A Small TREATISE Concerning Evil Thoughts and Imaginations And concerning Good Thoughts and Heavenly MEDITATIONS SHEWING How every true Christian must know the one consumed by the brightness of the appearance of Christ and the other subjected and brought into the Obedience of Christ ALSO A few words concerning the Life State and enjoyment of a true Christian and of the true Christian Worship what it stands in and how performed Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it Gen. 1.27 28. By W. S. Printed in the Year 1679. TO THE READER Friend MY chief end and aim in this small Treatise concerning Thoughts c. is that thou mayest be informed how to attain unto that Primitive * As thou comest into the Image of God again thou wilt subdue the earthly image have dominion over thy own thoughts government over thy will desire and affections This is the Primitive power Mankind was endued withal for the nature of the whole Creation is in Man and he that hath perfect dominion or rule over himself all things else are under his feet where this is wanting disorder and confusion abounds being subject to that Spirit that leads even nature it self out of course Gen. 1.27 28. Wisdom Power and Dominion which Mankind had before Transgression entred the World wherein he did and could subdue the Earth have Dominion over it and over all the Creatures God had made moving upon the face of the Earth in the Air and Water also and and give them all Names according to their Nature and to dress and keep the Garden according to the Command of God for God never commanded any thing as Man's Duty that was impossible he had Wisdom and Power given to him to observe and obey whatsoever was enjoyned him the Serpent could not force or compel though he could entice and allure yet till he was yielded to till consent through deceiveableness of the Bait begot a vain hope to better his estate till he gave way to foolish Thoughts and Consultations he kept his Innocency Place and Habitation in Paradice But when he entered into the Temptation he went forward into a multitude of Thoughts and Inventions till he was driven to the greatest distance from God in which state he doth and will remain till he come to embrace the hand that smites him and obey that voice that calls unto him in the cool of the day To believe and obey the Spirit of God which he hath sent into the world placed in mens hearts which convinceth and reproveth for Sin is the only way means which God hath ordained for the restauration life and salvation of Mankind and is indeed the Christ of God which in Scripture hath many names but is but one pure eternal holy thing and to learn of that Spirit that reproveth him and convinceth him of Sin and maketh him afraid to see the face of God because he hath Transgressed his Law and broken his Holy Commandments and until he comes to believe that he that wounds must heal he that calls to account for evil doing must save from it and that the Reproofs of Instruction is the way to life and that to be slain with the Flaming Sword that turns every way to guard the Tree of Life is the way to live again And that through the Spirit of Judgment and burning Redemption Salvation Restauration and Everlasting Felicity is again to be come unto and the Spirit of DisObedience that took Life by obeying the Serpent must come to Death must be Mortified Slain and Buried out of sight also in all his Thoughts Imaginations Inventions Willing Running Comprehending in all his Wisdom Knowledge Prudence and Vnderstanding also these must all be stopped bowed under and confounded or brought to nought before he can enter into rest again or know what the Sabbath of the Lord is which the outward Sabbath was a sign of Mankind is never safe while he is his own keeper while he is willing running and working for himself while he is guided and led by his own Will Mind Knowledge Wisdom Prudence and Vnderstanding he is never at quiet never content and satisfied never at rest being gone from the Fountain of Living Water though he labours and toils to hew out Cisterns that he thinks may supply his want yet they prove so broken that they will hold no water no refreshment for his Soul no satisfaction nor content for his mind though he toil and dig in the earth and search the dark corners thereof And though in his thoughts and imaginations he ascends up into Heaven and makes his Nests among the Stars his labour is all vain and fruitless when the day of shaking comes when the melting of the Elements come all proves but as a bed too short and as a covering too narrow and as one that walks by the light of his own sparks and warms himself by the fire of his own kindling but in the end lies down in sorrow All these things thou who art a Child of Light and of the day understandest right well therefore art thou made willing in the day of God's power to die to thy self daily to give up and resign thy self to the daily Cross * While men live in the flesh they cannot please God but its possible to be dead thereto and live in the Spirit on this side the Grave till thou dost become dead crucified and buried also till which thou cannot avoid thinking thy own thoughts speaking thy own words and doing thy own works and following thy own will thoughts and inventions from which sprang thy misery and in which it continues so long as thou art alive in thy self and at home in the body thou art really dead and absent from the Lord. For it is only those that are dead and suffer with Christ that come to know a living and reigning with him over all worldly Rudiments over all carnal Ordinances over all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit over all Principalities and Powers and Spiritual Wickednesses in high places over all Thoughts and Imaginations over all Desire Will and Affection these are they that arise and ascend with him up unto the Father and that sits down in heavenly places with him at the right hand of God and that have converse in Heaven talks with God as a man talks with his Friend he holds his Face with Joy and great Delight As thou comest hither thou art come into the Restauration indeed thou hast found that which was lost indeed thou art come from the East West North and South and sate down in the Kingdom with Abraham Isaac and Jacob indeed and art ceased from thy own works as God did from his and art entred into the blessed rest that God hath prepared all which is possible to him that believes Therefore let none put the good and evil day afar off for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand and many are living witnesses
rejoycing as poor yet making many rich as having nothing yet possessing all things having learnt to be content in all estates and conditions Content the pleasant companion for a Christian knowing how to suffer want and how to abound every where and in all things c. And where there is true content there is no want no poverty no sorrow but what is turned into plenty riches and rejoycing In sum the true Christian hath found the stone of the wise men or the universal tincture or medicine which cureth all inward diseases of the soul mind and spirit The wonderful riches vertue power and operation of the precious pearl none knows but he that hath it makes him sound and clean every whit works mighty wonders for him makes him more precious than Gold yea than fine Gold makes him rejoyce in sorrow sing in the stocks makes a Dangeon a Palace Bonds and Chains liberty makes Poverty Riches turns loss into gain darkness into light before him these and many more are the vertues and powerful operations of the precious Pearl the white Stone the elect and precious Stone the chief corner-stone which the wise Master-builders set at naught and stumble at and will not use in their Building but to the Christian indeed he is precious he is his foundation corner and top-stone also and as a treasure better than mountains of Gold and as a Rock out of which issueth the water of Life that makes the River of Pleasure that never ceaseth running at the right hand of God these things are known and enjoyed by the true Christian as he arrives at the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus and all that are but travellers therein taste of the same in the way thereto but the bare professor or formalist or titular Christian knows nothing hereof for The life riches and enjoyment of a Christion is inward and hidden his life is hid with Christ in God none knoweth it but he that hath it his conversation is with God in Heaven and his treasure is laid up where he walks and dwells and where he sits in heavenly places with his Saviour Christ Jesus who is made unto him wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption and not only so but he is come to see what is the fellowship of the Mystery which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God he is come to know the Lord one and his name one to the one Body one Spirit one Hope one Faith one Baptism one Way one Truth one Life one God and Father of all who is above all through all and in all This is the blessed end of all the appearances manifestations and dispensations under all the variety of names and various workings of the one eternal God towards mankind ever since the fall mentioned throughout the Holy Scriptures and witnessed to by the true Christian who really enjoys the end of Paul's bowing his knees * Not to Jesus the Son of Abraham David and Mary Saint or Angel but to God the Father all worship honour and glory is to be given through Jesus Christ c. or prayer unto the Father of his Lord his Jesus and his Christ of whom the whole Family in Heaven and Earth is named Ephes 3. Now when the true Christian hath travelled through multiplicity into unity through the various dispensations operations and workings of the Spirit of God before the Law under the Law through the Law to the Prophets and to the ministration of John and so to Jesus the Son of Abraham David and Mary and hath * The only Pilgrimage of a Christian all other Pilgrimages to places Tombs and Reliques are vain and fruitless followed him from the Manger to the Cross and from thence to the Grave and know a being dead and buried with him and a rising with him and not only seeking those things that are above but hath found them having known and experienced Christ in all his Offices as the great Ordinance †These things are not only to be read professed and talked of but experimentally known of God as a Mediator Reconciler Intercessor maker of peace healer of the wound and maker up of the breach the first Adam made as a quickening Spirit and Lord from Heaven as a King Priest and Prophet as a Saviour Sanctifier and Redeemer as a Purifier and maker an end of sin and bringer in of everlasting Righteousness and as a High-Priest to present to God without spot or wrinkle or any such thing when he is thus known to perform all these offices in and for his people he is then by such known to sit down at the right hand of God having accomplished the work the Father gave him to do having put all things under This is the ascending of Christ up where he was before he descended and before there was any cause for his descension he that can understand let him and restored all things into their primitive order he then is also known to surrender up the Kingdom to the Father and God to become all in all * Thus the Lord is known one and his name one here the first is known to be last and the last first the beginning the end and the end the beginning and the heavenly rest with him who is without beginning or end I say rest with him in a pure coelestial stillness from all self-working willing running and thinking and though an innocency or innocent self be attained unto and a harmless will known yet that must not act work will run and think of it self as the true Christian who hath travelled and experienced as before is hinted knows right well being always of his elder brothers mind and frame of spirit saying to his Father Not my will but thine Herein he receives wisdom to dress and keep the Garden power and strength to resist and overcome the Serpent in Paradice and the Dragon in Heaven and to keep his habitation in the heavenly City Jerusalem which comes down from God out of Heaven whose walls are salvation and whose gates are praise for ever and evermore Concerning the Worship of a Christian or the Christian Worship what it stands in and how it is performed THere is a great contest in Christendom among the diverse Sects and bare professions of Christianity about Worship and many are the Modes Manners Forms and Ceremonies that are cried up among them every Sect conceiving imagining and supposing his Way Manner and Fashion to be right c. all being full of Dispute Contention and quarrelling one with and against another envying and hating one another fighting killing and destroying one another about them when they are all but of their own devising forms and images of their own making mostly from the example of Jews Gentiles and Apostate Christians and are not led thereto nor guided therein by the unerring Spirit of God as their fruits make fully manifest to the great scandal of the
and perswade one the other and sometimes compel one another by violence to walk in and make use of in order to arrive thereto as they think and imagine but it is in this age as of old the guides and teachers of the people cause them to err cause them to go astray and wander from the right way of the Lord they were in vision judgment and understanding themselves and cause all that follow and obey them to do the same being unskilful guides and blind watchmen are but as the blind leading the blind and so both fall into the ditch together Now the way to everlasting happiness is but one both to Jew and Gentile which way is Christ who is the wisdom and Power of God the Truth and the Life and the appearance of this Christ of God is within men in their hearts its first appearance is as a light shining in darkness and as a pure spotless Spirit that consenteth to no evil but reproveth and convinceth all that are found in it and to this Light or Spirit all who write or speak for God and the good of mankind do turn and direct the minds of men and endeavour to perswade them to give regard unto its reproofs of instruction as being the way to life and to obey its counsel and teaching as the only means of salvation and way of returning to the rock from whence they were hewen and to the hole of the pit from whence they were digged to their habitation and dwelling-place in God again and many thousands in this Island and other places can give testimony that this is the only way and means God hath ordained for the recovery return and restoration of lost man and that all other ways and means which they had been wearying themselves in availed nothing but walking in this heavenly way the Light the Spirit and Grace of God within and learning of the annointing within they come to witness salvation came to their house and to surround them as walls and bulwarks and to witness the fulfilling of that Divine Prophesie My people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation and in sure dwellings Isa 30.3 4.32.18 and in quiet resting-places The eye of them that see shall not be dim the ear of them that hear shall bearken the heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge and the tongue of the stammerer shall be ready to speak plainly These are the blessed effects of walking in the way and paths of righteousness which a remnant are living witnesses of and can praise and magnifie the name of the Lord in the sense thereof But none comes to enjoy this blessed estate nor inhabit this heavenly dwelling-place but as their minds comes truly to be exercised by and in the Light of the Lord and that by walking and abiding therein come to have their minds established settled and stayed upon him who is indeed the alone stay of his people and rock of his inheritance And nothing can be found in the heavens above nor in the earth beneath that is able to satisfie or stay the mind of man but the Lord the mind or soul of man is more noble more excellent than all visible things so they are not all capable to fill or satisfie his soul or stay his mind though he might possess or have the whole world to himself yet in the end will be made to cry out and confess with the Preacher of old Vanity of vanity all is vanity and vexation of spirit c. Eccles 1. But to have the mind stayed upon the Lord there is pleasure peace and content truly found and enjoyed according to the testimony of that Divine Prophet Isaiab who said speaking in the name of the Lord Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is staid upon thee This is such a truth that none knoweth but he that hath it it may be soon writ read or spoken but to enjoy that estate is more than words it is the end sum and substance of all that can be said or done and is the reward of the righteous from the immediate hand of God viz. to be kept in perfect peace It 's the end of all holy breathings and desires it s the end of the Preaching the Gospel of Peace and Sal-Salvation even to know and feel and experience the peace of God to keep the heart and to keep the mind and to rule there This is a blessed state indeed worthy to be waited for and pressed after by all that have a sight and sence thereof and are in the way that leadeth thereto though not yet arrived thereat go forward in the name of the Lord even in that name Light by which he hath made himself known unto us in this age by which Light thou sawest the wandering and unstableness of thy mind and the multitude of thy thoughts imaginatious and inventions persevere in the same and thou wilt become not only a child of it but also grow from a Childs estate to the state of a young Man Elder and Father keeping the Faith and firmly believing that which sheweth thee the wandering and unstableness of thy mind will be as a Shepherds Crook unto thee and in due time will bring thee back into the fold of rest and that that holy Light that discovers and sheweth unto thee thy thoughts and inward enemies will also by the brightness of its arising disperse and destroy them for thee and bring thee into that estate thy soul descrieth panteth and looketh after even into the presence of the Lord where the fulness of Joy is and where the rivers of pleasures run where the reaping and returning with joy is where the singing for joy of heart is and the joy of Gods salvation felt the blessed Light of God or Son of Righteousness in whom thou hast belleved is the only way to possess and inherit those things And thy walking ablding and persevering in it is the means and there is not any other way or means appointed of God to bring man back into that Paradisical state of felicity he lost by Transgression and to the establishing him in it But all that walk not nor ablde and persevere therein after they are come into it never attain to that blessed end of its appearing and shining to them for a bare knowledge of the Truth and a profession of the Light and Spirit of God within if they walk not in it and are not guided and lead by it it avails nothing but rather draws down fierce wrath and vengeance upon the head of such who know their Masters will and do it not who talk and profess well but are found doing evil and thereby lay a stumbling-block in the way of the blind and cause the way of Truth to be evil spoken of and the Name of the Lord by which he hath made himself known in this Age to be blasphemed by reason of their ungedly deeds under a Profession of Godliness and Cloak of Righteousness such their damnation slumbreth not And this I testifie and declare to all people to whom this may come which may serve also as a caution and warning to them that if they meet with any under the Name Form and Profession of a Christian in contempt called a Quaker who in his Converse Trade and Dealing Commerce and Affairs doth not let his Yea be Yea and his Nay Nay but breaketh his word and promises there is need to have a special care of that man and look upon him as one false and deceitful to the holy Principle of Truth and as a Hypocrite under the Profession of it He that is false to God cannot be true to men thou hadst better trust and give credit to a Heathen or Infidel than to such a one No wickedness beyond that which is acted under a peculiar Cloak of Religion Such who gain Credit and Repute by wearing this Cloak and get Widows and Orphans Monies into their hands to create great Trades by Sea and Land and then break are some of the worser sort of Robbers and Cheats and the cry of the poor Fatherless and Widows cries lowd against them This is a short Testimony arising in my heart against this sort of Wickedness wherein I have a little eased my mind and in the Truth remain a Friend to all men W. S. THE END