what Jesus the Light made known to him to be Gods will to obey him in And Jesus tells the Jews that if they were Abraham's Children they would do the works of Abraham that is yield obedience to God in what Jesus as a Light in them tells them the Truth is Gods will that they should obey him in And while men are out of this obedience let them be of what outward form of worshipping of God that they will and have never so high esteem of themselves and be as highly esteemed of by others as these Jews had yet they are Children of Wrath as well as others and so in that state as Children of Wrath they are cast out of the Kingdom of Heaven and are where their Father the Devil is Oh! but infinite infinite are the mercies of that unchangeable God as I have experienced who can say in some measure with Paul Ephes 2. who wherein in times past walked according to the course of this world according to the prince of the power of the air the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience Among whom also we had our conversation in time past in the lust of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature the children of wrath even as others Mark Among whom that is amongst those that had walked according to the course of this world according to the power of the Prince of the Air which is the Devil that worketh in the Children of disobedience among these we had our conversation in times past fulfilling the desires of our flesh and of the mind and were by nature Children of wrath even as others Although the Ephesians as they were Gentiles might not be in an outward form of worshipping God in those outward things that God had required to be worshipped in yet Paul was and of the highest sort or form of them as elsewhere he speaks of himself And yet see how Paul put himself to be equal with them that had been in no outward form of Worship although he himself had been high in that outward form of worshipping of God in those outward things that God had required to be worshipped in yet when he was in that height of outward Worship he owned himself to be one that walked according to the course of the world and according to the power of the Prince of the Air which is the Devil the Spirit which worketh in the Children of disobedience Among whom we had also our conversation Paul with the Ephesians had their conversations in time past in the lust of their flesh fulfilling the desires of their flesh and mind and were by nature Children of Wrath even as others Mark they were not onely Children of Wrath by nature that is by the nature of the Serpent who is the Prince of the Air who is the Devil who is the Spirit that worketh in the Children of disobedience but they were the Children of Wrath even as others that is just even alike there was no difference between their being Children of Wrath by nature and others being Children of Wrath by nature There is the same nature of being Children of Wrath in those that are high in an outward form of worshipping God as was Paul who as to his outward life as to men lived blameless and those that were in no outward form of worshipping God as were the Gentiles while they both have their conversations in the lust of the flesh fulfilling the desires of the mind pleasing themselves in what they do if they be in an outward form of Worship they please content and satisfie themselves in that outward form of Worship and therein they are fulfilling the lust of the flesh and the desires of their minds in eating of the forbidden Fruit as do those that were in no outward form of worshipping God as were the Gentiles who fulfilled the lust of the flesh and the desires of their minds in outward pleasures And so both those that fulfil the lust of the flesh and desire of the mind in outward forms of Worship or in outward pleasure they are those that are not suffering Jesus's Word to have any place in them and so they are seeking to kill Jesus in themselves for telling them the truth that he had of God But God who is rich in mercy for the great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in sins hath quickned us together with Christ by grace we are saved and have raised us up together and have made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus Mark they which having their Conversations in the lust of the flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and mind and thereby were by nature Children of Disobedience and so Children of Wrath Children of the Devil both those that were not in an outward form of worshipping of God as were these Gentiles the Ephesians and those that were in the highest of outward forms of worshipping of God as was Paul yet God who is rich in mercy can and does for his great love sake wherewith he loved them yea even when they are dead in sins quicken them together with Christ and so raise them up together as to make them sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus as you may see more to that purpose in the second Chapter of the Ephesians Jesus tells the woman of Samaria John 4. that the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father But the hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth Jerusalem was the place that God had chosen to be worshipped in and so it represents the true outward form of worshipping God wherein God was worshipped according to his Command The Mountain of Samaria represents the false worshipping of God for although there might be something done there that God had required in his outward Worship to be done yet they mixing other things with it that God had not required to be done in his Worship and so it represents all false outward forms of Worship And Jesus tells the woman and would have her believe him mark that Jesus would have the woman belleve him that the hour cometh when neither in this mountain that is in the false outward forms of Worship nor at Jerusalem that is the true outward forms of Worship they should worship the Father But the hour cometh and now is mark that now is then at that time it was that the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth and that because the Father seeketh such to worship him God being a spirit they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth or else it is no worshipping of him where the Spirit and the Truth is wanting because whom God seeketh
as this I believe will come although through my outward age I may not live in the body to see it yet now I do see it by the eye of faith and if I depart this life before that day come I shall die in the belief of it That there shall be a time when Jesus shall be less known and less followed in the flesh than he is now and more known and followed in the Spirit than now he is And that there shall not be so much Lordship and power used over one another as now there is amongst those that are the disciples of Christ and know him and follow him after the flesh which had its being when the Twelve met one casting out Devils in Jesus Name and forbade him because he followed not them but there shall be a true following of Jesus and obeying his command in those that are great among them in that they will not do as the Kings of the Gentiles did exercise Lordship one over another but he that is great among them shall be as the younger and he that is chief as he that doth serve and that is to be like Jesus who was amongst his Disciples as he that serveth Luke 22. 25 26 27. When this day comes the high places will be taken down within and also without what high places were there either within or without for men to get up in when the Apostles and others first preached the Death and Resurrection of Jesus and the power of God went forth then wonderfully in reaching the witness of God in them that heard them although their words were not many And what high places were there either within or without for men to get up in when those called Quakers came first forth like poor silly men and here and there spake a few words as they met with people And how then went the power of God forth with them reaching the witness of God in many that went to see what manner of men they were as my self was one I believe there will come a time when the Disciples the followers of Jesus shall know what it was that Jesus did when he washed his Disciples feet which Peter when he did it did not know what he did and yet Peter saw him wash and wipe the outward feet of some before he came to him to wash his feet And Peter looking upon it but onely as an outward act and saw not then the spiritual meaning of it but looking upon it as an outward act he thought it was not a sitting thing for Jesus his Lord and Master to wash his feet but Jesus tells them that although he was their Lord and Master he had washed their feet and he did it to that very end to give them an Example that they should do to others as he had done to them and that it was a duty that they ought to wash one anothers feet John 13. When and where this duty is practised there all Lordly and Masterly power is cast down there is no exercising of authority over others there is a knowing what it is to take up the Cross to their own Wills and to follow the Example of Jesus Which washing of feet was another thing than the washing of the outward feet for although Peter then had so much outward familiar acquaintance with Jesus in the flesh yet he knew not the meaning of it although he had been sent forth by Jesus to preach and cast out Devils as others now may be but Peter should know afterwards the meaning of it And Peter did afterwards know the meaning of it when he knew the Death and Resurrection of Jesus which then he did not know nor believe the Death and Resurrection of Jesus when Jesus washed the outward feet of his Disciples But when Peter came to that knowledge that Paul speaks of 2 Cor. 5. 16. Henceforth know we no man after the flesh yea though we have known Christ after the flesh yet henceforth know we him no more When and where this knowledge is of knowing no man after the flesh not the knowing of Christ after the flesh there is the knowing what it is to wash one anothers feet which Peter did not know while he knew Christ after the flesh which knowledge cannot be meant the outward feet being washed for then Peter would have known what Jesus had done when he washed the Disciples outward feet but it was the washing of those feet which if Jesus did not do for them they had no part in him And then Peter who had before denied Jesus to wash his feet now rather than he would lose his part in him would have not onely his feet washed but his hands and his head but Jesus told him he that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet but is clear every whit that is the feet that is the duty of the Disciples the Followers of Jesus that they are to be as Instruments in Gods hand to wash one for another it is that or those feet that makes them clean every whit That part of the body that God had said the Serpent should bruise that part Jesus washt and left it as an Example and Command for his Disciples to follow read it in the Mystery who can The feet is that upon which the whole body is born up they are those upon which the body walks they are next the Earth these being washed and made clean the whole body is clean and so they represent or figure mans walking in obedience to God which as an Instrument in Gods hand the new Creature in us moves and walks upon the feet of obedience in us which if our obedience be not washed and made clean by Jesus we can have no part in Jesus that is if what we do in obedience to the outward Command of God be not the work of Jesus in us we have no part in Jesus And man being washed and made clean in that part of him that is in his walking in obedience to God by Jesus who is the life of the new Creature in man he need not have any more washed or made clean but is clean every whit Man in this his walking in obedience to God he treads upon the earthy part in him which is very ready to cleave to the feet of his walking in obedience to God and so to defile them the Serpent God hath said shall bruise the heel of the seed of the woman hurt or hinder Jesus in the pure operation or working of the Spirit of Jesus in man And so thereby the feet of mans walking in obedience to God that which the new Creature in man may be said as in a figure to walk and move upon in obedience to God as Jesus the Life moves in the new Creature and so as our obedience is from the movings and stirrings of the new Creature in us which moves and walks upon the earthy part in us and so as the earthy part in us cleaves to the feet of
the obedience done in man to God by that love of God which worketh the love in man by the making known of Gods love to man which begets a love in man to God by which love to God it is that man denies himself all self all that is of self in all the parts or properties of it And so in that denial of self he takes up the Cross to his own will And so as he is in the denying of himself and taking up of the Cross to his will to that will in him that is contrary to Gods will and would not that Gods will should be done in him And so as this Cross is taken up so are the manifestations or makings known of Gods Justice or Judgments in man and to man for his sins they are taken away from man There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Rom. 8. 1. Mark there is no condemnation there is no manifestation or making known of Gods Justice or Judgments for sin to those that are in Christ Jesus to those who walk not after the flesh to those who walk not after the self-will that is in man but walk after the spirit of Jesus in man walk after that which saves man from sin from all sin and that not onely from the outward actions of sin but also the inward love and desire to sin I am by the assistance of the Light the spirit of Jesus in me endeavouring to be of Paul's mind Philip. 3. But what things were gain to me those things I count loss for Christ Yea and doubtless I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ And be found in him not having my own righteousness 〈◊〉 is of the Law but that which is through the faith of Christ Thâ—â— I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable to his death If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead Not as though I had already attained either were already perfect but I follow after if I may apprehend that for which I am also apprehended of Christ Jesus Brethren I count not my self to have apprehended but this one thing I do forgetting those things that are behind and reaching forth unto those things that are before I press forward towards the mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus Let us therefore as many as be perfect be thus minded and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded God shall reveal it even this unto you And thus have I as briefly as well as I could let you know my experience how man may deny himself and take up a Cross to self-will or mans own will and follow Jesus And I hope the reading of it will not burden the Witness or Seed of God in any although some have pretended that the hearing of me speak to this purpose hath burdened the Witness or Seed of God in them I shall speak something of the benefit that I know by experience that comes to man by yielding to Gods Will by having of our Wills resigned and given up into Gods Will as the Will of man was when God made him in his own Image by our having our Wills resigned and given up into Gods Will we do thereby make it appear that we be like Jesus which was conceived in the Womb of the Virgin Mary and so took the outward nature of man as God created man without sin in that nature of man or outward body of man the man Jesus the Divine Nature dwelt that is it took up its abode or being there it stayed it remained there and the dwelling or abiding of the Divine Nature in that outward body of the man Jesus was that which caused that outward body to do nothing but what was the Will of God for that body that it should do as in that body of Jesus he did declare and make known saying I do nothing of my self but as the Father hath taught me I speak these things Joh. 8. 28. He spake not of himself but the Father that sent him he gave him a Commandment what he should say and what he should speak and he knew his Commandment is life everlasting therefore whatsoever he spake it was even as the Father had said to him so he spake John 12. 49 50. And that the world may know that he loved the Father and as the Father gave him commandment even so he did John 14. 31. And when there was something that did rise or get up in that outward body of Jesus as the nature of man was in it that would not have had Gods will to have been done to that body which that body came to do which he called his Will Yet how did he pray to the Father that that will of his that was not willing to have that done to that body which that body came to do that that Will that he called his Will should not be done but that the Will that he called the Fathers Will should be done as you may read in Matthew Mark and Luke Now as we come to have our wills resigned and given up into Gods will so we make it appear that we be like Jesus that as he in that body that was of the nature of man had the Divine Nature to dwell in that body so we in the outward body that is in the Nature of man have the Divine Nature to dwell in us I do not say in that measure and fulness that the Divine Nature dwelt in that body for the fulness of the Divine Nature dwelt in that body and to say that the seme fulness dwells in our bodies I think to be Blasphemy But this I do say that as our wills come to be resigned and given up to the will of God so we make it appear that we be like Jesus that is as he was in that outward body in the nature of man and so had the Divine Nature to dwell in him so in these bodies of ours the Divine Nature dwells in us that is a measure of the Divine Nature to dwell in us as Christ is the Head and we the Members of that Body and so as every member of the outward body partakes in its measure of the same life that is in the head so it is in the spiritual or mistical Body of Jesus As we come to haue our wills resigned and given up into the will of God so we make it appear that we are members of that Body and that there is a measure of the same Divine Nature to dwell in us in these bodies of ours that dwelt in that outward Body of that outward Jesus and that according to the measure of the same Divine Nature dwelling in these bodies
me But so it hath pleased the infinite wise God to leave their failings weaknesses infirmities or miscarriages and not onely theirs but others of his faithful Servants in writing and now in print not to the end to be as Examples for us to follow but to be as Warnings for us to have a care that we by the subtilty of the Serpent do not fall as they did for they and we stand and are saved by all one and the same Faith in the same Jesus and what is written is written for our Instruction and Learning And I know that the same Spirit that will blame me for making so publick the dealings of Friends by me will also blame me for medling with the failings weaknesses infirmities or miscarriages of the Twelve as it did in some Friends for speaking of the failings of Job who although perfect and upright and how patiently he bore what God suffered Satan to afflict him with yet his patience did not always continue the same for if it had he would never have cursed the day of his birth c. I made but use of this in my speaking in the Meeting to shew what great need we all had to stand upon our watch lest at any time we be overcome by the subtilty of the Adversary and this gave such an offence that I was by two counted no small Friends at two several times rebuked for mentioning Job's failings And therefore I expect no other but by the same Spirit I shall be sentenced and judged for my making so publick the dealings of those called Friends or Quakers to me or rather to that which was of Jesus in me but if they do I know by what Spirit it is that they so judge and censure me That it is not by the spirit of God for the example of the spirit of God I follow it is the example of God by his spirit in Matthew and Luke to make publick in writing the dealings of the Twelve by Jesus It is the example of God by his spirit in Paul to make publick in writing Peter's not walking uprightly according to the truth of the Gospel but dissembled It is the example of God by his spirit in the holy men of old that gave forth the Scriptures to make publick in writing the failings of the best of his Servants as of Noah Abraham Lot Moses David Job and others And therefore I shall conclude with the words of Jesus Mat. 10. 24 25. The disciple is not above his master nor the servant above his lord It is enough for the disciple that he is as his master and the servant as his lord if they have called the master of the house Beelzebub how much more shall they call them of the houshold I have forborn the mentioning of any Name or Names and so I shall unless I hear what I have written be contradicted or the truth of it questioned and then I may not onely name the Names of the Persons but the Places where they either spake or did what I have herein mentioned READER WHosoever thou art that shall read what I have writ if upon the reading of what I have writ of the dealings of some of those called Quakers to me thou shalt therefore judge or think the worse of the Truth those called Quakers own and believe in that is of the true Light in them which Light is Jesus that came to save his People from their sins and that Jesus who is the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the World it is onely he and there is none other that can save any one from their sins and the way that they own that God is to be worshipped in by this Jesus the true Light in them is to worship him in his Spirit and Truth That evil Spirit that would lead thee or cause thee upon the reading of what I have writ to judge or think the worse of the Truth owned and believed by those called Quakers and of the way owned and believed by them that God is to be worshipped in because of the dealings of some of them to me the same evil Spirit upon the same ground may lead thee or cause thee to judge or think the worse of Jesus and of the way that he declared that God the Father was to be worshipped in and that because of the dealings of the Twelve by him as I have in what I have writ mentioned of their dealings by Jesus as that they did not believe all that he said to be true nor did they always understand the truth spoken by him but by Peter he was rebuked for speaking the truth and all of them did contradict him in his speaking the truth saying to him That should not be done to him and that by them that he had said should be done to him and that by them as when he told them they should be all offended because of him that night and so offended as to be scattered and forsake him and as he said they should therein deal by him so they did deal by him although they had all said they would not deal so by him And moreover there was one of the Twelve that for the love he had to money betrayed him and sold him to them that he knew sought for him to take away his life Thus much you may read in the Scriptures of the dealings of the Twelve by Jesus And therefore I do say that the same evil Spirit that would have thee to judge or think the worse of the Truth that is owned and believed by those called Quakers of their worshipping God in Spirit and Truth because of what I have writ that some of them have done to me The same evil Spirit upon the same ground may cause thee to judge and think the worse of Jesus and of the truth that Jesus preached because of what the Twelve did to him that thou mayest read written in the Scriptures God knows and bears me witness that why I make mention of their dealings to me is to do what I believed I ought to do thereby to make known what knowledge and acquaintance man may have of Jesus in the flesh and yet not know Jesus in his Death and Resurrection as the Twelve who had the most knowledge of him and acquaintance with him in the flesh and were sent by him to preach and cast out Devils and yet knew him not in his Death and Resurrection And therefore man may go a great way in an outward form of Worship and in an outward following of Jesus and yet not come fully to know what it is to deny himself daily and take up his Cross to all self and be a Follower of Jesus in the Spirit As the Twelve although they followed him in the flesh and so had the most acquaintance with him yet they had not in that time of their knowing of him and following of him in the flesh so fully learned that Lesson of self-denial and taking up of the daily Cross to their own wills as they learned it when they knew his Death and Resurrection in themselves and followed him in the Spirit And as Paul said They knew no man after the flesh yea though we have known Christ after the flesh yet now henceforth know we him no more Oh how subtilly the Serpent self in man can and does act in an outward form of worshipping God tempting man in that knowledge and understanding that he hath of God to eat of the forbidden Tree that he might thereby be as Gods I do therefore beseech the Readers to have a great care that they be not deceived by the Serpents subtilty therein as I do know he hath formerly deceived me And also I do beseech them not to answer the desires of the subtile Serpent or Tempter in them as to judge or think the worse of the Truth the true Light in man or of those called Quakers because of some ill dealings done by some of them to Henry Abbut FINIS
God in true self-denial in being as a nothing in thy self until God send his spirit that quiet into all truth to guide to search to let thee understand something of the great mystery that is in these few words Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil thou wouldst then find that those few words have been much read without and very little understood by the outward Readers within they have read little of them within themselves The forbidden fruit as it was presented in the temptation it was pleasant to the eye and to be desired to make wise the knowing of Gods will and not to do Gods will is the forbidden fruit What God requires of man to obey him in and what man knows to be Gods will that he should obey him in is good but to know Gods will and not to do it is evil that is the knowing of good and evil in the action which is sin To know is very pleasant to the eye because it makes wise and how much is there a desire in man going forth after knowledge that they may be wise because Wisdom is one part of the Essence or Being of God and it is to be like God and so man in the temptation had a desire to be like God as being wise And thus man desired to know more of God than he desired in that knowledge to yield obedience to God in what he knew of God And this is the forbidden fruit to have a desire to be wise like God to know God or the mind and will of God and not to obey God according to what he knew to be Gods will this was Adams fall this was the forbidden fruit which man was not to eat of nor yet to touch it And now man is fallen who can say upon a true examination of himself in the inward parts that he is now judged or condemned for the doing of any thing but for the doing of those things that God hath made known to him that he ought not to do or else he is judged and condemned for the not doing of those things that God hath made known to him to be his will that he ought to do and should do the condemnation is either for doing what we know we ought not to do or for leaving undone what we know that we should do The woman mystically being the figure of mans being drawn by the spirit or the goings or leadings forth of man by the spirit of Jesus in man for as the Lord God took the woman out of Adam so is mans being drawn by the spirit or the goings or leadings forth of man by the spirit of Jesus in man is the work of the Lord God and they are given as Help-meets for the life of Jesus in man that is as Help-meets for that life of Jesus in man that is in him saving of him from sin And as the woman as she was taken out of Adam although she was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh yet she had a distinct and separated body from Adam so in the mystery is to be understood mans being drawn by the spirit of Jesus or the goings or leadings forth of the spirit of Jesus in man although taken out of Jesus in man as the woman was taken out of man to be distinct and separated from Jesus in man and serve for the end the woman was created for to be as an Help-meet for man so man by these drawings of the spirit or the goings or leadings forth of man by the spirit of Jesus in man are as Help-meets for the life of Jesus in man How is the life of Jesus in man refreshed and comforted when there is in man a drawing going or leading forth of the spirit to meditate of Gods goodness or to meditate of some mystery that God is making known to the Soul either what God is or what he hath made man to be or what man was before the fall or what man made himself by the fall or what God hath made man by his redeeming of him or what man shall be in the resurrection or sometimes in praying or speaking or some sudden Vision or breakings out of the manifestations of Gods love in these or other of the drawings leadings or goings forth of man by the Spirit of Jesus in man How is the Life of Jesus in man helped and refreshed that is that Life of Jesus in man that is in him saving of him from sin So as the woman was created to be an Help-meet for Adam so hath God made man by these drawings leadings or goings forth of man by the Spirit of Jesus in man as Help-meets for the Life of Jesus in man as he is in man a saving him from sin Now as I said before as the woman although taken out of Adam and was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh yet she had a distinct and separate body of her self So in the mystery although man by these drawings of the Spirit or goings or leadings forth of man by the Spirit they come from Jesus and are taken out of Jesus in man yet in the mystery they are to be looked upon as a distinct and separate body from Jesus in man as the woman was a distinct and separate body from man Now the Serpents self or a mans own will as separated from God as it is in the fall and so is become a fallen Angel or Spirit and being in the garden of God that is in the heart or inward part of man this presents to the woman that is to man as being drawn of the Spirit or his goings or being led forth by the Spirit of Jesus in man a desire more to know the things of God than to come into the obedience of what God hath by those drawings leadings or goings forth of the Spirit made known to them to obey him in and this is the forbidden Fruit for man to desire to know more of God in those manifestations or enjoyments that he hath received from God by the drawings leadings or goings forth of his Spirit in them than to obey God in what he knew of God or that God doth make known to him of himself in those manifestations or enjoyments that he gives of himself unto man And this desire after knowledge this Serpents self or a mans own will in the fall presents to be very pleasant to the eye of the woman and to be desired to be made wise and by it to be as Gods But these presentations to the woman is to be taken as if man in these drawings goings or leadings forth of the Spirit were distinct and separate from Jesus as the woman was from the man And that is onely to be taken as to that sense or knowledge that the Soul wherein these drawings or goings forth of the Spirit are acted hath of them that is as the Soul or inward part of man does look upon the drawings
And he was first formed the Apostle does not here say made as a Creature but formed he was in the form and likeness of God before the World was and the World was made by him This Adam in man that is Jesus in man was not deceived neither doth this Jesus in man enter into the transgression But Eve so called because she was the Mother of all living she that had her beginning after Adam and was taken out of Adam mark that she was the woman that was deceived and found in the transgression that which was taken out of Adam and was bone of Adam's bone and flesh of Adam's flesh and given to Adam of God to be an Help-meet for Adam this was deceived and was in the transgression Read it within who can in the mystery Christ is compared to the man and the Church to the woman Ephesians the fifth Chapter and the Saints are compared to a woman bringing forth a man child Revelations the 12th Chapter All they that can read it in the mystery in some measure degree or other who knows what it is to have the woman in them saved in Child-bearing that is to know that in man which was deceived and found in the transgression to be again saved in bearing the Child Jesus in bearing and bringing forth in them that which saves from sin and that which saves from sin is that Adam in them that was not deceived that of God in man that never changed but was and is and ever shall be the same and is the quickning Spirit the Lord from Heaven and the heavenly Image that we shall in time bear if we continue in Faith and Charity and Holiness with Sobriety It was Gods promise that the seed of the woman should bruise the Serpents head it was not the woman that was to bruise the Serpents head mark that but the seed of the woman Not mans being drawn forth by the Spirit or the goings or the leadings forth of man by the Spirit of Jesus in man that was in man before the fall that was not to bruise the Serpents head but the seed of the woman was to bruise the Serpents head A Virgin shall conceive and bear a son his name is Emmanuel God in us Mat. 1. 23. The Virgin that knew no man brought forth Jesus the Son of God Luke 1. 34 35. That is the seed that bruises the Serpents head that is that in man that knoweth nothing of man that wherein there is nothing of man joyned to it as is in mans being drawn lead or going out to act by the Spirit of Jesus in him there the Serpents self or a mans own will is ready to bruise the heel of it The feet is the walking or going part of man or upon that which man walks and the heel is the hindermost part of the foot and so it represents the walkings goings or drawings forth of man by the Spirit of Jesus in him which self or a mans own will is ready to bruise the heel of it that is to hurt or hinder the pure operations of the work of the Spirit of Jesus in man but the seed of the woman God in us the Son of God Jesus that saves from sin this bruises the head of the Serpent The head is that part of the body wherein the life and understanding is placed it is the seat of that which makes wise and it is the uppermost part of the Creature And this seed of the woman God in us the Son of God Jesus that saves from sin is that seed which bruises the head of the Serpent in us bruises the head of self or a mans own will in us bruises the life of self or a mans will bruises its wisdom or understanding bruises whatever is uppermost in man God did not promise that the seed of the woman should slay or kill the Serpent so as that there should be no life or motion in the Serpent mark that no there was to be an enmity between them between the woman and the Serpent and between the womans seed and the Serpents seed And although the Serpent had his head bruised by the seed of the woman yet the Serpent should bruise the heel of the womans seed mark that The Serpent was not to bruise the heel of the woman although God put enmity between the Serpent and the woman and between the womans seed and the Serpents seed and so great an enmity that the Serpent was to bruise the heel of the womans seed and the seed of that woman not the woman but the womans seed was to bruise the head of the Serpent Man in his goings forth by the leadings or drawings of the spirit of Jesus in him is not to bruise the Serpents head but it is Jesus in him by whom man is drawn forth to do what he doth in obedience to God it is he it is that seed of the woman that is to bruise the Serpents head so that man must be nothing in bruising the Serpents head but God must be all in the doing thereof And doth not experience teach us the truth thereof do we not find that although God in us Jesus that saves from sin doth bruise the head of the Serpent in us self or mans will wherein the life of the Serpent and its wisdom is placed and what is uppermost in Man is bruised by the seed of the Woman in us yet there remains a life or motion in this Serpents self or mans will that doth bruise the heel of the Womans seed in us that is it hurts or hinders the hindermost part of the pure operations or workings of the seed of the woman in us that is of Jesus in us and it must be this Jesus in us and he alone in us that can bruise the head of the Serpent in us and man must be but an instrument in his hand and not to move therein but as moved by Jesus in him that so God may be all in all to work both to will and to do of his own good pleasure And yet this woman that was deceived and in the transgression shall be saved in Child-bearing in bearing the Child whose name is God in us the Son of God Jesus that saves from sin which is conceived in the pure Virgins seed in man in that in man that knew no man that is that knew nothing of self or the will of man but knew onely the will of God it is that in man that knew nothing of man that is of mans self or will by joyning with it or condescending to it that is the Virgins seed in man which conceived God in us the Son of God Jesus that saves from sin and this Conception of the Virgins seed in us is wrought and brought to pass by the Holy Ghost the power of the highest coming upon us and over-shadowing of us it is the great power of God by the holy Spirit joyning with that seed of God in man that never condescended or
God hath made known the subtile Serpent to him and how he hath known God to cast out the subtile Serpent that ruled in him in an outward form and shew of godliness and such a one I have known forbidden to declare to others Gods goodness to him and forbidden by those that have professed that they have been sent of Jesus to cast out Devils as was the Twelve and why because he followed not them he gave not them the honour they desired and expected But he or they let them be who they will that does not take up his Cross and follow Jesus is not worthy of him Matth. 10. 38. Where the Cross to mans own will is not taken up where all that is of man is not denyed where mans will is not become a nothing and no will known but what is resigned and given up into the will of God where there is a love to any thing more than to Jesus a love to any thing more than to that which saves from sin let them have never so near never so much familiar acquaintance with an outward Jesus as the Twelve had with the outward man Jesus who met with one casting out Devils in Jesus Name in Jesus power or the power of Jesus in him and they forbade him because he did not follow them what are they the better for their familiar acquaintance with the outward man Jesus Did that make them worthy of the inward man Jesus and was he any thing at all the less a follower of Jesus the less a follower of that which saveth from sin the less worthy of the inward man Jesus because they forbade him to cast out Devils in Jesus Name in Jesus power and were not they the less the followers of Jesus for forbidding of him to cast out Devils in Jesus Name and that because he did not follow them When they forbade him to cast out Devils in Jesus Name and that because he did not follow them had they then taken up the Cross to their own wills and in the bearing thereof followed Jesus and learned that lesson of Jesus to be meek and lowly in themselves And if they had learned that lesson of Jesus to be meek and lowly in themselves could self their own wills have gotten to be so high in them as to forbid one to cast out Devili in Jesus Name and one that was for Jesus and could not lightly have spoken evil of Jesus and forbid him to cast out Devils in Jesus Name and that because he followed not them he gave not them the honour that they expected And if they had known the Death and Resurrection of Jesus within them could they in that knowledge have forbidden one to cast out Devils in Jesus Name because he gave not them the honour of following of them They the Twelve then had a knowledge of Jesus and had the most nearest and most familiar acquaintance with Jesus but was it any more than a knowing of Jesus after the flesh They did not know they did not believe in his Death and Resurrection as the Scriptures do plainly in many places testifie when Jesus spake of his going to Jerusalem and to suffer Peter rebuked him Mat. 16. 21 22. And when Mary Magdalene out of whom Jesus had cast seven Devils told them that he was risen and she had seen him they did not believe her and after that he appeared to two more and they told the rest that he was risen and they believed them not and then he appeared to the Eleven and upbraided them for their unbelief Mark 16. And several other places of Scripture there is to the same purpose that although in the time of Jesus being with them in the flesh and of that familiar acquaintance they had with him and that power that he had given them of casting out of Devils yet they were then knowers of him in the flesh and followers of him in the flesh and they did not know him in his Death and Resurrection in themselves and so they had not denyed themselves denied their own wills and taken up their Cross to all that was of self their own wills in them and from thence it came that they seeing one casting out Devils in Jesus Name and because he follow'd not them that was the very ground and reason why they forbade him it was because he followed not them and they in forbidding of him did not follow Jesus because they had not taken up the Cross to their own wills Solomon said true in what he said that there is nothing new what it was and what it was is so that now it is from the same knowledge and familiar acquaintance that some now have of Jesus after the flesh and in the knowledge and acquaintance with him he hath sent them forth and given the power to cast out Devils and they as the Twelve did meeting one casting out Devils in Jesus Name they forbid him and that because he followed not them and those that do so they are in the state the Twelve were in they knew not the Death and Resurrection of Jesus But where the Death and Resurrection of Jesus is known and the Cross is taken up to their own wills to all that is of self in them they will be of Pauls mind Some indeed preach Christ even of envie and strife and some also of good will the one preacheth Christ of contention not sincerely supposing to add afflictions to my bonds but the other of love knowing that I am set for the defence of the Gospel What then notwithstanding every way whether in pretence or in truth Christ is preached and I therein do rejoyce yea and I mill rejoyce Phil. 1. 15 c. By this Scripure it is plain that Paul had learned that lesson of self-denial had taken up the Cross to his own will and did follow Jesus knowing the power of his Death and Resurrection in him and that made him rejoyce yea and he would rejoyce in that Christ was preached every way whether in pretence or in truth although the pretenders of preaching Christ preaching him out of envy and strife and not sincerely thinking thereby to add affliction to his bonds yet he rejoyced and would rejoyce in that Christ was preached This was a great way distant and differing from the Twelve forbidding one to cast out Devils in Jesus Name and that because he did not follow them When Jesus comes to be less known and followed in the flesh and more known and followed in the spirit then there will be a time that as every man hath received the gift even so to minister the same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God if any man speak let him speak as the Oracle of God if any man minister let him do it as the ability which God giveth that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ to whom be praise and dominion for ever Amen 1 Pet. 4. 10 11. Such a time
love that God hath shewed to man in making of him in his likeness and Image yet man proved so unworthy and rebellious to this God that manifested and made known so much love to him as that he rebelled against this God and as I may say to speak after the manner of men proved a Traytor to this God that had manifested and made known so much love to him For whereas God in the Creation as man was made in his Image God ruled in man and over man and mans will was resigned and given up into the will of God But man like a Traytor set up his own will and preferred that above and before the will of God in him and put the government of himself under his own will to be ruled by his own will where all men in the fallen state now are and while this will bears the rule over them they will not come to Jesus the true Light in them that they may have life John 5. 40. And although man in his Treachery and Rebellion lost his love to God and became an enemy to God yet God as unchangeable he continued his love to man and his love was then so great to man when man was in his Rebellion against God and an enemy to God that he gave his onely begotten Son that whosoever believed in him should not perish but have everlasting life John 3. 16. And God commended his love towards us that while we were yet sinners and enemies to God Christ died for us Rom. 5. 8. And God hath sent his Ambassadours to beseech and pray you to be reconciled to God 2 Cor. 5. 20. And what shall not the unchangeableness of Gods Love to us and the willingness that is in God that we should be reconciled to him and not to perish shall not this work upon us to be willing to resign and give up our wills into Gods will when there can be no reconciliation made between God and lost man but by mans being willing to resign and give up his will into the will of God That is the partition-wall that must be taken down that which at first made the separation between God and man It was man went out of the doing of Gods will into the doing of his own will and to reconcile man again to God there must be a going out of mans will into Gods will again And is not this very reasonable that man should resign and give up his will into the will of God being Gods love is so unchangeable to man As that when man had no true love in him to God but was Gods enemy yet then Gods love was such to man as to give his Son his beloved Son to keep man from perishing and that man by his love of God might have everlasting life and therefore can there be any thing more reasonable than this That man should resign and give up his will into the will of God And further if the consideration of Gods love to man in his Creation and the unchangeableness of his love to man when man was turned Gods enemy and Gods willingness to have man to be reconciled unto him if this will not prevail with man to be willing to have his will resigned and given up into the will of God let man consider the absolute necessity that there is as on mans part to have his will resigned and given up into Gods will for if mans will be not resigned and given up into Gods will man perishes for ever There can be no reconciling of God and man together without mans will being resigned and given up into the will of God for although indeed God is unchangeable in himself and so is a God of love and so there is love in God to man his Creature yet also God in himself is a God of Justice executing of his Justice to all and upon all that stand it out in Rebellion against him which all men do while in their wills they oppose Gods will And let men flatter themselves what they will with the unchangeableness of Gods love to man and so have thoughts that God loves them yet until there is a willingness in them to have their wills resigned and given up into the will of God I know by experience that these thoughts of theirs of Gods loving of them is changeable in them and sometimes they may have thoughts in them that God loves them and at other times they are afraid of Gods Justice and Judgments to fall upon them for their sins and transgressions And to be made free from the manifestations or making known of Gods Justice and Judgments for sin in us and to us is to have our wills resigned and given up into the will of God and then we may say with Paul Rom. 7. For that which I do I allow not for what I would that I do not but what I hate that I do If then I do that which I would not I consent unto the law that it is good now then it is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me And as the will comes to be resigned and given up into the will of God so there is a knowing that there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus to them whose wills are resigned and given up into the will of God as their Father as was the will of Christ Jesus and there is no being in Christ Jesus unless in some measure degree or other the will be resigned and given up to God as a Father as was the will of Christ Jesus And as their wills are resigned and given up into the will of God so they walk not after the flesh they walk not after their fleshly wills they follow not their fleshly wills but they walk after the spirit they follow after the spirit of Christ Jesus the true light in them that teacheth them to resign and give up their wills into the will of God and those who are not thus in Christ Jesus who have not their wills resigned and given up into the will of God as Christ Jesus will was they are still in the state of condemnation because they walk after the flesh their own wills and although at sometimes they may have some hopes or apprehensions of Gods love towards them yet it is not lasting in them it fails them when they stand in most need of it that is it fails them when God is making known in them and to them his Justice and Judgments due to them for their sins Then they cannot apprehend any love in God to them but they are afraid of God for then they cannot say as Paul said that what I would I do not but what I hate that I do and then that it was no more I that did it but sin that dwelleth in me They cannot speak after that manner but instead thereof the