all these waite onely for the acknowledgement of this day this second appearance Christ in us the day Starre risen in our hearts for as the power and priviledge of becomming sonnes followed upon the receiving and acknowledging of his first appearance so shall all the priviledges annexed to his second appearance bee made good to us upon the acknowledgement thereof when it shall bee proclaimed within us and when it shall discover it selfe upon us and as Christ sayes to the woman of Samaria If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith unto thee give me water to drink thou wouldest have asked of him and he would have given thee living water So when wee shall bee acquainted what a mighty one dwels in us we shall finde our selves to be at the end of our faith and in the possession of all salvation For He is the resurrection and the life Hee is redemption and the Kingdome of God lyes not in nor is brought on by any outward circumstances The kingdom of God is within you It comes not with observation so that from the premises I am bold to pronounce that Christ being revealed in spirit in many The second appearance of Christ is dawned upon the world and 't is amongst us though we know it not or scarcely know it The redemption of the body is amongst us and all things beginne to bee new and to have a new face and appearance to us so far forth as we are changed and spirituallized Nor need this be strange That the second appearance should lurke and bee a stranger in the world a while any more then his first appearance which was concealed for thirty yeares and scarce taken notice off save by Herod when he murdered the Infants Only you may say that this is more in glory but consider the glory is inward and so is the appearance and therefore the lesse subject to the notice of others and yet it is proclaimed through the world under the voyce of Heresie Blasphemy Antichrist the great Antichrist c. Doth not the spirit say The day of the Lord shall so come as a Theifi in the night and is it not so come on most Professors insomuch that they on whom it is come scarce know it or receive it And shall that which is prophesied of as a signe of it become a siumbling block in its way Behol a I come as a Theife sayes Christ Christ is come as a theife and we say 't is not He He would be known of his comming if it were Yee fooles and blind yee know not the Scriptures c. This comming of his the primitive times had it and especially some among them as Paul who was called extraordinarily by Christ revealed in him and John that was ravisht in spirit and saw the Lords day as Abraham Isaack and Jacob had the promised land they were
saith It s sown a naturall but raised a spirituall body and men not knowing what to make of this spirituall body conceive it to be so many distinct personall appearances as have deceased since the world first began but the Lord in his time will shew them what this spirituall body is and then they will better judge of it but I am sure we without them or they without us are not perfect for though I have seen all these things accomplished upon me in this particular body yet I see that it is but as in a figure which hath reference to the whole therefore am I weak with them that are weak and stong with those that are strong and my glory lyes still in the body Never do I look for perfection more in one particular appearance but to be perfect in the whole I am no more my own but every ones and every one is mine Dear Soul the Lord of all our mercy supply and keep you safe under all those storms which are now breaking in upon us I humbly and heartily thank you for your sweet counsell in looking for tryall it is that which my heavenly father hath warned me to look for I leave you to his bowels and bosome in whom I rest I am Your endeared friend to serve God in you 4. Letter Dear Soule MY heart salutes thee and every budding forth of God in the divine mystery Oh my spirit sits inthron'd and glories in the top of every being and though all the buildings in the world shake I shal not come down to save any of the furniture of this darke Fabrick All images are with me my dearest though set in a frame of weaknesse c. The eye of eternity hath enclos'd them all and though its twinklings fold them up in night and though the back-parts of God obscures this earth and is a veile between it and the high-noone of the God-head yet this is but a shadow wherein Divinity hides it selfe which shall fly away and disappeare with the outward dresse of this Creation When all deformed Shapes Vizards and Pictures shall suffer losse then the present blacknesse which is the habitation of Dogs and Devils shall bee chas'd into outward darknesse but the comlinesse which all this while hath lyen disguised under that beggerly appearance and loathsome outwardnesse shall spring forth in a glorious ray of that bright morning Starre which shall visit us from on high bringing glad tydings upon its Angel-wing of life and immortal lity That the sweet Emmanuel born in the village of our own natures I am commanded to speake thus much unto thee my Dear breathing though my spirit rejoyceth to finde-thee already reeling with new wine bathing in that brimfull unction which yet cannot runne over its boundlesse circle and shall overflow all the world besides They shall all know God and all be cloathed with the divine person of Christ The water of life shall spring up in you all and every Creature heald of its disease when righteousnesse shall spring forth of the earth and the heavens shall hear the voyce of the earth and drop down fatnesse upon them The Tree of Life shall have its root within us sprouting forth through its quiet Sap into its glorious figure and life a Branch a Leafe thereof reducing every parcell of Corruption and cloathing that upon with spirit and immortallity which before was muffled up in sinne and wrath in paine and darknesse My dearest I am taken off in haste and have onely leysure to blesse thee for thy last which administred so much glory to my spirit live still happily my dear selfe in the ripe Navell of Divinity and let me see thee every moment in the divine Principle of glory whither the Lord Jesus is risen before and hath call'd up himselfe out of the flesh of F. M. Salvation-Bulwarks in the eternall Sabbath with out the number of a man 5. Letter Mine in the Lord THE present disposings of God towards me are very sweet and precious my soule being subdued daily to the Lords will in all things I see daily that the Fathers designes is to sweeten all conditions to me by the beames of his owne presence Truly in the Lord their 's nothing comes amisse to me but I am able to welcome every dispose of providence death sorrow and misery in the Lord are so familiar to me that I know not how to bee without them my soule longs after affliction because now the sting of misery is gone and it is my delight to play with it I thinke I should starve with hunger but that my own wants daily supply me sweet soule God is teaching me to see light in darknesse good in evill to eat upon the eater and receive sweetnesse from the strong to behold a happy harmony in all contrarieties I shall shortly bee with you now I am not from you but rest in thy bosome The Lord that spirit in the flesh 6. Letter Sweet and pure Spirit IN divine progresse I continually meet thee with a heart drawn out I alwayes salute thee I can be no where doe nothing but thou art still with mee In thy life I live in thy light I see by thy power I stand I am nothing but in thee and thou the same without mee my fulnesse is thy treasure and thy treasure is my fulnesse all that I have I receive from thee and yet what thou givest me is nothing but my own and so was from eternity I was with thee from the beginning and thy beginning was in my eternity I was with thee when thou didst inhabite darknesse thy darknesse was my secret place my secret place was thy darknes when the curs enmity of the old creation lay upon me thy power upheld me this power was mine own for it was no robbery for me to be equall with thee my form vailed thy glory yet it was my glory and thy form Thus thou for me and I in thee have borne the sinne and curse of of the old world born it I say into a land of forgetfulnesse which have forgotten and forgiven all transgression and thus in a reconciled and sweet union thou remainest my fulnesse and I rest thy happinesse Though in the flesh I subscribe my selfe distant by the name of From the Head-quarters of Divine Majesty this last Lords-day in the year of Jubile 7. Letter Dear Friend SOme glimmerings presented to the children of love clothed with darknesse bewildernessed in their spirits passing through the fiery tryall or crucifyings of flesh or things of the first Creation unto the the Canaan of rest or to a more higher fuller and excellent glory First considering the severall dispensations of the eternall God how hee hath severall wayes and in divers manners made out himselfe to a creature as Genesis Chap. I. and 2. the law or righteousnesse of the first creation in which God had communion with man and man with God yet rather with a Creator then with a Father and
him the life and blood of his Sonne and heire which now he had already in part performed 6. Therefore God who wel knew the mutability and inconstancy of flesh and blood that hee might at last come within his beloved and at one blow strike the match dead or rather put so much life into it as might secure it from all hazard of revocation and repenting He secretly winds and insinuates himselfe into her heart conveies his owne spirit into her inward parts makes her partaker of his own divine nature so that now they are not onely one flesh but one spirit Now there is but one heart and soul betwixt them God hath so gotten into her heart that he can boldly talke to her as to his wife and snee to him as to her husband Now she can say My well beloved is mine and I am his nothing is wanting to compleat this marriage but the spouses making her selfe ready Thus you see Gods graduall proceeding in this undertaking and how neare the businesse is brought to a finall conclusion And because there remaines now but a vaile or two more that keeps up a distance betwixt God and his Spouse which being removed the union would bee entire and absolute therefore he resolves forth with to break through these also and inasmuch as God or God-Man hath already uncloathed himselfe of naturall flesh of which the rending of the vaile of the Temple was a figure by suffering it to be crucified that hee might enter into spirit or return into the highest glory of the Father 7. So the Saints or misticall body in conformity unto Christ the head doe uncloath themselves of the rags of corrupt and sinfull flesh by suffering it to be crucified that the divine nature or image of God may shine forth in the humane till God discover his dwelling in the flesh of the Saints as he dwelt in the flesh of Christ and afterwards this flesh be taken up into spirit 8. In order whereunto God hath so farre advanced that he is pulling downe the partitions that remaine Hee is tearing the vaile not only of the naturall but of the misticall flesh of Christ or that whole administration of Christ consisting in formes and ordinances 9 Yea God is not onely taking downe this tabernacle of the misticall flesh of Christ but he is destroying the misticall or spirituall flesh of the Saints if I may so call it standing in their own righteousnesse that good perswasion they have had of themselves rais'd up and built upon their qualifications religious duties and performances The reading of this vaile will rend the heart and the caule of the liver of many Saints because most of their comfort hath sprung from this roote most of their evidence hath beene layd upon this foundation This must needes startle them to have their heaven their evidence for heaven thus shaken and this by comparing together Heb. 12. 26 27. and 2 Pet. 3 13. I conceive will bee the ultimate and finall accomplishment of that place in Haggai 2. chap. 6. I will shake the heauens and the earth and the sea and the dry land and I will shake all nations and the desire of all nations shall come This great work hath God begunne to take in hand To shake the old heaven and earth and to make new To destroy our own righteousnesse and instead thereof to bring forth Christ in spirit who is the Lord our righteousnesse and how does the devill rage and strive by his stratagems on all hands to make this child an abortive Without doubt God is removing out of fleshly administrations and calling upon his people to come up and serve him in that which is more spirituall God is withdrawing from formes that hee may draw his people after him into spirit and power Nor is this intended to take those off from formes that enjoy Gods presence in them but to give an account of those that walke not informes and to call those higher then formes from whom God is apparently departed in formes for there are divers degrees and measures of christians Some finde God it may be in every ordinance others finde him in none at all some enjoy his presence in one publique ordinance and not in another others God meets in their private duties but not in the publique Let every Saint abide in the station where God sets him till hee say unto him come up hither And why shouldst thou wonder at this Hath it not been the sad complaint of many serious christians for these many yeares that ordinances have been barren to them and themselves barren in the use of them What should the meaning of this bee but that God cals upon such to looke out for higher discoveries of himselfe then attend those old wayes This thing many poore soules have beene ignorant off and therefore have layne downe under the burden of greif and sorrow as if God had utterly forsaken them It is not denyed but that as there may bee the forme of godlinesse without the power so the forme and power may both stand together but there is a time when God will goe forth out of forme into power out of flesh into spirit out of formall and fleshly administrations into that which is more spirituall These formes or this misticall flesh of Christ have beene as Jonahs gourd under which the Saints have long reposed themselves enjoyed much sweet shelter and shadow and therefore cannot beare the parting with them neither in themselves nor others but now if God upon designe to carry up his people to more spirituallity hath prepared a worme at the root of this gourd purposely to kill and dry it up dost thou well to be angry Jonah Yes thou wilt say I doe well to bee angry to the death for some have not onely left off ordinances but preach them downe and speake contemptibly of them Answer Blame not all that have left them off for some may have done it upon a right ground As for those that speake contemptible of them I excuse them uot at all but this I say If there be a worme at their root and they must needes dye then as Calvin once said of the Ceremonies of old so say I of those Let them have an honourable buriall As the weake Saints yet under formes would not be despised by those above them so let them not be harsh accusers of those that see their liberty and stand fast in it This was the Apostles rule to preserve peace and love Rom. 14. betweene dissenting brethren For further satisfaction in this Poynt I referre theee to the 28. Letter Christ was three dayes in the grave and then rose out of it againe Christ hath beene in formes to some he is still to others he is risen out of formes Tell me wouldst thou have these seeke Christ in the Sepulchre in formes when they see he is risen and perhaps have been told by an Angel he is not here he is risen Be not weaker then the
weak disciples who hearing their Lord was risen departed from the sepulchre after which it was not long that they heard hee was risen by some that had seen him nor long after that againe that he appeared unto them and raised up their faith which was sinking and ready to dye What dost thou meane poore Saint that with Mary lyest puling and weeping at the sepulchre when as thy Savionr is risen Why dost thou seeke the living among the dead Thou seest how many dispensations God hath passed through besides other intervening lesse remarkable appearances which have been omitted God was in the flesh of Ghrist but that having done its office he layed it aside God is entred upon a dispensation of spirit and cals upon his psouse to follow him but she is so fallen in love with this sute of old cloathes this garment of flesh that she is loath to lay it aside as if she meant to be married in it But tell me wouldst thou tye God alwayes to one dispensation or if thou caust not but that hee will advance higher till hee come to the highest wilt thou tarry behinde him and dwell alwayes in the same place Dost thou not know that the consummation of Gods marriage with thee is the compleating of thine owne happinesse And dost thou not see that God is gone before thee Dost thou not hear him calling thee come up hither If God be gone before why dost linger and laggar behinde Dost thou stand still and please thy selfe with beholding thy present attainments or dost thou look back and admire thy former good worke Remember what Paul saith was his practise forgetting those things that are behinde and reacoing forth to those things that are before I press towards the mark c. Call to mind also Peters admonition Looking for and hastening unto the comming of the day of God c. God forbid that thou shouldest limit the holy one of Israel that thou shouldest tye and binde down God to any form or administration longer then will serve his own designe And God forbid that thou shouldest stop and stay in a dispensation after thou findest he is departed from it God took up dispensations onely to serve a turn to bring about his designe of making his creature happy by its union with himself The finishing laying down of dispensations is the perfecting and finishing of the creatures happinesse and the introducing of that glorious day before hinted which will be by the arising of the Sunne of Righteousnesse not in one Horizon of the world onely but throughout the whol earth and heaven which day of the Lord as it should be to us the most desirable thing in the worle so it should seem to be at hand and to stand knocking at our doores by some glimpses of glory that appear already and particularly by those rayes and beams of light that stream forth in these ensuing letters In some of these Letters thou shalt hear the stammerings and lispings of children rather then a pure language or perfect speaking but let not that offend thee If thou art a Father of children a thousand to one thou art not so morose and austere but thou hast taken delight to hear thy children prattle though they spake but half words and broken sentences and why should it trouble thee to hear thy brethren the children of thine and their heavenly Father expresse themselves in such language as they are able Is is not said Out of the mouth of Babes and sucklings thou hast ordained strength or thou hast perfected praise In others of these Letters perhaps thou mayst meet with some things that may be paradoxes and hard sayings to thee which thou canst not beare but sit not in judgement to condemn this neither as if thou wouldest take upon thee to know all things suspend censure till thou hast a clearer light of which surely thou art not out of hope perhaps that day may not be far from thee wherein thou shalt speak and understand harder sayings and higher mysteries then thou shalt meet withall in these Letters Nor yet doe I undertake to justifie all that is written in them 'T is yet but the dawning of the day The clear est principle for ought I know hath a mixture of earth and darknesse in it The light is yet neyther cleare nor dark 't is neyther night nor day but in the evening time it shall be light Zach 14. 6 7. And then 't is possible an higher appearance in the same persons that wrote these Letters may judge some things in them to the fire as hey and stubble To conclude thou shalt find one letter among the rest written by a precious Soule walking in darknesse and having no light wrapt up and mantled in a black night of trouble and dejection of Spirit Let this Letter that may seem not to suit with his fellowes serve as sharpe sawce with sweet meat to give a better relish to the rest Doubtlesse the Lord hath a gracious designe upon this good soule and hath but withdrawn himself for a little moment that witheverlasting mercies he may imbrace it that he may discover himself unto this soule to be nothing but light and love and bring forth himself in this smoaking flack in an higher and brighter flame of light and glory in a more glorious appearance then ever And when God shall bring this to passe if thou please in the mean time to taste of his teares peradventure when he reaps his harvest thou mayest be made partaker of his joy Septemb. 24. 1649. A wel-wisher of thine and of the truth as it is in Jesus S. P. D. Errata PAge 20. line 16. dele of pag. 21. lin 16. for new read more pag. 23. lin 14. read with spiritvall p. 38. l. 10. r. consider l. 13. r. the creature l. 16. r. as with a creator l 17. r. as with a Father p. 40. l. 3. r. billowing l. 22. f. doth r. were p. 41. l. 1. r. a greater then whom p. 41. l. 17. f meanest r. nearest l. 24. r. was higher p. 42. l. 12. r. son p. 5â— l. 3. f. lo r. to p. 54. l. 5. r. the best p. 56. l. 19. and p. 57. l. 2. r. spirits p. 58. l. 26. r. swords p. 60. l. 10. r. overrunne p. 61. l. 22. r. not mov'd l. 24. r. scattering p. 62. l. 7. r. accompâ—niâ—s l. 22. r. having p. 63. l. 9. r. And this a. l. 18. r. who ripe for p. 66. l. 3. f. our r. one l. 14. r. is known p. 67. l. 3. r. raisers of l. 5. r. neare p. 91. l. 9. r. onenes p. 105. l. 18. r. not imagined p. 145. l. 28. r. externall p. 146. l. 19. f. sure r. free p. 149. l. 18. r. the box is in your heart p. 145. l. 6. r. this tabernacle p. 155. l. 24. f. torne r to me News from the New Jerusalem sent by Letters from severall Parts c. 1. Letter Deare Sir I Have received your loving Letter and
friends with you 2. Letter My dear friend IN whom I have rejoyced I hold my selfe bound to acquaint you with the wonderfull dealings of my God with me It is so that I am called into judgement and the Books are opened and the booke of life is opened and I am judged according to all things which are written in the books Yet neither of these books is that Bible-book which we have hug'd so long as our onely happinesse I would not hore now be mistaken for I doe not say this judgement is not spoken off in the Bible neither those boâ—ks out of which I am judged for that they are both of them and yet I say that the Bible in the letter of it as it is bound up there is not the book I would not for a world take away any thing from the Bible or any of the excellency of that which is therein written but I would have it set in the right place I would not have it taken for God himselfe and yet God is in it and the letter of it is a very sweet manifestation of God but it is not God though God I say be manifested in this flesh But though wee have knowne things after the flesh yet henceforth we will know them so no more for indeed except wee come through the flesh which is the vail we cannot enter into the holiest for the outward Court is given to the Gentiles and it shall not bee measured wee all desire and strive to enter into rest the Lord give us hearts therefore that we faile not because of unbeliefe But indeed our lives and also our spirits are so full of prejudicate opinions that wee are apt to think the worst of every thing whereas if we were the children of God and like our Father we then should live in God which is love yea we should then be made one with this love Certainly we may feare that those Children are basely begotten that doe not in any way resemble their Father Deare friend such a like generation have we begotten amongst us for if we were like our Father we then should hope all things beleeve all things think no evill not be lifted up in our selves but thinke of every one better then of our selves But though the seed of the Serpent be sowen amongst us yet I say againe I would not bee mistaken by you for I am not against the use of the Bible for I see a true sweet lovely spirit in the writings of it though yet I would have you know that I dare not justifie all things as they lye in the letter of it not because the truth is not in it but because of the abuse of that truth by the fals translation of it for every one when he translates a Coppy writes it as he thinks fit and so puts in and leaves out according to his conceptions and we all are not ignorant what hands these coppies have come thorow I beseech you therefore to wait upon that one spirit which is in you he it is that shall lead you into all truth and I am sure that when God hath written his own truth within you then you will be able as well as the Apostles to write a Bible or any book else without you I am very confident did the Apostles live in our dayes they would be exceedingly grieved to see us appropriate the spirit onely to them when indeed the spirit cannot be confined for it is God himself and this God is in you and with you though you know it not so well as I could wish you did Let us therefore leave off all our appropriations and distinctions and then doe you tell me what you finde but God we have been apt indeed to say Lo hear he is and there he is but this is a lye for he is every where and he is not any where as confin'd or distinct from himself I beseech you therefore in the bowels of mercy that you be carefull what you doe I have one thing to acquaint you with which indeed was the cause of my present writing and its this That seeing as I have told you the great day of the Lord is come upon me and every thing is brought into judgement I cannot but minde you of one thing which past betwixt us and it was this you told me once of your visiting a maid which said that she lived in heaven and above the Bible even in God and by the Revelations of his own spirit which much stumbled both you and me Now I am come to tell you that this maid is risen in me and that I know now what she meant being by the wonderful goodnes of my God taken in to the same life my self and it is but lately accomplished upon my soule Shee meant therefore above the letter of that word in the Bible that indeed was dead too her but she lived in the spirit and life of it which was and is in God himself and this is the life which we all have groaned after and yet when God comes to take us out of those graves of sin and self apropriations and to loose those Chains and Bonds which we have in our darknesse and ignorance been brought into by distinctions we are afraid of him and not onely like Mary take him for the Gardner but wee are even afraid that it is Satan himself transformed as we call it into an Angel of light when indeed that is the very Satan that tels us so though he sets before us a seeming good but we are not ignorant of his wiles This was the Apple which he deceived our Mother Eve withall even this seeming good and hath ever since caused us to surfeit with it even to take things that are not for what they are in truth therefore take notice by the way that those things are not that seem to be or visibly doe appear to our sight but the things that are invisible and cannot appear to our fleshly sight those are the things in truth and therefore take notice of this that all this outward frame of things which doth appeare to our fleshly sight is but a resemblance or a figure of him which is invisible and cannot be seen but with a pure spirituall sight I speak all this for your and others sakes which yet stick in the flesh of Christ For I blesse my God I am got through it even within the vaile and I see him who is invisible with the eyes of my spirit and certainly I had these visible eys given me as a signe or a shadow of the substance Blessed therefore be the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which hath not suffered me to stick in any thing below himself but hath brought me through all the wiles and cunning deceits of Satan and hath at length centured me in himself and hath caused me to sit down and rest in his own bosome Let therefore our heavenly Father bee glorified for this his great goodnes towards the Sonnes of
men But I have here digressed I come againe therefore to tell you concerning this thing that when the great day of judgement was upon me this was one thing and a very great thing for which I was judged of by the Lord even that I had judged or past sentence upon this pretious soule before the time for the Lord of all men was at hand and I should have left all judgment unto him but I was base and unworthy and I judged those things which I knew not Blessed bee the Lord which hath not everlastingly cut me off for it but hath accepted a ransome in his beloved Jesus in Emanuel God with us that is in himselfe even in the bowels of his owne love manifested through flesh Now because it hath been as I have told you so heavy a thing upon me I could not but acquaint you as a forewarning least you also should come into the same condition of torment by the like occasion and also that I might take shame to my selfe for my basenesse and envy at Gods people Now that which I say is the same with what I have already said that this Saint with many others are risen and come into my soule accompanying my Saviour and therefore if you see her I should desire you to acquaint her with it and shew her this paper that shee may see how I have suffered for my persecuting of her but let her know that now I am one in the body with her though I confesse I have beene exceeding vile and base and when any have been speaking of move light or move spirituall injoyments then I had I would bid them be carefull and consider what they did and I would bring that mayd for an example to them that they might see whereto shee was come even said I to destroy all when indeed and in truth as farre as I can see now shee was come to the injoyment of all this was the persecuting spirit I was then of nay deare friend I have not wondered since at her expressions which I heard you say shee used that was why are you saith she come to persecute mee you know that wee both laughed at her and said was this the spirit that was upon her but since I have considered it and it was true enough for flesh must needs persecute the spirit and wee being flesh came indeed to persecure her therefore it was a true spirit of revelation that was upon her though she could not but beleeve our words when we professe to the contrary but I confesse I did not see you so apt to judge her as my selfe and therefore it is just that I should suffer in it and you bee forewarned from it for I did as much as in me lay strive to behead her and lay her dead in the affections of my freinds and all this was even for the testimony that shee bare of her Saviour and therefore I cannot thinke that the sword must depart from my house but that I must bee slaine in others affectiors even as others have beene slaine in mine I cannot passe by one thing considerable in it and that was this I doe well remember that even whilst I spake against her I was warned from within that I should take heed what I did and I could never speake of her but I should be smitten for it and yet I hearkened not but rushed into sinne as the Horse into the battell therefore I am willing now to take shame to my selfe and have thus largely written this to you that you might communicate it to whom you please for indeed the goodnesse of the Lord hath so overcome me and the glory of my God is so risen upon mee that I care not if all the world know my miscarriages I did not thinke to write so large to you but my God so fils me as I cannot tell how to leave if you understand not my language I pray let Mr. G. C. helpe you I question not but hee may give you a sight in it to whom present my deare respects also to all the rest of my dear friends tell them I am one in the spirit with them and that I would have them carefull of judging the good Lord reward you spirituall consolations for all your labour of love to me in 〈◊〉 I am your exceeding loving and as God shall make me your faithfull friend to serve you 3. Letter Christian friend OUr loving Father hath comforted me by your Letter I exceedingly rejoyce in your condition I see his very great power magnified in you to make you thus willing to be at his dispose It s no smal matter for a soule to deny it selfe We have been a long time talking of self-deniall because the letter of the Scriture hath sweetly spoken of it but truly we have not known what it is from the indwelling of truth in us I am sure thus much I finde that it must be the death of the whol first man that so the second man may be established in righteousnes and truly 't is the mighty power of God must passe upon us to raise us up to live thus in himself I could willingly open to you how I was brought in that measure that I am into this life It was by the sight or vision of God himself For as I was one day carried forth by him to speake some thing to another as he spake in me I had this wonderfull Vision that confounded me and threw me to the ground before it for it was no lesse then infinitenesse it self that beheld me and at last made mee to behold it but this sight of God did so astonish me it destroyed and wrought such an utter death to my selfe and to every thing below or besides him I mean things that appear to be that truly I may say I had no spirit of a man left in me but I sat before him as a meer passive appearance Then I felt the spirit of life from above enter into me again and carried me forth to act where when and how it pleased Now came I to be what he would have me and never before It was not long since that I should have been much troubled to be called hither and thither and to act the part of such or such a one No the reasonable man indeed was not dead yet in me but now the Lord so slew it that I cryed out Here am I Lord send me for I am no more my self now nor to act for my self but for the Lord And I wondred still why the flesh in the ordinary appearnce of it did remain I mean this outward form or vessel that held the treasure for indeed I thought when the Apostle spake of a change that it had been the changing of the outward forme but this day came upon me unawars However I doe not say the outward form shal not be changed let it be as it pleaseth him my glory lies within the Vaile I am not called so much to talk
or judge of things without I am to judge of things within me Those things that I have tasted seen and handled I declare unto you for the dispensation of truth is upon me and I would not now speak any thing or doe any thing but as he speaks in me and does in me for it s no more I now but the Lord I indeed have been something in mans day and I desired to be and to speak but that day is past it s come into judgement weighed in the ballance of the Sanctuary and found too light The day of the Lord onely is now upon me and here I desire to be perfected But I will yet goe a little further and shew you the workings of God upon me and in me It was so that before God so wonderfully appeared to me I had exceeding working in my spirit and drawing to come up and serve the Lord in a more spirituall administration and scriptures were still opened to me in a new and strange way still tending to that spirituall enjoyment of God which then was in mine eye and now have At last there was an extraordinary expectation begotten in me and I waited for my establishment in the spirit though I did yet appear in the flesh but against this there were great fightings between the two powers both from within me and also from friends without yet there was in mee even in the darkest time a secret hope even beyond hope that I should enjoy it and my eye was unto him who hath now saved me but here I was brought to lye down in his will even without it and though I never should have felt it yet in this beliefe could I have laid down my life and have dyed That there was such a time appointed for the people of God and that they should surely have such a glory though they appeared and lived upon earth for the Lord hath said The tabernacle of God should be with men and he would raigne for ever and ever But the day before this glory came unto me I had this word very strongly set home upon me Wee shall not all sleep but be changed And truly as the time drew neer I had such strong workings of spirit that I could expect no other indeed and I did expect it and withall look't with what body I should come for I was thinking as I told you before that this outward form must be done away when God came to change us but when I saw it still remain and I so wonderfully beheld God I was taken with admiration yet did I still expect that sure it would anone goe a way for I thought it impossible that I should look constantly upon this glory and yet remain upon the earth for indeed though I expected much yet this sight was farre beyond my expectation Now I felt the fleshly part within me flie a way at his presence and Death and Hell were destroyed I heard sentence given against the enemy of all our peace and he ran a way I felt him cast out and in the morning I could sing a song over him For his head I found was turned into the waters yet still this outward body did not moulder a way At last it was given mee from him that shewed me these things to aske for indeed I was not able till it was given me and I asked and said O Lord God why have I flesh upon me and see thee in this glorious manner for Infinitenesse it self looked upon me and I looked upon it Can any man see thee I said and live It was answered me againe Thou art not alive I have slain thee No man indeed can see mee and live but as a man thou art dead and never shalt live more as a man but the sonne of God can see mee Thou shall live as the son of God and so thou shalt see me But I said O Lord Why am I not presently dissolved by this Infinite glory that now so openly beholds me Why have I flesh upon me in the appearance of it It was answered Thou hast brethren in the flesh therefore hast thou flesh upon thee because thou must carry them a testimony of what thou hast seen of me but look for no glory in the flesh but sufferings and perseeutions for thy glory lyes within all flesh and accordingly I accepted of it because it was the fathers will and for no other cause It was also manifested to me that while they were persecuting me I should be inwardly filled with the glory of God and triumph over all their cruelty though I might for this testimony suffer as Jesus Christ did upon the Cross I should bee willing in the will of God to see your face however this I am sure that when the Lord brings forth his own righteousnes upon you you cannot be silent to your own bowels and that indeed I am for I am not as to my own particular any longer but am fallen into the Church and there I see my self to have a most glorious resurrection I was afraid once indeed to loose my life but I never had so much glory as now I finde in the body Oh how true is that word Every one that will save his life shall loose it but he that looseth his life for my name sake shall find it The Lord of heaven and earth give men to see their glory in union and then they will never stand so much as they doe upon distinctions did they see their resurrection in the body and knew what this body is they could not so account of any particular appearances but they should see themselves alwayes alive and because he lives therefore they should live also for if they would cease to live in their own life they should be perfected and live in the life of God But the truth is the word Body stumbles them because they are not wholly yet brought off from looking upon things as they appear for hence hath flowen all our imaginary worship but when Christ is again formed in us then he and we by him shall not judge according to the hearing of the ear nor the sight of the eye but righteous judgement Therefore the filth of the daughter of Sion or all those evils and mistakes which now possesse us is said to be purged away by a spirit of judgment as well as by a spirit of burning For it must be first judged before it can be burned and truly I doe in som measure see what that Scripture speaks off After death comes judgement for I am sure that since I had this death and since my soule was separated from my body I have been judged for things done in the body that is while I lived in the body for I knew a time when I lived in this body and I know now what it is to live out of the body and yet appear in the body for that is the great mistake the body that appears to be is not the body The scripture
that in the outward court or first creation not in the inmost or holiest and Paradice it selfe being but an image of the excellency of this first Creation Man being fallen or deprived of this perfection which was accomplished through the temptation of the Serpent or fleshly wisdome or the espousals of the woman or weaknesse of this creation there was the first law of righteousnesse presented in a new ministration of letter by Moses in tables of stone from God in which the first glory or perfection and excellency was ministred to man in his fallen and apostated condition and because the law or first righteousnesse was weake through the flesh after the departing of the power supporting or unanswerablenesse of the apostatised state to the first uprightnesse there was given or God appearing to the refreshing and comforting of the creature an administratiou of Angels by visions and dreams as also a Priest-hood with Vrim and Thummim Sacrifices Ceremonies Tabernacle Temple and Prophets speaking forth immediate revelations c. by which man might have accesse to God and speake with him but in the outward court or through the flesh or of this creation though he filled these with another glory a higher and more excellenter discovery of his love in the promised seed the substance and excellency of that with all the former were but shadowes There was another ministration added of war and peace and tryals crucifyings or baptismes in the flesh as flying before Pharaoh and following a cloud of fire and blacknesse through or betwixt the wales of bâ—llowing waves in terror and feare the long marching through a wildernesse by the waters of Meriba and rock of strife skirmishing with Amalekites by the terrour of Mount Sinai cutting their way through Ogg King of Bashan and passing through the dividings of Jordan into Canaan another ministration was given of Canaanites in the land warre with the Nations captivity destruction of the Temple Gods departing the apostacy overspreading or God gathering up that glory which appeared in the Tabernacle and Temple and that of Priest and Prophet ceasing there then followed a night of darknesse or an apostasie upon all that administration and when God no longer filled the Tabernacle with a cloud and the Temple with glory they became a place of solitarynesse or desolation as all other ministrations 〈◊〉 and places for the Satire and the Scrich-Owle to dwell and sing in that is for the Spirit of Apostasie or Antichrist or of Iniquity to possesse and act in Another ministration somewhat clearer and briter then that of the Law and that was of John as in Matthew A greater had not rissen he was a burning and shining light as Luke 1. the Law and Prophets were till John he was the Prophet of the highest in respect of what went before and was sent to make Christ manifest to Saints by word and water and this was a ministration in order to one more spirituall the one ministration was to decrease the other to increase and that of fire or of spirit was to burne up that of water or of flesh or that which consisted of things of this Creation Another and more glorious ministration was that appearance of Christ or the Gospel in flesh or glad tydings manifested to sinners or the apostatised creation Heb. 1. or God appearing in the 〈◊〉 and familiarest relation of this creation to man even in flesh in which hee taught and did miracles and was circumcised and baptized and acted to fulfill all righteousnesse in which there was a cleare draught of that ministration of gifts and ordinances which was as perfect as the first creation in its glory and 〈◊〉 higher and nearer to God comming forth in nearer relation of an Emmanuel or God with us Another Administration also of Christ in the flesh of Saints Col. 1. 27. Christ in you the hope of glory and that by graces and operations and fruits of spirit as of faith repentance love selfe-denyall humiliation meeknesse also infallible gifts of spirit viz. to speake with tongues workmiracles and act infallibly administration even the height of the glorious Gospel or God shining in the face of Jesus Christ Now the spirit of God foreseeing Gods purpose to leave this ministration of Gospel glory to the world or flesh or Antichrist and to bring a night of darknesse upon all the day and brightnesse of his Sunne prophesied of a departing first before the man of sinne fleshly wisdome or Antichrist could be revealed or Gods departing from that Administration as hee did from the Tabernacle and Temple and whilst Antichrist or the power of the flesh or the spirt of iniquity reigns in the christian world or amongst such as professe a Christ all this while the Lord of glory or Jesus Christ in spirit is crucified in spirituall Sodom Aegypt or Babylon or the Kingdomes of the flesh and the powers of darknesse so that there is no mention of any restoration of the first ministry of gifts and ordinances which was in the Apostles dayes but is the state and persecution of the Lord Jesus in spirit and all those appearances of the Lord Jesus in many glorious Saints in perticular ages was but the appearance of him who is that faithfull and true witnesse or the prophesings of spirit in sack-cloath against the power of the man of sinne and were but drops of the Vials sounding of the Trumpet opening of the Seales before the battell of the great day when God shall appeare in flames of spirit and glory against and to confound Antichrist or fleshly powers or things of this creation So that there is not as I know of at present any word in all the Scriptures that the first ministry by gifts and ordinances shall in any measure be continued or restored in whole or in part As if that were the great worke the Lord intended viz. to set up the former ministry or the restoring some legall ordinances c. as if all the glory of the last times should be the bringing these or recovering them out of the hands of Antichrist that is not my present apprehensions but that the next ministration wil be the fiery tryal or a state and power of God put forth upon the severall administrations that Christians are under in order to higher discoveries of God which will produce torment in the flesh with blacknesse and darknesse and tempest or upon fleshly wisdome and powers or things of this creation viz. in some in passing from legall ministrations to a more evangelicall of grace and love there will bee torment and tempest upon that administration or selfe righteousnesse in the consumption thereof In that more Gospel state of a Christian whereby he injoyes God in graces gifts and contemplations with sweet tastes and imbraces of divine glory there will bee a fiery tryall or the clouds of fire and darknesse or crucifyings in the flesh and upon that ministration of gifts and graces insomuch that there will bee a scorching up of the
streames or of Euphrates the pleasant vallies turned into a parched wildernesse and all in order to a more higher fuller and excellenter glory this is prophesied of in the Scripture The Sunne shall bee turned into darknesse and the Moone into blood before that great and notable day of the Lord come that is not onely the Lord Jesus will be darknesse unto the world which I deny not but all that which was the glory and light of a Christian and high-way of communion with God his Sunne Moone and Starres shall be darkned c. before that notable day or that more excellent revelation of God in glory and 1 Pet. 3. 10. The heavens shall passe away with a great noise and the Element shall melt with fervent heat and the earth with the works that are therein shall be burnt up which is not onely at the last judgement but upon perticular administration which is figured out in the heavens earth and elements or those more or lesse glorious administrations and the fire shall try every mans work of what sort it is 1 Cor. 3. 13. 15. And as Christ crucified all that glorious administration in the flesh in which he was and it all dyed to a more glorious life so every Christian is to take up his crosse or to bring his highest and cheifest administrations to this crosse and to leave them all crucified to more higher excellenter discoveries and this is the knowledge of Christ crucified now many Christians who are sadded darkned and in much tribulation as to the administration they are under and in looking into the wildernesse seeing nothing but mount Sinai with blacknesse and darknes and tempest they take it for desertions and withdrawings of God when as indeed it is the presence of God darkning withering and consuming such administrations and the bringing in a more fuller and transcendent glory The next ministration will be the appearing of Christ in brightnesse and glory of Spirit destroying Antichrist with the spirit of his mouth and brightnes of his comming this shall be a glory without Sun or Moon or Star or any such low appearance as gift or ordinance but the Lord shall be there everlasting light and God the glory and light shall cover the earth as waters cover the Sea that is it shall not sparkle or be in bright beams as in a Gift or Ordinance but it shall slow out from the Lord swallowing up and overflowing all earthly administrations that expectation of him in externall administrations as Gifts or Ordinances c. is but to expect Christ in a fleshly way or appearance and not as he is in his own height spirit and glory in himselfe in his Saints their fulnesse and hope of glory Col. 1. 27. And therefore this is that which is to be expected an estate of spirit love meeknes self-denyall overcoming evill with good conquering by receiving in the wrath and enmity of the world into which estate God will gather up his people by times and degrees from all worldy and fleshly interests and ingagements wherein they shall be carried up into a more full injoyment of God and conformity to Christ in all his sufferings death and resurrection where God will be to all his sâ— glorified as broad rivers and streams where shall goe no Ship with sailes nor Gally with Ores And then it shall be as much apostacy in the Saints to go back to the first ministery of the Gospel times or first patterne which was the first discovery of that mystery hid from ages as would have been in them in the Apostles dayes to have gone back to the Jewish Tabernacle Temple and Priest-hood c. out of which God had departed as he also hath out of these late administrations Furnell 8. Letter Loving Cozen DEarly and much beloved there is some content in nature that you abide in the flesh with me and are yet an appearance of God upon the Earth for I confesse I have none so neere my heart as you of a fleshly beeing in the world therefore I have been affected with the kindnesse of the Lord that hath spared you that I might not have sorrow upon sorrow my sister being removed yet have I more sweet joy and content in understanding that you are in the fellowship of the Spirit growing forward through al the dark shadows of seeming glory into the substance which is reall glory for in that you say you see God is all and doth all I question not but you understand that all things below him are but shaddows of him yea Christ himself in his fleshly appearance was but a form of God which appeared to answer our distance from God for wee being departed from him by experiencing the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evill of which food I hope we have our fill now God condescending to redeem us from this by the way of Christ who was appointed of God to bring us unto God not to himself as he was Christ beeing but an appearance of God not the Father himself Therefore if we should sit down with Christ being come to him and proceed no further we are not brought by him to the Father And the will of God is that we be co-heires and joint heires together with him till we know that the Father and the Son are in one and we one with the Father as the Son For I believe that God even the Son of God doth dwell in us even the same that dwelt in Christ Jesus and I am waiting when that heavenly Image shall as plainly appear as the Image of the earthly hath appeared for we shal see his face and his name shall be upon our foreheads Deere Cozen since I received your letter I have seen you in a Vision and so was it represented to me that I understand that you have or shall bring forth the man Childe even Christ to open veiw for which you must die and be buried I mean you shall appear to some as one dead to truth and God and alive to errour and so you shall be as one dead and put into a grave of darknes and silence yet fear not for I have proved that the day of death is better then the day of Birth And that by death Christ brought to light life and immortality Remember also Christ was put to death in the flesh and was alive to God his flesh was as pure and honourable as even ours was yet by the eternall Spirit within it was offered a Spirituall Sacrifice to God whilest the dark apprehensions of men conclude that he suffered as a blasphemer therefore arm your self with the same minde always expecting we shall surely rise with him as we suffer together with him for indeed we are but one in life and death And he is the resurrection and the life even Christ in us who is rising in me and either is or will rise in you And when he doth appear we shall appear with him I pray you deare Cozen as often
and others Some search deeper and throw into this composition some graines of spirit and quintessences of a higher extract purified and sublimd into a nobler essence But tell mee is this mixture like to restore life to a dying and languishing Nation to a darke and formall Church Could wee get the rarest drugs the world affords Could we search the earth to its center and discover the occult qualities of all its minerals and wonders Can this reach the some and spirit of one man much lesse a whole kingdome What though some grains of spirit are in one composition is it not loaded with thick clay overcome by the predominancy of contrary qualities The distemper of this Nation springs from our living in another world then our own in a corrupted aire a contagious climate in vassalage and slavery to these bodies of flesh to this lower element of the world to the Prince of darknesse Men created in the Image of God have uncloath'd themselves of that glory and now wander in the shapes of Wolves and Beasts of prey having their soules and spirits sprung from Heaven they transforme themselves into the similitude of the elementary-creatures What are warres confusions and disorders but the actings forth this brutish spirit in tearing and devouring our fellow creatures Fightings and divisions spring from the jarring discordant qualities in the mindes of men who have lost the spirit of sweetness union and peace which breaths forth nothing but love joy and keeps the whole body in an harmonious unity Is this unity to be recovered by divisions T is true by such a division as this it is by seperating truth from errour light from darkness the purer from the grosser parts This is by a spirit of burning and by a power above the strength of man Who must be the reformers of the world who must build the Lord a Temple a glorious Temple both in Church and State Not those who are staind with bloud and act by a spirit of wrath and violence The Lord tels David 1 Chron. 22. 8. Thou hast shed blood aboundantly and hast made great wars thou shalt not build an house to my name because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in my sight Is there no spirit and life in these words Was not David permitted to build the materiall Temple a darke shadow and type of the spirituall Was not he suffered in that age under those darke fleshly administrations which held forth no greater light and put no greater glory upon their spirits to subdue the world but by Sword and Bow by force and violence and is it probable that the sweet mild and gentle spirit of the Gospel should need the force and strength of men These doe well that it is in their hearts to reforme the world but they mistake the way they act in the strength of the wrath of God in the spirit of this world their poor earth will not conquer Hell and Devils their Sword and Gunnes will never change the natures of men No Solomon must build this Temple the Lord Jesus it must bee another spirit another generation another way These with David may fell the Cedars and hew the Stones of this earthly building Those ordain'd for this glorious worke their Swords must bee of another mettall to wound and heale againe to destroy the flesh and transforme it into spirit their spirits shall breath forth nothing but love and sweetnesse their Language shall be glory to God on high on earth peace good-will towards men they call not for fire from Heaven they cast not into Prisons and Dungeons they Plunder not nor destroy they are of other spirits more sweet more amiable forcing the world by a divine power of love to confesse they are overcome and vanquish'd All the Kingdomes of the Earth all the Glory of the Creatures all the Splendour Magnificence and Pompe of the world shall vanish as Smoake and acknowledge it selfe a poore shadow an empty nothing All that act in this spirit of violence and fury are a rod in the hand of God the Executioners of vengeance These are the Hornes of the Beasts that shall hate the Whore and make her desolate and naked and shall eat her flesh and burne her with fire in the cup shee hath filled these shall fill to her double these powre out the Vials of wrath upon the seat of the Beasts they are the Fowles of Heaven to eat the flesh of Kings and the flesh of Captaines and Great-ones of the earth they are to rend and teare the outward garment of the worlds glory they are an administration wherein God cloaths himself with fury indignation By this spirit of vengeance and wrath al the worlds tormeÌ„tors have bin acted this hath bin a work of Assirâ—ans and Babylonians Romans Turks and Sarazens they have overcoÌ„e the whole face of the earth with their Armies they have trampled the Nations under their feet and trod their God in the mire of the streets How doe many in this age glory in these triumphs set up their poor trophees their triumphant Pillars as if the strength were their owne and the glory their owne Had they the spirits of Christians they needed not the swords of men they are weake in the Spirit of the Gospell therefore they cloath themselves with the power of flesh and will enter into Canaan in the wrath of the Lord destroying and devouring not converting They glory in fleshly Conquests and Victoâ—ies having not power in the Spirit to conquer in the way of love union and peace with these Weapons the Apostles bid defiance to the whole world to Hell and Devils they advanced their Standards upon the proud wals of Rome it selfe This fleshly strength will prove weaknesse in this worke it will dye and vanish into ayre when it hath done the work the Lord hath appointed God makes one spirit and property of darknesse afflict and torment another the Nations of the world will destroy themselves every one by the Sword of his Brother The flesh of the Saints engag'd in these contests and worldly quarrels shall rend it selfe and helpe to rend the world But how are they Saints Such who have some glimmerings of the bright and morning-Starre who by throwing of the externall vaile of Antichristian darknesse fleshly forms servile dependency on the darke spirits of blind men I say having throwne of these fetters they have some liberty and having removâ—d these mists they see a light the faint reflections of a rising Sunne being let out of their cage of darknesse they fly and flutter and catch at every thing but apprehend little as it is in God but in the light of their own spirits mov'd by the call and drawing of the spirit of God and the concurrence of those beams of light scattered themselves every where these receive but glances and flashes and cover it with much darknesse confusion and ignorance yet being rais'd above their former state they think God speaks in them and
their knowledge is the knowledge of the spirit The good seem to give God the glory and to make him their strength in Battle and considering how gloriously they have conquered are strongly perswaded that the mighty power of God accompanied them and where God assists and gives victory it must bee for good for the good of mankinde and the world and therefore they will improve their victories to attain that high end Thus they make their progresse if God assists in acts of blood by force and fightings he doth the same in acts of force and violence upon the corrupt Governours of the World who are running back into Aegypt leaning upon the Pillars of the World setting up their empty guilded Idols corrupt forms and dark administrations as the utmost end of all their endeavours as the price of all the blood shed in the Kingdomes Thus being perswaded of the presence of the Lord and have in their own spirits some height and strength to good some will and desire to doe good to the world they continue their begun motion measuring the whole by themselves the spirits of others by their own and so think their whole body of assistants fitly qualified for the government of a Kingdome Never considering what a spirit of darknesse pride vain-glory Ambition dwels and acts amongst them and how weak meer naturall spirits are being raised from the dust to sit upon a throne and to bear the temptations of Power Honour and worldly glory Consider actions purely and simply according to their nature and the dispensations of the Gospel This is a violent unnaturall fleshly way for the reforming of the world the small stone must bee hewen out without hands This is the winde rending and tearing the rocks before the soft and still voice was heard This is the fire and Earth-quake to burn and shake this earthly fabrick the corrupt world and its glory Thus the Parliament have been executioners of vengeance upon the Kings party who for judgement a fire of wrath kindled in the bowels of the Kingdom setting the properities of darknesse at enmity amongst themselves A darke and formall Clergie against a more dark and formall formality and hypocisie against loosenesse and profanesse restrained civilty against riot and luxury The Ministers preach war and the sword and fire from heaven discovering their own weaknesse unable to act in the strength of God therefore they cry up the Cause of Religion the Covenant the Ordinances these though under more light then the other yet they stir up the spirits of men to afflict and torment their persecutors King Prelats Malignants and to take away their revenues and honours Far be it from me to blast the least appearance of God amongst them or to spread a cloud upon those faint glimmerings which shin'd in their spirits It was their darknesse their flesh that made them thus excentrick they acted in the spirit of the world and of nature their light was lightnings from Mount Sinai not the glorious light of the Spirit In this way they will be like the billowes and waves of the Sea one tossing and driving forward the other till they dash themselves against the rocks The Parliament and their Armies have broken the Cavaliers the Presbytery Episcopacy the Independents have restrained the power of Presbytery for their pride and coveteousnes giving them of the Cup they gave others to drink If the Independents corrupt there are those sprung out of their own bowels prepared for their executioners these if they aspire too high will be Levell'd themselves by their great Idoll the People or their principles will raise a spirit dwelling in the confused rabble and multitude to break and tear all to pieces to bring all into a huddle and confusion without order law or government Thus the fury of the Lord breaks forth like a burning fire against all corruption in the powers of the world against tyranny and oppression in all its formes and shapes though its Woolvish spirit is cloathed with innocency and gentlenesse the outward form will not change the nature Monarchy Aristocracie Democracie will be much at one unlesse the breath of life from heaven quicken their dead liveless carkasses I fear in our contests we have too much mixed earth with heaven we have gone a dark nâ—trodden obscure path therefore the Lord may justly withdraw that spirit of justice and righteousnes which hath accompanied and acted even more worldly States and Republikes They acted in the flesh we pretend to a higher principle we speak of spirit and power and divine light their motions were naturall according to their natures being of the earth earthly ours irregular excentrick unnaturall being we think our selves heavenly live in the aire of the Gospel in the light of the Spirit which points us out a more glorious way therefore it is but just with God if when we sow the winde we reap the whirl-winde But what will be the end of all when wee have prov'd our own strength to be weaknesse when our overturning shall succeed another that glorious power shall manifest it whose right it is alone to reign when we have passed through a wildernesse the Lord will bring us into the Land of rest so long breathed after and desired the Lord will bring order out of confusion light out of darknesse peace out of war and troubles This will as surely be as the spring now succeeds the winter the day the night who the Lord may make most glorious in this work known alone to himselfe It magnifies his power and goodnesse if he breaths life in those dead bones which we trample upon if he quickens those which we have reprobated and rejected as wither'd branches and vile excrements He can make the first last and the last first he can bring down the proud spirit of a Nebuchadnezzar and force him to glorifie the God of Heaven In the mean time let every man keep his own station let the people of God shine like themselves that it may appear they are sent into the world to do good to the world to reflect the image and glory of God Those that are magistrates let them put forth the spirits of Christians let their actions bee convincing let not the world justly brand them for corrupt unjust self-advancers and raisers their families rather then restorers of the ruines of a kingdome if the floods of darknesse roars against them and a deluge of confusion overflows if the flames of division breake out again let them be confident they are above the danger in another Region where no cloud can reach them no confusion disturb them and if their earthlyes here their bodies of dust yet they shall dwell securely in these burnings and be at peace in the middest of these flames Thus Sir I have given you my thoughts of the times My earnest desire is that things may prove otherwise then I write in relation to those now in power the Lord if it be his will make their
actions glorious and overule that spirit of perversenesse and darknes mingling it self with their counsels but if they faile the Lord will doe the work let us build upon this as upon a rock it is fixed and immoveable Sir excuse me I have been too tedious impute it to the subject I write which affords matter for a volume I have this confidence in you that nothing will be unwelcome to you from a friend or a Christian or him who really is Your kinsman and servant in every relation H. B. Letter 11. An Answer of a Letter written by a friend June 8. Oh friend SOme two nights agoe I saw a Bible and found a desire to look into it but presently my spirit checked me saying within me What shouldest thou be peeping into that which thou canst not understand Stay till the light of the Lord shall lead thee and then go whither it shall lead thee till then every motion and desire cannot but be bitter and the more it is hearkened unto the more bitter Yet my spirit said again within me Why should I refuse this motion though griefe and bitternesse may attend it may it not be good to see how dark and ignorant I am become In the middest of such reasonings I opened the Book the first place I looked on was very strange to me thence I turned from place to place but thick darknes covered every place even those which formerly seemed very clear to me At last I lighted on a place which did somewhat affect me then I took up the Book into a Chamber thinking to suck a little sweetnes or at least to vent a little of that load which had lain exceeding heavy on me all the day so I read some six Chapters at least together though with much adoe they were the last Chapt. of Esay so soon as I had done I fell into a very grievous passion to behold into what a state I was cast for I understood not one tittle but confusion and darknes covered and hid every thing from me faine would I have fastened on somewhat to have supported my spirit to hope and wait for better dayes but it would not bee I could not conceive concerning whom those things were spoken or what that Zion is to whom they seem to be spoken Indeed I could not but weep outwardly and mourn inwardly to think on my present darknes which is so thick that on no manner of light comes in at any crevis The Book of the creatures the book of providence as I was wont to call it this book of the scriptures which was once unutterably sweet and bright and living they are all become now dead dark but yet powerfull and peircing tormentors In the middest of these workings of minde I fell I know not how to think of your letter and your desire to hear from me wondring at both both why you should write so to me and why you should desire to hear from me as if either I could apprehend what you wrote or tell how to speak or write any thing to you in this state of darknes and many particular passages of your letter came into my minde more increasing this my amazement The first clause of your letter did kindle in me a great desire to expostulate with you about it I must break off I can proceed no further now Letter 12. June 6. Oh friend I am heart-sick what shall I doe I am sick unto death and yet am miserable because I cannot dye I finde death as farre removed from me as life I thought I had been dead and buried long agoe and had nothing to do for the future but to wait for a resurrection from death and out of the grave but I feele my self much alive to torment and yet why may I not be dead for all that spirituall death and a spirituall grave may have a kind of life in them for ought I know I cannot go on with the relation about thy letter shall I try if I can open my breast and give the a little glance of the misery and oppression that it lyes burdened with I finde three tormentors within me and they are continually ravening upon me rending and tearing my head my heart my bowels The names that I best know them by are Love Griefe fury They commonly all rush forth upon me at once though some one of them still more predominantly then the rest feeding upon every object that is presented to me and heightning the disease and sicknesse of my spirit thereby Sometimes Love tyrannizes and makes me pant immeasurably after some glimpse of that my spirit is in love with but what it is or where it is I know not when I hear the birds or see any other creature in the heavens above or in the earth beneath Oh think I that I were behind thee that I might discern thy substance and see whether that be my love or no When I see their tendernes towards their young ones the employment they are busied with the delight they can suck in Oh where am I what am I how farr laid below the whole creation who finde no employment no delight none to look after me no bowels to answer the sounding of my bowels Some what I love but I know not what nor where to seek after nor what name to enquire for it by Shall I go to the woods among the wilde Hindes Alas they are as unable to heare as I am to speak shall I ask the common sort of men They poore creatures never think of any such thing Shall I ask Christians Ah! they as insensible of my condition as any of the rest and all the news I can heare of them is of melancholy and giving way to temptation and wish me to use the means which is as impossible to me as to finde out my love without them Oh miserie miserie to love one knows not what or where to have love kindled and the beloved quite lost to have love flaming and nothing for its flames to go forth upon but still to feed within upon the bosome wherein it breeds I finde this sometimes make these earthly bowwels so yearn as if they would immediately melt and drop out of the body wherein they are as yet contained When Love hath wearied it self then Grief though it was not absent before supplies its place in panting in sighing in mourning in complaining if it can Oh God! oh my God! oh living God! oh my beloved these expressions it uses for forms sake though it understands them not What are thou Where art thou Verily thou art a God that hidest thy self what no news of thec Why dost thou open my bowels when thou meanest to shut up thine own What is become of thee Hast not thou a discovering art as well as an hiding art When wilt thou open thy self I cannot finde thee out I cannot visit thee wilt thou never bestow a visit on me shall I never be remembred Shall I never know what God means
can betide us in our way to it are not worthy to bee compared in the very expectation whereof I am seised with more joy then my poore heart can hold Yours in all conditions Letter 21. Sir I Purposed the last week to have saluted my friends and see now the reason why providence disappointed me which I shall keep secret to my self For your Letter I should have been troubled at it had not I learned to see God in every thing and been acquainted with those traverses of carnall reason and unbelief in my own Spirit you have done no more then what I have done my self concluding both with my self and in the company of my friends the same things to be no better then delusions and under that temptation of blasphemy against the Spirit have rested till a brighter appearance of God hath broke through all and swallowed up that veile of death and darknes in so much victory as I must needs confesse my self to have been more then a conquerer though it hath cost me dear first For the present I shall advise nothing you are where providence hath disposed you and 't will be best for you to follow the tract of God in your own Spirit and stay here till an act of confidence and assurance shall release you for if you struggle or make hast you intend your bondage be you assured that the substance of what I said to you will bear down heaven and earth before it and truly till then this old administration which God hath worn so long he is now uncloathing himself of be removed the presence of Saints and that glorious manifestation of the Sons of God which hath entertained the expectation of the creature so long cannot bee as wee have plainly in Esay 13. 12. 13. I will make a man more precious then fine gold yea a man then the golden wedge of Ophir therefore I will shake the heavens and the earth c. And in the 14. It shall be as a chased Roe and as a Sheep that no man takes up c. one thing I will add more because I see your temptation grows with some confidence upon yon since you seem to have extinguished the smoaking flax by powering water upon it and repenting of what you have done let me thus farre advise poure on more water doe it the second time doe it the third time and observe if the smoaking flax prevaile not upon it and that spark lick it up and the God that answereth by fire let him bee God I could attempt such satisfaction in a carnall way but truth is a more immediate and naked thing and works best without the activity and contribution of the creature neither will I humble God so far as to prostitute truths of that nature it s the patience of God they may yet be proposed to the world I doubt there will a quick providence passe upon it and the word is like to be He that hath ears to hear let him hear and he that is unjust let him be unjust still and he that c. Revel 22. 11 12. For behold I come quickly and my reward is with me to give c. Every mans work shall be manifested by fire for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire and as Paul hath it 1 Cor. 3. in a settled expectation of which I possesse my own Spirit and your present temptation in a great deale of patience and rest Yours Letter 22. Sir MY good friend I wish my occasions had been such as would have given me leave to have seen you suddenly and to have come over as I promised I desire you would dispence with me till Michaelmass and then I hope to have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come to you both to refresh and be refreshed by you I hope the Lord is a working that in England which will e're long give his people solid cause of refreshment we have already the experience of that which a few dayes ago we did but expect and scarce expected I hope as the Lord removes impediments from without and paves the way of out peace with the pride and projects of our enemies so he will take away all impediments within our enemies being not onely those of our own kingdome but of our own hearts there being the same principles of fleshly wisdome and carnall reasoning against the kingdome of Christ within us as there is in the world without us Doubtlesse the day of the Lord will be upon every thing that exalts it self against the government of Jesus Christ in Spirit shaddows of all sorts begin to flye and day already discloses and the openings of heaven upon the Soule are very glorious and that spirituall prediction of the Prophet begins to receive its accomplishment Esa 25. 7. The Lord will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over al people It concerns us quietly to expect the out-goings of the Spirit in us and the leadings forth from faith to faith from glory to glory from flesh and form and letter to spirit and so to more spirit at last into all spirit till we have our selves in Jesus Christ and our God be all in all I am sorry Sir I am cast into such a strieght of time as I must necessarily break off otherwise I could with some delight have entertained my selfe with this argument I mean Gods administring of us immediately in himself but of this more when I see you Yours in the Lord Jesus Letter 23. Dear friend THe Fathers love hath of late been much manifested toward me exceeding hath that glory been in which I have dwelt since last I saw you my joy unspeakable my rest unutterable my peace unconceiveable Having therefore received such large and plenteous fillings flowing from the heart of the most High I can do no lesse than acquaint you with some few tastes and relishes of my late enjoyments as in manner followeth On Munday the 24th of this instant I was in the Evening at a friends house in Cambridge-shire where being in a familiar conference with some of my acquaintance it pleased the Father so freely to unbosome himself in me by such clear demonstrations of his presence as I never before beheld insomuch that I appeared to my selfe as one out of my selfe translated into the substantiall and pure enjoyment of that love and peace which I have usually before either but onely heard or at least darkly seen and beheld through the vails of outward administrations That which was spoken by me under these workings was faced with such an eivdent appearance of spirit and power as that it struck astonishment in the hearts of those present some thereat gushing out into teares others possessed with shaking and trembling and one there was who was so filled with joy as that he could not refrain singing and leaping my heart was so overcharged with the presence of the most High that I desired a more retyred being and to
Saints I leave you and goe to my Father surely whether I goe you know and the way you know think it not strange cone rning this my fiery tryall by death and sepâ—â—ation from you for loe the time commeth in which we shall be no more seperated but as we are one so shall we ever be inseperable from our own beloved Holy holy holy is the Lord God of Sabbath a holy rest a Sabbath of eternall rest am I gone to celebrate Oh yee holy Saints the voyce of my Beloved behold he comes leaping upon the Hils and skipping upon the Mountaines Loe he comes and that quickly he comes and now quickly am I gone of all Beloveds none is like to mine the melodious voyce sings sweetly in mine eare even of Angels themselves but that new Song of love the sweet lovely Song of Saints gloriously glorified with their Beloved is harmonious indeed What shall I now say of these things I cannot now fully apprehend them as it is but am now comprehended of them therefore lye I downe and rest with this perswasion and full conclusion sealed by the witnesse of the Spirit unto my Soule that what my Beloved is so shall I be and where bee is thither am I gone Then deare Sisters and precious Saints make haste and tarry not that are here on earth in imperfection so that now in heaven in perfection we may live and for ever enjoy Joyes unspeakable and full of glory Farewell deare Saints farewell farewell though I now leave you and goe away from you yet I shall see you againe and when I see you so I rejoyce eternally together with you in this life I have beene yours and here together with you and surely death disjoynts not our Spirits though our Bodies therefore in another life shall we be as members so Saints glorified in our glorious Jesus and with him who is our delight in whom you are to whom you are to whom I goe and with whom wee shall remaine Priests and Kings to our God Deare Saints I rest and the God of rest be with your spirits for ever and when you see this think on him who was here your fellow Disciple but now Your glorified Brother WILLIAM LANGHAM 25. Letter The Coppy of a Letter as it was sent from Mrs. T. P. in behalfe of Mrs. E. P. To a Congregation of Saints in London under the forme of Baptisme DEAR brethren in the bowels of love and meeknesse I kindly salute you wishing you an encrease of all faithfulnesse and true knowledge in the mystery of Christ The cause of my present writing is to acquaint you that providence hath lately brought a letter to my hand directed to my husband concerning one Mrs. P. once a member with you which woman say you for scandalous evils was cast out Now it being some yeares since it was done I humbly desire a little to reason with you about the grounds why this still remains upon your spirits seeing Christ saith forgive yee one another as I forgive you and God is said to remember our sinnes no more this therefore is a note of forgivenesse not to remember and sure we should shew our selves children of our heavenly father But further I desire before the Lord that you examine your owne hearts in this thing what your end is in it if it be that you thinke she is not worthy to have a livelihood amongst men then why doe you not either by the Civill Law if that will take hold of the offence or by some other way if nothing will satisfie you but her blood take some present course that may put an end to this great difference but if you thinke this bee too grosse or more then the offence requires then I beseech you for the Lords sake to consider your owne actings in this thing whether you doe not as much as in you lies carry on the same designe though more closly from the eyes of the world which sure before the Lord can appear no other but the hunting after her life nay is it not more then to take off one single life at once for which is greater cruelty for a Tyrant to take a mans life at once or by degrees and then your selves be judges whether your proceedings towards her be not a killing all the day long for you cannot bee ignorant that she hath no livelihood amongst men but what she earnes by her hands and your defaming her in this manner cannot in an ordinary way but deprive her of that and so at last bring her blood upon you If you say you acquaint none but the Saints with it it is evident to the contrary for your open publishing it in the Counsell of Warre caused the world to take notice of it and yet your spirits rest not here truly deare friends as the evill spirit wrought in her one way when she was with you so consider whether the fame spirit doe not highly worke in you at this time another way the Lord give you understanding in all things But if her life be not that which you aim at then is it those divine discoveries of life and light which God makes out to the world by her if it be so then you are to know that hee is too strong you strive withall but about this I would a little quere first whether doe you think that because such evils were manifest in her when with you therefore it is impossible now that any good should bee brought forth by her doe you not hope to grow better and better But secondly is it not Gods usuall way to manifest himselfe there highest where in time past he was by the evill spirit kept lowest yea doth hee not suffer himselfe for this very end many times thus to die in appearance and to leave a soule to it selfe that it may see what it is in it selfe and learne to die to it selfe that so hee may have the more glorious resurrection in that soule I beseech you for the Lords sake to consider these things As for her outward person I conceive she cares as little for it as you can therefore you may take your fill of trampling on it but I beseech you bee carefull how you medle with the spirit that breaths in her for surely brethren I know not what spirit manifested it selfe in her while with you I am sure and I speake nothing but the truth that I have found a most divine spirit in her as farre as I could discerne and that which comes to the spirit and life of things and in this me thinks you should rejoyce for truly I have heard many professors and seene many professions but to my knowledge I never heard one come so neare the power as shee does I doe not speake this as being affected with any person party or opinion I blesse my God I am now in his strength delivered from that though some have falsly affirmed my being deluded by her but I am confident I can say with Paul
it was unexpected by me onely the Lord would have it so and therfore all your care must serve the Lords designes to bring it to my hand when my husband was not in town doe not therefore look upon me but look to the Lord use me as kindly as Job did his servant reject not my cause for surely it is not mine I leave you to the Lord whom I desire rightly to guide you in this thing and am Your sincere loving Sister and servant from the greatest to the meanest of you T. P. Abington 26. March 1649. 26. Letter Deare Friend ENgagements from a true principle are not easily dislolved and while we hold the head we cannot let goe the members I have considered you in the union of life and truth from whence flow my unfeigned respects to you and wherein consists the true enjoyment of your self Vanity of vanity interposeth between God and us while we are below and vexeth our unquiet spirits seeking contentment in earthly relations we wander too and fro and return empty but when we close with the divine will our distractions are composed the commotions of our distempred hearts are all sweetly silenced Friend when you have in the spirit ascended farre above all heavens when you are above all even that God hath made and for a time also ordained you to use then may you and then will you be able to descend into the lowest parts of the earth and from thence again rise to the highest glory Then will you have a true sweet and comfortable use of the meanest condition in the world out of which you shall mount to the clearest enjoyment of the greatest happinesse and by a continuall intercourse between heaven and earth you will at last come to inherit the utmost large and full extent of the Lords dominions If you were confined to that heaven onely as it hath been received in the generall notion you would be streightned in your borders and be deprived of part of your portion and possession for the earth as well as the heaven is filled with the glory of God from which if you were excluded you must necessarily want that peice of your right whereof you were made an heiresse When the ladder of our eternall union is set between Heaven and Earth between the divine and humane nature then may we both ascend and descend one as freely as the other our heavenly state will not disdain our earthly nor our earthly hinder our heavenly the true Angelicall life hath sweet communion with God in both Trouble afflictions and crosses in the world will administer consolation and be all your servants helpers of your joy God will be all Union unto him cannot be divided the wings of the morning are not swift enough to outflie him the utmost parts of the earth the farthest distance of sense the broad Sea the greatest confusion of minde the wide wildernesse the most solitary sadnesse of heart cannot hide from his presence Nay if you goe downe into the Hell of horrour your Ioule shall not be left there his right hand of power and spirit of holinesse will raise you up againe I have endeavoured to discharge my respects to you in these short and sudden lines being now hindred from enlarging by the courtesie and visites of my friends My respects of love presented I am Your servant in Truth Aug. 20. 1649. Copiâ— haec mut at â—â— mutandis typis mandetur 27. Letter To I. I. DEARE and loving Friend whom I desire to own and to be one with in the fellowship of the Father and the Son in one eternall invisible and ever-ruling Spirit in and with which Spirit we are to walk live abide in after we are made one with it which is and must bee an inward true and invisible walking and according to an inward true and invisible rule and not after an outward and worldly manner as the worldlings doe For my Kingdome is not of this world saith Christ my Kingdome is not of observation and worldly rudiments for it is within you that consists not in any outward rule or practise all the true rules and directions of the Spirit is within it is visible the truth of all things is within the outward is not the truth but an Image of the truth therefore to walke in outward forms or ordinances is but to walke in an Image and not in the truth it selfe but to walke in the truth is to walke in the spirit and if in the spirit then in God for God is a spirit and hee is the truth of the spirit and he that will be one with God must bee one with him in the spirit and in truth as it is essentiall in God or else there can be no perfection and then no true walking with God to be one with God is to be nothing ones selfe and to walk with God is to walke out of ones selfe Enoch walked with God and was not for God tooke him he was not that is hee was not himselfe No man can walke with God while he is himselfe a man as man cannot be said to walke with God he may walke with man but not with God nothing can be said to walke with God but what is one in and with God and therefore must bee as God for none can walke with God but God No man hath seen the Father but the Sonne hee that ascended is the same that descended no man hath nor never shall see the Father but the Sonne Then none can be said to walke with God but Jesus Christ who is God And this walking is invisible that is a communion of spirit in man one man may have communion with another as man but none can have communion with God but God light cannot have communion with darknesse nor darknesse with light but light hath communion with it selfe Therefore that we are in the light let us walk as Children of the light and not as the Children of darknesse But you will say Doe wee not walke with God in Ordinances I answer that ordinances are not light truth nor spirit and therefore wee cannot walke with God in them wee cannot walke with God in any thing but in the light in the truth and in the spirit nor none can walke with God in these things but the divine spirit or inward man which is of God and one with God to walke with and in God is to walke in the truth and ordinances you cannot say are the truth no more then you can say the scripture is the truth but if you will make it truth you must make it God for there is but one truth and that is God One God and Father of all one Lord one Faith and one Baptisme and all but one God and one truth God as he is in the word Christ Jesus is the truth and if we have heard of him and been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus then shall wee say that the scripture is not truth but
it tels us what is the truth it saith It is life eternall to know God the true God then to walke in the truth is to know the truth and to know the truth is know God onely and having knowne God wâ—â— know how to walke with God and no man can know God but God no man can know the Father but the Sonne and hee to whom the Sonne will reveale him And the Sonne hath not truly revealed the Father to man till man through Christ is become the Sonne of God and being the Sonne of God hee knowes God and is knowne of God and so is one with God whereby he hath acceptance to walk with God We should take it ill of them that tell us wee know not God but when we come to know him indeed as God in his owne eternall and essentiall being wee shall then confesse that we never knew him before we have had many thoughts we have known God when alas we have known nothing of him as he ought to be known to know God in any forme or ordinance nay in any created excellency even the highest manifestation that ever wee had of him among the creatures is but as an imagined or formall knowledge which can be no perfect knowledge it is no true knowledge of God to know him in any thing below himselfe below the divine and essentiall being of God all things below himselfe are imperfect and can give no true testimony of him we receive tokens from men and letters from men by which we come to have some kind of knowledge of them but if we never see the person wee can have no true knowledge of him the greatest manifestation that ever we have of God or the greatest knowledge we can have of him though it boby Angels if it be not by himselfe it is not a true knowledge and can produce no true happines for they are all but as messengers sent from him and is not himselfe and till he comes himselfe in his owne substance that wee see him as he is in himselfe a God above and beyond all gifts and graces which but as messengers were sent from him wee see him not and then cannot know him as we ought I am not the Christ saith John I am but sent before him to prepare the way for him and as be increaseth I must decrease I must be nothing that he may be all Therefore while wee see ordinances any thing gifts graces manifestations or any thing below God himselfe to be any thing so long we see not God to be all and then know him not as God wee may know him in all things after a manner but it is an outward externall knowledge and not a spirituall inward knowledge and therefore no true knowledge yet this is the knowledge wee have of him in ordinances even an eternall litterall knowledge and according to this so we walke and not according to truth and perfection But you will then say Is it not the will of God that we should walke in ordinances I answer that in way of permission it may be for a time yet not for ever but the will of God goes further for this is the will of God even your sanctification that all that are his should bee as himselfe for bee yee perfect as he is perfect perfection consists not in ordinances nor in any created excellence but in God onely which is an uncreated glory therefore be ye perfect as he is perfect for that is the will of your God and ought to be the desire of all his to be perfect as he is perfect to walke as he walks and to know as he knowes and in this we shall be like unto God that wee may have fellowship with him as the Apostle sayth walke in the light as he is in the light and then you shall have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and the Sonne and this is a fellowship above all ordinances and above all revealed things a man cannot have fellowship with God and converse with him as God till hee is seperated from all relation It is said in Prov. 18. 1. that through desire a man hauing seperated himselfe seeketh and entermidleth with all wisdome That is with God a man cannot seek or intermeddle with the Creator till he is seperated from the creature But you will say are we not then to make use of the creature nor any created thing I answer in a temporall way you may but all that while you will have but a temporall union with them nor in them there can be no true union with God in the creature no not in any created glory whatsoever For all is as grasse and as grasse it withereth because the spirit of the Lord blows upon it and all the joy and comforts that I have thought I have found in them is but as a blast before the Almighty God the creature nay the excellencyes of creatures or creature comforts were made only for the body and not for the soule not as to finde comfort in them no nothing can be food to a soule but the eternall invisible being of God for invisible things must be fed from invisible powers and the soule is as invisible as God for it is God it is and must be that dependence which we have upon God and this would fall if not fed by God and from God therefore it is one with God The Rivers and streams which is one with the Seas would soon faile if not fed from the Sea So would the soule of man if it were not continually fed from its own natural principle from God who is the sea and fountain of Soules and now an Ordinance or any other thing but God cannot bring comfort to a soule a man may take some delight in them but it is but a fancy or some naturall or outward affection that he hath to them and not for any spirituall comfort he findeth in them he may perhaps count it spirituall but the spirit cannot count so of it the spirit cannot delight to be in any thing but in its own element which is an element above all created things flesh and spirit cannot dwel together without interrupting one of another therefore to tie the spirit to have communion with God in an Ordinance is to keep him in bondage the Church which is below is in bondage with her children but the Church which is above in the spirit is sure which is the mother of us all therefore to binde the spirit to an Ordinance or to any thing below it self which is below God is to keep him in bondage Men may walk in Ordinances or in Forms or in the Image of things But all this while their communion is but an Image an outward form or Image to the communion of spirits it is but a naturall communion which typifies a Church in the spirit So that it is not our perfection to walk in Ordinances because by them God is vailed from us
glory in that administration I grant it and that it yet is to some yea many and they doe well to waite for glory there where they finde it appearing to them I call off none frâ—m ordinances I judge not those that professe themselves called off I know not where abouts I am surenot in vision but sometimes I hope in dreames the old mans state and so under the spirit The last thing you mention is your seruples about Ordinances which are torâ— as an hedge of thornes set by the Lord in your way to turn you backe again from those things which we have more or lesse idollized and set up in his place I have performed your desire and you may looke upon me as Lazarus quickened but bound hand and foot with grave cloaths what life and liberty I have it must be to serve the Saints and therefore account me ever ready to serve you August 18. 1649. Letter 29. Dear and much esteemed MY Father hath unbosomed such a glory to me since I saw you last that I cannot but admire at it it was as I was walking alone the power of my Father was seen in an exceeding glory so that I could not tell how to contain it my veile was too narrow to receive it I have had many discoveries of glory since and have been in many fires and burnt very sweetly and consum'd very joyfull I desire to live as well in Hell as in Heaven and the greater Hell the greater Heaven I rejoyce exceedingly in the everlasting burnings one breath of my Father makes both Heaven and Hell but this is that my Father hath written in my heart that everlasting deliverance is at hand but first the Lord will cover the Earth with darknesse and with grosse darknesse the people and such black clouds of darknes will our Father cloath himself with that none but those that see with the eye of the Lord shall be able to see him in the thick darknes The smoak of the Beast ascends out of the bottomlesse pit and wrath from the Almighty is upon her and I cannot but rejoyce and sing Hallelujah Hallelujah all praise be given to him that sits on the thron for ever and when you see these things done then lift up your heads the day of your redemption is at hand I see them performed I see them finished and brought forth into power and I rejoyce in the work of the Lord. I see the restored estate of our bringing forth with mighty power that wee shall see all things good that the Saints shall know no evill for my part I know no evill I see all things good I know nothing but good in all the world the Lord doth all things well whether in Earth or in Heaven and that that hath swallowed us up we are now swallowing it up I am swallowing Death Hell and the Grave up that now I am able to play with Satan He is but a Reed in my hands I have been really cloathed upon and mortality swallowed up into life and when this glory comes forth it will judge the world and silence them our glory is their torment and our Heaven is their Hell Thus I have given you an account of the present discoveries of my Father and rest in your heart â— Clem. FINIS A New Song 1. I Am that I am All that you heare and see I was now is and so shall bee All to Eternitie 2. Good is the Word the Word is Good God and the Word are one The rule is true and even so All that you look upon 3. This Word is Good this Good is God This Good is all you see If otherwise I should it owne Where would the freedome be 4. Now herein is the freedome just Thus knowing light to see That all is Good this all is God This Good hath made us free 5. Then entertein this freedome just In pure love for to bee Which pure love is the perfect Good Vnto Eternitie