CRUX CHRISTI AND Iudgement Executed OR DIVINE WISDOM CRUCIFYING The humane carnal devillish malicious mad raging Wlsdom of the World By his righteous Judgements drawing nearer to its full and perfect manifestation Then shall Josephs and Daniels afflictions end and their Imprisonments be no more heard of And also bondaged Israel reâ—urn be brought from their captivity both of men and from that malicious spirit of ignorance and darkness into perfect liberty peace and everlasting rest So shall poor Lazarus and the Publican be carryed into Abrahams bosom and rich Dives with all the traditions both of the righteous and wicked appear as a menstruous Clout or as filthy Rags that all cleansed ones shall loath to handle touch look on or come within the smell thereof Whereunto is added a Comparatis Compraudis of the Judgements of God with the unequal wayes and judgements of that malicious one in man Written and experienced by Richard Coppin in his sufferings for the Truth 1 Cor. 2.2 For I determined not to know any thing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world Gal. 6.14 17. From henceforth let no man trouble me for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus LONDON Printed for VVilliam Larner and are to be sold at the Black-Moore neer Fleet-Bridge 1657. The AVTHORS EPITLE To all the beloved of the Lord that love the appearing of Jesus Christ in spirit and truth in and about the City of Rochester in Kent aad whereever they may be scattered to whom Grace and Peace be multiplyed from God the Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. FRiends and Brethren in the friendship and brother-hood of the Lord Jesus with whom and for whom we all in the spiritual union of Christ and him crucified have suffered together for the witness of Jesus and the truth of the Gospel which hath been taught us by him that our joy might be together in him Wherefore know ye 1 Cor. 8.6 that there is in you and ruleth over you one true and living God the Father of whom are all things and you in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and you by him Rom. â— 5 Ephes 4.6.7 and who is over all through all and in you all God blessed for ever and that hath given to every one of you that believeth Grace Câ—â— 2 9. according to the measure of the gift of Christ in whom dwells all the fulness of the God-head bodylie and of whose fulness all that believe and trust in the living God the Saviour of all men have received grace for grace 1 Tim. 4.9 10. the glory of whom with the eye of divine beauty you may behold as the glory of the onely begotten Son of the Father ful of grace and truth for you for the Law came by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ whose coming is to reveal in you Ioh. 1.14 Joh. 16.25 and shew unto you the Father plainly even the mysterie of the History which lieth hid in the Letter til Christ shall unfold it unto you in the spirit and therefore God hath given unto Christ all power in Heaven and on Earth Matth. 28.18 Col. 2.15 Col. 1.18 19. that he might overcome all Principalities and Powers for you that hindered the revelation of Christ to you and he in all things to have the preheminence with you for it pleased the Father that in him should â—ll fulness dwell that of his fulness he might fill all things both in heaven and earth of things high and low of what sort or degree soever they be and all being ful of him there is then no room in any thing to contain any thing but him nor to be contained besides him where himself containeth all things for he is all in all and this is he that wil in due time free me you and all men from all that doth oppress us and oppose us in the truth And when the Lord Jesus shall become your all in all places persons and things to fil all in your apprehensions then is hel as wel as heaven with you ful of him and he rules in them both so saith David who saw it and knew it If I ascend up into Heaven thou art there Psal â—39 8â— If I go down into Hell behold thou art there And if I dwell in the uttermost parts of the Earth thou art there also Heaven and Earth is ful of his glory Psal 103.19 and his Kâ—ngdom ruâ—eth over all and the presence of God in deaâ—h and hel with â—is people in which any thing of God hath been shut up or hid is that which makes death Rev. 20.13 Isa 26. and hel and the sea of sin and miseâ—y to give up the dead that is in them and no more to cover their slain and a new death and hel or eternal fire as wel as a new life and a new heaven and earth will God prepare to swallow up ye old where the old Name and Nature of Hel and Death and Heaven 〈◊〉 7.32 〈◊〉 21.4 5. and Earth even Tophet shall be changed and their place no more found after which there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are passed away Isa 6. and all things will God make new in the new Heaven and in the new Earth where all things that are is contained and in which change all the things of the first Creation as all old things are ended and made new in the second Creation yea even death and hel else how is it said Behold I make all things new if that be not Isa 62.22 And as the new Heaven wh ch the Lord shall make shall remain before him and have in it a new life and felicity which should end the old so the new Earth which he shall make shall also remain and have in it a new death and hel which changeth the old and into which hel or Lake of fire all things of the old which belongeth to the old man in us even that death and hel which swallowed us up Rev. 20.14 Isa 28 18. and tormented us shall be cast into it to be ended by it and the covenant agreement of men with death hel disannulled all the enemies of mankinde to be destroyed with it when Christ himself who makes all things new shall appear in hel to change the property of it Isa 63.1 2.3 Rev. 14.19 20. and thereby tread the Wine-press of the Wrath of â—od even Satan under foot for the redemption of his people and then shall all the Enemies of God and of them which all sin and transgression and all that is not found written in the Book of Life he cast into that Wine-press or Lake of Fire to be there killed and ended This is the second death Râ—v 20.14 15. and
our second life and resurrection from the dead And that you may see this death taking place upon all that which is enmitie with God Christ your selves and the truth and you thereby come to a resurrection of life in him let me encourage you to trust in God who only can save you and raise you to a newness of life Isa 26.4 for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting streâ—gth who wil bring down under foot Col. 2.14.15 and nayle to his cross all that which is against you and contrary to you therefore you that would see the one to enjoy the other wait upon him in the way which he doth it which is by the obedience of Christ to the cross for he is said to drink of the Brook in the way Hâ—b 2.9 Psal 110.6 7. tasting death for every man by which he is in us and for us woundeth the head of the Dragon and thereby lifteth up his own head as you shall find more of hereafter in what I have written to you that the way of Gods justice judgement and mercy in which he destroyes all his our Enemies is that by which you shal receive comfort and consolation from the Lord as the way of God in which his Prophets Apostles and Saints all waited for him to be taught by him Isa 26 â— as hath been also manifest to be the way of God with me since I knew the Lord and was taught by him and by him made to bear witness of the truth which I received in judgement with him who my self hath been comforted refreshed and restored therewith in all my sufferings and undertakings for him unto this day and who wil also comfort you with the same consolation and restore you with the same restoration into safety with himself for he that hath kept you wil keep you stil and wil cast off none that wait upon him but saith the Prophet Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace and safety whose minde is stayed on thee Isa 26.3 because he trusteth in thee And as far as any of you shal with any in the sufferings of any that suffer for the truth be a sufferer with them who together suffer with Christ so know that as you are partakers with them in the same sufferings of Christ so you are partakers with them in the same glory of Christ though you may not all suffer the outward Bonds and afflictions of the body as others do and as Christ did for us all yet to be sensible of their sufferings as when one member suffers 1 Cor. 12.26 all suffer with it and if one rejoice all rejoice with it and so if we suffer with Christ we shall also reign with him in which the God of all grace who hath called us into his eternal glo y by Christ Jesus after that ye have suffered a while 1 Pet 5.6 7 8 9 11. make you perfect stablish strengthen settle you to whom and to none else be glory and dominion for ever and ever And now you my Brethren and partakers in the same Soâ—-ship and spiritual union of Christ that which I desire and alwaies desired to know among you since I knew you and that I would you should also know among your selves to bear witness to the truth is 1 Cor. 2. â— Jesus Christ and him crucified by which the world is crucified unto you and you unto the world and that whether we are present one with another or absent one from another yet that the truth as it is in Jesus and which maketh you free may abide with you Gal. 6.14 Joh. 8 32 36. chap. 14.16 Phil. 2 5. Rom. 12.16 be perfected in you you thereby to know it by it may be united into one mind and one spirit with the Lord Jesus and one another walking together in one fellowship of the spirit and spiritual union in all humility meekness gentleness and long-suffering Eph. 4.1 2 3. forbearing and forgiving one another in love according to the example of Christ the first and true pattern of all our walkings sufferings undertakings and rejoicings in the Lord even then do you witness the true Christ and light of the World in whom is light and no darkness truth and no error good and no evil and that if you walâ— in the light as he is in the light then you have fellowship one with another with those that have fellowship with Christ 1 Joh. 1.5 6. and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son which is his Life shed abroad in your hearts cleanseth you from all sin which fellowship those that are ignorant of God and of the pardon of their sins by Christ knoweth not but are in darkness and under the bondage of corruption until now and have not known Christ nor him crucified and so long cannot bear witness unto him Then that you may be tryed and proved to farther learn this Lesson of Christ and be made able and wiling to bear his cross and witness to it you are to mind God in his judgements the way in which you are called before him to learn all the obedience of Christ to the cross who after you have entered into spiritual judgement with the Lord do cause you to enter into temporal judgement with men as companions with his spiritual as he did Christ his Prophets Apostles and Saints who learned obedience by the things which they suffered and through sufferings they were made perfect Heb. 2.10 therefore are the prisons and sufferings of the Prophets and Apostles of the Lord Jesus into which they were cast by men for the truth said to be their Schools where they both learned and witnessed Christ and him crucified and which by experience I have found to be mine where I have learned and witnessed with them unto the same truth that against me false witnesses have risen up and laid to my charge things which I knew not as they did against them Psal 35. â— and all that witness the truth to this day in the time of their witnessing in which sufferings of the Prophets Apostles the truth was the more manifest both to them and the world as it was with Jeremiah vvho vvas taught in the Dungeon of the Prison Jer. 32.1 2. chap. 29â— soâ—â— and from thence sent forth Wrâ—tings of his Visions and Revelations of vvhat God had made knovvn unto him as also did the rest of the Prophets in their sufferings and as did the Apostles and John the Divine Rev. 1.9 Col. 4.18 Phil. 1.12 13 who wrote the Evangelist and the Epistles and when he was persecuted into the I le of Patmos for the testimony of Jesus then was the revelations of Jesus Christ revealed to him and written by him and Paul writ his Epistles in his times of suffering and saith he My Bonds proves all to the furtherance of the Gospel and times of persecution are the times of Gods farther teaching his people and
did men that persecute others for their judgement and endeavours to destroy their knowledge know that it vvould be thereby the more encreased they would not do it for when they send them to Prison they do but send them as to a School vvhere they shal learn more of God and be the more confirmed in the truth they before knew for Christ wil never leave them that he hath once taught but wil be alwaies with them more to teach them that they may more knovv him and be setled and grounded in him And in all my sufferings and imprisonment for the truth to this day I have had with me the company of that one School-Master the Lord Jesus who at first taught me the knowledge of himself in the spiritual School of divine learning the Spirit of himself set up in my heart by vvhich I vvas made a Schollar fit to take my Degrees to bear the burden and undergo the reproaches by men laid upon me in the school of my imprisonment sufferings for the truths sake that I might not fear nor be discouraged by them as I have not bin hitherto praised be God but in six troubles the Lord delivered me and in the seventh which is this I am now under no evil is yet come unto me Job 5 17 18 19 which hath been seven trials and persecutions that I have had for the vvitness of Jesus and by vvhich the Lord hath also tryed and proved me vvhether the Lesson he at first taught me To trust in him and deny my self for him vvere stil ovvned and not forgotten nor denyed by me in which through him I have been hitherto faithful shall so continue unto death if the Lord wil and am not vvithout my revvard vvhich is a Crovvn of Life The fruit of which Life of God manifest in flesh as fast as it vvas ripened in me vvas by the Lord and keeper of the Vinyard in which it grew gathered and sent by me to be distributed among you Acts 20.20 of vvhich with Paul I kept nothing back from you that vvas profitable to you during the time I vvas vvith you nor from the rest of my Brethren in the flesh vvhere I have at any time been but vvith Paul I have taught publikely and from house to house vvhat the Lord hath taught me vvhich I did not do for price nor revvard of men as some Parish-Ministers do that as so many Merchant-men through covetousness make merchandise of the people and seek not the Lord Jesus Christ but themselves but what I do and have done as my conscience bears me vvitness hath been really with heart and soul according to my power for the glory of God and the comfort of his people in the Lord Jesus that as freely I have received so freely have I given for the Vinyard was the Lords and he himself as the Husbandman of the Vinyard did by his spirit in me plow it sow it plant and dress it and caused it to grow by the sweet and powerful dew of himself falling from heaven upon it as the former and later rain upon the earth and being ripe in me he gathered it and made it ready for me and through the power of his spirit working in me sent it abroad among you to be by me declared unto you for your souls comfort did himself whose Messenger I was reward me for it not onely with spiritual comforts to my soul and with food and raiment to my body but also vvith the reproaches of Christ vvhich I count greater riches then the pleasures of Aegypt or the riches and glory of this World in vvhich I also rejoyced as my portion vvith the Lord seeing the Lord in it and vvith Paul learned to be content in all things and vvith him returns you all thanks that have in any measure and freely participated vvith me and ministred to me in my sufferings And novv the same Lord vvhich caused to grovv in me that Gospel-fruit vvhich I declared to you must also cause it to grovv in you before it can bring forth fruit to you that you all vvith me and I vvith you and vve both vvith Ephraim may be like a green Firre-tree in vvhom fruit is found for you had it from me but in vvords vvho only can plant or speak to the ear but it is the Lord that must speak to the heart to teach plant and cause to grovv in you the great Mysterie of godliness for Paul may plant and Apollo may vvater but God must give the encrease vvhich as I have said unto you is That you should knovv God manifest in flesh Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and for ever born crucified dead buryed risen and ascended and coming to you the second time in spirit and truth without sin unto salvation bringing all things of him unto your remembrance and by which spirit of him in me manifesting the same to me I have published it to you beseeching you all in Christ Jesus to be reconciled to God for that God in Christ from all eternity was himself reconciled to you and all mankind and that vvhile you and all men vvere yet sinners sent his Son to dye for us according to the Scriptures to reconcile you to himself and in mercy to you he pardoned you and by his spirit within you frees you and which Message of him for the reconciliation of all men to God so far as to me was made known by him I have been am and shall be through him ever faithful who through his mercy hath preserved me in it And now the increase of the Fruit of this Vinyard of Christ for the increase of his body taught me by him in the School of my imprisonment and sufferings for the truth and ripened and gathered by him in the Harvest thereof I shall present you with from the Lord and not as from my self without him who first vvrit in my heart and after by my hand in several Treatises of several subjects while I have been a prisoner among you to be in order presented to you shortly agreeable to what I have before in vvords declared amongst you and which if you have an ear to hear vvhat the spirit saith may be more opened in you by the Lord of that spirit in the reading thereof and in vvhich reading I desire you all to vvait upon the Lord to be taught by him vvho only can give you an appetite to it and make you detest it that can make you vvilling and able to receive it vvhich is the mysterie of Christ crucified and you that cannot receive all for the present vvhy rest your selves satisfied vvith what you can and judge nothing before the time until the Lord shall come and open it to you vvith an injoyment of it in you 1 Coâ— 4.5 as he hath done to me in the mean time take this herevvith sent you as a preparative to that vvhich is coming and he that can receive it let him receive
it and judge not that you know not and despise not that you enjoy not lest you should speak evil of the truth unawares but vvait the Lords time vvith patience and confidence until he that shall come vvill come and make truth appear truth to you and then you vvil not judge at all Heb. 10.35 36 37. the vvhich I doubt not but vvith you that knovv the Lord truth as truth will be received by you as from the Lord who himself vvith all his own Messages cometh vvith the Messengers to open the understandings of them vvhich he hath appointed receivers and the rest must tarry till he come vvho vvas not only the Author of it in me for you but vvill also be the Finisher of it to you at his coming wherefore receive you it the Lord and me together in one Spirit else you vvill not receive it as truth nor to your souls comfort but as Paul saith It will be unto them that do not believe but are reprobated as the savour of death unto death 2 Cor. 2 15 16. and to them vvhich do believe and are saved as the savour of life unto life for some in love to the Message of Christ vvill rejoice in it and others in hatred to it will be terrified by it however the Will of God be done in it And as I have sometime said unto you vvhen I was at first forced to leave you to go to prison for the truth and your sakes that when I was absent from you my spirit should be present with you so in the absence of now my person you may in this my Writing read my spirit vvhich is alvvayes vvith you in the Lord and as you have said you vvere comforted with my presence be ye also comforted still in my absence of which I doubt not but through the Lord you are comforted yea and in the absence of any man that may have been as a Messenger of the Lord to you let your comfort be in the Lord who onely is able to make you stand And the God of all comfort and patience fill you with all joy and peace in believing and the God of peace be with you 2 Cor. 1.3 and the peace of God which passeth all understanding keep you and rule in you and thereby make you able and willing to follow peace with all men Phil. 4 7. in which rest ye all together with me where I also rest with you and seeing first our peace with God in Jesus Christ our Lord we are therefore at peace with men and do forgive them as God in Christ hath forgiven us and is at peace with us And as I have not been forgotten by you that know my spirit in the Lord so I forget not you in him but ever remain the Lords faithful steward and your faithful friend servant in the brotherly Message of the truth of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus for the glory of God and comfort of all those that shal love his appearing And lastly My friends and brethren who all know of the proceedings against me you have also known how my life and Doctrine hath been among you and how by false accusations I have suffered for the truth and a good conscience but I rejoyce in it and still say The Lords Will be done and his Kingdom come even to my Enemies and reconcile them and those present differences with men that having peace in themselves they may live in love and peace one with another and no longer seek the destruction one of another In the mean time with the Prophets and Apostles of the Lord Jesus I shall rest and say as David and Christ did Psal 35.11 That though false Witnesses have rose up and laid to my charge things which I knew not yet they could not prevail against me to hurt me nor prevent the truth revealed in me but the things that have happend to me have prov'd rather to the further encrease of it with me wherefore better is it if the Will of God be that we suffer for well doing rather then for evil Phil. 1.12 13. and wrongfully rather then justlie â— Pet. 2.19 for this is thank-worthy saith Peter if a man for conscience towards God endure grief wrongfully as my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Ghost I do and have done to this day endured cheerfully that which I have been wrongfully accused for owning the Name of Jesus yet they cannot pull me out of his hand nor blot my Name out of the Book of his Remembrance but though men interested in the World that are lifted up with worldly pride and honor Luke 6.22 â—â— may hate me and blot my name out of their Books and cast it out as evil for the Son of Mans sake yet the Lord who saith I am blessed therein owns me and doth still love me and never will nor can forsake me because in Christ the Book of Life I am alwayes in remembrance before him in whom my new Name is written and no man can take it from me â—sa 19.14 15. for can a Woman forget her sucking-child saith the Lord that she should not have compassion on the son of her Womb yea she may forget but I will never forget thee saith the Lord Such is my faith and confidence in the Lord who having loved his own will love them to the end and is tender of them as the Apple of his eye And that as he hath freed my soul from the snares of death sin and devils so he will in his time free my body from the snares of men that with hatred to the life of God in me lye in wait daylie to devour me and that when my liberty hath been several times like to come have suggested false things against me to prevent it and hinder the truth from appearing as the Princes Dan. 6. Jâ—r 38 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 37.7 8 9 10. 39. 11 12. Gen. 41.14 Dan 6.23 Priests and false Prophets of old did against the true Prophets to keep them in prison but the Lord hath his time for me as he had for them to free me and I shall with patience wait for it who works and none can let and who made Zedekiah free Jerâ—miah from the Dungeon of the Prison upon the request of Ebedmeleck one of the Kings House and who also made Pharoah King of Aegypt free Joseph from Prison upon the motion of Pharoahs chief Butler and did also make King Darius to command Daniel from the lyons Den without an hurt to him who no doubt in his due time will by what means he pleaseth free me and none shall hinder till when I shall rest in him with my prayers in the spirit for you all that God vvill keep you and me and also for my enemies that he vvill not lay to their charge the things they have acted against me vvhich he hath hitherto made me able to bear to rest
resist the comming of it before and will still dwell in your owne ceiled houses your fet formes and opinions of religious wayes and worships and the Lords house way worship and religion even Christ which you should have possest injoy lyeth waste among you and is not inhabited by you but when the Lord by manifesting himself in you shal appear to build up the waste places and raise up the Tabernacle of David which is fallen down and close up the breaches thereof as in the dayes of old Amos 9. ii and so cause the desolate heritages even men and all things which hath been known of them to be without Christ Zacha. 6.12 13. to be inhabited by Christ and shall manifest himselfe in them to be unto them their house habitation and glory then will men forsake their own houses lands and purchased fields which they have builded and planted with all their houshold-stuff therein being and their goodly cedars therein growing and shall not returne to take any thing with them but shall leave all behind them and follow Christ yea and though you may be upon the top of your houses in the highest of your profession and godlyness reaching even to Heaven yet you must come down and shall not take any thing with you Luke 17.30 31. neither shall these in the field return back to reap any profit of all their own labours which they have labored under the Sun in performing of duties and ordinances of religion wherein they thought themselves rich without Christ this all must be left lost and forsaken and no more remembred in the knowledg of Christ and him crucified And would you now dye that you might live then this is the way to see your selves and all things of your selves crucified with Christ and to know him living in you to be unto you a father and mother and husband and wife and children and brother and sister and house and lands and life and death Rom. 8.32 and food and rayment and all things whatsoever else is in the world you and all is Christs and Christ and all is yours and you and Christ with all things else is Gods and you are not your own but as you are in him i Cor. 3 2i 22 23 for you are bought with a price to be the Lords and all that you are you are in the Lord 1 Cor. 6.20 therefore glorifie God in your bodies and in your spirits which is Gods and know nothing in you but Christ and him crucified and whatsoever else you have known to be any thing or any profit or advantage to you besides the Lord count it all lost for Christ and with Paul count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledg of Jesus Christ our Lord for when you suffer the loss of all Phil. 3.7 8. and count them but dung that you may win Christ this is the fruits and effct of your hanging on the cross and this with men is hard to do the way is narrow and some there be that find it CHAP. II. How the cross â—f Christ is accompanied with the crosses of the world firey troyals and persecutions for the truth the clouds of Christs coming â—nd tâ—e way of his people in which he leads them and walks with them to save them how and from what AND wheresoever this way of Christ crucified shall be manifest and found with any that with Christ have been hanging upon the cross of divine wisdom and power to be thereby weaned from sin and the world with the loss of all their own wisedom righteousness and strength there do the crosses of the world flow and come together as fellow-helpers and companions in assistance with the cross of Christ 1 Pet. 2.21 for even hereunto were ye called because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example to follow his steps And therefore you my brethren and fellow sufferers for the truth you that have in any measure learned to embrace this cross of Christ for the saving of your souls let it incourage you not to lay it down but with patience to lye down under it Gal. 6 17. and to bear it about in your bodies as the marks of the Lord Jesus till you be perfected in him and still to trust in God and wait upon him in whatsoever affliction he by men or any other means as a rod in his hand shall afflict upon you to humble you to walk with him and be not sorrowful nor troubled at any thing Eph 2.12 as those that are without hope but rejoyce alwayes and in all things still praysing the Lord for his goodness in laying his cross upon you to humble you and protect you in it and who without respect of persons hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light manifest by the Lord Jesus in the way of his judgements by the spirit of judgement and by the spirit of burning for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus â— Cor. 5.5 or God manifest in flesh Therefore my brethren think it not strange concerning fierie tryalls â— Pet. 1.12 persecutions tribulations and sufferings as if some strange thing happened unto you for they are companions with Christ on the cross and they are the clouds in which he comes to manifest his glory on earth and the way which he walked in himself before he entred into glory wherein the Father made known himselfe unto him and in which way he leads his dearest Saints that know him and are nearest in union with him for the tryal of their faith 1 Pet. 1.6 7. which being tryed by fire might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of the Lord Jesus as the Lords spirit with the Scriptures in all my sufferings for the truth to this day bears me witness that bands and afflictions Acts 14 22. persecutions and tryals through which a soule enters into the kingdom of God are very good and in which much of God hath been manifest unto me for that the Lord by the Angel of his presence was with me to sanctifie it to me and save me as he did his Prophets and people of old and as he will do all throughout all generations of the world for in all their afflictions he was afflicted Isa 63 9. and the Angel of his presence saved them in his love and in his mercy he redeemed them and he bear them and carried them alwayes continually which hath been witnessed by his Prophets of old from Adam unto this day as I shall more particularly hereafter mention that the coming of God to save his people from their enemies the world flesh sin and the devil and to draw them out of many waters death hell and damnation hath been in the way of his judgements in dark and thick clouds of the sky as all can witness that ever saw him and have known any
part he is gloryfied and therefore blessed are ye when men shall hate you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil sayings against you for the son of mans sake and shal seperate you from their company and shall reproach you and cast out your name as evill why reioyce in that day and leap for joy for behold your reward is great in heaven Luke 6.222 3. for so did their fathers unto the prophets but he that indures unto the end shall be saved And this blessed reward of salvation for suffering for the truth to be manifest in this mortall flesh 2 Cor. 4.10 10 and his prophets and apostles had for they received it and bear witness to it and all that since have suffred with them doe bear the same testimony and unto which my self with many others at this day shall set my seal who have hitherto suffered for the truth which I first received 1 Cor. 8.5.6 that there is but one God and father of all who is above all through all and in all Eph. 4.6 and one Lord Jesus Christ manifesting this unto men by the spirit of himselfe and his own presence dwelling in them by whose presence manifesting this unto me to be declared by me I have also been inabled and with patience made to indure to this day even to the end of what for the truth have yet been inflicted upon me and in which I had my reward being therein satisfied and contented and haveing a perfect assurance of Gods uncangeable love in Christ Jesus towards me never to be taken from me nor I to be seperated from that by principalities nor powers Rom. 8.34 35 39. things present nor things to come heighth nor depth nor any other creature whatsoever though I have been persecuted despised and reiected and as one counted for the slaughter yet in all these things Christ hath been a conquerer for me and hath kept me that I have not denyed him who himselfe all along hath been my reward even my portion my lot and eternal inheritance in his kingdome of eternal Glory 1 Pet. 5.10 unto which he hath caled me by Jesus Christ and unto which after ye have suffered awhile he will also call you make you perfect strengthen settle and establish you And is not this a reward yea a double reward as the apostle saith that the sufferings of this life are not to be compared with the Glory that shall follow and there is no man saith Christ that have denyed himselfe of the Glory of this world for the glory of God but he shall have a thousand fold in the world to come wherein God appears without sin unto salvation and whosoever hath followed Christ in the steps of regeneration in the state of grace Mat. 9.28 29. shall sitt with him upon twelve thrones Judgeing the twelve Tribes of Israel even the throne where Christ sitteth and overcometh all things Rev. 3.21 shall he sit that overcometh the world with Christ and with him his glory shall be doubled from the throne of grace as of twelve degrees of the 12 apostles to the Throne of glory of the four and twenty Elders clothed in white rayment from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot Rev. 4.4 and shall wear on their heads crowns of gold which they shall ascribe to him that sits on the throne with them Ver. 14 15. and gave it to them as still being his though with them and unto whom all Honour glory and Power of all things belongeth for God is judge of all the earth This is the perfect state the throne of God and fulness of glory where Christ his prophets and apostles and Saints and all that are in Christ do with him sit and and reigne together with God on the same throne of his glory rejoycing and singing Halaluiahs unto him for ever and ever and where is heard by them to sing and praise the Lord all creatures both which are in Heaven and which are on earth and under the earth and in the sea and all that are in them saying Praise and Honour and glory Rev. 5.13 and Power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb for evermore And all men of the same Lamb like nature of Christ have the same honour and glory with him as due belonging to them CHAP. VIII How the way to find our life is to lose it that no man is to know any thing of himself but to be innocent in knowing his own innocecy and righteousness also what the true knowledge of God is who hath it and how it s obtained ANd Paul to comfort and incourage us in the way of suffrings to this Throne of glory wherein to lose our lives that we may find it and so to know God aright he bids us look unto Iesus the author and finsher of our faith who himselfe by malitious men Heb. 12.2.3 as he was a man himself in the flesh suffered such reproaches whipings scourgings and revileings of men and yet for the joy that was set before him indured the cross and despised the shame and set him down at the right hand of the throne of God which he that overcometh and indureth to the end shall inherit with him and Christ was made perfect through sufferings so shall all that will be made perfect as he is perfect Luk. 24.26 for ought not he first to suffer and then to enter into his glory and if thou wilt be perfect saith he thou must sell all that thou hast and take up thy cross and follow me Mat. 19.21 and be content with joy to suffer the spoyling of your goods your own wisdome and knowledge your righteousness and your glory knowing in your selves how that you have in Heaven a better and a more during substance Heb. 10.33 34 and therefore in knowing this you will not regard the sufferings of this life but wil know that after you have received the light knowledge of the truth in any measure you must come under persecutions and afflictions for it and be made a gazing stock and a reproach unto men by the Lord for your Good 1 Cor. 4.9 that you maybe humbled emptied of all that you call your own and be exalted and filled of all that is Christ and so with him to lose your life that you may find it even all that you lived to in the world and thought your selves happie besides Christ must you lose and sufer to come to Iudgement for he that will seek to save his life shall lose it but he that will lose his life for Christ the same shall find it wherefore as Peter saith humble your selves yea in the Lord under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time casting all your care upon him for he careth for you And these are the steps of Christ and his apostles and prophets 1 Pet. 5.6 7.
contented vvith in the Lord that I still am dear Friends and Brethren a very loving Friend and Brother in Christ to all men friends and enemies so called vvhile I am and the truth is in me Richard Coppin A TABLE of the Contents Chap. I. THe cross of Christ set up in men and their dyings upon it of the life which is lost and to be found the father mother and brethren husband wife and chidren house lands and all things therein to be forsaken for Christ what they are with the time when and the manner how Chap. II. How the cross of Christ is accompanied with the crosses of the world fiery tryals and persecutions for the truth the clouds of Christs coming and the way of his peâ—ple in which he leads them and walks with them to save them how and from what Chap. III. Of the afflictions of Ioseph his being sold into Egypt by his brethren his being falsly accused and imprisoned how God thereby exalted him and Judged his brethren that sold him how the same was with Christ and is with us to this day Chap. IV. How Pharoah and the Aegyptians and all that with them to this day do betray and persecute accuse judge and condemn any for conscience towards God are acted by the Devil hardened and commanded to it by God how with Cain Judas and the Devil they are all Gods servants doing their devillish dark and black work and whose spirit in them shall with the Devil Death Hel and false Prophet and the Beast which was and is not gone into perdition be damned and dye the second death when and how Chap. V. A definition of the rightous and the wicked as two parts of three in man to be destroyed and how the third part neither righteous nor wicked is brought through the fire and saved with a distinction of Dives and Lazaras and their conditions in life and death and of the dog licking Lazarus soars Chap. VI. That the more purer innocent and faithful men are in the truth the more do men plot and devise evil of them to destroy them as against the Lords Prophets Christ and his Apostles how God by his presence with them delivers them as he did Israel the three Children Daniel Jonah ond Jeremiah and destroyed their enemies Ch. VII How by persecution truth is increased and the more advanced and they that suffer for it to the terror of them that persecute it that truth is rewarded and witnessed by sufferings how the reward of suffrings is a crown of glory manifest in men and when Chap. VIII How the way to find our life is to lose it that no man is to know any thing of himself but to be innocent in knowing his own innocency and righteousness also what the true knowkledge of God is who hath it and how it s obtained Chap. IX How all men are alike to God to whom light and darkness is all one that no man is better nor worse then another and how what it is to be bâ—th best and worst in one person to be punished and exalted and the way unto it how we are to serve one another and of the state of Christ as God and man and how with him we are to love all men Chap. X. Of Gods appearing in Judgment in man against all things of man and this world that all outward duties worship and obedâ—ence by men professed is a lye without the inward work of truth within how according to the inward work is the outward practice that the more by Christ any man is refined pâ—rged and saved within in his conscience the more by men is he falsly accused judged and condemned without in his practice Chap. XI Nothing which opposes God can stand against him how he will pull down and get above Towers Churches worships religions and all things of men that is not in Christ also to whom the Lords Judgements are a day of joy and delight and to whom they are a day of darksnes and trouble t trust in God under them is a sure refuge of the good that comes by them and when Chap XII Incouragemâ—nts to wait with patience under the Lords Judgments and not to oppâ—se them Of the works of the Lord Jesus what thâ—y are and how we bear them about in our bodies when Chap. XIII How men of the greatest light witnessing to truth under Judgments do suffer most unjustly by false accusations with the loss of all things below God that not all but some men as witnesses shall suffâ—r fâ—r the rest of one life how some professing the same life for fear of suffering will deny them that suffer for them rather then suffer with them as the Disciples of Christ did Chap. XIIII That the true sufferer w ll God inable with joy to bear his burthen to follow Christ and deny himself to trust in God and rejoyce in all things how with Christ he is humbled to the lowest with men and exalted to the highest with God as the fruit and effect of Gods Judgements the state of perfection ERRATA In the Title page line 23. read comparandis next read Epistle for Epitlâ— in p. 2. of the Epistle l. 34. r. the for ye p. 3 l. 19 r. with for which Book p. 5. l. 16. read Iohn for Rom. l. 18. r. to for so p. 6. l. 22. r. nurses for snuffâ— p. 7. l. 1. r. with for which p. 9 l. 17. r. whom for when l. 20. r. few for some p. 10. l. 1. r. follow for slow p. 12. l. 3. r. pleased p. 20. l. 24 25. r. he for the Devil p. â—4 l. 21. r. lofty p. 25. l. 9. r. purified p. 29. l. 27. r knawed l. 28. r. with p. 32. l. 1. r. know p. 35. l. 3. r. against p. 39. l. 32. r. see p. 41. l. 15. r. good l. 28. r. and l 31. r. every p. 42. l. 3. r. might l. 4 r. might l. 23. r. the p. 47. l 9 r. desired not l 16 r. of p 49. l. 13 r. good l 30 r. humbled himself p 52 l. 32 r made p 57 l. 2 dele that l 8 r. comfort p 58 l 19. r. set up p 59 l 17 r. which p. 62 l 27 r marks p 65 l 16 add are p 66 l 29 read knowing p 68 l 3 thy men p 69 l. 2 r. injoyed it l 30. r. they must continue maintaining p 70 l 24. r. with A new and spiritual Song of Sion and the Lamb Written by the Author in the Holy Land And also in his sufferings wherein God did him try And unto him revealed life light and liberty Psal 98. 1 Psal 101.1 O sing unto the Lord a new Song for he hath done marvelous things his right hand and his holy arm hath gotten him the victory I will sing unto the Lord of mercy and judgement unto thee O Lord will I sing 1. THE Lamb of God our King is come In righteousness to reign Ioh. 1.29 Isa 32.1 Heb. 2.9 Rev.
reviling for though they may band themselvs together against you and the Lords anointed in you to break the cords and bands of love and unity amongst you yet their devices shall not prosper but the Lord will have them in derision Psa 2. and will break them in peices like a pottors vessel and will set his own anointed even Christ upon his Throne who shall be great amongst you and you with him shall rejoyce together for he that sits in the Heavens shall laugh and the Lord his King shall raine in the midst of you for evermore and the work began among you will he perfect Psa 35.1 8. and will turn all the evil devices of men that have invented evil against you without cause to devoure you upon their own heads and shame and confusion shall befall them in the end but the more is your glory as is their shame for they shall be the Lords displeasure against them and they shall be vexed for the evil that they have done against you and could not have their purposes fulfilled upon any of you and in the midst of all your peace and joy in the Lord shall be manifest in you For though in the world you have tribulation yet in Christ you shall have peace and be of good cheer Ioh. 16.33 for Christ hath overcome the world And if you will bee possessors of the truth you must bee armed with patience in the Lord to suffer reproach and tryalls for the truth 1 Pet. 4 1. and with all willingnesse and obedience of mind thereunto you must yeeld your selves as a living sacrifice ready to be offered up with Christ on the cross though the outward sufferings with many of you may not be afflicted upon you Rom. 12.1.2 but being made willing in the minde your willingnesse and free submission therunto shall be accepted even the will for the deed concerning which God will try you if you will deny him or no Heb. 11.17 Ge. 22.12.10.11.12 as he did Abraham when he made him offer up his onely son Isaac to be slaine but he did not slay him for being made willing it was accepted of God with him as if it had been done by him and the will for the deed with some shall suffice 1 Tim. 6.12 13. and they shall with others that do suffer reap the same fruit for some onely shall suffer outwardly as witnesses for the rest as did Christ for us who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good profession yet with him we reap the same fruit 1 Pet. 2.21 witnessing with him the same profession and whose steps some in the outward sufferings must follow him as his apostle did even those whom the Lord shall chuse and whom he will make able with himselfe and the apostles to beare witnesse with him unto his suffrings for the true life we live as the same which he said should come to passe and doth and will come to pass till the man of sin in any shall be no more as in all ages some in whom the life hath been most manifest and most purely have lived it have suffered in bearing witness to the life of â—od according as it hath been manifest under any dispensation that truth is alwayes witnessed by sufferings going with it and following after it according to the Scriptures as a reward given to it 2 Thes 1.4 5. and a fellow helper and companion for it for he that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution and persecutions and tribulations is a mainfestation of Gods righteous Judgements whereby a soul is counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which he also suffers And as sufferings is a reward of truth and godlyness and a companion for it joyned with it unto those that injoy it and know it to live in it so the reward of sufferings is a crown of glory all witnessing one another for ought not Christ who is the truth first to suffer and then to enter into his glory and saith Paul who sought with Beasts at Ephasus I have fought a good fight I have finished my course 1 Tim. 4.7 8. I have kept the faith Hence forth is laid up for me a Crown of Glory as the price of my race which I have won and which is brought unto me at the revelation of Jesus Christ and to all that love his appearing and he to comfort us in afflictions saith 2 Thess 1.7 you who are troubled rest with us in the same spirit waiting for the same crown as a recompence of reward for all your troubles when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty Angels powerfully appearing and manifesting himselfe for your good in the Lord but to take vengeance on all that that trouble you and that know not God and obey not the gospel of the Lord Jesus but do persecute it they shal suffer the vengeance of eternal fire God himselfe whose wrath is revealed from Heaven against all ungodlynesse and Unrighteousnesse of men that hold the TRUTH in unrighteousness Rom. 1.18 and shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power when he shall come to be gloryfied in his saints and admired in all that do believe 2 Thes 1. Heb. 12.2 and that have with patienec indured the cross and despised the shame these shall have joy and glory with God when these that trouble them shall have sorrow and anguish of spirit and so much the more for beholding the others joy and confidence in the Lord which they so much have persecuted For thinkest thou O man that Judgest another that thou shalt escape the Judgements of God Rom. 2.3 4 5 6. no thou that hardnest thy heart against another treasureth up wrath unto thy selfe against the day of wrath which must certainly come upon thee for God will reward every man according to his works for with what Judgement ye Judge Mat. 7.2 ye shall be Judged and with what measure ye meet it shall be measured to you againe wherefore howle and lament â—â—e 3.1 c. â—oel 1.5 c. and be ashamed thou man of the Devil that persecutest and Judgest another for when the Lords Judgements are upon thee it will be a day of terror unto thee till by Judgement the enemy sin and the devil within thee shall be cast out from thee as from those whom thou persecutest And you that with Christ have been Judged by men and have been made partakers of Christs sufferings rejoyce ye that when his Glory shal appeare ye may be glad with exceeding joy and account that the long sufferings of God is salvation 1 Pet. 4.13.14 and that if ye be rayled against for the name of Christ happie are ye for the spirit of God and of glory resteth upon you and on their part that speak evil of you God is evil spoken of by them but on your
23.13 14. all shall be abased and laid waste brought down and consumed Esa 24.10 yea every Church and house way and worship of mans building shall be broken down and shut up that no man may come in the Lord alone with his way church and worship shall be exalted in men in the day of the great slaughter when the towers shall fall Esa 30.15 16. or the highest part of any church or profession of church way and spirituall notionists and if the Towers fall then the church will be broken and the people therein will be scattared even the sheepheard and his sheep and their worship and service therein will be at an end and then will Christ himselfe appear in a greater glory to bind up the breach of his people and will himselfe come and gather them together to his fold wil teach them himself of his ways he wil be unto them their high Tower church worship and all things the rein for the glory of the former is passed away and they shal not need to teach one another nor assemble themselves to any but the Lord who himself wil gather them be exalted in the midst of them and wilâ— be righteousness unto them Esa 60.4.5 and then will all their own bravery and costlie apparels of outward rigteousness be all taken from them as tâ—r scripture expresses even their vailes and glasses their fine lenen and â—oods which the Preists have used to wear and all the righteousness of men as the fine lenen and fleshpots of Egypt with men perfumed and made sweet unto tâ—â—mâ—â—lvâ—s shall be as fiâ—thy rags and upon their fleshpots there shall be a stinke and instead of a girdle a rent instead of pride humilitie Esa 3.8 to the end and upon all outward comlyness and beauty shall become a baldness and mourning for the Lord will sâ—rip himselfe of all outward coverings that men have put upon him to appeare w th a fair outside unto men the vail spred over all nations shall cease and he will make bare his holy arme in the eyes of all nations and wil bring in his own everlasting righteousness which shall not cease and in which there shall be no outward form nor comlyness whereby men should desire it Esa 53.2 but rather hate and abhor it but within even to them that injoy it and have past through his Judgements for it shall it be all glorious pleasant and delightfull And therfore you people all rejoyce in that day of the L da Judgements when it comes upon you as it will perticulerly come to every one of you in hi order to manifesâ— in you the glory of God even Jesus Christ for the consumation of your own glory with the men of the world which no doubt som of you with Christ in the flesh have already found who had nothing of this worlds glory left him but was crucified to it all that the purpose of God in his day might be manifest upon all flesh to stain the pride of all Glory â—sa 23.9 to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth which is a work much manifested at this day by and upon the people called quakers even to be under the Lords Judgements striping of all worldly honour and glory waiting for Christ in the spirit and who will be unto you as a day of the Lords indignation against sin and enmitie all the works of the devil but with his love towards you to try you to humble you and to save you and it wil be to the rich mighty a day of wrath â—â—ph 1.14 15. a day of trouble and heaviness a day of destruction and desolation a day of obscurity and darkness a day of clouds and blackness especialy to them J say that have made flesh their arme that are in their own eyes strong wise and learned in themselves righteous and holy in themselves and not in Christ I say to such it wil be a day of terror great tribulation and though they shal run to the rokes and to the mountaines and cry unto them saying fall on us and hide us from the wrath of the Lamb â—ev 4.15 16 17. and him that sits on the Throne for the great day of his wrath is come and who can stand yet those rocks and mountaines shall not save them nor hide them as the trees of the garden could not hide Adam when he fled to hide himselfe from God after he had sinned therfore should all men in al affliction and tribulation fly onely unto God and to nothing else of man nor the world for God onely is the refuge of his peoble and the rock that shall stand and it is not greatness and mightyness pride and loftiness righteousness nor holyness of men when you fly unto it that can save you from the fear of wrath for that is all below God and hath no part in him but rather fly to the valies even the things that are not and is counted the lowest with men 1 Cor. 1. that shall confound the things of men that are highest with men even to God himselfe which with men is humility meekness and lowlyness for there doth he dwel to give rest and peace in the day of trouble and there wil he hide them from the wrath of their enemies in the day of his Judgements Zeph 2.1 2 3. wherefore with Christ descend and sink ye down out of your selves into a nothingness of all creaturely glory even to the lowest of humanitie and your descension wil be with Christ your ascension into the highest of divinitie which will be unto you the last of Gods judgements and a day of joy and delight And then when the Lord shal have finished his Judgments upon you and perfected his work in you by taking 〈◊〉 your own things from you as doubtless with many hee hath already done who have denyed all for Christ then wil he return unto you a pure language even the language of Canaan and no longer of Aegypt and you shal cal only on the name of the Lord and rest only on him for salvation and not on your owne works wayes and worships any more and you shal all agree together in one minde to serve the Lord with one consent and in one Lord Iesus without any feare for God who is but one cannot be worshipped but by one and in one way even Christ who is the way the truth and the light and in him they that wait upon God shal renew their strength and they shal run and not be weary Iohn 14.6 Esa 40.31 they shal walk and not faint and shal do no iniquity nor speak any evil neither shal any deceitfulness bee found in their mouths nor yet in their hearts for they shal be purged of all uncleanness and bee fed with the Lord and shal lye down with the Lord in safety and none shal make them afraid that walk in Christ but
the sons of God but the flames of a wounded conscience of the one who can indure the bitter burning of it so the joyes of a healed saved conscience in the other how sweet is it and both these manifest in flesh under the law and gospel-dispensation where the discontent and torment of one mans conscience wounded by the Law is manifest and the joy and comfort of anothers healed by the gospel and both living together on the earth in the body and having the glory of this world and the other the same but Dives dyed and was buried First his death was the coming of the Law to him to revive sin in him whereby sin was made exceeding sinful and thereby slew him as it did Paul and as is the death of all after which comes judgement before which Paul as Dives was rich and righteous in himself Rom. 7.9 10 11 12 13 14. till the Law was set home to him and revived sin in him and so slew him after which the gospel came and gave life unto him But Dives also was buried and in hell tormented hee was with David laid into the lowermost pit in darkness Psal 88.6 7. in the deep where the wrath of God lay hard upon him that he could not come forth where he was scorched with fire and burned his tongue for pain under the four and five vial and which David he cryed out Luk. 16.23 24. Father Abraham have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame as David said Wilt thou shew wonders in the grave where thy fierce wrath goeth over me Psa 88.12.16 Psa 43.2 3. and thy terrors have cut me off Why dost thou cut me off Why go I mourning because of the oppression and the enemy Psa 51.8.12 send Lazarus thy light and thy truth let them lead me let them bring me unto thy holy hill make me to hear joy and gladness that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit so is the cryings of a wounded soul that looketh up unto God for mercy as is said Dives did who was also a son of God as Lazarus was for he called Abraham father and Abraham called Dives his son and so is every unbeliever the son of God though so long he bringeth forth fruit to himself and not unto God and thereby destroys himself Rom. 11.32 yet in God is his help and the help of every unbeliever for he hath concluded all under sin and unbelief that he might have mercy upon all and therefore Dives said Father Abraham have mercy on me Now Lazarus he dyed that is he dyed unto sin and lived unto righteousness and was not buried as Dives was Rom. 6.11 but was carryed by the angels into Abrahams bosom he was dead in Christ as every believer is while he lives by whom he was crucified and slain to sin and the worlds glory 2 Cor. 1.9 10. having received in himself the sentence of death that he should not trust in himself but in God which raiseth the dead and delivered him from so great a death from which he had not delivered Dives and all thus dead in Christ riseth first with Christ into the life of Christ which is the first resurrection but the rest of the dead to wit they of Dives the righteous and the wicked that are so in themselves and do worship the Beast and his Image and follow the whore they rise not till they are so become dead in Christ from sin and the world which yet they live in are dead from Christ buryed in the grave of destruction â—ev 14.9 i0 11. where is weeping and gnashing of teeth and where the worm dyeth not and the fire is not quenched to all that are in it but blessed are ehe dead which dye in the Lord Rev. 14.15 from the whore and her worship from henceforth yea saith the spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them for dying and rising in Christ they do enter into rest with Christ resting from all their own works as God did from his who also have received in themselves the sentence of death that they should not trust in themselves but in God that raiseth the dead and delivered them from so great a death which others lye groaning under and so by the angels or ministring spirits of Christ in them are carryed out of themselves into Abrahams bosom swallowed up into the life of God free from the wrath and curse as believers still living in the body having Christ their life manifest in their mortal flesh 2 Cor. 4 11. Matt. 5.8 9. by which their consciences are at peace and rest with Christ in God as the pure in heart which is blessed with God receiving possessing and injoying the reward of their works of humility meekness and love which is rest for evermore and unto whom the impure and unbeliever cannot come nor be blessed with the same spiritual blessing of Christ in them but do with Dives the righteous and the wicked still hate and persecute them that are blessed above them and like roaring Lyons they will go about seeking to devour them till the Lyon of the tribe of Judah meets them as he did Paul and destroys in them the righteous and the wicked Acts 9.3 4 5. the Pharisee and all his works the good and the evil knowledge with men turning their evil into good their darkness into light their death into life and their hatred into love and so translate them out of the kingdome of the evil and of darkness into the Kingdom of light and the Lord Jesus And these two parts Righteousness and sin good and evil so known by men which is to be destroyed every man for a time while he believes not known to be more or less in him the one opposing the other which is the righteousness of man against the sin of man do both joyne together against the third part of man which is refined and draw out from the other to be pure in Christ and by the pure even Christ is the righteous and the wicked purged forth and destroyed together for works of gold and works of dross the best and worst of man is all but vanitie 1 Cor. 5.12 13. and must be destroyed for as the wicked part which is sin is compared to bryars and thorns wood hey and stubble so the other part which is the righteous so called is compared to gold and precious stone and all but as one Dives even the two parts of three righteousness and wickedness which must be burnt up man therein shall suffer loss Gen. 18.23 Job 9.22 Eccle. 3.16 17. for God will destroy both the righteous and the wicked which is of man but man himself or that third
which you are to follow in losing and finding in being humbled and exalted and with them to bear the same testimony to the same truth to see the fulness of Christ and the emptiness of your selves and all things that are beneath him and with the prophets and apostles of Christ suffer a reproof of the Lord when you shall in the behalf of your selves contend for any of our own innocency integrity and uprightness and seek to justifie your selves in any thing of your selves or in vindication of your selves to boast and declare unto men as Samuel did 1 Sam. 12.3 saying Whose oxe have I taken or whom have I done any wrong unto or whom have I hurt or of whose hand have I received any bribe to blinde mine eyes therewith and I will restore it to you But in this though a man be never so just as a man ought to be in all his actions wayes and works notwithstanding yet he is not to boast himself of that 2 Cor. â— 30 nor to glory in it nor yet to know it no not in any thing of his owne righteousness but onely in his own infirmities lest hee should be proud of it and contend with God for it more then for righteousness in God as sometimes David Job and others did for which God reproved them and brought them to judgement and so saved them but though a man were never so innocent just and righteous before men after the righteousness of the Law yet as a man he is not to know himself so but to account all loss for Christ and to know none but him Gal. 6.3 for if a man thinke himself somthing when he is nothing he deceiveth himself and the greatest perfection of innocency wisdom righteousness of God with man is for man to be innocent in the knowledge of himselfe 1 Cor. 4.4 or any thing which hee knows he knows besides God and to know that he knows nothing of himself nor by himself as Paul did not and then doth he know most of God because mans weakness is Gods strength and his ignorance is Gods wisdome for he that knows he knows any thing which is the greatest desire of man to do 1 Cor. 8.1 2 3 to know something of himself he knoweth nothing in righteousness as hee ought to know but is proud in what he thinks he knows because he knoweth it with distinction to something which he knoweth not and all that a man knows of any thing without knowing all things is but his owne thoughted knowledge which a man is to be crucified unto and to know that God who is onely to be known is hee onely that knows all things and that no man hath ever seen nor known him but onely God himself in the Son hath known and seen himself in the Father and he that with God in the Sonship of God knoweth God he knows that the knowledge of all things is in God and that there is none other to know any thing but God who knoweth all things as he knows himselfe and then cannot hate or despise any thing which he so knows and till man know it a god and good he knows it not as he ought And God which is a spirit can be high and lowe rich and poor strong and weak full and empty the best and worst one and all where he please and when he please without contradiction in himself For the Spirit bloweth where and when it listeth as the winde to save and to destroy to gather together and scatter abroad and this Spirit is the Spirit of Truth which Christ saith we shal receive of him to bring all things to our remembrance whereby we may know all things even him in the state of the new birth which no man knows but the Spirit it selfe 1 Ioh. 2.20 And John saith That having the annoynting of the Holy One we shall know all things and hee that hath Christ hath all things even Christ who is all of the Father and then cannot but know it in him and wee need not that any man teach us 1 Iohn 2.27 bur as the annoynting which wee have received of him and is in us teacheth us all things and is truth and is no lye and even as we be taught by him so we shall abide in him And he that by the Spirit of God is taught all things to know all things in the Spirit hee by God is taught God and knoweth God and can then know no other besides God nor after any other manner but as God and so with him is in charity with all men and then knows that he knoweth nothing of himself that he should boast in nor be proud of 1 Cor. 13.4 5 6 7 8. neither vaunt himself above for hee knows both the highest and the lowest and God in them all which makes them all one unto him as unto God even unity in variety and variety in unity as all one God and so knows nothing better nor worse then himself nor any thing better nor worse then the other for he sees the sin of all to be ended and also his owne righteousness which is the same with his sins to bee ended from having any thing of good in it more then unto men and therefore cannot boast in nor be proud of any thing of his own which is not to tarry with him but to perish in the using and so not in one thing more then another of humane things and where contrarities of things are not known there pride and boasting in one thing above another cannot be but in that state a man is most like unto God as Adam was before his fall wherein he knows no distinction and Adam fell not till he sought to know his own innocency and the state iâ— which he stood which God sorbad him to know for thereby did Adam come to the knowledge of good and evil to know righteousness and sin joy and sorrow in himself and hee that with Adam shall see any good in himself in opposition to an evil he glorieth in that good so often as he doth it and when he doth it not he fears and is offended as Adam was when in truth there is none good but one even God nor none that doth good but one even him who knoweth no evil and therefore neither feares nor is offended And no man but the Lord onely who is himselfe the God and the innocent the Iustness Vprightness and the righteousness that can know it and who is not neither can be proud lofty 1 Cor. 13. nor high-minded in the knowledg of any thing because he knows nothing more nor nothing less then himselfe and all knowledge of all things is himselfe therefore the greatest perfection of mans knowledg is to know that he knows nothing till he knoweth God who is no one thing distinct but all things in one as his greatest exaltation is when he is most humbled and that knowledg by which a man doth
they shal rejoyce and be glad for it is the Lords day wherein he wil have taken away their Judgements and cast out their enemies Sin Death Hel and the Devil and all fe r and the King of Israe even the Lord of Hosts shal be in the midst of them and they shal not see evil any more Zeph. 3 13. to the end neither shal they any more live in fear of any thing nor yet sorrow any more but sorrow and sighing shal flie away and they shaâ— rejoyâ—e always with joy unspeakable and ful of glory Rev. 21.34 and the Lord himself wil be seen amongst them to dwel with them and delight in them and rejoyce â—ver them with Joy and wil turn back their captivity even before their own eyes and they shal see it and know that the Lord who hath done it is for ever with them in it For the tabernacle of God is with men and he wil dwel with them and they shal be his people and God himselfe shal be with them and be their God CHAP. XII Incouragements to wait with p tience under the Lords Judgements and not to oppose them Of the works of the Lord Jesus what they are and how we bear them about in our bodies and when ANd now seeing that so much good is wrought in men by the Lords judgments spiritual and temporal though acted unjustly by men as the rod that afflicts them outwardly yet let no man seek by any outward means or lawes of men to put them by for it is the Lords way though it is incident with all men so to do that know not the Lord with them in it who would seek to escape the Iudgment thereof to save their own honor and credit with men and to avoid the punishment of the flesh as did David Iob yea Christ and his Apostles who had the same infirmities of the flesh as we have when Christ said Lord if it be possible let this cup pass from me and sought means to avoid it for indeed no afflictions with any seems joyous for the present though afterwards it yeelds a peaceable reward of righteousness to all that are exercised therein as it did to Christ himself who after he had suffered entred into glory with his Father so shal all that with Christ overcome and indure to the end yet this glorious reward of righteousnesse with men may somtimes be hid under afflictions as the Sun when the clouds are before it that men may not for the present see the end of God in it nor the good that is to be brought unto them by it till the clouds are passed and their Judgments ended as before you have heard for clouds and darknesse is round about him Psa 18. as about the Sun when you see it not yet the darknesse of these clouds wil he expell by the brightnesse of his comming and by his light he wil shine gloriously through them even upon him who with the eye of faith shall see Christ comming to him and he will therein cheer and comfort him incourage and support him from the evil that men have invented against him as the spirit of the Lord with my spirit bear witness unto me which concerning my selfe in all my sufferings and persecutions for the truth to this day 1 Pet. 2 21. unto which I was cald by the Lord he hath done for me that bonds and afflictions through which a soul enters into the kingdome of God have been good unto mee Acts 14.22 it being sanctified unto me by his spirit by which I was comforted and the Angel of his presence with me in it by which I was saved concerning which I with Paul can speak the truth in Christ and lye not and which another for me cannot know but for themselves that hath seen it for to him that overcometh it is hidden Manna and a white stone and in it a new name written which no man knows but he that hath it Rev. 2.17 And now that you may with Christ indure to the end for this new name which is a pearl of great price and a name above every name that is named amongst men be you perswaded by the spirit of the Lord within you to watch for the comming of the Lord to give it to you and be ye armed with the same mind and patience in the Lord to suffer with Christ in the flesh 1 Pet. 1.4 for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin and so be ye ready prepared in all things to meet the Lord both in his birth death resurrection and ascension and to embrace him in the worst condition as well as in the best as well to suffer with him as to regin with him to dye with him as to live with him and to be reviled and reproached scoffed and mocked derided and falsly accused by men more vile then the earth Christ was and his prophets and Apostles were so were all his Saints and so must all that will live godly in Christ Jesus Isa 64 6. and not after the godliness of men which is filthyness with the Lord Ye filthy rags saith the Prophet and by the Lord shal be cast out therefore be ye armed with the saints patience in tribulations that vvith Christ you may beare his reproach without the campe of your own righteousness and religion Heb. 13.12.13 as he did without the gate of the honour and glory of the world and with him be willing to dye to all things of men and with him to live to all things of God Gal. 6.17 and so with Paul ever bear about in your body the marks of the Lord Iesus both in dying and in living in dying the unjust persecutions mockings revilings and scourgings of men groanings sighings and mournings in the suffering of the flesh as did Christ whose visage was more ma6rr'd then any mans Esa 52.14 and his person more desormed then the sons of men and who in his pangs cryed out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me These are the dying marks of Christ which you are to bear about in your body for the truths sake and the living marks is peace comfort and consolation joy of heart content of minde quietness of conscience and a soul at rest in the Lord full of all humility meekness and love these are the living marks of Iesus which you are to bear about in your bodies 1 Cor. 4.6 7 8 9 10.11 that while you live delivered unto death for Iesus sake so the life also of Iesus shal be manifest in your mortal flesh yea in these your mortal bodies when with Christ you have been crucified to see an end of sin CHAP. XIII How men of the greatest light witnessing to truth under Judgments do suffer most unjustly by false accusations with the loss of all things below God that not all but some mâ—n as witnesses shall suffer for the rest af one life how some professing the