and children of the Independent party and root them all out Alas poor creatures God may suffer you to do something in this kinde but you shall finde that God will hide his people under the shadow of his wings and when you have killed all yet those that you would kill shall be left alive For as God made the Nations formerly to kill one another while Israel looked on and were saved from their malice Even so God can make an outside-professing-Service-book man to kill an outside-professing Presbyter and God may suffer an outside-professing Presbyter to kill an hypocriticall Independent and so make the seed of the Serpent to sheath their swords in one anothers bowels while his sincere hearted ones scattered abroad in the Kingdom shall stand and look on and be preserved by Gods protecting care from the danger For you hot spirited men if you will beleeve Scripture which you Idolize so much for you prefer those writings before the God of the Prophets and Apostles you shall finde that God told Ezekiell That when Gog and Magog purposed to destroy Gods People when they were at rest and dwelt at ease why saith God when my people are at rest thou shalt not know it but I will sanctifie my self upon thee O Gog before their eyes And so let these hot spirited people in these dayes do the worst they can they shall never destroy all Gods people out of the Land God will have his witnesses to rise up that shall torment these inhabitants of the earth for though God suffer persecution scoffs reproachful names and oppression yet he will not suffer a small rooting out of his Saints For if the Nations of old could not root out Israel after the flesh which were one single nation visible among all the nations of the earth though they did endeavour it neither can you now you hot spirited people root out all the Saints much lesse you will finde it now the more difficult for now the Saints doe not live all in one Nation but are scattered through all Nations kindreds tongues and People The appearence of God among them is not altogether in out ward formall worship and Temple service as it was to the Jews visible to the eye of the world But the appearance of God now is in the Saints that they worship the Father in spirit and truth in such a secret manner as the eye of the world cannot nor does not alwayes see And therefore though the mysterie of iniquitie seek to kill all as these unbeleevers that are the actors thereof do say they will yet they cannot because they cannot know them And when they have killed all as they think if God should suffer them to act their bloody intents and words yet in conclusion it will appear that the enemies kill one another and spirituall Israel will be preserved Herod killed all the children about two yeres old I but the Child Jesus whom he sought chiefly to kill was gone sent by God far out of Herods reach and when it shall appeare in conclusion that they have killed their own hypocritical people and the sincere hearted whom they aymed at are escaped their vexation wil increase and they will dye with sorrow Therefore now Judge if God be not the chief sufferer because they will not leave God a seed on earth you Saints of God be not troubled to hear that your neighbours will plunder and kill you and root out all Israel out of the land they cannot do it God will fight for you against them the cause is Gods not yours And in seeking your ruine they will pull their own ruine speedily upon themselves Pharaoh thought to destroy Israel and his own destruction which he thought least upon was accomplished Be not troubled at these threatnings but stand still waite with a quiet peaceable heart on God and see what a deliverance he will work for you Assure your selves I see God working a great deliverance for you your number shall increase the number of bloody minded men shall decrease therefore do you meet God by faith and honour him by owning him in the middest of these stormes the enjoyment of your riches friends or bodily life doth not make you happie nor the losse of these cannot make you miserable if you have these it is the enjoyment of God within that gives you a sweet use of them without if all be taken from you it is your Fathers will to suffer it and he will be honoured by it your oppressions and sufferings will bring glory to him And if you lose your life then your work in done therefore stand still with comfort in the place and condition God hath put you in And say Father do with my estate my body my life what thou wilt honour thy selfe in me and by me and thy will be done Now if once God hath brought your spirit to this frame then God is glorified on your behalf for now the glory of Christ the King of righteousnesse hath subdued the Serpent and is revealed in you But God is evil spoken of and doth suffer on their behalf that persecute Now know you weake ones that it is not you but God who is the greatest long sufferer in these times it is not men but the appearance of God in men which the mysterie of iniquity strives against for do you not see how the spirit of lies would root out the spirit of truth the spirit of envy would root out the spirit of love the spirit of hypocrisie would root out the the spirit of sincerity the spirit of pride and self honouring would root out the spirit of humility that honours God the spirit of self-will would root out the spirit of meekness and patience that waits upon the will of God the spirit of unfaithful rashness discontent would root out the spirit of quietness that is at restin God the spirit of greedy covetousness injustice and oppression would root out the spirit of justice and tenderness that depends upon God And in one word the mysterie of iniquitie Beast whorish spirit or flesh having a time given him of God to act and shew its wisdome and power strvies might and maine to root out all appearance of God out of mankinde But alas poor Serpent thou must die thy self Gods time is neer expired that he gave thee and he is rooting thee out of mankinde and consuming in the fire of his wrath for he will become the Lord our righteousness and dwell in flesh himselfe this is Gods mysterie which he is in and about to make publikely manifest amongst men But as yet hypocrisie raignes and would raigne as King And sincerity which is God is laughed to scorne The national peace and liberty is pretended that is the outward shew of love to God but secretly most men both of high and low degree intend either to inrich themselves with the kingdomes monies ruins or else by their secret
it would vex him and make him speak evill of God therefore desires that such a crosse might befall Iob and God said Amen I grant thee thy desire let that befall him The spirit of envy imagines that if Iobs house was burned and his children killed it would make him blaspheme God and therefore desires that power God said Amen I grant thee that power so to do to him The spirit of envy imagines another mischief and would have Iob filled with diseases in his body and would have his friends and kindred forsake him and to be a bitter crosse to him God said Amen let it be so Now these evils are acted upon Iob as if the devill did it by his power distinct from God but no it is by Gods power limited to the devil at the devils request not so much to gratifie the devil as by this means to bruise his head for God makes use of Satans malice in desiring these miseries to befall Iob to do two things first to try Iob and to make him the more bright and faithfull to God as he appeared afterward And secondly to shame envy and the devil by his own weapon for such means as the devil did imagine would make Iob to curse God God uses the same and thereby made Iob to worship him more experimentally The spirit of pride covetousnesse and envy desired to sit in Gods Temple Mankinde and not only in the whole bulk of Mankinde but in that part which is neerest and dearest to God even the Spouse of Christ or elect City that thereby he might the more provoke God Well God said Amen and grants him a power to sit there and to rule and tred the holy City under foot forty two moneths or for a time times and a half time and now the devil raigns not by a power absolute of his own but by a limited power and a limited time too given him from God And truly all this time Satan hath made use of this power and his malice hath appeared very violent and not only the Saints but God in the Saints especially hath suffered for his wisdom his love his patience his faithfulnesse and truth hath been tempted and tryed to purpose I but the King of righteousnesse is the same he alters not and therefore in conclusion when the righteous Law takes away this limited power which this devil and wicked one desired and obtained it will then appear it did him no good but proves his utter shame and ruine and declares God to be the only one infinite beeing to the eternall glory of his own name And so in these dayes we see and feel great troubles and temptations do compasse men round and it appears to the eye of man as if envy hypocrisie pride and self-will ruled as it would himself and as if there were no power to restrain this flood of ungodlinesse I but dear friends know that all this power of temptation which you see in the hand of malice and hypocrisie it is not their own power but Gods power or the dispensation of visible wrath which God hath put into the hand of that evil spirit for a time It is not his own absolutely but it is a limited power and time and this speaks great comfort to the Saints for God will bring good out of all this God our God and Father stands and looks on and the end of all this hurly-burly will bring everlasting glory to the Father in and through his Saints and everlasting shame and ruin to the devil Therefore be not troubled you Saints of the most high though you be hated reproached and persecuted for if you would see Satans head bruised you must first suffer your heel to be bruised by his temptations so that reason tells you that there is a necessitie that the Divell should enjoy a limited time and power Well God himself suffers most in these times for though Satan get a power to try and tempt the saints and to trouble the world yet the envy of the flesh principally strikes at God for pride fights against humilitie malice fights against love falshood fights against sincerity ignorance fights against knowledge self-will in flesh fights against the King of glory the pure spirit that dwels in flesh So that God himself is the sufferer But that Satan or father of lies shoots at and the Father suffers it thus to be and limits him a power thus to fight against him that in conclusion he may send forth the brightness of his Law and bruise Satans head by his own weapons and Judge and condemne him by the words of his own mouth and works of his own hands and swallow up that spirit of envy and darkness into himself the spirit of love which is the power of God yea God himself and so takes him out of the way that troubles his Saints that they may rest and lie down sweetly in him and to have no troubler at all to trouble them when this accuser is once cast out of Heaven The Saints in all their afflictions look upon the hand of God that smites them as Iob did but unbeleevers that live after the flesh think it is the Devils power and not God CHAP. III. NOw this adverse power which men readily think is the Devils power distinct from Gods as though God had no hand in it appears to me to be the very power of God in an immediate dispensation of wrath upon the sinner and that which we call Devill that terrifies is but the declaration of the rigour of the righteous law of God laying hold upon the corruption that is in the creature which the sinner cannot look upon and live for if God look upon any creature through the righteous law which the creature man hath gone astray from he cannot live But when the law of love hath swallowed that law of works that required perfection from the creature then the brightness power of that love shining upon the heart and changing the man in to the same nature and glory makes him able to behold God and live yea and to live joyfully too both in him and before him But let me not digress too far The adverse power spoken of is the very dispensation of the wrath of God upon sinners and there is one scripture doth countenance this which is this So he drove out the man and placed at the East of the garden of Eden Cherubins and a flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life By tree of life is meant God himself in whom Adam dwelt And Adam himself was that living garden in whom God delighted But since Adam began to delight in himself he went out of God and God set this flaming sword to flash against Adam that so he might come into God again and taste and eat and delight himselfe in that tree of life till it was the good pleasure of God to take him in again And so all sinners
for time is coming that every one must be taught of God and this troubles him very much Well all these troubles and such like proceed from the shinings forth of the righteous law upon the proud heart and he cannot bear it because he seeks himselfe more then God the unbelief of the heart lives by sence upon the creature the law of God tels the heart he must trust God and not man and though all sence fayl him from men and creatures yet to waite upon God but this troubles him he cannot wait and if he do wait he questions whether he shall have such things he is bid to wait for and the poor heart lies under great tossings Again in his course of trading in the world if he ask sometimes too little or sometimes too much for his wares then he is troubled and do what he can his heart is troubled because he thinks he might have done better when business goes cross to his minde he is troubled whether it be fair weather or fowl if it be not just to his minde he is troubled Then appears pride covetousnesse frowardness uncleaness springing up in his heart and these trouble him if he cannot speak for God when others speak against him as he thinks then he is troubled if he do speak of the things of God then his heart tels him he is an hypocrite or self-lover and then he is trobled so that there arises not a thought in his heart but there is some fretting or trouble tyed to it And vvhat are all these and such like but even a legion of devils or troublers that holds the creature under bondage and torments him thus in hell day and night I call it a hell for it is a condition of darkness below the life comfort and peace of God All these are wrought in the soul by the righteous Law for the creature strives to be wise and the Law proves him a fool he would fain be righteous and the light of the Law shews him he is a wicked hypocrite he would fain have faith and holiness in him and the Law shews him he is an unbelieving sinner he would fain enjoy the peace of God and yet enjoy himself too the Law tels him he must deny himself and take up his cross daily if he would enjoy God he would fain be counted some body for wisdom faith prayer preaching the Law tels him all is as good as nothing because he goes forth in his own strength and the power of the father is absent And thus the Law is that flaming sword which turns every way upon the sinner and scorches the poor imprisoned soul in every thought of his heart burning up his pride and self-conceit so that the righteous Law raigns like a Tyrant in and over the poor prisoner and while the soul is thus tormented by the dispensation of wrath the envious spirit of darkness that rules in other men delights to see this poor creature thus under bondage and so casts jeers slanders reproaches and hard usage upon him Envy rejoyces in others misery even as Love rejoyceth in the liberty and life of others But poor soul know this that God is burning up thy dross and ere long vvill set thee at liberty and the fire of love that burns in thee will break forth to thy comfort and then he will give thee power to rejoyce over the Devill and to set thy feet upon his neck as a conquered slave even as he makes thee his slave now Then secondly This same imprisoned creature that lies under the Law being as yet not set free by the Son meets with many troubles without and these are but dispensations of wrath as the other was likewise as sicknesse frowns of friends hatred of men losses of his estate by fire water being cheated by false spirited men death of his cattle or many such like casualties whereby he becomes poor in the world and meets with many straits as hard language hungry belly to be despised imprisoned and abundance of such provocations in the vvorld And it may be meets with fearfull Apparisions in the night or day that terrifies him as it was Jobs case he was filled with terrors in the night sometimes these troubles lie within a mans spirit in griefs and sadpressures inward burnings of trouble and torment which no man is sensible of but himself and sometimes it breaks forth in bitter words and speeches through oppression of the spirit to the disturbance of others and this is called madness or distraction which grows upon a man when the pure Law doth cross his carnall imagination wilfull will pride covetous or lustfull desires then doth the distemper of his troubled spirit break out But when Christ comes and sets him free then he comes to see that whatsoever did befall him must befall him it was the will of the father for the burning up of his dross and pride of flesh and shall be made to say Father thy will be done and for ever yea infinitely for ever be thy name praised that thou hast given me such a heart to be content and submit in love and meekness to thee and to take every thing in love from thee this is thine own handiwork it was not thus formerly but thou hast drawn me through a nipping and pinching wilderness into this land of Canaan even to lie down in rest in thine own bosome praysed be thy name Yea but the poor troubled soul is offended at my words and thinks and saies this cannot be it is impossible that any man should have such a frame of spirit Alas poor man I have been as thou art but if thou canst believe in Gods love and power from the testimony of another thou wilt believe this for a truth But if thou cannot believe but yet remain troubled he that feels the sweetness of such a work of God knows it to be a truth wait upon God as thy fellow servant doth for his pure teaching and thou wilt finde him the same to thee as he is to another Paul writes of one that was in Christ before him and so though thou wade through flames of fire to imbrace God in thine armes thy comforts will be the sweeter thy experience the more and thou wilt greatly rejoyce in that thou hast been in so hot a fire when the father causes thee to lie down in his bosom the liberty in this rest is now so sweet to thee And truly friends let me tell you that which hath been often of late whispered into my spirit and I believe there is something in it that this wrath bitternesse and discontent that appeares generally in mens spirits in England one against another upon the breakings forth of the truths of God doth whisper in my spirit that the Father hath cast England into the fire and is purging the drosse from the gold that liberty is not far off and that the plentifull pouring out of the Anoynting even the spirit
say man is the world a perfect creation from whose poysoned flesh proceeds the lust of the eye the lust of the flesh and the pride of life these are not of the Father Now light is come into this world that is the spirit of right understanding hath taken up his dwelling in this flesh and from hence man is called a reasonable creature which is a name given to no other creature but man because the spirit of reason appears acting in him which if men did submit themselves unto they would act righteousness continually and so man would become Lord of all other creatures in righteousness I But men love darkness rather then light men here spoken of are the evill masculine powers of created man in his poysoned estate as man pride man covetousness man hypocrisie man self-love and King imagination that rules over all and in all these and this or these is the wicked man spoken of in scripture these I say are called men because they rule over the created flesh which is the feminine part and leads it captive in unrighteousness and will not suffer it to obey the King of righteousness which is called conscience likewise in the creation man For I say every particular man and woman is a perfect creation or a world of him or her self And those powers are the men that live and raign in that poysoned created world for these will not submit to righteousness and what is the reason VVhy because their deeds are evill Indeed covetousness is an evill man and pride and envy are evill men and all the rest of their imaginary companions in the soul they are evill men yea the wicked man and all their actions are evill like themselves and they will not submit themselves to righteousness That mightie man of truth whose dwelling is in flesh likewise he dwels in heaven and hell that is he dwels in cleansed flesh his Saints where he is seen and known he dwels in uncleansed flesh the vile ones of the earth where he is unknown and unseen by them though he as he is the righteous Judge doth check and condemn them yet they smother his smitings within themselves and will not submit for which disobedience sake their spirit is filled with horror and bitterness and they roar in hell Speak thou wretched man if thou hast not found terrible affrightings and torments within thy self when thou hast refused to act the righteous motion of conscience within who indeed is the King of glory though thou art ignorant of him and submittest thy self to King flesh in all the beastly actings of it Well these masculine powers of the poysoned flesh stand it out against the King of glory till he cast them into the lake of fire into his own spirit by which they are tried and being found but chaffe and not able to endure are burned and consumed to nothing in the flame No man or woman needs to be trobled at this for let every man cleanse himself of these wicked masculine powers that rule in him and there will speedily be a harmony of love in the great creation even among all creatures Therefore let no man look without himself and say other men will not obey this light that is come into mankinde but let him look into his own heart and he shall finde that the powers of his heart are those very men of the world that will not submit to that light of reason that is come into it But it is said that God sent his Angell and cut off by him all the mighty men of valour in the Assyrians army therefore Angels are a mighty power between God and man and distinct from both Answer Angels in this sence are powers sent by commission from God to do a particular work As first Good Angels are sent and these are inward discoveries of God to or within a soul such as was sent to Jacob to awake him for these manifestations of the Fathers power within do make the creature man watchfull either to foresee prevent a danger or else to support the drooping soul in trouble through the hope or expectation of some blessing or deliverance which was inwardly spoken to the heart and this the Father doth in a two-fold sence Sometimes speaking inwardly as to Eliah the Angell of the Lord touched him and bid him arise and eat this was a speaking to Eliahs heart either by voice vision dream or revelation And sometimes by the voice of a materiall man standing before them as the Angell that brought the glad tidings to Sampson the two Angels that came to Abraham and Lot these were materiall men taken up into the spirit of the Father and sent by him to do such a work and their vanishing away as the interpreation is it is no other but their departure from Sampson Abraham and Lot when they had done the work they were sent about But now according to the Objection such Angels as are sent to destroy are called evill Angels according to the creatures capacity because they are ministers of such things as the creatures call evill though in themselves as being sent from God and in the execution of their commission they are good but I say they are called bad because their work is of a different nature to them that are called good Angels Satan that envious Angel did the will of God in troubling Job for the end of that trouble was good to him his last dayes being his best dayes And these evill Angels are three-fold First such as are sent into the soul when the Justice of God goes forth upon a man and strikes him with blindness of minde and hardness of heart as he smote Pharaoh and these are strong powers of darkness that holds the creature in chains of bondage Secondly when he sends the sword pestilence and famine or the like gives them commission to waste to destroy a rebellious people these are Gods Angels or mighty powers to which he hath given a commission to go forth and to perform such a work and this you shall see in Scripture that which was called the destroying Angell in one verse is called the pestilence in ths next verse 1 Chron. 21. 12 13. c. Or thirdly when wicked people are ruled by King envy King covetousnesse or King pride that uncleane spirit that rules in the children of disobedience and when these have a liberty given to them to go on and prosper without restraint now they are mighty powers or Angels sent by God either to waste and destroy or else to be a terrible warning to a sleepie people to awake them as the King of Assyria was sent to do a worke in that kinde that is to whip the Nations but to brighten Israel And when his work was done then he himself was destroyed by another power or Angel which God sent to take him off for his cruell and unrighteous actings like that of Gideons Army when Israel
began to obey the Lord then the Lord sent an Angel which was no other but a mighty spirit of feare and confusion of minde among the Midianites Israels enemies which made them to destroy one another while Israel had the liberty to looke on CHAP. V. LEt the Powers Governours and Armies of the land learne to worship the Lord in righteousnesse lest while the Lord hath made them Angels to destroy some and to warne others the Lord do not give out a Commission to others to destroy and confound them and so bring about his work by another power For Assure your selves you Kingly Parliamentarie and Army power and know this that all unrighteous powers and actings must be destroyed the father is about the work and his hand will not slack this work is and will be going on more powerfull then ever till it be finished that all enemies to Christ be made his foot-stoole and he alone exalted who is King of righteousnesse For now Jesus Christ is upon his rising from the dead and will rule King of righteousnesse in flesh And though King-flesh in every man and woman hath for many years past denyed him and lifted up himself against him yet now is the time come that he will lift up himself and tread the powers of the flesh under his feet And friends doe not mistake the resurrection of Christ you expect he shall come in one single person as he did when he came to suffer and die and thereby to answer the types of Moses law let me tell you if you look for him under the notion of one single man after the flesh to be your Saviour you shall never never taste salvation by him But know that the mighty power that dwelt in that humane flesh that was called by the name Jesus Christ he was the man the mighty man of strength the flesh was as the woman to the man or the box that carryed that precious oyntment in and this man is sat down at the right hand of the father that is he is the strength of the father whereby he destroys King flesh and he sits in the highest heavens that is in those Saints that are taken up the highest into the father and lives in him treading the curse under foot And as the body of his flesh in his Ascension so called went out of the Apostles sight in a cloud of the Skies so shall the same mighty man rise up out of the earth that is from under the earthy imaginations and lusts of the sons of men for mankinde is the earth that containes him buried and out of this earth he is to arise and appeare in the clouds that is as he begins to shew himselfe in a man or a woman the fleshy powers in those enslaved soules will and do rise up to darken the light of that sun as long as he can till he the flesh who is the wicked man or the cursed thing that dwels within mankinde be taken away And therefore if you expect or look for the resurrection of Jesus Christ you must know that the spirit within the flesh is the Jesus Christ and you must see feel and know from himself his own resurrection within you if you expect life and peace by him For he is the life of the world that is of every particular son and daughter of the father who are every one of them a perfect created world of themselves and need not to seek abroad after other creatures for teaching for every one hath the light of the father within himself which is the mighty man Christ Iesus And he is now rising and spreading himselfe in these his sons and daughters and so rising from one to many persons till he enlighten the whole creation mankinde in every branch of it and cover this earth with knowledge as the waters cover the seas And this is the lightning that shall spread from East to West this is the kingdome of heaven within you dwelling and ruling in your flesh therefore learne to know Jesus Christ as the father knows him that is not after the flesh but know that the spirit within the flesh is that mighty man Jesus Christ and the flesh takes it name from that mighty man of truth that dwels within it he within governs the flesh he within laid down the flesh when he was said to die he within is the wisdome and power of God he within is to arise not at a distance from men but will rise up in men and manifest himselfe to be the light and life of every man and woman that is saved by him For a meek spirit bears the name Jesus And a man filled with the power of God or a man taken up into God to become one in spirit within beares the name Christ therefore you are not saved by believing there was such a man that lived and died at Jerusalem for though you believe there was such a man yet that is not saving faith to you till you feel the power of a meek spirit come into you and raigne King and tread all your envy frowardnesse and bitternesse of spirit under foot and till you feel and see the power of the righteous spirit come into you and raigne King treading all unrighteousnesse of the flesh whatsoever under foot making a conquered slave of that wicked man in the flesh And so changing your vile bodies and making them like his glorious body that is making the bodies of your flesh subject to the spirit of the father within it as the bodie of the flesh of Jesus Christ was subject to the spirit his father that dwelt within him in all things So that you do not look for a God now as formerly you did to be a place of glory beyond the Sun Moon and Stars nor imagine a divine beeing you know not where but you see him ruling within you and not only in you but you see and know him to be the spirit and power that dwels in every man and woman yea in every creature according to his orbe within the globe of the Creation So that now you see and feel and taste the sweetnesse of the spirit ruling in your flesh who is the Lord and King of glory in the whole creation and you have community with him who is the father of all things Now you are inlightened now you are saved and rises higher and higher into life and peace as this manifestation of the father increases and spreads within you And this is it to be saved by Jesus Christ for that mighty man of spirit hath taken up his habitation within your body and your body is his body and now his spirit is your spirit and so you are become one with him and with the father and this is the faith of Christ when your flesh is subject to the spirit of righteousnesse as the flesh of Christ was and this is to believe in Christ when the
actings breathings of your soules is within the center of the same spirit in which the man Jesus Christ lived acted and breathed If you live in the flesh that is if you be subject to the powers of the flesh within you then you believe in the flesh and bring forth the fruit of the flesh which is self-conceit covetousness envy pride hypocrisie and the like But if you live in Christ that is in that mighty and spirituall man of truth then you believe in him and bring forth the fruit of the spirit which is love joy peace humilitie obedience sincerity and the like If Jesus Christ that mighty King rule in you he will check and condemne every unrighteous thought as well as extravagant words and loose actions though no other man see and know your secret wickednesse but your selves and he will speake peace and Justifie you within when your flesh in any things is subject to him though you are hated slandered and mightily oppressed by the injustice of others But if King-flesh rule then you go on in secret and open wayes of unrighteousnesse with greediness and delight and have no checks within at all Now the strong man of sin keeps the house your bodies and every thing enjoyes a seeming peace within you But this is not the peace nor the liberty but a fore runner of great torment in the day of Judgment that is when the Judge the King of righteousness shall appeare to sit upon the throne within you judging and condemning this serpent or man of sin within you and so bruising his head that you who have been and are pisoners thereunto may live in the light peace of the father so set at liberty from bondage assure your selves you that glory in flesh you shall not go scot-free you shall be cast into the everlasting burnings as well as others and tryed in that fire as gold in the furnace And this fire is the father himself into whom when any creature fals he burns up the drosse in the creature which is the curse that came in through unrighteousnesse which is all the imaginary glory of the flesh and so makes man to appeare and stand bright before him you cannot burne away the drosse but the gold must suffer the heat of the fire the father cannot consume the serpent the man of sin out of my body but I that have been incorporated into that nature of the serpent must needs suffer paine this drosse and gold in man is so mixed together that nothing can separate them but the fiery orb which is the father himselfe that tries all things And here likewise lies a great delusion within mankinde you call the father your God and the word God is much in your mouths but here you deceive your selves for you know not the father to be your God nor Lord neither can you call him your God till you see and feele by experience that he rules and governs in you and that your proud and coveteous flesh stoopes and is made subject to him When the spirit within you doth command your flesh in rightousnesse and will not suffer frowardness covetousness pride hypocrisie and the like to arise and act but presently checks and condemns and shames you you can then speake in experience that the father who is the mighty governour is your God and your Lord for the powers of your poysoned flesh are made suctject to him But so long as King-flesh raignes doth act pride envy covetousness hypocrisie unrighteousnesse within you then he that you call God is the devill that cursed serpent or poysoned flesh even the power of darkness is your God and you cannot say the father is your God for if you do you deceive your self you are subject to the devill you are not subject to the father He that looks for a God without himself and worships God at a distance he worships he knows not what but is led away and deceived by the imaginations of his own heart which is Belzebub the great Devill but he that looks for a God within himself and submits himselfe to the spirit of righteousnesse that shines within this man knows whom he worships for he is made subject to and hath communitie with that spirit that made all flesh that dwells in all flesh and in every creature within the globe And this is the law and the testimony even the law of the spirit of righteousnesse within and testimony of the spirit within a man when a man can say I see feel and know that my flesh is in part subject and is daily subjecting to the great power that dwels in the whole creation what I heare another man speak or write it is nothing to me till I finde the same experience within my self this is the law and testimony of Jesus and if any man speak not according to this rule it is because there is no knowledge in him not in the booke of scriptures which is another mans testimony and the testimony of others is known to be a truth by the testimony of the same spirit within your self and no other way whatsoever There is one scripture hath been often laid before me by others and I knew not the meaning of it if I went about to studie or imagine the meaning I was lost presently and trouble took hold upon me Well after I found the spirit of contentednesse to come with power and made me quiet within so that I said within my self let my father give me the knowledge of this or any other truth or deny me the knowledge of it his will be done I can know nothing till he teach me therefore I will lie down before him and wait with a quiet spirit upon him I say I was no sooner brought into this waiting frame of spirit not only this but divers other truths was and I can almost say daily is given into me from the father to the abundant satisfaction of my soul The scripture is this Mat. 8. 28. where the two men that were possessed with devills cryed out to Jesus Art thou come to destroy us before the time I deny not the history but that there were two men really filled and tormented with devils or distempers which is the curse in mankinde and that at the Command of Christ those troublers in them went into the heard of swine and the swine ran into the sea and perished there But now the matter in this history settles peace within my spirit as it is shewed unto me and that is this By the two possessed is pointed out to me First the earth mankinde by reason of his unrighteousnesse is filled with thornes and bryers that is with troublesome distempers of all sorts which are called devills or serpent or the curse of the earth or the wicked man that sowes tares in Gods vineyard mankinde so that here is mankinde or flesh full of troublers or devills distempering the creation for do but crosse