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
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
outward worshipping of God in these things that God hath outwardly required to be done in his worship and so call themselves the Children of God and of the Seed of Abraham These are they that shall be cast out of the Kingdom into utter darkness When those that make not the outward shew of worshipping of God but do the things contained in the Law of God written in their hearts and shew the works thereof written there they shall be taken into the Kingdom of Heaven and sit down there with Abraham Isaac and Jacob when those that think themselves Children of the Kingdom because of their outward form of worshipping shall be cast out although they say God is their Father and that they are of the seed of Abraham as did the Jews Jesus tells the Jews that believed on him John 3. who told Jesus that they were of Abrahams seed and that God was their Father and Jesus tells them that he knew that they were of Abraham's seed but they seek to kill him because his word had no place in them And when they told him Abraham was their Father Jesus says to them That if they were Abrahams Children they would do the works of Abraham but now ye seek to kill me a man that hath told you the truth which he heard of God this did not Abraham that is Abraham did not seek to kill him But notwithstanding they were such as believed on Jesus and told him they were Abrahams seed and that God was their Father and he tells them that he knew they were Abrahams seed yet because they went about to kill him for telling them the truth Jesus he tells them they were of their 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 These were they that looked upon themselves to be the Children of the Kingdom and to have a right to sit down in it with Abraham Isaac and Jacob because they were in an outward form of worship worshipping God in the outward worship that God had commanded and they called Abraham Father and that they were Abrahams seed And mark further the Scripture saith of them that they believed on Jesus and owned that they had one Father even God and yet these were cast out of the Kingdom of God into utter darkness Jesus telling them they were of their Father the Devil and where their Father was must they not be there also with him and if any can believe that the Devil is in the Kingdom of Heaven sitting there with Abraham Isaac and Jacob then they may believe that his Children are there also and his Children are those that are in the outward form of worshipping God although in an outward form that God hath required to be used in his worship and say that Abraham is their Father and that they are of the seed of Abraham and that they have but one Father even God and that they believe on Jesus as did those Jews and yet Jesus's Word had no place in them but they seek to kill Jesus as did those Jews for telling them the truth Mark they did not kill Jesus they did but seek to kill Jesus as do all those wherein Jesus is a light in them and does tell them the truth what it is that they should do in obedience to God but they will not do it and therefore Jesus word hath no place in them and so as much as in them lyeth they seek to kill Jesus for telling them the truth that is they seek to kill him in themselves in that they do not do the things contained in the Law of God written within them nor shew the works of the Law of God writ in their hearts as did the Gentiles that had not the Law of God written without them and yet they did the things contained in Gods Law and shew'd the work thereof written in their hearts I say if any man can believe the Devil is in the Kingdom of Heaven sitting with Abraham Isaac and Jacob then they may believe that his Children are in the Kingdom of Heaven with Abraham Isaac and Jacob. It is not the high thoughts and esteem that they have of themselves or that others have of them as if they were the Children of the Kingdom that can give then an entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven because they are in an outward form of worship and as to the outward in the doing of such things in it as God hath commanded and looking upon Abraham to be their Father and that they were of Abraham's seed and calling God Father and believing in his Son Jesus this cannot give them an entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven there being that in them that will not let Jesus words have any place in them and therefore they seek to kill Jesus for telling them the truth that is they seek to kill Jesus in them in that they do not yield obedience to God in what Jesus the light in them makes known to be Gods will for them to obey him in this makes them of their Father the Devil because they will do his lusts and if the Father be cast out sure the Children must be cast out with him The Gentile Centurion who was great as to the outward in that he could say to this man Go and he goeth and to another Come and he cometh and to his Servant Do this and he doth it yet he did not boast and bear up himself to come of the Line of Abraham nor to be of his seed nor did he call God his Father but was low and little mean and unworthy in his own esteem and did not think himself worthy that Jesus should come under his Roof And yet there was a greater Faith in this Gentile that was not in the outward form of worshipping God than Jesus had found in Israel that were in the outward form of worshipping God And he although not of the Line of Abraham nor in the outward worship of Israel yet he was one of them that should sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven when the Children of the Kingdom should be cast out into utter darkness with the Devil their Father whose lust they will do This is the state of man while in an outward form of worshiping of God and are not doing the things contained in Gods Law written in their hearts that is they yield not obedience to God in what Jesus as a Light in them makes known to be Gods will that they should obey God in but they will as much as in them lieth seek to put out that Light by their disobedience and so seek â—o kill Jesus in them for telling them the truth which Abraham the Father of the Faithful did not and so by their disobedience they make it appear they are not the Children of Abraham because they do not Abraham's works Abraham he obeyed God in
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
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
but went into the doing its own will and so murdered the Life of God in man that is murdered Jesus the innocent Lamb of God which was in man to preserve and keep him from sin and so Jesus was the innocent Life in man as he kept man from sin as appears by Jesus telling the woman what was Gods will that they should do they might eat of the fruit of the Trees of the garden and what was Gods will that they should not do 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 And the penalty that would fall upon them if they did not Gods will therein it was that they should die This was Jesus the true Light in man that gave the Serpent this answer And Jesus did for a time preserve man from yielding to the temptation for the woman did not eat of the forbidden Fruit presently as soon as the Serpent tempted her to eat of it but as soon as she had eaten thereof Jesus the Lamb of God the innocent Life that was before in them was slain in them Jesus that had preserved them from sin was slain in them that is as to their obedience to God so was he slain in them but not slain in them as the Light to make known their sin to them nor as he was a Judge to condemn them for their sin so Jesus continued alive in them as appears in that their eyes were opened and they saw themselves naked and were afraid of God And Jesus told the Jews the reason why the Devil did not abide in the truth the Devil abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him When he speaketh a lye he speaketh his own for he is a lyar and the father of it That which is a lye is of the Devil and it is the Devil and so the Devil entered into man in the lye that was in the temptation and there can be no truth in a lye and therefore a lye cannot abide in the truth it cannot have a being in God all deceit or deceiving is a lye and is of the Devil and indeed it is the Devil because it is truths opposite and truth is God and God is truth and God which is truth was first and was before there was deceit or lye for there was in the beginning mark that when there was and was nothing but God nothing but truth where then was the Devil But the Devil abode not in the truth he was a murderer from the beginning which cannot be meant from the beginning of time for then the Devil was not a Devil God made all things good but the beginning of the Devil was the murdering or slaying in man Jesus that preserved man from sin that is it slew Jesus as to mans obedience or obeying that in him which kept and preserved man in the doing the will of God and so kept man from sin And man was brought into disobedience to God by lying by deceiving was the innocent life in man that did God's will in man slain And this was the beginning of the Devil in man which abode not in the truth he went out of the truth and there is no truth in that which goes out of the truth all that is out of the truth out of God is a lye is deceit is the Devil And thus by these two Scriptures it doth plainly appear that man was tempted by something within him and mans temptation was the entring of the Devil into mans heart and that the Serpent was not an outward Creature as many do think or suppose it to be Now the serpent being more subtile than any beast of the field that the Lord God had made he gets into the Lords Gods garden or else how could he speak in man when man was in the garden of the Lord God Before the temptation entred into the garden of God into the heart or inward part in man man knew no will that he had of his own man was in his Virgins state he knew nothing of man he knew nothing of himself nor of any will that he had of his own he onely knew God and knew Gods will and that will he had was wholly resigned up into Gods will and did nothing but Gods will but after he had yielded to the temptation then his eyes were opened and he then saw himself to be naked man with his outward eyes saw his outward body before he was tempted but after he had yielded to the temptation then his eyes were opened and he saw himself in that outward body which before he did not see before he yielded to the temptation he saw nor knew nothing of himself but after he had yielded to the temptation his eyes being opened he knew himself naked that is he knew himself naked stripped of the righteous garment God in the Creation made him in he then beheld self in him and self that set him presently at work to make himself Aprons to cover their nakedness with of the leaves of the Fig-tree the Tree Jesus cursed because he found no fruit on it It is no sin to be tempted Jesus as man was tempted and yet did not sin And when he taught his Disciples to pray he did not teach them to pray that they might not be tempted but he taught them to pray that they might not be led into the temptation to be led into the temptation that is a sin to yield to the temptation that is a sin Jesus as man had a will in him that caused him to pray that if it were possible that Cup might be taken from him And he had a will in him that caused him to pray to the Father that that will of his that would have had the Cup taken from him should not be done but that that will of the Father should be done that would have him to drink of the Cup. And in all this Jesus sinned not because his will was resigned up into the will of the Father and not his will but the will of the Father was to be done I make mention of these two wills in Jesus to the end to help the understanding of that that when the temptation entred into man there might be two wills in man and yet man by the power of God in him was kept from sinning kept from entring into the temptation kept from yielding to the temptation kept from eating of the forbidden Tree When the temptation entred into the garden of God into the heart or inward part in man there was then something in man that would have drawn man out of his obedience to God into disobedience to God And this was that which the Tempter at first desired and that which at first would have drawn man out of his obedience to God into disobedience to God This in time did do what at first it desired to do and so it did its own will And that which at
question or doubt wholly of the truth of the Command of God yet there is a yielding so far to the temptation as to question whether or no that God is so strict or severe in his Command as the Light of God at first makes known in man that he is And then there is a belief got up in man that he shall not surely die that is as God was not so strict or severe in his Commands so God will not be so strict or severe in his punishments And thus the Tempter perswades man out of his obedience that he had to God which was in the believing the truth of what God had said into disobedience to God in the believing the lye the Tempter said And when the Tempter had prevailed thus far with man as to question the truth of what God had said and brought man to believe that God had not said true in saying they should surely die but perswaded man that Ye shall not surely die Then he proceeds further in his temptation and perswades man to a belief that God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evil The Tempter perswades man not onely to believe that God had said a lye when he said in the day he eat thereof he should surely die to die is to cease to be as man is said to die when he ceaseth to be alive but the temptation perswades man to believe that God knew that he lied when he said man shall surely die in the day he eat of the forbidden Tree And this the Tempter did in perswading man to believe that God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as Gods that is as much as to say that God did know that man should be so far from dying that is from ceasing to be that he should have a more higher or greater Being than the Being he had before the Tempter entered into him for the Being man had before the temptation entered into him was but the Being of a Creature but by yielding to the temptation the Tempter perswades him to believe that he should have a Being as God ye shall be as Gods and so he perswades man to a belief that God did not onely lye when he spake the truth in saying man shall surely die in the day he eat of the forbidden Tree but that God did know he lyed when indeed the truth of it was that all that God spake was that which was surely true as God is the truth But the Tempter by his lying perswades man to believe that God was such a one as the Tempter was that he was a lyar and knew himself to be a lyar when God had said nothing but the truth and the Tempter had said nothing that was true and that it was all lyes that he had said that is that in and by his deceit he intended to deceive man in all that he said to man John 8. 44. 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 The Devil the Tempter is the Father the begetter of lyes and is he that abode not in the truth where once he was And when the Tempter had prevailed thus far with man to cause him to believe that God had not spoken true and that God knew that he had not spoken true then he perswades man into a belief of the great profit gain and benefit that man should have in the believing the Tempter the Serpent in his lyes and in yielding to his temptation in his eating of the forbidden Tree in his disobedience to God and that God did know that in the day ye eat thereof he perswaded man that God knew that all was to be as the Tempter the Serpent said to man it should be that their eyes should be opened that the understanding and knowing part in man should see and know that they should be as Gods knowing good and evil How did God know good and evil that man should be as Gods knowing good and evil and that he should be so by eating of the Tree God had forbidden to be eaten of by doing that which God had forbidden man to do Doth any one believe or think that God knew evil in doing contrary to his own declared will If they do so believe or think I believe they will not so speak but be like the fool that says in his heart there is no God in his heart he speaks it and in his heart he believes that God is not in his heart But God did know good and evil God did know his declared will to man to be good and God willed this declared will of himself and of himself he willed this declared will of his to be done there was no mover no stirer no drawer to move stir or draw God to his will or to the knowledge of his will to be good nor to will his will to be done there was no mover no stirer no drawer to move stir or draw God to do his declared will in man and so to bring up mans will into his will and to cause mans will to be resigned up into the doing of Gods will And in all this God knew good and in Gods knowing of good he was absolute in himself there was nothing that could help him or move stir or draw him thereunto and thus God was in knowing of good God knew what was evil God knew that the doing of what he had forbidden to be done was evil God new that it was evil because he had forbidden it and thus God knew evil as it was evil but God did not know evil in the action in the doing of what he had forbidden to be done The Serpent by his temptation perswaded man to believe that he should be as God to know good and evil as God knew good and evil so man should know good and evil God knew his declared will to man to be good of himself God had none to give him the knowledge thereof And so the Tempter perswaded man that he should know the will of God as God knew it as God of himself and not as a Creature to have his knowledge thereof from another And God willed his declared will of himself and so the Tempter perswaded man that he should be as God to will Gods declared will of himself and not as a Creature to have his will brought to will Gods will by the motion stirring drawings or the work of another in him And God of himself he willed his declared will of his to be done and so the Tempter he perswaded man that he should be as God and not as a Creature and that of himself he should will Gods declared will to be done God had none that moved stirred and drew
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
of ours so we act and do the same things that were acted and done by that Body of Jesus As the same Divine Nature dwells in us as it takes up its abode and stays in us and remains in us so in these bodies of ours are the same things acted and done as was by the same Divine Nature acted and done in that Body of Jesus wherein the fulness of the Divine Nature dwelt For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily Col. 2. 9. I do not say that the same things are acted and done in these bodies of ours wherein this Divine Nature may appear to be in and their making known that this is the will of God that man should do and that is the will of God that man should not do for so a measure of this Divine Nature is in all men as he is the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world John 1. And the World was made by him and the World knew him not the World knew him not and yet they were made by him and were his own as he was their Creator and he came to them as he is the true light in them but they did not receive him they would not give him entertainment they would not let him dwell in them and therefore it is that the same things are not acted and done in them that was acted and done in the outward Body of Jesus and yet he was in them as a light but to as many as received him as many as was willing that he should dwell in them to them he gave power to be the Sons of God even to them that believed in his Name even to as many as believed in the power of him the true light in them which was the Word and the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us and we beheld his Glory the Glory as of the onely begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth where a measure of the same Divine Nature dwells in these bodies of ours that the fulness thereof dwelt in that outward body of Jesus There is a beholding of it a seeing of it as the Glory of the onely begotten of the Father in them which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead 1 Pet. 1. 3. I say that where the will is resigned and given up into the will of God there it does make it appear that we are like Jesus that as the Divine Nature was in that outward body of Jesus and dwelt there and in that outward body it did the will of God the Father so a measure of the same Divine Nature is in these bodies of ours and dwells there and in these bodies of ours do the will of God the Father as it did in that body of Jesus And as Jesus did nothing of himself but as the Father taught him and as the Father taught him so he spake those things that he spake So as our wills come to be resigned and given up into the will of God we will do nothing of our selves there will be a denying of all self and a doing onely of such things as the Father teacheth us and then there will be a denying of our selves in all we speak and a speaking of nothing but what the Father teacheth us to speak and therefore men may know by their actions and by their words whether in their actions and words their wills be resigned and given up to God and so thereby they may know whether a measure of the same Divine Nature dwells in that body of theirs that dwelt in that body of Jesus When men do nothing but what God the Father teacheth them to do and say nothing but what God the Father teacheth them to say then they make it appear that their wills are resigned and given up into Gods will and what is done and what is spoken in them is done and spoken by a measure of the same Divine Nature dwelling in them that dwelt in that body of Jesus and so they make it appear that they in these bodies be like to what Jesus was in that body But when men do such things as God the Father does not teach them to do and speak such words as God the Father does not teach them to speak they then make it appear that in the doing of those things and speaking of those words that their wills are not resigned and given up to Gods will nor are those things done nor those words spoken by a measure of the same Divine Nature dwelling in them that dwelt in that outward body of Jesus but those things that were done in them were such as that God did not teach them to do and those words spoken by them were such as that God did not teach them to speak Those works were done by them in their own Wills and those words spoken by them were spoken in their own Wills Jesus he spake nothing of himself but as the Father that sent him gave him a Command what he should say and what he should speak and he knew that his Command was life everlasting and therefore what he spake was even as the Father had said to him So as our wills come to be resigned and given up to the Will of God we will speak nothing of our selves but as God our Father giveth us a Command what we shall say and what we shall speak and we know that his Command is life everlasting and therefore what the Father gives in Command to speak even so as the Father hath said so to speak And where there is a knowing of what God hath given in Command to speak and that in this Command there is life everlasting and then where there hath not been a speaking of what God hath given in Command there the Will hath not been resigned nor given up into the Will of God nor hath it there been made appear that the same Divine Nature dwelt in that body that dwelt in the body of Jesus but in their own Wills in the Earthy part in them they have hid the Command of God in them that he hath given them to speak And therefore as man ought not to speak any thing in his own Will so man in his will ought not to hide or keep in silence any thing that God hath given him in Command to speak let it be never so little or never so much And as it is mans duty to obey Gods Command in speaking so man ought also to have a care in going beyond Gods Command in speaking for that is not to be like Jesus who spake even as the Father had said to him to speak just so much neither more nor less And as Jesus did manifest and make known to the World the love he had to the Father in that whatsoever the Father gave him in Command even so he did so where the Will is resigned and given up to the Will