THE WORK OF Gods Power in Man WITH Something that the Spirit of Truth leads to practise and what it leads to deny Given forth in love to the Seed that yet lies in bondage under the Works of darkness that all who are professing God and Christ in words and observing forms out of the power may behold the work of the power and that such amongst them who breaths after God may be informed into the right way and come into unity and fellowship with the Saints in Light who in the power inherit the blessing The way of God is not as the way of man Therefore let all consider their way W. S. LONDON Printed in the Year 1663. The Work of God's Power in Man c. MAn being fallen and degenerated from the Life and Power of God in which he was created good he is become an evil-worker filled with evil thoughts words and deeds his heart and mind unclean defiled and poluted his soul burthened oppressed and afflicted and here man lies in the mire of uncleanness and there is not a whole part in him but wheresoever he lieth down he defiles himself and yet in this state he would be comprehending God and Christ and in his fallen wisdom would be applying the benefits of Christ for his comfort and satisfaction not at all considering that he is alienated from God by evil works nor regarding the power of God in himself by which the evil works are destroyed for of a truth man must be changed by the power of God if ever he come to be truly happy that nature must be killed which is alive and that must be quickned and raised which is in death or man cannot inherit the Kingdom of God therefore all ye that professe God and Christ and Christianity and are not yet changed into the nature of that which ye do profess consider seriously this short Testimony unto the Power of God and the Work of it in man 1. There is a time in which God visiteth the sons and daughters of men for he beholds all people in the fall out of the right way and his tender compassion moveth and his love openeth and with the Light of his Life he lets man see the evil of his doings for it is a certain truth that the love of God is tendered unto man in the Light which doth discover his sin and that is the day of his Visitation wherein God willing to make known his loving-kindness unto man he sends his only begotten Son who is the true Light that all in him might belive and all by him might come to life and seeing that man ennot hide any thing so secretly but that something in him doth find it out then let him believe that it is of God which so discovers his secret intents for it is God that searcheth the heart and there is not another way that leadeth unto life but the Light which from the Life is made manifest for Christ is the Light the Way the Truth and the Life and all other ways lead from the Truth and from the Life and whosoever rejects the Light they reject the Love of God the way to God and the Truth of God and so rejects Christ by whom they should come to God for Christ is the way to God and there is â—ot another and his Light is manifest from the Love and Life â—oâ— God to convince every man that in sin abideth And this is the time of convincing 2. There is a time when man comes so to be smitten by the Light of Christ in his Conscience as that he is brought to stand still and consider his way and with the Light he comes to see the evil of his doings and there he feels the Light to be a Witness against him and a Reprover of him and so comes to be made sensible of his own wretchedness and misery and to feel the burden lie upon him and the sin every way to beset him and then the cry rises in him Who shall deliver me from the body of sin and death Then he begins to look who shall appear for him and help him in his distress and who shall deliver him out of the trouble and affliction wherein he lies his sin is now his burden and that which he hath had pleasure in is loathsome to him and he groans under the weight of it and travels in pain in the sence of great oppression and here he is compassed about with grief trouble and sorrow all his sins come up in order before him and the Light of Christ stands a Witness against him and executes Judgement upon him and he knows not which way to look for comfort he feels the hand of God correcting him and the stripes to fall upon him and which way soever he would escape he is pursued peace he cannot come unto rest he cannot find and so is made willing to fall into the hand of God seeing that all his own strength cannot help him and without Christ appear for his redemption he is miserable for ever and so the Candle of the Lord being lighted in man he comes to see every corner of his own House and all secret things that have been wrought and acted in darkness they all come into his view and there man sees himself defiled poluted and unclean and sees that no unclean thing can enter into the Kingdom of God and so he begins to abhor himself and come to repentance for all the evil that he hath done and the sin that he hath committed and begins to wait in the Light to receive power over his corruptions and so comes to hearken to the voice which reproves him which is the voice of Christ and begins to regard when reproof comes and there his heart comes to be touched with the power of Christ and with the power is turned from the evil unto the good And this is the time of Conversion 3. There is a time when the Power works Redemption by drawing and leading man out of the sin and so he comes to forsake the evil of his own way and the devices of his own heart and begins to feel the power working in him and redeeming him out of those things wherein he hath lived to himself and deaths shadow begins to be broken and the life begins to rise and come up into some liberty and then man knows his Redeemer lives and the Power gives him ease where he hath been burdened and sets him free where he hath been captivated and so the Power helps him where he cannot help himself and delivers him where he cannot deliver himself and the Power strikes over that Nature in Judgement in which sin is conceived and nourished and so makes man conformable to the death of Christ and brings him into fellowship with his sufferings and so he is made one with Christ in his death and sufferings by which he comes to the virtue of his resurrection and there his death and sufferings is known by passing through the
must arise and depart if ever you come to find rest in Christ And this is a truth which many can witnesse this day who sometimes were like-minded with you and did apprehend that they were that which indeed they were not when the mighty day of the Lord broke forth in them they were made sensible of the sparks of their own kindling and the light of their ovvn fire in vvhich they vvere vvalking and vvere made to cry unto the Lord in bitternesse of spirit vvho appeared to be a God gracious and merciful to them and vvith the Arm of his Power plucked them as brands out of that fire and in judgement and mercy hath gathered them into his own Covenant and in what principle stands your fellowship if it stand not in the Light Or can there be any true fellowship but in the Light Must there not be a perfect principle where there is a perfect unity And is not the Light of Christ perfect And must not the heart mind and soul be bound together in the Light if there be perfect unity Was the Saints unity and fellowship in any other principle Or did they hold forth unity vvith such as did not vvalk in the Light Or did they not labour to gather them into their principle and so into their fellowship That ye may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. Here vvas their fellowship in the Truth Light Life and Power of God and they did not say that they had fellovvship vvith such as were not in the Truth but they held forth the Truth that such as vvere out of the Truth might be gathered into the Truth and come into fellovvship vvith us Mark not that ye have fellovvship vvith us or vve vvith you vvhere you are but that ye may have fellovvship vvith us and this was true love in the Saints to such as were contrary-minded yet not such a love as could close in unity but such a love as did manifest pity and it is the same unto you this day For the Lord knows the labour and travel of all his faithful Servants Ministers and Messengers whom he hath raised in the power of his life to preach the everlasting Gospel upon whom the glory of his Life resteth how that they have not done his Work negligently but have run to and fro in the movings of his power to declare his everlasting Truth that all might be gathered to the Truth and come into fellowship in the Truth knowing in the counsel of the Lord vvhose servants they are that no perfect unity or fellovvship can be held in any other principle and they have never denied fellovvship vvith any that have come to their principle if it vvas in never so little a measure if it vvas in the Light and Truth they could have unity vvith them there yea vvith the vveakest breathing and lovvest desire after the Truth their souls have ever rejoiced to meet vvith any there and their love and tenderness have ever been abundantly manifested to all simple hearted ones though in practise they have lien different from them at present for they have fell to the Seed where it hath been and in tender compassion hath ever been ready to help and relieve the distressed but they could never speak peace to the oppression and God doth abundantly reward them for their service and labour of love and by the mighty Power of God through their Ministry many sons and daughters are come to glory who are in perfect love peace and unity together and established in everlasting righteousness in the unchangeable Seed of God So all must come to the Power of God that come unto perfect unity otherwise they are but in the changeable nature and in the changeable unity but where the power is submitted unto it works out the changeable nature of the flesh and raises the unchangeable nature of the Lamb and gathers the heart mind and soul into union with him and so makes a compleat and perfect body in his compleat and perfect life where all drinks into one spirit and feeds upon one bread And here the unity is held in the Spirit and it is sealed in the bond of peace Therefore feel the power of God in your selves that your minds be subjected into stilness and quietness for you are too full of business always thronging and cumbring your selves about many things which draweth you from the one thing which should make you happy Oh that you would once hearken and obey How well would it be with you to what it is For really there is a pity reacheth to you and many sad complaints are taken up for you considering what longings and pantings there hath been in many of you after God Oh remember the years past when your visitation was upon you and the springings of God's love was fresh in you then were you broken and melted and humbled before the Lord and you had a fervent zeal for God according to what you knew the day-star did rise unto you but you was not acquainted with it nor did not understand that it would have led you where the young child was and so not regarding you lost the sight of it and turned your faces towards the West where the Sun setteth in obscurity Oh! shall you not be lamented because of this yea surely you are and through the lamentation there is compassion to that which first breathed in you and through the compassion there is judgement issues forth to that Spirit which hath betrayed you and here I may include all such as have lost their first Love whether by apprehending Christ without them or within them for there stands the Traytor in all to draw the mind into apprehensions and conceivings and so from waiting upon God in the principle of his Light and Life there to be kept in the fresh sense and feeling of the pleasant streams that issue from the fulness and so to grow and encrease through the virtue and nourishment thereby received and how hath apprehensions and conceivings come over that sweet dispensation of Love yea and Life in measure which in years past was felt by many And how doth death reign in them And how is the precious Seed of God oppressed Oh that you would consider whoever you are that have let in apprehensions and conceivings of Christ whether you apprehend him without you or within you the birth of his life you do not know in that state for none can compass his pure life by any apprehension therefore let all cease from their apprehensions and conceivings and with the power of God silence all flesh and wait to feel the Work of the power in you and be faithful to the power and then you will know Christ of whom you speak and dare speak no more then what you can witness nay nor that neither but as the life moveth to do it for what good doth all your words that you speak with the old
same in the Work of the Power by which Power Redemption is wrought out of that nature which is evil into that nature which is good and so man comes to be redeemed up to God by the Work of his Power and enters into the Power where he receives true Faith and by Faith in the Power he obtains victory over the sin which hath been his burden and by the power he begins to rise in the immortal Seed and there feels Christ to be the resurrection and the Life and by his resurrection and life Man is redeemed out of death and is made a partaker of the riches of his Grace in which all the benefits come to be witnessed to the comfort and satisfaction of the soul and so Christ is made Redemption unto all that in his power believe And this is the time of Redemption 4. There is a time when the Power works salvation in saving from the sin out of which it redeemeth for Christ is the Power of God to salvation and by his Power he rebuketh temptation so that when temptations would draw the mind into those things again out of which there is Redemption then the Faith standing in the Power and the eye looking unto Christ by Faith he appears to save from the sin which the temptation would draw into and here Christ is felt to be a Saviour that saves his people from their sins mark saves his people from their sins for they are his people that are redeemed by him And though there be a liablenesse to temptations after Redemption be witnessed yet abiding in the Power they are his people and he is their salvation and so he keeps them by his mighty power through Faith he keeps them out of the evil and keeps them in the good and so he that believes is saved he doth not enter into temptations though temptations may be presented to him but is kept and saved by the power for as Redemption draweth out of the sin so doth Salvation save from the sin and yet the same Power for it is not one thing that redeems and another thing that saves but it is the Power which worketh effectually in both and so Christ a Redeemer and Christ a Saviour and they that are saved by him they rejoice in his salvation for he brings salvation in the creatures weaknesse and this is his salvation wrought by the Arm of his Power for if people do not feel Christ to be nearer to them for Redemption and Salvation then where they apprehend him to be without them they cannot feel the joy of his salvation for temptations are within and if Christ be not there also to rebuke them and save from them there is no man can prevail by his own strength but where the mind joins to his power within and stands in his power there is eternal salvation obtained And this is the time of salvation 5. There is a time when the Power works Regeneration for having converted redeemed and saved it hath a free course in man and works effectually for the changing and renewing of him striking over all the old Nature and the deeds of it and crucifies them down into the death and buries them in the baptism of sufferings where man becomes a dying man dyes to the World dyes to his Will his Wisdom his Apprehensions and conceivings and the Power crucifies man unto all and all unto man and he passeth through death in the operation of the Power for the Power passeth through the whole man killing the lusts burning the chaff consuming the drosse and dissolving the Earth and raiseth man out of the earthly habitations and so cuts off the seed of the evil-doer and takes away the sin and there the first Adam dyes and the second Adam rises and bringeth up the immortal soul in his hand and then all things are made new by the Work of the Power a new birth is born which hath a new heart mind and tongue from which proceedeth new thoughts words and deeds for behold the Work of the Power maketh all things new and so man cometh to be regenerated and born again of in corruptible Seed which is a mysterie to all apprehenders and conceivers he dyes to self and receives a new life in Christ and hath a new Name given him which no man can read but he that hath it And this is the time of Regeneration 5. There is a time when the Power worketh sanctification by cleansing all that out of man which hath defiled him for the fire consumes but the water cleanses and so purgeth the Conscience and purifieth the heart and maketh man clean within for Christ prepareth the soul as a Bride for her Husband sending forth his pure Water to wash away all spots and stains and so puts on the Garment of his Righteousnesse and in the Life of his own Righteousnesse he beholdeth the soul and is in love with it and so marrieth it to himself in a perpetual Covenant never to be broken then he that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of one Mercy and Truth is met Righteousness and Peace kisseth each other and here man is made the Righteousnesse of God in Christ and so is righteous even as he is righteous for it is Christ that now liveth in man and is righteous in man and is made righteousnesse unto man in which righteousnesse the Saints are approved and accepted of God Oh! let not any grow wise by apprehension for I am not answering that part my love is to the Seed and my heart is broken in the sence of what I now write but I am not to write much concerning these Mysteries left any should take them up and say it is done But let all know That this is the time of Sanctification 7. There is a time when the Power worketh Justification having brought man unto God and made him acceptable unto God he is then justified before God for he is married unto Christ and is one with Christ and in Christ Jesus there is no condemnation and if no condemnation then justification for that which is condemned is not justified neither is that which is justified condemned but that which is sanctified is justified For man in the first Adam cannot be justified but in the second Adam he is sanctified accepted and justified and in his Life man in herits the peace and the joy and the blessing And this is the time of Justification Now as this Work is wrought in man by the power of God he comes to enjoy the fulnesse of Truth which is in God for God is Truth in fulnesse and the Spirit by which the Truth is measured forth and manifested it is the Spirit of Truth and as the Truth is received in the Spirit 's manifestation so the mind is constrained into obedience and the Spirit being answered in obedience it leadeth up into a larger measure of the fulnesse and by degrees it bringeth into the fulnesse for the Spirit of truth leadeth into
all truth mark into all truth and being all there is nothing wanting which being attained in the leadings of the Spirit the soul comes into everlasting rest in God And so by the leadings of the Spirit there is a growth in the truth and a passing on from one degree to another until the fulnesse be enjoyed and all are to mind the measure of truth in which they stand and to answer the movings and leadings of the Spirit that in the truth they may grow and prosper for as the truth is lived in according to measure there is a growth to be felt and witnessed in it a growth in understanding growing up from children to young men and from young men to ancients and so in understanding come to be men not by apprehension and conceiving but by revelation and possessing and as the growth comes to be felt in the truth so there is a decay of all that which is out of the truth and that which hath been manifested by any practise out of the truth that comes to dye for as the root is destroyed so doth the branches dye and then the Truth brancheth forth in its own nature and manifests it self according to its nature and that is the principal of all good works and the good works which are wrought and manifested by it they are of God and being of God they are truth for there is not any thing besides him true And all good works that are wrought in him and manifested from him they are approved by him and so they that have true faith they have good works also yea such good works as may be seen of men So that the practise in the truth is from the principle of truth by all that are of the truth And though something of such a practise may be observed by such as are out of the truth yet that doth not make the practise in the truth to be ever the less glorious in it self for it is the principle that makes the practise true and not the practise that makes the principle true But where the practise of any doth wholly degenerate from the practise in the truth that principle doth plainly manifest its nature by what is practised and neither principle nor practise is true But where the practise of truth stands in the principle of truth there is the nature of the root manifested by the branch and so the Tree is good and the fruit is good And wil not many speak well of the Life of such as live in the practise of truth and yet speak evil of their principle and so would make the fruit good and the tree corrupt which thing cannot be for not any thing that is truly good can proceed from that which is evil as the ground of its conception So if the life of such as are guided by the Light do not answer their principle in all righteousnesse then people might have some cause to say that their principle is delusion and they a deluded people but if it be so as their lives do sufficiently demonstrate then let all people acknowledge that their principle is truth and that God is their God and that they are his people So let all people consider their way and behold what they practise for the Spirit of truth leads into all truth and so brings forth good fruit in all holinesse and righteousnesse of life and that life springs from the Spirit as from its root and is made manifest as it is the Work of God and it answereth the righteous principle of God in every man and that which is manifested by the Spirit of Truth and practised by those that live in the truth and also what they cannot practise as being out of the truth are these things following 1. They worship God in spirit and truth but the evil worship they cannot observe They bow to the Name of Jesus and cannot bow to any graven Image for the Name of Jesus is their life 2. They live a godly and righteous life walking in sobriety moderation temperance meeknesse gentlenesse patience love justice mercy and truth they do unto all men as they would be done unto 3. They honor God alone and honor all men in the Lord but they cannot give flattering titles unto men nor respect persons in the vain customs 4. They are conformable unto Christ but they cannot conform to fashions and traditions they cannot live in the lust of the flesh and the pride of life they cannot be excessive in meats drinks and apparel but what is needful they use it in its place but cannot use any more 5. They speak the words of truth and sobernesse but that which is out of the Truth they cannot speak for You to one is not in the truth but Thou to one is in the truth and they speak it as it is the Language of the Spirit 6. Their word is truth in what they speak and they faithfully answer what they promise but they cannot be bound by bonds of men to cause them to perform what they may require for by their word they are bound to perform if they make a promise for their word is truth 7. They testifie the truth when they are required but they dare not swear at all They love Christ and keep his command and they cannot answer what is commanded contrary for all his commands are righteous unto them and they chuse to obey him rather then men 8. They love the Lord God and one another but the wickednesse of the wicked their souls abhor They are truly tender to that which is good in all but they cannot join with that which is evil for the good is their rest These things with much more of this nature is practised by such as are led by the Spirit of Truth and is manifested from the Spirit as fruit of its nature and where it is not so the Spirit of Truth doth not lead and so people professe Christ but conform to the customs and fashions of the world which they that are led by the Spirit cannot do for the Spirit teacheth them to deny all customs of the world which are vain and not only so but teacheth them to testifie against the World and the deeds of evil which by them are observed and this is good fruit brought forth from the good Tree and is not like the corrupt fruit of the corrupt Tree and so the Tree is known by its fruit for thereby doth every Tree manifest its nature Now let him that readeth understand for this is declared that all may believe that Christ is the Power of God and that the Power of God is in man and that the Power of God worketh the Work of God for you that cannot endure to hear of the Light and Power of Christ within you wil not endure sound Doctrine but cry out against it as the greatest delusion and you say your Faith is in Christ without you and you be-believe that by his death he hath done all for