the sons of God but the flames of a wounded conscience of the one who can indure the bitter burning of it so the joyes of a healed saved conscience in the other how sweet is it and both these manifest in flesh under the law and gospel-dispensation where the discontent and torment of one mans conscience wounded by the Law is manifest and the joy and comfort of anothers healed by the gospel and both living together on the earth in the body and having the glory of this world and the other the same but Dives dyed and was buried First his death was the coming of the Law to him to revive sin in him whereby sin was made exceeding sinful and thereby slew him as it did Paul and as is the death of all after which comes judgement before which Paul as Dives was rich and righteous in himself Rom. 7.9 10 11 12 13 14. till the Law was set home to him and revived sin in him and so slew him after which the gospel came and gave life unto him But Dives also was buried and in hell tormented hee was with David laid into the lowermost pit in darkness Psal 88.6 7. in the deep where the wrath of God lay hard upon him that he could not come forth where he was scorched with fire and burned his tongue for pain under the four and five vial and which David he cryed out Luk. 16.23 24. Father Abraham have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame as David said Wilt thou shew wonders in the grave where thy fierce wrath goeth over me Psa 88.12.16 Psa 43.2 3. and thy terrors have cut me off Why dost thou cut me off Why go I mourning because of the oppression and the enemy Psa 51.8.12 send Lazarus thy light and thy truth let them lead me let them bring me unto thy holy hill make me to hear joy and gladness that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit so is the cryings of a wounded soul that looketh up unto God for mercy as is said Dives did who was also a son of God as Lazarus was for he called Abraham father and Abraham called Dives his son and so is every unbeliever the son of God though so long he bringeth forth fruit to himself and not unto God and thereby destroys himself Rom. 11.32 yet in God is his help and the help of every unbeliever for he hath concluded all under sin and unbelief that he might have mercy upon all and therefore Dives said Father Abraham have mercy on me Now Lazarus he dyed that is he dyed unto sin and lived unto righteousness and was not buried as Dives was Rom. 6.11 but was carryed by the angels into Abrahams bosom he was dead in Christ as every believer is while he lives by whom he was crucified and slain to sin and the worlds glory 2 Cor. 1.9 10. having received in himself the sentence of death that he should not trust in himself but in God which raiseth the dead and delivered him from so great a death from which he had not delivered Dives and all thus dead in Christ riseth first with Christ into the life of Christ which is the first resurrection but the rest of the dead to wit they of Dives the righteous and the wicked that are so in themselves and do worship the Beast and his Image and follow the whore they rise not till they are so become dead in Christ from sin and the world which yet they live in are dead from Christ buryed in the grave of destruction â—ev 14.9 i0 11. where is weeping and gnashing of teeth and where the worm dyeth not and the fire is not quenched to all that are in it but blessed are ehe dead which dye in the Lord Rev. 14.15 from the whore and her worship from henceforth yea saith the spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them for dying and rising in Christ they do enter into rest with Christ resting from all their own works as God did from his who also have received in themselves the sentence of death that they should not trust in themselves but in God that raiseth the dead and delivered them from so great a death which others lye groaning under and so by the angels or ministring spirits of Christ in them are carryed out of themselves into Abrahams bosom swallowed up into the life of God free from the wrath and curse as believers still living in the body having Christ their life manifest in their mortal flesh 2 Cor. 4 11. Matt. 5.8 9. by which their consciences are at peace and rest with Christ in God as the pure in heart which is blessed with God receiving possessing and injoying the reward of their works of humility meekness and love which is rest for evermore and unto whom the impure and unbeliever cannot come nor be blessed with the same spiritual blessing of Christ in them but do with Dives the righteous and the wicked still hate and persecute them that are blessed above them and like roaring Lyons they will go about seeking to devour them till the Lyon of the tribe of Judah meets them as he did Paul and destroys in them the righteous and the wicked Acts 9.3 4 5. the Pharisee and all his works the good and the evil knowledge with men turning their evil into good their darkness into light their death into life and their hatred into love and so translate them out of the kingdome of the evil and of darkness into the Kingdom of light and the Lord Jesus And these two parts Righteousness and sin good and evil so known by men which is to be destroyed every man for a time while he believes not known to be more or less in him the one opposing the other which is the righteousness of man against the sin of man do both joyne together against the third part of man which is refined and draw out from the other to be pure in Christ and by the pure even Christ is the righteous and the wicked purged forth and destroyed together for works of gold and works of dross the best and worst of man is all but vanitie 1 Cor. 5.12 13. and must be destroyed for as the wicked part which is sin is compared to bryars and thorns wood hey and stubble so the other part which is the righteous so called is compared to gold and precious stone and all but as one Dives even the two parts of three righteousness and wickedness which must be burnt up man therein shall suffer loss Gen. 18.23 Job 9.22 Eccle. 3.16 17. for God will destroy both the righteous and the wicked which is of man but man himself or that third
CRUX CHRISTI AND Iudgement Executed OR DIVINE WISDOM CRUCIFYING The humane carnal devillish malicious mad raging Wlsdom of the World By his righteous Judgements drawing nearer to its full and perfect manifestation Then shall Josephs and Daniels afflictions end and their Imprisonments be no more heard of And also bondaged Israel reâ—urn be brought from their captivity both of men and from that malicious spirit of ignorance and darkness into perfect liberty peace and everlasting rest So shall poor Lazarus and the Publican be carryed into Abrahams bosom and rich Dives with all the traditions both of the righteous and wicked appear as a menstruous Clout or as filthy Rags that all cleansed ones shall loath to handle touch look on or come within the smell thereof Whereunto is added a Comparatis Compraudis of the Judgements of God with the unequal wayes and judgements of that malicious one in man Written and experienced by Richard Coppin in his sufferings for the Truth 1 Cor. 2.2 For I determined not to know any thing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world Gal. 6.14 17. From henceforth let no man trouble me for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus LONDON Printed for VVilliam Larner and are to be sold at the Black-Moore neer Fleet-Bridge 1657. The AVTHORS EPITLE To all the beloved of the Lord that love the appearing of Jesus Christ in spirit and truth in and about the City of Rochester in Kent aad whereever they may be scattered to whom Grace and Peace be multiplyed from God the Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. FRiends and Brethren in the friendship and brother-hood of the Lord Jesus with whom and for whom we all in the spiritual union of Christ and him crucified have suffered together for the witness of Jesus and the truth of the Gospel which hath been taught us by him that our joy might be together in him Wherefore know ye 1 Cor. 8.6 that there is in you and ruleth over you one true and living God the Father of whom are all things and you in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and you by him Rom. â— 5 Ephes 4.6.7 and who is over all through all and in you all God blessed for ever and that hath given to every one of you that believeth Grace Câ—â— 2 9. according to the measure of the gift of Christ in whom dwells all the fulness of the God-head bodylie and of whose fulness all that believe and trust in the living God the Saviour of all men have received grace for grace 1 Tim. 4.9 10. the glory of whom with the eye of divine beauty you may behold as the glory of the onely begotten Son of the Father ful of grace and truth for you for the Law came by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ whose coming is to reveal in you Ioh. 1.14 Joh. 16.25 and shew unto you the Father plainly even the mysterie of the History which lieth hid in the Letter til Christ shall unfold it unto you in the spirit and therefore God hath given unto Christ all power in Heaven and on Earth Matth. 28.18 Col. 2.15 Col. 1.18 19. that he might overcome all Principalities and Powers for you that hindered the revelation of Christ to you and he in all things to have the preheminence with you for it pleased the Father that in him should â—ll fulness dwell that of his fulness he might fill all things both in heaven and earth of things high and low of what sort or degree soever they be and all being ful of him there is then no room in any thing to contain any thing but him nor to be contained besides him where himself containeth all things for he is all in all and this is he that wil in due time free me you and all men from all that doth oppress us and oppose us in the truth And when the Lord Jesus shall become your all in all places persons and things to fil all in your apprehensions then is hel as wel as heaven with you ful of him and he rules in them both so saith David who saw it and knew it If I ascend up into Heaven thou art there Psal â—39 8â— If I go down into Hell behold thou art there And if I dwell in the uttermost parts of the Earth thou art there also Heaven and Earth is ful of his glory Psal 103.19 and his Kâ—ngdom ruâ—eth over all and the presence of God in deaâ—h and hel with â—is people in which any thing of God hath been shut up or hid is that which makes death Rev. 20.13 Isa 26. and hel and the sea of sin and miseâ—y to give up the dead that is in them and no more to cover their slain and a new death and hel or eternal fire as wel as a new life and a new heaven and earth will God prepare to swallow up ye old where the old Name and Nature of Hel and Death and Heaven 〈◊〉 7.32 〈◊〉 21.4 5. and Earth even Tophet shall be changed and their place no more found after which there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are passed away Isa 6. and all things will God make new in the new Heaven and in the new Earth where all things that are is contained and in which change all the things of the first Creation as all old things are ended and made new in the second Creation yea even death and hel else how is it said Behold I make all things new if that be not Isa 62.22 And as the new Heaven wh ch the Lord shall make shall remain before him and have in it a new life and felicity which should end the old so the new Earth which he shall make shall also remain and have in it a new death and hel which changeth the old and into which hel or Lake of fire all things of the old which belongeth to the old man in us even that death and hel which swallowed us up Rev. 20.14 Isa 28 18. and tormented us shall be cast into it to be ended by it and the covenant agreement of men with death hel disannulled all the enemies of mankinde to be destroyed with it when Christ himself who makes all things new shall appear in hel to change the property of it Isa 63.1 2.3 Rev. 14.19 20. and thereby tread the Wine-press of the Wrath of â—od even Satan under foot for the redemption of his people and then shall all the Enemies of God and of them which all sin and transgression and all that is not found written in the Book of Life he cast into that Wine-press or Lake of Fire to be there killed and ended This is the second death Râ—v 20.14 15. and
did men that persecute others for their judgement and endeavours to destroy their knowledge know that it vvould be thereby the more encreased they would not do it for when they send them to Prison they do but send them as to a School vvhere they shal learn more of God and be the more confirmed in the truth they before knew for Christ wil never leave them that he hath once taught but wil be alwaies with them more to teach them that they may more knovv him and be setled and grounded in him And in all my sufferings and imprisonment for the truth to this day I have had with me the company of that one School-Master the Lord Jesus who at first taught me the knowledge of himself in the spiritual School of divine learning the Spirit of himself set up in my heart by vvhich I vvas made a Schollar fit to take my Degrees to bear the burden and undergo the reproaches by men laid upon me in the school of my imprisonment sufferings for the truths sake that I might not fear nor be discouraged by them as I have not bin hitherto praised be God but in six troubles the Lord delivered me and in the seventh which is this I am now under no evil is yet come unto me Job 5 17 18 19 which hath been seven trials and persecutions that I have had for the vvitness of Jesus and by vvhich the Lord hath also tryed and proved me vvhether the Lesson he at first taught me To trust in him and deny my self for him vvere stil ovvned and not forgotten nor denyed by me in which through him I have been hitherto faithful shall so continue unto death if the Lord wil and am not vvithout my revvard vvhich is a Crovvn of Life The fruit of which Life of God manifest in flesh as fast as it vvas ripened in me vvas by the Lord and keeper of the Vinyard in which it grew gathered and sent by me to be distributed among you Acts 20.20 of vvhich with Paul I kept nothing back from you that vvas profitable to you during the time I vvas vvith you nor from the rest of my Brethren in the flesh vvhere I have at any time been but vvith Paul I have taught publikely and from house to house vvhat the Lord hath taught me vvhich I did not do for price nor revvard of men as some Parish-Ministers do that as so many Merchant-men through covetousness make merchandise of the people and seek not the Lord Jesus Christ but themselves but what I do and have done as my conscience bears me vvitness hath been really with heart and soul according to my power for the glory of God and the comfort of his people in the Lord Jesus that as freely I have received so freely have I given for the Vinyard was the Lords and he himself as the Husbandman of the Vinyard did by his spirit in me plow it sow it plant and dress it and caused it to grow by the sweet and powerful dew of himself falling from heaven upon it as the former and later rain upon the earth and being ripe in me he gathered it and made it ready for me and through the power of his spirit working in me sent it abroad among you to be by me declared unto you for your souls comfort did himself whose Messenger I was reward me for it not onely with spiritual comforts to my soul and with food and raiment to my body but also vvith the reproaches of Christ vvhich I count greater riches then the pleasures of Aegypt or the riches and glory of this World in vvhich I also rejoyced as my portion vvith the Lord seeing the Lord in it and vvith Paul learned to be content in all things and vvith him returns you all thanks that have in any measure and freely participated vvith me and ministred to me in my sufferings And novv the same Lord vvhich caused to grovv in me that Gospel-fruit vvhich I declared to you must also cause it to grovv in you before it can bring forth fruit to you that you all vvith me and I vvith you and vve both vvith Ephraim may be like a green Firre-tree in vvhom fruit is found for you had it from me but in vvords vvho only can plant or speak to the ear but it is the Lord that must speak to the heart to teach plant and cause to grovv in you the great Mysterie of godliness for Paul may plant and Apollo may vvater but God must give the encrease vvhich as I have said unto you is That you should knovv God manifest in flesh Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and for ever born crucified dead buryed risen and ascended and coming to you the second time in spirit and truth without sin unto salvation bringing all things of him unto your remembrance and by which spirit of him in me manifesting the same to me I have published it to you beseeching you all in Christ Jesus to be reconciled to God for that God in Christ from all eternity was himself reconciled to you and all mankind and that vvhile you and all men vvere yet sinners sent his Son to dye for us according to the Scriptures to reconcile you to himself and in mercy to you he pardoned you and by his spirit within you frees you and which Message of him for the reconciliation of all men to God so far as to me was made known by him I have been am and shall be through him ever faithful who through his mercy hath preserved me in it And now the increase of the Fruit of this Vinyard of Christ for the increase of his body taught me by him in the School of my imprisonment and sufferings for the truth and ripened and gathered by him in the Harvest thereof I shall present you with from the Lord and not as from my self without him who first vvrit in my heart and after by my hand in several Treatises of several subjects while I have been a prisoner among you to be in order presented to you shortly agreeable to what I have before in vvords declared amongst you and which if you have an ear to hear vvhat the spirit saith may be more opened in you by the Lord of that spirit in the reading thereof and in vvhich reading I desire you all to vvait upon the Lord to be taught by him vvho only can give you an appetite to it and make you detest it that can make you vvilling and able to receive it vvhich is the mysterie of Christ crucified and you that cannot receive all for the present vvhy rest your selves satisfied vvith what you can and judge nothing before the time until the Lord shall come and open it to you vvith an injoyment of it in you 1 Coâ— 4.5 as he hath done to me in the mean time take this herevvith sent you as a preparative to that vvhich is coming and he that can receive it let him receive
it and judge not that you know not and despise not that you enjoy not lest you should speak evil of the truth unawares but vvait the Lords time vvith patience and confidence until he that shall come vvill come and make truth appear truth to you and then you vvil not judge at all Heb. 10.35 36 37. the vvhich I doubt not but vvith you that knovv the Lord truth as truth will be received by you as from the Lord who himself vvith all his own Messages cometh vvith the Messengers to open the understandings of them vvhich he hath appointed receivers and the rest must tarry till he come vvho vvas not only the Author of it in me for you but vvill also be the Finisher of it to you at his coming wherefore receive you it the Lord and me together in one Spirit else you vvill not receive it as truth nor to your souls comfort but as Paul saith It will be unto them that do not believe but are reprobated as the savour of death unto death 2 Cor. 2 15 16. and to them vvhich do believe and are saved as the savour of life unto life for some in love to the Message of Christ vvill rejoice in it and others in hatred to it will be terrified by it however the Will of God be done in it And as I have sometime said unto you vvhen I was at first forced to leave you to go to prison for the truth and your sakes that when I was absent from you my spirit should be present with you so in the absence of now my person you may in this my Writing read my spirit vvhich is alvvayes vvith you in the Lord and as you have said you vvere comforted with my presence be ye also comforted still in my absence of which I doubt not but through the Lord you are comforted yea and in the absence of any man that may have been as a Messenger of the Lord to you let your comfort be in the Lord who onely is able to make you stand And the God of all comfort and patience fill you with all joy and peace in believing and the God of peace be with you 2 Cor. 1.3 and the peace of God which passeth all understanding keep you and rule in you and thereby make you able and willing to follow peace with all men Phil. 4 7. in which rest ye all together with me where I also rest with you and seeing first our peace with God in Jesus Christ our Lord we are therefore at peace with men and do forgive them as God in Christ hath forgiven us and is at peace with us And as I have not been forgotten by you that know my spirit in the Lord so I forget not you in him but ever remain the Lords faithful steward and your faithful friend servant in the brotherly Message of the truth of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus for the glory of God and comfort of all those that shal love his appearing And lastly My friends and brethren who all know of the proceedings against me you have also known how my life and Doctrine hath been among you and how by false accusations I have suffered for the truth and a good conscience but I rejoyce in it and still say The Lords Will be done and his Kingdom come even to my Enemies and reconcile them and those present differences with men that having peace in themselves they may live in love and peace one with another and no longer seek the destruction one of another In the mean time with the Prophets and Apostles of the Lord Jesus I shall rest and say as David and Christ did Psal 35.11 That though false Witnesses have rose up and laid to my charge things which I knew not yet they could not prevail against me to hurt me nor prevent the truth revealed in me but the things that have happend to me have prov'd rather to the further encrease of it with me wherefore better is it if the Will of God be that we suffer for well doing rather then for evil Phil. 1.12 13. and wrongfully rather then justlie â— Pet. 2.19 for this is thank-worthy saith Peter if a man for conscience towards God endure grief wrongfully as my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Ghost I do and have done to this day endured cheerfully that which I have been wrongfully accused for owning the Name of Jesus yet they cannot pull me out of his hand nor blot my Name out of the Book of his Remembrance but though men interested in the World that are lifted up with worldly pride and honor Luke 6.22 â—â— may hate me and blot my name out of their Books and cast it out as evil for the Son of Mans sake yet the Lord who saith I am blessed therein owns me and doth still love me and never will nor can forsake me because in Christ the Book of Life I am alwayes in remembrance before him in whom my new Name is written and no man can take it from me â—sa 19.14 15. for can a Woman forget her sucking-child saith the Lord that she should not have compassion on the son of her Womb yea she may forget but I will never forget thee saith the Lord Such is my faith and confidence in the Lord who having loved his own will love them to the end and is tender of them as the Apple of his eye And that as he hath freed my soul from the snares of death sin and devils so he will in his time free my body from the snares of men that with hatred to the life of God in me lye in wait daylie to devour me and that when my liberty hath been several times like to come have suggested false things against me to prevent it and hinder the truth from appearing as the Princes Dan. 6. Jâ—r 38 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 37.7 8 9 10. 39. 11 12. Gen. 41.14 Dan 6.23 Priests and false Prophets of old did against the true Prophets to keep them in prison but the Lord hath his time for me as he had for them to free me and I shall with patience wait for it who works and none can let and who made Zedekiah free Jerâ—miah from the Dungeon of the Prison upon the request of Ebedmeleck one of the Kings House and who also made Pharoah King of Aegypt free Joseph from Prison upon the motion of Pharoahs chief Butler and did also make King Darius to command Daniel from the lyons Den without an hurt to him who no doubt in his due time will by what means he pleaseth free me and none shall hinder till when I shall rest in him with my prayers in the spirit for you all that God vvill keep you and me and also for my enemies that he vvill not lay to their charge the things they have acted against me vvhich he hath hitherto made me able to bear to rest
resist the comming of it before and will still dwell in your owne ceiled houses your fet formes and opinions of religious wayes and worships and the Lords house way worship and religion even Christ which you should have possest injoy lyeth waste among you and is not inhabited by you but when the Lord by manifesting himself in you shal appear to build up the waste places and raise up the Tabernacle of David which is fallen down and close up the breaches thereof as in the dayes of old Amos 9. ii and so cause the desolate heritages even men and all things which hath been known of them to be without Christ Zacha. 6.12 13. to be inhabited by Christ and shall manifest himselfe in them to be unto them their house habitation and glory then will men forsake their own houses lands and purchased fields which they have builded and planted with all their houshold-stuff therein being and their goodly cedars therein growing and shall not returne to take any thing with them but shall leave all behind them and follow Christ yea and though you may be upon the top of your houses in the highest of your profession and godlyness reaching even to Heaven yet you must come down and shall not take any thing with you Luke 17.30 31. neither shall these in the field return back to reap any profit of all their own labours which they have labored under the Sun in performing of duties and ordinances of religion wherein they thought themselves rich without Christ this all must be left lost and forsaken and no more remembred in the knowledg of Christ and him crucified And would you now dye that you might live then this is the way to see your selves and all things of your selves crucified with Christ and to know him living in you to be unto you a father and mother and husband and wife and children and brother and sister and house and lands and life and death Rom. 8.32 and food and rayment and all things whatsoever else is in the world you and all is Christs and Christ and all is yours and you and Christ with all things else is Gods and you are not your own but as you are in him i Cor. 3 2i 22 23 for you are bought with a price to be the Lords and all that you are you are in the Lord 1 Cor. 6.20 therefore glorifie God in your bodies and in your spirits which is Gods and know nothing in you but Christ and him crucified and whatsoever else you have known to be any thing or any profit or advantage to you besides the Lord count it all lost for Christ and with Paul count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledg of Jesus Christ our Lord for when you suffer the loss of all Phil. 3.7 8. and count them but dung that you may win Christ this is the fruits and effct of your hanging on the cross and this with men is hard to do the way is narrow and some there be that find it CHAP. II. How the cross â—f Christ is accompanied with the crosses of the world firey troyals and persecutions for the truth the clouds of Christs coming â—nd tâ—e way of his people in which he leads them and walks with them to save them how and from what AND wheresoever this way of Christ crucified shall be manifest and found with any that with Christ have been hanging upon the cross of divine wisdom and power to be thereby weaned from sin and the world with the loss of all their own wisedom righteousness and strength there do the crosses of the world flow and come together as fellow-helpers and companions in assistance with the cross of Christ 1 Pet. 2.21 for even hereunto were ye called because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example to follow his steps And therefore you my brethren and fellow sufferers for the truth you that have in any measure learned to embrace this cross of Christ for the saving of your souls let it incourage you not to lay it down but with patience to lye down under it Gal. 6 17. and to bear it about in your bodies as the marks of the Lord Jesus till you be perfected in him and still to trust in God and wait upon him in whatsoever affliction he by men or any other means as a rod in his hand shall afflict upon you to humble you to walk with him and be not sorrowful nor troubled at any thing Eph 2.12 as those that are without hope but rejoyce alwayes and in all things still praysing the Lord for his goodness in laying his cross upon you to humble you and protect you in it and who without respect of persons hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light manifest by the Lord Jesus in the way of his judgements by the spirit of judgement and by the spirit of burning for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus â— Cor. 5.5 or God manifest in flesh Therefore my brethren think it not strange concerning fierie tryalls â— Pet. 1.12 persecutions tribulations and sufferings as if some strange thing happened unto you for they are companions with Christ on the cross and they are the clouds in which he comes to manifest his glory on earth and the way which he walked in himself before he entred into glory wherein the Father made known himselfe unto him and in which way he leads his dearest Saints that know him and are nearest in union with him for the tryal of their faith 1 Pet. 1.6 7. which being tryed by fire might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of the Lord Jesus as the Lords spirit with the Scriptures in all my sufferings for the truth to this day bears me witness that bands and afflictions Acts 14 22. persecutions and tryals through which a soule enters into the kingdom of God are very good and in which much of God hath been manifest unto me for that the Lord by the Angel of his presence was with me to sanctifie it to me and save me as he did his Prophets and people of old and as he will do all throughout all generations of the world for in all their afflictions he was afflicted Isa 63 9. and the Angel of his presence saved them in his love and in his mercy he redeemed them and he bear them and carried them alwayes continually which hath been witnessed by his Prophets of old from Adam unto this day as I shall more particularly hereafter mention that the coming of God to save his people from their enemies the world flesh sin and the devil and to draw them out of many waters death hell and damnation hath been in the way of his judgements in dark and thick clouds of the sky as all can witness that ever saw him and have known any
this third part which comes forth refined and not consumed is poor Lazarus that lay at Dives gate full of soares at the gate of this world without the glory of this world and worldly comforts but as a poor despised wretch whose soares the dogs came and licked Luk. 16.19 20 21. delighting and refreshing themselves with them and by it healed them that is men of a dogish sourly malicious nature and spirit without the spirit of God in the outward court or form of religion are as dogs Rev. 22.15 Psa 22.16 where they so long trod undet foot the Holy City for without are dogs c. and dogs saith David have compassed me the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me they have pierced my hands and my feet And these dogs or men reviling reproaching and persecuting any in whom the life of God lives which is not in the form and glory of the world is their barking biting snapping and snarling at them to devour them and that life of God in them in which they as dogs licking their sores do delight and refresh themselves glorying also in the infirmities and afflictions of others which they inflict upon them for the lifes sake in them for which they do not love them as the dogs that licks Lavarus his sores they loved not the person of Lazarus nor his sitting at Dives his gate begging for food which they thought belonged unto them they being of that house or family but they delighted in his sores and refreshed themselves with them so do men that persecute other hate and despise them because they are not of them they love them not nor that salvation should come by their way for that they think belongs only unto them comes only in their way who account themselves of the House and Church of God walking in forms of Religion and will deny others of the same benefit of salvation that are not of the church and way as they are and so will despise and persecute them and they will delight and rejoyce in their persecution infirmities and afflictions as one mans rejoycing in anothers sufferings which rejoycing is with dogs a licking of their sores and by this are their sores healed and they accepted that take it patiently as Lazarus did for they that are persecuted for the truth are the more strengthned and confirmed in the truth and the truth is the more increased by it for saith Paul these things which have come unto me in my sufferings Phil. 1.12 13 14. bonds and imprisonments have proved all to the furtherance of the gospel and all things shal work for good to them that love God and that are so despised and persecuted of the world and this is the third part which passes through the fire to be tried purified and saved Yet this third part which is of God tryed and refined to be saved to wit Lazarus which Dives despised Rev. 12.3 4 5. or the man child born which the Dragon persecuted is carried above mens malice and the afflictions of this world into Abraham's bosome as into rest and peace with God being of the same nature of God And this third part is also the same with the third dispensation Heaven and glory of God manifest in flesh the other two being vanished not able to appear in the presence of this third which is also the third day or light of body the son of righteousness the light and glory of all lights even Christ wherein the knowledge of God is pure unto men living without the knowledge of good and evil and in which state nothing appears impure nor imperfect to those that live there but as the Prophet Zacharie saith Zach. 14.20 21. Every pot and pitcher as the worst of things so called by men is in the Lords house all holiness unto him that is holy and as golden bowles before the Altar of God even Christ filled with the holy oyle and annoynting spirit of Jesus by which all things is sanctified to him that knows the Lord Tit. 1.15 for to the pure all things are pure And the more of that purity and pure life of God there is manifest in any one man the more tryalls and persecutions he must pass through and undergo for the same by the impure in whom the pure is not manifest and the more purer any one is the better able he is to indure to the end of what he for the pure's sake shall have inflicted upon him for none but the pure according as it is manifested in all ages to this day is tryed and persecuted by that which is still beneath it and cannot attain it as Dives who was in hell could not come to Lazarus who was in heaven Luke 16.23 24 yet as it is written they were both within a corporeal sight and hearing one of another but the one could not be comforted and the other could not be tormented for their spirits in their several conditions were at a vast distance one to the other but their bodies might come together as to this day they do but not to have communion together one with another nor in any one thing for there is no communion between light and darkness Christ and Belial but the one is taken and the other is left one denyed himself and the other could not And therefore it is not any local hell and heaven as some men suppose that Dives and Lazarus was in but the different states of men under the Law and under the Gospel under wrath and love at the left and right hand of God by which hell and heaven is signified to them even one living in the presence of God as of love and loving his appearance and the other living in the presence of God as of wrath and hating his appearance being not able to stand before him for nothing but what is of God born again by God shall stand before God and have peace in God for to every thing els God is as hell yea a tormenter even a consuming fire to destroy it and every thing from its centre and out of its element is as in hell where it cannot live to abide and have rest as the fish out of the Sea the worms out of the earth the birds out of the ayr and the soul out of God cannot therefore saith Cain I am gone out from thy presence and my punishment is greater then I can bear Gen. 4.13 14. so for the body of man which is but earth and as a worm to bee any where else then in or on the earth though in heaven it were as in hell therefore every thing to its centre for rest and the souls of all men into God which that they are when men see God in them giving rest and peace to them and themselves to be in God as Lazarus did but Dives did not in that state and therein the one is comforted and the other is tormented yet were they brothers and both
part he is gloryfied and therefore blessed are ye when men shall hate you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil sayings against you for the son of mans sake and shal seperate you from their company and shall reproach you and cast out your name as evill why reioyce in that day and leap for joy for behold your reward is great in heaven Luke 6.222 3. for so did their fathers unto the prophets but he that indures unto the end shall be saved And this blessed reward of salvation for suffering for the truth to be manifest in this mortall flesh 2 Cor. 4.10 10 and his prophets and apostles had for they received it and bear witness to it and all that since have suffred with them doe bear the same testimony and unto which my self with many others at this day shall set my seal who have hitherto suffered for the truth which I first received 1 Cor. 8.5.6 that there is but one God and father of all who is above all through all and in all Eph. 4.6 and one Lord Jesus Christ manifesting this unto men by the spirit of himselfe and his own presence dwelling in them by whose presence manifesting this unto me to be declared by me I have also been inabled and with patience made to indure to this day even to the end of what for the truth have yet been inflicted upon me and in which I had my reward being therein satisfied and contented and haveing a perfect assurance of Gods uncangeable love in Christ Jesus towards me never to be taken from me nor I to be seperated from that by principalities nor powers Rom. 8.34 35 39. things present nor things to come heighth nor depth nor any other creature whatsoever though I have been persecuted despised and reiected and as one counted for the slaughter yet in all these things Christ hath been a conquerer for me and hath kept me that I have not denyed him who himselfe all along hath been my reward even my portion my lot and eternal inheritance in his kingdome of eternal Glory 1 Pet. 5.10 unto which he hath caled me by Jesus Christ and unto which after ye have suffered awhile he will also call you make you perfect strengthen settle and establish you And is not this a reward yea a double reward as the apostle saith that the sufferings of this life are not to be compared with the Glory that shall follow and there is no man saith Christ that have denyed himselfe of the Glory of this world for the glory of God but he shall have a thousand fold in the world to come wherein God appears without sin unto salvation and whosoever hath followed Christ in the steps of regeneration in the state of grace Mat. 9.28 29. shall sitt with him upon twelve thrones Judgeing the twelve Tribes of Israel even the throne where Christ sitteth and overcometh all things Rev. 3.21 shall he sit that overcometh the world with Christ and with him his glory shall be doubled from the throne of grace as of twelve degrees of the 12 apostles to the Throne of glory of the four and twenty Elders clothed in white rayment from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot Rev. 4.4 and shall wear on their heads crowns of gold which they shall ascribe to him that sits on the throne with them Ver. 14 15. and gave it to them as still being his though with them and unto whom all Honour glory and Power of all things belongeth for God is judge of all the earth This is the perfect state the throne of God and fulness of glory where Christ his prophets and apostles and Saints and all that are in Christ do with him sit and and reigne together with God on the same throne of his glory rejoycing and singing Halaluiahs unto him for ever and ever and where is heard by them to sing and praise the Lord all creatures both which are in Heaven and which are on earth and under the earth and in the sea and all that are in them saying Praise and Honour and glory Rev. 5.13 and Power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb for evermore And all men of the same Lamb like nature of Christ have the same honour and glory with him as due belonging to them CHAP. VIII How the way to find our life is to lose it that no man is to know any thing of himself but to be innocent in knowing his own innocecy and righteousness also what the true knowledge of God is who hath it and how it s obtained ANd Paul to comfort and incourage us in the way of suffrings to this Throne of glory wherein to lose our lives that we may find it and so to know God aright he bids us look unto Iesus the author and finsher of our faith who himselfe by malitious men Heb. 12.2.3 as he was a man himself in the flesh suffered such reproaches whipings scourgings and revileings of men and yet for the joy that was set before him indured the cross and despised the shame and set him down at the right hand of the throne of God which he that overcometh and indureth to the end shall inherit with him and Christ was made perfect through sufferings so shall all that will be made perfect as he is perfect Luk. 24.26 for ought not he first to suffer and then to enter into his glory and if thou wilt be perfect saith he thou must sell all that thou hast and take up thy cross and follow me Mat. 19.21 and be content with joy to suffer the spoyling of your goods your own wisdome and knowledge your righteousness and your glory knowing in your selves how that you have in Heaven a better and a more during substance Heb. 10.33 34 and therefore in knowing this you will not regard the sufferings of this life but wil know that after you have received the light knowledge of the truth in any measure you must come under persecutions and afflictions for it and be made a gazing stock and a reproach unto men by the Lord for your Good 1 Cor. 4.9 that you maybe humbled emptied of all that you call your own and be exalted and filled of all that is Christ and so with him to lose your life that you may find it even all that you lived to in the world and thought your selves happie besides Christ must you lose and sufer to come to Iudgement for he that will seek to save his life shall lose it but he that will lose his life for Christ the same shall find it wherefore as Peter saith humble your selves yea in the Lord under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time casting all your care upon him for he careth for you And these are the steps of Christ and his apostles and prophets 1 Pet. 5.6 7.
which you are to follow in losing and finding in being humbled and exalted and with them to bear the same testimony to the same truth to see the fulness of Christ and the emptiness of your selves and all things that are beneath him and with the prophets and apostles of Christ suffer a reproof of the Lord when you shall in the behalf of your selves contend for any of our own innocency integrity and uprightness and seek to justifie your selves in any thing of your selves or in vindication of your selves to boast and declare unto men as Samuel did 1 Sam. 12.3 saying Whose oxe have I taken or whom have I done any wrong unto or whom have I hurt or of whose hand have I received any bribe to blinde mine eyes therewith and I will restore it to you But in this though a man be never so just as a man ought to be in all his actions wayes and works notwithstanding yet he is not to boast himself of that 2 Cor. â— 30 nor to glory in it nor yet to know it no not in any thing of his owne righteousness but onely in his own infirmities lest hee should be proud of it and contend with God for it more then for righteousness in God as sometimes David Job and others did for which God reproved them and brought them to judgement and so saved them but though a man were never so innocent just and righteous before men after the righteousness of the Law yet as a man he is not to know himself so but to account all loss for Christ and to know none but him Gal. 6.3 for if a man thinke himself somthing when he is nothing he deceiveth himself and the greatest perfection of innocency wisdom righteousness of God with man is for man to be innocent in the knowledge of himselfe 1 Cor. 4.4 or any thing which hee knows he knows besides God and to know that he knows nothing of himself nor by himself as Paul did not and then doth he know most of God because mans weakness is Gods strength and his ignorance is Gods wisdome for he that knows he knows any thing which is the greatest desire of man to do 1 Cor. 8.1 2 3 to know something of himself he knoweth nothing in righteousness as hee ought to know but is proud in what he thinks he knows because he knoweth it with distinction to something which he knoweth not and all that a man knows of any thing without knowing all things is but his owne thoughted knowledge which a man is to be crucified unto and to know that God who is onely to be known is hee onely that knows all things and that no man hath ever seen nor known him but onely God himself in the Son hath known and seen himself in the Father and he that with God in the Sonship of God knoweth God he knows that the knowledge of all things is in God and that there is none other to know any thing but God who knoweth all things as he knows himselfe and then cannot hate or despise any thing which he so knows and till man know it a god and good he knows it not as he ought And God which is a spirit can be high and lowe rich and poor strong and weak full and empty the best and worst one and all where he please and when he please without contradiction in himself For the Spirit bloweth where and when it listeth as the winde to save and to destroy to gather together and scatter abroad and this Spirit is the Spirit of Truth which Christ saith we shal receive of him to bring all things to our remembrance whereby we may know all things even him in the state of the new birth which no man knows but the Spirit it selfe 1 Ioh. 2.20 And John saith That having the annoynting of the Holy One we shall know all things and hee that hath Christ hath all things even Christ who is all of the Father and then cannot but know it in him and wee need not that any man teach us 1 Iohn 2.27 bur as the annoynting which wee have received of him and is in us teacheth us all things and is truth and is no lye and even as we be taught by him so we shall abide in him And he that by the Spirit of God is taught all things to know all things in the Spirit hee by God is taught God and knoweth God and can then know no other besides God nor after any other manner but as God and so with him is in charity with all men and then knows that he knoweth nothing of himself that he should boast in nor be proud of 1 Cor. 13.4 5 6 7 8. neither vaunt himself above for hee knows both the highest and the lowest and God in them all which makes them all one unto him as unto God even unity in variety and variety in unity as all one God and so knows nothing better nor worse then himself nor any thing better nor worse then the other for he sees the sin of all to be ended and also his owne righteousness which is the same with his sins to bee ended from having any thing of good in it more then unto men and therefore cannot boast in nor be proud of any thing of his own which is not to tarry with him but to perish in the using and so not in one thing more then another of humane things and where contrarities of things are not known there pride and boasting in one thing above another cannot be but in that state a man is most like unto God as Adam was before his fall wherein he knows no distinction and Adam fell not till he sought to know his own innocency and the state iâ— which he stood which God sorbad him to know for thereby did Adam come to the knowledge of good and evil to know righteousness and sin joy and sorrow in himself and hee that with Adam shall see any good in himself in opposition to an evil he glorieth in that good so often as he doth it and when he doth it not he fears and is offended as Adam was when in truth there is none good but one even God nor none that doth good but one even him who knoweth no evil and therefore neither feares nor is offended And no man but the Lord onely who is himselfe the God and the innocent the Iustness Vprightness and the righteousness that can know it and who is not neither can be proud lofty 1 Cor. 13. nor high-minded in the knowledg of any thing because he knows nothing more nor nothing less then himselfe and all knowledge of all things is himselfe therefore the greatest perfection of mans knowledg is to know that he knows nothing till he knoweth God who is no one thing distinct but all things in one as his greatest exaltation is when he is most humbled and that knowledg by which a man doth
to his will as he doth us by laying his cross upon us and as he did Job Paul and others to humble them and keep them neare unto himselfe Iob. 42. that they might not goe beyond their bounds nor put any confidence in flesh nor to think of themselves above what they ought but to know that his grace is sufficient for them Rom. i2 3 and that if they will trust in any thing to trust in God and be exalted in any thing to be exalted in God who will both humble and exalt them that he that gloryes in any thing should glory only in the Lord Rom. 12.4 5. and so in one another as being all members one of another and but one body in Christ But we see in men that have the best gifts so far as any thing of flesh or the glory of flesh is in them how incident they are to be exalted in flesh and to glory in outward appearance and receive honour from men and how readie flesh in men is to give human exaltation and honour to men and to glory in men for those gifts of God for which they should glory in God as the author and finisher of them all whether temporal or spiritual which say they so we doe for when we honour any form person or thing it is God in them that we honor but I say Then honor it not in outward appearance by the outward motion of the body for that relates to the outward and not to the inward and is no honouring of god but the devil for God who is the heart minde and spirit without being defiled is honoured with the same and so saith God give me thy heart and saith David thou hast taught me all obedience within Psa 51.6.10 and to know truth in the inward parts and within is thy Law written for the Kings daughter is all glorious within Psa 45.13 and all outward glory is but the world flesh sin and the devil which vanisheth away and is no more known as the inward doth appeare for all flesh is grass the grass withers Isa 40.7 the flower fadeth because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it surely the people are grass And that you may honour God spiritally and inwardly by saith and not by sight looke unto Jesus the author and finisher of that inward spiritual glory within you who onely it is in you that can honor God and you with God and who as he was a man yet refused the honour and glory of the world neither as a man would he take any thing to him that belongeth to God as a spirit for call not me good saith he for there is none good but one even God Mat. 19.17 and call no man master on earth for one is your master even Christ which is in Heaven and he that will be great among you let him become your servant and yet those that knew him to be the son of God and for the gifts he had and miracles that he did how would they honor his outward person yet he forbideth them not though he did not command them for when he was riding to Jerusalem though upon an ass which shewed the humilitie of him yet how did the people then adore him and cry him up even his very person Hosanna Hosanna unto him pulling off their garment and casting down under him cutting down branches strewed the way before him Mat. 21.7 8 9. with so much myrth and rejoycing that the Priests Rulers of the people who were more for the honor of men to honor them then for honoring God hated him so much the more and were the more incensed against him saying crucifie him crucifie him that the more som loved him the more othes hated him especialy those men that knew they should lose their honor by him and by them did he suffer for said they in conspiracie against him if we let him thus alone all beople will pelieve on him and will follow him Ioh. 11 47 48. and we shall lose our kingdom place and nation which is the same with men to this day who for feare of loseing this worlds honour will conspire together in persecution against those that walk most nearest unto the way of Christ for the honour of God yet Christ desired not their kingdome nor their honour Iohn 18.36 neither do these that believe in Christ for my kingdom saith he is not of this world if it were then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered unto the Iews but my kingdom is not of this world and Christ would not receive honor from men as a man but the honor which came of his father only but if men would ascribe that to him which he as a man desired of them what was that to him he was notwithstanding humble in himselfe and reproved those that were not and that did either give or take honour one of another as men shewing that all honour power and glory in Heaven and on earth and all things therein belonged only unto God whose glory fills Heaven and earth and that all men should honor him And as with Christ so with the Apostles or Christ for when they preached the Gospel how did the people admire them and adore them saying Acts 14.11 Gods are come down amongst us in the likeness of men and so they would have honored them and offer sacrifice unto them Gal. 4.15 yea some in love to them could have pluck't forth their own eyes have given them but the Apostles would not be so honoured by them but rebuked them saying Acts 10 2â— 26. Why do you do these things for we are men even subject to the like passions and infirmities as you are and we do preach unto you that you should turn from Idols and from things sacrificed unto them and turn unto the liveing God Acts 14.15 1. which made Heaven and earth and all things manifest in your selves And when the Angel came and preached unto Iohn the revelation of Iesus Christ for Iohn to reveal unto men then Iohn immediatly fel down at the feet of the angel to worship him but the angel reprovd him saying See thou do it not for I am thy fellow servant one of thy brethren which have the testimony of Jesus Rev. 19 10. ch 22.8 9. worship God for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy so should all men that carry the Lords message to any they should not regard men nor be regarded by men above what is written 1 Cor. 4.6 but reprove those that shall have their persons in admiration or honour them with the honour which belongeth only unto GOD who himselfe will honour his messengers with the honour of himselfe as he did Christ which is greater honour then that of men yet thus are men oftentimes carried beyond themselves being on a suddain filled with the joy of the Lord in the message
with Christ in God where every man that hath Christ doth behold himselfe and all things and possesse himself and all things even in God who is all and all in all And he that hath not Christ but doth still live in his own will doth not so behold it but still looketh upon it as himself is wicked abominable ful of all contradiction destruction Isa 57 20 2â— so remains himself without peace in God for there is no peace to the wicked no nor to the righteous that are righteous and good in them selves and that have not the knowledge of God in Christ But to he that hath Christ and that with Christ his Prophets and Apostles hath thus suffered been thus humbled to be thus exalted may with them rejoyce that ever he saw the day wherein he drank the cup of affliction Col. 1.14 and eat the bread of adversitie to fill up the measure of Christs sufferings for which he now eats the bread of life and drinks the water of life and may with David say It was good for me that I was afflicted for thereby I was taught divine precepts and with Christ learned all obedience to submit to the wil of God in all things saying Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven that let my condition be what it wil I wil learn therein to be content and alwayes rejoyce in the Lords Judgements that divides between flesh and spirit Isa 27.9 that saves man and destroys sin and all enmity against God and his peoples peace for this is the fruit of the Lords Judgments to take away sin And now with God in Christ I wil delight my self with the worst of men as wel as with the best and with him I will be merciful loving and pitiful unto them as the despised and rejected of men by men yea though he were a Prelate or Cavaliere so called Publican or sinner scorn'd and despis'd by the proud Pharisee that is wise and righteous in himself yet the other waiting for mercy he is rather justified and more easier saved then the Pharisee that seperates himself though he were a Presbyterian Independant Anabaptist c. that glories in his profession righteousness and religion â—sa 65 9. and wil say unto others Stand off come not neer to me I am more holier then thou and so cast them-out of their favour as reprobate ignorant persons why this proud boasting saith the Lord is a stink in my nostrils and a fire that burneth all the day which I cannot approve of but they must come to Judgement with it and lose it before they can be saved and they that have erred in Spirit shal come to understanding â—sa 29.24 1 Cor. i. 30 and they that murmure shal learn doctrine even to be wise and learned in Christ who is head unto them their wisdom and righteousness Justification Sanctification and Redemption for Christ is all and in all CHAP. X. Of Gods appearing in Judgment in man against all things of man and this world that all outward duties worship and obedience by men prosessed is a lye without the inward work of truth within how according to the inward work is the outward practice that the more by Christ any man is refined purged and saved within in his conscience the more by men is he falsly accused judged and condemned without in his practice AND now against all knowledge wisdome and strength righteousness and glory of men that is not in Christ nor of Christ 1 Cor. 1.17 18. nor grounded upon Christ in spirit and truth wil God come forth unto to Judgment and wil destroy it by the foolish and base things of the world and he wil plead with men for his own wisdome and strength righteousness and glory which he wil not have given to any other god but to himself that none should have the glory of any thing but himselfe nor men to glory in any besides himselfe and he will make all men to know that by fire and by sword will he plead with all flesh good and bad Esa 66.16 and whatsoever is not found in him shal be slain by him even all the works and imaginations of men that men might know the Lord without knowing any thing else therefore will he come against all things of flesh form and formality your keeping of Sabboths and calling of Assemblies wherein you seek your selves and not the Lord which is all but the riches of Aegypt and shal with you come to Judgement as having no part in Christ nor being any thing of his Kingdome Iohn 18.36 for my kingdom saith he is not of this world nor of the things of this world which perish and come to nought it is not meat and drink killing of oxen and slaying of sheep nor the offering up of swines flesh for a sacrifice to the Lord that hee accepts of Isa 66 3 4. for the best of things which men offer up are no better when they are offered up by men and not by Christ and when Christ himselfe is not the offering but that which God accepts of is Christ the offerer and the offering Heb. 10.12 who is peace and reconciliation for all men whose Kingdom is righteousness 1 Cor 5 19. Rom. 14.17 Luk. 17.20 peace and joy in the Holy Ghost and which saith Christ is within you and stands not in outward observations of dayes times persons nor things in the Religions of men which shal all perish in the using Col. 2.22 and is nothing nor shal be nothing with God but Christ the first and the last is all and shal bee all For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth any thing Gal. 6.15 but a new creature nothing outwardly but all inwardly in the spirit minde and heart even circumcision within baptisme within breaking bread and drinking wine within which is bread of life and water of life to every soul that knoweth it within even preaching praying reading hearing seeking the Lord and communion of Saints Esa 26.9 which are all works of grace are all within the keeping of Sabboths which is a Christians rest from the workes of the Law Esa 58.13 no more doing his own wayes nor seeking his own wil is Christ within who is himselfe all these and is the Teacher Keeper and Performer of them all within us Esa 54.13 that gives peace unto us for of our selves we can do nothing But thou O Lord wilt ordain peace Esa 26 12. for thou hast wrought all our works for us and with whomsoever all these things are not seen to be done and performed by Christ within in the heart there is not neither can bee any thing of good done by any Rom. 10.8 9 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth of the heart confession is made unto salvation for from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh and from the grace
they shal rejoyce and be glad for it is the Lords day wherein he wil have taken away their Judgements and cast out their enemies Sin Death Hel and the Devil and all fe r and the King of Israe even the Lord of Hosts shal be in the midst of them and they shal not see evil any more Zeph. 3 13. to the end neither shal they any more live in fear of any thing nor yet sorrow any more but sorrow and sighing shal flie away and they shaâ— rejoyâ—e always with joy unspeakable and ful of glory Rev. 21.34 and the Lord himself wil be seen amongst them to dwel with them and delight in them and rejoyce â—ver them with Joy and wil turn back their captivity even before their own eyes and they shal see it and know that the Lord who hath done it is for ever with them in it For the tabernacle of God is with men and he wil dwel with them and they shal be his people and God himselfe shal be with them and be their God CHAP. XII Incouragements to wait with p tience under the Lords Judgements and not to oppose them Of the works of the Lord Jesus what they are and how we bear them about in our bodies and when ANd now seeing that so much good is wrought in men by the Lords judgments spiritual and temporal though acted unjustly by men as the rod that afflicts them outwardly yet let no man seek by any outward means or lawes of men to put them by for it is the Lords way though it is incident with all men so to do that know not the Lord with them in it who would seek to escape the Iudgment thereof to save their own honor and credit with men and to avoid the punishment of the flesh as did David Iob yea Christ and his Apostles who had the same infirmities of the flesh as we have when Christ said Lord if it be possible let this cup pass from me and sought means to avoid it for indeed no afflictions with any seems joyous for the present though afterwards it yeelds a peaceable reward of righteousness to all that are exercised therein as it did to Christ himself who after he had suffered entred into glory with his Father so shal all that with Christ overcome and indure to the end yet this glorious reward of righteousnesse with men may somtimes be hid under afflictions as the Sun when the clouds are before it that men may not for the present see the end of God in it nor the good that is to be brought unto them by it till the clouds are passed and their Judgments ended as before you have heard for clouds and darknesse is round about him Psa 18. as about the Sun when you see it not yet the darknesse of these clouds wil he expell by the brightnesse of his comming and by his light he wil shine gloriously through them even upon him who with the eye of faith shall see Christ comming to him and he will therein cheer and comfort him incourage and support him from the evil that men have invented against him as the spirit of the Lord with my spirit bear witness unto me which concerning my selfe in all my sufferings and persecutions for the truth to this day 1 Pet. 2 21. unto which I was cald by the Lord he hath done for me that bonds and afflictions through which a soul enters into the kingdome of God have been good unto mee Acts 14.22 it being sanctified unto me by his spirit by which I was comforted and the Angel of his presence with me in it by which I was saved concerning which I with Paul can speak the truth in Christ and lye not and which another for me cannot know but for themselves that hath seen it for to him that overcometh it is hidden Manna and a white stone and in it a new name written which no man knows but he that hath it Rev. 2.17 And now that you may with Christ indure to the end for this new name which is a pearl of great price and a name above every name that is named amongst men be you perswaded by the spirit of the Lord within you to watch for the comming of the Lord to give it to you and be ye armed with the same mind and patience in the Lord to suffer with Christ in the flesh 1 Pet. 1.4 for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin and so be ye ready prepared in all things to meet the Lord both in his birth death resurrection and ascension and to embrace him in the worst condition as well as in the best as well to suffer with him as to regin with him to dye with him as to live with him and to be reviled and reproached scoffed and mocked derided and falsly accused by men more vile then the earth Christ was and his prophets and Apostles were so were all his Saints and so must all that will live godly in Christ Jesus Isa 64 6. and not after the godliness of men which is filthyness with the Lord Ye filthy rags saith the Prophet and by the Lord shal be cast out therefore be ye armed with the saints patience in tribulations that vvith Christ you may beare his reproach without the campe of your own righteousness and religion Heb. 13.12.13 as he did without the gate of the honour and glory of the world and with him be willing to dye to all things of men and with him to live to all things of God Gal. 6.17 and so with Paul ever bear about in your body the marks of the Lord Iesus both in dying and in living in dying the unjust persecutions mockings revilings and scourgings of men groanings sighings and mournings in the suffering of the flesh as did Christ whose visage was more ma6rr'd then any mans Esa 52.14 and his person more desormed then the sons of men and who in his pangs cryed out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me These are the dying marks of Christ which you are to bear about in your body for the truths sake and the living marks is peace comfort and consolation joy of heart content of minde quietness of conscience and a soul at rest in the Lord full of all humility meekness and love these are the living marks of Iesus which you are to bear about in your bodies 1 Cor. 4.6 7 8 9 10.11 that while you live delivered unto death for Iesus sake so the life also of Iesus shal be manifest in your mortal flesh yea in these your mortal bodies when with Christ you have been crucified to see an end of sin CHAP. XIII How men of the greatest light witnessing to truth under Judgments do suffer most unjustly by false accusations with the loss of all things below God that not all but some mâ—n as witnesses shall suffer for the rest af one life how some professing the