Jewish Church against sanctifying of the Lords Sabbath justifying his disciples in plucking ears of corn thereon whereas their fore-fathers the Jews were not so much as to gather Manna on that day against fasting and prayer for he justified his disciples in that they did not fast and pray as John did saying how could they while the bride-groom was with them Mat. 9.15 and consider which way the Jews in the state they stood could understand such an answer as this to rest sastified therewith 6. They excepted against his Miracles partly because he did them on the Sabbath day John 9.16 whereupon they concluded he could not be of God for if he had been of God he would have observed the day which God commanded if he wrought them not by the power of God by whose power then must he work them So they concluded He casteth out Devils through the Prince of Devils Mat. 9.34 he hath Belzebub and by the Prince of Devils casteth he out Devils Mark 3.32 and having thus concluded in themselves there was no ear open in them to hear any thing that might be said to the contrary And again partly because he did not answer their wils in giving them such a sign as they required for this was still their tone Master we would see a sign from thee Mat. 12.38 what sign shewest thou unto us seeing that thou dost these things John 2.18 and they more particularly express what sign they would have they would have a sign from heaven Luke 11.18 What sign shewest thou that we may see and beleeve thee John 6.30 We are ready to be convinced we are ready to beleeve If thou would give us sufficient ground of beleiving in thee As for all thy healing people and casting out Devils Belzebub the Prince of Devils may furnish thee with power therewith to deceive and bewitch us from the Law and Ordinances of Moses which we are sure are of God but shew us a sign from heaven or else blame us not for not leaving Moses to run after thee 7. They excepted at the Testimony which the Spirit of God in him gave concerning him When he spake the inward Testimony which the spirit of God gave from within saying I am the light of the world he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life John 8.13 they presently cried out thou bearest record of thy self thy record is not true verse 14. mark his answer It is written in your law that the Testimony of two men is true I am one that bear witness of my self and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me verse 17.18 How would such an answer pass now in these dayes though the same life should speak it would not the wise professors of this age even hoot at it yet the thing is known at this day even the life which the Father begets and the Fathers testifying of it and with it and thou that readest this mightest know it couldest thou wait in the loss of thine own life wisdome and knowledg for it 8. They excepted against his disciples and followers which were women Publicans and sinners the common people yea the meanest the poorest and most Ignorant in their account who were fittest to be deluded and led away Are ye also deceived Have any of the Rulers or of the Pharisees beleeved on him but this people who knoweth not the law are cursed John 7.47 48 49. the common people the ignorant people the unsetled people such as know not the law such as understand not the Scriptures they run after him and cry him up but which of the Setled ones which of the truly Zealous ones which of the Wise men in the knowledge of the Law and Prophets which of the orthodox Scribes and Pharisees who keep close to Moses which of these beleeve in him whom of them can he deceive As for the heady people who for want of knowledge of the Scriptures are ready to run after every new fangle they are not worth the minding they are accursed and therefore no marvel though God give them up to follow this deceiver to cry up his new Light and forsake the good old Light of Moses the Prophets 9. They excepted against him that he did not rebuke his disciples and the multitude spreading their garments cutting down branches from the trees and strowing them in the way with the children that cried Hosanna to him as he rode on the Asse Colt to Jerusalem but he rather justified them Luke 19.31 and Mat 21.15 16. what a ridiculous and vainglorious peice of pageantry would this seem to the fleshly wise eye 10. That he did not shew sufficient authority for what he did By what authority dost thou these things and who gave thee this authority c. Mark 11.28 Thou takest upon thee great authority over the people of God over their Teachers yea over Gods Temple Sabbath and Ordinances but where 's thy authority so to do Shew us that c. 11. They excepted when he spoke of his sufferings and death We have heard in our Law that Christ abideth for ever and how saist thou the Son of Man must be lift up Who is the son of man John 12.34 Sure he that is to be lift up cannot be the Christ which is to abide for ever and not to die So that here in one breath thou hast overthrown all that thou hast been setting up by thy Preaching and Miracles Now which way could they understand this thing Nay the very Disciples themselves could not swallow it but were startled at it and Christ was fain to hide it a long time from them And yet if there be any thing held forth now in these dayes by the same spirit as concerning light and perfection or other truths which are seen in the spirit because men cannot apprehend them with their carnal understanding and make them agree with their carnal knowledge of the Scriptures what liberty do they take to themselves to speak both against the truth it self and also against them who have seen these things in the spirit and speak them from the spirit Now whosoever becomes a Disciple must wait in the obedience to know the doctrine and not think to enter with that wisdome and carnal reasoning from Scriptures which the Scribes and Pharisees and Professors of that age were shut out with There were many other things which they could not but except against as at his answers to their questions to which sometimes he was silent and gave no answer at all At other times he answered not directly but in Parables and how offensive is this to mans wisdome who requires a positive and direct answer And sometimes his answers might seem quite from the thing as John 12.34 35. His not giving respect to persons for it was a known thing of him that he regarded not mens persons Mat. 22.16 could not be very pleasing to them who loved greetings and sought honor one of
another He shewed not respect to Herod the King but spake contemptuously of him as men would account it Go saith he and tell that Fox He did not shew respect to the reverend and grave Doctors of the Law nay nor to the High Priest himself Nay he did not shew respect to his own Disciples but said to Peter when he mildly and affectionately desired his death might be avoided Get thee behind me Satan How harsh and rough a reply might this seem If Peter had erred through his affection and tenderness to his Master a meek spirit would gently have informed him but to call him Devil and say get thee behind me what kind of spirit doth this favour of would that professing Jew say who knoweth not the true meekness but seeks after a fleshly meekness which is a servant to the fleshly wisdome and prudence but not true born Nay he did not speak respectively to his own Mother as mans spirit by its rule of respect would judge and condemn him but said Woman what have I to do with thee John 2.4 and in a manner denied all his relations Mat. 12.48 Lastly to instance no more at his harsh censures of all the Professors of that age which observed the Law of Moses and Israels Statutes with all their laborious and godly Teachers justifying none but himself and what he taught and a few of his followers He told them that they had not the love of God in them John 5.42 Did not this think ye seem to them a very harsh charge And why not the love of God because they did not follow him and his new Doctrine yea would they be ready to say they did love God and kept his Commandements Sabbaths and Ordinances which he transgressed He laid this also to their charge that they did not believe Moses John 5.46 What an unjust charge might this seem when they were so zealous for Moses and their very dislike of him and controversie against him was for the sake of the Law and Ordinances of Moses Another charge he laid to them was that they were not the children of Abraham or of God but of the Devil John 8. ver. 39 42 44. What a rash censorious man might they account him thus to speak of them who were the human seed of Abraham who were such strict observers of Gods Laws and Ordinances which is the property of his children and such enemies to the Devil that they would not be drawn from the truths and way of worship taught by Moses and the Prophets no not by all the Miracles he could work He called them a faithless and perverse Generation Ma 1 t. 17.17 He told them that they did not know God though they said with confidence that he was their God John 12.54 55. How could they bear this They had been studying the law and Prophets and had a great stock of knowledge from thence and were strict and exact in worship some of them as well as Paul might be according to the Law blameless and now to be told they did not know God Nay he that aboundeth in knowledge devotion and worship yet being not in the life and pure Power of the Spirit hath not one dram of the true knowledge He told them that they should dye in their sins John 8.21 O hard word and severe judgement And yet he had told them a little before that he judged no man ver. 15. yea they did think themselves exceedingly wronged by him and thought that no man that had any thing of God in him could speak such things but only one that was an enemy to the people of God and led by the spirit of Satan To this effect they expresse themselves verse 48. of that Chap. Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan and hath a Devil Yea when Christ charged them with going about to kill him they seemed to themselves so clear in their own consciences that they answered thou hast a Devil who goes about to kill thee John 7.29 how easily might they closeup the controversie and by this very thing conclude him to be a false Prophet He sayes we went about to till him when God knows there was not such a thing in our hearts Can this man be a true Prophet yet Christ knew the prefessing Jews to be the Murtherer and in and for his Religion sake still seeking to slay him And there is no such murtherer of Christ the life upon the earth as the zealous Professor and worshipper out of the life He that is in the life cannot persecute any man he that is out of the life cannot but persecute him that is in the life Hereby the true and false christian may be discrened by the weakest simple and single eye And then for their teachers and expounders of the law how exceeding bitter did be seem against them and how heavy things was he continually laying to their charge He called them blind Guids Hypocrites painted Sepulchres Graves which appears not and pronounced woe upon woe against them Read that one place Mat. 23.33 Ye Serpents ye Generation of Vipers how can ye escape the damnation of Hell What speak thus of our zealous Teachers who study the Law are strict in practising of the Ordinances and take such pains to ininstruct us in the mind of God from Moses and the Prophets was such a man as this fit to live Nay and he does not shew a Gospel spirit mark how sharp and bitter his words came from him for indeed a sharper speech with greater vehemency and indignation of spirit can hardly be spoken and they might seem to aggravate this sharp condemnation of his from his own confession he himself had confessed that they sate in Moses chair now he might have shewn some honour to Moses chair and to their office which was of God and doubtless good and not have gone about to make them thus odious in the eyes of the people Nay he himself had bid men do as they said but in ver. 3. of that Chap. Now was it likely that ever men should mind what they said or observe their doctrine when he had thus represented them as oppressors of the conscience ver. 4. as devourers of widdows houses and making long prayers in Hypocrisie ver. 15. as making their proselytes more the children of hell then themselves ver. 15. as neglecters of the weightier matters of the Law Judgement Mercy and Faith ver. 2.3 as appearing righteous to men but full of Hypocrisie and iniquity ver. 28. as of the same generation that killed the Prophets ver. 31.32 as dâ—ceivers as such as led into the ditch and bid men beware of their leaven were not these good kind of incouragements for People to hear them Yea he charged them with shutting up the Kingdome of heaven against men and not going in themselves nor suffering men to enter that were going in ver. 13. How could they observe what they taught without hearing them and would Christ wish any to hear such men as
these Yet for all this without doubt they were not without their justifications against Christ in these respects and also had their charges on the other hand ready against him Now how did they shut up the Kingdome of Heaven against men Did not they teach the Law and direct men to the Ordinances of God and open the Prophets words to them was this shutting up the Kindome of heaven And would not they suffer men to enter Why their work was to win people to their profession they would compass Sea and Land to make a proselyte How stifly might the Jews have pleaded against Christ that he did slander their godly Ministers who were very painful and zealous in opening the Scriptures and teaching the way of God nay he himself could not deny but they taught well for he himself saith whatsoever they bid you observe that observe and do Mat. 23.3 But mark now that ye may understand the thing it is thus Any teaching or expounding of Scriptures out of the life shuts up the Kingdome for the Life is the Kingdome and words from the life yeild the savour of the Kingdome but words out of it though never so good and true reach not to the life in another but only build up a knowledge in the contrary wisdome and teach to hold the truth in the unrighteousness where Satans Kingdome stands and where he hath the dominion over all that is brought thither And so this kind of teaching and knowledg shuts up the door and way of life and must be lost before the Kingdome can be found They shut up the true Kingdome but they opened another Kingdome they opened the Kingdome another way which was in truth shutting of it and they had Disciples and Children of the Kingdome whom they tickled with the hope of life and fed with promises and comforts but these the Lord would shut out Many shall come from the East and West and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdome of Heaven but the Children of the Kingdome shall be cast out into utter darkness Mat. 8.11 12. This is as true at this day in this present dispensation as it was then in that dispensation though men make it a great accusation against us charging us that we say none are the people of God but our selves and as if all were damned but we These are mens harsh and unsavory expressions we use not to speak after this manner but soberly open the state of the thing as it stands in the truth and as it hath been revealed unto us by him who is true and cannot lie which is thus That through which men are saved is the dispensation of truth in their age The measure of light which God gives forth in every age that is the means and proper way of Salvation in that age and what ever men get or profess of the knowledg of truth declared in former ages yet making use of that to withstand the present dispensation of truth in their age they cannot thereby be saved but may thereby be hardened against that which should save them And this we are assured of from the Lord that as the Jews could not be saved by the Law of Moses making use of it in opposition to the shining of the light of God in the Prophets in their present ages nor afterwards could be saved by magnifiing and observing both the words of Moses and the Prophets and their belief from thence of a Messiah to come making use of these things to oppose that appearance of Christ in the flesh which was the dispensation of their day then No more can any Professors be saved now by belief of a Christ come or any thing which they can learn or practise from the Scriptures making use thereof to oppose the dispensation of this day which dispensation is the immediate and powerful breaking forth of the light of the Spitit in the hearts of Gods people who have earnestly sought and in much sorrow and perplexity of Spirit longed and waited for him after this long dark night of the Antichristian apostacy There remain yet some other exceptions against him about the time of his suffering death with his hard usage which would not wholly be passed over As first his disrespective or irreverend answering of the high Priest as it seemed to them when he asked him of his Doctrine John 18. vers. 19. His answer was that he spake openly in the World not in secret why askest thou me ask them that heard me whereupon one of the Officers struck him saying Answerest thou the high Priest so vers. 22. The plainness and simplicity of the life which bows to God and cannot regard man in the transgression seems rude and unmannerly to the lofty Spirit of the world 2. His silence at the Testimonies brought against him and to the high Priest when he questioned him Mark 14.60 61. Indeed either the speaking or silence in the life is offensive to the carnal professor who knoweth not the Law of the life in this particular but can either speak or be silent according to his own will This is the difference between the true and the false Christian The false Christian his knowledg and Religion stands in his own will in his own understanding he speaks in his own time both which are crucified in him that is born of the Spirit 3. When he did speak the truth of himself the high Priest rent his cloaths and charged him with blasphemy Mat. 26.64 And those that were by fell in with the high Priest and said he was guilty of death vers. 66. Then they spet on his face and buffetted him and smote him and mocked him and blindfolded him and struck him on the face bidding him prophesie who smote him Mat. 26.67 68. and Luke 22.63 64. When they brought him to Pilate they would have Pilate take it for granted that he was an evil doer and worthy of death for when Pilate asked for their accusation against him they answer if he were not a Malefactor we would not have delivered him up unto thee John 18.29 30. Pilate refusing so to proceed in judgment vers. 31. they begin to bring in their charges we found this fellow perverting the Nation and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar saying that he himself is Christ a King Luke 23.2 Pilate examines him herein but professes he can find no fault in him at all John 18.38 Then the chief Priests accused him of many other things Mark 15.3 and were more fierce saying he stirreth up the people teaching throughout all Jury beginning from Galilee to this place This indeed was his great offence he taught with the authority of the Spirit and not as the Scribes Then Pilate sent him to Herod where the chief Priests and Scribes stood vehemently accusing him who questioned him much but he answered him nothing And Herod with his men of War set him at naught and mocked him and arayed him in a gorgeous robe and sent
THE JEVV OUTWARD BEING A GLASSE FOR THE Professors of this Age Wherein if they read with meekness and in the true light such of them as have not overslipt the day of their visitation may see their own spirits to their own everlasting advantage and comfort by learning subjection to that which hath power in it to destroy this evil spirit in them CONTAINING Some EXCEPTIONS and ARGUMENTS of the Jews against Christs Appearance in that fleshly form of his in their dayes which the present Professors may view and compare with their Exceptions and Arguments against his Appearance in Spirit in this Age that they may see and consider which of them are the more and the more weighty By Isaac Penington the Younger LONDON Printed by G. D. for Lodowick Lloyd and are to be sold at the Sign of the Castle in Cornhill 1659. The PREFACE THE Lord God of infinite goodness who hath ever dearly loved Mankind yet could never so appear to them since the transgression as to be owned by them till the vail was taken from before their hearts Israel in Egypt hearkened not to Moses because of their anguish and bondage When they were led out they were ever and anon murmuring and picking quarrels against him Samuel they rejected as the Lord laies to their charge though they might excuse themselves and say they had just exceptions against his sons Elijah that mighty man of God the great restorer of Israel and pleader against Baal by fire his life was sought for And though there be not a particular record of their usage of the Prophets about those dayes yet in general he complains that they were all slain but himself 1 King 19.10 Micaiah was smote on the cheek and jeered by the false Prophet which smote him and said which way went the Spirit of the Lord from me to speak unto thee And he was commanded to be put in prison and fed with bread of affliction and water of affliction Jeremiah was put in the dungeon even to the danger of his life and by those few that were left that seemed singly to enquire by him concerning the will of the Lord Jer. 42.2 3. disdainfully rejected chap. 43.2 What should I spend time in particular instances What Prophet can I except for though all their bad dealings with them are not related in Scripture yet Christ testifies that they did deal badly with them all some of them they stoned some of them they scourged in their Synagogues some of them they killed and crucified and others they persecuted from City to City Yea saith Stephen which of the Prophets have not your fathers persecuted and they have stain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just one Ye make it such a strange thing that if Christ had been a Prophet ye should not own him why which of the Prophets was owned ye have still some exception or other against us that we are not the Prophets of God and against our message that it is not the mind of God Ye take arguments from one Prophets words to oppose another Prophet with and from one Prophets manner of coming to oppose another Prophets manner of coming If John come neither eating nor drinking ye reject him for his austereness if Christ come both eating and drinking ye reject him for his liberty and freedome in the life Now what is the reason of this Christ himself gives the reason Mat. 11.19 Wisdome is justified of her children Ye are not the children of wisdom ye are not begotten of the life of the spirit of the Prophets and so cannot justifie that spirit Ye have got the Letter of the Prophets â—e are born of that but ye are not born of the life ye are not born of the wisdome And so whoever comes forth in the same birth from the Letter with you him ye can own but if any Prophet come forth with that same spirit him ye cannot own He that is born after the flesh cannot but persecute him that is born after the spirit Jerusalem was all along the persecuter of the Prophets from the beginning to the end And is this nothing to you O ye Professors of this age Search and see who have been the persecuters among you but they who have had the name of the Church and her Prophets Who hath slain the Witnesses The Church of Rome hath slain the Witnesses against her and the Protestants have slain the Witnesses against them About the beginning of these troubles if a man were never so truly zealous yet if he could not conform to the Common-prayer-book and Ceremonies how was he persecuted A Non-conformist a Separatist a Brownist an Anabaptist though owning the same Christ in his very heart and soul yet because his practise was a testimony against the false Church-worship of the common Protestant must be hunted up and down to Courts imprisoned fixed banished And to this day the Lord can bring forth no birth of his Spirit but the zealous Professor hates reviles and seeks to destroy If the Lord lay any Law upon the Conscience if it be not suitable to their apprehensions from the Letter how do they reproach disdain revile and endeavour to render such odious to the Magistrates and to the People But why should we wonder at these things There is no new thing under the Sun The state of the world is just as it alwaies was The power of Truth in every age hath been still opposed by those who cryed up the Form It were a wonder if it should be otherwise I should much more wonder if the Teachers and Professors of this age should own Truth than that they fight against it and persecute it Well friends and brethren be strong in the Lord and faithful to his Truth in the power of his might bear the reproach the afflictions of this age the persecutions of this your day Verily your eyes shall see that there is a reward for the righteous and your hearts shall be satisfied with it when the children of the Kingdome of this age as well as of Christs and all former ages shall be shut out in utter darkness where shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth Some Exceptions and Arguments of the Jews against Christ's Appearance c. THE Jews were once the only outward visible People of God who were chosen by God for a peculiar People who had the Promise of and expected the Messiah whose faith and hope of Salvation was in him yea and at that very time they were looking for him yet when he came he was a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence to them and they could by no means receive him They were full of reasonings and doubts and contendings about it but could never with all their wisdom from the Letter determine that that was he Though he lived as never man lived though he spake as never man spake though he did what never man did yet still some exception or other they had from the
good works they stoned him They reply very confidently for a good work we stone thee not but for Blasphemy and because thou being a man makest thy self God vers. 32 33. And when he said If a man keep my saying he shall never see death John 8.51 Then said the Jews unto him now we know that thou hast a Devil Abraham is dead and the Prophets are dead who makest thou thy self vers. 53. Were not Abraham and the Prophets holy men had not they the sayings of God and did not they keep the sayings of God yet they are dead Such a kind of speech as this must needs be from the Devil Now thou makest manifest from what Spirit thou speakest Now know we that thou hast a Devil And indeed how could the professors of that age digest such things being so contrary to what appeared to them to be certain truth in the Scriptures And there were many other things as hard to them though the exceptions which might or did arise in their minds are not particularly mentioned as when he saith I am the door of the Sheep All that came before me are thieves and robbers but the Sheep did not hear them John 10.7 8. How offensive must this Doctrine needs have been to them going carnally to understand and reason about it What were all the Prophets and holy men before thee thieves and robbers did the truth never come till thou broughtst it What became of our Fore-fathers in former ages were they none of them Gods Sheep did none of them find the door for thou saist thou art the door and thou hast been but of late And whereas thou saist the Sheep did not hear them that 's utterly false for they did hear Moses and they did hear the Prophets and we have their writings and will keep to them for all thee let who will be thy Sheep When he said that he came not to send peace but division Mat. 10.25 How readily might they reply that his own mouth discovered him not to be the Messiah the Saviour the peace-maker but the worker of divisions the causer of breaches in families setting three against two and two against three Luke 21.51 When he said whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin John 8.34 Might not they well except against this as condemning the whole generation of the righteous and making null the way of sacrifices which God had appointed for sins committed at any time by his people which could not but presuppose their commission of sin did not Abraham Isaac David Moses the rest of the Prophets all commit sin and were they servants of sin He taught also that the children of the Kingdom should be cast into utter darkness Mat. 8.12 Oh how harsh would this sound in the ears of the zealous professing Jew who was waiting and hoping for the Kingdome So in his Doctrine there seemed many contradictions to the fleshly understanding for one while he said I Judge no man for I came not to condemn the World and yet was he not continually judging and condemning the Scribes the Pharisees the Priests the Lawyers and that whole generation of professors So again he came to seek and save that which was lost to preach the Gospel of peace and yet another while he saith he came not to send peace but a sword and to kindle a fire and to set men at variance c. Again one while he said I and my Father are one another time my Father is greater than I one while he bid men do as the Scribes and Pharisees taught another while he bid men beware of the Leaven or Doctrine of the Prarisees and Saduces Mat. 16.12 But to what purpose should I heap up any more instances O thou that readest this wait to know in thy self the ear that cannot hear Christs Doctrin and while thou condemnest the Jews do not run into the same error of unbelief and gain-saying but wait to know the voice of Christ in this day and to receive the ear that can hear it for though thou shouldest be willing to hear yet thou canst not till thy ear be opened Nicodemus who could acknowledge Christ a teacher come from God yet could not receive the doctrine of the new birth from him John 3.4 and there were many things the disciples themselves were not able to bear for when at a certain time he spake of giving his flesh to eat not only the Jews John 6.52 but they also stumbled ver. 61. and who is there among professors that can now bear it or receive Christs own interpretation of it who saith that the flesh which they understood profiteth nothing but the flesh which he meant was spirit and life ver. 63. 5. At his practises and conversation How is it that he eateth and drinketh with Publicans and sinners Mark 2.16 Behold a gluttenous man and a wine bibber a friend of Publicans and sinners Luke 7.14 This man if he were a Prophet would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him for she is a sinner Luke 7.39 At the Publicans and sinners drawing nigh to hear him the Pharisees and Scribes were offended and murmured saying This man receiveth sinners and eateth with them Luke 15.1 2. and when he went to Zacheus house they all murmured saying that he was gone to be Guest with a man that is a sinner Luke 19.7 Again because he healed on the Sabbath and justified his disciples in plucking of ears of corn on the Sabbath they were filled with madness and communed what they might do to him Luke 6. ver. 3. and ver. 10 11. and took counsell how they might destroy him Mark 3.5 6. Another time the Ruler of the Synagogue spake with indignation about it Luke 13.14 Yea the Jews did persecute Jesus and sought to slay him because he had healed a man and bid him take up his bed and walkon the Sabbath day John 5. ver. 8 16. and some of them made it a strong argument against him this man is not of God because he keepeth not the Sabbath day John 9.16 What come from God and be a breaker of his Ordinances Can these two stand together Read and consider what more strict Ordinance of God under the Law than the Sabbath What one Ordinance more conducing to the honour and worship of God Did not their whole religion and worship much depend upon it How could this possibly but be a great offence to them in that Spirit and Litteral Wisdome from the Scriptures wherein they stood Yet Christ in his fleshly appearance was Lord of the Sabbath and in his spiritual appearance he doth not lose his dominion Again they excepted against him that he did not teach his disciples to fast and pray as John did Luke 5.33 but could suffer them to transgress the traditions of the Elders Mat. 15.2 he was not strict after the Jewish way of devotion not strict after Johns way neither but against the traditions of the godly Elders of the
him back to Pilate Luke 23.9 10 11. Pilate professed that he could not find him guilty of this second charge neither of perverting the people vers. 14. therefore chastising him he would release him vers. 16. But the people by the perswasion of the chief Priests and Elders cried all at once Away with this man and release unto us Barbas vers. 18. but let him be crucified crucifie him crucifie him vers. 21. c. Now when Pilate had scourged him and the Souldiers had stripped him and put on him a Scarlet Robe and had put a Crown of platted Thornes on his head and a Reed in his right hand and had bowed the knee to him in Mockery and spit on him and smote him with a Reed he brings him forth to them again hoping this might appease there malice and they might be content to spare his being crucified They tell him they have a Law and by their Law he ought to dye because he made himself the Son of God John 19. vers. 4. to 8. see how they turn and wind every way to make the innocent an offender and to make some Law of one kind or other take hold of him But when all their accusations would not prevail with Pilate but still from the sense of his innocency he had a mind to release him they use another subtile artifice telling him if he let this man go he was not Caesars friend John 19.12 This carries it with Pilate now he disputes no further but delivers him up to their will Luke 23.5 Now thou who readest this take heed of judging the Jews for all this wickedness while the same nature is alive in thee which did all this in them for assuredly thou in whom that nature which did it in them is not subdued wouldst have done the same thing hadst thou lived in those dayes Thou that disdainest and persecutest the appearance of Christ in this age whuldst have disdained have persecuted his appearance in that age do not deceive thy Soul The Jews did as little think that ever they should have put a Prophet or any good man to death much less the Messiah as thou canst yea they could blame their Fathers for killing the Prophets and say if they had lived in those dayes they would not have done it and yet dost thou not read what they did The persecuting Spirit was ever blind and could in no age read its evil and bitter nature and its enmity against the life and power Be not thou blind in thy day as they were in theirs and an enemy under pretence of being a friend 4. Another exception or argument against him about the time of his suffering death was that he did not put forth his power to save himself from the cross he saved others let him save himself if he be Christ the chosen of God Luke 23.35 Is it likely that this is the Son of God and that he did so many miracles by the power of God and cannot now save himself from the cross This his suffering death on the Cross did a little stumble some of the Disciples as may appear Luke 24.20 21. and was enough to have overturned the faith of any which stood not in the Spirit and in the power The Souldiers also could mock and manage this argument against him saying If thou be the King of the Jews save thy self Luke 23.37 And they that passed by reviled him wagging their heads and saying Thou that destroyest the Temple and buildest it in three dayes save thy self If thou be the Son of God come down from the Cross Mat. 27.39 40. Likewise the chief Priests with the Scribes and Elders mocked among themselves saying he saved others himself he cannot save Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the Cross that we may see and believe Mark 15.31 32. One of the Thieves also railed on him saying If thou be the Christ save thy self and us Luke 23.39 And when he cryed out to his God Eli Eli c. they derided him This man calleth for Elias let us see whether Elias will come to save him Mat. 27.47 49. And after he was dead the chief Priests and Pharisees spake of him as of a known deceiver vers. 63. And seem in a pious zeal for the Church to take care that there be no further occasion after his death for the reviving and spreading of his deceit and errors vers. 64. Thus the holy one the pure one the just and true one in whose heart and mouth was no guile found was numbred among transgressors accounted a deceiver and put to death as a blasphemer by the zealous priests and professors of that age who were so confident of the righteousness of their cause on the behalf of the Law of Moses and their Sabbaths Temple c. against him that when Pilate washed his hands as clear of his bloud all the people answered and said his bloud be on us and on our children Mat. 27.25 Now let men consider what the great exceptions are which they have against the living appearance of Christ in his Spirit now towards the close of the apostacy and against us his witnesses whom the Lord hath called forth to testifie to his name Many exceptions men have against our Persons our Doctrine our Practises for want of miracles c. Is this generation more wise or just in their exceptions then the former was Consider the main ones a little Their great exceptions against our Doctrine are 1. That we preach up a light within and that he that receiveth that light receiveth a perfect gift and growing up in it groweth up to perfection which in this life through faith and obedience to this light or perfect gift may be attained and the body of sin put off and the new man Christ put on Answ. Indeed we cannot but preach up the light within and declare unto men how great things it hath done for us even that which we could never by any means meet with from any light without And this is perfect and tends to make perfect carrying on its work daily Now he that feels its virtue cannot doubt of its power He that seeth the body of sin daily going off cannot doubt but he may be stripped Indeed if a man strive against sin in his own will and by his own gathered knowledg he cannot get much ground and so it is hard for him to believe perfection But he that feels unity with that which is perfect cannot but acknowledg that it is able to perfect him and in faith and patience is encouraged to hope and wait for it 2. That we deny that Christ which dyed at Jerusalem and his imputed righteousness and set up an inherent righteousness Answ. We know no other Christ then that which dyed at Jerusalem only we confess our cheif knowledg of him is in Spirit And as Christ said in the dayes of his flesh that the way to know his Father was to know him and that he that knew
of the eye or light wherewith they looked the one looked with an outward eye the other with an inward eye And a little inward light wil do that which a great deal of outward light will not do And this I can certainly affirm that all the light that men can gather from the Scriptures cannot give them the knowledge of Christ as he hath appeared in this age nay nor as he hath appeared in any age since the daies of the Apostles but a little true inward light will give the knowledge of this thing and open those Scriptures infallibly in its season which all the Generations of wise and learned men have been controverting and disputing about in that wisdome and searching spirit which is never to understand them This then is the main and full reason of this deep error of the Jews and their desperate splitting upon the rock which would have saved them They were begotten of the Letter which was given forth in former ages but not of the life which was raised up in their age and so they knew not how to turn to the light within which alone was able to give them the true and certain knowledge of the things of God Now consider these things well O ye Professors of this age and take heed that ye do not fall after the same example of unbeleif Be not high minded but fear Be not so confident of what you have gathered by your wisdom for truth from the Scriptures after the manner that they were of what they had gathered by their wisdome but fear lest ye should be mistaken as they were and wait for the opening of that eye in you which was shut in them even the true eye in the true Light by the holy anointing where there never was nor can be any mistake The Jews fell by unbeleif unbeleif of what They beleeved the Scriptures they beleeved according to that knowledg they had gathered from the Scriptures but they did not beleeve in the living word They had a knowledge abiding in them which they had gathered from the Scriptures but they had not the living word abiding in them and so their faith was but unbeleif for the living faith stands in beleif of the living word in the heart which the Scriptures direct to without the knowledge of which all knowledge of words is vain and without faith in which all faith is vain also Now saith the Apostle to the Gentile-Christians Thou standest by faith Rom. 11.20 by what Faith By Faith in that word in the heart which they neglected and turned from Rom. 10.8 for Moses had taught them after the Laws and Ordinances about worship and sacrifices that the word that they were to obey and do the word that could give them life and make them obedient to all the commandements without was in their heart and mouth Deut. 30.14 and so the Prophet Micah when they proposed sacrifices and Oil to please God with he brings them to this which was given to them in common with mankind Mich. 6.8 for all Ordinances and Laws and observations and practises without are but to bring to the life within which is to be found again there where it was lost and still lies slain and hid even in the feild or house where it was lost And he that seeks abroad never finds it but when the candle is lighted in his own house and he searches narrowly in the feild in his own heart and the eternal eye begins to open in him then he cries out God was in this place and I was not aware of it Ah how the enemy bewiched me to run from mountain to mountain and from hill to hill and hath hereby covered my eye from beholding the mountain of the Lords house and from feeling the spring of my life which I further and further ran from all the while I was seeking abroad Therefore O ye Professors be not so conceited like the Jews and running after them into their desolation and misery but learn wisdome by their fall Do not you set up your Ordinances and Scriptures after the manner that they set up theirs for this is your Danger for this I clearly in the Light of the Lord testifie to you that if ye gather a knowledge and wisdom from the letter of the Scriptures after the manner that they did without knowledge of the word within and without a light within from that word ye lose the living faith ye are but dead branches and all your knowledge of Scriptures and practises and Faith and Duties c. that ye here hold and observe are but for the fire and the flames of eternal wrath shall kindle more fiercely upon you because of them then upon the Jews for ye stumble at the same stumbling stone at which they stumbled and fell and it will fall upon you also And as you have more Scriptures then they had and the experience of their fall to warn you so your destruction will be exceeding dreadful if ye neglect so great salvation where of at this day there are so many living powerful witnesses as they are known and owned to be in the light of the Lord though despised in your exalted and conceited wisdom Now to help any honest and single hearts among you over this great stumbling block of a light within consider these few things 1. That all the knowledge all the true knowledge that ever ye had of God was from a light within I do not deny that ye might receive your knowledge through the Scriptures and some warmth formerly in those things which ye call Ordinances and duties but that whereby ye received the knowledge was the light within the eye that God secretly opened in your spirits This was the way ye then came by it though ye perhaps might feel the thing but not know how ye came by it even as a Babe may see truly but doth not understand its own eye or knows how it sees 2. While this eye was kept open in you your knowledge was true in its measure and serviceable to you and did draw you neerer to God making ye truly tender meek sweet humble patient loving gentle and full of pretious breathings towards God and after righteousness O how lovely were you to God in this state when Israel was a child I loved him God remembreth at this day the kindness of your youth and is seeking after you O why do ye so harden your hearts against him 3. That wherever this eye is shut the vertue of the true knowledg is lost and the sweet fruits thereof wither The outward part of the knowledg may be retained yea perhaps much increased but the life is gone and the pure sweet Savouriness to God vanished And if this eye were but a little opened again in you your death and unsavouriness might be soon seen and felt by you in all your knowledge duties ordinances yea in your very graces and experiences You have a faith still yea but it wants the savour of
your former faith ye have some kind of love gentleness and meekness yea but it is but a thing formed by the fleshly wisdome and reasoning but not natural from the living spring not such as ye once felt c. for the true and living eye being shut that which is then best or afterwards attained is held but in the dead part and serves but to feed death 4. The great work and design of the enemy of your Souls is not to steal away the bulk of your knowledg or to draw you from ordinances or duties but to steal the life out of your Spirits This I have experimented from my child-hood I might still have knowledg enough of any kind but that which I wanted was life and I was still sick under all the sorts of knowledge that ever I met with and under all ordinances and duties for want of life The Lord had given my soul a taste of true life whereby I became unsatisfied without it and no manner of knowledge or enjoyment could take me up by the way yea when through extremity I seemed willing to be content with any thing yet still my heart was sick after that one thing which alone could truly ease and satisfie it Now if the enemy can but prevail herein to blind the inward eye and steal away the life within he hath enough Then abound as much as thou wilt in knowledg in zeal in duties in ordinances in reading Scriptures praying meditating c. thou art the surer his hereby and so much the better servant to him for how much the richer thou art in knowledge experiences hopes and assurance without the life and power so much the more acceptable and honourable and useful art thou in his kingdome Therefore see where ye are Is the inward eye open in you do ye know the light within surely he that sees by a light within can hardly speak evil of it or hath the enemy by some of his artifices drawn a vail over that eye wherewith ye once saw in some measure O be not slight in a matter of so great weight O please not your selves with the eye of the perishing wisdome with deaths eye and with deaths knowledge of Scriptures and of the Son of God which speaks great words of the fame of true wisdome but is a stranger and enemy to the thing O life is pretious eternal life is pretious To have the word of God abiding in the heart and to feel the true light giving the true life who can set a value on this Ah do not loose your Souls for a trifle for a little such knowledge of Scriptures as the earthly part can gather This I cannot but exceedingly despise although the Scriptures I truly honour for their testimony of that whereby I live if ye see not the way of life by the inward light which alone can shew it ye loose your Souls If the God of the World hath blinded that eye in you what are all your treasures of wisdome and knowledg What are all your hopes and what will become of you All these sparks of your own kindling from Scripture will not secure you from the bed of sorrow O several sorts of professors why will ye dye with the uncircumcised why will ye go down into the pit among them that know not the Lord But what shall I say to this generation The spiritually-wise foreseeth the storm and hideth himself but the spiritually-foollish run on headily and are punished The cloudes have long been gathering but the sick eye cannot discern the signs and seasons of the times and so because judgment comes not as men expected they grow hard and wear off the the sense wherewith they were somewhat affected at the first threatning of it But assuredly both judgment and mercy hasten and they will come and will not tarry For the same Lord God Almighty which confounded the heathens Babel when their sins and vain confidence was ripe which they built to prevent any future floud For though they once had the true knowledg of God from an inward light Rom. 1.21 yet they soon left that not liking to retain God in their knowledge vers. 28. but running out into imaginations and so building a Babel whereby their foolish hearts became darkned to the light which God had made to shine in them which shewed what might be known of God unto them vers. 19. Yea the Lord God which overthrew the Jews Babel which they had built from their knowledg of the Laws and ordinances of Moses and the Scriptures written to them they running out into imaginations also whereby they likewise thought to prevent the overflowing scourge from coming near them Isa. 28.15 The same God will overthrow the Christians Babel which they have built from the Prophets and Apostles words by their own imaginations and conceivings in the high mindedness out of the fear whereby they think to escape the deluge of eternal wrath for their City also shall be thrown down with violence and shall be found no more at all Revel. 18.21 And the great work oâ— this day is to discover the rottenness of their wall and the untemperedness of the morter wherewith they have dawbed it He that readeth let him understand but the uncircumcised in heart and ears cannot THE END