Creation which is created according to God in righteousnesse and true holinesse which righteousnesse is called the righteousnesse of God and true holinesse which is an holinesse more glorious then the holinesse of the first Creation an holiness which is of God not of man and therefore true holinesse or holiness in truth This Jesus or second Adamas he is Spirit is called theImage of the invisible God the brightnesse of his glory andexpresse Image of his Person is the life manifested the Word of God he that is alive for evermore the Alpha and Omega the beginning and theending this is he who is the wisdom mind or understandingof God and was in God and is the Immanuel or Godwith us or God making hisTabernacle with men This Jesus Christ is that glory of God in which the Father is revealed and so none knows the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son wil reveal him This is he who being in the bosome of God declares him to the sons of men and so rejoyces in the habitable parts of the earth This Jesus Christ is therevelation of God even theFather this is the glasse orchrystal of God in whom we with open face behold as in a glasse the glory of the Lord and are changed from glory toglory The Sons of men taken into this glory of the Son of God are that new or second Creation that new Ierusalem which came down from God the city of the living God the Spirits of just men made perfect the new creature the heavenly men as is the Lord from heaven so are they that are heavenly the spirituall men of him who is the quickning Spirit So as Jesus Christ is made unto us the wisdom power righteousnesse sanctification and redemption of God This Iesus Christ is the root seed principle or original of all this new and heavenly life glory and spirit to the Sons of men wherein they enter within the vail or flesh which is the first Creation beyond which is this glory and light The vail of this first Temple or Creation being rent by him who crucified all flesh through the eternal Spirit and entered into his glory and is now passed into the holiest through whom we have access to God even the Father through the blood of the everlasting Covenant which blood was the first Creation and Excellency crucified to the very life and blood of it this was the seal or mark of the New Testament in his blood This Son of God is he who came to restore the first Creation from its enmity to God and so in that Ministry of his flesh became the word of reconciliation by which the world was reconciled unto him and in this Creation wherein man had sinned and departed from God living in his own life the Son of God was manifested in this Creation to condemn sin in the flesh and to take away sin and to fulfil the righteousnesse of the Law in the flesh of this first Creation the law being weak through the flesh and thus he was made sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousnesse of God in him not only righteousnesse according to the law Christ being the end of the law for righteousnesse to every one that beleeveth but the righteousness of God a righteousness of more glory and excellency The Son of God did not only fulfil this bringing home this first Creation or man to God according to his first excellency and communion with God but in this appearance in the flesh he was a figure of God whose design is to make his Saints his Temple his Tabernacle his Body his new Creation his new creatures his habitation or house And God thus manifested in flesh was a figure of that mystery of godlinesse in us or God becoming an Immanuel or God with us And in his crucifying all this first glory in which hee appeared revealed that old design of God that mystery hid from ages and now made manifest to the Saints nayling all the flesh of his Saints to the same Crosse and being lifted up draws all men unto him which is the Mystery of the Gospel or Christ crucified all the life or excellency of this first Creation being crucified in the Saints as in Christ whereby they enter into their glory as he did into his and are in the same glory of God made one as he and the Father are one This is that fellowship of Christs death sufferings and resurrection spoken of by Paul into which the Christian is received And now all things of this new or second Creation as they are spiritual and heavenly are only in and through the same Spirit and discerned in the same Spirit And the whole Christ or Son of God is head and body he and his who shal enjoy and live with God in one Spirit when God shal be all in all and the fulnesse of the stature of Christ grown up to be the body of him who filleth al in al And Jesus Christ in this consideration of the whole man nature or body in which God is revealed is the beginning of the Creation of God the first born of every creature in whom all things subsist The true Church THat is the Church or body of Christ which is baptized by one Spirit into oneness and unity of Spirit a unity or incorporation with Christ being made perfect in one even one as thou Father art in me and I in thee This body is that wherein all the members live and arequickned in one and the sameSpirit with Christ and in this unity if one member suffer all the members suffer with it All the members of this body have the same care one of another This body is spiritual and al the members of it spiritual because Christ is the head of it and he is a quickning Spirit and the Lord that Spirit That is the true Church which is the Temple of God where God dwels ye are the Temples of the holy Ghost Jesus Christ is the chief corner stone of this Temple elect and precious this is the Temple which the Angel measures with a golden reed and the Altar thereof or the eternal Spirit upon which all the first creation is offered in the Saints as it was offered in Christ who through the eternall Spirit offered himself leaving out the outward court or the flesh and first Creation and all outward administrations which are given to the Gentiles to tread down The Tabernacle and Temple were figures of this wherein God and the glory of God appeared and all gatherings Communions or Fellowships called Churches in the Gospel were clearer types of this This is the Church which is the pillar and ground of truth the generall Assembly and Church of the
I left my adversary stil upon some account with me for passion and recrimination as all others do on all sides whom I see write therefore I rather made it my choice to enter into the chamber or retirement of Spirit and shut the door upon me till the indignation be over-past for we can set but letter to letter and Scripture to Scripture and argument to argument and interpretation to interpretation and nothing can be judged till the day or time of more revelation of truth till the Holy Ghost and fire sit upon each of us trying every mans work of what sort it is and burning up that in us which is hoy and stubble for writing book after book in such a line of Replies Rejoynders hath usually more of man then God in it and we seem to say with our lips we wil prevail our tongues are our own who is Lord over us I am not against contending for truth earnestly but that is in Spirit not in flesh nor passions and I know well that the Spirit of God is flowing in and is a fire in the bosome but still as a refiners fire trying and purifying not scorching nor burning up that which is pure and spiritual in one another and I know some allowance there must be on all sides to infirmities and darkness and several conceptions of truth in all which yet hath not been and I know not any of us that either preach or write on Scriptures in such a light of Spirit as the Apostles writ the Scriptures Heresie HEresie is a choice in the signification of the word and in the application of it in Scripture it is a choice of some other thing for truth then is truth by those who seemingly received truth though after they make another choice of that which is contrary to truth Heresie which was judged by the Apostles accordingly was a choice of some thing contrary to the faith and sound doctrine of Scriptures delivered by inspiration or in Spirit and Truth so as Heresie is something against the very Doctrine of Faith in the Word or Scriptures not against any interpretations doctrines conclusions glosses Comments or Preachings of men who speak not Scripture nor the word of truth originally nor infallibly as the Apostles did but so far as that is the very Scripture they speak and so far as they speak the truth in Jesus and in the Spirit of God else they teach for Doctrines the Traditions of men Schism SChism is a breaking off a renting or dividing from Christians who are in an outward profession of truth and in an outward fellowship of truth Now there may be Schism in visible Churches or fellowships of Saints upon this account but there can be none in the true body of Christ or the spiritual Church which is baptized by one spirit into one body for they that are joyned to the Lord are one Spirit and they are made perfect in one and so far as they are in that one Spirit cannot be divided nor can suffer any Schism so as the dividing from men meerly or the fellowships of men meerly or the errours of men or departing into higher attainments of truth while the rest of the visible fellowships sit still is no Schism for if so the Protestants were a Schism to Rome and Presbyterians to Bishops and all that go on from faith to faith from glory to glory to the rest whom they leave behind 9. Truth THere is but one Truth and that is Jesus Christ I am the way and the truth and he is Truth in the original or pattern and we see nor know no more Truth then we see and know in him this is called the truth as it is in Jesus For Jesus Christ is the Alpha and Omega of all things and comprehends all essence and form and life and Spirit of things in himselfe and all things of this Creation are but Shaddowes and Images of this Truth and the outward forms of that glory this Truth makes free that is the operation of it and therefore so much of Truth or of Christ any ones knows or receives so much freedom or liberty they receive and so much they are delivered into the glorious liberty of the Sons of God and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty And therefore as Truth is in any so is spiritual liberty and the Spirit of bondage in them passes away and such are disburdened of the legal terrours fears of the lyes delusions false conceptions traditions under which they have lived as they grow up into Truth the Spirit of Truth only teaches and reveals this Truth and opens those treasures of wisdom and knowledg which are in Christ Truth though it be but one yet it shines forth in many streams of glory and opens like day in Jesus Christ this variety of truth appears that truth or glory or true brightness of God and all that truth of this Creation or forms of the world and all truth of Letter or Scripture or outward Ordinance is in its pure Essence and Spirit in Jesus Christ Truth gathers up men more into Christ from the flesh and loose vanity of the world and therefore we are said to have our loyns girt with truth the girdle of truth as it were binding us up and keeping close in Spirit to the Lord there is a fulness settlement establishment in truth and in things of this world there is a far more solid real enjoyment in the substance of things here then in their shadows counterfeits or pictures because there is a nature or Spirit and life in that thing to be enjoyed and answers the Spirit and life of him that enjoys by communicating something substantial solid and proportionable then images and shadows are So it is in the truth Jesus Christ in whom is life and more excellent glorious and spiritual form or life exceeding the nature of things here and communicating more true and solid glory then all things here which are but as shadows to that as other things are shadows to them therefore says David I shal behold thy face in righteousness I shal be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness as if the face or likeness of God which is Jesus Christ the image of the invisible God could only satisfie and the soul in such a prospect of light and glory is truly awakened til when it is but asleep and in dreams and visions of its own spirit all the life and discoveries of sense and reason being but dreams rather then true awakenings and therefore the more any one hath seen of truth in Jesus the more spiritually and highly they judg of all outward things being not satisfied in the meer letter or form of them but in the spirituallity of them and true life of them which is Jesus Christ The Mystery of true Christian liberty from God not from man or the power of men WE have hitherto filled much paper with Scriptures Reasons and
and the seven and ten figures of perfection and compleatness as to the man of sin for the number of the beast is the number of a man and yet his number is but 666. that is is but a number of weakness and imperfection and work or bondage not the number of God or of seven which is perfection and rest And the whore is adorned with gold and pearl which are those excellencies of nature and forms of wâ—rship and Scriptures with which she decks her self and is adorned as a counterfeit spouse of Christ and upon her head is mystery that is all this appearance of hers even her highest and choicest her head is mystery to all who are made drunken with the cup of her fornications or spiritual whoredoms and idolatries they discerning none of these but all being in mystery to them And this Antichrist is one who denies Christ coming in flesh or God in his people who is coming and coming that is ever flowing out in fresh and glorious discoveries and manifestations of himselfe forbidding all beyond them as new lights and false revelations and fixing God and his appearances in their Conceptions Votes and Results and Councels and Consequences and Conclusions and Laws of worship This Antichrist thus described is found in man or the spirit of meer man in al his departure or falling away from God in al his lying signs or counterfeitings of the spirit in his sitting as God in his being a beast or opposing the Spirit in his scarlet colour or his crucifyings of Christ in us in his denying the Lords coming or further manifestations of his light and Spirit in us and thus quenching the Spirit And from hence he flows out and spreads himself in the world in all Idolatrous forms of worship in all false interpretations of God and of the truth as it is in Jesus These are the several attainments The Common Protestant THe common Protestant as to doctrine and fundamentals are so far in a discovery of the mystery of salvation as to behold a state of condemnation in sin and a way of salvation by Jesus Christ and faith in him yet some take this way to be but a knowledg of Christ after the flesh and of Christ as one single person or figure of a man and the first glympse of the love of God and but meerly a discovery beyond the law and all but a fleshly spirituality The generall Redemptionist THey that are for general redemption through Christ in the free offers of grace to all and his dying for all some say attain no higher in this then Christ after the flesh and fall into the same consequence with those that hold the particular election and reprobation of some and though there be in this a more general ministration of Christ held forth according to the letter yet they say it goes not so high as the mystery of Christ in Spirit and in pure glory and truth but of Christ in glorified flesh and as in one single person or figure of a man and all end but in a fleshly spirituality and in an attainment as to the meer letter of Scripture The Free-Gratian THey that have discovered up into free-grace or the mystery of salvation singled out from conditions qualifications and works some say attain no higher in that then a discovery meerly beyond the common Protestant both going no higher then a justification by imputation and through Christ after the flesh as in one single person or figure of a man glorified in flesh or the body without and in a local glory or a circumscribed nature and putting all the righteousness upon a meer account in God and all the taking away of sin or sinful flesh upon a non-imputation or not-accounting in the crucifying death or fiery trial of the flesh and the pure spiritual incorruptible seed of God within Christ in us the hope of glory And their highest attainment as to duties and works is only as some say to the nature and manner of their production or flowing forth they counting the nature and original of all no higher then an habit of grace or quality and their proceeding as immediately in the nature of that which they say is love all they do being from love and in love not in bondage Conclusion ANd these attainments are not such as are therefore condemned because no higher or more spiritual but are only considered as not the highest but in order to the mystery of salvation and several measures and ages of attainment and seeing darkly as in a glass till that which is perfect is come A Discovery of Prayer THat which hath been discovered concerning Prayer is this First That they who could not pray in the Spirit might use a form of prayer as John taught his Disciples and the Lord Jesus his in that of Our Father c. and David in Psalms and the Apostles and Christ himself are found in the same form and expressions of prayer very often he went away and prayed the same things again Moses prayed arise Lord c. and again arise Lord this is the first discovery and is truth though truth in weakness infancy A further discovery is that prayer is rather a work of the Spirit then of any form and that no set form ought to be puâ— upon the Spirit of God out what it freely breathes and speaks and all constant speakings to God in this as they call a conceived way or impremeditate or ex-temporary way is taken commonly amongst Christians for prayer in the Spirit and for that spiritual way of prayer which the Disciples of Christ used in the Gospel who were grown up from the infancy and childishness of forms or words taught them which is but a meer natural or outward thing as they say which any may performe by strength of natural parts as wit and memory and affections The furthest discovery as some say is this That Prayer is no other but the revelation of the will of God or mind of God as to such and such particulars either spiritual or temporal and is an immediate proper and spiritual act of the Spirit of God in the Saints and that all such speakings as are not from the very manifestation of the Spirit of God in us are but such prayers and petitions as natural reason and memory and affections may form and dictate and doth usually and that there is no difference betwixt such kind of praying and forms of prayer though it may be ex-temporary or conceived as some who can pray upon this account three or four hours and nothing more frequent now nay this kind of prayer is far worse by how much it transforms its self more into an Angel of light and is not sitting in the Temple of God as God or pretending its self to be the Spirit of God and is not being more properly the flowings and breathings of reason and the strength of mans wit and memory and affections and is constantly performed in publick and
further revealed in Revelations 2. 9. I know thy works and tribulation and poverty c. and ye shall have tribulation for ten dayes this was written to the Church of Smyrna or to all Christians under the figure of that Church which was tribulation prison or bondage and poverty that is while Christians are in their former administrations as in bondage prison poverty looking at all they have as nothing and all former things they were rich in as nothing and now as bondage to a more excellent enjoyment of God This is likewise in the mystery of it the cross of Christ or the fellowship of Christs sufferings crucifyings and death for as Christ crucified all that glorious administration in which he was in the flesh and it all died to a more glorious life even the glory of God the father so every Christian is to take up this cross and to bring his highest and choycest administration to this cross and to have them all crucified to higher discoveries of God this is the knowledge of Christ Crucified or self-denial Many Christians who are sadded darkned in much tribulation as to the administrations they are under and take them for desertions and withdrawings of God when as they are the presence of God upon such administrations making them dark and wither and consume and the bringing in of a richer and fuller glory God in heaven or in a place of distance as to our infirmity MAny Christians in theirconceptions of God andprayings or addresses to Godconsider him as in a local glory and so change theglory of the incorruptibleGod into an image made like to corruptible man God is infinite and all in all and whither shal I go saith the Psalmist from thy spirit or whither shal I fly from thy presence and where is the place of his rest And say not in thy heart who shal ascend into heaven to bring Christ down from above The word is nigh even in thy heart the word saith the Apostle that we preach which word was Christ the eternal Word which was with God and was God And thus the Lord is said to be at hand the Lord is at hand The spiritual Christian knows that all figures of place as of Gods residence as heaven and all such discoveries of God as to place or distance are only as to man and to the infirmities of man and therefore prays not and speaks not to God nor of God as to Place or distance but as if he were in him and about him his right hand embracing him and his left hand under him and in such discovery of God as he hath by faith c. or any such graces and other administrations he worships not God nor considers God as that or that discovery because then he should worship something for God which is not God and as Iohn fall down at the feet of the Angel or some glorious ministration and worship there The carnall and weak christian worships prayes c. and thinks of God as to form figure and place and distance and discoveries of him by graces gifts c. Whereas God is only to be enjoyed in those as in a glass darkly for we have not seen his shape nor heard his voice The Spirituall Sabboth THis Mystery of God was held forth first in the Creation in that of the seventh day which God was said to sanctifie which was no other then the enjoyment of God in the Revelation of himself who is perfect rest and sabboth in his own glory the six dayes being accordingly a figure of the Christian in bondage or under active and working administrations as those of the Law and Gospel are as all forms of worship duties graces prayer Ordinances c. This Sabboth was a sign to the people of God in bondage or under the law and the Lord Jesus in his Active and fulfilling Administration while he was in the flesh was the Antitipe of the six dayes and his entring into glory was that very Sabboth and rest which was the bosome of the Father from whence he came and where he returned and this is the scope of that fourth chap. to the Hebrews and the bosome of the Father is that Sabboth or Rest there remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God and he that hath entred into his rest hath ceased from his works as God did from his that is the Lord Jesus having fulfilled his dayes work as to the law entred into his glory or rest so Christ in that held forth the true Christian Sabboth which was the father as Philip shew us the Father and it sufficeth us there is fulness rest sabboth and sufficiency in the Father or Revelation of God in the Christian So as the Spirituall Christian in the true discovery of God his fulness lives in an eternall every-day sabboth while some live in little more than the bare sign or one day in the week The Gospel as in its own glory and as in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament THe Gospel is everlasting for it is the tydings and Revelation of God in love grace or mercy to his or God manifested in flesh or making his Tabernacle with men This Gospel which is no other then the mystery of Salvation revealed or declared in Spirit to men is cloathed in several administrations as that of the Old Testament and the New the Scriptures of both being the Revelation of heavenly things by earthly or created things or by naturall forms and expressions so as the letter is a parable figure or allegory by which spirituall things are spoken and brought forth amongst men they are they which testifie of Christ hitherto I have spoken to you in Proverbs c. The Scriptures or writings of the everlasting Gospel are the true scriptures as they are the very Image and letter of the mystery of Salvation or of Spiritual things or the mind of God or as they are in that pure and spiritual Order and form of words to truth its self not as they are meerly in their grammaticall construction and sense or common reading which any that understand the Hebrew or Greek may receive and therefore the Scriptures according to such or such interpretations consequences of men are not to be imposed as meer things of faith and fundamentals but so far as the spirit of God reveals them to be that very truth and minde of God in those who receive them else they are received and acknowledged for the Authority and reputation of men not of God therefore Christ told the Pharisees they erred not knowing the Scriptures and yet they had the Scriptures and read them and understood them in the letter but not in the Spirit The Gospel being thus distinguished into the spiritual nature of it and into the administration with which it is cloathed nothing is pure spirituall divine Gospell but that which is light life glory spirit or God revealed whatsoever is of meer
people who are his Angel or the Angel and Messenger to him as he is the Angel to God or Messenger or he that was sent of God and this Ministry is a Ministry of Iesus Christ in all his Saints or people according to his administration of light and glory and truth in them shining in them to the revelation of truth and the Gospel This Ministry exceeds the Priesthood of the law which was but in one tribe and one sort of men and was but a Ministry of Christ to come in the flesh this Ministry is of Iesus Christ the Prophet in the whole body of his Saints come in the flesh and perfected in spirit and entred into glory This Ministry of Iesus Christ the great Prophet in all his saints or people or body is a Ministry exceeding the Ministry of the Gospel in gifts of miracles and other gifts for that was in some this in all that of men more immediately this of Iesus Christ more immediately that of some gifts which though excellent in their nature and operations of the same Spirit yet these might be in such as were not spiritual but carnal but the pure Ministry of Iesus Christ in his Saints in himself as he is the quickning Spirit and Lord from heaven is in none but such as are of his body and in one Spirit with him The present Ministry of men amongst all the Churches at this day according to any appearance of the Spirit of God in them though running through the channel of Arts Sciences and Languages acquired by natural power and industry is such a Ministry as we may hear and receive or partake of any thing of God or Christ there that we find in their administration though this be not that pure Ministry of Christ in Spirit as we find the Apostles and Disciples of Christ in the Jewish worship in the Synagogues and Temple under the Apostacy and Corruption And this Principle of bodily and local separation I find is both Legal and Iewish and literal and is suckt in by the Saints from the first Gospel-discoveries and from the law and Mosaical principles of separation and when the Spirit of God is more in them they shal see it and hath bin as I clearly find no little hinderance and is at this day to the power of the Gospel and Iesus Christ in Spirit and the body of Christ in the unity of the Spirit and since our controversies in these outward things and Church-ways c. have increased the law of love and Spirit and power of godliness hath much abated while form and meer letter and something of outward order have taken up the place And though this may be an offence to such as Paul saith who make conscience of the Idol yet we know saith he an Idol is nothing nor an Idol Temple but when they shal see the Christian as he is in Spirit and the new Creation and no other thing part of him but what is glory spirit and life and that all the law of outward order and form is only a supplement to the absence of the Spirit of God and to order their outward man amongst men to their fellow saints and the world while the law of the Spirit of life is not in them shining and conforming them in Spirit and love to the Image of Christ And for my part I am far from denying any Gospel form or way which appears to be the practice of the Saints then because I conceive that saints see gathering and practising are yet under such a ministration and are to walk in it while they are in bondage and weakness But on the contrary I am far from thinking these administrations to be our glory and high point of Reformation which our Brethren of the Independent and Baptism and Presbyterian way do but in all tenderness love and yet faithfulness to them rather a ministration of bondage and weakness to the Saints because the Scriptures make it clear calling such ministrations our seeing darkly as in a glass and seeing in part and that when the more perfect is come then that which is in part shal be done away The passage from lower Ministrations to higher THe administrations in which God hath appeared and doth appear yet in some proportion are these The law or righteousness of the first Creation in which God had communion with man and man with God yet rather as with a Creator then with a Father or an Immanuel and in the outward Court or first Creation not in the inward or holiest Paradise it self being but an Image of the excellency of this Creation Man having fallen through the temptation of the serpent or fleshly wisdom and the espousals of the woman or the weakness of that Creation wherein he was made hath the first law of righteousness presented to him in a new ministration of letter by Moses in Tables of stone from God in which the first glory and excellency was ministred to man in his faln and apostated condition And because the law or first righteousness was weak through the flesh there was the lowest ministration of Angels viz. by vision dreams c. added and likewise a ministration of Priests Sacrifices Ceremonies Tabernacle Temple Prophets by which man might have access unto God and speak with him yet but in the outward Court or flesh or things of this Creation though he filled these with another glory a richer and a more excellent discovery of his love in the promised seed There was another ministration added of war and peace of the Nations enemies in the flesh and of a promised land or blessing in the flesh and the Israelites or Iews were to pass under this ministration through all the enmity oppositions and battels of the Nation to this Canaan all which was accomplished to them in letter and in that in figure of a more spiritual enmity and kingdom and glory which is fulfilled in the more Gospel-revelation when the fulness of time came The next ministration is something clearer then all these and something brighter then the law yet not so clear nor ful as that of the fulness of time which followed it or of Christ in the flesh and this ministration was that of Iohn then whom a greater Prophet did not rise yet he that was least in the kingdom of God was greater then he he was a burning and a shining light The law and the prophets were till Iohn he was the Prophet of the highest and was sent to prepare his way and to make Christ manifest to Israel by word and water and this was only a ministration in order to one more spiritual was to decrease as the other did increase The Baptism of the Spirit or fire was to lick up this of water as in that figure of the sacrifice performed by Eliiah the Prophet when the fire came down and suckt up all the four barrels of water
state and persecution of the Lord Iesus in Spirit and the time of the womans being in the wilderness all things in this time seeming as a wast and barren dispensation about her not inhabited by the Spirit of God and she in a retirement of Spirit dweling with God out of the power of the Dragon who casts only his flood after her but not upon her So as here is no more in this time of Antichrists ragin in the Flesh and the World but only the Churches oppression in Spirit and the crucifying the Lord in Spirit And all these appearances of the Lord Iesus in many glorious Saints who in particular ages appeared were but appearances of him who is that Faithfull and true witness against this power of the man of sin and were but drops of the vialls Soundings of the Trumpets openings of the Seales before the Battle of the great Day when fire shall come down from God out of heaven and devour them the Lord Iesus being revealed in flames of Spirit and glory against all Flesh So as there is not any word appearing in all the Scripture that the first ministry by gifts and ordinances shall in any measure be continued though in part or in reservation to the restored as if this were the great work the Lord intended to bring to pass viz. the setting up a purer ministery of gifts to teach his people or restoring some legal ordinances as Baptism of water the church way or Presbyterie of Elders and all the glory of the last times or ages should be only the bringing in these and taking them out of the hands of Antichrist all which arise from a mistake of the type of the Iewish Apostacy and captivity which figured out the Spirituall Church or new Ierusalem in Babylon or Captivity to the flesh or man of sin in all his deceivableness and Power and the restoring of all shall be only the appearance of the Lord Iesus who shall destroy Antichrist with the brightness of his coming and the two edged Sword of his mouth his Spirit And there is not a word spoken in all the Scriptures of these things to be restored as gifts and ordinances but the glory of the Lord in Spirit and therefore the Reformation or Restauration that the Lord Iesus brings with him for Moses Ioshua and all the reforming Kings of Iudah were but types of him the last and most excellent and glorious Reformer King of Kings and Lord of Lords that Reformation I say that he brings with him is the revelation of himself in Spirit he and his Father being the light and Temple of his people for there shall be no other there This shal be a glory without Sun or Moon or Stars or any such low or faint appearance as gift or ordinance but the Lord God shall be the everlasting light and God the glory and light shal cover the earth as the waters cover the sea light shal not Sparkle or be in bright beams as in a gift or an ordinance but it shal flow out from the Lord himself even cover the earth swallowing up or overflowing all earthly administrations And it shal be as much â—â—stacy in the Saints to go back to that first ministry of the Gospel-times which was the ministery to the first discovery of that mystery hid from ages as it would have been in them to have gone back to Iewish Temple and Preisthood c. And have taken the setting up of those to have been the great and only Reformation of Christ come in the flesh and as the Lord Iesus himself did in his coming in the flesh fulfill all these and destroy nothing save only as to the outward and perishing nature of those ordinances and Rudiments of the law So in this his last glory to be revealed in the saints here he shall not destroy any of the first ministry of the Gospel by gifts and ordinances but shal fulfil it It being but a type of his glory to be revealed in the Saints and the former ministery is only destroyed as to that outward Perishing part of it And this destruction of Antichrist and the glory to be revealed is the Prophesie of the Prophets and John in the Revelation and is the sum and substance of all types and ministrations wch were before So as all the pretended Reformations by gifts and Ordinances which tends to a reducing us to that first ministery of the Apostles times which that of Presbytery of Independency and baptism-way endeavors is but a building up such things as the Lord wold have destroyed it being an administration which he would use no longer therfore suffered Antichrist to prevail upon it and the man of sin to overcome it and as God to sit in the Temple or in all that outward form and worship figured out in that word the Temple as God or as God himself used to do when he was pleased to appeare there And therefore all that ministery and Pastourship and teaching is not at all upon the account of the first Gospel-ministration according to that very glory of the gifts and pure anointing by which they did minister as the oracles of God and very truthes of God as they did then so farre as they Spake or did any thing in the holy Ghost but they now I mean the Pastours and ministers do Speak and minister doubtfully darkly uncertainly more in the flesh then the Spirit not at all in any thing of unction or annointing exceeding any private Christian or distinct according to any gift of the holy Ghost but so farr only as they exceed others in parts wit or learning which are upon a lower account of the Spirit then the firsts gifts upon that of Arts and sciences And therefore if Pastours ministers and Christians who cannot now minister as the oracles of God nor according to the very gifts of the holy Ghost then wil be content to Prophesie as Christ wil only allow his Witnesses to do even all that bear Witness of him in Sackcloth according to that poor low and legal account and humble condition they are in it being yet the time of Antichrists raign not of Christs and not assume to themselves the names Offices Preheminence glory obedience very administrations which were then in power and in the holy Ghost both in Pastour and Churches and not walk as full and rich and wanting nothing when as they are poor miserable and naked The Church of Laodicea being a figure of all such for my part I then shal look on all such as in the Spirit and walking humbly with God and prophesying in sackcloth and waiting for the coming of the Lord Jesus nor do deny but Christians in these wayes and administrations have enjoyed God sweetly though they be not such ways as God approves on though he suffer as many of the Godly Bishops and Martyrs did enjoy Iesus Christ in their times of Ceremonies and Forms of Prayer God stil appearing to
down to the feet or to his lowest appearance And God doth not fix himself upon any one form or outward dispensation but at his own will and pleasure comes forth in such and such an administration and goes out of it and leaves it and takes up another And this is clear in all Gods proceedings with the world both in the Jewish Church and State and Christians now And when God is gone out hath left such or such an administration of what kinde soever it is be it religious moral or civil such an administration is a desolate house a temple whose vail is rent a sun whose light is darkened and to worship it then is to worship an Idol an Image a form without God or any manifestation of God in it save to him who as Paul saith knows an Idoll to be nothing The pure spiritual comprehensive Christian is one who grows up with God from administration to administration and so walks with God in all his removes and spiritual encreasings and flowings and such are weak and in the flesh who tarry behinde worshipping that form or administration out of which God is departed A Postscript to Master GATAKER Authour of a Book called Shadows without Substance writ against me SIR THe Reasons why I did not answer you were these I mean your last Book called Shadows without Substance c. I found that Replies and Rejoynders did exceedingly confound and perplex the plainnesse and simplicity and glory of Truth and had much of self and passion and recrimination which I am confident the Lord will shew you in much of what you have writ For I am assured that God will reveal and convince you powerfully and mightily in many passages which your self writ and not the Spirit of God Lay your hand upon your heart and consider sadly if the advantage of the times the glory of reputation the passion of man in you and the multitude of yeers and fame of learning not willing to be convinced by days or months did not write most of your last Book What you wrote in the sincerity of Spirit and in that measure of Truth you received I rejoyce in and what you wrote in the artifice of your parts your wit and your other humane advantages or devices of flesh and blood whereby you laid on colours to make your own Arguments fair and comely to a man judging no higher then Reason or in your own measure of Truth and whereby you laid on your darker and more shadowish stuff upon me your adversary rendering me to the Reader both in your Title-page and thorowout your Book as one that denied the Apostles Doctrine and Christ's because I denied your conclusions and deductions to be that very Doctrine and the minde of those very Scriptures of Christ and the Apostles This I say must passe under the fiery trial and you must suffer losse so as by fire Surely to deny what Master Gataker or some Synods of men say is not to deny what Christ and the Apostles say unlesse the Spirit of God reveal in them one and the same Truth and that they all speak by one and the same Spirit in one and the same language Nor did I see that you in all your Writings had done any thing against the truth declared by me but had onely defended your self and your own measure of truth with rejection and reproaches of mine and all this in the form onely of argumentation and confutation not in the power so as I did rest without replying knowing that the substance of what truth I had writ was as I had received then and would abide because he who is the patern of all truth Jesus Christ abides the same yesterday and to day and for ever And for any expressions of mine or form of words which may make truth appear to some not one and the same I onely can as yet speak truth in the language given me when I can speak more tongues or the languages of several Christians of which the gifts of tongues were a signe then I you shall be better understood by our selves others Sir I have spoken one particular more clearly which you some others spake on in my Book And thus I take my leave of you desiring to love any appearance of God in you and to forgive any infirmities in you which are of man as I desire my self to be loved or forgiven of others And truely I do not expound that of contending earnestly for the Truth to be in reproaches and passions in Replies and Rejoynders and many Books but in Spirit and spiritual affection and pure manifestation of the same Truth SIR Your friend JOHN SALTMARSH A pretended Heresie THat which is pretended or at least believed by some to be Heresie in my Book of Grace is this which I desire to explain more fully that it may appear more clearly to be Truth That Christ hath believed perfectly repented perfectly mortified sin perfectly for us First That Christ hath done all for us is truth he hath fulfilled all righteousnes both that righteousnesse which is of the Law and that which is of the Gospel in graces c. and upon this account he is made unto us righteousnesse c. Secondly Faith Repentance mortification were all in Christ originally primarily as in their nature theirfountain their root or seed and therefore he is said to give repentance to Israel and he is the authour and finisher of our faith and it is called the faith of the Sâ—n of God and of his fulnesse have all we received and grace for grace for everygrace in him a grace inus And to say Christ hath done all these for us first in himself and then in us through himself I hope is such an Heresie as we all believe It may be my want of clearer explanation made it be taken for Heresie which I hope will now be judged more candidly to be a Truth Nor can this That Christ hath all graces and perfection in himself prove that we stand in need of none in us no Faith nor Repentance in us nor mortification of sin in us no more then Pauls Doctrine of Grace and Faith and the Christian to be under Grace destroy the Law or make void Faith or cause men to sin that Grace may abound I never yet denied the Graces and Fruits of the Spirit of God which appear in Faith Repentance new Obedience Mortification of sin as may be seen in all things I have writ It may be I may speak Truth in such a notion or conception or measure of light as I have received it in and not in anothers The Christian as the English or French can onely speak in his own Tongue or Language till the Lord be one and his Name one amongst us and in the mean time let us judge Heresie by the Truth in Scripture and in the Spirit not as it seems to us so or appears so perhaps not for want
conversion 248. All false worships and wayes practised in conscience or in liberty will be destroyed in Christs day 251. A discovery of Christ in us 254. The fiery tryall 256. God in heaven or in a place of distance as to our infirmity 262. The spirituall Sabbath 265. The Gospel as in its own glory and as in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament 267. Assurance of Salvation 274. The knowledge of God according to the various dispensations of himself 280. A farther discovery of the mystery of salvation in the Gospel-administration and its own Glory 285. The seekers attainment with a discovery of a more spiritual way 289. The grounds both against liberty of Conscience and for it clearly stated for all to judge 298. The grounds for liberty of conscience which are strongest are all commonly known 302. A mystery or a Christian following the appearances of God through all created things 314 A Post-script to Mr. Gattaker 317 A pretended Heresie 323 A short Epistle to M. Knollys 327 Faults escaped in Printing Page 32 for circumcised with him in Baptism reade circumcised with him in circumcision buried with him in Baptism page 106 for to the restored reade to be restored page 124 these words the Church of Laodicea is to be printed in the same line with naked p. 145 for which the reade which in the p. 18â— for and in things reade as in things p. 203 the words and full are to be left out p. 222 f. in the crucifying r. not in the crucifying p. 224 f. out r. but p. 229 f. or r. are p. 233 f. hath been r. which hath been p. 268 f. go r. so and for probable r. parable p. 269 f. with r. which p. 276 f knowledge God r. of the knowledge of God p. 279 f. are r. â—p 281 line 4. f. increated r. in created p. 260 f. this r. and this Reader what other faults there are in the Printing which I hope are few or none thou art desired to excuse them by reason of the Authors absence THE TWO CREATIONS OR TWO NATVRES OF FLESH SPIRIT THese two Creations are two distinct Natures from whence all things of Flesh and Spirit come forth the two Adams are the two seeds roots or principles of these two Natures or Creations the Old and New So as in the knowledge of these two there opens a Prospect both of heaven and earth of the first man and the second who are the scean or womb of al things carnal and spiritual and into whom are gathered up all the Mystery of Christ and Antichrist and from whence the Mystery of both are brought forth before those that are spiritual the spiritual man judgeth all things The first Adam is the root of all fleshly Creation and Excellency the glory of the first Creation is gathered up into him as the light into the body of the Sun the life of Angels or Spirits of sense or beasts of nature or vegetation is all in him So as man is all created excellency in the mapp or abridgement and God making his Tabernacle with man dwels at the same time with all his Creation Man being the glorious and bright summ or whole of the Creation was a figure and type of the Son of God Jesus Christ And therefore he was said to be made after his own Image which Image was Iesus Christ called by the Apostle the Image of the invisible God the brightness of his glory and express Image of his Person And while man was thus in the Image of God and stood and lived in Commmunion with God walking in that Paradise or that Glory of his first Creation in obedience to God and participation of God he was the Image of all or any created excellency as it was or is or shal be in order to a more excellent life to a life out of it self in him who is the fountain of life And while man was in this communion and dependency to God as he was made in his Image or as he was the likenesse and similitude of God he was the figure and image of Iesus Christ in his new creation or whole body or Saints who know no other life than in God whose springs are all in him the Lord God being their everlasting light and their God their glory While they like the golden Candlestick in Zachary are fed with the golden oyl that is continually flowing and issuing through the golden pipes The excellency of this first Creation is but earthly or fleshly in the Spirits account and as it stands in distinction to the second Creation or new man or Lord from heaven so as the circuit or furthest attainment of man in this Creation is but to things of this Creation from things of rational and Angelical glory to things of lowest and most earthly life or excellency of which Solomon was an Image as his heart was large like the sand on the sea-shore and as he was wise from the Cedar in Lebanon to the wormwood in the wall from the highest to the lowest part of this Creation comprehending all from the top of this Creation to the bottom and seeing the face of God in this more darkly as in a glass the invisible things of him being clearly seen and understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and Godhead Now all this excellency and glory of the first man did leave God being tempted of the woman and the serpent which were a figure of fleshly wisdom without God and of the weaknesse of this Creation in its own nature as it was drawn away and enticed from its life in God and communion with God to live in its self or own life and to be to its self what God should have been wisdom and life and righteousnesse power and strength and preservation and all things And as it left God life and communion in him was a figure or image of this Creation departing from God and living out of God and now according to this Independent subsistence or life from God it apostates and degenerates into that nature which is called the seed of the serpent the old man the mystery of iniquity which appeared all along in the cursed figures or types of Cain of Esau of Ishmael of the children of the bond-woman of Iudas of Antichrist of the whore of Babylon So as all the knowledge of sin of all fleshly abominations whether more spiritual or carnal are discovered in the knowledge of this first man thus discovered as he lives not in God nor in communion with God and lives a life distinct from the life in God and all his actings and workings are from his own life his life of this Creation and to himself not from God nor to God The second Adam or Jesus Christ is that quickning Spirit or Lord from heaven and is the root of all the second or new