this world and that which is to come And in the workings and attainments of this living powerful faith I have found several measures according to my growth therein from the Word of the beginning of Christ or the first Principle of Christ and the fulness age and stature of Christ as betwixt a Babe a man grown in strength much working in spirit I found betwixt faith received of Christ Jesus Christ learned in me for though I received the faith of his fulness in what he was at Jerusalem in his flesh there at once yet had not I so learned him in Spirit life in my mortal flesh nor put him on at once but in the light of Faith I saw I was so to run as to win him before I could put him on wherein I came to see and know my self begotten again in him by faith towards God who is the way to God in which way I came to see the begotten of the Father manifest in measure in me in the pure image of a Holy Child seperate from the fleshly sinful seed or Christ formed in me as the Scriptures witness and when I did behold his pure image and his pure mind and nature so far contrary to my own yet then was not he in his Kingdom nor all things put under his feet nor could I say that Jesus was then Lord in me but by the Spirits working by this Faith I had received and in hope thereof was I made to endure the loss of all things and to deny all things that ever this holy Spirit did War against in me which might any way oppresse this holy plant or hinder its growth owning his judgement in the light upon what ever was in my heart or affections but him alone though never so much gain in my account in the world which judgement being owned consented to against my self and all my self lovers therein was I parted from them in judgement and so then was they subdued by the powerful workings of that Spirit and put under his feet and I set free from them to arise with him above them being brought from under them and this was not done all at once but in order as he appeared in the light to manifest every particular evil And as that Faith I had received wrought by love to him a consent in my spirit to his just judgement upon them and I made willing to give them up to the fire and to come out of them and joyn to him in the execution least he should consume me with them as it must have been had I stayed in them and here I found the benefit of the light which goes before his face to prepare his way and the salvation of Faith which saved me through hope of him that I was not destroyed in my sins which Faith and hope gave me an entrance within the vail or a hiding place in him while the indignation was over which was to passe upon the man of sin And so a voice was heard in the wilderness calling out of sin into a way I knew not but as the light of his Covenant led me in the spirit of Elias turning my heart towards him that he might not smite the earth with a curse at his coming in which way ere I came into the Kingdom of Christ my pure rest I met with many hardships and great travels and many temptations and tryals within and without but the greatest enemies was yet within me which would upon ever hardship be tempting with unbelief to destory this Faith and hope which was all that I had set before me to encourage me to endure such hardships and to follow the light in a way I had not known and to walk in the Clouds to meet the Lord and to leave my former knowledge and wisdom and glory and riches to go in a way I had not walked and to abide such assaults on every hand every foot the world which I was called out of ready to overtake me and compasse me about and to turn me back again into what I had seen and enjoyed behind me ever seeking to perswade me that I should never attain to him that was set before me in the Faith and hope Then come I clearly to see that though I had received the Faith of Christ as a shield in this War by which I was saved that the wrath of God took me not away in these temptings and murmurings and reasonings and doubtings which did arise in the fleshly part yet the purchased possession was not yet redeemed for me to enjoy at present though I had heard and believed the Gospel of salvation and was sealed with the holy Spirit of promise till I came to be builded up with Christ for an habitation of God through the the Spirit And I found by dayly experience that my salvation was not compleat so long as my soul was subjected under any earthly lust or passion nor the War over but as by the mighty working of God in me by that Spirit this came to be subdued under the feet of Christ and the Soul set above it with him to reign in the heavenly place so was my Salvation nearer then when I believed for the Soul is not safe while sin lives or the flesh lusts for that wars against the Soul and every sin wounds it and this shall all know who are not past feeling what ever their Faith be touching Christ Jesus or what was wrought in another whilst sin defiles the Soul it is not safe nor the honest heart hath peace and rest for the rest and peace is placed in the Holy City where comes no unclean thing into which the Soul enters not till that all righteousness be fulfilled upon earth the Soul singled from all corruption have put on immortality death swallowed up in victory when the sting is taken away which is sin the strength of sin which is the Law which is not taken away but where it is fulfilled there onely grace reigns through righteousness and this I found to be truth as the truth is found in Jesus as I came to learn him and put him on by Faith which I had believed and I see the folly of such as would make void the Law by talking of Faith and Grace where sin is yet standing and the Soul taken captive therewith which I had often sought peace therein to my self but could not inherit liberty to my Soul any other way but as it came to be purified in obedience through the Spirit And this work was not wrought in me by the knowledge of Christ after the flesh but as I came to learn him in Spirit for spiritual wickedness had taken my Soul captive and by the Spirit it must be sanctified and set free And I came to see that if I had been in his company here on earth as long as his Disciples were in the flesh and seen as much as they did and heard from his own mouth I should have
man makes but with his own Gift which is good and perfect in every measure thereof And this also I have learned in Christ Jesus and declare to all that seek Faith in him That I never received any measure of this Faith of Christ in vain but whatever I acted or suffered therein from the least measure till this day in it I prevailed against what ever the light of the Spirit led me out therein and a shield I have found it and a growth in it towards Christ Jesus in every work of it wherein I have stood single to the end however tempted or tryed before the end appeared yet in the end of that Faith I was ever a Conqueror through the Spirit and whoever proves it to the end in singlenesse of heart shall be witness with me herein with a Cloud of witnesses that have gone before who by this holy Faith have prevailed over the powers of sin and entered into the holy Rest who have not sought their own Kingdom but the Kingdom of Christ And only this pure Faith which works towards the appearance of Christ in all actions and sufferings is that which orders all things in their place and time and fits all Relations for his appearance therein to glorifie God for God is not glorified in any thing upon Earth but in which the Son appears who is the express Image and Glory of God and in whom alone he Reveals himself and the glory of his Judgements and Mercy the Grace and Truth of God is in his face in whom ever he appears And so every measure of the heavenly Faith works towards the heavenly appearance and the earthly faith to the earthly appearance And so Faith in God is that which works effectually by love to the Image and Life of God in this world which is seen onely in his spiritual begettings which being believed in and set above shines forth in every measure shewing the vertue and glory of the Spirit of God but the fained earthly faith admits of some earthly thing in the heart for its end in love to which it works disobedience to the Spirit and so comes short of the glory of God for it cannot hold forth the fruits of the Spirit to glorifie God with an earthly lover in the heart nor can one faith serve God and Mammon so he that loves the things of this world is Gods enemy whose faith withstands the appearance of Christ in his actions or sufferings and so withstands the glory of God which therein should be manifest to all men and this is that faith which ever of old hath put him afar off yet gets the form and words to withstand the life and vertue And of this sort they are of whom the Apostle speaks having a form of godliness but deny the power of godliness who ever was the greatest enemies to the coming of Christ being not of the Faith of Christ nor of the Spirit of Christ but being from below withstands his coming from above to be brought forth in his vertue or worshipped in his Spirit this is Antichrist And this spirit and this faith it is that wrests the Scriptures to seduce from Christ and destroy the way of his coming and to that end what Christ really Commands to be brought forth of his life and vertue in real appearance this spirit serves himself with a meaning instead of serving Christ with real actual obedience And so his birth is a meaning instead of the life of Christ and this he sets to oppose that life least it shouldd be born into the world as for instance when Christ faith in Scriptures Him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer him the other and him that sues thee and takes thy coat forbid him not thy cloak also and him that takes away thy goods ask them not again resist not evil but but overcome evil with good and love them that hate you and many such like Commands which Christ means really and indeed and led an example in himself and who ever receives the same Spirit it moves to the same things as it grows in any and being obeyed will bring forth the same fruits to glorifie the Father thereof to all Generations which Spirit waxeth not old nor in its fruits barren where it is really received in the Faith thereof and obeyed But faith this other faith in the earthly spirit Christ did not mean as he spoke you must not take him litterally those words must have a spiritual meaning and this spiritual meaning of his is to devour the life of this obedience both in Letter of Christ and Spirit of Christ and to set up a subtle meaning without the life of Christ and contrary to his example and this he will have to take place in all both against the plain words of Christ his example in his walking and the working of his Spirit in others if he cannot destroy this faith and fruit before it be brought forth then his work is to render him a high Blasphemer in whom this Child is born and brought forth to light and counts it high presumption for any to witness the life of Christ in them by bringing it forth into the world yet himself will preach Christ in him and the Life of Christ in him and the Spirit of Christ in him and his body the Temple of God c. because he finds these words in Scripture but if any worship in that Temple so as to believe and obey unto life openly that he cannot own without a meaning instead thereof and so he sets the form to deny the Power and Christs Words he wrests to deny his coming And how long this faith hath professed him to come and his Life and Glory at his coming in its own carnal Comprehensions many may witness but is never like to receive him in the same Life and Spirit and Power in which he ever appeared and so to that generation is he ever to come but never present further then to make a cover for sins past and present and an encouragement for sin to come and thus the devourer turns the best of things into a lye in all that believes him that he may keep Christ and the Soul from their present union which he could not long do but by consent of the Creature there being that of God in every one which daily draws towards him where it is not quenched by believing lies whereby such as receive not the Truth in the love of it comes to be damned as it was in the dayes of old and a strait passage I have found into the way of Truth and life which misseth all his subtle pretences and I have seen his words true who faith Few there be that find it the enemy being every way ready to meet them that seek with a shadow meaning or some deceit to believe in stead of the substance handling the Words of God deceitfully using the gifts of God to withstand the life of the giver and turning grace
Worship did they ever make a Law to whip strangers who asks them nought or to force people to swear against the conscience and many such things are now done which in the time of the Apostles the heathen came far short of which now is filling up all against him whose coming is ever as a stranger in the earth and what hedgings here is at this day to keep him out from his own is plainly to be seen and that he should not have liberty to seek up his lost ones in high-ways and hedges Markets and Steeple-houses how have you heightned your walls higher then your fore-fathers and what daubing is at this day against the way of God from which your own wayes cannot save you for the way of God is perfect and will endure to all Generations wherein the upright walks and sinners falls in opposition thereto But how should you know his way who denies his light within seeing they that rebell against the light never knew the pathes thereof you are they who have erred in your hearts and therefore have not known his wayes and how should you have peace or enter into his rest for you that denyes his light and resists his Spirit in your hearts must needs be offended at his coming in your streets so you have set your selves against him and he hath set himself against you as at this day and therefore it is not with you now as it is was when you were in the work of making him way to walk in tender consciences and you will find him arise more to cross your wayes as you seek to stop his way you have begun to walk contrary to him and he is beginning to walk contrary to you and unto you is he become an enemy so take heed what you do for till you return will he watch over you for evil and not for good and the more you trime your own ways to withstand his way the more will he discover the blood of the innocent in your skirts before the Son till all may see you are no Christians nor what you Professe but open enemies to God and his people your hands full of blood Wherefore be not rash you headie people you that are but looking for his coming in outward observations are witnesses against your selves that his way you have not yet learned though you have read of it yet you know it not and will you appoint him a way and call it his way and will he own it who comes a way you have not known nor can believe if you be told it it would be your wisdom to stand still every one and cease from your own wayes and wait in the light which onely gives the knowledge of him and his way which light shines in the heart as faith the Scriptures and the Kingdom of God is within you and he whom you oppose is a Spirit and comes a spiritual way to cut down spiritual wickedness so to the Spirit of light turn that you may see to prepare to meet him in his own way and not to set your way to oppose him that he should break you to pieces The living God glorified in his Temples the true worshippers that worship him in Spirit and in Truth NOw glory to God in Heaven and the thousands of his Saints doth confess him upon earth who bear his Name and testimony against the world who have still put his coming afar off who have not that which they professe in them but tell of great things which they have not who are without God in spirit and his worship in spirit such as Christ said worshipped they knew not what and such now worship they know not what who worship that they have not and professe him they possesse not without God in the world in whose heart there is not God who are not the Temples of the living God but to this day worship in Temples made with hands as those who resisted the Holy Ghost ever did and how should such be holy vessels holy men and women what should sanctifie where God is not and what should lead where the spirit is not but the blind eye that leads into the ditch and what is like to govern where God is not in his throne in the heart how can such but be filled with unrighteousness who retain not God in their knowledge so it is not strange to the children of light who with the eye of God are guided to see the whole world lie in wickedness and to see such things acted against God in his Temples now by such as are without God as ever was so the Scriptures are fulfilled as you may read And ye holy in heart rejoyce and lift up your heads towards the day of Redemption and own your generation here on earth that you may be gathered to the Fathers with that which comes from above and that spirit which perfects the just and casts out the unjust where are the dogs and Adulterers and such as know not God and where the hearts are gathered to the Fathers in God there the earth is blessed whose God is the Lord who have received the spirit from on high and are filled with the Holy Ghost As Stephen was who saw heaven open who was full of God whom the great Professors stoned who was full of wroth and yet said they looked for his coming from Scriptures yet like mad men run upon him and destroyed his Temple so he destroyed their Temple which they thought to uphold who resisted God the Holy Ghost because he had no place in them who could not receive the light of the world nor his word could find place in them but in such as they cast out it found place whose bodies were the Temple of the living God as he hath said I will dwell in them and walk in them and Enoch walked within with God in spirit and was not And Isaiah God had wrought all his works in him And Jeremy was full of the fury of the Lord And Ezekiel was the son of man And Daniel had the Spirit of the most High God the Spirit of light and understanding And Paul had the Son of god revealed in him the same that he Preached and said they that knew not Christ in them were reprobates he that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit And to David the Lord said thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee and David declared it and the Saints were begotten of God and partakers of the Divine nature and confessed the Father and the Son in them and that the Son of God was come and had given them an understanding which they that looked for him to come without understood not who beat him in their Synagogues and shamefully intreated him because they knew not the Father nor the Son but said he was to come And they that had the Son had Life and the rest was children of wrath filled with wrath and so the Father and the Son supt with such as
strengthening one another against the faithful witness of Truth when you have been wounded therewith and have belied the Lord and said it is not he and if it be he let him make me better and I cannot make my self and if the Devil be in me let him cast him out and that sin and Righteousnesse is all one to God and many of you openly denying God and much more such blasphemies out of you hath proceeded all which the Innocent Lamb hath born since the day he first invited you and the Just Lord who is in the midest of you hath seen it and of you he will take revenge for the Innocent Ones sake whom he will ease of his enemy Oh the terrible day that I have seen approaching towards you and the mistery that is coming nigh when you shall be dealt withal as you have done against the Meek and the Holy Seed which hath stirred in you unto life which you have betrayed and murthered for your lusts treacherously have dealt and treacherously will you be dealt withal then shall you know that there is a God of Power and Judgement when you shall be as a mad Bull in a Net and the Fier of God underneath you then shall you chuse death and it shall flie from you who have refused the way of Life and puft at it and you who have scorned the Light shall know Chains of Darknesse Ah how have you mocked at reproof the Lord hath heard your light answers and hath borne your mockings and you have made him to serve under your lusts he is oppressed and grived and broken with your whorish hearts and you have made heavy the burthen of the meek and lowly against whom you have sported and have not considered that all this is against your own Souls and to make strong Bonds for your own Necks which you must know and feel when the just arises to plead against you for all that is written against you Verily dread is upon me when I behold your end and the way you have to goe and how few there are to be saved Alas for you how have you heaped deceit and filled your Vessels with that which the Pure God abhors You have eaten and drunken your own damnation while you have served your lusts you have chosen deceit rather then Truth and therewith shall you be deceived when you look for rest you have got words and sought out cunning waies to stop the way of judgement in you therefore is your cup become full for condemnation from the Lord God of power you are filled with the names of blasphemie against the most High yea it is written He hath marked you out he hath set himself against you and while you are building a Wall of falshood is he preparing destruction and is watching over you for evil and not for good and your wall you have made of cunning deceits will stand betwixt you and Salvation and keep you from finding the place of Repentance And you high-minded Professors also who have gotten the wisdom of words and have preached high things of God and Christ which in you is not wrought nor fulfilled but is a lie this will be required at your hands with Truth and your own words shall arise against you in judgement and when you should come to him that should answer in your behalf your Wisdom and Knowledge which you have got in that Nature which hath oppressed him will stand in your way as thick Darknesse which you cannot remove nor pass then shall you curse your God who hath set you on Preaching Words above Life and lies by which the Spirit of Truth in you and others have suffered and been denied and Gods Witnesse lie waste and been resisted in its gentle Calls Motions and Reproofs All which a just hand and unresistable will bring upon you in that Day when Chains of Darknesse hath compassed you in the Horrible Pit Deceipt Discovered by its Fruits YOu that call the Children of Light Blasphemers and Seducers and many evil Names you give out to People against them because they Preach Christ the light of the world and Christ for Righteousnesse and Perfection c. Hear what Blasphemy and Seducing and Deceiving is and who are the Deceivers They were Blasphemers who said they were Jewes and were not and this was Blasphemy in Gods account To profess in words what they were not in works Rev. 2. 9. And they were Blasphemers who said He that wrought the works of Righteousness was of the Devil Mark 3. 22 28 29 30. And James said They Blasphemed that Holy Name by which the Saints were called who drew them before Judgement Seats and Oppressed them Jam. 2. 6 7. And Saul Blasphemed in persecuting for Conscience towards Christ Now this God calls Blasphemy Falsly to take upon them the Name of a Jew seeing the Jewes were to be a Holy People to the Lord and to bear his Holy Name before all the World in Righteousness and Truth and the fruits of his Spirit which Name they who had not the Life did Blaspheme by taking the Name of a Jew And Christ calls it Blasphemy to condemne the fruits of that Spirit to be of the Devil And the Apostles calls it Blasphemy to hale before the Judgement Seates and persecute the Poor that God had chosen out of the World These were the old Blasphemers in Gods account and their Children be in the same steps till this day and therein the Truth finds them and uncovers them So come to your Rule and be tryed as you are in Deed and not in Words in Gods account and not in your Own This is the Blasphemy to say You are Christians and are not to say You are in Christ and are not to say You are of God and do the Works of the Devil that old Murtherer and Persecuter to say Such as do the Works of God are Blasphemers and to Oppress your Brethren for Conscience sake And this Blasphemy exceeds your Fathers by how much the Name of Christ excels the Name of a Jew Will you bring forth the abominable Fruits that God hates and cover them with the Name of Christ and father them upon the Spirit of Christ and say you are in Christ and Redeemed and Baptized into him and have Communion in him and get up Likenesses and Imitations from the Letter to cover you with in a nature contrary to Christ And is not this the Height of Deceipt and Blasphemy What is the Name of Christ and the Redemption of Christ the Death of Christ the Baptism of Christ the Resurrection of Christ the Communion of Christ and the Words of Christ become a Cloak for the Works of Wickedness And doth not this Blaspheme his Name his Words his Spirit his Ordinances and his People and all his Holy Things and cause them to be Blasphemed amongst the Heathen and throughout the World But to Preach Christ the Light of the World and to Confess him in us so far as we feel the
into lacivious liberty And thus have I learned in the light of the world that in my turning towards him at his reproof when I knew him not and believing in his light whom I had not seen I found that Faith given which did declare the righteousness of God in him wherein he perfectly walked upon earth both in doing and suffering which being turned towards I found the propitiation that God had sent forth through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remitting of my sins past that God might be just who could not have past by my sins past had he not accepted his sufferings nor I have had liberty from sin past to have followed him nor could I have been accepted therein but in the faith and hope of the same righteousness so God was full in justifying and his forbearance magnified towards me therein and in turning to this righteousness of his declared in the light of faith and hope my face was set towards Gods righteousness in Christ Jesus to be attained for life and salvation for time to come to walk in and so being turned towards God all my sins past was behind me and Gods righteousness before me and so from henceforth was I to be found in Gods righteousness walking in a measure of it and in the faith and hope of the fulness of Christ and attainment of God for mine inheritance And this great Redemption I found in Christ Jesus at that day was in such things as these following As first his calling of me with his light his holding forth to me his life and suffering which was so holy that I could not but confesse to them his turning me towards the same in hope thereof by believing his begetting a mind in me towards that same life and the increase of his light that way to lead me and the setting of me free from the wrath of God for all my sins of ignorance past which else had laid upon me as a weight or chain binding me that I could not have walked the way of his light c. But I do not say that if I turned to commit sin again that that sin was cast behind my back also I learned otherwise I found that sin then before my face greater then the rest and stood in my way to God and stopt me from following his light or growing in his life that I could no way escape it but by repenting of it and receiving the just sentence of condemnation in my self and bearing his indignation till he that wounded me for it healed me again which I never found but as I turned from the evil with my whole heart and accepted the punishment till the Advocate did arise to interced whose blood I had trampled on and whose precious life I had pierced and his holy Spirit grieved by turning away from his leadings Nor do I say that all my sins which formerly I had committed of which I had been convinced by the light of the world when I was in the world before I believed it to be sufficient that they was wholly taken away as my sins of ignorance was for this I found that God in this was just and merciful merciful in that he did not lay them all at once before me least they should have prest me down that I could not have followed the light nor gotten any strength but must needs have perished under them had he not spared And just I have found him also for as they were not committed all at once against the light of his Spirit so he hath at one time or other visited for them and laid them before me yet not all at once nor no way so heavy as those committed after I believed and gave up my self to follow the light and yet to an account he hath brought me for them And coming to feel the terrours of God I have learned to fear and love and have found the ground and rise and deceits of that Faith that believes Christ to have taken away the sins of believers past present and to come with which many at this day make merry over the witness of God and the just slain in them and that Scripture I have learned without a meaning if we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the Truth there remains no more sacrifice for sin but a certain fearful looking for of judgement and fiery indignation to devour the adversary though none know how but he that comes to it in the fulfilling and then shall be seen he that 's born of God sins not and he that believes is born of God but he that sins turns his back both on the Faith and birth that 's towards Christ and becomes adverse thereunto in his work what ever he sayes he believes and this I have found an everlasting truth what ever men believe or imagine that no longer then a man keeps his face towards the light of God no longer is his sins cast behind his back whether they be sins past present or to come but if he turn from Gods righteousness his own iniquities will rise and meet him both new and old and in vain doth such believe they are then blotted out of Gods sight whose oye shewes him his way in which he then walks and condemns him for it in his own heart Nor was the ground and root of sin-removed so soon as my mind was turned by the light from sin towards God but the motions thereof I found and the lust seeking to go forth to its objects to bring in to conceive sin again afresh That ground was but removed as I grew in Christ and he in me and as I came to learn him that was in the beginning before sin was who was learned in faithful following and serving of his Spirit in watching in Fastings in Prayers and in all spiritual wrestlings as I came to be led into with the light in which Warfare I came to see the hardship of him that will be a souldier of Christ Jesus and the baptisms into his death the slothful servant and the faithful and their reward and the Parables and figures of the Kingdom opened as that Spirit grew in me which interprets the Scriptures in the life and opens the sealed mysteries thereof in their season as they come to be fulfilled and so I came to the gift of the Scriptures by inspiration which onely profits to the perfecting of the man of God which the man of this world not having learned wrests to his own destruction getting the words of them in the earthly part before they be fulfilled in his heart through the Spirit and such receive them not by inspiration nor the gift of the Holy Ghost And in this journey I have seen the slothful servant overtaken with a fault which he had once cast behind him and never intended to joyn to again of which the diligent servant is kept free and I have seen the wages of each servant according to his diligence in that
which he hath of God betrusted in him and not by his own strivings in the thoughts of himself his worth or wisdom And in diligent hearkening and obeying of the Spirit have I found the right faithfulness towards God though getting knowledge be highly esteemed with men and I have found that as I have the Spirit manifest in me to profit withal so the times of my profiting is onely in his hand and my waitings upon him when he moves not is my reasonable service and a profiting time to me as if he moved though I see it not and this I found a great cross to my hasty will which indeed is the true worship in Spirit which when I knew not this Spirit to hearken and bow to and obey and observe in all things as his will leads I worshipped I knew not what and my fear towards God then was taught by the precepts of men and I was not taught of the Lord not being born of that Spirit and so all the children of the Lord are taught of the Lord and as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the Sons of God these Scriptures I then could read and understand without meanings not by that which my wisdom taught me but which the Holy Ghost taught me and the Scriptures thus learned and received was no more a notion to be lost but a possession and I came to have an inheritance therein amongst them that are sanctified in all ages no subtle man could either steal them or change them or any way beguil me of the Truth of them by wresting them nor take away my comfort I had in them my comfort and fellowship therein being in the same Spirit and life that gave them forth and the Word of God thus grew and endureth for ever and the Spirit of truth that leads into all truth endures for ever and the Seed of God is one therein to all generations and that is one which perfects the Spirits of all Just men and God himself is Judge over all and leader of all by his own begettings in all that enter into this rest of the faithful which remains to all his children out of which false Faiths and disobedience shuts themselves And that which declares the righteousness of God for remission of sins past and for an inheritance against sin for time to come have I found to be Faith without falshood which Righteousness though in the Faith and Hope beyond declaring yet inherited but as the vertues that are in Christ Jesus comes to be received in the life of them And that faith which hath not that Righteousness for its ground and end and the vertues and several measures of the growth of Christ for its life and increase That I have found upon tryal to be a fained fancy after mans mind and not after Gods measures And he that saith he hath Faith in God and is without the hope of this Righteousness for his inheritance Or saith he hath Christ further then he hath his Virtues for his life and growth towards this inheritance when he comes to be weighed with Truth will be found too light to stand in Judgement or abide the fire or to dwell with everlasting burnings The tryal of that Faith will leave him without Faith then shall it be read as it is written When the Son of man comes shall he find Faith on the Earth Who they be that are under the Law and who they be that have made void the Law against themselves and who they be that are under Grace GRace reigns through Righteousness and the Law through Transgression and he that sayes he is from under the Law and the transgressor alive he makes void the Law against himself but is under it in the account of God For the Seed or Image of God being fallen the transgressor is above to whom there is no Grace nor Life promised who hath no true obedience but for self-ends upon this is the Law added till the Promised Seed arise And a School-master the Law is till it bring to Christ who of the Woman is made under the Law who takes upon him the Seed after the flesh the Soul to Redeem from under the Transgressor that the natural Plant of God may grow so who can witness the Teachings and Chastizings of the Law to bring him so low till he come under the Seed so as the seed be set above the head of the Transgressor and have bruised it and so taken away the strength of sin there the strength of the law is taken away also And as the Soul is raised up through the law the law being fulfilled by the seed through the Spirit so it arises above the law into the Kingdom of Grace which reigns through Righteousness and not by making void the law for the Grace is to the Seed and the Law to the Transgressor and as these reign in the Creature so is he under the Law or under Grace for the Law hath power over the man of sin as long as he lives then is the Seed of the Promise in bondage but he being dead by which the seed is held Captive the seed rises under Grace which as it rises through the law fulfills it and being fulfilled it loses its strength as sin dies and so hath no more power the Law being the strength of sin till it be fulfilled by the seed through the Spirit so he that is dead to sin is free from sin and under Grace And he that casts off the the Law while he is alive that sins makes void the law against himself So he that 's under Grace is dead to sin and dead to the Law which is the strength of sin and sin hath no more dominion over the soul the power of it being subdued which was the Law unfulfilled but where the law is made void the strength of sin yet remains and the Law will overtake them in the end And he that learns this in the Death and Resurrection and eternal life shall in this work learn what the Transgression is and how the law is added upon him and how it is the strength of sin in him but not in the seed and what it is that makes the entrance through the law and how Grace comes to abound where sin hath abounded and to reign through Righteousnesse unto eternal life So where the Transgressor is slain there the Law is at an end and fulfilled and the natural Plant of God brings forth against which there is no law but the law is against the man of sin and the man of sin against the law as long as he lives and power it will have over him and one jot of it will not passe away till it be fulfilled And he that would cast off the Law and make it void is far from Grace but in him that fulfills the Law doth Grace and Truth abound Of the Way of Life from the Knowledge that devoures the Life Wouldest thou know the Way of Life from
that Knowledge which devours the life then be no longer as the wild Asses Colt but take up the yoak of the Son in whom thou sayest thou believest that the life of Faith thou may feel and know for only in the obedience is the life made sure to thee of what thou believest and thereby is Faith and Knowledge made perfect But until thou attain power for obedience of Faith thou art dead and knows but words in which thy Faith stands without life which accomplishes nothing but will arise to condemn thee when thy time is out Therefore in all thy seeking mind that which worketh in a lowly mind calling thee into the Obedience of what is there made manifest in the begettings of the Father and not in the conceivings of the Brain but in the Son For in the Brain-knowledge the Boaster Rules who glories in the wisdom of words but not in the words of life but in the Obedience of the Son is the Father known and glorified in such as walk in the Spirit and not in the wind whose praise is of God and their lives hid with him from all knowledge but what is Revealed in the Obedience of the Son So from man you may learn the knowledge of words but the knowledge of life is only begotten of God so he that hath the Son hath life not of the disobedient Nature for the only begotten of God is Conformable to him that begetteth him in all things through Obedience So feeling thy measure of the begettings of God in it be obedient and seek not to be above it in any thing lest the enemy thereby get power in thee to puffe up thy mind in thy Knowledge above thy life which devoures the life Therefore as thou feels Faith Love Meeknesse Gentlenesse Patience or any Godlinesse move in the Spirit therein become obedient with all diligence and thereby shalt thou know the power thereof against all the contrary motions in thy flesh so shalt thou learn the salvation of Grace unto life eternal which thou canst never attain by talking or any other way but in the Obedience thereof so shalt thou not receive the grace of God in vain nor words without the working power of life whereby the living knowledge of the Mystery of godlinesse will daily encrease For by Obedience of the Spirit is the soul purified from its darknesse and pollution and made fit for the further manifestation of the hidden Mystery and the receiving the fulnesse thereof and walking therein And so by the holy Ghost thou shalt be able to confess Jesus Lord over all powers in heaven and in earth the opener of all secrets and only revealer of the Father who begetteth by whom thou becomes wise in thy knowledge unto salvation not unto vain babling whose words shall rise and Condemne them who glory therein But thou if in Spirit thou hearken diligently and obey shalt know that he who sometimes spoke by the Prophets doth now speak by his Son the everlasting power of godlinesse only begotten of the Father and in all things like unto him in whom he is made manifest And the Prophets have Prophefied of Glory to come but the Son declares the Father in the present life according to the measure of him formed and as he arises in fulness he opens the heavens and gives the inheritance thereinto An opening of Light to all sorts of Rulers and People that wait for the Kingdom of God that you may not oppose him in his appearance nor set up another to reign upon earth in his stead DO you say you seek God you Rulers and People will you seek his face upon earth or would you see his appearance to reign in righteousnesse or can you rejoyce to see him manifest in Flesh or do you love his Image who is the Father of Lights from whom you look for the Son from Heaven then be not carnally minded in your expectation least you know him not in his appearance who is a Spirit and so oppose him as your Fathers in the flesh ever did except you be born of the Spirit you cannot see the Kingdom of God The Father dwells in the light and changes not and the Son is the light of the World in his own Image by whom he changes all things that are out of him and overturns shadows and customs and makes the world new and in Spirit and power is his Kingdom upon Earth and the flesh is the Vail with which he was ever hid from flesh and blood but revealed in spirit to such as desired to know no man after the flesh to set up or to worship And no man could ever say that this Jesus was Lord but by the Holy Ghost So with the light of the Spirit alone which sees through the vail is Jesus known to be Lord and King for ever with which you may all see what you set up to be Lord and Ruler in your selves or over others You that chuse Rulers Judges and Justices Mayors and Constables c. Do you see through the Vail to chuse Jesus in Spirit to Rule over you or over others Is that eye open which knows the Holy Ghost and what Vessell is filled therewith that you may chuse him to Rule in his Kingdom do you seek for that Spirit to chuse withal by which alone Jesus is known to be Lord Then it is plain you seek Gods Kingdom in the face of Jesus Christ who is that spirit which turning to causes the vail to be taken away from all hearts and will change you also into his Image by that Spirit as saith the Scriptures So there was none to be chosen for Judges Kings or Rulers in Israels Common-wealth but who had of this Spirit and Unction put upon them and then the Lord Reigned over them in his Anointed whether King Priest or Prophet man or woman but when they chused Rulers like other Nations then they rejected not Samuel but the Lord that he should not reign over them Now you that say you seek the Lord to Rule over you and say thy Kingdom come minde what you chuse to rule in you or over you with what spirit least your practise oppose your prayers and make void your daily expectation do you chuse after the flesh as other Nations do or do you chuse after the holy Ghost If you chuse after the flesh then you set the vail betwixt you and the Lord and Gods Kingdom and his Image you cannot see and so you reject the Lord as other Nations do but if you look through the Vail unto that which is within the Vail then shall the vail be taken away from all your hearts and you shall see him amongst you whom you wait for and him alone set up and worship and chuse him alone to reign over you who is near you at hand to all that put not his day afar off So if you make Rulers like all the Nations then after the flesh they that are rich they that are proud they
that are full of earthly glory c. Here is the earth set above then the Vail is before your eye and you see not the Lord that Spirit nor do you set up Jesus to be Lord by the Holy Ghost But if that eye be open in you that can see through the Vail of earth and all this deal of flesh and darknesse to that which is within the Vail even the Holy One in his Temple him to chuse and set above in your minds Then your eye shall see the Lords anointed and the King in his Glory and he shall rule whose right it is in every heart and your Governous shall be of your selves and all violence shall cease and shakings of Governments the Government being upon his shoulders who is the Prince of all your peace in the great in the small who shall reign in righteousnesse and judge the people with equity for God and not for rewards to whose authority every knee shall bow and every tongue confesse for conscience sake his Name being written in every heart will then be read whose Kingdom is everlasting and in spirit and power he reigns and in spirit is worshipped in Heaven and in Earth who fills all things with the presence of his Glory and his Kingdom is near to all that can believe it s within you saith Christ and he rules where he is not known though not to salvation who is made of the Seed of David after the flesh by the Word of God to all Generations a King for ever according to promise whose Kingdome the eye which the God of this World hath blinded is putting afar off who sees not the Light of his Glorious Gospel though he be not afar off but him in whom all things have life and being either to salvation or condemnation and this is the condemnation that light is come already into the World which men who loves their evil deeds say is to come and so looks for that without who is a Spirit within and therein hath ever reigned more or lesse but now is arising to his day over all the World whose sound is gone out to the ends of the earth and his light ariseth in every heart to life or condemnation and some it leads into rest and others it pricks to the heart and they kick against it and will not have it to rule therein and to this day he is rejected of the builders who is the first born unto God in Spirit blessed over all And now all sorts of people who in truth wait for the Kingdom of God upon earth with that which in you is of him you may all see if you keep that eye single when he draws near who is born of the Spirit and when he is put afar off in his Government here below when you behold in any manner of Authority such a spirit as is for God alone looking to that of God in every man without respect of person or riches and with a single eye seeks to find out where that measure of God is transgressed in any or where it is oppressed by any and with that measure of God in himself seeks to set judgement upon the head of the transgressor and to set free the innocent principle of God in all which will not lead any to evil then is the judgement of God and for God and that of God is set above in all that 's he that 's born of God here the Kingdom of God is near and as this increases so God draws near and his Kingdom increases and that of God in you all will answer thereto and rejoyce thereat which waits for him and that which is upright in every heart shall say that is the Judgement of God and in that Vessel is God on his Throne according to the measure of that Spirit set up in Judgement so is Jesus Lord by the holy Ghost known and bowed to But on the contrary in what place of Authority soever it be in which the Innocent comes for Judgement against the Oppressor who is too strong for him and so seeks to justice to plead his Cause and to deliver the seed of God that is burthened And when he comes his Cause is not heard but is thrust away if not further ensnared because he cannot oppress that of God in him more either by bowing to something of vain Customs or Worships never set up by God nor owned by his witness for Conscience sake Or else because he cannot fire his judgement by feeding a Covetous Spirit which is for Rewards and not for God that he Judges and so the Innocent soul is not relieved at this throne but sent away as an of fender from that place where he should be eased and justified with the judgement of a free spirit for justice sake doth not that of God in you all testifie against this that judgement is here turned backward in that vessel and that Jusus is not Lord therein so the innocent heart is sadned but not saved and the Kingdom of God put afar off and the Scepter of righteousness not seen Wherefore Rulers and People who set up flesh in stead of the holy spirit to rule over you the wills of men the pride and glory of this world or any visible thing here below born after the flesh see what you chuse and what you put afar off and with that spirit you now chuse you will never see the Kingdom of God nor be able to say in truth that Jesus is Lord It s by the spirit of holiness meekness and true judgement and works of righteousness that Jesus is known to Reign and therein stands the sight of his Kingdom and Lordship in every heart in every Court and in every place of judgement to all generations which you deny in chusing the man of this world after the flesh to rule in you or over you therein And yet you say you look for him and thy Kingdom come delay but deny him in the simplicity of his lowly spirit to rule for his own in all as all your Rulers ever did as you have read in words and now may read in deeds the world by wisdom knows not God so that spirit chuses its own to rule but cannot receive him whom you say you look for And how should any one who sees the Kingdom of God and where the simplicity of Christ is above own that Kingdom or worship that spirit and not betray the simplicity of Christ and give his honour to another And if in the meekness of mind you did but weigh this you could not think it so strange why so many at this day who have received the Kingdom of God in his lowly just and righteous spirit chuse rather to suffer death under that spirit of this world then to bow to worship it or confesse that due thereto which belongs onely to Jesus the Lord neither would you say it was obstinacy or contempt of Authority rather to suffer by the will of man then to rob
delight in these things who ever hath come to take the minds of his people out of these things up into the heavenly treasure doth he now delight in earthly glory strife and exaltation Is the weapons of his Warfare now become carnal wherewith he overcomes his enemies doth he now come with haling and beating whips and prisons and cruel tortures to take the Kingdom of peace who hath suffered such things formerly from the world himself will he now turn oppressor of that which is tender in Conscience and grind the face of the poor or pervert the Judgement of the needy Should he now be seen in works of this nature were this to appear the second time without sin unto Salvation as he is promised Sure the vail is thick over that heart who sees not that this is not his Kingdom Power nor Glory nor his Image who is the same yesterday to day and for ever Yet is this nature above in many and chosen to Rule over many who say they wait for his Kingdom that eye being darkned with the love of the world which should give the true fight of his coming the carnal mind thinks God to be like himself But did you but honestly look into your own hearts with that eye which puts a difference between things that differ in your selves to know each motion of each Spirit and each power and the end and nature of its working the earthly and the heavenly you would soon be able to Judge of these two which so far differ in their fruits and are so contrary in all things and to own the right heir in his Kingdom But while you suffer the god of this world to keep his throne in your hearts by letting him captivate your minds and affections into earthly delights it is not like he will suffer you to chuse aright nor receive another to reign in you or over you the eye of the minde being blinded therewith the light of the Gospel cannot shine into the heart by which you should chuse and which gives the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus nor that treasure be seen or received in the earthen vessel as King either in your selves or others but the wise in heart knows what they wait for and when they see him they rejoyce with the joy of his Kingdom which consists not in carnal things nor comes with outward observations but whose coming is within and whose Kingdom consists in Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost blessed be our King for ever and blessed are they who put not his Kingdom afar off And therefore you Rulers and People of all sorts high and low this word is to you and this day is to you the day of the Lord arise and receive your King into his Kingdom that he may receive you and establish you therein the Lord is at hand he is near to all that call upon him in truth righteousness To you Princes Judges Justices Mayors and Constables all sorts of Rulers who are in the place to Govern the Lord is at hand he is near you all the Kingdom of God is within you the Principle of God is within you with which if you mind it he will break the yoak of the oppressor within you and without you by the sword of Justice that 's his Kingdom upon earth put it not afar off let it arise in your hearts set it up above the will of man let it shine in your hearts let it speak in your Courts that which is of God in you all which Judges justly and with equity lay by your will your pride your covetousness and all that 's above that Spirit of meekness in your minds and make room in your hearts for the Holy Ghost that thereby Jesus may be Lord in you and over others that you may know him to whom Judgement belongs to be in you you need not say who shall ascend into Heaven to bring down Christ from above or who shall descend into the deep to bring up Christ again from the dead for he is nigh you and you may feel his witness in Spirit and his Word is in your hearts the Word of Faith the Word of Righteousness that therewith you may all know him who standeth in the Congregation of the mighty to Judge among the Gods who Judges not unjustly nor accepteth the person of the wicked but that with him you may deliver the Poor and Fatherless and Judge the cause of the Stranger wherein they are oppressed that 's his Kingdom and that 's the Word of Faith and the Word of Righteousness that leads to it And if this be set up in your own hearts to love it more then gifts and rewards persons or earthly glory then is the Lord near you and his Kingdom is above the earth in you and your work will be to set it above the earth in others and so the Kingdom of your Father who begets this in your hearts his Kingdom comes as his Will is done upon earth as it is in Heaven where all obey him there is the Kingdom his the Power is his by which you Judge and the glory is his of your Righteous Judgement now and for ever if you therein abide And thus shall you be of the obedient Children to that of your Father in you begotten who say and do who pray and practise and not like the Scribes and Pharisees and Lawyers who said and did not who made long prayers but devoured the poor and needy and Judged not the cause of the stranger but laid heavy burthens upon others and bowed not thereto themselves who could not believe in the light nor receive Christ within them though he told them the Kingdom of God was within them and his Word had no place in them who was filled with pride and wilfulness so they had lost the Key of knowledge the Key of David to open to them the way into annointing whereby to know Davids Lord to reign in Spirit which hath the Promise of Davids Throne for ever So when they lost this the Kingdom departed from Israel and the Priesthood also and he set up his sign to the Gentiles preaching the Kingdom of God to them that were afar off and they that were not a people came to the Kingdom of his annointing and that great Mystery that had been hid from ages was opened thereby to the Gentiles which was Christ in them the Hope of Glory and Kingdom of the Father And now you that are called Christians and are making great Declarations what a glorious Kingdom the Kingdom of Christ will be at his coming and what holiness and righteous Government and many high things and great glory you look for c. But above all the rest how are you estranged who are gone out again from the annointing to look for this without you while you reject it within you Was Christ within them that great Mystery that had been hid from ages which by the hearing of Faith was
had them and the Lord was at their Table and they fed with him in his sufferings and blood and the rest made a large Profession of him but fed at the table of Devils and these grew great in violence and strong to devour and shed blood and the other excelled in meekness and patient in suffering and here were they separated into life and death never like to meet more And here now may all read the worship in spirit in such as know God in spirit and the worship in Letter in them that have not God know not what they worship and these know not what they do who know not what they worship and the Son of God faith Father forgive them they know not what they do who saith they worship they know not what who worship not in spirit who worship in their thoughts of God but not the Spirit of God in possession and knowledge who think they do God service to kill and destroy the Temple of God because they know not him in themselves that is worshipped therein as Christ hath foretold and must be fulfilled at the coming of the Holy Ghost And when God descends from heaven to walk on Earth in his Temples and to require his worship to himself out of all Sects and traditions this is his entertainment from all that look for him in observations whose coming is within and his Kingdom is within you And now to you he is come of whom you have been long talking and in that way he appears among you of which you are Preaching The Jews had but the prophesies and shadows to know him by reading without them but you read and Preach in words of the lively pattern in spirit and have heard of the same Life and Testimony which now he bears against you in his Temples and when he comes you cannot receive him who suffers the same things among you Oh England how wilt thou stand in judgement what wilt thou plead for thy selfe when he arises to judgement whose Testimony against thee is drawing to an end what will be thy excuse and who wilt thou say thou took him to be who now endures such contradiction against himself such haling beatings scourgings and mockings and banishings imprisonings and death without resistings hast not thou heard of him before he came that thou might have known in this thy day the things of thy peace hast thou not read of him that is sent to seek his lost in Temples Synagogues in Markets and where the greatest of the people be in which manner he now appears being refused of the rich gathers the poor in the high wayes and hedges yet hath no where to lay his own head hast thou not heard of the everlasting way of his walkings in Prophets and Apostles his pilgrimage in their bodies upon earth who was ever a stranger in the world at his coming from heaven what spirit wilt thou say this is which hath conformed so many at this day who was amongst you like wolves to devour others now to suffer the spoiling of their goods and torturings of their bodies and taking away their lives without seeking the least revenge wilt thou at that day say thou had thought it had been the spirit of the Devil as many of you now doth though in your consciences otherwise convinced Alas for thee how art thou wept over at this day And what a lamentable sorrow hath many of the Lords servants for thee whom thou hast cast in holes and prisons for their obedience to God and testimony of their conscience towards God in them whose patient sufferings and unparaleld cruelties are no more valued with thee then if they were dogs and this hath gone throughout thee from the least to the greatest till there be very few left which are not wholly hardned so that to hear of these evil dealings exercised upon the innocent doth no more enter your hearts then the rain enters a rock wherefore our souls are troubled for you and our hopes concerning your healing grows dayly less and our sufferings in the Lord Jesus dayly greater hasting to the full and what will you do in the end thereof Or whom shall we take to witness for you or may you be compared with any that ever hardned themselves in these wayes and escaped destruction that our hopes might revive and our prayers not cease did ever any thus deny the life of what yon Preach in words your selves and which some of you have in measure felt and suffered for and have been answered in by the Lord and your eyes have seen the vengeance of the Almighty and how dreadful it hath been both upon Kings Priests and Rulers for resisting Ah how much better had it been for you never to have known these things which you have seen read and Preached then now that they should be fulfilled upon you to the uttermost how well had it been for you had you been as those you call heathen rather then to Profess Christ and thus act against him at his coming even in the same way your selves Preach him Alas alas what hath the innocent done why he thus is used among you doth he cry against sin against pride against false worships against corrupt Rulers corrupt Teachers corrupt Lawyers c. And with much meekness bears his witness against these evils in you for a testimony of light to your words whom he hath lifted up in wrath and zeal and judgement against the same things in the persons of others and will not this arise against you of which you are witnesses all in one generation But say thou he breaks the peace and breaks our Law and is unmannerly c. But was he not ever so accounted and is he not now in the same way he ever walked what would that peace do for you could you keep it whole which is broken by reproving sin and deceit Is there any peace to the wicked from God will be keep that Law which will not give him liberty to Reign in his Temples and to lead his people by his Spirit or will you plead that Law against him in judgement when he comes to deal with you who should know his Law written in your hearts to limit you and not your Laws to limit him nor your manners must not bind the conscience where he is known to be King and this you know is truth and have pleaded it against others and now cannot own it will not the Laws of Christ and the manners of Christ of which you read in Scripture agree with your Government and peace who calls for his Kingdom to come amongst you and profess to rule according to Scriptures how will this stand at that day when you must not be your own Judges nor by your own Laws And why is he counted your enemy seeing his appearance now is in love to give you light out of this for your Eternal salvation against which he will certainly come in Judgement to