the word For the word hath not onely a knowledge but also a certaine action it is not onely a Light and splendor in us given from above but also Life The interior word containeth both of these which sometimes is called the Kingdome of God sometimes the Spirit sometimes Christ dwelling in us For it is not onely a Light way and guide but also Spirit truth and Life that is which not onely teacheth man that he may understand but also moves him that hee workes But the exterior word is farre from this priviledge and hath farr a different nature For it is nothing else but a certaine forme figure of the interior J will not say a shadow Therefore the interior words as it is the onely lively so it is the onely true word as being the truth and life But on the contrary the exterior is nothing but a killing Letter and a deceitfull figure of the word Hence it ariseth the Letter as Christ becomes a certaine snare to wicked men a stone of offence darkenesse not Light death and not Life Therefore it is necessarie that beside the exterior word the interior be sought after and knowne Since the exterior deceiveth a man with its shape is death and darknesse unlesse the Light Life of the spirit bee together present with it Moreover the exterior suffereth a man to be sluggously and idle except the power of the interiour bee present with it Therefore the interiour word may be without the exterior as the exteriour without the interior Therfore it doth not necessarily follow that a man hath the word of God because he pretends and hath the letter as on the other side it followeth not that he who wāteth the exterior word or letter wāteth also the interior true and heavenly word which is God himselfe For he doth not alwayes want the word who hath not the Letter For the Letters doth onely give a testimony of the word so farre are they from being the word it selfe yea they are scarce the Image of the living word Much lesse are they it which neither can be written nor expressed by words both which is incident to the Letters Therefore the Letters are farre from being the word of God yea all the word though sometimes they bee called the word of God as the image and picture of a man is called sometimes by his name even as God is sometimes called man the word flesh not that God is man or the word or spirit is made flesh by imitation appellattion and permixion So as what is said of one may be verified of the other or so as God cease to be God and to be truely changed into man as that water in Cana Galilee was changed into wine Or so as the word is so flesh as not now it is not the spirit or the word but flesh in no wise The word is not so in the Letter that they be one and the selfe same thing or so as the word should have changed it selfe into the Letter and yet well and rightly the Letters are called the Word of God so as God is called Man and the Word flesh although to speake properly neither is the word of God chāged into Letters nor God into Man nor the word into flesh Therefore both these may be true the Letters are the word of God and the Letters are not the word of God Now although the Letters are sometimes in some respect the word of God yet truely are they not the sole nor altogether nor all the Word of God yea if we speak properly they are not the word of God which either can be spoken or written and that the Letters are not the sole word of God may be made knowne by this That many things besides the Scriptures are revealed inspired unto many and many things are spoken and written by them which are not contained openly in the letters yea which somtimes are contrarie to the dead Letters The Prophets Moyses Christ and his Appostles whose words seeme to be contrary to the Prophets what they have written of the Temple the Sacrifice Circumcision and of the vision of God Moreover the true word of God hath beene from all eternitie yea even before any scripture was as I have said before it will be hereafter whē the scriptures are perished Therefore the word is improperly in the Letter and flesh and therefore it is improperly called flesh or the Letter For my word saith Christ is Spirit and Life Therefore the word cannot be that word which is flesh or dead letter wherfore though the word truely and indeed is onely in spirit as in which it onely liveth yet it is also in the flesh but yet weake if there it bee alone without the Spirit and Life It is also in the Letter but altogether dead unlesse the Spirit doe quicken it as the soule doth the bodie and it is in both and yet not truely and if truely yet not all and onely and lively Now although the word is in the Spirit lively and true yet after a more peculiar excellent manner it is in the flesh then in the Letter although the Spirit be present with the Letter and lend a hand it teacheth nothing but when the spirit dwelleth with the flesh it not onely teacheth but also maketh alive and bursteth out into workes So the letter of the Law brings men to no perfection although it be the word of God as also the Scriptures spoken by the mouth of God and written by his finger For the word of the Law did teach the knowledge of the precept but did not give man a will and strength to fulfill the same but the word which is made flesh giveth life to beleevers Hence it commeth to passe that the flesh inspired with the word and spirit of God wills and doth keepe the Commandement of God Therefore the word in the flesh doth onely give an Example of life when on the contrarie it leaveth in the letter all things idle and sleepie But in the Spirit it truely stirrs up the heart and affections towards the Law for the Spirit is the life and soule of the word and therefore the word it selfe but the flesh is a certaine imitation of the word the letters a certaine printed picture and Copie of the word Wherefore the written word is not the true word but a certaine image thereof yea the Scriptures pronounced in words are not the true word of God but onely a testimony thereof For the Scriptures had beginning in time by occasion but the word was from all eternitie Adde to which the Scriptures doe lead men into errour except the interpreter viz. the Spirit be present And they are a sealed booke and a perplexed Laborinth unlesse the Spirit be present as the Treede of Thesius to guide us and as the Key of David to open unto us Hence it comes to passe that many men seeing see not and hearing heare not and as who know the Scriptures
againe nothing so great that can receive or circumscribe God As nothing is so little but God is lesse and nothing so great but God is greater beyond without below above all Creatures So also is his divine word As the free almightie eternall immutable omniscient incomprehensible invisible and unconceivable God is the beeing of all things So as as all things consist rather in him then in and by themselves as Taulerus and the Germain Theologie in a 1000 places doe avouch and is none of these things which can be seene or comprehended by sence or expressed by word So his divine word is free in all and beyond all bound unto nothing neither tyed to the prison or letters or cover of the Letter concluded included and so tyed unto it that otherwise it is no where even as the following Position and Sentence of a Learned man divinely instructed doe show As the word is covered and hidden by the Letter so it is opened and revealed by the spirit Hence it commeth to passe that the Letters be as a closed or sealed Booke so as the dark Letter except it be opened doth slay but the Spirit doth quicken and the Letters are as a certaine Image void of Life and Spirit that is a printed and dead expression of the Spirit therefore they want Life except the soule of the spirit be present and doe erre Therefore the Letters cannot be the word of God Since the word is farre otherwise an other thing then the letters For it is a spirit truth life but the letters are cōtrary flesh the letter death yea the letters if they want the Light of the word are an offence if they want the soule of the spirit are a stumbling block Therfore the Letters are an otherwise thing then the word that is they are not the Sword of the Spirit but a sheath For as the womb of the virgin conceived the word so the Letters For the word is clothed both with flesh with the Letters that Seede of Abrahem layeth hould of the Scriptures or Letters for they are both one and againe is apprehended by them but the spirit is not apprehended in the flesh or Letter of the Scriptures The cause thereof is this the flesh or Letter cannot containe conceive or comprehend the Majestie of the word yet even as it was so in the flesh that the Majestie thereof did not appeare so it is in the Letter that true neither to all or to any one that reads is it obvious and apparent This is witnessed by all Learned men in the meere Letter since the world began who neither could know finde or comprehend Christ in the flesh nor the word in the Letter which they should have done if Christ in the flesh or under the miserie of the flesh had beene known unto all not hidden but manifested and the Letter had beene not the covering mysterie but the true living and enlightning word of God it selfe As therefore the flesh was not the word but the cover thereof and a certaine great mysterie So the Letters are not the word properly but the shell the barke and cover thereof The word was made fleshly assumption not mixture and so the same word is made Letters yet not so as the same can be said of the Letters as of the word but as in a certaine Seale Therfore so farre are the Letters from being the word of God that they onely be the figure and barke thereof For the word is not that which is spoken by the Letter but that which is expounded by the Holy Ghost and understood onely of the Faithfull Therefore the Letters doe paint out shadow out and after a certaine manner set forth unto us the word and expresse something but are not the word although they be spoken and expressed For the word did not assume the flesh that it is not out of the flesh So it did not so fall into the Letter that it is not out of the Letter For there was the word when there was no Letters and the same will remaine after the Letters are perished Therefore as the word was never included and circumscribed in the flesh neither is it in the Letters For so it was in the bodie as it never yet left heaven and in the same manner it is so in the Letter as yet it is every where Therefore the word is in the Letter altogether but not all Hereupon we see that the letters have been exercised with a continuall encrease and addition Therefore the Letters are the Image of the word and not the word it selfe And if they be they are altogether a written and a dead not a living word For there is a twofould word one that quickneth viz. the Spirit another the Letter which is said to kill and slay The living word is that which inwardly teacheth and maketh us to fructifie the dead word is that which in the Flesh and Letter is proposed unto us The living word is a true Light which enlightneth all men and therefore a regenerating spirit because it reneweth all things In a word it is the power and might of God which giveth unto us that knowledge sence soule and Life which is from God A certaine brightnesse of the face of God which enlightneth us from above imprints in us the unction of the Holy Ghost by which it teacheth and instructeth us in all things But the dead word are the Letters that sealed booke and dead Letter sence and will which is the word of the flesh not of the Spirit of God The true and living word is that which God begetteth in us and the spirit of God effecteth in us But the dead and Litterall word is that which the Letters show unto us and men propound Therefore he doth not alwayes want the word who hath not the Letters For he may have the interior who wants the exterior word to witt the Law of God written in our hearts Hence it comes to passe that no man hath absolute neede to be taught of an other or to admonish his brother concerning the knowledge of God For al these shall know from the least to the greatest and are all the Disciples of Christ divinely taught This writing is not printed with inke and paper but written with the finger of God in the tables of our hearts This is the Doctrine of the truth and the inspiration of the Spirit to wit the propheticall breathing the inspiration of the Spirit and the true art of God Moreover hee may have the living word of God who wants the dead of the Letter and the thing it selfe who wants the signe that is the Life of the word though he wants the dead Letter For two things are cheifly to be considered in the word The first is the disposition and nature of the word which is a certaine Light intended for the enlightning of men The other is the action of it that is the spirit which giveth action and operation to
and yet neither know nor understand Therefore we confesse that the letters are a certaine image and figure of the word yet they are not truely the very word because they are but onely an image figure thereof This is the reason wherefore we admitt no other word but what is answerable to this Image or Example of the Scriptures and to the true and spirituall sence Therefore the Scriptures are as the Index or golden Scales of the word so they be understood not according to the dead letter but according to the minde of Christ and will of the Spirit Therefore we reject not what is agreable to the true meaning of the Scriptures so we doe not deny what is not contrary unto them For whosoever is not against us is of us Therefore we deny not the exterior word written or spoken so doe we confirme the interior or living so it is wee grant the maistery and unction of the Spirit and doe not deny the guift of Prophecye and interpretation of the Scriptures For the word hath something to come and something obscure difficult to the flesh That which is to come the Spirit taketh it of the word and declareth it unto us that which is obscure hard to be understood it dayly teacheth unto us and leadeth us into all truth Therefore under the name of the word of God the Letters are not onely understood but all prophecies visions dreames unctions inward speakings Doctrins of the Spirit revelations if they be frō God also whatsoever holie men by the instinct of the spirit have either spoken or done Therefore no man must adhere peremptorily to the onely letter where the Holy Ghost is there is libertie and the free word is bound to none Moreover the Holy Ghost suffereth no rule or limit to be prefixed to it in its owne therefore to nothing it is tyed but to it selfe that is be not contrarie and disagreeing to it selfe as therefore many things come and are spoken frō God al which nay not the thousand part are writtē in the scripturs So many things at this day happen are spoken by God which are not written And yet neverthelesse they are the word of God and wrought by him Add to which that many things there are not written nor expressed in words which wee yet receive for the word of God and onely by hand as it were have received them from our Forefathers of which kinde are the abrogation of the precepts of the first counsell renewed after by the Holy Ghost to the Church So as the Church was freed from the same Of which things wee notwithstanding have no written or expresse word Christ himselfe taught all in word and writt nothing and commanded his Apostles to preach not to write And the Church is begotten rather by word then by writing Moreover the Doctors preachers of the new Covenant were called and indeed are the Ministers of the Spirit not of the Letter By all these it is manifest that the free and swift Spirit is not tyed unto letters nor the Doctrine of the Spirit can bee included into the Jayle prison and corner of the Scriptures Therefore although there bee many bookes of the Law something sometimes may change to come in handling of which there is no expresse Canon or Law to be found but it is to be excogitated and ruled by reason So oftentimes such a rare thing happeneth the letters doe universall forsake a man that they cannot teach comfort guide or appease him but a man must necessarily repaire unto God and consult with the peculiar word of the Spirit by prayer to comfort and strengthen his weakned conscience For it is not sufficient to have the common call and word except a man have speciall proper and inward call which yet is not contrary unto the common And although the word of God is altogether one and undivided yet how much thereof a man hath received by faith so much of it is his and this is his word His issue the Word of God is as God himselfe must be made every ones by faith No otherwise then whereas the Light of the Sunne is common yet as much as every one is enlightned thereby so much is the Sunne his and no more So as much as every one hath of God and his word so farre is he his God and so farre hath he God and his word which are common to all peculiar to himselfe Therfore the letters are farre weaker then to satisfie a troubled conscience in the offences thereof and to make quiet againe the lively word of God must doe this and this honour hath God reserved onely to himselfe neither will he permitt it to the letters or any Creatures whatsoever Moreover the Holy Ghost will not be bound or captivated in those that are his nor be subject to the masterie of any one nor suffer that it should be taught by any writing or mouth of man but will it selfe be the light the Doctor master captaine and in a word all in all things Moreover he who useth the Scriptures for a testimony of that worke spirit so hee doe it according to the minde of Christ not interpreting them according to the interpretation of the Scribes and Puarisees doth onely use the Scriptures aright according to the will of God according as he ought all others are meere abuses and the worship of images as the whole world busies it selfe in the Scriptures and esteeme them to be their Apollo as if the Holy Ghost God were no longer to be consulted with concerning any affaires but onely the letters In a word here they enquire and have all things here with the Pharisees they think to have life neither will they grow by an others mans harme nor will they see how blinde impious ignorant and dead they ever have beene in all ages in divine things and in the word of God who have beene the most Learned and could all the Bible at their fingers ends having for all that neede to heare and learne the truth from Christ So darke and deadly are the Letters which they make their Idols Paul calleth the Letters death but they life but indeed they are eternall darknesse death aenigma allegorie and a sealed booke Unlesse thou have the living word of God unto the Light and in them relie upon the Holy Ghost For thy teacher inspirer interpreter guide and master and yet many of them dare make the booke to be open when as yet they cannot agree in the exposition of it And from thence doe as many Sects and Heresies arise as Readers and Heads doe attempt to reade it But know thou and have it as a thing most true that they are cleane onely to the cleane Spirituall to the Spirituall the Word of God to them who are of God and Religiously studie them by the direction and guidance of the Holy Ghost whom they carie alwayes with them and put as a Light into this otherwise darke Lanthorne so as by the the doctrine of the Spirit direction of it they bring more light unto them then they receive therfrom what they receive therefrom is nothing else or no other but a certaine Testimonie of the Spirit of them and all Doctrine The Bereans used the Scriptures as Christ would have them to bee used Acts 17. Search the Scriptures saith he in which yee thinke yee have Eternall life Ioh. 5. But he thinkes otherwise For it followes they are they which testifie of me that I am the Life and Word which speaketh unto you John 8. As therefore we graunt that the Scriptures are the rule of the word judge of spirituall things So in no wise will we remove out of the Church the word of God and unction of the Spirit For even as wee defend the Majestie and authoritie of the word of God against the dead Letter so will we maintaine the masterie of the Spirit against the executioner of the Letter And so doe we grant the fulfilling of the swift and short word as in the onely precept of loue all is contayned both the Law and Prophets be comprehended therein we ingenuously confesse Wherefore as wee doe not take away the word of the Law but confirm it So we doe think that something is yet dayly to be opened in the Church by the unction of the Doctors thereof the signe and earnest not of that which is necessary to salvation but to the guift of Prophecying and the hidden interpretation of the Scriptures Since Christ never forsaketh his Spouse but is alwayes present with her unto the end Math. 28. and being ever in the midst of her doth guide direct her 2 Cor. 9. This is the reason wherfore we doe not force or include the Majestie of the word of God within the narrow prison of the Letters FINIS Luke 10. Deut. 11.
the Bird for its long but wholy referring all things to God and have know doe â—ove and be nothing but in him Thus the redeemed free and perfect Christians have know doe c. all things they possesse wife children life knowledge wisdome substance c. yea and themselves altogether freely in the Lord neither doe they attribute any thing to themselves even as if they were nothing had nothing knew nothing for they know that God it is who is hath knowes and doth all those things which they are know or doe so the Christian hath his wife in the Lord that is doth not challenge her to himselfe as his owne but freely designeth her to God whose she is and from whom she is lent unto him whom he is willing to restore whensoever it shal please God to requir her as he never challengeth her to himselfe as his owne even so he ever enjoyes her in God and in and for God loves her This Paul David calls it to sing rejoyce marie have in the Lord that is to reduce all things unto God in him know love have bee doe all things neither detract any thing from God as my proper owne and right And whosoever have not thus their knowledge Wife Children and themselves in the Lord they offend in this because they love them it being a carnall Love out of God And so farre are all things unclean to the unclean that even his prayers are sin unto him yea his praises of God Fasts Orations Supplications God despiseth according to the Prophet And although hee be bountifull to the poore yet he doth it in vaine Breefly what he doth he doth it in vaine it is not pleasing but displeasing unto God Whether hee love or hate his Wife Children and Neighbours whether hee chyde or pray all things are uncleane unto him Wife Children Feilds Lands Money povertie riches fame infamy life deathknowledge learning yea God himselfe And lastly he is unfitt for any thing that is good By himselfe he is evill sinfull and nothing And what shew of goodnesse soever is in him it is stained by an hypocriticall eye and affection Therefore it s no matter what he hath knoweth or doth hee is a Vessell of no price an evill Tree unprofitable for any good worke since both his mind and conscience is depraved Therfore before al things it is necessary that with Nicodemus they be born again that al things with them may bee â—n new unto them the flesh must be changed into the spirit so cease to be flesh For it is so impure and every way desirous of its owne gaine and so infected and depraved with the poyson of sinne that it draweth all things to it selfe seeketh it selfe in all things and arrogateth that to it selfe as its owne which it knoweth loveth or doth and hath all things under a false pretence out of a love to it selfe Neither doth it love any thing but what is pleasant and profitable for it selfe But a Christian loveth an unprofitable sicke and loathsome Wife for God and hath her not for his pleasure or profit only but for Gods will pleasure The naturall and fleshly man doth nothing but out of a love to himselfe and whatsoever he doth he hath an eye and reflecteth upon himselfe and in what he sees he can finde to delite himselfe in he is willing to meddle with that Hence it is that the house of sorrow poverty banishment troubles sicknesses and reprehensions and whatsoever hee sees harsh unto him he hates no lesse then the Devill doth the crosse of Christ Jesus But whatsoever is excellent great pleasant bewtifull c. to this he cleaves as fast as the clay to the wheele Whereby he may enjoy what he saw and desired in them Breefly he doth nothing but out of a love to himselfe and in what he doth hee challengeth the chiefe part to himselfe I say that in all his actions both with God and Man he respects nothing but his owne profitt and pleasure which if he be deprived off he looseth his cheerfulnesse and alacrity of spirit and becoms sorowfull desists to worke any further what therefore can be done by such a man as this but what is uncleane But the regenerate man being borne of God doth quite contrary in all his actions he is desirous of the common profitt being altogether so affected and disposed as God his Father He doth nothing but most freely subiected unto God suffieth him to doe and care for all things in him so that it followes that in this man is the meere nature work of God and he or rather God in him repaires to the humble poore sicke and to those that are in the house of sorrow to help and comfort them by whatsoever God hath either given him or doth work in him as his substance milke and consolation and in all those things he lookes upon no other thing but only God who rather in him only lookes upon himselfe Neither is it the Man but God in the Man who communicateth to other necessities loves prayes heares worshipps honours wills and possesseth Thirdly Adam would know and therfore labours for much knowledge and so Eates of the forbidden Fruit that he may live and become a great one even God and for this only end the whole World now a dayes applies it selfe to all studies because it desires not to dye in obscuritie and oblivion but to live and florish not in the lower degrees of estimation but in the chiefest seate of reputation and honour and with all to know all things that possible it can that so it may be made famous and thereby be glorified and delighted therein wherefore every day he works more and more to encrease his knowledge by which he may be more and more emminent greater and more like unto God that if it were possible to know more then God that with Lucifer be might be equall with him But that this ambition was the fall of Lucifer no man will consider but every man in those prosecutions disputations and studies for knowledg seeketh for life when indeed there is in them nothing but bitter death which both in Lucifer as also in Adam most manifestly doth appeare Truely it is a wonder that of this forbidden Tree of Death every man should be so much desirous to eate Gods will is that we know nothing but what he will know write and teach in us and that being void of all knowledge prudence wisdome in our selves wee become fooles wee remaine under him as fooles and babes but we busie our selves about the obtaining of many thousands of Sciences and treasure them up unto our selves as if in them our life consisted that like to God wee are ignorant of nothing and all flesh desireth rather to be like unto God then to Christ But on the contrary Gods will it is that before this bee we as Christ was be deprived of every thing that is our own and be wholy
be quit contrary to what he is or hath beene He is flesh born of flesh unto death and therefore it is behovefull that he be made spirit borne of spirit unto life Which before he bee all things are uncleane unto him as he is himselfe although all things in themselves are very good yet are they perverse evill unto him as all things seem blew to him that lookes upon them through a blew perspective all things degenerats into the nature of the possessor and therefore all things by Adam are made vanity although by themselves as ever they have beene they are good For all foode is savory according to the pallet temperature that receivs it even so is every thing according as he that possesseth and hath it is cleane to the cleane uncleane to the uncleane it cannot be otherwise but that all things be unjustly done loved prayed for knowne and retained which an unjust man doth love pray for know and retaine as the very words themselvs declare For how can it be that a wicked man can doe any thing justly a foolish man speak any thing wisely an unclean man doe any thing purely a lying man speak any thing truely Fiftly the naturall man as before hath been said is Flesh borne of the flesh altogether of an uncleane nature perverse adulterous the servant of Satan sprong of the Seede of the Serpent seduced and turned away by his word and the tree of knowledge so infected with poyson that betwixt Lucifer and Adam there is no difference for as al true Christians are of Christ the sonnes of God gods God himselfe so are all the Sonnes of the Devill the Devill being of the same kinred ofspring appertaining to the same Kingdome and covenant as Princes and Subiects to the same being al in the same estate of condemnation neither is there any remedy to preveÌ„t this jayle but that a man put of the old man so as he be no longer man but a new offspring creature born of God Hence we may easily gather what is the naturall prudence justice knowledge of man to witt foolishnes sin and enmity unto God because that all flesh is an enimy unto God freinds unto Satan and altogether of the same witt nature wil birth as it were his flesh blood In so much as he is nothing but an enimy unto God can perceive nothing that is divine would be nothing but with out God or rather his own God Attributing all that is good to himselfe as Adam and Lucifer did the Father of the flesh these are the Fruits of the forbidden Tree But the Christian is borne of God is a spirit and life altogether of divine nature and nothing else but the Jmage of God or if you wil a visible and corporal God who being made one with God is of the same nature rich in love desirous of the common profitt attributing nothing to himselfe like to God free strong void of proprietie ambition and anger Breefly or in a word whatsoever can be said or may be said of God may in its kinde be said of the true Christian since now it is not he that lives but Christ lives in him Not now he is any thing but God is all things in him that is whatsoever he speakes teacheth hath wills c. and although they unwillingly carry the old man about them yet never doe they live unto him but alwayes contrary earnestly endevouring themselves against him untill they have quit put him out Therefore to conclude this chapter the true use of all things is knowne only to the sincere Christians and the abuse to the naturall man Not yet justified living in himselfe who can neither use speake teach doe love know have or not have any thing truely But with all hath a defiled both conscience minde Hence it is that he is altogether unfitt for any good work like a black Collier and in all his actions like a stage player foolish blinde dumb deafe abscene and wicked In a word whatsoever evill man hath or title can be invented it 's proper unto him untill he returne from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evill unto the Tree of Life and eating thereof and he be delivered from the Kingdome of Darknesse into the Kingdome of Light Otherwise the flesh doth alwayes retaine its proper nature and hath in all things a false and ungodly cause and end for which it doth every thing that it doth In a word he altogether aimes at himselfe yea under a pretence of God although he thinke himselfe to know love and desire God only for God without any respect had to himselfe No man hath yet truely learned to know himselfe the flesh being so cunning and craftie to excuse it selfe no man knowes whether or no hee sinnes in all his workes so unsearchable is the craftines of the heart yea no man truely understands that in all his works as in his loving doing speaking knowing praying giving willing having possessing c. he mortally sinnes untill he be redeemed and pulled out of the dregs of Adam translated into Christ he become a new Creature Of which things reade Paul Bochâ—us de consolalatione Philosophiae the third Booke and the tenth Proofe How we must live unto God and so be made blessed in him CHAP. IV. Hovv Man being of God could sinne and what it was that moved him to sinne ADAM was not taken out of God or made of a Spirit but of nothing of the Earth if he had been taken out of God he could never have fallen by sinne as those that are borne of God cannot sinne Jo. 3. but God created him of nothing and then left him to himselfe and his owne arbitrament whether he could returne to his owne nothing againe or according to the order of his kinde be drawen unto God Sinne in Man and in the Devill is nothing else but that they doe avert themselves from the condition of their creation and that which they are unto their vanity and nothing againe the essence of Man and Satan is very good put this is their nature acquired in their fall that they strive to be not that which they are to wit nothing but that which â—hey are not so doe turn themselv froÌ„ As if it so were that that nothing of theirs were something in it selfe This is sinne this is that devill in all our hearts which stirreth up all sinne in us For as soone as Adam by the instinct of the Serpent fell away from God and returned unto his nothing again he was indeed made nothing which thing SataÌ„ who before had fallen into his nothing did spinne and weave into the heart of Adam by the externall obiect of the tree and he made the Fruit of the Tree so pleasant to behould that no sooner they beheld it but they were inflamed with a desire to eate of that Fruit For which cause it is written Ier. 9. that death enters
where and wherefore he will Julian th' Apostate ignorant of this secret against whom Civill writes was greatly offended at this that God would have man to know neither good nor evil or rather that he would have Man to have teach be and will nothing at al c. He I say was offended at this But if the matter be brought unto the light of truth we shall finde that all this happened because of us even as a Father forbids and detaines a Sword from his Son knowing that if he had it he would hurt himselfe upon it or otherwise abuse it In the same manner God denyed unto Adam and also unto us that Tree of Knowledge for our profit and good Neither did hee envy us therein but only did it to prevent the future evill into which he foresaw we should fall For he knew that assoone as Adam like God should know Good and Evill hee would challenge the same to himselfe desire to be his owne God otherwise God had not cared though Adam had eaten of that tree for satiety For assoone as Adam had eaten of it there followed thereupon selfelove and arrogating all things to himselfe praise and all other vices So God in all his commandements hath respect not so much to himselfe as to us and our salvation which not he but we enjoy as Iob himselfe doth manifestly confesse that God is neither hurt by our sinns nor profited by our righteousnesse but still remaineth an eternall perfect and impassible God to whom nothing can be added or any thing detracted though we try yet can we not make a Heaven neither put the Sunne out of them nor dry up a Fountaine but all these things remaine in the same estate and condition wherein God hath placed them He that assumes to throw a stone against Heaven it will fall upon his owne head Therefore we can make God neither richer nor poorer greater nor lesser no he is no way advantaged by us though we all adhere unto him only he hath a care on us to helpe us we never deserve to be what we are therefore we ought to attribute the cause of all our good to him only and give him the glory he hath an open hand more ready to give then we are to receive rich to all those that call upon him Neither doth he desire any thing at our hands but only this that we quietly receive of him that which he is willingly pleased to give for he that with quietnes doth not receive can have no hâ—pe that he shall receive all our witt we ought only to imploy to this end to the denying of our selves This should make us nothing children Fooles and prostrate low at the feete of God And to the effecting of this denying of our selves all our knowledge ought to be directed but that knowledge only which proceeds from God can effect it it can make a man nothing a Child a Foole and casts him downe at the feete of God But that knowledge that puffs up a Man making him great and wise in his owne conceit such being the wisdom of the World comes not from God but is rather the Serpents Seed forbidden fruit Now every one that eateth of the forbidden Tree for no other cause eateth hee thereof but only that he may obtaine a great name honour titles and glory that he may have preheminence to bee counted the light of the World And by this meanes he eateth death in stead of life This the holy Scriptures testify unto us for whereas we ought to know and learne nothing every man learnes to know and be wise in all things Now here some man might enquire why therefore did God create the Tree if he foreknew that both Adam and wee would eate death thereof and not rather hinder our sinne I answer that God at the first made us of earth and assuredly did know that we would not constantly abide in the estate of our creation and yet he suffred Adam to take his course make tryall of misery that forced through sorrow death he might hast to God again for so it was to be that God would create him againe out of sorrow and make him againe a new not as before of nothing but with grace of himselfe this God foresaw from all eternity and therefore suffred his fal and gave way that man should first tast of the bitternes of death before that he would give him the sweetenesse of eternall life by which he might know the better what he hath in God and what that life is compared with death which before he tasted Besides it was meete that God suffered the freedome of sinne rather then restrained it as well for many other causes as more speciall for this that otherwise it had beene coaction and force and not libertie and also the goodnesse of God his mercie having no other obiect could never have been manifested in his Creature Therfore it behoved that things should come thus to passe by the providence of God and yeeld without necessity or any fault in God Read Brentius lib. 4. Ambros. in Rom. 9. CHAP. VI Of the 2 kinds of knovvledge and Will and how the one allwayes resists the other THere is nothing under the Sunne but it may be said to be twofould that is Just and wicked Good and Evill Now just and also that which is evill and wicked may in like manner be said to the twofould the one according to the judgment of God and the other according to the estimation and opinion of men And now seeing God is a spirit and Men flesh contrary to the spirit it followes that all their judgements wills knowledges and actions be contrary and repugnant one to the other Whence it is what man calleth good right sweete light life knowledge wisdome justice c. God esteemes that to be evill wicked bitter darknes death foolishnes and sinne according as the Scriptures testify of God and of the World Therefore there is nothing in the world but it may be called good or evil according as the judgement of men are disposed to whom it is proposed What God is unto the world the same is the Devill unto God and so on the contrary So that nothing can be called Evill but all things are in their order right and good and evill and wicked according as the Touchstone is by which they are examined If I say that the Word of God is false foolishnes and Heresie the same is true in the judgement and opinion of the world and thus all things are twofould either good or evill good is twofould as also evill the one truely good or evill in the sight of God the other apparantly good or evill in the sight of Men or their opinion so that there is a two-fould fasting praying willing c. to witt one that is really good in the sight of God so as is God himselfe the author and teacher of all goodnesse the other in the sight
and is so farre from bringing Life with it that it mortifies kills the Reader as Paul implies where he sayth the spirit quickens and not the Letter The Iewes in auncient times and so men in these dayes doe boast themselves of the word of God are strongly perswaded that out of it they are able to gather Life to their soules but they are farre deceived Wherefore Christ sayes In whom thinke ye to have Life As for the Scriptures his testimony of them is this that they are them which testify of him Therefore all arts and knowledges are no wayes the cause of Life but the knowledge of Life to know him in and with God wicked nature hath alwayes a perverse end proposed to it selfe and therefore it desires to know all things not for God but for its owne sake therefore all things are to the flesh as it is its self vaine and perverse if the learning of so many arts had beene necessary to salvation God had created and taught them in the beginning Neither would bee have suffered that men should so long have wanted that without which they were not able to attaine to Life but because they were formed out by men and still are found out by them though no man be any whitt the more unhappie if so be he never know any thing of them Yea hee were more happie if he could unlearne them though with greater difficulty then he learned them you may by the Tree conjecture what the Fruit is what humane arts and sciences are to witt the Fruit of the forbidden Tree How then can they conduce any thing unto Life being the only precepts in ventions of men Therefore very well in praise of that word of God doth Cornelius Agrippa call all arts and actions of men meere ignorant fables and foolishnes in his Booke de vanitate Scientiarum The beginning and end whereof wee have putt in this Booke that wee may not seeme alone with Ernestinus to contemne arts and praise folly Wherefore if thou leane unto arts please and boast thy selfe in them having any hope or accounting thy selfe any thing better for them they will prove death unto thee for they doe no more conduce to thy happines then garments time place or such like circumstances But as they are the inventions of the flesh so doe they produce no other thing in thee then the workes and Fruits of the flesh to witt selfe-love pride of spirit contempt disdaine security such like And this is verified by experience for no men are more perverse craftie covetous then these wordly wise and learned men bee being men drowned in their owne selfe-love esteemed of themselves worthy to be beloved and reverenced of all full of rash judgement lovers of all pleasures and so full of all vices that the whole world gives creditt to no men lesse speakes worse of no men more being full of taunting reproaching proverbs against them such as these the better learned the worser mannered the better Scoller the worser Christian No man scapes scotfree out of the clawes of a preist He that wil have an honest house must keepe it free from Preists Apes Doves A monk dare doe as much as he dare thinke These such like proverbs are common in every mans mouth which arise from this that they are so swollen with the poyson of the fruit of the forbidden tree so puft up with the false opinion of their owne wisdome and righteousnesse that no rich man is more insolent by reason of his riches then these perverse wise men are by reason of their arts knowledge So that it is as easie to remove Cyrus out of his Kingdome as one of these wise men out of his opinion and tenent And truely it cannot be but by how much a man is more wise in the art of the forbidden tree by so much hee is more miserable as Christ witnesseth in the gospell that the multitude of their arts and knowledge is an impediment why they come not into the Kingdome of God and publicans and harlots enter in before them Therfore these men are to perish with their arts to depart empty and so farr is any of them from leaving his art wisdome knowledge righteousnesse that he esteemeth these to be the good and riches of the soule which neither theevs can steale nor moathes corrupt when in very deed they are nothing but the inventions of Satan fruits of the forbidden tree and the death of the soule For the life of the soule is the true knowledge of God which himselfe doth work teach in us to wit the fruit of the Tree of life whose fruit is that it makes a man gentle loving humble lowly meeke c. By this let a man examine himselfe with what witt and righteouseesse hee is endued For if day by day he be lesse in his own eyes and in the judgement of the world if he seeme still more foolish in himselfe and a Child in his owne thoughts his knowledge is divine the Seede of the VVoman a Fruit of the Tree of Life but if hee finde contrary effects in himselfe then is all his wisdome Devilish the Seede of the Serpent and Fruit of the Forbidden Tree and so the death of the soule CHAP. XI Of the Tree of Life vvhat it is why Adam was excluded from it and not permitted to eate thereof I also grant thus much that this Tree was visible in Paradise and had this divine vertue bestowed upon it that whosoever eate thereof should live for ever But whereas Adam before had eaten of the Forbidden Tree and had incurred death therefore he should not eate of this Tree of Life least otherwise he should have lived for ever and in a word God should have beene false in his word which was that he should dye the death but God who is Life it selfe would not for ever be angrie with his Creature but was unwilling that man should for ever live in that misery into which he had cast himselfe and therefore drove him out of Paradise and afterwards shewed him the way by which he should returne into Paradise againe and eating of this Tree live for ever and then gaurded the Tree of Life with a Cherub and a flamming sword least man in his exile should have presumed to have come to this Tree and have eaten thereof The will and counsell of God was that it was better that man should dye in the flesh and so putt of this miserable life and change it for a better then live in it for ever Therefore God who cannot nor will not hate us delt every way most mercifull with us if so bee we would truely consider of it Now doe J think that the same also happened in the true Paradise of Adās heart the Tree of the Knowledge of Good Evill is the Seed Knowledge and wisdome of the Serpent And the tree of Life is the Seed of the Woman and the wisdome of
God and these two Trees are as God and Satan so contrary one to another that the one brings Life unto us and the other death Therefore he that eates of the one its impossible he should eate of the other because they are divided by a flying Cherub and a flaming sword which I interpret sinne and disobedience which sometimes in the Scriptures is called a partition wall For hee that eates of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evill that is hee that is possessed with a Diabolicall wisdome of the Flesh he cannot eate the Tree of Life that is he is departed from divine knowledge and wisdome that proceeds from God For these two wisdomes are incompitable they cannot bee in one and the selfe-same heart being as contrary one to the other as heaven to hell He that eateth of the Tree of Life and is pertaker of divine knowledge hee cannot dye neither sinne For this Fruit eates the eater of it and changeth him into its owne nature into Life as the Scriptures doe testify of those that doe eate the flesh of Christ For it is one and the same thing to eate Christ to live in his word to eate of the Tree of Life to beleeve in God c. as it is also the same thing to be in Adam to live in Adam to eate of the Tree of Knowledge of Good Evill to obey the word of Satan and be God Therfore those that eate of this deadly Tree and adhere to the word and wisdome of the Serpent and are borne of Satan these cannot doe any thing that is pleasing unto God As on the contrary the other doth not any thing that is displeasing unto him Therefore he that would be the one must bidd adew to the other He must putt off the wisdome of the Serpent and vomitt up the Fruit of the Forbidden Tree who would eate of the Tree of Life Adam must dye in us and the witt of the Flesh must be unlearned of us if we would have Iesus Christ to live in us and obtaine the direction of the holy spirit For the death of the one is the life of the other the infirmity of the one is the strength of the other No man can serve two Masters neither is it possible to unite Adam God the Devill together CHAP. XII The praise of the Word of God on which alone man ought to build rest reside and it onely know if he will remain unshaken in adversity have his Faith manifest and approved and finde quietnesse to his Soule INdeed there be many arts profitable to the body which God the belly hath created and yet doth dayly finde out which truely bring much profit to the kitchin and onely serve worship obey their God the belly most zealously as it is expedient they should But as the cōmon proverbe is that which is profitable to the body doth often hurt the soule and that which is the bellies and flesh as life foode and plentie is often times the death of the soule and a meere poyson unto it because the spirit is contrary to the flesh Hence it comes to passe that table or belly arts because they be the Fruit off-spring and witt of the flesh are altogether vaine famine and death unto the soule And on the contrary that onely art the end whereof was not for God bellies advantage which the whole world doth so much sleight and litle regard that onely true wisdome and Theologie to witt God and the knowledge of his Word in him together with the knowledge of him divinely infused into our soules is the sole art onely necessary to mans salvation Therfore the true heavenly divine art the true tree of Life of which whosoever eateth hath everlasting life Furthermore I say this art is the Foode Wine Milke excellencie defence and all whether the profitt pleasure or advancement of Soules All other arts being vaine doubtfull and the poyson of the Soule hurtfull and deadly to the Spirit of Man if hee leane upon them rest in them glory in them or build his happinesse upon their sandy foundation In a word they are the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good evill of which whosoever eates as J have amply proved hee shall dye the death Therefore I desire that wee would not be to righteous nor wise in our owne eyes As Solomon Eccles. 8. as also Proverbs 3. doth faithfully instruct us that we should esteeme nothing to be our wisdome righteousnesse or any other vertue in us but onely to know God in and with himselfe and love praise worshipp feare honour and understand him as wee ought Which thing must necessarily proceede from God himselfe beeing the worke of his eternall and in it selfe everlasting and immutable word which without spokesman from him proceeds out of his mouth that hee speakes in our hearts teacheth himselfe in our soules imprinting and engraving his Image in us thereby enlightning so our understanding that to speake in a word he so teach love know understand pray unto heare guide governe and worshipp himselfe in us All other things whatsoever are to dull and all the vertue of things are to base that they should be able to teach us God and give us everlasting felicity or that God by them should give it unto us God will be himselfe teach himselfe give and convay himselfe into our hearts Neither will hee suffer his honour to bee given to any Creature that by it wee should be saved or sanctified but hee that heareth and learneth it of the Father commeth unto him He will himselfe be the Master of spirits and so a spirit shall be taught of a spirit And all those that are divinely instructed of the all-knowing and understanding God shall be said truely to be learned and wise The flesh hath teachers who belonging to the ould covenant have commerce with the flesh The new covenant because it is spirit and Life and in like manner hath a spirituall and new birth of God to be instructed hath also a spiritual word and Master to instruct it which is the word and spirit of Life Therefore if any man would know himselfe submitt himselfe quietly to the direction and permitt himselfe to bee spoken too sought and found in him He surely should be elevated to a wonderfull Light if any man I say doth follow the instruction and Doctrine of the Father in himselfe he verily should finde God in God and with God But the world busied and accupied in the Creatures passeth away in a confusion and not considering the hidden and secret treasure that is closed in his heart Neither seekes for this precious Pearle but covered all over with the earth of the Creatures remaineth in darknesse with the multitude of his arts and sciences weary ignorant and void of all true arts and sciences yet doth he in the meane space learne art after art further and further searcheth into the my fierie of knowledge And to use the words of Saint Paul is
alwayes learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth but the more he learneth the more perverse he is and to such a madnesse doth he come at last through his overmuch wisdome that he quite forgets what to say bable determine beleeve and what opinion to hould and so he together with his fraile foundation and fickle arts staggers here and there slides out of one errour into another untill hee become vaine in all his imaginations and like to Foxes caught with all their trickes and turnings is thereby miserably ensnared in the Netts and snares of his owne arts and sciences But the Christian like to the Catt hath but one way knowes but one art whereby he is able to save himselfe yea that a cheefe one viz. his God in whom he hath all things knowes loves and comprehends all things And therefore hee scapeth when the Fox though he know many sleights those craftie ones indeed yet often together with his sleights hee falleth into the power of the Gods and the hands of the hunter Therefore thou canst boast of nothing nor build upon any other thing whatsoever but onely that sure foundation and art which is God himselfe his holy word For all other things forsake man in adversitie except the hope and confession of God this is the true preacher in our hearts if any man will attend and hearken to what he shall speake in him he hath planted in us the Seede of the woman neere unto the Seede of the Serpent for opposition unto the same yea he hath confirmed his Spirit finger word and Image in us His Spirit he hath cloathed in us with Flesh and hath placed it captive in the midst of its enimies in the Tabernacle of the Flesh that it may prevaile and overcome and subduing the Flesh may with it selfe carie it unto God deify it engraffe it unite it unto God For this is the fight betweene the Flesh the Spirit in us of which Paul speaketh off Therefore if any will yeeld himselfe over in the midst of his enimies to the holy Spirit glory in God as in a most fortified Campe in him God would without doubt once come and vanquish his enimies and so he should know all things to eternall Life But the World doth not attend unto God in himselfe alwayes occupied with the sound or noyse of the Creatures passeth on with tumult and confusion and so knowes nothing heares nothing learnes nothing though in the meane time it compasseth searcheth and inquireth out a thousand unprofitable arts and continually learnes and the longer it learnes it is the more unlearned untill sliding into errour at last it falls quite downe But if men as Christians doe would abide with God privately in the Schoole of their hearts and with Marie would sitt attentively at the feete of their Lord and would both heare and learne what God would be pleased to speake teach interprise in them verily they divinely instructed would at last vomitt up all their arts as ignorant and folly And with Paul would forgett them deny them and account them as drosse and dung Standing water is easily made bright with the beames of the Sunne and a rolling stone gathereth no mosse but the roaring Rivers of this world must necessarily be either lukewarme or cold Therefore it is behovefull that before al things we turn unto God in our soules and compose our selves with him in quietnesse dayly talking with him heare him and learne of him Which thing the whole world is ignorant off it knoweth not how to heare the word the Master the teacher and how to learne of him in himselfe but alwayes it flyes out of its owne heart into the mouth of man who when they be altogether lyers filthie vaine it comes to passe that they are allwayes deceived are alwayes learning and heaping many arts when notwithstanding with all their arts they are ignorant and foolish because that which they know is but meerely surreptions theevish untried taken upon trust from others of which they themselves never had experience but if any to please the people have profunctorily beleeved yet together with the people they beleeve some other thing Then truely like Bees they fly out in swarming sometimes prosecuting a poor Wesell making deare enquiry into a matter of little moment and fall into some matter of dispute upon whose foundation and ground they are altogether ignorant off untill they be satiated with it then they fall upon some other thing So in times past all Israell in whom all the whole world is figured together with their Kings and Preists did fall untill they wholy erred from the Faith and once taken were led away captive Read the people painted in my booke of the World Now J call with Paul the word of God that foolish and offensive speech which to weet doth bring with it the crosse greefe and death of the flesh and maketh all things which seeme somthing to be nothing and only looketh upon regardeth those men who are nothing in themselves which in the eyes of the world seeme the greatest folly that can be Neither can it be perswaded that letting passe that which it sees it should embrace that which it neither hath not sees for it would rather have one bird in hand then two in a bush Neither doth it doubt so it might keepe it to preferre a temporarie life before a thousand eternall liues And therefore the Word and the preachers of the word have beene persecuted for fooles Now the word of God is of such a nature and force that though it hath a vulgar stile so simple in the language of truth yet it overthroweth all things whatsoever rise against it it dulleth the edge of all witt and these entysing and corrupt contemplations together with the more eloquent kinde of lying it doth bring into such straight that it maketh them to blush for shame although as it is alwayes the properties of lyes and ungodlinesse they will not confesse themselves to bee overcome For the word of God doth say such strait seege to the heart of Man that every one if he doe not speake against his owne conscience is forced thus to thinke and so to determine as the word doth speake that so it is and otherwise it cannot be but a lye On the contrarye bursts in with a long Circumlocution and one lye doth almost waigh ten lyes that it may seeme to be true and have a shaddow thereof But the word of God as I have already said doth proceed after a most simple manner but it doth so gird a man that will hee or not hee becommeth amazed and with admiration astonished affrighted doth say this is the finger of God No man ever spake thus for this word hath such a sharpnes sting and strength that it pearseth even into the heart and seperateth the flesh from the spirit so as the minde beeing captivated without all controversie assents to
the same and confirmes the truth thereof with all assurance not so craftie subtiltie can be objected against the truth but that may be battered weakened and refuted with one word neither can any thing so accute be produced which weakened with the like accute may not be overthrowne onely the word of God overcommeth with such force that even the minde of the enemy is overcome and taken with it the outward man alone and the face of the flesh which would not be bridled seekes out all kinde of ambushes trickes and turnings to escape this thunderclapp And falshood for shame covers its face with its hands and thereby thinks that the whole body is covered that it cannot be seene Moreover it is behovefull that all other traditions of arts words and spirits bee examined by the word of God as by an index golden rule and touch-stone I call that the word of God which is the Spirit and Life not the Letter written without Inke and paper in the hearts of beleevers which speakes unto the soules of all those that are obedient unto it This J call the Word of God Not the Scriptures For if we speake properly the Scriptures or Letters are not the word of God but the minde spirit and that true divine meaning which Paul calleth the sence of Christ and mind of the Spirit and Christ the Word of God This I say is the word of God as saint Paul doth testify The Letter sayth he doth kill but the Spirit that is the true and spirituall meaning thereof which onely spirituall men are indued with which doth quicken These alone have the Key of David for the opening of all the Seales of this closed booke to all other the booke is Sealed with seven Seales Of which mention is made in Dan. 7. Apoc. 5. and Mat. 13. by way of parable and the vaile of the Letter doth hang before their eyes untill they turne unto God and seriously will obey his will The spirit of understanding entreth into no froward scorner who in the letter only desireth to shew his nicitie and Clarkeship For the truth is that word of God and his secrets are made manifest to them that feare him Therefore many in our times are snared who betwixt the writings and the word of God doe know no difference and so doe they esteeme the Scriptures for the word of God so as beside it they knovv no other But it appeares by the Testimony of many divinely taught that the scriptures are nothing but the huskes the shell the sheath the Lanthorne the shrine the letter the cave the vaile of the word of God From whence it ariseth that they appeare so sinister and in shew often repugnant and are hidden from wicked men But the Word of God placed in and under them is the kernell the life fulnes and thing it selfe or substance For otherwise those learned men the Scribes and Pharisees had been blessed and happy if the Letter had beene the word of God viz. the light c. because they had so well conned the Scriptures that most part of them they could say by heart yet were they for all that most miserably to perish with this Art and so death is eaten by the Tree of good and evill while yet men thinke thereby to have Life But Christ doth more ingenuously testify that they know not the Scriptures that is what in the Scriptures is the word of God for what otherwise belonged to the Letter and grammaticall sence they writt but knew not the mind of Christ which was the force and meaning of the Letters and the Letters in my judgment are of sett purpose so sinister and darkly dictated by the Holy Ghost comprehended and declared that those impious Swine and Dogges may not understand them according as Christ out of Esay doth alleadge them and giveth this reason why he speaketh so obscurely by similitudes and demonstrateth the same thing more significantly in Iohn least we should make an idoll of the Letter And that wee should thinke some other thing more necessarie to salvation then Bibles to weet that of God we should desire the Light of his word which is hidden in this Lanthorn and also that true teacher the Holy Spirit which may direct lead and instruct us in the holy Scriptures and may open the Seales thereof declaring unto us the mysterie of this shrine that is his divine word Law pleasure will and meaning hidden under the dead Letter Many thinke it enough that they have Bibles and know how to reade Here forsooth they find the Holy Ghost the word of God that double Sword of the Spirit yet wrapped up and closed in the sheath But who can understand gaine finde and brandish the same He answers by the Prophet Esay Yong Children who will be affrayd at this killing Letter they are sore out of heart tremble and dye for feare Therefore it is not enough although it is good to have Bibles What to have Bibles All the Pharises had the same could say them by heart and yet they lived no lesse blinde and dead These very Bibles are the Tree of Good and Evill of which they did eate death although to the godly who consult with God about the meaning of them and renouncing themselves pray unto him for the obtaining of his Spirit they be the Tree of Life God will give his glory to none other no not to the Scriptures but hath made them darke unto us and hath reserved the interpretation to himselfe that he may teach enlighten rule and guide how when and as hee will and his will is that we alwayes wax stronger and by degrees come nearer to the knowledge of the truth if so be we would doe the same by his helpe but hee hath not sowen his word by the way side for dogges and swines but hath covered it the same beeing hiding in the Letter that we may not rest our selves contented in the Letter but digg up the hidden treasure and with all Religion pray for grace and understanding and consult with his Holy Spirit that he may take us into his tuition guide us teach us leade us unto the Tree of Life the Fruit whereof may feed us up unto eternall Life And this is the tryall of all Arts Doctrines and Spirits that they be compared and agree with the word of God that that which is divinely unto us we finde to be true by his word in our hearts In a word that our spirits may confirme the same so to be by its testimony as wee have divinely learned the same and that we sustaine for the defence thereof to dye Therefore it is likely and so it shal be indeed what Doctrine soever commeth frō god the same is not repugnant to the word which divinely taught we have in our hearts but agreeable thereunto giveth testimony that wee know his word as we are knowne of God and comprehended as we are comprehended of him otherwise how could we say Amen and assent if
the contrarie should be fall in us Therefore they are much deceived who thinke that nothing is the word of God but what altogether differeth from our minds and therefore compell themselves only to beleeve those things which in their inward man they can perceive feel comprehend to be far wanting in them and contrary to them Indeed the word of God invadeth our hearts with an exceeding force because it is spirit our hearts are flesh but where the beleeving heart addicts it selfe to the worship of God the word is soone incorporated in us and our heart made one with it is converted into spirit so as now the truth it feeleth yea and what more it witnesseth that to be true which the spirit doth speake unto it and is so bound that it necessarily must assent unto it Neither doth it so compell or force it selfe to beleeve but it is so compelled that it cannot but beleeve and would a thousand times make a losse of its body rather then beleeve otherwise So again the mind cannot be beleeved and as long as the minde doth not assent it is a sure argument that as yet is hath not comprehended nor as yet is the word incorporated in thee nor the Sonne of God borne For he who comprehendeth the word as he is comprehended feeleth the same yea testifieth knoweth that the same is true Wherefore compare or examine all learning with the testimony of the spirit For if thou art a beleever God dwelleth in thee and thou art sealed with his word and Spirit but if thou dost not beleeve this examinatiō nothing belongeth unto thee For it is spoken to the beleeving Thessalonians try the Spirits If in a wicked man the spirit were to be compared with his heart and with the letters he could never rightly judge how he doth understand them because hee taketh that to be the word of God whatsoever pleaseth his wicked and perverse heart and eyes On the contrary it is commanded to the Saints that they try and prove all Spirits and Doctrines by the word of God which divinely taught they have approved in their soules not to the wicked who are unfitt to every good work and whose judgement God doth not approve off But if they say they are to be brought to the touch-stone of the word the holy Scriptures J willingly grant the same so that you understand that of the minde of the Scriptures which is the onely word of God which also onely those who are of God doe understand but if the Doctrine and Spirit be compared with the Letter of the Scriptures it will be compared diversly every one according to his owne understanding in which they are deceived neither is this the true trial as more cleare then Light wee may see it Since all desire the Letter to be this judge and thinke them of themselves to be the same Therfore that which hath not the examination I speake off which I but now spake off is as easily confuted as it is admitted as Gregory sayth Here are casheered all the arts explanations orations and comments of men which are boughes and fruits of the forbidden Tree in the Paradise of this World from which as yet all men doe eate death and yet neverthelesse with Adam and Eva thinke themselves to eate life and hope to be Gods Therefore all mens arts are no other then a plant of the Devill who thinketh by this meanes to change men into Gods from hence promiseth life immortality when neverthelesse death is before their eyes so soone as they have eaten of this fruit Now that Sentence standeth firme Every plant that my Heavenly Father hath not planted shall be cutt downe Therefore all those Arts must againe in their original be brought to nothing That J confesse is the only Scope of the holy scripturs which is the word of God knowne of them who are of God But that the literall and grammaticall sence is this I doe not think which wicked men doe understand and also follow and yet by Christ are denyed to understand the Scriptures but as they expound themselves in the Godly out of the Doctrine of the Holy Ghost And this meaning cannot be comprehended in open Commentaries and rules but the Holy Ghost will have this book mistery reserved to himself neither wil he have it imprinted but will shew teach open to all according to the measure of every mans faith as much as is necessarie neither will he have it so committed that one may teach another and so incroch upon the priviledge of God but will teach it himselfe that all and every one of us may be divinely taught and may glory that wee have learned the Word of God from God and not from men with pleasant docility yet so as men ought and every one may one to another give that testimony which hee hath learned from God So it commeth to passe that with Christ and his Apostles we are witnesses of the Word not Ministers of the Spirit For who hath commaunded the Wind but onely the Master of the Winde To this belongs that which Job Jeremie and Esayas say that we shall all be taught of God so as it shall not be necessary for us to be taught of any other but that so its true as the holie vnction shall teach us And whereas God is onely true and all men are lyars it cannot be but it must be a lye and errour whatsoever commeth not from God and that cannot come from God which all wicked know and understand Since they are not of God but are seperated from him by the partition wall of sinne Now what commeth not from God is sinne and not good and what shineth not from his Light is altogether darknesse although it seeme to be Light and wisdome as Esay upbraideth the Caldean Philosophers their owne witt hath deceived them and they were wearied with the multitude of their owne inventions c. God speaketh this against all arts except the art of God formed in us by his word which exhibits unto us nothing to be meditated upon and vewed in the Light but onely God to know and understand God because that word is verily God without any distinction of nature there as God cannot be defined described or divided but if we speake properly God is all in all things and yet nothing of all these things which can be felt conceived or comprehended by sence reason or understanding spoken written or heard so is the Word of God infinite infallible incomprehensible eternall by it selfe existing and farre exceeding all the writings and words of men because it as God cannot properly be written read or spoken Since it is God and was before writing or man was and shal be when man is deceased writing are ceased Therefore all things are subiect unto vanity For which cause the nature of all things are called vaine and vast by reason of the accident of vanity although in it selfe it be good onely the