upon the Lord to see all that brought to pass which you have believed For I take notice by the Eye that God hath opened in me by which he hath made me to take care of his Flock and sometime put his word in my mouth that I might speak a word in due season I say by this Eye I take notice of many that have received this precious Faith and thereby have believed thereby have believed the great and high state their Faith reacheth so far they know that Power is able to bring them into a perfect Dominion over their Lusts and Passions and Corruptions and over the Spirit of the World over Pride over Anger over all things that are opposite to the Divine Life their Faith is as sound as we can Preach it in respect of the extent of it but their Faith hath not reached thus far in its operation upon their hearts they have not had the power going on to accomplish and fulfill that which remains Are there not some here and there that are settled in the belief of the Truth but are got into an ease from the Labour of the truth but if I be sound in the Faith my Understanding is opened I do not only believe this matter but have inward Evidence and Demonstration that I am certain past all doubt and question of it that the Lord reveals the power in them that believe that purifies them and makes them every whit clean and here I have a Fellowship and Communion with them that preach and them that believe But my Friends all this will not give you Communion with God though there is Communion with the Church of God with respect to Men who are come into one Faith and Doctrine yet for fellowship with God it stands in a life beyond all Doctrines and beyond all words and expressions therefore your business and mine and every one that we first undertook when our faces were first turned to God that we may be followers of Christ in the Regeneration For many may be firm in point of Doctrine and yet may not follow Christ Jesus Many hold the Truth but do not hold it in Righteousness but unrighteousness Now my Friends have a care your Religion and your Souls Eternal Welfare are concerned This Doctrine I leave you in Charge in the name of the Lord God Flatter not your selves never a one of you because of the soundness of your belief but look for soundness of heart and for a right Spirit to be created in you a Spirit that can no way endure any thing that the light of Christ hath made manifest to be evil if it be Truth you own then Exercise Faith upon it and whatsoever Sin or Temptation assaults you say I shall overcome in the Name of the Lord Jehovah I shall bring thee under be what Lust Passion or Corruption soever thou wilt in the name of the Lord I shall overcome thee and bring thee under Travel on in the Faith committed to you and you will be more than Conquerors you will not only grow into external Fellowship with the people of God in the sight of Men but into fellowship with the Church of the first born whose names are written in Heaven and your Communion will not be in Words and Doctrine and Principles of Faith But your Communion will be with God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ and so in all your Meetings together the joy of the Lord will be your strength and the joy of his great Salvation your Covering and he will manifest his gracious Presence with you and that Power which hath kept you to this day from your Childhood and preserved you in all your Battels and Conflicts with the World and strengthned and encouraged you when you sometimes went sorrowing and mourning night and day and fearing lest you should not overcome your Adversaries that Power that hath kept you hitherto will do greater things for you than you have yet been Witnesses of Therefore Dear Friends this I would leave with you there is nothing will keep you and me in that little time that remains to us here to spend on Earth but that which will keep us in the exercise of Faith towards God and his Son Jesus Christ who is able to save us to the uttermost let us wait to see the power of God for Sanctification and Holiness that will reach as far as saving us from our Sins This hath been the greatest reproach that ever our Adversaries have thrown upon us that there are some among us that talk of believing in the power of God and talk of an ability for overcoming their sins and living a Holy life and living without sin while they themselves live in it This is the greatest reproach that ever our Adversaries have thrown upon us Whosoever have been the cause of this reproach God will require it of them for the Lord is jealous of his Name and Glory and he will have the Praise and Honour that is due to his Great Name for working in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure saith the Apostle though I know nothing by my self yet am I not hereby justified When you come so far as that that you cannot charge your selves then the Lord will not charge you but take heed that therein you place not your Justification hereby you are not justified Therefore have an eye to Jesus the Author and the Finisher of your Faith He begins the work of Faith and he will carry it on until he be the finisher of it and the justifier of you he is the Mediator of the New Covenant that alone justifies the Children of God depend not upon your own Holiness and Righteousness for justification keep your eye to Jesus the Author of your Faith who will also be the finisher of it keep your hearts with all diligence and walk humbly with God watching lest your Adversary that you have overcome prevail against you By going from the Power there is no safety for the Flock but only while they keep in the Shepherds Fold be faithful and keep your selves in the love of God and he will be present with you and keep you to be his Witnesses to the end of your days and will raise up another Generation to be Witnesses to his Power when he hath taken you to himself To that Mighty Power of God I commit you for preserving of you in humility of Mind and Soul and my Prayer for you shall be that you may go on and make a progress in the good ways of the Lord until his Work be finished in you His Prayer after Sermon HOly and Powerful God of Life who art the Creator of us all in whom we live and move and have our being thou hast made us all for the purpose of thy Praise and Glory that we might serve thee in the Land of the Living among the Sons and Daughters of Men and not only so but thou hast given us thy Holy Spirit as thou
his Life and great Miracles and of the great love he had to Mankind by which he laid down his Life for them We have been Conversing with Christ as to his Fleshly manifestation but consider whether there doth not till now remain an empty place in our Souls something that is not sufficed and satisfied What would you have Have you not Scripture Read you not there of the Birth Life Death Resurrection and Ascension of Christ I would still have something more for that will not suffice me I would have Pardon of Sin and my Peace with God and the Light of his Countenance lifted up upon me and further manifestations of Christ to my Soul We can never see the Glory of God but in the face of Jesus Christ This is the discovery that Christ makes to the Soul that believeth in him this is that which gives satisfaction A Christians Work is to be Conversing with him and exercising his mind under the gathering and â—â—â—ching of him that can lead him to the Father none but Christ can do thaâ— lead them to the Father and shew 〈◊〉 the Father and he hath in our day revealâ—â— himself and made himself manifest by his Spirit that Spirit by which we come to know his Holy Teaching Reproof and Instruction daily discovered in our Souls the Spirit is our Guide that Spirit we are led by and are to walk in Let men go under what form and denomination they will They that have not the Spirit of Christ are none of his until they come to be guided by his Spirit People are not led into Sin by the Spirit of Christ they will tell you these are the Devils Temptations and the Frailty of our Nature and the Corruption of our Hearts by which we are led into Sin it is not the Spirit of Christ It would be a horrid thing for men to say that the Spirit of Christ led them into Sin there are few or none so wicked as to say so The business we are to do in the World is to obey the will of God and where the understandings of Men are so illuminated that they are satisfied in their minds that God hath been pleased to give them a manifestation of the Spirit to profit withal All those that have this Spirit of Christ are directed by it to do the Will of God and to deny their own Wills and the Will of others that would draw them from their Duty that they owe to God in their Generation It is an excellent state and condition for a man to be guided by the Spirit and to be brought under the Government of Christ who is The Way the Truth and the Life So that they that come under his Government are directed and Pointed out every day to do the will of God This thou must do and God will be pleased with thee and this thou maist not do for if thou do it the Lord will be angry with thee it is Sin against God So that we have a Heavenly advantage to be taught of God by his Spirit to have the Divine and Daily teaching of the Spirit of God revealed in us if we are at a loss or make a question or dispute about a matter the Spirit will lead us into all Truth if we give up our selves to his Guidance and Teaching This hath been our desire labour many years not to draw People to observe what we say for who can direct another Man in all things relating to the Service of God If we were never so certain our selves we cannot convey certainty and infallibility upon all occasions to another if we should speak never so much and be never so much conversant with them Therefore our work is that all People in all things relating to their Souls might have recourse continually to the infallible Teacher and Guide which God through Jesus Christ hath made known to them If People be ruled by this they cannot but live in Unity and Love one another they will not fall into malice contention and hatred one against another It is impossible for Nations to make War and Destroy one another if they would be guided by the unerring Spirit of Christ for how should it contradict it self For how can any thing that agrees with the Standard of Truth which Christ hath set up act in contradiction to it for nothing is Truth but what concurs with it therefore it must needs agree with it self If we be directed by the Spirit we shall call that good which is really good and that evil which is so If there be thousands directed by the Spirit of Christ which leads into all Truth that which is good to one is so to all and that which is evil to one is so to all We must first know what is good and then receive power to do it If we come to be instructed by the unerring Spirit To know what is the good and accepâ—able will of God We shall receive daily power from him to do the will of God we shall all speak the same thing and be of the same mind and live in Love and Unity There is no evil wilfully done against God where the Spirit of Christ the Gospel Spirit comes to prevail upon us it will bring us to a peaceableness of Spirit to live in Love and Unity And the great work we have in the World will be to do the good and acceptable Will of God both with respect to our solemn Worship of God and our Duties towards our Neighbour then there will be Tranquility Peace and Joy and Comfort to all the Churches of Christ that are under his Government And it is given to the Sons and Daughters of Men every where when they come under the Yoke of Christ and take up a Daily Cross and live in Self Denyal this will bring Peace and Concord among them Many will come to our Meetings and spend a little time to hear what we say We exhort them to give up themselves to the peaceable Government of the Spirit of Christ that will finish Transgression and make an end of Sin and bring into the Soul where Sin reigned Everlasting Righteousness Where there is a great deal of Pride Malice and Envy the Spirit of Christ will root it up and all that evil that the Enemy hath Planted in men he will pluck it up and bring in Everlasting Righteousness and Plant Love in the same Soul and establish and settle it such a one will have more Joy Pleasure and Delight under the Government of the Spirit of Christ in one day than any one can have that is governed by the Evil Spirit in a thousand days You say the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every Man to profit withall what profit shall we get How doth it appear that the manifestation of the Spirit is given to profit withal Because there is that Life and Grace stirring in the heart that makes it profitable and Truth doth so prevail that it makes us to
Jesus is appointed of God for a Mediatour between God and Man and all the acceptance we have or desire to have must be through him and therefore if we Pray without him and perform this and the other Duty without him It is contrary to the Doctrine of Christianity to think that ever we shall have acceptance in Gods sight Therefore there is a necessity for every Man and Woman that desires to be Religious that hath a Religious mind and is willing to Worship God and Serve God aright there is a necessity that they come to the knowledge of Christ who tells us that he is The way to the Father They that go any other way go a wrong way but they that go unto God by Christ they do receive from him power to draw near to God and through him they receive from God all those blessings that their Souls stand in need of So here would be an end of all Religions the World is full of of all the several Worships that men have made they have invented and found out several ways for People to Worship and Serve God This and the other Ceremony this and the other observation and Method of Preaching and Praying If all this be without the Assistance and Divine Help of the Mediatour thro' whom alone we can justly expect acceptance at Gods hands it is all good for nothing Therefore the first Lesson of a Christian in point of Worship is that he come to the knowledge of Christ by whom and through whom he may expect favour with God Now say some People we are already come to the knowledge of Christ we have read the Relation in the Gospel of his Conception Birth Life and Death Resurrection and Assension now whether this Belie◠doth give a man this kind of Christian knowledge that doth open a Door and Way fo◠him into the Presence of God This is 〈◊〉 Question that ought seriously to be considered for if we err in this Question we err in all this is like stumbling at the threshold and never coming into the house If we mistake in laying hold of Christ we mistake in our Worship and in all matters that relate to Life and Salvation For if we must have another sort of knowledge of Christ than we can have from the reports of others if I must have Christ revealed in me before I can have the hope of Glory if I must have the Spirit of Christ in me to help me to put up my requests and supplications before he can present them to the Father then all literal knowledge and faith cannot stand Men in any stead but this is evident by the Testimony of all the Writers of the New Testament Christ and his Apostles did concurrently signifie that the hope of a Christian that the power and strength of a Christian it all lies in this in that they had known the revelation of Christ and the powerful operation of the Spirit working in them this was that which was well pleasing to God many Scriptures might be spoken of but you know the Scriptures and can read them and see in them the concurrent Testimony of all Holy Men to this day that the knowledge they had of Christ was a Divine Knowledge a Spiritual Knowledge it was a knowing him after the Spirit it was a Revelation of Christ in them that separated and distinguished them from Reprobates even the knowledge of God through Christ Jesus their Lord why should not we come to this Knowledge as well as they the Lord is the same and his Power is the same and his Arm is not shortned we may see as much need of Divine Assistance and Divine Love as ever men did we can perform no duty either of Prayer or Preaching without Divine Assistance nor so much as a sigh or a groan that may have acceptance with God without the help of his Spirit Rom. 8.26 The Spirit helpeth our Infirmities for we know not what we should Pray for as we ought but the Spirit it self maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered If we go about the Duty of Prayer without Divine assistance we see what sad work we make of it if we Pray not in the Spirit and with understanding how can we receive the thing we pray for but if we Pray in the Spirit and with understanding also then the Spirit helpeth our infirmities the Spirit that came from God brings us the things that we stand in need of So that a Christian hath a foundation for his Worship and Christian performance what is that foundation Nothing that is corrupt if it be it is good for nothing for nothing that is corrupted and that defiles can be acceptable and pleasing to God we are all polluted and defiled by Nature how can Carnal Men Worship a Spiritual God Carnal Men that are in Death and Darkness cannot Worship that God that is Light and dwells in Light that is inaccessible that is of purer eyes than to behold Iniquity Carnal Men want a Foundation for their Worship and will do till they come to that foundation that God hath laid Now that I may speak intelligibly what the Lord hath laid upon my heart I would say thus There is an Universal benefit and priviledge distributed and given freely of God unto the Sons and Daughters of Men in their Natural State through his Son Jesus Christ in that he hath caused his Light to shine and his Grace to be extended to every Man for the Grace of God which bringeth Salvation for it is not by Works hath appeared to all Men and bringeth Light by which every Man may see how to Worship God God hath enlightned every Man and this Light comes by Christ the Mediatour this Mediatour is the way that Men must walk in if they will come back again to God for Men are run out and departed from God if Men will draw near to God and take some footsteps towards the Kingdom of God from the Kingdom of Sin and Satan they must mind the way the way must be their Director they must not go which way they list This is that which was prophesied of Christ saith God by the Prophet Isaiah I will give him for a Leader I would fain return to God and go out of the Kingdom of Sin and Satan to the Kingdom of God God hath given Christ to lead me if I knew that way he would lead me in I would go that way As soon as a man takes hold of Christ his Grace and Spirit and Life he will be ready to say I am corrupt my senses are corrupt my mind is depraved my Conscience defiled and polluted but I have found out something that God hath bestowed upon m◠that is essentially holy and pure that did never consent to my corruption but is a witness for God against it here now a Christian lays hold on Christ the Leader which way will he lead me If thou layest hold on this guide he will lead thee
living presence but this doth not bear them up in a time of Tryal but if a Tryal or an Affliction comes they sink under it and they are filled with anguish and perplexity so that the word barely heard spoken and heard and not rooted in the mind doth not minister to the work the words spoken do not carry that kind of operation upon them as to witness an inward work wrought upon them But where there is an effectual work and operation in the Soul it continues in its labour and travel from Death to Life And as those Heavenly things those Divine operations of Gods Power are spoken of there is an Amen in your Souls saying as far as you have travelled thus hath God dealt with me he hath indeed by his power carried some beyond my State and Condition and my Faith is hereby strengâ—hned and my Hope is confirmed he that hath begun a good work so graciouslâ— in my Soul will carry on his own work and bring me to higher attainments and further experiences that some of his Servants bear witness of So that now being exercised the work goes on and the pleasure of the Lord prospereth in Christians that when they meet together in the name of the Lord they know for themselves that the Lord is present with them they know what the word of the Lord is unto them if they hear the word preached to another State and Condition then what is their State and Condition yet they abide in and keep that which makes manifest to them their own State and this suffers not the Soul to be carried away with the word and sight and vision of a higher state than their Faith can witness to and they keep low and humble and tender and have a care of their own Souls as the Apostle when he was come to glorious and high attainments in the work of the Lord yet he would not glory of any thing but what the grace of God wrought in him We do not boast of things that are not wrought it us It is possible for the Creature to gather in and comprehend the form of things that they have not the work of in them and a great many have done so to their great damage and some it is to be feared to their utter ruine They have comprehended high things and the notions of great attainments they have heard them declared and spoken of thus and so and some have in their speculations declared to others their Conceptions about those things yet those things were never wrought in them they could Preach of humiliation when the root of Pride was not removed they could Preach of Regeneration and the Old Man not put off and the New Man Created in Righteousness not put on All this kind of Preaching hath been in the World and is still too much in World but it hath not produced and brought forth any profit and advantage to the Soul either to Preacher or Hearer for it hath not been accompanied with a Divine and Heavenly Blessing but the true Ministry Ordained of God brings forth a work of Holiness and Righteousness in the Soul And therefore every one that God hath thus reached and hath opened your understandings and hath made you capable of comprehending and of understanding Divine Things take heed lest by the subtilty of Satan and the wiles of your great Enemy you be at any time lifted up and exalted in your Minds in the notion of the things that you have not attained not that you should not so understand the things of God that God openeth to you as they are many times opened to the Creature before the work of them is in the heart of the Creature and why so Why are they opened to me It is for thy encouragement that if thou dost hold on and be stedfast in waiting upon the Lord these things God hath in store for thee Now the Creature waits and saith though I have not attained such things as I have seen yet the very sight of them encourageth me to wait upon the Lord that I may experience the witness of them in my self there are many that have had some tast of great joy and apprehensions of Heavenly things which they have not attained but they know what they are waiting upon God for not that they may have a little joy which passeth through them but come to have that joy and tranquility which will accompany them in all their Doings and their whole Conversation God hath opened many things to you and you have seen the way of Righteousness which he hath cast up for you and many have taken strait steps to themselves till they have attained to saâ— Now my Salvation is nearâ—r than when I at first believed Let such go on and follow that Guide by which they have been directed and they shall at last attain to a further State not only to know that their Salvation is now nearer than when they at first believed but that they may come through the Divine Spirit of Grace that they followed and so closely cleaved to as their blessed Guide in their way to have an enterance administred to them abundantly into the Salvation of God whereby they may sit down in the Kingdom of God with Abraham Isaac and Jacob and have a Wall about them which is the Salvation of God Here is a great encouragement for Sinners and Upright ones to follow on to know the Lord and then they are sure they shall know him for they shall behold his Glory and their Souls shall be satisfied for nothing else will satisfie them People may have great openings and great discoveries of things and may have delight and joy in the opening of things as it was with the Disciples when Christ our Lord Conversed with them in the Flesh he opened many things to them and they had great Jâ—y and Comfort in those things which he opened to them yet there was something wanting to suffice them John 14.8 Phillip said unto Christ Lord shew us the Father and it sufficeth us there was something further to be discovered and revealed so that they could not find their Souls to be satisfied and sufficed till they had it Christ gave them such an Answer as relates to that Administration that we are now under he that hath seen the Son hath seen the Father Now they had seen Christ daily and conversed with him and had eat and drank with him in that fleshly and bodily appearance wherein he Conversed with them but they had not a sight of the Eternal Son of God in a Spiritual manner as he was the Son of God and their Saviour so they had not seen him And he that had seen Christ in a Spiritual manner he had seen the Father also So it is with us in our day we have in our Profession the Teachings of this and that Man we have Conversed with Christ as it were as to his Fleshly Appearance we have read the History of his Birth and of
that Worship and Religion and the performance of those things that are pleasing to God They that are come thus to Worship they do not only know what the Lord requires of them and when he requires it of them but they are given up into the hands of God they Pray Preach Exhort and Live according to the will of God It is hard for People in a Carnal state to believe this but you that are Believers that are come to know the gift of God in your selves and the necessity of being ruled by him you will believe us for none else will believe us let us Preach to as many People and Nations as we will none will receive us as true Ministers but those that have the truth in their own hearts if there be any that despiseth the Grace of God in his own heart he hates that which chides and reproves him if there be such a Man he will hate me because I am a Minister and a Witness of the Grace of God and of that truth in the inward parts which is the ground and foundation that a Man hath of acceptance with God A Wicked Carnal Wretch will say I hate such a one I hate the Light that which checks me and witnesseth against me thou art such a one as bearest witness against me therefore I hate thee It is very true it cannot be otherwise now our desire and labour is that Men may come to the love of the truth in themselves You know there are a great many other Ministers whose Labour is to perswade People to believe what they say to lay down a Doctrine and prove it by Scripture and Reason and set it home upon their Minds by such testimony as the Scripture affords and hereupon they prevail upon the minds and judgments of People to believe what they lay down It is easie to lay down a Position and prove it and convince People that it must be according to Scripture but when a Person is convinced of a Principle of Truth he is not Regenerate thereby and come to God therefore though he cannot deny the Doctrine of Truth in words yet he can deny it in works and doth not rightly come to love it If People would believe what we say and observe what Arguments we bring for proving a Position they may be convinced of the Doctrine of Truth and come to a profession of it and yet be strangers to it till they come to love it in themselves if it were not for this we would leave Preaching if God had not given a measure and manifestation of the Spirit to every Man to profit withall you have it in your selves we are but as Monitors to you to put you in mind of it you have so much business in the World that you have not had leisure to take notice of it A Man may have a Rich Jewel and be Poor notwithstanding till he come to know the value of it A Man hath a Rich and Precious Jewel a Pearl bestowed upon him that would make him Rich in Faith and Love to God and qualifie him for the Kingdom of God and make him an Heir of it but he knows not nor understands the value of it and esteems it not therefore God hath raised up Ministers to put you in mind of it that you may be happy for ever and live in Blessedness to all Eternity whoever hath an ear to hear let him hear and when they hear what we say let them take the benefit of it to their own Souls We bring not truth to you but God hath bestowed it upon you you will be Rich indeed if you do as a Man that bought a Field where the Precious Pearl was and digged till he found it Come to the foundation upon which you should build all your hopes of happiness and depend not upon your own Works or Religious Performances for acceptance with God for there is no acceptance with God but only through Christ we are only accepted of God through him those that will become Christians indeed and worship God as he hath ordained and appointed himself to be worshipped they must come to the Principle of Light and Grace in their own hearts which they have in and through Christ and then they will find acceptance with God Sermon V. The Divine Life of Christ Jesus Preached in Grace-Church-Street March 16. 1691. THE Blessed Life of Christ is not of this World and it ought to be your care in all your Religious Assemblies that you be gathered into the inward feeling sense of this Divine Life that you may feel your Fellowship and Communion in that Life of Christ that is not of this World And may all of you lay hold upon it for this is the Nourishment and the Heavenly Bread with which the Children of the Kingdom are fed and nourished from day to day there are many that feed upon words that are not the Children of the Kingdom of God but the begotten of God are come to know the vertue of the Divine Life of Christ Jesus their feeding and their nourishment is by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God and they grow up to Life Eternal by that Divine and Heavenly Gift that God the Father hath bestowed upon them through his Son Jesus Christ and they enjoy the Communion of Saints through this Divine Head of the Church that Communicates of his Life and Vertue through every Member by which they are Sanctified and every day more and more prepared for that Living and Eternal Inheritance prepared for the Children of God And where there are a People that are thus gathered into the Life of the Lord Jesus Christ they are able to draw nigh to God they feel the Power of Enterance because their Sin is removed that did formerly lie at the door and the way is opened and consecrated for them to draw nigh and partake of the Table of the Lord by which they grow stronger and stronger in his Might and Power and are thereby enabled to perform the whole will of God and that Divine Worship and Religious Service which God requireth at their hands in their day For it is very certain and we have found it by experience the words of our Lord to his Disciples of old without me saith he ye can do nothing For though People may meet together and may pretend and set up a Form of Worship and of Religion in their own will yet it all amounts to nothing with respect to acceptance with the Lord there is no return in their Souls no addition of Life nor encrease and growth of Life they are not nearer the Kingdom than when they first believed but many times further off by leaning upon a formality and not really entering into the work of God nor travelling out of Death into Life for there must be Path and a travelling in it the Soul must have an exercise through the Power and Life of Jesus for the overcoming of Death that did separate
from God and a preparing for Life that Life that unites us to God again and when People are in earnest in this travel they are really resigned up to the government direction and leading of him that is gone before that hath made a way for us and will further our Progerss towards the Kingdom of God And therefore my Friends you know the way and know how the Power hath reached to you and hath opened your understandings that you may be faithful to that power in your own Souls and may have the true use and improvement of this and all other such Mettings as this for the gathering of your Minds out of all visible and changeable Objects unto that Life which God hath revealed that so in the exercise of it you may hold your fellowship with God and with one another here is the bond of Perfection here is that in which God hath Created Peace and Rest and Joy for his People so far as every one is Partaker of this innocent Life and feels himself changed into it they are gathered into the Church and they are gathered into fellowship with the head of it and are comforted in their Membership in their partaking together Though I be but a little one yet I pertake of the same vertue which the Lord ad-administreth to the greatest Saints while I am waiting upon him and of the same Divine Consolation and Operation and Power that weaneth me more and more from the World and that which is corruptible and raiseth up in me daily more and more fervent desires after that Bread which perisheth not Now herein Men and Women have an evidence of that Christianity in themselves the Spirit of God bearing Record and Witness to their Spirits which all the loose Professors of Christianity in the World are strangers to their evidence in themselves being against them they seek to have evidence without them and to gather up some kind of marks and tokens and sayings and sentences from without to make them believe that they are in Covenant with God and that they are in a state of Salvation by Christ but he that ttuly believeth hath an evidence of his Christianity and of his Reconciliation with God and he hath this evidence in himself a Divine Spiritual Testimony that answereth to his own Spirit that witnesseth to him that he is one of the Children of God And my Friends to this you are called whether you are come to it or no it is this you are called to with a Heavenly call that you might no longer live in the Rudiments of this World to be seeking and looking here and there for a ground of Peace and of Rest a ground of Hope but may know and feel the same thing the same ground of Eternal hope that the Saints of old had what is that What reason did they give and render of their hope of Eternal glory The Apostle tells you plainly the ground or reason of their hope of being glorified in the World to come was Christ in them the hope of Glory they witnessed that Christ gave his Life for the World Take the Glorious Testimony that the Apostle did bear in one of his Epistles saith he the life was manifested in me it was not covered up or hidden that People could not find it God was pleased to bring it to Light by the Gospel When a thing is brought to light you may see it This he affirmed in his day and the same is affirmed in our day The Life is manifested what Life Not the Life of this World but a Life not defiled not polluted but the Life that is of God a Heavenly Life that is Holy and Pure that Life is manifested we have seen it and we exhort all to lay hold of it to lay hold of Eternal Life some had a sight of it that had not laid hold of it they saw it in a Vision and they might say possibly Oh that I could live such a Life that there were no sin in me in my words or thoughts or actions what a gracious Life would that be They had seen that Life they had tasted of it but they did not lay hold of it but let it go by them take heed of that when you have seen it with open eyes Blessed are your eyes for they have seen and your ears for they have heard saith Christ to his Disciples They saw that Life that was holy harmless and undefiled lay hold on this Life especially when you are thus assembled together in a solemn manner in the presence of the Lord waiting to behold it and to see it more and more discovered to you and labour to have that gathering Power that will bring you to it that you may know the strength â—hat comes by it to the Soul There is none of you but you will meet with Temptations in this World that will draw you into Death and Darkness to things That are Carnal and Sensual and Devilish sometimes How shall I stand if I be not centered in that Life that was before the World began and before the Devil was If I labour to feel the influence of that Divine Power this is able to keep me my Faith tells me so I know that Power is able to keep me if I keep in the exercise of it The trust of a true Believer is that whatsoever Temptations and Tryals they are exercised with they know one already come In whom they have trusted who is both able and willing to deliver them So by this means he is kept harmless and innocent and blameless in his Life and Conversation Thus you might be kept if you would regard and have respect to the Life that is manifested in you Whosoever comes to know and feel and witness in their Souls the discovery and revelation of the Life of Jesus they know there is in it a certain Dominion over that which is contrary to it and you have many of you had experience of the exercise of the Power of God in your own Hearts that hath inabled you to reign over those things that have formerly ruled over you That you can now subdue vain thoughts and evil desires that you can withstand Temptations that come from without and from within Now if you could do this and if ever you have done it you did it by that Power that God discovered and revealed in you from Jesus Christ You had not such hold of this once before you believed but by believing the word of God sent unto you it being fixed by Faith in the Heart That Faith which is the operation of God You could then do that which you could not do before and forbear that which you was led away by These experiences which God hath given you should encourage you to hold on in your Labour and Travel and engage you To grow in the Grace of God and in the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ Whatsoever is propounded by men in the Profession of Religion this ought to be
Devil and to be led Captive and to be made to do his Will and to Rebel against God that gave us our Life and our Breath and Being how do we like that Government of Satan I hope we do none of us like it It was so with me and they that are under the Tyrannical Government of Satan have many Cries and Wishes in their Souls that they were freed and delivered from it and brought under the Government and Obedience of Christ Jesus and that they were able to serve God as they ought to do that they might be translated from the Kingdom of Sin and Satan into the Kingdom of the blessed and dearly beloved Son of God This hath been the cry of some ever since they have known the World and I am perswaded it is the cry of many at this day I have good news to bring you not that the day of your Redemption draws nigh but that it is come the day of Redemption is now come and there are a great many blessing and glorifying the Name of God that they are redeemed and delivered from the bondage of Corruption and have more joy and delight in the service of God that made them than ever they had in the service of the God of this World But may not some say how shall this great work be wrought for it is a great work and we verily think that nothing but an Almighty Power can effect it for there are many in this Assembly have been trying to no purpose and done what they could in their own strength to deliver their own Souls from Death and yet they find themselves in bondage still nay they have called in the help and assistance of those that they thought to be stronger than themselves and all have failed and they are yet weak and intangled and they cannot find themselves at liberty to serve the Lord as they ought to do I am of this mind that nothing but the Almighty power of God can do it and when you come to to my experience to know this as I have done then I hope you will seek after that and you will see good reason for it and you will then come to this Position if the Lord doth not help me I am undone if the Lord puts not forth his Almighty Power I must then perish for there is no other Power can deliver me when you come to know this what must you do Why you must wait for the Revelation of that power that will take you off from all trust and confidence that you have ever had in any thing else a Man that hath nothing to trust to but the Almighty Power and Mercy and Goodness of God he puts his whole trust and confidence therein or else he knows he must perish When a Man or Woman comes to this pass that they have nothing to rely upon but the Lord then they will meet together to wait upon the Lord and this was the first ground and motive of our setting up Meetings and I would to God that that was the use that every one would make of them that come to them then they would be justly and properly used according to the end of the institution of them at first we should use them as poor desolate helpless People that are broken off from all their own confidence and trust and have nothing to rely upon but the mercy and goodness of God and if he pleaseth ro reveal his power among us we know that he is able to save us and we have met with the Revelation of Gods Power and when we have met together in simplicity of Mind the Lord was pleased to communicate his Spirit to us and open a door for us and discover and reveal to us that it was the day of his Power And when we came to examine our selves whether we were willing in this day of Gods Power for the Prophet gives us a note of distinction between the People of God and other People Thy People shall be willing in the day of thy Power which is as much as to say God discovers and reveals his Power to them such a People are willing to give themselves over to the government of it when we found we were subject to it we had joy in believing before we attained the end of our hope it was gladness to us that we found our selves willing and I am perswaded that every one of you would be glad to find your selves willing to part with that which you cry out of What a cry is there of our Bondage and Corruption and of our being led Captive by our Lusts we may hear such a cry from one end of the Kingdom to the other People cry out of the Bondage of Corruption and of their subjection to Sin and Satan I would they were in earnest there is not that earnestness and reality in Men and Women that God looks for and so there comes nothing of it There is no redemption and no deliverance the Lord doth not hear them though they come now a days into his Presence to offer up their Prayers and Supplications I would have you be in good earnest I wish well to you all and it would be hard to say that you do not wish well to your selves Here lies your welfare that you find your selves willing to be subject to the Power that made you you have been subject doubless to the Power that destroyed you that Power that never gave you Life and Bâ—eath hath been instrumental of your Destruction The Power of the God of this World never did men good but destroyed them deceived them and deprived them of their Lives Now if there was but a willingness in every one of us freely to give up our selves to that Power that Created us to obey his will I am sure there is never a Man or Woman among us shall long be without the knowledge of it If I am but willing to be subject to the Law of him that made me it will not be long before he discover it to me and reveal his Power in me in the glory and excellency of it that Power which is more able to preserve me than all the Power of Men on Earth or all the Power of the Devils in Hell is able to destroy me When the Lord shall discover and reveal his Power in you you will be willing to be subject to it But methinks the sound and noise of Flesh and Blood grows loud here I would be subject to God but I would not have him cross mine interest and deprive me of that I love and thrist after I would not have him imbitter my Carnal Delights and Pleasures and undo me as to my Reputation in the World You may see whence this comes that you would make a bargain and draw a contract with the God of your Lives about these things this is a Nonsensical thing because of all People in the World you are a People that have had a veneration for the Holy