God is not in all his thoughts but as saith the same Prophet Psal 69. 32. The humble shall see this and be glad and your heart shall live that seek God Sect. 12 The humble do see themselves in a lost and undone Estate by reason of Sin which they and all the world are guilty of by the Sentence of the righteous Law of God they are so broken in their spirits finding themselves under the Curse of the Law Gal. 3. 10 That as Christ teacheth concerning the penetant Publican Luke 18. 10. thinking themselves not worthy to lift up their eyes to Heaven do smite their breasts saying God be merciful to us Sinners while the proud Pharisee rejoycing in himself and in his own Righteousness of the Law like those that now Preach up the Light within exalteth himself saying God I thank thee I am not as other men are Extortioners Unjust Adulterers or even as this Publican Oh with what affection doth the Repentant Believer receive Jesus Christ Oh how precious is the Blood of Sprinkling to him Heb. 12. 24. Which the proud Legalist Pharisee Papist and pretended Preacher up of the Light within do trample under their feet Sect. 13 Even as Water is to a thirsty Land Psal 143. 6. or to the panting Hart Psal 42. 1. which being at the point of death except it be refreshed by the Water Brooks doth expire So is it with the poor Believer who finding himself beset on every side with the guilt and burthen of his Sins which he not able to bear flees from but is still pursued with the guilt thereof until he meets with Christ who sets him free from the guilt and takes away the burthen of his Sins giveth him assurance of peace with God through the Satisfaction which he hath made to his Justice by the Sacrifice of himself for all his sins that are past and requiring this late lost Creature now to follow him he bringeth him to his Fathers house makes him a Son of God by Adoption and giveth him the holy Spirit whereby he may both know that God is his Father and be inabled to serve him in newness of spirit promiseth him that his Grace shall be sufficient for him to relieve him in all his Temptations in this world and that by his Mediation with God he will so secure him from the Calumnious Accusations of Satan that he shâ—â—l not be able to lay any thing to his Charge in the Court of Heaven and now requiring him to be faithful to the death assureth him that he will give him the Crown of life Oh what glorious Grace is this Oâ— hâ—w is he that was Sentenced to death and pursued with the Executioners thereof meeting with Jesus Christ and being by him not only delivered from the power of his Puâ—suers but also intituled to Everlasting Life refreshed and comforted who is able to express the consolation of the water of Life John 4. 10. which Jesus Christ gives to refresh the fainting Spirits of those he meets with that while they flee from sin are pursued with the Law Sin and Death and are never able by all the strength they have to deliver themselves from the power of those their Enemies until Jesus Christ interpose with the might of his power relieve them by his grace delivering the poor broken in spirit that are pursued with the guilt power and wages of Sin from the Law Sin and Death speaking peace to them in the pardon of their sins sprinkling his Blood upon their spirits to cleanse them from the guilt thereof and giving them the holy Spirit John 7. 37 38 39. to strengthen them against the Reigning power of Sin and thereby intituling them to life Everlasting and to the deliverance from the wages of Sin which is Everlasting Death Sect. 14 Oh how contrary is the Doctrine of the Gospel to the Doctrine of those that Preach up the Light within all men as that which though it be but the work of the Law Rom. 2. 15. is sufficient in the opinion of these followers of the Romish Synagogue to lead out of all Sin and eternally to save and therefore contrary to the practice of the Apostles who direct unto Christ all the weary and heavy laden with sin with Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the Sins of the World John 1. 29. These Messengers of Satan lead all such as follow them from Christ to themselves setting up themselves under pretence of the Light within and rejecting that which is indeed the Light viz. the Word of the Prophets of Christ and of his Apostles 2 Pet. 1. 19. which is written in the Scriptures of Truth Dan. 10. 21. they set up that which is indeed the Darkness of this world the Traditions of men the Doctrines of the Romish Harlot and other Adversaries to the Doctrine of the Gospel which they deliver by word of mouth and disperse in their written Books and Pamphlets CHAP. II. Wherein is shewed That the Doctrine of these that call themselves Preachers of and to the Light within all men is not according to the Doctrine of Jesus Christ expressed in the Scriptures of Truth neither concerning the Person of Christ nor the Father Son and Spirit nor the Light nor the Ordinances of Christ nor the Resurrection of the Dead nor the Coming of Christ nor the End of the World Also the Doctrine which is according to Godliness as it relates to these Particulars is here manifested Sect. 1 THe second thing which I lay to thy Charge which teachest that People should be guided by the Light which is within all men is That thy Doctrine is not according to the Doctrine of the Scriptures neither concerning the Conception of Jesus Christ nor the Divine Being of the Father Son and Spirit nor the Light nor the Ordinances of Christ nor the Resurrection of the Dead nor the Coming of Christ nor the End of the World and therefore thou art led by the Spirit of Antichrist Sect. 2 First Because thou dost not confess that by vertue of the Holy Spirit his coming upon and the Power of the Highest his overshadowing that visible woman called Mary that that man Christ Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit and made of the Woman without her knowing of man and that he is the only begotten Son of God both according to the Spirit of Holiness Rom. 1. 3 4. and also as he is a man of flesh and bones and that there is none nor can be any that is the Son of God in that sense that that God-man Christ Jesus was and is the Son of God from and to all Eternity according to the Spirit of Holiness and also in the fulness of time according to the flesh Gal. 4. 4. I say because thou dost not own this Person which I here speak of to be the only begotten Son of God and no other but he in all the world beside Therefore thou art deceived and art a Deceiver for thou sayest
seeking the blessing from God by lifting up and laying on of hands for hands are not to be laid on except they be first lifted up and therefore the Prayer of Faith is a main part of this Ministration That Jacob when he blessed the Children of Joseph He laid his hands upon them Gen. 47. 14 16. Moses by the Command of the Lord laid his hands upon Joshua in order to his being filled with the Spirit and thereby fitted for his Charge of going in and out before the Congregation of Israel Numb 27. 22 23. Deut. 34. 9. And the Lord Christ himself when he blessed those little ones which were brought unto him He put or laid his hands upon them Mark 10. 13 14 15. Matth. 19. 13 14 15. Now what man or men can say that this is a dead practice which the Lord of Life and Glory and his holy Prophets and Apostles practised without blasphemy against Jesus Christ yea against God the Father Can any man revile that practice of Prayer and laying on of hands which as hath been shewed was used according to the direction of Christ and for no other end than for the obtaining the Spirit of Promise which is the â—arnest of the Inheritance of all Believers Ephes 1. 13 14. and not thereby deny his Word How can they say they love him that keep not his sayings He saith Christ that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings John 14. 24. Is not the Spirit the Seal of Righteousness by Faith After ye believed saith the Apostle Ephes 1. 13. ye were sealed with the holy Spirit of Promise This only would I learn of you saith the Apostle to the Galatians Gal. 3. 2 3. being tempted to turn from the Righteousness which is by Faith to that which is of the Law Received ye the Spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith Are ye so foolish having begun in the Spirit are ye now made perfect by the flesh What other reason can truely be given why the Preachers up of the Light within all men do revile that principle of Christs Doctrine but this viz. Because the Righteousness which they teach is contrary to that which the holy Spirit seals therefore they reproach that practice whereby Believers obtain the holy Spirit as a seal of their Righteousnesse which is by Faith as the strength whereby they stand stedfast in their heavenly Calling and as the earnest and assurance of their everlasting Inheritance Wherefore cry they out Turn to the Light within Turn to the Light within but because their delight is in the works of the Law not in the hearing of Faith Oh how pleasant is a fleshly Righteousness Rom. 2. 15. Gal. 3 5. unto men unregenerate which because it is wrought by the strength of the Creature which although now since the Fall is only the strength of corrupt flesh yet is it cryed up by fleshly and carnal men that know not what it is to be born of Water and of the holy Spirit as the onely Righteousnesse though it will leave them under the Curse of the Law and never give them the blessing of Abraham the Promise of the Spirit which is not to be obtained by the works of the Law but by Faith in Jesus Christ through his grace Gal. 3. 10. 14. Rom. 4. 4 15 16. Rom. 11. 6. and in the way that he hath appointed in his Word wherein this Service of the Prayer of Faith with the laying on of hands is taught as a part of that way which is the way of life in which the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus is found which maketh free from the Curse of the Law of Sin and Death Rom. 8. 1 2. Gal. 3. 10. and although it be despised and contemned with other Ordinances of the New Testament by such as whilst they boast of Light do walk in Darknesse yet as a reward of whose disobedience the mist of darkness is reserved for ever 2 Pet. 2. 17. Sect. 7 But like measure ye mete also to that holy Appointment of Jesus Christ viz. the Lords Supper which he celebrated with his Disciples at his departure from them the same night in which he was betrayed and sanctified as a standing Ordinance unto his Church to evidence the breaking of his Body the pouring out of his Bloud with the benefit thereof unto all true Believers yea to set forth his Death and bodily absence until his coming again in his own Body wherein he suffered upon the Crosse for this Ordinance is by the pretended Preachers up of the Light within all men very much reviled and the practice thereof as it is used in the Churches of Christ not only villified but opposed which whether it be not done to make way for that Popish Idol of the Masse because in dispute about this Question the Bread which is eaten in the Lords Supper was denied to be Bread made of Corn or the Wine that is drunk to be the fruit of the Vine by a Preacher up of the so called Light within And how near this Denyal comes to the Harlots doctrine of Transubstantiation the Children of God through his grace will well perceive Sure I am the denial of the Ordinances of Christ manifesteth contempt both of the Person and Power of Christ and whosoever denyeth this Ordinance in particular doth thereby deny that which is set forth by it which is not only his Death 1 Cor. 11. 26. but even his coming in the flesh For therefore a Body was prepared him that his Body might be offered once for all Heb. 10. 5 10. He took part of flesh and blood that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Devil and deliver them that through fear of death were all their life-time subject to bondage Heb. 2. 14 15. The Death of Christ being of such precious concernment unto his Church the Lord hath in his wisdom appointed this holy Feast which is called His Supper to set forth in his bodily absence his Death until his Coming again in his own body that so the Church might have him in remembrance by whom they receive so great a benefit 1 Cor. 11. 24 25 26. as the Remission Act. 1. 11. of sin of which the Cup is the New Testament in his Blood as the Bread is that which doth shew forth his Body broken and given for them an Offering not like the Legal Offerings nor like the Popish Masse daily offered which yet never take away sin But being once offered doth so take away the sins of them that walking in Faith Hope and Charity look and wait for his appearing that he shall appear the second time without sin unto their salvation Heb. 9. 26 28. It must needs therefore be a mischievious design which is carried on by those that contemn the Ordinances of Jesus Christ which are of so blessed concernment to those that believe in him It is no lesse than the denying of him
of Wheat which is raised and brought forth doth not arise out of other Grain but doth absolutely and truly arise out of that very Seed and by the Power of God groweth out of that very Kernel which was sown even so shall it be in the Resurrection from the Dead the Natural and Visible Bodies of those that believe in Christ although they shall not be raised as they are sown viz. vile corruptible natural weak and dishonourable yet nevertheless they shall be raised and though God will give a Body as it pleaseth him clothed with incorruptibility yet he will give to every Seed his own body 1 Cor. 15. 38. and they shall be raised again without all deformity and clothed upon with their house which is from Heaven yea their vile Bodies shall be made like the glorious Body of Christ even a Spiritual Body which Spiritual Body shall arise out of that Natural Body which doth die and is laid in the Ground even as Grain doth arise out of that very Grain which was sown being the same in substance when raised as when sown only raised in a glorious condition sown in a weak and dishonourable And as the Grain doth all arise and leaves not one jot of it self in the ground even so there shall not be left one jot of whatsoever goes to the making up this Body compleat and every way a perfect man but it shall be raised wholly and fully as it is written 1 Cor. 15. 35 36 37 38 42 43 44. Sect. 10 And that all Believers may be fully assured that their vile Bodies shall be changed and fashioned like the glorious Body of Christ according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself Phil. 3. 20 21. The Apostle doth unfold this Mystery 1 Cor. 15. 51 52 53 54 55. Behold saith he I shall shew you a Mystery We shall not all Sleep but we shall all be Changed in a moment at the twinkling of an eye at the last Trump for the Trumpet shall sound and the Dead viz. in Christ 1 Thes 4. 16 17. such as lye in the visible Earth shall be raised incorruptible and we viz. the faithful that are alive and remain in this corrupt mortal estate unto that time shall then be changed for this corruptible must put on incorruption and this Mortal must put on Immortality so when this Corruptible shall have put on Incorruption and this Mortal shall have put on Immortality then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written Death is swallowed up in Victory O Death Where is thy Sting O Grave Where is thy Victory The Sting of Death is Sin and the Strength of Sin is the Law but thanks be to God which giveth us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ Thus is the Resurrection and Change of all Believers from Death to Life from Corruptible to Incorruption from Mortal to Immortality by the blessed Apostle both Vindicated and Unfolded that every faithful Man and Woman may know that although the Wages of sin is Death yet the Gift of God is eternal Life through Iesus Christ Rom. 6. 28. which God will give unto them all at one and the same time even at the coming of Christ that according to the Word of Truth 1 Thess 4. 15. These that remain unto the coming of the Lord may not prevent them which are asleep in him but although the Lords Labourers are called to work in his Vinyard at the several Hours of the Day of his Grace yet they all shall have their reward together at the Evening Matth. 20. 8. For God hath provided so well for the Faithful of this last Age that though many in former Ages have obtained a good Report through Faith yet shall not they without these be made perfect Heb 11. 39 40. Sect. 11 And although the Preachers up 〈◊〉 the Light within all men do boast of Perfection which they imagine that some of them do attain unto in this life yet it is evident by the Scriptures of Truth that the Perfection in Glory which is promised to the Faithful and the Perfection in Holiness unto which they are exhorted is not attained unto but only in part until the bodies of those that beleeve in Christ the second Adam are raised from the Grave and changed from the corruption whereinto they are fallen by the offence of the first Adam Rom 5. 15 For although in this Life those that believe in Christ are through the Rich Mercy of God even when they were dead in Sins quickened together with Christ Ephes 2. 5. and so renewed in the Spirit of their Mind Ephes 4. 23. that with the Minde they serve the Law of God Rom. 7. 24. Yet alas this Perfection is but in part Paul himself who had attained to so great a Portion of Grace that by the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus he was made free from the Law of Sin and Death Rom. 8. 2. and though together with this Freedom from Guilt and liablenesse to Punishment for Sin he was so set free from the Dominion of Sin being not under the Law but under Grace Rom. 6. 14. that he did delight in the Law of God after the Inward Man yet notwithstanding he found another Law in his Members which warring against the Law of his Mind brought him into Captivity to the Law of Sin in his Members Rom. 7. 22 23. So that though he had hope of Deliverance from this his Enemy the Flesh which lusteth against the Spirit Gal. 5. 17. and for his comfort had obtained the Gift of God The Holy Spirit as a help to him to war a good warfare and as the Earnest of his Inheritance Ephes 1. 13 14. which is to be enjoyed at the Redemption or Deliverance of the purchased Possession yet for the present such was his Condition that as himself testifieth Rom. 7. 23. So then saith he With the Mind I my self serve the Law of God but with my Flesh the Law of Sin So that although this Renovation of the Spirit of the Mind by the Assistance of the Holy Spirit whereby a Believer knows himself to be a Son of God by Adoption and is inabled to cry Abba Father Rom. 8. 16. be the earnest of the Inheritance a Rising with Christ through the Faith of the Operation of God who raised him from the Dead to the obtaining Forgivenesse of all Trespasses Col. 2. 12 13. yet this is not the Resurrection from the Dead nor the State of Perfection which the Faithfull unto death shall obtain as the same Apostle testifies 2 Tim. 4. 7. I have fought a good fight saith he I have finished my Course I have kept the Faith henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousnesse which the Lord the Righteous Judg shall give me at that Day and not to me only but unto all them also that loves his appearing For the obtaining whereof his great Desire was while he enjoyed but the
the Divine Nature as it is in a different manner from the Union of the Divine and Humane Natures of the Person of Christ so in this life it is but a part 1 Cor. 13. 12. With the mind saith the Apostle I my self serve the Law of God but with my flesh the law of sin Rom. 7. 25. The Renovation the Apostle exhorts to is in the spirit of the mind Ephes 4. 23. The perfection the Apostle declares the Saints now to be come to is to the Spirits of Iust men made perfect Heb. 12. 23. which is but the earnest of that inheritance Believers shall obtain the first fruits of the Spirit Believers though they enjoy this do wait for the Adoption to wit the Redemption of their Bodies See Romans 8. 23 24 25. Sect. 9 For as the Humane Spirit Soul and Body of Christ wherein his Humane Nature Heb. 5. 8 9. doth consist is now perfectly glorified his Body being raised from the Grave and ascended up into Heaven Luke 24. 51. So shall the Spirits Souls and Bodies of all true Believers after the Resurrection of their Bodies from their Graves or change from mortal to immortality be perfectly glorified See 1 Cor. 13. 10. And when they come to this estate and condition then they come to the full enjoyment of the promised Inheritance to which they are of God predestinated that is to say to be conformed to the Image of his Son that he might be the first born among many Brethren Rom. 8. 29. And this is that the Apostle prayes for in behalf of the Church of the Thessalonians And the very God of Peace saith he Sanctifie you wholly and I pray God your whole Spirit Soul and Body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Thes 5. 23. Then Believers shall have their compleat participation of the Divine Nature when they having overcome and kept the Works of Christ unto the end are by him brought into likenesse of estate and condition with his own now glorified Humane Nature for when the day of Christs appearing shall dawn then shall the Day-star the Glory of his Humane Nature arise in the Hearts of all that love him 2 Pet. 1. 19. For as Jesus Christ is that bright morning-Star Rev. 22. 16. so he promised to give it unto them that hold fast till he come Rev. 2. 28. And then he whose Humane Nature hath received of the Father Rev. 2. 27. Power Glory and Honour John 17. 1 2. John 8. 54. will give unto his Brethren a likenesse of Glory unto that to which his own Humane Nature is now advanced which being once dead is now alive again and lives for evermore and is now fully able to open the doors of death and to set at liberty the Prisoners of Corruption and Mortality as he himself testifieth saying I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore Amen and have the keys of Hell and of Death Rev. 1. 18. Although the second Adam be of the same Substance with the first Yet oh how excellent is the estate and condition of the second Adam now since his Resurrection from the So is the Greek saith the Learned dead The last Adam saith the Apostle was made into a quickening Spirit It is raised a spiritual Body saith he 1 Cor 15. 44 45. And as the first Adam being fallen those that bear his Image bear the Image of the earthly that is Sin Corruption and Mortality so the second Adam being raised those that shall bear his Image shall bear the Image of the Heavenly that is Righteousnesse Incorruptibility and Immortality 1 Cor. 15. 49. 55 56 57. For the first Adam having by sin defaced the Image of God wherein he was created the second Adam repaired it again and by fulfilling the Law under which he was made hath so condemned sin in the flesh that having suffered death for the World of sinners and being also risen again from the dead his own Humane Nature Spirit Soul and Body and also the Spirits Souls and Bodies of all that believe on his Name shall for ever enjoy Life Spirituality and Incorruptibility And when the Church shall come to this estate and condition then shall she resemble her Head Christ Jesus who having first given himself for it to Sanctifie and to cleanse it will then give himself unto it and thereby make it like Glorious with his own Glorified Humane Nature See Ephesians 5. 25 26 27. Rev. 19. 7 8 9. Sect. 10 For thus saith the Truth Christ hath once suffered for sins the Iust for the Vnjust that He might bring us to God who being put to death in or concerning the flesh was quickened again by the Spirit of Holinesse that is to say the Godhead of Christ did quicken the manhead of his Person that so the Manhead in the Person of Christ might by the Power of his Godhead quicken the same Manhead in the persons of others For now even the Manhead of Christ hath though still the same Substance as the first Adam yet the quality and condition of a quickening Spirit for that manhead which being alwayes in Personal Unity with the Godhead and now also raised by it from the dead and exalted to the Glory of the Father hath such Power through the Godhead with which it is in Personal Unity that he can give a likenesse of Glory to the Manhead which is not Personally united to the Godhead for He hath received of the Father such Power over all flesh that He should give eternal Life to as many as are by the Father given unto Him John 17 1 2. For the Father giveth those that believe in Jesus Christ unto Christ that they may receive of his Fulness Ephes 1. 3 4. John 1. 16. Ephes 4. 10 11 12 13. And Christ giveth unto them with Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy Spirit the Hope of eternal Life to support them in all their Tribulations which they endure for his Names sake and at the last he will give them eternal Life and the Glorious enjoyment of blessednesse unspeakable Rom. 14. 17 18. Col. 1. 5. 2 Thes 1. 4 5 6. Yea Christ as man in the Substance of Adam in the Created Substance hath taken hold of eternal Life that the Creature man may be assured of enjoying the same by virtue of a title derived from him as he himself testifieth John 6. 27. saying Labour not for the meat which perisheth but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting Life which the Son of Man shall give unto you for him hath God the Father Sealed for since by man came death by man came also the Resurrection from the dead saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. 21. And God hath given good assurance both of the Resurrection and of the Eternal Life which is promised unto them that believe in that the Man Christ Jesus in the Substance of Adam is risen from the dead and entered into Life and
earnest of the Spirit and was at home in the body and absent from the Lord 2 Cor. 5. 4 5 6 7. to be found in Christ not having his own Righteousnesse which is of the Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ the Righteousness which is of God by Faith that I may know him saith he and the Power of his Resurrection and the Fellowship of his Sufferings being made conformable unto his Death if by any means I may attain unto the Resurrection from the Dead not as though I had already attained either were already Perfect but I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus Phil. 3. from the 8th Verse to the end So that that which truly and properly is called the Resurrection from the Dead is the raising of man from the dead in every part wherein he is dead by reason of sin to be alive again and to live in every part wherein he lived before he sinned For before man sinned he was alive in Spirit Soul and Body Gen. 2. 7. and so should for ever have lived and not have tasted death nor have seencorruption or have returned unto Dust in his visible body had he not transgressed the righteous Law of God for the wages of sin is death Rom. 6. 23. which Law of God Man at first was able to have kept and might and ought to have kept it but he broke it through his wilful disobedience in hearkening to the Counsel of Satan and thereby brought himself and his Posterity to the Penalty therein threatned In the day saith God that Eating thou shalt Eat Dying See Gen. 2. 17. with the Hebbrew in the Margent thou shalt Die. Therefore the Resurrection from the Dead is the Raising of the whole Man from Death in every part wherein he is dead by reason of Transgression to be alive again and to live in every part which was once alive before Transgression This Resurrection is yet to come The renewing of the Spirit of the mind is but the Earnest or Assurance thereof and of Happinesse at that time It is to come and not past as the False Teachers did affirm of whom the Apostle doth give warning to the Saints 2 Tim. 2. 16 17 18. but shun saith he prophane and vain bablings for they will encrease unto more ungodlinesse and their word will eat as doth a canker or gangreen of whom is Hymeneus and Philetus who concerning the Truth have erred saying that the Resurrection is past already and overthrow the faith of some From whence we may take notice That these False Teachers did err in mis-applying the Resurrection of Man for they did not deny a Resurrection wholly but taking a part for the whole or puting the Earnest for the Inheritance said It was past already In like manner those against whom we contend they do not say That there is No Resurrection at all yet in effect they say as much for they say It is past with them and they look for no other kind of Resurrection than what they do now enjoy But this their Doctrine being no better than vain bablings all true Believers are to shun and avoid Sect. 12 And yet they that are thus deceived as to imagine that they have attained unto the Resurrection from the dead think to bring something to bear up their building from Revel 20. 6. where the Spirit of God saith Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the First Resurrection on such the Second Death hath no power c. concluding that the Resurrection is past with those that have attained to their supposed Degree of Perfection but alas they are greatly deceived for the First Resurrection here spoken of is not the Quickening of the Spirit only but the raising up and investing the whole bodies souls and spirits of those Holy Ones there mentioned with Life and Immortality And that this is so appears by the 4th and 5th Verses where John saith I saw the souls of them which were beheaded for the witnesse of Jesus and for the Word of God and which had not worshipped the Beast neither his Image neither had received his Mark upon their Foreheads or in their Hands and they lived and raigned with Christ a Thousand Years but the rest of the Dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished This is the First Resurrection c. Now what part of man is it which is capable of being beheaded Is it not the Body Therefore the Bodies lived though only the Soul is mentioned and it is usual in Scripture to mention a part for the whole as Gen. 46. 27. All the Souls of the house of Jacob which came into Aegypt were threescore and ten but who knows not that their Bodies came also And were it so That by the first Resurrection here mentioned is meant the Renovation of the Spirit of man by rising from sin to newness of Life yet this is so far from concluding against the Resurrection of the Body of man that the Resurrection of the Body of every true Believer may rather be concluded from it as saith the Apostle Paul Rom. 8. 11. But if the Spirit of him saith he that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your Mortal Bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you and as the Holy Spirit doth bear witnesse with the spirit of every true Believer that he is a Son of God so also that he is an heir of God and a joint heir with Christ of a glorious Inheritance which is to be enjoyed at the Redemption of the Body This Redemption of the body See Rom. 8. 16. 17 23. is that which all Believers wait with patience for and hope to enjoy in their bodies which now are liable to Sufferings for Christs sake and seeing it is in the last times that the Beast and his Image are set up which the Saints refusing to worship or to receive his Mark are by his Followers persecuted to death as a reward of whose Sufferings the First Resurrection shall be given to them and to all other Believers that are asleep in Jesus therefore it will not be accomplished till the Lord himself descend from Heaven with a shout with the voice of the Arch Angel and with the Trump of God and then the Dead in Christ shall rise first 1 Thess 4. 16. and this saith the Spirit is the First Resurrection Revel 2. 5. as is also testified 1 Cor. 15. 21 22 23. For since by Man came Death by Man came also the Resurrection of the Dead For as in Adam all dye even so in Christ shall all be made alive but every man in his own order Christ the First Fruits afterward they that are Christs at his coming Then cometh the end when he shall have delivered up the Kingdome to God even the Father when he shall have put down all Rule all Authority
In the Paradise of God was he placed of all the Trees of the Garden excepting onely one was he allowed to eat and amongst those which he was allowed to feed upon and even in the midst of the Garden was the Tree of Life whereof if he had eaten before he transgressed he had no doubt continued for ever in that blessed estate and condition of Righteousnesse and true Holiness wherein he was made Gen. 3. 23 24. But he soon lost that blessed estate and condition and by sin made himself and his posterity exceeding wretched and miserable for of a Son of God he became a son of Satan a child of Wrath Ephes 2. 3. he defaced the Image of God and got unto himself the Image of Satan for he took the Devil for his Father by following his counsel for his reward the man Adam by transgression became like the Devil that is to have the knowledge and experience both of good and evil Behold saith the Lord God the man is become like him For it is observed that the Hebrew word may and ought so to be rendred for man became like the Devil by sin from us viz. the Devil to know that is to experience good and evil Gen. 3. 22. For God is Pure and Holy the Devil is impure and unholy God cannot behold the evil of sin with approbation the Devil cannot behold good with approbation see Heb. 1. 13. therefore saith Christ to the Jews Ye are of your father the Devil and the lusts of your father ye will do he was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him when he speaketh a lie he speaketh of his own for he is a lyar and the father of it John 8. 44. So that man by sin being in condition become like the Devil for this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil 1 John 3. 8. that so the substance of Adam might be redeemed out of that lost condition whereinto it was fallen by transgression and be so secured in happinesse for the future that it should not fall again from it that this might be effected it was necessary that the eternal Word the second Person of the Trinity should take the substance of Adam into personality with himself that those two Substances the eternal Word and the Substance of Adam might be one in Personality that so the obedience of Life and suffering of Death of the Substance of Adam in the Person of Christ might be of such infinite worth and value with God that for the merit of it he might set free the same Substance of Adam in all other persons also from that bondage and misery whereunto they are fallen by the transgression of Adam and of themselves for the Substance of Adam in the Person of Christ fulfilling the Law and then also that Substance being made a curse and suffering the Sentence of the Law due to the World of sinners not to Christ that sinned not the world of sinners are put into a capacity to be delivered according to the condition of the New Covenant from that wrath and Curss unto which they are fallen by the transgression of the old and first Covenant which fallen condition is called in Scripture the old man or Adam which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts Ephes 4. 22. The body of sin Rom. 6. 6. The members which are upon the earth Col. 3. 5. The Law of sin in the Members Rom. 7. 23. The Flesh the carnal mind Rom. 8. 7 8. and such like all which do set forth that miserable estate and condition into which the Substance of Adam is fallen by sin on the contrary that condition which the Substance of Adam had before he sinned and to which it is restored in the Person of Christ is called in Scripture the new man which after God is created in Righteousnesse and True Holinesse Ephes 4. 22. The Law of the Spirit Rom. 8. 2. The Spiritual Mind Rom. 8. 6. The new man which is renewed in knowledge after the Image of him that created him Col. 3. 10. and such like Now the eternal Word taking hold of the Substance of Adam and uniting it unto personality with the uncreated substance and the created substance keeping the condition of the first Covenant that is to say exact unsinning obedience that substance of Adam in the Person of Christ is as Pure and Holy as Just and Righteous as it was in Adam before he sinned but that the same Substance of Adam in all other persons also might be redeemed from that miserable estate viz. guilt of sin power and dominion of sin and from the punishment justly due unto the world of sinners that substance of Adam in the Person of Christ that knew no sin underwent the Sentence and Curse of the Law that so the same substance in the persons of others might be set free not by their performing the condition of the first Covenant for it is impossible that they that have sinned should be justified by that Covenant which requires exact unsinning obedience but by their performing the condition of the second Covenant which is Repentance Faith and Gospel-obedience which those that have sinned may through the assistance of Gods Spirit perform upon condition of which Repentance Faith and Gospel-Obedience the Lord giveth unto them both pardon of their sins past and also such help and assistance by his Spirit that those that thus enter into Covenant with him may be enabled to walk more agreeable to the rule of the spiritual and holy Law of God Rom. 7. 12 14. than any man or woman out of Covenant with him by all their own strength and endeavours now since the fall of Adam can possibly do yea Jesus Christ doth so assist those that are in Covenant with him that with their minds they may be enabled to serve the Law of God though through the warring of the flesh against the Law of their mind they are somtimes captivated to the Law of sin in their members See Rom. 7. 22 23 24 25. Now so far forth as persons come to be in Covenant with Christ and are enabled by him to walk according to his direction so far forth are they said to have Christ formed in them that is to say to be brought into a blessed estate and condition of freedom from the guilt of sin of freedom from the power and dominion of sin of assurance of redemption from the first death and of deliverance from the second death and so by Christ to be entituled unto eternal Life so that if the created substance of Adam in the Person of Christ though by the power of his uncreated substance doth set free the same created substance in the persons of others from that miserable estate and condition into which that substance is fallen by sin and transgression and also entitle that substance unto eternal life It may well be said of all
any one writing against what I charge thee with that is filled with revilings that doth give railing language and put things off with lies c. I shall only receive a sober Antagonist or else expect your renouncing your Errors repenting believing and obeying the Gospel Joseph Wright A TESTIMONY For the Son of Man and against the Son of Perdition CHAP. I. Wherein it is laid to the charge of those that Preach up the Light within all men That they do deny Jesus Christ which is proved by their making no mention of his death for the sins of the world by their not gathering Men and Women into fellowship with him by Faith by their setting up Works for Justification and by their neglect of Self-denial against which is testified the Faith of Gods Elect concerning the Person of Christ his Death and Resurrection and Reconciliation thereby with Faith therein for Righteousness Sanctification and Self-denial Sect. 1 1. THE first thing that I lay to thy chargeâ— whosoever thou art that Preachest up the Light within all men requiring all People to mind the Light which is within them is this That thou doest deny that Christ which dyed at Jerusalem out of every person of man but his own in so doing denyest Jesus Christ come in the flesh and thy spirit is the spirit of Antichrist notwithstanding all thy pretended zeal c. which I prove against thee as followeth Sect. 2 First Because in all thy Preaching Teaching and Declaring thou never makes mention of Christs dying for the sins of the World nor that he tasted death for every man thou art altogether silent in this Doctrine of Christs dying for man in the body of his flesh and out of all other men to Redeem man unto God and to save him from his sins which ought to be taught and preached first of all to sinners and unbelievers to beget Faith in them and Repentance unto life 1 Cor. 15. 3. and 4. But thou dost altogether press every Man and Woman to look to the Light within them telling them that that will shew them all sin and iniquity and will lead them out of it and eternally save them if they be guided by it Sect. 3 Secondly Because as is thy word of mouth even so is thy writings for amongst them all and in them all theâ—e is not one line which teacheth that Christ did die for the sins of the world and freely laid down his life as a ransome for sinners or offered himself a Sacrifice to God upon that Cross on which he was crucified at Jerusalem in his own body and out of every man else thereby to reconcile both Jew and Gentile unto God by his own blood shed in his own body Ephes 2. 13 16. Col. 1. 20 21. which is such a truth of such concernment that whoso preaches it not doth not preach the Gospel of Christ nor lay the foundation which is the true and pretious Corner-stone yea the foundation of all Generations that shall be saved For no other foundation can any man lay than that which is laid even Jesus Christ and him crucified the just dying for the unjust that he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh but quickned by the Spirit 1 Pet. 3. 18. who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the Tree that we being dead to sin should live unto Righteousness by whose stripes onely we can be healed 1 Pet. 2. 24. Sect. 4 Thirdly Because thou dost not gather men and women into communion with Christ by Faith teaching them to believe in Jesus Christ him crucified out of them and in his own body for their sins and iniquities by which Faith every true Believer being justified hath Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom as the Apostle teacheth Rom. 5. 1 2. We have access by Faith into this Grace wherein we stand and rejoice in Hope of the glory of God see Rom. 4. 16. Rom. 11. 6. 2 Cor. 1. 24. But on the contrary thou gatherest by Works never questioning whether thy Proselytes believe in Christ that dyed at Jerusalem by whose Death and Resurrection Believers do receive Reconciliation and Justification I say by Works thou gatherest and not by Faith warning all people to look to the Light within them and they which own this thy Doctrine and walk and work according to it thou ownest and none but such nor takest to be such as are either taught or gathered by thee the which thou receivest although as touching the Faith in Christ Jesus they are as ignoranr as Heathens and are absolute Infidels which I have proved many a time by Discourse with thy followers Therefore in that thou gatherest by Works and not by Faith making them Heirs which are onely Workers and not Believers thou makest Faith void and the Promise to them which do believe of none effect Rom. 4. 14. by which it is evident that thou gatherest not in the Name of Christ nor with Christ and therefore art no true and right Gatherer but a scatterer abroad thou art not with Christ but against him and art led by the spirit of Antichrist Sect. 5 But in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ which died at Jerusalem I affirm against thee that there is no Salvation in any other but in Jesus Christ and him crucified for the sins of the world and that by the merit of his Death and by the power of his Resurrection done and acted out of every other man and in his own Person is Justification and Salvation to be obtained through Faith Rom. 5. 10. For there was a necessity that Christ should suffer and rise again the third day for the Justification of all them that believe in him Luke 24. from ver 22. to 48. And they which do not know this know nothing at all as even Caiaphas the high Priest doth declare as it is written John 11. 49. c. And one of them named Caiaphas being high Priest that same year said unto them Ye know nothing at all nor consider that it is expedient for us that one man should dye for tho People and that the whole Nation perish not and this he spake not of himself buâ— being high Priest that year he Prophesieâ— that Iesus stould dye for that Nation anâ— not for that Nation onely but also that hâ— should gather together in one the Children of God that were scattered abroad Behold how ignorant they are that know not thaâ— Jesus Christ ought to suffer death for the People which else had all perished and had all remained scattered had not he gathered together in one the Children of God that were scattered abroad as verse 50 51 52. The loyal high Priest did Prophesie much better than these pretended Preachers up of the Light within c. Sect. 6 But as no sin could be done away without shedding of blood and death really and visibly Heb. 9. 15 22. and 10. 10. So that it is no
other offering but that of Jesus Christ once offered through which sinful man by Repentance and by Faith in him can have Salvation 't is not a Christ offered daily as the Papists teach for then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world But now according to the Apostles Doctrine Once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the Sacrifice of himself and it is appointed for all men once to die but â—fter this the Judgement So Christ was once Offered to bear the sins of maâ—y and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto Salvation Heb. 9. 26 27 28. Who his own self bore our sins in his own Body on the Trée 1 Pet. 2. 24. even in that very Body which he had prepared him Heb. 10. 5. which was born of the Virgin called Mary Mat. 1. 18. that mortal visible Woman which was espoused to that particular man called Joseph which Child the Wise men came to see Mat. 2. 11. who was Circumcised the eight day Luke 2. 21. that very Child Jesus which Herod sought to destroy but was prevented of his purpose by his flight into Egypt according as Joseph and his Mother were directed by the Angel who about the thirtieth year of his age was Baptized of John the Baptist in that external River called Jordan Mat. 3. 15. upon whom the Spirit of God did visibly descend who walked up and down in the Land of Judea Samaria and Galilee in the City of Jerusalem and in divers other Cities and Places thereunto belonging doing good working Miracles healing them which were outwardly lame and inwardly oppressed of the Devil for God was with him Acts 10. 38 39 40. Notwithstanding Judas did betray him with a Kiss and sold him for thirty pieces of Silver whom the Rulers and high Priests did take and judge and hanged him upon a Tree without the Gates of the City Jerusalem whose side was pierced with a Spear out of which came blood and water as it is writen John 19. 34 35. And he that saw it bore Record and his Record is true and he knoweth that he saith true that ye might believe whom Joseph of Arimathea begged and took down from the Cross and laid him in his own Sepulcher in a Garden ver 38. 42. over whom the Rulers set a Watch notwithstanding which God raised him from the dead the third day and loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that he should be holden of it Acts 2. 24. which to keep from being known the high Priests gave to the Watch-men money to say that his Disciples came by night while they slept and stole him away Mat. 27. 66. and 28. 11 12 13 14 15. Which very Jesus did first appear to Mary Magdalen out of whom he had cast seven Devils Mark 16. 9. and next unto his Disciples in the place where he had appointed them to meet him who was with them for the space of forty dayes speaking to them the things appertaining to the Kingdom of God giving Commandments through the Holy Spirit unto the Apostles whom he had chosen Acts 1. 1 2 3. Yea this very man Christ Jesus is he that gave himself for our sins that he might bring us to God Cal. 1. 4. 1 Peter 3. 18. that washed the Congregation of the faithful Rev. 1. 5. from their sins in his own blood that made Peace through the blood of his Cross and Reconciliation in the Body of his flesh through Death Col. 1. 20 21 22. which death he tasted for every man Heb. 2. 9. and gave himself a Ransom for all to be testified in due time 1 Tim. 2. 6. yea God was in that one man Christ Jesus Reconconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them but made him to be sin who knew no sin that men that were sinners might be made the Righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5. 19 21. So that onely in this man Christ Jesus is Salvation neither is there Salvation in any other for there is none other Name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved Acts 4. 12. and this is he that whosoever believeth in shall receive remission of sins Acts 10. 43. and in whose Name Repentance and Remission of sin should be Preached among All Nations Luke 24. 47. But Sect. 7 Fourthly Thou which Preachest That all men should mind the Light which is within them dost deny the Christ of God which dyed at Jerusalem because thou hast said to me when I have made as large a confession of Christ as I now have done That I am Ignorant of Christ c. Now if I be charged that I am Ignorant of Christ when at such a time as I have declared testified of him according to the Scriptures it doth evidently appear that thou dost not own this Christ which I here confess and thou dost hereby plainly declare that he whom thou acknowledgest to be Christ is not this Christ therefore he must needs be Antichrist thou art led by the spirit of him Sect. 8 Fifthly Thou denyest Christ that died at Jerusalem because thou dost not teach persons to believe that by that very death of Christ which he suffered truly and visibly at Jerusalem out of all other men and in his own body is the Reconciliation of the world unto God Rom. 5. 10. 2 Cor. 5. 19. and because thou dost not teach that that Righteousness which was done and fulfilled in that one Body of Christ and out of the bodies of all other men is that which Men and Women should onely look upon as the meritorious cause whereby they are made Righteous before God through faith as the instrumental cause thereof but thou like the Jews Rom. 10. 3. being ignorant of Gods Righteousness and going about to establish thine own Righteousness hast not submitted thy self unto the Righteousness of God But I say and testifie in the Lord that all Righteousness whatsoever below or on this side that Righteousness which was brought forth and fulfilled in that one body of the flesh of that one Man Christ Jesus that died at Jerusalem will never make Reconciliation to God for one sinner yea it will fall short of doing that Office and cease for ever of being the Righteousness of Life Neither is it as thou teachest that callest thy self a Preacher of the Light c. in the Justification of a sinner before God viz. by the Works of the Law or by following the Light within for they both will condemn not justifie but a poor sinner stands justified before God freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation through Faith in his Blood to declare His Righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God See Rom. 3. 23 24 25 26 27 28. But this Doctrine of Justification by
the Grace of God through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus unto and upon all them that believe whose Faith is imputed to them for Righteousness and whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered Thou art a stranger unto which notwithstanding is the Doctrine of the Apostle Paul Rom. 3. 22. and Rom. 4. 3 4 5 6 7 8 9. Sect. 9 Sixthly Thou deniest Christ which died c. because all such as follow after thy Doctrine do not deny themselves as he hath taught they should thou makest a shew of Sin-denial but Self-denial thou dost not practise but Self must be denied and Self-Righteoushess which is of the Law yea when men have done all whatsoever they are commanded they are then to say with humble hearts they have done but what was their duty and that they are unprofitable servants I say to deny our selves and self-righteousness accounting it but dung that we may win Christ and be found in Him not having our own righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ the Righteousness which is of God by Faith this is the way to true blessedness as the Apostle teacheth Philip. 3. 8 9. But this laying low Self and onely resting upon Christ by Faith thou canst not away with therefore thou art in Self-exaltation in the highest degree only thou coverest this with a fair pretence by putting pretended Sin-deniall for Self-denial and hereby is many a poor Soul miserably deceived by thee but thus saith the Word of the Lord Rom. 3. 20. Therefore by the deeds of the Law shall no flesh be justified in his sight for by the Law is the knowledge of Sin And Gal. 3. 10 11. For a many as are of the works of the Law are under the Curse for it is written Cursed is every one that continuetb not in All things that are written in the Book of the Law to do them But that no man is justified by the Law in the sight of God it is evident for the Just shall live by Faith Behold saith the Prophet Habâ—k 2. 4. His Soul that is lifted up is not upright in him but the Iust shall live by Faith Sect. 10 To which Justification by Faith in the Blood of Christ thou that placest pretended Sanctification in the stead and place of Justification art a stranger and herein it will appear that although thou seemest to have a Zeal of God yet it is not according to Knowledge for thou sayest so far only as the Creature is brought out of the filth of this World and to leave sin so far only is he justified before God whereas the Scripture saith Rom. 4. 5 6 7. But to him that Worketh not but Believeth on him that justifieth the Vngodly his Faith is counted to him for Righteousness even as David also describeth the Blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth Righteousness without Works saying Blessed are they whose Iniquities are Forgiven and whose Sins are Covered Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not Impute Sin So that God justifieth the Creature while it is in its Sins in its Blood Ezek. 16. 6. by the pardon thereof upon Repentance and Believing the Gospel which Believing is Imputed to us for Righteousness as it is written Rom. 4. 3. Abraham Believed God and it was counted to him for Righteousness And although Repentance toward God and Faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ Acts 20. 21. be requisite in order to every Sinners Justification yet is Justification an Act of God Rom. 8. 33. whereby he freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Iesus Christ doth acquit from guilt of Sin the Repentant Believer not Imputing his Sins to him and accounting his Faith to him for Righteousness See Rom. 3. 23 24 25 26. Yea to Believe as a Sinner while under the guilt of Sin and thereby lyable to the wrath of God Rom. 3. 19. Gal. 3. 10. Ephes 2. 3. that God hath received such absolute Satisfaction by the Sufferings of Jesus Christ in his own Body upon the Cross without the Gate of Jerusalem That he that Repenteth and Believeth the Gospel is wholly acquitted his debt discharged fully and freely through his Blood this is the way to be justified before God So that the main ground and reason why we that Believe should be holy in all manner of Conversation in this present evil World is because we are not our own but are bought with a price even with the precious Blood of Jesus Christ Therefore ought we to Glorifie him in our Bodies and in our Spirits which are his 1 Cor. 6. 20. And so ought we to live to him that dyed for us and rose again c. 2 Cor. 5. 15. That seeing Christ dyed for our sins we ought not to live in them but to die to that which he dyed for and as he was Crucified for our Iniquities So they that are Christs do Crucifie the Flesh with the affections and lusts lest they joyn with his Enemies and provoke his anger against them and as the Apostle Peter teacheth 1 Pet. 1. 14 15. As obedient Children not fashioning your selves according to the former lusts in your Ignorance but as he which hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of Conversation Because it is written Be ye holy for I the Lord your God am holy Levit. 19. 2. But Sect. 11 Seventhly In that thou layest aside this God-glorifying Doctrine of Christs free Reconciliation of Sinners to God by his Death out of and without themselves and of Gods Justification of the Ungodly by the Remission of their Sins upon Repentance Faith It appears that with the High-Priests Elders and Scribes of the Law Acts 4. 5 6 10. the Preachers up of the Light within do set at nought that precious and tryed Stone which is the Head of the Corner and the Foundation of all Generations that shall be Saved yea that Rock of Ages upon which the Congregation of the Faithful are built which is not the Rock of these Legallists their Preachings and Printings being Witnesses see Deut. 32. 31. For in as much as the Light within is no other than the work of the Law written in the hearts of the Gentiles Rom. 2. 14 15. It is evident that these Preachers are Preachers of the Law not of the Gospel to which with those Jews and Greeks mentioned 1 Cor. 1. 23. they are such Adversaries that the Preaching of Christ Crucified is to them both a Stumbling Block and Foolishness while unto them which are Called Christ is the Power of God and the Wisdom of God Oh how great and glorious is the Power of God in the work of Redemption by the Sufferings of Jesus Christ Oh the depth of the Riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God which the proud in Spirit know not as the Prophet David teacheth Psal 11 4. The Wicked through the pride of his Countenance will not seek after God
of Abraham in the womb of the blessed Virgin his taking part of Flesh and Blood Heb. 2. 14 15. 16. Being for no other end but that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Devil and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lives time subject to bondage Sect. 4 And as the Priestly Office of Christ wherein he offered himself to God an unspotted Sacrifice to put away Sin and that Body which was prepared him for that purpose Heb. 9. 14 26. and Heb. 10. 5. is denied by these Legallists that exhort all men to look only into the Light within the work of the Law written in their hearts for their direction unto Righteousness so also is the Prophetick Office of Christ made useless by them for as it is written Deut. 18. 15. Acts 3. 22 23 Moses truly said unto the Fathers A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your Brethren like unto me him shall you hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you And it shall come to pass that every Soul which will not hear that Prophet shall be destroyed from among the People But do these Seducers hear him in all things whatsoever he hath said Do they teach men so to do No no it is far from them Do they hear him that hath said Mark 7. 21. From within out of the heart of men proceed evil Thoughts Adulteries Fornications Murthers Thefts Covetousness Wickedness Deceit Lasciviousness an evil Eye Blasphemy Pride and Foolishness that say there is such a Light within all men that will lead them out of all Sin and Iniquity and eternally save them if they sink down to it and are guided by it Where hath Christ the great Prophet taught as these men of Belial teach When Christ met him whose eyes he had opened John 9. 35. He said unto him dost thou believe on the Son of God And when the man answered and said Who is he Lord that I might believe on him Jesus said unto him thou hast both seen him and it is he that talketh with thee But how do these pretended Preachers up of the Light direct men unto Christ that making no clear discription of his Person do only advise all men to turn into a so called Light within them which as the Lord hath taught Mat. 6. 23. is great Darkness If saith he the Light that is in thee be darkness how great is that darkness And is not great darkness in them that have no light And who those are the Prophet shows Isa 8. 20. To the Law and to the Testimony saith he if they speak not according to this Word it is because there is no Light in them But do these boasters of Light that walk in darkness go to the Law and to the Testimony of Jesus Do they hear Him in all that he hath said there nay do they hear him in any thing that he hath there spoken Is their Repentance such as he requireth Do they confesse their sins and pray for mercy for them They are heard it may be with the proud Pharisee to say God I thank thee I am not as other men but which of them hath been heard to say God be merciful to me a Sinner Do they mourn for their transgressions that seldom or never confess them Do they forsake sin that are servants of sin that not only do despise the Gospel of the Grace of God but also Blaspheme his Name his Tabernacle and them that dwell in Heaven Are these self-exalters captivated into their Curses Is it through infirmity of their flesh and against the law of their spirits that they thunder out their Anathema's like the Popes Bulls against the Worshippers of God and the Followers of the Lamb And as it is evident that they which do not believe in Christ do abide in darkness John 12. 46. So it is apparent that he which hateth his Brother is in the same condition as John teacheth in his first Epist 2. 9. He saith he that saith he is in the Light and hateth his Brother is in Darkness but contrariwise he that loveth his Brother abideth in the Light and there is none occasion of stumbling in him But how can they say they love their Brethren that give them occasion to stumble at the Word that Pure Word which is laid in Sion for a foundation at which they stumble and thereby give occasion to others to stumble by their example See Rom. 9. 32. 1 Pet. 2. 7 8. Can they say they love those whom they delude and being blind themselves lead others that are blind also into the pit of destruction Matth. 15. 14. unto whom instead of giving direction and encouragement by their Doctrin and Example to confess Jesus Christ come in the flesh they do the direct contrary neither making confession of the Person Office or Administrations of Christ not his Person not his Divine and Humane Natures personally united and personally distinguished from the persons of all other men but a Light within all men they extoll Not his Office of High Priest to offer the Sacrifice of Himself for the sins of the World and to give Peace to all that believe in his Name by the remission of their sins Of a Prophet to teach Of a King to rule and govern But a Light within all men which though it be but the work of the Law is exalted and the only Name under Heaven given among men whereby they must be saved is thrown down What he is what he hath done what he hath taught is not regarded his Promises are not imbraced his Threatnings are not feared his Commandments are not obeyed yea the main reason and ground why the holy Ordinances of Baptism in Water Prayer and Laying on of Hands and Breaking of Bread c is denied by those that teach all People to be guided by the Light within them is because they contemn Jesus Christ that gave commandment to administer those his holy Appointments and despising his Doctrine they exalt their own Delusion His Word they will not hear his Work they will not do but have walked after the Imaginations of their own heart Jer. 9. 14. teaching for Doctrines the Commandments of men Matth. 15. 9. Sect. 5 For was it ever heard that any Professor of the Faith of Jesus Christ any Confessor of him to be come in the flesh did deny the Baptism of a repentant Believer in Water in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins which is an Ordinance of so great authority that although there hath been some difference among Professors about the manner of Administration thereof yet few or none have ever been heard to question the Ordinance it self till now of late and it being appointed for so excellent uses as not only to signifie the Burial and Resurrection of Jesus Christ but also the Fellowship of every true Believer in his Death which he dyed unto sin once Rom.
6. 10. that so they may be in his Resurrection also Rom. 6. 5 6 7 8 9. to live unto God that sin reigning not in their mortal bodies in this life they may in their bodies souls spirits reign with Christ in the life which is to come It must needs therefore be concluded that those that deny this blessed Appointment of Jesus Christ do also deny him to be come in the flesh as also all benefit that Believers do and shall obtain by the sufferings of Christ in the body of his flesh through death Col. 1. 22. and that are obtainable through his grace in their conforming themselves to his will in submitting to this his Appointment And forasmuch as the pretended Preachers up of the Light within do usually call the Baptism of Believers in Water though it be administred in the Name of Jesus Christ a carnal thing a shadow without substance empty useless low and such a thing as God is gone out of c. Is it not evident that they think as meanly of him that sent his Servants to Baptize with Water Joh. 1. 33. Mark 16. 15 16. Acts 10. 47 48. as they do of Baptism in Water What esteem have they of the Person of Christ that have none of his Commandement Of what value is the Coming of Christ in the flesh his Death Burial and Resurrection with those that despise his Doctrine and that blessed Appointment of his which not only sets forth the Burial and Resurrection of Christ but also the Vertue and Efficacy thereof upon Believers as is abundantly taught in the Scriptures Therefore saith the Apostle Rom. 6. 4. We are buried with him by Baptism into death that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newnesse of life So likewise Col. 2. 12. Buried with him by Baptism into death wherein also you are risen with him through the Faith of the operation of God who raised him from the dead And the blessed Apostle Peter in his first Epistle Chap. 3. 21 22. speaking of the efficacy of Baptism upon true Believers teacheth us to understand that it consisteth not in the bare putting away of the filth of the flesh as the Jewish Baptisms did Heb. 9. 9 10. but it being administred in the Name of a greater High Priest than he whose descent is from Aaron the effect is greater than the effect of those Legal washings or carnal Ordinances which the Apostle excellently expresseth in these words viz. Not the putting away the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good Conscience toward God by the Resurrection of Iesus Christ from the dead who is gone into Heaven and is on the right hand of God Angels and Authorities and Powers being made subject to him And the same Apostle according to the wisdom given unto him of God answered those Jews that being pricked in their hearts Act. 2. 37 38. said unto him and to the rest of the Apostles Men and brethren what shall we do when he said unto them Repent and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Iesus Christ for the Remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the holy Spirit Is the conscience of any man good while it remains defiled with the guilt of sin Tit. 1. 15. And hath the Lord appointed Baptism in Water in his Name Acts 10. 47 48. to signifie unto penitent Believers the Remission of their sins that being planted together in the likenesse of his Death which is unto Sin they might be also in the likenesse of his Resurrection Rom. 6. 5 14. Whence then is that spirit that forbids Water for the Baptism of the repentant Believer in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of his sins He that is of God saith Christ heareth Gods Words Ye therefore hear them not because ye are not of God Joh. 8. 47. When the Lord had anointed the eyes of the man that was born blind Joh. 9. 6 7. he said unto him Go wash in the Pool of Siloam which is by interpretation Sent he went his way therefore and washed and came seeing O what riches of grace doth every true Believer receive of Jesus Christ in their becoming obedient to his Word This man had not onely his Eyes opened which never yet had seen but he was made one of the Disciples of Christ one of the adopted Sons of God And what greater envie and malice can Satan and his Instruments express against God and man than to endeavour to hinder men from doing that which God hath commanded that so they may not enjoy that which he hath promised When Sergius Paulus desired to hear the Word of God of Barnabas and Saul Elimas the Sorcerer withstood them seeking to turn away the Deputy from the Faith Unto whom Act. 13. 3. Paul said O full of all subtilty and all mischief thou child of the Devil thou enemy of all Righteousness Wilt thou not cease to pervert the right wayes of the Lord And as this wicked man did endeavour to shut the eyes of the understanding of the Governour that he should not see the light of the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 4. 5 6. So was he justly punished by the hand of the Lord with such blindnesse that he was not able to see the Sun for a mist and darkness fell on him and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand A great punishment But his sin was great he sought to turn away a man from the Faith unto which as the Apostle Peter teacheth God Act. 15. 7 8 9. bore witness among the Gentiles and gave to them the holy Spirit purifying their hearts by Faith And as Paul teacheth He that believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his Faith is counted to him for Righteousness he is one of those blessed men to whom God will not impute sin who being justified by Faith hath peace with God through Jesus Christ access by faith unto Grace and rejoyceth in hope of the glory of God having Redemption through the blood Rom. 1. 1 2 3 4 6. of Christ the Forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his Grace Ephes 1. 7. And this is that new and living Way which Christ hath consecrated for us through the vail that is to say his flesh Heb. 10. 20. For he himself by walking in that way wherein he requireth every true Believer to follow him hath consecrated it a way of Salvation for wherefore was he Baptized but to consecrate the way of Baptism to all Believers as himself testified when John refused to Baptise him Mat. 3 13 14 15. Saying I have need to be Baptized of thee and comest thou to me suffer it saith he to be so now for thus it becometh us to fulfil all Righteousness Therefore Baptism in Water in the Name of Jesus Christ is unto the Repentant Believer the way of Salvation
because Christ hath walked therein to make it â—o he was Baptised that knew no sin that the Repenting Sinner might be baptized in his Name for the Remission of Sin and as the Sinner draws nigh to God by Repentance Faith and Baptism so Christ draws nigh to the Sinner by his Grace for as the Sinner comes to be washed in his body with purâ— water so he comes to be sprinkled in hiâ— heart or spirit with the blood of Christ froâ— an evil Conscience Heb. 10. 22. For Chrisâ— came saith John by water and blood noâ— by water only but by water and blood anâ— it is the Spirit that beareth witness becausâ— the Spirit is truth For there are three thaâ— bear Record in Heaven the Father thâ— Word and the holy Spirit and these threâ— are one And there are three that beaâ— Record in Earth the Spirit the Water and the Blood und these three agree in one Iâ— we receive the witness of men the witness of God is greater for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son 1 John 5. 6 7 8. And as the Grace of God is exceeding great in giving to every true Believer assurance of acceptance with him by the witness of his own Spirit Rom. 8. 16. through the precious blood of Christ 1 Pet. 1. 18. signified in Baptism so it must needs be great Impiety in any man to gain-say that holy Commandment which he hath appointed as a means whereby repenting Believers do draw nigh unto him Heb. 10. 22. and as an evidence of his accepting them for his Children Gal. 3. 26 27. the which further to assure to them that ask him Luke 11. 13. he giveth the Spirit of Adoption whereby they are inabled to cry Abba Father Rom. 8. 15. Gal. 4. 6. Sect. 6 But as the Adversaries of Jesus Christ and of his holy Ordinances deal by one so they do also by other of his Commandments which to manifest their dislike and contempt of Christ that gave them forth they contemn and resist like their Predecessors in evil the Jews Acts 7. 51 52 53. who though they received the Law by the disposition of Angels kept it not and though the Gospel be the Power of God unto Salvation unto every one that believeth being that wherein the Righteousness of God is revealed from Faith to Faith Rom. 1. 16 17. yet did they not obey it Rom. 10. 17. Even so these their Followers finding the work of the Law written in their hearts Rom. 2. 15. this they extol and admire but never did any of them walk according to it for as saith the Apostle Rom. 3. 23. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God and although there be no way to take away their sins but that new and living way of the Gospel of Jesus Christ which he hath consecrated for that purpose by which he not only promiseth Peace and Salvation Everlasting but giveth also the earnest and assurance thereof unto them that seek it in the way that he hath appointed in the word of the Gospel yet will not these stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears obey the Gospel but do alwayes resist the holy Spirit like their Fathers for that they may show their utter enmity and contempt of the Gospel and of the precious Promises of Grace declared therein that they may deter Believers from seeking the gift of God the holy Spirit that they may hinder it as much as in them lies not only the Evidence that every Believer may have of his Adoption or Son-ship but also that assistance of the Spirit of God whereby he may be inabled to war a good warfare yea that they may take men off from seeking Righteousness by the Gospel and set up the Law for Justification as if their own strength and the Light within all men were sufficient to render the Power of God whereby Believers are kept through faith unto Salvation of no effect that Principle of the Doctrine of Christ viz. Prayer and Laying of Hands on Baptized Believers for the obtaining the gift of the holy Spirit is by the Preachers up of the Light within c. as other Ordinances of the New Testament reproached and despised but Oh how fierce is their anger how cruel is their wrath against the People of God that contemn and vilifie the practice of that duty of Prayer and laying on of hands which is performed for so holy and spiritual an end as the obtaining the gift of the holy Spirit promised of God to those that repent and are baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ for remission of sins Acts 2. 38. Gal. 3. 14. Luke 11. 13. given of God to those that did obey him Act. 5. 31 32. to witness unto them the forgiveness of their sins to be the earnest of their Inheritance the seal of Salvation until the Redemption of the purchased Possession Ephes 1. 13 14. to be such an assistant unto Believers which they cannot obtain by the works of the Law but by the hearing of Faith Gal. 3. 2. and whereby they may be enabled so to walk that they shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh Gal. 5. 16. Yea so exceeding great and precious is the Promise and so powerful is the assistance of the Spirit promised that thereby Believers may be made partakers of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. their infirmities may be helped in Prayer Rom. 8. 26. they may have all things brought to their remembrance be led into all Truth and shewed the things that are to come Joh. 16. 13. Joh. 14. 26. which Promise of the Spirit was obtained by Prayer and Laying on of hands by the Apostles in behalf of the Samaritans Act. 8. 15 16 17. by a certain Disciple in behalf of Saul Act. 9. 10 17. by Paul in behalf of the Ephesians Acts 19. 6. by certain Prophets and Teachers in the Church at Antioch in behalf of Barnabas and Saul to assist them in the work of their Ministry Acts 13. 1 2 3. by the Apostles in behalf of the seven Deacons to fit them for their service Acts 6. 5 6. by the Presbytery or company of Elders in behalf of Timothy 1 Tim. 4. 14. and also by Paul himself 2 Tim. 1. 6. in order to his obtaining the gift of the holy Spirit to assist him both as a Disciple and Minister of Jesus Christ So that all that believe in Jesus Christ may safely conclude that Prayer and laying on of hands is a Principle of his Doctrine which he himself was not far from the practice of upon those he sent out to Preach among all Nations Repentance and Remission of sins when having first said unto them Behold I send the Promise of my Father upon you and having led them out as far as Bethany in order to his parting from them and ascending up into Heaven He lift up his hands and blessed them Luk. 24. 49 50. Yea so ancient and authentick is the practice of
and Power for he must raign till he have put all his Enemies under his feet the last Enemy that shall be destroyed is Death as it is written Rev. 20. 12 13. And I saw the Dead small and great stand before God and the Books were opened and another Book was opened which is the Book of Life and the Dead were judged out of those things which were written in the Books according to their Works And the Sea gave up the Dead which were in it and Death and Hell or the Grave delivered up the Dead which were in them and they were judged every man according to their works So that we see clearly that both the First and Second Resurerction is the raising of whole Man from death or from the grave contrary to the conceipt of such as suppose the renewing of the spirit of the Mind which is but a part of man to be the first Resurrection of man the Dying to Sin and Rising again to Righteousnesse being so far from being the Resurrection of whole Man from the Dead that it is but the Earnest of the Inheritance of the Righteous as for the Wicked they have no part in it though they shall have in the Resurrection for they as Christ hath taught shall come forth of the grave unto the Resurrection of Damnation John 5. 28 29. Neither is it in the dying to sin and rising again to Righteousnesse as it is in the Death of man and his Rising again for Man dyeth and riseth again but when sin dyeth sin ought never to rise again God forbid that any Believer should plead for a resurrection of sin Sect. 13 But as the denial of the Resurrection of the dead or the affirming that it is past already is a Doctrine false in it self so are the Consequences thereof most dreadfull and destructive to all true piety yea of such a fretting and gangreen-like nature that in those that are infected therewith it devours member after member till the whole body of the Faith be overthrown and the Professors thereof divested of the Knowledg of God and reduced to Gentilisme again and not only so for even among the Gentiles were some Principles of Morality but this is not content to stay here but encreaseth to more ungodlinesse till it arrive at that prophane desire Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die a Conception so corrupt that as Scollars do affirm that are acquainted with the Sentences of the Heathen Poets the Verse of Menander might serve to rebuke it which the Apostle Paul sticks not to mention for that purpose saying Be not deceived Evil Communication corrupts Good Manners 1 Cor. 15. 32 33. And were those that vent those loose Principles followers of them in practice as the Ranters their Predecessors were we should soon see these as unclean in their lives as they and such as cannot now so easily discern the deceitfulness of their Doctrine because of the covering which they put upon it were it uncovered and reduced to Practice it would be abhor'd by some that are now seduced by it But if we examine all Doctrines that are brought unto us apart from the Lives of those that bring them as we ought to do For since Satan is transformed into an Angel of light it is no great thing if his Ministers be transformed as the Ministers of Righteousness 2 Cor. 11. 14 15. we shall find that that Doctrine which denies the Resurrection of the bodies of Believers and of all that are dead in Adam from the grave doth make void the hope of Israel the Doctrine of Faith contained in the Scriptures of Truth and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ himself Sect. 14 For thus saith the Truth concerning the Hope of the Israel of God If in this Life only we have Hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable 1 Cor. 15. 19. For such are and have been the Tribulations of the Children of God in this Life that if they had not hope of Happiness in a life that is to come after the death and at the Resurrection of the Body they were the most miserable of all men for the Punishment of the first Offence lyeth upon the Godly as well as upon the Sinner Labour and Sorrow both of Man and Woman Sicknesse and Death is the portion of Good and Bad In the sweat of their faces the righteous as well as the wicked do eat their bread untill they return unto the dust from whence if they shall not be raised they are in a worse condition than the wicked for oftentimes the most sincere Believers do tast the deepest of misery in this life whereas the ungodly are in prosperity There are no bands in their death bâ—â—â—heir strength is firm they are not in trouble like other men neither are they plagued like other men therefore Pride compasseth them about as a chain and violence covereth them as a garment their eyes stand out with fatness they have more then heart can wish Psal 73. 3. 4 5 6 7. This is the prosperous estate of the wicked in this life wherein the Godly man is plunged all the day long and chastened every morning Psal 73. 14. Poor Lazarus in this life received evil things when the Rich man received his good things but in the other Life indeed we see a vast difference between them Lazarus is comforted but the Rich man is tormented Luke 16. 25. Which torment is to be understood to be upon the body of the Rich man from his desire that Lazarus might be sent to dip his finger in water to cool his tongue a part of his body and therefore we are to understand the fulnesse of happinesse in the one and misery in the other to be after the Resurrection of the body from the dead by the denyall whereof the comfortable hope and strong consolation which every true Believer hath in this life and even in death when they commend their Spirits with Stephen Acts 7. 59. into the hands of Jesus Christ is made void and of no effect For wherefore have Believers the earnest of the Spirit by the Holy Ghost speaking peace to their spirits but that they might also enjoy the full Inheritance Why are they sanctified in their spirits 1 Pet. 1. 2. Heb. 12. 23. But to assure them that the very God of Peace will also sanctifie them wholly and their whole Spirit and Soul and Body shall be preserved blameless unto the coming of Iesus Christ 1 Thes 5. 23. And why is it said that the Faithfull when they dye do fall asleep in Jesus that they dye in the Lord that they rest from their labours and their works do follow them Revel 14. 13. But that it might be understood that they shall rise again from the dead in their bodies as Jesus dyed and rose again in his body and is therein become the first fruits of them that sleep 1 Thes 4. 14 16. And as the spirits of all wicked men that die in unbelief
are with the Devil and his Angels in chains of darkness reserved unto the Iudgment of the great day 1 Pet. 8. 19. 2 Pet. 2. 4. wherein they shall in spirit soul and body be tormented in the Lake of fire 2 Thes 1. 8 9. Revel 20. 14. So contrariwise are the spirits of all Just men who fight the good fight and finish their course in the Faith of Luke 13. 28. Mark 9. 43. 44. Mar. 16. 26. Jesus Christ 2 Tim. 4. 7. reserved in Paradice unto the Day of the Lord when the Blessed of the Father shall receive the Kingdome and shall in spirit soul and body enjoy eternal Life Lukâ— 23. 43. Matth. 25. 46. and everlasting Blessedness with Christ Jesus who is now glorified in that Body which suffered death rose from the dead and ascended into Heaven John 20. 27. Luke 24. 38 39. to the 53. as all Believers also in due time shall be And whereas it is declared in Scripture that Christ hath led captivity captive that he hath redeemed those that believe from the Curse of the Law that he hath abolished Death and brought life and Immortality to light through the Gospel 2 Tim. 1. 10. All this though it be the sure and steadfast hope of every True Believer Heb. 5. 18 19 20. is made void and of no effect by those that deny the Resurection of the Bodies or flesh of men for as the flesh of Christ wherein he wus put to death 1 Pet. 3. 18. saw no corruption but was quickened again by the Spirit the third day Act. 2. 24 31. So the flesh of those that believe in Christ though it doth see corruption as Davids flesh is said to do Acts 13. 36. shall be raised again incorruptible 1 Cor 15. 52. and therefore God is declared to be the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob Exod. 3. 15. Mat. 22. 31 32. because the Bodies of Abraham Isaac and Jacob which are dead shall live again and shall therefore be raised up from death because God is not the God of the dead but of the living as Christ hath taught But False Teachers in their denying the Resurrection of the Bodies of the dead do deny that God is the God of the Living a most sad consequence and blasphemous Opinion Sect. 15 But as the Apostle teacheth The denial of the Resurrection of the Bodies of the Faitfull from the dead doth not only deny the Resurrection of men that have sinned but also of Christ himself who knew no Sin it makes the Preaching of the Gospel vain and the Faith of them that confess it it renders the Apostles of Christ false witnesses of God because they have testified of God that he raised up Christ whom he raised not up if so be that the dead rise not It concludeth that those that Christ hath set free from sin are still under the guilt thereof that they that are faln asleep in Chrst are perished and that the hope of Believers is only in this life and therefore they of all men are most miserable 1 Cor. 15. 13 14 15 16 17 18 19. O fearfull Doctrine What a bitter Root is this which brings forth such Fruit so destructive to the health and comfort of all Believers so contrary to that food wherewith the Spirits of the Faithfull have in old time been nourished and to the Hope wherewith they have in all their Tribulations been supported Oh saith Job in his great extremity when his Brethren Friends Servants his own Wife and Young Children despised him that my words were now written that they were printed in a book that they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the Rock for ever For I know saith he that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the Earth and though after my skin wormes destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for my self and mine eyes shall behold and not another though my Reins be consumed within me Thus was he supported by the hope of the Resurrection of the dead in the midst of his great Afflictions and Tribulations Job 19. 23 24 25 26 27. The like Experience had Paul for the hope of Israel saith he I am bound with his chain Acts 28. 20. I am judged saith he for the Hope of the Promise made of God unto the Fathers unto which Promise our Twelve Tribes instantly serving God day and night hope to come for which Hopes sake King Agrippa saith he I am accused of the Jews Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead Act. 26. 6 7 8. So likewise when he was brought before FELIX This I confesse unto thee saith he that after that way which they call Heresie so worship I the God of my Fathers believing all things which are written in the Law and the Prophets and have Hope toward God which they themselves also allow that there shall he a Resurrection of the Dead both of the Iust and Vnjust and herein do I exercise my self to have a Conscience void of Offence both toward God and toward men O what comfortable and sure hope hath every true Believer by the communion of the Spirit of God that raised up Jesus Christ from the dead how are their spirits quickened and renewed after the Image of him that created them Eph. 2. 5. Col. 3. 10. who will also in due time quicken their mortal Bodies also by his Spirit that dwelleth in them Rom. 8. 11. And inasmuch as God intends to raise the Bodies of his Saints again from the dead therefore precious in his sight is their death Psalm 116. 15. They who while they lived in the Body dyed unto Sin their Bodies after they are dead shall be raised again to Life and shall no more be subject to Death or Sorrow or crying for God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes neither shall there be unto them any more pain Revel 21. 4. Death shall be swallowed up into Victory and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off their faces and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth for the Lord hath spoke it Isa 25. 8. Then shall be the restoring of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his Holy Prophets since the World began Acts 3. 21. Then will he make all things new and unto those which have not loved their lives unto the death for the sake of Jesus Christ with all that have believed on his Name God will be a Father and they shall be his Children and shall inherit all things for these Sayings are true and faithfull saith the Lord Revel 21. 5 7. Thus all may see That the denyal of the Resurrection of the Bodies of the Dead doth make void the Hope of the Israel of God There is also that other pernicious quality in it It emboldeneth the Sinner to God on in
little blessed are all they that put their trust in him Psal 2. 10 11 12. O that all men would now consider and be wise in the Day wherein the Grace of God is tendered unto them in the Gospel of Jesus Christ that they may know what to do when God riseth up and what to answer when he visiteth Job 31. 14. and take heed all ye that make Profession of Jesus Christ Watch and pray alwayes that ye may be counted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of man Luke 21. 36. for then shall be that coming of Christ that end of the World and that eternal judgement both of the living and of the dead which never yet hath been accomplished notwithstanding the vain confidence of those that call themselves Preachers of and to the Light within c. That suppose that these things are past with them whose Doctrine having been shewed to be disagreeable to the Doctrine of the Scriptures concerning the Person of Christ and the Father Son and Spirit and the Light and the Ordinances of Christ and the Resurrection of the dead the coming of Christ and the end of the world It is time now to conclude this Chapter CHAP. III. That the so called Preachers of and to the Light within c. Preach not to the Creature man but to a supposed Seed or uncreated substance in Man which they call Christ and the eternal witness That the Creature man is the Subject to whom Salvation is to be tendred being in a lost condition by sin and for whose deliverance Christ dyed That the Spirits in Prison are the Spirits of those men and women which were disobedient in the dayes of Noah That Christ is a distinct person from all other persons of his Divine and Humane Natures That those comforts which are admininistred to the Disciples of Christ he accepts it as done to himself how believers are said to partake of the Divine Nature of Christ and that not a power onely in man but the whole man Spirit Soul and Body shall enjoy eternal happinesse as the Humane Nature of Christ now doth That the Creature man together with the Devils are the subjects of the Wrath of God And that the perfection spoken of in the Scriptures is that which the Creature man shall enjoy Of the deceits of those that call upon all men to look into the Light within while they Communicate their Doctrine and unclean spirit to them of their resemblance to birds in their Bel-candle and net the reason why they cry down Gospel Ordinances and how they Communicate that unclean spirito why they deny Baptism in Water and plead for Spirit Baptism why they require waiting in silence of their touching or taking by the hand and the effect thereof of their visits and of their so much preaching and Printing that the Light within doth not effect those things which they ascribe to it but the said things are effected by an unclean Spirit of their silent Meetings that several of their followers have confessed themselves possessed with the Devil and of the sad pranks he played in one that thought himself perfect Sect. 1 THat those that call themselves Preachers of and to the Light within all men Preach not to the Creature man but a supposed seed or uncreated substance in man is clearly discovered by their writings wherein they have these words viz. A Salutation to the Seed of God and by these and such like expressions viz. I speak to the Light in your Conscience which shall eternally witnesse c. Now if the Light in the Conscience shall eternally witnesse then that Light must needs be understood to be eternal for nothing can be an eternal witness but an eternal thing but God onely is eternal that is without beginning and without end man is a Creature that hath a beginning though he shall have no end but shall for ever be in tribulation or in rest as a reward of disobedience or as the effect of the Grace of God and his Gift thereby to him that believeth and obeyeth the Gospel Therefore no part of man is God or of the uncreated or eternal substance and they in preaching to an eternal thing preaches not to man that had a beginning and hath lost his first Righteousness but which I fear to speak even to God for when I have at their publick Meetings thus questioned the speaker What is it which thou speakest and Preachest too the Teacher hath cryed out in great hast calling all the persons that heard him speak to witnesse for him that he spake to the Light in their Conscience to the Seed of God c. Whereupon I have asked him What is that Light in the Conscience What is that Seed of God in its self I have then been answered that it is Christ as if Christ were not a person distinct from all other persons but onely a certain Spirit or Power in all persons and that his Death and Resurrection is accomplished onely in a Mystical not in a proper sence and having a great affection to vindicate this Mystical Allegation and to turn the minds of their Hearers from the plain Truth of the Gospel they Alledge a Scripture or two and infer from them that which never was intended by the Spirit of God in them from that Scripture 1 Pet. 3. 18 19. Where the Apostle saith Christ hath once suffered for sins c. being put to death in the flesh but quickened by the Spirit by which he went and Preached to the Spirits in Prison they do infer that the spirits here spoken of is Christ that is imprisoned in man kept under and held down in the Creature and Christ as they say being quickened in them they go and Preach to the Spirits which is Christ imprisoned in others which they endeavour to help raise up set at liberty and for further proof of this imagination they alledge Mat. 25. 36. Where Christ saith I was sick and in Prison and ye visited me c. Sect. 2 But in this their Doctrine and Practice of Preaching to the Seed of God to the uncreated or eternal witnes or substance which they call Christ imprisoned and not to the creature man it is evident that it is fearful blasphemy for it supposeth that that which they call Christ hath done iniquity else why do they say repent repent with many exhortations to depart from sin when they speak to that within which in their sence is Christ so that they Reprove Christ Exhort Christ Counsel Christ yea they say they speak to that of God in the Conscience which shall eternally witnesse c. so that they teach God Reprove God Counsel God Oh horrible Blasphemy who will not fear to utter it how contrary is this to the Doctrine of the Blessed Apostle Paul Romans 11. 34. WHO saith he hath instructed the Lord or WHO hath BEEN HIS COUNSELLOR Or who hath given to him and
it shall be recompenced unto him again for of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be Glory for ever Amen See Isay 30. 13 14. He that hath an ear let him hear and fear and do no more presumptuously For this their Doctrine supposeth that that which they call Christ is saved by their Preaching and Teaching from a fallen condition which when in their conceit they have raised they salute in their writings which they have Intituled A Salutation to the Seed of God which they suppose is in every man and this they say is Christ in a fallen slain or imprisoned condition till raised up by their endeavours so that Christ is not distinguished by them as a distinct person from all other men nor his death to be declared to be accomplished in his own person but in every man according to their delution every man hath Christ in him sometimes slain and sometimes raised his death is not once but often accomplished and he is slain for himself and raised for himself if raised at all Oh how contrary is this Doctrine to the Doctrine of the Scriptures which teach that Christ hath ONCE suffered for sins the just for the unjust being put to death in the flesh but quickend in the spirit 1 Pet. 3. 18. But now ONCE saith the Apostle in the end of the World hath he appeared to put away sin by the Sacrifice of himself he was once offered to bear the sins of many and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin to Salvation Heb. 9. 26 28. Neither let them think to excuse the matter by alledging that the Name Christ is sometimes given the Church which is men and women united to him by Faith according to the Gospel for when it is so given it is to be taken mystically believers being understood to be the Body of Christ and Christ to be the head of that Body this mystical sence destroyes not the proper sence for Christ as a distinct person from all other persons is described by the Apostle Paul Rom. 1. 3 4. to be made of the Seed of David according to the flesh and declared to be the Son of God with Power according to the Spirit of Holinesse by the Resurrection from the dead in which flesh he suffered upon the Crosse being put to death and the third day rose again by the Power of the Spirit of Holinesse he was delivered for our offences and was raised again for our justification Rom. 4. 25. Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the Tree that we being dead to sins should live to Righteousnesse by whose stripes ye were healed as the Apostle teacheth 1 Pet. 2. 24. Sect. 3 But if man considered as man yea as fallen sinful and wretched man as a Creature without Christ without God c. be not to be Preached unto and if Salvation by Faith in Christ be not tendred to the Creature distinct from the Creator then is there no tender of Salvation nor any thing to be saved for there is not one Scripture which speaketh of any thing else which Salvation is to be tendred unto but man for whom Christ dyed as it is written Heb. 2. 16. For verily he taketh not hold of Angels but of the Seed of Abraham he taketh hold according to the Greek that is he did not take into unity of person the Nature of Angels but he took into personal unity the Seed of Abraham that is the nature of man was taken into personality with his Divine nature that through death he might destroy him that had the Power of death that is the Devil and deliver them that through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage Heb. 2. 14 15. It was the Creature man that was in bondage by sin and in fear of death that hid himself and was afraid Gen. 3. 10. and had been as water spilt upon the ground if God had not devised means that his banished be not exciled from him 2 Sam. 14. 14. It was that sinning Creature man that should have been banished for ever had not God devised means to redeem the man Adam and his posterity For God so loved the World that he gave his onely begotten Son Jesus Christ that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life John 3. 16. Gods love was indeed to the lost but no part of the eternal and uncreated substance was lost but man was lost the Creature had been cut off for ever for that first sin of Adam by whom sin entred into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned Rom. 5. 12. But God so loved that Creature Man as to give his only begotten Son for his redemption for God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved John 3. 16 17. which life and salvation is to be held forth to the Creature which hath sinned to the race of mankind for they have all sinned and come short of the Glory of God and these that have sinned are upon their repentance and believing the Gospel Justified freely by the Grace of God through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ for God justifieth the ungodly Rom. 3. 23 24. Rom. 4. 5. We have seen and do testifie saith the Apostle John That the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the World Not to be a Saviour of his eternal substance but to be a Saviour to the world 1 John 4. 14. I am the Living Bread saith Christ which came down from Heaven if any man eat of this Bread he shall live for ever and the Bread which I will give is my flesh which I will give for the Life of the World wch world had for ever perished for the iniquities thereof had not Christ Jesus given himself freely to death that he might bring them to God which were without God and without Christ being strangers from the Covenant of Promise having no hope and without God in the world Ephes 2. 12. So that as the same Apostle teacheth they which were sometimes alienated and enemies in their Minds or Spirits by wicked works Yet now hath he reconciled in the Body of his flesh through death to present them holy and unblameable and unreproveable in the sight of God if they continue in the Faith grounded and setled and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel preached unto all and whereof Paul was a Minister Col. 1. 22 23. For as he also saith There is one God and one Mediator between God and Man the Man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransome for all to be testified in due time 1 Tim. 2. 5 6. The like is testified by the Angel of God as it is written by Luke in his Gospel And Lo the Angel of the Lord saith he came upon them and the Glory of
supposed eternal substance in every man as if not a person distinct from all other persons but a spirit or power in all persons were the Christ and as if the death of Christ were not accomplished in his own Body really but in the bodies of all men onely mystioally But this is the Testimony of Truth Christ Jesus the Lord is a distinct Person from all persons beside himself and such a person as there is none like him for He is the Son of God according to the Spirit of Holinesse Rom. 1. 4. and also the Son of David according to the Flesh so that he is truly and properly the Son of God before all Worlds and also in the fulnesse of time being made of a Woman Gal. 4. 4. It was onely that Person that is the Son of Mary the Virgin never man was Son of a Virgin but He it is He onely that was conceived in his Mothers Womb by the Operation of the Holy Spirit not one man in the whole World was ever so conceived besides himself so that He and He onely is perfect God and perfect man in Nature and Substance no man else in the whole Creation is so it is He that hath two distinct Natures in one entire person no Person else hath the like in him and in him onely dwelleth all the fulnesse of the Godhead bodily Col. 2. 9. in no man besides him dwelleth the Godhead in any measure bodily Now although all men in respect of their Substance and Christ in respect of one of his Natures or Substances that is to say His Flesh and Blood are of one Substance Heb. 2. 14. yet it doth not at all follow from hence that all men are Christ for they are all distinct persons from him they are many persons He is one Person Mat. 16. 13 14 15 16. Onenesse in nature doth not make onenesse in person a man and his wife are one in Nature yet they are two distinct persons and although all men in respect of their substance of Spirit Soul and Body and Christ in respect of his Humane Nature are one yet in respect of his Godhead they are not one for He onely is the Son of God according to the Spirit of Holinesse and was so from all eternity Rev. 1. 8. Phil. 2. 6. Heb. 9. 14. the spirit of man though it be the most excellent part of man yet it is but a Created Substance the Spirit of Holinesse in Christ is an uncreated Substance a being without beginning and without end So that although Christ was in all things made like unto his Brethren sin excepted yet as he is the Son of God according to the Spirit of Holinesse he is not like his Brethren that have beginning of dayes and end of life but like his Father of the same uncreated Substance and of the same eternity even without beginning and without end and as Christ did in our Nature suffer yet not in ours but in his own Person so he is pleased to account that which is done to his Disciples as done to himself because it is done to one of his Natures though not to his person but to the Persons of his Disciples who are not therefore Christ for the Disciples are not that person that is the Christ neither have they as they are persons those two Natures that Christ hath neither are they that one Person that Christ is neither are they in a mystical sence called Christ but as being in Covenant and in Communion with that one Person which is the Christ who is the Son of God according to the Spirit of Holiness and the Son of David also according to the flesh which no man besides him is from all which the sence of the Scripture Mat. 25. 36. is clear viz. That man having one of the Natures of Christ viz. Flesh and Blood and being in Covenant with him by becoming his Disciples that good or that evil which is done unto them Christ declares it as done unto himself not that it was done to his Person as the Question of the Righteous vers 37. and the Answer of the King vers 40. do evidently manifest whereby the folly of those that wrest this Scripture to prove that Christ Preacheth to the Spirits when they are in Prison or that those Spirits are Christ that the Christ is onely a Power or Spirit in every man and not a distinct Person from all men beside himself or that Christ hath onely one Nature and not two dictinct Natures in one Person or that the Humane Nature which dyed was not Christ according to the Flesh which also was quickened again by Christ according to the Spirit of Holinesse Rom. 1. 4. or that these two Natures Spirit of Holinesse and Flesh Son of God and Son of Man in one Person is not the true Christ distinct from all other Persons of men though they be the Disciples of Christ I say the folly and blasphemy of those that wrest this Scripture to defend those vain conceits or to gain-say those Glorious Truths which are discovered laid open and made manifest for Christ in his affirmations I was an hungred and ye fed me Naked and ye cloathed me Sick and ye visited me in Prison and ye came unto me and the like did not affirm these things to be administred to the eternal Substance but to the whole created man Spirit Soul and Body especially to the sensitive Soul which standeth in need of Food Mat. 6. 25. and to the Body which being naked hath need of cloathing as also the Spirit of man which being in trouble hath need of comfort But it cannot be said that the Power Spirit or eternal Substance in man distinct from the Spirit Soul and Body of man is hungry thirsty a stranger naked sick or in prison neither did Christ affirm these comforts to be administred to his own Person consisting of these Divine and Humane Natures which as the Spirit of Holinesse was ever free from such infirmities so also the Humane Nature of his Person hath been free from hunger cold and nakednesse ever since his Resurrection from the dead so that the true meaning of our Saviour is this viz. That forasmuch as the Humane Nature of Christ is one in substance with the Nature of man-kind and because the Disciples of Christ are in Covenant with Christ their Head and Lord therefore that which is done to them in Feeding Cloathing Harbouring c. the Lord takes it as done unto himself because it is done to one of his Natures though not to his Person and because it is done to the Persons of his Disciples which are in Covenant with him as the 40. verse makes it evident And the King shall answer and say unto them Verily I say unto you inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least of these my Brethren ye have done it unto me Thus this Scripture also is vindicated and those false inferences which false teachers have endeavoured to draw from
it refelled Sect. 6 But those that are perswaded that some part of their persons either Soul or Spirit is Christ the Light of the World the eternal and uncreated substance being lifted up with high conceit of themselves supposing that the Godhead dwells in them bodily and being unwilling to be divested of that imaginary deity and to be accounted meer Creatures it is likely that they will object whatsoever may be objected against that Doctrine which declares Jesus Christ to be a distinct Person from all other persons having such a manner of unity with God the Father that no person hath in the whole world beside himself and it 's more then probable that they will alledge these and such like sentences of Scripture viz. Christ in you the Hope of Glory Col. 1. 27. My little Children of whom I travel in birth again till Christ be formed in you Gal. 4. 19. That was the true Light which lighteth every man which cometh into the World and the Light shineth in darknesse c. John 1. 5. And the inference which they will make from these and such like Scriptures questionlesse will be to this purpose viz. That the eternal and uncreated substance or witness â—â— in every man that cometh into the World in the same manner as it is in him that was born of the Virgin and is so manifested in those that call themselves Preachers and followers of the Light within c. But in answer to their Allegations and Objections of this kind the Scripture teacheth that all mankind are of the same substance with Christ according to one of his Natures but not according to the other according to the Created but not according to the Uncreated substance Forasmuch saith the Apostle As the children are partakers of Flesh and Blood he also himself likewise took part of the same Heb. 2. 14. The Flesh Soul and Spirit of all men and the Flesh Soul and Humane Spirit of Christ is of one Substance there is indeed a Personal and an Accidental difference but not a Substantial the Persons of men are many but the Person of Christ is one the condition wherein the World of men and women are is unclean by reason of sin but the condition wherein the Humane Nature of Christs Person is is Pure Holy by reason of his Righteousnesse he took part of the same Substance of Adam but no part of his Pollution we are unclean because we are Propogated in unclean Lust the just reward of sinful desire Gen. 3. 16. Psal 51. 5. but he is Pure and Holy because he was conceived of the Holy Spirit we are unclean because we have sinned in transgressing the Law of God but he is Pure and Holy because he hath kept it the Humane Nature of Christ was made in the same condition that Adam was before he sinned but we are become in the same condition that Adam was after he had sinned and as the Substance of Adams Flesh Soul and Spirit was the same after he had sinned as before but not the condition so the Substance of Christs Flesh Soul and Humane Spirit not of the Spirit of Holinesse is the same with Adams now since Adam sinned but the condition the same with Adams before he sinned for though the eternal word took hold of the Seed of Abraham or took into Personal Unity the Substance of Adam after Adam had sinned yet the Estate or Condition wherein that substance was made was as Pure and Holy as Just and Righteous as Adam was before he sinned for as Adam before he transgressed was a Son of God by Creation Luke 3. 38. So the Humane Nature of Christ is the Son of God by Creation God made or built the Body of Christ of the Seed of the Woman as he did the Body of Adam of the dust of the ground see Gen. 2. 7. Gal. 4. 4. Heb. 10. 5. Christs being the Son of David doth respect the substance of which his Body was made not the formation of that substance for in that respect he is also the Son of God Luke 1. 35. It is indeed a Glorious Personality that the Humane Nature of Christ hath because it doth not subsist of it self but in the Godhead but the substance of it is the same with all mankind who subsists not as he doth viz. by Personal Unity with the Godhead and as Adam before he had transgressed had Soveraignty over the Creatures and the Paradise of God for his Habitation wherein was the Tree of Life whereof he might have eaten before he transgressed and so have lived for ever in the enjoyment of God and of that image or likenesse of God wherein he was made had he kept that Law and eaten of that Tree of Life which was given him for that purpose see Gen. 3. 22. Rev. 22. 2 3. So the Humane Nature of Christs Person by keeping that Law which Adam transgressed hath right to all that Adam lost for he being made under the Law which he also fulfilled Gal. 4. 4. Mat. 5. 17 18. in him the Image of God is seen expresly Heb. 1. 3. and all things are put in subjection under his feet Heb. 2. 7 8. see Psal 8. And as the first Adam being tempted by his yeilding to the temptation was soon overcome of the Devil and led Captive at his will So Christ the second Adam by resisting the Devil when he was tempted by him forty dayes in the Wildernesse overcame Satan and put him to flight see Mat. 4. vers 1. to 12. And therefore as the demerit of the first Adams transgression was so great that all that are derived from him by Natural Generation are defiled by it so the demerit of the second Adams obedience is so great that all that ever come to be derived from him by Spiritual Regeneration are sanctified by it So that as it was a blessed estate and condition that the Person of the first Adam and all that were in him lost by sin so it is a blessed estate and condition that the Humane Nature of Christ the second Adam hath gained by his obedience for the same Nature in the Persons of all those that ever come to be in Covenant with him or to be regenerate or born again of Water and of the Holy Spirit and so to be grafted into him by Faith John 3. 5. 6. Romans 11. 19. 20. Sect. 7 For whosoever shall seriously consider and according to the Scriptures of truth determine of the state and condition wherein the first Adam was made and wherein he continued until he transgressed the Law of God shall find that it was a very happy and blessed estate and condition for he was made in the Image of God in Righteousnesse and true holinesse was he created see Eccles 7. 29. Gen. 1. 26. Ephes 4. 24. with dominion over the Creatures the Fish of the Sea the Foul of the Air and over everly living thing that moveth upon the earth was he invested Gen. 1. 28 29.
Glory everlasting Acts 17. 31. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is that sure sign of the Prophet Jonah for the Substance of Adam being raised from the dead in the Person of Christ it gives assurance of a resurrection to the same Substance in the Persons of others and seeing Jesus Christ doth promise to them that believe the Gospel not onely the Resurrection from the Grave but also eternal Life the Creature man hath good assurance of enjoying happinesse by following his Counsel because the created Substance in Christs Person hath taken possession thereof for as the Apostle teacheth Rom. 11. 16 17. The Branches must necessarily be Holy where the Root is Holy and the Lump where the first fruit So that if men and women will be content to break off their sins by repentance that by Faith through grace they may be grafted into Christ they may be well assured to partake of the Root and Fatnesse of him their Olive Tree that is to say enjoy a likeness of Life and Immortality with the Humane nature of Christ which will be communicated to them from the Divine Nature of Christ by or through his Humane Nature as he himself hath promised Rev. 3. 21. saying To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my Throne even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his Throne This is the comfort of Believers in all their Tribulations for the Name of Christ and for the testimony whereof the blessed Marryt Saint Stephen dyed who beholding in Heaven the Glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God was so filled with consolation and assurance that he said to them which did so fiercely persecute him Behold I see the Heaven opened and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God and in this confidence he called upon God saying Lord Iesus receive my Spirit and Lord lay not this sin to their charge Acts 7. 55 56. The Glorification of the Created Substance in the Person of Christ was that which comforted Stephen when his enemies cryed out stopped their ears ran upon him with one accord cast him out of the City and stoned him to death as a Blasphemer for he saw the assurance of his own glorification in seeing the Son of Man in Glory though Satan was pleading by his instruments against him on earth yet while Jesus Christ in the Created and noâ— Glorified Substance was pleading for him in Heaven he was not discouraged at death it self but was so well assured of his own happinesse and so well instructed in Christian exercise that calling upon the Lord Jesus to receive his own Spirit he prayed unto him also to forgive the sins of those that murdered him Oh how great is the consolation of the Faithful in Christ Jesus upon the account of the Glory to which the Humane Nature in his Person is now advanced full well may they withstand all the Powers of darkness and say with the Apostle Rom. 8. 34. Who is he that condemneth it is Christ that dyed ye rather that is risen again who is even at the Right Hand of God who also maketh intercession for us See 1 Pet. 3. 21 22. Heb. 1. 3. Heb. 12. 2. Believers having such an Advocate and High Priest of their Profession who is first made like unto his Brethren touched with all their infirmities sin onely excepted and now also made higher than the Heavens that Humane Nature by Personal conjunction with the Divine Nature and by what it hath received from it being become so Spiritual that it may be truly said the lasâ— Adam That is the Created Substance in Christs Person is now made into a quickening Spirit so that it may well be concluded that as the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them even so the Son quickeneth whom he will for as the Father hath Life in Himself so hath he given to the Son to have Life in himself and hath given him Authority to execute Judgement also because he is the Son of Man John 5. 21 26 27. And he having suffered by being Tempted and Crucified and being now also made perfect that is to say having broke the Head of the Serpent overcome all his enemies and being in the Humane Nature of his own Person exalted above them he is able to relieve all his Disciples in all their temptations yea to save them to the uttermost that come to God by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them And so they that See Heb. 2. 14 15 17 18. Heb. 7. 25 now suffer with Christ shall in due time partake of his Divine Nature that they shall be in like estate and condition with his now Glorified Humane Nature and reign with him in Glory Everlasting 2 Tim. 2. 11 12. Thus it is evident that as the Created Substance in Christs Person is now invested with Glory so the same Substance in those that believe in him shall in due time be advanced to it as those that believe not in him shall be kept far from it Sect. 11 But now if we consider those severe threatnings which by those that call themselves Preachers of and to the Light within c. sometimes are denounced as they say against sin and withal do remember what it is that is the Subject of their blessing viz. not the Creature Man but a supposed Seed or uncreated Substance in man then is it not easie to conclude also what is the subject of their curse viz. not the Creature Man consisting of Spirit Soul and Body but some other thing a contrary Seed and it s likely they will say it is the Devil but let them call it what they will this is evident that it tends much to the imboldening man to God on in his Sin and Rebellion against God and the Gospel of his Grace to suggest unto him that the Devil onely is the Subject of the Wrath of God There cannot be a Doctrine more advantagious to Satan and to the advancement of his Kingdom then such a Doctrine which perswadeth that the Devil onely shall bear the blame and suffer the punishment for all the sins that man doth commit Oh how gredidily will a man that is so perswaded commit all manner of wickednesse but it is not good for any man to trust to the lies of the old Serpent nor to the falshood of any of his instruments for the Word of Christ is directly contrary to the word of Antichrist for the Scriptures of Truth do declare that the Creature Man which obeyeth not the Gospel but liveth and dieth in unbelief shall as being a cursed seed be cast into utter darkness where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth Mat. 8. 12. Those eyes that have been the windows of vain desire and have not looked up to Heaven to behold the work of God that so they might consider the operation of his hands Psal 28. 5. and turn and repent and believe the Gospel shall
weep and wail because of anguish and pain and that without remedy It is not onely the Devil that shall bear the punishment of sin but unto those men and women that enter not into Covenant with Christ that so they may obtain from him the remission of their sins he will say at the last day Depart from me ye Cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Mat. 25. 41. Such indeed is the punishment prepared for the Devil and his Angels and for the Beast and the false Prophet with those workers of iniquity that live and die in their worship and service That they shall be cast into the lake of fire burning with Brimstone where they shall be tormented day and night for ever Rev. 19. 20. Rev. 20. 10. So that as the Angels which kept not their first estate but left their own habitation are justly reserved unto the judgement of the great day Jude verse 6. So also the Creature man shall either lie under the curse and wrath of God as the just reward of his sin and disobedience to the Gospel in his not believing in the Name of the onely begotten Son of God Christ Jesus that so his sins might be remitted and his Person saved in that great day of Judgement Mark 9. 44. Acts 3. 19 20 21. or else the Creature man shall enjoy from God through Jesus Christ by Faith in his Name the unspeakable blessedness of Peace Adoption Salvation Eternal Life and everlasting Glory with the Father and the Son For as the wicked shall be turned into Hell and all the Nations that forget God Psal 9. 17. even so shall the Righteous enter into Life eternal and Joy unutterable Mat. 25. 46. Mark 16. 16. Dan. 12. 2 3. This is the Doctrine of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that which is the contrary Doctrine is the doctrine of Devils the consequence whereof leadeth men and women unto all manner of wickedness For if no blessednesse shall be to the Spirits Souls and Bodies of them that walk in the Fear Faith and Love of God nor no tribulation nor anguish no indignation nor wrath to the Spirits Souls and Bodiâ—s of them that walk in the vanity of their minds committing iniquity with greediness desiring reproof and casting the Rich and Gracious tender of Gods unspeakable Love in Christ Jesus which he so earnestly tendreth unto them behind their backs then what wickedness may not man run into With how much eagernesse will all such as are so perswaded persist in all impiety How impossible will it be unto them while they retain such a delusion to be turned from sin and converted to God but that Doctrine which strengtheneth the hands of evil doers and weakeneth the hands discourageth the Hearts and maketh the Knees of those that are running in the Paths of everlasting Peace to become feeble neither is nor can be of God but is from Satan the old Serpent and from his Vicegerent Antichrist the Beast and false Prophet who with all his Subjects Worshippers and Admirers even all those men and women that know not God nor obey the Gospel of Jesus Christ shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the Presence of the Lord and from the Glory of his Power when he shall come to be glorified in his Saints and to be admired in all them that believe because the Testimony of the Grace of God was of them believed in the day of his long suffering and forbearance 2 Thes 1. 8 9 10. Rom. 2. 4. Sect. 12 But it is also evident that those that call themselves Preachers of and to the Light within c. when they exhort to perfection they never intend that the Creature Man with all the helps he can lay hold on either is can or ought to be perfect for when I have asked them about this thing and have said unto one of them What is that thing in it self which thou sayest is perfect Is it thee such a man thy Body of Flesh the Created Substance and Being which is called by such a name c. it hath been answered No I speak not of the Creature or the Body of Flesh its being perfect I mean that measure of Christ as it raises up it self in me it is perfect it is that which doth not sin it is that which is born of God it is that which I witnesse to according to my measure it is perfect Now who sees not plainly that thy Contention about Perfection is vain for who doubts of the Perfection of the uncreated Substance or of the Perfection of the Pâ—rson of Christ his Divine Nature is Perfect the Humane Nature of his Person is Perfect the Person of Christ did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth 1 Pet. 2. 22. And is there not a vast difference between the perfection of the Person of Christ which is perfect by a perfection without ever having done one act of evil or thought one sinful thought or spoken one guileful word and the perfection of the Persons of other men who have sinned in Thought Word and Deed Is it not therefore vain to speak to a man of perfection and not to intend the perfection of man And is it not as vain to make no distinction between the Person of Christ and the persons of other men or between the Communion of the Holy Spirit the third Person in the Trinity with Believers and the Vnion of the Spirit of Holinesse or Divine Nature the second Person in the Trinity with the Body of Christ or his Humane Nature or between the operation of the Holy Spirit upon the World of Sinners in convincing them of Sin Righteousnesse and Judgement John 16. 8. and the Gift of the Holy Spirit unto Believers whereby they are assured of their Adoption led into all Truth assisted in Holy Duties supported in Tribulation and invested with hope of Glorification Rom. 8. 16. John 16. 13. Rom. 8. 26. 1 Cor. 14. 15. Rom. 5. 5. If therefore when thou speakest to man of perfection thou meanest the perfection of the Divine Nature of Christ a Measure of God as thou callest it doth not every Believer acknowledge the perfection of the Divine Nature Who is so prophane as not to conclude that God is perfect And who so Blasphemous but thy self being led by the Spirit of Antichrist as to presume once to think that any part of man Spirit Soul or Body is of the Divine Eternal and uncreated Substance and such must needs be the meaning of those that Preach to man of perfection and intend no other perfection than the perfection of God or of the Person of Christ Sect. 13 But the Scriptures do declare that man consisting of Spirit Soul and Body shall at the coming of Christ in Glory be made perfect and as the Spirit of man by pardon of sin Luke 1. 77. is now made perfect Heb. 12. 23. in part so shall the whole man also eternally enjoy perfection as the Apostle
teacheth When that which is perfect is come then that which is in part shall be done away for now we see through a glass darkly but then face to face Now saith he I know in part but then shall I know even as also I am known 1 Cor. 13. 10 12. for then at the coming of Christ Jesus the Lord shall the Spirits souls and Bodies of all Believers be preserved blameless 1 Thes 5. 23. and being sanctified by Christ Ephes 5. 26. shall be found without fault before the Throne of God Rev. 14. 5. For when the time of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord then shall their sins be blotted out Acts 3. 16. both sin and punishment for sin shall then be taken away that so they may be made perfect in Glory and Happiness everlasting 1 Cor. 15. 54 55 56 57. And forasmuch as the Perfection of God and of the Divine Nature of Christ is a perfection of a different Nature from the perfection of man God being perfect in his Nature Christ having never acted sin man being imperfect in his Nature by reason of sin which he hath committed if thou that callest thy self a Preacher of the Light within c. when thou exhortest to perfection intendest man in thy exhortation then thou that exhortest another shouldst teach thy self to be obedient to that which the Scriptures teach man to observe in order to his obtaining perfection that is to say to turn from thy dead works thy Legal Righteousnesse acknowledging thy self a sinner say with the Publican with a contrite Spirit God be merciful to me a sinner believe the Gospel of the remission of sins and being cut to the heart with grief for sin committed Repent and be Baptized in Water in the Name of Iesus Christ for the remission of thy sins See Acts 2. 38. Acts 10. 47. Mat. 3. 6. and so walking as Christ reacheth in the Scriptures thou mayest attain unto the perfection that he hath promised but if when thou exhortest to perfection thou intendest God or the Divine Nature of Christ in thy exhortation or the Person of Christ then thou blasphemest against God and against Christ supposing him to stand in need of an exhortation to perfection whose Nature is Pure and Perfect or that the Person of Christ hath sometimes been imperfect whose Divine Nature is perfect being of the same Substance with his Fathers and whose Humane Nature is perfect being conceived in the Womb of the Virgin by the operation of the Holy Spirit in which Nature he kept the Law of God and fulfilled every jot and tittle of it he suffered death for our sins and rose again for the Justification of all them that believe in him and such perfection was and is in him that by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are Sanctified wherefore the Holy Spirit also is a Witnesse to us saying I will put my Laws in their Hearts and in their Minds will I write them and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more Thus he whose Divine Nature is perfect and whose Humane Nature also hath perfectly kept the Law of God and fulfilled all Righteousness will give unto those whose Nature is imperfect and who have transgressed the Law of God upon their Repentance and Conversion such a perfection through his Grace as whereby their sins shall not be remembred and whereby their Persons shall be glorified for ever and ever Sect. 14 But thou that seemest to be so exceeding earnest in teaching up the Light within warning all men and women to follow after it yet never intendest that they whom thou teachest should be guided by the Light which they have in them before thou beginnest to teach them but that from thee which art without them they should receive that instruction which thou callest the Light within them And to discover thee in this thing as plainly as possible I can I will make use of a Comparison unto which thou art as like in thy actings as to any thing I can find to compare thee withal for thou in thy endeavours to gain poor Souls to thy wayes and to become followers of thy steps art like unto certain Birders which we have in our Land that do go about in the dark night with a Bell Candle and Net to catch Birds of the Air who in this work of theirs do first of all sound their Bell which being of a considerable bigness and sound it doth so amaze and astonish the poor Birds that they wholly lose their senses at that time and cannot tell how to make use either of Feet or Wing to avoid the danger that is beforâ— them the Birder then with his Candle discovering where the amazed Birds do sit he casts his Net over them and having taken them leads them captive by force whither he will and doth with them according to his pleasure Even so thou by thy Preachings and Printings dost make a great sound and noise to deceive the Hearts and to amaze the Spirits of the simple for thou speakest of great things yet art but like a sounding Brass and tinkling Symbal thou callest upon all to wait in silence to stand still to cease from all outward and Scripture-Teaching and from Scripture Ordinances as from Baptism Laying on of Hands and breaking of Bread c. from Preaching Praying and Hearing the Word calling them Carnal Lifeless and empty Ordinances c. not onely perswading men and women to leave all outward Means and Ordinances of the New Testament written in the Scriptures by which they would have the use of their feet having them shod with the Preparation of the Gospel of Peace but also teaching them that to believe in a Christ out of themselves is Carnal and Life-less also and that their Saviour is within them upon whom they must wait in silence even thus thou teachest them that follow thee wholly against believing in the true Christ who died in his own Body that by that one Sacrifice of himself out of every other man he might reconcile the world of Man-kind to himself without themselves or any Righteousnesse done by them the believing whereof is the poor Creatures Wing whereby to flee unto Christ and to rest upon him for Justification by Faith through his Grace and so to escape out of the hands of such cruel Birders from wrath to come So that all thy great sound and noise of Preaching and Printing in which thou cryest out so bitterly and vehemently against all those means which are appointed of God unto Salvation labouring with all thy might to bring men and women out of conceit with them telling them they are deceived in them and exhorting them to Mind the Light which is within them and that will lead them out of all sin and iniquity and eternally save them Even all this thou dost that thou mayest drive on thy design to put poor Creatures into amazement astonishment to make them to doubt of
the truth of all Gods Teachings Exhortations and Ordinances whatsoever to neglect all Duties which God hath commanded in order to their Salvation and to sit in silence and wait in astonishment to be delivered from those fears which thou hast put them into All which is but to delude the senses of poor Creatures by thy sound and noise that so thou mayest bring them into a bewildered condition to be even done withal what thou pleasest that hast so dashed dazled and confounded their apprehensions and senses Sect. 15 When therefore thou hast effected thy purpose thus far being somewhat expert in thy way by the help of an evil Spirit which thou callest thy discerning eye boasting of the great discovery which thou hast made into and through all men discerning by it as by a Candle what is in them and when thou doest thus discover by that spirit by which thou art led and as by a Candle seest where the poor Bird doth sit which by thy sound is astonished confounded and silenced then thou hastest to it with all speed to cast thy Net over it which is to communicate thy unclean spirit unto it which spirit is not the light in every man but the darknesse in thee and thy followers neither is it in those that are silenced confounded by thee till it comes from thee and enters into them at that time which is to them remarkable the time of their visitation as they call it but it is a woful visitation for it doth not come with a still soft voice like the Spirit of God nor in the cool of the day but with earthquakes and rending the Rocks as they call it putting the poor Creature into such a woful condition that it is like one caught in a Net indeed and must now be dealt withal at the mercy of the Fowler which is very cruel for oh what quakings and shakings tremblings and fearings what pulling and dragging is at that time just as though the very heart must be pulled out all the bowels torn in pieces and one limb rent from another of which I have seen the example with mine eyes and when the unclean spirit hath pronounced such woes terrours and judgements and hath held the creature under them as long as he thinks fit which by them is called Hell and is all the Hell they fear then the said Spirit speaketh Peace to them but not by the Blood of Christ shed for their sins in his own body and out of themselves but he telleth them that he hath done away their sins and iniquities as a thick cloud and carried them away into the Land of forgetfulness not that Christ the Scape-Goat as a distinct Person from all other men hath done it and then this spirit requireth that Creature to arise and tell what God hath done for its soul yea sometimes this Spirit speaketh with a vocal voice in the bottom of the Bellies of them that are possessed therewith saying to them as the Lord said to Abraham Gen. 12. 11. for Satan endeavours to imitate God as much as he can Get thee out of thy Fathers house and from thy kindred unto a Land that I will shew thee and I will reward thee double other whiles he commands the Creature to go to such a place to such a man with a message from the Lord for now this Spirit hath the dominion over the poor Creature hurrying it up and down with Motions Revelations and Commands making it do what he liketh for his power is unresistable having gotten such hold that go now they must they cannot stay nor avoid it speak now they must and cannot help it for if they avoid the doing of any thing which he requireth then are they sure to feel he is a Lord indeed by the Terrour Wrath and Judgement which he will bring them into his Commands being given out upon pain of damnation upon the neglect of obedience to them So that he is not obeyed out of a principle of Love but of Fear and Terrour such Terrour too as makes them sometimes to quake and tremble and so unclean are his commands that he requireth some of them men and women to strip off all their clothes and as naked as they were born to stand sometimes upon a Market Crosse in the time of Market and sometimes at the Grave while the dead is burying in their naked bodies and there to tell the People they are for a sign of their destruction though it cannot be reasonably supposed that God did require his Prophet so to divest himself of all garments whatsoever when by some such like sign he required him to declare the destruction of the People but such is the uncleanness and cruelty of this spirit wch possesseth these poor creatures almost choaking them with his fits and conflicts making them roar and foam at the mouth with such a terrible and hideous kind of crying as might very much amaze any one that shall see them as I my self have done therefore I say they do not intend what they declare viz. That men and women should be guided by the Light that is in every one of them before some of these Teachers have by some means or other conversed with them that so instruction and an unclean spirit might be from them communicated unto those upon whom they call to mind the Light within Ah how many poor souls have their feet caught in this snare how many are taken in this evil net and thereby led to destroy all their good beginnings wherein they began to serve the true God running into grosse wickedness and Satanical delusions posting from mountain to hill forgetting their resting place turning from the true Christ and the worship of God and going a whoring after this spirit of errour and their own inventions Sect. 16 But that thy dissimulation may further appear I shall in several particulars make it manifest that thou never intendest that every man should be guided by that Light which they have in them before they meet with thee or thy Doctrine but that they should receive instruction and a spirit from thee to be their director and assister First because that when thou doest affirm that the Apostles of Jesus Christ were sent out to Baptize with the Spirit this thou speakest to oppose those that stand to maintain that they were commanded to Baptize with Water in the Name of Jesus Christ for remission of sins and by Prayer and laying on of hands to seek unto God that he would give his Spirit as he hath promised Luke 11. 9 13. Therefore thou callest Baptism in water carnal Prayer and laying on of hands carnal because not the Administrator of Prayer and laying on of hands but God doth give Christ to shed forth or baptize with the holy Spirit See Acts 5. 32. Acts 2. 33. Mat. 3. 11. Now if I must believe that what thou speakest of the Apostles of Christ those that are thy messengers can perform then consequently they can
eyes to fix and thus did he sit bound hand and foot and could not move any member of his body being in such a maze in his own spirit that he knew not what to do the beholders also admired that it should be thus with him but his lord and master having taken possession of him will now do his work before he leave him for first of all he set all his sins that ever he had done in all his life before him at which he admired having concluded before that he was perfect but they appeared before him as if they had been written in Capital Letters then the Devil layed them all to his charge and did judge him for them made him to mourn and grieve â—nd made the tears come from his eyes though against his will and consent and when he had condemned and punished him as he saw meet then he took all his sins from before him and said unto him I have blotted out thy transgressions as a thick cloud and so he let him loose from all his bonds so that he had the use of his members again and now the Devil commanded him to tell to all the people what God had done for his soul the which the man was unwilling to do because as he concluded he had been perfect for so long a time therefore now to tell out such things he would not do it plainly seeing that either he had been deluded thither to or else this spirit was a deluding spirit for he had formerly fallen down quaked and trembled and had been judged a matter of ten times a day but notwithstanding the Devil being in possession would be the chief commander and did make him speak although he opposed it with all his might but first he did so run up and down his Belly and Throat that his motion was plainly to be seen of the beholders then did he make his Tongue and Mouth to speak against his Will and Consent and caused him to utter words which by nothing that he could do was he able to resist but he being resolâ—ed to resist it if possible thrust his hand into his mouth to stop his mouth from speaking and so intended to strangle the words which the Devil perceiving by force he pulled his hand away from his mouth and made them both to stretch streight out and so to remain for a matter of two or three hours all which time he made him to speak to the admiration of the Hearers what things were done for his soul by the same spirit all which he himself did not consent unto Yea such was the operation of the wicked one upon others also that several of them that heard fell down in the house quaking and trembling exceedingly and when this spirit had done speaking in this party it left him and though he was before so exceediâ—g full of it yet now he was so empty again as if all this had not been but the wicked one as he had done by him so he did the like by several that day as was manifestly seen in that Meeting and hath been confessed by the party himself who concluded that it was the Devil which made him do those things he then did All which being considered let any indifferent man judge whether I have not just cause to conclude that those that say to others Look to the Light within c. do not intend that by any light which is within them but by that Doctrine and Spirit which is communicated unto them they should be guided directed and assisted Therefore as saith the Prophet How do you say we are Wise and the Law of the Lord is in us Lo the false Pen of the Scribes worketh for falshood the Pen of the Scribes is in vain the Wise men are ashamed they are dismayed and taken Lo they have rejected the word of the Lord and what Wisdom is in them see Jer. 8. 8 9. with the marginal Note CHAP. IV. Of the fine proofs by which the Preachers up of the so called Light within do endeavour to justifie their Way and Practice that they are not more humble in outward and Bodily Humility than some others that are Adversaries to the Truth with themselves and that they have not inward and Spiritual Humility that they are not in Vnity with the Truth in Christ Jesus nor with one another in their own way that they discern not all Secrets nor destroy the false Church-state of the Idolatrous Romish Harlot neither are their sufferings for the Truths-sake nor so great as of some other Adversaries thereunto These their fine Proofs are also supposed and yet proved insufficient to do the service for which they are brought Sect. 1 BUt seeing all Adversaries of the Gospel do endeavour by some Proofs to justifie their opposition thereunto I will therefore examine the Proofs by which thou that Preachest up to and from the so called Light within dost endeavour to justifie thy Way and Practice which are in number five First Thy Humility Secondly Thy Vnity Thirdly Thy destroying the Whore Fourthly Thy discovering all Secrets Fifthly Thy Sufferings In these pretended Proofs thou dost much rejoyce like Goliah in his Armour and in his own strength but in the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth that now sits at the Right Hand of God in the Glory of the Father I believe I shall be enabled to take from hee thy Armour wherein thou trustest and with thine own Sword to destroy thee and herein I shall deal with thee two wayes First By way of Exception And Secondly By way of Confession In both whereof it will appear that thy confidence is vain that thy strength is that of the Flesh not of the Spirit thou opposest thy self against the Lord of Hosts whose Armies thou hast defied 1 Sam. 17. 45. and the Conclusion will be thine own Destruction and Perdition except thou repent Exception to the first Proof speedily First I do absolutely deny that you whose Teachings are from and to the so called Light within c. are more Humble and free from pride than all others or than some that are Adversaries to the Truth with your selves for let us consider Pride in its two parts First That which is outward in the Bodily Habit. Secondly That which is more secret in the heart and it will appear that you are not more humble but rather more proud than several other opposers of the Gospel for there are some orders of Romish Fryers who are notwithstanding great Adversaries to the Truâ—h that excel thee in seeming Humility and neglecting the Body some of them who have been possessed of hundreds by the year have given it all away retaining not one penny to relieve their wants and spend all their dayes in Pilgrimages bare-foot and bare leg'd with no better cloathing than Hair-cloath or Sack-cloath or diet than what comes to hand by any that will take pitty of them to which hardships they voluntarily expose themselves and will not accept of a