and Eternal glory happy is he that believes and abides in patience unto the end Now since the dayes of John the Kingdom of God hath been Preached and as many as were ordained to Eternal life believed and many in the day when Christ was manifest in the flesh believed unto whom he declared the mind of the Father and by him was the Father glorified he fulfilled the Law and did many works and miracles by the power of the Father and herein was the Father glorified and them that did believe in him their faith was strengthened and he opened the mystries of the Kingdom of God unto his Disciples and bore witness and prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem and of all their worship and said no more at Jerusalem nor at Samaria but the time was coming when they that worshipped the Father should worship him in spirit and truth and declared against the Pharisees righteousness and said to his Disciples Except their righteousness did exceed the Pharisees they could not enter the Kingdom of God and yet the Pharisees performed all the outward things commanded but were in the idolatry and did not believe in the life Now he declared of his suffering many things also how he would go away and how he would come again and would not leave them comfortless but these things were hard to be believed then by his Disciples and further he told them he must be betrayed and suffer and rise again and when the hour was come that he was betrayed when he was with his Disciples even the same night he was betrayed he took bread and broke it and blessed it and said take and eat this is my body which is broken for you this do in remembrance of me and after he took the cup and after he had Supped saying this is the cup of the New Testament in my blood as often as you drink it do it in remembrance of me 1 Cor. 11. 23. 24. and Matthew Mark and Luke declares the same and this was reall bread and reall wine which was a representation of that which was to be enjoyed in the spirit and never intended for any further thing but as a figure or a representation of the bread of life and of the cup of blessing which afterward they came to be witnesses of and as oft as they eat and drank they did shew forth the Lords death till he came Now this was practiced among the Disciples after he was risen from the dead and did converse with them at many times and exhorted them and comforted them and instructed them and told them that they should be witnesses of his name unto the ends of the earth and gave them commandment to teach all Nations and Baptize them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost and did promise to be with them to the end of the world and told how the Comforter would come and that the Father would send him in his Name even the spirit of truth which was with them and should be in them to be their teacher leader and guide and bring all things to their remembrance Now that which he gave them as a figure and to be a sign unto them of the clearer manifestation of himself which afterward came to be fulfilled and they witnesses of it who grew up in the pure invisible being and did see the mystery through the Revelation of the spirit which did more clearly show unto them the mysteries within the vail for as I said of water it was a sign of a good thing to come so the bread and the cup was also a sign of a good thing to come as all outward figures were but they that did believe and grew up in the faith in the seed Christ they came to see the substance in whom all figures ends in and had communion with him within the vail after he was ascended where he was before now the Apostle he spoke as to wise men judge ye what I say 1 Cor. 10. 15 16. the cup of blessing which we blesse is it not the communion of the blood of Christ the bread which we break is it not the communion of the body of Christ and v. 17. for we being many are one bread one body for we are all partakers of that one bread mark all they that did believe though they were many yet they were one bread one body and were all partakers of that one bread which bread was the flesh of Christ John 6. 48. I am the bread of life and Joh. 6. 51. I am the living bread that came down from heaven if any man eat of this bread he shall live for ever and the bread that I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world Now I speak unto wise men and let the wisdom of God in them manifest judge what I say for where the body of Christ is witnessed and the flesh of Christ known they know that which all the figures ends in the Manna that God gave to Israel in the wilderness they died that did eat thereof which was as pure a type of the hidden Manna as lively a type as bread outward which was but a type of the of the flesh of Christ and both they that did eats the Manna and they that eat the bread outward and drank the cup outward are both dead but he that eat the flesh of Christ and drinks the blood lives for ever and he that eats the hidden Manna hath overcome death and lives for ever and feeds upon the bread of life feeds upon Eternal life Now this is a mystery to the Papists who are idolaters who have sprung vp in the Apostacy though they have Scriptures as it was to the Jewes John 6. 52. who strove among themselves and said how can this man give us his flesh â—o eat and so the Papists who strives about the flesh of Christ and his blood and yet have the Scriptures and they say it s in the bread and in the wine after consecration so they worship the imaginations of their own hearts not deserning the Lords body and have killed thousands and taken away the lives of thousands because they would not confesse their idol to be of God And the protestants they are setting up the bread and the wine and contenting themselves therewith and are making an idol of it and comes not to discerne the body of Christ but one saying he hath a carnall body and another a fleshly body another a mystical body another sayes his body is devided from his members and so speaks out of thick darknesse their own imaginations and hath not communion with the body of Christ neither knowes the flesh of Christ which is the bread of life which is given for the life of the World Iohn 6. 51. And as godlinesse began to work and the mystery thereof in the dayes of Christand the Apostles wherein the Lord discovered much of his wisdom and power
ground of truth sets up an Idol and prefers an Idol above the life and so are in the Idolatry But let none mistake that I say water is an Idol nay it is a good creature of God or that I say Iohns baptisme with water was an idol nay he was in the power and spirit of Eliah and his baptisme a figure of a good thing which was to come which afterward was received by the diseiples and Christs words made good unto them Iohn indeed baptized you with water unto repentance but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire not many daies hence that was Christs baptisme I am not Ignorant of the many and great contests in this age that have been about these things and I know many scriptures that speaks of baptism all which I have searched narrowly with the measure of Gods spirit given unto me into the true ground of things the true state of each administration and in this thing I am satisfied fully that the baptisme with water was Iohns baptisme and not Christs and the baptisme of the spirit is Christs and not Iohns I have no desire to wrangle or Jangle about words or contest about shadowes but that all may come to know him in whom all ministrations ends in and there will be peace and satisfaction to wit in Christ But to say some thing to the main bassis and foundation which Priests and Separatists builds much of their arguments upon the last of Mat. and the last Goe teach and baptize all Nations in the Name of the Father Son and holy Ghost as for all the Priests about their baptising of Infants here is no ground at all for here is first teach and then baptize and here 's no infants neither and so I know what consequences hath been drawn from this by the unlearned in their imaginations but them that hath the least measure of true light will not take a consequence to build a foundation on for this is contrary to their own rule they say the scripture is the Rule then their consequence is not the Rule and if the scriptures be the Rule let all people of your parishes know if you can by the Scripture shew when John or any Disciple of his or Christs baptized infants and taught them Principles of Religion â—0 years after but they are willingly ignorant that sees not you to be idolaters and as to the Baptists separates who builds upon this for their water baptisme they are as groundles as the Priests and all their Arguments are as invalled as the rest for here is baptizing the Nations in the Name of the Father in the name of the Son and of the holy Ghost and any who are judicious or wise and are in any measure of Gods pure wisdom will not say that the Name of the Father is water or the Son or holy Ghost is water the name of God is I am and a strong tower and the Name of the Son is the word and the word is the power but this is not water but further they say the Disciples had received the holy Ghost and did baptize with water after and they were Baptized with water after they had received the holy Ghost they bring divers Scriptures to prove this I shall not deny but Peter Baptized with water and Paul two or three families and thanks God he baptized no more and said he had declared the whole counsel of God and he makes not mention in all his Epistles that baptisme was any part of his command neither in all his counsel to the Churches any where doth he exhort either Timothy or Titus or Apollo or any of the brethren to Baptize with water but as for Peters Baptizing with water I know no more command he had then Paul as for the commission which Matthew writes of Mat. 28. and 19. and that Mark mentions 16. 15. there is no water and so it s the Baptisme of John I grant and Christ bearing witness to John that he was a Prophet and did baptize many and therefore he or they in honour to Johns Ministry might baptize some as well as Paul did circumcise Titus and and then in 1 Cor. 7. 19. said it was nothing and again in another place neither circumcision nor uncircumcision did avail but a new creature and because it was a figure which people did not Idolize so much then as they did circumcision for the weakness of the people for a time and the wise in heart may understand that when any representation or figure outward was set up it was not easily denyed again nor an easie thing to be laid down when the thing signified was come for many of the Jews believed in Christ and were said to be brethren and yet they came from Jerusalem and troubled the Church of Galatia and would have brought them under the figure circumcision again and the Apostle in Gal. 4. asks them now when ye know God why turn ye again to the beggarly Elements Circumcision observing dayes moneths times and years I would ask the moderate a question whether water be not an Element and pertains only to the Elementary part in man which is to passe away and be dissolved when the seed is raised up whose nature is not elementary but Celestial I shall say no more to them at this present who are contentions who are so zealous for their water upon so weak a ground but take heed that while you are striving about your outward water you neglect not the washing of regeneration and the cleansing of the spirit many have been baptized but which of you hath received the holy Ghost there is not one among you dare own or witness an infallible spirit but rather counts it an error that any should speak or witness or look to enjoy any such thing in these dayes well I say unto you your day is a day of darkness and gloominess you live in and thick darkness covers your tabernacle for who ever have received the holy Ghost or spirit of truth in any measure are led by that which is infallible and not fallible and if you look not for this you are no sons notwithstanding all your washing the outside for as many as are the Sons of God are led by the Spirit of God and this is witnessed praises to the Lord for ever the Lord is unto his people an everlasting light and this is the sum that water is owned to be a figure of the one baptism and was an Element and pertained to that which is Elementary but the Elements shall melt with fervent heat and be dissolved in the day of the Lord and then the seed comes up which is heir of the promise which is nourished with the water of life which is not an Element nor Elementary but is Celestial and springs up in them that believe unto everlasting life and comes to be born of the water and the spirit and enters into Gods Kingdom dominion power life wisdom excellency
the Saints in former ages 15. How all men upon the earth in the degeneration in the fall have corrupted themselves and have been Idolaters in every administration being gone from the life and Power of God in themselves And having lost the Power of God man can neither worship honour nor obey God aright 16. A few words to that which is called Christendom who professe Christianity 17. Something about water-Baptisme to both Priests and separatists 18. Something about Rome in the apostacy and all their worship in the degeneration 19. The Protestants or Reformed Churches so called not yet come out of the waters nor from under the beasts Power 20. The Presbyters and Independants are yet under Antichrists Reign in the apostacy and have among them yet the Attire of the Whore 21. How the woman that travelled in birth who was clothed with the Sun and brought forth the man-childe fled into the wilderness when the Dragon had power and the man-child was caught up unto God 22. How the woman comes out again and when and he that was caught up unto God descends again and appears again to take the Rule to himself and how he makes war with the Dragon and all the apostates and overcomes them 23. How the glory of the Lord shall appear after the apostacy greater then before and the ministration into which them that follow the Lamb shall be brought shall be more spiritual celestial then before for that shall appear in which all visible types and shadowes ends in and shall be the last that is to be expected by the sons of men the sight of which hath appeared which yet cannot be uttered 24 What the day of the Lord is and to whom it hath appeared and how it is seen and discovered 25 What it is and what it will be to the wicked declared 26. What it is to the righteous and how he appears to them and whether we are to look for it while in the body resolved 27. Where it doth appear and how it cometh and how it is to be looked for declared 28. What the Spirit of the Lord is and how it comes to be received which discovers the the things of God 29. How the spirit of truth worketh and operateth in them who are convinced and yet have not obeyed it shewed 30 How the spirit of the Father worketh in them who hearken to it and are in some measure made partakers of its power shewn 31 Vnto whom the spirit of the Father bears witness and seals assurance of the Fathers love and of justification with God declared 32 What the grace of God is which is free and to whom it hath appeared and where all is to wait to receive it 33 whether all have received the grace of God or no and whether it be a sufficient teacher in it self demonstrated 34 Some objections answered 35 A word to the wise men of this world who are glorying in the sound of words 36 Also another to them who are glorying in outward appear ances and worshipping visible things in stead of the life 37 The Kingdome of God and his Christ declared in some measure as it is revaled by the spirit what it is and where it is to be waited for and how it comes to be revealed in them that believe 38 Divers Objections answered The work of the Lord declared which was in the beginning when the word was with God and was the Fathers delight and man made in the Image of God and lived in the Lambs Power and he was mans life and this was before the transgression of these declared as God hath manifested them by his Spirit IN the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God the same was in the beginning before the foundation of the Earth was laid or the Hills were framed he was with the Father and was the Fathers delight and he delighted in the Father and the Father in him then did the morning stars sing together and the Son of God shout for joy In the beginning were the heavens created and the Pillars theref set the earth was framed by the Power and all things both in the Heaven and In the Earth were created by the Power Gods Son every Beast of the field every fowl of the Heaven and the decreed place for the Sea was broken up and all things that moveth therein were created by the word and by the Power and man was made by the Power and in the Power and he was the Image of God as it is written In the Image of God created he him Male and Female created he them and he had dominion over all the works of his hands over every beast of the field which were created by the Power over the Serpent among the rest which was created by the Power and was good as he was made in the Power and by the wisdom they were all brought forth and man made in that wisdom that brought them forth who was better then them all and was made partakers of the Power and of the Wisdom more then them all and by the wisdom called every thing as is was in its nature so named he everything and the dominion he had was in the Power over all things over all the Creation of God which was good and the Earth and all things that are therein the tree of knowledge good that stood in the garden also but not for food so these be the generations of the Heavens and the Earth in the day when God created them they were all good made and created by God in the Power Eternal which is good unchangeably good without variation and the unchangeable Power in which and by which they were made moved in them all and they all received vertue and Power from the Power Gods Son and the Power moved in them all and shined through them all and ran through them all and they were all to abide in the Covenant in which they were made and not any to move or act without the Power but only as the Power which was the life of them all moved them and acted them and so goodness possessed them all for all was partakers of the goodness of God and it was the life of them and they were none of them to move nor stir but as the life of men the Power by which they were created moved them which was Gods Son the Heavens and the Earth were finished and all things that therein are and they were all good and this saying was true then which was spoken by Christ the Power many generations after I in them and thou in me and all was perfect in one the Father was in the Power the Power was in the Father and all the Creatures in the Power Now was the Father glorified now was the Son glorified now was man in Dominion in Power crowned with honour Lord over all the works that God had made in the Power and now the whole Family both of Heaven
from all sin in this life and so leads them on to Perpetual misery misery will be your end and in the day of the Lord you shall witnesse this to be true But to return to the beginning again where there was no sorrow but pure joy and peace both in heaven and earth but I goe hither and thither as the spirit leads and shall speak as it gives utterance though but here a little and there a little yet shall it be in truth and righteousnesse How peace joy and delight possessed every thing that God had made every thing which he had formed glorified God their maker with one consent in the beginning before the world was framed that lay in wickednesse NOw the Lord rejoyced in all the works of his hands which he had made and rested and all that he had made rested in the power whether Celestial or Terrestrial and rejoyced in him walked in him in the motion of the power of the life they were happy and partaked of the life that indures for ever and happinesse immortal and knew no evil for there was none there was no hell yet prepared Tophet yet was not ordained neither the Devil had yet any being at all there was no wrath no sorrow no condemnation no death vexation grief or perplexity no pit of darkenesse no Angel of the bottomlesse pit no shame no tribulation no anguish nor paine no misery and in a word there was nothing that did destroy but all in quietnesse in peace in life in power in wisdome glorifying him which sat upon the Throne the Lamb who was living and the life of the male and the female and of every thing that God had made by the power subsisted in the power and in the motion thereof was good purely good and here was the goodnesse of him who was eternally good manifest in all above all and over all God blessed for ever even then the heavens rejoyced and the innumerable company of Angels was hearty glad and all the holy host sang for joy with a living voice which none that stands in time ever yet heard or can learn then the earth and all things therein that moved had life were in pure solace and mirth and pleasant joy unspeakable all knit together in unity and harmony in one consent as one family and were one body and there was health in the body and it was pure and comly and perfect and pleasant to behold crowned with Dignity covered with righteousnesse beautified with the comlinesse of the Lamb who was the life of all and now man had right to the tree of Life while he moved in the power and went not our Oh happy state oh beautiful state oh admirable state eternal felicity oh glorious state life it self the life of all and all in the life moving in the power and man right to the tree of Lifâ— while he lived in the lambs power had unity with his maker with all the Creatures that God had made was in Gods pure dominion and authority and ruled all over all things that God had made in Gods wisdome thus in short was the state of all things in the beginning as they were created and brought forth and these be the generation of the heaven and of the earth and of all things that therein are in the day when God created them when the Father was glorified when the Son was glorified and when man was in glory and honour and in dominion created in the Image of God and yet there was no evil Time would fail to speak of the state of all things in the beginning as it was and as it is revealed by the spirit of truth but in that which I have declared they who have a good understanding may take a glimps of the happy state of all things as God hath revealed them by his spirit which I never received of nor from man but by the holy spirit of God which was in the begining with God which saw all this and was an eye witnesse of this before the world that lies in wickednesse began and he that hath an eare to hear let him hear and blessed is his ear How man lost his state and dominion and unity with God and all the creatures and how the Lambe came to be slain and the world that lies in wickedness came to be formed and founded and how the curse came and the wo upon the Serpent which was blessed before and upon man and woman and the ground that received the temptation which was blessed before in the motion of the Power came to be cursed and how endles misery came in upon all in the transgression declared to them who have a good understanding NOw the Serpent was more subtle then all the Beasts of the field for that was his nature in which he was created and it was good in the motion of the Power and therefore Christ said be wise as Serpents yet as harmless as Doves and though the Serpent was wise and subtle more then all the beasts of the field till he acted and moved without commandment and out of the motion of the Power he was not cursed he that can receive it let him But he moved in the subtilty and wisdom out of the light out of the Power and went out of the truth out of his place without commandment or authority from the Power and acted and spoke of himself out of the Power and out of the truth as it it written John 8. 44. when he speaketh a lie he speaketh of his own for he is a liar and the father of it now he knew there was a law and command not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil for God had forbidden it now he went out of the Power without commandment of his own accord without motion now he went and talked with the woman and she was good before being in the motion of the life and Power she also looked out and not in the Power and reasoned with him out of Power contrary to Commandment beyond the command or before the Power and said unto the Serpent we may eat of all but the tree of knowledge of good and evil we may not eats least we die this she knew and the Serpent knew now the tree of knowledge was good in the Powers motion though not to live upon or for food for it was not good for food therefore God the truth the life the Power did forbid to taste of it or to eat of that tree but the Serpent out of the Power and the woman out of the Power hearkened to him that was out of the truth who turned the truth that God had spoken into a lie she joyned to the tempter and hearkned unto him and eat of the tree of knowledge without the Power and she looking out and the eye ran out from the life from the Power and was deceived and did eat of the knowledge without the Power without the life and she also
tempted the man and the temptation entered into a ground which was blessed before and good in the motion of the life of the Power but she having transgressed contrary to the command the man received it contrary to the command without the motion of the Power or the life which all was to move in he also going out of the power received it in and seed upon knowledge without the life without the power out of the truth he became one with the woman one with the Serpent who went out of truth and abode not in it and they all were disjoynted and cut off from the Life and the power and hear was the beginning of the father of lies and of him who spoke of himself out of the power out of the truth and his beginning is without foundation now he that is wise in heart read his generation or who made him now appeared the Angel of the bottomless pit and not before and made war against the power against the Lamb and so the heart of man was turned away from obeying and feeding upon the power to obey and feed upon knowledge without the Life or power and here was the first transgression out of the power and the motion of the light which made all things good and so as this knowledge was fed upon and grew man died unto the Life unto the power and wisdom and dominion that he had over all that God had made he lost and so died unto the power and lived upon knowledge without the power and now became afraid of the power because he was in the transgression of it And thus the Serpent who was most subtle went out of the truth and acted in sin and led into transgression and so there became fear where was none and shame where there was none and nakedness where there was no nakedness before the power was died unto which was their clothing in righteousness and there was a hiding place sought by him who before iniquity needed no hiding place and this is the foundation and beginning of that seed in the transgression which shall call to the mountains to cover them and to hide them from the wrath of the Lamb. Oh how is man degenerated now and grown quite out of the pure quality and kind and nature in which he was made now afraid of the power that made him which before he had union with was his Life and gave him dominion and this fulfilled upon man he was planted a noble vine a holy right seed now become a degenerate plant of a strange vine now when the Lord appeared and examined him and man knew his fault that he had acted against the power yet that which acted in transgression would excuse here is the fruit of the Devils work transgresse and then hide and excuse it and so the woman put it off to the Serpent he was the beginner of it but if she had stood in the power he would have had no place nor his counsel but they all went out of the light and Life into the knowledge without the Power and Life and so the curse came upon all Now the man cursed and the ground for his sake and the woman cursed in sorrow to bring forth and the Serpent cursed the beginner of iniquity cursed above all the beasts of the field to go upon his belly and dust to be his meat for ever and an enmity put between the seed of the woman and his seed for ever and an eternal decree passed against him for ever and he made war against the seed of the woman which the Lord promised to bruise his head now came the miserable estate in that which led him into transgression grew and he in it and to be at unity with it then came hard ness of heart and then came the world to be founded in his heart and he grew in the devouring beastly nature to follow the earthly imaginations of his heart and became earthly and fed upon that which the beasts of the field fed upon And now the Lamb came to be slain since the foundation of the world now was man driven out from the tree of Life and out of the garden and could no way come there again he had no right to it the Lamb being slain and he was cut off to wit man from him which before gave him peace and from the Power in which he was made he was driven out from and the sword set that go what way he could he could not come into the Life again the image of God lost then the joyful day was lost and rejoycing in the Lord at an end then the day of peace was finished and perpetual misery and wo come in then unity with the Lord of glory gone and now shame and contempt came and woful misery Now Hell was formed and the botomlesse Pit sprang up and the Angel thereof ruled and advanced and the Lamb slain and now the Lake was prepared and Tophet ordained now came the day of angnish of pain of wo sorrow and misery blackness and darkness terror horror fear on every side and the day of great perplexity Dominion lost power lost Authority lost peace lost joy lost health lost unity lost with God and unity lost with every creature and endless misery brought in Alas alas what is become of him who was the Son of God now become as the beasts that perish now a vessel of wrath a dishonourable vessel Oh unspeakable losse forfeited all Life and all gone into plunged into the deep pit of endlesse misery driven from the presence of the Lord from blessednesse happinesse into cursednesse and misery never to come to Life again but through the losse of Life man in honour in dominion partaker of eternal riches and the durable riches now turned out of all and become vile in the sight of the Lord and hath forfeited Life and all eternal life and he who was in perfect freedome become a bondman a slave to the Devil and to noysome lusts he who was Lord over all now become a servant to all and every creature he who was in dominion in the power of God now become base and vile He who was the Image of God now become the image of the Devil he who was heir of life and felicity now become inheritor of death and endlesse misery he was partakers of the unchangeable love now partaker of wrath he that was in the covenant of life in which he had union with God and all the Angles and all the holy host of God now hath union with unclean spirits which are cursed from the presence of the Lord for ever he that had union with all Gods creatures hath lost the union with all being gone out of the power in which all was created and moreover now in enmity to it and joyned to him who hath the power of death which is the Devil and now drawes iniquity as with a Cart-rope and vanity as with a cord and he who was joyned
and the blind doctrines of the World layd waste Ob. Some will be ready to say how dost thou say he was in dominion everlasting then how should he fall that lasted but a while Ans. I say he was made by the word which abides for ever and in it which was in the beginning with God and was God and Gods Son and his dominion is an everlasting dominion and his Throne is established in righteousnesse for ever and ever and in it selfe it is what it was ever and after the fall retained the same power and authority in it selfe and so will do for ever mans power stood in it onely out of it he had none so going out of it dyed to it and not any more power to do or to will or to order or to rule any thing but by it but he lost the feeling of it and the guidance of it the vertue of it and life of it and became dead to it and alive in his heart and mind to an other power to wit the power of deceit and to the power of him which hath the power of death which is the Devil so God is clear no fault in him nor in the power nor weaknesse in the dominion and authority which he had but destruction meerly wholly and onely of himself and he is to bear the his own burthen Thus man receiving in the Devils conceptions who was gone out of the truth and became one with it feeding upon knowledge without the life this was evil thus sin entred and death by sin man cut off from the power from life from the dominion which he had in the power now man is dead while he lives and in the day he eat he died dead to the power dead to the life dead to good dead to truth dead to purity dead to Righteousnesse estranged and alienated from it the grave covers him death hath prehemenence and bears rule and not life and he gone into its nature and loves it and imbraces it Oh sad life ah sad state now his life cursed which is death he cursed all his actions cursed all his conception cursed all his works cursed labouring in sorrow in travel and pain and grief and sweat and perplexity Now all may as in a line read the happy estate of man before the fall the sad and deplorable estate in the fall which who can declare or who can measure or who can demonstrate the miserable estate of man dead in trepasses and sins and life swallowed up of death death and destruction lives and man in it and now in the grave God is not remembred but forgotten Now the world set in the heart and the Earth in the heart the heart becomes earthly and vain thorns and bryers springs up and the Earth covers the slain now death lives and man lives in it and one with the enmity and in enmity against God who was before his life man now in chains of darkness when any thing moves Heaven-ward the power of death drawes the mind down again to the pit into darkness Now the nature of all things in the earth set in the heart Beasts Rocks Hills Mountains dogs swine and brutish creatures and man becomes brutish and vain they have all dominion over him he a slave to all all rules over him and death grew and dead works brought forth he cannot now perform any thing whereby he can purchase the love of God nor give a ransom for his soul now the root of betterness grew and the enmity and man in lust and when his lust is crost or his will crost then the enmity which liveth in him riseth he would kill that and destroy that imprison that and bring it into bondage that the enmity might be Lord over all and brings the innocent into bondage that which is nocent is set up and the higher deceit growes in the heart the more stir it makes and the greater destruction of that which crosses it and here came in oppression murder cruelty tyrany prisoning imbondaging revenge maliciousness and envie rage sury headiness pride this is all in the curse and springs up from the foundation of the world in the heart and so being given way unto and loved grows in strength and iniquity multiplies and the beast growes and the name great and numberless the Serpents root spreads forth it self and sprouts out in the Earth and comes to grow great and is admired now the deeds of darkness and the works of darkness comes to be many envy murder adultery fornication uncleanness riotousness sporting covetousness defrauding cheating maliciousness theft dissimulation feinedness hypocrisy witchcraft cursed-speaking railing reviling filthy communication unsavory speeches wantonness lightness foolish jeasting idle talking vain Babbling back-biting swearing lying cursing blasphemy slandering pride arogancy vain-boasting contention strife emulation mischief these and many more are now the fruits of the degenerate plant dead works and the works of darkness in man who was once a noble plant a holy right seed now the fruits of Sodom and the grapes of Gomorah whom God destroyed and overthrew is brought forth and the whole Earth is filled with violence and these be the fruits that grow and are become great over all Nations which are wrought by the Devil the father of lies who spoke of himself and works of himself in the dark in the night out of the light out of the day who went out of the truth and now worketh in all the children of disobedience who are out of the light and out of the power and here are all the sons of fallen Adam in the curse under the wo and these be the works that are wrought and brought forth which hath stained the earth and the father of them and man in whom they are wrought and the works themselves is all for condemnation never to be numbred among the Saints in light nor among their works Self righteousness deeds of darkness also and dead works which though they be not counted as bad as the former by them that act in them yet they are to be condemned also And man who acts them being in the fall CAin who was the first begotten in the fall the similitude likeness and image of Adam his Father who had transgressed and disobeyed and lost the power and became dead to it Cain I say his expresse Image out of the saith out of the Power he brought a sacrifice and offered in the same nature he slew his brother with and envied him who was in the saith and was accepted of the Lord through faith in the Power of God I say in this nature he offered and was not accepted he was in the imitation out of the life out of the Power in feinedness and this was self and not the Lord that moved him The Jewes in the Prophets time who were in Cains nature in envy and maliciousness grinding the faces of the poor and oppressing the needy and chopping them in pieces as flesh for the pot they brought sacrifices oblations
rest false and fained hope and faith and of his own ragged garment and let goe his selfe-righteousnesse and his dead works and come to Christ the life of men again that man hath run from that so he might have life and peace Ob. But some would say that thou wouldst have all upside down unchristian the Nations and unchurch Churches and throw down all our worship and then what should we doe all would be as heathens and turne into Athisme I say a time of fanning and â—ifting and trying is come when nothing shall stand but that hath the image stamp and character of the living God upon it and all that which hath been brought up and raised up since man hath been in the transgression must be turned down into the pit again and all that have got a name of Christian and wants his life to live among them and in them shall be scattered as clouds with the East wind and all imitated worships and will worshippers and the fained faith and the fained hope shall be confounded and all will worships and worshippers will be overturned who are not come yet to the true light that lightens every man that comes into the World and till man comes to the light and tries his deeds and works by it he never sees what he is doing nor what he is working nor what he works and so all that man doth here in the unbeliefe it is but sin or selfe-righteousnesse which is brought forth by him who abode not in the truth in the unbelief and so who be come to the power which was in the beginning before sin entred and death by sin hath and doth measure all deeds and all works man that is in the losse in the fall sees that a dead man cannot act a living work nor bring forth living fruits unto God nor living works of righteousnesse being in the unrighteousnesse neither the fruits of faith being in the unbeliefe neither the works of the day being in the night neither the works of charity being in the emnity in a word without Christ the power the light the life which was glorified with the Father before the world began I say he said it himself who is the beginning of the creation of God the first born of every creature he said and his testimony will be found true without me ye can do nothing nothing that is wel-pleasing to the Lord nothing that ever shall be acceptable and here is the true state of all the Earth discovered and all mankind drove out from God miserable naked hopelesse helplesse faithlesse and so can doe nothing as to the glorifying of God his maker or to the ordering of any thing in the creation to his glory having lost his dominion and Gods wisdome and this being considered seriously by all and brought to the light in all and their deeds tryed by it would make the lofty bow and the stout hearted fear and the conceited sit down in solitarinesse that they should so long deceive their own souls with a conceit of righteousnesse and redemption when as death yet reignes in them and over them and not life eternall So the Devil is a distinct being from God and his works are distinst and his deeds from the works of God and neither he nor his works shall ever be numbred among the works of God but he and they that obey him and follow him who is out of the truth they their works of what sort soever they may seem unto men to be whose eyes the devil hath blinded so I say all is to be condemned and shut out from Gods presence for ever and to be destroyed by him who is a consuming fire and all the righteousnesse of man burned as combustable stuff in unquenchable fire Pr. And by what hath been said the principle of that ranting crew who are become vaine in their imaginations and foolish their understandings being darkned are seen and their principle overthrown As that light and darknesse is one good evil one and sin and righteousnesse one and truth and a lye one and that God is all and doth all and what ever is done is of God and that there is no evil but to him that thinks it so and it is onely a false apprehention of things and that there is no such thing as sin that sin is nothing Unto all these things I might speak but the understanding Reader may by what is before written see each of these plainly declared and the true ground of things laid down as the spirit gave utterance and this shall at present suffice in this matter Ob. But some may object further and say will not reading the scriptures and conforming to the practise of the saints in the use of his ordinances will not this make us accepted and bring us out of the fall and make us good christians Answ. No while death hath dominion in man and over man and the vaile over the heart man doth not understand the mystery of Gods kingdome neither understands the scripture which was spoken from the spirit of truth or any thing of truth as it is in Christ for none understands the things of God but by the spirit of God so that every man that comes to have a good understanding must come to know the pure spirit of God in him to direct him informe him which spirit was the original of the scripture for the holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the holy Ghost and without the Holy Ghost in some measure be known â—nd that which is infallible the sayings the writings the scriptures cannot be understood because of the want of this all the Earth is run into heads sects opinions large treatises and volumes expositions have been written yet differing one from another and all from the spirit and in all these particular sects persecuting one another envying one another and hating one another and would compell others to believe what they believe in what they say if they had but power and for proof of this it is most evident in the scripture of truth and in latter ages since the Apostles it hath been and it is evidently seen both among the Papists and Protestants and among all them that are called the reformed Churches but all this is in the fall and in the transgression and in the Apostacy and is an evident token that they are all under the power of the beast who makes War against the Lamb so all compellation and they that do compell are not worshippers of the Lamb but of the beast which is to be destroyed and cast into the lake For the Jews under the first Covenant had the Scriptures the good and wholsome words of God and the Prophets and read the Law and the Prophets on the Sabbath dayes and yet the vail was over their hearts and and though they did perform many things commanded yet they being erred from the spirit did not understand
manifested his pure presence poured out his spirit plentifully upon sons and daughters fulfilled that which Joelâ—prophesied â—prophesied of Joel 2. 28. which came to be fulfilled after Christs ascention Acts. 2. 17. and they received the holy Ghost spoke the wonderfull things of God as they were revealed by the spirit which shed it selfe abroad among them that waited for it so also the mystery of iniquity began to work even in that time and as the Apostles laid the foundation of truth and declared the truth Christ to be the foundation even so the Mystery of iniquity did work and a beginning or a foundation of error was laid by them who were gone out of the truth the false Prophets deceivers Anti-christs who were professors and preachers but they were such as were covetous and greedy of filthy lucre and made merchandize of souls for dishonest gaine and denyed the power of God Christ and were enemies to the Crosse and gloried in the flesh and spake swelling words of vanity and did all live in the lust of the flesh and were proud boasters and denyed the Lord that bought them for denying the power of God they did deny Christ though in words they preached him as this generation who are their off-springs doe out of strife contention as the Apostle writs they held the form of godlinesse but denyed the power and they were they that once were convinced of the truth and came into the forme of truth but denyed the power of truth but were in craft and deceit and they subverted whole houses from the faith and led them back into the world into unbeliefe in the Apostles dayes and yet had a worship and did worship but not the power not the life and this began to worke and wrought more cunningly and subtilly in the latter times And the Apostle Paul in many of his Epistles Iohn and Peter and Jude declares against them and Paul prophesied of them before his departure of grievous Wolves which should spring up which should not spare to make havock of the flock of Christ so the fall Apostles deceivers Antichrists and deceitful workers they went out then and did what they could to lead disciples after them into the world inwardly they were ravened from the spirit and was gone from it into the earth into the world and served not the Lord Jesus Christ but their own bellies and the God of the world which is the Devil and they went into the world and the world received them and then they and their disciples turned against the saints and they held truth in words and the form for a while but it was in unrighteousness and here was the beginners and the beginning of the Apostats and of the Apostacy it was began in the Apostles dayes by them that went out of the truth out of the light and were ravened from the spirit and erred from the faith and were enemies to the power of God and these were the beginners and the layers of the foundation and then it grew that root of wickedness faster then the truth for the Jewes resisted and the heathen resisted and the Apostates and false prophets resisted and they that were Apostatized they resisted and they caused many to stumble to erre to make ship-wrack of their faith and so the world went after them the World the Nations the kindreds the tongues the people went after Kings Princes and potentates of the earth in processe of time they had over run-all killed the saints the woman fled into the wildernesse the man child was caught up unto God then all Nations who were gone from the Rock became as a sea reeled to fro unstable unsetled what were they like to settle in the Sea then a great beast arose with his seven heads and ten hornes and the whore which had defiled the bed and she sat upon the beast and she reached out her cup of fornication to the nations and all nations was drunk with her cup and then the beast made war and the nations were drunk and they loved the beast and received his marke became cruel and pushed at the saints and followed him and made war with them and the whore she drank the blood of the saints and the Dragon appeared and with his tayle drew the third part of the stars after him to the Earth the false Prophets they are the tayle of the Dragon who were gone from the testimony of Jesus the spirit of prophecy and drew after it the third part of the stars from the firmament of his power into the earth Rev. 12. 4. The man child was caught up unto God which was to rule all Nations with a rod of Iron and the woman fled into the wildernesse where God hath prepared a place for her and then the Dragon went out and made war with the remnant of her seed to wit the womans seed And so out of the Sea arose the beast out of Nations kindreds Tongues and peoples which are waters and the Dragon gave power to the beast and his seat and great authority Rev. 13. 2. And all the world wondred after the beast ver 3. and ver 4. They worshipped the Dragon which gave power to the beast and the beast likewise and now the worlâ— cryed which wondred after the beast who is able to make war with the beast and ver 6. he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name and Tabernacle and them that dwell in heaven and he made war with the saints and did overcome them and all that dwelt upon the Earth worshipped him whose names were not written in the Lambs book of life And the beastâ— deceived the Nations and them that did dwell on the earth and now kindreds Tongues and peoples and Nations and all the world which wondred after him they who had lost the image of God now became the image of the beast that blasphemed God and his Tabernacle and them that dwell in heaven and now the Kings of the earth that had drunk the Whores cup of fornication and the Nations Kindreds and Tongues and people who were become the beasts image now the image of the beast spoke and caused as many as would not worship the beast and the image should be killed take notice of that all who are called Christians it was not Gods image who compelled to worship or else be killed but it was the beasts image and wheresoever compultion and killing is exercised and practised they worship the beast Chap. 13. ver 16. And he causeth all both small and great rich and poor bond and free to receive a marke in their forehead or in their right hand and none might buy or sell but he which had the beasts marke or his name or the number of his name here was worship but it was the beasts worship and Idolatrous worship and the Dragons worship who sought to destroy the man-child which all the Angels is to worship all
from the heathen and the rest invented in the night of darkness and all that you have is invented trumpery as bad as the heathen all your Crosses Altars Crucifixes your Cells your Lent your Fasts your Feasts your Hair-cloth your Images Pictures your Relickes of dead mens bones your Tythes your offerings oblations obventions your Tapers Beads your holy water your Baptizing of Infants your Purgatory your Praying for the dead your visiting of old Wals and old Tombs and rotten Sepulchres your Pilgrimages your Inquisition all this is come up since the Apostles dayes and thy consecrated bread and wine which thou calls the body and blood of Christ about which idol thou and all that have drunken the cup of fornication and the Beast hath slain thousands of men in your blood thirsty cruelty and all your works you call meritorious they are all dead will be sentenced by the Lamb who is risen to be self-righteousness and so we have found out your visible Church had no being but since the Apostacy since the Apostles dayes and you are erred both in Doctrine and practice and all your Ordination of your Ministers your Schools and Colledges is all in the will of man all this is in the fall in the transgression and under the curse Object Some of the Protestants or reformed Churches so called may say we like this well that you declare against poâ—â—â—y we agree with you in that but we have renounced the Whores cup and have denyed all the powers of the Beast long since Answ. Although many of you Priests have denyed your mother because some Kings and Rulers or Dukes or Magistrates have cast off the yoke and they protect you and give you maintenance yet we cannot but remember you of your genealogy and decent and your doctrine and practice shall prove it and make it manifest and that you take part with the Beast and worships his image and shall be evidenced more and more even before this generation passe away are not you a stem sprung from the same root doth not the fruits you bring forth evidence it and practice demonstrate it if you grant that Rome is Apostized from the faith which the Apostles were in and their practice you must not deny your fathers who made the Bishops and ordained them did not the Pope who ordained you Ministers or priests did not the Bishops who set up your Mass-house with all the Pictures and Crosses in and upon them which you call your Church who established Tythes offerings oblations Easter reckonings Midsumer dues did not the Pope first and them that were subject to his power who invented Schools and Colledges to fit you for the Ministry and qualifie you for the Ministry as you say is not this set up in and since the Apostacy began your set wages your baptizing of Infants your consecrated Bels which the Pope hollowed or his emissaries do not you preach up the letter for the word the letter for the Gospel are not you calling your bread wine a Sacrament which word you have received from Rome your Pulpets your hour-glasses your cushons your black robes long robes fals-Prophet-like your funeral for the dead like the Popes exequies for the dead your devouring widdowes houses and sueing men at the Lavv your haling them to Courts prisons your taking avvay mens goods by force three-fold ten-fold yea is that which you claim and from them that you work not for neither dare you say this was the Apostles practice or any of the primative churches If you say yea all that knowes the scripture or the least of God in them to guid them or to open their understandings they will see you nearly related to Rome and to the Apostates and deceivers and fals Prophets of old and that you are greatly inflamed with the Whores cup and did not the holy men of God speak as they were moved by the holy Ghost and divine inspiration as the spirit of truth revealed it selfe in them and do not you all head and taile deny any such thing to be now and further concludes that its a great errour to look for any such thing then be convinced in your selves you are Apostates and Apostatized from that faith and hope spirit that was in the primative times and now reads old authors it may be 20. or 30. books before you can get an hours discourse patched up to hold you dreaming till the glasse be run dare you be so impudent confident as to say that you â—are not Apostates and are you not followers of the beast and have you not his mark and bear you not his Image do not you count that disorder which the Apostles and the Churches counted order if any thing was revealed to him that stands by let the first hold his peace are not you apostatized from this order cries take him away and yet you would be called Apostolicall well these things being true and obvious enough to behold to any who knows any thing of God I need not say much more in this thing but all wise men will come out from among you and out of Babylon the Mother of Harlots which hath made you and your root and genealogy drunk with her fornication and this is my call to seperate from her and you that are in the apostacy and waite to know the word which was in the beginning and the Gospel which was Preached to Abraham which endures for ever whose joyful sound is come forth in power and great glory which will shake the foundation of your great City even mystery Babylon and not leave one stone upon another which shall not be thrown down and then the holy men of God shall rejoyce and the Saints of the most high shall sing they that have been as sheep for the slaughter shall reign over the earth and shall say The Lord God omnipotent Reigns and let us rejoyce and be glad and he hath taken to himself great power and is coming to gather his Lambs out of your mouths and to feed in a pasture you never saw which was manifest to the Saints in light before you apostates sprang and shall be again when you and all your dark muddy traditions and inventions are gone down into the pit where there is no remembrance Object But it may be the pure reformed Church of Scotland as it hath been called and the old Episcopal and Prelatical Priests of England who hath borrowed their images to set up here will be ready to say we have denyed the whore and the beast and the apostacy and we have pure reformation we have denyed Bishops which was made by the apostate the Pope and now we have settled all things according to the Primitive Church Answ. There never did spring up any deceit since the Apostles or before but it called it self by the best name as for the Priests of Scotland their doctrine and practice is made manifest and their Reformation by their principles which
distraction one envying another and persecuting one another about the words of truth spoken from the spirit of truth which cannot be understood again but by the same spirit and so all them that have not the spirit of truth are in the Apostacy And all Sects Judgements and opinions that hath risen up since the Apostacy from the faith that was once delivered to the saints when the woman traveled and brought the man-child which after because of the Dragons power fled into the wildernesse and her child caught up unto God all the faith and worship that since is sprung up since the Whore hath sitten as a Queen in majesty is all denyed the ground of their worship Lawes Traditions Inventions and all their invented practises and formes and Images and likenesses are denyed and disowned as to be the dresse and attire of the Whore which hath allured people through her inticing pretences and shewes of holinesse when indeed all is but spiritual adultery and this must be all turned under again the Whores flesh burned and her attire plucked off and her nakednesse appear and her shame to them that have committed fornication with her and they shall be ashamed of themselves and of her and abhor themselves and abhor her and destroyed shall she be and the Lambs wife shall be beautified and come out of the secret places into open view out of the solitary wildernesse into the beautifull place that the Lord will bring her into the time times and halfe time is out the thousand two-hundred and threscore dayes is at an end and he bears witnesse of it who saw her â—fly away upon Eagles wings into the secret place which was prepared for her for these dayes and times appointed and I say he that knowes the counsell of the most High in this matter can account the time times and a halfe and the dayes and what shall be after the days be expired which is at an end blessed is he that sees believes and understands he shall see that which yet hath not appeared neither can it be believed by the most though it were declared but yet a little while and the Earth growes ripe and an eare will be opened in many who cannot yet hear and for a little while in this I shall be silent and treasure up that which the spirit hath revealed till the time be fully accomplished which God hath determined and then his glory shall be revealed and all the former things which have lived since the man of sin hath been exalted shall all dye an utter consumption shall be of all the changeable Lawes made since the Apostacy and the many changeable dresses of the whore and attires in which she hath appeared Imaginary worships into which all have run since they were Apostatiâ—ed from the faith all this shall be disanulled and come to an end and be blasted for ever the spirit of the Lord saith Amen How the woman that was cloathed with the Sun and had the Crowne of twelve Stars upon her head which did flie into the wildernesse comes out againe after the great whore is judged and her child that was caught up unto God comes to appeare again NOw after the time times and halfe a time and after the thousand two hundred and threescore days she returns after the whore is judged and the great City Babylon is fallen which hath made the Nations drunk and brought forth children in fornication who had drunk the blood of the Saints in the Apostacy after the Whore was judged and the voice was heard in heaven of much people that sang Halelujah salvation and glory and honour power Who witnessed to the righteousness of Gods judgement And a voice came out of the Throne saying praise our God all his servants and ye that fear him both small and great Rev. 19. 5. and verse the 6. And I heard as it were the voice of many waters and as a great multitude and as the voice of a mighty thunder saying Halelujah for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth the Whore is now judged the mother of harlots condemned with all her inchantments and sorceries Now the Lambs wife appears who is the mother of the man-child which was caught up unto God she that was cloathed with the Sun with the glorious everlasting Celestial light she is both the mother and the wife he that hath an eare let him hear now Jerusalem that is from above spiritually so called who was the mother of all the Saints before the apostacy she appears again and comes to be the wife of the Lamb and the city of the Saints the mother of them that are born from above this shall be and is made manifest to some but a numberlesse number shall see it and the day hastens greatly and she is appearing again and her solitary garments shall be put off and as she was beautifull before the whore made the nations drunk cloathed with the Sun and had the Moon under her feet and a Crown of twelve Stars upon her head and though she became child-lesse and also as a widow and the remnant of her seed slain and destroyed so shall she appear again in glory and beauty as before and shall be made ready yea my eye hath seen it she is making her selfe ready as a bride for her husband and unto her is granted that she shall be arrayed in fine linen clean and white even arayed in the righteousnesse of the saints which is not self-righteousnesse the garments of the harlot and her lovers but in the righteousnesse of Christ the Lamb her husband and child also and she shall now bring forth many more children though her seed have been slain yet a numberlesse number shall appear and ten thousand thousand shall be brought forth by her and glory in her and reverence her and rejoyce in her for ever and they shall be all clad in the same robe which the husband the Lamb is cloathed withall and the same the Lambs wife this woman is cloathed with all and the same shall all the children be cloathed with all the fine linen the righteousnesse of the Lamb which was dead and slaine since the foundation of the world but now alive and lives for evermore and here a heavenly family appears now after the Apostacy and this shall be seen by all that have an eye that can see through beyond the smoke of the pit that have darkned the ayre while the beast and Dragon hath had power but now hath her child appeared again the man-child hath appeared again and he that was in the spirit on the Lords day saw whether he was taken up to the Throne of God Revel 12. ver 5. and on the same Lords day he saw him after the woman was fled and the remnant of her seed was made War with and flain in the earth where the Dragon had power He that was in the spirit saw him alive again after he was caught up So he that is in
purity in him reproveth so he comes nearer and comes to join in some measure to the spirit of holines or the holy spirit and to receive it and to feel the power of God in some small measure though but weakly working in him to the purging out those things which the spirit lets him see is evil which hath been reproved in him and so in some measure feels in himself what to wait upon and where to wait and in what even in that which gives every one a feeling of their own condition within and opens their understandings How the spirit of truth worketh and operateth in them who are convinced and yet hath not obeyed it shewed THough God who is a spirit hath appeared by his manifestation unto all yet all have not received it he that hates the light hath not received it The eye-lids of the morning are unto him as the shadow of death that which manifesteth and bringeth to light all evil the evil doer likes it not heeds it not receives it not but still is without God in the world that lies in wickedness and without the spirit in death and dead in trespasses and sins a sepulchre in which the just lies slain in this state God is not remembred there is no remembrance in the grave nor no thanks in the pit yet night shines in darkness and a man unconverted yet convinced in that darkness and that which convinceth him is the light so light shines in darkness in man in the greatest darkness and this may convince all vain disputers who say every one is not inlightened neither that the spirit of God hath appeared to all good men have it bad men it s near them they that bring forth the fruits of darkness and bring forth the deeds of darkness they are lighted yea they that are in darkness and are darkness the light shines in them the Spirit of God shines there in darkness manifesteth their darkness here man is darkness the Ephesians were darkness in the unconverted estate yet had light shining in them Eph. 5. 8. the spirits manifestation they had but were not led by it once they were without God in the world but after were turned unto it â—it shewed them their darkness and it leading their minds they came to be made light in the Lord who is that spirit whose manifestation hath appeared to all so all are without excuse for he hath not left himself without witness and they that have not Gods witness to be theirs that is to say to possess it they have no faith nor assurance in God at all but that which should bring assurance of salvation unto them it assures their condemnation and also reveals sorrow Now as every one is turned to the measure of Gods holy spirit and keeps his mind into it he comes to feel and to see its reproof and so as the mind is kept still into it it arises in its purity and shines forth in the heart in more brightness still checking man for disobedience still judging and as it is listened unto it appears in strength and layes every mans heart open and lets him see how full of unrighteousness he is how full of imaginations he is how his heart is full of vain idle thoughts and how lust aboundeth in the heart this makes his trouble to increase and his sorrow to multiply and this is alwayes present none can run from it but it follows him and shall pursue every one to the pit who obey it not and kindle his torment and whatsoever the mind may run into to take pleasure for a moment and the heart be exercised in yet this measure of Gods Spirit is alwayes present to condemn it and judge a man for it so the strokes of the Almighty is still heavy upon his back being still in the disobedience of the spirit it never bears witness unto any man in that state but God through it still sounds the alarum of War and terror in his heart so that fear compasseth him about on every side and though for moment the cry may not be heard and through disobedience it may seem as dead as unto him yet if ever the mind be but still and a man sober and calm and ever mind what he is doing it appears again and though a man may take up something and perform something which is called religious and pray in words and read and talk of the Scriptures and may take up some carnal outward Ordinance and there content himself for a time yet still the witness of Gods holy Spirit for that shews him his hypocrisie and that he seeks a cover to shelter himself under that he may live in disobedience be at ease in the flesh but all in vain for there is no peace within but the measure of Gods Spirit still shewes him that he serves sin and follows his own will and in this will brings forth a worship and this is will-worship nay if a man practice all those things which others who were in the life performed and were accepted yet this will not satisfie God hath no pleasure in this no more then if one slew a man or blessed an Idol or kissed Baal all is abomination to the Lord and though a man may sin so far against the light of Christ in his own conscience that the light be to him as though there were no such thing yet all this well not do for the Lord will thunder from his holy plaâ—â—â—â—ough thou have stopped thy ear as to him and closed thy eyes yet he will cause his terror to strike into thy heart so that dread shall compass thee about as a wall and thou shalt be afraid for that which thou shalt see hear though the spirit strives long yet being still disobeyed the long-suffering of God comes to an end concerning him that hath been unfaithful and then his wrath is kindled as fire which shall burn to the lowest Hâ—ll into which all the rebellious and stif-necked shall be cast and have their portion for ever among all the children of darknesse therefore all who have been convinced long still are by Gods holy spirit of the way of truth and yet have not submitted to the leading of the spirit think on this for its the Lords truth which I declare to you or else eternal mysery will be your end And if thou still persist on after the imaginations of thine own heart and in thy rebellious will thou quencheth the spirit and the motions thereof though it be life in it self yet is as ded unto thee who art in the gainsaying resisting that through which Gods eternal power is manifest in them that believe thou wilt grow insensible past feeling and become as seared flesh and be senslesse as to the things of God and hardnesse of heart will come upon thee and thou wilt be as a stone that cannot be melted and woe will be unto such where the spirit of the Lord in them ceaseth
to strive with them having so long rebelled against and gain-sayd the pure drawings of it that so the Lord is grieved and wearied with their impenitency that he gives them up to their vile affections and to follow the imaginations of their own hearts who receiveth not the truth in the love of it but in the enmyty still remaines obstinate doing despite unto the spirit of grace his long-suffering comes to an end his fierce wrath comes to be kindled against such and that which would have led them out of the world in true pure and everlasting peace now becomes their tormentor and they banished from his presence and shut up in eternal misery where the fire is kindled by the breath of the the Lord that burns for ever the sentence of condemnation being past upon them because they had pleasure in unrighteousnesse and have sold themselves to do wickedly and crucifying the appearance of God in themselves which appearance though it live in the fountain of Life yet crucified by thee who art out of the Life yet lives still for ever in it self to be thy condemnation eternally How the spirit of the Father worketh in them who are turned to it and have taken heed unto its manifestation and are in some measure partakers of its power THere are differences of administrations But the same Lord and there are diversity of gifts but the same spirit and there are diversities of operations but the same God which worketh all in all Now the spirit of truth which is Life in it selfe putteth forth its own pure act not onely to convince and detect him that transgresseth its appearance and to manifest evil which hath been committed by man but also being turned unto and waited in it shews man when motions and temptations unto sin ariseth and as the creature is still and waiteth in that which manifesteth and singly keeps in his mind to it It sheds abroad its power and vanquisheth and subdueth those lusts which do arise and condemns the ground from whence they do arise and it purely draweth the mind after it and secretly worketh breatheth forth its pure life in him that waiteth in patience and in stilnesse not heeding the vayn thoughts and imaginations that riseth in his heart but rather heeds the manifestation of the spirit at whose bright appearance all the vain desires comes to be extinguished there comes to be a hunger begot within to be made partakers of its purity and of its nature For God through the operation of the eternal Spirit lets forth his power which turneth and changeth the heart and cuts a sunder and divides betwixt a man and those lovers that he hath joyned unto and makes a separation within and carries a man further from those things which the measure of the spirit reproves and this leads nearer to God And so they that do believe in the measure of Gods spirit comes to feel what repentance from dead works is and the works and the worker is seen and who it is that hath wrought is manifest in the Light and as there is a diligent waiting upon it there is nothing that passeth through the mind but it discerns and gives a discerning to every particular heart who singly and quietly waytes upon it But yet after the spirit of truth in some measure be felt and its living testymony in some thing yet it may be a long time before there be a clear distingushment in the understanding so that one cannot clearly discerne its moving from all other false motions and high Imaginations which are above And hence it is that the hasty and froward mindes followes their own motions which leads them into deceit and then the Questioner gets up and then they question all that ever the spirit hath made manifest unto them before a vail then is drawn over and the enemy lodges in the vail and in the darknesse which is entred then as soon as any hearkens within to that which is the uppermost and doth abound the enemy that lodgeth in that presents motions as to obey this and that and all is deceit So therefore all is to keep back that they may sensibly feel between the pure motions and the drawing of the spirit and the vaine thoughts that arise out of the earthly heart and when any thing doth arise which the Light doth not bear witnesse to it 's not to be followed nor heeded but a quiet still waiting that things may be cleared to the understanding and for want of this many have run out and have brought forth Satans work and acted things forwardly in their wils and so have clean lost the true sense of that which would guide their minds and have followed the spirit of error and have caused the pure spirit of the Lord to be evil spoken of But as there is a keeping back and a quiet waiting out of willing or running and haste it arises purely and stilly in the heart and shineth forth in brightnesse in the heart so that it giveth perfect evidence and full Testimony of it selfe that there will be no doubting nor questioning of its motion for it will apparently shew forth it selfe in its own transparent brightnesse with full assurance of its own will and then after it be clearly seen and its motion then keep under all reasoning and keep out all questioning and give not way to temptation and that which moves of the Lord of life will carry thee through in its own operation and power to accomplish the will of God and so thou wilt have peace being obedient and thy strength will be renewed for as any are brought to submit unto the will of God when it is known and comes to obey by vertue of its own power that which is contrary unto Gods spirit in thee comes to loose its strength and to decay and be weakned but as any disobeyes the pure motions of Gods holy Spirit after it be known the enemy is strengthened and that which is of the flesh nourished and the spirit comes to be quenched that which would give thee power if thou submitedst unto it But yet know this the spirit in it self never loses its purity neither can be quenched in its selfe but will bear its pure witnesse against thee and none shall be able to stop its reproof Thus the diversity of its operation comes to be known as it s hearkned unto obeyed loved and believed in it puts forth its pure power and gives strength and seals peace to the obedient but disobeyed and resisted it condemns judges reproves and seales condemnation to the disobedient and yet there is no variation in it selfe for it is alwayes one and the same But as it operateth upon different natures or objects unto which it joyns to or stands at adistance from that is to say the good ground it causeth to bring forth fruit unto God and the cursed ground out of which bryers Thornes do arise it kindles a fire in that shall not
that which shews a man the temptations when they arise that is the same now this they call common and that which preventeth a man and keeps him back that he lend not his heart nor puts forth his hand to commit evil but restrains a man from it is not that saving out of evil which stops the adversary in his way that he enter not but preserveth the creature out of defilement and saves him from it is not this saving is not this the same thing that the Apostle who was well acquainted with the grace of God and of it's operation wrote of to Titus That grace of God which brought salvation which had appeared and doth now appear to all men which taught self-denyal them to deny wordly lusts and also to live godlily or like unto God in this present world and now doth the same is not this sufficient to believe in and sufficient to save Now I doe not say but there is a greater measure let out unto them that are converted unto God then is to them that are convinced of their evil by the same grace yet still it is one and the self-same thing one gift yet a greater measure of one and the same pure vertue and power which is given to them that obeys the life which is already made manifest by its appearance unto all Ob. But some will be ready to say that this is error and that which is contrary to scripture and to Orthodox teachers that the grace which is saving is near all men and hath appeared to all men To that I answer Though grace be saving in it selfe even the grace that hath appeared to all men and may truly be called saving grace yet to them that believe not in it neither are taught by it it convinceth and shews evil and checks and judges for it yet there is no variation nor change in the gift of God but as it worketh upon different objects for faith and unbelief are two different things as light and darkness are different and so the word of his grace is the savour of life unto life that is to say unto them that believe and is the savour of death unto death unto them who are in the unbelief who indeed are dead while they live yet there is the same grace and the same word of grace yet here is different operations so the Lord killeth and maketh alive yet the same Lord The spirit convinceth of sin and reproveth for sin and also consolates and comforts Here is diversity of operations yet the same spirit which never alters Object But further some may say If that it be saving grace or at the least a degree and a measure of saving grace that hath appeared to all men then how is it that all are not saved by it Answ. Because I would all stumbling blocks were removed away that the path might be made plain that all might come to believe in that which is Gods gift in which there is power and sufficiency Therefore I am constrained by the grace of God to declare of it and to bear witness to it thus largely which I know will be to the edification of all that hunger after righteousness All are not saved by it because they believe not in it neither are taught by it yet its validity power and vertue is nevertheless in it self and though them that are careless and heedless say we feel no power nor sufficiency in it to save us from sin yet this makes not void their confidence who have received it knows its power which hath given them power and also sufficiency to do the will of God what though unbelievers who are in the alienation say there is no beauty in Christ neither form nor comliness this makes not his glory void who is the express Image of the Father full of grace and truth the Disciples saw it and bore record of him who were in the faith and the Pharisees said he had a Devil who were in the unbelief but in brief this is my testimony that the grace of God the perfect gift of God which shewes ungodlinesse and leads from ungodlynesse all that are taught by it is a sufficient teacher of it selfe I mean as the power of Christ through it is made manifest unto all them that hearken to it Paul â— Minister of the word of reconciliation who was wrapt up into the third heaven where he saw things unutterable came to be temptâ—â—d and buffeâ—ted with the messenger of Sâ—tan and feare and doubting rose up in him he prayed unto God thrice and this answer was given unto him my grace is sufficient for thee so this is evident to all understandings who are opened by the Lord that which shewed him the temptations and Satans messengers and Satans buffetings was sufficient to preserve him and so is it for all who singly are kept to it and in it sufficient to shew ungodlinesse because of its purity and to lead from worldly lusts by its power and to teach the will of God and to live like unto God in this present world and this testimony I beare of it and to it even what I have felt and tasted and handled of its sufficiency and vertue and power of its operation for the confirmation of the same truth which is believed by many brethren and also for the information of them that thirst after the Lord for the opposition of all the gainsayers and opposers of it which testimony I commend to that of God in every man which will witnesse me herein in the day of God when all hearts are opened and all falshoods truth is made manifest in the mean time shall rest in that which I have declared of in which there is pure and perfect peace A word to you wise men of this world who are glorying in the sound of words and worshipping outward appearances to all wise and litter all professors who think you are worshipping God aright who think to search in to the deep things of God by your natural wisdom learning and parts and study GOd hath broken open the seals of the great deep where the wonderful unutterable things of God is revealed from whence eternal wisdom is flowing forth to his little ones whom he hath sanctified from the womb and his power and glory is he shedding abroad and making it to flow forth as though it issued out of a womb by which power and wisdom you are all weighed even by one who is swaddled about with righteousness and girded up with the girdle of truth you are all measured as with a span and are all weighed as with a scale all your parts tongues languaguages interpretations significations wisdom that is come to be enjoyed by them who have believed in the true Light that lighteth every man which rounds you all as a heap and measures you all as with a line your breadth length height and depth your parts Tongues Languages interpretations is but all natural words are but empty
hath transgressed the life and hath disobeyed the light in your consciences is head in you and above the pure that will not recommend you unto God neither can you have any access or acceptation with God in that state till you come out of the waters upon which the Whore sits which is unstable and boisterous and reels too and fro and unsetled which is all to be dried up and all the springs cut off that nourishes and you must come to the Rock before you know any thing that will endure to build upon which rock is Christ who abides for ever but you are all gone from that which should give the knowledge of him in your selves and doth not retain him in your knowledg neither that which gives the knowledge of him the light of his Spirit which shines in your hearts making manifest in your hearts the intention of your hearts when motions unto evil do arise This must you all come to before Gods salvation or redemption you come to know in your selves or have the witness of Gods holy Spirit without which there is neither seal nor evidence nor assurance enjoyed or felt of the love of God The time of restoring is come and many are restored again into Gods Covenant and are delivered out of the jaws of death and feels him who is the healer of the Nations and the restorer of the desolate places to dwell in but first you must come to see those places made desolate wherein the wilde nature lodges before you come to have a share in the restoration Come off these barren mountains where you are feeding to Christ the life of men who hath lightned you and wait in it that you may feel his mind in your selves and the signification of the Spirit of truth from your own spirits or else you will still erre for lack of knowledge and perish for want of understanding and so lay down your heads in sorrow The Kingdom of God and of his Christ declared in some measure as it is revealed what it is and where it is to to be waited for and how it cometh to be revealed to them and in them that believe that all who are waiting for it may know wherein it consists and so receive the end of their hope and the end of their expectation and know the Dominion which hath no end THe Lord hath prepared his throne in the Heavens and his Kingdom ruleth over all his dominion is an everlasting dominion and without end God is a Spirit his Kingdom is spiritual his habitation is suitable to his own nature he is immortal his Kingdom is so he is light his dwelling place is so a pure scituation in which there is no uncleanness nor ever shall be It 's eternal dignity it is an immutable being that remaineth always in it's purity and pleasantness Eternally glorious it consists in power in righteousness in purity in joy in hope in peace in life in vertue eternal in quietness it s a quiet habitation it is incomprehensible unsearchable and indeclareable words are too short they are but as sounds as vails It is unexpressible in it is the treasure-house of wisdom out of which all that believe in him who is the King of eternal and immortal glory comes to receive of his wisdom of his life of his power vertue righteousness and comes to enjoy him who is the fulness that filleth all things whether visible or invisible whether terrestrial or coelestial his power is over all his dominion is over all who is eternally blessedness it self and felicity it self who makes all that believe in him to partake of his kingdom of his grace of his power of his dignity of his dominion and of his glory coelestial but these things are hid from the world who are not redeemed from the earth neither never looks to be while they are in the body Unto such I say Gods kingdom you shall never see nor enjoy while you are in that faith which is reprobate but may be truly called unbelief although you imagine a glory and a kingdom in your earthly minds and dream of a thing to come suitable unto that wherein your glory now standeth but that will all fail and those imaginations will be confounded and dissolved into nothing because they are centred in that which is out of the truth Christ and so are without ground or bottom and are out of that which should give you the sight and knowledge of God in your selves and his kingdom Christ when he taught them that followed him exhorted them that first of all they might seek the kingdome of God even while they were in the body Mat. 6. 36. The Pharisees were gazing abroad in their earthly knowledge although they had the Scripture that declared of Gods kingdome yet they knew it not and this generation is the same who are in the same nature and in the same wisdome which is earthly and litteral and they are imagining as the Jewes were and are loe here and loe there in this observation and the other and look to see it there Nay Christ said The Kingdome of God is within you to the Pharisees He bad them and others seek it first what strange doctrine was this might the Pharisees say he saith the kingdome of God is within us and yet bids us seek it Need we seek that which is in us may professors say Yea it 's like a pearl hid in the field it s like a grain of mustard-seed among many great seeds which is not easily found it 's like a piece of silver lost in the house among much rubbish till that be swept away thou wilt not find it thou must dig deep sweep clean search narrowly before thou find it although he did say to the Pharisees The kingdom of God is within you he did not say they were possessors of it or that it was theirs but to the Disciples whom he taught to pray in faith thy kingdome come and they came to find it that which they prayed for that pearl that groat that grain of mustard-seed which it was like and having found it and believed in it he saith unto them Mat. 5. 3. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of God And in Luke 6. 20. And he lift up his eyes on his disciples and said blessed be ye poor for yours is the kingdom of God They had seen it and were possessors of it it was theirs And Christ said unto his disciples There are some of you standing here that shal not taste of death till ye see the kingdom of God come in power And his words were fulfilled they declared what they had felt and seen and some of them said The Kingdome of God is not in word but in power And Paul to the Romans writes Rom. 4. 17. who was also made partakers of the same power and the same kingdome he spoke his knowledge of it and sayd It 's not meat nor drink but righteousnesse and peace and joy
the ground thereof And after they were come to the Land that God had promised them they were commanded not to worship idols as the Canaanites did that were Hams-stock who was accursed and set up cursed idols yet nevertheless breaking the Law which was to limit that part which had transgressed that which was contrary to the Law was set up in themselves even the nature of the Canaanites Gentiles and heathen and then they worshipped the heathens gods or else formed gods and idols and images of their own and worshipped Baal Ashteroth and Chemosh and the Sidonians gods every Nations gods and Images where they came and so the Lord sent his true Prophets who feared his name and worshipped him to declare against them even the house of Israel a distinct people from the heathen great professors Ezek. 14. 4. They set up idoles in their hearts and put a stumbling block of iniquity before their face the Lord said he would answer them according to the multitude of their idoles they being gone into vanity they hearkned to the Idols that spake vanity Zech. 10. 2. And baked bread and rosted flesh with wood and of the same made a God and they transgressed at Dan at Bethel at Gilgal yea their Idols flood in their hearts and they formed such without as was sutable to their hearts as you may reâ—d through many ages generations before the flood after the flood in the wildernesse in Canaan in the Nations where they were scattered Hab. 2. 18 19. What profiteth the graven Image and the molten image and teachers of lies woe unto him that saith to the wood awake to the dumb stone arise it shal teach behold it is laid over with gold and silver and there is no breath at all in the midst of it seek not to Bethel nor enter into Gilgal for Gilgall shall goe into captivity and Bethel shall come to nought Furthermore they corrupted themselves in those things which God had commanded which were commands in their time made Idols of those things which were but figures or shadowes of good things to come which they should have waited for as the Brazen serpent temple offering oblations Tythes Priests Sabbaths new-Moons solemn Feasts Circumcision Passeover and all these things were given to be observed til the seed came the end of all these things and of the Law for righteousnesse but Christ the seed the heire of all things when he came after many Prophets had declared of him from Moses to Samuel from Samuel till Iohn they exalted those things above him and neglected him who had life in himself would not come unto him that they might have had life and then their Temple Priests Sacrifice oblations became Idols and their practise Idolatry and so are in blindnesse to this day and so in the daies of Christ they held up those things and were counselled in their works and observances and days and times and came not to believe in him in whom all daies ends in and so continued in their large observations all along in the Apostles dayes and did as they had done in the days of the Prophets slew the Prophets that were sent of the Lord and set dreamers and such as prophecied for hire and divined for money and said no evil should touch them and they said the Law should not depart from the Priests mouth nor vision cease from their prophets but believed their lies and prophesied of wine and strong drink and cryed peace to them that Gods controversy was against and so persecuted the Apostels from City to City and from place to place till the the wrath of God came upon them and Jerusalem compassed about with armies and not one stone left upon another and for their sakes Sion became a plowed corne field their Temple burnt their Priests slain their sacrifices ceased and their oblations at an end and they scattered among the heathen and they and all their Idols and their worship blasted and cursed from God and from being a Nation to this day and thus hath the Lord brought shame and contempt upon all through all ages who have worshipped the works of their own hands or that hath holden up any figure representation and have set it up and exalted it above the life and with it have opposed the power the life in which all figures Types and representations ends in And thus far I have passed through generations and also through administrations that all who have a desire of the true knowledge of God may see that man in the degeneration being out of the Image of God corrupts himselfe in all things and makes idols of all things being from the life in which man hath power onely to fulfill the righteous will of God But to descend to come nearer to our age because all that which is called christendome will say this in nothing unto them because they hold not up the heathens Images nor the Jewish Idols nor the Jewish Types and worship and therefore they are no Idolaters when John the Prophet came and preached repentance in the wildernesse of Judea which was a preparer of the way he baptized in Jordan and many believed and repented and were baptized and Christ also was baptized and so was he circumcised and eate the passeover and observed what was written because he came to fulfill all righteousnesse and also bad his Disciples hear them that sat in Moses seats for he was not yet sacrificed up nor glorified I say Iohn baptized not in his own name but bore witnesse unto Christ the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world who came after him and was preferred before him whom Iohn said should baptize them with the holy Ghost and with fire and many of Iohns Disciples followed Christ the true light that lighteth every one that cometh into the world and Iohn was not offended at them for following of Christ but rejoyced take notice of this you baptizers who are offended with them that followes Christ the light that lighteth every one that cometh into the world and excommunicates them like the envyous Jewes out of your assemblies and saith they are deluded and are so far from Iohns spirit that instead of bearing your testimony to him who is the light that you would bind them up and council your disciples not to goe after him the true light that lighteth every man the Christ of God I say to you you are in the Idolatry who prefer your water before the light but Iohn bore witnesse to Christ the light and said he was preferred before him and some Imitaters and Idolaters say the baptisme of water is the door or entrance into the Church of God when as Christ saith he is the door none comes into the fold but by him and none comes to the Father but by him and he is the way so who sets up an other entrance unto God or into the foule or into the Church which is the pillar and