I ght within a thing by me never spoken or written Secondly thou sayes That nothing is said by me of Christ manifest in flesh or his crucified body or righteousness that way Poor man how hath wickedness over-run thee to add lie to lie Are not these my words That Righteousness that God accepteth is but one which is his own perfectly fulsilled and manifest in the world in Jesus Christ the Light and Savi ur thereof and that none inherits it surther than they receive the Son of righteousness And is this nothing of Christ but it is no new thing to me to see the refuge of lies with that spirit which now opposeth nor for me to be called a Railer because I will not either say they are truths or find out some finer name to call them than lies But to leave them and go on to thy doctrine thou sayes We are justified without works onely through faith which is as false as the Scripture is true for faith the Apostle Ye see then how that by works a man is justified and not by faith onely James 2. 24. And Christ faith By thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned Math. 12. 37. And not the hearers of the Law but the doers are just before God Rom. 2. 13. Now if these Scriptures be true then thine is false but such is thy blindness that because the Scriptures doth exclude the works of the Law for justification therefore thou wilt exclude the works of faith which are wrought in God also A fine easie way to salvation and well pleasing to you that love your lusts but that neither God nor Scripture knows it nor the Saints practise Further thou sayes He that can but beleive this is perfectly purged and there is no more conscience of sin though yet the feeling of sin I say what is thou now intends feeling of sin but make no conscience Is not this plain Ranting to commit sin and feel it and make no conscience of it this indeed is the ready way to murther the Witness to stop the ear at his reproof and to make shipwrack of a tender conscience and so in time to get it seared and so no more conscience of sin do what you will do but imagine all is pardoned past present and to come let the light in the conscience say what it can hope against hope sayest thou The Righteousness of Christ is a covering upon sin c. I say I know who repents and turns to him he doth But doth Christs Righteousness cover sin to come and whilst men are committing it one day thou wilt find that it is not covered but thou that hast seared thy conscience it will appear when thou shalt cease to deal treacherously with the witness that would have dealt truly with thee but how is Christs Righteousness a covering on thy sin when thy sin is in thy heart and thy cover no nearer than above the Stars If ever God look down upon the earth thou wilt be found naked and the day is upon thee look to it thy Ranting faith hath not long to last and thy cover will be but deceit wo to thee that art covered and not with the Spirit Concerning the word IN this like the rest thou enters with a lie saying That we say the light within all men is the word not minding at all to speak truth thou tels of sin being covered but the liar is openly seen and shames not And when thou hast made one lie thou infers another from it If the Light within every man be the Word then all ages have had the Gospel in equality c. Then thou adds another as false as the rest saying That Truth sayes the Light is the remaining sparkles of the Law and represents God onely under a vail When Truth saith the Life is the Light of men and this is that true Light that lighteth every man that comes into the world John 1. And Christ saith I am the Light of the world he that follows me shall not abide in darkness but shall have the light of life John 8. 12. And the Saints came to the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus by the light within and this was not onely under the vail which was in the face of Jesus 2 Cor. 4. 6. though vailed to thee who denies the light of the Spirit and sayeth truth sayes it when truth denies thee therein nor hast thou one Scripture that saith so And when thou hast shewed thy Spirit by thy works then thou art forced to confess him to be within his in spirit the word of revelation yet would make two words a word of Reconciliation and a word of Revelation and in dividing this word in to two thou confounds thy self First thou sayes these two are not one without the other then thou sayes the one must finish his work before the other could come and such blind muddy stuffe thou art bewing in but what I write in my book stands as it was Yet thou adds two lies more the first is That we beleive not the word of Reconciliation which thou cals thy first word which is false for though we beleive not two words yet we beleive that one word which is the word of Reconciliation and Revelation and there is not another Thy second lie is of the Light in saying it knows Christ in neither Concerning worship IN this thou sayes that I affirm that the Spirit of Life from God wherein is the mind will and love of God the name power and wisdom of Christ wherewith alone God can be acceptably worshipped is in every man A thing that never entred into my heart but surely friend thou matters not what thou sayes thus to add thy wickedness and false accusations because I say none must follow the traditions of others but as every creature is moved by the presence of the living God do I therefore say that the spirit of God is in every man this conclusion is more wickedness than weakness But to thy doctrine Thou sayes The word of faith sayes that the Law without or Spirit in every man that sayes do this and live are the vail c. I say where doth the word of faith say that the Spirit within is a vail or where doth it call the Spirit within the Law without thou must find a new word for this for the true everlasting Word saith not so but faith There is a spirit in man and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding Job 32. 8. but doth not say that that Spirit of God is the vail of which Spirit I am speaking whatever thou pervert it to but is all thy spiritual teaching come to this that the Spirit in which God will be worshipped becomes a vail and that to abide in any law or light whatsoever either from within or without and to be exercised therein as to be redeemed or perfected thereby this they say is to worship God as in
should be loath to have to do with any one of thy opinion I am sure no Ranter hath a larger Thou tels a story of being dead in Christ unto the first Adam with all his deeds and all the evils that came in by him And as thou beholds Christ thou art changed into the same Image from glory to glory I say if lying and deceit be a deed of the first Adam then I say thou art alive to that and it raigns in thee And whereas thou sayes As thou beholds him thou art changed into his Image c. I say even so for thou who hast denied him in thee never beheld him and so art the same thou wast and deceit is thy glory and from one deceit to another is thy charge And thou that was pure before thou wast born and sayes that is thy state thou stands in what needs thou any more changing Another way thou would take to defraud the Scripture that thereby thou mayest keep any from looking for washing or justifying now sayes thou When it is said we are justified by God and by Grace by the name of Christ by the Spirit of our God we are to understand that these went out against our sins in the bloud of Christ and so would make all these of no use now in our age as to sanctifie now but who reads the Saints testimony 1 Cor. 6. 11. may find that they was washed sanctified and justified after they had sinned and not before as thou imagins thou wast before thou was born and so thy washing so far before hand leaves thee filthy still but they was washed from their filthiness and knew no liar nor false accuser must enter into the Kingdom of Heaven how clear soever they was before they was born and before they were a washing and justification thou so much boasts on but its clear they and thou art not of one justification for theirs was present thine before thou wast their 's by faith thine before faith their 's by the spirit thine by imaginations without either spirit faith or knowledge Concerning Christ Jesus THis is the first Charge that is made up of truth And thou sayes my faith is That Christ humbled himself and became obedient unto death that he might become a living example c. And this thou opposes as an error which are the words of Scripture And though thou have said true in thy first charge yet it must not pass without a lie in thy answer that is as though I had said That the mystery of faith is become no more with us than a lofty imagination of reason when there is not one word by me to that purpose but thy own vomit cast out upon us to make the truth odious which thou canst not otherwise disprove So thou adds a confusion or two and leaves what I have said as it was First thou sayes Not the light within is that which leads to Christ Jesus and so would make Christ a liar like thy self John 8. 12 And then thou sayes It must be known by the Spirit and so makes thy self a liar if the Spirit be light within which none that ever knew it will say otherwise of it Thou sayes also That the Scriptures are the Image of Christ A thing they may beleive that will for ought thou proves of it Thou asks Would the light within have shewed you the Atonement c I say the true Atonement it will and no other thing can shew it to every particular person but thy atonement that was before thou was born and is yet in thy sin it will not it shews no such lies but blind man may not all that have any experience of atonement see what thy atonement is that is not seen within hadst thou been reconciled to God in thy heart and spirit the liars mouth had been stopt but if thou should own such an atonement thou would lose thy Masters service But didst thou know what atonement or unity with God is thou could not feed thy self with lies taking conceits for atonement while that of God within in thy Conscience condemns thee but thy atonement would be to see the light of his countenance shining in thy heart in the face of Jesus and see him speak peace who wounds Concerning the Ministry of Christ THis Charge is true also That I say The Ministers of Christ have the word in them that they preach not for hire that they are persecuted c. and this thou likes not for truth And to oppose it thou sayes first I say rightly but Ministers of Righteousnesness are of Satan or of Christ zealously to affect to preach frecly suffer labour stripes imprisonments c. I say Are Ministers of Righteousness of Satan and do the Ministers of Satan preach freely c Then take notice that thou liar and hireling never yet came so far as a Minister of Satan in thy own account and thus instead of weighing us thou hast weighed thy self and all thy brethren the Parish Masters with thee and art found wanting of Ministers of Satan for shame now cease calling your selves Ministers of Christ if by your fruits you may be known and Christ hath said you must Math. 7. 16 20. but this thou denies and sayes Nay by their spirits they must be judged and their spirit by their words So the Devil would come in for a Minister who can get words enough but fruits he cannot therefore he loves not that trial Thou further sayes Thou art jealous that we are Ministers of darkness Yet not so dark but we can through the light of Christ see the Devils deceits and that 's thy punishment at present Concerning Free-Will THis Charge is falsly made up not as I have spoken all the words in it yet somewhat of truth there is in it First The light within which reproves the evill deeds is the will of God by which will we are sanctified That in every man which shews sin and reproves for it is free grace This light in every man is Free Will Which is utterly false for I have not said that every man that sees this light hath Free-will but with the light he may see the will of God which is free from his own will but none hath Free-will but who denies their own wils Thy answer is That if the first be so then is the death of Christ of none effect So that by thy doctrine if it be the will of God that men should be reproved of sin by the light of Christ and if it be by the will of God that we are sanctified and saved for that is the thing I affirm then Christ died in vain this is thy consequence so I shall prove what I affirm and then see all men what thy doctrine of consequence is That it is the will of God that all men should be reproved for their evil deeds by the light read Ephesians 5. 13. John 16. 8. And that by the will of God we are sanctified and saved Hebrews 10.
the flesh hast thou not here wholly excluded the light of Christ as to be exercised therein for freedom and perfection before thou did but deny it Within but now thou hast denied all light whatsoever both from within and without for bringing to freedom or perfection so that henceforth all that will own thy doctrine must beleive to be perfected in the dark for all light whatsoever thou hast excluded so that a Christ without light must now be beleived by all that own thy faith or doctrine and indeed it suits well with thy practise witness thy many lie in thy book which are not works of the day Further thou sayes That the light within every man is not the way to the Spirit of Christ which I need not think strange seeing thou hast denied all light Also thou sayest That the works of the Law and the waiting of the Light within are all one if any man will beleive thy blind testimony Thou sayest That principle may lead to a spirit of activity for God in the contemplations of him as a pure and holy God but it is a far other principle that is Christ crucified for us and the faith of him that leads unto that Spirit of peace And so by thy doctrine there are two principles that leads to God the one far off the other But must we beleive this because thou sayest it when not one of the holy men of God thou canst instance who ever said that that Spirit that led to contemplations of the pure God was a far other principle than that of Christ that leads to peace Christ saith No man knoweth the Father but he to whom the Son reveals him Math. 11. 27. But thou sayes It s a far other principle that brings to contemplations of a pure God That blind spirit of thine clearly showes what thou knows of contemplations with God who denies the principle of Christ to lead thereto but it is like the rest of thy blind stuffe who would make people beleive that the light of Christ leads to blot out the the healing in the person of Christ surely a blinder peice of work hath not been seen but it must needs be so with thee who hath denied all light and art fighting against it Concerning error heresie c. HEre thou tels us thy former lie over again saying that I say That the light within every man is the spirit of truth and then thou tels how thou hast disproved it before and so flaidly fals into another discourse not at all to the purpose as to my words yet adds another lie saying That we beleive in God as by the light in men redeeming from sin but not as in the man Jesus having done it already and that we deny the witness of the Son and that we have neither Son nor Father which is but thy threefold cord of wickedness Thou adds another in thy conclusion and sayes It is not an errour to divide from the light within so by thy doctrine we may divide from the spiritual light of Christ and not erre but how shouldest thou count it an error to divide from the light within who hast excluded all manner of light within and without also whatever to be exercised in as the way to perfection If it be not an error to divide from the light then it must be an error to divide from the darkness for there is but these two and the one must needs be an error But it is easily seen whose word thou drives who art set to oppose the light such a work as none of Gods was ever found in wert thou not blind thou might suspect thy self who cannot produce one of thy faith in the Scripture Concerning Faith IN this accusation also is two lies first that I say that the light in every man is Gods righteousness perfection Secondly thou sayes I say not a word of the faith in the person of Christ or the operation of God in him for us The first never spoken of by me To the second my words are these That the living faith is in Christ Jesus and that true faith layes hold on Gods Righteousness and by it comes to be created in Christ Jesus unto good works Gods workmanship Is this not a word of the person of Christ nor the operation of God in him Can one own Christ Jesus and deny faith in the person of Christ Or can one witness Gods workmanship in him and not one word of the operation of God in him Oh shameless man how doest thou bend thy tongue for lies and slanders Further thou sayest that the scope of our doctrine in the height and depth of it seems plainly this that a measure of the eternal divinity is in every man by turning where unto out of all sayings operations Scriptures or Christ without the same doth purge away sin and redeems unto God All which is no more but thine own wickedness heaped up from thy foregoing lies Then thou comest to thy doctrine And that is to look away from all voice of conscience within and from all things in the heart whether good or evil and to look to Jesus with out though we be in bondage and this thou sayes is to receive the righteousness of Christ by faith But where doest thou receive this righteousness or with what is it seen or what effect hath it seeing thou hast denied all voices in the conscience all things in the heart and conclude the creature in bondage they are blind indeed who cannot see this righteousness of thine thou lookest too without any thing in the heart or conscience to be but meer imagination a talk of righteousness which thou hast not in thee And in thy next having forgot thy doctrine sayes That by him all that beleive are justified from all things by the Law of the Spirit according to the Conscience from which they could not be justified by the Law of Moses And also saves That the answer of a good Conscience in the resurrection of Jesus will be found to be that which saves before God and brings forth the true glory within What confusion is here Must all voices of the conscience be denied and yet justified by the Law of the Spirit according to the Conscience and saved by the answer of a good Conscience and must we be justified by the law of the Spirit and the works of the Law written within be denied and called the flesh and must we be set free and justified from all these things by the Law of the Spirit and the answer of a good Conscience and yet in bondage And after thou hast said We must be justified by the Law of the Spirit according to the Conscience and saved by a good Conscience then thou confutes that again and saith The Law in the Conscience which is holy just and pure is the same with the Covenant of works and sayes how holy and pure soever it be it shall not preserve blameless Was there ever such a heap of
But thy message is not any thing which is called light whatsoever either from within or without for redemption and here thou art seen to be he that preaches another Gospel They preached the Gospel of light and thy Gospel is no light whatsoever so thou art accursed and they that follow thee in that faith which denieth all light whatsoever Concerning Obedience IN this thou makes divers things of thine own never spoken nor thought by me thou sayes They are the sum of things spoken by me which indeed are but the foam of thy slanderous spirit As first As to be guided in obedience to the spirit or light within us as Christ was by the Spirit of the Father in him that is the righteousness of Christ that the Father cals for the same obedience of the beleiver as of Christ and that I say we are perfectly justified by Christs obedience when we perform obedience in the same measure he did And divers other untruths hast thou forged thereby to slander the truth as though I held forth two obediences as one of Christs and another of the Creatures And that the Creature must come up as high in his obedience as Christ did in his and such like wicked stuffe thou utters as one having sold thy self thereto bending thy tongue like a bow for lies to shoot at the truth in secret but thy arrows must peirce thy own bowels and the Archer into the wilderness must be driven but the truth shall stand for ever And all that reads what I have written may see that I have denied all sorts of obedience from Scriptures or others wrought by man or in mans will and owns onely that everlasting obedience that is in Christ to which every one must give up themselves as is oftentimes repeated by me That it is no more we that live but Christ that liveth in us and no further than we partake of his obedience in us are we accepted with the Father as Obedient children which might have stopt the mouth of the Liar hadst thou not done it wickedly And when thou hast done thou pretendest to reprove thy lying slanders with the same spirit of slander giving out filthy words of thine own as though I had lifted up my self equal with the Person of Christ to persorm the same obedience for the purging away of sin c. Oh thou full of all subtilty and wickedness where did I ever set up my self equal with Christ or ever set up any obedience of mine distinct from his or ever spoke of self obedience for the purging away of sin canst thou behold this thy wickedness and not be ashamed or didst thou think ever to account for thy words thy heart could not but tremble at this wickedness but the devil having set up an opinion in thee of being justified without faith or repentance for all thy sins past present and to come like the Pope hath given thee a dispensation to wickedness so that there is now no stop to thy tongue whatsoever he moves thee to say for to advance his kingdom of darkness thou art ready at his command Thou sayes Thou art one of the least in thy Fathers house But it seems by thy language thou hast been an apt Scholler and very diligent in his service and thou must look for thy wages when thy work thou hast finished Thou cals them Pagans who design not to know another way to divine glory than Christ did and sayes That way is but the depth of Satan Oh thou blasphemer Is it the depth of Satan to follow Christ in his way and not to design another Sure the other way thou hast designed is lying and deceit for that way I find thee in but the Way Christ Jesus I own and so far as I am led therein by the same power so I walk and it is not I but Christ in me who is the Way and the Life whose way is not without a Mediator as thou would make it to cover thy blasphemy for calling it a depth of Sathan for if that way he walked in was without a Mediator then was there a time when he was not a Mediator Thou asks me If I have not the fulness of the Godhead in my self I say In self it is not but of Christ I receive of the same fulness And many other Questions thou asks which are all in him wherein is my treasure walking in the same way who is the mystery to be beleived and example to be followed which is not two things as thou falsly sayes but one Thou sayes He put an end to the enmity and all evils in himself I say That is true but he hath not put an end to it in thee there it lives and reigns as thy lying and confusion may witness Thou sayes As thou art in the second Adam thou neither knows law reason nor sense I say It seems so by thy practise Thou sayes Nothing brings forth Christ more as a Spirit of wisdom power and holiness within thee unto good works then when thou beholds him as made righteousness and sanctification to thee without works I say stop thy mouth and utter not thy confusion Is Christ made righteousness and sanctification to some without works And is he now become the spirit of holiness within thee unto good works who hath so oft denied any thing within to be minded in heart or conscience Other lies thou tels Of dyings and obedience in us being made the way to justification in Christ and that by my doctrine ne are justified as much by the obedience of Paul as by the man Christ And such like fulthy things which follow thy own brain and not my doctrine neither can any honesty gather any such thing there from but the unclean spirit is vexed that I deny a justification before faith and with out righteousness Concerning good works ANd here thou charges me falsly also As that I should hold out the creature obedience unto the light which reproves of sin and is bringing forth the fruits of it for good works and for redemption which is utterly false for my account is that all should wait in the light of Christ and abide in it until the living word they come to hear and receive in their hearts whereby the dead comes to be raised to life which was dead in trespasses and sins and that spiritual man being quickened the power of the Spirit brings forth in him the work of Gods righteousness which was from everlasting and this is another thing than the Creature working onely from that light that reproves sin so that my words doth exhort such to stand still till they see the salvation of God and the word of his power revealed therein by which he must be created or wrought into the good work that he may walk therein Another thing thou sayes that I say the obedience or righteousness in Christ for justification and good works in us are one thing I say That the works of God and righteousness in
9 10. 1 Thes 4. 3. 1 Tim. 2. 4. These with many other Scriptures will prove what I have said prove thy consequence as thou canst Thou sayes also If the second be so then the Law and free grace is the same So by thy doctrine and consequence if that Comforter Christ speaks on which reproves the world of sin and the light of Christ be free grace then the law and free Grace are the same a strange consequence like the former Is not the light of the world free grace John 8. 12. John 16. 8. and the Spirit of God free grace If that be not then what is seeing Christ and the Spirit is denied Further sayest thou If the light God hath put into all men be the gift of grace the gift of heavenly righteousness by Christ wherein is the end of the law and sin heeded I say what thou intends by thy consequence by sin heeded let the Reader judge if he can but that the light is the gift of grace that I own and wert not thou blind thou would not imagine any light of God given to man which is not the gift of grace it must either be of grace or of works and what work hast thou done to obtain the gift of Christ light Thou sayes If the third be so then there is that in the natural man whereby he is able to know and receive the things of the Spirit I say Thy Charge in this is a lie not my words and thy consequence is of the same vote and so to thee I leave them being thy own work to say and gainesay but that the light of Christ who ever minds it and follow it is able to lead to receive the things of the Spirit that I have proved John 8. 12. and divers other places Another deceit to cast a mist over the light is thou sayes The deep things of God his grace in Christ sparkling in the old time now in one promise now in another and foretold by the Prophets whereof the Righteousness of the Fews Philosophers and Grecks knew nothing this cannot be discovered by the clearest light in the natural man I say Here are two deceits covered in this first as though none of the Jews or Saints did discern this before Christ came at Jerusalem the second as though the clearest light with which Christ enlightneth men within could not lead to the discerning of him which are both contrary to Christs words who saith Abraham saw my day and to the Prophets he was born Isaiah 9. 6. And saith Christ I am the light of the world he that follows me shall have the light of life John 8. 12. And so with the words of truth thy mist is driven away and the truth cleared from thy deceits And then as thou begun thy work with lies so thou ends with two lies more thou casts upon us That we level the mystery of the second Adam and the restoring of all things in him to be no other thing but Law and Reason Secondly That we make the death of Christ of none effect and the whole mystery of grace in him But seeing thou dost falsly slander us herein I shall state the case truly as it is in this Question Whether they that believe Christ died at Jerusalem and witness his bloud in them whereby their hearts are sprinkled and washed from lying deceit and pride and uncleanness by the in-dweiling of Christ in them so kept according to the measure of Christ revealed in Spirit Or they who say that Christ died at Jerusalem but deny him in them to redeem and save them from the power of sin or his bloud in them to sprinkle and wash them daily from dead works Or any light of his whatsoever either within or without to be exercised in to freedom and perfection but say they were washed sanctified and justified before they came into the world but in the world are found liars and false accusers and deceitful teachers this being the true case between thee and us I leave it to the wise to judge who it is that denies Christ Jesus the everlasting Priest which abideth for evermore to every generation and who it is that makes his bloud of none effect as to wash away sin and to restore all things to God and whether the effect of the bloud of Christ be to take away sin or to talk on whereby to plead for sin against the present being and effect thereof to wit to keep out of the Devils works Now who owns the bloud of Christ let the effect manifest to all men And know thou that the bloud of Christ is not words not imaginations of what thou never see before thou was born but a living substance which is to be known with its effect to every particular Saint in every generation and such who say they are saved by the bloud of Christ before they were but now are found in their sins are such as deny the bloud of Christ and to them they make it of none effect who are not washed and they who say they was purged sanctified and justified before they were and now when they are are unclean boasts of that they never saw and trusts in a lie for talking what Christ was by the history is one thing which all have and believe and yet abide in condemnation and without further may perish but to learn Christ in the mystery of faith which is held in a pure Conscience is another and onely such know him aright both what he did at Jerusalem and the end of it who follow him now in spirit and have fellowship in his death and sufferings and so attains to his resurrection in the spirit and life and so follow in his life and righteousness such onely confess him and shall not therein be condemned Much more might be said to lay open thy deceits in thy other part of thy book but my life is not to rifle in such heaps of confusion were it not that I am forced to it for clearing the truth from false Teachers who are wholly ignorant of the mystery of faith which is held in a pure Conscience and so know nought but in the natural comprehensions as brute beasts judging of the great mystery of God and his redemption to stand in visibles and carnal things times and places which things in their carnal wisdom they make use on to fight against the spiritual appearance of Christ in the Creature without which there can be neither life nor redemption No Christ himself onely known after the flesh brings no man to God but Christ revealed in spirit from heaven that everlasting Light and Glory of the Father the eternal Spirit and Comforter that could not come till he went away in the flesh And if his presence was not the full accomplishment of the great promise of the Father and the Son but he must go away in the flesh out of their carnal sight no more to be in the world carnally but in
will serve to heal the heart deceitfully as the false Prophets ever did who cried peace where God cried not peace but that peace will break out again when you stand in most need it will onely serve you while you can please your selves in the things of this world and forget your later end but if ever you remember Christs justification spoken on Math 12. 36 37. it will marr yours to wit that for every idle word you must answer for at the day of judgement and then by your words you must be justified and by your words condemned you that live and die in your sins will find it in vain at that day to plead your justification before you was born or had committed sin so to that day I leave you who will not be reconciled to God but chuse your own delusions And from thy own words these following Quaeries are propounded and left with thee Quaer 1. SEing thou affirms that Christ hath quite taken away sin before people are born then Whether doth any come into the world without sin or no 2. If Christ took away all sin before you were born as though it had never been how is it you say you expect his appearance again to salvation must you be twice saved and when there is nought to be saved from 3. Whether he that believes that all his sins are taken away before he be born as though they had never been as thou sayest and yet commits sin and hath the root of it in him doth not believe a lie yea or no 4. Whether he that hath his sin done away as though it had never been needs to repent of any thing he doth as sin or grieving of the Spirit of God yea or no 5. Whether he that believes his sins are washed away before he be born and after he be born doth commit sin whether he doth stand in need to be washed again and if he be not washed again whether he shall die in his sins or no st Suppose thou that cals thy self a Believer should commit a sin as covetousness which is idolatry or the like if one thou cals an unbeliever do the same whether is thy sin as great as his and stands need of washing as he or else perish with him without repentance or what is the difference as to the root matter and offence 7. Whether did not Christ wash sanctifie and justifie all mankind in the same manner he did thee before thou wast and if not what is the difference and the cause and the ground of it 8. Is there any Creature living that if they mind the light of Christ and so come to repentance and faith in Christ Jesus improving what power God hath given but they shall be saved And on the contrary is there any though they pretend faith yet commit sin and die there in without repentance and washing that shall be saved And whether the purpose of God doth not stand with the Creatures as they own or disown the righteousness of faith in Christ Jesus can any be condemned that receives it or can any be saved without it yea or no Again seeing thou sayes page 18. That this false conception or resemblance of Christ as a Law-giver and Worker is an Idol and the root of idolatrous Religions Hence I quaerie 1. Whether thy Christ thou speaks on be the same with that which the Scriptures speak of If the same where is thy Testimony from Scripture for such a Christ as is no Law-giver If another as in truth it is then why dost thou begin thy book with a lie calling it A Testimony to the true Jesus 2. Whether dost thou own this to be a prophesie of Christ Deut. 18. 15 16 17 18 19. which the Apostles applied to him Acts 3. 22 23 where it s said I will raise up to thee a Prophet from the midst of thee c. unto him shall ye hearken according to all that thou desiredst of the Lord thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly saying let me not hear again the voyce of the Lord my God neither let me see this great fire any more that I die not And the Lord said they have well spoken I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren like unto thee and will put my words in his mouth and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him And it shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken nnto my words which he shall speak in my Name I will require it of him If thou own these words to be spoken of Christ whether dost thou not see them to hold out him as a Law-giver to his people and such a Law giver as that whosoever did not hearken to his words should be cut off or the Lord would require it of him Whether dost thou own the new Covenant the Law to be put in the heart and writ there instead of giving it forth in tables of stone on Mount Sinai in thunder and lightenings and fire which the people could not bear And whether dost thou own Christ to be the Minister of that new Covenant or new Law promised which the people were to hear or be cut off Or whether dost thou own Christ to give the Spirit into the hearts of his people to be their Law and Teacher to teach them all things and to lead into all righteousness In a word Whether dost thou own him to give forth either Precept or Spirit seeing thou denies him to be a Law-giver For the giving forth of either makes him a Law-giver 3. Whether dost thou own these sayings following to be Precepts or Laws given out by Christ or disown that Christ that gave them forth namely Math. 5. 29 30. If thy right eye offend thee pluck it out and cast it from thee c. and if thy right hand offend thee cut it off and cast it from thee c Again I say unto you swear not at all I say unto you that ye resist not evil but whosoever shall smite thee on the right check turn to him the other also Lay not up for your selves treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt Fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul Learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and such like Are these Precepts or Laws given forth by Christ yea or no seeing thou disowns him as a Law-giver 4. Whether dost thou own this to be Scripture Or this Christ that gave this commandement John 13. 24. A new commandement give I unto you That ye love one another as I have loved you that ye also love one another 5. Seeing thou disowns Christ a Law-giver Whether dost thou own him to be King and Lord and Master If so Whether onely titular or in truth and power If in power where lies it if he cannot give forth a Command or Law and so be a Law-giver to his people 6. Whom hast thou hitherto served and whom hast thou hitherto obeyed seeing thou owns not Christ to be thy Law-giver Art thou lawless and disobedient or hast thou thy law from thy self or from Satan or some other Whose Law followest thou seeing thou owns none from Christ And seeing thou disowns Christ also as a Worker Quaer Who is it that works all our works in us Isaiah 26. 12. and with out whom we can do nothing John 15. 4 5 and who was it that wrought in Paul mightily Col. 1. 19. FINIS
A VINDICATION OF TRUTH As held forth in a Book ENTITULED LOVE TO THE LOST From the Lies Slanders and Deceits of T. HIGGENSON in a Book called A Testimony to the true Iesus But he is discovered to hold forth another Iesus then what the Scriptures hold forth or the Saints witness I. N. LONDON Printed for Giles Calvert and are to be sold at the Black-Spread-Eagle at the West End of Pauls 1656. A Vindication of Truth as held forth in a Book entituled Love to the Lost Friend THou sayes thou shall present a veiw of that Spirit that is in the Quakers having obtained a more perfect understanding of that way and sum of our faith and profession which thou sayes is come forth signed by James Naylor And this thou sayes thou wilt do in love to us To which I say that which is come forth by James Nayler was presented already and hadst thou been able to have said something against it as by me presented and proved it in plainness not to have been the faith and spirit that was in the holy men of God then hadst thou done something to purpose But in that thou hast left what truth I presented and instead thereof hast presented a heap of falshoods and deceits out of thy own bosom as like my words as thou well could make a lie to the truth And hast made people beleive thou hast disproved something of mine when thy work hath but been to fight with thy own falshood and so confound thy self instead of confuting me This makes it appear that thou art not perfect in thy understanding of our way and spirit the sum of our faith and profession or else wickedly ignorant that thou mayst take occasion to cast thy reproach upon us and the truth and faith we profess Indeed who reads my book and thy slanders gathered from thence as thou pretends will say the later is the more like seeing thou hast so often repeated over thy own wicked slanders fathering them on me which hath no footing at all in my book As that I deny the person of Christ the death of Christ the bloud of Christ the once offering of Christ for all c. that I say the light in every man is God and Christ and Redemption is the baptism of Christ is Gods Righteousness and many such like abominable lyes never spoken by me which thou often over accusest me that I say so that any moderate man may wonder that ever any who have but a shew of religion should be so void of the fear of God or have so little bridle for the tongue as thou hast shewed in this thy work But that conceit thou hast of being justified before thou wast born and before either faith or works hath given thee such a dispensation as that thou matters not much what thou sayest being justified beforehand nought thou dost can condemn thee Christ hath born away all thy sins before thou was begotten or born and thou shalt never bear them nor they be charged upon thee a principle of wickedness called faith to cheat the soules of people and keep them bold in their sins at which all that knows the righteousness of God and his terrors against sin may weep to think on And in all which instead of discovering our spirit thou are discovered thy spirit and foundation but what is come forth signed by James Nayler stands as it was thy lies being taken away which some of them I shall lay open with thy confusions thereupon as to the later part of thy book which pretends an answer to my writing in Love to the lost The other part though a heap of confusion I shall not much meddle with as to answer the substance thereof falling within the other part nor shall I write much to any of it truth is tryed and stands not by words So to the first particular as followeth First Concerning the fall of man ANd in this thou tels of the sum of things spoken by me but sums up thy own lies amongst it not having matter from my words to accuse me with Doth my words say that Gods own Wisdom and Spirit remains in faln man but as a captive and that that was his fall or do I say that by looking and turning not to any thing without but to that of God lying under and covered within him and that that is the bloud of the Cross and his redemption Art not thou ashamed instead of answering to my words to become an accuser openly had it not been thy wisdom rather to have been silent if thou durst not have entred upon my words as they stand then to have made thy self way with lies and then to disprove thy lies thy self And not any thing that I have said dost thou appear against onely in thy seeming answer or mist which thou casts thou adds more lies saying that I say that there is that in the natural man which being turned into and followed can redeem and make attonement a thing never spoken by me nor never entred into my heart for it is in the spiritual man that the attonement is made and not in the natural Thou further sayes That the obedience of Christ was not the righteousness of one which is as false concerning Christ as the other concerning me as whoever reads Rom. 5. 18 19 shall read there in plain words Other things thou sayes As that we are not made righteous by looking back and turning to the first Adam c. A thing never spoken by me nor intended onely thou dost disprove thy own deceitful slander cast on my words and so in the most places of thy book which I shall not much mention seeing they touch not my words as he that reads my words may see not one sentence of mine hast thou disproved in this answer Thou adds a piece of false doctrine which I shall discover Thou sayes by looking out of everything in man to the second Adam I say he whose eyes is without and not within cannot see the second Adam for he cannot be seen but by revelation and in spirit he is known and seen since his ascention and hath been to all his as these Scriptures will plainly prove Galat. 1. 16. Col. 1. 27. And I demand of thee and all thy generation to make it appear how the second Adam is now seen but in the spirit by faith within till then blame me not for saying this of thine is false doctrine I know there is a sort of you who have conceited a carnal sight and have run in your carnal expectations from year to year therein till you are become spiritually blind but if that be it thou here intends thou must reckon thy self for the present amongst those who have neither seen him nor known him who denies his revelation in spirit and so being intruding into that which the eye hath not seen no marvel though thou speak so darkly of him as thou dost in this thy book and would lead men from the
spirit to seek Christ the Lord who is that Spirit 2 Cor. 3. 17 18. and would lead without to seek him whom none of you can find but within Concerning Light and Life ANd this also thou dare not enter on as it stands but that thou may be seen to say somewhat as though thou opposed me Thou makes a lie of thy own saying that I say that the light shining in every man is Christ a thing never written nor intended by me And when thou hast set up this lie thou fals in hand to confute it to make people believe thou was confuting my words when thou art but declaring in print what deceit hath long been hid in thy own bosome and that the lyar and deceiver is one in thee so having laid thee open I have no more to do in that quarrel having denied the lie and its founder what I have writ stands as it was Onely another error I shall reprove thee of that is thou sayes That all false Religions and errors are bottomed upon the law in the Conscience And this is false and contrary to Scripture for the great mystery of faith that discovers all errors and false Religions is held in the Conscience 1 Tim. 3. 9. And the Apostles rejoycing was the testimony of their Conscience and they did not rejoyce in the ground of errors and by the answer of a good Conscience the Saints are saved by the resurrection of Jesus 1 Pet. 3. 21. and they are not saved by the ground of errors And the law that is written in the Conscience is that which God hath written and the law of the new Covenant of life and light which discovers all errors and which leads to know God as is plain Heb. 8. 10 11. And thou that teaches people that the Law which God hath written within man is the ground of errors teachest blasphemy And this law in spirit is that perfect law of liberty that whosoever looks unto and continueth therein he being a doer of the work that man shall be blessed in his deed Jam. 1. 25. And by this spiritual law of life was the Saints made free from the law of sin and death and the righteousness of this law it was that Christ fulfilled in the Saints who walked after the law of the Spirit and not after the letter of the Law Rom. 8. 1 2 3 4. And this Righteousness which the Saints beleived and waited for to be fulfilled in them is that which thou art preaching against and would have all to shut it out and then the devil might dwell safe within and they that did wait for this righteousness of the law fulfilling in them did not deny the bloud of Christ as thou falsly would accuse us who witness the same Righteousness of saith within and not of the letter without for we know and so did they that none can have this righteousness of faith fulfilled in them but who beleives that one offering once for all and by his blood we have access to that faith by which is declared that everlasting Righteousness of God for Justification to which till then we was strangers and could not come but now have an inheritance therein And as we know that none can come to have this Righteousness wrought in them unless they beleive in his bloud and sacrisice once offered so also we know That none by taking of what was done at Jerusalem and say they beleive in it without this work can be saved as the Scripture saith in plain words James 2. 14. to the end of the chapter which Scriptures may serve to shew thy spirit and what nature thy work is of and thy faith that denies Gods righteousness within to be meer imagination and such a faith none of Gods people ever preached or professed Another peice of confusion I shall mind thee on here in this thou confesseth Christ to be the same word as the Spirit of revelation in us and that so he is the light within us And in thy last thou denyed any to look to the glory of the Godhead shinng forth on man but they must look off from every thing in man so by thy own doctrine we must not look to the glory of the God head shining forth on us nor to the Spirit of revelation nor to Christ the light within us these thou hast forbidden and yet thou would make people beleive thou was a Minister for God and Christ A blind way hast thou made for such as will follow thee who must neither look to glory of the Godhead shining on them nor to Christ in them but they that are wise may compare thy doctrine with Christs and his Apostles in these Scriptures Luke 17. 21. 2 Cor. 4. 6 7. Rom. 8. 9 10 11 12 14. where you may see to what the Saints looked and when it was and where their hope and faith was and whether without or within Col. 1. 27. and where their faith and hope was there was their righteousness wherein they walked and to which they became servants and whereby they became free from sin Rom. 4 but Gods righteousness in man the devil likes not but to talk on and let him keep possession that likes him well and his servants for he that serves Gods Righteousness in his heart can be no servant of sin for his servants you are to whom you obey whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness Rom 6. 16. And as out of the heart of the wicked proceeds that which defiles because of the blindess of their hearts Ephes 4. So he that keeps his heart with all diligence from thence are the issues of life Prov. 4. 23. and he that hath not righteousness in his heart hath none at all but where the word of faith is known in the heart that mans righteousness is not at a distance nor his salvation to seek for with the heart man beleives unto righteousness but is not that a blind doctrine which preaches God and Christ within but that Righteousness that justifies not in them It seems thou imagines that God when he comes to dwell in man leaves his Righteousness behind him or that righteousness that then is in him is not able to justifie him but the Saints that knew justification knew the gift of righteousness for it Rom. 5. And justification by the Spirit 1 Cor. 6. 11. And everlasting Righteousness brought in whereby transgression is finished Dan. 9. 24. but a generation there is who turn judgement into gall and the fruit of righteousness into bemlock Amos 6. 12. Hearken you stout hearted who are far from righteousness I will bring neer my righteousness and it shall not be far off Isai 46. 12 13. And what I have said may answer to the next also Concerning Righteousness ANd in this like the rest thou first makes a lie of thy own to confute but my words thou canst not enter Thou sayes the sum of our faith is that the imputed Righteousness that justifies is the
confusion and contradictions gathered together Are these thy ballance with which thou art weighing us which thou tels of Or is this a standing measure which staggereth to and fro like a drunken man contradicting and confounding thy self till there be not a word thou sayes will stand which is unconfounded from thy own mouth Is not here Babels foundation discovered to the weakest eye opened in any heart But this is brought to pass by the Lord for the Nations must not long be deceived with your witchcrafts whoredoms he is laying open to the people with what you have fed them and where with all you have covered them and how you have made them to trust in confusion and brought forth a lie for their salvation wherein you have made them to rejoyce over the slain and to trust in emptiness putting the Lord afar off and casting the Law of his Covenant behind your backs but now your skirts is laying open and your filthiness appears your hearts void of righteousness your tongues must needs utter confusion One thing more of thy false doctrine before I pass from this particular and that is That men are justified and sin washed away before either faith or works and this thou affirms in plain words which is a strange doctrine and indeed a doctrine of devils which denies the faith and sets up an imagination in its stead for if we be justified and sin washed away before either faith or works then are we not justified by faith for we cannot be justified by that which is not And if this doctrine be true that men are justified before either faith or work then is not faith of absolute necessity a man may be saved without it for he that is justified and his sin washed away cannot be damned he that will beleive this doctrine of thine need not matter much what he do this faith is that with which you lead people without faith of God to make no conscience of sin but beleive that they are purged though they feel themselves servants of sin and in bondage thereto Concerning Hope ANd the thing thou charges me with in this is That I say to hope that that of God in every man or a Christ may be revealed to take away sin to give freedom from sin in this life is the pure the reasonable hope that makes not ashamed In this thou hast mixed a truth and a lie together and they must be severed that the truth may be owned and the lie returned to the founder That of God in every man can take away sin that is thine own take it again but that Christ may be revealed in this to take away sin that hope I own and am not ashamed thereof which thou seems to oppose Another charge thou layes upon me is that I say To hope salvation while the Witness in the conscience condemns of sin is the Devils hope Which accusation is utterly false and the words not so spoken by me for I own a hope before the Conscience be wholly purified which hope leads to the purifying and that is holden forth by me several times and therefore am far off from calling that the devils hope But my words are these But the Devil hath begot another hope as like this as may be in his servants which stands in another ground and brings forth another fruit and that is though they be servants of sin yet there is hopes of salvation and such hopes as may not be judged nor questioned although the witnese of God in the Conscience doth testifie the contrary yet it must not be heeded least they be deluded so where the Devil is become a teacher a tender Conscience must be resisted and such a hope set up as holds that to hope in Christ within is to deny the presence of Christ c. and many such expressions there is which clearly shews how thou hast perverted my words contrary to all reason and honesty to slander withal that because I condemn that hope to be of the Devil which hopes not freedom from sin as well as freedom from hell that therefore I condemn him that hopes for salvation while yet the Conscience is not wholly purged But to come to thy doctrine thou sayest To rest in hope that thou art saved already from sin and wrath in Christ the Head whilest Conscience condemns thee of sin this is the hope of faith against the hope of the Law and Conscience I say to hope for freedom from sin whilest yet the Conscience condemns for sin this hope I own which is not against the Conscience but leads to a pure Conscience But thou that hopes that thou art already saved from sin and wrath whilest thou art a servant of sin and the wrath of God appears to condemn thee for sin in thy Conscience thou art he that hopes in a lie for he that is the servant of sin is not already freed from sin thou may well say this hope is against the Conscience and against the Law of God also such a hope as none of the Children of God never hoped in whose rejoycing was the testimony of their Conscience and their hope was according to a good Conscience but never hoped against their Conscience 2 Cor. 1. 12. Diddest thou not in thy last say That men must be justified by the law of the Spirit according to conscience and saved by the answer of a good Conscience And doest thou now tell them That the hope of grace and faith is against Law and Conscience or sense and feeling Is not this to make the law void by that which thou cals grace and to makesh pwrack of a pure Conscience and so become past feeling like those thou may read on Ephes 4. 18 19. Further thou goes on and sayes That hope that is begotten not by the letter but by the inhabiting or abiding Spirit there it is a hope beholding the glory of the Lord and changing the creature into his Image that hope sees the love of the Father shed forth upon us in the bloud of Atonement c. But how apt art thou to forget thy self Diddest thou not in thy last forewarn all for looking to any thing whether good or evil in the heart and conscience within And is it now by that inhabiting and abiding Spirit that reveals the blood of Atonement and finishes all sin So by thy doctrine it is within in the inhabiting and abiding Spirit that sees the bloud of Attonement but thou hast fore warned all not to look at it nor at any thing within good or evil And yet sayes We are saved through faith according to the inward man and much such like confused stuffe which is weariness to repeat after thee were it not for the seeds sake that they may be led out of thy deceit Is not this a strange doctrine to say that we are saved through faith according to the inward man and yet must not look to any thing in the heart or conscience be it good or bad
and vertue of all Creatures and to see God in all things and looking at this as too base to be the the effects of that Supper and is the Supper it self now become a rudiment with thee And thou goest on to tell what this rudiment must be and that therein is not a bare speculation of Christ or the divinity as filling all things for the natural man may know so much thou saies but to descern the law and all perfection to be already buried and abolished in his grave and your selves raised up into liberty c. I say it is true lawless liberty is the thing that thy Ministery preaches and to bury perfection but the end why Christ sent forth his Ministers was for perfecting the Saints not to bury perfection Ephes 4 11 12 13. And the Saints Preached Christ for their Law-giver and the Law for their hearers to look into and continue therein not to be hearers onely but doers of the work and said they should be blessed in that deed and said the Law was Perfect and did endure for ever these did not bury it but preach it and live in it and was set free by it James 1. 25. Rom 8. 2. But thy way is to bury it out of the sight and all perfection with it lest it trouble thy liberty and this is the end of thy rudiment and yet sayest the natural man may know the speculation of Christ or the divinity I say could he know that which is false as Scripture witnesses 1 Cor. 2. 14. I should chuse the naturall mans estate far before thine and thy liberty for all thou hast got with thy rudiment wherewith thou hast buried the Law and all perfection Another piece of thy doctrine is That Christ revealed in man is not to reconcile the Creatures unto himself I say the Devil would have the creatures act his command to spend upon his lust and therefore would exclude Christ in man to be but as some Cypher or something to take on not to have any power in the heart to take the creatures from their lust and bring them into the place and Covenant wherein they were created and that in the heart of every man particularly which is not done where he is not in the heart he would be content to allow him a name or a talk of reconciling people before they be begotten or born as thy faith is but after they come into the world and be able to do him any service then must he have the ordering of all within and to own Christ for a Redeemer in the heart daily to free him from his sins while the creature lives that must go under the name of an error if the Devil be teacher and to affright simple people the more from it he tells them that to wait upon Christ in spirit every day to redeem them from their present sins and enlighten them and let them see his present wiles with which every day he besets them this is to deny his person and what he did at Jerusalem and is but a spirit of fear they need not trouble themselves withall It s enough that Christ reconciled the world in himself and ruled over the Devil in his own person he need not do the same in him that is but to do the work over againe and with such deceirs as these he deceives the simplicity and sets the beast at liberty and having got up in one and the false Prophet thereon which hath told the lies there Anti christ goeth out into the world to oppose the word of reconciliation or the government of Christ in the hearts of all the rest Thou sayest That my saying Christ was not born in the Disciples when the Supper was appointed is contrary to truth But truth faith that the Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Jusus Christ was not yet glorified John 7. 39. neither was Christ born in all in the Churches for some was carnal and they was but waiting for his appearance and many of them knew not the Table of the Lord from the Table of Devils and so was not come so far as those thou calls Pagans to see God in every thing Concerning Redemption ANd here thou begins first to make a lie as formerly to make thy self work saying that I say Redemption is not of sinners but of the light within which is but the falshood of thine owne heart for I speak of that seed that lyeth slain in trespasses and sins and in redemption of that is the sinner redeemed who was captivated into sin and condemnation with the other seed of the Devill which is not to be redeemed but destroyed And after this lie thou tells of my darkness and cries out how are the abundant riches of grace the fulness of the Mediator and the power of the Crosse resolved at once into the light I say blind man when was they out of it yet doth none see them there but as they follow in the light come to see the life as saith Christ John 8. 12. so that every one that sees the light sees not them but he that follows the light sees and receaves them therein which are not to be received in any thing else But how shouldest thou know what is in the light who denies all light both within and without whatsoever to be exercised therein Children of darkness could never judge what was in the light who in thy blind mind art telling that the seed needs no redemption what was that that was redeemed in the Ephesians which was dead in trespasses and sins in which they walked before they received the Apostles doctrine Ephes 1. 1 2. was they naturally dead or the seed of God was slain in them but when thou knows what that is that is dead in thee whilest thou art alive in the Devills works denying any thing in thee to save the therefrom then thou shalt know what seed that is I speak of which is not the seed of the evil doer till then stop thy mouth from speaking thou knows not what who hast denied all light whatsoever what art thou like to know but what darkness teacheth thee Thou goes on in thy confused mind and tells of a greater law that came forth Christ in flesh and of an end put both to law and flesh by the body of Christ and that you are joined to Christ alone according to the inward man ye dwell in the curtains of Solomon and liberty and rest of Christ but according to the flesh you are in the tents of Keder And yet thy greatest work in thy book is to deny christ according to the in ward man and to set up the knowledge of him according to the flesh and thus with thy drunken dark spirit thou confounds thy self and staggers to and fro at noon day vomiting out thy own shame and confusion Thou tells also that thy Redemption no law nor light of conscience can descern but the light of Christ shining into the heart So in
thy opinion the light of Christ in the heart is no law nor light of conscience what is the law of the spirit of life if not the light of Christ in the heart and what is that which is good in the conscience the answer whereof saves if not the light of Christ And dost not thou say in thy 55. page That all that believe are justified from all things by the law of the spirit according to the conscience from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses And is it now become that no law nor light of conscience can descern it so people must be justified by they do not know what and much like according to thy doctrine who affirms they are justified before they be begotten or born then are not like to discern what their redemption is nor what it is that is redeemed from what nor by whom further than by a talk from a drunken spirit Thou saies further There is no mystery in the light within I say where was that mystery that was held in a pure conscience which the Apostle speaks on 1 Tim. 3. 9. was not that within but thou hast found out a greater mystery than the mystery of faith that is that the thing that is not may be washed sanctified and justified thou may well say this is above all the mystery within and indeed beyond all faith that is of God onely thy imaginations hath no limit whose foundation is in the air Thou tells of a greater and better estate than Adam in his innocencie which is no more but in thy imaginations for thou that never knew the life of innocencie in thy self as it was in Adam art far unlike to know a greater wherefore stop thy mouth vain babbler out of which comes all this confusion smoak and darkness and with the light of thy conscience find thy own measure and boast not above it so will thou see thy self for all thy boasting to be as dumb as those Isaiah speaks of as to the state of innocency or any state above it witnessed in thee or thou in it further than an airie notion Concerning Justification Sanctification Mortification ANd this is not without a slander like the rest but thy lies are so many I am weary with raking in them so to thy doctrine And thou tells of a justification already prepared and wrought for sinners upon the Crosse when he bare away your sins and death and all the evils of this world and thou sayest He that can but truly believe this according to his faith so is it done But art thou not now become partial who hast assumed a privilege to thy self that thou wilt allow no body else who sayest thou thy self art justified and sin washed away before either faith or works yea before thou thy self were and now hast put others upon believing for justification and saiest so it is done according to their faith and thine done without faith yea before either faith or works And seeing thou limits the time of this work of justification onely to that time when Christ was upon a carnal cross and sayest Thou wert justified before thou wast Then when was all justified that died before the outward crucifying of Christ If there was not justification in Christ before that time then either must it follow that the Saints that died before was justified since they died or else are all condemned But if every particular Saint was justified in their time by that everlasting righteousness of God by faith in Christ Jesus and all that departed from that righteousness was to perish Ezek. 18. Then must it either follow so row or justification is not the same that it was which do thou shew if thou canst wherein it differs further then they by faith in him that was to come whom they saw by faith and we in faith of him that did come whom we now see by faith in a clearer manifestation but both in the same everlasting righteousness of God without which righteousness by faith in them and they in it without which neither they nor we can enter into the Kingdom A Question thou asks But can there be rest and liberty where there is a groaning for it Thy answer is Yea oh man as well as Paul could be present in spirit where he was absent in body I say Thy comparison will not hold for Paul was really present in spirit and he need not groan for it but he that imagines a liberty and yet is the servant of sin is not so and how being at rest and travelling and groaning to come to rest can stand together a little simplicity may judge thereof Thou sayest The love of God and righteousness of Christ are not more or less for the beleiver I say That is the ground of all the Ranters and as they are in God himself without relation to any particular they are no more or less But in relation to mans salvation he that believes not shall never have benefit by them according to his faith so shall he receive as thou thy self but now confessed with whom its no new thing to say and unsay both with a wind Thou tels of thy being justified by Christ thy head but the manifestation of it in thy self therein is thy sanctification and before thou said Thou was sanctified before thou was born and before thou wert Thus thy Potsheards are clashing one against another who art lifting up thy self against the Iron Rod and in opposition to the light of the world Concerning the Law THy Charge here is made up most of thy own words and not mine and so as thy own and not mine I shall pass it And thou begins thy doctrine with a deceit also saying Are the Law and Gospel the same As though I had said they was and thus with deceit and falshood thou carries on thy work saying that I say They know not his Commands in Spirit who say that Christ fulfilled the Law for us in his own Person Another deceit is That Whereas I say the bloud of Buls and Goats made nothing perfect c. This thou turns to the bloud of Christ as though I denied it to make perfect and so runs on from one false deceit to another for if thy deceit fall thy works is at an end the whole body being little else And when thou hast cast out thy lies then thou comes to thy faith that is That Christ hath sustained all the Law hath to charge upon you c. But let me ask thee one question with thy large faith Who was redeemed and justified before thou was born Suppose thou commit adultery or murther will not the Law charge that sin upon thee that Law God hath written in thy heart Yea and so as without new washing to condemn thee at the day of Judgment If thou say yea then thy justification and washing before thou wert born may be disanulled and stand in need of the bloud now If thou say no I say I
they ever see feel or know but within for it is the Spirit that searcheth and reveals all things even the deep things of God now is there any man that knows any thing as he ought to know but by Christ enlightening his understanding within that work thou opposing shews thy blindness and opposition to Scripture as may be seen Many more such like errors hast thou which are directly opposite to the Spirit of God and plain Scripture such as indeed give Christ a name to have lived and died in his own person at Jerusalem but doth wholly strike at his eternal life and the everlasting offering his long suffering his death and the fellowship of it and his resurrection his enlightening leading and salvation in Spirit within without which no man can be saved nor know Christ but as the Devil may know him and in plain truth strikes at his everlasting Name as he is an everlasting King and Saviourin his people to wash to order to judge to give laws and statutes to save and redeem from every particular sin in every one of his from one generation to another by his present in-dwelling who is the same yesterday to day and for ever where he is marifest inflesh to take away sin And by talking of his bloud at Jerusalem makes his bloud of none effect as he is an everlasting Priest by an everlasting Priesthood not as in one generation but for ever stands offered up to the Father with his bloud in the everlasting Covenant an atonement making and besprinkling the hearts and consciences of every one of his by the bloud of his everla sting Covenant which not being done by faith within makes that at Jerusalem of none effect as to that person And this is the same Spirit that in the Law cryed the Temple the Temple but to withstand him who was the everlasting Temple and substance of the visible which now cries the body and bloud at Jerusalem but to withstand the end of that blood which is to wash and cleanse from all sin and to purge every Conscience from dead works without which that at Jerusalem is made void and without its effect and as the Devil could keep then them blind in the Temple worship but he in their hearts and they doing his work so doth he now by crying the death at Jerusalem and keeping from the fellowship of it within he keeps sin alive and the creature captivated therein at his will and makes them believe they were cleansed before they were born but still in the same iniquity the Jews was in if not worse and cries up a great benefit they have by Christs coming and that they are under grace but still in the power of Satan and his works done in the body where Christ should dwell so that in truth this is all the benefit that is found in such more than the Jews had but a talk of Christ at Jerusalem as the other did of the Temple at Jerusalem but both without that in them which is the life of all visibles and invisibles even the in-dwelling of Christ to redeem them from the power of sin and the world but these cry we are redeemed by the bloud of Christ before we were though we commit sin that cannot hinder our redemption we are delivered though we be inclosed up in a body of sin yet are we in Christ at the very same time in the heavenly Righteousness far above all sin as thou sayes which indeed is no more but an imagined freedom and a lie and is found no more in substance nor before God is there any differenceat all between a servant of sin the Jews time and a servant of sin now but onely that you cause the Name of Jesus to be evil spoken on through the world and sin against his light and grace more than they did and make the sufferings of Christ at Jerusalem a cloak for the Devil to carry his works under and bring them forth Neither did ever any Child of light profess such a faith to wit that they were washed and justified when they were not which is a meer fixion of the brain and no faith but a peice of non-sense to say we were justified sanctified and washed before we were as though that which is filthy may be made clean by washing a thing that is not and by justifying a thing that is not you are just before God in all manner of filthiness and so in an airy conceit of justifying of nought you imagine you are saved Neither did ever any of the children of light say that they was justified before faith as thou dost produce thy brother amongst all the Saints that was of this faith thou talks of Papists and false Opinions I say none like this not a Ranter in England hath a larger faith nor hath the Devil such a way in all the works to keep people out of the fear of God repentance for sin or being guided by the Light and Spirit of Christ out of the Devils work and so redeemed out of condemnation Was there ever such a deceit as the Devil hath blinded you withal to live in your sin and bondage to Satan denying the Light of Christ in you and when he lets you see your bondage and his enemy and what way you should escape the pollutions of the world and his wrath that is against you by his light in your consciences Then you call that a spirit of bondage and say you are not under that you are redeemed from minding any thing within in the conscience and thus at once make shipwrack of a pure conscience and the mystery of faith therein and run in hand with the Devil to believelies That you was clean before you was born shall be clean when you are dead and your sins now cannot change Gods purpose nor make his love more or less to you and so with a brazened face setup a way and faith and preach it that though you be closed up in sin and wicked in your life soul and body and all you are yet you are righteous before God and that which you now love and live in must not be charged upon you And when the enemy hath got you into this deceit and thereby slain the witness of God in you which should reprove you of sin and keep you in his fear and your hearts tender then are you fit instruments for his work to withstand the spiritual appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ in his Saints and for that purpose hath he fill'd your hearts with lies and deceits to cast in the way of the truth and upon them that profess it as thou hast done in this thy book slandering us to deny the Person of Christ for no other thing but because we witness the end of his appearance in person which is his indwelling for ever in our hearts by faith there to sit as King and Priest to all generations taking dominion over whatever in the heart is contrary to