Psal 81.12 Job 19.20 Rom. 1.21 23 24. When God speaks to man there is no similitude of Himself in the wisdom parts and excellency of Man or the Righteousnesse of the first Adam to be seen The ambition and industry of the Creature is to bring down the Creator into the lower region of sensible appearances to cloath and compasse the incomprehensible Diety and Mystery of the Lord Jesus and the glorious Gospel of God in visible formes and the Wisdome of the flesh and when men have made a God like themselves and fashioned a Religion and Worship after the invention of their own fancies they are ready to cry out with the Lystrians in Lycaonia God is come down to us in the likenesse of man Act. 14.11 The longest largest and widest form Order and Ordination of man is too short strait and narrow to circumscribe and limit the blessed teaching of the infinite Spirit of the Holy one of Israel He hath learning enough that can speak a word in due season to him that is weary Esa 50.4 Mr. Baker You go about to bring in a boundlesse and unlimited Independency to give liberty to any that doth but pretend unto the Spirit to preach you open a door to let into the Ministry every mechanicall fellow tinker shoemaker such an one as is at Nottingham weaver amp c. And if such as these may be permitted to vent the frothy humors of their shallow braines under pretence of being qualified by the Spirit for the Ministeriall function and office then we are to have a goodly wise and learned ministry indeed Answer 1. Did the Bishops or will the Presbyters keep all Dolts Drones and Dunses out of the ministry 2. Why may not even an exorbitant Episcopacy and a boundlesse Independency as you call it be as good as a groundles proud tyrannicall and domineering Presbytery I stand no more for an established form of Independency then for a setled government by Presbytery for neither any more then for a reformed Episcopacy 2 Cor. 5.16 to let this passe for though once I had this fleshly knowledge of men yet henceforth know I neither men nor C. so any more but rather seek to know as I am known in the Spirit 3. As for the shoemaker at Nottingham which you spake of and other mechanicall men R. J. as they are termed I know nothing to the contrary but that they may sit in the chair as wel as many of your great Rabbies I gave you instances of divers who having performed the priests office in his Canonical vestments have been saluted for currant divines both by Parliament men and Synod men too they no Independents neither Jerome speaks of it as the glory not the shame and makes it the commendation not the dishonour of those times that the Scripture was familiarly known to taylers semsters delvers shoemakers c. why should not we rejoyce of all the Lords people were Prophets and to see the Spirit powred out upon all flesh I approve not any more then you do of precipitate rash ignorant fools that run before they are sent into the ministry If any pretend to have the qualification of the spirit hath it not reject that man as a Pharisaical hypocrite but if any have the gift take heed you throw not water in his face to quench the spirit of prophesy in him If God bid any one go about his work let no man discourage or forbid him to do it Christ wil not alow his own beloved disciple to forbid nother to do his work although he hath not the same formall and verball commission and doth not walk in the same external call and ceremony of Discipleship with the other He that never had hands of Men layd on him Luk. 9.49 50. may cast out as many Divels and convert as many soules as he that goes out with never so many spels and charms of fleshly Ordinations and Institutions of Men. Mr. Baker In your discourse concerning the blind man Joh. 9. you said that when eyes were fully opened we never read that afterward he prayed to receive his sight whereby yon seemed to glance at such a state of Perfection here in which there should be no need of Prayers but a continuall rendring of prayses Answer 1. I say againe that mercies received should cause returnes of prayses one of the ten lepers returned to Christ what to do to pray unto him to be cleansed Luk. 17.15 16. or to give him thanks for being cleansed when you have bestowed your almes do you expect the beggar should lie at your gate begging or go away thankfull 2. I know there is such a state of Perfection attainable here wherein there shall be continuall prayses Is not death sorrow crying curse and payn removed and all teares wiped away in the New Jerusalem Rev. 21.4.22.3 and what will there be left then but matter of incessant prayses this is the condition which some I do not say all are in do I therefore deny the spirit of supplication to those that are in doubts wants straits bondage and have not yet the pokession of their desires and hopes Do I hold prayer uselesse and needlesse in every condition Mr. Baker You give me cause to think so for when you preached last year at Derby you never made confession of sin nor prayer for the pardon of it before your sermon though it were on a fast day whereby I guesse you are against fasting and humiliation Answer 1. If I had followed the form and pattern of your private spirit I should have given you content but I am not bound to take my dictates from man 2. You say that I did not then confesse nor pray for the pardon of sin no though it were on the fast day hence you inferre that I deny confession and prayer for pardon of sin to be lawfull I do not well remember what I sayd so long since But let me follow you in your reasoning When I met with Mr. Baker I heard him plead much for prayer but little or nothing for prayses Ergo Mr. Baker denyes praysing of God to be lawfull I pay you in your own coyn you must not refuse or dislike it Mat. 11.25 Christ gave thanks to his Father but did not then pray for any thing we find there ergo he never prayed at all as holding it unlawfull so to do I did not confesse c. when you heard me therfore I say that none ought so to do or I never did or may do so my self I never had so much Logick to understand your argument And whereas you conclude also that I am against the duty of humiliation I reply as before If you had the disposing of my spirit I should please you 3. I forbid not the Disciples of John and the Pharisees to fast and pray often 4. I grant that the children of the bride-chamber may and cannot do otherwise but mourn when the Bridegroom is absent Mat.
of heart and in faithfulnesse to God J discharged my self in this matter how this should be you will easily discern if you know what the two Natures the two Men are what the two Nations Seedes principles with their different inclinations motions actions in Man are But to proceed No sooner did guilt begin to fasten but immediately the Lord set himselfe against Satan and said Take away the filthy garments from him he spake further with invincible evidence and said Iniquity is not there sinne is at an end the wicked one cometh and findeth nothing Now is the Accuser of the Brethren cast out These words though J heard them not with the ear of Sense were spoken with such a mighty powerfull and effectuall demonstration of truth life and glory that in the strength of them J can stand against the contradictions of the whole World and such indeed was their efficacy that the devill instantly did fly and shrinke away with such shame and silence as you cannot imagine Now and never till now did I know what justification is and what it is to have God so nigh as to justify J understood the Notion of it long since J mean Notionally and was so far acquainted with it as to have much peace and comfortable expectation from it but infinitely short of this for this was so glorious excellent and transcendent that it is impossible for me to expresse it All stormes were blown over and my soul being sweetly received into the vision of Peace that City where it would be not long after J sell into a slumbering sleep and in a dream me thought J heard my Dear friend Mr. Bacon preaching in one of the publike places with much plainnesse and weaknesse of speech but with great power and demonstration of the Spirit his doctrine was malicionsly opposed by an eloquent young man with great Wisdome and excellency of flesh and humane accomplishments whose mouth was soon stopt by Col. Har. Many of rude behaviour come forth cursing and banning at his doctrine and exclaiming on him for an heretick scismatique c. This also was given into as the interpretation of it viz. that the appearances of God in a higher and more spirituall way then formerly shall be contradicted and blasphemed by Jew rather then by Gentile by professors more then by profane by protestant more then by papist by those that keep their Church as they say rather then by those that know no Church at all If every dayes experience doth not bring in too full a testimony hereunto J shall be contended to be so accounted of as Joseph was by his brethren Gen. 37.19 Yesterday in the morning Decem. 27 as J was lying in my bed at Mr. Smiths in Cheapside the Devill came again and got under my left shoulder moved a little and left me J know he shall never set upon my Right arm my strength and power which is of and in the Lord he may come on my left side and stir a little in the infirmities and weaknesses of the flesh but the Spirit lusteth against him so that he cannot do the evill that he would the Lord is so rebuking him that J begin to lay my hand on the Dragons den and the nest of the Adder to come neer the hole of the Asp to play with the Serpent and Cockatrice without hurt or fear J could shew you the meaning of this more plainly and tell you of my further priviledges but J forbear because J know what the World will say These things J have written to you that you may not be troubled at any rumor whatsoever which shall arise concerning me but know that the Lord is with me and hath given me to rejoyce in reproaches and evill speeches as well as in the praise of men Ro 10.6 7 8. The same Lord is nigh unto every one that waiteth for him yea he is over all and in all that you shall not need to goe hither and thither to seek him but rather look for him within you and wait for his rising out of his sepulchre of the flesh even the flesh who at his appearing will bring life and immortality to light Fare you well Your loving brother Henry Pinnell London Decem. 28. 2647. I know I shall seem as a Dreamer and a Deceiver to many as an insolent proud man for what J have said of the Parliament and Army but my answer to all that censure me is First It is a very small thing with me to be judged of man or to stand in mans judgement day and therefore no such thing moveth me at all Secondly J blesse God who overcame my fears and fraylties and made me faithfull and bold to discharge the duty which then he layd upon me and required of me his spirit moved me to speak and hath to this very day sealed and setled upon me an abundant great reward of much more peace and joy then J should have had for my silence though J seem as a deceiver to men yet was J true to him that trusted me Thirdly Those that judge me let them tell me Why God did not give up Jsrael into the hand of their enemies after he had threatned to deliver them no more Judg. 10.13 without any restriction or limitation of their amendment or returning to him or why he did not destroy Nineveh when he had sent Jonas peremptorily to denounce ruine against that City without exception of repentance or reformation Jon. 1.2 3.4 Jf it be said that God secretly reserved in himselfe the condition of their humiliation and so would not overthrow them as he had threatned but respite suspend yea altogether divert and withhold his judgement from them in case they did repent though there be no such thing expressed I demand then whether or noe God doth not still retaine the same prerogative and liberty in himselfe now as he did then And therefore whether men now commanded to declare the message of God to any people or persons are to bee censured of being led by a lying spirit though the thing spoken by them doe not come to passe any more then that which Jonah said of Nineveh And though God may suffer an evill and hurtfull Angell during the time of Antichrists Reigne to withhold the foure windes from blowing on the Sea or Land yet where hath hee bound himselfe from loosing those windes againe and powring out the spirit of prophesy upon his people 4. If some may take liberty to revile and reproach the Authority of Parliament and that in the hearing of some of their members without any controule or checke If some and they of the more strict and precise sort of Presbyterian Preachers too may have the freedome to scandalize and asperse the most faithfull men of the Army accusing them of errours schismes heresies c. as I have heard some of them doe though they confesse they never spake with those men they thus charge why then may not others take the boldnesse
base Parasiticall insinuation into your neare relations bear more sway in the family then your selfe If a proud saucy malupert Intruder should dip his hand in the dish before you This you have seen and had patience and borne it and most uncivilly snatch the meate from you Sleight scorne and jeer you to your face at Table Would it not trouble you and undervalue your Fathers love if you must make way to him by a base beggarly upstart fellow who like a Stage-player hath but lately put off the rags of a slave now appears in the habit of a Master I came not Madam sneaking under your Fathers roofe to sharke and slocke away your Treasure and Jewels but to warne your Ladyship of those theeves and cheaters which lye in waite to steale and rob you of these heavenly treasures Joy peace comfort and a quiet spirit Created excellencyes and glory the the faire shewes and specious forms of the flesh are but strangers and forraigners to the New Jerusalem above servants onely in Jerusalem below keepe your heart with all diligence these else will slinke into it flatter your fancy deceive your understanding delude your judgement worke upon your will cheate your affections and keepe under the High-born Heire of Heaven Iesus Christ the King of Righteousnesse and Prince of peace shall be in low esteenie it once these get too much favour This Prince must walke like a servant on earth attend and waite upon the necessities wants faults frailties and serve the sinfull Righteousnesse of man so long Splendida peccata till he is wearied with his iniquities Es 43.24 I doe not prostrate this small Present to your Ladyship for Patronage but peruse all and though it come to your hands without former acquaintance yet I believe not without a candid acceptance One part concernes you little by the other you may get something I must not live long with you This may be a Testimony of my respects when I am gone from you I came not to you to make my abode with you but to put you in remembrance of your departing from your selfe Your owne selfe is the last Cottage you live in here and that but a poore mean earthy one neither When this is dissolved and like a shepheards tent removed your soule rakes possession of an heavenly Mansion When Selfe is conquered the Soule is crownd But this victory is not got not gained by might and power of fleshly force but by the spirit of the living God all the auxiliary additions and contributions of the first and naturall Adam will not helpe so much as hinder in this combate and conflict no lesse then a coelestiall Army a multitude of heavenly hosts can doe this worke Not he that boweth downe upon his knees that kneeleth upon the ground that worshippeth in the earthy Adam but he that keepeth on his legs that standeth on his feet he that standeth stedfast in the everlasting Gospell Doctrine Righteousnesse and faith of the Lord Iesus the heavenly Adam not he that lyeth downe and takes his rest at the earthy springs and fountaines of fleshly naturall created perfection excellency joy satisfaction c. but he that onely lappeth and away He hath that Midianisish man that enemy Selfe that carnall minde which is enmity against God He it is I say Canis ad Nilum that hath all enemies delivered in to his hands and subdued under his feet And yet how many forsake their feet their walking in Christ Jesus the Lord and the faith of the Gospell kneeling upon the ground of the earthy Adam under pretence of devorion and divine Worship to God Gideons souldiers were to be proved at the wawater Iudg. 7.4 5. And Israel provoked God at the waters Psal 106.32 Your triall also is like to be at the waters of the first Adam out of whom all humane glory and perfection as ail things at the beginning were brought out of those waters Gen. 1.2 c. is produced formed and as it were created Though Christ like Gideon bring you to the perfection and further then that of the natural and created state t is nor that you should lye downe and live in it but rather lap at it leave it Cleanse not your soul with water only but bathe it in that open Fountain of water and bloud Zech. 13.1 1 Io. 5.6 This like the river Brecos will turn black into white Es 1.18 scarlet and crimson into the likenes of wool and snow this is the Iordan in Israel Joh. 9.7 where leprosyes are cleansed the pool of Siloam or sent i. e whither you are sent that restores to spirituall sight from naturall blindnesse Rev. 3.18 The gold I present your Ladyship with may happily be soyld a little on the outside by the earthen vessell it is brought in an experimentall construction a spirituall interpretation will make it bright glistering I know no other treasure that will enrich your heart nor is there any thing else worth your acceptance frō the hand of him whose heart doth ever will exceedingly rejoice in the prosperity and stability of your foul What was said to the Generall at Windsor as it was written in a Letter shortly after it was spoken Brother IN my last by H. W. the Carrier I intimated somewhat to you concerning my present condition which if you should heare of by others might happily be mis-reported unto you and raise some jealousy and trouble of spirit in you and the rest of my friends Therefore that you may know the certainty of my state I doe with mine owne hand write unto yon and shall truly inform you of things more particularly of such as respect my relation to rhe Army When I lay at Autrie in Devonshire the Lord began to confound my thoughts concerning the present Warre my spirit was much taken off from following that course any longer as a way that God seemed to have left and therefore should wither and dye but he would set up his Kingdome and bring forth his own glory and his peoples safety another way Strong reasonings there were Pro and Con and many disputes in my heart whether to leave the Army then or no during which conflict in my selfe my Colonell Mr John Pickering fell sicke and died By his death the Lord seemed to satisfie me and to put an end to all my enquiries I thought that it was his mind and will that I should abide no longer in that way With this I sate down well contented for a time Decemb. 16. I buried my Col at Lyme without any customary ceremony at all and the next day departed with a resolution not to returne againe to exercise or to be considered in the notion of a Chaplaine to the Regiment any more Of which resolution I privately acquainted one or two of my friends but did not publickly take my leave of the Regiment for my heart was not quite taken off from those worldly advantages which came in that
and said he would come presently and nothing sbould interrupt his hearing of what I had to say When he came in I applyed my self to his Excellency and after some digression caused by the Scout-master I spake more particularly to this effect unto him Sir you are like Ephraim oppressed and broken in judgement you know not what to do nor which way to turn your understanding is lost your counsell and wisdome blasted you know not how to manage or dispose your Army as formerly you have don all which the General confessed Thus said I you are at a loffe every way and all because like Ephraim you have willinglyfollowed after the commands of men and not of God Then he was pleased to give me a particular account of his Principles and Actions in reference to the war from his first taking up of Armes unto that day The Parliament he said was his Mother and put the sword into his hand which he never took up to pul down authority but to relieve the oppressed I replyed true Sir the Parliament was your mother that brought you forth and gave you life and power to act in the way yon have don it put the sword into your hand to suppresse the violence of the oppressour yea the Lord of hosts was with you as a mighty man of war he guided your connrell and strengthned your hand he covered your head and kept you in the day of battell went before you and chased your enemy he gave you successe and victory prospered your designes and did great and wouderfull things by you But your mother the Parliament became unjust corrupt and oppressing the Lord bid you plead with this your mother as an harlot and a wife of whordome You did so and did well in so doing you refused to disband you engaged with the Army ro do justice to relieve the oppressed Hos 2.2 to purge the Houses c. you came to London with that resolution but have neglected to do what you promised and now the Kingdome cryes and groans under your neglect as much as under the former oppressions God hath perswaded me that you will bear with me and therefore I shall with all freedome and plainnesse speak unto your Excellency what is in my heart Sir You have committed great adultery and defiled your self with much uncleannes you clime up into the bed of a strumpet a whore and an adusterous woman for now the Commissioners of Parliament are here you joyn and mix your counsels with them and will do nothing without them though they remain in the state they were when you first pleaded against them only the eleven Members are withdrawn and yet you think to settle this Nation in peace and qiuetnesse But what peace so long as the witchcrafts and whordoms are so many No God will weaken your hands and wither your hopes yon shall not prosper as you have done because you have forsaken the Rock of Israel The neglect of their undertakings the Generall did for the most part confesse but somethings he excused Moreover concerning the Army I sayd The whole Army is like unto an Island of Willowes confusion and distraction compasseth it about like waters they nor you have not any bridge or boat to get out you know not vvhich vvay to turn or go for safety your own counsels and policies your carnall reason and Wisdome in vvhich you now act so much some sudden flashes of Repentance and Reformation all these and the like give you up and bind you till the enemy hath put out vour eyes brought you to his mill and made sport with yee Other things fell in to discourse as touching Mr. Sedgwick Mr. Saltmarsh and the Agitators which I shall omit these things were so fastned and lay so sore on my spirit two or three dayes before I spake to the Generall that I could by no means shake them off till I had cast them at his seet No sooner had I delivered my message but my bowels were setled and the vvhole frame of my body reduced to a good temper again The Generall gave eare to all that I said with much candour and clemency took all in good part and as asterwards also by Mr. Peters gave me thanks for my plain dealing as he cal'd it so I bowed before him and took my leave The next day Mr Peters vvas to preach in the morning and I in the afternoone hard censures and conclusions were put upon my sermon by some from vvhom a little before J had received thanks for it but the Lord shewed me so plainly from vvhat spirit it proceeded in them that I had no cause at all of Repentance for any thing I had said and if there had been any that had taken my sermon of vvhom I might have had the notes I vvould have published it vvith this Relation for all to judge My businesse being now ended I vvas snatched from thence with a strong hand Decemb. 21. and carried on my vvay rejoycing that night I came to Sir Thomas Evelings in Surrey early in the morning before day Decemb. 23. as I vvas lying in my bed Major Axel lying a sleepe by me my sleep brake from me and the Lord suffered Satan to tempt me J vvas fearfull at first to open my eyes lest J should see some ghastly and ugly sight to amaze me but it vvas told me that J should see nothing to affright so vvas the Lord graciously pleased to indulge my vveaknesse Being strengthned and incouraged thus from on high I opened my eyes but saw nothing as yet to astonish me The Tempter came upon me vvith much eagernesse and violence tooke hold of both mine armes spread them abroad held me dovvn and strove earnestly to get into me but could not My flesh at first was somewhat afrayd but no sooner did fear arise but instantly the Lord appeared in me in the midst of my body ten thousand times brighter then the Sun and spake in me so plainly that 100000 witnesses cannot make it so sure unto me that it was Hee that spake unto me as his own voice did vvhich said Stronger am I vvithin then hee that is vvithout thee and withall threw off the Tempter as a very vveak thing as little as light as a feather Presently after he came and appeared before me but stood at a distance and durst not come neer me for the Lord yet stayd with me and in me and J plainly perceived that he vvas afrayd of the glorious power and Majesty vvhich was my breast-plate and bulwarke yet he stood vaunting vaporing breathing out high threatnings against me He upbraided me with singularity and vain glory and charged me that what I had done at the Head-quarters I had done altogether in hypocrisie Upon the accusation my flesh contracted some guilt for as I told you the deceitfulnesse of my heart did much to put me on and pull me back before I went and yet I can truly say that with integrity and singlenesse
Saints gold which they have of the second Adam is tryed in the fire and maketh rich indeed Rev. 3.18 Again the Apostle in distinguishing the two Adams cals the one naturall and the other spirituall and concludeth the naturall to be before the spirituall and that the First man in his greatest excellency and highest perfection viz. when he was a living Soul was but naturall and earthy 1 Cor. 15.44 45 46 47. how you will prove Adam to be spirituall I cannot yet understand Mr. Baker Adam was at first endowed with a spirituall understanding knowledge righteousnesse holinesse and every way like God Immutability only excepted for he knew the nature property and use of every thing and was able to give names to every creature Answer First That a naturall man might understand the virtue quality causes operations and effects of naturall things yet not discern the glory and excellency of supernaturall and divine things these none knoweth but the spirit of God 1 Cor. 2.11 But Secondly If Adam were in all things like unto God Immutability only excepted where then was his Eternity omnisciency omnipresence omnipotency and the other Attributes of God Mr. Baker If Adam had not been in a spirituall condition how can he be said to fall for his falling presupposeth him to be in a better and higher state before then he was after his fall Answer To this I reply by these instances Instan and ask you again First Suppose a man to be clear and free from debt one that owes nothing to any man but hath no stock or substance of his own to make him to be accounted a rich man yet he is a very rich man in comparison of him that hath nothing and oweth much besides that is so far in debt he knowes not which way to get out But may not he that had nothing though owed nothing neither run into debt and become a poorer man then he was when he neither had any thing nor owed any thing Some men are said to be 1000 l. worse then a groat and as the Poet said Nil habet tamen ille Perdidit infoelix totum nil Juven He that hath nothing may lose even that whole no thing Secondly A civill honest man that hath but Morall principles and qualifications of righteousnesse justice equity temperance moderation and sobriety Such a man is more excellent and lovely then a profane rude and wicked man yet may this man fall to lewd and vile courses though he never was a true Christian and beleever of the Gospel doth his following of devilish practises now prove that he was a Saint before doth his present walking like an infidell prove that once he had the faith of God Thirdly may not a pure virgin invitiate her primitive chastity and become a notorious strumpet yet you will not conclude that therefore she was lawfully married first to an honest man because she is nowfallen from her first state and hath lost her virginity First Adam was created in a wealthy state in asmuch as he was not all indebted to the Law though he was not in possession or seised of the true riches of divine righteousnesse and glory He had the perfection of an earthy nature by Creation but he had the participation of the divine nature by Promise Gen. 3.15 2 Pet. 1.4 Secondly He had all morall and naturall excellency belonging to his earthy and created state But was he ever the more endowed with the true treasure of divine righteousnesse and holinesse for having she image and superscription of the Heavenly King upon no more but a piece of earth and clay It must be more currant coyne of the purest silver and gold upon which the Kings picture must be stampt to make a man really rich in the possession of it It must be the divine nature Jesus Christ the second Adam the Heavenly man that eternall word of God which passeth through the seven sold dispensation of God to the world in the seven dayes workes of his hands as silver through a furnace and is brought forth in spirituall purity Psal 12. the purity of the spirit and divine affection this is that upon which God stamps his glory and by which man is eternally happy Thirdly Adam had a virgin-like inn ocency in his created state but not a Matrimoniall Union unto God Or at best he was bound to God but with the bond of creation which was as himfelf earthy or the bond of the first Covenant the Covenant of works during which time he was barren unfruitfull in the knowledge of God and in respect of any spiritual issue of divine comfort immortall peace joy unspeakable and glorious c. Hos 2.19.20 But in the second Adam God doth betroth his people to himself in Mercy Righteousnesse and Truth whereby they shall KNOW the Lord their Espousals are for ever and such as whereby they have a true Spirituall knowledge of God The Lord doth unite his people to himself in Christ by a New Covenant Es 10.54 the Covenant of Grace such a Matrimoniall engagement that cannot admit of a divorce such sweet enjoyments have they from Him such Conjugall and Spirituall Communion with Him that they increase and multiply in their Joyes Peace Comfort Rest c the barren is made fruitfull and a joyfull mother of many children Es 54.1 2 3 4 5. Ps 113.9 Mr. Baker It it said Eccles 7.29 that God made man Vpright and what is that else but heavenly and spirituall Answer First in the creation Gen. 1. you shall find that God approved of his work as he made it as Good and when he tooke a view of it altogether he concluded that it was very Good Gen. 1.31 It is said of every thing as well as Man that it was very good will you therefore conclude that every thing that was made is Heavenly and Spirituall Secondly Seeing there are so many Scriptures against you to prove that Adam was but earthy and naturall and not so much as one Scripture for you to prove expresly that he was spirituall what ground have you to conclude so Thirdly T is true Adam was made Right strait direct even plain smooth or 1 Cor. 15.40.41 Upright but not Righteous Holy or if Naturally and Morally Righteous and Holy yet not spiritually so He had a rectitude suo genere a purity and perfection in its kinde answerable to his created being The first Adam had no more then a terrestrial body and a glory sutable unto it but the glory of Terrestriall is one and the glory of Coelestiall is another Adams glory was as farre inferior to the glory of Christ as the Moone and Stars are below the Sun The first Adams glory was to fall like the Stars totally to be eclipsed as the Moon may be His hare and even the ministration of his Condemnation was Glory how much rather then shall the Dispensation of righteousnesse by the second Adam exceed in Glory For
but the shadow not the Image Heb. 10.1 Secondly In the lively though dimme and dull semblance of man in which thicke earth the divine majesty had but a little weake splendour and luster Nor did the eternall power of the Godhead stampt on Adam make him divine or of an eternall power like it selfe Neither did the image of Gods spirituall Righteousnesse and Holinesse in man make him spiritually righteous and holy The Kings image stampt upon a piece of Clay doth not make the Clay to be Gold nor living Clay Thirdly In the living substance Christ Jesus who is the brightnesse of his Fathers glory and the very character of his being Joh. 1.17 Heb. 1.3 This and this onely is that Son that onely begotten Son that came out of the bosome of the Father which alone can spiritually declare and make known God as he is a Spirit and bring forth abundance of Grace Righteousnesse Life and Immortality to light Rom. 5.17 18. 2 Tim. 1.10 Immortality comes by Christ Adam was not Immortall nor Spirituall Abraham had two sonnes one after the flesh the other by promise the elder was after the flesh and was not to inherite with the younger which was by promise Gal. 4.22 23 30. Our Abraham also God the High and Holy One the Eternall Father hath two Sonnes one after the flesh as I may say the naturall or first Adam the other after the spirit Christ the promised seed The elder Son or first Adam had not the Inheritance of Righteousnesse Life and Glory setled upon him but Christ the second Adam was appointed heire of all things Ishmael though he was the first-borne of Abraham Heb. 1.2 had no possession of Abrahams heritage the promised Land was not entalyd on him neither was he counted for the seed And why should we thinke that Adam though he was the first-born of God by creation had an hereditary right to heaven righteousnesse or Divine holinesse seeing he is not counted for the Seed The inheritance of true divine righteousnes c is conferred and confirmed on Christ the spirituall Isaac and those that are his Gal. 3.14 16 29. Mr Baker We are exhorted Eph. 4.24 to put on the new man which after God is created in righteousnesse and true holinesse And Col. 3.10 the Apostle tels them That they had put on the new man which is renewed after the image of him that created him What else doth the Apostle there meane by the new man but the first Adam recovered from his fall and reduced to his pristine and primitive state Answer 1. Looke upon those Scriptures againe and tell me whether the Apostle speaks of putting on the new man or the old Now if you will have the new man there to be meant of the first Adam then you confound the two Adams For the first Adam in his pure naturall as well as in his lapsed estate and those that are of his race are every where in Scripture that I know distinguished by the name of Old Adam from Christ and those that are his seed who in opposition to the first Adam is called the New Man 2. It is said Col. 3.20 that that New man which we are to put on is renewed in Knowledge after the image of c. Which cannot be understood of the first Adam for me never reade that knowledge is called the image of God in the first Adam There is therefore a two-fold image of God 1. Of Life In this Adam was formed when he was made a living soule This life and the righteousnesse perfection and glory thereof though it be but naturall is so precious unto man that skin for skin and all that he hath will he give for it Gen. 2.7 Job 2.4 It is the master-peice of Satans temptations and the last plot usually that he hath on man to set upon him as he did on Christ Mat. 4.8 9. The Devill will carry a man to the highest pitch of the first Adam as to the top of an exceeding high mountaine for Adams created state was farre more exceedingly high then any present naturall and worldly condition of man now and there shew him all the dominion that Adam had over all that earthly creation and what a glorious state he was in And then this old serpent tempteth and entiseth man to looke upon this golden ball of vanity and accept of it tels him he shall be As God But the spirituall man Christ discernes and foresees the danger espies the serpent under the hearbe knowes there is death in the apple and therefore despiseth all the pompous vanity of the first creation When Satan by despaire cannot breake a mans necke from the fall of Adam he will bring him to the brinke and brow of his created state and from thence endeavour to call him downe as the Jewes did to Christ and make him runne headlong to his flattering ruine Luk. 4.29 V. 5 6. When the Devill cannot drive a man away from God by the corrupt Adam hee will draw him to himselfe by the pure Adam and there hold him as a close prisoner in fetters of Gold as he did before in shackles of Iron The Kingdome Power Glory of this creation is delivered to the God of this world The Serpent tooke away mans excellency and glory the Serpent offers it him again upon tearms Surely that cannot be worth the taking up which the Devill proffers and if Satan have dominion and be Lord over mans riches to give and take at his pleasure I can hardly be perswaded that it is spirituall The enemy of man hath laid his earthy honour in the dust Sic transit gloria mundi and trod his life to the ground I wonder that we should so much dote upon the painted Beauty of man T is a sign our eyes are weak and that we are dim-sighted not able to behold the Beauties of holinesse in God Besides what hope is there for us to recover Adams State For if there was a totall privation as doubtles there was of Adams life a privatione ad habitum non datur regressus there can be no more regresse to it Adam is not said to swoūd or faint but to die in the day he did eat not the death of the body for he lived many hundred yeers after but the death of that State to which he was not to return again And therefore we are bid to mortify the old man not labour to recover him to his health and strength Nor will it serve the turn to say that as we dyed in Adam so we are made alive by Christ as though our reviving by Christ were no more then a restitution to the life or the first Adam for our life which we have by Christ is by resurrection not by regression not a returning to the same life but a raysing to another life There is also the image of God as it consists in knowledge Col. 3.10 And this image I do not find attributed to Adam but
9.14.15 must they therefore fast and weep and mourn when he is present 5. Dayes of humiliation are ordained by men now and observed by such as are subject to men in the manner notion and nature that they are injoyned Men may commend the observation of dayes they cannot command the sanctification of them they may propose the form and time of fasting they cannot dispose the frame and affections of the heart It may be seasonable for one man to pray when it is more sutable for another to be singing of Psalmes Nationall communion seldome or never hath its Union in the Spirit If Principalityes or Powers cannot separate us form the love of God in Christ Jesus Ro. 8.38 if rulers and Magistrates of this present world cannot estrange or take away the Bridegroom from the Saints they cannot impose upon them the bewayling of his absence Civill powers may command the corps they are not captains of the conscience I hear what will be objected Did not the Jewes say some observe those dayes and times which were appointed for fasting Ob. feasting c. and enjoyned by their Kings and Civill Magistrates who were but men 1. They did so so may the Jewes doe still let those that are under the dispensation of the Old Testament walke in it If the civill Magistrate make decrees and send forth his edicts let them be obeyd by those that are bound by conscience thereunto but let not conscience be bound or enforced by them The outward Jew hath no King but Caesar the inward none but Christ let both these exercise their respective power and jurisdiction and all strife will cease 2. The whole Paedagogye and Policy of the Jewes people and all were an externall and typicall Ceremony which yet had in them and contained an internall and Anti-typicall equity and morality The Law in the letter was by Moses the Law in the Spirit is in Christ The children of Israel would needs have a King over them like other Nations whose Kings exercised Lordship over them and were called benefactors the the children also of Israel in the Spirit have Christ their King over them the Government is upon his shoulders He reignes over the House of Jacob He exerciseth lordship over the conscience yet so as that he may well be called a Benefactor He breaketh the earthen formes customes Principles Religion Worship c. in pieces with his iron rod of the Spirit like a potters vessel but withall doth erect and set up such a divine and spirituall discipline that He may wel be called a Gracious Lord because of the Word of Truth Meeknesse and Righteousnesse the scepter of Grace Mercy and Love with which he ruleth and the terrible things which his right hand doth in shooting his sharp arrows into the heart of his enemies Psal 45. lust sin flesh and corruption He it is that can kill and cure destroy and make alive confound and comfort make sad or rejoyce command a feast or fast T is no good way of arguing to make up the conclusions of one science from the Principles and Proemises of another Transitus a genere ad genus That which was done under the law and in a type or ceremony will not hold under the Gospel in the verball and litteral sense of it what things the Law saith it saith to them that are under it and what things the Spirit saith it saith to them that that are led by it But we are commanded by the Apostle Rom. 12.15 to weep with those that weepe and to mourn with those that mourn even now under the New Testament was not this present fast injoyned for Irelands sad conditition whose miseries yet continue T is all confest and granted but doth that imply a constant and continued observation of a set and fixed time Sol. Is any man sure to have his heart in a fit and sutable temper for fasting against the last Wednesday in every moneth are not the preparations of the heart and answer of the tongue wholly from the Lord Pro. 16.1 God may dispose one man for singing at the very self-same instant of time that another is stirred up to prayer If the Lord give a cheerful heart to offer up prayse and thanksgivings will it be convenient at that time to sacrifice the oblation of a dul and pensive spirit received from the injunctions of Man He that hath his heart dispos'd to mourn let him mourn who doth forbid him and he that hath his spirit drawn forth to rejoycing let him rejoyce who ought to hinder or judge him One man may have his heart in a frame fit to keepe the monthly fast another man may be more fit to fast at another time yet this man may truly bewail and condole the miseries and afflictions of Ireland and England as well as the other and so fulfill the command or exhortation rather of the Apostle in weeping with those that weep He that doth fast upon Monday or Tuesday without an Ordinance of Parliament may be as tauly humbled as he than keepes the Wednesday-fast and more truly it may be for those duties which flow from the more immediate suggestions of God unto the soul are more sound and cordiall then those that are irritated and provoked by the instigations of mans precepts He that observeth a day let him do it to the Lord and he that observeth not a day let him not be judged and condemned by men Read the 14. Chap. to the Romanes Mr. Baker Hitherto I have contended for truth not for tryumph I shall now let fall the discourse and leave it before the judge In all that I have here set down the most High God my conscience and yours can beare me witnesse that in nothing you are wronged by me Your name is prefixt to nothing but what for matter and substance was spoken and asserted by you when you justified your charge and carriage and maintained and defended your slanderous reports and defamation of me you provoked me to a sharp reply and to tel you that you had done very uncivilly dishonestly and most unchristianly at which you took great snuffe but let others judge whether I had not cause I told you also that I might as well rayl against you behind your back as you had done by me but that I scorned such basenesse and thought it not sit to render rayling for rayling this I sayd to your face and more then this nor so much you shall never prove that I spake behind your back Nor did I intend to put these passages and proceedings between us in print when I told you at our parting that I resolved to require a more publike account from you supposing that a fair free and friendly debate of the matter among some friends in these parts might have been sufficient to have taken up and composed the difference But when I heard about three weeks since that you had divulged and blazed it abroad into other parts I thought it as convenient just and reasonable for me to make the vindication of truth as publike as you have made the imputation of an error Your practise in this kinde I doubt hath been a bad President to others for two or three Parish-preachers hereabout have since accused me of poysoning the people at Hener with error false doctrine Mr. Cr. of Br. Mr. H. of Wes but by that time their covetous practises common tipling excessive gaming c. are fully examined and layd open to the world they will appeare to be such Antinomian Independents such Independent Antinomians as will make them altogether incapable of the office of a Bishop I cannot charge you of being active with them but I suspect and fear that you have been exemplary to them Sir Before I take my leave I shall as a friend suggest one thing unto you i. e. When the shadow of the first Adams excellency is so bigge and long upon the earth it is too cleare a signe that the Day-starre is very low and little in the Horrison of mans heart the second Adam that Heavenly Sunne of Divine Righteousnesse Christ Jesus is declining and drawing near the solstice of Capricorne He is in a weak and low appearance known too much after the flesh when the glorious light and day of the blessed and eternall Spirit is so short and Dark I have not endeavoured to shame you but to sift out the truth and to give you and others occasion to exercise your thoughts upon the mystery of God and man Christ and Adam When your meditations are ripe and perfected let publike profit be made of them I have layd down nothing but my experiences and what I have heard and seen as I have received the Lord Jesus and been taught the truth in Him I have no more to say to you or any man else but Si quid novisti rectius istis Candidus imperti si non his utere mecum FINIS Mr. Calvert I Hear it is reported by some that I am sad melancholike sick and keep my chamber by some that I am dead by others that I am mad and out of my wits since I was with the Generall at Windsor This as I am informed is reported by my friends When Christ began to set forward his Fathers work his friends thought he was beside himselfe Mar. 3.21 and when Paul carried on that work he fell under the same censure Act. 26.24 and what of all that so long as it is to God 2 Cor. 5.13 I blesse the Lord of whom I have obtained mercy and from whom I have received the spirit of power of love and of a sound minde 2 Tim. 1.7 I enjoy that which is better then my self or the life it self which maketh me to scorn and overlooke the reports and reproaches of men Here it is said of me as of others heretofore that I am a pestilent fellow a mover of sedition one that poysoneth and deceiveth the people c. I am not ashamed of the blessed and glorious Gospell of my Lord Jesus Christ nor afraid of the bonds of the Gospel or of persecution for the Spirituall Divine and Heavenly Righteousnesse-sake of God I have therefore sent you these few sheets of paper desiring you to make them publike to the view of all men I am Your assured friend Henry Pinnell Risly in Derby-shire Octob. 14. 1648. FINIS