tree of knowledge of good and evil or the fruit of it or to touch the fruit of it this was what was forbidden Jesus was tempted but he did not yield to the temptation and so did not sin Jesus was led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil Mat. 4. 1. mark that led of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil read it within who can in the mystery there is so much in it and so much do I see in it that if I should declare it few at this day could bear it Jesus told his Disciples I have many things to say unto you but ye cannot bear them now John 16. 12. I hope I may without offence to any write what is in the Scripture And first as to the time when Jesus was led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil Matth. 4. 1. which is not by every one that reads it minded or any notice taken of it although there is very much in it The time it was then when at that very time that Jesus had by his Fore-runner John fulfilled all Righteousness and had the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighted upon him and lo a voice from Heaven saying This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Matth. 3. 15 16 17. then was the time Mark 1. 12. immediately it was that then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil Secondly it was Jesus it was the beloved Son of God in whom he was well pleased that had fulfilled all Righteousness it was he that came to save his people from their sins that was led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil the Scripture does not say that he went of himself into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil Mark saith of it Mark 1. 12. the spirit driveth him into the wilderness Thirdly it was the spirit that led up the beloved Son of God in whom he was well pleased that had fulfilled all Righteousness that came to save his people from their sins into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil it was no man nor any outward earthy Creature that led up Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil but Jesus was led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil there is much in that I pray mark the words of the Scripture it is not said that Jesus was led down of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil but Jesus was led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil Fourthly this beloved Son of God in whom God was well pleased that had fulfilled all Righteousness that came to save his people from their sins whither was he led up of the spirit to be tempted of the Devil it was into the wilderness not onely led up to a wilderness which might be to the outside of a wilderness but led up into the wilderness he was led up into the wilderness he was in the wilderness what wilderdess the wilderness is all the name that is given to it in the Scriptures outward wilderness have outward names There is a wilderness that is not without nor hath an outward name and yet it is a wilderness and may truly be said to be the wilderness Fifthly and this beloved Son of God in whom he was well pleased that had fulfilled all Righteousness that came to save his people from their sins was lâ—d up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil as first being there in the wilderness and in want he was then tempted by the Devil to do that which God had not commanded him to do to supply his want being an hungred he was tempted to command those stones to be made bread Secondly he being taken up mark that taken up of the Devil into the holy City and set upon a pinacle of the Temple he was tempted of the Devil to presume upon God the Fathers love and care because God had given his Angels charge concerning him to preserve him from harm therefore he was tempted to cast himself down from a pinacle of the Temple Thirdly he was taken up mark that taken up by the Devil into an exceeding high mountain and shewed all the Kingdoms of the World and the glory of them and tempted by the Devil to do that which was altogether unlawful to have given to him the things of the World the Kingdoms of the World and the glory of them and that was to fall down and worship the Devil And in these temptations in the wilderness that he was of the spirit led up into he did make it appear that he was the Son of God by his obedience to God as is plain by his not yielding in the least to any of the Temptations Sixthly this beloved Son of God in whom God was well pleased that had fulfilled all Righteousness that came to save his people from their sins he was led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil to be tempted of him that was a murderer from the beginning to be tempted of him that abode not in the truth to be tempted of him that there is no truth in him to be tempted of him that is a lyar and the father of lyes John 8. 44. I pray take notice of this that the Scripture doth not say that Jesus was led up of the spirit to be tempted of the Devil any where but onely in the wilderness and when he had fasted forty days and forty nights he was afterwards an hungred mark that an hungred he wanted bread there is much in that of Jesus being an hungred and when the Tempter came to him he said the Tempter said that which tempted him it was that which said which being taken notice of it may as an instrument in Gods hand be as an help to understand what the wilderness was and what the Devil was and what Jesus temptations were that he was tempted in the holy City and the Temple they were not in an outward wilderness and where is there an outward mountain in the outward world so exceedingly high that upon it may be seen all the outward Kingdoms of the outward World and the outward glory of them and Jesus in the temptation was taken up into an exceeding high mountain and shewed all the Kingdoms of the World and the glory of them if the Reader who understandeth little or nothing of the mystery of Jesus being led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil did but in true silence of all the earthy part in him of all that is of the flesh in him wait upon God and be like the poor Widow to the unjust Judge who would not give over going to him until he had done her justice so not to give over waiting upon
what Jesus the Light made known to him to be Gods will to obey him in And Jesus tells the Jews that if they were Abraham's Children they would do the works of Abraham that is yield obedience to God in what Jesus as a Light in them tells them the Truth is Gods will that they should obey him in And while men are out of this obedience let them be of what outward form of worshipping of God that they will and have never so high esteem of themselves and be as highly esteemed of by others as these Jews had yet they are Children of Wrath as well as others and so in that state as Children of Wrath they are cast out of the Kingdom of Heaven and are where their Father the Devil is Oh! but infinite infinite are the mercies of that unchangeable God as I have experienced who can say in some measure with Paul Ephes 2. who wherein in times past walked according to the course of this world according to the prince of the power of the air the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience Among whom also we had our conversation in time past in the lust of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature the children of wrath even as others Mark Among whom that is amongst those that had walked according to the course of this world according to the power of the Prince of the Air which is the Devil that worketh in the Children of disobedience among these we had our conversation in times past fulfilling the desires of our flesh and of the mind and were by nature Children of wrath even as others Although the Ephesians as they were Gentiles might not be in an outward form of worshipping God in those outward things that God had required to be worshipped in yet Paul was and of the highest sort or form of them as elsewhere he speaks of himself And yet see how Paul put himself to be equal with them that had been in no outward form of Worship although he himself had been high in that outward form of worshipping of God in those outward things that God had required to be worshipped in yet when he was in that height of outward Worship he owned himself to be one that walked according to the course of the world and according to the power of the Prince of the Air which is the Devil the Spirit which worketh in the Children of disobedience Among whom we had also our conversation Paul with the Ephesians had their conversations in time past in the lust of their flesh fulfilling the desires of their flesh and mind and were by nature Children of Wrath even as others Mark they were not onely Children of Wrath by nature that is by the nature of the Serpent who is the Prince of the Air who is the Devil who is the Spirit that worketh in the Children of disobedience but they were the Children of Wrath even as others that is just even alike there was no difference between their being Children of Wrath by nature and others being Children of Wrath by nature There is the same nature of being Children of Wrath in those that are high in an outward form of worshipping God as was Paul who as to his outward life as to men lived blameless and those that were in no outward form of worshipping God as were the Gentiles while they both have their conversations in the lust of the flesh fulfilling the desires of the mind pleasing themselves in what they do if they be in an outward form of Worship they please content and satisfie themselves in that outward form of Worship and therein they are fulfilling the lust of the flesh and the desires of their minds in eating of the forbidden Fruit as do those that were in no outward form of worshipping God as were the Gentiles who fulfilled the lust of the flesh and the desires of their minds in outward pleasures And so both those that fulfil the lust of the flesh and desire of the mind in outward forms of Worship or in outward pleasure they are those that are not suffering Jesus's Word to have any place in them and so they are seeking to kill Jesus in themselves for telling them the truth that he had of God But God who is rich in mercy for the great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in sins hath quickned us together with Christ by grace we are saved and have raised us up together and have made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus Mark they which having their Conversations in the lust of the flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and mind and thereby were by nature Children of Disobedience and so Children of Wrath Children of the Devil both those that were not in an outward form of worshipping of God as were these Gentiles the Ephesians and those that were in the highest of outward forms of worshipping of God as was Paul yet God who is rich in mercy can and does for his great love sake wherewith he loved them yea even when they are dead in sins quicken them together with Christ and so raise them up together as to make them sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus as you may see more to that purpose in the second Chapter of the Ephesians Jesus tells the woman of Samaria John 4. that the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father But the hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth Jerusalem was the place that God had chosen to be worshipped in and so it represents the true outward form of worshipping God wherein God was worshipped according to his Command The Mountain of Samaria represents the false worshipping of God for although there might be something done there that God had required in his outward Worship to be done yet they mixing other things with it that God had not required to be done in his Worship and so it represents all false outward forms of Worship And Jesus tells the woman and would have her believe him mark that Jesus would have the woman belleve him that the hour cometh when neither in this mountain that is in the false outward forms of Worship nor at Jerusalem that is the true outward forms of Worship they should worship the Father But the hour cometh and now is mark that now is then at that time it was that the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth and that because the Father seeketh such to worship him God being a spirit they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth or else it is no worshipping of him where the Spirit and the Truth is wanting because whom God seeketh
to worship him they and they onely are the acceptable Worshippers of God and God seeketh for those and onely those to worship him that worship him in spirit and truth It is not the outward places nor the outward form no not at Jerusalem nor the outward Worship commanded to be used there that God seeketh for it is the spiritual Worship done in the truth and in the sincerity of the heart that God seeketh for it is that and that onely that is well-pleasing to him which the outward forms of worshipping is not although never so exactly performed according to the Command of God yet if the Spirit of God which leads and guides into all truth be wanting the outward form is not acceptable to God nor sought for of God nor desired of God And where the Spirit of God is and is the Guide and Leader of them in his Worship although the outward form be wanting yet these are the true Worshippers of God and these are those that God seeketh for to worship him that is those that worship him in his Spirit and in his Truth that is in Jesus and all those that so worship him in the use of outward forms or without the use of outward forms Of all Nations and Kinreds and People and Tongues that worship him in his Spirit and in his Truth in Jesus which saves from sin by which Spirit they are guided and led thereunto to do it in the truth and sincerity of their hearts these are such as God seeketh for to worship him and are acceptable to God And of these John beheld the great multitude that no man could number standing before the Throne and before the Lamb clothed with white Robes and Palms in their hands crying with a loud voice saying Salvation to our God which came out of great tribulations having washed their robes and made them white in the bloud of the Lamb. And John did but hear of a hundred forty and four thousand of all the Tribes of Israel to be sealed for the servants of God And those were they that were in the outward form of Worship which had the Commandments writ in Tables of stone and had the Law and the Prophets written in Books without them and read among them without them every Sabbath-day And had the Oracles of God committed to them and to whom pertain the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law and the service of God and the promises Whose are the Fathers and of whom concerning the flesh Christ came And yet of all the Tribes of the outward Israel there was but a hundred forty four thousand sealed for the servants of God I take notice and so I desire the Reader to take notice that the Tribe of Dan was left out there was none sealed of that Tribe that was a Serpent by the way to be the servants of God none of the subtile Serpents Tribe are sealed to be the servants of God And that was the reason why there was no more sealed of all the outward Tribes of outward Israel the Serpents Tribe was not sealed and the Serpents Tribe is those wherein the Serpent and his seed rule in the heart These being left out and not sealed for the servants of God of the Tribes of Israel was the reason there was no more sealed and it is the reason that there is no more sealed of all the Tribes that are in the several outward forms of outward Worship and that is that which makes their number so small that a man may easily number a hundred forty and four thousand And of the Gentiles all Nations and Kinreds and People and Tongues that have not known the subtilty of the Serpent tempting man in the outward forms of worshipping of God and also of those that have known the subtilty of the Serpent tempting them in outward forms of worshipping of God and have known a saving and being delivered out of those temptations of the Serpent by the life of Jesus in them and so are none of the Serpents by the life of Jesus in them and so are none of the Serpents Tribe nor are sufficing themselves nor can suffice themselves in that they are worshipping God in outward forms but are worshipping him in his Spirit and in his Truth that is in Jesus that saves them from sin Of all these that is of those that have not known the subtilty of the Serpent tempting them in outward forms and those that have known the subtilty of the Serpent tempting them in outward forms and have known a being saved and delivered out of his temptations There are a great multitude that no man can number standing before the Throne and before the Lamb clothed with white robes and palms in their hands crying with a loud voice saying Salvation to our God having come out of great tribulations and washed their robes and made them white in the bloud of the Lamb. Thus Jesus is a Light and a Saviour to those that never hear of that Jesus born of the Virgin Mary And now to return again to those that have heard of that Jesus born of the Virgin Mary and profess themselves Christians and have known something of the working of Gods Spirit in them and have known something what it hath been to be drawn or led forth by the Spirit of Jesus in them how far they may go and yet not know the birth of the Child Jesus in them that saves from sin nor the woman that was deceived and in the transgression to be saved out of the transgression by bearing the Child Jesus Man may by Jesus the Light in him be convinced of sin that it is the breaking of Gods Command and of the Judgment of God that is due to man for sin and he may be so far convinced in himself of sin and of Gods judgment for sin as that he may be brought to a repentance and sorrow for his sins and a desire to be kept from sinning and he may pray earnestly that he may be kept from sin and may set upon a reformation and do many things in obedience to God that he knew to be the will of God And this may be done from some stirrings or movings of the Spirit of Jesus in him and yet the Serpent self his own will deceive him in all this as I have experienced And that thus man may from the knowledge that he hath of this or that thing that he does know that in the doing thereof he doth that which is a breaking of the Command of God and for his so breaking of the Command of God Jesus the Light in him that makes known to him the breaking of Gods Command doth likewise make known to him what is due to him for his transgressions that is Death Hell or Damnation which man being afraid of and willing to escape and to escape the punishment that he apprehends to be due to him for his sins this makes him to repent of his sins and
from the root of sin from the love to sin God caused me to cry out against this Altar of self-obedience to God and against the Sacrifices offered upon it to please satisfie and content themselves in a strict observing doing and performing of all and every the outward things required in the outward Worship that they did set up as Jeroboam did and neglected the true Worship of God and neglected the Worship of God in his Spirit and in his Truth and in that which doth not onely save from sin in the act but from sin in the love of it And in telling them the danger that would follow and befal such a Worship as I had experienced and if any of them had set up such a Worship not charging any particular person with so doing but declaring what I knew of the subtilty of the Serpent putting man upon so doing and the danger that they were in who were in such a Worship And where is there a Meeting that there is no such Worshippers in But that all and every person that belongs to the Meeting are such and onely such as are worshipping God in his Spirit and in his Truth in his Jesus that does not onely save them from the outward actions of sin but from the love and desire to sin And those that are not thus worshpping God in his Spirit and in his Truth in his Jesus in that which saves from sin and not onely saves from outward sins taken notice of by men to be sins but saves from the root of sin from the love to sin Let them be what they will be and think of themselves as highly as they will and be never so highly esteemed of by others yet I must once more tell them whatsoever outward Worship it is that they profess it is but a Worship that the subtile Serpent puts them upon and they are with Jeroboam making of Calves and saying in their hearts these be the gods that have saved thee from that bondage and slavery that once they were under by and for their outward sins and all that they are doing in that Worship is but an offering Sacrifice upon that Altar that they have set up of self-obedience to God I shall not say that upon my thus crying out against this Altar of self obedience to God and the Sacrifices offered thereon that King Jeroboam put out his hand and said Lay hold on him but this I can say that he that looked upon himself as the chief man in the Meeting and was so esteemed of by others he often when I was speaking to the purposes aforesaid would rise up and go out of the Meeting and the rest of the Meeting would follow him I shall not say that he had done as Jeroboam did make Calves for his own safety to preserve his life and was offering Sacrifice upon the Altar of Self-obedience and therefore with Jeroboam could not indure to hear his Altar to be cry'd out against but the Tree is known by its fruit Some others although they followed his example of going out of the Meeting yet they shew something more of the following of Christs Command than he did and they would come sometimes and speak to me about my speaking which I always gave them mild and very gentle answers as I know none of them dare say to the contrary and although they had nothing to say against what I spoke but that my words were true nor had they any thing against my Life and Conversation they could not deny but that I lived as blameless as any of them But the great thing they had to say against my speaking was because my words did not reach the witness of God in them or the seed of God in them as they called it but when I spake there was something in them that was troubled and burdened and therefore they put out their hands to lay hold on me dâ—siring me to speak no more And by what spirit it was that they spake thus to me I have here already declared in declaring in what spirit it was that Peter rebuked Jesus in for speaking what was true and how Jesus words were a trouble and a burden to a will that opposed Gods will in Peter and the rest of the Twelve and so shall say no more of it now From this great disturbance my speaking to the aforesaid purposes had made to that will in them that could not endure to hear true words spoken in declaring and making known the subtilty of the Serpent how he kept up his Kingdom in man in and under an outward form of godliness of being like God when he disobeys God in that he does not worship him in his spirit and in his truth in his Jesus as he perswaded man at first and thereby caused him to fall telling him by disobeying God he should be as Gods This did so disturb burden and trouble that will in them that when there came any to the Meeting that day that they were willing to hear them speak words that many times if I did while such were there when none was either speaking or praying yet if I began to speak a few words then one or other of them would either stand up and fall a speaking or fall down upon their knees and pray or else go out of the Meeting and so break up the Meeting and so they put out their hands against me saying Lay hold on him Yet amongst all these that did put forth their hands against me there was never any one of them that would begin a discourse with me concerning my speaking no not one of them and yet I constantly when the Meeting was ended followed them to the aforesaid chief mans house whither they constantly went and there stayed till they went from thence if they went from thence that night I saw their going away and if they stayed there all night then I stayed there until they were about going to supper And sometimes I would begin the discourse with them to know why they dealt so by me but I received very pitiful answers from them sometimes they would say they thought I had done speaking because I did not follow on to speak so fast as some do and sometimes I had this answer that if any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by the first was to hold his peace and therefore when they began to speak I was to hold my peace indeed I did so because I would beget no disturbance but that is not the meaning of the Scripture but the meaning of the Scripture is quite contrary for if any thing be revealed to one that sitteth by the first is to hold his peace before he that had any thing revealed to him was to begin to speak or else how could they all Prophecy one by one and it was the practice of the Apostles as you may read Acts 15. And it is the constant practice amongst them that the one leaves speaking before the other begins but so
given as Help-meets for the life of Jesus in man When I speak of the Life of Jesus in man I do not mean that eternal Life and Being that gave life and being to all things for that Life and Being the works or actions of man cannot reach unto to do it either good or harm but I mean the Life of Jesus as a Saviour in man as he is sent of the Father and is come into fallen man and is of that eternal Life and being that gave being to all that life of his that was slain in man by sin and is come again into man to be raised up to life and thereby to save man from sin and to bring man to God and into God again from whence man fell by his sin And so as man keeps in obedience to his being drawn or led forth by the Spirit of Jesus in him so he in his obedience being thereunto led or drawn forth by the Spirit of Jesus Christ in him is as an Help-meet for that life of Jesus in him to save him from sin which the woman given to Adam as an Help-meet I believe was a figure of And mans going out of his obedience in the time of the drawings or strivings of the Spirit of Jesus in him is a hurt or hindrance to that Life of Jesus in him that is to that Life that is a saving him from sin And so that which was as an Help-meet is deceived by the subtilty of the Serpents self that in man that yielded obedience to God is deceived in and by its disobedience God's Spirit striving in man to keep him from sin that is God's drawing of man and as man keeps in obedience to those strivings and drawings of the Spirit of God in him so he becomes an Help-meet to the Life of Jesus in him that is to that Life that saves from sin The end of Paul's preaching was to bring men to repent and turn to God and do works meet for repentance Acts 26. 20. And it was Gods Command by the Apostle to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling For it is God that worketh in us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure Philip. 2. 12 13. Every one is to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling But how are they to work out their own salvation It must be according to the strivings or drawings of the Spirit of God in them to do it For it is God that worketh in us to will and to do of his good pleasure The work is God's but he doth not do it without man working with him and as God chose man to work with him so he makes man as an Help-meet for the Life of Jesus in man to save man from sin as man yields an obedience to the working of God in him but when man goes out of his obedience and yields not obedience to the working of God's Spirit in him then the woman is deceived and found in the transgression While the woman stood in obedience to the strivings or drawings of the Spirit of God in her which strove in her to keep her from yielding to the temptations of the Serpent and caused her to resist the temptations of the Serpent telling him that they might eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden But of the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden God had said they should not eat of it nor touch it lest ye die While the woman stood thus in obedience to the working of the Spirit of God in her that strove in her to keep her from sinning she was as God wrought it in her an Help-meet for the preserving of the Life of Jesus in her that kept her from sin But while the Spirit of God thus wrought and strove in her she hearkened to the Serpents temptation and went out of her obedience into disobedience then she was deceived and found in the transgression as all men in the state of disobedience are How doth experience teach the truth of this at this very day the subtile Serpent presents to man his temptation The Light the Spirit which is Jesus although in several names yet but one Being God makes known to man that what the Serpent tempts to is a breaking of his Commands and the penalty that follows the breaking of the Command is death This is the striving or drawing of God by his Spirit in man to keep man from sin this was in the woman While man stands in obedience to these strivings or drawings of God in him he is kept from sin and so was the woman And as man is thus an Instrument in Gods hand for God doth not save man from sin without mans joyning condescending or being willing thereunto and although the work be wholly Gods who worketh both to will and to do yet God doth not do this his great work without his Instrument man And as man is an Instrument in Gods hand so God makes him a fit Instrument to do his work withal And so man may be said to be an Help-meet for the work of God in man as a man that hath a work to do makes an Instrument fit to do his work with and so his Instrument is an Help-meet or fit for him to do his work withal God strives or draws in man by his Light his Spirit his Son Jesus to keep man from yielding to the temptation of the Serpent The Serpent also then strives in man and draws in man to yield to his temptation this was the cause of the woman The Serpent in his temptation causeth man to behold a good and pleasantness to be had in the sin in the forbidden Fruit the woman saw that the Tree was good for food and pleasant to the eye When the understanding part in man the knowing part in man beheld a good for food and pleasantness to the eye in what was contrary to the Command of God and that there was so much good and pleasantness in it that he shall thereby have content and full satisfaction as being wise as Gods Then there is a desire in the mind stirred up after the enjoying of it this was the case of the woman when she saw the Tree to be good for food and pleasant to the eye then there was a desire stirred up in her to take thereof to be made wise thereby So when the understanding and knowing part in man looketh out and sees that there is a good a pleasantness a satisfaction and full content in what God hath forbidden man to do and that thereby he shall be made as Gods then a desire gets up in the mind to get the enjoyment thereof that he may be wise as Gods that is that he may know what good what pleasure what satisfaction what content there is to be had in the doing the thing that God hath forbidden to be done And so mans desire is to be wise in that God hath forbidden him to do and to know what
28. Ye have heard it hath been said by them of old time Thou shalt not commit adultery But I say unto you That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart Mark here the eye first looks upon her which must imply that it so looks upon her as to be good to satisfie and please him and then lust the desire is stirred up after her and the will that condescends and then the adultery is already committed in the heart although no outward action ever be manifested tending thereunto And what Christ spake of an outward woman may be said of all outward Creatures When the eye of the understanding and knowing part in man doth look upon any Creature otherwise than it is Gods will that man should look upon them and the desire of the mind be let out after them contrary to the â—â—clared will of God which was given to man before his fall and the will joyns therewith that it will have its desire satisfied in the enjoyment of them although contrary to Gods command to man Here the inward adultery is committed with the Creatures although there come none of it forth into outward action And this is a kind of inward and spiritual whoredom committed in the heart or inward part in man And this understanding and knowing part in man which looks upon what God hath forbidden to be good food for it to be thereby made wise as Gods and so pleasing to it and the desire of the mind to be let out after it and the will condescending and takes it in and eats of it that is doth the things that God hath forbidden to be done These three thus joyned together in one as they are but one this is that which is the Antichrist in man it is that which opposeth God in his workings by his Son Jesus in man for the bringing man again to God And it is that man of sin in man the Son of Perdition that is to be revealed who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped sitteth in the Temple of God shewing himself that he is God and is the mystery of iniquity And this is he that letteth and will let until he be taken away and when he is taken away then his wickedness is revealed then is he made manifest what he was that is when Jesus is a consuming of him with the Spirit of his mouth and the brightness of his coming in the heart of man And then whereas before the coming of Jesus in man and is in man thus a consuming of this man of sin he that is the man of sin until Jesus is a consuming of him lieth hid in the heart or inward part of man and is not known to man what he is but sitteth in Gods Temple in man as God and man boweth down to him and worshippeth him as his God whom the Lord Jesus shall yea he does as experience teacheth us consume him with the Spirit of his mouth and destroy him with the brightness of his coming Men have a long time been looking without them and enquiring without them who that man of sin should be and what he is that is to be revealed and so to be revealed whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signes and lying wonders and with all deceiveableness and unrighteousness in them that perish because they receive not the love of the Truth that they might be â—aved And for this cause God shall send them strong delusions that they should believe a lye that they all may be damned who believe not the truth but had pleasure in unrightness I say their so-much-looked-out for the man of sin to be revealed without them that is it that hath hindered that they have not seen the revelation of him within them For what is there spoken of the man of sin but the same may be found in that understanding and knowing part in man that saw and beheld a good for food and thereby to be made wise as Gods and a pleasantness to the eye in the Tree that God had forbidden to be eaten thereof and the desire of the mind after it and the will to take and eat of it Joyn these three together in one as indeed they are but one and make but one man sin for they all were joyned and united together in the sin and eating of the forbidden Fruit and so may properly be called the man of sin because they begot the first sin in man And see if you do not find in these as they are joyned and united together all that is spoken of the man of sin in 2 Thess 2. No prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation 2 Pet. 1. 20. The Garden in the mystery is the heart of man or the inward part of man that was Gods garden While Adam stood in his obedience to God the heart or inward part of Adam was pleasant and delightful to God and Adam's hearts delight was in God and his obedience to God was pleasant unto him and so the heart or inward part of man doth very fitly resemble a Garden which is a pleasant and delightful place In this Garden in the heart or inward part of man Adam after he had fallen in the cool of the day heard God's voice walking in the heart or inward part as man in the fallen state doth at this day and calling to Adam saying Where art thou And his eyes being opened he knew that he was naked which cannot be meant the outward eyes of his body for they were open before and he saw his outward body before but the eyes of his understanding were opened and he saw himself naked for want of that righteous Garment of obedience that God had clothed him with in the Creation which Garment remained upon him and he was clothed with it until he eat of the forbidden Fruit and when he had eaten of the forbidden Fruit then he saw himself naked stripped out of that righteous Garment of obedience that God had created him in And then when he heard God's voice walking in his heart or inward part which before he eat of the forbidden Fruit was pleasing to him but after he had eaten of the forbidden Fruit he was afraid of God's voice and hid himself from God fearing Gods justice that he saw he justly deserved for his sin as experience teacheth us in the fallen state and condition of man at this very day as man remains in that fallen state And thus when man had sinned the heart or inward part of man that which was before life a garden for delight and pleasantness is become like a Hell a place of fear dread and torment And indeed that fear that was then in mans heart or inward part when he heard God's voice walking in the garden was the beginning of Hell in man And here God may be said to send man or drive man out of
them do continue so nearly joyned together at this day that would man be true to himself and the Light of God in him he might see them to be both in him and how nearly they are joyned together in him While man was thus in Gods garden and these two Trees in him and he kept by Jesus the Light of God in him in obeying of God according to that knowledge that God had given him of his revealed will in doing what God had commanded him to do and in leaving undone what God had forbidden him to do In his thus obeying God man eat of the Tree of life and lived he lived in God in obedience to God knowing nothing but the will of God and doing nothing but the will of God Mans knowledge of evil as it became a sin in man was man 's not continuing in obeying God in doing the things that he knew God had commanded him to do This was the actual knowing of evil the knowing of evil by the doing of evil and that was sin The Tree was knowledge and while obedience was joyned to knowledge it was a good Tree as God had placed it in the heart or inward part of man but when disobedience was joyned to knowledge then it became an evil Tree then man eat of the Tree whereof God had commanded him that he should not eat of And mans disobedience came from self-ends a will and desire that was in them to be wiser than God had made them and to have another likeness of God than that Image that God had created them in their desire was not to be in Gods Image as he had made them but to be as Gods in knowledge The Serpent in the mystery is mans self or mans will as separated from God and this is that which was more subtile than any Beast of the Field that God had made God made all the Beasts of the Field and they were good From whence then came this more subtile Beast it may bare the name of Beast that mans will as it is revealed from Gods will because of the foul unclean and evil beastly nature that was in it it was not of Gods creating because it was not good if it had been good it could not have tempted to the knowledge of evil in the doing of evil that is it could not have tempted man to disobey God self in man or a mans own will separated from God is more subtile to tempt man than all the Beasts of the Field that God hath made that is self in man or a mans own will is more subtile to prevail with man to disobey God than all without him can prevail with him to disobey God James 1. 13 14 15. 13 verse Let no man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God for God cannot be tempted with evil neither tempteth he any man that is God tempts no man to evil and as God is good so are all the Creatures that he hath made and as they are good and the creation of God so the Creatures they cannot tempt man to evil 14 verse But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed Mark that which tempts man to sin and entice him to sin it is something of his own the Apostle calls it lust that is the height of desire in Genesis it is called desire a Tree to be desired to make wise And does not lust the height of desire to be made wise in what God hath forbidden come from self in man 15 verse Then when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished it bringeth forth death The comparison is taken from natural conceptions and bringings forth That which conceives is of its own it is something within that conceives it is an inward act and not an act without them and conception is before bringing forth and what is brought forth is of the same kind with that which conceived what then can be more plainer than that that the Serpent that tempts to sin is self or a mans own will in separation from God or something of mans self that draweth him forth into disobedience to what he knew to be the mind and will of God for him to do and the gain that he expects by his disobedience is to be wise to please himself There is nothing Gods opposite or enemy but what God hath forbidden all that God created he made very good Gen. 1. 31. God did not make the Devil a Devil if the Devil be a fallen Angel as many believe him to be and so before he fell he was an Angel as other Angels are ministring Spirits so was mans will and all that was in man in the creation was an Angel a ministring Spirit and ministred that is waited or attended upon Gods will as the Angels do but when the temptation entred into man and then when man by the temptation was overcome and desired to be as Gods Then the ministration of the will of man fell from the ministration that it had before in the creation to wait or attend upon the will of God and so the will of man it became a fallen Angel a fallen Ministration a fallen Spirit The Angels they are ministring Spirits attending upon the will of God so was the will of man and all that was in man in his creation was a ministring Spirit attending upon the will of God But when that which was more subtile than any Beast of the Field that God had made entred into Gods garden that is into mans heart or the inward part of man and man yielding to the temptation desiring to be as Gods that is to do his own will and not to do Gods will then entred into mans heart the Devil See the truth of it John 8. 44. Ye are of your father the devil and the lust of your father ye will do he was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him When he speaketh a lye he speaketh of his own for he is a lyar and the father of it Christ here tells the Jews they were of their Father the Devil and the lust of your Father ye will do lust is the great desire of the heart after the forbidden Fruit which is of the Devil he is the Father of it he is the begetter of it the Devil called the Serpent was the Father that begot the desire after the forbidden Fruit. And Christ also told the Jews that he was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth If the Devil were not once in the truth then how can it be said he did not abide in it Mans self or will all that was in man was once in the truth as God is the truth in God in Gods will as God created man and made him good but mans will it abode not in the truth that is in God for God is the truth it abode not in the doing Gods will
drawings of the Spirit of Jesus the true Light in man who in the woman gave this answer to the subtile Serpent We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden But of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden God hath said Ye shall not eat of it neither shall ye touch it lest ye die Here man by the woman in the help and assistance of the Spirit of Jesus the Light in man that caused him to relate to the Serpent the Command of God in what was Gods revealed will to him and in him wherein he was to obey God in doing what God had commanded him to do and wherein he was to obey God in what God had commanded him not to do And hereby having his will kept and preserved in the will of God he resisted the temptation and stood in his obedience to God feeding upon the Tree of Life in him But the Serpent continuing his temptation said unto the woman Ye shall not surely die For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof then your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evil The Serpent had before asked the Question in man Yea hath God said Ye shall not eat of every tree in the garden What could he willed or desired in the asking of this Question but the drawing of man out of his obedience to God into disobedience But the will at that time was not gotten to be so strong in the man as to prevail over man but it was resisted by the power of God in man May I not say by the same power of God in man that prayed Father not my will but thy will be done Here began the strife between the two wills in man which Paul was sensible of when he said The good that I would I do not but the evil which I would not that I do Rom. 7. God by his Spirit strove in the will of man that is in that will of man which had yielded obedience to God in his Commands and knew the doing of nothing else but of the Commands of God and thereby drawing man to keep man still in obedience to his Commands But another will appeared in man that strove to bring man out of his obedience to God in the keeping his Commands into the disobedience in not doing his Commands for what can it be else but a will that strove so much in man to bring man from his obedience into disobedience In the asking that Question Yea hath God said Ye shall not eat of every tree in the garden that which asked that Question it was that in man that after it had made a beginning would not nor did not leave tempting of man until it had brought man into disobedience An outward Serpent it could not be because he was one of the Creatures that God had given man dominion over and God brought him to man to name God made him subject to man and man in obedience to God having rule and dominion over him did name him But besides that which makes it undeniable that it was not an outward Serpent is this the seed of the woman which on all hands is owned to be Jesus that saves from sin was to bruise the head of this Serpent that tempted man to eat of the forbidden Tree and this Serpent that tempted man to eat of the Tree that God had forbidden was to bruise the heel of the seed of the woman bruise the heel of Jesus bruise the heel of that which saves from sin And where can ye find in the Scriptures or any where else that ever Jesus that saves from sin bruised the head of this outward Serpent or that ever this outward Serpent bruised the heel of Jesus bruised the heel of that in man that saves man from sin But to this purpose ye may read in Scripture that Jesus in man that saves man from sin bruise the head of that will in man that tempt man to eat of the forbidden Fruit that tempt man to do the things that God hath forbidden as that you may read in the seventh of the Romans where Paul cries out O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of death whereas before he made a great complaint of doing what he would not he found a will in him drawing him to do that God had commanded him not to do but he finds a remedy against that will that bruised the head of that will and that is Jesus Christ And this will in man is known to bruise the heel of Jesus that is as Jesus is in man a saving of man from sin and so bringing man into God again this will in man is striving in man to hinder and hurt this work of Jesus as appears in the aforesaid seventh of the Romans To speak something to the words in the latter part of the temptation of the Serpent whereby he prevailed with the woman Ye shall not surely die although the temptation did not at first prevail with the woman to question the truth of what she knew whether or no God had said Ye shall not eat of every tree in the garden yet in the continuing of the temptation I believe he did at length prevail with the woman to question the truth of it whether God had said Ye shall not eat of every tree in the garden or else how could he have prevailed with her to a belief that they should not surely die if they did eat of it For God had as surely said that they should die in the day that they eat thereof as he had said Ye shall not eat of it but the Serpent having caused in her a doubt or question whether or no God had said Ye shall not eat of it he causeth her to believe Ye shall not surely die if they did eat of it How can it be thought that the woman could believe the temptation that they should not surely die if they did eat of the forbidden Tree being God had certainly said that they should surely die in the day they eat of it if she had not first yielded to the temptation to doubt or question the truth whether God had said Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden and if they did they should surely die Doth not experience teach the truth of this that when the Tempter tempteth to do what God hath forbidden that there is first a question or a doubt got up in man whether God hath forbidden it or no And if he cannot prevail so far then to question if it be forbidden yet not so forbidden with such strictness and severity as the Light of God in man doth at first discover it to be forbidden that if they eat of it in the day they eat of it they shall surely die they shall surely receive a punishment from God for it And then although there may not be altogether a yielding so fully to the temptation as to
in God to his will or to the knowledge of his will to be good or to will his will to be done and so the Tempter perswaded man that he should be as God and not as a Creature to have none to move stir or draw in him to the will of God or the knowledge of Gods will to be good or to will Gods will to be done God moved and stirred up himself to strive move or draw man to do his declared will and to bring mans will into his will and to cause mans will to be resigned up into Gods will and so the Tempter perswaded man that he should be as God and not as a Creature but of himself as a God to stir move and draw his will to do Gods declared will and to bring his will into Gods will and to cause it to be resigned up into Gods will And thus man was by the perswadings of the Tempter drawn into a belief to know good absolute in himself as God knew good in himself And man by the temptation was perswaded that he should know evil as God knew evil God knew that the doing of what he had forbidden was evil and so man knew evil God had made it known to man to be evil the doing of what he had forbidden him to do but in mans doing of what God had forbidden man to do man came to a greater measure of this knowledge for he came to know evil in the act in the not doing Gods will but in doing of his own will And so the Tempter perswaded man he should be as God and not as a creature to do the will of another but as God to do his own will as God did his will And God knew that it was evil because he had forbidden it and so man knew it to be evil God had made known to man that what he had forbidden him to do was an evil and the evil was in that it was forbidden of God And God had that knowledge of himself that what he had forbidden was evil and that which made it evil was because God had forbidden it And so the Tempter perswaded man that he should have that knowledge of himself as God had of himself to know that what God had forbidden was evil and the evil was because God had forbidden it And if man could be true to himself and to the Light of God in him he might by experience see the Tempter now to be in man in the fallen state acting all this in him and thereby he might come to see how the Tempter acted it in man to draw him at first into the fallen state where all men now in that fallen state are in some measure degree or other so tempted God had none to make known his declared will to him but he knew it of himself How does the Tempter now tempt man in that understanding and knowledge that he hath of God to have such high thoughts of himself that he need not depend upon another to be taught to know what is Gods will but he hath so much knowledge of himself as that he may know that of himself And as God willed his will of himself so the Tempter now perswades man that he may will Gods will of himself And as God of himself willed his will to be done so the Tempter now perswades man that he may of himself will Gods will to be done And as God had none but himself that moved him to his will or to the knowledge of his will to be good or to have his will done so the Tempter now perswades man that he need none but himself to move him to do Gods will and that of himself he can resigne up his will into Gods will And so as to the knowledge of evil which God by his Light in man makes known to him to be his doing of what God hath forbidden him to do and the evil is because God hath forbidden it to be done and the Tempter now perswades man that he may have this knowledge of himself that of himself he may know the evil that God hath forbidden to be done and that of himself he knows it to be evil because God hath forbidden it How is the truth of this manifested that many by the subtilty of the temptations of the Serpent have such high thoughts that of himself in that understanding and knowledge that he hath of God he knows Gods will and can will as God will and can do Gods will And this appeareth by the outward actions of many that take no notice of it how it is acted within them How do many when they have been a drinking until they are near drunk or a swearing and cursing very highly or in a great passion of anger threatning revenge upon those they are offended with or in deceiving wronging of their Neighbours or in uncleanness or in the doing of some other sins whatsoever and yet-presently laying by or leaving off but the outward action of sin and that while the delight and love to the sin is in their hearts and minds and they acting of the sin within them and yet in this condition they step out of the outward acting of sin and while it is still in the action within them and they go presently into what they call their Prayers to God and their Worship and Service of God I pray consider and see what it is that strive move or draw them thus to their Prayers Worship and Service of God as they call it is it not the subtile Serpent tempting in them and perswading them that the eyes of their understanding and knowledge being opened they are as Gods to themselves in the knowing good and evil Evil they know they know the sins they commit to be evil and that they are evil because God hath forbidden the doing of them And good they know they know that there is a God and that this God is good and that this God is to be prayed unto and to be worshipped and served and to pray to this God to worship and serve God they know to be good And their wills in this knowledge that sets them upon what they call Prayers Worship and Service to God And how do they pray They do not pray as the Apostle said of himself and the Saints We know not what we should pray for as we ought but the spirit it self maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered Rom. 8. 26. And Jesus said God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth John 4. 24. But they do not wait in the silence of all the earthy part in them to find in them the strivings movings or drawings of the Spirit of God in them to lead them forth to Prayer to the Worship and Service of God No they do not wait for Gods Spirit to stir move or draw in them to pray to God or to worship and serve God in spirit and in truth But they
put themselves forth into the doing thereof they having eaten of the forbidden Tree they having done that which they knew God had commanded them not to do And the eyes of their understanding and knowledge being opened they see themselves naked that is that they have sinned against God and that there is judgment due to them from this God that they have offended and that makes them afraid and to passifie the apprehensions that they have in them of the anger of this God which by that understanding and knowledge that they have of him they know to be due to them for their sins And by that understanding and knowledge that they have of God they know that he is good and that it is good to pray to him and to worship and serve him And the subtile Serpent that by his temptations drew them in to eat of the forbidden Tree the doing of what God had forbidden them to do he perswades them that their eyes being opened by that understanding and knowledge that they have of God they of themselves know what is Gods declared will that they should do in praying to him in worshipping and serving of him and that they of themselves can will Gods will to be done and they of themselves can bring up their wills to do Gods will in performing of their Prayers Worship and Service to God And thus the subtile Serpent perswades them that their eyes being opened they are as Gods to know will and to do all of themselves and so of themselves they pray worship and serve God as they call it and are not contented to be as Creatures to know nothing but as they wait upon God to reveal it in them by his Spirit and to will nothing but what God in his will willeth in them and to do nothing but what God by his Spirit led or draw them forth in the doing thereof Although few are so bold or ignorant of God as to confess with their tongues that they of themselves do know Gods declared will that it is good and that they of themselves can will Gods will to be done in them and that they of themselves can bring up their wills to do Gods will in praying to him and in worshipping and serving of him yet by their actions they manifest the truth of what with their tongues they will not confess for by their actions it doth appear that they do all as Gods of themselves in that they do not wait upon God for him to do it in them by the leadings or drawings of his Spirit in them but they yield to the stirrings movings or drawings of their own wills and as their wills lead them out for to do so they go forth in their Prayer Worship and Service to God as they call it It were well if all those that are in the use of Set Forms of Prayers and those that pray in their Families at set times would consider what is the leading stirring moving or drawing Cause of their so praying and to see whether or no they do pray as the Apostle said of himself and the Saints That they knew not what they should pray for as they ought but as the Spirit it self made intercession for them with groanings that cannot be uttered and that their Prayers be performed in Gods Spirit and in truth or else they are not acceptable to God who is a Spirit I so well love all of them whose Lives and Conversations as to the outward are blameless and use those Prayers as a Sacrifice or Offerings to God as to beg of them to have a care that in the use of them the Serpent do not deceive them as he hath deceived me in praying worshipping and serving of God For by experience I do know that what is done in praying worshipping and serving of God that is not done wholly and alone by the Spirit of God in man and man in the doing thereof to be but an Instrument in Gods hand to do his work by And so indeed and in truth it is no other but God the Son in us praying worshipping and serving God the Father that hath begotten us in himself again unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead And what Prayer Worship and Service is not thus done in God unto God is not acceptable to God and all other Prayers Worship and Service that hath been done in me and called by me Prayer Worship and Service done to God I do now know and have experienced it to be true that it hath onely been done by the subtilty of the Serpent in me in that understanding and knowledge that I had of God that caused me to have high thoughts of my self and that of my self in that understanding and knowledge I had of God I could pray worship and serve God and was as God to my self that is to will what I knew was Gods will and to do what I knew to be Gods will that I should do that is as to an outward obedience to God And now I do know that all that then I did in obedience to God was done in my own will and for my own self-ends And knowing the danger that I was then in being in the womans deceived state and so in the transgression and so in danger of perishing I cannot but out of love and pity to those that are in that state give them warning for them to have a care that they do not fall into that Quick-sand that lieth so hid in man and as an honest Traveller in the outward Land having fallen into a Quick-sand setteth a mark there that so others may have a care of falling into the same place This being the end of all my making known of what I know of the subtil Serpents self-will in me And further to make it more clearer that it is the work of the Tempter in man as man is in the fallen state to perswade man to have high thoughts that of himself in that understanding and knowledge that he hath of God he can know Gods will and can will Gods will and can do what God would have him to do And if this be not the true state of man in the fall to have the subtile Serpent to be thus in him tempting of him I desire then to know from whence it comes that many now see it to be so hard for man to become a very nothing in the Work of his Salvation that so God may be all in it and man nothing but onely as God makes him an Instrument in his hand But they who are not in some measure come to the knowledge of that in them as to know how hard a thing it is to become a nothing in the working out of their salvation that so God may be all in them in that great work of saving of them to them it is as hard to believe the truth of what I have said concerning the experience that some have seen of the Tempter how
another seed of the Woman and not that seed which knew the will of Man and condescended and joyned with Mans will in the transgression but it is a seed in man that never knew man that is the will of man by joyning with it or condescending to mans will in his disobedience but it ever did and doth oppose the will of man in his disobedience it is a Virgins seed that knew no man And this is as great a mystery to the Wisdom of this World as it was that an outward Virgin that never knew an outward man should bring forth a Son The woman that this Virgins seed shall save is that in man that was lost by the transgression Take notice of this before man transgressed he was drawn and went forth in the doing what he did by the spirit of God in him I hope none will deny that God breathed into him the breath of life and he became a living Soul man being thus made alive he was by the drawings of the spirit or the goings or leadings of the spirit of Jesus in him carried out by a principle of love to yield an obedience to God and in and by his transgression he died that is man as to his being drawn going or being led forth by the spirit of Jesus in him in obedience to God in that love that he had to God In the transgression that obedience that he had to God died which he was in before the transgression and drawn led or went forth in that obedience by the spirit of Jesus in him that obedience died that is it died as to mans part as to mans obeying of God and so man was lost as to his love and obedience to God and the woman being saved is the restoring of this love and obedience again in man to God which is done in the Virgins seed in the womans bearing the Child Jesus the Son of God God in us who came to seek and to save that which was lost What is now required of the woman to continue in to be saved in child-bearing that is she is to continue in faith charity holiness and sobriety these all were in Adam before the fall and so man may be said to die in the day that he eat of the forbidden fruit There was faith in Adam before he fell Adam before he fell he believed all that God had said to him to be true and he obeyed God in all that he had commanded him to do and he confessed the truth of what God had spoken to him and of his obedience to God in and by the woman It was the woman that said We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden but of the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden God hath said ye shall not eat of it neither shall ye touch it lest ye die and this was spoken by the man in the woman as being led or guided by the spirit of Jesus in him to give this answer to the Serpent I pray mark God did make known his Commandment to the man before the woman had a being that is before she had a body separated from mans body man makes no acknowledgement of what God had commanded him to do or of his faith in believing the truth of what God had commanded or of his obedience to God but as he did it in and by the woman it was the woman that acknowledged the Command and their believing of it and their obedience to the Command the acknowledgement of their faith and obedience it was in this that she declared what God had commanded them to do and what he had commanded them not to do and the penalty if they transgressed and then they had not broken Gods Command The Serpent never set upon man to tempt him before he had a woman given to him as an Help-meet but after he had a woman given to him to be an Help-meet for him then he set upon him to tempt him in and by the woman read it in the mystery who can I hope none will own themselves to be so ignorant as to say they believe the Serpent did not tempt the man because the Scripture speaketh of the Woman and the Serpent to have all the discourse in the temptations but yet the Scripture saith that she took of the fruit thereof and did eat and gave also to her husband with her and he did eat and gave also to her husband with her and he did eat that is at the very same time and instant that the woman eat the husband eat also with her they eat together by which it is clear that the temptation was the same in the husband that it was in the woman but God is pleased to set it forth to be the woman that was tempted the more to make known the mystery of the creating of man and of mans fall and given it the name that the woman was deceived and in the transgression notwithstanding she shall be saved in Child-bearing And as Faith was in Adam before the fall so Charity was in Adam before the fall the height of love was in Adam before he fell there was no love in the heart of man to any creature before the fall mans heart was filled as I may so say with love to God the love of the Creation nor of any Creature was not entred into mans heart before the fall no not to Eve but onely as God had made her an Help-meet for man but he knew her not till after the fall and Holiness was in Adam before the fall as he was made in the Image of God and Sobriety was in man before the fall man had no high thoughts or esteem of himself While man stood stedfast in his faith believing the truth of what God had spoken and his love remained unchangeable and his holiness unblemished and his sobriety unmoved mans heart was like a pleasant and delightful Garden and while mans heart was thus as a garden and all that man did was done by mans being drawn or led or going forth thereunto by the spirit of Jesus in him for who dare say that man before his being tempted did any thing that was not the work of God in him and man in the garden and in his being led drawn or going forth by the spirit of Jesus in him subtilly gets into him and perswades him in the time of his being drawn led or going forth by the spirit of God or Jesus first to question the truth of what God had said and then to a desire to be as Gods Man was in the Image of God before the temptation as God made him and so in that Image he was led or drawn or went forth to do whatsoever he did by the spirit of God in him But subtilly the temptation caused a desire in him to be as Gods and not to be contented to be led drawn or guided by another as he was in that state that God had made him in but
there was of all the Tribes of the Children of Israel a hundred forty and four thousand sealed of them to be the Servants of God because he heard it that there was so many sealed and why he might not question the truth of it it was because they were looked upon to be the people of God and had the Oracles of God and to them pertained the Adoption and the Glory and the Covenants and the giving of the Law and the service of God and the Promises and the Fathers were there and they were them of whom Christ came in the flesh and therefore there was no cause for him to question the truth of that although he did but hear of it But as to the great multitude which no man could number and they not of the Tribes of Israel but of all Nations and Kinâ—eds and People and Tongues if John should onely have heard of this great multitude of all sorts and Kinreds of the Gentiles that the Israelites called and counted Heathen such as knew not God such as the Apostles themselves after they had known the Resurrection of Jesus questioned whether they might preach Jesus to them to hear of such a great multitude of them that no man could number to stand before the Throne and before the Lamb cloathed with white Robes and Palms in their hands and crying with a loud voice saying Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the Throne and unto the Lamb coming out of great tribulations and having washed their Robes and made them white with the Blood of the Lamb and heard of but so few of all the Tribes of Israel to be sealed as the servants of God If John had onely heard of this great multitude might he not have had cause to question the truth of it or would he not being one of the number of the Tribes of Israel have questioned the truth of it as the Tribes of the several outward forms of worshipping God do at this day but that John might certainly know the truth of it God was pleased to let him behold with his eyes John being in the spirit he saw and beheld this great multitude although with a kind of admiration that no man could number of all Nations Kinreds People and Tongues which were arayed in white Robes and made them white with the Bloud of the Lamb This cannot be meant outward Robes washed in outward Lambs blood for that will rather make them red than white but the Lamb is Jesus his Innocency is that which is compared to the Lamb and the Blood is the Life so that the washing in the Blood is the washing in the innocent Life of Jesus and in this they had made their Robes white White is that which betokeneth Innocency white is the sign or badge of Innocency and this was that they were clothen withal as with a Robe or Garment that is those great multitudes of all Nations and Kinreds and People and Tongues which stood before the Throne and before the Lamb in their white Robes of Innocency washed in the Bloud the Life of the Lambs Innocency with Palms in their hands holding forth Praises to God crying with a loud voice Salvation to our God They cryed aloud setting forth Gods praise That it was he and he onely that saved them and caused them to wash their Robes in the Blood of the Lamb that cloathed them with Innocency as with a Robe and that was by the innocent life of the Lamb in them the life of Jesus in them which had John onely heard of and not seen it may it not be questioned whether or no he would have believed it as those do now who onely hear of it as they hear it read in the Scriptures but they are not in the spirit as John was to see it Let them know that Jesus is the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world and he is the tree of Life and in some measure degree or other as he is the true light and lighteth them so he gives unto them some knowledge of Gods will what they should do and what they should not do God does not reap where he did not sow nor gather where he hath not strewed as the slothful servant who had not improved his Talent but hid it in the Earth charge God falsely therein The sower sowes the word the word is the seed Mark 4. all men are comprehended to be in one or the other of the four parts of ground the seed which is the word is God John 1. In him was life and the life was the light of men that was the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world God as his Word is in every man that cometh into the world they were all made by him made by his word and without him there was not any thing made in him was life and the life was the light of men the tree of life that was in Adam was the life of God in him that was Jesus that was the light in him that told him what was Gods will that he should do and what was Gods will that he should not do and this remains as a tree in all Adams Posterity although the appearance thereof is more in some than it is in other some yet there is something of the light in every man that convinceth him of an evil and makes known a good to him and this did remain in Adam after he had eaten of the forbidden fruit opening his eyes shewing him his nakedness that by his disobedience he had shipped himself out of that white Robe of Innocency that God had clothed him with as he had made him in his Image man seeing himself naked and without that clothing that God had made him in it made known to him the good that he had lost by his disobedience and it shews also to man the justice of God for his disobedience which made him afraid of God and by his being afraid of Gods justice it made known to him the evil that he had committed by eating of the forbidden fruit And this tree of life as the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world doth still continue in Adams Posterity see Rom. 2. 14 15. For when the Gentiles which have not the Law do by nature the things contained in the Law these having not the Law are a Law to themselves which shew the works of the Law written in their hearts their consciences also bearing them witness and their thoughts in the mean while accusing or else excusing one another Mark when the Gentiles which have not the Law that is they have not the written Law of God written without them do by nature the things contained in the Law by what nature do they do the things contained in the Law it cannot be by the fallen Nature that is the Serpents Nature the Serpents Nature is that which breaketh the Law of God and therefore that Nature cannot do the
the other and what was in the one was in the other as God was in them both worshipped as a spirit and the Worship that then was and now is performed as God then did and now doth look for and accept of is to worship him in spirit and in truth and so in that there was no contradiction There was not one thing that was Gods will for man to obey him in the days of the Prophets and another thing in the days of the Apostles that was to be done in man and that in obedience to God which was contrary to that which was Gods revealed will to be done in the days of the Prophets that they were to obey God in No there was no such contradiction And that now there is another thing wherein God is to be obeyed in in these days of Gods making the Light to shine more in the inward part of man than formerly and this other thing that God is now to be obeyed in as some would have it that are not willing to bring their works deeds or actions to the Scriptures to be tryed by them whether or no they be agreeable to the works deeds or actions of the holy men of old by whom God by the spirit by the true light gave forth the Scriptures and in them gave forth what was his will that man should do in obedience to him This other thing that some pretends by the light in them that they are now to obey God in is contrary and not agreeable to Gods declared will in the Scriptures and so they make the unchangeable God to be like changeable men to have one thing to be his will for man to obey him in at one time and another thing quite contrary to that to be his will for man to obey him in at another time Jesus the true light the Word of God by whose spirit the holy men of old spake as they were moved in giving forth the Scriptures both Prophets and Apostles it was the command of this Jesus this true light this spirit that gave forth the Scriptures in that outward body that he took in the nature of man to search the Scriptures John 5. 39. And he giveth the reason why it is that he commands them to search the Scriptures it was because they are they that testifie of him they are they that bear witness they are they that testifie that bear witness what he is they are they that testifie which witness what was the Fathers will that as man he was to do they are they that testifie that bear witness that as he was man he came not to do his own will but the will of the Father that sent him They are they that testifie that bear witness what Jesus the true light the Word of God in man is And they are they that testifie that bear witness what this true light is in every man and what this true light Jesus doth in every man They are they that is the Scriptures are they that testifie that bear witness how this true light Jesus by his spirit it teacheth it guideth it leadeth man into the doing of all that is of the Truth by that spirit that is of his sending forth according to his promise that he would send the spirit of truth and when he is come he shall guide them into all truth for he shall not speak of himself but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak for he shall receive of mine and shew it to you John 16 13 14. How do they disobey Jesus Command that refuse to bring their works actions and doings to the Scriptures to be tryed by them whether or no they are the works actions and doings of Jesus the true light in them and that under a pretence because Jesus the true light is in them and therefore it is that they need not or ought not to do it And how willingly are they to be deceived in thinking what is done in them and by them is done in and by Jesus the true light in them And yet will not bring it to that which Jesus saith testifieth which bear witness to what is the works of Jesus in them And therefore there is great reason why the Scriptures are to be searched to be sought after searched and sought into to find out what it is that they testifie what it is that they bear witness of Jesus to be as he is the true Light the Word of God the Saviour of man As he sends his spirit of Truth into man to make known to man what that spirit receives from him and thereby to guide man into all Truth and whatever it is in man that pretends to be the work actions or doings of the Light of Jesus in them and is not agreeable to the testimony the witness that the Scripture bears of Jesus the true Light and of his works actions or doings in man And if that be true that Jesus said as I believe none dare deny the truth of it that the Scriptures testifie of him then those works actions or doings that they do not testifie to be the works of Jesus in man as he is the true Light and sends his spirit to guide them into all Truth may very well be looked upon and judged to be the work of Satan the subtile Serpent in man transforming himself into the likeness of an Angel of Light which Satan did in the Apostles time upon the like occasion read 2 Corinth 11. 13 14 15. For such are false Apostles deceitful workers transforming themselves into the Apostles of Christ And no marvel for Satan himself is transformed into an Angel of light Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness but let them be so yet their end shall be according to their works The Apostle speaking of Christ and how it is our duty to follow Christ's Example he brings Scripture to prove the truth of what he said Rom. 15. 1 2 3 4. We therefore that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please our selves Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to his edification For even Christ pleased not himself but as it is written The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope The Apostle here sets down the duty of those that are strong and may I not say of those that would be thought or do think themselves stronger than others and that is not to please themselves to satisfie and content themselves in that they are stronger than others and so exalt themselves over and above those that are weak but their duty is to bear the infirmities of the weak and thereby to please his neighbour for that is good to edification And it this their so doing that was to follow the example of Christ who
to be spiritually worshipped and he accepts of no other Worship but what is the Worship of his own Spirit in man done from a principle of love to God And whatsoever Worship man in his will sets up because he would escape the Justice and Judgments of God for his sins is no Worship acceptable to God And this I do know that when men are in this Worship set up in their own wills to escape the punishment of God for their sins they say in their hearts as Jeroboam said outwardly of his Calves Behold thy gods that brought thee out of Egypt Behold this Worship that I in my will have set up or taken up to keep me from the apprehensions of Gods Justice and Judgments to me it hath delivered me it hath brought me out from that slavery and bondage that I was in under the apprehensions of the making known of Gods wrath Gods Justice and Judgments to me for my sins And now they set up an Altar to these the Calves that they have made that is their own outward obedience done in their own wills for their own ends and upon this Altar they offer their Sacrifices they offer their outward performances of their outward religious duties or their outward service in the worship of their Calves in worshipping and bowing down to that outward form of Worship that in their wills they have set up thereby to escape Gods Justice and Judgments that they apprehend to be due to them for their sins And although for a time they may hereby patch up a peace to themselves yet it is no more lasting to them than Adam's Aprons made of Fig-leaves were lasting to him for as soon as he heard Gods voice walking in the garden although in the cool of the day he was afraid and hid himself And so it will be with them as soon as they hear the voice of God speaking in the garden in their hearts saying Adam where art thou Man where art thou Art thou worshipping me in my Spirit in my Truth in my Jesus that saves thee from sin and that not onely from the outward actions of sin but from the love and desire to sin Man where art thou art thou in this Worship or art thou in a Worship set up in thy own will to escape the punishment that is due to thee for thy sins and yet in thy heart thou love and delight in sin as much as ever thou didst Man where art thou And when this day comes as that it will certainly come then their outward form of Worship set up in their own wills for their own ends to escape the apprehensions of Gods Justice and Judgments to them for their sins will do them no more good than Adam's Aprons of Fig-leaves covered his nakedness and hid him from Gods Justice for his sin but they will be as open and lie as naked to the manifestations of Gods Justice and Judgments to them for their sins as if they had never had any outward form of Worship I having had experience how subtilly the Serpent works twisting and turning himself about in the heart of man the garden of God in man upon the Tree of knowledge and when he sees he cannot keep man from being in some outward form of Worship and thereby be kept from running into outward sins and evils as once he had done whereby the manifestations and making known of Gods Justice and Judgments seize so upon man for his sins as that man knew not how to bear it then the Serpent willingly let man in his will to set upon an outward form of Worship thereby to take off the fierceness of the manifestation and making known of Gods Justice and Judgments that he once lay under for sin And the subtile Serpent cares not what outward form of Worship it is that man in his will will set up to worship in so that he can but keep alive in him the love to those sins that he outwardly leaves and forsakes And because he is afraid of Gods Justice for the committing of those sins man may make the outside as clear as he will as did the Pharisees if the inside be but foul if the love do but still remain to the sins or to any one sin the Serpent rather than he will wholly lose his Kingdom he will content himself if he can but rule and raign in the inward love to sin although it be but to one dearly beloved sin I also knowing the readiness and the proneness that is in man to yield to the subtilty of the Serpent and for his own ends for his own preservation to be kept from being killed or slain by the Justice of God as it was with Jeroboam when he set up his Calves which he did for his own preservation to be kept from being killed 1 Kings 12. 27. Man to be preserved and kept from the Justice and Judgments of God for sin he sets up and sets upon an outward form of Worship and such an outward form of Worship as that he thinks that God will be best pleased in And in this Worship he sets up his Altar of outward self-obedience to God and upon this Altar he offers his Sacrifice of an outward observance and that very strictly too of all and every of those things that are outwardly required or desired in that outward form of Worship that in his will he sets or takes up And in this his offering of his Sacrifice of a strict and devout observing and fulfilling of all and every of those things that are outwardly required and desired in that outward form of Worship which in his will he sets up and upon the Altar set up by him of his outward self-obedience to God In this man satisfies pleases and contents himself as Jeroboam did with his Calves instead of the true Worship of God which is to worship him in his Spirit and in his Truth in his Jesus in that which saves from sin and that not onely from the outward actions of sin for fear of the punishment but this Worship of God that is done in Spirit and in his Truth in his Jesus in that which saves from sin there is in this Worship a knowing of a being saved from the love to sin as well as a being saved from the outward actions of sin I say I knowing and having experienced how man thus by the subtilty of the Serpent is ready to set up a Worship to himself as Jeroboam did instead of the true Worship of God and upon the Altar set up by himself of self-obedience to God and there upon that Altar to offer his Sacrifices of a strict and devout doing and performing of all and every the outward things that is required or desired in that outward form of Worship and thereby and therein to please satisfie and content themselves as if they were worshipping God in his Spirit and in his Truth in his Jesus that does not onely save from the outward acts of sin but saves
in their Wills set by them and thereby and therein to please satisfie and content themselves as if they were worshipping God in his spirit and in his truth in his Jesus that saves from sin and also telling of them what would follow and fall upon them for such Worship and Service But at length it happened to me as it did to the man of God sent to cry against the Altar at Bethel who King Jeroboam by his threatning nor by his friendship could prevail with to disobey any part of the Command of God but he was prevailed with and brought into disobedience by an old Prophet that told him that an Angel spake to him by the Word of the Lord but he lyed unto him he had no Angel spake to him nor no Word from the Lord to say what he did to the man sent of God It was the old lying Serpents self in him that spake these words to him whereby he deceived the man sent of God and so it happened to me All the bad dealings that I had received did not in the least hinder me in my obedience to any part of the Command of God in speaking what I had in Command to speak but it so happened that I was in Company with three Women called Old Quakers of great esteem amongst them and although in plain words they did not give themselves the Name of Prophetess as the old Prophet did or say as he did that an Angel spake to him by the word of the Lord yet they spake words to the same purpose That they were moved by the spirit of God to speak to me and that it was in the Name of God and for Gods sake and many words to these purposes that they used to me and that although as they said they did not know one anothers minds nor had said nothing of it before yet they did speak to that purpose as if they all of them severally one by another had a Command from God and that they were all moved by the spirit of God in them at that time to speak to me and let me know from God that what I spake in the Meeting I did not speak by a true moving of the spirit of God in me but it was the wrong spirits self in me that put me forward to speak and very many words they spake to me to these purposes And I having had a large experience of the subtilty of the Serpents self in me and how he had in former times deceived me in a shew of godliness and then they all as the old Prophet did did affirm that they had a several Angel or as they called it a several moving of the spirit of God severally did move in each of them and put them upon it to speak to me by the word of the Lord in them although I now know they all lyed to me as the old Prophet did yet these their lying words then spoken in the Name of the Lord deceived me as the lying words of the old Prophet deceived the man sent of God and they caused me as the Serpent did Eve who at first resisted the Temptation but afterwards she yielded to question or doubt of the Command of God whether God had said Ye shall not eat of every tree of the Garden and so at first I resisted them very strongly yet at length through their many words I question'd or doubted whether God had commanded me to speak as I had spoken although I did before know that God had Commanded me to speak as Eve knew that God had said they should not eat of every tree of the Garden there was one Tree that God had Commanded that they should not eat thereof And in this knowledge of what was Gods Command Eve had obeyed God in as I in that knowledge that it was the Command of God for me to speak had obeyed God in but it was with me as it was with Eve and the man sent of God who at first resisted and said Nay to the old Prophet after the Serpent by his deceit and lye had caused Eve to question or doubt whether God had Commanded what she in her self before knew to be the Command of God and from that knowledge that she had in her self that it was the Command of God she had yielded obedience unto it but soon after the Serpent had wrought in her to question or doubt whether it was the Command of God or no he soon by his lying brought her to disobey God in his Command and it cost her her life and so the man sent of God he knew that it was the Command of God in him that he should not eat bread or drink water in that place and he for a time obeyed the Command of God in him and did not yield to the desire of the old Prophet but when by the lying of the old Prophet and that in the word of the Lord as the old Serpent in him caused him to say he questioned the truth of the Command of God in him which before he had obeyed and would not for the fear or friendship of a King be prevailed with into the disobedience of any part of it yet by the lye of one that called himself a Prophet and sent of God as he was he went from obeying what he had known to be the true Command of God in him and believed the lye that the lying old Prophet had told him was the Command of God for him to obey God in and that cost him his life and so it was with me although at first I resisted them strongly and would give no way to them yet afterwards by the lyes that they told me in the word of the Lord as they pretended to me that it was by the motion of the spirit of God in them that they spake to me I giving some credit to them as Eve did to the Serpent and the man sent of God to the old lying Prophet I began to question the truth of the Command of God in me which before I knew to be the Command of God in me and had obeyed God therein and I did with Eve and the man of God who gave more credit to the lye the Serpent told and the old Prophet told than to the truth spoken in them and to them by the spirit of God and so did I give more credit to the lye that they spake to me in that they told me it was by the moving of self in me that I spake and not by the Command of God and by believing them in their lye I went out of the obedience to what I knew was the Command of God in me and to me and for a time I had obeyed God in which all the hard or bad dealings that I had met withal could not in the least prevail with me to disobey the Command of God in me and to me to speak what God had given me in Command to speak but I was prevailed with and prevailed over
me But so it hath pleased the infinite wise God to leave their failings weaknesses infirmities or miscarriages and not onely theirs but others of his faithful Servants in writing and now in print not to the end to be as Examples for us to follow but to be as Warnings for us to have a care that we by the subtilty of the Serpent do not fall as they did for they and we stand and are saved by all one and the same Faith in the same Jesus and what is written is written for our Instruction and Learning And I know that the same Spirit that will blame me for making so publick the dealings of Friends by me will also blame me for medling with the failings weaknesses infirmities or miscarriages of the Twelve as it did in some Friends for speaking of the failings of Job who although perfect and upright and how patiently he bore what God suffered Satan to afflict him with yet his patience did not always continue the same for if it had he would never have cursed the day of his birth c. I made but use of this in my speaking in the Meeting to shew what great need we all had to stand upon our watch lest at any time we be overcome by the subtilty of the Adversary and this gave such an offence that I was by two counted no small Friends at two several times rebuked for mentioning Job's failings And therefore I expect no other but by the same Spirit I shall be sentenced and judged for my making so publick the dealings of those called Friends or Quakers to me or rather to that which was of Jesus in me but if they do I know by what Spirit it is that they so judge and censure me That it is not by the spirit of God for the example of the spirit of God I follow it is the example of God by his spirit in Matthew and Luke to make publick in writing the dealings of the Twelve by Jesus It is the example of God by his spirit in Paul to make publick in writing Peter's not walking uprightly according to the truth of the Gospel but dissembled It is the example of God by his spirit in the holy men of old that gave forth the Scriptures to make publick in writing the failings of the best of his Servants as of Noah Abraham Lot Moses David Job and others And therefore I shall conclude with the words of Jesus Mat. 10. 24 25. The disciple is not above his master nor the servant above his lord It is enough for the disciple that he is as his master and the servant as his lord if they have called the master of the house Beelzebub how much more shall they call them of the houshold I have forborn the mentioning of any Name or Names and so I shall unless I hear what I have written be contradicted or the truth of it questioned and then I may not onely name the Names of the Persons but the Places where they either spake or did what I have herein mentioned READER WHosoever thou art that shall read what I have writ if upon the reading of what I have writ of the dealings of some of those called Quakers to me thou shalt therefore judge or think the worse of the Truth those called Quakers own and believe in that is of the true Light in them which Light is Jesus that came to save his People from their sins and that Jesus who is the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the World it is onely he and there is none other that can save any one from their sins and the way that they own that God is to be worshipped in by this Jesus the true Light in them is to worship him in his Spirit and Truth That evil Spirit that would lead thee or cause thee upon the reading of what I have writ to judge or think the worse of the Truth owned and believed by those called Quakers and of the way owned and believed by them that God is to be worshipped in because of the dealings of some of them to me the same evil Spirit upon the same ground may lead thee or cause thee to judge or think the worse of Jesus and of the way that he declared that God the Father was to be worshipped in and that because of the dealings of the Twelve by him as I have in what I have writ mentioned of their dealings by Jesus as that they did not believe all that he said to be true nor did they always understand the truth spoken by him but by Peter he was rebuked for speaking the truth and all of them did contradict him in his speaking the truth saying to him That should not be done to him and that by them that he had said should be done to him and that by them as when he told them they should be all offended because of him that night and so offended as to be scattered and forsake him and as he said they should therein deal by him so they did deal by him although they had all said they would not deal so by him And moreover there was one of the Twelve that for the love he had to money betrayed him and sold him to them that he knew sought for him to take away his life Thus much you may read in the Scriptures of the dealings of the Twelve by Jesus And therefore I do say that the same evil Spirit that would have thee to judge or think the worse of the Truth that is owned and believed by those called Quakers of their worshipping God in Spirit and Truth because of what I have writ that some of them have done to me The same evil Spirit upon the same ground may cause thee to judge and think the worse of Jesus and of the truth that Jesus preached because of what the Twelve did to him that thou mayest read written in the Scriptures God knows and bears me witness that why I make mention of their dealings to me is to do what I believed I ought to do thereby to make known what knowledge and acquaintance man may have of Jesus in the flesh and yet not know Jesus in his Death and Resurrection as the Twelve who had the most knowledge of him and acquaintance with him in the flesh and were sent by him to preach and cast out Devils and yet knew him not in his Death and Resurrection And therefore man may go a great way in an outward form of Worship and in an outward following of Jesus and yet not come fully to know what it is to deny himself daily and take up his Cross to all self and be a Follower of Jesus in the Spirit As the Twelve although they followed him in the flesh and so had the most acquaintance with him yet they had not in that time of their knowing of him and following of him in the flesh so fully learned that Lesson of self-denial and taking up of the daily Cross to their own wills as they learned it when they knew his Death and Resurrection in themselves and followed him in the Spirit And as Paul said They knew no man after the flesh yea though we have known Christ after the flesh yet now henceforth know we him no more Oh how subtilly the Serpent self in man can and does act in an outward form of worshipping God tempting man in that knowledge and understanding that he hath of God to eat of the forbidden Tree that he might thereby be as Gods I do therefore beseech the Readers to have a great care that they be not deceived by the Serpents subtilty therein as I do know he hath formerly deceived me And also I do beseech them not to answer the desires of the subtile Serpent or Tempter in them as to judge or think the worse of the Truth the true Light in man or of those called Quakers because of some ill dealings done by some of them to Henry Abbut FINIS
And he was first formed the Apostle does not here say made as a Creature but formed he was in the form and likeness of God before the World was and the World was made by him This Adam in man that is Jesus in man was not deceived neither doth this Jesus in man enter into the transgression But Eve so called because she was the Mother of all living she that had her beginning after Adam and was taken out of Adam mark that she was the woman that was deceived and found in the transgression that which was taken out of Adam and was bone of Adam's bone and flesh of Adam's flesh and given to Adam of God to be an Help-meet for Adam this was deceived and was in the transgression Read it within who can in the mystery Christ is compared to the man and the Church to the woman Ephesians the fifth Chapter and the Saints are compared to a woman bringing forth a man child Revelations the 12th Chapter All they that can read it in the mystery in some measure degree or other who knows what it is to have the woman in them saved in Child-bearing that is to know that in man which was deceived and found in the transgression to be again saved in bearing the Child Jesus in bearing and bringing forth in them that which saves from sin and that which saves from sin is that Adam in them that was not deceived that of God in man that never changed but was and is and ever shall be the same and is the quickning Spirit the Lord from Heaven and the heavenly Image that we shall in time bear if we continue in Faith and Charity and Holiness with Sobriety It was Gods promise that the seed of the woman should bruise the Serpents head it was not the woman that was to bruise the Serpents head mark that but the seed of the woman Not mans being drawn forth by the Spirit or the goings or the leadings forth of man by the Spirit of Jesus in man that was in man before the fall that was not to bruise the Serpents head but the seed of the woman was to bruise the Serpents head A Virgin shall conceive and bear a son his name is Emmanuel God in us Mat. 1. 23. The Virgin that knew no man brought forth Jesus the Son of God Luke 1. 34 35. That is the seed that bruises the Serpents head that is that in man that knoweth nothing of man that wherein there is nothing of man joyned to it as is in mans being drawn lead or going out to act by the Spirit of Jesus in him there the Serpents self or a mans own will is ready to bruise the heel of it The feet is the walking or going part of man or upon that which man walks and the heel is the hindermost part of the foot and so it represents the walkings goings or drawings forth of man by the Spirit of Jesus in him which self or a mans own will is ready to bruise the heel of it that is to hurt or hinder the pure operations of the work of the Spirit of Jesus in man but the seed of the woman God in us the Son of God Jesus that saves from sin this bruises the head of the Serpent The head is that part of the body wherein the life and understanding is placed it is the seat of that which makes wise and it is the uppermost part of the Creature And this seed of the woman God in us the Son of God Jesus that saves from sin is that seed which bruises the head of the Serpent in us bruises the head of self or a mans own will in us bruises the life of self or a mans will bruises its wisdom or understanding bruises whatever is uppermost in man God did not promise that the seed of the woman should slay or kill the Serpent so as that there should be no life or motion in the Serpent mark that no there was to be an enmity between them between the woman and the Serpent and between the womans seed and the Serpents seed And although the Serpent had his head bruised by the seed of the woman yet the Serpent should bruise the heel of the womans seed mark that The Serpent was not to bruise the heel of the woman although God put enmity between the Serpent and the woman and between the womans seed and the Serpents seed and so great an enmity that the Serpent was to bruise the heel of the womans seed and the seed of that woman not the woman but the womans seed was to bruise the head of the Serpent Man in his goings forth by the leadings or drawings of the spirit of Jesus in him is not to bruise the Serpents head but it is Jesus in him by whom man is drawn forth to do what he doth in obedience to God it is he it is that seed of the woman that is to bruise the Serpents head so that man must be nothing in bruising the Serpents head but God must be all in the doing thereof And doth not experience teach us the truth thereof do we not find that although God in us Jesus that saves from sin doth bruise the head of the Serpent in us self or mans will wherein the life of the Serpent and its wisdom is placed and what is uppermost in Man is bruised by the seed of the Woman in us yet there remains a life or motion in this Serpents self or mans will that doth bruise the heel of the Womans seed in us that is it hurts or hinders the hindermost part of the pure operations or workings of the seed of the woman in us that is of Jesus in us and it must be this Jesus in us and he alone in us that can bruise the head of the Serpent in us and man must be but an instrument in his hand and not to move therein but as moved by Jesus in him that so God may be all in all to work both to will and to do of his own good pleasure And yet this woman that was deceived and in the transgression shall be saved in Child-bearing in bearing the Child whose name is God in us the Son of God Jesus that saves from sin which is conceived in the pure Virgins seed in man in that in man that knew no man that is that knew nothing of self or the will of man but knew onely the will of God it is that in man that knew nothing of man that is of mans self or will by joyning with it or condescending to it that is the Virgins seed in man which conceived God in us the Son of God Jesus that saves from sin and this Conception of the Virgins seed in us is wrought and brought to pass by the Holy Ghost the power of the highest coming upon us and over-shadowing of us it is the great power of God by the holy Spirit joyning with that seed of God in man that never condescended or
yielded to self in man or to mans will in the temptation but did oppose it and discovered the temptation in man to be contrary to Gods will that is that they should not eat of the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden and told man the danger if he yielded to the temptation that he should die and after man had yielded to the temptation shewed him his nakedness his being stripped or made naked as to that holiness and righteousness that God had made them in and made them serviceable of the justice of God towards them for their transgression which made them afraid of God To this Virgins seed in man that was thus in man before the fall and continued in man after the fall the great power of God by the Holy Ghost joyns with and by this conjunction or joyning together of these two seeds if they may be so call'd that is the seed of God in us the seed of God without us that is the power of God within us and the power of God without us which is all of one kind and nature as is the seed of the man and the seed of the woman here cometh the conception of the Son of God in us Jesus that saves from sin which being born and brought forth in the life cannot sin 1 John 3. 9. Whosoever is horn of God cannot sin because he is born of God it is the birth and bringing forth of the seed of God in us it is that in us cannot sin because it is born of God 1 John 3. 8. He that committeth sin is of the Devil for the devil sinneth from the beginning he that sins or that which is sin is of the Devil for the Devil sinneth from the beginning this beginning is not to be understood from the beginning of time in which God created all things for then all things were very good Gen. 1. 31. They were like God as God is good but from the beginning of the Devil the Devil sinned sin was the first beginning of the Devil and so he or that which commits sin is of the Devil and when sin began to have a being the Devil began to have a being There is but two seeds in man the seed of the Woman and the seed of the Serpent and what is not of the seed of the woman in man which bringeth forth that which is born of God and cannot sin is of the seed of the Serpent in man the Devil that which bringeth forth sin in his own likeness The spirit of Jesus that draweth man forth into obedience to God that cannot sin nor doth it sin but it is that in man that was in the obedience to God that sins as once mans will was in obedience to God but mans will going out of the obedience to God was that which brought forth sin in man The Apostle said 1 Tim. 2. 14 15. that the woman being deceived was in the transgression Notwithstanding that is there is nothing to hinder it but she shall be saved in child-bearing if she continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety If she continued in faith c. which is as much as to say that she was in faith wherein the child Jesus was born John 1. 12. as many as received him to them he gave power to be the sons of God even to them that believed in his Name Ephes 2. 8. By grace we are saved through faith and that not of our selves it is the gift of God By these Scriptures it is plain that Faith is that in man that God as I may so say makes use of for the bringing forth this child Jesus to save us from sin In the bearing of this Child the woman that was deceived and in the transgression is saved if she continue in faith that is in that faith that God purifies the heart with the woman in the transgression she went out of faith out of the believing God into the believing of the Serpent and so her heart was defiled and to save her she must be brought into that faith that purifies her heart and there must not onely be faith which God makes use of for the bringing forth this child Jesus that saves from sin but there must be a continuing in it it must continue to the end And Charity which is the height of Love that must continue in Faith which the Apostle in the first of the Corinthians 13. saith that although they had all Faith and thereby did great things as to remove mountains and other great works as he there mentions yet all was nothing without Charity and Charity he saith is greater than Faith And Holiness must continue with Faith and Charity to be holy that is to be like God 1 Pet. 1. 15 16. As he that hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation because it is written Be ye holy for I am holy and to all these Sobriety is to be joyned To be sober Rom. 12. 3. that is to have a low and mean essence of our selves Tit. 2. 11 12. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation teacheth them that are saved to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to lively soberly righteously and godlily in this present world These all must and do attend to and with the Child-bearing of the Woman that saves her out of the transgression and where these are wanting or any of them what true marks signs manifestations or knowledge is there that any one can say they have that the child Jesus is born in them and that the woman in them is saved out of the transgression But if it be objected if the woman in the figure or mystery that was deceived and in the transgression be mans being drawn by the spirit or the goings or leadings forth of man by the spirit of Jesus in man then how is God in us or the Son of God or Jesus that saves from sin the seed of this woman that was deceived and in the transgression To that I answer That the Woman was deceived and in the transgression knew man she knew the will of man and condescended and joyned to and with the will of man in the transgression and in so doing the Serpents seed was brought forth disobedience was brought forth which is the seed of the Serpent When God in the Creation made the Creatures on the Earth the seed of what he made was in them and so it may be said of the Serpent when he took his first being in man his seed was in him disobedience was in him and between that seed of disobedience and the seed of the Woman that is that seed of God in man that never condescended to the will of man in his disobedience but stood in obedience to God There is by God put an everlasting enmity between those two seeds and the seed of the Woman that is God in us or the Son of God or Jesus that saves from sin that is