to this covenant he saves Man by his disunion and distance from God he perisheth by being brought again to God he lives again which thing Christ effecteth by the new covenant So then he that is not lead by Christ into that covenant is not in the state of salvation 3. That the new covenant is written in the heart or there is no other way of coming into the new covenant whereof Christ is the High-priest and Mediator but by having the Laws of God written in the heart This is the covenant c. I will put my Laws into their minde and write them in their hearts c. they shall not teach every man his neighbour and every man his brother saying know the Lord for all shall know me from the least to the greatest Heb. 8. 10. 11. He is speaking of the covenant whereof Christ is mediator ver 6. which he cals a new covenant ver 8. and saith it is not like the old ver 9. instancing in two main particulars wherein it is very unlike 1. The old was writ outwardly in letters to be read by the outward ey but this is writ inwardly in the heart and minde and so can only be read by a spiritual ey 2. Under the old they needed teaching from men the priests lips were to preserve knowledge and they were to seek the law at his mouth but now they should have the law so neer them so cleerly written in them that they should need none to teach them From the law is the knowledge of God the law is in the heart and from the law in the heart springs up the knowledge of God in the least and in the greatest that are within this covenant that they need not say know the Lord. This is the state of the new covenant which the Christians came to in those dayes 1 Joh. 2. ver 27. but it hath been a strange thing in this dark night of Apostacy and is yet a strange thing to many But let such consider can a man be a Christian and be out of that covenant whereof Christ is the mediator Can a man be brought back again to God by Christ and yet be out of that covenant whereby Christ brings men back to God O how hath Satan deluded poor souls in this thick night of darkness to make men believe they have faith in Christ and shall be saved thereby while they are quite ignorant of and strangers to that covenant whereby Christ the mediat or saves They shall all know me from the least to the greatest Marke there is not the least in this covenant but hath the law so written in his heart that he need not seek out for knowledge 4. That the spirit of God alone can write the covenant in the heart or that Christ writes the covenant by his spirit Man by all his wisdom cannot attain it Man is driven out from God and cannot finde the way back again to him without the teachings and leadings of Gods own spirit It is not the being educated in any way of Religion from ones childhood or the leaving of that and running into any sect afterwards that will avail any thing hereto but the alone hearkening to the true voice of the true spirit It is written in the Prophets concerning the children of this covenant that they shall be all taught of God And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord. It is the Lord alone who by his spirit teacheth them to come to Christ and to receive the new covenant into their hearts from Christ For man is in an incapacity to know or receive Christ or his covenant until the spirit hath fitted and taught him John 14. 17. but when he hath prepared and fitted his heart then with his own finger he writeth the pure law of the nature and life of Christ therein by the receit where of he cometh out of his old dark spirit and nature into the true knowledge of God and union with him I will put my spirit within you Ezek. 36. 27. This is part of the covenant and indeed that part whereby all the rest is wrought 5. Therefore the first proper step in Religion is to know how to meet with Gods spirit There is no progress no true progress to be made in the true Religion till a man comes into the covenant and there is no coming into the covenant but by the spirit therefore the first thing that is absolutely necessary to be known in Religion is the spirit his writing or at least his motions and stirrings in the heart It may further be evidenced thus all things in Religion acceptable to God flow from the spirit All knowledge is to come from him for he alone hath revealed and can reveal truth and is appointed by Christ to lead into all truth All worship is to be offered up in him they that worship the father must worship him in the spirit and in the truth for the father seeketh such to worship him but rejecteth all other worshippers and worship how glorious soever their worship may seem to them Particularly praying is alwayes to be in the spirit Ephes 6. 18. Jude 20. so singing c. yea the whole life and conversation is to be in the spirit Galath 5. 25. The mortifying of all corruption is to be done by the spirit If ye through the spirit mortify the deeds of the body ye shall live Rom. 8. 13. Indeed a Christian is nothing and can do nothing without the power and presence of the spirit of God in him So then if nothing in Religion can be done with acceptance to God without the spirit then the spirit is the first thing to be looked after by him who would be truly and well-groundedly religious 6. The first way of meeting with the spirit of God is as a Convincer of sin Here is the true enterance This is the Key that opens into life eternal He that can receive it let him It is not by soring alost into high imaginations and forms of worship but by coming down to this low thing This is the first and most proper work of the spirit of God toward fallen man whereby he makes way toward the writing of Gods Law in the heart namely to convince of sin And where should man look first to meet with him but in his first work upon him When Christ promised the comforter the spirit of truth he said this concerning him that he should convince the world of sin John 16. 8. They who are created a new in Christ and become his Disciples receive comfort from the spirit but what is he to the world or how may they feel any operation of him why he is to them a convincer of sin and they may finde him checking them for and convincing them of their sins So that the great work for man while he lies in the darkness for when he is translated into the light it will be easy is to know how to distinguish the movings and
Serpent that truth cannot come any where but it finds the enmity already stirred up and prepared to withstand it This is a new way a new light saies one we know a Religion before this came up and we wil keep to that let who wil run after these new sects and ways A natural light the old light of nature saith another or the corrupted light of Adam which hath run along through all his posterity Another out-cry is that it makes the Scriptures void and useless Others cry out that it teacheth things contrary to the Scriptures that it sets up free-wil that it leads to a covenant of works that it breaks down Relations Laws Governments takes away due respect from Magistracy and Superiours and turns the world upside down Thus the worldly spirit is every where up in arms and a zeal kindled every where to keep it out of every heart and out of every place and country Now these are not real things but such kind of slanders and reproaches as alwaies have attended truth The Prophets of God Christ and his Apostles though they have been spoken wel of afterwards yet they have ever been hated spoken il of and persecuted by the generation of professors of their age The Scribes and Pharisees could not with so great advantage have persecuted Christ and his Apostles without a seeming zeal for the Law and Prophets and yet it was the same spirit that so vehemently cryed up the Law the Prophets the Ordinances of Moses that persecuted the spirit and life in Christ and his Apostles from whence the Law the Prophets and Ordinances came And thus it is at this day though that Spirit is as blind now as it was then and cannot see through its own cover though it be as weak and narrow as theirs was The guilty chargeth the innocent that it might hide its own guilt and keep its covering The guilty Jewes and the guilty Scribes and Pharisees charged the Prophets Christ and his Apostles that they might not be found guilty by them and their formal covering rent from them And thus it is at this day Truth is risen to make manifest mens false coverings and the guilt and hypocrisy that lies hid underneath now to save themselves they are prepared before hand to lay that charge against truth which truth hath against them Search thine heart resist not the light thou that haste charged the truth with any of these things and thou wilt find it thine own condition The truth is no new light or new way and they that hold it forth do not hold forth any new way or new light but it is thou that hast left the good old light the good old way which was before the apostacy and hast fallen in with some new light some new way invented and set up since the Apostacy It is thou again that settest up the natural light the fallen wisdom the wisdom which is out of the life and in enmity with the life with this thou feedest that understanding which is to be brought to naught and when thou hast done this thy selfe then thou callest the spiritual light wherewith God hath pursued it in all ages a natural light It is thou that with this wisdom searching into the Scriptures and gathering the oldness of the letter into the old understanding makest the Scriptures void and useless to thy soul and canst not meet with that life and power which they speak of but stil art alive in thy sins and dead unto God and then thou cryest out against that which comes to discover this to thee and to bring thee out of this dead knowledg into the life of the Scriptures thou cryest out against this as if this made the Scriptures useless And when thou hast set up an whole body of knowledge religion and worship quite contrary to the Scriptures which the truth comes to make manifest then Cains nature riseth up in thee and thou takest up Cains weapons and fain wouldest thou kill thy brother because his sacrifice in the faith testifies against thine which is out of the faith and contrary to the true testimony of the Scriptures Again for free-wil and a Covenant of works Thou hast set up a religion in the old will and works not according to the new Covenant of life but according to the old Covenant of death and by this thou preachest that wil to be free which is in bonds and settest up the works of mans righteousness and conformity to the letter for the works of the new Covenant And for Governments and Laws That which is according to God which is a terror to the evil and a praise to them that do wel that which is liberty to the just and a curb to the unjust this thou art against and cryest out daily for the turning of the Magistrates Sword against the innocent because they are a light to discover thy deeds of darkness which be out of the light and disturb thy peace and thy settlement in that which is fleshly and of man and not of God So for relations and honour to Magistrates The transgressing nature hath brought up a wrong thing a fleshly thing an honour a duty which is of the flesh and pleaseth the flesh and is not according to God And this is not honour indeed not an honour that wil stand not an honour that will be justified in the sight of God but is a shame to them that give it and a shame to them that receive it discovering that they are servants to the flesh giving to and receiving from the fleshly part that which the fleshly part which crucifies the life cals for and is pleased with All that the light doth to these things is to discover and condemn them and the end of its discovery is that they might be removed and truth and righteousness brought in the stead of them But mans evil heart which is the cause of them cries out against the light as if the light brought them whereas if man could but be quiet and stil and suffer the work of the light upon him he would find that the same light which discovereth them would also purge them away and leave neither root nor branch of iniquity either in mens hearts or in relations or families or towns or cities or laws or governments and there would be no want of honour Now though the Serpents wisdom is irreconcilable that understanding which stands there cannot be satisfied but must be confounded and brought to nought 1 Cor. 1. 19. yet because underneath all this there is a simplicity in some which is betrayed for the relief of that somewhat further may be spoken in answer to these things Object 1. To the first Objection that this is a new way or new light I answer Answ It is new indeed to them who have lain long in the Apostacy and set up another light but it is not new in it self but the same that was in the beginning yea and before the beginning also
Christ was the same yesterday to day and for ever and the light that comes from him is like him that also is the same yesterday to day and for ever It was the same under the law the same before the law the same since the lavv As the darkness all along hath been the same so the light all along hath been the same also It vvas the same in the Jews and the same in the Gentiles It vvas this God expected obedience to from the Jews and the Prophet in the name of the Lord disdains their sacrifices and brings them to this Micah 6. 8. He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God Their eye vvas upon sacrifices and oyl the prophet points them to that vvhich vvould bring them to the right sacrifice and to the true oyl And the Gentiles so far as they vvere obedient to this vvere accepted and excused in their ovvn consciences the faithful vvitness vvhereof is of God and vvil stand in the day of Christ Ro. 2. 15. 16. That which was from the beginning saith the Apostle John declare we unto you 1 Joh. 1. 1. And this is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you that God is light and in him is no darkness at al ver 5. And the end of preaching this message is to dravv out of the darkness into the light to bring men to the feeling of the light of God in them and so to union vvith it vvhich being turned to dravvs out of the darkness God vvho is light is nigh to every man vvho is darkness though mans sense is very thick and can hardly see or feel him and a light from him shines in mans darkness but mans darkness comprehends it not So that this light is not nevv in it self but onely nevv to the old Spirit vvhich hath long lain hid in the region of darkness and death hath not known the light of life Object 2. That this is a natural light or the light of old Adams nature Answ It is in one sense a natural light it is of the nature of him from whom it comes of the nature of God and of his Christ whom it appears for but it is not of the nature of corrupt Adam whom it always reproved and against whom it stil stands a witness and condemns all corruption Man is darkness and when Christ comes to redeem him he finds him darkness and Christ finds no light in him to help him to discover sin to him but all the disoveries of sin that are made in the heart are by the light of Christ and not by any light of mans nature The Lord is the searcher of the heart and he searcheth it with his own candle and not with any left in mans nature Man fel into darkness knew not wher he was but the Lord cometh after him with his candle discovereth his state to him It is the light from which man fel and against which he sins that is alone able to make his disobedience manifest to him We know saith the Apostle that the law is spiritual but I an carnal Rom. 7. 14. The law is the lowest part of the light and yet that is spiritual and of Christs nature and not of Adams nature we know it saith the Apostle Such as know the nature of that which manifests sin know it to be spiritual It is the fallen man from the light the man in the darkness that cals the light darkness but that which discovers the darkness and reproves the darkness and warrs against the darkness is not darkness but the light of life And those who are spiritual and feel the nature and power of it in their spirits know it to be so But man hath set up a light of his own hath raised up a light by his study and invention in the strength of the fallen wisdom and now setting up this for light he must needs call the true light darkness as the Pharisees did Christ Object 3. That it makes the Scriptures void and useless Answ It came from the spirit that gave forth the Scriptures it is of the same nature with the light that shone in them that gave forth Scriptures it speaks the same thing with Scriptures it leads to the same thing and it opens witnesses to the words which the Scriptures speak and so it brings the Scriptures which have been long abused into their true use Indeed it puts an end to the corrupt use of Scriptures to mans inventing and forming things out of them but brings them into their true use and service It takes the Scriptures out of mans hand who hath slain the life by them and puts them into the hands of the spirit who makes the words again pure and quick and living purging away mans defiled and dead conceivings and interpretations of them A man must know the Spirit come to the spirit be joyned to and be in union with the Spirit before he can have the true understanding of the Scriptures The Scriptures of truth are the words of God or various expressions of his mind which he that searcheth into afore he hath his spirit cannot know and so man in this state can onely guess and imagine at things but cannot see the truth And from hence it is that so many sects and heaps are sprung up in the world according to the variety of their imaginations One sort of men cry this is the way this is the truth this is the Church this is the worship Another sort cry that is not it that is superstition and error but this is it and so a third and fourth c. So about Scriptures one saith this is the meaning another saith it is not so but this is the meaning The Papists say the Church must judge of the meaning of Scriptures and the Protestants who take more scope how do they doubt and differ and oppose one another about the interpretation of Scriptures which plainly showes that they do not plow with the right heifer for then there would be unity and certainty They let their own reasonings and imaginations loose and there is no foundation of certainty but had they waited for the Spirit to begin with and gone on no farther then he opened to them all these doubts and dissentions would have been choked in the birth or womb or not have come so far as either birth or womb Yet do I not altogether deny the reading of Scriptures even in this state if men read with fear and trembling not setting up his own understanding or the understanding of any man else but waiting for the spirit which can alone give him an understanding to receive the true knowledg But this I dare boldly affirm that mens reading of the Scriptures in their own wisdom and self-confidence or confidence of what interpretation others have given doth them no good at all
Christ reign in the heart and let him trample all mans invented forms of knovvledg and vvorship under his feet and give up thy self to be led by him into the true knovvledg and vvorship in the spirit and in the truth And now you who find your hearts touched and convinced of the truth and find any desire kindled in you after the living God and an hungring and thirsting after his righteousness Take notice of these three things which I have upon my heart to say to you by way of advice 1. Know and take up thy cross the Cross of Christ the daily Cross of Christ The Cross of Christ is that which crosseth the natural and this is the power of God to deliver from the natural How should the earthly understanding the earthly wil the earthly affections with the elementary nature which have had their swinge in the earth be crucified and slain but by the cross of Christ he therefore that wil have a Religion to please himself in any thing must not come hither and he who after he is come hither admitteth of any thing pleasing to the earthly and starteth from the cross which would deny and turn from it so far as it doth so he goeth backward and not forward It is no wonder that there is such an enmity in all sorts against the truth for it striketh at their life yea at the very root of their life If there were any new way or form of Religion held forth mens understandings and affections might by degrees be wrought of to it and find pleasure in it but this is direct death to that nature and spirit that hath lived in any form of Religion and to the whole course of that nature and spirit yet through this death the true life springs up in those who receive the strokes of it Therefore be willing and learn to die dayly and bring every thing which is contrary to Christ to the Cross Deny self in every thing take up the Cross in every thing follow Christ in every thing This is the way which Christ himself prescribes to become his disciples by If any man wil come after me let him deny himself take up his Cross daily and follow me seek not ease in the flesh no not in the least but take up the Cross every day in every thing till the earthly be slain til the wisdom and strength of the flesh be wholly subdued and then the wisdom and power of God will become natural 2. Keep to the sence keep to the feeling beware of the understanding beware of the imagining conceiving mind These cannot be for God not bring forth any thing for God until they be new cast and new moulded The one seed of life lies in the invisible in the hidden man of the heart among multitudes of seeds of death all which have their growth up into and strength in the corrupted natural So that this seed cannot shoot up into any part of the natural but the other seeds shoot up with it and endeavour to choak it Now the other seeds spring up two wayes either in a way of opposition against the the true seed or in a way of similitude There cannot a good thought or desire or beam of light enter into the understanding or will but multitudes of evil thoughts evil desire or fleshly reasonings against it wil spring up with it and strives to over bear it And if the enemy be at length overcome by the power of God fighting with him and vanquishing him then he hath his garments of light then he brings in thoughts and desires and motions like Gods which easily pass for good if the soul keep not close upon the watch The forward understanding is apt presently to own them and the forward will to embrace and the forward affections to let themselves forth into them until the soul come to feel a loss in life and miss the power and presence of God and find the enemy strong again Yea the enemy hath yet a more subtil way namely to raise motions like the motions of Gods spirit and suddainly before the light hath given the discerning of them to raise opposition and reasonings against them that so by the opposition which is manifestly evil the motion it self which is also evil though good in appearance might be the less suspected and swallowed Now the onely way of safety is to keep out of the natural whereof the enemy hath possession and where his strength lies and to keep in the sence and feeling of the invisible seed and onely to come forth with him into the natural in that sence and feeling And when he comes he wil come with strength above the strength that the enemy hath in the natural and by degrees conquer him But by no means rest or abide in the natural but retire with the Lord who will not dwel there until it be clensed into the resting place These words may be hard to you at present but hereafter as you come into the exercise you will feel them And this is the reason why the formal and outward part of Religion doth so commonly eat out the life because things there are sutable to and exercise that part wherein the strength of the enemy lies and there can never be perfect freedom and safety until that part be subdued and all that belongs to that part removed The Lord is risen to shake what may be shaken that the kingdom which cannot be shaken may appear and happy are they who are shaken by his hand in all that is outward and established in the inward life power and rest which remaineth for ever and cannot be shaken 3. Wait patiently the Lords leasure Be not hasty after life and salvation in the wil of the flesh but leave the Lord to chuse his own season for the showring down of his mercy and blessing The Lord will not presently entertain that spirit which hath adulterated from him prostituting it self to strangers and defiling it self into his bosom but there must be a time of sorrow a time of purifying and clensing The soul must know and feel that it hath been an evil thing and bitter that it hath forsaken the Lord the living fountain of living mercies and hath sought life from vanities and among dead Idols And all the Idols must be thrown away and the heart washed from that nature that ran after them and become a pure virgin to bear and bring forth the living seed and by faithfulness to that seed and waiting in that seed in the Lords season it shall receive the mercy and the blessing and the inheritance which belongs to that seed The Husbandman doth not presently reap but waits long even till the seed be grown up to maturity Jacob the type of the seed said O Lord I have waited for thy salvation It is the election that obtains it is to the seed and for the seeds sake that the mercy is bestowed and there must be a waiting till the seed be
doth not John say it was by the unction the anointing was in them a foundation or wel-spring of light and life issuing forth continually such Rivers and streams of life within as they needed no other Teacher in the truth and way of life ver 27. The Comforter did refresh their hearts sufficiently and lead them into all truth Search the Apostles Epistles and ye shall find them testifying of the Lords sending his spirit into the hearts of Christians and exhortations to them not to grieve or quench the spirit but to follow as they were lead They were to live in the spirit and to walke in the spirit Gal. 5. 25. and the spirit was to walk and live and bring forth his own life and power in them 2 Cor. 6. 16. And what can be the proper and full rule of Gods Sons and Daughters but the light of the spirit of life which they receive from their father Thus God did advance the state of a believer above the state of the Jews under the law for they had the law though written with the singer of God yet but in tables of stone but these have the law writ by the finger of God in the tables of their hearts Their's was a law without at a distance from them and the Priests lips were to preserve the knowledg of it and to instruct them in it but here is a law within nigh at hand the immediate light of the spirit of life shining so immediatly in the heart that they need no man to teach them but have the spirit of prophesy in themselves and quick living teachings from him continually and are made such Kings and Priests to God as the state of the law did but represent The Gospel is the substance of al the shadowes contained in the law A Christian is he that comes into this substance and lives in this substance and in whom this substance lives and his rule is the substance it self in which he lives which lives in him Christ is the substance who lives in the Christian and he in Crhist Christ lives in him by his spirit and he in Christ by the same spirit ther he lives and hath fellowship with the Father and the Son in the light wherin they live and not by any outward rule 1 Joh. 1. 6. 7. But what is the rule now in the Apostacy Among the Papists the rule is the Scripture interpreted by the Church as they cal themselves with a mixture of their own precepts and traditions Among the Protestants the rule is the Scriptures according as they can understand them by their own study or according as they can receive the understanding of them from such men as they account Orthodox And hence arise continual differences and heaps and sects one following this interpretation another that An this is a grievous apostacy and the root spring and foundation of al the rest for he that misseth in his beginning he that begins his Religion without the true rule how can he proceed aright in any thing afterwards Object But are not the Scriptures the word of God and is not the word of God to be a Christians rule If every one should be left to his own spirit what confusion and uncertainty would this produce Answ The Scriptures are not that living word which is appointed by God to be the rule of a Christian but they contain words spoken by the spirit of God testifying of that word and pointing to that word which is to be the rule Search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal life and they are they which testifie of me and ye will not come to me that ye might have life Joh. 5. 39. 40. The Scriptures are to be searched for the testimony which they give of Christ and when that testimony is received Christ is to be come to and life received from him But the Pharisees formerly and Christians since I mean Christians in name search the Scriptures but do not come to Christ for the life but stick in the letter of the Scriptures and oppose the life with the letter keeping themselves from the life by their wisdome and knowledg in the letter Thus they put the Scriptures into the place of Christ so honor neither Christ nor the Scriptures I had been no honour to John to have been taken for the light his honour was to point to it nor is it any honour to the Scriptures to be called the word of God but their honour is to discover and testifie of the word Now hear what the Scriptures cal the word In the beginning was the Word and the word was with God and the word was God Jho 1. 1. and the word was made flesh vers 14. This was the name of Christ when he came into the world in the flesh to sow his life in the world And when he comes again into the world out of a far Country to fight with the beast and false Prophets and to clense the earth of the Whores fornication and idols wherewith she had corrupted it he shal have the same name again his name is called The word of God Rev. 19. 13. So Peter calleth that the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever 1 Pet. 1. 23. And this word that liveth and abideth for ever was the word that they preached ver 25. And they that believed did not cry up the words that the Apostles spake for the word but received the thing they spake of the ingrafted word which being received with a meek quiet and submissive spirit is able to save the soul Jam. 1. 21. This is the word of faith that is nigh in the heart and in the mouth Rom. 10. 8. This is the word that stands at the door of the heart and speaks to be let in Behold I stand at the door and knock and when it is let in it speaks in the heart what is to be heard and done It is nigh it is in the heart and in the mouth to what end that thou mightest hear it and do it The living word which is quick and powerful and sharper then any two edged sword divides in the mouth and divides in the heart the vile from the precious yea it reacheth to the very inmost of the heart and cuts between the roots Ebr. 4. 11. and this thou art to hear and do Thou art to part with al the vile words the vile conversation the vile course and worship of the world outwardly and the vile thoughts and course of sin inwardly as fast as the word discovers them to thee and to exercise thy selfe in that which is folly and madnesse to the ey of the world and a grievous cross to thine own worldly nature yea when the word reaches to the very nature life and spirit within from whence al that comes that strong wise root of the fleshly life in the heart must not he spared nor that foolish weak thing to mans wise ey which is brought in stead
4. 3. and he that is entred into his rest hath ceased from his works as God from his vers 10. He that hath the least taste of faith knows a measure of rest finding the life working in him and his soul daily led further and further into life by the working of the life and the heavy yoke of his own labouring after life taken of from his shoulders Now here 's the truth here 's the life here 's the sabbath here 's the worship of the soul that 's led into the truth and preserved in the truth But what is the worship now in the Apostacy Among the Papists a very grosse worship a worship more carnal then ever the worship of the Law was for that though in its nature it was outward and carnal yet it was taught and prescribed by the wisdom of God and was profitable in its place and to its end but this was invented by the corrupt wisdom and set up in the corrupt wil of man and hath no true profit but keeps from the life from the power from the spirit in fleshly observations which feed and please the fleshly nature Look upon their daies consecrated to Saints and their canonical hours of Prayer and their praying in an unknown tongue with their fastings feastings saying of Ave-Maries Pater-nosters Creeds c. are not all these from the life out of the spirit and after the invention and in the wil of the flesh Ah their stink is greater then the flesh-pots of Egypt And the worship of the Protestants comes too near them for their worship is also from a fleshly principle and in their own times and wils and according to their own understanding and apprehension of things and not from the rising up and guidance of the infallible life of the spirit in them for that they will quench They also observe dayes and times and perishing ordinances and are not come out of the flesh into that spirit where the worship is to be know and to be in 3. The Faith the true faith was lost The faith which gives victory over the world the faith which feeds the life of the just and slayes the unjust the faith which is pure the mystery whereof is held in a pure conscience the faith which gives entrance into the rest of God the faith which is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen this hath been lost and is not yet to be found among those who go for Christians For those who challenge the name of Christians and say they believe in Christ and have faith in him cannot with their faith overcome the world but are daily overcome by the world Where is there a Christian but he is either in the honours or in the fashion or in the customes or in the worships of the world if not in them all He is so farre from overcoming these that he is overcome with them yea so overcome so drunk therewith that he hath even lost his senses and thinks he may be a Christian and in a good state while he is there And the life of the just is not fed by their faith but the unjust nature is fed and the righteous witnesse which is raised up and lives by the true faith is kept down and cannot bring forth his life in them because of their unbelife for that is the proper name of their faith for being not true faith it is not faith but unbelief And the faith of Christians so called is not a mystery they know not the mystery of it which is held in a pure conscience but consists in believing an Historical relation and in a fleshly improving of that and can be held in an impure conscience Neither are they entered into rest by their faith for they know not the Sabbath in the Lord but are still in a shadowy Sabbarh Neither is it the substance of what they hope for but the substance of what they hope for is strange to them They are not come to Mount Sion to the City of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem to the innumerable company of Augels to the general assembly and Church of the first born to God the Judge Christ the Mediator and the blood of sprinkling and so to unity and certainty in the life but are in opinions waies and practises suitable to the earthly spirit which may easily be shaken and must be shaken down to the ground if ever they know the building of God and the true faith 4. The love the true love the innocent love which think no il nor wishes no ill much lesse can do any il to any but suffereth long and is kind meek humble not seeking its own but the good of others this love is lost The love unfained is banished and a fained love such a love as enmity and violence proceeds from is got in the place of it The true love loves the enemy and cannot return enmity for enmity but seeks the good of them who hate it but this love can persecute and hate that which it calls the friend nay the brother because of some difference in opinion or practice The love that was in Christ taught him to lay down his life for his sheep and he that hath the same love can lay down his life for his brother But the love that is now among Christians tends rather to the taking away of life What is the love among the Papists See their Inquisitions their wraths their fire and fagot c. What is their love in New-England is it not a love that can imprison or banish their brother if he differ but a little from them in judgement or practise about their worship yea they can whip burn in the hand cut off ears just like the Bishops of old England If one had told them when they fled from the persecution of the Bishops here that they themselves should have done such things they would have been apt to reply with Hazael what are we dogs But they fled from the Cross which would have crucified that persecuting spirit and so carried it alive with them and being alive it grew by degrees to as great an head there as it did in the Bishops here And what is the love here in old England is it not a love that whips stocks imprisons stones jeeres yea the very Teachers which should be patterns of love to others they will cast into prison and distrein the goods of their brother even almost to his undoing for maintenance according to a Law of the Land made in the Apostacy See the Record of Sufferings for Tythes in England which may make any tender heart bleed to read it and is like to lie as a brand of infamy on the Magistracy and Ministry of England to succeeding generations Is this the love of the righteous seed or is it Cains love which is in profession in word in shew but not in deed and in truth And how can these love God nay if the true love
which would not that I should reign over them bring hither and slay them before me For of a truth the great Prophet is arisen and speaks in the heart and his sheep hear his voice there are many faithful witnesses thereof and he that will not hear his voice must be cut off there is no avoiding of it for the two-edged sword is in his hand and he will cut down the transgressor 8. The Church the true Church was lost The true Church was a company gathered out of the world into God begotten of and gathered into his life by the living word and so had a true place and habitation in God The Apostle Paul writing to the Thessalonians stiles them a Church in God A Church under the Gospel is made up of true Israelites gathered out of their own spirits and natures into the measure of the spirit of God in them as Christ was into the fulnesse They are such as are begotten of God born of his spirit led by him out of Egypt through the wildernesse to Sion the holy mount there they meet with the elect precious corner stone which is laid in Sion and they being living stones are built upon it into Jerusalem the holy City 1 Pet 2. 5 6. Ebr. 12. 22. This is the true Church Every one that believes in Christ is a living stone and being a living stone he is laid upon the living foundation and so is a part of the building in the Temple of the living God Yea his body and and spirit being clensed he himself is a Temple wherein God dwels appears and is worshipped And the gathering of any of these together at any time in the life in the name of Christ is a larger Temple and such a Temple as Christ never fails to be in the midst of But the great Temple the ful Church is the general assembly of the first-born This is the unerring pillar and ground of truth This alwaies bare up truth truth never failed here but when it was at any time lost in the world it might from hence be recovered again when God pleased and as far as he pleased Indeed the Law of the Lord hath alwaies gone forth from this Sion and the living word from this Jerusalem But what hath the Church been in the Apostacy a building of stone say some and that not onely among Papists but here in England also many have called the old Mass-house a Church a Temple the house of God pleading for it to be a holy place and have showed it by their practises keeping off their hats while they were in it Others say not the stone building but the people that meet there is the Church whereof many are openly prophane yea so far from being gathered into the spirit and so ignorant of his motions that they are ready to scoffe if they hear a man speak of being moved by the spirit What are these are these living stones whereupon the true Church alone can be built are these children of the day Nay these are children of the night children brought up in the Apostacy from the true light the true life the true rule of Christianity the true worship the true faith the true love c. and so are dead stones in that building but not true living stones in Gods building Other sorts separate from these and gather Congregations out of these but still in the same spirit in the same nature being not themselves gathered out of the Apostacy from the spirit into the spirit again and so they build but with the same stones as were in the old building and not with the new and living stones and so are but a more refined appearance of a Church but not a true Church Not a Church in God and by the gathering of his spirit but of their own gathering after a form according as they have imagined from their reading and studying of the Scriptures 9. Which may be the last instance The Ministry the true Ministry hath been lost The true Ministry was a ministry made and appointed by the spirit by the gift of the Spirit bestowed on them and by the spirit sending of them and appointing them to their work Christ bid his Apostles and Disciples wait at Jerusalem for the promise of the spirit and when he had given them the spirit he gave them to the Church for the work of the Ministry Ephes 4. 11. 12. Act. 20. 28. And if none can be a member of the true Church but by being begotten out of death into life by the spirit surely none can be able to minister to him who is so begotten but by the same spirit So these receiving their Ministry of the Lord Jesus Act. 20. 24. and the gift of the spirit from him they were made able Ministers of the new Testament not of the letter but of the spirit 2 Cor. 3. 6. They were able in God to minister from his spirit to the spirits of his people And they did not minister a literal knowledg of things to the understanding of man but they led men to the spirit of God and ministred spiritual things to that spiritual understanding which was given them of God Neither did they make use of their own wisdom and art to tickle the natural ear but spake to the conscience with the demonstration of the spirit in the sight of God as it pleased the spirit to give them utterance But how have Ministers been made in the Apostacy By orders from men set up in their own wils after their own inventions And how have they been qualified but by humane arts and languages which have been of high esteem in that which men call the Church since the language and skill of the spirit of God hath been lost God who chose in his own Church doth not chuse here who shall be his Ministers but any man can appoint his Son to be a Minister if he will but educate him in learning and send him to the University and so bring him into that way of order wherein men make Ministers and then he is able to minister unto man the things of man according to human skil And this in the dark night of apostacy must go for a true call to the ministery of God Indeed they are as true Ministers as the Church is to which they minister but they never were nor never can be thus made Ministers of the Church of God but as God alone can form and build his Church so he alone can fit and appoint the Ministers thereof And though others having seen the grossenes of this make their ministers by a call in their Church yet neither is that out of the apostacy but onely a striving of man to get out of it which man cannot possibly do till he meet with the spirit of God to lead out of it So that that Ministry also is but an invention of man made by man and comes not from the spirit nor is able to minister spirit to the spirit
Object But hath there been no true Religion since the daies of the Apostes no true rule no true worship no true faith no true love no true hope joy or peace no true repentance conversion regeneration no true wisdom righteousnes sanctification and redemption no true Church no true Ministry What hath become of all our fore-fathers did they all perish And hath not this ministry converted many to God were not yee your selves converted by it Nay have not many of them been Martyrs and witnessed to the truth of God And though some of them are bad yet are not many of them zealous and conscientious Preachers of the Word at this day By such reasonings as these the wisdom of man much strengthens and hardens it selfe against the truth Answ The rule in Nations the worship in Nations the faith love hope joy peace repentance conversion regeneration c. which have been cried up in Nations for the truth the Churches in Nations the Ministry in Nations all these have been corrupted and never recovered their true state to this day There have been changes from one thing to another but the restauration hath not been known The whorish spirit hath been hunted puriued and so run out of one form into another traversing her way and changing her ground and garments but hath not been taken and judged to the death and the true spirit hath not been able to find the bed of her husband but hath wandered from mountain to hil all the time of this cloudy and dark day forgetting her resting place Yet though the whole earth was corrupted and false doctrine and worship set up every where among the Nations which continued the fornication and whoredom from the spirit of life in the publick wayes and national worships notwithstanding this even all this while God reserved a seed to himselfe which he caused to spring up in a remnant and which he moved and carried on to witnesse against somewhat of these corruptions in their several ages and generations And as fast as the beast killed and knocked down these God raised up more yea though the whorish spirit in some Nations painted her self curioussy leaving some of the grosse Doctrines and Worships of Popery and got into a more refined way yet God raised up witnesses against her there also and still doth into what form soever she gets for though of late she hath decked her self very pleasingly as she think and covered her selfe round with scripture-words and professions and practises as like as ever she can form them to the practises of former Saints yet quick and lively is the spirit of God that searcheth after her who hath found her out and raised up witnesses against her there also Now this seed this remnant though they were not able to recover the possession of the life and power that was lost yet they had a true taste of it and their testimony which they gave out from that taste was true and so far as they kept to this testimony in the faith and in the patience which they had learned and received from God though but in a low measure they were accepted of him So that all were not lost in this night of darkness but such as feared God and knew and hearkned to his voice had the testimony of his presence with them and tasted of his life and power in measure God was not an hard master to them but tender and gentle and contented to reap what he sowed But the appearance of God in this dark time was weak and low and easie to be made a prey of And this is very observable that so long as the simplicity ran pure it was preserved but so soon as ever the spirit of man was tempted either into any old or into any new invented form the wisdom of the flesh got in with it grew up more than it and when it had gathered strength corrupted the vessel betrayed the simplicity and lost the life Thus many pretious beginnings and buddings forth of life have been betrayed in these late daies There was a pretious thing stirring in Queen Maries dayes the life whereof was more hurt and suppressed by that dead form of Episcopacy succeeding afterwards then by the foregoing persecution The persecution did clear and brighten it but the fleshly form of Episcopacy brought death over it And the forms of Presbytery Independency Anabaptism have been little lesse then graves to bury and keep down the life How many spirits that had a precious savour in them at their entrance into those forms did soon become fleshly earthly and very unsavory loosing the quicknesse and freshness that was in them before and falling into the deadness of the form withering with it And as touching the Ministry though in it self it was evill being in the degeneration from the true Ministry all this time of the Apostacy and the persons therein for the most very corrupt being brought up to it as to a trade and making use of it as a trade yet I do believe that there was a simplicity of heart in some persons among them which did cause them in some degree of faithfulnesse to seek the Lord his service and the good of souls And in the time of ignorance and darkness it pleased God to wink at and over-look the evill and to cause good to passe from the good in them to the good in others through the evil that hung about both And this was the great tenderness of the Lord in pitty to his poor creatures who were very destitute to help in the thick night of darkness and should not now be made use of to justifie and keep up the evil Do ye thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unkind Because his mercy and goodness extended to you notwithstanding the evil which might have hindered will ye make that an argument to keep up the evill and to oppose the light which discovers it Because God causeth light to shine through the darkness and visiteth man in the dark wil ye therfore set up the darkness as his proper way of ministration The corrupt way call and exercise of the corrupt ministry could not keep out the tender love of God but he had respect to the simplicity of some who were found in it and to the simplicity of others who waited on him for instruction there and did please to give some answer to both And will ye make this uningenious use of it to interpret it as his approbation of that ministry which sprung up in the Apostacy from him among those that were apostatised and is a great dishonour to him and the abhorring of his soul A ministry of Christ a ministry set up by his spirit is precious but a ministry made by man according to his will and ministring in his wisdom the soul of the Lord beareth as a burthen and is pressed with it and as he raiseth up his own life wil ease himself of it And what do they minister from but the literal
will lay low make foolish weak poor empty Lean for it lies in wickedness He will feed the fat and strong cattle with that judgment which shall make them lean and weak And the humble the foolish the weak the poor the empty the lean he will raise up and make wise and strong and rich and full and fat with the true honour the true wisdom the true strength the true riches the sure and living mercies of David who sets his feet on top of the high places of the earth of whom Christ came according to the flesh Thus I have in plainnes of heart and with plainnes of speech set the truth and the error before you and lent my hand toward the removing of some blocks which lay in your way in love and pitty to your souls Now if any in the reading of this feel a secret touch upon their hearts startling them and giving some testimony to the truth though very smal and through a thick dark covering there is that to which I speak there is my witness within the vail and there is the testimony rising up which leads to life if given heed to Keep to this and this will prick and wound judge and condemn the contrary nature though never so strong And when it doth prick and wound keep the wound fresh and open as thou lovest thy life till thou meet with the tâ—ue healer For the false prophet will rise up in thee and fill thee with reasonings and perhaps multitudes of promises and comforts from Scripture skinning over the wound and crying peace peace when there is no peace And when thou hast thus got over the trouble then the false prophet which brought thee this peace will stir thee up against the witness exalting the wisdom and reasonings of the flesh and making merry with thee over the witness which witnessed against thee and him and over the trouble which came thereby and this wil bring thee to that hardness of heart which is for destruction And then when thou hast slain the witness in thy self and exalted thy fleshly reason and understanding over it then the false prophet which seduced thee will kindle a zeal in thee against the witness in others and thou wilt prove a persecutor of the life under the name of deceit error heresy and blasphemy whereas thou thy self art fallen into the deceit into the error from the life and into the blasphemy against it and art in Cains nature and wouldst fain be handling of Cains weapons to destroy it Therefore take heed of the fleshly wisdom take heed of thine own understanding take heed of thy reasoning or disputing for these are the weapons where with the witness is slain That wisdom must be destroyed and that understanding brought to nought and thou become a child and learn as a child if ever thou know the things of God Where is the wise where is the Scribe where is the Disputer of this World did they ever from the beginning of the World to this day attain the knowledge of the things of God where are the Councils where are the great Convocations where are the Synods where are the assemblies of divines what is become of them all what have they done have they been ever able to lead out of the Apostacy from the truth into the truth again Nay that wisdom is cursed it is of the earth and fixeth in the earth and is the grand enemy to the wisdom that is from above And where that wisdom stands there is no entrance for the other This made it so hard for this sort of persons in all ages to own truth Thy wisdom and thy knowledge it hath perverted the. This made the whorish spirit so able to use sorceries and inchantments from the life in all ages And it is easier for publicans harlots drunkards swearers all sorts of sinners to own truth and enter into life then for these For it is easier to empty them of their profanenes then it is to empty these of their setled conceited Religion and devotion and yet this with their Religion and devotion cannot enter no more then the other with their profanenes Ye have a knowledge a righteousnesse an hope a faith c. founded by your pretence to Scriptures who can shake down these say you and yet these must fall before ye can build upon and grow up in the life that the Scriptures came from For the Scriptures were not given for men to gather the meanings out of and lay a foundation of faith there by their own wils but to discover and testifie of the foundation And he that comes thither is built there knows the truth not because the Scriptures say so but because he feels the thing is founded upon the thing grows up in the thing and the thing in him whereof the Scripture speaks And this knowledge shall abide and this faith and this righteousness and this holiness and this redemption whereas the other is but a name put upon that which is not the thing These are precious faithful words though through a Vessel weakned and weak beyond measure and happy is he that hath an ear to hear them but woe from the Lord to that eye that is closed to that ear that is shut to that heart that is hardned in the inventions and imaginations of mans fleshly mind against the truth of God Let the witness of God in thee stir and speak it shall answer me now but if thou through the strength of the flesh and the vain imaginations which thou huggest in thy heart stifle the voice of it now yet I know it shall answer me one day but then it will be too late for thee to hear it The Lord is now gentle and tender pursuing thee with his love and following thee up and dovvn with his light and though thou run from him into sin and transgression and hearken to the wisdom of the flesh yet his voice comes after thee to reclaim thee and if thou wilt hear and but yeeld thy self to him he vvil not put thee to do any thing but subdue all thy enemies for thee yea he vvil slay the serpentine vvisdom in thee vvith all its inventions and dash all she children of Babylon against the stones vvithout pitty to them though vvith great pitty to thee But if thou refuse and choose the pleasure of the flesh and the gross flesh-pots of Egypt and turn thine ear from his voice giving vvay to the reasonings of the flesh and keeping dovvn the vvitness that day of vvrath and severity vvhich all the Scriptures have spoke of vvil come and thou vvilt have thy portion vvith hypocrites vvho in all ages have covered themselves vvith a form of religion pleasing to the flesh and the vvorld but have vvith-held their hearts from the povver of life therefore prize the love of God to thee in giving thee this warning and be not uncircumcised in heart and ears as this generation of professors have alvvaies been but let
part in every sort and Sect of men opposeth us the rage of man every where riseth up against us But those that are so hot against us if at any time they become but meek and calme patiently considering our cause and consulting there upon with the testimony that they finde in their own hearts concerning us they soon become pacisied and see that we are no mans enemies against no righteous Law not against relations not against Governments not against any thing in the World that is good but only against that which is evil and corrupt And of a truth the corruption of things God hath shewed unto us and daily cals us forth after an immediate manner to witness against Therefore let men be sober and take heed what they do least they be found fighters against God for the reproaches the scoffs with other presecutions which seem to be cast at us light on him It is not as we are men but as we are obedient to him as we stand witnesses for him that we meet vvith these things Novv as it is not vve our selves that do these things but the life and povver of God in us so it is not vve that are struck at but that life and povver If it vvere not for that vve might be as acceptable as other men It is because vve are not of the World but God hath called us out of the World that vve are so hated of the World This is the true cause though the World vvill no more novv acknovvledge it than it vvould in former ages Yet I do not speak this for my ovvn sake to avoid my share in the cross for the reproach of Christ is our riches yea far greater treasure then is to be found in the Palace of Egypt Yea the presence of God the svveet povver of life makes up all our losses so that vve have no cause to complain It is very svveet pleasant and profitable for us to be found sufferers for God but vve knovv it vvill not be profitable for you to be found persecutors and this is told you in true love and good vvill by one vvho vvishes no evill to you for all the evill that ye have exercised tovvard the dear and precious people of God for these many years O that God vvould open your eyes that ye might see vvhom yee have opposed and against vvhom ye have hardened and strengthned your selves that ye might bovv to him and receive life from him and not perish in your gainsaying and opposition I. P. The cause of all error from the truth and the Universall call out of it into the low voice and beginnings of the true Eternal light which is the only leader to Eternall life and to followship in it NOw is the calling in of the Jews of the Papists of the Christians of all Sects upon the earth to the Lord into the fould into the covenant of God into the end of the Prophets the end of Moses the end of Abrahams words the end of the Apostles preaching into the substance Christ who is come to gather together in one and reconcile in one things in heaven and things in earth into covenant with God and this is the age the call is gone out the voice is gone out and the trumpet sounding for all to come in and the spirit bids come and he that hears may come and the bride and the Lamb saith come who raigns and the great war is begun and the slaughter shall be till the tenth of the spoile shall be offered up and the gathering of all Nations is come and the war among all Nations shall be and all shal be on heaps before the light of the Son of God be risen in the hearts of all people with which he must be seen and receive his government upon his shoulders Now is he come to raigh who doth enlighten every man that comes into the World Jews Gentiles Papists Christians Independents Baptists Heathens and all the Sects upon the earth whatsoever and all in the light are to be gathered into one minde and heart and soule and spirit concerning God and the Scriptures concerning the Prophets concerning Christ and the Apostles and concerning the types and parables and the figures with the light they shall see all and have unity with all who being out of the light they see not one another nor the Prophets nor Christ nor parables nor types nor figures and so have not unity with their words and so out of covenant with God and one another in the earthly nature in lusts strife and pride which causeth the wars which must be all burnt up and the cause of all peoples upon the earth setting up Images and Idols is because they are gone from the light which Christ hath enlightned them with all and so bows down to them but to the light should every one bow to Christ and to confesse him to the glory of God the cause of all them that are called Christians in Christendom setting up and making Images crosses and Idols likenesses and pictures names and worshipping Names 〈…〉 hath enlightned them withall and so they set up likenesses Images and Idols and fals down to them to put them in minde of Christ which coming to the light which Christ hath enlightned them withall every knee shall bow to him who is Immanuel and confess him to the glory of God and receive his minde and they need not have any outward thing to put him in their minde and the cause of all high notions of God Christ and Scriptures that are making Images and likenesses of things in heaven and setting up their imaginations of the Prophets Christs and the Saints words and falling out about them is because they be from the light which Christ hath enlightned them withall and t is the cause why the Jews rest in the types in the outward letter preist tythes temples shadows is because they be from the light which Christ hath enlightned them withall in which all people should have unity one with another with God and with Scriptures Jews and Gentiles to be gathered together in one with God with one another with Scriptures in which light people should have peace with God and one with another which is the covenant of God with man in which covenant people being in covenant one with another shall shake all Nations saith the Lord that that may appear that cannot be shaken and such an earth-quake shall be upon the World and the cause of all heresy and Sects and opinions Judgments and errors and false Prophets and deceiving men is going from the light which Christ hath inlightned them withall and the devil going out of truth which truth destroyes him and his works and death who being the power of it who hath blinded the minds of all the transgressors upon the earth who went out of the truth So this is the true light who hath inlightned every one that cometh into the World that all through the light might believe and